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Articles by Don Sikora II
Future Collectibles: 2021 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat
Note: The following story was excerpted from the August 2021 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. It’s fair to say the idea of 700-plus-horsepower Dodges isn’t as shocking as it once was. Starting with the original 707-hp 2015 Challenger SRT Hellcat, the 2021 Durango SRT Hellcat is the fifth supercharged, Hemi-powered Dodge we’ve considered in this space.
First Look: 2023 Toyota Crown Original
Last night Toyota officially unveiled its latest production vehicle, and that vehicle wears one of the company’s earliest model names. The new-for-2023 Toyota Crown is a genre-bending mashup of an SUV and a full-size sedan—its unusual shape combines a SUV-like lower body with a low-and-racy fastback roofline, but unlike other “coupe-style” crossover SUVs, the Crown maintains a traditional rear trunk instead of an SUV-style liftgate.
Cheap Wheels: 2001-2005 Dodge Stratus R/T
Note: The following story was excerpted from the June 2021 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. For nearly 15 years, Dodge’s lone coupe model has been the throwback Challenger. Readers are surely familiar with its classic muscle car styling, rear-drive chassis, and Hemi V-8 with seemingly limitless amounts of horsepower. Therefore, we completely understand if you need a moment to recall Dodge’s last pre-Challenger sports coupe, not to mention what its friskiest variant was called. Give up?
Future Collectibles: 2020 Buick Regal Sportback and TourX
These midsized Regals made their debuts as 2018 models, and like the previous Regal were nearly carbon copies of the European-bred Opel Insignia. Most previous-generation Regals were assembled by General Motors in Canada, but the 2018-20 models were all built by Opel in Germany. You remember Opel: the foundation of GM’s Germany-based European operations until a late-2017 sale to France’s PSA, makers of Peugeot and Citroën. This Regal lineup was fairly complicated.
First Spin: 2023 Toyota Sequoia
One of the most old-school SUVs on the market is about to get a lot less old-school. It’s been a long time coming, but late this summer an all-new, third-generation version of Toyota’s full-size SUV is slated to go on sale. The Toyota Sequoia is redesigned from the ground up for 2023, finally doing away with its 2008-vintage platform and adopting new body-on-frame architecture that’s shared with Toyota’s redesigned-for-2022 Tundra full-size pickup truck.
What’s New For 2023: Toyota
Toyota’s PR department has been especially busy for the past three weeks or so, issuing a steady flow of press releases on the updates to its product line for the 2023 model year. With the release of info on several models today—most notably the Corolla compact car and the Corolla Cross subcompact crossover SUV—we now have a fairly comprehensive picture of Toyota’s complete model lineup for 2023.
First Look: 2023 Lexus RX
Tonight, Lexus took the wraps off its all-new 2023 RX crossover SUV. Long the Lexus brand’s best-selling model, the RX kicks off its fifth generation with a fairly ambitious, from-the-ground-up redesign. It’s built on the new GA-K global platform and introduces an evolution of Lexus’s “spindle-grille” design language that results in a burlier front-end appearance. Four new 4-cylinder powertrains will be offered, three of which are gas-electric hybrids (including a forthcoming plug-in-hybrid model).
Future Collectibles: 2018-2020 Jaguar XF Sportbrake
Note: The following story was excerpted from the April 2021 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. New-car buyers continue snapping up SUVs of all sizes, while increasingly snubbing traditional cars. It’s a bit puzzling, then, that the most SUV-like of car styles, the station wagon, has fallen out of favor even more than sedans. Jaguar entered this rapidly shrinking space with the striking and athletic 2018 XF Sportbrake.
Cheap Wheels: 1975-1977 Oldsmobile Omega F-85
Note: The following story was excerpted from the April 2021 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. Oldsmobile’s first compact was the 1961 F-85. Midyear, the line added a deluxe coupe called Cutlass. In 1964 the F-85 grew into a true intermediate, with the Cutlass gaining fans as a sporty premium series. By 1973 it had become the car the public associated with midsized Oldsmobiles and the increasingly marginalized F-85 was gone.
First Spin: 2023 Subaru Solterra
The stereotypical Subaru owner is an outdoorsy nature lover who’s at least a bit more environmentally conscious than the average American consumer, so it seems inevitable that Subaru would eventually enter the electric-vehicle market. And now it has. The 2023 Solterra is Subaru’s first pure EV: a two-row, five-passenger compact crossover SUV that is built on a platform shared with Toyota’s new bZ4X pure-electric SUV.
First Spin: 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe
There’s no moss growing under the feet of Jeep engineers and product planners these days. About a year ago, the brand introduced its first plug-in-hybrid vehicle: the Wrangler 4xe. Approximately 30,000 units found buyers last year, which Jeep says makes the Wrangler 4xe (pronounced “four by e”) America’s best-selling plug-in hybrid. Last summer, the fifth generation of Jeep’s Grand Cherokee debuted with the all-new 2021 Grand Cherokee L—the first Grand Cherokee with three rows of seats.
First Look: 2023 Toyota GR Corolla
Today Toyota unveiled a rally-inspired high-performance version of its Corolla compact car—the 2023 GR Corolla—at an event in Long Beach, California. When it arrives later this year, the GR Corolla will be available in a base Core model. A limited-production Circuit Edition will join it in 2023, and it will be available for the 2023 model year only. The GR branding is used globally to identify Toyota’s sports cars—the letters stand for Gazoo Racing, which is Toyota’s in-house motorsports operation.
First Spin: 2023 Mazda CX-50
Is one of the unexpected long-term side effects of COVID-19 the public’s increased interest in outdoor activities like camping, hiking, and kayaking? The timing could be a coincidence, but it’s clear that car companies are introducing an ever-increasing array of off-road-focused SUVs—or at least off-road-flavored SUVs—to meet the market’s embrace of these more adventurous lifestyles. Even well-established outdoorsy brands like Subaru are getting more outdoorsy.
Future Collectibles: 2020-2021 Toyota Supra
Note: The following story was excerpted from the February 2021 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. Toyota’s sport-coupe history traces back to the 1967 2000GT, a handbuilt legend that sold only 62 copies in America. Then four generations of increasingly capable Supras were available in the States between 1979 and 1998. Reports of Supra’s return surfaced way back in 2012 when Toyota and BMW announced they would jointly develop a sports vehicle.
Cheap Wheels: 1998-2002 Lincoln Town Car Touring Sedan
Note: The following story was excerpted from the February 2021 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. For decades, the prototypical American luxury automobile was a full-size sedan often utilizing body-on-frame construction. Cadillac’s last of the type was the 1996 Fleetwood. Lincoln stuck with the recipe and offered Town Cars through 2011. For a while, 1998-2002 to be exact, one of them was the warmed-up Touring Sedan.
First Spin: 2022 Toyota Tundra Capstone
2022 Toyota Tundra Capstone Last October, Toyota gave us our first chance to drive the all-new redesigned 2022 Tundra full-size pickup in Texas, which you can read all about in our First Spin report. Since then, Toyota has announced a new top-of-the-line Capstone trim level and filled in few more details about the new Tundra lineup that were left blank last fall.
Future Collectibles: 2019-2021 Hyundai Veloster N
Note: The following story was excerpted from the December 2020 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. The Veloster N continues unchanged for the 2022 model year, but other Veloster trim levels have been dropped. In a market that’s more and more dominated by small sport utilities, enthusiasts can still find some reasonably practical hot hatchbacks. One of the raciest of the latest crop is the Hyundai Veloster N.
Cheap Wheels: 1992-1996 Buick Regal GS Sport Coupe
Note: The following story was excerpted from the December 2020 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. Some of the hottest cars out of Detroit in 1987 were Buick Regals. The Grand National and limited-production GNX were seriously fast and commanded respect on the street and at the strip. It was also the end of an era, because a new front-wheel-drive Regal was being readied for 1988 and turbocharged muscle was not part of its equation.
First Spin: 2022 Subaru WRX
Among hot-rod compact cars, the all-new, redesigned-for-2022 Subaru WRX doesn’t really have any direct competitors. This rally-racing-bred, all-wheel-drive sport compact’s closest historical rival, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, has already been gone for seven years–it was discontinued after the 2015 model year.
First Look: 2023 Toyota bZ4x
Today, Toyota officially unveiled the U.S.-market production version of its all-new-for-2023 pure-electric SUV at a press event in Encinitas, California, just ahead of the 2021 Los Angeles Auto Show. The bZ4x is a compact 5-passenger crossover SUV that kicks off a new sub-brand of Toyota pure-electric vehicles. The “bZ” portion of the name stands for “beyond zero”—in reference to zero emissions—and bZ4X is the first of seven bZ-branded vehicles Toyota plans to introduce globally by 2025.
First Spin: 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee
2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited Earlier this year, the Jeep Grand Cherokee kicked off its fifth generation with the all-new 2021 Grand Cherokee L—the first Grand Cherokee to offer three rows of seats. Meanwhile, the 2021 two-row Grand Cherokee soldiered on for one more season with the previous, fourth-gen design. Now, for the 2022 model year, a redesigned two-row five-passenger Grand Cherokee is being introduced.
First Spin: 2022 Subaru Forester Wilderness
2022 Subaru Forester Wilderness Here’s a factoid for you: Nearly 1 out of every 5 Subarus ever sold has been a Forester, and since its debut as a 1998 model, Subaru has sold more than 2.3 million of its popular compact crossover SUV. For the last several years, the Forester’s annual sales have been running in the neighborhood of 170,000-180,000 units in the US, and Subaru says those totals have been limited by production capacity rather than consumer demand.
Future Collectibles: 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody
2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody Note: The following story was excerpted from the October 2020 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. Nearly five years ago we took our first look at the Dodge Charger Hellcat. Now for 2020, Dodge has tweaked the car into the new “Widebody” variant. It’s different enough that we think it’s time for a Future Collectibles second look.
First Spin: 2022 Toyota Tundra
2022 Toyota Tundra Limited The full-size pickup market in the U.S. remains dominated by Ford, Ram, Chevrolet, and GMC (in that sales order), with sales of Toyota’s Tundra typically running less than half the fourth-place GMC Sierra’s tally. Significantly, Tundra hasn’t received a ground-up redesign since way back in 2007—consider that since that second-generation Tundra debuted, Ford redesigned its F-150 in 2009, then again in 2015, and for a third time in 2021.
First Spin: 2022 Lexus NX
2022 Lexus NX 350 F Sport The Lexus NX has been one of the country’s top-selling compact luxury SUVs, and it’s the second best-selling Lexus, trailing only the RX midsize SUV. For 2022, Lexus kicks off the NX’s second generation with a redesigned, slightly larger model that boasts fresh styling inside and out, an all-new infotainment system with much-upgraded connectivity features, and an expanded powertrain lineup—including Lexus’s first plug-in-hybrid model.
Cheap Wheels: 1990-1998 Mercedes-Benz 500SL and SL500
Note: The following story was excerpted from the October 2020 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. The word “cheap” usually isn’t associated with the Mercedes-Benz SL. But we think the unexpected can make great cheap wheels, so let’s take a look at the 1990-1993 Mercedes-Benz 500SL and 1994-1998 SL500—all of which are unexpectedly affordable these days, even in very good condition.
First Spin: 2022 Toyota Corolla Cross
2022 Toyota Corolla Cross XLE This past July, Toyota sold the 50-millionth Corolla. The well-known, workaday compact car has been in production for more than 55 years and remains one of Toyota’s best sellers. In America, the Corolla is currently offered as a four-door sedan or hatchback, and now the name enters the incredibly popular crossover SUV market with introduction of the 2022 Corolla Cross.
First Spin: 2022 Infiniti QX60
2022 Infiniti QX60 Autograph The product-planning teams at major automakers typically develop detailed demographic profiles of the consumers they’re targeting with their new vehicles, sometimes going so far as to create a hypothetical ideal target customer. Infiniti has done just that with its redesigned-for-2022 QX60 three-row, 7-passenger crossover SUV. Her name is “Claire.” She’s smart and stylish. She’s a leader at work and someone friends come to for advice.
First Spin: 2022 Toyota GR 86
As American new-vehicle buyers continue to choose SUVs in significantly greater numbers than traditional passenger cars, affordable cars of any type are less prevalent than they were as recently as five years ago. Enthusiast-friendly examples are a rarer breed still. When you sharpen the search to affordable, track-ready, rear-wheel-drive sports cars, you quickly determine they are approaching unicorn status.
First Spin: 2022 Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer
2022 Jeep Grand Wagoneer Series III The 1963 Jeep Wagoneer arguably defined the modern SUV. Truly a trendsetter, the original Wagoneer introduced key SUV features that remain nearly universal today: a four-door wagon body style, the pairing of an automatic transmission with four-wheel-drive, and a car-like ride, to name a few. Three years later, the 1966 Super Wagoneer advanced the concept further as the first luxurious utility wagon.
Cheap Wheels: 2001 GMC Sierra C3
Note: The following story was excerpted from the August 2020 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. Even if you’re only vaguely aware of GMC products in general and Sierra full-sized pickups in particular, you probably know the brand’s most stylish and luxurious examples have long worn the Denali nameplate. Denali made its debut as GMC’s top-of-the-line 1998 Yukon sport-utility vehicle.
Intrepid Archives - The Daily Drive
by Don Sikora II Note: The following story was excerpted from the June 2019 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. The 1993 Dodge Intrepid was one of Chrysler’s LH-platform front-wheel-drive large sedans that introduced trendsetting “cab-forward” styling and helped make the company one of the decade’s design leaders. A second-generation Intrepid wearing a more dramatic interpretation of the cab-forward look arrived for 1998, and a performance-flavored R/T version was added for 2000. Read more...
First Spin: 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee L
2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Summit Reserve Despite being one of the oldest basic designs in the midsize-SUV segment, the Jeep Grand Cherokee is consistently one of the best-selling vehicles in its class. However, the Grand Cherokee has never offered one key feature that would allow it to compete more directly with rivals such as the Ford Explorer, Honda Pilot, and Volkswagen Atlas—a third-row seat.
First Spin: 2022 Nissan Pathfinder
With the redesign of its long-running Pathfinder midsize SUV for 2022, Nissan seems to be trying to have its cake and eat it too. Stylistically, the new Pathfinder gets a sharper-edged, beefier look that recalls the rugged styling of the truck-based, body-on-frame Pathfinders of the 1990s and early 2000s. Underneath, however, is a heavily modified version of the more family-friendly, crossover-style unibody architecture that the Pathfinder has been built upon since 2013.
Future Collectibles: 2020 Chevrolet Corvette
2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Note: The following story was excerpted from the June 2020 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. Legendary Corvette chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov was working on the idea of a midengine car by 1960. For years he poked and prodded management to let him turn “America’s Sports Car” into an American exotic, to no avail. Now his fervent dream is finally reality with the introduction of the eighth-generation “C8” Corvette, the 2020 Stingray.
Cheap Wheels: 1986-1992 Toyota Supra
Note: The following story was excerpted from the June 2020 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. The first two generations of the Toyota Supra were well-equipped, long-wheelbase, six-cylinder variants of the Celica hatchback. Then in 1986, the two cars went separate ways. Celica transformed into a sporty front driver, and Supra went off on a new rear-drive sports-car platform. It’s that first Celica-free Supra that we think would make for a nice set of cheap wheels.
Photo Feature: 1968 Dodge Dart GTS
Note: The following story was excerpted from the April 2011 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine During the Sixties, the automobile market fractured into several different segments within the overall market. To be successful, most marques could no longer rely on a single one-size-fits-all strategy. Detroit’s Big Three added their first compacts for 1960. Midsize—or intermediate models—arrived on the market by 1962.
First Spin: 2021 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 4xe
2021 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 4xe Sahara Jeep has a complicated and fascinating history going back about 80 years, to the battlefields of World War II. Civilian Jeeps, or CJs, were available almost immediately after WWII hostilities ceased, and today’s Wrangler can trace its lineage directly back to that first CJ-2A. Now, for 2021, Wrangler enters a new era with the addition of a plug-in-hybrid variant: the 4xe.
Photo Feature: 1960 Edsel Ranger
by Don Sikora II Note: The following story was excerpted from the April 2011 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine Introduced by the Ford Motor Company in September 1957, Edsel was Ford’s attempt to capture a larger portion of the medium-price new-car market. But by the start of the 1960 model year, the brand was on very shaky ground.
First Spin: 2022 Hyundai Tucson
2022 Hyundai Tucson Limited By Don Sikora II The Tucson is the best-selling Hyundai vehicle worldwide, and the most popular Hyundai SUV here in the United States. For 2022, it’s been redesigned with eye-catching new styling, several new features, and, for the first time, available hybrid and plug-in-hybrid powertrains. The 2022 Tucson inaugurates the fourth generation of Hyundai’s mainstream compact SUV.
Future Collectibles: 2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon
2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon by Don Sikora II Note: The following story was excerpted from the April 2020 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. Jeep began building pickups in 1947, but the streak ended when the Cherokee-based Comanche ceased production in 1992. For 2020, Jeep jumps back into this important market with the Gladiator.
1999 Chrysler 300M Archives - The Daily Drive
by Don Sikora II Note: The following story was excerpted from the April 2016 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. Not surprisingly, the Chrysler 300M was named to invoke the legendary 1955-65 Chrysler 300 “letter” cars. Like the originals, the 300M was intended to be a more powerful driver-oriented car than other Chrysler sedans. This reborn 300 even used the “M” suffix in an attempt to resume the series where the 300-L left off 34 years earlier. Read more...
Spotted in Traffic: Saab 9-4X
2008 concept version of the Saab 9-4X Since my daily commute takes me through some of Chicago’s wealthy northern suburbs, it’s not that unusual for me to see some interesting cars. Recent sightings include a Fisker Karma, an Audi A8 W12, and a McLaren MP4-12C. Bentleys are surprisingly common, and I probably see at least a couple Lamborghinis a month when the weather is nice.
Future Collectibles: 2019 Volkswagen Beetle Final Edition
2019 Volkswagen Beetle Final Edition by Don Sikora II Note: The following story was excerpted from the February 2020 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. The most recent Volkswagen Beetle went on sale in September 2011 as a 2012 model. It replaced the 1998-vintage New Beetle in VW’s lineup, and became the third iteration of the car that made VW famous.
Cheap Wheels: 1990 Pontiac Grand Prix STE Turbo
Pontiac Grand Prix STE Turbo by Don Sikora II Note: The following story was excerpted from the Februry 2020 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. From the Pontiac Grand Prix’s 1962 introduction through 1989 it was exclusively a two-door car. That changed with the addition of four-door sedans for 1990. More-door GPs continued through 2008, but perhaps the most interesting one of them all came from that inaugural season: the little-remembered STE Turbo.
Photo Feature: 1949 Anglia Two-Door Sedan
by Don Sikora II Note: The following story was excerpted from the December 2016 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine Ford’s history in Great Britain dates to 1903 when a small batch of cars was imported from America. By 1911, Ford’s British operations were assembling the Model T locally, but the first cars specifically designed for the English market did not arrive until the Thirties.
First Spin: 2021 Hyundai Elantra
2021 Hyundai Elantra Hybrid Limited By Don Sikora II In the United States last year, the new-vehicle market ran about 70 percent light trucks—SUVs and pickups, essentially. With traditional car sales continuing to shrink, even high-volume classes have seen some competitors drop out. In the compact car segment, recent casualties have included the Chevrolet Cruze and Ford Focus.
Future Collectible: 2006 Pontiac G6 GTP Convertible
2006 Pontiac G6 GTP Convertible by Don Sikora II Note: The following story was excerpted from the June 2015 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. Conventional collector-car wisdom says that convertibles are preferred over closed body styles, and “firsts” or “lasts” of a line have some added cachet. There’s a Pontiac G6 that is all of those things rolled into one.
First Spin: 2021 Ram 1500 TRX
By Don Sikora II After packing a sizable collection of facemasks and two squeeze bottles of hand sanitizer, we set off to drive Ram’s new off-road-ready TRX pickup at a socially distanced event near Lake Tahoe. Clearly, most of us would love to forget 2020, but if you are into high-performance off-road trucks, the 2021 Ram 1500 TRX will definitely fall into the category of things you’ll be happy to remember.
Future Collectibles: 2020 Nissan 370Z 50th Anniversary Edition
by Don Sikora II Note: The following story was excerpted from the December 2019 issue of Collectible Automobile magazine. Nissan’s 370Z traces its heritage back to the Fairlady Z, the car that made its American debut as the 1970 Datsun 240Z at the 1969 New York Auto Show. To celebrate a half century of the Z-car, Nissan prepared a 50th-anniversary package for the 2020 370Z Sport hatchback coupe and introduced it at the 2019 New York International Auto Show.
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