hi-fi

While most of today's consumer electronics goods are designed with limited life expectancies, high-end audio gear has always been built to last for decades. Sure, it's more expensive to buy the good stuff, but when you stop and consider how many years of enjoyment you'll get out of a pair of really great speakers (or electronics) the investment makes a lot of sense. So instead of buying and replacing gear over and over again, just buy something really nice, once.

My Samsung Blu-ray player conked out just before its second birthday, and the one before that was … Read more

With a supercharged, 6.2-liter V-8 producing 556 horsepower, the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe is one fast machine. Stomp on the gas in first gear and you are in for all sorts of fun, from the car twisting and turning under tremendous torque to the surprised looks of Porsche and BMW owners as you fly past them. And the future car look of the Coupe body perfectly fits this outrageous performance.

But the CTS-V Coupe is also significantly refined, a snarling tiger in a tuxedo. Magnetic ride suspension technology keeps its tires gripping pavement and maintains stability in fast cornering, making … Read more

The Equus is not your typical Hyundai. First of all, it costs a lot more, over 50 grand, than you would expect from the economy car maker. It also has a V-8, massage seats, and a refrigerator between the rear seats. It competes favorably with the Lexus LS 460, which Hyundai clearly had in its sights when it designed the car. And although it might seem pricey for a Hyundai, it undercuts every other luxury sedan on the market by 10s of thousands of dollars.

In Ultimate trim, the Equus comes with two big, powered seats in back, the right side featuring an ottoman. There is also a rear seat entertainment system. With all the money you save buying the Equus over a Mercedes-Benz S-class, you can give the chauffeur a raise.

Read our full review of the 2011 Hyundai Equus. … Read more

The first Porsche hybrid should be something to be thrilled about. But as we just reviewed the VW Touareg Hybrid, we noted similarities between the cars. Both use the same hybrid power train, meaning the exact same engine, which leads to similar acceleration performance. But the Cayenne steps it up with better handling, taking corners like a dancer.

Where the Cayenne Hybrid suffers the most is in cabin tech. Although Porsche fits its cabins with high-quality materials and charges a luxury price, the brand has never really stepped up its electronics game, leaving competitors such as BMW and Audi to … Read more

The latest Mini model, the Countryman, has four doors and can be had with four-wheel drive. A little roomier than the standard Mini coupe, it's a more versatile vehicle, ready to have bicycles and surfboards attached to the roof.

But its equipment, both in the cabin and under the hood, is the same as in the standard Mini, with BMW's advanced four-cylinder engine in the S model. Cabin tech could use a shot in the arm, although Mini makes some new options available, such as an integrated iPhone app with a variety of functions.

While we were reviewing our Mini Countryman, it had the temerity to break down, its engine refusing to start. A little research in Consumer Reports shows that Mini's expected reliability is not high, something we experienced first-hand.

Read our review of the 2011 Mini Cooper S Countryman. … Read more

We heard Audi was using Google Earth for the navigation systems in its cars, but it was a completely different experience driving down the road, seeing satellite imagery of our surroundings flow by on the 2012 A7's LCD. Through the streets of San Francisco, we suddenly became aware of what the rooftops of buildings we had passed a million times looked like. Parked by the bay, we weren't just looking at a cartoony representation of the coastline, but photos of actual boats in a marina.

And the maps were just the beginning. The T-Mobile data pipe into the … Read more

Following the Fiesta, the new Focus is the next car from Ford to rely on European design. The result is a sporty-looking compact with practical interior space. Ford's efforts to push fuel economy with technologies such as direct injection and electronic power steering give the Focus 38 mpg on the highway. And Sync remains a core cabin technology for connecting cell phones and MP3 players. Ford even offers automatic parallel parking as an option.

But the Focus still has a few rough edges. The automated manual transmission occasionally misfires, and the onscreen cabin tech interface is crowded. Not to … Read more

The last iteration of the Acura TL launched with too bold a look, and after only a couple of years in production, the 2012 version comes out with a toned-down grille piece and more subtle lines. Although the 2012 Acura TL SH-AWD is not as distinctive as its predecessor, its Acura identity remains intact.

And although it doesn't sit at the top of Acura's model lineup (that position is reserved for the RL), the TL SH-AWD shows off Acura's latest technology, and exhibits a level of comfort and luxury that outstrips its siblings. New features for the … Read more

Over the last five years, BMW pushed technology in its cars, launching such features as adaptive cruise control, head-up displays, navigation systems with topographic maps, and night vision. Recently, the company has even added data feeds to its cars for stock and fuel prices, along with e-mails read from BlackBerry devices. But among all this tech goodness, one car was left behind. The poor X3 remained stuck with technology from its 2004 launch.

Finally BMW paid attention to the redheaded stepchild of its lineup, lavishing almost every technological feature in the hope chest on it, and even coming up with … Read more