Artikel / Blog

“I’m not the typical Porsche man,” Bart Kuykens once said of himself. The Belgian artist specializes in black and white photography, and his particular talent lies in visually capturing the special connection between man and machine.

Gorden Wagener recently joked that artificial intelligence would soon be doing his job. Naturally, we had to ask the German automobile designer to elaborate. In our conversation, we also discussed the necessity of display screens – and the meaning of luxury. Mostly, however, we talked about the new Mercedes-Benz CLA.

Take two very special cars, a Mercedes S-Class and a Toyota Land Cruiser, and a city that is paralyzed by traffic on a daily basis. That, in a nutshell, is the set-up for this super super comparison test. So imagine our surprise when we found the city virtually deserted and all the streets eerily devoid of cars.

Some stories are better told in fictionalized form, with people’s names changed to protect the innocent. This is one of those stories.

*A world of our own design The Alpine makes a modest impression, despite its radiant blue exterior. It is beautiful – and anything but aggressive. The pinnacle of sophistication.

This fairly cool English two-seater has forty years to its name. Reason enough to embark on an extraordinary journey. And since we’re on the subject, we’d like to ­nominate Colin Chapman for a Nobel Prize. ­Posthumously.

Friends shift our view on life. Make it smoother. Or wilder. Like "friends with benefits". Minimal commitment, maximum fun. And from the perspective of an open-minded car culture magazine? That idea works just as well in a metaphorical gear. Which brings us – with a grin – straight to the sports cars.