An errant test drive of a Cayenne GTS piqued my interest in Porsche’s full-size SUV. Its V8 sang like one of the great tenors. Its chassis discussed the intricate details of handling and steering feel like a Roads Scholar. (You see what I did there?) Suddenly there seemed to be a have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too solution to the… Continue reading Review: 2014 Porsche Cayenne
America may or may not have invented the practice of speed trials on dry lakebeds, but we certainly popularized it and made it part of our identity. In the early 20th century, Southern California’s dry lakebeds were the epicenter of America’s land-speed record attempts until speeds increased so high that more real estate was needed.… Continue reading Review: 2017 Chevrolet Camaro SS
I am in rural Sonoma County, a land of forests, farms, and hills. For the last few weeks, I’ve been exploring the area in my Ford Focus RS, and I’ve found the RS to be much better suited to country living than city duty. The roads up here are beat to smithereens, but they follow… Continue reading Review: 2006 Mazda MX-5 Miata
When does a car become a classic car? I ask because I’ve driven the 2005 Porsche 911 Carrera S less than a mile, and it already feels like a piece from a different era. Today’s cars are large, overpowered machines that cocoon their drivers deep inside, distancing them from external stimuli. The 911 stands in… Continue reading Review: 2005 Porsche 911 Carrera S
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… Continue reading Review: 2015 Ford Mustang GT at the Ford Performance School
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… Continue reading Ford Performance Focus RS Adrenaline Academy
The BMW X3 revealed to me that my automotive passion extends to light off-roading, and ever since, I’ve been looking curiously at a sector of the automotive marketplace that I’ve long ignored. I’ve been pacing around Mazda CX-5s, swiveling my head at passing Mercedes GLCs, lusting after Porsche Macans, and I’ve been more generally aware… Continue reading Review: 2017 Audi Q5
The utility of the M3 sedan has been questioned by the one person who has the ability to force a change in our family garage. “Buy an SUV!” is the refrain frequently whispered, recently with more emphasis, by my wife. After recent back-to-back trips to the far corners of SoCal and SoSoCal, I’m ready to… Continue reading Review: 2016 BMW X3 xDrive28i
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… Continue reading Review: 2015 Porsche 911 GT3
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
Mike's Steering Column 