Author Archive: George Peterson

Cadillac's SRX has what it takes to challenge the Luxury Crossover SUV segment.

Honda's Accord Crosstour: Familiar. Maybe a little too much so?

Nissan lays down the gauntlet with heavily aggressive pricing for their first EV, the LEAF.

The 2011 Ford Mustang has all new engines - a new 3.7L V6 and an all new unique-to-Mustang 5.0L V8. This has been reported in the media, buff books, blogosphere, etc for the past couple of months. But after being exposed to the 2011 iteration of the Mustang, there is much more than meets the eye.

We recently got a chance to drive the European version of the Ford Fiesta, which is due to hit American Ford showrooms this summer. Engineered and developed mostly by Ford’s European unit in Köln, Germany (but using a platform developed by Mazda), the Fiesta is an early example of the company’s One Ford initiative that aims to leverage its global resources and commonize Ford products around the world. Up until now, Ford has usually developed specific Fords for specific markets, but the company believes that global tastes are converging and offering greater opportunities for cars like the small Fiesta to come to North America.

We recently got a chance to drive the European version of the Ford Fiesta, which is due to hit American Ford showrooms this summer. Engineered and developed mostly by Ford’s European unit in Köln, Germany (but using a platform developed by Mazda), the Fiesta is an early example of the company’s One Ford initiative that aims to leverage its global resources and commonize Ford products around the world. Up until now, Ford has usually developed specific Fords for specific markets, but the company believes that global tastes are converging and offering greater opportunities for cars like the small Fiesta to come to North America.

Suzuki's SX4 SportBack comes with a standard low-cost navigation system. Does it measure up?

Whenever I evaluate a vehicle, I always pick an appropriate soundtrack. You see, I’m all about immersing myself into the experience of whatever a given car is supposed to represent. A bad-to-the-bone pickup truck? I’ll put on some Johnny Cash (or if it’s a Chevy truck, Bob Seger, of course). A stylish high-performance German coupe? I’ll cue up some nu-jazz, perhaps from the likes of Christian Prommer’s Drumlesson or Jazzanova. So, when I grabbed the keys to the Mustang Shelby GT500 with 540 supercharged horses, the only song that could possibly come to mind was the theme song from Team America whose title we can’t print here. Expletive-filled and crass, to be sure, but then again, so is the Shelby GT500.

AutoPacific's Research Suite database that annually collects the opinions of over 30,000 buyers of new cars and light trucks asked which of 27 brands a new owner would buy from. The results from AutoPacific's Consumer Brands Study clearly show the interrelationship between owners of auto brands and buyers of twenty-seven consumer brands like Walmart, Lowe's, Apple, Sony, Hugo Boss, Costco, McDonalds and more.

Hyundai's Sonata proves a worthy choice for the mid-size car segment: Attractive, powerful, and affordable.