National Motorists Association Blog

By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist The ’60s had muscle cars; the ’70s had disco cars. The ’80s and ’90s had SUVs and crossovers. So what’s the new in thing? Punchy, boxy little “attitude cars” like the 2011 Scion xD. WHAT IT IS The xD is a subcompact hatchback sedan sold by Toyota’s youth brand spin-off, […]

By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist Beauty can be more than skin deep — just take a look at the 2011 Jaguar XK. Heavily updated in all the right places — and left alone were it was already right — it’s now one of the smartest choices in its segment, in addition to being one of […]

By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist The Dodge Nitro isn’t a favorite of car journalists. Google reviews of this chunky little SUV and you’ll see it gets slammed a lot. It has a silly name (ok, fair enough). It’s got “vague steering” and “trucky handling.” Well, yeah. But that’s because it is trucky — unlike virtually […]

By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist Life is about compromises – and so is the new CR-Z coupe from Honda. It’s the first “sporty” (decent acceleration and handling; available six-speed manual transmission; doesn’t look like a sad-sack Al GoreMobile) hybrid coupe. But to deliver all that driving goodness and hipster style, it sacrifices much in the […]

By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist Gas is at $4 per gallon already – and it’s just barely spring. By summer it could easily be $5 (or even more) and that reality is is behind a reboot in the popularity of small, fuel-efficient cars. In the past, though, most small, fuel-efficient cars sucked — even if […]