Much the same as many ground breakers, the first generation Volkswagen Touareg sought to set the world on fire with its 5.0-liter 310hp and 553 lb-ft of torque V10 turbodiesel. But it didn’t. The price of entry was too high, $64,565, and then of course there is the fact that most American’s don’t like diesels, unless it’s under the hood of a Golf or Jetta. No matter, because Volkswagen is trying again. Read more…
Spring has sprung (albeit there is still snow on the ground) and to celebrate the occasion Senior Editor Jason Muxlow takes a BMW 335i coupe out to the Automotive Trends’ Test Track.
Senior Editor Jason Muxlow seeks a vehicle that returns great fuel efficiency and yet will haul along all the trappings of life. He finds the 2011 Mercedes-Benz GL350 BlueTEC. Read more…
Since our weeklong foray with the Cadillac SRX 2.8 Turbo, GM has decided that Cadillac dealers no longer require the services of this “premium” offering of their midsize crossover and have decided to cancel the 2.8 Turbo engine offering after one year. Without tipping my hand too far here, I have to say we are inclined to call this a smart move. But let’s delve into the details a bit before we bury the hatchet on Cadillac’s troubled turbo crossover. Read more…
We won’t even pretend that we’re serious football fans, but we are serious car fans. And if a major event like the Super Bowl will incite the world’s automakers to create great footage of their latest metal then sign us up! Chevrolet decided they needed to whet our appetite for this Sunday with a brief spot featuring none other than that lovable Camaro known as Bumblebee. Have a watch as our favorite vehicular hero puts the dealership mascot in his place!
The little Versa washed up on our shores back in 2006 as an ‘07 model looking pretty much like the same car you see here. But dig into history a bit and you will find that the Versa first went on sale in Japan in 2004. The little Nissan has gone by the aliases Tiida, Tiida Latio, Latio, Versa and the Dodge Trazo. It has been sold in Japan, Latin American, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Canada, a select smattering of European countries, and likely a few more places we just don’t have the space here to list. So to say this car is getting a bit long in the tooth is a bit of an understatement. Nevertheless, when the Versa showed up in the AT Garage we had a road trip assignment ready for it. Read more…
To say that your mileage may vary seems to be the understatement of the decade. The Environmental Protection Agency has finally finished the math it needed in order to produce what you see above, the offical EPA Window Sticker for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt. A bit confusing, eh? It actually isn’t so bad when you break it down. On the left you have what the Volt is capable of using only its on-board electric motor and battery pack charged up via the grid. On the right you have your standard MPG once the battery pack has been drained of its nuclear or coal fired electro juice. You’ll note that beside each MPGe or MPG figure there is a per 100 miles figure, which calculates just how much energy it takes to move the vehicle 100 miles. And at the bottom there are some charts for estimating how your mileage will vary with charging and how the Volt compares to other vehicles. What does this all mean? Well, on electric power alone it will get the equivalent of 93 MPG for roughly 35 miles (according to the EPA offical number) and 37 MPG after that. We were hoping for a bit more fuel miserly once the battery drained, but considering that the curb weight is more on par with a full-sized sedan we’ll call it impressive nonetheless and report back our real-world fuel economy and driving impressions once GM tosses us the keys. Read more…
It’s no secret that Chrysler is playing catch up this year and rolling out plenty in terms of product refinement and refreshment. The latest batch of information goodness we have to share comes in the form of the pricing strategy on the new-for-2011 Dodge lineup. We were going to make mention of this in PODCAST Episode 13, but frankly we found that announcing a whole bunch of figures over the air just amounts to baffled expresions and silly blunderous commentary. So here is a post dedicated to the sole advancement of showroom knowledge. Oh, we’ve also included photo galleries of all the new sheetmetal, from the all-new Durango to the drag-strip-ready Challenger SRT8 392, for your view pleasure. Enjoy! Read more…
We tried to lead with something more insightful, but that is pretty much the best way to describe the third-generation Toyota Tundra. It’s big. Very big. Every aspect of it seems purposely designed to out-scale the domestic competition once and for all. In fact, I don’t think the pictures do it justice (and I took the pictures!) It almost has the look and feel of a three-quarter-ton Ford Super Duty. It’s as if Toyota overshot the half-ton class and landed in a five-eighths-ton class of one. Clearly this Tundra makes up for Toyota’s last two half-hearted foray’s into the full-size pickup realm with girth to spare. But there is more to being a successful pickup truck than size. Has Toyota done their homework? Read more…
