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2010 Nissan Rogue: Great family road tripper

2010 Nissan Rogue: Great family road tripper

Gary Grant ⋅ New car reviews ⋅ , , , , , , , ⋅ 1 comment

It is becoming a bit of a tradition for the Grant family to take some sort of a local road trip over the March break and evaluate a vehicle’s ability to fulfill the needs of a family of 5. A few years ago there was a big SUV of some sort, last year we split it between a Mazda5 and a CX-7. This year, we all clambered into a 2010 Nissan Rogue to head east of the city for a minor pee wee hockey tournament in Belleville, Ontario. The Rogue would be jammed with hockey gear and enough stuff to keep a small nation afloat for weeks. I wasn’t sure it was all going to fit.

This is not our first experience with the Rogue, as I drove a pre production version a couple of years ago and then reviewed an 09 last year. I came away with a positive feeling about Nissan’s CUV on both of those occasions so I was expecting good things on this trip. The Rogue wasn’t about to let me down.
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2010 Kia Borrego: Full size utility, small size economy

Gary Grant ⋅ New car reviews ⋅ , , , , ⋅ No comments

It wasn’t too long ago that Kia was known as Hyundai”s younger cousin and for building little, entry level cars. Looking back, you could almost say they were the little car company that could. As the brand worked hard to turn those entry level buyers into repeat customers, they also grew the product line up. As the consumer’s families matured, so did Kia’s offerings. Today, they offer an ever expanding line up that fits the lifestyle needs of just about every family. Perhaps most exciting is that Kia has been able to continue improving quality and yet still offer greater affordability than any other company.

Just as those early buyers have matured, many of them expanding their own families, Kia has expanded their family to include a full size SUV of all things. The Kia Borrego is a 7 seater that offers buyers a choice of drivetrains depending on their needs. It’s somewhat interesting that they would choose to launch it at a time when many manufacturers are trying to move away from the stigma of large vehicles.

While Kia has been far from conservative with some of their latest designs, they have chosen not to rock the boat with Borrego. The traditional domestic competitors have been using the 2 square box design basics for years with their SUV’s for decades and there doesn’t sound like they are changing any time soon so it makes absolute sense for the new kid on the block to follow suit. The Borrego is an attractive people mover, but don’t expect any visual surprises. That being said, the number of times I heard “that’s a Kia?” during my week with the Borrego was amazing.
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