Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2020 i BBC Top Gear Magazine

Editor-in-chief @TopGearEditor editor@bbctopgearmagazine.com Defender: a word that encapsulates a million stories. The hyperbole tends to get turned up a notch when writing about the icon that is Land Rover’s most legendary product, but few cars command such affection, or have been part of so many people’s stories. Its position in the nation’s psyche brings an unimaginable pressure and the weight of expectation for the replacement is huge. Some products occupy such a deep-rooted place in the fabric of society that it could be argued they should be left alone to age gracefully, for fear that any replacement could never deliver. Imagine, then, the pressure felt by Nick Rogers (executive director, project engineering, Jaguar Land Rover, or, more prosaically, the man responsible for delivering against that tidal wave of expectation) as…

What we’re watching/listening/doing, while we should be working Sunderland Till I Die Season 2, Netflix Our resident Mackem Stephen has considered the investment in the second series to be a key money-stream that will strengthen the Black Cats squad come 2021 Andy Warhol exhibition The Tate Modern’s first Warhol retrospective in 20 years. Expect to see all your faves under one roof, just like Toys’R’Us. Kicks off 12 March, runs until September Baxter Dury, The Night Chancers Baxter’s sixth album is “about being caught out in your attempt at being free”. Tipping this album for great things Formula One is back March sees the return of F1. I’ve got a tenner on Latifi to stop Lewis equaling Schuey’s title record. Easy money, right? Ready Steady Cook, BBC One Stuck at…

LAMBORGHINI AVENTADOR SVJ I thought the modified doors on my Gallardo were good, but when they went wrong I realised I should’ve saved up for the Aventador. BUGATTI CHIRON I’ve never driven a Bugatti and I’ve obviously seen the price, so I’d love to experience what it is that makes something so expensive. McLAREN P1 To be honest, this list of dream cars could go on forever, but if I’m forced to choose just three… I’d love to own a P1.…

One advantage of the new wave of adaptable cars is you can compare ICE and EV costs. You can have a Corsa, a 208, a 2008 or a Mini with a petrol auto or as an EV. Soon a BMW X3 too. That’s a more transparent comparison than Clio vs Zoe, or I-Pace vs F-Pace. Turns out that if you adjust for spec, an EV is usually about £ 1 0 0 a month more on PCP, which is how most people get their cars. Thing is, that saving on the piston-engine car would buy, at 40mpg, less than 700 miles worth of petrol. A month of driving. If you plug in at home you can probably run your small EV for less than £30 a month. So already the…

This month I received an email informing me that my Volkswagen-driving husband was probably cheating on me. I was less upset by this news than you might expect, mostly because I don’t have a husband who drives a Volkswagen, or indeed, a husband at all. Welcome, then, to the world of the automotive press release, where dubious research never stands in the way of an attention-grabbing headline. This particular dubious research came courtesy of a website describing itself as “the UK’s largest extramarital dating site”, which surveyed 2,500 members and discovered that its male members, as it were, most frequently drove VWs (22 per cent), followed by BMWs and Mercs. Should VW take this as a compliment? Unclear, but you suspect if it replaces all that nasty Dieselgate stuff when…

£33,825 ↑ FOR Comfort and cornering. Cabin feel. Air of quality ↓ AGAINST Not a hatchback. Trips up in its main aim: style 6/10 BMW is not given to pulling surprises on us. Its actions are, in the German, konsequent: logical, consistent, resolute. Pronounced with a v in the middle. But the 2-Series Gran Coupe isn’t at all konsequent. It isn’t like the other Gran Coupes. It’s not RWD, not a variation of the 2-Series coupe. Instead it actually shares most genetic material with the 1-Series: transverse-engined, with the same suspension and dash. It’s basically a 4dr saloon, but with a slightly low roofline enabled by pillarless doors. The 2GC will go to China and the US, countries where the 1-Series isn’t sold, and which sneer at hatches. Even in…

From $63,900 ↑ FOR Handling, performance, refinement ↓ AGAINST Maybe too quiet on the inside? 8/10 “MORE POTENT VERSIONS WILL BE ALONG, BUT THE CLAIMS FOR THIS ONE ARE PRETTY EYE-WIDENING” Chevrolet has been talking about building a mid-engined Corvette for decades, but we’ve had to wait until 2020, 70 years from its introduction, for the dream to become production reality. No new naming strategy though – it’s just the C8 (eighth generation), and the base car is the Stingray, the performance pack the Z51. Same as ever. But don’t for one moment think this car bears any relation to the C7 in anything other than name. The C8 is to the C7 what champagne is to Mountain Dew – a completely different product with a totally different performance offering.…

£33,795* ↑ FOR Long range, well-integrated EV systems, Marmite looks ↓ AGAINST Marmite looks, obviously It’s electric or nothing for the Soul now. Funny, the last one had a choice of electric or combustion, and almost everyone chose the one with pistons. Still, the Soul EV is a whole lot more usable this time because it’s propelled by the battery and motor of the e-Niro, which might look boring but has about the best range-to-price ratio of any EV. Well, whatever you think of the Soul’s looks, boring wouldn’t be the adjective. 8/10 From the bluff squinting-LED nose to the robot-head tail, the Soul sits just the correct side of the intersection between car and cartoon. Inside, it’s a pleasingly curated selection of ovalised islands, even if the plastics are…

£50,055 ↑ FOR Superb powertrain, neat handling, not an SUV ↓ AGAINST When did the 3-Series get so porky? 9/10 This isn’t the darty, involving 3 Touring older readers might know, but it’s still absurdly good to drive for a 1.7-tonne estate. And it possesses the same engine as a Z4, albeit in higher tune and feeding sure-footed AWD via a sublime 8spd auto. If you seek solace from an SUV, then sensible cars get no more appealing than an M340i Touring. It doesn’t just represent peak 3-Series; if you like how a car steers, it’s probably peak family wagon. SD…

1 WINCH Capable of pulling the Defender up a vertical wall, apparently. Where’s Flintoff when you need him? £TBC 2 BONNET GRAPHIC Matte black ‘110’ decal £150 on its own, or denotes you went for the Explorer pack. We’d leave it off 3 KNOBBLIES Goodyear Duratrac tyres add a bit of grumble on tarmac, but unlock every terrain you can think of. Part of the £1,405 Off-road pack 4 RAISED AIR INTAKE Doesn’t increase the 900mm wading depth, does help keep sand and dust out of the engine. £743 or part of the £3,418 Explorer pack 5 ROOF RACK Expedition roof rack causes remarkably little wind noise, can carry up to 132kg. £1,248 or part of the Explorer pack 6 SECOND SPARE WHEEL Which TopGear didn’t require in Namibia due…

It wasn’t that long ago the idea of an EV future looked almost laughable. Remember three middle-aged men combining a milk float with a TVR? Yet now, it’s universally accepted as being a case of when – not if – our petrol plug is pulled for good. We’ll leave the whole discussion about where our power comes from to the political battleground that is Facebook on a Tuesday afternoon. Instead, let’s focus on something far more exciting which hopefully won’t evolve into a Brexit shouting match: the world of EV tuning. When we hear the term “EV future” it’s understandable to associate this with new cars only. But, push aside stuff like the Nissan Note, and you’ll see there’s far more opportunity than simply powering a car emission-free around a…

If you are a BMW geek, then you’ll know that the 3-Series has had a glass boot hatch for, well, ever. But what you might have forgotten is how useful having a boot hatch can actually be. It’s perfect for those moments when you need to dump your shopping or retrieve it quickly, or when you’ve parked your car too close to the station car park wall and can’t open your boot. Or better still… when photographer John ‘I’ve got the strongest abs ever’ Wycherley needs to use it to hang out of to get the shot for last issue’s James Bond cover.…

Philipp Rupprecht “Being sent to photograph a cancelled motor show is a new one for me. Seeing it being torn down was fascinating, the amount of waste was troubling” Jack Rix “Caking the car for the cover involved tailgating another Defender down a muddy riverbed at 50mph. Probably should have told them what I was up to…” Rowan Horncastle “Jack went to arid Africa… I went to sodden Berkshire. What he didn’t get to see on safari was Paul Horrell wrestle a sheep. That’s worth staying in the UK for”…

01 BATMAN’S NEW MUSCLE CAR Ladies and gentlemen, it looks as though the new Batmobile will be a V10-powered, Mad Max-style, rear-engined muscle car. Not the engine we deserve, but the one we need right now. 02 THE CITROEN AMI IS REAL Remember the Ami One concept? The one we hoped would be the second coming of the 2CV? Well, it’s actually happening. Plus, it can be driven by 14-year-old kids in France and Italy. 03 NEW 911 TURBO S The last Turbo S launched with 552bhp. This one has 641bhp. Yikes. Even madder is the 590lb ft torque figure, available in full from 2,500 to 4,500rpm, and 0–62mph in 2.7secs. 04 HYUNDAI PROPHECY CONCEPT The Prophecy is a 4dr, four-seat EV saloon/coupe that expresses Hyundai’s latest design language: “Sensuous…

This is the year EVs go mainstream. Pressure comes from every direction. The car companies will be clobbered if they don’t meet a much stiffer average CO2 target, and big numbers of EVs are the only way. On the other side of the supply-demand equation, company-car user-choosers will be able to save absolutely vast amounts of tax if they go EV from April. So electric cars will no longer just be for deep-green early-adopters, or for the retired with time on their hands. The road warriors will be getting into them too. So let’s imagine a world where the Regional General Manager (South) is now in an electric car. First thing, RGM(S)’s self-esteem will be toast if they can’t sit in the outside lane. Which means 80mph and the rest.…

PANEL GAME All of the body’s skin is new, with bigger grille. Frameless doors allow for a lower roofline and look cleaner SUITED, BOOTED Looks like a hatchback, but isn’t. Designed for Chinese who want a saloon. Besides, fifth door would have added cost and weight BLACK HOLE Still, there’s a multi-position boot floor and folding rear seats, so it’s moderately flexible in the cargo department HEAD LINES In the back seat, legroom is OK but average grown-up men will find their neck cricked by the low ceiling…

£51,805 YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE WITH AUDI’S CARS. The ‘A’s are the normal ones. The ‘S’s are the everyday quick-ish ones. And the RS cars are the specialist, best-we-canmanage ones. Allegedly. So, why doesn’t Audi throw the necessary kit at them? Case in point: the risible standard RSQ3. Without adaptive suspension to soften the 21-inch rim ride, it’s a horror show. There’s a whiff of half-arsedness here: that the engineers were so affronted by having to sign off the RSQ3 Sportback, they’ve not really tried their best. As opposed to say, a Porsche Macan or Alfa Stelvio, where the diehards may well have not found their new project palatable, but still worked their socks off to make the result a success. It’s like eating a canape you know has…

£82,793 ↑ FOR 911s are meant to be subtle, so the Carrera is perfect. ↓ AGAINST The stigma of having the ‘cheapest 911’… 9/10 Want a cheaper 911? Get yourself a boggo 385bhp Carrera. The beauty of the Carrera is that it’s the most 911, 911. A 911 should seamlessly bind the worlds of performance and usability… and a non-shouty Carrera personifies this with its more than adequate performance, fantastic handling and daily drivability. You don’t even miss out on much compared to the ‘S’, as you can spec everything, apart from the more powerful car’s optional 4WS. RH…

“SPEEDSTERS ARE THE NEW FOURWHEELED, VERY-MUCH-NOT-WATERPROOF-TO-500FT CHRONOGRAPHS” Type “most expensive” into Google, leave the cursor blinking, and the two top suggestions it’ll offer are “car” and “wristwatch”. There’s always been an uncanny synergy between fast cars and timekeeping devices. Fundamentally, they only have one mundane purpose. And yet, the money – the intricacy – that can be lavished on either to seduce the world’s megawallets boggles the mind. Speedsters are the new four-wheeled, very-much-not-waterproof-to-500ft chronographs. Only 12 Bentley Mulliner Bacalars will ever exist. Each has been allocated, its buyer paying £1.5m plus taxes for the privilege. Aston Martin will produce 88 V12 Speedsters. Thirty-five were snapped up just off the back of Aston releasing an abstract design sketch. Even at £765,000 a pop – and a good chunk more change…

1909 THE IDEA IS BORN Dorothy Levitt’s book The Woman and the Car advises female motorists to carry a hand mirror to look behind 1911 THE RUMOUR MILL Contrary to popular opinion, Ray Harroun didn’t invent the rear-view mirror to win the first Indy 500 1914 FIRST MIRROR PATENTS The first US patent for a rear-view mirror is granted to Chester A. Weed 1940 AUTOMATIC DIMMING Jacob Rabinow invents an auto-dimming mirror. Chrysler briefly offers one as an option in 1959 1991 REAR-VIEW CAMERAS ARRIVE The JDM Toyota Soarer is the first production car to feature a reversing camera and dash-mounted screen 2018 JLR’S CLEARSIGHT MIRROR Flick a switch, and the Evoque’s mirror becomes a display that waves goodbye to rear passengers and headrests…

LESS THAN £5K PEUGEOT 406 Mi16 (1990) Price now £3,250 Harris says Peugeot is more of a hot hatch company, which is exactly why the Mi16 doesn’t get much attention. In fact, most people pick these up to nab the engine and shoehorn it into a 205 shell. LESS THAN £10K ALFA ROMEO 156 GTA (2002) Price now £8,950 Harris says Beautiful yet flawed. As it ever was with Alfa. The glorious 3.2-litre V6 sounds unlike most other engines. It is sublime. And with the aftermarket Q2 diff fitted it doesn’t drive shabbily, either… LESS THAN £15K LANCIA THEMA 8.32 (1989) Price now £13,500 Harris says No, it doesn’t have an 8.32-litre engine, rather a V8 with 32 valves, provided by Ferrari. Yes, this is a Ferrari-powered car for a…

Tom Ford: In many ways, this was the best longer-term companion ever to grace my eclectic driving needs. It was certainly one of the most fitting. At the time, there was a not-insubstantial commute going on – somewhere in the region of 1,000 miles a week – and being capable of eking out an easy 600 miles of range without stress certainly made the difference. As did the 282bhp and 428lb ft, the fire-and-forget six-speed auto box and firm-but-supportive seats. The latter helping to make sure I still had most of my spine intact after a few months’ hardy use. But more than that, the 535d in Touring guise (E61) was fun to drive, easy on the eye and capable of carrying an alarming amount of stuff without immediately falling…

SD: Given how much I like picking fights with you, your Focus is annoyingly hard to fault. And shockingly easy to live with. OK: So we’re actually in agreement for once? SD: Not so fast. I’m going to get disproportionately angry about its panoramic sunroof. OK: See, I’m actually with you on the pano-roof. The blind’s too thin, it made the car unbearably hot on warm days and it’s £995 extra. I’d bin it. SD: My issue is more about philosophy. My favourite hot hatch in the world (Megane R26.R) only uses glass for three of its windows; yours has two needless panes of the stuff at its very highest point. Your Focus lacks, um, focus. OK: Why must all extreme hot hatches become so unusable, with their back seats…

WHO: JAMES GOUGH WHERE: KAOKOLAND, NAMIBIA For those wondering who would ever use the ladder in the Expedition pack… videographers would WHAT: SIGN WHERE: LONDON, UK And you thought that TopGear team-building days would be held at a go-kart track… WHO: TAXI DRIVER WHERE: WOLFSBURG, GERMANY “We’re late,” said Charlie and Rowan. “No probem,” said the taxi driver. And then drove them at 210kph to the airport. Ooof WHAT: CARBON-FIBRE SINK WHERE: RIMAC HQ, CROATIA Lightness, speed, efficiency. Hand-washing suddenly becomes a performance sport WHAT: CARPET WHERE: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND An abandoned motor show made for a creepy-feeling exhibition hall. With multiple huge sticks of rock. Sweet WH0: JACK RIX WHERE: WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA Lion tracks down prey. Eats it digit by digit. Finger food, big-cat style HOW TO CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTION…

“HAVING PLAYED OUTRUN AS A KID, I HAD A DREAM OF DRIVING A FERRARI ALONG THE BEACHFRONT” When I was younger my mum drove a Fiat Uno. I was just getting into DJing at the time and she would come and pick me up from clubs at 2am with the car packed full of record boxes. My dad on the other hand had a few cars, but one in particular that I’ll always remember was an immaculate Ford Sierra Cosworth. At 17, I failed my driving test first time. It was a schoolboy error… we were coming up to a bus lane and I didn’t check the times you were allowed to be in there, so I panicked and automatically tried to swerve out of the lane. We nearly smashed…

UNBELIEVABLE TEKKERS GOODYEAR’S RECHARGE TYRE SHOULD I CARE? Yes, engineers and chemists over at Goodyear might have discovered the secret to eternal life… for a tyre. Imagine rubber that regenerates as it abrades. Imagine the burnouts! SHOULD I BE SCARED? If you dislike arachnids, perhaps, but look on the bright side… this has the potential to reduce the billion or so tyres that are scrapped every year. Within the tyre is a small pod of liquid tread compound “inspired by spider silk” that feeds through special tubes to the surface and hardens on exposure to air. SHOULD I TELL MY FRIENDS? Why not? They’ll never need to help you change a wheel again. To ‘change’ a tyre, simply replace the pod in the centre for a new one. Need winter…

Can we somehow identify the individual who coined the phrase “Smart Motorway” and administer an especially grievous Chinese burn? Talk about creating a rod for your own back by raising expectations beyond what might be delivered. This isn’t a new topic, there isn’t much I can add, but there probably is some justification in repeating the net effect of these clever new roads is more people dying. They’re moronic. But the thing about moronic behaviour is it actually seems quite normal when surrounded by similar madness. Which is why most of us can actually completely understand both how the Smart Motorway came to be, and why it was thus named. Because it came out of the Department for Transport – which appears to have been created by Armando Iannucci to…

£27,165 ↑ FOR Stepping into the world of EVs gets a little easier ↓ AGAINST It could get a little more interesting, though Here is a Vauxhall Corsa that’s almost pioneering. And that’s something we’ve never been able to say before. This is the Corsa-e, and it’s a fully electric hatchback that looks just like its petrol-powered base car. It’s not alone in its offer, nor is it the first of its kind. We did say almost pioneering. Indeed, it’s only really come about because Vauxhall was bought by PSA and this is – effectively – a Peugeot e-208 in a plainer suit. 7/10 It uses the same combination of 134bhp power and 50kWh battery as the e-208, adding 345kg to a regular Corsa’s kerbweight but keeping it all in…

OPTION UP You can have a carbon-fibre roof for your S – saving 1.9kg – costing £2,208. Twice the price is matte Thunder Grey paint (£4,440) DRIVING POSITION No real change here. Most of us would like to sit lower in the Alpine, and have the steering wheel tilt more upright CORNER FORCE Less roll in the S, but not that much more bite and urgency to the steering. Not a biggie. Both are a delight to turn into corners MANUAL LABOUR Nope, even the S isn’t available with a manual gearbox. Seven-speed twin clutch is the only option. It’s a good one…

£14,995 ↑ FOR Comfortable, good tech/equipment, smooth to drive ↓ AGAINST Dodgy auto, steering wheel doesn’t adjust for reach 7/10 Nowadays you don’t see many brand-new city cars. Vauxhall no longer sells the Viva or Adam in Britain, nor Renault the Twingo, and there are serious questions about whether Citroen and Peugeot will ever replace the C1 and 108. Meanwhile the VW Group’s city cars have gone electric (and expensive) – petrol-powered versions of the Seat Mii and Skoda Citigo are no more, and the VW Up range has been simplified. There is just no profit in small cars, especially now you have to fill them with big car tech and engineer your way around incredibly tight emissions regulations. Unless you’re Hyundai, that is. The i10 is its bread and…

£37,290 ↑ FOR Classy looks clothe effortless performance ↓ AGAINST Fun and involvement are in short supply 7/10 AMG’s smallest 4dr favours effortless performance over notions like ‘fun’. If you like going fast in straight lines, you’ll fall for it. If you like a car that’s hyperactive in corners, it’ll leave you wanting more. In the A35 hot hatch, that all feels quite frustrating, but in the classier 4dr it’s a skillset that fits more snugly. And there’s an undeniable feel-good factor to a tenacious sports saloon that’s not groaningly wide. SD…

McLAREN ELVA Surprise! It’s a carbon-tubbed, twin-turbo V8 two-seater. The price for a more practical 720S Spider? A tidy £237k. One of the 399 examples of this 804bhp face-peeler? Try £1,425,000 FERRARI SPMONZA Basically, an 812 Superfast in negligee. You’ll pay an estimated £2.3million for one of the 500, and Ferrari won’t let you buy matching 1-and two-seater versions. Rude! PORSCHE 911 SPEEDSTER The latest in a line of chopped-top Porkers stretching back to the Sixties, based on the ‘old’ 991 shape. All 1,948 units sold out, despite costing £100k more than a roof-equipped 911 GT3…

PLUS Meet TG ’s new project M-car Fast Audis have an odd reputation these days. For all the hits – R8, RS6, that lovely mid-Noughties RS4 – there are twice as many misses. Against sharper German rivals, RS products often feel a bit aloof. Perhaps we should all be forced to drive one of these alongside every new RS. Because the quattro feels no more extreme. Which is enough, given its superlative stance and glorious motorsport past, to make my tummy sink. I’ve longed to drive one of these and the fact it’s not a scary, histrionic homologation special like some of its contemporaries feels something of a let-down. But, speak to anyone with vivid memories of this car’s launch – at the 1980 Geneva motor show – and it’s…

Andy Franklin: Whatever happened to just having one button to control one thing? In the new 3-Series there are three ways I can turn the radio up or down. 1 The good old-fashioned way, with a silver knob on the radio. 2 On the steering wheel. 3 By using hand-gesture control which involves wiggling my finger in a circular motion somewhere near, you guessed it, the silver control knob… while also looking like an absolute tool in the process. Clever, but pointless and annoying, especially when your kids constantly try to get it to work. What happened to less is more?…