SILVIO CALABI: Opinionated at any speed

Push the start button on the new MDX Type S and its electronic dashboard lights up in angry red—it means business! As the first Acura SUV to wear the Type S badge, it is powered by a V-6 turbocharged to 355 horsepower and 354 torques, and it rides on specially tuned adaptive dampers and Acura’s first adjustable air suspension. Other Type S baubles include 21-inch wheels, a Sport+ setting added to the drive-mode menu, and eye-catching red brake calipers. The front… Read more

The top of the Jeep model lineup needs a bit of explication: Once upon a time, there was the full-size Wagoneer, favored by summer residents of big old seaside cottages in New England. Being of truck-type, body-on-frame construction, it begat a Jeep pickup, called the Gladiator, now long extinct. Eventually (after 30 years), the Wagoneer’s perch atop the Jeep lineup was taken over, in 1993, by a more modern, two-row crossover-type SUV called the Grand Cherokee.… Read more

It’s a sweetie, this one—light (feeling), responsive, quick, willing and altogether satisfying. The 230i Coupe, re-done for 2022, is a throwback to the time when all BMWs, no matter their size, were exactly that—“ultimate driving machines,” one might say. It’s true even though a manual gearbox is currently no longer an option in the 2-Series.

But the 8-speed automatic is brilliant; so is this seemingly frictionless 2.0-liter, 255-… Read more

After weeks in various new Broncos and Bronco Sports, I have to say I still don’t get the mad lust people feel for them. A few days ago, I parked this one in town and, as I got out, a passerby—male, middle-aged, reasonably well-dressed—stopped in his tracks and asked, a bit breathlessly, “How long did you have wait for it?”

(Oh, the angst and societal ills wrapped up in this sentence: Microchip shortages, supply-chain breakdowns,… Read more

The redesigned GLS450 is one of nine G-Class SUVs that wear the three-pointed star—or one of 17, if we count all the AMG performance models. It’s the biggest one, too, at 17 feet overall, which is nine inches longer than a Volvo XC90 but 18 inches shorter than a Suburban. The base model, which we have here, comes with a 3.0-liter turbocharged and electrically boosted engine pushing 362 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque through a 9-speed automatic transmission… Read more

The Outer Banks are 200 miles of barrier islands and sand spits imperiled by rising seas and erosion that lie between North Carolina and the open Atlantic. “Outer Banks” is a teen TV drama, too, a sort of “West Side Story” on the beach instead of in New York and with Kooks and Pogues in place of Jets and Sharks. And Outer Banks is also a version of Ford’s still-new Bronco Sport compact SUV.

Our example is a leftover ‘21 model, but… Read more

Yes, it’s a mouthful, but then it’s quite a car, too—I mean a two-row, midsize crossover sport-utility vehicle (another mouthful). I’m hard-pressed to think of another one that combines so much performance, luxury, good design, refinement and evident quality in one package at “only” $64,045.

This is the third Genesis vehicle we’ve covered in a year and a half, and it is every inch as impressive as the previous two, the… Read more

A robin redbreast hopping about the soggy lawn may be the first sign of spring at your house; at mine, it’s the arrival of a real car after four months of winter-worthy AWD sport-utes. This year, it was a Honda Civic—and a few miles behind the wheel reminded me how enjoyable a lighter, smaller, more responsive vehicle can be. Driving is fun again! 

In fact, I got two Civics, back to back: a loaded hatchback (“Lunar Silver”) and an Si (“Blazing Orange”).

I’ve already driven a… Read more

Referring to its 50-plus years of building off-road motorcycles, ATVs and similar rugged vehicles, Honda likes to say that it has “a long history of getting dirty.” This new-for-‘22 TrailSport variant of the company’s midsize Passport SUV fits into that category too—although the functional differences between this and the everyday Passport are minor.

The TrailSport’s front and rear tracks have been extended 10 millimeters (less than four-tenths an inch) beyond the standard Passport’s… Read more

Hyundai has done something clever here, and it makes me wonder why these things are still so rare—namely, SUV-based pickups. This is a Tucson, a Hyundai two-row crossover sport-ute, with the rear portion of its roof cut away to expose a 52-inch truck bed with a sliding cover, a tailgate and steps molded into the bumper. Presto, the 2022 Santa Cruz!

We older folks say, “Oh, like the El Camino!” and our kids say, “Oh, like the Honda Ridgeline!” Not wishing to be lumped in with its… Read more