2015 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel 4x4 .

Looks good on paper, feels better in person

Little has changed since we got our first shot at the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel: The Donald’s coiffure remains a triumph of applied engineering, artisanal toast inexplicably is still a thing, and Ram remains the only full-size, half-ton pickup to offer a diesel. Soon, however, there will be new competition, albeit indirect. Nissan’s 2016 Titan XD tweener is scheduled to hit showrooms later this year packing a Cummins diesel V-8, and GM’s slightly smaller Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon twins are adding a diesel four-cylinder for 2016. For now, though, the Ram has the full-size, light-duty segment to itself.

By the Numbers

Ram announced late last year that 20 percent of all 1500 pickup production capacity—fully twice the projected figure—was dedicated to the EcoDiesel, and it remains higher than 15 percent. That statement should come as little surprise, as diesels typically offer two things truck buyers covet: torque and efficiency.

Audi Allroad 2013

What's become of the A4 Avant.

“Hey,” you ask between bites of sympathetically foraged nettle burger, “isn’t this Audi thing just, like, a more-expensive version of my Subaru Outback?” Well, yeah, sorta.

Like the Subaru, this Audi is based on a no-longer-sold-in-the-U.S. station wagon (the Legacy five-door and the dead-for-2013 A4 Avant, respectively.) Like the Subaru, the Allroad is jacked up and plastic-plated. And like the Subaru, it’s mainly an advertisement for how green and holistic your lifestyle is.

Audi freely admits the Allroad is not intended for off-road use. It has no available low-range gearing or height-adjustable suspension, as did the first Allroad, which was based on the A6. It doesn’t have hill-descent control or a freaking winch or a tranquilizer gun or anything. What it does have are stainless-steel skid plates that would look pretty shitty if they got scratched up.

But in contrast to Subaru’s Montpelier shuttle bus, this Audi is a far more luxurious and better-fettled machine, like its A4 Avant forebear. The cabin is as well turned out as you’d expect, a veritable festival of high-buck materials screwed together with the precision of, well, an Audi. Leather upholstery is standard, as is trim supposedly woven from individual strips of stainless steel. Upgrade linings include open-pore matte walnut and layered oak.

2015 Ford Focus Titanium

Like a boxer with everything but a punch

Ford has received many well-deserved plaudits for its line of EcoBoost engines—EcoBoost being Ford-speak for turbocharging. But the adulation doesn’t extend to the company’s naturally aspirated powerplants, and a few days with this Focus helps to understand why. 

The engine is a 2.0-liter four-cylinder, an oversquare design (bore dimension exceeds the stroke) with variable valve timing, direct injection, and a high (12.0:1) compression ratio. Those tech specs suggest high revs and lots of horsepower, but the reality doesn’t measure up to the suggestion.