New Kid In The Boonies: The 2017 Nissan Titan 5.6-Liter Endurance V8 PRO-4X 4WD CC

The 2017 Nissan Titan 5.6-Liter Endurance V8 PRO-4X 4WD CC

About two months ago, we discussed Nissan's large-pickup truck strategy with its new gasoline-powered Titan pickup line.  Nissan turned the playbook inside out, leading with its diesel-powered heavy duty models last year, and is now bringing the standard-duty and off-road/sport models to market for 2017.

Car of the Future, Today: The 2017 Mazda CX-3 Grand Touring FWD

The 2017 Mazda CX-3 Grand Touring FWD.

Apart from electrification and autonomy (both of which are more real and more imminent than a lot of us think), this is what the folks in the know say the future of cars is:  Small crossover SUVs.

That may be the fact, and if it is, they should all be as good and as satisfying as the 2017 Mazda CX-3 Grand Touring.

Edging Toward Greatness? The 2016 Lincoln MKX AWD

The 2016 Lincoln MKX.

There was a time, mainly in the 1960s and 70s, when a Lincoln in the driveway was a status symbol for people of means in their forties and fifties.  But that was many years, indeed decades, ago.  Now, the middle-aged drivers with money and the desire to own a luxury car simply are too young to remember those days.  Luxury cars to them are from Germany and have names like Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi or---increasingly among younger drivers---from Japan (Lexus and to a lesser extent Infiniti).

The 2016 Lincoln MKX is the first vehicle to come from the latest in many rounds of what we are promised will be a new Lincoln Motor Company, one that doesn't scream "tarted-up Ford", one that will build cars that can be considered in the same breath as those imports listed above by people with the means to buy cars priced at $50,000 and above.

Economize Accordingly: The 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid Touring

The 2017 Honda Accord Hybrid Touring.

The Honda Accord is what the late David E. Davis, Junior, the man who more than any other, made me want to write about cars, would have called "A G--damn paragon of virtue".  Few cars can equal it in terms of value, fuel economy and overall excellence.

But what if the EPA-estimated 27 miles per gallon in the city and 37 miles per gallon in the highway provided by the four-cylinder Honda Accord is just not enough?

Cash On The (Very Big) Hood: The Built-In Discounts of the 2017 GMC Yukon XL Denali

The 2017 GMC Yukon XL Denali.

Things change over 23 years.  And things don't.

What I mean by that is that 23 years ago, I bought the equivalent of the car you see above.  It was known as the GMC Suburban back then.  My first wife was pregnant with our second child.  She didn't like to fly, so this family of four was going to take vacations on the road, and a week or two of that with a toddler and an infant meant a lot of supplies, including a dual stroller, a Pak-n-Play and the like.

She wanted it in red.

I bought the SLE  four-wheel drive model.  It had every option you could get, which pretty much meant cloth seats instead of vinyl, an AM/FM/cassette stereo with six speakers and rear air conditioning.  It had the most powerful gasoline engine available, a 190-horsepower 5.7-liter V8 (though everyone still called it the Chevy 350 then), It got 12 miles per gallon in the city and 16 on the highway no matter how you drove it.

The sticker price was $31,000 and change and I got it for $26,900.

I Did Not Want What I Haven't Got...Until Now: The 2017 Volvo S90 T6 AWD Inscription

The 2017 Volvo S90 T6 AWD Inscription.

By anyone's standards, I am a blessed man.  A beautiful, loving wife,  a gifted son and daughter, two beautiful, bright and charming stepdaughters. My re-marriage this summer has given me some wonderful new relatives, who, after only three years of acquaintance, feel like they've been with me forever.

My day job is at a leader in the field I've wanted to be in since age eight and they seem to find my contributions valuable.  I'm healthy (apart from needing to drop a few pounds).  Every "great lost song" that I spent decades trying to identify and find back in the days of out-of-print vinyl is now in my pocket, along with some brilliant new music (thanks, Spotify!).

I wake up every day in Northern California.  That, alone, would qualify.

And I'm past the point of wanting stuff.  There's a 23-year-old CRT television in our family room.  If it keeps working the rest of my life, I'm fine with it.  My cell provider offered me an iPad for some low figure this spring.  Don't want one.  I have my smart phone and the laptop upon which these words are being written (which I bought this spring on a dirt-cheap employee discount only because my previous laptop...a factory-refurbished nine-year-old model that I'd had for seven years....finally gave up the ghost.

In the words of Sinead O'Connor (whom I have never quoted), I do not want what I haven't got.

Or didn't until I drove the 2017 Volvo S90 T6 AWD Inscription.

Path Found, Now For The Refinements: The 2017 Nissan Pathfinder Platinum 4WD

The 2017 Nissan Pathfinder Platinum 4WD.

If you are straining to tell what is new with the 2017 Nissan Pathfinder, it's because Nissan has refined rather than re-imagined its three-row crossover.  The styling is a bit more squared-off, especially at the front, yet smoother and more slippery, allowing for an improvement in the vehicle's drag coefficient.

They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To: The 2017 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible 1.8T Dune

The 2017 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible 1.8T Dune.

For the better part of 20 years now, carmakers have been indulging in nostalgia...making new cars that look a lot like old (50s-60s-70s) ones.  Mustang, Camaro, Jaguars and Thunderbirds from the aughts...all meant to evoke what those cars used to look like.  It all arguably began with the 1998-2011 New Beetle, and continues with the current generation Beetle, which has seen 50s, 60s and 70s Edition models...and now the Dune, which is named after and is nothing like a variety of old-school Beetles VW had virtually nothing to do with, other than providing the donor vehicle for some shade tree modifications.

Seduced By An SUV: The 2016 Ford Explorer Platinum 4WD

The 2016 Ford Explorer Platinum 4WD.

I didn't stand a chance.

When I walked out of my office building to meet the delivery guy who was picking up the 2016 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid and dropping off the 2016 Ford Explorer Platinum 4WD, I saw the Explorer sitting in the lot, the sun gleaming off its gorgeous Ruby Red Metallic paint.

"Man, that's pretty", I told him as I took the key fob and signed the paperwork.  I glanced at the bottom line of the window sticker and was shocked.  $55,155 is big SUV money, at least in my mind. Psychologically, subconsciously, I expect something in the Explorer's size class to stay on the sane side of $50K.