Hyundai Elantra - Reviewed by Rumblestrip.NET

Your good friends at the RoundAbout show are out this week, so instead we're offering some content from our intrepid panelists. Up first, Eric Trytko's review of the new Hyundai Elantra.

Rumblestrip.NET takes a turn in the all new 2012 Hyundai Elantra. Hyundai has been on a huge roll in the last few years; is the Elantra good enough to be at the top of it's class? Find out in the video.

First Drive: 2012 Ford Focus

Ford is looking to completely take over the C-segment of the market from Honda, Toyota and others with its all-new 2012 Focus. But, it won't be the first with such aspirations since Chevy and Hyundai are offering new competitors as well with the new Cruze and the Elantra, both of which are poised to keep everyone on their toes.

RoundAbout Contributor Eric Trytko had a chance to drive the new Focus in the hills and canyons of Malibu and the surrounding area with fellow RoundAbouter Michelle Naranjo. Have a look at his first impressions of the five-door version.

A Closer Look - 2010 GMC Acadia

On the whole, I tend to view crossovers as a sort of awkward, pubescent form of car design. While SUVs are busy throwing touchdown passes and getting with lead cheerleaders everywhere, the car/truck half breeds spend their time spilling milk at the dinner table and debating the feasibility of Boba Fett’s survival in the sarlacc pit. And at first, the GMC Acadia did little to change my opinion. While I was absolutely impressed with the excellent interior and handsome styling of its cousin, the Chevrolet Traverse, the professional grade version did little to push any buttons. 

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A Closer Look - 2010 Kia Forte SX

Kia, now with more "The Power to Surprise!"

In the eyes of many consumers, companies like Loius Vuitton, Maserati and Apple stand at the top of their respective industries.  Besides building premium products, their names seem to roll off the tongue, connoting more to buyers than the sum of their products’ parts.  Kia is not one of these brands.  Its name is more akin to a tribal battle shriek than something that brings to mind luxury and exclusivity.  Nonetheless, the South Korean upstart has come unimaginably far in the past decade and is poised for serious growth in the next.

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A Closer Look - 2010 Ford Transit Connect

It's what's inside that counts. No, really.

“What the hell is that smell?!” I thought to myself as I fired up the Transit Connect for the first time.  Looking over my shoulder, I scanned the cargo bay to make sure nobody left anything in the back that would account for the odor, but no, the metric ton of Kibbles ‘n Bits I expected to see wasn’t there. 

Ford has finally decided to bring this versatile and compact cargo van – henceforth referred to as the Trani – to its home market, complete with what has to be the most unappealing “new car smell” of all time.  I don’t know what they’re doing over in Kocaeli (kō-chel-E), Turkey, where it’s built, but it REEKS of dog food, and not the good kind.

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