For A Few Dollars More: The 2018 Volkswagen Golf R

The 2018 Volkswagen Golf R.

Two months ago, I wrote in glowing terms about the 2018 Volkswagen Golf GTI Autobahn.  I stand by every word.  But what if you want more?   Say...72 more horsepower?

A Pony No More: The 2018 Ford Mustang GT Premium

The 2018 Ford Mustang GT Premium.

Fifty-four years ago today, on April 17, 1964, Ford introduced the Mustang.  From that point on, it and its eventual competitors (Plymouth Barracuda, Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, AMC Javelin, Dodge Challenger) were known as pony cars.  They were all sporty compacts, not outright performance or muscle cars.

The 2018 Ford Mustang GT Premium changes all that.  What we have here is a budget-priced, four-seat Corvette competitor.

I can hear the purists howling already.  But let's look at some facts:

30 Minutes With: The 2018 BMW 640i xDrive Gran Turismo

The 2018 BMW 640i xDrive Gran Turismo.

Publisher's note: Normally, the cars you read about here at TireKicker are loaned to us by the press fleets of the various manufacturers for several days. Seven is typical.  Occasionally, we'll get a longer period of time, and sometimes it'll only be three or four days.  Our "30 Minutes With" series features cars we spent half an hour driving during the just-concluded Western Automotive Journalists Media Days in Monterey, California.

Day one of Media Days is a driving program, with journalists taking cars from the staging area at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca via Laureles Grade.  Once there, you swap cars with another journalist for the drive back, get a different car at The Quail, and repeat. Apart from an hour's lunch (this year sponsored by Nissan), this is the day from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., although heavy rains forced us to call it a day at 2:30 this year, reducing the number of cars we could drive.

30---Okay, 75---Minutes With: The 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Ti Sport AWD

The 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Ti Sport AWD.

Publisher's note: Normally, the cars you read about here at TireKicker are loaned to us by the press fleets of the various manufacturers for several days. Seven is typical.  Occasionally, we'll get a longer period of time, and sometimes it'll only be three or four days.  Our "30 Minutes With" series features cars we spent half an hour driving during the just-concluded Western Automotive Journalists Media Days in Monterey, California.

Day one of Media Days is a driving program, with journalists taking cars from the staging area at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca via Laureles Grade.  Once there, you swap cars with another journalist for the drive back, get a different car at The Quail, and repeat. Apart from an hour's lunch (this year sponsored by Nissan), this is the day from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., although heavy rains forced us to call it a day at 2:30 this year, reducing the number of cars we could drive.

Car number four for the day was the second Alfa Romeo I've ever driven, just minutes after the first, the 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Ti Sport AWD.

Good Bad But Not Evil: The 2018 Dodge Durango R/T AWD

The 2018 Dodge Durango R/T.

Being a child of the 60s and 70s, who was old enough to have posters on the wall during what we thought was the Golden Age of Muscle Cars, only to have the party end thanks to emissions regulations, insurance surcharges and Arab oil embargoes just as I got my license, I just have to love Dodge.  With the exception of the sad-sack Journey and the pre-historic Grand Caravan (which we liked---in 2010),  Dodge is just one big toy store, full of things that any red-blooded American boy or girl could use to have fun, cause mayhem and lose one's driver license.

30 Minutes With: The 2018 Alfa Romeo Guilia Ti Lusso Q4

The 2018 Alfa Romeo Guilia Ti Lusso Q4.

Publisher's note: Normally, the cars you read about here at TireKicker are loaned to us by the press fleets of the various manufacturers for several days. Seven is typical.  Occasionally, we'll get a longer period of time, and sometimes it'll only be three or four days.  Our "30 Minutes With" series features cars we spent half an hour driving during the just-concluded Western Automotive Journalists Media Days in Monterey, California.

Day one of Media Days is a driving program, with journalists taking cars from the staging area at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca via Laureles Grade.  Once there, you swap cars with another journalist for the drive back, get a different car at The Quail, and repeat. Apart from an hour's lunch (this year sponsored by Nissan), this is the day from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., although heavy rains forced us to call it a day at 2:30 this year, reducing the number of cars we could drive.

Twenty-one years of professional TireKicking (I reviewed cars on TV and radio before launching TireKicker in 2008) have put me behind the wheel of just about every make of automobile available in the USA.  One of the few that I'd never driven is an Alfa Romeo. Alfa left the U.S. market in 1995, two years before I began writing about cars.  And while they've been back for four model years now, I've never been booked in one from a press fleet.   Enter Media Days 2018.   The 2018 Alfa Romeo Guilia Ti Lusso Q4 became car number three for the day, on the one-way run from the Quail Lodge to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Silence Is Golden: The 2018 Lexus GX460

The 2018 Lexus GX460.

It's been four years since our last week in a Lexus GX460.  So what's changed?  Virtually nothing.

And that's a good thing.

30---Well, Actually 90---Minutes With: The 2018 Mercedes-Benz S560 Cabriolet

The 2018 Mercedes-Benz S560 Cabriolet.

Publisher's note: Normally, the cars you read about here at TireKicker are loaned to us by the press fleets of the various manufacturers for several days. Seven is typical.  Occasionally, we'll get a longer period of time, and sometimes it'll only be three or four days.  Our "30 Minutes With" series features cars we spent half an hour driving during the just-concluded Western Automotive Journalists Media Days in Monterey, California.

Day one of Media Days is a driving program, with journalists taking cars from the staging area at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca via Laureles Grade.  Once there, you swap cars with another journalist for the drive back, get a different car at The Quail, and repeat. Apart from an hour's lunch (this year sponsored by Nissan), this is the day from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., although heavy rains forced us to call it a day at 2:30 this year, reducing the number of cars we could drive.

Car number two for the day was the most exclusive and expensive car I'd sample (and possibly the most exclusive and expensive of the 60 or so available for drives that day), the 2018 Mercedes-Benz S560 Cabriolet.  The run: From the Quail Lodge to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (and, as it turned out, back to the Quail).