Raphael- The GT500 class cars all make over 600 horsepower now. The “500" no longer indicates the horsepower. Especially since GT300 class cars have around 500, and the GT500 cars pass them with ease. 

The McLaren V8 is very loosely based off an old Nissan Indycar engine yes. But other than the very base architecture, almost nothing was carried over. The engines are actually built by Ricardo on McLaren’s behalf. 

Because developing an F1 engine, especially a hybrid power unit of the modern era, can easily cost almost as much as the car itself??? Ferrari, Mercedes, and Renault all have entire separate divisions strictly for power unit development. McLaren does NOT have the resources for a whole new engine division, let alone…

McLaren are very small, and the current power units are insanely expensive to develop. They simply can't afford to do it.

I thought that’s what Philip-Morris was trying to do with the whole “Mission-Winnow” thing. I swear, when I first looked up what the hell it meant, I was surprised to see that it was P-M with an “EVERYONE QUIT SMOKING BY VAPING AS AN ALTERNATIVE!!1!ONE!” outline. Now it’s just about “forward thinking in business”.…

Weird. They didn’t have the prettiest end with Mercedes. Merc used to own 49% of McLaren, collaborated on the SLR. The original F1 had to be canned because it was BMW powered and if Mercedes was to have McLaren as their “factory” team in F1 in the 90s, the BMW-powered production/sports racer had to go.

There is no physical link between the engine and the front axle. Twin electric motors up front provide the “AWD” and they are a small proportion of the overall torque/thrust. Actually, you could probably use the front motors as a “line lock” to do a burnout if the car had the programming for it. A Tesla with AWD could…

Which was also the knock on the original, when it was new, no?

It can be a great improvement if done properly. Imagine never having blinding lights in your side mirrors at night. Imagine night-vision enhanced images at night. Imagine informative overlays on that display screen. You should be able to tweak it for the best color, clarity and least glare...something you can’t really…

Being Toyota didn't help the iQ. 

It would do about as well here as the Smart car did. Or the iQ. Or the Think. Or the....

RCF is also a lard ass that is significantly bigger and easier for packaging. Who are we to believe, an armchair engineer or the actual engineer that made the car and said it wasn't possible otherwise?

Cool piece and great images as always, but 90 minutes outside of Tokyo city while remaining technically within Tokyo prefecture is not “hiding inside” the city.

Tom - Thank you for this article. Not only does it make sense and a counter argument to comments, it’s also not sensationalized and very well thought out, unlike a lot of Jalop articles as of late. I continue reading the comments of the GM news articles and bash my head against my keyboard at the keyboard warriors…

Absolutely. A lot of purists lamented that this new generation of the NSX is quite different on paper from the original car that was on sale from 1990 to 2005. But what makes it similar is that the NSX is still a technical exercise of what was possible with an exotic car in its day, executing brilliantly packaged…

“Low delta-v” = 28.6km/hr = 17.8mph

There is no way they will pass crash safety regulations in the US or Europe.

Neither of which are offered with a manual transmission.

I think you have an exaggerated idea about how many people would buy this expensive thing. It would likely sell over here for $35-45K with that engine which is probably a price too far for Subaru. Subaru already has the Crosstrek which is what most buyers seem to want. An MDX starts are 44K, makes the same power. Has…

Unless the crossover fad dies, we’re never going to get more than one or two moderately priced sport wagons in NA. Americans have proven time and time again they’re OK with anemic engines and medium to large-sized SUVs. I’m assuming BMW, Audi, Jag and MB can afford to offer true wagons because they make a ton of…