06/16/26 UPDATE: This review has been updated with instrumented test results.
When Lexus first launched as a brand in 1989, it offered two sedans: the ES and the LS. The full-size LS flagship quickly came to define the Lexus ethos, but 37 years later, it's the mid-size ES nameplate that persists. Lexus is going back to having just two sedans, and the LS will not be one of them, as it's bidding farewell with just a 250-unit run of Heritage Edition models for 2026. The compact IS is still around, but it's getting long in the tooth as the third generation has just received its third facelift.
The latest Testarossa is by no means all-new, but Ferrari has improved it in so many ways that it might as well be. In the process, the maestros of Maranello have also made the car more beautiful than its predecessor and have given it a new alphanumeric designator: the 512TR.
It has been said that test mules are bugs. Shod with GPS antenna, they often crawl through development resembling stag beetles instead of something any of us would drive. If we're ever fortunate enough to see them, it's usually by mistake. Or via the telephoto lens of some fancy helicopter-having spy photographer.
When discussing the greatest BMWs of all time, the conversation often fixates on an era of Bimmers that excelled in rote commutes and spirited drives alike—the ever important ride-handling balance. The cars from that era all carry a common thread: From 1997 to 2012, an engineer named Bernd Limmer was among those who signed off on the chassis of the E46 M3, E39 M5, and E9X M3, among many others. Limmer is also the principal engineer of the upcoming fifth-generation 2027 X5 (chassis code G65), and his tuning sense might be the special ingredient this new BMW needs to really cook.
When you're young and haven't driven much of anything yet, it makes sense to overcompensate by learning as many facts and figures as you can. Driving cars is expensive, but reading first drives, reviews, comparison tests, and anything else you can find on ad-supported sites is basically free. Even as an adult, it can be easy to get caught up in which car has the best specs for the money. But does that always matter?
To make the 7:20 morning flight to Memphis, you get up with the garbage men. On the morning in February that we flew south, it was zero degrees and snarling in Detroit. Driving to the airport in a darkness illuminated intermittently by flashbulb-like bursts of white powder whipping across the windshield, the radio coughed up two new items. First, remaining outdoors this morning for nine minutes would most likely cause the delicate, lacy membranes of your sinuses to freeze over, solid. Second, Lee Iacocca has moved to Palm Springs.
