ArcaMax

It's been said -- and it's true -- that small crossovers are so alike that it's hard to tell them apart. So it's nice to come across one that's different. Not so much in terms of how it looks but in terms of a couple of things that matter.

What It Is

The Sportage is Kia's compact crossover; it competes with the half-dozen others in the class, ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Ford Motor Co. has urged the Trump administration to exercise caution in its bid to strip away the legal underpinnings of 16 years' worth of automotive regulations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In a previously unreported federal filing submitted last week, the automaker also requested "modest" greenhouse gas ...Read more

Q: I recently purchased a 2026 Kia K5. The dealer mounted the from plate through a bracket and then drove the screw directly into the front bumper, creating two screw holes in the bumper itself. As soon as I realized this, (about two days after purchasing the car) I went back to the dealer to ask them about it. They insisted that it was standard...Read more

Michigan's buildout of electric vehicle chargers, its future clouded by a federal funding freeze, is moving forward after receiving approval of a revised plan for spending more than $50 million in remaining funds.

The Michigan Department of Transportation expects next spring to issue another round of requests for proposals to add more DC fast ...Read more

Big SUVs are bigger -- and stronger -- than they have ever been before. The just-updated Ford Expedition, for instance, is available with a 510 horsepower, twin-turbo V6 and comes standard with a 9,600-pound tow rating. It weighs close to three tons yet is capable of getting to 60 mph in less than five seconds, which makes it quicker than just ...Read more

The Mini Cooper is one thing few new cars are.

It is instantly recognizable -- because nothing else looks anything like it. This has been one of the Mini's greatest appeals, which transcends even the nostalgia factor of owning a new car that looks a lot like an old car.

It's nice to drive something that doesn't look like everything else.

Or ...Read more

"My God, it's full of stars!" So said astronaut David Bowman in Arthur C. Clarke's sci-fi novel "2001: A Space Odyssey."

You may utter something similar when you raise the hood of the 2025 Kia Telluride -- because there's a V6 under there.

And it's standard.

It is one of just a few vehicles in its class -- for that matter, in...Read more

Do you want a big truck with just two doors, an 8-foot bed and a big V8 rather than a small six with a turbo?

It' hard to get all those things together in a half-ton truck, and some half-ton trucks no longer offer those things anymore (the current Ram 1500, for instance, comes only with four doors, a 5-foot or 6-foot bed and a turbo ...Read more

The Chevy Tahoe is an SUV, but it's also the replacement for the full-size, V8-powered and rear-drive American sedan -- which is a type of car that's not made anymore.

The last full-size, rear-drive, V8-standard American sedan was the Ford Crown Vic -- and it's been gone since 2011. It could seat six and it could tow -- because it had ...Read more

Mercedes and BMW were the first to come up with what they called the four-door coupe -- or words to that effect. The idea was to take something boxy and practical and make it look more like a coupe while still being practical. The Mercedes GLA, for instance, is a Mercedes GLB SUV -- with a lower/swept-back roofline, to give it a "coupe-like" ...Read more

Change can be good, bad -- or just scary. Toyota's 4Runner just got changed.

It's no longer available with the 4.0-liter V6 that used to come standard, but it now comes standard with a turbocharged four that's stronger than the previously standard V6 and uses less gas. It also comes standard with a 6,000-pound tow rating; that's 1,000 pounds ...Read more

Mr. T used to say, "I pity the fool." Let's add to that the one who must -- somehow -- design their crossover to stand out from all the other crossovers.

Well, one way to do that is to design it differently -- at least visually -- and that's what Hyundai did with the Santa Fe. It looks very much unlike all the other crossovers.

And more like a...Read more