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Posted
Mar 25 2009, 01:30 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 15 comment(s)
As winter draws to a close in Detroit, after its awful five month visit, I thought it best to skip town for a while and get a head start on summer. A week long search of flights to any warm city I could think of led me to a roundtrip ticket to Los Angeles for $185. The price was just too good to pass up. I rounded up my girlfriend Veronica and made plans with a couple friends in the LA area to crash on their couches. The thought of palm trees and Jamba Juice was enough to keep me in giddy anticipation...
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Posted
Mar 11 2009, 03:40 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 23 comment(s)
Since I have quite a few friends that own Mazda RX7s and RX3s, I've seen firsthand how fun they can be, and have always had a certain respect for rotary powered vehicles. I even owned a 13B powered FC3S RX7 about ten years ago, so I am definitely a plan of the RX platform. About a week ago, I was given the opportunity to test drive the 2009 Mazda RX8 R3, the newest evolution of the RX8 platform. The most obvious changes that the R3 version offers over the normal RX8s begin with the exterior....
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Posted
Feb 10 2009, 12:30 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 17 comment(s)
Since we recently featured some photos of a Toyota Vitz Cup car at Suzuka Circuit, I thought I'd write a story about its North American counterpart, the Toyota Yaris. Toyota Motor Sales recently debuted the newest body style of Yaris, the 5-door liftback version, so I couldn't resist the opportunity to take a Sport model Yaris 5-door for a test drive. Overall styling wise, I definitely think the 5-door version of the Yaris Type S is the best looking Yaris in the lineup. I really like the...
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Posted
Dec 01 2008, 04:50 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 41 comment(s)
As many of you know, the all-new Nissan 370Z was unveiled about a week-and-a-half ago at the LA Auto Show. The unveiling of the new Z's body style was a big deal for Nissan and Z lovers alike, with lots of industry events and parties celebrating the car's launch. This week, scores of America's top automotive journalists will be traveling to Las Vegas to drive the new 370Z for the first time, at the official Nissan press event. It was awfully nice of Nissan to loan us the car before all...
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Posted
Nov 28 2008, 09:45 AM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 9 comment(s)
Although some people may think the body style is past due for the next stage of evolution, the 2008 Infiniti M45S (equipped with the Sport Package) still brings a smile to my face. Perhaps it is the way the responsive steering feels or the rumble of the 325 horsepower V8 underneath my right foot - either way I usually approach and leave the car with the same smile. Infiniti has produced a long line of solid luxury cars which for some reason have not gotten the recognition that I feel they deserve...
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Posted
Nov 27 2008, 07:50 AM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 12 comment(s)
Not too long ago, I was given the opportunity to test drive the latest Nismo edition Z33 350Z. This Nismo edition Z is the final evolution in the Z33 family, and the most sport-tuned 350Z available in North America (the only higher spec model is the 3.8 liter Z33 Nismo 380RS, available in Japan with a limited production number of 300 units!). While I find the Z33 350Z to be a fun car in general, the Nismo version 350Z steps it up a few notches in the performance department - the Nismo Z handles better...
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Posted
Nov 11 2008, 09:40 AM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 21 comment(s)
When I was told that Nissan was delivering a bright red R35 GTR to my office, I was more than excited! It wasn't my first time experiencing an R35 - I had already seen the car at the 2008 Tokyo Auto Salon , and even accompanied my friend, Nobushige Kumakubo of Team Orange , to the Nissan dealer in Fukushima Japan when he decided to buy one this past January. In fact, Kumakubo generously gave me the opportunity to test out his new GTR at speed when I returned to Japan this past August; I couldn't...
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Posted
Nov 10 2008, 04:12 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 8 comment(s)
I was fortunate enough to be invited to a special Nissan media event featuring the all new Nissan Maxima at the luxuriously redeveloped Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills. To be very honest, I was kind of skeptical when I heard Nissan marketing it as a revival of their “4 door Sportscar” at first, but that skepticism was very short lived. After an all day drive through a mixture of freeways and winding mountain roads on the way to Ojai, CA, I was able to thoroughly test out all 290 horsepower...
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Posted
Oct 24 2008, 03:21 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 22 comment(s)
"I'm afraid of Americans" was the name of a David Bowie song of recent times... I have to say I can relate to this song a little bit. As a Canadian who spent most of my adult life living in the UK, I find America to be a crazy, intriguing and perhaps slightly intimidating place. Sometimes, it's every bit as foreign to me as some of you would consider say Germany or even Japan. That said, I do love many aspects of the country and its people. The can do attitude is something that...
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Posted
Oct 09 2008, 01:30 PM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 21 comment(s)
If you've been to a car show in California any time in the past couple years, you'll know that VIP styling is a big trend. Some people just like luxury show cars, but others just like having the big slammed 4-doors to daily drive when their drift cars have progressed and evolved past "street legal" status. Many of my friends actually fit into the latter category; they drive VIP styled Lexus and Infiniti cars on a daily basis because they don't want to constantly deal with the...
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Posted
Oct 01 2008, 07:15 AM
by
Antonio Alvendia
with 2 comment(s)
By now our readers have probably seen the great video footage that Rod shot at Porschewerks Leipzig for the 911 RS vs 911 GT2 feature on Speedhunters. While you all are capable of Googling the specs and numbers on the Porsche 911 GT2, I wanted to talk for a minute about how the car felt when I was driving it. The GT2 I drove was actually a Clubsport edition GT2 - an instructor car from Porsche's Sport Driving School at Leipzig. The Clubsport designation means it comes equipped with a bolt-in...
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Posted
Sep 29 2008, 08:15 PM
by
Rod Chong
with 21 comment(s)
In the mid-90s, my wife and I moved to London to pursue a dream of directing music videos in the UK scene. This of course, was not such an easy manuever. It was quite a huge challenge to go to a large, foreign city to get started in a freelance career.... Pretty stressful times I have to say, although I wouldn't be where I am today unless I put myself through that hardship.... A particularly tough scenario I had to deal with during this period of my life was, I had to endure seven whole years...
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