Acceleration is adequate but not outstanding
The Volvo XC 90 shows that a large sport utility vehicle can be luxurious and get good fuel economy. This Recharge T8 AWD Extended Range model has a 2.0 litre supercharged and turbocharged engine and an electric motor, producing 455 combined horsepower. It’s all-wheel drive and has an eight-speed transmission. It’s rated at 9.2 litres…
It has the hauling capacity of an SUV
Mercedes-Benz, best known for high-end luxury cars and high-performance sports cars, also makes four-door crossovers and sport utility vehicles. I recently test-drove the Mercedes-Benz AMG GLB 35 4Matic SUV. Like other Mercedes-Benz models, this vehicle is luxurious and fast – but it also has the hauling capacity of an SUV. There are plenty of other…
This is a people-carrier par excellence and is amazingly quiet on the highway
With the price of gas hovering around the two bucks a litre mark in most of the country, does it make sense to buy one of the more gas-thirsty vehicles on the market? I'm talking about full and mid-size SUVs models like – oh – the Toyota Sequoia, Chev Suburban, Jeep Wagoneer, and so on.…
The Sportage sits five adults in relative comfort. If you fold down the seat, you get a reasonably flat floor
The Kia Sportage was into its third overhaul in 2012, including a major facelift and a larger four-cylinder engine. The first generation of Sportage, introduced to North America in 1993, had a less than stellar reputation. Despite featuring body-on-frame construction, with significant engineering input from Mazda, its various shortcomings almost finished Kia’s foray into SUV…
Mazda has mastered the art of building innocuous, practical family transport, and CX-30 is right on target
Car manufacturers sometimes market their products in a confusing way. In the old days, it was called “badge engineering,” where one model would be gussied up or slightly altered and sold as something else – even though it was virtually identical to the vehicle it was based on. The Oldsmobile Cutlass, for example, was sold…
“Best vehicle I ever had,” claimed one owner
In 2012, Subaru’s Forester was going into its 15th year. Based on the Impreza platform, and manufactured in Japan, it also received a bit of a redesign the year before, getting increased back seat elbow room and all-new rear suspension. Where the previous version featured strut suspension in back, this, the third-generation model, came with…
This small SUV is aimed at urban drivers and those who keep an eye on fuel economy
If you’re in the market for an electric car, you might have to cool your heels for a bit. With the soaring price of oil, increasing scarcity of battery components and supply chain issues, the waiting time for models like the Nissan Leaf, BMW i3, Chevrolet Bolt, Kia Soul, Tesla and others can be up…
The K5 does everything this type of vehicle is supposed to do
The passenger sedan market definitely ain’t what it used to be. Not long ago, the conventional four-door sedan defined the new car marketplace. If you went shopping for a new car, that’s what you bought nine times out of 10. Yes, SUVs were around. But they were more of a novelty than a legitimate choice…
Unsurprisingly, the GX 460 has held up well in terms of resale and residual value
Kissing cousin to the Toyota 4Runner, the Lexus GX 460 is the upscale version of Toyota’s popular SUV. It, too, has a body-on-frame design but with more stuff and a higher price tag. It features the same basic body style, wheelbase, seating capacity and driving experience. Revamped in 2010, the 2011 edition is powered by…
Accommodates five adults and has a cute little pickup bed that’s big enough to carry bits and pieces
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that’s the case, Korean car manufacturers have been extraordinarily complimentary to their Japanese counterparts since the early 1980s at least. Ever since the Hyundai Pony, the Koreans have employed a fairly simple principle: make automobiles driveable and easy on the pocketbook. It’s a modus…