cars

2015 Hyundai Sante Fe Sport – Plenty of Utility, Not So Much Sport

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover Hyundai reviews and tagged 2015 hyundai santa fe sport car review car reviews crossover hyundai santa fe on by (updated 3143 days ago)

2015 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport 2.0T - 4 of 31

It should come as no surprise when you check Hyundai’s monthly sales report to find the midsize Santa Fe crossover as the brand’s third-best selling model trailing only the Elantra and Sonata. Americans have fallen head over heels in love with crossovers with the segment seemingly absorbing the station wagon and taking more and more of the minivan’s sales. Now in its third-generation, the Santa Fe has grown from the compact original to a midsizer and it’s now made in two sizes. A larger three-row variant has replaced the defunct Veracruz while the shorter two-row version now has a Sport suffix. I recently spent a week with a 2015 Santa Fe Sport learning whether the badge fits.

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2015 Lexus LS460 AWD – No Longer Just a Pretender to the Throne

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Lexus reviews and tagged 2015 lexus ls 460 awd car review car reviews lexus ls luxury on by (updated 3143 days ago)

2015 Lexus LS460 AWD - 1 of 31

Through the 1970s and early-1980s, three Japanese companies, Toyota, Nissan and Honda upended the American automotive industry. With the help of lower manufacturing costs in Japan and favorable exchange rates, they entered at the low end of the market and offered consumers, affordable, higher-quality and more efficient cars than they could get from Detroit. After gradually filling in their lineups from the bottom up, by the end of the decade, all three were ready to expand into more premium offerings.  After Honda launched Acura in 1986, Toyota and Nissan brought us Lexus and Infiniti three years later. Thanks mainly to the flagship Lexus LS sedan, the premium car market has never been the same and I recently spent a week with the latest edition of the LS460 AWD to see how it has progressed in 25 years.

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Carbon Revolution to Build Wheels for Ford Shelby GT350R Mustang

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Ford technology and tagged 2015 ford shelby gt350 mustang 2016 carbon fiber ford gt350r shelby on by (updated 3417 days ago)

GT350R-WheelThrough its 50-plus year history, the Ford Mustang is not a nameplate that has been renowned for showcasing cutting edge technology. Now a year into the sixth-generation model that debuted last fall, that view of the car is starting to change with debut of the new Shelby GT350R. When deliveries start later this summer, the GT350R will be the first mass-produced car in the world with standard carbon fiber wheels and Australian wheel-maker Carbon Revolution will be supplying the rolling stock.

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2015 Kia Soul+ EV – The Most Electric Range You Can Get for Less Than a Tesla

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars electric Kia reviews technology and tagged 2015 2015 kia soul ev car reviews electric car electric vehicle kia lithium ion on by (updated 3143 days ago)

2015 Kia Soul EV - 2 of 32If the mainstream media in America talks about battery electric cars at all, it usually has something to do with the latest outrageous pronouncement from Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk. However, unless you live in the wealthy enclaves of Silicon Valley or southern California, chances are pretty good that you’ve never even seen a Tesla Model S much less driven one. Most of the rest of us will never be able to afford a Model S even we could find a place to buy one. For the rest of us that want to drive emissions-free there are a number of very good and increasingly affordable options including South Korea’s first entry into the segment, the Kia Soul EV.

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Could Mazda Return to Le Mans with a Hydrogen Rotary Hybrid

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Mazda racing and tagged 24 hours of le mans flywheel garage 56 hybrid hydrogen mazda rotary on by (updated 3422 days ago)

P1J04888sThe 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans will actually mark two very important anniversaries in the history of the world’s most famous endurance race. It will be the 50th anniversary of the first of four consecutive victories by the legendary Ford GT. It also marks the 25th anniversary of Mazda’s only victory with the rotary-powered 787B. Just after Ford announced it’s return to France next year, Mazda’s Nubohiro Yamamoto told Top Gear magazine that he would like to see the Japanese brand return to the endurance race.

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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 by (updated 3143 days ago)

2015 Lexus NX300h - 1 of 27In 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 by (updated 3431 days ago)

IMG_1441At 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 by (updated 3432 days ago)

2016CamaroConvert_3

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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