The last of the year
The year is almost over and we wave off 2022 with an extra thick double edition of AutoWeek. In number 51/52 you will find more than usual. The editors look back on the year, we dream about the rebirth of some classics and we have various other interesting reports for you!
You can already see them shining in the photo above: in AutoWeek 51/52 we are going on the road with the Jaguar XJ (X350) and the Mercedes-Benz S-class (W220). Top class cars from their time. Then unaffordable for mere mortals, now accessible to anyone with a well-stocked bank account. We reminisce with an XJ 4.2 and an S500.
More top class limousines? Yes, of course. The plug-in hybrid Audi A8 60 TSIe received some extra power with its facelift and now produces 462 hp. This makes it exactly as powerful as its cousin, the Porsche Panamera E-Hybrid. Yet they have completely different technology on board. Who chose the best path here?
Jan Lemkes recently traveled to South Africa. Not just like that, of course, but to drive the brand new Volkswagen Amarok built there. The second generation of the Amarok is not as ‘Volkswagen’ as the first, because the Ford Ranger is now used as a basis. Is there still enough difference? We set off in the homeland of this ‘Bakkie’.
Only expensive or large cars in this issue? No, we also put the aging Fiat 500X and Hyundai Kona side by side. The ‘regular’ Fiat 500 now has a new coat in the form of the electric 500e, but the 500X introduced in 2014 may continue for a while. Fiat pulls out an electrified powertrain, so that it now gets the addition ‘Hybrid’. Just like the Hyundai Kona Hybrid.
One step smaller is our endurance test Toyota Aygo X. It is the last of the Mohicans to continue in the A segment, the Citroën (C1) and Peugeot (108) dropping out. We put a first and second generation Aygo next to our endurance test-X. Where is the progress?
The BMW M3 of the E46 generation has been regularly featured in AutoWeek, but something special is going on with Emad’s. Only a handful of people have previously connected a DCT gearbox from an E92 M3 to the V10 of an E60 M5. Emad Etemadi fitted the combination in an E46 M3 and further built the car with as many BMW parts as possible. The result: a true spectacle.
We find more sportiness, albeit a bit more modest, in Op de Rollenbank. Erik Robys has a decent portion of Renault blood flowing through his veins and the Belgian knows everything about the Alpine A110. He just doesn’t know the exact power yet. That’s why he reports to the dynamometer.
You can read that and more in AutoWeek 51/52, which will be in stores from Wednesday. Would you rather not go out? Order from the couch the latest number. Then it will be on the doormat within two working days.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl