car japan

There’s a post-colonial irony to the fate of the British auto industry. Its two most elite names, Rolls-Royce and Bentley, now belong to the Germans, while those two other symbols of the empire, Jaguar and Land Rover, are now owned and operated out of the one-time heart of Britain’s overseas holdings.

There’s a post-colonial irony to the fate of the British auto industry. Read the rest of this entry »

Pikes Peak, CO, May 2—

Not only did the third day of the 2004 Tire Rack One Lap of America provide some entertaining competition, it provided an object lesson in the physics of internal combustion.

The lesson: altitude adversely affects the power output of engines. The higher the road, the slower you go.

Pikes Peak International Raceway, the venue for the third day’s test of driving skill, provided an ideal forum for the lesson.

A beautiful motorsports multiplex with a high-speed banked oval and infield road racing circuit, Pikes Peak is located about 20 miles south of Colorado Springs, some 6500 feet up in the Rocky Mountain foothills. Read the rest of this entry »

No car moves five people as deftly and competently as, and for less scratch than, the Pontiac G8 GT. Whether you want to bruise ribs on a short trip up a mountain or cushion backsides for a long haul, the Aussie-sourced G8 GT delivers. The G8 features the best Pontiac interior in decades, which is of course faint praise. It is, however, good enough that the driving-and-riding experience, combined with serious moves, encourages frequent comparison to the

. The closest match, in terms of performance, is the BMW 550i, which costs more than twice as much and doesn’t offer twice as much of anything except perhaps snob appeal. Read the rest of this entry »

When the Aston Martin DBS made its debut as James Bond’s car in the 2006 movie Casino Royale,

it got wadded into a ball during an avoidance maneuver. Aston’s people were unruffled by the destruction of their car. They knew the DBS had to be forcibly flipped by the moviemakers.

They also knew that a hit movie would provide great publicity and that Bond has crashed Astons before without hurting the marque’s safety rep. The company can make more, but it won’t make many. The factory is production-constrained, and no more than 600 DBS models will pass through the gates each year, with 150 to 200 earmarked for U.S. delivery. Since the DBS is priced at $265,000, one shouldn’t expect it to be reproduced like an iPod. Read the rest of this entry »