Autos 2006: Good, Bad, and Ugly

Three views from the NY Times: The Toyota FJ Cruiser gets good (two out of three writers), as do the Honda Fit, Nissan Versa, BMW 335i, Porsche Cayman, Dodge Charger and Jaguar XK; BMW M6 is bad (two again); Jeep Compass is both bad and ugly (two again).

1) "Small Wonders in a Big Year"

One good thing for the General:

Not only is the Lucerne the best Buick in years — the V-8 version rolls on a powertrain borrowed from the Cadillac DTS — you don’t have to be a septuagenarian to like it.

2) "Green Icing on the Cake"

But bad in general for the General:

Let’s just say that over all, General Motors had more candidates for the list than any other manufacturer.

3) "The Fast and the Frugal"

Mark C.

Update: Another Times takes an ugly view of the BMW 335i SE Coupé:

As a driver’s car, then, this is yet another winner. But I still wouldn’t buy one.

You need to think of it as a painting by the world’s greatest artist. Yes, the brush strokes are magnificent. Yes, the texture is superb. Yes, the perspective is world class and the detailing is better than you’d get from Leonardo.

But what he’s actually painted in this case is big dog turd.

Posted by markc at December 31, 2006 06:40 PM