In 2010 Kia introduced the Soul, a cleverly designed, inexpensive and practical small car.  Unfortunately inexpensive translated to “you get what you pay for.”  The Soul was cheap and everything about it reinforced that image.  It was tinny, noisy and got poor gas mileage.  The interior was ugly and the seats rock hard.  But times […]

Is it possible for an SUV to be green?  Maybe so.  For 2014 Nissan is unveiling the 2nd generation Rogue.  The first generation Rogue was a very good seller for Nissan – only the Altima sold more – but it had its drawbacks, poor rear visibility comes to mind.  With the 2nd generation Rogue Nissan […]

As gas prices continue to climb – and Corporate Average Fuel Economy regulations come closer to taking affect – manufacturers are trying harder than ever to squeeze every mile per gallon out of their cars.  They’ve realized that to reach the goal of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 simply offering a few hybrids in […]

MINI has released the newest member of its family, the Paceman. It is now the 7th MINI model and its existence is a lesson to other auto makers in how to make something out of nothing. As a company MINI has in essence two platforms, the Cooper and the Countryman, but from these two platforms […]

When I was young I never thought that “Green” and “Diesel” would ever go together.  If you’re like me, when you think diesel you think smelly buses and trucks belching pollutants. When you think of diesel cars, you think noisy, slow and hard to start – in addition to smelly and polluting.   Still, even […]

Believe it or not, the station wagon is making a comeback.  Of course none of the manufacturers call them station wagons, they call them Sportwagens (VW) or Sports Activity Vehicles (BMW) or Crossovers (GM), anything but station wagon. In the 60‘s and 70‘s virtually all auto manufacturers had a station wagon in their lineup.  But […]

The Chevy Cruze is a good car for the money, it handles well, has good acceleration, firm but comfortable seats and is relatively quiet.  Its not a great car, but a good one, on a par with the Dodge Dart – the new one, not the one from the 60’s – although those old Darts […]

For 2013 Ford has completely redesigned the Fusion.  As a family sedan the Fusion was a good car.  Now it is a great one.  Gone is the 3-bar grill that reminded some of a triple blade razor.  Now the front-end looks like one that belongs on a luxury car such as a Maserati or an […]

Sometimes it seems like Subaru is the Rodney Dangerfield of auto manufacturers… they just don’t get any respect.  They make excellent cars but when it is time to buy a new one most people forget that Subaru even exists.  The truth is, if you want a well made, all-wheel drive vehicle at a reasonable price, […]

New to the United States for 2013 is the BMW X1.  The X1 is a fun-to-drive, powerful, sporty… station wagon.  It’s expensive yet thrifty, elegant yet utilitarian.  Like the porridge of legend, it’s not too hot, not too cold, it’s just right. So how can a station wagon be sporty?  By hiding that it is […]