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All curvy
I admit to feeling somewhat blissful as I approached the 2013 Fiat 500 Turbo in the far corner of the Auto123.com parking lot. This cute little city car from Italy has spread like a virus -- the most beautiful kind of virus, if you ask me -- since landing on our shores in 2011. Now, it's the Turbo's turn to make its presence felt on Canadian roads.

You have to sit behind the wheel to fully appreciate the appeal of the 2013 Fiat 500 Turbo. Fun is the word not only for the exterior looks, but also the driving experience. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of power on tap and the accelerations it produces, even in 5th gear. My week with the Fiat 500 Turbo only amplified my longing desire to try the Abarth version!


What's a Fiat 500 Turbo?
Let's not kid ourselves: You don't buy a Fiat 500 if you want to look mature and business-like while driving. This sub-compact hatchback is basically an oversized, motorized toy designed to put a smile on your face.

Sitting pretty between the regular 500 and the high-performance 500 Abarth, the 2013 Fiat 500 Turbo costs $4,000 more than the former and $6,000 less than the latter. At $17,495, it makes for a happy medium with plenty of value.

This sub-compact hatchback is basically an oversized, motorized toy designed to put a smile on your face. (Photo: Marie-Laurence Paquin)

Fiat 500 Turbo specifications
The 1.4L, 4-cylinder, turbocharged engine under the hood of the 2013 Fiat 500 Turbo produces 135 horsepower and 150 lb-ft of torque, which is 34 hp and 52 lb-ft more than the naturally aspirated model (25 hp less than the Abarth). Twin intercoolers and a sport-tuned exhaust system help make it happen.

The lone transmission choice is a 5-speed manual. The suspension has been lowered (and connected to stylish 16” aluminum wheels), and the steering has been recalibrated. Let's not forget the beefier brakes!

Official fuel consumption ratings for the 2013 Fiat 500 Turbo are 7.1L/100km in the city and 5.7L/100km on the highway. I personally observed an average of 8.1L/100km during my test week. I expected better given the diminutive size of this runabout. On the other hand, these numbers are no worse than those of the previously tested Chevrolet Spark, which generates a meagre 84 horsepower.

The 2013 Fiat 500 Turbo also comes with a Sport button that automatically alters throttle and steering response, as well as shift points. You can feel a difference, but nothing too special.

The lone transmission choice is a 5-speed manual. (Photo: Marie-Laurence Paquin)

Driving the Fiat 500 Turbo
Out on the open road, the 2013 Fiat 500 Turbo offers reasonable handling. While the steering is definitely not as sharp as a MINI Cooper's, it still allows fun times behind the wheel. Compared with the British benchmark, the suspension is also softer for a more comfortable ride, yet it makes sure not to take all the thrill and feedback out of the driving experience.

The 2013 Fiat 500 Turbo handles like a taut city car, one that feels safe and stable thanks to competent 4-wheel disc brakes. On the flip side, the high beltline in the back limits visibility and thus affects parking manoeuvres.

Almost everything about the 2013 Fiat 500 Turbo feels small and tight. One notable exception, however, is the meaty shift knob that naturally falls into hand. What's more, soundproofing is nowhere near luxury sedan levels. When cruising at 115 km/h with the engine revving at 3,000 rpm, the interior is fairly noisy.

Regardless, the 2013 Fiat 500 Turbo has a certain je ne sais quoi that always seems to put you in a good mood.

The 2013 Fiat 500 Turbo handles like a taut city car, one that feels safe and stable thanks to competent 4-wheel disc brakes. (Photo: Marie-Laurence Paquin)

Inside and out of the Fiat 500 Turbo
Round is the theme for the 2013 Fiat 500 Turbo, whose distinctive headlights and chrome-clad “500” logos add a bit of extravagance to our landscape -- and I'm thankful for that! Like I said earlier, this car essentially looks like a toy (but of course you know better after sampling its delightful performance).

Inside, the dashboard requires some getting used to. It may look very modern and colourful, but the minimalist layout forces you to navigate through a bunch of sub-menus. The singular juxtaposition of the speedometer and tachometer will also make some people frown.

While certain controls are excessively large, others are just too darn small. For instance, I wasted lots of precious minutes searching for the trip meter reset button, which happens to be located at the tip of the turn signal stalk.

Storage is limited and the rear seats are cramped, albeit decently comfortable. Those who sat behind me and my 5'1'' frame luckily enjoyed a little more breathing room!

Finally, I question some of the gadgets, like the small recess for the GPS mount, but overall, the 2013 Fiat 500 Turbo's exterior and interior positively stand out from the often dark and lifeless competition.

The singular juxtaposition of the speedometer and tachometer will also make some people frown. (Photo: Marie-Laurence Paquin)

Comparing the Fiat 500 Turbo
Speaking of which, one could say that the 2013 Fiat 500 Turbo stands alone on the fence that separates A- and B-segment cars. It delivers the performance of a MINI Cooper in a package the size and price of a Scion iQ. Ultimately, I believe its Italian charms and great value are tough to beat.

From GMM

F1's governing will abolish the side-impact crash test, German magazine Auto Motor und Sport reports.

Until now, the individual teams have been responsible for coming up with solutions to pass the test, mandatory for the homologation of the chassis.

But correspondent Michael Schmidt reports that, having collaborated with world champions Red Bull, the FIA has now developed a standard side crash structure that must be fitted to every car from the 2014 season.

The layout and materials for the structure will be identical on every single seater next year, he wrote.

"The new rules will save money and make the cars safer," said Schmidt.

The teams will save money by not having to submit their cars and designs for side-impact testing, while the standard structure can also be reused.

Photo: WRi2

From press release

A month after confirming that it would be entering the World Touring Car Championship in 2014, Citroën can now reveal the model that will be driven on the circuits by Sébastien Loeb.

Photo: Citroën Racing

The Citroën C-Elysée WTCC will be the very first vehicle to be designed in accordance with the new regulations, currently being prepared by the FIA for the category next year.

On 26 September of last year, at the opening of the 2012 Paris Motor Show, Frédéric Banzet, Yves Matton and Sébastien Loeb announced that Citroën was considering taking part in the World Touring Car Championship. A few minutes earlier, the C-Elysée had just been unveiled for the first time to the world's media. Ten months on, these two events come together again with the release of the first pictures of the Citroën C-Elysée WTCC.

Photo: Citroën Racing

The Citroën C-Elysée is a C-segment saloon aimed principally at high-growth, international markets such as those in Latin America, the Mediterranean region, China and Russia.

Under the bonnet, the Citroën C-Elysée WTCC is powered by the same 1.6-litre direct injection turbocharged engine as the DS3 WRC. With a wider booster flange, power output is now close to 380bhp. The car comes with a front-wheel drive transmission, controlled by a six-speed sequential gearbox.

From GMM

Fernando Alonso has admitted he needs to start making up ground on runaway championship leader Sebastian Vettel.

Having won two grands prix so far in 2013 compared to reigning triple world champion Vettel's four, Spaniard Alonso said Ferrari is working "day and night" to recover lost time in the car development race.

"We must try to finish ahead of Vettel," Ferrari's Alonso told Italian television TG1 ahead of this weekend's Hungarian grand prix.

Photo: WRi2

The last race before the summer break and factory shutdowns, Budapest marks the exact half-way point of the 2013 championship.

German Vettel, driving for Red Bull, has a 34-point lead over Alonso with ten races to go.

Alonso admitted: "The gap to Vettel is beginning to be a bit too much in terms of points. We have to reduce this gap as soon as possible."

Having recently watered down his anti-Vettel rhetoric, Alonso this week insisted that the 26-year-old German has a clear car advantage again in 2013.

"Any driver who goes into the Red Bull manages to go very strongly," he said.

"We saw that in the tests for young drivers (at Silverstone). Whoever goes into the Red Bull is very fast -- it is a fact that it is stronger than the others," Alonso added, referring to tests last week for Antonio Felix da Costa, Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz jr.

From GMM

A clever tax arrangement sees formula one pay a tiny amount of tax, it has emerged.

Writing in The Independent, leading F1 business journalist Christian Sylt said the sport paid less than $1.5 million in tax in 2011, despite making a profit of almost half a billion dollars.

Sylt said the low tax bill was achieved due to a complex web of loans within the Bernie Ecclestone-headed empire.

Sun journalist Ben Hunt quoted British tax office Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs as saying: "We do not discuss individual businesses."

The formula one teams association FOTA also declined to comment.

From GMM

John Surtees, F1's 1964 world champion, has questioned Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton's focus.

Briton Hamilton, while regarded by many as perhaps the most naturally gifted driver today, has had a leaner period of success since winning the 2008 title in his second season.

Photo: Mercedes AMG F1 Team

"Other things have partly had a bearing on his career, but to what degree? I don't know," Surtees told the Daily Mail.

79-year-old Surtees may be referring to Hamilton's involvement in numerous scandals, his friends, his amateur music and film careers, his controversial paddock pass for dog Roscoe, and his on-off relationship with a pop singer girlfriend.

"In the end it is up to the person concerned to live their life, and if Lewis believes that he is getting the best out of life in the way he lives it on and off the track than that is up to him and no one else," he said.

"At the same time, it would appear that he is not quite as constantly focused on getting the job done as he was perhaps at one time. And when you are competing against the likes of Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, then you have a problem," added Surtees.

Photo: Twitter Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton admitted at the Nurburgring recently that he is struggling to cope with his latest split from girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger.

British Sky commentator Martin Brundle insists: "He needs to find a way pretty soon to be able to package that up and be able to manage his private life and make sure he's maximising his racing life."

From GMM

Brazilian legend Emerson Fittipaldi thinks the second half of 2013 will be crucial to countryman Felipe Massa's future.

Having emerged from his performance slump of 2012, Massa has more recently struggled with a string of crashes and spins that now threaten his place at Ferrari, where he only has a contract until the end of the season.

"I see Massa's future as depending on how well he will go in the second half of this year," Emerson Fittipaldi, a two-time world champion of the 70s, told Brazil's Totalrace.

"He's aggressive, he has talent and is very fast, but sometimes an athlete has phases where he cannot put it all together. But I'm sure he will come out of it," he explained.

Felipe Massa. (Photo: Ferrari)

Fittipaldi revealed that, in the midst of Massa's string of incidents, he managed to speak face-to-face with the 32-year-old Paulista.

"I spoke to him at Silverstone and told him that every athlete goes through difficult times in his career -- and this is not just in motor sport but in every sport. And, suddenly, everything comes back in your favour."

Massa's first chance to turn it around is this weekend in Hungary, the last race before the summer break and factory shutdowns.

"What I would like most of all," said the Ferrari driver, "is to turn things around, because going on holiday with a good result under my belt would really make the difference."

2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray First Drive

Eye-popping performance meets poise.

If you want to totally enrage Corvette fans, here's a fun thing to do: argue that the Corvette should be a four-cylinder. Then watch the capillaries burst in their cheeks as red-hot indignation flows like 93-octane through a Holley double-pumper. The notion of neutering the Corvette down to anything less than full V-8 glory is right up there with pawning the Constitution to China or outlawing hamburgers or declaring soccer the national sport. And yet, when you see a new seventh-generation Corvette lope past on the street, chances are it's powered by a four-cylinder -- 3.1 liters, 126 hp, and 221 lb-ft of torque. Oh, great. Texas just seceded.

Photo Gallery: 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray First Drive - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray First Drive - Automobile Magazine

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2014 Subaru Forester 2.0XT Touring

A crossover for drivers who wouldn't be caught dead in a crossover.

It's funny, when I break down the Forester's attributes and compare the parts to the competition, the Subaru is mediocre; however, when I look at the whole package I quite like it. The Forester is a great size -- neither too small nor too big -- with a low H-point, but a higher vantage point than a car or wagon. The 2.0-liter turbo is peppy and when put into S# (Sport Sharp) mode, the CVT acts almost like a smooth eight-speed automatic. The problems begin to mount once I stack the Forester up against its competition. The Mazda CX-5 is much more involving to drive and the Ford Escape offers more technology. And with a price tag north of $36,000, the Subaru is hardly a good value.

Photo Gallery: 2014 Subaru Forester 2.0XT Touring - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2014 Subaru Forester 2.0XT Touring - Editors' Notebook - Automobile Magazine

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2013 Switzer P700 BMW M5 First Drive

Can you improve a masterpiece?

You wouldn't touch up an Annie Leibovitz photo, so why would you mod a 2013 BMW M5? That question nagged at us as we drove to Oberlin, Ohio, to visit Switzer Performance. The company is best known for its wicked quick GT-Rs, which are still its bread and butter, but owner Tym Switzer wanted to build something with four-doors. His quarry? The new BMW M5. The fact that we were driving an absolutely brilliant, stock 2013 BMW M5 with a six-speed manual transmission made that nagging question resurface continually. Just a voice inside our head, asking, "You wouldn't cut a Harmony Korine film, so why would you mod a BMW M5?"

Photo Gallery: 2013 Switzer P700 BMW M5 First Drive - Automobile Magazine

Photo Gallery: 2013 Switzer P700 BMW M5 First Drive - Automobile Magazine

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