Test drives of the Ford Shelby GT350 Mustang were unobtainium in the year following its launch, as the Ford dealers treated the car as if it was made of gold. (To be fair, many dealers did turn the car into gold.) But now, a wave of used GT350 Mustangs is starting to appear on used… Continue reading Test Drive: 2016 Ford Shelby GT350 Mustang
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
My recent experience with the 2016 BMW X3 has piqued my interest in vehicle cargo capacity. The X3 had a spacious and easy to load truck which easily swallowed my family’s weekend luggage. Just how much of that gear would have fit into my M3 or Focus RS’s hold? Determined to find out, I filled… Continue reading Long Term Update: 2011 BMW M3 and 2016 Ford Focus RS
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
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
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
Mike's Steering Column 