I've driven the Lexus NX plugin twice and landed on the same complaint both times. Ask for acceleration and the engine noise shows up before the speed does. For 2027, Lexus put a fix in writing, leaning harder on the battery so engine rpm climbs with road speed. I drove the NX 350h hybrid and the NX 450h+ plug in in Ontario to see whether it works on both.

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Toyota builds a TRD Pro Tacoma, Tundra, Sequoia and 4Runner. The Land Cruiser doesn't get one.

If that was deliberate, the 2026 4Runner TRD Pro inherited the Land Cruiser's old job, at Land Cruiser money.

So it went to the dirt course at Oro Station, at speeds the Land Cruiser's twenty inch street tires were never chosen for.

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For years the internet begged Mazda for a factory turbo Miata. In 2004 it got one. 178 hp, a Bosch limited slip and two model years on sale.

Then the same people bought the naturally aspirated NB instead. And they had a point.

A stock Mazda Canada heritage car, driven on the right roads, plus what twenty years of owners know about the stock ECU and the parts that are drying up.

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A 2002 MINI Cooper cost $16,850. Adjusted for inflation that's $31,380, and a 2027 MINI Cooper C starts at $30,850.

MINI Canada lent me #1 of 500, the first new MINI on Canadian soil, to see what else 25 years changed.

The price stood still. The question is whether the way it drives made the trip.

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Most of what people call purity in a 1990 MX-5 is a list of things Mazda hadn't gotten around to adding yet.

That makes it the best Miata to drive and the worst one to romanticize.

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Toyota sells two electric crossovers with 338 hp and all wheel drive. The C-HR is the better looking one, and it starts $2,900 below the matching bZ. I went looking for what Toyota took out to get there, and whether you can find it from the driver's seat.

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Ford and RTR gave the 2026 Mustang a Dark Horse rear subframe, 72.5 mm of extra steering lock, an electric drift brake and anti-lag. Then they put it in an EcoBoost with a ten speed automatic and two pedals. I drove it on the road and at Thunderhill to find out whether a drift car works without a clutch.

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Ford's 795 hp Mustang Dark Horse SC Track Pack ships with its best aero configuration left to the owner. The splitter wickers come loose and marked track use only, and the high wing position is set with tools.

Ford's own engineers told me what that configuration is worth at track day speeds, which is a very different number from the one in the press kit.

First drive on the roads around Sonoma and on track at Sonoma Raceway.

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