Overcast skies failed to stop dreamers from cruising Woodward. Nor did it keep our own Design Editor from hitting M1 (Woodward Avenue) in his ’68 Cadillac. Grab a snack and enjoy the gallery. You don’t even have to get wet. Read more…
If you travelled to downtown Flint for the Back to the Bricks car show you were far from the only one, as Design Editor Gernand found out. Record numbers of spectators and rolling pieces of art (cars) flocked to brick-paved Saginaw Street for the show. Gernand even managed to pull himself away from the all-Buick street long enough to take a tour of the newly renovated Billy Durant Hotel where they had a few vehicles from four of the seven divisions of Durant Motors parked out front. So if you were lucky enough to stroll the bricks take a walk down memory lane in our gallery. If, like this editor, you were called away to an important wedding in North Dakota, then you really better hit the gallery to see what you missed! Read more…
Debunking the Diesel Stereotype
Diesels have intrigued me from the time I was old enough to make basic automotive observations. Much to my delight, on family road trips my parent’s diesel 1978 Olds Custom Cruiser would fill up alongside the big-rig trucks. This fascination was bolstered by an uncle who owned a yellow diesel Rabbit in the ’80s followed by a diesel Ford Tempo, complete with the secondary battery mounted in the trunk. When it came time to find a light duty long distance tow vehicle I purchased a ’92 Chevrolet C2500 Silverado with a 6.5L turbo diesel. For all of their actual and perceived faults, each of these vehicles were compelling in some significant way. And yet diesels remain merely a niche in America’s automotive market. What is the reason for this? Is this simply due to undeserved stereotypes that won’t die, or a deficiency in the vehicles themselves? Read more…
More Power Never Hurts, Except For When It Does
We love the Mazda3. In 5-door or sedan form, with an automatic or a manual, it has been among our favorite small cars since its debut as a 2004 model. No surprise then, when Mazda added another 100 hp and almost doubled the torque in the MazdaSpeed3 model we were big fans of their hot hatch. And even though they tried to ruin the latest 3’s front end by duplicating the styling of a Baleen Whale, there’s still no denying it’s a winner. So we expected our latest go in the second-gen MazdaSpeed3 to result in a review that read like a love letter to Mazda. Read more…
This Is How You Make A Sports Sedan Better!
Wagons are not the most popular body style in these United States of America. But there was a time when station wagons as large as barges and covered in an acre of faux wood ruled the highways. They were powered by V8s and used a body-on-frame, which meant that you could haul the family, their stuff, and tow a trailer to grandmother’s house simultaneously. That all changed when Chrysler introduced the world to the minivan in 1984. Ever since, car designers’ pens rarely draw the formidable 2-box shape of the station wagon. Stare as one might at the ink blots that are the tall-roofed SUVs and jellybean-shaped crossovers, these are not true wagons. But just as all hope was seemingly gone, Cadillac of all marquees has come to the rescue and delivered us a long roofed version of the popular CTS. Is it all we could hope for and more?
Read more…
Traversing the Chasm Between Station Wagon and Suburban.
As Senior Editor Muxlow readied himself to depart with my Olds Custom Cruiser wagon, I gently reminded his infant son that ‘this is not your father’s Oldsmobile’ just to be sure I would actually get it back. The logistics of delivering a test vehicle often require a vehicle swap among editors, so when Muxlow dropped off a Red Jewel tintcoat (think maroon) 2010 Chevrolet Traverse LTZ, I offered up the trusty wagon in trade. Considering these two family vehicles are separated by nineteen model years, the Chevrolet Traverse had me asking the question, “How did we get here?”. The Traverse is a V6-powered, front or all-wheel drive crossover with uni-body construction. Isn’t this configuration the combination of the worst of the car and truck worlds? Surely a vehicle with the construction of a car and the high center of gravity of a truck is a recipe for mediocrity. But to fully understand the answer to this question we must back up a few years. Read more…
This Is The ML You Want
Yeah that ML550 and its 382 hp V8 may be calling your name from across the showroom, but we urge you to resist. There’s a better ML tucked over in the corner that we think most people will fall for after a single test drive—even though it’s wearing badges that few consumers recognize. To tell you the truth, we wouldn’t have a clue what BlueTEC meant either if we didn’t spend our days reading press releases. But based on our experience with the new-for-2009 powertrain, all you really need to know is anything wearing BlueTEC badges is powered by Mercedes’ best diesel engine ever. And considering the praise we heaped on this engine’s predecessor in our 2006 review of the E320 CDI sedan, that’s saying something. Read more…
Bringing Value and Efficiency to Midsize Crossovers
Five years ago we reviewed the first-gen Equinox and had mostly good things to report about Chevy’s first crossover. Sure we noted a few ergonomic foibles and suggested that something closer to 250hp would earn more praise than we were willing to lavish on the 185hp mill in all Equinoxs at the time. But the general consensus around here was the Equinox was a nicely sized people mover that looked good and topped out around $30k. That market has proved a popular place among automakers since almost every one of them now offers a vehicle that we could sum up the same way. And as they were introduced they all put the Bow Tie offering a little further behind the curve. But at the 2009 NAIAS GM decided it wanted to lead the crossover pack instead of follow and debuted the 2010 Equinox with the right hardware to get it done. A few months later GMC dropped in as a player in the segment with its mechanically identical Terrain. Sure, the numbers are impressive, but how do they drive? We spent time in several versions to find out. Read more…
A Minor Refresh Makes A Major Difference
The movers and shakers inside Ford had a great idea once upon a time ago. They decided they were going to make a family sedan that was sporty. What could go wrong? They had experience fashioning family sedans such as the Taurus, and sports cars like the Mustang. Surely they could graft the two together. After all, they were starting out with a Mazda6, an astoundingly thrilling car to drive considering it is propelled via the front-wheels. Oh sure, the result was a nice car. They made it bigger so you could stretch out. They made the suspension softer so the bumps wouldn’t fling the contact lenses from your eyes. And they made it heavier by adding fluffy foamy stuff so you can’t hear the engine noises. They made it boring…
Read more…
The Mercedes-Benz Detroit Auto Show Design Sculpture elegantly hints at what is on the horizon for product. What was described to us at the 2010 NAIAS as a car emerging from a flat plane (or a silk sheet) is in reality a closely and cleverly sculpted rendition of the next generation CLS 4-door coupe concept. Now this is the kind of art that we can get on board with!
