Road Tests

Back in 2005, Jaguar's hottest selling model of all time ended its production run. That car was the XK. In the spring of 2006, the 2007 model emerged as a completely reworked vehicle that Jaguar hoped would continue to see record sales. The challenge for the company has been competing in a segment - Large Premium Sports Cars - that doubled from the mid 90s to the mid 2000s. Jaguar sought to blend the two major groups - grand tourers and sports cars - into a single kickass car.  

That generation ran through 2009 offering a 4.2-liter V8 good for 300 hp and 310 lb-ft of torque as well as a supercharged variant providing 420 hp and 412 lb-ft of torque. But with everyone stepping up their game, Jaguar quickly realized that even though they had satisfied their goal, they certainly had no BMW M6 or Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG killer…

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.”

Finding an affordable sports car with rear-wheel drive, a six-speed manual, performance aspirations and tuning potential has seemed like a Herculean task of late. The Nissan 370Z and Honda S2000 are solid sports coupes but break the $30k ceiling, making gear-heads on a budget frown. Scion has been producing fun and exciting cars that capture the tuning spirit for under $20k, but exhilaration from the driving experience there is not. It's taken an unlikely contender, Hyundai Motors from Korea, to bring to market a sport compact at a compelling price point which also serves as a launching pad for all kinds of modification possibilities.

Hyundai didn't just slip the Genesis Coupe into the mix as a replacement for the discontinued Tiburon, they hurled it into the product lineup while doing a power slide complete with smoking tires. You have to look no further than the press pictures taken at a track, as opposed to the typical scenic park (like ours), to see that there is no doubt that this model is aimed at 18 to 35 year old males looking to cause some havoc.

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...

Tucked away in the quaint hamlet of Oberlin, Ohio - home to the eponymous college whose stellar music and arts programs attract students from across the globe - is an unlikely neighbor. Sitting quietly off Route 20 in a small nondescript industrial complex lies Switzer Performance Innovation, a tuning outfit that puts out supercars with tire-vaporizing horsepower.

On a recent warm September afternoon, I took the 45 minute drive from Cleveland, where my folks live, to meet with Jo Borras, the sales manager, and Tym Switzer (pronounced Swy´tzer), the owner and resident guru, and look at their operation. I had known the company by reputation only and was aware that they were a skilled mod shop, but was not expecting to be awestruck by what I found.

The Volvo C30 is aimed squarely at first time Volvo buyers and the young, hipster crowd. Since I'm both young and hip (or so I like to think) and found the car to be pure joy to drive, I would have to say that Volvo definitely has done things right. It may appear that the C30 is a big departure from Volvo's typically boxy sedans, but the 2 door, 4 seat, front wheel drive hatchback is actually an updated version of the Volvo 480 that was popular in Europe in the mid 80's and early 90's.

The vehicle that we were provided was the 2009 Volvo C30 R-Design, the company's more sport and performance oriented variant. The R-Design has an assortment of both internal and external enhancements that separate it from its tamer brethren. Volvo's R-Design packages are available for their C30, S40 and V50 models and provide customers with an opportunity to personalize and accessorize their vehicles. We would very much like to see this line extended to include performance modifications such as those offered by Toyota's TRD line and Mercedes' AMG division.