It's been a big year for videos on PH, our YouTube presence growing significantly with both quantity (definitely) and quality (hopefully) going up through 2016. Next year we're hoping to bring you more of the same and some new stuff as well, with fresh videoblogs, track tests and comparisons all planned.
For now we'll deal with the biggest hits of 2016, our Christmas number one countdown if you will. Except without the autotune. Or the legions of fans. Or the vast wealth. Still, it looks like a good list to us. See here for the full selection of PH vids, with links to the top five in the story below. All are more interesting than festive Coronation Street, for sure. Enjoy!
TT RS vs 718 Cayman S vs F-Type S
While there is the odd surprise in this list, the £60K coupe triple test certainly wasn't one of them. There was a lot to debate and discuss in this videoblog: the Cayman's switch to four cylinders, the TT's rampant performance and the Jag's novel inclusion of a manual gearbox. That there's so much variety in ostensibly similar cars at the same kind of price point evidently proved very popular. In fact this video only went out a month ago, but has still made its way to the top five - these are three cars people are very interested in! Which would you pick?
Dan was presenting this videoblog, and wrote the triple test too - see the full story here.
Mazda MX-5 BBR Super 200
The Answer to Everything! While the MX-5 is known to be popular on PH, we were unsure as to how it would fare in the big wide world of YouTube. Very well, as it turns out. The review of the
BBR car
went out in September, making PH one of the first to drive the car and do a video test also.
Dan was again on presenting duties and, wouldn't you know, he rather enjoyed the car. It's not just him waffling on about how much he loves MX-5s either, with lots of detail on what the Super 200 package comprises and plenty of noise too. Actually quite a lot of noise, in fact. Take a look and see what you think, though it's probably best done with headphones...
DB11 vs 911 Turbo S
Time for the big guns! The Aston Martin DB11 has been, unsurprisingly, a very popular car on PH during 2016 (Dan's first drive video was close to being in this top five) and this was our first opportunity to drive a car in the UK. Make it into a comparison
with a 911Turbo
and, well, it should make for quite an interesting video, right?
Although not a conventional twin test, Matt will explain in the vid just why the two were pitched against each other. It's an interesting duel as well, both holding clear advantages against the other in certain areas. We reckon they look pretty good on video too, though perhaps not that Aston interior!
Focus RS vs Civic Type R at Anglesey
The test that keeps on giving! As well as being one of most read
stories of 2016
, the accompanying video of Focus RS against Civic Type R has proved one of the most popular PH vids of this year. Though it has been out longest of the top five vids, having been published back in June, it has attracted considerably more views than the 124 Spider review and the Aston GT8 videoblog, both significant cars with videos released at the same sort of time.
Naturally these are two cars both with loyal fanbases, which will have contributed to the healthy view count. We would like to think that the video was half decent too, of course, with Anglesey providing a spectacular backdrop and Matt making his 'big vid' debut. Perhaps a rematch is on the cars now it's winter?
Nissan GT-R vs Audi RS6 Performance
What does the Internet love more than a Nissan GT-R video? A Nissan GT-R video against an unconventional rival! Another of our Blyton Park versus vids, the
GT-R versusRS6
has been the subject of considerable debate since being published on October 20. It's also the only one of these five videos to breach 100,000 views. Where can it reach in 2017?
In the vid we have James driving the GT-R and Dan in the RS6 Performance, making for just under 1,200hp in total and around four tonnes in weight. Can the GT-R drop the RS6? Can James really go faster than Dan? Take a look!