Subaru’s Outback spawned a whole category of imitators when it appeared on the scene offering some of the versatility of a sport-ute without the tradeoffs in ride and handling. Big-tired, all-wheel-drive station wagons have become almost as common as Ford Explorers, and the combination of carlike ride and off-road ability could be said to have inspired the Toyota Highlander, Lexus RX300, and other “soft-utes.”  Subaru lays claim to inventing the “sport utility wagon” niche (although we think that if AMC were still in business, they might dispute that, citing their …

You’d think that Chrysler would be content to rest on its laurels when it comes to minivans.  After all, the useful little boxes from Dodge, Chrysler and Plymouth have fairly dominated the market they helped to create from the beginning.  The latest incarnation features a power-operated rear liftgate and a movable center console, among other surprise-and-delight features, and Chrysler has a van at every conceivable price level in the market, with dozens of trim level combinations to choose from.  So what else is there to do?

Make ‘em easier to buy, …

Forget the first robin of spring; the real harbingers of warmer days to come are the first convertibles of spring.  We certainly had warmer weather on the brain when we drove the new Chrysler Sebring convertible in Michigan not long ago.  The handsome new Sebring impressed us with its sense of style and attractive design, but there wasn’t much chance for sun worship, as the clouds rolled in and the snow began to fall.

Determined to defy the weather, we put the top down as soon as the sun broke through …

“I thought you said that Jeeps were hard to live with,” my wife said upon meeting the Jeep Liberty.  “This looks like a real car inside.”  Say hello to the Jeep Liberty, the kinder, gentler replacement for the very long-in-the-tooth Jeep Cherokee.  By borrowing the looks of the Wrangler (and more than a bit from the very popular Jeep Dakar show truck, which did the auto show circuit in 1997) it looks like Jeep hopes to cushion the blow to the Cherokee faithful while courting Ford Escape and Honda CR-V …

The Ford Windstar is the only of the Big Three’s minivans with only one permutation.  Chrysler’s various minis are available as two different brands, with two different lengths.  General Motors also produces similar minivans under three different imprints, in two lengths.  But the Windstar stands alone.  There’s no Mercury or Lincoln version, and no short-wheelbase model, either.  The other two minivans sold under Ford’s umbrella, the Mazda MPV and Mercury Villager, are on completely different platforms.

That’s both good and bad.  It’s good because it means that there are no shared …

Update your mental car-reference file:  the Toyota Camry is no longer boring.  As soon as the all-new 2002 model hits showroom floors, the faceless mass-market car that’s so bland it’s almost a parody of itself is, officially, gone.

In its place, an all-new car bearing the same name.  The 2002 Camry manages to be everything that the current car is–a solid, nearly flawless piece of family transport–and at the same time, it’s several things that the current car is not–eye-catching and a bit of fun to drive.  Toyota knows the Camry …

If you’re looking for wheels that are far removed from SUVs, it’s hard to go much farther than the new Z.