There’ve been rumours and scoops aplenty surrounding the soft-top Audi R8 but this is the first time that it’s been caught in the buff.

Apart from the obvious fact that the aluminium roof’s been replaced with a canvas hood, the biggest change from the coupe is the deletion of the controversial ‘blades’ behind the doors.

The eagle-eyed amongst you might also spot the larger exhausts on this car which suggest that the upcoming V10 will be available along side the V8 from launch. Still want that Gallardo?

[Source: Next Autos] 

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As SAAB readies itself to launch its looooong overdue 9-5 replacement, further details are emerging about the BMW 5-series rival.

The biggest news is that, true to SAAB’s desire to downsize engine capacity without hurting performance, the new model will feature a high-pressure 1.6-litre engine. Despite the small engine, the next car will actually be larger than the outgoing model and will be based on the new Epsilon II platform that debuted under the new Vauxhall Insignia.

Meanwhile the next 9-3 will downsize to the Delta platform that will underpin the next Astra.

We’ll be keeping a beady eye out for the 9-5 at next Spring’s Geneva Motor Show

[Source: AutoBlog]

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Lotus alluded to it at the unveiling of the Evora at the British Motor show, but more details have since emerged regarding future variants of the new 2+2.

There will be six variants in all, including a convertible, a 320bhp version of the normally aspirated 3.5-litre V6, badged Evora S, a supercharged model with over 400bhp (SC) as well as a stripped-out, lightweight track day spec (R).

This proliferation of new models will be introduced over the car’s proposed eight-year lifespan in order to hold customer’s attention and deposits.

We'll take an SCR Coupe please...

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I always thought that you can tell a good car within the first mile. You can tell immediately how accurate and responsive the steering is; how neatly the gearbox slots from cog to cog and how it rides. I knew, for example, that I’d be disappointed with the Alfa Mito before I’d even hit the test route, and I knew that I would enjoy the Clio Renaultsport Cup even before I’d left the office car park. This is a hot hatch of the old school – light, fast, agile and thoroughly engaging. If I had £15k to spend on a new car, this is where my money would go.

Just as you should never judge a book by its cover, so you should never judge a car by the picture. The design of most modern cars is so complex that their subtleties and proportions are lost in two dimensions. It’s not until you see them in daylight in the middle of other traffic that you can really appreciate their merits. The Mercedes CLS, for example, looked terrible in the original pictures but is magnificent on the road.

That’s why I’m reserving judgement on the Lotus ‘Project Eagle’ until I’ve seen it for real at next week’s London Show. In the pictures the design looks a little fussy but I’ve a suspicion it will look a great deal better when we see it for real at the Excel next week.

As our man Alistair is, as we speak, heading to Italy to try out the pretty new Mi.To, the company also announced that they are resurrecting the glorious Cloverleaf badge on the GT coupe.

“Hurrah!” you might shout as I did, that is until you realise that, rather than being applied to new, high-performance models in the same vein as the 1990’s 33, the fabulous 3.0 V6 75 and the Integrale-based 155 Q4, it has become a trim level that can be specified on, shock, horror, a diesel.

This is bad. Fiat made the same mistake with the Abarth badge by adding the scorpion to body-kitted Seicentos up until its very recent renaissance.

Alfa will undergo a renaissance of its own if the Mi.To is any good; I just wish that it didn’t feel the need to plunder its illustrious past along the way.

Say a limp-wristed “coo-ey” to this utterly pointless Vauxhall Tigra special edition, the Rouge.

Apparently it’s “designed to appeal to those who love the look of a fabric soft top but who also want the convenience, security and safety of a hard top.” What?

Rather than calling a spade a manual excavation device, let’s call a vinyl roof a vinyl roof.

Well, at least it’s cheap at £15,705 to £17,195. Oh, it’s not.

Just spent the evening behind the wheel of a Renaultsport Clio Cup and I really struggled to park it up and go to bed. The Recaros, the buzzy boom of the engine past 5,500rpm, this thing really makes you feel like you’re driving the modern day equivalent of a Peugeot 205 GTi.

It’s the only shape in a decade of hot hatchdom that I reckon has come close to invoking a similar level of enthusiasm as the 205 too. But it still isn’t perfect: the electric power-steering still feels way too artificial and for a Cup version, it shouldn’t be using leccy windows. I’d probably leave that optional Max Power rear spoiler on the options list as well. But I’m just blown away by the fact that a £15k hatchback can still be as utterly desirable as something two, three, hell, even four times its price. Without question, this car would sit proudly in my million pound garage.

Healthy January my arse. What was supposed to be a month on the wagon has instead become a pean to alcoholic excess. So with my liver in pieces and work colleagues complaining that I hum like a swimming pool in a brewery, I think the time has come to find a new vice. Something like the new Elise SC would probably do it. Alistair Weaver is on his way back from the launch of the 217bhp Elise SC (which means supercharged), so the entire office is unusually excited to hear what he's got to say. Come back this afternoon when we'll publish the definitive verdict on Hethel's latest open-top missile.

Read the verdict now:

• Lotus Elise SC - Sky Drives

This is the first look of the new CLC from Mercedes-Benz, its second crack at the small coupe market. The previous attempt, the C-class Sport Coupe was a rather odd car. The elongated front end, replete with fried-egg headlamps, was shared with the rather frumpy previous generation saloon while at the back the glazed lower tailgate resembled a latter day Honda CRX. The result was a rather awkwardly proportioned car that was more 3-door than coupe. This, combined with the fact that the driving experience was about as sporty as Vanessa Feltz, meant that ‘Sport Coupe’ tag was a little optimistic.

When developing the second generation car, Mercedes obviously reassessed the car’s positioning in the market, dropping the optimistic badge, replacing it with the more elegant ‘CLC’ tag. Details are sketchy at the moment but Mercedes has released this teaser shot showing top model Eva Padberg sprawled over the front of the car (now sans ouefs). The wraps will come off during Berlin Fashion Week on 27^th January suggesting that the CLC will major on style although possibly not price.

Engine choice is likely to follow the recently-launched, and rather brilliant, C-class saloon when UK sales start in June, hopefully meaning a CLC63 AMG won’t be too far away. Now that would be a sporty coupe.