Dressed To Impress: The 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLB 250 4MATIC

2020 Mercedes-Benz GLB 250 4MATIC.

Mercedes has taken the alphabetical approach to naming its SUVs.  They all begin with GL. The smallest is GLA, next is GLB, then GLC. There is no GLD, so GLE comes next and the largest are the GLS and the G-Class.

We had 30 minutes with the GLA three years ago at Western Automotive Journalists' Media Days in Monterey, California and liked it a lot.  Still, the GLB is a major step forward from the entry-level Benz SUV.

This Is Honda: The 2020 Honda CR-V Touring

The 2020 Honda CR-V Touring.

About the headline.  Yes, Honda makes several cars.  All of them very, very good cars.  But the CR-V is Honda in the sense that it is the best-selling vehicle Honda makes and it embodies pretty much every virtue that has made Honda what it is for the past 40-plus years.

Good Thing, Small Package: The 2020 BMW X1 xDrive28i

The 2020 BMW X1 xDrive28i.

Just two months after reviewing the biggest BMW SUV, the X7, it's time to examine the smallest---the X1.  Right off the bat, there's a lot to recommend. 

First of all, it is one of the least-expensive ways to become a BMW owner.  The starting price for our tester, the 2020 BMW X1 xDrive28i, is $37,200---which is only $765 more than the base price of the 2020 Ford Escape Titanium AWD we reviewed earlier this month.

What Price Luxury? How About Under $50K?: The 2020 Kia Telluride SX AWD

The 2020 Kia Telluride.

2020 is a big year for Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia. Both have introduced luxury and sports cars in the past couple of years and this year, both have brought very convincing luxury SUVs to market. I told you about the Hyundai Palisade earlier this month---and now, I've driven its platform cousin, the Kia Telluride.

Evocative: The 2020 Range Rover Evoque First Edition

The 2020 Range Rover Evoque First Edition.

"Evoque". It's a made-up word, like a lot of car names. But in the case of the 2020 Range Rover Evoque, it sounds like a real word---"evoke"---and it matches the meaning of the word it sounds like---evoking luxury unexpected in this size class and all the attributes of the Range Rover brand.

Four-Wheeled Mission Statement: The 2019 Audi Q3 S Line quattro

The 2019 Audi Q3 S Line quattro.

The small luxury crossover SUV is a tricky proposition. If you're in the car business, you pretty much have to sell one because all your competitors do. Think BMW X1, Mercedes-Benz GLA, Range Rover Evoque, Lexus NX, Cadillac XT4, Lincoln Corsair and Jaguar E-Pace.

So you have to show up. Trouble is, to be a success, you also have to stand out. And that's tricky because small luxury SUVs are all pretty similar---four doors, a tailgate, what would have been called a station wagon in another age, just with less room in the wayback.

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.

Pilot, Black: The 2020 Honda Pilot Black Edition

The 2020 Honda Pilot Black Edition.

Have you noticed how many cars have started going dark? As in black trim, black wheels---everything black? It's as if Darth Vader had joined the design studios of several automakers at once.

This past summer, we tested the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Limited S, which followed this formula, and now Honda brings us the Honda Pilot Black Edition.

Fashionably Late: The 2019 BMW X7 xDrive 40i

The 2019 BMW X7 xDrive 40i.

Six letters that, twenty years ago, most car people would have told you would never go together. BMW SUV.

The world has changed. Porsche proved that the way to keep making sports cars is to make fast, comfortable, good-handling big SUVs to pay for them. Audi and Mercedes-Benz followed, and now BMW is actually the last to the party...but the new BMW X7 absolutely qualifies as making one heck of an entrance.

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.

Good Thing, Small Package: The 2019 Lexus UX 250h F SPORT

The 2019 Lexus UX 250h F SPORT.

"Little" and "luxury" have a hard time co-existing in American minds. Houses, cars, diamonds, boats---bigger means more expensive and more expensive means luxury.

Or so it went. There's a new generation of luxury buyers coming into their peak earning years who realize that luxury is an experience, not a physical measurement. If a small crossover SUV that gets good gas mileage makes sense for them, then why can't there simply be a luxurious version of that?

That's where the 2019 Lexus UX 250h comes in. It is the smallest of Lexus' three crossovers---the big RX, the medium-sized NX, and now the UX---and there are a lot of good things that come in this small package.

The Comeback Kid: The 2020 Acura MDX SH-AWD A-Spec

The 2020 Acura MDX SH-AWD A-Spec.

We all have our ups and downs. That goes for car companies too. Take Acura---the hotter-than-hot upscale performance arm of Honda in the 90s, which, as the new millennium wore on, saw its luster wear off.

Well, Acura is back and the best example I can think of is the 2020 Acura MDX SH-AWD A-Spec.

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. 

Rugged Luxury: The 2019 Land Rover Discovery HSE Luxury

The 2019 Land Rover Discovery HSE Luxury.

The idea of "rugged luxury" seems like a contradiction in terms...but it's not. Proof positive of that is the 2019 Land Rover Discovery HSE Luxury. It's a very rugged, extremely capable SUV that can go pretty much anywhere you don't need an airplane or boat to get to, but it's quiet, refined and exceptionally well-built.

Time, Miles and Love: The 2019 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Limited Platinum AWD

The 2019 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Limited Platinum AWD.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. You don't really know if you love a car until you've lived with a car for a bit. Hours and miles are the best way to know just how good the machine to which you trust your life and your family's lives really is. Five minutes in a test drive around the block with a salesman at your side doesn't cut it. And even the typical car reviewer week around town isn't the same as getting out on the open road for an extended period of time.

Mrs. TireKicker and I take our annual big camping trip in late September every year. This time it was nine days, with the ultimate destination being Telluride, Colorado---and the folks at Toyota Motors North America and their prep and delivery partners at DriveShop were terrific enough to provide a two-week loan of the 2019 Toyota Highlander Hybrid Limited Platinum All Wheel Drive.

Life Is Good: The 2019 Maserati Levante S GranSport

The 2019 Maserati Levante S GranSport.

“My Maserati does 185.  I lost my license. Now I don’t drive.”

---Joe Walsh, “Life’s Been Good” (1978)

Far more people have heard Joe Walsh sing that lyric over the years than have ever seen, let alone driven, a Maserati---so that’s probably a good place to begin talking about the 2019 Maserati Levante S Gransport.

First of all, this Maserati does 187, so Joe’s car, a gorgeous 1960s 5000GT, has nothing on it (in fact, Joe indulged in a bit of artistic license in the song---top speed of the 5000S is 168).   

What’s most impressive is that the Levante is an SUV.  That’s right, a 187 mile per hour Sport Utility Vehicle.

Success Is Its Own Reward: The 2016 Toyota Highlander Limited Platinum

The 2016 Toyota Highlander Limited.

Since its 2014 redesign, we here at TireKicker have been somewhat lukewarm about the Toyota Highlander.  Styling, a loss of interior room and comfort compared to the previous generation and less-than-stellar fuel economy---even among midsize SUVs---are our complaints.

But what matters most to Toyota, no doubt, is how often a Highlander leaves a dealership for a driveway.  And on that count, the Highlander is doing very well indeed.

Changes: The 2016 Honda Pilot AWD Elite

The 2016 Honda Pilot AWD Elite.

With nearly 300 different nameplates on the market, there's no way to drive them all in 52 weeks unless you're a major outlet with a large staff (Car and Driver, Motor Trend, Road & Track, Automobile). TireKicker aspires to that, but we're not there yet.  With two writers, one in Arizona and myself in Northern California, we manage to drive and review a shade over 100 vehicles each year.

If we're not in a certain car one year, we'll probably see it the next.  Worst case, the year after that.  So how is it possible that our last review of the Honda Pilot was seven years ago this week?   So much has changed since that review....most of all, the Honda Pilot itself.

UPDATE: New Car Review: 2014 Kia Sorento

How popular is the Kia Sorento?

Consider this:  One of the most-read reviews here on TireKicker is a review of the 2013 Sorento, which we published almost two years ago.

Kia's product cadence (the schedule on which they release all-new or significantly updated vehicles) is so brisk that as fresh as the '13 seemed, the 2014 Sorento is clearly a better looking, better-designed, more refined machine.

How The 2014 Lexus LX 570 Justifies Its Existence (And Price Tag)

The 2014 Lexus LX 570.

Let's cite one good thing about the economic shakeup of the past five years:  It chased the me-toos out of the luxury SUV game.  Manufacturers who had no business blinging up enclosed trucks and selling them for inflated prices found the well running dry fast.  The action in luxury sport-utes returned to those who could play the game without breaking a sweat...the buyers who had significant bank, and the manufacturers who could deliver a high-quality product that justifies the price.

And that's pretty much a class of three.