The Crank: Does Porsche still need to go racing to sell cars?

By John LeBlanc

OTTAWA, Ont. – After 20-odd years, Porsche Canada is jumping back into racing in Canada. The first of its inaugural Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada races was held this past weekend at Calabogie Motorsports Park, about an hour’s drive west of Ottawa. Then, on the weekend before this year’s Montreal Grand Prix, the series moves to the Mirabel airport Circuit ICAR June 3-5, then wraps up July 23-24 at Mosport. Read more

Top 10s: Future New Fuel Sippers

[svgallery name=”2012 Fuel Sippers”]

By John LeBlanc

It’s déjà vu all over again for new car buyers. Just like in 2008, when gasoline peaked at nearly $1.50 per litre, buying an inexpensive and fuel-efficient small car is starting to look like a smart idea. So while we’re witnessing a bunch of new, small cars being introduced to the Canadian market for 2011 (i.e. Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Fiesta and Focus, Fiat 500, Hyundai Elantra, etc.) there are still plenty of fuel-sipping small cars waiting in the wings, ready to go on sale in the next 12 to 24 months: Read more

The Crank: Will Honda follow Toyota with its own annus horribilis?

By John LeBlanc

While the manufacturing crisis in Japan has affected almost every automaker on the planet to some degree, the disaster seems to have particularly hit hard for Honda. And, seemingly, the crisis couldn’t have come at a worse time for the struggling Japanese automaker. Just as rival Toyota was measurably hurt last year as it went through its own problems with a recall crisis that affected millions of vehicles worldwide, 2011 may end up as Honda’sannus horribilis. Read more

Comparo: Canada’s Top 6 Selling Cars

[svgallery name=”2011_Cdn_Topsellers”]

By John LeBlanc

If you’re in the market to buy a new car, one easy check is to look at the top of the sales charts. There, you’ll find that the top-selling passenger cars in Canada are all compact front-wheel-drive, five-passenger, four-door sedans. But which of these best-sellers is the best value? For this comparison, I specified cars with base engines. But added “basics” like air conditioning, electronic-stability control (which becomes mandatory for 2012), and automatic transmissions. I then measured each in the categories of price, interior design, room, ride and handling, “city” fuel economy ratings, and power. And the winnuh is… Read more

First Drive: 2012 Honda Civic

Civic Obedience

Is Honda’s evolutionary new Civic good enough to keep it on top of the sales charts?

By John LeBlanc

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The launch of a new Honda Civic is a big deal. Not only is it the best-selling car in Honda showrooms across Canada, but the compact was the best selling passenger car in the country last year—for the 13th year in a row, by the way. The Civic’s dominance on the sales charts, though, has been under attack since its sales peaked in 2008. And competition has come not just from the traditional Toyota Corolla and Mada3 Japanese rivals, but also strong entries from North America (Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Focus), Korea (Hyundai Elantra, Kia Forte) and Germany (Volkswagen Jetta). For instance, for the first two months of 2011, the new Hyundai Elantra stole the Civic’s top-seller trophy. However, thanks mainly to generous sales incentives, the Honda was back in top spot for March. Read more

« go back — keep looking »