The “Perfect Size” Crossover Wants Its Sales Crown Back
Of all the vehicles in need of a redesign Honda’s CR-V isn’t one of them. The current generation of the entry-level crossover went on sale as a 2007 model and won the sales crown for its class every year through 2010, averaging about 200,000 sales per year. The streak would most likely be in place this year had Mother Nature not put on a shocking show of force first with the earthquake in Japan and then devastating floods in Thailand. Honda says it has lost more than 200,000 units of production for the U.S., including significant shortages of the ever-popular CR-V, which spelled an end to the little crossover’s sales reign. But despite the vehicle’s continued popularity anyone who knows Honda knows they plan five year lifecycles for their vehicles, which means we should see an all-new CR-V for 2012. And despite the aforementioned significant supplier and R&D interruptions, come December 15th, we will. After a day spent with the Honda team learning everything there is to know about the new CR-V one thing is clear: they want their sales crown back. Read more…
Scion’s Basic Coupe Fails to Meet Some Basic Expectations
The low priced sporty coupe segment has been creeping upward in price during the last decade. The market used to be speckled with the likes of the Saturn SC, Ford Probe, Chevrolet Cavalier Z24, Mitsubishi Eclipse and Toyota Celica. Not one of those models exists today, but Toyota thinks it has an answer for the niche with the Scion tC. Starting at $18,275 the tC isn’t the cheapest coupe one can find, but does it offer enough sport to lure youthful car enthusiasts from straying to the used car market for their budget minded thrills? We tested a completely base tC to find out just how the Scion fares. Read more…
Proof That The Midsize Sedan Segment Is More Competitive Than Ever
We’re not sure why, but when we think of the midsize sedan segment our minds tend to picture the Toyota Camry or Honda Accord, or maybe even the Ford Fusion or Chevrolet Malibu. For some reason we don’t immediately remember the Nissan Altima. We’d blame marketing except dealers managed to push almost 230,000 of them into American driveways last year making it the third best selling midsizer behind the Camry and Accord. Maybe we should blame ourselves. The press seems content to watch Toyota and Honda duke it out for first and occasionally devote a few words to how the domestic competition is stacking up against—you guessed it—the Camry and Accord. But Nissan has nothing to be ashamed of, as our week in an Altima 2.5 S proved. Read more…
Not Your Typical Drop-Top Rental Car
A trip to Key West, Florida will confirm it. There is a market out there for flashy convertibles with high style and little need for performance. The number of rental-grade pony car convertibles in the southernmost point of Florida is nearly enough to make one decide to rent a white Camry sedan just to be different. Certainly Ford and Chevy don’t expect normal customers to buy a base convertible. Or do they? Read more…
Low Tech Meets Low Compromise in the Battle for Fuel Efficiency
It’s not as if Chevrolet has never attempted this before. Take a mainstream small car, make some powertrain tweaks and attempt to turn the vehicle into a hyper-mileage car that passes as conventional transportation. As General Motors’ entry-priced brand, Chevrolet has a long history–not all of it memorable–at marketing highly efficient vehicles. Some notable–scratch that, tragic–examples include the Chevette diesel, the GEO Metro XFi, and the Cobalt XFE. None of these vehicles set the sales charts on fire (a scant 324 diesel Chevettes were sold in 1986), so does Chevrolet’s latest hyper-miler, the Cruze ECO, have any chance at succes? Read more…
Giving Camry Fans More of What They Want
We can’t understate the importance of the new seventh generation Camry. Since debuting in 1983 Toyota has sold 15 million around the world and moved enough in this country to claim the car sales crown for 13 of the last 14 years. So when it comes time to redesign the goose that lays the golden eggs you can bet Toyota does their homework. What they always discover is that Camry fans want more of the same, only better. They want roomier, quieter, safer, smarter and more efficient and that’s exactly what Toyota has given them with the 2012 Camry. Read more…
Love At First Charge
It’s not often that we anticipate testing a vehicle as much as we did with Chevrolet’s Volt. That’s because it’s not often that a vehicle comes along packing a powertrain as revolutionary as GM’s Voltec system. And it was because of this advanced propulsion system and its lightning paced development that we were preparing ourselves to overlook a few rough spots in the days before the vehicle’s delivery. We figured that if mighty Toyota still hadn’t sanded off all the sharp edges on its hybrid powertrain after three generations of Prius development the Volt and its more advanced, but still first gen, technology could be a bit of a half-baked science experiment in the real-world hands of our editors. The truth, it turns out, is that GM has managed to surprise our jaded staff with the level of refinement we enjoyed in our production-spec Volt. It’s so astonishing that it’s difficult to put into words, but we’re confident that after digesting both our written and video reviews you’ll understand our level of admiration for what the General’s best and brightest have accomplished with the world’s first extended-range electric vehicle. Read more…
The good news about the new Acura TL is that it’s a nicer version of the Honda Accord. The bad news? It’s a nicer version of the Honda Accord. That’s the contradiction of the TL, which has been refreshed — and made a lot prettier — for the 2012 model year. It takes a fantastic, fun, ultra-reliable Accord and spiffs it up for the luxury market, packing it full of cool gadgets and adding sound-deadening materials to make it quiet on the highway. Read more…
A Rally Car for the Family Man.
For a couple of decades now, journalists have attempted to claim that each new Subaru is the car that will make Subaru mainstream. The 2011 Legacy is no different, as Subaru’s flagship sedan continues to grow in size and stature. But have no fear Subie loyalists! The flat four-cylinder engine remains, as does the availability of a manual transmission. Read more…
Like the Sonata. Only Better.
If you’ve been on the hunt for a new midsize family sedan you’ve probably already read our Hyundai Sonata review, but if you haven’t, allow us to sum up our thoughts on the Korean new kid. We loved everything but the artificial steering and messy handling, especially the unbeatable value and stellar fuel economy. So we had high hopes when the Sonata’s kissing cousin from Kia appeared on our schedule recently. The Optima shares almost everything mechanically with the well-received Sonata but wraps it all in completely distinct sheetmetal and tunes everything to suit Kia’s corporate Mazda-wannabe driving philosophy. We’re going to tip our hand a bit and tell you upfront that Kia has built a better Sonata and the competition has one more midsize contender to worry about. Read more…
