The styling is pulled almost whole from the “ix-onic” concept truck…or perhaps vice versa, as Hyundai often uses concept vehicles to tease upcoming production cars.

Around town, the SRX fears neither pothole nor rippled pavement.

In spite of the general trend toward bigger and beefier pickups and SUVs, there’s a segment of the marketplace that’s always going to go for the flyweights.  Proud Ford Festiva and Geo Metro drivers (I’ve met more than a few) haven’t been well served in recent years.  The Honda Insight isn’t very practical, and the Kia Rio, while related to the departed Ford Aspire under the skin, just doesn’t have the “small and proud of it” attitude of a Geo Metro.

Tiny-car fans rejoice!  The 2004 Chevrolet Aveo just might be …

What’s perhaps most impressive of all about the Q5 isn’t that it would blow the minds of the average car buyer of fifty years ago, of course, but that it’s an outstanding product even for today.

We drove the 2004 Suzuki XL-7 back-to-back with several competitors—the Ford Escape, Saturn VUE, Toyota RAV4 and others—and honestly didn’t expect much.  The XL-7 has been around a while, after all, and cars in hotly contested segments like the compact SUV class tend to age about as gracefully as ill-bred racehorses.

We’re happy to report that the XL-7 surprised us.  With a new face and mechanical refinements for 2004, this dark horse proved to be a very strong runner indeed.
Suzuki’s redesign is handsome.  The XL-7’s familiar two-box features get a bolder …

We ended up driving the Buick Rendezvous Ultra back-to-back with the Lincoln LS, and were surprised to find a comparison between the two.  These disparate vehicles share similar levels of luxury and refinement, and we found ourselves choosing the multi-tasking over the sporty LS more than once.  Sure, the Rendezvous is about as sexy as a hamster, and similarly proportioned to boot, but it’s so darn useful that the handsome LS wound up parked more often than not.

The Rendezvous was a significant departure for Buick when it debuted in 2002, …

Nissan has successfully packed space for five into a very compact package. Rear legroom is the best in class, and you won’t feel bad for stuffing your friends back there.

If you’ve got the urge to put down the $32,090 for your own Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, just remember this: don’t keep it on the pavement.

No, this is not the box that they ship MINI Coopers in, it’s a 2004 Scion xB.  If you shop at Wal-Mart, watched every episode of American Idol, and think a Disney cruise is the be-all, end-all of vacations, then you’ve probably already said to yourself, “That’s the ugliest car I’ve ever seen,” and moved on.  You’re probably not even reading the rest of this review.

And that’s just fine with Scion, Toyota’s new division.  When it comes to the 2004 xB, as this little mailbox of a car is known, …

To say that Porsche fans were upset when the sports car manufacturer announced that it would be introducing an SUV is a bit of an understatement. The Porsche faithful were downright horrified. A Porsche sport-ute was the answer to a question that no one had asked. Oh, sure, the all-wheel drive 911 is cool, but Porsche’s not known for building vehicles with four usable seats, let alone four doors, a sizeable cargo area, and off-road ability. It just isn’t done. Until now.

Although the hard-core Porsche …