With the new year well under way and no real prognosis of how it's going to turn out, here are 10 things in 2010 that I'm looking forward to:
1. With green the new black, there are still some sporty new models to lust over; namely the Nissan Nismo 370Z, Subaru WRX STI Special Edition (in Aspen White), Mazda Mazdaspeed3, Suzuki Kizashi, and the Genesis Coupe R-Spec. If they weren't enough, in the slightly, more distant future, we have the Honda CR-Z, Mazda 2 and Toyota FT-86.
2. 2010 Super Lap Battle Finals. Like hearts and turbocharged rotary engines, records are made to be broken and five of them were thoroughly busted in 2009. But the overall record held by HKS' EVO since 2007 still stands at 1:43.523, taunting, shamelessly, the world.
3. Need some more OE proof? How about Japan's entry into the supercar market with the Lexus LF A. 552 hp V-10, 9K rpm redline, carbon fiber chassis, the raddest digital cluster ever, and Lexus comfort, all for $350K. Did I mention that there are going to be only 500 built? Time to foreclose on your home.
4. February '10 issue of Playboy. See page 84.
5. Gran Turismo. And no, not some PSP or Prologue version, but the full-scale GT5 built for the PS3. About. Damn. Time.
6. Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather, Jr. It'll happen. I hope.
7. 2010 HIN schedule. It'll happen. I hope.
8. 2010 Formula D, Rally America, X Games, Battle of the Imports, and STI vs EVO Shootout-new cars, new drivers, new teams, new carnage.
9. A pay raise. It'll happen. I hope.
10. And finally, for some gratuitous backpatting, we have the 2010 Import Tuner calendar. Other than reformed healthcare, peace on Earth and an open bar, if the 12 hotties won't lift spirits, nothing will.
Consequently, here some things I am not looking forward to:
Weak auto shows, the new Twilight movie, soulless "Green" technology euphemized as marketing ploys, insurgencies, and Kanye West.
Editor
Carter Jung
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