The 2013 Toyota Corolla continues the solid reputation of all Corollas, first sold in America in 1968. The front-drive compact Corolla is arguably the world’s top-selling car. Corolla rivals have come and gone, but they currently include the Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Focus, Honda Civic and Mazda 3. A sporty Corolla has been offered on and [...]
Lexus turned the luxury car market upside down in America when it introduced its big LS 400 luxury sedan in 1989. Suddenly, it seemed as if you were a sap if you bought a Cadillac or Mercedes instead of the LS, especially in trend-setting places such as Beverly Hills—although Lexus had no luxury car track [...]
The revamped 2013 Toyota Avalon sedan is a far cry from the first Avalon, which debuted for 1995 as a stretched, roomy version of the Toyota Camry with a front bench seat (remember those?) and a column shifter. Toyota called it the “most American of Toyotas,” and it was sort of a Japanese Buick. The [...]
The new 2013 Buick Encore is the automaker’s first small crossover vehicle. It comes with front- or all-wheel drive and has luxury, nimble handling, four-door hatchback versatility and decent fuel economy. The Encore also has just adequate open-road acceleration from its small, turbocharged and intercooled four-cylinder 1.4-liter engine. It’s fairly heavy at 3,180-3,309 pounds, so [...]
I expected the large, sleek 2013 Ford Taurus sedan with its turbocharged 2-liter “EcoBoost” four-cylinder to be lazy. But it turned out to have strong acceleration and sparkling highway fuel economy for such a big guy. It wasn’t all that long ago that a 2-liter four-cylinder engine in an American car was found in small [...]
The all-new 2013 Audi RS 5 almost feels like a race car for the street, with its glued-to-the-road suspension, strong brakes and awesome, high-revving 4.2-liter V-8 that generates 450-horsepower and 317 pound-feet of torque. That naturally aspirated V-8 is good for an oh-my-gosh 0-60 m.p.h time and, says Audi, an electronically governed top speed of [...]
The all-new 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid is designed to outgun the popular Prius V model, which is the largest Prius hybrid model. That’s a big job because the Prius is the darling in its various forms of the hybrid-car crowd. However, the front-drive C-Max appears to be a fairly well proven vehicle in that Ford [...]
The redesigned, sporty 2014 Mazda6 is set to challenge the Big Guys in the sedan field. The 2014 Mazda6 is a slickly redesigned mid-size sedan that retains Mazda’s sporting nature, while providing lots of practicality. The new front-drive Mazda has to be good because it’s in a tough market. Rivals include the well-established Toyota Camry [...]
The 2013 Toyota Camry sedan looks sharper since its much-needed redesign for 2012. It retained its long-standing status as America’s top-selling car last year. Could 404,886 buyers be wrong? Maybe not, if all they wanted was a reliable, efficient car with a good quality reputation—although most models aren’t fun to drive—just an appliance. STATS Starting [...]
The electric-gas 2013 Chevrolet Volt’s electric-only operating range has been extended three miles to an EPA-estimated 38 miles, depending on terrain, driving techniques and temperature. Many drivers can’t control terrain or temperature, but driving techniques must be altered, which may not be easy for many Volt owners. No, they’re “not in Kansas anymore.” Total Volt [...]
The mid-size 2013 Santa Fe Sport crossover has rakish new styling similar to that of Hyundai Sonata and Elantra sedans. It also has car-like road manners and plenty of room. The Santa Fe Sport should do well, even though it’s up against rivals such as the Honda Pilot, Chevrolet Equinox, Ford Edge, Nissan Murano and [...]
The compact front-drive 2013 Mazda3 four-door sedan or hatchback provides driving kicks and decent roominess. The 2013 Mazda3 has a good number of minor upgrades and updates from its predecessor. The 2012 model got more-aggressive styling and a new, fuel-saving 155-horsepower 2-liter fuel-stingy (and oddly named) “Skyactiv” (no “e”) engine. That four-cylinder engine delivers an [...]
The new 2013 Cadillac ATS can equal or match European sports sedan rivals. But, thanks to its mega-horsepower CTS-V, Cadillac is only mildly compared by some to prestigious sporty Euro nameplates such as Audi, Mercedes and BMW. After all, you can’t build mostly pure luxury cars for about 100 years, then suddenly get a sporty [...]
Many new automakers often held out making a convertible version of their standard hardtop models, but Volkswagen began building Beetle convertibles in 1949, very soon after its first rear-engine, four-seat hardtop model was built. The Beetle convertible was a good move. The rear-engine model was gobbled up, with more than 330,000 made over a 32-year [...]
