Mazda showed a freshened RX-8 alongside their race-inspired Furai concept at the 2008 Detroit show. The 2009 model features several evolutionary tweaks as well as a new sporty option package.

On the outside, all RX-8s will get revised front fascias, bumpers, headlights and taillights. The exhaust tips are also larger, now measuring 90 mm. The front fender side gills have been replaced with smaller openings that now house turn indicators.

A redesigned center stack joins a new steering wheel on the interior. The tachometer also gets an update and will now vary the red zone depending on engine temperature. Redesigned seating in all four spots aims to increase rear leg room.

Driving dynamics weren't ignored in the update. A trapezoidal strut tower brace adds rigidity up front, while rear suspension geometry has been revised for better handling.

A new R3 option package - an homage to the R1 and R2 packages offered on the RX-7 - adds some attitude to the RX-8. A sport suspension with Bilstein shocks is paired with foam-filled front suspension crossmembers for a smoother ride and more control. Exterior bits include a rear spoiler, side sills, fog lights and a sportier front bumper. Nineteen-inch forged alloy wheels are wrapped in performance rubber. The interior gets Recaro front seats, a 300-watt Bose sound system, and convenience options like Bluetooth and Mazda's keyless entry and start system.

The 2009 RX-8 will continue as the only mass-produced rotary-engined car on the market today.

Click the link below for high-resolution RX-8 images.

Mazda showed a freshened RX-8 alongside their race-inspired Furai concept at the 2008 Detroit show. The 2009 model features several evolutionary tweaks as well as a new sporty option package.

On the outside, all RX-8s will get revised front fascias, bumpers, headlights and taillights. The exhaust tips are also larger, now measuring 90 mm. The front fender side gills have been replaced with smaller openings that now house turn indicators.

A redesigned center stack joins a new steering wheel on the interior. The tachometer also gets an update and will now vary the red zone depending on engine temperature. Redesigned seating in all four spots aims to increase rear leg room.

Driving dynamics weren't ignored in the update. A trapezoidal strut tower brace adds rigidity up front, while rear suspension geometry has been revised for better handling.

A new R3 option package - an homage to the R1 and R2 packages offered on the RX-7 - adds some attitude to the RX-8. A sport suspension with Bilstein shocks is paired with foam-filled front suspension crossmembers for a smoother ride and more control. Exterior bits include a rear spoiler, side sills, fog lights and a sportier front bumper. Nineteen-inch forged alloy wheels are wrapped in performance rubber. The interior gets Recaro front seats, a 300-watt Bose sound system, and convenience options like Bluetooth and Mazda's keyless entry and start system.

The 2009 RX-8 will continue as the only mass-produced rotary-engined car on the market today.

Click the link below for high-resolution RX-8 images.

Mazda showed a freshened RX-8 alongside their race-inspired Furai concept at the 2008 Detroit show. The 2009 model features several evolutionary tweaks as well as a new sporty option package.

On the outside, all RX-8s will get revised front fascias, bumpers, headlights and taillights. The exhaust tips are also larger, now measuring 90 mm. The front fender side gills have been replaced with smaller openings that now house turn indicators.

A redesigned center stack joins a new steering wheel on the interior. The tachometer also gets an update and will now vary the red zone depending on engine temperature. Redesigned seating in all four spots aims to increase rear leg room.

Driving dynamics weren't ignored in the update. A trapezoidal strut tower brace adds rigidity up front, while rear suspension geometry has been revised for better handling.

A new R3 option package - an homage to the R1 and R2 packages offered on the RX-7 - adds some attitude to the RX-8. A sport suspension with Bilstein shocks is paired with foam-filled front suspension crossmembers for a smoother ride and more control. Exterior bits include a rear spoiler, side sills, fog lights and a sportier front bumper. Nineteen-inch forged alloy wheels are wrapped in performance rubber. The interior gets Recaro front seats, a 300-watt Bose sound system, and convenience options like Bluetooth and Mazda's keyless entry and start system.

The 2009 RX-8 will continue as the only mass-produced rotary-engined car on the market today.

Click the link below for high-resolution RX-8 images.

Ford's aim to offer new product and revise its model mix isn't news, but today's announcement from the automaker shines much more light on what Fords lie in our future.

Although we knew about the pending release of the European Transit Connect van in 2009, Ford has dropped some specifics about other upcoming programs.

2010 Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, Lincoln MKZ

Refreshed versions of these midsize sedans are expected to launch in early 2009. Fusion and Milan will also be offered as hybrids, with fuel economy that's promised to top that of the Toyota Camry hybrid.

2010 Ford Mustang

A revised form of the pony car, already being previewed to enthusiasts across the country, will hit dealers in early 2009. We're expecting a debut at the 2008 Los Angeles auto show.

2010 Ford Taurus

A thoroughly restyled Taurus sedan will launch in the middle of 2009. Ford plans on offering its EcoBoost technology (turbocharged engines with direct-injection) in the new car.

2010 European Ford Fiesta and Focus

We knew the cars would (finally) make their way to the U.S. for 2010, and Ford has now revealed they'll arrive in both four- and five-door models. There's no word on whether a three-door Focus, especially in RS trim, would make its way stateside.

2010 Lincoln crossover

Ford claims its luxury division will receive a seven-passenger crossover halfway through 2009. Given the vehicle's description and the hint that it'll receive the EcoBoost powertrain, we're expecting a Lincoln version of the Ford Flex. Time will tell if styling from the MKT concept transitions into production.

2010 "Small Cars"

We've precious little detail on what Ford is planning here, but the company claims it will launch a new small car as a Mercury in 2010, alongside another small vehicle with roots in Europe. The latter is described as a "whitespace" entry, suggesting it may be a unique offering in our market.

2010 Ford Explorer

The ubiquitous Explorer will abandon the traditional body-on-frame structure for unibody construction in 2010. Given that, and the promise of an EcoBoost motor and a six-speed automatic, we're expecting it to be similar in concept to the Explorer America concept shown at the 2008 Detroit show. Ford claims the changes will help the model return a 25 percent improvement in fuel economy.

Along with the new products come a number of changes to Ford's assembly plants. The automaker already revealed its intention to switch factories from building slow-selling full-size trucks to small cars, so these revelations aren't earth shattering.

Ford's Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, Michigan, may have to revise its name. Presently home to the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs, the factory will be retooled starting in December of 2008 to build the 2010 European Focus for the North American market.

Production for both the Expedition and Navigator will move to the truck plant in Louisville, Kentucky, although a line in the same facility will also be responsible for assembling the 2010 Focus.

Ford's factory in Cuautitlan, Mexico, will build the 2010 Fiesta for North America instead of its present product, the F-Series trucks. Expecting further declines in the full-size truck segment, Ford has extended the life of the Ford Ranger by two years, giving the plant in St. Paul, Minnesota, an extra two years of work.

To me, the Range Rover is the one and only luxury SUV. I can see how people will drop nearly $80,000 on the English off-roader much more easily than I can understand people spending only a few grand less on the Lexus LX570. Sure, the Japanese offering is more powerful and will most likely be more reliable but it doesn't have near the interior and exterior style of the Range Rover.

I love the tall seating position front and rear and the tall windows all around. The interior is gorgeous but still carries a slightly utilitarian design that is perfect for the off-road credentials of the SUV. Plus, this is one of the few vehicles that my young children can see out of when they're buckled into their car seats.

Sure, some will say that the weight and thirst of the Range Rover is far too great for only a five-seat SUV. They have a point, a very good point. I still love the feel of the top-of-the-line Land Rover. The steering can be a bit too light (but it is very accurate), the suspension can feel slightly too soft at times, and the base 305-hp V-8 struggles with the mass of the SUV but I still like it.

No matter how expensive fuel gets, there will always be a Range Rover of some type. I like that the vehicle has always carried that same special feeling since it was introduced in 1970. I just wish Land Rover would offer its excellent twin-turbo V-8 diesel in America.

Marc Noordeloos, Road Test Editor

I agree with Marc. The Range Rover - and all of the Land Rover line, except the LR2 - has a certain presence that no other SUV comes close to matching. Deep down I know a Chevrolet Tahoe would do everything this Range Rover does, but I still find myself extremely happy to be behind the wheel of a Range Rover. The classic looks, easy-to-use interior, and serious, functional off-road goodies come together like no other.

I'm very much a truck and SUV guy. I frequently tow, hit off-road trails, and move lots of stuff. If I ever win the lotto, or otherwise come into some obscene amount of cash, I'll be adding a new Range Rover to my fleet. I don't think it could replace my 1988 Jeep Grand Wagoneer entirely, but this Range Rover has a place in my heart just like the Jeep.

Phil Floraday, Senior Online Editor

Looking at the Range Rover through $4-plus-per-gallon glasses, I want to dislike this vehicle for what it represents. The EPA fuel economy is 12/18 mpg, which is particularly dismal when you consider that the RR demands premium fuel.

I don't dislike the Range Rover, though, for the same emotional reasons that Marc and Phil already mentioned. It's always been a low-volume seller, so its relevance might not change too much in the new world of fuel prices. After all, when you spend $85K on a five-passenger British (Indian?) SUV, the price of gas in Frisco probably doesn't matter much to you anyway.

I love the forceful, confident styling; I love the chunky cabin materials, assembled with such apparent care; and I love that this über-ute doesn't ride like a truck (unlike our Four Seasons Toyota Land Cruiser).

Rusty Blackwell, Copy Editor

I have little doubt that anyone who can afford this vehicle can also afford to fill it up at $5 per gallon, but one wonders how many Range Rover owners will feel sheepish continuing to use their vehicles as suburban errand runners. If you can get past the potential for social ostracization, though, the Range Rover is still an incredibly appealing vehicle. What I like best about it is its low cowl, with fantastic views out the front and side windows. You sit up on a perch in the Range Rover, rather than sunk down into it. And in an age when so many vehicles are designed like bank vaults, with high sides and narrow windows, I rather enjoy sitting on the Range Rover throne for all to see.

Joe DeMatio, Executive Editor

I'm really impressed with the Roush chassis modifications. The car is well damped and offers a level of (relative) refinement that is better than any other Mustang I've driven. As with the Roush 427R we had last week, the cosmetic modifications are a matter of taste but the styling does fit the performance. This Stage 3 had about 1000 or 1200 more miles than the 427R test car and it felt better for it. The shifter was smoother and the engine felt crisper. I like muscle cars and the Roush products have a nice balance of raw fun and, again, relative comfort. For me, I would take a base, no-spoiler GT or a Bullitt Mustang and add the engine, chassis, and brake mods from the Roush Stage 3. That way, I'd get the performance but keep a sleeper look. Actually, I'd probably pay the big bucks and get a built 400-or-so-horsepower, normally aspirated V-8, as I'm not crazy about the over-the-top supercharger whine that dulls the glorious V-8 music. Either way, both the Stage 3 and the 427R Mustangs are huge fun.

Marc Noordeloos, Road Test Editor

I am no pony-car guy, but I did enjoy driving this car. The extremely precise gear shifter was a revelation; it's ten times better than the stock Mustang shifter and the best part of this overpriced options package. Naturally, there's lots of tractable power from the supercharged V-8, and the car handles pretty well, but it's not difficult to upset the live rear axle. I exited I-94 at Oakwood Boulevard on my way to an event in the heart of the Ford Motor Company campus in Dearborn, Michigan, and as I tore away from the stoplight at the end of the exit ramp, the car hit some rough pavement and the rear axle was scrambling for traction and bouncing the car up and down. But that's part and parcel of the Mustang experience.

Joe DeMatio, Executive Editor

This is my first time in a Roush Mustang, and while I can't say that I'm a huge fan of the cosmetic enhancements - I tend to like my Mustangs to look like vintage Trans-Am cars: simple, classic, and mean - I'm in love with the way it drives. Roush's efforts, amounting to little more than suspension tweaks, a heap more power and torque (thank you, Mr. Supercharger), a new exhaust, and a different shift linkage, have absolutely transformed the car. The Hurst-like shifter is hefty, chunky, and rifle-bolt solid (it's a cliché, I know, but it's true here), and while it sends shift effort through the roof, it also makes the Mustang feel like the biggest, angriest asphalt snorter this side of a Mack truck. The engine's yowl is iced over with a nice coating of supercharger whine, which really only rears its head during big throttle openings. Understeer is decreased, the back end is more controllable, and steering feel even gets notched up a bit. Dig it, dig it, dig it.

Sam Smith, Associate Editor

Now that I've spent some time in the X6, I still don't quite know what to make of it. When BMW introduced the X5, the notion of an SUV with good steering feel, a well-controlled ride, good body control, and an overtly sporty powertrain was compelling: the X5 didn't drive like a wallowy old pickup truck; it drove like a BMW. But it also had a lot of utility, so it was, arguably, worth carrying around all that extra mass and the subsequently more substantial chassis components required to support it.

And now we have the X6, which is, essentially, a four-door, four-wheel-drive coupe/crossover with only a smattering of the X5's utility yet nearly all of its weight (at 4894 pounds, the X6 weighs only 88 pounds less than the X5) and mass. It seats only four people, albeit very comfortably and luxuriously. It is rated at 20 mpg on the freeway, but I barely achieved 17 mpg with the cruise set at 80 mph.

It will come as little surprise that the X6 is a very good driver. It has much more in common with a sport sedan than with any SUV, with typically BMW traits: direct steering, strong brakes, firm damping, and superb body control. I first drove an X6 back in April in South Carolina, with BMW's new, 400-hp, 4.4-liter, twin-turbo V-8, which is an amazing engine. But the twin-turbo inline-six in our recent tester proved to be all the engine this brute needs. Mated to BMW's excellent six-speed automatic transmission, it sounds absolutely terrific when you leg the throttle, and it did not pause to catch its breath when I pushed the X6 to an indicated 122 mph, at which point it clearly was ready for more, even if my driving record and I weren't.

Although the X6 came in for a lot of criticism for its looks when it debuted at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show last September, I have to admit that its styling is growing on me. The car looks better on the road than on the show stand. Our dark gray tester looked especially good with its chunky, snowflake-design wheels, which are perfectly proportioned to the vehicle.

The X6's cabin is a familiar environment to anyone who has been in the new, second-generation X5. I happen to like the interior design theme and execution.

And despite my complaints about the X6's lack of utility, the truth is, I was able to haul a dishwasher in the cargo area as well as a bunch of other cargo. Then again, I could do the same thing in a Honda Fit.

Joe DeMatio, Executive Editor

So here I am, the die-hard BMW freak, the guy with the hood from a 1976 2002 on his office wall, the token in-office blau-mit-weiss dude. And I am both amazed and a little dumbfounded: amazed at the X6's capabilities, amazed at its refinement, amazed at its easy speed and magic rear differential; and dumbfounded as to why on earth my favorite car company would produce something so out of step with the times.

There's no denying that the X6 is a hulking beast of a vehicle - a nearly 5000-pound curb weight ain't nothin' to sneeze at - and you can feel its heft in everything from its steering response to the way its chassis reacts to pavement heaves. In a time of $140-a-barrel oil, something so frivolous, so at odds with itself, so patently ridiculous (they're calling this a coupe?) just seems like blind, raw hedonism. Especially from a company that once prided itself on producing small, light, efficient sport sedans.

Nevertheless, the X6 has a lot going for it, and I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that, like most BMW products, it's amazing to drive. It's kind of remarkable, in fact, how well it performs. BMW's latest SUV pounds down a heaving country highway with more composure and more tail-wagging sureness than a 335xi or an X5, and more speed than some purpose-built sports cars. The steering is a tad on the heavy side, ride quality is a little harsh on broken pavement, and few people would call the back seat anything but claustrophobic, but other than that, there are relatively few complaints. It's like an X5 that's had Magic Chassis Dust sprinkled on it from bumper to bumper. (And the X5 is pretty dang good to begin with.)

Sam Smith, Associate Editor