An ode to the underdog, AutoGuide.com has compiled a list of 10 cars that just don’t get the respect they deserve.

They fly under the radar for a variety of reasons. Some are meant to be that way, while others are haunted by a reputation too daunting to drop.

Whatever the reason, every car on this list is available today and worth a second look.

Japanese automaker Subaru is recalling almost 5,400 model year 2013 Outback and Legacy vehicles because the steering column might disengage.

The affected vehicles were built between February 15 and June 15, 2012. In the affected vehicles, the inner and outer shafts of the steering column assembly may become disengaged from one another. If that happens, the driver won’t be able to steer the car.

Subaru will notify affected owners, and replace the column assembly free of charge through its dealer network. Anyone with questions can call Subaru at (800) 782-2783. The recall campaign number is WQI-45.

Rumors that Gran Turismo 6 will be available for the PlayStation 3 this holiday season have just been confirmed.

Sony is holding a special event today at Silverstone to maker the 15th anniversary of its Gran Turismo racing series, which is where the news broke. The news surfaced unofficially earlier this month, but this is the first official confirmation.

SEE ALSO: Gran Turismo 6 Release Date: November 28, 2013

There will be 33 locations in the game with seven new courses including Silverstone. There will also be 71 different layouts, 19 of which are new. More importantly, there will be a total of 1,200 cars included at the game’s launch, including concept cars and historic models.

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Almost two and a half years after the Nissan Leaf went on sale, the little electric car can count 25,000 sales in the U.S.

“With more than 25,000 LEAFs in the U.S. and 62,000 around the world, we’re seeing the adoption curve for EVs accelerate, and there is tremendous interest not only on the West Coast but in a number of new strongholds like Atlanta, Raleigh, Denver, Dallas, Chicago, St. Louis and many more,” Erik Gottfried, Nissan director of EV marketing and sales strategy said.

This year, and especially last month, Nissan reported strong sales increases for the Leaf. Those rising numbers can be most readily attributed to the huge price cut that came with the 2013 model year. But those numbers weren’t always gaining as rapidly as this year. Nissan originally planned to sell 10,000 of its pure electric cars annually, but fell short of that goal.

“We’ve also learned how infrastructure plays a role in a consumer’s decision to go all-electric,”  Brendan Jones Nissan director of EV infrastructure strategy and deployment said. “We already knew that areas with a higher concentration of EVs would require more charging stations, but trends show that the reverse is also true—a more robust charging infrastructure generates greater interest in EVs and stimulates more EV driving among EV owners.”

That charging infrastructure is still extremely limited and dwarfed by the number of gas stations. Earlier this year, the brand announced a commitment to triple the number of quick chargers in the U.S. from 200 to  600.

General Motors announced today that it will begin selling a small cargo van based on heavily on Nissan’s NV200.

The van will be called the Chevrolet City Express and will be available in fall, 2014 as a 2015 model year.

“Our fleet customers have asked us for an entry in the commercial small van segment, so this addition to the Chevrolet portfolio will strengthen our position with fleets and our commercial customers,” said Ed Peper, U.S. vice president of GM Fleet and Commercial Sales.

The move marks further proliferation within in the U.S. market for Nissan’s cargo van. Soon, it will begin appearing in yellow en masse as New York City’s official taxi cab.

GM said pricing will be announced later.

Tesla’s Model S electric luxury sedan was, by far, the most popularly researched car in AutoGuide.com’s new cars section this week.

The brand announced its first quarter financial results this week and with them, its first quarterly profit. Share prices leaped 24 percent on Wednesday.

SEE ALSO: Tesla Makes First Profit: $11M in Q1 2013

Maybe that helped to whet performance appetites. Whatever the reason was, the next car on this weeks list is the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. Pricing, which was released last week, starts just $1,400 higher than the outgoing model.

SEE ALSO: 2014 Corvette Stingray Coupe Priced from $51,995

Then there was the Ford Mustang. Lifelong fans of the pony car should anticipate fundamental changes to the car they’ve come to love. That doesn’t mean it will be less of a performer. It will be quite the opposite if Ford’s recent track record for building track-happy muscle cars has anything to say about it. Despite that, the shifts will include independent rear suspension, a new look and a turbocharged four-cylinder engine.

Mercedes’ C-Class also made the list, albeit not in any performance-oriented variant. Instead, the luxury barge sedan settled into fourth place among the most popularly researched cars.

Finally, a drenching dose of plain vanilla extract finished this week’s list off with the 2013 Toyota Corolla. The Japanese giant will unveil the next generation of the car later this summer in what’s expected to closely follow the Furia concept first seen in Detroit last January.

Click the hot links below to go directly to each of the cars or enjoy some casual browsing in our new car shopping section or learn more about your own top picks in our Tips & Advice area.

2013 Tesla Model S

2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

2013 Ford Mustang

2013 Mercedes C-Class

2013 Toyota Corolla

Mercedes’ 2014 S-Class is only a few days away from its official May 15 debut, but true form for the automotive industry, more information about the car leaked.

The car’s exterior design is already all but revealed between the accidentally released photo above along with pictures of a scale model. Interior photos were also already released, but the brochure offers a better look at the cabin along with some equipment details and technical specifications.

Technology and comfort features include 12.3-inch TFT screens for the instrument panel and infotainment screen. The climate control system also offers active air filtering and perfuming along with heated armrests throughout.

SEE ALSO: 2014 Mercedes S-Class Previewed in Scale Model

The regular wheelbase model is 201.4 inches long, 74.7 inches wide with a wheelbase of almost 120 inches. The extended version has a 204.6-inch wheelbase and sits at 206.5 inches from nose to tail. That means the car is longer, wider and lower overall while maintaining the same wheelbase.

European models detailed in the brochure include the S350, which uses a 3.0 liter V6 turbodiesel, the S500 with a 4.7-liter turbocharged gas V8 with 449 hp, and the S400 hybrid, which uses a 3.5-liter V6 with 302 hp.

The engine details come from one page of the brochure and probably don’t represent the entire S-Class range, which currently includes the S550, S600 along with the S63 and S65 AMG models.

GALLERY: 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Leaked Brochure

[Source: GermanCarForum]

Discuss this story at Luxury4Play.com

Volkswagen’s VR6 engine will continue into another generation despite past rumors that suggested otherwise.

The German maker is previewing the engine in its Design Vision GTI concept, which it unveiled with 503 hp and 413 lb-ft of torque. While the production version won’t make that much power, LeftLane News reports that the engine will continue, citing an anonymous company source.

It isn’t clear if the engine will power another Golf VR6, but the engine will likely power some of the brand’s larger nameplates including the Touareg, CC and Passat.

SEE ALSO: Volkswagens VR6 Replacement Could Be Audis Turbo-Five

Previous reports suggested that the VR6 would be axed because of increasingly strict emissions standards in favor of the turbocharged five-cylinder unit Audi uses.

[Source: AutoCar]

Discuss this story at VAGDrivers.net

Complaints that certain Chevrolet Corvette sports cars might suffer from headlights going dark without warning are prompting an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). 

Model years 2005 through 2007 are affected, with over 103,000 units. NHTSA reports having 30 complaints filed, although there haven’t been any injuries reported.

The complains say that even if the low beams die, the high beams and fog lights still work. Of course, driving with high beams constantly active poses a risk to other drivers.

NHTSA says it will investigate the defect and determine if a recall is necessary.

Almost every vehicle Honda builds can claim either a “Top Safety Pick Plus” or “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Every vehicle rated within the maker’s product portfolio gained one of the two ratings. Only the FCX Clarity hydrogen vehicle was excluded from the IIHS ratings. The ratings mean that Honda either tied or led the automotive industry in each of the segments rated by the IIHS.

Most notably, the 2013 Accord and Civic both earned the “Top Safety Pick Plus” rating in both sedan and coupe forms. As both a coupe and a sedan, the Civic earned the highest “good” rating in all tested categories including the newest small overlap test. The Accord did almost as well, scoring the same in all but the small overlap category as a coupe, where it earned an “acceptable” rating.

Discuss this story at 7thgenhonda.com

If he were real, Andy Dufresne would be impressed with Hyundai CEO John Krafcik who despite the obstacles is being named the 2013 Automotive Executive of the Year

After all, both the fictional Shawshank Redemption character and charismatic brand boss were forced to mire their way through a lot of muck… Of course, Dufresne literally crawled through the sewers while Krafcik’s journey was figurative, navigating Hyundai’s mpg misstatement mess.

“With his superb team, John Krafcik has literally reshaped the way Hyundai approaches the market with consumer focus, compelling design, and enduring value,” notes Robert Djurovic, executive director of the Automotive Executive of the Year Award program. “It’s no surprise that accolades for Hyundai products just keep coming.” Or is it?

The saga began when an EPA audit exposed that Hyundai’s fuel consumption claims were exaggerated by an average three percent. Both Hyundai and Kia were embroiled in the controversy and in the most severe case, the Kia Soul was found to fall 6 mpg below its stated figure.

SEE ALSO: Hyundai, Kia Admit to Selling No 40-MPG Models

Despite a hurricane of bad press, Hyundai emerged relatively unscathed. It offered affected owners free pre-loaded debit cards to account for extra annual fuel costs, and despite some lawsuits saw little backlash by consumers.

Now more than seven months after the first stories emerged, Hyundai’s North American CEO is set to receive a venerable industry award in Detroit.

“I accept the honor with the understanding that I am representing the hard work, dedication, and achievements of all the men and women who work at Hyundai around the world, including our R&D facilities in Michigan and California, our U.S. manufacturing plants, and our passionate and dedicated network of 823 Hyundai dealers across the U.S.,” Krafcik said.

In the same time period as the cars bearing overzealous mpg badges were built, Hyundai’s annual U.S. sales grew by over 30 percent. More importantly, those sales haven’t dipped through the first quarter of this year despite the controversy.

Believe it or not, the most expensive Asian car ever sold is probably a classic Toyota.

News of a 1967 Toyota 2000GT selling for $1.2 million at an auction graced headlines but didn’t draw the attention it probably should have. According to David Kinney, publisher of Hagerty’s price guide, the car is more than the world’s most expensive Toyota. It might be the most expensive Asian production car car ever sold.

“I have looked for anything higher and have been unable to find it,” he wrote in an e-mail to the New York Times.

In a world where rare Lamborghinis sell for millions, a $1.2 million price tag doesn’t turn heads the way it would have years ago. Seeing 2000GTs sell for high prices isn’t new either – although the most recent instance dwarfs the $650,000 paid for another from the same model year in March, 2011.

[Source:  New York Times]

Discuss this story at ToyotaNation.com