Automotive Trends

      Happy Thanksgiving from the Editors of Automotive Trends!

Not Intended for Retail Sale Within the United States.

       Sometimes the automakers will tease us and not mention that little tidbit right away, but no there it was third sentence of the press release “the Cruze hatchback will not be offered in the US market.” It is rather disappointing that yet another beautiful car from the General will not be coming to our shores because the buying public in this country won’t look at anything hatchback or wagon-ish unless it has all-wheel drive and is riding on stilts! And it is beautiful. Read more…

      Happy Independence Day from the Editors of Automotive Trends!!

      The Chevrolet Volt is probably one of the most hotly anticipated vehicle launches of this decade, and GM is set to deliver on its promise of having the Volt on the road by 2010. That plan is to roll out 10,000 Volts by the end of calendar year 2011, with another 30,000 Volts to follow in 2012. The first units will be available to California, Washington D.C, Austin, Texas and the New York metropolitan areas yet this year. Michigan, New Jersey, Connecticut, and the balance of Texas and New York will start receiving units in the first quarter of 2011. The rest of the USA will have to wait about a year for production to ramp up. To make sure that GM’s dealer network is ready for the Volt, GM is requiring special sales and service training, as well as the installation of a 240-volt charging station before a dealership can receive a Volt for retail sale. As with any good thing in life, I guess some things are just worth waiting for. We’ll let you know when we get our first go with a production spec Volt! 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…

Happy Memorial Day from your friends at Automotive Trends!!!

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…

      In one of our more brilliant moves Exec Dye and I decided to venture out to the back 40 with the 2005 Chevrolet Equinox to see if we could get it stuck. Fortunately for us, the Equinox proved itself capable of exploring half-frozen half-muddy trails in Michigan’s snow covered Thumb. Though Dye may or may not have said a few choice words about my muddy trail across the office floor. I blame it on poor design!

Let The Good Times Roll

     My second car was a 1994 Pontiac Firebird Formula with T-Tops and a lumbering LT1 small-block with enough torque to bring a smile to my face anytime I pulled away from a stop. Of course the steering was lifeless, the handling was nonexistent and the brake pedal felt like an air mattress foot pump. But none of that mattered because it looked good and went fast and it, along with its Chevy Camaro twin, hailed from the glory days of the Muscle Car. Both Living Legends to a young male with a horsepower fetish. So I was as sad as anyone when the F-Body was retired after 2002. But practically as soon as the last car rolled off the assembly line fans started to assume we’d see a new Mustang competitor soon. Several years passed until GM, keen to prove it was in the midst of a design renaissance, rolled a new Camaro concept onto the stage at the 2006 NAIAS. Personally I might have preferred a reborn Firebird, but this extroverted modern muscle car looks so retro right I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one. And now I have—two actually. Read more…

      The 2007 Chevrolet Corvette ZO6 tries to bend the laws of physics just a little with its seatback crushing 505-hp V8 cranking out 3.7 second sprints to 60mph and its face deforming 14″ front brake rotors bringing you back to steady state in 111-feet!