Admittedly, I’ve spun a headline based on Honda’s iconic buzz phrase of the 1960s. What can I tell you, I’m old school. Our story begins on the Big Island of Hawaii. Aloha!
I recently submitted the 2017 Range Rover Sport Autobiography to a unique equestrian test, including a long road trip to the United States’ most prominent horse show followed by a local horse show with my own horses – allowing me to experience the comfort of the luxury SUV on a long trip along with seeing just how well this supercharged machine will pull the 2-horse trailer.
Hawaii is admittedly Honda country, and the Kona coast of the Big Island is no exception. Last week we enjoyed the experience of exploring the Kona side of Hawaii’s biggest island behind the wheel of the reinvented and much improved 2018 Honda Odyssey minivan, big things!
The new Chrysler Pacifica offers all sorts of advantages over the competition when it comes to interior amenities, but more importantly for some buyers, the new Pacifica offers the best driving dynamics in the minivan segment – feeling more like a sedan than a 7-passenger people mover from behind the steering wheel.
Definition: SUVGS, or SUV Guilt Syndrome, often results from the purchase of, ownership and operation, of an over sized, over chromed, Dub wearing, gas guzzling, 3-row SUV.
If you are looking for a roomy, fuel-friendly hybrid that is great in serious snow, the 2017 Toyota Highlander Hybrid might just be your best choice for the money – combining V6 power, electric-only driving capabilities and the ability to drive in any road condition including mud and deep snow.
It’s not often that a manufacturer lends a less than fully loaded car or light truck offering to a journalist for drive review, so I rented one, and set out on an 800 mile, 24 hour turnaround in the rain. I learned a thing or two as to Santa Fe Sports, front-wheel-drive road worthiness, mostly good.
Sitting at the airport in Los Angeles I caught Kia’s Cadenza ‘ blindfold’ touch test on a T.V. commercial, as parking valets guessed the brand of the car they were sitting in. BMW, Cadillac and Mercedes came to mind.
The 2017 Kia Sportage EX AWD is a great vehicle for daily driving on paved roads, but can this Korean compact SUV handle the rough dirt roads of rural America? I spent a week driving the new Sportage on my local unpaved roads to see how well – or how badly – the smallest Kia SUV performs on some of the worst public roads in the area.
I recently spent a week behind the wheel of the 2017 Ford F250 Super Duty Lariat and while this big, powerful truck performed every task just as well as you might expect – the ride quality from this hard-working truck was far better than any of my passengers could have foreseen.
2017 Chevy Bolt is a wake up call for U.S. automakers, as the maker of Corvette, Silverado Pickup, and Malibu SS, presents an affordable BEV (battery electric vehicle) that gives Tesla an extended drive-range run for the money.
The 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk offers the greatest off-roading capabilities in the model lineup, a cabin loaded with premium features and room for five for under $50,000 – making it one of the best options on the market for someone shopping for a luxury SUV that can be taken off-road with confidence.
The all-new 2017 Land Rover Discovery has a much sleeker, softer look than the boxy Discovery from the previous five generations, but this sportier look is achieved without diminishing any of the offroading capabilities which you would expect from a proper Land Rover.
It’s not unusual for a sub-premium compact sedan to run a bit noisy in the cabin. Such is the case with Mazda’s top-trim 3 series touring sedan. In the case of 2017 Mazda3, running Bridgestone Blizzak Winter Tires exponentially increased cabin noise.
Like many large SUVs, the GMC Yukon Denali is often accused of being a mall crawler – the kind of vehicle that never does any real work while in the hands of “soccer moms” – so with the help of my wife and her champion horses, I spent a weekend putting the plush GMC SUV through the paces of a grueling horse show weekend.
Like an old friends that shows up for a long weekend, “with just a little work done,” the notable changes for 2017 Acura MDX Advance are subtle, but welcomed. “Good looking and capable” pretty much sums it up for me.
We spend a week in the seat of Honda’s reinvented compact SUV, and walk away with a lesson in segment refinement, and how to produce measurable engine performance through turbocharging, while preserving exceptional fuel efficiency.
It’s that crazy thing that happens in the blink of an eye while driving through a torrential downpour. The jackass in the right lane just a made a lane change without signalling at 70 MPH. Deadly! 2017 Mitsubishi Outlander S-AWC just saved my life!
I recently had a chance to submit the Toyota Tundra Limited to one of the most tougher tests I have in my new truck testing repertoire - the horse show - and today I look at how well the Double Cab Toyota pickup served as our mission control for a weekend at the show grounds.
Positioned slightly above the entry level Civic Hatchback LX, the not so bare-bones Civic Hatchback Sport returns us to the age of the manually shifted Honda performance hatchback of yesteryear, with a twist, it’s civilized, full efficient, comfortable, and you can have it all for under $22K.
I recently spent a week driving the 2017 Ford Fusion Sport and while this car doesn’t have any affiliation with Ford’s high performance SVT group, this roomy mid-sized sedan is like a modern day interpretation of the Ford SVT Contour from the late 1990s – except with far more power and standard all-wheel drive.
That headline took me several attempts to land on. Archimoto’s founder Mark Frohnmayer’s unique take on electrified personal transportation, may look simple enough. But once behind the handlebars, my imagination took over as to the “what if” of this equation. Arcimoto SRK Trike brings motorcycle inspired adventure to the EV segment.
Volvo’s Hybrid SUV flagship comes standard with a steep learning curve, and it’s pricey. Granted while not for everyone, even the well heeled of Volvo’s discriminating loyal, may find that this hybrid fails to meet individual "superior hybrid" expectations.
I recently had the fortune of spending a week behind the wheel of the Cadillac CT6 Platinum and having loved everything about it, I believe that this big Caddy sedan is the next great American luxury sedan – rivaling the best that the European and Japanese luxury brands have to offer.
