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" Hiding Its Roots The newest Lincoln may share its DNA with other Ford family models, but it stands alone as an affordable luxury sedan. Lincoln could have simply slapped a chrome grille on the Ford Fusion, called it a Zephyr, and stopped. Happily, there&amp;#039;s more to the new Lincoln than the real wood interior trim. True, the interior is the car&amp;#039;s strongest selling point, with leather seats, dual-zone automatic climate control, a six-CD changer and heated front seats. But during our test drive from Manhattan to upstate New York, we found the Zephyr&amp;#039;s underpinnings have also been given the luxury-car treatment. The ride has plenty of polite pothole-soaking power without being sloppy. And the car handles in a relaxed, not roly-poly way. Softer tire sidewalls and specifically tuned shocks help separate the Zephyr&amp;#039;s ride from the Fusion&amp;#039;s. The 221-hp 3.0-liter V6 provides adequate hustle for the Zephyr&amp;#039;s front wheels to drive its 3410 pounds.--Jon Gromer No More Echo Toyota dealers have another incomprehensible name to deal with: Yaris. That&amp;#039;s what Toyota has long called its small car--known here as the Echo--everywhere else in the world. With this new model, the Echo name is history. The new sedan is 5 in. longer than Echo and built on a completely new platform. Yaris is offered in two hatchback styles: a four-door and a two-door. The car is at the bottom of Toyota&amp;#039;s lineup, yet it&amp;#039;s packed with interesting items: standard air conditioning and electric power steering (which saves fuel and simplifies the underhood arrangements). One look underneath, however, at the beam rear axle and drum rear brakes reminds you that, yes, this is a sub-$13,000 car. With its 2300-pound curb weight and 106-hp 1.5-liter engine, Yaris is rated by the EPA to deliver 40 mpg highway driving when equipped with the standard five-speed manual. The optional automatic rates just 1 mpg less on the highway, but the same 34 mpg in city driving. We sampled both transmissions in Southern California&amp;#039;s San Gabriel Mountains. We found the automatic is shift-happy--constantly hunting up and down--which made for a busy ride. With the manual, engine noise is still high, but the overall experience is much more relaxed. On more level roadways, Yaris&amp;#039;s performance is mostly acceptable, but just barely so when accelerating up a freeway on ramp. We are impressed with the space inside the cabin, especially for front-seat passengers. Rear-seat legroom is more than acceptable for a car of this class.--Jim Dunne Past Portholes Roadmaster. Wildcat. Blackhawk. Lucerne. Lucerne? Are you kidding? Is this what it&amp;#039;s come to? Yep. That&amp;#039;s Buick&amp;#039;s new name for its all-new flagship. Even Invicta and Electra offer more emotion. Well maybe that&amp;#039;s the point. As nice as Lucerne is--and it is nice--it doesn&amp;#039;t inspire any passion. Built in one body style, the Lucerne comes as CX, CXL and CXS, with either a 197-hp V6 or 275-hp V8. The only transmission is a four-speed automatic. We selected the premier CXS with the Northstar V8 engine for a get-acquainted drive. Styling is all new, inside and out. You&amp;#039;ll recognize the traditional Buick oval grille and the reborn fender portholes. On the road you hear the road bumps, but don&amp;#039;t feel them. Road surface noise and wind roar are highly muted, thanks to the laminated side glass, layered firewall and double mounting of the engine. Inside, the simplicity of design carries over. Best example: the uncluttered sweep of the instrument panel. The effect is one of greater space with more stretch-out room for passengers.--J.D. Think Go-Kart Racers demanded it: a hardtop version of the Lotus Elise. Called the Exige, it shares Elise&amp;#039;s 190-hp 1.8-liter Toyota engine and extruded-aluminum chassis. Weighing barely 2000 pounds, Exige is an amazingly responsive vehicle. Our intense time at Virginia International Raceway makes us want to go racing again. Available in several degrees of chassis tune and 21 different colors, there are few options. The truly serious can delete a/c and add a Torsen-type limited-slip diff.--Mike Allen An Ounce of PreventionAcura TSX &amp;amp;amp; RL With a modest restyling, the 2006 TSX sport sedan boasts an equally modest extra 5 hp and throttle-by-wire. There&amp;#039;s also cool stuff like Bluetooth wireless telephone support and Zagat restaurant survey data available in the speeded-up navigation system. The RL luxury sedan gets a few refinements, starting with Pax system run-flat tires and adaptive cruise control, which can maintain a constant separation between you and the car in front of you even if traffic slows and speeds up. That system shares an on-board, grille-mounted millimeter-wave radar with Acura&amp;#039;s Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS). This feature is intended to reduce the occurrence and severity of collisions. If you&amp;#039;re following a car too closely and at a closing rate of approach, CMBS illuminates a dashboard warning light. Follow a lot too close, and the system tugs the driver&amp;#039;s seatbelt--just enough to get his attention--and lightly (0.3 g&amp;#039;s) applies the brakes. If CMBS feels that a collision is imminent, it will pre-tension both front seatbelts and slam on the brakes (0.6 g&amp;#039;s), thereby at least reducing the severity of the crash, if not eliminating it altogether. Bravo.--M.A. LINCOLN ZEPHYR Price Range: About $29,995-$35,575 "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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