Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!!

Yellow 2011 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport Convertible

Text, video and photos by Cor Steenstra

Of course the weather gives us an excellent excuse to evaluate a convertible, and what better one to do this with tan a Chevrolet Corvette, in bright yellow of course. We certainly had a a blast in this. The car has a very nice exhaust system coupled to it, which makes driving on small roads with echoing trees even more of a blast. Listen for yourself and be jealous..!!

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2011 Toyota Sequoia

Text, photos and videos by Cor Steenstra

The 2011 Toyota Sequoia is a lot of vehicle. Based on the Tundra chassis, and with clear body panel, as well as interior parts sharing with the Tundra, it is a very capable and roomy offering from Toyota. Like the Tundra though, it also does not spare in using fuel, although the closed body does make for a small reduction compared to the open bedded counterpart.

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2012 VW GTi

Text and photos by Cor Steenstra, model Christiana in a Vocaloid Hatsuna Miku outfit.

Over the recent period we have been able to drive quite a number of cars from a varying number of manufacturers. It has been a very interesting experience for us to see how the game of thrones is developing, with newcomers challenging  the established elite, often in areas where the establishment had its unique monopoly not that long ago.

That is precisely how we came away from driving the VW GTi. When first introduced back in 1976, the GTi very much set the standard for the boy racer category at that time, and has been able to hold on to that for quite some time. Lately however, VW here in the US thought it necessary to promote their Diesel technology by establishing a Jetta TDi racing series, and VW doesn’t seem to be nurishing the GTi anywhere else in the world either.

Sadly, the GTi seems to have evolved into a still rapid, but otherwise stale and over-sized sporty passenger hauler, rather than the wolf in sheep skin of yonder. As you may remember, we recently were experiencing the Kia Forte Kkoup, which seems to have the price, the format, the power, the vibrancy, the youth, the speed, the road holding, that all were once associated with the GTi.

It would be in VW’s best interest to look at its product plan, and see if they really want to forgo on this, or if they can find the passion back that at some stage must have been prevalent with the organisation, and come out with something that will wow us again. We certainly hope so.

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2011 Toyota Tundra

Text and photos by Cor Steenstra

The Toyota Tundra, especially in the double cab, long wheelbase version we tested, is a huge vehicle indeed. It takes some getting used to maneuver around, and you will not be able to use the normal parking spots, with the tail sticking out substantially.

Due to that, it of course also uses fuel quite a bit, with the 5.7 liter V8. On freeway travel we managed no better that 16 mpg, but add some in town travel to the mix and it immediately goes down to 12-13 mpg. In this day and age it does take getting used to, and given that we had such good experiences with the Nissan Leaf on the other end of the spectrum, it was quite a shock.

Design wise the Tundra shows fits within the recent Toyota Design language, but is clearly not pushing any boundaries. Having seen the concept a few years back, it is sad to find that it was not possible to get closer to that significant statement with the production version.

On the inside the Tundra is clearly related to it’s Sequoia counterpart, and shares many carry-over parts. It is logical and makes total business sense, but it would have been nice if the Tundra could have set itself apart a bit more, be a bit bolder and rougher.

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2012 Toyota Sienna SE

Text and photos by Cor Steenstra

The Toyota Sienna SE is clearly a sporty version of the traditional “soccer mom’s” minivan in the Toyota range, and does this in such a convincing way that it actually makes this car a fun to drive vehicle for dad as well. The Sienna is not only equipped with plenty of carbon-fiber touches throughout, it actually has a lot of substance in the more powerful engine and harder suspension. This works very well for sporty driving, but, admittedly, it does not do wonders when you actually have to transport the fam to an event. You do notice the harder suspension as such, which makes it more uncomfortable and less fun to drive.

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Very Impressive Nissan LEAF

Text, photos and video by Cor Steenstra

We were very, very, very impressed by the Nissan LEAF in our couple of days driving experience. It did not start out too well, with the initial car unable to put into drive mode after simply parking it, but the replacement vehicle never had any of these issues at all, and in fact perfromed way beyond expectation. To illustrate this better, I taped a few videos during the experience. Look at these and see if you can be pursuaded to go green. Continue Reading…

Chevrolet Volt experience

Text and photos by Cor Steenstra

Really, 3 days is not enough To get a fair opinion on this car, but 3 days is what we were allowed, so that is what we have to deal with. After a full nights charge we had 39 miles on the range indicator. To drive my daughter to her school takes a total of 3 miles, but there are some hills on the way. At the end of this very short drive, the range had reduced by 12 miles, with only 27 miles left. I was not using a heave right foot, so this came a bit of a shock.

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2011 Infiniti M56

Text and photos by Cor Steenstra

We finally got to try out the Infiniti M56, basically the top of the Inifiniti car line up in the US. The exterior design of the M56 depicts the latest iteration of the Infiniti  design language which shows more risky surfacing throughout, and stylization of details throughout. The original Infiniti design language was very much based on the art of leaving out, as shown by consultant designers from Porsche Style. The “brush stroke” advertizing gave us an indication where Infiniti was intending to evolve. Continue Reading…

New MINI Coupé

MINI is expanding its product family with the launch of the MINI Coupé geared squarely to maximising driving fun. The first two-seater in its current line-up sees MINI not only breathe new life into its successful racing history but also provide a shot in the arm for the super-compact sports car class. The MINI Coupé can be ordered with the most powerful petrol and diesel engines in the brand’s arsenal. Outputs range from the 90 kW/122 hp of the MINI Cooper Coupé, to the MINI Cooper SD Coupé (105 kW/143 hp) and MINI Cooper S Coupé (135 kW/184 hp), all the way up to the MINI John Cooper Works Coupé producing 155 kW/211 hp.