Driving Sports

Western Automotive Journalists Gather For "Media Days" At Laguna Seca

The Western Automotive Journalists organization gathered this week in beautiful Monterey, Calif. to test drive the 2008 sports and luxury car field from virtually every automaker doing business in North America. Journalists from up and down the west coast arrived to test the full fleet of 2008 cars on the winding mountain roads of Carmel Valley and at speed on the track at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Yes, that's the new Nissan GT-R parked next to the NISMO Edition 350Z in the photo to the right. Yes, they're as good as you think they are.

Events such as this serve a number of purposes, including a rare chance for side-by-side tests of comparable cars from different automakers, and also to allow a relaxed atmosphere to talk shop with the manufacturer representatives. But I wouldn't lie to you and tell you it was anything like working - this event is big-time fun.

2009 Solstice Coupe Revealed

To no one's surprise (thanks to a leak on the interweb several days ago), at the 2008 New York Auto Show GM revealed its new 2009 Solstice Coupe. Good looking, most certainly. Another disappointment once you get behind the wheel? If past history is any indication, I'd say most likely. Still, looks great parked and will probably sell faster than breathing masks at the 2009 Olympics, once it hits the showrooms in "early 2009."

Complete press release and more pics after the jump.

2009 G8 GXP: 400hp, yes please!

In general, I'm not a huge fan of American cars. It's not that they're going to spontaneously combust, lose all their wheels on the freeway or lock the radio on a selection of Miley Cyrus' greatest hit [sic]. No, they offend me at a completely different level: they disappoint.

Sure, in press packs and on the stage of the big shows these cars look great, but once the bubble wrap has been removed, the show lights are long dimmed and you can see the final build in production steel on a showroom floor, they almost universally deflate my soul.

Will the new G8 GXP fare any different? With 402 ft-lbs of torque from a small-block 6.2-liter V8, I would most likely be too busy roasting the tires off to notice.

Click the jump for the complete PR courtesy of Pontiac: