Top 10s: New Retro-mobiles

By John LeBlanc You can’t bring back the past. But with some new cars these days, you can certainly try and buy it. Volkswagen’s 1999 New Beetle started the modern retro-mobile (old-fashioned clothes over modern mechanicals) trend. Using an existing front-engine Golf chassis, it was styled to look like the rear-engine “Bug” that became a […]

The Crank: Japan’s automakers are in catch-up mode

By John LeBlanc The big stink south of the border last week was the launch of the new 2012 Toyota Camry family sedan (above left). A “big stink” because like Honda’s compact Civic sedan (above right) up here in the Great White North, the midsize Camry has been the perennially best-selling non-pickup new car for something like 13 […]

First Drive: 2012 Mercedes-Benz E 63 AMG

E-Q-ship Mercedes goes the turbocharging route for its updated midsize stealth machine By John LeBlanc LE CASTELLET, FRANCE — Showing little of the restraint of its rivals, Mercedes-Benz offers high-performance iterations of almost every model throughout its extensive lineup — from its compact C-class sedan to its SLS Gullwing supercar. Yet if you know the […]

FROM THE FLEET: 2012 BMW X1 xDrive28i

FROM THE FLEET are brief synopses of manufacturer-supplied rides that happen to end up in my laneway – John LeBlanc Bimmer fans close your eyes: Here’s yet another BMW that goes out of its way to NOT be a BMW. If you’re familiar with the German automaker’s rigidly hierarchical naming system, you may reckon that […]

First Drive: 2012 Mercedes-Benz C 63 AMG Coupe

C-plus Mercedes wastes no time adding honking AMG model to its new C Class Coupé By John LeBlanc CIRCUITO MONTEBLANCO, Spain – If you gauge social trends by what’s new on television, there seems to be a political correctness backlash occurring. Inspired by the excessive drinking, groping and smoking from the 1960’s New York City […]

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