2010 auto show in Detroit
Welcome to Globe Drive, where you'll find auto news, features, blogs and videos about cars and drivers. Here are a few of our favourite stories from the week. We hope you'll enjoy them!
Can Chrysler go sexy?
Sex sells. Really it does. It may not be politically correct to say so, but sex has been moving products and motivating people since Adam and Eve. So it should come as no surprise to see Chrysler wholeheartedly embrace sex appeal as a core brand value. Jeremy Cato explores why this isn't your mother's minivan company anymore.
Dragon's road to riches
Jim Treliving is one of Canada's top business tycoons - the entrepreneur behind Boston Pizza and one of the Dragons on the CBC hit show Dragon's Den. When it comes to his rides, Petrina Gentile learns that he likes them big, brawny and powerful - just like their owner.
These models each changed the auto world
The Model T was the first affordable car, the Beetle was the first global economy car and the Prius ignited the hybrid market. Jeremy Cato and Michael Vaughan discuss the three most important cars in history. Meanwhile, Peter Cheney picks the vehicles that he believes define each decade.
Smokey and the Lotus
In moonshine country, the preferred ride is a plain sedan with a hot-rod motor and race suspension. You might be able to outrun the sheriff but Plan A is to slip by unnoticed. Apparently, somebody forgot to tell Globe Drive writer Peter Cheney. He took a burnt orange Lotus Exige 240-S down to tame the back roads of northern Georgia while steering clear of the good old boys of law enforcement. Read Cheney's hilarious account of his run-in with the local law and watch video of the Exige racing atop the twisty roads of Lookout Mountain.
We're still working out the wrinkles
You're old and frankly, you're kind of spooky. And we're pretty certain your driving sucks. Welcome to The Senior Driver Integration Program. Road Sage Andrew Clark, tongue planted firmly in cheek, offers up a road test for the aged. Take the test here.
Soul or Cube: which box rocks?
All that's beautiful about a box is how much it holds, really. In the absence of curves there can be nothing scintillating, provocative, or admirable for the ages. Venus de Milo might be packed in a box for shipment. Otherwise the connection with sculpture does not exist. Yet automobile designers' fascination for the rectilinear shows no sign of abating. They keep trying to introduce eye-catching appeal, if not exactly beauty, into boxy little cars. Nissan Cube and Kia Soul are the latest renderings, and auto writer Dan Proudfoot pits them head-to-head to see who builds a better box.