Long Term: 2016 Ford Focus RS

I now have two German cars in my garage. My sleek gray 2011 BMW M3 sedan has been joined by a raucously blue 2016 Ford Focus RS hatchback. If you are scratching your head and thinking that Ford is an American nameplate, you are, of course, right. But the Focus RS is manufactured in Germany…

Test Drive: 2006 Lotus Elise

It is 9:45am, and I am raising my day's first cup of black tea to my lips to clear the grogginess from my mind. Three sips in, I laugh at my own stupidity—I don't need caffeine, the Lotus Elise that is about to arrive in my driveway will shake me awake! As you know, the…

Review: 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Z51

I picked up my 2014 Corvette Stingray rental on a cold and dark night in the far-flung suburbs of Los Angeles. Oodles of glowing reviews for the Corvette over the last few years made me very interested in driving Chevy’s finest. This car had been rented to me by a pair of car-enthusiast brothers, who…

Test Drive: 2016 Subaru WRX STI

I test drove the 2016 Subaru WRX STI this afternoon. If you've read any of my other writings, you know that I have a super soft spot for the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX and that I am hopelessly nostalgic about that car. The media say that the current STI has finally met the Evo X…

Review: 1991 Mazda Miata (NA)

My car buddy Sage is a serial car purchaser; he’s always got one vehicle on the market while searching for his next automotive fling. Thus, when I learned that he just added a 2000 Porsche Boxster to his stable, I knew I needed to drive his first-generation 1991 Mazda Miata (NA) before it was sold…

Long Term: 2011 BMW M3 at Autocross

This Sunday I had my first chance to autocross my 2011 BMW M3 at El Toro airfield. While I had done an autocross in Oakland many months ago, it was a poor chance to feel out the car as the course was very short (maybe 40 seconds long) and pretty slow. Today’s El Toro event…

Long Term: 2011 BMW M3 at Laguna Seca

I just took my 2011 E90 M3 to the track for the first time. The tarmac I chose was Laguna Seca, one of America’s most revered race tracks and also a circuit I know well from many prior visits in my old Mitsubishi Evo IX MR. I had a grand time in the M3, but…

Long Term: 2011 BMW M3

I sold my beloved and verbosely-named Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX MR and replaced it with a much more terse BMW M3. The M3 is a 2011 sedan (E90) and it is optioned with DCT so my wife will enjoy driving it too; she never was comfortable driving my manual shift cars. While Evo was always…

Review: 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Wagon

The CTS-V is a stunningly capable car. The CTS-V was developed by Cadillac to establish its V performance brand as world-class alternative to M and AMG. The CTS-V’s headline figure is 556hp, the amount of horsepower it develops from its hand-me-down Corvette ZR-1 supercharged V8 engine. And it’s true that the V8 (code named the…