In recent years, we’ve seen the advent of tiny, and arguably useless, crossovers – the Audi Q3 and BMW X1 come to mind. But such machines aren’t exclusive to the Germans. The Nissan Juke and the Ford EcoSport are also examples of such cars, and now Mazda is rumoured to be joining the bandwagon with a car they’ll call the CX-3.
Saturday has nearly come to an end. To some it may have been a very good day, and to others not so much. Whichever group you belong to, let’s end the day on a positive note with this photo of the unsung heroes of Le Mans – the safety cars. With the RS4’s throaty 4.2L V8, and the baritone 5.0L V10 of the S6, I’m sure these cars complimented the racecar noises wonderfully when called to their duties at the 2007 iteration of the race.
Image Credit: David Lewis (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Quite a few people these days complain about the bland colour choice available on some cars – and when you look around, they may have a point. But that doesn’t mean everyone offers nothing but bland colours. There are some excellent colour choices on sale today. So, what’s your favourite?
Have you ever looked at the BMW 3 Series Coupe and just thought to yourself, “I wish it were a series up.”? Nor have I. But BMW hasn’t been a terribly big fan of logical lineups lately, so they’ve replaced the 3 Series Coupe with this 4 Series Coupe.
Fast wagons may be a dying trend for some manufacturers, but at Audi they’re tradition. Audi’s first two high-performance RS-cars, the RS2 and RS4 Avant, were only offered as wagons. And although they veered away from tradition thereafter, they’re back in the game with the all-new RS6 Avant. The best part? On paper, this car absolutely obliterates the competition.
Although there’s a myriad of good reasons to avoid a V12 engine when buying a luxury barge, let’s face it — you want all twelve cylinders. Thanks to the way internal combustion works, they have a silky-smoothness that just can’t be matched by smaller power plants. However, because of the price premium they command, combined with the recent importance of fuel efficiency, the V12’s popularity has been dwindling. As a result, BMW says they’re not certain the next-generation 7-Series will have a 12-cylinder option.
Those of you who follow motorsports will probably agree with me that racecar livery is quite important. No, not important in the go-fast sense, but rather by making the car stand out. Many liveries have even become iconic over the years, such as the John Player Special colours from Lotus’ Formula 1 team, or the Martini Racing warpaint featured on all sorts of cars over the years. So, that got me thinking: what’s your favourite racing livery?
Gentlemen and ladies, a moment of silence, please, for yet another excellent wagon. If a report by Car and Driver is to be believed, then Cadillac is reportedly scrapping the CTS wagon when the next-generation model comes around — including the 556 horsepower, rear-wheel-drive CTS-V Sport Wagon.
Cruise control, anti-lock brakes, traction control – these are all examples of technologies that started life in high-end cars commanding more money than the majority of us could afford. But nowadays, you’d be hard-pressed to find a car that doesn’t come with them all. The same is likely to happen with many technologies that are currently out of our reach. But which one of these technologies would you most like to see trickle down to cheap cars in the future?
When Porsche rolled out the latest iteration of the 911, we only received two variants – the Carrera and Carrera S. But later we got a convertible, and then all-wheel-drive versions. And so the gradual roll-out of the whole lineup continues, with a teaser video of the latest version of the 911 GT3 Cup.