This being the fourth of July, I was going to post a blog entry about an American car. But having recently driven the Big Three of German compact sport sedans -- the BMW M3, the Audi RS4, and now the Mercedes C63 AMG, plus their closest Japanese rival, the Lexus IS-F -- I thought I'd devote this blog entry to the Mercedes, which is clearly the most American of this bunch. Think about it: The Bimmer, the Audi and the Lexus all use relatively small V8 engines (4.0, 4.2 and 5.0 liters, respectively). The Mercedes uses a big ol' 6.2 liter engine -- that's around 379 cubic inches. And the exhaust note makes it abundantly clear that somebody who works at AMG owns a Harley-Davidson. Friends, this is a good ol' fashioned American-style muscle car. Sounds like a good July 4th blog entry to me! Check out my 2008 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG test drive. -- Aaron Gold

PS: July 4th is an extra-special day for me, because it's my older son Robert's birthday -- he turns 12 today. Happy birthday, kid -- I love you, I'm proud of you, and it's great to be your dad!

Photo © Aaron Gold

I just found out that Mazda is going to hold a pinewood derby at a press preview coming up in a couple of weeks. (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say which car they're previewing, but anyone familiar with Mazda's product lineup should be able to put three and three together.) For those not familiar, a pinewood derby is a race between little wooden cars powered by gravity. Mazda's last pinewood derby was at the Mazdaspeed 3 launch, where Jason Fogelson's About.com Flyer put us in second place, behind MazdaSport Magazine.

So now it's up to me. Mazda's sent the kit (a PineCar West Coast Growler) and the rules (7" long, 2.75" wide, 6 ounces, no graphite). Here's the deal: I want first place. Here's the problem: I know zilcho about pinewood derby cars. So I'm hoping you can help. Please email me at cars.guide@about.com with your best pinewood derby tips. Don't leave them in the comments section -- for all we know, those communists at MazdaSport Magazine are reading our site! In fact, if you want to put misleading pinewood tips in the comments section, go for it. Just don't tell anyone what you're up to... -- Aaron Gold

Photo © Robert Gold

I feel like if I use the phrase "high gas prices" in one more blog entry, someone, somewhere, is going to sneak up behind me and garrote me with a USB cable. Truth is, I didn't decide to review the 3-door Yaris just because of today's, um, you-know-whats, which have climbed so you-know-where. I reviewed it because after testing the Smart Fortwo a few months back, I started wondering how the Smart would compare to a more traditional small car. (Strange, I never thought I'd refer to the Yaris as traditional...) Anyway, the two have a lot in common: They both start around $12k -- in fact, they occupy neighboring spots on my list of the ten cheapest cars sold in the US -- and they both come sparsely equipped (the Yaris gets air conditioning, while the Fortwo gets safety equipment). Annual fuel costs are similar, and... oh, there I go, writing the review in the blog entry again. Get the full story in my 2008 Toyota Yaris S Liftback test drive.

I'm tempted to put up a poll asking which you would prefer, the Yaris or the Smart -- but that one's pretty much a no-brainer for those of us who need to haul our kids around. Still, if you want to pitch in your $0.02 on the whole Yaris-vs-Smart thing, click the "comments" link below and have at it -- I'd really like to hear what you have to say. -- Aaron Gold

Photo © Aaron Gold

You may have noticed that things were a bit slow blog-wise last week. I spent the first part of my week in South Carolina, trying out some new tires at Michelin's proving grounds. Among the tires we sampled was the Michellin Pilot Sport PS2 ZP (for Zero Pressure, aka run-flat). Why should you care? Because the PS2 ZP is the tire Chevrolet chose for the upcoming 205 MPH 2009 Corvette ZR-1. No, I didn't get to drive a ZR-1 (damn!), but I did get to compare the PS2 ZP to the current Corvette original-equipment tire, both in wet braking and on a fast autocross circuit. The short version: The PS2 ZP sticks like glue, and you can definitely feel the difference. Michelin plans to make the tire available for C5 and C6 Corvettes.

After that, it was back (near) home to Santa Barbara to drive Hyundai's new Genesis sedan. I'll be writing a full review, but here's the short version: It's a Lexus marked down by 25%. And before you tell me all Hyundais are crapola, go down to your local Hyundai dealer and check out a Genesis (they are arriving in dealers now; in fact the first one was sold on Thursday). Drive it if the dealer will let you. And if you still want to tell me that Hyundai doesn't build an excellent car, well, I won't believe you.

So as you can see, I've got quite a bit on my plate -- 2009 Maxima and 2009 Genesis Sedan writeups, plus a few '08 stragglers, and I've got some improvements in the works that should (hopefully) make navigating our reviews a bit easier... and then we'll be heading full-throttle into the 2009 model year. Should be a good summer! -- Aaron Gold

Photos © Aaron Gold