2013 Ford Focus ST "The Young Rival"

The Good: - Awesome engine and gearbox - Awesome ride and handling - Awesome value for money

The Bad: - Average rear-seat legroom - Some torque-steer on launch - Reduced boot space

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The new Ford Focus ST is freaking brilliant! Now that we’ve delivered our verdict in the first line of this review already, you might as well stop reading and buy one down at your local dealer, assuming they aren’t sold out already. But if you’d like to know more, then read on.

As an honest-to-goodness hot hatch, the Focus ST certainly looks the part. While the regular Focus is already a good-looking car, the ST ramps up the boy-racer factor with a unique front clip, side skirts, cool 18-inch wheels, the obligatory tailgate spoiler and a new rear bumper with nicely-machined central exhaust tips. There is absolutely nothing left unfinished, as Toyota 86 owners can attest.

The build quality is pretty solid, even if certain hidden corners under the tailgate have a haphazard appearance. There’s a big gap at the front edge of the bonnet, apparently to let air into the engine compartment, but it’ll always look like the bonnet isn’t fully closed.

2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS "The Mega SS"

The Good: - Cool retro-modern styling - Great grip and handling - Seriously powerful engine

The Bad: - Hard plastic interior - Shallow luggage boot - Outward visibility

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We’ve already tested the Camaro before, but it was a V6 version. With a sixer under the bonnet, it is a competent car, sporting even, but does not rise above the level of homely coupes. So when we received the Camaro SS from the General, we didn’t expect it to be much different, even though we’d driven it briefly before. However, it turned out to be at a whole different ballgame, especially considering we were surprised to find it had a manual shifter.
In terms of how the SS looks, it is so similar to the V6 model that we’ll save time by just copy-pasting bits and pieces of the other review. It is as stunning as ever, even if appearing a bit loose around the panel gaps. Buyers at the lower rung will be happy to note that their V6 looks almost exactly the same as this top-end model, save for larger rims, rear lip spoiler and a fake bonnet vent up front on the SS. The chop-top Camaro is a big car in person, but that does not necessarily translate to a massive cabin. There is enough space for a couple of six-footers if the front seats are moved all the way down, but the roof is still a bit too close to the head for comfort. And let’s not even bother with the rear legroom. There isn’t any.
The sporting front seats are well-bolstered, beautifully trimmed with leather in the SS, and power-adjustable for the driver. The passenger seat offers quick manual access to the rear, but the tight opening leads to a tighter rear seat. The cargo trunk has a similarly small opening, offering a very long but ultimately shallow luggage area. Of course, there is no shortage of cup-holders, with two exposed ones up front, just ahead of the central cubby-cum-armrest.

2007 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 "Sting Ray"

The Good: - Jet-fighter engine - Jet-fighter handling - Jet-fighter styling

The Bad: - Jet-fighter cabin capacity - Economy-class cabin trim - Cargo-plane ride quality

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Being as humble as we are, the Corvette Z06 is the closest we’ve ever come to playing with a supercar. We are constantly ignored by Porsche. The Italians are too cheap to give out cars. Audi never invited us to their R8 launch because we “offend” them with our frank opinions. And Aston Martin judged us as being too “young” to give us anything. But the funny part is, this relatively “cheap” American speedster, in the hands of a competent driver, can slay them all.
The Corvette has as much heritage as any of the Italian marques. First built in the 1950s to compete with European sports cars, it was fabricated in fibreglass due to a steel shortage. Sure enough, this also resulted in massive weight savings, and the tradition has continued ever since. Nothing more than a straight-line bruiser in its first five generations, the fifth-gen C5 brought about an injection of handling prowess comparable to more expensive supercars. And now, in its sixth-gen C6 form, it improves on the previous model’s attributes. The Z06 trim just adds more flavour to an already-enticing sizzler.

2008 Chevrolet Avalanche Z71 "The Mighty Off-Road"

The Good: - Strong enough engine - Decent ride quality - Tons of cargo capacity

The Bad: - Needs better cabin materials - Awful legroom management - Way too big and hungry

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It is rather apt that our latest Chevy test vehicle is called the Avalanche. It is so big and brutish that sensible folks run to avoid its charge. This region is known for pedestrians who stroll across roads even when cars are coming up fast, but the Avalanche Z71 makes them jump out of its way even when cruising slowly. That is about the only realistic reason why anyone would buy one of these trucks.

2008 Chevrolet CSV CR8 "The 4 door Sport"

The Good: - Monster of an engine - Great ride and handling - Way too much cabin space

The Bad: - Way too big on the outside - A few cheap cabin bits - Bit of a petrol addict

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When you spend week after week test-driving “average” cars, it can all get a bit tedious. Every car starts feeling similar – V6 engines, automatic gearboxes, front-wheel-drive – there can only be so much variation in a common theme. But once in a while, something comes along that makes you sit up and take notice. The CSV CR8 is one of those things.
Sure, the CSV CR8 is a practical package with four doors, tons of legroom and a huge luggage trunk. But all the hidden bits are the ones which ultimately define it. How many family cars have a big V8, rear-wheel-drive and — horror of horrors — a manual transmission?

2012 Chevrolet Camaro SS Convertible "The New Muscle"

The Good: - Aggressive styling - Pure uninterrupted power - Great handling

The Bad: - Useless rear seating - Hard cabin plastics - Noisy even with the top up

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If you thought the Camaro franchise was strung out as far as possible, think again. Our latest run with the stunning Chevy muscle car is with all-new convertible version, brewing for years and now finally on the streets. The only question is whether, with the roof chopped off, it is still as well-sorted as the coupe.
Our new-for-2012 Chevy Camaro SS convertible tester has all the design cues of the SS coupe, namely the fake bonnet scoop, the larger tail pipes and the bigger alloys. The obvious differences are the brake light on the boot lid and, of course, the cloth top that gives the car only a slightly-lopsided roof profile compared to the coupe. On close inspection of the exterior, we’d say build quality is about the same, which is to say, passable.

2007 BMW 335i Coupe "Cute and Sporty"

The Good: - Intense handling - Seats four in comfort - Excellent engine

The Bad: - Somewhat firm ride quality - Rear seat access - Small side mirrors

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We find it hard to start an article about a member of the BMW 3-Series family without mentioning that it still rules the roost as far as sports sedans are concerned. We’ve driven most of the new-name competition such as the almost-famous Infiniti G35, the cramped Lexus IS 300 and some really sad version of the non-Quattro Audi A4. And they still fall behind in some way or the other. The new turbocharged 335i coupe just ups the ante.
We were pleasantly surprised when this car was delivered to our doorstep to keep for the next four days. As with many other recent BMWs, this one too appears overlong, dull and tall in photos, but really is amazingly well-proportioned, aggressive and low in reality.