GM’s Sexy Twins Get Some Spunk
The Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky are gorgeous vehicles, and if you don’t agree you must work for Mazda. So, considering their perfect proportions and confident handling, producing a follow-up to the uber-successful roadsters can mean only one thing: more power. And GM was happy to provide lots of it. Read more…
Audi Gets Serious About Its Smallest Sedan
There’s good news and bad news regarding our review of the hottest Audi to hit these shores since the RS 6 discovered exactly how limited “limited production” is when Ingolstadt stopped turbocharging the daylights out of its midsize sedan in 2003.
The good news is we got our anxious little driving-gloved hands on an example, and not just any example. This was an Imola Yellow screamer so shockingly noticeable area cops were planning Hawaiian vacations on their lunch hours. A radar detector or cleavage should come standard. Read more…
Anti-Sticker Shock
Either way you slice it, the Sky is drop dead gorgeous. Those are just about the last words I ever expected to utter about a Saturn. But then again, the Sky isn’t exactly my girlfriend’s Saturn. Though I wouldn’t mind if it was.
I had my doubts when GM announced that it was going to develop this bargain priced roadster platform dubbed Kappa. I believe stunning was one of the words used to describe the concept, but we all had our doubts. Especially when they announced that Saturn would be getting a version of said platform. And while they tried to prepare us our stubbornness held until the moment that cover came off and our jaws hit the pavement. How do you change the image of a dwindling unexciting car company? One fantastic car at a time! Read more…
Better Than Expected
Driving a Mazda MX-5 Miata with an automatic is like dating a cross-eyed supermodel. As long as she keeps her lids latched you’ll be the envy of bachelors everywhere, but the moment her pupils start peeking her seemingly perfect package is forever flawed. The same scenario will haunt owners of the slush-box Miata. When your car buddies see you pull up in the poster car for roadster perfection they’ll stand ready to congratulate your wise purchase. As soon as they see the automatic shifter they’ll slap you silly—Jerry Springer style. And as enthusiasts, clear cut condemnation of any Miata with an automatic seems warranted. With a computer making the decisions that elemental “oneness” between man and machine is lost. Read more…
Maybe We Could Have Picked A Warmer Weekend?
The plan drawn up at AT headquarters was deceptively simply: Gather the hot new Mazda MX-5 and the sexy Pontiac Solstice, drop their respective tops, and chase the horizon for a day of fantastic fall fun. It’s the stuff dreams are made of—or at least our tire smoking, fuel-injected dreams. This plan, however, would require two things. First, that we could get our anxious little paws on the keys to the two hottest cars for 2006 during the same week. And second, that the weather in Michigan in late fall wouldn’t resemble something from The Day After Tomorrow. Read more…
When you drive a different car each week, people often ask you which is your favorite.
I’ve always had the same answer: the Honda S2000.
This little two-seat roadster, at $34,000, is far from the most expensive car I’ve driven. It’s not the fastest, either, and certainly not the most comfortable. Read more…
Ivory Soap used to advertise that its product was 99 and 44/100ths-percent pure.
Mazda could have said the same thing about the Miata when it was introduced in 1989. The first Miata was about as pure as sports cars could get, offering only the bare necessities of transportation so that it could focus on its core mission: fun for the driver. Read more…
Aching for an Autobahn
So you want to go fast? You want something that will rule the left lane with an iron fist and fear no competition. If its 0-60 mph time doesn’t start with a 3 then your grandma might be interested but you’re not. You want the latest racing technology and materials so exotic NASA doesn’t even use them. The exhaust note must strike fear into the heart of pedestrians and send enthusiasts’ pulse rates racing. If you expect climate control, a navigation system, change from a $75,000 bill and if you absolutely must blow through the quarter mile in less time than it takes to read this sentence, then there’s really only one choice. You need a Z06. Read more…
Audi’s Former Hot Shot Plays Second Fiddle These Days, But The Music Still Sounds Good.
If you’re a regular reader of these pages then you know cars from top to tailpipe and the fact that the S4 is no longer the baddest boy in the Audi garage isn’t news to you. If you stumbled onto this page courtesy of the geeks at Google then allow us to catch you up.
Audi has made a wonderful entry-level luxury sedan called the A4 (it has also gone by other names) for a long time. Some years back, perhaps after renting American Graffiti, engineers at the four-ring company decided a big ‘ol engine (they actually used turbos for a while) in their itty-bitty sedan would be a lot of fun. Thus began the history of the high-horsepower A4, appropriately renamed S4, presumably for super but possibly for Sweeeeeet! In 2006 the highest-performance Audi remains the 340hp S4, but that is set to change when the 415hp RS4 arrives on our shores in July. Read more…
Serious Zoom-Zoom
There are other turbocharged performance sedans on the market but the two we think of first, the Mitsubishi Evo and Subaru WRX, are considerably more manic than the thoroughly upgraded MazdaSpeed 6 we had the pleasure of driving a few weeks ago. We recently tested the Evo and were—not surprisingly—impressed by the sheer power of the tiny 2-liter and the fierce acceleration it provides. But the Evo is tuned heavily toward hardcore and not everyone wants to sacrifice a decent ride, sound insulation, and luxurious interior accommodations in the name of horsepower. Some will willingly trade a few tenths of a second in the 0-60 mph dash for something that can serve family sedan duty at the drop of a hat. Those people will find such a ride at their Mazda dealer. Read more…
