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The rear storage is ample, with a cargo net and a pull-out shade to cover your things. If need be, both can be removed with ease, and the rear seats can be placed down with little trouble as well. I like doing the "one arm" test when it comes to family vehicles, a test that surmises that I have an arm full of things that I need to load, and I can say that the Venza gets high marks on this one. A minor nag would be that the sun shade bar, when removed then becomes an extra thing to store... Read Full Story

By Chris Haak 08.21.2009 Continuing the series in which I question certain aftermarket automotive trends (since the guys with the lifted trucks seemed to enjoy the first installment of so much), today I turn my attention to tacked-on fender vents.  Some vehicles have these vents - sometimes called air extractors - from the factory, and some brands [...] Read Full Story

“It is our aim to make Germany into the market leader for electric mobility,” stated Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the economy minister. He added that the one million electric cars by 2020 “is an ambitious aim, but one that we believe can be realized.” Germany has more than a reduction in the dependence on oil at stake in this effort – the German car industry has a keen interest in being at the forefront of whatever technology is used for propelling automobiles, so if that technology is... Read Full Story

The news from GM comes fresh on the heels of fast-growing dealer concern about the slow payments under the clunker program, and, a public statement by the NADA (National Automobile Dealers Association) that their calculations show that the clunkers program is already out of cash again, based on their surveys of dealers and the amount of pending deals in the sales pipeline. The NADA has publicly warned dealers not to make any more deals under the clunker program because there is a strong risk... Read Full Story

Site down last night, malware warnings from your browser, etc… 08.20.2009 Frequent visitors to the site may have noticed that the site was taken down late last night (Eastern Time). We took it down intentionally because our site was being attacked by a nasty Trojan malware program. We have eradicated the malware now and are back up and running, [...] Read Full Story

As the program barrels on, the sales contest may become a battle of attrition, with some dealers reporting shortages of the models selling in big volumes, and the manufacturers doing their best to get more of those models to their dealers as soon as possible. The active paradox at work here for the manufacturers is that if they increase production of the hot sellers, and, are not able to get that production in front of the customers until the end of the cash for clunkers program, those cars... Read Full Story

C’mon, give me a break. By Brendan Moore 08.17.2009 There was an article that I perused on MSNBC.com on August 15, titled, Cruisers worry days of classic cars are over. The lead-in underneath the title was, “Sadly, drivers say, today’s cars just don’t measure up to wonders of old”. The article is partly about the annual Woodward Dream Cruise, advertised [...] Read Full Story

By Chris Haak 08.17.2009 As mentioned in my recent review of the 2009 Infiniti M45x sedan, the next-generation car was going to boast a new 400-horsepower V8 engine in its top-of-the-line model, easily surpassing the 325-horsepower output of the current M45’s 4.5 liter V8 engine.  Soon after writing that article, Infiniti pulled the virtual sheet off of [...] Read Full Story

By Chris Haak 08.xx.2009 Six months ago, I reviewed the Infiniti M45’s cheaper, less powerful cousin, the M35S (S for “sport,”) and declared that there was no need for the additional horsepower that the more expensive M45 offered via its 4.5 liter V8.  And while that original conclusion is still true - who actually needs to go [...] Read Full Story

Now there is a German consortium comprised of parts maker named IndiKar, in tandem with an automobile model maker named Herpa, that has produced a concept city car that it is promoting as a “green” Trabant – an electric “new” Trabant nT. Read Full Story