I was still rubbing sleep from my eyes when I checked my phone upon waking. I was scheduled to drive the Hyundai Santa Cruz, and here was a notification of an email saying something about driving the Hyundai Kona N instead. Was Hyundai short a truck or something?
Nope, they just had two Kona Ns around for media to drive at the lunch stop, and those Ns had to get there somehow. Would I like to drive one?
Tim asked the other day if I might work up an opinion piece on the current state of Subaru. “Sure,” I said, and immediately felt salty. In mind were many criticisms on how the smallish automaker is doing things currently. After that initial salty reaction, I got to thinking about Subaru’s current offerings and recent trajectory more critically. And I realized they’re doing most everything just as they should.
Life circumstances force some folks to buy minivans. Others do so for the utility – coolness be damned.
Regardless of why one buys a minivan, he or she probably anticipates that the driving experience will be far from fun. But that’s not always the case – Chrysler’s Pacifica Hybrid (review forthcoming) isn’t a chore to drive. And Honda’s Odyssey is more engaging than the Chrysler.
Relative to the class, of course. We’ll get to that.
Car buyers and market observers are used to seeing large dealership markups on models that are tough to get — first editions of popular cars, usually, or models that are produced in small numbers, or both.
It’s no shock to see the Ford Bronco or Chevrolet Corvette marked up by thousands of dollars. Motor Trend reported markups of $30K on Broncos, for example. C8 Corvettes are also being marked up like crazy.
While annoying, it’s somewhat understandable, given how the franchise-dealer system works, as well as how basic capitalism and supply and demand work. You don’t have to like the phenomenon, but the logic behind its existence is sound.
Still, we draw the line at an almost $6K markup of a Mitsubishi Mirage.
On paper, the 2021 Nissan Kicks doesn’t seem all that different.
And really, it isn’t – most changes involve the addition of new features, though the exterior is also refreshed, getting a new grille and available LED headlights.
The only real mechanical change is the addition of rear disc brakes for the SV and SR trims.
Yet when Nissan loaned me a Kicks some months back (the snow in some of these pics is a giveaway), I immediately noticed a difference, in terms of ride and handling, between the 2021 model and previous versions I’ve piloted.
The difference was slight but nonetheless noticeable.
Wagons are generally considered not viable in the U.S. Just about every recent wagon model has failed, though there are exceptions, usually for crossovers that straddle the line between wagon and wagon-like (Subaru, looking in your direction).
Even the Jaguar XF Sportbrake, which this author found quite sexy, was sent packing.
All that said, Mercedes-Benz might be trying to bring a wagon back to our market
With used-car prices soaring, retailer CarMax has been busy swooping up used vehicles to flip for sale.
That could be a solid strategy since the chip shortage has left new-car dealers bereft of vehicles on the lot.
For those of typical means, ultra-luxury automakers like Bentley exist in a vacuum. We see an M3’s worth of options on a Flying Spur and scoff at something so preposterous, so alien to our understanding of a dollar’s value.
It’s true enough that the law of diminishing returns tends to really kick in when MSRPs soar into six-figure territory and beyond: Is a Bugatti Chiron 50 times better than a C8 Corvette? Probably not. But years ago, when I was handed the keys to my first Bentley press car, I approached the prospect with a similar mindset and came away a changed man.
The 2022 Porsche Macan is getting updated with more power, tweaked styling, and more tech features.
The 2021 Summer Olympics, set to be held in Tokyo starting Friday, are proving to be quite unpopular, at least in Japan. And apparently, Toyota has taken notice and pulled the plug on its planned local advertising during the Games.
The 2020 Chicago Auto Show was the last one before the world shut down due to COVID-19. The 2021 Chicago Auto Show was the first one to be held as the world reopens.
And boy, was it surreal. Not that I’m complaining — in-person auto shows beat the hell out of Zoom.
Volkswagen’s base Golf may be dead, at least in America, but the performance-oriented GTI and Golf R are on their way to pick up the slack.
The 2022 Volkswagen GTI and Golf R have been unveiled in the flesh (or sheetmetal, as it were) at the 2021 Chicago Auto Show.
Chevrolet’s C8 Corvette has been in demand.
So much so that some dealers are commanding markups up to $100K over MSRP.
I touched on it in the newsier post about used-car prices down below, but in normal times, scribes like us sometimes advise our family and friends who are car shopping to buy used, because a lightly used car can be in like-new condition and cost significantly less. And someone else has taken the initial huge depreciation hit.
These are not normal times.
According to car-shopping site iSeeCars, there are currently 16 models that will cost you more used than new.
16!
That is, how shall we say, unusual. And, obviously, not good news for the used-car shopper.
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