New Car Review: 2012 Nissan Murano



The 2012 Nissan Murano.

There is a drawback to getting it right the first time. You change at your own risk. It's often better to sit still. But then you sort of fade from consciousness.

Case in point: The 2012 Nissan Murano, which looks an awful lot like the 2002 Nissan Murano...because, well...because they got it right ten years ago. In fact, the Murano really showed the way for the entire crossover segment. To tamper with it would be to mess with success, so Nissan has simply refined the Murano constantly along the way.




The 2012 Nissan Murano.

As someone who's driven every year of the Murano except the 2010 and 2011, I can say they've brought this vehicle a long way. It's a much more solid, powerful, enjoyable machine than it was 10 years ago.

Still powered by Nissan's now-venerable 3.5 liter V6, it now makes 260 horsepower with 240 pounds per foot of torque, and that's mated to their excellent Continuously Variable Transmission (Nissan and Subaru are the only makers whose CVTs have consistently impressed us). Our tester was the front wheel drive SL model, with 18-inch aluminum wheels, a full complement of airbags and anti-lock brakes, vehicle dynamic control, traction control, electronic brake force distribution, brake assist, and tire pressure monitoring.



Interior of the 2012 Nissan Murano.

The SL's base price of $36,400 also gets you an 8-way power driver's seat with power lumbar support, a 4-way power front passenger seat (both heated), fold-flat rear seats with power return, leather, a Bose audio system including XM, USB and Bluetooth, rain-sensing wipers, dual-zone automatic climate control, a dual-panel moonroof, ambient lighting, fog lights, and a power liftgate.

The test car had two options...cargo and floor mats ($195) and the navigation package ($1,850). With $810 in destination charges, the total was $39,255. As near-luxury crossovers go, that's a reasonable price. And the Murano is so smooth, quiet and nicely turned out that a lot of near-luxury and luxury shoppers might find they don't need a supposedly upscale brand.

Gas mileage? About average for the segment, with an EPA estimate of 18 city/24 highway. We saw 22 in a 740-mile test made up of 60% city streets and 40% urban freeways in morning and afternoon stop-and-go traffic.

Hundreds of thousands of them are on the streets, in traffic all around you...and you probably don't notice them anymore. If you're in the market for a crossover, consider this your wake-up call. It's well worth a test drive.

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New Car Review: 2012 Chevrolet Volt



The 2012 Chevrolet Volt.

Quick. Name a car George Bush (either one) owned before or after the presidency. How about Bill Clinton (okay, an El Camino with Astroturf in the rear bed is kinda hard to forget)? Ronald Reagan? Jimmy Carter? Gerald Ford?

Presidents aren't usually car guys. But President Barack Obama today (2/28/12) said when his term in office is over, he's buying and driving a Chevy Volt.

Obama's previous car choices have sent mixed signals. His last car before becoming Commander In Chief was a Ford Escape Hybrid (also a recent Bill Clinton choice)...but until he announced his candidacy in '07, Senator Obama drove a Chrysler 300C...with a Hemi...leading us to believe he might be lusting in his heart (to borrow a Jimmy Carter-ism) for the new SRT8.

But let's take the Prez at his word. What kind of car is the Volt to live with and drive?





Rear view of the 2012 Chevrolet Volt.

Last summer, we did a first impressions piece on a Volt we borrowed for four days from a local Chevrolet dealership. This time, it was seven full days in a Volt from the GM press fleet.

First, unlike the preview car, this Volt charged fully, showing us 35 miles of pure electric range (we couldn't get the first car to promise more than 29). Second, it lived up to that number, unlike the Nissan Leaf we tested last summer that was almost always 15 miles too optimistic.

What happens after the 35 miles? The Volt switches to a 1.4 liter four-cylinder engine. The range of the two combined, according to Chevy and the EPA, is 379 miles.

If you live in a city where you can drive less than 35 miles in a day, and can charge the car fully (4 hours at 240 volts, about 10 on 120 volt household current), you can drive without using a drop of gas, and completely emissions-free. If, like us, you find yourself exceeding 35 miles a day on a regular basis (50 to 100 is more like it for yours truly), you're still getting the first 35 miles free. That's like saving a gallon of gasoline a day. At $3.75 a gallon, that's $1,368.75 a year.




The 2012 Chevrolet Volt interior.

What's it like to drive? Smooth, quiet and surprisingly quick in electric mode (though indulging the speed will reduce your range)...less so when it switches to gas. Remember, this is 3,781 pounds of car propelled by a 149 horsepower 1.4 liter four-cylinder when the battery's depleted.

There's plenty of room for people...but not so much for their things (cargo space is only 10.6 cubic feet).

The ultra-tech interior? Well, that's a matter of taste. Some people we showed the Volt to loved it. Others said Steve Jobs' sensibilites would have been offended (hmmm...what would an Apple-designed automobile interior look like?). We're somewhere in the middle.

Price? $39.145 base, which gets you what would be a fully-equipped car in any other mid-size sedan. The tester we drove added a nav system ($1,995) which also upgraded the audio system to include a 30 gigabyte hard drive for your music library, the Premium Trim Package ($1,395), which brings perforated leather-appointed seats, a heated front seat for the driver and passenger and a leather-wrapped steering wheel, and the Bose Premium speaker system ($495). With $850 for destination charges, you're at $43,030. But don't forget the $7,500 tax credit...bringing the real price down to $35,530.

That's still more than you'd pay for a typical car in this size class. But by now, it's obvious that this is not what someone who wants a typical car would buy. The price is just a bit higher than the one-trim-level-below-top-of-the-line Toyota Prius we drove a couple of weeks ago, but it's a roomier vehicle. It is significantly more expensive than the Leaf (about $8,000 after tax credits), but it's also much more usable, having the gasoline motor as backup. With the Leaf, it's electric or nothing.

Will Barack Obama, private citizen, enjoy his Chevrolet Volt? Time will tell. But (in the interests of equal time), we should point out that one of Newt Gingrich's criticisms has been addressed:

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New Car Review: 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8



The 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8.

It's been almost three years since our last test of a Chrysler 300 SRT8. Normally, that wouldn't allow for much in the way of changes, but the 2012 SRT8 is soooo much more car than the '09.

6.1 liters worth of V8 Hemi muscle has become 6.4. 425 horsepower is now 470 (with 470 pounds per foot of torque to back it up). The "Wow!" that involuntarily escaped your lips last time around is now more like "Whooooooaaaaa!". 60 miles an hour comes up in under 5 seconds.


The effect is like that of a Dodge Viper sent to finishing school and dressed in a tux. And before you think that I'm exaggerating here, remember that stock Viper RT/10s packed only 450 horsepower...20 fewer than we have here...until 2004. Yes, the 300 SRT8 is quite a bit heavier...that's the finishing school and tux part. It won't bounce your fillings out of your teeth as you roll down the street...it won't sink its fangs into you by doing an involuntary 180 when you tromp on it going around a corner. You won't burn your calves on the exhaust pipes getting out of the car.




The 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8.

But let's get back to comparing 300 SRT8s to 300 SRT8s. This year, they've not only ratcheted up the displacement and horsepower, but they've made some decent strides in fuel economy as well. The '12 SRT8 has what Chrysler calls "Fuel Saver Technology". And with the 5-speed automatic that came with our tester, the EPA averages have improved from 13 city/19 highway in the 2009 model to 14 city/23 highway...bringing with it a lower Gas Guzzler Tax ($1,000 instead of the $1,700 in 2009).

Once you settle down after that first rush of acceleration, you'll find the car's been calm all the time. It's easy to lose sight of that in the furious growl of the Hemi and the booster-rocket force pushing your back deep into the ventilated front seats. You need to get your breath back. But this is what the 300 SRT8 was built to do.




The 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8 instrument panel.

$47,170 (a modest increase from $43,860 in the '09) buys you four-wheel anti-lock disc brakes, 3-mode electronic stability control, all-speed traction control, ready alert braking, performance tuned steering, two-mode adaptive damping suspension, 20-inch wheels on 245/45ZR20 all-season performance tires, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, power tilt and telescoping steering column with memory, dual-zone autotemp climate control, a Uconnect AM/Fm/CD/DVD/MP3/SiriusXM audio system with navigation, an 8.4 gigabyte hard drive, auxilary and USB inputs, and real carbon fiber interior accents.

Ours came loaded...Customer Preferred Package 21 (Power folding multi-function mirrors, adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, blind spot and cross-path detection, rear fog lamps, outside mirrors with supplemental signals and courtesy lamps) for $1,995...the Luxury Interior Trim Group (luxury front and rear floor mats and premium leather interior trim) for $2,500...the 19 Premium Speaker Group, which upgrades the audio system with 18 speakers...and a subwoofer...and a 900-watt amplifier for $1,995...a dual-pane panoramic sunroof for $1,295...245/45R20 3-season performance tires for $150 and the aforementioned Gas Guzzler Tax of $1,000.

Final tab: $56,930.

Which, yes, is a lot for a Chrysler. But the SRT8 proves itself to be more than just a $27,170 base Chrysler 300 with a bunch of go-fast parts stuck in it and on it. It is, as of this moment, the epitome of the American muscle car...the confident, rip-roaring U.S. sedan that not only can humiliate anything Ford or GM has in its size and weight class, but that can, with a straight face, make a case for being an alternative to a BMW M5 or a Mercedes-Benz E63, leaving you more than a few bucks in change.

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New Car Review: 2012 Toyota Prius

The 2012 Toyota Prius.

Fifty. Five-Zero.

If there's a number that's caused great consternation among Prius drivers since the car was launched, it's the number 50.

That's the miles per gallon that people seem to expect to get from the now-veteran (12 years and counting) Toyota hybrid. And it's the number people rarely have gotten.

I've driven several Priuses (Priii?) a year for each of those 12 years. My personal best has been 48...a number that I would average with some regularity for the first several years. Lately, it's dropped off to 45 or 46.

But in the 2012 Toyota Prius that just left my care this morning.....I averaged 50.4 miles per gallon.


And yeah, I'm kinda excited and think it's kinda cool.  The EPA combined city/highway estimate on the window sticker is 50... 51 city/48 highway. And in 340 miles of mostly tough stop-and-go city streets and freeways...I averaged 50.4.  I left the "ECO" switch off. I even used the "Power" mode a few times to merge onto a freeway that would slow to a crawl within a mile or so.

When essentially the same car as last year's can improve on mileage by 5 or 6 MPG in real-world driving, that is progress.



The 2012 Toyota Prius interior.

Having recently reviewed the Toyota Prius V station wagon (don't tell them I used that word, but that's what it is) and the not-yet-released Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid and expecting the arrival of the smaller Prius C anytime now, it was good to get back in the car that started it all, or at least the latest version of same.

While you can get into a Prius Two for a base price of $24,000, the one Toyota sent us for a week was the Prius Four, one step below the nearly Lexus-loaded Prius Five. Rather than print the laundry list, click here for Toyota's handy chart as to what comes with a Two, Three, Four and Five.

Suffice it to say it was very nice. And its base price wasn't $24,000, but rather $28,235. Only a complete lack of options would keep this car under $30K...and that wasn't happening. Ours had a special color (Blizzard Pearl) that cost $220, and the Deluxe Solar Roof Package bringing a power tilt/slide moonroof with solar powered ventilation system, a heads-up display, navigation, premium audio system with AM, FM, HD, Sirius XM, CD, auxilary and USB ports, Bluetooth, Toyota's Entune system, giving access to Pandora, Bing, iHeartRadio, MovieTickets.com and OpenTable, stolen vehicle locator, roadside assistance and automatic collision notification for $3,820.

$760 for delivery, processing and handling and we're at........

$33,035.

Now, admittedly that's $3,600 and change less than the Prius V from last month, but we are still talking about a stone's throw from $35K (and you're actually throwing the stone well past $35K if you include tax and license).

Which begs the question: What price are you willing to pay to get 50 miles per gallon?

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New Car Review: 2012 Nissan Versa 1.6 S Sedan

The 2012 Nissan Versa.

Sometimes my fellow automotive journalists are just the biggest whiners in the world. Reading their reviews of the new for 2012 Nissan Versa, I was braced for a new miserable experience, one lending new meaning to the words "ugly", "uncomfortable" and "cheap".

Did all of them have Porsche 911s the week before or something?

Now, I know I have a somewhat higher tolerance for basic transportation than some folks in this profession...but that doesn't mean that the car doesn't deserve to be judged on its merits. And frankly, the 2012 Nissan Versa 1.6 S Sedan surprised me.


This is Nissan's most basic of offerings. Get it with a 5-speed manual transmission and the base price is only $10,990. That's with air conditioning, an AM/FM/CD stereo with auxilary jack, a trip computer, front and rear cupholders, six air bags, anti-lock brakes, traction control, vehicle dynamic control, electronic brake force distribution, brake assist and a tire pressure monitoring system.

$10,990.



The 2012 Nissan Versa Sedan.

Not on that list? Power mirrors (there are black plastic toggles like all economy cars had in the 80s), power locks and power windows. That's right, you open the car with a key and you roll the windows up and down with crank handles built into the doors. And only the front brakes are discs. There are drums on the rear.

Our tester went for the Continuously Variable Transmission, which brought the base price up to $12,760. If you have to have it, Nissan builds very good CVTs, but I'd shift the 5-speed myself and save the $1,770. Only two other options with the one Nissan sent over...carpeted floor and trunk mats ($170) and the Cruise Control Package, which gets you cruise control, silver trim accents on the steering wheel, 2 rear speakers for the audio system and a light in the trunk ($350). With $760 destination charges, the bottom line was $14,040.



The 2012 Nissan Versa interior.

Okay, we've established that it's basic. So what's it like to live with? Well, its 1.6 liter four only produces 109 horsepower, but it's surprisingly quick, at least in freeway-merging situations and it will cruise at 80 without any drama. Handling's a lot better than I would have guessed as well.

And mileage? The EPA says 30 in the city, 38 on the highway. 350 miles at the wheel, most of it in stop and go freeway and city street traffic, and I saw 35. That's very good.

The Spartan accomodations? Not that big a hardship, really. Rolling up and down the windows was no biggie (it only takes about two full turns of the crank), the stereo was better than some in more expensive cars, the seats are comfortably firm but covered in a material that traps loose hair so it's difficult to vacuum out (the previous driver apparently had a cat)...

But the lack of power locks...that was a pain. Probably wouldn't be if it was just me. Stick the key in the driver's door (the only one with a place for a key), turn, and get in. But in a dark parking lot with Mrs. TireKicker and the two young TireKickers, it's turn the key, reach in and start unlocking their doors. And the door locks are built flush into the door handles, making them difficult to find and flick in just a second in relative darkness. So they wait while Dad fumbles. Not confidence-inspiring.

Oh, and the trunk has no inside release. Dropping someone off and they have something in the trunk? You have to turn off the ignition, take the key, get out, put it in the trunklid lock and open the trunk. The TSA guys curbside at the airport will be less than pleased.

Those are minor niggles that should be fixed with a couple of ticks of the option box. But modern automakers don't allow a lot of a la carte option ordering anymore. To get power locks, you have to step up to the 1.6 SV, and that starts at $14,870...almost $4,000 more than the S's base price and $830 more than our S costs as tested. You'll get power windows, mirrors, upgraded seat material and some other niceties, too...but, still.

It comes down, as all car-buying decisions should, to your life and how you live. If I were 28 and single, as I was when I bought my 1984 Honda Civic brand new (the one with manual locks, manual windows, manual mirrors and no stereo until I could get to the local Alpine dealer.....but with decent seat materials and an inside latch for the trunklid), I'd have to give the Versa 1.6S some serious consideration. 28 years ago, that Civic stickered for $8,200. With the 5-speed instead of the CVT, the Versa would ring in at $12,270. It's an impressive value...and once the drawbacks are dealt with or lived with, a very good little sedan.

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New Car Review: 2012 Volvo S60 T6 AWD R SR

The 2012 Volvo S60 T6 AWD R SR.

In the Swinging 60s, "Sweden" and "Sexy" were synonymous. But by 1968, Volvo was adding "Safe" and "Sensible" to the Swedish image.

It's been that way for so long that you have to be of a certain age to remember the "Sexy Swede" thing. Volvo wants to fix that with the S60.


Launched last year as "The Naughty Volvo", this year, the S60 T6 AWD R SR is deadly serious. This is a performance car.



Rear view of the 2012 Volvo S60 T6 AWD R SR.

Plant your right foot to the floorboard, and you awaken 325 horses inside a 3 liter turbo V6 with 354 pounds per foot of torque mated to a 6-speed autmatic transmission with sport mode flowing through all wheel drive with Instant Traction (caps intended).

Our tester, bright red like the one in the photos above, was plenty fast.  Enough so that the base price of $42,500 really didn't seem all that out of line. In fact, while the base price is a bit higher, overall, the price you'll end up at as equipped is about the same as the Ford Taurus SHO...a car that's a bit bigger and heavier than the S60 T6 AWD R SR, but is probably its closest competitor.

The name? Well S60 is the model, T6 is for turbo six-cylinder, AWD is all wheel drive and then there's the "R". That's for R-Design, which contributes the performance tuning of the engine, 18-inch alloy wheels with all-season tires, R-Design sport chassis, R-Design lower front spoiler and intake, R-Design rear diffuser with polished end pipes, R-Design Sport Seats with embossed logo, R-Design aluminum inlay and aluminum sport pedals, blue watch dial instrument cluster and rear spoiler, as well as a perforated leather sport steering wheel and gearshift knob.



The 2012 Volvo S60 T6 AWD R SR interior.

And the standard equipment...well, $42,500 starts looking like a big-time bargain when you factor in stability control, speed sensitive steering (driver selectible, yet), corner traction control, fully independent front and rear suspension, 4-wheel power ventilated disc brakes with ABS, EBD, EBA and RAB (that's Anti-Lock Brakes, Electronic Brake Distribution, Electronic Brake Assistance and Ready Alert Brakes).

It also has Volvo's City Safety, dynamic stability control, a Volvo-esque array of airbags, whiplash protection and other safety features, a power glass moonroof, dual Xenon headlights, 8-way power driver and passenger seats, dual-zone climate control, a 7-inch color LCD monitor with Volvo Sensus,  a  high performance audio system with CD, HD Radio, USB and auxilary inputs and illuminated steering wheel controls.

Again, that's all standard. Ours added the Multimedia Package (premium sound, rear park assist camera, navigation system) for $2,700; the Climate Package (heated front seats, headlight washers, heated windshield washer nozzles, rain sensor, and interior air quality system) for $800 and the obligatory $875 destination charge.

Bottom line: $46,875. For a car that's loaded, gets an EPA estimated 18 city/26 highway, qualifies as a ULEV II Ultra-Low Emissions Vehicle, and goes like the wind.

Except when it doesn't go at all.

On our first night with the car, I ducked into a fast-food place to buy my son a burger. We were inside for 10 minutes. Came back outside and the car was a two-ton paperweight. Dead. Zero juice to everything from the power locking system to the dome lights to the starter.

AAA came out within minutes thanks to Volvo's associates at Page One, which prepares and delivers their vehicles to automotive journalists in our area, and diagnosed the trouble as corrosion on a battery post (at 6,500 miles? A bit early...) and cured it with a jump. It was fine the rest of the week. But in the March issue of Car and Driver (which I read two days after the Volvo left TireKicker World Headquarters), it appears their long-term S60 had the same thing happen. More than once. And there's apparently a service bulletin for it. (UPDATE for clarity: It's not corrosion on battery posts, but a more complex electrical gremlin). C/D's car had to be sent back to Volvo's offices in New Jersey for seven weeks before they got it back.

Yes, I love the car. Yes, I think Volvo's doing something wonderful here and yes, I'd love to have one. But you need the full story on every car we review. Having relatively new cars (press fleet vehicles generally have anywhere from 300 to 10,000 miles on them...usually it's 5,000 or less) for only a week at a time, I don't see trouble with the cars, even driving 104 a year, very often. But when it happens, we'll tell you about it.

Meantime, take it for a test drive, ask the Service Manager about the service bulletin and check out the Volvo owner forums. They will get this sorted out. And when they do, the S60 T6 AWD R SR is a very desirable automobile.

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New Car Review: 2012 Mazda 3 Skyactiv i Grand Touring

The 2012 Mazda 3 Skyactiv.

Five weeks ago, we gave you our first impressions based on a very short (fewer than 100 miles) time behind the wheel of the Mazda 3 Skyactiv. Bottom line for the link-averse, it was all good things we expect from Mazda in general and the Mazda 3 in particular, with some promising gas mileage figures (we averaged 29.5 miles per gallon, the EPA estimates are 28 city, 40 highway).

The first car was a bare-bones stock model...zero options, with a price tag of $19,300 plus delivery charges.

This time around, things were different. Mazda USA's press folks sent an i Grand Touring model with Skyactiv. Base price $4,000 higher at $22,300...and there were options.






The 2012 Mazda 3 Skyactiv Grand Touring interior.

As much as TireKicker preaches the virtues of base vehicles (if nothing else, a great way to get the flavor of the vehicle itself instead of the add-ons), we have to say that spending the extra money makes one of our favorite cars even more attractive. The tester added the Technology Package...blind spot monitoring system, Sirius satellite radio, perimeter alarm, rain-sensing front wipers, bi-xenon headlights with auto-leveling, pivoting adaptive front lighting system and auto on/off headlights. Price tag for that package? $1,400. So, with the $795 for delivery, the bottom line on this Mazda 3 Skyactiv wound up at $24,495. And although that's very nearly 5 grand or 20 percent more than the one we reviewed in early January, it's exactly how we'd order one if we were buying.

Stepping up to the i Grand Touring from the i Touring model gets you the same basic underpinnings (2.0 liter, 155 horsepower 4, 16-inch alloy wheels, four-wheel disc brakes) but brings a moonroof, center armrest, heated front seats, compact nav system with color display and color multi-information display to the party, along with an upgrade to a 265-watt Bose Centerpoint audio system. And, if you check "Dune" instead of "Black" on the interior color option box, the result is a pleasing two-tone that lightens and brightens the mood inside the car.

Rear view of the 2012 Mazda 3 Skyactiv.

Skyactiv, as we described before, is Mazda's solution to better gas mileage without the complexity of a hybrid system and with the payoff of improved performance thanks to lower weight, and a more efficient engine/transmission combo.

This time, we put a near-TireKicker record 840 miles on the Mazda 3 in our week at the wheel...and unlike our usual 60/40 mix of city streets and urban freeways, it was more like 80/20...and the 20 was in the worst stop-and-go freeway driving you're likely to encounter this side of Manhattan.

Our average? 33 miles per gallon. That's impressive when you figure that the EPA estimate is 28 city, 40 highway. Even our freeway miles weren't at highway speeds...or not many of them and not for long. So our entire 840 miles was the equivalent of what the EPA considers city....and we beat the estimate by 5 MPG...and equalled the EPA's combined fuel economy estimate.

It, like virtually everything Mazda builds, then, is an overperforming, underappreciated gem. The only fault we can find? The lack of a USB connection. Yes, it has Bluetooth and an auxilary jack, but those won't charge your iPod or iPhone, and in an 840-mile driving week, that comes in really handy. But neither you nor we drive 840 miles every week. And if we did, the Mazda 3 i Grand Touring with Skyactiv would be a terrific choice.

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New Car Review: 2011 Kia Forte SX 5 Door




The 2011 Kia Forte SX 5-Door.

Hatchbacks never went out of favor in Europe, but somehow, in the early-mid 80s, Americans rejected them as too low-rent. Shortsighted, because hatches offer enormous versatility, combining the best attributes of sedans and wagons without having to permanently commit to either.

There have been signs recently that the US ice is breaking when it comes to hatches, and the Kia Forte 5-Door should go a long way toward the thaw. Every bit as good as the Forte sedan we loved so much two years ago, with the enhanced utility of that fifth door in back.






Rear view of the 2011 Kia Forte 5-Door.

The Forte 5-door starts at $18,100 in EX trim, but step up to the SX, like our tester and for an additional $1,295, you get a 173 horsepower 2.4 liter four cylinder engine to replace the EX's 156 horsepower 2.0, 17 inch tires, a sport tuned suspension, automatic headlights and front fog lights, paddle shifters, sport cloth seat trim, leather-wrapped steering wheel and gearshift knob, metal finish interior accents and pedals, and the availability of optional leather and tech packages.



The 2011 Kia Forte 5-Door interior.

And our tester took advantage of both those option packages ($1,000 for the leather including leather seat trim, heated front seats and an auto-dimming rearview mirror, $1,800 for the tech, which brings nav, pushbutton start, automatic temperature control and chrome finish door handles) as well as a power sunroof ($750). Add the $695 freight and handling charge, and the bottom line is $23,640.

A bit pricey? Yes. Nicely done if you spend the money? Yes again. I'd probably pop for the leather package, and pass on the tech and sunroof, which would get me into one for $21,090. And for that money, I'd have a car in which there is literally nothing not to like. The SX engine makes it fun and responsive, the 6-speed automatic transmission helps deliver a respectable EPA estimate of 23 miles per gallon in the city and 32 in the highway, and the car looks really good inside and out. Photos don't do it justice.

We've said it before, we'll say it again...if it's true that Honda has lost its mojo, Kia may very well have found it.

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