It’ll Do Anything, Except Hit 80
What strikes fear into the heart of neighbors and most small countries? Well, the AT staff trying to pilot a 2006 Hummer H1 is a pretty terrifying image, if the expressions on fellow motorists’ faces is any indication. It’s not that it’s as large as a city bus (it is), or as loud a Cessna at take off (it’s louder), or even that it sucks through fuel faster than John Goodman at an all-you-can-eat buffet; it’s simply that it’s so darn hard to keep between the lines! Driving this thing at speed requires more concentration than two auto scribes juiced up on Starbucks and road grub can muster. Nevertheless, someone in the halls of GM thought it wise to loan us the keys to this $147,000 brick-on-wheels—they’re now currently unemployed. Read more…
This is a Tacoma?
Can’t be. A Tacoma is a dinky little Toyota truck with dinky little doors and a dinky little bench seat. There’s no way this truck — a big, tall, four-wheel-drive, four-door, honest-to-goodness truck — could possibly be a Tacoma.
It’s just not dinky enough. Read more…
Crusin’ In The King Of Cool
For some people, making an entrance is what it’s all about. After all, you only have one chance to make a first impression and how you arrive on the scene says a lot about you. Underwhelming the audience is not an option. Perhaps that is why so many people rely on the Cadillac Escalade’s confidently exaggerated design to announce their arrival. With a chrome grille the size of a Miata and Cadillac badges visible at 200 yards, it’s near impossible to miss someone exiting a ‘Sclade. Add in the newly optional 20” chrome wheels and there’s a money-back guarantee you’ll be hippest thing in the parking lot. Not even Bermuda shorts and flip-flops could damage your street cred. 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…
The Nicest Electric Shaver We’ve Ever Driven
GMC’s Envoy has been carrying cargo and towing trailers in its current form since the 2002 model year. During that time owners have come to like its smooth ride and responsive, fuel-efficient I6. But the competition is getting tougher all the time and more power and luxury never hurt any vehicle’s chances for continued success. To that end, GMC has applied the Denali touch to the Envoy lineup, including things like more power courtesy of a V8 and revised styling via a “Denali-style” grille insert. The changes are enough to get us curious about how well the Envoy is holding up 3 years into its model cycle. Read more…
I love old Porsches for a couple of reasons.
One, they’re the only Porsches I’ll ever be able to afford without winning the Powerball. And two, they’re so wonderfully raw and mechanically sensual that they feel alive — like a steel extension of your own body. They represent the epitome of what a sports car should be.
Read more…
Cadillac’s Monster Hit Goes Platinum
Cadillac says with the Escalade ESV Platinum they have created the ultimate full-size luxury SUV. For the time being, they’re right. If you thought a garden-variety Escalade was over-the-top in substance and style, prepare to recalibrate your substance and style meter. The ESV takes everything on the standard Escalade and makes it bigger and/or better. The most obvious modification being the Chevrolet Suburban chassis that underpins the ESV in place of the standard-length Tahoe chassis found on lesser Escalades. That modification gives the ESV an extra 22-inches of sheetmetal and 20-inches of interior length, providing substantially increased room for you and your 6-member posse. The ESV is bigger than other Escalades, no doubt, but is it good enough to warrant a $70,675 asking price? We borrowed one for a week to find out. Read more…
When it came time to design a new Pathfinder, Nissan had to satisfy two camps.
On one side were the loyalists who surely wanted the Pathfinder to be a Japanese Jeep, the kind of truck that’s reliable, affordable, rugged and capable of driving just about anywhere. They’re the kind of buyers who don’t give a rip about comfort, so long as they can traverse Death Valley without breaking a sweat. Read more…
You know you drive a big SUV when it comes standard with a rear-view camera.
Infiniti’s yacht-size luxury SUV, the QX56, comes from the factory with a fish-eye camera mounted above the license plate on the rear bumper to eliminate a big blind spot when backing up. Read more…
With so many variations of the Envoy available, it seems GMC is trying to make an SUV for everybody.
After starting with the basic Envoy in 2002 — a solid, midsize SUV with a nice ride and quiet cabin — the honchos at General Motors decided it wasn’t big enough. So a longer version was created and dubbed the Envoy XL. Read more…
