Automotive Reviews
Archived
Back-catalog of reviews written before 2008.
2005 Ford Focus ST ZX4
0529 days
In general, small cars are either grown-up, like the Toyota Corolla and Kia Spectra, or they’re playful. The Volkswagen Golf, Mazda3 and Ford Focus fall solidly into the latter category. Like the Golf and Mazda3, the Focus’ mission in life is to prove that frugal and sensible don’t have to mean “no fun to drive.”
A light redesign for 2005 gives the Focus a more grown up face, but its happy-go-lucky nature has only been strengthened. The hard-core SVT Focus model has gone into the bunker with the rest of Ford’s Special Vehicle Team and is not available for ’05, but many of the SVT Focus’ go-fast goodies are available on a new mainstream model, the Focus ST. The new design also (hopefully) means that the quality control problems that surfaced on the early Focus models in 1999 are long gone. (more…)
2005 Honda Odyssey Touring
0529 days
Ah, minivans. These unsung heroes of the automotive world just can’t be cool, no matter how hard they try. It’s not unlike having a fancy toaster or washing machine; regardless of the number of exciting, high-tech features it’s got, most of your friends are going to smile politely, shrug, and think, “It’s just a toaster.” Honda’s amazing new-for-2005 Odyssey is unfortunately in the same boat. Don’t get us wrong, it’s a great product, one of the best out there. Just don’t expect anyone to be particularly impressed.
Honda’s gone to a lot of effort to make sure that you’re so happy with the Odyssey you don’t have to spend time worrying about impressing your friends, of course. This ground-up redesign shows that Honda considered all of minivan-dom, took the best ideas, and combined them into one vehicle. The Odyssey has a larger interior with more comfort and convenience features, a more powerful engine, and a new level of suspension and body refinement. The new Touring model combines a variety of exclusive features into a single high-quality, high-class package. (more…)
2006 Honda Ridgeline
0529 days
Driving the all-new Honda Ridgeline around Detroit, Michigan was an interesting experience. The Ridgeline got more dirty looks than a Hummer at a Greenpeace convention. It’s no surprise that the union boys hate this truck; the area is the home of the Ford F-150. It’s not an easy thing, being a full-size truck with a Japanese badge on the tailgate. Even established compact truck builders like Toyota and Nissan are seen as interlopers who can’t possibly understand the needs of a full-size truck buyer. And Honda? Purveyor of the frugal Civic and Insight? Forget about it.
With that in mind, we hazed our Ridgeline hard. You know how it is. The full-size truck market is tough turf, and any newcomers gotta be jumped in. Even though the Ridgeline is technically a mid-sized pickup like the Dodge Dakota, it’s messin’ around in Ford F-150, Dodge Ram and Chevy Silverado territory, and it’s gotta prove itself. So…does this “new kind of pickup” have the steel to stand up to the local big boys, or will it get beaten down like the rest of the pretenders? (more…)