An Important Goodbye

I know I haven't been on for a long time. I had other obligations and had to let Road Reviews fall by the roadside for now. I just don't have the time or the ability to review cars like I wanted to. But, I thought today, I could return to My blog for this moment, though I do hope to completely revive Road Rieviews some time, I apologize to those who have read my previous reviews and were hoping for more.

As I said, I am returning for a very important message. Recently, American auto culture has been struck with an irreplaceable loss. Carroll Shelby, The man behind the legendary Cobra, the GT40, GT series mustangs, and many more, has passed away. A true gearhead in every sense of the term, Carrol has given us some of the greatest cars the world has ever known, with my personal favorite being the Cobra Daytona Coupe. The motoring community would not be where it is now without him. And as a fellow gearhead, I feel I must say something that suits us all,

Thank you for the ride, Carroll. You will be greatly missed. Happy Trails.

2011 Chrysler 200

Here we go folks. Welcome back to Road Reviews: Alaska! Today we’re looking at my hinted car from the first post on this page: The Chrysler 200. This car is a very special one because it is my first luxury car. But i am just amazed at how good this car was because of the company’s history in the past.

Let’s start with the styling. The 200, when you peel away it’s new, beautiful and smooth styling, is basically a rebadged and retooled Sebring . But the styling changes on the car are so smooth, and so well refined, and so…how do i say this…so, right, that while the car still retains the same basic lines as the old Sebring, it’s an incredible transformation and gives the car an incredible new look and sense of comfort. The car is designed as a scaled down 300 and more economical choice to it’s bigger, pricier sister car. Honestly you sit behind the wheel or just climb into a passenger seat, and you can’t tell that it’s priced and well as it actually is.

Prices start in the lower part of $20,000 dollars. For that you get a Leather trimmed interior, AM/FM radio, cloth seats, 4 speakers, power mirrors, locks, and much more in the way of standard equipment. The car has two engine options, Chrysler’s 2.4 litre 4 cylinder engine and their new Pentastar 3.6 litre engine.

In the interest of safety, the car has an incredible array of safety features for you and your family. Side curtain airbags, driver and passenger airbags, four wheel ABS, a headrest whiplash protection system, which repositions itself in a collision in order to prevent you from getting whiplash. Braking assist, child safety locks and a good amount more safety options are standard on this and all new Chrysler/Dodge vehicles.

In the practicality department, the car is quite well proportioned inside, plenty of legroom front and back, there is an exceptional amount of headroom, and it has a very good sized trunk for groceries or anything else you can think to carry. The 200’s fuel economy is quite impressive as well, with it’s standard 2.4L engine getting cty/hwy mileage of 21/30 mpg. The cloth seats are very comfortable and quite supportive, making this car great for those long road trips you might wish to take your family; say to Wasilla, or even the winding highway leading to Seward.

The ride is smooth, the acceleration in the base model that I drove was quite good for a luxury based car, the handling was sharp, the brakes were incredible. The ride was so smooth and comfortable i didn’t feel a single bump on the ride down O’Malley. 0-60 in the base model it recorded on paper as being just under ten seconds, about 9.4 but the car seemed to have beaten that quite well to me. And for those long road trips i mentioned earlier it even has a towing capacity of 1,000 pounds. In it’s performance it is front wheel drive so if you wish to drive it quickly i would expect at the very least a bit of understeer. (Note: being a road test from a dealership i did not drive vigorously enough to test this and do not recommend it unless you are on a track or some form of closed course).

Unlike last week with my review of the Kia i could not find a single fault with the 200, but whereas the Kia made sacrifices for affordability in a few areas, Chrysler, under it’s new ownership with Fiat, have made no sacrifices at all, there is no cheap plastic within immediate sight, every surface is covered in a very soft leather, making it very pleasing to look at and very very cozy to be in. And with as smooth a ride and with handling as sharp as this, also the price bracket it starts at, if you’re looking for a luxury car with drop dead good looks that is also economical and affordable, for these Alaska roads the 200 in all of it’s forms would be a perfect car for you and your family. That is all for today, hope you all come back next week when i test my next car! until then, Good night!

The 2011 Kia Soul

From back in the day! Okay I'm going to move over the Kia Soul review now. I just wish I had more than a Google pic for the title Picture. Note that I will be using actual pictures of the actual cars I drive in future. Also this is a 4 month old review So remember the date is decieving.

Hi there folks! And welcome to Road Reviews. Joseph Newby here today. Now, in the earlier years of my life i admit i’ve seen Kias and thought to myself: “Ugh god, look at that thing, like a go cart with a car engine.” In the eyes of most of my car loving friends and family Kias spelled J-U-N-K.
Such was my thinking right up until i drove into Lithia Kia of Anchorage’s parking lot and took a good look at my car for this week, the above mentioned Kia Soul. Bear in mind that in recent years all auto manufacturers are trying to either make cars more affordable by using cheaper materials or upping their price due to this artificial inflation bit. But more on that later I’m here to talk about the car.
As I said before, for a long while among a lot of true car fans Kia cars spell fear, the kind of thing your parents got you for a first car. They were ugly, unattractive and not well made.

Not the case with the Soul however. From this test drive and examination alone it almost completely changed my opinion about the car company. Let’s begin with the basics:
Starting with the price the car I tested went for about $20,000 roughly, and for that you got an automatic gearbox with clutchless manual, traction control, AM/FM radio with Bluetooth and iPod connectivity, switches on the wheel to control your phone when it’s connected, as well as radio and cruise control. The car itself is built quite well; comfortable seating for four but I’m sure you can squeeze five in the back if you need to. Even with the front seats pushed all the way back there’s enough legroom to keep your passengers from complaining. The headroom in this vehicle is quite good as well, and the way it’s proportioned it really doesn’t feel like you’re driving a car that’s about the same wheelbase as any other small hatch. You also get for your money a 2.0 litre four cylinder engine that does a fun little 142 horsepower. Also when running the car properly you should be able to average between 24 and 30 mpg city/hwy.

The car even looks attractive. A lot of small economy oriented hatchbacks are ugly, boxy and look like toasters. While the Soul has the toaster look down, it’s actually quite an attractive vehicle.
The steering is tight and responsive, the suspension is solid, the brakes are tight and quick to grip. The traction control is very reasonable, it doesn’t intrude upon your driving it only steps it in enough to keep the car from going out of control in sharp corners or on uneven ground. Turn off the traction control and slip it into manual and this car becomes an immensely fun sport hatch for your money.

Also, if you are a parent with teenagers who just got their license and you don’t want them to have a used car; get them the most basic model. The car has plenty of standards that they won’t be complaining about it being barren and if they are the type who like to blow money on customizing their cars then there are plenty of upgrade options available for them. It’s also a very safe vehicle so it should be able to be very reasonably insured.

There are a few drawbacks to an economy hatch though. While the car itself is spectacular there are quality issues. The plastic over the gauge cluster looks kind of phony the headliner feels like it’s made from the same kind of materials those cheap 5 dollar squirt guns are made of. The fuel filler door is plastic and feels like it will break whenever you touch it, the extra trunk shelving underneath the trunk floor is styrofoam, and personally i think they could have made it a plastic shelf with the foam lining the outside of it to make it a bit better quality. While the bluetooth is easy to set up and the controls on the wheel make it simpler to access, the buttons got in my way whenever i turned the wheel. My palm would hit the voice command button when cornering. A repositioning of at least the voice command switch is in order.

Despite these little problems with the Soul; as a whole the car is a brilliant answer to an economy car for Anchorage’s unique road geography. the ride is sporty, but comfortable, the traction control works perfectly well, and the entire car is built very solid. As I said going into this i had my doubts, but no more! The Soul is a perfect little economy car for Alaskan roads. I would recommend one without hesitation to anyone in this city looking for a small, cheap car that can move, but also be safe and sensible to drive.

Introductions Are In Order.

I think before I start bringing my reviews over from roadreviewsalaska.tumblr.com's site, I believe I'd better introduce myself so you can get to know me.

My name is Joseph Newby. I am a resident of Anchorage, AK and I grew up in the Midwest, Central Wisconsin to be precise. I'm currently 23 at the time of this post and I am absolutely head-over-heels obsessed with the open road.

It started in second grade, I saw my first demolition derby and my very first NASCAR race, ever since, all I ever wanted to do is race cars and drive alongside my favorite drivers (Jeff Gordon, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, and yes in that order) some day. After a while though, my tastes became less...specific. As the years passed I grew from only wanting to race to wanting to do nothing but drive. I love cars and I love driving, I don't care the car, if you put me in it without specific orders to baby it, I'm going to thrash it first couple times out.

I have long since changed my mind about purely racing, it's now a hobby, something I hope to do with my spare time. My real dream is to drive, pure and simple. To drive the newest and some of the oldest cars and see if they can live up to the car company's hypes about them. That's what Road Reviews; Alaska is about. I want to put these cars through the ringer to see if they can handle the roughest roads in the country. Anchorage has a very specific and unique geography and is the perfect place to road test new cars.

I hope to one day be able to take a press car and to power tests and such like on the bigger shows that do this same thing. But at the moment, I am stuck with brand new cars at dealerships that need to be driven in a less...vigorous manner, than I would like, as they need to be sold to people. If I become popular enough I may be able to make that happen, but as it stands right now, I'm doing text reviews using real cars being sold on Alaskan streets in Alaskan dealerships. So let's see what happens shall we? It's time to see what's in store down the road. Welcome to Road Reviews; Alaska!

Welcome!

Due to the...Limited...access of my Tumblr.com site, I am moving my Road Reviews website here to hopefully help things along, I'm going to post up My reviews here, and hopefully get this site finally on the right track, what with my current financial situation finally balancing out, I should be able to make this work...Let's hope second time's the charm shall we? I care too much about this to give up. So I'm going to make this work if it kills me (which it might)