Going to try something new today where we wrap up the best posts from around the car web today you may have missed. Today we've got stories from Car & Driver, Japanese Nostalgic Car, TTAC, MustangDaily, and Kinja.
Tesla's Model S Lease And Financing Program Expensive, Misleading — Car & Driver
Justin Berkowitz breaks down exactly why Tesla's new lease program is mostly hot air. Here's the key graph:
Nearly all the costs are described and calculated in three-year terms, because that’s when the “guaranteed resale value” option comes into the picture. That’s fine, but the fuel savings calculator nestled among these references to the buyback program defaults to driving 15,000 miles per year. Nowhere on the page does Tesla mention that the buyback program explicitly limits mileage to 12,000 per year, and that any miles in excess are charged at $0.25 apiece. Only if a shopper manages to dig up the PDF of terms would they learn that actually, to get the fuel savings from driving 15,000 miles a year, they’d have to pay an additional $2250 in mileage penalties.
Cop Drives Cop Car: 2012 Dodge Charger Pursuit — The Truth About Cars
A cop driving and reviewing a cop car is such a great idea I wish I'd had it first.
Control is definitely something you want to maintain. Overall the Charger is incredibly stable, but the Hemi will sneak up on you. The Crown Vic doesn’t particularly like to be hustled through the curves and responds with a certain amount of float and instability. Consequently you’re more aware of your speed as you approach corners in a Crown Vic.
The Charger hugs the road much better and builds your confidence until you glance down at the digital speedo readout as you enter a curve and HOLY CRAP THAT’S TOO FAST! I can report that the brakes and the traction control work very well and kept me from having to have any awkward conversations with Bertel and Mr. Sawrie.
Rough Style Explained — Oppositelock
What is Rough Style? Legory responds to the issue raised in his previous post with a great explainer.
They noticed the exposed bolts, the wide tires that were beyond the wide wheels, and negative camber. These are all characteristics of popular tuning styles known under a general collective- "Rough Style" These styles are all very different, however they share most of the characteristics above.
Five reasons why Ford should have built the 2014 Mustang Boss 351 — MustangDaily
The current Boss 302 Mustang is many people's favorite Mustang ever (it's one of mine), so why did Ford decide to stop building them? Why did they do it before they even tried to build a more powerful Boss 351 to accompany the 2014 Camaro Z/28?
Both the Mustang and Camaro have always competed, and the two have usually maintained fairly similar models. Historically the Boss 302 and Z/28 were fierce rivals, both on and off the track, but the same can’t be said today. Unfortunately the Z/28 is entering production just as the Boss 302 is ending, and the two are fairly different cars anyway. In reality the Boss 302 faces off with the Camaro 1LE and the Shelby GT500 goes toe-to-toe with the ZL1. That leaves nothing to face off with the Z/28. Enter the Boss 351. A naturally aspirated 5.8-liter V8 could produce similar horsepower and torque numbers to the Z/28′s LS7.
GARAGE LIFE: A visit with Isuzu Sports Eagle — Japanese Nostalgic Car
After reading this, all you'll ever want is an older Piazza.
Isuzu Sports Eagle is a specialty shop dedicated to restoring and selling vintage Isuzu cars, and I would imagine it is probably the only place in the world like it. With Isuzu Motors itself largely out of the passenger vehicle market, the Isuzu marque is quickly vanishing into obscurity. But that has not stopped shop owner Koji Okane from doing what he loves.