The Nissan Leaf is powered by Lithium Ion batteries and due to be launched in Japan, the U.S. and Europe in late 2010. It also includes advanced IT systems.

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The Ford Fiesta and the Mazda 2 are sibling subcompacts, so-called B-segment cars built on what Ford engineers call the B3 vehicle architecture. They sell for roughly the same base price, starting around $14,000, and have similar mechanical components.
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We all know that a roadster isn’t going to be your family’s main people mover and cargo hauler.  For those families who drive something practical on a day-to-day basis and can afford to blow $39,305 (the price of my test car) on something extra to keep in the garage for those rare occasions when you can sneak out without the kidamaroos, why not have a cute, sexy Nissan 370Z roadster?
Despite its curvaceous figure, this two-seater convertible’s drivability isn’t nearly as soft, inviting or hospitable as it looks. It seems like it’s trying too hard to be a sports car. Its suspension is overly stiff, and its handling is harsh. There’s so much road and wind noise (partly from the soft-top) that it gave me a headache when I drove it for any length of time.

After a couple of quick trips in this car, I really wasn’t a fan.  The weather wasn’t cooperating for convertible driving, so I felt like I was stuck in some dark cave under the Z’s black soft-top.  I’m on the small side, but even I felt claustrophobic with the top up. 

Just as I used to implement the “divert and substitute” theory of parenting when my kids were toddlers, my attention was sufficiently diverted away from the 370Z’s annoyances when I dropped the top and added the fun factor of driving with the wind in my hair.  I cranked up the stereo when “California Gurls” came on. It felt like I was playing hooky and heading to the beach when really I was just driving to a coffee shop to work.

Call me lacking in modesty, but I kind of like it when my test car causes a head or two to turn in my direction. In this case, I was pulling into the Starbucks parking lot to squeeze in a few hours of work when a mom and her preteen son stopped to ogle my “adorable car.” The mom wanted to know if it was as fun to drive as it looked. “Only with the top down,” I told her.

Despite having an eight-way adjustable driver’s seat (four-way for the passenger), finding the right seating position was a challenge. The steering wheel tilts but doesn’t telescope. Once I adjusted the seat for my legs to reach the pedals perfectly, the steering wheel was too far away and required an unnatural arm stretch to hang onto it. 

There isn’t tons of space inside the cabin or the trunk, but I did love the little recessed bins behind each seat that perfectly stored my purse out of the way. Because it was stashed behind the seats, I felt secure enough to put my purse back there even when the top was down.

With the top down, a windscreen located behind the head restraints kept enough wind out of the cabin so I emerged from the car with beachy, slightly windblown hair without crossing the line into wanna-be dreadlocks. 

There’s no Latch system for installing a child-safety seat in the passenger seat in the 370Z roadster (not that you’d want to), so be sure and plan in advance to hire a great baby sitter for the weekend. Don’t ask me for mine, though. She’s already taken!
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Ford really wants us to believe that its 2011 Ford F-150 twin-turbo direct injection EcoBoost V-6 gas engine can do the work of, well, of a V-8. Here’s how they aim to prove it.
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Despite a bitter dispute over distribution rights, Global Vehicles USA will attempt to place a $35 million order with Mahindra for its small diesel pickups.
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Snagged while testing in the Alps, the 2012 Subaru Impreza appears to have a few changes in the greenhouse.
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Nissan Motor Co. released a sketch today of a premium Infiniti-brand electric vehicle that it plans to launch in the United States and other regions in 2013.
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It’s not often that an automaker gets its Latch system right. BMW did just that in its 2010 550i Gran Turismo. This luxury hatchback, which starts at $63,900, can hold two or three passengers in the backseat. Our test car had seating for two in the second row with a large console separating the seats.

For the Car Seat Check, we use a rear-facing infant-safety seat, a convertible child-safety seat and a high-back booster seat, all made by Graco. The front seats are adjusted to a comfortable position for a 6-foot driver and a 5-foot-8 passenger. The child seats are installed in the second row and, if available, third row. The booster seat sits behind the driver’s seat, and the infant seat and convertible seats are installed behind the passenger seat.

Here’s how the 2010 550i GT scored in MotherProof.com’s Car Seat Check:

Latch system: The two sets of lower Latch anchors are hidden behind leather flaps. Once the flap is out of the way, it’s easy to reach the anchors, and there’s no wrestling with stiff seat cushions to get at them. The two tether anchors are midway down the second row’s seatback. There’s lots of clearance around the anchors, too.

Booster seat: Booster seats are usually the easiest seat for us to fit into any car we test, and the power-adjustable rear seats in the 550i GT made installation effortless. We could move the seat’s back cushion to the perfect angle for a good booster seat fit. The seat belt buckles are easy to reach, and the head restraints move easily out of the car seat’s way.

Convertible child-safety seat: Both the rear- and forward-facing convertible seat fit easily into the backseat.

Rear-facing infant-safety seat: There’s plenty of space for this car seat, too. 

Do two car seats fit? Yes

Do three car seats fit? No, but a three-seat backseat is available in the 550i GT.
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Despite raising awareness of the dangers of distracted driving — even by high-profile personalities (think Oprah) — teens and adults alike are still not getting the message. Texting and driving tops the list, but dialing phone numbers, eating, reading and more are also to blame. In 2008, nearly 6,000 people were killed in completely avoidable accidents that involved a distracted driver, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Today is the second annual National Distracted Driving Summit, and while many families are busy grieving the loss of their loved ones involved in distracted-driving accidents, I urge you to take some extra time to figure out what changes you and your family can make to help save a life.

Abstinence. The easiest thing we can do is never text or dial while driving and model this behavior to our youngsters from Day One (monkey see, monkey do). If you have teens who are already text-reliant, look into technology to help avoid temptation. 

Technology as a solution. A promising new app on Android phones (coming soon to iPhone, Blackberry and Windows 7) called Otter allows parents to log in remotely to their teen’s cell phone and turn on the app’s GPS mode, which will “silence all primary text notifications [while the teen is in a moving car] and auto-reply with an anti texting and driving message.” Otter was developed by a dad whose 3-year-old daughter was nearly run down by a texting driver. According to Otter, a texting driver is 2,300% more likely to be involved in a serious crash than a non-texting driver.

Designated texter. If your teen is in a car with a sibling or friends, have them choose a designated texter, someone in the car whose job is to reply to any time-sensitive or social texts so the driver can stay focused on the road.

Although technology is partly to blame for the temptations of distracted driving, when put to correct use, technology can also be a part of the solution. Talk to your family tonight at the dinner table about other ideas that you can implement to be a part of the solution, rather than the problem.
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The 6.2-liter V-8 will carry the highest price tag in Ford’s revamped F-150 engine lineup for 2011.
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