Reaching the 40-year mark is a major achievement for any vehicle, and the Nissan Maxima reaches that ripe old age in 2021, leading the way as the Nissan brand’s flagship sedan.

Currently on its eight edition, the last major upgrade to the Maxima came in 2015, but for 2021 there is a limited-production 40th Anniversary Edition with some attractive design additions.

Even after all this time, and despite tough competition, the Maxima remains an attractive full-size sedan with a level of sportiness rarely found in the segment.

I recently tested a 2021 40th Anniversary Nissan Maxima and I’m back with a full report.

Maintaining a competitive advantage in the ever-changing sedan segment means reinvention from time to time, and Kia has taken that to heart.

After two decades of selling its midsize sedan under the Optima name, the automaker has decided to do a full redesign for 2021 and rebrand the vehicle as the Kia K5 — a more upscale, more powerful alternative better equipped to battle the segment sales leaders.

Highlights of this upgraded and renamed model also include a bolder style, and available all-wheel drive. I recently tested a 2021 Kia K5, and I’m back with a full report.

LOOKS

The exterior design of the K5 features a sleek yet aggressive redesign that is highlighted by sharp-looking headlights and is overall a much bolder look than the Optima offered. It will definitely catch your eye more than most sedan competitors. 

Exterior features include automatic LED reflector headlights, amber LED daytime running lights, power heated outside mirrors, an acoustic front windshield, and 16-inch alloy wheels.

The subcompact crossover market is quite saturated these days — which competitors including Honda’s HR-V, the Kia Seltos, Hyundai Venue, Mazda CX-30 and Jeep Renegade, among many others.

But Subaru, a brand that doesn’t top sales charts but has fiercely loyal followers, has perhaps the best offering in this segment — the Subaru Crosstrek, which gets a strong design upgrade, more powerful engine option and safety/tech upgrades for 2021. I recently spent some time behind the wheel of a 2021 Crosstrek Sport, and I’m back with a full report on a vehicle that spices up its segment.

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The exterior of the redesigned 2021 Crosstrek stands out from the competition, both in terms of its sleek look and unique colors offered. Subaru has never gone the way every other automaker has with its designs, and this is no exception.

The vehicle features a redesigned front fascia that includes a new bumper cover and grille, new wheel design, and new color options such as Plasma Yellow Pearl and Horizon Blue Pearl. I had a test vehicle with the yellow pearl color and it looked very sharp and unique on the roadways.

Defender is a classic British automotive nameplate from Land Rover with as much history as nearly any vehicle in existence. Stretching back all the way to 1948, when it was first introduced as the “Series 1” as a Jeep-inspired vehicle, this tough customer has seen a seven-decade run and gone through a handful of redesigns (with the Defender name coming into play starting in 1990). More than 2 million of these vehicles have been sold worldwide between all of its renditions over those seven decades.

For the 2020 model year, after a few years dormant (and not being sold in the U.S. since the 1990s), a newly remodeled version of the Defender returned to the world automotive stage to much fanfare, and that excitement continues into 2021. I recently tested the latest incarnation of the Defender and I’m back with a full report of how this classic vehicle contends in today’s automotive landscape.

LOOKS 

First let me just say that for a rugged and off-road capable vehicle, the Land Rover Defender is a beautiful vehicle that will catch your eye and looks like nothing else on the road.

The exterior design is squared off and tall (with up to 11.5 inches of ground clearance). The Defender shares limited similarity to a Jeep design, with the added bonus of being much more attractive. Two-door and four-door versions of the Defender are offered.