Car Reviews
BMW X6 Pros and Cons Review: How It’s the Best One BMW Has Built Yet
Pros Fun to drive Deceptively roomy inside The monster M version Cons Polarizing looks Inscrutable infotainment Brutal ride on the M version “What can be said about the X6 M that hasn’t been said before?” That’s what features editor Christian Seabaugh wondered about the third generation of BMW’s slope-roofed midsize SUV. Turns out, a lot. For one, we collectively felt that this third-gen BMW X6 is the best one BMW has ever built. Still hailing from Spartanburg, South Carolina, the X6 feels very solid, as if it was hewn from a single block of a heavy, precious metal. For two, it still makes you question why it exists. “I mean, I kind of get it,” features editor Scott Evans said. “You definitely stand out in a crowd. It’s not for me, but ...
Audi A6 Allroad Pros and Cons Review: Bringing a Wagon to an SUV Party
Pros Handsome sheetmetal Gorgeous interior Carlike qualities Cons Dated powertrain Fussy secondary controls Carlike qualities Square pegs don’t fit into round holes. Yes, due to some sort of legalese, the Audi A6 Allroad is technically an SUV. But you know it’s not an SUV, we know it’s not an SUV, even dogs know it’s not an SUV, probably because they can jump in the cargo area without a ramp. The only people unsure as to what the current-generation A6 Allroad is—an ever so slightly lifted station wagon—are the fine folks at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The problem becomes, what do we do with a raised wagon at an SUV of the Year party? Well, we let it in because we’re not heathens. “As the lines blur between SUVs and cars, the lifte...
2021 Chevrolet Trailblazer Pros and Cons Review: Back for More
Pros Baby Blazer looks Fancy optional equipment Huge back seat Cons Ridiculous as-tested MSRP Stiff ride Loud interior Every full-line automaker needs a strong portfolio of SUVs in every shape and size to be competitive in today’s market. Although Chevrolet has had a subcompact SUV in the Trax for years, that car has failed to gain meaningful, ahem, traxion with consumers. Riding to the rescue is the 2021 Chevrolet Trailblazer, which avoids many of the missteps made by the Trax but doesn’t go far enough to achieve class leadership. Leave aside any baggage associated with the Trailblazer name (if you can), and the all-new and entirely different model makes a good case for itself on paper. Its $19,995 starting price is noteworthy, its rear seat is enormous for the class, and it o...
2020 Mazda CX-30 Pros and Cons Review: Stuck in No Man’s Land
Pros Nice to look at Premium-feeling cabin Sporty steering feel Cons Underpowered Poor ride Small-for-segment interior Mazda is in a state of transition. Not just from “Zoom Zoom” to “Driving Matters,” but from a builder of affordable, fun-to-drive cars and crossovers to what it considers a proper premium marque with sights set on the likes of Acura, Genesis, and Lexus. The 2020 Mazda CX-30, for better or worse, straddles that transition point between mainstream and luxury. Design might be the most elegant part of the CX-30, a crossover nominally built to slot in the narrow white space between the slightly cheaper subcompact CX-3 and slightly more expensive compact CX-5. Although not breaking any new ground for Mazda, the CX-30 nevertheless stands out in its segment...
2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport Review: Looks Can Be Deceiving
I was on my final haul of the season, moving the last two kitchen-table chairs, four large wooden flower boxes, two coolers, suitcases, and other miscellaneous items on an almost 12-hour trek north. It was a perfect assignment for the 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport, which has the most interior space in the midsize SUV segment. VW took its three-row Atlas, its top-selling vehicle, and sliced the bologna a bit thinner to create a two-row, five-passenger Atlas Cross Sport. The result is an outrageously large second row and cargo area, nice weapons to have in competition against vehicles such as the Chevrolet Blazer, Ford Edge, and Honda Passport. In other words, the VW is the ideal transport for the task ahead. The cavernous interior—77.8 cubic feet of stowage is available with the second-...
2020 Mercedes-Benz S560e Hybrid First Drive Review: Pricey and Pluggable
An all-new Mercedes-Benz S-Class is coming in 2021, and we’ll be driving it soon, sampling its luxurious high-tech interior, agile four-wheel-steering-enabled chassis, and smooth new powertrains. But before we move on to that shiny new thing, let’s look at an S-Class that has very much flown under the radar in the U.S., the 2020 Mercedes-Benz S560e. That ‘e’ suffix is significant: Unlike the popular S560, which is powered by a V-8 engine, the S560e has six cylinders and an electric motor. It’s a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) with an EPA combined rating of 64 mpg-e that makes it one of the most efficient on the market. The S-Class of Plug-In Powertrains The S560e’s powertrain comprises a 362-hp version of Daimler’s long-serving twin-tu...
2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 Heritage Edition First Test: MT Tested, Enthusiast Approved
Unfortunately, Ford is discontinuing the GT350 and its harder-core GT350R sibling after this model year, so the Heritage Edition tested here serves as something of a send-off. Introduced for 2020 and available for both versions of the car, the $1,965 bundle brings no mechanical changes, adding only the legendary Wimbledon White/Guardsman Blue livery, some blue badges, and a dash plaque. (The price and look are nods to the original GT350’s victory in its debut race, with Ken Miles behind the wheel, in 1965.) See all 43 photos Underneath the iconic visuals, an update last year brought learnings from the development of the mighty GT500, resulting in stickier Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, retuned dampers and springs, updated aero, and recalibrated braking-system electronics. There we...
2021 Toyota Corolla XSE Apex First Test: Not the Sport Sedan We Were Hoping For
Although it can’t keep pace with the best compact sedans, the new Toyota Corolla is a big improvement over its predecessor. Along with stronger handling, it benefits from a more potent engine option and a streamlined interior. The Corolla Hybrid we recently tested is a true standout delivering stellar fuel economy. Now, here to shake things up again is the 2021 Toyota Corolla Apex Edition, promising an affordable sport sedan experience. But, does it deliver? Well, not quite in the way we were hoping. The Apex Edition is more than just a style package. The sedan receives a unique track-tuned suspension. In addition to new springs that lower the car by 0.6 inch, the car features new shocks, bump stops, and more rigid anti-roll bars that are meant to improve its agility. Thanks to all t...
2021 Audi Q5 Sportback First Look: Baby Got (Sport)Back
Audi adds a more rakish sibling to the Q5 model line for 2021. Dubbed the Q5 Sportback, the latest iteration of the brand’s compact crossover takes on the BMW X4 and Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class Coupe. Like its competition, the Q5 Sportback trades cargo space for style. Whereas today’s Q5 sports 23.1 cubic feet of space aft of its rear seatback, the Sportback offers just 18.0 cubes. That’s on par with the Bimmer and Merc, which provide 17.7 and 18.5 cubic feet of space with all seats in place. Fold the Sportback’s rear seats down and its cargo hold expands to 52.3 cubic feet, a sum that bests the X4’s and GLC’s and nearly matches that of the current Q5’s 53.1-cubic-foot space. See all 33 photos 2021 Audi Q5 Sportback: Familiar Face Predictably, th...
2021 BMW M3 First Look: Big Grille, Big Power
Good news, stick-shift enthusiasts: The 2021 BMW M3 comes standard with a six-speed manual gearbox. That’s right, the German brand’s iconic sports sedan refuses to give in to peer pressure and nix the row-it-yourself transmission from its features list. In other words, BMW listened to its enthusiast fanbase. Alas, the company opted to ignore the cries of dismay caused by the tall and narrow kidney grilles found on the 2021 4 Series. Rather than limit the large nostrils to the 3 Series sedan’s lower-slung sibling, BMW went right ahead and applied them to the new M3. Is this a sign of what’s to come for the run-of-the-mill 3 Series? We hope not. If the previous M3 is anything to go by, though, it’s likely the latest M3 will serve as the sole 3 Se...
2021 Hyundai Sonata N Line First Look: Nürburgring Sonata
The big-name German performance brands all sell performance in various packages and steps, from BMW’s M Sport or Mercedes-Benz’s AMG packages to full-blown M and Mercedes-AMG models. Hyundai aspires to follow in these footsteps with N models like North America’s Veloster N and Europe’s i30 N at the top of the retail pyramid (factory racing N cars occupy the ultimate peak of the pyramid) and a widening line of N Line models occupying the rung beneath them. First to get the N Line treatment was the Elantra GT N Line, and next up are the Elantra and Sonata sedans. Not too much info has been shared on the full Sonata N Line package, but at a powertrain backgrounder in December 2019, we learned that the heart of this new beast is a turbocharged 2.5-liter “Smartstre...
2021 BMW M4 First Look: Hello, M Drift Analyzer!
It’s comforting to know that not even a global pandemic can stop the inexorable march forward of BMW’s pursuit of power, torque, and driving fun. Proving our point is today’s virtual rollout of the 2021 BMW M4, sporting the spectacular new S58 engine available in two states of tune and with a choice of manual or automatic transmissions. There’s even a new M Drive Professional suite of onboard performance analyzers, including M Drift Analyzer and M Laptimer, and soon it will even offer M xDrive performance all-wheel drive. Hey, driving your own car fast around a track is de facto social distancing, right? How Much Power Does the New M4 Have, Anyway? We first sampled the new, mighty S58 engine in the BMW X3 M and X4 M SUVs and in the Competition models of each. Under ...
