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Why you should buy the 2009 MINI Cooper Clubman S : You're extremely wealthy and like small cars. You never liked going around corners that much anyways. The most exciting thing that could possibly happen to you in the course of a day is spotting another Mini in exactly the same color and getting the driver of it to wave feverishly at you. You used to have a regular Mini, but now you have a small dog. Why you shouldn't buy this car: You consider value an important part of the car-buying process. You drive aggressively. You hate rear barn doors. You live near curvy roads. You hate suicide doors. You enjoy the way the MINI Cooper S handles. You realized you could buy a well-equipped Chevy HHR SS for half the price and without the waving. galleryPost('clubmanexterior', 6, '2009 MINI Cooper Clubman S, Exterior Details'); galleryPost('clubmaninterior2', 9, '2009 MINI Cooper Clubman S, Interior Details'); galleryPost('SuperClubman', 9, '2009...
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Exterior Design: **** The 2009 MINI Cooper Clubman S preserves much of the styling moxie possessed by the original while hiding much of the added heft. At a distance, it's nearly impossible to differentiate between the two variations, causing us to do more than one double-take. The only major giveaway is the 50/50 split rear barn doors with through-door tail lamps and the suicide door on the passenger side. But a front 3/4 view will make you swear you're looking at the original "S." Interior Design: *** The interior of the Clubman is mostly identical to its smaller brother from the cockpit-view forward. Rail-protected flight switches control much of the electrics while a delightfully gaudy speedometer dominates the center console. Every compartment, toggle and switch functions with the usual high level of BMW confidence. But don't even get us started on the Toys R' Us-grade plastic. In this price range, a buyer deserves a little better. Also, the color-selectable...
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As interns at Jalopnik , we've got a pretty sweet gig. Admittedly, there are occasionally humdrum duties such as cleaning the tire debris off of Challengers and Corvette ZR1s , but at the end of the day, the perks outweigh everything else. Heavily. When two of us were tossed the keys to a fully-fueled 2009 MINI Cooper Clubman S so fresh its interior plastics were still off-gassing, and the only spoken rule was that it had to be at the airport the next morning to meet the boss man with most of its important bits still attached, our minds ran wild. A full trunk of camera gear in tow, we did what anyone would when presented the keys to a MINI S. We went straight to Hell. galleryPost('SuperClubman', 11, 'Straight to Hell'); Hell, Michigan is a microscopic town just 15 miles outside of Ann Arbor. It was founded in 1838 by George Reeves and back then, Hell was actually bigger than it is now: It had both a general store and a mill. Only the general store — selling mostly...
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Why you should buy the 2009 BMW 135i : You like the idea of a driver’s car, but you don’t really like driving that much. You heard the 135i was the car to drive this fall. You’re a life-long BMW fan and you have a penchant for blinders. You’re a badge snob. You’re all of the above and you really don’t have an eye for a deal. Why you shouldn't buy this car: You want a four-seat coupe that drives like a sports car. You have a collection of old BMWs and want the modern equivalent to use as a daily driver. You’re one ticket away from losing your license. Your garage floor is only rated to hold 3383 LB. You’re spending your own money. galleryPost('bmw135iexteriordetail', 6, '2009 BMW 135i Exterior Detail'); galleryPost('135ireviewinterior', 6, '2009 BMW 135i Interior'); galleryPost('bmw135ireview', 6, '2009 BMW 135i'); Suitability Parameters: Speed Merchants: No Fashion Victims: Yes Treehuggers: No Mack Daddies: No Tuner Crowd: Yes Hairdressers...
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Exterior Design: **** Easily the best-looking Bangle BMW, the 2009 BMW 135i excels in proportion, if not in detail. Straight from the front, there’s little indication of the 135i’s purpose, but from there back it’s classic BMW two-door updated for the 21st century. Interior Design:*** Restraint and simplicity do the 135i’s interior many favors. Still, it would have been nice to see an even simpler approach taken without sacrificing the quality. Leather-clad Recaro sport seats would have been a good starting point. The 1-series European economy car roots show in the cheap secondary plastics used on the center console and dash. Not something we’d want in a $46,000 car. galleryPost('135ireviewinterior', 6, '2009 BMW 135i Interior'); Acceleration: ***** The twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six is the pick of BMW’s range, providing its bigger, heavier cars with ample acceleration. Here, it’s ridiculously fast for a non-M car, and much, much torquier too. You can pretty much leave...
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Only a couple of minutes into the briefing and already things are going bad. “The supercharged engine doesn’t trail off up to the 6,200 RPM redline, so on the track, you may find yourself hitting the rev limiter once or twice,” says a Cadillac spokesperson, preparing us for our first foray onto the track at Monticello. I’m sheepishly trying to sink further into the leather couch, hoping none of the elderly car journalists sitting around me brings up the fact that, half an hour ago, I was bouncing off the rev-limiter at full throttle in third and fourth gear, passing all of them on the wrong side of a two-lane mountain road. I guess that Cadillac considers the 556 HP, 191 MPH 2009 Cadillac CTS-V so fast that drivers — even professional car reviewers — won’t be able to fully exploit its engine on the road. The thing is, they’re wrong. galleryPost('2009cadillacctsvreview', 6, '2009 Cadillac CTS-V'); galleryPost('2009ctsvburnout', 6, '2009 Cadillac CTS-V Burnout'...
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"Stop Speeding Yanks!" "Slow the f#*k down!," "Go home!" Something about the 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX makes you want to speed. And here in Canada, where they take the law literally, blatantly flouting limits really stands out. Of course, something about the WRX will always sit uncomfortably with the surrounding world, no matter the pace. While it's been modified for 2009, just one year after its launch with 41 more horsepower, stiffened suspension and STI-esque bodykit, it remains one of the ugliest cars on sale. galleryPost('2009wrxreview', 9, '2009 Subaru Impreza WRX'); Of course it's another kind of ugly people are concerned about today. Heading southwest down a remote road on Vancouver Island in an American-plated WRX, I'm not exactly behaving like an ambassador for my country. These are some of the most challenging roads in North America, winding their way through the coastal mountains along ancient logging trails, the road bears...
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Ford PR Flack: "We wanted to give the Flex what we call a 'wow' factor." Random Auto Journalist: "Wow, can I quote you on that?" Press launches are interesting places. Well, if you find humanity in its most mundane and sycophantic form interesting that is. Full Disclosure: I didn't actually drive the 2009 Ford Flex , but I did sit in the passenger seat nursing my gimpy arm while Ray drove and opined on the experience. galleryPost('flexhero', 6, 'Flextacular'); galleryPost('flexexterior', 6, 'Flextastic'); galleryPost('flexinterior', 6, 'Flex-not-so-much'); I don't know when it happened, but at some point in its history, reviewing cars became the domain of the boring, the middle aged and the overweight. It also lost its way, becoming yet another tool for the industry to market its products (something akin to long-form, text-based advertising), rather than a critical method for helping consumers make informed...
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While we're not quite willing to call this a full review, we did get some seat time with a couple of spankin' new 2009 Ford Escape models yesterday. We managed to get back-to-back seat time with both the 2008 and 2009 V6 4x4 Limited as well as the Hybrid for direct comparison on the same 20-mile circuit. When Hardigree reviewed the Escape's platform pal, the 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid , it was fairly obvious our impression was one of disconnectedness. The brakes felt funny, the handling was blah, and the steering felt numb. Ford apparently heard these complaints from its customers as well. 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid For 2009, although virtually unchanged visually (the only distinguishing difference is a deeper chin spoiler) the new Hybrid Escapes see the 2.3L four cylinder engine upgraded to an Atkinson cycle 2.5L for a total of 177 net horsepower. The CVT gets a more aggressive software package and some improved tuning on the hardware side. Also new for '09 is the inclusion...
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The 2009 Honda Pilot isn't the fastest or most exciting car to go on sale this year, nor is it the best looking. But, if we're honest with ourselves — which honestly, we aren't very often — it's probably the one we should buy. But that's the problem with honesty, it just isn't very exciting. galleryPost('pilotreview1', 6, '2009 Honda Pilot'); You see, with up to six or seven beefy bloggers, plus the occasional girly man (I'm raising my hand here) to haul around, most of the sexy sports cars we dream about are ruthlessly inefficient. Requiring Ray — we let him drive, it makes him feel powerful — to make an equivalent number of journeys to the number of people being moved just isn't the best way to start off sixteen hours of live auto show coverage. Aside from the fact that none of us enjoy being there, Ray's full blown borderline OCD has him biting our heads off at the best of times. Throwing cramped quarters into...
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Why you should buy this car: Odd vehicles fascinate you. You're open-minded and prepared to accept that a big, tall, heavy SUV can out-drive many a sports car. You always wanted a Lamborghini LM002 but are locked into a world of lease agreements. Your heart says sports car but your head says, "You live at the end of a dirt road in mountains that are snowbound nine months out of the year." Your own personal project car hell is creating the ultimate Dakar racer. Why you shouldn't: You think that lightness and simplicity are the be all and end all of automotive greatness. SUVs offend you. You need an SUV for off-roading and hauling manure. You have small children. The thought of $5 a gallon gas sends you into deep depression. galleryPost('x6review3', 6, 'BMW X6 Interior Details'); galleryPost('x6review2', 6, 'BMW X6 Exterior Details'); galleryPost('2009BMWX6', 6, 'BMW X6'); Suitability Parameters: Speed Merchants: Yes Fashion...
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Exterior Design: *** Like many parts of the BMW X6 , its looks are promising yet flawed. Doing a great job of disguising its bulk — the X6 is huge, that lip on the rear hatch is taller than an F-150's tailgate and the pictured wheels are 20-inchers — they're nevertheless awkward in some places — the huge rear end — and disappointingly conservative in others — the boring front. It's an extremely color sensitive shape; white showing off its surfaces best while the burgundy version is just boring. Interior Design: ** In short: conservative and impractical. By opting for a CLS-style rear console BMW unnecessarily reduced the X6's people capacity to four, but haven't made the interior special enough to justify its lack of space. It's also very color and spec sensitive; the dash looks great covered in dark leather, but the beige plastic found in base versions is just plain tacky. The rear window, big on the outside, looks like little more...
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var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/autos/First_Review_of_new_BMW_X6_the_weirdest_BMW_ever'; The 2009 BMW X6 isn't great on a racetrack. This thought occurs during my third lap when I realize — the throttle wide open, exiting a corner at 100mph — this may not be the best sports car out there. My next thought is "But this is a 4,993lbs SUV." And that's the point where you realize what we have here is something entirely new. galleryPost('2009BMWX6', 6, 'Exclusive First Review - 2009 BMW X6'); BMW calls the X6 a Sports Activity Coupe. That seems preposterous given both their constant assertion that their best selling SUVs, the X3 and X5 , be reffered to as SAVs and the X6's four doors, which is 2 more than the unofficial definition of a coupe allows. The BMW X6 is based on that X5, its main difference, aside from the obvious low roof, swoopy bodywork and huge ass, is firm suspension and the addition of Dynamic Performance Control. It's...
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Why you should buy this car: You've always wanted a Hummer but have thus far been put off by their lack of practicality. You want a pickup bed, but not a pickup. You find tribal tattoos strangely appealing. Why you shouldn't: Your ultimate goal is turning it into a lowrider. You've got a set of 35" dubs sitting around, waiting for a project; just stick with the H2. You live East of the Mississippi. You wish there was a Humbrid version. You want a work truck that can haul a load of drywall. You spell off-road J-E-E-P. galleryPost('h3tgallery3', 6, '2009 Hummer H3T Alpha Interior'); galleryPost('h3tgallery2', 6, '2009 Hummer H3T Alpha Exterior'); galleryPost('h3tgallery1', 6, '2009 Hummer H3T Alpha'); Suitability Parameters: Speed Merchants: No Fashion Victims: Yes Treehuggers: No Mack Daddies: Yes Tuner Crowd: No Hairdressers: No Penny Pinchers: No Euro Snobs: No Working Stiffs: No Technogeeks: No Poseurs: Yes Soccer Moms:...
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Exterior Design: ** Let's face it, it's a Hummer H3, and that means boxy and kinda cute like a GI Joe toy. The grille on the hood has no function, nor do the air breathers by the windshield. But, with 10.2" of ground clearance and huge knobbly tires, it does carry a certain air of purpose about it. Interior Design: *** An extra star for not using chrome plastics. The seats are perfection. With all the legroom in the backseat, it's a nice vehicle for passengers as well. The instrument panel lighting is attractive and easy to read. galleryPost('h3tgallery2', 6, '2009 Hummer H3T Alpha'); Acceleration: *** 4.10 gears get these 2.5 tons of steel and plastic up and moving. It's not gonna blow anyone's doors off, but it does what it needs to in traffic. Braking: **** Big discs at each corner slow this thing down in a hurry, and the dynamic rear proportioning should keep the rubber rolling in the back regardless of load. There's no handbrake present...
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