Early last year, Mazda was graceful enough to allow me to sample a 2017 MX-5 Miata Grand Touring for a week. It was only natural that I compare it to the 2008 Miata Touring that I’ve owned for over a decade now. This year, Mazda allowed us to sample the 2018 version of its most […]

A recent invitation to sample the 2018 Lexus IS 350 for a week was, in a way, reminiscent of my NC vs ND Mazda Miata comparison from last year. While a 3rd-gen (NC) Miata is my weekend and mild weather (read winter in South Florida) fun ride, my daily driver is a 2011 Lexus IS […]

It is the result of an older sibling’s uncontrolled growth spurt and a crosstown rival’s geekily proportioned, willfully ugly rally car/small crossover SUV mashup that succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations. It’s also the last idiosyncratic hurrah of Toyota’s ultimately failed attempt at creating a separate, youth-oriented marque to better attract buyers that saw the parent brand […]

The top-of-the-heap niche within the mid-size (E-segment) super sports luxury sedans of the recent past and present is the domain of boosted V8s boasting north of 500 hp. That would be the the previous-generation Jaguar XFR. Approach the 550 hp barrier, and the last-gen Jag XFR-S is there. Break through to 560 hp? Audi’s RS6 […]

Colloquially, to 86 something means to get rid of it, kill it or throw it out. So there was a hint of irony when Toyota discontinued the Scion brand that the FR-S model name was also 86ed in favor of…86! The carmaker itself couldn’t resist having some fun with this, titling the official announcement Toyota […]

Although I came of car-driving age in the waning days of the muscle-car era (right before the first energy crisis and the start of the Malaise Era), I was always the contrarian that gravitated towards lighter and smaller sports cars that prized quick handling in curves over sheer straight-line grunt. Perhaps it was the subliminal […]