First off, I’d like to ask you a favor. Could you please take a couple of minutes and fill out this survey? The suits at FM Publishing want to hook potential Truth About Cars (TTAC) advertisers on the quality of our readership. As you are all Harvard MBA’s earning seven figure salaries ready to buy whatever high-priced goods we tout, FM should have no problem landing a major sponsorship deal with BMW (you know, aside from the whole flying vagina thing). No really; do what we do: tell the truth. Much obliged. Now, to my main point: should TTAC post once or twice a day, or more?

Toyota’s RAV4 is often called a “cute ute.” For die-hard SUV drivers, the label is sacrilege, implying that the small four-by-four is a downsized, de-butched truck. To paraphrase the B52’s, WELL IT ISN’T! Like many so-called crossovers, Toyota “Recreational Active Vehicle with 4WD” is a hatchback on stilts that looks something like truck and drives something like a top-heavy station wagon. Despite these drawbacks, the RAV4’s runaway success has green-lighted the entire crossover genre. The latest version tells us all we need to know about the niche’s immediate future.

Somewhere between the proud homeowner and carefree apartment dweller lives the best of both lifestyles. Who wants to throw money away on a rented apartment or deal with the hassles of home ownership? Enter the townhouse: smaller bills and fewer hassles than a full-size home with more usability than a mere apartment. Just like a townhouse, the mid-size pickup combines attributes of rigs both big and small. And ever since its inception, the Toyota Tacoma has been living large in the mid-size pickup penthouse.

Driving talent is as rare as the ability to play a sitar. Driver training is a joke. Driver testing is the punch line. In fact, there’s only one thing keeping the highway fatality rate from ascending epidemically: the car. Electronic braking aids, traction control, stability control, handling improvements, crumple zones, airbags, seatbelt systems, stadium-bright lighting, pavement shredding brakes, tires so good they make ‘70’s rubber look like wagon wheels— these are our saviors. And it’s time to take the next step: automation.

While GM and Ford continue their slow-motion fall from grace, Audi’s headed in the other direction. The German automaker’s U.S. sales are up, moving towards record levels. The company has a raft of new vehicles on dealers’ lots and more models on their way– from mid-market entry level models to the new TT roadster to the R8 supercar. Audi’s interiors are still the industry standard for design, fit and finish. They’re modifying their distribution system to increase customer choice and reduce dealer inventories. So is all well with Audi?  Yes and no.

How easy is your car to use?  I'm not talking about acceleration, steering or cornering. I'm talking about the mental effort required to successfully interact with your car’s secondary features, such as in-car entertainment or the trip computer. While controls like steering (the brilliant simplicity of a wheel), throttle (foot pedal farthest to the right) and braking (second-to-right pedal) are standardized for most vehicles certified for use on a public road, the majority of other controls are confusing enough to plunge an automotive reviewer (or a Hertz Platinum Club member) into RTFM rage.

Formula One has lost two of its most unique drivers: Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve. Montoya was dumped— I mean, Ron Dennis decided that "with so many things happening in Juan Pablo’s life right now, he should take some time out of the car and prepare professionally and personally for the future.” Perhaps Mr. Dennis was referring to Montoya’s appearance at a press conference in front of sponsors' banners not affiliated with McLaren Mercedes, announcing he'd secured a seat in next year's NASCAR series…

Successful racing teams don’t normally change drivers mid-season. A switch usually requires a Ricky Bobby type antic, a messy public encounter between pilot and Hawaiian Tropics model, sickness, injury or death. Team owner Roger Penske’s recent decision to shuffle drivers for his LeMans LP2 Porsche RS Spyder is the exception that proves the rule. In fact, Penske isn’t punishing anyone for anything; he’s merely stacking the deck against his less-well funded competitors.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that a less-than-flattering Buick Lucerne review would score me a road test reprise on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Thanks to an internet-savvy Buick flackmeister determined to show me the light, the deal went down. Of course, RF pointed out that a junket courtesy of a diss-missed manufacturer was not without its dangers: brow-beating, brainwashing, alcohol poisoning and/or failed brakes. So I brought my Mom.

Once upon a time, a car that could crest 100K miles was a pampered piece of technology. To make it “round the clock” most machines demanded a tune-up every three to five thousand miles— at the very least. Today, high-mileage used cars with nothing more than a routine oil change under their [fan] belt are par for the course. Now that the goal posts have moved, how do we measure a vehicle’s “quality” and “reliability”? To some people the terms mean “the car starts when I turn the key and I don’t have to mortgage the house to keep it running.” To others, they mean “it looks and operates as well today as it did when I bought it.”  And to others it’s like pornography to a Supreme Court Justice: they can’t define it, but they know it when they see it. What’s your definition of reliability and quality? Are the two joined at the hip? Please post your answers below… 

Play word association with the average American consumer. Say the words “quality cars.” Chances are they’ll respond with “Toyota.” For decades, the Japanese automaker has carefully nurtured and perpetuated a reputation for producing well-built/reliable cars and trucks. As a result, the company’s US sales have grown like kudzu. As of last month, Toyota now sells more cars in the Americas than Ford. If you discount fleet sales (so to speak), Toyota’s totals are within shouting distance of GM’s, both nationally and worldwide. Despite this startling, seemingly unstoppable success, or perhaps because of it, the company’s supposedly impenetrable façade has begun to show a few cracks.

Since the late 90’s, hundreds of thousands of smart cars found homes in European towns, villages and apartments. I first encountered the smart fortwo at my tribe’s annual Testfest. Canada’s finest motoring hacks caned the diminutive machine on highways, byways, roads and racetrack, where one burly journalist declared the smart as much fun as a fart in a wetsuit. And now the butt of a thousand headline puns is headed your way America, thanks to the otherwise sane metal movers at The United Auto Group.  

It’s been said that walking on quicksand with helium balloons will keep you from going under. Now that The Blue Oval has finally realized that the sands have shifted beneath its feet, there are plenty of people selling the automaker balloons. The United Auto Workers (UAW) has publicly pledged to help Billy’s Ford’s boys “any way they can.” Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has proclaimed her willingness to sacrifice voters’ taxes to keep the Wolverine State’s assembly lines rolling. At the same time, Ford is contemplating radical solutions: cutting dealers, selling assets, forming alliances. Is Ford finding buoyancy or grasping at straws?

You've got to feel sorry for the Brits. Once home to some of the world's best– er, most charismatic vehicles, the country has seen their automotive crown jewels sold off to Johnny Foreigner and/or fade into the mists of time. With the disappearence of the once-proud MG Rover Group, it's no wonder that British automotive analyst Michael Wynn-Williams doesn't like the idea of Ford selling off Jaguar and Land Rover. In a recent white paper "Jaguar’s part in rescuing Ford," Trend Tracker's trend tracker said "Whoa! Slow down there Billy Boy! Why sell the family silver when you may want to throw a dinner party or two when things settle down a bit." OK, I'm paraphrasing. But Wynn-Williams' main point is there for the taking. So, I called-up WW and took it like a man.  

There is no way to overstate the appeal of the new Volkswagen Eos’ folding hardtop. I sat inside the car for ten minutes, opening and closing the lid, marveling at the mechanism’s precision and design. What kind of mind can develop something that folds and unfolds with such infinite grace? If you like to visit high speed factories spitting out hundreds of widgets per minute, filling them with liquids and shrink wrapping them in three swift motions, then you will never tire of lowering and raising the Eos’ five-piece hardtop. As for the rest of Vee Dub’s CSC (coupe-sunroof-convertible), it’s danger, boredom ahead.