From the Passenger's Seat

I noticed recently that Japanese vehicles have been getting increasingly ugly for the past year or so. Here are two examples at the 2012 L.A. Auto Show:  1. 2014 Toyota RAV4 I don't know what the Toyota designers were thinking. From the robotic face to the black plastic fangs in the lower front fascia to the seemingly unfinished rear bumper to the bat-like rear to the blocky interior, the new RAV4 looks like a disaster. And so does all of Toyota's redesigned products from the 2012 Camry and beyond.  2. 2014 Acura RLX First of all, what is with the name? Did the RL really need a X following it? I feel that RL is a perfectly fine name, and adding an X made it seem less unique and harder to distinguish in Acura's lineup. The addition of the X in the name isn't the worst thing though, the RLX also has bug-like LED headlights. Even worse, those atrocious headlights are standard! And the rear looks like it was stolen from the Chevrolet Cruze, which is n...

I was looking through some photos of the new debuts of the Los Angeles Auto Show, and I noticed one thing all of these cars had in common: the center air vents of the interior are all mounted to the side of the center controls! Well, not all of them, of course. Take a look:

Slated to go on sale next spring, the 2014 Impala aims to break its rental car past with its coupe-like profile, expressive styling elements, and a plusher interior. The seemingly improved 2014 Impala's base price is $27535 (including a $810 destination charge). That doesn't look like such a premium over the 2013 Impala's $26685 starting price (including a $825 destination charge), but sneaky Chevrolet put a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine in the base 2014 Impala. The 2013 Impala comes with a standard 3.6-liter V-6.  Nevertheless, you can still get the 3.6-liter V-6 in the 2014 Impala, though the cheapest V-6 Impala is $30760. Trim levels in ascending order are the LS, LT, and LTZ. The base LS can only be equipped with the 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine. The LT with the 2.5-liter engine is $29785, while the LT with the V-6 as mentioned before is $30760. The LTZ with the 2.5-liter is $34555, and the V-6 LTZ is $36580. Technologically advanced featured not offered on the...

This is the 2012 RAV4, not the 2013 If you're just dying for a new RAV4 like the rest of us (the current-generation RAV4 first went on sale in 2005), you won't have to wait much longer. Today, Toyota has released a little teaser video of the 2013 RAV4, and announced that it will debut at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show on November 29.  You only get short little glimpses of the new RAV4 in the video, but it does give you an idea that the RAV4 will wear Toyota's new styling theme as shown in the Camry and 2013 Avalon. Expect the new RAV4 to go on sale shortly after its debut. Here's the link for the video: http://bcove.me/mnoapev1

If you have been following me consistently for a long time, you know that I always post 4 days a week, Monday through Thursday, every week unless I'm on vacation. Well, sadly, that has changed. With me being in school now, it gets hard for me to update consistently. So I apologize, guys. I wanted to post about the new Transit Connect yesterday, but I was caught up cooking for a project and then going to have fun at my friend's house (oops, I wasn't supposed to tell you that). Anyways, I didn't have much time to do anything, so I ended up not posting a new post. Thank you to all of anyone who has followed me, but my updates to this blog may be choppy and inconsistent.

The current Civic has gotten much criticism in its reviews. Honda doesn't want to take that, so they decided to hurry in a refresh for the next model year of this Civic. Today, Honda has put out 2 photos of the a 2013 Civic sedan.  This a fairly thorough refresh for the Civic, and it shows on the exterior. It resembles the new, 2013 Accord, which isn't all that surprising. You should expect even more obvious changes to the interior, where most of the critiques were aimed at.  Honda also promises chassis and comfort improvements as well. The same 140-horsepower 2-liter four cylinder engine should remain, however. The 2013 Civic will debut and at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show and go on sale at dealerships both on November 29.

The redesigned 2013 Ford Fusion has scored the highest score Good in all of the Institute's crash tests, including the roof strength test, where a vehicle has to uphold 4 times its roof crumples down 5 inches or more (the Fusion withheld 5.14 times its own weight).  As for competitors that have earned a Top Safety Pick from IIHS, the new 2013 Chevrolet Malibu has. The redesigned 2013 Honda Accord and Nissan Altima have both not been tested by the IIHS yet. 

The name might be a mouthful to say, but the Mini Cooper JWC (for short) GP is a serious performance car that demands serious money. As a hatchback, it costs $39950, or almost $40K, a price increase of $8800 over the last, 2006 GP. That is entry-level luxury territory.  In comparison to the regular John Cooper Works, the GP has the same 211 horsepower, but 53 more pounds-feet of torque for a total of 260 pounds-feet of torque, making it the quickest Mini ever.  You do get an adjustable coil-over suspension, 17-inch wheels, larger brakes, and a racier design in addition to the added torque. Also included in exclusivity; only 500 Mini Cooper John Cooper Works GP are going to be sold in the Unites States. 

It is no surprise that Suzuki is filing for bankruptcy. In America, Suzuki's cars have not been selling well at all. What does this mean? It essentially shuts down the automotive sector of Suzuki in the United States. Don't worry though, your Suzuki car warranties are still honored if they are valid, and Suzuki cars sold in America after the bankruptcy will still have the regular warranty.  While Suzuki car sales will cease in the United States, Suzuki will still focus on ATVs, motorcycles, and marine products. 

The 2011 Mazda RX-8 Many, well few, people weeped when the RX-8 was discontinues in 2011. Sales were minuscule, and the RX-8 simply didn't make any sense for Mazda to sell anymore.  Now, they rotary enthusiasts at Mazda are preparing another rotary-engined little sports car to succeed the ill-fated RX-8. Rumor has it will be called the RX-7, a name used until 2002. The engine will be a next-generation rotary engine from Mazda, and it will be 1.6 liters, yet produce an estimated 300 horsepower.  The new RX-7 is going to utilize aluminum for low mass. Rumor also has it that the next RX-7 wil be based off the next Miata's platform.  As for pricing, Mazda says that the next RX-7 will fall in between Nissan's sporty coupes, which are the Nissan 370Z and GT-R, both of which starts at  $43,810 and  $97,820, respectively. That means the next RX-7 will be a lot costlier than the RX-8, which started at  $26,795. In any case, the new RX-7 probably...

Big news guys: Hyundai-Kia (they're actually loosely related, and their cars share many platforms and components) is paying 900000 owners money in debit card! It's because they've been advertising their fuel economy numbers incorrectly, and they're now trying to pay all of those people back for the extra fuel they've used relative to their vehicle's mileage. This thing affects many Hyundai-Kia vehicles from model years 2011-2013. Now, I've had a lot of homework this week, so I really want to relax today. That's why I didn't post anything in Wednesday and Thursday, and why I'm directing here http://blogs.cars.com/ for comprehensive coverage on this subject.