Nik J Miles

Archive for the ‘Cars’ Category

Fuel Efficiency Without Hybridization.

For 2012, customers have more variations of the Civic to choose from than ever before. There are five in fact: The Civic, Civic Natural Gas, Civic Hybrid, Civic Si, and the Civic HF or “high efficiency.” Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone who hasn’t been keeping up with auto industry news, or is under 40 years old, might not know that Fiat is back, and it’s a part of Chrysler, or vice versa.

When the Iranian oil crisis ended in the 1980s and people started buying SUVs the small fuel-efficient Fiats fell out of favor and sales of the small Italian cars nearly stopped.  In 1984, Fiat pulled the plug in the U.S.  Then nearly three decades later the U.S. auto industry fell into an economic sinkhole and Chrysler went bankrupt.  Along came Fiat and took over.  As of January 2012, Fiat owns 58.5 percent of Chrysler — in a year or two, Fiat will own it all.  With that beachhead in place Fiat reasoned, America needs small cars again, why not bring back the Fiat, and so they did. Read the rest of this entry »

Hyundai chose the North American International Auto Show in Detroit to unveil the latest version of the Genesis Coupe.  The 2013 model uses large air inlets, prominent heat extractors, bold headlights, LED daytime running lights and fog lights to give the wedge-shaped coupe a seriously intimidating look.

The forceful sports car styling is backed up with two enhanced powerplants, a turbocharged four-cylinder and sophisticated direct-injection V-6.  Both engines are stirred to maximum benefit by a standard six-speed manual transmission or optional Hyundai designed and built eight-speed automatic transmission with paddle-shift SHIFTRONIC^® manual-shifting capability.  In addition to the steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters. A clear LCD readout on the instrument panel shows the selected gear at all times. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve seen many small Chevys over the years with names like Vega, Geo, Cavalier and Aveo come and go but like a diet meal, they just didn’t satisfy.

Now Chevrolet has a new car that’s more like it – think cheeseburger and fries.  Totally satisfying and downright fun, the new Chevrolet Sonic is a tasty treat on GM’s menu.

Developed from GM’s new Global Small Vehicle platform (called Gamma) the underpinning will be under cars all over the world before long.  Read the rest of this entry »

We have always maintained the product is king in the car business, and automakers turning out the best products have the best chance of winning.  Audi has certainly been a good example of that rule of thumb in recent years producing a stable of outstanding new vehicles with names like R8, TT, A3, A4, A7, A8, Q7 and the market has rewarded Audi with significant sales increases.  The most recent addition to that first-rate lineup is the new mid-level A6 sedan.

The previous generation A6 looked good and drove great, but wasn’t at the same level as the competitors, and as a result, didn’t inspire consumers to flock to the Audi stores to buy one.  In fact, it’s two chief rivals, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW 5 Series sold 60,000 and 40,000 units respectively in 2010 as compared to only 8,600 for the A6.  The all-new A6 is more innovative and powerful and a whole lot more stylish making it a much more desirable product and we expect to see a big boost in market share. Read the rest of this entry »

 The drive from the Portland, Oregon area, where I now live, to my home town of Deer Lodge, Montana is 630 miles.  For me to make that drive, I wanted a car that was comfortable, fun-to-drive and very fuel-efficient.  From experience, I have found the cars that best fit my criteria tend to be diesels.  They get excellent fuel economy, the high torque gives them very good acceleration and passing power and generally the cars fitting those requirements have been quite comfortable. Read the rest of this entry »

            The current compact market is at the top of its game with innovative, aggressive car companies producing an amazing selection of affordable sedans and coupes.  With nearly 9 million vehicles sold since 1972, the Honda Civic has become the icon of the segment and each new generation has brought forth cutting edge designs and innovations.  With this kind of competition at play, we anticipated that the ninth generation Honda Civic would be a head turner, or a technological marvel.  We expected to be WOWed by the latest Civic, but our initial reaction was “nice.”   Read the rest of this entry »

Most people looking for an upscale premium sedan will look for cars with a name on the hood like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW, Lexus, Jaguar, Cadillac or Infiniti.  Status is important to many people, and those brands have earned their appeal after years of building some of the best luxury cars in the world.

However, shoppers who are simply looking for a great luxury car and the best value are missing the best-kept secret in the segment, the Hyundai Genesis.  Read the rest of this entry »

Austin, TX – My wife Barbara and I have been reviewing new vehicles for more than 20 years, and since 1994, we have reviewed every new Kia model coming to the United States.  Looking back over the years there is one clear trend – every new Kia model and new generation has been a significant improvement over any of the previous models.

The constant improvement resulted in sales gains, which in   turn has allowed Kia to have an ambitious growth program.  In September 2009, they announced they would introduce nine new products in just three years.  In addition, in November 2009, Kia opened a $1 billion plant in WestPoint, Georgia.  Read the rest of this entry »

 MINI planners have been busy again this year first producing a new coupe, and now a fun, open top, two-seat roadster.

The MINI Roadster becomes the sixth model in the British premium carmaker’s current line-up and promises to add a new level of fun to the brands already go-kart like driving image.

Covered by a classic manually operating soft-top, the MINI Roadster can be opened or closed quickly with the flick of a wrist to adapt to weather conditions or the driver’s mood. Read the rest of this entry »