luxury

2017 Buick LaCrosse Premium AWD

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It’s not unreasonable to think of Buick as the original near-luxury brand. It was the first of the many brands that Billy Durant acquired as he began building up General Motors more than a century ago. Later as Alfred Sloan organized GM’s marketing efforts and brands into a stair step from Chevrolet at the entry level to Cadillac at the pinnacle, Buick was slotted in just below the top as the “doctor’s car.” A few decades ago, a big sedan like the LaCrosse would have been the brand flagship, the model an up and coming professional would be driving on their way to eventually having a Cadillac. Today, the recently introduced third-generation LaCrosse is almost an afterthought for customers as they rush to buy crossovers like the sub-compact Encore and full-size Enclave.

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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 2863 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 2872 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…)

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 2948 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

2016 BMW 650i – Touring In The Grand Style

This entry was posted in BMW Carmakers cars luxury reviews and tagged 2016 bmw 650i BMW car review car reviews cars review reviews on by (updated 3000 days ago)
2016 BMW 650i (photo credit: Sam Abuelsamid)

2016 BMW 650i (photo credit: Sam Abuelsamid)

It’s been a quarter century since I drove a BMW for the first time.  After years of reading Car and Driver’s praise of the 3 and 5 Series, my entre into the brand came via the big coupe which in those days was the 850i. The 8 series had supplanted the 6 series while moving significantly upmarket. The 8 was only produced for a single generation before giving way to an eventual revival of the 6 which I finally had a chance to drive recently in 650i form.

Read the rest of my BMW 650i review here

2016 Cadillac CTS 2.0T AWD

This entry was posted in active safety Cadillac Carmakers luxury reviews on by (updated 3053 days ago)
2016 Cadillac CTS 2.0T AWD

2016 Cadillac CTS 2.0T AWD

When the original Cadillac CTS debuted 14 years ago, it represented a turning point for General Motors’ premium brand. GM had decided to invest billions of dollars to remake the faded brand once known as the “Standard of the World” to try to make it competitive in the 21st century. The original CTS was built on a new dedicated Cadillac architecture with a new design language. Two years after the debut of the third-generation CTS, I had a chance to drive it and make my own judgements about whether the plan has succeeded.

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2017 Mercedes-Benz C300 Coupe – The Real Thing With Only 2 Doors

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars luxury Mercedes-Benz reviews and tagged 2017 mercedes-benz c300 coupe car review car reviews on by (updated 3027 days ago)
2017 Mercedes-Benz C300 Coupe (photo credit: Sam Abuelsamid)

2017 Mercedes-Benz C300 Coupe (photo credit: Sam Abuelsamid)

When Mercedes-Benz introduced the CLS four-door coupe in 2003, the first car company seemed like it had delivered the coup de grâce to the true two-door coupe. Fortunately, that hasn’t quite panned out and we still have stunners like the 2017 C300.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/samabuelsamid/2016/09/12/2017-mercedes-benz-c300-coupe-the-real-thing-with-only-2-doors

 

 

2016 Lexus RC-F – Sometimes More Isn’t More

This entry was posted in Carmakers Lexus luxury reviews and tagged 2016 2016 lexus rc-f car review car reviews cars coupe sports coupe on by (updated 3122 days ago)
2016 lexus rc-f

2016 Lexus RC-F in Molten Coral

We’re coming up on nearly a decade since Lexus first officially announced its attempt to take on the Ms, AMGs and RSs of the automotive world. Toyota’s premium brand selected F as its official designation for performance-oriented variants of its well-built but staid vehicles. Until the arrival of an LC-F at some future date, the RC-F can arguably be called the current Lexus performance herald.

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2016 Lexus RX450h F Sport – Adding a Touch of Cayenne

This entry was posted in Carmakers crossover Hybrid Lexus luxury reviews and tagged car review car reviews cars crossover hybrid review reviews on by (updated 3144 days ago)
2016 Lexus RX 450h F Sport

2016 Lexus RX 450h F Sport

For most of its nearly two decade history, the midsize RX crossover has been the best seller in the Lexus lineup by a fairly wide margin. Like other Lexi prior to the current generation, it also had generally inoffensive, but uninspired design. That all changed in 2015 with the debut of the fourth-generation RX including the hybrid RX450h F Sport that I recently drove. Whether you like the new design direction or not, this latest RX is at least less likely to get lost in a crowd.

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