By Peter Dushenski

To borrow liberally from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s philosophical children’s book, Le Petit Prince,

“Quand on veut un turbo, c’est la preuve qu’on exist.”

As enthusiasts, turbos are proof positive that we exist. We need little more than a glimpse at a Ferrari F40 to be reminded of this. But is a turbo enough to separate the 2012 Ford Explorer EcoBoost from the 2012 Scion iQ?

We start with the Explorer EcoBoost, which features an upscale, downsized 2.0T engine new for this model year. This 240 hp, 270 ft-lb engine is an extremely close relative of the engine found in the pants-tenting Range Rover Evoque, a tidbit your wife will surely appreciate when she finds out you’re buying her the $50k 7-seat mommy wagon instead of the $75k 4-seat mommy wagon she really wanted. If the shared components aren’t enough to sway your fairer half, you always have the reliable Four Child Defense, made famous by Johnnie Cochran during the Bluth family treason trial. If that doesn’t explode her head, and yours, the way the Chewbacca Defense did, you’re on your own.

As I was saying, the Explorer’s EcoBoost promises a 10% fuel economy boost and a marked increase in low-end torque in exchange for $1,000 in multi-coloured Canadian money. There should be, but isn’t, a disclaimer that Ford’s fuel economy claims are nontrivially misleading in the real world. Why? Because staying out of the boost is the only way to achieve them, and there’s little progress or joy to be derived from driving this way. Turbos, after all, are nothing less than love letters to enthusiasts; here, with a blue wax seal reading “Drive One” romantically sealing the envelope. Mistakenly, the press vehicle I tested was front-wheel drive and therefore prone to the kind of hand-jerking torque steer not seen since the 1990 Ford Escort RS Turbo. To spend $49,900, the as-tested asking price, on a Ford Explorer and not have 4WD is akin to traveling to Paris without visiting the Tour Eiffel. Strangely, EcoBoost and 4WD aren’t even available together for 2012, but don’t be surprised if that changes in the near future, it just makes sense.

Even without 4WD, the Limited model that visited the CarEnvy Garage for a week was never short of luxury comforts worthy of the pricetag, including, but not limited to, voice-activated SYNC, blind-spot monitoring, MyFordTouch, Bluetooth audio, double sunroofs, back-up cam, heated/cooled front seats, and adaptive cruise control. Adaptive cruise, a feature I can never write enough positive praise about, makes highway driving infinitely more pleasant; although the braking can be a bit disruptive to the flow of traffic behind you when used in the city, as there’s a fairly delayed response in acceleration when a slowing car in front finally makes its turn. As for MFT and SYNC, little more needs to be said, but if you’d like to my in-depth take, check out Part I and Part II of my 2011 Lincoln MKX review, which features the same disagreeable systems.

Overall, between the FWD and turbo-four, the Explorer EcoBoost is a funky proposition in a class better known for macho off-road pretense. The 2.0T engine is more than capable of satisfying the driver’s needs, but the FWD component of the drivetrain is an unfulfilling experiment that detracts from the sense of lavish ease imbued by the rest of the vehicle.

Speaking of funky propositions, let’s see how this 4,550 lbs. technogiant compares with the vest-pocket Scion iQ, another vehicle with front-wheel drive and powered by a four cylinder engine. This is an unusual drivetrain layout compared to the class-defining smart.

The Scion iQ is powered by a naturally aspirated 1.3L engine producing 94 hp, 89 ft-lb, and enough gumption to make Robert M. Pirsig howl his characteristically schizophrenic howl. Mated to a continuously-variable transmission, the stout little engine is perfectly adapted for city life and hustles the smart-killer up hills and on-ramps with aplomb. Unlike the Explorer, the power is never enough to overcome the front-wheel traction, but the lack of turbo power does little to diminish the handling abilities and road glueyness exhibited by the iQ.

On paper, and according to established enthusiast mantra, the RWD rear-engined smart should be the sporting champion of this microcar class of two, but it is the unexpected iQ that grants grins in greater measure. With a stocky, but non-telescoping, steering wheel firmly in hand, the iQ is ever-so-keen to turn its laughably small nose into a corner and zip right out again. The body control is frankly remarkable, and the ride still maintains many of its Toyota qualities, with the occasional buck and jive more attributable to the 2000 mm wheelbase. The stubby 10 foot long iQ is ideally suited to ducking into traffic gaps normally reserved for suicidal bikers. Driving in this manner quickly confuses your fellow roadgoers, who aren’t accustomed to sharing the road with anything smaller than the yacht-like Civic, but that’s their problem, not yours. You just get can bask in the newfound freedom afforded by individual-sized motoring (as opposed to the what-if-sized motoring preferred by pickup truck drivers).

Needless to say, the thick-rimmed wheel and anally precise wheelbase length are also ideal for parking lot maneuvers, where the Scion shows off its compact form with a turning circle so small that the whole car feels like it’s spinning for Hanukkah gelt.

To further distance itself from the now-beleaguered 3-cylindered smart, the iQ squeezes an extra adult passenger seat behind the front passenger seat, as well as a child’s seat behind the driver’s. It’s a marvel of packaging efficiency that 1.5 extra seats are tucked into a package scarcely larger than the smart’s. Practicality is whoppingly in favour of the iQ, to say nothing of the safety.

That the iQ has 11 airbags to only 4 in the smart speaks to the increase in our safety expectations between the 1998 release of the first smart in Europe and the 2008 release of the Toyota iQ. That decade of automotive progress is also present in the quality of interior materials and the zesty Japaneseness of their design. The iQ has such an aesthetically pleasing interior that it’s a shame that other Toyota products like the Corolla aren’t this inspired.

The iQ is frugal too, achieving an impressive 5.1L/100km in the combined cycle, which is 6% less than the pricier and premium-guzzling smart, 24% less than the similarly priced Honda Fit, and 73% less than the turbobrute we’re comparing it with today.

All of which combines for a resounding victory for natural aspiration, as the iQ judo throws the Explorer EcoBoost into the next cul-de-sac. The iQ handles as confidently as my 350Z and can carry just as much speed into a corner. Seriously. If it could do no more than that, it would be a sublime machine and the best Toyota product in a decade. That it also fits in your pocket, sips 87, and fits 3.5 people is just plain nuts. The Explorer, which we also drove in Quebec and wrote about in a limerick, continues to grow more likeable and more comfortable with each new impression. The Explorer serves luxury and technology to the masses, but here FWD ultimately undoes it.

Turbos might prove that we exist, but here it’s powerless against a fury of brilliant engineering from one of the largest car companies in the world.

And that’s the Philosophy of Driving for this week. See you next Monday morning!

[Photo credits: author]

By Peter Dushenski

One of epistemologist Karl Popper’s (above) most valuable contributions to the philosophy of science was the notion that a theory can never actually be proven true – only false – and that this quality, what he termed falsifiability, is the single defining mark of any theory.

Popper, a former Professor at the London School of Economics, believed that one of the fundamental issues with the scientific method is the confirmation bias: that more evidence in favour of a statement or theory may increase our confidence in it, but does not prove it in any meaningful way. In other words, no matter how many times a theory is supported, one piece of contrary evidence is sufficient, as well as necessary, to unravel the whole idea; that is, to falsify it. Take the statement “All swans are white”, for example. Observing more white swans increases our confidence that the statement is true, but the observation of a single black swan, such as those seen in Australia, falsifies the statement.

This is a powerful idea and one of the most important notions of 20^th century philosophy. Essentially, what we all learned in elementary school science class, that we develop a hypothesis and then conduct an experiment to either confirm or contradict the hypothesis is erroneous. We can never fully prove a hypothesis of the observable world, but we can most certainly falsify it.

Which brings us to both of today’s test vehicles. In one corner we have the stalwart of “reliability”, from the brand that practically coined the term in the modern era, the Toyota Tacoma. In the other corner we have the fresh-faced Kia Rio5, one of many in a recent string of thoroughly revamped products from the emergent manufacturer, one with little history of “reliability” to speak of.

The Toyota Tacoma needs no introduction, and frankly needs little explanation at all. For a really long ass time, Toyota has been making small pickups that have demonstrated themselves to be trust-worthy companions, like an aged Golden Sheppard that always curls up in the same spot at the foot of your bed. Our anecdotal evidence, what has essentially become Common Knowledge, is that the Tacoma can handle the taxing desert sun of Afghanistan, the muddy volcanoes of Maui, or the unforgiving arctic of Canada with alarming uniformity. Most of us feel, almost intuitively, that the Toyota Tacoma is as close to an unstoppable force of nature as man has yet mass-produced.

Decades of evidence, however, do not prove that the Tacoma is reliable, consistent, and appropriate for almost any climate; this evidence serves only to increase our confidence in our theory, but it can never prove it. And that’s not a minor point. It’s worth emphasizing. The way your friends and co-workers talk about cars is in absolute and unshakable certainties: “Dodge sucks”, “I only buy GM”, and “German cars will bankrupt you” are all such examples, and only the latter statement actually has any merit.

So while the 2012 Tacoma TRD that we tested recently was sure-footed, Stoic, and overly capable, occurrences such as the February 12, 2010 recall of 8,000 MY2010 Tacomas over potential front drive shaft issues can call into question the entire theory, as do reports of oil leaks, water leaks, suspension noise, and transmission issues in recent years, particularly with MY2005. We are therefore forced to reject the widely held belief that the Toyota Tacoma is a sterling model of reliability. It may still be the most reliable small truck, even if it’s hardly small by global standards, but our Common Knowledge isn’t as supreme and invincible as we’d like to believe.

If that seemed murky and pedantic, just wait until we get to the all-new 2012 Kia Rio5. Not only is the new Rio5 cursed with a smooshy, matted down face, falsifying the Common Knowledge that Kia Design Boss Peter Schreyer walks on water, but it has yet to demonstrate its “reliability” by any measure.

The only reason, in my opinion, to buy a new car off the lot is if you plan to own it for 10 years. That way, you take full advantage of the warranty and the wallop of initial depreciation is amortized over a longer period. If you only want a new car for 3 years, lease it. If you tire of cars even more quickly than that, or like buying more luxurious or sporty cars than you should otherwise be able to afford, buy used. So if you want to buy a new car and keep it for 10 years, even with Kia’s impressive warranty, its suspect reliability records should be cause for concern. Right? Don’t we need more data? Only in the last 2-3 years has Kia’s reliability markedly improved into the realm of class average. Yet the swelling with popular enthusiasm and an eager press make it seem like Kia is the new Honda, based confusingly on Kia’s strong value rather than Honda-like dependability.

This is where we would normally, in the vein of contrarianism long held as the hallmark of CarEnvy.ca, remain necessarily skeptical. Strong “reliability”, at the level reached by the Ford Fiesta and Honda Fit, cannot be proved. But nor, as Karl Popper famously demonstrated, can it ever be.

Yes, we can still gain confidence over time. But the beauty of Popper’s idea is that summed up in as such: confidence is not proof.

A fledgling brand such as Kia should make us a bit weary. Has the company grown too fast? Is it sustainable? How will their new products hold up 10 years from now? We don’t know. We can’t know. We like to pretend that we can answer these incredibly complex and multivariate questions with simplistic answers that weave an easy-to-remember story, but all in the end all we really have are stories.

Despite Kia issuing recalls more frequently than its competitors for far more serious safety-related issues, everything ranging from airbags malfunctions to wheels cracking to seat belt buckles that don’t latch, we really have no clue how these new vehicles will fare. We just think we do. Compared to the Rio5, the Tacoma seems, based on backward-looking “evidence”, to be the more “reliable” of the two, but complete redesigns have a way of resetting the score. So although Canadian recalls on the Toyota Tacoma have thus far been mundane to the point of triviality or only affecting a miniscule number of units, both the Rio5 and Tacoma could spend just as much time in the shop and both be just as likely to kill you. I’m not saying that this is the case, but the point is that we don’t know. And we can’t.

The 2012 Rio5 is inexpensive, has stellar financing incentives, is feature-laden to the point of bewilderment (back-up cam ftw!), spacious, surprisingly quick and possessing one of the most polished 6-speed automatics around. Ok, so driving the Rio5 over gravel sounds like you’re living inside an Australian rain stick, but maybe there’s not much gravel where you live.

The 2012 Tacoma TRD has an interior that, despite the age of the hidden bits, looks as fresh and contemporary as any other Toyota. The TRD package makes it look manly and badass, which is all buyers really want.

One is supposed to be reliable, according to Common Knowledge, and one isn’t. But Karl Popper saves us from ourselves and shines a positive light on Kia’s turnaround in the process. The biggest problem for the Tacoma and Rio5, then, is their Blue Ovaled competition. The Fiesta is more fun to drive and imparts a greater sense of quality than the Rio5, but costs a bit more, while the F-150 EcoBoost is faster, a lot faster, but also costs a bit more. Both premiums are, however, fully justified for prospective buyers. Popper might have saved us from the notion of reliability, but there’s no escaping competition.

And that’s the Philosophy of Driving for this week. See you next Monday morning!

[Photo credits: The Core, author via Instagram]

“Social media?”, you ask, “what’s that?!”

You may not be into social media, and that’s totally cool with us, we’re good with that, which is precisely why we’re re-publishing the first three episodes of the CarEnvy Podcast right here, so that you get to enjoy the same eloquent discourse as the SM junkies. Why should junkies have all the fun?

The CarEnvy Podcast is the brainchild our resident Torontonian, and former Edmontonian, Lucas Elke, who you may remember from such articles as Top 7 RM Auctions Lots at Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2011, 2011 Ford F-150 Platinum EcoBoost Review: Stuntin’ Like a Texan, and A Tale of Two Sultans: Michigan vs. Brunei.

We always appreciate your feedback, guys and girls, so give us a shout if you loved something, hated something, or want to be a guest on a future episode. No guarantees on that last one, but if you ask nicely, you never know what can happen! Enjoy!

Episode 1: Automotive news, new niches in car design, and electric engines.

Episodes 2 and 3 are after the jump!

Episode 2: Automotive news, automated driving, and the merits of bikes lanes.

Episode 3: Automotive news, rating the best and worst Superbowl car ads.

Download link: Episode 1

Download link: Episode 2

Download link: Episode 3

To stay on top of the newest episodes of The CarEnvy Podcast , you can delve into social media and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

If you aren’t addicted to immediacy and prefer to check them out right here on our blog, we’ll be making regular updates every few weeks.

That’s all for this week, we’ll see all your beautiful blog-reading faces next Monday at 6:30AM!

“Why on earth did my parents have to move here? There’s never enough goddam parking.” Gabriel muttered to himself coldly.

It was a wintery Sunday night in mid-January and Gabriel was heading to his parents’ place for dinner. His parents had just moved downtown not two weeks prior, having finally succumbed to the allure of the empty nest lifestyle and all that downtown Toronto had to offer. This, then, was to be Gabriel’s new “home”. Although the 25-year-old had never spent a night there in his life and probably never would, he knew that wherever his parents lived was his true home – everywhere else was just a lithe branch extending from the central tree trunk.

His parents’ new place was smack-dab in the middle of downtown TO and parking was nigh on impossible. Gabriel’s Law, however, ensures that anything that can go right will go right. So it just so happened that he was borrowing his roommate’s new Fiat 500 and that the little Italian runabout could fit in spaces normally reserved for strollers and tricycles; it’s smaller even than a snowflake. After a couple of fruitless loops around the block, a snug spot between a Dodge Journey and a Mitsubishi Lancer appeared right in front of his parents’ 20-storey tower as if by divine decree. Anything other than this back-up-sensor-equipped 500 would’ve kept driving in circles for another 30 minutes – even a Mini – but the Fiat just slid in like pesto linguini gliding into a contented mouth. Gabriel even pulled off the tight parallel park on his first try. Appropriately smug with his wheel-twirling achievement, Marco hopped out of the charming two-door, flicked the door shut behind him, locked the doors to the sound of the Fiat’s cheery horn, and buzzed up to #2000: the penthouse, and his new home.

Gabriel always looked forward to Sunday dinners because, now that he was more independent, his parents’ insights into the world, not to mention the largely unsolicited advice, seemed less like life lessons handed down from on high and more like wisdom from people who truly cared about him. It was also, without exception, the best meal that Gabriel ate all week. And the hottest meal too. At this particular dinner, not unusually, the topic of cars came up and Marco casually mentioned the Fiat he’d brought along. His parents were vaguely familiar with it, despite their near-obliviousness to cars, from their last few trips to Europe. Since the 2007 release of the Fiat 500 in Europe, a full 5 years ago now, the jet-setting family had traveled to the Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Turkey; and Gabriel had been quick to point out the nuova cinquecento at every opportunity. The young man had always kept a keen interest in the car ever since its debut, loving its chic looks and compact footprint, and he readily shared this enthusiasm with anyone who would listen.

His parents were therefore well versed in Gabriel’s high expectations of the 500, but were surprised to hear that the car was actually meeting his lofty ideals after nearly 60 months of pent-up anticipation.

“It’s perfect for the downtown lifestyle. It’s cheap, fun, fuel efficient, it’s unflappable in the snow, and has absolutely no pretension about itself. I love it!” gushed Gabriel between bites of homemade bison stew, “You guys should each get one”, he joked, but only partially.

His parents currently drove German cars, so Gabriel knew that his pitch was a touch sell, but despite their professional designations and three decades of practice in their respective professions, Gabriel’s parents didn’t drive new X5s and MLs. His mother drove a Banana Yellow 1999 Audi A4, which she had now been driving for over a decade, and his father drove an Auto Union Silver 2004 VW Golf TDI, which he’d been driving for close to five years. Gabriel’s ‘rents were less interested in the latest pedestrian-detection warning systems and more interested in driving their cars into the ground. Still, Gabriel was so blindly enamoured by the Fiat that he persisted.

“It’s probably the best car I’ve ever driven”.

It was like someone had hit the pause button on dinner.

“Ever?” Gabriel’s mother asked incredulously. “Of all the cars you’ve ever driven??”

“Ok, it’s not perfect”, he admitted frankly, “the ergonomics are a bit goofy and its not the manliest thing on four wheels, but it does everything that you could ever want a city car to do! It has a sunroof to make the cabin feel airy, the slightly perched seats give great visibility and they’re even heated so winter is that much more bearable… I’ve even come to appreciate the 6-speed automatic for driving in rush hour. Combined with the optional Bose audio system, the daily grind is just… happier!”

Gabriel was even starting to surprise himself. His roommate had only been out of town for 5 days now, so he hadn’t driven more than a couple hundred miles in the Fiat, but the two of them had just gelled – like a hand in a soft Italian leather driving glove.

As dinner continued and the conversation drifted to world affairs, religion, traveling, and Gabriel’s employment, he kept thinking back to the Fiat parked on the street 20 stories below; and not just because he was worried about the meter running out. That little unpretentious gem captured every ounce of the spirit that his parents had imbued him with. He understood that you couldn’t have a big alpha male ego and feel comfortable in the 500, which is exactly what drew him even closer to it. It didn’t matter whether you had a were a Bay Street banker, a college student, a drug smuggler, a guy or a girl… Gabriel was starting to see that you could pull off a “cute” car like the Fiat 500 if you just had the confidence.

His parents were fond of their current cars, and Gabriel knew that they wouldn’t give them up until they had to, but Marco saw himself in the 500 more and more with every passing minute. There was a fundamental rightness to it that struck a reverberating chord with him. At $23,925, his roommate’s silver model was loaded like a hoarder’s apartment, but for not much more than $20k, Gabriel envisioned a car he could keep the car for a decade, just like his parents were wont to do.

Dessert, an apple pie from the farmer’s market, came and went, Gabriel hugged his parents, thanked them for another lovingly crafted meal, and took the elevator down to street level. He unlocked the car, happily hopped in, and glided into the snowy Sunday evening, content in the knowledge that a little slice of sunny Italy could fit so perfectly into the cold Arctic landscape he called home.

And we’re BACK to our regularly scheduled Monday programming.

By Peter Dushenski

I’m indecisive.

That’s how it looks, anyways. Based on the indeterminate scowl that spreads across my normally handsome face whenever I’m thinking in earnest, it’s a fair assumption. But it’s still just an assumption. To my eyes, what’s the rush? I just want to make the best choice I can given the data at my disposal – and that means that I’m rarely inclined to trust my gut– preferring to methodically weigh the merits of delayed gratification vs. instant gratification and head vs. heart. So it’s really not that I’m a slow decision maker, but that I invoke my conscious, rather than unconscious, decision-making mechanisms as frequently as I can. To call it “indecisiveness” is ad hominem at best and distracting to my contemplation at worst.

But, over the Christmas Holidays, when the cheery young Hawaiian man at the Dollar Rental Car counter at the Kahului Airport in Maui asked me if I’d prefer a Dodge Caliber or a Kia Soul, I knew that this decision required no further thought. The only hemming and hawing came when he offered us car insurance. For the fairly pricey sum of $200 for 2 weeks, I did a rough calculation, and decisively resolved to keep my Benjamins firmly in my pocket.

Flipping open the crusty, gummied switchblade key to our 18k mile Soul, the-future-Mrs. CarEnvy (we are recently engaged!) and I tossed our bags into the capacious trunk and set off for Kapalua and our condo on the golf course, or more specifically, our condo on the driving range of the Kapalua Plantation Course: site of the 2012 Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Over the next two weeks, we would ask the Soul to take us for coffee in Lahaina (where we bumped into the lonely shell of pro golfer Rory Sabbatini), to the 10,000 ft peak of Haleakala for a blustery midnight stargaze, down the serpentine coastal roads to Hana and beyond, to the pristine Makena beach in the remote southwest, and so much more. We even had the gall to ask the Soul if it wouldn’t mind being a bit adventurous by going off-road (gasp!) towards a lookout point known simply as Jaws. There was little in the way of signage on this particular red clay path, cut like a river out of the brushy 8’ tall sugarcane. Up and down freshly rained upon inclines that you’d swear would require a Land Rover, Wrangler, or one of the million local Tacomas to traverse, the peppy Soul hiked up its Hanbok and just went. The all-season tires occasionally scrambled for traction, but only momentarily before the its Korean composure was regained. The-future-Mrs. CarEnvy wasn’t always as trusting of the Soul’s abilities as I was, but the funky compact crossover eventually wooed her over with its spaciousness, faultless interior ergonomics, visibility, immensely comfortable seating, and attractiveness compared to the Scion xB.

Over more than 1000 miles, averaging 40 mph, the Soul earned our trust by achieving a perfectly unremarkable MPG of 28 (8.4L/100km) and proving itself to be up to the challenge of polyclimatic island life. Perhaps the only niggle, and it’s a little one, was the USB port. Go ahead and laugh, but you can certainly measure a car by how well it integrates with technology, and the USB port failed spectacularly in this endeavour. The USB port, allegedly designed for music devices, functioned for not one solitary Apple device – not iPad nor iPod nor iPhone – and appeared to serve only to charge my watch battery.

Yes, it’s true, my watch battery is charged through a USB port. My watch also happens to relay the accumulated data from my most recent jogs to my laptop, and its battery just so happened to run low on our trip, an unlikely occurrence given the months of standby capacity per charge. Now that we’re well and gone on this tangent, you’ll want to know that this particular watch also drew the admiration of none other than Le Mans Champion Justin Bell, who we fortuitously and mysteriously bumped into at the 2011 LA Auto Show. Justin was himself wearing a $15,000 Devon Tread 1 at the time, a watch he helped design after working on the Devon GTX project, but he was nonetheless impressed by this magical watch that can track running distances, count calories burned, and apparently be charged by a Kia Soul.

So there you have it. The 2011 Kia Soul can climb volcanoes, traverse the off-road, charge watches, and even charm a beautiful girl. Between the Soul, the waning Dodge Caliber and the uninspiring Scion xB, we’ll take the Soul every time. Even for someone as indecisive as me, it’s an easy decision.

See you next week, dear reader.

[Photo credits: author]

Since we were down for maintenance on Monday, we’re bringing you a special Friday edition post. Enjoy!

It doesn’t matter who you blame, it’s all the same in the end.

With the successful launch of the world’s first mass-produced all-electric car – and reigning World Car of the Year – tucked under CEO Carlos Ghosn’s Levantine belt, Nissan’s very first semi-electric foray into motoring should be a straight-forward application of now-familiar technology.

Battery + Motor + Luxury = Infiniti M35h

Ta da?

Ward’s even went so far as to crown the M35h’s novel powertrain, which matches a very familiar 3.5L V6 to a 50kW electric motor and next-gen Li-Ion battery, to their prestigious 10Best List for 2012. In isolation, and as a piece of technology, the M’s hybrid system makes the class pioneering Lexus GS450h look laughably infantile – a nice effort, at best. What with its sport-tuned suspension, “real” 7-speed transmission, and award-winning hybrid system featuring a dry clutch (in front of the transmission) AND a wet clutch (behind the transmission), the M has the luxury hybrid game in the bag every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Further driving this narrative is the welcoming interior of the M35h: occupants greeted by an elegant and colourful 8″ navigation system, 3-stage heated and cooled leather thrones with swooshy stitching, Bose speakers embedded in the freaking seats, and seductively silvery brown woods as far your the eye can see. To eke out a further few inches as the tallest boy in the class, our M35h came with a full complement of class-leading technology. On offer was blind-spot monitoring, the always appreciated adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, too-cool adaptive headlights that look around corners for you, an eco-licious gas pedal that pushes back to save gas, and some trademarked thing called Forest Air™. It all adds up to a voluptuous, sensuous, and ever-so-slightly more digital environment than the stark GS we drove last summer. The M35h, then, offers its discerning driver a neat balance of technology, green-cred, and RWD sportiness. But wait, there’s more!

There’s even a certain flair about it, often absent in the middle manager (of Goldman Sachs) segment, with charming curves that seep throughout the sheetmetal, perhaps most successfully around the headlights and front wheel arches. The derivative taillight design is the only hitch in an otherwise pleasingly fluid design, but we’ll leave it to you to decide whether you prefer the new M to Lexus’ GS, not to mention the more common German trio. And did we mention the price? Well, we’ve saved the best for last because this might just be the best part. At $67,300 – $4,500 less than the entry-level GS450h – the M35h undercuts pioneer-san by a seppuku-inducing difference. Don’t expect the upcoming Audi A6 Hybrid and BMW 5-series ActiveHybrid to undercut either of them, as the Germans have never once competed on price with anyone other than themselves.

But before our benchmark GS450h is ruthlessly relieved of its crown based on boxes ticked and figures drawn, let’s take a quick and poetic foray into its road manners versus those of the reigning Lexus, for this is where the comparison truly takes form. For this purpose, the Lexus GS450h shall be referred to as “King” and its heir apparent, the Infiniti M35h, shall be referred to as “Prince”.

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn is deservedly proud of the Leaf’s accomplishments. The Nissan Leaf is much like the first MP3 player: expensive, limited, but also a glimmering beacon of change yet to come. His company’s efforts at semi-electric motoring, however, are less convincing. This first effort is nothing less than the MiniDisc of motoring: promising on paper, high-end, but ultimately too adherent to old ideas. That this 2012 model can’t even match the 2007 model of its chief rival is a troubling sign of the long 6 years ahead until the next M generation.

The damage to Infiniti’s green reputation is now done, at least until it brings an all-electric luxury car to market. We’d much prefer something along the lines of the bouncy Etherea concept, shown in Geneva last year, to this half-baked and only half-electric effort. We love Nissan, mainly because they’re as crazy as the French and as measured as the Japanese, so our expectations are higher than most.

But that still leaves us with this Infiniti M35h, a dashed attempt to make a difference, undone by its choppy execution and pointless sporting pretension. Carlos Ghosn is fond of blaming the strong Japanese yen for even the most obscure of Nissan’s woes, but here, it doesn’t matter who you blame, it’s all the same in the end.

[Photo credits: author]

This vehicle was provided by the manufacturer for the purpose of this review.

Welcome back, dear reader! The holidays are over, we’ve finally recovered from our food hangovers, and it’s time to get back to it! In 2012, CarEnvy.ca will be on a NEW WEEKLY SCHEDULE! This increased predictability and regularity is designed to maximize your blog-reading time and, in turn, your happiness. Because why are we here if not to maximize your happiness? In 2012, we’ll have a new article, fresh out of our mind’s oven EVERY MONDAY MORNING. By the time you begrudgingly wake up, brush your teeth, and go downstairs, a steaming pile of CarEnvy.ca goodness will be waiting for you as you enjoy your toast and (first) coffee. This has been a public service announcement.

The first thing that strikes you about the new Mazda3 has got to be that shit-eating-Cheshire-Cat-Tiger-Woods-circa-2000-cheesy-Joker grin. After which you might notice a rust-prone hatchback that has long held the torch for fun-to-drive economy cars.

All of which conspires into an impossible to avoid and impractical to ignore competitor; just ask the 100,000 Canadians who’ve bought one since LA’s finest plastic surgeons did their worst Heath Ledger impression on the 2010 model year. Too soon? I didn’t think so either. But 100,000 units make for a lot of perky smiles on a lot of icy driveways. That’s the kind of number that can’t begs the inevitable and Platonically human question: Why?

Simple question, not so simple answer. Then again, it never is. So rather than developing an elegant sounding but completely unsubstantiated and untestable theory, let’s delve into a few hereto-unexplored details of the Mazda3 in an attempt to highlight some of the little things that make all the difference for prospective buyers like you. For each feature, I’ll give it a Cheese Factor out of 5 to give you an idea of how happy that feature will make you.

Say “Cheese”!

1. Seats

There’s no easier way for a manufacturer to show that they bleed maple syrup than to offer Canadian buyers with heated cloth seats. No mandatory upgrade is needed to have your firm(ish) buns toasted like a Timmy’s bagel. No sir, not here. Mazda gets it, and that makes them as Canadian as hockey, Louis Riel, and wide-open spaces. Mazda has gone the extra mile with the 3’s seat heater controls and given you an unprecedented five levels with which to amuse yourself. The-future-Mrs. CarEnvy’s 2009 Mazda3 GT only has one measly setting: Active Volcano. With her ‘09 it’s either Dallol or Oymyakon.

Even on setting 2, the seats quickly get cozy and stay there. I wasn’t even daring enough to try all 5 stages – I’ll leave that to those wackos who sign waivers before eating insanely spicy hot wings.

Smile Factor:

2. Key

Once the exclusive purview of German-made nightmares, the switchblade key has grown increasingly popular as a means of inexpensively adding an up-market flair. Kids and adults alike love the idea of carrying a pocketknife. It makes them feel well prepared, and that makes them feel a little better about the road ahead. Curiously, and counter to strict VW Switchblade Key Orthodoxy, the 3’s key opens parallel to the width of the fob, rather than perpendicular. You can put your phone away; I already called the Blasphemy Police. Still, it’s a fun toy that had me thinking of the car even when it wasn’t around.

Smile Factor:

3. Engine

Yes, it’s the new SkyActiv and no, it’s not a hybrid. Mazda chose not to invest in expensive battery technology, preferring instead to hone internal combustion tech to deliver more power and more efficiency. The pretentiously nonsensical “SkyActiv” moniker was then slapped on by marketing mavens who took this noble engineering triumph and green/blue-washed it. Why? Because that’s what marketers are paid for – they’d be out of a job otherwise – forced to do something ethical with their lives.

But calling SkyActiv an “engineering triumph” in the first place is a bit too kind. SkyActiv isn’t as radical as you’d think; it’s not much more than direct-injection with a stratospheric 12.0:1 compression ratio. In fact, chances are that DI technology is older than you and I put together – it was patented in the 1920’s by John Hesselman and was featured prominently as early as the lust-worthy 1955 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing. If it’s supposed to pass for some kind of blue-sky thinking then I’m Mahatma Gandhi. No matter how you look at it, the marketers are selling you snake oil. This could almost be forgiven if the SkyActiv wasn’t so drearily slow and numbed further by levels of steering feedback not even a Corolla would envy.

It does have a kick ass blue engine cover though. Can’t say we’ve ever seen that before.

Smile Factor:

4. Trunk

The trunk itself is reasonably sized and features the usual 60/40 split, but getting at for the first time was admittedly humbling. I half-heartedly gave up on altogether on several occasion. In my defense, these attempts were in the dark and my Car Superiority Ego precluded me from searching very hard, so I gave up quickly and used the back seat instead. Clearly, the trunk release button wasn’t quite where I expected it to be. You know what it’s like to open an unfamiliar hood, there’s hunting, hounding, fishing and ferreting; but the trunk lid is supposed to be the easy one! Eventually, I stumbled upon what appeared to be the trunk’s back-up camera (uh, despite the lack of back-up monitor inside the car), located skyward from the latchless grab handle, and pressed its little black button.

POP!

Well I’ll be damned…

Smile Factor:

5. Buttons

This may be an oversimplification, but you buy American cars because your dad did, you buy German cars because the buttons feel like oiled silk, and you buy Japanese cars because they’ll last forever. And no, I don’t know why you buy Korean cars. Since my Ukrainian-Jewish heritage necessitates a preference for low running costs, I lean towards Japanese cars, swallowing the hard pill of shitty buttons in the process. So when I found the rear defroster button in the Mazda3, I found further proof that Mazda truly bleeds maple syrup. Tucked behind the shifter, separated from the air re-circ button by the double-width A/C button, was the most gloriously Germanic button I’ve ever had the privilege of depressing. I swear I heard angels crying with joy every time I hopped in the cold san (Japanese for “three”), started her up, and caressed the supple rear defroster button. And I just got carried away. So… how about those Oilers?

Smile Factor:

All in all, Mazda has honed the 3 into a potently pizzazzless, if aggressively priced, contender. It’s a full $4k cheaper than the fancy new Focus, leagues less depressing than the dopey Cruze, and a fair bit classier than the simplistic Matrix. Let’s not even pretend that the soul-destroying xB is even in the hunt, ok? Even in the Sport (read: Wagon) body style, the Mazda3 SkyActiv comes loaded with an automatic transmission, heated side mirrors, those wonderful heated seats and rain-sensing wipers at only $22,790, including freight! At that price, even if the driving experience is disappointingly crashy and imprecise, it’s tough to beat as a pure value proposition. We might not know precisely why there are 100,000 perky smiles on 100,000 icy driveways, but we now know that it was far from an accident.

[Photo credits: author, Mazda]

This vehicle was provided by the manufacturer.

Between the Occupiers, Arab Springers, deposed despots, wobbly Euro, Japanese quake, economic stagflation, and the passing of Steve Jobs, 2011 was rocky like Banff. Still, CarEnvy managed to publish over 70 articles and complete a top-to-bottom site redesign. Not bad for a mostly-one-man-show, eh? In that time, we also reviewed 18 cars, a new record for us. So let’s recap the year that was with CarEnvy’s Best and Worst of 2011 including such categories as Worst Car We Reviewed, Best Interview, Best Press Trip, Worst Movie We Saw, and Best Car We Spotted.

Read away!

Best Car We Reviewed: Porsche Cayman S

Unquestionably, it was the most exciting, engaging, sexy, and expensive car we reviewed this year. It was the one that kicked us in the pants with vitality – as if driving had a purpose beyond the dreary rationality of commuter transport. Of course, it’s the Porsche Cayman S. We had less than an hour behind the wheel, compared to some vehicles we put 1000s of kilometers on, but it immediately established a lofty new benchmark for everything with four wheels.

Worst Car We Reviewed: Scion xD

It would’ve been sensible transport in ’95, class competitive a decade ago, and a bit tired 5 years ago. Today, it’s a whopping whack in the jaw to young buyers. The Scion FR-S and iQ can’t come fast enough for Toyota’s newest sub-brand.

Best Car Video We Watched: Pagani Huayra

The mind-bending active aerodynamic system of the Huarya is quite simply the most jaw-dropping piece of engineering on any new car today. Sure, the Ford Focus and Ferrari 458 Italia have analogous systems, but neither can match the precision and beauty of the tourbillon-like Pagani. That each of the four active panels, two front and two rear, move completely independently yet still in concert, like a razor blade symphony, is pure magic.

Honourable Mention for Best Car Video: Sebastian Vettel

This is what it feels like to fall in love with a pro athlete. He’s so effortlessly affable it hurts. Swoon!

Best Car Movie We Saw: Drive

Ryan Gosling is robustly silent in this cinematic gem. Only this Canadian’s effortless cool could make driving gloves look so right. Despite the title, this movie doesn’t needlessly cut to a chase scene every time the acting is about to go stale – the way the F&F series does – rather, Drive uses the automobile sparingly to enhance the poetic storyline rather than replace it. The electropop 80’s music score was absolutely vivid, helping to tell the story between the sparse morsels of dialogue. Drive was one of the most misunderstood and underappreciated films of the year. No one we talked to much cared for it, yet it was easily one of our favourite movies of 2011, right up there with The Muppets. What was the worst car movie of 2011? Cars 2. A black swan for Pixar if ever there was one.

Best Press Trip: LA Auto Show

Y’know what they say about meeting your idols? Don’t believe it for a second. LA gave us our first taste of a major media day and allowed us to rub shoulders with the finest folks in the business while getting exclusive access to automotive icons like the Aston Martin One-77 (remember your Christmas present from us?). Talk about an honour.

Best Car We Spotted: SLR Stirling Moss

This topless wonder had us sprinting across Potsdamer Platz in Berlin like Usain freaking Bolt. Words cannot begin to describe the utter elation we experienced. It was easily the automotive highlight of our two weeks in Berlin and probably one of the best moments on the whole trip, right up there with our stay at the nhow hotel in funky East Berlin.

Best Interview: Paul Tracy

When you can talk Osama bin Laden, Twitter, Audi at Le Mans, Taylor Swift, and the alimighty NSX with the 2003 Champ Car Champion, you just know you’re in for a treat. And we were. Paul was a gentleman and an average joe all at the same time. We hear he’s decent behind the wheel too.

Most Popular Post of 2011: Ford F-150 Platinum EcoBoost Review

For a car blog based in Alberta’s Heartland, home of the F-150, this should come as no real surprise. We love us some trucks and the new 3.5L twin-turbo engine turns the Platinum into a luxury jetliner for the Prairies. Yeehaw!

That’s all for this year, folks, we hope you enjoyed 2011 as much as we did. Happy New Years and we’ll see you in 2012!

[Photo credits: Nick-K (Nikos Koutoulas)/Flickr, sinister pictures/Flickr, richebets/Flickr,

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas car lovers!

You’ve all been very good boys and girls this year, so you needn’t fear the cold carbon clumps of failure that greet bad children on Christmas morning. Most certainly not. In fact, you’ve been so excellent over the past 12 months that you deserve to be rewarded for your good deeds. Whether those good deeds included shoveling your neighbour’s walk, brushing and flossing daily, or leaving us a thoughtful blog comment matters not one iota; all that matters is your positive intention each and every day.

Your earnestly earned reward is nothing less than the exquisite Aston Martin One-77! Sadly, there simply aren’t enough One-77s for all of you, there are only 77 after all, so we’ve made you a fairer and more democratic gift: some quality photography that’s sure to bring a smile to your face. All you have to do is imagine the wrapping paper and bow.

So take some time over the holidays to enjoy YOUR 19-image tour of the most powerful naturally aspirated car in the world. Your gallery highlights include engineering wonders like the hand-crafted aluminum doors that spill uninterrupted into the side mirrors and the flawlessly aligned carbon fibre weave of the rear diffuser. It’s a cornucopia of lovingly crafted particularity – “One” that goes splendidly with egg nog and family.

Rip off the wrapping paper below!

Your One-77 was captured under the lurid fluorescent lighting of the LA Convention Center, home of the 2011 LA Auto Show, which we attended last month. But the One-77 is so brilliant that it still shines like a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity – or as you probably know it, a star.

Here’s the seamlessly symmetrical carbon fibre rear diffuser we mentioned earlier…

If we zoom out a bit we can see that there are a whopping eight vertical slats thrusting out of the smooth-as-a-seal underbody.

Not to mention the active exhaust baffles! (seen in the open position above)

This cantilevered mirror, extending like an aluminum olive branch from the sculpted door, is what makes a $2M car a $2M car. It’s hand-freaking-crafted!

Compared to a Pagani, the ultimate in bespoke automobilia, the One-77′s interior is more austere and functional – German even. Not that German-born Aston boss Dr. Ulrich Bez had anything to do with that. Nope, definitely not.

Enough LED diodes to light up a Christmas tree.

The inboard rear suspension plays peek-a-boo through the glass hatch.

That’s it, boys and girls, Merry Christmas! (and a very Happy Hannukah!)

It’s simply overwhelming. There’s too much. How can one person possible stay on top of it all the awesome car videos??

Relax. It’s ok. Just close your eyes for a moment and take a deep breath. We’ve done the work for you so pop some corn, grab a beer, and enjoy the eight must-see videos for this week. Don’t have the time right now? No worries, you’ve got all week. Bookmark it and come back when you’re ready to bask in the glory of the automobile. Enjoy!

1. Sebastian Thrun on Google’s Driverless Car:

He’s passionate, he’s persuasive, and he’s showing us a glimpse of the future. As long as there are still closed race tracks, count us in!

Faster, hairier, and louder cars are after the jump!

2. Koenigsegg Agera R dusts Ferrari 458 Italia:

The 458 is silly fast by any measure; any measure except the world’s fastest Swedish meatball, that is.

3. Entrepreneurs+Yaris+British youf = This:

It’s like Charlie Rose in a subcompact Toyota. Classic.

4. BMW M5 vs. Merc E63 AMG vs. Jag XFR vs. Porsche Panamera S:

It’s a 1-2 finish for the turbo cars! Snail power!

5. Jag XKRS vs. Jag XJ220, or Chris Harris vs. John Nielsen at the ‘Ring:

It spits fire!!

6. 350Z eating Corvettes and Lotuses in the rain:
Seeing as how a silver 350Z is a permanent fixture in the CarEnvy Garage, we’re a bit biased towards the VQ-engined muscle car. So watching it in the capable hands of our buddy Kevin – set to a sweet electro beat, in the rain, as he crushes ‘Vettes and Lotuses – is pure pleasure.

7. All you need to know about the only car worth knowing anything about:

Scion FR-S. So hot right now.

8. A step-by-step look at how turbochargers are made:

Manufacturing. Sweet.

9. Life’s a Happy Song:
It’s not car-related, but this bonus video features Bret from Flight of the Conchords as he just nails this duet and reminds us all that there’s more to life than fast cars. There’s also singing puppets and catchy lyrics!

[Photo credit: CAR magazine]

[Video credits: TED, CarThrottle via YouTube, YouTube, EVO via YouTube, @kmccauley via YouTube, AutoGuide via YouTube, NYT via YouTube]