The Alfa Romeo 4C Spider is to driving what Fifty Shades of Grey is to Valentine’s Day. It is not subtle and it is not always pleasant. It is spank-your-ass driving that, when done, leaves you with a feeling like few other experiences in your life. This car is a seductress and it is a dominatrix.
As I eagerly await some more new vehicles to review (models I have not tested in the past couple of years) I will update you on some familiar fascias that have arrived in the test driveway recently. We first looked at the new Jeep Cherokee two years ago and the recent Trailhawk tester featured a couple of updates.
What is the longest-running nameplate in the automotive industry? If you said Suburban you would be correct. Now in its 81st production year, the Chevrolet Suburban Carryall offers all of the latest safety and infotainment technology available while still being the mother of modern land yachts to transport families and their stuff.
Toyota has been making trucks for fifty years and twenty years ago it introduced the Tacoma pickup. For the past ten years, Toyota has dominated the midsize truck segment and, for 2016, Tacoma is all new. Designers and engineers have rebuilt Tacoma from the ground up to make this model the best yet.
Despite the fact its light duty pickups all received overhauls just a couple of years ago, General Motors has given the GMC Sierra 1500 line a short-cycle refresh just as it did with the Chevy Silverado we recently reviewed. What a difference a couple of years makes with the new 2016 GMC Sierra Denali 1500!
Quite honestly I did not realize the Jeep Patriot was the lowest priced compact utility vehicle on the market. At under 18 grand it offers value along with the on and off-road capability folks have come to know with the Jeep name. Sure, you won’t be doing any rock crawling with this unibody vehicle but Patriot can go everywhere else!
On the day it was named North American Car of the Year, the all-new 2016 Honda Civic sedan was delivered to the test driveway. Civic is Honda’s longest-running automotive nameplate and it is one of the best-selling cars in the world period. This is Gen 10, and it may just be the best Civic yet.
The Toyota Land Cruiser is a living legend, and for 2016 that legend continues. Land Cruiser has been sold in the U.S. market for nearly 60 years now and this year it sees some significant upgrades including new interior and exterior design features, as well as getting some of Toyota’s newest safety technology.
This year marks the 90th year for Chrysler as an automotive brand. Not too long ago it was incorporated into the Fiat Chrysler Automobile global family and part of that new partnership meant new models rolling out that received global influence. The Chrysler 200 midsize sedan was one such vehicle.
I have said many times if I win the Powerball the first thing I’m doing is buying a Tesla Model S, for one reason: I would love an electric car but I need decent range for my daily commute. GM has a much better plan than Powerball, though, with the new Chevy Bolt EV, which has a 200 mile range!
BMW has launched the next chapter in its EffecientDynamics initiative and it arrives in the form of a plug-in hybrid on the X5 Sports Activity Vehicle. Arriving in showrooms is the X5 xDrive40e that mates the TwinPower turbo 2.0-liter I-4 gas engine to a synchronous electric motor powered by a high-voltage lithium-ion battery pack.
If spending an afternoon cruising along the California coast in December sounds like your idea of fun, you’ll understand why I had such a great time recently while taking the 2016 Chevy Malibu for a spin. Now only is the car fun to drive, it’s loaded with state of the art tech.
A few months ago we introduced you to a few new midsize vehicles from the Volvo portfolio, namely the S60 Inscription and Cross Country sedans and the V60 Cross Country wagon. The sedans were all new at that time while the V60 actually snuck in here midway through last model year, and recently we spent some more time in it.
One of the most polarizing vehicles since its original launch has been the Nissan Murano crossover utility vehicle. While it practically invented the midsize crossover segment its unique styling has always pitted consumers against one another and for the new third-generation model things are no different, and it introduced the world to Nissan’s new V-motion design direction.
In 2013, Chevrolet performed a major overhaul on its bestselling model, the Silverado 1500. Just two years later they have given the pickup a makeover along with a few new technology items. We reviewed the top-of-the-line High Country Silverado last year and earlier this year we tested the Z71 1500. We spent last week driving the 2016 Silverado High Country.
Repeats, reruns, redundancy. Sorry for the run-ons but that is what automakers have been doing to me lately as for the past month or so every vehicle sent over for review has been reviewed here in the past year, and there is very little – if anything at all – new with these vehicles.
The ‘teens appear to be banner years for Mazda. Not only did it just garner a new overall brand award but the automaker has been introducing stylish, fuel-conscious vehicles that are meeting and exceeding the needs of the next generation of drivers and families. Among those is this all-new subcompact crossover utility vehicle dubbed CX-3.
Last year it was more, this year it’s solid to the core. I am speaking of the advertising mantra for the Nissan Frontier midsize pickup. I reviewed this vehicle less than a year ago and now a 2016 model year rolls into the test driveway, but the only thing that’s really new is three more body color choices.
While stopping short of calling the 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander all new, the automaker has given its flagship vehicle more than 100 improvements to engineering and design while also updating technology and safety. And it was done with a small price reduction as well as the new three-row crossover racks up honors as being one of the best values out there.
‘Twas not even a year ago that I last drove the Yukon XL Denali from GMC, yet here I am behind the wheel of the 2016 model year schooner. I am not afraid to say that I like the size and heft of this vehicle, although I do feel a bit guilty when riding in it all by my lonesome.
I live in Texas, AKA the land of Super-Duty trucks and oversized SUVs, but I can still appreciate a comfortable sedan that’s fun to drive. I recently tested the 2016 Kia Optima, and in case you can’t tell by the big smile on my face, it was a great experience.