The Volkswagen GTI has been a common favorite amongst drivers across the world for decades now. It’s compact, quick, powerful, and easily upgraded. The new upcoming version of the GTI will debut at Geneva International Motor Show with a big surprise: two power options.

Hidden beneath the hood of the new 2014 Volkswagen GTI with the standard power option is a turbocharged direct-injection gasoline engine that produces 220 horsepower and 258 foot-pounds of torque. That’s 20 horsepower more than the previous GTI. The more powerful option includes a performance pack that adds an extra 10 horsepower to the standard, boosting it to 230 horsepower. In addition, the performance pack adds bigger brakes and a torque-sensing limited-slip differential. More...

The American consumer seriously loves trucks and large SUVs. To me, they are the harbingers of good times, and the gateway to hauling bikes, boats and RVs that make life so rewarding. But what I don’t like about trucks is their thirsty, gas-guzzling demeanor. There’s nothing that sucks the joy out of interstate travel quicker than watching the gas pump spin up to $100.00 and then stop before the tank is even full. Whereupon you must start the refueling process all over again, maybe with even with another credit card.

Before testing some of them, I used to think that diesel-powered trucks were the answer – but experience has shown this isn’t necessarily the case. The reason is that diesel fuel is inexplicably not thrifty – it can cost 10 percent more than regular gas, which offsets the potential fuel-mileage advantage that premium-priced diesel vehicles offer in the first place. More...

The Nissan LEAF just recently broke past the 50,000 units sold mark, making it the best selling electronic vehicle in the world. More...

On an ordinary day of test-driving recently, I pulled up to a branch bank in a quiet Chicago suburb. Moments after settling into a parking spot near the entry door, a woman practically ran out of the building, toward our vehicle. Oohing and aahing to an extent that we’d not seen in a long while, she quickly proclaimed that the car in which I’d arrived was the cutest ever. More...

Now that we’re becoming accustomed to automatic transmissions with six, seven, even eight speeds, further “growth” was bound to happen. As reported by Automotive News magazine late in September, the engineers are at it again. More...

On August 28, the Obama Administration officially adopted the stringent CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standard that had been discussed and debated for months. Praised in some quarters and derided in others, the new regulation mandates a dramatic increase in average gas mileage, to 54.5 miles per gallon in the year 2025.

35.5 MPG By 2016

National fuel-economy standards already had been adopted for the 2012-2016 period. By the end of that time, the average new vehicle is supposed to get 35.5 miles per gallon.

Throughout the discussion that led to the 54.5-mpg requirement, critics—inside and outside the auto industry—insisted that such a figure was impossible to meet. Now that the requirement is a reality, will the automakers be able—and willing—to comply? More...