First Drive: 2009 Toyota Venza

Story and photos by John LeBlanc

PITTSBURGH–According to Toyota, its new Venza is not a car, station wagon, or SUV.

Instead, the company says its latest unibody utility vehicle has “no direct competitors in the market … It is a new kind of vehicle … a segment buster.”

So while the Venza looks, smells and feels like a CUV, Toyota wants new-car buyers to call it a “car plus.”Then Toyota admits that in developing the Venza, it “looked at the sport-utility vehicle and car segments and took the best from both.” Essentially, it formulated the standard crossover-utility-vehicle equation that companies from Audi to VW have already applied. Read more

Road Test: 2009 Porsche Cayenne GTS

Story and photos John LeBlanc

The leaves have been raked, the garden hose rolled up. And if you’re a Porsche owner, your beloved sports car is likely tucked safely away indoors, protected from the cruel hardships of yet another winter. Ahh, winter …

But wait: What if you could enjoy all the things you bought your Porsche for – thrilling engine sounds, snickety-snick gear changes, curve-hugging road manners – but in a roomier, more appropriate winter utility vehicle? Read more

Road Test: 2008 Mercedes-Benz C 63 AMG

First Drive: 2009 BMW 750 i/750 Li

Story and photos by John LeBlanc

DRESDEN, Germany–It was a textbook display of understatement: at the launch of the new 7 Series, BMW’s sales and marketing head Ian Robertson conceded that the styling of the previous version of the company’s flagship luxury sedan was “not without controversy.”

No kidding. Read more

First Drive: 2009 BMW 335d

Story and photos by John LeBlanc

MUNICH–If you’re a fan of fast, fine-driving, yet frugal automobiles, you should be thanking 19th-century German chemist Friedrich Wohler, best-known for his artificial synthesis of urea without the use of kidneys from man or dog.

Urea, naturally found in mammalian and amphibian urine, as well as in some fish, is apparently highly soluble in water. In humans, so I’m told, it helps expel excess nitrogen. Read more

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