Every week – okay, nearly every week – I post links to stories I’ve done elsewhere as well as stories I like. I’ve been a busy boy for carsguide.com.au (as you can see) and there’s more Redline goodness on the way in the form of a very special car indeed.
Have look, have a click, do me proud.
carsguide.com.au
I had the good fortune to drive the new Audi SQ5. I was a huge fan of the old diesel one (the only one I’ve driven) so was wondering if the petrol one had the mojo.
The new Mazda6 is an even prettier car than before with a new nose and tail and basically a whole new interior. The big news is the CX-9’s 2.5-litre turbo petrol engine with 170kW and 420Nm (the twin-turbo diesel is 140kW/450Nm). It’s no MPS6, but goodness is it a nice car.
I also drove the new Ingenium-engined Range Rover Evoque HSE Dynamic. I really like the way the Evoque looks (Rob Melville at McLaren had a hand in the LRX design study that became the Evoque).
And finally, I spoke to William Chergowsky (with video) from Toyota’s Calty Design studio. Calty is a hugely influential design studio, not just inside Toyota, but in the whole industry.
SUV Authority
My very good friend Karl over at SUV Authority got his teeth into the Lexus NX 300h Hybrid. I’m not a massive fan of the NX and it really should have put Lexus on the SUV map with younger folks but it doesn’t seem to have worked.
Practical Motoring
Over at PM, Paul Horrell had a crack at Volvo’s stylish Volvo V60. I have a thing for the looks of Volvos but haven’t had nearly enough chances to drive them. Paul went to the international launch of the brand new wagon and came away…well, have a look.
The Ferrari 488 GTB is the benchmark. Ferrari’s mid-engined sports cars have been the top of the pile for decades. This latest iteration is the latest in a line that started with the 1968 Dino (don’t start). The mid-engined baby quickly became the standard, with the bigger midships V12s fading away (Aventador excepted) to front-engines.
The 488 Spider is another in a rather shorter line of cars – the hardcore, mid-engined drop-top sports car from Ferrari. But it’s a line that’s as iconic as its coupes.
History
You can trace this style of machine back to the 348 Spider. Released in 1993 towards the end of the 348’s run, it’s probably no surprise it came after Enzo Ferrari’s death in 1988. Yes, there had been Ferrari convertibles before but they had either been conceived as softer lifestyle machines or based on GT cars.
Obviously, these things sold and they sold well. The 355 followed on and sales of the roofless version started to build. Americans particularly liked them but sales came from all corners.
The 488’s mechanical lineage started in 1999 with the 360 Modena and Spider. The all new aluminium space frame was a whopping 28 percent lighter than the 355’s steel monocoque with rear tubular space frame. It was also quite a bit stronger. The new flat-plane crank V8 was a screamer.
Amazingly, the split between the Modena coupe and the Spider was almost 50-50 (8800 vs 7589). In the US, the Spider outsold the Modena 2389 to 1810, the vast majority with the F1 semi-auto transmission.
The 430 came next and there was another addition – the model’s pinnacle, the legendary 430 Scuderia, was also produced in Spider form, limited to 500 units.
The 458 arrived in 2009, the Spider two years later. The new twin-clutch transmission was the only one available and a good thing too. The 458 is so fast – all Ferraris are now so fast – there isn’t the time to change gears manually. The Spider also switched to an aluminium roof panel that folds away under the engine cover.
And again, the Spider came in the form of the swan song, the Speciale – but instead was known as the 458 Speciale A (A for Aperta).
Ferrari 488
Sacrilege. Drama. Disaster. The Ferrari 488 made its debut at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. Off came the covers and there they were. The 458’s lovely hips had been defaced with gaping air intakes to feed the new, smaller, force-fed V8 engine. Now with two turbos and displacing 600 fewer ccs, certain fans – and some “experts” – went bananas.
How could they? Enzo turning in his grave, they said, while conveniently ignoring the iconic turbocharged V8 F40 produced under his watch. The F40 is considered “the” Ferrari. The 488, though. Not a real Ferrari, they screamed, despite never having driven it. The 458’s twin-clutch and no manual policy had certainly made waves, but this. Surely it was the end of all that is good.
Part of the aggro came from the fact that the “girly” California T (don’t get me started) had the same twin-turbo engine. As usual, it was all unfounded. The Ferrari 488 moved things along almost as far as the 458 had done with almost no loss of its tungsten-carbide tip sharpness.
Competition
Obviously the mid-engined sportscar segment isn’t a hugely crowded space. The obvious contenders for the crown are the Lamborghini Huracan Spider and Audi R8 Spyder, both of which share the same platform and drivetrain. In their most potent forms, both are all-wheel drive to the 488 Spider’s rear-wheel drive. They’re not as fast but they are stiffer with the roof down. Both have a carbon and aluminium spaceframe and that high revving (8500rpm) 5.2-litre V10.
The McLaren 570S Spyder is reasonably close to the Ferrari but you really need to step up to the McLaren 720S for similar performance. The 488 kind of fits between them. Both McLarens run a twin-turbo V8 and are rear-wheel drive. Built around the carbon monocage, the Spyder loses almost nothing to the coupe.
Of course, you can try the Porsche 911 Turbo or GT2/GT3 to try and get close to the Ferrari, but both are quite different types of car.
Engine & Transmission
The 488’s twin-turbo 3.9-litre V8 is available pretty much across the Ferrari range. From the California T, its Portofino replacement and the rear-wheel drive GTC4 Lusso T, the engine also forms the basis for Maserati and Alfa V6s. As a V8, it’s also in the Maserati Levante Trofeo, although detuned.
Here in the 488 it’s an all-aluminium, dry sump flat-plane crank V8 codenamed F154CB. Power weighs in at 493kW (670PS) at 8000rpm and 760Nm of torque from 3000rpm. The dry sump means Ferrari engineers could mount the V8 as low as possible in the chassis.
The two twin-scroll turbos come from IHI, with two air-to-air intercoolers behind those hip intakes. The low inertia turbo compressors are made from super lightweight titanium aluminide (TiAL). That particular material finds its way into the fan blades of turbofan jet engines.
The F154 features an extremely clever system known as Variable Torque Management. As with many modern turbo engines, the turbo wastegate is electrically-operated. Torque is limited by the system in all but seventh gear, with the system fiddling with the wastegates (among other things) to control the boost pressure. Not only does the system limit torque it also makes sure that the power feels less like a turbo than it might otherwise, with progressive delivery and impressive throttle response.
The Getrag close-ratio seven-speed transmission continued on but with plenty of work to handle the extra 220Nm of torque. That’s a whole hatchback worth of torque extra.
The aluminium spaceframe started with the 360 continues on, although it’s obviously much improved. The dynamic dampers and double wishbones front and rear combine with 20-inch wheels and Pirelli tyres. Formed of two digital screens either side of a beautiful big rev counter, the instrument pack is simple and effective. It’s a joy watching that big needle swing to the redline.
The basic spec is pretty good but you can choose a variety of seats, the stitching on the leather, the leather itself or junk the leather put carbon fibre everywhere. It feels beautifully put together and everything you touch feels great.
The driving position is lower than the Huracan/R8 pair, but subjectively feels slightly higher than either the McLaren 570S/720S. We’re talking millimetres here and the Spider feels slightly higher just because you can see the windscreen header rail.
The steering wheel feels great in the hand, the controls well laid out. The way the indicator switches are set in thumb’s reach, one on each side, betters the Huracan’s Ducati motorbike indicator switch. The paddles feel lovely and if I were you, stick with alloy – the carbon ones don’t really have the tactility of the alloy.
The Famous Manettino
You change the chassis setup on the steering-wheel mounted manettino. Here in the 488 Spider – as in the 812 Superfast – you have a choice of five settings. The lowest – WET – is for tricky, slippery conditions. The car is soft and doughy to stop the rears spinning up at the slightest provocation.
The second position is for tooling around in the dry without the car being all go-go-go. Despite its SPORT designation, it’s fairly tame, relatively speaking.
The third setting – where I spend most of my time in the 488 – is RACE. This setting amps things up, turns up the throttle response and the exhaust is louder more of the time. It doesn’t seem to affect the ride too much despite the dampers tensing up.
This mode is the best of both worlds. The car still rides, won’t get away from you in the corners and is by far the most fun when you’re on a public road. Idiots that appear on YouTube wiping out their car leaving a Cars & Coffee meet seem to skip this mode.
Fourth on the dial is CT OFF. This turns off the traction control and is useful on tracks where your margin for error is much greater and you can more safely explore your throttle control talent. The stability system is still there for you, but you are still more than capable of throwing it off the road.
And finally you have ESC OFF. I call that Certain Death mode. If you’re not a on a track and aren’t Fernando Alonso, you’re going to find yourself in a whole heap of trouble real quick. The 488 Spider is colossally powerful and you can shred those rear tyres in seconds.
Driving
I love driving this car. Unleashing that V8 is something that will never, ever get old. It still sounds great, even with the loss of a thousand revs. The hissing, sucking turbo induction sound is glorious and the exhaust note barely less of a howl than before.
The big difference between the 458 and the 488 Spider is all that torque so low down. The 458 was a long, hard revver with a dizzying soundtrack. Interestingly, so is the 488 Spider. While the noise isn’t as metallic and F1-like (before F1 went quiet), it still sounds amazing.
Sitting low and tight in the cabin, as soon as you get rolling you notice two things. The steering is unexpectedly light and the ride is excellent. You’re going to read that a lot about modern supercars – they shouldn’t ride well but they do. It’s one of the reasons the Aventador feels so old-fashioned – it doesn’t ride at all well.
The light steering is a key part of how the 488 Spider feels to drive. The rack is fast – really fast – and translates to a brilliant turn-in. The way this thing chases and arrives at an apex is what makes it great. There is of course understeer – otherwise there’d be a lot more YouTube videos of crashed 488s – but it’s just a tiny bit to let you know you’re approaching the car’s limits. You can push through it with the throttle and it’s glorious.
The grip of this car is immense – the things you can do and the things you can get away with are really down to the active differential and a brilliant chassis setup. There’s no way the car could dance, stop or corner the way it does without the colossal work that has gone into the differential.
Coupled with that is the dynamic damper setup – the differences between modes are subtle but hugely effective and it honestly feels like the car reads the road ahead and adjusts accordingly. If it’s all too much, you can hit the bumpy road button – you’ll have to back off a bit but your spine will thank you on poor surfaces.
The only complaint? With the roof down, a poor surface reveals a bit of scuttle shake. That’s it.
Want to really know how it feels? Watch the video. Make sure you subscribe to The Redline on YouTube for more.
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Ferrari 488 Spider Images by Rhys Vandersyde
Ferrari 488 Spider Interior Images by Rhys Vandersyde
The Aston Martin DB11 AMR is here to rustle your jimmies in style. Replacing the current V12 at the top of the range, the AMR trades on Aston’s formidable racing heritage.
Aston Martin’s stunning new DB11 now has a new top-of-the-range model – the DB11 AMR. Packed full of the goodies we’ve come to expect from Aston – V12 engine, effortless performance, heaps of trick gear – this one is lighter, faster and even more powerful.
AMR DB11
The AMR bit comes from Aston Martin Racing, a brand that has built over time with the success of its sports car racing. Pro-Am types love the Astons because the company is extraordinarily supportive of moneyed types taking their cars to racetracks and building their brand for them. Who knew?
Aston’s engineers started with the twin-turbo 5.2-litre V12 (447kW/608PS, 700Nm) and amps it up with a few more horse. Now standing at 470kW, the twelve knocks two-tenths of the 0-100km/h (0-62mph) time to 3.7 seconds. Top speed rises to a mighty 334km/h (208mph), which should clear your cobwebs.
Under the skin, the rear-mounted ZF eight-speed transmission has new shift calibrations, no doubt to feel a bit more racy when you flick the switch to Sport. The exhaust is also louder so people can hear you coming.
On the styling front, there’s the usual plethora of choice. The AMR starts with a “co-ordinated palette of carbon fibre” and it goes from there. The forged alloys look amazing and the gloss black detailing looks terrific. Also available are a range of Designer Specifications which co-ordinate colours for a particular look.
AMR logos are tastefully scattered around the cabin to remind you what you paid for, as if the fruity exhaust note wasn’t enough. Dark chrome and lots of racy Alcantara complete the racing vibe.
The Aston Martin DB11 AMR is on sale now in a number of markets. If it hasn’t already, it won’t be long.
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If your country is missing, let us know and we’ll add it. We’ll update prices as they filter through.
The Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR broke cover at the annual Wörthersee GTI festival thing and it seems it’s production ready.
Volkswagen’s annual GTI Treffen, held in Worthesee, is underway and as usual, VW has dropped a concept car. Called the Golf GTI TCR, VW says the concept is the fastest GTI ever. The press release bangs on about being “near-production” but the car you see in these slick VW photos is pretty much the real thing. For serious.
Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR
Powered by VW’s 2.0-litre turbo four, the GTI TCR punches out 213kW (290PS) and maximum torque of 370Nm. The twist is available from 1600rpm.
That’s nowhere near the Golf R’s power figures, so how is it the fastest? Well, VW is being a bit tricky, which is totally out of character for such a truth-obsessed brand. The “standard” TCR is limited to 251km/h (155mph), like most German cars capable of such a speed. The press release says you can “opt to remove the speed limiter” which sounds awfully like an option you’ll have to pay for.
Once you’ve paid your money/flashed the ECU *cough*, you’ll have access to 266km/h (164mph). That sounds mildly terrifying for a front-wheel drive hot hatch. One imagines a derestricted Golf R would surpass that number, but we’re not here to deal in speculation or start an argument. Asking VW will depend on whether the car is in a government lab or not.
You can’t shift your gears yourself, so if you don’t like the seven-speed DSG, you’re out of luck. A locking limited-slip diff will help with the cornering and various shenanigans Golf GTI owners like. The Golf GTI TCR rolls on 19-inch alloys and you’ll be riding a whopping 20mm closer to the ground, which will no doubt do wonders for the ride quality. Dynamic Chassis Control is also along to either reign in your idiocy or let you have a bit of fun. Or both.
The looks are further enhanced with new bumpers front and rear, a big spoiler and a new colour, Pure Grey.
An Akrapovic exhaust will be available for those who like their upshift farts extra noisy and you can pick honeycomb vinyls for the body. Inside the honeycomb motif appears on the seats which also appear to be swathed in Alcantara. The door inserts and gear knob sport microfibre for some reason.
When and How Much?
The roadgoing Golf GTI TCR (you can buy a race car any time you like for about €95,000) will likely start rolling down the production line late in 2018. VW is saying it will be on sale in some markets by Christmas. Hopefully Santa is bringing some extra cash, because I reckon the TCR will command a hefty premium.
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* cheapest price I could find ** includes emissions tax **includes FRT
Is your country missing? Let me know in the comments and I’ll add it.
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:
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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.
Watch and don’t forget to subscribe to The Redline on YouTube
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…
Curious about the Elise’s big brother, the Evora? Click here
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