2010 Nissan 370Z Roadster

By Cor Steenstra, photography Chris Jones, model Kaylin Omo, hair & make-up Heather Ivy.

We recently had the chance to experience the Nissan 370Z Roadster, and, as usual with our recent convertible tests, California weather was playing bad for most of the time. I have no clue what it is these days with the weather here in SoCal, but it does not seem to want to play along very much.

The Nissan however did its very best to make me forget about that part. It is a very nimble little car, with a smooth gearbox sliding effortlessly through the gears, even at speed. The car never gives you the impression to be out of control. Though clearly more sportely catered than the recent Infiniti and Lexus convertibles we tested, it never become uncomfortable in it’s ride harshness.

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2010 Toyota 4Runner

By Cor Steenstra, Photography Chris Jones, Model Gayle Steffens, Make up Pamela Crawford.

The 2010 Toyota 4Runner is a big car.. a very big car. We passed quite a few previous generation 4Runners while driving the 2010 one, and the increase is size is phenomenal. In comparison one might wonder if the car grew with its core buyers of if it actually went up-market and lost those same buyers.

Being so big, and us coming from driving the Toyota Prius, the fuel consumption of the 4Runner gave us a small heart attack of course, but then, the 4Runner never pretended to be aimed at the fuel consumption minded people. It would have been nice, and would certainly have made for a very interesting car, maybe even something ground breaking.

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2010 Toyota Prius

By Cor Steenstra, Photography by Chris Jones,  Model Stacey Park, Make Up Danielle Corsini.

With all the recalls, lawsuits, Government hearings and total chaos surrounding the Toyota Motor Company, and even the Toyota Prius, subject of this evaluation, we were very pleasantly surprised to have just simply enjoyed driving the Prius, no hassles, no problems, just simply faultless.

It is always a pleasure to press the start button on a modern hybrid and to hear nothing, switch it in gear and just quietly zoom away. Ideally this would last forever, the Rolls Royce feeling, but sadly even the Prius has to have the engine kick in at some stage. What is nice about the Prius is that it clearly no longer pretends to be a conventional car needing some sort of center console to link the mechanical gearshift to the gearbox. It clearly demonstrates this by have the gear shift within easy reach high on the console, and then a huge and functional gap in the console to the level below it, and gap that allows for many useful accessory spaces.

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2010 Audi A8

NEW 2010 Jaguar XJ: A 4 door sports coupe? This is how you do it!

By Cor Steenstra

We just critiqued Porsche’s Panamera for the way Porsche had manage to get the interpretation of its brand image into a 4 door sports coupe wrong, and immediately we are confronted with the introduction of the new Jaguar XJ, a 4 door sports coupe that show how a brand image can properly be translated in this type of vehicle.

In contrast to the Panamera we don’t see a problem with neither the center line section nor with the visual side view. It is just not that hard to get right. Jaguar Design Director Ian Callum describes the new XJ as “a thoroughly modern interpretation of the quintessential Jaguar. Its visual impact stems from the elongated teardrop shape of the car’s side windows, a powerful stance and wide track. It is the most emphatic statement yet of Jaguar’s new design direction.”

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Lexus RX Evaluation

By Cor Steenstra, Photos by Chris Jones.

We have been looking forward to try out the new 2010 Lexus RX, since we have such good experiences with the previous generation, in both normal and hybrid guise. The 2010 Lexus RX did not dissapoint. It again is a very high quality built vehicle, with superb fit and finsih. It performs very well, is quiet, and seems to have no problem at all with any circumstances thrown at it.

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New Toyota Prius Introduced

At the Detroit Motor Show a significant new introduction of the Toyota Prius for 2010 was made. This car has been leading the wave of Green and environmental conscious fuels saving that has become so prevalent with the failing of America’s past administration. We found it interesting to see what Toyota does to improve on its leadership role:

2010 LINCOLN MKT and C CONCEPT: BIG LUXURY IN SMALL PACKAGE

DETROIT, Jan. 12, 2009 – Lincoln is breaking new ground with the Lincoln C concept, a new big idea for a small luxury car. Designed with today’s upscale, urban consumer in mind, the Lincoln C concept brings the presence and elegance of a large Lincoln to a smaller, more efficient C-sized car. “Modern luxury buyers who live and work in large, urban areas want to play their part in helping the environment by moving to a smaller vehicle, but they still want to enjoy the luxuries of life,” said Peter Horbury, executive director of Design, The Americas. “The Lincoln C offers sensible indulgence.”

According to Horbury, younger contemporary consumers with slim iPods and pocket-sized cameras have already grown accustomed to the notion of premium quality in a small package. “During the past decade, people have gotten used to the idea that you could pay more money for a smaller version of the real thing,” said Horbury, citing the evolution of music players from tapes to CDs to MP3 players as an example. “The same philosophy can be applied to the automobile,” he added. “People will be happy to buy a smaller car that is better for the environment and more maneuverable in the city as long as the vehicle has all the attributes they want.”

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New Ford Taurus Aimes to Improve Ford’s Image from 2010

DETROIT, Jan.11, 2009 – The Ford Taurus – the car that changed America’s view of full-size sedans – is all-new for 2010 and ready to take on the world’s best, with an upscale new design, impeccable driving dynamics, class-leading technologies and an unbeatable price tag.

“The new Taurus sets the pace for Ford’s growing new car launch momentum,” said Mark Fields, president of the Americas. “This sedan completely redefines expectations of what Taurus stands for – and helps further define what Ford is capable of delivering – quality, fuel-efficient vehicles featuring the latest technologies, wrapped in bold, sporty and expressive designs.”

The new Taurus benefits from Ford’s Global Product Development System, which made it possible to deliver an all-new sedan 12 months sooner – with more new features than customers and dealers dreamed possible.

“Taurus is our premium Ford flagship, and it casts a halo across the entire brand portfolio,” said Derrick Kuzak, group vice president for global product development. “Building on its reputation for safety leadership, we leveraged extensive use of computer-aided design and engineering technologies as well as digital pre-assembly modeling to deliver a high-quality, new Taurus a year ahead of schedule.”

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2010 Cadillac SRX

Cadillac has unveiled the next-generation 2010 SRX Crossover, featuring a completely new design and more-efficient, high-technology engine choices. The new SRX is a mid-size luxury crossover coming to the North American International Auto Show next week. The 2010 SRX is designed for efficient performance, including the choice of two high-tech six-cylinder engines that are new to Cadillac – the smallest-displacement engines it offers in North America. Available video includes soundbites from Cadillac product and design directors as well as running footage of the SRX.