There’s also dual-zone climate control, rear auxilary climate control, voice-activated navigation (hey, a Navigator should have nav standard), 4-wheel disc brakes with ABS, forward and reverse sensing system, rain-sensing wipers, power adjustable pedals (a great thing for families whose drivers are of different heights and leg lengths. I’m 6′0″. Mrs. TireKicker is 5′1″.) a trailer towing package, a full complement of airbacks, Advance Trac with RSC and the Securilock anti-theft system. Read the rest of this entry »

Rear view of the 2012 Mazda 3 5-Door
This time, we drew the Mazda 3 S 5-Door Touring model. There are only two flavors of the Mazda 3 5-door…Touring and Grand Touring. The difference between the two cars? ,570, which buys a power moonroof, dual-zone automatic climate control, leather-trimmed sport seats, heated front seats with 5 settings, an 8-way power driver’s seat and a 6-CD, 10-speaker Bose Centerpoint Surround Sound system. Read the rest of this entry »

You also get three transmission choices: A Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT), a CVT with AutoStick, or a five-speed manual. Personally, I’d go with the stick, but the Jeep press fleet chose the CVT with an off-road crawl rate. And, honestly, it was a very good, very smooth CVT. I had to be reminded that was how the Patriot was equipped, which means it felt natural…like the best (Nissan, Subaru) CVTs. Read the rest of this entry »

It all starts at ,700 with an impressive list of standard features. Too long for me to re-type. Wanna know what they are? Infiniti’s M Hybrid webpage has that covered. Our tester added the Delue Touring Package (Japanese White Ash wood trim with genuine silver powder accents, semi-aniline leather appointed seating, a Bose 5.1 channel 16-speaker Premium Audio system, Forest Air filtration, a suede-like headliner, soft double-stitched meter hood and power rear sunshade) for ,800. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re thinking the base price is getting up there, you’re right. ,650 is where ours started. The good news is that besides the retractable, you’re getting a lot of nice equipment for your money. Automatic climate control, leather-trimmed seats (heated with 5 settings), a leather-wrapped parking brake and a Bose audio system with AudioPilot 2. Read the rest of this entry »

music too…but here you can), Sirius satellite radio, an auto-dimming rearview mirror with microphone, a remote USB port, an audio jack, a 276-watt amplifier and six premium speakers. There’s also a remote start system, security alarm, dual-zone automatic climate control, humdity sensor, universal garage door opener, Nappa leather seats (heated in the front and rear…and 8-way power controlled with 4-way lumbar adjustment for the driver and front passenger), a leather-wrapped steering wheel, leather-wrapped shift knob, a heated and cooled front console cupholder, a compass, front overhead LED lighting, front and rear LED map pockets, driver and passenger lower LED lamps and an upgrade to 18-inch chrome-clad aluminum wheels. Read the rest of this entry »

Still, that’s in the ballpark for the EPA city estimate, and not a lot of cars get there. In fact, most don’t. And overall, the ECO is our favorite Cruze. It looks good, is well equipped, has a nice interior and one of the best manual shifters we’ve found in a domestic car (not Honda-level, but close). Ours had one option, the Driver Convenience Package, which gives the driver a six-way power-adjustable seat and rear parking assist for 5. So with a 0 destination charge, the bottom line was ,490. That’s a sweet spot for a car in this class and with this level of equipment. Read the rest of this entry »

The Freight Transport Association or FTA has just backed a report which may help fleets with regards to congestion. The report is titled “Out of the jam: reducing congestion on our roads.”

According to the FTA the report is recommending that traffic data be shared with fleet operators. This data can be used by fleets to help lessen their impact on the roads. For example they may be able to use different roads and spend less time driving if they are not stuck in the congestion. The road network management policy stated there is a drag on the economy due to congestion. Better communication can help reduce some of the issue at hand. Read the rest of this entry »

If you are thinking of buying a car in the near future then it is well worth your while making sure that you conduct your search on the internet. Although for some people, it might be daunting to buy a car over the internet, you have to remember that you actually have more recourse if you buy online, and you will have far more choice on the internet. If you buy a car from out of your local paper, it might make you feel better to be bale to go back to them if you find a problem with the car after a few weeks, but it doesn’t actually give you any rights. Read the rest of this entry »

I considered that Sentra the worst car I’d ever driven (for a time…the 80s had a way of sending worse-still machines my way as fleet vehicles and rental cars), and a scant two years later found the 1984 Honda Civic so superior in every way that I spent ,000 more than that first Sentra cost because I figured that’s what it took. Read the rest of this entry »