Buick ditched its poor-selling SUV wannabe Rendezvous and Rainier in 2008, along with the Terraza minivan. Taking their place was the all-new crossover SUV, the Buick Enclave — a luxury crossover sport utility. It seats up to eight, features the passenger and cargo room of truck-based SUVs, utilizes car-like unibody construction for a pleasant ride read more »

Personally, I’ve always thought that the George Orwell classic novel 1984 should be required reading for every high school student — or at least for those who can actually read and comprehend anything at more than a remedial level. It seems to me to be more pertinent today, than at any time in our history — even the revisionist history being taught in our public schools.

And is it just me, or is it remarkable that within a week of Tiger Woods crashing his Cadillac Escalade into a tree, that the mainstream media managed to find every woman whom Tiger had either had casual sex, or a bona fide affair with, in the past decade, complete with photos, text messages, recorded phone calls, etc.? read more »

To say Art Castle enjoys conversation, would be an understatement. Anyone who knows him, knows he’s enthusiastic about any subject you might engage him in conversation about.

Castle stunned the local construction industry, as well as the political establishment earlier this year with the announcement that he would step down from his position as executive vice president of the Homebuilders Association of Kitsap County (HBA) — a post he has held since May of 1994 — at the end of this year.

While Castle is one of those people who has become an icon in construction circles both locally and statewide, perhaps his proudest achievement is the cooperative relationships he has forged between the builders and construction interests he represents, and the local environmental community. read more »

The all-new 2011 version of Kia’s venerable Sportage Crossover Utility Vehicle (CUV) was completely redesigned, and is significantly more stylish than its predecessor. And like Kia’s Soul and Forte models, it offers the latest in-vehicle technologies.

Arriving in showrooms right about now, the 2011 Sportage offers more power, improved fuel economy along with many new options. read more »

I seem to have become a target as of late for the more hysterical brand of right-wing propaganda. Via email, I receive at least a half dozen or more off the wall rantings daily from a wide variety of sources — many with Tea Party origins, and some even farther to the right.

I’ve never bought into the whole Obama birth certificate issue, believing if it truly is valid, Dick Cheney would have had the FBI and CIA all over it when the Republicans were in power and he had the opportunity. Obama would have never been able to even run, much less get elected, with Cheney on his case if it were true. read more »

“Everything you need. Nothing you don’t,” was the tagline for the versatile Nissan Xterra some years back. It still applies today. The Xterra is a sport utility vehicle (SUV) engineered for serious off-roading that easily does double duty as a comfortable daily driver.

The Xterra is a truck-based, body-on-frame SUV, not a crossover. read more »

I think by now it’s no secret that I believe the Puget Sound Regional Council’s (PSRC) Vision 2040 Transportation Plan is little more than a farce. It was positively nauseating watching King County Councilmember Julia Patterson, chair of the PSRC’s Transportation Policy Board, nearly break her arm patting herself on the back when the plan was voted upon, and blather on about how “courageous” it was, and how we’re all “pioneers” in the fight to save our planet, or some such crap. read more »

There’s more than one reason the Honda Civic has a lock on its position at the top of the compact class — reliability, refinement, and a broad model line ranging from the eco-friendly Civic Hybrid to the racy Civic Si. For 2010, the Honda Civic is essentially unchanged from 2009 when styling was freshened up after the last redesign in the 2006 model year. We’ve had opportunities to drive all the sedan and coupe versions of the Civic, except the natural gas powered GX. read more »