Every week I like to let you know what I’m writing about normal cars (just so you know it’s not all beer and skittles) as well as articles from around the web.
So let’s get cracking.
Carsguide.com.au
Jaguar’s XF Sportbrake was a lovely thing and I spent a week with it. Only drama was a flat tyre. I suspect a passing miscreant stabbed the tyre with something very small and very sharp.
I recently drove a Subaru Liberty (aka Subaru Legacy elsewhere) for Carsguide. I liked the improvements to the drivetrain, although I’m not entirely certain the ride is super-successful.
There’s also the second instalment of my long-term review of the Hyundai Kona Active.
SUVAuthority
Over at SUV Authority, West Australian taskmaster Karl Peskett has had a go at the Honda HR-V. Before the Kona and before the Forester, I had the HR-V for three months and I didn’t mind it too much.
He’s also cast his eye over the Nissan Patrol. They like their big proper four-wheel drives over in WA.
Drive Zero
Drive Zero has an excellent piece on Honda’s EV strategy. Do yourself a favour if you like your motivation electrified.
Jalopnik
Speaking of electric cars, here’s an idiot who thought it would be funny to switch seats while underway on AutoPilot in a Tesla. What a moron. It’s people like this that get others killed. As good as AutoPilot can be, it’s still not a match for human intervention.
Road and Track
R&T has an amazing story about a bloke who wants to IndyCar to run turbine cars (again) and the renders are *amazing*
The dust has barely settled on the new BMW M5’s launch, but Bavaria has already delivered the M5 Competition.
Unlike previous years, this isn’t a pack – the M5 Competition is a model in its own right, just like the M2 Competition. The new beastie features more power, torque across a slightly wider rev band and a host of detail changes.
Engine and Transmission
The M5 Competition features the same 4.4-litre V8 but with 460kW (625PS). That’s 19kW (26PS) up on the standard car. The 750Nm torque figures stays the same, but is available for an extra 200rpm from 1800 to 5800.
Somehow that means a 0-100km/h (0-62mph) time of 3.3 seconds and a 0-200km/h (0-123mph) time of 10.8 seconds, both of which are three tenths faster. Of course, the new-to-M5 all-wheel drive xDrive system has a lot to do with this astonishing performance. BMW’s famed Active Diff also provides for hair-raising shenanigans when you’re in the right mode.
To get those extra horses, the M5 Competition has its very own M Sport exhaust, but still with the mode-specific sound (ie not so loud to quite loud).
The controversial (not really, but there must always be drama with a new M5) all-wheel drive gets its power by via the minor controversy, the ZF eight-speed automatic.
Here’s a quick table comparing the M5 Competition to the M5 as well as the F10 counterparts:
[table id=2 /]
Chassis
The M5 Competition comes with a ton of detail changes. Stiffer engine mounts deliver a pointier rear end, with the spring rate up from 580N/mm to 900N/mm. While the double wishbones up front and five link rear end remain, the ride height drops 7mm.
Naturally a new set of springs and dampers further improve the handling, with ball joints replacing rubber mounts in the rear suspension links. The front wheels have more negative camber for more bite.
The electronic dampers still have three modes – Comfort, Sport and Sport Plus, the latter intended for track use while Sport’s Nordschliefe tune is good for the real world.
Braking comes from low-weight M compound brakes and the six-piston calipers provide the biting at the front. Somehow the rears get away with a single piston caliper, but I haven’t heard any complaints.
If you want to spend yet more money, you can option up carbon ceramics.
The M5 Competition picks up 20-inch forged alloys and tyres are 275/35s up front and 285/35s at the rear.
Design
You can pick out the M5 Competition with blacked-out kidney grille, different exterior door handles, black mirror caps and the M badges. The exhaust tips are also blacked out, this time with a chrome finish.
Inside you’ve got the usual M stitching all over the place and when you fire up, an M5 Competition graphic flashes up on the screen.
Price
Not all markets have their Competition prices, but here’s a comparison table for the F90 BMW M5 and the M5 Competition.
The Brabham name is back and this time it’s on a road car – the Brabham BT62.
After a few false starts, experimenting with a return to racing via crowdfunding and a general struggle to make things work, this is a bolt from the blue.
Over the past two months the Brabham Automotive Twitter account has been getting on with teasing the new project. We knew something was coming, but the details were scarce. Impressively so.
What is it?
As you know, racing cars all have codenames. Brabham was huge in Formula One for years but slowly slid into ignominy. Its last car, the BT61, was never even built for the 1993 season. And that was it. The Brabham name returned in the form of Jack’s son David in 1994, driving for Nick Wirth’s Simtek and partnering poor Roland Ratzenberger who died the same weekend as Ayrton Senna.
The BT62 is a trackday car in the same vein as the McLaren Senna. As a tribute to the company’s racing heritage, the first 35 cars will feature a paint job from the Brabham team’s history. That’s pretty cool, although if you want a hot pink car, you’re probably not going to want any of that first lot. The car in the pics was inspired by the BT19, the car Jack Brabham drove to victory in the 1966 French Grand Prix.
The car itself is interesting. Built on a tubular space frame – the Senna has a carbon tub, remember – the company says the 522kW/700bhp monster’s aero produces up to 1200kg of downforce. Dry weight is a Lotus-like 972kg, which is astonishing.
Power comes from a Brabham-prepared V8 mated with a six-speed sequential box with paddle shifters. Along with the 522kW/710PS you get 667Nm. That will ensure a lively response.
Suspension is by double wishbones at both ends with pushrod, Ohlins four-way adjustable coilover dampers.
Interior
As it’s a track car, the interior is super-racy. Trimmed in carbon fibre and Alcantara, there’s a F1-style steering wheel with bits missing. The wheel has buttons and switches everywhere, sp you’ll feel like the real thing. A digital screen sits behind the wheel and beyond that, the track. You and your passenger will both be held in by a six-point racing harness, which seems eminently sensible.
How much?
The Brabham BT62 will cost you a minimum £1 million. That’s probably not a big deal as just 70 BT62s will roll down the line, celebrating 70 years of Brabham family’s start in motor racing.
You don’t just get a car, though. Brabham will train you at various track days, with first deliveries expected at the end of 2018.
The production line is already in motion and the factory is (surprisingly) located in Adelaide, South Australia. That city used to be the home of GM Holden’s and Mitsubishi Australia’s factories as well as a brilliant street track.
David Brabham is in charge of the company and wants to go racing, but not with the BT62.
BT62 [it’s] not really been designed to race in any particular championship, it’s outside of those boundaries. But it’s the foundation and the architecture we want to move forward with, so when it comes to the next variant car, with GT racing in mind that will be more shaped towards the future racing cars.
He also stopped short of ruling out a road-going spec Brabham BT62…
The McLaren 570S is the British company’s answer to Germany and Italy’s finest.
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The 570S is probably the first really McLaren car of the modern iteration of the company. Based on what the company learned from the MP4-12C, it took the good stuff and piled on more from the P1 and 650S. The result is something at once hugely surprising and completely unsurprising.
History
The McLaren Formula One team needs little on the way of introduction. Formed by New Zealand racer Bruce McLaren, the team has won all over the place in all sorts of championships.
The McLaren F1 road car is, and always will be, the stuff of legend. Conceived in an airport lounge after the 1992 Italian Grand Prix, it set the standard for hypercars. The Asian Financial Crisis and the resulting shockwaves around the globe restricted its run to just 106 cars. They’re now worth millions. Rowan Atkinson owned one.
For their second car, McLaren collaborated with their then-F1 partner Mercedes-Benz to produce the SLR. The factory moved from McLaren Cars’ industrial unit to the McLaren Technology Centre, right next to the F1 bays. It wasn’t really a proper McLaren, certainly not of the technical standard or innovation of the F1. Think of it more as a branding exercise. At least the companies salvaged the awesome SLR Sterling Moss.
Then in 2010, McLaren bit the bullet and formed McLaren Automotive, launching the MP4-12C to an unsuspecting and, initially unsure world. Frank Stephenson tried to add some drama to the styling and the car itself wasn’t finished in the “feel” sense. McLaren didn’t have a big pool of customers to draw upon or a long history of making roadgoing sports cars. It didn’t take long for the car to improve with every iteration and every visit to the dealer.
Stuff happened, too. Designer Rob Melville arrived from Land Rover fresh from the hugely influential LRX Concept which became the Range Rover Evoque. Job One was the P1, resetting the McLaren design language from the 12C’s false, wind-tunnel start. Job two was the car to replace the 12C and kick off McLaren’s three tiered range, the Super Series 650S and 675LT.
Then came the Sport Series, featuring the 570S.
McLaren 570S
The 570S is supposed to go after the Porsche 911’s crown as the everyday sports car, but when you drive it, it rather feels like it’s chasing loftier goals like, oh, the Ferrari 488. Built around the refined Monocell II carbon tub and powered by McLaren’s own twin-turbo V8. It looked great from the get-go.
The body panels are largely aluminium but rather than being stamped, some of them are “blown.” Called Superforming, the heating the aluminium means it can be shaped to look the way it does – more natural shapes. Plastic body panels form some of the aero shapes, but I think it’s safe to say it’s dramatic and, from some angles, especially pretty. Supercars tend not to be pretty anymore, but this one is.
Engine & Transmission
McLaren’s twin-turbo V8 is technically McLaren’s only engine. It started life in the back of the MP4-12C and has appeared in every McLaren since. The P1’s Instant Power Assist System (IPAS) was the 3.8-litre V8 with electric assistance with a combined 674kW (916PS). In the Senna it produces an astonishing 575kW (800PS), as though the 720PS in the 530kW (720S) wasn’t enough. Codenamed M838T, McLaren co-developed the engine with UK engineering firm Ricardo, who also produce it.
Ricardo and McLaren revised almost a third of the components for the 570S’ installation of the engine. So while it’s technically McLaren’s only engine, it’s different in each car.
Irritatingly you can’t see the engine except through the grille over the rear deck. It’s super annoying.
The seven-speed twin-clutch transmission was co-designed with Graziano and has been in McLarens since the 12C. Called Seamless Shift Gearbox (SSG), it’s the only transmission you can have.
Chassis
The McLaren 570S was the first of the line to use the second-generation carbon tub, MonoCell II. The 12C, 650/675 pair and the P1 used the first Monocell. While obviously super-strong and light, the first MonoCell had extremely high and wide sill, making entry and exit difficult. McLaren worked to lower the sill and they are usefully narrower.
So the new tub is more practical but it provides an extraordinarily strong and stable platform around which to build a very fast car. It’s enormously stiff, much stiffer per gram than a Ferrari or Audi/Lamborghini space frame. Not cheap, no, but it contributes a huge number of advantages, including bringing your backside lower to the ground. And it helps when you want to chop the roof off.
Steering is hydraulically-assisted rather than electric, which seems weird for McLaren who went against the grain everywhere else.
Suspension is by double wishbones at both ends, but in true McLaren style are stunningly beautiful. The car has three modes for the drivetrain and three for the chassis. When you start the car, you’re in “normal” mode until you hit the Active button. Then you can decide the modes independently with two switches rotary switches.
The Diff
Photo: Ken Butti
Here’s where McLaren goes off the reservation. While its main rivals fit tricky diffs that weigh a lot, McLaren has a wide open diff. Instead of sorting out your traction mechanically – and being integral to the handling – the 570S uses brake steer. Older readers will remember McLaren’s pioneering effort in Formula 1 (which was promptly banned) with driver-operated brake steer. Obviously you don’t get a third pedal in the 570s, the car’s brain sorts all this out.
As always, the internet has divided itself into two opposing camps. A full-on active diff like a Ferrari 488 is a thing of beauty. On the BMW M5, it’s an amazing thing. But with time and effort, can what is effectively brake-based torque vectoring do the job?
Driving
Photo: Robbie Josephsen
The first thing you notice – and this is completely counter-intuitive – is the ride. As you’re messing about getting comfortable and working out where everything is and whether your seat is right…you realise it’s all very calm. You’re in Normal mode because you haven’t sorted out the pressing of the buttons. But it’s completely weird to be so close to the ground, having closed those beautiful, dramatic dihedral doors but not bouncing around like a bee in a bottle. It’s…comfortable. That can’t be right. But it is.
Once you’re over that (but it never gets old), you realise how great the steering is, how utterly composed is the chassis and the sheer potential you can feel in the car. Active mode on (obviously), into Track and the 570S roars. The great surge of power and torque is effortless and oddly refined. The flat-plane crank soundtrack is a bit more muted than I’d like but this engine spins easily and quickly.
The steering’s accuracy is verging on telepathic but not so overly-enthusiastic as to be tiring.
It still rides amazingly, too, meaning you can throw it down pretty much any road with confidence.
The twin-turbo V8 has just one tiny flaw and that’s one area where I will concede the car has an issue – low down there’s lag. It’s not crippling, not at all, but from a standing start there’s a bit of, “Wait, isn’t this supposed to be oh my goodness, I’m in a different county/council area/shire/country!”
Once you’ve got the V8 spooled up, it’s galactic. The mid-range is colossal (and yes, I’ve driven a 720S and will again, and hoo-boy) with instant throttle and transmission response. The unusual rocker action of the paddle-shifter means you can push or pull on the lever to get a gear so you’ll rarely get it wrong. It’s kind of a nice halfway-house between having the shifter fixed to the column and attached to the wheel.
The McLaren 720S is different to the rest of them. The way it moves, the way it rides and the way it goes. Passengers told me the same thing – once it’s underway, that huge belt of torque rearranged their insides in a way few cars do – not brutal, just a progressive organ-squishing as the torque spins those rear wheels ever harder.
I said at the start that the 570S was at once hugely surprising and not at all surprising. It’s surprising because it’s a hard-core sports coupe with all the right bits – a twin-turbo V8, carbon brakes and a chassis so sharp it’ll make your toes bleed. But at the same time, it has a ride so plush your passenger can sleep undisturbed.
It’s also completely unsurprising because McLaren is a phenomenally clever company with a very clear vision
I can’t tell you what a joy this car is. So why not watch the video and see for yourself?
BMW’s M2 Competition is here and it’s probably more than we could hope for.
BMW M2 Competition
No sooner had BMW’s rip-snorting M2 hit the roads we wondered what it would be like if it was closer to the M4 spec. As the bigger M3/M4 reaches the end of its life, BMW faces a bit of a hole in the go-fast line-up. Whenever a new 3 launches, the variants take a while to trickle through, the Ms coming close to last.
So, as the M4 and M3 CS takes the parallel lines to the back paddock (with a bang, granted), Bavaria’s go-faster division is giving us the M2 Competition.
It’s a twin-turbo
Yah-huh. While the M2 has a single turbo N55 delivering a very respectable 272kW (370PS) and 465Nm, the Competition has even more. As if lifted straight from an M4, the M2 now has two turbos to produce 302kW (410PS) and 550Nm. Power is up 30kW (40PS) and there’s a whopping 85Nm extra twist. Let’s have a little reality check here – the M4 Pure has 331kW (450PS) and…550Nm. That means fireworks. Proper, proper fireworks. The M2 is a fair bit lighter, you see.
Max power is available from 5250rpm all the way to 7000rpm while max torque runs from 2350 to 5200rpm.
With the seven-speed twin clutch, BMW says the M2C will hit 100km/h (0-62mph) in 4.2 seconds. Look, I reckon it’ll do a four dead. I think BMW is being modest/sparing M4 owners’ feelings.
The six-speed manual gearbox (a no-cost option in some markets, including Australia) features carbon fibre friction lining to reduce weight. It also has wet sump lubrication which BMW says reduces “sloshing.” I know that annoys me a lot in other manuals.
With extra turbos and power comes extra heat. The M2C’s cooling system is based on the M4 CS’s, with a bit central radiator, two smaller radiators off to each side and a separate oil cooler.
A new bi-modal four-outlet exhaust – with black chrome tips – should make the right noises and look the part.
Chassis
The basic M2’s chassis is a proper sparkler. I know I keep saying it, but I reckon the M2 redefined modern M car. While the current M4 is a terrific thing, it wasn’t until the M2 and then the M4 CS that I truly felt the heights of the E92 were back – and surpassed.
Suspension is by forged aluminium control arms and the rear axle subframe is mounted rigidly to the chassis. A carbon fibre strut brace – weighing just 1500g – snakes around the engine bay and looks amazing.
Between the rear wheels the Active M Differential works hard to keep things straight and/or fun. When you’re in Sport+ this thing is already fun personified, so with all that extra grunt…I dunno. It’s going to be quite something.
The M2C has steering wheel mounted M1 and M2 buttons to activate personalised dynamic setups. Not only that, they activate M Dynamic Mode which means plenty of tail-waggling fun and a turn in so sharp it’ll split you in two. I can’t stress enough how much a limited-slip diff can transform a car and an M diff is brilliant when done right.
If you’re super-keen, BMW will sell you a set of 19-inch forged alloys with Y-shaped spokes. They look mean.
Also available as an option is the M Sport brake system. That means 400mm discs up front and 380mm at the rear. The front callipers are six pot monsters, the rears four. There isn’t much wrong the M2 brakes to start with, so these will be enormously strong.
Design
Things have changed inside and out. The front bumper and kidney grille are even more aggressive. The kidney grille itself is a slightly different design with a black paint job. The double arm mirrors add a little extra M flavour, with darker badging scattered around.
Open the door and the sill plates let you know you’re stepping into a special. Thankfully, the uninspiring M2 seats have been replaced with much better-looking and presumably more effective front seats that look great. They also have that naff illuminated badge from the M4.
The dashboard is also part-digital, which BMW calls Black Panel.
With all that, it looks and feels more like a proper M car, which is how it drives already.
We’ll get our hands on one as soon as is humanly possible.
I’ve been wanting to drive a Lotus Elise pretty much my whole adult life.
The Lotus Elise Story
Few cars have been on sale for as long as the Lotus Elise. It’s incredibly rare for a car to remain fundamentally the same for two decades. Rarer still for it to remain competitive. But Lotus isn’t your average car company, never has been, probably never will be.
Despite being owned by some pretty serious industrial giants. For a start, General Motors and Toyota shared ownership for a few months in the 80s. Toyota sold their stake to GM and slowly the American giant bought up enough stock to force the remaining shareholders to sell up.
As owners go, GM wasn’t super-great. Lotus Engineering was hugely respected – and still is – as the company to sort your ride and handling. GM did nothing nothing much with Lotus – although it did give us the epic Lotus Carlton/Omega. GM used Lotus’ famed Engineering arm to design the original Ecotec engines and to sort out the dire ride and handling of various GM empire cars.
In 1993 GM sold the company to the delightfully mad Romano Artioli. He was the guy who gave us the Bugatti EB110. Artioli’s money ran out in 1996 when Bugatti went bust and he sold to Malaysia’s national car maker, Proton. Bugatti went to Volkswagen.
Pretty soon after the Asian Financial Crisis hit and Lotus went into limp-home mode. Proton did slap a few Lotus badges on the back of its cars (the Satria GTi was a good laugh), but wasn’t forthcoming with the funds for new models many years.
In 2009 the company recruited Ferrari’s Danny Bahar who embarked on a spending spree and a bonkers model program intended to put Lotus back in the same camp as his former employer. The 2010 Paris Motor Show was a disaster for Lotus – the company showed five new models but nobody believed the company could do it. Bahar wouldn’t – he was fired in 2012, his bosses claiming he had spent company money on decidedly non-company things.
Why am I telling you all this? Because it helps explain why the Elise has soldiered on for so long.
Lotus Elise Series 1 – 1996
In 1996 the Elise launched to critical acclaim. Named after Artioli’s granddaughter Elisa, the car was instantly famous for weighing just 726kg. That incredible number was a result of ingenious design and use of materials – an extruded aluminium tub was stiff, light and strong and cheap to build. The tub itself weighed around 70kg.
The Series 1 shipped with Rover K-Series power, starting with just 88kW (120PS). That’s nothing. A Mazda2 has 81kW. But a Mazda 2 weighs quite a bit more than an Elise and can’t sprint to 100km/h (62mph) in just 5.8 seconds. That’s an astonishing turn of speed for such a small amount of power from what was not a particularly good engine.
The Elise’s hand-built body was made of fibreglass and the cabin a study in minimalism.
I either forgot or never knew that the Elise was produced in Proton’s Shah Alam factory in Malaysia between 1997 and 2000.
Lotus Elise Series 2 – 2000
The Series 2 came about because the S1 didn’t crash the way bureaucrats wanted. There was just one small problem – no money. GM came to the table wanting to build a sports car – the Opel Speedster/Vauxhall VX220 – and the Series 2 was born. Power was up, but so was weight, over 150kg in some models.
Bizarrely, the GM car scored Lotus-born Ecotec power while the Elise itself carried on with the K-Series until 2004. It’s not exactly clear why, but Lotus then switched to the 1.8-litre Toyota 1ZZ-FE and later the 2ZZ-FE. Word on the street was that the Rover unit wouldn’t pass US emissions rules, but Rover sources insisted that it would.
The K-Series got the heave-ho when Lotus took the S2 to the USA. By the time the switch happened, the K – with a Lotus-mapped ECU – produced as much as 143kW (195PS) in the Sport 190, but most models ran with considerably less.
The switch to Toyota’s ZZ engines with 141kW also meant changing to a Toyota-sourced six-speed manual. With the Sport package, the Elise could run 0-100km/h (0-62mph) in 4.7 seconds.
Between US regulations and various updates, the S2 was quite different by the time the S3 arrived.
Lotus Elise Series 3 – 2010
The Series 3 Elise meant more changes on the engine and body front. The headlights shrunk as did the size of the entry-level engine, down to 1.6-litres. The drop in capacity didn’t matter much, the Elise still has 100kW (136PS) but also complies with Euro V emissions.
The ZZ engine persisted in the US for a while but the rest of the world took the 1.6-litre 1ZR.
The supercharged 1.8-litre arrived in the range, belting out up to 184kW (250PS) in the Cup 250.
By the end of 2017, Lotus had made over 33,000 Elises.
Spin-offs
No, we don’t mean Nurburgring crashes, but cars built on the Elise’s brilliant platform.
Lotus created the Exige and various track monsters, including the bonkers 3-Eleven 430. The “new” Europa also came from the Elise, before its Evora replacement and its new platform arrived.
Tesla came to Lotus for its first car, the Roadster. Hennessy’s Venom series also used the Elise as a base for its nutty, not very Lotus-ey monsters.
Lotus Elise Sprint 220
And so we come to the Sprint 220. One of six variants, the Sprint is the lightest Elise since the 726kg original. The 1.6-litre powered Sprint ducks under 800kg, but this supercharged 1.8-litre is still on the other side of that figure at around 845kg before fluids. Kerb weight is 878kg
Despite that, it still weighs practically nothing in car terms. A Civic Type R, with a lot more power, tips the scales at over 1400kg. A carbon-tubbed McLaren 570S weighs over 1300kg. Lotus has always done light and this is the key to the whole concept. From a strong, light base, you’ve got a lot of room to move on design and specification of suspension, brakes and powertrain.
Chassis
Built around the extruded aluminium chassis, the Lotus approach of keeping things light means that low kerb weight. The lithium-ion battery saves 9kg, the open shifter another kilo and when you add those to a the carbon fibres bits and pieces, the total adds up to 26kg over other Series 3s. You can cut a further 4kg with the two-piece brake option and a whopping 800g with carbon sill covers.
Saving weight means that every single component has less work to do which means those components are lighter. The front wheels are narrower than even the Toyota 86 at 175/55s around 16-inch wheels while the rears are 225s. Smaller wheels, smaller tyres, smaller and lighter brakes, it goes on. One very unusual feature is a lack of power steering – the Elise goes au naturel.
One of the fascinating things about Lotus is not so much their willingness to mix up its suppliers but the fact they’re happy to tell us who they use and where. For instance, the shocks are Bilsteins and the springs Eibachs. The front brakes are AP Racing twin-piston calipers and Brembo single piston calipers at the rear.
Suspension is by double-wishbones front and rear with an anti-roll bar up front. Instead of a heavy limited slip differential, the Elise makes do with an electronic differential lock.
Engine & Transmission
While the basic Sprint scores a pretty decent 1.6-litre Toyota engine, the Sprint 220 reverts to the 1.8-litre but but with a supercharger. Developing 162kW (220PS) and 250Nm, the Sprint 220 will hit 100km/h (0-62mph) in just 4.1 seconds. Top speed is an impressive 243km/h.
The 1.8 drives the rear wheels via a Toyota-sourced six-speed gearbox. Here in the Sprint it has that lovely open shift gate and it looks incredible.
Driving
Anticipation. It’s a wonderful and terrible thing. This could be the joyous culmination of years of waiting or the end of a long, unfulfilling long-distance relationship.
Everybody knows a few things about the Elise. It’s got some dodgy bits and pieces in the interior. Check. The stereo head unit isn’t great. Check. It’s hard to get in and out of. Check. I have some things to say about these.
Maseratis have lots of horrible bits in the interior. Doesn’t mean they’re not good cars and they also don’t have the excuse of being 22 years-old.
Buy a different stereo. It’s not a big deal.
So is a Lamborghini Aventador S, a BMW i8 and a McLaren 12C. So what?
With that out of the way, on with the show.
Yes, getting into the Elise is difficult, especially with the roof in place. If you’re particularly tall and/or chunky, you will not be able to get in with the wheel in place. Our man Mitch, the genius behind the camera and the edit suite, is a tall chap and could not get behind the wheel, so taller-still Rhys (photographer extraordinaire) had no chance. Second Opinion Steve wasn’t around and I’m glad – I don’t think I could have coped with the rivers of tears.
Once you’re in, what look like uncomfortable seats turn out to be very comfortable indeed. The space is so tight there’s no need for a full-on bucket, like an MX-5. The optional Alcantara steering wheel also looks like it’s in the wrong place but in the seat it’s perfect. The tall shifter is in exactly the right place, a handspan from the steering wheel. The pedals are slim but not so small my oversize feet can hit them all. They’re perfectly-spaced for heel-and-toe, too – no automatic rev-matching nonsense here.
Fire the engine into life, into first and it drives just as you’d expect. Steering is firm but not too heavy – a combination of the light kerb weight and skinny 175 front tyres mean power steering would be a pointless extravagance. This is genuinely the first time I have driven an Elise. To get to our second filming location – the first location was at Simply Sports Cars on Sydney’s North Shore. We had to cross the city and I can’t say I was too pleased with the idea. The Elise, though, behaved perfectly.
Trundling across the Harbour Bridge, under the city’s eastern fringe and down to the southern edge of the metropolitan area, the Lotus was impeccable. Easy to manage (although you’re invisible to SUVs), the torquey supercharged engine meant I could bumble along without constantly changing gears. It was hot – this past summer in Sydney was disgustingly hot and humid – but the air-conditioning kept up quite happily.
Why am I giving you so much detail on that part of the drive? Because it was only the first half. To find out what happens next, watch the video…
If you fancy a Ferrari-engined SUV but can’t wait for the real thing, you’re in luck – the Maserati Levante Trofeo is just for you.
Like the F-Pace SVR, we knew it was coming but had pretty much gotten used to the idea that it would be badged GTS. Maserati – those wily devils – instead came up with the Trofeo nameplate, possibly because the GTS badge didn’t do it justice?
Maserati Levante Trofeo
The Maser SUV has been kicking around for a couple of years now in diesel and petrol V6 forms. The petrol V6 is a belter, but only available in select markets. It’s inevitable that some buyers have held off from this game-changing SUV because they guessed a more potent car was on the way.
Obviously, they were right. The Trofeo has landed and it has a Ferrari twin-turbo V8. Yep
Power is an extraordinary, F-Pace SVR-rivalling 440kW and 730Nm. That means a 0-100km/h time of 3.9 seconds (good gracious me) and a top speed over 300km/h. That’s a big whole to punch the air, so if you’re going to do it, a Ferrari V8 is the way to go.
It’s never easy in fast SUV land. Ferrari and Maserati worked together to build a new crankcase, different wiring and a new oil pump. The two companies are obviously related, but Ferrari is used to installing this engine and its derivatives in a range of cars. If you’re wondering, it’s closely related to the California T/Portofino engine. These engines come from Ferrari Powertrain and have obvious changes when found in Maseratis or Alfas.
Chassis
Drive goes to all four wheels through a rear-biased Q4 all-wheel drive system. The ever-excellent eight-speed ZF auto manages the gears.
Thankfully, a big set of brakes haul things back under control. The 100km/h to zero (62mph to zero) stopping distance of 34.5m (about 115ft) is super-impressive
The Levante Trofeo rolls on forged 22-inch forged alloy wheels wrapped in wider, stickier tyres. The team beefed up the double wishbones front and rear to handle the load.
Just to make absolutely sure, the drive modes have all had the appropriate tweaks – Normal, ICE, Sport and off-road (snigger). Exclusive to the Trofeo, there’s also a Corsa (Race) mode, which will keep things interesting.
The Maserati Levante Trofeo is bound to be ready for you to pay for at your friendly local dealer. Unless you’re in a weird place that doesn’t allow screaming V8s.
Get a load of all of our 2018 New York Motor Show coverage here.
Ingolstadt’s New York Motor Show is off with a bang in the form of the new Audi RS5 Sportback.
Can’t live with a coupe? Can’t afford the hilarious, twin-turbo V8 RS7 and don’t want an RS4? Or you want to go faster than than the S4 or S5? Or S7? I mean, it’s complicated, right? As always, Audi has the answer, predictably by adding further complication.
Audi’s hitherto two door RS5 now has a distinctly family feel, with another two doors and a hatchback. Rather like…er…the S5 Sportback. And A5 Sportback.
Audi RS5 Sportback
We already know a fair bit about the RS5, but here’s a quick refresher. The Sportback is based on the S5 which is based on the A4 which itself is on VW’s MLB platform. Under the bonnet is a brilliant 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 spinning out 331kW (450PS) and 600Nm.
Power finds the road through Audi’s Quattro system and an eight-speed ZF automatic. As with the new V8s, the turbos are perpendicular to the engine, with inlet side on the inside (aka “hot side inside”. You’re welcome). You get full torque is from 1900-5000rpm. Rawr.
The RS5 Sportback looks the business here – big gaping air lets, blacked-out honeycomb grille, blacked-out inserts (optional, sadly) and trademark oval tailpipes.
The interior scores these lovely stitched seats, super-slick A4/A5 interior with a big screen and Audi’s fully digital dashboard which they call Virtual Cockpit.
The RS5 Sportback will be available this year in a number of markets. Audi is reasonably confident about it too:
“The Audi RS 5 Sportback is more than just an international trade fair novelty – it offers something new to our customers. Our innovative interpretation of a five-door high-performance coupé has neither predecessor models, nor a direct competitor. The new Audi RS 5 Sportback will carry the RS genes out onto the road.”
Michael-Julius Renz, Managing Director of Audi Sport GmbH.
We can’t wait to have a crack and to be perfectly honest, there’s not a fast Audi we’ve met in the past five years we haven’t liked. If you want a bit of RS action, check out our Audi RS3 review. For more fast Audi action, watch our Audi playlist. Or read our Audi R8 Spyder review.
Catch the rest of our 2018 New York Motor Show Coverage here
If you want a fast SUV, there’s a new contender – the Jaguar F-Pace SVR. Oh, we knew it was coming, but wow, here it is and it looks tough.
F-Pace SVR
From the minds that brought you the wonderful F-Type SVR – a firm favourite here at The Redline – comes an SVO-fettled F-Pace. The company is having a massive year, and just about all of it is pivoting around SUVs and not just Jags.
We knew this was coming, but courtesy of the New York Motor Show, we’ve got the juice.
As expected, the F-Pace SVR packs Jag’s 5.0-litre supercharged V8, with with kW (550PS) and a stinking 680Nm of torque. That means a 0-100km/h (0-62mph) time of 4.3 seconds. Top speed is 283km/h (173mph). So that’s not wasting any time.
“The F-PACE SVR delivers the handling and agility to match its performance. Everything from the steering to the bespoke suspension set-up has been tuned specifically for our performance SUV and the result is a vehicle that lives up to the promise of both the F-PACE and SVR names.” Mike Cross, Chief Engineer, Vehicle Integrity, Jaguar Land Rover
Chassis
It’s not all about the donk and an SVR is never just a straight-line rip-snorter. The team flung the the brakes, suspension and wheels from the top-spec S to sharpen up the F-Pace experience.
Adaptive suspension is standard but has had the usual damping changes to support the keener driver. The front springs are 30 percent stiffer while the rear spring rate moves up 10 percent. Between the rear wheels is an active differential which should promise tail-happy nonsense in the right mode. Torque vectoring will keep things under control when you’re on maximum attack.
The brakes are bigger, too, with 395mm up front and 396mm down the back – they’re huge and two-piece hobbies with big calipers.
The F-Pace SVR rolls on 21-inch forged alloys and you can tick a box to fit 22s. Tyres are wider at the rear for added rear traction. This thing should really punch out of corners.
Also on board is the always-excellent ZF eight-speed automatic, revised electrically-assisted steering and the chassis is stiffer.
Aero & Weight Saving
Obviously with more cylinders, you need more cooling. And with a higher top speed, things need to be a bit more slippery. Add to all that the ride height, aero is even more critical.
Front and rear bumpers, deeper side sills and a flip spoiler all combine to cut lift. The front bumpers in particular are all about cooling, getting more air around the crackerjack V8. There is also a set of recalibrated driving and transmission modes which will be fun for the driver, less great for grandma in the back seat.
The Active Exhaust is even 6.6kg cooler than the standard unit, which also promises that signature anti-social noise.
Interior
The first thing current F-Pace fans will notice is the gear selector. The show-off rising-from-the-console rotary dial has gone, replaced by the F-Type’s rather more practical “Sports” selector. The paddle shifters come in aluminium which is always nicer than cheap plastic units.
The new seats are “slimline” and with Jag’s lozenge pattern, with liberal applications of SVR logos throughout the cabin. You’ll be able to choose from four colour schemes, too.
Where and When?
Pretty much anywhere you can already buy SVR cars and no doubt dealers’ books are open. Deliveries start in the UK summer of 2018 and will doubtless trickle through to other markets as the year progresses.
Want more 2018 New York Motor Show coverage? Click here
Steve Wakeford is a member of The Redline team and this is the first of his column, Second Opinion.
Now that the 1 Series M is no longer with us (a moment’s silence, please…thank you), BMW has decided that the recipe was worth repeating. And that’s a good thing. Actually, it’s a very good thing. Not a lot more than an M140i gets you entry into the wonderful world of proper ‘M’ BMWs – and when you consider what else you can get for that sort of money, the M2 becomes a wise choice for those who appreciate just what this little rocket provides.
BMW M2
In it’s ‘gentler’ settings – a relative term – the M2 is an incredibly easy thing to live with. If you don’t have a family to cart around, this would be a daily driver you could live with long-term. It’s spacious for a two-door coupe, there’s enough room for the golf clubs in the boot (I checked). Driven with an eye to fuel consumption it’s quite acceptable, it’s small enough to be easy to place in city traffic and it’s easy to park. I’d hazard a guess that quite a few people who buy or lease an M2 will be folks who live in major cities – and there’s a chance many M2s will do most of their driving in those environments. If that’s you – mazel tov! But, please, do yourself a favour, get out of town and use the easy to navigate dynamic setting and select Sport +.
And brace yourself.
Because when you select the more aggressive settings, Clark Kent ducks into a nearby phone booth and emerges with his undies on the outside of his trousers and comes out swinging for the fences. The relatively mild-mannered coupe transforms into a car that can stick with anything else in its price range and a long way north of it as well. I recently drove an M4 CS (spectacular thing, by the way), and while it’s in a different league in terms of performance and price – it’d take some spirited driving to significantly pull away from a well-steered M2 on the same road. For the money, this is a cracking car.
BMW has really done some outstanding work on the suspension of the recent M models. Both the M4 CS and the M2 benefit from having suspension that is both supple and confidence-inspiring. You never get the feeling in either of them that they are trying to deposit you into a hedge or nearby eucalypt – and that confidence builds as you become more familiar with both vehicles.
The rear tyres stick to the road surface, finding traction and drive even under exuberant provocation. You’d expect it from the M4 CS because it is aimed at a particular sort of driver – but even its little brother doesn’t find itself tied in knots by undulations and compressions mid-corner. It simply sticks to the line you’ve chosen and eggs you on.
Not long ago, turbocharged engines felt as if they were running out of breath once you got over about 6,000 rpm. As forced-induction technology has advanced, that breathlessness is becoming a thing of the past.
In many ways, both the M2 and M4 CS feel and drive like there’s a naturally aspirated big block engine with a 750 Holley nestled between the V. As the M2 closes in on its redline, the power delivery doesn’t let up. And while its torque curve is predictably flat-ish, there are plenty of kilowatts to be found north of 6,000 rpm all the way to the limiter.
In fact, you’ve got to be on top of your driving game when you get there, because this little thing is pretty wild when you’re up it. It’s such a fun thing to drive like this if you’re someone who enjoys driving. It just does everything you’d want it to and never really seems to run out of ideas.
At the end of such a drive, you remember why you love quick cars and always have done since you were a kid. It just puts a smile on your face and makes you glad you’re alive at a time when so many car companies are producing driver’s cars like this one. You can take a few liberties with the M2 and it stays friendly – and that’s a great thing. Because as much as we love driving things like this – we also love parking them up in the garage and returning to those we love in one piece. At the M2’s price point, I can’t think of much else I’d want to buy.
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BMW M140i
Well, OK, there is one viable alternative. It’s also front-engined, rear-driven; has 250kW (350PS) which is sufficient; also has that lovely ‘Sport +’ option; also has a propeller on the front; also has the three coloured stripes of the ‘M’ family. Perhaps the only troubling thing for BMW is that they make so many driver’s cars at the moment.
The M140i costs significantly less than the M2. Where I’m from, that means I can buy an M140i and buy a used E39 M5.
See some of Steve’s tarmac work in the BMW M2 vs BMW M140i video review
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