Articles by Nelson Ireson

Though we've seen the 2014 Porsche Macan in testing, virtually undisguised, and we've heard it's coming to the 2013 Los Angeles Auto Show for a global debut, now we get our first official timeline on

Much has been made of the significance of the two-door M3's name change to M4. But both M3 and M4 will live on in the 2014 model year, despite the nomenclatural bifurcation.The real test, of course, will be how the new M4 drives. If it's lighting lap times on fire and stunning stoplight racers, the name will be a technicality.Fortunately, we may not have long to wait now. In an interview with Motor Trend, BMW M Performance Automobiles's managing director Friedrich Nitschke has confirmed both the M3 sedan and M4 coupe will be at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show.So what can we expect next January? The 2014 BMW M4 is expected to focus on performance through lightness, shaving weight from the standard 4-Series wherever possible. Add to that a turbocharged in-line six-cylinder engine cranking out something north of 310kW and you have the start of a good recipe.The same engine is expected in the 2014 M3 sedan, and most of the rest of the performance equipment should be shared between the two, though adjustments to account for tuning differences will be made. Among the other performance-enhancers expected for the M3/M4 duo is an electronically controlled limited-slip rear differential, lower and stiffer suspension, wider wheels and tires, upgraded brakes, and a range of aerodynamic changes to the exterior. For more details, see our 2014 BMW M3 spy shots.www.motorauthority.com  

As if Formula 1 weren't already as much a technological soap opera as a race series, the series' boss, Bernie Ecclestone, is adding some extra drama to the 2013 season, this time with an indictment for bribery in Germany.A German prosecutor filed the indictment over Ecclestone's dealings with banker Gerhard Gribkowsky, including a $44 million payment that the German authorities believe to have been a bribe. The payment was made surrounding the sale of Formula 1 to CVC Capital Partners in 2005 as Ecclestone sought to acquire the shares held by Gribkowsky's bank, BayernLB. Ecclestone's lawyers have said they have received the indictment, but that it only means "they have to reply to the indictment, which they are strenuously doing."This isn't Bernie's first brush with the long arm of the law. This particular situation has been brewing since 2011, when Bernie admitted to making the payment to Gribkowsky. Ecclestone maintained then (and presumably does so now) that the payment wasn't a bribe, but was in fact an extortion payment to Gribkowsky.German prosecutors allege Ecclestone didn't just pay Gribkowsky -- they say the F1 chief also received about $41 million in commissions from the bank in return for the payment, plus an undisclosed payment into a family trust.In 2012, Gribkowsky admitted to taking the money from Ecclestone and was found guilty of tax evasion and bribery, earning an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence.Ecclestone has also faced a lawsuit in the U.S. over the matter, brought by Bluewaters, which was competing to purchase the BayernLB shares of Formula 1. After the indictment this week, Ecclestone said he has done "nothing illegal."www.motorauthority.com

With nimble handling, quick acceleration, and sharp new looks, even the base 991 Porsche 911 is a sports car aficionado's joy. We fully expect the 2014 911 Turbo S to border on mind-blowing.The coupe version of the 2014 911 Turbo S was recently revealed alongside its standard (non-S) Turbo counterpart. The cabrio version of the next 911 Turbo Cabriolet has also been seen, through our spy shots. We expect the cabrios to launch later this year or early in 2014.Fortunately, the exterior is completely undisguised, so we don't have to infer what it will look like; this is it. The larger, lower front spoiler is the primary tip-off that this unbadged car is the Turbo S soft-top.So what can we expect of the 2014 911 Turbo S Cabriolet mechanically? It should share an engine with the Turbo S coupe, meaning a 3.8-litre flat-six engine good for about 405kW of power thanks to direct injection and twin-turbocharging.With the Sport Chrono package, the Turbo S coupe can accelerate to 100km/h in 2.9 seconds and hit 319km/h top speed; the cabriolet should come very close to these marks, though the additional weight and drag of the soft top may result in small tweaks to the final figures. All-wheel drive is the standard, with shifts to be handled with a PDK transmission only, following the model of the Turbo coupe and 2014 911 GT3.Other technological advances that should feature on the Cabriolet (they're already announced for the coupe) include: rear-wheel steering to enhance both low-speed and high-speed handling; all-LED headlights; centre-lock wheels; a three-stage front and rear adjustable aerodynamics system; and a host of luxury features in the interior like 18-way adjustable seats and a choice of Bose or Burmester sound systems.www.motorauthority.com

We often say the love of cars is something in our blood. For one US toddler, it may be in the genes. At just 14 months old, Sorella Stoute from Portland, Oregon, bought a 1962 Austin-Healey Sprite on eBay. Unfortunately, it's not exactly a sterling example, its doors painted "Franken Sprite." Fortunately, the purchase price was just $225.How did the barely-mobile youngster manage the jalopy purchase? With her dad's smartphone and the eBay mobile app. A few errant swipes and pokes later, Little Miss Stoute had made the buy and closed the app, leaving her dad, Paul Stoute, to discover the surprise fleet addition via an eBay confirmation email, reports KOIN news.If you're thinking that not only is a toddler an unlikely classic sports car buyer, but that Portland, Oregon is one of the most unlikely locales for such seemingly pre-destined automophilia, you're not alone. This is definitely weird, but it's not exactly Portland-weird.Paul Stoute said he decided to keep the car, hoping to restore it for Sorella's 16th birthday gift. He has also enhanced his phone's log-in security.www.motorauthority.com 

When you just wanna blow stuff up, fly choppers into fountains, and hoon a parking garage so hard you fly right off the top of it, there are only two places to go: the loony bin, or Grand Theft Auto.OK, so there are many more ways to get highly criminal in a virtual world. But the Grand Theft Auto series has followed us from college to adulthood, and has somehow managed to keep its complete lack of charm and disregard for any sense of order or decency.Those traits are what promise to make GTA V a great game. Well, that and the killer graphics. Check out the gameplay video above for more, and check out the official site here. Grand Theft Auto V arrives at stores later this year, but is available for pre-order now.www.motorauthority.com 

BMW’s revolutionary i3 ‘Megacity’ vehicle is now less than a year away from launch and in the lead up to its eventual arrival engineers are hard at work finishing off the final prototype evaluation. The latest spy shots show the i3 doing a striptease that leaves little to the imagination.If you're not familiar with the i3, it is essentially a rear-wheel-drive electric minicar due out from BMW at the end of the year, and arriving here in 2014.It's aimed at providing a high degree of urban mobility while still allowing the occasional extra-urban long-distance jaunt when fitted with a range-extender, which BMW has said will be available at launch.While the i3 retains the stubby proportions inherent to the minicar class, it wears them well, thanks in part to what appear to be large, if narrow, wheels, and a raked, extended windshield. Apparently, so many people have taken to the car's design that BMW has more than 100,000 eager to test drive one.The basic i3 will come with a five-door body and electric motor rated at 125kW/250Nm, driving the rear wheels via a fixed-gear transmission. On a single charge of its lithium-ion battery, owners should expect a driving range of 150km.A second version uses a 650cc two-cylinder petrol engine (from BMW's scooter line-up) acting as a range-extender to give 300km of travel when a full tank of petrol and batteries at 100 per cent capacity are employed.The original concept version claims a 0-60 mph sprint of under 8 seconds, making it not exactly quick, but far from pokey. Key to its performance will be lightweight carbon fiber reinforced plastic used for its body. Charging is claimed to be quick, too, with a high-speed charger juicing the lithium-ion battery pack to 80 percent in one hour.There is still a little bit of development before the i3 reaches production, but if the retail car reaches the goals of the concept, at a rate of 40,000 sold per year globally, the i3 could be a very attractive option for urban dwellers and suburbanites alike.BMW’s upcoming i3 electric car will be priced similar to a reasonably-equipped 3-Series sedan in the US, which means a starting price there of around $40,000. However, Australian buyers are likely to pay more than $60,000 when it arrives here in 2014.That estimation takes into account our higher prices for cars, and the levels already set by the less-prestigious Holden Volt at $60,000, and the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and Nissan Leaf -- both of which were just under $50,000, with the Leaf taking another price cut recently to $39,990 drive-away.Though we’ve seen many i3 concepts since the reveal of the first one in 2011, we’ll finally get to see the production version at the 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show in September. The first showroom examples should start rolling out in overseas markets before the year is out.www.motorauthority.com 

The splitting off of BMW's coupes (including the four-doored kind) into even-numbered lines is further underway now that we have the 2014 4-Series.It's a sharp-looking take on the 3-Series sedan it shares its internals with, and it looks even better in this new video.Filled with Lord of The Rings-style countrysides and Wagner-worthy music, the video is over-the-top in traditional German style, but it also gives some terrific angles on the sleek-roofed 4-Series as it flies along at speed.An information-packed technical run-down it is not, but who doesn't have a few minutes for some automotive ogling?For more details visit our 4-Series preview here.www.motorauthority.com 

So, you've been longing for a 3-Series-sized car, but with fewer doors and a touch more style in its design? BMW has your new slice of the pie: the 2014 4-Series Coupe.Replacing the 3-Series Coupe, but growing slightly in length and width while going lower to the ground (and lower in its center of gravity) the new 4-Series Coupe promises to offer design-driven buyers a new niche for their garages.Available in 428i form with a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder or 435i form with a 3.0-litre turbocharged in-line six-cylinder, the 4-Series Coupe comes standard with rear-wheel drive and a six-speed manual transmission. All-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic transmission are optionally available.The 435i's 224 kW and 406 Nm of torque get it to 100 km/h in about 5.3 seconds with the manual or 5.0 seconds with the eight-speed auto, and on to a top speed limited to 250 km/h. For the 428i, 179 kW and 345 Nm of torque manage the 0-100 sprint in 5.7 seconds (BMW doesn't differentiate between transmissions for the 428i) and on to the same 250 km/h limited top speed.While the vast majority of the 4-Series' underpinnings are shared very closely with the F30 3-Series sedan, there's at least one unique element to the new coupe's makeup: the center of gravity has been lowered via a lower suspension setup, bringing it down under 50cm from the ground, the lowest center of gravity of any BMW car currently built.Otherwise, you'll find the 4-Series Coupe available in a choice of trim lines (Luxury or Sport), plus the optional M Sport package. LED High Beam Assistant is available, as is BMW Active Cruise Control with Stop & Go. A new generation of BMW's navigation system, plus a full-color HUD, and a range of other safety and driving assistant technologies will also be offered.The 2014 BMW 4-Series Coupes will begin rolling out to overseas markets within months and arrive in Australia later this year.www.motorauthority.com 

The current Subaru WRX STI is a beast: powerful, capable, but something less than pretty. Despite its ungainly looks, it has made fans out of us and out of a large chunk of the populace. But it's due for replacement soon.So we took the opportunity to spend the better part of a week with the car in Ireland and on the Isle of Man as a sort of send-off. We're glad we did.Even in the five-door STI, which skips the massive wing of the sedan, there's no mistaking what you're driving, either from the curbside or from behind the wheel. The STI cuts an iconic figure like nothing else in its price segment--and it performs like nothing else, too.DRIVINGWhether over the bumpy, often broken, insanely narrow, recessed roads of the Isle of Man or the comparatively wider, smoother roads of Ireland, the STI's rally-bred suspension proved its mettle, absorbing the worst of the hits and smoothing out the smaller irregularities.The strong engine, six-speed manual gearbox, and scrappy all-wheel drive system provided the go and the grip to fly down the paved pathways at speeds that should really never be seen outside of a competitive rally--like, say, the Manx Rally. Or, say, setting the four-wheeled record around the Isle of Man's Snaefell Mountain Course, where the TT is run.But despite the almost unflappable adaptability, we did find a few faults to gripe about--faults we hope will be fixed in the upcoming re-design of the car.Turbo lag, the worst of our gripes, was quite noticeable. Perhaps more noticeable than it would be on our wider, more open roads, or most of Europe for that matter, the turbo lag at lower speeds, in lower gears (1st-3rd), was ever-present and rather annoying at times, occasionally requiring a wait of nearly two seconds from throttle application to response.While the WRX STI is a fairly large hatchback from the outside, on the inside, passenger room is at a bit of a premium, both in the front and the rear--doubly so if you're trying to stick a trio or foursome of six-footers inside. Can more legroom be dug out of the car's interior without extending the exterior to gargantuan proportions for the next STI? We certainly hope so.And, ultimately, the STI has continually proved itself to be a bit thirsty (13.8/10.2 L/100km city/highway), even considering its performance level. While sending extra fuel through the 2.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder Boxer engine might help preserve its longevity at its rated 221kW output, it also eats into the owner's wallet.These faults - or, perhaps, compromises - are by no means deal-breakers, however. For the money the STI is still an incredible combination of utility and performance, essentially unmatched by anything else on the road, despite being about six years old.Whether launching from a stop with boost-assisted, all-wheel drive pace or rocketing along a treacherous back road, the the STI is a willing and faithful companion. It's also a tremendous amount of fun.VERDICTWe just hope the next generation of STI keeps that magic, whatever else changes. For now, however, we say goodbye to the STI. Fare thee well, little rally-inspired buddy. We hope to find you again one day, perhaps at a bargain in a used car lot. Subaru WRX STIPrice: from $59,990 as testedEngine: 2.5-litre turbocharged four cylinder,  221kW/ 350NmTransmission: 6 speed manual / 5 speed automatic, AWDThirst: 10.5 litres/100km, 243 g/km CO2Body: four-door sedan or five-speed hatch www.motorauthority.com