First Drive: 2015 Volkswagen Golf R

Story and photos by John LeBlanc MUNICH, Germany — After a couple of days embedded in the annual GTI Wörthersee fan festival in Austria, it seemed all-too-appropriate to make my half-day return drive to my awaiting flight in Germany in what is known as the ultimate Volkswagen Golf, the R.

2014 New York: Volkswagen Golf SportWagen TDI 4Motion Concept

Story and photos by John LeBlanc All the bits and pieces for the Volkswagen Golf SportWagen TDI 4Motion Concept currently exist: the body comes from the next-generation Golf SportWagen coming to Canada; the TDI engine is the updated turbo-diesel that also debuted here in New York in the 2015 Jetta; and the manual transmission is […]

Top 10s: New vehicles for Canadian hockey parents

Story by John LeBlanc Are there any drivers on Canadian roads and highways that deserve more respect than hockey parents? (or skiing, speed skating, curling, luge, bob sleigh or ringette parents?) Battling before-dawn wakeup calls, rush-hour traffic, four-season driving conditions and unruly passengers — not to mention the transportation of toxic cargo known as the […]

Top 10s: Most anticipated test drives for 2014

By John LeBlanc Who would have thought the Ultimate Driving Machine makers at Germany’s BMW would ever build an electric city car (the new i3?) Or the best family sedan you could buy would be a new Chevy (the new Impala)? But that was sooo 2013.

2013 Frankfurt: The Volkswagen Group rolls out plenty of fresh metal

Story by John LeBlanc FRANKFURT — On the eve of the 65th Frankfurt auto show, Germany’s largest automaker, the Volkswagen Group, rolled out a fleet of new vehicles from its dozen automotive, truck and motorcycle brands at a private media event. While there was fresh metal from the Volkswagen Group’s Seat and Skoda brands we’ll […]

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