Autos – Winnipeg Free Press

Grand enhancement for Jeep

Kelly Taylor 3 minute read Friday, Apr. 17, 2026

For 2026, and the vehicle that arguably launched the luxury SUV segment — the Jeep Grand Cherokee — it’s what you can’t see that makes the biggest difference.

Under the hood, the venerable Pentastar V-6 engine continues, but expanding the list of powertrain options is a new Hurricane 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder engine.

It would be easy to see that change as a step backward. If four cylinders are good, six are better, right?

Not so fast. The new engine is the high-output option, offering more power, more torque and better fuel economy than its six-cylinder stablemate.

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Kelly Taylor / Free Press
Jeep ended the Cherokee compact SUV in 2023 for mysterious reasons. New Stellantis management has revived it, as a hybrid.

2026 Jeep Cherokee makes an electrifying return

Kelly Taylor 7 minute read Preview

2026 Jeep Cherokee makes an electrifying return

Kelly Taylor 7 minute read Friday, Feb. 27, 2026

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. — Aside from light-duty pickup trucks, no automotive segment in Canada is bigger than the compact SUV — dominated by such nameplates as Toyota RAV4, Nissan Rogue, Mazda CX-5, Subaru Forester and others.

So it was puzzling when Stellantis pulled the plug on the Jeep Cherokee in 2023. The official line on why speaks volumes even though it appears to say little: “It was a decision taken by the previous management team.”

Well, the vehicle that arguably launched the segment is back, and in a big way. While the Cherokee name was first applied to a full-size, two-door Jeep in 1974, the model most people think about is the compact version launched in 1984.

The 2026 Jeep Cherokee joins the growing ranks of the partially electric. It is available as a hybrid only.

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Friday, Feb. 27, 2026

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The Leapmotor B10, if it comes to Canada, would arrive to an established dealer network. Leapmotor is affiliated with Stellantis, which has 440 dealerships.

Trade deal opens door to Chinese EVs, but appetite for adapting to Canadian regulations is unclear

Kelly Taylor 6 minute read Preview

Trade deal opens door to Chinese EVs, but appetite for adapting to Canadian regulations is unclear

Kelly Taylor 6 minute read Friday, Jan. 23, 2026

When Canada opens the door to Chinese EVs, expect a trickle, not a flood.

The limit is 49,000 for the first year, or 2.6 per cent of Canada’s total market (1.9 million vehicles sold), so don’t expect to see Chinese EVs dominating local dealer lots anytime soon. If those vehicles were distributed equally to Canada’s 3,783 dealerships, that’s 12 each.

A lot must happen before the first Chinese EV arrives: Canada has committed to working with manufacturers for certification to Canadian safety standards, but that won’t be immediate and will be expensive.

Assuming this opens the door to vehicles we haven’t seen yet — the Volvo EX30 is built in China, as are some Teslas and Hyundais — the brand with the most interesting prospects might be Leapmotor. It already has an extensive dealership network in Canada: it only needs to add its name beside signs for Dodge, Ram, Chrysler and Fiat. Leapmotor is associated with the current owner of those brands, Stellantis, which has 440 dealerships in Canada.

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Friday, Jan. 23, 2026

Dreaming of spring

Kelly Taylor 5 minute read Preview

Dreaming of spring

Kelly Taylor 5 minute read Friday, Jan. 9, 2026

It’s January, when a motoring enthusiast’s fantasies turn to convertibles cruising through the crisp, spring air.

When snow is on the ground and no imminent decision is required it might be the best time to plan a purchase. You can kick tires, virtually and literally, safe in the knowledge you can shut down a persistent salesperson with, “Look, it’s not like I’m ever putting winter tires on it, so I’m in no rush.”

It’s with that tempered expectation I look back at my time with the 2026 Mustang GT Convertible, my steed for travelling from Toronto to Hockey Valley Resort for the 2026 Canadian Car and Utility Vehicle of the Year awards TestFest event.

Several times, particularly when leaning into the V-8 connected accelerator and hearing one of the world’s perfect exhaust sounds, the words of Will Smith in Independence Day came rushing to the fore: “I have GOT to get me one of these!”

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Friday, Jan. 9, 2026

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The CX-50 interior is nicely minimalist, with interesting details such as the contrasting stitching on the dashboard trim piece.

Parsimonious partnership

Kelly Taylor 5 minute read Preview

Parsimonious partnership

Kelly Taylor 5 minute read Friday, May. 9, 2025

Mazda’s newest hybrid — the CX-50 Hybrid — is its best-driving, thanks to a partner with the most experience in building hybrids.

The CX-50 Hybrid powertrain is Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive, and it arguably is more fun to drive than the CX-50’s hybrid stablemates CX-70 and CX-90. Toyota has been refining the Hybrid Synergy Drive since the mid to late 1990s, having launched the first Prius in 1999.

The CX-50 is smaller and lighter than the other two, so it’s more nimble. The planetary gearset transmission transfers energy more efficiently, it seems, than the eight-speed automatics in the 70 and 90. Acceleration is direct and immediate, and it pulls hard — thanks to the electric assist from the hybrid system.

Sure, it’s still a CVT, something a Mazda chief engineer once swore it would never do, but it’s also the best in the business. So while it will still do that annoying thing CVTs do — run the engine to a certain R.P.M. and stay there during acceleration — it doesn’t seem as droning and annoying as other CVTs.

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Friday, May. 9, 2025

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS
Adam Duguay, owner of JDM Rush Imports, which imports vehicles from Japan, is photographed with a right-hand drive 2008 Subaru Forester XT he recently brought to Winnipeg.

Domestic sticker shock absorber

Aaron Epp 5 minute read Preview

Domestic sticker shock absorber

Aaron Epp 5 minute read Tuesday, Apr. 1, 2025

“Definitely frustrating” and “nearly impossible” are how Brady Jonasson and Savannah Blandford describe the first six months they spent shopping for a used vehicle last year.

The Gimli-based newlyweds searched for something reliable with low mileage and no rust selling for under $20,000, but nothing met those requirements.

In July, the couple contacted JDM Rush Imports Inc. in Winnipeg, which specializes in importing vehicles from the Japanese domestic market. Less than four months later, they were the proud owners of a 2008 Honda CR-V that had just 2,500 kilometres on the odometer.

The total price, including shipping and the company’s fee, was just over $16,000.

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Tuesday, Apr. 1, 2025

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The 2025 Mazda CX-70 is a two-row version of the CX-90 three-row SUV.

We spoke, Mazda listened

Kelly Taylor 4 minute read Preview

We spoke, Mazda listened

Kelly Taylor 4 minute read Friday, Jan. 17, 2025

The 2025 Mazda CX-70 epitomizes automotive journalism that makes a difference.

Now, I’m not saying it was my reporting that did it, but there’s been a clear shift in how well the company’s latest hybrid, the CX-70, responds to accelerator input since myself and plenty of other journalists sharply criticized how the CX-90, in both mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid form, handled transitions between deceleration and acceleration.

You’d come out of a turn and ease into the accelerator pedal and … wait.

The transmission would go, “Oh, no. He wants to go … we better find the right gear,” and a second later you’d start to feel motion again.

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Friday, Jan. 17, 2025

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Inside, the GR Corolla is heavily reminiscent of regular Corollas, but with a cool, customizable instrument panel (inset) and, behind the shift lever, a three-position switch to alter the split of all-wheel drive torque.

Not your grandfather’s Corolla

Kelly Taylor 5 minute read Preview

Not your grandfather’s Corolla

Kelly Taylor 5 minute read Friday, Oct. 25, 2024

This is the Corolla we’ve been missing.

Yes, Toyota has rightly earned a reputation for delivering high-quality, reliable vehicles built like tanks. If people asked me for recommendations for a solid compact car, I’d have no qualms about telling them to put the current Corolla, in either sedan or hatchback form, at or near the top of their shopping lists.

When driving enthusiasts think Corolla, however, their thoughts don’t turn to hybrids and automatic transmissions. The 1980s was the heyday of Corolla performance, with AE86 models with available high-revving twin-cam engines and slick-shifting five-speed manuals inspiring dreams of autocross glory.

Or, at least, that was then…

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Friday, Oct. 25, 2024

Among hybrids, Toyota Prius content to let its name speak for itself

Kelly Taylor 5 minute read Preview

Among hybrids, Toyota Prius content to let its name speak for itself

Kelly Taylor 5 minute read Friday, Aug. 30, 2024

While some carmakers are diving head first into battery electric vehicles, Toyota seems content to merely dip its toes.

The company continues to offer just one fully electric vehicle in Canada — the joint-venture vehicle Toyota calls the BZ4X and Subaru calls Solterra — but offers partial electrification in every segment it plays.

The full-size Tundra, the returning off-road icon Land Cruiser, the compact Corolla and almost every vehicle in between is offered with some form of a hybrid powertrain. Some models, such as the RAV4 Prime and Prius Prime, are plug-in hybrids that for some drivers may never burn a single molecule of gasoline. (While that may be true for driving, plug-in hybrids are programmed to fire up the gas engine periodically just to keep everything lubed, primed and ready to run.)

The only vehicles that don’t have some form of electrification available are the Supra, 4Runner, Corolla Hatchback GR Corolla and GR86. That may just be a case of “watch this space,” but Toyota doesn’t comment on future models.

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Friday, Aug. 30, 2024

Motoring right along

Kelly Taylor 6 minute read Preview

Motoring right along

Kelly Taylor 6 minute read Friday, Aug. 23, 2024

CAMBRIDGE, Ont. — In the early days of Toyota’s entrance to the Canadian market, Japanese executives would visit facilities in Toronto and wonder why staff weren’t running through the parking lot to get to work and why employees would leave at quitting time.

It’s a story the late F. David Stone, who worked in public relations from those first days until his retirement in the early 2000s, would tell to illustrate the growing pains of two corporate cultures that merged in 1964. Sixty years later, the company is Canada’s largest automotive manufacturer and third best seller.

Lester B. Pearson was prime minister and Mary Poppins topped the movie charts when a group of Canadian and American investors founded Canadian Motor Industries (CMI) and secured a distribution agreement with Toyota Motor Corp. It was a humble beginning for a company that would go on to become Canada’s largest automotive manufacturer.

In 1965, the company’s first year of sales, it sold only 755 vehicles. Today, 60 years later, it sells almost that many every business day. Toyota in Canada is the No. 3 selling carmaker (227,460 sales in 2023 according to the Automotive News Data Center) and produces more than 500,000 vehicles a year at three assembly plants in Cambridge, Ont., and Woodbridge, Ont.

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Friday, Aug. 23, 2024

JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS
Andrew MacIver, co-owner of Ride Time, an independent used car dealership in Winnipeg, says sector dealerships are facing unique postCOVID-9 pandemic struggles, including a lack of affordable inventory and increased competition in the auction market.

Used car prices, sector inventory stabilizing

Martin Cash 5 minute read Preview

Used car prices, sector inventory stabilizing

Martin Cash 5 minute read Wednesday, Jul. 24, 2024

There’s a little relief starting to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic-era high-priced used car market. However, the days of patiently waiting it out for a steal of a price on the exact car you’ve been looking for appear likely over.

The good news for consumers is average used car prices in Canada have gone down by 8.3 per cent over the past 12 months and, on some dealers lots, the used inventory is significantly higher.

Average prices for both new and used cars in Canada, however, remain significantly higher than they were before the pandemic — and Baris Akyurek, vice-president of insights and intelligence at AutoTrader.ca, does not believe they will be crashing back down.

In AutoTrader’s most recent quarterly price index report, Akyurek notes both used and new inventory availability is much better – up 28.2 per cent and 70.4 per cent, respectively, since a year ago. He points out that since 2019 — “the last normal year” — prices of new vehicles are up 48 per cent (to $66,807 from $45,204) and used cars are up 40 per cent (to $36,342 from $26,042).

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Wednesday, Jul. 24, 2024

Kelly Taylor / Free Press
The 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe marks a bold departure from the milquetoast styling of its predecessors.

capital idea

Kelly Taylor 8 minute read Preview

capital idea

Kelly Taylor 8 minute read Friday, Mar. 22, 2024

HALF MOON BAY, B.C. — Do you know the way to Santa Fe? Does Hyundai?

It certainly seems as though the South Korean company does, considering the surprisingly bold fifth generation of its oldest nameplate.

When it arrived in Canada in 2001, it arguably sold more on price than on looks, though the styling, which resembled an outdoorsy boot, was oddly compelling, if a bit derivative.

Through its variations since, it’s tended to blend in more than stand out, taking safe cues from other crossovers and trying hard not to offend. That all is changing with the 2024 model, a marked departure from bland that is seemingly trying to out-Defender Land Rover, at least in styling.

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Friday, Mar. 22, 2024

Sticks like glue

Kelly Taylor 4 minute read Preview

Sticks like glue

Kelly Taylor 4 minute read Friday, Feb. 16, 2024

There are not many automatic transmission cars that would make me want to give up my manual-transmission 2020 Mazda3 Sport.

The 2024 Mazda3 Sport AWD Suna edition is one of them.

Since the current generation Mazda3 began, in 2019 as a 2020 model, all-wheel drive has been offered with automatic transmissions only. If you want a stick, you’re driving front-drive only. (And for 2024, sticks are only available in GT trim.)

That’s worked out for me, since I get decent traction in winter from my Michelin X-Ice2 winter tires, but adding all-wheel drive to the Mazda3 is a game-changer in winter. I got to experience that, and compare the vehicles, during what little winter Winnipeg has had so far.

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Friday, Feb. 16, 2024

Matt Slocum / The Associated Press
Jets captain Adam Lowry came up empty-handed Thursday when he had a shorthanded breakaway against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Return to basics key to struggling Jets getting back in win column

Ken Wiebe 4 minute read Preview

Return to basics key to struggling Jets getting back in win column

Ken Wiebe 4 minute read Friday, Feb. 9, 2024

Rick Bowness went to Page 46 of the coaching manual Thursday night after the Winnipeg Jets’ 4-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, falling on his sword after a lacklustre effort ended with a fifth consecutive loss.

“It starts with me. We’ll pull through this,” he said, minutes after the final whistle.

It is a noble concept and the Winnipeg Jets head coach certainly shares in the responsibility for this recent swoon, even if a lack of execution is a far bigger issue.

Bowness knows the only way the Jets are going to pull themselves out of the funk is by getting back to basics.

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Friday, Feb. 9, 2024

New Suna Edition Coming for Select Mazda Vehicles (CNW Group/Mazda Canada Inc.)

Back to the future

Kelly Taylor 6 minute read Preview

Back to the future

Kelly Taylor 6 minute read Friday, Dec. 22, 2023

The current generation of the Mazda CX-5 crossover debuted in 2016 as a 2017 model, and with the arrival of the 2024 CX-5 Suna Edition, logic suggests that seven years later, this model is overdue for a replacement.

There have been some changes over those seven years, as Mazda worked to keep the model going with versions such as the Signature and Kuro models that added uplevel trim and features. The Suna is the latest, and comes with a handsome Zircon Sand paint scheme, 2.5-litre turbo and all the available creature comforts, from heated seats and steering wheel to dual-zone climate control, sunroof and keyless entry.

One thing that stands out with the CX-5 is how, even six years later, the design remains contemporary, with its striking snout and clean lines.

I’ve written enough about the CX-5, and have owned one since 2018, so it seems with this story, the tack to take is to predict what the next CX-5, should there be one, will look like.

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Friday, Dec. 22, 2023

This is your Pilot speaking

Kelly Taylor 5 minute read Preview

This is your Pilot speaking

Kelly Taylor 5 minute read Friday, Dec. 8, 2023

‘In off-road parlance, we call that articulation.”

I’m joking as Haney Louka, former Free Press correspondent, is mentioning how the 2023 Honda Pilot Trailsport has a bit more body roll than we’ve come to expect from Honda.

As the name implies, this particular version of Honda’s largest crossover is designed to go slightly more off the road than its non-Trailsport siblings. Emphasis on the word slightly.

It has an extra 25 millimetres (about 1 in.) of ground clearance, thanks partly to larger tires and a retuned suspension.

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Friday, Dec. 8, 2023

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