The American automotive market offers just three inline six (I6) engines. First and foremost: BMW's 3.0-liter unit. Devotees will find the propeller people's sublime I6 in the 328i and 528i, and in turbocharged form, in the 335i and 535i. Otherwise, there's GM's excellent 4.2-liter I6 found in the Trailblazer, Envoy and Saablazer 9-7x. And don’t forget Volvo’s new 3.2 and 3.0L I6 engines, used in the 2008 V70/XC70/S80/XC90 and the baby Land Rover. These sweet, smooth, silky engines are all that's left of a once-proud breed. The GM engine will probably die along with its host SUV in a few years, just as Jeep dropped its 4.0-liter inline six with the passing of the Wrangler. Mercedes ditched its straight six over a decade ago. Jaguar used to sell a six cylinder inline engine in the classical XJ6. And of course there were three outrageous examples from Toyota: the 4.5-liter straight six in the Land Cruiser and two different 3.0- liter six pots holstered by the Cressida, Supra, Lexus SC300 and IS300. Why has the I6 gone by the wayside? Lots of reasons. A V6 is a lot more compact, and most manufacturers use engines across their entire brand lineups. That means a modern V6 engine has to fit both transverse and longitudinal applications; Nissan, Toyota, GM, VW/Audi twist their V6s by 90 degrees. Hopefully the future will hold more I6 engines, if only because they tend to be so full of character, well balanced and smooth. Until then, you can pick up your own straight six on the cheap in a used Suzuki Verona (which even mounted it transversely).

[Click here for the technical differences between I6 and V6 engines]

George Clooney is box office catnip AND the critics’ darling. And no wonder: he looks great and he acts better than he looks. But what if you’re a movie producer who can’t afford Clooney’s vig? You get Thomas Haden Church. You know: the guy in Sideways, the movie about chit-chatting wine guzzlers. Sideway's producer knew Church wasn’t nearly as high profile as Clooney, but he was a lot less expensive. See where I’m going with this? If the MINI Cooper S is beyond your reach, should you lower your grasp? Big savings yes, but do you still get something of substance? Well, Church is an Oscar nominee. As for the Cooper…

Pontiac has announced prices for the Australian imported Commodore G8 sedan, and they're exemplary. The rear wheel-drive sedan with a 260 horsepower V6 and a five-speed automatic will run $27,595. Upgrading to the 360 horsepower 6.0-liter V8 and a six-speed auto will cost you roughly another two-and-a-half grand ($29,995). That's $1600 cheaper than the Hemi-propelled Charger R/T. While the dope Dodge still makes you go on a dealer inventory expedition to find cars equipped with the optional side airbags, all G8s pack six standard airbags, Stabilitrak and the Onstar Big Brother tracking system. And the V8 model has… wait for it…. a limited slip differential. Two complaints. First, the G8 should have had the 300 hp direct injection V6 and the 400 hp version of the 6.0-liter V8. Second, GM is not offering the anticipated six-speed manual transmission. Nevertheless, this is a slick, desirable car; the betting on dealer gouging starts now. I'm setting the under-over at $5k over sticker. Any advances?

The previous gen C-Class was not Mercedes’ finest hour.  Chief amongst its non-virtues: base engines that offered little in the way of functional power, refinement, fuel efficiency or brand faithful character (e.g. the 1.8-liter blown four). The fourth gen C300 (W204) put paid to that– and how. In fact, the new C may have finally have broken the bigger-is-always-better mold that the German carmaker has deployed to lure Benz buyers up the ownership ladder. Ah, but does that mean that the new, more highly-horsed C350 is so superior to the C300 as to steal stars– and sales– from its cheaper stablemate?

Cadillac is something of a comeback kid. The first time the brand was on the ropes, its divisional president interrupted a GM board meeting with a winning proposal: sell Caddies to America’s burgeoning black population. In the ‘90’s, America’s African-American community once again rescued the struggling brand; their passion for a rebadged Yukon infused the ailing automaker with fresh marketing momentum and a pile of cash. Now that the Escalade’s a bomb instead of da bomb, and Caddy’s passenger cars can’t cut the transplanted and/or imported mustard, Cadillac has a new plan. I call it The Beginning of the End. 

If you time-traveled back to 1964 and told a muscle car buyer that his ride would be a respected classic 40 years hence, he’d call you crazier than Khrushchev. Muscle cars were fun on the cheap. You got what you didn’t pay for:  nonexistent handling, pathetic drum brakes, two and three speed automatic transmissions and efficiency measured in gallons per mile (which was no biggie at the time). Thirty years later, Chrysler and Dodge are leading the charge down muscle car memory lane. Until the Chevrolet Camaro appears, the Dodge Charger SRT8 Super Bee could well be the post-modern muscle car mascot. Which is what, exactly?

Despite my emphatic warnings to travel by livestock if needs be, sharp looks and a flea-market sticker price have helped the Mitsubishi Lancer GTS to sell out in the U.S. The sportier version of the Lancer is leagues ahead of the regular ES that was the target of abuse in the June review posted on TTAC. But it still bites, especially with the Communist "every RPM will suffer equally" continuously variable transmission. Still, this is fabulous news for Mitsubishi, which only a few years ago was considering switching from building cars to panhandling for change in Manhattan.  Escaping from the domestic-auto love nest has been great for Mitsubishi, and makes it yet another manufacturer to be better off away from GM, Ford, or Chrysler, along with Subaru and Suzuki. But two questions linger: can Mitsubishi bring over more Lancers to satisfy demand before too late? Will Mitsu use the new cash to upgrade to Playskool plastics? Can Mitsubishi revamp the Eclipse and Galant, two monstrously important cars for the brand?

As Motor Trend (MT) and its buff book brethren hemorrhage readers and cash to the Internet, they’ve reacted in the only way they know how: by kow-towing to their advertisers with even greater ardor and even lower journalistic standards (yes, “special advertising section” readers, it is possible). But what really galls is their continued belief that they’re superior to both Internet websites and those who visit them. MT’s first test review of the 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX is a perfect case in point.

Jaguar's embargo on pictures of their new XF midrange model expired over the weekend. After seeing the snaps, it’s clear the brand is set to follow suit. Whereas the Jaguar C-XF concept car was a stunning shape with brilliant details, the production version is… meh. Of course, the concept-to-production castration has afflicted many a dream car. But the transformation is particularly regrettable for Jag. While Porsche had 14 years to move production Boxsters back toward the spirit of the original concept, Jaguar is out of time. 

Poor-quality car dealers. You know the score: dodgy facilities, salesmen you wouldn't trust with your pet rock, F&I guys who nickel and dime your paycheck into oblivion and service departments for whom "bilk" isn't just a word- it's a way of life. Industry analysts and desk-chair pundits alike condemn many (if not most) auto dealerships as a cancer on the industry. Believe it or not, car manufacturers share your distaste. Hence the reason the newly excised Chrysler LLC flashed its private equity muscles, threatening to close "underperforming" dealerships. Is that legal? 

Mercedes headed for legal action? No news there. But this time it's against the Chinese for a fraudulent design clone.   The Chinese-manufactured "Shuanghuan Noble" is set to debut at Frankfurt and go on sale in the EU shortly thereafter for about €7,000. Not bad, since a real SMART will run nearly €10,000. That might be pocket change to an S-Class shopper, but it's a reduction in price by 30%. Knock-off Burberry caps? Perhaps. Knock-off microcar? I think the safety kit is there for a reason… I'll stick with a nearly new Smart, thanks. This particular legal action is tremendous, because Mercedes is going to win (you think the EU Courts are going to let the Chinese push around one of the good old boys?) and it's going to show that just because the Chinese have inconsistent and weak copyright infringement, the Europeans won't tolerate such intellectual theft. I hope.

Back in the ‘80s, when Volvo was famous for making safe cars, the brand’s vanguard was an ugly, slow, heavy machine called the 240. Admirers affectionately dubbed it “the Brick.” The 240 was indefatigable. When Volvo tried to replace the car with a more “modern” boxy model in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, 240 loyalists– vegan university professors hauling cans of paint and their dog in a 240 wagon on the way to the farmer’s market– revolted. Finally, in 1992, Volvo execs terminated the 240. Some say that Volvo gained style and lost its soul. But hey, brand loyalists always say that kind of thing. Truth to tell, the old Swede’s spirit lives on in the S40. 

Sir Isaac Newton had a ninth law: all vehicles must gain mass with each passing generation. I know, I know: safety regulations, usable third row, American tastes, yada yada yada. And it’s true that the new, bigger Toyota Highlander exacts no fuel efficiency penalty for its extra height, width, length and weight. Even so, has the new Highlander lost something, as Toyota moves further and further away from cheap and cheerful towards pricey and ponderous?

Mercedes currently offers American consumers a choice of thirteen different model lines. What a difference from the Mercedes Benz of 1987, when only four U.S.-legal models wore the three pointed star. Back then, the Mercedes brand was renowned for fastidious, brick-shit-house over-engineering. Today, Benzes are known for many things, but mechanical robustness and reliability ain’t two of them. If anything, Mercedes has earned itself a reputation for persistent electrical gremlins and multitudinous mechanical misfires. Fresh from its divorce from Chrysler, Mercedes would like us to believe that the new C-Class represents a return to form. When you wish upon a star…

Reuters reports that three Welsh fishing buddies claim they've invented a device that collects 85 percent of CO2 produced by any internal combustion engine. More importantly, their "green box" holds the gas in a safe, inert state that can be easily handled, transported and released into a controlled environment. The inventors theorize that algae could then feast on the collected CO2, after which the algae could become biodiesel. If the technology works as advertised, the system would make a nice little end run around the whole greenhouse gas issue. Skeptics should note that not even the inventors wives have examined the green box's innards. Also, after every demonstration organic chemist Derek Palmer and engineers Ian Houston and John Jones divide their invention into three parts and hide them in various locations across North Wales. Should we buy this fabulous claim? Maybe. After all, Welshman William Robert Grove invented the first fuel cell– in the 1800's.