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Contents<br />
118COVER STORY<br />
LaFerrari vs<br />
McLaren P1!<br />
AMG<br />
GTS vs Porsche 911<br />
GTS on epic roads<br />
64Mercedes<br />
97<br />
It’s our<br />
whistlestop<br />
tour<br />
through<br />
<strong>2014</strong>
78<br />
F1 is only the<br />
start: uncovering<br />
the real Williams<br />
84<br />
90<br />
What do New<br />
Yorkers think of<br />
their new taxi?<br />
In Our iPad<br />
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12 ISSUES OF<br />
IN PRINT<br />
& ON iPAD<br />
FOR JUST<br />
£32.00<br />
Our man in at<br />
the deep end at<br />
Donington<br />
AGENDA<br />
14 BMW plots super i8 and new M6<br />
16 7 wow-factor cars of the month<br />
18 60 years of Ferrari North America<br />
20 Bianchi, Senna & the case for F1 safety<br />
22 Will the flying car actually take off?<br />
INSIDER<br />
26 Mitsubishi: Evo is dead for good<br />
30 Renault EV that doesn’t need charging<br />
FIRST DRIVES<br />
32 Ford Mondeo<br />
36 BMW X6<br />
38 Rolls-Royce Ghost<br />
40 Vauxhall Corsa<br />
42 Mercedes GLA45 AMG vs Audi RSQ3<br />
46 Lexus NX<br />
48 Volkswagen Passat<br />
49 Mercedes S-class plug-in hybrid<br />
50 Audi S6<br />
OPINION<br />
52 The CAR columnists<br />
58 Letters to CAR<br />
FEATURES<br />
64 Mercedes AMG GTS vs Porsche 911 GTS<br />
It’s Merc’s 911 vs the real thing, as we pit all-new AMG<br />
GTS against Porsche’s new hero, also called GTS<br />
78 The other side of Williams F1<br />
Everything from buses to wind turbines: we uncover the<br />
amazing world inside Sir Frank’s £8m tech centre<br />
84 Our man makes Ginetta race debut<br />
Meet our James. How did he get onto this grid?<br />
90 We test New York’s new taxi<br />
Georg braves Manhattan driving the new Nissan cab<br />
97 <strong>2014</strong>’s Greatest Hits<br />
<strong>Car</strong>s, people, incident… one year, 100 memories<br />
110 Cover story: McLaren P1 to Maranello<br />
Ferrari here we come! Across the Alps in a Brit hypercar<br />
118 Cover story: LaFerrari vs McLaren P1<br />
World exclusive: the test they all wanted<br />
REAR END<br />
130 OUR CARS: Hello Peugeot RCZ R<br />
162 TOP 10: bosses sacked by their own firm<br />
CAR MAGAZINE IS NOW ON ANDROID! GO TO GOOGLE PLAY MAGAZINE STORE
First<br />
Drives<br />
FEATURING<br />
FORD MONDEO<br />
BMW X6<br />
ROLLS-ROYCE GHOST<br />
VAUXHALL CORSA<br />
MERC GLA45 AMG VS AUDI RSQ3<br />
LEXUS NX<br />
VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT<br />
32 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK I DECEMBER <strong>2014</strong>
Ford Mondeo 2.0-litre TDCi 180 Titanium X<br />
Better late than never<br />
Three years after its US launch, Brits finally get the new Mondeo. Good job it’s good. By CJ Hubbard<br />
IN SEPTEMBER, CAR managing<br />
editor Greg Fountain tweeted a<br />
picture of this car, saying, ‘Here’s<br />
the new #FordMondeo. Been ready<br />
for launch for three years – looks<br />
what it is: old’. Ford’s director of<br />
product communication, Jay Ward,<br />
actually took the time to reply: ‘I’m<br />
biased of course but there’s nothing old<br />
about the new Mondeo. Looks great<br />
and with tech no one else has even<br />
now.’ So who’s right here?<br />
‘Even now’ is troubling for me. The<br />
reality is that the Mondeo went on sale<br />
in America as the Fusion in 2012, and<br />
the modern automotive landscape just<br />
does not stand still for that long.<br />
Perhaps it doesn’t matter.<br />
Fundamentally, this is still a very good<br />
car, and perhaps the people who will<br />
actually buy it won’t even be aware of<br />
the timescale. But if Ford was hoping to<br />
attract customers beyond this existing<br />
pool of committed consumers, then<br />
some of the impact has surely been lost.<br />
When the Fusion was revealed at<br />
the Detroit motor show back in January<br />
2012 it was almost shockingly good<br />
looking, with those taut lines, lantern<br />
jaw and – no getting away from it –<br />
Aston Martin-esque grille design. If<br />
anything, the European Mondeo<br />
version dials up the intensity with the<br />
availability of sleek full-LED<br />
headlights from the off.<br />
Yet you notice this less, because the<br />
rest of the Ford range has already<br />
stolen all of its most dramatic styling<br />
cues. As a result, the Mondeo emerges<br />
not with the presence – the shock of the<br />
new – that it probably deserves, but<br />
with the appearance of a Fiesta that’s<br />
been on a committed fast-food bender<br />
for the past 24 months. And I think it’s<br />
an opportunity missed.<br />
RICHARD PARDON<br />
DECEMBER <strong>2014</strong> I CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK<br />
33
64 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK I DECEMBER <strong>2014</strong>
COVER STORY<br />
Merc AMG GTS vs 911 GTS<br />
WORDS: Georg Kacher I PHOTOGRAPHY: Tom Salt<br />
Is this the moment when Mercedes at last<br />
wrestles the ‘greatest sports car’ crown from<br />
Porsche? We’re first to test the AMG GTS<br />
against its target: the new 911 GTS<br />
DECEMBER <strong>2014</strong> I CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK<br />
65
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Williams:<br />
Racing to save<br />
the planet<br />
Sir Frank’s eponymous F1 team has had a good<br />
season but here, in a brand new £8m tech centre,<br />
the company’s wider genius is really taking flight<br />
WORDS: Ben Barry I PHOTOGRAPHY: Richard Pardon<br />
78 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK I DECEMBER <strong>2014</strong>
INSIDE STORY<br />
Williams Advanced Engineering<br />
DECEMBER <strong>2014</strong> I CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK<br />
79
motorsport<br />
Our man’s first race<br />
84 CARMAGAZINE.Co.uk I DECEMbEr <strong>2014</strong>
This is<br />
what happens<br />
when you’re<br />
not careful<br />
what you<br />
wish for<br />
Meet James, CAR’s new writer. He dreamed of<br />
being a racing driver. Now he’s on the grid at<br />
Donington wondering if this was a good idea…<br />
WORDS: James Taylor I PHOTOGRAPHY: Thomas Butler<br />
DECEMBER <strong>2014</strong> I CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK<br />
85
car world<br />
New York’s new taxi<br />
90 enjoy car for a whole year for just £27! greatmagazines.co.uk/car I deceMber <strong>2014</strong>
WORDS: Georg Kacher<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY: Tom Salt<br />
From next year the defining New<br />
York taxi will be… a Nissan van.<br />
We played (unlicensed) taxi driver<br />
for 24 hours to gauge the impact<br />
on Manhattan’s street scene<br />
THE PUBLIC RESPONSE to the Nissan NV200<br />
varies from indifference to repulsion. It’s a far cry from<br />
the full-size Caprices and Crown Vics which hark<br />
back to the classic three-box Checker cabs, and locals<br />
scoff at its anonymity for undermining a New York<br />
institution. NYC mayor Bill de Blasio openly rejects<br />
the $1bn, 10-year taxi deal signed by his predecessor<br />
Michael Bloomberg, expressing concern that the current fleet of<br />
what are mainly hybrid taxis are about to be replaced with a<br />
bland, Mexican-built product powered by a low-tech petrol<br />
engine. There is no plug-in tech, no diesel option, not even a<br />
stop/start system. In fact, because of its fat CO2 footprint, the<br />
NV200 is something of an eco-dinosaur.<br />
During rush-hour, however, New Yorkers don’t exactly care<br />
– in a state of aggressive panic, they will hail anything they can<br />
flag down. Cruising up and down 5th Avenue on a Friday<br />
afternoon and early evening, we could have easily raked in<br />
about $250 plus tips. But sadly we’re not street legal: we have no<br />
steel medallion welded onto the bonnet, no in-dash meter or<br />
receipt printer, and no switch to deactivate the roof-mounted<br />
‘I’m Not On Hire’ lights. Apologies to all those hopefuls we had<br />
to ignore, but will remember for their creative gestures and<br />
fabulous language. I would only have got them lost, anyway.<br />
Since Nissan has so far delivered fewer than 600 NV200 <br />
91
Like a good sauce, a<br />
year in the life of CAR<br />
needs reducing down<br />
before it becomes truly<br />
rich and tasty. Here’s<br />
our distilled version of<br />
<strong>2014</strong>, a time-lapse<br />
journey through 12<br />
months of cars, people,<br />
incidents, adventures<br />
and much more stuff,<br />
both good and bad…<br />
and yes, even ugly!<br />
CAR 100<br />
G R E A T E S T H I T S<br />
OF <strong>2014</strong><br />
12-PAGE SPECIAL STARTS HERE
CAR 100<br />
GREATEST HITS OF <strong>2014</strong><br />
LAMBORGHINI ASTERION<br />
2 Its full name – Asterion LPI 910-<br />
4 – is the whole story: LP denotes<br />
longitudinale posteriore engine position, I means<br />
Ibrido or hybrid, 910 is the combined PS output<br />
and 4 means four-wheel drive. It’s Lambo’s<br />
fi rst front-wheel driver (shock) but despite<br />
beardy intent still packs a V10 (unshock). More<br />
importantly, we want to marry it.<br />
3<br />
MASERATI<br />
ALFIERI<br />
Suspiciously beautiful<br />
and desirable centenary<br />
gift from Maserati to itself<br />
surely destined for<br />
mothballs. But no!<br />
It’s a goer!<br />
1<br />
NISSAN<br />
BLADEGLIDER<br />
Weird, pointy electric<br />
three-seater most notable<br />
for pissing off Panoz,<br />
whose Nismo-powered<br />
DeltaWing racer it<br />
resembles.<br />
7<br />
Mind-blowing<br />
concepts<br />
4<br />
TOYOTA FT-1<br />
Or Future Toyota One. ‘Don’t<br />
call it the new Supra,’ they said,<br />
so we called it the new Supra.<br />
Rustled up by Toyota’s LA-based<br />
substance-smokers as a Trojan<br />
horse PlayStation fantasy, FT-1 was<br />
fi rst shown to boss Akio Toyoda on<br />
his console, and he immediately<br />
thrashed it round Fuji Speedway.<br />
His smile suggested he – and we –<br />
might be able to do that for real one<br />
day. Sigh. Now, back to that Auris…<br />
98 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK I DECEMBER <strong>2014</strong>
cover story<br />
McLaren P1: the road to Ferrari<br />
110 CARMAGAZINE.Co.uk I deceMber <strong>2014</strong>
Call<br />
Ferrari.<br />
Tell them<br />
we’re on<br />
our way<br />
Bring a P1 to Maranello, they said, and we’ll<br />
match it with a LaFerrari for the test that<br />
everybody wants to read. Right then! Over the<br />
Alps, down to Milan and on into supercar<br />
valley we drove. Destiny awaits…<br />
WORDS: Chris Chilton I PHOTOGRAPHY: Greg Pajo<br />
DECEMBER <strong>2014</strong> I CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK<br />
111
WORDS: Chris Chilton I PHOTOGRAPHY: Greg Pajo<br />
Finally then, two warring dynasties meet.<br />
On the hills above Maranello, for the<br />
first time ever, the world’s two greatest<br />
hypercars go head-to-head<br />
118 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK I DECEMBER <strong>2014</strong>
COVER STORY<br />
McLaren P1 vs LaFerrari<br />
DECEMBER <strong>2014</strong> I CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK<br />
119
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