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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.

Meet the Lamborghini Hurac'an LP 610-4

The "610" in the Huracán's designation is the amount of power this new supercar packs.
This holiday season, Lamborghini has a very special gift for automotive enthusiasts - the all-new Huracán LP610-4, also known as the long-awaited replacement for the Gallardo.

LAPD now on patrol with its own Lamborghini Gallardo

Last year, the Dubai Police made news by purchasing a string of supercars to act as patrol vehicles around the city. Apparently, a generous family in Los Angeles thought that the LAPD needed to keep up with the Joneses, because they recently donated use of their Lamborghini Gallardo. Unfortunately, you won't be seeing the Italian coupe in any high-speed chases, as it's being used exclusively for display at charity events.
The Lamborghini has arrived courtesy of Nathalie and Travis Marg, proprietors of telecommunications contractor Light Source 1 Inc. They approached the force with the idea to use the supercar because "they admire what the LAPD does for the community," said LAPD Sergeant Frank Preciado to Autoblog. Galpin Auto Sports was tapped for the custom wrap to make it look like a police car, and according to Sgt. Preciado, the police force can use the car indefinitely. Importantly, the LAPD says no tax dollars have been expended on this vehicle.
The LAPD Gallardo will be on display to the public at Los Angeles County Air Show on March 21-22, and Sgt. Preciado said the police have already received many inquiries to display the car at other events. The police have even set up dedicated Twitter and Instagram accounts to promote its newest addition. Too bad it won't be catching speeders anytime soon.