2010 Mazdaspeed3 Sport

Form meets function in Mazda’s five-door hatchback

By Nina Russin

2010 Mazdaspeed3

Of the hundred or so cars I test drive each year, a handful are models I can envision myself owning. The Mazdaspeed3 is one of those few.

Simply put, Mazda’s performance-driven hatchback fills all of my squares. It’s affordable, stylish, versatile enough for my modest cargo needs, and a lot of fun to drive. The turbocharged 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine is thrifty at the fuel pump, while providing an abundance of power.

The six-speed manual transmission has a light enough clutch pedal to function in traffic, with plenty of range in each gear. Steering response is positive, yet fluid.

Stabilizer bars on the front and rear axles keep the car flat in the corners. Yet the suspension has enough compliance to provide a comfortable ride on uneven road surfaces. Read the rest of this entry »

2010 Buick LaCrosse CXL

Global design team reinvents Buick’s full-sized sedan

By Nina Russin

2010 Buick LaCrosse

My love affair with cars began with a ‘64 Buick Wildcat convertible that lived down the street from me. Its 401-cubic inch V8 engine seemed to stretch from one side of the county to the other. The exhaust note was epic. A standard three-speed manual transmission made it easy to melt the tires: something my parents never shared my appreciation for.

Over subsequent decades, Buick lost its way, acquiring a reputation for lackluster performance, with styling to match. It was heartbreaking to see the brand that revolutionized car design with Harley Earl’s Y-Job concept car relegated to the far reaches of nursing home parking lots.

Recently, Buick reversed the tide with the Enclave crossover vehicle, geared towards active lifestyles. Last summer, Buick introduced an all-new LaCrosse, using a global design team to recreate the full-sized sedan for younger buyers.

Read the rest of this entry »

2011 Toyota Sienna

Third-generation minivan features new sport grade

By Nina Russin

2011 Toyota Sienna SE

What was once old is new again. The minivan is, after all, the original active lifestyle vehicle. At its peak in the late 1990s, the minivan segment commanded a million unit sales annually.

Minivans are more aerodynamic, and hence get better gas mileage than sport-utility vehicles; yet they hold as many passengers and carry as much gear. The 2011 Toyota Sienna that rolls out in February is available with all-wheel drive. Three rows of seating hold up to eight passengers. The V6 model’s 3500-pound towing capacity meets our ALV minimum standard.

A new sport grade with a unique exterior, larger wheels and special suspension tuning rivals like-sized crossover vehicles. Read the rest of this entry »

2009 Toyota Corolla Matrix S

Compact hatchback has an active lifestyle focus

By Nina Russin

The Matrix is the five-door version of the Toyota Corolla, combining the sedan’s positive fuel economy with a larger, more versatile cargo area.

Every time I drive the Matrix, I find a new reason to love

2009 Toyota Matrix

 the car. The hatchback averages 29 miles-per-gallon on the highway, has a standard 115-volt outlet in the center stack, and can hold my mountain bike without removing the front wheel.

Tracks in the cargo floor hold tie-down hooks to secure large cargo.  A cargo light illuminates the back of the car, making it easier to load up at night.

For this test drive, I have the mid-level S grade, with a 158-horsepower, four-cylinder engine and five-speed automatic transmission. The S adds a couple of important features over the base model: the 115-volt outlet, and a fold-flat front passenger seat. A hard seatback surface serves as a work table. Read the rest of this entry »

2010 Subaru Legacy

Sport sedan takes a ‘go anywhere’ attitude

By Nina Russin

2010 Subaru Legacy

Subaru was one of the few automakers to turn a profit last year. While the company has never been a volume leader, Subaru has maintained a loyal following by staying true to its mission and listening to its customers. Subaru was one of the first car companies to pursue buyers with active lifestyles: sponsoring the US Ski team in the 1970s.

The Legacy is Subaru’s flagship sedan: geared towards upscale buyers. Having said that, Subaru approaches the luxury audience with its own, unique strategy. The base Legacy comes with a cloth interior: easier to clean after a day on the trails. All-wheel drive is standard, giving the Legacy moderate off-road capability.

The six-speed manual transmission, standard on the base model, comes with a reverse lockout ring. While not all of its owners will drive the Legacy for sport, the lockout ring gives the gearbox extra durability. Read the rest of this entry »

2010 Ford Taurus SEL FWD

Ford’s flagship sedan gets a 21st century makeover

By Nina Russin

2010 Ford Taurus

The Taurus has been Ford’s bread-and-butter car since I started writing about this industry two decades back. Over the years, the Taurus evolved from a plain vanilla sedan into the automaker’s flagship. The 2010 Taurus that rolled out this summer had multiple shoes to fill. It needed to appeal to a new generation of technology-savvy buyers, as well as former Crown Victoria owners, since the full-sized sedan has been discontinued.

Engineers also brought back the SHO moniker, hoping to build on equity from the original model. While the base Taurus comes with the 3.5-liter Duratec V6 engine, the high-performance SHO features Ford’s all-new EcoBoost V-6, which uses twin turbochargers to boost both power and fuel economy.

Ford is using the Taurus to showcase the company’s newest safety technology, including adaptive cruise control, collision warning with brake support, and a blind sport information system with cross traffic alert. Infotainment options include Ford’s Sync voice-activated communications system, a Sony surround-sound audio system, massaging seats, and voice-activated navigation with real-time traffic updates. Read the rest of this entry »

2011 Kia Sorento EX V6

Compact crossover is Kia’s first car built in the USA

By Nina Russin

2011 Kia Sorento

The original Kia Sorento that debuted for the 2003 model year was a sport-utility vehicle engineered for off-road performance. This January, an all-new Sorento rolls into Kia’s 650 US dealerships: a compact cross-utility vehicle marketed towards young families with active lifestyles. Its unibody chassis is similar to a passenger car, whereas the former model was built on a truck platform.
 
The new chassis is longer and lower: longer to accommodate an available third-row seat, and lower to enhance highway performance. Kia remains true to its value pricing strategy: the base four-cylinder front-wheel drive model starts under $20,000.

Both the four-cylinder engine and available V6 come with an all-new six-speed automatic transmission. Cars equipped with the V6 meet the ALV 3500-pound towing standard.

All-wheel drive, available with either engine, enhances wet weather performance by transferring engine torque to the wheels with the best traction. Standard hill descent control and hill-start assist improve maneuverability on steep grades.

New West Point, Georgia manufacturing plant

The Sorento is the first Kia built on American soil. Kia‘s West Point, Georgia manufacturing facility represents a one billion dollar investment, giving the automaker a comparable US presence to Honda and Toyota. Read the rest of this entry »

2010 Suzuki Kizashi SLS

Suzuki introduces its most luxurious sport sedan

By Nina Russin

2010 Suzuki Kizashi

Suzuki is the compact car king, having grown from a niche player to the eleventh largest automaker globally. High sales volumes in Japan and India have propelled Suzuki ahead of Mazda, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Value-packed offerings such as the SX4 and Grand Vitara kept Suzuki in the black last year. It is the only Japanese manufacturer that maintained profitability throughout the recent slump.

As successful as Suzuki has been within the compact segment, the automaker struggles with attracting upscale buyers. Five years ago Suzuki introduced the Italian-designed Forenza and Reno in an effort to open that door: a strategy that ultimately failed.

This year, Suzuki tries a different strategy, with its introduction of the mid-sized Kizashi sport sedan. Designed from a clean sheet of paper, the Kizashi rolls of Suzuki’s an all-new Sagara, Japan assembly plant. Read the rest of this entry »

2010 Chevrolet Equinox AWD 2LT

Latest Equinox will turn heads in Crossover Category

By Jim Woodman

2010 Chevrolet Equinox

While I’ve always wanted to support American manufacturers, and have purchased the Ford Explorer in the past, I’ve never put Chevrolet on my short list when car shopping. For a variety of reasons, GM cars always seemed late to the game and inferior from a materials and craftsmanship perspective.

For those who’ve been equally unimpressed with GM, and Chevrolet in particular, you may want to put away your biases and take a look at the completely remodeled 2010 Equinox.

Bold and Handsome Exterior

For one, the 2010 gets a very bold and handsome exterior with beefier fenders than its predecessor and eye-catching styling around front headlights and tail lights. The new Equinox is a very good-looking car. Read the rest of this entry »

2010 Mazda CX-7 i Sport

Five-passenger crossover gains in fuel economy

By Nina Russin

2010 Mazda CX-7

Mazda has a talent for making the most mundane car fun to drive, without sacrificing practicality or value. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the CX-7: the smaller of the automaker’s two crossover vehicles.

This year, the five-passenger CX-7 gets a new four-cylinder engine, available on the front-wheel drive models. While it lacks the power of the 2.3-liter turbo, the new engine delivers exceptional highway fuel economy, while maintaining enough low-end torque to satisfy the average commuter. During the test drive, my highway fuel economy exceeded the 28 mpg EPA estimate.

Drivers will immediately find value in convenience features such as the rear backup camera, digital information display, multiple power points and Bluetooth interface. But greater value lies beneath the car’s surface.

For example, Mazda employs chain rather than belt drives, which are more durable over the long haul. Four-wheel vented disc brakes with four-channel antilock braking provide superior stopping power in a variety of weather conditions. Balance shafts eliminate the vibration and noise that can be the bane of large, four-cylinder engines. Read the rest of this entry »