Japanese

The 2011 Honda CR-Z hybrid just made its official production debut in January and is already a hotbed of tuning activity. It's a foregone conclusion that the car will receive Type-R treatment from Honda's in-house mod shop and Mugen has revealed initial details on a body kit, wheels and interior accessories they plan to offer once sales commence. Now, Spoon has jumped into the mix...

This Japanese wrench shop is introducing a host of tuning options. A suspension upgrade drops the ride height by 50mm with new coilovers in front and a spring/shock combo in back. Special calipers with 15-inch slotted discs take over braking duty. A new N1 exhaust system is in full effects with some ECU tweakage planned to add a little more kick. Spoon is also serving up some CR93 wheels in their signature blue hue to match the calipers. The body gets a minor revamp with a new carbon fiber hood, mirrors and front lip spoiler.

Mazda is celebrating the 20 anniversary of its highly successful and downright fun sports car the same way the world celebrates New Year's Eve, with each region getting its own party and count-down. Special editions for the UK and Japan have already been released, and continuing East it's now continental Europe's turn to receive their own party hat.

Debuting at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show is the 2010 Mazda MX-5 20th Anniversary Edition. Differing it from a normal MX-5 are special door handles, headlight fascia, grill surround, and silver fog lights.

I am not a big fan of convertibles. Like a pretty girl wearing a promise ring I generally write them off as a waste of something perfectly good. The reason for this is twofold. First, convertibles are usually hardtops that have had a lobotomy. What this means is a designer spent countless hours perfecting a gorgeous coupe, and then 5 minutes before a big meeting someone from marketing said, “Can you make a convertible design too? Thanks.” In a rage the designer simply erased the top and left. So they rarely look as good as their coupe sibling. Second, chopping the top affects the car's performance, which is against the law.

However, it's not the idea of a convertible that I dislike, simply the execution. However, when done right, it's something special. So when Matt Farah asked me to ride along in the 370Z with TheSmokingTire on a road trip to Pahrump, Nevada, I quickly obliged. I had read about this car plenty, but I had to see for myself whether the 2010 Nissan 370Z Roadster was a proper roadster or another soft-top tanning bed with a motor. So I sat down at Matt's house and waited for it to arrive. It only took a moment's glance at the silver 370Z pulling into the driveway for me to think, “That's a good looking car.”

We all know by now that the 2011 Lexus LFA is not only fantastic looking but a beast on any race track. Many of you have seen the Top Gear LFA test drive,  official production video from Lexus has been all over the net, and various magazines and media outlets have taken a stab at driving the LFA on enclosed courses.

But what we have yet to see is the Lexus LFA supercar doing its thing on public city roads. EVO magazine has taken the opportunity to show us this and for that we are truly grateful. Check out the video after the jump.

Why do we buy the cars we buy? There are hundreds of different reasons; looks, performance, capacity, efficiency, etc. The truth is no one buys a car because it has only one quality they like. The Alfa Romeo 8C, for example, is the most beautiful car I've ever seen. It's supposed to handle like cement truck, stop like a sailboat and taking one to the 'Ring would be only good if you appreciate being passed by everything short of a school bus. But it also has one of the best exhaust notes I've heard from a modern exotic car. So it looks good, and sounds good. Add to that it's Alfa's halo car to jump back into the U.S. market, and now it has history and purpose; 4 reasons.

But what if, instead of a $200,000 exotic, you want a fast, affordable sedan? On paper the 2010 Honda Civic SI Sedan seems like a great choice. But you can't make that kind of decision with a spec sheet, you have to drive the car. Luckily, my friend Matt Farah, host of the entertaining and informative web show The Smoking Tire, had just finished filming his review episode with this car, and was kind enough to lend me the keys. When I climbed behind the wheel it was my job to find out what will make people buy this car. It was a lot harder than you might think...

The special edition craze is now in full effect for the Nissan 370Z. First, Nissan announced the 40th anniversary model for those stateside, which makes its debut at the Chicago Auto Show, and now the "Black Edition" for the European market, which will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. Don't get your hopes up too much - in both cases, the 332-horsepower 3.7-liter dual overhead cam V6 engine remains untouched. That said, 0-62 mph times in the 5.3 second range is nothing to laugh at.  

Just like its brethren in the US, the Nissan 370Z Black Edition celebrates the 40th anniversary of the original Datsun 240Z and is nearly identical (to the 40th Anniversary Edition) in every way save one. Both sport "high-luster" smoke Rays wheels, red calipers, red leather and suede interiors, red-stitching on the leather wrapped steering wheel and center stack as well as 40th Anniversary emblems and embossing inside and out. The only real difference is that in addition to the "40th Quartz" dark gray paint that the American version comes with, the European version also can be purchased in - get ready for it - Black.

Unless you live on that island from Castaway, you know what the Nissan GTR is capable of... We all know it goes, stops and turns as well as almost anything on the planet today. Its computer system is so advanced it could probably give you an MRI while taking you around the Nurburghing in under 8 minutes. Well the guys at Motor Trend may have found its achilles heal; drifting. Teamed up with Scion's drift team and Streetfire.net, Motor Trend is pitting Godzilla against purpose-built Formula D cars. The video shows you what happens when the Nissan GTR tries to emulate two of the best purpose-built drift cars around, and how well those cars fair against the GTR in Motor Trend's standard performance tests. Check out the video after the jump...

When the buzz around the new Lexus LFA came to a boil in 2009 I only had one thought: When will Top Gear get to test it? Sure there are Nurburgring numbers, dyno tests, weight specs, building costs, etc., but Top Gear puts you inside the car. When they test a car, you learn about more than just the molecules that make the car. And they always leave an impression. I don't know many 'Ring times but I could tell you more than a handful of Power Board lap-times.When the Lexus LFA finally became available to the public, I knew it was only a matter of time.

Well Happy New Year everyone, Top Gear is starting things off on the right foot. Richard Hammond takes the helm of Japan's new $375,000 super-car. With a price that rivals Russian Space travel, I was all ears to hear what my favorite Brits had to say. And, if you don't live in a country that broadcasts the latest Top Gear, and you have a moral objection to illegally downloading automotive cinematic gospel, we have provided the clips for you. Watch below as Richard tests the newest applicant to the club of supercars and answers the big question: Is it really worth the money?