‘This is my favorite hot hatch, coming alive when we played and feeling fun when we commuted. But it is pricey,’ blogs Dan Scanlan.
I realized that my blue 4-door Golf R is a muscle car and a family car when I parked it between a replica Cobra and a ’57 Ford Fairlane. The 292-inch, 206 horsepower Fairlane could sprint to 60 mph in 11.2 seconds. A real 427 Cobra would take 4.5 seconds to get to 60 mph. The turbocharged 292 horsepower VW could go to 60-mph in under-5 seconds.The Golf R is a ...
Read More
Turbocharged
‘16 AUDI TTS: GOLF R IN A BESPOKE SUIT!
It’s all there, hidden under a sleeker skin with big wheels at each corner. Bottom line – Teutonic exotic bliss in a sleek if slightly derivative shape, with power and great grip, blogs Dan Scanlan.
This is the Audi TTS, its arcing body a Nano Gray metallic suit over the good stuff from the VW Golf R. Now the question is whether losing real back seats and storage room is a sacrifice, or is the TTS the way for two to go?
The Volkswagen Golf R’s good stuff – turbocharged 2-liter inline fou...
Read More
‘16 BUICK CASCADA: A REAL CONVERTIBLE ASSET!
Buick re-ignites the memory of the stunning ’04 Velite concept convertible with its new Euro-built Cascada, below. Road Test Editor Howard Walker takes one for a spin from the Key West to Miami.
Remember back at the 2004 New York Auto Show when Buick pulled the wraps off an exceedingly sexy-looking four-seat convertible called the Velite, above? At the time there were huge expectations that GM would green-light it to production of this gorgeous two-door luxury soft-top. Word was that it wou...
Read More
‘15 JOHN COOPER WORKS MINI: SIZE MATTERS!!
This is my favorite adult go-kart, but its price, and hard suspension on some surfaces on SPORT – not as much fun, blogs Dan Scanlan.
When Alec Issigonis designed the first MINI in 1959, it was a tiny 120-inch-long coupe. Then racer and tuner John Cooper got hold of one in 1960 and made it a tiny terror on race tracks and rally courses around the world.
Fast forward millions of MINIs later, and its family has grown in variety as well as size. But despite the MINI Paceman, Countryman and Cl...
Read More
‘16 CADILLAC ATS-V: TORQUE IS KING!
The ATS-V Coupe’s aggressive looks plus a nimble chassis and powerful high-tech V-6 make it a match for BMW’s M, blogs Dan Scanlan.
The holy grail of sports coupedom is the BMW M4 – 425-horsepower and 60-mph from a standstill in 4.1 seconds, and the dance moves of a prima ballerina combined with a cheetah. And until now, maybe only Mercedes-Benz’s varied AMG products could take on the Bimmer for the golden ring of sports coupes. That was until now. Say hello to my new best friend – the ‘16 Ca...
Read More
‘14 PORSCHE CAYENNE TURBO S: SCALDING HOT!
‘Let’s get trucking,” blogs Dan Scanlan after spending some seat time in Porsche’s hottest SUV.
When Porsche entered the luxury sports utility vehicle market in 2002 with the Porsche Cayenne, Porschefiles were horrified that Stuttgart was selling a truck! Well, when a truck has a twin-turbo 550 horsepower V-8 plus sports sedan handling, and 18,507 of the company’s total 42,323 sales in 2013 were Cayennes, the market has spoken. Some say the success of the Cayenne and the four-door Panamera...
Read More
BUICK GNX: THE GRAND NATIONAL TO END ALL GRAND NATIONALS!
Buick's GNX is one of the quickest, fastest and most legendary American performance icons of the 1980s. This one has been driven less than 100 miles!
For performance enthusiasts, the 1980s did not begin on a promising note. Auto manufacturers were submerged in a deluge of government regulations covering safety, fuel economy and exhaust emissions; performance cars received little thought and even less effort. Nevertheless, Buick managed to add to its long performance history with the Rega...
Read More
2015 SUBARU WRX: CVT THRILLS!
All hail Rex, now in his fourth generation and still a most-outrageous Subaru pocket rocket, blogs Dan Scanlan.
Rex is the 2015 WRX, which stands for World Rally Cross, as in the World Rally Championship. And the latest generation actually gets back more of the visual mojo that the WRX used to have, plus a stiffer chassis, a new turbocharged 2-Liter 268-horsepopwer direct-injection turbo BOXER engine … and a Lineartronic CVT. Yes, Rex gets a shifts-for-itself Continuously Variable Transmissi...
Read More