Mircea Panait
20,328 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.
Hennessey Goliath 650 Supercharged GMC Sierra Races Bone-Stock Sierra, It's Not Even Close
20 Dec 2023, 02:55 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Hennessey Performance Engineering has recently launched a supercharged upgrade package for the GMC Sierra 1500 with the 6.2-liter small block. Pictured at the Texas-based tuner's Pennzoil Proving Ground, the half-ton pickup trucks in the video...
America's 2025 BMW M5 Touring Spied Testing With California Plate
20 Dec 2023, 01:41 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Word on the street is that BMW intends to sell the M5 Touring in the United States. The rumor took on a life of its own prior to BMW confirming the return of wagon-bodied M5 to the lineup, and these pictures all but confirm US availability for the ...
2024 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison Price Revealed, AEV Off-Road Package Costs $11,700
20 Dec 2023, 00:25 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / At press time, you can configure a 2024 model year Chevrolet Colorado from as little as $29,500 before destination charge. Back in August 2014 for the 2015 model year, the most spartan of available specifications used to be $20,995. Insane, isn...
BMW M3 Touring Drag Races BMW M8 Convertible in the Wet, Sporty Wagon Proves Faster
19 Dec 2023, 23:28 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / If you're in the market for a fast Bimmer of the rear-biased variety, you're presented with many choices in the form of M Performance and full-on M vehicles. The M8 sits at the very top of the lineup, regardless of its body style, whereas...
Rendering Artist Turns Ford F-150 Lighting Into Modern SVT Lightning Two-Door Sport Truck
19 Dec 2023, 21:25 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Muscle cars were long extinct when Chrysler rolled out the Dodge Li'l Red Express. The grandfather of performance trucks came with a police-spec 360 packing 225 horsepower and 295 pound-feet (400 Nm) of torque. GM joined the party rather late ...
John Hennessey's 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 Is One Seriously Sweet Muscle Car
19 Dec 2023, 19:55 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / As you're well aware, Chrysler resurrected the Challenger for the 2008 model year with HEMI muscle. In the first year of production, only the 6.1-liter version of the third-gen HEMI was available, meaning 425 ponies and 420 pound-feet (570 Nm)...
Mercedes-AMG G 63 4x4 Squared Hit With Recall Over Differential Housing That May Break
19 Dec 2023, 18:06 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The most ludicrous of G 63 versions out there has been recalled in the US market. An estimated 588 examples of the 4x4 Squared have been produced with rear axle differential housings that may develop cracks, therefore resulting in either differenti...
Feds Investigate Nissan Over VC-Turbo Engine Failures in the Rogue, Altima, QX50, and QX55
18 Dec 2023, 20:12 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Introduced in August 2016, the first of two variable-compression turbocharged engines developed by Nissan rolled out in series production one year later in the 2019 Infiniti QX50. The original engine is a 2.0-liter unit with four cylinders, a power...
This Carbon-Clad Porsche 912 Restomod Is Lighter Than Modern Formula 1 Cars
18 Dec 2023, 17:50 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The quintessential German sports car was revealed in 1963 with a six-pot boxer, an engine configuration that carries over to the 992 series of the long-running Neunelfer. Porsche kept making the 356 until 1965, the year Porsche introduced the 912 a...
2026 Mercedes-Benz C-Class EV Spied for the First Time, Newcomer Sports GLC EV Design Cues
18 Dec 2023, 16:26 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Merc had the necessary financial resources to become a force to be reckoned with in the premium and luxury EV segments, but alas, the Stuttgart-based automaker was caught unprepared by the rising demand for electric vehicles. Be that as it may, the...
Mazda Recalls B-Series Truck Over Incorrectly Installed Replacement Air Bag Inflators
18 Dec 2023, 15:21 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Mazda stopped importing the B-series truck line from Japan in 1994 for two reasons. First and foremost, the Japanese automaker entered into an agreement with the Ford Motor Company to market a badge-engineered Ranger in the United States as the B-s...
2024 Toyota Tacoma: All You Need to Know About Specs, Pricing, Trims, and More
17 Dec 2023, 23:57 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / It's hard to believe that the long-running Tacoma rolled out almost three decades ago. Back in 1995, the Ford Taurus outsold the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry in the US market, with the Blue Oval reporting 366,266 deliveries that year. When it...
2024 Ford Mustang Drag Races BMW M2, Someone Gets Smoked Real Bad
17 Dec 2023, 02:04 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Revealed in October 2022, the second-generation M2 received plenty of criticism for a plethora of reasons, the biggest one being its exterior design. Regardless of the flak, it's a thoroughbred M vehicle. Not only that, but also the final ICE-...
2025 Kia GT1 EV Speculative Rendering Proposes Forward-Looking Electric Stinger Successor
16 Dec 2023, 02:04 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Previewed by the 2011 Kia GT and the 2014 Kia GT4 Stinger concepts, the series-production Stinger arrived in dealer showrooms for the 2018 model year. Recently discontinued over poor demand, the liftback-style sedan is expected to come back in the ...
2024 Toyota Tacoma Uses 0W-20 Engine Oil, 8-Speed Auto Takes WS Transmission Fluid
15 Dec 2023, 23:28 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Toyota has recently published the owner's manual for the redesigned Tacoma, which comes with 2.4-liter turbo muscle. Codenamed T24A-FTS, the four-cylinder lump requires 87 octane or higher. The 2024 Toyota Tacoma owner's manual also re...
2024 Mercedes-AMG GT Finally Gets UK Visa, It's Eye-Wateringly Expensive
15 Dec 2023, 22:00 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Twinned with the SL, the second-generation GT went official in August 2023 for the 2024 model year. Now available to configure in the United Kingdom, the all-wheel-drive coupe retails at £164,765 OTR. That's just around $208,850 at cu...
BMW ZF 8HP Transmission Fluid Leak Prompts Recall, 2023 Toyota GR Supra Also Affected
15 Dec 2023, 21:11 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Produced by Magna Steyr in Austria, the Supra has been recalled yet again. Rather than Toyota, it was BMW who informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that certain vehicles equipped with the 8HP auto may leak transmission fluid. ...
Twin-Turbo Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 Sounds Glorious, Dyno Sheet Reads 825 RWHP
15 Dec 2023, 20:10 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Indiana-based Fathouse Performance offers no fewer than four go-faster packages for the 2016-plus Ford Mustang Shelby GT350. The superb-looking car in the featured clip is rocking the 800R twin-turbo package, which costs $39,999 on the tuner's...
2025 Ram 1500 Production Start Date Revealed, First Trucks Arriving at Dealers in Q1 2024
15 Dec 2023, 19:01 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / 2024 is right around the corner, and the Ram truck brand is preparing to disappoint a great number of prospective customers with the redesigned 1500. First and foremost, the DS-gen 1500 Classic will be discontinued in favor of a mid-size pickup tha...
Lamborghini Huracan Recalled Over Incorrectly Adjusted Headlights, 7,805 Vehicles Affected
15 Dec 2023, 16:19 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Automobili Lamborghini has recalled its entry-level supercar due to incorrectly adjusted headlights. Just over 7,800 vehicles produced for the United States market are included in said recall, with production dates ranging between July 2014 and Oct...