Last week, along with a group of other auto writers, I attended the National Press Introduction for the 2017 Kia Niro in San Antonio, Texas. The Niro is Kia’s new crossover hybrid, poised to take on Toyota Prius customers who are ready for more passenger room and utility space.
In the fall of 1966, Toyota began building what would become the world’s best-selling nameplate – Corolla. Now forty-three million cars later, the automaker brings us its 50th Anniversary Special Edition model of the 2017 Toyota Corolla.
Mid-size sedan sales have taken a bit of a dip over the past year or so with consumers opting instead for vehicles on the crossover utility side of showrooms. But it is not for lack of trying as sedans such as this 2017 Mazda6 from Mazda are some of the best yet produced by automakers.
Fiat is no longer a one-model (number) showroom. Joining the myriad of Cinquecento (500) models the Italian automaker has already brought to America, Fiat has revived its 124 Spider roadster just in time for the model’s 50th birthday.
So, who’s excited for Lego Batman? Apparently, Chevy is, since for a cool $48,000,000, they’re listing the all-new Lego Batmobile on their site. The whole landing site is really an excellent marriage of car and movie marketing, with lots of winks to the movies but also played as a deadpan legitimate site. My favorite is the car comparison chart, but the whole site is great! Now all we need is the release of Lego Batman…
I fibbed…a little. In my opening remarks in the last auto review, I stated that was my final rerun review for a while. Turns out, THIS is my last rerun review for a while. It is not a rerun for moi, but a rerun for GearDiary readers – the 2017 Volvo S90 sedan.
The final vehicle in the recent round of rerun reviews is the Honda HR-V. It launched just a little more than a year ago and we recently spent time behind the wheel of the 2017 EX-L AWD model with Navi that featured the only thing new for this year – the Lunar Silver Metallic paint job.
Next in our series of déjà vu reviews is the 2017 Mitsubishi Outlander. We drove the then completely remade three-row family crossover from Mitsubishi a little over a year ago and, like so many other vehicles these days, the newest model receives some technology upgrades.
It’s been barely 18 months since we last drove a Golf Sportwagen from Volkswagen and recently they sent us the 2017 model. VW moved Sportwagen from the Jetta line to the Golf family for MY2015 and since then they have given the model a few tech upgrades.
Nuance today announced all brand new Artificial Intelligence and Automotive Assistant capabilities for their Dragon Drive connected car framework at CES here in Las Vegas.
When Lexus launched the sixth-generation ES premium midsize sedan a few years back it used the tagline of ‘Impossible to ignore, impossible to forget.’ More recently, the luxury division of Toyota Motor Company has given the ES lineup a mild makeover, and over the holidays we took delivery of the 2017 Lexus ES 300h hybrid sedan in the test driveway.
It still surprises me just how many vehicles grace the test driveway each calendar year. It also surprises me what has not yet made it down our way when I look at the number of new or refreshed vehicles that have hit the market this year. Here is a look at my top five faves from 2016.
I finish out the class of 2016 with a vehicle that features a legendary name but actually arrives from a little boot-shaped country in the Mediterranean. The Jeep Renegade compact off-roader came to be thanks to the corporate influence of Fiat and proved to be quite a surprise of a vehicle.
Kia’s funky little runabout gets some new “soul” for 2017. The Soul urban activity vehicle sees the addition of a turbocharged 1.6-liter GDI engine this model year along with a new 7-speed DCT automatic gearbox. It arrives in the Exclaim model and puts more fun in funky.
Acura rolled out the third generation of its MDX three-row crossover utility vehicle three years ago and for model year 2017 it receives a bit of a makeover. Along with sporting a new beak the 2017 MDX arrived with a host of new technologies as well.
This week I got a chance to try a new and exciting technology that was already present and built into several 2017 Audi models since June 1 but had just come online. V2I, or Vehicle to Infrastructure, Traffic Light Information is built into the Audi A4, Q7, and allroad models; the first city to offer it is Las Vegas, Nevada.
Volkswagen says its GTI defined the term hot hatch – a fun-to-drive hatchback offering power, playful performance, refinement, and style. The latest iteration was North American Car of the Year for 2015 and recently we spent time behind the wheel of the 2016 Golf GTI. If ever there was truth in advertising it is the embodiment of the Golf GTI. Volkswagen got things right with this one despite its struggles with TDI models. The Golf GTI is offered (for now) in two- and four-door models with our tester arriving as the latter. At the heart of the fun is a…
It has been no secret that the Jeep Grand Cherokee has been one of my favorite vehicles in recent years. The latest platform is very stable and solid both on road and off despite the model line going to unibody chassis. Our recent Overland tester showed some nice (and needed) upgrades to the JGC line.
Honey, I shrunk the Acadia. Those were my exact thoughts when I first saw the redesigned 2017 Acadia three-row family crossover from GMC. And I kept thinking that when I learned it was powered by a four-cylinder engine. Can this new model fill the shoes of its previous generation?
In February, ZTE and Mojio announced an agreement to work on a connected car initiative. Today they are announcing the development of this technology as T-Mobile’s SyncUP DRIVE solution.
Buick is back, and this IS a Buick. After years of marketing folks telling us what was not one of its models, Buick is alive and well in the large sedan – and sporting its new corporate face – in the form of the 2017 Buick LaCrosse.