Month: July 2019
Here we have an absolutely tiny £33k powerhouse. Capable of a 0-60 time in 5.9 seconds and weighing less than an ant, this car is the hypercar of its class. It is also really rare and is bound to turn heads just like any supercar would. Abarth have created a car that weighs just under a tonne, (just 995kg) and pumps out a very quick 0-60 time with a diddy 1.4 litre T-JET engine. It’s the extreme version of the Abarth 500.
The 695 Biposto is essentially a track car for hard-core sheer driving where you feel every bump in the road. Just to give you an example of how track inspired this car is, there’s a £8.5k optional extra on a £33k hot hatch… An option that is 1/4 the price of this car…
This option is called the dog ring gearbox. A chrome polished terminator looking metal gearstick that allows you to change gears without utilising the clutch. This is the only road legal production car to use a dog ring gearbox so you can evidently tell Abarth went over and above in delivering a track car that you can use for daily driving legally on UK roads.
I think one of the best ways to describe this car would be that it wants to be a Ferrari; it is in essence, a baby stallion.
If you look in a 360 degree motion of the interior you’ll notice a lot is missing. The interior has been fully stripped out in the rear making this a two seater, which has been replaced with a titanium strut brace and comes with rally inspired netting and red harnesses instead of your traditional ‘boring’ seatbelts. Equipment is scarce and this has all been done to save weight (38kg to be exact). You even get a fire extinguisher, you know, because this is a true race car…
It is fair to say this car is a true driver’s car, raw, powerful and puts you right on the edge of your seat. No listening to music, just the sound of that crazy loud Akrapovic racing exhaust. Hearing this in public at first thoughts without seeing it, you’d easily think it was the hum of a Ferrari, only to your surprise it’s a little carbon bath tub with the ferociousness of angry wasps.
The matte grey turbo powered rocket propels its way to 143mph and in this little thing that will feel like light speed. It has very impressive rigidity and body control when swinging it round corners and it will eat the apex for breakfast.
Optional extras such as the dog ring gearbox, carbon fibre dash and polycarbonate windows with a slider make this little race car feel like you’re permanently on the track.
Sports boost turns this car into a whole new creature. Throttle response is insanely twitchy and the car clearly wants to be chucked around. Torque in the low down rev range will snap your neck and leave anyone in your rear view trailing behind. When the turbo spools up you’ll feel a huge gain in performance and to compliment this, a very raspy and booming exhaust note.
This car isn’t your standard hot hatch by any means; the driving experience is more fun than that of your generic Mini John Cooper Works and your Fiesta ST. No, this is true Italian flair and born to be a fun car, nothing more, nothing less.
Ferrari and Lamborghini have been the main competitors in the supercar industry since the very beginning. This rivalry has allowed us to see some truly stunning and powerful machines produced by either side. Now we review the newest additions as once again they tackle each other head on.
Let’s start with specifications…
Ferrari 488 Pista:
Price: £250,000
Power: 711 bhp
Torque: 568 lb-ft
0-62: 2.8 s
Top Speed: 211 mph
Lamborghini Huracan Performante:
Price: £210,000
Power: 630 bhp
Torque: 443 lb-ft
0-62: 2.9 s
Top Speed: 201 mph
So in terms of specifications, this one has to go to Ferrari. It will do everything faster and has a lot more power to deliver to the floor. The 488 uses a twin turbo V8 whereas the Performante uses a naturally aspirated V10 engine. In a standing quarter mile the Ferrari does it in 10.1 seconds, the Lamborghini does it in 10.3 seconds.
Styling:
The Lamborghini has a very in your face design which expresses ludicrous angles and absurd lines, curves and vent placements that scream aggression. On the other hand, the 488 looks like a 458 just beefed up with a more aggressive flair to it yet the styling is more subtle than the Lambo lunacy. For beauty and elegance, the Ferrari is what you pick, but for sheer supercar nuttiness, go with the design of the Lamborghini.
Interior:
Both of these cars have one thing in common, an overcrowded steering wheel. There are just way too many buttons and it takes away the elegance of a what a supercars interior should be about -true quality and stunning leathers blended with alcantara. Unfortunately these over the top plastic filled wheels look too ‘jet fighter’ and do not suit the car. The centre console is a bit too large on the Lambo whereas the Ferrari has a much smaller centre console which doesn’t eat up too much of the cabin.
Driving:
The 488 uses a RWD system whilst the Performante uses AWD. The 488 is sharper in the steering area but the Lamborghini’s AWD system allows it to take on huge amounts of grip and mad levels of speed in and out of corners. The Performante doesn’t have the steering capability or communication it needs to beat the Ferrari. On a track the Huracan is the true beast here. This is proven with its obscenely quick time on the Nurburgring of 6:52, the standard 488 did the lap in 7:21, almost 30 seconds slower.
Sound:
The Lamborghini easily takes this one, a naturally aspirated V10 will sound much more monstrous than the whistle from the smaller turbo powered V8 Ferrari engine. The 458 would have won this challenge because of that glorious V8 engine note and arguably the best ever V8 made
Conclusion:
There is no outright winner here. Both of these cars are phenomenal and are the peak of supercar perfection. At the end of the day if you want a bonkers Italian car that will emit deafening roars of thunder and rip apart B-roads for fun, then go for the Lamborghini, if you want something that represents beautiful Italian design, style and will turn heads with its flawless appearance, go with the Ferrari.
Lotus has unveiled their £2million fully electric hypercar, the Evija. Evija means ‘the first in existence’ or ‘the living one’. Lotus have kept pretty quiet about this, their previous range of cars consisted of only three models the classic Elise, the Exige and the Evora. They’ve skipped the introduction of high-end supercars and jumped straight into the new era of hybrid electric hypercars, delving into the territory of the likes of the McLaren P1, this is certainly a very bold move by Lotus. This move reflects a totally new beginning for the British manufacturer and one that has aimed to turn Lotus into the legendary brand it used to be.
The Evija will be the most high powered production car ever built with a monstrous 2000bhp and a top speed of over 200+ mph. Boasting a claimed 0-60 time of around two seconds, a 0-186 time in nine seconds, newly innovated aerodynamics and a light frame, the Evija tackles to beat the best Nurburgring lap time of 6:45 set by the NextEV Nio EP9.
The aesthetics of this beast look like a fighter jet, particularly from the rear; this is because it has taken inspiration from the aeronautics industry. Lotus has packed this vehicle with unique styling and absolutely outrageous wind tunnels. The downforce this machine will make will surely be a benchmark for other manufacturers.
Only 130 of these brutally powerful monsters will be produced with a deposit of a quarter of a million pounds. The car should handle like your traditional Lotus and stick to the tarmac with optimum grip; this is down to the ducts, vents and a huge dynamic active rear spoiler. It also has five different driving modes, city, tour, range, sport and track, these optimised settings let the Evija utilise its staggering power figures where necessary and can be usable in multiple different environments.
Being all electric, the Evija has a claimed driving range of 250 miles. With the current charging technology we have the Evija will be able to charge to 100% in just 18 mins. The all-electric motors deliver a neck-breaking torque figure of 1,254 lb-ft. Just to put that into perspective that is around two and a half times the amount of torque from a BMW M5.
It appears we are approaching a new dawn in the motor industry. Audi E-Tron, Jaguar I-PACE and Tesla model everything are suddenly becoming popular in our new environmentally friendly world. The animalistic V10 cars we all know and love are becoming slowly less popular due to emissions standards and the push for an all-electric planet.
They may look like sensible hatchbacks but these cars offer some of the best driving experience of any car at any price point. What’s the best hot hatch money can buy?
Specs:
- 0-60 – 5.8 s
- Max Speed – 169 mph
- Max Bhp – 316 bhp
- Max Torque – 296 lb-ft
Honda have created an absolute track weapon with their newest revision on the Type R known as the FK8, it’s got a few tweaks from its older brother (the FK2) which has refined what was already a fun car to drive. The FK8 for example has fully independent rear suspension over the FK2’s torsion beam. The downforce has been increased by that crazy Japanese street racing style spoiler, huge diffusers and well placed vents. Honda’s +R (Race) mode has been refined so that it’s not unusable.
The styling is absolutely absurd and looks like a jet fighter. It’s a bit like Marmite. The design looks like it was produced by an awe inspired teenager who watches Fast and Furious a few too many times. The GT pack adds splashes of carbon all over the body and suits the sleek futuristic design. Vortex generators are used which are small fins creating extra downforce and not only that it makes the car look like a shark.
In true Japanese style, this car assassinated the Nurburgring with a phenomenally quick time of 7:43. To make this even more surprising, the Honda Type R stuck to its ways of using a traditional front wheel drive system. To put it into context, this £33,000 2.0 car is faster round a track than the Pagani Zonda C12 S (£1.1million), a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera (£200,000) and a Mercedes C63 AMG Black series (£80,000)… you know, just to name a few. This boils down to Hondas use of Its VTEC system which creates an absolute kick of power in the higher rev ranges and immense handing capability, the Type R actually produces negative lift because it is so expertly well made to be as aerodynamic as possible.
Specs:
- 0-60 – 4.6 s
- Max Speed – 155 mph
- Max Bhp – 300 bhp
- Max Torque – 295 lb-ft
The Golf has been VW’s bread and butter car for more than 45 years. Now, they’ve taken the well praised GTI and turned it into an all-wheel drive monster. The Golf R in terms of price to performance ratio is something to be reckoned with; you’re looking at sports car specs in what is a well-known family car and all for around £32,000.
On the eye, it isn’t anything special to look at but it’s actually quite a nice feature because behind all the tame and flattering design is a car that you know is a ballistic missile with performance to tackle the great British b roads and make mincemeat of 90% of cars on the road. There’s something quite nice about knowing it doesn’t look as wild as the likes of its rivals. It doesn’t draw any attention to itself but offers a wide band of power right at your fingertips making it capable for country blasts and sensible sophisticated daily driving with a true sense of comfort.
Of course it is still as practical as your everyday golf with tonnes of room for passengers, your golf clubs and being all wheel drive it is safe to drive in rain or rough conditions.
The R has a crazy launch control system that allows it to shoot off without any noise of tyre squeal. Launch control turns what was an already fun hot hatch into a little pocket rocket. It’s a feature you won’ use much and is purely for fun but if you’re investing in a hot hatch then it is features like these that you look out for. It blends classiness with raw power exceptionally well.
Specs:
- 0-60 – 3.9 s
- Max Speed – 155 mph
- Max Bhp – 396 bhp
- Max Torque – 350 lb-ft
The RS3 is a beefy hot hatch that pushes into sports car territory, it has a maddening level of power which slingshots you either in a straight line or around any country roads. Prepare for some fruity cracks and bangs when you put it into dynamic mode as this car has an unrelenting 5 cylinder 2.5 litre engine. It churns out enough grunt to put a smile on your face and force you back into your seat.
It has an impossibly good traction system thanks to Audis innovative Quattro all-wheel drive system. The car is about £12,000-£18,000 more expensive than the other reviewed models but when it comes to a true driving machine that will happily rip your head off, go for the RS3.
Styling on the RS3 is very aggressive particularly on the front and rear bumpers with a large twin exhaust to compliment this meatiness.
Audi have a talent for making the interior of their RS models a perfect balance of sports and comfort. This new one is certainly no exception. We love the red stitching layered among beautiful black leather with dashes of red on the air vents and seatbelts, it does enough to say “I’m a sports car” but not enough to make it overwhelmingly garish.
Specs:
- 0-60 – 5.8 s
- Max Speed – 155 mph
- Max Bhp – 280 bhp
- Max Torque – 288 lb-ft
Don’t be fooled by the 1.8 engine, this car has been perfectly executed by Renault and the smaller engine is non-important because this thing handles superbly. The colour is really something too, the sunburst orange pops and stands out from the crowd. Renault have managed to turn their fairly boring to look at Megane into a version that doesn’t look stupid boy racer like the Type R and not as subtle as the Golf R. It blends wildness and meek ordinary looks so well. Because of this it is the easiest on the eye and the longer you look at it the more you fall in love with it. It’s also cheaper than the rivals at £27,000
The sports exhaust sounds far better than the rivals and this is the one feature that actually makes it more of a hooligan than the competitors.
Renault have introduced a really innovative system in their steering called four wheel steering, under 62mph the cars rear wheels turn in the opposite direction to the front by as much as 2.7degrees. This makes the turn in to corners far more sharp and responsive. Around the corners this is where the car shines because of the ridiculously goo agility it has. It playfully dances around a track and with enough of a push down to the floor you’ll whip the back end out. This car out of all of them favours handling over raw power and it does pay off really well.
Specs:
- 0-60 – 4.7 s
- Max Speed – 165 mph
- Max Bhp – 345 bhp
- Max Torque – 325 lb-ft
The Focus RS has now adopted the all-wheel drive system to compete with the Audi RS3, BMW M2 and the Golf R. It is remarkably easy to launch thanks it to its totally new launch system. We would choose the Nitrous Blue option as it suits this hairy hatchback.
Fitted with Recaro front seats as standard, you know this thing is a Sunday toy. Or is it? Well it actually suits well as a daily driver with an average consumption of 36.7mpg and a fairly good suspension setup, perhaps a little too hard but then again this is the RS.
Engine wise, this actually shares the same 2.3 ecoboost four cylinder as the Mustang, surprisingly this has actually been tweaked to produce more than the mustang giving it more pack a punch than an American muscle. By far the best and most mental unique selling point of this car is RS Drift Mode. Much like launch control, it is a feature you will rarely use but when you do use it, the fun factor of this car is outstanding, what kind of petrol head doesn’t love the screech of tyres and burning rubber as your tail kicks out?