Google has announced that it will drop support for the physical Wallet Card starting June 30. "You'll no longer be able to add money to your Wallet Balance after May 1, 2016," the company said in a blog post. "Any transactions made with your Wallet Card after June 30 will not be processed. Any pending transactions made before June 30 will still post to your account." Those looking for alternatives can opt for offerings from American Express or Simple, Google suggests, adding that both offer debit accounts with similar features, including a card. The Mountain View, California-based...
The 2016 Nissan Pathfinder is a large three-row crossover SUV. It's a very useful vehicle, with seating for seven. It's not quite the Pathfinder you might expect, if you haven't driven one in a few years. The Pathfinder has undergone a few big transitions in its career as a people hauler. In its latest edition, it's given up on its truck-based SUV...
In its base guise, Nissan's GT-R spins out a very healthy 545 horsepower, and a track-oriented NISMO model cranks that up to 600 hp. The 2016 GT-R ranks as one of the world's top-performing production cars. With a seemingly brutish character that hides a surprising level of capability and accessible performance, it's pretty much a class of one...
Over the course of this generation, Nissan's current 370Z has built on its long heritage, resulting in a thoroughly modern sports car with excellent driving dynamics and (mostly) excellent ride quality. The base car is available in either coupe or convertible form. The NISMO model is coupe-only and turns up the dial even more, for track-focused...
The 2016 Nissan Titan XD is all-new, which is a much needed upgrade for the formerly oldest full-size truck offered in the U.S. market. Made in Mississippi and fronted by a new 5.0-liter Cummins diesel, the 2016 Titan XD is intended to split the difference between light-duty and heavy-duty pickups, offering greater hauling and towing capability...
The 2016 Nissan Sentra has evolved into compact car for buyers who value the features, amenities, and even styling of a mid-size sedan with value-oriented pricing. The trade-off for the Sentra's focus on comfort and livability is lackluster performance. It's not nearly as fun to drive as rivals like the Mazda 3, Ford Focus, and Honda Civic. That...
Although its design remains essentially unchanged, the 2016 Lexus IS sees a reconfigured three-tier lineup that caters to a variety of buyers with four- and six-cylinder engines, rear- and all-wheel drive, and F Sport packages across the range. The most noticeable piece of design on the Lexus IS is the "spindle" grille at the front of the car. F...
The 2016 Lexus GX 460, slotted below the full-size Lexus LX 570, is built on the same platform as the foreign-market Toyota Land Cruiser Prado. It is related to the Toyota 4Runner, but the GX gets the more powerful V-8 engine in lieu of the 4Runner's V-6. The GX also delivers on the Lexus promise for luxurious interior refinement, modern...
The Lexus LS family has one of the best reputations among luxury cars; it's hard to name a single area in which these big, spacious sedans don't delight those who want top-tier comfort and technology. And for that matter, they have a hard-earned reputation for stellar reliability and longevity, and are the fiscally smart picks over their often...
The 2016 Lexus ES is a comfort-focused luxury sedan based on Toyota's Avalon architecture. The ES serves as a softer, more comfort-minded counterpoint to the performance-oriented IS and GS sport sedans in the Lexus lineup. Yet the ES family does a decent job of appeasing both the comfort-oriented luxury shoppers and the ones who expect a little...
This year brings the biggest news for the Lexus GS since its 2013 redesign as a turbocharged GS 200t joins the V-6-powered GS 350 and GS 450h hybrid in the lineup. Unlike Lexus's ES sedans, which appeal to comfort-oriented buyers, the GS is a sport sedan, first and foremost. As the 2016 GS 200t, GS 350 and GS 450h hybrid, the mid-size Lexus...
The 2016 Lexus GS F is the fourth model in Lexus' performance-oriented F sub-brand. It follows the IS F of 2008, the 2012 LF A, and the 2015 RC F. A mid-size four-door sedan, the GS F is the latest salvo at rivals like the BMW M5, Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, Cadillac CTS-V, and Audi RS 7. Styling is far more aggressive than base versions of the GS...
The Lexus RC F doesn't have a high-performance sheen built up over decades. Rivals like the BMW M4 have considerable laurels to rest on, in that regard. But the RC F comes the closest yet of any Lexus to nailing the elusive German recipe for track and street two-door performance. Competition for the RC F includes the vaunted BMW M4 (formerly the...
The Lexus RC is designed to compete with established luxury-brand sport coupes such as the BMW 4-Series, Audi A5, and Mercedes-Benz C-Class. And it comes closer to the mark than any of the Japanese automaker's previous coupe-convertible challengers ever did. Lexus has expanded the RC lineup with a pair of new models. The RC 200t becomes the base...
The 2016 Lexus LX 570 is in some ways a glorious throwback—to a time when plus-sized luxury SUVs with solid truck underpinnings and big-displacement V-8 engines were a lot more common. The LX 570 is all that, and more. Lexus has over the years made the LX a Range Rover–tackling counterpoint to its flagship LS sedans; and since it's...
The Lexus RX is the luxury brand’s best-selling model; and for 2016, it enters its fourth generation with more interior space, a more lavish look and feel, and a suite of new safety-tech features. The look of the 2016 Lexus RX is described as bolder—a bit of a cliche in today’s automotive-design terms, perhaps. Yet...
The 2016 Lexus NX lineup enters its second model year mostly unchanged. This entirely new model brought several firsts to the Lexus lineup with its introduction last year—a first compact crossover entry for the brand, the first model for the brand with a turbocharged engine, and the first utility vehicle to be given a new design language...