One weekend, two Ferrari FXXs Evoluzione

Once in the blue moon we hear about one of the thirty Ferrari FXXs: one recently got sold, one got stuffed into a wall, and another was on TopGear driven by someone who retired but didn’t, claiming to be someone he wasn’t. The truly lucky ones get to see an FXX in person, and if you see one being properly driven on the track, by all means buy a lottery ticket. Imagine my surprise when on the same day I received two emails from two different people, about two different FXXs spotted in North America on the same day.

The Ferrari FXX was a research and development project put on by Ferrari from 2005 to 2009. Where the project brilliantly differed from all other R&D projects was that the development vehicles were leased to a group of hand-picked Ferrari owners for a ridiculous amount of money. The manufacturer would retain the cars but transport them to scheduled track events around the world where the cars would be driven by the testers/owners and the data would be collected.

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First Lexus LFA Ever Sold Goes Out For a Sunday Drive

You read that right, the first Lexus LFA sold to a paying customer anywhere in the world made an appearance at a popular Atlanta-based car meet called Caffeine and Octane.  The people that attend this show are always treated to some nice cars, but the rare appearance of Lexus’ $375,000 super car was without a doubt the highlight of this month’s meet.

The owner, who was just as much of a down-to-earth car lover as the rest of us, was kind enough to fill me in on the details of his LFA, including how the VIN reveals it’s only the 3rd production LFA ever built (cars number 1 and 2 are reportedly in safe hands with the Toyoda family) and the first in the United States. His hyper Lexus was so new, it had been picked up only 12 hours before the event, and the drive to it was its  first time out since being driven home from the dealership. … Continue Reading

Ford’s New Racecar – Mustang Boss 302S

This is the 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302S. Ford unveiled the car at Performance Racing Industry (PRI) show in Orlando, where CarGuyDad friend, sometimes contributor, friend of Bill Bacon, and an all-around nice guy, Baer Connard was. Baer snapped some pictures at the show and I do believe that outside of the two photos supplied with the press release, these are the first live shots of the car. Enjoy. … Continue Reading

Hatchmaker, Hatchmaker, Make Me a Hatch!

To follow up our recent 2011: Return of the Wagon, I intended to go deep into the world of mini wagons, or 5-door hatchbacks as most manufacturers call them. However, instead of listing everything with five doors, I decided to go into the more interesting vehicles first, followed by the less enthusiast-orientated models.

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2011: Return of The Wagon

Perhaps it is the name itself that conjures up thoughts of big, bulky hunks of metal forcing us on boring road trips to Grandma’s for the weekend. In United States, the term “station wagon” comes from its initial use as the taxi from train stations in the early 1900s. Before the term station wagon was adopted, they were called “depot hacks.” Good change huh?

When Ford introduced their Model A in 1929, the station wagon was officially born. Other manufacturers quickly followed in Ford’s footsteps. For decades wagons were loved throughout the world and every manufacturer had at least a few in their model lineup.

Compared to those from the mid 20^th century, wagons, like most cars, have lost quite a bit of flair becoming longer versions of boring sedans. The 1970s through the early 1990s were especially rough for the wagon’s image. Those years shaped Baby-Boom and Gen-X buyers to despise the station wagon, which is reflected in sales numbers. For whatever reason, the image of the station wagon is tainted with thoughts of the uncool. But could 2011 be the year that marks the return of the wagon? … Continue Reading

Quick Look: 2011 Ford Explorer

The last twenty years of Ford’s vehicle lineup history reads like a sports team’s True Hollywood Dearborn Story® (TDS).

In 1991 Ford was about to become a World Champion. The brand had the bases loaded with the top selling Taurus which was about get a facelift, the Mustang which was at its five-point-oh peak, and the Thunderbird SC which offered unique European grand touring sophistication.

Finally, the new 1991 Explorer was at bat and about to hit a grand slam out of the park. In a remarkably short time the Explorer became the vehicle to have. People could not get enough of it, often trading in premium sedans for the sharp looking sport utility vehicle, starting a new craze. It was the best of times. … Continue Reading

Quick Look: 2011 Nissan Leaf

Presenting, the future of motoring, the 2011 Nissan Leaf. The Leaf is what Nissan calls “the world’s first affordable, zero-emission car”. It is a small, 5-passenger, plug-in electric vehicle with a maximum range of 100 miles. The vehicle is designed with a commuter in mind; 70% of commuters travel less than 70 miles per day. Let’s take a closer look at it. … Continue Reading

Quick Look: 2010 Ford Taurus SHO

I was still in high school when the original Taurus SHO came out and I liked it a lot. When in 1992, Ford gave the Taurus a facelift and enlarged the engine to 3.2 liters I was in love. I remember there was a girl in my high school whose parents let her drive their red SHO, I don’t remember if I liked her because of her or because of the car she was driving. But I digress; the original Taurus was a badass no matter what anyone says, it took everything that the Maxima was suppose to be  (4DSC) and turned it up at a notch, at least in my sixteen year-old-eyes. Seriously, even if you don’t like Fords, and you think that everything front-wheel-drive should die, you have got to admit that the intake manifold on that thing was as sexy as on any Ferrari. Well, almost.

In 1996 the bubbly all-new Taurus was launched. It was an awful vehicle; I know because I rented one. Ford was saying the car had a ton of safety features and was the safest vehicle in its class, and that’s a good thing as it handled so poorly that sooner or later you were going to crash into something. How bad did the second generation Taurus handle? In my opinion it was down-right dangerous in street driving. It was also damn ugly and the interior was just awful. It was bad, really bad. Anyway, you know the rest of the story of the restyling, the launch of the Ford Fivehundred which was the Taurus replacement that no one bought for some reason (I actually liked its looks, but never drove one). … Continue Reading

Quick Look: 2010 Cadillac SRX

Like the CTS, the new SRX appears to be another well designed and well made vehicle from GM. While the first SRX was a little bit of a miss with its wagon-y looks and general class-lagging in all categories, the new 2010 seem to aim at a target well, but will it be a hit?

With the first generation of the SRX, Cadillac was admittedly looking at the BMW X3 as its main competitor, and that right there was part of the problem. While the X3 is a very popular small SUV (SAV, whatever you want to call them), that car itself is not that great; for starters it is not that pretty, and its suspension is set up for proper BMW handling which gives it a ride that is kind of rough. I would bet a lot of money that if the X3 had any other badge on it, it would not sell as well, especially at the price that BMW is selling it for.

For 2010, GM has given up at the “small sporty SUV Caddy” and has instead looked into making a “comfortable small SUV Caddy”, and that is a great thing! While the idea of a sporty SUV is good in theory, it hardly ever translates well, at the end of the day this is the vehicle that will haul kids and stuff, and not ass, so why not make it comfortable? That is what Cadillac designers thought too, setting the new SRX to go directly against the Lexus RX. Yes, I know what you are thinking now, the RX is a snooze but the answer is in the numbers. RX is a sales leader by a very wide margin and many of its buyers are repeat customers! Cadillac wants a piece of that pie, and with this new 2010 SRX it may get it! … Continue Reading

Quick Look: Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon

You hear all this stuff about GM going into and out of bankruptcy, closing down plants, Congressional hearings, and all that other business/lawyer mambo-jumbo. With all that going on, evidently everyone is missing the fact that GM, along with Ford, has recently introduced a number of really nice products. For a brief minute, let’s ignore all those politics and let’s just look at the damn cars!

To some, The CTS Sport Wagon maybe an answer to a question that no one asked, but is it really? After all, the market for such vehicle is very slim and historically cars such as the 2002-2005 Lexus IS300 SportCross have never really taken off. When asked about the predicted sales of the Sport Wagon, Cadillac representative gave a range of 5000-6000 and while that may not seem like a lot, there is a but. This sales figure is for the U.S. market only and the CTS is a global platform. In other parts of the world where smaller station wagons are preferred over bigger SUVs the Cadillac may do very well as it has a lot going for it. … Continue Reading

The Last Jaguar XJ

Today, an all-new Jaguar XJ was introduced, and you may want to head over to some other websites to check out all the details, press release and all fancy photos. However, here you will find something different, a look at one of the last of the X358 generation XJ’s in all its beauty. I was saving these pictures for future use, but since I am on the Jaguar theme here, why not continue it for little longer. … Continue Reading

’68-’72 Fiat 850 Sport Spider

At first glace I was not sure what it is; could have been anything, an obscure Frenchman or Briton living on an empty lot in Long Island. Admittedly, even upon closer look I still did not know what it was until I saw the badges. … Continue Reading

BMW X6 M – First Street Pictures and Ride

Some time ago I wrote about the new BMW X6-M that I had an opportunity to check out. What I was not allowed to do until now however, was show the pictures I have taken that day and write about the very brief ride I had in the vehicle. … Continue Reading

2010 Subaru Legacy, sedan and Outback

I’m pretty sure that these are the first non-show, non-media pictures of Subaru’s new 2010 Legacy.  And just look at those pictures*… More details and hi-res when you click…

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BMW X6 M – Tech Review and Opinion

You’ve seen the BMW mini-site, you kind of know the details. Here is my quick take on the vehicle, having seen it in person. E30 M3 owners and other M-faithful, fasten your seat belts.

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