38 Articles by Dan
First Drive
2019 Ford Fiesta ST Quick Spin Review | No zoot for you!

America's Ford hot hatch dreams are ending, but not Europe's

The driving style required to get the most out of a Fiesta ST requires braking late into the corner to turn the car on its nose. Which sounds fun until you start dwelling on the potential consequences of running out of hairpin to play on, there being little more than a curb-height wall between you and oblivion. The ability not to worry about that is what separates rally champions such as Ogier from the rest of us, but the ST successfully offers a sense of that driving style to those with average

Quick Spin
Lotus Exige Sport 410 Quick Spin Review | An unobtainable gem previews an American future

Lotus should capture this spirit in the next Exige

You can get the measure of a car brand by the environment in which its products are built. The narrow, bumpy, hedge-lined lanes of eastern England explain a lot about the way a Lotus goes. The character of a company's chief speaks to the brand's intentions as well. Jean-Marc Gales has been portrayed unflatteringly as a Eurocrat bean counter, but his approach has been to strip weight and cost out of the product to the benefit of performance on both track and bottom line, defining brand attributes

First Drive
2019 Volkswagen Up! GTI First Drive Review | Keeping it real

1970s driving manners in modern surroundings

This is the cornering on the door handles approach fans of the Rabbit GTI loved, remixed for a new age. With no driver modes, a wheelbase nearly identical to that of the Mk1 and skinny 195-section tires, this is as close as you'll get to driving an original GTI.

Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak has its first outing with Romain Dumas

Hill Climb champ on why electric power is the fastest route to the top

Romain Dumas' first sight of the Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak was, like the rest of the world, via the weekend livestreamed press conference. Between stints at Monza, viewing it on his phone, he watched the covers come off the very car he'll be racing in just 62 days. His initial reaction? "Wow, that's a proper one!"

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