The cars I would like to see made (or made again)!

Like just about every other car enthusiast, no matter how many different models the manufacturers make there is always other models of versions I would like them to make. Here I present the cars I would like some of my favourite manufacturers to be producing.



Ferrari

The new Ferrari 458 continues the long roll of great cars from the prancing horse, in fact there must be a reasonable argument to say their model range has never been stronger. For me who has historically preferred the front engined V12 models the two current V12s the 599 and the 612 have one big flaw. Both of them are far too big especially for UK roads. I saw a 599 on my recent trip to LA and even there it looked like a very large car (if taking up far less space the the ridiculous pickups that dominate US roads).

Part of the problem seems to be the marketing need for massive alloy wheels which cause the whole car to be scaled up so that they don't look cartoonish. The other issue is the space need to accomdate the 6.0 V12 and its cooling requirements.

When you look at Ferraris back catalogue most of the sixties berlinettas used relatively small capacity V12's the famous 250 series were a mere 3.0 liters, and even the Daytona's 4.4 liter V12 is still a smaller capacity than the V8 in the 458. What I would like to see is a return to these smaller capacity V12s.

With advances in modern engine technology it should be possible to make a say 3.5 V12 produce well over 400bhp and should be a much smaller engine than the big 12 in the 599. This should make for a smaller lighter weight car (especially if Ferrari makes good use of carbon fibre and alloys) which in the real world probably would have performance the equal of the 599. The other advantage of this type of car would be a considerable reduction in the the all important emissions.

I would also hope that the handling setup would put less emphasis on grip and more on balance (if anyone thinks drifting was entered in Japan they should see the classic GTO and LMB Ferraris drifting around Goodwood at the revival).


Porsche

Porsche has been steadily expanding its model range to the current four model range (if as I do you count the Boxster and Cayman as one model). There are lots of rumours that Porsche will introduce a smaller sports car to fit under the Boxster, most likely based on the Volkswagen BlueSport concept car that was shown last year.

Personally I think that doing another mid engined sports car is a mistake. Porsche doesn't have a great history in this area starting with the much maligned 914 these have always been looked on as not proper Porsches, however technically worthy they are.

Instead I think Porsche should consider moving the engine further back to create a smaller rear engined car in the style of the iconic Porsche 356. The purists would not be able to argue that that it is not a proper Porsche as it would utilise the classic rear engined layout, this also would give packaging advantages enabling a 2+2 layout which is missing from the lower end of the sports car market.

Engine wise a three cylinder Porsche motor has been mooted in some quarters for the new small Porsche, which could possibly give the right sort of engine noises the Porsche enthusiats crave (I once rented a 3 cylinder Opel Corsa in France which was an utterly woeful car except for it's surprisingly characterful engine note).


Aston Martin

My request to Aston Martin is simple, give us simething different. I have nothing particularly against the current Aston range, except for all there cars are exactly the same. The Vantage, DB9 and Rapide all seem to offer much the same except in different sizes. Right now the range is looking a little stale and despite interesting diversions like the V12 Vantage I suspect that a lack of new product (discounting the ultra rare One-77) will start to seriously effect Aston's bottom line if something new and interesting is not launched soon.

Jaguar

Another simple request and one that many enthusiasts around the world have been calling for for the last 35 years. Can we have an F type please. The XK is a worthy GT sports coupe but the idea of a front engined sporting Jaguar costing around £40K is the type of potentially iconic car that would have me (as someone who is under forty) reaching for my chequebook. I'm sure an F type can easily be brought in using the existing parts from the XF saloon, all it needs is a jaw dropping beautiful body to to clothe it in.

From Goodwood revival 2009

Alfa Romeo

They say that you can't be a car enthusiast until you drive an Alfa Romeo. and I currently am using an Alfa Mito as a daily driver. It's a worthy car giving reasonable performance and economy from a 1.4 liter engine. However there is nothing in my Mito to excite the enthusiast. It would be great if Alfa could produce a small rear wheel drive sports coupe in the style of the old 105 series Guilias to compete against the current BMW 1 series Coupes and even the Audi TT.

From Goodwood italian breakfast

So above are the suggestions for cars that would get the pulse racing in the future. The one thing they all have in common (with the exception of Aston) is that they all hark back to an older generation of cars, so my final request which can go to all car manufacturers is it's about time one of them gave us something truly innovative. When was the last time a car blew you away because it gave you something unexpected. Perhaps we need to see in more detail what a certain Gordon Murray has come up with, with his new city car.