Preview: Volvo’s radical Drive-E powertrains arrive in Canada

Story by John LeBlanc LAS VEGAS – You may have been wondering what’s been going on at Volvo lately. Since the Swedish automaker was snatched up by China’s Geely Automotive from America’s Ford Motor Co. four years ago, the brand has appeared to be in a product development coma. Witness the departure of the S40/V50/C30/C70 […]

Comparo: 2014 Fiat 500L versus Mini Cooper Countryman

Story by John LeBlanc Between the birth of our country and today, the percentage of people living in rural instead of urban settings has reversed, with now more than 80% of Canadians being city dwellers. So if you’re in the majority of Canadian families living in a city, it only makes sense to consider a […]

Road Test: 2014 Subaru Forester 2.5i

Story and photos by John LeBlanc Always a comfortable, modest and casual driving machine since the first version arrived in 1997, it’s been easy to think of the Subaru Forester as the Birkenstock sandal of the compact crossover crowd. However, like the current Subaru Impreza compact and slick-looking Legacy Concept from last month’s Los Angeles […]

First Drive: 2014 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid

Story by John LeBlanc NASHVILLE, TENN. — While the rest of the auto industry was racing to catch up to rival Toyota’s increasingly popular gasoline-electric hybrids, Japan’s Nissan stubbornly stuck by its non-hybrid fuel-economy strategy, touting the fuel-saving benefits of it continuously variable automatic transmission technology, and forging ahead with its all-electric Leaf.

First Drive: 2014 Nissan Rogue

Story and photos by John LeBlanc NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Like the compact car market in Canada, the compact crossover segment is ultra competitive. And while Nissan’s first-generation Rogue still lags behind the likes of the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V and Toyota RAVE 4 on the sales charts, the small crossover is one of the Japanese […]

« go back — keep looking »