Yes, it looks like a giant Passat.  But it isn’t.

Volkswagen’s new ultra-luxury sedan, the Phaeton, has been criticized for its anonymous face, but we had a moment that belied this.  We found ourselves cruising through upscale Farmington Hills, Michigan, on I-696, and a Mercedes S-Class raced up alongside, braving triple digits to catch up, and then paced us.  Within moments, there was another S-Class on our right, also matching our speed.  The affluent couples in both cars were looking at the Phaeton and talking excitedly to each other.  Even if …

Don’t let the autopilot take over full-time; you’ll miss out on the exhilarating rush from the 5.5 liter double overhead cam V8 under the hood.

There’s no doubt that the somewhat plebian Volkswagen Passat can be transformed into a credible luxury sedan; with acres of leather, 4MOTION all-wheel drive and an all-new, innovative W8 engine under the hood, it’s the equal of any similarly-priced Infiniti or Acura. The question is, is there room in the pool for another $37,000 sedan, especially one with a Volkswagen badge?

The folks at VW certainly think there is.  The Passat has been quietly diversifying since its redesign in 2001, with affordable, family-oriented models at one end of the spectrum and …

For those BMW fans who hated the looks of the 7-Series, redesigned in 2002, and who can’t stand the sight of the new Z4, we have some bad news.  The distinctive “flame surfacing” design theme isn’t going away any time soon, you see.  The 2004 5-Series BMW is the latest offering from the German manufacturer to display the carefully sculpted, organic surfaces that have been envisioned on BMW show cars for years.

The new bodywork is evidence of a ground-up redesign.  In addition to the new face, the 5-Series reenters the …

Okay, say what you like about the Lincoln Town Car.  It’s not cutting-edge.  It’s a relic of an era whose time has passed.  It’s downright shameless with its battleship-like proportions, big V8, and rear-wheel drive.  That’s what everyone (except, of course, the cadre of fiercely loyal Town Car buyers) says.  None of that matters in light of one simple fact:  No one makes a big, fat slab of automobile the way Lincoln can.  Challengers like the Mercedes S-Class and Lexus LS430 may have the edge in high technology and Euro-styling, …

In a market segment that thrives on the newest, latest, and greatest, the Jaguar Vanden Plas soldiers along with a basic body shape that dates to the 1970s.  It doesn’t quite reach the extremely high luxo-technology bar set by the Lexus LS430 and Mercedes S500, nor can it match the performance available from a BMW M5 or Mercedes E55 AMG.  Yet it costs more than any of them.  Are we missing something here?

By virtue of longevity, the XJ sedan is Jaguar’s signature car.  Although it’s not the most technologically advanced …

We approached the 2001 Jaguar S-Type with a healthy dose of skepticism, because a lot of other reviewers have used words like “sublime,” “refined” and “sophisticated” to describe it.  This set off our Rhetoric Alarms; a lot of car folk pay too much lip service to Jaguar, Mercedes, and Porsche thanks to the heritage of these makes, and not necessarily because of the quality of the current product.  Personally, we’d never met a Jaguar before, so we had no reason to be moved by its Jaguarness.

We drove it, and can …

Talk about irony; the much-anticipated arrival of the Lexus LS430 test car coincided exactly with the arrival of my fourteen-year-old sister for a visit.  So much for playing hot-shot auto journalist for her, I figured.  What could be less interesting to a fourteen-year-old girl than a big, boring old man’s car?  A rich old man’s car, to be sure, but Lexus clearly didn’t have the Britney Spears generation in mind when they designed the LS430.

Much to my surprise, young Ashleigh hopped into the LS430’s back seat, raised the side and …

The timing couldn’t have been better; the Buick Park Avenue Ultra arrived just as we were heading out of town to visit relatives for the holidays.  It was a healthy dose of traditional American driving for a traditional American holiday season.

With the demise of the Roadmaster, the Park Avenue is top dog in the Buick lineup these days.  All of the current luxury car amenities are there; GM’s StabiliTrak traction control and OnStar driver assistance were made standard on the Park Avenue Ultra in 2000.
From prow to stern, the big …

The dramatic styling is like nothing you’ve come to expect from Volkswagen; it’s more like an Italian luxury car than a practical German family sedan