‘17 BMW 540i: A FIVE-STAR FIVE!

Posted on September 5, 2017 by MartynL

BMW’s seventh-generation 5-Series might have traded driving pyrotechnics for refined luxury, but it stills sparks passion, blogs Road Test Editor Howard Walker. Chances are you’ve never heard of the thirtysomething sultry songbird Beth Rowley. She’s the English jazz chanteuse who melts hearts in the 2009 movie An Education with her rendition of “You’ve Got Me Wrapped Around Your Little Finger”. YouTube her, you won’t be disappointed. While in the film Ms. Rowley wraps a nightclub audience ar...

CADILLAC CTS-V: FEEL THE FORCE!

Posted on August 31, 2017 by MartynL

Cadillac turns a Z06 Corvette into a four-door, 640-horsepower sedan, blogs Road Test Editor Howard Walker. May The Force be with you. Lord Vader, your carriage awaits. Six hundred and forty supercharged horses. Two hundred mile-per-hour top velocity. Zero-to-sixty in 3.7 seconds. More black leather than Ozzie Osborne’s wardrobe. This thing definitely has The Force! What we have here is the latest and greatest, third-generation Cadillac CTS V-Series sedan; the fastest, most-powerful, most ...

BENTLEY SUPERSPORTS: TOWARDS 200 MPH!

Posted on August 11, 2017August 11, 2017 by MartynL

OK, breathe. One last gulp of oxygen to feed the brain cells. We’re going to need a little focus if we’re going to hit 200 mph, blogs Road Test Editor, Howard Walker. Ahead of us is 3.5 miles of arrow-straight concrete. But not just any old concrete. This is the historic Shuttle Landing Facility, part of the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Florida’s swampy Merritt Island. It’s here, between 1984 and 2011, where a total of 78 NASA Space Shuttles, with names like Columbia, and Discovery, ...

‘17 AUDI A8L 3.0T: OLD SCHOOL MAGIC!

Posted on June 10, 2017 by MartynL

There’s an all-new A8 on the way, but it’ll be hard to beat the current version of this high-luxe limo, blogs Road Test Editor Howard Walker. It’s no secret that Audi will be pulling the silk off an all-new A8 flagship next month. Word has it that not only will the car have a polarizing, love-it-or-hate-it new design, but it’ll pack more computing power than a Google server farm, allowing it to move one step closer to fully automated driving. One of its multitude of ground-breaking featu...

‘17 LINCOLN MKZ: WHAT A DIFFERENCE 400-HP MAKES!

Posted on May 17, 2017May 17, 2017 by MartynL

A feisty new twin-turbo V6 adds some spark to Lincoln’s mid-size luxe sedan, blogs Road Test Editor Howard Walker. Not since Abe was in the White House has there been a Lincoln with this much power. For 2017, those artisans at the Lincoln Motor Company have endowed their stylish MKZ mid-size sedan with a honking 400-horsepower 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6. That’s the equivalent of strapping an Exocet rocket to the back of a kid’s Radio Flyer wagon. Pedal-to-the-metal this new MKZ 3.0T AWD can ...

’17 BMW X4 M40i: HEAD-TURNING TOURER!

Posted on May 9, 2017May 15, 2017 by MartynL

Love it or hate it, this coupe-bodied SUV is big on style and speed, blogs Road Test Editor Howard Walker. Sport-utes are supposed to be squarish and boxy, right? All the better for cramming squarish boxes in to. But to a certain sliver of the car buying population, square and boxy has about as much sex appeal as a U-Haul moving truck. These folks want their SUVs to look more like sports coupes, because coupes are sexy, right? To heck with practicality! The good damen und herren at BMW heard...

‘17 Mercedes-Benz S65 Cab: Sunshine Superstar!

Posted on May 5, 2017May 15, 2017 by MartynL

Silky-smooth V12 power is what distinguishes Mercedes-Benz’ magnificent AMG S65 Cabriolet, blogs Road Test Editor Howard Walker. The last concern on anyone’s mind, as they’re about charge $247,900 to their AMEX Centurion for the supreme pleasure of owning a ‘17 Mercedes-Benz AMG S65 Cabriolet, is being nickel-and-dimed. After all, they will already have rationalized the somewhat puzzling decision to blow an extra $77,195 over the sticker price of the visually-identical S63 Cabriolet, to s...