Review Your Cars

The 2015 Silicon Valley Auto Show is going to be held on January 8th – 11th at the San Jose Mcenery County Convention Center on San Carlos Street in San Jose. The show hours will be Thursday-Saturday from 10am-10pm and Sunday 10am-6pm. Admission for adults is a bargain at $11. Senior Citizens (62 and over), Military with ID, students under 21 with school ID and children ages 7-12 are all $8. Children 6 and under are free. Many manufacturers will be present, historically a very few will be missing. Scheduled to be present, but missing from the San Francisco show is the Chevrolet Corvette Z06. Other debuts scheduled are the Mercedes Benz C-Class, Honda CR-V, Fiat 500X, Mazda 3, Dodge Charger, Hyundai Genesis, Ford F-150, Acura RDX, Dodge Ram 1500 EcoDiesel and upcoming model(s) from Audi. Will a 707hp Dodge Challenger or Charger Hellcat be there? Go and find out! The advantage this show offers with the Ride and Drives is the quick access highways instead of trying to thread through a con...

Guest author Jwp98 from Illinois shared his experience on 6speedonline.com with three great, extremely fast sports cars. Below are his thoughts after logging several thousand miles on each car. These were sequential experiences, not in the garage all at once. Visual appeal: 12C The 12C just does not have a bad angle. The 458 does have some bad angles (mostly solved by the Speciale) but it has some inspiring angles too. The 991 versus 997 loses something, I'm afraid. The rear is so bland and fat, without even the pretense of a diffuser or a big wing to distract and intimidate. The front is improved and side view reveals a handsome, albeit less classic, smoother rake. Quartering away is just gorgeous over those muscular hips. I look over my shoulder when I walk away, like it was the only car on earth. Well, enough of the aesthetic stuff and on to the marginally less subjective. Exhaust note: 12C (yes really) Taking a 458 through an overpass at redline is smile inducing. I grew up on ...

The 57th Annual San Francisco International Auto Show presented by AutoTrader.com is being held this week at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco. Now exhibiting over an eight day period from Saturday November 22nd to Saturday, November 29th, it is a good thing because it fills both the North and South Halls and there is a lot of fascinating vehicles to view, sit in and see in person. Tickets are $10 for adults and free for children under 12. This is an absolute bargain considering the scope and scale of the second largest show on the West Coast. The hours are 10am-10pm except the 29th, it closes at 9pm. Besides 36 manufacturers represented, there are also specialty displays whose sum easily justify the admission fee by themselves. These include Alternative Fuel vehicles, the Academy of Art University Classic Car Collection, the SF Auto Salon with a wide variety of modified domestics and imports, the Ferrari Club of America, hot rods from Dominator Hot Rods, and a variety of ra...

It’s a UFO on the street. Its acceleration literally jerks your head back and then makes your stomach get light. It’s so absurdly quick, it makes you giggle. This isvthe 2015 McLaren P1, a carbon fiber road rocket that is as quick as a superbike. Thanks to an automotive enthusiast in the tech field and no stranger to the track, including multiple plans for this hypercar, I was able to experience the ferocity multiple times first hand. The P1 is a mind-blowing, 903hp, 664lbs ft. torque, 3300lb g-force experience that is powered by a 3.8 liter twin-turbo V-8 producing 727 horsepower and a 177 horsepower electric motor that masks any turbo lag. Combined with the 7-speed dual-clutch automated transmission, Motor Trend tested the car at 2.6 seconds 0-60mph and 9.8 @ 148.9 mph quarter mile. The top speed is 217mph which was decided as the limit by McLaren supposedly. This car can race superbikes and just maybe, beat them on the track. I’d put money on it every time from a stoplight or Christ...

Guest author Matt Moreland whose recently published Porsche versus BMW comparison traded in his 2014 Porsche 911 Carrera S that had a documented engine stumble for a new 2014 Porsche 911 GT3. The GT3 was met with much controversy on Porsche's decision to only offer it with a dual-clutch automated transmission. A clutch pedal is no longer available in Porsche's track oriented street car. Matt's insightful and interesting comparison is below and no apologies are needed! The Comparison: Now that I’m done whining, let’s get on with comparing the differences. Before you start kicking and screaming, I understand this isn’t a fair comparison. I get that you’re thinking, “We all know the GT3 is better.” Of course it is! I understand that, but I thought it useful for those considering the two cars to make a comparison. I got flamed pretty hard for making a comparison of the F80 M3 and C2S. Not being a track guy, people were asking how I could possibly have the nerve to make a compar...

Recently a member of 6speedonline.com shared his experience with his brand new 2015 BMW M3 sedan and his 2014 Porsche 911 Carrera S. You’ll find some fascinating observations and details from guest author Matt Moreland of The Villages, Florida. The write-up was deservedly well received and considered spot-on. First some background. This generation of the M3 is referred to the F80 and the latest 911 is the 991. BMW now calls the sedan the M3 and the coupe the M4. It is very conservatively rated at 425hp with a twin turbo in-line 6 cylinder 3 liter engine. This Porsche 911, an “S” model with the X51 power kit option is rated at 430hp from a 3.8 liter boxer (horizontally opposed) 6 cylinder. One very notable aspect of this review is they both have manual transmissions! The BMW is a six speed manual but the Porsche has a 7 speed manual. As a side note, the overdrive ratio for the Porsche starts with 6th gear. The 7 speed transmission in the Corvette is a 1:1 in 4th and 5th is an overdrive....

Long early morning shadows, a right hand turn in a parking lot and an unmarked curb and suddenly a scrapping sound along with a slight shudder. It is the dreaded sound of a wheel scrapping against a curb. You get out to look, already knowing there will be an ugly, jagged rash on the right rear wheel. Watch out for poorly placed and poorly marked curbs. Curb rash is so easy to do, but instead of the inconvenience of dropping the car off, have Curbside Wheel Repair perform a repair right at your place of work or home. Only $100 per wheel, versus a quote from a competitor of over $180 per wheel, it is a bargain. Add in the convenience of not having to drop off your car, and it is priceless. A new replacement wheel can be as little as $300 or easily run into the thousands of dollars. With three in need of repair from a prior life as a “city car”, the end result looks like brand new wheels, saving many hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. A word of caution, if your newly repaired wheel fi...

The 12th The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering held at The Quail Lodge and Golf Club in Carmel on Friday, August 15th was another epic gathering of the finest automobiles in the world. Entering through the entrance hall, a perfect sized venue awaits where one should prepare to have your senses reeling. The exclusive event admission is $550 per adult, $100 for children under 12 for those registered and in the computerized lottery. The event supports Rancho Cielo, the Naval Postgraduate School Foundation and the CHP 11-99 Foundation charities. Admission goes far beyond the finest performance oriented automobiles. There were six gourmet food pavilions that had amazing cuisines from around the world. Parking is excellent, and quite honestly, a car show in itself. There was live entertainment and free admission to the Bonhams Quail Lodge Auction a walk or shuttle rife to the west side of the property. Also included were signature wines, champagne and cocktails, an event poster and magazine. On...

We went to a party at the Monterey Jet Center on Wednesday, August 13th. It had a red carpet entry, a photo area, complimentary champagne, sushi, caviar, an oyster bar, live music and DJ(s). We saw Chad McQueen, Wayne Carini and various captains of industry. It was quite a party, but the real stars were the airplanes, helicopters, cars and motorcycles in the two hangers and the tarmac in front. The vehicles were the recipients of all the oohing and ahing. Gordon McCall hosted another spectacular kick-off party for the Monterey Car week. At $325 per person for a VIP ticket, it is not inexpensive, but it is a spectacular party that just happens to host a world-class vehicle show. Prominent displays of car manufacturers included Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Ford, Icon 4x4, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Lexus, Maserati, Mercedes Benz, Pagani, Panoz, Singer Vehicle Design, Tesla, and Toyota. The big sponsor was the CHP 11-99 foundation raffling the new 2015 Ford Mustang 50th anniversary edition, Parmigiani ...

I received a very thought provoking letter from a reader in Miami, Florida asking about the safest possible family vehicle. Readers, what are your thoughts? Dear Rob, My name is Diego, and I stumbled on to your post about vehicle height precisely researching on vehicle safety. My wife is pregnant and two months away from giving birth. My baby girl is not even born yet and I'm already a very overprotective father! As soon as I found out she was pregnant I bought her a Chevrolet Equinox, IIHS top safety in the SUV department. The other day I was thinking and I figured that there are trucks and SUVs out there that are a lot larger than my wife's SUV. So with the intent on my future princess being extremely well protected from the ever-so-common-in-Miami car accidents I want to buy and modify the safest vehicle I can. I was thinking on the lines of buying a Ford Excursion for its very large size and mass, maybe lifting it a few inches but also widening its stance to prevent the rol...