Drew Dowdell

The first year the 1.5T was out it was burning up cylinder heads in the Malibu and Equinox, sometimes requiring complete engine replacement. GM addressed the issue pretty quickly and I think it's been put to bed. Other than that, they are just as needy about on-time oil changes as any small displacement turbo trying to move 3800lbs vehicles, but seem fairly reliable.

It's not really the same class of vehicle. Kia wants to call it a crossover, but its a sporty hatch.

The inline-6 is about smoothness and luxury feel. 280 horsepower is plenty for the class. They feel like butter. No one is counting 0-60 times running to the Real Estate Brokerage and back, but they want the experience to be nice.

Compass sales have cratered because they've jacked the price way up. Pick any options on the base model besides color, and you're instantly catapulted into a Latitude and to about $32k. Another thousand dollars gets you into a vastly superior Honda CR-V EX AWD. The Compass isn't a bad vehicle, but it doesn't have the room or interior to go up against the big players in the segment. They also lease horribly. Who's paying $548 a month for a 48-month lease on a Compass with $3k down? They'll use the poor sales as an excuse to cancel it. An EV replacement for the Cherokee is coming, but it will get a new name and, I'm sure, a hefty new price tag.

No one cares about 0-60 anymore. Fast enough is fast enough. If you want speed, trade in the horse and buggy and get an EV.

I cannot figure out what they are doing with the Wagoneer brand. They make the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer "not Jeep", but style them like Jeeps. Seriously, go to the Jeep page, and Wagoneer is treated as a separate brand. And now the new EV (which looks great) is a Jeep Wagoneer S. So my suspicion is that Jeep has some weird crush on Land Rover / Range Rover, and now we're going to get these weird brand mashups that happened before the JLR consolidation where you'd buy a Land Rover Range Rover, Land Rover Range Rover Sport, Land Rover Range Rover Velar, and Land Rover Range Rover Evoque.

I dunno if I'd call open-pore wood "exciting", but for the price difference between the X3 and what this will likely come in at, I could overlook that anyway. The instrument cluster is fully digital and reconfigurable.

Jeep shared some more details of the upcoming Jeep Wagoneer S today. While it shares its name with the Ram 1500-sized Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, Jeep is billing this new entry to its lineup as a mid-size. Looking roughly similar to the Grand Cherokee in size, the Wagoneer S cuts a more athletic profile. While no performance specs were released with this announcement, Jeep has previously said it is targeting 600 horsepower, a 3.5-second 0-60 time, and up to a 400-mile range. We will have to wait and see if those numbers hold up. The Wagoneer S will maintain some off-road prowess in spite of its city looks with a Selec-Terrain dial to adjust the S for various surface conditions. Standard features will include a dual-pane panoramic sunroof and a McIntosh 19-speaker, premium flagship audio system. Interestingly, as the Jeep Wagoneer S is built on the Stellantis STLA-Large platform, Jeep could also offer this as a gasoline hybrid as well, though no hints of that have been made. The 2025 Jeep Wagoneer S goes into production this summer for a late Fall 2024 launch View full article

This is a Japanese-reliability, low-maintenance BMW X3 clone. Look at it next to an X3 interior and I think you'll see they nailed it.

The much anticipated 2025 Mazda CX-70 has finally been released after a bit of a delay. The new model to the Mazda lineup, the CX-70 further moves Mazda into the premium segment. The CX-70 rides on the same rear-wheel drive platform as the new Mazda CX-90. Powered by Mazda's new 3.3-liter, turbocharged inline-6 hybrid or 2.5-liter 4-cylinder plug-in hybrid trims, the powertrain promises a smooth and effortless driving experience typically reserved for luxury-branded vehicles. While the specifications for the CX-70 haven't been released yet, in the CX-90, the power output from the mild hybrid is 280 horsepower @ 5,000 - 6,000 rpm and 332 lb-ft @ 2000 - 3,500 rpm. The plug-in hybrid model makes 323 horsepower @ 6,000 rpm on premium fuel or 319 horsepower at 6,000 rpm on regular fuel. The torque output of 369 lb-ft remains the same regardless of the octane. Both powertrains feed the rear-biased all-wheel drive system via an eight-speed automatic. If plugged in, the system can provide an EV range of 26 miles and an MPGe of 56 mpg in the CX-90. Those numbers could improve with the smaller and lighter CX-70. Keeping with Mazda's Zoom-Zoom personality, the CX-70 was designed with a wide, athletic stance, a benefit of being derived from a large platform. The interior maintains the luxury car level of quality with an available red Nappa leather coupled with high-end finishes. The Mazda CX-70 goes on sale in the U.S. later this year. Click the gallery below to see more of the 2025 Mazda CX-70. View full article