The RS2 famously was quicker to 30mph than any supercar of the day and could keep sprinting to 170mph and beyond without batting an eyelid – all in utter comfort.  This mixture between epic practicality and Herculean performance is the sweet spot that up until then had not been achieved with such aplomb.  All of the car’s talents could be accessed any time, place and condition.  The engine was and still is a real peach too.  If you watched the recent documentary on Group-B ‘Madness on Wheels’ or even stood in a cold winter forest in the 80s, then the unique noise of the 2.5 litre turbo charged in-line 5 will instantly make you feel that little bit more special.  It’s off-beat and almost monotone voice is utterly intoxicating and just makes you push on harder and faster.  God help the dogs.  The Quattro four-wheel drive system meant that the power, of which there was a healthy 315bhp, could be applied in the most appropriate way and provided a bit more all-weather ability to the other fast German cars of the day that were pretty much all rear wheel driven.

As you can tell, I’m quite a fan.

The RS3 wears it’s linage loud and proud and you can trace the DNA beyond the marketing – quite something for a company that I’ve slagged off for it’s haphazard badging before.  In a change of direction from their previous fast hatchbacks, Audi have decided to adopt the five cylinder engine powering the TTRS.  This is a good move in a number of ways.  First and most obvious it links directly back to the original Quattro and the first RS model.  The beautiful symphony emitted from this 335bhp turbo charged harp is nothing short of wondrous.  Get on youtube and search for “Group-B Quattro” and you won’t need to look at any sales brochure again.  Hit the sport button and the exhaust and throttle open up even more.  Easily the best noise in any VAG product for me.  It’s that good.  The only gearbox on offer is a new seven-speed dual clutch but this is very much in keeping with the point and squirt nature of the car.  Whatever they’ve done with that extra cog is quite something as every shift, even the manually intervened ones, are imperceivable – at least until you kick down and your internal organs are crushed to your back.  The way you can slingshot around corners with all that grip and power is addictive.  It’s as close to a Impreza or Evo as you’ll get from Germany.  There is no heavy understeer, unless you are a little ham-fisted, so long as you adopt the traditional fast in, slow out approach with four-wheel drive cars you will be progressing nicely across your favourite detour.  Steering feedback isn’t exactly up to brail standard but it doesn’t need to be as you can, and will with time, trust that where you want to place the car will be exactly where you end up.  Grip is astounding in the dry and with the right driving style progress in the wet should be just as effortless.

What the engine choice also does is distance the RS car from the S models.  No traditional RS owner would want to share any engine with a lower model.  The RS cars have always been a halo product and even when the same cylinder configuration has been shared, the performance has been that much higher and delivery more brutal.  Whether this is enough to persuade a current RS4 owner to downsize with a smile is another matter but for those wanting a more mature and unique product than a four-pot S3 is in for a treat.

The body is gently restyled with a unique grill and rear valance (even more tasty if you opt for the black styling pack) and wider front arches housing some new 19″ alloys.  You may have seen the silver wheels with red inserts.  Avoid these.  They make the car look like a bit silly and a bit of a showoff.  The rest of the car is a, well, an Audi A3.  And I suppose this is also one of the nice things about owning an Audi – they all look very similar unless you know what you’re looking for.  Q car potential is rather high if it wasn’t for the engine note.

Inside the car it’s business(man) as usual.  Everything is nicely screwed together and everything bar a few out of sight panels are soft, textured and clearly arranged.  The seats in this particular car were the optional, and very snug, leather Recaros.  In any other car they would look out of place but the detailing on the leather and the sporting purpose shows a subtle synergy between the upmarket image of the rest of the cabin and the hooligan beating behind the firewall.  All the switchgear, satnav, and options are all the usual Audi affair but this is only a compliment.  Perhaps you would expect a bit more of a difference inside but ticking the black inserts will at least give you a fighting chance.  However all is not completely rosy with the interior, but the problem isn’t in the front, it’s where the unlucky few will sit in the back.  Even though this is a reasonably spacious five door the Recaro seats do take up a lot of eye line for rear passengers so the chances of car sickness is quite high.  The ride certainly isn’t uncomfortable but the fact you can’t really see the road ahead doesn’t help keep your lunch in place.  However the worst feature for backseat drivers is the highly polished gloss backs on the Recaros.  Imagine sitting infront of a black mirror that makes you look fat.  That is what it’s like to sit in the rear of the RS3.  It is so bad it would turn me off being in the back of this car ever again.  If you do have kids then imagine the fun they’ll have kicking that very hard plastic for 7 hours on the way to St. Ives.  Or just scratching the hell out of it.  Oh the joys!

So all in all it’s an impressive bit of kit if your lifestyle fits and your passengers can drugged up until you arrive at your destination.  On the positive side it’s the best of the VAG hot hatches that I’ve driven by a big margin and easily the most effortless to drive quickly without feeling that you’re going to hurt yourself.  At £40,000 it certainly isn’t cheap but there is a good amount of standard equipment and the extras are really only to personalise it that little bit more.  If it’s just you and your partner it will be a great car to own but if you’re planning on taking passengers anywhere do yourself and the rear carpet a favour and stick with the standard seats.

Sick bags are not available on any option list either.  I checked.

The obvious reason for this pre-new year diet is quite obvious; the other shite didn’t sell much.  While this can be expected to a degree in the times we live in part of me actually likes this more focus approach from a car company – a pretty large and reasonably successful one too.  When I think of Renault I recall the old ’5 Turbo or the more recent Renaultsport Clios.  I don’t remember what a Laguna looks like and a Modus… isn’t that a another name for a setting on a Greek stereo?

Renault know their market and their returning customer so hopefully now they’re able to focus on the important models that are a common and welcome sight on the UK roads they’ll continue to grow.

However, this trend hasn’t exactly spread to Germany.  Take a moment to pause and consider this question:  If you went into a UK Audi showroom to pick a car, outside of the various trim levels (SE, S-Line etc) how many models do they sell?

More or less than 10?

More than 20?

More than 30?

You are miles off, my old china.

Fourty.  Eight.  48.  Four dozen.  Too fecking many.

Long gone are they days when a line up consisted of a small hatchback, a saloon and an estate, but seriously, do we need all these flipping ‘tweener models?  Even when they only had the A3, A4, A6 and A8 you knew where you stood and as the need for more lugging space or passenger comfort grew, you simply moved up the ladder.  But now there are things like the A5, not such a problem as it’s a nice looking coupe but why in the fucking world do they see the need to make a coupe, that looks like an A4, with 4 doors?  That’s an A4, you fools!

I’m all for choice but really, there is no reason for the sprawl other than to lock in customers to a single brand and cover off every slight detail and wish.  The ‘I want’ customer is always right.  Apparently.

Imagine the calls to Ingolstadt from a panicing sales manager:

Blighty:  ”We have a customer who loves the A6, we might even get him into a 3.0 TDI”

Germany:  ”Zis is vonderful news! Be sure to zell zem zee paint protec -hahaha- sorry I can’t even say that vizout laughing.  You get zee idea.”

Blightly:  ”Yep, no problem.  There is one issue though.  He loves the A6 but really wants a coupe… and a four door… and a hatchback and I know there is no logic in this, and nobody would be stupid enough to ask for such a mish-mash of designs let alone make something like that but…he has £45k to spend, and is clearly mad.”

Germany:  ”Offer him more of your English tea.  Vee have a plan.  Ve vill knock up a drawing of a A6 unt dick about viz zee rear unt email it over right away.  Nobody vill ever know… just get a deposit.  Ve vill do zee rest.”

What’s next?  An estate with a folding roof?  A two seater with four doors?

There’s one born every minute and it seems there is a model in the pipeline just waiting to follow them.

YouTube has a series of videos on the restoration of a 2002 Saab 9-3 Turbo convertible and with an eye on spring and summer, it’s hard not to think a bit of open top motoring could be good way of spending your pennies.  Low mileage hard and soft-tops can be had for a few grand and represent a lot of car for very little outlay.  Want one?

Part one

Part two

Part three

Part four

Thanks for the memories, Saab.  We will all miss you.

So with this in mind I decided to spend a few hours trawling the popular classifieds for a few arctic steeds that could not only take you and your family to the shopping centre and back but also to that empty carpark just ready for some four-wheel drifting, just for the hell of it.

Obviously we’re going to have to narrow the criteria to allow us to find the right winter companion so lets start with the basics.  It will need to be under £2000 on the window sticker and also be four-wheel drive to cope with the changing weather.  After that we’ll say that more than four seats is a bonus and to hell with such things as MPG because this is about moving when the weather says we can’t, not how much it’ll cost to get there on petrol alone.  However on the subject of running costs, above all it must be reliable.  In other words, it cannot be a total pig of a car.

The first treasure comes in the form of a turbo charged Subaru, but not the one you may be expecting.  The Forester Turbo, like all Subarus, comes with permanent all-wheel drive and while sitting much higher up that the usual Imprezas and Legacys the 2.0 boxer engine  sits incredibly low in the engine bay meaning a far lower centre of gravity than the other cars in its sector like the Range Rover.  Some can be found for well under our £2k budget meaning that you could even do something naughty the the exhaust, if you wanted that dubba-dubba soundtrack.  Being a Forester I will likely never seen the high side of the rev counter and with one on Autotrader clocking up 270,000 miles, reliability comes as standard.  If you want to stay with the Subaru theme then you can also find countless Imprezas but with those generally mean a fair bit of remedial work is required, we’ll leave those to the brave in favour of the Forester.

Further back in time a real gem can be found in the form of a 1988 British Touring Car legend, well the cousin of said legend at least.  How about a Ford Sierra 2.8 V6 XR4x4 with less that 60k on it?  A very rare car (for better or worse) but with grip at each corner and a lazy and reliable engine it’d certainly get you through the winter months.  You might not look like Andy Rouse but you can rest assured you’ll get to where you want to go safely, even if it it just down the the local Ikea carpark.

But if you’re looking for a more modern car then quite shockingly, a 2.7 twin turbo Audi A6 Avant can be had for a shade under budget.  Carrying all the modern toys you could wish for in winter (like aircon for example!) are only a button push away and thanks to a longitudinal engine it has proper Quattro rather than the Haldex unit.  Comfort as standard and 230bhp to help with those cross country blasts.  Quite amazing value for such a big car.

So there’s three for starters, but can you find any more?  Given their appeal you may well just be lucky enough to keep them into Spring or even sell them on for a profit.  Well worth the effort of a few hours on Autotrader, don’t you think?

The 2013 WRX, penciled in for a later 2012 release, will keep the die-hards happy and retain a turbo-charged engine.  With the Mitsubishi Lancer heading for a less bansai future, as it says a fond farewell to the Evo supercar, Subaru may soon be the last of the hardcore rally reps left on sale.  The best news is that the WRX’s turbocharger will be matted to the new FA20 2.0L Boxer engine employed in both the Subaru BRZ and Toyota GT86 sportscars.

With the potential to achieve 42mpg in the non-turbo engine, hopes are high that the WRX and the hotter WRX STI will both see greater efficiency and lower emissions while keeping the power and poise we’re all used to from Subaru most holy of halo models.

If Subaru can keep the driving dynamics, improve the interior (we live in hope) as well as reducing the overall running costs, then car formerly known as Impreza STI could be in for quite a comback.

There is also the possibility of the firebreathing boxer making it’s way into the BRZ which would go a long way to separating it from the currently mechanically identical Toyota GT86.

Porsche makes pies too.  ”Bloody good German pies,” in fact!  Their best is the talisman of the company kitchen too and has been at the forefront of all others since 1963, just around the time my mum began to hone her skills as a master baker as it happens.  But theirs doesn’t have any Golden Delicious or Granny Smith’s at its heart, instead it has a flat 6 and of course is called the 911.  Porsche has spent years refining their own blend of ingredients and toppings to ensure that year after year and through each small evolution the 911 lineage can be seen all the way back to the 60s.  The silhouette cast against the design studio walls in Stuttgart may have grown slightly or have a few flicks at the rear thanks to a duck tail, GT or Turbo wing, but they have remained quite obviously a 911.  Anyone who has even a passing interest in cars can spot one a mile away and that instantly recognisable shape is part of the charm and why Porsche are on the lips of fanatics around the world.  There is no need to advertise it against the Boxster or Cayman (don’t get me started on the Cayenne) because it is clearly a different car and to the likes of you and me, it is the pinnacle of every day German motoring bliss.

So why on earth have Porsche decided to throw a badge on the beautiful backside of their latest 991 series 911?  I fear that marketing has taken over and if someone wealthy enough spots ‘one of those little cars with the pretty wheels’ on The King’s Road, the only way they can possibly figure out what they’ll buy next is to look at the badge on the rear.  Oh dear.

“Hello, I’d like to buy a ‘nine, one, one’ please.  Can I have the shiny wheels as well?”

Are these the people Porsche really wants to take on ownership of such a halo?  Some may say the’ve already sold their soul to the devil by building the repulsive Cayenne and then remortgaged it again to build a diesel but surely the 911 (that’s nine-eleven, in case you were wondering) should be above this push to get a Porsche on to every drive way in Surrey.

I’ll let the buying public make their decisions but I will close my eyes tonight, say a little prayer and hope that on the options list for the 991 it has a tickbox for “badge delete.”

Forced to rebuild, quite literally from the ashes, the mindset of the Japanese motor industry changed.

This was the start of a revolution in Japan with cars such as the 1947 Toyota AA and the 1958 Subaru 360, showing that style and simplicity need not be exclusive from reliability and engineering excellence – a concept that Japan has taught the rest of the world ever since.

Founded in 1937 the post-war rise of Toyota came to the UK in the 1960s and ‘70s partly out of circumstance and a growing necessity.  The oil crisis in 1973 began to persuade the public that more efficient and reliable cars were their best options in times where the price of petrol was sky-rocketing and disposable income was scarce.  Enter a bevy of Japanese companies who would fill that gap right away with their cheap, small, and efficient offerings. Success began to take hold – the Japanese were here.

My personal connection to Toyota started with my Grandad who was one of the very first to sell and service Toyotas in the UK.  They’ve always been in my family in one respect or another but I was the first to own one; 37 years after my Grandad first did an oil change on a Toyota Corona.

Looking back to the 80′s when I was growing up I have one clear memory of when my ever-so-slight obsession with cars, particularly Toyotas, began.  Sitting in an AW11 Toyota MR2 at a motorshow on the cricket pitch near to where my Grandparents lived; I had found the car I wanted to take to school on Monday and show my friends.  Somewhere buried away amongst school photos and sports day badges there is a photograph of me peering over the steering wheel of a gleaming white, two-seater, mid-engined sports car.  One with such sweet dynamics that it still stands up to modern light sports cars for fun factor and quality. Not that I had any clue about any of this as a seven year old, I just thought it was cool.  I mean, it’s a sports car, and I was allowed to sit in it!

A year on I asked to go with a friend and his Dad to watch the Lombard RAC rally cut through Clumber Park, and it was there I found my next Toyota of wonder – an ST165 Celica Turbo – the first rally car I’d ever seen in the flesh.  Even covered in mud and probably most of the Nottinghamshire countryside it was just wonderful.  Loud, brash, pop-up headlights, it had the lot and… hang on… there’s another one… but it’s a road car!  It had a license plate and pop-up headlights!  Admittedly most 8 year old boys would be impressed with that, but with the lineage that had lead up to this point, and seeing that same badge on all my favourite cars; the scene was set for a happy life-long relationship.

When I passed my driving test in 2001 the car that took my eye, and had done on road and playstation before that; was the SW20 MR2.  A car of such timeless looks that it almost makes the Ferrari, it was no doubt influenced by, seem like an expensive copy.  A classic shape and a modern evolution of the AW11; I just knew I had to have one.  For one thing having a two seater would mean I wouldn’t have to give lifts to everyone at work.  18 months later I was the proud owner of a JDM MR2 G-Limited 10th Anniversary Edition. Another MR2 followed a year later but the more powerful 246bhp GT model.  A real drivers’ car; with a powerful turbocharged engine, mechanical LSD for extra control, traction, and redesigned suspension!  I utterly loved it and upon selling it, I have to say, I was in a bit of a foul mood.

Another Toyota legend would be mine in 2007 when I collected a pristine ST205 Celica GTFour.  Without doubt the most beautifully sculpted rally car ever seen on a special stage and what’s more, the road going WRC model had the same high rear wing for that extra kudos.  It even had the entire plumbing installed ready for an anti-lag system; if you so chose.  Try finding that on any car now!  I still maintain this is the best car I have ever owned or driven; and I’ve driven few.

Mine was no ordinary Toyota and came with an extensively modified chassis, but every extra on it was of Toyota design and a Toyota part.  TRD (Toyota Racing Design) had installed new braces, new suspension, new roll-bars, and a new quick-shifter.  The car took me to work, to family, and friends, with effortless pace, poise and safety.  Not once did anything ever go wrong and despite the car being 14 years old with 90,000 on the clock; there were no rattles, no burned oil and no strange sounds coming from the engine.  It was over engineered in the best sense of the word –  I still miss it!

But while my love affair with 90s Japan was in full bloom, in present day the Toyota I knew was slowly fading to black.  Gone were the performance cars; the exciting cars on which to hang your hat and your brand.  Replaced with white goods like; the Avensis, Prius and Yaris; the direction of the company was changing drastically.

Not to say some cars weren’t allowed to live a little longer and die another day.  The final Celica was a 190bhp coupe but front wheel drive and simply didn’t carry the magic of the previous generations.  The last ZZ30 MR2 was a fine drivers’ car but without the practicality of the MX5 it competed against, it found the market harder and harder.  The final hurrah for Toyota was a supercharged Corolla hatchback and a turbocharged MR2.  Neither was sold in any number, and in the end were a parts-bin raid before Toyota pulled the plug on anything vaguely interesting.  No more MR2 or Celica, and certainly no Supra.

Note to self, must buy a Supra.

In the same way they had thrived in the middle of the oil crisis of the 1970s, Toyota began to change priorities to reflect the 21st century environmental concerns, and the impact their cars had on it.  Their flagship models are no longer performance models of the highest engineering standards; they’re hybrids like the Prius, and their Corolla replacement; the Auris.  Any car with an ounce of soul and speed was not going to speak the new Toyota message.  They began to only produce cars that put the carbon footprint first, well ahead of any dreams of heal and toe.  The public’s, some would say ignorant, perception that batteries and hybrid cars are the savior of the world resonated with Toyota so much that they cancelled all of their interesting and fun cars, thinking their brand would continue to ride the new wave created by a more eco-friendly generation – the environment now dictates the entire lineup.  Lexus had the only performance arm in the Toyota portfolio, and as good as the ISF and the LFA are, I wanted my Toyota back; not a Lexus.  The reason I lusted after their cars had gone missing, the soul was missing and the love had died.

But then out of the blue something wonderful happened.  Like a man who rediscovered a lost love and a passion for life; in 2009 Toyota brought a concept car to light that would instantly put them back on the map.  Actually not just the map my map!

The car in question, as I’m sure you know by now, is called the FT86.  It is a sleek and stylish two door coupe designed to be as much fun as possible.  The name harks back to a car you either love or have never heard of called the AE86 Corolla designed in the 80s and known for; its bombproof engineering, high revving engine, and its rear-driven oversteering joy.  Like the Corolla the FT86 is again rear wheel drive, but with the welcome addition of a double wishbone at the rear rather than the Grandad’s live axel.  From the design stage through to the concept the Toyota engineers have relied on their relationship with another Japanese engineering giant called Subaru – you might have heard of them, they also used to create exciting cars.

Subaru themselves are also going through something of a personality crisis that I’ll cover another day, but they are actually responsible for the FT86 both the manufacturing process and the majority of the engineering phases. Working together though they have managed to build a car with a 50/50 balance, and from reports of the production model called the GT86, one of the greatest driving cars of the modern era.  It is the interaction between the driver and the car that has pushed the engineers to infuse the steering with feedback and belay the modern fascination with huge wheels and sticky rubber. The GT86 will come with comparatively slim tyres (215) and ones that run the same compound as the Prius. Edging past the boundaries of adhesion is what the car is happy to do and the driver has the option on how far to push it; with all the required information steadily fed back through what has been reported to be an amazing feat of engineering – an electric steering rack that feels and behaves like an old rack and pinion – communicative and predictable – two words I would never have used for any modern car from a mainstream car maker.  The other trick up Toyota’s sleeve is something that Subaru have known for 30 years, and have developed into their signature song.  The GT86 will use a 2.0l boxer engine which grants the car with a low centre of gravity, but also allows the bonnet to be as low as the EU will allow. It isn’t a turbo charged unit as you would expect from Subaru, but it will rev well over 7,000 rpm and produce 200bhp.  Not massive numbers, but the car is not about how fast you get there, it’s about how much fun you want to have along the way.

Further wonder is that the engine has some of that Toyota magic injected into it meaning it will only produce 160g/km of CO2.  Quite a feat considering other manufactures can’t get near this even by cheating with smaller engines and low-pressure turbos.  Oh and how does 42mpg grab you?  Plus a curb weight of a shade over 1240kg.  Engineering and design aren’t dead after all.

Now confirmed for production in 2012; the Toyota GT86, and the Subaru BRZ, seem to have turned a corner, (with a dab of oppo’) and Toyota are once again full of life and enthusiasm for what put them in the minds of people like me and you.  I cannot wait to test drive the GT and if one day they make an all wheel drive edition, with a great big wing and a GTFour badge, I’ll be the first in the queue.

Toyota is back and I think my Grandad would be just as happy as I am.