FIRST IMPRESSIONS

There’s nothing like actual seat time to form the best opinions you can about a car. It’s fun to talk to your friends, especially those that know, about the cars you love. But there’s no substitute for driving a car and forming your own attitudes about it. Plus, you’re in a better position to win the arguments you invariably get in to about your favorites.

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to take the new Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR for a brief drive and had a blast doing it. An outstanding, high performance compact sedan that can be economical as well.

Well, I’m lucky yet again as I’ve taken delivery of a Pontiac G8 GT, courtesy of General Motors, for an extended, one-week test drive.

GM did the right thing with the G8 by outsourcing to their excellent Holden division in Australia. Which means they’ve introduced a proper sports sedan to the American market.

Let’s take a moment and list a few requirements of a good American sports sedan. Rear-wheel drive? Check. Rock-solid platform? Check. Big, rumbling V8? Check. Modern day six-speed automatic? Check. To the American performance car buyer, anything else is really just eye candy.

With just a few miles under my belt, my initial impressions of the G8 is this is a rock solid car. There is no indication that it came from a mixed past of General Motors successes or miscues, whichever descriptor you prefer. The car corners flat and at 6 or 7/10s, shows no sign of losing its composure. The car is in a word, balanced.

The G8 GT has a 6.0 liter V8 with 361 horsepower and 385 lb-ft of torque. The V8 makes all the right sounds with a terrific growl under a heavy right foot but is very quiet at idle and highway speeds.

I look forward to wringing this car out over the next few days and getting a more complete picture of its strengths and weaknesses. I’ll fill you in with the details as I go along.

Does anyone have an opinion about the G8? Maybe you’ve been shopping around and are considering it. Or maybe you disagree with me. I would love to hear from you. Leave your comments below and we can talk about what I think is an excellent American sports sedan.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

I took advantage of a little seat time in the new Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR this week. My gut said that I was going to like it. My gut was right.

If I could describe the Evo MR in just a few words it would be: solid, quick, and very entertaining. And this from a car that can be had as an economical sedan priced in the mid-teens to a fully tricked MR that stickers at just over $40,000.

And when I mean solid I mean like a rock. My short stint included driving in the Normal, Sport and Super Sport modes. Each has its advantages but all, interestingly enough, are a blast and change the car in unique ways.

The route I drove was predetermined and featured right-hand-only turns. Whether driving a straight or taking quick turns, the car feels planted. Body roll is minimal with no detectable flex in the chassis. Too bad Mitsubishi is out of the WRC. There’s no doubt they’ve got an excellent chassis for a competitive rally car.

Tweaked to deliver 291 horsepower, the Evo’s 2.0-liter MIVEC 4-cylinder spins-up easily and has a grunt most 4-bangers would envy. Maximum torque is 300 lb-ft at 4000 RPM.

Mitsubishi’s new dual-clutch transmission, called Sportronic® Shift Transmission or SST, is a kick. It has me willing to toss aside my allegiance to tradition clutch manuals. It shifts quickly, with the added thrill of rev-matched downshifts in Sport and Super Sport mode.

Switch to Super Sport and the car takes on a decidedly track-like attitude. In this mode, engine mapping changes, with revs kept in the motors power band, not dropping below 4000 RPM. And by the same token, the mapping holds until it red lines at 7000 RPM. But this is not a setting for daily driving. With the engine on a constant boil, it’s a little too noisy. The constant drone will get tiresome, not too mention a big hit on your wallet at the gas pump.

My time behind the wheel was short. I had to develop some quick opinions but if you’re in the market for a sports sedan, put Mitsubishi on your list. If the Evo is too pricey, check out the new Lancer Ralliart. It’s performance capabilities are less than the Evo’s but at a better price point. It even looks similar to the Evo. It’s a nice mix that makes for a better day-to-day driver.

Do you own one of the new Lancers? If so, let everyone here at Ridestory know what you think. We’d love to hear a buyers opinion. Even if you don’t own one, leave me some comments below. I look forward to hearing from my readers.

Pagani Automobili is in the business of building some pretty incredible cars. But those enthusiasts who desire a Zonda R have been out of luck. The R was designed strictly for track use. But it’s clearly a car that evokes an emotion bordering on infatuation. If Playboy decided to put a car on one of their characteristic two-page spreads, the Zonda would get the job hands down.

Not wanting to disappoint those desiring this exotic, Pagani has introduced the Cinque, an R for the street. The Cinque will be powered by the same 7.3-liter V12 found in the R. Although, rather than the 750 horsepower of the R, the Cinque will have to do with 678. I think we can get by with that, especially since the Cinque will also use the R’s beautiful carbon fiber body. With the combination of horsepower and light weight, the Cinque will accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in just 3.4 seconds.

The price? About $1.24 million. And as the name suggests (Cinque is Italian for five), just a few will be made. Not many, yes. But how many of us ever get our hands on a centerfold?

This story simply begs the question…just how much is a Ferrari worth?

Not unlike Steve McQueen’s 1963 Ferrari 250GT, James Coburn’s 1961 Ferrari 250GT California Spyder recently established a new auction record for a vintage car when it sold for $10,894,900. McQueen’s Ferrari sold last August, garnering twice as much as was predicted, selling for $2.3 million.

As it turns out, McQueen may have had some influence on Coburn’s taste in fast cars. McQueen not only owned that Ferrari 250GT Lusso, but he also had a 1953 Siata 208S, a 1958 Porsche Speedster 1600 Super, a 1957 Jaguar XK-SS and a Ferrari 275 GTS/4 NART Spyder. Between 1959 and 1960, Coburn co-starred with McQueen in three episodes of “Wanted Dead or Alive”. They would go on to be friends for life, starring together in “The Magnificent Seven” in 1960 and “The Great Escape” in 1963.

James Coburn once said, “Actors are boring when they’re not working, it’s a natural condition. Because they don’t have anything to do, they just lay around and that’s why so many of them get drunk.” Apparently he thought a good way to cure the boredom was to buy a Ferrari. Good choice.

The Ferrari he bought was the 250GT SWB California Spyder shown here, the thirteenth of 56 built. Coburn bought it from it’s first owner in 1964, shortly after completing “The Great Escape”. He took the car to Max Balchowsky’s Hollywood Motors whose garage was a popular hangout for the Hollywood car guys, such as McQueen, Coburn and James Garner. James Dean even before them. Coburn would also own another Ferrari, a 1967 412P. No doubt Coburn’s iconic appeal on film and his fast-car associations lent considerable appeal to his California Spyder during the auction.

The 250GT California Spyder had a 280 bhp, 3-liter V-12 with three Weber carburettors, a four-speed transmission and four-wheel hydraulic disc brakes.

We’ll be updating this post later as we gather more images of this amazing car.

Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson reviews Ferrari’s incredible 599 GTP Fiorano. Another high performance Ferrari to drool over!

Among exotics, autoclutch manuals are becoming the norm, with Ferrari being the leader in adapting their racing technology to street cars.

Introduced at the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show, the F430 Scuderia is Ferrari’s latest car, competing directly with the likes of Porsche’s GT models and Lamborghini’s Gallardo Superleggera.

The most amazing improvement made to the Scuderia over the standard F430 is the gearbox. The F1 style transmission of the F430 shifted in about 150 milliseconds. The 599 GTB Fiorano does so in about 100 milliseconds. Utilizing the new SuperFast2 transmission, the F430 Scuderia shifts in as little as 60 ms. A Ferrari F1 race car gets it done in 30-40 ms.

Worthy of mention also is the weight savings Ferrari employed. Trimming a few extra pounds goes a long way to improving performance. The Scuderia is down about 220 to be exact. Ferrari stripped down the interior and used carbon fiber for the rear wing, mirrors, seats, tunnel, door panels, bulkhead and air filter boxes. In addition, sound deadening material was removed.

Ferrari didn’t bump the displacement of the 4.3 liter V8 but they did improve the engines intake and exhaust systems, with the compression ratio increasing from 11.3 to 11.9:1. There’s a modest increase in horsepower, from 483 to 503. Low to midrange torque packs a little more as well.

The Scuderia also gets an updated version of the manettino, a switch on the steering wheel that joins the drive-by-wire throttle, the traction and stability system, and the transmission shift programming. Instead of the F430′s Ice setting, the Scuderia’s manettino gets a CT Off mode, allowing the driver to turn off the traction control but keep the stability control. What’s that get you? Some wheelspin while keeping oversteer in check. There’s nothing like pitching your supercar sideways on our favorite right-hand sweeper!

Steve McQueen’s 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso was sold at auction by Christie’s the other day in California for an incredible $2.3 million.
In a previous post, I wrote that the car expected to fetch between $800,000 and $1.2 million.
This Lusso was one of only 350 made. McQueen kept it until 1973 when he traded it in for another Ferrari.
With so few of these cars available to collectors in addition to it’s movie star appeal no doubt contributed to the high auction price.
tags technorati : Ferrari Ferrari 250 GT …

With the Vanquish nearing the end of its production run, Aston Martin announced the Vanquish S Ultimate Edition. Based on the 2+2 platform, the car maker said it will only build 40 units and price it at over $350,000.

A spokesperson for the company said, “Initial feedback suggests the whole allocation of this special edition will be sold within weeks of launch.”

Performance will remain unchanged, staying with the ‘S’ versions 520bhp 5.9-litre V12.

Classic Jeremy Clarkson in the Ferrari Enzo. As always, Top Gear’s road tests are chock full of great information, but the video is just great to look at and the sound is music to any car-crazed nut.

As a car fan or someone who follows the auto industry, you know who the Italian design firm Giugiaro is and what they are known for…great concepts, great automotive design.