Test on the famed Nürburgring in Germany, the CTS-V was built to be the best production performance sedan on the market, and we’ll be damned if it isn’t at least in the top 3. To really test it out, we got a chance to take the CTS-V around the track at the Monticello Race Way in Monticello, New York. Read our full review and watch track day video below…

PRICE: (Base) $57,920, (As tested) $68,135

SPECS:
Engine: 556, HP 6.2L Supercharged V8
MPG: 12 city/18 hwy

RIDE: When creating the CTS-V, it’s obvious Cadillac wanted to build a car that would be as comfortable in bumper-to-bumper traffic as it would rounding an apex on a track, and for the most part they’ve succeeded. The CTS-V comes equipped with driver controllable four wheel independent suspension with magnetic ride control. From the driver seat you can adjust the stiffness of the suspension by switching it to either “Tour” or “Sport” mode. Tour for your everyday driving and Sport for more spirited, performance driving. That said, while on the track the car felt comfortable enough in Tour mode to hold its own. But once switched to sport, you automatically sense a more firm and able ride with much less body roll. However, that doesn’t mean you can feel every hole in the road. It’s still a Cadillac and it rolls accordingly—nice and smooth.

But all that doesn’t matter once you floor the throttle. Open up the supercharged V8, wait for the rear end to settle a bit and then hold on as the car takes off. The power is limitless. On the highway, at any speed, you can floor it and the V will keep accelerating. 60 mph comes in around 3.9 seconds and 100 comes quickly after that. Suffice to say, you can get yourself in a shit load of trouble with the CTS-V if not careful. Mostly due to the fact that 110 mph feels as stable as surefooted as 30 mph.

EXTERIOR: The CTS-V pulls off a great balancing act. Thanks to its mesh grill, bulging hoodscoop and bodykit (front and rear diffusers), the V looks vastly different from the regular CTS. Seen from a review mirror, it looks like it could effortlessly devour a Civic. It straight up looks vicious. At the same time, it still looks buttoned up enough to roll up to the fanciest of restaurants with. And the 19″ aluminum wheels top off the look.

INTERIOR: If the exterior and the sonorous gurgle of the motor didn’t alert you to the fact that this wasn’t a normal CTS, the interior will. The two front seats are custom made by Recaro and do a great job holding you in place even under the most severe G (lateral pull)loads. They’re an $3,400 option, but we highly recommend you tick the box. Like all cars, the CTS has grown. There’s more room in the backseat—enough for three grown men to comfortably ride in for a number of hours. But, one of the best features of the interior is the suede steering wheel and shifter. It may not seem that important, but trust, the steering wheel is the one thing you interact with the most in the car and when it’s on point, it makes the experience all the better. Coming in a close second is the navigation/entertainment system which, with the push of a button, floats out of the dash to reveal of full touch screen. Yeah, we’ve seen this trick before, but it’s still cool to see.

AUDIO: A 5.1, 10 speaker, Bose surround sound system knocked loud enough to drown out the thundering of the engine. Bass came through clear and balanced, so much so we were able to hold a mini concert in a parking lot. Like most new rides, the V offers an integrated iPod/iPhone connection that allows you to control your iPod via the touchscreen. It’s not the best UI we’ve seen, but it’s much better than reaching down and fumbling with your iPod while on the road.

WHIP APPEAL: The boy racer has to grow up sometime, and when that time comes, the CTS-V is the perfect car. Heads in the know will give you props for copping the V over one of its competitors.

ONE MORE THING: With all the performance, along with its 4300 lb curb weight, you couldn’t possibly think this car was earth-friendly. Nah, not at all. The CTS-V has an average MPG of 15 mpg. And being that it’s almost impossible to drive this car responsibly, you will find yourself averaging less than that. You’ll be at the pump more often than DMX finds himself in the bing.

SUMMARY: If James Bond was American, this is the car he would drive. ‘Nuff said.

RATING: 5/5

SPECS:
Engine: 270hp, 3.2L V6 DOHC engine w/ FSI Direct Injection
MPG: 18 city/22 mpg

RIDE:
We had a chance to drive the Q5 over car-commercial-worthy roads in the hills of Pennsylvania. The Q5 feels sturdy while remaining deft enough to handle unpredictable curves at speed. (Hence, crossover CUV, right?) On the freeway, the V6 has more than enough kick to bullet past the slow and the curious. The Q5 also offers four switchable operating modes—Comfort, Automatic, Dynamic and Individual—which allegedly affect things like steering, transmission shift characteristics and engine response. Since we always left it at “Automatic,” we’ll have to take Audi’s word. It certainly sounds like a cool option.

EXTERIOR:
If the Q5 is Manny Pacquiao—you know, small but strong, engaging but menacing, etc.—then the front grille is Pac-Man’s left hook. Impactful. We’ve always loved Audi’s trademark grille but it looks especially fresh on the Q5 because if its lean, muscular physique. Should we pause that? Nah. We prefer the overall appearance of the Q5 to its main competitors, simply because it looks like a proper Audi, not a shrunken-down version of another car.

INTERIOR:
The insides of the Q5 are basically everything you’d expect from an Audi. From the moment you sit down in the driver’s seat, you feel the luxury. The new third-generation Multi-Media Interface (MMI) will be familiar to anyone who’s driven an Audi, but new features include 3-D navigation that is one of the best we’ve ever used (though an “along the route” option would’ve been nice). The display screen is big and clear, the cockpit is ergonomically perfect and the joystick controls (in both the console and the steering wheel) are very intuitive. The voice-command system—the navigation is programmed to respond to basic statements like “I need money” or “I’m hungry”—is cool in theory but a little gimmicky in execution. Way better than Ford Sync though.

AUDIO:
The “Prestige” package comes with an aptly-named Bang & Olufsen 14-speaker sound system—yep, it bangs. Thankfully, the Q5 also comes with a handy iPod cable in the glove compartment (it’s about time!) for seamless integration with the in-dash console. Unlike other iPod-auto integration systems we’ve used, the Q5 instantly recognizes all of your music and allows you to speed-search your entire catalogue. Using the steering-wheel controls to comb through a 60GB iPod while driving may not be the safest move, but it sure kills time in traffic.

WHIP APPEAL:
The Q5 is the type of car that doesn’t elicit double-takes so much as long, measured, admiring looks from grown-ass adults. Like, “I want to marry that!” instead of “I want to fuck!” It has a presence, this one.

ONE MORE THING:
For an extra $500, Audi offers “side assist”: a sensor light on each rearview mirror that goes on when a car is in your blind spot. Perfect for chronic cutter-offers. You know who you are. Assholes.

SUMMARY: We love pretty much everything about the Q5, but we also pretty much love everything from Audi. It’s not the most budget-friendly choice but for a crossover CUV, it’s the Complex choice.

RATING: 4.5/5

It’s not that Mazda can’t make a mid sized sedan as fun as the Mx-5. When Mazda dropped their 2.3L turbocharged I4 motor into the last generation 6, powered all four wheels and dubbed it the MazdaSpeed6, they proved they could make anything go zoom-zoom. It’s just that mid sized sedans are mostly bought by parents. And all they care about is getting from the crib to the dentist to Whole Foods with the least amount of fuss. Which the 6 will do since it’s now longer, wider and heavier than the last gen, meaning there’s more room for people and their things. Interior materials aren’t the best, but everything is ergonomically sound, so you’re not wondering why you can’t reach the climate controls or why you have no place to rest your elbow. Cop the Grand Touring edition and you’ll find yourself in the most comfortable interior Mazda has available. But all that doesn’t mean it’s just a cheaper Camry.

First off, the styling alone makes it more fun than its competition. Taking on more of Mazda’s Nagare design theme, the 6 looks like the sedan version of the RX-8. All the wheel arches are bigger, the roof line is more streamlined and future video girls can only pray their plastic surgeons can whip them up a rear end as attractive as this. Due to the new proportions, however, any wheel under 18in will look sillier than Cassie’s new haircut.

Just like her head, the 6 comes in two flavors— the “i” with a 170hp I4 (inline four cylinder) and the “s” with a 272hp V6. Despite the V6’s poor gas mileage (17 city/25 hwy), trust us when we say you’ll be happier with that over the I4. Especially if you live in a city where the cabs are already halfway through the intersection by the time the light turns green. Or don’t feel like keeping the revs up just to keep up with traffic.

While the engine choices left us wondering where that sports car soul was, the suspension gave us a little hint. It’s no canyon carver, but despite the light steering feel, if you whip it into a turn and the 6 won’t completely turn to Jello. So, yeah, the Mazda6 is still just a midsized sedan, but at least it looks like it wants to go zoom-zoom rather than go grocery shopping.

PRICE:Starting at $18,550 (iSV) goes to $28,260 (s Grand Touring)

SPECS: i: 2.5L 170hp I4, s: 3.7 272hp V6

MPG: i: 21city/30hwy, s:17city/25mpg

Let us not forget the storied history of the Segway, though! These things are awesome, from Cops running down gunmen to Arrested Development’s Gob showing how an executive can make the lamest device in the world classy. Hit the jump for a brief history the Segway…

2002: THE FIRST SEGWAY GOES INTO PRODUCTION

• There’s your dude, Dean Kamen. He’s a New Hampshire tinkerer, who figured out a way to jam a bunch of gyroscopes into your scooter for a little less than $6,000. After its 2001 unveiling, the device is hyped beyond any reasonable sales goals and is going to “change the world we live in”. The city of San Francisco, unfortunately, says “absolutely not,” and bans the device from SF sidewalks. Other cities follow suit, giving the device a rocky start.

2003: ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT DEBUTS ON TELEVISION

• What does this have to do with the Segway? Gob’s transportation of choice, of course. The Segway doesn’t get much play until season two, but this show had a lot to do with reminding people that the machines existed, and that they could be awesomely bad. If you’ve never seen this, Netflix all three seasons now.

2006: WEIRD AL YANKOVIC – “YEAH THESE SUCK”

• When this guy disses you, there’s nothing left. Or is there? You ridin’ nerdy? Segway at 1:14.

2007: FAMOUS PEOPLE SHOW UP IN VIRAL VIDEOS ON THEM (50 CENT)

• Floyd Mayweather on 50 Cent: “Real recognize real. He’s a real motherf***er, I’m a real motherf***er.”
“He’s got a Seggy, I’ve got a…wait, what the…get this dude out of here! Fuckin’ rappers.”

2007: FAMOUS PEOPLE SHOW UP IN VIRAL VIDEOS ON THEM (ALEXANDER OVECHKIN)

• Riding a Segeway, and no one knows who you are. Double fail at :28. Sorry Alex, you got to get on the PR tip.

2007: LIMITED EDITION FERRARI AND CHANEL (2009) SEGWAYS HIT MARKETPLACE

• Here’s how to fix a failing brand: make it luxury! Now it’s twice as much, but fancy.

2008: ANYONE CAN DO IT- MONKEY ON A SEGWAY

• And he looks just like me!

2008: OH WAIT. NOT ANYONE: SEGWAY FACEPLANT

• Wait for it. Waaaaait for ittttt…

2008: ESPECIALLY NOT YOUR KID

• Something about that sound that really makes you…want to watch this one twice.

2008: BUT YOU NEVER KNOW. IT MIGHT GET YOU LAID/FAMOUS PEOPLE ON SEGWAYS

• Well, probably not, actually.

APRIL 2009: SEGWAY AND GM PRESENT THE P.U.M.A

• There it is folks, and if you want to see more, get yourself over to the Javits Center in NYC this weekend.

Worldwide Hydrogen Super Highways has designed an elevated railway that will utilize hyrdogen powered traincars that can reach up to 200 mph. Finally! We’ll have a train system that can compete with the systems found around the world. Just how good are those systems you say? We picked five of our favorites for you below…

FRANCE’S TGV DUPLEX (Train a Grande Vitesse)

• Opened to the public in 1982 to shuttle passengers between Paris and Lyon, the TGV, which is French for High Speed Train, is Frances high speed rail system. It currently holds the record for the fastest wheeled train due to a controlled test run that saw the TGV hit 357 mph. Thanks to enlarged wheels, lowered axle’s and a lack of sharp turns in the high speed railing the TGV is able to hit 200 mph during normal operation. To accommodate the high traffic of people wanting to quickly travel around France and to neighboring countries, the TGV added a Duplex train.

SPAIN’S AVE (Alta Velocidad Española)

• When Spain started building their AVE high speed rail system in the late 80’s, they had plans for the line to do more than quickly shuttle people around Spain. Unlike the rest of the railways in Spain, AVE can hit 186 mph and uses a standard gauge rail line making it caveman-simple to connect to other countries rail lines. And with future plans to connect to Frances TGV, they’re doing just that.

GERMANY’S ICE (Intercity-Express)

• The flagship of the German national railway company, the Intercity-Express is one of the most widely used forms of public transportation in Germany. Now on their third generation of train cars, the ICE 3 is the fastest train in the system, able to hit 186 mph during normal operation thanks to a system of electrical units with underfloor motors, making them more efficient and reducing the the load per axle for each car.

UK’S HIGH SPEED 1

• Due to the fact that British Rail didn’t want to build new railways for their high speed train service, most of the UK’s train systems can’t go over 125mph. But with High Speed 1, Britain’s special purpose high speed rail, that’s gonna change in ‘09. New commuter trains capable of hitting 140mph (around the same speed as Acela trains) will be introduced on the London to Kent route. Before you go thinking that our Acela lines aren’t that bad, there are already plans for a High Speed 2 that will accommodate trains that go over 150mph.

JAPAN’S JR-Maglev

• Unlike the other trains on this list the JR-Maglev doesn’t use wheels, it uses a magnetic levitation train system developed by the Central Japan Railway Company and Railway Technical Research Institute. Although it’s currently only used in experimental conditions, the Maglev is the worlds fastest train, able to hit speeds of up to 361 mph, so you can get to LA from NY in just six hours.

It’s no surprise then that minivans have seeped into the American pop-culture more than once. To commemorate this landmark, we put together our five of our favorite moments in minivan history…

ICE CUBE AND CREW ROLL DEEP IN “JACKIN’ 4 BEATS” VIDEO

When you have to roll deep and still look gangster, what else would you ride in other than a blacked out Chevy Astro with chrome rims? It’s either that or a group bus pass.

MINIVAN CRASHES INTO NEWS STATION


We hate television news as much as the next dude, but damn, homie, drive slow. The only time we’d break through a wall is if Soledad O’Brien was on the other side.

MINIVAN MOMS PORNO SERIES

It’s like MILF Hunter and Bang Bus in one. What more do we gotta say?

TOM ARNOLD GOES POSTAL IN A MINIVAN IN 1996′S CARPOOL

If we were stuck up under Rosanne for half a decade, we’d do some off the cuff shit, too.

RAEKWON COSIGNS THE MAZDA MPV

“Rollin in MPV’s, every week we made forty G’s / Yo brothas respect mine, or anger the tech nine / Ch-POW! Move from the gate now.”

PRICE:$28,295

SPECS:
Engine: 262hp, 3.5-liter V-6 Duratec Engine

MPG: 16 city/22 hwy mpg (AWD)

RIDE: Despite the feeling that you’re pushing a hallway on wheels, the Flex has the road manners of a mid-sized sedan. The multi-link, fully independent suspension and the gas pressurized Macpherson struts provide a extremely smooth ride that will have passengers thinking they’re riding in a Lincoln. Steering is too light to do any real crazy driving (take it easy on the curves), but it feels confident whether you’re going 25 mph or 90 mph. Also, parallel parking this barge is made much easier with the great built in back-up camera.

INTERIOR: We’re not sure how this happened, but the Flex interior felt more high class than the Lincoln Navigators. The leathers are soft and supple, the wood grain lining the dash and the steering wheel looks great and there’s crazy head and leg room. The four moon roofs give the Flex an even more spacious feel. And while you’re riding around you’ll notice that road and wind noise is kept to a minimum, so you won’t be disturbed while you’re doing whatever you do in the back.

AUDIO: Sony comes through with a 390 watt, 10 speaker, 6 disc sound system that knocks pretty well. However, it doesn’t get nearly loud enough. For a ride as big as the Flex, we expected a sound system to match. What we got was a stereo fit for a Civic. It does come with a Aux and USB input so you can play your iPod or other MP3 players through the stereo.

WHIP APPEAL:Ford did the smart thing and went with an entirely different design route for this crossover. The box-on-top-of-a-box look, along with it’s faux wood grain and two tone paint schemes allow it to stand out from the rest of the crossover onslaught. You’re not guaranteed to get any numbers strictly off the strength of the Flex, but it did get the attention of a lot of people while sitting at traffic lights. Mostly just wondering what the hell we were driving.

ONE MORE THING: Most companies advertise that they can fit mad people in their crossovers. What they don’t tell you is that they all need to be the size of Bow Wow and Yung Berg. The Flex actually has the room for six to seven full sized adults. It also has a fridge for the bubbly.

SUMMARY: Ford’s newest crossover attempts to make you rethink what a crossover is supposed to look like and, for the most part, they succeed. It’s a huge ride that drives like a much smaller car. While the gas mileage is still not good enough to make those sick of SUVs buy it, if we needed to haul around a gang of people, we’d strongly consider it.

RATING: 4/5

Ain’t nothing like a second chance, just ask Pac Man Jones. We always like to see old and forgotten models that should have never been discontinued in the first place (the 914 was Motor Trend’s 1970 Car of the Year) make a comeback, Robert Downey Jr-style. While there are tons of whips we’d like to see on the streets again, there are some that have actually left a void in the market place. We chose five of our all-time favorite discontinued cars that deserve another shot….

TOYOTA COROLLA AE-86

Introduced in 1983, the Corolla Levin/Trueno appeared to be your average econobox. That was until the tuners and club racers got a hold of it. Thanks to its highly tunable 4A-GE engine and its virtually perfect 50/50 weight balance, it became an instant favorite of gear heads and petrol-heads around the globe. Let’s not forget about the drifting world. The AE-86 is so coveted that it’s almost impossible to find one in good condition, and if you do, it’ll probably be $2,000 to $4,000 over priced.

ACURA LEGEND

Although the Legend hit the scene in 1986, it was the second generation that was heaviest in the streets. If someone was ridin’ around shinin’ in one of these (especially the coupe), you knew they were doing something serious. At the time, it was the hottest big bodied whip out. Not only was the design ahead of its time, so where its features. The Legend sported a 200hp engine or a 230hp Type II engine. It had speed-sensitive steering, heated leather seats, hands-free telephone and soft-close vacuum operated doors. The Legend was replaced by lackluster RL and thus began the decent of Acura.

MCCLAREN F1

This one goes without saying. Before the Bugatti Veyron came through, the F1 was the fastest production car on earth with a 0-60 time of 3.2 seconds. It’s still the fastest naturally aspirated production car thanks to its BMW V12 engine. It was a beast. It’s still considered to the be the best car ever made, and we’d have to go out on a limb and agree even with the uncomfortable ass interior.

FORD SHO SERIES

When it comes to Ford performance all you really got are Mustangs. That wasn’t always the case, though. Back in ‘89 Ford introduced the Taurus SHO (Super High Output) that came with a Yamaha built 220hp V6 and a 5 speed manual transmission. They continued building ‘em all the way up until 1999 which left a void in their line up for people who wanted an everyday driver that had a little performance edge. There’s been cries from SHO fans for Ford to bring back the nameplate with other Ford models like the Fusion.

TOYOTA SUPRA
Honestly, we thought after the Supra was featured so heavily in The Fast and the Furious, we thought Toyota would bring back their twin-turbo monster. But we forgot how much cake they were making off of Camry and Prius sales. They’re more concerned with soccer moms and environmental freaks than with performance heads. Fair enough, sales showed people didn’t appreciate the Supra when it was here, but, damn, there’s nothing in their current like up that can mess with the Supra. Nothing. There’s talks of them developing a hybrid sports car to fill the void, but they better hurry up. The Nissan GT-R is already eating their lunch.