30
List
Everything you need to know about cars this week: 14 Jun '20
Liberty Walk gets its hands on the new Supra, plus a 500bhp Mini and some rotary Mazdas
How to build a 513bhp Ford Focus RS
"Mountune didn’t set out to build a 513bhp Focus, says boss Alec Pell-Johnson. His company already offered kits for the Focus RS giving more modest power increases, but then customers started asking for MORE."
Advertisement - Page continues belowPeugeot 508 hybrid review: stylish PHEV saloon tested
"Peugeot’s funky-looking five-seat repmobile isn’t exactly new, but the fact it’s now anointed with electricity to give it some extra assistance is. And may entice some of you into actually buying one."
Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet review: first UK test
"The front and rear end are in constant and crystal clear contact with each other, and the chassis firepower – all-wheel drive with a front axle that can handle 368 torques alone, active rear axle, all the high-end PASM, PDCC and PSM software – combines to deliver a car of unfathomable depths."
Advertisement - Page continues belowThe Fiat 500 is now a £27k electric hatchback
"Like the convertible EV, this hatch features lithium-ion batteries with a capacity of 42kWh, connected to an electric motor that will allow up to 199 miles of range on the WLTP cycle. That’s… that’s really good."
Ford has finally electrified the Fiesta
"A tie-up with VW Group will apparently see it develop an EV on the Volkswagen ID3’s ‘MEB’ platform, but it’ll probably be a while yet before that car’s finished. So for now the new mild-hybrid Fiesta, which starts at £19,860, is the only small electrified Ford hatch you can buy."
Review: Mitsubishi Outlander
"It'll be a perfect tool for some, but cheap plastics and an underpowered drivetrain mean it'll never be loved"
This road-legal Pikes Peak RUF CTR2 is all kinds of incredible
"Do auction lots get any better than this? Currently for sale at RM Sotheby’s online-only European Sale is this: the very first of only 16 widebody Ruf CTR2 Sports, and one of two that was built specifically for the Pikes Peak hill climb in 1997."
Advertisement - Page continues belowListen to the Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport being thrashed on track
"We know that Bugatti is working hard to make sure the Pur Sport isn’t just another special edition Chiron. It’s 50kg lighter than the car on which it’s based. Pointier and more aggressive with heavily revised suspension, shorter gearing and a huge wing."
Novitec’s Ferrari F8 Tributo has 787bhp
"With a plug-and-play ECU that introduces new mapping and modifies the turbo boost pressure, Novitec has managed to up the F8’s figures to a frankly astounding 787bhp and 651lb ft. Crikey. The result is 0-62mph in 2.7 seconds (0.2 seconds quicker than standard) and a top speed of somewhere above 211mph."
Advertisement - Page continues belowEverything we know about the BMW iX3
"Good news for all you electric SUV enthusiasts out there – the BMW iX3 is still on track for a 2020 launch. The homologation process – which involved 340 hours and 7,700km of testing in the space of just four weeks – is now finished, and the final tweaks are currently being made to the 200th pre-production prototype."
Liberty Walk’s take on the Toyota Supra is predictably wild
"Check out those arch extensions and that ridiculously big rear spoiler. Old-school Supras were pretty much fair game for tuners, and that attitude seems to be transferring over to the new one too. It’s part of the Supra’s heritage."
Porsche Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid review: first UK drive
"Fast SUVs with beefy V8s are a tough sell these days: your kids love Greta, and Greta does not love big, thirsty SUVs. But she does love electric cars. And this Cayenne is also one of those."
You want nothing more than this 500bhp RWD Mini Cooper
"Five. Hundred. Horsepower. In something weighing as much as a squeaky dog toy. It is the work of a company called Gildred Racing, who will build just 10 of these so-called ‘Super Cooper Type S’ models because that’s really enough."
Has this British company ‘fixed’ the Aston Martin Vantage’s face?
"Welcome to the Vantage by Revenant Automotive. The British start-up company reckons it’s spotted a market for a more traditional-looking baby Aston – a new twin-turbo V8 Vantage that looks, well, a tad more like the impossibly pretty old Vantage."
Nikola Motors is worth more that FCA, even though it hasn’t delivered any cars
"The spike came after the Arizona-based start-up announced it would start taking pre-orders for its EV/fuel-cell pick-up, the fantastically-named ‘Badger’, on 29 June. The company is yet to generate any revenue, but claims it’s sitting on $10billion worth of orders for electric & hydrogen fuel-cell commercial vehicles, which it should start delivering next year."
Review: Seat Mii Electric
"Seat's take on the VW Up & Skoda Citigo is a damn good EV. Though of the three, it's not the one we'd have"
This 690bhp Audi S8 is ‘faster than a 992 Porsche’
"ABT has fitted a new ECU to control the S8’s 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8, and where it once delivered a really perfectly adequate 563bhp, it now delivers 690bhp and 650lb ft of torque."
Mazda’s top eight rotary-powered concept cars
"Starting with the Cosmo in 1967, Mazda has built more than two million rotary-powered cars. The last rotary-powered Mazda, the RX-8, went out of production in 2012. But the tech is coming back – first, the 100-year-old company will build a version of the new MX-30 EV that uses a small rotary engine as a range-extender."
The beginner's guide to Peugeot
"Originally, the company made coffee grinders and bicycles (how Parisian is that?) but it wasn’t until 1896 that Emile’s son Armand Peugeot broke away with the family name to set up a car company – still with the lion emblem – and became a proper automobile maker."
Legendary Porsche engineer Hans Mezger has died
"Mezger was part of Porsche’s first Formula One programme in 1960. Soon after he developed the 901 air-cooled flat-six that powered the first-generation 911, and would inform the design of all 911 engines until the water-cooled 996."
The Alpina B5 is a 613bhp, 205mph BMW 5 Series
"The pre-facelift B5 had a nice, round 600bhp. But thanks to an ECU tweak and better cooling, the new car’s 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 makes 613bhp and 590lb ft. Aided by xDrive all-wheel drive and a fettled eight-speed auto, the saloon takes just 3.4 seconds to reach 62mph from rest and can hit 205mph."
You need this one-off, £850k aluminium Aston V12 Zagato
"This car is one of just two pre-production cars and the only V12 Zagato with a full aluminium body, as opposed to a carbon/aluminium mix. It has also been subjected to a full recommissioning."
This is the new Porsche Cayenne GTS, and it has a V8 again
"This is the new Porsche Cayenne GTS, and it is a 2.2-tonne middle finger to downsizing. Yes folks, it’s 2020, and the goldilocks of Porsche’s sports SUV range now returns with a big V8."
Audi R8 RWD review: entry-level, rear-drive supercar’s first UK test
"It’s the entry-level R8, so has the naturally aspirated V10 in its least potent 533bhp guise, driving the rear wheels through a seven speed twin clutch gearbox. The diff is mechanical, the dampers aren’t adaptive or adjustable. It’s the simplest R8."
Trending this week
- Long Term Review
- Car Review
