Mazda's CX-70 PHEV is The Perfect SUV For Fun Loving Couples With No Kids
Oct 20, 2024
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Mazda's CX-70 PHEV is The Perfect SUV For Fun Loving Couples With No Kids
When it comes to taking care of your family family, things like good looks and raw speed tend to fall aside and safety features become a primary concern. This is your family care after all and while how fast you can take that corner might be important with your weekend car, there are other more important things when it comes to taking care of your kids and making sure that they can get back and forth to school, errands, and of course the all important summer family road trip.
Trucks get a bad reputation for gas mileage, or at least they have historically. This is starting to change in the past two model years and will continue to accelerate going forward as trucks are seen as a competitive option to cars and especially full-sized SUVs such as the Chevy Tahoe. It is truly remarkable that you can take a 5,000 pound vehicle down the highway at a rate 29-mpg without using a hybrid powertrain, but that's exactly what they've done with the new 3.0 L turbo diesel. This makes it a great option for long road trips so we decided to test it out on a drive from San Diego to Paso Robles, CA to check out some Central Coast wineries.
The Chevy Tahoe is one of my favorite big SUVs and that's because it is apologetically big and powerful, yet still fun to drive. Chevy has made it even better this year by offering a new trim level, "Custom" where they've removed the third row, made a towing package standard, and added a few cosmetic tweaks as well. What you're left with is the perfect truck for pulling everything you need for the weekend and tons of cargo space inside, along with a super comfortable ride and great tech to help you get there safely.
Ok guys, so there's been a lot of debate about "is this a Mustang" and so when I saw the opportunity to do a quick ride along at the 2020 Chicago Auto Show yesterday I literally jumped at the chance. I waited in line with other media who were similarly excited to take a ride in what is undoubtedly one of the most hotly anticipated new car releases. On the outside though, Mustang fans, EV enthusiasts, and even some Chevy and Dodge performance devotes have all been hotly debating the merits of an all-electric vehicle that bears such an iconic badge. Is it worthy? Is it a Mustang? Here's my thoughts.
This custom Defender 90 Convertible from E.C.D. Automotive Design is outfitted with a five-speed manual transmission and powered by a 6.2-liter LS3 V8 engine.
What's a "sports truck" you ask? For me, it's just like how a sports car is designed to go faster and turn quicker so you can do stuff others can't - this truck can go places and do things other trucks will never be able to. It's also designed for the person who doesn't simply want a "practical" vehicle. They want something that is an object of desire and affection. It's a vehicle that you instinctively crave from the moment your eyes first lock onto it. That's exactly what the 2018 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 is... and I'm hooked!
Virtually every man I know has an appreciation - if not an outright love of cars. While some are simply dull practical machines to get back and forth, many of them are in fact works of mechanical and artistic triumph that deserve to be celebrated. That's one of the reasons why I love the annual Fabulous Fords Forever show. It's more than just an exotic car show, but rather it's a celebration of passion for one of my favorite automotive brands - Ford Motor Company.
The desert is an amazing place to explore - on road as well as off. Despite the fact that some people might think it is dead and desolate, this is an environment that is incredibly dynamic. Dangers as well as beauty can pop up at any moment and disappear just as quickly. One of these dangers is sudden dust storms or sandstorms. They are most common in the deserts of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula but also in parts of the United States including California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico.
While American sand storms are often smaller in size than what might be experienced in the Saharan Desert, the danger to motorists can be similar. Here's what to do if you find yourself in a sand storm.
One of the things I absolutely love about Joshua Tree National Park is that it is a near perfect spot for people to learn how to drive off road vehicles. You can dip your toes in the sand rolling along Geology Trail or get the adrenaline going in the Old Dale Mining District and still have a great time. This park is your place to advance skills at a pace that you are comfortable with and that matches personal experience and technical abilities of your vehicle. Over the years I've done exactly that, first having explored trails with a Jeep Cherokee and now, earlier this month I returned with the Jeep Gladiator Rubicon.
The Ford Explorer is one of my absolute favorite SUVs since it first debuted in 1991. It has represented a sense of American style and freedom as the ultimate road trip vehicle able to adeptly transverse paved and unpaved roads. Now in it's sixth generation the Ford Explorer has added a new version to the line - the Ford Explorer ST. A performance version that we had the opportunity to spend a few hours with last week in Park City, Utah.
I don't typically like traveling at night and as I get older and my eyes start to be more sensitive to glare, traveling in the dark just isn't my first choice. Regardless though, there are some big advantages such as reduced traffic. Ultimately, nighttime road trips can be exhilarating, yet they come with their own set of safety challenges. Between ensuring your vehicle's preparedness, combating drowsiness, and staying safe during breaks, there's a multitude of factors you need to take into consideration if you want to travel safely.
There's a lot of bad stuff that we as Americans are working through right now, but fast, powerful, affordable sports cars are not one of them. The Ford Mustang is truly and icon of everything that is right about America and so it was the perfect car to borrow for a celebration of the Fourth of July.
Last night we were on hand for a special unveiling of the updated Ford GT supercar for 2020, including increased engine power to 660 horsepower and improved cooling. To say that it was beautiful would be an understatement. This is the pinnacle of supercar design and it frankly feels wonderful to have it coming from an iconic American brand like Ford.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk is what would happen if a Dodge Charger Hellcat and a Grand Cherokee had a baby. This is an absolutely ridiculous concept but this is one of my favorite vehicles that I've driven in the past few years. Imagine all of the comfort and style that the Grand Cherokee is known for... but with a 6.4L V8 707hp Hellcat engine up front propelling the vehicle to a blistering 0-60 of 3.5 second. Oh and since it's still the Grand Cherokee is has 7,200 lb towing capacity, super comfortable rear leg room, and plenty of trunk space for all the gear you need for a weekend getaway.
Feast your eyes on the Polaris Slingshot, one of the strangest but most fun vehicles I've ever had the pleasure of driving. Part car / motorcycle / go-kart, this three-wheeled autocycle looks, sounds, and drives like nothing else on the road. And after spending a weekend in Austin with one, I'm officially hooked and want one for myself!
Bulletproof glass has always been more of a cautionary and reactionary investment; this means that its demand is mostly related to the situation, crime rate, violence, etc. The global bulletproof glass market is expected to reach $7.65 billion by 2022 which is a 13.6% increase from 2017.
Like many other parts of the country, California continues to be under water restrictions and while we've had a lot of rain recently that doesn't mean we can start wasting water again. As a result, my car looks terrible. It has dust, pollen, bird stuff, road grime all over, and ironically even beads of wax left over from my last car wash months and months ago. I've avoided regularly washing my car like I once did because frankly it's appalling how much water is wasted that way. While commercial, automatic car washes are far more efficient with water than washing at home with a hose and bucket, it's still a huge waste of water. That's why I was excited to try the new Armor All Ultra Shine Wash Wipes when they asked me to try them out recently.
When Ford, in 2017, formally announced that they were bringing Bronco back, the off road enthusiast world lost their shit. This was one of the biggest brands in off road history and now it was coming back in exactly the right time where we have the most advanced suspension technology in history and a wide variety of engines that are designed to be robust enough to handle virtually anything we can throw at it on the trail. Then... a year later a new "Bronco" emerged and that quickly got derided as simply the "Baby Bronco", a vehicle simply riding on the big brother's coat tails. In many ways, that is accurate since I'm not sure the Bronco Sport would survive on it's own if it were called something else - for instance if it were simply called the Escape Sport.
How to you make the Cadillac Escalade is already an SUV with attitude and is one of my favorite luxury rides. Now it's gotten a bad-ass upgrade from the folks at AddArmor who turned it into an absolutely stunning executive protection vehicle. I dream of one day rolling through the streets in one these but for now I'll just have to be satisfied by the photos...