AHEAD of its global reveal at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Subaru has released a teaser image of the fourth-generation WRX.

Since 1992, the WRX badge gracing the rump of three generations of the Impreza range has stood for rally-bred affordable all-wheel drive performance. With the new car, WRX becomes a standalone model for the first time.

Due to be unveiled on 20 November, the car gracing the stands will be to North American specifications but will provide us with a taste of what’s to come when the WRX is rolled out globally.

Inspired by the 2014 WRX Concept shown at March’s New York International Auto Show, it’s expected the new car will be based on Impreza underpinnings and powered by a turbocharged horizontally opposed 2.0-litre four-pot engine — a return to the layout that made the WRX famous from the current 2.5-litre, 195kW/343Nm package.

A six-speed manual is likely to replace the current five-speeder as the base transmission, with a paddle-shifted CVT on the options list.

David Rowley, national corporate affairs manager at Subaru Australia, confirmed to Wheels that the WRX is expected on our shores in March 2014, with further specification details to be released in the lead up to the WRX’s LA reveal.

While there’s no official word on localised pricing — “It’s still being negotiated with the factory,” Rowley explains — it’s tipped the new WRX will be pitched above the current model’s $39,990 price point.

Serial tyre-torturer Ken Block is at it again with the sixth instalment of his Gymkhana series. The intent? To create the ultimate Need for Speed Gymkhana GRID course.

Ride with Block as he tackles jumps, dives under suspended tractors and donuts around Lamborghini Aventador-mounted cops aboard his 485kW, all-wheel drive Ford Fiesta.

Video courtesy ofNeed for Speed

You won’t find ‘Race Start’ on the new Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG. The launch-control technology that helps make the smaller E63 AMG the fastest accelerating sedan in Wheels’ history is ignored in the still supercar-fast S63. Don’t underestimate the significance of this decision in helping to define AMG’s version of the new S-Class.

The reality is, this is not a car for track days. The emotional and aural drama of lesser AMGs, like the E63, has been replaced by cultured refinement and unmatched levels of comfort and space that isolate the S63 from the road, and almost everything else on the planet.

Which is not to say that the bi-turbo 430kW/900Nm (up 100Nm over the E63) 5.5-litre V8 is somehow tranquil in terms of performance. Hardly. This huge 5.2-metre long (that’s the short wheelbase, the long is 5.3m), 1970kg limousine belts to 100km/h in 4.4 seconds. Order the ‘driver’s pack’ and, with the 250km/h speed limiter removed, the Vmax is lifted to 300km/h (in testing, AMG says it topped 315km/h).

Yet the S63 can be even quicker. In all-wheel-drive form (via a 33/67 percent front-to-rear split), the time drops to only 4.0sec – 0.3sec slower than the E63 using Race Start. But AWD is denied us because the steering column can’t fit around the shaft that carries drive to the front axles, located on the right of the engine. AMG promises this is the last time we’ll be denied the traction benefits of AWD – from next year’s all-new C-Class, Mercedes’ 4Matic system will be offered globally.

Unlike other versions of the S-Class, which retain Merc’s super-smooth 7G-Tronic torque- converter automatic, the S63 uses the MCT auto, which combines a hydraulically actuated clutch with planetary gears to give quicker reactions. Gear changes may be swifter, but they are also less fluent and occasionally, especially at low speeds on light throttle openings, just a touch erratic, with the throttle difficult to modulate for ultra-smooth driving.

Our S63s also get Merc’s ‘Magic Body Control’ as standard, the system that uses stereoscopic cameras to ‘read’ the road and to adjust dampers accordingly when in comfort mode, but is deactivated in sport. No surprise, then, that with ‘comfort’ selected, the S63 virtually matches the regular S-Class in terms of refinement and soothing luxury.

Tobias Moers, AMG’s new CEO, as well as the former head of development, says AMG began work on the S63 from the beginning of the W222 S-Class project. The S63 gets hard rubber in the bushes, unique front upper control arms and, while the body-in-white is identical, additional front and rear bracing between the sills and the subframes, all to cope with 900Nm of torque.

The S63 also weighs around 100kg less than the outgoing model, thanks to the first lithium-ion battery to be standard in a production car and a carbon spare- wheel well, as well as alloy panels and forged wheels.

If the S63 is short on drama and big on impact, and its character less redline-probing, that’s because AMG wanted to broaden its appeal as a supremely talented powerhouse limousine.

At first, the S63 feels massive – a car most at ease in the outside lane of autobahns. After more wheel time, you learn it hides that bulk well, even on really tight roads. The rear-drive car’s steering is lighter and more natural in feel than the 4Matic, but loses out on wet roads when the mighty engine, which pulls relentlessly from just above idle, can send the rear wheels into a frenzy. At the top end, the mighty V8 automatically changes up in drive just above 6000rpm and it’s all too easy to accidentally hit the soft 6300rpm limiter if you insist upon changing gears manually.

Stop the car, hold the brakes with the left foot, turn the gear selector to manual, select Sport and floor the accelerator. The 4Matic S63 momentarily chirps its rear wheels and then simply lunges forward, the big limo seemingly defying gravity in the way it hurls to the horizon, the subtle exhaust bark exactly right, and without the frenzied theatrics of the E63. An adaptive exhaust system keeps its valves shut on start-up and, for most of the time, the car operates in Comfort. As expected, Sport introduces more induction and exhaust noise, especially with a heavy right foot.

Try the same trick on a wet road in the rear-drive S63 and the back end steps out, the rear wheels spinning furiously. The split-second up-shift to second brings more wheelspin and a rear-end twitch that’s repeated on the shift to third, the speedo needle bobbing around 130km/h. It’s here, on slippery surfaces, that the loss of traction and the four-tenths of a second advantage of the 4Matic in acceleration to 100km/h are immediately palpable.

There is something faintly ridiculous in the way the S63 flashes to 200km/h in a cocoon of well-mannered opulence. No car in my experience has ever concealed its speed as well. The S63 offers huge 420mm ceramic brakes as an option, though the standard composite discs are brilliant – a short, linear pedal travel and seemingly fade resistant, at least on the road.

Inside, it’s obvious this is the more sporting S-Class: the sports seats offer massive lateral support and superb comfort, the cabin is littered with AMG logos, while the two-spoke steering wheel introduces a thicker rim and larger shift paddles.

If the S63 lacks the tangible excitement of the E63, that’s fine. This $400,000 slice of peerless Mercedes can be brutally effective. But that is to miss the point: by crawling as well as it bahnstorms, the S63 proves its supremacy by being better equipped, more classy to sit in and look at, and just as fast as any rivals.

Self-indulgence doesn’t come any better, unless you’re waiting for next year’s S65 AMG, the tweaked V12 S-Class with 475kW, 1000Nm, and even wider tyres.

Australia’s first ever Holden, a prototype for what eventually became the 48-215 or FX, is up for auction at this weekend’s Motorclassica in Melbourne for $1 million.

The historic, hand-crafted car is understood to be the fourth of five 48-215 prototypes, but the first built entirely in Australia.

The first three were made in America before being shipped Down Under for testing.

Offered for auction by property developer and mining magnate Peter Briggs, the car, affectionately known as KJ 400 (after its number plate), is understood to have been built at Holden’s plant at Fishermans Bend in 1947 – making it almost a year older than the famous Holden No. 1.

Bought by Briggs after he spotted it in a Melbourne newspaper in 1980 for $15,000 (roughly the price of a brand new Holden Statesman Caprice) it’s unclear if KJ400 will reach its $1 million asking price, with Briggs admitting he may part with it for the closest reasonable offer.

0-100km/h in 2.8 seconds. 0-200km/h in 6.8 sec. 0-300km/h in 16.5 sec. Vmax of 350km/h (limited) and a 9.8 sec1/4 mile. McLaren’s P1 is officially, brutally FAST!

The British company has finally released official performance figures for the multi-million dollar P1, but if mere numbers aren’t your thing, let’s put them into perspective.

If McLaren’s claims are accurate, the P1 is almost a second quicker down the quarter mile than a Bugatti Veyron. Acceleration is brutal too, with the P1’s 0-300km/h time 5.5sec quicker than its spiritual ancestor, the McLaren F1.

And don’t think the McLaren will drink all of the world’s oil supplies either. These mind-bending performance figures are twinned to equally eye-popping economy figures with the P1 using just 8.3L/100km, with C02 emissions of 194g/km.

The McLaren P1 is powered by a mid-mounted 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8, coupled to an electric motor for a combined output of 673kW. Sadly only 375 are being built, which means chances of driving, or even seeing one are small.

Hold onto your hats everyone – it’s the Lamborghini Veneno Roadster.

But before we get into the juicy details, let’s bombard you with the numbers.

Zero to 100km/h in 2.9 seconds, 354km/h vmax, 552kW/690Nm 6.5-litre V12 and a price tag of…$5.5 million.

Seems a lot of money for a car with no roof, doesn’t it? And when we say no roof, we mean it literally – this is a permanent roadster.

Officially unveiled overnight, Lambo is building just nine Veneno Roadsters which is designed as part of the brand’s ongoing 50th anniversary celebrations.

Based on the Aventador, like its hardtop brother the Veneno Roadster cops a new, even more aggressive carbonfibre body and an uprated, more powerful version of its massive V12.

And don’t think the roadster’s lack of roof means it’s packed on the pounds either. Engineering wizardry means it weighs just 40kg more than the hardtop at 1490kg.

Oh and if you’re wondering about the name – Veneno was a famous bull that gored a matador to death way back in 1914. Of course.

Renault has turned back the clock to reveal this retro-inspired, limited-edition Megane Coupe-Cabriolet Floride.

Limited to just 50 units in Australia, the funky drop top is priced from $44,990 and pays homage to the original 1958-1968 Megane of the same name.

Available only in Ivory paint (pictured) and black pleated leather trim, it gets 17-inch wheels and the same 2.0-litre 103kW/195Nm petrol engine as the rest of the local Megane CC range.

That means a claimed 0-100km/h spring of 11.7 second and a fuel consumption figure of 8.1L-100km.

Tyre-bending performance and first class levels of luxury are mutually exclusive, right?

Not according to Mercedes-Benz. The German giant has been caught testing a new muscled-up AMG version of its S Class Coup, which was previewed in concept form at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Sporting headache-inducing camouflage, early talk is power could come from AMG’s 5.5-litre, twin-turbo V8 which is likely to produce as much as 436kW.

More details as they come to light.

When the words ‘cross country’ appear on a vehicle, there’s an immediate issue in managing expectations. Volvo’s new V40 derivative suffers from just such a challenge.

Cross-country it’s not. In truth, the V40 XC is a compact, premium, sporty all-wheel drive hatch in which regularly maintained, secondary dirt roads can be tackled with a reasonable – albeit measured – degree of enthusiasm.

Avoid anything with washaways, berms and camel-humped crowns common to roads deep within the inner reaches of our continent because, as sure as a Kevin Rudd meltdown, it will all end in tears on the back of a Quiklift. The V40 XC is a shrink-wrapped pastiche, which will make city folk think and feel like they’re ready to go interesting places when, in fact, it’s only down to the local shops.

Just two auto-only XCs are imported here from Belgium, in the same Luxury spec level as the front-drive V40. And they’re crammed with nice kit such as heated leather seats, centre colour screen, rear camera, adaptive digital instrumentation, eight-speaker multimedia, daytime running lights, and sat-nav.

In its front-drive guise, the 2.5-litre V40 T5 costs $49,990. In the T5 XC version, the same 187kW/360Nm five-cylinder stormer is coupled to a Haldex all-wheel drive system and six-speed auto, and costs $3K more ($52,990). This extra cash adds visual bling that mimics the style of big-brother XC70 through cosmetic, but sensibly durable polymer cladding on the sills and bumpers, plus anodised black on framework and mirrors, and integrated roof rails.

The ergonomics are, as you’d expect, first-class, and the cabin, while constrictive (particularly in roof height compared with logical SUV rivals like the Audi Q3), oozes a quality Scando ambience. The AWD system, with torque vectoring and stability control, works a treat in the T5. It has an engine always keen to get involved yet, on our brisk sample drive, it still returned 9.4L/100km.

What doesn’t make much sense, aside from its cheaper price, is the 130kW/400Nm 2.0-litre diesel version – the D4. This is a two-wheel drive “cross country” – visually identical to the T5, but significantly less capable of anything, apart from using less fuel. While turbo-diesels are usually the bush driver’s engine of choice, going scrub in the XC D4 armed with only a slightly higher ground clearance (barely 15mm) and without the necessary all-paw grip, would be courting disaster.

So here, then, is the V40 XC’s conundrum: it’s a wannabe soft-road SUV bereft of a turbo-diesel AWD version, which, by charting the success of others in the market, would appear to be a no-brainer.

Melbourne’s cruising scene goes into deep hibernation during the winter months, so by the time spring rolls around, everyone is itching to get their hot rods and muscle cars out of the garage. Around 200 tasty-looking rides braved high winds and some dodgy looking clouds to attend the first Classic & Rod Club Cruize Night for 2013, held in Cranbourne. It didn’t really matter what your automotive persuasion there really was something for everyone with a mix of hot rods, classic muscle cars and some very cool cruisers and customs. They plan to do it all again next month (Nov 20th) and every month until March 2014. For details, check out www.classicandrodclub.com.au