2012 Suzuki Grand Vitara Review: For years Suzuki’s cars and small SUVs didn’t garner much respect. That’s changed after the automaker’s Kizashi sedan and SX4 small crossover raised awareness in the brand by being well designed and executed, on par with other entry-level and value brands. Another winner is its Grand Vitara, a small sport-SUV that’s fun to drive, simple and delivers excellent value. My silver tester was the midlevel …
For serious off-roaders who also demand luxury for their daily drives, the Jeep Grand Cherokee remains a stylish, comfortable choice. Take the Grand Cherokee Limited model, for example. Standard with a 290-horsepower Pentastar V6, the silver test model included a 5.7-liter Hemi V8 with variable valve timing and Fuel Saver Technology. The additional power is there, as the Hemi delivers up 390 lbs.-ft. of torque so this sleek Jeep will …
2011 Land Rover Range Rover Review: Like the Jeep in America, England’s Land Rover is the original real deal when it comes to off-road vehicles in the U.K. After years of testing them off road I can say with assurance that they can handle most any volume or viscosity of mud and muck and keep on roving. One of Rover’s latest, the 2011 Range Rover Sport HSE, is equally dashing …
2011 Jeep Wrangler Review: Jeep’s Wrangler is the epitome of an off-road vehicle, a direct descendant of the Willys that went off to war with so many of our fathers and grandfathers in World War II. Today’s Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon 4X4 is a far cry from that original 1941 buckboard, but it’ll still go way off road to conquer whatever mud, muck and man-made hazards stand between driver and destination. …
When you think of pickup trucks, you probably don’t think of Suzuki. Suzuki has been selling cars in United States under its own name since the 1980s, it’s never offered a real pickup for the U.S. market. But that all changed with the Suzuki Equator. The Equator isn’t exactly Suzuki’s own creation, it’s essentially a clone of Nissan’s midsize Frontier pickup. Equator’s differences related to exterior styling and features. The …
2012 Range Rover Evoque Review: Like a slow-motion volcanic eruption, a new automotive era is materializing, one that overwhelms the time-honored American affectation of “bigger is better.” In a world increasingly sensitive to jammed highways and finite natural resources, smaller vehicles are poised to proliferate. Moreover, they are arriving across the motorized spectrum, from smaller, entry-level cars and crossover utility vehicles to nearly as diminutive, but expensive, luxury and near-luxury …
DETROIT, MI. — Who could have foreseen that the new and elongated Ford Explorer, and the smaller but roomy crossover Edge, could both be fitted with 4-cylinder engines and outperform larger V6 or V8 engines for power as well as at the gas pumps? Ford Motor Company has unveiled its 2.0-liter 4-cylinder EcoBoost engines for 2012 in both the Explorer and Edge, and driving them shows why Ford is gambling …
The fine hand of Fiat is evident on all the new Chrysler Brand vehicles in a transformation that has been both subtle and startling. The styling flair includes the interiors on everything from minivans to sedans and to sporty cars, and for 2012, Fiat’s fine hand is reaching down for arguably its greatest achievement — lifting the rugged Jeep Wrangler from the rock-climbing demon it’s been since World War II …
