NEWS

Any production car that produces 670bhp is worthy of cult car status in Car Dealer Magazine’s eyes. It’s even better when said power is produced at a dizzy, screaming 8,000rpm – and little short of genius when it is a mighty mid-mounted 6.5-litre V12 that’s doing all the hard work. Yes, there is little doubt [...]

    Colloquially known as the car that burned touring car hero Jason Plato on national TV, there’s far more to the Caparo that just being, er, a bit of a hottie. Designed to demonstrate cutting-edge British technology, it’s thoroughly deserving of Cult Car status. Indeed, its fiery habits maybe even only enhance this… The designers, [...]

CAR Dealer Magazine staff are of a certain age. In our childhood, there was only one daddy on the World Rally circuit. The Lancia Delta Integrale. World Rally Champion 1987. 1988. 1989. 1990. 1991, too. Oh, and don’t forget 1992.  On the poster we had on our wall, they’d run out of space on the laurel [...]

BRIDES traditionally have a habit of being late to weddings. It’s almost accepted: the nudges in the crowd, the nervous groom, the best man getting into the spirit of a few lunchtime beers by winding up the groom (and that’s before his hilarious ‘lost the ring’ joke).  However, even the most disorganised bride would have [...]

Ah, how different things were a decade ago. Back then everything was booming. Nothing was running out. Anything was possible. Well, almost. Certainly, launching the world’s fastest, most powerful, most expensive car was but a walk in the park. Well, it was if your surname was Piech, and you were boss of the mighty Volkswagen. [...]

A Fiat with a waiting list? You bet. That’s the measure of success earned by the funky 500, which is sold in 51 countries and has won over fans in every one. Fiat’s take on the MINI is more than up to the task. Now it’s established, Fiat’s expanding the range. First key addition is an [...]

If Continental GTs are new-gen Bentley, this is very much the old money choice. Class, elegance, upstanding dignity – oh, and a huge great slug of none-too-subtle British beef. That’s the Arnage, alright. If Brunel were alive today, he would drive one of these. Some may be surprised to discover that, despite its stately appearance, it is [...]

JUST as you do with a Bentley Continental GT, see a top-spec Range Rover with large wheels and special paint, and you think only one thing: Premier League footballer. That’s quite a leap from the original Range Rover’s roots in muddy farmer’s fields. Back in the early 1970s, the Range Rover had sliding windows, plastic [...]

HERE at Car Dealer Magazine we’ve fallen in love with a lot of cars in our time. But one of the most amorous we’ve ever driven was the Maserati Quattroporte: The four-door saloon car from the Gods. Maserati, you see, employed angels to tune the engine, in the time-honoured Italian way. It then put it [...]

GROWN men go weak at the knees. Women swoon. Small children explode with excitement. No, there are not many cars that offer the visual stun of an Aston Martin Vanquish; it’s the world’s most powerful automotive tazar shot.  Launched in 2001, the Vanquish was Aston Martin diving straight into the 21st century. The DB7 had [...]

It’s already an icon. A handful of lucky Nissan dealers will be basking in the halo effect soon, when it arrives in the UK. It’s the mainstream-maker alternative to the Porsche 911. It is, of course, the Nissan GT-R. We could feature the regular version here – after all, with well over 1,000 UK orders, [...]

It is most famous for being the car The Stig developed. Remember the Koenigsegg’s first attempt at lapping the Top Gear test track? It ended in an ignominious spin, as the hypercar proved just too hyper for the reclusive racer. ‘Fit a rear wing,’ he said. ‘Then, it’ll be the fastest ever round here.’ Koenigsegg [...]

ALFA Romeo stands at international motor shows are famous for one thing. The girls. Seriously, they are almost entirely staffed by supermodels. It is common for some journos to head straight over there, camera in hand (yes, we said camera) to get shots of ‘the latest model’. Ugh. It’s an ugly site at times, surrounding [...]

HOW could you fail to be seduced by Ferrari’s most powerful road car? Driven by, of course, a howling V12 engine? Sadly, if EU legislators have their way, the V12’s days are numbered – which could well make the 599 GTB Fiorano the last of a great line. With a 6.0-litre V12 hurtling 612bhp to [...]

I almost crashed an M6 the first time I drove one. In the car park. In reverse. Mildly embarrassing, you could say. That bloody SMG semi-auto gearbox… See, you can’t juggle the clutch in an M6, nor edge along with a slur of the torque converter. It’s either go or stop, one or zero, there’s [...]

AT 186mph, the Ferrari Enzo generates downforce equivalent to having a Lotus Elise sat on its chuff. Which is one way of illustrating just how ‘planted’ it feels at speed. Painted on to the road is a more apt description – it can’t quite drive upside down in a tunnel and not fall off, like [...]

Back in 2003 I was working for a well-known national motoring magazine. It was my first job writing about cars full-time and I loved it. Well, when I say writing about cars, what I really mean was writing about the things that bolt on to cars. You see I was employed as the gadget geek, [...]

Motorsport is a Porsche obsession. We’re not talking Formula 1 here, either. No, what keeps the Stuttgart engineers busy is racing their beloved 911 road cars by turning them into race-track world-beaters. And the very pinnacle of their engineering nous is this – the mighty 911 GT2.   To fans of the pure, delightful GT3 [...]

The new football season is upon us, which means one thing – boom time for Bentley dealers, says Richard Aucock   THERE’S a new rumble starting to bellow through Hull, West Brom and Stoke. That of, ooh, 16 W12 engines being given their head. Why’s that? Well isn’t that obvious? Their respective football teams were all [...]

It’s a motor show with a difference. The annual SMMT test day, which we mentioned in last month’s issue, is a chance for hundreds of journalists to sample a host of car manufacturers’ wares in one place. Held at the amazing Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, the Vauxhall-owned test facility has a maze of challenging [...]