Fabulous Auto Club

2020 Toyota Yaris XLS Hatchback: Adorable, Affordable

Post author By axelrin
Post date May 3, 2020

By Jeff Perez – Motor1

The 2020 Toyota Yaris Hatchback is part of a dying breed. It’s one of just a handful of five-door subcompact hatchbacks you can still buy new in the U.S., accompanying the Chevrolet Spark, Kia Rio, Mitsubishi Mirage, and soon-to-be-discontinued Honda Fit in the slow march toward irrelevancy. But Toyota might just have the most fun option of the bunch, because it’s not actually a Toyota at all.

The 2020 Yaris uses the not-for-North America Mazda2’s sporty underpinnings, a peppy 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine, and Mazda’s decent infotainment system. The XLE Hatchback we tested even sports faux leather seating with real leather accents on the steering wheel and shift knob. And you can get it all for under $20,000.

Tags 2020, Reviews, Toyota, toyota-yaris

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2021 Toyota Yaris Cross Debuts With Hybrid Power And All-Wheel Drive

Post author By axelrin
Post date May 3, 2020

By: Adrian Padeanu – Motor1

The Yaris gets a crossover companion offering more room and an increased ground clearance.

Toyota originally intended to unveil its new small crossover in March at the Geneva Motor Show but the event’s cancelation caused by the coronavirus pandemic forced the automaker to reschedule the premiere. The company said it would delay the vehicle’s debut for weeks or even months, but the wait is now over as Toyota is ready to introduce its Yaris-derived crossover.

Positioned below the C-HR, the new Yaris Cross carries over the supermini’s wheelbase measuring 2560 millimeters (100.8 inches) while featuring longer overhangs increasing the overall length by 240 mm (9.4 inches) to 4180 mm (164.5 inches). It’s also 20 mm (0.8 inches) wider and 90 mm (3.5 inches) taller than the Yaris, while remaining significantly smaller than the aforementioned C-HR.

Tags 2021, hybrid-cars, Reviews, Toyota, toyota-yaris

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2020 Cadillac CT5 Interior Review—Luxurious Enough?

Post author By axelrin
Post date May 3, 2020

By Miguel Cortina – Words; William Walker – Photos – MotorTrend

Luxury is all about the experience. Whether you stay in a five-star resort overlooking the Pacific Ocean while you drink a margarita poolside, or you enjoy a seat massage on your commute home, luxury is about appreciating the little details that make the moment a better and more relaxing one. In the automotive industry, luxury has been well represented by the Europeans, but America is now putting up a good fight, especially with the new generation of Lincoln cars and SUVs. The 2020 Cadillac CT5 represents a relaunch of the sedans for Caddy, and the competition in the segment couldn’t be fiercer, with new generations of the BMW 3 Series, Volvo S60 and Audi A4 hitting the streets in the last couple of years and a new Mercedes-Benz C-Class expected soon.

Tags 2020, cadillac, cadillac-ct5, Reviews

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Minivan or SUV—Which Is Best for Big Families?

Post author By axelrin
Post date May 3, 2020

By Miguel Cortina – MotorTrend

Car shopping can be stressful. Whether you’re looking into a couple of segments, or you’ve narrowed down your search and have two models to choose from, selecting the correct vehicle can take time and be tense—especially if you have a family.

The most popular family vehicle right now is the 3-row SUV, where there are over a dozen options to choose from. Yet minivans, which are gradually disappearing, are also tailormade for big families. Both SUVs and minivans offer unique features—from boxy looks to spacious interiors—and have become the undisputable family haulers of the last three decades. So if you have a big family, which is the best for you? Minivan or SUV?

2020 Audi S4 First Test: Does it Improve the Sport Sedan Breed?

Post author By axelrin
Post date May 3, 2020

By Nick Yekikian, Jade Nelson – MotorTrend

Most of the time we get into our cars out of necessity. There’s always a destination—an appointment to keep or a shift to start. More often than not, that’s the reason I get behind the wheel, too. But occasionally I get the chance to hit the road with absolutely nowhere to go. That was exactly the case when I picked up a Daytona Gray Pearl 2020 Audi S4 from the MotorTrend office a few weeks ago.

Keys in hand, it was time to get acquainted with my new partner. Virtual cockpit? Check. Audi‘s MMI? Check. Rotary controller? Ah, that’s right, it’s gone. The infotainment setup in the S4 is now touchscreen only, and a wallet-sized bin has replaced the control knob that used to do all the work.

Range Rover Evoque, Discovery Sport Get Three-Cylinder PHEV Versions

Post author By axelrin
Post date May 2, 2020

By: Angel Sergeev – Motor1

Both have more than 300 horsepower.

The rumors were true – the Range Rover Evoque gets a new three-cylinder plug-in hybrid powertrain. We spotted a test prototype of that vehicle back in January and it turns out the chic crossover won’t be the only model in the brand’s range to receive the new eco-friendly system. The Discovery Sport also benefits from the P300e-branded hybrid engine.

The core of the system is a 1.5-liter, three-cylinder turbocharged unit, good for 197 horsepower (147 kilowatts), supported by a 107-hp (80-kW) electric motor mounted on the rear axle and a 15kWh lithium-ion battery. The combined output is rated at 304 hp (227 kW) and 398 pound-feet (540 Newton-meters) of torque for both the Evoque and Disco Sport.

Tags electric, land-rover, range-rover-evoque

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How Good Is the 2020 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X Off-Road?

Post author By axelrin
Post date May 2, 2020

By Scott Evans – Words, Jade Nelson – Photos – MotorTrend

Every pickup on the market offers four-wheel drive, or in the case of the Honda Ridgeline and some Chevrolet Silverados, all-wheel drive— learn the difference here. Nearly all of them also offer a specific off-roading package of parts, and a few offer extreme off-road variants. The 2020 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X model leans toward the more capable side of the standard off-road package, so we hit the trail to see if the Pro-4X parts and the new engine and transmission added up to dirt dominance.

Let’s take stock of the equipment we’re working with and why I think it’s a little more substantial than the usual off-road package. The party piece is the manually lockable rear differential, which is frustratingly only functional with the four-wheel drive in Low Range. I get the logic: if you’re in a situation where you need a locker, you probably also need low gears. That’s not always true, and the whole point of having a manual locker is deciding for yourself when to use it. This is likely a case of corporate lawyers trying to keep people from using it in four-wheel drive high or in two-wheel drive, lest we misbehave.

Tags 2020, Nissan, nissan-frontier, Reviews

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One Week With the 360-HP 2020 Cadillac CT5-V

Post author By axelrin
Post date May 2, 2020

By Miguel Cortina – Words, William Walker – Photos – MotorTrend

“The Cadillac CT5 is one of those cars that I can’t recommend to people shopping in this class,” I said during our last Car of the Year discussion. “I just don’t see anything special or attractive here.” Pretty much everyone agreed the Cadillac didn’t have a chance of moving forward as a finalist. It simply didn’t handle like its predecessors, the ATS and CTS.

A few months later, my colleague Jonny Lieberman got to drive the 2020 Cadillac CT5-V during its launch in Palm Springs and came back stunned. “This thing drives fabulously,” he wrote.

So when I took delivery of the CT5-V, my expectations were still low. Not that I don’t trust Jonny, but my personal experience with the non-V was nothing extraordinary.

The CT5-V changed my mind.

See Read More …

Tags 2020, cadillac, cadillac-ct5, Reviews

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2021 Audi A3 Sedan First Look: More Aggressive, More Techy

Post author By axelrin
Post date May 2, 2020

By Scott Evans – MotorTrend

Sedans are sailing in serious headwinds these days, but Audi isn’t ready to give up. The second-generation 2021 Audi A3 is here with a more aggressive look and a load of tech designed to draw your eye away from all the SUVs in the room.

You’ll immediately recognize Audi’s smallest, least-expensive sedan; its look is more evolutionary than revolutionary, but it’s undeniably more assertive with far more lines than curves in its sheetmetal. They’re most obvious up front, but don’t miss the deeply sculpted sides and the Radwood-worthy Audi logo on the rear doors, an ’80s brand throwback. Audi designers also looked to draw out the roofline slightly and tighten up the rear end to give the A3 sedan a little more of that four-door coupe look that’s in vogue.

Tags 2021, Audi, audi-a3, Reviews, sedans

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The 2020 Nissan Frontier Has Everything You Need, Nothing You Don’t

Post author By axelrin
Post date April 30, 2020

By Scott Evans – Words; Jade Nelson – Photos – MotorTrends

“Oh gosh,” photographer Jade Nelson texted me, “that looks five years old.”

“More like 16,” I replied.

Technically, we were both wrong. The brand-new truck Jade couldn’t find in an almost empty parking lot was, in fact, introduced 16 years ago, but it got a facelift in 2008, making it 12 years old. Except not really, because the 2020 Nissan Frontier gets an all-new engine and transmission in preparation for the truck’s long-awaited total replacement next year.

Think of it as a trial run. After more than a decade on the market without a significant change, and with the small truck market on fire with several new competitors in the field, Nissan needs to get the all-new truck right on Day 1. The engine and transmission are major components of any vehicle, so because they’re ready now, Nissan is trying them out on the current Frontier before installing them on the new truck. Any bugs that need working out will be sorted during the soft open here before the grand opening next year.

Tags 2020, Nissan, nissan-frontier, Reviews