There are a lot of trails in Southern California, but here's three of my favorites because they are scenic and have a variety of terrain but aren't too technically arduous. While the Colorado ZR2 is a phenomenal vehicle that can conquer pretty much anything that you throw at it, sometimes it's nice to know that and never test the limits. This is especially true for novice off-roaders since those limits are often YOURS, not the vehicle itself. These trails a great for exploring and having fun while getting away from civilization for a few hours.

I'm privileged to live out west where there's tons of wide open public land, but for the rest of you guys - off road adventures are limited to private parks. For those in South West Florida, Florida Tracks and Trails is the place to go. With miles of trails ranging from compete mud holes to well packed sand, a beach area complete with tiki bar, paintball, and off road racing tracks this place pretty much has it all.

When you’re putting vehicle on the road as anticipated as the Gladiator is there needs to be a nod to the past and elevation to modern comfort and convenience. The 2020 Jeep Gladiator is Jeep’s first pickup offering in 27 years and there are a lot of eyes on it.

When it comes to taking care of your family family, things like good looks and raw speed tend to fall aside and safety features become a primary concern. This is your family care after all and while how fast you can take that corner might be important with your weekend car, there are other more important things when it comes to taking care of your kids and making sure that they can get back and forth to school, errands, and of course the all important summer family road trip.

The BMW Performance Center in Thermal, California (Palm Springs) is one of my favorite places to visit. It's an interesting experience that sits in a great middle ground between a "racing school" and an "exotic driving experience". While those two ends of the spectrum tend to dominate this space, on both of my visits to the Performance Center I've found that their staff and facilities scales well to what the client wants and needs to learn. What I like about this approach is that your takeaways will be far more valuable than simply a a big smile on your face. These are skills that will ultimately make you a better driver and a better man.

Driven by Cadillac’s latest turbocharging technology and building on more than 15 years of performance credentials, the first-ever 2020 CT4-V and CT5-V were unveiled today, expanding choices for the brand’s V-Series performance sub-brand.

Getting your teen prepared to drive is a challenge that is also an exciting right of passage for many families. It's a tough time where you are simultaneously needing to train them on an important skill but also providing them with freedom beyond the boundaries of your home and local community. Quite literally this is an important situation that is a matter of life and death so it's critical that you make the right choices. Here's some advice to help make things easier for both of you.

We are thankfully in a renaissance of  smaller trucks and the 2019 Ford Ranger is among the most highly anticipated. It is also one of the best equipped, with awesome numbers and robust capability. With a truck like this though, it's about more than just raw numbers... it's about what you can do and where it can take you. The FX4 trim level that we were provided is not the Raptor or even a competitor to the Toyota's TRD Pro or Chevy's ZR2 off-road trucks but it delivers a solid and comfortable experience both on and off road. This makes it an excellent road tripping vehicle. To test it out, we decided to explore historic Nate Harrison Road and climb to the top of Mount Palomar in San Diego, California.

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of owning a car. These machines are a prime example of what we’re capable of building and that in itself is incredibly manly. Imagine driving across the country with the top down and the sun in your face, a feeling of utter freedom as you feel the engine vibrations intensify with every bit of pressure you add to the accelerator pedal.

Nothing lasts forever. There will always come a time when we need to say goodbye to our beloved vehicles, no matter how heavy our hearts feel. Whatever your reasons are for selling, you have a responsibility to both the buyer and your car. However, your car has to be in tip-top shape so that it is in a good position to fetch those dollars you need to part with it.

RAM surprised a lot of people when it launched the all-new 2019 RAM 1500 last year. Having traditionally been the third of the top three in terms of pretty much everything including sales numbers it aggressively asserted itself as a top choice. With specs and styling on its side, the new RAM has now unseated Silverado for the number two spot in terms of US sales. It is way more than just focusing on volume sales, there's a lot of really cool stuff that RAM added to this generation to make is more than your daddy's truck.

I am rapidly becoming obsessed with Jeeps and off-road trucks. There's a sense of freedom being able to go places others can't that those locked to the pavement will never understand. Unfortunately for our bank accounts, owning a Jeep can be an expensive hobby - but one that is exciting and fun. This goes way beyond the travel aspect and exploring new terrain. It also includes the community and affinity that Jeep owners have for each other. From the nod to the Jeep wave, it's something special. This community tends to attract a lot of interesting individuals who seek freedom and individually. So it should be no surprise that most of these folks are also driven to enhance their rigs. New tires, axles, winches, lifts, even stickers and flags. Owning a Jeep is something special and so here's six things that you should consider when planning an upgrade 

Driving the new 2019 GMC Sierra Denali can be summed up as feeling like a boss... Fundamentally it's very similar to the Silverado but now you've gotten a promotion. Better interior, smoother ride, snazzier exterior design and features like the Heads up Display, MultiPro Tailgate, and CarbonPro bed that thrust it into another level. Not just compared to the Silverado but frankly this is my favorite full-size truck since it does more than look and feel better, it drives better too.

Since its debut nearly two years ago, the Kia Stinger has quickly become a crowd favorite, and at the New York International Auto Show, Kia Motors America gave driving purists yet another compelling reason to check out Kia’s highest performing sport sedan. Limited to just 800 units, the special edition Stinger GTS punches up its on-road prowess with a newly developed dynamic all-wheel drive system (D-AWD) that inspires more spirited driving. With sport-inspired styling elements including genuine carbon fiber parts and a splashy new color that demands even more attention, the limited edition GTS is the one automotive enthusiasts will be lining up to drive.

When it comes to modern SUVs, few are good at both on and off-road. They are focused on tuned to compromise and lean towards fuel efficiency on-road - or all out off-road ability. While I can talk for days about the need for more true, body-on-frame SUVs, the Toyota Land Cruiser is the epitome of what an awesome SUV should be. It offers a solid, perfectly refined driving experience with no compromises and brings you back to an era when sitting in the driver's seat of an SUV made you feel special. We took the 2019 Land Cruiser on a road trip to Scottsdale, AZ for Spring Training and it was one of my favorite driving experiences in a long time.

This custom Defender 90 Convertible from E.C.D. Automotive Design is outfitted with a five-speed manual transmission and powered by a 6.2-liter LS3 V8 engine.

In the past several years, a lot of exciting tech has found its way onto new cars of all price points. Even base models today are packed with technology that makes driving more enjoyable. Whether it's meant to improve driving safety or just make vehicles more fun to drive, the new technology is now much more available to the average driver than it once was. In the past, many of these features were only found in six-figure automobiles. Today though, you can find versions of these in most new cars, but they come together nicely in the Cadillac CT6 Platinum.

Last month we had an opportunity to visit the famous GM Assembly Plant in Flint, Michigan. This is where the first Corvettes were made and now it's where Chevy and GMC will be making all of their all-new 2020 Silverado HD and Sierra HD trucks. The plant's come a long way since those early days and so has the Silverado HD. With a towing capacity up to 35,500 pounds, 22 different cab, bed, chassis, and driveline configurations, and a Duramax 6.6L Turbo-Diesel V8 pumping out 445 hp and 910 lb-ft of torque with the all-new Allison 10-speed automatic transmission this is going to be an absolute beast of a truck. Pricing and exact availability details will be available soon in preparation for a "late Summer 2019" release.

I had an interesting experience recently when Toyota invited me to drive the all-new Toyota Corolla during their launch event in Savannah, GA. For some reason they were excited to make sure we experienced it while driving stick. While other manufacturers are promoting how they have 9 and 10 speed automatic transmissions and ever faster and more efficient technology, Toyota seemingly wanted to drag me back in time. What's even more shocking is that the model that featured a manual transmission wasn't even the cheapest base model. It was actually pretty well equipped with style and comfort. So why should you care about a manual transmission car in 2019? Let's take a look.