ZA Car

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We’re five episodes into the new year and still we’ve not found Trevor Tuck. He’s stuck on a racetrack or a garage trying to make an old Alfa go quicker. In any event, the show goes on and in this episode we discuss:

• McLaren MP4 12C and South Africa’s Greg Levine who’s heading up sales and marketing for this surefire sales winner.
• Fiesta Sport+ Do you think we need a quick Fiesta? [via: World Car Fans]
• New engines for Mercedes Benz E-class vehicle.
• The new Mercedes Benz C-Class coupe.
• Porsche announces its Panamera Hybrid – well more of a mild hybrid, and if you don’t know the difference between a mild hybrid and full hybrid then you need to listen to the show. Click here for a clever little Porsche Panamera Hybrid Microsite.
• New BMW M5 will possibly be automatic only – why autos are better than manual transmissions despite the purist view on manuals.
• ZA Car Show Review: Alfa Romeo Giulietta MultiAir 125kW.

Episode 105 hi-fi download (22MB)
Episode 105 lo-fi download (12MB)

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Porsche reached out to its fans, and achieved something special. Running a Facebook campaign to reach 1 000 000 fans, in the shortest time possible, the German automaker thought of a unique way to say thank you to those who supported it.

The engineers at Zuffenhausen prepared a special 911 GT3R – the hybrid version – with a paintjob consisting of all the names of the first 1-million fans. Then they made a video of it.

(Thanks to ZA Car reader, Nafisa, for the tip off!)

Tips or suggestions for the ZA Car Video of the day? E-mail us, catch us on Twitter or leave a message on our Facebook page!

What happens when you ask Porsche engineers to develop hybrid tech for a race car? Simple, they come up with the flywheel-based kinetic energy storage system used in the GT3 R hybrid – a car that went on to successfully compete in the 24 hours of Nürburgring and American Le Mans Series.

Now, what happens when you ask those same, giddy engineers to fit that race-proven tech into last year’s hottest hybrid concept? Answer: feast your eyes on the 918 RSR hybrid.

Porsche’s latest creation, debuting at this years Detroit Auto Show, has a variation of the 3.4-litre engine that powered Porsche RS Spyder Le Mans car. It now produces 563 horsepower (419kW) at 10 300RPM (!) and and unspecified number of torques. What’s even better are the two electric motors – one in each front wheel – producing an additional 200 horsepower (75kW) combined.

No word yet on what this monster’s ‘Ring time is – we kid, we kid – but those claims will be made on race day. Porsche has made no bones about this being a spiritual successor to the 917 racecar of years gone by, and given the many references to race scenarios in the official press material, we wouldn’t be surprised to see this making pitstops at the big races any time soon.

Meanwhile, the real 918 Spyder is set for limited production, with a hefty $650 000+ pricetag being touted.

(Images courtesy of Porsche.)

Our dear Trevor van de Ven, fan of strange cars and unofficial economy run champion, decided not to join the team this week. Instead, he took the early train home, to see if this is the future of commuting in Johannesburg. That left the  remaining three hosts of your favourite motoring podcast to take to the microphones and be concise about the motoring news for the week that was. Except, the waffle on. Like right now.

Old and new - hard to believe it's been ten years with the X5.

This past week marked the production of the one millionth BMW X5. It’s been ten years since the first X5 rolled off the production line in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and now number 1 000 000 (a black one xDrive35i, with tan leather) has been delivered to its happy owner in Beijing, China.

The terrible trio also talk about some local arrivals, spying VW’s Amarok, a sporting weekend and review a big, fat diesel monster from Audi.

Episode 79 hi-fi download (28MB)
Episode 79 lo-fi download (16MB)

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Join the ZA Car Show fan page on Facebook, here.

Show notes and links after the jump.

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Our roving reporters stayed put, for the entirety of the Frankfurt Motorshow 2009. In this episode, they cover the more important models that were unveiled, and go straight into local news, followed by motoring reviews.

Bugatti Galibier: Eight exhausts for your supersaloon.

And lots of shiny chrome bits, too!

Click “more”, and get more pics, plus a wrap-up of other news in this episode.

Direct file download (28MB)

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