Car Buying University

The Ford F-150 SVT Raptor is without question the ultimate factory-built off-road truck, and Ford's SVT engineers aren't about to let it get stale. For 2011, a few tweaks enable the SVT Raptor to literally open more doors to the world of off-roading -- and do it with even more power underfoot.

The Durango has been a staple in Dodge's lineup since it debuted nearly twelve years ago, but realizing a shift in the market, Dodge has seen fit to completely overhaul its full-size SUV for 2011. After a year's absence from the lineup, the SUV has undergone an array of changes including a complete overhaul in looks, and is now based on a unibody frame that it shares with Jeep's new 2011 Grand Cherokee.

So these two Swedes, Volvo and Saab, walk into a bar. Long story short: Plenty of crazy stuff happens before they depart, worse for wear and unable to walk out under their own steam. But, praise Thor and the other Norse gods, they're still with us now.

For those of you who always obey the speed limit and come to a complete stop, the following information probably won’t be of much interest. But those of you who might occasionally bend the rules should listen up: We’ve got the skinny on Ford’s newest police vehicle offerings. You’d better start scanning the landscape for shapes other than the familiar Crown Victoria, which is no longer being sold.

Maybach has long been assumed to be at death's door. The brand is actually profitable on paper since the ramp-up investment has been fully absorbed by Daimler AG. Still, at a homeopathic 200 to 300 units a year, it's hardly worth the continued cost of a special distribution and service network. It doesn't help matters that current Maybachs are based on the previous-generation S-class -- not exactly state-of-the-art. Disillusioned and lacking a clear strategy, previous brand leadership was very close to putting Maybach out of its misery.

Replica cars are nothing new. Hot-rodders have been relying on new 1932 Ford body shells for years, and longtime readers may remember the Autokraft Cobra that was splashed on the cover of our second issue, in May 1986. But those are copies of exceedingly rare, expensive, and significant cars. A 1966 Ford Bronco is none of those things. And yet, starting later this year, the public will be able to assemble brand-new ones.

Q: What motivated your invention?
A: I can tell you the light-bulb moment down to the GPS coordinate. I was in my BMW 540i, taking turn 1 at Summit Point . It's a very hard, double-apex right-hand turn at the end of the front straight, requiring trail braking going in and a downshift during the turn. I kept losing speed and losing control in the turn because I was holding onto the steering wheel and sliding in my seat. My driving instructor told me, "You've reached that level where you've got to put harnesses in your car." But this was my daily driver, and I didn't want harnesses. So, I started to tinker with a few ideas and then tried them on the track. It took two years to find the solution.

Although most of the auto industry is using billboards and Twitter feeds to announce the oncoming battery-powered revolution, German automakers have been more circumspect. At various times, they've pooh-poohed the viability of electric vehicles and, at others, tantalized us with green supercars that will, at best, be extremely expensive and extremely limited in production. But make no mistake, the Germans are coming around, if somewhat belatedly, to the idea of electric vehicles for the masses, and to that end, they are developing a veritable alphabet soup of electric small cars that you may or may not have heard of. Here's your cheat sheet on the affordable electric cars we expect from the Fatherland.

Before Fiat bought Chrysler, the Italians were attractive potential partners to suitors from all over the automotive world. This appeal was not only recognized by Opel, who later withdrew from the alliance and fell back into the General Motors fold. Around that time, Mercedes-Benz seriously considered Fiat for a strategic alliance like the one they've since entered with Renault-Nissan. On numerous occasions, Volkswagen Group put out their feelers, too, but Ferdinand Piech's squad was primarily interested in Alfa Romeo.

Almost two years before the first front-wheel-drive BMWs arrive, we've dug up enough information to put together a detailed idea of what the model range will look like. BMW will develop its front-wheel-drive portfolio simultaneously with the next-generation Mini lineup on the UKL1 architecure. The collaboration will result in three BMW-Mini pairings with each set distinguished by a unique door arrangement. The vehicles, which will arrive at the beginning of the 2013 model year, are:

The Nissan Murano skipped a model year back in 2008 but came back to us recharged and revitalized for 2009. It hasn't been long since its refresh, but the contemporary midsize crossover will once again be altered with changed looks and a new SV trim.

Mercedes-Benz pioneered the so-called 'four-door coupe' segment with the first-generation CLS-Class. But with its 2012 CLS sedan, Mercedes now faces plenty of competition in the segment it created -- most notably in the form of coming offerings from German rivals Audi and BMW.

Less than two weeks after D-Day, Warrant Officer Robert J. DeMatio hit Omaha Beach with the 118th Field Artillery Battalion, 30th Infantry Division, XIX Corps, United States 1st Army. It was the first stop on a journey through France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany that wouldn't end until VE-Day in May 1945, a journey he chronicled in a typewritten history of his "rear echelon" section. Sixty-six years later, that journal in hand, Joe DeMatio retraces his late father's route in a Cadillac CTS-V coupe and learns that American power -- at least automotive power -- is still embraced on the Continent.

BMW's striking Vision EfficientDynamics concept, which debuted at the 2009 Frankfurt auto show, is headed for production as the 300-hp halo car for the company's Project i lineup. And then there's the M version.

The next Mercedes-Benz SL, codenamed R231, is new from bottom to top. Loosely based on the rear-wheel drive components set of the E-class, the hardtop-coupe gets a longer wheelbase to facilitate entry and egress for a graying customer base. There's also more room for passengers and luggage. Inside, we find a more user-friendly cockpit with better ergonomics, extended memory functions and new seats developed and built together with BMW.

Infiniti has been upping its game at Pebble Beach in recent years, and once again has something unique to share at this year's event. Pebble Beach is the place to make dramatic unveilings, and coming fresh out of the oven are the Infiniti Performance Line and the 2011 Infiniti Performance Line G Coupe.

Sometimes the rumor mill doesn't quite fire on all cylinders. Months ago, gossip swirled around a forthcoming Infiniti G25, an entry-level luxury offering that would purportedly utilize a four-cylinder engine. After Infiniti pulled the wraps off a series of new products at the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, we can report the 2011 G25 is fact, not fiction -- but we can't say the same for that I-4.

Dial your odometer back to 1969, one of the most contentious years in the battle between the original ponycars, the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang. By that year, Ford president Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen had poached designer Larry Shinoda from General Motors to massage the design that would house the Mustang's GT40-derived, 290-horsepower V-8. The displacement limit in the SCCA Trans Am series was 5.0 liters, which stoked the fire with the General's rival Camaro Z/28 coupe. American collective memory, however, would remember it as the 302, the cubic-inch figure that gave rise to the Boss 302 Mustang.

Traditionally, pickup trucks were sold with a combination of brand bravado and bragging rights. But paradigm seems to be shifting. According to Ford, 70 percent of full-size truck buyers wish for an improvement in fuel economy, and a whopping 32 percent are willing to abandon their loyalties and buy another brand.

Once upon a time, the 911 was Porsche's bread-and-butter product, but these days, the Cayenne and now the Panamera are easily outselling the sports car icon.

Relationships may come and go, but it appears the bond between Ford and motorcycle manufacturer Harley Davidson is still as strong as it was ten years ago. After pumping out no fewer than seventeen different special-edition pickup models, the companies have partnered again to produce the 2011 Harley-Davidson F-150.

Occasionally automakers ask members of the press what direction to take future products. The response is something like, "We need at least 500 hp, rear-wheel drive, a six-speed manual transmission, lots of Alcantara, and a station wagon body to hold it all." Normally automakers get this type of feedback and literally laugh out loud. Cadillac decided to build one.

The U.S. auto market continued to expanded -- just barely -- in July, exceeding both last July's sales and those of the previous month. Small cars had a harder time showing an improvement, because year-ago sales volumes were inflated by the federal government's cash-for-clunkers program. Still, after the fear of a slowdown in June, July seemed to suggest that things are getting back on track, just not as quickly as anyone would like. -Joe Lorio

Rolly Resos glances in his rearview mirror and murmurs, more annoyed than anxious, "That orange car is right on my ass."

Scientists can't classify it as an element, but soil is one of the few substances on this planet we simply cannot live without. Foliage and food sources spring from it, our modern world is built atop of it, and arguably, it provides the basis for one of the most entertaining forms of motorsport ever created: rallying.