autoevolution

Mircea Panait

18,598  ARTICLES

Personal motto:

"If in doubt, flat out." - Colin McRae

Senior Contributor
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Little did he knew back then, but a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO is what sparked Mircea’s interest for cars when he was just a kid. Despite studying mathematics and informatics in high school and economics in university, Mircea turned his passion for all things automotive into a job.
 
Interning for Top Gear was his first foray in automotive journalism, and not long after that, a full-time position was opened for Mircea to seal the deal. Just about three years later, autoevolution became his new home.
 
Especially interested in American ponies and muscle cars, Mircea also finds the Japanese domestic market appealing thanks to the quirkiness of kei cars. Full-size pickups like the Ram 1500 and off-roaders such as the Ford Ranger Raptor and Jeep Gladiator Rubicon are much to his liking as well.
 
A self-described master of pasta and an avid CCG player, Mircea’s past-time activities include playing his Epiphone Les Paul Special Vintage Edition electric guitar, discovering the wonders of the Carpathian mountains by foot, and driving to the Black Sea to get a well-deserved tan.
800-hp Centennial Edition Shelby F-150 Supercharged Truck Costs Mercedes-AMG SL 55 Money
800-hp Centennial Edition Shelby F-150 Supercharged Truck Costs Mercedes-AMG SL 55 Money

5 Jun 2023, 17:21 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / As implied, Centennial Edition is Shelby American's way of celebrating the legend who founded Shelby American all those decades ago. It's not a cheap pickup, though. The naturally-aspirated variant, which is based on the 2023 model year L...

 
2024 Chevrolet Camaro Drops 2.0L Turbo Engine, Gains Panther-Themed Collector's Edition
2024 Chevrolet Camaro Drops 2.0L Turbo Engine, Gains Panther-Themed Collector's Edition

5 Jun 2023, 15:50 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / 2024 is the final year of the sixth-generation Camaro, with series production scheduled to end in January 2024. Lansing Grand River Assembly will switch to electric vehicle production, yet General Motors won't retire its long-running nameplate...

 
2023 Nissan Rogue Rear Seatbelt Fastener May Be Loose, Recall Issued for 71 Vehicles
2023 Nissan Rogue Rear Seatbelt Fastener May Be Loose, Recall Issued for 71 Vehicles

5 Jun 2023, 11:54 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Nissan sold 682,731 vehicles in the United States of America in 2022, down 25.7 percent from the 919,086 in 2021. The most popular nameplate of the Japanese automaker in this part of the world is the Rogue, a crossover that's been recalled in ...

 
Tesla Model Y Disconnecting Steering Wheel Issue Prompts Recall
Tesla Model Y Disconnecting Steering Wheel Issue Prompts Recall

5 Jun 2023, 11:12 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Tesla started Model Y production a little over three years ago, back in January 2020. The crossover-styling brother of the Model 3 sedan continues to be hampered by a plethora of issues, especially problems related to quality. The latest of the bun...

 
The Honda Integra DC5 Type R Story: Sports Coupe Masterpiece
The Honda Integra DC5 Type R Story: Sports Coupe Masterpiece

4 Jun 2023, 13:01 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The R designation was born nearly three decades ago, in 1992, with the introduction of the NSX Type R. Only 483 units were produced through 1995. Next up, Honda rolled out the DC2 Integra Type R and more practical DB8 Integra Type R. The ITRs prove...

 
Ferrari FXX: The XX Program's First Prancing Horse
Ferrari FXX: The XX Program's First Prancing Horse

3 Jun 2023, 20:20 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Ferrari has a long history of road-legal cars adapted for track-only action. Those developed under the XX Program stand out for a number of reasons, chief among which is that clients of the XX Program don't actually own the vehicles in questio...

 
General Motors Recalls GMC Hummer EV Pickup and Cadillac Lyriq SUV Over Battery Issue
General Motors Recalls GMC Hummer EV Pickup and Cadillac Lyriq SUV Over Battery Issue

2 Jun 2023, 21:04 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Back on March 22, a General Motors engineer filed a report in regard to battery issues affecting the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq. More specifically, the engineer identified conditions that weren't detected by Ultium Cells – the join...

 
2023 Range Rover Drag Races Cadillac Escalade and Lexus LX, German V8 Muscle Prevails
2023 Range Rover Drag Races Cadillac Escalade and Lexus LX, German V8 Muscle Prevails

2 Jun 2023, 20:10 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / If you're in the market for a large and luxurious utility vehicle, you have plenty to choose from nowadays. The Land Rover Range Rover is up there with the best of them, and truck-based SUVs like the Escalade and LX also come to mind. Be that ...

 
Ford Recalls Bronco, Ranger, and Super Duty F-250 to Replace TREAD Label
Ford Recalls Bronco, Ranger, and Super Duty F-250 to Replace TREAD Label

2 Jun 2023, 18:46 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Brand-new automobiles come with a TREAD label that lists tire and loading specifications. The Ford Motor Company messed up said label nearly 30,000 times, which is why the second-largest automaker of the Big Three in Detroit has issued a recall for...

 
Redesigned 2023 Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid Earns IIHS Top Safety Pick Rating
Redesigned 2023 Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid Earns IIHS Top Safety Pick Rating

2 Jun 2023, 17:16 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the previous-gen 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid leaves much to be desired. Low head restraints and headlight performance scores are to blame. On the other hand, the redesigned 2023 ...

 
Ford Recalls Lincoln MKC Over Engine Compartment Fire Risk, 142k Vehicles Affected
Ford Recalls Lincoln MKC Over Engine Compartment Fire Risk, 142k Vehicles Affected

2 Jun 2023, 16:04 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Replaced by the Corsair for 2020, the 2015 through 2019 has been recalled to address a rather scorching concern. The battery monitor sensor may short circuit, leading to an overheating condition that may result in an engine compartment fire while t...

 
2024 Ferrari SF90 LM Spied Wearing Production Body
2024 Ferrari SF90 LM Spied Wearing Production Body

1 Jun 2023, 20:28 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The SF90 Stradale isn't the most expensive series-production Ferrari ever made, but it's the quickest around Pista di Fiorano. Back in 2019, the plug-in hybrid V8 supercar clocked a rather impressive 1:19.00, besting the LaFerrari by seve...

 
LaFerrari-Replacing Ferrari F250 Looks Like a Race Car for the Road in Latest Spy Pics
LaFerrari-Replacing Ferrari F250 Looks Like a Race Car for the Road in Latest Spy Pics

1 Jun 2023, 18:10 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Ferrari's ultimate tier of road-going vehicles can trace its roots back to the 288 GTO, a homologation special that ended production in 1987. The F40 followed suit, then the underrated F50. The Prancing Horse of Maranello stepped it up a notch...

 
Polestar 1 Plug-In Hybrid Coupe Recalled Over Defective Battery Cells
Polestar 1 Plug-In Hybrid Coupe Recalled Over Defective Battery Cells

1 Jun 2023, 17:02 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Manufactured in China between 2019 and 2022 to the tune of 1,500 units, the Polestar 1 is Polestar's first production vehicle. The brand's only plug-in hybrid is a 2+2 grand tourer based on the Volvo Scalable Product Architecture. 66 unit...

 
Jaguar Recalls All I-Pace Electric SUVs Produced Through May 2023 Over Battery Fire Risk
Jaguar Recalls All I-Pace Electric SUVs Produced Through May 2023 Over Battery Fire Risk

31 May 2023, 20:54 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Jaguar is currently living on life support. Had it not been twinned with Land Rover, the Leaping Cat of Coventry may have gone under based on the British automaker's rather abysmal sales. On the other hand, Jaguar is reinventing itself by drop...

 
New Volvo EX30 Electric SUV Shows Minimalist Interior, Will Debut June 7
New Volvo EX30 Electric SUV Shows Minimalist Interior, Will Debut June 7

31 May 2023, 19:27 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The EX90 serves as the Swedish automaker's flagship electric sport utility vehicle. Not long now, Volvo will unleash a compact-ish crossover. Scheduled to premiere on June 7, the EX30 features the SEA platform of the smart #3 crossover. Oth...

 
Jeep Recalls Grand Cherokee Over Missing Dashboard Airbag Warning Label
Jeep Recalls Grand Cherokee Over Missing Dashboard Airbag Warning Label

31 May 2023, 14:05 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The most refined and smartest Grand Cherokee yet has been recalled for a noncompliance. As it happens, even a missing warning label is considered a noncompliance nowadays. The culprit is the passenger airbag warning label, namely the label affixed ...

 
New Ford Mustang Dark Horse Spied Testing at the Nurburgring Together With Old Mach 1
New Ford Mustang Dark Horse Spied Testing at the Nurburgring Together With Old Mach 1

30 May 2023, 19:59 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Codenamed S650, the Ford Motor Company's redesigned Mustang has been recently spied testing at the Nurburgring. Rather than a 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder model, the pony car in question is the most performance-oriented 'Stang availab...

 
Ford Recalls 2023 Super Duty Trucks Over Steering Column Issue
Ford Recalls 2023 Super Duty Trucks Over Steering Column Issue

30 May 2023, 18:14 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / More powerful, smarter, tougher, and safer. Ford's redesigned Super Duty line is all of that. Ford Motor Company big kahuna Jim Farley has recently mentioned ongoing quality improvements in the same breath with the all-new Super Duty, which ma...

 
Tuned G80 BMW M3 Drag Races Stock 992 Porsche 911 Turbo S, Both Are Ridiculously Fast
Tuned G80 BMW M3 Drag Races Stock 992 Porsche 911 Turbo S, Both Are Ridiculously Fast

30 May 2023, 17:06 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Both the G80 M3 and 992-generation 911 are designed to handle, but as is often the case with performance vehicles, both are pretty fast in a straight line as well. How fast? For the blue M3 and silver 911 in the clip below, think low 10s fast. O...

 

Stories by Mircea Panait