The Gran Sport name has had plenty of peaks and valleys since it first appeared on a Buick back in the mid Sixties. The most recent offerings were nothing special, and the moniker was retired for a while. Now, the slimmed-down General Motors has fewer brands to feed, giving it more leeway to resurrect the idea of a sporting Buick, in the hope of giving the division the cache enjoyed by premium European (and Japanese) brands. With the Regal GS, it is doing so with an actual European car, as the underlying architecture is primarily that of the Opel Insignia (and, also, the Chevrolet Malibu). And although the idea is laudable, the execution is wanting, chiefly in some of the subjective areas that the old pros in the sports sedan game usually get right.

Photo Gallery: Driven: 2012 Buick Regal GS Automatic – Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: Driven: 2012 Buick Regal GS Automatic – Automobile Magazine

Although its mainstream mission and conservative exterior styling have led some staff members to believe the 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI is bland, so far, everyone who’s driven the car during its first month in our Four Seasons test fleet has walked away impressed.

Photo Gallery: 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI – Four Seasons Update – May 2012 – Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI – Four Seasons Update – May 2012 – Automobile Magazine

Sane little Mazda has quietly been producing one of the best sports cars of all time — the Miata — for more than two decades. Other than one bone-headed move to rename it (when some nitwit marketing exec decided to kill “Miata” in favor of “MX-5″) and one half-hearted attempt to make it fast (the turbocharged Mazdaspeed MX-5 Miata), there has been no insanity. No Miata GT3. No Miata GT-RS. No Miata Superleggera. No Miata R.

Photo Gallery: First Drive: Mazda MX-5 Super20 – Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: First Drive: Mazda MX-5 Super20 – Automobile Magazine

It’s not unusual for a Four Seasons vehicle to enjoy something of a honeymoon — a blissful period before the daily grind exposes its every last design flaw. That said, the early praise for the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque has been particularly effusive.

Photo Gallery: 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque – Four Seasons Update – May 2012 – Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque – Four Seasons Update – May 2012 – Automobile Magazine

That massive hunk of steel in your driveway is slowly corroding into obsolescence — both figuratively and literally. About the time that rust finally eats through the floorboards of your shiny new 2012 model, you’ll be able to purchase — no, afford — a plastic car.

Photo Gallery: The Death of Metal: McLaren MP4-12C, Lexus LFA, Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 and Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport – Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: The Death of Metal: McLaren MP4-12C, Lexus LFA, Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 and Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport – Automobile Magazine

It used to be the case that if a customer walked into a Subaru dealership hoping for an Outback or a Forester, but the customer’s finances didn’t quite stretch to allow the purchase of one of those perennially popular Subaru models, the salesperson would gently guide the customer to the back of the showroom and present to them the Impreza. The Impreza was the forgotten Subaru, the one no one cared about, the price leader. It was bland, it was boring, it wasn’t remotely competitive with compacts like the Mazda 3 and the Honda Civic, and it didn’t even offer very good fuel economy, but at least it was a Subaru, and it was one of the cheapest ways to get an all-wheel-drive car. So, even though it was the bastard stepchild of the Subaru lineup, it found a few takers, people who really, really wanted a Subaru and were willing to live with the Impreza’s aesthetic, performance, and efficiency weaknesses. (The Impreza also formed the basis of the popular WRX sports car, but that’s another story altogether.)

Photo Gallery: 2012 Subaru Impreza 2.0i Sport Limited – Editors’ Notebook – Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2012 Subaru Impreza 2.0i Sport Limited – Editors’ Notebook – Automobile Magazine

The Land Rover Discovery has made a very slow journey from its original incarnation in 1989 to today’s 2012 model; over 23 years, with one major redesign and two minor ones, it feels like not all that much has changed. And that’s for the better. We still have the very cool asymmetrical rear window, the go-anywhere ability, and the seven-seat passenger capability. Sadly, the rearmost seats have yet to change much, and still use an archaic and counter-intuitive operation to raise and lower. Despite the air suspension (added to the third-generation car), the Land Rover still feels very top-heavy and is susceptible to cross winds. What has changed include things like the U.S.-spec nomenclature (now LR4, after LR3 replaced Discovery), the heavily reworked interior that brings the LR4 well upscale with premium hides and soft-touch materials, and a powerful 5.0-liter V-8 engine. That V-8 sounds delicious – but it’s the only engine option; combine the awkward third row and V-8-only powertrain and the Land Rover’s mid-size offering becomes a hard sell against crossovers like the Audi Q7 and BMW X5 which offer multiple engine options.

Photo Gallery: 2012 Land Rover LR4 – Editors’ Notebook – Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2012 Land Rover LR4 – Editors’ Notebook – Automobile Magazine