The Citroen BX 4TC: a car so awesome, Citroen wants to destroy it.
Category Archives: Car of the Week
Car of the Week: Lamborghini Diablo SV
Yes, the Car of the Week section is back after a long absence, as we were way too busy with other stuff around here. This week’s car is really special, one of my all-time favourites: the Lamborghini Diablo SV.
Car of the Week: Ferrari F40
Our Car of the Week this time is literally a legend. It is the first production car ever to top the 200 mph mark, built by one of the biggest names in the supercar industry: Ferrari. Some journalists have praised it as the best supercar ever over the years and we sort of agree. The Ferrari F40.
Car of the Week: Saab Sonett
We haven’t done a Car of the Week for some time now, as we’ve been very busy. Now though, the feature is back.
With Saab’s future looking bad, we decided to make a Saab our Car of the Week. The Saab Sonett was an obvious choice, being a brilliant little sports car.
Car of the Week: Lancia Stratos
Well, it’s that time of the week again and we have another brilliant machine worthy of our Car of the Week award: the truly magnificent Lancia Stratos.
Car of the Week: Jaguar XJR X308
Now, this week’s Car of the Week is a bit late, and I apologize. I’ve had my hands full with Car of the Year awards, the loads of news we’re getting, and other things relating to the blog. So then, let’s cut to the chase. This week’s car is the Jaguar XJR, the X308 to be exact.
Car of the Week – Volkswagen Golf GTI
The first and the last Golf GTI's - probably 2 of the best from the bloodline.
This week, although a bit late, we have one of those great originals in the Car of the Week section – the VW Golf GTI. This is a car that revolutionised the world of hatchbacks, the very first hot-hatch. The GTI badge has been taken since then by a million companies and all the other tried to emulate the brilliance of the Golf GTI but none of them succeeded.
As it is a bit special this week, we won’t designate a specific Golf generations as the winner but 3: The GTI Mark I, V and VI – all of them brilliant, all of them worthy of the mighty GTI badge. You might wonder why? Why not all of them? Why just these random numbers: 1,5 and 6. Well, let me explain why. First of all, the Golf Mk. I was the original, the very first hot hatchback, one of the fastest cars at its time. It’s just brilliant: practical, good-looking in a subtle kind of way and fast like stink. However the next generations, the 2,3 and 4, all become more civilised and slower, eventually ending no longer as a hot hatchback but just as a normal one with a bit more power. VW got their act together though and the last 2 GTI’s, the 5 and the 6 were absolutely brilliant. Not the fastest anymore, but the best overall. Being the fastest today with cars like the Renault Megane R26.R is very hard while trying to keep practicality, so bear in mind the Renault is a hot-hatch, but transformed into a track day car.
Clean is the word I would use to describe the style of the very first GTI.
The Golf GTI offers you quite literally everything: from tedious practicality to insane speed, all in this decent, quite cheap package. The most amazing thing however is that the Mk. I Golf is one of the longest lasting cars in history having being produced from 1984 to 2009. Yup, until this year they were still making them in South Africa. It’s that good. And the fast, hot version is the best. It handles like a dream as it is quite a small car so weight isn’t a problem. Even though it’s front-wheel drive it’s responsive and accurate and corners neat and flat. Just brilliant. The first one may have been cheap at its time and sold like hot cakes, but it’s already a classic today, and a good one will set you back quite a lot more than you’d think for such a small car. Anyway, this is one of the best cars ever made so it’s definitely worth a shout in our Car of the Week section.
You don’t believe me? Then watch Jeremy Clarkson being seduced by the Golf in this classic video:
Car of the Week: Audi R10 TDI
We’ve had a few Cars of the Week now, but this will our first race car: The Audi R10 TDI.
Car Of The Week: Alfa Romeo 156
Until now, in the Car of The Week section we had the Toyota Celica from Japan, then we had the Mercedes CLK Black from Germany and now we’ve got this: the gorgeous Alfa Romeo 156 from Italy.
Car of The Week: Mercedes-Benz CLK63 AMG Black Series
So then, this is our second car of the week, this time done by Igor (Blog doesn’t show the author of the posts, I’m aware and working on getting this fixed).
The car I’ve chosen is Mercedes’ CLK Black, my favourite car. I’ll start you off with some facts. They based it on the CLK63 AMG. They pulled out some unnecessary parts though, changed the body, modified the engine and a few other things. The result is that they’ve turned the fairly civilized CLK63 AMG into a full on road warrior. That 6.2L V8, standard issue on most AMGs, is putting out 507hp and 465lb-ft of torque. That’s plenty of power. It’s sent to the rear wheels through a 7-gear flappy-paddle gearbox, which also has an automatic mode when you just want to relax. The car weighs just under 2 metric tonnes, which seems like plenty, but the power compensates, resulting in a 0-60 time of 4.1 seconds, and it’ll keep on going up to 186mph.
These figures can’t explain why this car is so great though. Many people have blamed it for being overpriced. You have to look beyond the figures to figure out the appeal though and why it’s worth the price. This car is all about the driving experience. It’s a joy to drive and the engine makes an absolutely fantastic noise. Once you’re done having fun, it’ll take you comfortably home. The gearbox has got an automatic mode, there’s a phone, radio, sat-nav, air-con, and though the ride isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, it’s tolerable. Practicality isn’t too bad either, while there aren’t any rear seats, the trunk is fairly spacious, and you can always use that space where the seats used to be if something doesn’t fit in the trunk. So then, to finish this off, here’s a video review done by Jeremy Clarkson to demonstrate the noise, and sum up everything I just said.