Feature: North to James Bay in a BMW X6 xDrive 35i

Story and photos by John LeBlanc

Matagami, Que.–For more than 600 kilometres, the James Bay Road cuts a wide, two-lane swath of pavement without Draconian speed laws, stop-and-go traffic, clogged intersections, stop signs – or any of the other daily driving obstacles known as “modern civilization.”

Constructed in the early 1970s to transport workers and materials to build a massive hydroelectric project in northern Quebec, the road is a series of lengthy straightaways connected by fast sweeping curves.

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Comparo: Nissan GT-R versus Porsche 911 Turbo‏

Story and photos by John LeBlanc

Nissan set the stage for a heroic David and Goliath battle when it introduced its new GT-R supercar last fall, flatly stating its “performance bogey” was none other than Porsche’s iconic 911 Turbo.

Seriously?

Seriously.

On public roads at legal speeds, there’s very little to choose from between the two in terms of outright performance abilities. So for a true clash of the supercar titans, we needed some room to play, and lots of it.

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Comparo: Audi A3 3.2 Quattro versus BMW 135i

Road Test: 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt SS Coupe

Story and photos by John LeBlanc

With the performance market quickly turning to small, fun and frugal, Chevrolet – a brand historically marketed as General Motors’ “cheap speed” division – should be sitting on the automotive throne right now.

Instead, Chevrolet’s been preoccupied with pickups, crossovers, SUVs and resurrecting its retro Camaro muscle car; a vehicle that’s about as in-touch with today’s market as classic rock, tie-dyed shirts and burning draft cards.

Its last attempt at a sporty small car – the luke-warm 173 hp front-drive Cobalt SS, and the slightly-less-tepid 205 hp SS Supercharged version – seemed half-hearted attempts at best.

Unrefined, uncompetitive – and in the end, unpopular – those first Cobalt SSs were quietly put on hiatus last year.

But for 2008, Chevrolet is resurrecting a Cobalt coupe with an SS badge on its rump, with more power under the hood, a chassis that’s been shipped off to a European finishing school, and a $24,995 starting price that’s equal to Dodge’s new Caliber SRT4, but thousands less than more established import rivals. Read more

Feature: BMW Driving Training‏

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