The new LFA marks an important moment in both the history of Lexus and the development of the supercar. A true “clean-sheet” design, the LFA was created by a small, passionate and dedicated team of engineers whose achievement has been to push the boundaries of technologies materials and engineering at every stage to produce a car like no other to have carried the Lexus badge. Constructed using advanced carbon fibre technology, the rear-wheel drive LFA is powered by a bespoke, high-revving 552bhp 4.8-litre naturally aspirated V10 engine, matched to a rear-mounted six-speed sequential automatic transmission, giving 200mph-plus performance. In the words of Chief Engineer Haruhiko Tanahashi: “The LFA is a thoroughbred supercar, a machine engineered to achieve a single goal – to deliver a supreme driving experience. Over the past decade we have pushed every boundary in pursuit of this goal and I believe we have created the most driver-orientated car we possibly could.”
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The ongoing Audi crackdown on emissions has yielded another efficiency breakthrough within the A3 range, this time for the 140PS 2.0-litre TDI models which become the cleanest at their level in the premium sector
For the 2010 motor sport season, Porsche has prepared a further development of the 911 GT3 for racing; the 911 GT3 R, with 480 bhp and a sequential six-speed ‘dog-type’ gearbox
The new Honda CR-V will be available with a new diesel powerplant – the i-DTEC – and an eagerly awaited automatic gearbox for diesel models starting from January 2010
Lee Noble, the maverick designer and engineer who has defined the British low volume sports car market in recent years, is back in the hot seat of an all-new company, Fenix Automotive Limited
Vauxhall’s Corsa is set to sell more sub-125g cars than any other model range in the UK next year thanks to significant efficiency gains in its engine line up and zero VED on all manual Corsa models from next April
At the heart of the rejuvenated 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe is a new 2.2-litre direct injection ‘R’ diesel engine that produces 194bhp and 311 lb/ft of torque
The new Toyota Land Cruiser is powered by a revised 171bhp 3.0-litre D-4D engine, matched to a five-speed automatic transmission, with a choice of three equipment grades – LC3, LC4 and LC5
Maserati has announced the Maserati GranCabrio will be priced from £95,630 with ordering open now for the first right-hand drive examples which will reach the UK showrooms in April 2010
Camouflage and disguise are crucial when new model prototypes first leave the well-protected confines of the design studio or workshop and head out onto the test track or open road. We spend some time with the team responsible for disguising the new Vauxhall Insignia ahead of its debut at the British Motor Show on July 22nd, as they prepare for the new model’s road test programme
As 2007 staggers into the Gents to vomit itself quietly into oblivion, we take a look back at the cars that have defined the year for us. As with last year, we’ve highlighted not just the models that impressed us the most, but also our biggest disappointments – and this year, there were quite a few. Let’s get to it
Now we’ve made it past the turkey and the family feuds, it’s time for us to take a look back at our favourite cars of 2006. It’s been an interesting year for us: while many of our categories have clear winners, there have been some real disappointments this year. Where we feel these losers deserve a special mention, we’ve included them here
As 2005 draws to a close, we take a look back at the best cars of the last twelve months. There have been plenty to choose from, too, with a bumper year of new models released into the market, as a result of consumers demanding more and more from their everyday transport. However, what has proved surprising is that some of last year’s models still rank so highly in comparison to the newcomers in their respective categories. We’ve picked winners and runners up in nine categories – supermini, family car, estate car, MPV, 4×4, executive car, sports car, luxury car and supercar – in a selection that ranges in price from a lowly £6,745 to a stratospheric £810,345. Thankfully, we’ve got plenty to choose from in-between
It’s fair to say we took something of a shine to the previous generation Honda Accord Tourer. It made a regular appearance in our Estate Car of the Year awards category, and everyone else’s it seems, and in its final year of production it sold more than ever. With the arrival of the new Honda Accord, just five short years later, we had been expecting great things. We expected all the strengths of the old Accord to remain, and a few new ones to be added. Unfortunately, we can’t help feeling disappointed. Let’s start off with the positives – the new Accord looks great. The old model, while taught and aggressive at the front, did have a rather awkward rear overhang. The new Accord has a much more unified design, with a pert rear and bold flared wheel-arches. Inside, there’s more occupant space, particularly for taller drivers, and the cabin’s wider, too. The seats are just as comfortable and supportive as before, but it’s while you’re sitting in them, looking around the interior, that the first doubts begin to seed themselves.
For 2008, the Abarth name is back – and in some style. Fiat has pumped a considerable sum of money into re-launching Abarth as a stand-alone brand, and that includes the construction of a new, purpose-built, Abarth HQ with its own sales, marketing, design and engineering facilities. The cars themselves will be sold through a dedicated dealer network, with their own brand identity. The Abarth Grande Punto is the first of those cars to arrive in the UK, with the Abarth 500 due next year. Although based on the standard Grande Punto, the Abarth features a series of modifications that improve the looks, handling and power delivery of the car, which now boasts 155bhp and an 8.2 second 0-62mph time. That said, the Abarth Grande Punto is still somehow greater than the sum of its parts. We set out to discover why.
In the face of rocketing insurance claims, local authorities across the land have re-defined what constitutes a pot-hole. What you and I would consider to be a wheel-buckling crater is now simply a surface feature. Before a man with a tin of spray-paint will even consider marking out a pond in the middle of the A31, it must be allowed to grow large enough to accommodate several outdoors-types equipped with head-torches and a stripy rope. In any other culture, you could be forgiven for contemplating buying a vehicle designed to cope with the Third World-nature of our transport infrastructure. But in these times of knee-jerk environmentalism, SUVs have been all but outlawed. Luckily, there is still one option left, and it comes from the maker of heavy plant machinery – the Subaru Legacy Boxer Diesel
The arrival of the Porsche Cayman S confused many people. Porsche believed they had identified a niche between the Boxster and the 911, whereas logic dictates that the soft-top version should be the more expensive. When the Cayman S first arrived in late 2005, it debuted the company’s new 295bhp 3.4-litre flat-six and, at this point, we thought we understood what Porsche were trying to do. The Cayman, then, was a harder, more powerful, tighter-focused version of the Boxster, and that performance benefit justified the increased price. Our reasoning fell apart, however, when Porsche replaced the Boxster S 3.2-litre engine with the Cayman S’s 3.4. And introduced a non-S Cayman 2.7. With identical power and performance figures, what exactly do you get for £4,000 extra?
