Alex Unleashed on Cars

  Whilst it would be easy to simply list my 10 favourite cars here are what I think are the 10 objectively best cars ever made. These are the biggest game changers, the most revolutionary and genuinely good cars to date. But just like last time, I’ll list a few honourable mentions that didn’t quite make the cut. Honourable Mentions Audi Quattro (1980-1991) The reason the Quattro didn’t make the top 10 was because the 4-wheel drive performance car had already been done by Jensen with the Interceptor. But the Quattro was the first to popularize 4-wheel drive in both rallying and in road going performance cars. The only problem is like I said, it had been done before, add to that in reality it was the Peugeot 205 T16 that was the dominate Group B rally car at the time. But it was a very good car, capable of 0-60 in 6.7 seconds in 20 valve spec (which was supercar fast in 1989) and had strong grip from it’s 4-wheel drive system and as I said, it did revolutionize rallying and di...

  My Top 10 Most Disliked Cars I’m sure we’ve all got cars that we hate but here’s my list of my most disliked cars. Please bear in mind that this is purely opinion based and not a list of the objectively worst cars ever built, though aspects like reliability, value, performance, looks or the car’s history are deciding factors. But first it’s time for Dishonourable Mentions. These are the cars that whilst bad weren’t quite deserving enough of the top 10. So here goes: Ssangyong Rexton- I’m just going to say it, this is the 2 nd ugliest car ever made, I mean look at it. Ssangyong has never had a good track record when it comes to designing cars but this thing is just repulsive. Your probably familiar with the Rodius but frankly this makes that old barge look like a Ferrari 355. But let’s also not forget that Ssangyong still has no street cred or recognisability even after being in the UK since 1996, if you buy one of these you either know nothing about style or taste or are j...

  Plenty of countries have their own regional race series such our own BTCC as well as America’s ALMS and Germanies DTM. But you may not have heard of Japan’s JGTC. The JGTC (Japanese Grand Touring Championship) began in 1994 following the European GT1 & GT2 regulations with a rather unambitious start. The series was 5 races long and mostly made up of homegrown Nissan Skylines, who’d having previously dominated the All-Japan Touring Car Championship from 1990 to 1992. But the season did contain a variety of machines. 2 Porsche 962C’s and 2 Ferrari F40’s entered by team Taisan who both proved to be close rivals to the Nissan’s, a Lamborghini Countach (built by the Japanese Lamborghini Owner’s Club) and for Round 3 at Fuji, an ex-Group B Lancia 037. The winner for GT1 was team Calsonic’s Nissan Skyline and the GT2 winner was Korg Kegani’s Porsche 964 RS. Immediately the series was a hit, and it’s easy to see why, the races were always close, mainly because for every point you...

  The original Honda NSX is one of those cars and things in general that isn’t truly appreciated until years after its gone. If you read/watch sources from the time you’d never get the sense that this car really evolved the supercar genre and high-performance cars as a whole. Whereas now, if you read/watch retrospective pieces, you see lots of the same admiration and praise for what was a car so far ahead of the game that made all the other manufactures take a good look at themselves and make an effort to improve their offerings, I mean compare the Ferrari 348 to 355 or Porsche introducing both the Carrera 4 and the 4-wheel drive Turbo, some of the most highly praised cars of their time and class. The general consensus is that these came about because the NSX showed that the supercar could have the usability and exploitability of a hot hatch and the superlative performance and exclusivity of said supercars. The concept for the NSX began back in 1984 and was highly advanced techni...

  A quick reminder before I begin, this blog focuses on political which can be a very volatile issue so I shall be looking at the topics today from an impartial perspective. I shall also include links to any sources I refer to, in case some accuse me of making them up. Question 1: Is the Conservative Party, really the “party of the motorist”? Short answer. No. they are not. Realistically, no political party is a “party of the motorist” as Labour’s idea for road pricing back in 2003/4 would have charged people for taking children to school or going to work. I sight two examples as to why the Conservatives are not the party of the motorist. Reason 1: Speed cameras were introduced under the Conservatives in 1994 and reason 2: their 2003 manifesto. During 2003 the Conservatives said that if they came to power they would “up the motorway speed limit to 80 MPH, do away with the vast majority of speed cameras, a purge of speed bumps and abolish the M4 bus lane” (*). None of these ...

  The general consensus is that upstart car makers will at some point go bust. This has very much been the case for multiple manufacturers. But if like me, you grew up in the 2000’s then there are 4 upstart brands that both resonated with us and are still here today. Those are: Noble, Ariel, Koenigsegg and Pagani. Interestingly the story of how the Pagani Zonda both took the fight to the established supercar brands and bring about a second supercar renaissance actually starts in the 1980s. Horacio Pagani previously worked for Lamborghini in the composites department so he already knew a lot about making supercars as well as the mechanicals that go into making a good one, he also owns Moden Design which helped provide the carbon fibre used in the Zonda’s construction.   You could actually argue the Zonda C12 came out too late as by 1999 all the 200 MPH hypercars were gone except its main rival, the Lamborghini Diablo. But on to the car. The engine is a 6 litre Mercedes V1...

  Forza Horizon has always been one of my favourite franchises as it takes the freedom of the open road and combines it with the content of a simulation racer. But I’ve generally been rather unsatisfied with the franchise’s offerings over the past few years and the latest offering, Horizon 5 feels lacking in multiple area’s. So let’s break the game down with what’s good and what needs changing. First off, the map is fantastic. Horizon 4’s UK map was fairly dull likely down to the location not having varied types of terrain being in the UK. Whereas Horizon 5’s Mexico map is more like Horizon 3’s map where we have a jungle, a desert, a volcano, beaches, and mountains as well. The variety is also coupled to a well-designed map with plenty of long straights and winding roads that encourage driving just for the sake of driving, and that I like. Next the custom events are a welcome addition. I have never approved of the change from Horizon 1 to 2 in that events don’t require cars f...