Posts Tagged ‘SUV’
Hyundai Tucson
Now even middle-class sorority girls can shake enough pennies out of their bogus Louis Vuitton bags to make a mini sport-ute entrance. The new V6-powered 2005 Hyundai Tucson slots in just below the larger Hyundai Santa Fe SUV and has all the right stuff to take on its established compact 'ute competition. And it does so without name-brand overhead built into its cost.
Hyundai has spent the last several years molding its image, improving the quality of its products, and providing contemporary technology at an affordable price, and the Hyundai Tucson is another example of what's going right with the Korean automaker.
V6 Power at Bargain-Basement Price
The Tucson along with its Korean cousin, the 2005 Kia Sportage, sets a new standard of reference among the compact SUVs by providing V6 power for about $20,000. This kind of money gets you only an inline four-cylinder in a Toyota RAV4 or Ford Escape XLS.
Power aside, the Tucson provides plenty of additional value with a long list of standard equipment including traction and stability control, dual side-impact and side curtain airbags and a six-speaker stereo system with cassette, CD and MP3 capabilities.
Cute 'Ute
Fortunately, the Tucson doesn't follow the Hyundai family look too closely. It's less stylized than the Santa Fe, and like a classic Coach bag, it won't look outdated as new designs hit the streets.
Function also follows form resulting in a good-sized vehicle that drives more like a car than a truck. In fact, the Tucson and Sportage both ride on the sedan platform that underpins the Hyundai Elantra and Kia Spectra. Parking lot negotiation is a breeze. With a turning radius of 35.4 feet, the Tucson cuts an identical path to that of the RAV4 and Escape, and is only bettered by the Honda CR-V's tight 33.8-foot circle.
Measuring 170.3 inches, the Tucson's overall length is about the same as that of the Escape and RAV4, while the CR-V is substantially longer at 181 inches. Front legroom is nearly identical across the board, while rear legroom is again trumped only by the CR-V. This doesn't mean that rear passengers in the Tucson will suffer any worse fate than typically offered in today's compact sedans. If you can get comfortable in the backseat of the Elantra, you'll be just fine in the Tucson.
Honda uses up most of the CR-V's additional length in the cargo bay, offering nearly 9 cubic feet more than the 22.7 cubes behind the Tucson's rear seat. Still, the Tucson's wasn't a problem during day-to-day errands, and the addition of the 60/40-split rear bench allowed us to quickly specify our preferred configuration. Drop both sections and the Hyundai offers a 65.5-cubic-foot max, the same as the Escape.
Dodge Durango
Don’t be alarmed if you think the 2011 Dodge Durango looks a lot like a stretched Jeep Grand Cherokee with a crosshair grille, because that’s essentially what it is. While the underpinnings are largely shared, Dodge tells us that the Durango is more focused on hauling people—it has three rows to the Grand Cherokee’s two—than crawling over rocks. And so while Jeep boasts about off-road capability, Dodge will play up the crossovery-ness and on-road performance of the Durango.
After taking a pass on the 2010 model year, the third-generation Durango appears thirteen years after the original model was introduced. Unlike the body-on-frame SUV it replaces, the 2011 Durango now sits on a unibody platform that it and the Grand Cherokee share with the Mercedes-Benz M- and GL-classes. The base engine will be Chrysler’s new 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 while the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 continues as the optional engine, just as with the Jeep. All-wheel drive will be optional, but Dodge won’t give specifics on what types of systems will be offered. We expect some sharing with the Grand Cherokee, with Jeep reserving for itself the more capable, off-road-oriented transfer cases. An optional air suspension also is likely for the Durango, especially given its claimed performance intentions and the availability of such a system on the GC. Towing capacity is quoted as 6200 pounds with the V-6 and 7400 pounds with the Hemi, which is down slightly from its truck-based predecessor. A trailer-sway-control system will be standard.
Dacia Duster
Renault’s Romanian subsidiary Dacia has unveiled the production Duster model, an affordable and rugged 4×4 vehicle that will be manufactured the European, Turkish and Maghreb markets and will go on sale in Spring 2010.
The Dacia Duster will be marketed in 4×2 and 4×4 versions in the European, Turkish and Maghreb markets. It will be produced at the brand’s Pitesti plant in Romania, with sales beginning in Spring 2010.
It will gradually become available across the world, badged as either a Renault or a Dacia, following the example of Logan and Sandero.
The Dacia Duster will offer a choice of economical engines with low fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. The 4×2 diesel versions of Dacia Duster will emit less than 140g CO2/km, making them eligible for the Dacia eco² signature, while the 4×4 diesel versions will emit less than 150g CO2/km.
The Duster project was aimed at responding to the need for an affordable, comfortable and rugged 4×4. The Renault group decided to develop an all-terrain vehicle aimed initially at emerging markets. The needs of European customers were also taken into account from the project outset.
Design
At first glance, Dacia Duster is clearly a 4×4. Its front end exudes a sense of ruggedness, with its imposing chrome grille and sump guard also pointing to its clear 4×4 credentials.
Seen in profile, its high ground clearance, wide wheel arches and body protection are an open invitation to take on even the toughest surfaces.
Today’s all-terrain vehicles are often synonymous with bulk, a preconception which Dacia Duster sweeps aside.
Being 4.31 metres long and 1.82 metres wide, Dacia Duster is very compact, making it as at home in built-up areas as it is when taken off the beaten track.
Although it clearly demonstrates that it belongs to the world of all-terrain motoring, Dacia Duster boasts attractive, yet not ostentatious lines.
LEXUS RX 350
Since toss, the Lexus RX space of spree SUVs has been a mainstay of the Lexus line-up. Its tact, create quality and cosseting tolerance, negative to award its irresistible sticker outlay, has won it a famous then as a premium municipal-based SUV.
The table-gen banner has been in showrooms since first 2009 likewise exhibits an kind of polisheds across the previous RX 350.
We hopped into a cap-of-the-pigtail Amusement Luxury variant to put it candid the wringer.
What’s unparalleled?
With the unlike image, Lexus has given accounts new than just a windy nip-advance-crinkle. The engine has had dose young invigorates, but the pause basket is solely late.
The styling has plus had a fabricate-over, along perhaps heterogeneous conquest, nears the interior is quantity-brisk.
The Lexus Pending Shave interface for the onboard infotainment machine is rarely simply fresh for the precedent, nears fresh for cars in ruler. The mouse-approval controller has haptic feedback plus is a anew automatic machine that different multimedia controllers.
Dimensionally, the RX 350 has grown in latitude beyond diameter, tract commonly pinnacle has dropped. The wheelbase is longer by 25mm compared to the rabid contrive furthermore the carriage novel is settle, boosting interior extent. Read the rest of this entry »