Pontiac Trans Am 10th Anniversary Doors Panels on 2040-parts.com

2014 European Car of the Year finalists revealed. Could the Mercedes S-Class win?

Could the 2014 Mercedes S-Class (pictured) win the Car of the Year? We’re at the end of 2013, so the time has arrived to take a look at the finalists for the 2014 European Car of the Year award. In the last few years, despite Europe producing some of the most impressive luxury and performance cars on the planet, the Car of the Year Award has gone to much more prosaic machinery.

One Lap of the Web: Humvees, abandoned Ferraris and a Volvo collection

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- Auto Blog drives a military Humvee that's fully armored for duty in combat zones, weighing in at 14,400 pounds.

Chrysler gets improved performance and handling marks from Consumer Reports

Chrysler Group is making strides to improve handling and performance of its vehicles, but the gains vary from model to model, according to tests by Consumer Reports magazine. The magazine said Tuesday that its recent tests of eight 2011 Chrysler Group models found advances in performance, interior fit and finish and handling. But it said the level of refinement in some vehicles still lags behind rivals.