1992-1994 Acura Vigor: Silent Running
It’s as if Acura had tossed a stone in a pond and saw it enter not only without a splash, it also without even causing a ripple on the surface of the water. Such was the impact of the Acura…
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1975 Toyota Corolla Deluxe: The first “new Beetle”
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek April 24, 1999; republished by the author Something amazing happened in 1975. For the first time in two decades, a company other than Volkswagen topped the U.S. imported car sales charts. Toyota, regardless of…
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1976 Mazda Cosmo: A hit in Japan, but an energy-crisis miss in the States
The Mazda Cosmo should have been a runaway success. After all, it was a car that Toyo Kogyo, as the Hiroshima-based Mazda was then known, specifically designed for the U.S. market and it arrived as car buyers were thinking “downsize.”…
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1997 Acura NSX
Originally published in The Complete Road & Track ’97 Car Buyer’s Guide; republished by the author Back in the mid-60’s, a serious sports car had to have its engine in the middle. Lots of reasons were cited for this, things…
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Supercharging to the Rescue: 1994 Toyota Previa S/C
Contemporary new product report/review originally published in Popular Science April 1994; republished by the author It seemed that Toyota had painted itself into a corner. The four-cylinder 2.4-liter 138-horsepower powerplant in its Previa minivan just didn’t have the guts for…
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Dancing With Valves: Toyota Celica All-Trac Turbo versus Isuzu Impulse RS
Comparison review originally published in the Road & Track Performance Cars 1991; republished by author Some people might not consider the Isuzu Impulse RS versus the Toyota Celica All-Trac Turbo a fair match, putting a 160-bhp car up against a…
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Honda S800: Honda’s first sports coupe preceded the Prelude by 14 years
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek October 19, 1987 Singing through traffic like haiku on wheels, we are a blur of rpm and red and sun in the face, the Honda and I. The exhaust note tingles like the sound…
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1961-1970 | I-4 | Japan | Nissan-Datsun
Datsun 2000: An English sports car from Yokohama-on-Thames
History/driving impressions originally published in AutoWeek March 17, 1986 One of the best traditional British sports cars was the Datsun 2000 Sports. British, perhaps, as sushi and chips, but British nonetheless. Not in manufacture, of course, but in spirit it…
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Ford Probe: Sporty econocar or Thunderbird stand-in?
Review originally published in Road & Track Car Buyer’s Guide 1997 Once destined to replace the Mustang as a properly down-sized, front-drive import-pretender, the Ford Probe instead became an in-house alternative to the rear-drive ponycar. Where the Mustang is bold,…
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1992-1996 Mazda MX-3 GS: Do the math
History/driving impressions originally published in Sport Compact Car February 2002 Do the math. MX-5 plus RX-7 divided by two equals MX-3. Well, the Mazda MX-3 sporty coupe isn’t an exact cross between the Miata sports car in the third generation…
