Top 10 cars we’ve driven in 2015
It’s time to reflect back on the fast/scary/crazy/sexy cars we’ve driven this year
2015 was a hoot for evo India. You’ve read our magazine through the year (Subscribe if you haven’t yet!) and shown us love by writing back to us on your favourites. Now we’ve picked our top 10 favourites in alphabetical order, just because we can’t choose one. Read, and click on the link under each car for the full story.
Audi RS 6 Avant
The RS6 Avant is quite possibly the coolest performance car on the market right now. The very fact that it is an estate makes it different and stands it out from the regular crop of performance four-door missiles. It says you’ve got more sophisticated tastes; that you’ve travelled the world and know your cars. Even if you’re half-blind, you will still admit to the RS 6 Avant being a bloody good looking car; even if you’re a twit behind the wheel, you will admit to mind-bending pace and insane grip no matter what the conditions.
Read our full review HERE
BMW i8
The i8 is not about numbers and top speed and no, I don’t think it’s about being green either. I think the i8 is all about being unique and high-tech and fun. It’s about pulling up next to a Lamborghini at a signal and still knowing you’re in a special car. I think it is electrifying. As long as petrol and electricity are working together there’s no surging, no turbo lag, just uninterrupted thrust. It’s magic even though it doesn’t have the muscular kick of an AMG. But, with all that weight down low and that long wheelbase, it really corners.
Read our full review HERE
BMW M3 & M4
Gaurav Gill kicks ass at APRC full time and drives his E92 M3 while at home. I ask Gaurav if he’ll spend Rs 1.21 crore on an F82 after a day behind the wheel of both. He says he will and quickly adds that he’ll keep the E92 as well. Lucky guy. No doubt the new car gives up some of the old one’s hardcoreness but it makes up by being a more wholesome car, one that is actually more supple and suited to our roads than the old one. The new S55 motor in the M4 loses a litre in capacity to the naturally aspirated 4.0-litre v8 in the e92 and replaces it with two small turbochargers, each feeding three of the engine’s six in-line cylinders.
Read our full review HERE
Ferrari California T & F12
The California instantly feels more comfortable, less aggressive and more of a Gran Turismo, which is exactly how Ferrari intended it to be. The way the engine responds, you’d be hard pressed to tell there are turbos under the hood. The F12 at a730bhp, V12-engined Italian flagship, it’s thoroughly unintimidating because all-round visibility is excellent, the driving position is simply fantastic and at 3000rpm, the engine is all of piped down peace.
Read our full review HERE
Maserati Quattroporte GTS
We drove the Ghibli and the Quattroporte GTS together, but it was the Ferrari built turbocharged V8 in the QP that stirred our soul. When you thumb the engine start button, it yowls to life with a sound that’s pure Pavarotti and makes an AMG sound like the Hulk singing Du Hast. The sound that the Quattroporte makes is intricate to the driving experience because it’s audible despite the twin-turbos that boost its 3.8-litre petrol. 523bhp and 710Nm (on over-boost) makes the V8 GTS good for ultra quick getaways and drive-by shootouts.
Read our full review HERE
Mercedes AMG GT S
The AMG GT S is fun, extrovert and fast without being unmanageable. It has got decent ground clearance (yes it does!), so you can actually use it on our roads. Most of all though, it’s the noise it makes, the attention it gets and how much fun it is when you’re really pushing it that might tempt you to buy one. It may not be as quick as a 911 Turbo nor have its all-weather pace and it isn’t the trumpet that the Jaguar F Type R is. But what the GT S does is tread a fine line between these two.
Read our full review HERE
Mercedes AMG C63 S
The new AMG shares very little with the new C-Class it’s based on. The axles are very different from what you get on the bread and- butter C-Class. The AMG gets beefier, complex-looking suspension arms that use more aluminium components, the front axle uses unique steering knuckles and has a 31mm wider track while the multi-link rear suspension has more negative camber. The results are breathtaking because the steering feels sharp and talkative enough to leave you in no doubt of what’s under the wheels.
Read our full review HERE
Mercedes-AMG G63 Crazy colour
Twist the key and the clown wakes up with a big explosion from its side exit pipes. The whole body does a muscle car shiver when you blip the throttle and in traffic it burbles and grumbles and always tugs at its leash. It’ll then violently fight its way through air, all the way up to an electronically limited 210kmph. Oh, and from the first floor, 200kmph feels like 2000. It could, apparently, be even faster if it wasn’t for the driveline. Mercedes engineers admit that the G63’s 7G-Tronic gearbox doesn’t slam in gearshifts as quickly as other AMG’s because so much torque and full bore gearshifts make the live axles flex!
Read our full review HERE
Porsche Cayman & Boxster GTS
In the GTS siblings, you get this overwhelming sense of engineered perfection. An absolutely perfect driving position. Perfectly supportive seats – not too much bolstering, not too little. Perfect thickness and diameter to the steering wheel. Perfect weighting of every control – steering, brake, throttle pedal. There are faster cars at cheaper prices but once you’ve driven a Boxster GTS – or even better the Cayman GTS – you will not want a cheaper car. Greatness, as you will find out, is worth paying for.
Read our full review HERE
Porsche 911 Turbo S
The twin-turbo Ferrari 488 GTB is over 100bhp and 10Nm up on the Turbo S and with all that, you’ll only get to 100kmph a tenth of a second faster than the Porsche. The all-wheel drive, 600-horsepower Huracan is 0.1 seconds slower and you’ll have to look at cars like the Nismo GTR, the LaFerrari, the McLaren P1, the Veyron and Porsche’s own 918 to find numbers that beat the Turbo S to 100kmph. Oh, and the 3.1 second time is Porsche’s official figure. Reliable independent testers (not one, but many), have clocked the Turbo S at 2.6 seconds!
Read our full review HERE
