Take a pick among General Motors’ line-up of auto brands when it comes to overall popularity and chances are you’d take a while before picking Buick among them.

Download 2012 Buick LaCrosse

We rarely hear from the Musketier tuning firm, but that doesn’t mean that mean these guys have fallen off the face of the earth. Recently, the German tuning company that specializes on aftermarket works done on Toyota, Citroen and Peugeot vehicles unveiled their latest work on the Citroen C3.

Download 2011 Citroen C3 by Musketier

Over on the other side of the world in the Land Down Under, Japanese automaker Subaru recently launched the special edition Impreza XV Mizuno Edition. The project,

Download 2011 Subaru Impreza XV Mizuno Edition

This might become another future car we are promised but never get. At the very least, it would make a good prop car for a remake of Woody Allen's "Sleeper." But one quick drive reveals this much: The Volkswagen XL1 is a real car, nearly as tangible as a Chevrolet Volt.

Download Quick Drive: Volkswagen XL1

"Stop living in the past," say countless advice purveyors across a broad spectrum of media. It's good advice if you're trying to get over an ex-girlfriend, but you pretty much have to live in the past to drop almost $90,000 on a body-on-frame luxury SUV like the 2011 Cadillac Escalade ESV Platinum. That's $88,295 to be precise, making this the second-most-expensive Caddy available. (First place by a slight margin goes to the Escalade Hybrid.)

Download First Drive: 2011 Cadillac Escalade ESV Platinum AWD

It is just as easy to get a speeding ticket in this Mazdaspeed3 as it was in the last one, as evidenced by the, uh, paperwork handed over to some staff members in the last few months. But stints in traffic school took the violations off the books, and all was good again.

Download Long Term Update 5: 2010 Mazdaspeed3

John Hennessey is no stranger to the world of auto tuning. After all, he does have a company that’s considered as one of the best in the business. The company, Hennessey Performance Engineering is so good at what it does that it was actually able to build it’s own supercar based on the Lotus Elise: the Venom GT. Not a lot of tuners can stake the same claim, too.

Download 2011 Chevrolet Corvette ZR750 by Hennessey

When unknown car brands start unveiling super cars at events such as the Top Marques Monaco, people take notice. When these same automakers unveil cars with questionable designs that leave more than one person with a bad taste in their mouth, then the pictures almost become viral. Tirritio Cars Italy have made their presence known at the 2011 Top Marques Monaco with an evolution of last year’s debut car, the Ayrton S. The new model is called the Ayrton R and will be a limited run vehicle, hand-built upon request for their exclusive clientele.

Download 2011 Tirrito Ayrton R

After you see the commercials for the 2012 Honda Civic Si, you might think the car was built by over-caffeinated Japanese animators for equally restless gum-chewing teenage girls who dabble in ninja work when they tire of hanging out in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park. Anything but subtle, the marketing message appears to target a buyer raised on video games, Red Bull and manga. Ironically, inspiration for the new Si came from a farther-flung blend of kookiness: yoga and Pilates.

Download 2012 Honda Civic Si First Drive

Normally we'd mourn the passing of an engine like AMG's supercharged 5.5-liter V8, the über-huffer that's powered many of our favorite Mercedes-Benzes. However, now that we've sampled its formidable successor, AMG's new naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8, we've cancelled the wake and are planning a party instead. Woo-hoo! The new 2007 E63 sedan is the most powerful E-Class yet to blast out of Stuttgart, and it's a delight to drive, especially when the 507 horses are fully unleashed.


Download First Drive: 2007 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG

If the car world were an action film, Mitsubishi would be in the tenuous last five minutes of the last reel. The snake-headed alien space monkeys have beaten the hero to a bloody pulp. He's oozing from every pore and it looks like the space monkeys are about to turn the earth's population into food pellets. Will the hero suddenly find a last burst of strength, grab a Louisville Slugger and with a wry, "Batter up, space monkey," turn the aliens into primate piñatas? We don't know. The movie's not over yet.


Download Full Test: 2007 Mitsubishi Galant Ralliart

With lots of public support stemming from the relative success of the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan sedans, it wasn't a stretch for managers in the Glass House to expect similar reactions from a Lincoln product built on the same front-drive platform.

Download Full Test: 2006 Lincoln Zephyr

California's Highway 198 is a true test of any enthusiast car. It's got a little bit of everything — significant elevation gain, differing surfaces, jumps and a big enough variety of turns to satisfy any driving geek. We drove Highway 198 in the 2007 Mazdaspeed 3, a car that brings the road to life in an entirely new way.

Download Full Test: 2007 Mazdaspeed 3

While the market continues its current swing from giant SUVs to smaller crossover vehicles—only after moving from vans to those big SUVs—Toyota believes that the minivan market is poised for a comeback. With that in mind, the Japanese automaker rolled out its third-generation Sienna at the 2009 Los Angeles auto show.


Download 2011 Toyota Sienna

On a damp afternoon at the Hungaroring, MERCEDES GP PETRONAS driver’s Nico Rosberg finished 1 lap behind McLaren-Mercedes driver and first place finisher Jenson Button, to place ninth at the Hungarian Grand Prix, scoring two points. Team-mate Michael Schumacher was forced to retire due to a gearbox problem on lap 26.

Both drivers had good starts with Nico gaining three places and Michael four positions. Nico completed four stops: on lap 12, 27, 50 and 54, running intermediate/option/prime/intermediate/prime. Michael completed two stops: on lap 13 for options and lap 26 for primes.

Download MERCEDES GP PETRONAS: F1 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix Results

Note to self: Entering automotive research and development centers as visitors may lead to the confiscation of cameras for the duration of the stay.

Download Seeing Kia’s Namyang R&D Center, New Forte and Sorento