Tag: VehicleVoice

AutoPacific: In a segment that’s growing in popularity, the Corolla takes home the 2008 Motorist Choice Award®. The Corolla pulled past 18 competitors with high marks for both brand and vehicle reputation. Owner’s touted the car’s overall quality; Corolla had the highest ratings in its segment for interior quietness, easy-to-handle controls and driver’s seat visibility.
IntelliChoice: The Corolla has a class-leading retained value and is second in both overall ownership costs and fuel costs.

AutoPacific: Call it ‘entry-level luxury’, ‘compact executive’, or ‘aspirational luxury,’ but owners are simply calling it a winner. They rate Lexus’ brand reputation and Lexus dealerships as significant contributors toward the brand’s 2008 Motorist Choice Award® win. With segment-leading overall satisfaction, the Lexus IS scored extremely well with owners in durability, reliability and overall quality. Owners also gave the IS high marks for quality materials, instrumentation, controls and comfy seats.
IntelliChoice: The Lexus IS has the Best in Class ownership costs, best retained value and strong fuel and repair costs.

Toyota announced today that in light of greatly diminished sales of the full-size Tundra pickup and Sequoia SUV, the company will start selling them on the international market. As with just about every other full-size pickup and SUV, these big Toyotas have suffered greatly at the hands of $4 per gallon gasoline. The situation is particularly troubling because most Tundras are built in a brand-new (and extremely expensive) purpose-built factory in San Antonio, Texas – smack in the middle of truck country.

The 2009 Toyota Tundra: Right at Home in Uzbekhistan!
It’s a rare stumble for the usually unimpeachable Toyota; the company had invested untold dollars in developing and manufacturing a true full-size pickup contender that could go toe-to-toe with the best of the Big 3 pickups, only to have the market for such vehicles tank in a matter of months. As the Tundra [...]

A terrific way to spend an August in Sunday: Meadow Brook Concours d' Elegance in Rochester, Michigan.

A terrific way to spend an August in Sunday: Meadow Brook Concours d' Elegance in Rochester, Michigan.

Summer’s getting on. It’s still blisteringly hot most of the time, but it’s getting dark a little earlier each night, and the great summer holidays – Memorial Day, Independence Day, my birthday – are behind us. Only the county fair stands between us and the short, quick slide into autumn.

Positively bucolic. It can’t last.

Nissan and Chrysler appear to be getting closer and closer to merging major parts of their product lineups.

No doubt many of you have heard the news about the Domestic manufacturers pulling back from leasing. Chrysler has pulled out of leasing altogether effective August 1 while Ford and GM are significantly raising their lease rates on many vehicles, particularly trucks whose residuals are now in the tank.

What’s the rationale here, and what does it mean for the consumer? Well, let’s start off real quick with a one-paragraph explanation of leasing for the benefit of those of you who are still a bit confused as to what leasing is (it’s ok to admit it – there are more than a few of us!). In a nutshell, when you lease a vehicle, you’re essentially paying monthly payments that add up to the difference between what the vehicle is worth new and what the car is pre-determined to be worth (residuals or resale value) when [...]

No doubt many of you have heard the news about the Domestic manufacturers pulling back from leasing. Chrysler has pulled out of leasing altogether effective August 1 while Ford and GM are significantly raising their lease rates on many vehicles, particularly trucks whose residuals are now in the tank.

What’s the rationale here, and what does it mean for the consumer? Well, let’s start off real quick with a one-paragraph explanation of leasing for the benefit of those of you who are still a bit confused as to what leasing is (it’s ok to admit it – there are more than a few of us!). In a nutshell, when you lease a vehicle, you’re essentially paying monthly payments that add up to the difference between what the vehicle is worth new and what the car is pre-determined to be worth (residuals or resale value) when [...]

Katrina takes on the drive from Detroit to New York, and back.