BRIAN J STRASNICK, Willow Laboratories inc

Lotus Elise SC Performance
Strip away the facts and figures, and the Elise — especially on Southern California's winding canyon roads on a sunny Sunday morning — easily confirms its place as a pure wind-in-your-hair driver's car.
When the pavement and weather conditions are pristine, the Elise
responds quickly and smoothly, its steering giving you fantastic
feedback. You'll think it's your best friend. But on average, rougher roads littered with cracks, gravel and railroad crossings, the Elise gets cranky, and there's no stability control to save your bacon if the car gets out of sorts. Some members of our team also found the shifter's action to be occasionally clunky. So although the roadster drives beautifully in optimal conditions, alas, such conditions these days are increasingly difficult to find.

Ford Escape Hybrid
Performance
Sadly, braking hardware goes the other way. Inexplicably, this year Ford swapped out the Escape Hybrid's rear discs for drums. Our 60-0-mph braking test of a 2008 Mercury
Mariner resulted in a 138-foot distance, which is about 10 feet longer
than we'd like. And that was with the rear discs, so we imagine with
drums back there it's only going to be longer. If we were calling the
shots at Ford, we would've fitted this ute with beefy discs all around.

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Mercedes-Benz E-Class Comfort
In back, the seat
has a high cushion so even taller folks have ample under-thigh support.
Though the rear backrest looks flat, it's comfortable, while nearly 36
inches of rear legroom prove enough for a pair of 6-foot staffers
riding front and rear.

Audi TT Coupe 3.2 Quattro
Design/Fit and Finish
There's no criticism inside, where the highest-quality materials come together with peerless fit and finish. The woven headliner is nicer than most cars' upholstery. Our test car's red and black leather brings a nice touch of color to an otherwise typically austere German cabin.

Test Drive: 2009 Acura RL Performance
The RL's handling is adequate and is significantly boosted by the Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) system that transfers power from front to rear and side to side. The result is that even a Sunday-only driver can corner like a Touring Car champ. In hard cornering, the car
feels big, although the steering is quick enough to feel sporty and the
newly revised suspension is a better compromise between comfortable and
sporty. Acura uses low-rolling-resistance tires, presumably to boost fuel economy, but the lack of grip takes away any teeth the all-wheel-drive system potentially adds. Braking also suffers — a stop from 60 mph takes up 131 feet of asphalt. By comparison, the less expensive Hyundai Genesis does it in 117 feet. Unlike the Acura TL, the RL feels as if it needs the SH-AWD just to keep its handling within acceptable limits; again, tires could be the culprit here.

Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer 4WD
Performance
Fuel economy for the 2008 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer 4WD is rated at 13 mpg city/19 highway. The new EPA combined fuel estimate is 15 mpg, which outperforms the comparable Nissan but can't touch the V8 4WD Kia Borrego's 17 mpg.

Saab 9-3 Turbo X Sport Combi: Design/Fit and Finish
Although its materials aren't bad, the 9-3's cabin quality is far from worthy of its inflated sticker. Perhaps at $36,000 we wouldn't be complaining, given the Turbo X's performance capabilities and utility. But at $46,000, it had better be as nice or nicer than its competitors from Infiniti and BMW. It isn't.

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