2009 Gray Premium Luxury! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Road & Track names its 2013 Performance Car of the Year

Road & Track recently staged its first annual Performance Car of the Year test, pitting 13 new and updated performance cars against each other on track, then graduating the top six to a road test before picking a winner. Additionally, the magazine staff picked the best automobiles of the year in eight categories.
But first, let's cover the PCotY segment. Here's the list of cars brought to the comparison test: Audi R8 V10 Plus; BMW 435i; BMW M6 Competition Package; Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Z51; Ferrari F12 Berlinetta; Ford Fiesta ST; Jaguar F-Type V8 S; Jaguar XFR-S; Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S-Model Wagon; Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series; Mini John Cooper Works GP; Nissan GT-R Track Edition; and Porsche Cayman S.
To find out the results of the comparison, head over to Road & Track's website or check the press release below, where you'll also find the magazine's top-rated vehicles in eight categories. Want more? Head over to the 2013 PCotY hub. But before you do that, take a stab at guessing the winner of PCotY (we'll give you one hint: it isn't a Porsche).

Jaguar gets to work on next-gen XF sedan

With the XE now out in the open, Jaguar can begin to focus on what comes next. That means a new crossover, but also replacements for some of its aging current models - chief among them, the XF. Introduced back in 2007, Jaguar's mid-range sedan is growing a little long in the tooth. But from these latest spy shots, we can see that the British automaker is hard at work developing its successor.
Expected to be based on the same iQ A1 platform that underpins the new XE, the new XF promises to be lighter in weight and more advanced than the model it replaces. Look for most of the same engines to carry over, including gasoline and diesel options ranging from four cylinders to eight, with and without forced induction, with a potential plug-in hybrid version to follow. The current model is available in rear- and all-wheel-drive configurations and in sedan and wagon body styles, and we'd expect its replacement to follow suit.
The low-profile wheels and dual exhaust pipes on one of the prototypes spotted suggests it would lie somewhere near the top of the range, while the second prototype packs taller sidewalls and a trailer hitch. It's hard to discern much esle from the spy shots, heavily camouflaged as they are, but as with the technology underneath, we'd expect styling to takes some cues from the smaller XE as well. Jaguar will, of course, need to tread the line between distinctive and understated if it's going to fend off the Maserati Ghibli and take a bigger slice of the pie away from the likes of the Audi A6, BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the Lexus GS and Infiniti Q70, the Cadillac CTS and the upcoming new Volvo S90.

More than 30 vintage Jaguars found, forgotten for decades in a greenhouse

A long, long time ago, some unnamed person realized that storing motorized precious metals in a barn would eventually be passe. This visionary hoarder decided, instead, to collect an assemblage of more than 30 vintage Jaguars in a greenhouse in Beaulieu, England. To passers-by, it would look like someone was tending a crop of blue tarps. To us, thanks to Beaulieu Garage, it looks not like a barn find but rather the first "greenhouse find." The classic car restoration shop wrote in a Facebook post, "we were asked to help clear a private collection of cars," and when Beaulieu Garage saw the array, "An offer was made," and now it has a whole lot of rusted metal looking for good homes. It took a week to get everything out, and the shop said the "parts alone have taken up 12 storage racks, with engines and gearboxes included." While a barn isn't the best place to park a car for decades, a greenhouse is arguably worse. The glass house is a combination of maximum UV levels and rain forest humidity, the ambient moisture free to rust and rot everything the sun can't kill. And early Jaguars aren't known for robust defenses against the elements. Most of the cars are E-Types, many of those the early and more elegant 1960s models. Among the trove are some cars that "you could probably get running in a couple of days," but the photos show there are plenty of long-term projects that rate effort comparable to The Pacific Campaign. Incredibly, Beaulieu Garage is confident that "All will see the road again," assuming the worst problem children can find empathetic buyers. The first salable car has been listed, a left-hand drive, 1960 XK150 3.8-Liter Drophead Coupe with matching numbers that was originally sent to New York. This is said to be the last XK150 the factory painted a cream color, and the fourth-last XK150 ever built. Scraps of the red leather interior remain, the sand colored top looks to be in the same condition. After eight years in the greenhouse, Beaulieu Garage charmingly describes the XK's previous digs as "Dry Stored in the UK." The convertible comes with a heritage certificate, and will cost GBP40,000 ($52,654 U.S.) to trailer home. A Facebook post from today says the shop will get parts lists and pricing up shortly, so stay tuned if you have a lot of time and money you need to find occupations for.