Toronto received their first big snow fall of the season yesterday and no, it was nothing like what fell on Buffalo a couple of weeks back. And no, it was nothing like what this horrific photo depicts, but to Torontonians, it probably felt like it. See, I have a theory about my fellow citizens. I believe that they take the mildest winter of the past 50 years and use that as their benchmark, so anything worse is a big mistake.
What to do? Forget about a Summer sportscar (although I did see an SL and a couple of Porsches yesterday) and start looking with envy at those sport utes with their oh, so appealing all wheel drive. Hey, let's not kid ourselves, as those things still require eyes on the road and mind in gear. But the all wheel drive is a help, as I know from first hand experience in my ATS. So, back to what to do, since those big sport utes have absolutely no appeal?
Buick had an answer with their Encore.......
.........and Chevy followed up with their version of the same vehicle, the Trax.......
Small, easy on the fuel and still quite practical for around town, after all, not all of us need to head north to the ski resorts in the worst possible conditions or need to take with us, everything we own. After these two, the German luxury brands started introducing smaller and smaller versions of their tried and true numbers. BMW was the first with the X1, followed by Audi's Q3 and recently Benz with their GLA.......
Now add to them, the just introduced Lincoln and Lexus models. If you follow trends at all, you know that what becomes popular at the top filters down (the exception here, being that GM was first out of the gate with their mini's). So now there is an avalanche of little suv's, about to be unleashed on an unsuspecting, but ready to embrace them, public.
Coming to a dealer near you, quite soon, but not necessarily in this order are the Mazda CX-3.......
........and the Honda HR-V........
Not yet announced, but sure to arrive within the next year are Ford's EcoSport (currently being sold abroad, so you know that it will come to our shores)........
.......and the VW Taigun (where do they get those names?).........
Like to see what is being sold elsewhere, which I don't thing we have too much of a chance to get? This is the VW Golf wagon, but done up like an Audi Allroad. Wagons are a very niche segment in North America, as we love, really love, our big 4x4's. I don't think the Audi Allroad is setting any sales records, so I'd bet against us seeing this neat little gem anytime soon........
So, you can see that having an suv is not going to mean a bigger, gas guzzling truck. No, now you can be sort of green and still have the confidence of cruising around, during a big dump of white stuff, in an all wheel drive vehicle. Ah, progress.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
Until next time.......
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