ArcaMax

If you are looking for a small car, there are just a few left to choose among -- and only one that's instantly recognizable and like none of the rest.

It's the Mini.

What It Is

The Mini is the iconically British three-door hatchback made by BMW. The modern -- BMW-built -- iteration is actually a larger car than the original Mini ...Read more

Finding a new car that comes standard with a manual transmission is almost as unusual as finding a new car that still comes standard with a manual, grab-handle emergency brake.

How about one that comes standard with both?

What It Is

The WRX is the street-legal iteration of the World Rally Cup Experimental race cars that Subaru racing teams ...Read more

A couple of months ago, I reviewed the plug-in hybrid version of the Kia Sorento crossover and compared it with its Hyundai-badged fraternal twin, the Sante Fe.

This week, the comparison's with the non-hybrid version of the Sorento.

What It Is

The Sorento is one of just three small crossovers that has room for seven rather than just five ...Read more

The Nissan Rogue is an unassuming small crossover that is also Nissan's bestselling model. More finely, Nissan sells so many of these unassuming small crossovers -- around 270,000 per year -- that it makes up for Nissan's other models that aren't selling well.

So it's really important -- to Nissan -- that lots of people keep on buying new ...Read more

When something is replaced by a new thing, it is assumed the new thing is an improved or otherwise better thing. A good way to find out is to compare the thing that was replaced with its replacement.

The 2025 Ram 1500 pickup used to be available with a 5.7-liter (and 6.2-liter) V8. Those V8s have been replaced with a pair of ...Read more

There's a Volvo you may be very interested in if you're looking for something like a Porsche Macan GTS that looks like a Volvo.

A Volvo with close to twice the standard power -- and for about $15,000 less to start than what comes standard in the Macan GTS.

What It Is

The Volvo XC60 is a compact crossover made by the Swedish brand ...Read more

"Economical" is not usually what you get when you buy a luxury-brand car, but there are some that are. Perhaps the most famous example of the species is the Mercedes 300D sedan of the '80s. It was a luxury car that was almost as economical to drive as many economy cars of its time, because it had a diesel engine under its hood.

Diesel engines ...Read more

Remember when what was once commonly referred to as a standard -- that is, a manual -- transmission was ... commonly standard? And automatics were generally optional, with the exception of luxury-brand (and "loaded") vehicles?

Fast-forward to the present. It isn't easy to find a manual transmission as an option -- in anything. Even the...Read more

The Honda Prologue isn't really a Honda -- in that it's based on the Chevy Blazer EV -- but it is different in a couple of ways that may make it worth a look if you're wanting an electric vehicle sold by Honda.

What It Is

The Prologue is a midsize/two-row electric crossover based on the Chevy Blazer EV.

It differs from its ...Read more

It's not easy to pick a crossover from among all the other crossovers because so many of them are more or less the same.

One that's different in a big way is the Mazda CX-90 -- because it comes standard with an inline six-cylinder engine. This bucks two trends. The first is the one that's been trending toward the replacement of six-...Read more

You have probably heard that Dodge has stopped selling V8-powered Chargers and Challengers. And you may know that Ram 1500 trucks (and Jeeps) are no longer available with V8s either.

But there is one new Dodge vehicle still available with the V8s -- plural -- you can no longer get in other Dodge (or Jeep/Ram) vehicles.

It's the 2025 ...Read more

Here's an interesting fact: The biggest Buick you can buy today comes with the smallest, strongest engine Buick ever put in its biggest model.

That model being the 2025 Enclave, which is nearly as long an old Electra 225 from the '70s but isn't a sedan and does not come with a 455-cubic-inch (7.5-liter) V8.

What It Is

The Enclave is a full-...Read more

Nissan's Altima sedan has been around for more than 30 years. It will probably not be around after the end of the 2025 model year -- following its sibling, the Maxima, into oblivion.

There are many reasons why, the chief one being that sedans as a class have fallen out of favor -- in favor of crossovers that offer more interior space and ...Read more