Our Honda S2000’s battery wasn’t holding charge as well as it should, so when it finally died after just over a year, we called in our buddies at Batt-Mobile to replace the battery right down in our parking lot.
The American-built VW Passat got a minor facelift last year, having been on the market since 2012. We thought it’d have a bigger impact on the midsize sedan scene, given that it easily has the most cabin space in this segment, but key features were missing that may have caused it to become an also-ran. Several of those issues have now been addressed.
After spinning off from the sensible 3-Series sedan, the BMW 4-Series range of coupes has been around for a few years now. The whole 4-Series family, which includes the Coupe, Cabriolet, Gran Coupe and the M4, has been given a small refresh for 2017 but you need a BMW-fanboy eye to spot the changes.
Porsche has a history of creating cars that cause a negative reaction, even if only temporarily. Aging enthusiasts will remember the 914 from the 70s. Millennials will remember the first Cayenne. And more recently, there was the Panamera, the German carmaker’s first ever sedan which was actually a stretched hatchback. But while derided when launched, all three went on to become bestsellers, much more so than the iconic 911. For 2017, there is a new Panamera hitting the streets, but no one can say any more that the styling is found wanting.
Honda has been busy trying new things lately, and while we may never see the fruits of their labour when it comes to the NSX or the Type-R, we are now getting a base version of the latest Honda Civic with a 1.6-litre engine. Spec it up for a few bucks though, and it’s hard to tell it apart from the 2.0-litre version.
The Mustang’s importance in Ford’s lineup has grown ever more important since they started to build it in right-hand-drive to cater to more markets, as well as taking on the European market against the continent’s own premium offerings. So just 2 years after the Mustang received an overhaul, Ford has now updated it visually and mechanically to keep it fresh. The 2018 Ford Mustang has dropped the base V6 model to soldier on with just two engine choices, in both coupe and convertible body styles.
The Mitsubishi Lancer has been in production for 43 years, with the current generation soldiering on for almost a decade. That’s how big a memory it is going to be after this August. Yes, the iconic Lancer is on its way out with no replacement in sight. The depose of the popular sedan is due to Mitsubishi’s new strategy that involves just crossovers and SUVs.
GMC has revealed their all-new 2018 Terrain crossover at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show. Built on GMC’s D2XX platform, the 2018 Terrain resembles the bigger Acadia in many ways, but GMC has done quite a bit of work to keep the brothers differentiated visually.
Lexus has just launched their all-new fifth-generation LS sedan at the 2017 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. It will be longer, lower and wider than the outgoing model that’s been dragging on for the past decade with just facelifts. And it will now be called the LS 500
Quite possibly the most anticipated debut at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show, the all-new 2018 Toyota Camry has been revealed, just two years after a major update of the current model.