Starting this year, environmentalists will be a little more timid when they gripe about SUVs.
That’s because sport utility vehicles — long criticized for their gluttonous appetite for gas and dirty emissions — are turning green. Several manufacturers are planning more efficient models for the coming years, and the first to the market is Ford’s 2005 Escape Hybrid. Read more…
Thinking Green
This truck is greener than just its paint job. Is it an environmentally minded full-size pick-up truck, or a multipurpose workaday vehicle capable of getting you to the work site and powering your tools? How about both? Who has ever heard of such a thing, I can’t imagine. This all sounds appealing to me, but unless the badge on the side says Prius, don’t expect any of your tree-hugging buddies to embrace it. Interested? Read on, I’ll explain. Read more…
When you’ve got a sagging brand like Mercury, what do you do?
If you’re an executive with Ford Motor Company, you take the hot-selling Ford Escape, change a couple of things around, and rechristen it the Mercury Mariner. Read more…
I Never Thought A $60,000 Brick-On-Wheels Could Be So Cool
There are few things that can increase your “coolness” factor as much as driving a Hummer. Wearing P. Diddy’s bling bling while having Heidi Klum draped on your arm might come close but to gain true “King of the Scene” status from your peers you need to arrive in the latest and greatest plaything of the rich and famous. For the last several years that has been the Hummer H2; the more civilized brother to the Hummer H1, which is itself, just a civilized version of the Humvee used to move troops in and out of harm’s way around the world. It may not be the prettiest thing in the world but it’s sure to get you recognized. If that’s what you want then read no further because the H2 is your ride. If, however, you are interested in how this brute rides, drives, stops, and goes then you’ll want to keep reading. Read more…
It’ll Do Anything, Except Hit 80
What strikes fear into the heart of neighbors and most small countries? Well, the AT staff trying to pilot a 2006 Hummer H1 is a pretty terrifying image, if the expressions on fellow motorists’ faces is any indication. It’s not that it’s as large as a city bus (it is), or as loud a Cessna at take off (it’s louder), or even that it sucks through fuel faster than John Goodman at an all-you-can-eat buffet; it’s simply that it’s so darn hard to keep between the lines! Driving this thing at speed requires more concentration than two auto scribes juiced up on Starbucks and road grub can muster. Nevertheless, someone in the halls of GM thought it wise to loan us the keys to this $147,000 brick-on-wheels—they’re now currently unemployed. Read more…
Ever wonder what it’s like to be royalty?
It’s hard to imagine that kind of life — living in an opulent palace, having a courtly staff catering to your every whim, mingling with the world’s finest people, fending off the paparazzi and having your most embarrassing moments show up at the supermarket check-out line. Read more…
1.) Lower The Top
2.) Put On Sunglasses
3.) Bask In The Glare Of Jealous Drivers
Oh, the attention you can garner driving one of these. It isn’t so much that the Crossfire is an exotic looking car as it is just plain different. A fresh design idea you could call it. Whatever it is, it grabbed our attention, and that of several members of the greater Detroit area. I personally would like to think of it as one of the classiest roadsters to come from an American automaker yet—or at least a formerly American automaker. Though by the time you read this (for the northern half of the country that is) it will more than likely be snowing and well past the season for wind in your hair driving! Read more…
I had high expectations when I stepped inside the Ford Five Hundred, especially after seeing the hot GT and the sexy new Mustang. They prove Ford still knows how to make cars sizzle.
This big sedan, though, left me feeling lukewarm after a week behind the wheel. It’s not a bad car — certainly an improvement over the stale Taurus — but it lacks the pizzazz Chrysler has created with its 300C masterpiece.
Sadly, it could have been so much better. Read more…
Affordable Family Fun
If you’re a regular reader of these pages you already know that the Mitsubishi Lancer can offer serious doses of excitement when fitted with full Evolution trim. For some, however, the budget may preclude even considering an Evolution. Luckily for us enthusiasts there is a healthy amount of fun to be had for around $20,000 in the 2005 Lancer Ralliart. Mitsubishi claims the Ralliart package is “inspired by the Lancer’s rally heritage”. Although you will not find expensive goodies like a turbo or all-wheel drive, you will find enough pep to make driving feel a little less like work and a little more like fun. Read more…
When a car looks as good as the Jaguar S-Type, even the smallest hint of a styling change can be scary.
That’s why I didn’t know what to expect from the latest S-Type, which was freshened for the 2005 model year. Sandwiched neatly in Jaguar’s sedan lineup between the low-end X-Type and high-end XJ, the svelte S-Type has arguably been the company’s best looking car since it was introduced in 1999. Read more…
