Audi’s Entry Level Hatchback Struggles to Earn its Premium Price
Americans don’t like hatchbacks. Automotive journalists do. These are automotive truths that are as universally understood as the need for frequent oil changes, regular tire rotations and the belief that the Pontiac Aztek fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. Possibly just as well understood is that Americans definitely don’t want to pay a premium for said hatchback while automotive journalists seem to embrace the idea. Why then is Audi still offering the A3 to North American consumers? Read more…
Finally, A Hybrid That Handles
Like John Cleese in a Monty Python production, when it comes to the Lexus CT200h we feel like announcing “and now for something completely different”. That’s because this new entry-level Lexus offers the same hybrid benefits that we’ve seen in one form or another for the past decade, but doesn’t sacrifice driving pleasure on the altar of ultimate frugality. And no, we’re not counting the poor-excuse-for-a-hybrid Honda CR-Z and its piddling mid-30s fuel economy rating. Yes, we too were skeptical when phrases like “fun to drive hybrid” and “a hybrid with attitude” were being dropped by sales executives at the vehicle’s press introduction. But after a day spent driving around Palm Beach, Florida, we found ourselves uttering similar summaries of Lexus’s fifth hybrid. And we didn’t see that coming. Read more…
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…
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…
Once upon a time, automakers offered three basic body styles in the United States: sedan, coupe, and wagon. The sedans were the practical vehicles, and thus, the volume sellers. The wagons were offered for those who just couldn’t fit the whole family in something as limiting as a sedan. Coupes were clearly better looking than their sedan and wagon counterparts and appealed to those who wanted style and could live with the limitations imposed by two doors. Read more…
An Econobox With Traction!
Visually the Suzuki SX4 registers exactly nil on the coveted Muxlow fun-o-meter. It looks about as enticing as an emergency escape capsule from a space ship, and I don’t desire to pilot one of those either. But this little orange pumpkin was my charge for the week and I gave it all the tender loving care and affection I show all my cars. Well…sorta. Read more…
Big Power In Mazda’s Little Hatch
The evidence against turbo-haters is growing rapidly. In the past few years we’ve seen automakers turbocharge tiny engines to make far more power than anyone would have dreamed even 10 years ago. And still more impressive than the mighty dyno figures is the civility of the power. Turbo lag is far from the enthusiast slayer that it once was. Read more…
It seems that every time you open a newspaper or turn on TV, you see another story about how we Americans are fat pigs.
Scientific studies, government reports and publicity-loving doctors like to remind us that we’re beyond simply unhealthy — we’re so fat we’re killing ourselves. Read more…
The Almost Audi?
This is not your run-of-the-mill Volkswagen Rabbit. This is the so-called friend of Fast VW GTI. No cute face here. Like the racy Volkswagen Jetta GLI that we spent some time in last fall, the face is familiar but the demeanor is polar opposite. The question is does the Rabbit-based GTI produce the smile-per-mile quotient that the GLI did? Read more…
In A World Of Unleaded Regular, This One Is Premium
It isn’t often that a car in our fleet is referred to as brilliant. Nor is it often that we sing the praises of one that is deemed “entry-level”, featuring an automatic tranny, front-wheel drive, and merely a four-cylinder engine. But the A3 brings out the best in all of these descriptions. Read more…
