Category: On The Road: Driving Impressions

You know what a Honda Accord is, don’t you? Yep, it’s that competent and durable sedan that wins plenty of accolades for its sheer competence. Of course, it’s also about as exciting as a pet rock. That doesn’t matter to hundreds of thousands of people who buy an Accord each year because of its quality, reputation, and well thought out details that make it such an easy conveyance to live with. Still, for more enthusiastic drivers, the Accord remains something of an appliance.
Overseas in Europe, the Accord exists over there too, but in somewhat different form. It’s a little bit smaller and a little bit sexier. It’s also positioned a bit more upscale in Europe too as a competitor to cars like Audi A4 and BMW 3-Series. Acura saw fit to bring the last European Accord over as the TSX, and now that nameplate has just entered its second generation.

Purely from an aesthetic perspective, this C30 is a gorgeous thing. Its super-Scandinavian modernist contours, its low-slung profile, and distinctive rear styling are all very novel and very appealing. Still, sales are confirming what we long suspected – that it’s ultimately very much a niche product. We expect Volvo to sell about 4,000 examples of this Swedish hot hatch in 2008. Even if the economy hadn’t crashed this year, we doubt its sales would have been much higher.

VehicleVoice's Keagan Patrick compares his Toyota Tacoma to Nissan's latest Frontier.

Meet Nissan's 2009 Xterra and Frontier: New boss, same as the old boss.

We had the opportunity to drive the all new Toyota Venza in the Laurel Highlands of Western Pennsylvania at the height of the fall color change. The venue - the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, PA was an outstanding venue surrounded by fun to drive roads allowing a quick stop at Fallingwater a 1930s era home designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

VehicleVoice correspondent Jim Hossack attended a 2009 Ford F-150 driving preview – and reports that it was well worth it. The Dodge Ram is the other big truck news of this season, so we decided to bring you reviews of both trucks this week.
Hossack says Ford put on a very thorough, very professional series of presentation, with plenty of opportunity to evaluate the new F-150 and facing competition under a variety of circumstances. Hossack was about as impressed with the passion and enthusiasm of the guys working on the program as with the truck itself.

Ah yes, the Mercury Milan, the upscale sister ship to the Ford Fusion. Aimed at younger buyers who want something a little more sophisticated than the Dodge Avenger or Mitsubishi Galant. Mercury aims the Milan at the Nissan Altima, Honda Accord and Toyota Camry buyer. We definitely wanted to take a closer look.

To be honest it’s very rare for a 4-door mid-size car from Mercury to really knock my socks off. In terms of sex appeal I typically think Mercury ranks right up there with… well, Buick (that’s right, there isn’t any sex appeal – alright the new Buick Enclave has a little). With that said, I must admit the Milan is a great mid-size car. It really does have a few things going for it – style, comfort, and value. It was one of those cars I didn’t want to like [...]

2008 Toyota Sequoia wins over owners, but not critics.

Buick Lucerne Super receives glowing review from VehicleVoice staff.

I almost have to feel sorry for the “new” Ford Taurus. It’s actually a really innovative, clever, and compelling sedan, but it’s clad in a wrapper that’s so dull and forgettable that I actually had to sit and think hard to remember my drive experience with the car so that I would have something meaningful to say for this story!

The 2008 Ford Taurus. What, did you forget it exists?
Considering just how dreary it looks, the car has a pretty interesting and convoluted pedigree. Let’s start with the Taurus nameplate. Introduced for the 1986 model year, the original Taurus was nothing short of revolutionary. Its radical styling was unlike anything ever seen on American roads, yet the beauty and cohesiveness of its design and proportions made it a must-have all across the country. It soon went on to become America’s best selling car. [...]