Just as we hear reports of Audi planning a race-ready but street-legal R8 GT3, MTM comes out with this – a massively fast, supercharged, lightweight, Rear-Wheel-Drive version of the V8-powered supercar called the R8 GT3-2. The “2″ at the end represents its drive wheels, differentiating it from the standard AWD cars.

We auto journalists are often accused of having unrealistic expectations for some of the cars we drive. Because we drive high-end luxury and sports cars on a regular basis, critics argue that we ask too much of everyday cars. We journalists combat this by readjusting our expectations to objectively evaluate the vehicle currently under review. That said, the Chrysler 200 Convertible is one spectacular rental car.

Believe it or not, the Patriot has been around since model-year 2007. For its fifth year on the market, it receives a refresh with minor styling changes and new features. Part of the goal is achieving philosophical realignment (fancy talk for a crossover, huh?) by updating the styling on the company's two crossovers. This makes the new Compass look more like the Grand Cherokee, and the Patriot similar to the Liberty and Wrangler.

Whenever I travel, I do my best to rent or borrow a car that's not commonly available in the U.S. It's obviously fun for me to drive something different, and a chance to write about some foreign hardware.

"Now with less ugly!" isn't the greatest selling point, but revised styling really is the most significant change to the refreshed 2012 Acura TL. Although Acura is marking 25 years in the United States, there's not much new product beside the TL and the recently arrived TSX wagon to help the brand celebrate. That's okay, because Acura expects TL sales to jump 20 percent this year on the strength of its improved efficiency, quieter cabin, and of course, its new duds.

OMG! The winningest team in Formula 1 and the company that best translates that racing technology to its road cars has gone off the reservation and built an all-wheel-drive wagon with a suspension that goes up and down like a Range Rover's. Not even Nostradamus saw this coming. The Mayans were right -- the world is ending in 2012!

The Acura RDX was designed to be among the sportiest in its segment, and except for a couple issues, the driving experience of the 2011 model is engaging as with our 2007 RDX long-termer. And that long-termer didn't benefit from the changes Acura made for the 2010 model year.

Daimler AG presents the innovative drive solutions of today and tomorrow in its role as Official Transport Partner to the 4th World Future Energy Summit (WFES). The World Future Energy Summit is one of the world’s largest and most important events for the energy and environment industries.

After we have seen the Opel Ampera concept version in 2009 at the Geneva Motor Show, this year Opel is taking a step forward with the unveiling of the first prototype of the production Ampera.

There aren't many locations more appropriate for a brisk drive in the new 2011 Porsche 911 Speedster than Palm Springs, California. Just over 100 miles southeast of Hollywood and the hairpin-strewn Mulholland Drive where James Dean flogged his brand-new 356 Speedster nearly 60 years ago, we've found some suitably curvy roads of our own. And believe us, we're taking full advantage.

The jury for the Mobile Excellence Awards evaluated the submitted innovations using five main criteria: strategic initiative, impact of technology used, creativity, ease of use and reach and execution and market success. ” This year’s entries were extremely impressive,” said Executive Director of the Mobile Excellence Awards and CEO of the ITV Alliance, Allison Dollar. “They demonstrate a range of innovation and depth of creativity that prove just how fast and how far mobile has come”.

We'll be kicking it old school today. So old school, in fact, that this Toyota Land Cruiser I just drove is a 2010 model year SUV-emoth. What? Is that going to be a problem?

Land Rover's crystal-ball department reckons the global lux-ute market is going to expand by 35 percent over the next five years, and it wants a big bite of this widening slice of profit pie. How best to get it? Expand the Range Rover brand while shrinking its footprint, both physically and environmentally.

This looks familiar, doesn't it? We drove a 2011 BMW X1 about a year and a half ago, and if you're looking for the differences, you're not going to find them in the pictures. But this really is a different vehicle.

Ford's Kuga could be getting a little brother