The Tesla Model S takes the ‘electric premium’ totally out of play. Line it up against similarly priced prestige rivals, and it holds its own, comfortably.
Performance is astonishing, fuel-consumption non-existent.
The quietness and serenity of its cabin in motion needs to be heard – or not – to be believed. And the quality and execution of its interior outshines everything else for the money.
Ladies and gentleman, here is your COTY Top 5 for 2014: a tiny city hatchback from Japan, a French hatch and wagon, a German prestige sedan, and not one – but two electric cars. Click the links below to watch our exclusive video and see why they made it through to round two.
There’s been a recent flurry of activity at McLaren. It’s planning to introduce an entry level supercar “Sports Series” range to rival Audi’s R8, Porsche’s 911 and Mercedes’ AMG GT.
It announced a 60kW injection of power for its P1 with a GTR version that it will launch at next month’s Geneva Motor Show. And now McLaren’s Special Operations team has built a limited-edition 650S to celebrate two decades since its famous Le Mans victory.
Taking inspiration from the famous #01 McLaren F1 GTR chassis that took the 24 Hour race in 1995, the 650S Le Mans edition features metallic Sarthe Grey finish, a noticeable roof snorkel, re-designed front bumper and unique wheels as part of its package.
The roof snorkel is said to channel airflow to the unchanged 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 that sits behind the driver, and also provide ‘enhanced aural drama’ to the cabin.
There are also a set of tasty five-spoke wheels, staggered in 19- and 20-inch diameter and wrapped in Pirellis, which are a nod to the rims worn by the #59 F1 GTR that conquered Le Mans.
Completing the homage treatment are ‘Le Mans’ logos on the car’s exterior and interior, while the brakes and seat inserts feature orange embellishments.
Less conspicuous, though, are new louvres present in the front bumper, said to reduce pressure over the front wheels.
50 models will be priced at £244,500 (AU$453,709) each. All will be available globally.
THIS IS the world’s longest running and most respected car award, so we aren’t going to entrust it to just anyone.
Only the most accomplished and renowned motoring journalists earn a COTY judging jersey. Even the least seasoned judge on the panel has well over 10 years of industry experience.
As for the most seasoned judge? That would be the legendary Peter Robinson, who this year chalks up 43 COTY starts. So, without further ado, let’s meet the judges.
Glenn Butler
A passion for cars, and an insatiable curiosity for the stories behind them, has driven Butler during more than 20 years of reporting on the car industry for leading newspapers, websites and magazines. His career began with a cadetship on Wheels in the early 1990s, learning the craft and culture from Wheels’ stalwarts Angus MacKenzie, Peter Robinson, Mike McCarthy, Phil Scott and Bob Hall, along with many other great magazine men. Now Butler is in the editor’s chair and driving the Wheels media brand boldly and aggressively into its digital future. Butler’s a fan of Australian-made cars; equally, he has a soft spot for anything with a well-sorted chassis.
Nathan Ponchard
A car nerd par excellence, Ponch has one of the best motoring brains in Australia. Ponch began working for Wheels more than 15 years ago, and along the way has enjoyed a lengthy spell at MOTOR and time as editor of Unique Cars. Renowned for his thoroughness and road testing technique, Ponch is also a stickler for detail, which means no triumph or disaster escapes his attention during COTY testing. Wheels is in his DNA, and his knowledge of cars past and present is matched only by another COTY judge, Byron Mathioudakis.
Peter Robinson
After 42 years of COTY judging, Robbo has declared this will be his last. As Wheels’ longest serving editor, Robbo has crossed swords on countless occasions with scions of industry, counts CEOs as personal friends, and carried Wheels to still greater heights during a decade of reporting from Europe. On his last visit to Ferrari in 2014, then CEO Luca Di Montezemolo invited Robbo to sit in ‘his’ chair during their final interview, such was the company’s respect for a man it had banned twice. In our eyes, there was no finer automotive journalist in the world, and no truer embodiment of the Wheels passion and spirit.
John Carey
Carey is one of the motoring world’s most trusted and respected writers, and this year he lines up for his 21st stint at a COTY judge. After starting in newspapers, Carey moved to magazine journalism in the mid-80s before joining Wheels under the editorship of Phil Scott in 1989. A stint at Motor mag and a return to newspapers followed in the mid-90s, before Carey re-joined the Wheels team as Deputy Editor where he remained. In 2009 a move to Italy saw him take up his current role as Wheels’ European editor. As fierce and passionate as he is knowledgeable, Carey is never afraid to call a spade a spade and takes a keen interest in new technology.
Byron Mathioudakis
COTY is like Christmas for Byron, only better. A Wheels man through and through (he owns every issue and can list from memory every COTY winner, and the runners-up, in order) his passion for COTY is matched only by the ferocity of his love for cars. Now in his fifth year on the judging panel, Byron is incisive, encyclopaedic, and an ace auto-industry journalist. Byron’s love for anything with a motor has led to his owning dozens of cars, from classics to mongrels, because he finds aspects to admire in almost all of them.
Bruce Newton
Bruce has one of the hardest news noses in Australian motoring journalism, and has spent the past 30 years fine-tuning his technique for grilling company CEOs. Bruce began his journalism career in the early 1980s. His passion for motorsport initially led him to reporting on motorcycle racing, and then to editing Australia’s largest motorsport publication, Auto Action, twice. Bruce’s focus shifted to road cars in the mid-1990s, and he edited several major websites. Now freelance, Bruce’s days are spent prowling Australian racetracks and car company HQs to bring you the inside scoop.
Sally Dominguez
As multi-talented as she is passionate about cars, Sally has forged an armoury of car knowledge over a career that has seen her judge regularly on Wheels COTY and other car awards. She also brings to the judging panel a strong focus on automotive design, having won six design awards and enjoyed stints on the Wheels Automotive Design competition. With a resume that also includes success as an inventor and architect, Sally brings a unique and varied perspective to this year’s panel.
WE DON’T usually fall for special editions, but it’s hard to not to be seduced by the McLaren 650S Le Mans. It’s two decades since the original McLaren stormed Le Mans, filling four of the first five places and is still, 20 years on, the last non-prototype to win the famous 24-hour enduro.
Made in the McLaren Special Operations shed with input from the original F1 designer Peter Stevens, the Le Mans edition wears its heart on its sleeve with its metallic Sarthe Grey exterior paint matching that of the race-winning #59 car driven by Lehto, Dalmas and Sekiya in 1995.
Pirelli-wrapped ‘Le Mans edition’ alloy wheels (19-inches up front, 20-inches on the rear) have orange centres – McLaren’s trademark hue – while the ceramic brakes have matching orange calipers. That roof-mounted ‘snorkel’ scoop echoes the brilliant competition cars, and while there’s no additional power for the 478kW/678Nm 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8, that snorkel should give it a more vocal rant when the special 650S is pushed hard.
There’s also a carbonfibre front splitter and rear bumper, extended side blades with McLaren orange tips, and, inside, black leather and (you guessed it) orange Alcantara seats.
The McLaren 650S Le Mans costs £244,500 ($454K) which, while a hefty premium over the regular 650S at £195,250 on the road, is less than the 650S MSO at £252,500. No word on whether any the 50 built have been ordered by Australian customers. UK deliveries start in mid-2015.
Despite a formidable hike in horsepower, what appears to be the last iteration of Mitsubishi’s Lancer-bred Evolution legacy is a low-key affair on all levels.
Mitsubishi, who has confirmed that it will not build a Lancer Evolution 11, used Japan’s blue riband tuning festival, the Tokyo Auto Salon, to unveil a concept dubbed the Evolution 10 Final Edition.
While evolutionary in name, the concept appears to have no mentionable factory engineering updates and, instead, is the carryover five-speed-manual GSR model treated to third-party tuning enhancements.
Respected tuning/racing house HKS supplies the turbocharger, ECU, intercooler and exhaust upgrades to lift the Evo X’s power to 353kW from the existing 4B11T 2.0-litre four.
With Mitsubishi phasing out its SST six-speed twin-clutch transmission imminently, the Final Edition will be offered with a conventional five-speed only.
Meanwhile, handling spec has adopted HKS’s off-the-shelf, mechanically adjustable Hipermax coil-over hardware and sticky Yokohama Advan rubber on 19-inch Volk Racing rims.
The show car was presented in a blend of matte and gloss black finishes.
There’s currently no confirmation whether the Final Edition will get the green light for the Australian market – indeed, Mitsubishi Australia have issued no formal release on the car whatsoever.
PORSCHE is investigating a new range of turbocharged flat-six engines for the 911, with the only member of the clan likely to stick to atmo induction being the forthcoming GT3 RS.
You already know why: emissions. Although Porsche is part of Volkswagen Group when it comes to meeting the EU’s increasingly stringent CO2 targets, the sportscar brand is still committed to boosting eco performance of all its models by 15 percent generation-on-generation.
“We have to respect the legal requirements,” company R&D boss Wolfgang Hatz told journalists at the Detroit motor show, “but don’t worry, if we have a turbocharged engine it will rev, it will deliver.”
The new powerplants are likely closely related to the turbocharged flat-four engines that are being developed for the Cayman and Boxster, but while the 911 will get the turbo sixes at its mid-life refresh later this year, the four-cylinder won’t be introduced until 2017. And Hatz categorically ruled out the idea that the smaller engine might find its way into the 911 to create a modern take on the 912. “We don’t have a problem with a four-cylinder sportscar,” he said, “but never on the 911. The 911 has to remain flat-six.”
Hatz confirmed the new turbocharged sixes are closely related to the naturally aspirated motor that’s being developed for the forthcoming 911 GT3 RS, which we’ll be seeing for the first time at the Geneva motor show in March.
This looks set to be a beast, with Hatz promising it will be far more extreme when compared to the standard GT3 than the last-generation ‘997’ GT3 RS was, to the extent the company is undecided as to whether or not to produce a GT2 variant. And, although it will launch with a PDK transmission, he said that active consideration is being given to offering it with a manual gearbox later on, at least in some territories.
Of course, this means that within a couple of years the GT3 RS might be the only non-turbocharged Porsche left in production, although Hatz did say he personally believes that natural aspiration is “something very special.”
Beyond the ‘991’ 911, he also confirmed that Porsche is looking to introduce hybrid assistance to the next generation model, due in 2019 or 2020, as the only way to trim emissions further without sacrificing performance. We live in interesting times.
People’s choice revealed! Yep, you voted and of this year’s contenders, the People’s Choice Car of the Year award goes to… the all-new Mercedes-Benz C Class.
Watch the video to see why.
Now in its 52nd year, the Wheels Car of the Year award has had its share of highs and lows. We shine the spotlight on this month’s hot topic.
2014
0 – The number of scheduled dinners that anyone at COTY 2014 turned up to on time. In the case of the shooters and film crew, they barely made it before closing time.
217 – Shots of coffee consumed over seven days at COTY 2014. That equates to 31 a day, much of which was by caffeine fancier, and serious addict, John Carey.
$14,990 – The price of the cheapest COTY 2014 entrant, the Honda Jazz. The most expensive was the Mercedes S-Class, topping $400K in S65 AMG guise.
$3,798,457 – The total value of the entire 2014 COTY field, including each and every derivative provided by the manufacturer for testing.
14/14 – Highest possible safety score, achieved by no fewer than six different Mercedes-Benz models. Not surprisingly, the S-Class achieved top points, but so did the smaller C-Class.
$70K – Average price of COTY’s 2014 field
2005
Mazda MX-5 wins, despite lacking ESC. Wrap party hosted by MX-5’s Bose stereo – blasted, top down, in motel carpark.
2001
Centre-rear lap-sash belt becomes mandatory for eligibility. Holden quickly rectifies Barina’s seatbelt status and wins.
1990
Toyota ends the 80s on a high as the Lexus LS400 scoops the pool, with the ‘egg’ Tarago finishing runner-up.
1985
Mitsubishi does a COTY double with Nimbus (’84) and Magna (’85). TV ads proclaim “Car maker of the year. Again.”
1983
COTY’s first joint winners – the front-drive Mazda 626 and its Ford Telstar twin. The Ford was styled in Broadmeadows
1976
Imported cars are eligible for the first time, though the title is taken out by the locally assembled VW Golf Mk1.
1971
Robbo’s first year as COTY judge, crowning the VH Valiant Charger. The following year, he withheld the award.
1966
Ford becomes the first car-maker to take out successive awards – in ’65 for the XP Falcon and ’66 for the XR.
1964
The first front-wheel-drive car to win the award is the Morris 1100. Renault’s 12 followed in 1970.
Holden has announced today it intends to keep the Commodore nameplate alive following the closure of its local manufacturing operations in 2017.
The company states the decision has been driven by direct customer feedback, with “the overwhelming response from customers was that Holden should continue the Commodore nameplate into the future with our next-generation large car.”
Holden conducted 17 different customer research sessions, with almost 70 per cent of customers returning positive responses to the Commodore nameplate “with participants citing Commodore’s reliability, performance and appropriateness for families.”
The next Commodore is expected to be based on the next-generation Opel Insignia, but Holden’s executive director of sales, Peter Keley, states “the next generation large car we have selected from GM’s global portfolio is worthy of the iconic Commodore nameplate.”
Despite retaining the name, the next Commodore will be very different mechanically, with four-cylinder turbocharged engines and front-wheel drive expected to replace the current models rear-drive layout and V6 and V8 engines.
