Mitsubishi wants back into the American pickup business, and I have one modest request: build something that doesn’t require a running start to reach the bed. Somewhere along the way, pickups that were supposed to be small became midsize, midsize became enormous, and buying a truck to haul mulch started feeling like applying for a commercial construction loan. There might be room for a…

Source

I came across a new Toyota Land Cruiser recently and had one of those reactions that doesn’t happen nearly enough with modern vehicles: I stopped and looked at it. Not because it had an enormous grille, flashing lights or some bizarre design gimmick intended to make it stand out in the supermarket parking lot. Quite the opposite. Toyota got the proportions right. The body is upright and squared…

Source

Subaru has given buyers a better reason to remember the Impreza. For 2027, the entry-level hatchback gets the larger engine previously reserved for the RS, while the starting price moves down. That is welcome news for anyone shopping for an affordable all-wheel-drive car. It also creates an awkward question for the more expensive version: what, exactly, are those RS badges worth now?

Source

There is ordinary depreciation, and then there is Kia K900 depreciation—the kind that makes you wonder whether the car fell off a financial cliff while carrying a safe full of bricks. When the K900 arrived, Kia was asking buyers to spend nearly $60,000 on a full-size luxury sedan wearing the same badge found on Souls, Rios and rental-fleet Optimas. It was an ambitious move, but luxury buyers are…

Source

There is a practical argument for buying a retired rental car. Most are relatively new, usually only a few years old, and many come from large companies that track maintenance, rotate inventory, and understand that a broken vehicle is a vehicle that is not making money. Compared with the average used car with missing service records and an owner who “thinks” the oil was changed regularly…

Source

Dodge is reaching into the drawer of old performance badges again, and this time it has found one that deserves another shot: GLH. Goes Like Hell. Three letters that once turned an unassuming little Dodge Omni into something considerably more entertaining than its economy-car upbringing suggested. For those of us who remember when a practical hatchback could also be a troublemaker…

Source

The Dodge Aspen has never enjoyed the kind of nostalgia usually reserved for old Mopars. Mention a Charger, Challenger or Road Runner and everybody has a story. Mention an Aspen and somebody will probably bring up recalls, rust or the one their uncle owned that wouldn’t stay running. Chrysler eventually fixed much of what was wrong with the Aspen. The problem was, by then everybody had stopped…

Source

Apparently four doors are about to become the hottest thing in American muscle cars. Ford is reportedly developing a four-door Mustang. Chevrolet is reportedly considering bringing the Camaro back as a four-door. Dodge, which spent the better part of two decades proving that Americans will happily buy a big, fast four-door muscle car, already has the new Charger available with four doors.

Source

There is a certain kind of used SUV that gets people into trouble. It usually looks impressive from across the lot. It has a big grille, leather seats, a dashboard full of buttons, maybe a panoramic roof, maybe third-row seating, and probably some fancy badge that once made the original owner feel like they had officially made it in life. The price looks low enough to make your brain start…

Source

Merkur XR4Ti. Now there’s a name that really rolls off the tongue. Nothing says desirable European performance car quite like a badge that looks like something printed on the side of a prescription bottle. The funny thing is, underneath that unfortunate name was actually a pretty interesting car. Maybe even a pretty good one. I saw my share of XR4Tis back when they were simply used cars rather…

Source