BMW USED CARS

At this year's Chicago Auto Show, Mazda took the wraps off the 2009 MX-5 "Miata" roadster. As luck would have it, the first Miata made its world debut in the Windy City some 20 years ago. It was an immediate hit. To celebrate the MX-5's anniversary, Mazda decided to take visitors down memory lane by displaying a few of the most noteworthy "Miata" models. Here are the highlights.

Consumers are holding off on making purchases, and almost every brand has seen a devastating drop in sales. The impact has been

With such diversity to choose from, fun-loving drivers can find themselves in a pleasant quandary when deciding what to buy. Should they opt for a dashing convertible when they could have just as much driving fun in a sports sedan that also offers a usable rear seat?

That decision is often compounded by the expensive, impractical nature of traditional two-seat sports cars. Their minimal seating and lack of storage space means

Pinpointing one thing people can do to maintain their car's value over time is hard. Richard Griot of car-care and tool supplier Griot's Garage says your investment can be best-served by "keeping its surfaces the glass, trim, paint and wheels clean."

Your car has many enemies, some visible, some not so much. Emissions from industri

Ahhh, auto shows. They do bring out the occasional nut-job of a vehicle. We say occasional, but we could have easily filled this space twice over. Take a gander at the best of the bizarre, brilliant or simply outrageous debuts at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show. View Slideshow

While the United States is still the largest car market on the planet, there are many examples of machines that Americans can't buy at their local dealers. Here are our choices for the 10 most significant rides at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show that won't be sold from sea to shining sea. View Slideshow

Like the price of sea bass on the restaurant menu, the cost of gas has become wildly unpredictable. As this comparison convoy of four family-size hybrids slipped past a station near our headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, we noticed the posted price of regular had dropped to $1.78.

No worries, momma. Good thing nobody called on the ad to sell your Tahoe.

Hybrids get more compelling, of course, when gas z

Proposition: No vehicle offers a broader range of capabilities than a full-size pickup truck with four doors. Seating for five. Covered cargo space for stuff you want to keep locked up and dry. Open cargo space for really big stuff and stuff you dont want inside there with you, to wit: dead deer, live badgers, bags of organic fertilizer. Big load capacity. Big towing capability.

Okay, big carbon footprint, too. But unle