Not too often you see a pair like this side by side. From a track day somewhere in England (we’re guessing).
Image: estoril
Now here's something slightly different
•March 4, 2010 • 3 CommentsComing from us, anyway, since big, heavy, six-figure executive saloons are usually pretty far from our collective consciousness. C/D recently roadtested a Quattroporte, 7-Series, and Panamera, ranking them in that order from last to first.
This one’s subjective (we see this going any one of three ways for folks, depending on one’s objectives), but for us it’s a no-brainer: we’d take the “Four-door.”
In this rarified class, for this amount of money, it’d be hard (for us) to choose a car that doesn’t elicit passion, and the Quattroporte, with its Ferrari-derived engine and sculpted Italian sheetmetal, offers up pasione in spades (we’re sure at least one aging rock musician would agree). In contrast, the big, anonymous 7er may as well be DOA, and as tidily as the Panamera purportedly drives, we just can’t get over its looks.
Of course, we get that our priorities aren’t necessarily someone else’s, so in this class, we can see how less enthusiast-minded individuals might go for the big BM, and how others (who perhaps place more emphasis on engineering and quantifiables) might go for the Porker.
Our unsolicited alternative in this class would be…? A used Audi D3 S8, arguably our top choice of the bunch.
Images: Car and Driver; Jan Baedeker
Here it is
•March 3, 2010 • Comments Off on Here it isAutocar gets to try the new GT3 RS. The result? Soundporn, glorious soundporn.
A study in added girth
•March 3, 2010 • 1 CommentThought this was kinda neat. What’s most surprising to us is how much lower the MkII’s roofline is over the MkI’s- very unexpected. That has to be some sort of mistake?
Overall, these cars seem to have held up fairly well, vis-à-vis the added porkiness of other cars over the same period (we’d love to see such a visual comparison done for the BMW 3- and 5-Series, for example).
Credit: Phil Kiel
Jim B’s 1981 Porsche 911 SC
•March 3, 2010 • 1 CommentOur main man Jim Bauer’s modified 1981 Porsche 911 SC is profiled over at Man on the Move. Great photos and read, and inspiration for anyone who, like us, aspires to P-cardom (hint: it might be closer than you think).
Our ideal S4 Avant would look something like this
•March 3, 2010 • Comments Off on Our ideal S4 Avant would look something like thisWe love us some BBS RGRs with machined lips. Now it just needs a flat-bottom steering wheel from the Audi performance parts bin (spendy upgrade, but well worth it in our book), and maybe the front bumper from the S4’s optional DTM package, and it’s pretty much good to go, lookswise— these cars don’t need much in that department.
Images: jonnysundell
Artful AMV8 snaps
•March 2, 2010 • 5 Comments
Autocar asks one of those questions that we love so much
•March 2, 2010 • 3 Comments
The kind that makes you pause in your tracks: new Lotus Exige 260 Cup (£45,950), or used (<30K miles) 1999 Ferrari F355 GTB (£42,995)? This is a torturous question for us (we love Lotuses, we love the Exige and what it’s all about, we love track days), and yet, we found ourselves arriving at an answer fairly quickly: the F355.
The Exige is a wonderful toy, track scalpel, and roadgoing go-kart, and like many of you, we would breathlessly jump at the chance to own one. But the F355 is a truly special machine. You are bound to come across an Elise or Exige (or several) at your local autocross or track day, but the same can’t be said about the 355 (which, come to think of it, may actually be an indictment of the average Ferrari owner more than anything). Our point is that this type of exclusivity does count for something, even among the hairiest-chested of track drivers (not that anyone would be quick to admit it). And besides, the 355 is drop dead gorgeous and probably a certifiable future classic. The Exige is many things, but “gorgeous” probably isn’t one of them (though in its vigorous defense, neither is it unattractive— far from it).
As for the unflattering perception of owners who treat their Ferraris more as status symbols than as proper driving instruments? Well, we would happily volunteer for the chance to do our part in helping to correct it.
Via Autocar
History lesson: Mulholland Raceway
•March 1, 2010 • Comments Off on History lesson: Mulholland RacewayTwo great finds, via Harlo at The Chicane. Jim Bauer would approve.
Motoring Con Brio 