The Camry is probably the one vehicle everyone who loves cars could care less about 100% of the time. In essence, it’s vanilla-flavored vanilla, with no other description. But, everyone’s either sat in one, ridden in one, or driven one at some point, including me. My daily driver up until very recently was a tan 2007 Hybrid. It still, though, outsells everything in its segment and all of its competitors use it as a benchmark. The 2007-2011 Camry was a true bestseller and sent everyone back to the drawing board. But, it’s new again this year, so I took the wheel of this slick SE V6 and asked this question: Will it repeat the trick it made back in 2007? Continue reading Test Driven: 2012 Toyota Camry SE V6→
Back in the fall at the Radnor Hunt Concours, I took an opportunity to drive a couple of new Cadillacs. Most of you know I drove an Escalade Hybrid, but the real treat was to yet again sample that great-tasting supercharged V8 which lies in the engine compartment of the CTS-V. In this case, the test car was the deep gray sedan you see above. It had a few options that the coupe I drove back in June did not, so I took it for a drive (on much different roads than the coupe) around the rolling hills of Pennsylvania’s countryside. Continue reading Test Driven: 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Sedan→
Since my grandpa got his first Mini Cooper in 2002, I’ve always looked at them with an air of respect. Mini has been trying to expand the brand out since 2008 when the Clubman came out, and now, the new Coupe is said to be the most hardcore chassis they put on the market. With all that in mind, I went to a local dealer and tried one out. This new black car was an interesting mix of things, but I stepped out of it at the end of the drive with a lot to think about. Continue reading Test Driven: Mini Cooper Coupe→
I got bored watching the Detroit Lions get beaten to a sad, bloody pulp on Thanksgiving by the Green Bay Packers, so I decided to go take something for a drive. Thanks to a close friend of my uncle, I obtained the keys to his personal Mercedes E350 4Matic, a car that’s quite successful around my hometown in northern New Jersey. So, in the interest of asking why people love these cars so much, I took half an hour out of Turkey Day and had myself a drive of this black Benz. Continue reading Test Driven: Mercedes-Benz E350 4Matic→
I’ve gotten used to hybrids in the four years I’ve driven them. They aren’t glamorous, they aren’t designed to make you feel like Ayrton Senna in the mountains, and they’re certainly not designed to tow a boat. That is, of course, until General Motors decided otherwise. Meet the Cadillac Escalade. It’s the most expensive, most blinged-out, and most conspicuous SUV GM offers, and it now comes as a hybrid. I wonder what Greenpeace thinks? Well, in reality, I don’t give a damn what they think, so I decided to see what this V8-powered mild hybrid, full-size, full-frame truck was all about at the Radnor Hunt Concours last September. Continue reading Test Driven: 2011 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid→
As some of our readers might know, my very first post on Mind Over Motor was about the upcoming diesel option on the new Volkswagen Passat. Well, it’s here. And, somewhere along the way, the Passat won Motor Trend‘s 2012 Car of the Year award, one of the most prestigious in the business. This was likely due in no small part to the new diesel model, among other things. But, I had to find out for myself just what else makes this new Passat “Car of the Year”. A local dealer had one ready for a drive, so I took the opportunity and drove it around to find out. Continue reading Test Driven: 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI SEL→
On December 18th, Saab Automobile filed for bankruptcy, bringing its 64 year offbeat history to an unfortunate end. Saab enthusiasts are some of the most vocal and most possessive of their brand, and undoubtedly, they will mourn the loss of this name. Around Thanksgiving weekend, I decided to add another car to my wagon test–Saab’s own wagon, the 9-3 SportCombi. At the moment, it’s the only wagon Saab sells in the United States, and when I got to the dealer, the car I drove was already discounted by $9,000. This amount is no misprint–and any new car marked down this much is either a demo, or the dealer seriously needs it off the lot (in this case, the latter). But, when I started the engine, I forgot about Saab’s financial woes, and asked myself this question: Despite all the gloom and doom, is this car actually worth buying right now? Continue reading Test Driven: 2011 SAAB 9-3X SportCombi→
I first saw the new VW Beetle up close at the New York International Autoshow this past year. I was very excited to see that the new version had become more of a sporting machine and less of a decorated flowerpot. On the surface the Beetle is on the same chassis as the Golf, and the one I was interested in, the Beetle Turbo, basically has the same mechanics as the famed GTI. This made me wonder how similar they really were to each other because I know VW would not want to steal sales from themselves. I decided to go try them both out back to back and compare. Continue reading Test Driven: 2012 VW Beetle Turbo vs 2012 VW GTI→
Rolls-Royce, unlike Bentley, was a single-model brand, using a single chassis and creating derivatives of it for years. The Phantom, Phantom Coupe, and Phantom DHC were all based off of the same platform, but R-R recently put out a new, “entry-level” model, called the Ghost. So, with one available for test drives at the Pebble Beach Concours this past summer, I set out to see if the entry-level model was as good as its older, bigger brother, the Phantom. In a nutshell, it does a great job. Continue reading Test Driven: Rolls-Royce Ghost, Al’s Take→
It won’t win beauty contests, but at least it looks like a proper truck, and has the credentials underneath.
Toyota is one of three major automakers still offering an off-road biased SUV, the other two being Nissan (the Xterra) and Chrysler (the Jeep Wrangler). The FJ Cruiser calls up Toyota’s heritage of offering tough-as-nails trucks to go anywhere and do anything, no matter how hard the task or the climate. The old FJ40 Land Cruisers are some of the most famous trucks in the world, but on the surface, the FJ Cruiser seems to be a different story. When I first saw it on sale, I thought it looked like an oversized Tonka Truck, but thanks to the FJ40’s reputation, I figured it was worth a drive, so that’s exactly what I did. Continue reading Test Driven: 2011 Toyota FJ Cruiser→
At Pebble Beach, there are test drives everywhere. Mercedes, of course, decided to one-up everyone else there by getting a primo spot right by the security gate, just past the Palm Club. After a bit of talking with the booth professionals, we signed the papers and gave away our sanity to drive an SLS AMG, CLS63 AMG, and Maybach 57S. The SLS, however, was easily the one I was the most excited about. Continue reading Test Driven: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, Al’s Take→
The Beetle’s shape is probably one of the best-known (and in some circles, most reviled) shapes on the road. However, the previous “New Beetle” was getting old by 2011, and Volkswagen took the time to completely redesign it for 2012. Because of its cultural impact over the years (and the fact that I know some people who read this site are interested), I took one for a drive recently. Continue reading Test Driven: 2012 Volkswagen Beetle 2.5→
Mind Over Motor 