Auto Reviews

Land Rover Goes Large With $100,000 Mud Bath: Jason H. Harper That’s not a road, that’s a stream running down a steep ravine.

Aston Martin DB2 Le Mans Racer Fetches $900,000 at London Sale A 1950 Aston Martin that raced twice at Le Mans sold for 550,000 pounds ($900,000) at an auction in London last night.

Hot Quest for Green Machine Makes Nissan, GM Tap Into Voltage Cars are going electric and Nissan Motor Co. is leading the way. At least that’s what the Japanese company was saying last spring at a media presentation in Bear Mountain, New York.

Audi Gets Brasher, Puts 525 Horses Into $156,000 R8 Super Car If you’re a carmaker, it’s a heck of a lot easier to get publicity out of a new model than one already in your stable. Incremental excellence isn’t nearly as sexy as the thrill of the new.

Ariel Atom, $65,000, Is Rolling Rocket With No Roof, Windshield Exposed, exhilarated and vaguely terrified. That’s the best way to describe the cocktail of emotions as I roll onto the Lightning racetrack at New Jersey Motorsports Park in a stupidly fast car that has no roof, doors or windshield.

Acura’s ZDX Is $50,000 Velociraptor in Land of SUV Dinosaurs Dude, the dinosaurs are dead. Which goes to show that all things must evolve in the face of cataclysmic change or, you know, die off for good. So it is with the auto industry and, more pointedly, sport utility vehicles.

Rolling Sculpture Beats Gold as Values of Collector Cars Soar Stephen Serio, a Waltham, Massachusetts classic-car dealer, expects the 1966 Ferrari 275GTB on his lot to sell for about $810,000. Five years ago, the same car sold for $500,000.

Lamborghini, BMW Use Alphabet Soup in Battle to Name New Models This is an open letter to car manufacturers -- a request, even a plea. Stop with all the numbers.

Thrash, Spin a $135,000 Mercedes for $1,895: Jason H. Harper This is a high-tech piece of Teutonic machinery: a sedan with a 518-horsepower, hand-built V- 8 assembled by a single technician in Affalterbach, Germany. And I’m drag-racing the sucker.

BMW Gets 550 Miles per Tank With Diesel Engine: Jason H. Harper BMW wants you to know it’s paying attention. As a company whose cars are aimed at people who enjoy performance driving, some consumers may feel that it’s out of step with all things green.