| Ferrari 458 Speciale Versus McLaren 650S Versus Porsche 911 GT3 – Holy Trinity (Part 2) |
| For the record, though, the GT3 is very much the 'baby' of the group. It costs a not insubstantial $172,445, but that's less than half the price of the Speciale or 650S. Its 3.5-litre flat-six produces 465bhp at 5,250rpm and 324lb ft at 6,250rpm and it utilises a seven-speed PDK gearbox, adjustable dampers, an electronically controlled limited-slip diff and four-wheel steering to devastating, scintillating effect |
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| The Renault Clio Dynamique – French Dressing |
| I plumped for the 1197cc turbo four-pot over the characterful 898cc triple, and the double-clutch gearbox it’s paired with. I figured both would prove their worth in daily driving. |
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| The Hyundai Grand I10 – Excellent Refinement |
| The long and short of it is this – the little getaway went exactly as planned, and was highly appreciated by the whole family. The i10 proved to be the perfect companion through the journey, and won much appreciation from the family. |
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| The Mercedes-Benz A180 CDI Edition 1 – Classier A |
| On the outside, changes to the A include a black stripe on the door sill with the Edition 1 lettering. You can’t miss the black ORVMs either for they are quite distinctive and make the good-looking car look even better. |
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| 2015 BMW M3 & 2015 BMW M4 - Return Of The King (Part 3) |
| If you do opt for the Saloon you’re going to be in a rather more exclusive club because whereas BMW expects to sell 5000 M4 Coupés in the UK during the seven-year life cycle that both cars will share, just 700 M3 Saloon sales are predicted. |
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| 2015 BMW M3 & 2015 BMW M4 - Return Of The King (Part 2) |
| Really up the ante and the acceleration is absolutely ferocious; the S55 engine is a beast and the torque it serves up is just as outlandish, it makes the car and its performance so accessible and such a pleasure to indulge in. |
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| 2015 BMW M3 & 2015 BMW M4 - Return Of The King (Part 1) |
| It’s a complex, multi-cylinder soundtrack but you’d be hard pressed to tell exactly how many of them are behind it; there is a hint of six-cylinder, but the overall impression that you get from the engine is one of anger. |
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| The BMW 435i Coupé – One Small Leap (Part 2) |
| Those 3 Series-based underpinnings bring with them a fine balance of agility and involvement tempered with assuredness and comfort that virtually no rival in the 4 Series's bracket can match. |
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| The BMW 435i Coupé – One Small Leap (Part 1) |
| In the automotive industry, niches within model lines simply beg to be filled. There are two simple premises at play: if you don't create that niche, a rival will stake its claim there and net a wider audience; and it can breathe new life into an existing model line. |
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| The Mercedes-Benz E-Class – The New Face Of Mid-Size Luxury |
| The 2009 W212 model was the epitome of conservative clean-cut precision that, while thoroughly competent, failed to excite. Its polarising split square headlamps and pontoon-style rear fenders didn’t help, despite Merc trumpeting its historical significance. |
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| BMW F10 M5 - Gentleman’s Express (Part 3) |
| In order to ensure that the lungs of the car are exhaling as they should, Vivid called upon Agency Power once again to pull together a marvellously hi-tech exhaust system. |
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| BMW F10 M5 - Gentleman’s Express (Part 2) |
| Vivid lists Agency Power as one of its big names, so it’s hardly surprising to find that the car is positively bristling with lightweight carbon-fibre parts from the AP catalogue. |
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| The Mercedes-Benz S350 CDI – The King Sips Diesel |
| In our first drive of the new S-Class, we reckoned that it was easily the best car in its segment. However, that version had a 450bhp petrol engine, while this is the more sober 255bhp diesel variant. |
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| The Jaguar XFR – Big Bang Theory (Part 2) |
| But that’s it as far as complaints go. For the duration of the 20,000 km test, the XFR’s cabin remained rattle-free and the materials well up to standard family (ab)use. What the XF continues to do better than any of the Germans is its ability to imbue every drive with a sense of occasion. |
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| The BMW I8 – Green Hornet (Part 2) |
| When you put pedal to metal, though, both engine and motor combine to produce extra shove. Not only that, the car’s unique starter-generator has a boost function. It sends more than 100Nm of additional torque to the engine for close to 2 seconds. |
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| The BMW I8 – Green Hornet (Part 1) |
| The BMW i8 is one such convention breaker. The super-sexy petrol-electric plugin hybrid coupe does zero-to-100km/h in 4.4 seconds, reaches a regulated top speed of 250km/h, and yet has an insanely low fuel consumption of over 47km per litre. |
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| The Lamborghini Huracan – Amazing Supercar |
| Sticking to its half-a-century old tradition, the Huracan is blistering fast, powerful, and continues to move with the times. But this technically advanced supercar can now also transform into a grand tourer… |
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| LaFerrari – One Of The Most Anticipated Cars Of 2014 (part 2) |
| The result is exhilarating, in every sense of the word. There are many fast cars around, and amongst them are many Ferraris. When driving those cars, most of the time you just need to reset your brain to the right reactive parameters – easily done in many cases. But, in this instance, there’s an extraordinary, intoxicating potential. |
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| Z/28 Versus M6 Versus GT-R – The Monster Battle (Part 4) |
| It’s a bit lumpen. Not only is it ill at ease on track (that was expected), but you never feel the car is excited about the prospect of going for a drive. It’s too busy trying to be professional and businesslike to have fun. |
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| Z/28 Versus M6 Versus GT-R – The Monster Battle (Part 2) |
| Stop laughing at the back. The Z/28 is a hardcore track car. In fact, it’s not really intended to drive on the ‘street’. We tried and we’re still shuddering. But here’s the thing – there are a lot of international components in this American powerhouse. |
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| Z/28 Versus M6 Versus GT-R – The Monster Battle (Part 1) |
| But on what level does the Zee-slash-28 sit right in the UK anyway? It hardly fits alongside the Aveo or Orlando, does it? And, in fact, Chevrolet is soon ending its tenure here and shutting up shop, so the Z/28 isn’t here as a brand-building exercise and won’t be available except through import channels. |
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| The SRT Viper GTS – Bad Adder |
| The SRT, Née Dodge, Viper had always taken a giddy pleasure in meting out discipline to drivers whose egos get the better of them. If you thought for a moment you had tamed the beast, the Viper was apt to spank you the second you feathered in a hair too much throttle. |
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| The Porsche Boxster GTS – Probably The Best (Part 2) |
| No doubt you could lure it into daft drift skids, but on dry public roads – even roads as spectacularly twisty as these – you’d have to be doing unprintable speeds to get the Boxster unbalanced in the first place, so extraordinarily high are its limits. That F-Type will chuck itself into a slide while gently exiting a parking space. |
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| The Porsche Boxster GTS – Probably The Best (Part 1) |
| A blue-sky summer’s morning in Germany’s Black Forest, and the good lord of driving is in his element. A smooth track hairpins its way up through cool, dark woods against a fresh-polished landscape, the scent of cut grass on the breeze. |
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| The Mercedes-Benz GL 63 AMG – Jumbo Jet (Part 2) |
| The brochure says this GL63 has lots of electronics to make it a better handler than the regular GL. It’s got active Damping, it’s got active curve System, it’s got a complex traction control bit, it’s got every other electronic aid that the guys at AMG could find. |
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