Blogs Posts

Seven steps to buying an MGC and ’B GT V8 Sporting appeal with the thrust to match the looks for as little as £6500. Words Richard Dredge. Photography John Colley. MGC and V8 buying made safeRemove the doubt of MGC/’B V8 buying Buying Guide Get yourself a big-engined MG roadster or coupé with confidence While MGB values have been on a steady decline of late, less ubiquitous variants have remained solid. This makes a decent MGC or ’BGT V8 seem a safe and compelling buy.

Mixing a wide body with traditional rear-wheel-drive, the 911 Carrera S is a highly desirable 993. Here’s your complete dossier of information on this collector’s gem. Written by Kieron Fennelly. Photography by Damian Blades. Buyer’s Guide Porsche 911 Carrera S 993  AIR-COOLED  HISTORY AND TECHIn Porsche nomenclature, ‘S’ usually denoted sporting or ‘Super’ and its first application to a 911 was in 1966. The 911S would set the standard as the fastest 911 until the 2.

The 996 has its detractors, but the C4S is an affordable route into wide-body ownership. It's time for a more in-depth look… Written by Chris Randall. Photography by Neil Godwin. Background to the 996 C4S Turbo look’ is a familiar part of the Neunelfer enthusiast’s parlance, but you have to head back to 1984 for its first appearance. Back then, it meant the M491 option for the 3.

The 997.1 was the last Turbo that could trace its origins to the original 930, and makes for a great-value buy today. Total 911 presents everything you need to know about it… Written by Kieron Fennelly. Photography by Damian Blades. HISTORY AND TECHThe first-generation 997 inherited its engines from the 996.

What better way to celebrate the first water-cooled production 911's twenty-fifth anniversary than buying an example of this game-changing Porsche to call your own?! Words Dan Furr, Danny Kaye, Emma Woodcock, Russ Stanley. Photography Dan Sherwood. 1997-2004 Porsche 911 996 BUYING GUIDEWhat to look for when considering a buy. Owning a 911 has never been a more attainable dream, primarily thanks to the current low prices and easy availability of the 996.

From early days in school, I have been fascinated by the Abarth marque. Abarth was the first entry in my Observer’s Book of Automobiles and I was drawn to it almost hypnotically. The mother of my best friend at school had a Fiat-Abarth 595, and I remember thinking what a special little car that was. Whenever possible, I would persuade my father to stop for petrol at Anthony Crook’s Hersham Garage, which had the concession for Abarth, Bristol and Zagato-bodied cars in the late 1950s and ’60s.

Now considered a modern classic, the first-generation one and Cooper still look great, are well made, fun to drive, have modern safety features and will never be cheaper. Words Martyn Collins. Photos MINI, 24Seven photography. BUYING AND TUNING GUIDEHow do you replace a car that’s been on sale for four decades? That was the headache facing Rover, especially when BMW took the helm in 1994.

The 991.1 GT3 is a brilliant sports car when on song, but is its engine its weak point? Total 911 investigates… Written by Kieron Fennelly 991.1 GT3 engines - Why were they recalled, and why have they been revised? Our deep-dive reveals all The BURNING QUESTION of the 991.1 GT3 Schadenfreude – pleasure at the misfortune of others. Strangely, this human if rather reprehensible trait has no word to describe it in English and the language has to resort to a foreign word to convey the sense.

The iconic yet practical supercar that would define Porsche presents a rewarding ownership opportunity for the enthusiast – if you buy the right example. Total 911 shows you what to look for… Porsche Index: 930 Turbo. Written by Kieron Fennelly. Photography by Damian Blades. Want to buy yourself a 930 Turbo?

There was once, believe it or not, a time when early 911s were forgotten, underappreciated and, well, almost apologised for, as just old Porsches. Water cooling came in and – for a while – the peculiarities of the earliest 911s were seen as negatives. Today is a different time, and those early long-bonnet models have become hot Porsche property over the last seven or eight years, with values skyrocketing almost overnight. But prices have softened lately; is their appeal on the wane?

The Turbo moniker is well established with the 911. But what is a turbo, and why are they used? Technology explainedAn engine needs two ingredients to run: fuel and air. In sports cars such as the 911 where performance is the ultimate focus, you’d expect to simply turn up the wick to increase fuel, and hey presto, instant performance, right? Wrong. The combination of air and fuel is set to a fine balance, the so-called stoichiometric mixture of 14.7:1.

This gathering of Porsche engineering top brass was not as might be expected at Le Mans or any other major race, but a purely internal get-together. The venue is the Weissach test track on a summer morning in 1984 and the initiative came from Helmuth Bott who was keen to settle an argument about whether Porsche’s current Group C car, the 956, was as fast as the 917/30 Turbo of the previous decade.

There’s no denying that it has never been so expensive to fill up. The mainstream media do not appear to be interviewing taxi drivers and hauliers, who must be spending a colossal amount of extra money on fuel. My average fill-up costs me an extra £20-£30 in some cases, especially with the introduction of E10 in standard unleaded petrol, so I’ve had to switch to the more expensive E5-rated super unleaded. The price at the pump as I write for standard unleaded petrol is 147.28p and diesel 150.

Let’s not beat around the bush: the Imp has a reputation for being a dud. It didn’t do great things for Hillman, because when it was launched in 1963 it was under-developed, so it suffered from a multitude of problems. The Imp Mk2 of 1965 fixed things though, so the pneumatic throttle linkage and automatic choke of the Mk1 were swapped for a cable throttle linkage and a conventional manual choke. Other improvements included a stronger clutch, better engine cooling and new suspension geometry.

My sister is a responsible adult, who looks after her stuff regardless of the cost. When she buys a car, she keeps it clean, has it serviced regularly and gets things fixed as soon as they break. I, on the other hand, have spent a lifetime not doing any of these things; a fact which adds a thick layer of insult to the injuries I inflicted on the Mini I bought from her back in the early 1990s.