Out northeast in the 2025 Ram 1500 Tradesman Crew Cab on Labor Day, we pulled off Colo. 14 onto a dusty trail roadway heading north, with 40 or 50 wind turbines visible atop the hills.

We plotted this drive into the rolling grasslands of northeast Weld County for purposes of testing Ram’s new Hurricane 3.0-liter, inline-6, twin-turbo engine, a successor to the long-loved Hemi V-8. The Tradesman trim level is ideally fit for the trip, from its somewhat spartan-like painted steel wheels (18-inchers) and durable black cloth seats to the roominess and comfort of the interior, with strong four-wheel-drive capability.

The Hurricane I-6, tied to an 8-speed automatic transmission, is rated at 420 horsepower/469 lb.-ft. of torque, has an anti-spin differential at the rear axle, payload of 2,300 pounds and maximum tow capacity of 11,570 pounds. The Hurricane is quieter than the Hemi and is fairly close on acceleration. Two other 6-cylinder engines are offered by Ram, a less-expensive V-6 and a high-output version of 540 horsepower for the Hurricane I-6.

While still on the dirt, we crossed a cattle guard, turned to the left and soon accessed a paved road just north of the ghost town of Keota. Driving north to Grover, the driver information center told me the Ram was averaging around 23 miles per gallon. Having owned two Hemi-powered pickups in the past and reviewing a dozen or more through the years, I don’t remember recording anywhere near 23 mpg.

At Grover, finish-work is underway on a new library, the first for the town in several years. We stopped at the Grover Market Basket and Country Deli, where Jan and I were served a BLT sandwich, hamburger, two bags of chips and two soft drinks by Jay, a friendly waiter, for less than $10.

We continued our drive north, both on-road and offroad, to Hereford, only a couple miles south of the Wyoming line, then turned back.

Pickup pricing has risen rapidly in recent years, and the Tradesman was no exception, with sticker price of $57,325. Base price on a Tradesman is around  $42,000. Bed length in the review model was 5-foot-7, with spray-in bedliner, a deployable bed-step, tri-fold tonneau cover and trailer-brake controller. The Ram Tradesman is built in Sterling Heights, Mich.

Safety features include lane-management, adaptive cruise, blind-spot and cross-path detection, backup camera and more. Among other options are Uconnect 5 with 8.4-inch touchscreen display, remote start,

Starting prices for other Ram trim levels are HFE $43,035; Big Horn $46,930; Warlock $56,255; Laramie $62,025; Rebel $66,190; Limited $77,150; Longhorn $77,640; Tungsten $89,070.

Nissan has added the Rock Creek trim to its strong-selling Rogue compact crossover. The model becomes a bit more rugged and its sticker price – $37,610 – makes it worth a second glance.

It offers a more adventuresome look, from the tubular roof rack and crossbars atop the Rogue, the gloss black grille and red Nissan emblem out front and the Falken Wild Peak all-terrain tires on black wheels at the corners. Hill-descent control has been added to its all-wheel-drive setup. Other features are gloss black sideview mirrors, water-repellant leatherette seats with lava red stitching, an HD Intelligent Around-View Monitor and rain-sensing windshield wipers.

The Rogue is Nissan’s best-seller, by far. Introduced in 2007 as an ’08 model, Nissan has sold more than 3 million Rogues in the U.S. For the past 10 years, it has been third highest in the country in sales among sport utility vehicles.

Nissan expects the new, outdoorsy, offroad-oriented look to help retain the lofty sales perch against a minor backlash from the decision in 2022 to embrace a small 3-cylinder turbocharged power source in place of the 2.5-liter, 4-cylinder.

Though the little turbo matches up closely in horsepower with Toyota and Honda compacts, the Rogue often seems slower in initial response than those two competitors when the turbo is called upon. Today’s power source is the 1.5-liter, turbocharged 3-cylinder engine, rated at 201 horsepower and 225 lb.-ft. of torque, mated to an Xtronic continuously variable transmission (CVT) with all-wheel drive.

The Rogue is built at a Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tenn. Its overall length of 183 inches is longer than the Toyota RAV4, shorter than the Honda CR-V and about the same as the Chevy Equinox and Subaru Forester. Wheelbase for the Rogue is 106.5 inches.

Base price for the Rogue Rock Creek trim, including basic ProPilot Assist, is $35,420; add $1,390 for destination and $800 for premium package of heated steering wheel, wireless charging pad, hands-free liftgate and four-way power passenger seat. Beginning prices for other trims are $28,145 for S, $29,895 for SV, $34,495 for SL and $38,395 for Platinum.

ProPilot is a driver-assist system in the Rogue combining steering and intelligent cruise control technologies, managing throttle and brakes to relieve driver stress while making long drives more comfortable.

The Rogue’s strengths are its quiet, comfortable ride, roominess including cargo space, economy, interior and exterior styling. It offers a user-friendly infotainment system, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility and a premium sound system. You also get rearview monitor, automatic emergency braking, lane-departure warning, remote engine start, 8-inch touchscreen display and a 12-volt power outlet in the cargo space. The Rogue Rock Creek EPA rating is 27 city, 32 highway, 29 combined.

Among Rogue Rock Creek competitors are Subaru Forester Wilderness, Kia Sportage X-Pro, Hyundai Tucson XRT.

Reminiscing about my old, original home town, as well as my many years in newspapering and automobiles, was fulfilling to my soul at a Sunday gathering at Wray (Sept. 22, 2024).

Driving a very comfortable 2024 Mercedes-Benz EQE 350+ electric SUV, I was responding to an invitation from Ardith Hendrix, director, to a book-signing at the Wray Museum. My book is “2,600 Cars and a Dog Sled.”

The crowd was very welcoming and warm in the town’s museum structure just off Main Street to the east. I was born at Wray and lived there 14 years before moving to Sterling. The book is available through BudWellsBooks.com or by contacting [email protected].

Rainfall Saturday night and Sunday morning disrupted plans for an outdoor display of autos by members of the Wray River City Cruisers car club.

Inside the museum auditorium, a snippet of my talk recalled my last day of school in the 8^th grade at Wray Junior High School in late May 1951. We were dismissed early, before lunch. Walking home with friends Duane Muller, Gary Jones and Leo Carson in a light rain, I mentioned fishing. Back then, Colorado had a statewide fishing season which began, I believe May 25, two or three days before we ended our school year. And the state fish hatchery west of town then reared trout and kept Chief Creek and the Republican River stocked.

As we walked and talked, none of the others seemed interested in fishing, due to the wet weather. I went home, not quite yet lunchtime, talked with Mom a few minutes, grabbed my fishing pole and bag, walked the two blocks to the river. The rainfall was a bit heavier now, I walked upstream aways, found a good-looking bend, off the backyard of Leola Conway. I crawled under overhanging branches of a large, streamside bush to keep most of the rain off me, very carefully tossing the baited hook to avoid the overhead limbs. In about 15 minutes, I caught two rainbows, hurried home, cleaned the fish and Mom cooked them for lunch.

I was president of my 8^th-grade class, knew everyone in school and most of them knew me. Fast forward three months, we had moved to Sterling. I showed up for first day of classes at Sterling High School. I realized I was the least-known of the little-known freshmen class of 125 students at SHS. I went from “well-known” to “least-known,” a humbling experience, yet an experience of growth, I’m sure.

At the conclusion of my Sunday talk, Jonnie Johnson pulled his very rare 1970 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda out front of the museum for me and others of my family to view. It is a black coupe, original, with 36,000 miles. A daughter, Kim Parker, and son, Brent Wells, accompanied Jan and me to the event, and son Kurt and daughter-in-law Tammy, enroute home to Littleton from Nebraska, stopped by.

Bob and Becky Bledsoe of the Bledsoe Cattle Co. and owners of the Bonanza Ford business at Wray attended, and I enjoyed a visit, too, with Richard Jeurink, a former partner with Bledsoe in the dealership. The Ford business still operates from the same building (expanded twice) constructed in 1944 during my dad’s ownership. I talked with Tim Wisdom, who formerly owned the Wray Lumber Company and sent me a letter three years ago regarding my car columns in The Denver Post, so meaningful it hangs on a wall in my office.

The EQE 350 uses a rear-mounted 215 kW electric motor producing 288 horsepower and 417 lb./ft. of torque with regenerative braking system, steering wheel paddles and 10-degree rear steering.

The 145-mile trip in the rain from Greeley on U.S. 34 carried us past Wiggins, onto I-76 through Fort Morgan and Brush, then back on U.S. 34 through Akron and Yuma to Wray. The Mercedes EQE 350 has a 90.6 kWh liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery pack, and fully charged overnight in my garage, showed 388 miles of range as we left for Wray on Sunday morning.

By the time we reached Fort Morgan late in the afternoon on our return drive from Wray, we had driven 235 miles and much of the excess driving range had been used; thus, we recharged for the final 55 miles to Greeley.

The Mercedes’ Watt-hours per mile were 297, which converts, I believe, to 3.4 miles per kWh. The SUV electric rode on Goodyear Eagle 21-inch range-optimized summer tires. Its EPA MPGe rating is 99 city, 88 highway.

Jan and I on Monday did some testing of the Mercedes’ active steering assist, lane-keeping assist and automatic lane change on paved rural roads. The safety systems were quite positive, with a good measure of caution.

With the driver assists and impressive comfort packages, the Mercedes sticker price climbed to $88,290. It is assembled in Vance, Ala.; the engine and transmission are built in Germany.

Choice for a 600-mile drive to Jeffrey Lake near Brady, Neb., and back in late July was the 2024 Lucid Air Pure electric sedan. Lucid Air is an American automotive company headquartered in Newark, Calif., and produces electric cars at its factory in Casa Grande, Ariz.

This was my first opportunity to drive a Lucid. “End range anxiety with this one,” said Lucid, “for it can go 420 miles on a single charge.” It is 300 miles to Jeffrey Lake, where Jan, Kim and I joined Kurt and Tammy Wells, Ryan and Erik at their lakehouse.

The Lucid Air Pure is a roomy, rear-wheel-drive midsize electric sedan with a rear-mounted motor delivering 430 horsepower and 406 lb.-ft. of torque, with an 88.0-kWh battery pack. A smooth, strong performer, it will run 0 to 60 in 4.2 seconds. The lengthy sedan, 195.9 inches, rode on 20-inch wheels shod with Michelin Pilot Sport EV tires.

The Pure fell short in its range expectations, as we stopped three times for recharging. For, you know, there was the heat (96 degrees at North Platte) and, of course, we used the air-conditioning, and the wind blew, and I maintained higher speeds of the interstate highways, and a bit of added weight came from the three of us with our luggage.

Exacerbating the range drain are problems with the chargers and charging systems aside from the electric automobiles. I got an earful of that over the weekend, particularly at our long stop at North Platte.

“Outstanding,” Wayne Williams of Central City, Neb., said of his 2024 GMC Hummer Electric ($100,000-plus sticker price), but after more than 2 hours was upset at the slow rate of charge at an Electrify America charger system. Trevor Sands of Denver said he was bothered by charging errors and minimal range due to weather with his Ioniq5 electric, but, otherwise, was very satisfied with the car. A traveler from Illinois was “ticked off” that the 350 kW charger plugged into his Ioniq5 was delivering the energy buildup slowly, no faster than the 150 kW next to him.

So, a charging station in place of a gas station? A paradigm it’s not – at least not yet.

Heading home, we first stopped at a SWTCH charging station in North Platte, I plugged in the charger at its port in the driver-side front fender; information indicated recharging would be complete in approximately 9 ½ hours. I immediately pulled the plug, we headed on down the street for a better source – a group of Electrify America chargers, 150 kW and 350 kW. ChargePoint at Sterling, added 90 miles in 10 minutes.

Sticker price for the high-tech ’24 Lucid Air Pure sedan is $74,350. Among interior highlights are a 34-inch glass cockpit display screen, 3-zone automatic climate control, Wunderbox onboard boost charger, automatic emergency braking.

Starting prices for the three higher trim levels are $79,400 for Touring, $111,400 for Grand Touring and

$250,500 for Sapphire.

Fully charged in my garage before the Lucid was returned to drivers for Automotive Media Solutions this week, the Pure electric showed range of 383 miles.

Funeral mass for Michael James Tynan, 75, who died Aug. 9, 2024, was Friday morning, Aug. 16, at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Denver.

I met Mike almost 50 years ago at Tynan’s Volkswagen dealership on South Havana Street in Aurora, where Mike and his brother, Pete, worked for their uncle, “Big Ed” Tynan.

“Come on out and drive anything you want, anytime,” the Tynans said to me, and I did that for many years.

Mike, born June 6, 1949, to James and Mary Jo Tynan, graduated from Regis High School and Regis  College. A beloved family man, he was known for his unwavering faith and vibrant charisma.

He is survived by his wife, Angela, two sons Casey and John, daughter Meghan Riecker, seven grandchildren, sisters Carol Spierings, Mary Tolley and Joan Johnson, brother Pete and many other relatives.

Mike and Pete, in an 18-month period from June 1979 to January 1981, provided four Volkswagens for my tests – a Rabbit four-door, Rabbit mini-pickup, the newly introduced Jetta and a Dasher wagon. The Tynan brothers continued pushing the product, and in 1987 Tynan’s Volkswagen was ranked No. 1 in VW sales in the country.

Following are excerpts from a review of the ’79 Rabbit four-door, which appeared in The Denver Post on July 7, 1979:

German car workers, known for excellence in producing quality bodies, turned the building of gasoline-powered Volkswagen Rabbits over to the Americans this year (1979) – with no apparent lessening in the car’s standards.

Some say the American version is more to their liking. The only basic differences are that the U.S.-built Rabbits have rectangular headlamps instead of round and have more brightly colored interiors.

A test of a Rabbit four-door built at Westmoreland, Pa., brought out the same features as a test 18 months ago of one built in Germany – it’s a high-mileage, fast 4-cylinder, with good handling in its front-wheel-drive fashion and of good fit-and-finish.

The bright red interior is flashy and refreshing, the car was a good runner (it will go from 0 to 60 in 11.8 seconds) and its 5-speed transmission shifted very easily. Automatic shoulder belts are a safety feature.

The 89-cubic-inch engine is transversely mounted and has a compression ratio of 8-to-1. It averaged 28 miles a gallon in town driving and 35 on a rolling highway (EPA rating is 42 mpg). Wheelbase is 94.4 inches; curb weight is 1,800 pounds. With destination charge of $164, the window-sticker price totaled $6,190.

Very impressive performances were drawn the past week from the driver’s seat of the 2024 Genesis GV60 all-wheel-drive electric, a small SUV crossover, on the route toward Estes Park. As sales increase down the road among the electric models, the GV60 will compete with the Ford Mustang Mach-e, Audi Q4 e-tron, Volvo XC40 Recharge and several others.

The GV60 is the future; on the road three months earlier it was an “end of the line” review aboard the Genesis G70 in our annual Memorial Day weekend swing through Wray and Sterling, as I was informed that production of that particular model was being discontinued as of that day at Ulsan, Korea.

In regard to the sporty GV60 electric, a highlight was use of the Genesis’ Boost button when coming out of the second switchback on the Devil’s Gulch Road before reaching Estes Park. I’ve written many times of these switchbacks. That second switchback is so tight, and steep, drivers more often than not seek the lowest and slowest gear in order to make the turn while climbing on the upward right-side lane opposite those motorists coming down with so much more force and speed.

And when you accomplish the turn back to the west at slow pace and face 80 yards of sharply rising straightaway grade, that’s when the Boost button came through the most satisfactorily of any I’ve ever tested. The Boost button is on the steering wheel; when pushed, it instantly lends the dual electric powertrain a 10-second jump of horsepower to 483 from a normal 429. I appreciated one of the smoothest, quickest accelerations ever, up and over the hill to Estes.

I face the switchbacks often, as I opt for the Devil’s Gulch roadway through Glen Haven from Drake, instead of sticking to the U.S. 34 route.

The GV60 is equipped with a 72.4 kWh battery, which can be charged overnight with the level-2 charger in my garage to a range of 262 miles. The drive to Estes and back, plus some in-town maneuvers reduced the battery by 45 percent, or 115 miles. Its front and rear electric motors are of 160 kW each. MPG-e rating for the GV60 is 97 city and 82 highway (90 combined)

Beneath the hood up front is a small storage area and at the rear is a power liftgate for accessing cargo space. It rides on 21-inch wheels with Michelin tires.

Nappa leather seats, blue in color, are heated and ventilated in front, heated in the rear, with a heated steering wheel, too. A floating center stack opens up space at the floor; it also features a crystal sphere shifter that rotates when the car is started.

Sitting side-by-side at the dashboard are 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and same-size infotainment center, including navigation, Bang & Olufsen audio.

The Genesis GV60 Performance trim carried sticker price of $71,320; the cheaper Advanced all-wheel-drive model begins at $61,745. The GV60s are built in Ulsan, Korea, in the same factory which is shutting down production of the Genesis G70.

The end of the line for the G70 is reportedly to enable further electrification of the Genesis brand, such as the GV60. Genesis is the luxury manufacturing division of the Hyundai Motor Group. I was driving the G70 sport sedan in order to test its 300-horsepower, turbocharged 2.5-liter inline 4-cylinder, which replaced a 3.3-liter, twinturbo V-6 from the last G70 I drove a couple years ago. The 2.5 engine was borrowed from the Kia Stinger, which has also been discontinued. The Genesis G70 is a dressed-up version of the Stinger.

The G70 performance was good, with quick steering, strong acceleration, standard Brembo brakes and overall fuel mileage of 27.3 for the 450 miles of travel. Its red brake calipers go well with the stylish sedan’s low-profile Michelins on 19-inch sport alloy wheels. Inside, the seats are attractive with quilted Nappa leather, double-stitched at the seams, and the Lexicon premium audio was of pleasant sound. Legroom is tight in the rearseating area and trunk space is only 10.5 cubic feet.

A stop at The Orphanage in Yuma put us in touch with Richard Birnie, who, along with Ron Wenger, oversees the automotive-themed gallery, which also displays works of local and regional artists. Featured for a short while among the vintage cars is a 1929 Stutz Model M Cabriolet, used by owner Norman Campbell Chambers in Europe in 1940 to avoid detention in Spain by the German army. The assessment of hail damage to his building required Birnie’s attention the afternoon we stopped; a similar situation existed at Wray with Bonanza Ford, which reported hail damage to 40 automobiles.

Later in the Memorial Day’s long weekend, a day after a high school graduation party for Claire Lindenmayer and Lenna Martinez, we drove the G70 to The Cowboy Church at Johnstown for the wedding of Carol Jean Archer and Harold Kent Sundling, a fellow automotive reviewer specializing in trucks and trailers. During the reception at the Johnstown YMCA, we enjoyed a visit with Sundling’s older brother, Roland, who retold the “surreal” exodus of the Pentagon after it was struck by the hijacked airliner on Sept. 11, 2001.

The brief production of the Genesis G70 began in 2017. The model we drove last week, the 2.5T, was sticker-priced at $49,050.

Mazda’s spacious, new CX-70 SUV, a 2025 model, showed up tuned and timed for a very busy Saturday for Jan and me.

With two rows of seats and a 40-cubic-feet cargo area, the CX-70 is same-sized as Mazda’s three-row CX-90.

Sent our way was the CX-70 3.3 Turbo S Premium Plus mild-hybrid model, equipped with a 340-horsepower, inline-6 engine, 8-speed automatic transmission, all-wheel drive and a small electric motor as a power boost and fuel-mileage enhancer.

The 5,200-pounder, 201 inches in overall length, handles twists and bends and climbing tasks in the manner of a smaller and lighter crossover and its EPA fuel rating of 23 city/28 highway is more than adequate.

The turbo’s performance is impressive; switch from Normal to Sport Drive mode brings higher shift points, of course, and adds an audible rumble, plus providing a visual appeal of red flash inside the instrument panel. Also available is an Offroad mode, which activates traction assist through increased brake force on wheels without traction.

First leg of the Saturday commitments was from Greeley to Sterling, for lunch meeting of the Sterling High School Alumni Foundation committee at the River City Grill. Other attendees included James Leh, chairman; Jolene Maul, Justin Weber and Don Carey. We met and visited with SHS’s new principal, Jeff Hoff, and his wife. Before heading for a dinner meeting north of Cheyenne, Wyo., Jan and I visited with my ailing sister, Norma Wagner, and her husband, Dave.

The turboed Mazda clipped along at a good pace on Colo. 14 to Ault, then north on U.S. 85 to Cheyenne. From there we found Horse Creek Drive, north of Cheyenne, and arrived at the home of Tim Coy and Cynthia, for a bit of housewarming, for they moved there recently from Louisville.

It was with great interest I leafed through the just-published Cadillac Old Car Club book, covering all things Cadillac in the 1970s. Coy, a page layout specialist at the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post for a number of years, has continued his talent with the Cadillac club since retiring from The Post.

On the subject of books, mine (“2,600 Cars and a Dog Sled, Bud Wells’ 67 Years in Newspapering and Automobiles”) continues to sell. It can be ordered through BudWellsBooks.com or by phone or text 303-549-4464.

Another just released is “Dude, Where’s My Flying Car,” by Tim Jackson, former head of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association. I served as an editor for the book and received a hand-delivered copy one day last week. It can be ordered through Amazon.com.

From the 300 miles driven last Saturday, the Mazda CX-70 averaged 27.2 miles per gallon of premium fuel. An interior highlight is the butterscotch-colored suede-finished dash front and nappa leather-trimmed seats. The CX-70 is built in Hofu, Japan. Sticker price is $57,715. Also soon to be offered is a PHEV plug-in hybrid version, providing 26 miles of electric drive.

Strong half-ton performance is offered by the AT4X trim and Duramax inline 3.0-liter, light-duty, 6-cylinder turbodiesel on the 2024 GMC Sierra 1500. Ratings are 305 horsepower, 495 lb.-ft. torque, towing capacity 9,300 pounds.

Entry requires “step high and jump a bit” to contend with the rock rails, offroad suspension and 2-inch lift. Once in the heated/ventilated leather seats, it is a magnificent interior to appreciate, with 13.4-inch color touchscreen infotainment, 12-speaker Bose premium audio, 15-inch head-up display, power sunroof.

The impressively structured Sierra AT4X is priced at $88,585; I can recall only two pickups I’ve driven with higher pricetags – both electrics, a Hummer and F-150 Lightning.

The 10 most expensive pickups I’ve driven through the years:

• ‘23 GMC Hummer electric $110,295;
• ‘22 Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum electric $94,004;
• ‘24 GMC Sierra AT4X Duramax turbodiesel $88,000;
• ‘20 Ram 1500 TRX $87,370;
• ‘22 Ford F150 Raptor Super Crew $82,060;
• ‘23 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali Ultimate 4WD light-duty 3.0-liter inline turbodiesel $81,000;
• ‘18 Ram 3500 Laramie Longhorn Crew Cab turbodiesel $80,115;
• ‘17 Ram 3500 Crew Cab dually $79,965;
• ‘23 Toyota Tundra Capstone $78,709;
• ‘22 GMC Sierra 1500 AT4X $76,790.

We did little offroading with the beefed-up Sierra, though a nice, smooth highway drive last Saturday morning was to the PACE Center in Parker for a noontime memorial service for Roy Morgan, who died April 4.

Morgan, a classmate of mine at Sterling High School, with one helicopter and a single hospital contract in Colorado in 1980 founded Air Methods, which today conducts annually more than 100,000 air medical transports.

Air Method executives in May 2024 conducted the two-hour service for Morgan, who served as president, CEO and director of the corporation, and was inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame. The two-hour service was concluded with a “Missing Man Formation Aerial Salute” over the terrace at the PACE Center.

Little more than a week after our graduation from Sterling High in 1955, Roy married Dorothy Dubois, another classmate and a cousin of Jan’s. Dorothy passed away in 2016; Roy later married Dian Horton. Other survivors include his daughter, Debi, and son, Roger, and their families.

Earlier last week, another highway run took Jan and me to the New York Deli News in Denver for lunch with friends Mary Conway and Ken Baldwin.

That drive and the later one to Parker weren’t enough to boost the Sierra above the 19-20 mpg range. While the light-duty, 6-cylinder turbodiesels produce mid-20s miles per gallon for the standard GMC Sierra 1500, it doesn’t hold up for the AT4X with its front and rear e-locking differentials, large wheels and tires, shocks with increased damping force, skid plates and heavier curb weight. My overall mpg was 20.4; its EPA combined rating is 19.

The Toyota Land Cruiser, a competitor of Jeeps and Range Rovers for offroad toughness until it was discontinued in 2021, is back – much trimmer and somewhat current in exterior styling. Built in Tokyo, it is of five-passenger design, with two rows of seats.

From its base price of $57,345, the addition of optional rock rails, roof rack and skid plates pushed sticker total just past $60,000. That price, believe it or not, is $30,000 below the sticker on the 2021 Land Cruiser I tested three years ago, just before the model was discontinued.

In preparing for the reintroduction of the Land Cruiser, Toyota replaced its big, old body-on-frame unit with the modern GA-F platform, still body-on-frame but narrower and shorter and lighter, using new techniques for saving weight while increasing rigidity. The new Land Cruiser, in the 5,000-pound curb weight, offers locking center and rear differentials. It rides on Yokohama Geolandar 18-inch tires. Regarding curb weight, the old one was closer to 6,000 pounds.

To counter performance from the previous 381-horsepower, 5.7-liter V-8 engine, Toyota has equipped the ’24 Land Cruiser with its “i-Force Max” hybrid drivetrain, a 2.4 turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, an electric motor, 8-speed automatic transmission, fulltime four-wheel drive. Its low-range torque, boosted by the electric motor, was noticeably quick; impressive, too, was the 4Lo Crawl Control tests in offroad mode in the sandhills. Ratings for the 2.4 engine are 326 horsepower, 465 lb.-ft. of torque.

Most of my driving miles with the ’24 model averaged 21 to 23 miles per gallon; EPA estimates are 22 mpg city/25 highway. That big one I drove in 2021 averaged 15.6. The overall length of the 2024 Land Cruiser at 193.8 inches is about an inch shorter than the ’21 model.

Land Rover 1958 is the base model which I tested; it reflects the year of the Land Cruiser’s unveiling in the U.S. The midlevel trim is simply the Land Cruiser and the top-of-the-line is the Land Cruiser First Edition.

The Lexus GX550 is built on the same platform as is the Land Cruiser, though the GX is powered by a twin-turbo, 3.4-liter V-6 and the Land Cruiser by the 4-cylinder hybrid package.

All 2024 Land Cruiser models come standard with Toyota Safety Sense 3.0, the company’s suite of active safety and convenience systems. Including precollision system with pedestrian detection; lane-departure alert with steering assist; full-speed range dynamic radar cruise control; lane-tracing assist; road-sign assist; automatic high beams; proactive driving assist.

The pre-collision system with pedestrian detection has enhanced detection capabilities, thanks to new system sensors. In addition to pedestrian and bicyclist detection, the system also includes capability to detect a motorcyclist.

Let’s take a look back – long ago – in contrast with review of the sleek 2024 Volvo V90 Cross Country Mild Hybrid Wagon.

One hundred years ago, late May 1924, my dad, Dale Wells, graduated from Burlington High School and in the same week began employment as a mechanic at the town’s Ford garage, operated by Cecil Reed.

Dad’s older brother, Albert Wells, was already working as a salesman at the Reed Ford dealership. Dad and Albert would become Ford dealers themselves down the road a few years – Albert at Cozad, Neb., and dad at Wray.

These happenings merit mention after all these years, in that it marks 100 years that my family has been associated with the automobile business.

As U.S. auto builders entering year 1942 shifted gears and cleared production lines of new automobiles, they prepared their manufacturing capabilities for the Allied efforts in World War II.

Dad at the time had not only the Ford/Mercury franchises for Wray, but also Chrysler/Plymouth, and bought the last 1942 Chrysler sent his way before the shutdown; he and my mother drove the Chrysler Windsor sedan, with blue body and cream-colored roof, through the war years.

It performed with a 142-horsepower, straight-8-cylinder engine and Chrysler’s relatively new Fluid Drive transmission. General Motors was in the early stages of its Hydra-matic transmission. We all know which prevailed in that competition.

Two chapters, “The Garage at Wray” and “The Chrysler at 100,” add discussion in much more detail in my book. “2,600 Cars and a Dog Sled, Bud Wells’ 67 Years in Newspapering and Automobiles” is offered in soft-cover ($28.50 including shipping) or hard-cover ($38.50 including shipping) and can be ordered through Budwellsbooks.com or [email protected], or by phone or text 303-549-4464.

2024 Volvo V90 mild hybrid

The anticipated transition to electric automobiles has assembly lines in a state of flux for most manufacturers heading into summer 2024, such as “scrap the Malibu, electrify the Hummer, toss the Hemi, Mach-e or no Mach-e, Tesla this and Tesla that, charging points, etc., etc.”

Volvo, builder of wonderful internal-combustion-engine-powered wagons for 50 years, was one of the first manufacturers to commit to electrifying its fleet.

The sleekly styled and comfortably seated V90 exists yet due to installation of a 48-volt mild hybrid system with regenerative braking. The Cross Country B6 version is powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine and 8-speed automatic transmission with all-wheel drive. The regen braking is a product of the mild hybrid, which also is used to start the engine and boost the engine in acceleration, all of which help the wagon’s EPA estimate of 23 city and 29 highway miles per gallon. My overall average was 24.2.

The Ultimate trim level lends Bowers & Wilkins premium sound, Nappa leather, massaging front seats, head-up display, lifted suspension with rear air and a crystal shifter that adds assurance the wagon is of luxury rank.

The V90, built in Torslanda, Sweden, carries sticker price of $73,380.