What's The German Word For "Price Cut"? The 2016 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid SEL Premium

The 2016 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid SEL Premium.

In a business based on forward momentum, it shouldn't be a surprise that most of the time, prices move up from year to year.  Staying even with cost increases, exchange rates and sometimes more than a little hubris when the manufacturer senses it has a product for which customers will pay more all contribute to sticker price creep.

Sometimes it's several hundred dollars.  If it's only a hundred bucks, we'll comment on it (as we did last week in our review of the 2017 Kia Sorento SXL AWD V6) as being an instance of admirable restraint.  And we'll call attention to it when the price remains unchanged.

So imagine our surprise and delight to find that the 2016 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid SEL Premium costs $775 less than the 2015 model we reviewed a year and a half ago.

Gas For The Titans: The 2017 Nissan Titan Endurance V8 SL 4WD Crew Cab

The 2017 Nissan Titan Endurance V8 SL 4WD Crew Cab.

Give Nissan credit for doing everything counter to expectations with the new Titan pickup.  Where the big boys (Ford, Chevy, GMC and RAM) roll out their light-duty half-tons and then follow up with the Extra Duty/Super Duty/HD variants the following year, Nissan led with the big-brute diesel XD on launch this spring.

Now...right now, in fact...Nissan dealers are getting the first of the gas-powered models, the Endurance V8 series, which Nissan is branding as the "Every Duty Truck".

All-American From Korea: The 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited Ultimate AWD

The 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited Ultimate.

The headline above may cause some controversy, so let's establish what I meant, right off the top.  By "All-American", I'm not talking about place of manufacture, the source of the engine or transmission.  All that is Korea.  No, by "All-American", I'm talking about hitting the target of what American families in 2016 seem to want in a vehicle...and in this case, hitting pretty close to the bulls-eye.

Relentless Pursuit, Pursued: The 2017 Genesis G80 RWD 5.0 Ultimate

The 2017 Genesis G80 RWD 5.0 Ultimate.

It takes an enormous amount of confidence for a mainstream carmaker to spin off a new luxury line.  Toyota's choice to do that with Lexus makes it look like a no-brainer, but it's wise to remember that  Nissan has not done nearly as well with Infiniti, nor has Honda with Acura.  And Mazda was thisclose to launching one, Amati, but after three years and more than $400 million in research, decided not to.

With all that to consider, Hyundai is making the move.  For 2017, Genesis is its own line of cars.

4x4 Status Symbol: The 2016 Ford F-150 4x4 SuperCrew Lariat

The 2016 Ford F-150 4x4 SuperCrew Lariat.

Those of us old enough to remember when a Lincoln in the driveway was the sign you had arrived are rapidly becoming a minority.  It has been a while.  And the new expression of that status, especially here in the Desert Southwest, is a truck.  An expensive truck.

Don't Mess With Success: The 2017 Kia Sorento SXL AWD V6

The 2017 Kia Sorento SXL AWD V6.

We've made no secret of our admiration for the Kia Sorento  here at TireKicker over the past couple of years.  If you haven't read about its stellar performance during Mrs. Tirekicker (then known as Navigator) and my 10-day, 1800-mile Utah camping trip during the summer of 2014, by all means do. You'll see how it earned that admiration.  That was a 2015 model, and in January of '15, Kia introduced the new 2016, which we didn't subject to such rigors, but which proved to be a very nice example of just how good a vehicle Kia can make.

Mojo Restoration In Progress: The 2016 Honda Civic 1.5T 2-Door Touring

The 2016 Honda Civic 1.5T 2-Door Touring.

Most of this decade has been spent by professional TireKickers like myself lamenting how Honda in general and the Civic in particular had lost its mojo.  Once the hippest of the hip, the car company that could do no wrong in the eighties and nineties---the company that, I maintain, WAS Apple in that it produced beautiful, simple things that worked and that people were willing to line up and pay more for.

The turnaround began in earnest a couple of years ago.  And we're seeing the fruits of it in the 2016 Honda Civic 1.5T 2-door Touring.

One Step Beyond: The 2017 Acura RDX with Advance

The 2017 Acura RDX with Advance.

About a year ago, we had nothing but good stuff to say about the then-new 2016 Acura RDX with Advance.

It hasn't changed, other than the EPA fuel economy estimate of 19 city/28 highway having been revised to 19/27 and a paltry $100 increase in base price (from $43,420 to $43,520).  So what do we mean by "One Step Beyond"?

Cheap Jeep: The 2016 Jeep Renegade Sport 4X4

2016 Jeep Renegade Sport 4X4.

The phrase "small, inexpensive Jeep" causes great heartburn among the Jeep faithful.  There is the contingent that believes the only true Jeep is the original CJ, the current generation of which we now call the Wrangler, and that it was always meant to be small and inexpensive,  Another group has wholeheartedly embraced everything from the wood-paneled 1980s and 90s Grand Wagoneers to today's Grand Cherokee, but knows that, from the evidence of the Compass and Patriot models, when Jeep tries to go small and cheap something gets lost in the translation, and the product ends up being a lesser one (Patriot) or not a Jeep at all (Patriot).

When word got out that the next small Jeep, the Renegade, would actually be based on the same platform as the Fiat 500L and built in Italy, the predictions of a disaster were fast and furious.