Ferrari V12 GT cars, made in India Jeep Wrangler and Triumph Trident 660 headline the May 2021 issue of evo India

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If you listed out the greatest engines ever made, a Ferrari V12 would most likely be right at the top. The May 2021 issue of evo India celebrates the V12, lining up 5 of the most iconic front-engined GT road cars from Maranello, starting with 365 GTB4 Daytona and topping off with the 812 Superfast. These Ferraris have always been wildly fast, and gathering them all together also gives us insight in to how the super-GT has evolved.

We’ve got plenty more in this issue, having driven the made-in-India Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, the BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo, Audi S5 and BMW X5 M Competition. For enthusiasts on a budget, we have put the updated Maruti Suzuki Swift with its Dualjet engine against its rivals to see which one delivers on outright thrills. We’ve brought together some of the most exciting cars on sale today — the Porsche 911 Carrera S and BMW M2 CS — in both manual and automatic variants, to find out the difference the transmission makes to the driving experience. We’ve revisited icons from the past, including the Ruf Rturbo that outdid its contemporary 911 GT2 and the McDowell 1000 designed by S Karivardhan. We’ve showcased both the exciting and efficient side of hybrids, sending the Lexus ES 300h properly sideways at the Kari Motor Speedway, and driving the Toyota Camry Hybrid to a wind farm on Earth Day. We also managed to undertake two epic road trips in the eastern and western Himalayas — taking the Hyundai Venue in search of the greatest driving roads around Dehradun, and exploring Arunachal Pradesh in the Mahindra Thar. The Fast Bikes India section is headlined by the excellent Triumph Trident 660. All this and much more in the latest issue of evo India magazine!

Five icons that share a bloodline, assembled for one epic test. The Ferrari 365 GTB4 kicked it off in the 60s, providing a grand touring experience like no other, while also laying claim to the title of being the fastest production car in the world. After a couple of years building flat 12s, Ferrari returned to the V12 configuration with the 550 Maranello, followed by 599 GTB Fiorano and then more recently the F12 Berlinetta and the 812 Superfast. This epic story charts their evolution over the years, and in some sense charts the evolution of the entire genre of super GT cars.

With local assembly, Jeep has managed to price the Wrangler more competitively, making it a far more appealing proposition. We drive the Wrangler Rubicon — the most capable version of the Wrangler — both off-road and on road to see whether this 4x4 that has always appealed to the heart, now appeals to the head as well.

The Swift has been refreshed for 2021, and now gets more power! We pit it against its closest rivals to see which one delivers on the Thrill of Driving. It isn’t going to be an easy task — the Ford Figo has a strong fan following among the enthusiast community for good reason, the Polo GT has proved itself as an enthusiast car time and time again, Tata Motors has been nailing the ride and handling and the Altroz continues in the same mould, while Hyundai’s Grand i10 Nios is not to be underestimated. There can only be one winner!

This isn’t a story about which transmission is more engaging — that’s obvious. Instead, what we’re trying to do is find out how much of the driving experience the automatic takes away, and what does it give back in return. True blue enthusiasts may stick to the manual by default, but there’s more to the automatic than meets the eye. And what better way to delve deeper than behind the wheel of some of the most engaging cars on sale today — the Porsche 991 Carrera S and the BMW M2 CS.

The Ruf Rturbo was based on the 996 generation 911, and was wildly expensive — even more than its contemporary GT2. But it offered thrills like few other cars did back in the day. We revisit this car in 2021 to see how time has treated it, and we’re going to have to say that this car is more relevant now than it has ever been before.

Arunachal Pradesh is a relatively unexplored part of the country, and we set out to discover it from behind the wheel of the new Mahindra Thar.

The new Audi S5 is the latest of the (relatively) affordable high-performance sedans to be launched in India, taking on the likes of the BMW M340i and Mercedes-AMG A35. Unlike its rivals, the S5 isn’t assembled in India and hasn’t been priced as aggressively. Does that take away from how capable a car it is?

Following in the wake of the updated Mercedes-Benz E-Class comes BMW’s long-wheelbase challenger — the 6 Series Gran Turismo. It may not be as luxurious as the E but in typical BMW fashion, it remains a driver’s delight without compromising on comfort and practicality. Is it worth the money? We drive the petrol engined 630i M Sport to find out.

The second most powerful SUV in the country, after the Lamborghini Urus makes this quite a formidable machine. It makes ridiculous amounts of power and actually manages to lay all of that down on the road, through a mighty capable chassis.

An iconic part of motorsport history, the McDowell 1000 was designed by the legend S Karivardhan and does nothing but showcase his engineering genius. We drive one of the two left in existence — and find out how brilliantly balanced this race car of the past is, and wonder what it must have been like to race back then.

The Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore has a new layout, and we set out to drive it in the Lexus ES 300h. The ES 300h may be front-wheel-drive but that hasn’t stopped us from throwing it sideways round the exciting new track layout!

In the second instalment of our Early Adopters series, we meet Goldy Nagdev — a true blue car enthusiast — and speak to him about his Mahindra Thar. His Thar shares a garage with icons that include the likes of the Mitsubishi Evo X and BMW M2 Competition, and Goldy tells us how the Thar is an icon in its own right and how it fits in to its garage. He also takes the Thar off-roading for the first time, and comes away very impressed with its capabilities!

Volkswagen is all set for its heavy India push under the India 2.0 Project, with the upcoming Taigun. But before the launch of the Taigun, we have another SUV coming our way in the facelifted 5-seater Tiguan. In this story, we detail Volkswagen India’s plans for the next few months including what you can expect from the Taigun in terms of spec and equipment.

We drive the Toyota Camry Hybrid to the Muppandal wind farm in Tamil Nadu to celebrate Earth Day 2021. This wind farm is the third largest on-shore windfarm in the world, and apart from being a spectacular sight, it was also a great place to explore the capability of the hybrid drivetrain in the Camry and how it provides the best of a combustion engine and electric drivetrain in to one harmonious package.

We chart a loop through the lesser Himalayas, and head out to drive it in the Hyundai Venue. The Himalayas are the greatest mountains on earth and they certainly have some of the greatest roads on earth too. This route is but a prologue to what these mountains have to offer — providing everything from brilliantly surfaced wide stretches, to narrow broken roads with great views and everything in between — without you having to travel too deep in to the mountains, or climb too high up.

This month, we’re celebrating affordable enthusiast cars including the Abarth Punto and the Volkswagen GT TSI, both relatively affordable cars with mods that won’t cost you an arm and a leg. We also have plenty of cool cars listed in the STI Classifieds section!

The Triumph Trident 660 is now the most affordable in-line triple available in the country. Can it live up to the promise of being a fun, entry level motorcycle or will the fact that it is competitively priced reveal cracks that we wouldn’t otherwise expect from Triumph? We get astride it to find out.