Motor Mania

The new 2018 Rolls-Royce Phantom is richer than ever

by Akim Bouras on July 30, 2017

Since the first model released in 1925 the Phantom has been defined several times as "the best car in the world" so surely it is not an easy task to enhance it. Despite that the engineers at Rolls-Royce as always came up with innovative ideas and technologies to maintain this title.
Let's start from the engine which is a newly developed 6.75 liter bi-turbo V12 producing 563 hp and 900 Nm (664 lb-ft) of torque. The car can reach 100 km/h (62 mph) in 5.2 seconds and it has a top speed limited to 250 km/h (155 mph), not bad for a vehicle so heavy .
This car is all about smoothness, thanks to the self regulating suspension and an innovation coming from BMW, it is called satellite aided transmission and it's a system which adapts the gear shifts to the behavior of the driver and also to the geographical location. Another amazing feature are the powerful laser headlights which can project light up to 600 meters down the road.
The look is astonishing as always, the interior looks very elegant and sophisticated in the front while in the back it feels like a very roomy and luxurious lounge. And if you want to take it to another level you can choose to have a 3D-printed and gold plated map of your DNA on the dashboard. The price is still not known exactly and it changes a lot depending on the options but to get an idea the previous model was starting from 422,925$ (about 360000 euro).

5 unusual cars with ridiculously oversized engines

by Akim Bouras on July 28, 2017

Here are five very rare cars which may seem innocent at first glance but wait to know what they have under the hood. There are lots of cars out there which may have even bigger engines, these are the ones that i liked the most.

5- 2003 MG ZT-T 260

This may seem like a regular station wagon, a car which you can use as daily drive to ride your family. Under its hood we find a 4.6 liter V8 manufactured by Ford producing 256 hp and 410 Nm (302 ft-lb) of torque. This is not much considering the large displacement but is surely enough to put a smile on the faces of your children while you're taking them to school.

4- 2006 Peugeot 908 RC

Usually when we hear Peugeot we immediately think about economy or family cars with relatively small engines. This concept car presented at Paris Motor Show in 2006 comes with a huge 5.5 liter diesel V12. The engine is the same used by the Le Mans prototype it has a power output of 690 hp and 1200 Nm (885 lb-ft) of torque.

3- 1998 Italdesign Structura

This unusual looking prototype is made by Italdesign a company founded by the famous Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro. Despite the futuristic look this may overall seem like a regular car but hidden under the hood there is a huge 5.6 liter W 12 engine manufactured by Volkswagen. The power and torque figures are respectively 420 hp and 530 Nm (391 lb-ft).

2- 2000 Opel Omega V8

Opel like Peugeot is one of those car manufacturers from which you wouldn't expect big engines. This regular looking sedan has a 5.7 liter V8 made by GM with 305 hp and 450 Nm (332 lb-ft) of torque, again not much power considering the displacement but with some tuning it would make a great sleeper car.

1- 1999 Bugatti EB218

Bugatti makes some really fast cars so it's not surprising that they have big engines, this one however still may beat your expectations. Under the hood we find a 6.3 liter W18 with the cylinders distributed in three rows each one with six cylinders. This engine makes 547 hp and 650 Nm (479 lb-ft) and it's the same used in the Bugatti Chiron.

# Exclusive cars

New 2018 McLaren 570s Spyder

by Akim Bouras on July 25, 2017

After its first appearance a while back at Goodwood Festival of Speed the new Spyder variant of the 570s is finally available. Convertibles like this one may look very good but usually the performance is affected by the chassis, this because that the roof is an important element for the structural rigidity so if you take it off you have to compensate making the bottom more stiffer and consequently heavier. It was not the case with this car because also in the Coupé version the strength was concentrated in the bottom to lower the center of mass, this is what allowed to have an added weight of just 101 pounds (46 kg). The engine and transmission are the same in both versions: 3.8 liter twin-turbo V8 producing 562 hp, 443 lb-ft (570 Nm) of torque and a seven-speed gearbox. The 570s Spyder can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph (0 to 100 km/h) in 3.2 seconds and has a top speed of 204 mph (328 km/h). The roof unfolding takes just 15 seconds and it can be done at speeds up to 25 mph. The starting price will be 211,300$ (186,557 euro) which is 20,200$ more than the Coupé enough money to buy a new Ford Focus.

Pictures by McLaren

# Exclusive cars

2019 BMW M10 Hybrid Hypercar

by Akim Bouras on July 23, 2017

Let's make a leap into the future to the year 2019 when BMW is planning the release of a very special hypercar. We still know very little about this vehicle, it will come in two versions a hybrid and a fully electric which will be called E10. The hybrid will have a 3.0 liter engine and a total power output of 591 hp (600 PS) costing around 200,000 euro (about 230,000$) this according to the German magazine Auto Bild. This car has enough power to be an interesting competitor for a lot of cars especially the Audi R8.

pictures by Auto Bild

# Exclusive cars

New 2018 Lotus Evora GT430 lighter and faster than ever

by Akim Bouras on July 22, 2017

Towards the spring of 2018 the new Lotus Evora GT430 will be available on sale with a production limited to 60 exemplars. This model is the follow up of the previous Evora 400 and Evora Sport 410 which already had a great success. This car is fitted with a newly developed 3.5 liter supercharged engine, the six cylinders are arranged in a V shape and the power output is 430 hp. Despite being more powerful the Evora is not the lightest model made by Lotus this one weighs 2773 lb (1258 kg ) 57 lb (26 kg) less than the Evora Sport 410. The body parts are made with high quality carbon fiber which is visible in some sections of the rear and front bumper and completely visible in the splitter, extractor and wing. Thanks to the reduced weight and power the GT430 is able to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 96 km/h) in just 3.7 seconds and reach a top speed of 190 mph (305 km/h). The interior is very "race-focused" this why it may look bit bare but it's not a problem because it can be enriched with an integrated touch screen infotainment system, it has very cool racing seats in black perforated leather with red details available with four-point harness and titanium rear frame. The price is still unknown but like the other Evora's it won't be cheap probably around £100,000 (approximately 130,000$ or 111,500 euro).

Pictures by Lotus

# Videos

[VIDEO] Sébastien Ogier in an F1 car for the first time

by Akim Bouras on July 19, 2017

The four-time WRC champion finally had his chance to try a F1 car for the first time. In 2016 he and the Moto GP legend Valentino Rossi were invited by Mercedes F1 team to test their race-car but apparently only Rossi ended up doing the test. Finally nearly one year later he had the occasion to get in a Red Bull Racing F1 car, the same team he runs for in the WRC, realizing another of his dreams as he states in a tweet the day before the test "Reached Already so many dreams, met the love of my life, became daddy, WRC world champ…Tomorrow another dream will come true!".

# Videos

[VIDEO] New 2018 Jaguar E-Pace

by Akim Bouras on July 18, 2017

After the great success with the F-Pace Jaguar continued it's SUV production with a more compact version, the E-Pace, a model which is going to be a tough competitor for the German trinity the BMW X1. the Mercedes Benz GLA and especially the Audi Q3.
The exterior and interior are inspired to the F-Type as you can tell from the headlights, taillights and air intakes in the bumper. In the inside it's very futuristic, the seats and dashboard are covered in a very nice black leather with red stitches, in the center console there's a 10.2 '' infotainment system available also in 12.3'' .
The engine is a 2.0 liter both for the petrol and diesel version, the most powerful is the 297 hp trubocharged petrol with a nine speed automatic gearbox and all-wheel-drive able to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 96 km/h) in just 5.9 seconds.
Some additional options are the now popular Torque Vectoring and Adaptive Dynamic system which regulates the suspension stiffness in order to reduce body roll while cornering.
The E-Pace will be available in the first months of 2018 and it will have a starting price of £28,500 or 38,600$ in the US.

# Car news

The new 2018 Hyundai i30 N a very hot hatchback

by Akim Bouras on July 14, 2017

As i said in a previous post Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia are doing everything to gain the respect they deserve and loose their old reputation of "cheap car manufacturers". The i30 N is the first performance car of the N line, a hot hatch which has the experience of the brand in the WRC infused in it to make it a tough competitor for cars like the Golf GTI. This model has been developed also focusing on the excitement of the person behind the wheel for example with an exhaust sound generator which makes cool back-fire sounds.
The car looks very intimidating, it has a wide front grill, red accents in the front splitter and rear diffuse and it has the same paint used in the i20 competing in the WRC.
The engine is a 2.0 liter turbocharged inline 4 spitting out 271 hp and 353 Nm (260 lb-ft) of torque, the power is sent to the front wheels through a six speed transmission.
For the wheels you can choose between 18 or 19 inch and combined with the electronic limited slip differential and suspension contribute to a great grip in every situation. The i30 N can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62mph) in 6.4 seconds, the exact same as a Golf GTI, and the top speed is 250 km/h (155 mph). This vehicle has been heavily tested in the Nürburgring it has done infact more than 10 thousand km in the German track where Hyundai has a testing facility. The car will be available towards the end of 2017 the price is still unknown but it will be probably very close to the competitors maybe a bit lower.

# Car news

Ferrari plans to build an SUV

by Akim Bouras on July 08, 2017

According to a report in Britain's Car magazine for the first time Ferrari is working on a SUV under the code name Project F16X. This contradicts what the CEO Marchionne said multiple times firmly denying that they would build such vehicles with statements like "Non violentiamo la nostra storia" which means "we won't violate our history". It is true that to be a car manufacturer so exclusive you need to have tight rules that's why traditionally Ferrari never built SUV's but some times change is mandatory, especially to keep up with competitors like Lamborghin with the Urus or Maserati with the Levante. This innovation not only would bring a lot more profits to the brand but it would also help to surpass the threshold of 10,000 units sold every year (currently 8000 are sold approximately). We can expect this SUV to look similar to the GTC4Lusso, which is already four-wheel-drive, but with greater ride height, we will probably need to wait a lot of time to see it.

# Car news

Dodge Durango SRT an SUV faster than a porsche

by Akim Bouras on July 07, 2017

After the great success with the Demon SRT Dodge released another vehicle to destroy the drag strip, this time it's an SUV.
The new Durango SRT has a 392 cubic-inch (6,4 liter) V8 with 475 hp and 470 lb-ft (637 Nm) of torque. This SUV combines strength with its towing capacity of 8,700 pounds (3084 kg) and speed, 0 to 60 mph (0 to 96 km/h) takes just 4.4 seconds and it has a quarter mile time of 12.9 seconds that's 0.1 of a second faster than a Porsche Cayman S.
The magic is not limited to the engine bay the Durango also comes with Brembo brakes (six piston on the front and 4 on the back), an eight speed automatic TorqueFlite transmission optimized to always deliver the maximum torque to the wheels. The permanent four wheel drive system able to send up to 70% of the torque to the rear wheels in Track mode which, by the way, reduces shift times to 160 milliseconds.
It looks better without the cross on the grill which was present on the previous version and it looks more intimidating especially thanks to the air scoop and vents on the bonnet (which are obviously functional). On the inside it's very spacious, the seats and a lot of other details are covered in leather, the center console and dashboard are not too flashy which is good because it means less distractions from the pure driving experience.
The car will be available towards the last three months of 2017 at a price of 62,995$ . If you have the money but not the skills Dodge offers to the buyers of this car one day of training at Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving.

# Videos

[VIDEO] the first pick-up by Mercedes Benz the X class

by Akim Bouras on July 07, 2017

The new X Class is classy but it's not afraid to get dirty, after the concept presented in 2016 we heard a lot of talking about it until finally on the 5th of July Mercedes Benz released a teaser on You Tube. This is just an anticipation, the official debut of the pick-up will be on the 18 of July. The look is astonishing, i am very curious to see if also the production model will have the same "grill-tailgate".

# Exclusive cars

the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is born for drag racing

by Akim Bouras on July 03, 2017

For long the guys at SRT wanted to build something unique, different from the competitors like the ChevroletZL1 or the Shelby GT350, well, with the new Challenger SRT Demon they really nailed it. For the first time we see a production vehicle equipped with drag racing radial tires and a transbrake which are components very specific to drag racing. Every part of this car works together to make more power, even the conditioning system is used to increase the performance by cooling the intercooler. Every detail of the engine has been tuned and perfected making it a car capable of even more power if someone was crazy enough to put his hands on it.

It comes with supercharged 6.2 liter V8 with a whooping 840 hp (with the Crate package) and 770 ft-lb of torque. When launched the Demon reaches accelerations of 1.8 g, 0 to 60 (0 to 96 km/h) takes just 2.3 seconds and it is able destroy the quarter mile in 9.65 seconds at 140 mph a time so quick for a production car that it has been banned from competition by NHRA (National Hot Rod Racing Association). This beast will have a starting price of 85,000 dollars and to make it more special the production will be limited to 3000 models. If this is too much for you Dodge also released a cheaper version the SRT Hellcat Widebody more suited to be a "daily-car".

# Porsche

[VIDEO]The fastest Porsche 911 of all time the GT2 RS

by Akim Bouras on July 01, 2017

Like Aston Martin did for the Vulcan AMR Porsche also waited for the Goodwood festival of speed to launch it's the new model, the 911 GT2 RS. Let's start immediately from the engine, it is a 3.8 liter bi-turbo coming from a Turbo S pushed to 700 hp and 750 Nm (553 lb-ft) of torque making it the most powerful street-legal 911 of all time. This is also the fastest in fact it can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) in just 2.8 seconds and has a top speed of 340 km/h (211 mph) this thanks to the quick dual-clutch seven speed transmission and to its light weight, just the titanium exhaust by itself contributes to a 7 kg reduction in weight if compared to a 911 Turbo. If you wanted an even lighter version you can have it with the Weissach package which has more parts in carbon-fiber reinforced plastic and titanium shaving off an extra 30 kg.

It seems that lately Porsche is getting in the business of selling custom accessories because this model comes with a matching wristwatch just like the 911 S Exclusive Series released some time ago which even had matching luggage available.

Even if this is an actual track car, with a roll cage behind the racing seats, the interior is still very rich it has not been striped of its elegance and essential parts to reduce the weight. There is a beautiful contrast between the roof covered in red leather and the bottom of the cockpit which is black. The GT2 RS will cost 285,220 euro in Europe while in the US it will have a starting price of 293,200 dollars.