Automotive Reviews
Five Doors
2011 Mazda2
0285 days
There are two schools of design when it comes to sub-compact vehicles; some go for a cute look, and others have been styled to look like they’d just as soon eat your face as look at you–think of the smart fortwo, Ford Fiesta and latest Chevrolet Aveo. The irony of aggressive styling on microcars is that it rarely has the desired effect. It’s like having a pocket-sized grizzly bear–no matter how fierce it looks, everyone’s just going to think it’s adorable.
Perhaps that’s why Mazda softened its normally aggressive family face for its latest entry-level vehicle. The Mazda2 enters the lineup for 2011 a step below the Mazda3, and it’s definitely styled with an eye toward the “cute” end of the spectrum. With excellent road manners and 35-mpg fuel economy in its corner, the Mazda2 is also not just another adorable face; there’s some genuine substance to back it up. (more…)
2011 Cadillac CTS-V Sportwagon
0291 days
Every once in a while, a car comes along that’s so unabashedly ridiculous, so completely beyond the pale of practicality and sensibility…that you’ve just got to have one. The Cadillac CTS-V Sportwagon is one of those vehicles. Oh, sure, it’s got a nice big cargo area that makes it useful for carrying groceries, luggage or the odd writing desk–but is there any reason that you would need to get your cargo there this quickly?
Of course there is, and that reason is the same reason that the CTS-V Sportwagon exists in the first place: because it’s awesome. It’s hard to imagine how a track-ready, monster-engined station wagon could fail to be awesome, in fact. But maybe that’s just me. (more…)
2011 Chevrolet Volt
0299 days
“Is this the future?” more than one person asked upon checking out the Volt. “Is this the future of the auto industry?”
“No,” I replied. “It’s here now.” I wasn’t just being pedantic. In spite of its uncommon electric drivetrain, what’s most interesting about the Chevrolet Volt is how ordinary it is.
There’s a preconception that electric cars are little more than glorified golf carts, and the Volt should help to put that fallacy to rest for good. Powered by electrons instead of burning gasoline it may be, but the Volt is capable of handling day-to-day life just as well as a Cruze or a Civic. (more…)