Mircea Panait
20,070 ARTICLES
Personal motto:
"If in doubt, flat out." - Colin McRae
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.
2017 Chevrolet Trax Introduced with Design Enhancements and Added Technology
10 Feb 2016, 09:42 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Returning for the 2017 model year, the Chevrolet Trax comes with a more expressive exterior design, interior enhancements, and a suite of safety and connectivity solutions. The thing is, the 2016 model is more appealing to the eye, as is its cousin...
2017 Chevrolet Camaro 1LE Introduced, Package Now Available on V6 Model
10 Feb 2016, 08:48 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / With the sixth-generation Camaro, Chevrolet pushed the envelope of what pony cars should be about further than before. For the 2017 model year, though, the 1LE performance pack is poised to become the new yardstick in the segment. For the first ...
The Toyota Pickup Truck Is So Dependable, a War Was Named After It
9 Feb 2016, 15:42 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Henry Ford once said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” This is how one of James May's Cars of The People episodes started this January. If you haven't seen it yet, you probably shou...
2016 Fiat Tipo Station Wagon Spied in Italy
9 Feb 2016, 12:14 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Designed at the Centro Stile Fiat and assembled in Turkey by Tofas, the Fiat Tipo small family car is an interesting successor to the Bravo hatchback and the Linea sedan. An interesting buy for families that need a new car on a budget, that is. In ...
1965 Bizzarrini A3C Is 100 Percent Restored and Ready to Race
9 Feb 2016, 10:05 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Few auto manufacturers stir the soul of petrolheads as Bizzarrini does. From 1964 to 1969, the Livorno-based company founded by Giotto Bizzarrini gave us a total of three reasons to live and breathe cars. The disappointing 1900 GT Europa, the Corve...
Egypt’s President Uses 2.5-Mile Red Carpet to Inaugurate Social Housing Project
9 Feb 2016, 08:58 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / After Egypt became a boiling pot of widespread protests in 2011, the only Eurafrasian nation transformed into one of the most adverse countries in the world. When the military removed President Morsi from power in a coup d’etat in 2013, an in...
2016 Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo Sprint & XR8 Sprint Make Online Debut
9 Feb 2016, 08:51 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Drawing on the performance heritage of Ford Australia, the Blue Oval is thoroughly excited about the high-performance Falcon Sprint series. Set to go on sale in May, the 2016 Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo Sprint and 2016 Ford Falcon XR8 Sprint are the last...
2016 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Facelift Unveiling Scheduled for February 24
8 Feb 2016, 16:03 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Good news for all the Alfisti out there. The 2016 Alfa Romeo Giulietta facelift will be presented on February 24, at the Stabilimento Mirafiori plant in Turin. The place of unveiling got us curious - of all places, why Mirafiori and not the Cassino...
2016 Subaru XV Gains New Features in UK, Price Capped at £21,995
8 Feb 2016, 15:00 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Based on a raised Impreza 5-door hatchback, the Subaru XV made its debut at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. Five years later, the XV got a series of upgrades for the 2016 model year. Despite the add-ons, Subaru UK didn’t change the on-the-road...
2016 Ferrari GTC4Lusso Is the Ferrari FF Facelift We’ve Been Waiting For
8 Feb 2016, 13:59 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / When Ferrari introduced the FF in 2011, the Prancing Horse rewrote the rules of what 2+2 grand touring was all about. With the facelifted FF, Ferrari is pushing the envelope even further. Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for the...
Toyota TS050 HYBRID LMP1 Prototype Enters the 2016 World Endurance Championship
8 Feb 2016, 13:42 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Toyota is proud to be a part of the 2016 World Endurance Championship, with its hopes hanging on the LMP1 prototype race car you can admire above. WEC fans will see the Toyota TS050 HYBRID compete in all nine rounds of the 2016 season. The highe...
Ford to Build New Assembly Plant in Mexico, Double Production Output
8 Feb 2016, 12:56 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / It’s no secret that Mexico is an important country for the Ford Motor Company. Its production facilities in the Estados Unidos Mexicanos are fundamental to the success of the Blue Oval. Late last year, the Trump attempted to stop Ford from ex...
2016 Ford FG X Falcon Production to End with XR6 Turbo Sprint & XR8 Sprint
8 Feb 2016, 12:10 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Internally known under the 201X codename, the FG X series of the Ford Falcon will be the last-ever Falcon generation built in the Land Down Under. Ford Australia will bid farewell to its locally built FG X Falcon by bringing the Sprint badge back f...
Volkswagen Still Undecided on Dieselgate Compensation Program Solution
8 Feb 2016, 10:52 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / In an interview for Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, outside attorney Kenneth Feinberg said that Volkswagen would keep its promise to offer compensation packages for approximately 600,000 U.S. owners of diesel vehicles involved in the notori...
Jose Mourinho Drives the Jaguar F-Pace on Ice
8 Feb 2016, 10:25 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Sporting icon Jose Mourinho isn’t a stranger to fast cars and sporty driving. The legend whose name is on every football/soccer fan’s mind was one of the sportsmen chosen by Porsche to launch a Fall/Winter clothing line in 2010. Fast-fo...
Sinkhole in Peru Swallows Up Car with Three Passenger on Board
8 Feb 2016, 09:16 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Remember the humongous sinkhole that opened under the floor of the Skydome of the National Corvette Museum in February 2014? It is one of the most covered sinkhole stories ever since the phenomenon became a worldwide problem. But whereas that incid...
Jerry Seinfeld's Porsche Collection Is About to Get Smaller
8 Feb 2016, 08:15 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / What’s not to like about Jerry Seinfeld? The 61-year-old Brooklyn-born comedian is highly acclaimed for his fictionalized version of himself in Seinfeld, his observational comedy, and Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. It’s no wonder the...
Kahn Design WB12 Vengeance to Debut at 2016 Geneva Motor Show
7 Feb 2016, 11:29 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The British tuning company founded and managed by Afzal Kahn has announced that the Kahn Design WB12 Vengeance will make its long-awaited debut in March. The world premiere has been confirmed by an Instagram post garnished with too many hashtags an...
$3.4 Million Will Buy You This Aston Martin Vulcan
7 Feb 2016, 10:26 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Make no mistake about it - the Vulcan is probably the most intense track-only machine ever made by Aston Martin. The British outfit will only dispatch 24 of these babies worldwide, three of which in the U. S. of America. This is one of them, the fi...
Four Ford GT Race Cars Will Compete at Le Mans
6 Feb 2016, 12:38 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours is scheduled for June, 50 years after Ford managed to finish first, second, and third in the 1966 edition of the grueling endurance race. For the 50th anniversary of its iconic win at Le Mans, the Blue Oval announced that ...