Wheels: Volvo Steering Toward a Safer Future
Traffic-safety advocates have long regarded Volvo as the gold standard of driver and passenger safety in automobiles. The reason can be found in the company’s guiding mantra: “Cars are driven by people.” That being the case, the corporate thinking goes, it is best to make people as safe as possible within the womb of a Volvo automobile. That mission, a hallmark of the Volvo car company since its inception in 1927, continues under...
Smooth, Sporty and Spacious
Quick question: What’s your favorite Scion model? Odds are, you’ll probably have to stop and think about it. Since its inception in 2002, Scion has produced a grab bag of models, from the forgettable (xA, xD), to the wonderful (tC, FR-S) and wild (iQ, xB). It’s a lineup that seems irrational. The models share little except a badge, a low price, their use of front-wheel drive and four-cylinder powertrains and the desire to attract...
Wheels: 2015 Passat Is Safe, Reliable and Fuel Efficient
The Volkswagen Passat sedan, now in its eighth generation of service, is passe. You’ll note that I used the word “service” instead of “life” or “existence” in referring to the car’s age. That is because there is nothing passe about the Passat’s continued reliability, safety, durability and overall performance. That is especially true of the model driven for this week’s column, the 2015 Passat TDI SEL Premium, a diesel-powered,...
Wheels: Performance Hype Aside, Lexus IS 350 F-Sport Is a Good Luxury Value
Cornwall, N.Y. — There is a lot of hubris in global automotive marketing — lots of bragging about racetrack testing, about a car’s ability to hug curves and accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in six seconds or less. The companies are so earnest and they spend so much money, talent and production time on these messages, you’d think that all of us drive on racetracks, or carefully monitor stopwatches as we move from “stop” to “go,” or...
