mercedez: cupê

Volkswagen XL1

Even if your interest for cars doesn’t qualify you as a fan, you’ve certainly heard about concept cars, specially during auto shows. They’re always intended to take everyone’s attention, such as Citroën with Survolt’s design, but the purposes vary. While that one came only to impress at these events, others anticipate the automaker’s future trends. The design ones can come indirectly, like with Ford Evos, but the technological ones come much more clearly, like VW’s latest project to receive the production version.

Volkswagen’s projects of a super-efficient car have been developed for more than a decade, since the first prototype was showed in 2002, the 1-Litre concept car. All those studies have been done under Ferdinand Piëch’s management, which helps to explain the big similarities since the first project to this article’s car: the intention of achieving the lowest possible consumption rates was always there, like with every other automaker, but only VW has specificated it to the special number of 1 l/100 km, which can be expressed also as 235 mpg and 100 km/l and has been achieved since that first vehicle. The challenge, therefore, became adapting the test prototype to the production model. There was another concept car which seemed to take the studies to a different structure, called L1, but the final vehicle has very much in common with the first one. The essential concern with the aerodynamics has been expressed in the streamlined body, which is 153.1 inches long, 65.6 inches wide but only 45.4 inches tall. The wind flow also demanded a narrower rear axle with covered forged magnesium 16” wheels, although bigger and wider than the 15” front set – by the way, there is carbon fiber here, indeed. This car uses it on the monocoque, while other parts combine materials such as aluminum and magnesium. Another good part is that creating a super-efficient vehicle didn’t stop VW of making it look sporty.

The front fascia even follows its current design trend (looks like a compressed Scirocco’s), and there are several items to enhance the design without leaving the rules of aerodynamics: the arch-shaped LED tail lights give a futuristic touch, while the windows with small opening parts remind sports cars like McLaren F1 and the gullwing doors of the old race cars, opening with part of the roof to make the occupants’ entrance easier. The interior abandoned the original tandem configuration to have the seats almost side by-side. The cabin doesn’t expose much luxury, keeping the good impressions to the visible carbon fiber parts and, specially, to the door-panel monitors, which are fed by rearward-facing exterior cameras to serve as rearview mirrors. XL1’s extensive use of lightweight materials pays off at the final 1750 pounds, while dropping 1-Litre’s original aircraft-inspired canopy in favor of a conventional cabin didn’t disturb this car’s drag coefficient, resulting at 0.189. That’s why its hybrid powertrain needs only a two-cylinder 800-cc diesel engine with 48 hp, paired to a 27-hp electric unit to give a combined 69-hp power and 103-lb-ft torque; the DSG seven-speed gearbox with rear traction gives 0-60 mph in 12s7 and the top speed limited to 100 mph. XL1 will start with fifty units sold in Europe, but even if the acceptance spurs more units to be produced, this car’s profit won’t ever come in money. VW’s concern is to adapt most of XL1’s technologies to the conventional cars, just like it was revealed with up!: it’s expected that most of this powertrain is going to be applied to the supermini’s future hybrid version.

BMW Série 6 Gran Coupé

Pode-se dizer que esta novidade foi antecipada pelo Inovar-Auto. Entrar no programa com projeto de fábrica no país trouxe a isenção do IPI de importados para os veículos da BMW, culminando na recente redução de preços em quase toda a linha nacional. Foi a lista deste evento que chamou atenção para ver que a Série 6 teria novidades em breve. A excelente surpresa é nós termos recebido um dos mais novos modelos da marca com menos de um ano de atraso, cujas informações você poderá conhecer neste artigo.

Prosperar no mercado de carros da atualidade é um objetivo que só tem alguma chance de se cumprir se os trabalhos para isso incluírem o ato de inovar. Seja em desenho, tamanho, equipamentos, o espectro de possibilidades sempre foi enorme, mas apenas nas últimas décadas tem sido explorado como sempre mereceu. A estratégia de procurar lacunas para preencher fez o mercado receber diversas categorias de carros que seriam inimagináveis quinze anos atrás, mas assim como criar novos conceitos nem sempre resulta em sucesso, mesmo o ato de apenas seguir um concorrente ao entrar no segmento que ele criou requer cuidados. Como a iniciativa do Mercedes-Benz CLS já foi seguida por Audi A7, Aston Martin Rapide, Porsche Panamera e até Volkswagen CC, mesmo que a BMW tivesse decidido segui-las, o atraso que teve foi compensado pelo conceito que traz o Gran Coupé. Sua dianteira mantém os traços da Série 6, mas seu pulo-do-gato está nas proporções: em vez de esticar o conceito de cupê até comportar as portas adicionais, a ideia aqui parece ter sido partir de um sedã convencional e deixá-lo muito mais casual e esportivo. Fica bastante claro que o objetivo de fazê-lo mais elegante que os rivais diretos foi cumprido, porque a esportividade do Gran Coupé ficou muito mais sutil, sem intenções explícitas como o caimento tipo fastback do A7.

Um traço comum a todos os modelos da Série 6 é que a parte traseira não dispensa o terceiro volume curto, mas bem pronunciado; ver isso no Gran Coupé permite a interessante elucubração de que se a BMW não fosse uma marca de tradições tão fortes, este carro poderia ter vindo como uma nova Série 5 ou Série 7 sem deixar nada a desejar. Mas o porta-malas de 460 litros é apenas a entrada dos fundos ao próximo encanto deste carro: a luxuosa cabine, dedicada a quatro pessoas. A novidade chega ao Brasil na versão 640i, cujo pacote inclui bancos de couro com ajustes elétricos, rodas de 19”, sistema de som com sete alto-falantes e disco rígido de 12 GB e o Connected Drive, a central multimídia que usa uma touchscreen de 10,2” para acessar a lista de funções que inclui navegação GPS e uso da internet 3G de celulares. Já o pacote de segurança inclui farois com LEDs e iluminação inteligente, seis airbags e controles de tração e estabilidade – como opcionais, ele terá controle ativo de velocidade, sistema HUD, novas opções de acabamento e o kit aerodinâmico M Sports. Espera-se a versão 650i para breve, mas por enquanto já se tem a performance do 3.0 turbo de seis cilindros, que entrega potência de 320 cv e torque de 45,9 kgfm, suficientes para que ele esqueça dos 1.825 kg e acelere de 0 a 100 km/h em 5s4 e chegue à máxima limitada de 250 km/h. Custando R$ 399.950, a BMW pretende vender cinquenta unidades do 640i até o fim do ano.

McLaren P1

How good was the car world in the 1990s. Everyone was excited for the long-awaited new millenium finally getting closer, creating a futuristic atmosphere that surely helped the public to receive the then-surprising technology progress in their everyday, including seeing all the big companies’ evolutions. But if the car fans’ desktop images were used to follow only Ferrari or Porsche’s news, a British automaker suddenly stole all the attentions. This article’s car proves that now, two decades later, McLaren’s time arrives once again.

There will always be controversies concerning the first place of some records, but what is known for sure is that after being entitled in 1998 as the fastest production car in the world, F1 was overcome by other vehicles but still makes part of the top 5. So far it isn’t known if McLaren will try to retrieve the golden medal, but the fact is P1 has everything to succeed it when it comes to the image. This goes much further than only the fact of the new coupé being McLaren’s latest flagship car: if one of its goals was to exalt its own brand, there are no doubts that this has been achieved even before the official release (which will be made at the upcoming Geneva Auto Show). The design shows a conceptual mixture, creating visual connections not only with the current design trends but also with the iconic predecessor. There is an astonishing combination of smooth and strong lines, creating a much more organic silhouette than a Lamborghini’s but filled with very well-designed elements whose design boldness isn’t seen even on the latest Ferraris. Everything is intended to improve the aerodynamics, making the vehicle look stuck to the ground just like an F-1. Besides that, using large portions in two contrasting colors helps to make it look nimbler, without the size impression of an Aventador, for example.

Once again the doors have gullwing-opening, but the fans will miss F1’s central position for the driver. Just like most of the other sports cars on their competition-inspired versions, P1’s cutting-edge technologies are more focused on weight reduction than on pampering the couple of lucky occupants. There will be full climate control, GPS navigation and even a Meridian sound system, but having all the controls facing the driver gives enough explanation of who this car puts in charge of everything. Besides, there’s carbon fiber in almost everything, since the MonoCage chassis and the external panels to the console and even the seats, which will be customized specifically for each customer and its favorite “+1”. The weight concern goes to extremes such as the car giving away internal coatings, sound isolation and even some of the seats foam. There isn’t powertrain information so far, but this car is highly expected to bring an improved variation of MP4-12C’s engine. Such power will be controlled by a very interesting fully-digital dashboard, with a large central screen and an auxiliary one on each side. In other words, even when McLaren needs to surrender to the current car trends it is done in style – two other amazing examples are the lights: since the intention was to use LEDs, this rear set must be the most creative ever seen on a production car. And when it comes to the front, what would deserve bigger applause than having the headlights shaped as McLaren’s logo?

TagAZ Aquila

Once again, popular culture proves its timeless wisdom. Like with almost everything in life, sometimes it could be a great experience to do new things, or even the same ones in a different way, at least. It could be taking a different route for going to work, tasting different cuisines, or buying products from other brands. The latter example is what this article exposes. Even though many brands’ bad reputation is justified by aspects such as bad quality, Aquila wants to show the very bright side of “there’s a first time for everything”.

Have you ever heard of this automaker? It was founded in 1997 at the Russian city of Taganrog, and in the following year started to manufacture Daewoo vehicles under license. In fact, until now it has only produced other brands’ cars, such as Chery, Hyundai JAC, SsangYong and even Citroën’s – Berlingo’s first generation went rebadged as Orion M. Therefore, they deserve even bigger compliments for creating such a good-looking first car. Many young automakers try to cause better first impressions with flamboyant designs, but end up showing a car that no one would like to have. That’s what turns Aquila’s moderation interesting to see, in fact. There aren’t strangely-shaped or oversized elements, creating an overall well-proportioned style which even reminds the 1990s cars, but in a good way: sometimes, creating too complex lines results too heavy for certain vehicles. The original intention was to create a low-cost coupé for city use, but fortunately this didn’t stop TagAZ to add some items usually restricted to super sports cars, such as painting the trunk lid in piano black to resemble a central-engine car’s hood and a discreet aerodynamic kit, composed by front and side spoilers. There are some dissonances, like bubble-shaped mirrors combined to very angular doors, but the overall result is very positive.

Entering the car once again gives the impression of going back to the 1990s: doesn’t this steering wheel remind you of cars like Ferrari 456 and Lamborghini Diablo? The cabin also applies an interesting combination of black, chrome and red, but items such as the standard single-slot sound system exposes the concern with reducing the costs. On the other side, it’s always nice to see that this car brings air conditioner, electrically-operated windows, hydraulic steering, driver airbag, sound system and heated rearview mirrors as standard equipments, with optional parking sensors and rearview camera – the latter ones were added because TagAZ listened to the opinions of some press members. What could be a problem is the powertrain: Aquila starts with Mitsubishi’s 16-valve 1.6L with 105 hp with a five-speed manual gearbox, clearly underpowered for any more intense use than at the big cities. But TagAZ keeps showing confidence on its car’s success, announcing that it’ll receive another engine option later, probably a 2.0L with 150 hp, and even a two-door version with even sportier looks. This can only lead the public to have big expectations for this car’s future, which has already begun successfully: the automaker states that its production has started last week, and there are about 7,000 requests already. And how about you: would you give this Russian coupé a try?

Seat León SC

Every car fan must have at least one car which just looking to it leads to think “I bet it would be a huge success in the entire world”. Some of these potentials are squandered because the car is bad in some aspect, others because its brand doesn’t have the charisma to attract many customers… and others because its brand’s group prefers to have another vehicle taken to the foreign market. We all know that the new Golf is an excellent car, but wouldn’t be great if VW’s Spanish division was allowed to offer Leon around the world?

While some brands maintain heavy traditions when replacing a particular vehicle, others prefer to take the opportunity of projecting each time an entirely new car. León turns interesting to observe because Seat’s strategy with it acts like a halfway: the mid-size hatchback has been carrying the same name for three generations and fourteen years without even thinking of dropping this name. The first one couldn’t ever deny it arrived in 1999: the overall round, plain shapes were typical 2000s elements, while the wedged front with narrow lights and the high-deck rear remind the 1990s’ cars. Later, the second phase arrived with a much more organic design, using several strong creases only to highlight all the elliptical shapes, such as the headlights. And this time, the compass seem to have been dropped in favor of the ruler: in this generation we observe the smooth lines highlighting square elements. The nicest part is that Seat decided to extend this excellent work by giving León its very first two-door option, not only as a new version but with a whole new body. In other words, instead of only subtracting the rear doors, increasing the front ones and adapting the side panels to this, SC is actually a coupé-inspired hatchback, perfectly suitable to compete with Renault Mégane and Opel Astra.

And once again just like those others’ sporty variations, SC brings a very stylish exterior, with took advantage of VW’s MQB platform to become slightly shorter and wider than the five-doors, everything in order to improve the handling. Some might compare it to the new A3, but the fact is León once again managed to show how it’s possible to avoid the big traditions and deliver very nice products every time. The interior won’t be too focused on being spacious because this is a sporty version, but it’ll take four occupants with plenty of comfort. Besides, as it’s getting (too) usual with the VW Group’s cars, the cabin uses everything in black, gray and silver. It does create a modern impression, but adding some colored details would go really well with a car that comes from the same country as Pedro Almodóvar’s movies. But if you’re the kind of driver which prefers to see the landscape’s colors, specially as quick blurs, Seat will offer you a huge list of powertrain options: only with gasoline there will be the TSi 1.2 (85 or 103 hp), 1.4 (120 or 138 hp) and 1.8 (177 hp), while with diesel it’ll come with the TDi 1.6 (89 or 103 hp) or 2.0 (148 or 181 hp) – the latter ones will obtain very low consumption rates. The transmission options will be manual with five or six speeds or DSG with six or seven, depending on each of its three trims.

Alfa Romeo 4C

Geneva was where the concept car’s first appearance took place, and now, two years later, Geneva will be where the production version’s arrival will take place. The current times are asking for new strategies, so Alfa Romeo will use this car as its first solid attempt to expand the sales around the whole world, just like almost every car fan has dreamed to see for decades. If there isn’t only one correct direction to achieve success, it’s undeniable that Alfa’s is the most commendable one: 4C comes as Italian as it could possibly be.

Like most of the European brands, Alfa had to reorganize its plans in order to become more profitable. Fiat, like every other car group, won’t ever give too much information about what it’s trying to do with each brand, but it’s possible to think the intention is to make both Alfa Romeo and Lancia have a full-size showroom, working from mid-size to entry-luxury price ranges but always maintaining their very heavy conceptual difference: the Alfas would be always sporty, while Lancia would take care of the classy side, leaving Maserati to the high luxury zone – it would be the only way of keeping all of them and living in peace with each other, but so far this is nothing more than speculation. The great fact for now, though, is that 4C comes with really small changes from the concept version, such as the different headlights. The customers which were waiting for new GTV and Spider unfortunately will have to keep praying, because this one brings a totally different style, which is actually closer to some English cars like Lotus Elise. In other words, the Italian coupé focuses much more at the best handling it could have than to break speed records. The design, for example, has only 13.1-feet length but 6.6-feet width, combined to a 3.9-feet height. Like Chanel and Dior (or Versace and Dolce & Gabbana, to keep it Italian), Alfa wanted its new sports car to be concentrated in a small, but very, very beautiful flask.

Smaller sports cars aren’t used to be very attractive because there isn’t much space to use those opulent creases and volumes such as Enzo Ferrari or Mercedes-Benz SLS’s, but 4C turned out very well-designed. The MiTo-inspired front fascia still uses big and round headlights, but the black painting made them very elegant. Besides that, it’s nice to observe that Alfa used cleaner lines, which suit smaller cars much better than too many shapes: the lower grille seems to create only one big element, getting divided only by the cuore sportivo, which also defines two big lines that make the hood seem smaller – simply excellent. Those two lines fade after the doors, whose windows became visually connected to the windshield by black-painted A-columns, and give space to the imponent real air intakes. And going a little further we see the beautiful tiny rear, which takes the attentions to the round lights and the rear windshield, this one because of the rear-mid engine: this car uses the turbocharged 1.8L with four cylinders (that’s why it’s called 4C) debuted with Giulietta Quadrifoglio Verde. It’ll generate 232-hp power and 251-lb-ft torque, leading to expect that the carbon fiber chassis’ reduced weight will help to achieve very interesting performance. 4C will use only a six-speed dual-clutch TCT automatic gearbox, but it also features the DNA selector: there will be Dynamic, Natural and All Weather modes as usual, but here along with Race, each one with different driving parameters.

Audi RS7

Do you remember what Audi used to do with its sporty line until the early 2000s? The only odd-numbered vehicle was A3 which, in turn, was also one of the Germans’ three “exceptions”: A2 never achieved success and TT seemed to be enough among the sports cars, so the several S-number were only sedans and wagons and there was only one RS at a time. The current market has brought enormous changes to this brand’s showroom, though, and one way of illustrating this event is presenting this article’s vehicle.

There’s no argument that Audi can create really good cars, but this one can also be seen as a very accurate example of how the automakers are always getting divided into two groups: it starts when someone comes up with some kind of innovation, whether in luxury, mechanics or even a whole car concept. If it obtains good acceptation, this brand can enjoy some months of excellent sales exclusively for itself, but soon all its competitors start to release their versions of the same idea. Some better than the original and some worse, but all with the same essence, which leads to divide the customers once again. This is what Audi has been doing with its cars for some years, in fact. They’ve followed BMW and Porsche with a luxury crossover and later with creating smaller sizes of it, and also Mercedes-Benz with both the four-door coupes and its own supersports line. Besides, after A7 received the always-expected S7 trim, now it’s time to copy every single urban Audi but A8 and release a RS7. Sports versions are always great, but the problem with this one is that Audi is decharacterizing it. The original strategy was always to give huge powertrain upgrades with slightly visual changes to its urban cars but as the S version, leaving RS as one single very special car like RS2, the very first of them. However, since today almost every Audi offers both sporty versions, they both seem pointless.

After all, the customers who look for high performance cars at Audi’s price range wouldn’t take the “second best” trim only to avoid the price difference in favor of S. On the other side, there are so many RS cars that they’ve lost that uniqueness which in 1994 made that wagon worldwide famous. In other words, it would make much more sense to go back to offering only one line… just like BMW M or Mercedes AMG, by the way. Strategy issues aside, RS7 is the very latest Audi to receive the best performance upgrades these Germans offer. This aggressive design packed with beautiful 20” wheels really go much better with the casual very-high-end Audi than with its sedan sibling A8, also because now there’s a competitor for CLS 63 AMG and the recent M6 Gran Coupé. The driving can be customized with optional air suspension, sports rear differential and variable-ratio steering, stability control with sport option and “off” button and many others, making an already indefectible driving more suitable to each driver’s style. The common item is the twin-turbo V8 4.0L shared with RS6 Avant, delivering here 560-hp power and 516-lb-ft torque commanded by ZF’s eight-speed automatic transmission and quattro AWD system – this car goes from 0 to 60 mph in 3s9. The top speed, in turn, varies with the optional item packages which bring several improvements in style, handling and aerodynamics… and take the car from the 155-mph top speed to 174 mph or 190 mph.

Cadillac ELR

Multiuse platforms must’ve become one of the best strategies ever created by the car industry in the last years. The idea of not having to start every project from scratch was always a temptation in many aspects, but the biggest barrier was finding the right “tune” between saving money by sharing and giving project freedom for each car. After decades of many GM experiments, this coupé’s proportions now arrive to prove that car-wise, there has never been a Cadillac like ELR efficiency-wise, technology-wise or otherwise-wise!

The first picture’s contrast between the writing style of brand and model’s names is a great example of what Cadillac has done in the last decades to stay successful and profitable. That excessively extravagant style from the 1950s could have been beautiful and irresistible (for many people it still is, in fact), but it wasn’t hard to expect it wouldn’t last long. Not only because of the plain time passage, events like the oil crises and the technology advances had a huge influence at the very concept of an automobile, which demanded a huge attention from the involved companies to keep offering something the customers would be willing to buy. This was a very important point specifically for GM’s luxury marque because after the drastic changes performed during the 1970s and the 1980s, their cars survived the following decade pretty much adrift. That’s why the 2000s seen such a revolution created by Cadillac: the whole new design language came with replacing the older projects with not only up-to-date ones but also shared with GM’s other brands, enabling it to participate much more intensely at the upcoming technologies’ development. ELR is precisely the youngest result of this new operating strategy, because it’s the luxury version of GM’s urban hybrid cars – that’s right, this car shares very much with Chevrolet Volt and Opel/Vauxhall Ampera.

If you’re familiar with the Converj concept, it won’t be necessary to explain very much about the design. ELR comes as its production version, so the designers’ idea was to keep the changes to a minimum. The design was smoothened, indeed, but it seems more elegant now. Some measures were changed in order to fit Volt’s platform, but they’ve also helped this car to avoid resembling the coupe CTS too much. But besides the boomerang-shaped lights, imponent front grille, gorgeous 20” wheels, LED-composed headlights and the typical very strong cuts and creases, the cabin really brings the expected finesse. Its four passengers will all enjoy very spacious individual seats, whose stitched leather can be paired to several options of coating colors and materials, including fine woods and real carbon fiber. And if you’ve noticed the big central console, this is one of Volt’s genes. The pictures show the T-shaped 288-cell, 16.5 kWh battery lies at the car’s center, to work with the two electric engines and the gasoline one, a four-cylinder 1.4L. This combined powertrain results at 208-hp power and 295-lb-ft torque, which doesn’t achieve the same performance as the sedan’s because they’re lighter cars: it’s estimated that ELR will make the 0-60 mph in around eight seconds. The all-electric mode’s autonomy will be 35 miles, extended to 300 miles with the 1.4 and technologies like regenerative braking. ELR will be priced only when closer to hitting the streets, which will be done around the end of this year.

Chevrolet Corvette C7

Here it is. After several months of spied prototypes, leaked pictures of external parts and related material, some official teasers and dozens of computer projections, this is the real deal. Corvette has become one of the most famous symbols of North-American vehicle performance of all times, so its fiftieth birthday deserved that Chevrolet once again faced the task of not only improving this car in every possible way but also of finding the right way to do it. The meaning of this expression is what you’ll discover with this article.

Chevrolet’s task is even harder than Ferrari’s, for instance, because the traditions it maintains are heavier. Some of the sports cars automakers have built their reputation around several vehicles, like the mentioned Italian one, but there are others which prefer to dedicate themselves to improving one single car over the years. These are exactly opposite strategies, but the chances of success and failure are the same for both – it only depends on their execution. Corvette is an undeniable example of the second one, just like 911 is for Porsche. And also like with the German coupe, dealing with such a huge tradition became a true challenge for its brand because whenever it’s time to perform changes the same question appears: “Would it be better if it looks like the previous generations, or is it time to create a whole new car?”. Nevertheless, the last years showed that while the European sports cars started to focus at the future, with new design languages and even new car categories, the North-Americans decided to work looking back. The 2000s were full of past-inspired cars like Chevrolet SSR and Plymouth Prowler, and some of them resist until now: once again it’s possible to decide between Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Challenger and Ford Mustang and notice that all of them expose retro designs. So it turns very surprising to observe that Corvette wants to break this “rule”, like Dodge has recently done with their own super sports car, SRT Viper.

Some people won’t take long to claim the seventh Corvette looks too much like the new Viper. Others will go further by remembering that since Viper received some criticism of becoming too European, Corvette would have become an US-made Ferrari. But the fact is Chevrolet decided to express this car’s big traditions in a less obvious way. Investing so hard at resembling forty, fifty years old cars reduces the designing freedom, therefore avoiding to improve the car’s performance – which is an extremely important aspect for a sports car. So the new Vette became more aggressive, with plenty of strong creases and a beautiful selection of acute-angled shapes, which all contribute to a very modern look, much different from the smooth lines seen until C6. But the mentioned past references are still easy to observe: the front is elevated at the center but even more at the extremes as in C3, but with the headlights far from the center, as from C4. And the rear windshield creates a triangular shape that ends at an abruptly cut rear only reminds what’s seen since C2. The tail lights, however, brought a fascinating combination: they still use double units like in every Corvette, but lost the round shapes in favor of rectangles, to go better with the overall style and resemble Camaro. Even the front grille’s chrome line could give a hint of Chevrolet’s current design language for this item.

Looking to this car’s roof is another interesting ambiguity, in fact. Although the black spot here means a removable roof, having it next these black-painted A-pillars makes it impossible not to remember the 1990s futurism of Lumina APV. The other meaning is that roof represents the cutting-edge technologies received by this car. The console uses a modern interpretation of Corvette’s typical driver-centered interior design, now filled with some aluminum and carbon fiber details and several coating options. The big touchscreen summarizes that this car now brings all the current trend items, like multimedia sound system, and it’ll be possible to choose between comfortable daily-use seats or competition ones. Even the quickest glimpse at the tech specs sheet will reveal enormous structural improvements, which managed to improve aspects like body stiffness and weight, Brembo braking system, suspension, wheels (with specific tires) and efficiency. C7 Vette proves it deserves using the Stingray name also with the powertrain: the naturally-aspirated small-block V8 6.2L hasn’t left the front section, and produces 450 hp and 450 lb-ft of power and torque. It’ll also features cylinder deactivation with active exhausts system as a standard item – using an automatic six-speed transmission or the manual seven-speed gearbox, the result of all that is a 0-60 mph done in about four seconds and better emissions and consumption rates than C6’s. Pretty good use for those four exhaust pipes, right?

Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 and E 63 AMG

Sports car fans have been delighted with high-performance versions of conventional cars for decades. Audi S and RS, BMW M, Chevrolet SS, Dodge SRT and R/T, Fiat Abarth, Ford ST, Volkswagen GTI… There are lots of examples around the world, but they’re only different ways of achieving the always impressive balance between all the sportiness of coupes and convertibles and the particular features of each car which receives them. So how about meeting not one but four of the best sporty versions of the entire world?

Although there are lots of enthusiasts that cheer with each and every car release of nowadays because they know the quality level involved, there are lots of people that still ask themselves “Why do they have to create so many vehicles? Why can’t they only stick to improve what they already have?” and other similar questions. On the other side, this blog and the entire specialized press have written so many times about the increasing need to find new markets in order to keep offering competitive products that it won’t take too long for us to run out of different ways of rewriting the same information. Nevertheless, this blog doesn’t even think of stating that as criticism because it recognizes that it doesn’t take more than a moment spent thinking as a “car fan-but-not-freak” to realize that it is really hard to notice all of this conceptual information delivered at these texts. There are many pictures of the article’s car, but also many paragraphs referring to lots of other cars, turning it very difficult to only imagine all that. Since this blog always tries to go beyond one more plain repetition of each release’s features, these four cars have been referred in this single article in order to receive also a brief illustrative comparison. The first animated picture displays the new CLS 63 AMG at its Coupé and Shooting Brake versions, while the second one shows the facelifted E-Class Sedan and Estate now as E63 AMG.

If you were guessing the first mentioned aspect would be the external design, you’re right. There’s no way to avoid it, in fact. The main guideline that inspire these cars’ differences is the ability of each one taking a particular customer, reducing the internal competition to its minimum. E-Class has always gone after the more traditional public, which has preferred the same things for decades, while CLS receives who goes to a Mercedes dealer for the absolute quality but would really prefer something different, more casual. The shared platform enables those cars to share lots of internal parts, not to mention the engines, but stays far from being a barrier against their breathtaking conceptual differences. CLS’s four-door rear is only the first symbol of the opposition to E-Class’s three well-divided volumes. And since they both have SW versions, CLS’s interpretation resulted at the Shooting Brake body. E-Class’s sides use more horizontal creases, bringing a solid, classy impression while CLS makes a contrast between the narrow but long lines dying at the rear doors right where the very imponent fender starts, reminding the North-American muscle cars idea of movement. E-Class’s elements take most space of one only side of the car, probably to remind its several previous generations: most cars from the 1970s to the 1990s used a “folded-paper design”, where you couldn’t see much of the headlights, for example, if you were looking to the hood or the sides – CLS’s shapes are much more tridimensional. And since the lights were mentioned, it would be impossible to skip them.

E-Class can join them or split them at the front or redesign them at the back in any way, but they will always remind even the 1960s ancestor – so yes, you must’ve already guessed that right: at least until now, CLS preferred to make big changes from its previous generation. Fortunately, both cabins agree at delivering fascinating quantities of sophistication and safety, but this is one of the few truces here. CLS’s cabin is more fluidic, reducing the idea of a rectangular space while E-Class is much more likely to be driven by a chauffeur. The sedans even differ at the seating: E-Class sticks to five seats, but CLS dedicates itself to four. The wagons, in turn, diverge at the trunk: if E-Class is much more focused at the families, its sister’s space is bigger in length and smaller in height, privileging cargo such as golf clubs and hunting guns. Besides the bigger wheels and the more aggressive aerodynamic kit, the AMG version brings the same “heart” for these cars: the final (and most important) truce is the twin-turbo V8 5.5L, with that performance package from before the facelift now offered as a standard item. This means this engine now produces 550 hp of power and 531 lb-ft of torque, always using the AMG SpeedShift transmission: there are double clutch, seven speeds and four driving modes. Besides, these cars use rear-wheel drive or the 4Matic AWD system, but the (even more) special feature is the S package: this new performance kit uses 4Matic and boosts these cars to 577 hp and push the speed limit to 186 mph, with average 0-60 mph times of 3.6 seconds.

Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabrio and Coupé 2014

Some weeks after the traditional-family versions’ release, now it’s time to get some renewed E-Class to that bachelor uncle, too. It would be a nonsense to hope this facelift would've been applied only to the sedan and the station wagon, but these first official pictures show that Mercedes hasn’t gone too further in some aspects. The bright side, however, becomes very easy to see when we remember their goals here. This article will show why doing this leaves everyone with a “mission accomplished” thought.

It’s very pleasant to see an automaker perform the true interpretation of a vehicle’s version. This consists basically in deciding how far the new option will go from the original one, in order to find a nice proportion of individual personality and physical and/or conceptual resemblance with its own line. In other words, in fact it is possible to visually stretch a hatchback’s lower rear section and create a sedan. Than stretch the upper one too and achieve a station wagon. Take off the rear windows to have a pick-up. Cut them all and the rear doors to obtain a convertible, and cover it all to end up with a coupé… but even the fairly acceptable projects from nowadays already invest much more in differentiation. Therefore, climbing to the Mercedes-Benz level leads to results such as what these pictures show. Okay, the updates have the exact same labels of the four-door versions, such as “new single-unit headlights with LEDs” or “redesigned bumpers”, but it’s interesting to notice how they match the slight visual differences brought by these two. For instance, they feature exclusive rear fenders, with a much more appealing design in order to highlight that these are the sporty E-Class options. Not to mention it enables bigger differentiation from the other Mercedes sports cars: they became more opulent than the two-door C-Class and, at the same time, more classical than CL or SL.

This means presenting more particular designs is only those last mentioned ones’ proposal, which is totally appropriate for them because each one is its entire own line. These Cabrio and Coupé, in turn, show a different interpretation of their E-Class genes: the headlights use the same basic structure but in a more casual design, with irregular shapes and a different LEDs drawing, while the front grille received a bigger and more aggressive design. These differences may seem small, but the fact is they are the true responsibles for achieving what was stated at the last paragraph’s start. It isn’t necessary to invest that much into a vehicle’s new version, but achieving this “new personality” is really useful to attract better sales. After all, if a given automaker sold the exact same car only with more or less doors and with or without roof (like the Opel Corsa or Renault Mégane families in the mid-1990s, for example) there wouldn’t be many reasons to sell a particular one, leading most customers to end up with the biggest or the cheapest one – this situation could be translated into one or two variations selling very well and the others having much smaller numbers. Following the opposite strategy allows the car family to divide their public more equally, because each member brings exclusive details to please only a specific part of those buyers.

Entering these vehicles shows smaller updates, such as the redesigned dashboard with a central analog clock and the relocated gear selector, which went from the central console to the between the front seats. As what was seen in the four-door E-Class, there are much bigger improvements at the technical field: the power steering now uses an electromechanical system, which allows a self-parking function. The stereoscopic camera can monitor a much bigger surroundings’ area, the Collision Prevention system is now a standard item, and the optionals list brings a lot of similar technologies, such as lane-keeping, Pre-Safe, adaptative cruise control and the mentioned parking assist systems and 360°-camera. The only AMG-related information released so far is the item package, like what was seen at the new E-Class station wagon and now at the Coupé: exclusive bumpers and wheels are the responsibles of the more aggressive look, but the full-modified versions mustn’t take too long to appear. These cars won’t have lots of surprises about their engine options: they’ll surely maintain the E250, E350, E500 and E550 trim levels, each one with a different engine or a particular engine configuration but always using excellent transmissions, such as the seven-speed automatic gearbox. The complete E-Class will make its official debut at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage

How about starting 2013 with a big photo gallery? The last year gave this car some design updates that surely improved its imponent, unmistakable Aston Martin design but focused at the aerodynamics, in order to achieve better driving dynamics. Besides, the entry-level 4.7L V8 has been reworked to become more efficient. It generates 420 hp now and uses a manual six-speed transmission, but offering an optional Sportshift II seven-speed gearbox. Clicking at the picture will take you to more official photos.

BMW M6 Gran Coupé

The German automakers’ tradition with sporty versions became so solid that in nowadays those are expected right after each new release. After all, while the traditional sedans and coupes are supposed to improve what they’ve been offering in all those years, the market can always create some space for new well-accepted cars, even though they would’ve never been thought of four or five years ago. Few months after BMW announced its debut among the four-door coupes, it’s time to quench the public’s second thirst.

This category’s concept is already known: it’s the same luxury and technology wrapped in a much more casual design, in order to please the customers who need a four-door car but would love to distance themselves from that “limousine look” given by most of the luxury automakers’ sedans. That’s what Mercedes-Benz invented with CLS and the VW group repeated with Audi A5 Sportback and A7 and Volkswagen Passat CC. But BMW not only refused to create a four-door of their own at this initial moment, as also seemed to keep being outside it when those two brands presented those cars’ second phases. Considering all of that and remembering that this is the automaker who created X5, X6 and even dared to develop sporty versions for both, it wouldn’t be crazy to expect that those Germans had bigger plans. So they didn’t lose the opportunity to overcome the cars which inspirated this one. Instead of an innovation attempt which could easily be rejected, such as 5-Series Gran Turismo, this new car focused at improving its original concept. There are plenty of sportiness and casuality all over this car, but without relying on a fastback-wannabe rear design. This one looks much more like a casual sedan than a formal coupé, using smoother shapes combined with strong details to give a classy impression – it may become harder to sell M5 from now on.

The M version brought very similar changes to what was seen at coupé and convertible M6. There are the traditional exclusive bumpers, side spoilers and fiber carbon roof. But that mentioned “discreet sportiness” can be found at items such as the four exhaust pipes, the black-painted roof or even at the Motorsport division’s logo, discreetly placed at the gorgeous 20” alloy wheels’ center. This proves that M6 paid a lot of attention to the details, instead of only the overall impression. This idea becomes even stronger when entering the car, because BMW didn’t restrict itself to create only one more interpretation of their current interior design’s rules. There still are the big console and lots of other elements that highlight this car’s big width, but it also received details such as Merino leather seats, roof coating using Alcantara, Motorsport’s special steering wheel and much more – another big difference between these cars and the conventional sedans is that these ones’ customers would never hire particular drivers, because they are very aware of the additional driving pleasure found at them. M6 Gran Coupé, for instance, will use the V8 4.4 twin-turbo, with 560 hp and using the M Double Clutch seven-speed automatic transmission. This car also brings sporty suspension and active differential to achieve 0-60 mph in 4s2 and two top speeds: there’s an optional item package which will bring ceramic brake system, multifunctional seats, GPS navigator, Bang & Olufsen sound system… and will raise the top speed from 155 mph to 189.5 mph.

Chevrolet Camaro SS 2013

As novas rodas já antecipam: o muscle car terá pequenas novidades para compensar o preço de R$ 203 mil. As pinças de freio Brembo receberam pintura preta, mas é a cabine que melhorou mais: o Camaro ganhou nova central de entretenimento no painel, com a tela de toque de 7” que controla o novo sistema de som multimídia, a conexão Bluetooth, o reconhecimento de voz e exibe as imagens da câmera de ré. Agora o banco do passageiro também traz regulagens elétricas, e foi mantido o 6.2 V8 de 408 cv com câmbio automático.

Honda Civic 9,5

An unusual phase number for an unusual phase update. For someone who doesn’t live in the US this may sound odd, specially in countries that also sell Civic, but the North-Americans have criticized this car so hard that Honda needed to perform a last-second facelift in order to solve these problems before they affected the car’s solid reputation. After lots of media speculations of all kinds, the last Los Angeles Auto Show finally received the official version of the “new new Civic”, which you will meet reading this article.

Since the last generation, Honda decided to create different versions of their best-seller, in order to suit each market’s particular needs of body, engine and equipment options, along with minor visual differences. But nobody knows what Honda thought when configuring the North-American version, because this car was criticized by everyone. The design resembled too much the previous generation, the interior had bad coating and assembly quality, the handling became worse, there was too much internal noise… This car started to lose the awards it was used to receive every year, so Honda needed to act quickly to stop their compact sedan from losing sales to competitors like Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra, Mazda 3 and Toyota Corolla. The Japanese response came with facelifting the entire line only eighteen months after the current generation’s release, surprising everyone because they brought heavy changes: the pictures show the sedan has changed the front and rear style, with more chrome details whose inspiration was taken from the new Accord and bring a more sophisticated appearance to the car. The overall impression is a more mature car, which still haven’t abandoned the previous generation’s style but now uses a different interpretation of it: instead of that raw Japanese sportivity, Civic now follows a North-American elegance.

That facelift didn’t apply to the coupe version, though. What the entire line has received is the series of small-but-very-important updates to the interior. The peculiarly-shaped dashboard received better materials (including some leather parts), improved assembly and a new, more classy design for the air-conditioner’s outlets and buttons. Besides all that, Honda states that Civic received thicker windshield and bigger soundproofing in several areas, in order to reduce the internal noise. They also included some new technologies in this car, such as electronic systems for lane-departure and forward-collision warnings. When it comes to the trim levels list, the DX entry-version is no longer offered, leaving to LX the title of cheapest one available. Honda took this opportunity to maintain the previous LX’s equipment level, and allow itself to announce that every Civic now comes with more items – with all the optional ones, this list includes GPS navigation, Bluetooth connection and multi-view auxiliary cameras. This update is interesting because the deepness of those improvements is usually performed by other brands only at half-age facelifts, when the car has spent about three or four years in the current generation but it’s still too soon to invest in a complete new phase. Therefore, all this effort is a nice way for Honda to reconquer their customers’ approval.

However, as in almost every facelift of that kind there weren’t changes to the engine department. The standard option is the 140-hp four-cylinder 1.8 with a five-speed manual or automatic transmission, but Civic can also use the 2.4 with six manual speeds. These options also apply to the coupe version, which received only the interior updates. This means it still features a sporty design, with well-proportioned volumes to avoid a big-vehicle impression: it may not be the most powerful option of its category, but doesn’t seem visually heavy like a coupe Elantra would look like. Besides that, the Si version was also updated, adding the classic aerodynamical kit with side spoilers, more aggressive bumpers and that big rear spoiler – this area became a little confusing with this typical sports-car-item right above the chrome line which almost every sedan since the 1980s has used to join its tail lights. And at the top of Civic’s huge versions list, there are not one but two gasoline-opposers: the hybrid version pairs a 1.5 gasoline engine with the electric one to generate 110 hp and the excellent 44 mpg rate, using a CVT transmission. Besides that there’s the Natural Gas version, restricted to compressed natural gas, with 32,5 average consumption; the common versions achieve 32 mpg with manual and 33,5 mpg with automatic transmission, while Si stays at 26,5 mpg always with six-speed manual transmission.

Volkswagen Fusca

Você certamente já ouviu falar no termo “compactos de imagem”. Trata-se de mais um nicho de mercado criado nos últimos anos, assim como os crossovers e os cupês de quatro portas, mas com inspiração diferente. Esta é a categoria que ganhou fama com nomes como Fiat 500 e Mini Cooper, e que vem mostrando interessantes competições graças ao contraste com membros futuristas como Audi A1 e Citroën DS3. Mas até então uma grande injustiça vinha sendo cometida em silêncio. É o que a VW pretende reverter com este carro.

Tal injustiça vem de que o então chamado New Beetle nunca recebia menções nas publicações da imprensa referidas a esta categoria de carro… mesmo sendo o primeiro modelo a surgir no mercado com esta ideia. Por outro lado, não é descabido pensar que seu problema foi justamente a chegada prematura: naquele final dos anos 1990, a ideia da VW era apenas criar uma versão moderna de um dos seus carros mais famosos. Como até então ninguém tinha tido ideias parecidas, a única regra seguida pelos alemães foi a própria ideia original. O resultado foi um carro apenas vagamente inspirado no Fusca original, não só pelo desenho mas também pela tecnologia, que era a melhor que os alemães tinham à disposição no momento. O carro virou uma compra emocional e com preço e tamanho equiparados ao de um Golf, e com isso ficou muito distante do antecessor. Poucos anos depois vieram os compactos inglês e italiano já mencionados, mas compartilhando o tamanho bem menor e a tendência de estilo “retrô” mais intensa, fazendo que eles começassem a ser comparados entre si, e não com o modelo da Volkswagen. A evolução dessa situação foi que mesmo com o VW ganhando versão conversível e vendendo bem, ele sempre seguia em paralelo a carros que na verdade compartilham sua raison d’être.

As imagens revelam que a intenção da VW não passou por reduzir o tamanho do agora chamado Beetle. Ele mantém o conceito de “carro moderno que relembra o Fusca”, mas a grande diferença foi passar a enfatizar a segunda parte deste slogan. Ele volta a oferecer o melhor da tecnologia de sua marca, mas as mudanças visuais que recebeu tiveram o objetivo de aumentar a semelhança visual com o antecessor: o teto ficou mais baixo, o capô mais longo e a queda da traseira mais arredondada. Os alemães querem que ele perca o status de “carro feminino” da primeira releitura, e para isso apostaram na esportividade. Começaram com itens como rodas grandes, detalhes cromados sem excessos e itens que viraram a última moda entre os carros, como o teto solar panorâmico, mas terminaram com a ideia que na verdade deveriam ter tido desde a fase anterior: em vez de padronizar o nome norteamericano, o “novo novo Beetle” receberá o apelido que o carro original recebeu em cada país que foi comercializado. E é isso que faz nosso mercado voltar a conviver com o nome Fusca sob holofotes depois de dezesseis anos, ainda que holofotes bem diferentes. Afinal, basta lembrar que o preço inicial do novo carro será R$ 76.600 para entender que a maior ligação que este carro vai formar com o antecessor está nas memórias que esse nome vai despertar em muita gente.

Um ponto de vista puramente técnico vê este carro como uma versão informal do Golf, porque eles têm dimensões e tecnologia parecidas mas desenhos tão diferentes quanto entre Fiat 500 e Palio, por exemplo. O novo Fusca chega ao Brasil com qualidade europeia por fora e na cabine, que por sua vez apresenta muito bom gosto com a inspiração retrô presente sem atrapalhar a modernidade geral; o espaço é honesto para apenas quatro pessoas, como é natural nesta categoria. Seus itens de maior destaque são bancos e volante em couro, central de entretenimento com touchscreen no console central, sistema de som multimídia com oito alto-falantes e luz ambiente em três tonalidades, além do pacote de segurança que conta com airbags frontais e laterais, controles de estabilidade e tração e freios com ABS e EBD. Já o volante com base chata e os instrumentos adicionais acima do console revelam a vocação esportiva: este Fusca sempre trará o 2.0 TSI de 200 cv usado em vários modelos da marca, com câmbio manual de seis marchas. Ainda é possível equipá-lo com o câmbio DSG, volante multifuncional e itens de luxo como farois bixenônio, os mencionados teto solar, rodas de 18” e as luzes diurnas em LED, sistema de som Fender, entrada sem chave, sistema ParkPilot e outras opções de revestimento dos bancos, entre outros. Mas equipado com tudo isso, quando você poderia imaginar que um Fusca passaria dos cem mil reais?

Volkswagen CC

Outro dos lançamentos reservados para o recente evento da VW foi a nova fase de seu cupê de quatro portas. Como a família Passat ainda está longe da época de mudar de geração, depois de sedã e perua receberem seu primeiro facelift na fase atual, agora chega a vez de atualizar o irmão “subversivo”. Mas em vez de lhe aplicar uma mera re-estilização, os alemães buscaram aproveitar seu conceito diferente para lhe dar independência, com mudanças pequenas mas de importância conceitual muito grande.

Esta mudança de nome foi o perfeito símbolo para a ideia que se quer passar com este carro a partir de agora. Assim como o carro que lhe serviu de inspiração, o conterrâneo Mercedes-Benz CLS, o então Passat CC surgiu como uma alternativa mais informal à tradicional linha de luxo da VW. A intenção é cativar a parcela dos clientes que aprecia as qualidades desses carros mas não gosta da sobriedade que lhes caracteriza. Então, assim que esse nicho foi detectado bastou deixar o bom gosto trabalhar para aliar esportividade e elegância no que seria o “traje esporte fino” dos carros: a própria denominação “cupê de quatro portas” já antecipa a dualidade de conceitos que esses carros carregam. Esta versão do Passat vem se mostrando um tiro certeiro tanto quanto o CLS, com o agravante de que sua dirigibilidade tão elogiada é um excelente par para a proposta que ele traz. Então, a VW aproveitou a época de redesenhar o carro para investir mais nesse novo conceito. As linhas mais retas que ganhou lhe dão personalidade própria, em especial quando se lembra da ditadura estilística que enfrentam os modelos mais recentes da marca. O CC ficou ainda mais elegante porque abandonou a esportividade explicitada por spoilers e aerofólios para apelar ao potencial de seu próprio conceito, reforçando elementos como a largura da carroceria bem maior que a altura.

Entretanto, por mais independente que este carro tenha virado na nova fase, sua relação com os Passat convencionais não se perdeu. Primeiro porque eles compartilham o projeto e são muito parecidos visualmente, mas a principal razão é que a VW realmente não tem motivo de desvencilhar este carro da linha que só perde em sofisticação para o Phaeton, mas que em seu segmento conta com muito mais carisma que aquele – eles só deixaram implícito o parentesco entre o CC e seus irmãos sedã e Variant. E como era de se esperar, este carro teve diversas melhoras de equipamentos: sua lista ganhou o sistema OPS de câmeras para exibir os arredores do carro em 360° e a nova geração do Park Assist, o famoso assistente de baliza. Todo o demais se manteve, o que vai desde itens como ar-condicionado digital, entrada sem chave e farois bi-xenônio com LEDs diurnos e um pacote de segurança que inclui seis airbags, sensor de fadiga e controle de estabilidade até toda a qualidade dos materiais usados na cabine, com acabamento impecável. O motor é o mesmo 3.6 V6 FSI de antes, com potência de 300 cv e torque de 35,6 kgfm e que usa o câmbio DSG de seis marchas com tração integral 4Motion – este carro vai de 0 a 100 km/h em 5s5 e chega à velocidade máxima de 250 km/h. Ele conta com oito opções de cor externa, duas para o painel e três para o couro Nappa. O CC começa em R$ 208.024, fora os opcionais.

McLaren MP4-12C GT3 Can-Am Edition

Thirty units. After exposing the concept-car at the last Pebble Beach concours, McLaren has decided to sell a limited edition of their dazzling orange and black car. The fans can go crazy as much as they want because the Can-Am Edition will be almost fully reproduced, and this means an astonishing performance under many aspects. The pictures will show what made this car so adored by everyone since the mentioned North-American event, and what will certainly build its way to increase the super sports cars’ history.

McLaren has always been distinguished from the rival automakers about their focus when building a high-performance car. Since they are a competition constructor who also builds street cars, the differences start when remembering that MP4-12C is only their second street car, succeeding only F1 and SLR, but this one being projected in partnership with Mercedes-Benz. So they don’t have to worry with maintaining a fashion image such as Ferrari or Porsche, following a strong visual identity like Mercedes-Benz or even with sharing another cars’ projects because the brand belongs to a big group, like Lamborghini. It’s undeniable that the English car seen at these pictures is as expensive as those brands’ sports cars, but McLaren Automotive can take advantage from this lack of strings to deliver a different perspective of this kind of car. That’s what they made with F1 in the 1990s, which not only kept the Fastest Production car record for many years as also stills surprise the world by construction exclusivities, such as the central driving position, with two occupants travelling behind the driver. This car’s successor doesn’t bring creative innovations like that, but represents the best of today’s technology when it comes to driving performance.

The Can-Am edition honors Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme taking inspiration from the GT3 competition version. It means that this car uses lots of carbon fiber parts, not only in visual parts such as the rearview mirrors but specially at the structural ones, like hood, side radiator and the big rear airfoil: that size comes to generate 30% bigger downforce. This car shares MP4 coupe and roadster’s chassis but received special track wheels, while the huge changes to the exhaust system illustrates how big are the differences under the hood: the twin-turbo 3.8 V8 received a special configuration to deliver 638 hp, making this MP4 the most powerful one ever made. Actually, this car is so powerful that it was decided to keep it away from the streets: as FIA has licensed it only to tracks, they will receive a car with behavior optimized to them: the race car steering wheel is only the first part of a complete competition-like cabin: there are small side windows and special Recaro seats, with much better body support. This car is expected to hit the customers’ garages (unfortunately not the streets) in next March, under the price of 375.000 euros.

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series

It must be impossible to exist a car enthusiast who is indifferent to the sports cars. Each one can prefer off-roads, limousines, crossovers or another particular style, but there’s always a high-performer to build a taste intersection. This is one explanation to the huge expectation created among both the press and the public specially by the big automakers. Now it’s Mercedes-Benz’s time to direct the spotlights to this very important car: it’s the famous Black Series coming to one of their most charismatic products.

Although each and every sports car has plenty of reasons to attract a customer, there are so many brands and models of them that it becomes very hard for a particular one remain taking the public’s attention through the years. This must be the reason to the arrival of so many special series. They can come to celebrate special events, begin the application of new components or only to spice up the car’s sales – Bugatti Veyron already had dozens of them, for instance. But Mercedes’ Black Series is already known due to the reputation brought by being an improvement of the AMG division, which already represents the high-performance versions of all the brand’s cars. This recipe resulted so attractive that has deserved to be extended to several cars. Therefore, after the huge success with the C-Class Coupé, it was time to see what would happen by combining it to the most powerful car of their showroom. These pictures begin to describe the wonderful result achieved, with the addition of imponent spoilers and bigger air intakes which give an excellent first impression: the car does look different from the conventional SLS, but without the cliché of attempting to resemble a race car. However, the irony of seeing those cars’ official pictures in lots of colors but black may come from avoiding too much resemblance with the famous Brabus special adaptations.

The most fanatic enthusiats already know that all this aerodynamic kit has much more functions than to make the car take the attentions at the street, though. The Black Series came with several components made of titanium and carbon fiber (the Germans wouldn’t be cruel to the point of only painting those external details in that particular gray) in order to reduce weight, and at the same time there was an engine improvement. Therefore, these three very effective ways of optimizing the performance have maximized the power of the 6.2 V8, which by the way now delivers 622 hp. Using a seven-speed transmission, this car has lowered its own 0-60 mph record to 3s5 and raised the top speed to 196 mph. All of that comes, of course, with a fully-equiped interior, including racing seats with red belts. But driving a car from this level requires bigger concerns with a perfect handling and even better safety, and that’s when Mercedes answers with items such as the modified suspension, to deliver much better behavior, and ceramic calipers to improve the brake system, because of the excellent reputation of these components concerning their operation in high temperatures. This car will hit the European streets only in next June, so there’s no official price defined yet. The SLS AMG must follow the other Black Series members and be sold as a limited edition.

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