Reviews : Car News And Reviews

For many people, when they think of a luxury sedan they think of a brand with German heritage. But there’s a make out there that delivers on everything you’d expect from the German rivals without some of the drawbacks.

My daily driver isn’t exactly the most practical of cars. After all, a 2-seat, rear-wheel drive sports car with a massive V8 isn’t great for hauling stuff, dealing with potholes, or handling Chicago’s nasty winter weather.

The future is now, people, and as consumers we play a crucial role in shaping it. Buyer interest in autonomous, electric, tech-filled, and connected cars is molding the roads automakers follow, with many vehicles looking like they’ve been pulled straight from the pages of a science fiction script.

Having a 4 year-old in the backseat every week is the automotive equivalent of shaving your face with a cheese grater. You’re getting somewhere, but chances are things won’t be very pretty when it’s time to step back and assess the damage.

In the small luxury car segment, it’s all about the numbers and the letters. No, not the ABC’s and 1,2,3’s, but the A’s, C’s, and 3’s. Have I gone daffy? Forgotten remedial schooling? No. The small luxury car segment is dominated by the Audi A4, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, and the BMW 3-series.

Despite the fact that it looks like a station wagon, Kia insists on calling its Niro hybrid a crossover. Perhaps it’s due to the wild popularity of crossovers, or the stigma attached to the car-like height of station wagons.

Lexus really wants America to shake-off those nagging sedan slumpin’ blues. But this task has proved far more daunting than previously expected. Despite releasing turbocharged powerplants and brilliant offerings like the insatiable GS F sport sedan, consumer interest in classically styled four-door vehicles has remained tepid at best.

Occasionally, going out on a limb and trying the unbranded version of a particular product pays off in spades. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does the feeling you get can often be both of surprise and satisfaction.

The Toyota Land Cruiser has been around since the 1950s in one form or another, but it’s a decidedly different vehicle from when it first burst onto the scene as a rugged, 2-door off-roader. The first real ancestor of today’s comfy, yet capable SUV came on the scene as the Land Cruiser J50 in 1967, but much has changed in these last 50 years in the realm of full-size SUVs.

It’s a familiar playbook that Hyundai has been following. It’s quite similar to the approach that Honda followed when they launched in the U.S. market in the late ’70s. Build a bare-bones car. Offer a killer warranty to back up the car.

Despite its wild popularity and success since first launching in 1982, the Toyota Camry has long been the car you go with if you want something safe, reliable, and… ordinary. But we live in an era where car buyers demand something more when it comes to styling and performance from their vehicles.

There’s a very common cliché that people use that I usually dislike: “It is what it is.” This time it’s rather apropos for my tester this week. The 2017 Honda CR-V is what it is. That may sound negative, but I’m using this in a positive light.

Toyota has done a lot in recent years to distance itself from the old stigma that it only makes bland automobiles. Hell, even Akio Toyoda publicly announced that they weren’t going to be building boring cars under his watch, a bold claim for a company that has long benefited from the perks of designing safe, unassuming vehicles.

To be completely honest, I was rather looking forward to revisiting Mazda’s micro-sized CX-3 crossover. It had been about a year and a half since I last reviewed a Touring model, and was overjoyed when I saw the “Dynamic Blue Mica” GT version roll into my drive. 

Jeep’s brand identity is entangled with the Wrangler. While the Jeep name has certainly become synonymous with that off-roader, just as you Xerox something, or fill your Thermos, or blow your nose with a Kleenex, that’s not a bad thing.