Cars

Luxury cars give us more comfort, more technology, and better craftsmanship than normal run of the mill transportation. However, because it costs more to make even an entry-level luxury car, the price tag is often higher than that of a normal car. That said, the main reason we don’t see cheap luxury cars is the added value of the badge. More specifically, the associations of quality and prestige that come with it. Still, there is a chance for you to own a luxury car without breaking the bank. Here are some of the most affordable luxury cars that are currently on the market.

Like ABT is to Audi, Brabus is to Mercedes. These are the tuners that come to mind when you talk about the respective brands. Brabus is here with another creation called the Rocket 900 “One of Ten” that’s based on the Mercedes-AMG GT63 S. The Brabus model comes with changes inside and out, but the biggest changes have happened under the hood. The car didn’t just receive some extra horses and torque; Brabus also increased the displacement of the V-8 powerhouse. The car is super-exclusive and only 10 examples of it will be built.

Although commonly known as the Daytona, this two-seater GT from Ferrari is known as the 365 GTB/4 officially. It came as a successor to the 275 GTB/4 and was introduced at the Paris Auto Show in 1968. The Daytona moniker, interestingly, was given by the media to commemorate the Prancing Horse’s top-three finish in February 1967. Anyway, a ‘Daytona’ example from the early 70s is listed on Bring-a-Trailer’s website, and it is drawing a lot of attention. This model is one of the 1,284 Berinetta coupes built for the U.S.-market between 1968 and 1973. The bid for the car is nearing half-a-million dollars already at the time of writing this article, which shows what a collectible it is. Interested?

Back in August, our paparazzi sent us shots of the upcoming Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Based on the latest-generation, 992-spec 911, the new GT3 RS looks hotter than ever, sporting styling and aero features seen on the race-spec RSR model. Come October 2020, and we received the second batch of photos. The 911 GT3 RS is still covered in black camo, but intense testing suggests that the production model is just around the corner.

When Chrysler introduced the Pacifica Hybrid, it rattled to ever-shrinking minivan segment to its core. Not necessarily because it offered some new, ground-breaking technology but because it’s quite literally the only hybrid minivan on the market – at least until the Toyota Sienna lineup goes hybrid for the 2021 model year. Until then, however, the Pacifica gets to wear the crown. We drove the Pacifica just a year ago and we had somewhat mixed opinions about it – has anything changed this time around? Let’s find out!

When it comes to performance cars, horsepower and torque are usually the only figures we take into account when comparing them. That’s a logical thing to do, but sometimes these numbers can be deceiving. This new video from CarWow brings together a BMW M5 tuned to an insane 1,000 horsepower and a stock Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet. Can the Porsche keep up with the beefed-up sedan? Is horsepower the decisive factor here? Let’s find out.

Tesla’s pricing for its models is going down, but the automaker is making up from those prospective losses by raising the prices for using its Supercharger network. That appears to be the case after a report from the Aussie website CarExpert indicated that charging at any of Tesla’s 35 Supercharger stations in the Land Down Under will now cost AUD0.52 (USD0.37) per kilowatt-hour. That’s an increase from the AUD0.42/kWh (USD0.30) that Tesla was charging as recently as September. Since 2017, the cost of charging a Tesla in Australia has gone up by as much as 23 percent, and with Tesla’s model price cuts continuing, don’t expect the cost of using the Supercharger network to flatten out, either.

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio has been on the market just four short years, and the more aggressive Stelvio Quadrifoglio has a year less under its belt. We’ve already learned that the Stelvio can hold its own against everyday luxury SUVs, but halfway through its lifecycle can it still deliver the performance and comfort expected from something that carries an Alfa Romeo badge? Is the Quadrifoglio still worth the $80,500 entry level price in a luxury crossover market that grows, quite literally, by the day? Well, FCA stopped by TopSpeed headquarters with a Stelvio Quadrifoglio to let us find out for ourselves – this is what our week-long experience taught us.

Formula D ace Ryan Tuerck is one of those people with a vision that seem to have erased the word impossible from their dictionaries. His main drift car is a 1,000 horsepower Toyota Corolla Hatch that’s been carrying him to constant top-10 finishes in Formula D competition, but Tuerck’s first big shocker was another car, the Ferrari-engined Toyota GT86 he unveiled at SEMA four years ago. This latest project that involves an A90 Toyota Supra and a Le Mans V-10 engine will top that one. His words, not ours.

The Cadillac Fleetwood Series 75 comes from a time when Caddy was still the epitome of luxury in the automotive world, At over $80,000 in today’s money, it was the car of choice for the upper 1% but, nowadays, you can find one for cheap which is why Brian from Turnin Rust wants to turn one of these sedated mile-chuggers into an LS-swapped, turbo monstrosity that is able to tow a camper while doing burnouts. If that sounds quite random to you, it’s because, well, it is quite random, frankly.

It’s been over nine years since Don Groff began the unlikely task of building from scratch an open-wheel car that would be powered by a mid-mounted, 12-cylinder version of the famous Toyota 1JZ engine. Now, finally, the project is approaching the final stretch, and Groff has managed to dyno his baby with impressive results that put his single-seater in the vicinity of actual F1 cars in terms of torque and power output.

If you enjoy your car, you probably want it to look pristine, like it just came out of the showroom. Part of this involves keeping the headlight lens clean and shiny. More and more new vehicles come out with plastic headlight lenses, which degrade at an even quicker rate over time. Whether it’s dirty air, stone chips, or ultraviolet rays, over time the lens become hazy and yellow. This is not only aesthetically displeasing, but might affect the effectiveness of your headlights. Luckily, the products shown below are some of the best on the market and can be found in many stores.

I am sure you will agree, one of the most dreaded images, for a car owner, is when the check engine light comes on. When that happens, it could be anything from a faulty sensor, to something serious, which is why having a good scan tool may be critical, as it will help determine whether it is a cheap and simple fix or something that may cost thousands of dollars. And although an onboard diagnostics scanner will not fix everything, it will eliminate any uncertainty, as to what problem your car has. This is exactly why we have compiled a short list, in order to help you decide, which is the best OBD2 scanner for you.

The automotive industry had many ups and downs since the automobile became popular in the 1900s. The first major downturn happened in the late 1920s when The Great Depression hit the world. In the United States, the economic depression put many luxury carmakers out of business. In Europe, however, some low-output companies survived, although they eventually went bankrupt after World War II. One such carmaker is Voisin, which was founded by aviation pioneer Gabriel Voisin. This French company produced only a handful of automobiles in the 1920 and 1930s, with the most iconic being the C25 Aerodyne.

A few years ago, McLaren announced that all of its cars will soon feature some sort of electrification. Come 2020, and it seems the British firm is set to unleash its first fully hybrid vehicle series. It will debut in the first quarter of 2021 with the first all-new McLaren platform since 2011, it will replace the Sports Series, and will switch to a new naming scheme that’s no longer based on the engine’s output in PS.

The Mercedes-AMG One is arguably the coolest car the German company has announced in recent decades. But it’s also one of those unicorn supercars that we know it’s coming, but there’s no specific timeline for it. It’s spectacular and frustrating at the same time. But come October 2020, and someone finally unearthed new data about the hypercar. According to the most recent rumor, AMG engineers have tuned the V-6 hybrid powerplant to develop more than 1,200 horsepower. And that’s massive news because it’s a significant step up from the initial 1,039-horsepower claim.

Just as we’re coming to terms - yes, it does take a while - with the idea that Rimac owns Bugatti, news came of a mysterious, low-slung beast that’s making the ground shake around Circuit Paul Ricard in France. To our amazement, said beast featured a horseshoe at the tip of its fascia and then it all came together: Bugatti is really preparing something hot for us and we’ve got to see it a few days ahead of the official debut on October 28th.

A few years ago there were rumors that Porsche was working on a hybrid version of the Macan. With the first-gen crossover near the end of its life-cycle, it seems that the Germans are switching to an all-electric layout. The next-gen Macan was spotted testing on public roads, and even though it doesn’t look radically different, it has nothing in common with the old model under the skin.

Toyota joined the subcompact hot-hatchback segment in 2017 with the Yaris GRMN. Powered by a Lotus-sourced engine and developed by the company’s Gazoo Racing division, the Yaris GRMN enabled Toyota to compete with popular hot-hatches like the Volkswagen Polo and Ford Fiesta ST. Come 2020 and Toyota unveiled a new performance model, this time around based on the brand-new, fourth-generation Yaris. It’s called the GR Yaris and comes with 257 horsepower on tap. That’s mighty impressive, but a new video suggests that Toyota is testing an even more hardcore version of the hatchback.

Sometimes, the best drag races are those that have some form of handicap. Take this race hosted by YouTube channel Track Day, for example. It’s a three-car throw down involving an F80-generation BMW M3 Competition, a 992-generation Porsche 911 Carrera S, and a BMW M240i. The latter is the obvious underdog in this race, but this isn’t your stock M240i that comes into the race with significant modifications, none more important than an engine upgrade that helps the turbocharged inline-six-cylinder engine produce more output than both the M3 Competition and the 911 Carrera S. The scales tip differently now, do they? Does the modified M240i have what it takes to beat the M3 Competition and the 911 Carrera S? Let’s find out.