You know the form; even car hacks need a couple of days off over Christmas so like everyone else in the media world the PH team has been looking back at 2013's greatest hits to keep the homepage buzzing.
Cynicism aside, a look back at the stats to find out the modestly titled roadtest of the year reveals some interesting numbers. And the results are both expected and unexpected.
In what was a huge year for Porsche you probably won't be hugely surprised to see four of its products appear in the following top 10. Perhaps more surprising are the cars that aren't there - no Renaultsport Clio 200 and no Fiesta ST, two of the most discussed cars here in the PH office and on the site too. The Jaguar F-Type didn't even make it into the top 20, which is a surprise. Indeed, more people read about the Dacia Duster than the new soft-top Jag!
Read on for the results and we'll look forward to bringing you the PH verdict on the essential new launches in 2014!
Porsche Boxster
2013 was of course the year of the 911 (apparently it was the model's 50th birthday but it was hardly mentioned by anyone- oh, hang on...) but just three days into the year we were out in the Boxster S and Alex's review was the 10th most-read of the last 12 months. Bookended by another Porsche driven just a couple of weeks ago, more on which in due course.
"With the 911 now stretching off into supercar pricing territory, it's the one to have if you haven't got pots of cash to spend" was the view, though that £45K starting price (before the inevitable options spend) did bring into view another of 2013's big cars - the F-Type.
MY13 Lamborghini Gallardo
In its swansong year the Lamborghini Gallardo has clearly lost none of its power to impress, giving its
Huracan successor
announced just last week a lot to live up to.
We've more on the Gallardo and how it compares with its Audi R8 relative here but earlier in the year we had a go with the run-out edition bearing the final of several upgrades and evolutions applied to the baby Lambo over its life. As Dom wrote in his review, the original Gallardo was a compared to the 996 911 Turbo and Ferrari 360, both two generations old compared with their current equivalents while the Lamborghini battled on more or less unchanged. And though Dom looked forward to the car we now know as the Huracan there remains enough magic about the Gallardo to keep a healthy buzz on PH.
Audi RS6 Avant
We're sometimes accused of being a little hard on Audis here on PH. Whatever the truth in that it's nice when one we can all agree on lands with a thump, the RS6 Avant being one of them.
As Chris said of Audi's RS-building Quattro division in his intro, "One day it produces a complete clunker, the next it is the purveyor of such genius you fear for its rivals."
The RS6 would appear to be the latter, its powerhouse twin-turbo V8 neatly meeting seemingly opposing demands of bonkers horsepower and torque figures with relatively sane (official) running figures and a 4.0-litre displacement that ducks under the punitive tax thresholds in markets like China. AMG is racing to catch up, BMW has downsized to six cylinders but in the RS6 you can seemingly have your cake and eat it. Fast.
Caterham Seven 160
From a two-tonne 560hp estate car with an eight-speed automatic gearbox and all the toys to an 80hp 660cc sports car whose major selling point is the fact it has a live axle nicked from a Suzuki Jimny. And whose cost options list includes such decadent luxuries as ... a windscreen.
Yup, it's the Caterham Seven 160, the brand's attempt to engineer a more affordable version of the much-loved Seven and one that can operate in markets demanding emissions-compliant downsized engines.
That's a tough brief for a company the size of Caterham but some inventive parts bin rummaging round the back of the Suzuki factory and a literal interpretation of the Seven's back to basics philosophy has resulted in a car that asks many questions of our apparent lust for more performance and technology. Which brings us neatly to...
Porsche 911 GT3 (991)
Has a car ever provoked more hand-wringing and debate? The 'manual versus paddles' discussion is one that has raged throughout the year, with specific focus on two key driver's favourites launched in 2013 without a manual option. The Clio 200 and 911 GT3 operate in very different market sectors but their respective audiences share a similar mindset and passion for driving hard, focusing the debate and putting their manufacturer's arguments for paddle shifted transmissions under greater scrutiny than ever before.
In the GT3's case it wasn't just the gearbox though. Our farewell drive in the 997 GT3 was a case in point - have we reached a point where chasing 'better' performance is a case of diminishing returns? And can you have too much of a good thing?
All points worthy of discussion. Seemingly up to such point as you've actually driven the new GT3...
VW Golf GTI
For such a supposedly conservative car the Golf GTI doesn't half stir up a hornet's nest of opinion on PH. EVERYONE seems to have something to say about the hot Golf, be it good or bad.
This seventh-generation one does little to change the debate but does bring some interesting new technology to the party, not least a sector first optional active locking differential included in the GTI Performance option pack.
Chris first drove the car without the diff, we then had a go with the GTI Performance model in the UK and were impressed with its ability to keep tabs on the much more powerful (and expensive) BMW M135i and Mercedes A45 AMG. We were impressed then. Cue another round of debate...
Alfa Romeo 4C
Fascinating car the Alfa Romeo 4C, not least for the bold claim from its manufacturer that it counts as a true supercar four-cylinder engine or not. Carbon fibre tub or not, can a vehicle with a powertrain nicked from a front-driven hatchback really claim to be such, even in an era of downsizing and wearing its weight-saving engineering on its sleeve?
If anyone could pull it off Alfa Romeo was the brand to do it, the debate about whether its headline carbon construction was more about marketing bragging rights and bling than true weight-saving one that will run and run as 'productionised' carbon becomes more widespread. Lotus and Ferrari are among those who'll tell you that for mainstream production cars aluminium can deliver on weight and stiffness targets for a fraction of the cost, McLaren and BMW (with its i3 and i8) among those putting their money on mass produced carbon.
Let's not get sidetracked though. The 4C is a beautiful - and important - car. And the focus should be on how it drives. Time to re-read Harris's thoughtful review!
Porsche 991 Turbo S
A year in which Porsche launches both a new 911 GT3 AND a 911 Turbo is a pretty special one but there was that birthday thing going on. Interesting though that of the two it was Chris's follow-up UK drive in the Turbo that really attracted the most interest, this following on from Dan Prosser's
launch drive
and preceding the video pitting it
against the McLaren 12C
Porsche's problem, such that it is, in the case of both the GT3 and Turbo is that the 991 versions of each had to be significantly better than the already astounding 997s that preceded them. How to quantify 'better' is something we'll continue to agonise over but it'd seem Porsche has managed to add a degree of character to the Turbo's trademark blistering pace. Not to mention a significant premium to the price, which now puts it into genuine supercar territory and against some very potent rivals. Is tech derived raw performance enough against charismatic Aston Martins, Lamborghinis and Ferraris?
Porsche 918 Spyder
Yep, another Porsche and a review we posted just a couple of weeks ago but even in that short space of time was close to being the most-read roadtest of the year. And this having already published two videos and a string of other stories and blogs.
You could attribute part of this interest to the 918 Spyder being the only one of the trio of hybrid hypercars we'll be able to drive in anger, LaFerrari and the McLaren P1 being built in far smaller numbers and already sold out. As such it's the car on which the debate about these new electrically assisted machines has been focused, even if they all go about it in very different ways.
A fascinating and gamechanging car though, and one worthy of all the column inches it has generated. If you haven't already you need to see Chris's video too...
Mercedes A45 AMG
The most-read roadtest on PH this year? Not the new 911 GT3, not the Alfa Romeo 4C and not the new Audi RS6. Nope, a Mercedes A-Class.
Probably not something you'd ever have expected to hear us say but the numbers are in and the review that scored the highest number of reads in 2013 was Chris Harris's UK drive in the A45 AMG. And though it's a standing joke that we've been a little fixated with the BMW M135i the truth is that, looking back, we've talked a lot about the A45 too. It was pitched against the BMW in a Harris vid and a group test with the Golf GTI, used to demonstrate how far AMG has come in the 20 years since its first 'official' car sold in Mercedes dealerships - the C36 - and throughout it all embodied a new wave of premium badged 'megahatches' that put a mainstream twist on territory once exclusively held by Japanese rally reps.
A big car for AMG too; could the badge really stretch to a four-cylinder hatchback and still deliver on the thrills we know and love from its V8 mighty Mercs? They certainly didn't hold back, going all-in with a proper little thug of a car that pushes the hot-hatch boundaries and will underpin a new family of 'junior AMGs' based on the CLA and GLA. Interesting times.
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