Why Not to Buy a Porsche – The Worst Sports Car

rev up your engines!Porsche’s they’re beautiful cars, they have great handling and quickacceleration, and today I’m going to tell you why you should never buy one, a customer of minejust purchased this one as a toy, he paid about $7000 for it, it’s only got68 thousand miles on it and it looks beautiful, but somebody paid over fiftythousand dollars for this car when it was brand new, so why oh why did it lose 43thousand dollars of its 50 thousand dollar value, when it still looks so goodand still runs decently, and here comes the answer, it’s got a mid-engine whichis great for handling, but horrible for repair, as you can see in this picturethe engine is way up front here in the middle, it’s very hard to work on, youcan’t even see it without taking a body off, so in an actual car that’s allhidden way down in here, say something like a water pump goes out and when welook under the car, needless to say there’s not too much working room upthere in the engine, this thing is really something to work on when you have anengine problem, well in a normal car with the engine in the front, I can do mostwater pumps in an hour or so, might cost you two or three hundred bucks, but on thisthing, just changing out a water pump is going to cost you well over a thousanddollars, and literally that’s just the tip of the iceberg, I had a customer with a911 Porsche, it needed two catalytic converters, and the bill would have beenover seventy four hundred dollars to replace them, he just got rid of the carinstead, now yes they aren’t really fun cars to drive and my customer was smart, hegot a standard transmission, because they’re pretty reliable but theautomatics, they’re very unreliable as they age and cost a fortune to rebuildand while they do corner and drive quite well, they actually have a very roughride, especially with these low profile tires, every time I get one and I’m doneroad testing it, I asked my wife if she wants to go for a ride, she says nothanks I hate those things they ride like go-karts, now if your looking forstyle, hey this might be for you, a lot of people say they’re beautiful lawnornaments, now Janis Joplin sang about how all her friends drove Porsches, butreally, following Janis Joplin’s lifestyle may not be sucha smart choice, and remember if you’ve got any car questions just visit theScotty Kilmer channel,so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair videos, remember toring that Bell!

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2018 Aston Martin DB11 AMR review

IF THE “old” V12-powered Aston Martin DB11 is James Bond sitting at the bar in a dinner jacket, then its replacement — the new DB11 AMR — is him in lurid ski wear, skimming down an Alpine slope in a hail of gunfire.

It looks louder, goes quicker and makes more noise, although probably no more than you would expect when AMR stands for Aston Martin Racing.

Traditionalists will doubtless question the decision to put a lime green stripe down a car from a brand as renowned for good taste as Aston Martin, but those people probably haven’t seen for themselves how good the bestriped DB11 AMR looks in the metal.

Then again, if you’re still unconvinced, you’ll be glad to hear only the Signature Editions (of which just 100 will be built) get the stripe.

Standard AMR models, as shown in the main gallery, will be less polarising — they get a smattering of carbon fibre on the bonnet and sills, smoked lights and glossy black details on the grille, roof and rear diffuser. All these features make the already handsome DB11 look meaner and more purposeful.

The sporty theme continues inside, where you get exposed carbon fibre trim pieces, yellow stripes down the AMR-embossed seats and plenty of Alcantara. It’s a smart design, with an eight-inch infotainment system from Mercedes that’s easy to use.

Not so good are the Aston’s cheap interior plastics — in the air vents, for example. They’d feel low-rent in a car with a price of £50,000, let alone one costing more than three times that.

It’s probably our duty to inform you that the rear seats are only suitable for small children and the boot isn’t huge. But frankly, if you’re looking for practicality, you’re in the wrong place — performance is what the DB11 AMR is all about and it 5.2-litre twin-turbocharged V12 ensures it has plenty.

This hefty lump of prime British beef produces 630bhp — 30bhp up on the regular V12 — which is enough to get the Aston from 0-62mph in 3.7 seconds and keep going until it hits 208mph.

On the road, those numbers translate to relentless performance and a sound that could wake the dead.

What’s less expected is the way the AMR corners. Its quick, evenly weighted steering gives you the confidence to push the Aston into bends, there’s very little body lean and its near-perfect weight distribution helps it feel balanced. Only the spongy brakes and jerky gearchanges spoil the experience when you’re pressing on.

Overall, though, the Aston makes more sense when you don’t drive like a lunatic. Stick it in GT mode and the suspension is compliant but also taught — not as floaty as the outgoing Bentley Continental GT — and the exhaust is muffled, so you can make swift progress without producing a whole lot of noise.

The same features mean that early-morning starts don’t have to wake the neighbours, but the less-than-smooth transmission can be wearing at low speeds, and the DB11’s long bonnet a little daunting to thread down roads packed with traffic.

That’s not the point of the AMR, though. It’s a car that can gobble up huge distances comfortably, yet be entertaining when you come across the right road. The lime green stripe might not be standard, but an engaging drive is, and that’s a good enough reason to choose the Aston over most rivals.

Click to see how much you can save on a new car at carwow.

Aston Martin DB11 AMR rivals

Bentley Continental GT
Price £151,615 – £214,625 but save £28,037 on average at carwow

Lexus LC500
Price £76,595 – £91,995 view on carwow

Or, for a more affordable alternative, check out the Mercedes C-class Coupé
Price £32,330 – £50,675 but save £6,056 on average at carwow

 

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source https://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/2018-aston-martin-db11-amr-review/

Extended Test: 2018 Lexus NX 300h review

Specifications

• Model 2018 Lexus NX300h F-Sport P Navi
• Motor 2,494cc four-cylinder petrol
• Power (engine) 153bhp @ 5,700rpm
• Power (electric motor) 141bhp
• Power (max. combined) 195bhp
• Torque (max. combined) 152 lb ft
• Kerb weight 1,785kg
• Towing capacity 1,500kg (braked) / 750 (unbraked)
• Top speed 112mph
• 0-62mph 9.2sec
• Fuel consumption (NEDC lab test) 54.3mpg (combined)
• CO2 emissions 121g/km
• Road tax £155 for first year; £440 for years 2-6 (attracts £310 charge for cars over £40,000); £130 thereafter
• BIK tax (24mths, 20,000 miles) 25%; £1,989 (20%) or £3,979 (40%)
• Insurance group 32E
• Price F-Sport from £39,995 OTR
• Price with options £41,360 OTR
• Options fitted Azure Blue paint (£645); Protection Pack (£400); Trunk guard (£320)

Test details

• Test period April – October, 2018
• Starting mileage ~750 miles (TBC)

Updates

• June 1, 2018 Introduction to the Lexus NX & driving impressions

 

June 1, 2018: Introduction to the Lexus NX

Well played, Lexus. It — and parent brand Toyota, of course — saw the benefits of petrol-electric hybrid cars and ploughed on with the technology when many car enthusiasts and writers were unrelenting in expressing the view that they are dull and unrewarding to drive.

And now look: diesel sales are plummeting, due to negative press over the nasty nitrogen oxide gases they can pump out, and conventional petrol cars are doomed, too. By 2040, no new cars sold in the UK will be allowed to be powered solely by petrol or diesel; they must all be at least hybrid. Lexus has permission to enter “Smug Mode”, as Red Dwarf’s mechanoid Kryten might say.

If you’re reading this because you’re under the impression that you need to switch to hybrid as soon as possible, though, think again. That 2040 date is a long way off — seven new cars away for some drivers, according to the boss of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

“Having one sat on your driveway indicates that you’re not at all interested in following the pack”

And punitive measures such as toxicity charges for diesel cars are likely to be localised, so they can still make most sense for anyway doing a lot of motorway driving. And don’t forget, petrol engines are often better than diesel for people who do a mix of town and country motoring.

It has to be said, though, hybrid may well be the way to go for anyone doing a lot of city and suburban driving, especially if a pure-electric car isn’t appropriate (say, if you don’t have off-street parking and a place to install a domestic charging point).

Having driven the Lexus NX 300h for more than a month now, I can tell you I’m averaging over 37mpg, which isn’t bad for a heavy, mid-size SUV — that’s about the same as an equivalent diesel could manage, as we showed in our triple test a couple of weeks back.

So what is the Lexus NX? In a nutshell, it’s the baby sister of the RX crossover SUV, being 26cm shorter and 5cm narrower. It was launched in 2014 along with a rather silly marketing campaign involving will.i.am that saw the musician champion the brand’s “provocative design and technology”.

It was certainly a striking design at the time — all creases and sharp edges — and it’s testament to Lexus’s vision that it has aged well, and that rival car makers have followed its design example in the intervening years.

The NX still looks contemporary but it isn’t nearly as jarring to look at as it once was. In fact, the design has really grown on me, and in the metal the NX looks super — especially in F-Sport with this optional Azure Blue paint, which sparkles gloriously in the sun.

Having a Lexus NX sat on your driveway indicates that you’re not at all interested in following the pack; that you want something different from, and more exclusive than, the Nissan Kumquats and Ford Frugals clogging up the roads outside schools. I’ll go into more details on the exterior and interior design in a later update.

Lexus’s crossover was originally only sold as a hybrid but, since 2015 it’s been available with a 2-litre turbocharged petrol engine, too. The majority of the cars are still the “300h” hybrids as tested here, though, which combine a 2.5-litre petrol engine with one or two electric motors and a high voltage battery to produce a maximum of 195bhp.

Between now and October, I’ll be using it for my daily commute (23 miles each way, from the edge of London into the city centre) and weekend excursions with the family, and reporting back on my findings.

As I’ve already driven the car extensively, I have a lot to say, but will start off with the driving impressions before covering topics such as its appropriateness for families, accessories and options, running costs, bugbears and highlights, at a later date. Bookmark this page and come back for the updates.

Driving impressions

Quite a lot of reviews of the NX are less than flattering about what it feels like to drive. As always, we’re not particularly interested in what the other reviewers have to say; here’s an honest, independent appraisal rather than one pitched at petrolheads.

To understand the feel of the car, it helps if you have a basic knowledge of its mechanics; I’ll try to keep it short and sweet so as not to bore you to death…

Here’s a basic introduction from Lexus to how a hybrid system works:

The NX is slightly more complex in that the electric motor and the petrol engine connected to the front wheels are joined (in all but the entry-level “S” trim) by a second electric motor connected to the rear wheels, making it a four-wheel drive car.

Lexus calls the system “E-Four” because it’s unlike a traditional 4WD, which connects the rear axle to the engine via a prop shaft (a mechanical connection). Instead, the electric motor at the rear only needs an electrical signal via a wire to start turning.

It’s a completely automatic system, so there’s no 4WD button in the cockpit; if you’re on a  slippery surface, the car’s computer brain will decide to reduced power to the front wheels and instead divert it to the motor at the rear.

Lexus says E-Four’s advantage is that it is light and compact, and reduces fuel consumption and emissions over mechanical 4WD systems. Makes sense.

It would have been better to test the car over the winter, when there’s more chance to drive on snow and ice, but I have driven the car in the rain and the NX has remained reassuringly sure-footed at all times, even pushing through corners, and the introduction of power to the rear wheels is imperceptible.

The hybrid system does encourage you to drive as if there’s an egg under the accelerator pedals, though — feathering the throttle makes a big difference to your fuel economy, and avoids the nasty washing machine like whirr from the petrol engine when you do decide to floor it.

There are no gears in the NX — it uses a continuously variable transmission (CVT), which adjusts the speed transfer from the engine to the wheels via a pulley system, like this:

It means you don’t get that steady rise and sudden drop in revs as you accelerate and slip through the cogs, rather a smooth and, yes, continuous rise and fall.

In fact, as the engine is not only powering the wheels but also helping charge the battery, and you can drive on electric power alone at low speeds, the engine can seem to have a mind of its own, as it fires up and whirrs away without reflecting accurately what your right foot is doing.

And herein lies the problem for most car enthusiasts — they want a car to respond in a predictable manner, according to their inputs — they don’t want it to have a mind of its own.

But the Lexus/Toyota hybrid system works the way it does for a reason: fuel efficiency. If that is your chief concern, rather than a crisp, predictable engine note, you’ll get on fine with the Lexus NX.

What you’ll be more concerned about is that, when you do need to put your foot down, the car has a decent turn of pace. The 300h isn’t a sports car but it isn’t a slouch, either, with a 9.2sec time from 0-62mph.

You’ll still get the whining engine note, though. It’s lucky, then, that one of the benefits of buying a Lexus is noise insulation — sound deadening really is superb on the NX.

So that’s performance; what about ride and handling?

Well, this will vary greatly depending on whether you get a standard NX or one with the Lexus Adaptive Variable Suspension, which is included as an option on our NX 300h F-Sport test car and adjusts the damping at each wheel independently as you drive. For the uninitiated, dampers work to stop the springs — and thus the car — from boinging all over the place like a pogo after you hit a bump.

The Lexus AVS system is an active version that monitors the car’s roll, pitch and yaw rate, as well as vehicle speed and steering input, and tries to keep the car stable and comfortable at all speeds and in all conditions.

On the whole, it works very well to keep the car stable but with the drive mode set to Normal, it offers a slightly unpredictable ride, at times being too stiff, such as over potholes, and at other times being a little soft. Under heavy braking, the nose can dip quite dramatically and the rebound can make the car feel like a bit of a wobbly blancmange.

Although a little unpleasant at times, it’s by no means terrible and as you spend most of the time wafting around rather than driving hard, it’s perfectly acceptable. Importantly for commuters and school run trips, over road humps at low speed, the car feels comfortable and composed. You just feel that other car makers have managed to do a better job at getting their active suspension systems to feel right in all conditions, at all times.

Cornering is more consistent, with a decent weight to the steering and body roll kept in check.

Stick it in Sport mode (which changes the digital power dial into a rev counter — very slick), and the powertrain becomes much more responsive and the whole thing stiffens up nicely. last week I pushed it a little bit along some country roads and was wowed at the difference in handling that it makes. I enjoyed it, even.

Of course, it drained the battery in no time and massively impacted fuel efficiency, but it was a lesson that driving a hybrid Lexus SUV doesn’t have to be the joyless, lacklustre experience that some other road testers have suggested.

Next time: why I have already had to make a visit to a Lexus dealer.

• Mileage today ~2,015 miles (TBC)
• Distance since start >1,000 miles (TBC)
• Average consumption 37.2mpg (indicated)

Want to ask a question? Contact me via Twitter:

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The post Extended Test: 2018 Lexus NX 300h review appeared first on Sunday Times Driving.

source https://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/extended-tests/extended-test-2018-lexus-nx-300h-review/

2018 Toyota Land Cruiser review

THE TRADITIONAL 4×4 has been rather rudely elbowed aside by the modern SUV. Look around and the roads are a sea of high-riding, smooth-looking SUVs with odd-sounding names and drivers that worry about mounting a raised kerb outside the school gates, let alone a wet Welsh hillside in the depths of winter.

One in five new cars sold last year was an SUV. British drivers can’t get enough of them. And since the Land Rover Defender ended production, in early 2016, the choice of hardy, hard-working 4x4s has been limited to pick-up trucks. And the Land Cruiser.

Like the Defender, the Land Cruiser’s roots lie in the wartime. The original model was called BJ, begging the question, were troops ever ordered to perform a full-frontal assault by BJ?

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To impress prospective customers, Toyota had a BJ tackle Mount Fuji. It climbed higher than any vehicle before it and the legend was born.

Today, most drivers choose it because they need a car with serious off-road capability and good towing abilities. The fact it’s a practical, seven-seat family car (with all seats now forward-facing) is a bonus.

Those drivers will probably keep it forever. Toyota offers a five year warranty – two more than Land Rover – and owners often celebrate Land Cruiser ownership in decades rather than years.

For 2018, the car has had a minor facelift. But the changes are largely to move things like the headlight bulbs out of harms way, so they don’t get clobbered by trees and branches, and to raise the lower parts of the bumpers so that the Land Cruiser driver can tackle scarily-steel inclines without having to stop and pick up a bumper that’s been ripped from its mounts.

Inside, some improvements have been made to the dashboard and controls, but climb from the Scandi-chic surroundings of a Volvo XC90 into the plastic-fantastic vibe of the Toyota and you’ll be shocked. It’s all a bit Aiwa tower stereo system, circa 1990.

That said, it has a hose-it-clean feel that probably suits the sort of people who buy one just fine. And there’s full smartphone integration via the Toyota Touch 2 system, which at least gives good functionality even if it looks old-tech on screen.

The five door Land Cruiser will seat seven people in reasonable comfort, if you slide the middle row of seats forward, but with seven seats raised the boot is pathetically small, holding just 120 litres of luggage.

The real shock comes when you drive it. It may well be an improvement over the previous model, but the fact remains that everything about the way this car drives on roads is antiquated. If a modern SUV feels like it’s been to finishing school, the Land Cruiser is a school drop-out.

There’s also a new Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (KDSS), fitted to Invincible models, which we tried. It is said to manage the front and rear anti-roll bars for better on and off-road performance, suppressing body roll, improving steering response and smoothing out the ride comfort over rough roads. This works in tandem with adaptive dampers, which can be cycled between Normal, Comfort and Sport.

Even so, it still rolls, pitches and dives continually on anything other than a clear main road. Because of this, you tend to drive slowly everywhere.

That’s a good thing. Because the 2.8-litre four-cylinder, turbo diesel engine is hardly the last word in refinement. Toyota says it has improved the car’s levels of cabin noise but truth be told you’ll be reaching for a pair of ear plugs each time you accelerate.

Off-road, it seems to shrug and ask, ‘Is that all you’ve got?’

It’s also leisurely. Rival cars costing more than £50,000 tend to serve up brisk acceleration from smooth six or eight-cylinder diesel motors, but the Toyota takes 12.7 seconds to pass 60mph, and the six-speed automatic gearbox is pretty workmanlike in the way it goes about its business.

Take it off-road, though, and the tough Toyota comes into its own. The Land Cruiser is impressively capable, tackling off-road courses that resemble a bombed-out battlefield with ease.

Climbs, descents, banks and water up to 70cm are all taken comfortably in its stride. It seems to shrug and ask, ‘Is that all you’ve got?’.

There are settings for Snow, Rocks, Mud and Sand and even Moguls – and you can watch the obstacles from the screen in the dashboard, thanks to cameras that offer a 360 view.

Invincible models also have differential locks in both the centre and rear, and with high and low ratio settings for the transmission – operated at the twist of a dial – it’s easy to make progress.

For those who tow, features such as active cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning and a system designed to prevent a trailer swaying from side to side all help keep the car on the straight and narrow.

Sure, there’s a lot that’s dated about the Land Cruiser, especially from the perspective of driving it normally, on the road. But it’s hard not to fall for the car’s charms.

This is the car that farmers buy when they secretly hope that fellow farmers will get stuck in their Land Rover Discovery, and phone them for help. The last action hero, if you like. And long may it continue, warts and all.

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Group Test: Land Rover Defender vs Toyota Land Cruiser and Mitsubishi Shogun

The post 2018 Toyota Land Cruiser review appeared first on Sunday Times Driving.

source https://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/2018-toyota-land-cruiser-review/

2018 Volvo V60 review

THERE CAN’T be many car manufacturers who’ve gone through as much of a revolution in the last few years as Volvo. Once a maker of what were perceived to be little more than bulletproof boxes on wheels, the Swedish company is now producing some of the world’s coolest cars.

They include various sizes of XC (crossover SUVs) and, given their runaway sales, you’d be forgiven for assuming that Volvo would be looking to concentrate wholly on these rugged high-riders. But the launch of the new V60 proves that the Volvo estate isn’t going anywhere.

It also shows that the company’s recent run of super-stylish models is continuing apace.

The 2018 V60 is a remarkably sleek estate with now-familiar Volvo brand features, like the ‘Thor’s Hammer’ headlights. And, inside, there’s the large portrait-style infotainment touchscreen, which makes it a doddle to follow sat-nav instructions while lending the dash a look that’s leagues ahead of the pack in terms of contemporary style.

As it controls most of the car’s systems, there’s no need for a sea of physical buttons, allowing the dashboard to look pleasingly minimalist. However, it does mean your eye can wander from the road rather too often to find functions that would otherwise have been easy to locate by touch alone.

Traditional Volvo buyers will be heartened by the fact that the new V60 isn’t all style over function; its eye-catching aesthetics very effectively disguise impressive capaciousness.

Those travelling in the front will find they have plenty of space, even if they’re tall. And with electric height adjustment on the driver’s seat as standard across the range, it’s easy to get comfortable behind the wheel.

In the back, too, passengers will have plenty of head and knee room; the only complaint is the lack of space for feet when the driver’s seat is in its lowest position.

For all that, the new V60’s trump card is its boot, which is slightly larger than you’d find in the BMW 3-series Touring, Mercedes C-class estate and Audi A4 avant. With rear seats folded, it accommodates a whopping 1,441 litres of kit.

Traditional Volvo buyers will be heartened by the fact that the new V60 isn’t all style over function

Volvo hasn’t forgotten the practical touches, either; “easy” is the operative word when it comes to loading the V60. There’s no lip to lift items over and the floor is completely flat, so heavy loads can be slid straight in. And the huge opening means even large items are easy to pack away; it should easily swallow a bicycle without you having to take the wheels off.

Then, once you’ve loaded up and hit the road, it’s hard to find fault with the V60. It’s especially good on long motorway trips but even on country roads, the V60 is impressive, with plenty of grip and limited body lean.

In fact, the only place it gets caught out a little is in town, where it can feel a little bumpy over poor surfaces and the wide pillars at the front and rear of the car create a couple of blind spots.

For now, the D4 diesel engine is the obvious choice, as it combines great fuel economy with enough power to shuffle the V60 along at a decent pace even when it is fully loaded.

We tested it with the optional eight-speed automatic gearbox and while it can be a little slow to respond when you want a quick burst of acceleration, it changes gears smoothly and matches the relaxed nature of the rest of the car.

Which all means that the V60 manages an impressive double act; it’s both an extremely smart executive cruiser and an unfeasibly practical family wagon. It’s not the best driver’s car out there, but you can’t have everything.

Click to see how much you can save on a new car at carwow.

Volvo V60 rivals

BMW 3-series Touring

Price £27,760 – £45,975 but save £4,607 on average at carwow

Audi A4 Avant

Price £29,255 – £46,610 but save £4,619 on average at carwow

 

If you want an affordable alternative, go with: Dacia Logan MCV

Price £8,495 – £12,695 but save £178 on average at carwow

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The post 2018 Volvo V60 review appeared first on Sunday Times Driving.

source https://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/first-drive/2018-volvo-v60-review/

The Jeremy Clarkson Review: 2018 Ferrari 812 Superfast

A FEW years ago I drove the then new Ferrari F12 in Scotland and emerged with a white face and what looked like the onset of Parkinson’s. Ooh, it was a scary thing. Yes, the weather was being all Scottish and, yes, the road surface was not ideally suited to a car with a simply enormous amount of bang-and-you’re-on-it power. But it was the size of the thing that worried me most of all.

It felt as though I was trying to steer an aircraft carrier with an out-of-control nuclear reactor up the Kennet and Avon canal. You didn’t drive this car. On roads like that, in the rain, you hung on for dear life and whimpered like a dog on bonfire night. Some questioned my petrolhead credentials when I returned and, after some medication, said the F12 was a car with too much power. “‘Too much power’?” they wailed. “That’s like saying your penis is too big. It’s impossible.”

I still feel, however, that I was correct. And I reckoned that what Ferrari needed to do next was go back to basics and make a small, 2-litre car. I drew it in my head and it was very pretty. It would have about 300bhp, a fast gearbox, the lightness of touch for which Ferrari was famous and a price tag of around £100,000.

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But instead what Ferrari has done is replace the F12 with a car that’s even bigger and even more powerful. It’s so powerful, in fact, that it’s called the Superfast. And it’s so big that when you emerge from a turning, you need to stick 6ft of bonnet into the road before you can see if it’s safe to pull out.

Let’s start with the little things that are wrong with it. In the night it’s as paranoid as a cokehead, because every morning it flashed up a message on the dash saying a break-in had been attempted, even though CCTV said no such thing had happened.

Then there are its seatbelts. My car was fitted with £2,000-worth of optional racing harnesses that were nearly impossible to do up properly. What’s more, there were many sharp edges, which my girlfriend said, as she sat there like the star of an S&M movie, would play havoc if you were wearing a chiffon dress. I’m not sure that’d bother most customers, but you never know …

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Of rather more concern is the turning circle, which is stupidly large, and the reflection of the yellow trim in the windscreen. Then there’s an astonishingly cheap wiper switch, the usual Ferrari problem of indicator controls on the steering wheel — which means they’re never where you left them — and a curious piece of string hanging into the passenger footwell. I pulled it, of course, but nothing happened. Maybe it had something to do with the imaginary burglar.

There’s much to annoy, then, but there’s much, when you put your foot down, to make your eyes go wide and your girlfriend say: “As soon as I get this bondage gear off, I’m going to f****** kill you.” This is a car that can get from 0 to 62mph in 2.9 seconds. And onwards to a top speed of 211mph. It’s really, really fast and really, really noisy.

Much has been done to get the weight as low as possible. Suppliers were told to shed as much as possible from every component if they didn’t want to wake up in bed with a horse’s head. But this car still weighs more than 1.6 tons. And you sense it.

You also sense the size, and the mere fact that I didn’t end up in a hedge is testimony to some brilliant engineering. The lightness of the controls, the four-wheel steering system, the dazzling speed of the double-clutch gearchanges … Ferrari has had to employ every trick in the book to make its Torrey Canyon feel like a speedboat.

“The main clientele for the Superfast is the chaps who arrive in London every August with an Antonov full of purple-metal-flake Lambos and G-class wagons”

I did not drive the car in the rain, or Scotland, but I can tell you that somehow Ferrari’s managed it. It’s managed to get 789bhp from the massive, gravelly 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12, through the gearbox and perfectly normal Pirelli P Zero tyres and onto the road in such a way that a perfectly ordinary driver with no astronaut training can keep it pointing in vaguely the right direction.

That cannot have been easy. And it will be even harder when the time comes to design a replacement, because that will have to be bigger and more powerful still. Which takes me back to my point that at some stage Ferrari is going to have to start all over again, with a car that’s small and light.

Or will it? Because is that what Ferrari’s customers want? It’s what Ferrari’s fanbase wants: a pure-bred Italian sports car. But the fanbase only reads about cars in magazines. The customers? The people who write the cheques? Hmmm. I’m not sure.

There are undoubtedly those who want the last word in precision driving. They go to track days and they think that I am the Antichrist for not taking stuff as seriously as they do. They will not want a Superfast, because for what they do, the Lotus Elise is better.

Then you have the people who want a Ferrari to impress everyone at the lodge. They don’t want a Superfast either, because the Mondial does what they need for a tenth of the price.

The main clientele for the Superfast is the chaps who arrive in London every August with an Antonov full of purple-metal-flake Lambos and G-class wagons. They want the biggest, the brashest, the fastest and the noisiest, and for them a Superfast is ideal.

They need to know that in the right hands, on the right track, it can do what the Ferrari badge suggests it can do. But that’s only because they want bragging rights during a hubble-bubble pit stop. They will never actually go faster than about 9mph.

I believe this will one day be a problem for Ferrari, which seems to be focused at the moment on the customers with the big money, the people who will buy the really expensive cars and load them up with all the expensive extras.

The trouble is that this tarnishes the brand. Because the rest of us stop thinking of a Ferrari as something with Gilles Villeneuve at the wheel and start thinking of it as something that’s a bit sad. And that drives us into the arms of Lamborghini and Porsche and Aston Martin.

Let me put it this way. Do you dream about driving round and round Harrods in your car at 4am? Or do you dream about taking it along the Amalfi coast at 4pm, with Alicia Vikander in the passenger seat saying she can’t find her bikini anywhere? Because for that, a “humble” 488 would be better. And my small, nimble Ferrari would be better still.

As a thing, the Superfast is as brilliant as an Astute-class attack sub. Which is to say, very brilliant indeed. But it is too big and too powerful and too flashily expensive for those who simply want a very nice grand tourer.

Rivals head-to-head: Ferrari 812 Superfast vs Lamborghini Aventador S

	Ferrari 812 Superfast	Lamborghini Aventador S
Price	£253,000	£271,146
Power	789bhp	730bhp
0-62mph	2.9sec	2.9sec
Top speed	211mph	217mph

Write to us at driving@sunday-times.co.uk, or Driving, The Sunday Times, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF

The post The Jeremy Clarkson Review: 2018 Ferrari 812 Superfast appeared first on Sunday Times Driving.

source https://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/clarkson/jeremy-clarkson-review-2018-ferrari-812-superfast/

2018 Audi A6 review (video)

SOMETIMES, Audi seems to be working on some kind of automotive countdown. Hot on the heels of the new A8, which launched last year, and the new A7, which arrived earlier this year, here comes the new A6.

It’s the company’s rival for the likes of the BMW 5-series, Mercedes E-class and Jaguar XF, and it’s very much a case of “Honey, I shrunk the A8”. Much of the quality and technology from Audi’s flagship limo is now available in this smaller — and less expensive — executive car.

It may be less barge-like but it’s immediately obvious that the A6 looks very like its larger brother. There’s the same huge grille, flanked by a choice of three different types of headlight, and the rear end is dominated by a massive strip of chrome between the lights.

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Inside, too, you can’t help feeling there’s been a lot of copying and pasting from the A8’s cabin — and that’s no bad thing. Almost eerywhere you look, you’ll find materials of the very high quality. The technology is really impressive, too, with two digital displays on the centre console.

You have to be a proper nit-picker to find much to complain about, but so this website’s editor doesn’t accuse me of lacking a critical eye, a few bits of trim seem a little below par, the roof-lining feels a bit cheap and the touchscreen needs a firm prod before it’ll respond, but that’s about it. [That wasn’t so hard, was it? — Ed.]

When it comes to comfort, though, the A6 is second to none in its class. Not only is there a huge amount of room in the front, there’s even more head, leg and shoulder room in the back of this new model than in the old model. And that was Tardis-like in itself.

Admittedly, the boot is only about the same size as the previous A6’s, but that still just about exactly matches what you’ll find in its rivals.

On the road, the A6 majors on comfort and refinement, and you’ll be hard-pushed to find something that’s as quiet on the motorway. It’s helped by the optional air suspension that was fitted to the car we drove and smooths out bumps superbly.

But although this is a big, heavy, comfortable car, it’s also surprisingly capable when you head away from the highway.

Our test car also had the optional four-wheel steering system, and that has two benefits: around town, by turning the rear wheels in the opposite direction to the fronts, it makes the car easier to manoeuvre; then, at high speed on the open road, all four wheels turn in the same direction, making the car more stable.

Combine this with grippy quattro four-wheel drive, strong performance from the 3-litre V6 petrol engine and a smooth seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, and the result is a car that can cross country far quicker and safer than you might expect of such a big lump of metal and leather.

As you might have guessed from the number of times the word “optional” appears above, the biggest challenge for any prospective A6 buyer is self-restraint. With so much of the most desirable equipment only available as options, it’s all too easy for you to end up with a very costly A6 on your drive.

Mind you, the car certainly feels worth it. This is the most luxurious car of its type, and so good that you almost wonder why Audi — or you, for that matter — need bother with the A8.

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Audi A6 rivals

BMW 5 Series
Price £36,715 – £52,210 but save £5,837 on average at carwow

Mercedes E-Class
Price £36,070 – £62,055 but save £7,088 on average at carwow

If you want a more affordable alternative, try the…

Mercedes CLA
Price £26,495 – £41,590 but save £4,648 on average at carwow

The post 2018 Audi A6 review (video) appeared first on Sunday Times Driving.

source https://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/2018-audi-a6-review-video/