Sport Cars

The SP3 Daytona blends Ferrari’s past, present and future in one delectable, V12-powered whole. Does it make history, or merely look longingly to the past?

This was one of the first Ralliart cars built. We drive it, and meet two other examples that prove the Mitsubishi Starion is an unsung motor sport hero.

The all new Mercedes-Benz CLE C236 ushers in the era of superb replacements for the coupe versions of the C-Class and E-Class.

Ali James loved the Jensen Interceptor at first sight. Over 30 years later, we’re putting her behind the wheel. Will she enjoy a luxurious drive to match its striking looks?

Vaughan discovers that there’s much more to this cute British sports car than meets the eye.

Similar in concept to the earlier AR1, the 2017 Speedster was another Zagato-designed convertible, only this time based on the then current Vanquish S. Just 28 were produced, making it one of the rarest Aston Martins of the modern age and we’ve driven one.

A decade since the end of XK production was announced, we revisit the model’s swansong, the XK Dynamic R.

By the late Eighties, performance-car magazines regularly persisted with rumours that Porsche was collaborating with VW with the intention of building a front-wheel-drive coupé. In reality, covert photographers had snapped the Herbert Schäfer-penned VW Corrado on test. It didn’t actually contain any Porsche parts, but it did mark a corporate sea-change. Given VW’s engineering origins there had always been moments of co-operation between the two companies, and as the Audi-engined Porsche 924 was dropped from Porsche showrooms in 1985, a gap opened up for a sub-Porsche über-VW coupé, something more sparkling than the dated Scirocco. Something a generation of yuppies weaned on Golf GTIs might move up to instead of the ubiquitous BMW E30 3 Series.

Is this a sports car or just a Beetle in a tuxedo? It’s odd, but no other car in this group – not even the Golf GTI – has quite such a weight of expectation hanging over it quite like the Karmann-Ghia. Given that the Beetle on which it’s based was a Ferdinand Porsche design, and the 356 was created using much of the same thinking and raw materials. Even the Karmann-Ghia’s suspension layout with torsion bars front and rear is similar. Is this sporty coupé and roadster take on the Beetle a decent substitute for a real Porsche? If so, £6k for an average one never looked so cheap.

Devaux Spyder is a thing of oldtime style and beauty, a modern machine cloaked in the mystique of the 1930s and Monte Carlo summers a long way from the 21st century and Melbourne’s tram-tracked streets.

• The Lamborghini Aventador LP780-4 ultimae represents the zenith of Lamborghini’s solus-ice V12, we drive it