Need to tow heavy loads but don’t want to be depleted of all your resources at the pump? Ram’s 1500 EcoDiesel puts out 420 lb-ft of torque yet claims 12.1 L/100km city and 8.8 hwy with 4WD or 11.6…

2015 Ram 1500 Big Horn Crew Cab EcoDiesel 4×4 Road Test Review

Since Ram adopted the big rig look back in '93, they've been a solid number three instead of a distant third here in Canada, even as recently as calendar year 2014 coming very close to toppling combined Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra sales. Ram missed achieving this feat by a mere 1,484 models, which would be a significant margin if we were comparing Chevy Malibu to Chrysler 200 sales, but in the Canadian half-ton market where the two GM pickups found 90,005 new owners to the Ram 1500's 88,521 buyers, it was losing by a hair.

The Chrysler 200 ended up 3,409 units in the clear for calendar 2014, incidentally, but with 11,655 200 sales to the Malibu's 8,246 deliveries you get my point. This is where I'd like to say something witty like, GM had better watch out or Ram's trucks will soon oust them for second spot overall, but as it is the General's 6,237 unit lead as of October 2015 is probably too much for Ram to overcome in the next two months. This no doubt comes as a bit Read Full Story
Cars don’t get more stylish than Audi’s A6, and for 2016 it’s redesigned to look even better, upgraded with more base power, a nicer interior plus new 8-inch infotainment. Today we review the V6-powered…

2016 Audi A6 3.0 TFSI Quattro Technik Road Test Review

The A6 has long been a personal favourite, even when Audi dubbed it 5000. Of course, that car wasn't an A6, but it was the genesis of this mid-size Quattro-infused four-door, and a critically important car for the four-ringed German brand.

That model was known as the 100 in other markets, an earlier version being the first car I ever bought with my own hard earned money. It was later renamed 100 here as well, the original turbocharged five-cylinder all-wheel drive S4 spinoff my personal favourite sport sedan of the era and a test drive I'll never forget, while the original Audi V8, based on the same 100 platform architecture, is probably the vehicle most responsible for pulling the Audi image up to the same premium stratosphere as fellow Teutonic brands BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The 100 line lasted until 1997 when it was replaced by the first A6, the Audi V8 melding into the A8, and so on.

Yes, I'm going way back. Fifty-plus years of indelibly stamped impressions will Read Full Story
While Infiniti’s 2016 QX50 gets new styling with an updated grille, LED lighting elements in new fascias front and rear, a longer wheelbase for added rear seat and cargo room, plus new standard features,…

2016 Infiniti QX50 AWD Road Test Review

By the way Nissan has treated its Infiniti brand over its quarter-century existence, the now Hong Kong, China-based luxury division might have a case for child abandonment. The majority of its models, which for the most part were style, performance and technology leaders when devised, have been left to languish far past their various shelf lives, the parent automaker seemingly crossing its collective fingers in hopes that premium buyers will purchase their outdated products on traditional luxury features and price. Granted, Infiniti often offers best-in-class value, but you're not going to attract the vast majority of premium buyers with bargain basement deals, this reality casting a shadow on a brand's cachet. True luxury buyers expect more than great pricing for good performance and the usual assortment of high-level features, they expect constant innovation across the board.

On this theme Infiniti should be lauded for introducing its EX35 way back in 2007 when very few premium Read Full Story
If you’ve been waiting for a new Tacoma, now’s the time. For 2016 an all-new model hits the street and trail with an advanced 3.5L V6 good for 278-hp and 11.9 L/100km combined with its 6-speed auto…

2016 Toyota Tacoma 4×4 Double Cab V6 Limited Road Test Review

There are a lot of reasons why Toyota is number one in mid-size pickup truck sales, and while rugged good looks, capability, durability, reliability and owner satisfaction are indeed high up on the list, you can't discount its longevity in the marketplace either.

The Taco, as fans like to call it, had its 20th birthday this year, arriving on the light truck scene in 1995, and that was after 20 years of Toyota truck brand building via the humbly named Pickup, while before that the HiLux filled the Japanese brand's compact trucklet gap back to 1969, the Stout from to '64, and of course the much-lauded and highly collectible Land Cruiser FJ45 was Toyota's first North American truck entry in '63. That's 52 years of dutiful truck service.

The Tacoma didn't run the full 20 years without a redesigned, but rather was updated in 2004 as a 2005 model, both iterations serving Toyota and its devoted truck fans very well. Now, 11 years down the line it gets another redesign for Read Full Story
Lighter, more powerful with gobs more torque, the BMW M3 was entirely new for the 2015 model year. Now with 425-hp and 406 lb-ft of torque, a carbon-fibre roof, driveshaft, strut tower brace and option…

2015 BMW M3 Road Test Review

In case you were wondering, it takes a considerable amount of time and effort to test, research, and finally write a review on a given vehicle. And that doesn't even take into consideration the team needed to schedule, book, pick up, shuttle around and drop off the test car, source a location and then shoot a gallery of photos, the additional team required to edit those photos, size and optimize them for the web, edit the review, and finally file it to various print publishers while posting it to the content management system for online distribution ahead of promoting it via various social media sites. So why on earth would anyone in my line of business cover the same car twice in a single model year? When that car is quite possibly the best sport sedan ever created.

Yes, it all comes down to personal gain. My gain, in this instance, was more time spent in yet another 2015 BMW M3. Sure this has cost me and my company time, effort and money, because it really wasn't necessary. Read Full Story
Capable of strong performance, comfortable 4-place seating, good cargo space, up to 70 km of EV range and 2.4 Le/100 km combined, Chevy’s Volt has developed a strong following among plug-in HEV fans.…

2015 Chevrolet Volt Road Test Review

With the all-new 2016 Volt upon us and very few 2015 models left, this review will serve as a farewell to the impressively innovative first-generation car that, at least to my eyes, has aged quite well, both from a design and driving perspective.

In fact, this outgoing model is even more uniquely penned than the incoming one, or at least it looks much different than the 2015 Cruze it shares much of its underpinnings with, whereas the new Volt and upcoming 2016 Cruze have had a stylistic coming together, especially when viewed from the front quarter.

The 2015 Volt's patterned metallic grille inserts offer a nice take on Chevy's usual bisected body-colour design, while attractively shaped headlamp clusters still look fresh after all these years, not to mention the hook-shaped DRL/fog combinations below these, which deliver some visual drama to the design. Continuing rearward, the thick black shadow line under the greenhouse remains a thoroughly unique element that no Read Full Story
Every decade or so Ford completely rethinks its iconic Mustang, which is what happened for 2015. Along with fresh styling and a much more upscale interior comes four engines including a turbocharged four,…

2015 Ford Mustang GT Premium Convertible Road Test Review

Ford has effectively modernized the Mustang with few naysayers complaining about going too far, its loyal fans made up of serious traditionalists that would take offense to their beloved pony car turning into a poor man's BMW 4 Series or worse, something along the lines of a Hyundai Genesis Coupe. These are both great cars in their own rights, but a Mustang, the pony car that started them all, should never bow down and change to meet the expectations of the import crowd.

The reality is a stunningly stylish muscle car that received its fair share of smiles and accompanying thumbs up during my weeklong drive, from folks who were more than just infants when the Mustang hit the road in 1964 (I was merely a year old and therefore don't remember the event very well), so it appears the blue oval gang got the redesign just right.

A reworked Shelby-style grille follows the car's sporting tradition, while a pair of narrow headlight clusters look anything but classic despite paying Read Full Story
New for 2015, VW has added a Special Edition to its compact Tiguan CUV. For less than $30k it comes with a 6-speed auto, AWD, 17-inch alloys, fog lights, proximity-sensing access, pushbutton ignition,…

2015 Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 TSI Special Edition 4Motion Road Test Review

The Tiguan typifies the "cute ute" genre. It's hardly sleek, with a stubby shape that results from abbreviated length and comparatively tall height, giving it a cute, cuddly and dare I say pudgy look, the baby penguin of the CUV class. VW dresses up its front end with a nice classy chromed grille, mind you, with horizontal ribs to add visual width, as well as fog lamps and a stylish silver under tray down below, while it gets tough looking black cladding around each side, attractive multi-spoke alloys at all four corners, a simple roof top spoiler and relatively small, clean LED taillights at back. It's not a standout design, but it looks good in VW's usual understated way.

Inside it's an entirely different story. Unlike most in the Tiguan's compact crossover SUV segment, VW's entry combines a soft-touch dash top that wraps halfway down the instrument panel with soft-touch front door uppers, while the lower half of the IP is hard matte plastic just like the Audi Q3 that shares Read Full Story