Clutching a leather-wrapped steering wheel while flicking the shift paddles on the SportShift electronic automatic in a tuned-up crossover utility vehicle, we're carving a keen line around oh-so-tight curves on Route 88 as it winds through sandstone canyons in Arizona's Superstition Mountains.  This is play time:  The agile CUV, cast on a rigid chassis with a turbo-boosted four-in-line engine directing a considerable load of torque to front wheels dressed with Michelin Pilot HX MXM4 rubber, snakes through the curlicue canyon course like a sidewinder rattler slithering through Sonoran Desert sand.

A label on the hatchback trunk pegs our CUV as the RDX by Acura, marque of performance and luxury vehicles derived from Honda of Japan.  RDX slots into the compact class with a 104-inch wheelbase and totes a unique variable-flow turbocharger to nix the typical turbo's power lag.  All RDX '10 models show fresh styling on the body, more luxury content in the five-seat passenger compartment and a number of new technology features on-board.  Sole transaxle is a silky smooth electronically controlled automatic with five forward speeds plus Honda's Sequential SportShift override for clutch-less manual shifts with those paddle tabs mounted behind the steering wheel's center spoke.

Federal EPA fuel consumption numbers for the RDX FWD come to 18 miles per gallon for city driving and 24 mpg on the highway.  For RDX AWD, the numbers tally to 17 mpg city and 22 mpg highway.

RDX with AWD employs Acura's SH-AWD (Super-Handling All-Wheel-Drive) equipment.  The computer-controlled AWD system can disburse the engine's considerable torque not only to wheels fore and aft but the left or right ones too. It's always engaged and enables the vehicle to maneuver on wet or dry pavement with the uncanny agility of a wily sports car.  There's a computer-managed vehicle stability control (VSC) system aboard coupled to a traction control system (TCS), plus a four-wheel anti-lock braking system (ABS) with electronic brake distribution (EBD) and brake assist (BA) units.

The 2010 issues of RDX look more aggressive due to styling revisions for a streamlined body posing in a hunkered stance.  In the handsome cabin there's room for five riders with supportive sport bucket seats in front of a bench for three and a rear bay for cargo.  The driver-oriented cockpit features a leather-wrapped steering wheel, an instrument cluster with light-emitting-diode (LED) back-lighting for an easy read and a Multi-Information Display (MID) which provides access to a variety of electronic functions.

Posh gear includes perforated leather trimming the seats, automatic controls for the climate system with dual zones for comfort, power operation for windows and mirrors and door locks, the driver's bucket with 8-way power controls including adjustable lumbar support, heat elements inside both front buckets, a center console up front with dual-level stow bins, a power moonroof with tilt, auto-open/close, auto-reverse and key-off functions, a keyless entry device, the back bench with a 60/40 split-folding seatback and a 360-watt Acura Premium Sound System with AM/FM/6xCD/MP3/WMA plus seven speakers and XM satellite radio service.

Acura establishes MSRP figures for the 2010 RDX CUV beginning at $32,520 for RDX FWD, or $35,620 with the Technology Package aboard. The 2010 RDX SH-AWD lists for $34,520, or $37,620 with the Technology Package.

For more information see Road & Travel’s Acura Buyer’s Guide or visit acura.com

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Looking for a little slice of private paradise? We all know about the tourist hot-spots around the globe like Paris, New York and Milan, but what about those hidden hideaways tucked away somewhere in between? Here are a few of the best kept secret tourist attractions anxiously awaiting your arrival.

Graskop, South Africa- a small town perched in the Panorama tourist region of Mpumalanga, South Africa.  Boasting a mix of hip-hop artists and Afrikaner farmers, this secret destination offers up traditional African culture and art.  It is also only a few minutes from some of Earth's wonders, like God's Window, the Lisbon Waterfalls and Blyde River Canyon. Known for its gold panning, abseiling and river rafting, this is the perfect place for any adventure seeking traveler!

Weymouth, England- situated along the English Channel and surrounded by sandy, sunshine filled beaches and beautiful Georgian homes, this large town is home to one of the best diving locations in the world. Waters surrounding the city are riddled with Roman shipwrecks and submarines from both world wars.  The beaches attract thousands of visitors each summer with firework festivals and drag boat racing. If you are looking for a little English charm, this is definitely the place to be.

Willunga, Australia- take a drip down under and experience a taste of heaven, with an overflow of red wines and local pizza parlors. This trendy town is situated in the McLaren Vale area and is home to numerous festivals including the Tour Down Under and the historic Almond Blossom Festival. It also encompasses a number of beaches for sunny family outings and barbeque's.

Gaziantep, Turkey- the aroma of flavorful, exotic foods and spices fill the air of this popular province in south central Turkey.  Home to the breathtakingly gorgeous Gaziantep castle, this province is known for its use of a scrumptious secret ingredient in almost all of its savory dessert dishes - pistachios!

Source: Hotel & Resort Insider

For more travel ideas from RTM, visit our Travel Channel.

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There is many a beauty about using cruise control while driving long distances – it prevents speeding tickets, gives the foot a rest, and can save gas. Drivers may think it will ease driving in bad weather conditions, but rainy weather is one case where relying too heavily on cruise control can have the opposite effect.

If your car does begin to hydroplane (meaning that the tires actually rise up on top of the water like water skis), braking is the worst thing to do – and yet it is the most commonly used way to disable cruise control. Cruise control also maintains the speed of your car while you’re trying to decrease speed without hitting the brakes. The safest thing to do if it begins to rain even a little bit, is to disable cruise control. If you lose control of the car, decrease speed by taking your foot off the gas and regain control before using the brakes.

Driving in rainy conditions is no time to be on auto-pilot, hydroplaning can literally make a vehicle take off instantaneously like an airplane if speed isn’t reduced. The risk of driving with cruise control in the rain isn’t worth taking. Though it’s not as well-known as it should be, this risk is serious enough that some cars, like the 2010 Toyota Sienna Limited XLE, won’t let you set the cruise control when the windshield wipers are on.

Source: The National Safety Commission

For more auto safety advice from Road & Travel Magazine, visit our Safety & Security section.

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We may be facing shortages across the board these days (jobs, 401k earnings, etc.), but there’s one area that continues to see unhampered growth: automotive categories. Where once we saw pickups, wagons and sedans now reside crossovers, SUTs, CUVs, four-door coupes, and every other variant under the sun. If you think it’s confusing for the consumer, consider that Toyota and the EPA can’t even agree on how to classify the new 2009 Venza. Toyota calls it’s Ford Edge-fighter a car, whereas the government deems the five-passenger rig an SUV. Whatever it is, buyers of the Venza will enjoy its versatility, comfort, affordability, and perhaps even its arguably attractive styling.

Prices for the 2009 Toyota Venza start at about $26,000, which delivers a front-wheel-drive version fitted with a 182-horsepower four-cylinder engine that delivers an EPA-estimated 21 mpg in the city and 29 mpg on the highway. Toyota also offers the Venza with all-wheel-drive capability and a 268-horsepower V-6 that cuts highway fuel economy by about seven miles-per-gallon. We tested the less powerful Venza and discovered adequate oomph for the daily slog, though by no means does the four-cylinder Venza feel quick. The standard six-speed automatic transmission provides smooth shifts. Our only gripe centered on as-tested fuel economy, which came in at 23.5 mpg, a bit lower than we expected given how many miles were logged at steady speeds on the highway.

Move inside the Venza and you’ll find spacious and supportive front buckets backed up by a rear seat offering a bounty of leg room. In addition to comfort, the 2009 Toyota Venza boasts an ample cargo area (with integrated levers to quickly release the second-row seatbacks), a compliant and composed ride, decent outward visibility, and an interior that would be admirably quiet if not for wind noise seeping in around the front doors. Materials are better than we’ve seen in recent Toyotas, though the cheap headliner needs to go, as do many of the remaining hard-touch surfaces.

Despite a few nitpick details, the all-new Venza is a solid effort by Toyota to meet the needs of buyers seeking the comfort of a sedan with the utility of an SUV. How you classify it is up to you.

Specifications
Test Vehicle: 2009 Toyota Venza FWD 4-cyl.
Base Price: $25,975
Price as Tested: $27,293
Engine: 2.7-liter four-cylinder
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
EPA Fuel Economy: 21 mpg city/29 mpg highway
Road & Travel’s Observed Fuel Economy: 23.5 mpg
NHTSA/IIHS Frontal Crash Ratings: 5 stars / Good
NHTSA/IIHS Side Impact Ratings: 5 stars / Good
Also Consider: Ford Edge, Mazda CX-7, Volkswagen Tiguan

For more information see Road & Travel’s Toyota Buyer’s Guide or visit toyota.com.

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The end of Daylight Savings Time occurred in most parts of the United States on October 31st (Halloween), creating different driving conditions that can be hazardous without proper vehicle lighting. The Car Care Council recommends vehicle lights be checked before the clocks “fall back” to help ensure safe driving, especially during dusk and peak evening traffic hours. But if you hadn’t thought of it until now, there’s no time like the present.

A vehicle’s lighting system includes headlights (high and low beam), parking lights, turn signals/emergency flashers, brake lights, tail and marker lights, backup lights, interior lights and instrumentation lighting. Some vehicles are also equipped with fog lights. Headlights should also be periodically cleaned of mud and muck, and properly aimed according to procedures outlined in the owner’s manual. Headlights can be knocked out of alignment by rough driving, and if not properly aimed, can be distracting to other drivers.

Vehicle inspections during National Car Care Month in the United States have shown lighting to be an often neglected maintenance item. It may be hard to notice if the headlights are dimming, so letting someone else drive your car could enlighten you.

For more information or to receive a copy of The Car Care Council’s new Car Care Guide for motorists, visit www.carcare.org.  

For more vehicle safety & maintenance information, visit Road & Travel Magazine’s Auto Channel.

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The night I arrived to the brand new but already renowned hotel The Wit, I had allowed the city stress of Chicago, plus my insane decision to drive there, to get on my nerves. Much to my relief, I was welcomed by a swath of lively valets and escorted into the bustling…“Wait, this is a hotel lobby?” I thought, as we entered a jam-packed city hot spot. The guests seemed they were enjoying a night out on the town rather than staying at a swanky hotel.

This hotel, in its dynamic downtown location, actually is a new part of Chicago’s nightlife.  A jam packed restaurant peeked out from one of the corners and I was given VIP passes to avoid lengthy lines at the hotel’s most popular rooftop bar. However, the best part of all was the room prices, which were surprisingly low for the windy city’s typically sky-high hotel rates.
 
The Wit, a Doubletree hotel, which opened recently in May 2009 stands for “whatever it takes” or implies “wittiness”, if you ask the clever and funny yet endearingly helpful hotel staff. Simple touches in the hotels décor are witty as well, including the use of local artwork to embellish the walls. One painting in particular shows escalators rising from a flood of water with the Chicago cityscape in the background.

The Wit is as instrumental for Chicagoans as it is an escape for tourists. The Screen, a private luxury movie theater, can be rented out for group viewings or presentations. There are beautiful ballrooms, seven-thousand square feet of cityscape-lined meeting rooms, and plenty of bars & restaurants open to the public. The Wit understands the daily Chicago scene, as it epitomizes the hustle and bustle of Illinois’ most chic and stylish city.

Read the full article here. 

For more hotel & resort reviews from RTM, click here. 

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Car lovers around the world fasten your seatbelts, as the top contenders for the 2010 International Car and Truck of the Year (ICOTY) battle it out in a race to the finish line. The ICOTY jury is proud to announce its top three nominees in each category.  After months of intense vehicle testing by the auto industry’s leading automotive editors and journalists, only the most innovative and emotionally compelling vehicles have cruised into the top three positions.

The mission of the ICOTY Awards is to honor and highlight the emotional connection between cars and consumers, in addition to how well automakers achieve that goal through the design and marketing of their vehicles.

"The awards are not centered on power and performance," said Courtney Caldwell, ICOTY’s creator and executive producer. "It's about how cars reflect our personalities, lifestyles and self image, an attitude most consumers can identify with."

Click here to see if your favorite cars and trucks made the top three.

Find more about our ICOTY awards here.

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For those of you that think of a packing checklist as unnecessary, this one highlights some specifics to really enhance a vacation:

1. A list of phone numbers and addresses you'll need. This is a huge time and stress saver, especially if you pre-program them into your phone and/or GPS and print out a copy.

2. All travel documents, proofs of payment, itineraries, tickets, and pre-planning information you may have found.

3. The right amount and style of socks, undergarments and accessories. Nothing's more annoying than women having a halter top but no strapless bra, or all of your workout clothes but not enough clean socks to accompany them.

4. Electronic converters for international travel - all those electronics you packed won't do you any good when you realize there's nowhere to plug them in.

5. Chargers - For the phone, camera, and anything else whose battery life has potential to burn out in the midst of your trip.

Photo: flickr.com/photos/kathycsus/ / CC BY 2.0

For more vacation advice, visit RTM's Travel Advice & Tips section.

As Congress-mandated teen driving safety week recently came to an end (it was October 18-24), new driver safety issues are called to our attention. Each year more than 5,000 youths ages 16-20 die, and more than 400,000 are injured behind the wheel. On average, one teen per hour is killed every weekend, and once every two hours during the week. 

Some deaths or injuries can't be prevented - it is impossible to predict the driving behavior of others. But parents can and should ensure that their teens are sufficiently prepared before getting behind the wheel of a dangerous machine. Though their driving school may be a sufficient learning resource, it doesn't hurt to make sure they know how to control, not just operate, a car. Students should learn emergency braking and skid control in wet and dry conditions, how to correct unintended oversteer and understeer situations and how to avoid accidents entirely.

For more teen driving safety information, see RTM's Auto Safety & Security section or Teens & Tots section.