Suv

It's all crossovers these days. From the polo grounds of Malibu to the campgrounds of Maine, nearly a fifth of all vehicles sold in the U.S. last year resided somewhere in this netherworld between a car and an SUV. So the stakes were high for Toyota's overdue redesign of the RAV4, a pioneer of the segment in the mid-1990s that had grown stale in comparison with competitors. Often resembling small sport utility vehicles, crossovers are truck-like vehicles built on front-drive car platforms.

Marc Jacobs isn't one to shy away from fashion risks. The often iconoclastic superstar designer - who has become synonymous with a certain young, casually cool New York state of mind - helped usher in the controversial "heroin chic" look in the '90s and favors a combo of kilts and combat boots for his daily work uniform. But for Jacobs' debut film role in the indie drama "Disconnect," which arrived in theaters in limited release last Friday, the style maven was forced to step outside his comfort zone - in terms of both fashion and raw physicality.

Just because German luxury brands are bringing smaller vehicles to the U.S., that doesn't mean they're coming here with smaller price tags. Case in point: the compact BMW X1. The X1 starts at a reasonable $31,695. But the price of the all-wheel-drive model we tested quickly ballooned to $45,595 after items were added that BMW buyers would reasonably expect in a luxury vehicle. Still, American buyers have snatched up more than 14,000 X1s since they went on sale in the fall of 2012, according to BMW. This small crossover charms with its eager handling and functional interior space.

Nissan is recalling more than 19,000 of its Pathfinder and Infiniti JX sport utility vehicles because a faulty brake part could fail, making it difficult to stop and increasing the likelihood of a crash. The automaker said it had received no reports of crashes or injuries related to the problem. All of the vehicles in the recall are from the 2013 model year. PHOTOS: Kelley Blue Book's top 10 'green' cars for 2013 Documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration say the problem comes from brake torque members that were improperly cast and can be structurally weak.

Your life is about to change, and your sports car is terrified. A Peg Perego Duette child stroller. The pair of Old English mastiffs you're dog-sitting indefinitely. A glee club. A metamorphosis of priorities has dropped one or more of these into your world, and suddenly your slick little two-seater won't work for you anymore. So let me offer a suggestion: Check out BMW's redesigned 2011 X3 xDrive35i. It's not necessarily the best all-around vehicle in the luxury compact SUV segment, which includes the Audi Q5, Mercedes-Benz GLK and Acura RDX. But without question, this second-generation X3 is the fastest, sportiest and most fun to drive of its peers.

As our weekwith the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport continues, we've noticed a number of clever little touches that bring additional functionality to an already versatile interior. Underneath the cargo floor in the vehicle's trunk is a series of hidden storage compartments that are great for holding loose objects or keeping valuables out of the way of prying eyes. Another nice trick is there is a dedicated space in the cargo floor to store the retractable cargo cover when you're not using it. This means you always have it on hand, should you need it, and don't have to leave it cluttering up your garage.

Let's kill two birds with one stone. Let's take the patently inefficient, non-carpool-encouraging diamond lanes and turn them into SUV-mandatory lanes. By requiring all noncommercial, visually obstructive vehicles to line up single file, blocking each other's views, it will encourage people to buy the low, light, fuel-efficient vehicles known as automobiles. Remember those? ALAN HOLLEB Santa Monica Isn't it odd that certain segments of our population get villainized almost at random.

The Ford Escape - an aging vehicle that looks pretty much like the model that first debuted in 2000 - has quietly become one of the biggest success stories at Ford Motor Co. The automaker has sold more than 200,000 of the small sport-utility this year, making it the 5th best selling vehicle in America and the top SUV. Of all Ford models, only its F-series pickup truck does better. Decent interior room and cargo space make the Escape a good mommy car. But its masculine rectangular SUV design also makes the vehicle popular among male buyers.

A man on a bicycle was shot dead and another man was wounded in Koreatown on Saturday afternoon, police said. A bicyclist was struck by a white SUV near the intersection of New Hampshire Avenue and San Marino Street around 1:20 p.m., according to Los Angeles Police Officer Karen Rayner. A man then stepped out of the car and fatally shot at the bicyclist as he lay on the ground, Rayner said. A second man was shot running away from the scene, receiving non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Jason Kidd's arrival in New York appears to be getting off to a rough start. The veteran point guard, who signed with the New York Knicks last week, was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after police said he crashed his SUV into a telephone pole in the Hamptons early Sunday. The 39-year-old was released from a hospital after being treated for minor injuries before being arraigned on intoxicated driving charges, according to Southampton Town police. He later was released without bail.

Just because German luxury brands are bringing smaller vehicles to the U.S., that doesn't mean they're coming here with smaller price tags. Case in point: the compact BMW X1. The X1 starts at a reasonable $31,695. But the price of the all-wheel-drive model we tested quickly ballooned to $45,595 after items were added that BMW buyers would reasonably expect in a luxury vehicle. Still, American buyers have snatched up more than 14,000 X1s since they went on sale in the fall of 2012, according to BMW. This small crossover charms with its eager handling and functional interior space.

Police are trying to determine a motive for an attack in which a man sitting in his SUV was set on fire outside a 7-Eleven store in Long Beach. Raymond Sean Clark, 38, is accused of dousing the 62-year-old victim with a flammable substance while he was parked in front of the store at about 5 p.m. Friday, said Long Beach police Sgt. Aaron Eaton. There were reports that there had been an argument between Clark, who has been described as homeless, and the victim just before the attack, but Eaton said that had not been confirmed.

Long Beach police Monday night were looking for at least three people who witnessed a 63-year-old man being set on fire last week as he sat inside his sport utility vehicle. Jerry Payne was trapped inside his green SUV as flames quickly devoured the vehicle Friday evening. Payne died Monday morning , the Long Beach Police Department said. Payne was alone in the SUV outside a 7-Eleven store in the 5100 block of Pacific Coast Highway when a man walked up to the driver's side and threw a flammable substance into the vehicle, which exploded into flames, police said.  Some people rushed to help Payne, who lived in Long Beach.

A series of tire slashings on luxury cars and SUVs early Saturday in northwest Glendale was a "random act" of vandalism, according to police. In some cases, all four tires were slashed on the high-end cars, most of which were parked in home driveways and on the dimly lighted streets of Vista Drive, West Mountain Street, Grandview and Winchester avenues, and Cumberland and Kenneth roads, according to Glendale police. One of the cars, a Cadillac CTS, belonged to City Manager Scott Ochoa and had all of its tires slashed.

Chrysler Group will recall more than 200,000 of its vehicles, including its Ram pickup truck,  Dodge Challengers and Chargers and Jeep Liberty and Patriots for a variety of problems. In the biggest recall, the automaker will inspect and fix about 120,000 Chrysler 300s, and Dodge Challenger and Chargers sedans from the 2011 and 2012 model years because of an airbag problem. The wrong-sized crimps were used in building the airbag wiring harness, and that can can cause the airbag warning light to illuminate.

A California teenager accused of being drunk when he crashed into another vehicle, killing five family members, will be arraigned Monday in Nevada. Authorities said beer bottles were found inside the SUV of Jean Soriano, 18, who on Sunday was charged with several counts including DUI. The accident occurred on Interstate 15 in southeastern Nevada early Saturday morning when Soriano crashed his Dodge Durango into the back of the family's Chevy Astro van. There were seven people in the van at the time, which spun around and overturned.

Paris Hilton was "extremely embarrassed" after Las Vegas police pulled her SUV over Friday night and allegedly discovered cocaine in a purse she was carrying, according to a police report. Police said they pulled over Hilton's vehicle because they smelled marijuana coming from it. When they did so, a crowd gathered, with some taking pictures. Hilton was "extremely embarrassed, due to all the people taking pictures of her," the report said. Police allege they found 0.8 grams of cocaine in a purse she was carrying.

Five members of a Southern California family -- a man, his teenage daughter, and her aunt and two uncles -- were killed early Saturday in southeastern Nevada when a drunk-driving suspect crashed into the back of their Chevy Astro van on Interstate 15, authorities said. Loy Hixson of the Nevada Highway Patrol said 18-year-old Jean Soriano was driving a Dodge Durango on I-15 about 30 miles south of Mesquite around 3 a.m. when he struck the back of the Astro - which was carrying seven members of the same family.

A lawsuit filed against Ford Motor Co. alleges that several Ford and Lincoln vehicles manufactured between 2002 and 2010 are subject to unintentional acceleration and also lack "adequate fail-safe systems" to prevent crashes. The suit filed Thursday in federal court in West Virginia seeks class-action status on behalf of consumers in 14 states. It describes situations in which Ford's electronic throttle system allegedly caused vehicles to accelerate unexpectedly, leaving drivers unable to stop.