2016 Cadillac ATS-V Coupe

The Cimarron faceplanted and the Catera stumbled so this car could fly.

With the ATS, especially in its ATS-V coupe configuration, General Motors' most bougie division finally produced a genuinely desirable sporty car in a size comparable with the more compact offerings from the high-end Euro manufacturers.

Built on a shortened version of the GM Alpha platform, the ATS  had a wheelbase something like five inches shorter than its CTS sibling and even an inch shorter than the sixth generation Camaro.

Powered by a twin-turbo direct-injected 3.6L DOHC alloy V-6 cranking out 464 ponies, the ATS-V coupe came standard with a Tremec six-speed manual, although if your soul was dead inside you could get a six-speed automatic.

When Car and Driver tested a manual transmission car it managed a 4.2 second zero-to-sixty dash and put away the quarter in 12.6 at 115. It circled the skidpad at a hold-on-to-your-Big-Gulp 0.97g. Price as tested was $74,450 or about $103,600 in today's smaller dollars.

The Radiant Silver Metallic example in the picture was photographed with a Canon EOS R and an RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS zoom lens in August of 2025.

2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS Convertible Indy 500 Official Car

For 2016 the actual pace car for the Indianapolis 500 was a white Camaro SS coupe, and Chevrolet sold a few thousand replicas of those. Even more desirable would be one of the 54 Indy 500 Festival Official Cars, used in the pre race parades and other official activities.

These were Chevrolet Camaro SS convertibles, specifically with the 2SS option package, with white stripes on a Hyper Blue Metallic paint job.

Powered by a 455 horsepower 6.2L LT1 pushrod V-8 driving the rear wheels through an eight-speed 8L90 automatic transmission, the 2016 Camaro 2SS was the quickest convertible pony car that Car and Driver had tested to date. Their sample ripped to sixty from a standstill in 4.1 seconds and nailed the quarter in 12.6 seconds at a buck thirteen through the traps. It circled the skidpad at 0.96g and topped out at a (governed) 155mph.

The one in the photo was snapped in April of 2016 using a Nikon Coolpix P7000.

2016 Ferrari 488 GTB

"Entry-Level Exotic" seems like an oxymoron, but that's the job that the mid-engine V-8 powered cars from Ferrari have served since the days when Tom Selleck was zooming around Hawaii in a 308 GTS on television in the early Eighties. 

A late '70s 308 GTB would have set an American buyer back at least $28,850, which is something like $140k in today's dough, but by the time they'd federalized a grey market BB512, they'd be close to double that amount out of pocket. (Just federalizing the Boxer cost something like fourteen grand, or the price of a '78 Corvette and a Camaro Z28 to drive while the 'Vette was in the shop.)

Anyway, the mid-engine V-8 cars continued to be the "affordable" Ferraris through several generations, with the 488 being the most-recent-but-one. It succeeded the 458 and marked a return to more traditional Ferrari nomenclature: Whereas the 458 had been called that for its 4.5 liter 8 cylinder motor, the 488 designation refers to the displacement of one cylinder in cubic centimeters.

The 458 had faced pressure from increasingly potent Lambos and McLarens in its weight class and so the decision was made to drop the normally-aspirated 4.5L F136 F V-8 and go to a twin-turbo 3.9L motor. The  F154 CB V-8 is a gnarlier version of the motor found under the hood of the front-engined California T. In the 488 the F154 was rated at 661 horsepower at an ear-splitting 8,000 rpm, over a hundred horses more than the version in the front-engine car. Ferrari pilots hadn't heard turbo whine coming from over their shoulder since the days of the F40 in the early Nineties.

With that much motor, the 2016 488 GTB put up some impressive numbers when tested by Motor Trend. Sixty miles per hour went past in a 2.7 second eye blink and the quarter mile was dispatched in 10.6 seconds at 135 mph. The car braked from sixty in a retina-detaching 94 feet and circled the skidpad at 1.02g. Manufacturer's claimed top speed is 202mph. All this for a base price of $249,150 in 2016 dollars.

 This one was photographed in April of 2025 using an Olympus E-510 and a Zuiko Digital 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens.

2016 Ferrari California T

The California T launched in the 2015 model year as an update of the 2009-2014 Ferrari California. On the outside, the body got a pretty thorough restyling, while under the hood a twin-turbo 3.9L V-8 replaced the previous 4.3L normally-aspirated mill.

The F154 BB V-8 was a 32V DOHC powerplant, with variable valve timing, dry-sump lubrication, direct injection, and a flat plane crank, as well as being the first turbocharged motor in a road going Ferrari since the F40 back in the Eighties. It was rated at 553 SAE net horsepower and sent power to the rear wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

The original California, which had been something of an experiment, what with its front-mounted V-8 and retractable hardtop, had been criticized by some testers as being overweight and underpowered. The California T not only added power, but at 4,064 pounds, Car and Driver's 2015 test car was almost sixty  pounds lighter than its predecessor.

The result was a car that launched to sixty in only 3.3 seconds and annihilated the quarter mile in just 11.3 seconds at 128 mph. Base price was $202,723 in 2015 money, which is about $273k in constant dollars.

The Argento Nurburgring example in the photos was snapped with a Nikon D300S and a 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom lens in September of 2023.

2016 Buick Cascada

When Buick introduced the Opel Cascada to the U.S. market as the Buick Cascada for 2016, it was the first two-door offering from the brand since the Riviera had been discontinued at the end of the previous millennium and the first Buick ragtop since the Reatta got axed near the end of the Bush Sr. administration.

I really like the looks of this Carbon Black Metallic one, with its two-tone five-spoke 20" wheels. Alas, the chonkily aggressive wedge-like styling is writing checks its underpinnings can't quite cash. 

Designed from the ground up as a ragtop (there's no Cascada coupe) the platform was derived from other GM European compacts and, once the bracing had been added for adequate rigidity for the topless life, the little four-seater weighed in at only about a trunk full of groceries shy of two tons.

The only available powerplant in the Cascada was a 1.6L turbo four putting 200hp to the front wheels through a 6-speed Hydra-Matic slushbox.

Car and Driver recorded a zero-to-sixty time of 8.3 seconds and a 16.5 quarter at 85 mph, and got it to circle a skidpad at 0.84g. These numbers would have been reasonably competitive as recently as the early Nineties, but for a sporty car in the late 2010s, especially with a $34k price tag ($44k in constant dollars), they were decidedly lackluster.

With convertible sales sluggish, Opel/Buick Cascada production did not long survive the sale of Opel to Peugeot, and the car was discontinued after the 2019 model year.

This one was photographed in January of 2025 using an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and M. Zuiko Digital 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens.