Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2021 i BBC Top Gear Magazine

@jack_rix editor@bbctopgearmagazine.com “HERE’S TO THE NEXT YEAR BEING A HELL OF LOT BETTER THAN THE LAST ONE” As I write, it’s been a year to the day since the UK officially went into lockdown MkI. That’s 12 long months since our lives descended into something out of a science fiction novel, 52 weeks since attending meetings with something smart on your top half and not a lot down below became the norm… and we’re not done yet. I wanted to take this chance to pay tribute – not to Chris Harris for delivering the-only-review-that-matters on the new BMW M3 (and grilling some tyres for the cover shot) – but to extraordinary efforts in the face of adversity. To the magnificent TopGear editorial team who stared down the barrel of zero…

What we’re watching/listening/doing, while we should be working Taskmaster, All4 Is this not one of the best TV shows around? More tasks than you can shake a stick at. Some as ludicrous as whatever that previous sentence means Baggio: The Divine Ponytail, from 26 May on Netflix Italy’s greatest footballer is a true icon who will mostly be remembered for missing the decisive penalty in the 1994 World Cup final – only Diana Ross hit a worse one… YouTube it TopGear magazine fix You can download the latest edition and back issues direct to your phone or tablet from the App Store. Because when life gives you lemons… settle in and read TG Return to the salon Put… the shears… down. Go see a pro! It’s finally time to get…

RETROFUTURISM Fetch the extension lead, Jeeves, I’ve had my 1961 Continental S2 Flying Spur by HJ Mulliner converted into an EV. Yep, Brit company Lunaz has unveiled its first ever L350k Bentley. Spiffing. KONA N THE BARBARIAN Hyundai has partly revealed the 276bhp Kona N crossover. Loud, huh? There’s big grilles, big ’zorsts and that triangular third braking light. Expect 0–62mph in sub six seconds and a 155mph top speed. MID-LIFE CRISIS Want to feel ancient? The Volkswagen Golf GTI is 45 years old. To celebrate, VW has given a MkVIII Clubsport a mid-life crisis with stickers, shouty Akrapovič exhaust and special 19in wheels. CHIEFTAIN EXTREME Sacrilege or super cool? The Chieftain Extreme is a two-door Range Rover Classic with a 700bhp GM 6.2-litre supercharged LS3 V8, 8spd gearbox and…

Hello Simon. It’s me. Your faithful orienteering companion, your spatially savvy sidekick, your map-reading mate. Your satnav. Now look, Simon. You’re the boss. You’re the one in charge of this motor vehicle. I’m just a state-of-the-art automated geospatial positioning and guidance system with almost unfathomable processing power. I’ve got no skin in this game. But even so, couldn’t help noticing you ignored that left turn I suggested you take back there. It’s cool. Like I say, totally your choice. Doesn’t bother me whether we get to your dentist appointment on time. Not my root canal in throbbing, blinding agony here. Only – and just for my own peace of mind here – I’m curious. Why would you even switch me on if you’re just going to ignore my advice? I’m…

TG: So Seb, you famously name your F1 cars. What’s your first Aston Martin going to be called? SV: The problem is I don’t know yet. I’m thinking about it and playing around with the Bond theme and it’s always been a female name, so check out all the Bond girls to see which one is the best match. TG: How good will it feel sticking one to Ferrari? SV: It doesn’t do the trick for me. It will feel good if we do well. Obviously, we want to finish ahead, but we want to finish ahead of all of them. So it doesn’t matter what colour is behind us, it matters who’s in front of us. I don’t look at it as a sort of revenge type of thing,…

Danny Ric fills a seat left vacant by Carlos Sainz’s move to Ferrari. The reshuffle was announced in May 2020, two months before the truncated season had even got going. Sainz Jr was keen to pledge his best performance in orange before leaving to turn red, and sixth place by the end of the year put him comfortably ahead of both Ferrari drivers in a disastrous season for the sport’s oldest and most successful team. Making him a man of his word. Is Sainz good enough to spark a long overdue run of form at Ferrari? His six seasons have yielded two podiums, his smooth driving hauling reliable points, but few headlines. But his consistency is admirable while his cheery persona suggests he’ll work well alongside Leclerc. SD…

Dress to impress To look the part you’ll need a random clashing selection of team wear dated between 2005 and 2013 – hit the charity shops and eBay Feel the rain Settle down in a camping chair in your back garden with the sprinkler running on high for maximum rainsoaked atmosphere It’s the wurst The relationship between the price of the fast food at a GP and the quality is inverse. Boil some cheap hotdogs and burn a few £10 notes for lunch On the radio You never get to see anything when you’re at the track, so hold a radio up to your ear on the lowest volume as you struggle to follow the action Awful traffic Sit in your car for a few hours, gesticulating at your neighbour’s…

The F1 field tends to bunch up the longer the rules are stable – there’s only so much downforce you can squeeze out of the same expanse of carbon fibre. Engineers and technical boffins are able to address weaknesses in their cars’ performance. As teams innovate, others start to crowd into the same space. The one positive aspect of 2021’s cost-saving measures is that things could be a bit tighter. There have been some technical changes to try and stop the cars from shredding their tyres (they’ve got a bit too heavy with all the hybrid gubbins and they’re a bit too fast for the delicate Pirellis to cope), but these have been limited in order to try and save a bit of cash. The cars are mostly all cost-saving…

1951 ‘BJ’ Series Genesis for all Land Cruisers but, well, not technically a Land Cruiser. But a great way to get up 60 per cent of Mount Fuji. 1960 ‘40’ Series The now legendary shape of the FJ40 has made it a restomodders dream. And guess what? Americans love’em. Just, y’know, don’t expect them to come cheap. 1980 ‘60’ Series The Eighties brought niceties like airconditioning and an interior where someone designed it to be comfortable. How empathetic. 2014 ‘70’ Series Originally launched in 1984, the 70 Series is as close to apocalypseproof as you can get. Simple, indefatigable and can be fifixed with spittle and gaffer tape. 1955 ‘20’ Series The fifirst offificial Land Cruiser with more curvaceous arches for the civilian market. In 1958 it went to America…

Saying you’ll own a Ferrari by the time you’re 40 is a well-worn life goal. In fact, in this era of ‘live, laugh, love’ holistic Instagram quotes, it’s less of a life goal and more of a cliche. But for Kevin Agnew, it was literally a matter of life or death. At 34 he had heart problems. Big heart problems. Such big heart problems that he needed a new heart. So, as he laid waiting for a full transplant, he had a quiet word with himself and set a goal: if he survived such seismic surgery, he’d get a Ferrari. Thankfully, he did survive. And bought himself a Ferrari Mondial months before his 40th. But that quickly dovetailed into a new goal: he had to own his dream Ferrari –…

REPORT 6 MORGAN PLUS FOUR Our Morgan largely shuns modern tech to offer a purer experience. No surprise there, but the exception proving the rule is a Sport+ button just ahead of the gear lever, which sharpens the throttle response and adds wanton pops and bangs to the exhaust note. It also makes the dorky art of heel ’n’ toe downchanges easier. Which is what pure driving’s all about, right? SD REPORT 2 PEUGEOT e-2008 ‘Keyless open and go’ is a £350 option on this car so it should unlock automatically upon sensing the key. But sometimes it… well, doesn’t. And as this is an EV, when it does do it the unlocking part also stops the recharging process. Problem is, I might just have walked past the car without…

What is it? Arguably the finest Golf GTI of them all, the MkV. Launched in 2005, it returned the fast Golf to greatness after a slightly duff period in the early Noughties. If its combination of 197bhp (plenty back then) and a sub-£20k price tag made it appealing, then a brilliantly subtle makeover outside and some fine tartan seats inside made it practically irresistible. Now, just £5,000 can buy you a good one. On the outside, its styling is from the subtler school of hot hatches. We like that: it doesn’t frivolously shout about its intentions, but equally there are enough visual clues to alert those in the know about what’s going on. Clues like the honeycomb grille, complete with a red stripe. These continue on the harder core GTIs…

EV Let’s start with a simple one. EV means electric vehicle, as opposed to one powered by petrol, diesel, used chip oil, Chanel No 5 or magic. BEV Must not be pronounced ‘Bev’, like your favourite lunch lady, but ‘B-E-V’. It stands for battery electric vehicle. As opposed to what… steamfuelled? Just call them EVs like everyone else. ICE The internal combustion engine. Confusingly, ICE can also stand for in-car entertainment (ie the stereo, touchscreen and so on). PHEV Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, or a hybrid with a bigger battery that you can plug in to charge, giving you a short, say 20-mile, electriconly range. Amazing taxdodging mpg figures in the official tests, not so amazing in real life… unless you plug in every night and use the car exclusively…

WHO: CHARLIE TURNER WHERE: CASTLE COMBE, UK “Oh come on, I said sit, not sh… Has anyone got any kitchen roll to hand? A few tissues? A microfibre cloth?” WHO: GREG POTTS WHERE: ROYSTON, UK Greg wanted some dope new headshots for his banging hip-hop EP that’s dropping imminently, who were we to say no? WHAT: JIM BAMBER ARTWORK WHERE: CASTLE COMBE, UK In the spirit of this Bamber cartoon we tried to steal it, but it appears to be very firmly screwed to the wall. You can’t trust anyone these days. WHO: DAISY AND HORACE WHERE: CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA Fascinating fact: If you get two pugs in a line and put fibreglass over the top you’ll get an exact replica of the rear fender from a Ferrari 250…

“EV EMISSIONS ARE WORSE THAN ICE CARS OVER A LIFETIME” A new electric car embeds a lot of energy as CO2 in the making of its battery. So it starts out its driving life with a big CO2 debt compared with a petrol car. When EVs were a novelty, much-quoted studies assumed largely fossil-derived electricity, and also that batteries wouldn’t last long so you’d need to buy a spare during the car’s life. They concluded an EV might never recover its manufacturing debt. Those assumptions have changed. The UK grid is greener, all the more so every year as we get more renewables. Grid CO2 intensity has roughly halved in a decade. You would also be very unlucky to need two batteries. OK, we don’t know how long an electric…

£33,165 VAUXHALL TRIED QUITE HARD WITH THE current-gen Insignia. It’s decent looking, spacious, comfortable and reasonable money. A big improvement on the car it replaced what feels like a million years ago. But the world has changed, and the Insignia… hasn’t. Few people buy Insignias with their own money. Instead they choose or get given them as company cars. And nowadays what you want for your company car is some kind of plug-in hybrid, because low CO2 emissions mean the tax rates are relatively tiny. But Vauxhall doesn’t do a low CO2, BiK-cheating plug-in to please its core market. Which is a problem. Vauxhall has access to PHEV tech as part of Stellantis. But the Insignia was developed when the company was part of GM, so Vauxhall’s engineers can’t simply…

Subscribe by 18 April 2021 and start your subscription with the Electric Awards 2021 issue! Keep your car spotlessly clean both inside and out, with the Diamondbrite starter pack – the perfect addition to your subscription. The pack contains: GREAT REASONS TO SUBSCRIBE Pay just £23.50 every six issues, saving 25% on the usual shop price Britain’s bestselling car magazine delivered direct to your door Unique and collectable covers – only seen by our subscribers Money-back guarantee – you can cancel at any time SUBSCRIBING IS EASY: SIMPLY CALL OR GO ONLINE buysubscriptions.com/TGP421 03330 162 130 and quote TGP421** Terms and Conditions This offer is subject to availability and valid for UK delivery addresses and via direct debit only. You will pay £23.50 every six…

Murray maths Complex numbers were simplified in the heat of the race, from “with half the race gone, there is half the race to go” to “the first five places are filled with five different cars” Rapid fire The charm was in his freeflowing commentary style, whether “now excuse me while I interrupt myself” or “unless I’m very much mistaken… I AM very much mistaken!” Stating the obvious “There’s nothing wrong with the car, except it’s on fire.” He was never quite wrong when he came out with his so-called Murrayisms… what he said just wasn’t quite right, either Hill’s triumph Murray was unashamedly patriotic and spoke for every fan at the Japanese GP in ’96 when Hill won the title: “I’ve got to stop because I’ve got a lump…

They are perhaps the biggest shoes of all to fill, but that’s just what 22-year-old Mick Schumacher has to do in living up to the legacy of his father, Formula One icon Michael – a seven-time world champion, who remains one of the greatest grand prix drivers of all time. And comparing the challenge with climbing Everest really isn’t enough, in the context of just how far his megastar father moved the game on. That breakout Jordan debut, his rise to two titles at Benetton, the Ferrari dream team years – all underpinned by a razor sharp focus on perfection. Mick, though, is unfazed by the sheer cliff face ahead as he makes his F1 debut with US team Haas, and has already admitted he’d like to take back his…

Hard to believe 23-year-old Dutch driver Max Verstappen is entering his seventh season – a career with flashes of brilliance, but never a season-long title fight, though 2020 was a mature performance. He’s hungry to prove himself a championship contender and Red Bull was supposed to give him wins. The team likewise enters its 18th season not as the scrappy outsider it once was, but a seasoned outfit with four constructors’ titles and 64 wins. Admittedly the last title was in 2013, but this team knows how to win. Has it found a chink in the impregnable Mercedes/Hamilton armour? Early signs from testing look good, and engine supplier Honda has put considerable effort into its latest last year in the sport. We’ve got everything crossed we’ll at least see the…

Mercedes-AMG A45 S GOODBYE £56,570 OTR/£58,365 as tested/£626pcm WHY IT’S HERE Can this hot hatch justify a sports car price tag? DRIVER Ollie Marriage WHAT TO MAKE OF THIS THEN, THE £56,000 HOT HATCH? AFTER eight months and not-quite-as-many-miles-as-normal, I’m rather taken with it. Not blown away, but boy have I come a long way since month one when I couldn’t find the lumbar controls and couldn’t much see the point. What I have learned is that it lives on a plane above any other hot hatch. It’s the technology, the interaction of electronics with mechanics, the cabin quality, the sophistication. It’s multifaceted in a way other hot hatches just aren’t. Merc has successfully distilled the essence of AMG. It’s a pukka hardcore charger. Just 1991cc of swept capacity generates…

REPORT 7 FORD PUMA Many of the Puma’s stablemates are EVs. But for me, who parks in a place with zero electricity (and zero chance of it arriving) I’m relieved to be running an ICE car. I know how far I can go on a tank, I know there are hundreds of places I can fill up when I need to, and I know (traffic permitting) how long each journey will take. Not everyone can embrace the EV future yet, I’m afraid. EN REPORT 5 SKODA OCTAVIA ESTATE Every month I need to submit the Octavia’s total mileage and every month I struggle to find it. I spent an age fiddling with the settings and reading the manual but still couldn’t find the odometer. However, thanks to Google I now…

CITY CARS These small cars are perfect for urban life, but the trade-off is a much lower range 1. HONDA e PRICE: £27,160–£29,660 RANGE: Up to 136 miles TG’s reigning city car of the year has retro-tastic styling, but the range isn’t great. No worries – you don’t need to drive anywhere, just sit inside it. 2. MINI ELECTRIC PRICE: £25,100–£31,100 RANGE: Up to 145 miles The electric version of the home grown favourite squeezes the BMW i3’s powetrain into a familiar package. Range not massive, but the car’s still fun. 3. FIAT 500 PRICE: £19,995–£26,995 RANGE: Up to 199 miles The latest version of the 500 offers sharper looks, good value and decent range – and a parcel shelf full of soft toys shouldn’t hurt the battery too much.…

WHERE ARE THE BADGES? This is a prototype of the Taycan Cross Turismo, hence the half-hearted camouflage. But no matter, there’s still the arrival of more metal at the rear, an off-road package and a Gravel mode in the drive set-up that make Porsche’s all-conquering BEV even cooler than it already is. GUESS IT’S JUST AS CRUSHINGLY QUICK AS THE SALOON? Oh yes. The full-fat Taycan Turbo S throws itself down the road with such ferocity and immediacy that it takes your brain a few moments to compute. Tesla was spot on when it christened its most powerful mode ‘Ludicrous’. No better adjective exists to describe the sensation. That sub-3.0secs 0–62mph threshold is the barometer for true hypercar acceleration, but also the point at which things can be almost unpleasantly…

The question of whether anyone’s voice will ever be as intrinsically linked to the sport on which they commentated as Murray Walker’s was with motor racing is quite easy to answer – undeniably not. For at least two generations of racing fans, the Formula One weekend didn’t begin until you heard that voice. And it really was all about the voice. The frantic, nasal blaring sounds were unlike anything we’ve ever heard before or since – and they were so perfectly aligned to the sport he loved because, of course, he sounded like an engine being wrung out in second gear. It was Clive James who observed Murray Walker spoke like a man “whose trousers were on fire”. Now, the very fact that Clive James was talking about the man…

Aston Martin is back in F1. More than that we can confidently predict 2021 will be its most successful ever year. Hardly a risky forecast given that its previous F1 prowess was established in five races at the tail end of the Fifties with a best finish of sixth. Yeah, the whole ‘back in F1’ schtick is tenuous. But the rest of it isn’t. The Aston Martin Cognizant F1 team used to be Racing Point and before that Force India. In the paddock it’s known as the Silverstone team, as that’s where it is based and has been since it was Jordan. For the last few seasons it’s been riding high in the championship, regularly placing best-of-the-rest behind the Big Three (Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull), raising the tantalising prospect…

McLaren offers us a glimpse of a more diverse, progressive future for Formula One. Its cars have more prominently displayed rainbow colours than rivals while the team has an ongoing partnership with charity Mind, playing neatly into how much Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo speak about their mental health. Lando was keen to open up in 2020 in order to help fans whose lives have been blighted by lockdown. “If I can do it confidently on a big stage, without being afraid, then they should be fine to say it to their mates,” he says. A genuine friendship appeared to flourish between Lando and former teammate Carlos Sainz, via a series of social media videos considerably less forced than anything that’s gone before. You’d assume Danny Ric would slip in…

KEY: 2020 constructors’ championship finish 2020 drivers’ championship finish Sack the art department >>> >>> Quality colouring in Nationality 9th HAAS F1 TEAM CAR: VF-21 / ENGINE: FERRARI MICK SCHUMACHER GER (N/A) NIKITA MAZEPIN RUS (N/A) CHANCES Not only has Haas replaced both its drivers for 2021, it has replaced them with a pair of F1 rookies. Everyone’s rooting for Schumacher, but Mazepin is as controversial on track as he is off it. Expect some fireworks (and maybe penalties too). MOST LIKELY TO Pay its entry fee to the FIA in roubles. LIVERY RATING 3rd McLAREN F1 TEAM CAR: MCL35M / ENGINE: MERCEDES DANIEL RICCIARDO AUS (5) LANDO NORRIS GBR (9) CHANCES Only team to swap engines for 2021, having got special permission. Mercedes power is likely to make the…

Lando Norris Lando loves one-offs – our favourite was last year’s British GP lid designed by sixyear-old Eva – but his boggo design is distinctive Daniel Ricciardo Danny refuses to take F1 seriously – this year’s helmet might resemble an off-brand ice cream, but well done for doing something fun Sebastian Vettel Seb wants to change the world “sip by sip” so to flog water bottles he’s changed his lid strip by strip from German flag to funky pink Antonio Giovinazzi Can you guess where Antonio’s from? A taste of Italia on this colourful number that stands out among derivative off-the-shelf looking efforts Mick Schumacher The baby Schumacher is his own man up front with a splash of lurid green, but his helmet transitions into iconic family hues as you…

Save 25 per cent when you subscribe to BBC TopGear magazine, paying just £23.50 every six issues, and we’ll also send you a Diamondbrite car care bundle worth £29.95! Subscribe by 18 April 2021 and start your subscription with the Electric Awards 2021 issue! GREAT REASONS TO SUBSCRIBE > Pay just £23.50 every six issues, saving 25% on the usual shop price > Britain’s bestselling car magazine delivered direct to your door > Unique and collectable covers – only seen by our subscribers > Money-back guarantee – you can cancel at any time buysubscriptions.com/TGSP421 03330 162 130 and quote TGSP421** Terms and Conditions This offer is subject to availability and valid for UK delivery addresses and via direct debit only. You will pay £23.50 every six issues – saving 25%…

1915 AUTOPED With handlebar controls and a 155cc engine, this early scooter was ridden by the likes of Amelia Earhart and suffragette Lady Norman 1947 SALSBURY MODEL 85 E. Foster Salsbury’s second scooter attempt was ridiculously cool. It featured a CVT and even accelerator and brake pedals 1960 HARLEY-DAVIDSON TOPPER Harley’s only ever attempt at a scooter was the 9bhp, two-stroke Topper. The 164cc engine was started by pulling a cord like a lawnmower 1963 VESPA 50 The most iconic bit of design in the industry? Vespa recipe has barely changed since 1946, but launching the 50 really saw it take off 1973 YAMAHA FS1-E Brits that turned 16 in the Seventies, assemble. The FS1-E was a pedalequipped 49cc rule bender that could do 50mph…

BMW M3 E36 (1994) Price now £9,950 Harris says The E36 used to be a truly bargain M car. Attend any Touristenfahrten session at the ’Ring and they’re everywhere. But now you must put up with a hard-topped cabrio to dip below 10 grand. BMW M ROADSTER (1998) Price now £14,897 Harris says Again, these have crept up in value in recent years. It’s far from the sharpest car to wear bona fide M badges, but with the help of its silky 3.2-litre six, this hot rod Z3 is more than capable of big skids. Good. BMW M5 E39 (2000) Price now £17,980 Harris says Full disclosure: you can get newer, V10-engined M5s for less than 20 grand. But speak to TG’s perennial car buyer Ricci and you’ll likely get…

This month: the Honda e’s charging port Jack Rix The position of charging ports has been the subject of hot debate in the TopGear Garage this month. Horrell hates his Soul’s port in the front grille, and lives in constant fear of being backed into. Me? I’m much happier with the Honda’s bonnet socket – a real design feature, fun to pop open with the key and you can trail a cable over the front wing. The problem comes when it rains, which is most days, because the port is facing the sky, like a dog bowl, gratefully accepting every drop until everyone within a four-mile radius is electrified to death. At least that’s what my mind tells me as I stare at it nervously through the window. I’ve never…

You remember, erm, ‘Zenos’, right? Right? Jack RIx Ah the Zenos E10… unhappy days. Word to the wise, if you’re ever expecting your first child and thinking about dropping into conversation with the motoring editor (aka he who decides who gets what longtermer) that you fancy something a bit silly before family life bites, don’t. The problem with the Zenos E10 was its total disregard for human needs – warmth, comfort, functioning auditory system. You see, it had the turbo’d 2.3 from the Focus RS so was seriously rapid, but also placed the intake mm from your ear and the constant sucking and chittering was deafening, even at normal speeds, to the point where you just wanted to abandon the car by the side of the road and walk. I…

You have a home charge point. Don’t you? Well, get one. There’s a grant, so it’ll cost you less than £500. If you don’t have a driveway, to get an overnight or allday recharge check zapmap.com for posts near home or work that give between 5kW and 7kW. Always make sure that you know in advance the supplier for the post you want to use, and register on its app or get its dedicated RFID card. Rapid (DC) chargers, at a slightly higher price, are best used for long trips, like you’d stop for fuel. They take roughly as long as filling with petrol and having a full English. In winter, keep plugged in until you drive away, as pre-warming the battery and cabin increases range. When possible, choose heated/cooled…

0207 150 5216 FortunaBeads Bracelets Spring is finally here. Get ready for a bright new season with FortunaBeads and express your personality through unique handcrafted wrist-wear. Check out this playful Nautical C3 bracelet in white-blue with a copper clasp. You can find other bracelets, made of leather or beads, online too. Based in the Netherlands. Worldwide shipping available. Shop online at fortunabeads.com Cody & Co London Engineering and manufacturing premium shoes in the UK is not for the faint hearted. In 2019, in the furnace heat of Sheffield, our chain wreath logo finally burst into flames, marking the end of a 28 year journey that took me from Shepton Mallet to Sheffield, via Milan, Dusseldorf, Shanghai, Ho Chi Minh City and Chennai. The journey continues. If you’d like to join…