Consider us as proverbial frogs, adrift in the rising oceans and paying nickels, dimes, and quarters more for gallons of the same gasoline every time we go to the pump. Impervious to the slow march toward $5 a gallon again, we’ll march happily along in crossovers and pickups until our credit...Read More»
When you consider that new-car life cycles are usually measured in years, not decades, it seems silly to describe new models as “generations.” The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is an exception: the 2019 Sprinter is only the third generation of Mercedes-Benz’s flagship van since its...Read More»
Tasked with spending $20,000 on a transportation, most shoppers head to the classifieds. The 2018 Nissan Kicks wants to be the antidote to a used Honda CR-V or Ford Escape. It wafts its eau du voiture nouveau toward budget-conscious shoppers, luring them away from the pre-owned lot to the main...Read More»
Freed from its burden of being the mid-size sedan for every luxury buyer, the 2019 Lexus ES sedan, now in its seventh generation, grows slightly sharper in each of its several distinct flavors. The 2019 ES350 plays the middle-of-the-road luxury role, the ES300h hits hybrid high-economy notes while...Read More»
Accords and Camrys long ago became shorthand for family cars. Fusions and Malibus have thousands of showrooms for buyers to stumble into. In the vast universe of mid-size sedans, the Mazda 6 has toiled in semi-obscurity. It’s a fringe player, a Pluto with rarer news pegs. Mazda’s blurry...Read More»
Austin, Texas, may have weaponized food trucks in our culture wars, and turned weirdness into a commodity, but it can’t take away one thing. It can’t take away the 2019 Hyundai Veloster Turbo’s asymmetrical doors. We know, because we just spent a day driving the Veloster in a big...Read More»
Contrary to common understanding, Subaru did not create the tall-wagon-crossover-hatchback vehicle. Subaru just created six different reasons to buy the same one. Want a wagon? How about an Outback. Want a mid-size crossover? How about an Outback. Want an off-roader? You get the idea. DON'T MISS...Read More»
As we hammered out plans for my buddy Doug’s bachelor party––cigars, trap shooting, the usual Minnesota stuff––my main contribution became clear: to procure a massive vehicle to haul a crew of full-grown men who would absolutely act like teenagers. It seemed like the...Read More»
The same words have applied to the Toyota Corolla for nearly all of its 12 generations on sale in the U.S.: economical, practical, dependable, or smart. Sporty? The Corolla has felt lazy like Sunday mornings sometimes. The 2019 Toyota Corolla hatchback may change that. This year, Toyota will sell...Read More»
Dark clouds above. Snow flurries falling. Gloomy view ahead. Seat heater engaged. It may be the end of April, but Colorado Highway 72—known locally as Coal Creek Canyon Road—isn’t ready for spring. The diesel-fueled 2018 Ford F-150 Power Stroke I’m piloting up this winding...Read More»
First, the Toyota Avalon came for old luxury buyers with old-school ideas. It had stretch-out space, comfortable ride, and it was quiet like the No. 17 tee box at Sawgrass. Then it came for the rest of us. Lagging racier competitors, including the Nissan Maxima, the Avalon looks to shed a stodgy...Read More»
Two decades ago, ubiquitous would have been too soft a word to describe the Volkswagen Jetta’s presence on the manicured grounds of a prestigious college like Duke University. I recently found myself dodging students with backpacks on the narrow roads surrounding the stately campus in leafy...Read More»
Sometimes two rows just isn’t enough. Strollers are getting bigger, car seats are bulkier, and nuclear families may as well need a battleship to go out to the movies for a night. Lexus gets all that. Meet the “U.S.S. 2018 Lexus RX 350L”—or at least it feels that way. With...Read More»
Make way for a big addition to the Hyundai crossover family: the pint-sized 2018 Hyundai Kona. This small crossover has big ideas—including some future powertrains that’ll have us buzzing soon—but it’s the basics that we’re in Hawaii to discover. The Kona sits at the...Read More»
Some of us remember when dirt-cheap hatchbacks were the first stop for first-time new car buyers. Freedom was a fold-down rear seat, longboard, and sleeping bag for the only weekend vacation we could afford. The small cars only asked that we compromise our expectations for a tall ride, decent...Read More»
The 2019 Ram 1500 has fully adapted to the way most drivers use their trucks: livability trumps utility. Sure, the latest Ram is powerful enough to lug a trailer weighing up to 12,750 pounds, but that didn’t matter to me as I took in the warm scent of leather and ran my hand across the...Read More»
The 2019 Kia Sorento is not a German crossover SUV. It’s far from Teutonic. But the 2019 Sorento Kia assembles in Georgia is beginning to feel less like a cut-rate Audi and more like a real one. Tweaks made to the three-row crossover’s steering and suspension for the 2019 model year...Read More»
There was molten lava under my feet, and it was relaxing. Harmonious, even, as it thumped gently to the music. It wasn’t a trippy dream, but rather bright orange felt-like carpeting and a Harman Kardon subwoofer hidden behind the dashboard supplying mellow bass tones. The unconventional...Read More»
Jeep didn't get it right with the Cherokee when it revived the revered name in 2014. The six-eyed styling bugged us—mainly, it looked like an insect. The base 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine was gutless, and the 3.2-liter V-6 was a neutered version of the strong 3.6-liter V-6 found elsewhere...Read More»
