2011 in Review: The best driving experience

By John LeBlanc Over the course of any year’s worth of an auto writer’s work, you’ll find many reports of us driving new, fast cars on closed circuits and race courses. But many of these so-called “track” events are either hampered by a limited number of laps, limited number of cars, or a slower-than-hoped for […]

2011 in Review: The best car I drove for >$40k

By John LeBlanc While I drove much faster cars, and more expensive cars, a fossil-fueled luxury car, Audi’s audacious A7 Sportback 3.0T, was the “best” car I drove in the past 12 months.

From the Fleet: 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI

FROM THE FLEET are brief synopses of manufacturer-supplied rides that happen to end up in my laneway – John LeBlanc Myself and the der nue 2012 Volkswagen Passat didn’t quite hit it off during our first meeting at its debut at last January’s Detroit auto show. As per the new-generation VW Jetta, the “Americanization of […]

2011 in Review: The worst car I drove for <$40k

By John LeBlanc Call all me crazy, but I always like to see a little progress in the machines I test-drive each year. Hence the disappointment in the “new” 2012 Nissan Versa sedan, a car that feels like it’s about 15 years old.

2011 in Review: The best car I drove for <$40k

By John LeBlanc Korean cars aren’t the punch line to a bad joke anymore. Rising from their former positioning as backwater makers of bottom-feeder cars with lowball sticker prices and extra-long warranties, the Hyundai and Kia sister brands have turned into builders of some of the most reliable, safe, smartly-styled, technically advanced and value priced […]

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