Comparo: Five frugal sports cars

Story and photos by John LeBlanc If you think about it, the first sports cars – the iconic post-World War II cars from MG, Triumph or Alfa Romeo, powered by small displacement four-cylinder engines – were relatively green for their time. Then a certain chicken farmer named Carroll Shelby from Texas came along and stuffed […]

Comparo: Mercedes-Benz C 63 AMG vs. Lexus IS-F

Story and photos by John LeBlanc Calabogie, Ont.–In its quarter-century-long war with rival German automaker BMW and its vaunted M3, Mercedes-Benz drew first blood in the battle of compact sports sedan V8s with the C 43 AMG in 1998. A decade later, eight cylinders are more common in this class than speeding tickets. Toyota is […]

First Drive: 2009 Porsche Cayman S/PDK

Story, video and photos by John LeBlanc JEREZ, SPAIN–As most of its middle-aged fans will appreciate, today’s Porsche 911 is not the flyweight sports car it started out as 44 years ago. A little heavier, a little larger around the middle – definitely less agile – Porsche has slowly moved its halo vehicle from pure […]

Road Test: 2008 Mercedes-Benz C 63 AMG

Story and photos by John LeBlanc In the quarter century separating the new-this-year C63 AMG and the first factory hot rod baby ‘Benz, Mercedes’ smallest super sports sedan has certainly grown up. First seen at the Frankfurt auto show in 1983, the inaugural AMG-tuned ‘Baby Benz – the 185-hp four-cylinder 190 E 2.3-16 – was […]

First Drive: 2009 BMW 750 i/750 Li

Story and photos by John LeBlanc DRESDEN, Germany–It was a textbook display of understatement: at the launch of the new 7 Series, BMW’s sales and marketing head Ian Robertson conceded that the styling of the previous version of the company’s flagship luxury sedan was “not without controversy.” No kidding.

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