By Jim Meachen and Ted Biederman

The first evidence that Korean upstart Hyundai had turned the corner of automotive respectability and reached parity with the world-class Japanese automakers was the introduction of the latest-generation Sonata in the spring of 2005.

“Fear the Koreans” should be the mantra at Toyota and Honda.

By Jim Meachen and Ted Biederman

It was the magic bus that took us to the Magic Kingdom for a day, the only day that wasn’t spent on a beach. Loaded to the fenders with five people, luggage, boogie boards and beach vacation paraphernalia, the all-new Hyundai Entourage minivan made the trek down the costal interstate, without complaint while keeping its three rows of passengers cool and comfortable.

By Jim Meachen and Ted Biederman

Hyundai no longer surprises us with its continued march up the mountain of improvement. The South Korean automaker has been so consistent over the past few years in raising the bar with each new vehicle that it’s now expected. So the surprise would have been an all-new Elantra sedan not measurably better than the car it replaced.

By Jim Meachen and Ted Biederman

Last spring Car and Driver magazine gushed over the off-road prowess of the Hummer H3. It was the hands-down winner in rock crawling and hill climbing against some stiff competition. But the writers sent the small Hummer out to the woodshed for a good whupping over its lack of horsepower. It could hardly get out of its own way on the highway, they opined.

By Jim Meachen and Ted Biederman

We applaud Honda for restraint in redesigning its small CR-V sport utility vehicle for the 2007 model year.

Restraint is in short supply in automotive circles. Sport utilities get more horsepower, more size, more seats, usually more weight and marginally less gas mileage with each new iteration. Staying the course is not business as usual for the industry.

By Jim Meachen and Ted Biederman

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — We stopped on one of those lovely tree-lined residential streets here to take some pictures of the new subcompact Honda Fit. A fitting backdrop considering the environmentalist nature of Santa Monica and its residents.

After a few minutes of trying to line the car up for the best picture, a home owner came trudging down his driveway. Instead of complaining about a camera pointed at his house, he was curious about the rather curiously styled little car.

By Jim Meachen and Ted Biederman

The daughter said she had to move a few books and other assorted items accumulated from two years of teaching. She had changed teaching positions after the school term ended in June.

She asked her mother and me if would we help transport her stuff from the old school to the new school? She procrastinated through the short summer break, and moving stuff in her little sports car would entail numerous 60-mile round trips with only a couple of days left in late August to complete the task.

By Jim Meachen and Ted Biederman

There’s only one reason to put a 500-horsepower Mustang in your garage. It’s certainly not for fuel efficiency. It comes with an SUV-like gas mileage rating and a $1,300 gas guzzler tax. And it’s not because we enjoy lining the pockets of insurance companies. But a painful hike in your auto insurance premium will surely follow your purchase. And it’s definitely not because states have eliminated maximum speed limits on their highways. You know anyone with an abandoned runway?

By Jim Meachen and Ted Biederman

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ford Edge has a lot in common with the Saturn Aura. Odd, certainly, that we would compare an all-new crossover utility vehicle and an all-new mid-sized sedan, cars from different segments.

By Jim Meachen and Ted Biederman

Ford’s 2007 Explorer Sport Trac is an in-your-face competitor of the Honda Ridgeline. The two pickup-truck-like vehicles are as closely related as Pepsi and Coke. It’s only the flavor that separates them.

The new Sport Trac was introduced in February 2006, a year behind the Ridgeline, which joined the pickup truck fray in February 2005. Both blend a four-door car-like passenger compartment with a short cargo bed. And as strange as it might seem to Honda fans, the Sport Trac stacks up quite nicely against the vaunted Honda creation.