Sporty Car: Scoops

Showing posts with label Scoops. Show all posts

Scoop Quiz : Is this the 2012 Porsche 911 Turbo S?

Show any Porsche 911 to someone old enough to remember when Memorial Day was called Decoration Day, and chances are he or she will probably know the brand and model of the car. But ask someone to tell your which version they’re looking at and you’ll have a pretty hard time getting the right answer unless they’re a true Porschephile.

Take this 911 for example; even our experienced scoop photographers aren’t 100 percent sure about this 2012 Porsche 991 prototype that they bagged testing in Europe.

The chunky rear section with the blistered wheel arches and air-intakes along with the double wing at the back featuring a fixed lower part and a retractable upper section, leave few doubts that this is the new 911 Turbo.

Maybe you can help us out here. A Carscoop reader, who prefers to remain anonymous, nabbed these photos of an identical pair of camouflaged prototype sedans at a tollbooth in Ohio.

The photos were shot from a distance with a cell phone camera, so it’s difficult to tell the brand and make of the vehicles. Our unnamed reader told us that the front end looked like a Cadillac but the rest of the car reminded him of a Buick, and we’ll agree with him.

Last January at the Detroit Motor Show, MINI lifted the curtains on the not-so-mini Paceman concept study based on the Countryman crossover. During the presentation of the prototype, BMW board member Ian Robertson had then confirmed that the Paceman will join the MINI line-up in the very near future.

And while we’ve yet to capture a prototype version of the Paceman on the road, today we discovered these official patent images that were filed a couple of days ago.

The car that helped Fiat get back on its feet at the turn of the century, the nuova Panda, will soon give its place to an all-new model that was snagged by Carscoop’s photographers during hot weather testing in Europe.

It's hard to picture the styling details with the heavy cladding and camouflage on the prototype, but it’s evident that new model will retain the shape of the tall-bodied, second generation Panda.

The wait for the next evolution of the Porsche 911 is almost over. In fact, we’re so close to the launch date that the German firm has just entered the teasing phase releasing the first official video of the sports car shot during hot weather testing in South Africa.

The public will have its first chance to see the new 911, codenamed 991, at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show in September. What we know up until now is that, the 911 will look like, well, a 911 – don’t forget, it’s all about evolution when it comes to Porsche's most famous model.

Unlike its famed Bavarian rival, which at one point was almost absorbed by Mercedes-Benz, the Stuttgart automaker continues to cover up and hide its prototype models in chunky plastic armor instead of the psychedelic wraps used by the BMW Group and other carmakers these days.

The five-door hatchback you see pictured in these latest spy shots is the upcoming 2012 A-Class, which has been redesigned to offer Mercedes-Benz a more direct rival to the BMW 1-Series, Audi A3 and to a lesser extent, the Lexus CT 200h.

Audi’s new A6 model series will soon welcome a new member into the family, the sporty S6 that was snagged by our spy photographers in Avant trim during testing in Germany.

The prototype model was completely undisguised, however, there’s a reason for that. With the exception of some model specific details such as the telling quad tail pipes and unique alloy wheel designs, the S6 will remain unchanged from the A6 with the optional S-Line sport package. The latter adds an aero kit with restyled front and rear bumpers, among other parts.

2012 Audi S6 Avant Scooped Undisguised, gets New V8 Shared with Bentley

Audi’s new A6 model series will soon welcome a new member into the family, the sporty S6 that was snagged by our spy photographers in Avant trim during testing in Germany.

2012 Audi S6 Avant Scooped Undisguised, gets New V8 Shared with Bentley

Audi’s new A6 model series will soon welcome a new member into the family, the sporty S6 that was snagged by our spy photographers in Avant trim during testing in Germany.

First Spy Shots of 2013 Lexus GS Sedan

Well now, that didn’t take long, did it? Less than three months after the presentation of the LF-Gh concept car at the 2011 New York International Auto Show and Lexus has already started testing the production model that will spawn a successor to today’s GS sedan at the Nürburgring circuit.

Naturally, the Lexus GS prototype is covered in plenty of camouflage but not to the point that it discloses its styling similarities to the LF-Gh study.

Aside from the body proportions, details like the protruding side sills, the high rising belt line, the “dotted” LEDs and large grille up front, and even the alloy wheel designs, appear remarkably faithful to the concept.

First Spy Shots of 2013 Lexus GS Sedan

First Spy Shots of 2013 Lexus GS Sedan

SPIED: 2012 Bentley Continental GTC Speed

The upcoming 2012 Bentley Continental GTC Speed continues its…European tour as the British firm’s engineers have left the Alps and headed down to the Nurburgring racetrack for some high-speed tests.

SPIED: 2012 Bentley Continental GTC Speed

SPIED: 2012 Bentley Continental GTC Speed

Spy Shots: New 2013 Porsche 911 Turbo Shows Off its Aero Bits

The next Porsche 911 will make its world premiere in base trim at the forthcoming Frankfurt motor show this September, but this will only be the first chapter of the 991 saga as the Stuttgart-based firm plans to create an entire range of sub models.

The 911’s lineup will eventually grow to include numerous body styles such as coupe, convertible, Targa and speedster models as well as a variety of standard and limited production versions ranging from the entry level Carreras in two- and four-wheel drive layouts to the GT-spec track racers and the almighty Turbo, which our spies caught testing in Germany.

Spy Shots: New 2013 Porsche 911 Turbo Shows Off its Aero Bits

Spy Shots: New 2013 Porsche 911 Turbo Shows Off its Aero Bits

Is this the First Official Photo of the New Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4?

Only a few hours after Lamborghini published some new photos its Murcielago replacement showing off the supercar's carbon fiber chassis and other components, and a scanned image allegedly from an upcoming issue of the Croatian edition of EVO Magazine fell into the hands of Worldcarfans. The picture of the red-colored Aventador LP700-4 appears to be real, though one can never be sure with these things.

In any case, it won't be long before we get a full disclosure on Sant'Agata's new raging bull model, which is scheduled to receive its first public outing at the upcoming Geneva Salon.

The basic numbers you need to know is that the LP700-4 will be a whopping 230kg (507 lbs) lighter than a Murcielago LP640-4 coupe at 1.575 kg (3.472 lbs) and have 60 more ponies from its brand new 6.5-liter V12 engine that delivers 700HP at 8,250 rpm and a maximum torque of 690 Nm (479.4 lb-ft) at 5,500 rpm for a 0-100 km/h (62 mph) sprint time of 2.9 seconds and a top speed of 350 km/h (217 mph).

Source: Worldcarfans

U Spy: Italdesign Giugiaro's Geneva-Bound Volkswagen Concept Cars

Carscoop reader Torben tipped us off this morning about the addition of two Volkswagen concept cars penned by the Italdesign Giugiaro studio at the European patent office. Given the recent reports on the world premiere of two new design studies from Italdesign Giugiaro to mark its integration to the VW Group at the Geneva Salon next week, we'd say it's almost certain that these are the cars being readied for the Swiss motor show.

The first concept is a tall and narrow five-door hatchback model with seating for four passengers, while the second model appears to be a sportier looking three-door variant with a lower roofline and more aggressive lines, in the likes of the Scirocco. We can't tell for sure, but it is possible that these two cars are roughly the same size as the Polo.