Nissan's spec sheet for the 2027 Rogue Hybrid has a line for the transmission and the line is empty. No CVT, nothing in its place, and a 148 horsepower gas engine that never turns a wheel.

I got twenty minutes in an unfinished prototype, an hour with a preproduction car, and a RAV4 Hybrid to drive against it. That's not a review, but's enough to answer the only question worth asking for this preview drive.

The full first drive follows in October.

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Every 2026 Infiniti QX60 rides on the same fixed dampers and the same 268-horsepower 2.0-liter, from the $53,200 PURE AWD to this $66,150 Autograph. So either Infiniti got outdone on the equipment list, or the money went somewhere a window sticker never reaches. A weekend of errands will not settle that. 500 miles to Detroit and back will.

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BMW didn't fit adaptive dampers to the 2027 iX3. No air springs, no rear wheel steering, nothing under this car adjusts.

One computer runs the braking, the torque split and whatever body control 5,100 pounds needs, and after a week I never caught it working.

The chassis turned out to be the best thing here. Getting any of it back through your hands is another story.

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Lexus says the adaptive suspension on the 2026 LC 500 Convertible has 650 distinct levels of damping. I took one to a road I know well and went looking for all 650 of them.

Full soft to full hard, and hard never arrives. So I spent the rest of the week working out where Lexus put this car's character instead.

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The 2027 Toyota Land Cruiser has a locking center diff, a locking rear diff, Crawl Control and a button that disconnects the front sway bar.

Then Toyota fitted 20 inch street tires and left it at 8.7 inches of ground clearance.

There's a TRD Pro Tacoma, Tundra, Sequoia and 4Runner. The Land Cruiser doesn't get one and the reason tells you what it was built for.

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There are four auxiliary switches on the dash of the 2026 Lexus GX 550 Overtrail and not one of them controls anything. Lexus ran the harness, cut the holes, and left the rest to you.

Two model years of added equipment and almost none of it makes this truck more capable. All of it makes this truck easier to modify.

Whether that was the easy way out or the plan is what this review is about.

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The internet's answer for the GR 86 has been the same for four years: add boost. Toyota's answer costs $1,500, adds no power, and never shows up in a spec comparison.

Brembos, Sachs dampers, and 860 cars painted after a citrus fruit.

So does the box work, and what does the $1,465 above it buy?

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2026 Mustang GT Premium, Performance Package, the new FX Package, six speed manual, $61,000 in the US.

A year ago I told you the adaptive dampers were the box you couldn't skip on a Mustang GT. This car doesn't have them, and after a week I don't miss them.

What it does need is something Ford won't sell you at any price, and it's bolted to all four corners.

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