Nick Tragianis: Ah yes, the Beetle. I remember when I was in Grade 5, I prepared a presentation comparing it to the Mini Cooper as part of a project. The Beetle used to be one of my favourites, but as the years went by, the initial appeal of its design wore …
March 1, 2013
As with so many luxury brands, BMW's model-naming has less to do with inspiring imagery in the minds of potential buyers and more to do with formulas that require decoding. In this playground, branding is everything, and they do not want a memorable model name to detract from the fact …
March 1, 2013
Most cars have a typical lifespan of between five and seven years, with a mid-cycle refresh coming around the three-year mark. The Kia Forte, on the other hand, has been reworked at warp speed. Originally launched in 2010, it was only on the market for a few months before the interior …
March 1, 2013
FOR 2014, the Kia Sorento has been reworked to keep it contemporary. While it's being billed as a mid-life facelift, it is, in reality, an extensive makeover that touches all areas of the vehicle -- more than 80 per cent of the 2014 Sorento is new. Stylistically, the 2014 Sorento gets …
March 1, 2013
It's been 30 years since the first Nissan Sentra was launched in the North American market, competing with the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. This mighty trio dominated the compact class in the late 1980s, with the Sentra finding more than 300,000 North American buyers at its sales peak. The 2012 …
March 1, 2013
It is probably more indicative of Kia's roots as a manufacturer of budget-based cars than its current status as purveyor of an increasingly diverse range of popular-selling vehicles that the most expensive item in its lineup is the seven-seat Sorento SX sport-ute I'm driving. Unlike corporate sibling Hyundai, which has padded …
February 22, 2013
The annual early-January trek to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit is a crapshoot when it comes to guessing what the weather and, hence, the road conditions will be like. I've always erred on the side of caution -- at the very least, every vehicle used for the four-hour …
February 22, 2013
When I woke Saturday morning and saw 15 centimetres of new snow on top of the 2013 Pathfinder we're testing for two months, the day's plans suddenly solidified: I now had to get to the cottage to plow snow from the laneway that reaches my old place before the temperature …
February 22, 2013
CADILLAC engineers probably dream in German, muttering "schnell, schnell" -- faster, faster -- in their sleep. They probably see horseshoe grilles and headlights in the darkness, followed by the flash of a "335" badge disappearing into the mist. Between snores, I'll bet they even hear polka pouring from the gates of hell, …
February 22, 2013
Nissan's never been reticent to push the boundaries of style, which they did when introducing the Murano in 2002 as a 2003 model. The vehicle exhibited dramatic lines not before seen in the mid-size crossover/SUV segment, and the intervening years have been good to the distinctive shape, which remains modern and …
February 22, 2013
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