THE_EXHAUST_PIPE_BLOG

Porsche's 911 GT3 RS is tested and Mercedes gets a new engine for the E-Class and a new rival for the S-Class: the Polestar 1. Porsche 911 GT3 RS review: can the perennial irritatingly good sports car hold its own on track? Annoyingly, it can. 513bhp and a screaming 4.0l naturally-aspirated flat-six tends to do that. The headline figures are the redline of the engine and the extraordinary power squeezed from a relatively small engine. That's 20bhp more than the standard car and the same 9,000rpm limiter, but a new, GT2 RS-derived aerodynamics package and a substantial £143,000 pricetag. So is it worth it? Lizard Green is a bold colour choice. Picture credits: Evo The 991.2 911 GT3 RS has lapped the Nürburgring already , in a scorching 6:56.4, thanks to all the new aero gubbins and the extra power. That is faster than the 875bhp 918 Spyder, and is also known as progress. "It climbs through the 7 gears with a lively fervour, the engine scaling the stairway t...

All the best from the New York Auto Show 2018. The NY show this year was, despite the Koenigsegg Regera poster car, not festooned with hypercars and track specials. The focus was more on practicality, with two pairs of classic rivals fighting it out for the sales advantage, if we're being brutally honest. Jaguar and Maserati both unveiled performance versions of their first SUVs, while Mercedes-AMG and Audi went into classic super-saloon warfare. The RS5 has been timed at 3.2s to 62, proper supercar pace. The Audi RS5 Sportback is a 4-door version of the dull Coupé version, and so is just as powerful, nearly as quick and slightly heavier, at 1840kg. That means 444bhp, 443lb ft of torque, 0-62mph in 4.1s claimed. You can read the whole story on it by clicking  on these words. These two are classic saloon rivals, representing sensible vs stupid. The Mercedes C63 has been given a mid-life facelift, and by clicking on the link, you can learn the 503bhp monster's whole s...

The Audi RS5 Sportback and the facelifted Mercedes-AMG C63 are both revealed at the New York Auto Show. Jaguar unveils the F-Pace SVR. The Audi RS5 Coupé hasn't been given a lot of love by journalists, and has been criticised far and wide for being dull and aloof. Audi's answer to this is the new Sportback version, with four doors, a first for the RS5 (although a regular S5 bodystyle) and normal RS innards. That means a 2.9l biturbo V6, also found in some Porsche models, producing 444bhp and 443lb ft of torque, and rocketing the 1840kg (slightly more than usual) RS5 Sportback to 62mph in just 3.9s, which is two tenths tardier than the Coupé (although TopGear has timed that car at a ludicrous 3.2s), and on to an electronically capped top speed of 155mph, or if you tick certain boxes, 174mph. Pricing starts at around 63 grand. We've got high hopes for this one if they can sort the chassis. Naturally, however, in the German holy trinity of £60k super-saloons, it isn...