Alas, the Mini Cooper Clubman we know it will soon be gone as, but before the five-door wonder wagon gets replaced by an all-new six-door version, auto journalist Trevor Hofmann gives it a worthy send-off…

2014 Mini Cooper Clubman Road Test Review

Let me make one point very clear before I delve too deeply into this review: If you've always wanted to buy a Mini Clubman but have never gotten around to it, now's the time. The Clubman, as we know it, is no more after 2014, and the Cooper Clubman I recently drove is one of the last of its kind available anywhere. Don't get me wrong, the Clubman name will likely resurface soon, something we can feel confident about since Mini showed the Clubman Concept at last year's Geneva motor show, but in Mini's quest to pull in yet more buyers by "unquirkying" itself, the new Clubman will get four regular side doors instead of this outgoing model's three-door layout.

Yes, if you hadn't noticed, the current 2014 Mini Cooper Clubman has a second rear-hinged "club" door on its passenger side that opens up clamshell-like in the same fashion as some four-door pickup trucks and a small number of high-end luxury cars, such as the Rolls-Royce Ghost and Phantom. Before Mini came to market with its Read Full Story
Today’s Buick is a much more enticing luxury brand than it was in decades past, the biggest example being the recently refreshed full-size LaCrosse sedan. For all the details, check out Simon Hill’s…

2014 Buick LaCrosse AWD Road Test Review

As flagships go, Buick's full-size LaCrosse is the new kid on the block. Introduced in 2010, the second-generation LaCrosse was initially called the Allure in Canadian markets and was slotted in just below the Lucerne. The LaCrosse came into its own a year later in 2011, when the Lucerne was discontinued and the LaCrosse promoted to flagship status. Model year 2011 also saw the Canada-specific Allure badging dropped, with LaCrosse now used in all regions in order to leverage Buick's global marketing efforts (despite the name having a bit of a snicker-inducing slang meaning in Quebec).

For 2014 the LaCrosse was given a bit of a mid-cycle refresh with styling changes both inside and out. Externally, the 2014 LaCrosse benefits from revised front and rear fascias, a new hood and trunk lid, new grille, and new lighting clusters. Inside it gets a cleaner-looking centre stack highlighted by Buick's latest (and very slick-looking) IntelliLink touchscreen interface, and a nicely minimized Read Full Story
There’s exclusivity and then there’s the fortune of the few, the latter of which will enjoy ownership of Ferrari’s latest creation, the shockingly beautiful F60 America roadster. Coming with everything…

Ferrari debuts stunning F60 America in cool NART blue livery

If you're just now seeing the beautiful Ferrari F60 America for the first time, you're already too late. Ferrari will only build 10 examples of this North American-exclusive roadster, and each one was already spoken for before the company even announced its existence to we the common masses.

Based on the already exclusive F12 Berlinetta coupe, the F60 America drop-top was created and named in commemoration of the Italian sports car marque's 60th anniversary of North American sales, and what a celebration it is. While obviously sharing much with the F12, the F60 America takes on a look all its own, enhanced by a set of flying buttress-styled carbon fibre roll hoops.

Also special, the F60 gets a unique 60th anniversary prancing horse badge fitted to the front wheel arches and atop the transmission tunnel inside, not to mention a thin red, white and blue star and stripes down the centre of each sport seat, the passenger's incidentally dyed black and the driver's a bright Read Full Story
Hyundai has taken a slightly different tact with its all-new Sonata, delivering a more conservatively designed four-door that’s nevertheless a sharp looking mid-size family sedan. Read auto journalist…

2015 Hyundai Sonata Limited Road Test Review

Like so many mainstream and premium automotive brands, Hyundai has been steadily refining its identity in recent years. Its new Genesis sedan is leading the charge, with the boldest statement of premium intention the South Korean company has ever made, not to mention a seriously capable performance oriented luxury car to back up its good looks, so it only makes sense that the mid-size Sonata, Hyundai's best-selling North American model, gets some similar styling revisions as part of its scheduled redesign.

Rather than evolving from generation to generation like some mid-size competitors, the Sonata's regular redesigns have bordered on the radical. The first Sonata, sold here as the Stellar way back when Hyundai entered the Canadian market in the mid-'80s, was an elegant looking albeit sharply angled car penned by none other than the great Giorgetto Giugiaro, also responsible for the third-generation Maserati Quattroporte of the same era, which no doubt inspired the four-door Read Full Story
What? Audi is thinking about messing with the success of its current design language? Everything must change, even the popular German brand renowned for its keen sense of style. Ushering in this next-generation…

Upcoming Audi A9 concept to debut new design direction

While it is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, having one of your most celebrated designers snagged by a mainstream value automaker, which then produces premium-level cars that appear inspired by your much more expensive mid-size and full-size flagship models is never good. Such is what Audi has experienced since Peter Schreyer was headhunted by South Korean brand Kia and its Hyundai parent, and having since become one of three presidents of the former (the first non-Korean to be so honoured) and Chief Design Officer of both.

Now with V8-powered sport-luxury Kia models like the new 2015 K900 doing a credible job of going head-to-head with the Audi A8, and Hyundai models such as the new Genesis 5.0 Ultimate even more effectively targeting the German brand's A6, it's time the four-ringed brand changed up its image.

While today's Audi designs are revered as some of the most attractive in the industry, almost universally praised by customers and pundits Read Full Story
Looking for a compact crossover with loads of luxury upgrades for a reasonable price? Toyota has an answer that might suit you to a T, and to help you make your choice Trevor Hofmann reviews the improved…

2015 Toyota RAV4 AWD Limited Road Test Review

If you were looking for something new in the 2015 Toyota RAV4, don't hold your breath any longer. Being that the newest version came to market early last year as a 2013 model, this 2015 RAV4 is carryover from the 2014 iteration other than new wheels and the deletion of one colour and the addition of another, Shoreline Blue Pearl for Hot Lava, and that 2014 model was a carryover from the year before. This, however, will hardly matter to the thousands of Canadian compact crossover buyers who will choose to ride the RAV wave this coming year, as it's a very good CUV that deserves every bit of the success it enjoys.

When the all-new totally rethought fourth-generation 2013 RAV4 debuted, I tested a mid-grade AWD XLE model and was duly impressed with its sleeker styling, more car-like ride and handling, better automatic transmission, improved fuel economy, nicer interior detailing, easier folding rear seats, and much more functional liftgate design. Almost everything I liked about Read Full Story
Love your Mini but wishing it was a little quicker? Auto journalist Trevor Hofmann reviews a brand new John Cooper Works Hardtop that just might be the answer to all of your go-fast dreams, while delivering…

2014 Mini John Cooper Works Hardtop Road Test Review

Try to look this car up on the Mini.ca website and it will be glaringly absent, made all the more obvious by six other 2014 models available with special John Cooper Works upgrades. You can get a new 2014 JCW Clubman, Convertible, Coupe, Roadster, Paceman or Countryman, but the 2014 JCW Hardtop is nowhere to be seen. What's the problem? The fact is that Mini never made one. With the all-new Mini Hardtop having only arrived in base Cooper and mid-grade Cooper S trims for the 2014 model year, the JCW version, which is expected to be the most powerful production Mini ever made at somewhere around 230 horsepower, is still forthcoming.

The car you see here is a brand new 2013 John Cooper Works Hardtop that I drove only a couple of weeks ago. And what of the 2014 designation in the title of this review? Ah, yes that. I (ahem) "mistakenly" typed that in just out of habit. Oh alright… with 2015 model year Minis upon us I admit that I did it on purpose so that I could include this Read Full Story
Today on CarCostCanada, auto journalist Trevor Hofmann reviews the advanced new Cadillac ELR, an extended-range hybrid electric that can run on EV power for up to 60 km and both gasoline and electric…

2014 Cadillac ELR Road Test Review

I have to admit, I'm a changed man. Don't get me wrong, as I'm still easily swayed by the sound, feel and performance of a powerful internal combustion engine, but if it was my hard earned money on the line I would likely opt for a different type of performance, the electrically propelled plug-in kind.

The new Cadillac ELR is the car that's converted me to the church of electric. I've enjoyed numerous EVs and extended-range EREVs before, including the Chevy Volt that shares underpinnings with this crested wreath model, but none of them have made me aspire to own one. The ELR, on the other hand, is so good looking from onset, so beautifully detailed inside, and performs so well in all other respects, that I want to find a way to drive it daily.

The reason I won't likely find a way to do so is it's one key drawback, a starting price of $78,250 plus $1,800 for freight and pre-delivery prep, or more precisely the need to pay more than $80k for what is essentially a Volt Read Full Story