RideLust

Thumbs Up: Stellar interior, great content for the price.

Thumbs Down: Vague, over-boosted steering.

Buy This Car If: You want a domestic luxury alternative to the Cadillac SRX.

Like Rodney Dangerfield, Lincoln can’t get any respect. Ford’s luxury brand spent years mired in mediocrity, and now that it’s stepped up its game no one seems to know about it. Perhaps it spent too many years living in the shadow of now defunct Mercury, or perhaps it’s trapped in a time warp between its traditional (and aging) customer base and the younger luxury buyers it hopes to attract. Quirky styling aside, the Lincoln products I’ve driven offer a solid build quality and a surprising amount of content for the price. Read More…

Nissan's Juke R concept. Image: Nissan

I’ll let you down up front: Nissan isn’t bringing it’s Juke R uber-crossover to market, and you won’t be able to buy one any time soon. In fact, Nissan is only building two, one in left hand drive and one in right hand drive, and we seriously doubt that anyone outside of Nissan will have an opportunity to take one for a spin. Read More…

Formula One stars generally drive fast sedans in their downtime, or so conventional wisdom says. Sebastian Vettel, the boy wonder of F1, bucks that trend by driving an Infiniti FX50 crossover. We can’t tell you why Vettel opted for the FX50 over, say, an AMG Mercedes or a BMW M5. Even if you tie it to Vettel’s contract and the Red Bull team’s Infiniti sponsorship, an M56 sedan seems like a more logical choice for the reigning world champion. Read More…

Thumbs Up: Surprising handling and more-than-adequate power

Thumbs Down: Styling Can be an acquired taste

Buy This Car If: You want a sport sedan but need a crossover

In the gospel according to gearheads, it is written that all crossover vehicles must be blandly-styled boxes, with no more driving excitement than a four cylinder Buick LaCrosse. Crossovers, after all, are the new station wagons: designed to haul families and their stuff from place to place, with near-zero focus on making the drive entertaining for the person behind the steering wheel. While most can be ordered with rear-entertainment systems to keep the kids pacified, most do nothing at all to amuse the driver. Read More…

The 2012 Dodge Journey. Image: Chrysler Group LLC

We’re not crossover fans here at RideLust, since no one has built one with 800 horsepower and AWD (yet). Still, if we had to pick one to drive above the others in the steamed-white-rice herd, it would very likely be the Dodge Journey. It’s comfortable, it isn’t the slowest of the bunch and it’s entirely boring to drive: it’s not as engaging as the Mazda5, but it’s bigger and by our estimates, anyway, more comfortable for cross-country road trips. Read More…

Mazda's upcoming CX-5. Image: Mazda

If you’re a fan of diesel engines and want an alternative to the VW and Audi TDIs, I’ve got some good news for you. Autoweek quotes a “source familiar with Mazda’s development plans” as saying a diesel-powered version of their CX-5 crossover will hit these shores in 2013 as a 2014 model. It will likely be powered by Mazda’s 2.2-liter, direct-injection turbodiesel, which should be good for about 160 horsepower and 310 ft-lb of torque. Read More…

The great thing about toys like Hot Wheels cars is that they have the ability to stimulate the imagination at a very young age. Cars like the Deora, the Sizzler series from the 1970′s and the original Twin Mill from 1969 have helped generations of car enthusiasts get their wings. Some of the cars, like the aforementioned Twin Mill are so cool that I suppose it was only a matter of time before they were actually built. What you are seeing here is the real life version of the original design that debuted in 1969. It comes complete with a pair of blown 502 cu inch big block Chevy’s that produce a total of 1,400 horsepower. It’s low slung, raw and the fantasy of every 11 year old kid out there. Obviously the Twin Mill wouldn’t make the best daily driver, but for a weekend cruiser, hell why not. Click through for the video.
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I’ve got sad news for you my friend; that crossover you bought – the vehicle that combines the practicality of an SUV with the driveability of a car – it’s actually been known for generations by a different name.

You own a station wagon.

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It was boxy, but good, and was perhaps the only passenger vehicle less aerodynamic than a Volkswagen Microbus. After an eight year run, Honda has announced the end of Element production, citing declining sales as the reason. Originally intended as a lifestyle vehicle for Generation X, the Element never drew the audience that Honda expected; instead, most buyers were north of age 40, and they embraced the Element for both it’s funky styling and its incredible versatility. Or maybe it was the only vehicle on the market that reminded buyers of the old VW bus.

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We’ve already told you all there is to know about the Range Rover Evoque (here and here), which won’t be on the streets for another ten months or so. That didn’t stop Range Rover from creating the above video, which appears to show a virtual Evoque being virtually driven through virtual streets, by ghosts. You do get a good sense of what the Evoque looks like on the road, and you also get a decent look at the Evoque’s well appointed interior and panoramic roof.

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