Autocar Agosto 29, 2018

WITH ASTON MARTIN’S Valkyrie and the Project One from Mercedes-AMG soon to appear, and with the McLaren Senna already blowing our minds with its ability, this is truly a golden age for hypercars. Money-no-object machines such as these are incredible pieces of engineering; works of art as much as they are cars. Frankly, though, I’m more impressed with what you’ll find at the other end of the performance car market. For this is also a golden age for hot hatches, which offer attainable performance thrills at a relatively affordable price point. We’ve rounded up eight such cars for this year’s Britain’s Best Affordable Driver’s Car contest (see p38), and the strength in depth of the entry is a real reflection of the car industry’s ingenuity. The engineers who create such cars don’t…

WITH ASTON MARTIN’S Valkyrie and the Project One from Mercedes-AMG soon to appear, and with the McLaren Senna already blowing our minds with its ability, this is truly a golden age for hypercars. Money-no-object machines such as these are incredible pieces of engineering; works of art as much as they are cars. Frankly, though, I’m more impressed with what you’ll find at the other end of the performance car market. For this is also a golden age for hot hatches, which offer attainable performance thrills at a relatively affordable price point. We’ve rounded up eight such cars for this year’s Britain’s Best Affordable Driver’s Car contest (see p38), and the strength in depth of the entry is a real reflection of the car industry’s ingenuity. The engineers who create such…

“ The limited-volume Z4 M40i M Performance First Edition goes from 0-62mph in 4.6sec ” BMW has revealed its new, third-generation Z4, with a renewed focus on driving dynamics to take on the Porsche 718 Boxster. The new Z4, developed in conjunction with Toyota’s upcoming Supra, made its public debut in the US at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California, with global sales due to commence later this year. The new roadster will make its European debut at the Paris show in September, when BMW will reveal more about its mechanical package ahead of right-hand-drive deliveries to the UK early next year. The first derivative to be unveiled is the flagship M40i Performance First Edition, which will use a 335bhp turbocharged 3.0-litre straight six. The 718 Boxster rival has been designed and…

“ The limited-volume Z4 M40i M Performance First Edition goes from 0-62mph in 4.6sec ” BMW has revealed its new, third-generation Z4, with a renewed focus on driving dynamics to take on the Porsche 718 Boxster. The new Z4, developed in conjunction with Toyota’s upcoming Supra, made its public debut in the US at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California, with global sales due to commence later this year. The new roadster will make its European debut at the Paris show in September, when BMW will reveal more about its mechanical package ahead of right-hand-drive deliveries to the UK early next year. The first derivative to be unveiled is the flagship M40i Performance First Edition, which will use a 335bhp turbocharged 3.0-litre straight six. The 718 Boxster rival has…

There’s an old motorsport cliché that if a racing car looks right, it’ll go right. It’s not entirely true, of course, but here’s something that is: when a car looks right, it’s hugely frustrating when it doesn’t also go right. Style is subjective, of course, but the Z4 looks right, with a design that improves on that of the previous version. Does that matter? After all, the old Z4 looked the part but couldn’t fully deliver on that promise when it came to driving. To the credit of BMW, its engineers have acknowledged and responded to those frustrations. As much development time has been spent on honing the Z4’s driving dynamics as has been spent on the styling. Having had a brief drive in a prototype Z4 earlier this year, I’m encouraged that…

At Toyota, former GT86 chief engineer Tetsuya Tada is working on the new Supra, a job he first thought he’d be doing 15 years ago. That the new Supra needed to be true to its predecessor is why Toyota involved itself with BMW. “When we decided we were going to do this, we didn’t just want a revival or a rehash of what we had before,” Tada said last month at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. “We wanted to ask all the Supra fans around the world what was essential, and I tried to look for these conditions. The answer was clear: an in-line six, turbo, front engine and rear-wheel drive. A lot of manufacturers had stopped making in-line six engines; BMW was the only one continuing with an in-line six.” The…