HERNDON, Va. — To paraphrase singer Deniece Williams (briefly) and the Footloose soundtrack, LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE BOYS! Regardless of the auto industry’s recent efforts at gender diversity (and there are many), a tightly drawn 2+2 with a horizontally opposed four and manual trans could only have been executed by a small, brief outpouring of testosterone.

MISSOULA, MT. — Have you ever been to Montana?  As I found for my first visit recently, it’s a big place — the kind of wide open, horizon-to-horizon, nestling mountains, and wide-open Interstates kind of place where you just want to drive, drive, and drive.  Turns out, it was the perfect place to meet the redesigned 2025 Subaru Forester.

HERNDON, Va. — Even if your only automotive news comes from your daily newspaper, you’d know it’s a moment of upheaval for the auto industry. After so much attention given to the EV — and Mister Elon Musk — by the mass media, excitement around battery electrification seems to have cooled. To be sure, people are still buying electrified vehicles, but interest in all-electric has hit a plateau, while hybrids and plug-in hybrids are in greater demand.

PHOENIX — It's been four years since Land Rover brought the all-new Defender to the US shores in the spring of 2020 and its debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Now four years into its current life cycle the rugged leading man handsome styling has held up more than well with its reinterpretation of the  original Defender dating all the way back to when Winston Churchill was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from which Land Rover originates.ates.

PHOENIX — The Genesis of Alfa Romeo is a sporty 115 years old, centenary automotive brand that checks all the boxes of what one would expect of an Alfa Romeo: Aesthetically beautiful, comfortable, thrilling driving dynamics, reassuring behavior with a sense it can inflict at least a mild case of Stendhal Syndrome — a psychosomatic condition that can trigger a rapid heartbeat, fainting, even hallucinations when individuals become exposed to objects of art, great beauty or lust.

PHOENIX — Like the standard issue compact GLC SUV from which it's based upon, the second generation GLC Coupe tested here as a 2024 model is basically a smaller, sportier version that's grown a bit larger length and height, yet remains the same width. So slight is the visual change between the old and new would require them to be parked side by side to see the grille now favors the AMG variants along with the stylized propeller on either side and of course the enormous trim-star moniker.

PHOENIX — Originally introduced and launched for the 2018 model year, Hyundai Kona, the subcompact crossover gets fully redesigned for its 2nd generation 2024 model year. The new Kona is larger with a dramatic new "love it or hate it" exterior styling, a roomier interior that offers an adult-friendly rear seat and significantly more cargo room.

MIAMI — Its name may bring back memories of old 1950s era science fiction movies, but the Kia EV9 (Plan EV9 from Outer Space staring Vampira, Bela Lugosi, and Tor Johnson and directed by Ed Wood) is much more than just a badly stretched punch line. New for 2024, the Kia EV9 is spacious electric crossover SUV offering three rows of seating capable of accommodating six or seven passengers.cepts.

MIAMI — Though its roots go back to the late 1990s when Mercedes-Benz introduced its first SUV, dubbed the M and later adjusted to ML to alleviate a conflict with BMW’s M line, the GLS came into being as a 2017 model when it replaced the GL-Class that had served as Mercedes’ flagship SUV since its introduction in 2006.

PHOENIX — Shortly after Acura, Honda's luxury division relaunched its iconic Integra nameplate the company sent us the A-Spec trim level for our review testing. After a week behind the wheel we came away impressed with its attractive styling, long list of standard features, strong technology and driver assist features. It was essentially a Honda Civic Is dressed in prom clothes.