Saturday 8th February 2014

The PistonHeads Motoring Week

Touring cars, supercars and classic cars, all here in the weekly PH round-up

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Phew, that's January dealt with for another year. Into February and Geneva really doesn't seem too far away, we're already discussing Le Mans and the rain does occasionally stop also.

This week on PH we've had news from BMW and Mercedes on important new models, some fantastic BTCC features and one very special guest appearance. Catch it all here!

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A PH crossover if ever there was one

Bowled over
The Defender Challenge was an exciting project when first announced. Now, having driven the car and chatted with Drew Bowler himself, we can't wait to see more from the series and the company. To maintain the Bowler theme on PH, an early Tomcat 100 featured as Carpool.

At the polar opposite end of the 4x4 spectrum, this week saw confirmation from SVM that its Qashqai R is complete. Brave drivers only for the reviews of a 1,000hp Qashqai... In fact, 4WD has featured fairly prominently on PH since Monday, with a prototype Porsche 959 in Keith's column, a special edition Audi RS4 and a drive in the latest A8 diesel quattro. That last one is more interesting than it sounds!

Perhaps the most patently not 4WD car currently available, the Mercedes C63 AMG, was the subject of Chris's video this week. It was a nice riposte to the end of our M3 farewell diary and PH Buying Guide. Two amazing cars with a pair of epic engines, there's been a lot of V8 love here over the past few days.

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It's been quite a week for this on PH

Perfect replacement
We know the C63 and M3 will be replaced, and this week saw new details on some distant relatives of both. The UK prices of the C-Class were confirmed on Tuesday, just a day after the 4 Series Gran Coupe was revealed. Like the 6 Series GC, we would expect a four-door M4in the future.

With the three-part series Touring Car Legends beginning on Wednesday, plus the return of Fabrizio Giovanardi to the series, the BTCC has played a significant role in our news and features. Check out the spectacular POTW as well as Rouse and Soper battling it out in two RS500 Sierras.

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Harris video coming soon...

Team PH Speaks
A busy week (as ever) for Chris Harris. On top of that C63 video, his blog on drifting with Lewis Hamilton is a real must-read. As is his praise of PDK in the GT3 actually.

Dan's been out in California this week for the Bentley V8 S launch, but managed to squeeze in updates on the Eunos Roadster and 435i beforehand. Out there he's discovered a rather unique Mercedes SEC also.

We've also heard from Adrian Flux competition winner Matt on life with his Capri 3.0 S (and seen its sort-of replacement as SOTW), pondered the value offered by a Jaguar XJ220 and speculated on a potential Ferrari California facelift.

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Coming soon:
- BMW 4 Series Convertible: Review
- Bentley Conti GT V8 S: Review
- Maserati Ghibli: Review
- Hatchback Imprezas rule: Tell Me I'm Wrong
- SEAT Leon Cupra: Review
- New Mini: Review

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[Housey]

Superb to see Spicey, Rousey, Woodman doing their stuff. I was just around the corner from that picture at the exit of the Mallory hairpin and never missed a single race that season, Dad and I travelling all over the country to watch the Capri's racing. Can't tell people how great that era was when the Rovers arrived and then into ETCC with Rover/Jag/Volvo/BMW at it in RWD cars that sounded good and went sideways lots.