Automobile News

2010 Mercedes-Benz GLK350 4MATIC - Short Take Road Test

>> Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Associations with Mercedes-Benz and sticker prices typically involve an adjective equivalent to the word "high." So it's a bit of a surprise to find out that the 2010 GLK350 4MATIC starts at a not unreasonable $36,775, which is $3450 less than a 2009 BMW X3 sport-ute. A two-wheel-drive GLK, coming in April, will shed another $2000 off the window sticker. The competitive pricing—an Acura RDX SUV starts $2320 below the 4MATIC—is meant to lure "conquest buyers." Mercedes-Benz predicts that 70 percent of GLK customers will be new to the German luxury brand.

The cost-wary might want to avoid some of the $6670 worth of extravagant options on our test car. Highlights include the $3350 Multimedia package (which includes navigation) and a $970 appearance package with 20-inch wheels and tires and chromed roof rails. Running boards add another $660 and are positioned to soil clean pants upon exiting the vehicle.

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2009 Chevrolet Traverse - Virtual Test Drive

Welcome to CARandDRIVER.com's Virtual Test Drive, our new manufacturer sponsored area, where you can learn about some of today's newest cars and trucks. You'll be able to explore these vehicles, both inside and out while you hear what our editors had to say and then go along for a test drive with noted race driver Tommy Kendall as he gets behind the wheel. Click on a vehicle below to get started!

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2010 Fiat 500C - Auto Shows

This drop-top cutey is a successful exploitation of the past.

The Fiat 500, built in Poland on the platform of the more pedestrian four-door Panda, has been a smash success in Europe. No wonder Fiat wants to keep the buzz going, and it is doing so with new versions such as the 135-hp Abarth, and a unique convertible, the 500C, which is being launched at the Geneva auto show.

Almost everybody thinks theCinquecento (Italian for "500") is adorable, and while it looks monstrous next to the classic 500, it is one of the most compact cars on European roads today. The retro styling is especially successful in the front, and the rear end is close enough to the original, as well. Both the exterior and the busy interior offer countless options to personalize the 500 in more or less tasteful ways.

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2008 SEMA Show - Feature

Some freed slaves after the Civil War were given 40 acres and a mule. Beleaguered auto writers are sent every November to Las Vegas to slog through 46 acres of sensory-popping SEMA terrain. They'd kill for a mule.

As the annual gathering of about 2000 of the Specialty Equipment Market Association's member companies in the automotive-aftermarket industry approaches, whining is rampant among the media. It isn't SEMA's fault. The show is by all measurements a huge success—even in an off year such as 2008, which drew 1971 exhibitors and 104,000 attendees by SEMA's count, down about 15 percent from 2007.

If it can be screwed, glued, wired, or riveted to a car or a truck or a Hummer after it leaves the factory, you can find it at SEMA, often being fondled by booth nymphs clad in black vinyl hot pants. Our dread—paradoxical, it must seem—is born from eight-hour days spent trudging up and down aisles lined with chromed carburetors, polished wheels, plastic wings, and electronic doodads of every conceivable purpose and mega pixel count, looking for elusive morsels of news. It has an annoying resemblance to real work.

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