Ford Escape SUV has road trip requirements covered

Mark Glover’s AutoGlo car reviews can be seen here and in the Cruisin’ News, "Oregon, Nevada and California's classic auto news & marketplace."

Sacramento, California -- Looking to escape?  Maybe you should try a Ford of the same name.

That was my thought behind the wheel of the recently tested Ford Escape Titanium PHEV FWD sport-utility vehicle.  Seemed like the ideal road trip vehicle, and priced at $46,815 in a world of $60,000 sport-utes.

Of course, I also might have been influenced by the four-cylinder hybrid engine with a combined city/highway mileage rating of 101 miles per gallon.

Or maybe it was the impressive safety/security package.  I was likewise treated to optional perks that included parking assist, a wireless charging unit and a head-up display.

The tester also boasted max five-start federal government ratings in crash tests, including five on the overall score.

Pretty nice for a Ford compact crossover SUV, I should say.

Best of all, it was just easy to drive.  Smooth and responsive.   Interior controls were easily understood and did not find me running back and forth with the owner's manual.

I could see myself hitting interstates from coast to coast ... or maybe tooling through national parks ... or perhaps leisurely traveling the length of the Pacific Coast in this ride.

Or maybe just a daily driver.

Ford says versatility is part of the appeal.  The automaker says the Escape takes on all comers, "from heavy traffic to lunch with co-workers or maneuvering into the last parking space on the block."

Seems about right.  Road trips come in all sizes.  And the Escape fits nicely into all of them.

Hyundai's Ioniq 6 is a state-of-the-art electric vehicle

Mark Glover’s AutoGlo car reviews can be seen here and in the Cruisin’ News, "Oregon, Nevada and California's classic auto news & marketplace."

Sacramento, California -- You have to love an electric car with a back end that seems to have been made from the DNA of a classic Porsche 911.

That was my reaction to the recently tested 2024 Hyundai Ioniq 6 AWD liftback sedan, another example of an excellent motor vehicle manufactured by the South Korean automaker.

Of course, the fuel mileage/use equivalent of 103 miles per gallon in combined city/highway driving helps too.

This award-winning Ioniq is another example of technology, luxury and performance smartly built into a single package ... plus the bonus of muscular sports car looks.

Performance matches the look. Electric propulsion on the tester (dual motors) added up to a healthy 320 horsepower, and I found myself disregarding power savings when I was jetting it around town. The tester jumped off the line like a hungry cheetah in search of a meal. Yet always firm, stable.

Maybe it's just me, but when rapid acceleration is being accomplished in relative silence, it somehow feels more powerful.  I had that experience repeatedly in this Ioniq 6.

For practical purposes, the rear storage area was fairly roomy and versatile, not something you normally seen in a midsize electric sedan.  Charging was easy and did not require a degree from a five-star tech college.

Hyundai has stuffed this Ioniq 6 with top-flight, state-of-the-art safety technology; my ride included rear collision alert, parking collision avoidance, blind spot collision avoidance and front end collision avoidance. Simply put, if you crash in this vehicle, it's pretty much your fault by unanimous verdict.

Comfort/convenience perks were likewise plentiful.  I liked the dual-color interior ambient lighting, surround-view monitor, wireless device charger and expansive sunroof.

Per usual with Hyundai, all this was available for a bottom line of $55,010, or about $10,000 less than one might expect to pay for a similarly equipped car.

Worth a look among the electric offerings? Without question.

Whole lotta Lexus going on in this new TX sport-ute

Mark Glover’s AutoGlo car reviews can be seen here and in the Cruisin’ News, "Oregon, Nevada and California's classic auto news & marketplace."

Sacramento, California -- Among the blizzard of vehicles produced by Lexus, the automaker determined that it needed a three-row sport-utility vehicle with "zero compromise."

Behold the new-for-2024 Lexus TX. My ride was the Lexus TX 500h F Sport priced at a healthy $77,150.  One expects a lot at that price.  And Lexus delivers.

The look is all SUV, but there's a new touch on the front.  Lexus calls it the "Unified Spindle" grille, a little more understated than past massive fronts and looking stylish with a series of horizontal cuts stacked on top of one another.  A clean, classy look.

The vehicle is loaded with eye-popping technology that will prompt owners to brag deep into the night.  On my tester, my attention was drawn the Dynamic Rear Steering feature, standard for the F Sport edition.  This DRS enables the rear wheels to turn in either direction during various maneuvers, lending more stability and improved response.

For the record, the tester was quite agile at high and low speeds.  And sufficiently powerful as well, thanks to a 2.4-liter, four-cylinder hybrid engine rated at 366 horsepower.  I felt entirely comfortable in dicey freeway traffic and tight parking lots.

Fuel mileage was pretty fair at 27 miles per gallon in the city and 28 mpg on the highway.

Inside, luxury was plentiful. Extra-nice goodies included leather heated/ventilated power front seats, heated/ventilated second-row captain's chairs, power-folding third-row seats, a Mark Levinson premium audio system, a panoramic glass roof, thematic ambient illumination and much more.

Interior comfort and roominess are top drawer, enhanced by sound-deadening materials that make for a very quiet cabin.

Broad appeal?  Well, Lexus touts the TX as "a comfortable, yet dynamic way of moving up to seven people – whether that’s to football practice or a cabin for a weekend getaway."

In sum, the TX is everything you would expect from Lexus, plus a lot more.

This BMW feels at home on highway...or the racetrack

This review first appeared in the April 2024 edition of the Cruisin' News, "Oregon, Nevada and California's classic auto news & marketplace."

To subscribe to the Cruisin' News, visit www.cruisinnews.com, call (916) 933-0949 or send an email request to subscribe@cruisinnews.com.  Mailed requests for information should be sent to Cruisin' News, P.O. Box G, Virginia City, NV 89440.

Sacramento, California --Here's something you can take to the bank: Any time you have a motor vehicle with the word "competition" in the model name, it's going to scoot like a scalded cat.

And that brings us to the tested 2024 BMW X5 M Competition midsize sport-utility vehicle.

Under the hood: a 4.4-liter twin-turbo turbo V-8 rated at 617 horsepower.

Say it with me: WOW!

There are thoroughbred race cars running on racetracks worldwide that have lower horsepower ratings than that. So, right away, I'm intimidated.

Things got worse when I glanced at the bottom line on the tester's sticker: $141,445. DOUBLE WOW!!

OK, so it doesn't necessarily look like a road warrior when it's parked at the curb, although the beautiful "Boston Green Metallic" paint job looked as cool as anything I've seen at Indianapolis in May.

The only clue I get of things to come are the thick 21-inch Michelin tires on the front and 22-inchers on the rear.  Those look racetrack-ready.

Stepping into the opulent, ultra-luxurious interior, I fire it up and pull from the curb ... and darn near take out the neighbor's mailbox. Super-powerful acceleration, accompanied by a deep rumble.  It takes me a couple trips around the neighborhood to master the pressure needed on the accelerator to sanely keep the SUV between the lines.

On the highway, the tester is a monster. The smallest of blips on the throttle blast me past fast-moving traffic.  On the surface streets, I can slide into tight spots easily because it appears everyone around me is standing still.  Fun?  Oh my, yes.

The perks that came with my tester rival anything found on a Mercedes-Benz, Lexus or, dare I say it, a Rolls-Royce.

Some features of note include heated/cooled cupholders, park distance control, high-gloss roof rails, carbon fiber trim and four-zone climate control.

There is a price to pay for the power: fuel mileage comes in at only 13 miles per gallon in the city and 18 mpg on the highway ... as if the buyer of this vehicle is going to be worried about gas prices, right?

One other thought: This X5 model has so many bells and whistles on it that any buyer needs to spend serious time reading the owner's manual in order to master everything.

In sum, driving this incredible machine was a weeklong trip to Motoring Fantasy Island. Needless to say, I enjoyed the trip.

Genesis sedan reviewed in the latest Cruisin' News

My review of the 2024 Genesis G70 RWD 2.5T Sport Prestige sedan can be seen in the latest, June 2024, edition of the Cruisin' News, "Oregon, Nevada and California's classic auto news and marketplace."

The "Hot Laps" reviews, along with my "Oil Drips" observations on anything with wheels, appear monthly in the publication.

To subscribe to the Cruisin' News, visit www.cruisinnews.com, call (916) 933-0949 or send an email request to subscribe@cruisinnews.com.  Mailed requests for information should be sent to Cruisin' News, P.O. Box G, Virginia City, NV 89440.