Author Archives: Benjamin Hunting

There are a handful of brands that are uniquely positioned to take full advantage of soaring public interest in crossovers and SUVs, and GMC - alongside Land Rover and Subaru - is one of them. Long the truck-focused division of corporate parent General Motors, GMC has enjoyed rousing success thanks to sales of family-oriented vehicles like the Yukon, the Acadia, the Terrain, and the enormously profitable Denali luxury line.

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You've probably heard the automotive press expound exponentially on the concept of 'range anxiety' as it applies to electric cars, but what of the 'supercar sweats?' You know, that feeling that descends on almost every exotic owner when called upon to park, navigate traffic, or go on a drive that lasts longer than a quick jaunt to the local show 'n shine? After all, asphalt-scraping, bone-jarring suspension setups, blind spots the size of a refrigerator, and the constant danger of reckless drivers zooming from two lanes over to snap a photo while hanging inches off the bumper are hazards anyone who elects to daily drive their six-figure sports car regularly face.

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Mercedes-Benz took the Frankfurt Auto Show with both a bang and a whirr as it showcased not just a world-beating Mercedes-AMG Project One 'hypercar' - the brand's first foray into such rarefied air in well over a decade - but also several facets of its electrification strategy, which figures ever more prominently in the plans of all global automakers.

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If you’re offended by the concept of a 707 horsepower SUV, then you should probably just stop reading right now. In our age of instantaneous outrage, it's easy to see how from certain quarters the 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk could appear as yet another missive intended to inflame the passions of those who have already decided that high-po people movers represent the height of excess in an era where emissions and efficiency are increasingly under the microscope.

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The 2017 Mazda CX-5 is a near-complete redesign of the brand's strong-selling compact crossover, and it comes hot on the heels of last year's unusual 2016.5 model year refresh. With striking looks, simplified drivetrain offerings, and a focus on answering the complaints lodged by previous owners as well as those from SUV shoppers who passed on Mazda's entry, the latest CX-5 manages to maintain much of its fun-to-drive edge over the competition in what has traditionally been a dynamically dull segment. Check out these 5 things you need to know about the 2017 Mazda CX-5 crossover.

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Say it ain't so: a week after I grudgingly returned my 2017 Cadillac CTS-V tester it was revealed that Cadillac will be nixing the ATS, CTS, and XTS automobiles entirely in favor of a single replacement sedan to be labeled the CT5. While the CT5 may get a high performance edition of its own one day, the current CTS-V marks the end of the line for one of the more unabashedly dominant sport sedans ever built. The third, and final generation of the Cadillac CTS-V is the most powerful and most refined of the three versions to have been unleashed on American asphalt, and it's a fitting swan song for a car that has continually pushed the limits of four-door performance. Check out these 5 things you need to know about the 2017 Cadillac CTS-V

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The new Genesis brand, launched by Hyundai as a way of capturing the premium dollars lurking outside its more value-focused showrooms, has been making waves on the luxury market for almost a year now. It's been roughly that length of time since I last found myself behind the wheel of the Genesis G90 full-size sedan at its official launch in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and coincidentally, that's also where I picked up my most recent tester as part of a 10-day road trip through the coastal province.

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A lot of what you'll read about BMW's newest 5 Series sedan will devote sizable column inches to lamenting the past - that is to say, the bygone era when BMW cared a little bit more about crossing the finish line first than coddling comfort. Those days are gone, however, as evidenced not just by the 2017 BMW 540i xDrive I drove for a week, but also when examining almost every other model in the automaker's Byzantine line-up.

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The 2018 Hyundai Sonata is here, and while the automaker's mid-size family sedan hasn't been completely redesigned there are a few aspects of its recent refresh that are definitely worth discussing. The Sonata has moved past its challenger status and now sells at or over 200,000 examples every year in the United States, although it's starting to show the same battle scars as other sedans as a result of growing consumer interest in SUVs.

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What is there to say about a car like the 2017 Rolls-Royce Dawn, an ultra-luxury convertible whose price tag can easily approach a half-million dollars? It's certainly easy to run out of superlatives when discussing the Dawn (which replaces the Phantom Drophead Coupe as the ragtop of choice in the British brand's showroom), as the car is rarefied air even in the world of the billionaires who park them in their air-conditioned 10-vehicle garages.

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High performance SUVs are a niche in the family hauler segment, but those that also offer plug-in hybrid efficiency find themselves in an even more vanishingly small subset vehicles. The 2017 BMW X5 40e iPerformance is something of an eco-terrorist, a two-ton electrified conundrum that does its best to convince you it's on Team Gaia all while barely being able to conceal its hardcore Jones for sweet black crude.

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Mazda isn't going to build a coupe version of its iconic MX-5 Miata roadster, so please stop asking. What it will do is try to dip back into the nearly 50/50 split it had on the previous-generation Miata between soft-top and power-retractable hardtop models by way of the Mazda MX-5 Miata RF. Those two letters stand for 'retractable fastback,' and signal to buyers that this unique take on open-air motoring is as close to a fixed-roof Miata as you'll find in the automaker's current showroom.

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