Alex Unleashed on Cars

As we all know, The Grand Tour as we know it is over. Jeremy, James & Richard have officially parted ways after over 20 years working together, racing, shouting and laughing together. My social media feeds have been full of tributes and memes to the trio and it’s weird knowing that no more content with them is going to be made, it’s like when a comedian announces retirement, we just have to watch the old stuff I suppose. Now this isn’t a review of One for the Road, all I will say is Funeral for a Ford (the finale of Series 3) was the ideal finale and send off because the episode wasn’t just a tribute and send off for Fords iconic saloon car but a send off for the trio themselves. Consider how the story of the Mondeo and the trio intersect, it starts with the Cortina and the presenters first falling in love with cars and ends with the axing of the Mondeo and the supposed end of the trios work together. It wasn’t just a funeral for Ford, it was a funeral for them too. But of course...

After the Honda NSX went out of production, the idea of a more affordable and usable supercar went with it. Until 2 years later, Audi gave us the R8. This by the way is not to be confused with the Audi R8 LMP900 car that won Le Mans 5 times starting in 2000 then ’01, ’02, ’04 & ’05, ’03 was won by the Bentley Speed 8 though that car was based on Audi’s old R8C LMGTP car from ’99. Funnily enough, the R8 road car was first revealed as a concept in 2003 under the name ‘Le Mans’, the links between the 2 cars don’t end there, some even theorized the R8 road car would use a detuned version of the LMP900’s twin turbo V8, but Audi instead used the 4.2 Litre V8 from the RS4 saloon. That said, later down the line, a prototype R8 was trialled with the V12 turbo diesel engine from the R8 LMP900’s successor, the 2006 Le Mans winning R10 TDI. Though instead we got the R8 V10, more on that later. Upon confirmation the R8 was going to be built, some thought Audi would run into the same problem...

With Forza Horizon 4 now at its end-of-life status it’s time to look back at the games life and consider whether the game was any good or was actually rather underwhelming. So, let’s break this down into segments: gameplay, cars, map, soundtrack & miscellaneous Gameplay FH4’s whole gameplay and progression centres around the Festival Playlist and Forzathon, it’s what’s known as a Live Service game, relying on regular updates with new content rather than having a main campaign to work through and post game content afterwards to keep you playing and as a reward. Whilst it is good that we were getting batches of cars every 4 weeks for free and only requiring an hour or so’s game time, the issue though is that to access this you needed Wifi and some challenges required a paid Xbox Live Gold Membership which lets be fair, the kids/teens this game is fundamentally targeted aren’t going to be able pay for, effectively locking away content behind a paywall only adults can access whic...

 There are plenty of cars that have gone done in history for their excellence, either through movies, high sales or generally being well remembered, But there are plenty of cars that don't get enough credit or their legacy is simply forgotten, so here's a list of what I think are the most overlooked and underrated cars that deserve their time in the spotlight and we should start talking about. As always here are a few cars that didn’t make the cut. Honourable Mentions Chevrolet Corvette C5 (1997-2004)- What makes the C5 underappreciated is the cars incredible racing track record, it was the only car that could hold a candle to the Dodge Viper GTS-R in the ALMS (American Le Mans Series) and when manufacturer support was dropped for the Vipers, the Corvette’s became untouchable until the Prodrive Ferrari 550’s came onto the scene. And don’t forget, the base car cost £37,000 which is incredibly good value for money even compared to a Lotus Esprit V8 or Mitsubishi 3000 GT, and do...

  From the outset I have to say this has to be the most exhilarating drive I’ve been on yet. But before the drive, I was able to look around the mighty DBS. It still looks like a conventional Aston Martin, the grille and the general shape is still typical Aston Martin styling, inside I wasn’t blown away by the interior, but it was a nice place to be, a lot of owners really like personalizing their cars though the owner of this particular one had kept it very understated bar some red piping on the seats. The seats are mounted low and do a good job of keeping you comfortable but also keep you secure. Whilst the infotainment screen no longer rises from the dashboard it is at least modestly sized rather than consuming the whole centre console. I wasn’t sold on the digital readout for revs and speed though, the first car to need it was the Lexus LF-A because it’s V10 engine revved so quickly, a conventional needle couldn’t keep up. Here though, I’m not sure it’s necessary and the co...

So, motoring fans have been fuming as of late as Ford revealed “the legend returns” in the form of the new Ford Capri. Now this is something Ford has been trying since the original Capri coupe went out of production in Europe in 1984 and the UK/Ireland in 1986. We got the Probe (which was the first US Ford since the Model T sold in the UK) in ‘94, followed by the Cougar in ’98 and the Puma the year prior. But the Probe had a silly name and had been around in the US for several years, the Cougar wasn’t much of a driver’s car and the Puma whilst an excellent car sadly was never replaced. There has been no Ford coupe in the UK since 2002. And no the Mustang doesn’t count! It’s hard to get across just how important this new Capri is, but when asked “what kind of car is it?” it’s actually quite hard to describe, because as you can probably tell, this new version is not a 2-door coupe. It’s an electric 4-door hatch/SUV. Since the Capri concept was spotted a couple of months ago, fans h...

  I discussed with some friends a while ago what the best series of Top Gear was and following that I did some thinking and rewatched every series to come to a conclusion. And my conclusion was that series 5 was my favourite. And what I think set this series apart from almost all the other series was the structure of the series. What do I mean by that? Well, if you look at how the episodes are ordered and which films feature, the series starts off somewhat humble, we have the new Porsche 911, another Hammond stunt (how many bouncy castles can an ice cream van jump?) and the Vauxhall Monaro, Chrysler 300C & Jaguar S-Type R on Pennine Sands alongside the usual news and Star in a Reasonably Priced Car. Then as we go along, we get the Ferrari Enzo, Jeremy’s Nürburgring challenge, the £1500 Porsches and then the final 3 episodes are where we get the best bits yet. The Top Gear Awards, Ferrari 612 vs Plane, Renault F1 car and the Ariel Atom destroying Jeremy’s face. There are als...