Mazda MX-5 Miata Review

After 20 years, we should all be so over the Mazda MX-5 (Miata).

But we're not. At least, I'm not.

Equipped with a new, larger, smiling grille, the slick little two-seater hugs you until you love it. It's quick, handles better than most any other car you could name, and makes a strong value argument. Base price for the top of the line Grand Touring model is $26,350. The base model? $21,305.

Even optioned to the max, the Grand Touring I drove managed to slide in under $30,000(at $29,170).

It's the modern-day equivalent of the Austin-Healy I wanted as a kid. Only better. Way better.

EPA says 21 city/28 highway. I say go drive one.

Dodge Caliber SXT Review

Now this is more like it.

You can argue the styling, but the Dodge Caliber is a contender in the increasingly popular field of small, relatively economical cars with versatility and a low price.

Way better than the Neon it replaced, the Caliber packs enough standard features that you could order one without options for $17,600 and have a perfectly fine little machine.

The one I tested added quite a bit more...the Security Group, Driver Convenience Group, Premium Sound Group, and a continuously variable transmission...and still wound up with a bottom line (including delivery charges) of $21,465. At that price, the plasticky interior is still forgiveable (more so at $17,600, of course)

Five-star frontal crash ratings (four stars for rollover) and an EPA 23 city/27 highway mile per gallon average don't hurt, either.

If Chrysler's looking for the future...they should consider taking this starting point and constantly refining it. They're not far off to begin with.

Chrysler Sebring Convertible Review

For 11 and a half years, I've told people that the great thing about being an automotive journalist is that no one makes a truly bad car anymore.

Hmm.

Yes, the Yugo is dead and gone...but words cannot express the huge wave of depression that came over me every time I got behind the wheel of the Chrysler Sebring convertible.

Regular TireKicker readers know I have no problem with American cars in general or Chrysler products in particular. I have, prior to TireKicker, enjoyed and given favorable reviews to previous-generation Sebrings and their forerunner LeBarons.

The 1999 Chrysler Sebring convertible was actually attractive and appealing. I mulled over what it might be like to own one.

The regression over a decade here is staggering.

The 2009 model makes a bad impression with flat-out ugly styling, compounds it with a cheap interior, multiplies that with an unrefined powertrain and tops it off with numb handling that still manages to telegraph the feeling that something could happen at any time and it's likely to be bad.

I haven't driven a car that felt so out of touch with what could be built since....I don't know....maybe 1982?

EPA says 18 city/26 highway. Base price $29,370. As tested (with electronics convenience group, electronic stability program, uconnect phone and destination charges) $31,620.

Not that it matters. I wouldn't take one as a rental.

Chrysler makes several fine vehicles. This one they need to get off the lots and off the streets before someone on President Obama's automotive team drives one and thinks that this is where the loans will go.

Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4X4 Review

A Sequoia is one of the largest trees you'll ever see. A great name for a vehicle meant to do battle with the Chevy Tahoe...since Sequoias (the tree) tower over Tahoe (the lake).

You really can't knock the Sequoia on merit...it's a Toyota...solid, rugged, with a reputation that fairly screams reliability.

But what seemed like a great idea at the time ("Let's make the Tahoe look small!") seems like an iffy-ish proposition now.

There are people for whom this size SUV is not only a good match but nearly a necessity. Those folks just need to figure out whether the Sequoia Platinum 4X4 (it would take forever to list what is standard...just surf to the Toyota website for the list) is worth a base price outlay of $57,625 (more than $23,000 above a base Sequoia), not to mention an as-tested price that edges above $60,000 with the addition of a rear-seat entertainment system, cold kit, Dynamic Laser Cruise Control (really!), daytime running lights and a cargo mat.

The timing seems all wrong for that kind of excess...but Toyota's not alone. Chevy dropped off a Tahoe LTZ yesterday. It stickers at $57,335 as equipped. Which I always thought was Escalade money, just as the Sequoia Platinum 4X4 price seems more in line with Lexus SUVs.

Like I said, you can't knock either of these vehicles but is anybody really looking for a version of an SUV that's nearly $25,000 more than the base model? Use the comments feature to discuss.

Infiniti G37 Sedan AWD Review

It's been three years since my last seat time in an Infiniti G sedan. It was the G35 then, and it was my mode of transportation for an up-on-Monday, back-on-Wednesday run to Las Vegas (280 miles each way) for a broadcasting convention.

Powerful, great handling, luxurious without being soft. I loved it.

What's the difference between 2006 and 2009? In a word, more.

Certainly more power. 280 horses back then have been bumped to 328 now...nearly 50 more.

More gears. The G35 I drove had a six-speed manual. The G37 I handed back a couple of weeks ago had a seven-speed automatic...which bumps EPA estimated fuel economy up to 18 city/25 highway.

More features...including stuff Infiniti was probably just beginning to dream about in early '06...like the Infiniti Studio on Wheels premium audio system by Bose with 24-bit Burr Brown DAC and Driver's Audio Stage with 10 speakers.

That's how they list it on the window sticker. It's part of the Premium Package. All I know is it sounded fabulous. And it includes a 9.3 gigabyte Music Box hard drive so all your CDs can come with you and stay in your house at the same time.

Oh, yeah...and genuine African Rosewood trim. $550. An option.

Truth be told, the Infiniti stayed just this side of triggering my "too much tech" alarm...and I have a suspicion that I'd like the $35,750 base G37 AWD (or the $33,250 2-wheel drive) sedan just as much, if not more than I did the $43,015 fully loaded one. But this one is a solid contender in the sport sedan wars...and even if it never becomes the BMW 3-series killer some are hoping for, it will be fun and rewarding to drive it as it tries.

Toyota Tacoma Double Cab Review

"...maybe it's time we got back to the basics of trucks...."
---Waylon Jennings, "Luckenbach, Texas" (1976)

Okay, hold the e-mails. I know Waylon sang "love", not "trucks". Sure would make a great TV spot for the Toyota Tacoma, though. Especially one equipped like our tester.

If you're a TireKicker regular, you know I have a soft spot for the basic...and that all too many manufacturers send out press fleet vehicles loaded to the gills with every conceivable option.

Well, Toyota did the unusual: They built, and then sent to automotive journalists, a Toyota Tacoma (their midsize truck) Double Cab 4X4 with a manual transmission, cloth interior and useful options. And in the process, reminded yours truly what a revelation Toyota pickups were back in the day. Rugged, reliable and reasonable...the new 3 "R"s of autodom (circa 1976, which links us back to Waylon).

The Tacoma comes with a 236 horsepower 4-liter V6. Fuel economy's on the grim side, 14 city, 19 highway, but it's not out of line. It aces every one of the government crash tests (five stars for everyone, four out of four for rollover protection), and generally feels like it will last forever.

All at a base price of $25,695...and that's for the Double Cab four-by-four.

Options on the one I drove? An off-road extra value package (suspension upgrades, tougher tires, skid plates, and tow hooks combined with an upgraded audio system, Bluetooth, sport seats and more for $4,690), daytime running lights for $40, the towing package ($650), floor mats ($199) and a VIP security system ($479). With delivery charges, it came to $32,498, but there's a $950 discount for the extra value package, so the real bottom line was $31,548.

Dump the off-road package, the towing package, the daytime running lights and pick up some floormats from the aftermarket and this would come in just over $26,000...which is a terrific deal for a right-size truck that wins you over with its basic goodness, not a bunch of add-ons.

With $45,000 monster Tundras fuzzing up the image the past few years, the Tacoma is a great way to remind yourself just what a Toyota pickup is all about.

Acura TL SH-AWD (with Technology Package) Review

There must be a car in there somewhere. Darned if I can find it.

Acura has apparently shifted somewhere along the way from being the near-luxury division of Honda (maker of wonderful vehicles like the original Acura Legend) to being the technology division of Honda...a company that already has entirely too much of a fascination with tiny backlit buttons everywhere it can fit them.

On the Hondas, it's just this side of annoying...because, well...because there's a Honda in there...bringing with it value, reliability and generally attractive cars. And the Honda price point keeps the tech from getting out of control.

But the new Acura TL? First, the redesign has taken a lithe, sleek sedan and turned it into a blocky, angular mess. If they could argue that all those angles confound photo radar, that might be an excuse...but they're not.

Second, it performs well...but not memorably.

And third...the tech. Too much stuff. My first clue? The owner's manual is more than 600 pages long. And there's a separate nav system manual (I neglected to count those pages, but I see that you can get it online as a .pdf...in that form, it's 172 pages.

Oh, yeah...and it's $42,995.

I respect Honda and its products (as a Civic owner for 14 years). But Acura's taken a wrong turn...and I hope its corporate nav system can plot a new route.

Nissan Pathfinder LE 4X4 Review

As the carpocalypse continues, weeklong tests of vehicles take on a new feeling...each one making its case for why it should be around, still in the manufacturer's lineup when things finally get better.

The Nissan Pathfinder makes a strong case. Like the smaller XTerra and most of Nissan's truck products, it sends a message of rugged reliability. There's plenty of space, loads of utility and more than a little sport.

The LE comes with a 4-liter V6 making 266 horsepower, teamed with a 5-speed automatic transmission, 18 inch alloy wheels, leather-appointed first and second row seats, a serious Bose 10-speaker AM/FM/XM/mp3 6-disc changer with dual subwoofers, power everything, Bluetooth and more.

The shock comes when you look at the sticker. Base: $38,510. The nav package and floormats (along with destination charges) ran it up to $41,295. Now, admittedly, the Pathfinder is a bigger and better vehicle than it was just a few years ago...and this is the top of the line model.

But still: 41 and change for a Nissan SUV. 14 city/20 highway EPA estimated miles per gallon. Our advice: Embrace the new austerity...opt for the base S model. You'll keep the engine, but trade down to 16-inch wheels, cloth interior and lose the luxo stuff. You'll also carve $11,300 off the base price...enough to add some options back into the mix with an eyedropper and come up with a solid $30,000 Pathfinder.

Suzuki Equator Review

Gee, stranger...you look familiar.

Welcome to our brave new world...where badge engineering is no longer something that happens between divisions of the same automaker. Nope, now competing companies are swapping product and slapping nameplates on them.

Okay, it's not really new. Honda and Isuzu had the same kind of deal 15 years ago with the Rodeo and Passport SUVs and Oasis and Odyssey minivans.

In that particular deal, Honda provided the Odyssey for rebadging as the Oasis and Isuzu shipped some Rodeos over to Honda to be rechristened as Passports. Why buy one instead of the other? Well, Isuzu actually had the edge, even with the Honda-made product, by virtue of the stronger warranty.

That's essentially what's going on with the Suzuki Equator. What we have here is a Nissan Frontier pickup with an arguably more aggressive grille. That's it. Otherwise the same truck...right down to an identical EPA estimate of 15 city and 19 highway miles per gallon.

The Suzuki's base price is about $800 more than the comparably equipped Nissan...but wait. The Nissan limited warranty is 3 years or 36,000 miles with a powertrain warranty of 5 years or 50,000 miles. Suzuki jacks the ante way up with a 7 year/100,000 mile warranty. Which, if you're planning on keeping the truck more than 5 years, will more than cover the $800 price difference. Plus, dealers are hungry right now and Suzuki dealers are likely ravenous. I'd bet on your ability to make the $800 difference go away. You might even get a better deal on an Equator than you could a Frontier, depending on the dealers involved.

The Equator/Frontier's a nice truck (read my review of the Frontier here). Buying one from the Suzuki store could be a very smart move.