I’ve always liked driving Acuras. There’s something about the way they mix precision, comfort and value that makes them a perfect compromise — a step above ordinary cars, but not so expensive and outlandish as to make you feel guilty.
Of course, some people say Acuras are nothing but overpriced Hondas. I say that’s rubbish. It’s like calling a Porsche an overpriced Volkswagen or a Mercedes an overpriced taxicab with leather seats. Anybody who’s driven the two knows there’s a big difference.
Case in point: the Acura MDX. Read more…
Ever since the Japanese earned a reputation for building top-quality cars, American automakers have been copycats.
In fact, today’s American cars are in many ways hard to tell apart from their Japanese rivals after decades of copying the technology, construction, materials and even styling of their competitors from the Far East. Read more…
If you’ve been waiting until Toyota introduces a new Celica to buy one, your wait is over.
The Celica is dying.
After a 35-year run as a popular sports coupe — especially popular among young buyers — Toyota announced that Celica production will end in July because of sagging sales. Read more…
If you want a glimpse at the future of automobiles, take a ride in this Lexus.
It’s not a “car of the future” in the sense of GM’s Autorama show of the 1950s, which featured cars with wild styling and out-of-this-world gizmos that never made it into your garage. Read more…
I love old Porsches for a couple of reasons.
One, they’re the only Porsches I’ll ever be able to afford without winning the Powerball. And two, they’re so wonderfully raw and mechanically sensual that they feel alive — like a steel extension of your own body. They represent the epitome of what a sports car should be.
Read more…
When it came time to design a new Pathfinder, Nissan had to satisfy two camps.
On one side were the loyalists who surely wanted the Pathfinder to be a Japanese Jeep, the kind of truck that’s reliable, affordable, rugged and capable of driving just about anywhere. They’re the kind of buyers who don’t give a rip about comfort, so long as they can traverse Death Valley without breaking a sweat. Read more…
Before I write about how much I love this car, I’ve got to get one thing off my chest.
I think it’s ugly.
No, make that dang ugly. Michael Moore ugly. Pontiac Aztek ugly. Roseanne Barr naked and covered in zits ugly. Read more…
You know you drive a big SUV when it comes standard with a rear-view camera.
Infiniti’s yacht-size luxury SUV, the QX56, comes from the factory with a fish-eye camera mounted above the license plate on the rear bumper to eliminate a big blind spot when backing up. Read more…
With so many variations of the Envoy available, it seems GMC is trying to make an SUV for everybody.
After starting with the basic Envoy in 2002 — a solid, midsize SUV with a nice ride and quiet cabin — the honchos at General Motors decided it wasn’t big enough. So a longer version was created and dubbed the Envoy XL. Read more…
Only a few years ago, I hated driving Cadillacs. They were big, quiet and had lots of gadgets in the cabin, but they were about as exciting to drive as a John Deere tractor through a Kansas cornfield.
To put it bluntly, Cadillac designed its cars for rich old ladies. Read more…
