The Top 10 Biggest Car Shocks of 2012

It’s been a half decent year. Olympics, Paralympics, Diamond Jubilee, a royal pregnancy, four more years of Barack and United didn’t win the Premier League. Lovely stuff. But forget all that. 2012’s been a blinder for cars, and here are the top 10 motoring moments we just didn’t see coming.

10. New 911 nearly drops the ball

By being bigger than ever, even more refined and luxurious, and getting the dreaded electric power steering and its almost zero-feel Achilles heel, the 991 came closer than anyone thought to really screwing up the world’s favourite sports car. Oh, and the seven-speed manual wasn’t much cop either. Thing is, with hotter GT3 and Turbo variants on the way, it’ll be in 2013’s biggest shocks for just how good it turns out to be.

9. Bugatti’s Veyron ain’t done yet

With 1183bhp, a 269mph top whack and a place in history as one of the most famous cars ever, you’d think VW would be satisfied with what their brainiacs achieved with the Veyron. But nope. Reports from this autumn confirm Bugatti will unleash a Super-Duper-Sport-Veyron (not the official name, we don’t think.) It’ll get 1600bhp, get to 62mph in less than 2 seconds, and top out at around 280mph. Mind? Blown.

8. Vauxhall names car after Bible man

Yeah, yeah, Adam Opel founded Opel and Vauxhall is owned by Opel so this is Opel’s Ferrari Enzo. Wait, what? All we know is that this is either the most stupid car name of the year, or the best publicity stunt to come out of Luton since the VX220.

7. People actually survived this?

Mitsubishi Evos are well-proven rally heroes. Pikes Peak is an infamous hillclimb course. Mix those two, the world’s most indestructible GoPro, and a seriously hard roll-cage, and you get one of the most jaw-dropping survival vids of the year. And that’s saying something, because 2012’s Russian dashcams have been mental.

6. Alonso gives Fezza boot up the arse

This year’s Ferrari F1 car was one of the ugliest ever, and if pre-season testing was anything to go by, one of the worst set-up. Yet Fernando Alonso somehow took a total dog of a car and won the second race of the season, pulling Fezza’s socks up and dragging to oh-so-close to the 2012 world title, which he lost be a handful of points on the final day of the tour. What a racer. How did he manage it? Someone check him for fuses and wires – the guy isn’t human. Amazing.

5. It costs F-ing how much?

It wasn’t a surprise that the new Jaguar F-type would be gorgeous. It won’t be a turn-up for the books if it’s seriously good to drive. But it is a shock that the long-awaited Porsche Cayman-rival's price starts at a massive £58,500 for an entry-level V6. Go for the supercharged V8 and its £75k. Bolt on the most excellent carbon wheels, some electronic help to park it and passenger-impressing upholstery and the £100k F-type is staring you in the face. And that’s about as scary as an actual jaguar locked in your downstairs cupboard waiting until you get home. Especially when the Cayman looks this good...

4. Cor, the Viper’s got some bite...

It’s not so much that the new SRT Viper packs an 8.4-litre, ten-cylinder engine, or that it makes 631bhp and 600lb ft of torque without even looking at a teeny light-pressure turbo. It’s the fact that three years after the US car industry was on its arse, while the whole world economy is still as shaky as John Terry’s birthday sex promise, and in an age where the planet needs to be saved, the new Viper even exists, at all. Yet alone one with McLaren F1 power. God bless Amer-kuh y’all.

3.  Ugly, but fast and fun bargain

Unless you’ve been living in a cage or in an Australian jungle with a load of Z-listers, you’ll know we’re pretty fond of the BMW M135i here at Car Throttle. One of the best badges sits on a bonnet that hides 316bhp of straight-six gorgeousness, and you pay less than thirty grand for the honour of owning it. Yeah, it’s a pity it doesn’t look as good as an A-class AMG Sport or Seat Leon FR, but it’s THE performance bargain of 2012. Be afraid, hot hatches of 2013. No-one expected the hot 1er to be this damn good.

2. McLaren only make dull superc...oh

I’d love to believe that McLaren didn’t style the P1 to be the most aerodynamically-advanced road car ever. I’d like Ron Dennis to say it was styled one-handed, with the other hand raised in a one-finger salute to the trolls who reckon the 12C is boring. Okay, it’s not going to be true, but when form and function work this well, we don’t care. We knew the successor to the F1 was going to have to be special. This thing is a Paris auto show-show-stopper. Boom. Macca’s back in the game.

1. Boxster's a knockout featherweight

When I first saw the new Porsche Boxster, I wondered if there’d been a mistake. Surely this was a new Carrera GT? Just drink in those massive side scoops, the butch stance, and pert little boot(y). An entry-level sports car with this much prettiness inside and out, from the same guys who had the audacity to draw the Cayenne and Panamera. Well, yeah, as it turned out. And the fact it’s tear-inducingly good to drive, sexy to listen to, and unlike the 991, better as a manual than an auto, you’ve had a complete win. Well done Porsche.

The Boxster is now the most desirable sports car on Earth, as well as the best. Shock result, job done.