After reading MotorJournalist automotive news and reviews, UltimatelyUrban.com have asked me to join them as motoring editor.
All news, car reviews and road tests can now be found at: http://www.ultimatelyurban.com/lifestyle-channel/motoring
Please check it out thanks!
Latest alpha 169 shape could upset the market
There comes a time when the barrage of German executive efficiency saturating our auto market becomes a little tedious. It seems there will always be a new German luxury saloon being far better than all its competition, always better built, always out-selling. We live in an age of expectancy. If the gearbox can’t be customised to play Cheryl Cole on a down-change we make a face and if I can’t put my fake Ray Bans in an aviator shaped cubby-hole I’ll bloody well send the impractical thing back.
Almost every day somebody lurking about in bushes next to the ‘Nurburgring’ sends in a mobile phone picture of the next BMW 5 Series or the new Audi A4. They exclaim with great enthusiasm how the latest model is ’the best looking yet’, how it ‘speaks to a new audience’, and how ‘living on the edge of a race track has its social barriers.’
The truth is, reporting on new German executive and luxury saloons rarely changes from year to year. They get better, there are more devices to hold fresh ground coffee on the dashboard, there are options to produce fresh ground coffee on the dashboard; ultimately they get more refined and people buy them. It is only when something quirky enters the market that being a business manager really becomes exciting.
Take for instance the Jaguar XF. It is so quintessentially British that you could be forgiven for thinking the interior wood came from the Duke of Edinburgh’s public presence and the seats were covered in Stephen Fry. The Jaguar’s 502hp V8 may not be as sophisticated as the BMW or Audi units, but the sound it produces coupled with the way it delivers its torque make the XF far more desirable.
Unfortunately this desirability doesn’t reflect on sales, in the business world where these cars are sold in their thousands, flair and design comes second to MPG and year-on-year performance.
Luckily though, Italy has been hard at work trying to upset the German party too, with their new Alfa Romeo 169. The car was first showcased at the Geneva Motor Show in 2004, where the 169 was a mere concept, nearly being fully released this year. Recession pushed things back for Alpha Romeo, who now thinks it could be released in 2011.
Alfas have always come from pure Italian passion for design, compromising on reliability maybe, but never falling short of delivering an exquisite driving experience. The picture above shows the latest proposed 169 shape and it should be enough to challenge the German car manufacturers for their huge market share. The 169 will be in direct competition with the 5 series and XF, with rumours of a 450hp V8 engine being more than enough to put this car in a strong position for the future.
Keeping the supercar alive
When I heard that Denmark, the first country ever to introduce environmental laws upon its people in 1973, was to launch a 100% home-grown super car I almost ate my metal horn-bearing hat. Yet they have and just from looking at the pictures I’m excited about it. Announced last year, this Zenvo ST1 has just been further promoted with videos and hi-res pictures, showing a car that has enough power to take on even the Bugatti Veyron.
The styling is unique but attractive, rather like the product of a dinner date between Skeletor and a Lotus Elise that went very well indeed. Zenvo Automotive are very keen to stress that every aspect of the new car is local. They have tried wherever they can to use Danish engineering and design, which they say has produced a supercar that is ‘purposeful and practical’, while remaining ‘powerful, drivable and user friendly.’
Now, let us stroll through the automotive archives of attempts to blend ‘power’ and the notion of being ‘user-friendly.’ The Bugatti Veyron for instance, one of the world’s most impressive cars both technologically and in terms of pure capability. However, it costs nearly £1m to own, does such a small number of miles to the gallon you could count them on your forearm and ‘opening her up’ will drain a £100 fuel tank in twelve minutes.
The Ferrari Enzo; supreme Italian engineering encased within its 6.0 litre V12 that shrieks out 651 hp from just behind your balding cranium. Here comes the ‘but’, it’s so low to the ground that getting in requires a more than average interest in Karma Sutra, the rear visibility is poorer than the Royal Bank of Scotland and you can only ever do four full throttle starts before its racing clutch explodes in a cloud of red diamonds.
What I am trying to get at, is that supercars are not meant to be user-friendly. They are there to be loved for what they are and that is humankind pursuing the limits of what is possible on four-wheels. Pale, bearded men smelling of Worthers and piss can moan on all they want about electricity, the future and the death of the supercar; this Zenvo ST1 is exactly the boost performance motoring needs.
It comes with a 7.0 litre supercharged and then turbocharged V8 producing 1104 hp and 1430 Nm of torque. The six speed gearbox sends the ST1 from 0-60 mph in under three seconds, but you will have to be quicker than that to get your hands on one because there are only 15 units being made.
Exciting design is keeping Volvo attractive
Whenever a new Volvo is released, that usually means a mind bending piece of safety technology is also let loose on the motoring world. Sure, the Mercedes Benz S-class is often a showcase for the future of automobiles but there is a reason that the brand Volvo is immediately associated with big, safe and sometimes rather uninteresting.
It is amazing how seeing a Volvo estate on the road can make you feel, a real spectrum of emotions. A glance in the rear view mirror that reveals a V70 estate brings a sense of calm. If the worst driver on earth t-boned a V70 at 167 mph flipping it upside down and causing a minor explosion, the middle classed gentleman and his perfect family would still be in their gilets, with the ubiquitous Labrador fast asleep albeit in the foot well.
On the other hand, when you see a Volvo 240 estate behind you there begins an intense feeling of dullish boredom. Looking like some Swedish Big Ben lying on its side, the 240 appears solid and it is, leaving the car with the agility of the clock it resembles.
Calm and boredom seems attractive compared to seeing a V70 estate with blue flashing lights however. The police have always liked the V70 for its unrivaled space and quality engineering, not to mention the 2.3 litre 250hp T5 Volvo engine providing more than enough power to send down tracksuit-wearing Astra drivers up and down the country.
These days, Volvo has been working to change its boring image by stepping up its design ethic. To be quite honest the box-on-wheels approach served them very well over the years but looking at their latest addition, the new S60, futuristic vision working for the Swedes very well indeed.
Right on cue, as the S60 is revealed, so too is an amazing new feature called ‘Pedestrian Detection.’ The Mercedes S-class has already showed us that it is possible for cars to brake themselves, but the new S60 will be able to recognise pedestrians as well as other traffic. I’ve ordered mine with the very reasonable ‘Jordan and Peter’ optional extra, disabling the pedestrian detector if it recognises either money-grabbing media-merchant crossing the road.
The pictures are an exciting insight into Volvo’s continuing efforts to change people’s opinions about their cars. They will always have brand loyalty from some, but tapping into the BMW and Audi lovers’ wallets might take a bit more than exciting design.
The revolution of American performance motoring
We have all heard about American cars being rubbish. In the luxury sector carmakers such as Cadillac do succeed, using steel girders, bits of cow and highly polished tree as its main interior components. This means although luxurious, Cadillacs have never been able to make their way around corners, with most paramedics so appalled at your lack of taste they often leave you to die in the coppice you over steered dramatically into.
So America could just about do luxury, but couldn’t make anything turn left or right because it used technology like the bouncy-castle to design its chassis and suspension. What America could do was make things sound extremely loud and go incomprehensively fast in a straight line. Hence the Chevrolet Corvette.The early Corvettes were glorious to look at and the gurgle of its V8 played with my senses like the gurgle of Italian coffee through a percolator.
It was a great car for blasting down long American roads but deadly on a meandering country b-road over in the UK with so much power being sent to the rear. There was so much power under the throttle in fact that just a single sneeze could mean missing four junctions on the M25.
Thankfully, today the Corvette has been made into a great car through various improvements to its comedy suspension and woeful steering. A 7.0 litre V8 still provides plenty of get up and go, but ventilated disc brakes all-round and independent suspension systems keep it in line when turning in.
Earlier this year Chevrolet confirmed that 2010 would see the latest Grand Sport version of the Corvette, now we have been issued with the pictures and specs. It will be a track-orientated deign, featuring wider wheels and tyres and a 0-60 mph time of under four seconds. Despite this, Chevrolet reckon it will still give 26mpg if driven sensibly, they also revealed how it will pull 1.0 G on the skid pad making the first bit of information somewhat irrelevant.
The 2010 Corvette Grand Sport will keep the original car’s good looks, with additional accessories to make it that bit more special. For Chevrolet, this model will continue to revolutionise the old Corvette’s image, placing it in direct contention with the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini.
Its V8 produces a trouser-wetting 1800hp
When a new car makes its way into the public arena, there are usually a few areas which must immediately be addressed. Firstly, who produced it. If Daewoo came up with it, we can safely assume it won’t be a bad car…think of it as a really good bicycle. However if Bentley took the time to design it, we can rest assured a man dressed in white overalls spent day and night polishing the hand crafted motor, only pausing to removing sections of his own skin upon running out of Chamois leather.
That decided, we need to know the facts and figures. How fast from 0 to 60 mph? Top speed? Gadgets and toys? What helpless animal is the seat covered in? No car has made such an impact with these figures since the Bugatti Veyron. While other carmakers were deciding what radiator to install and which top speed to cut the engine at, Bugatti just put ten radiators in, strapped in four turbo chargers and let it reach 253 mph. No other car had been sold at such a loss purely for the advancement of automotive capability.
But it seems the lunacy of producing 1010hp from an 8.0 litre W16 engine – if that is what it can be called, I prefer ‘biblical combustion chamber’ – is not enough. A man called Tony Keating from Britain hopes his new car named the Barabus ‘TKR’ will surpass the 253 mph top speed of the Bugatti, carrying on all the way past 300. They already clocked 260.1 mph on the Bonneville Salt flats in October, hoping in September 2010 to reach the target under the eyes of the Guinness Book of Records.
The current car has already seen four sales, one in the UK, one in America and one in Australia. The revised machine is powered by a 7.0 litre bi-turbo V8 producing a casual 1800hp, so much power in fact that the first 260.1 mph effort from the current car caused the driver to be physically sick.
Suddenly the pursuit of ultimate speed and power doesn’t sound so appealing. Personally, popping down to the shops with chunks of last-night’s roast spattered on my jumper isn’t worth having the fastest car money can buy – that money amounts to £250,000 by the way. The car is currently on show at the MPH car show in London giving people a chance to see what could be the world’s new fastest production car. If you look closely enough inside, you can still see Bonneville salt mixed with diced carrot.
The Boxster has been made cool again
When it comes to the Porsche Boxter, there has always been confusion about who would buy it. It seemed if you had quite a bit of money then you would invest in the heritage and image of a 911, leaving the Boxster branded as the ‘poor man’s’ Carerra.
That’s fine if you are a stuffy, beard-bearing toff who can afford to have such views, but the truth is the Boxster stands as a hero. It offers exquisite driving pleasure to those who should have tried harder at school and that should be celebrated.
It’s still not cheap at around £35,000 new, yet second hand these cars give normal people a chance to own and enjoy real engineering prowess that wont break the bank, or their marital vows.
Exciting it is then that today Porsche have revealed the new Boxster Spyder, billing it as the lightest mid-engine Boxster yet. Before, the thought of driving a Boxster and seeing a 911 at the lights didn’t bear thinking about. People started sticking car-rental logos on the back and loudly but sheepishly saying “I know, look what I got stuck with…again!”, to the faces of a 911 owners hidden behind up-turned noses.
Not anymore though, because with this latest model and indeed the latest Boxster in general, there is no reason for embarrassment. Weighing in at just 1,275kg and producing 320hp from its 3.4 litre straight six engine, the Boxster is offically lighter and faster than any Boxster before it and John Prescott.
Leaving all the facts and figures to one side though, to look at the Spyder is a wonderful thing. One can forgive Porsche for their reserved nature when it comes to design; often it is the little tweeks they make and subtle curves and bumps they craft which prove so successful.
It is expected that the Boxster Sypder will cost around 63,400 Euros to buy and for the money you get a lot of car. It will be debuted at the Los Angeles Motor Show in December with sales starting worldwide in February 2010. When these hit the second hand market in a few years time it will mean bargain performance motoring all over again.
The V8 engine has never sounded so good
The car fanatic could pick out the sound of 2.5 litre Subaru Boxer engine, tell you how far away it is and then disclose the brand of socks the person driving has on. They could also, by way of placing their ear on the pavement like some Marks and Spencer wearing Indian chief, hear the nearest AMG V8’s location. When it comes to an Italian V8 or V10, they needn’t say a thing. The fact they are waddling off to the closest public amenity clutching their corduroys is evidence to suggest one is about.
There are engines of all sizes that make glorious sounds, reminding the car lover why bigger and louder is better and that the Toyota Prius is about as cool as David Dickinson’s wardrobe. However, despite the classic engine sounds of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati taking the limelight, there is an unsung hero from Germany that I believe needs attention.
The BMW E46 M3 with its 3.2 litre straight six engine produced one of the finest exhaust notes ever to kill the countryside. It is hard to put your finger on what it actually sounds like, it is that unique, but its four exhausts simply rasp to life at 5,000 rpm like no other automobile.
So when BMW announced they were doing away which this for the 2009 M3, I felt an era had passed. Instead a V8 was used, not a sound I am too fond of, unless it is coming from a raw American muscle car. The modern German V8’s are a world away from the downtown red-light district quarter-mile drag races from the land of the free, and sure enough upon its release I found the new M3 a bit like listening to Barry White with flu.
Do not fear though, for BMW have been working hard on a new version released today: the new M3 GTS. The promotional video gets straight to the point, bellowing out an exhaust note that has re-kindled my love for this car. You can’t deny BMW have always been cutting-edge with the M3, never compromising on true driving performance, but the complete package was gone with a V8 sound, until now.
The new car will feature a 4.4 litre V8 pushing out 450bhp through a 7 speed gearbox. The car has been extensively modified from the standard M3 with a lighter interior and spoiler and front splitter additions to improve handling even more. BMW will be making the cars to order at a staggering 115,000 Euros each. For that price let’s hope it comes in other colours because his wardrobe is not the only un-cool thing about David Dickinson…
Beauty based on the 1950's
Mecedes Benz have released a set of teasing pictures and videos showcasing its 2010 venture, the SLS AMG. The German tuning house AMG have been around since 1967 originally starting out as a racing engine producer, more recently discovering a penchant for making V8 engines bigger and louder than Brian Blessed.
Sadly, although I am not completely sure of this great comedic actor’s accumulated wealth, you normally have to be Brian to own these top end German motors. Mercedes has always kept a toe in the door with its supercars, then it stuck a full leg and maybe a bit of hip in with the Mercedes McLaren SLR.
When one goes through the archives of Mercedes supercar production, to be honest, it could be stored in my top drawer. I find it hard to include cars such as the C, E and S classes that had the AMG tuning treatment. They were designed to cart middle class people around in luxury, sticking a great working class V8 in the front just causes an awkward tension, just before over-steering into a concrete political debate.
So then we are left with the CLR GT which was a racing car, the AMG DTM cars again used for the track, the CLK GTR recently sold for £500,000 a piece and the McLaren SLR. Any others were either concepts or so old they were driven by Bruce Forsyth down the Iron Curtain in 1547 or whenever it was.
One other car stands out though, if not for outright power and performance, for its indescribably beautiful design – of course we are talking about the 300 SL. In 1954, 212 hp and a 160 mph top speed was incredible, its ‘gullwing’ doors opening to reveal a well machined two fingers up to being 1950’s and uncomfortably reserved.
This is the brilliance the SLS AMG is based on, the 2010 car looks stunning and with its 6.3 litre naturally aspirated V8 engine, it has enough grunt to force a trouser change from Brucey. 571 hp will propel you to 60 mph in just 3.8 seconds, but rest assured AMG will have been there from step one and its chassis will be perfect for the job in hand.
The car is expected to set buyers back around £200,000. It’s nice to see you, to see you is…not going to happen.
A break from the usual
The Volkswagen Golf has never been an exciting car. True, it does everything a car needs to do better than most of the opposition, but in its standard form the Golf reeks of automotive disinterest.
However, it is hard to try and convey this when the Volkswagen sells extremely well. People buy it for exceptional build quality, good reliability and a premium German brand. Yet, the man sat behind the wheel of a standard Golf is the man who was about to click ‘buy’ on the Alfa Romeo website, came over a bit sweaty and followed his head.
The Golf GTI is a bit more impressive, again achieving the perfect balance of being brilliant fun while extremely practical for a reasonable price reflecting its build quality. Yet if the standard Golf is a Latte, the GTI is a Cappuccino, a bit more powerful but basically a Latte in a sweet frothy disguise.
The coffee liqueur comes in the shape of the Golf R32, a 3.2 litre, 246 bhp, 155 mph espresso and whisky which up until 2008 stood as the top spec Golf. However Volkswagen have now released a new version of the R32, rebranding the hottest hatch as simply ‘R.’
Both the 2010 Golf and Scirroco will be given the ‘R’ treatment, both using the VW 2.0 litre four cylinder turbo charged unit giving out around 260 bhp.
The Scirocco R will bring 60 mph in 5.8 seconds, blending beautiful design with practicality that wont impinge on pure driving pleasure. The Golf R, with its four wheel drive system will do 0-60 mph in 5.7 seconds, taking the crown as the fastest accelerating golf ever produced.
When you look back to cars such as the Ferrari 355 GTs F1, a car steeped in motor sport heritage and premium Italian design, the Golf will only be a second behind it to 60 mph. It is amazing to think that in 1994 when the 355 was released, 4.7 seconds cost upwards of £100,000. Now you can spend less than £31,000 and be close enough to see the 355 driver’s brand of cravat.
The two cars are both now on sale with delivery being February 2010, the Scirocco costing from £26,945 and the Golf from £28,930. Affordable motoring excellence has never looked this good, the R badge really does mean a sensibility saturated in Bailey’s Irish Cream.
A Grand Tourer to rival Ferrari, Bentley and Aston Martin
Porsche seems to have most bases covered when it comes to customer needs. Quite simply, if you are a hairdresser there is the Boxster, a hairdressing chain director the Boxster S or a footballer; the cabriolet 911.
If you reside in Britain but ski for the New Year there is the Cayenne, if you are bored with the BMW M3 and Audi S4 there is the Caymen and for mincing about the various flagship streets of Europe there is the new Panamera.
So, everything is done and dusted then, no more stereotypes to please – everyone is a winner. Well apparently not, as Porsche have revealed plans for seven new variations. Arguably the most exciting of these will be a revival of the glorious Porsche 928, a beautifully crafted Grand Tourer based around the Panamera.
The old 928 produced between 1978 and 1995 was revolutionary for the German carmaker. Porsche engineers were driving down the autobahn and noticed a large cavity protruding from the front, deciding this would be an excellent place to put an engine. A big V8 engine.
The new 928, reckoned to be release around 2013 will follow Panamera engine structures, that means a 4.8 litre V8 producing 400hp, or a turbocharged 500hp version.
Of course apart from reviving a legendary model, Porsche are aware of a market they haven‘t taken a share of as yet. Ferrari’s 599 GTB, Bentley’s Continental GT and Aston Martin’s DB9 all allow the owner to breakfast at Harrods and spend the afternoon returning that jacket to Burberry Milan.
Intercontinental luxury travel is what the new 928 will aim to deliver, expanding the boot size from 100 to 320 litres means plenty of room for posh clobber and a suggested price tag of 90,000 euros is easily cheaper than rivals. At 60,000 Euros cheaper than a Bentley you will have nearly saved enough for a coffee in Calais on the way back.
The 928 is a gorgeous looking car, harping back to a time when Porsche experimented and got it right. At this price, the build quality, reliability and efficiency of Porsche will be hard to ignore if you are in the market for a Grand Tourer.
A costly alternative to the Focus and Megane RS
In an article on the new Renault Megane RS from Motor Journalist, we learnt how the French street racer was value for money and how the Ford Focus RS’s computer interrupted like Jeremy Paxman. Now it seems another hot hatch has been released onto the market, supposedly for the connoisseur.
By the time I had decided that connoisseurs in hot hatches shop at JJB sports and are all called Dave, I had packed away my quill and was pacing from the parchment. When the price flashed up, genuine worry was brought on by the possibility of assessing the Tokyo Motor Show again.
Something kept my attention though, from the deep fissure of a petrol head’s being comes an inability to disregard screaming RPM and blistering performance. However, with this car, that is really all that keeps it interesting.
Mugen, Honda’s tuning division, has come up with its own Civic Type R – meaning a 20% power gain from its 2.0 litre i-VTECH engine. Put your cheque book away though, because 20% added amounts to 240 bhp, not exactly mind blowing performance.
There is a lot of hype over the car’s credentials, hand-built this and race track ready-road legal tyre that. Well my bed was hand built, by me actually. Furthermore having these tyres is a death wish in Britain’s climate. You’ll be taking your hand built camshaft, pistons and air intakes home with you in a bag, along with your limbs, after a passerby has shovelled your remnants off a tree.
Mugen has gone beyond the call of duty to make the Type R totally unusable. They have stripped away the back seats, stuck composite jewellery on it to make it look fast and painted them all white. “Championship White” apparently. The only championship a Mugen Type R owner will contend in will be one of financial discussion with the wife.
£38,599 is a lot of money to pay to look like a fat Colin Mcrae parked outside Wine Rack. Yet it is what one will have to part with if they want the chance to own a car less powerful than a ford focus and less beautiful than a Renault Megane.
The Suzuki's power and good looks inspire confidence
The Tokyo Motor show is well under way now, with the main focus being on the future: ‘green’ motoring based on electricity and hybrids. If you consider this together with the pulling out of many leading car manufacturers around the world, it all sounds rather dull.
There is an ancient saying, devoid of maturity and saturated with pessimistic sarcasm maybe, but never failing to convey pure meaning. It reads thus: ‘you can’t polish a turd.’ The electric car will probably save the world we live in. It will provide affordable motoring for the human race, while at the same time, strive to maintain our surroundings for the generations of tomorrow.
However, taking your electric car for a thrash on a Sunday would never be the same. The way a combustion engine vibrates its way to your soul, the way it sends a V8 exhaust note shimmering across open countryside, the way it allows for a personal physical connection between man and machine.
Apart from that though, how are footballers expected to pull up outside night-clubs with no V10 to drown out what people really think of them. A sad time for all.
However, just as small deer and lesser-spotted carpet moles were heard chanting in celebration at a future of electric motoring, Suzuki have promised a glimmer of hope. Its new ‘Kizashi’ looks set to keep the critters up all winter, with a 2.4 litre DOHC inline-four projecting the sound of 185 hp ringing down the badger set.
Suzuki, thus far, have produced cars that do the job without complaining. They are reliable, cheap to run and not exactly ugly, but they have never been objects of desire. With this new Kizashi though, 0-60 mph comes in 7.5 seconds and when you are bored of its engine note there is a 425 watt hi-fi to play with.
The Suzuki can keep up with cars twice the price and offers the sort of luxury you might have thought you couldn’t afford. More basic models could be around £13,000 and for a top of the range machine you are looking at £16,500, but for that price the only complaint will be a formal one from Ratty and Moley.
Like an Impreza STI but longer
When you ask someone about cars you usually receive one of three responses. Either ‘I want something that gets me from A to B’, at which point you leave them to eat their packaged sandwich by themselves on a lonely bus seat. Then the people who like cars but don’t know an awful lot about them will without doubt use the words “Aston Martin”, “DB9” and “beautiful” during what they next say.
The group who take a real interest in motoring all have one thing in common too; a certain embarrassment. There is always a car which gets the motoring fan excited when it shouldn’t, a guilty pleasure if you will.
Mine has always been the Subaru Impreza. At this point, men and women with extremely blonde hair in blue and yellow clothing, standing on a gravelly bank in deep Scandinavia, will perform a sharp intake of breath. The Subaru Impreza a guilty pleasure?
For all its staggering road holding ability, acceleration and value for money that makes the Impreza a great automobile, there is no doubting its bad points. First of all it is not the prettiest car out of Japan, like a 5th round Miss World contestant it cleans up well but that’s about it.
Secondly if you own a topaz blue Impreza with gold wheels you don’t look like a rally driver. What you do look like is not suitable for publishing in the Queen’s English, the House of Commons should pass legislation on this colour combination on our roads.
However, nothing beats the burble of a Subaru Boxer engine on a crisp morning while out running the frost-bitten meanderings of Dorset. In black paint and the right wheels it warms my heart.
So the news that Subaru have revealed this concept at the Tokyo Motor Show called the ‘Exiga’ generated some excitement. Admittedly it is an estate and it does have seven seats, but it’s all these things with an STI badge stuck on the boot. This means rally car heritage in an otherwise normal release.
It comes with a 2.0 litre engine tuned by Tecnica International (STI), meaning plenty of grunt on the way to your local National Trust house and gardens. Your dog will be happy with STI springs, torsion bars, lower support bars and rear flexible support bars as standard; keeping the long chassis (and Rover) in line.
Leather seats and sporty accessories make this sports estate an appealing choice, yet only 300 are set to be produced when orders start in March 2010.
Darker than a shady-looking black bear at night
If your weekends mean taking the kids to football and the garden cuttings to the local tip, then the car for you is the Vauxhall Zafira. If you want every journey to feel like a Thai massage with a ‘happy ending’, buy a Mercedes S-Class. If however you have a coccyx with the rigidity of granite, treat the roundabout outside your local supermarket like a Monaco hair-pin bend and want supercar performance from a superfluous car, this just might interest you.
Lotus have revealed a new version of their ‘road racer’ the Exige, named the ‘Scura.’ It will be revealed tomorrow at the Tokyo Motor Show as one of only 35 examples sold internationally. ‘Sucra’ apparently means ‘dark’ in Italian, which is apt because it has more black fittings than you could shake a panther at.
Swathed in carbon fiber, Luke Bennet, Director of Lotus Cars believes it “delivers thrilling performance and dynamic design”, a design that allows for a 260bhp 1.8 litre VVTL-i engine pushing its power through a 6-speed gearbox.
Now, if you’re not a fan of carbon fiber design then the Scura will be a problem. There must have been a fair amount knocking around the Lotus garage as the new Exige comes with a front splitter, oil cooler inlet vanes, side air scoops and a rear spoiler all in the stuff.
If you felt you weren’t getting enough for your money they have gone and splashed it across the seats and centre console as well. I always thought the Exige was a bit chubby. Talking of money, for your £45,000 you get a 0-60mph time of 4.1 seconds and a top speed of 150mph. Truly super car performance for a minimal cost considering what it gives the driver.
Lotus will be taking orders from bearded men in copious amounts of Lotus branded clothing from October 21st for Europe, South Korea, Australia, South Africa, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Brilliant styling gives Peugeot a real chance of success
It is at times like this that one starts to question their outlook on the automotive industry. It is very easy to mince about saying that Skoda is rubbish and Lancia bases its design on Cold War agricultural engineering. It is also very easy to say Ferrari and Rolls Royce produce the best cars in the world, but a very small percentage can afford carbon fiber cup holders and grandfather clock dashboards.
For the normal people who spend their weekends leafing through car publications drooling over lavish motors, anything that brings a sense of this prestige to their doorstep is an instant hit.
This hit however, has come from an unlikely source, a source that has been making cars of ‘need’ for many years but rarely achieves the ‘want’ factor. The last Peugeot produced that I still lust after is the 205 GTI, which designed by Pininfarina was the hot hatch pin up of the 80s.
Arguably, for the first time since then, Peugeot have come up with what could be ‘want factor’ material. The first model to do away with the historic ‘0’ number, the RCZ shown originally at Frankfurt will be put into production for sale in Spring 2010.
Like a warm Mistral lapping my face I can already hear mumblings of ‘poor man’s Audi TT’ and the ubiquitous warnings of dodgy build quality. Yet the RCZ really stands out for its original styling and good range of features.
When released in 2010 there will be a choice of three engines, a 200bhp turbocharged 1.6 litre unit in manual or automatic, another 156bhp 1.6 litre or a 2.0 litre diesel manual developing 163bhp.
In an attempt to keep up with Audi and BMW there is the option of Nappa leather trim, quality audio systems and sports seats. At 1.36m tall this car has superb aerodynamics and a very low driving position adding to its sports car design aims.
It will be interesting to see who buys this car, as prices look set to be lower than the main competition from Germany. For the people who do make the downgrade, the RCZ comes with a 384 liter boot space perfectly designed for a huge ego.
About as elegant as an intoxicated dancing grandfather
The Twingo 133 Cup has a big brother, Renault have released the official pictures and specifications for the 2010 Renault Megane RS. Again the customer will have a choice of a ‘sports chassis’ version for a quick rinse around the B roads of Britain, or a ‘Cup’ version for a quick rinse around Silverstone.
The new Megane’s 2.0 litre turbocharged engine will produce 250hp, which when unlocked with a quick prod of the noise pedal will take you to 60mph in 6.1 seconds. Impressive stuff that cements this model high-up in the hot hatch market when compared to opposition.
The Vauxhall VXR comes close with its value for licence-points ratio being very high, yet it is let down by ferocious torque steer that commands the upper body physique of Putin to correct. The new Focus RS pumps 301hp through the front wheels with the same result, with an ESP system that cuts so much driver input Gordon Brown would be proud.
Although it hasn’t yet been driven, with its arrival not until January 2010, based on styling alone it stands a very good chance of succeeding. All this talk of backsides and shaking with the old shape Megane has gone, the bootylicious hatch has been on the stepper at the gym and bought some bigger heels.
Renault want to stress that the RS is ‘not only sporty but also chic and elegant.’ Well from where I’m standing it can claim sporty and maybe chic, but like the Focus and VXR, it looks about as elegant as Glasgow town centre on Friday night. The new wider wheel arches can accommodate 18 or 19 inch alloys which sit either side of F1 style splitters and air-intakes. Elegance my pink and yellow Diamonte deerstalker.
It doesn’t matter though, because this car isn’t meant to be elegant. With features such as ‘competition style data feedback’ via a series of sport monitors, stopwatches, performance data processors and five different sport modes, this car is meant to go very quickly indeed.
All there is left to do, is to wait and see whether the new Megane can overcome the problems its main competitors are fraught with. With less horsepower but more gadgetry on the RS, it seems this may be a realistic target.
The 2010 Zagato Perana Z-One
It was at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show in March that Zagato displayed this strangely beautiful concept called the ‘Perana Z-one.’ The exciting news is that the Italian car designer is getting around to producing it for 2010.
If you stare at the Z-one long enough it begins to look like a Mercedes McLaren SLR did naughty things with a Caterham Seven and brought this into the world. Look longer at the rear end and the plot thickens, it could be the Catherham was cheating on the SLR with a TVR Tuscan – must have been its gravely new Russian accent.
Whatever its influences the Z-one takes a while to get used to, yet with time, like a good risotto or a crisp espresso, Italian flavour eventually wins you over. The history of Zagato stretches back 90 years having designed trains, boats, supercars and even farm machinery.
Other successes include the Alfa 166, a hugely underrated car that remains a beautiful thing to look at even today. In fact Zagato has designed many Alfas including the 147 and the stunning 8C, more recently concentrating on the Bentley GT and various Maseratis.
Having a client list longer and shinier than a Versace model’s flowing locks is what will give this car real gravitas. Even if Zagato hasn’t ventured into producing its own cars too often, an abundance of collectors editions throughout the automotive spectrum means they are more than established all over the world.
When you look at the specifications however, the Z-one will more than hold its own. Finding 440hp from its 6.2 litre V8, the Zagato will travel to 60mph in a forecasted time of under 4 seconds. Most amazing though is the price, for a sub-four second car you imagine spiralling prices but owning one will set you back 50,000 euros.
The Z-one looks set to be the ultimate package, a car built on Italian sporting heritage that packs a punch for small money. All we can hope is that it drives as well as it looks on paper.
The striking new Saab 9-5
Back at the Frankfurt Motor show, Saab was showing off its new 9-5, like a contemporary wingback lounge chair, it sat gleaming like a granddad by the fire.
Saabs have always felt like cars driven by men and women with leather driving gloves, basking in an ambience of leafy country lane and the whiff of middle class wax jacket.
But this geriatric has put on its Sunday best; the new curves will be on show throughout the USA motor show season. The old boy is being wheeled out next to the youngsters in Miami, San Francisco, Boston and L.A leading up to Christmas 2009.
Not only looking sharp, these days the 9-5 is definitely shaking off its elderly status with a string of turbocharged engines.
A 1.6 litre 180bhp unit, 2.0 litre 220bhp engine, or a 300bhp 2.8 litre V6 are on offer – the latter certainly getting one sweaty beneath a Barbour jacket.
The prices haven’t been confirmed as yet, but we can expect them to be rivalling the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes E-Class cars of Germany.
With an estimated 53.3mpg billed for the 9-5, it looking more and more likely to creep up on the class leaders.
When prices are released in early 2010, it will be interesting to see who goes for this latest executive car and leaves their flat-cap on the hat-stand.
The gorgeous 2010 Audi R8 Spyder
As I sit here, graduated, fresh, energetic, motivated, I sit here with debt as large as my aspirations for success. When Tony Blair and Gordon Brown started mumbling something about ‘greater opportunities’ and ‘investing in futures’ back in 2006, university was the obvious choice.
Having been digested and somewhat ‘passed’ by the English education system, I now have the qualifications but a very small chance of urgent employment. With the news today that the Labour Government wants rid of the student loan system to raise national funds, I have to say I feel used Gordon, used.
But Audi have been busy, busy taking the recession and laughing in its red, Scottish face. West London Audi is to open on Monday 19th October, claiming the title as Audi’s biggest car centre and forecasting the figure of 30,000 customers in its first 12 months.
The new £45 million flagship store is a 190,000sq ft vision of beauty, crafted by the same architect company who designed the Gateshead Millennium Bridge; Wilkinson Eyre. It will sit on an elevated platform above the M4, like some gargantuan glass and aluminium two finger salute to all things economic.
Just as exciting is that Audi plan to release 300 R8 Spyders into the wild, the lucky people having to shell out £109,580 for the pleasure of owning one. That is the cheap version too with the 6-speed manual, the R Tronic automated manual will set you back £114,670.
Having been released at the Frankfurt Motor Show we all know the facts and figures, its 5.2 litre V10 producing 518bhp propelling the R8 to 60mph in just 4.1 seconds. Perhaps most impressive is that it will keep going all the way until you have too many small insects upon your face to notice it is travelling at 194mph.
Its roof can be retracted in 19 seconds at 31mph, with new LED lights illuminating the car’s interior, the top gliding smoothly back to reveal a dazzling, fly-toothed 80s rock star. The first cars will be delivered in the early part 0f 2009 to those lucky people.
The beautiful Lexus LF-A
I might have to look away, I'm getting all flustered
It’s not all doom and gloom for the Tokyo Motor Show after multiple pull-outs and futuristic visions of melancholy, because Lexus have told of a beautiful thing.
Having released a race version already, their new LF-A road car is to be debuted at the show and from the pictures it looks as if Lexus will need a ‘calming down’ room next to their exhibition area.
Yet if the hard top is Mona Lisa, then the drop-top version is Mona Lisa in skimpy boudoir attire. Toyota and Lexus aren’t revealing much about what the car will bring to the shores of Blighty, but we can apparently expect between 10 and 20 cars each going for a whopping £250,000 – £300,000.
When you wake up in it alone, having sold your warm house, family and friends, at least you will have its high revving 9000 rpm V10 engine to take you to work. By all accounts it will get you to work very quickly, producing 550 hp it is no slouch.
Pulling up in the staff car park won’t be a problem either as Lexus will be fitting carbon-ceramic brakes behind 20-inch magnesium alloy wheels.
The LF-A is a very exciting prospect, in fact just taking a look at the Lexus concept car section online is enough to get excited about the future again.
You will look cool in one of these, there is no doubt about that. All the way up to the staff car park when you have to get out. It’s then that people will meet the pungent whiff of somebody residing their car.
Nissan's Leaf and Land Glider
Not since my mother left me a note listing a variety of house chores, have I been less excited about something, until Nissan released its vision for the Tokyo Motor Show.
The note was left last week and the burn of boredom is still rife inside me, but for an automotive establishment to consume this like some raging inferno of monotony is truly staggering.
Before I go on, the need for us to focus on our environment is something I completely agree with. We have a responsibility to maintain our surroundings for us today, and those after us tomorrow.
Many car companies are tackling this issue with exciting new developments, which although expensive, point towards the capability of providing driving excitement together with ‘green’ emissions.
For the Tokyo Motor Show, Nissan have hit the environmental nail on the head. Every vehicle has been built to be ‘greener’, but in doing so has completely forgotten automotive desire.
The cars include the ‘Leaf’, claiming to be the world’s first EV (electric vehicle, or maybe excruciating vapidity) ‘for large scale volume production.’ It has a range of 100 miles on one charge that apparently ‘takes the joy of driving to another dimension.’
Also shown will be the ‘Land Glider’, which has been designed as an urban electric vehicle. Again Nissan are talking about an ‘exciting sense of driving and a powerful, crisp ride’, but my push-bike is all of these things.
A glimmer of exhilaration is provoked with the ‘Qazana.’ A sport crossover design in which Nissan have tried to incorporate beach buggy and motorcycle influences. However, when they boast about the fact the centre console has been knowingly designed to look like a fuel tank, one is inclined to think only Action Man will be signing his name on the dotted line in Tokyo.
There is also a washing machine called the ‘Roox’ but the press release picture has made me so depressed, my shuddering convulsions of woe make it impossible to express my feelings on a keyboard.
So come on Nissan, we all know you are more than capable of building exciting cars, the 350z and GTR totally contrast this collection of profit-inspired depression. Use these successes to shape the electric and hybrid future.
The new lighter Impreza 'Carbon'
With the Tokyo Motor Show just around the corner, Japanese carmakers are getting very excited about showing off their latest efforts. Even after a number of major companies decided to pull out, the latest being Hyundai, Subaru have released news of this new Impreza.
Called the Impreza ‘Carbon’, the car is the latest in an age-old automotive battle to give the driver a complete driving package. Subaru have always been successful in rally competitions through the years, the Impreza changing size and shape but always delivering.
This model follows previous WRX STI A-Line models, which focused on a 5-speed automatic transmission that Subaru says offers ‘distinctive driving performance’ to a wider range of people.
Now, when the word ‘automatic’ comes floating towards me with respect to automotive transmission, it is normally accompanied by phrases such as ‘less hassle’ and ‘not bothered’ – usually produced by old women and lazy people ‘who do a lot of driving.’
But in 2009 the automatic gearbox doesn’t have to mean high fuel charges, slow response times and a receding hairline. No, this model will be delivering around 300hp and with new carbon structuring in the roof there is a large weight reduction.
The ‘wider range of people’ will apparently have an ‘enhanced driving experience and pride of ownership’, according to Subaru’s press release, when they see the new suede leather interior.
Baldy and fatty are going to have a shock with this automatic though, it is definitely set to be more about zest than rest.
Classic Aston lines look stunning
Just when you thought Aston Martins couldn’t get anymore sexy, they somehow manage to produce yet more public chin dribble with the ‘Rapide’, its new grand tourer previously uncovered at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
Frankfurt finally revealed the production version of an Aston hugely anticipated by fans around the world.
Cunningly, just as people were beginning to reposition lower jaws and mop up their dribble stained garments, they go and release this video.
It shows the new ‘Rapide’ being given a thorough going over during high speed testing in the UK, then a very lucky man in a helmet giving it beans around the Nurburgring.
At this point tears of jealousy make it hard to see the last shots of the new Aston having its drive train worked on the Stelvio Pass in northern Italy. I managed to wipe these away and can report it looks stunning.
A huge 6.0 litre V12 engine provides 470hp, pushing the car to 60mph in around 5 seconds. Slower you might think than some Ferraris and Porsches; but if these are racehorses, the Aston is an elephant with a three-piece suite on its back…riding a Moto GP bike.
It will be available to buy early next year, so consider selling everything you own and purchase one. I’ve always thought houses were overrated anyway.
If you squint it looks like a gurning roast chicken
Nissan have had the crayons out again and have come up with what it calls their new ‘Future Global Compact Car.’ Not big, not brash and definitely not quick, the little Japanese upstart does little to excite.
However, when you consider how successful Nissan have been in remaining a solid contender in the super-mini market with the Micra, it begins to make sense…if rather slowly.
In its best year of 1990 the Micra sold just under 50,000 units which is very impressive, but I would like to make a comparison. Now, don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of this machine, if not you are in for a treat. I am talking of course, of the Panasonic SD254 Bread Maker.
Being one of Britain’s best selling bread machines it boasts a range of features each duller than the one before it. It seems the Micra and the Panasonic SD254 share a common goal, to take passionate inspiration, pure heart-felt engineering emotion, vision and beauty and steamroll it over with practicality.
In this day and age we do need to be thinking about the environment, we need to be rescuing voles from crisps packets, we need to look after what we have for the future.
Yet, what Nissan and Panasonic have done is produce something based around what we need, not what we want. The Micra up to now has had about as much appeal as sharing a marital bed with Skelator, at least Skelator was made with an ounce of creativity.
From a sales perspective the Micra makes sense in every way, it appeals to those who want to get from A to B in the most cost effective way possible. When those people airlifting blue-tits to safety see this car they will jump for joy, they will congratulate it on being ‘green’ and ‘eco friendly’.
Surely though, if you are going to part with a substantial amount of money, you want to feel the passion, excitement and genuine artistic commitment first conjured over coffee in a far-away place, by men with cool hair and nice glasses.
The new car will be launched in Thailand in March 2010, later being available in more than 150 countries. In October of the same year it will replace the Micra over here and will no doubt sell in its thousands. You can pick one up in any good appliance store, probably next to the bread makers.
Birds of England Watch Your Back
Although its announcement is a few days past and thus, in the modern world of journalism, old, this Range Rover just begs to be mentioned. If you thought spending £80,000 on a machine which does everything better than anything else made sense, now you can spend a bit more to add guns and booze.
I assure you this is by no means a melodramatic statement. Holland and Holland, one of the most famous and reputable shotgun brands in the business, have created what they believe to be the most luxurious Range Rover ever produced.
Named the Holland and Holland Overfinch Range Rover, the car boasts the range-topping 503hp LR-V8 unit up front shifting what can only be described as your front room on wheels to 60mph in 7.1 seconds.
But eighty grand’s worth of lovingly crafted walnut and brushed aluminium door handle is all a bit common for Holland and Holland. It seems if one is driving down the high street and one sees game, one should bloody well be able to shoot it there and then.
And so it became; a V8 supercharged Rangey with space for two Holland and Holland guns, a handmade drinks cabinet, a choice of seven interior tones finished in the leather used on private jets and a custom steering wheel with your very own shotgun engraved upon it.
For its outrageous price of £139,650 one can also expect bottles of Balvenie single malt whisky, Hendrick’s single batch gin, Ivan the Terrible vodka, Pol Roger Champagne, and Willow Spring bottled water supplied on purchase. Of course, these are refilled during the first year of ownership; which judging by the fact you are driving a car in public designed to incorporate firearms and intoxicants should last a little less than that.
Fiat's new Baby Rally Entry
It appears an apology is in order. I wrongly pointed out that the new Renault Sport Twingo 133 Cup would be the quickest way to get your Rustler burger home, it seems it isn’t. This is because Fiat has just launched the new Arbarth 500 R3T, a rally-going, fire breathing version of Fiat’s normally quite docile 500 model.
I’d love to say you could blast down to Sainsburys sideways, the car’s backside hanging out over the preserved front lawns of this great nation. It would be superb to whip the thing in and out of trolley boys and delivery vans about the car park, using your mother as a co-driver, generally causing a raucous.
However the sad fact of the matter is we will probably never own one, so for now we can only stand and admire. Fiat has had a long involvement in rally with trophies held for the Uno, Uno Turbo, Ciquecento, Punto Kit, Stilo and the boxy old panda, so the new 500 Arbarth Assetto Corse looks to be a good crack.
The car will be placed in the R3T group reserved for turbocharged units up to 1600cc. The Fiat’s 1.4 litre turbocharged is not short of power, delivering 180hp to a car weighing the same as a bag of pine nuts. Six point seatbelts, Brembo brakes and adjustable suspension push this car further and further away from the practicality of everyday use. I’d still like to think you could, although with no boot space, having a frozen chicken on your lap and runner beans on the dash makes it less authentic.
The new 500 will be entering racing in 2010 nearly 30 years after its last involvement, so keep an eye out.
Renault's Graphic Designers Eagerly Await Their Bonuses of Brio and Frubes
If you want to get to the south of France quickly then you buy an Aston Martin DB9. If you want to get there loudly then you buy an Aston Martin V8 Vantage. If you want to get there swiftly and stylishly, but care equally about the sleek curves of your Brylcreamed barnet, then you buy a 1964 Aston Martin DB5.
Similarly…if you want to do the shopping then you buy a Renault Twingo. If you want to do the shopping bloody quickly you buy the all-new Renault Twingo 133 Cup. Renault has announced today that the latest car to get Renault Sport treatment is the smallest in the range. It will be powered by a naturally aspirated 1.6 litre engine kicking out 133hp, more than enough to transport 2 for 1 curry sauces home at pace.
The Cup option includes a new chassis with lowered ride height, allowing for the 160Nms of torque delivered at 4,400 rpm to be planted firmly on the road surface. A top speed of 125mph should be enough to pass people in the street without them seeing the horrific graphics you purchased for the doors. At £130, I recommend an alternative – purchasing a box of Crayola Crayons at around £3.99 and allowing a small child to express themselves thus.
0-60 comes in 8.2 seconds and with prices starting at £11,550, you’d be hard pushed to find this much fun at this low a price.
Other Auto News
Motor Journalist 
Reader Comments