Asian brands top annual Consumer Reports rankings on reliability

Honda, Acura, Porsche and Scion topped the annual Consumer Reports reliability survey released on Tuesday. At the other end of the spectrum, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz were deemed among the worst. Findings are based on responses about 1.3 million vehicles owned or leased by subscribers to Consumer Reports or its Web site.

New Lotus Esprit revealed

The New Lotus Esprit We’ve been banging on that the new Lotus Esprit would turn up at the Paris Motor Show forever. It seemed the most logical step, but then Lotus went and shoved a spanner in the works a couple of weeks back by revealing the new Lotus Elite. So we thought that would be the powder spent for Paris.

New Mini Hardtop 4-door: First look

Meet the Mini Cooper Hardtop 4-door. The company has followed the surprise unveiling of its one-off Superleggera Vision roadster concept at the recent Villa d'Este Concourse d'Eleganza in Italy with this, a five-door production hatchback that is planned to join its North American lineup later this year. The new Mini model shares its front-wheel-drive mechanical package with the latest three-door Mini Cooper hatchback launched earlier this year but aims to provide more everyday practicality than its popular sibling through a combination of extended external dimensions and a pair of stubby rear doors.