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You see, the French have never really been good at making cars, their designs have always been avant-garde (like the Renault Avantime for instance) but hopelessly impractical and unreliable to the rest of the human world. So they'd rather cook. Or paint. But, with the arrival of the Laguna Coupe, they've finally made one that works. The curves, the grill and the tail-lights are all reminiscent of the Aston Martin DB9.. and with that bold front grille the Laguna Coupe is a stunning car to behold. Never before has Renault ever crafted a car so beautiful and yet practical. What you get is a turbo-charged 2.0l Automatic gearbox which churns out 170bhp which is not bad really. From the looks of it you wont expect it to hunt down Lambos or Ferraris, those are the red hot chillis of the automotive world. But for the Renault, its more like a creme brulee, crisp on the outside and utterly smooth and soft on the inside. The car is fully equipped with cruise control, climate control and everything else that a regular middle-upper class coupe may have, but its real party piece is the way passengers proceed to the back which have real space and not like other 2 door 'four seaters' with room at the rear for the width of golf clubs. Just pull a lever on the front seat and they slide effortlessly towards the front leaving ample room for human beings to enter. And once they're in, pull the lever again and the seat will slide back to its original position as it utilizes the memory settings in the car. Another thing that most people did not notice is that when you open the doors, the pillarless windows actually wind down just a tiny bit just so that opening and closing the doors do not damage the windows. That's pretty neat. Though the interior may have been thrown over from the four door family saloon version, its still a very comfortable place to be in. With a cabin that even Hitler would approve of, i have absolutely no complaints... except the steering wheel shape is a bit weird for a 'sporty' coupe. French cars usually have mad and impractical centre consoles with revolutionary style where function was placed at the bottom of the priority list, but in this it looks almost German with German quality plastics and buttons which actually feel nice to press. It even has that clever LCD screen in the middle telling the driver all the essential trip information. Sadly though, there is no GPS system or a reverse camera fitted in this car and fitting one in the dash would be as good as adding curry to fondue and just destroy the looks of the entire interior. So please... if you buy one, don't be a c--k to do such a thing. Even if you do want to have one make sure it looks good inside or else this car will hate you. If you are a family man with a young one in tow, there are ISOFIX points for that baby seat, and super practical split folding rear seats. And not forgetting safety. Crashing this car will just make you feel like you're in a pillow fight because there are 8 airbags all round to make sure you enjoy the crash. So if this car can sit four people in comfort, including the baby, looks amazing, its a two door car so people won't think you're giving up on life just yet, and its safe, why would anyone buy the four door version? If anyone did sorry to say, you picked Ugly Betty to be your wife instead of Jennifer Aniston or something. On to the way it drives. Under the bonnet is a turbo-charged 170bhp engine which automatically eliminates this car from the supercar/sports car category. I would label it a Gran Tourer where you just want to keep driving this car on and on and on... it just makes you realize the joy of driving and being caught up in a traffic jam won't seem like a drag anymore, you fall in love with it. Girlfriends beware. With 270Nm @ 3250rpm, overtaking is a breeze and the car feels light and powerful off the line which is ideal in Singapore roads where there's a traffic light every 5m. What's more, the car won't burn a hole in your pocket for drinking too much petrol, its more of a social drinker rather than a hardcore clubber. The car has 6 gears and has a feature called the 'self-shifter' which senses the amount of throttle and shifts gear to rev-match with the previous rpm to enable silky smooth gear changes. The worst thing about this car is the way the steering feels. Its as lifeless as Fann Wong's face. There's just no feel when you turn which may lead to over or understeer. But other than that, the Laguna Coupe can complete the century sprint in 9.6 seconds which is neither too fast nor slow for a car in this class. This car is definitely a hit for me with German quality finish, Japanese practicality, French/Italian/British looks and the undeniable attention to detail, the Laguna Coupe is definitely a class above the rest. Renault has outclassed its Japanese rivals like Honda or any of its French counterparts. They have shot for the sky with this one, aiming to be at least on par with the Germans. If Hitler was still around, his face won't be so smug in that fat old Mercedes anymore, here comes General Charles De Gaulle in a Renault.

Hybrids never fail to bore people unless they're nerds who love to talk all day about how they work or compare how many batteries their hybrid has. However, Honda's revelation of the CR-Z changed the world's perception of hybrids. What used to be stereotyped as slow and aesthetically boring is now sporty and rather handsome. Now there are plans to create another version to stuff the shoes into the mouths of hardcore petrol-heads, behold the CR-Z Type R. The CR-Z already had head turning looks but now with Mugen on the team, the Type R version is set to look even better and more aggressive than before, in short, it doesn't look like it has a ton of batteries in its belly. The coupe-like body is now matched with a red Honda badge, a body kit which will surely be scraped on speed humps, and even the Audi original day time running lights on the front lip. The most obvious difference between the standard CR-Z and the Type R is the blacked out hood and side mirrors against the Alpine White paint. This is sure to separate the men from the boys. Under the bonnet, the standard CR-Z glides with a 102bhp 1.5 litre engine with a 20bhp electric motor on board bringing the total number of horses to 122. But with Mugen, things are meant to go a little bonkers. There have been speculation that the Civic Type R's 2.0 litre four-cylinder engine could be the CR-Z's powerplant and the electric motor will be bumped up to produce 50bhp giving the CR-Z a total combined horsepower of 200 and a 0-100 timing of 6 seconds. The standard CR-Z will then be pale in comparison with a pedestrian 0-100km/h time of 9 seconds. All this speed with the fuel consumption of a camel at 20km/l which is quite amazing even though this is still all in theory. Along with the changes under the hood, the Type R will have an additional button on the dash labelled, 'Sport Plus' which makes everything feel faster and more exciting. It sharpens the throttle response, steering and the timing of the stop-start system and the electric motor will be set to work at full power to provide maximum performance. Better brakes and suspension will also be included to turn the standard CR-Z into a blazing mean machine.. The Type R is currently being prepared to make its debut in the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show before it hits the showrooms in Japan late in 2011.

Like all Jaguars, the new XK looks like its in a class of its own. With curves which appear to be inspired by the Aston Martin One-77, and that new grille from the XF, the old 'Spitfire Wing' oval shape which dates back to the E-type of the 1960s will be retired to make way for this all new sheetmetal and grille design. The new Jag will be on sale to the public from 2013. This will be the British car-maker's first ever diesel powered sports car which will be powered by a 3.0 litre twin turbo V6, and with that lightweight aluminium body, the aggressive 3.0 litre turbodiesel will be able to reach a 100km/h in under 5 seconds with an average fuel consumption figure at 12km/l, its really the best of both worlds where fuel economy and performance are not compromised. The body work and the interior fittings have received the largest makeover. The new styling is parallel to Jaguar's revamp of their image which started with the bold and handsome looking XF and on the interior, Jaguar promise the highest of quality with the car

Featured in This Comparo Aston Martin DB9 Bentley Continental GT Ferrari 612 Scaglietti F1 Mercedes-Benz CL600 Euro Fancy Coupes We wring out four 12-cylinder grand tourers on the Continent and figure out what matters most: style and image, or the numbers. BY RAY HUTTON, TONY QUIROGA, PETER ROBINSON AND LARRY WEBSTER http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=15&article_id=8303