The Porsche Taycan Turbo S is a serious machine. Unlike other sports EV’s, which seem to offer thrilling acceleration but ultimately mean to replace driving, rather than improving it, the Taycan is the driver’s EV. It’s the EV designed and built by people who have won every major endurance race ever hosted. Its new 800V architecture, stunning good looks, and positively bonkers pace combined with the seriousness of build quality you get from Porsche, combines to make the best production EV money can buy.
Ford’s first mass-market electric car is not only designed to look like a Mustang, it’s named after the world’s most famous muscle car, too. The Mustang Mach E comes with RWD or AWD, with up to a 370-mile range and two battery choices, but it’s not just the powertrain that’s radical – a massive Tesla-style screen dominates the interior, and the door handles have been deleted altogether. So, what do you think?
The Hummer was an angular, militaristic, go-anywhere truck that became an emblem of 1990s pop culture. General Motors’ Hummer was a coveted status symbol sought by celebrities and a sometimes mocked and vilified example of how far of America’s newfound love for SUVs had gone. But in 2009, GM put several of its brands to the ax, including Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Saab, and Hummer. While the Hummer had a brief lifespan of just under two decades, it made a lasting impression on the auto industry.
Victor Holtorf was born with an engineer’s mind. And growing up on a ranch in eastern Colorado afforded him ample opportunity to tinker with various machinery and pickup trucks. Once he reached driving age, Holtorf’s incurable urge to take things apart and understand them spread to his cars. While his earlier car tastes revolved around American muscle, Victor eventually found himself buying and working on vintage foreign classics. He would eventually land himself the highest horsepower version of the famed Lamborghini Countach, the LP5000 Quattrovalvole, featuring six downdraft Weber caburetors and four valves per cylinder. “I love carburetors,” says Holtorf. “I know fuel injection is better for a lot of reasons, but with a carburetor you have instant throttle response. There’s not even a fraction of a second delay when you push the throttle and something happens. Plus, you can hear [the carburetors], and sometimes you smell the gasoline when you really get on the gas hard and all the pumps are shooting the gas in. It’s a sensory feast.”
The Lamborghini Huracan with 1,000hp thanks to a twin turbo set up is a serous piece of kit! Royalty Exotic Cars happen to have such a supercar on fleet, so let’s see what this 90,000 mile car is about in Las Vegas. Starting out as an LP610-4, this Huracan has the pair of Precision turbos installed by Dallas Performance and is run on the fleet of rental cars. Now with about 90,000 miles on the clock, the turbos have been running since about 50,000 and the car doesn’t feel anywhere near its age – a testament to the daily driving nature of the Lamborghini Huracan.
On this special Sunday episode of Roads Untraveled, Marcus gives us a list of his favourite and least favourite things about the second generation (SW20) Toyota MR2 Turbo GT-S from Japan (JDM). Enjoy!
This is the all-new Chevrolet Corvette Stingray! It’s the latest edition of America’s most famous sports car, and for the first time, it’s gone mid-engined! It arrives with the most powerful engine fitted to an entry-level Corvette, with a 6.2-litre V8 producing 495hp! The question is, with power that’s similar to a Ferrari 458, and a starting price of $60,000, which would you choose?! Join Mat for his latest Top 10 to find out!
Vicki takes a look at the Porsche Boxster, Mercedes SLK & BMW Z4 Roadster to see which offers the best value for an £8,000 budget. Taken from Series 27 of Fifth Gear, first broadcast 18th October 2018.
Let’s take a close look at the brand new Ferrari SF90 Stradale! It’s Ferrari’s first series production hybrid, boasting 1,000hp with a hybrid V8 setup, and with an entirely new dashboard and driving modes for the driver. Join me now though to discover the car in detail and even have a sound check from that new engine!
The Ferrari SF90 Stradale stands for Scuderia Ferrari 90th anniversary and Stradale – the Italian word for road. With an enlarged 4.0l TT V8 making almost 800hp and a little over 200hp coming from 3 electric motors for a total of 1000PS, it also is the first Ferrari to offer a front wheel drive set up with 15 miles of eDrive range running entirely electrically. On the exterior, the car also creates 380kg of downforce at 250km/h owing to aero that’s integrated into the bodywork. From a performance perspective, 0-100km/h is dispatched in just 2.5 seconds and it will go on to a top speed of 340km/h (211mph).
On the inside, the driver is greeted by a new 16″ curved display screen along with controls throughout with a new touch display interface. On the steering wheel are the options for Qualifying, Performance, Normal and eDrive modes, along with the traditional Manettino modes, now visually electrified in the display too. For the drive selector, the panel is created in the style of an old gated manual shifter, a positive nod to Ferraris of old.
The car is on display here at the brand new HR Owen Ferrari showroom in London’s Berkeley Square in Mayfair, where we can also explore the Monza SP1, the first member of the Icona series. For a quick tour as well, the showroom offers a lounge style facility for customers to experience the brand and to configure their future vehicles.
As a special bonus, we can also have a quick sound check and hear the new engine firing into life off the hybrid system and the grumbles of a few gentle blips too.
Initial impressions from my side are incredibly positive; knowing that the car comes in at under £400,000 it really is breathtaking performance offered at a price point that other marques haven’t really been able to content with up to this point. The times are exciting for Ferrari and the SF90 is a very intriguing vehicle that I cannot wait to drive in the future.
