Thursday, January 20, 2011

American vs. Eurasian

Hello everyone,

Like many I used to be quite biased against the American-made sports cars. I used to think they didn't have enough engineering expertise to innovate in the area of handling. But now it seems that an increasing number of American cars are being tested around the undisputed test track champion of the world, the Nurburgring Nordschleife, and posting some pretty spectacular times, the '09 Dodge Viper ACR taking the 6th overall production car time. Even Cadillac, long branded as being luxurious and dependable, are starting to breach into the sports sedan/coupe market with the CTS-V and choosing to compete directly with the industry standards of BMW, Audi, and Mercedes in this class. What I'm getting at is that whether you believe it or not, the American automotive industry is once again booming. There may still be a stigma attached to them because of the government bailout but a less publicized story is that they payed it back in full only a short time (5 years ahead of schedule) after it was granted to them. As it stands they hold their own against all of their direct competitors in terms of build quality and performance in their respective classes. I still wouldn't go as far as to say that I'm converted but they've definitely earned their stars and stripes in my book as of late.

Everyone have a good one,
Mat in the Hat

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Second Post!! lol

hello again!

I happened upon the reincarnation of one of my all-time favourite cars yesterday: the Lancia Stratos. This newly revamped version looks like a life-sized hot wheels car and that was what was always great about it, along with being so light and agile. There's a picture of the newest version of the fabled rally champion: http://bit.ly/fykDVK. However, if you look at this picture the interior leaves something to be desired in terms of comfort http://bit.ly/gVX7T8. Racing seats with all-metal accents makes for a pretty uncomfortable and bland ride. Could've used cooler mats is all.
There was a kit car version of the original reviewed on BBC's Top Gear and Jeremy Clarkson does a far better job of describing it than I can so if you have the time I'd highly recommend checking it out on Youtube.
Anyway this got me thinking that whoever wants to should post their favourite car from recent history that needs to be brought back to this decade.

Happy holidays and happy posting,
Mat in the Hat