Kia has always had a seat around the Base Camp kitchen table, offering well-made and stylish machines that are packed with features. While the brand has been moving upscale in recent years (Stinger, Telluride, et al) they also haven’t forgotten its roots. Entry-level small vehicles still make up a portion of their showroom. In this […]
Filipe Albuquerque, Helio Castroneves, Alexander Rossi and Ricky Taylor, driving a Wayne Taylor Racing Acura DPi, won the Rolex 24 at Daytona this weekend – but you already knew that. I have news that many of you don’t know about. Some do, but a lot don’t. Chris Bye, a long-time Canadian road racer (he was […]
Cheap and cheerful cars have been picked off one by one by consumers allergic to anything that’s not a crossover or doesn’t sit 5 feet off the ground. In Canada and U.S., cars like the Ford Fiesta and Mazda2 have all gone the way of the Dodo bird, relegated to the annals of automotive history. […]
Any interviewer who’s tried to press a German auto executive knows they don’t easily give up their secrets. So it was a pleasant surprise to have them willingly share a few with us. Traditionally, concept cars are automaker’s way of testing the waters, pushing the boundaries of design and engineering possibilities and revealing the direction […]
While COVID took the wind out of the North American economy last year, Kia Canada found itself having one its most successful years last year, and sees only continuing success for this year. Elias El-Achhab, Kia Canada’s COO said that when 2020 started the automaker was expecting a record 2020 with plans to break its […]
Pickup trucks aren’t often featured in our Base Camp series, primarily because many models have pushed their entry-level prices to the point of incredulity. For some, it makes good financial sense to take a short walk up the ladder, paying marginally more for a healthy dose of extra equipment. Does the 2021 GMC Canyon play […]
Redesigning an icon isn’t easy. The entire MINI lineup gets a full facelift for the 2022 model year. But while the changes appear subtle and, well, not exactly apparent firsthand, there’s a lot more to this update than meets the eye. After all, the MINI Cooper is a design icon. Messing with its face and […]
Last year, early in December, I wrote a column entitled, “If you’re over 80, you should have to take a driver’s test to keep your licence.” You don’t have to do that any more. I explained that seniors organizations had lobbied the Ontario government to stop discriminating on the basis of age and the government […]
In a consumer market that has moved decidedly away from the segment it occupies, the Mazda6 continues to mark the time as a fine example of a vehicle most new car buyers ignore. Only 1,049 Mazda6s were sold in Canada in 2020 that represented a 25 per cent year-over-year decline. It suffered a similar fate […]
Buick has just launched the 2021 Envision compact crossover. An all-new model for the second generation of the nameplate, this one gets a much more car-like nose than before, with broad-shouldered styling front and rear. Inside is also new, though it will still look familiar to Buick buyers. Avenir is added to the model for […]