A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of using my friend Justin Tan’s 1995 Toyota Comfort for a few days. This is the short-wheelbase version of what we know as the Crown Comfort. It is a commercial grade purpose-built fleet vehicle, and is unashamedly so. Justin’s car is an ex-driver-instructor car from Japan and has some subtle clues of its previous career such...
For the last couple of days I have been driving the Chevy Malibu as my rental car. I last rented a Chevy Malibu back in 2018 and reviewed it. The car hasn’t fundamentally changed since 2018, but has gone through a facelift and some minor updates. It is scheduled to go out of production in November. The Malibu in its various generations has...
Yesterday I did my first proper drive in my 1981 Mercedes 240D. More information about the car can be found here. My overall impression is that the people who talk about the performance of the 240D automatic on the internet have clearly never driven one. I’m used to driving fairly powerful cars like my 220KW 560SEC but I didn’t find the 240D especially slow...
by Nick Gruzevskis · Published February 19, 2023 · Last modified September 20, 2024
I’ve lost count of how many marques I’ve owned, but I’ve never owned a Ford. My father did though, and it was the proud replacement for his 14-year-old Volkswagen 1600 Notchback, a rare car now, but also assembled in Australia. In 1985 my father purchased a brand new XF Fairmont from Cam Dawson Ford in Geelong. He optioned power steering, air conditioning and alloy...
My wife owns a 2007 E350 wagon. This car has been in the shop the last couple of weeks having the balancer shaft replacement done. This car was outside the known affected engine numbers, but still required a balancer shaft. We’ve had a 2005 W164 ML350 W164 as our loaner for the last few weeks. Its an interesting comparison as the ML...
I’m a big fan of the Mercedes-Benz W126. While it might not have the grandeur of the 60’s models, they make a really usable classic. The W126 can even be used as a daily driver. It still has the feel of a classic Mercedes-Benz but you get safety features like ABS, good air conditioning and reasonable fuel economy. When they are looked after they...
The rental car I had for my recent trip to Texas was a 2017 Ford Fusion Hybrid. Like with my recent Challenger rental, I had the opportunity to choose any car in a certain section. Unlike the last choice, the choices were not nearly as appetizing. I had only rented an intermediate class car, so most of what was available was particularly unpleasant looking...
Driving should be fun, despite what the proponents of the nanny state might say. No car is perfect, but a car that has character, and a sense of fun will make the little annoyances seem insignificant. This is what is missing in many current cars – no character, no fun, just like an appliance. The 2018 Dodge Challenger R/T has loads of character...
My latest rental car was the 2018 Chevy Malibu. It is probably the best rental car I’ve had for a couple of years, but that is not really saying much. The Malibu is the latest in a line of cheap ‘full size’ cars that used to be the mainstay of the big 3. With buyer preferences moving to SUVs and raised hatchbacks,...
I recently rented a Mitsubishi Pajero Sport for a family holiday. It is an interesting contrast with the Toyota Fortuner, which I reviewed earlier in the year. Overall the Pajero Sport is the better car, although not by much. The Pajero Sport is actually the 3rd generation Mitsubishi Challenger. As far as I know, the only relationship with the full size Pajero is...
My latest rental car was the Toyota Fortuner. I’m not sure the exact year, but it was the previous generation model. I needed a seven seater for a holiday in Thailand and the Fortuner was the largest car offered by Thai rent-a-car. The Fortuner is based on the Hilux with the SUV body instead of the pickup truck. The name sounds like it...
Ford announced recently they were discontinuing sedan sales in the United States. While sedan sales have been on the decline for many years, this was still a very bold move. Presumably this left a few gaps in their model range. Given the market will buy pretty much any SUV car companies offer, the company has added the Ford EcoSport compact SUV to their line...
If car companies are looking for reasons why young people yearn for self driving cars, they need not look any further than the Seat Ibiza. I rented the Seat Ibiza for the weekend, and my conclusion was that I needed to write this review immediately. This is an important fact as once another 24 hours have elapsed, I doubt I will remember much about...
I am a fan of the Rover P5, but I don’t have the time, room or funds to purchase one. So the solution is to buy a book! I purchased this book: Rover P5 & P5B: The Complete Story by James Taylor and overall I am happy with the purchase. The book does a good job of covering the events that led up...
October 18, 1953 The Citroen is as stable as it appears possible to make a car under our present design technique. Un-doubtedly the out-standing characteristic of the car is the way it holds on to the road surface, particularly on corners and bends. Although the Citroen was designed in France about 19 years ago, it has persisted essentially in its original form, with the...
The Citroen Car club had its monthly meeting at the Tesla showroom this month. Tesla were offering short test drives to club members as part of the meeting. The Tesla Model S is one of the few modern cars that interest me, so I jumped at the opportunity. In my view, the Tesla is the first ‘green’ car that is a great...
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