SAN ANTONIO — General Motors paid special attention to smoothness and quietness, neither normally associated with big pickups, in redesigning its full-size trucks for 2014.

Knowing that a majority of pickups are used as personal vehicles at least some of the time, the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra were tested by GM over many miles of smooth roads and normal highway surfaces as well as on cratered paths.

View more: USA Today

The face lifted BMW E89 Z4 is heading for the summer. After BMW did some magic tricks and slightly changed the car’s appearance, Auto Motor und Sport went for a quick spin to see what’s new.

They had the top of the line model, the sDrive35i, equipped with the 3-liter 6-cylinder turbocharged engine that sends 340 HP and 450 Nm (332 lb-ft), up to 500 Nm (369 lb-ft) with over boost.

Looking at the exterior design of the car, the side gills have been revised, along with a new interior illuminating design, two new colors have been added for the retracting top and you get to choose from a wider range of colors for the exterior.

View more: BMW Power

I happened to be driving the 2013 Ford Flex when editing Tom Sedens’ review of Ford’s other seven-seat SUV, the Explorer Sport, and I couldn’t help but think that this is the car he would have wanted.

Transmission with Sport mode? Check. No silly badging or attempt to pander sporting pretensions? Check. Deleting the useless middle second-row seat? Check. Living up to advertised fuel consumption? Er, well, okay, there’s no getting around the Ecoboost V6’s thirst for premium.

View more: Autos.ca

Once among the best-selling cars in the country, the Chevrolet Impala has been  reduced in recent years to a fleet car, bought mainly by rental companies and  driven by vacationers and business travelers.

But Chevy is talking a big game when it comes to the latest incarnation of  the flagship sedan. To see if the fully revamped 2014 Impala can compete with  cars like the Ford Taurus and Toyota Avalon, I spent a weekend with the new ride.

Read more:  Business Insider

Although the sheet metal of the 2014 may look similar to the outgoing truck’s, it is bolder. The Silverado apes the look of the Chevy HD trucks with a wider, flatter grill, power bulges in the hood, and square flared fenders. The windshield is actually laid-back by one degree, so even though the truck is blockier in appearance, it delivers better aerodynamic performance. It even has a lower front air dam designed with lessons learned from the Corvette program.

Under the skin, much of the new truck’s fully boxed longitudinal frame rail system is similar to the outgoing truck—but not identical. Executive chief engineer Jeff Luke says the frame is about 33 pounds lighter than the old one, thanks to the use of more high-strength steel, and the new truck frame is around 5 percent stiffer. The front and rear suspensions are unchanged, and the rear leaf springs employ a similar staggered shock mounting arrangement. The coil-over shock independent front suspension is also very similar to the outgoing truck, with slightly redesigned components to create a wider track and shed precious pounds. One significant change is the switch to electric-assist power steering to improve fuel economy.

Read more: PopularMechanics

Going down my performance check-list, I decided to punch the gas on my Quest mini-van tester from Hunt Nissan. The sensation was instant power, delivered through one the industry’s smoothest transmissions, the Nissan Xtronic CVT.

While I was still savoring the velvety power train, I glanced down at the speedometer. Oops, 80 mph. The Quest is sneaky fast, yet so quiet and smooth that I thought I was only going 65 mph.

View more: TimesFreePress.com

Lincoln Motor Co.?

Ford Motor wants you to think that its Lincoln upmarket brand is so different, so not-just-Fords-with-big-grilles, that it has renamed Lincoln as if it were a separate automaker.

Lincolns and Fords are made at Ford Motor factories, often sharing significant components, so it’s a stretch to consider Lincoln independent.

But the Lincoln MKZ seems not much like the Ford Fusion on which it’s based. That’s a good start, because MKZ is meant to revive Lincoln and give it a new identity: as sexy as Jaguar, as refined as Lexus, sporty enough to convert German loyalists.

View more: USA Today

Buick has been pulling out all the stops in an effort to get some younger buyers into its new line of cars. Using celebrities and athletes like Shaquille O’Neal and Peyton Manning, Buick’s parent company General Motors has put a lot of time, energy and money into rebranding Buick’s geriatric image.

The Verano Turbo is a big part of this effort to help younger buyers see the “all-new Buick.” Outfitted with an upgraded turbocharged engine, lots of standard features, a sportier exterior design and new technology, this small sedan is intended to prove that Buicks aren’t just nice to sit in, but also a cool and sporty car to drive, capable of mention in the same breath as cars like the Audi A3 and Lexus IS250.

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There, we said it. The Tesla Model S outscores every other car in our test Ratings. It does so even though it’s an electric car. In fact, it does so because it is electric.

Built from the ground up as an EV, this car’s overall balance benefits from mounting the battery under the floor and in the lowest part of the body. That gives the car a rock-bottom center of gravity that enables excellent handling, a comfortable ride, and lots of room inside. Plus, it has a front trunk where other cars’ gasoline engines would be, in addition to its large rear cargo space. This big luxury hatchback even seats seven, with its optional third-row jump seat.

View more: ConsumerReportes.org

We recently spent a weekend on the winding mountain roads of the Berkshires with the 2013 MKZ, the car Ford designed to relaunch its flagging luxury brand, Lincoln.
It’s a nice car, with a great body and some cool features. But it’s marred by a series of flaws you simply don’t see in similarly priced cars from luxury kings BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi.
Ford’s plan for the brand involves a name change (from Lincoln to the Lincoln Motor Company), a big marketing push (including a Super Bowl ad starring Jimmy Fallon), and an appearance by former football star Emmit Smith (strange, since retired athletes don’t exactly represent youth and reinvention).

View more: Business Insider