By Craig McAlpine

imotormag

Checking out some of the metal at  kit car show near Coventry, England and saw this awesome sleeper. It’s a Morris Minor 1000 and under that bonnet should be a tiny 1.0 engine. Thanks to a replacment V8 from Chevy and rear axle donated by an old Jaguar XJ this is one awesome sleeper car. I would love to see any sleeprs you have seen – post them up!

By Craig McAlpine

imotormag

Mercedes knows that thanks to tighter emissions regulations and the increasing price of fuel, mpg is as important as bhp these days. So that’s why the new E-Class Coupé looks so sleek. It just so happens to be the most aerodynamic series production car on sale. The new diesel unit in the car I drove produced 500nm of torque from just 1600rpm, so this thing pulls like a train! Check out the full review here.

By Craig McAlpine

imotormag

When Vantage owners told Aston Martin that their car needed more ‘oomph’ Aston listened. Say hello to the new 4.7-litre 420hp V8 Vantage. From the outside there was certainly nothing wrong with the V8 Vantage—it’s a stunning-looking car, no matter which angle you look at it. I reckon it looks even better than its big brother, the DB9, too. Check out the full review with tons of pics!

By Craig McAlpine

imotormag

A BBC correspondent has discovered a new uprising in Baghdad near Jadriyah Lake in the south of the city, but this time it’s motor racing. Featured in the video are a couple of Pontiac Firebirds, a Chevy Camaro, Toyota Celica and an old BMW 5-series. They might not be the ultimate racing machines, but considering the situation over there it’s pretty awesome that they have started racing as a pastime. Check out the video!

By Craig McAlpine

imotormag

Hennessey Performance has modified the Nissan GT-R to be even quicker than it already is. How fast? How about 0-60mph in 2.8 seconds without launch control!

By Craig McAlpine

imotormag

Volkswagen is planning to sell a range of clothes made out of the tartan fabric from the seats of the new Golf GTI MKVI. The material will also be offered in rolls so that fans will be able to use it to make kilts, caps and, well, anything they like from it.

Just to clarify this is not an April Fools! We found this out last week on the launch of the new Golf MKVI GTI, where one of the VW press guys said “We had lots of requests from enthusiasts for the trim out of the Golf GTI MKV but it wasn’t possible to offer it as an accessory. However, we are hoping to be able to with the new car. At the moment we are looking into the production process to see if it is possible to set up a system where we can get the fabric off the production line and sell it to the public.” I think this might just end up on the aftermarket scene with people trimming seats with the fabric–maybe you could upgrade an old GTI with the new tartan!

By Craig McAlpine

imotormag

Owners of earlier-generation 4.3L V8 Vantage complained that it didn’t have enough grunt, so Aston made it a 4.7 and added a few tweaks. So I went up to Aston Martin to take one for a few days–and now, parked outside a stunning building in a sea of Aston development cars, is my Peugeot 306. The Vantage sounds awesome with a butterfly valve in the exhaust that engages at 4000 rpm. I’ll keep you posted on how I get on with the new Vantage, and if I actually give it back…

By Craig McAlpine

imotormag

Some people have said about the new Golf 6 that it’s more like the Golf 5.5, due to the similar looks to the outgoing model. However, aside from the exterior cosmetic tweaks, the new Golf is actually hiding most of its changes under the skin. So what better way to check it out than to use this cool draggable X-Ray? We also did a comparative video review to highlight the changes with the new model. Enjoy!

By Craig McAlpine

imotormag

We decided to make our new game topical for issue 13 and give you a chance to help Chrysler from going bankrupt. You get money from bailouts, movie deals, good reviews and twinning up with Fiat! Click here to play the game!

By Craig McAlpine

imotormag

Last week I managed to get taken for a ride in this in the V12 Vantage, and although the video is not out yet I can share this awesome exclusive gallery of images taken by our photographer, along with all the details.