The Porsche 911 is the water of the car world. It sounds absurd, but hear me out. We take it for granted and it’s so omnipresent we barely notice it, yet we couldn’t live without it. See what I’m getting at?
But unlike water, Porsche has improved the 911. Almost none of the mid-life changes the regular 997 Carreras received – seamless PDK transmission and direct injection primarily – have made it onto the latest GT3, which leaves me wondering just how much Porsche could actually do to enhance what was, on balance, our favourite 911. Possibly ever…

First impressions aren’t that good. The sheer functionality of the GT3’s interior means that you are encouraged to just get on and drive the thing, rather than wallowing in eye-catching but superfluous detail, or daft novelty. There is no daft novelty in a 911.

So we drive, but even here there’s an unexpected irritation: I can’t heel-and-toe in this thing. I know that makes me sound like some UKIP-voting codger with an Austin-Healey, but it means I can’t get into a proper flow on these sorts of roads. It’s a weird anomaly in a car whose controls are usually so perfectly calibrated.

The rest is just as you’d expect. We loved the previous GT3 for its linearity, precision, and astonishing composure over even the choppiest roads.

There’s revised front suspension geometry and adaptive engine mounts on this car, so it handles the worst I can throw at with real ease. There’s new aero too, so it feels more tied down.

And the engine – derived from the unit that helped propel Porsche to victory in Le Mans in 1998 – has grown from 3.6 to 3.8 litres, has improved breathing with Variocam on intake and exhaust, and now revs to 8500rpm with an insatiable hunger.

On a dry road, nothing turns into a corner or exits in such a dramatically undramatic way as this 911 GT3.

On the track? Given that it’s ready to race – in Clubsport-spec you get a roll cage at no extra cost – it monsters the opposition.

No surprise there.

What is a bit surprising is the GT3’s duality. Rookies can lap quickly in it without scaring themselves, enjoying the chassis’ balance and the mighty brakes. The more expert can coax huge, controllable drifts out of it, for the same reasons.

What a car. Better, even, than water.

Driven August 2009

Another mental marker has popped into my head - 500Nm of torque. That's 369 lb ft, but 500 is easier to remember and it's a number the high-end Germans seem to cluster their diesels around.

A quick glance at the stats in the back of the book reveals that the 3.0-litre V6 TDI in the Audi A4 makes 500Nm of torque. The BMW 330d makes 500Nm too - a 3.0-litre straight six diesel. And so does this new diesel engine in the E-Class, the E250 CDI.

This is a remarkable engine. It's only a four, that's the impressive bit - it's the same 2,143cc unit fitted to the single-turbo C200 CDI and C220 CDI. But in this application, it has twin sequential turbochargers running at full puff. Good.

The lag-free slug of torque is deep and fine from tickover, and slings this relatively big car forward at an eye-widening rate. It's almost bizarre. You would never expect it, given the quite loud, dull drone of the four-pot - it's almost as if a silent 5.0-litre V8 has been slung in the boot to help out.

It dispatches 0-62mph in 8.2 seconds and returns 47.1mpg on the combined cycle. That's an impressive combo and makes this the engine of choice in the new E-Class - it's clean too at 154g/km, so road tax is only £150 a year.

Oh, and one more mental marker for you: specific torque output is 233.2Nm per litre. If you can think of an engine that beats it, send us a postcard.

Top Gear likes a bit of controversy, and it’s the Aston that provided it. Us mortals loved the V12 Vantage, lining up to declare it the best Aston ever. But the Stig declared us mistaken.
The discord is about the Aston’s handling. Last year on the Isle of Man we had a DBS and we hated it. This year on the road the V12 Vantage is deliciously different: it’s intimate and analogue when the DBS was distant and digital. You can feel the V12 Vantage’s steering as it works its way into corners, giving a reassurance we treasure. The suspension is softer than the DBS’s too, which makes it more progressive and more forgiving on a bumpy road or in the wet. For the real world, in other words.

At the track things get uneasy. It goes from initial understeer to power-oversteer a bit messily. We plug in the Stig for further analysis. He signals that the front end is too soft, designed to understeer to keep ordinary drivers safe on the road. In fast corners it rolls too much, he says, and in slow ones doesn’t have the traction to prevent oversteer. Stig prefers the DBS, which he says is a perfectly set-up tautly sprung sports car.

Of course, no one, whether man or white-suited überman, had any issues with the Vantage’s V12. One letter and two digits that tell you pretty much all you need to know, but if you want to know more try some more digits: 5.9 litres and 510bhp, and no turbos to soften the noise. A good old-fashioned manual ‘box, and none of Aston’s clunky paddles. Well actually, a not-that good old-fashioned gearbox – the shift is on the clunky side.

Everyone agrees the Vantage is a knee-tremblingly beautiful thing. Well, everyone except the Stig who doesn’t do beauty.

Odd. We expected that when Aston put its biggest engine in its smallest car it would build a track monster. Instead it’s a joyously useable road car that doesn’t like powerlapping much at all.

Our verdictThe Lexus GS450h is a nice little hybrid sidestep. Yes it can run on electric power and yes this is a ‘proper’ hybrid, but if you start thrashing it the car will use the batteries and electric drive to increase performance (particularly from rest with instant-torque from the Synergy Drive). So what Greenies peg as a step in the right direction, petrolheads also think is a good thing.
Comfort
The Lexus becomes even more attractive for comfort lovers in 450h form. The brakes regenerate energy to charge the batteries and allow sublime soft-stops in town, and the engine will switch off if you've got sufficient charge and allow full EV running. It doesn't last long, but there's nothing better than avoiding the internal combustion engine if you want to be the smoothest limo in town.
12 out of 20
Performance
Lexus's performance-enhancing hybrid system actually means that despite the weight gain, the 340bhp 450h is faster to 62mph than the 430 V8. The benchmark comes up in just 5.9 seconds and runs on to a limited 155mph. Hah!Up yours Ken, or rather Boris.
18 out of 20
Cool
We like the two-fingered salute to the idea that ‘green' has to be righteous and dull, but the GS450h isn't a cool-looking thing.
11 out of 20
Quality
The GS is generally exceptionally well made, if a little ‘Japanese' in taste. You'll find the wood very plasticized and tacky and some of the dash architecture a bit weird, but it does feel as solid, if not more so than any German rival.
16 out of 20
Handling
The extra weight of the batteries and electric motors is certainly noticeable in the 450h, but the GS isn't exactly a featherweight in the first place, so it matters less. Try to flick the car from one direction to the other and you'll noticea serious amount of lard trying tear the tyres from their perches about a millisecond later.More of a drag racer than a finessed backroad tool.
10 out of 20
Practicality
There's even less space in the boot of a GS450h than there is in the stock motor, so don't expect cavernous load capacity. There's also no more room in the rear, so if you have three tall friends that you drive around a lot, you might want to consider something without such a bustle back.
11 out of 20
Running costs
The 450h gets a really quite good 35.8mpg on the combined cycle. But if you drive it anywhere near hard then that'll drop like a stone wrapped in lead and then wrapped in more, slightly heavier lead. Insurance is group 17, but the C02 output is really rather low (compared to anything in a similar class) at just 186g/km.