DEBUT - ABARTH FIAT 500

Once named Southern Europe's Impact Car of the Year can also be had in the once-revered (still-revered) Abarth form now. Carlo Abarth founded the firm in 1949 as a racing outfit and tuner but Abarth was sold to Fiat in 1971. Although there have been rough years for Fiat in the recent past - which equated to Abarth neglect - Fiat can now rightfully attach the Scorpion logo to its suddenly famous small car.  

Does 135bhp sound weak to you?  It ain't.  The very good Fiat Panda 100HP on which the 500 is based makes do with, yes; 100 horsepower.  152 lb-ft of torque isn't shabby, either.  Fiat generates this power with a turbocharged 1.4L four-cylinder.

DEBUT - AUDI A4 AVANT

Already one of the world's most desirable wagons in previous iterations, the A4 Avant is now based on a GoodCarBadCar beauty.  That helps.  A4 Avant's will continue with a turbo-four and V6 but have a big advantage uncommon to vehicles of our era: more capacity via extra length but less weight.  Thanks, Audi. Especially for pairing that with improved weight distribution, something every A4 of the past needed.

VERY GREEN CARS

The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy has named their most environmentally friendly vehicles for 2008.  Members of this company include:

HONDA CIVIC GX: Powered by natural gas; appearing all-natural Civic; and achieving a 36mpg equivalent, this Honda is especially CO2 friendly.  If such a thing exists.

TOYOTA PRIUS: I'm sure you've heard of it.

HONDA CIVIC HYBRID: Apart from the funny wheels, you may think a regular Civic just whistled by.  Come to think of it; that story rings true with the Civic GX as well, and may contribute to Honda's lackluster sales in the hypergreen market.

SMART FORTWO: With its very small footprint, the fortwo should be able to leave a... very small footprint, in the carbon sense.

TOYOTA YARIS: Toyota offers smaller options in other parts of the world (Aygo) and will offer a true smart competitor in the near future (iQ).  For now, the Yaris is very economical and just plain good.

NISSAN ALTIMA HYBRID: Nissan can thank Toyota for some of the technology, but very few customers have the option of thanking Nissan for the Altima Hybrid because of its limited geographic availability.

TOYOTA COROLLA: One of the world's best selling cars of all-time happens to be very cheap to run.  Millions already knew it.

MINI COOPER & CLUBMAN: Kart-like handling and absolute efficiency are not mutually exclusive.

FORD FOCUS: The Focus is aided by fairly impressive handling, but really gains membership by its recognition as a Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle, the only non-hybridized gasoline engined car on the list to go PZEV.

TOYOTA CAMRY: Like most hybrids, the Camry's efficiency gains may not be enough to help the consumer's wallet, but that doesn't change the facts: 34mpg on the highway in a large car.

HONDA CIVIC: Here comes the garden-variety Civic, which along with Hybrid and GX causes one to reconsider the size of Honda's green-merit badge.

HONDA FIT: Efficiently packaged and inexpensive to buy and run.  What more can you ask for? Membership in The Good 12?

FORD KUGA IN MOTION

There's a clip below where you'll find that the shockingly good-looking Ford Kuga - not for us in North America - would make a CR-V, RAV4, and Escape disappear in a Wal-Mart parking lot.  Sure, in production form and in motion, the Kuga isn't what you thought it might be on a showstand under the bright lights..... but, it's an attractive vehicle.  Alongside the Mondeo, facelifted Euro-Focus, the S-Max, and new Fiesta, this forms one of the most stunning mainstream showrooms in autodom.  Ford.  Wow.

NISSAN/INFINITI RECALL

If you're one of those seen driving in a sporty new Nissan Murano or Infiniti EX35, get ye to the dealer.  The problem may be minor, but when safety is at the heart of the issue - ya' best get it taken care of.

11,511 Murano's and 4,854 EX's have a software problem related to the passenger airbags.  Although these vehicles are not - I repeat, not - the same under the flesh, this cross-brand; cross-platform problem speaks to the somewhat newfound ability resident in automotive R&D to give us similar behind-the-scenes components rather than the same vehicle over and over again.  

Check out other recent recalls here. 

MINOR VOLKSWAGEN RECALL

Volkswagen is holding strong to the notion of a next-generation New Beetle.  Would that make it the Newer Beetle?  Or the Newer New Beetle? Or New Beetle MK2?  Whichever, VW must first take care of a potentially nasty issue with a special edition of the current New Beetle.

Volkswagen used an incorrect adhesive on the Triple White edition of their retro-mobile, which could lead to the roof spoiler becoming detached.  While this may only be a problem for New Beetle owners in terms of aesthetics, drivers abaft of their car could face serious danger.  Typically, we drivers fail to anticipate flying spoilers.  

Only 510 New Beetle's are affected.  Feel free to contact your dealer if you think you're one of them.  

IRL CHAMP CAR MARRIAGE

Speculation has led to rumour has given way to report has given way to.... truth?  It appears that the Indy Racing League, which has as its flagship race the Indianapolis 500, will merge with Champ Car effective really, really soon.  In fact, a press conference could be held tomorrow.

Even Jerry Seinfeld didn't like the overuse of the "Ovaltine" bit.  On the other hand, it had become gruesomely apparent that televesion wasn't working with the Champ Car World Series.  It's a little bit I-need-you-but-hate-you mixed with plenty of Baby-it-hurts-to-love-you and a lot of Can't-live-with'em-can't-live-without'em.  

Consider this: Patrick Carpentier, Juan Pablo Montoya, Sam Hornish Jr. are just some of the names who crossed over, at least temporarily, into NASCAR for the Daytona 500.  Champ and the IRL need to do more than just keep fans.  They need to keep drivers.