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• 918 and Life: Chris Harris Tests the New Porsche Supercar [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 17 May 2013

  

  Not even 24 hours ago we brought you the skinny on the production version of the Porsche 918 Spyder, Stuttgart’s shapely plug-in hybrid hellraiser. It looks wicked cool (particularly with the flashback-fabulous Weissach Package), and puts up staggering performance and economy numbers, but how does it look (and, more importantly, sound) when in motion? The one and only Chris Harris RSVP’d to the car’s launch at Porsche’s Leipzig test track (which is adjacent to the Cayenne and Panamera factory) to find out.

  It’s safe to say that Chris finds himself quite smitten with the driving experience, but he’d really love to see a lightweight, non-hybrid version. Frankly, we’d be curious to see how such a creation would perform, too, but we realize that, like the McLaren P1 and the LaFerrari, the 918 was designed around a hybrid powertrain and thus plays the role of technological showcase and assuager of greenie anger toward its maker. Besides, it’s damn fast and sounds like Wagner’s subconscious, and by Georg, that’s good enough for us.

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• Porsche 918 Spyder Production Model Revealed in Full

  In Auto News / By Tom Anderson / 16 May 2013

  

  In 2010, Porsche stunned the automotive world by revealing the 918 Spyder Concept, a plug-in hybrid supercar. Not long after the concept completed its tour of the auto show circuit, Porsche announced it would be putting the 918 Spyder into production, with assembly of the first car set to begin on September 18 (9-18…get it?) of this year. Granted, Ferrari and McLaren beat Porsche to the punch by premiering their hybrid hypercars at Geneva in March, but there’s still anticipation aplenty surrounding the 918.

  Now Porsche has pulled back the curtain on the production 918 Spyder’s shape, as well as its technical details. And even though it’s the last of the big-name green supercars to go public, we don’t think that has even a slight chance of hurting its chances for success.

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• Piecha Design Mercedes-Benz CLA250 GT-R Emboldens Stuttgart’s New Starter Sedan

  In Tuning / By Tom Anderson / 14 May 2013

  

  The all-new CLA-Class represents a sizable philosophical shift for Mercedes-Benz. It’s an extension of the company’s “four-door coupe” portfolio, and it’s the first front-wheel-drive Mercedes-Benz offered in the United States. But it also represents an open and concerted effort by the world’s oldest car company to court the highly-desirable youth market.

  And if there’s one thing younger car buyers like to do, it’s modify their rides to make them look different from everyone else’s. But because the CLA is so new, there aren’t very many options for making one’s baby Benz stand out from the crowd just yet. Thankfully, one of those options – from the German firm Piecha Design – looks damn good.

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• Enter “Project Nasty”: Roughing It in BBi Autosport’s Bantamweight ’85 Porsche 911 [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 8 May 2013

  

  When shopping for a tuning shop in the Western United States to make your water-cooled Porsche 911 (i.e. 996 and 997) even more of a thrill ride (particularly if it’s a factory-boosted Turbo or GT2), you can’t do a whole lot better than BBi Autosport in Huntington Beach, California. However, having said that, the company hadn’t popped it’s air-cooled 911 (993 and earlier) cherry until recently. But boy oh boy, was BBi’s first time one for the ages.

  The owner of this heavily modified 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera – BBi Autosport co-owner Joey Seely – essentially wanted the antithesis of the majority of the cars he and the team put together for customers: Spartan, simple, light-on-its-feet and naturally aspirated, in addition to the aforementioned air-cooled powerplant. And after watching it in action in the latest episode of Tuned, the Matt Farah-hosted show on the YouTube-only Drive network, we’re convinced this Whale-tailed temptress – provocatively nicknamed “Project Nasty” – meets all those objectives and more.

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• Set Phasers to “Fun”: Spocks Old and New Ham It up in Audi Advert [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 7 May 2013

  

  For a television series that only ran for three seasons and garnered rather lukewarm ratings, Star Trek has proven quite profitable for creator Gene Roddenberry and his heirs. This is due in no small part to the fact that the franchise enjoys one of the sci-fi community’s largest and most vocal fanboy and fangirl armies. But we reckon it also stems from a long line of iconic characters and the gifted actors who portray them.

  One of those characters is, of course, Spock. The mostly logical and emotionally-distant half-Vulcan, half-human chap has only been played by two men throughout his existence: Leonard Nimoy and, beginning with the 2009 J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie, Zachary Quinto. Audi of America has brought both actors together in this quite hilarious spot that showcases the Audi S7 and its principal competitor, the Mercedes-Benz CLS. Normally we consumer goods company/upcoming movie cross promotions (Star Trek Into Darkness hits theaters May 17^th.) as cynical, forced-looking-and-sounding cash grabs. But this? This. Is. Gold. Bravo Audi and Misters Nimoy and Quinto.

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• 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo and Turbo S Bring High Tech and High Velocity [w/ Video]

  In Auto News / By Tom Anderson / 3 May 2013

  

  When Porsche introduced the first production 911 Turbo (codenamed 930) in 1974, it instantly expanded the definition of the term supercar. And in typical Porsche fashion, the company has made it significantly better with each successive generation, making it more powerful, better handling, and altogether more civilized. In fact, if you take a drive in the most recent 997-series Turbo, you’d never believe it evolved from the 930 which, thanks to the unfortunate combination of huge turbo lag and a comparatively Paleozoic rear suspension design, was oversteer incarnate.

  So if the previous evolutions of one Turbo to the next are any indication, the new 991-based 911 Turbo should be the best one yet by a wide margin. Is that the case? Judging by the newly released specs (and photos and a video), it certainly seems to be.

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• KTW Tuning and Brabus Build a Wicked Mercedes-Benz E-Class Wagon

  In Tuning / By Tom Anderson / 2 May 2013

  

  When Mercedes-Benz released its first factory-built station wagon (the W123-based “T-Modell,” the “T” standing for touring and transport) in 1978, it probably didn’t know just how big a hit it would be. But as the last 35 years and untold thousands of sales of various compact and mid-size station wagons have proven, many people around the world – our grandmother among them – are quite comfortable with the idea of an estate car wearing the Mercedes-Benz star.

  The current-generation E-Class Wagon (codenamed W212) is the archetypal example of the brand’s wagon lineage. But for all its design and practicality virtues, it’s not much of a performance car (at least in non-AMG form). However, KTW Tuning (with quite a bit of help from Brabus) have managed to change that.

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• Flat Chat Fever: Audi R18 e-tron quattro Longtail Testing Sounds Amazing [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 2 May 2013

  

  It used to be that racecar builders like Alfa Romeo, Porsche and Ferrari would construct special low-drag “longtail” versions of their sport prototypes for high speed tracks like Le Mans, Daytona and Monza. But as those tracks were reconfigured to reduce vehicle speeds, the need for such extended-rump specials disappeared; the last one we can think of is the McLaren F1 GTR Longtail of the late 1990s. This makes us sad.

  However, the fact that Audi has created a longtail version of its R18 e-tron quattro diesel-electric hybrid (set to debut at this weekend’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps) has turned our frown upside down. And this video taken by Italian racing paparazzo 19Bozzy92 makes our smile even bigger. It shows Audi’s latest LMP racer blasting right past Monza’s tight first chicane and hauling the mail through the long, sweeping Curva Grande at a speed our cameraman estimates to be above 211 mph. And that sound? Just plain incredible! If we close our eyes we can almost picture that 3.7L V6 turbodiesel is wooshing its way through turn 1 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the back of a Dallara DW12. Oh well, maybe it is in some parallel universe (maybe the one where we’re behind the wheel of it).

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• Wald International Mercedes-Benz Viano Black Bison is Soccermom Chic

  In Tuning / By Tom Anderson / 1 May 2013

  

  While most Americans know Mercedes-Benz as a maker of premium automobiles, in global terms, it’s a truly full-line automaker. Yes, we get a taste of the company’s non-luxury car and SUV side in the form of the Sprinter van range, but the Sprinter is just a tiny slice of the pie. Mercedes-Benz also builds medium- and heavy-duty trucks, buses, smaller vans and of course the mighty Unimog. You can also get most of the company’s passenger cars with smaller gas and diesel engines than the ones offered here, as well as features like cloth upholstery and steel wheels with hubcaps.

  But back to those vans not named Sprinter. The Sprinter’s smaller, more car-like brother is the Vito, a rear- or all-wheel-drive cargo van which forms the basis for a passenger van aimed at non-commercial customers (read: families) called the Viano. And it is for the Viano that Japanese tuning house Wald International has developed one of its snazzy Black Bison body kits.

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• Inside Performance BMW X6M Stealth is One Crazy Camo Crossover

  In Tuning / By Tom Anderson / 30 April 2013

  

  While we still don’t get the logic behind it (Perhaps there…isn’t…any?), we cannot deny that the BMW X6M is one mean…vehicle. The jacked-up four-door fastback body conceals a brawny twin-turbo V8 and all-wheel-drive. It’s not practical, or very pretty, but good golly is it a hot piece of steel.

  Of course, it can always be made hotter. And German tuning shop Inside Performance has made one of these controversial Bimmers considerably hotter. However, the changes it has made to the exterior are ice cold.

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