Driven

Ready for a cool one? Tailgaters' dream cars

   Are you ready for some football, er, tailgating?

   Veteran tailgaters can make do with any wheels, but some cars are better suited for the task. Cars.com did the legwork for us and selected the top 10 with the most tailgate-friendly features:

   1. 2008 Chrysler Town & Country: It has a third-row seat that flips backward to face outside, swiveling second-row chairs with a prop-up table, and a 1,200-song hard drive to keep all in music till game time.

   2. 2008 Honda Element: Its composite bumpers resist dings from any parking-lot mishaps, and the stain-resistant seats and washable floor make for easy cleanup.

   3. 2008 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited: Stain-resistant seats and drainable, hose-down floors make cleanup easy.

   4. 2008 Dodge Caliber: The Caliber ranks high thanks to Dodge's MusicGate system, which is available on the Caliber and its Jeep siblings, the Compass and Patriot. Part of an optional 458-watt stereo, the system has two flip-down liftgate speakers so you can blare your tunes, plus a removable, washable cargo floor.

   5. (tie) 2008 Honda Ridgeline: With a heavy-duty composite liner and a drain plug at the bottom, it's built for ice, drinks and food. If you need to throw a grill inside the cab, the rear seats fold up.

   5. (tie) 2009 Dodge Journey: There's hidden storage under the passenger seat where you can stash any game-time grub. There are also covered compartments with removable liners in the second row that can each hold 12 cans, plus ice.

   7. 2008 Dodge Nitro: Dodge's Load N' Go floor carries a lot of weight -- 400 pounds -- and extends it 18 inches rearward for a makeshift buffet table.

   8. 2008 GMC Acadia: The bonus here are its available cargo-area stereo controls. 9. 2008 Ford Expedition EL: This one's mostly to haul the gang to the game. The lengthened version of Ford's already-huge Expedition allows you to bring up to eight friends to the game, plus it has 42.6 cubic feet of cargo space.

   10. 2008 Lexus LX 570: A flip-down tailgate is key here, and it's rated to carry 400 pounds.

   Go Fins! The "new beginning'' took hold in New England. I do believe!

RS 4 Cabriolet: Much like its racy relatives

        The Audi RS 4 Cabriolet is not for everyone. In fact, only a few hundred will be made for the model year.

        But, for that elite group who must have the top-shelf in power, driving and handling from Audi, the RS 4 leaves little for which to yearn.

        Audi starts by carefully squeezing a growling 420-horse V-8 under the hood. It's the same one you'll find in the racy R8 and compiles 0-60 figures in the 4.8-second vicinity.

         This direct-injected engine -- gas is injected directly into the combustion chamber -- has its roots in racing, developed for the Audi R8 race car. And you can feel its racing kinship with one push of the accelerator. Sixty mph comes quick, in 4.8 seconds, says Audi -- just two-tenths slower than the sedan. Top speed is electronically controlled at 155 mph.

        And the get-up-and-go is there through a wide range of speeds. Audi says 90 percent of its 317 foot-pounds of torque can be had from 2,250 to 7,600 rpm.

        Sounds great, too. For even more growl, hit the Sport button on the dash and an even more aggressive rumble announces to the neighbors that you're home.

         Regulating the speed is a six-speed manual, the only tranny currently available.

         Standard is Audi's "quattro'' system, permanent all-wheel-drive, sending power to the wheels that need it most. Under normal conditions, it's 40 percent up front, 60 percent in the rear.

         I like the agility of the RS4. Compared with the A4, it has a wider track and is 1.2 inches lower so it offers a sportier feel when you zip around the fallen palm frond in the road.

         It has bigger brakes, 14.4-inch rotors in the front, to stop this not-so-lean 4,300-pound ragtop -- weights nearly 350 pounds more than the sedan.

         But it's a blast with the top down. Comes down quick with the push of a button -- no levers or latches -- and tucks away neatly under a hard tonneau cover. Looks clean and is more aerodynamic that way.

         And, it only loses a few cubic feet of trunk space with the top down, an important consideration when you figure that some roadsters remove the weekender option by shrinking or practically eliminating trunk space when the top comes down. The RS 4 Cab shrinks from around 13 cubic feet to 10.

         The Cabriolet comes with a premium package standard navigation system, upgraded Bose audio system, power rear sunshade, memory seats, rear-parking system and Bluetooth capability. If I have one gripe with all that, it's the navigation system, which I found cumbersome to, shall I say, navigate through.

         But fit and finish inside is top shelf. The steering wheel and gear knob are covered with perforated leather and it is trimmed in carbon fiber and aluminum.

         The driver information system has a stopwatch with lap timer for you racing types on track days.

         If there is any cause for concern with this RS 4 Cabrio, it is in the window sticker (see below). It's high for the segment -- BMW M5, Lexus IS F and others -- and it's some $15,000 higher than its own kin, the RS 4 sedan. But for those who think performance and power first, price later, the RS 4 Cabriolet stands ready to provide the excitement you seek.

      PRICE: $82,675

   

At 100 years, GM charged up with its Volt

   Hats off to GM on its centennial birthday this week, and let's offer the giant U.S. carmaker a ‘Volt' of confidence for the next century.

   General Motors took advantage of the 100th anniversary to introduce its vision, or at least part of it, for the future: The Volt, unveiled Tuesday.

    It's labeled an extended-range electric vehicle, or E-REV, and it can go 40 miles on a single charge of its lithium-ion battery (just need to plug it into a 120v outlet; it takes about eight hours).

   But what makes the Volt ‘extended-range' is that once you hit that 40-mile mark, a gas-powered generator kicks in to manufacture the needed electricity for the rest of the ride.  The Volt is ultra quiet -- no surprise there. The electric-drive unit delivers the equivalent of 150 hp and offers a top speed of 100 mph.

   More important, GM estimates the Volt will cost around 2 cents a mile under battery power, compared to around 12 cents on gas. Cheap and clean.

   All this and it's not too shabby in the looks department. It has a round front and tapered corners, and a sharp rake on the windshield and back glass to reduce drag.

   So, to the world's largest automaker responsible for innovations and the electric starter and automatic transmission, I extend good wishes for the Volt. It is one more stepping stone on the way to cleaner air and reduced dependency on foreign oil.

Top car-chase list dodges a Bullitt

   Car chases have become a staple of Hollywood action movies. So Hollywood.com recently took a stab at assessing and listing their top 10 chases:

   10. “Smokey and the Bandit”

   9. “Death Race 2000”

   8. “The Italian Job”

   7. “The Fast and the Furious”

   6. “Duel”

   5. “The French Connection”

   4. “The Bourne Ultimatum”

   3. “The Matrix Reloaded”

   2. “The Blues Brothers”

   1. “The Road Warrior”

   Nice try. But they left out the top car chase of all time: the Mustang-Charger, cat-and-mouse race down hilly San Francisco streets in the classic movie "Bullitt."

Routan: German engineering in a minivan

   You like German engineering but need a minivan. Well, Volkswagen today introduced its new minivan, the 2009 Routan, billing it as the first minian in America with German engineering.

   The Routan gets a 3.8-liter V-6, offering 197 hp and 230 lbs-ft. of torque. A 4.0-liter, 251-hp version also will be available.

   The seven-seater gets traction control and features like, including remote engine-start system, tow package with automatic load-leveling rear suspension, power sliding doors and rear-seat entertainment system with two 9-inch screens for second and third rows.

   Due out in showrooms this month.

Mercedes' C63 AMG: The real excitement is under the hood

       Good to be back on the road -- actually, I never left the road, cruising in Mercedes' new diesel-driven R-Class the past week. But more on that another day. As promised, a rundown today on a far sportier and faster Mercedes: the C-63 AMG.

       When Mercedes introduced the C63 AMG to the media back in February, there probably weren't many ooohs and aaaahs at first glance. That's because what's hot here isn't immediately noticeable.

       Oh, it stands out from the other C-Class models. Has a different hood with two power domes and widened front fenders.

        But what's to like about the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG lies under the hood and within the chassis. And we can thank the folks at AMG, Mercedes' high-performance division, for much of that.  I do believe Hans-Werner Aufrecht (the A in AMG) and his partner, Erhard Melcher (the M), would be pleased.

       You see, much of AMG's engine stems from its racing machines. In fact, the 6.3-liter V-8 engine shares no parts with other Mercedes engines. It is, say the folks at Mercedes, one of the most powerful naturally-aspirated engines V-8s ever.

       Let the fun begin: Acceleration is neck-jarring strong, with a 0-62 mph clocked at 4.3 seconds -- faster than competitors Audi RS4 and BMW M3 -- and an electronically controlled top speed of 155. It takes off even faster than the old version, the C55; it torques out with 443 foot-pounds of pull at 5,000 rpm, but acceleration is clean and swift wherever you are on the tach.

       The rear-wheel-drive push is regulated by Mercedes' seven-speed automatic transmission, a smooth-shifting operator that offers three modes: Sport, Comfort and Manual. With Sport, shifts are decidedly swifter, 30 percent faster than the Comfort and 50 percent faster than Manual. But, with paddles shifters at the wheel, there is the option of making your own selections when you want them.

       The tranny also is the first to offer a "double declutching'' feature that makes downshifting on corners more rapid and smooth.

       Mileage, if you're counting, is rated at 13 mpg city and 20 highway, around the same as the other guys.

       The C63 is an agile animal, which may surprise some familiar with Mercedes. It takes corners flat and balanced with some help from stiffer springs and gas-powered shocks that assist in keeping the 18-inch wheels (19-inch with the Sport package) and wide-base tires firmly on the road surface.

       A button on the center console allows you to choose among three modes of stability control. ESP Sport offers more lean before intervening; knock off the ESP completely and there is no intervention or cutback in torque.

       While most of the excitement is under the hood, the C63 is darn fine to look at, too. Setting it apart from other C-Classers are its new front bumper, fog lamps, the power domes on the hood and racy five-spoke wheels. Headlamps with titanium inserts give it a more aggressive look.

       And inside, special AMG seats have integrated headrests for the first time. The backrest has adjustments for both lumbar and side bolsters.

       The racy, three-spoke steering wheel has a flat  bottom and silver paddle shifters for shifting with both hands on the wheel. 

       And the AMG instrument cluster sports a new design with red needles and a 6.3 V-8 logo on the tach.

       Can the C63 handle like the nimble Bimmer M3? Well, maybe not quite. But it is faster, just as much fun, and possibly the best performer in the whole Mercedes lineup.

       So where did the G in AMG come from? Hmmm. That would be Aufrecht's birthplace: Grossaspach.

       Base Price: $54,626