Car Car Review Hyundai Ford Nissan Kia

The first few times you come to Vegas, all you can think of overwhelming majesty of the strip. It's a fantastic wonderland of lights, sounds, and sights that you simply can't find anywhere else on earth. After a few visits though, that starts to get more and more shallow and you begin to wonder what lies beyond. The fact is, Vegas is a huge city with more than just the strip to explore. Unfortunately for you and I though, from the moment you land in the airport - everything is designed to pull you and your wallet into one of the gigantic strip resorts.

Anyone that's ever done the drive home from Las Vegas to Southern California after a weekend getaway can tell you how terrible the traffic is. This normally 4-5 hour trip can instead become 8-9+ hours of bumper to bumper rush hour traffic where you are forced to be at 100% attention on roads that would normally compel you to look around and enjoy the drive. So, instead of fighting that fight a few weeks ago, I decided to take the long way home and discovered a fantastic road trip that was a lot of fun to drive in the 2017 Flex that Ford gave to us for the trip.

Who said you can't have practical and fun in the same car? Our first experience with the Mitsubishi Outlander was last year's model and frankly it wasn't our favorite experience. This year though, the Outlander has been completely updated and so I was super excited to give it another chance.

Some SUV's are made for carving a path through the jungle... and others are perfectly designed for attacking the suburbs. That's not to say that those two are exclusive, but after driving the 2017 Nissan Armada around San Diego for a week I can say that this beast felt at home driving through gated communities, soccer fields, and strip malls. There's no suburban challenge too big for this beast... except when it came time to find a place to park. Simply put, this SUV is huge and Southern California parking spaces are tiny. However, despite the size, the Armada comes equipped with plenty of sensors and technology to make even that challenge manageable.

Recently, we were hosted in Bluffton, SC with Mazda to explore some of what the Lowcountry has to offer. I've personally never worked with Mazda in this capacity, but the experience was definitely one to remember. The Mazda brand is all about lifestyle and how its vehicles can make the perfect companion, whether you're enjoying some back roads or living it up in the city. Because of this, we had the opportunity to experience some very memorable activities in a beautiful setting.

Volvo as a brand is synonymous with safety, but until recently I didn't necessarily associate it with luxury - I simply just associated safety and European with being expensive. Things have changed over the past few years with the brand however. It is no longer a subsidiary of Ford and their new Chinese owners have provided the Swedish engineers and designers with the freedom to take the brand to the next level. As they go through the transition, various models are at different points on the spectrum - with the XC90 that I absolutely am in love with at one end and the V60 not quite as far down the path of modern luxury.

Fall is typically not a season that triggers that sort of alarm. However, bear in mind that as the summer heat dissipates to make way for the fall season, it’s bound to get colder as the months pass. Indeed, in no time at all, it’s winter. 

I've had a chance to test out the Wrangler and Renegade Trailhawk, both are rugged, and fun off road vehicles that I can't wait to drive again. However, the Grand Cherokee is a slightly different beast. While it still maintains a very high level of capability, if feels at home cruising the open highways and urban roads in comfort. Whether you are taking the kids to soccer practice, giving your client a ride to the airport, or picking up bags of mulch for that weekend project, the Grand Cherokee is going to make you feel good doing it.

The last time I rode in a Jeep Wrangler was during college, it was a beast of a car - cramped, bouncy, and generally closer to a tool than an enjoyable experience. That's all changed, but the Jeep Wrangler is still as capable as ever and that's a very good thing! Thank you Jeep for letting me borrow this amazing car for an adventure I won't be able to ever forget.

The Toyota history museum in Torrance is closed.

While Detroit may be known as "Motor City", Los Angeles is absolutely a Car Kingdom with the US Headquarters for numerous Asian manufactures including Mazda, Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, and Honda. Because of this, it shouldn't be surprising that there are some amazing automotive museums in Southern California that chronicle this perspective of automotive history. We recently got invited to visit the Toyota USA Automobile Museum in Torrance and I learned a lot about the impact that Toyota had on the American industry as well as just how integrated Toyota is in the US industry and how it got there.

Driving safely is one of the most important things you can do, but honestly most of us learn by surviving accidents and "near misses". Sure, your drivers education class that you (and likely your kids) took at school teaches you how to operate the vehicle but it is mostly under ideal conditions. What happens though when the driver is distracted, the road surface is slick, or something causes your car to temporarily lose control? These aren't hypothetical... they are REAL conditions and like anything in life, you can can't simply avoid them. The only solution is to teach drivers how to reduce risk while teaching them how to manage situations when they arise. 

The Jeep Renegade is an interesting beast and initially I let my biases cloud my judgement but I quickly realized that this is "more than just a Fiat". Last year I had the opportunity to test out the 500x that shares the same platform as the Renegade and while it was a fun experience, at no time would I have ever thought that it could possibly be turned into a mountain scaling dirt monster. But somehow the guys at Jeep made it happen...

A short time ago, the concept of a "luxury sedan" from a Korean manufacturer would have been something to scoff at but Hyundai has clearly worked hard to set new standards for quality, comfort, design, technology, and elements of luxury in it's mainstream products over the past several years. As a fan of their entire product line, the one piece I hadn't touched was the Hyundai Genesis sedan... until now!

Today we're talking with Brad Lovell who is a Baja 1000 champion and BFGoodrich ambassador about his love of driving and exploring awesome places.

Yeah, I'm weird - I like to pair my travels with just the right car. So, when I set off on a road trip to Electric Daisy Carnival, I had to get something electric. Unfortunately, reality set in and the drive from San Diego to Vegas is about 330 miles, far to long to use for an EV without stopping for an hour or two for a recharge. Hyundai had a solution though and offered me their plug-in hybrid Sonata to test out. As I was about to discover, this was the perfect vehicle for our trip as it was comfortable, stylish, has amazing gas mileage, and while it has an incredible range (up to 600 miles with both gas and electric fully charged) it can do nearly 30 miles on pure EV too!

It's getting hot and if you are in the Southwest United States, it's going to get a lot hotter over the next few months. I just drove back from Las Vegas and as we drove through Baker, CA the thermometer on the car hit 116 degrees! That got me thinking about ideas for places to go visit later this summer to avoid the heat and cool off for a few days. 

A few months ago I tested out the Mazda MX-5 Miata and this weekend Fiat invited me to meet her hotter, more fiery Italian sister. Both of these ladies are spectacular to drive and fun to look at, but it seems that Fiat has done the impossible and improved on what many people consider to be the perfect roadster. This is a car that collectors will love but so will those of us simply looking for a way to satisfy our desire for freedom on the open road!

If you’re thinking about taking some exciting trips on the road this summer, it’s important to do whatever you can to help save money at the gas pump. Earlier this spring, we were amazed at how far we could go on one tank of gas while driving the Avalon Hybrid, but with these tips we could have gone even further. Now it's up to you to make an impact and maximize your gas mileage for your summer road trips.

Today, we're talking with Andrew Comrie-Picard (ACP) who is an X Games athlete, stunt driver, and BFGoodrich ambassador. 

One of the things I LOVE to do is test a car out and spend enough time with it to really feel comfortable that I "get it". All too often I just have a few hours to drive them and the review is more of a confirmation that the stuff in the press release is true and a chance to get pictures to support the talking points. That isn't to say that those opportunities aren't valuable but it's a far cry from spending 8 days driving a car more than 2,000 miles up mountains to 8,500 feet and below sea level in the desert. That's what we did earlier this month during our #LetsGoPlaces Road Trip with the 2016 Toyota Avalon.