Reviews : Car Reviews And News

Let me start out this review by saying I am most definitely an old soul. You wouldn’t know it by looking at me, but I can name for you more songs by Rosemary Clooney than is publicly acceptable.

The late great Arlo Guthrie’s classic song Alice’s Restaurant had the chorus of “You can get anything you want.” And perhaps the same applies to the new Honda Civic. Honda has made the Civic available as a sedan, a coupe, and now a hatchback.

Don’t get me started on vehicle names. Between crazy numbers, nonsensical letter combinations and just weird names, I can never make rhyme or reason of why a vehicle gets tagged with a certain name. So when Chrysler unveiled their new upgraded minivan at the Detroit Auto Show, I was excited to see the new Town & Country.

For many years, Volvo has made vehicles which are well built, and extremely safe. However, while they excel at practicality and safety, they haven’t really been objects of desire. That’s all changed in the last couple of years, with beautifully designed and luxurious rides like the award-winning XC90, and now the new 2017 S90.

The Nissan Rogue has always been a strong seller for the brand, but when auto enthusiasts and journalists talk about cars, the Rogue doesn’t usually come up in conversation. Even so, the Rogue is the 3rd best-selling vehicle in the segment, following the Honda CR-V and the Toyota RAV-4.

When I think of hatchback cars, I think of getting rides home from school in the old AMC Pacer that my friend’s mom drove. On the coldest days, sitting in the back seat while the car was getting pelted with snowballs by the older kids, I thought to myself, “WE don’t have a hatchback… I would never be able to see these snowballs coming without this big window back here.”

In the automotive world, we often get bogged down in our jargon and live in our own little myopic universe. We get caught up using terms not widely understood by our readers and average consumers. Two different terms I try to avoid are: “fit and finish” and “flagship.”

A little more than a year ago, I drove the last generation Mazda CX-9, and I rather enjoyed it. But with the completely redesigned 2016 model, the CX-9 has gotten even better – especially when it comes to styling and driving characteristics.

After taking a year off from the lineup, Toyota’s most rugged mid-size pickup is back for 2017, and better than ever. The new 2017 Tacoma TRD Pro not only looks amazing, with its muscular body, blacked out heritage grille, hood scoop and fender flares, but it’s got the driving chops to go with. I recently had the opportunity to take the new truck way, way off road in the rough and muddy countryside of Hana, on the island of Maui.

Is the 2017 Honda Ridgeline, the company’s second-generation attempt at building a truck, a proper midsize pickup truck or not? Many die-hard truckers don’t think so, but there is one thing undeniable that truck people and non-truck people can agree on is that it’s a heck of a utility vehicle.

The Accord Hybrid is back, and better than ever. To account for a change in production, the best-selling sedan in America didn’t come as a hybrid last year. This Accord is now produced overseas in Japan rather than Ohio like all the other Accords.

Some people want their fast cars to be flashy and flamboyant. Others prefer a more subtle approach. If you like the idea of having a pretty quick, fun-to-drive small sedan without breaking the bank or grabbing unnecessary and unwanted attention, the 2017 Nissan Sentra SR Turbo might just be the car you’re looking for.

“The most powerful production sedan in the world.” Let those words sink in for a moment. Of all the cars in the world that have four doors, this Charger from Dodge has them all beat. It doesn’t matter if the manufacturer is Mercedes-Benz or Rolls Royce, they’re all less-powerful than this Dodge.

Small trucks are trendy again. So it’s not surprising that Honda brought back the Ridgeline after a two-year hiatus. The Ridgeline has always been the outcast of the truck world. It never quite fit in with its weird design, car-like performance, and well-mannered nature.

You can argue that the art of driving is disappearing from today’s world. Whether it be autonomous cars or Uber or millennials more worried about their smartphones than actually wanting to drive, gone are the days of the Sunday drive.