Skip to content

Reviews

Hyundai Steps Up Its Big SUV Game With 2026 Palisade

Since debuting for the 2020 model year, the Hyundai Palisade has really become established as the flagship of the brand. Unlike many flagship models that tend to sell in relatively modest volumes, the Palisade sold more than 100,000 units in 2024 and has sold more than 70,000 units through July of this year. At the New York Auto Show in April, Hyundai unveiled the second generation model and we’ve now had the chance to drive it. It should come as no surprise that the Palisade has grown a bit larger, but not by a huge amount. The length and wheelbase are up by 2.5 and 2.7-inches respectively while width and height are up by 0.2 and 0.6 inches. Despite those modest increases, the new Palisade has much more presence on the road thanks to some key changes in the design. The grille and the whole… Read More »Hyundai Steps Up Its Big SUV Game With 2026 Palisade

First Drive: 2024 Chevrolet Traverse, Better In Every Way

Over the last couple of decades, what is often referred to by marketers as the mid-size, three-row crossover has become an increasingly important segment in the U.S. automotive market. After the minivan reached its peak in the 1990s and began a steady decline, families increasingly opted for these larger car-based SUVs. This was despite the fact that in many respects they were functionally inferior to minivans for carrying human cargo. Chevrolet is just now launching the third-generation of its entry into this segment, the 2024 Traverse, and we’ve had our first chance to drive it.  Like a number of other descriptors such as “first-ever” and “best-in-class,” “all-new” is a term often misused and abused by marketers. But in the case of the new Traverse, all-new is pretty close to accurate. There are some non-visible bits that may be carried over but most of the important… Read More »First Drive: 2024 Chevrolet Traverse, Better In Every Way

2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E First Drive Video

While driving the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E for the first time in late November, Sam ran the cameras to share his first impressions for an episode of Hands-On-Tech for the TWiT podcast network. You can also read a longer written story about the drive at Debugger on Medium Wheel Bearings has launched a Patreon. If you like the show and would like to chip in toward the cost of producing and hosting it you can join at https://www.patreon.com/wheelbearingsmedia

2020 Chevrolet Corvette stingray coupe

The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette is a Supercar Bargain

For more than half a century, the automotive world had its very own mythical creature akin to Sasquatch, Yeti and Nessie. Every few years there would be evidence released purporting to prove that this beast really existed, but yet no one actually managed to capture one in the wild. Even the great Don Sherman, long-time technical editor of Car and Driver and other publications virtually made a career of tracking this automotive myth. But it wasn’t until GM CEO Mary Barra emerged from a lightly camouflaged prototype in New York in April 2019, that we knew for sure that the mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette was real.  A condensed version of this review originally appeared on Forbes Wheels I recently got to spend a week with the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette and I’ll jump right to the chase. Even in its base form, it is every bit as… Read More »The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette is a Supercar Bargain

2019 Volvo XC40 – The New Small Swede With Surprising Value

The first-phase of the ground up revamp of the entire Volvo product portfolio is nearing completion. Like most brands, Volvo has shifted heavily toward utility vehicles such as the midsize and large XC60 and XC90 as well as the slightly higher riding car variants like the V90 Cross-country. This year Volvo finally has an entry in the fast growing compact utility segment as well with the new XC40 and it has a lot to recommend it. Read the full review over on Forbes Wheel Bearings has launched a Patreon. If you like the show and would like to chip in toward the cost of producing and hosting it you can join at https://www.patreon.com/wheelbearingsmedia

2018 Toyota C-HR XLE Premium: It Crosses Over, But It’s No Utility Vehicle

Over the history of the automobile, we’ve come up with a wide variety of descriptors that immediately give us a pretty solid idea of the type of vehicle being discussed. When we here pickup, station wagon or minivan, we largely know what to expect. But ever since marketers coined the term crossover utility vehicle sometime probably in the early 1990s, it has come to encompass such a broad array of designs so as to become essentially meaningless. A current prime example of that is the 2018 Toyota C-HR. Read the full review at Forbes     Wheel Bearings has launched a Patreon. If you like the show and would like to chip in toward the cost of producing and hosting it you can join at https://www.patreon.com/wheelbearingsmedia

2019 Hyundai Nexo – The First Really Complete Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle

Twelve years ago when I first started writing professionally about cars, the very first review I ever wrote for AutoblogGreen was a fuel cell electric car, the Ford Focus FCV. In the years since I’ve had the opportunity to drive a number of different concept, prototype and production fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) from Ford, GM, Honda and Toyota. While the technology has absolutely advanced over that time, all of them have had some compromises. Until now that is. Aside from the obviously limited network of hydrogen filling stations, the 2019 Hyundai Nexo felt like the most finished fuel cell vehicle yet. Read my full first impressions of the 2019 Hyundai Nexo at Forbes Wheel Bearings has launched a Patreon. If you like the show and would like to chip in toward the cost of producing and hosting it you can join at https://www.patreon.com/wheelbearingsmedia

2018 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara – More Civilized, Still an Off-Road Beast

From time to time, certain vehicles come along that attain an iconic status to such a degree that not only does the model stay in production for decades, but even the fundamentals of the basic design are retained even as the mechanicals evolve. The Porsche 911, the Volkswagen Beetle, the Mini and of course the Jeep Wrangler. For 2018, the Wrangler with its updated internal code of JL is all-new and yet it remains as ever a direct descendent of the utility vehicles utilized by the U.S. Army beginning in 1941. Read the rest of the review on Forbes Wheel Bearings has launched a Patreon. If you like the show and would like to chip in toward the cost of producing and hosting it you can join at https://www.patreon.com/wheelbearingsmedia

2018 Nissan Leaf

Checking out the 2018 Nissan Leaf With Leo Laporte

Last Sunday I got to hang out with Leo Laporte as we checked out the redesigned 2018 Nissan Leaf for episode 134 of The New Screen Savers Wheel Bearings has launched a Patreon. If you like the show and would like to chip in toward the cost of producing and hosting it you can join at https://www.patreon.com/wheelbearingsmedia

New Mercedes Raises Question: What’s The Right Amount Of Driving Automation Now?

Technological innovation is nothing new to the brand with the three-pointed star. Ever since Karl Benz drove his Patent Motorwagen for the first time more than 130 years ago, Mercedes-Benz has been a technological pioneer. Along with pioneering engine technologies like diesel and direct injection, active safety has been at the heart of the brand. From the debut of the first electronic anti-lock brakes in 1978, the Mercedes-Benz S-class has consistently been the launch platform for these technologies and the 2018 edition takes another step closer to automated driving. After a week in the refreshed S560, I have to ask, is this a step in the right direction? Read the rest of the article over at Forbes.com Wheel Bearings has launched a Patreon. If you like the show and would like to chip in toward the cost of producing and hosting it you can join… Read More »New Mercedes Raises Question: What’s The Right Amount Of Driving Automation Now?