Best videos of 2013
We pick out our favourite videos uploaded to YouTube from the past 12 months
Auto Express published more than 150 videos on its YouTube channel in 2013 so choosing just 12 to celebrate the highlights was tough - so hard we only narrowed it down to 13.
Take a look at our playlist and if you like what you see, subscribe to our channel so you can get the latest videos as soon as we publish them.
Best videos of 2013 videos January - Classic Fords Like children in a sweet shop - that's how we felt when we were given access to Ford's Heritage Workshop in Essex last January. The site is packed with classic Fords, from the Model T to the RS2000, and we got to drive some of the cars we used to own - and some we dreamed of owning.
February - Audi A1 vs Quattro 20v Is the Audi A1 Quattro worthy of the famous badge? To find out, we put the limited-run pocket rocket up against a classic eighties Quattro 20V Coupe in an Auto Express track battle around the Blyton circuit in Lincolnshire. For good measure, we took along a Quattro Group B rally car, too.
March - VW Golf vs rivals We asked you a question in the spring: if you had £22,000 to spend on a diesel hatchback from a German premium brand, would you go for a BMW 1 Series, Audi A3 or Mercedes A-Class? Or is the more humble VW Golf 2.0-litre TDI actually a better buy? Badge snobs look away...
April - Bentley GT Speed Capable of over 200mph, the Bentley GT Speed Convertible is the fastest four-seater drop-top in the world. And if you have a big car with big performance, you need some big roads on which to test it. So we drove one from San Francisco to Las Vegas to try it in a wide variety of conditions.
May - Ford Fiesta ST vs rivals Spring was the season of the hot hatch, with the Ford Fiesta ST, Peugeot 208 GTi and Renaultsport Clio 200 all launched at the same time. So we put these thrilling cars to the test on the roads of Snowdonia and at the brilliant Anglesey Circuit. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it...
June - Heroes humbled? Everyday diesel cars have come a long way with their performance, but are they now quicker than the legendary petrol versions of their predecessors? To find out, we held a series of drag races, pitting old against new – with an E30 BMW M3 meeting an F30 320d in our first head-to-head.
July - Mercedes A45 AMG vs CL3 63 Another month, another gratuitous drag race as David met Goliath in a Mercedes AMG head-to-head. We knew the A45 was going to be quick, and it did 0-62mph in 4.6 seconds – faster than the official time. But surely an AMG with a four-cylinder turbo couldn’t beat a bi-turbo V8 model?
August - Range Rover Sport Land Rover never fails to impress with its car launches. For the UK first drive of the new Range Rover Sport, it decided the best way to demonstrate the off-road abilities of its latest SUV was by letting journalists drive the car on an obstacle course – through the body of a jumbo jet. Amazing.
September - Audi RS6 vs E63 AMG Need to move a wardrobe in a hurry? Check out the Audi RS6 Avant and Mercedes E63 AMG Estate. These storming cars have similar prices and performance figures – but as we found out during our thrilling road and track comparison video, they feel quite different to drive.
October - BTCC car vs mower Take a Honda mower, fit it with a 1,000cc bike engine, a bespoke frame and suspension from an ATV, then get Gordon Shedden to race it against team-mate Matt Neal in his British Touring Car Championship Civic around the Rockingham race track. The result: our most exciting video of 2013.
November - winter tyre test hich car is more capable when driving on snow: one with all-wheel drive and standard summer tyres or one with front-wheel drive and winter tyres? We took two Ford Kugas to Snowdome in Tamworth, Staffs, to find out. Without giving too much away, let’s say we were surprised by what happened…
December - Luxury car battle We crowned the Range Rover Best Luxury Car at our New Car Awards 2013 back in July. But could its reign be short lived? The new Mercedes S-Class promises to raise the bar even further in this class, while Audi has responded by freshening up its A8 limo. Our video reveals which car is best.
Bonus track - Mercedes S63 vs Nissan 200SX drift off We've staged some crazy battles in the past but this time, we head to the race track for a drifting challenge between a storming drift-prepped Nissan 200SX and the stately Mercedes S-Class - complete with bubbly-sipping VIP in the back.
