And Then There Were Two
It’s hard to believe but there are now two good-looking Saturns on the road. The first was the Sky, which debuted last year to a collective, “That’s a Saturn?” by the automotive press. The suits promised there would be more to come from the reinvigorated brand. Apparently the GM guys just dropped off the “more to come” part because the type of descriptive words that keep coming to mind for the car I’m looking at include handsome, European, taut, expensive looking and refined. Excuse me if I am a little excited, but these are not words I’ve been able to use lately when talking about GM cars—let alone the Playskool-cars-for-grownups Saturn brand. But there it is, the midsize Saturn Aura and its tasteful chrome trim sparkling like jewelry on the Midnight Blue steel body. The days of the function-before-form Saturns are over. From now on, Saturns are going to be stylish. Read more…
More Power Than A Corvette, And More Room Too!
Everyone expected the new Escalade to be good, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to hear us proclaim that, indeed, it is good. The bigger question we have to answer is this: is the new Cadillac $15k better than the fully loaded Tahoe we drove a few weeks before this stylish new ‘Slade showed up? That’s tougher to answer than you may think. Read more…
Top Down Fun…For Some
Nine times out of 10, convertibles do not make a good primary car. By their very nature they are a compromise; from wiggly windshields with the top down to Buick-blocking blind spots with the top up. Their trunks are small, their prices are big, and unless you live in the Southwest your year is marred with weather you’d rather tackle in anything but a convertible. After a few days in a 2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder we can tell you it suffers from all of these compromises and more, but it looks so good you might not care. Read more…
GM’s Sexy Twins Get Some Spunk
The Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky are gorgeous vehicles, and if you don’t agree you must work for Mazda. So, considering their perfect proportions and confident handling, producing a follow-up to the uber-successful roadsters can mean only one thing: more power. And GM was happy to provide lots of it. Read more…
Categories: Reviews Tags: 2.0T, 2007, GXP, Pontiac, Redline, Roadster, Saturn, Sky, Solstice, sports, turbocharged
Aren’t Greek Goddesses Supposed To Be Beautiful?
We wanted to like the Eos, we really did. After all, it has one of the slickest convertible roofs ever designed and matches a smooth and powerful V6 engine to our beloved DSG transmission. Why then, didn’t it earn our affection? It comes down to our core belief that convertibles should be beautiful cars, and the Eos simply isn’t. Read more…
The Auto For Outings
This is a motivated little SUV for sure. The driving point behind the Outlander is its desire to meet the needs of those driven individuals who need more than just basic transportation. With the blurred lines the crossover designation has created it is little wonder that the Mitsubishi Web site calls the Outlander both an SUV and a crossover. I prefer to call it a cute-ute for a number of reasons, one of which I will get to at the end of our story. A case of mistaken identity? I shall have to ponder on this a while. Read more…
Almost A Sports Sedan
Ah yes, finally something to whet the enthusiast spirit. The winter was a long and cold one, as it always is here in Michigan. Especially because those of us living in the Great Lakes State have to put our toys away for the winter. So early this spring the GM boys dropped off a Cadillac STS-V for me to exercise my aching right foot. Sadly, our story ends with me asking “Is that it?” But rest assured, it is mostly my high-octane fueled blood that is to blame. Read more…
GM Arrives On The Crossover Scene In A Big Way
In case you’ve been out of the new vehicle market for the past few years, allow us to catch you up. SUVs are dying; sent to their graves by rising gas prices and fickle consumers who demand better ride and handling quality than the big, lumbering body-on-frame workhorses can ever hope to provide. Read more…
Still A Contender
When the SRX debuted at the 2003 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, we were ecstatic. After decades of being so far behind the state of the art they weren’t even in the country of the art anymore, Cadillac was finally going to be selling a product that could legitimately take on competitors like the Lexus RX, Acura MDX and Lincoln Aviator. It was sitting on a modern rear-drive (or optional all-wheel drive) architecture, offered the smooth Northstar V8, a standard 5-speed automatic and looked clean and contemporary from all angles. The only downfall we could see was an interior that shared almost everything with the CTS sedan—not exactly the stuff dreams are made of, unless you own a plastic factory. Read more…
Dirt Cheap Looks Better The Second Time Around
We last drove an Aveo in 2005 when we called it the rolling definition of dirt cheap. Sure it sounds critical, but after plenty of jabs below the beltline we admitted that for people on the strictest budget the Aveo offered basic transportation with a factory warranty and only asked for $12,690 in return. Read more…
