Porsche 911 GT3 R Tire Test
If you want to drive a race car on the street, a Porsche 911 GT3 RS is the only solution. But many enthusiasts forget that Porsche still builds 911 race cars. If you want to compete in the GT3 series, you will need countless hours of track time and an incredible car. We see both of those in Drivetribe鈥檚 latest upload, as Falken Tire鈥檚 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 R is tested by Richard Hammond. As one of the stars of 鈥淭he Grand Tour鈥? the accident-prone Englishman needs to steer clear of potential adversity. That鈥檚 why Falken fitted their car with new rubber and let him loose in Portugal. The 991 Series GT3 R uses the same 4.0L engine found on the street legal GT3 RS, but every other component is made for competition. From a sequential transmission to massive 15鈥?iron rotors, it is built for dominance & endurance. The glass is all polycarbonate and the body is carbon fiber. This allows the 500 horsepower monster to easily push 2,689 lbs around the track. Sequential transmissions sound great on video, but their scream is echoed throughout the cockpit. If you think you have what it takes, get acquainted with a GT3 RS first. You won鈥檛 regret it!
While the Corolla Hatch is a slight offshoot of the family tree these days, it too offers a manual for those who like to row their own in an economy car. Bolstering the Mr. Noodles end of the Toyota lineup is the diminutive Yaris. A five-speed manual shows up in all three trims of Yaris Hatch while the slightly weirdo Yaris Sedan offers a stick only on its base model. Yes, the Blue Oval is winding down their car business but, for 2019, the Fiesta soldiers on. Most dealers will be a lot more interested in selling you an EcoSport, so be sure to check the back of the lot for these small Fords. The ST trim, if you can find one, has a six-speed manual. A single, very specific trim of the 2019 G70 can be fitted with a six-speed manual gearbox. The 2.0T Sport RWD model pairs this smooth shifting 鈥榖ox with a turbocharged inline four, making it one of the few new sedans in Canada that can be purchased with three pedals.
Just be sure to spec yours in Mallorca Blue. Sure, this model has been around awhile but its inclusion of a stickshift on the options sheet assures it a place on our list. In fact, the Z was one of the first affordable mainstream cars to offer rev matching as a feature on its manual 鈥榖ox, providing a perfectly blipped throttle during downshifts. Yes, Virginia, you can still get a midsize truck in this country with a manual transmission. While other manufacturers have recently (and quietly) dropped the stick from their midsize pickups, Toyota carries the flame in no fewer than three of its Tacomas, including the too-cool TRD Pro. Staying true to its rugged off-road persona, each of the six trims of Wrangler and four trims of Gladiator are available with a manual transmission, just like every topless Jeep before them. The day the Jeep lineup does not include a stickshift will be the day the auto industry ends. When equipped with the 2.4L Tigershark four-cylinder, the Sport trim comes with a six-speed manual transmission - and yes, you can spec your standard shift Compass with four-wheel drive. Jeep also allows Compass customers to select from their jazziest colours, despite Sport being the model鈥檚 base trim. It takes some digging to find a new Frontier in Canada equipped with a manual transmission but the search does eventually pay off.
Audi recently presented its Annual General Meeting where the company's top execs outlined the company's financial results and plans for the future. During his portion of the discussion, Audi AG Chairman of the Board of Management Bram Schot announced the company's intention to build a fully electric version of the next-gen Audi A8. The current generation of the Audi A8 (gallery below) just debuted in the 2018 model year. The model's recentness suggests that the next-gen sedan is quite a few years away, so Audi has quite a while to decide whether to give this luxurious EV a green light for production. During his speech, Schott also confirmed for the first time that the company was developing an electric vehicle to replace the TT with a price on par with the current model. In addition, he hinted at an electric supercar to replace the R8. Schott also announced that Audi will launch five EVs in 2020 and will have 20 in the lineup by 2025. The first of these is the E-Tron electric crossover and a more coupe-like Sportback variant arrives next year.
Second-hand Porsches have shot up in value over the past couple of years. That鈥檚 made them even more desirable for investors, and put them increasingly out of reach for less well-off enthusiasts. Don鈥檛 despair, though: you can still pick up a Porsche for under 拢10,000. Choose the right one and look after it and you might find yourself on the winning end of that appreciation curve when you come to selling it. Remember to drive it, though. It's great looking at a spotless Porsche in a temperature controlled garage, but not as great as giving it a chance to show - on the road - why these are among the most aspirational cars on the used market. We鈥檝e put together a list of the best used Porsche models to look for, in four price categories: 拢10,000, 拢20,000, 拢30,000 and 拢50,000. The original Cayenne looked like a 911 on stilts. You鈥檒l get more space in rival premium SUVs, but you won鈥檛 find one that drives much better than a Cayenne, and it will earn its keep either on or off the road. Just be aware of the high running costs.