obsession with automotive excellence
excessᴍᴀᴄʜɪɴᴀ / Essays
Interesting Times
The durable question behind Unsafe at Any Speed is whether a car’s attractive features have been allowed to distract from the engineering duties beneath them. Ralph Nader…
Read the essay : The New Supercar Has Juice Box HoldersAutomotive Excellence
Cadillac’s 4.2-liter Blackwing V8 gave the CT6 a mechanical identity that could not be obtained by changing the grille on another General Motors product. This was a…
Read the essay : Cadillac’s Blackwing Could Have Been the FutureAutomotive Excellence
The most beautiful French car of the postwar era is the Citroën DS Décapotable by Henri Chapron. The sedan introduced in Paris in October 1955 already looked…
Read the essay : Have You Ever Seen Anything as Lovely as a Citroën DS Décapotable?Automotive Excellence / Interesting Times
Mechanical intimacy has a business case. That is not the same thing as a guarantee. I. Where did all the manuals go? A clean downshift is an…
Read the essay : Gatekeeping: Profits Will Save the ManualsAutomotive Excellence / Interesting Times
The Absurdity Index begins where a luxury car’s explanation becomes less convincing than the car itself. It is not a reliability ranking or a disguised list of…
Read the essay : The Absurdity IndexInteresting Times
Imagine a Los Angeles intersection occupied by three cars: a 1964 Impala lowrider, a white Tesla with a disclaimer sticker, and a green Lamborghini Murciélago. The Impala…
Read the essay : You Are What You DriveInteresting Times
The luxury pickup has borrowed the sedan’s appointments without borrowing its manners. A Ram 1500 Tungsten offers the elaborate seating and expensive upholstery once associated with an…
Read the essay : The Pickup Killed the Luxury Sedan, Then Wore Its SkinInteresting Times
A temperature knob does something a touchscreen struggles to imitate: it remains a temperature knob when the driver is looking elsewhere. Its location, shape, resistance, and travel…
Read the essay : Ode to the ButtonAutomotive Excellence
I. Defending the Throne The W140 makes its argument before the engine starts. The tall glass, broad shoulders, and substantial doors promise that a passenger will be…
Read the essay : Mercedes W140: The Last Heirloom Luxury CarInteresting Times
General Motors did not merely remove two familiar icons when it began dropping Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from new EV programs with the 2024 Chevrolet Blazer…
Read the essay : GM’s Rebuke of CarPlay Will Not End WellAutomotive Excellence
The Porsche 911 has kept a rear‑engined, flat‑six 2+2 in continuous production since 1964 not because Porsche refused to change, but because it changed just enough. Each…
Read the essay : The Sports Car: How Porsche’s 911 Came to Represent PerformanceInteresting Times
America cannot get enough of zombies. From The Last of Us to The Walking Dead, the culture loves a body that keeps moving after the vital signs…
Read the essay : It Hasn’t Been the Big Three For Decades
