Hello, petrolheads! Today I’m reviewing a relatively rare car: the turbocharged, facelifted version of the second-generation Smart Fortwo. Before buying one, I went to great lengths to find any sort of review of this version, in order to figure out if this version was a worthy compromise between the base MHD version and the range-topper Brabus. And I do mean great lengths, because I found no review, from whichever source, of the facelifted version – there are some from the model launch in 2007, but the facelift of 2010 brought some improvements to the engine, which could be relevant. Let’s start from the beginning. The second-generation Fortwo, launched in early 2007, was a major revolution in the Smart’s range: apart from having to mature the first’s generation flawed package, it would then be the only product left on the entire Smart lineup – the dealers were shifting the last stock of Roadsters (production stopped in November 2005) and Forfours (July 2006). Th...

Greetings, petrolheads! Today’s I’m reviewing the last-generation Audi S5 Sportback. I’ve been driving this car sporadically since 2014, but some weeks ago took it for a long business drive to Italy; after a couple of weeks driving it on very mixed roads – from snow-surrounded Alpine passes to high-speed Autobahns – I acquired a very deep insight of the car. Not going to detail the car’s design – let’s just say it’s elegant with a dynamic touch, in this case underlined by the red paint, which works out better live than on any picture. The interior follows the same formula. The driving position is totally adjustable, there’s plenty of space – except for headroom on the back, limited for anyone over 1,75m tall, and it’s beautifully put together. Material and assembly quality is first order. This unit, having covered almost 100k km in less than three years, has absolutely no squeaks nor rattles and few use marks are apparent. A word of praise for Bang&Olufsen’s soun...

Hello, petrolheads! Today’s review regards the latest-generation Audi A4 Estate, powered by a turbocharged 2-litre, 4-cylinder 250 horsepower petrol engine. I must confess that, upon first eye contact, I was deeply disappointed with this new generation A4. Here is an all-new model, sporting a brand new chassis but looking mostly the same as the previous-generation A4. Or as an A3 Sportback… Of course, all Audi did was to play it safe, and rightly so. You see, the A4 is Audi’s volume model, this is the model most people end up buying after having seen some football players, any self-proclaimed digital-era celebrity or some Hollywood star stepping out of an R8, or RS6 Avant, and subsequently having mentally created this élan-picture of themselves on such a dream world. Let’s face it, most people who drive a new Audi nowadays – or even a BMW or Mercedes-Benz, for that matter – are more worried about 1) the (successful) image they project, 2) how many digital toys it has and 3) l...

Hello, Petrolheads! Tonight’s post addresses another question we, Petrolheads, are facing more and more often: how will we manage to enjoy our passion in the future? The horizon ahead lies full of, apparently, insuperable obstacles and challenges for people like you and me, true car lovers. Whether we’re speaking of Autonomous Driving, the SUV Trend or emissions legislation which will, undoubtedly, drive towards the demise of the mass-produced Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), it looks like threats are coming from all over the place. Personally, I couldn’t be any less worried! Autonomous Drive One of the “threats” most people talk about are Automobiles capable of driving themselves. It’s actually one of the things I’m more looking forward to, in the mid-term. Why? Humans are a complex system full of variables, designed – with aplomb – to be adaptable; these adaptation capabilities bring us versatility, and are the main reason for our success. We can adapt o...