Feature: Prius grows up

Story and photos by John LeBlanc While taking some photographs of the latest version of the Toyota Prius in a parking lot at one of the many wineries lining the hills in the Napa Valley, a well-kept baby boomer approached me cautiously. “Is that the new Prius?” she asked, looking for all the world like […]

Road Test: 2009 Mazda6 GS-I4

Story and photos by John LeBlanc As anyone who has graduated from single to married-with-kids status knows, life can sometimes be a compromise. And as a purveyor of vehicles on the sportier side of the automotive spectrum, it was generally agreed upon that Mazda’s last family sedan struggled with a few comprises of its own.

Road Trip: Mini goes hunting for Airstreams

Story and photos by John LeBlanc PLATTSBURGH, N.Y.– “Don’t stop. Keep right on going. Hitch up your trailer and go to Canada or down to Old Mexico … Find out what’s at the end of some country road. Go see what’s over the next hill, and the one after that, and the one after that.” […]

First Drive: 2010 Toyota Prius

Story and photos by John LeBlanc YOUNTVILLE, Calif.–With more than one million sold worldwide – about 14,000 in Canada since 2000 – the Prius has become the best-selling, most-recognizable hybrid in the world, and a halo car casting Toyota in an eco-friendly light.

Comparo: Five frugal sports cars

Story and photos by John LeBlanc If you think about it, the first sports cars – the iconic post-World War II cars from MG, Triumph or Alfa Romeo, powered by small displacement four-cylinder engines – were relatively green for their time. Then a certain chicken farmer named Carroll Shelby from Texas came along and stuffed […]

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