Honda CRaZy

It's been sought after since the invention of speed came around. How can I have a sporty two-seater car that will get up and go when I want it to, get amazing mpg's when I don't, and still keep a happy medium every other time? Well Honda claims to have the answer, and I think, they have hit the nail pretty darn close to dead-on.
Everyone remembers the old Honda CR-X. It was really the car to have if you wanted to have something that looked sporty. And with the three options they offered, HF DX and Si, someone could look cool and still drive how they like and get exactly what they wanted from their car. Those who would purchase the HF were the ones you knew were more worried about getting the best mpg they could. When one would purchase the DX, they cared less about mpg's, and wanted a little fun in their sweet looking ride. Then there are they who could care less about what gas mileage they are getting and just wanted to kick some ass at the stop light runs (me).
Well this is all fine and dandy, but I, heaven forbid, would have to buy three different cars for my different road trips and frequent personality changes. Honda has now addressed this problem; and from their assembly lines we now have the CR-Z rolling out.
The CR-Z has the awesome sleek wedge shape of a sport car. With two bucket seats and a confused three-post steering wheel to match. At first glance, I couldn't help but think "Wow. I could drive that." I am happy I took a closer look though. Upon my arrival at the big hatch-backed butt, I saw the badge that any speed freak like myself fears, Hybrid. It's a good thing I decided to drive this confused little two-door, otherwise I would have never been able to look at one on the road and have happy thoughts of something new and sporty.

Now which part of this little thing is more confused? The badge says Hybrid, and there is a little button that says ECON with a small leaf above it, and when I pressed it the whole dash turned a green color, but that is where the hybrid-ness stops. The shifter feels like the hand control of a helicopter, and there are these two large paddle shifters at each index finger. This thing felt more like a jet with bucket seats than a car.
The confusion only continued when I pressed each of the buttons putting the car into three different driving modes: ECON, NORMAL, and SPORT. With ECON, the whole futuristic instrument panel had a very "you're doing something good for the world" feel, with green back-lighting, and a picture of a cute little leaf. It drove just the same. Very uneventful, wouldn't get up and go even if I offered to plant a tree. I guess that does it for some though. You know, like those who drive a Prius.
Normal felt like every other Honda I have driven though. Kinda perky, little firm in the suspension, fairly responsive to drive. The instrument panel now a very nice shade of blue. I guess I was getting good gas mileage in this mode, at least that is what the mpg monitor on the right was telling me. Any car with a meter that ranges from 0 - 100mpg must be pretty proud of what they have accomplished.
Finally, I press the button that the car would be in the whole time if I ever owned one, SPORT. Now the crazy little Honda shows who it really is. The entire instrument panel turns a deep red and my gear indicator switched to the manual paddle shifters. This, this is what a car that look like it does should be. Ready to go at any moment, a little grumble with the climb of the RPM's, and fun. You know the car could care less about the little blue badge on its butt, or the ugly looks Prius's and Insight's are giving it as it whips by.
The CR-Z is every mothers dream for her teenage son or daughter. Economical, small, only two seats so they don't have friends distracting them as they drive along, fairly cheap, and did I mention economical? Don't worry mom, your teenager will love it too. With the ability to impress friends with a sporty looking two door, and drive like it looks, they will be just as happy when they realize they aren't burning through their hard earned cash from McDonalds.
If only the rear view mirror weren't obscured by a black bar splitting the window. And how much do you think it would cost to get rid of that blue Hybrid tramp-stamp?

The Genesis

The Korean automaker giant has really outdone itself here. Hyundai is taking the auto industry by storm. Catching GM in a down period, Toyota as they are caught in a rut, and just managing to catch up with Ford and Nissan with their luxury and sedan vehicles. And now, they have taken a shot at the good old American muscle. And truthfully, they have hit the bullseye.
I just drove the Genesis Coupe. And dang. Hyundai, you've got me hooked. From the outside, the car looks like something that was made to go in the water rather than on the asphalt. The reason behind this, Hyundai has spent 13 million dollars on a new extremely sleek fluid design, giving Hyundai a very unique look all to themselves. Which is nice, considering every other car on the road resembles every other car that drives by. Now it is true, Hyundai didn't exactly have anything great for quite a long time, but the Genesis Coupe has most definitely changed that game.With the cars xenon headlights, dual exhaust, and gaping air intake, Hyundai said it right, "subtlety is not its strong suit." And I like it. It has a very easy-on-the-eye look to it; and yet it pulls the attention all to itself. Not in a bad way.

To add to the new genesis, the Genesis has an interior to match the sportiness of its exterior. With two bucket seats that hug you through any tight turns or quick maneuvers, and a backseat for quadriplegics,  and your choice of a manual or automatic with shiftronic and paddle shifters, mine had the auto, I really started to think that Hyundai had got this sport car thing right. And then I turned the key.
With a gentle rumble, the 3.8L V6 came to life. Exhaust note like that of an angry boxer dog whose yard you mistakenly walked into. Thats what I first thought anyway, and then I realized something. This new pup doesn't want to fight, he wants to play. After shifting down into drive and pulling the shifter to the left toward me, placing the transmission in the shiftronic mode, I stop outside the parking lot at the start of a fairly long bit of road before the traffic starts. Here, I gun it. And the car responds with a hearty leap as it pushes me back into my seat. The whole drive the car never ceases to amaze me. With a ride about as firm as that of a Honda Accord, I was quite surprised with how crisp each and every maneuver was. Quick lane changes from left to right and right to left and the car never argued once. Even with the traction control off, it stayed planted. 306 horses spinning those back wheels and getting me wherever I wanted to go as fast as I wanted to get there. And have fun while I am doing it.
Overall, the Genesis Coupe is more fun than I have had in a long time. Its not just the fact that I got a fair amount of horses, but that I was getting it out of a Hyundai. And with it getting 17/28 mpg, I wouldn't be afraid to use one as a daily driver. Even with the extreme lack of back seat. Definitely a kick-in-the-pants car to drive. A major plus to it, I had more fun in this than I've ever had in a Mustang.

300 C-learly not

Warning! What you are about to read, might just piss off you Chrysler lovers! Well, suck it up!
The wonderful people at the Chrysler corporation have been gracing us with pretty cars since the company came into existence. Challengers, Road Runners, Imperials, New Yorkers, Chargers, Avengers, just to name a few. And recently they have added a mass murdering, mobster car to their lineup.
The Chrysler 300c is a blacked-out, boat with tiny windows, a huge steering wheel, and an even bigger turn radius. I will give it this, dang it looks good. I don't care who you are, you see one drive by and you can't help but look at it for a brief time at least. Both inside and out.
When I first opened the door to it, I thought i may have made a mistake and accidentally opened the door to a Mercedes, until I saw the yacht-like steering wheel. A steering wheel that big could only mean one thing, pray you don't have to make any sudden maneuvers in this boat. I guess it needs a big steering wheel though, because the drivers seat is so adjustable that anyone from me, 6' 5", to a three-year-old can put the seat in a comfortable driving position. Not only is the seat fully adjustable, but so are the brake and accelerator pedals. Making this car one of the most comfortable cars I have sat in, in a long time. As long as it is stationary.
Start a drive in this behemoth, and you quickly realize that they really muffed up the suspension in what was a promising vehicle. Rather than having smooth luxury sedan tuning, it seemed like they saw the suspension from a Ram sitting around and said, "Well just put those underneath it. That will save us some time."
So the suspension is more backbreaking than babying, but maybe the car has some power behind it that it needs the firm suspension for? Wrong. At least not in the 3.5L V6 model it doesn't. And before you try getting power that isn't there, just get it started first. A feat that took me three times before it finally wouldn't die as I shifted into drive.
What's in a name? In the 300, not much. It certainly is not the horsepower. And definitely isn't the torque. Although close to the amount of bodies you can fit in the trunk, I think the 300 may more closely stand for perhaps, the amount of mistakes Chrysler has made this decade? It must stand for its 0-60 time, because the V6 under the hood, really seems more like a 300cc motor when you put your foot down.
Sorry Chrysler. But 300c? Clearly not.

Really Soul-ed

We'll kick things off with a positive, it's KIA's installment to the retro "box" car field, the KIA Soul. You might think KIA is a little late getting to the party with how long the Scion xb has been rolling around. It even comes about a year later than the Nissan Cube.
Whereas both the xb and Cube have a very obvious box shape to them, the Soul has a much easier on the eye body style. With the steep slope of the windshield and the angled windows, and the lines of slightly flared wheel wells drawing the eye from the almost alien-eyed headlights back to the high and wide-set tail lights, you almost forget that you really are just looking at another hacksawed box. Not to mention KIA offering almost everything you can think of to take your attention away from the square body including several different options, and almost every pastel paint color you can think of with the optional off-centered double stripe that travels the length of the body. Sorry KIA, it doesn't matter how many bells and whistles you put on the outside of it, it is still a box.
On the inside however, you almost forget completely about the boxy shell you are sitting within. In the Soul I was able to take for a spin, the highest sport model, there was a very inviting, very fun two-toned black and red leather seating front buckets and rear bench, along with standard leather wrapped steering wheel and shift nob, made for quite the enjoyable cockpit to step down into. With the dash two-toned to match the seating, you can almost tell this is where KIA wanted to get you. It's not until you sit for a moment and take in everything before you finally turn the key to start, that you realize the car has eight, count 'em, EIGHT speakers plus a subwoofer, and an additional speaker located on the dash above the instrument clusters. Not a bad sounding stock sound system for a car not much bigger than a shoe (I'll come back to the size in a moment). And to power the waves through those sizable speakers you get a standard AM/FM/CD stereo, along with a complimentary three month subscription to Sirius satellite  radio. Oh, and the standard USB and auxiliary jack for your ipod, zune, or whatever music player you might have, all of which are pushed up a bit more by a 315 watt external amp. Where I think they may have gone a little overboard, is what they have done to the front two door mounted speakers. Around these two speakers they have mounted a color changing ring of light. Now I know we are going for a new retro look, but the lights don't even really change to anything happening within the music being pushed through them. They just randomly fade in and out of several colors.
As far as it being as I said, not much bigger than a shoe, it is quite surprising just how much room there is within the Soul. Not going to lie, being a 6' 5" individual, I had my worries about head and leg room. But KIA actually managed to surprise me with not just inches of room, but what seemed more like acres of area for me to easily maneuver in the sporty cockpit. Even the back seats had a decent amount of leg room for myself. And, another surprise, the little five door had a very reasonable amount of luggage room. Especially when you fold the back seats down. But of course, it can't all be good. Yes it has all the room in the world for storage, IF you can get whatever it is you need through the disappointingly small rear hatch. The lip you have to overcome to get say, groceries, into the rear storage might as well be the bed of a Ford F150 when your arms are loaded with bags.
I know you're wondering when I am going to get to the powertrain in the shoe, but trust me, it isn't all that impressive and there isn't much to say. When I popped the hood, the first thing I though of was, "Toyota". The only thing smaller than the car itself, is that little engine. I mean sure, you might think a 2.0L I4 would push the shoe, I mean Soul, down the road just fine. But you'd be wrong. It was very obviously designed with economy in mind. So much so, that there is a little green ECO light that appears on the speedo when you are driving the car the most efficient way possible. But in a car that looks this fun, I had hoped it would have a little more pep in its step. THe car shows that it really does want to be something sporty with the shifttronic option in the automatic, there just isn't a real reason to ever use it. It already shifts and rides very smooth, so why you would want to ruin that, I am not too sure.
Overall, the Soul is a very fun little retro box. Like all cars, there are the few drawbacks, but the pro's definitely outweigh the con's in the Soul. And, for me at least, I am really sold on this little Soul. Now if only it didn't have K-I-A stamped on it.