2010 BMW X6M
Torque is a good thing. To any gearhead, having copious quantities of readily available torque available under their right foot is always welcome and the 2010 BMW X6 M has plenty to spare.
2017 Jaguar F-Pace S
As the western coast of the United States rises up from the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, a 655-mile stretch of the boundary between land and water is marked by a strip of pavement known as California Route 1. Known in various locations as the Pacific Coast Highway or Cabrillo Highway, the road winds, climbs and falls as it seeks purchase along the perimeter of the continent. It’s the ideal road for the kinds of cars built by Jaguar and I recently spent some time there in one of the venerable British brand’s newest products. But rather than a car, I was driving the all-new F-Pace S.
The Pacific ocean, somewhere near Santa Cruz California
Last month, an anniversary passed in my life that I neglected to hightlight. On September 20, 2006, my first piece of writing for which I actually got paid was published on the still-nascent AutoblogGreen. That began my transition from engineering to writing and talking about transportation technology. Over the course of the next four years I published nearly 7,500 posts on Autoblog and AutoblogGreen, along with a few hundred on the now defunct GreenFuelsForecast.com. I also co-hosted more than 100 podcasts, attended countless media events, have driven hundreds of different cars and trucks and made many wonderful colleagues and friends along the way.
In the years since my departure from Autoblog, I’ve been fortunate to contribute to other publications including Popular Mechanics, Motor Trend, Road&Track, Car and Driver and most recently Forbes. I also spent several years on the other side of the business in product communications learning how the companies I cover tell their stories.
I’m incredibly grateful that a recruiter for Navigant Research reached out to me two years and set me on the path to being an analyst, a role where I can now provide companies with guidance on setting the strategies for the future of transportation.
A decade ago, my first media trip brought me out to Monterey, Calif. with Honda to learn about and drive the FCX fuel cell concept at the Laguna Seca race track. This weekend I’m back in the Monterey area for the weekend with my wonderful wife, who has been so supporting over the good and difficult times of past ten years before we head back into San Francisco for a week of talking about the future of transportation.
2016 Alfa Romeo 4C Spider (photo credit: Sam Abuelsamid)
We exist in a world of pervasive screens and connectivity and touch interfaces. In that world, almost everything we do is intermediated, filtered and converted through layers of ones and zeros. In fact, in the not too distant future, it’s likely that many if not most of us will never actively drive a car again. Fortunately, we’re not quite at that final place yet and there remain a handful of virtually unfiltered driving experiences like the 2016 Alfa Romeo 4C Spider.
2016 BMW 650i (photo credit: Sam Abuelsamid)
It’s been a quarter century since I drove a BMW for the first time. After years of reading Car and Driver’s praise of the 3 and 5 Series, my entre into the brand came via the big coupe which in those days was the 850i. The 8 series had supplanted the 6 series while moving significantly upmarket. The 8 was only produced for a single generation before giving way to an eventual revival of the 6 which I finally had a chance to drive recently in 650i form.
Read the rest of my BMW 650i review here
2016 Range Rover HSE Td6
Despite the best efforts of Volkswagen to kill the appeal of compression ignition engines in America once and for all, Dr. Diesel’s combustion cycle still holds some significant appeal as a means of improving fuel efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The latest automaker to jump in with diesel engines is Jaguar Land Rover with the 2016 Range Rover Td6. While relatively few Americans will ever have the opportunity to drive this high-dollar luxury SUV, it’s actually surprisingly relevant as a probable preview of the 2018 Ford F-150.
2016 Ford Focus ST
By no means am I an expert in branding. Nonetheless, it seems intuitively obvious that if you want to build brand equity, you might want some consistency over time so that consumers develop an understanding of what the brand stands for. Case in point 911, Corvette and Mustang. All cars that have been around with the same name for more than half a century. Aside from Mustang and F-Series, Ford tends to be notoriously fickle with its branding, especially for its compact cars. With any luck Focus and ST will be brands that stick around for a good long time.
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2016 BMW X5 xDrive40e
It’s now been about a decade since BMW first announced its plans to get into the hybrid game and it was another three years before any production models with electric drive assist hit the streets. A lot has changed since BMW launched the ActiveHybrid X6 and ActiveHybrid 7 essentially as experiments in 2009. Electrification is now becoming relatively mainstream with batteries and electric motors no longer limited to super-efficient cars like the Toyota Prius. After a week with the 2016 X5 xDrive40e, there’s no doubt that the future of the ultimate driving machine includes plugs across the board.
In the decades since I first got into cars, much has changed about the auto industry. Back then, two-door coupes were commonplace and in fact were among the best selling cars on the market thanks to nameplates like Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and Ford Thunderbird. No mainstream car-line was complete without two-door, four-door and station wagon variants. Today, aside from performance models, there is but one midsize two-door coupe left, the Honda Accord.
