Carmakers

2016 Fiat 500X Trekking AWD – The Best Cinquecento Yet?

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover Fiat reviews and tagged 2016 fiat 500x 500x car review car reviews cars crossover fiat reviews on by (updated 3142 days ago)

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Let’s face it, the re-entry of Fiat into the American marketplace in the wake of the Italian company’s post-bankruptcy absorption of Chrysler has not gone as well as CEO Sergio Marchionne had hoped. The diminutive 500 never reached the sales targets expected of it and the larger 500L MPV did even worse. We still have some months to wait before the Miata-derived 124 roadster hits the streets but there is one other Fiat entry that may yet have the potential to be a breakout hit, subcompact crossover 500X.

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2016 Ford Explorer Platinum – Looking More Like a Range Rover

This entry was posted in Carmakers crossover Ford reviews SUV and tagged 2016 2016 ford explorer car review car reviews crossover ford ford explorer reviews on by (updated 3142 days ago)

2016 Ford Explorer Platinum - 3 of 33Over the course of its first 25 years, the Ford Explorer has had quite a roller coaster ride. It got off to a strong start in the original SUV wave of the 1990s eventually hit peak sales of more than 445,000 in 2000 before starting a decade of mostly steady decline. By 2009 when the shine was almost entirely off of the SUV in the depths of the great recession, Ford moved barely 52,000 Explorers. In 2011, Ford rebooted the whole concept, dumping the long-running body-on-frame layout for a car based unibody and it’s been smiles ever since. Fresh off a mid-cycle refresh, nearly 250,000 Explorers found a home last year, second only to the compact Escape. I spent a week with the new top-of-the-line Platinum edition and have some thoughts to share.

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2016 Chevrolet Volt – Second Time’s The Charm

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Chevrolet electric Hybrid reviews and tagged 2016 car review car reviews cars chevrolet extended range electric vehicle extended range EV hybrid phev plug-in hybrid plug-in vehicle reviews on by (updated 3142 days ago)

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As I sit down to write these words about the 2016 Chevrolet Volt, I just realized that it has been almost exactly 10 years since Jon Lauckner and Bob Lutz sat down and sketched out the basic architecture for what they hoped would be a truly practical plug-in car. In the days and weeks that followed, Lutz and Lauckner gathered up the core of an engineering and design team that would eventually bring the first-generation Volt to production four and a half years later. A decade on from those first discussions, the second-generation Volt is now on sale and it’s vastly superior to the original in every way.

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2016 Ford C-Max Energi – 20 Miles of Usability on the EV Spectrum

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover electric Ford Hybrid reviews and tagged car review car reviews cars crossover EV ford c-max energi hybrid phev plug-in hybrid reviews on by (updated 3142 days ago)

2016 Ford C-MaxLike most things in the real world, when it comes to automotive electrification, there is a continuum of approaches rather than a binary electric or not. At the minimal end, you’ll find automatic stop-start systems while the maximal solution relies on electric motors alone for propulsion. Lying somewhere in between is the Ford C-MAX Energi, the Dearborn automaker’s first production plug-in hybrid. After three years on the market, is the C-MAX Energi a good solution for those interested in going electric without range anxiety?

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2016 Subaru Legacy 2.5i Premium – Extra Traction on a Budget

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars reviews Subaru technology and tagged all-wheel-drive car review car reviews cars driver assist legacy reviews subaru on by (updated 3142 days ago)

2016 subaru legacySometimes being ahead your time can kill a business because there aren’t enough customers that understand to sustain you. On the other hand, if you can round up enough true believers you might just hang in there until the world begins to see things your way. Fortunately for Subaru, the latter seems to have been the case and the 2016 Legacy sedan is a perfect case in point.

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2016 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Review

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Hybrid Hyundai reviews technology and tagged 2016 Hyundai sonata hybrid car review car reviews cars hybrid hybrid electric reviews on by (updated 3142 days ago)

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Five years after launching its first hybrid electric vehicle, Hyundai is at it again with the second-generation Sonata hybrid. Hyundai went its own way with the powertrain architecture it developed in-house. Unlike the two-motor power-split systems used by Toyota, Ford and GM when it debuted in 2010, the Sonata had a single-motor system with a fairly conventional six-speed automatic. Hyundai priced the Sonata hybrid aggressively and it sold well but it wasn’t considered as refined as some of the competition. I spent a week with the 2016 Sonata Hybrid Limited to see how it compares.

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2016 Mercedes-Benz GLC300 4Matic

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover Mercedes-Benz reviews and tagged 2016 mercedes-benz glc300 4matic car review car reviews cars crossover reviews on by (updated 3142 days ago)

2016 Mercedes-Benz GLC300 4Matic - 3 of 28One of the downsides of having a seemingly ever-expanding lineup of vehicles with arbitrary alphanumeric badges is that over time, customers will become completely confused about what those nonsensical names mean and where models fit into the lineup. This problem has afflicted every brand using this kind of naming strategy including Mercedes-Benz. 2015 saw the Stuttgart marketing mavens completely realign their model badging including compact GLK SUV which has now been redesigned and renamed the GLC. So does a new look and name help the 2016 GLC300 4Matic better compete in the hotly contested compact SUV/crossover? Read on.

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2016 Mazda CX-3 Grand Touring – Has It Hit That “Just Right” Mix Yet?

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover Mazda reviews and tagged 2016 mazda cx-3 car review car reviews cars crossover reviews on by (updated 3142 days ago)

2016 Mazda CX-3 Grand Touring - 3 of 25The sub-compact crossover utility has been one of the fastest growing market segments in the industry over the past few years. As of the time I sit to write this in January 2016, there are 10 entries available in the American market with several more to come in the next few years including Ford, Hyundai and probably GMC. Of the examples I’ve driven in the past year including the Chevrolet Trax, Nissan Juke and Honda HR-V, each has elements to recommend it, but like Goldilocks looking for a place to nap they were each too hard or soft in some respect. Did Mazda get it “just right” with the CX-3?

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2016 Kia Sorento SXL 2.0T – The Crossover Is The New Station Wagon

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover Kia reviews and tagged 2016 kia sorento car review car reviews cars crossover reviews on by (updated 3142 days ago)

2016 Kia Sorento SXL - 1 of 30I give up, the crossover utility vehicle is new station wagon. There I said it. For what seems like forever, I’ve been advocating the station wagon over SUVs and crossovers. However with the distinct exception of Volkswagen’s Jetta/Golf Sportwagen, Americans steadfastly refuse to buy them, even when an automaker like GM builds one as awesome as the late Cadillac CTS-V. Thus I am giving up the battle and accepting defeat. Buying cars is often an irrational choice but modern crossovers like the latest Kia Sorento have overcome most of my complaints and are about as rational as many customers will get.

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2016 Nissan Maxima SL – Not a Sports Car But It Doesn’t Need To Be

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Nissan reviews and tagged 2016 nissan maxima car review car reviews cars nissan reviews sports sedan on by (updated 3142 days ago)

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The 2016 Nissan Maxima may have the long-running 4DSC badge molded into the rear turn signal lenses but I’m not going to classify this as a sports car. There, I said it, now let’s move on and talk about what this car actually is and what it’s about. The all-new eighth-generation of the flagship of Nissan’s car line launched a few months ago with a dramatic new design and a host of technical upgrades. After a preview drive last June, I finally got to spend some extended time with the Maxima just before Christmas.

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