Friday 19th December 2014

The PistonHeads Motoring Week

Require procrastination material to avoid last-minute Christmas shopping? See here!

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We've made it! This is the last Motoring Week before the festive period where a relatively normal week of content will be reviewed. But fear not, we'll keep you sustained over Christmas and New Year (there's even a Motoring Year if you're in the mood) so if you're tired of terrible TV then you know where to turn! This week PH has welcomed newbies to the Hero and Fleet ranks, plus there's been more hot hatch news. Catch it all here.

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Plenty more to follow on this soon

White Lightning
Alright, we've all been guilty of fawning over the BMW 1 M Coupe since it arrived for its PH Hero initiation. Mad, bad and utterly captivating, everyone who drove it left with a smile. A wonderful addition to our illustrious list of Heroes.

It's nearly three years since the Subaru Impreza P1 became a PH Hero. While the latest WRX STI may not be an Impreza in name it certainly remains so in spirit. Subaru fanboy Dan seems pleased about his latest long-termer. Though if you fancy a more subtle turbocharged family bus, the Skoda Octavia vRS has proved itself a worthy contender. But if Japanese and turbocharged is a must, the Nissan Juke NISMO RS looks like it could be an interesting hot hatch. Really. Colours other than white are available for all of the above...

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Because the standard car is terrible at this...

Wild thing
Somewhat amazingly the Juke NISMO isn't the most outlandish car featured since Monday. How about a two-tone Vauxhall VXR8? With nearly 700hp? Walkinshaw is ensuring the big V8 Aussie saloon goes out in suitably daft fashion. But that looked demure compared to Hennessey's latest Velociraptor. A 600hp yellow V8 pick-up? Hell yes!

Either would surely make the perfect everyday accompaniment to a Tata Nano track car. Surely the maddest car revealed this week, it has 230hp, a sequential six-speed gearbox and will be made next year. Unbelievable

It says something of how silly those cars that an Aston Martin with yellow wheels doesn't look too outrageous. The Vanquish Works Anniversary marks 60 years of Aston Martin Works and there will only be six.

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See you there!

Team PH Speaks
The news that Matt Becker is going to Aston from Lotus was a little overshadowed by the news that the Lego Caterham builder is gaining yet more fans! Pledge your support through the story here.

From our regular we've had a Carpool that continues the Japanese and turbocharged theme, a Shed from MG and scouring the classifeds for fast Fords, even faster BMWs and the Aston Lagonda. There are two more £100K Garages (Wednesday and Friday) as well so there's plenty to keep you distracted from Christmas obligations. The site will be regularly updated as 2014 draws to a close so you will be able to find solace from the festive madness. And when all that's done there's the Autosport Show to looks forward to. Have a good one!

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Coming soon:

• End of year round-ups galore!
• 991 GT3 on road and track
• Mazda MX-5 (NC) buying guide
• Season's cheer!

 

 

[cerb4.5lee]

This year seems to have flown by and there has certainly been some nice performance motors released this year, I think the F Type Coupe R is one of my favourites though.