Green's been in the air of late, and this year's North American International Auto Show was no exception. While the usual hyped sports cars and solid trucks weren't exactly in short supply, nearly every concept car toed the eco line. Fuel cells, biodiesel and batteries powered most. Ethanol was popular despite continual rumors of a looming corn shortage (probably less of a problem in the "conceptual" realm). Even Hummer promised a FlexFuel system for its HX concept. Of course, none of this means power will be sacrificed.

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Blinding rain. Careening traffic. Distracted drivers. There are lots of reasons why car crashes are America's leading cause of accidental death. And one way that most accidents could be prevented: with cars that predict a coming collision-and take action to stop it.

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It's heresy to 911 worshippers to say so, but the new Cayman S is suddenly the most beautiful car in Porsche's lineup. It's a Boxster coupe, basically a midengine two-seater with a fair amount of new body metal and interior appointments. But in reverse engineering a coupe from a roadster, Porsche managed to avoid both the slightly lumpy engine butt of the 911 and the too-symmetrical stance of the Boxster. The Cayman's high roofline swoops back and down between the gorgeous haunches of the rear fenders, and a walkabout reveals that the whole car is a fugue of aggressive curving lines.

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Small streets and pricey fuel have shaped the European car market to favor smaller cars. In fact, what we call a compact car is a midsize on the continent. But now that Ameri- cans are feeling the burn of expensive gas, automakers have responded by bringing a fleet of smaller-than-subcompact vehicles to our shores. Unlike previous stripped-down econoboxes, these will be equipped to appeal to both the budget-minded and the car-savvy consumer.

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The most unusual aspect of a new headlight system being developed at DaimlerChrysler: Oncoming drivers can't see them. Well, sort of.

The system, recently demonstrated on a Jeep Grand Cherokee, combines conventional headlamps with invisible infrared lights. The result is a dramatically clearer picture of the road ahead.

It works like this: Two laser headlamps on the front of the vehicle illuminate the road with infrared light, then a digital camera records the reflected image. The image is projected in black and white to an LCD screen behind the instrument cluster.

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Nearly devoid of grandstands, Willow Springs International Raceway, a windblown track in the high desert north of Los Angeles, is a long way from the crowds and spectacle of major motorsports. Built for the heyday of sports car racing in the 1950s, Willow has seen public enthusiasm for road racing come and go, then come back again, remaining something of a mecca for amateurs and professionals alike. When we arrived with four new sports cars at the leading edge of today's roadster revival, there was a sense of coming home.

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Super-efficient light-truck engines are coming, but don't expect to notice.

That's the impression we came away with after driving General Motors' latest light truck concepts. The reason: something engineers call transparency, an effort to make new technology do its thing without anyone noticing.

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Life just got easier for those who buy compact sedans and turn them into tuners -- street rods with ground-shaking sound systems. Now Mazda has done the work for them, creating a 'factory tuner' named after a popular music technology.

The 2001 Mazda MP3, a hopped-up edition of the Proteg sedan, is the first-ever car with a factory-installed MP3 player. That means owners can listen to more than 10 continuous hours of personalized music programming without changing a disc. The system plays MP3 files copied on recordable CDs, as well as conventional CDs.

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Life just got easier for those who buy compact sedans and turn them into tuners -- street rods with ground-shaking sound systems. Now Mazda has done the work for them, creating a 'factory tuner' named after a popular music technology.




The 2001 Mazda MP3, a hopped-up edition of the Protegé sedan, is the first-ever car with a factory-installed MP3 player. That means owners can listen to more than 10 continuous hours of personalized music programming without changing a disc. The system plays MP3 files copied on recordable CDs, as well as conventional CDs.

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PS Technology Quotient: 39 (out of 50)




Powertrain: 9

Road Manners: 8

Safety: 7

Electronics: 8

Design: 7

If you want to push the 2002 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 -- and this car begs to be pushed -- I suggest taking it home. Not your home; its home: Bavaria, where the original Porsche was conceived and hundreds of miles of wide open, speed-limit-free autobahn now lie. Simply point toward the Alps, slide into the left lane, and go.

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PS Technology Quotient: 39 (out of 50)




Powertrain: 9

Road Manners: 8

Safety: 7

Electronics: 8

Design: 7

If you want to push the 2002 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 -- and this car begs to be pushed -- I suggest taking it home. Not your home; its home: Bavaria, where the original Porsche was conceived and hundreds of miles of wide open, speed-limit-free autobahn now lie. Simply point toward the Alps, slide into the left lane, and go.

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Maybe E.T. is in the back seat. I'm trying hard to keep such thoughts out of my mind, but the fact is there's a strange orange glow coming from the rear of the car I'm driving, visible whenever I glance in the rearview mirror. That, along with the high-pitched whine of the drive motor and the intermittent thump of a tiny compressor replenishing the brakes, is making a simple crosstown trip feel somewhat surreal.

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PS Technology Quotient: 34 (out of 50)




Powertrain: 8

Road Manners: 6

Safety: 6

Electronics: 7

Design: 7

This is no ordinary SUV. Over the past 25 years, Mercedes' renowned G-Wagon has protected foreign dignitaries and coddled off-road explorers. And now, a modified version, the Mercedes-Benz G500, is coming to a Mercedes dealer near you.

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