Sedan

Scheduled to hit the showrooms around the end of June, the all-new, 2013 Dodge Dart is the latest addition to an avalanche of new and redesigned Chrysler vehicles that earned the recently bankrupt automaker nearly a half-billion dollars in the first quarter — more than it made all last year. And as good as this new compact sedan is, it ought to add even more to the bottom line of Chrysler and its partner, Fiat, the Italian carmaker that owns 58.5 percent of its stock. After all, compacts have 15 percent of the U.S. market and constitute the industry's fastest-growing segment.

The first-generation Acura Legend coupe was a very different automobile from the sedan. Thanks largely to its higher-performance suspension and tires, and the superior handling they engendered, the two-door was much more of a driver's car than the four-door. That same coupe/sedan differentiation has been preserved in the new Legend. The new coupe retains its superior athleticism. What's changed this time is that it is markedly better-looking than the sedan. Consequently, the decision on which to buy boils down to what you value more: Additional doors and rear-seat legroom or the yearbook captions that read "most personality" and "best-looking.

So you're looking for a nice family sedan. You want something that's reliable, roomy and even a little fun, but you don't want a payment book that's thicker than the heels on Sly Stallone's elevator shoes. Well, maybe we can help with a selected list of high-value four-doors in the $7,000-to-$12,000 range. The cars suggested here hardly constitute an exhaustive compilation of the good family automobiles available within these price parameters. But they do represent a manageable shopping list of solid values.

Oct. 23, 1998 Except for a little marching in place during the strike against General Motors this year,the Oldsmobile product renaissance has continued unabated. Oldsmobile's efforts to emigrate from Moribundia began with the Aurora, a solid and handsome large luxury sedan. That all-new car was followed in rapid order by several fresher vehicles, including the Intrigue, a delightfully refined, midsize sedan with European manners, the sophisticated Bravada sport-utility vehicle, and the upscale Silhouette minivan.

A car rammed into an ambulance on an emergency call at an intersection just blocks north of City Hall this morning, flipping the Fire Department vehicle on its side and injuring two medics. The crash also closed North Broad Street between Spring Garden and Vine Streets during the morning rush hour. Batallion Chief Eric Fleming said the injuries to the medics were not life threatening. The ambulance, Medic Unit 50, was northbound on Broad Street with its lights and sirens on when it was hit by a silver Chrysler sedan that was westbound on Callowhill Street about 7 a.m. The ambulance flipped onto the driver's side of the vehicle and the sedan, its front end smashed in, ended up facing toward the northeast corner of Broad and Callowhill.

First they were described as Middle Eastern. Then "possibly Hispanic. " The car was a "maroon sedan, possibly a Mazda," but turned out to be a green Toyota Camry. And initially four men were in the car. Now it's three. These changing details in the Jan. 14 beating death of Temple University grad Kevin Kless in the city's historic district might have made some people wonder: What the heck was going on? Monday, Police Homicide Capt. James Clark addressed the issue for the Daily News.

The station wagon version of the Peugeot 405 is being introduced this month, and the French automaker is hoping it will sell better than the sedan that preceded it. The 405 sedan came to these shores a year ago, carrying with it considerable credentials and corporate aspirations. The big European car- builder felt this handsome new mid-size touring sedan, Europe's Car of the Year in 1988, had the right stuff to brighten Peugeot's dreary sales picture in this country. It had more mainstream styling than Peugeot usually ships over here, for one thing.

Bruce, the mechanical shark, inspired quite a few theatergoer gasps when he starred in the film Jaws back in the '70s. More recently, he has inspired the front-end design of the new Mitsubishi Mirage. As a consequence, the Mirage's snout seems more suited to the intake of hapless swimmers than fresh air. The grille opening is low and droops at the corners, just like Bruce's mouth. The egg-crate grille design contributes to the terror by looking like lots of teeth. When you gaze at the car head on, you aren't sure whether you ought to climb in, or ban swimming on this stretch of the beach.

FIRST THEY were described as Middle Eastern. Then "possibly Hispanic. " The car was a "maroon sedan, possibly a Mazda," but turned out to be a green Toyota Camry. And initially four men were in the car. Now it's three. These changing details in the Jan. 14 beating death of Temple University grad Kevin Kless in the city's historic district might have made some people wonder: What the heck was going on? Yesterday, Police Homicide Capt. James Clark addressed the issue for the Daily News . Cops had little reliable surveillance footage, and witness information either changed or turned out to be erroneous, he said.

While no one is going to regard 1988 as a banner year for fresh car products from Europe, a number of new models and innovations are making the voyage to U.S. ports. They range from cheaper Volkswagen cheap cars to even costlier BMW costly cars. Let's take a country-by-country peep: WEST GERMANY. Volkswagen is shipping over two new versions of its most popular cars this year: a bare-bones Golf costing $7,990 and a luxury Jetta touring model called the Carat. The Jetta and Golf lines have received, in addition to these new models, an 18 percent increase in standard power (to 100 horsepower)

Scheduled to hit the showrooms around the end of June, the all-new, 2013 Dodge Dart is the latest addition to an avalanche of new and redesigned Chrysler vehicles that earned the recently bankrupt automaker nearly a half-billion dollars in the first quarter — more than it made all last year. And as good as this new compact sedan is, it ought to add even more to the bottom line of Chrysler and its partner, Fiat, the Italian carmaker that owns 58.5 percent of its stock. After all, compacts have 15 percent of the U.S. market and constitute the industry's fastest-growing segment.

A car rammed into an ambulance on an emergency call at an intersection just blocks north of City Hall this morning, flipping the Fire Department vehicle on its side and injuring two medics. The crash also closed North Broad Street between Spring Garden and Vine Streets during the morning rush hour. Batallion Chief Eric Fleming said the injuries to the medics were not life threatening. The ambulance, Medic Unit 50, was northbound on Broad Street with its lights and sirens on when it was hit by a silver Chrysler sedan that was westbound on Callowhill Street about 7 a.m. The ambulance flipped onto the driver's side of the vehicle and the sedan, its front end smashed in, ended up facing toward the northeast corner of Broad and Callowhill.

Visitors to the Philadelphia Auto Show will see many new offerings, including a pair of mid-$20,000s sedans from General Motors. I got a chance to try them on a few Philadelphia blocks. Here's what I learned in a couple of quick spins: 2013 Chevy Malibu Eco Price: $25,995. Arrival date: By the end of March, says GM vaguely. What's special about it: General Motors' eAssist system will give the fuel economy a Maliboost. The system is not exactly a hybrid; it uses a 115-volt lithium-ion battery and a 15-kilowatt motor to cut fuel consumption.

FIRST THEY were described as Middle Eastern. Then "possibly Hispanic. " The car was a "maroon sedan, possibly a Mazda," but turned out to be a green Toyota Camry. And initially four men were in the car. Now it's three. These changing details in the Jan. 14 beating death of Temple University grad Kevin Kless in the city's historic district might have made some people wonder: What the heck was going on? Yesterday, Police Homicide Capt. James Clark addressed the issue for the Daily News . Cops had little reliable surveillance footage, and witness information either changed or turned out to be erroneous, he said.

First they were described as Middle Eastern. Then "possibly Hispanic. " The car was a "maroon sedan, possibly a Mazda," but turned out to be a green Toyota Camry. And initially four men were in the car. Now it's three. These changing details in the Jan. 14 beating death of Temple University grad Kevin Kless in the city's historic district might have made some people wonder: What the heck was going on? Monday, Police Homicide Capt. James Clark addressed the issue for the Daily News.

THE GIZMO: High-tech automotive heaven in the Audi A7 3.0 TFSI Quattro Auto Tiptronic Sedan. YOU'RE THE TOPS: Many will be taken with the hot mechanicals and swoopy styling of the new Audi A7, a four-passenger, four-door sedan that looks like a sports coupé and takes off like a rocket. Ah, but what made the Gizmo Guy jump at the chance for a test drive were all the high-tech control, communications and entertainment goodies that this loaded A7 also sported. Some new, others newly refined, the well-integrated upgrades added a walloping $20,000 to the A7 Quattro's already steep $59,250 base price.

Nissan has been marketing its Maxima midsize sedan as a sports car with four doors. The ads peddling this proposition seem to be aimed at a young father-to-be accustomed to driving sporty iron, a guy whose heart would be made glad if his wife's gestation didn't sentence him to life in a minivan. Calling it a sports car is a bit much, but, in truth, the Maxima has certainly qualified as a sport sedan over its quarter-century lifetime. While it doesn't offer a manual gearbox anymore, and has shifted emphasis to refinement and comfort in this, its seventh generation, it still serves up a generous dollop of engine performance and handling aplomb.

AS A RULE of thumb, you'd like to think that anyone driving a 172-mph vehicle also possesses the hand-eye coordination required to parallel-park that car. On the other hand, pulse-pounding speed is generally the last thing a car buyer with confessed low-speed driving skills looks for: "I'd like something that'll scorch a 'Vette off the line, mebbe a pair of racing seats, big wing on the tail, but - keep this between you and me, Bubba - I need a...

Motoring around town in her very unusual car is an interesting sociology experiment, says Havertown graphic designer Sara Hodgson. "People hang out of their windows in traffic and scream, 'I love your car,' " Hodgson said, describing the reactions that strangers have to her eye-catching 1985 Toyota. The automobile responsible for such forward behavior is Hodgson's Art Car, a little sedan covered from bumper to bumper with 2,200 Shrinky Dink medallions created by students from across the Philadelphia area.

The Chrysler 300M is an exercise in automotive ecumenism that manages to bring together comfort, performance, style and value under one roof. In other words, it is a large, comfortable sedan that doesn't look, accelerate or corner like big domestic four-doors traditionally have. Named for the legendary Chrysler 300s of the '50s and '60s, the 300M debuted as a 1999 model, along with its stablemate, the Chrysler LHS. While the 300M and LHS are both large, near-luxury sedans that start around $29,000 and share essentially the same structure and mechanicals, the 300M has a very different personality and target market.