autoevolution
 

Mircea Panait

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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.
Hennessey Cadillac CTS-V Wagon Lays Down 1,058 WHP
Hennessey Cadillac CTS-V Wagon Lays Down 1,058 WHP

3 Apr 2014, 13:13 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / There are two kinds of fast cars out there: the in-your-face mid-engined exotica type and those unassuming yet more than adequately powered performance sedans and wagons. The Cadillac CTS-V fits with the latter. It's your average performance w...

 
Ford MyKey Grows Popular with Fleet Owners
Ford MyKey Grows Popular with Fleet Owners

3 Apr 2014, 11:58 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / First marketed as a safety feature for teenage drivers, Ford MyKey technology is slowly being adopted by fleet owners. Now standard on nearly all Ford and Lincoln models, the first car to benefit from MyKey technology was the 2010 Focus. When enabl...

 
McLaren 650S Pricing Announced for North America
McLaren 650S Pricing Announced for North America

3 Apr 2014, 10:23 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The heavily anticipated McLaren 650S now has an official price tag for North America. For the MP4-12C-based supercar with P1 hypercar front fascia design you'll need to cash out no less than $265,500 (CAD $287,000) for the Coupe, while the Spi...

 
Sorry, Mopar '14 Dodge Challenger Is Sold Out
Sorry, Mopar '14 Dodge Challenger Is Sold Out

3 Apr 2014, 08:53 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / If you're in the market for a special edition factory fresh Dodge Challenger, we have good and bad news for you: orders have been placed for all 100 units of the limited-edition Mopar 2014 Dodge Challenger. The good news for all you "Mopa...

 
Metallica Frontman's Black Pearl Takes Custom of the Year Award
Metallica Frontman's Black Pearl Takes Custom of the Year Award

2 Apr 2014, 17:43 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / James Hetfield is one of the biggest and most influential rock stars of the past 30 years. He earned big bucks from recording studio albums sold by the millions and from heavy touring around the world. The heavy metal thing about this is that he sp...

 
Chrysler Recalls 867,795 SUVs Over Brake Problem
Chrysler Recalls 867,795 SUVs Over Brake Problem

2 Apr 2014, 16:13 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / After General Motors' most recent recalls of over six million vehicles in the U.S., another American car maker issued a large scale recall over a brake defect. We're talking about the Chrysler Group's Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Du...

 
Chrysler Teases Moab Easter Jeep Safari Concepts
Chrysler Teases Moab Easter Jeep Safari Concepts

2 Apr 2014, 16:03 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Jeep and Mopar will once again join forces to create six new concepts for the upcoming 48th Annual Moab Easter Jeep Safari in Utah. The Jeep Cherokee Dakar and Jeep Wrangler MOJO are two of the six cars to be unveiled at the week-long event schedul...

 
Hear Dodge's Future 640+ HP Supercharged Hellcat V8 Challenger SRT
Hear Dodge's Future 640+ HP Supercharged Hellcat V8 Challenger SRT

2 Apr 2014, 14:53 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / At long last, someone spotted a prototype of the future 2015 Challenger SRT burbling on idle and uploaded a video of it on YouTube. From the way it sounds, the car is most probably powered by the much-anticipated Hellcat 6.2-liter supercharged V8, ...

 
Ram Beats Chevrolet Silverado Sales in March
Ram Beats Chevrolet Silverado Sales in March

2 Apr 2014, 12:38 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / For the first time in 15 years, manufacturers' reports indicate that the Ram pickup outsold Chevy's Silverado by a mere 285 units, becoming the second-best selling truck in this segment. As expected, the mighty F-150 from Ford retains its...

 
Shelby Cobra Daytona to Headline Carroll Shelby Tribute and Car Show in May
Shelby Cobra Daytona to Headline Carroll Shelby Tribute and Car Show in May

2 Apr 2014, 08:48 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The Le Mans-winning CSX2299 Shelby Cobra Daytona will once again headline the Carroll Shelby Tribute and Car Show. Besides the starring 1964 Daytona, the single day tribute event will also feature a Ford and Shelby car show and an awards ceremony. ...

 
Ford Reports Best March Sales in 8 Years, Spurred by Fusion and F-Series
Ford Reports Best March Sales in 8 Years, Spurred by Fusion and F-Series

1 Apr 2014, 16:23 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The world's eight biggest manufacturers are releasing monthly sale figures for March throughout the day. Ford marks high with a sales increase of 3.4 percent compared to the same period last year. Retail sales of 166,030 vehicles are up 3 perc...

 
Acura Celebrates An Important Milestone Today
Acura Celebrates An Important Milestone Today

1 Apr 2014, 15:03 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / It happened again: the Japanese automaker has been voted for the 28th consecutive year as the top luxury automobile brand in North America based on alphabetical ranking. From 1986 to 2014, from the days of Top Gun and Falco's Rock Me Amadeus, ...

 
All New Vehicles To Require Rearview Cameras by 2018
All New Vehicles To Require Rearview Cameras by 2018

1 Apr 2014, 14:23 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / As an effort to reduce deaths and serious injuries caused by reversing accidents, the Transportation Department issued a rule that will require all new vehicles built from May 1st, 2018, that weigh under 10,000 pounds, to adopt rearview cameras. Th...

 
Ford Returns to Formula Drift in 2014, Supports Gittin and Pawlak
Ford Returns to Formula Drift in 2014, Supports Gittin and Pawlak

1 Apr 2014, 13:23 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / For 2014, Ford is really stepping up its involvement in Formula Drift. In its second year as an official sponsor of the series, the American automaker will offer the EcoBoost-powered Fiesta ST as giveaway, and it will display the new Mustang and Fi...

 
Dodge Preps Eight-Speed Auto and Reworked V8s for 2015 Challenger
Dodge Preps Eight-Speed Auto and Reworked V8s for 2015 Challenger

1 Apr 2014, 13:03 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / That's right: the future facelifted Challenger will come with all sorts of performance goodies throughout its engine range. It's a natural move for Dodge if you take into consideration Ford's and GM's newest offerings.  The...

 
Mcchip-DKR Teases Mildly Enhanced Ford F-150 SVT Raptor
Mcchip-DKR Teases Mildly Enhanced Ford F-150 SVT Raptor

1 Apr 2014, 12:03 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The ultimate version of Ford's F-150 just got a little bit more pumped up thanks to German tuner Mcchip-DKR. As the name suggests, the customization program's highlight is a chip tuning that lifts power up by 22 horsepower. Therefore, ...

 
Chevrolet Malibu Earns Top Safety Pick+ from IIHS
Chevrolet Malibu Earns Top Safety Pick+ from IIHS

1 Apr 2014, 11:43 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The 2014 Chevrolet Malibu with Forward Collision Alert gets the much-revered Top Safety Pick+ rating according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. In order to receive 2014 Top Safety Pick+ status, the 2014 Chevy Malibu with Forward Colli...

 
Sinkhole Corvettes to Be Displayed Unrepaired
Sinkhole Corvettes to Be Displayed Unrepaired

1 Apr 2014, 11:23 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / There's a saying that goes like "One man's junk is another man's treasure", and the National Corvette Museum might follow the course of those very words. Think about it: the broken Vettes attracted a lot of attention in the...

 
Trion Developing 2,000 HP Hypercar: Nemesis
Trion Developing 2,000 HP Hypercar: Nemesis

1 Apr 2014, 11:03 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Brace yourselves! The plucky Americans from Trion Supercars (TSC) boast that their future hypercar will get a twin-turbo V8 which will deliver no less than 2,000 horsepower. Should Bugatti and Koenigsegg fear the newcomer? The young American fir...

 
New Cadillac Escalade's Cabin Is All About Handcrafted Goodness
New Cadillac Escalade's Cabin Is All About Handcrafted Goodness

1 Apr 2014, 10:23 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / In order to wash away the shame of the last gen Escalade's dreadful plasticky interior, Cadillac paid much attention in developing the latest incarnation of the luxury utility vehicle. High-end furniture provided the inspiration for Caddilac&#...

 

Stories by Mircea Panait