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2015 Nissan Micra

Several years ago, poutine started showing up on the menus of a number of Detroit-area restaurants. For those unfamiliar with the Canadian specialty, it involves serving up french fries, gravy and cheese curds all in one artery-clogging heap. It's not really my thing, but the comfort-food dish has caught hold here in The D, and many absolutely swear by it. In a country where we happily serve Double Down sandwiches, and where competitive eating qualifies as sport, it's hard to believe le poutine isn't spreading like wildfire.
Given Detroit's proximity to Canada, it's not surprising that this culinary creation has managed to find its way across the border. The same thing goes for cars - we Detroiters are routinely privy to lots of Great White North imports. No, we can't buy not-for-US vehicles like the Nissan X-Trail, Mercedes-Benz B-Class (at least, the gasoline version), or now-discontinued products like the Honda Civic-based Acura CSX or EL before it. But Ontario-plated examples of these cars can be seen all the time here in southeast Michigan - it's a far more common occurrence than you might think.
These days, it's rare that an automaker will introduce a model to Canada without offering it up in the United States - especially a car that stands to do big things for a company's presence in North America. But with this 2015 Nissan Micra, that's exactly what's happened; Nissan's US arm has repeatedly stated that there are no plans to offer the car in Yankeeland. Why is the Micra so important? This five-door hatchback enters Canada with the coveted title of being the most affordable new car in the country: just $9,998 Canadian (CAD) to start. In fact, the Micra launches to our north just as the larger, four-door Versa Sedan is phased out in Canada - a vehicle that holds the lowest-cost title here in the US, at $11,990 USD.

2020 Chevy Corvette Stingray vs the world: How it compares on paper

The 2020 Chevy Corvette Stingray in its base form offers an astonishing amount of performance for the money. In fact, so impressive is the car's spec sheet that the Corvette kind of exists in two different competitive sets: one of cars priced similarly, and another with cars of similar performance and reputation. To get a feel for how it handles each of these segments, we've compiled specifications for those two sets of players. You can find the first set below, which looks at cars of roughly the same price point. Following that is a bit of analysis, and then there's a chart of cars with similar performance and reputation. And that chart will also have some analysis. Though final pricing for the Corvette hasn't been announced yet, we know the Corvette will start at less than $60,000. And as far as pricing goes, its closest competitor is the Porsche 718 Cayman, which also starts at just under $60,000. Both are mid-engined and rear-drive, but the Corvette offers an extra 195 horsepower and 190 pound-feet of torque. The Cayman does boast a curb weight of right around 3,000 pounds, so it weighs a few hundred pounds less than the Corvette, but it's likely not enough to make up for the power deficit. The Corvette's sub-3.0-second 0-60 time bears this out against the Cayman's best 4.5-second run. Impressively, though, the Cayman has more cargo space than the Corvette in a package that's nearly 10 inches shorter. The Cayman also still offers a manual option for those that prefer self-shifting. The 2020 Toyota Supra is on the cheap end of this sports car class, just crossing $50,000. It also boasts more power than the Cayman, though it's still down by 160 ponies and 105 pound-feet of torque to the C8. It's also about as roomy as the Corvette, despite being about the same size as the Cayman. Cargo space is a bit tighter. Its driving characteristics will likely differ, too as the Supra sits on a front-engine platform. It might even feel closer to a C7 Corvette in some ways. The other mid-engine entry in this price range is the 2019 Alfa Romeo 4C Spider. Its small 1.7-liter turbo inline-4 only makes 237 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque, but it's also far and away the lightest of this group at 2,487 pounds. That's roughly 1,000 pounds lighter than the Corvette. It isn't as fast as the Corvette in a straight line, but that lightness surely pays dividends in cornering and braking.

2022 Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance Mega Gallery | The show in pictures

COMO, Italy — Held annually, the Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance is, in many ways, Europe's version of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. It takes place in a beautiful location, and it brings together an impressive selection of rare and valuable cars. It's a real treat for the eyes, the ears, and, if you're into champagne, the palate. The 2022 edition of the show was no exception: About 50 cars were shipped to Lake Como from over a dozen countries, and it wasn't just the usual suspects. Sure, there were a lot of pre-war cars (including a couple of one-off models), but some of the icons that younger enthusiasts grew up with (like the Lamborghini Countach) were present as well. This year's event was split into eight categories: The Art Deco Era of Motor Car Design, The Supercharged Mercedes-Benz, How Grand Entrances Were Once Made, Eight Decades of Ferrari Represented in Eight Icons, "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday," BMW's M Cars and Their Ancestors, Pioneers That Chased the Magic 300 KPH, And a design award for concept and prototypes. The jury gave the coveted "best of show" award to a 1937 Bugatti 57 S owned by Andrew Picker of Monaco, while the aforementioned classes were won by, respectively: The Bugatti 57 S, shown below, A 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Cabriolet, A 1956 Chrysler Boano Coupe Speciale, A 1966 Ferrari 356 P Berlinetta Speciale Tre Posti, A 1961 Porsche 356 B Carrera Abarth GTL, A 1972 BMW 3.0 CSL, A 1989 Porsche 959 Sport, And the Bugatti Bolide concept unveiled in 2020. Winning at Villa d'Este is a big deal: The cars are judged by a panel of highly experienced judges. No one gave me a scoring sheet, presumably out of fear that I'd award points to the late-model Fiat 600 lurking in the parking lot, but several cars that didn't win an award caught my eye. One is a 1934 Bugatti Type 59 Sports, a grand-prix racer that was once owned by King Leopold III of Belgium and that has never been restored — its patina is inimitable. Another is a 1961 BMW 700 RS. One of two built (the other is in the BMW collection), it's a tiny, ultra-light roadster related to the 700 and powered by a 697-cubic-centimeter air-cooled flat-twin tuned to develop 70 horsepower. It won several hill-climb events during the 1960s, and it's one of the rarest cars ever to wear a BMW roundel. Aston Martin's freshly-restored 1979 Bulldog concept was cool to see as well; check out the cassette player integrated into the headliner!