Which is the best new sports car of 2011? Forget your pricey McLaren MP4-12Cs and Lamborghini Aventadors, and think about the other end of the spectrum. In the new November 2011 issue of CAR Magazine (on sale now) we’ve pitted the new Mini Coupe JCW against eight competitors. On road and on track the new Brit takes on the VW Golf GTI Edition 35 and the Renault Megane 265 Trophy, Audi’s new RS3, the BMW 1-series M Coupe, a Vauxhall Corsa VXR Nürburgring, Citroen’s ace DS3 Racing, plus the Porsche Cayman R and Nissan’s 370Z GT Edition. If you’ve got between £20-50k to spend on a fun drive, don’t miss this!
You can read the full 16-page story in the new issue of CAR, and watch the video below for a taster of the fun as we put the Porsche Cayman R up against the BMW 1-series M Coupe. Deputy editor Ben Barry and road test editor Ben Pulman put the two head-to-head around Anglesey race track.
Elsewhere in the new issue of CAR we shoot the breeze with F1’s Bruno Senna, drive the new open-top Ferrari 458 Spider and Mercedes SLS Roadster, and visit the old haunts of Steve McQueen in Jaguar’s sublime new XKR-S. Georg Kacher finds out if the new Citroen DS5 can rightfully claim that DS badge, Anthony ffrench-Constant tests the new Porsche Panamera diesel against the Audi A8, Jaguar XJ and Mercedes CLS, while Ben Oliver hangs out at Pebble Beach for an insider’s view of the US’s best automotive garden party. Plus all the month’s news, an interview with Porsche’s design boss, an x-ray look inside Seb Vettel’s championship-winning F1 car and the 10 most unlikely race cars of all time.