Incase you are new to txGarage and missed out on some of our reviews from the past year, or you just want to check out what’s hot on txGarage; here are our top 10 reviews from 2011.
We poped open Google Analytics and listed out the reviews with the most views in order. Easy enough. Continue reading
2011 Ford Fiesta Hatch SES
Last year, we had the opportunity to do a full review on the 2011 Ford Fiesta. It was fresh to the market and a fresh new design for Ford, bringing their European hit to America. A year later, we are reviewing the same car; well almost. So has the hype worked on the American car buyer? What do we think about the car now that it has a growing class of competition? Continue reading
We recently took a trip to Houston for the annual Houston Auto Show. We had lots of fun with our car enthusiast friends from around Texas. Check out some of the pictures we took at the auto show.
Houston Auto Show Gallery on Facebook.
America is known for big cars, and lets face it, we like big cars. Even foreign companies that make great small cars in the rest of the world don’t usually attempt to bring them to the US because they know they will almost certainly be a sales flop. Or would they? When gas prices skyrocketed back in 2008, we had more demand than ever for small fuel efficient cars. Now that the cost of a tankfull has come back down to reality, is their still a demand? I think we are about to find out. Continue reading
#txFiesta
2010 Suzuki SportBack
Back in 2007, Suzuki was ready to make some changes in the American market. They were tired of being known for having Daewoo rebadged cars that were low-budget and low-income driven. At the same time, a little car being sold in Japan and across Europe had been winning praises and prizes. Suzuki was ready to develop a new car to compete in the World Rally Championship and to compete in the U.S. market. They developed the SX4 (Sports Crossover 4-Wheel Drive) beginning from the ground up using their gained knowledge from the Swift and other cars developed in Japan. This was truly a move in the right direction for Suzuki. The SX4 became the most affordable AWD vehicle sold in America, and is a great little car. Many people who bought these cars began to modify them along the lines of Suzuki’s WRC car, including us. In 2008, we helped build and design a Suzuki SX4 for a local dealer as a show car. We worked with a company named Road Race Motorsports (www.roadracemotorsports.com) for a lot of aftermarket parts for our SX4. Road Race is one of the only companies that make aftermarket parts for Suzuki and they have built many show cars and concept cars for Suzuki. This SX4 underwent many changes including a body kit, wheels, suspension, turbo, exhaust, and more! All in all, with the money we put into the car we ended up with a $30,000 machine. The SX4 was a good platform to start from as the chassis is set up for rally racing and the AWD system was top notch, but after spending the money we would much rather have had a Subaru STI or Mitsubishi Evo for the performance we saw. Don’t get me wrong, the car was fun, but not as great as these cars, yet owners loved the car we built and were ready to invest into making their Suzuki like ours. So many owners, in fact, that Suzuki decided to step up and build a more sporty SX4 themselves. Continue reading
2010 Toyota Prius
This week on txGarage we are testing the all new 2010 Toyota Prius. In all honesty, I’ll have to say none of us were too thrilled about driving the Prius for the week, Hybrid cars just are not our style. Let’s start out with our preconceived notions about the Prius itself. Although I have never driven the 1st gen or 2nd gen Prius, I’ve always heard the same; they are slow, they are heavy and handle horribly, and they cost too much to make up the benefit of the gas savings. Not to mention that it’s not much of a looker. So, why buy a Prius then? Continue reading
