When any manufacturer, but particularly an industry titan like Toyota, rolls out a new vehicle that they say is “in a new class”, well, the hairs on any journalist’s neck stand up a bit. That was certainly the case as we listened to Toyota’s executives and engineers roll out the new Venza.  But after a couple of days of driving it, talking to Toyota about it, and reviewing the data, we think they have a point. It’s a subtle point, but a point nonetheless.

You’ll notice that so far we haven’t said what the Venza “is”.  We haven’t put it in a category. Before we discuss the category the vehicle belongs in, we invite you to do the same experiment we performed with some of our colleagues at the launch.  Take a good look at the pictures of the Venza. What would you say this is?  Just for fun, make a mental note of that, so you can compare your reaction to what a group of journalists said in response to the same question.

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The Infiniti G37 Convertible has been speculated and teased for quite some time now, but the official details about the drop-top G have finally been released. A three-piece folding hardtop allows this G37 to do battle with the likes of the Saab 9-3, Mercedes-Benz CLK, and BMW 3-Series in the premium cabriolet market. The G37 Convertible can either be mated to a six-speed manual (in the G37S) or seven-speed automatic transmission, though unlike the coupe and sedan, no all-wheel-drive G37x version is available.

Infiniti has added a few technological goodies that make this convertible even more attractive, including an available Bose Open Air sound system that dynamically changes sound equalization based on outside noise, top position, and vehicle speed. On top of that, there's an adaptive dual-zone climate control system that adjusts the fan's speed depending on vehicle speed and whether the roof is on or off.

We do love convertibles here at Winding Road and NextAutos, and we're eager to get some seat time in the latest addition to the convertible segment. We're also happy to see that the folding hardtop hasn't ruined the G's sleek shape too much, either.

Scroll through our gallery of images to see the G37 Convertible in all its glory and click through the post to read Infiniti's press release.

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Like its hardtop Cayman sibling, the Porsche Boxster also gets a few upgrades for the 2010 model year, specifically direct injection and Porsche's new PDK dual-clutch gearbox, along with some minor styling tweaks.

The base Boxster's 2.9-liter flat-six now produces 255 horsepower, an increase of 10 horses over the previous model, while the direct-injected 3.4-liter engine in the Boxster S pumps out 310 horsepower -- an increase of 15. The Boxsters should achieve fuel economy numbers in the range of 25 to 26 miles per gallon.

Scroll through the gallery for photos of the updated Boxster, and click on over to our earlier Cayman coverage for the official press release.

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Introduced to the world this past August, it seems that Audi and racing team ABT Sportsline are spending some time at the Nürburgring with this, supremely wild R8 GT3.

The hugely winged and kitted R8 is said to have been fitted to the requirements of a GT3 race car, meaning that all of its 500 horsepower is directed to the rear wheels only—as four-wheel drive isn’t permitted in the formula. That prodigious shove from the V-10 engine is handled through a six-speed sequential gearbox. We’ve heard rumors that the racy R8 was clearing the ‘Ring in laps of around eight minutes, forty seconds, which isn’t bad considering the recently rainy driving conditions.

Have a closer look at the super R8 GT3 in our gallery above, or scroll down below to read a few words penned by the spy shooter himself.

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The Range Rover Sport is a vehicle that can go anywhere, do anything, and look trendy in the process. No, it’s not going to win any awards in within the Green crowd, but for the consumers who actually pay out for one of these (especially in Supercharged trim), it won’t matter. In our week with the Range Rover Sport, we found it to have more than ample performance, relatively good handling (for an SUV), and a pretty luxurious interior.

Click through the post for our editors’ full notes on the Range Rover Sport Supercharged.

The latest issue of Winding Road magazine is officially here, in both online and PDF formats.

Our cover story this month takes us to Italy where we drive Ferrari's new controversial California 2+2. We also take a 1987 Merkur XR4Ti out for a spin, spend some time in French Lick, Indiana, with World Class Driving, and review the BMW 750Li, Ford F-150, Volkswagen Routan, and Toyota Venza among others.

Click here to read the magazine in our online format.

Click here to download the PDF of this issue.

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As if the Porsche Cayenne GTS wasn't impressive enough, the team at Edo Competition has gone one step further in making the GTS truly mean. Tweaks to the engine means that the Edo GTS produces 450 horsepower and 530 pound-feet of torque, an increase of 45 horses and 161 pound-feet. That means 0-62 miles per hour happens in just 6.4 seconds and this GTS will roar all the way up to a top speed of 168 mph. All of this added performance comes courtesy of a high-flow catalytic converter, performance air filter inserts, and a new ECU calibration.

Engine aside, Edo has also outfitted this Cayenne GTS with a new brake system, featuring six-piston mono-block calipers with thicker and larger-diameter brake rotors (15 x 1.5 inches). A revised sport suspension has also been added, with adjustable height, compression (fourteen different settings), and rebound damping (continuously variable). On the design front, a new front skirt with four foglamps has been added as well as twenty-two-inch forged wheels. Customers can opt for painted wheel centers, as well.

No word on pricing, but we're sure that the Edo GTS comes at quite a premium over the standard factory model, and we think this is a great alternative to shelling out the cash for a Cayenne Turbo or the upcoming Turbo S.

+ Global Motors: edo Porsche Cayenne GTS

The safety features of today have come a long way from just padding and seatbelts. Nowadays, the technology released by auto manufacturers is becoming more and more advanced. Some may even start to implement radar in cars, if a recently released report can be trusted. As the story goes, beginning February 2009, Mazda may be adding a Rear Vehicle Monitoring System (RVMS) as standard on every European Mazda 6 Sport model.

The system utilizes two sensors mounted facing rearward that detect vehicles behind and to the sides of the fitted car. It will alert the driver when there is a car in the blind spot just off the rear of the quarter panels, and even provide a warning if there is a vehicle approaching at a rapid pace. The RVMS will also notify the driver of any vehicle, within 150 feet rear of the car that is approaching at more than 36 miles per hour. This should help drivers to anticipate cars that will be in the blind spot area by the time a lane change is initiated. All of these indications are given through a small speaker near the A-pillar, in the form of a warning tone.
 
Though the report and the extent in which this safety feature will be fitted have yet been confirmed by Mazda, the system may help reduce the high number of accidents occurring while performing lane change maneuvers.

+ Motor Authority: Mazda implementing rear-facing radar system from 2009

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With Hyundai Genesis Coupes released onto the road, it was only a matter of time one would meet its doomed fate.

Circulating around a multitude of Korean blogs are pictures of the unfortunate first crash of the Genesis Coupe. The 2.0 Turbo slammed into the concrete surround of a metal pole somewhere in South Korea, allowing us all to take a look at how the car handles real world accidents.

From the look of these photos, both driver and passenger front airbags never deployed despite the apparent severity of the crash. It does seem however, that the car did do its job structurally, having the front take most of the brute impact, while leaving the passenger compartment relatively intact. Facts are still obscure at this point as most of the source information is in Korean but hopefully more details will be known shortly.

+ Carscoop: First Hyundai Genesis Coupe Crash - Looks Like the Airbags Failed to Deploy

0-60 magazine is responsible for this video of Ken Block’s running of a Gymkhana course on an airfield in El Toro, Calafornia. It’s quite simply one of the most disgustingly competent displays of car control we’ve ever seen, in addition to featuring perhaps the bravest Segway rider we’ve ever seen. Take a few minutes, watch the video, and explode your expectations of what can be done with a car.

+ 0-60

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In order to compete in the 634-mile-long 41st Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert race, Volkswagen seemingly forged, machined, and filed away at a giant block of steel until the Touareg TDI Trophy Truck was born. To be unveiled at the L.A Auto Show, and christened with the name Touareg, the only similarities the truck has with its road-going relative are its four wheels and its name. Knowing that, it would certainly be quite a blunder to take this beast of a machine lightly.
 
A 5.5-liter V-12 clean turbo diesel engine growls somewhere underneath its sharp and cutting exterior and is able to produce 550 horsepower and 625 pound-feet of torque. And will need every bit of that power considering it weighs in at a massive 5650 pounds. Hopefully, its Xtrac six-speed sequential transmission will be able to hold up to that combo.

+ Carscoop: VW To Unveil Touareg V12 TDI Race Truck at L.A. Show

We've got a bonus round of Ask It for you all this week and it comes straight from our forums. This time aroud, it's the Toyota Tundra Double Cab -- the Japanese full-sizer that gives the American pickups a good run for their money.

Click on over to the forum thread and fire away with your questions about the Tundra and check back for our responses to all of your queries. Also, keep watching that forum for additional bonus Ask It vehicles.

+ Ask It: Toyota Tundra Double Cab

With participants hailing from Formula 1, NASCAR, the World Touring Car Championship, the World Rally Championship, and more, the Race of Champions is a pretty impressive spectacle. The event challenges drivers, usually splint into teams representing the drivers’ country of origin, to navigate the super tight confines of a road course, shoehorned onto a stadium field.  The ROC found a new home at Wembley Stadium last winter, and will take place there again this year.

Adding a bit of excitement to the proceedings this go-round, the wide swath of racers will be piloting the hardcore KTM X-Bow. The newly debuted track demon would seem to be a natural choice for the tight confines of Wembley, and one that has got the drivers talking already.
 
Longtime F1 driver David Coulthard is excited to trade in his standard racecar confines for a night with the X-Bow, calling the car “ingenious” and adding, “I think it looks absolutely stunning – I can hardly wait to get behind the wheel in December.”

The ROC is set to go off on December 13th this year, though it remains to be seen if U.S. motorsports fans will get a broadcast.

With the weather turning rather cold, rather quickly up around our way, we’re getting ready to kit out our long-term Volkswagen Jetta TDI with a fine new set of snow shoes. We had a good experience with the Bridgestone Blizzaks we used for our Scion xB long-termer, and we thought we’d ask which sort of foul weather tires our readers prefer. Are you planning on a set of snows this year—and if so, which brand do you prefer? Give us your picks, in comments.

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It had been a while since a GT500 had rolled through our test fleet, and it just so happened that we we’re scheduled to test a Roush Stage 3 BlackJack during the very same week. Having the two cars back to back made us realize how much of a total brute the GT500 can be, though there’s no arguing that the $47,995 price tag of our fully-loaded test car makes for one hell of a performance bargain.

Click through the post to read our full comments on the Shelby GT500.

As more and more manufacturers look to obtain the best fuel economy possible from their full range of engines, a few manufacturers have turned to rethinking their transmissions in order to lower overall fuel consumption. A lot of foreign automakers are now working with seven-speed transmissions and Lexus introduced its first eight-speed tranny in the flagship LS sedan and BMW is working on building their own eight-speed gearbox as well.

It now appears that Hyundai is jumping on the bandwagon and is working on a new eight-speed transmission for the Genesis sedan. This would improve fuel economy since engine torque can be maximized at lower revs in each gear and less energy is wasted in the long run.

While no official details have been confirmed, we'd expect to see Hyundai roll out their eight-speed gearbox around 2010.

+ AutoblogGreen: Hyundai to offer 8-speed automatic in Genesis

Track time, launch control, and a secret way to turn your all-wheel drive Porsche PDK into a rear-wheel drive car (seriously, watch for this juicy tidbit at around the 2:00 minute mark)? The hoons of Garage419 are on the case with Porsche’s newest 911 and a video camera at Miller Motorsports Park, in Salt Lake, Utah…just don’t ask them where the cool bars are.
 
+ YouTube: The New Porsche 911 with PDK - Garage419

It's no secret that our test fleet is commonly filled with top-dollar luxury cars and exhilarating sports coupes, so when a a sub-$20,000 car comes along and can still make us fight over seat time, it must be something special. The 2009 Honda Fit Sport is just that -- a class-leader in a segment that is finally getting some much-deserved time in the spotlight.

The new Fit has a ton of cargo capacity inside, and matched with Honda reliability and a cute appearance, this car is sure to be a hit amongst buyers looking to downsize. Thus, we're offering up the Fit for this week's round of Ask It -- fire away with your questions and stay tuned for our video response next week.

Even with the increasing frequency of navigation systems coming as integrated items on new vehicles, portable navigation devices (PND) continue to make big gains in popularity. Be it the lower cost, greater flexibility, or ease of use, often times the Navi units purchased in the aftermarket are superior to those provided by automobile manufacturers.

J.D. Power has surveyed some 4800 owners of PNDs, compiling the results in to a 1000-point rating scale. Products from Garmin scored highest (806 points) in the recent survey, performing especially well in the areas of display screen, ease of use, and overall system appearance. Tom Tom was the runner up (798 points), scoring well in the categories of system speed and voice directions.

Here are a few other interesting nuggets of information from the Power survey:

-    Average price of a PND has dropped from $375 in 2007 to $245 so far in 2008

-    More than 150 PND models are currently available

-    Around 40 percent of customers consider price to be the primary factor when shopping for a navigation device

-    PND owners selected real-time information—traffic, weather info, gas prices, etc—as the most desirable feature for a new device to offer

-    The portable nav crowd is an especially loyal one, with almost 90 percent of owners saying that they “definitely will” or “probably will” repurchase a unit by the same brand.

+ J.D. Power

In only his second year as a Formula 1 driver, and at the tender age of 23 years, 10 months, and 26 days, McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has become the youngest World Champion in the history of F1.

Hamilton secured his place in the annals of motorsport in rather spectacular fashion, closing in on the title by a single point after moving into fifth place on the final corner of the last race on the season calendar. Hamilton’s work at the Brazilian GP was just enough to edge the race’s winner, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, with Hamilton totaling 98 points on the season to Massa’s 97. Felipe certainly didn’t go down without a fight however, finishing in first place for his home grand prix in Brazil.

Hamilton called the GP, “the most dramatic race of my whole life.” Going on to say, “We did a fantastic job throughout the whole year and, with all the sacrifices we made, I'm so thrilled to be able to win this for everyone."

Hamilton’s championship points with teammate Heikki Kovalainen’s 53, brought McLaren to a second place finish in the constructor’s championship behind the 172 points earned by the Ferrari team.

+ F1-Live