Reviews : Car Reviews And News

We are two years away from 2020, and despite what we thought when we were kids, we’re nowhere close to flying cars, or even Back to the Future-like hoverboards. The Cubs did win the World Series, so the future doesn’t seem that far-fetched any longer.

A few months back, I spent a day or so driving the new Toyota Camry lineup, and overall was very impressed with the progress that Toyota has made in turning its trusty sedan into a truly desirable car.

When I was recently handed some life-changing health news, along with a phone call a few weeks later explaining my grandmother’s passing, I flat-out lost all hope, and everything in my life was suddenly put on hold.

Despite their growing availability, many people still feel that plug-in hybrids are a waste of resources and money, a sentiment that automakers like Kia are working hard to to amend. Unassuming from head to tail, and stuffed with all manner of “Eco-minded” engineering, the Optima PHEV plays Korean counterpart to Hyundai’s Sonata plug-in, both of which come powered and packaged in a very similar manner.

“There’s no such thing as a bad car nowadays,” the experts say, “Hell, just look at how good Korean cars have become over the years!” This may be true now, but back in 2005 I would have been far more prone to disagree.

I’m often asked the question: who would buy a $50,000 or $60,000 pickup truck? I think the answer is pretty simple – the head cheese… the leader of the pack… the boss. If you’re running a construction crew or you own your own farm, you want a vehicle that is both highly functional, but also provides the creature comforts that you deserve at this point in your career.

You might think I’m trying to pull a fast one over on you if you look at this review. I did, in fact, review a very similar car late last year when my review of the BMW440i ran right here on 95Octane.

If there were but one unsung automotive love song, it would be the one composed for the Infiniti brand. While other luxury automakers are busy vying for waltzes with high-brow buyers, the opulent Nissan counterpart bides its time, a ravishing wallflower with fire in its eyes.

When you think back just a few years, Jaguar was almost exclusively a maker of luxury sedans like the XF and XJ. Fast forward to 2018, and the Brits not only make one of the best sports cars on the road, but they’ve released not one, but two crossover SUVs.

Drop all of the animal analogies and jabber about buyer interest for a moment and actually stare at the Kia Soul, and you will see a small, round-eyed automobile that if seen on the streets in 1959 would likely have been mislabeled as “UFO activity.” It’s the sort of smart, silly, George Jetson kind of car that cartoons are made of, and save for its overall lack of masculine lines, makes for a damn fetching little escape pod.

Every single automaker needs a three-row SUV to compete in today’s crowded market. After a couple of years with some less-than-positive headlines, Volkswagen needed a win from their first-ever three-row midsize SUV. And they got it with the 2018 Volkswagen Atlas.

If you want a new Tahoe with all of the latest Chevy truck updates you are going to have to wait a minute. Despite Chevrolet’s reveal of an all-new Silverado at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show, with a slated arrival date of late 2018, Tahoe and Suburban buffs are going to be stuck with what they’ve got on the lot for the foreseeable future.

I usually wouldn’t review a vehicle for a past model year, but I’m making an exception here since I didn’t get a chance to live with the Jeep Compass until the final days of 2017, and the 2018 model is basically identical.

Alfonso Albaisa is a certified design genius, of that I am sure. With a few strokes of the stylus on their computer-aided design system, he and his team transformed the Infiniti QX80 from one of the homeliest vehicles on the planet to a very handsome SUV for 2018.

Driving a lot of different vehicles, I’ve develop a mental checklist of things I notice and enjoy. And certainly, I’ve developed some personal biases toward certain types of vehicles. We all have our favorite kinds of cars.