Indiana Ends Negotiations With LGBT Group Over Specialty License Plate

Richard Read
The past year has been an historic one for the LGBT community. America elected a president who believes in marriage equality and put a record number of LGBT politicians in office at the federal, state, and local levels. Voters approved marriage equality at the ballot box and fended off attacks from our foes. Elsewhere around the globe, marriage equality and other LGBT rights have been progressing, too. All that forward movement makes what’s happened in Indiana doubly sad. [...]

2013 Mazda MazdaSpeed3: Larger Than Life, Frighteningly Powerful, And Occasionally Unbalanced

James Hamel 3
Some people (and cars) are just born with that special something — a star power that not only makes them special, but also makes it acceptable for them to be a bit more demanding of the world around them. This phenomenon is often dubbed “being a diva”, and it applies just as much to famous people who demand Cool Ranch Doritos in their dressing rooms (lookin’ at you, Britney Spears) as to cars like this 2013 Mazda MazdaSpeed3: both are larger than life, frighteningly powerful, and occasionally demonstrate signs of being a bit unbalanced. [...]

2014 Acura RLX First Drive: Did Our Date End With “See You In My Driveway” Or “See You Later”?

James Hamel 5
We didn’t go into Acura’s first-drive press event for its new, range-topping sedan now known as the RLX with astronomically high hopes, given the wallflower-like nature of its predecessor, the RL. The old RL was nice enough, but in no way was it revolutionary, sexy, or state of the art. And it certainly wasn’t going to blow the mind of its no doubt slightly bored driver, who probably wondered why he didn’t get a TL instead. [...]

2013 Jaguar XF Gets A Proper Engine

Casey Williams
Jaguars are about sexy style, deep-cosseted cabins, and V-12 power. Well, maybe not so much for that last one. I love the hot XFR and its 510-horsepower supercharged V8, and old Jags with their V-12s are divine, but what is this roomy cat with a four-cylinder engine? I mean, fuel economy is great, but a four-cylinder Jag? It’s like 1/3 of a proper engine! [...]

Minnesota Motorists Speak Out (Again!) For Marriage Equality

Randy Stern
Richard Herod is at it again. Last fall, he received a notice from his townhome association in Woodbury, Minnesota, insisting that he remove the anti-marriage amendment sign from the yard in front of his house. (At the time, Minnesota was preparing to vote on that amendment; if passed, it would’ve enshrined homophobia in the state constitution by denying gay and lesbian couples the right to marry.) [...]

2013 Buick Regal GS: Six-Speed Son of Saab

Jeff Stork
The last time I drove the Buick Regal GS Sport Sedan, I found it to be the most engaging Buick since the Grand National, although thoroughly different in character. Recently I spent a week behind the wheel of a 2013 model with the six-speed manual transmission and came to a slightly different revelation. It’s not the return of the Grand National, it’s the Son of Saab. [...]

2013 BMW X1: Luxury On The Cheap

Casey Williams 1
BMW’s new X1 crossover wagon is supposedly the entry-level Ultimate Driving Machine for the upward-striding NQR40s (that’s Not Quite Rich, Under 40). The car starts at $30,650 without destination, but when our tester arrived, it stickered at $44,245! Hardly cheap. But, I’ll show you how to get a great little Bimmer much closer to the magic $30k threshold and put some money back into your skinny jeans fund. [...]