BBC Top Gear Magazine January 2026

@jack_rix @rixjack jack.rix@bbctopgearmagazine.com Awards season… aka that time of the year when I realise that despite some gale force headwinds, it's been a cracking trip around the sun for new cars. Especially if you had a lucky streak on the scratchcards. Yes, by the time you read this Rachel Reeves will have delivered her motorist bashing budget, EV demand is lower than anticipated, the SUV is ubiquitous… but choice has never been wider or deeper. Rewind two weeks and I'm pulling up the roller door on the mammoth hangar 113 at Bicester Motion and in they come… all 17 award winners for the cover shoot. A heavy EV contingent (quite literally) spanning the full gamut from impossibly cute Lego brick (Dacia Hipster), all the way to a purple EV Rolls-Royce……

Paris to Tokyo. Budget-ish airlines will fly you for as little as 300 quid. Although for that price you get a free 20 hour stopover and an imprint of your seat neighbour's elbow in your ear lobe. Or, alternatively, you could get in your Peugeot 104 and just drive. Allow us to introduce Renan Favigny… If you're dead set on driving between the French and Japanese capitals, there are undoubtedly better equipped vehicles to do the 8,000 mile journey in. Why did Renan decide to set off in a clapped out Peugeot 104? He explains: “Anyone could do it in an expensive camper. People spend tens of thousands of euro on gear. I wanted to see if I could do it in something ordinary people can afford.” This particular 104…

IT'S SMALL, IT'S LIGHT AND IT'S shamelessly designed to be affordable. The Honda Super-N is everything we're told modern cars can't be. But Honda is rebelling – by bringing the joy of right-sized kei cars to the UK. Alright, let's calm down. The Super-N is only a prototype for now. Not a concept: it has mirrors, wipers and seatbelts. It's a real car. We drove it briefly at Honda's Tochigi test track and can report that though it's not fast, it steers with precision and feels refreshingly microscopic. The pugnacious ickle face has echoes of the Honda e about it, though hopefully the Super-N will sell in greater numbers than the three and a half managed by the gorgeously designed but range- and price-hobbled e. The touchscreen doesn't dominate the…

We are told by lawmakers that cars must go electric. We're told by carmakers that making small electric cars is not cost effective. So they must be ultra basic (Citroen Ami / Dacia Spring) or very trendy (Renault 5 / Hyundai Inster). But by blending Japan's genius kei car rules with augmented engine noise and cosplay gearshifts, Honda's brought back the entry level warm hatch. It's spacious, fun (enough) to drive, and it makes a standard parking space feel roomier than the Albert Hall. Honda, we beg you to avoid the mistake of the cute but expensive e: price this where we can all reachit. And then build us a Type R version too. “Honda's brought back the entry level warm hatch” Don't get me wrong, I love the idea…

THE TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 250 IS A BIG, CAPABLE AND brilliantly boxy return for one of the world's most hardworking off roaders. And now, there's a little one! Meet the new Land Cruiser FJ, revealed here ahead of a mid 2026 launch. It deploys the same excellent boxy design aesthetic as its bigger sibling but on a slightly shrunken wheelbase. So where the big boy LC comes in at 4.9m long, this one's 4.5m. That's about the same as a LR Defender 90 with a spare wheel slung on the boot door. Toyota says the front and rear bumpers are removable, because these things actually get used around the world. It's able to seat five, and has been vigorously tested (read: likely pushed to destruction) so it retains what Toyota…

PIRELLI HAS COINED THE CATCHY name Cyber Tyre. Other manufacturers are working on similar but haven't launched. We're talking about a tyre that can introspect on its own health, and examine the road it's rolling over, and report to the car. Among other benefits this brings usefully earlier warning of danger, and more sensitive ABS, ESP and traction control. Yes we've had pressure and temperature sensors before, but mostly in the valve, which isn't so accurate or immediate. The Cyber Tyre's sensors are tiny chips right in the tread. They take acceleration measurements in both the three linear dimensions and twist, which passes up to a control unit that can calculate deformation and contact patch size. Similar chips sense pressure and temperature. If the tyre's contact patch shrinks, the car's…