Ciprian Florea
7,286 ARTICLES
Personal motto:
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough horsepower." - Mark Donohue
You'll never catch him drooling over the latest supercar but he could spend hours talking about why he loves 1940s windshield visors, Mopars, and Studebakers. Naturally, most of his stories are about barn finds and rare classics.
He can give you several reasons why speed and power are more about motorsport than silly street wandering, and Can-Am machinery tops his ridiculously fast all-time favorite car list. He claims he could die happy after a Rattlesnake Raceway ride in a Chaparral and a cup of coffee with Jim Hall on the other side of the table.
Before landing on these pages, Ciprian's work has been published on outlets like TopSpeed, AmericanMuscle, and ThisWeekInMotors.
Renault Captur Priced from €15,500 in France
15 Mar 2013, 13:14 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Renault has announced the official price list for the Captur model on the French market, with the base version available from €15,500 ($20,176). The new Renault Captur can now be ordered in France, with prices ranging from €15,500 to &...
Honda Recalls 250,000 Vehicles Over Braking Issue
15 Mar 2013, 12:02 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Japanese automaker Honda has issued a recall for nearly 250,000 Honda and Acura vehicles worldwide over stability control and braking system malfunctions. The recall, which is the result of a government probe launched last year, will affect Hond...
Dacia Looking to "Milk the Cow" with Existing Models
15 Mar 2013, 10:46 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Romanian carmaker Dacia won't be offering new models anytime soon, with parent company Renault looking to reach new markets instead of expanding its lineup. "We have the product now, the investment is done – it is now time for us...
Qoros 3 Hatchback Rendered
15 Mar 2013, 10:09 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Chinese automaker Qoros is looking to try its luck on the austerity-hit European market with their all-new 3 Sedan model, but some say the new company needs to do more to actually stand a chance. While Qoros is also planning an estate version of...
DeltaWing Getting Weirder as Chromed Coupe
15 Mar 2013, 10:04 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / When it comes to out of this world looking race cars, DeltaWing's experimental vehicle takes the cake. Just like Chaparral in the 1960s, All American Racers has introduced a radical design which is still being developed to achieve its goal as ...
Qoros 3 Sedan Pricing Revealed
15 Mar 2013, 09:30 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Qoros, the Chinese brand that basically made its world debut at Geneva 2013, has revealed elusive pricing information for their first model to go into production, the 3 Sedan. Speaking to BBC in Switzerland, Qoros representatives said the 3 Seda...
2013 Buick Encore First Commercial: Dinosaur
15 Mar 2013, 08:51 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The 2013 Buick Encore is no dinosaur SUV. At least this is what General Motors wants us to acknowledge through the car's first TV commercial. Already on sale with 1,571 units delivered in February, the Encore is showcased as the small and m...
Altered Fox Body Mustang Delivering 855 RWHP on Dyno
14 Mar 2013, 17:43 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The last Fox Body Mustang rolled off the production line about twenty years ago, but the car is still popular with various tuning shops. Regarded as one of the best cars to be converted into a dragster, the third-generation pony has caught the a...
Porsche to Hire Over 1,000 Workers to Build Macan SUV
14 Mar 2013, 17:22 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / German automaker Porsche has announced it will hire more than 1,000 workers for its plant in Leipzig, in preparation for production of the new Macan compact crossover SUV. "We have a new addition to our model family – now we're l...
Lamborghini Gallardo Turned Into Rally Car
14 Mar 2013, 17:04 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / About a month ago we, we're showing you this nut job taking a rare Ferrari Enzo out for a dirt road spin, basically using the supercar as a WRC rally car. While the clip has a high degree of awesome to it, such crazy driving could do a lot ...
China Looks Into the Future, Increases Subsidies for Hybrids
14 Mar 2013, 16:09 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The Chinese government is considering increasing subsidies for hybrid and fuel-efficient vehicles in order to persuade motorists to buy more alternative-powered cars. Speaking to reporters at the National People' Congress, the country'...
No AMG Version for Next-Generation Mercedes GLK
14 Mar 2013, 15:33 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The 2015 Mercedes-Benz GLK compact luxury crossover SUV won't get AMG treatment, said the division's director of vehicle development Tobias Moers, who doesn't see a market for the high-performance GLK. "Right now we don'...
BMW Reports Record Sales in 2012
14 Mar 2013, 15:24 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / German automaker BMW said that 2012 had been the best year in the company's history, reporting a group profit increase of 4.4 percent compared to 2011. "The past year has been the most successful year in BMW group’s corporate his...
Sea Snail Could Help Develop Better Car Batteries
14 Mar 2013, 14:23 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Did you know that snails have teeth? You did? Well, good for you. We didn't and we hope you won't chew our ears of over it. Now get this, some slimey sea snail's teeth could help improve hybrid and electric car batteries. How'...
Volkswagen's All-Electric e-Up Revealed
14 Mar 2013, 13:42 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Volkswagen's boxy four-seater Up! has been revealed in all-electric form ahead of the vehicle's debut at the 2013 Annual Press and Investors Conference. The e-Up!, which is the German automaker's first all-electric car, is reporte...
Skoda Jeti Rendered
14 Mar 2013, 13:07 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Widely known for envisioning intriguing versionst of already available vehicles, car designer Theophilus Chin seems to have taken a shine to Skoda lately. After taking a shot at Skoda's Citigo with a Citroen DS3-like canvas roof variant, th...
Bentley Interior Design Chief Switches to Volvo
14 Mar 2013, 12:43 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Bentley Interior Design Chief Robin Page has decided to leave the British company to take charge of Volvo's similar design department. Responsible for designing the exquisite interiors of cars such like the Bentley Continental and Mulsanne,...
Study Reveals Only 57 Percent of Ferrari Owners are Happy
14 Mar 2013, 11:22 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Ferrari is supposed to make a lot of people happy with their cars. Of course, there are some unhappy drivers that don't get to own a Maranello supercar, but we never thought a Ferrari owner could turn into a grump in its exotic vehicle. Acc...
Nokian Tyres Sets New Ice Speed Record with Audi RS6
14 Mar 2013, 10:40 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / Finnish tire manufacturer Nokian Tyres has smashed the ice driving speed record (again) using a stock Audi RS6 on new eight-generation Hakkapeliitta studded winter tires. The new record was set by the company's test driver, Janne Laitinen, ...
Toyota Engineers Caught Working on GT 86 Sedan and Shooting Brake
14 Mar 2013, 09:53 UTC · By: Ciprian Florea / The Toyota GT 86 is undoubtedly one of the world's greatest modern era sports cars, using the same "Simplify, then add lightness" recipe that Colin Chapman introduced with Lotus in the 1960s. While we had to wait for the car to hi...