Crystal Ball: The Future is Small

By John LeBlanc Eventually, historians will write that the past decade was one of the most tumultuous and significant eras in the auto industry—the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001; the roller-coaster of fuel prices; the public’s growing environmental and road safety awareness; the rise of the Chinese automakers; the fall of the Detroit Big […]

Comparo: 2010 Hyundai Elantra Touring/Kia Soul/Nissan Cube

[svgallery name=”Comparo_Hyundai_Kia_Nissan”] Story and photos by John LeBlanc With seating for five and lower purchase and operating costs, small vehicles are where it’s at in the Canadian new-car market. Although already practical by nature, small sedans and hatchbacks may not offer enough space for some customers. So what if there was the added utility of […]

2010 Montréal: Volkswagen Golf wins new Canadian annual car award

By John LeBlanc MONTREAL – It’s not only the fine people of Detroit that put on an auto show this time of the year. Just down the St. Lawrence River, a couple of hours on the 401, our neighbors in la belle province put on quite a car show of their own. This year, along […]

the straight-GOODS/Sports Coupes

2010 BMW 135i Coupé Base Price: $42,900 Driver Must Haves: “NOT A CHICK CAR” bumper sticker. Let’s pretend the secretary special 128i doesn’t exist, OK? And if BMW makes a convertible 1 Series, I’m drawing a blank. That leaves the 135i Coupe for car zealots, stuffed to its firewall with the same twin-turbo 3.0-litre straight-six […]

2010 CCOTY: Sports & Performance under $50k

[svgallery name=”CCOTY_Sports_under_50k_hirez”] Story, videos and photos by John LeBlanc As a member of the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (hey, they have cheap travel insurance), I got invited for two days in late October to drive new 2010 cars over public roads and an airport test track. The goal was to pick a category winner […]

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