What’s that sound? That four-cylinder lub-lub-lub? Oh, that’s the sound of Porsche flushing Boxster and Cayman sales down the toilet. It’s a Sunday afternoon, and I’m sitting astonished in an idling $85k Porsche 718 Cayman GTS. Long-forgotten memories of my grandmother’s Kubota tractor are stirred by the 718’s four-pot putt-putt-putt exhaust note. I love my… Continue reading Test Drive: 2019 Porsche 718 Cayman GTS
Porsche, as they say, knows how to thinly slice a pie. Consider the 911 range: It’s cut into the Carrera, Carrera T, Carrera S, GTS, Turbo, Turbo S, GT3, GT3 RS, and GT2 RS, plus all the permutations added by the AWD and cabriolet options! Each variety is subtly—or starkly—different from the last, and each… Continue reading Test Drive: 2019 Porsche Carrera S
Simply slipping into the 2020 Camaro SS 1LE’s microsuede Recaros lights a broad smile across my face: Welcome home Mike! The Camaro SS and I share a history together. We’ve run to 181 mph at El Mirage, linked long drifts between desert shrubs, and whipped over the sinuous mountain roads with poise and abandon. Yes,… Continue reading Test Drive: 2020 Camaro SS 1LE
“We need to run your numbers before you can drive the GT S,” the courteous salesman tells me. I hesitate. “Oh.” Do I trade my personal information for a test drive in the Mercedes-AMG GT S? Yes, yes I do. “Alright, what do you need to know?” I’ve had a crush on Mercedes-AMG’s GT line since I… Continue reading Test Drive: 2016 Mercedes-AMG GT S
My 911 love has been inconsistent. I fell head-over-heels for the sonorous and soulful 2005 (997.1) Carrera S, but that lusty flame was extinguished four years later when I drove a 2011 (997.2) Carrera S and found it to be too imprecise and understeer-prone for my sports car cravings. The 2015 (991.1) Carrera S was… Continue reading Test Drive: 2017 Porsche Carrera
Disappointed with the 2011 Porsche 911 Carrera S’s discordant rear-engine dynamics, I book a test drive of a 2014 Porsche Cayman S. I’ve sampled 987, 981 and 982 generation Caymans on prior occasions and found them dynamically excellent. Perhaps I’m a mid-engine man? Sadly, my 981 Cayman S test drive starts out on the wrong… Continue reading Test Drive: 2014 Porsche Cayman S
When I reserved my airport rental, the tiny GIF showed a Porsche 911 Carrera of the 991.2 generation. While not the latest-and-greatest, seat time in the base 991.2 Carrera sounded fun. I’d get my first taste of the 911’s electric steering and turbocharged engine, try to fit my 4-year-old’s car seat in the 991’s enlarged… Continue reading Review: 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera S
After six years and eight months, I am finally out of extended warranty on my 2011 BMW M3 Competition. The M3 has been, by far, the highest-maintenance vehicle I’ve ever owned. How needy was the M3? I’ve owned it for 65,123 miles, 6 years and 10 months, and in that time the M3 needed $43,706… Continue reading Long Term: 2011 BMW M3
No one buys a sports car because they need one. Such purchases are emotional. Equally true is that no one needs a V8 sedan or a Baja-ready truck for the commute and daily errands. Yet, so many people buy extreme vehicles for mundane duties. Case in point: My brother-in-law uses his 2019 Ford F-150 Raptor… Continue reading Review: 2019 Ford F-150 Raptor
When BMW originally introduced its M Sport line of cars and SUVs, it felt like an exercise in trickle-down badge-o-nomics. The M Sport treatment tarted up BMW’s standard models with M-inspired fascias, seats and steering wheels. More recently, BMW developed the M Sport lineup to bridge the comfort-focused base model BMWs and the hard-edged—and expensive!—M… Continue reading Review: 2020 BMW M340i
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