Auto News & New car review

You have to feel sorry for the Ferrari engineers and designers. Every time they succeed in producing an outstanding car, their next job is to improve on it.
This was the case for the 599 GTB Fiorano. The brief was to design a two-door, front mid-engined, rear wheel drive, 2-seater, luxury car with performance that betters that of the iconic F40. Oh, and it has to look stunning. Read the rest of this entry »

Living in Southern California, it’s always a fun week when something with the ability to go topless arrives on your doorstep. With 20 years of top-down motoring chops under it’s familiar ‘soap bar’ shape, espying the bright red, ‘Power Retractable Hard Top’ MX-5 brings a smile to one’s face. Read the rest of this entry »

Timing is everything. My week with a 2008 Nissan Frontier Crew Cab LE pickup in 4×4 trim coincided with the first serious storms of the season. Heavy rain, strong winds, deep standing water, and streams crossing the road were the order of the day. The Frontier was the perfect vehicle for those less than lovely conditions. Read the rest of this entry »

If you like the concept of the original GTI and you’ve grown up a bit to appreciate some of the finer things of life you might be just the ideal customer for the R32. This limited edition funster one-ups the GTI as a fast little Golf/Rabbit with enough extra content to make me drool. Read the rest of this entry »

First we heard ruminations that India’s Tata Motors was considering a purchase of Italian bike manufacturer MV Agusta, followed shortly thereafter by similar rumors regarding Mahindra, another huge Indian automaker. The latest company rumored to be keeping tabs on a possible purchase of MV Agusta is none other than Harley-Davidson, which would provide some rather interesting storylines to consider. Read the rest of this entry »

Mitsubishi announced today that it will unveil the production version of its Lancer Sportback and Lancer Sportback Ralliart at the Paris Motor Show in early October. The Lancer Sportback is just what it sounds like, a five-door hatchback version of the recently redesigned Lancer model that’s on sale around the world. Mitsubishi already revealed in its latest global business report that it would be selling the Lancer Sportback in the U.S. as well, but the only time frame given was sometime after the introduction of the Evo X, which is already on sale here. Read the rest of this entry »