Martyr (6)lot Cm3855411z on 2040-parts.com

Video: Hagerty reviews Thursday action at Monterey Peninsula auctions

The Hagerty team--Rob Sass, Donald Osborne and Dave Kinney--review the Thursday action at auto auctions on the Monterey Peninsula, surrounding the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance: Mecum, Bonhams and Russo and Steele. The Monterey Week is packed with car shows, vintage racing and car auctions. Autoweek will be there providing streaming photo galleries and live coverage of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, historic racing at Laguna Seca, the Monterey car auctions and much more.

Volkswagen XL Sport Concept gets Ducati power: Paris 2014

The Volkswagen XL Sport Concept (pictured) gets Ducati power The Volkswagen XL 1 may well be an impressive ‘Supercar’ (that’s super-economical, rather than plain ‘super’), but it’s a daft amount of money and, unless you’re trying to make a ‘Green’ statement, not for everyone. But this Volkswagen XL Sport Concept is a more appealing car – both visually and mechanically – as VW take the XL 1 and rework it in to a sports car with a little help from Ducati. Because under the skin of the XL Sport lies a 197bhp V2 that’s come from Ducati (just as we reported a year ago) and delivers 197bhp through a seven-speed dual-clutch ‘box, with a reduction gear between engine and gearbox to boost torque, revs to 1,000 rpm and can get to 62mph in 5.7 seconds on its way to a top speed of 157mph.

Why the BMW M4 is better than the M3 V8 (2013)

It’s no exaggeration to say that the turbocharged engine in the upcoming BMW M3 (saloon) and M4 (coupe) models is one of the most important engines ever produced by BMW’s M Division. No, it’s not the first turbo lump the performance off-shoot has built – you'll probably know we’ve already had the X5/X6M mutants plus the brilliant 1M and M5 and M6 – but it is the first turbo ever to slot in a production M3, the car that personifies BMW’s iconic performance sub brand, which itself has always been defined by high-revving, naturally aspirated engines. All of this explains why M’s engineers have cut their teeth on other engines first before plucking up the courage to develop the M3/M4 turbo while turning their backs on the outgoing E92 M3’s exceptional V8.