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 Nissan GT-R Black Edition

[svgallery name=”2012_Nissan_GTR_hirez”] Godzilla Gentrified Nissan’s rowdy supercar gets all refined like By John LeBlanc BUTTONWILLOW, Calif. — Just as fans of Japan’s Godzilla monster movies have a hard time picking a favourite flick from a series of films dating back to 1954, followers of the automotive Godzilla — Nissan’s series of high-performance supercars dating back […]

First Drive: 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible

[svgallery name=”2011_Chevrolet_Camaro_Convertible_hirez”] Topless bar-none Dropping its top solves a bunch of the Camaro’s critiques By John LeBlanc SAN DIEGO, California – In one fell swoop, Chevrolet has fixed one of the biggest flaws in its Camaro coupe. Simply tug on a release header latch, push a button — et voila! — the existing hardtop’s horrendous […]

The Crank: Will former Explorer SUV owners buy into new metrosexual model?

By John LeBlanc Like the lampshade-wearing Christmas get-together guest who doesn’t know when to call it a night, the old, truck-based Ford Explorer hung out at the SUV party way too long.

First Drive: 2011 Ford Explorer

Exploring new worlds In the search for fuel economy, Ford’s iconic Explorer evolves from SUV to crossover By John LeBlanc SAN DIEGO, Calif. – You would be forgiven if you thought Ford’s decision to move its Explorer to a car-like unibody chassis after riding for a quarter-century on a body-on-frame truck-style chassis is late. After […]

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