Mircea Panait
20,323 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.
2015 Ford Mustang Gets Independent Suspension All-Round
18 Jul 2014, 10:07 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Marketed by the Blue Oval as being the best-handling and best-braking standard Mustang ever right out of the box, what exactly does the 2015 model year of the pony hide under its skin? Power figures aren't the only details a potential cus...
2015 Ford Mustang Performance Packages Detailed
18 Jul 2014, 09:18 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The Blue Oval heralds the all-new sixth-gen Ford Mustang as being the nimblest example of the breed to date. But there's always that type of customer that wants better driving dynamics from a vehicle, therefore two performance packs are offere...
2015 Ford Mustang GT Exhaust Sounds Coarse and Brutish
18 Jul 2014, 08:24 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / We already know that the 5-liter Coyote V8 delivers 435 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels of the all-new Ford Mustang, but what about the sound it makes. Does it have enough burble and growl for maximum aural pleasure or not? ...
2015 Ford Mustang Specifications: 300hp V6, 310hp EcoBoost, 435hp GT
17 Jul 2014, 18:07 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Ladies and gentlemen, the moment has finally arrived. After the sixth-generation Ford Mustang was unveiled on last winter, the Dearborn automaker finally stopped teasing us with "at least" and released the official power and weight figure...
GM Legal Staff Takes the Heat at Recall Hearing
17 Jul 2014, 17:23 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / After Delphi's CEO blamed GM for the sub-standard ignition switches, the automaker's Mary Barra stepped up and testified before the Committee's Chairman McCaskill and Ranking Member Heller. Without referring even once to Delphi�...
Delphi Blames GM for Faulty Ignition Switches
17 Jul 2014, 16:10 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / A little while back, we reported that the U.S. Senate Commerce Comitee's panel of investigators has summoned Rodney O'Neal, the chief executive officer of Delphi, on Capitol Hill's hot seat to testify alongside GM CEO Mary Barra. Eve...
2015 Ford Territory Leaked
17 Jul 2014, 14:36 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Since it was introduced in April 2004, the Ford Territory crossover SUV has become a well known and fairly good selling nameplate in the Land Down Under. We knew for quite a while now that a new model is due to launch by November, but now we know h...
Fancy a Porsche Tractor with an Air-Cooled Diesel Engine?
17 Jul 2014, 13:31 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The man behind the German sports car manufacturer was a character of many interests and talents. In the 1930s, when Ferdinand Porsche was making the final touches to the iconic Beetle, the automotive engineer was also developing an agricultural wor...
GM Lied to Federal Authorities About Ignition-Related Fatal Accidents
17 Jul 2014, 12:09 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Another day, another ignition switch headline to make you get cold feet about driving a vehicle designed and assembled by GM. That's seems to be the norm these days and a new analysis further demonstrates that General Motors bigwigs kept silen...
C7 Corvette Stingray Sold 17k Units Through June 2014
17 Jul 2014, 09:38 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / First delivered in the fall of 2013, the latest iteration of iconic Vette had all the right stuff to become a commercial success from the get-go. Even this past half-year period, the C7 Corvette is still going strong, although the 2015 model year i...
2015 Ford Super Duty F-450 Boasts 31,200 Pounds Towing Capacity
17 Jul 2014, 08:35 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Just the other day Chrysler announced that the Ram 3500 with the 6.7-liter Cummins diesel can tow a best-in-class 30,000 lbs using the SAE J2807 testing protocol. However, the mid-cycle refresh of the Ford Super Duty F-450 truck trumps that by 1,20...
Hiding Safety Defects May Get Auto Execs Prison Time
16 Jul 2014, 20:30 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Bob Casey are cooking quite the recipe for misbehaving higher-ups in the auto industry. These two are reportedly working on a bill that would punish bigwigs with prison for hiding safety defects from consumers. ...
2015 smart fortwo & forfour Specifications Officially Released · Video
16 Jul 2014, 19:38 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The wait has finally come to an end, ladies and gentlemen, and it's our pleasure to present you the 2015 smart fortwo and its bigger brother, the forfour. A whopping 16 years after Daimler AG's smart division introduced the groundbreaking...
2015 Ram SAE J2807 Towing Capacities Announced
16 Jul 2014, 17:14 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / If you didn't know yet, the Society of Automotive Engineers is here to make sure that truck manufacturers rate their pickup lineups correctly for maximum towing capacity. The standardized SAE J2807 rating system is the centerpiece of it all an...
2015 Ford Expedition Gets 3.5L EcoBoost V6, Platinum Model
16 Jul 2014, 16:26 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Combining capability and style, the 2015 Ford Expedition is heralded as the most powerful and fuel-efficient Expedition ever thanks to a 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 mated to a SelectShift six-speed tranny. Added technology and comfort features aside, an ...
Fiat Freemont Cross Is a Dodge Journey Crossroad Look-Alike · Video
16 Jul 2014, 15:06 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Except from the front grille design and Dodge badges inside & out, the all-new Fiat Freemont Cross is basically the same car as its American cousin in terms of aesthetics. But is that all? Fortunately not... While the Dodge Journe...
Maserati Quattroporte Zegna Edition Limited to 100 Units
16 Jul 2014, 13:31 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / At last year's Geneva Motor Show, the House of the Trident unveiled a special edition of the Quattroporte flagship, personalized in collaboration with Ermenegildo Zegna, an Italian fashion house specialized in men's clothing. One year lat...
D-Step Shift Logic to Make Nissan CVT Shift Like an Automatic Transmission
16 Jul 2014, 12:08 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Most of you know what a continuously variable transmission is all about. This design is a favorite among Japanese carmakers, Nissan included. In the United States, the Versa, Altima, Quest and Pathfinder are fitted with such a contraption, but the ...
Nissan Qashqai, Pulsar Nismo in the Cards with 266HP On Tap
16 Jul 2014, 10:00 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / According to an insider from Nissan, the Japanese brand has finished research and development on an all-new engine. It's a turbocharged four-pot displacing only 1.8 liters, but its expected to pack a whopping 266 horsepower and propel the yet-...
NJ Dealers to Pay $1.8M Settlement For Misleading their Customers
16 Jul 2014, 09:17 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Deceptive auto practices are unacceptable, especially when it comes to big players in the auto industry such as General Motors. But a big slice of the shady practices pie is held by small dealerships, not the big boys. No less than 8 New Jersey ...