Do The A&W Waitresses Still Roller-Skate To Your Car?
Ford was on to something when they introduced the T-bird concept back in 2000. Then they waited until 2002 to release it. Orders came quick and the early ‘Birds were gobbled up by graying Baby Boomers. Then the lust disappeared. All those who remembered the classic T-bird had theirs already and Ford just couldn’t bribe the young’uns into taking one. So this latest model has sailed along smoothly, the winds of time, unfortunately, not in the ‘Bird’s favor. The reign of the Thunderbird ends this year—again. The flight was to be a short one and lack of sales has not spurred a model year extension. So we found it necessary to take one last cruise before this bird joined the Dodo. Read more…
There’s something magical about listening to Hank Williams when you’re driving a pickup truck. It’s like the two were meant to be together. They just feel right.
And when you’re driving a Nissan Titan, listening to Hank Williams via satellite radio feels just as fitting. Hank’s twang and country drawl inspire the feelings of good-ol’-boy America, but you know there’s something different about the delivery — something high-tech, fresh and foreign. Read more…
Making It Even Easier To Hear That Sound
When we reviewed the Mustang coupe this past summer, we told you one of its best features was “that sound”. More specifically, the unabashed noise that pours from the stainless steel dual exhaust every time you step on it, and makes you question aloud how this thing could not be breaking every noise law in the book. It’s the sound of power. And now that we have driven the drop-top ‘Stang, we can report one thing with utter certainty: power has never sounded better. It’s true, our convertible tester’s voice was slightly less brazen than our pre-production coupe’s, but its V8 answered plenty loud and you can be assured that when cruising town on a perfect summer night there’ll be a lot of eyes on you. And it’s in that same scenario that you’ll notice something else too; the new Mustang convertible is pretty good. Read more…
There’s a renaissance going on at Nissan.
After teetering on the brink of obliteration in the late 1990s, the company is coming back in a big way with amazing cars like the 350Z and impressive trucks like the Titan and Armada. The change couldn’t have been more dramatic.
And now the turnaround is showing more than ever in a variation on Nissan’s venerable, bread-and-butter Altima, a four-door sedan that has played second fiddle for years to the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. Read more…
It’s generally not an ideal practice for any party when a journalist’s first exposure to a new vehicle is a drive in the hot-rodded, top-of-the-line model, because all of the lesser models will appear, well, lesser. Yet, this is exactly the scenario we found ourselves in with regards to Audi’s extensively revised A4 lineup. Our first test car was a fully optioned S4 with a sticker north of $55k. As you might expect, we used adjectives like, “hot” “gorgeous” and “astounding” to describe its V8, 18” rubber, and Recaro seats. So it surprised us as much as it will you, to report that those same praises kept creeping into our conversations during our week with the “base” A4 2.0T. It might have been the slick 6-speed, or the stunning Quartz Gray Metallic sheetmetal. Whatever it was, we liked it. A lot. Read more…
When you test drive a new car every week, sometimes you set yourself up for heartbreak — like when you trade the keys to a Porsche for the keys to a cheap economy car.
That hurts. Read more…
The (Rich) People’s Car
Who would have ever thought that in the same showroom as the iconic, smiling, affordable Beetle, would someday sit a behemoth luxury sedan casting a shadow of nearly 204 inches? And not only is this land yacht uncharacteristically big, it’s expensive too. Before the 2004 model year, a check in either of those two categories would disqualify a vehicle from wearing the Volkswagen badge flat out. But when the silk sheet dropped off the first Phaeton, all long-held stereotypes of what Volkswagens were, dropped with it. The Phaeton was charged with taking VW upscale, and way up scale, at that. To that end, it could be called a success. Volkswagen now offers a lineup that spans from $20k Golfs to $100k Phaetons. Unfortunately, for Volkswagen, it turns out nobody wants a six-figure car that shares a badge with Herbie. Actually, that’s not entirely true, they did sell 64 last month. But a report on subconscious buying habits, this is not. We’re all about the iron here. To that end, we loaned a Phaeton V8 for a week to see for ourselves where it ranks on the luxury sedan scale. Read more…
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…
Blueberries In My Lunchbox
Like kids on recess we scramble out to the garage to collect our toys. My latest being a little blueberry-hued Mazda. Sliding the shift lever into D, I scoot off for the weekend. Did I win or did I lose; considering the prized H1 Alpha was now in the hands of Exec Dye who was already rolling over all manner of boulders and compacts in his path. It’s the sandbox for me, my little ride possessing neither the clearance nor the desire to hop more than the Meijer parking lot curb. 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…
