Best of the best
Why 503bhp Giulia QV is our top pick from 2016
At the end of another fascinatingly frantic year it’s natural to look back and reflect on what the past 12 months have delivered. In our world, time is marked more notably by the new cars that have thrilled us than by the passing of days and months, and, as I look back at 2016, this industry’s ability to surprise and delight, thrill and frustrate, but also to create and captivate, remains undiminished.
In this issue we celebrate the best of the best – cars that have formed bright touchpoints for the progress of the past 12 months and whose brilliance finds them providing the solution to any automotive question you care to ask. And what a year it’s been, starting with a bang back in January with the arrival of the Ford Focus RS, shortly followed by our first access to the brilliantly visceral Aston Martin Vulcan. It’s been a big year for Aston, with the much more civilised DB11 following hot on the heels of the track-based hypercar. In other news, Porsche had to finally give up on its purist heritage as the 911 went turbo, but not before creating a car so sublime that it eviscerated all comers and was crowned our Speed Week champion earlier this summer – the 911R.
2016 has seen Tesla continue to disrupt and deliver with arguably its most convincing product to date in the form of the falcon-doored, drag-race-winning Model X, while in the supercar stratosphere Ferrari delivered the feral F12tdf, and Koenigsegg went hybrid in the form of the Regera. Meanwhile, BMW delivered another B-road hero in the M2, Skoda became yet more desirable with the Kodiaq, Jaguar reimagined grace, pace and space in the F-Pace and Alfa finally gave us the car we have all been waiting for in the Giulia Quadrifoglio Verde.
So, yes, another brilliant year in a business in which the speed of development continues to build exponentially. That pace shows no signs of waning any time soon, with the Bugatti Chiron, Ford GT, Renault Alpine, Mercedes-AMG GT R, new Honda Civic Type R and Alfa Romeo Stelvio all heading our way in the next 12 months. With all that and more on the horizon it’s clearly going to be a riveting year, and the team here at TG will continue to work tirelessly to ensure we deliver you the best access to this fascinating world on a monthly basis.