We examine four portable entry-level GPS units, all priced under 0, to see which one is best.

Why spend big money on a factory navigation system when you can get a portable device for hundreds less? The question is becoming rhetorical. Portable navs may have smaller screens than the built-in competition, but just try moving that built-in from one car to another. The four nav systems below retail for less than 0 and have text-to-speech features that will read street names aloud. They all work just dandy to get you from point A to point B; the biggest differences lie in features, menus, and user-friendliness.

Keep Reading: Automotive Accessories: Affordable Navigation Units Compared - Gear Box

Your best chance at getting a fair deal on a new car starts with these tips.

If you walked up to the cashier at your local grocery store with a gallon of milk in hand and said, “It says .49 on this sticker, but I’ll give you a buck-fifty,” you’d be going home thirsty. If you walked into McDonald’s and said, “I don’t see a lot of people eating Big Macs today; I’ll take that value meal off your hands for just three bucks!” you’d leave hungry. But walk into a car dealership, and you areexpected to bargain with the salesman. Pay sticker, and you’re giving the dealer hundreds or—in most cases—thousands of dollars in additional profit.

Considering that the car dealership is a business and performing a necessary service—getting the car from the factory to you—some profit is definitely deserved. How much is fair profit depends on a number of factors, including the specific car and demand for it, the options, your location, and how long the car has been on the lot. So we can’t tell you exactly what to pay. But we can tell you what to do to optimize your chances of paying what you want.

Shop for Your Own Financing

For most of us, financing is the only way we can afford a new car. Most dealerships can provide you financing, but be sure to check at your bank or credit union before you go, as they will often offer you a better interest rate. At the very least, shopping around will give you an idea of what rates you qualify for, so you can police the dealership’s offer later. For more on what to do prior to visiting the dealership, read “What to Know Before You Go.”

Keep Reading: Car-Buying Negotiating Guide - Buyers Info

Expanding the Lotus lore.

BY DAVE VANDERWERP

The inquisitive owner of a first-generation Elise we met near Inveraray, Scotland, calls it cheating. He’s referring to the fact that this all-new Lotus—the first in 14 years—comes with a stereo, anti-lock brakes, cruise control, and a stitched-leather interior, not to mention available navigation and a backup camera. Had we wished to really upset him, we could have brought up the stability control and automatic transmission that will soon be offered.

Indeed, this is a very different car than the company’s intense, ultralight Elise and Exige models that we admire greatly for their delightful responses but whose limited appeal we fully understand. After all, there are dog carriers that may be easier to crawl into.

That’s why the Evora is so much larger—21.9 inches longer, with a 10.9-inch stretch in the wheelbase—putting it on par with more mainstream sports cars such as Porsche’s 911 and Cayman. Roughly five inches shorter than a 911, the Evora still houses a similarly sized (i.e., tiny) back seat, which is optional and seems adequate for little people and children up to 10 years old.

Keep Reading: 2010 Lotus Evora - Second Drive

The littlest Lexus turns on the ultraviolet.

BY AARON ROBINSON

Sales charts spawned this baby. About a third of BMW 3-series sales are coupes and convertibles, and Lexus wants a seat at that buffet. Impulsive? Hardly. Introduced nine years ago and well into its second generation, the entry-level IS sedan finally gives birth to a convertible two-door kitten.

In dealerships now, the IS250C and IS350C feature an aluminum hardtop roof that, in 20 seconds, marshals 15 electric motors and 37 sensors to split it into two panels, which seamlessly belly-flop into the waiting trunk. Ultraviolet bliss ensues.

Weary eyes could reasonably mistake the IS C for a sedan that lost a debate with a hacksaw, yet every exterior panel and molding except the hood is unique to the convertible. The IS C is 2.2 inches longer than the four-door, and the rear decklid hunchbacks upward, so there’s room for four adults, plus space for flat luggage under the pancaked roof.

Keep Reading: 2010 Lexus IS Convertible / IS250C / IS350C - Second Drive

You’ll pardon the styling.

BY TONY QUIROGA

Maybe it was an Oktoberfest-fueled decision, or maybe it came after a particularly trying meeting, but the volks at BMW seem to have said to themselves, “The gents at AMC really got it right in the early ’80s. Herr Bangle, make the X5 look more like a 1983 AMC Spirit, bitte, and we’ll call it the X6.”

At least when you’re driving the X6, you don’t have to look at it. And after driving the X6, it’s likely that the styling will be forgotten or, at the very least, forgiven.

It’s a prettier picture, mechanically. Despite its rhino-like 5241-pound weight, the X6 drives like a much smaller sports sedan. Steering effort is heavy and requires a deliberate hand, but the X6 responds quickly and without drama. Part of the credit goes to the xDrive all-wheel drive and a torque-vectoring system that can vary the power between each of the rear wheels to stabilize the X6—or engage in lurid power slides if you turn off the stability control. Grip from the wide Dunlop SP Sport Maxx tires registers 0.89 g on the skidpad, which will send passengers reaching for overhead grab handles that aren’t there. That the X6 achieves these numbers with a supple ride is even more remarkable considering the stiff and heavy run-flat tires on 20-inch wheels.

Keep Reading: 2009 BMW X6 xDrive50i - Short Take Road Test

Downsizing trims the sticker, but there’s another price to pay.

BY JOHN PHILLIPS

As GM wobbled toward bankruptcy, the company’s boosters often cited Cadillac as proof that at least one division knew the secret for success. But stroll through a Cadillac showroom. The DTS isn’t even on your Uncle Marvin’s radar. The pretty but aging STS has been nudged onto the berm by at least five luxo-sports sedans, none from America. The angular XLR, a marketing spinoff from the Corvette shop, has been euthanized. There are a couple of embarrassingly immense Escalades. And then there’s the CTS—in truth, the lone vehicle that carries the division’s reputation on its back. And so it was with huge anticipation that we welcomed this all-new SRX, a crossover we’ve loved since the day it was introduced in, uh,wow, 2004.

In the Detroit Three’s universe, new models usually arrive bigger and heavier. Not this time, Cadillac promised. In fact, the SRX has been yanked from the K, V-8 luxo-ute niche, where it was nonetheless strong, finishing second to an Acura MDX in a C/D comparo in 2007. Problem is, the SRX now parachutes into the killer K-crossover class, where it faces, among other all-stars, Audi’s stunning Q5 3.2 Quattro (the winner of July’s “New Arrivals for Summer” comparo), not to mention the beyond-dominant sales king in the segment, the Lexus RX350, itself recently refurbished unto the zenith of plushness.

Keep Reading: 2010 Cadillac SRX4 - Road Test