So-called budget brands continue to ascend into territory previously dominated by higher-end marques, so I wasn’t entirely surprised by how pleasing a week I spent with the Kia Sorento 2.0L SX AWD.
Read more →Every automaker, no matter how environmentally attuned, has a “no replacement for displacement” crowd in its ranks. Lexus let their NRFD bunch have some fun, so they shoehorned a 5.0L V8 into a “cutting-edge” rear-wheel-drive two-door coupe. You can now buy it as the 2016 Lexus RC F.
Read more →Call them mini-crossovers. Call them tall wagons. Call them increasingly common, members of a vehicle segment that’s exploding with new arrivals. Among all the flashy new segment entries competing for market share, older models like the 2016 Kia Soul are raising their game. Kia leant me a red/black two-tone Special Edition-Sport for a
Read more →Upgrades to economical runabouts appeal to many car buyers, and that’s the field Ford plays in with the 2016 Ford Focus Titanium. First impressions Ford’s current design language includes its take on the trendy but handsome vertical grill that makes me think of the gaping mouth of a whale. Headlights seem to
Read more →Do you know anybody who reads auto manuals? If you know me, you do. Why do I do this? I review cars (one review appears on this blog every second week) and I like to get my own answers to questions on the technology I’m using. I’m a
Read more →Over the last ten years, automakers have disposed not just of models but entire nameplates (thank you, Great Recession). That’s why it was a pleasure to drive a model that carries the same name as a car I owned more than two decades ago: the 2016 Jetta 1.4 TSI Trendline+.
Read more →Ask any teacher how best to help people learn, and they’ll often recommend you turn learning into a game. Makers of hybrid vehicles have taken note. All things being equal, hybrid vehicles reduce fuel consumption over equivalent internal combustion engine- (ICE-) only vehicles. Drivers who want to achieve even better
Read more →Bad weather seemed to be the watchword for my week with the 2016 Ford Flex AWD Limited. Just look at it the day after I picked it up for this review. Fortunately, weather didn’t put a damper on anybody’s spirits. The Flex was going to prove an able teammate
Read more →It’s rare that I say “no thanks” to extras on vehicles I review, but I had to ask the rep who recently set me up for a week with the BMW X1 xDrive 28i to remove the BMW-branded roof rack it was equipped with. (I was afraid it might hit the
Read more →Summing up any automotive brand in a few words isn’t easy, but if I had to explain Lincoln vehicles briefly, I’d start with understated elegance and a smooth ride. That’s certainly the case with the 2016 Lincoln MKC. First impressions The unitized welded steel body on my Midnight Sapphire
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