Category Car Chat

KIA displays a 2015 model year Optima SX Limited trim in the Orange County Auto Show.

The demo car is carrying a MSRP of $35,500, and talking about the interior design and material quality, I must say: it is fantastic! It is becoming a normal that non-luxury brand cars are starting to come with fine stitching and leather wrapped dashboard as standard, on some models it even comes with leather seats as standard too.

See the comparison of the 2015 Optima SXL and the 2015 BMW M4, photos are taken in the same location, with equivalent lighting conditions.

First, this is how the Optima looks like:

Next, the BMW M4:

I cannot say the Optima is better than the BMW M4, because t...

Review Index

2014 Acura RLX – Part 1 (Exterior)
2014 Acura RLX – Part 2 (Interior)
2014 Acura RLX – Part 3 (Electronic Features, Controls)
2014 Acura RLX – Part 4 (Powertrain)
2014 Acura RLX – Part 5 (Chassis)

Even though the RLX has two LCDs to accept control command and display information, there are still a dozen of physical buttons and knobs on the center console.

It gave me some sense of complication during the first few minutes when I was sitting on the driver’s seat, but after playing with the system for a while, I found it to be easy to use – at least it is not hard to learn to use the major features that it provides.

The AC control part is easy and intu...

Test Car Information:

2014 Acur RLX with Navigation
3.5L naturally aspirated i-VTEC V6 with Variable Cylinder Management™ (VCM®), 310 hp @ 6,500 RPM, 272 lb-ft @ 4,500 RPM
6-speed automatic transmission, front-wheel-drive
MSRP as tested: $51,845 (including $895 S&H)

Review Index

2014 Acura RLX – Part 1 (Exterior)
2014 Acura RLX – Part 2 (Interior)
2014 Acura RLX – Part 3 (Electronic Features, Controls)
2014 Acura RLX – Part 4 (Powertrain)
2014 Acura RLX – Part 5 (Chassis)

Luxury sedans which are around the $50,000 mark are typically battle fields among candidates such as the Lexus GS, Infiniti Q70, BMW 5-series, Mercedes-Benz E-class and Audi A6...

Review Index

2014 Toyota Corolla LE – Part 1 (Exterior)
2014 Toyota Corolla LE – Part 2 (Interior)
2014 Toyota Corolla LE – Part 3 (Interior – Electronic Features)
2014 Toyota Corolla LE – Part 4 (Powertrain)
2014 Toyota Corolla LE – Part 5 Chassis and Suspension)

The latest Corolla has independent MacPherson strut front suspension, and its rear suspension is the torsion beam type. The MacPherson suspension is familiar to many people; and the torsion beam is not something that we can brag about. You can see the Corolla’s torsion beam in the rear suspension from the below photo.

The torsion beam is not a fully independent suspension, its advantage is simple cons...

Review Index

2014 Toyota Corolla LE – Part 1 (Exterior)
2014 Toyota Corolla LE – Part 2 (Interior)
2014 Toyota Corolla LE – Part 3 (Interior – Electronic Features)
2014 Toyota Corolla LE – Part 4 (Powertrain)
2014 Toyota Corolla LE – Part 5 Chassis and Suspension)

At a glance, it gives you an impression that the whole Corolla family only offers one sole choice of a 1.8L 4-cylinder engine, for the US market. But please pay attention that there are actually two different engines, even though they both has 1.8L displacement.

The one on our LE trim test car is the Toyota 2ZR-FE engine, making 132hp at 6,000rpm and 128 lb-ft of torque at 4,400rpm; on the other hand,...