Now nearly five years old, Aston’s flagship DBS has received the updated Garmin sat-nav of the Virage and, for those looking for something extra, the Carbon Edition is available in two new colour variations. Brightening up the Warwickshire countryside, we’ve just driven a Flame Orange one...   read more >>

The 2012 Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG is the third generation of the company’s range-topping powerhouse, available with up to 549bhp and the potential to reach 175mph. But does it offer anything more than physics-defying performance...?   read more >>

At first, this looks like a corporate gun has just left a smoking hole in a corporate foot, writes John Simister. Here is a new, technologically-dense V8 engine in the nose of a Bentley Continental GT (or GTC), able to accelerate said Bentley at a rate broadly similar to that managed by the still-available W12 engine...   read more >>

While the world has been rightly celebrating 50 years of the Jaguar E-type, I would suggest that the champagne should be ordered well in advance to toast another British design classic: the original three-door Range Rover, promoted as a ‘car for all reasons’ at its early 70s launch...   read more >>

For those who like the Audi A4 but want off-road capabilities, you’re in luck. With the Allroad Quattro, Ingolstadt is one of the few manufacturers to offer an off-road version of its popular estate. Classic Driver recently drove the newly revised soft-roader in Portugal...   read more >>

There are three things in life I've always vowed never to do: make a parachute jump (unless forced), eat a salt beef sandwich or buy a Jaguar E-type, writes Simon de Burton. The reason for the first is fear of dying, the reason for the other two is that I'm sure the experience will fail to live up to expectations...   read more >>

John Simister gets a first taste of the fastest open road-going Jaguar there has ever been…   read more >>

This could go one of several ways, writes John Simister. That's because this is not just a replacement for a popular model, it's a replacement for what seems almost irreplaceable. ...   read more >>

The best-selling Range Rover Sport has been given a new lease of life for the 2012 model year. A new eight-speed automatic gearbox contributes to lower fuel consumption (despite more power in some models), while a refreshed design inside and out visually differentiates the classy off-roader from its predecessor...   read more >>

Less is – indeed – more: instead of the former ten, the new Audi S8 now features just eight cylinders and downsized capacity. But that doesn’t mean this sports saloon isn’t a powerful proposition, as we found when we took it for a trial spin on the track...   read more >>

Having proved its worth in the Blancpain Super Trofeo one-make race series, the lightweight Gallardo has now been launched as a strictly limited series of ‘Stradale’ road cars. We drove the fearsome bull in Spain...   read more >>

In the spirit of the ‘can do’, ‘we’re all in it together’ 2011 Britain, I’ve just covered a couple of hundred miles in a Rolls-Royce Ghost, a ‘small’, modern Rolls for the modern man...   read more >>

Say ‘covered headlamp’ and ‘single vent’ to a diehard collector and you quickly have their attention. While these expressions and the arcane acronym ‘TdF’ might be the preserve of the cognoscenti, show this glorious GT to the most casual observer and, after the initial “wow!”, they will immediately say: “Ferrari!”...   read more >>

Gosh, what a head-turner. The smartest parts of London are familiar with the most exotic motor cars, but for sheer style a Chapron-bodied Citroën certainly makes its mark...   read more >>

After the all-wheel-drive spatial miracle that is the Ferrari FF comes the supercar for the fresh-air pragmatist. Thanks to an aluminium hardtop, the 458 Spider is the marque’s first mid-engined coupé to offer open-top driving thrills...   read more >>

So, you're the MINI marketing chief and you want to extend your brand. You have used up the historical shape associations, so what do you do next? You do this, says John Simister...   read more >>

Perhaps annoyingly to some, the 1-Series M Coupé hasn’t been allowed to inherit the name of the legendary M1 sports car. But maybe this is the right decision; after all, the 1-Series M is more of a spiritual successor to the E30 M3 than the Giugiaro-styled, mid-engined icon of the late seventies...   read more >>

John Simister finds the new open-topped Continental to be an excellent stress-reliever, for more reasons than one...   read more >>

Even BMW's M–cars have to move with the times, writes John Simister. No longer can the engine be a racetrack fugitive with a throttle–valve for each cylinder; mainstream road–car rules must apply. Up to a point...   read more >>

The new S8 is one of the quartet of new Audis powered by the Ingolstadt firm’s 4.0-litre V8 with cylinder-shutdown technology. But has driving pleasure been switched off in the process? We take the powerhouse for a spin to find out...   read more >>

Razor-edged sports car, green eco-mobile, or luxury saloon? The new Fisker Karma suggests these descriptions are no longer mutually exclusive, as we take the Californian eco-warrior on Milanese roads to find out if its split personality can find an appropriate balance...   read more >>

How does a 450bhp Ferrari V12 sound to you? I’m not just referring to the notion, it’s the actual aural pleasure of four megaphone exhausts, six Webers and four cams producing that unique Ferrari 12-cylinder howl that permeates every corner of this car...   read more >>

The idea that serious drivers of big, high-performance cars also want a fast, daily runaround is not a new one. It started in the 60s with the Mini Cooper S and then, in 1976, along came the ultimate Q-car, the Golf GTi...   read more >>

So fast, so powerful, so precise. With 700HP, the Aventador sets an Italian technical benchmark. To find out whether Lamborghini’s latest beast convinces on bumpy highways, we tested it in the hills around Sant'Agata, Italy...   read more >>

Well, this is a privilege. This mid-engined, louvred-and-riveted machine with its 5.0-litre, 502bhp V12, the face of a current XK and the tail-lights of an E-type, is surely one of the best-looking racing cars ever made...   read more >>

“A safe car for a journey on fast, unknown roads,” was one conclusion we reached having driven Aston’s latest V8 Vantage S in Spain earlier this year. The car impressed on the track, but how would it behave on a real life journey, to Le Mans and back?...   read more >>

“Would you buy this car?” asks John Simister. The Delta E-4 Sport sounds almost too good to be true. It's an electric four-seater coupé with four-wheel drive, able to travel 200 miles on one charge, reach 150mph and hit 60mph in four seconds. Holy Electric Grails, Batman!...   read more >>

Have expectations ever been higher for a new supercar? asks John Simister. Multiple Formula One championships, the horizons-busting McLaren F1 even-more-supercar, a company reputation for almost obsessive perfection… it was never going to be easy...   read more >>

Driven: Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0

All 600 examples of the new Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 have already been snapped up by buyers eager for a piece of history so, if you haven’t placed your order, you'll just have to imagine the RS 4.0 experience with the help of John Simister’s at-the-wheel impressions...   read more >>

Driven: Aston Martin Cygnet

A four-cylinder, 97bhp 1.33-litre engine; CVT transmission, front-wheel drive and a top speed of 106mph. No, it’s not a bad dream, we are indeed talking about the latest Aston Martin. Our reporter drove the brand-new Cygnet in London, to see what he made of it all...   read more >>

Driven: Aston Martin DBS and V8 Volante

With Bonhams' annual Aston Martin Works Service auction just a week or so away, we were able to put some miles on two, quite perfect entries in the catalogue...   read more >>

McLaren MP4-12C: The Carbonfibre Story, First Drive and Video

Yes, I have driven it, for a couple of all-too-brief, exhilarating laps at Silverstone. So, too, did John Watson who – 30 years ago at this very track – was the first man to win a Grand Prix in a carbonfibre-chassis car...   read more >>