For the life of me, I couldn’t remember the last time I had driven an Infiniti sedan. It was so long ago the cars all had different names. What used to be known as the M sedan arrived in the test driveway as a 2018 Infiniti Q70L 5.6 Luxe.
In case any of you have been living off the grid for the past few years, the Jeep Cherokee is back. Jeep brought the familiar nameplate back to the midsize SUV segment to replace the Liberty model they shuttered a few years ago.
What do you get when you cross a truck with seemingly endless acres of soft sand? Before last week, I would have answered “a tow truck and a hefty bill,” but now I know that the answer is “Fun, lots of fun!” GMC Trucks can handle towing your 4-wheelers to the sand, pushing sand, and yes, even driving in sand!
Three-row crossover utility vehicles are popular and they are putting a real pinch on minivan and sedan sales across the showrooms. And while they have been around for some time now there apparently is still room for competition as Volkswagen has just rolled out its entry into the segment, dubbed Atlas.
The Ford F-150 pickup has been the best-selling truck for 40 years, and for the past 35 years it has been the top-selling vehicle in America as well. For 2018 none of that looks to change and the new model has already earned a belt buckle and trophy as top truck in Texas.
The Hyundai Santa Fe Sport crossover seems to be making itself at home in the Gear Diary test driveway. This model launched a few years ago and now we have seen our third SF Sport in nearly as many years, most recently the new 2018 model.
What is Nissan’s best-selling vehicle these days? Sentra? Altima? Wrong on both accounts. Car sales have been slumping industry-wide in favor of crossover utility vehicles and the top seller at Nissan is now the Rogue. And that model is now being joined by the new Rogue Sport.
How is it possible that I have never been to Yellowstone National Park? Until a recent media drive for the 2018 GMC Terrain Denali, if you’d told me about traffic jams caused by bison crossing the road or that steam from geysers could be thick enough obscure everything around it, I’d have only given you a blank look.
Fall is in the air, and that means it is time for the State Fair of Texas. Aside from the world-famous corny dogs, one of the main attractions is the auto show, the largest of its kind on American soil.
A while back, I recommended the new Acura MDX to those of you shopping for a new premium utility vehicle. Now less than a year later, I am back to recommend its greener sibling, the 2017 Acura MDX Sport Hybrid complete with four motors and electronic all-wheel drive.
It first appeared on the stage at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit a couple of years ago, and now the rollout of the Nissan Titan XD pickup line is complete with the delivery of the 2017 Nissan Titan XD King Cab body style.
If you don’t like people staring at you, don’t buy the all-new Lexus luxury sport coupe. If you do crave attention, this concept car turned production unit may just be for you. We recently spent a week behind the wheel of the Lexus LC 500h and found most folks could not take their eyes off of us.
Somewhere between Iconic and Ironic in Wikipedia you will find the Hyundai Ioniq. What the heck is Ioniq, you ask? This is the new hybrid vehicle from Korean automaker Hyundai that will give the iconic Prius a real run for its money.
If you want to blame anyone for the rise in popularity of crossover utility vehicles in America, blame Honda. And blame its uber-popular CR-V. For 2017, Honda has delivered the fifth-generation of this mid-size family utility to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the nameplate – and it is going to be as popular as ever.
Recently I mentioned that Toyota offers the consumer a choice when shopping the midsize utility vehicle segment – Highlander and 4Runner. Now in its fifth generation, 4Runner has been a popular sport ute for more than 30 years here and our 2017 Toyota 4Runner TRD Off-Road tester proves the model is still going strong.
A couple of years ago we brought you our first impressions of the all-new third-generation Hyundai Tucson crossover utility vehicle. For 2017, Hyundai has added the limited production Night model. Night adds a new blackout monotone appeal to the Tucson lineup for those seeking a bit more style with their substance.
The year is 2002, and North America is invaded by the Swedes. Volvo, to be more precise, and its all-new XC90 sport ute. That vehicle won every major automotive honor and caused many to rewrite the rulebooks – it even won Truck of Texas. We recently got to spend time with the 2017 Volvo XC90, and it’s still a winner.
Toyota rolled out the third-generation Highlander utility vehicle in gas and hybrid form a few years back and the automaker – and consumers – couldn’t be happier. It appears Toyota actually listened as they ironed out all the little kinks and quips with the previous generation model and they proved just that with our recent 2017 Highlander Hybrid tester.
Car sales are down – that fact is resonating across the automotive industry with each month’s sales figures, and luxury brands are no different. But that is not to say passenger cars are bad, in fact they are the best they have ever been, and this 2017 Lexus GS 350 F Sport is no exception.
Just three years ago we brought you word of the all-new TLX midsize sport sedan from Acura, a car that would replace two models to secure its place as the middle child in the Acura showroom. For 2018, Acura has given TLX some very nice upgrades as well as a new A-Spec sport variant.
Every time I receive a heavy-duty pickup from the press fleets, I refer to the never-ending battles waged amongst the manufacturers of said trucks and this will be no different. Ram sent us its latest, largest consumer machine and it is a beast – a very pretty beast – in the form of the 2017 Ram 3500 Limited Mega Cab.
