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A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.

New Alfa Romeo supercar teaser mentions '6 weeks' and '792 hours'

Alfa Romeo got on Instagram again to tease the coming supercar that will debut on August 30. The image is a bit funky, and so is the caption. The picture shows the steering wheel, shot from underneath. The hub center is the first unusual bit, being a monochrome Alfa Romeo logo. The Italian brand's steering wheels usually feature a full-color logo except in the Quadrifoglio trims that bear a black and silver design. Vintage Alfas like the GT Junior models of the 1960s and 1970s were known for silver logos. They were also known for drilled steering wheel spokes, which might be featured in the teaser as well. No current Alfas we know of use metal-looking steering wheels spokes, and none contain what look like dials set into the bottom spoke. Even the limited-edition Giulia GTAm that started at about $225,000 in Europe took the Giulia's regular wheel and replaced plastic with carbon fiber for the lower spoke. Then there's the caption, "792hours and less than #6weeks left to ignite your spirit with #AlfaRomeo. Witness history unfold on August 30th, as #Courage and passion #Converge to give birth to a visionary #Creation. Save the date!"           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Alfa Romeo (@alfaromeoofficial) That's an oddball number of hours for a countdown timer. The guess is that this is a reference to the horsepower figure engineers coaxed from the twin-turbo 3.0-liter Nettuno V6 poached from the Maserati MC20. In the MC20, the engine produces 621 horsepower. Rumors out of Europe have said the Maserati mill is going to share the Alfa Romeo's engine bay with at least one electric motor and make about 800 horsepower — close enough to 792 not to quibble over. Since that would be a metric horsepower rating, converting PS to U.S. HP gives 781 hp, a tidy 160 horses more than the MC20 and totally achievable with a single flux capacitor. Unless the Italians are taking a MacGuffin from Hitchcock's playbook, six weeks away could foreshadow the 6C name instead of the 33 name that's worked its way into the conversation. The livestreamed debut from the Alfa Romeo museum in Arese, Italy is a month away. Related Video Alfa Romeo Salutes Women Race Car Drivers

Alfa Romeo working on high-performance engines

During the big Fiat Chrysler Automobiles FCA US LLC announcement of its five-year plan earlier this year, the strategy for Alfa Romeo was easily summarized by brand boss Harald Wester: "Go back to the Alfa Romeo that people admired." Easier said than done. With the 4C as one step in that procedure, we might see the next when the company unveils its midsize sedan in June with a trio of new engines with up to 480 horsepower. Anonymous sources at suppliers are already making some big claims about the new mills to Automotive News Europe. The top of the heap is reportedly a 2.9-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 making up to 480 hp, based on the 3.0-liter engine in the Maserati Quattroporte and Ghibli. Below it is a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder that's claimed to produce between 180 hp and 330 hp for rear- or all-wheel drive applications. Finally, there's potentially a 2.2-liter turbo-diesel four with between 135 hp and 210 hp. Little has been officially announced about the midsize sedan, but it was possibly spied testing recently hidden under the body of a Ghibli. It was rumored to be rear-wheel drive with a size between the BMW 3 Series and 5 Series, and a high-performance GTA version was also speculated. According to ANE, the vehicle won't be called the Giulia and won't hit the market in the US until 2016. In addition to the midsize model's engines, FCA is also reportedly working on an updated version of its 3.0-liter diesel V6 sourced from VM Motori with new 275-hp and 340-hp versions. They are likely slated for Alfa's future large sedan and SUV. News Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req.Image Credit: Copyright 2014 Drew Phillips / AOL Alfa Romeo Technology Sedan FCA alfa romeo giulia fiat chrysler automobiles