Mike Hagerty

Folsom

Automotive Writer at Los Altos Town Crier

Contributor at U.S. News Cars

Editor and Publisher at Mike Hagerty Cars

Automotive journalist since 1997.

Articles

Refining the Refined: The 2025.5 Volvo XC90 T8 AWD Ultra

1 day ago | mikehagertycars.com | Mike Hagerty

It is hard to make something great. It's arguably harder to make something already great better. Since 2003, Volvo's XC90 has been a paragon of virtue, the quiet, thinking person's choice for a premium SUV. In a lot of ways, it has defined the segment and set the standard for SUVs outside the premium class. Would the Kia Telluride exist if the XC90 hadn't? You can go back through 17 years of my reviews of the Volvo XC90 (I brought my work online in 2008) and not find a single bad write-up.
From Where I Sit: The 2025 Lexus LX 700h Ultra Luxury

1 week ago | mikehagertycars.com | Mike Hagerty

It's now the fourth model year since Toyota took a big leap---making the new generation of what it sells in other countries as the Toyota Land Cruiser the sole property of Lexus as the LX series and bringing the vehicle those other countries know as the Land Cruiser Prado to the USA as the new Land Cruiser.
Step Right Up: The 2025 Kia Carnival Hybrid

1 week ago | mikehagertycars.com | Mike Hagerty

"Minivan."How many readers did I just lose? The American aversion to minivans is right up there with the "what men will do to avoid therapy" meme craze of a few years ago. And like that, it's pretty dumb. Minivans are the Swiss Army Knife of vehicles, able to carry prodigious numbers of people and amounts of stuff while riding and handling better than SUVs or pickups and getting much better fuel economy.
King of the Mountain: The 2025 Toyota Tacoma TRD PRO

2 weeks ago | mikehagertycars.com | Mike Hagerty

The current-generation Toyota Tacoma is going all-out for supremacy. The previous-gen (2016-2023) lived most of its life in an era where other midsize trucks were just making a comeback after a long period of dormancy.
Turbo Lag Cured: The 2025 Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 S E Performance

2 weeks ago | mikehagertycars.com | Mike Hagerty

Regular readers will remember my largely positive review of the 2023 Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 in November of that year. Basically, I said that if you're not looking for a three-row SUV, the GLC was "the Goldilocks equation"---a just-right size. The only issue I had with the GLC 300 was that, unless the drive mode was in "Sport", the turbo lag was brutal---a solid second and a half to two seconds between putting my right foot down on the floor and the response from the engine room.
Myth Busted: The 2025 Hyundai Elantra Hybrid Limited

3 weeks ago | mikehagertycars.com | Mike Hagerty

Myth: "There are no good, affordable cars anymore."Myth busted: The 2025 Hyundai Elantra Hybrid. Okay, there are other cars that make the list too, but we're talking about the Elantra Hybrid here---a car that endeared itself to me on a trip to Georgia last year where it significantly exceeded its already high EPA fuel economy estimate.
2025 Lucid Air Pure sets the EV bar

3 weeks ago | losaltosonline.com | Mike Hagerty

Here, on the pages of the Los Altos Town Crier and the pixels of losaltosonline.com, I review new cars, trucks and SUVs sold in America but built all over the world. This time, though, we will talk about an almost hometown car. An electric car. From a car company with its headquarters just across the bay. Except it’s probably not what you’re thinking. It’s Newark, not Fremont, and Lucid, not Tesla.
2025 Volkswagen Taos competitive in SUV class

3 weeks ago | losaltosonline.com | Mike Hagerty

We live in a hyper-competitive world where car companies spend a lot of money on consumer research to identify weak spots in their vehicles and fix them in the next update. Case in point: the Volkswagen Taos. VW was late to the subcompact SUV party four years ago with the Taos, which competes with vehicles like the Kia Niro (“On The Road,” February 2023), Subaru Crosstrek (“On The Road,” January 2018) and Honda HR-V (“On The Road,” September 2022). Actually, let’s take a step back.
In Praise of the Plug-In Midsize SUV: The 2025 Kia Sorento PHEV

3 weeks ago | mikehagertycars.com | Mike Hagerty

The Kia Sorento has been a bit scarce lately. Not in the world at large---look around you, they're everywhere. But in my driveway. It's been four years since the last time I had one for review, and more than ten years since the one that made me smile every time I get booked in a Sorento---our epic eight-day camping trip in a 2015 model. Obviously, a lot has changed in a decade, but there have been changes since the '21 model I reviewed too.
Not Much News is Good News: The 2025 Honda Accord Hybrid Sport-L

4 weeks ago | mikehagertycars.com | Mike Hagerty

About that headline. Headlines are hard. The old phrase is "No news is good news", which means a bunch of things depending on how you look at it. In the case of the 2025 Honda Accord, it would mean that nothing has been done to mess up arguably the best family sedan on the market today. But "No news" isn't quite accurate here. There is a new SE trim for gasoline-powered Accord models, and all Accords, gasoline or hybrid, get rear air conditioning vents and rear USB ports.