Chris Rees · Articles

A neo-classic with roots in Italy, the us and Monaco

As one of our two ‘wild card’ brand new car entries, the Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio holds its own with effortless ease. Even the regular Giulia Q would easily have made our Top 12: after all, it is comfortably Alfa’s greatest car of the last decade: Ferrari-developed 510hp V6 twin-turbo; dedicated Giorgio platform with sensational steering and suspension; lightweight carbon goodies; we could go on and on.

With distinct 250 GTO vibes, this Ferrari is in some ways even more exotic. We get behind the wheel of a 250 GT-based reincarnation of a famous Drogo-bodied Ferrari 250 GTO.

The new open-top F171 296 GTS aims to deliver the same sensational driving sharpness as its fixed-roof GTB sister – but how well does it actually perform?

Shock Tactic Diesel is dead – long live hybrid. So says Maserati. We test the Trident’s brave new universe in the four-cylinder Ghibli Hybrid.

My first encounter with the Lancia B20 GT Outlaw came out of nowhere. It was the Tuesday morning of Monterey Car Week, just before my favourite event takes place: the Carmel Concours on the Avenue. I was driving a bit of an outlaw myself, a GTO Engineering Ferrari 250 SWB Revival car.

As neither Mitch Evans nor Sam Bird have been able to secure the Formula E World Championship (held in mid-August at the Berlin ePrix: see news, p6), it means Teo Fabi remains Jaguar’s final champion after winning the World Sportscar Championship 30 years ago

Sbarro Alfa Romeo Issima. Lurking behind this sports car’s Alfa grille lies a 12-cylinder engine

You’re not going to mistake the new Peugeot 308 for anything else on the road but, while the design-led exterior is cutting edge, there’s not much that’s innovative about the diesel parts that sit under the swish bodywork. It sits on top of the EMP2 platform, a chassis development that underpins everything from a DS 9 luxury saloon to the Citroën Dispatch van.

With 580bhp of V8 power and a top whack of 203mph, the Ghibli Trofeo is Maserati’s fastest ever saloon. Is it a true end-of-era firecracker?

Power of 16 Exotic Italian supercars don’t come much more extreme than the late Claudio Zampolli’s ‘excess all areas’ V16T with its 16-cylinder engine. We uncover its secrets.

Some may question why the Alfasud rates such a lofty position as seventh in our top 12. After all, this is a car that could so easily have a tragic opera written about it, so troubled was its birth and its early life, as it returned to base mineral elements. The reason why the Alfasud is in seventh position – and why the tragedy of its reputation for rust is all the more acute – is because it’s an absolute cracker of a car.

You just can’t stop gawping at it. On looks alone, the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint deserves its high placing in our ‘Greatest Ever’ shootout. Designed by Franco Scaglione of Bertone, the Sprint was an exercise in the elegance of simplicity, perfect proportion and delicate understatement. This 1950s icon’s shape has withstood every changing fashion with easy grace

Designer Luigi Colani’s Madcap articulated Miura-Based Supercar.

This innocent-looking Fiat Topolino hides a big secret. Under the skin, it’s a full-on 180hp hot rod with a real Jekyll/Hyde character.