on the sidewalls

Having had a sweet tea, a bracing walk and a glimpse at a picture of an Aston Martin Cygnet to help us get perspective, we can now force our minds to dwell on the Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari. Just. This scintillatingly named creation is basically a Fiat 500 Abarth that, because of some Ferrari decals and a power hike from 135bhp to 180bhp, costs £29,600. Which is twice the price of a normal one. One car for the price of two. OMflippingG.

‘But ha’, you keenly quip, ‘that’s surely the most sensible way to get a Ferrari badged car for £30k’. Well possibly not, we retort. What if we could prove that a £30k Ferrari is a more practical car to own than a £30k Fiat? Using the brilliant F355 and our newly invented ‘Three P’ car buying criteria, we can do just that.

Practicality

The Ferrari F355 has a 220 litre boot, which is 35 litres bigger than the Abarth’s – this means it can hold more shopping, so you’re less likely to starve to death. With a time of 4.6 seconds, the Ferrari will accelerate to 60mph 2.4 seconds quicker than the Abarth, which makes it safer when pulling into small gaps at a junction. It’s also got much wider tyres, helping it grip harder and letting you drive faster… meaning you get to work quicker to earn more money.

The Ferrari’s 310mm front brake discs will stop the car more abruptly than the Abarth’s 284mm units, allowing you to leave braking until the very last millisecond – again saving time. And, should you be chased by a gunman, the Ferrari will leave your life in less peril than the Abarth, as its 184mph top speed is much faster than the Abarth’s 140mph escape velocity. The Ferrari is, on many levels, a more practical car.

Pleasure

Some aspects of car ownership aren’t objective. The beauty of the styling, the smell of the interior, the noise of the engine… there are attributes that transcend the mechanical and appeal on an emotional level. This is where the Ferrari really excels.

Its 375bhp, 3.5 litre V8 engine is not only 195bhp more powerful than the Abarth’s turbocharged 1.4 litre 4 pot wheezer, but much kinkier. Being mounted directly behind your head, and with less damping between it and the chassis, the Ferrari’s engine rasps and resonates not only through the air, but also through your body.

The Pininfarina styling of the Ferrari is cleaner and sharper than the Fiat penned 500… and, even in the words of a tedious cretin, the interior ‘is a much nicer place to be’. The Ferrari is, on many levels, a more pleasurable car.

Pennies

Now for the real surprise. We already know that the Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari costs a ‘are you sure that’s not in Zimbabwean dollars’ sum of £29,600. For a supermini, that’s financial rape – a well looked after Ferrari F355, for example, can actually be had for less.

And before you bleat on about how the Ferrari will cost more to run, consider how quickly a Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari will depreciate. Normal versions of the pudgy Fiat are worth about 46% of their value after three years. We’ll be kind and say the special edition will hold 50%… that still means you’ll take a £15k hit over three years.

Even having to spend £10k replacing the F355’s weak points of catalytic converter, manifolds and cam-belt, you’ll be £5k better off after three years than in the Abarth… which you can spend on petrol and insurance. With no depreciation to speak of, the Ferrari is, on many levels, a more affordable car.

A bigger boot, better performance and a smaller fiscal punch – if you want a £30k Ferrari, buy an F355. Don’t buy a Fiat.

A few months ago, mad-cap Yank tuning shop Hennessey mentioned something about dropping a 1,000bhp, twin-turbo V8 into the back of an Elise and calling it the Venom GT. Sounded daft. Then they released some shadowy pics, then a shonky road test video, then they were featured in Top Gear mag and then… they’d comfortably proved they weren’t daft at all. They were insane. Just in case we needed more reasons to question their mental health, they’ve just released a new video of the car on a dyno. Sounds amazing.

Behind the impeccably clean glass of the McLaren Technology Centre, Ron Dennis and his band of obsessive men today unveiled a new supercar, a whole new supercar company and a very compelling reason not to buy a Ferrari 458 Italia or Mercedes SLS AMG. Not bad for a day’s work. The first of three models they will eventually put into production, the sparklingly orange MP4-12C was the centre of attention, being shown off in the flesh for the first time. The stats are stunning.

Geek Table:

Price – £175k target
Power – 592bhp @ 7,000rpm
Maximum Engine Speed – 8,500rpm
Torque – 443lb ft @ 3,000rpm. 80% peak from 2,000rpm to 6,500rpm
Weight – 1300kg dry. Estimate less than 1400kg kerb
CO2 – less than 300g/km
Top Speed – more than 200mph
0-62mph – around 3.4 secs
0-124mph – less than 10 secs
1/4 mile – around 11 secs
100mph – 0mph – 30 metres. Honestly. You’ll be sick out your eye holes.

Other highlights are the 7 speed ‘Seamless Shift’ double clutch transmission, one-piece carbon fibre ‘Monocell’ chassis, a 7” portrait touch screen that controls the 1.6Ghz on board computer with sat nav, wi-fi, Bluetooth and Meridien stereo, and a beautifully ergonomic interior.

As amazing as all the headline facts are, the really impressive nuggets of information on the MP4-12C come from deeper beneath the surface. The little insights that demonstrate how and why the McLaren really is lighter, faster, greener and more powerful than normal humans would think possible to achieve.

Lightweight Wiring and Lithium-ion Battery

Instead of using plain old round copper, the McLaren uses hexagonal shaped wiring that’s part aluminium, saving almost 4kg. Being hexagonal, the wires can also nestle more closely together, saving space in the interior. The battery’s no standard lead-acid brick either – it’s a lithium-ion unit, saving another 10kg.

Crash Test Repetition

Usually, manufacturers build prototypes for the sole purpose of being crashed. Once the smash has taken place, telemetry been read and results recorded the prototype is done with. But the McLaren MP4-12C has proved to be a bit different. A prototype was subjected to a standard 56kph smash, but no damage was inflicted on the carbon fibre chassis – just the deformable aluminium structure at the front. So they put it into another test. Still no damage to the chassis; not even a cracked windscreen. The same chassis was eventually subjected to three identical crash tests… it’s clearly pretty strong.

Four Hour Chassis Build

The chassis isn’t just rigid and light – it’s also incredibly quick to put together, taking just four hours. For comparison, the McLaren F1’s carbon tub took 3,000 hours. The one-piece, 80kg mould is also 25% stronger and 25% lighter than an equivalent aluminium chassis. Cripes.

Embossed Magnesium Dashboard Badge

While it’s clearly a very nice tale to brag about at a press conference, the dashboard badge story is a good one. Obviously, McLaren wanted their logo on the dashboard – but didn’t want to go to the effort and weight of putting on a badge. So instead of sticking on a little McLaren decal, they decided to emboss their emblem into the one-piece magnesium structure that makes up the dash. Which saved them a handy 2.4g… and you can’t even see it.

Perfect Driving Position & Skinny Steering Wheel

From the offset, the car has been built around the driver. It might not have an F1-style centre seat, but the pedals, steering wheel and driving chair have all been plumbed in to be perfectly aligned. Even sitting in a prototype that can’t move feels spot on – right down to the thin rimmed, perfectly sized steering wheel that tingles your hands without even a wheel being turned.

Two Handy Test Drivers

Both Lewis and Jenson have driven the car around Goodwood, and while you wouldn’t expect them to say it felt like a bag of bolts, both of them sounded genuinely enthusiastic. Lewis was very pleased, for example, that the gearchange paddles were very similar to his F1 car – they pivot at the wheel, so you can change by either pulling left and right to change down or up, or by pushing or pulling either to do the same thing.

Yeah yeah, so all this sounds a bit sycophantic – but the glee comes from facts. Hearing Chairman Ron Dennis and MD Anthony Sheriff explain the details, talk about the ruthless perfectionism, bespoke design of absolutely everything and the plain and simple statistics, it’s hard not to get carried away. And having sat in it, looked at it, seen it being made and spoken to some of the people that craft it, the MP4-12C is much more than just statistical boasting. It’s a car in which you can feel passion and perfection running through the core. A machine to respect and get all sweatily lusty for. Haven’t wanted a car this badly since turning 17.

As you already know, McLaren today unveiled their new McLaren MP4-12C supercar. As part of the super-fantastic PR reveal bonanza, they showed this video of Lewis and Jenson having a lovely time driving around Goodwood.  Watch it, then read our coverage of the car launch here.

At 10:30am on Thursday 18th March (which is, to most of you, today), the motoring alchemists of McLaren are going to unveil their MP4-12C supercar. Just like every other car-loving website in the world, we’ve been kind enough to link  live stream of the event – so you can watch it as it happens.

We tried to embed it, but couldn’t work out how. So click HERE to watch it, or follow the event on our Twitter

Digesting the news… then spewing it out in 60 words

Hennessey released a teaser picture of their 1000bhp, 262mph, V8 powered, Elise based Venom GT ahead of its official unveiling at the end of the month. Aston failed to persuade the world that the Cygnet is a good idea, by announcing it’ll be available in any colour its misguided customers desire. And BMW confirmed that they’re developing a FWD chassis.

So, you’re minted. More money than Monaco minted. More oil than BP. More gold than… Elizabeth Duke. But you’ve sprouted some kids and need a car to get them to boarding school. They won’t fit in the Veyron, so what do you get? Porsche Panamera? Too ugly. Aston Martin Rapide? Too slow. Maserati Quattroporte? Too old. Bentley Flying Spur? Too common. All four? Too cheap.

If those are your answers, meet your new favourite car – the £900,000 Bugatti Galibier. Eight exhausts indeed.

It was actually at Geneva a few weeks ago, but the world’s press (and us) were too busy talking about hybrid supercars and Aston Martin iQs to pay much attention. So Bugatti have released some more pictures… just to ram home quite how ostentatious their new four-door car is.

While production isn’t confirmed, the Galibier has appeared too often and looks too finished to be a pointless show car, so expect it to go on sale in a couple of years. Up front is a twin-supercharged, 800bhp version of the Veyron’s W16 engine that they claim will shove the Galibier to 217mph.

The Veyron’s 7 speed DSG gearbox is thought to have been swapped with an 8 speed standard auto, while four wheel drive will do its best to put the power down and ceramic brakes will be tasked with shedding speed in the event of stray camels. 16 cylinders draped over the front wheels? The Galibier has the potential to completely redefine understeer.

But understeer or not, you’re now convinced. Kids in the back of a Veyron. Done. In fact, there’s only one question… does it come in white with bullet proof glass and a humidor?

Digesting the news… then spewing it out in 60 words

The sale of Volvo to Chinese company Geely nudged towards completion, with Geely securing the £1.4bn loan it needs to pay Ford. Porsche boss Michael Macht told Autocar that they’re fully committed to producing the 718bhp, twin electric motored and V8 engined 918 Spyder, which is good. And Nissan said that producing the Juke at Sunderland will save 1,000 jobs.

Digesting the news… then spewing it out in 60 words

Pics of Alfa Romeo’s Bertone styled Pandion concept car which will be shown at Geneva leaked out. Bentley released details of their Continental Supersports convertible which arrives this Autumn: 621bhp, 590lb ft of torque, 202mph and 3.9secs to get to 60mph. And VW announced a smaller, duller, slightly cheaper version of the Golf GTI – the 177bhp, £18,000 Polo GTI.

Jaguar have been busy massaging the silicon goolies of their 510bhp XKR, making it go faster than ever before. At Geneva, they’ll officially release two new performance and styling packs, called Speed Pack and Black Pack which make it quicker and prettier.

The £3,500 Speed Pack is the most newsworthy – it raises the electronic speed limiter from 155mph to 174mph, as well as including a revised front splitter, larger rear spoiler and tweaked Active Differential Control to make it more stable at the higher speeds. You’ll also be treated to various cosmetic pleasantries such as body-coloured side sills and rear diffuser, as well as chrome window surrounds, grilles, side vents and boot spoiler.

For £500 extra you can add the Black Pack too, which concentrates on the styling and is only available if you’ve already got a Speed Pack. You get black gloss wheels, a choice of special Ultimate Black, Polaris White or Salsa Red paint, some nicer Charcoal leather and an optional XKR decal to make you look wickedcool. And all the bits that are chrome in the Speed Pack get turned gloss black too.

Other changes for the 2011 model year, regardless of optional packs, include new red brake calipers and a standard tyre repair system instead of a spare. The XKR Coupe costs £74,955, with the Convertible costing £6k more – before any packs have been tacked on.

Here’s a video of a car with a Black Pack, and therefore Speed Pack too. Yes please.

Digesting the news… then spewing it out in 60 words

Mercedes announced that their Ferrari 458 Italia rivalling SLS AMG will cost £157,500 when it goes on sale in the UK in July. Porsche released a new £123k 911 Turbo S that’s got 523bhp – 20bhp more than a standard Turbo. And BMW gave the X5 a gentle face-job, improving power and economy and fitting an 8-speed auto as standard.

Digesting the news… then spewing it out in 60 words

Ferrari announced the 458 Italia will cost £169,545 when it goes on sale in May… before adding options like the £2k electric seats and £1k wing badges. Audi revealed another A1 teaser picture, where the car is in the dark, obscured by a man with smarmy hair. And Vauxhall released interior pictures of the new Meriva, featuring lots of buttons.

More details and piccies of Lee Noble’s latest Fenix supercar have floated to the surface of the oil stained automotive news pond. There will be two V8 engines on offer, both from GM – a 480bhp LS3, or the supercharged 638bhp LS9 from the Corvette ZR1. With the LS9 fitted, 0-100mph should squit by in less than 7 seconds, on the way to a top speed of at least 200mph.

It should be reasonably affordable too, with the bottom spec model likely to be around £70k, rising to £100k if you want the extra whine and shove of a supercharger. Maybe it won’t be as polished as the Ferrari 458 Italia or McLaren MP4-12C – but with the cheapest Fenix being half the price, it doesn’t really need to be.

Apparently, the prototype is currently being tweaked in South Africa but development will soon switch to the UK before it goes on sale at the end of the year.

Still looks like they’ve spelt the name wrong though.

Digesting the news… then spewing it out in 60 words

Everyone’s favourite ridiculous car company Rinspeed released pictures of their electric  ‘UC?’ concept, which has a 75 mile range. American owned Kepler Motors showed off their 789bhp hybrid supercar which they claim will do 60mph in 2.5 secs. And Saab are showing signs of resurrection, with Spyker conjuring a new deal which GM have until Monday to consider and accept.

Digesting the news… then spewing it out in 60 words

Mini released pictures of their ‘Beachcomber’ concept car, hinting at what the 2010 Mini Countryman would look like if it didn’t have any doors – i.e. slightly daft. Bugatti showed off three largely irrelevant Veyron special editions, which they will only sell in the Middle East. And Donato Coco, previously the design boss of Ferrari, joined Lotus as Director of Design.

Digesting the news… then spewing it out in 60 words

Obscure supercar manufacturer Spyker replaced obscure supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg as the likeliest potential buyers of Saab. Aston Martin facelifted their V8 Vantage, with new wheels, grills and seats as well as an ECU remap and revised gear ratios which drop the CO2 to 315g/km. And pictures of the upcoming Mercedes E-Class emerged, showing off its trick windscreen mounted air deflector.

Digesting the news… then spewing it out in 60 words

Renault owned Romanian budget-meisters Dacia unveiled their new and erotically utilitarian Duster – a Yeti sized wagon that might yet come to the UK. A group of old Ford executives put together a bid to buy Volvo, rivalling current favourite purchaser Geely. And news of another wrecked supercar did the rounds, as some chap stuffed his Zonda in Hong Kong.

Digesting the news… then spewing it out in 60 words

Mitsubishi revealed their brand new RVR crossover, which will go on sale in summer 2010. Audi chairman Rupert Stadler confirmed that the R8 shaped electric e-tron will go on sale (at least in some form) in 2012, hopefully still with 3319lb ft of torque. And Nissan confirmed a hardcore V-Spec GT-R will come to Europe… but only 40 of them.

Remember just how pleased the Italian bobbies were when Lamborghini gave them a Gallardo patrol car? It wasn’t that long ago, so you should be able to. Here’s a reminder of how cool it looked:

Well. It didn’t last long – give any temperamental Italian something quick and it’s sure to end in disappointment. Ask Luca Badoa.

As the coppers were driving the Lambo past a service station, they were allegedly cut up by a distracted member of the public and somehow managed to turn their Gallardo into scrap – a complete write off. Nobody was seriously injured, but the pain of a bruised pride might never heal.

Still, Lamborghini are probably looking on the bright side – it’s one of very few Gallardos that never had a chance to set itself on fire.

Digesting the news… then spewing it out in 60 words

In a slow news day, there was a small furore around Autocar’s discovery of some Ferrari patent drawings showing a new door design – hinged at the wing, opening diagonally upwards. Crazy Dutch car-maker Spyker will move their manufacturing to crazy… Coventry. And Bernie Ecclestone gave Silverstone until the 11th December to finalise the deal on hosting the 2010 British GP.