No sports car is without its idiosyncrasies and Porsche’s Boxster doesn’t escape criticism unscathed, but our reviewer’s problems with this latest GTS model didn’t quell his unbridled enthusiasm.…

2015 Porsche Boxster GTS Road Test Review

The latest Boxster roadster is an absolutely superb little sports car, offering fabulous performance in a nice, light, agile package, but a little more power along with even better handling never hurts, right?

That's always the premise behind Porsche's GTS trim level. It's long been a notch or two below top-tier Turbo models with the 911, Cayenne and Panamera, so it makes sense that it similarly sits just below the Boxster's new top-line 375 horsepower Spyder trim.

Performance isn't the only GTS differentiator, however. Most noticeable are styling enhancements that include reworked front and rear fascias with blacked out trim, blackened headlight bezels and smoked taillight lenses, plus "silky black gloss" exterior lettering. The car's red brake calipers are a perfect match to my tester's Guards Red paint, while this model's usual silver-finished 20-inch Spyder Design wheels are done out in an appropriately appealing satin-black, these including coloured Porsche crests Read Full Story
The Sentra is an IIHS Top Safety Pick and tied for first in JD Power and Associates 2015 Initial Quality Study, so it’s a good place to start your search for a good, reliable and safe compact sedan.…

2015 Nissan Sentra SV Road Test Review

Nissan does a lot of things very well, but in the compact arena most competitors completely outplay the Japanese brand. First off, its Sentra only comes in one single four-door sedan body style within a segment dominated by hatchbacks, at least here in Canada. Some of its rivals also offer two-door coupes and even two-and-a-half-door whatchamacallits, so Nissan is seriously limiting its sales opportunities. Its competitors also draw big attention from flashy sport-tuned models, the Sentra being one of the more sedate cars in its class.

This is rather odd considering that Nissan has a heritage rich in performance cars, the Sentra SE-R still sought after by sport compact collectors, especially in top-tier Spec V trim. For reasons only global-boss Carlos Ghosn and company can explain, there's no SE-R in today's Sentra lineup, let alone many sport-oriented models within Nissan's entire small car segment, other than the commendable Micra (when outfitted with its base manual gearbox), Read Full Story
The new Kia Sedona’s styling makes it a standout, and fortunately its good looks are complemented by a new 276-hp 3.3L GDI V6 and a very refined interior that boasts two of the more innovative 2nd-row…

2015 Kia Sedona SXL+ Road Test Review

Kia entered the minivan segment back in the early aughts when many others were getting out, and to its credit the South Korean brand has won a lot of sales that GM and Ford have missed out on. The first generation was a decent van, plenty powerful and quite roomy, but it lacked some key features competitors offered, a problem remedied with its second-generation. Despite big improvements, sales tapered off each year, the entire minivan segment mostly at fault. In an attempt to swim instead of sink, rivals Honda and Toyota redesigned their vans with newfound style, both the reimagined Odyssey and surprisingly sporty Sienna debuting in 2010 as 2011 models with reinvigorated sales following. It's taken Kia some time to respond, but now with the all-new and dare I say best-dressed 2015 Sedona they're finally reaping results where it matters most.

From a Canadian high of 4,772 Sedona sales in 2004, it must have been a depressing state to experience that much improved second-generation Read Full Story
While no diesel-powered Passats are yet available for 2016, Volkswagen is nevertheless making sure its midsize sedan gets noticed with a significant mid-cycle update that refreshes styling, interior details…

2016 Volkswagen Passat Road Test Review

I've long been a fan of Volkswagen products. For many decades, they've been big on safety and reliability, and fun to drive. Think Rabbit, Golf, GTI, CC, and Golf R. But they also offer a good value when it comes to affordable sedan performance. Think Jetta and Passat. For those who like the ability to carry families and gear, Tiguan and Touareg SUVs foot the bill.

On a recent fall day in beautiful Stowe, Vermont, Volkswagen assembled members of the automotive press to test drive the new 2016 Passat 1.8T and 3.6 V6 variants, the former base model a welcome $680 less expensive for 2016 at just $23,295. Noticeably, there is no TDI option in the 2016 lineup, as all diesels have been pulled from the U.S. market pending the outcome of so-called "DieselGate." During the press conference for the new Passat, VW handled the diesel car situation head on and promised media would be apprised when additional news was available.

Diesel powertrains aside, the new Passat features mostly Read Full Story
Anyone questioning whether Porsche is the king of “sport” utilities hasn’t seen its latest 2015 Cayenne Turbo S and GTS. Along with a black matte grille, Cayenne Turbo fascia, air blades, revised…

2015 Porsche Cayenne GTS Road Test Review

Lighter and sleeker, the 2015 Cayenne has solidified its position as the ultimate sport utility, with a fresh new design that's immediately more aggressive and masculine looking then its predecessors, while lower and leaner in appearance. It pulls some of the best compact Macan design details forward, yet maintains its brawnier big brother appearance and more affluent status. This is particularly true of the latest GTS model.

With sporty character elements all-round, such as a matte black grille insert, a front fascia on permanent loan from the Cayenne Turbo that's flanked by black straked air blades in charge of redirecting rushing wind to intercoolers glimmering from within. LED driving lights hover just above and LED fogs hang slightly below, all ahead of a slightly reshaped hood and front fenders plus slim body-colour moldings around the wheel cutouts and subtle body-colour cladding along the rockers, part of the GTS' standard SportDesign package, culminating in a large rooftop Read Full Story
Considering a subcompact SUV? There are lots to choose from with 4 more just added for 2016, but despite a reasonable $27k starting price Buick’s Encore offers a rich looking chrome-detailed design…

2015 Buick Encore Premium AWD Road Test Review

When you think of innovators amongst automotive brands, does Buick come to mind? Certainly in its formative years the 112-year old brand had its fair share of breakthroughs, its "valve-in-head" engine design, known since as the overhead valve (OHV) engine, might be its most significant, but that took place even before most of its current LaCrosse owners were born (tongue firmly in cheek). Still, my 50-something age group remembers larger than life semi-luxury family sedans and wagons with pillow-top upholstery in tufted velour, slabs of faux woodgrain interior trim and sometimes a similar woodie treatment used for the exterior, plus a cloud-like ride and boat-in-the-water handling, not to mention fuel economy similar to a mega yacht's.

Stuck in our dated pasts, some of us forget that we're only as old as we think we are, and Buick, which is in the process of truly reinventing itself, is now being discovered by a whole new generation of buyers that never knew the company for anything Read Full Story
Cadillac’s sales are declining but cars like the new CTS should help it find new buyers. Styling is sharp yet not too radical and the CTS’ interior is superb with impressive refinement plus more leather,…

2015 Cadillac CTS 3.6L AWD Road Test Review

Forget for a moment that Cadillac's ever-changing model naming strategy has moved its D-segment four-door's C-segment designation up to E-segment size, dropped a new A-segment named sedan and coupe back into the D-segment, and for some reason previously gave its slightly larger than E-segment luxury sedan a 4x4-style X nomenclature, or for that matter that a completely updated naming scheme will at some future point see all Cadillac's cars rebadged with CT nameplates followed by a single digit relative to size, plus all crossover utilities similarly redubbed XT with the same nod to suffix numerology (the Escalade will escape such rebranding), and instead of rubbing your eyes in bewilderment just consider the domestic brand's rather impressive lineup.

The ATS has out-BMW'd the 3 Series for driving feel and handling, the SRX is doing its job of leading the brand's sales despite the upcoming XT5 soon relieving it from duty, the Escalade is far and away the best-selling full-size Read Full Story
Few cars have as much impish attitude as Mini’s 3-Door hatch, while its top-line JCW is the “M” of subcompacts. For 2015 it’s been totally redesigned with a 228-hp 4-cylinder with 236 lb-ft of…

2015 Mini John Cooper Works 3-Door Road Test Review

In case you're wondering whether anyone will notice that you spent a lot more for a JCW than mere mortals pay for a regular Cooper or Cooper S, don't worry. From it's bold red horizontal grille rib and unique badging, up to its gaping hood scoop and then down to its heavily ducted lower fascia, past its bulging fenders to unique optional machine-finished 18-inch five-spoke alloys with black painted pockets on 205/40 Pirelli Cinturatos framing standard JCW-branded glossy red four-piston fixed calipers that hover over massive dinner plate-sized ventilated discs, back up to a wing-like rooftop spoiler, flap open to wrestle with a turmoil of otherwise chassis-unbalancing air, quad-vented rear bumper cap housing big fat twinned centre-mounted slash-cut exhaust pipes protruding out back, the JCW is a car that will get you as many looks as it'll attract Speed Racers pulling up alongside to check you out and possibly tempt weaker minds into a quick side-by-side sprint.

Even on the way Read Full Story