Carmakers

2017 Ford Focus RS – A Hot Hatch With Extra Spice

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Ford reviews and tagged 2017 ford focus rs car review car reviews cars ford review reviews on by (updated 2783 days ago)

2017 Ford Focus RS

It’s been just over four decades since the modern hot hatch was born with debut of the original Volkswagen Golf GTI. In the intervening years, most other automakers have produced higher performance versions of their compact cars but since the turn of the century a new class of even quicker machines has evolved. Until recently, with the exception of the Volkswagen Golf R, these machines have been forbidden fruit on American shores. Fortunately for enthusiasts, Ford finally homologated its legendary Focus RS and American Honda dealers will soon start delivering the latest edition of the Civic Type-R.

Read the full review at Forbes

 

2017 Acura MDX Advance SH-AWD – Better But Still Unclear In Its Mission

This entry was posted in Acura Carmakers luxury reviews SUV and tagged 2017 acura mdx acura car review car reviews crossover honda review reviews on by (updated 2817 days ago)

 

Cadillac -The Standard of the World. Built Ford Tough. Mercedes-Benz -The Best or Nothing. BMW – The Ultimate Driving Machine. Audi – Truth in Engineering. Well maybe not so much on that last one, but you get my point. Successful automotive brands have an image associated with them that may or may not be entirely accurate, but that’s what marketing is all about. Honda’s premium Acura brand has always struggled with trying to determine what it’s image should be, no matter how good its products have been and they have typically been very good. The latest stab at remaking the brand image image is the 2017 MDX SUV which I just spent a week with.

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2017 Volvo S90 T6 Inscription AWD – Taking the Fight to the Germans

This entry was posted in active safety Carmakers cars luxury reviews Volvo and tagged 2017 volvo S90 car review car reviews cars review reviews on by (updated 2826 days ago)

2017 Volvo S90 T6 Inscription

Given the current market trends and consumer favor for SUVs, Volvo probably made the right call in coming out of the gate with the big XC90 for the first complete reboot of its product lineup after separating from Ford. Fortunately, for those of us less enamored with driving utilities on a daily basis, they’ve quickly followed that up with the S90 sedan and soon the V90 wagon. I recently spent a week with the S90 and found that unsurprisingly it shares most of the same strengths and foibles as its higher riding sibling but in a much sleeker package. (more…)

Leave The Brake Pedal, Take The Bolt – Driving Chevrolet’s New EV

This entry was posted in Carmakers Chevrolet crossover electric General Motors reviews technology and tagged android apple car review car reviews chevrolet crossover electricvehicles EV review reviews on by (updated 2849 days ago)

It’s been more than eight years since I first drove one of BMW’s MINI E electric prototypes around downtown Los Angeles. One of the first characteristics I noticed about that car was the extremely aggressive regenerative braking that enabled driving virtually without touching the brake pedal. While BMW has persisted with that strategy as the only control mode on the production i3, other automakers have provided similar abilities only when shifting the transmission to Low mode. After driving the new Chevrolet Bolt EV from Tesla’s Silicon Valley backyard into the heart of San Francisco, I think all Bolt drivers should consider driving this way all the time.

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2017 GMC Acadia All-Terrain – Right-Sizing GMC’s Bigger Crossover

This entry was posted in Carmakers crossover General Motors GMC reviews SUV and tagged 2017 GMC Acadia android apple car review car reviews crossover review reviews on by (updated 2880 days ago)

2017 GMC Acadia All-Terrain

It’s been a decade since General Motors finally gave up on trying to stake out a claim in the minivan market and then trying to recast its vans as pseudo-SUVs. In 2006, GM launched an all-new platform for full-size crossover utilities that was known internally as Lambda and ultimately spawned four nameplates, Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia and the now-defunct Saturn Outlook. Having achieved some notable success with the platform with steadily growing sales of more than 200,000 units annually since 2010, an all-new second-generation Lambda is now ready and hit the streets in 2016 under a redesigned version of the Acadia.

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2017 Volvo XC90 T8 – The Big Swede Gets Plugged In

This entry was posted in Carmakers electric Hybrid reviews SUV Volvo and tagged 2017 volvo xc90 t8 android autonomousvehicles car review car reviews cars electricvehicles hybrid luxury phev plug-in hybrid review reviews on by (updated 2883 days ago)

The launch of the second-generation XC90 marked the beginning of a new era for Volvo a couple of years ago. The XC90 is the first model to ride on the company’s all-new scalable product architecture (SPA), the first all-new platform to come from Gothenburg since Ford sold the Swedish brand to China’s Geely in 2010. After initially being available only with boosted four-cylinder engines, the XC90 is now the first regular production plug-in model Volvo is offering in America and I recently spent a week driving one.

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2017 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro – Autobahn Born and Bred

This entry was posted in Audi Carmakers cars luxury reviews and tagged 2017 audi a4 audi car review car reviews luxury sedan quattro review reviews on by (updated 2902 days ago)
2017 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro

2017 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro

Cars, like the people that create them have distinct characters. Some of that comes down to the individuals responsible for the design and development and the corporate culture they work in. Other aspects of automotive ethnicity come the places where they were created. Despite the differences between the various German brands, they all share some common DNA, in particular, the way they behave at elevated speeds on highways like the Autobahn. Such is the case for the latest generation Audi A4 that arrived on American shores earlier this year.

Read the rest of my review on Forbes

Don’t Miss The Wheel Bearings Podcast!

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars podcasting technology Trucks and tagged podcast on by (updated 2910 days ago)

img_20161109_153334_processed-01-1024x1024In case you missed it, Dan Roth and I have launched a new podcast called Wheel Bearings where we talk about the cars we’re driving and the news and topics that we think are important in the world of transportation and mobility. We’ll have guests and interviews with experts and interesting people too. You can find the show at http://wheelbearings.media/

Add the RSS Feed to your favorite podcatcher – http://wheelbearings.media/feed/podcast
Subscribe in PocketCasts – http://pca.st/tMO4
Subscribe in Google Play – https://goo.gl/fazd4D
Subscribe in iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wheel-bearings/id1174442079
Follow the show on TuneIn – http://tunein.com/radio/Wheel-Bearings-p930642/

2016 Mazda CX-9 – Moving People in Style

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover Mazda reviews SUV and tagged 2016 mazda cx-9 car review car reviews crossover cx-9 review reviews suv on by (updated 2910 days ago)
2016 Mazda CX-9 Signature

2016 Mazda CX-9 Signature

Earlier this year, nearly eight years after Ford started divesting its controlling interest in Mazda, the Japanese brand finally replaced the last of the products that shared hardware with the Dearborn brand. Mazda’s biggest vehicle was also its oldest with the original CX-9 lasting nearly a decade before a complete redesign. Now that the CX-9 is new and fresh, does it finally fit in with the rest of the family from the brand that says “driving matters?”

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2017 Hyundai Elantra Eco – A Good Car Even When Gas Is Cheap

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Hyundai reviews and tagged 2017 car review car reviews cars elantra eco hyundai review reviews on by (updated 2918 days ago)

2017-hyundai-elantra-eco-7-of-27

While the SUV in its various flavors is quickly expanding its hold on the American driver, the car isn’t quite dead yet. In fact, at Hyundai, its two best-selling models remain the Elantra and Sonata. With nearly 173,000 sold in the first ten months of 2016, The Elantra certainly appeals to a significant portion of the market and Hyundai wants to expand on that with a new variant for 2017, the Elantra Eco. Despite continuing cheap gas across the U.S. the Eco is definitely a car that consumers should consider.

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