First Drive: 2010 BMW 5 Gran Turismo

[svgallery name=”535i_GT_pics”] Story and photos by John LeBlanc LISBON–BMW’s been kicking around the idea of a “tall sedan” for some time. Industry types first labelled spy photos of the shorter-than-an-SUV, taller-than-a-wagon new Bimmer as a future V-series – “V” as in versatile. Perhaps “versatile” was too plebian for BMW’s marketing team, a bit too populist […]

2010 Montréal: Will VW’s Golf R fly in Canada?

By John LeBlanc After accepting The Canadian Automotive Jury’s Best of the Best award for its entire 2010 Golf family, Volkswagen Canada pulled the cover off a potential new range topper at last week’s Montréal auto show.

2010 Detroit: Worst in Show

[svgallery name=”2010_Detroit_Worst”] Story and photos by John LeBlanc Honda’s gas-guzzling hybrid Hybrids are supposed to be fuel sippers right? So what happened with Honda’s latest gas-electric hybrid, the 2011 CR-Z? The smaller, lighter, two-seat version of the current five-door Insight hybrid with a six-speed manual is rated around 7.1L/100 km. That’s a lot thirstier than […]

Will small car buyers find Ford?

By John LeBlanc Two thousand and nine was a very good year for Ford in Canada. In an industry down 12 per cent, sales were up 7, resulting in a 15 per cent marketshare—the automaker’s best here in seven years. Ford even beat out General Motors in truck sales for the first time in a […]

2010 Detroit: Why?

Story and photo by John LeBlanc This year marks my tenth anniversary of having to answer the question, “Why would you want to go to Detroit in the middle of January?” Like making the decision to spend $10 in the theatre on a new Bruce Willis movie, over the course of the past decade it’s […]

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