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2009 Nissan GT-R upgrades confirmed

We’ve been seeing quite a lot of guess work and speculation lately about 2009 changes to the supercar killer that is the Nissan GT-R. And all this before the UK even gets its first car. The most speculated upon change, and one that has been confirmed, is the deletion of launch control from the spec for all cars ordered from today.

New Mercedes A45 AMG has 105 years of 4WD on its side

With the new Mercedes A45 AMG on the horizon – complete with 4WD – Mercedes chart the history of all wheel drive on their vehicles. We tend to think of 4WD road cars as a modern innovation, and certainly very few 4WD road cars hit the road in a mainstream way much before the 1980s (the Jensen FF was hardly mainstream before someone points out that was in the 1960s). But the history of 4WD goes back, certainly in the case of Mercedes, a surprising 105 years when Daimler built the Dernburg-Wagen, a 4WD vehicle that not only got all-wheel drive but all wheel steering too.

Mercedes A45 AMG – with Lewis Hamilton & Nico Rosberg (video)

That lump is a 2.0 litre turbo 4-cylinder that produces a not insignificant 355bhp and 332lb/ft of torque, which is enough to get the pocket rocket A45 to 62mph in a competition busting 4.6 seconds. And with the A45 AMG heading towards Mercedes showrooms soon, MB are bust promoting their new hot hatch, and what better way to do that than rope in your own highly paid F1 drivers to add a bit of performance gloss? So Mercedes has put Lewis Hamilton behind the wheel of an A45, Nico Rosberg in the passenger seat and a ‘Good Fairy’ in the road to sort out arguments about who should get to drive.