Posts from ‘Review Flashback!’
2005 Buick Park Avenue
Among the storied model names of Buick’s past, the Park Avenue nameplate falls somewhat short of legendary. Buick monikers with richer histories and longer production runs include Century, Electra, LeSabre, Riviera, and Roadmaster.
2005 Chevrolet Astro
As I recall things, Chevrolet caught some media flack when it introduced the Astro minivan back in 1985. Compared to the revolutionary Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Voyager, the new Astro (and GMC Safari clone) was too trucklike, failing to match the Chrysler vans in ride quality, fuel economy, or garagability. But the Astro had its own charms.
2013 Chevrolet Avalanche
It might have been the question that no one asked, but truck shoppers seemed to like the answer. In response to the seemingly hypothetical query “What happens when you cross an SUV with a pickup truck?”, Chevrolet responded “Avalanche.”
2005 Pontiac Bonneville GXP
There are a handful of cars that really put General Motors’ Pontiac division on the map–memorable, exciting vehicles around which the Pontiac brand forged its image of sporty, near-luxury substance–and one of those was the Bonneville. The Bonneville name was first applied to a pair of Pontiac concept cars introduced at the 1954 General Motors Motorama. The moniker was first applied to a production model in 1957, when it became a topline version of the Star Chief convertible.
Review Flashback! 2006 Cadillac XLR
2006 Cadillac XLR
In terms of total production, Cadillac’s second attempt to sell a modern-era 2-seat sports car was less successful than its first effort. Indeed, the total build of 1986-1993 Allantés came to 21,430–almost 5000 units more than our topic here: the 2004-2009 Cadillac XLR. But in the case of Cadillac sports cars, sales volume may not be the best measure of success.
Review Flashback! 2008 Dodge Magnum
2008 Dodge Magnum R/T
The passage of time can play tricks on your memory. Here’s a question to prove this point: For how many years did sales of the Dodge Magnum overlap with the run of the TV sitcom Big Bang Theory?
Review Flashback! 1980 AMC Eagle
1980 AMC Eagle Sedan
I’ve long believed that if American Motors had been able to muster the capital to fully redesign its cars sometime around 1980, the company might have lasted well into the Nineties, maybe longer. Instead, AMC management—at the time already working with the company’s soon-to-be partner, the French automaker Renault—played a hunch, and built a line of full-time AWD passenger cars off of a long-serving existing platform. The result helped buy AMC a few more years, but in the end wasn’t enough to save the company.
Review Flashback! 2009 Pontiac G8
2009 Pontiac G8 GXP
We lost Pontiac sometime in 2010. A few fleet-special G6 midsize sedans were made available as ’10 models, though many of them found their way into rental fleets before the end of 2009. After that, the lights went dark at General Motors’s Performance Division.
Review Flashback! 2005 Acura NSX
2005 Acura NSX
You have to respect Honda Motor Company’s minimalistic nature. Honda and Acura vehicles are packaged in such a manner that they are not offered with stand-alone options. The Honda model lineup is among the smallest of any major automaker, and the company even keeps available trim levels to a tidy minimum.
Review Flashback: 2001 Hummer H1
2001 Hummer H1
Created for the U.S. military, the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV, and more colloquially, Humvee) was engineered as a replacement for the M151 jeep vehicles and other light trucks that were previously the Armed Forces’ primary modes of light-duty transportation.
