Shorter Cross Sport aims at slightly different buyer ... Rarely are two vehicles as similar as the Volkswagen Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport. Rarer yet is my getting to test such a duo within weeks of each other. A little more than a month ago I enjoyed the Atlas, which is about 5 inches longer... Continue Reading →
2021 Toyota Land Cruiser Heritage Edition
Old school Land Cruiser remains off-roading icon ... To some off-roaders Toyota’s Land Cruiser ranks right up there with Jeep’s Wrangler as an icon, the ultimate all-star of mucking around in mud and slop. Certainly it will do all that with ease, yet like many Land Rovers before it, the Land Cruiser is an... Continue Reading →
2021 Volkswagen Atlas SEL
New VW Atlas is a 3-row Easy Rider ... Some vehicles stand out by not standing out. They are what I call Easy Riders, or maybe more appropriately Easy Drivers. Such is Volkswagen’s restyled Atlas, the German firm’s mid-size crossover and one of its best-selling models in the U.S. market. VW restyled its nose and... Continue Reading →
2020 Land Rover Defender 110 First Edition
Rover Defender goes mostly back to its off-road roots ... My introduction to Land Rover was as a kid when Matchbox created a sharp dark green boxy version with brown plastic luggage atop its roof. Then there was Daktari, the TV show about a wild animal veterinarian running the African savanna in a Rover. I... Continue Reading →
2020 BMW X7 M50i
Muscular X7 M50i ups the SUV performance ante ... When the heck is a large $94,000 SUV with 456 horsepower not enough? German luxury vehicle maker BMW would answer, when it’s an X7 50i model. Thus the X7 M50i. Those in the know of BMW lingo realize adding an M to any BMW nameplate means... Continue Reading →
2020 Volvo V60 T5 AWD Cross Country
Debonair V60 Cross Country a sensory surprise ... What vehicles catch folks’ attention these days? If you’re thinking big pickups or SUVs you’d be way off base. That’s what folks buy, not what tickles their eyeballs. Sporty wagons, now that’s a sensory surprise. This week’s 2020 Volvo V60 T5 AWD Cross Country (that’s a lot... Continue Reading →
2020 Nissan Armada Platinum 4WD
Armada a big boat full of performance, luxury ... In some ways you’d think Nissan would own the large SUV market. Its small Rogue is extremely popular as is its mid-size SUV, the Pathfinder. Consider too that Nissan’s large SUV boasts the most power in its class and is one of the lower priced big... Continue Reading →
2020 Dodge Durango SRT 392
Durango SRT rocks the SUV world ... Dodge’s Durango SRT is the truck version of a NASCAR stocker. SRT is all about power, muscle and grunt with an engine grumble that sounds like a stock car ready to bust out of the pits and head up the banking at Daytona. Otherwise, it’s a fine, luxurious... Continue Reading →
2020 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro
4Runner TRD Pro a muscular drive ... My wife calls Toyota’s 4Runner a manly man’s truck, and it certainly is. Tall, muscular looking, big tires and wheels, a hood scoop, a husky luggage rack on the roof and an engine that growls along with knobby tires that rumble on the road. Yes, manly and a... Continue Reading →
2020 Ford Explorer ST AWD
Explorer ST puts the sport into sport-utility (at a price) ... Ford’s Explorer is the ubiquitous family SUV. It’s likely today’s 20- and 30-somethings think of Explorer as what mom and dad, their uncles, cousins and maybe a brother or sister drove, or still drive. There are a lot of Explorers on the road and... Continue Reading →