I'm noticing hexagonal Grille treatments on every other car. (It's on the FR-S too)
We are going to see this Mondeo/Fusion dethrone the Camrys, Accords, and Sonatas.
A waste of a cool prop on such a dull car
Spindle grilles are still hexagonal in my book.
Good news! Lexus unveiled the first hybrid ES! Anyway...
Infiniti's luxury electric-vehicle doesn't have a name
It does have six sides and six corners on its grille though.
Mr. Shiro Nakamura, senior vice president and chief creative officer of Nissan-Infiniti. #badass
Bucking the trend, Acura concept rocks a pentagon grille.
*Remember when Lotus announced development of an in-house powerplant for its Esprit?
The Acura NSX Should keep them honest.
2014 Mazda 6 is one fine looking mid-size
Svelte looks and SkyActiv. Will it catch the category sleeping?
More than four decades old, the 1971 Porsche 917 LH Martini
is probably the most incredible car at the show!
Uh oh. What if the only Lincoln that was interesting at the show is already 70 years old?
Taking the fight to BMW, everything seems to be going right for Cadillac and GM
The Nurburgring-tuned chassis is supposed to create the best handling Cadillac sedan ever.
Unfortunately, it also gave the ATS the most cramped Cadillac interior ever.
This KIA GT concept has got them Lamborghini Aventador-J carbon fiber blades!
Close-up
So many flavors!
I love me some T-Rex
And now we jump a couple hundreds of thousands of dollars
LeMans Blue, British Racing Green, Blue Water, Black Sapphire, Alpine White, Palladium Silver, Indium Grey, the list of color choices is endless. Sure, all of these colors are great, but let's get down to the basics, the nitty gritty. I'm thinking of a color that's bare bones, yet it's something that invokes a raw feeling: Flat Black.
We don't see many vehicles on the road this color, but when we do, oh man! Luke, we're sorry, but FPH is turning to the Dark Side!
Luxury is a funny thing in the car industry. Upon hearing that word, many different marques enter the mind. The usual suspects include Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Cadillac, Lincoln, Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti. Since 2009, some might consider Hyundai's Genesis sedan as a good entry-priced piece of opulence but let's be real here. Nobody ever wants to talk about their cheap luxuries. This being the case, let's talk about the Equus as well as another plebeian manufacturer's attempt at extravagance, Volkswagen's Phaeton.
Look down at your center console (now at me, now back to your console...damn Old Spice commercials). I bet there's at least 3 things that you notice right away. There's the shifter, a cup holder probably, and the hand brake. This last item goes by many names. There's hand brake, parking brake, and emergency brake, or e-brake for short. I've decided that e-brake will from now on mean "enthusiast brake." Let me explain after the jump.
In the past week’s Autoblog, a bit of emphasis has been put upon a seldomly discussed niche— Japanese premium brands. Paul Eisenstein wrote an article on whether Honda has lost its footing, questioning Acura’s direction. Noah Joseph reports plans within Infiniti to anchor their line-up with both an entry-level and halo models.
As a resident of the northern hemisphere, I admit that things can get a bit depressing around this time of year. The days are getting shorter, the temperature is slowly creeping toward single digits, and it seems like the sun is doing nothing but taunting us. The good cheer and festive moods of the holiday season do help some but even the holidays are sure to cause a bit of depression. The two main culprits for this are the slightly enlarged waistlines and those ridiculously large red bows in Lexus commercial!
Completing my last final exam at around 11pm last Wednesday night, I receive a call from mom with exciting news that we would be going on a trip to Cape Cod the morning after. Road trips with mama dukes always meant that you'll have to mentally come to terms with her role as the back seat driver for the coming four hour drive. But hey, I was desperate and I really needed this.
I'd like to use this opportunity to just say how important family really is and that I'm really glad we did it. In the end, this turned out to be one of the most pleasant trips of recent memory. My parents are no longer young and they're only going to get older. Another family trip is another memory that we'd be able to share together. When my folks get to an age where they've become too old to travel, I hope not to have any regrets on not spending time with them when I had the chance.
Road trips also remind us what owning a car is really about. Fundamentally, it is mobility. When an owner buys a Ferrari only to leave it in a climate controlled garage, I can only believe that what the owner must feel is a sense of regret and remorse that grows exponentially for every back road that he prevents his Ferrari from stretching its legs on.
Anyway, without further ado, please enjoy the pictures!
Day 1, Cape Cod:
::click on photo to enlarge::
The Lexus GS300 AWD, Joe's Lobster Mart near the Boardwalk, and I.
Considerations were made on whether or not to make this post a review on the Lexus (this is supposed to be a car blog after all) but I was afraid that it'd make readers fall asleep.
Let's get this over with. The Lexus GS 300 awd. Design wise, it's one slippery and handsome bar of soap, or as Lexus likes to call their design direction, "L-finesse". It seats four comfortably, though headroom is a bit lacking and I would have much preferred to leave my hat on while sitting inside.
Performance is good. With all passengers and luggage in the car, the engine was not out of breath when it was asked to accelerate to merging speeds. I'd describe the delivery as similar to that initial feeling you get when an elevator starts to move from underneath you. Boring, pretty much.
The chassis is rigid, the suspension is firm, the dampers are forgiving. The cabin is extremely quiet, the air conditioner blew cold, the leathers are soft, the ergonomics are sensible, the Mark Levinson stereo system was most welcomed. My mom and dad were especially happy with it whenever Lady Gaga's Telephone came on. Really, they're more hip than you think!
In conclusion, the Lexus is a good long distance tourer, but we'd prefer something with a bit more passion (a quid in the Italian swear jar) or a bit more Maserati Quattroporte.
Day 2, Provincetown and Gray GablesToken "editor in front of test car" picture.Paying Uncle Bob a visit!Day 3, BostonTop of the Prudential with Danny ChinCoordinating get up was unintentional. Probably caught a bit of attention though.Danny Chin and I sitting around talking about cars as usual. Note how my left arm is flat against the armrest and my fingers are curving upwards. I'm convinced that this picture was taken when I was in the middle of describing this white Aston Martin V8 Vantage I saw earlier that day and what my arm was actually doing is imitating the Aston's duck tail spoiler. Yes.
All in all, I had a great time and it was great to visit Boston again. Special thanks to Sandra and Uncle Bob, a thank you to my parents for becoming less dorky, and special special thanks to Danny Chin and his family for the hospitality. It was wonderful to see you all again!
I'm sure there will be more road trip posts in the future. It is arguably the most rewarding thing to be able to do as a driver. This sort of combination of spontaneity and freedom is rare and I don't think it's even something I see many major publications write about in detail.
I hope you enjoyed this post, let us know of your memorable road trips or one that you've always wanted to do!
