Prince Edward Highlander / Day 2 – Cavendish National Park’s scenic Gulf Shore Parkway

By John LeBlanc

JULY 24 / Before I spend the next two weeks talking about the Highlander Hybrid we’re driving here in P.E.I., perhaps a brief explanation of its upgraded-for-2011 gasoline-electric powertain is in order. Read more

Prince Edward Highlander / Day 1 – Settling in

By John LeBlanc

JULY 23 / Does the only hybrid family crossover you can buy work as a vacation vehicle? That was the lingering Big Question as our plane touched down at Charlottetown airport, earlier this morning. Read more

FROM THE FLEET: 2012 BMW X1 xDrive28i

FROM THE FLEET are brief synopses of manufacturer-supplied rides that happen to end up in my laneway – John LeBlanc

Bimmer fans close your eyes: Here’s yet another BMW that goes out of its way to NOT be a BMW. If you’re familiar with the German automaker’s rigidly hierarchical naming system, you may reckon that the new X1 xDrive28i is a crossover smaller than the X3; b) sports traction at all four wheels; and c) offers a 2.8-litre sweet-revving straight-six. On the first two accounts, you’d be correct. But despite its badging, the X1 is powered by a new 2.0-litre straight-FOUR that will end up replacing the existing 3.0-litre six in most BMW models. And, like most BMWs, it’s the X1’s engine that defines its character. Read more

First Drive: 2012 Mercedes-Benz C 63 AMG Coupe

C-plus

Mercedes wastes no time adding honking AMG model to its new C Class Coupé

By John LeBlanc

CIRCUITO MONTEBLANCO, Spain – If you gauge social trends by what’s new on television, there seems to be a political correctness backlash occurring. Inspired by the excessive drinking, groping and smoking from the 1960’s New York City advertising world of TV’s Mad Men, this fall will see the debut of the similarly retro-themed Pan Am (a series based on swinging sixties stewardesses, described by its creators as “Passion, jealousy and espionage… They do it all—and they do it at 30,000 feet”), as well as The Playboy Club, based on the legendary den of debauchery Chicago nightclub from the same era. Read more

First Drive: 2012 Porsche Panamera Turbo S

Super Sedan

Adding an “S” to Porsche’s toprung Panamera Turbo creates the world’s highest-performing four-door

By John LeBlanc

MUNICH, GERMANY — Porsche doesn’t have a skunk works performance group, like BMW’s M division or Mercedes-Benz’s AMG group. Porschephiles know, though, whether it’s a Boxster roadster or a Cayenne sports-utility-vehicle, that the addition of a capital letter “S” to any model’s name suggests good things for high performance junkies. Read more

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