Category: Car Reviews
2013 Mazda5 Grand Touring review: A little goes a long way
It’s been over a year since we last reviewed the Mazda5, and that’s a shame. This is such a pleasant little vehicle that we’d be happy to drive it everyday. The 2013 Mazda5 often falls between the cracks when customers start shopping for a vehicle. Are they looking for a bigger van, or a [...]
2014 Kia Cadenza Premium Technology first drive review: Defining virtuous
The folks there may not know it, but Kia hit on the perfect name for the newest addition to their lineup, dubbing it the 2014 Kia Cadenza. And a cadenza, for those not musically educated, is a place in a concerto where a featured soloist displays, as they say, musical virtuosity. Or in more general [...]
2014 Chevrolet Silverado: a full size pickup we can live with
It isn’t unusual for an auto company to pay serious attention to its most popular and largest selling vehicle when redesigning and reconfiguring the next edition. That is such the case as we test drive the new 2014 Chevrolet Silverado. Designers, engineers and marketing folks put all they have on the table as they planned, [...]
2014 Mitsubishi Outlander First Drive: Saving Grace
Save for cell phones, there is no other industry as competitive as the automotive business. To be successful, you have to make a big commitment to your products, your quality, your customer service and your advertising budget to make an impression with customers. There are over 40 brands now and eleventy thousand different models within [...]
2013 Honda Civic EX sedan review: That was quick…and not
Wow, that was quick. Most car companies let a model year pass before making even minor changes to an all-new model. But not Honda. The 2012 Honda Civic marked the beginning of a new generation of Honda’s venerable economy sedan, and before the ink is barely dry on the 2012 press releases, along comes the [...]
2013 Jeep Patriot road test: Capable in some ways, flawed in others
The 2013 Jeep Patriot is something of a mixed bag, disappointing in some ways and worthy of respect in others. The reason could simply be that the compact Patriot was born in 2007, a time when parent Chrysler was in a big financial hole and digging itself deeper all the time. Penny pinching was apparently [...]
2013 Hyundai Azera review: And the highway mileage is…
One doesn’t expect many changes the second year of a new generation of car model, and one’s expectations would be fully met with the 2013 Hyundai Azera. The second generation of the Azera debuted last year and, well, there’s precious little different between last year’s and this. Well, actually none. Which overall is a good [...]
2013 Kia Rio5 SX 6-speed Manual review: We can shift for ourselves
It’s more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow, the saying goes, and while the Kia Rio is at the top of its class in power and performance, in the overall automotive landscape, it’s not the fastest bush on the hill. Or something like that. Still, as we noted in [...]
2013 Chevrolet Traverse LTZ AWD review: More than different doors
Chevrolet never got the minivan formula right, either when trying to go their own way, with the Chevrolet Lumina APV and the Chevy Astro, or the more conventional (read: like the Dodge Grand Caravan) Chevrolet Venture which was in turn replaced by the Chevrolet Uplander. Don’t remember them? There’s the proof of the pudding. They’re [...]
2014 Acura RLX first drive review: Welcome to Pleasantville
For those of you remembering this year’s Super Bowl advertising more clearly than the Super Bowl itself, you’ll recall Jerry Seinfeld attempting to negotiate with the guy whose deposit is on the just-announced (at the time of the ad) next-gen NSX. Seinfeld seems mildly desperate, channeling George Costanza in a manner he would have never done [...]
