More people are buying green vehicles — such as gas/electric hybrids or cars powered by other sources — due to concerns about the environment and high gasoline prices. But do they save you money?

Are you thinking about going “green” when purchasing your next vehicle? If green is on your horizon, then you’ll want to browse through these frequently asked questions.

General Motors Corp has a reached a preliminary agreement to sell its Saturn brand to Penske Automotive Group in a deal that could preserve more than 350 dealerships and 13,000 jobs, the companies said Friday.

Washington—Before filing for bankruptcy protection Thursday, Chrysler LLC in recent weeks sought to sell parts of the company to Chinese companies and explored partnerships with nearly every major automaker over the past two years—including Toyota Motor Corp.

Or perhaps more accurately, which of these popular SUV’s turned my crank the most after spending back-to-back weeks with them: the Acura RDX or Mazda CX-7? 

It sports a new set of clothes and a grown up demeanor, but is the TSX still Acura’s bad boy, the little sedan with attitude?

A3: it’s small, it’s a wagon and, as usually happens when I live with an Audi for a spell, it tore at my heartstrings to give it back.

It’s another one hit out of the park for Audi and its A6.

Remember when calling something “The Cadillac of (whatever)” really meant something? Those days may be dawning again, if the new Cadillac CTS is any indication.

The 2009 Chevy Aveo is a good little commuter car, suited perfectly for trips around town. It’s small, pleasant to drive and be in, and seems as easy to please as a new puppy.

If the Chevy Traverse is any indication, General Motors has the potential for a rosy future if the financial Sword of Damocles can be removed from over it.

Talk about making a fuel of yourself. The Dodge Dakota midsized pickup is a heavy duty beast that for 2008 is capable of driving right past the gas pump – and straight to the ethanol one.

Big and brawny, with plenty of towing and hauling capability, the latest generations of full size pickup trucks are the most capable and sophisticated yet.

Lincoln’s new full size sedan is packed with all kinds of nifty features and offers good performance. But is it enough to bring in new customers to the famous brand?

It’s big, it’s boxy, it’s flexible! It’s the new Flex, Ford’s latest entry into the increasingly crowded crossover market

With the grass finally rizzing in my area, it’s safe for companies that make outdoors-oriented stuff to show off some of their latest wares without worrying excessively about getting snowed out. 

Maybe it can be thought of as a “Post-Prius”.


Honda’s brand new Insight is the carmaker’s second kick at making a hybrid by that name, but the two Insights are very, very different from each other. 

Who needs a full-sized pickup these days?

Talk about retro!

The Lexus LX 570 is the latest iteration of a vehicle that really began life decades ago as the Toyota Land Cruiser wagon – a fine vehicle then and today. The current version features a bigger and more powerful engine, more interior volume, more technology and more luxury appointments than you can shake a stick at. 

It’s a lean, mean driving machine, yet it comes from a company whose name is more associated with luxury than sports.

Love may not be quite as wonderful the second time around. But it’s still pretty good!

You certainly can’t accuse Mazda of false advertising for using “Zoom-Zoom” as their slogan.

Other than some tweaking of options, Mazda’s little six seater hasn’t changed much for 2009 – and that may be ‘cause this miniature minivan didn’t need much changing anyway.

It’s the Mazda6 , which the company says is all new from stem to stern and top to bottom – and which surely looks and feels that way. In fact, so far as its looks are concerned, I think this is one of the best-looking sedans on the road today, sporty and modern and lovely to behold. And that’s saying something; I thought the previous 6 was one of the nicest styling jobs around, yet park it next to the fresh 6 and the previous generation looks positively frumpy.

Take some world class cars from one of Germany’s top marques, add a day on a road course race track learning and honing your driving skills, and what do you have?

Mercedes-Benz’ C class is the most affordable of the German carmaker’s sedan line, but that doesn’t mean it feels like an entry level vehicle.
It is, after all, a Mercedes. And that means even its lower end cars are upper echelon in the grand scheme of things. So it is with the new C.

Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada (MMSCAN) announced, today, its new zero-emission electric car I MiEV could hit the streets of Canada as early as November 2009.

It’s raw! It’s visceral! It’s “Basic transportation on steroids”!

Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada (MMSCAN) announced, today, its new zero-emission electric car I MiEV could hit the streets of Canada as early as November 2009.

If you thought Nissan Murano Version 1.0 was a pretty decent vehicle, you’ll probably love what they’ve done to it in Version 2.0.

Take a popular mid-sized sedan, weld two doors shut and what do you get?

Pontiac’s little wagon is back, with new looks, new features and new power. It’s a nice car, too, roomy and reasonably fun to drive.

They called it the “Catch the Vibe” Challenge, and it was definitely challenging.

Can a lowly V6 propel a 4800 pound Porsche to the kind of blistering speeds for which the company’s vehicles are known? Or is it more a way to save some bucks and gas while still getting the Porsche cachet?

Porsche is expanding its successful range of SUVs with an exclusive, limited-edition model. The company will build just 1,000 numbered units of the new Cayenne GTS Porsche Design Edition 3, Boxster S,

While the name Saab is also associated with cool jet fighters such as the Gripen, when it comes to the Saab 9-3 Aero sedan, the Swedish manufacturer’s automotive offerings are far more down to earth.

The Saturn Astra, according to a radio commercial in my neck of the woods, is the top selling car in Europe.

Really? It’s certainly not a “disAstra”, but the bestselling car of any sold in all of Europe? I don’t get it. 

Subaru Canada, Inc. (SCI) is pleased to announce the debut of the all-new 2010 Subaru Outback at the New York International Auto Show. The fourth generation of the Outback is roomier and more capable - moving this versatile vehicle outside the scope of easy categorization just as the first Outback did 15 years ago. Distinguished by bolder and crisper styling, the all-new 2010 Subaru Outback delivers enhanced
performance, comfort, and fuel economy with the introduction of an all-new chassis and the new Subaru Lineartronic(TM) CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission). Capability is enhanced with a segment-first swing-out roof rail and crossbar design and more ground clearance.

Subaru Canada, Inc. (SCI) is proud to announce that the 2009 Forester is one of just four small SUVs out of a total of 12 evaluated to earn top marks from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in its stricter new rollover testing.

Talk about a vehicle with an appropriate name!

Toyota’s Sequoia is an immense motor vehicle, a “full sized SUV” that seems about the mass of an Airbus A380, it’s large enough to haul a family of eight and a lot of their stuff. It also makes a heckuva statement on the road. 

It has an all-new body, more room inside, and many other upgrades, but at heart it’s still a Toyota Corolla. And that should please millions of people.

Who’d have thought a Volkswagen sedan could be sexy, an object of automotive lust?

From the company whose microbus became legendary among travelers and hippies comes the 2009 Routan, Volkswagen’s first honest-to-goodness “garden variety” minivan.

Before I give you my impressions of Volvo’s newly-redesigned crossover, I’d like to correct some misinformation I disseminated in my piece on the Mazda Tribute a few weeks ago.  I wrote that it has disc brakes on all four wheels, which isn’t true: it has front discs/rear drums. I apologize for this sloppy reporting – though on the other hand it also helps to make my point that it’s time the Tribute were dragged into the 21st century. 

What is a tune-up? Go and ask 10 vehicle owners their definition of the term and chances are there will be 10 different answers. Certainly the classic tune-up was once the heart and soul of the automotive business.

Whether high tech or low tech, there’s a gadget for just about every occasion these days. It seems that, wherever there’s a need perceived, there’s an inventor who wants to fill it.

If you’re a car nut and you buy this game, forget about getting any work done. You might as well start looking up marriage counselors in the phone book, too.

And this isn’t even the full game!