<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" Popularity and Passion The new Camry&amp;#039;s looks may not turn many heads, but the car&amp;#039;s smooth performance and elegant interior will keep its owners smiling. Camry owners love their cars like they do their siblings--with a sincere but passionless devotion. So the folks at Toyota vowed to infuse the newest version of this best seller with some panache. After driving the 2007 Camry around Santa Barbara&amp;#039;s coast and countryside, we can say that Toyota has succeeded--mostly. The passenger cabin has been drastically restyled to be modern, elegant and airy, and it should win more fans than the exterior, which strongly mimics the larger Avalon. Bigger news is under the hood: A larger 268-hp V6 delivers the needed punch, and a frugal, four-cylinder hybrid promises 40-plus mpg, with more-than-adequate performance. Still no sport sedan, but the Camry hallmarks of a supple ride with predictable handling and a quiet passenger compartment are all dialed up a notch.--Don Chaikin Switchable Lots of carmakers talk about a vehicle that&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;new from the ground up.&amp;quot; Well, in the case of the 2007 Chevy Tahoe (and its corporate cousin, the GMC Yukon), it&amp;#039;s pretty close to true. GM&amp;#039;s redo of these full-size SUVs started with a new frame. Bolted to that revamped structure is a completely restyled body. If you need to transport your baseball team&amp;#039;s starting lineup, you can order one of these babies with three bench seats. For those with more modest needs, we recommend springing for the automatic flip/tilt second-row seats, which make ingress and egress to the third row as painless as getting into and out of a limousine. And once ensconced inside, you can&amp;#039;t help but notice that the completely restyled interior no longer looks embarrassingly like a 10-year-old pickup&amp;#039;s. From behind the wheel, you&amp;#039;ll instantly realize, as we did during our test drive through eastern Virginia, that the steering feel is enormously improved, thanks to the switch to a rack-and-pinion from the old truck&amp;#039;s Pitman-arm steering. But the huge news is the displacement-on-demand 5.3-liter V8. During periods of light load, the engine computer directs a hydraulic system to deactivate the intake valves on four cylinders, giving four-cylinder levels of economy. Tip into the gas, and you&amp;#039;ve got 320-hp performance. The transitions from four to eight cylinders are totally transparent--you practically need to call up the dashboard&amp;#039;s instantaneous mileage display and watch the icon change to see if the system is working.--Mike Allen Wearing of the Green The different kind of car company now has a different kind of hybrid. The Saturn Vue Green Line uses a battery pack that is charged by regenerative braking, like other hybrids. But to keep costs down, the Vue doesn&amp;#039;t have a high-output electric motor--it can&amp;#039;t run pure electric. Instead, Saturn replaced the alternator and starter with an electric motor/generator unit. That system provides about a 5-second electric boost of 5 hp to the Vue&amp;#039;s 170-hp 2.4-liter four-cylinder gas engine. Fuel savings come largely from the engine shutoff at stoplights, cutting fuel when decelerating, an improved four-speed automatic and lighter aluminum wheels with low-rolling-resistance tires. The net result is an estimated 27 mpg in the city, 32 on the highway and a range of 450 miles--more than 10 percent farther than a regular four-cylinder Vue. If you&amp;#039;re gentle enough with the accelerator, you&amp;#039;ll see a small, green &amp;quot;Eco&amp;quot; light glow on the dash. That lets you know you&amp;#039;re getting the best mileage. During our drives in the colorful terrain outside of Phoenix, we saw the little light shine only when cruising on the highway. Otherwise, we found ourselves working the gas engine hard to keep up with the fast pace of traffic. However, the independent testing firm AMCI achieved almost 30 mpg on a combined city/highway 3000-mile test. That&amp;#039;s impressive. Saturn says the Vue Green Line will start under $23,000 when it arrives this summer, which means you can go green without spending too much of it.--Ben Stewart Fresher Swede Saab&amp;#039;s flagship hasn&amp;#039;t seen a clean-sheet redesign since there was a Democrat living in the White House. And it may have to wait for the next administration before it gets one. In the meantime, the Saab 9-5 sedan and 9-5 SportCombi (wagon) settle for some tweaks. Though the folks at Saab claim 1367 changes to the car, you&amp;#039;ll be hard-pressed to spot most of them. You will notice, though, that now just one engine is available: the 2.3-liter turbo four-cylinder from last year&amp;#039;s top model, which now produces 260 hp, 10 hp more than last year. Power is routed through the front wheels via a five-speed manual or a five-speed automatic. By shifting quickly, we were able to hit 60 mph in 6.9 seconds. The suspension has been completely recalibrated with firmer springs and shocks, thicker antisway bars and wider 17-in. tires. Saab stiffened the bushings, too, for better steering feel and response. And, the rear track has been widened with less toe to improve handling and give the 9-5 a more aggressive stance. On the outside, there&amp;#039;s new sheetmetal at both ends. However, nobody on California&amp;#039;s Pacific Coast Highway seemed to notice that the Saab around us was any different than any other. Inside, we could tell from the crisper handling and sharper steering, as well as by the better and brighter interior. We&amp;#039;ve always liked the 9-5. And by lowering the price to $35,000, Saab might have done what was needed to tempt some folks out of their Teutonic cars and into this Scandinavian.--B.S.  TOYOTA CAMRY Price Range: $20,000-$29,000 "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a5648/2352881/>