Carmakers

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2015 Lexus NX300h – A Surprisingly Dynamic Hybrid Crossover

This entry was posted in Carmakers Hybrid Lexus reviews technology and tagged 2015 lexus nx300h car review car reviews crossover hybrid lexus luxury crossover on June 30, 2015 by Sam Abuelsamid (updated 3143 days ago)

In the mid-1990s the original Lexus RX kicked off the wave of luxury utility vehicles that has now infected pretty much every premium brand short of Ferrari and McLaren. In time, Lexus added rebadged versions of the Toyota Sequoia and Land Cruiser large SUVs and has now fleshed out the lineup with the compact NX crossover. The addition of the NX has inflated Lexus utility sales to the point where they have nearly overtaken car sales, a promise that will likely be completed when the new RX hits the streets this fall. While we wait on the 2016 RX, I got to spend a week driving it’s little brother, the hybrid electric NX300h.

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2016 Chevrolet Cruze – Coming with a Diesel!

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Chevrolet and tagged 2016 chevrolet cruze 2017 chevy cruze chevrolet compact car cruze diesel reveal on June 24, 2015 by Sam Abuelsamid (updated 3432 days ago)

At the Fillmore Theater in Detroit this evening, Chevrolet finally took the wraps off the North American version of the second-generation Cruze compact and it looks like a big step forward from the current model. When the Cruze debuted here five years ago, it was something of  a watershed for General Motors, the first compact car from the Detroit automaker that was truly competitive with the import brands. It wasn’t perfect, being a bit tight inside and somewhat porky at the scales. Nonetheless, it was so much better than anything GM had built to date that it sold like gangbusters with more than 3 million sales globally since 2008. This time around, Chevrolet has sought to address all the complaints we had about the original and raise the bar in the segment.

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2016 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible – Let the Sun Shine In

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Chevrolet and tagged 2016 camaro convertible 2016 Chevrolet Camaro camaro convertible convertible mustang pony car sports car on June 24, 2015 by Sam Abuelsamid (updated 3432 days ago)

Chevrolet kicked off its 2015 Innovation Day here in Detroit by unveiling the drop-top companion to the all-new sixth-generation Camaro that we first saw just over a month ago. Frankly, there aren’t many real surprises here but at first glace, Chevrolet seems to have done a much better job on execution than the last car. Like the outgoing edition and its chief competitor for Dearborn, this one gets a power retracting fabric top that slips into a cavity behind the rear seats but it does seem to outdo the competition in several respects.

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2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring AWD – It’s the Crossover With Zoom-Zoom

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover Mazda reviews and tagged 2016 Mazda CX-5 car reviews crossover ford escape honda cr-v mazda review on June 23, 2015 by Sam Abuelsamid (updated 3143 days ago)

The typical American car buyer is a fickle beast, constantly evolving and chasing the latest fashion. You might think that as the second biggest purchase that most people make after their home, selecting a vehicle would be a more rational decision, but in reality it is often far more emotional. That’s probably why the crossover utility vehicle has become one of the hottest segments in the market with the Honda CR-V and Ford Escape each selling more than 300,000 units in 2014 and numerous other models in the segment topping 200,000. For Mazda, the compact CX-5 is the brand’s second best seller, just behind the Mazda3 and selling nearly twice as fast as the midsize Mazda6 sedan. I recently got to spend a week with the 2016 CX-5 Grand Touring AWD to see if it lives up to the brand’s fun-to-drive philosophy and came away impressed.

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2015 Lexus RC350 F-Sport

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Lexus reviews and tagged 2015 lexus rc350 car review car reviews coupe lexus luxury review on June 15, 2015 by Sam Abuelsamid (updated 3143 days ago)

After debuting in 1989 with two sedans, the Camry-based ES250 and the big rear-wheel drive LS400, Lexus began to grow its lineup in 1991 with the sleek and stylish SC400. The original SC had a nine-year run before being replaced by a the bloated and lifeless second-generation model which is best forgotten. Now, after a suitable cooling off period, Lexus has returned to its roots with a new coupe more in keeping with the original and it gets a new RC badge. Does the 2015 RC350 F-Sport take Lexus in a new direction? Read on.

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Would Lincoln Ever Challenge for Overall Le Mans Victory?

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Ford Lincoln racing the business and tagged dan neil facebook ford gt le mans lincoln lmp1 motorsports on June 15, 2015 by Sam Abuelsamid (updated 3442 days ago)

A day before the 2015 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ford Motor Company executive chairman Bill Ford announced that the company bearing his family name would be partnering with Ganassi Racing to field four of its new GT supercars in the French enduro next year. Wall Street Journal auto critic Dan Neil wrote about this on the newspaper’s website on Sunday after the race. More interesting perhaps was what he wrote when he linked to his Journal piece on Facebook.

There he said that he felt the GT should be badged as a Lincoln rather than a Ford to help support the premium brand. I’d like to suggest a different strategy for what Ford might be thinking here. Full disclosure, when I left the Ford communications team in mid-2014, I was privy to some future product information which had not yet been revealed at the time including the Lincoln Continental, Ford GT, Focus RS and Shelby GT350. All of that information has now been publicly announced and what comes next is pure speculation on my part with no basis in fact.

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Ford GT Officially Heading Back to Le Mans in 2016

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Ford racing and tagged 2017 ford gt 24 hours of le mans endurance racing ford ford gt ford gt40 ford performance ganassi racing gt le mans lm-gte multimatic tudor united sports car championship world endurance championship on June 12, 2015 by Sam Abuelsamid (updated 3444 days ago)

In early 1963, Ford Motor Company very nearly acquired Ferrari. Fortunately for automotive enthusiasts the world over, Enzo Ferrari rebuffed the offer from Henry Ford II at the last possible moment. There is no way of knowing what would have happened if the Dearborn automaker had succeeded in subsuming the then tiny Italian sports car manufacturer and racing team. However, we do know that the rejection spawned one of the greatest rivalries and some of the greatest cars of the past half century. The day before the 2015 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, starting with “We’re Back!” Henry Ford II’s nephew Bill announced the next stage in that rivalry with a 2016 return to Circuit de la Sarthe powered by the all-new GT.

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2016 Acura ILX Premium A-Spec

This entry was posted in Acura Carmakers cars reviews and tagged 2016 acura ilx acura car review car reviews dct on June 8, 2015 by Sam Abuelsamid (updated 3143 days ago)

As Honda Motor Company’s premium Acura brand comes up on its 30th anniversary next year, it continues to have a bit of an identity crisis not dramatically different from that suffered by Lincoln. Honda has never really had a clear idea about what the brand was supposed to represent, in fact when it debuted in 1986, there wasn’t even a logo. While a stylized pair of calipers have long since represented the “A,” Acura remains as indistinct as ever. Following the launch of the new midsize TLX sedan, last year, the entry ILX got a mid-cycle revamp earlier this year. Does it finally have the character it deserves?

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2016 Nissan Maxima Quick Drive – 4-Door Sports Car?

This entry was posted in Carmakers Nissan reviews and tagged 2016 nissan maxima car review car reviews first drive maxima nissan on June 3, 2015 by Sam Abuelsamid (updated 3143 days ago)

This week, the eighth-generation of Nissan’s so-called “4-Door Sports Car,” the Maxima goes on sale at dealerships across North America. Having originally debuted as a 1981 model, the Maxima is Nissan’s longest running continuous nameplate, the Z having gone away for several years in the 1990s. I got a chance to take a quick spin in the all-new sedan recently and came away fairly impressed, but does it really deserve the sports car nomenclature? Read on to find out.

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The 2015 Ford Shelby GT350 V8 – When Flatter is Better

This entry was posted in Carmakers Ford technology and tagged 2015 ford shelby gt350 mustang ford gt350 gt350r mustang shelby voodoo voodoo v8 on June 2, 2015 by Sam Abuelsamid (updated 3454 days ago)

A few weeks ago we got an in-depth look the platform changes that the SVT/Ford Performance engineering crew made in the process of transforming the 2015 Mustang GT into the new Shelby GT350. However, a great chassis can only you get you so far. Every great sports car also needs a great powerplant and here the engineers appear to have come through again. Unlike the last couple of generations of SVT Mustangs, this time around the team have come up with something completely different, the 5.2-liter Voodoo V8.

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