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.
Your Ford F-150 Pickup Truck's Parking Lights May Flicker, 18,527 Vehicles Recalled
7 Dec 2023, 21:13 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Redesigned in 2020 for the 2021 model year, the F-Series has been hit with a safety recall. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an estimated 18,527 vehicles produced for the 2022 model year may exhibit a parking lamp fl...
2025 Toyota GRMN86 Rumored With Carbon-Fiber Goodies, Central Exhaust
7 Dec 2023, 20:17 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Gazoo Racing production vehicles come in three flavors. GR Sport refers to a slightly hotter version than standard, GR means hot, and GRMN stands for spicy. As far as the boxer-engined 86 is concerned, Toyota did offer a GRMN-branded 86 back in 201...
Chevrolet Volt Battery Energy Control Module Failures Prompt NHTSA Investigation
7 Dec 2023, 19:12 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Remember the good ol' Chevrolet Volt? A trailblazer when it came out, GM's range-extender PHEV is also remembered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. More specifically, the Office of Defects Investigation within the NHT...
2024 Alpine A110 Lineup Welcomes New Sporty Version, A110 R Turini Costs Big Money
7 Dec 2023, 18:05 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / A marque that doesn't get the credit it deserves due to poor management on Renault's part and mediocre results in the world's premier single-seater racing series, Alpine has taken the veils off the 2024 model year A110 lineup. The mo...
NHTSA Investigates Honda Over Sticky Steering Allegations, 13 Crashes Reported Thus Far
7 Dec 2023, 16:33 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / As per documents published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an estimated 532,535 cars and utility vehicles sold under the Honda and Acura brands for the 2022 – 2023 model years may be recalled in the near future. The fed...
BMW M3 Races Porsche 911, It's Really Close
7 Dec 2023, 15:06 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Very different in many respects, the 911 Carrera GTS and M3 Competition are pretty close in the quarter mile. KaRace has recently pitted the rear-engined sports car against the front-engined sports sedan to see which is the better pick in a straigh...
Ford Recalls 2024 Mustang Over Loose Brake Pedal, Owners Told Not To Drive Their Cars
6 Dec 2023, 21:04 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Internally known as S650, Ford's latest and greatest Mustang yet has been hit with its first safety recall. A handful of vehicles are believed to have been equipped with loose brake pedals from the factory, which is why the Ford Motor Company ...
2024 Fiat 500e Gets US Visa, $32,500 City Car Advertised With 149-Mile Driving Range
6 Dec 2023, 20:15 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Remember the original 500e? Sergio Marchionne famously said that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles lost a staggering $14,000 every time someone bought one, which is a staggering amount of money for a pint-sized electric vehicle that used to retail at $32,5...
2025 GMC Yukon Unofficial Rendering Shows Evolutionary Design Updates
6 Dec 2023, 19:01 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / GM's truck-based sport utility vehicles were redesigned from the ground up in 2020 for the 2021 model year. Come 2024, all of them will receive a mid-cycle refresh that goes beyond exterior design. Although it's due to arrive in late 2...
Ford Recalls F-150 Lightning Over Software Update
6 Dec 2023, 17:48 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Cars are increasingly complex in many regards, and this increasing complexity is best highlighted by the millions of lines of code that go into a modern vehicle's control modules. Unfortunately, it also means that automakers can make honest mi...
Chrysler Recalls 142,150 Ram Trucks Over Steering Column Control Module Issues
6 Dec 2023, 16:13 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The NHTSA has published a safety recall for no fewer than 142,150 trucks sold under the Ram brand. Potentially affected vehicles range from the 2023 Ram 1500 Classic to the 2024 Ram Cab Chassis in 4500 and 5500 flavors. According to documents filed...
2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV Gets First Recall, GMC Hummer EV Also Affected
5 Dec 2023, 18:42 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Revealed in January 2022 at the Consumer Electronics Show, the Silverado EV entered series production earlier in 2023 as a 2024 model. Currently manufactured in limited numbers at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant in Michigan, the zero-emission ...
Porsche Celebrates Production Milestone With a Madeira Gold Metallic-Painted 2024 Panamera
5 Dec 2023, 17:11 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Wholly owned by Porsche AG, the Leipzig assembly plant can trace its roots back to 1998. That's when the German automaker shocked pretty much everyone with its announcement that a sport utility vehicle would join the Neunelfer and Boxster in t...
2024 Honda Civic Type R Starting Price Revealed, Costs $1,000 More Than Before
5 Dec 2023, 16:06 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Before the switch to the 2024 model year, the FL5-generation Civic Type R used to retail at $43,795 sans destination. At the moment of reporting, the 2024 Honda Civic Type R carries a starting price of $44,795 in the US market. The bad news? There ...
GM Recalls Cadillac Lyriq EV for Improperly Welded Seat Belt Bracket
5 Dec 2023, 14:54 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The first EV based on the BEV3 electric vehicle platform, the Lyriq has been hit with a safety recall. According to General Motors, certain examples of the zero-emission crossover may feature a seat belt bracket that was improperly welded to the se...
BMW Recalls 2 Series Coupe, 3 Series, X3, and X4 Due to Improperly Tightened Steering Gear
4 Dec 2023, 21:44 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / BMW has issued a safety recall over a manufacturing blunder attributed to a South Carolina-based supplier. According to documents filed with the federal watchdog, JTEKT North America shipped a number of steering gear assemblies with loose bolts. On...
2025 Ford Bronco Facelift Speculative Rendering Looks Unrealistic, Plug-In Hybrid Mooted
4 Dec 2023, 20:13 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Twinned with the Ranger, the sixth-gen Bronco was revealed in 2020 as a 2021 model. It's widely believed that a mid-cycle refresh is coming for 2025, although not much is known about said facelift. It's also important to underline that...
2014 BMW X3, X4, X5 Recalled Over Takata Air Bag Inflators That May Explode
4 Dec 2023, 18:24 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Takata's exploding air bag inflator saga has come back into focus due to BMW. As per documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the German automaker is recalling a handful of sport utility vehicles equipped with d...
Tuned Ram 1500 TRX Races Bone-Stock Ford F-150 Lightning, Gives No Quarter
4 Dec 2023, 16:53 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The alien-looking Cybertruck may be the all-electric pickup truck of the moment, but alas, Tesla won't reach maximum production output until 2025. In the meantime, a number of automakers are much obliged to scratch that zero-emission pickup tr...
Volvo Recalls S60 Sedan Over Improperly Secured Front Passenger Air Bag
4 Dec 2023, 15:04 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / In production at Volvo's assembly plant in Ridgeville, South Carolina since 2018 for the 2019 model year, the third-generation S60 has been hit with a safety recall. As fate would have it, certain sedans produced for the 2019 to 2024 model yea...