New options make Prius pricey

High-tech features and luxury options will push the redesigned Toyota Prius into new territory--namely, $30,000-plus. The 2010 Prius hybrid will offer options found on luxury cars: systems that automatically park the car in a parallel parking space and slow the vehicle when a crash is likely. But Toyota is aware of a new competitor--the 2010 Honda Insight, a hybrid that is a little smaller and expected to be less expensive than the Prius.

Maserati refreshes Quattroporte

By Ben Whitworth First Official Pictures 24 June 2008 08:51 Maserati has given its Quattroporte a mid-life refresh and a power boost. The new flagship Quattroporte S borrows the 424bhp 4.7-litre V8 from the GranTurismo S, while the standard Quattroporte retains the existing 393bhp 4.2-litre engine from before, with both hooked up to the ZF six-speed automatic transmission introduced two years ago. No, fortunately Maserati has decided not to tamper with the Quattroporte’s styling – five years and 15,000 sales from launch and the Pininfarina-penned saloon still looks superb.

Hamana, hamana, hamana… SOLD!

The first thing that hits you driving over the hundreds of miles of desert on the way to see the monster Scottsdale classic and collector car auctions every January is the HUGE number of motor homes scattered willy nilly all across the sand and rocks like dice. Every winter Arizona sprouts fields of Winnebegos and Hitchhiker IIs like big, rectangular wildflowers, only less pretty (Not counting the requisite lion and dolphin murals airbrushed on the backs, what are those about, anyway?). Can snowy winters in Saskatchewan really be that bad?