Mircea Panait
20,321 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 Chevrolet Volt Pricing and Specs Released, 17.1 kWh Battery On Board
15 Jul 2014, 19:05 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Just 4 days after we've stumbled upon 2015 Chevrolet Volts available in the inventories of U.S. Chevy dealers, the golden bowtie manufacturer releases all the info we've been waiting for. The entry-level front-wheel drive Volt holds a $34...
2015 Buick Model Lineup Gets Apple Siri Eyes Free, Text Message Alerts, OnStar 4G LTE As Standard
15 Jul 2014, 18:27 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / It's widely known that today's drivers, especially the youngsters, are more influenced by in-car gadgets and infotainment systems than ever before. That's why Buick will equip every 2015 model with Apple Siri Eyes Free and Text Messa...
Porsche 911 Turbo S Exclusive GB Edition is Limited to 40 Examples
15 Jul 2014, 16:30 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / You know what's more expensive than a £142,120 Porsche 911 Turbo S? The bespoke GB Edition made by Porsche Exclusive, which retails at a whopping £150k. This UK-only model celebrates the 40th anniversary of the 911 Turbo and will b...
2015 Ford Falcon Teased Again, XR8 to Debut on July 25th
15 Jul 2014, 15:34 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Five days ago, Ford Australia released a teaser image of the 2015 Ford Falcon. Specifically, the sedan's headlight design. With this latest teaser photo provided, now we know how the tail lights will look like on the highly anticipated swan so...
2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 Spied Wearing Less Disguise · Video
15 Jul 2014, 14:39 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / After some appearances in the U.S., Ford's Special Vehicle Team seems to have finished the first phase of testing of the upcoming Ford Mustang Shelby GT350. The hot version of the pony is currently at the Ring for suspension and other fine tun...
2015 Cadillac Escalade to Get 8-Speed Automatic & 360-Degree Camera System
15 Jul 2014, 13:30 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Cadillac's flagship SUV, along with other full-size models from General Motors such as the GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Tahoe, will get a minor update for the "2015.5" model year. The most important upgrade of them all is the addition of ...
2016 Cadillac CTS-V to Get Supercharged V8 Engine
15 Jul 2014, 12:02 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / As a follow-up on the 2016 Cadillac CTS-V spy photos we've published yesterday, our photographers managed to capture the super saloon in all its glory setting fast laps on the demanding Nurburgring track in Germany. The big news is that the th...
2015 Cadillac ATS-V Spied Dropping Hot Laps on the Nurburgring · Video
15 Jul 2014, 09:35 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / As expected, our carparazzi returned a day after the 2015 Cadillac ATS-V was spied near the Nurburging with a new set of spy photos. This time, the BMW M4 combatant has been spotted doing fast laps on the German circuit. Our photographers told us t...
2015 Range Rover Order Books Open This Month
15 Jul 2014, 08:25 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Since 1970, the iconic Range Rover continuously redefined what a luxury four-wheel drive SUV can do. In 2012, the flagship model received its 4th generation, which is snazzier and more affluent than ever before. Fast-forward a couple of years and h...
2016 Toyota Prius to Offer AWD, Two Battery Options
14 Jul 2014, 20:24 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Toyota powertrain development manager Koei Saga has declared that the fourth-gen Toyota Prius will offer two battery options and all-wheel drive as an optional extra. Even though the Japanese manufacturer has postponed the launch date of the next-g...
GM Could be Charged with Fraud Over Ignition Switch Recall Delay
14 Jul 2014, 18:59 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Several federal prosecuters have joined forces and are currently doing their homework in order to charge General Motors with fraud over the notorious defective ignition switch recall. Evidence of misleading statements spanning over 10 years are at ...
Jaguar F-Type Project 7 Sold Out in the UK
14 Jul 2014, 17:06 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Although it costs a whopping £135,000, all 65 units of the bespoke Jaguar F-Type Project 7 allocated for the United Kingdom are already spoken for according to the manufacturer. With production due to begin early next year, the British marque...
Fiat Panda Cross Goes On Sale from September · Video
14 Jul 2014, 16:21 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / It combines the off-road prowess of an SUV with the small dimensions of a city car and it made its world debut earlier this year at the Geneva Motor Show. We're talking about the Fiat Panda Cross, which will hit Euro showrooms this September &...
2015 Cadillac ATS-V Coupe Spied Near the Nurburgring Nordschleife
14 Jul 2014, 14:54 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / With Audi's quattro, BMW's M and the AMG division from Mercedes-Benz around, the 2015 Cadillac ATS-V has some pretty tough competition coming its way all the way from Europe. However, the all-new two-door version of the ATS-V might have s...
Ford Weighing Le Mans Return
14 Jul 2014, 13:47 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The Blue Oval was a dominant figure of endurance racing back in the 1960s, when it dominated the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times with the Ford GT40. Despite this remarkable streak, the American manufacturer didn't enjoy any other remarkable suc...
Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG Coupe Priced From €244,009 in Germany
14 Jul 2014, 11:48 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / It's not as expensive as the G65 AMG, but it still costs a helluva lot of dough. We're talking about the recently unveiled flagship of the S-Class Coupe lineup, the achingly gorgeous Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG Coupe. For those €244,009...
First Tesla Model S Crash in China is Painful to Watch
14 Jul 2014, 09:31 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / The past 30 days or so have been laden with crummy incidents related to the Tesla Model S - at the end of June, a Chinese customer smashed the windscreen of its showroom fresh Model S, a different car was split in half after a high-speed crash in L...
Tesla Model S Crashed Before Leaving Fremont Store & Delivery Center
14 Jul 2014, 08:10 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / Time and again, everybody scrapes his or her vehicle's alloy wheels because of distraction and negligence, but we rarely heard of somebody to crash a brand new car without even leaving the dealership's parking lot. Well, this curious inci...
Mark Zuckerberg Reportedly Buys Pagani Huayra
14 Jul 2014, 07:09 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / He's only 30 years old yet he's worth about $30 billion thanks to Facebook, the social networking service co-founded with his college roommates back in February 2004. 10 years after he made it big, Mark Zuckerberg is bound to be one of th...
Oatmeal Receives $1 Million From Elon Musk for the Nikola Tesla Museum
13 Jul 2014, 16:37 UTC · By: Mircea Panait / As some of you may remember, The Oatmeal published his wacky impressions of what it's like to own a Tesla Model S back in May. Matthew Inman isn't just an enthusiastic owner of the electric drive luxury sedan, but an avid fan of Nikola Te...