Is it wrong for an enthusiast to lust after the 2013 Honda Accord V6 Coupe? I mean really, the words enthusiast, lust and Accord seldom hang out in the same zip code, let alone sentence.

But after recently testing the new Accord V6 sedan, and coming away mightily impressed, we had high hopes for the Coupe version as well. Frankly, we were blown away. More...

The little two-door is a blast to drive through tight streets, giving you new levels of zip and fuel economy to die for. The iQ can even fit four people comfortably, and the rear seats fold down to accommodate plenty of cargo if need be. It’s great for city living and parking is a breeze. The Scion iQ is less than perfect for long trips on the freeway, but is a fun and charismatic ride through downtown streets. More...

You have to give MINI credit. The original “new” MINI that arrived in 2002 was a huge hit. Really, all they had to do was keep refining and freshening the model, and everything would have been fine. But smart marketers that MINI and parent company BMW are, they wanted to grow the MINI family to attract more people into the fun and funky brand.

So we’ve seen some interesting products: After the original hatchback, we got a convertible, then the extended wheelbase Clubman and mini-SUV Countryman. Next up, a pair of two-seaters—a first for MINI.

The 2012 MINI Cooper Coupe and Roadster are more rakish, more daring, and with even more edge than the original 3-door. We tested the MINI Cooper S Coupe.

At first glance, the Coupe looks like a MINI hatchback that was handed over to a hot rodder. Sitting slightly lower than the hatch, the Coupe’s calling card is a chop-top low-slung roofline that MINI says was inspired by a baseball cap on backwards. It’s polarizing; you either hate it or love it—but we got lots of thumbs up driving around in our test Coupe. More...

For 27 years, the Nissan Pathfinder has earned its keep in the SUV ranks the hard way: with real off-road truck-based performance together with enough civility to double as a daily driver.

Still Burly After All These Years

The 2012 Nissan Pathfinder is no different. With deeply cleated P265/60R18 BFGoodrich Long Trail T/A tires, three rows of seating, a torquey 4.0-liter V6 engine and four-wheel independent suspension, it has the makings of a genuine year-round workhorse. From off-roading in Appalachia to shuttling the ubiquitous swim team or towing a lightweight boat, the Pathfinder—now in its eighth year on this platform—has always been game.

Out on the left coast, there’s never any shortage of stuff to haul, from surfboards to mountain bikes—or events to attend, from marathons to motocross races. So it was easy to press the Pathfinder into service hauling a trailer and a street bike from SoCal up to the fourth annual Quail Motorcycle Gathering in Carmel, Calif. With the trailer weighing under 1000 pounds and the motorcycle weighing about 450 pounds more, the total load for the Pathfinder was far below its rated 6000-pound capacity, and the V6 never struggled with the weight on our 500-mile round trip. And a built-in hitch receiver and four-pin trailer-wiring jack truly made it a plug-and-go operation. Observed fuel mileage during the freeway portion of our trip was 18.8 mpg on 87-octane regular unleaded. More...

We’re always happy to spend some time in the Acura TSX. While it originally started out as a four-cylinder sport sedan, Acura added a powerful V6 to the second-generation TSX lineup, and an especially handsome (four-cylinder-only) TSX Sport Wagon.

If you want a manual transmission—and there are still a bunch of us driving enthusiasts who love to shift—your choice comes down to one: the Acura TSX Special Edition Sedan.

So we were especially pleased to find a TSX SE waiting for a test drive. The first thing that grabbed our attention was the eye-catching Milano Red paint on our tester. A bright, vivacious red, it’s unique to the TSX SE model, and combined with the SE’s special lower body kit on the front, sides and rear, we got a lot of compliments and second glances on our car. Considering that the TSX has been around a few years, it’s impressive that a new color and a little tweaking of the exterior got this much attention.

If you want to be stealthier, the Acura TSX SE is also available in White, Black and Silver. No matter the color you choose, the Special Edition TSX also enjoys unique charcoal tinted 17-inch wheels that add a little added toughness to the look.

While the look of the TSX Special Edition is a little different, mechanically, it’s unchanged. That’s fine by us, because this is a delightful sport sedan to drive. The 201-hp four-cylinder is turbine smooth and revs quickly, made all the more enjoyable by a light clutch and a six-speed manual gearbox that has a direct, short throw and snicks into gear with lovely mechanical directness. (By the way, a five-speed sport-shift automatic is also available at no extra cost.) More...

Chrysler’s SRT (Street and Racing Technology) group develops performance versions of Chrysler products that focus on five specific attributes: “awe-inspiring” powertrains, outstanding ride and handling, “benchmark” braking, “aggressive” exteriors and “race-inspired” interiors. The 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8 wears its own front fascia with a new grille and new Chrysler wing badge. It’s lowered a half inch and sports SRT-exclusive body-color side sill cladding. The rear view is dominated by a unique lower fascia with a chrome accent bar, four-inch round dual exhaust tips and an SRT8 deck-lid badge.

Its 6.4-liter HEMI V8 offers 470 horses and 470 lb.-ft. of tarmac-shredding torque, up 45 hp and 50 lb.-ft. over the 6.1-liter HEMI V-8 it replaces. It can thunder from rest to 60 mph in less than five seconds, run the quarter-mile in the high 12-seconds, stop from 60 mph in 120 feet and accelerate to 100 mph, then brake back to a stop, in less than 16 seconds.

Yet it uses Chrysler’s Fuel Saver Technology (cylinder deactivation) to boost fuel efficiency by shutting down four of its eight cylinders under light loads. While its EPA city fuel economy is a thirsty 14 mpg, its 2012 highway number is up 21 percent from the previous generation’s to a respectable 23 mpg. The smooth five-speed automatic (not yet a six-speed or the regular 2012 300’s new, more fuel-efficient eight-speed) offers a choice of “Normal” or “Sport” modes and new steering wheel paddles for quick and easy manual shifting. More...