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    Lawrence Ulrich

    Lawrence Ulrich

  • Driving the 2015 Volkswagen Golf R, the grown-ups Evo

    If the Volkswagen GTI has been one of America’s best cult cars, then its Golf R and R32 offshoots have been the cult-within-a-cult.

  • 2015 Toyota Sienna review: The family hauler at the head of the class

    Ah, the minivan. The butt of jokes, the emblem of suburban surrender. This once-proud hauler has been overlooked in the rush to crossover SUVs. Yet minivan sales have roughly stabilized after years of decline. Joke all you want, but the minivan remains a smarter and more-efficient way to transport parents and their juice-boxing progeny than most any SUV.

  • 2015 Toyota Yaris review: The soft bigotry of low expectations

    Somewhere, deep inside the Toyota Yaris, there’s a really good car trying to get out.

  • Driving — and enjoying — the 2015 Toyota Camry, America's favorite car

    For America’s favorite car, the Toyota Camry gets more than its share of left-handed compliments, if not outright face slaps. Yes, the Camry has been the nation’s best-selling car for 12 straight years, with a 13th title in its sights. But to people who crave a personality in their family sedan, the Camry has long been overshadowed by its sharper-driving nemesis, the Honda Accord — along with rivals including the Ford Fusion, Nissan Altima, Mazda6 and Volkswagen Passat. Hell, just about every family car comes off sportier or sexier than a Camry.

  • Crossing 660 miles of the Continental Divide in Range Rovers fresh off the lot

    From London to LA, the Range Rover’s natural habitat might appear to be swanky boutiques and five-star hotels.But Land Rover likes to remind us city slickers that its proper, six-figure SUV can still get down and dirty like a backwoods moonshiner.

  • Maserati makes grand plans for revival at its 100th birthday party

    Slip-sliding around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with Derek Hill in the world’s last Maserati Tipo 151 – a vintage honey that tore through LeMans in the early ‘60s – it’s possible to imagine that Maserati’s glory days were all in the past. But seeing the alluring Alfieri concept car unveiled for North America, it’s clear that Maserati has more in mind than being a nostalgia act.

  • Driving the 2015 Aston Martin Vanquish and Rapide S: Same velvet, more hammer

    We know that Aston Martin owners are knee-deep in wealth. But now the British carmaker is flush with cash – and it’s beginning to show in cars like the Vanquish and Rapide S.

  • Driving the 2015 Lincoln MKC, the fashionably late small SUV

    Like a certain bearded president, Lincoln has had a rough time of late in the Ford Theater. Ford’s once-presidential luxury brand has struggled for sales and relevance. For decades, Ford has played the cold-and-withholding parent: It has failed to grant Lincoln its rightful inheritance, including stand-alone vehicle platforms that could help Lincoln compete against healthier luxury brands.

  • Peeling out at Octane Academy, the free driving school for Ford ST owners

    Buyers of Ferraris or Jaguars are used to perks from manufacturers – including racetrack lessons to help master their exotic machines. But for enthusiasts on a tighter budget, the Ford ST Octane Academy might be the sweetest deal in motoring: Buy a Ford Fiesta ST or Focus ST hatchback, and the reward is a free day of training at one of America’s longest, most-lavish road courses.

  • Taking Mini's Dakar-winning rally car for a dune-jumping ride

    Who you calling cute? Since its hugely successful revival by BMW, the Mini has rightly been known for its pint-sized urban charm. But there’s always been another side of the Mini: More macho than any Mustang, as invincible as a military off-roader.