Marco R. Della Cava

  Valentine Reyes unlocked the massive rolling doors, shoved them open, and smiled. “There are a lot of memories in here,” he said. Once my eyes adjusted to the light, I blinked. Spread out before us was what could be called the world’s greatest barn find—or, to be more precise, warehouse find—comprising nearly two dozen […]

Bullish on the Bull The Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 is the third in a series of award-winning automobiles produced by a manufacturing conglomerate better known for its Beetles than for its unbeatable exotic sports and luxury cars. Yes, the Volkswagen Group has scored a hat trick. Two years ago the Bentley Continental GT Convertible won Robb […]

Boxcar Willies The Mercedes-developed Smart is cute, can be parked sideways in Paris (but not in Beverly Hills), and costs about the same as (and gets better gas mileage than) a Volkswagen Beetle. And for making pizza deliveries, solo runs to the store, or commutes between your midtown loft and downtown office, this vehicle has […]

Stuck in the Lotus Position The Tesla Roadster has amped up everyone’s faith in the future of battery-powered vehicles. The car is already a phenomenon for its triple-digit top speed, its Ferrari-like acceleration, and a range that can take you across several counties. Unlike with the Ferrari, every twist of the Tesla’s astounding torque is […]

Super Effort If you stripped all badges from the GT-R, nothing about the car would suggest it was engineered by Nissan, let alone made in Japan—a country that has not produced a supercar since Acura’s fabulous NSX of the 1990s. The GT-R’s twin-turbo V-6 generates more horsepower than the V-12 in the Aston Martin DB9, […]

Saving Grace The XF represents Jaguar’s road back from perdition. It may even be the brand’s salvation after Ford fumbled with the company for 18 years and left its once-?elegant stable of cars as a clutter of outdated saloons and rebadged Tauruses. Despite its homely, misshapen grille, the new sedan is a handsome, well-proportioned looker—from […]

The Suit Fits The Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupé is what would happen if the BMW 7 Series were built on Savile Row. Forget that only contortionists will be able to sit in the rear quarters for more than 15 minutes at a time. Forget also the sticker price and the novelty or necessity of a starlight […]

American Beauty Perhaps General Motors could have avoided its current financial predicament if all of its products had been as stellar as the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1. This car can lay rubber in third gear, at 100 mph, using nothing more sophisticated than a supercharger affixed to an old-technology pushrod engine. Performance aside, the ZR1’s low-rent […]

Hard of Gearing I felt shaken, not stirred, after driving the Aston Martin DBS. The car’s V-12 engine makes it front-heavy and loud. Its center console is busy with buttons and includes a slot for a key fob that must be pushed into the dash and held in place to start the car. The manual […]

Shifting Gearboxes The BMW M3 is the dark horse that almost took this year’s title. None of our judges expected the top-level 3 Series to blow them away with its perfectly balanced combination of engine performance, handling prowess, and what can only be described as the best automated shifter on the planet. BMW’s long-reviled sequential […]