Blogs Posts

Established as a true British icon, the Jaguar Mk2 unlocked the potential of its Mk1 predecessor and turned it from a modest success into a major one. Here’s what you need to know when buying one. Words: Paul Guinness Photography: Jeff Ruggles ABSOLUTE CLASSICThe iconic Jaguar Mk2 is an archetypal classic that still carries plenty of cachet. Here’s what you need to know when buying one.

BMW’s F15 X5 M50d is an impressive machine – and you can now buy a decent example for just £25,000. Words: Guy Baker Photography: Various A proper Marmite car, BMW’s X5 M50d certainly divides opinion. But there’s no doubt it’s a seriously capable and sophisticated bit of kit. The car’s triple-turbo diesel six-pot produces 375hp and 546lb ft, enabling it to smash the 0-62mph dash in just 5.3-seconds.

With a screaming 5.0-litre V10 under the bonnet and room for the family, the E60 M5 is just about the most insane super saloon money can buy. It's not a sensible purchase, and a bad one could break you, but it's an incredibly special car and one that's well worth experiencing at least once in your life. Words: Elizabeth de Latour Photos: Matt Richardson The V10 Super saloon profiledE60 M5 An in-depth look at the sensational V10 saloon.

After 20 years, is this retro-styled T-Bird worthy of re-evaluation? As a Bond fan, whenever I see the retro-styled Ford Thunderbird I’m reminded of its fleeting appearance in Die Another Day. Driven by Bond’s CIA counterpart Jinx (Halle Berry), it fits the larger-than-life character and joyfully OTT film down to that last T. Yet, out in the real world, there’s something slightly surreal about it – especially in the UK.

Can you imagine a cartoon like the one on the right appearing in an owner’s handbook today? Amazingly, the stiff-upper-lip marque that was 1940s Rover used this drawing – and many similarly witty illustrations – in its first handbook for the new Land-Rover. That’s one of the joys of the traditional handbook: they were as idiosyncratic as the people who wrote them.

After a 30-year career in the police in Scotland, the last 20 as a traffic cop, in 2010 I bought my dream car, a manual Ferrari F355 GTS. As soon as I had joined the police I knew I wanted to be in the traffic department, but I did ten years on the beat in Rosyth first. I joined Traffic in 1991, achieved a class one advanced pass in training and was named driver of the year. We drove SD1 Vitesses, Senator 24V 3.0-litres and Granada 2.9 Injection 4x4s – proper rear-wheel-drive power machines.

All the same. Evans wonders what the future will bring, given the homogenised state of the new-vehicle market… When I was a kid, cars always seemed to be more than just four-wheeled conveyances. Even the most mundane family four-door seemed to have style and substance. By the time I was eight I could identify almost every car on the road.

This technical groundbreaker is also a tough, usable classic, and interest is increasing in all things Eighties, making it a keen investment too. Words SAM DAWSON Photography BAUER ARCHIVE Fearless Audi Quattro buyingBuying Guide How to get yourself an Audi Quattro while they’re still good value (just) Now is a good time to buy an Audi Quattro.

The 30th anniversary of the 911 was its first real landmark and the car was feted in Stuttgart with due ceremony. Its 25th had passed almost unnoticed, but given the uncertainty and managerial turmoil at Zuffenhausen in autumn 1988, few would have been in the mood. Total 911 recounts the story behind a famous picture from Porsche’s past… Five years on, however, the outlook was improving.

Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe has outsold them manual gearbox in 911s for the past 10 years… The use of automatic gearboxes in cars predates Porsche by almost 50 years – an unkind person might say that many automatic gearboxes drove like they did. Not so with Porsche’s Doppelkupplingsgetriebe, or PDK for short.

There are seemingly endless models and factory options to choose from along the timeline of 911 production. Yet that variety only just begins on the dealer spec list. What of cars that have been altered over the years since they left the showroom? From rat rods to restomods, ‘Big Reds’ to RSR wings… you name it, someone will have done it over 50 years of fashions. Is there a market for a modified 911 today, or is originality best? Paragon sales manager Jamie Tyler says yes and no.

How General Motors’ performance linchpin was spared the indignity of losing drive to the rear. Since the late 1960s, the pony car had been a mainstay of American car culture, built to a simple formula of driven wheels at the rear and a hearty engine at the front, preferably a V8. Yet, amazingly, during the 1980s both Ford and GM drew up plans to delete the V8s from their pony car mainstays, the Mustang and the Camaro, and make them front-wheel drive.

Little did we know in the 1980s that one day we would look upon the humble Cressida as a classic. It now has everything necessary to wear the accolade – and it makes for excellent everyday transport, too. 1976-1992 Toyota Cressida - Long-life bread and butter PACKAGINGAs the packaging is rather uninteresting, some history instead. These are really the third and fourth generations of this car. However, it started life as the Corona, previously covered in this series.

After eight years on sale, the Huracán remains Lamborghini’s most focused driver’s car ever. With plenty of examples to choose from, is this the perfect used Lambo? Or are there hidden traps awaiting? Words by Tim Pitt Images by Michael Ward LAMBORGHINI HURACÁN: USED BUYING SECRETS REVEALEDIs Lamborghini’s most popular car a great buy? Lamborghini built, on average, about 200 cars a year during its first four decades – including fewer than 2000 examples of the Countach and 800 Miuras.

Lucky 13 This unique 911 backdate became one man’s lockdown obsession My name is Martyn Luke, and this is my 911 backdate, which is nicknamed ‘Starlight’. It’s based on a 993-generation manual 1994 Porsche 911 Carrera 2, and was built by a Yorkshire-based company called 911 Retroworks. It’s a bespoke build that they call a 993 GTR. I commissioned it in April 2021, during lockdown. It took 13 months to build, is the 13th 993 GTR built by the company, and was delivered on Friday 13 May!