Why The 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander GT Deserves A Test Drive

Can the 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander GT save an entire car company?

New car buyers, you have a new address to remember.

Your local Mitsubishi dealer.

Yes, it's been a long time, if ever, since you considered the triple-diamond brand for anything with four wheels.  Long enough that the very survival of Mitsubishi as an automotive manufacturer in this country has been in question the past few years.

But this...the 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander GT...shows the company is still capable of making very good vehicles.  And ones targeted at the American driver, at that.

New Car Review: 2014 Kia Cadenza

Credibility.  It's a big deal.  Especially when you're trying to get people to embrace a new concept.  Like Kia making a different type of car.
                                                                                                                                                                 


And that's where details matter.  Kia wants you to believe they've built an extraordinary near-luxury sedan. They want you to believe the woman driving the car is going to her 20th high school reunion.  Which would make her 38. Two years shy of 40. Her name is Teresa Moore, she's a supermodel and she's a lot closer to her 20th birthday than to her 20th high school reunion. There's a reason you didn't notice her in high school. She was across town in day care.

There's another version of the ad that uses mainly the night driving shots and blurbs from reviews including one from CNET that says "The Cadenza proves Kia can do luxury."  Okay, CNET said that (at least in the headline of its review).  But it's hype.

Both those things are small in the world of advertising, but it's especially a shame to see them related to the Cadenza because the Cadenza should be viewed and promoted as what it is...an amazing achievement in large family cars, a compelling competitor to the new Chevrolet Impala, Toyota Avalon, Ford Taurus, Nissan Maxima and Hyundai Azera.

New Car Review: 2013 Honda Crosstour

About six weeks ago, we raved about the 2013 Honda Accord and made mention of how it was evidence of Honda recovering.

The Crosstour is what the Accord is recovering from.

Don't let the Honda-supplied images throw you. The Crosstour is nowhere near that sleek and svelte.  It's a last-gen Accord pulled and stretched and jacked up and.....

New Car Review: 2013 Lexus GS350 and GS350 F SPORT




The 2013 Lexus GS350.

The styling of the all-new Lexus GS350 promises so much. It's a study in aggressive angles, a clear and direct contrast to the soft shapes of the GS that Lexus produced up until this year.




The 2013 Lexus GS350 interior.

The promise continues when you slide behind the wheel. The GS, so old-fashioned as recently as 2010 to have sported a cassette tape player in the dash, now has an utterly contemporary interior in which to do business, including a gargantuan video display in the center of the dash (clearly inspired by BMW).

The specs are promising...3.5 liter V6, 306 horsepower, 277 pounds per foot of torque...six-speed automatic with paddle shifters, 17 inch 9-spoke alloy wheels and the usual assortment of Lexus luxury and safety items for a base price of $46,900. Thanks to the six-speed automatic, that brings with it EPA estimated mileage of 19 city/28 highway.

New Car Review: 2012 Mazda 5 Sport

The 2012 Mazda 5. The last "mini" minivan?

You've probably noticed, but the "mini" has been gone from most minivans for a decade or more now. The Honda Odyssey is only 7 inches shorter than a 1964 Chevrolet Impala...and those were big cars.

Mazda's been bucking the trend all along...the vehicle once called the MPV and now the Mazda 5 has never suffered from mission creep. Sales, however, have suffered, as buyers shell out for the ever-bigger not-so-minivans.

For 2012, there's an all-new Mazda 5 and....Mazda's stuck to its guns. The 5 is 22 inches...almost two feet....shorter than the Odyssey...20 inches trimmer than the Toyota Sienna.

The 2012 Mazda 5 has smoothly flowing lines that look even better in person.

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Now, don't get us wrong. We love the Sienna (the Odyssey? Beats us. Honda hasn't put one in our hands in three years of TireKicker). But not everybody needs that much minivan.

The 2012 Mazda 5 is about the size of the minivan as it's known in Europe. How well does that work here? Well, we arranged to borrow one for a week from Chapman Mazda in Phoenix so we could see for ourselves.

The answer? It's terrific. Small size and lighter weight help make the new 5 a joy to maneuver in city traffic...and Mazda's commitment to building vehicles that are fun to drive doesn't have an asterisk after it that says "except for minivans".

157 horsepower from a 16-valve DOHC four is more than adequate to move this lighter machine, and even with a 5-speed automatic (as opposed to 6 or more), the mileage estimates are very good for a minivan (EPA says 21 city/28 highway).

The styling? Love it. There's character, fluidity, a sense of playfulness merged with purpose that promises you will have fun driving it. Take a glance at the picture below. That's a six-speed manual gearbox sticking out of the console. Yes, a minivan with a manual.  Just order the Sport model. It'll cost you $1,000 less than the automatic.

Oh, yeah....price.

The 2012 Mazda 5 minivan interior with 6-speed manual transmission.

The big minivans start within a stone's throw of $30,000. The top-of-the-line Sienna we tested last year topped out at $45,000 and change.

The Mazda 5 Sport?

$20,195. That's with the automatic. $19,195 with the six-speed.

That's for three rows of seats (two seats per row...total of six), 16-inch alloy wheels, power mirrors, halogen headlights, rear wiper with washer, captains chairs, a fold-out table for the second row, automatic climate control, a 6-speaker audio system, tilt & telescoping steering column, power windows and locks and remote keyless entry.

$795 for delivery and handling and the one we borrowed from Chapman rang in at $20,990. It was absolutely stock...zero options. And it was terrific. If it had been a stick, it would have stopped ten bucks shy of 20 grand.

There are people who need every inch of room in the sumo-class minivans. But you might not be one of them. The Mazda 5 is the first of a new wave of smaller minivans (Ford's on the way with the C-Max, though that will be sold in hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions only, and there will be others), but there's no need to wait. The 5 is here now and it's very, very good.