Clearing A High Bar: The 2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Platinum AWD

2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Platinum AWD.

All-new cars are exciting and also fraught with peril.  If the old one was beloved, there's the risk the new one will somehow screw it up.

The stakes were especially high here at TireKicker World Headquarters for the all-new 2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Platinum AWD---the replacement for the exact 2019 model that Mrs. TireKicker and I took on our epic nine-day, 3,000-mile road trip last September and loved.

Niche Within A Niche: The 2020 Fiat 500X Trekking Plus AWD

2020 Fiat 500X Trekking Plus AWD.

It worked (sorta) for Mini.  So you really can't blame Fiat for trying to expand its 500 minicar into a family of vehicles. Unfortunately, Fiat hasn't had a particularly aggressive or effective marketing presence here in the USA, so a lot of people misunderstand exactly what the 500X is.

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. 

Why Pay More? The 2020 Hyundai Palisade Limited AWD

The 2020 Hyundai Palisade Limited AWD.

If you've been admiring big luxury SUVs like the BMW X7, but can't quite swing the six-figure purchase price, Hyundai has a new vehicle for you. It's the 2020 Hyundai Palisade. It's a familiar move from Hyundai---deliver the looks and a lot of features of established competitors---at a significantly lower price.

Fixing A Hole: The 2020 Cadillac XT6 Sport AWD

The 2020 Cadillac XT6 Sport AWD.

Cadillac buyers who wanted a three-row SUV but didn't want the super-sized Escalade have had to look elsewhere. There was a big gap in size and perceived prestige between the Escalade and the XT5. That's over now. For 2020, Cadillac has the XT6, a right-size, very handsome three-seat SUV that fits right in between those two.

This Is Cadillac: The 2020 Cadillac XT5 Sport AWD

The 2020 Cadillac XT5 Sport AWD.

The car you see above is Cadillac's best-selling vehicle. That's right. A mid-size crossover SUV is the current king of the hill for Cadillac. It's a sign of how things have changed---not only for the automaker that was regarded as the "Standard of the World" in the 20th century---but for the way we use cars.

For all its pursuit of European-style performance the past 20 years, what the XT5 says is that, ultimately, Americans with the means to consider Cadillac want room to carry people and things, and to do so in quiet and comfort.

Some Camaro In Your Blazer? The 2019 Chevrolet Blazer Premier AWD

The 2019 Chevrolet Blazer Premier AWD.

The slicing and dicing of the crossover/sport utility vehicle market is a wondrous thing to watch. 

The 2019 Chevrolet Blazer is Chevy’s sixth SUV.  That’s right.  Sixth.   The bowtie boys and girls (check the Chevy logo if that reference escapes you) have found a space of daylight between the compact Equinox and the midsize Traverse and thus we have the Blazer.

Actually, there’s some fair amount of good sense involved here, since the Blazer pretty well goes head-to-head against the Toyota Highlander and that’s a vehicle worth competing with. 

Beginnings: The 2019 Honda HR-V AWD Touring

The 2019 Honda HR-V AWD Touring.

Back in the 1970s and 80s, there was a perfect car for young people starting out on their own---the compact hatchback. Everybody made 'em. Everybody bought 'em. And with good reason---they were Corollas and Civics and whatever Datsun/Nissan was calling its small car that year, but instead of a trunk, the whole back end opened up, the rear seats folded flat and you could carry stuff without driving a station wagon.

Somewhere along the line, the word "hatchback" became as uncool as the term "station wagon"---but they're actually back. They're now the smallest of the small crossover sport-utility vehicles---the Nissan Kicks, the Toyota C-HR and the Honda HR-V.

That Certain Something: The 2019 Honda Passport AWD Elite

The 2019 Honda Passport AWD Elite.

One of the things that I love about cars is their ability to start conversations.  Driving one or more shiny new cars every week for 22 years is not a job for introverts.  Fortunately, I'm not one.  The interesting thing is that you can never quite tell which car will cause total strangers to walk up to you and start asking questions, offering opinions and the like.

I would not have guessed the 2019 Honda Passport AWD Elite would be one of those cars, but it is.

XCitement: The 2019 Volvo XC40 T5 AWD R-Design

The 2019 Volvo XC40 R-Design.

The strong success of Volvo's big XC90 SUV has Volvo doing the smart thing and spinning off XC variants in smaller sizes.  There's an XC60 in the middle and now, the XC40---a vehicle aimed squarely at urban Millennials.

A Different Standard: The 2019 Cadillac XT4 AWD Sport

The 2019 Cadillac XT4 AWD Sport.

Those of us of a certain age remember when Cadillac's slogan was "Standard of the World".  It was a time when Cadillacs were what everything else was judged by.  It meant the best.

Like most advertising, it was true sometimes,  not true other times.  Cadillac made some cars that could be considered, with a straight face, to be the best you could buy during that time.  And they made some that weren't.

For the better part of the last 40 years, Cadillac's been trying to regain its prestige. Its current slogan is "Rise Above".  Its one clear winner has been the Escalade.  So now, there's an emphasis on SUVs and crossovers.