car review


2016 Honda Civic Sedan – A Great Starting Point for the Type-R 1

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In recent years, many critics have accused Honda of losing its way. The lightweight, fun-to-drive cars that helped build the Honda reputation from the 1970s through the early 1990s had given way to increasingly bland cars devoid of character. Chief of among the models that seemed to suffer was the Civic. First launched in 1973, the Civic wasn’t Honda’s first American model, but it really gave the brand momentum that picked up significantly a few years later with the debut of the Accord. The most recent Civic which debuted in 2011 seemed to epitomize everything wrong with the brand. Honda heard the complaints and tried to address them for generation 10 that goes on sale in November. However, hearing complaints and adequately resolving them are two different things and only time behind the wheel would tell us if Honda has been successful.

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2015 Mercedes-Benz E250 BlueTec 4Matic –

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Mercedes-Benz is a brand that has been associated with firsts throughout its long history which of course began with the very first car, Karl Benz’s 1886 Patent Motorwagen. Along the way, Mercedes has launched gasoline direct-fuel injection, anti-lock brakes and many other technologies including the compression ignition cycle developed by Dr. Rudolph Diesel. As we approach the 80th anniversary of the 1936 260D, Mercedes-Benz currently offers diesel engines in several of its current U.S.-market models including the midsize E-class sedan. I recently spent a week with the diesel-powered E250 BlueTec AWD just before the news broke about the big Volkswagen diesel emissions cheating scandal.

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2015 Jaguar XJL Portfolio AWD – The Big Cat Still Roars

2015 Jaguar XJL - 3 of 39The Jaguar brand-name is 80 years old in 2015 and over that time, the British luxury automaker has built some of the most beautiful and iconic machines in the history of the automobile. The single longest running nameplate from the Coventry-based company is the XJ sedan which is rapidly approaching its own 50th anniversary in 2018. The original XJ is still considered one of the most attractive sedans of all time. By the time the current-generation XJ debuted in 2009, just a year after Tata Motors bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford, the old-school XJ was definitely looking long in the tooth. Fortunately, Jaguar was ready to begin its new era with something dramatically different and six years later I’ve finally had an opportunity to drive one.

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2016 Mercedes-Benz Metris First Drive

metris first drive - 7I never thought I would see the day when a Mercedes-Benz spokesperson stood in front a group of media to compare the brand’s latest product to the long dead Chevrolet Astro. For those who don’t recall the Astro, it and its GMC-badged twin the Safari, were rear-wheel-drive midsize vans built from 1985 to 2005. Since the end of the Astro’s production run, no manufacturer has offered a similarly sized van in the U.S. market, until now. Starting in the first week of October, roughly 270 Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner dealers will begin selling the Metris which has been available in Europe as the Vito.

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2015 Chevrolet Trax LT – A Little Crossover With Room for Friends

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Last year Chevrolet decided to join the rapidly burgeoning B-segment (aka subcompact) crossover utility field with an entry called the Trax. The Trax joins GM’s other similarly sized and surprisingly successful crossover the Buick Encore at a more affordable price point to challenge the likes of the Honda HR-V, Jeep Renegade, Fiat 500X and Nissan Juke. In a segment expected to spawn several more entries from the likes of Ford, Hyundai and Toyota in the next couple of years, does the Trax have what it takes?

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2015 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk – Polished SUV

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The Jeep Cherokee brand now has  more than 40 years of history behind it and in many respects was responsible for transforming the SUV from a minor niche of the automotive market to a mainstream juggernaut. Following a decade during which the former DaimlerChrysler inexplicably re-branded the Cherokee as the Liberty in North America while keeping the original badge intact in the rest of the world, an all-new fifth-generation arrived last year with the old-school badge but some of the most radical changes yet to the skin and the platform.

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2015 Ford Mustang Convertible EcoBoost – A Four Legged Summer SVO Without the Badge

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Hitting the open road with the top down has been an integral part of the Ford Mustang lifestyle for more than five decades. In fact, the very first Mustang sold to a retail customer was a baby blue convertible that went to Chicago school teacher Gail Wise on April 15, 1964, two days before the official on-sale date. Mustang serial #1 was a white convertible, purchased by a Canadian airline pilot. When the all-new sixth generation Mustang debuted a year ago, it came in two body styles, fastback and convertible and I recently got to spend a week with wind in what remains of my hair to see if it is as good as Ford claims.

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2015 Nissan Juke SL AWD – Don’t Judge This Book By Its Cover

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OK, let’s just deal with the elephant in the room right up front. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Sadly, when I look at the Nissan Juke, I don’t behold any beauty. In fact, it kind of repulses me. Fortunately, I didn’t let my judgement of this little book’s cover stop me from driving the Juke because it actually has a lot to recommend it.

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2015 Tesla Model S P85D – Excellent But Not Perfect

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Nine years ago, I was beginning my career as a professional writer just as a little Silicon Valley startup was emerging from stealth mode to introduce its first product. Taking its name from one of the greatest engineers and inventors of all time, Nicola Tesla, that company reignited the pursuit of battery electric vehicles with a heavily modified Lotus Elise chassis packed with 1,000-pounds of lithium ion cells. It would take another two years before paying customers would finally take delivery of the first Roadsters and another four after that before Tesla would finally deliver its first completely in-house developed product, the Model S. During a recent trip to California I finally got my chance to drive the insanely fast Tesla Model S P85D.

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2015 Ram ProMaster 3500 – A Red, Italian-Bred Two-Seater That Really Hauls!

2015 ram promaster 3500 - 5 of 25Another Woodward Dream Cruise has come and gone and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles loaned me a bright-red, two-seater of Italian descent from its fleet to drive. Sadly my ride was not a fancy new Ferrari 488, but rather a Ram ProMaster 3500 which is derived from the European-market Fiat Ducato. While I certainly want to try out the Ferrari some day, for anyone that has ever spent a blistering hot summer afternoon in the eight-mile long traffic jam that is the Dream Cruise, the Ferrari would have been completely out its element anyway. On the other hand, the ProMaster can really haul, making it ideally suited to moving my daughter’s belongings to her new Midtown Detroit apartment.

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