Gear Patrol

Certain cars don’t seem to make much sense, yet somehow make it to market anyway. Whether it’s because of design or practicality issues, these red-headed stepchildren of the automotive world rarely succeed. The Porsche Panamera had some of the warning signs of those real-world failures. More potent than the base model but not quite as maddening as the Turbo S, it still bears the bulbous but muscled body the Panamera design has become known for. We got behind the wheel on some California roads to see if ze Germans could reconcile this nonsensical creation.

When we found out the 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA ($29,900 Base) wouldn’t be available stateside till September, we were willing to do anything to get our hands on it early; we even pondered selling our souls to the devil. Fortunately, we didn’t have to go quite that far. All we had to do was fly to the South of France for a day and half of driving. Yes, we spent 26 hours in the air to get 13 hours behind the wheel of this sub-$30,000 German ride.

If you know anything about Mercedes-Benz, you know that they deliver amped up AMG versions of their cars (and even did so for the now-deceased fat R-Class), so it comes as no surprise that the newly released CLA Class has received similar treatment in the form of the CLA45 AMG.

Nothing gets the 1% excited like the unveiling of a new Bentley (okay, except for really great stock market news). The 2014 Bentley Continental Flying Spur should certainly illict the best kind of kerfuffle amongst the bluebloods and new money, alike.

GM’s excitement dry spell (besides the Stingray) ends with the arrival of the 2014 Chevrolet SS, an American-made sports sedan that should expel the melatonin right from your pineal gland (thanks, high school bio class).

Family sedans tend to be the automotive equivalent of Valium (minivans are horse tranquilizers, in case you were wondering), but times have changed. Family men no longer need to sacrifice too much in the way of driving excitement and looks in order to transport tykes and trikes. We get it. You’d rather be doing some tire ripping, engine-snorting performance runs on your way to drop off your son at school. Still, we’ve compiled our list of “family sedans” that take let you perform your dad duties with aplomb while still allowing you more than a modicum of manly fun.

You can just about stop coveting the pricey Mercedes-Benz CLS and start picking the color of your 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA Class sedan. Based on the edgy A-Class hatchback, the CLA sedan is an entry-level Merc that looks far more expensive than it is. Boasting an incredible 0.22 drag coefficient, it’s the most aerodynamic production car…

The original Hyundai Azera wasn’t exactly sure what it wanted to be, despite Hyundai’s goal of slotting it between the Sonata and Genesis sedans. The placement made sense, given the huge gap in pricing between the two aforementioned cars. And though the Azera was a practical bargain with its roomy interior and V6 engine, it…

The wraps have just come off the 2014 Lexus IS before its official unveiling at the Detroit Auto Show, and the redesign effort has definitely not been wasted. More sculpted and aggressive than the car it replaces, the new IS sports the trademark spindle grille currently found on the LS, GS and ES. The fat…

Lexus, once the darling of middle-aged Asian-American women everywhere, is focusing more nowadays on driving experience as opposed to driving you to boredom. Lexus has also revised their design language to be more edgy, adventurous and sporty in appearance — relatively speaking, of course. What they’ve wrought is more than just a new brand-identifiable spindle grille, and it’s a change in the right direction. We’ve been tracking Lexus all year and even got in some track time in their new GS sporty sedan earlier this year; we came away impressed.

To the average man on the street, the difference between the 2013 Mercedes-Benz E-Class and the The 2014 Mercedes-Benz E-Class will likely go largely unnoticed — but well-informed GP readers will have the leg up. Much found in the Sindelfingen, Germany-built sedan and wagon is new, and all the internal and external changes debut at…

When it comes to BMW M cars, it seems there can never be enough horsepower. Clearly, that was the philosophy behind powering the 2014 BMW M6 Gran Coupe. What is arguably BMW’s best looking vehicle gets bumped up to the Motorsport division from whence all good things Bavarian come next year, and the payoff is…