With 2014’s complete redesign the Nissan Rogue went from bland to brilliant, and sales have skyrocketed. The stylish CUV also gets great fuel economy and impressive standard tech to improve driving…

2015 Nissan Rogue SL AWD Road Test Review

In case you hadn't noticed, Nissan's got its mojo back. One look at the sexy new Maxima or ultra-hot Murano and you'll understand just what I'm talking about, the brand's recently redesigned flagship duo delivering shockingly bold style, beautifully creative interiors, impressive driving dynamics and seriously aggressive pricing with resultant sales that are way up over last year, but if you want to look at the model that's most responsible for Nissan becoming Canada's fastest growing brand, look no further than the Rogue.

The compact crossover SUV has always been a strong seller for Japan's second largest automaker, but the growth experienced since this second-generation model launched across Canada in November of 2013 has been phenomenal. Its comparatively timid looking predecessor, which never seemed capable of living up to the model's studly albeit ill-conceived name (which actually refers to a dishonest or unprincipled man, a scoundrel, villain, miscreant, reprobate, rascal, Read Full Story
Sport-luxury sedans don’t come much more exclusive than Acura’s impressive RLX Sport Hybrid SH-AWD, which means you probably won’t see one parked in the adjacent driveway unless the dealer principal…

2015 Acura RLX Sport Hybrid SH-AWD Road Test Review

With last year's RLX sales close to 10 times greater than its RL predecessor experienced in 2012 it appears Acura's new flagship luxury sedan is quite the success story, at least at first glance. The two cars' sales numbers became cloudier after it was introduced during the summer of 2013 because Honda's luxury division combined RLX and RL sales into the same category, the remaining second-generation 2013 model year RLs trickling off dealer lots at an aggravatingly slow pace that even bled over to the 2014 calendar year. Over the first seven months of 2015 the RLX is still selling well compared to the waning years of its predecessor.

While all of this initially sounds good, 10 times a total of 29 sales is still less than 300 units sold within a Canadian market of about 12.5 million 45 to 75 year old potential RLX buyers (this car's likely target demographic), but in reality Acura's new flagship (plus the handful of old RLs) only found 243 buyers last year, while the situation Read Full Story
Today on CarCostCanada, we don’t only give you a review of the much improved 2015 Porsche Cayenne S on the road where it’s handling is legendary amongst SUVs, but out on the trail where its 4x4 capability…

2015 Porsche Cayenne S Road and Trail Test

The Cayenne is by far Porsche's best selling model. Its 2,050-unit tally resulted in quite a bit more than half the brand's entire 3,680 Canadian sales in 2013, and while its share of the Porsche pie didn't pass the 50-percent mark last year with a total of 1,904 deliveries out of 4,933 Porsche's sold, it was only because the new Macan added 1,223 units to that overall number, with what appears to have only been a slight parasitical effect on the Cayenne. With a full 12 months to sell Macans this year and an all-new 2015 Cayenne burning up the sales charts this will most definitely be another banner year for the Stuttgart-based brand.

Incidentally, July YTD Canadian sales of 3,787 Cayennes have already eclipsed total 2013 Porsche brand numbers. It should then come as no surprise that the Cayenne is still number one with 1,425 sales during these first seven months compared to 1,191 for the Macan, but something many Porsche fans don't realize is that sales of all the other models Read Full Story
Audi has been producing its S5 Cabriolet for eight years, and despite its age sales are still strong. Today on CarCostCanada we review a Progressiv model with navigation, but just because it’s near…

2015 Audi S5 Cabriolet Road Test Review

Frankly, I wasn't expecting to be impressed by the S5 Cabriolet I recently drove. Oh, don't get me wrong. I laid the accolades on pretty thick after a weeklong stint behind the wheel of a 2010 model that was done out in the same gorgeous hue of Sepang Blue Pearl paint, but that was five years ago and all we've seen since is a mild, albeit arguably effective mid-cycle makeover for the 2013 model year. Under the skin, ladies and gentlemen, the S5, like the A5 it's based on, is an eight-year-old design, the automotive equivalent of an octogenarian in people years. I hate to admit it, but I love it when I'm proven wrong.

Despite how many S5 Cabriolets have passed by Vancouver's jaded car enthusiast crowd over the past octennial, the car still turns heads as quickly as it ever did, no matter where you're driving. People stop in their tracks and stare. Truly, I never experienced anywhere near this much attention at the wheel of a brand new Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II done out in a Read Full Story
Infiniti continues to be the value leader in the small premium sedan class, and for 2015 has improved its offering with a new Limited Edition model. The Q50 3.7 AWD Limited adds to the base Q50’s impressive…

2015 Infiniti Q50 3.7 AWD Limited Edition Road Test Review

Infiniti replaced its much loved and much lauded G37 with the all-new Q50 in late 2013 as a 2014 model, and we covered a number of trim levels. The first one I drove and reviewed was a Q50 Hybrid, while my colleague followed that one up with a Q50 AWD Premium and I followed him up with a different slant on the same car. It took us until February of this year to get my 2015 Q50 3.7 AWD review published, and here we are again with a very nicely equipped 2015 Q50 3.7 AWD Limited Edition.

In case you're curious, Infiniti's Canadian division offers the conventionally powered Q50 in five trim levels for 2015, last year's Premium designation now off the menu and my latest tester's Limited trim on. The rundown is as follows: Q50 3.7, Q50 3.7 AWD, Q50 3.7 Limited, Q50 3.7 AWD Sport, and Q50 3.7 Sport, while the Q50 Hybrid AWD can only be had in one well-equipped so-named model.

Fine-tuning the trim levels doesn't seem to be affecting 2015 sales one iota, which reached 1,555 Read Full Story
Talk about a blast from the past, the latest Volkswagen Beetle Classic is a real head-turner thanks to chrome hubcaps on 17-inch alloys, checkered beige and brown two-tone cloth and leatherette upholstery,…

2015 Volkswagen Beetle Classic Road Test Review

How do you feel when catching sight of the new VW Beetle Classic? If you're getting up in years it's quite possible you had one of the original air-cooled rear-engine Bugs in the family fleet when you were a kid, and therefore this wonderfully retro version of an already retrospective design just might just dig up some old memories as it stirs the inner emotions. It certainly does that for me.

I went just about everywhere riding in the little storage compartment behind the rear seats of my dad's '66 Beetle. That was the late '60s and early '70s, before safety regulations took most of the fun out of driving and being driven. While I loved lying back there and staring upwards as the trees and houses blurred past the raked rear window, I didn't get that "seat" because I enjoyed special privilege over my brother and sister. Rather, I was the youngest and therefore able to climb up and over the rear seatbacks and then actually fit inside the 10-cubic-foot compartment, a necessity Read Full Story
Are you Canadian enough to drive a bright red RAV4? The Ontario-made CUV is a fitting vehicle to celebrate Toyota’s 50th Anniversary, while you don’t have to get one in red in order to take advantage…

2015 Toyota RAV4 XLE AWD 50th Anniversary Special Edition Road Test Review

I was only two years old when Toyota launched its first car in Canada, and while 50 years sounds like a long time it certainly goes by quickly. That car wasn't a RAV4, the popular crossover SUV having only come to market 21 years ago in 1994, but rather a number of JDM cars including the Corona, Crown, 700 UP10 (Publica) and the now legendary Land Cruiser, some of which didn't necessarily fit our market-the Corolla, created for other markets in 1966, didn't show up here until 1969.

The challenges Toyota and its fledgling dealers faced in 1965 were immense (my best friend's dad bought a yellow Corona Mark II with gold vinyl seats in the late '60s and we thought this was very unusual), but the rest, as the saying goes, is history. Now, with sales of Toyota branded vehicles at 179,324 units in Canada last year, a number that signifies steady growth towards its pre-market crash highs of 209,157 deliveries in 2008, not to mention an all-time high of 17,565 Lexus vehicles in 2014 and Read Full Story
Today on CarCostCanada we review the 2015 Jaguar XF in 3.0 AWD Portfolio trim, a mid-size sport-luxury sedan that’s about as richly appointed as its segment gets. Beautifully detailed powered leather…

2015 Jaguar XF 3.0 AWD Portfolio Road Test Review

Think XJ, only smaller. This is the basic theme most premium manufacturers use when building more affordable mid-sized models, and it almost always works. With the XF, the results are near breathtaking.

Few cars deliver wow factor like the XF. In order to pull eyeballs the stylish feline incorporates a smaller version of the XJ's rectangular chromed grille with growling cat at centre, a nearly identical set of organically shaped headlights permeated with LEDs, an attractive lower valance boasting a large rectangular vent at centre and more curvaceous chrome adorned openings for feeding the brakes at each corner, while around the side a gorgeous set of 19-inch 10-spoke alloys on 245/4519 ContiProContacts immediately steal the limelight, followed up by a large protruding vertical engine vent just aft of the front wheel cutouts, complete with a chromed Jaguar finisher up top, while the XF's rear styling might be its best vantage point thanks to a positively gorgeous set of clear Read Full Story