Comparison Road Test: 2012 VW Tiguan vs. 2012 Nissan Juke

At first glance, this may seem like an odd SUV comparison to make, considering the fact that the Juke is perhaps the wildest looking vehicle of this type ever built while the 2012 VW Tiguan remains as Teutonic as ever with a restrained yet tasteful new front corporate front end easily noticeable whereas the much improved six-speed automatic now returns 2 miles per gallon more on the highway with EPA ratings of 22 city/27 highway. As the Juke was all-new last year, the vehicle needed nothing more than detail changes and our front-wheel drive manual transmission tester returned EPA figures of 25 city/31 highway. So, again, why the comparison?



This VW motor is one of the best in any vehicle at any price.

First off, both of these SUVs come standard with high revving, quick and quite addicting turbocharged 4-cylinder engines that still manage to return decent fuel economy in real life situations. Also, as Nissan and VW don't sell these SUVs in Honda, Chevy, Ford or Toyota numbers, you won't have to suffer the ignominy of seeing your exact same SUV always parked in the Home Depot lot every Saturday right next to you. Not that the Juke or Tiguan were meant for extreme cargo duties, although the VW has the Nissan easily licked in this department. With the Juke, you are buying a style statement to a degree so you take the small sacrifices in substance.

While both aren't exactly overflowing with legroom in the second row, the big difference comes in how much cargo room is available in the Juke and Tiguan. The Juke, what with its cute and pert rear end design, sacrifices a cargo hold for what amounts to the inside of a teenager's backback what with this SUV's paltry 10.5 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seats. Fold those down and you can squeeze in about 35 cubic feet of your junk.

The Tiguan, on the other hand, gives buyers a much more useful 23.8 cubic feet behind the rear passengers growing to over 56 cubic feet when those seats fold (relatively) flat. Seriously VW, should the back seat fold with a giant lump in the middle of it because you didn't worry about where the cupholders would go during such an occasion? Also, the Tiguan's cargo hold feels tall and not very deep with the Jetta Sportwagen topping it as a cargo hauler for extreme duty.To read the rest click this sentence.

Consumer Road Test: 2012 Hyundai Tucson GLS

Nowadays it would be very easy to say that Hyundai, as a car manufacturer, is on a very serious and very long roll when it comes to introducing very successful new models. Not only have these new vehicles been competitive but many have been called the best in their respective classes. A Hyundai? Surely this can't be the same company that brought us the Hyundai Excel compact which is best remembered as being "not quite as bad" as the Yugo hatch that came to market around the same time.

The Value Equation

As is still always the case with most every Hyundai product, the 2012 Tucson is a terrific value for money. And just because our GLS tester was relatively inexpensive at $22,295, it definitely didn't lack for features. Spend a few grand more for a Limited model and you can even add leather, cooler looking alloys, navigation and an upgraded premium audio system. But to our way of thinking the GLS is the smartest buy in the Tucson lineup and even the standard 6-speaker audio system does a terrific job in its attempts to sound "premium."

Standard features on the 2012 Hyundai Tucson GLS includes power windows, door locks and mirrors, air conditioning, AM/FM/CD 6-speaker audio system, USB/iPod connectivity, Bluetooth, a 2.0 liter 176 horsepower/168 lb. feet of torque 4 cylinder, a 6-speed automatic, tinted glass, alloy wheels, keyless entry and a whole lot more. It is, in short all of the compact family SUV that most people really need.

To find out more about how we really felt about the 2012 H:yundai Tucson you can go to Yahoo! Automotive Voices by clicking here;

Consumer Road Test: 2012 Kia Soul

Now, you might think that the new 2012 Kia Soul got us so excited, what with its "Alien/Kermit the Frog Green" exterior, that we'd decide to punctuate every sentence like a peppy cheerleader. No one can be that excitable and nice all of the time, however, not even cheer happy sorority girls.
But when you are driving the 2012 Kia Soul you find yourself smiling to yourself a little bit more than usual. Not many cars can pull off this exterior paint scheme and even fewer can pull off the odd splashes of color that Kia throws seemingly willy-nilly across the otherwise staid and straightforward cabin. On Sport models, a bright red plastic and cloth/leather motif is the order of the day and makes the inside of the Soul look like a bordello run by vampires. You know, after dinner.

We preferred the Soul ! with its offbeat "houndstooth" (sort of a gray/white interlocking pattern) mixed with beige trim on the seats which in our tester came equipped with very well finished leather seats that really help dress up the interior of this delightfully odd boxy hatchback. But the Soul avoids the wacky appearance of the Nissan Cube or the soullessness offered by the current Scion xB all the while still offering cargo carrying capacity of 23.7 cubic feet behind the rear seats and 53.4 cubic feet with the rear seats folded flat.

Our test Soul ! model also came equipped with a pricey but well appreciated Premium Package (new for 2012) which adds the aforementioned leather, heated front seats, push button start with a smart key, automatic climate control and an in-dash navigation system. The total for all this? Just $22,850 including destination charges meaning Kia really hasn't lost touch with its value for money roots with the 2012 Soul. Standard goodies include 18-inch alloy wheels, Bluetooth, an excellent Infinity AM/FM/CD/USB/MP3 audio system, a back-up camera, steering wheel mounted audio controls, a sunroof and tinted windows.

Click Here for the Rest of this Review on Yahoo! Voices

Daisy Mae the Dog Road Tests and Reviews the 2012 Nissan Juke for BarkBuckleUp!

When I was walking out to the 2012 Nissan Juke compact SUV and finally got a look at the styling I suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that my owner had strapped me into my harness a bit too tightly. So tightly, in fact, that I was convinced I was hallucinating. I became convinced that I was not sitting in the back seat of a regular SUV but rather I was trapped inside the stomach of a giant radioactive Amazonian River Toad. I prayed we wouldn’t drive by any bodies of water for fear that the 2012 Nissan Juke might just decide it was time for a swim.

But after a few days I realized that this wasn’t really some sort of science project gone awry but that the 2012 Nissan Juke actually is one of the most daring yet somehow successful SUV designs to ever be attempted. And once all the dust settled I had little doubt that even though at first glance the 2012 Nissan Juke looks scarier than the thought of Mariah Carey one day having to teach her children to drive, it makes for a tempting buy for the single dog owner.

For the rest of Daisy Mae's article click this link to go to the informative BarkBuckleUp.com site!