From the Passenger's Seat

Oh, my dear little minivan. Alas, we might have to let it go soon due to the fact that we just a Honda Odyssey. It has served us well for seven years, never breaking down and leaving us stranded (well, once, but it was the tire's fault, not the car's). Let's start off with space. Compared to the Odyssey or Sienna, it's a lot smaller inside. However, the space is does offer is plenty usable. Comfort in the front seats is supreme, the middle seat forces your knees upward, and the third row is even worse. However, you never feel claustrophobic sitting anywhere in the van, and it's most definitely helped by gigantic windows all around.  The driving experience is pleasant. While it isn't super quiet by today's standards, I'm going ahead to say that there's less road noise at higher speeds than the second-generation Odyssey. The Sienna still ranks way up there in terms of quietness. I also found ride comfort to be exceptional; you never really feel t...

The John Cooper Works (JWC for short) moniker for Mini has meant high performance. Now, the Cooper John Cooper Works is supplemented by the bigger John Cooper Works Countryman. An all-wheel-drive, 1.6-liter turbocharged four cylinder powered fun little hatchback might lead you to believe it would be sensibly priced, but the JWC Countryman instead starts at $35550, and that's only the beginning of the story for more options.  At that point, you can get a lightly equipped sports sedan than is more powerful and far more refined than the JWC Countryman would be. If you really want Mini's British charm and relatively go-cart like handling with more space than a regular JWC Cooper and an even costlier JWC Cooper convertible, this is it for you. The JWC package does get you 19-inch wheels and red trim inside and out, though. If you're looking at competitors, the Volkswagen Golf R will have to be the sole car. Its starting price is within $200 of the JWC Countryman's, and...

Due to the lack of car news today, I'll just report about how the new Acura RLX will debut at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show. You might remember the RLX concept car from the NYC Auto Show this year, and the new RLX will look pretty much identical to that.  If you're unfamiliar with the RLX nameplate, it's because it's a new model! It replaces the RL in Acura's quest of having an X at the end of every model name. It's positioned as a midsize premium sedan, and should offer a new 310-horsepower 3.5-liter V-6 engine. 

While you most likely never thought about an electric iQ minicar, Toyota has just crushe your dreams if you happen to be hoping for one. Toyota says that electric cars are too compromised for now, and overall electric vehicle sales are incredibly low. Instead, Toyota will focus on have 21 new or enhanced hybrid or plug-in hybrid vehicles on the market in  a couple of years. 

In the world of compact crossovers, they don't get smaller than the Buick Encore. The 2013 Buick Encore has a base price of $24950, including a $750 destination fee.  An $810 Convenience Group brings  things like dual-zone automatic climate control, remote start, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, remote start, fog lights, and a household power outlet inside the vehicle. Getting that package unlocks the Leather Group, which slaps on another $700 to the Encore's price tag. The Leather Group adds leather upholstery on the seats, a power passenger seat, driver's seat position memory, and heated seats.  The Premium Group tacks on mostly driver's assistance features like rain-sensing wipers, a lane departure warning system, front and rear parking sensors, a forward collision warning system, and finally it adds a Bose premium sound system.  $1500 is the cost for all-wheel-drive, chrome wheels are $995, Buick's IntelliLink multimedia system with navigation is $795, a...

Recently, NHTSA  has updated its crash-test procedures. Under it, the following model-year 2013 vehicles have gotten scores:  Ford Escape- 4/5 stars overall, with rollover and side crash testing standing out as 5-stars.  Mitsubishi Outlander Sport- 4 stars across the board Hyundai Elantra GT (hatchback)- 5 stars overall BMW ActiveHybrid 3- Five stars overall, with only frontal crashes netting 4 stars. Mazda CX-5- Four start everywhere with the exception of the side-impact tests, in which it snagged a 5-star rating.  33 more cars, 16 SUVs, 4 pickup trucks and one van are to be crashed in 2013. Those vehicles will comprise over around the neighborhood of 85% off all new car sales. 

Let's start with the 2013 Ford Fusion, a hyped family sedan to go on sale this autumn. The engine with the highest gas mileage, a turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder motor, gets 25/37 city/highway miles per gallon when put through the EPA gas mileage tests. The manual transmission Fusions with the 1.6-liter engine drop 3 miles per gallon overall. The powerful V-6 replacement 2-liter four cylinder gets 22/33 city/highway miles per gallon, on par with V-6 competitors. A carryover bare-bones 2.5-liter four-cylinder delivers 22/34 city/highway miles per gallon. The preceding figures beat most family sedans except for the 2013 Nissan Altima, which scores 27/38 city/highway miles per gallon with a 2.5-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder and a CVT transmission. The Fusion will start at $22495, which covers a destination fee.  Then there's the Ford Fusion Hybrid, to directly fight against the Toyota Camry Hybrid and Hyundai Sonata/Kia Optima Hybrids. While a little more costly...

From Lexus pops out another crazy concept. This time around, it's still a coupe with a hybrid powertrain, but the LF-CC is much more production-friendly than say, the LF-LC. The LF-CC stands for Lexus Future Coupe Concept.  I'm just going to let the design speak for itself. Everything you see on current Lexus's are bolder. The real show is all the little details however, like the brake-light antennae, intricate taillights, and front lighting elements. It kind of reminds me of Citroen and how they have clever little details. But thing like the extravagant front bumper and touchscreen center stack wouldn't be suitable for the real world.  As said, the concept has a hybrid powertrain. The car this concept previews though, the IS, won't get a hybrid powertrain in the Unites States. The concept makes its debut in-person at the 2012 Paris Motor Show a little bit later this month. A production IS will hit the world sometime around March of 2013. 

I've always liked the comfort, design, and spaciousness of the Buick Enclave. That's why my family is considering the 2012 model year Enclave as a car to shop for this year. Why not the 2013? It's because Buick audaciously decided to jack up the new Enclave's price up to $39270 from $36500 of the 2012's.  The 2013 Enclave, once again, comes standard with cloth upholstery. It does add LED lighting elements, Buick's IntelliLink multimedia system, a more premium interior, and a new driver's inboard mounted airbag. Still, I do not believe those additions justify such a price jump, even if the 2012 Enclave kind of overlaps its refreshed cousin, the 2013 GMC Acadia.  Leather comes in a package that raises the price to $43285, and brings heated front seats, a power passenger seat, seat position memory settings, a blind spot warning system, and a cross-traffic alert. A Premium Group stuffs in other miscellaneous goodies, like a powered steering column, a Bose ...

The restyled Acadia, which looks way too similar to the since-discontinued Saturn Outlook if you ask me, has been priced. The prices have risen significantly.  $34875 is the new starting price for the Acadia, including an $825 destination fee. That a jump of $1215 over the 2012 Acadia. It does come standard with a 6.5-inch touchscreen, rear parking assist with camera, LED daytime running lamps, USB port, and HD radio. There's also a driver's side inboard airbag, the first in the industry. However, $1215 isn't a small increase. The loaded Denali version starts at $46770, and has luxury features such as a powered steering column, blind-spot warning system, a heads-up display, and a rear-cross-path detection system.  Both the Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse siblings of this car have also been refreshed substantially, but those cars haven't been priced yet. The new Acadia goes on sale this autumn. 

The new, 2013 Honda is Accord is more refined, comes standard with a manual transmission still, and nets better fuel economy ratings from the EPA than the old Accord did. Check out my full cover of the 2013 Honda Accord if you want more information than just a base price and gas mileage. Speaking of the base price, it is $22470. The price rises to $34220 for the top-level Touring trim, though, but the base LX still comes well-equipped.  Anyways, the manual four-cylinder Accord gets 24/34 city/highway miles per gallon, the CVT  Accord ($800 option in the sedan, $850 on the coupe) is rated at 27/36 city/highway miles per gallon, the V-6 Accord sedans with a new 6-speed automatic transmission is up to 21/34 city/highway miles per gallon, and finally the sporty V-6/6-speed manual transmission combination only available on the coupe is the most gas-guzzling at 18/28 city/highway miles per gallon, while the V-6 coupe with the automatic is strangely down to 21/32 city/highway mil...

To me, I think Chrysler should've kept the Dodge name in the new Viper, but branding mistake aside, it is a slightly tamer version of the brutally awesome previous-generation Dodge Viper. Don't worry, as the professional reviewers tell us that most qualities of the Viper carryover, just toned a a notch.  All this newfound refinement spins the base price to $99395, which does include a very hefty $1995 destination fee. The even harder-core track GTS variant will be $122390 without any extra options. For reference, the 2010 Viper's needed only $93635 to buy.  The Corvette ZR1, which compares nicely with the 640-horsepower V-10 powered Viper, starts at $113575. The new Viper officially goes on sale sometime before 2013. 

The Acura ILX, Ford Escape, Subaru BRZ, and Scion FR-S are four redesigned-for-2013 model year vehicles that got a best score of "Good" in all crash test areas, including the strenuous roof-strength test.  Just because the new Escape can withstand crashes fairly well doesn't mean all Escapes are safe. Keep in mind that the new Escape has been recalled 3 times since it officially came onto the market in June, so if you own an Escape, check for recalls. 

Frankly, the current Accord is just plain uncompetitive when put side-by-side to some the newer competition. The good news is that the new Accord in goes on sale on September 19 of this year in sedan form, October 13 in coupe form, early next year in plug-in hybrid form, and the summer of 2013 in conventional hybrid form. I've got a ton of information to cover, so here we go.  Midsize sedans' fuel economy has just absolutely shot up in the past two years or so. The Accord sedan with the base four-cylinder is rated by the EPA at 27/36 city/highway miles per gallon, and the Accord V-6 is good for 21/34 city/highway miles per gallon. The new four-cylinder Accord betters the current one by 3 miles per gallon in the combined rating, not bad, but not as good as the class-leading Altima's 27/38 city/highway miles per gallon.  The mechanicals behind the improved fuel economy is the new, direct-injected 2.4-liter mated to a CVT transmission. The powertrain is ridiculously name...

Volvo has been known for making safe vehicles (in fact, the S60 was one of the two cars that scored "Good" in IIHS's new small overlap test), but this recall might affect your opinions. In any case, it isn't that big of a deal.  A software anomaly in the tire pressure monitoring system is causing the 300 affected cars to not be able to turn on the low tire pressure light when the tire pressure gets low. Under inflated tires make your car handle differently and use more fuel.  Volvo hasn't said when they'll spread word to owners about this problem, but Volvo dealers will repair the affected cars for free of charge. If you more questions about this recall, please call NHTSA's safety hotline at 888-327-4236 or Volvo at 1-800-458-1552.