If you'd asked me last year to name the Canadian small car market's most and least entertaining cars, I'd have put Nissan's subcompact Micra city car and compact Sentra sedan on the respective lists. For 2017 the Micra remains a personal favourite in the cheap performer entry-level category, and much to my delight Nissan has elevated the larger Sentra's fun factor times ten.
It wasn't too long ago that Nissan's Sentra SE-R was a highly respected sport compact, and while this once revered model is no more, the four-door-only Sentra can now be had in as-tested SR Turbo guise as well as top-line Nismo trim. I'll leave the Nismo for a future road test review, because the SR Turbo is the car I most recently spent time with.
Before delving into this all-new 2017 trim, Nissan gave the entire Sentra line a thorough mid-cycle refresh for the 2016 model year that pulls its much more agreeable styling cues from other models within the Japanese brand's lineup, particularly the Read Full Story
News & Reviews- Month: July 2017
2017 Porsche 718 Cayman Road Test
718? Well that's different. Or at least it will be to all but ardent Porschephiles. If it were any other luxury brand I might be grimacing right now. After all, normally when a premium brand changes its model-naming scheme from creatively written monikers to alphanumeric drivel (like Mazda, Acura, Cadillac, and Lincoln did years ago-the latter brand just starting to embrace its past again with the Continental) I'm not in favour, but Porsche received a smiling thumbs up from yours truly when introducing 718 as the new model prefix for the 2017 Boxster and Cayman.
You see, Porsche has long used a mix of integers, letters and words in its naming process, sometimes only referring to numbers like the original 356, the 901 that followed, the 911, 912, 914, 924, 928, 944, 959, 968, and so forth. These three-digit number sets were actually internal codes, with those noted being the most common way for we the people to refer to each model as well. Others, like the Boxster (codes 986, Read Full Story
You see, Porsche has long used a mix of integers, letters and words in its naming process, sometimes only referring to numbers like the original 356, the 901 that followed, the 911, 912, 914, 924, 928, 944, 959, 968, and so forth. These three-digit number sets were actually internal codes, with those noted being the most common way for we the people to refer to each model as well. Others, like the Boxster (codes 986, Read Full Story
Porsche celebrates one-millionth 911 milestone
![2017 Porsche 911 Carrera S](http://www.thecarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/inline_01_17_porsche_911_one_millionth_00200.jpg)
![2017 Porsche 911 Carrera S](http://www.thecarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/inline_01_17_porsche_911_one_millionth_00300.jpg)
![2017 Porsche 911 Carrera S](http://www.thecarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/inline_01_17_porsche_911_one_millionth_00500.jpg)
![2017 Porsche 911 Carrera S](http://www.thecarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/inline_01_17_porsche_911_one_millionth_00400.jpg)
![2017 Porsche 911 Carrera S](http://www.thecarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/inline_01_17_porsche_911_one_millionth_00600.jpg)
![1964 Porsche 911](http://www.thecarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/inline_02_1964_porsche_911_carrera.jpg)
2017 Honda CR-V Touring Road Test
Can you guess the question I get asked most often? Sure I get plenty of queries about best supercars ever driven and safest cars for university-aged daughters, but more often than not people want to know which compact SUV they should buy. Whether I'm at home in Canada, across the Pacific at my second home in the Philippines, or traveling somewhere else, the theme never changes. Compact SUVs are popular everywhere, and making life easier the answer given most often is found on every continent too, Honda's CR-V.
The CR-V was the most popular SUV in the world last year, selling a total of 752,670 units compared to 711,571 in 2015, which represented growth of 5.8 percent and a new all-time high for the SUV sector.
Of course, as good as the CR-V is I'm not going to recommend it to an off-road enthusiast, Jeep's Cherokee (good for 295,081 global sales last year) a better bet within the directly competitive mainstream volume sector (hardcore Wrangler fans don't need to ask-they Read Full Story
The CR-V was the most popular SUV in the world last year, selling a total of 752,670 units compared to 711,571 in 2015, which represented growth of 5.8 percent and a new all-time high for the SUV sector.
Of course, as good as the CR-V is I'm not going to recommend it to an off-road enthusiast, Jeep's Cherokee (good for 295,081 global sales last year) a better bet within the directly competitive mainstream volume sector (hardcore Wrangler fans don't need to ask-they Read Full Story
2017 Kia Soul Turbo SX
![](http://www.thecarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Kia-Soul-Side-Barn-300x202.jpg)
![](http://www.thecarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/63-copy-300x200.jpg)
![](http://www.thecarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/56-copy-300x181.jpg)
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2017 Toyota Yaris SE Hatchback
![2017 Toyota Yaris SE Hatchback](http://www.thecarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/inline_17_toyota_yaris_hatchback_5door_se_00100.jpg)
![2017 Toyota Yaris SE Hatchback](http://www.thecarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/inline_17_toyota_yaris_hatchback_5door_se_00200.jpg)
![2017 Toyota Yaris SE Hatchback](http://www.thecarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/inline_17_toyota_yaris_hatchback_5door_se_00300.jpg)
![2017 Toyota Yaris SE Hatchback](http://www.thecarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/inline_17_toyota_yaris_hatchback_5door_se_00400.jpg)
![2017 Toyota Yaris SE Hatchback](http://www.thecarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/inline_17_toyota_yaris_hatchback_5door_se_00500.jpg)
![2017 Toyota Yaris SE Hatchback](http://www.thecarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/inline_17_toyota_yaris_hatchback_5door_se_00600.jpg)
![2017 Toyota Yaris SE Hatchback](http://www.thecarmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/inline_17_toyota_yaris_hatchback_5door_se_00700.jpg)
2017 Lexus NX 300h Executive Road Test
Amazingly, Lexus went from having nothing in the compact luxury SUV segment throughout most of 2014 and prior, to being one of the top-three players by the end of 2016. The story is even better in the U.S. where the new NX is now number one in the entire class.
That, of course, makes it top dog in the northernmost North American jurisdictions by default, with combined U.S./Canadian sales of 61,179 units compared to 60,048 Acura RDX deliveries. Where were Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi? The four-ringed brand was third with 57,863 Q5 sales (that being the old first-generation model that's since been replaced), Mercedes' new GLC fourth with 52,562 units, and BMW's X3 fifth with a total of 49,613 buyers.
How the mighty Germans have fallen, not that Lexus is particularly weak and feeble. The Japanese luxury brand is a powerhouse in the crossover sport utility sector where its RX has been the bestselling mid-size luxury SUV in both Canada and the U.S. (by a long shot) for as Read Full Story
That, of course, makes it top dog in the northernmost North American jurisdictions by default, with combined U.S./Canadian sales of 61,179 units compared to 60,048 Acura RDX deliveries. Where were Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi? The four-ringed brand was third with 57,863 Q5 sales (that being the old first-generation model that's since been replaced), Mercedes' new GLC fourth with 52,562 units, and BMW's X3 fifth with a total of 49,613 buyers.
How the mighty Germans have fallen, not that Lexus is particularly weak and feeble. The Japanese luxury brand is a powerhouse in the crossover sport utility sector where its RX has been the bestselling mid-size luxury SUV in both Canada and the U.S. (by a long shot) for as Read Full Story
2017 BMW 750Li xDrive Executive Road Test
Ever since Lexus entered the luxury fray, pundits, including yours truly, have claimed that premium brands require a V8-powered full-size flagship sedan within their ranks in order to be taken seriously.
Hyundai Motor Company's new Genesis brand appears to concur, bravely launching its new two-model luxury division with just a mid-size and full-size sedan at a time when compact D-segment cars and all manner of SUVs dominate the luxury sales charts, and a quick look at the highfalutin sector's top-selling brands will show that Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Lexus rule the roost in Canada (just switch those last two around for the U.S. market), all of which offer large four-door flagships.
Of course, success may have a lot more to do with three-quarters of these sales leaders being traditional German brands with long, rich histories, all epitomizing luxury and therefore appealing to those trying to set themselves apart from the unwashed masses, the latter Japanese building Read Full Story
Hyundai Motor Company's new Genesis brand appears to concur, bravely launching its new two-model luxury division with just a mid-size and full-size sedan at a time when compact D-segment cars and all manner of SUVs dominate the luxury sales charts, and a quick look at the highfalutin sector's top-selling brands will show that Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Lexus rule the roost in Canada (just switch those last two around for the U.S. market), all of which offer large four-door flagships.
Of course, success may have a lot more to do with three-quarters of these sales leaders being traditional German brands with long, rich histories, all epitomizing luxury and therefore appealing to those trying to set themselves apart from the unwashed masses, the latter Japanese building Read Full Story