MotorMouths

The Cayenne Turbo is much more resolved than the original. With more power, performance and better fuel mileage, Porsche looks to be adding a more positive chapter to the Cayenne’s already lengthy history.

For those who can get past the challenging exterior design and lack of low-end pop, the V6-powered Panamera and Panamera 4 are legitimate contenders in the luxury and near-luxury class.

The price of $16,950 is a good deal lower than the competition from, say, the Kia Soul, but the Scion is larger and more powerful. The other square-box – the Nissan Cube – is even more compact, and much weirder, albeit in a neat way.

So is the xD worthy of praise and recommendation? Not without some big consideration of what else is out there. There are too many smart, sharp, satisfying vehicles now on sale in the xD’s backyard to recommend it without serious consideration.

Even with the benefit of aggressive pricing, the Impreza doesn’t deliver a real must-have message beyond standard all-wheel drive. Its style is more modern and squared off, but still very generic. And the new engine doesn’t make friends easily.

You can’t argue that new Impreza is more ‘imprezzive’ than before, but it’s still a long way dynamically, technologically and aesthetically from the class leaders.

The 2010 Subaru Legacy is familiar to those who were already fans, but its increased size and reduced price will certainly appeal to those shopping the Honda/Nissan/Toyota triangle.

But the Avalon really is as close to a Lexus as you can get without paying the price premium for the little “L” badge. It’s perfectly positioned to capture Toyota customers who’ve grown up with the brand and grown out of a Camry.

For customers looking for a ‘sporty’ Camry, this is the best yet. But compared to similarly equipped Optimas and Sonatas, the SE doesn’t hold up on the ‘sport sedan’ front. Critically, Toyota has addressed one major problem, and that’s value.

It’s hard to give a verdict on the Prius PHV besides a conditional “sure, but how much does it cost?” Until Toyota decides to offer these to the general public, and figures out what the mark-up will be, the PHV is little more than interesting dinner conversation.

So did Toyota succeed and make a minivan cool? No, but they have made it much more tolerable for drivers with the Sienna.

The Yaris won’t be a complete disaster, despite our general indifference to the car. It will sell to current Yaris owners who will appreciate the improvement in style and cabin refinement compared with their old ones.