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… Continue reading Review: 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS
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… Continue reading Review: 2016 Ford Focus ST
Have you ever tried to take a meaningful test drive in the heart of a major city? It’s not easy to accomplish, what with block-by-block stop signs, cyclists sharing the road, pedestrians at every crosswalk, and the general pervasive congestion that comes with dense, urban living. Still, plan carefully, and it is possible to get… Continue reading Test Drive: 2011 BMW 1M
This weekend I'm making good on my promise to take the Focus RS to the racetrack. I already have an intimate sense of how the RS drives on the street, yet the car's limits continue to elude me. The circuit is the best place to approach those limits. Thus, early on a cool and cloudy… Continue reading Long Term: 2016 Focus RS on Track
I’m driving BMW’s latest. “The latest what?” you wonder. The latest marketing-driven snafu is what most hardcore Bimmerphiles would say. You see, the BMW X1 (chassis code F48) is BMW’s first front-wheel-drive platform ever. This breaks the rule that BMWs are RWD driver’s cars at the core and threatens to condemn the X1 as the… Continue reading Review: 2016 BMW X1 xDrive28i
It's no secret that the Focus RS ships with a slew of drive modes that promise to transform the car from a lightly-sporty family hauler to a hair-on-fire drift mobile (and everything in between). Does the Focus make good on its promise? After logging more than 2,000 miles on California's excellent back roads, I've come… Continue reading Long Term: 2016 Ford Focus RS
During Monterey Car Week, numerous high-end manufacturers were offering test drives of their newest cars. The Acura NSX, Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman (as well as the rest of the Porsche lineup), Lamborghini Huracan, Alfa Romeo 4C Spyder and McLaren 570S/GT were all buzzing up and down Carmel Valley wooing potential customers. Enticed by the… Continue reading Test Drive: 2016 McLaren 570GT
Today and tomorrow, I am a fly-on-the-wall at an Everyday Driver video shoot. It's a comparison test the co-hosts Todd and Paul have been excitedly planning for months: the new Focus RS versus its USDM rivals, the Mitsubishi Evo X, Subaru STI, VW Golf R. Luckily for me, the "wall" from which I'll be observing… Continue reading Comparison: 2016 Ford Focus RS, 2016 VW Golf R, 2016 Subaru WRX STI and 2016 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X
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… Continue reading Long Term: 2016 Ford Focus RS
If there is one silver lining to the fact that my 2011 E90 M3 throws check-engine lights three times a year, it is that my repair shop McKenna BMW has a varied and enticing fleet of loaner cars. This week my M3's increased emissions check-engine light granted me access to a $58,000 BMW 435i Gran… Continue reading Review: 2016 BMW 435i Gran Coupe
Mike's Steering Column 