world automotive gallery: March 2011

Kis Sorento - is no cheese

Sorrento makes great cheese, Mozzarella, Ricotta, Mascarpone, and delectable snack packs among them. Kia, the Korean purveyor of all things value, makes a great Sorento. Packed with yummy goodness straight from America, there is nothing cheesy about it.

Kia unleashes its redesigned 2011 Optima this fall. Targeting a very tough midsize-sedan segment that includes perennial favorites Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Nissan Altima,

Kia has come home – to the U.S, specifically West Point, Ga., just a tad south of Hot ‘Lanta.

It’s not often that we drive an all-new vehicle at any price in any segment that sufficiently answers all the questions. While the 2011

The 2010 Kia Rondo is a unique little car. It is a small SUV crossover that was introduced back in 2007. This will be the fourth year for the model, but it is still considered a hidden gem by a lot of folks and has yet to be really discovered. The 2010 model is generally much the same as the 2009 model with very little changes.

First photos of all-new Kia Rio released
- Korean spice and Latin flair for Kia’s B-segment newcomer
- Available in 3-, 4-, and 5-door body styles – depending on market
- Offered with wide range of fuel-efficient and low-CO2 engines

You can call this Sportage Part II, or maybe Part four-by-four.
Back around Christmas, Kia sent us its dramatically restyled third-generation compact crossover, styling heavily related to the company’s dramatic “Kue” concept from 2007. But it was a front-wheel-drive model.

Give Chrysler credit – it has been an extraordinary caretaker of Jeep during the past quarter-century. Wranglers are periodically updated to remain current, but are never pretend to be anything other than a pure off-road machine.

- Aggressive new exterior styling
- Upgraded interior featuring significantly upgraded touch points

It would be hard to imagine the SUV market without Jeeps. Chevrolet’s Suburban gets credit for introducing the modern SUV, but the WWII-era Jeep brought four-wheel-drive to the tracks. Put the two concepts together, as Jeep did with the Wagoneer in 1963, and you have one of America’s favorite forms

Way back in the 1940s, a legend was born when the U.S. Army accepted one design for its new motorized mule, and the first Jeep hit the battlefield.

Jeep’s boxy crossover has been popular enough, but was widely panned by journalists for being a little light on off-road capability and a little heavy on interior plastics. Add to that a buzzy transmission, vague steering feel, and excessive road noise

The Jeep Grand Cherokee might be taken as a sign that urban sprawl is consuming our wilderness. As the rugged spaces fall prey to the bulldozers, the vehicles designed to tackle uncharted terrain must evolve to fit the changing environment.

No vehicle is more American than the Jeep Wrangler. Opening a photo album from across the decades, it would be hard to imagine G.I.s in World War II crossing Europe without their Jeeps.

Setting the pace for future Jaguar models, the XF breaks with the retro-stylings of the S and XK. It was the goal of Jaguar design director Ian Callum to return the brand to a position of setting styling trends rather than revisiting past ones. The XF is the first product reflecting his vision.

Something about Jaguars makes it easy to forget that they're bona fide exotic cars. Maybe it's their air of subtle reserved elegance; maybe it's the well-publicized quality-control issues that plagued the brand throughout the 1980s. Maybe it's the fault of the unlamented "bargain Jaguar" X-Type. Whatever the reason, this brand's image has evolved from that of an unstoppable LeMans stormer to a silky cruiser.

The Jaguar XF, introduced as a 2009 model, has become one of our favorite mid-sized luxury sports sedans. And to make things even more delicious for 2010, the gorgeous Jag comes in three flavors. Pick your engine size and options and discover the joy of driving a modern British luxury sedan. It doesn’t matter which direction you take, you will be the winner.

The XF Supercharged is a top cat is a sea of felines. It reminds me of one of those movie cats that slink along silently and stealthfully and then, suddenly, it pounces and its power is released. That’s how this mid-sized, luxury, sports sedan behaves.

Every decade or so, Jaguar launches a truly advanced car that shocks the brand faithful. I’ve heard and said plenty about the current XF and XJ sedans. They are nothing like previous Jaguars, yet are completely like previous Jaguars. People were amazed when the XJ-120 first rolled out in 1949.

We would have welcomed the head-turning 2011 Jaguar XKR convertible any time of the year whether the coldest day of winter or the hottest, most oppressive day of summer. It’s a car to savor and enjoy any time not just for its nearly impeccable driving attributes and silky smooth power,

Recently, North Texas had a week that was unseasonably warm, especially enjoyable after all that ice and snow. You can imagine my surprise when my test vehicle turned out to be a convertible. Had it been delivered during the freezing temperature, I would have left it parked for much of the time.

Infiniti broadens demand for its already wildly popular G car with the introduction of the 2011 G25. Providing the core values of the G in terms of handling, features and creature comfort at a lower price, the new G25 provides entry to Infiniti for an, as yet, untapped set of owners.

Standing tall among a gaggle of top-tier competitors such as BMW's 3 Series, Cadillac's CTS and Audi's A4, to name just a few, the Infiniti G37 Sedan returns for 2011 with virtually no changes beyond two new appearance packages that Infiniti markets as Special Editions.

Infiniti turns up the heat in the full-size luxury SUV category with its 2011 redesign of the QX56. Lavish trappings, a hearty V8 and remarkably stable handling highlight the features that move the 2011 Infiniti QX to the top tier of big, high-end SUVs.

The technologically advanced sporting nature of the new muscular M would not suit the needs of any number of people; their needs being for more sedate mid-sized luxury as found in the Lexus ES and GS, the current Cadillac STS, and the Lincoln MKS.

Journalists often refer to high-performance luxury sedans that do everything perfectly as “Q-Ships”. The original Infiniti Q-ship was literally a Q-ship, branded Q45.

With Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli as parents, you had to expect a big-mouthed songstress. After a recent Liza concert with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, I have to agree that she is one amazing performer.

Even though the current automotive market is skewing sharply towards smaller more fuel efficient vehicles, there is still a need/desire, albeit a smaller one, for large luxury SUV’s,

Remember when Honda was the sole four-cylinder holdout in the mid-size sedan market? The company insisted that there was no need for the extra thirst of a V6 in the Accord, despite the demands of a horsepower-hungry US market. These days, there's an Accord V6, but for 2011 the Hyundai Sonata is doing without a six-cylinder version.

If some of the major players in the mid-size family sedan market don’t get it into gear quickly, they’re going to be looking at the tailpipes of a Korean juggernaut leaving them in a cloud of unhappiness. Hyundai is finished playing nice.

South Korean automaker Hyundai has accomplished much over the past couple of years including the creation of the new mid-sized Sonata sedan that has become a benchmark for its segment.

If the Genesis is its flagship until the Equus comes galloping in, what is the sixth-generation Hyundai Sonata?

Hyundai designers threw out the playbook and started with a fresh sheet of paper with the 2011 mid-sized Sonata. It breaks new styling ground inside and out in a segment loaded with “me-too” designs.

Hyundai has taken a back-door approach to accessing the American automotive market. Originally, they basically copied other successful models and sold them at a lower price with longer warranties. Not a bad strategy.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
So it is no surprise that after the Hyundai Sonata’s “fluidic sculpture” design was so well received, its baby brother would want a similar new set of clothes.

Virtually unchanged from last year, the 2011 Honda Ridgeline continues to stand alone as a niche product in the pickup truck arena. Although classified as a standard pickup truck by the EPA, which lumps it in with the likes of the Ford F-150 and Chevy Silverado

That comment just about sums up what the 2011 Honda CR-V looked like to gearheads who saw it at a Saturday night cruise-in.

Let’s just put aside the fact that the sporty little two-seat 2011 Honda CR-Z hatchback is a hybrid. Let’s think of it as a stylish, diminutive, agile machine with scads of cargo space (25 cubic feet) for its size. Let’s think of it as a fun, go-anywhere car that just happens to derive exceptional gas mileage of 31/37 or 35/39 depending on transmission choice.

A pilot is the person who guides an aircraft or ship into safe harbor, using their skills to do the job.

The challenge for manufacturers of popular mid-sized segment sedans is how to keep them fresh in the last year or two of a typical five-year cycle against all-new products especially from competitors who are on a different schedule.

Since the first minivan rolled off the assembly line in 1983 nothing has eclipsed its passenger and cargo-hauling utility. Its car-like driving characteristics and its ability to comfortably haul seven or eight passengers and cargo has made the American minivan the unrivaled champion of family transportation.

The Odyssey mini-van is almost a mainstay in the various offerings on the market for families to choose. The 2011 model is the first year of the fourth generation – simply explaining that Honda did some changes to this year’s model.

In response to unyielding market changes, GMC the professional truck division of General Motors has gone small in the marketplace. GMC has a long history of producing large pickups and SUV’s but the public demands smaller more efficient vehicles that still retain interior flexibility

GMC Sierra HD Leads the Segment in Towing and Payload Ratings - delivers 21,700 pounds towing and 6,635 pounds payload

The GMC Terrain rolled into my driveway looking like a three-fourths scale armored car, but looks are somewhat deceiving when it comes to this new crossover. Sure, the quality and toughness that keeps GMC's customers loyal are built into it, but the Terrain is unlikely to be spending much time on jobsites.

In June, I attended a Ride & Drive of the 2011 General Motors Heavy Duty pickups. The presentation was held in Maryland and included the GMC Sierra and the Chevy Silverado trucks. The platform and chassis are the same, but the exterior appearance and interior touches are different.

Like little kids, maybe compact SUV crossovers want to be big trucks when they grow up, so some play dress-up.

Much of the big news around SUVs will be focused on the all-new Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ford Explorer, but the popular GMC Acadia takes a step out and up with the Denali edition.

With the exception of the Mazda5, Americans have not warmed to mini-mini vans. The Mitsubishi Expo, Nissan Axxess, and first-generation Honda Odyssey were dismal failures. But, times change, and a new generation comes along with different needs. Ford’s C-MAX is a very clever answer to questions you may not have thought to ask.

All new for 2011, the Ford Fiesta packs a lot of technology and features into its compact price. Offered in a five-door-hatchback configuration or as a less expensive sedan, Fiesta elbows its way into a crowded entry-level segment.

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