Thomson Car Reviews

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Radical

So for my last blog I am going to tell you what to do if you are not some millionaire playboy who has money to burn, and wants to feel raw speed and performance from a car you own. The answer is called the Radical, and it is a small English company which produces the car from a small warehouse. The car only has a 1.3 motor bike engine which does not sound like anything compared to these 6.0 V12 supercharged monsters. Well the secret is all in the ingredients. The car only ways 495 kilos and produces 205hp. It looks just like a race car because it pretty much is a 2 seater race car that had a few changes made so it was road legal and could be brought for a moderate price of roughly $55,000. For this you could go to a track day anywhere in the world and not just compete but beat a Ferrari Enzo around the track. The standard sticky tires combined with the exact aerodynamics put this car way ahead of any standard road car. Put around the Top Gear test track the only thing faster has been a Formula 1 car, and its all down to the power to weight ratio. Every time the big V*’s, V10’s, V12 are put in these cars its just more and more weight they have to move. The light weight high powered 1.3 bike engine can be lifted by one man. Now don’t expect and luxuries and the glove box has been replaced with a button for adjusting the break balance but this is a 100% legal road race car that can be your for a reasonable price and take down the rich boys and their toys. Money makes the world go around, but you need to look in the right places to get the money for that money.

I do not claim to own the rights to this picture or intend to copyright.

Pagani Zonda F

The Zonda is an extreme super car that for fills the boyish dreams of a space aged looking car that travels faster than stink. Costing $600,000 its going to have be something out of this world and Pagani delivered. With its extreme design it looks like nothing else you will ever see on the road and built to battle the Lamborghini’s, Pagani decided to play them at their own game and go over the top. The iconic four exhausts out the back of the rear grill has become a famous detail of the mad car. Powering this rocket ship is another AMG V12 which is a naturally aspirated 7.2 producing 602 horses and a top speed of 214. This car is very similar to the Spyker in the target audience and what its for, yes this car can certainly perform on the track if you opportunity arises which it sometimes does, and people will be impressed with the 0-60 in 3.5. The Zonda really wants to be back in Monaco sipping on champagne next to the 100 million dollar yacht that just cruised over from the Caribbean. It is another play-boy car, and I don’t mind it one bit. In the same way as the Spyker the car is so different and out there that the attention to details and whole production of the car has to be admired. It’s not at all practical nor made to be, its for pure enjoyment and fun which I want in a car.

Bugatti Veyron

If you want to see the fastest production car in the world, well you are looking at it. The Bugatti Veyron was created by the people of VW who decided to make this car to prove it could be done, and with every sale VW actually lose money. Despite all the info I am about to give you the biggest problem the engineers had was the transmission. They struggled and struggled to find a transmission that could handle all 1001hp. Unlike the Koenigsegg mechanics who gave you a lightning bolt and said go play the Bugatti team put in some safety precautions to keep us safe, for example: The spoil can only be taken down by turning the car off, removing the key from the ignition before opening the door and placing the key in another ignition which lowers the spoiler to make the car more streamline. This is done so you don’t accidentally lower the spoiler at high speed resulting in a loss of traction. I promise you will never of heard of an engine that is the same as the Bugatti either... An 8.0 V16 quad turbo charged engine producing 1001hp, the car has 10 radiators and averages 10mpg. The top speed is 253mph and it does not take too long to get there.

0-60 = 2.5 0-124 = 7.3 0-186 = 16.7

The breaking is just as brutal with Industrial sized carbon breaks and a spoiler that turns up to act as an air break 100-0 only takes 5.1 seconds. With performance like this when driving on the road if you put your foot down a little you need to be checking hundreds of feet a head because the accelerator on this thing might as well be hitting the warp speed button from Star Trek. The cost for the fastest car in the world is a reasonable 1.7 million, and Bugatti said they have released a new Hardcore Bugatti Veyron that can do 270+ given enough room. Incredible.

Maybach 62

I used to like the Maybach, it was put up on a pedestal by celebrities like Jay-z and Simon cowell who all swear by it but the more I see it, and the more I don’t like it thinking why not get something else. Now I hate to say it but I agree that when it comes to luxury and being driven around I agree the Maybach has the Bentley, the Rolls and Mercedes beaten because these Maybachs are huge and the amount of luxuries inside is just out of this world with its own mini bar and whatever else you can think of. This really is just a slightly smaller limo with an even bigger price tag, and I just think if you really wanted that much space why not buy a Limo, after all it would be a great deal cheaper. Well the seats in a Limo don’t recline to almost flat like the first class airplane seats fitted in the Maybach. Limo’s also have lost that impressive quality about them over the years. People once saw a Limo and got excited wondering who is inside, how important are they, how famous are they? And now anybody can afford to rent a Limo for a few hours so cars like this have come to replace them. Now I will admit I have never sat in a Maybach, I have only seen one, so maybe I need to sit inside to understand why people spend a minimum $430,000 on a car that you will never drive. Unlike the Phantom you could drive yourself the maybach just made the front for drivers and didn’t give as much thought as the Bentley or Rolls that maybe the owner might want to drive one day. If this situation does happen the owner is going to be disappointed in that they just spent around half a million on this car that is not too great to drive. Ye it has a V12 bio-turbo that is impressive and produces 543hp but the front is just so normal that the only place you could ever want to be is the back. I just feel that if I spend that much money on a car that I would want to drive it as well as be driven from time to time which the Maybach is not suited for.

Land Rover Defender 3 TDV6

Now even though I am English and Land Rover is English I try to take a neutral view when it comes to cars, but when it comes to off-roading you cannot beat a Land Rover. Perfected over years and years the Land Rovers are used worldwide by civilians, military, scientists, mountain rescue, on safari’s and the list goes on and on because this car is just the boss when it comes to off-roading. My dad happened to own the TDV6 for a while when we talked and he lived in the country and this car could do some incredible things that I found out when we went on a 4X4 course and all the Land Rovers there just destroyed any track, climb, descent or general challenge put in front of it. I remember random people coming up to my dad offering to buy the Defender 3 off him then and there for almost any figure because he had one of the latest editions that were hard to come by. In the movie Tomb Raider Angelina Jolie drives the same edition and that helped make the model even more popular. The defender on has a 2.7 turbo charged diesel engine that produces a little 190hp but all the power comes in the lower ranges meaning this car can climb and pull anything. The short sharp cut offs at the front and back of the car made getting stuck next to impossible. This is by no means a city car, it is a working car and according to insurance in Europe if I own a Land Rover I can claim it is a working car and get about 60% off my insurance, which is not too bad. The defender is made to explore and work every day on farms and rescue missions. It does not want to be tapped in a concrete jungle where it looks completely out of place too. Owning a Land Rover does have one big disadvantage though... you will never be able to call work and say you got snowed in because they know it would be a lie.

Spyker C8 Spyder

This car is a perfect example of buying a car for looks and image, which Spyker even admitted themselves. This car is for multi-millionaire play boys that money is just not even a consideration for them. The incredible detail put into the interior design is like no other car in the world. Some companies spend millions on research on just where to position the buttons but the Spyker interior is more like fashion meeting art. The Incredible design of just the gear stick and how u can follow the movement of each gear change in to the engine. The bright red interior combined with the silver detailing just looks and is incredible as it’s all handmade. The car does have performance figure as the 4.2 V8 does pump out 400hp, complete 0-60 in 4.1 and have a top speed of 187 but again this is not the point. This is not a track day car, a racer, or even a GT. This car belongs in Tax havens around the world like Monaco where multi-millionaires park their yachts in the harbour for $40,000 a month and might use the yacht once a year, because they are too busy buying football teams or even on their other yachts. The Spyker is a claim and one hell of a beautiful claim. They made a piece of automotive art and it could be all yours for a cool $250,000.

Koenigsegg Agera R

After the success with the CCX Koenigsegg realesed the “sports” version, which made many people either laugh that Koenigsegg thought the first one was not fast enough or cry that the Agera R might kill them because this car would be crazy. The Top Gear camera did not like the sports version either as it top speed was still 245mph but getting there was just that little bit quicker. Journalist Jeremy Clarkson said he would never need a Cigarette again if he owned one of these cars, because it was just that much of an adrenaline rush to have such brutal acceleration at his feet. 0-60 now takes 2.9, 0-124 take 7.5 seconds, powered by the more amped up 5.0 twin turbocharged Mercedes AMG engine that produced 1099hp. The interior was the same except a few weight saving changes such as the seats were lightweight, and that is about it because what weight was still in the car was made up for in more power. The cost to own the Koenigsegg Agera R is a little expensive at an asking price with no bargaining of $1.6 million to own your own. Frankly with this car I think I would be afraid to drive it on the road as this car did not have the greatest of handling through corners so Koenigsegg decided to just throw the biggest, fattest tires on the back to hope they stick a little combined with a tiny little spoiler to keep the downward pressure. This is one window licking Dutch car that is made for adrenaline rushes and living life on the edge.