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Autoblog's guilty pleasure cars

Guilty pleasures are part of life – don't even try to pretend like you don't have one (or two, or six). In the non-automotive space, this could come down to that secret playlist in your iPhone of songs you'll only listen to when you're alone; or think of that one TV show you really do love, but won't admit to your friends. I've got plenty, and so do you. Going back to cars, here's a particularly juicy one for me: several years ago, I had a mad crush on the very last iteration of the Cadillac DTS. Oh yes, the front-wheel-drive, Northstar V8-powered sofa-on-wheels that was the last remaining shred of the elderly-swooning days of Cadillac's past. Every time I had the chance to drive one, I was secretly giddy. Don't hate me, okay? These days, the DTS is gone, but I've still got a mess of other cars that hold a special place in my heart. And in the spirit of camaraderie, I've asked my other Autoblog editors to tell me some of their guilty pleasure cars, as well – Seyth Miersma, as you can see above, has a few choice emotions to share about the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Read on to find out what cars make us secretly happy. Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG This decadent convertible is the epitome of the guilty pleasure. It's big, powerful, fairly heavy and it's richly appointed inside and out. It's a chocolate eclair with the three-pointed star on the hood. Given my druthers, I'd take the SL65 AMG, which delivers 621 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque. That output is borderline absurd for this laid-back convertible. I don't care. You don't need dessert. Sometimes you just crave it. The SL line is about the feel you get on the road. The roof is open. The air, sun and engine sounds all embrace you. It's the same dynamic you could have experienced in a Mercedes a century ago, yet the SL gives you the most modern of luxuries. An Airscarf feature that warms my neck and shoulders through a vent embedded in the seat? Yes, please. Sure, it's an old-guy car. Mr. Burns and Lord Grantham are probably too young and hip for an SL65. I don't care. This is my guilty pleasure. Release the hounds. – Greg Migliore Senior Editor Ford Flex I drove my first Flex in 2009 when my mother let me borrow hers for the summer while I was away at college. The incredibly spacious interior made moving twice that summer a breeze, and the 200-mile trips up north were quite comfortable.

2025 Acura MDX Type S First Drive Review: Loss of a deal breaker is a game changer

MALIBU, Calif. – One of two things usually happens when testing a three-row SUV on a twisting mountain road. First, I wonder why I thought doing so was a good idea in the first place. Or, I end up saying, “Well, I guess that wasnÂ’t so bad.” Neither happened with the 2025 Acura MDX Type S, a three-row SUV that somehow feels perfectly happy and at home on the sort of roads that make competitors feel like elephants in a horse race. Placed into Sport or Sport+ modes, the latter of which is exclusive to the Type S, the air suspension lowers 15 mm, and the adaptive dampers tighten to the extent that body motions are just about as level as you could get without making the ride chattering. If anything, certain choppier bits of pavement made the suspensionÂ’s reduction of suppression and rebound too jostling and queasy, but selecting a softer ride setting in the Individual drive mode option corrected that. The steering displayed a spot-on amount of extra heft in the Sport modes, being pleasantly firm on center and through initial turn-in, but seeming to loosen ever-so-slightly up in slower, tighter corners and hairpins. ItÂ’s pleasurable driving the MDX Type S, but not a workout. The real star, as has been the case for nearly two decades of sporting Acuras, is the Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive system, now in its fourth generation. This torque-vectoring system can send up to 70% of available power to the rear axle, and then 100% of that to the outside rear wheel while turning. The result canÂ’t be missed. Brake hard with the fat Brembo brakes (they measure 14.3 inches up front and benefit from an electric servo that effectively makes them adaptive to the amount of effort applied to the pedal), turn in with the beautifully contoured sport steering wheel, feel the front end bite, and the rear end not only comes around, but does so with authority. Thanks to the more aggressive power distribution in Sport and Sport+, thereÂ’s even a whiff of oversteer at a few moments. Tremendous. “Makes it shrink around you” is a tired cliche, but it applies here. The MDX feels about 700 pounds lighter than its 4,776-pound curb weight would suggest. The engine is actually the least impressive element of the Type S, a 3.0-liter V6 with a single twin-scroll turbo good for 355 horsepower and 354 pound-feet of torque.

Honda protective of Type R name; NSX Type R not in the works

During a roundtable during a recent event hosted by Honda, we joined in on a roundtable interview with Honda Technical Consultant Ko Yamamoto and Honda Civic Type R Project Leader Hideki Kakinuma. Questions were asked about the Type R brand broadly, as well as the potential for some new projects. The answers were both good news and disappointing news for Honda fans. The good news is that Honda takes the Type R name and brand very seriously. Yamamoto and Kakinuma explained that the name and its associated red "H" badge are only for vehicles with a racing connection, such as the Honda Civic Type R that has a couple of racing variants. As such, you won't be seeing a CR-V, Odyssey or Insight with the Type R name. Furthermore, the Type R name is only for Honda-badged vehicles, despite the existence of the Acura Integra Type R a couple decades ago. We also asked about the potential of an NSX Type R, which certainly meets the performance and racing credentials mentioned, but is much more of an Acura product and is badged as such in the U.S. Kakinuma and Yamamoto couldn't go into deep detail, but they said that there aren't plans for one at the moment, and the chances of one for the U.S. are unlikely. They noted that the previous NSX Type R was a Japanese-market exclusive, and if such a car did come to fruition, that might be the case yet again. Kakinuma did say that if he was the one in charge of NSX, he would have already had it in the works. So it's not impossible that there could be an NSX Type R in the future, but don't look for one anytime soon. Related Video: