Anthony Fongaro

Thank you for the compliment and I agree. I should add that if you're USB cord is starting to go it will affect how CarPlay works.

When I was looking for a new vehicle last year, there was one option I wanted to have: Apple CarPlay. Being able to integrate the screen from my iPhone to my Volkswagen’s infotainment system sounded like a brilliant idea! Now living with both my car and Apple CarPlay on a daily basis, I can give some of my opinions on how it has been. Initiating CarPlay is quite easy. All you have to do is plug in your iPhone into your USB and it will show you the standard screen. Once you see the screen, you’ll have some useful features at your fingertips. Choosing your music and interacting with both text messaging and phone calls all go through Siri. You can manually choose your songs, choose the person you want to send a phone call or message to or respond to a phone call or message. This makes the vehicle a true hands-free car. Text messages are read to you via Siri and when you respond to a text message, she checks what you said is what you want to send before you send the text message. This all sounds good, right? Well, it’s not a bad piece of software. But there is one massive problem. Siri. There have been times when someone would text me and Siri would decide not to have a connection when I would try to respond. Although I had full connection with my phone, CarPlay would think there was no connection available. Clicking on the text message a few times would finally let me listen and respond to the text message. Other times, I would connect my iPhone with my designated Apple cable and CarPlay would not initiate at all. At one point, I had to pull over and turn off the car to have it work again. One word of advice when you are using CarPlay and texting: keep Siri to American English. I had her in Australian English when I first bought my car and she would constantly send out a text message with the wrong words. Certain words and phrases also can’t get picked up with the speech-to-text so I would redo my entire sentence. Going back to apps, there are a few that you can get outside of Maps, Phone, Message, and Music. If you have subscriptions or downloaded apps such as Audible, Pandora, and Amazon Music, you can listen to various podcasts and music. The downside about the stock apps you have is there is no way of using third-party apps for maps, so you have to use Apple's Maps. For Maps, I found that typing in the destination in my phone then letting CarPlay launch Maps to start route guidance. For a list of all the apps you can download, visit the official Apple CarPlay page here: https://www.apple.com/ios/carplay/. So is Apple CarPlay what I was expecting? In terms of reliability, no. Even if I’m driving through a location with good signal, Siri may not work. The design is sleek and familiar to anyone that uses an iPhone. I do recommend anyone to at least try Apple CarPlay before deciding if they want to have it in their vehicle. View full article

Not really. I know it's off topic from the Urus (still an odd name for me) but I think having the sedan back in 2010 would have been better than having the CUV in 2018.

A four seater Lambo would be nice since Ferrari have had four seaters for a while but this design I'm not quite sure. I remember the Estoque concept car from 2010 and I think that would have been great.

It pulled very hard and had a lot of torque. The transmission felt like your standard 8-speed and initially no NVH issues to report.

I wonder if it's going to grow as large as the Traverse or shrink like the Acadia?

The Giulia I drove had around 50 miles on it. After I drove the car, the dealership I went to was going to send the car back to Alfa Romeo to have the sunroof malfunction analyzed. I haven't seen other reviews of the regular Giulia, but I've seen that the Giulia Quadrifoglio has been alright for the most part. We just have to wait and see.

This is true. The car I drove was not a press car.

I liked the steering, the seats, and the engine. I didn't like the navigation system, the paddle shifters were a little big and the obvious: the "Alfa-itus" of the sunroof not working.

Actually no, this was a production vehicle.

This short drive, I drove something I didn’t think I ever would. It wasn't a six-figure super car that can do over 200 mph. No, I never thought I would be driving a modern Alfa Romeo in the United States. For the last 10 years, only two Alfa Romeos have made it to our shores carrying ridiculous price tags. Now, Alfa Romeo is taking a stand with its new Giulia sedan and it’s not what I expected. That isn’t a bad thing. What I expected was the same old stereotype of every Italian sedan. Beautiful design and leather, electronics that don’t work and eventually can’t keep up with the Germans. In terms of style, the Giulia isn’t actually pretty. In fact, I would say it seems a bit tame. I understand why they would stay a bit conservative coming back into the market, and the styling cues on the top-of-the-line Quadrifoglio are more dramatic. The front end is classic Alfa Romeo with its upside-down triangle grill. Hop inside and the first thing you see is a rather large steering wheel. Alfa probably figured that if Ferrari puts their start/stop button on their steering wheel, why shouldn’t they? The gauges are large and clear as is the 8.8” widescreen display right next to them. Place your hand behind the shifter and a large disc controls that display similar to the systems in Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Sadly, while everything in the front of the cabin feels modern, the navigation system looks like it came from the early 2000s. The graphics aren’t quite as detailed as its rivals but the system does work well . Once you turn the Giulia on, the magic starts to happen. The steering is sharp and direct. Stomp on the gas pedal and the 2.0-liter turbocharged inline four sounds fantastic. The engine produces 280 horsepower and 306 lb-ft of torque at 2,000 rpm. Combine this with both all-wheel-drive and an 8-speed automatic, Alfa claims 60mph will be hit in around the 5 second mark. While driving the car, you get the feeling that the spark is really coming back with Alfa Romeo. No longer do you have to pine for an Italian vehicle that is usable but not too quirky like a Fiat. Shifting gears can be done with the oversized paddle shifters or with the gear selector. I found the paddle shifters to be a bit too big but they worked well. While driving, you will notice a rotary nob with “DNA” on it. D is for Dynamic, N is for Natural, and A is for Advanced Efficiency. Since the weather was dry, I did half of my drive in Normal and half in Dynamic. If this was my vehicle, I would keep it in Dynamic at all times since Dynamic has a sharper throttle and a more robust exhaust note. As for efficiency, the two-liter engine is rated at 22 mpg city and 31 mpg highway. This particular Alfa Romeo did have a few features worth mentioning. First is the 900-watt Harmon/Kardon 14-speaker sound system. There also was a panoramic sunroof (which in my tester was broken. Not a good sign before driving it). It also had the Driver Assistance Dynamic and Driver Assistance Static Packages. Dynamic gets you adaptive cruise control, automatic high beam headlight control, and forward collision warning. Static gets you blind spot monitoring and cross pass detection. There were also the beautiful 19” wheels which made my test car look great. I left my drive wondering how this will do against competition. Pin it against German rivals and I think the Giulia can go blow-for-blow against them. It may not have all the safety of a Mercedes or a complex all-wheel-drive system of an Audi, but the way that it drives, stops, and corners makes up for it. Finally, we have an Italian sedan that is attainable. Hopefully it doesn't suffer from "Alfa-itus" of older Alfa Romeos. Photo courtesy of FCA Media View full article

Totally agree. This is becoming an extremely competitive class and gives buyers some great cars in the process.

This will definitely win top trumps for sure. Still not quite sure about the name "Trackhawk".

I'm happy that Nissan took a risk with the Maxima's styling. I personally think it looks great. My only problem comes from the engine and transmission. If this is supposed to be a "4-door sports car", why does it still have a CVT? I agree with dfelt that the engine needs much more torque as well.

I'd choose the Camaro with two different styles. If I went for a Camaro SS, it would be red, manual, and the only option I'd choose is the Rear Vision Package with Rear Park Assist and Rear Vision Camera. That leaves me $5 to spend on fuel. Otherwise, I'd do a Camaro 2LT in red with the RS Package, automatic, and sunroof for around $34k.

I own a 2008 VW GTI, have driven and reviewed both the MkV and MkVII. It is a great handling hot hatch, and you are right about the options. They are fun cars and the added practicality is a big plus. My dealer experience has been...how the reliability of VW is...so very mixed. Fuel economy can be around 30 mpg on the highway and 24-25 around town. I'd say take a look at one when you're able to.