This was my first time in the 2008 Honda Accord sedan, and it was generally what I expected.  Simple, functional, not-so-flashy, not-so-sporty.

The ride was smooth enough but I kept wanting a little something from the engine for passing, etc. that it was never able to deliver.  It isn't gravely underpowered but it would be nice to have a little more back-up the times I needed it.  It is a V6.

I was more excited about the interior, which I think manages to keep things simple while looking  pretty stylish.  The controls are a bit too clustered together to the point of confusing, but once you get used to it, the center console is very easy to navigate.

My single biggest gripe is the seats.  To me, they felt inordinately stiff and non-comforting.  And I don't mean this in a racing seat way.    More in an old VW seat that needs more padding kind of way.  If this car was a 1998 instead of 2008, it would be a forgivable, but I think most any new car should feel relatively comfortable after a single night of driving.

Glenn McClanan, Broadband Video Producer, Edmunds.com @ 11,770 miles

The display screen in the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS (also our long-term Outlander so I'm guessing it's all across Mitsubishi), drives me nuts. Let me count the ways.

First of all, the buttons absolutely stink. They are small, flat, and utterly without texture. Aargh!! I am a big fan of the old-school volume knob, and Mitsubishi's only saving grace is that it has redundant volume and CD-track controls on the steering wheel. But these buttons are utterly useless. Yes, I know, you're supposed to only operate them at a stop. Uh-huh. Not a good idea to look away while driving. I agree. But sometimes you have to, and a flat line of quarter-inch-long buttons doesn't help. It's much easier to have raised buttons, so you can essentially count your way down them with your fingers and keep your eyes on the road.

Because here's the other thing. In anything other than bright light, they completely disappear.

Granted, the photo is an exaggeration, but not by a lot.

And last but not least, directing your attention to the top screen you will notice the "open" button for loading CDs. It causes the whole thing to open vertically, placing said button on a horizontal plane where you have to feel for it to see it to, then close the thing up again. Stupid. Put it on the side.

C'mon, Mitsu. You can do better. Turn it into a touchscreen, put the "Open" button on the side, and you're halfway there.

Doug Lloyd, Senior Copy Editor, @ 15,636 miles

Hey, Hey! We Won't Pay!  Home fuel unit has CNG cost down to $2.04 a gallon.

After just over 16,000 miles -- hard plastic, intruding hand brake, pitifully poor acceleration and boring exterior notwithstanding -- the Civic GX is humming along quite nicely, and economically, thank you.

For sheer driving pleasure it's way down the queue, but as a daily commuter on Southern California's [insert colorful adjective of your choice here] freeways, it ranks way up at the top of my list of cars I want to keep using.

Except for two scheduled oil changes at 7,000 mile intervals, a recall to install a safety gasket and a round of tire adjustment when we discovered during Edmunds.com's Earth Day tire pressure project that inflation was high by about 2 pounds, or 6 percent, per tire, we've had no problems, although one might be developing.

We'll be making a service appointment because several of us have noticed a very slight and intermittent shiver or shudder when the car is idling. It's unpredictable, but most assuredly there. Feels like it might be caused by a clogged fuel injector nozzle.

It's not so significant that we're thinking of an immediate check up, but we'll be asking the service guys at the dealership to look at it during our next scheduled oil change, in about 5,000 miles.

Aside from that, things couldn't be better, especially since the home fueling unit was installed in my garage. That has ended the daily detour to find a retail CNG station and has lowered the GX's fuel bills considerably.

Regular gasoline is selling for $3.839 a gallon in my part of Southern California and CNG at the admittedly pricey Clean Energy pump near the office is going for $2.849. But $2.036 per gallon is what fuel from the natural gas pump in the garage cost during the past month.

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The FE2 suspension is the midlevel choice among three different suspension tuning options for the 2008 Cadillac CTS. I know we were keen on getting the max-attack FE3 package when looking to buy a CTS, but I think the (equipped) FE2 is the way to go.

I did two one-way trips in our CTS, each about 250 miles and four hours in duration. Based on this, I know I wouldn't want any more suspension stiffness than the FE2 provides if I had to drive our CTS every day.

Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor

Life ain't easy in the concrete jungle -- just ask our long-term Saturn Aura. As I threw my bag in the back after a softball game last night, I noticed some paint-less pockmarks on the driver-side rear bumper. Appparently some nefarious jungle-dweller (a renegade shopping cart, perhaps?) had sunk its teeth into our Aura's hindquarters at some point. And that's not all; I gave the poor Saturn a once-over in the daylight this morning and spotted another unhealed wound on the front fascia.

Josh Sadlier, Associate Editor, Edmunds.com @ 16,155 miles

Welcome to a year of grievances, where we explore the oxymoronic nature of badging this car the Smart. For those on staff who have nothing but 95 octane running through their veins, the ForTwo was never even going to be approached. However, some of us (such as myself) like little cars and wanted to give the Smart an honest chance. You'll see how well that went.

Read the Long-Term Introduction

I've already had several adventures in our red ForTwo Passion Coupe, but my favorite occurred during the first leg of our recent four-car fuel sipper smackdown. This was the Fontana to Death Valley stretch on a two-lane road with a very heavy cross wind. I wasn't so much driving the Smart as I was sailing it. For a good chunk of the drive I had the wheel positioned at 30 degrees to port as if I was on a huge skidpad. Problem with that is, when one or several big rigs drove by, that cross wind would stop and I'd find myself steering right for impending doom. It was like driving the plastic bag from "American Beauty."

For the guys in our support truck (aka Buick Enclave), it wasn't the most beautiful thing they'd ever seen, but it was certainly one of the funniest. Luckily, our trip videographer Seth Compton managed to get some footage of me Smart surfing (see below). And really, it was more hilarious for me. At one point, I couldn't help but laugh hysterically as the winds whacked the Smart all over the road. It's one of the few enjoyable moments I've had behind its tiny wheel.

James Riswick, Automotive Editor @ 4,315 miles

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If this 2,400-mile slog from Detroit to LA has taught me anything, it is the power of willful ignorance and blind faith. When the Dodge Carvavan balked at starting the end of yesterday's drive, I chose to put my fate into the spectral hands of the Dodge Brothers in hopes that the problem would be corrected before today's sunrise. And that's exactly what happened. The Dodge started each and every time I asked it to.

Now it is possible that I'd imagined the problem. I had spent a lot of time on the road and was, by last night, feeling a bit, um, unhinged. But neither I nor any of my imaginary passengers believe this to be the case. We'll mention the incidents to the dealer when we take the van in for its first oil change, something the its computer is already demanding.

We averaged 20.8 mpg for the whole trip, which is a decent figure, although a couple of mpg below what the EPA predicted. With an internal hard drive, a CD player, an auxiliary input for my iPod and satellite radio at my command, I never once had to scan local radio for something decent to listen to. The van's developed a luxuriant goatee of 10 state's worth of bugs. With six cupholders in easy reach, I managed to surround myself an impressive array of digital devices, canned coffee beverages and assorted debris. In this regard, the van is an enormously convenient vessel for long days on the open seas.

Late today, I noticed a crumb on the "+" marking at the base of the autostick shifter. I wiped it off with the tip of my index finger and ended up taking off the top section of the "+" so it now looks like a very small, uppercase "T." That shouldn't happen.

Good luck in California, Caravan. It's been...convenient knowing you. --Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit

The Civic GX NGV is pretty high tech - it runs on compressed natural gas. It's quite economical and has clean emissions, too (Senior Editor O'Dell has an upcoming summary). But this Civic NGV is too, uh, normal.

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So let's be honest. If you were going to drive a 38-year-old, 607-horsepower muscle car across the American west would you really do it without some kind of contingency plan?

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The 10-year-old boy in me lived a life-long dream this past weekend when I attended a taping of "American Gladiators." Now, Hulk Hogan is no Larry Czonka and there was a disappointing lack of teal and pink No Fear wife beaters decorating the crowd, but heck, it was sure fun. They were only doing one event (which still took 2 hours to film four contestants), but it was Hang Tough and we got to yell out such classic heckling as "Oh yeah, scissor her! Yeah scissor!" Plus, I got a high-five from Wolf. Not Tower, Turbo or Laser, but certainly the awesomest new Gladiator.

Oh, and Magrath and I drove to the taping in the Silverado. They now tape Gladiators at USC's old arena, so when the parking attendants saw our crew cab behemoth coming, they knew quite correctly that the Silverado wasn't fitting in the normal makeshift parking spaces they'd set up on a nearby access road. Instead, we got a primo spot right-smack next to the arena. If you look closely, that scaffolding is part of the Eliminator set. The famous handbike is located in there and we also got a peak at the Atlaspheres! Atlaspheres people!

So, the moral of the story is: "American Gladiators" is awesome, drive there in a Silverado.

James Riswick, Automotive Editor