McLaren 650S Spider

650S Spider speeding away in Soho

In 1988, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost demolished the rest of the field in their white and red MP4/4 Formula One cars. Meanwhile, their team was making a historic decision: to expand into the road car business. The stunning McLaren F1 was unveiled a few years later, and the supercar went on to set a record for the fastest production car. Just over a decade after the F1 went out of production, McLaren returned to the sports car business, introducing the MP4-12C. I have seen a few 12C's on the street, but up until recently I had yet to see its successor, the 650S, in the wild. I had gotten a look at the sexy 650S at the New York Auto Show, under the gleaming lights of the Javits Center, but a few weeks ago I spotted the low-slung sports car on the streets of Soho. Getting to lay my eyes on the slinky 650S in natural light convinced me that the McLaren is truly a beautiful design.

650S Spider at 2015 NYIAS

The front end of the 650S echoes its big brother, the hybrid P1 which was unveiled about a year before the 650S. This means the 650S gained the boomerang headlights, which are reminiscent of the McLaren logo. The 650S also featured air vents curving downwards towards the carbon fiber front splitter, which resemble tears streaming down cheeks. These black extensions also remind me of the trim pieces that extend down on the Opel Zafira Tourer and Opel Ampera. Like on the Opels, these vents make the front end of the 650S very dynamic--it almost appears like the bottom of the vents are tethered to the splitter and the rest is being blown away as the McLaren accelerates. This gives the car a sense of movement even when it is standing absolutely still. The intakes are also excellently integrated into the headlights, curving around with the modern LED lights to form a smaller boomerang. There is one aesthetic design flaw on the front of the 650S. If you look closely, you can see that where the vents meets the headlights, it becomes solid plastic, simply giving off the image of still being a true intake. While seeing a faux vent on a $15,000 Honda Fit seems reasonable, I was surprised to see the visual trickery appear on a $260,000 supercar. From afar it is difficult to notice, but from ten feet away the cheap-looking design choice becomes obvious and looks out of place on the sports coupe. Luckily, McLaren makes up for this flaw with copious amounts of exposed carbon fiber, which highlights the lightweight, high performance nature of the 650S.

650S Spider in Soho

The wheel arches powerfully curve over the front tires, flowing into the cabin. Lean, taught character lines run down the side of the 650S. A carbon fiber sill extends backwards from the front fender, giving the McLaren an aggressive stance. Massive five-spoke wheel designs accentuate the bold, muscular look. Carbon fiber reappears on the spindly side view mirrors and the large intake just in front of the rear wheels. The intake is functional, providing cool air for the engine, but also makes the car look like a true supercar.

650S Spider at 2015 NYIAS

Out back, the 650S is practically identical to its predecessor, but this is certainly no bad thing. The taillights are composed of thin LED strips that are hidden in the vent that spans across the rear fascia. These stealthy lights are elegantly simplistic, and look menacing when lit up at night. The sporty McLaren's functional design exudes performance, from the gigantic carbon fiber rear diffuser that sweeps downwards from the vent to the bulky dual exhaust pipes flanking the McLaren logo dead center. The rear fascia is topped of with McLaren's Airbrake, the adjustable wing bridging the gap between the raised rear haunches. This convenient bit of active aero raises up to 69 degrees under hard braking to provide extra downforce. When raised, the Airbrake makes the McLaren look like it's in attack mode, and the wing adds to the sports car's dynamism. Overall, the McLaren simply looks fast, with a swept back front fascia, athletic carbon fiber elements, and vents on nearly every surface.

Grade:
Front: A
Back: A
Overall: A

Car Lyric of the Week: When The Sun Goes Down by The Arctic Monkeys

"Look, here comes a Ford Mondeo
Isn't he Mister Inconspicuous?"

This song from the Arctic Monkeys debut album discussed the prostitution that occurred around their studio in Sheffield, England. The song gets into the nitty gritty of the characters: the prostitute and the client, who Alex Turner describes as a "scummy man" who will "rob you if he can" and has a "driving ban amongst some other offenses." Turner starts the third verse by describing the man's car, a Ford Mondeo. The Mondeo is the European equivalent of the Fusion, but unlike the stylish model on sale now, Mondeos in the early 2000s were dreary and commonplace. Therefore, Turner is making a sarcastic remark about the man's car, by referring to him as "Mister Inconspicuous," showing that by trying to blend in, the man is almost sticking out more in this situation.

Car Lyric of The Week: Rocket 88 by Ike Turner and Jackie Brenston

"Let me introduce you to my Rocket 88
Yes, it's great, just won't wait
Everybody likes my Rocket 88
Baby, we'll ride in style movin' all along

A V8 motor baby, it's modern design
Black convertible top and the girls don't mind
Sportin' with me riding all around town with joy"


The lyrics above come from "Rocket 88," widely considered to be the first rock and roll song, by Jackie Brenston and Ike Turner. The song focuses on the singer's Oldsmobile Rocket 88, a full-size car that Olds introduced in 1949 that featured the new 135 hp Rocket V8 engine. This powerful new engine was 35 hp ahead of its rival Ford, and was quite successful. Oldsmobile produced 88-badged cars up until 1999. The classic early 50's styling of the car fits perfectly with the early rock and roll sound of the record.

Comparison: Mazda MX-5 Miata vs. Fiat 124 Spider

Mazda MX-5 Miata at the 2015 NYIAS

One of the most popular automotive trends of the 1990s and early 2000s was badge engineering, where companies would take an existing car produced by another company and stick their logo on the front, since it was far cheaper than going through the R&D of developing a new car. The issue with this was that, aside from different grilles, the rebadged vehicles often looked identical to the existing vehicle and this resulting in "cannibalism," where the sales of one eats into the sales of the other. This ended up killing off multiple brands, from storied brands like Pontiac to failed endeavors like Eagle. For the most part, automakers seemed to have learned their lesson. However, this hasn't prevented them from sharing platforms and components under-the-hood. While car companies may share the skeleton of the cars, they now develop distinct exteriors to maintain a brand identity. A perfect example of this is the new Mazda MX-5 Miata and its Italian cousin, the Fiat 124 Spider, which share the same platform.

Fiat 124 Spider at the 2016 NYIAS

Up front, the two roadsters are vastly different. The Miata has squinty, slinky headlights that point down towards the gaping, smiling grille. With shiny black plastic and thin grey crossbars, the grille looks luxurious and sporty, and flows smoothly into the sleek front wheel arches. The lower front fascia also gets aggressive, forward leaning faux air intakes, which add to the Miata's athletic image.

The Fiat pays tribute to the 1960s 124 Spider, and therefore has a much more upright front fascia. Large oval headlights, featuring a clean, modern-looking LED cluster, point inwards at the grille. In between the headlights is a trapezoidal mesh grille that harkens back to the original 124. While the grille itself is not bad looking, it protrudes out in front of the headlights, causing it to look like a snout. The lower front fascia features a lower grille and fog lamps, but lacks the aggressiveness of the Miata's faux intakes. Overall, the Mazda's lower, sleeker hood and curvy headlights results in a more attractive front end. 

old Fiat 124 Spider outside the Javits Center

The side is where the two sports cars look most similar--the doors are the same shape and both feature a small triangular turning light just behind the front wheels. On both cars, the belt line dips down to the door handle before swooping back up into powerful rear haunches. The Mazda has a slight advantage for its blacked out side view mirrors, but aside from that the two are near identical in profile view.

Out back, the design return to being very distinct. Continuing the sensual look from the front fascia, the Mazda features taillights that resemble eyes with eyeliner applied, sweeping creases, and curvy reverse lights on the bumper. The powerful rear haunches that plunge downwards to form the trunk, completing the sexy appearance started up front on the Miata.

Mazda MX-5 RF at the 2016 NYIAS

The 124 mimics its predecessor with the rear end as well. The rear haunches do not curve downwards, instead straightening out to form a flat rear decklid.  The taillights are a simple rectangular oval, but Fiat spices the design up by making them hollowed out in the middle, similar to the headlights on the Bentley Bentayga. However, they are angled slightly downwards, which makes the whole rear fascia look slightly off. Overall, the Miata's slinky tail looks far better than the 124's straight lines.

Fiat 124 Spider at the 2016 NYIAS

   

The Mazda beats out the Fiat on both front and rear styling, taking home the crown in this matchup. That is not to say the 124 is an ugly car, but it simply doesn't match the Miata's sleek bodywork.
Grade-Mazda MX-5
Front: A
Back: A
Overall: A

Grade-Fiat 124 Spider
Front: B+
Rear: B+
Overall: B+

10 Worst Current Car Model Names

A little while ago, I covered my top ten favorite car model names, and now it's time to look at the worst ten of the current crop of vehicles. Note that this is only for the United States market, which excludes all of the absurd names from Japan-only cars, like the Nissan Homy Super Long. This also leaves out the European markets, but in the future I will do a top ten list that covers those vehicles. Without further ado, here are the worst ten current model names:

10. Toyota Yaris

Toyota Yaris at the 2015 NYIAS

The unusual name Yaris is derived from the singular form of "Charites," the Greek goddesses of charm and beauty. All three generations of the Yaris (sold as the Echo in the US in its first iteration) have been neither beautiful nor charming, instead being bland and forgettable. I guess Toyota thinks too highly of its designers, because the name Yaris simply doesn't fit.

9. Volkswagen Tiguan

VW Tiguan GTE Active Concept at the 2016 NYIAS

Tiguan sounds weird, but it gets even stranger once you know where the name comes from. Supposedly, Tiguan is a portmanteau of the German words for Tiger ("tiger") and iguana ("leguan"). I am not sure how tigers and iguanas are related, and what either animal has to do with a German compact crossover. This combination is odd and very contrived.

8. Buick LaCrosse

Buick LaCrosse at the 2016 NYIAS

I always assumed that the LaCrosse was named for something other than the sport, but believe it or not, it is. Why a sensible premium sedan is named for an often violent, fast-paced sport is beyond me, but what I also dislike about this name is the way GM decided to spell it out. Last I checked, lacrosse did not have a uppercase "C," so this capitalization feels totally unnecessary.

7. Mitsubishi Mirage

Mistubishi Mirage at the 2016 NYIAS

Mirage is a fun word to say since the "aaj" sound rolls off the tongue well, but the definition makes customers second-guess the hatchback's abilities. The official definition according to Merriam-Webster is "something that you hope for or want but is not possible or real." Considering that Mistubishi's fuel economy numbers have been a mirage for many Japanese customers since 2002, this is not a moniker that establishes confidence in the customer.

6. Hyundai Veloster

Hyundai Veloster at the 2014 NYIAS

According to Hyundai, Veloster is a combination of "velocity" and "roadster." The first thing that is obviously wrong with the name is that the Veloster is not a roadster, but a hatchback. The "velocity" part is also misleading--the base comes with a paltry 132 hp (adding a turbo gets the inline-4 to 201 hp), and the zero to sixty times never breach the 6.8 second mark. While the name is not in any way applicable to the hatch, my biggest issue with it is that the word simply sounds childish.

5. Maserati Ghibli

Maserati Ghibli at the 2016 NYIAS

Yes, I know the Ghibli name hearkens back to 1960's grand tourer, but still the name sounds really odd to me. The combination of i's and l's does not communicate luxury or sportiness to my ears--instead I picture a small Japanese kei car. Perhaps it is that Ghibli makes me think of the comedic dwarf character Gimli from the Lord of the Rings franchise, but this does not feel like an appropriate name for a luxury sedan.

4. Mercedes-Benz Metris

Mercedes-Benz Metris at the 2015 NYIAS

I love vans, and I welcome any new entry to the American van market, but the name Mercedes chose for their newest small van confuses me. I haven't been able to find a meaning behind it, and whenever I read or say it I think of Tetris, the famous tile-matching puzzle video game.

3. Jaguar F-Pace

Jaguar F-Pace at the 2016 NYIAS

Admit it. F-Pace does not sound smooth, despite the SUV's sleek bodywork. The name does not follow Jaguar's current naming scheme, an X followed by another letter (XE, XF, XJ). By starting the name with an F, it inherently sounds like a vulgar insult. Overall, the name is not dynamic and does not conjure up images of speed or luxury.

2. Ferrari LaFerrari

Ferrari LaFerrari at the Ferrari Museum in Modena

Oh no! A Ferrari on a "worst of" list! What a sacrilege! The LaFerrari is certainly an automotive spectacle, both for its beauty and insane performance, but the name is completely lazy. It translates as "Ferrari TheFerrari," and the repetition does not sound as sexy as the supercar looks. It is easy to overlook such a bad name when the styling is so stunning and the performance is so dazzling, but when it comes down to it, LaFerrari is a disappointing name.

1. Bentley Bentayga

Bentley Bentayga at the 2016 NYIAS

Bentley's first foray into the SUV segment also has a repetitive name. The name supposedly comes from a mix of the company's name and Taiga, the world's largest transcontinental snow forest, while also being inspired by the Roque Bentayga, a peak in the Canary Islands. The name Taiga is intriguing and exotic, and would have worked great. However, by incorporating the "Bent," the name sounds repetitive and doesn't fit with the staid, luxurious presence of Bentleys. 

Artistic Photo #7

Dodge Challenger in Miami, Florida (Taken on February 14, 2016)

2017 Kia Sportage

Designer Peter Schreyer is best known for his work on the original Audi TT, widely considered to be one of the most beautiful cars of the early 2000s. He is also responsible for turning around Kia's bland, low-end image by pioneering the bold and stylish "Tiger Nose" grille in the late 2000s. He oversaw the attractive designs that caused the new perception of Kia as modern, fashionable vehicles: the third generation Optima, Forte Koup, Soul, and third generation Sportage. As chief designer of Kia, the Korean automaker has continued to churn out distinctive, appealing designs. The fourth generation 2017 Sportage is yet another striking, mostly handsome vehicle, although it does have a couple of minor faults.

Kia says the fresh design is inspired by modern fighter jets. Some of the design elements are reminiscent of military aircraft--the four round fog lights look similar to the rocket launchers on helicopters like the Boeing AH-64 Apache. Additionally, the orientation of the headlights also makes the SUV look a bit like a fighter jet, creating a distinct, set back cockpit and a seemingly pointy front. However, the fact the headlights are significantly higher on the front fascia than the grille gives it a bug-eyed look. This makes the Sportage stand out in the ever-growing herd of crossovers, but also makes the Kia quite odd looking. Luckily, the intricate details of the front end make up for the slightly awkward orientation. The aforementioned fog lights look phenomenal, and the piano black surfacing in the fog lamp housings and grille looks clean and luxurious. The bi-xenon headlights are beautifully complex, and the light of the inside unit looks like a radioactive symbol--perhaps my favorite detail on the Sportage.

Soft, elegant character lines flow rearwards from the front fender, and defined wheel arches give this crossover a slight off-road presence.  Black plastic cladding wraps around the Sportage, from the front bumper, over the wheel wells, under the doors and back to the rear bumper. Plastic can often make a car look cheap if applied in large quantities, but the Sportage's cladding actually adds to the all-terrain image. Chrome lining surrounds the windows, which end abruptly at the rear wheels, leaving a large C-pillar. While this makes the car look more athletic, it could create a very large blind spot.

The rear fascia of the Sportage looks extremely classy and far more premium than the competitors from Ford, Chevy, Honda, and Toyota. The full-width taillight, with its upscale LED components and chrome strip, is reminiscent of the taillights on the current crop of Lincolns. However, it still gives the the Sportage a sophisticated attitude. This is complemented by the sculpted contours on the trunk and bumper. Two large chrome exhaust pipes adds to the Kia's sporty image, while the silver plastic in the bumper contributes to the luxurious appearance. Despite a slightly awkward front end, the new Sportage features an exquisite, high-end design for an affordable price.

Grade
Front: B+
Back: A-
Overall: A-