Inside Line put four V8-powered luxury sedans to the test. Jaguar XF Supercharged vs. Audi A6 4.2 vs. BMW 550i vs. Mercedes-Benz E550.

Which one would you buy?

Read the V8 Luxury Sport Sedan Comparison Test on Inside Line.

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

Who cares about the GT-R's scorching Nurburgring lap time? It only has two doors and all-wheel drive. It’s practically cheating. How about a good ol’ American sedan like a 2009 Cadillac CTS-V? According to GM, the upcoming Cadillac super sedan has just lapped the Nurburgring in 7:59.32, a time which “appears to be the fastest ever publicly documented for a production sedan." So they’re sure it’s fast, but not sure it’s the fastest. Look for a press release from Mercedes-Benz about the upcoming E63 AMG any day now.

We all knew that Chevy had a hit on their hand with the new Malibu. What we didn't know was how would the public react? Would it be just another failed attempt from a domestic automaker at winning back foreign car buyers? Or, is this baby the real deal?

Well, early results seem to indicate the latter, J.D. Powers and Associates (via Winding Road) is reporting a fair number of import buyers are trading in their old cars on the new Malibu. In fact nearly one-fifth (19.8 percent) of all trade-ins for the new car were imports. That compares to 12.5 percent for the last model.

Full story here.

Mazda has released some images and some info on the 2009 Mazda6. The American version is reportedly a bit larger than the global model and will be built in Flat Rock, MI. Base powerplant will be a 2.5L 4-cylinder, hooked up to either a 6-speed manual or 5-speed automatic. The upmarket V6 will be a 3.7L unit, and will come only with a 6-speed automatic with manumatic shifting. No horsepower figures have been released; but expect the 4-cylinder to put out around 170 horsepower and the V6 around 273, which is what it puts out in the CX9.

Full story here and here.

Nissan's head honcho Carlos Ghosn was on hand here in Beijing to preside over the company's short but sweet press conference. Although Mr. Ghosn rode onto the stage in the Pivo 2 concept car, he only spent a minute or two talking about Nissan's electric vehicle plans.

Most of the press conference was dedicated to the introduction of the latest Nissan Teana. It's a midsize luxury sedan roughly equivalent to our Altima in terms of size and power. Some of these cars have been spotted testing in the U.S., but there are no plans to bring it to the U.S. as it would split the difference between the Altima and the Maxima a little too closely. -- Ed Hellwig, Lead Senior Editor, Inside Line

For all the hype surrounding the introduction of the Buick Invicta concept, it’s not getting much attention in Beijing. There’s rarely much of a crowd around it despite the fact that this concept was developed with input from both U.S. and Chinese designers.

Rumors suggest the Invicta is a preview of the next Buick LaCrosse. We can barely remember what the current LaCrosse looks like, so anything that resembles the Invicta should be an improvement. Although this concept has a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder under the hood, expect a more traditional V6 when it arrives in production form sometime next year. -- Ed Hellwig, Lead Senior Editor, Inside Line



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We've added a Pontiac G8 to our long-term fleet.

A full-size, rear-wheel-drive, V8-powered American sedan is always welcome in our garage.

We opted for the G8 GT which packs a 6.0-liter engine capable of 361 horsepower.

Read the Introduction on Inside Line.

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

 

Edmunds.com is conducting another consumer comparison test.

We want you to test-drive these 2008 economy sedans:

Honda Civic, Mazda MAZDA3, Mitsubishi Lancer, Toyota Corolla

Just like our last consumer test, we will send you to Willow Springs Raceway in California where you'll get to test the cars in a number of situations.

All you have to do is write an essay telling us why we should choose you. Make it good because competition will be stiff.

You must be at least 21 years old to be eligible to enter, have a clean driving record and be able to travel to Los Angeles between May 13 and 15.

Good luck.

Apply here for the Edmunds Consumer Comparison Test.

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

 

Lightly refreshed for the 2009 model year, the Kia Optima was the other Kia off to the side at this morning's unveiling of the Koup concept.

"If there's a poster child for the old school of Kia, it's got to be the Kia Optima," Communications Director Alex Fedorak admitted. "But as Edmunds.com put it, 'When it comes to design, the Optima looks like it was styled by the witness protection program.'" (Credit for this now famous turn of phrase goes to Edmunds Automotive Editor James Riswick.)

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The 2009 Nissan Maxima had the distinction of being only the third vehicle shown today that had been tuned on the Nurburgring. It's the default indicator of a performance car these days and given that "the four-door sports car is back," according to Nissan, we should have expected the reference. 

What we didn't expect was Nissan's other announcement. After extolling the virtues of the Maxima's 290-horsepower V6, Al Castignetti, general manager of Nissan North America, went to the green card. He talked about the need for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles that younger buyers could embrace with enthusiasm. He then announced the imminent arrival of the Nissan Cube, the small, Scion xB-like vehicle that's been on sale in Japan for some time. The next-generation version will debut at the Los Angeles auto show in November and go on sale in 2009. He also said Nissan would have an electric vehicle in commercial use by 2010 and a retail version by 2012. Bet on the Cube; we'll see about the electric car. -- Ed Hellwig, Senior Editor, Inside Line