car reviews

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

This entry was posted in Carmakers Ford reviews and tagged 2015 ford mustang car review car reviews convertible ecoboost mustang mustang svo on by (updated 3181 days ago)

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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

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover Nissan reviews and tagged 2015 nissan juke car review car reviews crossover juke nissan on by (updated 3181 days ago)

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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

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars electric reviews technology Tesla and tagged car review car reviews electric car EV model s tesla tesla model s tesla model s p85d on by (updated 3181 days ago)

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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!

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Ram reviews Trucks and tagged 2015 ram promaster car review car reviews cargo van commercial vehicles fiat ducato promaster vans on by (updated 3181 days ago)

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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2015 Ford Edge Sport – An Actual Sport Utility Vehicle

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover Ford reviews and tagged 2015 ford edge sport car review car reviews crossover ecoboost ford on by (updated 3181 days ago)

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Two decades ago when the sport utility vehicle was really taking off as a segment in the in the American market, the Ford Explorer was the hottest ticket in town and they were selling as fast as Ford could churn them out. Despite the name, there really wasn’t anything particularly sporty about these truck-based wagons and there was no pretense to actual high-performance or even decent handling. As the 1990s turned into the 21st century, the market shifted from old-school SUVs to car-based crossovers and even sports car stalwarts like Porsche got into the action. Somehow, in 2015 we’re now in a place where despite its high-riding stance, many CUVs can be considered serious performance machines including the all-new 2015 Ford Edge Sport.

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2015 Kia Soul! – It’s Not Just for Hamsters

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover Kia reviews and tagged 2015 kia soul car review car reviews cars crossover kia soul ev soul on by (updated 3181 days ago)

2015 Kia Soul! - 1 of 1A few weeks ago I spent a week with the 2015 Kia Soul EV and came away very impressed by what the South Koreans had achieved. It wasn’t that long ago that Kia was known as a brand that built cheap and frankly not very good cars and SUVs. I liked the first-generation Soul when I drove it several years ago and was even more impressed with the new battery-powered version. There’s just one problem, if you live outside of California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Texas or Georgia, you can’t buy one. But fear not, there is a Soul for the rest of us that is still powered by internal combustion of gasoline.

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2015 Ford Focus SE EcoBoost – Good Luck Trying to Buy One

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars Ford reviews and tagged 2015 ford focus car review car reviews ecoboost ford focus ford focus ecoboost on by (updated 3181 days ago)

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Back in 2012, two years before launching an updated Fiesta powered by a tiny new 1.0-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine, Ford first showed off this powerplant to American journalists with a fleet of European-spec Focuses. Despite it’s small size, the engine shocked almost everyone who drove it with its performance. Earlier this year, Ford finally started shipping the updated 2015 Focus in volume and if you search really hard, you can even buy one with a three-pot engine. I managed to get my hands on one for a week in a metallic grey Focus SE sedan, came away puzzled by Ford’s efforts.

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2016 Scion iM First Drive – The Only Corolla for Enthusiasts to Consider

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars reviews scion and tagged 2016 2016 scion iM car review car reviews first drive scion toyota on by (updated 3181 days ago)

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The second of two new cars coming from Toyota’s entry-level Scion division this fall is the iM, a compact five-door hatchback that has the likes of the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf in its sights. For those that pay attention to Toyota’s European lineup, the iM will be familiar since it’s essentially a rebadged Auris. The iM effectively replaces Scion’s now defunct cube car the xB in the lineup, but the question is can it move the needle on the segment?

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2016 Honda HR-V EX-L AWD – The Fit Grows Up

This entry was posted in Carmakers cars crossover Honda reviews and tagged 2016 honda hr-v car review car reviews crossover honda honda fit on by (updated 3181 days ago)

2016 Honda HR-V EX-L AWD - 9 of 29Crossover utility vehicles are rapidly taking over the American automobile market. Even as the market as a whole grows, sales of cars are actually in decline. Meanwhile trucks including pickups, SUVs and CUVs are growing. The biggest growth is coming at smallest end of the market with subcompact crossovers going from nonexistent just a few years ago to more than 110,000 in 2014 and 107,000 in the first six months of this year. Several new and very promising small crossovers have just arrived at dealers in the last month or two and are expected to push the numbers way up by the end of the year. Among the new entries are the Jeep Renegade, Fiat 500x, Mazda CX-3 and Honda’s entry into the segment, the HR-V which I just spent a week with.

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