Yearly Archives: 2015

2015 Ford Edge Sport – An Actual Sport Utility Vehicle

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover Ford reviews and tagged 2015 ford edge sport car review car reviews crossover ecoboost ford on by (updated 3152 days ago)

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Two decades ago when the sport utility vehicle was really taking off as a segment in the in the American market, the Ford Explorer was the hottest ticket in town and they were selling as fast as Ford could churn them out. Despite the name, there really wasn’t anything particularly sporty about these truck-based wagons and there was no pretense to actual high-performance or even decent handling. As the 1990s turned into the 21st century, the market shifted from old-school SUVs to car-based crossovers and even sports car stalwarts like Porsche got into the action. Somehow, in 2015 we’re now in a place where despite its high-riding stance, many CUVs can be considered serious performance machines including the all-new 2015 Ford Edge Sport.

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Tesla AutoPilot Cost and Take-Rates

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars electric technology Tesla the business and tagged autonomous autopilot self-driving semi-autonomous technology tesla motors on by (updated 3397 days ago)

Model S autopilot

Last October, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk stepped onstage in Los Angeles to announce the new P85D edition of the Model S and a new semi-autonomous driving feature called AutoPilot. Surprisingly, Musk told the audience that, starting two weeks prior to the event every Model S coming off the line was already equipped with the package of radar, camera and ultrasonic sensors that would enable AutoPilot. The engineers were still working on the software and it would debut in 2015. It’s now August 2015 and AutoPilot still hasn’t been turned on but the company’s second quarter earnings release did make an interesting mention of the new capability.

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2015 Kia Soul! – It’s Not Just for Hamsters

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover Kia reviews and tagged 2015 kia soul car review car reviews cars crossover kia soul ev soul on by (updated 3152 days ago)

2015 Kia Soul! - 1 of 1A few weeks ago I spent a week with the 2015 Kia Soul EV and came away very impressed by what the South Koreans had achieved. It wasn’t that long ago that Kia was known as a brand that built cheap and frankly not very good cars and SUVs. I liked the first-generation Soul when I drove it several years ago and was even more impressed with the new battery-powered version. There’s just one problem, if you live outside of California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Texas or Georgia, you can’t buy one. But fear not, there is a Soul for the rest of us that is still powered by internal combustion of gasoline.

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2016 Chevrolet Volt Officially Rated at 53 Miles Electric Range

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Chevrolet electric Hybrid and tagged 2016 chevrolet volt fuel economy volt on by (updated 3399 days ago)

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Back in January when Chevrolet first showed off the all-new second-generation Volt, we were told that the electric driving range would be at least 50 miles and the hybrid fuel economy would be about 41 mpg. This morning, they announced the official EPA certified results that would go on the fuel economy label and they beat those estimates. The larger 18.4-kWh battery and more efficient motors are now rated to provide a 53 driving range before the engine fires up. That’s a 40 percent bump from the 37 mile range on the 2015 model (the original 2011 was rated at just 35 miles) Once the battery is depleted (or when its really cold or if you’ve been running on electricity only for more than six weeks) the Volt is rated at 42 mpg combined. Unlike many cars in recent years, GM was always fairly conservative in rating the original Volt and it wasn’t at all unusual for many drivers to meet or exceed the 37 mile driving range on the label. Assuming that GM has done the same this time, most drivers should have little difficulty topping 50 miles but we’ll find out for ourselves in the not too distant future.

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2015 Ford Focus SE EcoBoost – Good Luck Trying to Buy One

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Ford reviews and tagged 2015 ford focus car review car reviews ecoboost ford focus ford focus ecoboost on by (updated 3152 days ago)

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Back in 2012, two years before launching an updated Fiesta powered by a tiny new 1.0-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine, Ford first showed off this powerplant to American journalists with a fleet of European-spec Focuses. Despite it’s small size, the engine shocked almost everyone who drove it with its performance. Earlier this year, Ford finally started shipping the updated 2015 Focus in volume and if you search really hard, you can even buy one with a three-pot engine. I managed to get my hands on one for a week in a metallic grey Focus SE sedan, came away puzzled by Ford’s efforts.

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2016 Scion iM First Drive – The Only Corolla for Enthusiasts to Consider

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars reviews scion and tagged 2016 2016 scion iM car review car reviews first drive scion toyota on by (updated 3152 days ago)

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The second of two new cars coming from Toyota’s entry-level Scion division this fall is the iM, a compact five-door hatchback that has the likes of the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf in its sights. For those that pay attention to Toyota’s European lineup, the iM will be familiar since it’s essentially a rebadged Auris. The iM effectively replaces Scion’s now defunct cube car the xB in the lineup, but the question is can it move the needle on the segment?

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2016 Honda HR-V EX-L AWD – The Fit Grows Up

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover Honda reviews and tagged 2016 honda hr-v car review car reviews crossover honda honda fit on by (updated 3152 days ago)

2016 Honda HR-V EX-L AWD - 9 of 29Crossover utility vehicles are rapidly taking over the American automobile market. Even as the market as a whole grows, sales of cars are actually in decline. Meanwhile trucks including pickups, SUVs and CUVs are growing. The biggest growth is coming at smallest end of the market with subcompact crossovers going from nonexistent just a few years ago to more than 110,000 in 2014 and 107,000 in the first six months of this year. Several new and very promising small crossovers have just arrived at dealers in the last month or two and are expected to push the numbers way up by the end of the year. Among the new entries are the Jeep Renegade, Fiat 500x, Mazda CX-3 and Honda’s entry into the segment, the HR-V which I just spent a week with.

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2016 Scion iA First Drive – Just Walk Up From Behind and Get In

This entry was posted in cars reviews scion and tagged 2016 scion iA car review car reviews mazda scion toyota on by (updated 3152 days ago)

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A dozen years after Toyota launched the Scion brand as a way to attract younger customers into the fold, the world’s largest automaker is hitting the reboot switch. After some initial success with the first-generation xA and xB, the second-generation xB and the xD that replaced the xA never really caught fire with consumers. While the tC coupe and the FR-S have done reasonably well for their segments, Scion is about two launch two new bread and butter models, the C-segment iM and the B-segment iA which I’ll discuss here.

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2016 Hyundai Tucson Quick Spin – A Stylish New Compact Crossover 1

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover Hyundai reviews and tagged 2016 hyundai tucson car review car reviews crossover tucson on by (updated 3152 days ago)

2016 Hyundai Tucson First Drive - 8 of 23Smaller crossover utilities are the fastest growing segment of the American auto market in the last few years and Hyundai America CEO Dave Zuckowski hopes that the all-new 2016 Tucson will take advantage of that and rekindle the brand’s growth. The first batch of some 9,000 Tucsons has arrived in port from South Korea and are currently going through final quality checks before being shipped out to dealers across America for sale starting August 15. While those are being inspected, I got the chance to spend a couple of hours in a pre-production model on rural roads west of Ann Arbor.

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Hyundai Will Add a Sub-compact Crossover in 2-3 years

This entry was posted in business Carmakers cars crossover Hyundai and tagged b-segment cuv crossover cuv hyundai sub-compact crossover on by (updated 3409 days ago)

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The redesigned 2016 Hyundai Tucson will be hitting dealerships in the next two to three weeks but it won’t remain the smallest crossover in the Hyundai lineup forever. During a regional media preview for the Tucson, Hyundai America President and CEO Dave Zuchowski acknowledged that sales of B-Segment crossovers are growing fast and Hyundai wants to be in the segment. However, the new Creta that just launched in India is not suitable for the American market in its current form. Zuchowski didn’t say if the new U.S.-market CUV would be based on an updated version of the Creta or would be something different. He did say that the small crossover would probably arrive here in two to three years.