First Drive & Video: 2012 Honda Civic Si Coupe HFP

Story and photos by John LeBlanc NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ont. –  Remember the days when you couldn’t walk into a Honda showroom without bumping into a fun-to-drive car? Cars like the Honda CR-X Si from the ’80s and ’90s and the S2000 roadster from the early 2000s, along with Acura-badged Hondas like the Integra Type-R and NSX […]

Quick Spin: 2012 Lexus IS 350 AWD

By John LeBlanc What is it? The compact, five-passenger IS is Lexus’ stab at the entry-level sports sedan segment, a class invented by the BMW 3 Series in the yuppie-era 1980s. Until the $30,950 front-wheel-drive CT 200h hybrid hatchback arrived for 2011, the $32,900 rear-wheel-drive IS 250 sedan was the least expensive Lexus you could […]

The Crank: Do stripes make BMW’s Minis go faster?

By John LeBlanc Automotive legend has it American road racer Briggs Cunningham put the first ever stripe on a racing car.  After his white 1951 C4-R was seen with the contrasting pair of blue stripes that ran across the car from trunk to hood, a trend was quickly started, one that eventually migrated to production […]

First Drive: 2012 Volkswagen Scirocco BlueMotion TDI

By John LeBlanc NICE, France – Whether they are hyper-French super minis, molto bene-Italian hot hatches or English-cottage-industry sports cars, Canadian driving enthusiasts have been forced to adopt a “look, but don’t touch” stance towards a variety of niche European cars not sold in our country. Arguably the one car that elicits the strongest feelings […]

First Drive & Video: 2012 Volkswagen Golf R

By John LeBlanc ARJEPLOG, SWEDEN—Classic car buffs have the Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach. New car fans have the auto shows in Detroit or Geneva. But if you’re into cars that officially don’t exist — the camouflaged prototypes that automakers don’t want you to know about — you need to be here, in the small […]

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