Owning a classic car can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand what your driving is a true piece of automotive history, but on the other, these wonderful machines can be extremely costly and require extensive maintenance. Now sure, if you want there is no reason you can’t go out, spend $10k and buy a decent classic to tool around in. However if you want the best of the best, well then, it’s going to cost you. This is Gavin King of Concours Sportscar Restoration just outside of Sydney, Australia. His company specializes in bringing vintage Jaguar’s and Aston Martin’s back to life and with that, they help fulfill the childhood dreams of the cars owners. Restoring a classic car is a labor of love. You do it because you want to preserve history and keep the feeling of excellence alive. It’s not easy, nor is it cheap, however the end result of a properly done concourse restoration is something that can bring one joy for a lifetime.

Source: RalfBecker.com

Concours from Toby Morris on Vimeo.

There is something about watching members of the old guard going up against the new kids on the block. For instance, if you grew up in the 1980′s, then the odds of your automotive icons being the likes of the Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959 are pretty damn good. However if you’re a child of the millennium then you may be partial to cars like the Lamborghini Murcielago or Bugatti Veyron. Whatever your flavor though, you can’t hide from the fact that a super car is a super car, regardless of their build date. Recently EVO Magazine’s Chris Harris went on a little follow-the-leader run at Germany’s famed Nurburgring. Harris is driving Jaguar’s new 505 hp XKR-S, while John Nielsen, the man who help developed the XJ220, sits in front of him in an actual XJ220. So, here’s the question; does Jaguars new big cat, the XKR-S have the stones to keep up with a car that’s 20 years its senior? Click through to find out.

Source: Youtube.com

If you’re tired of seeing manufacturers run their latest wares around Germany’s Nürburgring circuit in search of the lowest possible elapsed time, here’s a video you may actually enjoy. It stars the all-new and sold-out Jaguar XKR-S Convertible, which packs 550 horsepower and 502 lb.-ft. of torque, will run from 0 – 60 in just over 4 seconds and tops out at 186 mph, even in convertible form. Yes, the front fascia does slightly resemble a catfish, but we’re willing to look beyond that to see the XKR-S’s inner beauty.

Even if you don’t like the car, the top-notch cinematography and above average soundtrack make the video worth watching. Enjoy it below.

The Range Rover Evoque was designed to open doors for Jaguar Land Rover, and to attract new customers to the somewhat stodgy brand. For many American buyers, a Range Rover was nothing more than a way of telling the neighbors you made more money than them (and didn’t worry about details like depreciation or reliability). That may work in the suburbs, but it didn’t play well with young, urban hipsters, who Jaguar Land Rover desperately wants as customers.

Enter the smaller, kinder, gentler Range Rover Evoque, which comes only with a turbocharged four cylinder engine. It’s designed to be an all-weather “lifestyle vehicle,” not the kind of sport-utility you’d take far beyond where the buses run. It’s capable enough when fitted with Land Rover’s Terrain Response system, but it simply isn’t the kind of SUV you’d tackle the Rubicon Trail in.

Motor Trend has a different take on the Evoque, and they’ve just named it “SUV of the Year.” Granted, the competition has been a bit thin in 2011, as most manufacturers move away from gass-guzzling SUVs to small displacement sedans and hatchbacks, but surely there had to be something to stack up against the Evoque. In fairness, we haven’t driven one, but the Evoque is more of a crossover in our eyes than it is an SUV.

What’s your take? Did Motor Trend pick the best new SUV of 2011, or is it all about the advertising revenue?

When released in 1992 the Jaguar XJ220 was one of the fastest road cars on the planet. It’s twin-turbo charged 3.5-liter V6 produced 542 hp and 476 lb-ft of torque which meant 0-60 mph in 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 220 mph. Back then it was one of the greatest super cars ever created, but how does it compare to Jaguar’s newest toy? Recently Fifth Gear, the UK’s other car show, took Jaguar’s newest bad boy, the XKR-S and pitted it against its much older brother. Horsepower wise the cars are pretty comparable, but the XJ220 has a pretty good weight advantage. So, will the new XKR-S and its 20 years of suspension technology beat the big old cat of yesteryear? I can tell you one thing… it’ll be close. Click play to find out which is the new King.

Source: Youtube.com

Jaguar's C-X16 Concept. Image: Jaguar

I’ll come clean up front: I’m not a hybrid guy. If you’re a long-term reader, you already know this, but if you’re new to RideLust it might be the first time you’ve heard this. I’ve driven plenty of hybrids, but all of them to date have been built with an eye to fuel economy, not performance. In fact, hybrids add weight and complexity, two thing that tend to have a negative impact on acceleration, braking and even long-term reliability.

Image: Jaguar

Enter the Jaguar C-X16 Concept, which is set to make its official debut in Frankfurt next week. The exterior styling is jaw-dropping, and the car seems to blend elements of the Jaguar E-Type into its futuristic skin. Even the interior looks properly sporting, something that we haven’t seen from many Jaguars in recent years.

Image: Jaguar

Get to the powertrain, and things start to get particularly interesting. First up is a 3.0-liter supercharged V-6, good for 375 horsepower and mated to a eight speed automatic gearbox. Also mated to the gearbox is an electric motor good for an additional 94 horsepower, which gives the C-X16 some truly impressive acceleration. Zero to one hundred kph (62 mph) comes up in just 4.4 seconds, on the way to a top speed of 186 miles per hour. Better yet, the car’s battery pack is mounted behind the seats, giving it an ideal 50/50 weight distribution.

Image: Jaguar

The batteries are charged through a brake energy regeneration system, and the electric motor can be used to provide supplemental torque for sudden acceleration. Think “KERS” on a Formula 1 car, and you get the picture. If you want to focus on the environmentally friendly side of the C-X16, the car can be driven up to 50 miles per hour, for limited distances, on battery power alone.

Will Jaguar build the C-X16? It’s hard to say, since there’s a fair amount of “unobtainium” in the concept. Still, Jaguar has been looking to produce a smaller, less expensive sports coupe, and the styling of the C-X16 fits well with the rest of the family lineup. This is just a guess, but I suspect you’ll see the car hit production within the next three years. The final version may not be a hybrid, but I certainly hope it’s as sexy as the car in these images.

Source: Jaguar Land Rover

Recently, I attended the Carlisle Import and Kit Nationals show at the Carlisle Fairgrounds in Pennsylvania. Held every May, this show features a vast array of meticulously maintained classic British, European and Japanese cars, exemplary examples of their more modern kin, as well as a beautiful collection of kit cars.  As far as sheer variety in makes, models and years, hands down, this show can’t be beat.

This has become something of an annual treat for me as I can think of few better ways to spend a weekend than by gazing at a gleaming sea of jaw-droppingly stunning automobiles, many of which I guarantee you won’t find at other shows. Plus, participation is open to anyone with an import or a kit car – all you have to do is register, make your car pretty and show up. It’s a great opportunity to display your cherished ride and meet other aficionados of your favorite marques.

I used to come down to show my Saab and hang out with the Saab contingent that makes it out every year. But even though I have a Subaru now, it’s just so much fun that I continue to make the trip to Carlisle (my WRX was parked over by the lone DeLorean, if you happened to be there). Volvo, BMW and Audi clubs also traditionally have a large showing so the weekend is packed with the cars you love, cars you haven’t seen before, your friends from the forums, barbeques – it’s a good time for everyone.  So, if you’re not too far out from Pennsylvania, I definitely recommend heading out there next May to check out the Carlisle Import and Kit Nationals. To tide you over, provided for your viewing pleasure are some of my favorite cars of the weekend. Enjoy!

Lancia Scorpion

Matte black Volvo V70R

Opel GT and Opel Kadett Coupe

Volvo P1800S

Saab 9-3 Viggens

Ferrari 360 Modena and 328GTS

Citroën 2CV and Smart Roadster Coupe

Gorgeous Audi Quattro

Fiat 124 Spider Abarth

Twin-charged Audi A1

Volvo S60Rs

Saab 99 Turbo

Badass Volvos: PV544 and 142

DKW Junior de Luxe - DKW/Dampf-Kraft-Wagen became one of the four companies that comprised the "Audi NSU Auto Union AG" (now known as Audi AG).

Triumph TR8 and TR6s

Saab 96 V4 convertible - must have been a custom job.

Bimmer Beauties

Datsun 280ZX 10th Anniversary Edition

Citroën H Van and DS

Audi A7

Honda Z600 / 600 Coupe

Saab Sonetts

Datsun SPL311 Roadster

Opel GT

Image: Flickr user SbastienRondet

When Jaguar showed their visionary C-X75 Concept at last year’s Paris Auto Show, I’ll admit that I had a hard time taking the car seriously. Sure, it was a stunner, but it was also shown as a non-functional turbine-electric hybrid, and history has not been kind to turbine powered automobiles. Remember the 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car? How about the GM Firebird Concept from 1953? Gas turbine engines may be ideal for vehicles like helicopters, but their complexity, power delivery and heat output make them less than ideal for road-going vehicles. I guessed that the C-X75 would never see production, but it turns out I was only half right.

Jaguar tells us that the C-X75 Concept will indeed see production, but in a more practical form. It will still have four electric motors rated at 195 horsepower each (for 780 combined horsepower), but those motors will get power from a generator driven by a more conventional internal-combustion engine. Onboard lithium ion batteries will give the car an estimated battery-only range of 31 miles, but with limited performance. If you want the full grunt when you drop the hammer, the car’s internal combustion engine will be required to provide maximum current to the electric motors. From an engineering perspective, you can think of the C-X75 as a Chevy Volt with three more motors and a lot more thrust.

As for performance, Jaguar says the production version will be good for a sub 3-second sprint to 60 MPH, on the way to a top speed of 200 miles per hour. You can feel good about rolling up to your Earth First! chapter meeting in a C-X75 as well, since the car will only produce 99 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer; just make sure the other members know that before they attack your car with sledgehammers. If you guessed that performance, technology and environmental consciousness comes at a price, you’d be right: Jaguar expects the C-X75 to sell for at least $1.2 million, and they’re only building 250 copies.

As for the gas turbine idea, Jaguar isn’t abandoning that just yet. You won’t see it in the production version of the C-X75, but you just might see microturbines powering a generator in future Jaguar models.

Source: Left Lane News

Thumbs Up: A luxury ride with sporting intentions.

Thumbs Down: Digital dash seems out of place.

Buy This Car If: You want a modern interpretation of traditional luxury.

Somewhere during my first stint behind the wheel of the Jaguar XJ Supercharged, I ran out of superlatives. Somehow, calling the 2011 Jaguar XJ the nicest mid-level Jaguar ever produced seems inadequate. It’s certainly the best looking, and it breaks from Jaguar’s stately saloon car heritage to borrow a few styling elements from Aston Martin (remember, both were owned by Ford when design work on the 2011 XJ began). It’s certainly among the quickest, and the car’s 470 horsepower supercharged V8 brings the car to speed with a surprising amount of haste, hitting 60 miles per hour in under 5 seconds. It also seems better screwed together than Jags in recent memory, and the interior is the nicest I’ve ever seen in a Jaguar XJ. As equipped, the Jaguar XJ Supercharged tester I drove had a sticker price just south of $90,000; it’s not often that I can say this, but the new XJ Supercharged is worth every penny.

Jaguar redesigned the XJ for the 2011 model year, and placed significant emphasis on both interior content and exterior style. The outside is a radical departure from XJs past, but I say that’s a good thing. Regardless of how iconic the previous XJ’s styling may have been, it didn’t stack up well against other contemporary full size luxury sedans. Styling on the new car, however, is stunning. It doesn’t have a bad angle, and it looks like nothing else on the road. Sure, there are the previously mentioned styling influences from Aston Martin (particularly from the front), but the car manages to have its own identity. Purists may decry it as too dramatic a change from Jaguar’s traditional styling, but I’d say it was necessary to bring life back into a dying product line. On exterior styling alone, the 2011 Jaguar XJ is perhaps the best car I’ve driven to date.

As good as the exterior is, it pales in comparison to the XJ’s new interior. It’s perfectly executed and built to a standard not generally associated with Jaguars of old. Fit and finish was as good as anything I’ve ever seen on four wheels, and the materials used were beyond reproach. I’m not a wood-trim-in-my-sport-sedan kind of guy, but the satin elm veneer used in the XJ’s interior was exquisite; in fact, I found myself looking for excuses to drive the car just to appreciate the interior’s colors, textures and shapes. Even the rise-from-the-center-console gear selector knob, which takes getting used to, had an unusually solid feel to it, like it was machined down from steel bar stock before being thickly chrome platied. If I could fault the interior, it would be for two things: the digital dash, which seems out of place in a car with the XJ’s heritage; and the heated windshield, which made driving at night an exercise in blurred vision. The windshield (which contains embedded heating elements that refract light from oncoming cars) is easy enough to eliminate, since it’s sold as a $375 option.

The digital dash, on the other hand, just takes getting used to. It’s a high resolution LCD screen that projects the image of gauges, and it’s completely functional; in fact, the gauges are clear in a wide range of lighting conditions, and switch from blue backlighting to red when Dynamic mode is selected (more on that later). As good as they are, I can’t help think that a set of chrome-ringed traditional gauges, blended with an LCD information screen, would have been a better aesthetic fit for this car.

Here I go throwing out superlatives again, but the front seats in the Jaguar XJ are that best I’ve ever experienced on four wheels. They’re adjustable for every conceivable manner of comfort, made of buttery soft leather (with contrasting piping), heated and cooled. Just in case that’s not good enough for you, they also have a “Shiatsu massage” feature for both the driver and the passenger. Getting stuck in rush hour traffic in the Jag is something to look forward to, since it gives you an excuse to punch up the seat massage and to crank the 1200W Bowers and Wilkins surround sound audio. Whatever furniture and audio components you have waiting for you at home, they’re probably not as good as the ones in the XJ.

Rear seat passengers also get first class accommodations, including heated seats, cooled seats, massaging seatbacks and their own climate control. The standard wheelbase XJ gives ample room for rear seat passengers, but Jaguar also offers the car in a long wheelbase model if you’re the type who leaves the driving to someone else.

Trunk space is on par with other luxury sedans, but the height of the Jag’s trunk seems reduced compared to the competition. Loading luggage or golf bags won’t be an issue, but trying to stuff a medium-large shipping box into the trunk probably won’t end well. If you’re driving a Jaguar XJ, this probably isn’t a limiting factor; you either have another vehicle for hauling oversized or odd-shaped objects, or you have people who do that for you. If you’re shopping the XJ, be sure to check the trunk space to see if it will work for your needs.

Under the hood, the XJ Supercharged gets a 5.0 liter supercharged V8 good for 470 horsepower and 424 ft lb of torque. This is mated to a six speed automatic that can also be shifted via steering wheel mounted paddle shifters, which execute surprisingly quick shifts in Dynamic mode. Despite driving the XJ in a “brisk and spirited manner”, I still managed to see fuel economy of 20.3 MPG in mostly highway driving. This is slightly better than the EPA rating of 15 MPG city, 21 MPG highway and 17 MPG combined, and I probably could have returned an even higher fuel economy if I’d kept the car in Standard mode instead of Dynamic mode for the majority of my driving. There’s even a “snow mode” which starts you out in second gear and promotes quick upshifts to maximize traction on slippery surfaces; this would also work to maximize fuel efficiency.

But resisting the siren’s song of Dynamic mode proved difficult for me. In Standard mode, the XJ is a comfortable but sporty luxury sedan. In Dynamic mode, the car seems to come alive, transforming into a full bore luxury sport sedan. The suspension tightens up, but the ride never gets harsh; this is a Jag, after all. The throttle response, which is good to begin with, gets even better. Shift changes quicken, and the car builds speed as effortlessly as, well, a jaguar (the four legged kind). I expected the XJ to excel as a luxury car; I didn’t expect the XJ to excel as a sport sedan.

Even in Dynamic mode, the suspension can’t hide the fact that the XJ is a big car, Despite the extensive use of aluminum, the XJ tips the scales at nearly 4,300 pounds; that’s lighter than a BMW 750i (which weighs 4,564 pounds), a Mecrcedes S550 (4,455 pounds) or even an Audi A8 (4,409 pounds), but it’s still heavy for a sport sedan. Body roll is minimal, but don’t expect a car weighing north of two tons to change direction as quickly as a sports car. That said, I was still impressed at both the XJ’s handling and the amount of feedback that it provides the driver. Unless you’re coming from a Porsche Panamera Turbo, I seriously doubt the handling of the XJ will disappoint.

My 2011 Jaguar XJ Supercharged had a sticker price of $88,575, including a destination charge of $875. The sole option on my tester was the aforementioned Heated Windshield, a $375 option I’d advise against. Total sticker on my tester came to $88,950, which makes the XJ Supercharged a relative bargain among top-tier luxury sedans. A comparably equipped BMW 750i would sticker at $92,725, a similarly optioned Audi A8 would sell for $94,925 and a comparable Mercedes-Benz S550 would top out at $109,365. If you can live with less power, a Base XJ (with the 385 horsepower V8) starts at $73,575, but still includes all of the XJ’s safety features, its superb chassis and its stunning good looks.

As automotive journalists being able to obtain press cars is a definite perk of the job, but Jay Leno is on an entirely different level. Obviously we’ve shown segments of Jay Leno’s Garage on here before, and for good reason… Jay gets his hands on EVERYTHING. Take this beautiful Jaguar CX-75 concept car that was recently the talk of the 2010 Paris Auto Show. What makes the CX-75 concept so special is that it is powered by two jet turbines, which in turn power electric motors, making it an extended range super car. This car was never intended to see production, but instead built to pay homage to 75 years of Jaguar heritage and showcase their existing technology. Personally, I think it’s kinda’ cool in a futuristic Jetson’s kinda’ way, and who knows, we may just be looking at the future of automobiles.

Source: Carmag.co.za