By Frank S. Washington

NORTHVILLE, Mich. – Honda called it a major minor model change. The automaker increased the fuel economy and added another trim line to the 2015 Honda CR-V. But they also improved their best-selling entry level crossover vehicle in 60 other areas.
For 2015, the Honda CR-V has a new grille, new headlights, new front bumper, new skid plate and a tweaked front suspension. The rear end had a new fascia, new license housing and new rear bumper. It looked wider from the rear and now the crossover can be equipped with 18-inch wheels, in addition to its normal 17-inch rubber.
LED running lights are also available, a power tailgate is now offered and there is an available smart key.
The interior has gone high tech too. It had dual information screens. The center console was configurable and it could hold an iPad, large soft drink cups from fast food outlets and it had easily reachable USB ports. The dash had a clean saddle bag look to it as each soft touch layer flowed down to a thin wood-like trim that spanned across its width.
The interior had a high quality look but Honda would do well to upgrade the polymer used in the frames that hold the CR-V’s climate vents. They didn’t match the quality of materials used in the rest of the interior.
Although horsepower stayed the same at 185 on the 2.4-liter aluminum alloy four cylinder engine, torque has been increased by 11 percent to 181 pound-feet. To improve fuel economy, Honda switched the CR-V from a five-speed automatic transmission to a continuously variable transmission or CVT.
The fuel consumption rating for the 2015 Honda CR-V, which went on sale in October, is 27 mpg in the city, 34 mpg on the highway and 29 mpg combined for the front-wheel-drive model and 26 mpg in the city, 33 mpg on the highway and 28 mpg combined for the all-wheel-drive version.
We thought the new 2.4-liter engine ran smoothly and power was decent. Although we’ve never been a fan of a CVT, this generation of pulley-type transmission was pretty quiet at low speeds. Still, though CVTs save fuel we question how effective they are at transmuting engine torque to power on the pavement.
Another idiosyncrasy of CVTs is that under hard acceleration they drone on with seemingly no break in the sound because they don’t shift gears. Under our heavy foot, the Honda 2015 CR-V seemed not to be moving as fast as it sounded. But a check of the speedometer and yes, we were moving swiftly.
Our test vehicle had all-wheel-drive. The system was really front-wheel-drive on dry pavement but it was capable of sending 20 percent of the engine’s torque to the rear wheels once any slip of the front wheels was detected.
The 2015 CR-V’s steering could have been a little tighter but the vehicle still responded to driver input quickly. When test driving so many different vehicles, it is not a bad idea to keep in mind who is the target buyer. For the 2015 Honda CR-V, it is a 32-year-old mother of two. In other words, the CR-V is not supposed to handle like a sports car or a performance sedan.
To appeal to mothers of young children, the 2015 CR-V can be equipped with the Honda Sensing system. It includes forward collision warning, a collision mitigating braking system, lane departure warning, lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control and Honda Lane watch.
The lane watch system is unique, we think, to Honda. A camera at the bottom of the right sideview mirror will show on the navigation screen what is in the right hand lane when the right turn signal is activated or when a button at the tip of the turn signal stalk is pressed.
This equipment was packaged as a safety suite and safety is preeminent to most female car buyers. Honda is targeting young mothers with the 2015 CR-V and a vehicle with outstanding safety features is at the top of their shopping lists.
Prices for the 2015 Honda CR-V cover a variety of incomes. There are four trim lines: the LX, the EX, the EX-L and the Touring. A front-wheel-drive LX starts at $23,320 the price range goes up to the top of the line Touring with all-wheel-drive. An EX-L starts at $32,770. Honda is putting its best tread forward, so to speak, to stay atop the entry level crossover market.

Frank S. Washington is editor of AboutThatCar.com.

by Cheryl Eldridge

When you drive an Audi you feel as if you are on top of the world. As a matter of fact, when I saw my tester S3  my mind drifted off into the sweet sounds of Alicia Keys’ rendition of “This Girl Is on Fire.”
Put  Audi’s new baby, the S3 in drive and the road is all yours, that is, if you like having power. The power to dream, arouse, and stand out in the crowd.
My son definitely enjoyed it.
When you think of the  S3 you think luxury in a package. High class without overdoing it, I would say. The 2015 Audi S3 is an all-new model.
The 2015 Audi S3 is a higher-performance version of the A3 compact luxury sedan. It’s offered in two trim levels: Premium Plus and Prestige.
Standard features for the Premium Plus include 18-inch wheels, summer performance tires, keyless ignition and entry, selectable driving settings (known as Audi drive select), automatic xenon headlights, LED daytime running lights and taillights, automatic wipers, a sunroof, dual-zone automatic climate control, heated front seats, eight-way power front sport seats (with four-way lumbar adjustment), driver memory settings, a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel, leather and simulated suede upholstery, a 60/40-split-folding rear seat, auto-dimming mirrors, Bluetooth phone and audio connectivity and a 10-speaker sound system with a CD player, iPod interface, HD radio and satellite radio.
The Prestige adds full LED headlights, a rearview camera, front and rear parking sensors, power-folding exterior mirrors, a 14-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system, blind spot monitoring, an MMI controller mounted on the center console, Audi Connect smartphone integration and a navigation system. All these items are available as stand-alone options for the Premium Plus as well.
Available only with the Prestige is an Advanced Technology package, which adds adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, frontal collision warning and crash mitigation. Other options (for both the Premium Plus and Prestige) include 19-inch wheels, adaptive suspension dampers, rear seat side airbags and all-season 18-inch tires (no charge).
The 2015 Audi S3 is powered by a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that produces 292 hp and 280 pound-feet of torque. All-wheel drive and a six-speed automated manual transmission (called S tronic) are standard.
Audi says the S3 will go from zero to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds using the car’s integrated launch control system. EPA-estimated fuel economy checks in at 26 mpg combined (23 city/31 highway).
On the safety side, the  2015 Audi S3 comes standard with antilock brakes, traction and stability control, front side airbags and side curtain airbags.
Optional safety equipment includes rear seat side airbags, a rearview camera, front and rear parking sensors, adaptive cruise control, active lane keeping assist and frontal collision warning/mitigation.
The S3 has yet to be crash tested, but the similar A3 sedan on which it’s based received the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s highest score of “Good” in the small-overlap and moderate-overlap frontal-offset impact tests. It also earned a “Good” score in the side-impact, roof-strength and whiplash protection (seats and head restraints) tests. In government crash testing, the A3 sedan received five out of five stars for overall protection, with four stars for total frontal-impact safety and five stars for side-impact safety.
Up front, the S3’s sport seats are supportive for aggressive driving, yet pretty comfortable on longer drives. Being related to Audi’s smallest sedan, though, the S3 isn’t all that roomy. Headroom up front is adequate, but rear legroom is pretty tight for adults. (The S3 certainly has more headroom in the back than the CLA45 AMG, however.) The S3’s trunk is also quite small. Its 10 cubic feet is certainly fine for daily errands and such, but it becomes more problematic if you’re thinking about packing up for a long road trip. The rear seat does fold down in a 60/40 split, at least.
There’s nothing to fault with the S3’s overall design, though. Though some may prefer flashier cabins adorned in swaths of wood or metal, the ultramodern S3 is beautiful in its simplicity. Yet when you look deeper, beyond its broader, minimalist look, you begin to appreciate its top-notch materials and intricate details, like its ornate, jet-engine-inspired air vents, finely crafted switchgear and the fluid action of the MMI display as it rises from and lowers back into the dash.
Every S3 includes that screen, but its display size depends on whether you opt for navigation. So, too, does the rotary controller. Without nav, it’s just a knob. With it, there is a pad on top that allows you to write letters with your finger when entering a destination. It’s cool and it works. Regardless of MMI version, however, controls for the stereo and other audio systems may take some time to get used to (especially if you’re used to a car with traditional dash-mounted stereo buttons), but they eventually become second nature.
The price sticker for the S3 was $47,045 loaded.

Until next week, drive safe and buckle up, it’s the law.

By Frank S. Washington

DETROIT – The seats in our 2015 Cadillac Escalade ESV were a little firm. But there was plenty of head room and the leg room was sufficient. We felt confident that two adults would be comfortable but three would be squeezed.
That was our observation about the third row seats of the Cadillac Escalade ESV. It only got better as we moved forward. The big sport-utility’s second row seats were captain’s chairs. Our only quibble was there was no center console for them. But they were heated. And the first row seats were cooled as well as heated and they provided a seating position that was as high as that of a full-size pickup truck.
A Cadillac Escalade ESV is bigger than a regular Escalade; you can call it the long-wheel-based version. That wheel-base is more than a foot, 14-inches, longer and its overall length is 20-inches longer than a regular Escalade which doubled the cargo space behind the third row.
It was a Cadillac, thus, the interior was outstanding. Real wood trim looked like they stripped the bark off a tree and then shaved a piece of wood off and put it in the Escalade.
The interior of our test vehicle was sheathed in chocolate brown leather that looked like it would be at home covering huge sofas or thick easy chairs.
Of course, there was the CUE system (Cadillac User Experience) with a new text to voice feature. Love it or hate it, the intuitive, proximity sensing, haptic capacitive system had a clean look, no buttons and it had a personality all its own. All contemporary Cadillacs are equipped with it and as we‘ve tested several we’ve grown more comfortable with this system.
Some features on this Escalade were new. It had LED daytime running lights in the front. The third rows seats were power folding. And the second row seat backs flopped forward with the push of a button.
Of course, there was OnStar with features like automatic crash response, turn-by-turn navigation, monthly vehicle diagnostics and stolen vehicle assistance. And it had an in-house navigation system, Bluetooth, voice controls, satellite radio and a Wi-Fi hotspot were amongst the equipment.
Amongst its other creature comforts were a head-up display, a smart key with remote start, power adjustable pedals, a 110 volt power outlet, 22-inch aluminum alloy wheels, a capless fueling system and a power liftgate.
It made sense that the Cadillac Escalade ESV had a rear vision camera, blind side alert, rear cross traffic alerts and a drive awareness package that featured lane departure warning.
Still, the most impressive thing about our Cadillac Escalade ESV was how it moved – effortlessly. We’re talking about a vehicle that weighed more than three-tons, 6,040 lbs. to be exact.
We had the four-wheel-drive version. Like all 2015 Cadillac Escalades, it was powered by a 6.2-liter V8 that made 420 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque at a not unreasonable 4,100 rpm.
Outfitted with cylinder deactivation, the Cadillac Escalade would use only four-cylinders when cruising at any speed, 20 mph or 80 mph. The system helped it attain a fuel rating of 14 mpg in the city, 20 mpg on the highway and 16 mpg combined. That might not sound like much but given its weight and the horsepower required to move it smoothly, it wasn’t bad.
Mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, this powertrain moved our Escalade smartly. It could get from zero to 60- mph in 5.98 seconds. That’s what Cadillac said and we didn’t quibble. The Escalade ESV even had a sport setting in the ride mode selector.
With a base price of $81,295 and $84,290 as tested, it is obvious that the 2015 Cadillac Escalade ESV is not for everyone. But for those who can afford it the Escalade ESV is an awfully luxurious package.

Frank S. Washington is editor of AboutThatCar.com.