Chevy Silverado has all the proper pickup perks

Mark Glover’s AutoGlo car reviews also can be seen on the Business page of The Sacramento Bee’s website – via the “GALLERY: Reviews of new cars” link at www.sacbee.com/business

Sacramento, California – The competition for attention in America’s pickup truck market is something to behold … a relentless stakes-raising game of horsepower, toughness, interior comforts and muscular styling.

With an eclectic mix of everyday drivers, ranchers, farmers and construction teams stepping up to buy pickups, I’ve always felt that the best thing you can do in the ever-evolving market is not mess up a good thing.

And fortunately, Chevrolet has more than held serve with its Silverado.

My ride was the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 High Country 4WD Crew Cab going for just a shade less than $50,000.

For that kind of money, you definitely want it to be right.  And my Silverado hit all the marks.  Hit them quite well, to be exact.

Power comes from a 5.3-liter V-8 engine with 355 horsepower.  This throaty power plant has more than enough juice to do the job, and it emits an impressive roar at full song.  Ordinarily, engine noise invading the cabin is an annoyance, and Chevy has touted the quietness of the interior cabin.

And  yes, it is quiet … relatively speaking.

Frankly, in this case, I liked to hear the engine’s growl.  The V-8 all but screamed that the rugged-looking truck was ready to put in some hard work.

My ride was generously loaded with comfort, convenience and even luxury features.  It still amazes me how much finery is being loaded into pickup trucks in this day and age, a far cry from what I experienced as a youngster.

Fuel mileage comes in so-so at 16 miles per gallon in the city and 22 mpg on the open road.  Well, this is a big V-8, so I can’t complain too much.

If you’re truck shopping, keep in mind that a Chevrolet Silverado comes in numerous configurations.  In fact, you’d be a sap to go looking for one without doing a good week’s worth of homework.  There are that many variables to consider.

Silverado’s styling is sweetly intimidating with a chromed-out, get-outta-my-way wall of a grille on the front end.  Gotta have that in today’s market.

I absolutely loved the steps carved into the corners of the rear bumper.  For years, it seemed like no one wanted to admit that climbing up into a truck box from the back end was a chore that could cause you injury, depending on your age, physical condition or what you were toting.

To be able to step up on one of the Silverado’s rear corners and handle/move cargo from outside the bed was a serene experience. My aging back thanks you.

Overall, the Silverado remains a solid “A” grade pickup, with all the tools needed for the road, the job site or the ranch/farm.

Thanks to GM for not messing up a very good thing.

Sans flash, VW's Passat has a lot to like

Mark Glover’s AutoGlo car reviews also can be seen on the Business page of The Sacramento Bee’s website – via the “GALLERY: Reviews of new cars” link at www.sacbee.com/business

Sacramento, California – The Volkswagen Passat sedan makes its way onto a lot of “most liked” lists, and it’s easy to see why.

It comes in nearly 20 trim levels available, is generously equipped, comes off as peppy but with good fuel mileage, is comfortable and it’s affordable four-door transportation for families.  What’s not to like?

Even the comparatively high starting price of $31,715 for my upper-end 2014 Passat SEL Premium was hard to argue with, given all that comes with it.  That included plentiful safety features and standard comfort/convenience perks like power/heated front seats and exterior mirrors, leather surfaces and a rearview camera system.

Styling is fairly simple for the latest Passat, but again, I can’t argue with that because the car is a solid sedan offering with no over-the-top attempts to make it look like an Infiniti sport-sedan or a some random Corvette offspring.

Is this formula sounding familiar?  Yeah, think Camry.  Or Malibu.  Sell the world a sensible sedan, and they’ll bring bags of cash to your doorstep.

For me, where the Passat really excelled beyond the median was in performance, thanks to a 1.8-liter, turbocharged, four-cylinder engine rated at 170 horsepower and 184 foot-pounds of torque.

This particular power plant dished out responsiveness and performance at a most-pleasing level.  I found the turbo engine particularly helpful in negotiating crowded city streets.  Some turbos don’t like this chore, and there is lag time trying to work your way through the traffic maze.

Not so, this Passat.

And yet, check out the fuel mileage figures: 24 miles per gallon in the city and 34 mpg on the highway.  Pretty impressive with a zippy turbo under the hood.

And 34 mpg makes for few stops on long road trips on freeways.

Cabin quietness was pretty good.  Three adults in the back seat did indeed feel a bit cramped, but the interior cabin is an easy comfort zone for four folks.

The Passat might not have enough flash for some folks, but it has so much of everything else that people look for in a passenger car that you walk away asking, “Who really needs flash, anyway?”

VW continues to emerge as a giant auto-making force on the planet, making progress in multiple international markets.  When you know how to make a good car, like the Passat, success comes naturally.

 

Hyundai Equus reviewed in latest Cruisin' News

Check out my review of the 2014 Hyundai Equus Ultimate sedan in the latest, March 2014, edition of the Northern & Central California Cruisin’ News, published out of Folsom, California, by John Sweeney and Evonne Sotelo.

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 http://www.cruisinnews.com, call (916) 933-0949 or send an e-mail request to cruisinnews@mac.com. Mailed requests for information should be sent to Cruisin’ News, P.O. Box 1096, Folsom, CA 95763-1096.

New 500L Lounge: More Fiat for the money

Mark Glover’s AutoGlo car reviews also can be seen on the Business page of The Sacramento Bee’s website – via the “GALLERY: Reviews of new cars” link at www.sacbee.com/business.

This review originally appeared in the February 2014 edition of the Northern & Central California Cruisin’ News published out of Folsom, California – mg

Sacramento, California  – Say Fiat 500 and most expect: tiny car, limited horsepower, a handful of perks.

Not so with the all-new 2014 Fiat 500L Lounge, a four-door, five passenger car with some saucy lines to make it stand out.  Think of it as the Fiat 500 with something extra … a lot extra to be truthful.

The “Lounge” version is the top end of four trim 500L levels, and my tester looked ready for battle on 17-inch wheels resting under flared wheel arches and an aggressively sculpted front end to knife through the wind.

All this made the 500L Lounge look about twice the size of the previously tested, standard Fiat 500.  Happily, there’s more horsepower under the hood to put the 500L Lounge through its paces.

Power comes from a 1.4-liter, four-cylinder, turbocharged engine with a max horsepower rating of 160.   That certainly was enough to make most of my driving efforts enjoyable, although there was a slight lag in time between mashing the accelerator to the floor and delivery of somewhat noisy full power.

Handling was nimble, and the car showed that it was capable of quick lane changes at high speed, sans any wiggle on the back end.  Very nice.

The turbo did little to hurt the fuel mileage, which came in at a respectable 24 miles per gallon in the city and 33 mpg on the open road.

Interior room was good, way better than the basic Fiat 500, and the layout of controls was nicely done, with the comfort of the driver in mind.  One thing I did have trouble with from the cockpit was a double A-pillar arrangement in the windshield.  It looked stylish, but it definitely affected visibility, particularly on left-hand turns.

The list of standard features was pretty impressive for this class, including knee-bolstering airbags, reactive head restraints, a tire pressure-monitoring system, dual zone climate control, heated front seats and a fancy chrome/leather-wrapped steering wheel.

Naturally, you have to pay a little bit more for a Fiat that offers more.  Starting fare on the tester was $24,195, boosted to $27,445 on the bottom line due to extras that included a $950 power sunroof and $500 worth of enhanced audio speakers.

So, if you’ve been wanting a Fiat that has more than a major cute factor going for it, this 500L Lounge is likely worth a serious look.  This vehicle is right out of the Mini Cooper playbook – a beefier version of the basic ride.

I can’t argue with that proven strategy.  And this 500L Lounge had enough to make me want to spend more time in it.

New Toyota Highlander is bigger, better

Mark Glover’s AutoGlo car reviews also can be seen on the Business page of The Sacramento Bee’s website – via the “GALLERY: Reviews of new cars” link at www.sacbee.com/business

Sacramento, California – Wow, it’s bigger.

That was my first thought upon walking up to the extensively reworked for 2014 Toyota Highlander sport-utility vehicle.

Two reasons for that thought: It IS bigger than the previous generation, and I spend a lot of time in close proximity to my wife’s trusty Toyota RAV4, a smaller SUV perfect for her needs.

I confess that I’m not always at ease behind the wheel of a big sport-ute.

Yet climbing up and into the cockpit of the tested 2014 Toyota Highlander Limited with all-wheel drive and Platinum Package, I couldn’t help but be impressed.

Vision up high and all around the vehicle was nothing short of great.

The Highlander was loaded with safety, comfort and convenience features.  The Platinum Package upped the ante with an assortment that included a pre-collision system, radar cruise control, lane departure warning system, automatic high beam-adjusted headlights, a moonroof, heated steering wheel and heated, perforated leather second-row captain’s chairs.

No wonder it’s bigger.  They needed more room to pack in all the goodies.

Not surprisingly, my Highlander is the most expensive you can buy among the 2014 trim levels, with an MSRP of $43,590.  The most basic Highlander starts a shade short of $30,000.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the Platinum Package-equipped, AWD, Limited Highlander stacks up well against most purpose-built luxury SUVs on the market.  Easily, to be truthful.

So, equipped as described, this Highlander can comfortably transfer up to eight folks in three rows.  No squeezing or cramping necessary.

On the outside, the Highlander is three inches longer than it once was, and a lower roofline on the 2014 model adds a touch of aerodynamic smoothness.  The front grille is appropriately muscular, with a new-look trapezoidal grille being the most prominent feature.

My Highlander rolled smoothly through urban centers and on manic-commuter freeways, courtesy of a most responsive 270-horsepower, 3.5-liter V-6 engine.  Exterior noise barely rose above a quietly spoken sentence in the vehicle’s cabin.

I was impressed with the tuning of front independent McPherson strut/rear double wishbone suspension pairing.  The Highlander was ride-the-rail firm on hard corners, even those taken in the Sierra Nevada foothills, uphill and down.

Gas mileage is so-so at 18 miles per gallon in the city and 24 mpg on the highway, but I liked the engine’s output too much to complain about those numbers.

Be advised that the tested Highlander will probably challenge the household budgets of most shoppers looking for basic SUV convenience.  On the other hand, if you’ve been pondering loaded SUVs priced in the $50,000s and $60,000s and want something just as good for a fraction of that cost, consider reconfiguring your nav system to find the most direct route to the nearest Toyota dealership.

 

This pair of Fords affordable, capable

Mark Glover’s AutoGlo car reviews also can be seen on the Business page of The Sacramento Bee’s website – via the “GALLERY: Reviews of new cars” link at www.sacbee.com/business

Sacramento, California – Today is double-duty, blue oval day, looking at a couple of affordable Ford passenger cars that have been helping the American automaker boost sales in multiple markets.

Ford has been very clever in the perk-heavy, good fuel mileage, affordable passenger car niche, and the Ford Focus is Exhibit A in that department.  My tester, a 2014 Ford Focus Titanium hatchback (pictured), was well stocked at a starting price of $24,115.  A few extras pushed the bottom line to $26,300, but the basic offering suited me just fine.

Power is provided by a 2-liter, four-cylinder, 160-horsepower engine that was peppy enough to handle all the chores and delivered an advertised 27 miles per gallon in the city and 37 mpg on the highway.  Very nice numbers, indeed.

My ride looked sharp and streamlined, even in relatively mild-looking Sterling Gray Metallic skin, and the extra cash for 18-inch alloy wheels was worth it, in my view.  Interior room was not cavernous, but adequate for even backseat riders.  Vision all around from the cockpit was exceptional.

The Titanium’s list of standard features was generous, including reverse-sensing/rearview camera feature, four-wheel disc brakes and puddle lamps.  You don’t see a lineup like that on a lot of “affordable” models.

Overall, this is a B-plus car all the way.  For young folks trying to hold the price line on their first “family” car, it likely gets an A grade.

Moving on to the 2014 Ford Fiesta SE, my week in the car produced a mixed bag of results, most of them positive.

The bargain curve is steeper in the Fiesta lineup.  You can have the most basic model starting at $14,600.  An SE sedan will run you $15,450, and an SE hatchback runs just slightly more than that.

Again, the Fiesta is pretty well equipped for the price.  And it’s loaded with safety features, including a hill-start assist control, traction control, electronic stability control and a vehicle stability management system.

The small power plant only puts out about 120 horsepower, which will get you about 30 miles per gallon on city streets and 40 mpg on the open road.

You’d think that I wouldn’t have a problem handling 120 horsepower.  You’d be wrong.

For whatever reason – gearing, tuning, heavy right foot syndrome or aging driver – I kept burning little bits of rubber on standing starts.  Seriously, it kept happening, despite my attempts to be more disciplined.

Obviously, not everyone is going to consider this a bad thing in their small affordable car.  Still, just wanted you to know.

The Fiesta was pretty noisy at full song, but it had a certain nimbleness at high speed that made me feel secure, even in heavy commuter traffic on the interstates.

A solid B for grade for this car to be sure.

 

Acura's new RLX gets the pulse pumping

Mark Glover’s AutoGlo car reviews also can be seen on the Business page of The Sacramento Bee’s website – via the “GALLERY: Reviews of new cars” link at www.sacbee.com/business

Sacramento, California – You can get jaded in this business. A new car arrives for review every week.

I reckon it’s similar to the way Hugh Hefner feels about dating … but then, I wouldn’t know about that.

So, when an all-new 2014 Acura RLX sedan showed up looking like a freeway-tooled version of a stealth fighter jet, I’m happy to tell you that my pulse picked up big-time.

So, this is evolvement of the previous RL sedan, and oh my, evolution is a good thing.  Rounded at the top, nicely cut on the front end and boasting a stable, spread out look at all four corners, the RLX arrives looking ready to rumble.

And rumble it does with 3.5-liter VTEC V-6 rated at 310 horsepower.  Other sedans have more power, but I’m not sure any of them dish up the goods any sweeter than this RLX with a sequential sport shift transmission.

I was able to dust off most of the stragglers, pokes and cut-off crazies that ventured into my path on the roadways.  Steering was easy and firm, and the response from this front driver was impressive.

My ride had a generously equipped “Tech Package” (including blind spot monitor, rain-sensing windshield wipers and power folding side mirrors) and an “Advance Package” that included adaptive cruise control, a collision-avoidance braking system, ventilated front seats and parking sensors.

And the bottom line on the sticker was $61,345, which answers your question: Yes, luxury and technology do come at a price.

Personally, I had no problem with the fare.  Acrua has been working for years to establish a true standout flagship sedan, and this RLX certainly fits in that lofty niche of Honda’s luxury division.

Fuel mileage is a fair 20 miles per gallon in the city and 31 mpg on the highway.  Not too bad for a 310-horsepower engine.

Oh, did I mention the “Jewel Eye” LED headlights?  So very, very cool.  Bring over the neighbors just to watch you turn on the headlights.  They’ll invite you over for drinks later, guaranteed.

Some Acura devotees are undoubtedly salivating over the Acura RLX Sport Hybrid AWD version of this ride, and I understand your desires.  Luxury, power and fuel economy will lure you behind the wheel most anytime.  Looking forward to getting into that one up the road.