Quick look: 2011 Lincoln MKT and The Panther

In the early 1990s my stepfather was operating a car service company in northern New Jersey. The fleet of Lincoln Town Cars would chauffer businessmen between fancy suburbs and the three area airports. To the teenage me, there always seemed to be a Town Car around in need of cleaning or a transmission replacement.

Ford has recently announced that they would be discontinuing the Panther platform on which the Town Car, Grand Marquis, and Crown Victoria are based. Normally I would have no issue with a car manufacturer killing off such dinosaur, after all these are heavy, inefficient, and essentially non-upgradeable vehicles. … Continue Reading

Review: 2011 Toyota 4Runner SR5 4×4

The world of SUVs is quickly turning into the world of over-sized station wagons with all-wheel-drive. Gone are the ladder frames and live axles, replaced by unibodies with half-shafts seemingly no thicker than a straw. Advantages of unibody design include reduction in weight and fuel consumption, along with more car-like driving characteristics.

So why is the 5^th generation Toyota 4Runner still a truck? Because it can be, because it should be, and because it needs to be. Allow me to explain. … Continue Reading

CarGuyDad News!!

It is time for the CarGuyDad news! A weekly (or whenever I get around to it) news update that features this week’s most exciting automotive stories. This week we have details on new vehicles from Ford and Jeep and pricing details on the Mustang and the new sporty Lexus hybrid, the CT200h.

… Continue Reading

2010 New England Auto Show

Auto Show Season is underway and while Boston is not on the major auto show circuit such as New York or Los Angeles, it was still fun to attend. There were no major unvailings, no scantily-dressed models, and no concept cars. There was however a ton of cars that anyone can buy, some upcoming models, and a some interesting people. I did not have a chance to see everything at the show, but here are some highlights of what I did get to see. … Continue Reading

Next Generation of NYC Taxis

In December of 2009 New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission issued an Request For Proposal for the next generation of NYC Taxi cabs. Recently, three finalists were selected: Ford Transit Connect, Nissan Minivan, and a Turkish Karsan Taxi. The first one is a solid choice, the second is an obscure JDM minivan, and it is anyone’s guess what the Karsan is.

Clearly, there is serious room for improvement. … Continue Reading

2010 SEMA Show

Each year Specialty Equipment Market Association puts on a show in Las Vegas where retailers, manufactures, and media come together to… uhmm… well, no one really know why they do it. The key points are that:

• it’s in Vegas,
• there are hundreds of cars in various stages and tastes of modifications,
• and plenty of scantily dressed women.
• And probably a lot of booze too, so a good time is had by all. … Continue Reading

Review: 2010 Acura TL

All-new for 2009 the Acura TL has grown in size and received what can only be described as controversial styling compared to the slick 2004-2008 model. I recently had the chance to drive a 2010 Acura TL courtesy car for 5 days which is how long it took to fix my 2005 TSX.

… Continue Reading

2010 Korean Grand Prix Aftermath

Other then the fact that this is an amazing picture, there is not much left to say. I only wish my DVR did not cut out the second half of the race. … Continue Reading

Review: 2010 Hyundai Tucson GLS

The year was 1986 when my parents decided that the old Buick should be replaced by a new, reliable, fuel-efficient, Japanese car. At the time however, a new Asian company came onto the market in United States. The cars seemed similarly made and of similar quality but at a much lower price. My parents ended up with a loaded four-door hatchback Hyundai Excel GLS. The S must have stood for sunroof, which was the only thing that was electrically powered. No air-conditioning, no power-steering, and a five-speed manual made the best use of the 68-horsepower dished out by the furious 1.5-liter four.

… Continue Reading

The 13th Annual Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta

The 13^th Annual Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta was held on October 2^nd 2010. This was my first time attending a American Le Mans Series race and my first time at Road Atlanta, but it definitely won’t be my last. The entire event was mind-blowing and the track, which is 2.54 miles long with 12 turns and impressive elevation changes, was amazing.

The race lasts for ten hours or until the race leader completes 1000 miles. Cars compete in different classes: LMP, LMPC – purpose-built race-cars known as the prototypes, and GT, GTC - modified production cars.

… Continue Reading

Vote for Internet Car and Truck of the Year

Each year every magazine has their own version of “…Of The Year”. Each year after announcing their verdicts, said magazines are hit with a ton of hate mail and an equal amount of praise. Whether in agreement or not, the readers never had any input toward the results, until now. Internet Car and Truck of the Year allows internet readers to vote on their choice of 2011 vehicles picked for the car and truck of the year. … Continue Reading

Review: 2010 Infiniti EX35

With the general dislike for station wagons in the United States, auto manufacturers are trying to make not-wagons disguised as small cross-over SUVs. The G-sedan-based Infiniti EX35 is just that. Sort of. Not really.

Typically, wagons and cross-over SUVs are the bigger, more functional than their sedan counterparts, but this is not the case here. The EX35 rides on a shorter wheelbase, is shorter overall, has less passenger volume, less headroom, less legroom, and to add insult to injury, is also heavier. To its credit, it does have a slightly larger trunk. All of the above precludes the EX35 from being a great family vehicle. However, after spending a weekend with it, I realized that it was not meant to be a family vehicle at all. … Continue Reading

Review: 2010 Volkswagen GTI

The story which began in 1976, when Volkswagen introduced the first Golf GTI, is a well known one. Small front-wheel-drive car, peppy engine, improved handling, and bam, a Hot Hatch was born. And that’s good n’ all, but if you are between the ages of twenty-eight and thirty-eight, the ninety’s were the era of the Hot Hatch for you.

Honda was dominating the market with its Civics and Integras. The turbo AWD DSM trio was the powerhouse of the bunch, often running 12’s in street trim – that is when their owners were not busy replacing timing belts, differentials, oil seals, and such. Other cars included the Sentra SE-R, 240SX (cough truck engine cough), few Celicas and an occasional turbo Mazda. … Continue Reading

2010 Subaru Outback takes on Crosstour and Venza

Different but the same would be the way to describe the feeling I got after driving the Subaru Outback for about forty seconds. It is different because the fake wood trim is of different veneer, some buttons are in different places and the windows are a little bigger. Otherwise, everything is almost the same as the Honda Crosstour and Toyota Venza I drove recently. It is therefore appropriate to look at all three vehicles and have ourselves a very first CarGuyDad.com comparison test. Well, sort of, since I didn’t have all three vehicles at the same time. … Continue Reading

Review: 2010 Toyota Sienna

For most people, myself included, purchasing a minivan equates to throwing in a towel into your game of life.  The minivan has taken up the stigma of station wagons from decades past and it may be the vehicle most responsible for influencing the SUV trend, which gives young parents hopes of freedom they have once known.

For 2010 Toyota strives to change this unfavorable image with the all-new Sienna. It is marketed it with a comedic rap song performed by suburban parents who are clearly living the dream, in hopes that Generation-X will relate and accept the Swagger-Wagon as the family vehicle to have. … Continue Reading