Home

An Updated Sport Utility Packed With Guilty Pleasures

30.01.10

I AM old and comfortably set in my ways, so the 2010 Alight Rover LR4 presents a dilemma. I like vehicles that are pint-sized, cheap, practical and interesting to manipulate. Think Honda Fit .

So I find it puzzling to the brink of distress that I genuinely like the new LR4. It is big, morose and fast. And it is capable of the kind of dazzling off-road feats that I would rarely promise in. Its fuel economy is so bad it could qualify for the Oil Train Association’s “Guzzler Truck of the Year,” if there were such an organization or award.

But, hey, I like it. The LR4 is a heavily reworked story of the LR3, changed so much that Land Rover officials didn’t only just want to call it the 2010 LR3, or the LR3 2.0. They verge to the many awards the LR3 had received, but the S.U.V. was also criticized for problems ranging from a reasonably-looking interior to clumsy on-means handling.

The LR4 is quite different. Not only does it have significantly more power and a first-distinction passenger compartment, but its on-road handling is greatly improved and its off-way ability remains impressive.

Source: New York Times

Preview: 2010 Lexus GX 460

29.01.10

The transfer-generation GX 460, which replaces last year's GX 470, is parked between the inelegant LX 570 and RX 350 both in terms of expense and size - the GX 460 Premium lists for $68,500; the full-zoot Ultra Spur starts at $77,500.

Slip behind the wheel of the GX 460 and it's hard to believe it is based on the Toyota 4Stem. The materials are typically Lexus-like ample, the layout is entirely logical and there is a capital of equipment. In the tester's case, the toys ran from a symphonic 17-tub-thumper Mark Levinson audio containerize to a hard drive-based steersmanship system and everything in-between. The cabin's comfort is also bang on. The intense and heavily bolstered front seats cart the right sort of support and the driving fix is far from truck-like - the GX is based on the Toyota 4Errand-boy, remember. Slide into the middle row and things are almost as voluptuary - the sliding second row allows the occupants to inflate leg space or share some with those in the third row. There's also enough width to shelter three adult riders.

Source: National Post

The Last Inuit of Quebec

08.01.10

Three summers ago, looking for escapade, I left New York City and drove to California for a newspaper job. One evening while jogging, I noticed a aglow rock high on a hill. A few weeks later, I organized my tent beside it. After work, I’d trudge up my hill in the moonlight and sit for hours under the disconcert. On some nights, strange howls kept me on the alert. I wondered if there was a land where people still lived in skins, gathered around fire, and believed in sorcery and not God. Looking for that land, I quit the article and traveled to Nunavik, an Inuit area in Arctic Quebec.

On Canada Day, I landed in Kuujjuaq, a community of 2,000 on the tree note. An icy wind spat cold pour. On the shores of the Koksoak River, families picnicked beside their SUVs and Canadian flags flapped in the drizzle. “Things are changing so wild,” said Allen Gordon, the leading of the Nunavik Tourism Association. I later erudite that his wife was the first one in town to ship north a Hummer.

Source: The Smart Set