Vw Golf Mk2 Interior Center Light 191947111 B on 2040-parts.com

Driven: Volkswagen Passat CC GT

Elegant and refined. Forty years ago these two words would not have been used to describe the Beetles bought in droves by the counterculture in the US; a symbol of the hippy movement and the definitive people's car, designed at a time when Germany sought to put people in motion. With the Passat CC, however, Volkswagen is indeed making a sharp move away from the ‘volks wagen', and these two words rolled off the tongues of those who saw the car in all three countries we drove through on our winter holiday.

More than a (gull)wing and a prayer

They make up just six percent of Mercedes car sales in the United States—but nothing preserves and proliferates the top-shelf, seductive image of a Benz like a sports car. This is a point that's been driven home to me in a wide array of circumstances this year: Mercedes sports cars are still rock stars. I'll admit, I've often been a skeptic.

Lexus names its compact hatch CT200h

Lexus has named its new 1-series rival the CT200h. It’s the production version of the LF-Ch concept hatchback – and we’ll see the new CT range properly at the Geneva motor show 2010. This first official photo appears to be of the same car as our spy photos in January 2010 and shows those redesigned tail lights in full.