Bridging the gap between mainstream volume models and true premium level features and prestige, Honda’s Acura brand has found a lot of diehard followers since being launched in 1986, with the second-generation…

2015 Acura RDX Tech Road Test Review

Introduced for the 2013 model year, the current second-generation Acura RDX quickly established itself as a top seller in the small luxury SUV segment, with only the Audi Q5 outselling it during 2014. Not wanting to mess with success, Acura has mostly avoided tinkering with the formula, with updates to the RDX restricted to a new Kona Coffee colour for 2014 and no further changes for 2015.

From the moment you climb aboard the RDX, it's easy to see the appeal: The doors close with a muted thud, and the interior is a hushed, cocooning space. The standard-equipment AWD system and extra ground clearance compared to a sedan make tackling winter roads easy and relaxed. The decent-sized luggage area and split-folding rear seats make carrying cargo a snap, aided by an intelligently-designed power tailgate that lets you easily override it for quick manual operation, and convenient seatback release levers in the cargo area.

On the road, the RDX delivers positive driving impressions Read Full Story
Today on CarCostCanada, auto journalist Trevor Hofmann reviews the new Chevrolet Silverado in value-packed LT Crew Cab 4WD trim. Showing a new level of interior refinement and improvements everywhere,…

2014 Chevrolet Silverado LT Crew Cab 4WD Road Test Review

In the truck business, styling might make more of a difference to buyers than in any other sector. A good example is the 1994 Ram 1500 which transformed an also-ran half-ton pickup into a major player thanks to big rig road presence, but Chevy's light duty trucks never had design problems to begin with.

Certainly there were years the Silverado wouldn't be considered a head-turner, but bowtie branded trucks were long considered the best looking of the lot even before the Silverado nameplate came into existence in 1998. Prior to that it was a trim level for a variety of Chevrolet's trucks and SUVs, the full-size C/K pickups boasting great looking designs since the '60s, while the Task Force trucks of the '50s are some of the most sought after by custom tuners today, and prior to that the late-'40s to mid-'50s Advanced Design pickups were very attractive for their era.

Speed forward to 2014 and Chevrolet's new Silverado 1500 is as bold, brash and downright good looking Read Full Story
Not exactly falling into the sport compact camp, the Dodge Dart GT is nevertheless one of the sportier compact sedans on today’s market, much thanks to its underpinnings and powertrain being pulled…

2014 Dodge Dart GT Road Test Review

Remember when Chrysler was attempting to be a premium brand and Dodge was targeting a more mainstream market? The company's Auburn Hills team, then under the DaimlerChrysler umbrella, came out with some very nice models including the 300C full-size sedan, which was based on the mid-2000s Mercedes-Benz E-Class, plus the pricey albeit impressive Pacifica crossover-like tall wagon that used a combination of Mercedes and Chrysler minivan underpinnings, and the Crossfire coupe and convertible, a concept turned reality thanks to the Merc SLK it rode upon. Fortunately the 300 sold very well, but unfortunately the others didn't and DC abandoned Chrysler's premium aspirations along with all of its American brands in 2007, leaving the domestic automaker to fight it out on its own with much depleted cash reserves. To make a long story short Chrysler is now under Fiat's umbrella and that Mercedes' based 300 now underpins the Lancia Thema in Europe, a model that previously shared its unibody with an Read Full Story
What’s one of the best handling sports coupes you can get for under $30,000? If you said the Hyundai Genesis Coupe you’d be correct. Trevor Hofmann reviews the fully independent suspended, rear-wheel…

2014 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T Road Test Review

What you're looking at here is the last of a dying breed. Don't get me wrong, Hyundai won't be giving up on the 2+2 sport coupe segment, but like its four-door Genesis luxury sedan the Korean brand's next generation Genesis Coupe will grow into a more sophisticated premium-level car.

The first sign of this will come in model year 2015, when the 2.0-litre turbocharged model tested in this car will no longer be available. Some will find this a shame, as the 2.0T is lighter than the 3.8-litre V6 and therefore the car is a bit nimbler while still plenty powerful and of course easier on fuel. I once blasted back from Whistler, BC along the famed Sea-to-Sky Highway in a 2.0T with the R-Spec package and made it in record time, a trip that indelibly stamped the Genesis Coupe's handling brilliance on my cerebral cortex. I've since had numerous GCs and enjoyed every minute in them (except a V6 GT that came to me with a bent tie rod which Hyundai Canada humbly fixed and returned), and have Read Full Story
With the new 1500 EcoDiesel, FCA’s Ram brand revolutionizes the half-ton pickup truck segment with the first-ever diesel-powered offering in North America. Now holding most fuel-efficient title in the…

2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel Laramie Road Test Review

One summer, when I was around ten years old, my uncle decided to drive us from the Croatian coast to the Alps of Slovenia. A wonderful vacation, though I still remember gagging on diesel fumes as we followed a string of heavily laden trucks along a mountain pass. We couldn't have imagined that in just a few decades, Dr. Diesel's engine would reach today's level of civility.

Dr. Rudolph Diesel either fell, was pushed, or jumped from the deck of a cross-Channel ferry while on his way to England. That was September 29, 1913, some time before his patented engine design became successful. The motor mounted in the Ram 1500 Diesel would have surely done the good doctor proud, it is a gem of a powerplant, ideally suited to light and medium duty trucks. The basic design has been proven over the years in European utility vehicles. In current form it produces 420 lb-ft of torque, the pulling power you need for both work and play. Measured fuel economy during my test, which included some Read Full Story
Want a family van that holds very little back in delivering premium-level luxury? Chrysler says it has the answer in its “ultimate luxury minivan,” a vehicle that pampers all occupants while incorporating…

2015 Chrysler Town

While its true that minivans don't rule the roads like they once did, and many manufacturers have abandoned the segment in favour of three-row crossovers, it's also true that the segment remains an important one. So Chrysler will have a lot riding on the next-generation Town & Country when the company introduces it for the 2016 model year.

Not only will the new Town & Country be following in the footsteps of a carefully refined, eminently practical and immensely popular design that's been serving families faithfully since 2008, it will also be stepping into the spotlight solo: After 31 years in the marketplace its Dodge Grand Caravan sibling is slated to be discontinued.

The transition should see some interesting changes in the Town & Country lineup, especially north of the 49th parallel. After all, while the Town & Country is the segment leader in the US (followed closely by the Dodge Grand Caravan), in Canada the battle is far fiercer. The value-priced Read Full Story
This little oddball must have been called names when it was young, but it grew up to be one of the best all-round sport compacts in the business. The Hyundai Veloster stands out from the crowd for sure,…

2014 Hyundai Veloster EcoShift DCT SE Road Test Review

Up and comers take more chances. Everyone knows that. If you've got more to lose then you play it safe, or at least that seems to be the way of the world. Still, nobody can call Hyundai a wannabe mainstream player anymore. They're way too successful than that, and therefore it came as a bit of a surprise when they introduced the unorthodox Veloster sport coupe a few years ago.

I say unorthodox because of its unique styling and even more unusual body configuration, which shows the sleek sportiness of a two-door on the driver's side and the practical aspects of a four-door on the passengers' side. In reality it's a three-door coupe, or if you factor in the rear hatch a four-door.

No matter how you classify it the Veloster is cool. It looks like a bulldog charging after a scurrying cat, but rather than tear its prey to pieces it's more likely to lick it to death, or at least that's the feeling it gives off to me. Hyundai seems to have answered the question "What do you Read Full Story
When Hyundai replaced its Veracruz with the Santa Fe XL it solved a number of problems in one fell swoop, the result being a familiar name in a larger more family-oriented package. Check out Trevor Hofmann’s…

2014 Hyundai Santa Fe XL Luxury Road Test Review

Back in 2007, Hyundai entered the near-luxury crossover segment with its 2008 Veracruz, and while I wrote the CUV up after a particularly impressive national press launch, the Veracruz completely rewrote the auto sector rulebooks about exactly what connotes a luxury vehicle. Since then the South Korean brand has continued to shake up the premium status quo with cars like the Genesis sedan and Equus, while the Veracruz was replaced last year with the even more enticing Santa Fe XL.

I must admit I was a bit concerned when I heard that Hyundai was replacing its then new Veracruz with a longer wheelbase Santa Fe, but I hadn't seen it yet. The new Santa Fe's completely reworked styling easily had me forgetting the Veracruz, while newfound size and substantive road presence targeted it directly at other large-midsize crossovers such as Honda's Pilot and Toyota's Highlander. Hyundai's reasoning for dropping the Veracruz made sense, the model hardly showing up on the radar of family Read Full Story