Exceeding Even Our Lowest Expectations
In the interest of full disclosure we must confess we weren’t expecting a lot from the yellow H3 that GM sent our way. It didn’t help that our colleagues were reporting that the H3’s 220-hp I5 engine made for a seriously slow vehicle. We’re talking getting passed by a Chevrolet Aveo with an automatic transmission going uphill into a stiff headwind slow. Read more…
Slow and Stylish Wins The Race
Can’t you just imagine a Thanksgiving dinner, perhaps three or four years ago, where all the car companies gathered together for the annual tradition to give thanks for their blessings.
“I’m most thankful for my luxury SUV,” Cadillac said. “It’s keeping the lights on in Detroit.”
“I second that,” Porsche said. “Who knew there were so many people willing to pay crazy money for a 5,000-pound brick—and an ugly one at that!”
Of course, it would be about this time that Audi realized it had seriously missed the boat on the whole giant-SUV craze.
“I’m thankful for Grandma’s health,” Audi blurted, trying to change the subject. Read more…
The Bigger They Are…
The more petroleum they burn. But GM is working hard to change that, just as they have been hard at work preparing the new GMT900 full-size utilities for primetime. And determined to get feedback on their handiwork, GM hooked us up with back-to-back samplings of the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon. Here’s how they fared. Read more…
Second Time’s A Charm
Last winter we had the chance to sample the Luxury version of the Grand Vitara. It was then we said that Suzuki finally had a serious contender in the small-SUV game. Considering how impressed we were with this little runt the last time around we didn’t expect anything less from a so called “lesser” model, and so we welcomed the Grand V for a second round in AT’s fleet. Read more…
Hoping To Raid The Midsize Truck Market
“Sure thing, drop it off, gotta go!” I exclaim to the Mitsubishi PR guy as quickly as I can while trying to hammer out the final details of an important business meeting as I am walking into it with two colleagues.
“What was that all about?” one colleague inquires.
“We get a Mitsu Raider for the weekend, so if we…” Read more…
The Best F-150 Ever Isn’t Even A Ford
That’s right. The best F-150 you can buy wears a Lincoln badge, and, for some reason, is called the Mark LT. Actually, the Lincoln folks won’t like that statement, but we call ‘em as we see ‘em here. If it looks like an F-150, sounds like an F-150 and drives like an F-150, then logic would dictate it must be Ford’s bread-and-butter pickup. But logic doesn’t always find a home in the automobile business, and that’s why Lincoln can add a little chrome—ok, a lot of chrome—to an F-150, and charge a premium for it. Neglecting the fact that you and I both know this is little more than a trim level on the work-a-day F-150, how did Lincoln’s second attempt to crack the luxury truck code turnout? Read on for that answer. Read more…
For a long time, there was nothing grand about Suzuki’s Grand Vitara.
This small, ugly vehicle was the red-headed stepchild of SUVs, constantly getting one-upped by the Ford Escape, Honda CRV, Nissan Xterra, Jeep Liberty and other great competitors. The only good reason to buy it was the price, and even that was coming under attack as competition among mini-SUVs reached a white-hot frenzy, translating into dirt-cheap prices for vehicles that were much better than this one. Read more…
Isuzu is bound to be leaving America soon.
How else could you explain the company’s totally unimaginative, unoriginal lineup of trucks and SUVs? It’s as if everyone at Isuzu threw up their arms and said, “Enough already! We give up! Let’s just forget about this ‘create new cars’ thing and let General Motors do all our work.” Read more…
Funny Name For A Serious Contender
To satisfy my not insignificant curiosity I turned to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary to see just what a Vitara is, because, as is often the case, no one here had a clue. As it turns out, neither does Webster. About the closest match was Viterbo, which I thought might be some kind of forced induction, but is actually someplace in central Italy. So I looked up grand and found several definitions, one of which is “very good”. Now we’re getting somewhere. It appears that whatever a Vitara is, this one is very good. Judging by the vehicle I just spent a few days with, a Vitara is a small SUV that can now compete with anything in its class without excuses. Read more…
Not Much Truck But Still A Lot Of Fun
After spending a few days in a very nice H2 SUT we know one thing for sure: Buyers aren’t purchasing these things for their utility. The “midsize” member of the Hummer lineup has never been particularly useful for moving stuff from point A to B (not counting those rare instances when point B is in uncharted territory) because there really isn’t much interior cargo space. In the SUT that minimal interior cargo space has been replaced with minimal exterior cargo space in the form of a pickup bed with a four-hay bale capacity—maybe less! But we’re not dumb (Actually, test results are still pending—Ed). People buy Hummers because they look cool. The fact that they are comfortable, ride well, can drive through almost anything, and make you feel invincible are simply nice bonuses. Read more…
