Long Term: 2014 Cadillac CTS-V Sports Wagon

My $55,000 purchase of a performance station wagon was made on 9/10ths emotion and 1/10th logic. The emotional draw is obvious: A supercharged, Corvette-derived V8 spins—and I do mean spins!—the rear wheels of the most distinctive and attractive vehicle to ever come out of Cadillac. The logic is tenuous: “Honey, there’s seating for the whole…

Long Term: 2016 Ford Focus RS

I have been thinking about selling the Focus RS for nearly a year. In April 2017, I got a quote from CarMax to purchase the vehicle. They offered $33k, and I thought I could do a little better. But life intervened, and I did not post my car for sale until April 2018. My car…

Review: 2018 Ford Mustang GT

The 2018 Ford Mustang GT received its mid-cycle refresh, and judging by its face, it’s not too happy about it. Its once handsome visage now wears a droopy pout. The 2018 GT is supposed to be renewed and ready to stand toe-to-toe with the rival Camaro SS, so is the car just sad about its…

Test Drive: 2016 Ford Shelby GT350 Mustang

Test drives of the Ford Shelby GT350 Mustang were unobtainium in the year following its launch, as the Ford dealers treated the car as if it was made of gold. (To be fair, many dealers did turn the car into gold.) But now, a wave of used GT350 Mustangs is starting to appear on used…

Review: 2015 Ford Mustang GT at the Ford Performance School

The Ford Performance School at Utah Motorsports Campus (formerly Miller Motorsports Park) offers a wide array of courses meant to introduce Ford owners to their high-performance cars and everyone to high-performance track driving. As an optional add-on to my free day at the Focus RS Adrenaline Academy, I splurged ($1,495) on the one-day racing school…

Ford Performance Focus RS Adrenaline Academy

The original purchaser of every Ford Performance vehicle—Focus RS, Focus ST, Fiesta ST, Mustang GT350, F 150 Raptor–receives complimentary tuition to the Ford Performance Racing School at Utah Motorsports Campus. Ford has tailored classes that honor the high-performance capability of each model and teach owners how to reach those limits safely. As the first-owner of…

Long Term Update: 2011 BMW M3 and 2016 Ford Focus RS

My recent experience with the 2016 BMW X3 has piqued my interest in vehicle cargo capacity. The X3 had a spacious and easy to load truck which easily swallowed my family’s weekend luggage. Just how much of that gear would have fit into my M3 or Focus RS’s hold? Determined to find out, I filled…

Review: 2015 Porsche 911 GT3

Some of my happiest days have been those at driving events where amateurs like me burn fuel and rubber on the racetrack as we imagine screaming down the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans. Hang out at enough of these events, and you’ll soon realize that the Porsche 911 GT3 is the top dog of track…

Review: 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS

I've never been a muscle car guy, preferring sports cars and exotics—cars that turn—to Mustangs and Camaros that seemed myopically focused on quarter-mile runs. It may have been the childhood trips to Sears Point (now Sonoma Raceway) to watch race cars hustle around the twelve historic turns that convinced me that a fast car turned…

Review: 2016 Ford Focus ST

There has been much internet talk regarding whether or not Ford sufficiently differentiated the Focus RS from its little brother, the Focus ST, to justify the $11,345 MSRP price premium. Today I had a few fresh hours in the Focus ST, so I’ll try to compare and contrast these hot-hatch siblings and then consider the…