A Tweener Whenever there’s a gap in the Toyota lineup, you can be sure that it won’t last for long. The product planners get all over it, and a new vehicle pops up. Such is the case with the 2009 Toyota Venza. According to Toyota spokesman, Ron Zeinstra, the Venza is designed to appeal to [...]
Suzuki Surprises With A Pickup When I first heard about the Equator, the thought that popped into my mind was why are they doing this? After all, Suzuki is known for building small vehicles—why not a micro- car. Well, Suzuki looked at it from a different point of view. They saw a midsize pickup as [...]
The latest generation Altima, which is now in its third year, is a solid competitor because it matches up favorably with the Accord and Camry in size and equipment, and offers some distinctive features of its own.
New A4 is Bigger and Better The new Audi A4 and I got off to a shaky start. I tried to play the radio the first time I drove it, and couldn’t find the controls. On most cars, they are right there above the air conditioning knobs on the dash, but not on the A4. [...]
A Good Truck That Draws Little Interest Although 2008 was a terrible year for the auto companies, Americans still bought over a million full-size pickup trucks. However of that number, only 33,000 were Nissan Titans. When it comes to big pickups, Americans overwhelmingly favor domestic brands. But beyond that, the Titan’s problem is that it [...]
A Worthy Successor Nissan had to walk a fine line when redesigning the new Z car. After all, they were replacing an icon that had attracted 250,000 customers worldwide. They sure didn’t want to screw up a good thing. Fortunately, for all of us who have admired the Z, Nissan got it right. You may [...]
Fit For Fun If you liked the last Honda Fit, you’re going to love the new 2009 model. The ’09 is roomier, sharper looking and just as much fun to drive. The first thing you notice about the new Fit is its more aggressive styling. The larger windshield, which is steeply raked, emphasizes the wedge [...]
VW Debuts Jetta with Diesel Power Are diesel engines the way to better fuel economy? Volkswagen happens to think so. Rather than developing a gas/electric hybrid, like the Toyota Prius, the German automaker is focusing on clean diesel technology. At a press introduction in Santa Monica, California, VW unveiled its 50-state, diesel-powered, Jetta TDI. In [...]
A Hotter Pocket Rocket If you’ve had a yen for a MINI Cooper, but wanted a car with more serious power, wait no longer, there’s a new John Cooper Works version that comes straight from the factory. This MINI is known to aficionados as the “JCW, ” or the “Works” car. Up until now, owners [...]
Practical Mazda5 Grows in Popularity The Mazda5 has the distinction of being the only vehicle in the Mazda lineup with a better sales record in 2008 than it had in 2007. This year sales approached 20,000 units, nearly twice the number that passed through dealer’s doors the year before. The reason for the improvement seems [...]
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