Author: theduke

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Reviewed 2013 Mitsubishi Lancer EVO: Don’t Believe The Hype!

 

The Mitsubishi Lancer EVO is one of the hero cars for the Grand Turismo/Forza generation.  Those who’s experiences are often virtual, rather than real.

So, when we had a chance to spend a week with the car, did it live up to the hype, is it a must have car, is it an STI slayer?  That is what we find out on this episode of Rumblestrip.NET and Ten Minute Test Drive.

 

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Reviewed 2013 Toyota Camry V6: The Sheeples Car!

This is another review from 2013, that we were able to rescue from a memory card that went bad.  So, there is no driving footage, and the audio and video quality may not be the best.

The Toyota Camry is the best selling passenger car for well over a decade, the question we had going in is why.  There are a number of fantastic choices in the mid-sized family four door segment, cars such as the Kia Optima, Hyundai, Sonata, Ford Fusion, Nissan Altima, Honda Accord and VW Passat. 
Is the Camry significantly better it’s competitors or is it pure momentum that is the reason for the sales success? That is what we find out on this episode of Rumblestrip.NET and Ten Minute Test Drive

 

 

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Reviewed 2013 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid

 

Another review of the fall of 2013 from our recovered videos, this time it’s the 2013 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid. 
With higher CAFE standards on the way, automakers are doing what ever they can to increase the MPG’s of their fleets.  The Sonata Hybrid takes a solid mid sized family sedan and incorporates a good, though not great Hybrid system into it.
Does they Hybrid system take away from the Sonata, does it make it a better car?  That’s what we find out on this episode of Rumblestrip.NET and Ten Minute Test Drive.

 

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Our 1995 Ford Mustang GT Out Of Hibernation

After 160 days, or more sitting in the garage from the worst winter in Michigan in over 100 years, we fired up the Mustang today for the first time in 2014!
Next up we need to head to the store get some oil and a new filter, give it a bath, and then we can take it for it’s first drive of the year.
Can’t tell you what a big smile it put on our face to fire this up today!

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Reviewed 2013 Jeep Wrangler Sahara: It IS A Jeep Thing And We Understand!

 

First off if the quality is a bit wonky, we apologize, we shot this review last fall, and this review, along with a few others were on a memory card that went bad.  It took us four programs to find one that would recover the footage.  Life lesson to learn, always back up!!
So this is the 2013 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara edition, as we said we had this for a week in the fall of 2013.  Having never really driven ANY Wrangler based platform before we didn’t know what to expect.
There are many things we liked about it, a few we didn’t (fuel economy is less than stellar) but overall we liked it.
Dive in with us for this episode of Rumblestrip.NET and Ten Minute Test Drive.

 

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Reviewed 2014 Lincoln MKZ AWD: Solid Luxury Sedan

 

If you read much of the enthusiast press when the Lincoln MKZ came out, you would have thought that this was just another forgettable effort from Lincoln. 

 

We came in to this review with pretty low expectations, not only in in reading other reviews, but also talking with other colleagues who’d driven that car.

 

Our experience was quite different, OK, maybe it’s not the best in class, but it’s a very solid effort, and very competitive if you are looking more on the luxury side than the Sports Sedan side of the ledger.

 

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Bluebitch Driveway 2013

When we were in St John back in 2011 we shot the the road and driveway to the place we were staying, the house is called “Bluebitch”, named after the native rock it is built from.  The owners, Albion and Ann have made some improvements since we were their last, so, we thought it would be cool to shoot another video!  If you are looking to unplug from the world, and enjoy the sun, then we HIGHLY recommend staying here.
If you are interested in renting Bluebitch you can find all the details here:
http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/reviews/page:3/p275707
If you’d like more information on Albion and his Steelpan music you can find that here:
http://www.stjohnsteelpanist.com/

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2015 GMC Canyon Debut

Sunday night before the start of the Detroit Auto Show, automakers like to have a few debuts to try and grab some headlines.  Tonight it was GMC showing of the new “Midsized” pickup, the Canyon.  Midsized in name only, this is about 85% the size of a Silverado/Sierra 1500.  Still it’s a good looking truck and we should see it on sale around November.

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Reviewed 2013 Mazda MX-5 Club Sport: Sports Car Personified

In today’s world more is always more, more power, more brakes, more grip, and this is all evaluated on a spreadsheet.  Very rarely is there talk of more driving fun.  If the numbers don’t add up on the spreadsheet, then the car must not be good.

Those that are actually interested in DRVING cars rather than just evaluating how they look on a spreadsheet know that the name of the ESPN show “Numbers Never Lie” is false, great cars, memorable cars are not about the numbers, they are about the DRVING!

Like the British sports cars of old, MG’s, Lotus Elan, Triumph TR6’s and Spitfire’s, and more recently the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ, light weight chassis don’t require big horsepower numbers to be fun.

For 15 years now the Mazda MX-5/Miata have been that car.  Yes it has grown in weight and size some over the years, but it still stays true to the formula that fun can be had in small packages.  We can say, with no qualifiers, that every time we got in the MX-5 and drove it we had FUN!  Even if it was just heading through town to the market to pick up a couple things for dinner.  How many cars can you say that about?  And on top of all that, you can drop the top and let the sun shine in!