Posts Tagged ‘Aaron Cole’
2011 Chrysler 300: Big car, big changes
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011By AARON COLE
Managing Editor,
MediaOne of UtahThe gangster is gone.
That is, of course, my perception of what the 2011 Chrysler 300 presents. Once the darling of dubs and titan of tint, the 300 was a smash hit with an unintended audience and became a sedan-sized life raft for Chrysler during their rough waters.
Out of bankruptcy and back into profitability, the aging 300 found itself among the first to be nominated for an Extreme Makeover: Chrysler Edition. (more…)
Taking the first step: Wide Open Wednesday attracts all comers to Miller track
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011By AARON COLE
Managing Editor,
MediaOne of UtahTOOELE — This is how it starts.
All England Lawn Tennis Club isn’t open to the public on weekdays. The field at Cowboy Stadium is not open for your passes. Yankees batting practice pitcher Paul Schreiber is not waiting for your cuts.
But the bends of ribbon-laid asphalt at Miller Motorsports Park are eager to take your turns. Access to a major-league facility like this doesn’t come without a high draft pick in other sports. For $25 here, you can run onto this Wrigley Field for your short time, line up in the back and do it all over again until it gets dark. (more…)
2011 Nissan Juke: Little, Nissan, Different
Friday, August 5th, 2011By AARON COLE
Managing Editor, MediaOne of UtahThere are no words to describe the world the Nissan Juke comes from.
It doesn’t come from an alien planet. It doesn’t come from the future. And it doesn’t come with an apology.
The Juke must come from France.
And indeed, we can partly blame the cheese eating, rally monkeys for delivering the most unique CUV on this planet. Where else would style trump substance, form overthrow function and fun march all over common sense faster? If the Juke had been sent into Belgium, it would have given the Germans at least reason to pause while traipsing through the Ardennes. (more…)
2011 Toyota Yaris: Hitting a higher mileage mark
Friday, August 5th, 2011By AARON COLE
Managing Editor, MediaOne of UtahDespite my best efforts, I don’t think gasoline will ever flow like Salt Lake’s floodwaters into your basement. And OPEC changes its mind fewer times than Rupert Murdoch changes his cartoonish Droopy dog facial expression.
Truth is, gasoline’s dependable combustibility is matched by its unreliable supply and addictive qualities that makes it more akin to heroin than any natural resource. High octane is a hard habit to kick, it turns out.
Where does the 2011 Toyota Yaris come in? It’s like a patch for gas junkies to a world of smarter, smaller cars. A harbinger of tomorrow’s future, powered by the fossilized dinosaurs we find today. (more…)
2012 Dodge Charger SRT8: Power play
Friday, August 5th, 2011By AARON COLE
Managing Editor, MediaOne of UtahTurns out California saw the second coming after all.
It may have been months after the projected date, and not exactly as predicted by an 89-year-old prophet, but the return of Dodge performance was nothing less than apocalyptically awesome.
The 2011 Dodge Charger SRT8 is not a return for the once-beleaguered and nearly bankrupt carmaker, rather an arrival of something wholly biblical and monumental we had been waiting for just the same.
In the interest of full disclosure, Chrysler flew us out to California to witness the arrival of their newest brand, the SRT division, headed by former Dodge brand CEO Ralph Gilles — and to sacrifice much gas at the altar of horsepower. (more…)
Speed dating the newest cars on sale
Monday, June 27th, 2011By AARON COLE
Managing Editor, MediaOne of UtahByers, Colo. — Any farther east and that dateline changes to Kansas, or “Where The Wild Things Are.”
About 50 miles east of Denver — or 30 inches west of Kansas — we’re here to test a stunning array of nearly 40 cars and trucks in what amounts to a Rocky Mountain rocket-propelled, speed-dating seminar called the Rocky Mountain Driving Experience. The second year of said event was solidly bigger and badder than the first — largely because the automakers are bigger and badder than they were a year ago themselves.
Call it “How The Auto Industry Gets Their Groove Back.” (more…)
2011 Ford F-150: Truck, reimagined
Monday, June 27th, 2011By AARON COLE
Managing Editor, MediaOne of UtahIn its heyday, pickup trucks moved more steel than the Carnegie family.
That is to say, a few short years ago our appetites for full-size Ford pickup trucks in North America were satisfied at a rate of well over 100 an hour, every hour, every day — for 365 days a year.
Take a look around Salt Lake City and you can see remnants of the full-size frenzy everywhere. At the drive thru. At the grocery store. At the malls.
But the inevitability and predictability of “supply and demand” finally caught up with fossilized dinosaur juice — and sedan owners had their moment of righteous indignation from losing ground and giving right-of-way to the pickup sprawl for years. Along with everything else between 2007 and 2009, pickup sales stalled. And historically speaking, even after gaining nearly 20 percent on sales from 2009, 2010’s sales figures are still among the lowest of a decade. (more…)
2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible: Detroit muscle, California looks
Monday, June 20th, 2011Cool is harder to define than an ethics violation.
And explaining what it is to look cool, or be cool, can have a longer script than most UN resolutions.
It’s hard to say what made the new Chevrolet Camaro “cool” after its arrival over three years ago — it just was. It wasn’t the car’s cameo in an oversexed, oversold Hollywood movie — although that didn’t hurt — it was more about the way the Camaro completely changed the idea of what an American muscle car could be. Avant garde from an American automaker happens less often than films from Terence Malick. (more…)
2011 Fiat 500C: Clever, small Fiat cabrio arrives in U.S.
Monday, June 6th, 2011By AARON COLE
Managing Editor, MediaOne of UtahNEW YORK CITY — I’m searching for a mythical creature some say is more difficult to find than Sasquatch, the boogeyman, unicorns and Thomas Pynchon – all put together.
I, of course, am looking for the teenage girl who has nearly $20,000 to spend on a car. Her cash haul would have been obtained one of two likely ways: through independent means (that’s a lot of babysitting) or bankrolled via parentage (much more likely).
I do believe she exists. In fact, I believe this creature exist in far greater numbers than once believed. (more…)
2011 Scion xB: Boxy, brash and better than average
Monday, May 23rd, 2011By AARON COLE
Managing Editor, MediaOne of UtahIt’s been a while since I’ve used an Etch-a-Sketch, so forgive me, but here goes:
Twist the left knob one and three-quarter times clockwise, right knob half turn clockwise, left knob three times clockwise, right half turn, left one and a half, right half, left three times, together a half around together, left once, together a half, left once.
I think that’s how you draw a 2011 Scion xB. (more…)
