2009 Cars

2009 Acura MDX Review
Estimated Starting Price: $41,000
At home in most any situation short of a Himalayan crossing, the suave, comfortable, and technologically intriguing 2009 Acura MDX is priced below other luxury SUVs that aren’t as versatile or enjoyable to drive.

New Car? Get Replacement EZPass Mounting Strips

2009 Acura TL Review
MSRP: $35,715
It’s bigger and badder, but is it better? The all-new 2009 Acura TL has controversial styling, more power, and a hot all-wheel-drive SH-AWD model. Get all the pros and cons in this comprehensive test-drive report.

2009 Buick Lucerne Review
Estimated Starting Price: $27,000
Tiger Woods would be broke if his drives were as wayward as this Buick’s. Sure, the 2009 Lucerne is a lot of sheet metal for the money, but its road manners are dissatisfying and it shortchanges on rear-seat comfort, of all things.

2009 Chevrolet Malibu Review
Estimated Starting Price: $20,000
Good old General Motors shows it knows how to build a midsize sedan that holds its own against the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. Modern design and balanced performance earns the 2009 Chevrolet Malibu a place on your shopping list.

2009 Chrysler 300 Review
Estimated Starting Price: $25,000
This is the car that reignited America’s love of big, boldly styled sedans with V-8 engines and rear-wheel drive. It’s getting long in the tooth, but fresh features and better performance show the 2009 Chrysler 300 is growing old gracefully.

2009 Chrysler Sebring Review
Estimated Starting Price: $19,000
Homely styling and a Tupperware-feel interior has sentenced the sedan to sales Siberia, but there’s some hope for the 2009 Chrysler Sebring convertible. It’s a reasonably cost-efficient way to expose four adults to some sunshine, and it’s available with the security of a power folding hardtop.

2009 Dodge Avenger Review
Estimated Starting Price: $19,300
Go ahead. Opt for the top-of-the-line R/T model with the V-6 engine and all-wheel drive. It’s by far the most roadworthy model in the 2009 Dodge Avenger lineup, and won’t cost you an arm and a leg.

2009 Dodge Caliber Review
Estimated Starting Price: $16,700
The 2009 Dodge Caliber looks like the toughest kid in junior high, and that ready-to-rumble attitude and low prices are the best thing about this compact wagon. Caliber isn’t very pleasant to pilot or to ride in, but available all-wheel-drive and some clever convenience features are present and accounted for if you like its styling.

2009 Dodge Charger Review
Estimated Starting Price: $21,500
Yeah, it’s still got a Hemi, and believe it or not, the V-8’s ability to idle four cylinders in low-demand driving makes the Hemi just about as fuel efficient as this big sedan’s V-6s. It’s just one pleasant surprise built into the 2009 Dodge Charger.

2009 Ford Escape Hybrid Review
Estimated Starting Price: $27,000
Combine an aged SUV design with a cutting-edge gas-electric powertrain and you have the 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid. It’s a balancing act a growing number of fuel-economy-conscious compact-SUV buyers somehow finds appealing.

2009 GMC Sierra Review
Estimated Starting Price: $18,000
Four-bucks a gallon sure shook “personal-use” buyers out of the full-size-pickup market right quick, didn’t it? For those who still need to tow big trailers or haul heavy loads, the brawny GMC Sierra stands ready with a range of features and equipment to get the job done.

2009 Honda Civic Review
Estimated Starting Price: $15,000
The Civic never sleeps, as Honda continues to wring new iterations from this great basic design. Indeed, the 2009 Honda Civic gains new models, fresh features, and revised styling to strengthen its position atop America’s compact-car sales chart.

2009 Honda CR-V Review
Estimated Starting Price: $21,000
Half the people who buy a 2009 Honda CR-V will pick the middle-of-the-lineup EX trim level. Half will opt for all-wheel-drive instead of front-wheel drive. One hundred percent will have chosen a rare blend of compact-SUV fun and practicality.

2009 Honda Odyssey Review
Estimated Starting Price: $26,500
Smart buyers see the irony in the irrational stigma surrounding minivans -- the most rational vehicles on the road. When they also recognize great design and improbably good performance, they buy a Honda Odyssey.

2009 Honda Pilot Review
Estimated Starting Price: $27,500
Redesigned for 2009, Pilot is slightly bigger and much better than ever. If there’s still a place in this crazy mixed-up world for a midsize, eight-passenger SUV, and if that place is your driveway, the 2009 Honda Pilot deserves to occupy it.

2009 Hyundai Genesis Review
Estimated Starting Price: $33,000
Look out Lexus, go on alert, Acura. This ambitious South Korean automaker crashes the premium-car party with a plush, powerful rear-wheel-drive sedan. Find out in this full road test if the all-new 2009 Hyundai Genesis justifies its upscale airs.

2009 Hyundai Santa Fe Review
Estimated Starting Price: $21,000
This South Korean automaker has rushed into the automotive mainstream. No where is its ascendance to the ranks of worthwhile buys more evident than in the 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe, a solid, roomy, and nicely priced midsize SUV.

2009 Lexus ES 350 Review
Estimated Starting Price: $34,000
Leave muscled-up looks, rear-wheel-drive performance, and firmly bolstered sport seats to other premium midsize cars. The 2009 Lexus ES 350’s mission is clear, and when you experience its enveloping tranquility, you’ll know the mission is accomplished.

2009 Mazda 3 Review
Estimated Starting Price: $15,000
The four-door hatchback, especially in turbocharged MazdaSpeed form, ignites the car lovers’ spark, but most buyers of the 2009 Mazda 3 choose the base-trim-level sedan. That’s OK. It’s still a hotter ride than most any compact-car rival.

2009 Mitsubishi Galant Review
Estimated Starting Price: $21,000
Plastic surgery rarely hides underlying truths, and the reality is that the 2009 Mitsubishi Galant feels old despite a sheet-metal facelift. That’s not to say, however, that it isn’t worth considering against other geezers in the midsize-sedan class.

2009 Nissan Altima Review
Estimated Starting Price: $21,000
Looking for a midsize sedan with more personality than a Toyota Camry, more attitude than a Honda Accord? The 2009 Nissan Altima is your ride. And if you feel like flying the coop, its edgy approach is available in two-door form, as well.

2009 Nissan Altima Coupe Review
Estimated Starting Price: $22,445
Four-door cars shout “climb aboard!” Coupes are a bit choosier. Yes, the 2009 Nissan Altima coupe puts the focus on you and one significant other, but does it
in style and offers a thrifty four-cylinder engine or a muscular V-6.

2009 Nissan Altima Hybrid Review
Estimated Starting Price: $27,345
Nissan taps Toyota brainpower to create a gas-electric hybrid midsize sedan. The impressive 2009 Nissan Altima Hybrid tops other midsize hybrids in fuel economy, but you can't buy one unless you live on the East Coast or West Coast. What gives?

2009 Scion tC Review
Estimated Starting Price: $17,000
In a brand landscaped with crates on wheels and stubby sedans, a traditionally styled two-door sport coupe is the breakout sales success. The 2009 Scion tC is that coupe, but you’ll have to act quickly because it, too, is about to transmute to something very different.

2009 Suzuki SX4 Review
Estimated Starting Price: $14,800
The 2009 Suzuki SX4 Crossover is the lowest-priced all-wheel-drive vehicle on sale in the U.S. It’s also a spunky, funky compact wagon equally adept navigating the canyons of Manhattan or Colorado. Oh, yes, the SX4 also comes as the Sport, a front-wheel-drive sedan. But there are lots of those.

2009 Toyota Camry Review
Estimated Starting Price: $19,000
It’s dismissed as the Maytag of midsize cars, but the hundreds of thousands of buyers who make it America’s best-selling car know the spacious, smooth-riding 2009 Toyota Camry is a very desirable appliance.

2009 Toyota RAV4 Review
Estimated Starting Price: $22,700
With its ability to swallow lots of cargo or carry up to seven passengers, this compact SUV is doubly attractive now that gas prices make heavier, less space efficient trucks seem frightfully wasteful. Better yet, a V-6 version of the 2009 Toyota RAV4 hardly consumes more fuel than a four-cylinder model.

2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Review
Estimated Starting Price: $22,640
Slip on your earth shoes, slip into this solid little car, and go 40 miles or more on a gallon of diesel. No engine clatter, no oily smell, the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI sedans and wagons are just like regular cars, except they’ll draw you into the fraternity of diesel believers.