The Crank: Which are “dumber”?: Newly Americanized VWs, or the people buying them…

By John LeBlanc Recently, over at Automotive News, my colleague Diana T. Kurylko, asked the question that fans of inexpensive German wheels have been pondering for some time now: Is Volkswagen of America cheapening its cars to boost volume at the cost of its German engineering image? Based on the evidence, the answer is a […]

Comparo: 2011 BMW 750Li xDrive vs. Audi A8L Quattro

By John LeBlanc With prices starting at more than the annual household income of the average Canadian, it’s no surprise sales of full-size luxury sedans are relatively miniscule here. However, that doesn’t mean these flagship sedans should be ignored. Representing the best of their brands, these cars justify the lofty pricetags by being rolling showcases […]

The Crank: Would Spain’s Seat fly in Canada?

By John LeBlanc FRANKFURT, Germany – Station wagons, manual transmissions, rear-wheel-drive and diesels—it’s the burden of many an automotive scribe—including yours truly—to bemoan of the lack of availability of all or any of the above in the Canadian new car market. And now after a day spent on Germany’s autobahn, west of Frankfurt and zipping […]

Comparo: 2011 Audi Q5 3.2 Quattro vs. Volvo XC60 T6 AWD

By John LeBlanc For such a short time as an automotive genre, the compact luxury crossover segment has become awfully crowded, awfully fast. It’s been only a little over a decade since the first-to-market Lexus RX 300 arrived. Yet in that time, rivals from BMW (X3), Acura (RDX), Cadillac (SRX), Infiniti (EX35), Mercedes-Benz (GLK) and […]

First Drive: 2012 Aston Martin V8 Vantage S

RONDA, SPAIN—If you pick up on the clues, it’s obvious the CEO running the very British Aston Martin brand, Ulrich Bez, used to work at the very German brands BMW and Porsche, applying a very Teutonic (i.e. methodical) approach to the perennially money-losing British brand. First, upon the German-born Bez’s arrival at Aston Martin in […]

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