Mike Hagerty

3 weeks ago | mikehagertycars.com | Mike Hagerty

Regular readers may remember that I reviewed a 2024 BMW X5 M Competition just a little over a year ago. So what's new? Not much. But be honest. If you wrote about cars for (part of) a living, and BMW offered you a second week in a high-powered sport sedan that does a convincing imitation of a family SUV, would you say no? Didn't think so. That's a 4.4-liter twin-turbo 32-valve V8.

3 weeks ago | mikehagertycars.com | Mike Hagerty

The last time I reviewed the Hyundai IONIQ 5, almost two years ago, it was a Korean car. And that was posing a problem because specific domestic content and point of assembly rules on electric vehicles had kicked in, affecting the IONIQ 5's ability to qualify for $7,500 EV tax credits. For 2025, the IONIQ 5 is now an American-built car, coming from a plant in Ellabell, Georgia, about 30 miles east of Savannah.

3 weeks ago | losaltosonline.com | Mike Hagerty

This month marks six years since my friend, the late Gary Anderson, and his wife, Genie, did me the honor and the privilege of recommending me to succeed them with the “On the Road” reviews here at the Town Crier. That’s long enough for you to have learned a few things about the “new kid.” One of them that I hope has come through loud and clear is that I am not a technophobe. Not a grumpy old man grousing about the automobile in 2025 being not much more than a computer on wheels.

3 weeks ago | losaltosonline.com | Mike Hagerty

Those of us of a certain age will remember fondly the heyday of the imported sport sedan. Four doors, five seats, six speeds and a whole lot of fun.  Sixteen years ago, Gary and Genie Anderson sampled four of them in one review: the Audi A4, BMW 3-Series, Lexus IS 350 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class (“On the Road,” February 2009). There was quite a price spread in that quartet – from $44,430 for the Lexus to $68,080 for the Benz – and their 2025 equivalents cost substantially more.

4 weeks ago | mikehagertycars.com | Mike Hagerty

About that headline. There's a mural in the center of the Amador County, California town of Ione (eye-OWN), population 5,141. It reads:BETWEEN THE MEAT & THE MONEYThe story goes that there was a butcher shop on one side of the street and a bank on the other way back when (the town's roots go all the way back to the 1848 California Gold Rush). I've had that mural in the back of my mind for years---thinking it would be a good photo backdrop for the next really big pickup truck I wound up reviewing.