Automotive Trends

      Happy Independence Day from the Editors of Automotive Trends!!

      Just over a year ago yours truly co-piloted the 2009 Volkswagen CC you see pictured above on a road trip to obtain an Imola Red M Coupe for Executive Editor Dye. On that cross-country journey we learned to love the CC as a road trip companion and dismissed our qualms about it being a Mercedes-Benz CLS knockoff. While the CC’s profile isn’t near as elegant as the Merc’s, the CC is far more attainable for a lot of folks. Under the hood of our model was Audi/VW’s fabulous 2.0T. With only a 200-hp rating this 2.0L direct-injected and turbocharged four-cylinder provided ample power for mountain passes and returned an astonishing 32-mpg considering this is a 3,344-lb four door coupe.

      In the winter of 2009 at the NAIAS, Cadillac rolled out the Converj Concept. The Converj is a luxury 2+2 coupe featuring GM’s extended range electric Voltec powertrain. There are 220 lithium-ion cells onboard capable of storing enough energy for 40 miles of travel without using a drop of fuel.  More impressive is the 273 lb-ft of torque available instantly, for claiming stoplight superiority, and 120 kW of power. To further lessen dependence on the grid or the pump the Converj utilizes regenerative braking and has a glass roof housing solar panels. But at the end of the day this is still a Cadillac, and as such occupants are treated to an interior trimmed in Winter White suede, Midnight black leather, polished aluminum and wood accents and even a headliner made of silk.

      The “best A4 yet” is how Executive Dye described this 2009 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro. And not only because the car was vastly improved for the 2009 model year, but because under the hood resides the ever fantastic 2.0L FSI Turbo 4-cylinder. We’ve sung this motors praises before but in A4 duty this motor cranks out 211-hp and 258 lb-ft of torque. These are truly impressive figures for an engine displacing a volume equal to that of Design Editor Gernand’s midnight Mountain Dew!

      The Hyundai Genesis Coupe shown here at the 2009 NAIAS is a good start, but as Exec Dye pointed out in his review, it is going to need a little more honing to really be called a sports car. We look for more automotive goodness to roll out of the oft-forgotten Korean automaker in the years to come!

      It takes more than a spot of rain to dampen our spirits when our charge is a 2009 Mazda MX-5 Miata!

  If ever a vehicle defined excess, it would be the Cadillac Escalade.
For years, this monster Caddy has represented the epitome in American automotive hedonism — so powerful, so luxurious, so big. Everything about it is over the top, from its tugboat engine to its hide-covered seats to its dinner-plate-sized Cadillac logo on the back. It’s extravagance on a grand scale. Read more…

Entry-Level Luxury Never Looked So Good

    Driving the new 2009 Audi A4 helps explain a lot of things. Like, for instance, how Audi actually set a new sales record of 1.03 million vehicles in 2008 while most other automakers’ showrooms looked like ghost towns. It’s not that there’s simply more power (there is) or a new technology (several, in fact) it’s that every single facet of all new Audi’s is an improvement over the replacement. And the latest A4 is no exception. We’re here to tell you the 2009 model is more comfortable, more powerful, more dynamically satisfying, more efficient and more luxurious than ever. Don’t believe us? Read on. Read more…

      In search of something to do on a chilly fall day, Gernand and I hopped in the Fiero and pointed the bow west towards Hickory Corners, MI to visit the Gilmore Car Museum. Arguably, Gilmore is one of Michigan’s better kept secrets, but nonetheless it is home to some real gems of automotive history. What we found in the beautifully preserved barns of Gilmore were V16 Cadillacs, Packards, Pierce-Arrows, a 1906 Waltham Orient Buckboard, a 1948 Tucker, and a Mercedes-Benz once hidden away from Hitler himself just to name a few. But don’t stop there, click into the gallery to peruse all the treasures we found and think about taking your own trip to Gilmore next summer. Read more…

      Back to the Bricks isn’t Woodward per se, but it does take place on the same day and more importantly, the same stretch of road. If you travel Woodward to The Loop in Pontiac and then take Dixie Hwy and follow that until it becomes Saginaw Street you will end up in Flint. Some 34 miles north of the action happening at the Dream Cruise there is a party going on in downtown Flint. Contrary to popular belief Flint is not a dead town as these photos taken at 7:30 in the morning will atest too! Nope, Flint Vehicle City is alive and well to the sounds of classic cars rumbling up and down its brick paved main street. Read more…