Subaru BRZ (2011)

Subaru has finally unveiled the BRZ coupe, the sister sports car to Toyota’s GT 86. Both were shown at the 2011 Tokyo auto show. These first official photographs depict mildly different characters, but the same low-slung stance.

Everything about the BRZ is low – its 2.0-litre flat four contributes to a centre of gravity nearer the road than the roof, its bonnet is made from aluminium and its 197bhp and 151lb ft of torque should make this 1220kg two-seater fly.

Subaru BRZ: how big?

It’s 4240mm long, 1300mm tall and 1775mm wide - making it a tad longer, lower and narrower than an Audi TT. Subaru calls it a 2+2, but those rear seats will almost qualify for a -2 tag. The 17in wheels are suspended by front struts and rear double wishbones.

The 2.0-litre horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine is Subaru's, but Toyota's direct injection provides the fuel, boosting power and efficiency. The transmission is claimed to be a short-shift six-speed manual 'box and - unusually for a Subaru - only the rear axle is driven.

Buyers in Japan and selected markets will be able to order a six-speed auto transmission too. It has a Sport mode for faster gearchanges, a throttle blip function likes Nissan's 370Z and paddles for finger-nudging shifts.

source:  http://www.carmagazine.co.uk

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Ginetta G60 (2011)

This is the new Ginetta G60, a £68k rival for the Porsche’s 911 and Cayman, and a homegrown opponent for Jaguar’s forthcoming XE sports car.

Don't I recognise the Ginetta G60?

You do. It started life as a Farboud, then became a Farbio when Chris Marsh (of Marcos fame) bought the rights. And now Ginetta owns the company and has completely redeveloped the car.

But before you get all cynical, let's present a little of Ginetta's recent history. Ginetta was acquired by businessman Lawrence Tomlinson in 2005, and he and his team spent the next five years expanding the racing side of the business. In 2010 Ginetta announced plans for the G40R (its first road car in 18 years) and also acquired Farbio Supercars and its GTS sports car to sit further up the road-going range. The GTS was renamed as the F400 but production was halted so Ginetta could completely re-work and redevelop the car. Move forward to 2011 and the G40R was launched, and two months later the revised F400 is with us, and now known as the G60.

So what's different?

The basic silhouette and shape remains, but there are new cooling vents, a revised splitter adds downforce, and beneath the carbonfibre body is a stiffer and stronger tubular steel chassis. The mid-mounted engine is a Ford-sourced 3.7-litre V6, with a six-speed manual ‘box sending the 310bhp and 288lb ft to the rear wheels via limited slip differential.

Bigger drilled and grooved Alcon four-pot brakes feature, the ECU and wiring harness are all-new, and the driving and pedal positions have been changed too. The double wishbone suspension has been changed to incorporate unassisted steering, so it’s goodbye to PAS, and also out is the ABS and traction control systems. Want an electronic safety net? Look elsewhere.

Basically, it’d be easier to list the items Ginetta hasn’t upgraded, overhauled or completely replaced. The result is a 1080kg carbon sports car, able to hit 0-62mph in 4.9 seconds and at least 165mph. Prices start at £68,000, just 50 will be built each year and first deliveries are expected in February 2012. Third time lucky? With Tomlinson's record we reckon so.

source : http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/News/Search-Results/First-Official-Pictures/Ginetta-G60-2011-first-official-pictures/

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Peugeot 508 RXH (2011)

Peugeot isn’t going to replace the 607, its big French attempt at taking on the hegemony of Audi, BMW and Mercedes. Instead the plan is to offer its Mondeo-sized 508 in posh, premium specs, and to tempt buyers with this, the 508 RXH.

And the Peugeot 508 RXH is…?

A 508 SW dressed in Audi Allroad attire. Raised suspension means it rides higher than the SW estate, and the black body cladding means it’s wider too. And there are LED lights in a ‘lions claw’ motif in the front bumper.

Peugeot promises a unique interior, with special colours and materials, and there’s loads of standard kit to reflect the expected £30k-plus price tag: sat-nav, electric front seats, keyless entry and go, a head-up display, a panoramic glass roof and 18in wheels are standard.

A range-toppe,r huh? So I’m guessing there’s a nice big 3.0-litre V6 diesel under that bonnet…

There’s not, but the sole powertrain available is the clever bit, utilising the same Hybrid4 diesel-electric set-up that’s already debuted in the 3008. A 163bhp 2.0-litre diesel drives the front wheels, and a 37bhp electric motor powers the back axle. And the latter’s modular configuration means Peugeot can bolt it into any car from the 308 upwards – and sister brand Citroen can do exactly the same.

All in the system makes 200bhp and 332lb ft, and while the motor spends much of its time assisting the HDI engine, it’s also able to run the RXH in 100% EV mode. That means rear-wheel drive, but also some impressive official figures: 67.2mpg and 109g/km CO2. Blame the big wheels and bigger body for the RXH’s inability to match the 74.4mpg and 99g/km CO2 recorded by the identically powered 3008 Hybrid 4.

The Peugeot 508 RXH will make its official world debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September 2011, and UK sales will follow in spring 2012. 

source : http://www.carmagazine.co.uk

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KTM X-Bow R (2011)

It’s three years since bike manufacturer KTM branched out into cars, launching the X-Bow at the 2008 Geneva motor show. More than 500 brave drivers have been found to buy the X-Bow, ensuring the project has survived the recession and brought further evolution. Which brings us to this: the 2011 X-Bow R, an even faster version of the sports car.

It’s a similar, pared-back two-seater, only this time the X-Bow R brings an uprated version of the Audi 2.0-litre four-cylinder. It’s the turbocharged TFSI engine, boosted to 296bhp and 295lb ft of torque.

That’s more than in the donor Audi S3 and TT-S, which produce no more than 268bhp. Thank a larger turbocharger, reprogrammed Bosch engine management and new fuel injectors. And the engine changes are just scratching the surface of a series of upgrades to build this fastest ever KTM with four wheels.

So the KTM X-Bow R is quicker than most Ferraris?

Yes. Prod the throttle and the R simply flies towards the horizon. There’s so little weight on board – the skeletal X-Bow R weighs just 790kg dry – that it slingshots towards the horizon in short order. Turbo lag isn’t an issue, although the most rabid acceleration doesn’t arrive until nearer the 3000rpm torque peak.

The basic 236bhp KTM X-Bow is no slouch, but to put the R’s greater performance in perspective, it has a quarter more power. Nought to sixty takes a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it 3.9sec. Frankly, it feels faster.

To cope with the extra grunt, KTM has strengthened the engine mounts and lowered the engine’s position in the aluminium rear subframe by 19mm. The Austrian manufacturers say this has boosted the peak 1.5g cornering forces that can be generated by the bravest pilots.

KTM: a posh Caterham

There are many similarities between KTM’s road car and Caterhams. There’s no windscreen, in fact no fripperies at all that we can think of. No radio. No windows. There are barely proper seats, and certainly no doors. You clamber over the sills to slide into the squidgy race seats. One nice Audi touch – keyless ignition – means you drop the key into a secure holder and just prod the waterproof start button, and the four-pot whirrs into life, first time, every time.

You get the same wiggling front wheel observation post as a Caterham, every turn and jiggle of the 205/40 front tyres becoming a spectator sport. And the action of the front wishbones and inboard pushrod dampers becomes mesmeric. It’s like those Tamiya r/c cars I lusted over at school all over again.

But the KTM has a notably different character to a Caterham. For starters, the X-Bow is built around an impeccably constructed carbonfibre monocoque, and the aesthetic is wantonly modern to the Caterhams’s retro mindset. The KTM looks like an angry insect designed by a Judge Dredd cartoonist, its shape designed for maximum thrills and to generate 48kg of downforce at 62mph and 193kg at twice that speed.

So is the KTM X-Bow R at all practical?

It’s hard to give the X-Bow anything over than one star for practicality. It’s awkward to get into – you remove the steering wheel, clamber over the sills and then go into contortionist mode to secure the four-point race harness. Once ensconced, it’s actually quite comfy even for tall drivers but there’s no boot whatsoever, no roof if it rains and worst of all is the terrible rear visibility. Two wing mirrors are your lot, there’s no rear-view mirror (for obvious reasons) and because of the head guard, the side-to-side view is atrocious. Come to some T-junctions and unless you pull up at right angles for a 90deg view, you can’t see what’s coming.

But let’s not get bogged down in that. This is in essence a track-day car that’s homologated for the road; you can spec it up with no end of aero kits, oil coolers and race-spec tyres from the track-day kit options list. The KTM X-Bow is an occasional car for thrill seekers.

The road test review bit: the KTM X-Bow R

Drive the X-Bow on a motorway and non-bikers may feel threatened. I steered onto the A1 near CAR’s office to get home and immediately felt exposed, every passing lorry a worry, the lack of windscreen taking a while to get used to. Needless to say, you’d be mad to drive a KTM without a helmet, every passing pebble and insect flying into your visage.

Maybe I’m just a cautious pansy. But steer off the M-ways and the X-Bow R comes to life. This is a small car that’s easy to thread down country lanes. That 790kg (dry) kerbweight makes it a similar mass to an Elise, the X-Bow R darting this way and that to every nudge of the unassisted steering. The ride is firmer than the Lotus’s, the 17in front/18in rear wheels fussing over road bumps and lumps. Accelerate and you have to keep a firm grip on the wheel, so fast do things happen in the X-Bow.

But what a cockpit! On country roads, you’re at one with nature, a motorcycling thrill mixed with a few car-like comforts. The gearlever is perfectly positioned for BTCC style knockshifts, snicking through cogs with a Honda S2000’s precision, keeping that Audi four-pot on the boil.

Get in the groove, and the X-Bow comes together beautifully. There’s an extra urgency that makes the R noticeably faster than the regular Crossbow, and as a point-to-point device cross-country, few vehicles will touch it. Traction is excellent, and the R adds a limited slip diff to tame all that torque at the rear axle. It could do with a blindspot concave mirror (rear visibility dented my trust) but otherwise, this is a thrilling toy.

Verdict

The X-Bow R is a brilliant, idiosyncratic vehicle. The engineering is sublime, that carbonfibre tub a work of art. Clearly it’s a preposterously impractical car, and one only suited to the most committed of drivers but we applaud its individuality.

But those who can afford it – at €58,795 plus local taxes we’re in the realms of three Caterhams here – will find a thrilling sports car that’s great fun and feels as robust as you’d expect of something with an Audi engine over your shoulder. And you’re guaranteed to turn heads left, right and centre. We loved it.

Statistics

How much?	£63,500
On sale in the UK:	Now
Engine:	1984cc four-cylinder turbo, 296bhp @ 6300rpm, 295lb ft @ 3300pm
Transmission:	Six-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Performance:	3.9sec 0-62mph, 144mph, 34mpg, 189g/km
How heavy / made of?	790kg/carbonfibre, aluminium
How big (length/width/height in mm)?	3738/1900/1205

source : http://www.carmagazine.co.uk

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Bugatti Veyron L’Or Blanc (2011)

Another week, another special edition Veyron – and this one’s made from porcelain. Sort of.

Bugatti has announced a partnership with Königliche Porzellan-Manufatur of Berlin, a German porcelain specialist whose ceramic trim adorns much of the new Bugatti Veyron L’Or Blanc.

Porcelain? So my new Bugatti Veyron is a toilet on wheels!

Hardly. The new L’Or Blanc – that’s white gold in French – is based on the Grand Sport and uses porcelain in seven locations around the car.

There’s even a dish in the centre console that can be used as a caviar tray. Bugatti certainly knows its market.

How much is the new Bugatti Veyron L’Or Blanc?

A very cool £1.5 million. And they’re only building one L’Or Blanc, so you’ll have to hurry. It’s not been sold yet. But don’t worry, despite the odd materials, it’ll still hit 253mph.

‘The L’Or Blanc is evidence of the capabilities of the craftsmen at both brands,’ says Achim Anscheidt, Bugatti’s director of design.

We presume the porcelain trim will be very practical, with excellent wipe-clean properties and water resistance as standard.

Would you have to be potty to buy one?

Well, all standard Veyron coupes have been sold, but you can still order one of the last Grand Sport roadsters or a tweaked-up Super Sport.

And by the sounds of the new Veyron L’Or Blanc, there will be one or two new special editions still to come. The mind boggles what might arrive next.

source : http://www.carmagazine.co.uk

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Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport (2011)

Obscure supercars come and go, each proclaiming to be faster than the Bugatti Veyron. Five years after driving the original Veyron, it's time to try this final evolution of the species, the Super Sport, a car that should secure Bugatti the ‘World’s Fastest’ title for some time.

How has a standard Bugatti Veyron become a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport?

By gaining an additional 196bhp and 184lb ft, thanks to bigger intercoolers and four enlarged turbochargers. The 0-62mph time doesn’t improve (it’s still a stunning 2.5 seconds) but the 0-125mph times drops (7.3sec to 6.7), as does that all important 0-186mph sprint (16.7 seconds down to 14.6), and the top speed climbs to 268mph. Or at least it would if Bugatti hadn’t limited the Super Sport’s top whack to 259mph for the sake of the tyres – the standard Veyron is limited to 254mph.

There are other changes, too. The redesigned nose features bigger brake cooling ducts, a differnt bumper for more downforce and more powerful LED headlamps. The rear wing rises earlier – at 112mph instead of 137mph – and it drops again at 75mph. Also new are more progressive spring and damper rates, thicker diameter anti-roll bars, and a ground clearance that has been reduced to 80/95mm front and rear in handling mode.

Yes, it’s more, more, more, but there’s also less, 50kg less to be precise, mostly accounted for by the new lightweight wheels. Other calorie-savers are a thin-wall free-flow exhaust, a stiffer monocoque and a lower-drag roof with integrated ram-air NACA ducts rather than alloy air intakes. That’s a lot of changes for such a small batch of cars – just 30 Super Sport-spec Veyrons will ever be built.

Is this new Veyron Super Sport more fun to drive?

I meet the Veyron somewhere between Jerez and Seville. The keyhole next to the driver’s seat is empty, indicating that the 233-to-268mph ultra-high-speed window remains closed, but Bugatti chief test driver and 268mph-record holder Pierre-Henri Raphanel (PHR) is co-pilot and navigator for our journey.

Time to put launch control to the test on a sealed-off stretch of road. Left hoof on the brake, right foot at 6000rpm, and then presto, we’re scorching down the road, the Veyron smoking its tyres in first and again in second. Only the subconscious registers the whiplash upshifts, but the body’s G-force meter is at all times fully aware of the 1106lb ft torque battle between the front Haldex clutch and the mechanical rear differential. 

The engine needs to be revved hard to unleash the additional horses, but the benefits of the more compliant front suspension are obvious: gone for good are the nervous high-velocity tremble, the discomforting pitch triggered all too easily by transverse irritations and the harshness when encountering potholes or bumps.

Although the speedo is fast counting up to 186mph, Pierre-Henri keeps smiling his roguish been-there-done-that smile. This car is like a drug, and PHR knows it. I drop the anchors and watch the shiny rear wing increase its angle from 27 to 55 degrees, causing an involuntary downward nod of appreciation as the Veyron sheds speed.

So it sprints like a champion, but can it dance?

The Super Sport is more than merely a quarter-mile king. During our four-hour drive, I pushed the brakes past the ABS threshold corner for corner, accelerating into the ESP software barrier exit for exit, manually extending the mighty wing to load up the rear suspension with an extra 200 kilos of downforce over those blind sickbag crests, mixing the dual-clutch gearbox’s Manual and Sport modes to trigger spine-snappingly sudden upshifts and yield an afterburner effect at the top end of the rev ladder that combs your hair backwards, shapes your eyes into olives and flattens your nose. PHR stopped talking for a while, but his complexion remained rosy, and he walked away in a straight line from the car park to the coffee house at the end of our drive.

Pushing a Veryon Super Sport to the limit of adhesion can be an almost surreal experience. You feel like the pilot of an alien craft morphing video game fantasy with rural Andalucian reality. Sometimes, the speed differential is so crass that you wish for two more wings to make this thing fly properly. Even in the mundane 60 to 125mph range, the Bugatti blitzes us through traffic, beaming itself from gap to gap, ever ready to raise the curtain of the even more ambitious 125 to 185mph stage. When other supercars run out of gears, revs or both, the SS simply ignites the next rocket stage and leaps towards the horizon in one grand magnet-to-magnet move.

Any downsides to the Super Sport experience?

For a car so otherworldly, there are naturally real-world drawbacks: the Super Sport hates tall kerbs, tight parking spaces and any kind of reversing manoeuvres. Being two metres wide, the Veyron also is quite a handful on tight country roads where the vulnerability warning light never stops flashing inside your head. It sure is great to field a riveting stopping distance of 103ft, to muster a record shift time of 0.1sec and to double the downforce by deploying that tall tail rudder, but none of this helps when a mere mortal coming the other way cuts a slow corner, running the costliest collision course one’s imagination can map out.

Other imperfections include shift paddles that are attached to the steering-wheel, not the column; poorly legible instruments; and stability control that has an on and a off, but no in-between setting. Last but not least, there is the running cost issue. One surely does not mind an average fuel consumption of 7.6mpg in town, but the price of four tyres is a rather steep £17,300, the magnesium rims need to be checked (and possibly replaced) every 9300 miles, and a major service at one of the 30 dealers typically costs £26,000. How much is a new engine? Bugatti does not know yet, because none of the 220 Veyrons sold so far has needed one.

Verdict

Today, sadly, I’m one of Pierre-Henri Raphanel nine out of ten test-driving clients who don't sign on the dotted line, but that’s more from a lack of funds than any lack of desire on my part. It’s a privilege to drive any Veyron, but the Super Sport is truly something else.

Statistics

How much?	£1,430,000
On sale in the UK:	Now
Engine:	7993cc 64v W16, 1183bhp @ 6400rpm, 1106lb ft @ 3000-5000rpm
Transmission:	Seven-speed dual-clutch manual, four wheel drive
Performance:	2.5sec 0-62, 259mph, 12.2mpg, 539g/km CO2
How heavy / made of?	1838kg/carbonfibre
How big (length/width/height in mm)?	4462/1998/1204

source : http://www.carmagazine.co.uk

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Bugatti sells its last Veyron

Bugatti has sold the last of its 300 Veyron 16.4 supercars. The customer of the final Veyron is based in Europe and is new to the Bugatti marque.

Bugatti Veyron: the controversial king of the supercar world

Volkswagen Group picked up the Bugatti name in 1998, following the 1995 bankruptcy of Romano Artioli's Modena-based Bugatti factory, which had produced the EB110 quad-turbo V12 supercar. VW presented the EB218 saloon, Chiron 18/3 supercar (both designed by Italdesign Giugiaro) and the Veyron 18.4 concept at motorshows in 1999, all with mammoth 18-cylinder engines. In the end VW decided to go down the supercar route, and presented the revised Veyron 16.4 in 2000.

It took VW engineers five years to develop the Veyron and its systems to harness the stated power output of 1001PS (987bhp) and reliably deliver the performance and luxury parameters set by VW supremo Ferdinand Piech. Production began at the purpose built Bugatti Atelier in Molsheim, the original location of Bugatti.

In April 2005 Bugatti broke the 400km/h barrier, clocking 253.4mph at VW's Ehra-Lessien high-speed oval.  A 0-62mph time of 2.5 seconds made the Veyron the performance champion, but the car divided opinions amongst motoring enthusiasts.

So that's it for the Veyron?

If you're a Veyron critic I hope you haven't popped the celebratory champaigne cork or started your dance of joy just yet. Although Veyron and Veyron Supersports production will be ending, Bugatti is still producing the targa-topped Veyron Grand Sport model. So if you were hoping to grab a Veyron but just needed a bit more time to raise the estimated £1.5m you'd need to buy one, there's still time...

source : http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/

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