Aston Martin V12 Vantage Roadster – Aston Martin V12 Vantage Roadster First official pictures and details have been released of the new V12 Vantage Roadster
It’s been three years since the Aston Martin V12 Vantage was introduced, but only now has the British manufacturer unveiled a Roadster version.

It has the same 510bhp 6.0-litre V12 as the coupe, which sends power to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox. The additional weight of the Roadster has dampened performance slightly, with 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds – that’s compared to 4.2 seconds in the coupe. Top speed is still 190mph.

Aside from losing the roof, there are a few subtle styling updates to mark out the Roadster, including a redesigned bootlid and a lower air intake at the front.

The carbon fibre door mirrors, side strakes and rear diffuser are all carried over from the coupe, and so is the Sport button. This sharpens the car’s responses and opens up exhaust valves so the engine makes more noise.

The V12 Vantage Roadster is available to order now for a price of £150,000 – that’s compared to the £135,000 price tag of the V12 Vantage coupe.

For an alternative review of the latest Aston Martin Vantage visit our sister site carbuyer.co.uk

Alonso takes pole at Silverstone – 2012 British Grand Prix qualifying Fernando Alonso is on pole for the British Grand Prix, ahead of Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher
Fernando Alonso will start the British Grand Prix from pole position, following a very wet and long qualifying session.

The rain began to fall at the end of the first qualifying session, but became much heavier during Q2. At which point Alonso – who was fastest in final practice – had a big moment, as he skidded in the wet and just narrowly missed hitting the tyre wall.

More and more drivers took to their radios to protest for the session to be stopped, and soon after FIA race director, Charlie Whiting, decided to bring out the red flags. The session didn’t start again for more than an hour.

Qualifying restarted with six minutes left of Q2, with the drivers battling through standing water and traffic. Nico Rosberg went off on his first lap but managed to continue, but Romain Grosjean wasn’t so lucky. He beached his Lotus in the gravel and will now start ninth.

At the end of Q1, Alonso – currently the championship leader and winner at this track last year – was less than five hundredths of a second faster than second-place Mark Webber.

Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel will share the second row of the grid. Felipe Massa will start fifth, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, Pastor Maldonado and Lewis Hamilton.

Paul di Resta narrowly missed out on getting into Q3, having slowed down for the yellow flags following Grosjean’s spin. He will start from 10th, though, due to Nico Hulkenberg’s five-place penalty for a gearbox change. This means di Resta’s teammate at Force India will start the race from 14th.

The first casualty of the day was Jenson Button, who will start his home Grand Prix from 16th place. He failed to make it out of the first qualifying session, after yellow flags forced him to ease off on his final flying lap.

The yellow flags were out due to Timo Glock, who had spun and was forced to stop on the pit straight. He will still start ahead of the HRTs.

Two drivers went into qualifying with grid penalties following incidents at the European Grand Prix two weeks ago. Kamui Kobayashi has a five-place penalty for colliding with Felipe Massa in Valencia, which means he now starts 17th. While Jean-Eric Vergne has a 10-place grid drop – and a 10,000 Euro fine – for causing a collision with Heikki Kovalainen, which means he starts 23rd.

Charles Pic in the second Marussia failed to meet the 107 per cent requirement, so will only race at the stewards’ discretion. He also has a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, so will at best start last.

2012 British Grand Prix grid

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1’51.746
2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1’51.793
3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1’52.020
4	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1’52.199
5	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1’53.065
6	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus-Renault	1’53.290
7	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1’53.539
8	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1’53.543
9	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	No time
10	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1’57.009
11	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1’57.108
12	Daniel Ricciardo	STR-Ferrari	1’57.132
13	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	1’57.426
14	Nico Hulkenberg***	Force India-Mercedes	1’54.382
15	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	1’57.895
16	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1’48.044
17	Kamui Kobayashi*	Sauber-Ferrari	1’57.071
18	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	1’49.027
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	1’49’477
20	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	1’51.618
21	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	1’52.742
22	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	1’53.040
23	Jean-Eric Vergne**	STR-Ferrari	1’57.719
24	Charles Pic***	Marussia-Cosworth	1’54.143

107 per cent time: 1’53.718
* Five-place penalty for causing a collision in Valencia
** 10-place penalty for causing a collision in Valencia
*** Five-place penalty for a gearbox change

Rolls Royce Ghost Coupe spied Three-door version of BMW 7 Series-based Ghost shows Rolls Royce’s sportier side

Rolls Royce has been uncharacteristically busy lately. Facelifted versions of the Phantom, Phantom Coupe and Phantom Drophead Coupe were revealed at the Geneva Motor Show back in March, and now our spies have caught a prototype for the Ghost Coupe testing on UK roads.

It’s long been rumoured that the Ghost family would expand to three separate models – a saloon, coupe and convertible, mirroring the Phantom – and this is the first sign that the process is well underway.

Despite the all-over camouflage, the Ghost’s bluff front end is unmistakeable with slot-like headlights either side. Below that the lower grille has been split into three parts for a sportier look.

The most obvious change though is in profile, where the roof has been lowered and falls away sharply, plus there’s just a single door either side. Look closely and you’ll notice dummy doorhandles stuck to the side of the car.

At the rear a large spoiler has been attached to obscure the area where the rear windscreen meets the boot, but the showroom version will be more subtle and smoother than it looks here.

Under the bonnet expect to see the same 563bhp 6.6-litre V12 engine as the saloon, but slightly reworked suspension should make it sportier to drive while retaining Rolls’ trademark magic carpet ride.

Judging by the readiness of this prototype, the Ghost Coupe will go on sale some time in 2013, costing around £230,000.

 

 

 

 

Mazda 6 estate spied Spy shots give us our first look at how the new Mazda 6 is shaping up, before it’s unveiled at the end of August
The all-new Mazda6 has been kept under wraps for a while now but we’ve managed to get our first look at the estate version, which is set to debut at the Moscow Motor Show at the end of August. 

The estate variant will debut before the saloon and while the camouflage prevents us from getting a good look at the new Mazda6, we’ve been told to expect a car that looks identical to the Takeri concept that debuted at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year 

The same large ‘shield grille from that concept and the CX-5 production car will feature on the 6, along with swept-back headlights  and pumped up wheel arches. The sharp, narrow window line of the Takeri has also been carried over. 

The newcomer will become the second model – after the CX-5 – to make use of Mazda’s fuel-saving SKYACTIV technology, which includes everything from the chassis to the engine and gearbox. 

Engineers have previously told us to expect CO2 emissions as low as 109g/km for the 2.2-litre diesel model, which would give Mazda a direct competitor to the most efficient car in this class – the BMW 320d ED. 

Expect to see the new Mazda 6 estate on sale at the beginning of 2013, with the saloon version revealed later that year. 

Fiat 500X confirmed Rugged crossover version of the Fiat 500 confirmed for a late 2013 launch
Auto Express predicted it back in May and now Fiat has confirmed that a crossover version of the 500 – called the 500X – is on the way. 

During a presentation of the mini-MPV Fiat 500L, the crossover model was briefly unveiled before being swiftly covered up again but a video of the event posted to YouTube allowed us a proper look at the 500X. 

And not only did we predict the car was coming but we were spot on with the styling too. The rugged plastic cladding, rising window line and trademark 500 headlights are all present and accounted for. 

It will ride on the same Punto-derived platform as the 500L, but where that model has as focus on practicality, the 500X is more style-focused and is designed to appeal to a a male audience that the 500 has never quite managed to reach. 

Expect to see the same engines too, including the 104bhp two-cylinder TwinAir engine and an 84bhp 1.3-litre MultiJet diesel. 

The Fiat 500X will cost around £13,000 and should be on sale towards the end of next year. 

For an alternative review of the latest Fiat 500 visit our sister site carbuyer.co.uk

Aston Martin Rapide S Spy shots show Aston Martin is working on a hotter four-door model called the Rapide S
Aston Martin has been caught testing an uprated version of its four-door Rapide, at the Nurburgring racetrack in Germany.

Likely to debut as the Rapide ‘S’, these shots show a lightly revised front end with a lower spoiler and reviewed air intakes – hinting at the increased power under the bonnet.

We expect the enhanced Rapide to ditch the 6.0-litre V12 of the current car, in favour of a tuned, 6.0-litre unit, as found in the outgoing DBS. Given the change of engine, we could see power rise by as much as 40bhp – to 510bhp.

However, don’t presume this is simply an exercise of straight-line speed. The ‘S’ will get an uprated chassis and complete dynamic overhaul. The result being a faster, more focused, Rapide.

The changes should shave a few tenths off the 0-62mph sprint – with the new car completing the dash in less than five seconds.

We expect Aston Martin to reveal a production ready version before the end of the year.

For an alternative review of the latest Aston martin Rapide visit our sister site carbuyer.co.uk

New Ford Mondeo spied Our reader catches the all-new Ford Mondeo testing in the UK, ahead of its March 2013 release date
One of our readers has spotted the all-new Ford Mondeo on UK soil for the first time, revealing it’s still on track for a March 2013 on-sale date. 

Like the Focus, the new Mondeo is a world car that will be sold unchanged around the globe and it has already been unveiled as the Fusion in the US. Judging from these spy shots, Ford is just preparing the finishing touches before the car is officially revealed as the Mondeo. 

It rides on a completely new chassis and gets a completely new body but there will be a few familiar engines in the line-up, such as the 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre TDCi diesel engines. Petrol EcoBoost engines will also be available but the real headline-grabber is a plug-in hybrid variant capable of 140mpg. 

How will the Mondeo drive? We haven’t tested it yet, but the ingredients look very promising. The car’s bodywork is 10 per cent stiffer and it also gets tuned electric power-steering, plus MacPherson strut front suspension and an all-new multilink set-up at the rear – comparable to systems seen in current Audis and BMWs.

When the new Mondeo does arrive next year prices aren’t expected to be much more expensive than the current car, which starts from £18,100.

For an alternative review of the latest Ford Mondeo visit our sister site carbuyer.co.uk

MINI Clubvan shock Our reader wrote to MINI in 2009 to suggest it build a new Clubvan
Could this be Britain’s youngest car designer? His friends may be struggling to believe him, but it looks like this schoolboy could be the brains behind the all-new MINI Clubvan!

Car enthusiast Alexander Goldsmith, of Lewes, E Sussex, contacted us after spotting official pictures of the newcomer on autoexpress.co.uk last week, explaining he’d come up with the original idea for the van variant of the Clubman three years ago.

He told us he’d written to MINI back in 2009 to suggest it produce the car – and he even named it the Clubvan!

Better still, Alexander, now 15, had the letter to prove it, and MINI’s enthusiastic response. In it, the General Manager’s PA said it had passed his suggestions on to its Product Department “who read your letter with great interest”.

But she added: “I am not too sure whether we would produce a Clubvan seeing as we already have the Clubman. It requires an awful lot of money to put a car into production.”

However, much to Alexander’s delight, it went on to do exactly that. And while he was struggling to get friends at school to believe him, he was proud of his part in creating this MINI: “It’s amazing that even a 12-year-old can get a huge corporate business to produce a car,” he said.

When Auto Express called MINI, its spokesman said: “The new MINI Clubvan has been in the pipeline for several years and it was inspired by the classic Mini van. However it’s terrific to see such perceptive design foresight from kids such as Alex. Talented young people like him will help ensure a healthy future for the UK automotive design and manufacturing industry.”

The MINI Clubvan is based on a Clubman and goes on sale this autumn priced £11,175.

Updated Citroen C5 and DS5 Citroen reveals restyled C5 as well as a new set of alloys for the DS5, which bring CO2 emissions down to 99g/km
Citroen has announced a few subtle updates for its C5 family car, as well as new options for the DS5 range.

The DS5 focuses on efficiency and emissions by introducing new, no-cost option 17-inch wheels for the DStyle and DSport Hybrid4 models. The ‘Houston’ style alloys reduce emissions to 99g/km, pushing it into the all-important sub-100g/km bracket meaning it qualifies for free road tax. 

The French firm has also confirmed ‘Signature’ option packs for the DS5, which adds lowered suspension, black door mirrors and 19-inch wheels to the HDi 160 DStyle and DSport models. The kit costs £650 on the HDi 160 but is standard on high-powered THP 200 models.

At the same time, the C5 Saloon and Tourer get a refreshed face, comprising of a new chevron design and more curvaceous nose. There are new wheels and paint options, too.

Potential buyers will now be able to specify a Techno Pack on the C5, too, on top of existing trim levels. The pack adds uprated alloys, parking sensors and sat nav for a £700 premium.

Both the updated C5 and DS5 are available to order now.