More Show, More Go: The 2020 Honda Civic Si

The 2020 Honda Civic Si.

Let's just state a basic fact here:  The Honda Civic is a fine compact car, and except for a lost period in the early aughts through the middle of the last decade, would usually be my choice if I were playing with my own money.

But what if you want just a little more---pizazz?  Just a bit more flash and a bit more go power?  If you buy the base LX or the one-step-up Sport, you get 158 horsepower.  EX, EXL and Touring models get you 174.

Sure, there's the fire-breathing Civic Type R with 306 horsepower, but that's crazy and $36,995.

The One To Have If You're Only Having One: The 2020 Volkswagen Golf TSI

The 2020 Volkswagen Golf TSI.

If you could only buy one new car to do everything you do in your life, what would it be?

A lot of people---Americans, especially, would default to the biggest, most capable all-weather machine they could afford and figure if it can handle that, it can handle the rest.  Something like that, in my mid-30s, possessed me to buy a Suburban with four-wheel drive.  I owned it seven years.  It never left two-wheel drive mode.  I never had eight people in it at once and never filled the cargo area.

The truth is, the one car for most Americans is a German car that has simply been evolving over 45 years.

Love Rekindled: The 2020 Ford Expedition Platinum

The 2020 Ford Expedition Platinum. 

Regular TireKicker readers may remember our 2018 roadtrip---two weeks and 3,800 miles through Nevada, Arizona, Utah and back.  Our ride was a 2018 Ford Expedition Max Limited..  The Max is the stretched version of the Expedition, with additional cargo room behind the rear seats.  Now, a year and a half later, we spend a week with the 2020 Ford Expedition Platinum.

Smooth Operator: The 2020 Lexus ES 300h

The 2020 Lexus ES 300h.

In this time of uncertainty and stress, it's nice to know there's the 2020 Lexus ES 300h.  If you comb through the back posts of TireKicker (now that we all have some extra time), you'll find frequent praise for this car over the past 12 years, and the new one is the best yet.

About COVID-19

You've probably gotten an e-mail from every company you do business with about their response to COVID-19.  Just in case you are wondering, here's how TireKicker plans to move forward:

Japanese With An Italian Accent: The 2020 Infiniti QX50 Autograph AWD

The 2020 Infiniti QX50 Autograph AWD.

The first impression the 2020 Infiniti QX50 gives is one of beauty.  The lines, the proportions---there's an emotion to the design that's almost Italian. 

A Period of Transition: The 2020 Mazda CX-30 AWD Premium

The 2020 Mazda CX-30 Premium.

What's Mazda up to?  That's not a question I usually find myself asking.  But then, Mazda has never done this before---slotted a crossover into the very thin space between the compact CX-3 and midsize CX-5.

Mythbuster: The 2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA250 4MATIC

The 2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA250 4MATIC.

There's a school of thought that says smaller Mercedes-Benz automobiles are lesser vehicles in terms of quality and luxury than their E-Class and S-Class stablemates.  The 2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA250 4MATIC is a four-wheeled rebuttal to that dubious claim.

The Swedish Solution: The 2020 Volvo XC40 T5 AWD Inscription

The 2020 Volvo XC40 T5 AWD Inscription.

With small luxury SUVs officially a hot spot in the automotive marketplace, the next question is how to get as many different types of buyers to choose you as possible.  Volvo seems to have hit on the answer with their three trim levels of the XC40---Momentum (the base model), R-Design (which Volvo describes as "sporty and stylish") and Inscription, which, according to Volvo is all about "sophisticated luxury".

Leader of the Pack: The 2020 Dodge Charger R/T Scat Pack Plus

The 2020 Dodge Charger R/T Scat Pack Plus.

More than 50 years ago, Dodge made one hell of a racket in the performance car world with what it called the "Scat Pack".

For those of you who have only heard the term on nature walks, "scat" has other meanings, including a form of jazz singing, and the slang usage that applies here, to go quickly.