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OP10 • THEEDGE SINGAPORE

| FEBRUARY 26, 2007

DRIVE

DREAM

drives

There will be no shortage of new cars on the road this year.

Tony Watts rounds up the most desired of them all.

Citroën C6

I wouldn’t dare suggest that car buyers are like sheep. It’s just that they seem to express their individuality in the same way as hundreds, if not thousands, of others. This is unlikely to be the case with the Citroën C6 — you need only look at it to recognise that.

But the car is not exactly new. A change of distributor for the French marque puts it under the stewardship of Cycle & Carriage France, which is keen to bring in the flag-

Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé

Rolls-Royce has been teasing us with this car for years. In 2004 it was unveiled as the 100EX, a model designation meaning “experimental”, and toured the world (including making an appearance at the Singapore Motorshow) to gauge public reaction.

BMW, Rolls-Royce’s parent company, hasn’t rushed into things and the result looks like it was worth the wait.

“Designing without compromise meant that, to a certain extent, we had to start again,” says Ian Cameron, Rolls-Royce’s chief designer.

“Simply removing the Phantom’s roof could have made a great convertible but it wouldn’t have made a perfect one.”

Kudos to the design team for retaining the brushed steel of the bon-

net and teak “decking” on the rear hood cover (they’re on the options list). You can even opt to have the Spirit of Ecstasy in silver or gold, rather than plain ol’ stainless steel.

The 6.75-litre, naturally aspirated, V12 engine develops 453bhp and accelerates the Phantom Drophead Coupé to 100kph in about six seconds and on to a limited top speed of 240kph.

Rolls-Royce claims the car is the most rigid convertible available today, and the engineering didn’t stop there. The hood features five layers of insulation material and is lined with a cashmere blend, so with the roof up you can expect it to be as plush and refined as a Rolls-Royce should be. The cars are expected to arrive here in the third quarter, and to cost slightly more than the Phantom saloon. Buyers are already lining up.

ship model but first needs to address some technical issues.

If so, we will see a vehicle with a 3.0-litre V6, plenty of road presence and masses of interior space, and which promises a very smooth ride on hydraulic suspension. It truly does look like the spiritual successor to the much-admired DS, albeit without that car’s innovation. The question mark here is likely to be pricing. Can Citroën lure buyers away from the German marques?

THEEDGE SINGAPORE | FEBRUARY 26, 2007 • OP11

COVER STORY

Mitsubishi Evo X

It’s official — there is a new Lancer Evolution on the way. Pictured here is the Mitsubishi Prototype X. It’s built on the all-new Lancer platform, and was unveiled alongside it at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last month.

Given that the Evo X isn’t expected to arrive h ere until the end of the year, details are sketchy but we can expect the biggest step in performance for any of the Evo variants.

As it stands, the current car with its high-tech all-wheel-drive system and a mightily powerful turbocharged 2.0-litre engine is arguably one of the fastest on the planet in real-world conditions. In performance terms, it is an utter bargain too, but you have to be willing to put up with the boxy sedan design, fairly cheaply finished interior and firm ride. The car is good enough that plenty of buyers will happily do that.

How great is it? Mitsubishi doesn’t quote 0 to 100kph times, but it is capable of leaving muchfancied supercars in its dust, and that’s before you get to any corners.

It is a triumph of technology.

The 10th Evolution looks likely to address the complaints about the current vehicle. It certainly looks great. The interior will most likely be less reliant on hard black plastic, and the stiffer chassis will give engineers a chance to soften the ride without compromising dynamics. And the technology looks like it is advancing. It will be fitted with a paddle-shift transmission and the Super All Wheel Control (S-AWC) system that controls which wheels get the power, not only based on grip but also handling. It’s likely to cost a little more than the current car’s $142,000 asking price. Enthusiasts are waiting.

BMW 3-Series Coupé Cabriolet

A folding hard top is hardly news but there is a 3-Series on the way with just that.

It is an interesting conundrum for BMW. A folding hard top weighs more than canvas and is therefore the enemy of performance. But chances are that this decision comes courtesy of the marketing, rather than engineering, department. People want folding hard tops and if that’s what they want, that’s what they’ll get.

BMW has retained the traditional fixed-roof coupé in the range, so the purist still has a choice of a folding hard top for wind-inthe-hair motoring, or the coupé for a more sporty drive.

The 3-Series is hugely popular and a folding hard top is going to enhance that. The roof folds in three pieces so the rear-end styling isn’t compromised so much, and visibility has been improved by 38%, making it safer than its predecessor.

Audi R8

In model designation terms, you may well get something very interesting if you managed to fi nd an R8 on eBay. Audi won the fabled 24-hour race at Le Mans for three consecutive years starting 2000 with an R8.

What we’re about to get is a genuine road-going R8, and it won’t be short on performance. We’re looking at Ferrari territory here — the R8 features a glass cover over the mid-mounted engine, just as the current mid-engined Ferraris do. It goes one step further with an optional LED illumination package that bathes the engine in light so passers-by

will be suitably impressed.

The 4.2-litre V8 pumps out around 420 horsepower and has an 8,250rpm rev limit. The chassis is all-aluminium, as you expect from Audi, and all four wheels are driven. Audi claims it will sprint to 100kph in 4.6 seconds, and reach a top speed of 300kph, placing it squarely in supercar territory.

UK pricing puts it in BMW M6 territory — meaning $500,000 — though rumour has it going as high as $600,000. Still, it undercuts the Italian competition by a fair degree.

Tony Watts is a freelance writer with a passion for bikes and fast cars