cars

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 3098 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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2015 BMW i8 – A Plug-in Hybrid Spaceship From Munich

This entry was posted in BMW Carmakers cars electric Hybrid reviews and tagged BMW car review car reviews cars EV i8 phev plug-in hybrid on by (updated 3112 days ago)

2015 BMW i8

A good rule of thumb when attending an auto show is that the more radical looking a concept car is, the less likely it is to ever make it to production. Virtually every major brand is guilty of producing pieces of rolling sculpture that end up doing little more than introducing a couple of new design cues that end up on more mainstream models. When we first saw BMW’s Vision EfficientDynamics concept at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, it seemed to fall squarely into this category. Nevertheless, five years later something very much like that concept emerged as the first-ever i8.

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2016 Lincoln MKX – What the Brand Needs More Than What Enthusiasts Want

This entry was posted in Carmakers crossover Lincoln luxury reviews and tagged 2016 lincoln mkx car review car reviews crossover review reviews on by (updated 3118 days ago)

2016 Lincoln MKX

The luxury vehicle market today shares a very important characteristic with the market for more mainstream models. While enthusiasts may prefer the cars, especially sporty, performance oriented models, crossovers are where the big money is at. For all the strategic issues that Ford’s upmarket Lincoln brand has had over the past couple of decades, they at least seem to have recognized this truism. Thus instead of a BMW and Cadillac-chasing rear drive sports sedan or coupe, we have the new MKX midsize crossover and frankly that’s not an entirely bad thing.

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2016 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara – 75 Years Later, Still the Original

This entry was posted in Carmakers Jeep reviews SUV and tagged car review car reviews jeep wrangler suv on by (updated 3121 days ago)

2016 Jeep Wrangler Sahara - 9 of 30

If a vehicle is built continuously for 75 years with updates every decade yet it’s still instantly recognizable as the original, can it be considered retro? That’s certainly a question that applies to the Jeep Wrangler. Today’s Jeep Wrangler has a direct lineage back to the Willys MB/Ford GPW that supported millions of allied troops in World War II and the conflicts that followed. Today’s Wrangler is immediately recognizable and shares many of the attributes of those originals, but is also different in so many ways.

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2016 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk – The Jeep of Small SUVs

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover Jeep reviews and tagged 2016 jeep renegade car review car reviews cars crossover jeep sub-compact crossover trail rated on by (updated 3133 days ago)
2016 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk

2016 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk

Last year Fiat Chrysler Automobiles launched two B-segment SUVs based off the same platform but with very different designs and personalities. The more stylish Fiat 500X that I drove recently is targeted at a mainstream audience that wants the high-riding look of a utility with a modern look but has no intention of ever tackling anything more challenging than a gravel driveway. For those that actually want a real off-road capable SUV in a small package, there is the Jeep Renegade Trailhawk.

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2016 Chrysler 300S AWD – The More Grown-up Alternative to the Charger

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Chrysler luxury reviews and tagged 2016 chrysler 300 all-wheel-drive AWD car review car reviews chrysler full-size sedan sedan on by (updated 3139 days ago)

2016 Chrysler 300 STo a large degree, the 1998 “merger of equals” between Daimler-Benz and Chrysler Corp. was generally considered an unmitigated disaster. Just like any other failed marriage, great kids can result from the collaboration. In this case, what is now Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is still earning dividends from its LX platform which includes the 300S sedan I recently drove.

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2016 Dodge Charger SXT Blacktop – For Pony Car Fans With a Family

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Dodge reviews and tagged 2016 dodge charger car review car reviews cars reviews sedan on by (updated 3142 days ago)

2016 Dodge Charger SXT blacktopIf you’re the type of driver that inclined toward cars like the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro or Dodge Challenger but regularly need to bring along more than one adult friend or strap kids into car seats, Dodge has an alternative for you. In many respects, the Dodge Charger is the family pony car. After spending a week with a 2016 Charger SXT Black Top Edition, I can attest that it has the feel these drivers would be looking for.

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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)

2016 Fiat 500X - 1 of 27

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)

2016 Chevrolet Volt - 37 of 37

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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