The car is beat up. Its headlights have gone hazy, the black paint has lost its gloss, and the interior is ragged, with the door panels and console nicked and peeling. It seems someone loved this car and used it hard. Actually, did they love it at all? I twist the key, and the 2011… Continue reading Test Drive: 2011 Porsche 911 Carrera S vs 2011 BMW M3
Two weeks ago, I theorized the spec of my perfect 981 Cayman. For analog driving fun, I'd take the bigger 3.4L engine from the Cayman S or GTS and the 6-speed manual transmission. For hoonability, I'd want the LSD from the Porsche Torque Vectoring package. Finally, for daily comfort, I'd fit the softer PASM suspension… Continue reading Test Drive: 2015 Porsche Cayman GTS PDK and 6MT
This is the cheapest Porsche 911 GT3 on Autotrader. Its $73k asking price is commensurate to its 85k miles clocked. The price also reflects an off-road excursion that managed to damage three sides of the car in one incident! What did the previous owner do? Spin the car into a tire barrier? With curiosity—and suspicion—I… Continue reading Test Drive: 2007 Porsche 911 GT3
Mercedes-AMG models arrive in waves on the used-car market, appearing in large batches precisely three years after the model’s introduction. The phenomenon is no mystery: a new model is introduced, loyal Mercedes customers flock to the dealerships, turn in their old leases, and sign up for new 36-month commitments. Last year, dealerships were swamped with… Continue reading Test Drive: 2017 Mercedes-AMG GT
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
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