Volvo makes safety sexier with this stylish crossover.

Volvo has been a longtime leader in the mommy-car milieu, a position that has imbued the Swedish company with a safety-oriented persona that’s given it the high ground in the family market. But that persona doesn’t translate very well with singles or young couples who want utility yet value cool above sensible.

If those priorities describe you, and you’ve been eyeballing compact urban utes such as the BMW X3, the Acura RDX, or, at the size/price periphery, the new VW Tiguan, here’s a ride that blends time-honored Volvo virtues with a generous dollop of style, performance, and even fun.

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Announcing the launch of the world’s first sports activity coupe is rather like announcing the world’s first six-decker sponge cake – probably quite tasty, but hardly a Jaffa cake moment, and way too tall to enjoy without getting yourself in a right mess.

So you don’t think much of the BMW X6?

I wouldn’t say expectations of the X6 are low – it’s a BMW after all – but it’s genuinely hard to know how to approach a car that offers so little excuse for its existence. Usually you’re looking for a performance against expectation – will it handle as we hope, can it go off road, will the engine amaze, is the cabin the hoped-for revelation? But here the expectations boxes stand empty. So an open mind will have to do.

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It just so happens that the all-new 2009 Nissan Murano is one of those nondescript mid-size crossover utility vehicles that may blend into the crowd. Its styling is certainly modern, if not overly exciting. The cabin is accommodating, if not excessively spacious. The handling is inspiring, if not unduly sporty. The engine is strong, and even reasonably efficient. How would this perfectly acceptable, yet hardly over-achieving CUV handle five passengers and full luggage on a 1,000-plus mile road trip across the Southwestern desert? Read on to find out.

The task at hand was to deliver three adults and two children, with their overstuffed baggage, round-trip between Los Angeles and Phoenix in the middle of summer. It’s a trip this writer has been doing for more than a decade, but always in a seven-passenger SUV (Chevrolet Suburban, Dodge Durango, Volvo XC90, etc…). Now, in a CUV with seating for five, we wanted to see how we’d fare (without resorting to strapping Aunt Edna to the roof).

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In the past five years, Volkswagen has had its pants around its ankles. Gas tripled in price, Al Gore invented the environment and the brand once known for frugality didn’t have U.S. products that could compete on fuel economy. Volkswagen’s diesel-powered Jetta and Passat weren’t even legal in VW-friendly California, NY and Massachusetts. After miles of regulatory legwork, VW brought one of its new generation European diesels up to fifty-state compliance. The Jetta 2.0 TDI hits dealers this fall. So is it The One?

The only change is underhood. This means the Jetta TDI looks like a regular Jetta. And that means it looks like a Corolla. Cut to the chase: this generation of VW’s best-selling product will never muster the charisma of the past model with its tidy mini-luxe styling. But it’s certainly no worse than the look of the cheese-wedge Civic or botoxed Focus. Just don’t mention the Mazda3.

The TDI’s interior is fine; it’s nice, it’s well built, it’s a list of mediocre compliments. Next? Read more »

Just past the curve in which Bruce McLaren bought it, and right before the corner where Niki Lauda had his face burned off, we ­realize the truth: General Motors must still be mad about our review of the 1980 Olds Omega Brougham. The company is trying to kill us.

Back in 2004, GM rolled the last steaming clod of asphalt onto its Milford Road Course (MRC), a 2.9-mile handling circuit at the company’s proving grounds an hour northwest of Detroit. The “Lutzring,” as employees have dubbed it in honor of GM’s meat-eating vice-chairman, Robert Lutz, plunges 135 feet from hilltop to trough and was pieced together like bathroom plumbing from some of the more treacherous corners in motor­sports. The 20 elbows, kinks, and blind whoop-de-dos are crowned by the 45-degree banked “Toilet Bowl,” which resembles the Nürburgring’s Karussell and which has already had its guardrails replaced at least twice. Only 16 of GM’s 266,000 employees are permitted to drive the MRC.

Naturally, a man-eating track you’ve never seen before is just the place you want to be in a 638-hp Corvette you’ve never driven before. Read more »