When an automotive segment catches fire, buyers win big. Take the superheated — and super-profitable — subcompact luxury crossover segment, where a batch of high-profile players are duking it out. Inevitably, the segment has become a hotbed of innovation. Lexus joined the fray in 2015…
From my perch in the Peanut Gallery, it’s easy to suggest that the 2019 Honda Insight is the Insight Honda should have been building all along. Insight has been Honda’s pure-hybrid play since its 1999 debut. However, both of its earlier iterations were prematurely discontinued…
Ten years ago, I stood next to a racetrack, awaiting my turn to take the wheel of an odd-looking crossover from BMW. Based on the midsize X5, the 2008 X6 luxury crossover felt right at home on the track, but just seemed wrong somehow. Its...
n 2015, Ford upended decades of Mustang tradition when it planted the pony car on a modern, all-independent suspension. Shed of its solid rear axle, the Mustang grew more refined, comfortable and capable. Ride quality made major gains and, for the first time, the Mustang…
When Jeep’s West Coast press rep heard we were seeking a vehicle to test in Moab, Utah, he sent us a 2019 Cherokee Trailhawk. The Cherokee ($23,995) is Jeep’s midsize crossover. By most measures, it is a conventional crossover; built on a sedan platform and…
Any week that features a Miata in the driveway is a good week. Regular readers know Mazda’s little roadster is always welcome here. The two-person ragtop is one of the least practical cars on the planet, and also one of the most fun. It’s the…
In 1999, Lexus RX 300 brought the word crossover into America’s automotive lexicon. The upright near-luxury vehicle was based on a sedan’s unibody but looked like a truck-based sport-ute. It rode like a front-wheel-drive sedan, while available all-wheel-drive echoed an SUV’s utility. The distinction was...
Toyota’s Camry has been the country’s best-selling midsize sedan for so long that no one but Toyota bothers to keep track any longer. Year after year, it has served the needs of the American mainstream. This year, though, Toyota challenges its own status quo. The...
In the past year, Honda has birthed a trio of midsize electrified sedans. They share a platform and campaign under a shared name — Clarity — but run distinct powertrains. There’s a hydrogen fuel-cell Clarity that’s available only in California and a Clarity EV that…
Lexus’s 2018 LC 500 silences all doubts about Lexus's ability to build beautiful cars. The two-door LC is a proper grand tourer (from the Italian gran turismo), an exclusive class of two-door coupes meant to convey travelers over long distances, at great speeds and in...
In many families, graduation season prompts deep conversations about first cars. For the past decade, those conversations have had to include Honda’s Fit subcompact hatchback. The 2018 Fit ($16,190) checks all the starter-car boxes (and second-car and last-car boxes, too). It’s safe, affordable and economical....
As oil prices rose last year, Kia debuted an all-new subcompact hybrid called Niro. The little front-wheel-drive hatchback quickly established itself as the country’s best-selling hybrid not named Prius. This year, Kia doubles down with the 2018 Niro Plug-in Hybrid. With a full charge, the…
To paraphrase the late singer/songwriter Guy Clark: sometimes a job is so big it needs a bigger hammer. Which seems like a perfect way to think about Infiniti’s QX80; it’s the hammer that gets big jobs done. The eight-passenger SUV weighs in at a full-size...
Last summer, Volkswagen launched an all-new 2018 Tiguan, then sat back and watched the compact crossover soar to the top of the company sales charts. The new Tiguan represents a recalibration for VW. While the previous model pleased enthusiasts (and auto writers) with its engaging...
For 2018, GMC rolls out a trim new, second-generation version of its Terrain compact crossover. The previous Terrain was a hefty outlier. A compact by cabin volume, its plus-sized exterior occupied a no-mans land between compact and midsize. Terrain sold well, but its weight took...
For 2018, GMC rolls out a trim new, second-generation version of its Terrain compact crossover. The previous Terrain was a hefty outlier. A compact by cabin volume, its plus-sized exterior occupied a no-mans land between compact and midsize. Terrain sold well, but its weight took...
The sudden and seismic rise of crossovers caught many automakers flat-footed. More than one is still playing catch-up. Not Toyota. Japan’s No. One brand is thriving under the industry’s new crossovers-first terms of engagement. Year in and year out, its RAV4 and Highlander CUVs sell…
Nissan’s Rogue was one of two compact crossovers to crash the 400,000-unit sales mark last year. In the process, it and Toyota’s RAV4 became the first CUVs to displace sedans as the country’s best-selling non-trucks. (Pickups remain the country’s best selling vehicles.) Rogue’s sales momentum...
In a world of beautiful cars, is it possible to judge one more beautiful than the rest? The 82 members of World Car Awards jury think so. Last month they conferred World Car Design of the Year honors on Land Rover’s new Range Rover Velar....
Since we’ve had automotive DNA on the brain lately, this seems like a good time to check in on Volkswagen. As it happens, VW is rewriting its genetic code as we speak. Known for cars that were often edgy and almost always fun to drive,...
Last week, we noted the ways strategic automakers steep their lineups in pools of shared DNA. "Driving one tells you all you need to know about the rest,” we said. We used a pair of Mazda crossovers — the CX-5 and CX-9 — as our...
Is it plagiarism if I quote myself? Hope not since I’ve borrowed, with obvious modifications, the next three paragraphs from my recent take on Mazda’s midsize CX-9 crossover. The CX-9 CX-5 isn’t the quickest, the roomiest or the most powerful of the three-row compact crossovers....
The best thing about surprises is they come in all shapes, sizes and price points. And also, you never see them coming. The redesigned 2018 Kia Rio qualifies on all counts. Seems appropriate, considering Kia’s “The Power to Surprise” tagline. Sometimes even Marketing gets it...
In 2017, the Toyota Camry lost its standing as the best-selling passenger car in the U.S. Fifteen years of dominance, gone in a flash. Weep not for Toyota, though. It was a sibling that dethroned the champ, after all. Last year, Toyota’s compact RAV4 became...
Like the first crocus after a long winter, signs of new life are appearing at Mitsubishi. There isn’t room — or reason — to detail here Mitsubishi’s recent woes. In a nutshell, though, it has weathered a string of bad years. Mitsu is one of...
