2012 Chicago Auto Show Review: CHICAGO, ILL. — The 2012 Chicago Auto Show is not the site of a lot of strikingly new vehicles, but it easily maintains its position as the most casual and most fun of the four major U.S. auto shows. The setting was a good opportunity for Ford and Chrysler to show off future stars, with Ford’s 2013 Fusion and the 2013 Dodge Dart both being …
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The restyled Nissan Quest can be viewed two ways: as an excellent people and luggage hauler, or as a boxy, ill-styled minivan. I have no qualms with its minivan-ness. I think each generation of minivans becomes more useful and more fuel efficient. The tested Platinum Graphite (metallic dark gray) Quest 3.5 SV seats seven comfortably, featured a quiet interior, had good power and a smooth overall performance. It t’s easy …
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SAN DIEGO, CALIF. — Through good times and bad, Mazda has held true to its ‘Zoom-Zoom” image. Its vehicles may vary, but they always rank high in the fun-to-drive quotient. The 2012 Mazda5 shines as the latest example, proving that even a mini-minivan can zoom. Mazda would prefer to call the Mazda5 a “Multi-Activity Vehicle,” but the chances of adding MAV to the consumers’ automotive lexicon is remote. Mazda …
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Some people call the Mazda5 a station wagon. Others say it’s a sport wagon. But a minivan by any other name is still a minivan. Despite the opprobrium that has been heaped upon minivans over the last few years, for reasons known only to the heapers, the minivan in is still the most useful vehicle on the planet. It is unsurpassed in its amalgamation of passenger and cargo space, …
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Unless you’re a building-trades person who favors cavernous rolling crates, you’re not likely to get terribly excited about the all-new vehicles from Nissan. But if you are such a person, the 2012 Nissan NV line of commercial vans opens up a host of possibilities. It’s rare that closed-vehicle manufacturers pay much attention to plumbers, electricians, carpenters and handymen. Except for the Ford Transit Connect, a recent small panel truck, and …
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Like a sleepy homeowner who manages to unlock the door after fumbling with his key, Nissan has finally gotten the tumblers to drop and gained parity with the leading minivan manufacturers. The instrument of this achievement is the 2011 Quest, once an oddball contender against the big guys in the field: Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna, and Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Town and Country. When the previous generation Quest arrived in …
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Honda’s Odyssey continues. The Japanese manufacturer did not invent the modern minivan—that distinction is held by Chrysler—but it refined the concept over the years to where it became the class of the class. When the first Odyssey appeared in 1995, it was ridiculed for not measuring up to the standard set a decade earlier by Chrysler. It had swing-out side doors and a four-cylinder engine. Ironically, that original Odyssey would …
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Minivans are the prime people movers of our time, and Toyota has been cranking out solid Siennas to fill that niche for years. Now comes the revamped 2011 version, and much of what has made this a prime choice remains. This is still a big box: The tested LE model, with a four-cylinder engine, rides on a 119.3-inch wheelbase, about an inch longer than the Honda Odyssey and 2 inches …
