Reviews

First Drive: 2012 Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe

Jun 1 2011

First Drive: 2012 Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe

First Drive: 2012 Mercedes Benz C Class Coupe
From 2001 through 2007, Mercedes tried valiantly with the CLC’s predecessor, the C-Class Sport Coupe hatch (it even sold a handful in the States for a couple of years), going so far as to market a sales-proof AMG version of the C30 CDI diesel as an experiment for them whacked-out Yurpeens. We barely ever see this model in Europe these days, but the company insists that around 250,000 of them were sold.

Mercedes-Benz finally intends for the coupe body to play a much more serious role in its C-Class lineup, despite the next-gen C-Class lurking only a couple of years away. Company spokespeople insist that the coupe will come along much sooner in the next version, all of this being made easier by a quiet and permanent goodbye to the lowly CLC.

Source: AutoBlog

Review: 2012 Hyundai Veloster

May 27 2011

Review: 2012 Hyundai Veloster

Review: 2012 Hyundai Veloster
While the experience falls seriously short of taking a few orbits in the Space Shuttle, those seven words were enticing enough to motivate us to cross the dreaded Los Angeles basin during rainy rush-hour traffic last week. The Veloster is Hyundai’s latest addition to a rapidly expanding lineup that now encompasses everything from the modest $12,000 Accent to the Lexus-fighting $58,000 Equus. The new hatchback – uniquely configured with one driver door and two passenger doors – is parked on the low end of the model range, promoted as a compact coupe offering fun-to-drive chassis dynamics, a long list of standard innovative technology and hybrid-beating fuel economy in one cool-looking package.

Hyundai isn’t letting anyone drive the Veloster yet, but like proud parents, they are more than willing to show us around the car, from top to bottom, and take us for an extensive drive around the block – as passengers.

Complete Review

First Drive: 2012 Toyota Prius V

May 23 2011

First Drive: 2012 Toyota Prius V

First Drive: 2012 Toyota Prius V
The hybrid lexicon is a language built on a foundation of disjunction. Buyers may have phenomenal fuel economy or space for kids and cargo. You can embarrass your neighbors at the fuel pump or have a satisfying driving experience. In fact, opting for a battery pack is so fraught with compromise that it’s almost as if hybrid manufacturers have completely deleted the conjunctive ‘and’ from their diction. Even so, that fact hasn’t stopped buyers from seeking out electrified vehicles in increasing numbers.

Toyota has sold over one million Prius models in the United States since the vehicle first debuted a decade ago. That number blossoms to two million if global sales are accounted for, and the model’s popularity has helped usher in a bloom of hybrid products from over 16 manufacturers. The technology may not be the perfect solution to our fuel economy concerns, but the Prius has taken off in ways that would have been difficult to imagine when the first gangly example whirred off the line.

Now Toyota is set to grow its Prius lineup with three new models. In fact, Bob Carter, Toyota division group vice president and general manager, says that the Japanese automaker fully expects the Prius family to become its best-selling product line in the near future – beating out internal combustion titans like the Camry and Corolla in the process. As a result, the company is planning to unleash of a barrage of products that include a model based on the Prius C Concept, a plug-in version of the hybrid and the taller, boxier Prius V. The thought is that a few simple variations on the company’s successful battery-powered recipe will offer buyers solutions that the conventional Prius simply couldn’t match. The only question is whether or not the will respond to what is effectively a few clever re-body jobs. If the Prius V is any indication, the answer is a resounding yes.

Source: AutoBlog

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