Larger Sportage maintains styling edge ... Kia has upgraded and enlarged its Sportage small sport-ute to keep it competitive with the likes of Subaru’s Forester, Honda’s CR-V, Ford’s Escape and Toyota’s RAV4. This is an extremely competitive market with many good products, but Kia maintains its strong styling edge and then lengthens Sportage’s wheelbase from 103.9... Continue Reading →
Die-cast: BoS-Models’ 1960 Plymouth Valiant
BoS nails it with early Plymouth Valiant ... I’ll admit to a soft spot for early Plymouth Valiants, and I think it’s justified. First, they were more stylish than other compacts of the day, and second, our family had a 1963 Valiant convertible with a push-button transmission. My mom learned to drive on that car... Continue Reading →
2016 Volkswagen Jetta 2.0T GLI SE
New Jetta reminds us of driving's pure joy ... Reminders are needed, from time to time, of the pure joy of driving, and Volkswagen’s Jetta is just the thing to pleasantly jog one’s memory. The conservatively styled Jetta’s exterior has been slightly smoothed and refined for 2016, but its mechanical workings needed no tweaks. The Jetta... Continue Reading →
2016 Volkswagen CC 2.0T R-Line
VW's CC a fine handling sedan with a stick! ... Why Volkswagen doesn’t advertise its CC sedan is beyond me. This sporty family sedan has been on the market seven years and is nearly invisible in the marketplace. I’ve never seen a magazine or TV ad for it. That’s particularly weird at this time when VW... Continue Reading →
2016 Acura RLX Sport Hybrid SH-AWD Advance
New Acura RLX sport sedan does it all ... I quickly feel in love with driving the new Acura RLX Hybrid, a sport sedan that does everything right from a performance standpoint. One could argue that its looks are pedestrian, and they are mid-pack at best. But driving the RLX is like flying under the radar of... Continue Reading →
2016 MINI Cooper Clubman
Bigger MINI makes Clubman more useful ... When does a MINI become so big that it’s not, well, mini? There’s a fine line to be sure, but the new MINI Cooper Clubman seems to straddle it pretty well. Visually the Clubman is still cute with the round headlights and profile of a MINI, but there’s no... Continue Reading →
Audi Q7 3.0T Quattro
Audi's Q7 ute lives up to its hype ... I’d read some early reviews of the Audi Q7 full-size sport-utility and thought them suspiciously glowing, like a parent telling how great their kid’s violin concert had been. Well, count me among the converted. Big sport-utes are generally luxurious land barges that’ll pull a load and haul... Continue Reading →
Die-cast: Automodello’s 1972-79 TVR Taimar
Automodello cranks out impressive collection of TVR Taimars ... Say TVR to any sports car fan and their eyes will light up as they think of the M Series of sports cars the British automaker cranked out from 1972 through 1979, sporty two-seaters with plenty of oomph. TVR was founded after World War II by... Continue Reading →
2016 Audi TT 2.0T Quattro
Audi's latest TT is slick, squatty, luxurious, sporty Sports cars seem an endangered species and nearly as hard to find as polite political discourse. So my recent landing of a new Audi TT coupe seemed quite a coup. I hadn’t driven a TT for nine years. That’s how rare they are in the automotive test fleets. But... Continue Reading →
Die-cast: Replicarz’s 1967 Paxton (STP) Turbine
STP's 1967 Indy 500 Turbine is a sure winner this time! Say turbine car and Indianapolis 500 and most car lovers and race fans will picture the 1967 STP-sponsored day-glo red racer that Parnelli Jones darned near drove to victory that year. It was nicknamed Silent Sam and the Whooshmobile for its turbine power that... Continue Reading →