Displaying Items By Tag: 2020

The 2020 Honda CR-V is an all-star; a thoughtfully designed and well-rounded compact crossover that checks off virtually every box families might have. There are no shortage of reasons why Honda manages to sell so many every year, and it actually gets even better for 2020 with the addition of the CR-V Hybrid. 

However, it has one major blemish, something that can make you go "yeah, but ..." It's the touchscreen infotainment system found on all but the base LX trim level. Consumer reviews and reliability ratings have shown in abundance that it is a laggy, glitchy system. As just one example, a friend of my mother's even recently said she loved her CR-V but was reluctant to buy another because of the problems she's had with the touchscreen. During my recent week with a CR-V Hybrid (more reviews coming soon), it became completely unresponsive when using Apple CarPlay. When it was functioning as designed, it was still slow to move between menus, and it just isn't as intuitive as rival systems. It's also pretty antiquated in appearance and measures only 7 inches, versus the more common 8 inches of the Toyota RAV4 and others. 

The new 2020 Lexus GS 350 Black Line Special Edition brings a dark edge to the brand's mid-size luxury sedan. This offering follows in the tire tracks of the Black Line in the Lexus NX and IS ranges—the cosmetic package appeared first on the NX300, then the IS 300 F Sport, then the IS 350 F Sport over the past couple of years. The enhancements are available on the rear- and all-wheel-drive GS sedans, but will be offered only with two exterior colors, either Utlra White or Caviar, the latter being a rich dark brown. Visual changes outside include gloss black F Sport grille inserts, gloss black mirror caps, and a gloss-black decklid spoiler. The RWD version gets gloss black F Sport wheels with orange brake calipers, while the AWD model does without the flashy stoppers. Output of the 3.5-liter V6 doesn't change from 311 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque. 

Inside, the black leather interior sees contrasting textures in Alcantara on the instrument panel, console, and armrest, and carbon fiber trim on the doors, instrument panel, and center console. Rioja Red panels provide contrast as does red stitching on the doors, steering wheel, seats, and center console.

One of the hottest cars of the moment, the 2020 Toyota Supra, will be added to Gran Turismo Sport through an update released on April 23.

Lexus' challenger to Germany’s BMW 5-Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class executive sedans, the GS, has received a new limited edition.

You don't hear much about the 2020 Lexus GS F. It's been out for a while now, the model having debuted for 2016 and the base GS sedan stretching all the way back to 2012. That's an awful lot of time for the automotive world to whiz by, especially in the upper echelon of performance sedans. Packing 467 horsepower is suddenly weak sauce when rivals have crested the 600-hp plateau. The fact that Lexus still hasn't convinced the automotive enthusiast community at large that it actually makes compelling performance machines certainly doesn't help. 

To be perfectly honest, I have avoided testing the GS F for several years now. "Who's going to buy that?" I've pondered, considering all of the above plus its $85,000 price tag. Nevertheless, I've got more time on my hands these days to test more cars and a Lexus Flare Yellow paint job is impossible to ignore, so hey, why not?

Sony Mobile had been using a consistent form of model numbering for its Xperia smartphones since 2013. This involved a series of five characters – one letter followed by 4 numbers. For example, the 2019 Xperia 1 had model numbers J8110, J8170, J9110, while the 2013 Xperia Z had model numbers including C6602, C6603, C6606.

Sony is rolling new firmware updates which add the 1 April 2020 Google Android security patches to a variety of devices. The Xperia 1 and Xperia 5 flagships get new build number 55.1.A.3.149, while the Xperia XZ2, XZ2 Compact, XZ2 Premium and XZ3 get build number 52.1.A.0.672.

The organizers of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics and the International Olympic Committee have decided to work together to cut costs further for the postponed Games.

The 2020 summer Games have been postponed until the summer of 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The all-new 2020 Nissan Sentra compact sedan is a more competitive entry into an already competitive but shrinking car segment. This new generation of Sentra improves over the past model in many ways: Exterior styling, interior design and materials, comfort, performance and handling. We like the way it looks, and appreciate the improvements to the driving dynamics without sacrificing comfort or fuel economy.

The 2020 Sentra is a much more interesting car than generations past and a generally good offering, but it still has some flaws — meager power, a sole CVT transmission option and a cramped back seat. It's also up against some stiff competition, including the Honda Civic, Mazda3 and newly improved Toyota Corolla, which, frankly, we still prefer over the Nissan. Nevertheless, the Sentra feels competitive and well-rounded for the segment — something we wouldn't have said about it a year ago.

The 2020 Toyota Highlander is bigger than the model it replaces, growing some 2.36 inches in overall length. All of that pretty much went to its very end, as the cargo area aft of the third row sees the only significant increase of interior space, growing to 16.0 cubic feet from 13.8. 

Sounds good, but when you look at the 2020 Highlander versus these primary competitors, you'll see that 16.0 is still smaller than them all. And it's behind that third row where extra cubic feet can really make the difference, where one bag might be left behind or you'll have to resort to a rooftop carrier. By contrast, the Highlander's space with the third or second rows lowered is seemingly on par for the segment, as by those metrics, all entries are basically various degrees of enormous.

While the coronavirus has majorly disrupted practically every automaker and supplier in the world, some things are still going according to plan. During a roundtable discussion, Nissan representatives said that the 2020 Nissan Frontier with the new 3.8-liter engine is still on track to go on sale this spring. No adjustments have been made to the introduction of the next-generation 2021 Frontier either, which should be revealed by the end of the year. In fact, Nissan's representatives mentioned that next-generation Frontier prototypes are on their way to the U.S. for additional testing.

As has been mentioned previously, the big draw of the 2020 Nissan Frontier is that it gets the same 3.8-liter V6 and 9-speed automatic transmission as the redesigned 2021 truck. It's 93% different from the slightly larger displacement 4.0-liter engine of the old truck, and it's substantially more efficient and powerful. Despite the major changes, Nissan's powertrain expert who was leading the roundtable confirmed that it is still part of the VQ series of engines, which has been around since at least the Nissan 350Z, and a 3.7-liter version is used in the current 370Z. The powertrain expert also explained that the truck's increased efficiency is a result of multiple factors. In part, the engine is more efficient all around because of improved design, but it's also lighter than the old 4.0-liter engine.

The 2020 Nissan Titan Pro-4X takes the newly refreshed Titan full-sized pickup, adds some kit to give it some off-road grit, as well as a cosmetic treatment to give it a sporty look inside and out. It's not for everybody. Sales lag far behind the Detroit manufacturers, to put it mildly, and even well behind the Toyota Tundra. It lacks the flash of chrome we see on a lot of pickups, and Nissan took an interesting tack with design cues that surely not everyone will love. Finally, there's only one powertrain option: a big, naturally aspirated V8. Its extra equipment is compelling, though; the Bilstein shocks, electronic locking rear differential, big General Grabber tires, skid plates and tow hooks mean you can easily picture yourself far off the beaten path with ease.

The Titan's 5.6-liter V8 provides 400 horsepower and 413 pound-feet of torque. That's more power than most other V8s in the class, short of GM's burly 6.2-liter EcoTec3. But, it's the Titan's only engine offering. Want something more economical like Ford's turbo V6 engines or Ram's mild hybrids? No dice. That said, it's a sweetheart of a V8, providing wheel-spinning torque at stoplights, continued pull at the end of highway on-ramps, and a breathy growl of a soundtrack that pairs well with the motive experience. Its nine-speed automatic gearbox is an exceptional match, optimizing gears for a feel of linearity across the board, feeling quicker than the seven-speed auto in the Nissan Armada, and hesitating and hunting less than the 10-speed boxes of the competition.

Infiniti is slowly coming round to the modern age of infotainment systems this year, and our first taste of that is in the 2020 Infiniti Q60 Red Sport 400. This performance coupe has an updated system in it that, while it looks a whole lot like it did before, represents a step forward for Infiniti.

Most importantly, Infiniti has finally added Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality for 2020. Every new 2020 model year car should ship with the smartphone connection technology baked in, and Infiniti has finally gotten with the program this year on nearly all of its cars (QX60 is the holdout). The delay might have something to do with Nissan/Infiniti's reluctance to share customer data to Apple and Google, or perhaps Infiniti was waiting to roll out a broader interface update, but either way, the hardware they've applied it to would seem to be the same as before. 

Nissan is committed to introducing its replacement for the aging Rogue crossover in 2020 despite potential complications due to the coronavirus pandemic, the company confirmed early Monday. 

"At this time, our new model launch programs for the U.S. are on track. The all-new Nissan Rogue will be in U.S. showrooms this fall," Nissan said in a statement obtained by Automotive News.