Coupe Reviews

Ford won't sell you its hottest Mustang in Australia, but HSV's delivered the supercharged Camaro on a platter.

The Lexus LC500 is superb, and we absolutely recommend you run out and buy one. But there are a couple of things you should know first...

The $272,900 BMW 8 Series Coupe is one of those rare occasions where it pays to pay less. The Coupe is a whole $9000 cheaper than the only other 8 Series variant, the Convertible, but it’s not only faster - at 3.7 seconds for the 0 to 100km/h sprint, as opposed to 3.9 for the drop-top variant - it’s much more beautiful to look at as well.If you think 3.7 seconds sounds fast for a car as classy and ostentatiously expensive at the 850i, then you’re absolutely correct. The big Beemer’s brawny 4.4-litre, V8 twin-turbocharged engine makes a whopping 390kW and 750Nm, but those performance times are still staggering for vehicles that weigh more than 1.8 tonnes. This is a properly luxurious luxury car, with a merino-leather interior, beautifully shiny glass highlights on its controls and laser lights to help you see 500m down the road, in pure white light, at night. The 850i xDrive might have super-car-like power figures - so much so that it needs to be all-wheel drive (or xDrive) to get all its power to the ground, rather than in the traditional, rear-drive BMW fashion, but It is not a snapping sports car unless you want it to be. Its default setting is very much as a classic grand tourer, capable of crossing vast distances in VIP comfort. The standard inclusion list is as long as Lebron’s arm and includes 20-inch M-branded light-alloy wheels, a tyre-pressure indicator, M Sport Brakes, M Sport Differential, Adaptive M Suspension Professional with Integral Active Steering, Active anti-roll stabilisation, Comfort Access including a kick-open tailgate, wireless phone charging, Soft Close Doors, BMW Crafted Clarity Glass Application, Driving Assistant Professional, Parking Assistant Plus, including 3D View and Reverse Assistant, Laserlights, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 10.25-inch Control Display, metallics, paint, merino leather upholstery, heated steering wheel and arm rests, and seats, a 16-speaker harmon.kardon sound system, a Head-Up Display and the hugely pointless Gesture Control.

Can a car company show off? It seems absurd; the kind of embarrassing, unedifying behaviour that only ego-driven, status-obsessed human beings engage in.

You're never going to mistake it for anything but a Porsche 911, but this eighth-generation version of one of the world's most iconic sports car is all-new, and all-brilliant.

The Porsche 911 Carrera S will turn heads. It did when I drove it, wherever I drove it. That's just the sort of car the new 911 is. But in 992 guise, is the new model more than just a pretty face? I spent a bit over eight hours in one to find out. Poor, poor me.

Launch pricing, before on-road costs, for the Porsche 911 Cabriolet starts at $286,500 for the rear-wheel drive Carrera S, stepping up to $302,600 for the all-wheel drive Carrera 4S versionAnd aside from the new 911’s comprehensive safety and performance packages the standard features list is an impressive roll-call.It kicks off with partial leather trim, complete with chequered flag style cloth inserts over heated 14-way electrically-adjustable sports seats (with memory package), a leather-trimmed sports steering wheel, dual-zone climate control air conditioning, ‘Porsche Communication Management’ (audio, navigation, communication and assistance systems), 12-speaker Bose Surround Sound-audio (including digital radio), Apple CarPlay (no Android Auto), keyless entry and start, rain-sensing wipers, LED auto headlights, the characteristic ‘4-point’ LED daytime running lights plus LED tail-lights, the ‘Carrera S’ alloy wheels, active cruise control, the 10.9-inch multimedia screen, and twin 7.0-inch digital instrument screens.The 911’s rear-mounted, all-alloy 3.0-litre, twin-turbo flat six-cylinder engine now features high-pressure piezo injectors and bigger turbos for more power (+22kW) and torque (+30Nm), with outputs reading 331kW (444 horsepower) at 6500rpm and 530Nm from 2300-5000rpm.Although the new 911 hasn’t been given a safety rating by ANCAP or Euro NCAP, you could argue its exceptional dynamic ability represents one giant, five-star safety feature.With the optional Sport Chrono package the roughly 1.5-tonne C4S will accelerate from 0-100kmh in just 3.4sec. Even in its ‘slowest’ non-Chrono CS form that number only drops by three tenths.In designing a modern sports car, who’d hang the engine over the back wheels? This layout just shouldn’t work in the way it does, but Porsche has continued to evolve and hone the 911 to an incredibly fine point. It’s a simply superb sports car experience.

Launch pricing, before on-road costs, for the Porsche 911 Carrera 4S  starts at $281,800 for the Coupe, stepping up to $302,600 for the Cabriolet version.And aside from the new 911’s comprehensive safety and performance packages the standard features list is an impressive roll-call.It kicks off with partial leather trim, complete with chequered flag style cloth inserts over heated 14-way electrically-adjustable sports seats (with memory package), a leather-trimmed sports steering wheel, dual-zone climate control air conditioning, ‘Porsche Communication Management’ (audio, navigation, communication and assistance systems), 12-speaker Bose Surround Sound-audio (including digital radio), Apple CarPlay (no Android Auto), keyless entry and start, rain-sensing wipers, LED auto headlights, the characteristic ‘4-point’ LED daytime running lights plus LED tail-lights, the ‘Carrera S’ alloy wheels, active cruise control, the 10.9-inch multimedia screen, and twin 7.0-inch digital instrument screens.The 911’s rear-mounted, all-alloy 3.0-litre, twin-turbo flat six-cylinder engine now features high-pressure piezo injectors and bigger turbos for more power (+22kW) and torque (+30Nm), with outputs reading 331kW (444 horsepower) at 6500rpm and 530Nm from 2300-5000rpm.Although the new 911 hasn’t been given a safety rating by ANCAP or Euro NCAP, you could argue its exceptional dynamic ability represents one giant, five-star safety feature.With the optional Sport Chrono package the roughly 1.5-tonne C4S will accelerate from 0-100kmh in just 3.4sec. Even without it that number only drops by two tenths.In designing a modern sports car, who’d hang the engine over the back wheels? This layout just shouldn’t work in the way it does, but Porsche has continued to evolve and hone the 911 to an incredibly fine point. It’s a simply superb sports car experience.

Does the Maserati GranTurismo still cut it 12 years on?

Rebooted after more than two decades, the Alpine brand has kicked off its new era with a cracking mid/rear-engine sports car, the A110.