12.31.2011
12.05.2011
New Car Review: 2012 Jeep Wrangler
Regular TireKicker readers know of my fondness for purposeful, iconic design. Well, right up there with the Porsche 911 (but one heck of a lot less expensive) is the Jeep Wrangler.
Remarkably, I've never owned one. This, despite spending 16 years of my life in the High Sierras and 27 in the Desert Southwest. Came close once, in Reno in 1978. But the CJ (as it was then known) was crude, thirsty and expensive. I bought a Toyota Corolla instead.
Now, though, the Jeep Wrangler appears to be in a sweet spot...having acquired comfort, practicality and everyday usefulness (well, some of those things, anyway) without sacrificing its rugged go-anywhere capabilities.
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| The 2012 Jeep Wrangler. |
Remarkably, I've never owned one. This, despite spending 16 years of my life in the High Sierras and 27 in the Desert Southwest. Came close once, in Reno in 1978. But the CJ (as it was then known) was crude, thirsty and expensive. I bought a Toyota Corolla instead.
Now, though, the Jeep Wrangler appears to be in a sweet spot...having acquired comfort, practicality and everyday usefulness (well, some of those things, anyway) without sacrificing its rugged go-anywhere capabilities.
11.29.2011
New Car Review: 2012 Mazda 6
There are great mysteries in automotive journalism, as in life itself. The one I've been pondering lately is why you don't see more of the car pictured above on streets all over America.
The car is the 2012 Mazda 6, and as we've been telling everyone who'll listen for years, if you're shopping for a family sedan, this car absolutely needs to be on your test drive list. Not only does it hold its own in every comparison with Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Nissan Altima, Ford Fusion and Chevy Malibu, it's arguably a more satisfying car to drive.
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| The 2012 Mazda 6. |
The car is the 2012 Mazda 6, and as we've been telling everyone who'll listen for years, if you're shopping for a family sedan, this car absolutely needs to be on your test drive list. Not only does it hold its own in every comparison with Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Nissan Altima, Ford Fusion and Chevy Malibu, it's arguably a more satisfying car to drive.
11.20.2011
New Car Review: 2012 Porsche Cayman R
Purity meets sheer, unbridled lust.
The purity in this case is purity of purpose, purity of design and purity of intent. What was once the beginning, middle and end of what it meant to build cars at Porsche. And while the brand now also includes such things as hybrid SUVs and four-door GTs, anyone who doubts that Porsche still can build a pure sports car need only spend some time behind the wheel of the 2012 Porsche Cayman R.
We were fortunate. We got six days.
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| The 2012 Porsche Cayman R. |
Purity meets sheer, unbridled lust.
The purity in this case is purity of purpose, purity of design and purity of intent. What was once the beginning, middle and end of what it meant to build cars at Porsche. And while the brand now also includes such things as hybrid SUVs and four-door GTs, anyone who doubts that Porsche still can build a pure sports car need only spend some time behind the wheel of the 2012 Porsche Cayman R.
We were fortunate. We got six days.
11.19.2011
New Car Review: 2011 Kia Optima Turbo
It occurs to me I don't know the Korean word for "hat-trick". Or the one for "three-peat".
It's just never come up.
Until now.
If the face above looks familiar to regular TireKicker readers, that's because it is. It's the Kia Optima Turbo. On September 10, we reviewed the base Optima, on October 11, the Optima Hybrid, and now, on November 19, it's the Turbo's turn.
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| The 2011 Kia Optima Turbo. |
It occurs to me I don't know the Korean word for "hat-trick". Or the one for "three-peat".
It's just never come up.
Until now.
If the face above looks familiar to regular TireKicker readers, that's because it is. It's the Kia Optima Turbo. On September 10, we reviewed the base Optima, on October 11, the Optima Hybrid, and now, on November 19, it's the Turbo's turn.
11.10.2011
New Car Review: 2012 Audi A6
Thirty years ago, Audi changed the automotive world with the styling of the Audi 5000. A design so pure, so fundamentally right, that it essentially survives today...just refined and improved as time, and technologies change.
For a lot of people (and a lot of rival automakers) the Audi A6 is a benchmark for five-passenger family sedans. The only reason you don't see one in every driveway is that they don't come cheap...$41,700 is as low as they go (for the A6 Premium 2.0 TFSI). And the prices get higher along with the engine displacement, the number of cylinders and the number of wheels driven.
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| The 2012 Audi A6. |
Thirty years ago, Audi changed the automotive world with the styling of the Audi 5000. A design so pure, so fundamentally right, that it essentially survives today...just refined and improved as time, and technologies change.
For a lot of people (and a lot of rival automakers) the Audi A6 is a benchmark for five-passenger family sedans. The only reason you don't see one in every driveway is that they don't come cheap...$41,700 is as low as they go (for the A6 Premium 2.0 TFSI). And the prices get higher along with the engine displacement, the number of cylinders and the number of wheels driven.
11.02.2011
New Car Review: 2012 Toyota Yaris
As unloved as the last-generation Toyota Yaris was, this new one will surprise a lot of people. We were among the Yaris' few fans here at TireKicker...considering it a perfectly good sedan in its class...but with a lot of competition at its price-point. It wasn't helped, among automotive journalists or buyers, by the fact that it wasn't an especially attractive car.
Well, Toyota has fixed that, with a 5-door Yaris design for 2012 that pictures don't do justice to. It is an utterly contemporary small car, with clean, crisp lines. It just plain looks good as you walk up to it.
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| The 2012 Toyota Yaris 5-Door front view. |
As unloved as the last-generation Toyota Yaris was, this new one will surprise a lot of people. We were among the Yaris' few fans here at TireKicker...considering it a perfectly good sedan in its class...but with a lot of competition at its price-point. It wasn't helped, among automotive journalists or buyers, by the fact that it wasn't an especially attractive car.
Well, Toyota has fixed that, with a 5-door Yaris design for 2012 that pictures don't do justice to. It is an utterly contemporary small car, with clean, crisp lines. It just plain looks good as you walk up to it.
10.31.2011
New Car Review: 2012 Volkswagen Beetle
13 years ago, a local Volkswagen dealer tossed me the keys to one of the first New Beetles. It wasn't set to go on sale for about a month. To say I got attention would be an understatement. People raced up behind, beside and in front of me to get a look. People stopped me to talk about it. People leaned out of the windows of moving cars to snap pictures with their disposable film cameras and 1 megapixel digitals.
Every last one of them was female. From that moment on, the New Beetle and the pejorative "chick car" were inextricably linked.
In re-doing the car, VW had to somehow make the car more appealing to male drivers. They were also fighting the fact that most people, including some fans, had gotten mighty bored. The New Beetle was....very, very old, with only the most superficial of freshenings in its 13-year run.
They did it.
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| The 2012 Volkswagen Beetle. |
13 years ago, a local Volkswagen dealer tossed me the keys to one of the first New Beetles. It wasn't set to go on sale for about a month. To say I got attention would be an understatement. People raced up behind, beside and in front of me to get a look. People stopped me to talk about it. People leaned out of the windows of moving cars to snap pictures with their disposable film cameras and 1 megapixel digitals.
Every last one of them was female. From that moment on, the New Beetle and the pejorative "chick car" were inextricably linked.
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| The 2012 Volkswagen Beetle roof, spoiler and taillamp. |
In re-doing the car, VW had to somehow make the car more appealing to male drivers. They were also fighting the fact that most people, including some fans, had gotten mighty bored. The New Beetle was....very, very old, with only the most superficial of freshenings in its 13-year run.
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| The 2012 Volkswagen Beetle side view. |
They did it.
10.24.2011
New Car Review: 2012 Acura TL
I am not a fan of plastic surgery. Too many botched jobs out there reminding us every day that the nose wasn't really that big or other bits weren't really that small. In the case of the 2012 Acura TL, however, I'm prepared to say that sometimes a nose job is really what the patient needed.
In case you don't remember the 2009, 2010 and 2011 TL, here's the "before" picture:
If you think it's not so wonderful in pictures, trust me...that's a flattering angle. A change was needed...and now, we have one. The TL is, as it was before 2009, a conventionally handsome sport sedan.
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| The 2012 Acura TL front view. |
I am not a fan of plastic surgery. Too many botched jobs out there reminding us every day that the nose wasn't really that big or other bits weren't really that small. In the case of the 2012 Acura TL, however, I'm prepared to say that sometimes a nose job is really what the patient needed.
In case you don't remember the 2009, 2010 and 2011 TL, here's the "before" picture:
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| The 2009-2011 Acura TL front view. |
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