The 328i has controversial styling because of the pointy front end. Get beyond that though and you will discover a car with modern priorities. This car delivers performance and fuel economy like no car before it has ever delivered. 0-60 is under 6 seconds and fuel economy is rated at 36 mpg on the highway. The real story for us though is we were getting mileage figures of 40 and 45 mpgs on the highway.
This car pretty floored us. Infiniti M Hybrid did not get us all excited in the email exchanges but as soon as the car was delivered to us, it was a week of bliss. They styling is simply incredible as it has leapfrogged all other Infinitis and all other hybrids before it. Driving it was a delight as this hybrid seems to have all the torque of a V10 engine. But then it really has the economy of a small car so you can have fun burning up the tires or hypermiling a getting over 30 mpgs.
Aside from the ground-breaking $370,000 LFA sports car, Lexus design has been stagnating. The entire line of luxury sedans look more ponderous than svelte, with baroque styling cues that seem Germanic rather than Japanese. Visual boredom has been the hallmark of the mid-level luxury sedan designated GS, a high-hipped Lexus remarkably devoid of personality. Until now, that is. Its replacement, the all new 2013 GS, will debut in February, 2012 as a 2013 model.
I'm a sports car guy. And therefore the prospect of a week in a massive SUV with third-row seating carries just slightly more appeal than stabbing myself in the leg with a dinner fork. But when the CX-9 showed up at our offices I was intrigued. After all, it's a Mazda, built by the same great minds who created the iconic Miata and RX-7, and they promise 'the soul of a sportscar' is instilled in their line of SUV's.