A Fast Look at Nissan’s all-new Micra

May 13 2014

Canada’s best-priced car at $9,998. I predict we’re about to see this thing everywhere.

On sale now. Here’s the site – Nissan Micra.

This video is one of the first video reviews online in the country. Oh no no, I’m not competitive :| YA I am.

I also threw this video up on Viddy, it was my 100th video there, and it’s doing well at 2,600+ views.

NOTE: the reason why there’s an absence of driving and handling impressions, is because there’s an embargo in place until Friday about that. Here’s what an embargo is, and only a jerk breaks one.

First Track Time of 2014

Apr 30 2014

Started the season with Canadian Tire and Continental Tires last week.

(the test car was an Audi A4 TFST quattro. 2.0 L outputting 220 hp and 258 lbs/ft.)

Despite being all black and round, all tires are not created equal.

Continentals compete with the high-end tire lines. This model is exclusive to Canadian Tire, and are reasonably priced at $129 /each. For a barometer, cheap no-name tires are about $80 /each. But remember what I always harp…

… don’t cheap out, on the only part of your car, that touches the road.

It wasn’t all track time, the tires were tested in a braking exercise (stop accelerating Keri), and this is how potholes are simulated.

Run through the course once on the competition, then again on Continentals. The latter was a smoother, less jittery ride and sounded less hollow. In tire ratings, that’s “comfort”.

Best part of the tire is this:

1 – compare the wear pattern of those boxes each side of the tire, to know if things are balanced
2 – Dry / Wet / Snow – when that letter wears off, the tire is no longer good in those road conditions

Continental claims these will last 145,000 km, which is on the high side of things.

This is nicely framed.

The girls of Canadian Tire; welcome to my blog guys!

Middle is Melissa Arbour, CT’s Senior Business Manager for Tires, Wheels and Accessories, and right is PR megamind Nicole Grant.

Spot my Jag.

This was all last Thursday afternoon, kicking off the best night of the week.

Happy 50th to the Ford Mustang

Apr 12 2014

To celebrate the 50th Annivesary of the Mustang (April 17, 1964), Ford hosted a photo shoot, and I got to go up in a crane to shoot this.

Crane shoot!

Thanks Ford, that’s a first.

This is the 2015 all-new Ford Mustang, or #50.

Choose a 3.7-litre V6, or the GT’s 5.0-litre V8. More details will be released soon.

Ford also invited a Mustang Club out for a, ‘Show & Shine‘.

This model year sticks out in my mind.

I made a mega-gallery for work, here: Autonet.

Next week’s Keri on Driving column, is about the women behind this iconic car.

I reviewed the Mustang for Sun Media last summer.

Specifically, it was a VP at Ford’s car.

I picked it up, pointed it home downtown, and accidentally right into the epicentre of that July freak flood rainstorm mess.

Thanks for the photo help, Calvin of CanadianAutoReview.ca.

A. Crane.

Congratulations, Mustang! I love your engine note.

Driving in Kentucky Looks Like This

Mar 31 2014

Kentucky is quite pretty, too bad it’s all grey and not showcasing that.

I was there a week ago with Chrysler, and their all-new 200 mid-size sedan.

Read my full review on Autonet.

Short review: the 200 went from barely competing, to the one to compete against.

Driving in the video is Jeremy Sinek, not me.

We are a Road-Test-Mega-Team.

Jeremy: why are you making us pose with our heads down?
Me: because you always say you don’t like your photo taken. Even though you have a whole blog section here :|
Jeremy: ugh Keri fiiiiine
Keri: Road-Test-Mega-Team unite!