Daily Drivers : Car News And Reviews

Here in the midwest and other places where it gets cold and snowy, all-wheel drive vehicles generally outsell their front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive variants. While a good set of winter tires is always a help when driving on slick surfaces, being able to send power to all four wheels can be a big help in providing vehicle stability and control.

If there’s one car on the road today that brings a smile to my face every time I see it, that would be the Kia Soul. It’s unlike anything else out there, and I love that about this little guy.

If there’s one consistent theme here at the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show, it’s that electrification is a key part of almost every automaker’s go-forward strategy. Among the companies showing off EVs was Mazda, a company who heretofore has stuck strictly with internal combustion engines.

The Daihatsu Copen is a car that you’ll never see on the roads in the US, but it’s not an uncommon sight on the streets of Japan. Now, Toyota’s Gazoo Racing has taking their turn at upgrading the tiny convertible into something a bit more fun.

Not too long ago, we learned that Audi’s badass RS6 Avant wagon would be coming to the US for 2020. Now, we’ve got a different variant of the station wagon heading stateside for the first time in a while.

Because it’s an entry-level vehicle, the Toyota Yaris is one of those cars that doesn’t get a ton of love from the automotive media. But it’s a wildly popular car, and in general, quite reliable. I had a friend who managed to put about 180,000 miles on her 2008 Yaris before she eventually traded it in earlier this year.

If you live in anywhere in Europe, you know that gasoline prices can be a real horror show. Combined with the obvious environmental concerns about vehicle emissions, an electric vehicle seems like a more and more appealing option – especially for city commuters.

First revealed back in 2013, the Toyota Mirai is innovative in that it’s one of the few consumer vehicles on the road which runs on hydrogen power. Its systems then convert that hydrogen to electricity to drive its motor, and emitting only a little bit of water as its sole tailpipe emission.

The Audi Q3 is a nice little crossover, but it’s not exactly the most thrilling vehicle to drive. So leave it to the guys at Audi Sport to give the Q3 the boost it deserves, with the announcement of the RS Q3 and RS Q3 Sportback.

Hot on the heels of my tiny Italian carspotting in Japan a couple of weeks back, comes a far more modern, mid-engine approach to automotive engineering. Commonly referred to as “the new NSX’s baby brother,” the Honda S660 is a Japan-exclusive two-seat roadster that fits neatly within the Japanese kei car category, so it has to have less than a 1.0-liter engine.

It hasn’t been all that long since Nissan revamped its TITAN pickup truck. The second-generation, full-size pickup debuted for the 2016 model year. But with tough competition from the likes of Ram and GMC, Nissan decided to go back to the drawing board and up their game for the 2020 model year.

I’ve always said that if I was going to be left with a single vehicle to survive the zombie apocalypse, it would be a Toyota 4Runner. Not only are these rugged body-on-frame SUVs basically indestructible, they can go just about anywhere, regardless of terrain, and have lots of space for passengers and cargo.

Toyota Racing Development (aka TRD) is charged with making the highest performance versions of Toyota’s production vehicles, though in recent years, their focus has been on trucks and SUVs. So what exactly happens when you let TRD tinker with a couple of family sedans?

The newly-updated-for-2020 Nissan Versa is no longer the least expensive new car on sale in the United States, but it does retain the title of least expensive new Nissan. On the other end of the spectrum, the 2020 Nissan GT-R NISMO is the most expensive Nissan in the company’s lineup, and the most expensive GT-R to date.

Many of the best bands of all time have great front men. And the best of them have stage presence, personality and showmanship. Well, if my review vehicle were a front man, it’d be Freddie Mercury.