Cars

Living the Dream  Gijs van Lennep won Le Mans in a 650hp 917 in 1971 but always yearned to drive the 1000hp Can-Am version. He got his chance 43 years later at Zandvoort’s 2016 Historic Grand Prix. Story: Johnny Tipler. Photography: Niels Keekstra, Porsche.

BMW UK has now released pricing and spec details for the new 5 Series that will be hitting our showrooms in February next year and before one looks at specification levels, the new car does seem to be quite a bit more expensive than the outgoing F10 generation machine. Four different engines will be available when the car goes on sale – 520d, 530d, 530i and 540i – and these will be available in a variety of two- and four-wheel drive guises. Unlike other markets the UK will only have two trim levels – SE and M Sport – Luxury spec won’t be listed over here for the simple reason that with the F10 hardly anyone spec’d it! The two diesel models will be available as SE and M Sports with or without xDrive while the 530i will only feature rear-wheel drive in either SE or M Sport trim. The (for now) rangetopping 540i will only be offered as an xDrive model, and can be spec’d either as an SE or M Sport. Full pricing can be seen in the accompanying table but if we look at the two diesel models (as these are the only two where a proper like-for-like comparison can be made) then the new 520d SE is £3410 more expensive than the F10 and the new 530d M Sport is £2715 dearer than the outgoing equivalent.

Sunshine sortie. The first rays of Spring sunshine, in the New Forest, provided the ideal environment to sample the new 2016 Audi A3 Cabriolet range here in Britain…

We have always felt that Audi should, as far as is possible, retain the overall shape and character of the TT, something which will ensure that, like the Porsche 911, it becomes a classic which endures over many years.

As well as launching the new TT at this year’s Geneva Show, Audi also displayed a concept car, based on the new TT. Audi was calling it the ‘TT quattro sport concept show car’, and enthusiasts must be wondering whether it will ever see production.

Although it’s not quite time to pop open the champagne corks, we tend to forget that it is 18 years since the first A3 went on sale. Launched in the UK in September 1996, it went toe to toe with not only the 1994 BMW 3 Series Compact, but also the VW Golf which, in 1996, was still in its Mk 3 guise. While the two cars might have looked broadly similar underneath, however, the A3 was in fact based on the new PQ34 platform which would underpin the Mk 4 Golf, due to be launched in 1998. Styled by Dirk van Braeckel (currently chief designer at Bentley), the A3 was another ‘just right’ car from Audi. Van Braeckel had also styled the original A8 concept car that entered production almost unaltered.

The new Q50 could be Infiniti’s last chance to make it in Europe. It is the closest to mainstream premium competition Infiniti has yet conceived. All of its other models stand alone with no particular direct rivals. It is often said that to break into an established market you need to do it differently or better. Infiniti had tried doing it differently, and perhaps now they are trying to do the same better. Unfortunately, the highly competitive European premium manufacturers are so busy fighting each other that the standard is such that any manufacturer will find it difficult to beat.

Buying a B6 series Audi A4. This much-loved model can now be bought for less than £1,000, as Andrew Everett finds out...

During the late ’90s, the Volkswagen Group began to increase its empire, becoming the owner of brands such as Bentley and Bugatti. It also took control of Lamborghini, the Italian sportscar manufacturer which had been through a difficult time in terms of ownership. Instead of being taken over by Volkswagen itself, Lamborghini became a subsidiary of Audi, a move which was to result in much greater stability for the Italian company, and the production of a very successful model, the Gallardo.

After the last outing at the ’Ring I knew something had to be done about the suspension and the way the car handles. Part of the reason for this is because the huge GT2 rear wing upsets the car’s balance – the amount of downforce it creates even at the flattest angle of attack is creating understeer on the front end at high speed. The only way to tackle this was to stiffen up the rear but seeing as it is already mega stiff on the springs, this would make the rear even more of a handful on track. Luckily the amount of downforce it creates counteracts the problem in the high speed stuff and makes it very stable but, as said, it then upsets the front…

It might not have the fire-breathing powertrain of the Z4 M Coupé but the 3.0Si version still has good looks, excellent performance and reasonable running costs – it’s a great used buy! Words: Bob Harper and Andrew Everett Photography: Dom Fraser.

As part of BMW M’s birthday party to celebrate 30 years of the iconic model, it has wheeled out several of the rare prototypes that have previously been glimpsed only in passing…