The Infiniti G20 represented Nissan’s quiet attempt to bring European sport sedan sensibilities to the US market, built on the Primera platform and prized by enthusiasts for its balance, steering feel, and understated execution rather than outright power. By 2002, the final-year of the second generation (P11) G20 had evolved into a refined compact sedan […]
The Buick Reatta was launched for the 1988 model year on GM’s E-body platform shared with the Buick Riviera, Oldsmobile Toronado, and Cadillac Eldorado. It featured some advanced technology (for a domestic), such as fully independent front and rear suspension, 4 wheel disc brakes, ABS, and other things common on European cars for decades. Unfortunately, […]
I learned a new word salad string to add to my lexicon of automotive nonsense today; “a true black pearl find”. I’m not sure if that relates to the secretions of a mollusk or the movie based on a Disneyland amusement park ride, but I think that it is meant to indicate some sort of […]
(by CFlo) The V6 engine is smooth, responsive, and nearly silent. It gets 30 mpg on the highway. Hundreds of miles of American scenery can pass through the windows, and you won’t even feel a little bit tired – there’s no wind noise. Stretch out – there’s plenty of room for 4 or 5 other […]
This 8th generation Buick Riviera was the launch vehicle for GM’s new G-body platform (GMX690), which was based on Cadillac’s K-body architecture and lasted until 2011 when it was superseded by the Eurocentric GM Epsilon platform. The William L Porter designed coupe marked the end of an era for GM’s big luxury 2-doors and is […]
The rebooted Mini might have lost much of its British charm, but the infusion of German sports DNA (from Mini’s new parent company BMW) was really noticeable in the John Cooper Works edition of the Mini Cooper S. With 211 horsepower and 261 ft-lbs of torque from the turbocharged 1.6 liter 4-cylinder engine the JCW […]
Folks into trucks are always arguing about which kind of drive system is better — many say 4-wheel-drive trucks are the best because you can drive through anything, while others say the basic rear-drive pickup is the best because you get to fish tail in the dirt…but, naturally, they are both wrong. The best kind of pickup is the front-wheel-drive pickup, particularly one built on a Cadillac chassis. Find this 1974 Cadillac Eldorado Pickup offered for $9995 in Edgewater, FL via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
I’ve been a big fan of the new Mini by BMW product that has been sold since around Y2K, because those cars depreciate quickly and offer a fun modern take on the classic front-drive light car paradigm. The only thing BMW did wrong is to make the car about 10% larger than it should have been, which if you then back calculate to volume, you’ve got a car that is 27% heavier than it should be…and that’s not very “mini”, is it? Forget the modern version of the Mini and get a classic Mini, they built them through the year 2000 and you can back-date the looks to the ’60s like the seller did with this next one. Find this 1992 Mini Cooper offered for $11,500 in Phoenix, AZ via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
This might seem odd to people accustomed to blistering performance from every car on the street in 2020…but a car with 150 horsepower and a zero-to-60mph time of 7.5 seconds was a quick in 1984. That was faster than a Mustang GT (or SVO), faster than a Porsche 944, faster than an Mazda RX7, faster than a Z28 Camaro, faster than a V12 powered Jaguar XJS, faster than anything from Mercedes-Benz. Now you might ask, what front-wheel-drive car could hit 60mph in 7.5 seconds — and you might be tempted to look for some Honda CRX or something from Shelby’s Dodge years…but this car came straight from the lunatics at Buick, yes the Buick Skyhawk T-Type. The mostly unlikely and forgotten heroes of the sport compact car era. Find this 1984 Buick Skyhawk T-Type offered for $3,500 in Daly City, CA via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
The 7th and final generation Pontiac Grand Prix (2004-2008) was a far cry from the original Grand Prix released in 1962. But the boys at Pontiac (soon to be looking for jobs when their entire GM brand was shuttered in 2008) decided that they could still build a classic American muscle car. So here is what they did, they started with the mid-sized front-wheel-drive Grand Prix Sedan and then they GXP’d it by adding an LS4 V8 mated to a crisp-shifting 4-speed automatic, Bilstein shocks, big PBR brake calipers, cross drilled and slotted brake discs, Magnasteer II sport steering control, and the craziest part — staggered wheels/tires, wider in the front. They pulled every trick from the front-drive sport compact hot rodder’s handbook to build what is probably the best front-wheel-drive American sport sedan ever built…about 10 years after it should have been built. With the GXP, Pontiac was literally competing in 2005 with the 1996 Ford Taurus SHO. Despite that…I can’t help but want to drive one of the 17990 examples of the Grand Prix GXP built from 2005-2008, just for the fun. Find this 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix GXP offered for $4,500 in Oregon, WI via craigslist.