Should it stay the R8?

When people who find out that I'm a car enthusiast - or car nerd if you prefer - they always ask me what is your favourite car..... in the world? Good for you if you got that reference. I always think a bit because I do not want to answer Audi R8, but i always do.

Looks stunning in white.

The thing is that I actually don't know what else to answer because it's such a perfect car. It looks fabulous (not in a gay way), it has great performance and has a great noise which makes it the perfect super car. I don't really care about the V10 version of the R8 - even though it has a hundred more horsepower than the original V8 model - because then the R8 becomes a cheaper Lamborghini Gallardo. And who wants that? 

Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera and a woman.

I've thought about saying that my favourite car is the Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera but I don't really feel comfortable with that answer. Saying that your favourite car is a super car from Italy is like saying your favourite band is Coldplay. It's a bit mainstream. Don't get me wrong I absolutely adore the Gallardo, I even think it's better looking than the R8 but I still don't want to put it as my #1 car.

Lancia Stratos with the legendary Alitalia colours.

One car that I also put high on my list of all time great cars is the Lancia Stratos. I usually state this car to be my favourite classic car. I think that many European car bores - and why not some Americans too - would name this car their favourite. Its glorious body, its fantastic 2.4 litre Ferrari engine and its success in rallying is a hard combination to resist. Actually, you would have to have a heart of stone not to like this car.

Well, here are my favourite cars that I came to think of in the 30 minutes it took me to write this little post. Here are some pictures of cars that I think could be someones favourites. And do feel free to comment on what your favourite car is.

Jaguar E-type

Nissan GT-R

This car has to be someones favourite. Ferrari 365 GTB/4 (Ferrari Daytona)

Oh yeah! The Americans

Many things have been written on this blog so far, from the super cars in the Geneva Motor Show to the improved Mazda 6. But in the last `lazy´ post i noticed that one crucial part of the motoring industry has not been mentioned on this blog, until now.

It was the Dodge Challenger photo that made me think of the topic that's been silent on this blog. The topic of American muscle cars.
I know very little about muscle cars so I'm not going to tell you about the history of muscle cars that much, you can educate yourself on that. I have never been interested in the American muscle cars because I didn't think they were the best way to go, unless you wanted an American muscle car. But now I have started to warm up to those big beasts. Especially to a Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 from 1965. And yes, it might be shallow but it is the stripes and the noise. But I guess there isn't really anything else to that car.

As you all probably know the 60's and the 70's were the golden times for the American muscle cars, with all the Mustangs, Chargers, Challengers and Pontiac GTO's.  But in the 80's and 90's America started dragging it's tail around and it went all bad. The muscle cars weren't as exciting, they were built from plastic and just plain sucked. Not all of them sucked but the majority did. But a part of that may have also been down to the rise of the hot hatches.

After those horrible days of the muscle car they are starting to make a comeback with some new generations of the classic American muscle cars. Such as the Chevrolet Impala SS, Dodge Challenger and Ford Mustang GT350. They are still behind in the technology department of the Europeans and the Japanese but they still ought to be real good at the light to light racing.
Do feel free to comment, if I've forgot to mention a muscle car, since muscle cars are not my strong point.

A magnificent Impala SS. I hope the owner didn't mind me taking this photo.

Dodge Charger R/T. It is an impressive thing to behold.

I can just hear the popular tune by Steppenwolf in the background.

Pontiac GTO in all its redness. 

I most certainly don't think this is pretty. Ford Mustang GT from 1990

The new Dodge Challenger and Chevrolet Camaro SS

I'm lazy today

I don't have any topic in mind to write about so I'm going to share with you my best car photos. I have taken all these photos myself. I welcome you to the abundance of cars. More picture will be added. Maybe in a I'm lazy today part 2 post

Audi R8

Lotus Esprit V8

Dodge Challenger Convertible

Saab 9-3 Convertible

Porsche 911 Turbo

Future legend!

This past weekend I got the pleasure to drive an old Mazda MX-5. It was my first driving experience in a low riding two-seater and it was an absolute joy. So I thought that I'd write about it. The car not my driving.

As you all know the Mazda MX-5, or Mazda Miata as it's known in the States, is one of the most if not the most iconic sports car of all time. It was introduced in 1989 and Mazda wanted it to have the feel of a British sports car but with Japanese reliability. A small light weight rear-wheel drive sports car with a 1.6 litre engine putting out a modest 115 hp was the recipe Mazda went with and not surprisingly it worked. It was fast, nimble, good looking and best of all - as in a British sports car - it was a convertible.

The one I drove was with the more powerful 1.8 litre engine that came along in 1994. It has 130 hp but the acceleration from 0-100 kph stays about the same as in the 1.6 litre version at 8.7 seconds. But when that engine came along the people at Mazda decided that the gap between the 1.6 and the 1.8 was to small so they detuned the 1.6 litre engine to only develope 90 hp. Which - as you may imagine - was not a success.

But all in all the Mazda MX-5 has been a success story. Mazda have made over 900 000 of the MX-5 and they haven't stopped yet. It has changed appearance somewhat over the years but the recipe is still the same.  The Mazda MX-5 Miata will go down to the car hall of fame, no question about it.

Oh, and keeping in the theme of future classics, this is certainly a car that belongs there. But the annual special editions or otherwise called M Editions are the ones to look for.

Yes, the roof down in just above freezing temperature

And it has the coolest things ever fitted on a car, pop-up headlights.

In the cockpit there's nothing to distract you from the road.

This example was not in the best of shapes, but still huge fun.

All the generations of the iconic Mazda MX-5 Miata.

Future classics (in my mind) part III

As we already have listed two spiced up family cars let's have a third one. But this one is a little bit different as it was meant to go to rallying to the World Rally Championship but never made it. 

The car in question is the Mazda Familia GTR or known as well as Mazda 323 GT-R. I don't know much about this car. I only found out it existed late last year and was astounded by the lengths that Mazda went to only to not become a part of the WRC line up. But anyhow, what we got out of it was 2500 pieces of Japanese top techonology and precision in the early 90's, which is never a bad thing. Because it was meant to go rallying it has a sophisticated four-wheel drive system and a unique 210 hp 1.8 litre turbocharged engine instead of the standard 2.0 litre turbo found on the other road going rally cars from that period. And of course being a sort of car that it is, it is hard to find one that is not modified. But be assured, if you find one that is untouched by eager tuning fingers you'll be in for a profitable buy.

The Familia GTR also has a more hardcore version the GT-Ae. It is lighter than the GTR and there were only 300 made. You can also go for the budget version, the GTX. It also has 4WD and the same engine but with 185 hp. Inside the biggest difference between the GTR and the GTX is that the GTR has leather seats and the GTX doesn't. The GT-Ae doesn't have leather seats either, but that is to save weight.

Now we've reached the point where you can choose between an original Subaru Impreza WRX or Mitsubishi Evo 1. Or then you could choose a unique rally car for the road with a tragic history of never being able to show it's true potential to the world.

All of that four-wheel drive goodness.

This is how it looks from behind. Sorry for the bad picture.

Future classics (in my mind) part II

As in part I of future classics we're sticking with family cars. Fast and special family cars that is.

This time around I'm talking about the Mercedes Benz C36 AMG. It laid the groundwork for all the rest of the AMG Mercedes that have been build since, which obviously makes it really special. 

It was introduced in 1993, production began in 1994 and it lasted to 1997. During that time only a bit over 5000 AMG C36's were made. It has an AMG tuned 3.6 litre straight six engine developing 280 hp. And it was of course meant to compete with the then current BMW M3, of which BMW made around 70,000 of. If you want, you can think of the C36 as an underdog which is always appealing. 

In true high-end Mercedes fashion of course the C36 came with leather seats, automatic gearbox with a tiptronic function, cruise control, automatic air-con and many more things that we today think of as standard. But remember kids, this is in 1994 when it was luxury to have power-steering.

This is a car that when it goes wrong the parts will be expensive. But if you maintain your C36 AMG as you should it will run like any other Mercedes, until it runs out of the delicious petrol it enjoys so much.

Those alloy wheels were only available for the C36 AMG. You better get them.

Really no way of knowing that it's an AMG Merc.

Future classics ( in my mind) part I

Now it's time for me to write about something that I have been wanting to talk about for some time now. It's the topic of cars that are going to be future classics.

I'm not going to list obvious future classics like the Alfa Romeo 8C or other exotic cars like Mercedes Benz SLR. I'm going to list cars that are special, have stopped depreciating and cars you can buy today for a relatively small amount of money.

At first a car that has been overshadowed by cars from the same manufacturer: The Ford Mondeo ST200.
It has a 2.5 litre Duratec engine developing 205 horsepower. The V6 takes the car from 0-100 kph in 7.7 seconds. Those numbers don't seem so impressive but we have to keep in mind that not all legends are fire breathing monsters. The ST200 was made only two years (1999-2000) so it's still a fairly modern car which means that there are good ones around. The ST200 was given a colour which would make it differ from other Mondeo's, Imperial Blue. A white colour was also featured but only for police cars. So if you find a white one it's definitely the one to go for. Also, Recaro seats came as standard but the full leather seats were an optional extra. So a white Ford Mondeo ST200 with complete leather seats is the most rare ST200. But to be honest every ST200 in good nick will do nicely.

You can get it as an estate aswell.

If you don't have a dog you can get a liftback or a saloon.

In the cabin there is air-con, leather and blue dials.

Stick to European

There is a car i'd like to briefly talk about. It's the Dodge Caliber SRT-4. I saw two of them today, which is unusual in this part of the world. But that's not the point. The point is that it is two too many. As a concept the 'sporty' Caliber sounds intriguing. It has a 2.4 litre turbocharged four cylinder engine developing 295 hp, something that is too much for some American V8's. So it sounds all European and/or Japanese, or to put it in a single word, civilized.

It is essentially a hot hatch set to compete with the Golf GTI and so on. But I don't count it as a hot hatch because a hot hatch is supposed to be practical, fun, and sophisticated. It should be good at everything. And i bet you any money that the SRT-4 isn't. It is fast in a straight line though as an American car should, 0-100 kph in around 6 seconds. But that's not fast enough. It should be so fast that it would become blurry to spectators. Because the looks are so childish and vulgar at the same time that it's impossible to comprehend what kind of person thinks that the SRT-4 looks good enough to be seen in, unless you're twelve. And get this, it's front-wheel drive. It even has VVT (Variable Valve Timing) which Dodge say is a 'newer' technology (remember this is in the year 2008). Toyota used VVT in it's cars for the first time in 1992. I'm sorry. If this is the'newer' technology Dodge is proud about we should be worried.

So an American car with certainly an American body, with a Japanese engine (sort of), with front-wheel drive and with out-dated technology. Thankfully this hasn't caught on. 

I know this is a car that was new in 2008 and production stopped in 2009 and that this review/rant is late. But this blog wasn't up then and I had to come up with something to write.

The scoops and vents don't make the car faster or cooler.

It sure looks clumpy for a hot hatch. I do like the single exhaust pipe though.