Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

Performance Car of the Year 2008

In the November issue of CAR Magazine we've gathered together 29 of the best performance cars from the past 12 months to find out which is best. And to bring you the key battles of 2008 we've split the 29 cars into groups. That means the new issue of CAR features the Lamborghini LP560-4 taking on the GT2, CLK Black and Gumpert Apollo; Nissan's amazing GT-R matches up against the new 911, the Jag XKR-S and Aston's revised V8; Ford's brand new Focus ST Moutune takes on the spanking Mini JCW and KTM's crazy X-Bow meets three of the best British track cars, plus much, much more.

New Jaguar XJR will see the end of the XJ SuperSport

The launch of the new 2013 Jaguar XJR at the New York Auto Show this week heralds the end of the line for Jaguar’s other Supercharged V8 XJ – the SuperSport. With a much more fulsome 542bhp, some very ‘Jaguar’ go-faster bits, some proper fettling to make the steering, gearbox and suspension focus more on the drive without making a mess of the ride and altogether more dynamism in prospect than the SuperSport, we’d assumed Jaguar were making the XJR the performance pinnacle of the XJ range and leaving the SuperSport in place as the ‘luxury’ alternative. With that thought in mind we’d expected to see Jaguar push the price of the new XJR up towards the XJ Ultimate (which costs £121,000), so count us gobsmacked when Jaguar revealed the new XJR will cost from £92,335 – just £500 more than the SuperSport.

Saab 9-4X gets closer

As the world is only too well aware, GM has huge problems. In the real world it should have gone out of business, but in the political world that would probably be unacceptable to the American public. So it’s busy grovelling to Congress to acquire sufficient funding to stay alive until it can produce products the buying public might find worth having.