Innholdsfortegnelse for Award 2016 i BBC Top Gear Magazine

...to the annual TopGear Awards issue, like sports day for cars but with no politically correct stickers for effort over performance (or, as you could put it, trying hard but coming last). No, the automotive world is a do-geat-dog environment where only the very best succeed and a TopGear award signifies a product that excels in its category, representing the best of the best and a very significant achievement. In short, these awards matter. Our annual celebration of the greatest cars of the year is always a good audit for the health of the automotive world, and as the stars of this month’s gorgeous foldout cover prove, it’s been another incredible year. The pace of progress in this industry never ceases to amaze and fascinate – the speed of development,…

WE SAY: IGNORE THE HATERS. MASERATI HAS CREATED A GREAT SUV, FIRST TIME AROUND Somewhere on a wide, deserted German motorway, the Maserati’s big digital speedo rolls over 134mph. Then it disappears for a few seconds, replaced by the message “Aerodynamic ride height 2 achieved”. The Levante has kneeled on its air springs to its lowest setting, stabilising it by lowering the centre of gravity while also reducing drag. The threshold speed is actually 106mph, but it doesn’t begin to drop until you’ve been at 106-plus for some seconds. By which time I’ve arrived at 134mph. A few seconds later, at 137mph, the autobox shifts into top. Petrol SUV sales are so tiny in Britain that Maserati reckons it isn’t worth selling us the 430bhp V6 turbo Levante. Instead, we…

WE SAY: IF DIESEL SIMPLY WON’T DO, TRY HYBRID. BUT DO YOUR SUMS FIRST I’m looking to make a statement... In that case, the RX will be pulling you in like a tractor beam. Lexus has located its brave pills of late, and the RX finishes what the NX started with its origami creases and enormous front grille. Yet the interior is an oasis of calm – we like the cinema-sized central screen. You won’t be doing so in this shrine to Swedish minimalism, although the XC90’s size might turn heads. The exterior is smooth and unfussy – a theme mirrored on the inside where stress-inducing buttons are discarded almost entirely, leaving a serene place to pass time. One for the keen driver? You’re kidding, right? This is a Lexus…

Range Rover Evoque Convertible HSE Evoque Convertible HSE £47,500 WE SAY: MAKES A LOT OF SENSE AND DRIVES WELL. NOT FOR EVERYONE, BUT WILL BE A SALES SUCCESS There’s an involuntary twitch from most beardies when presented with the new Evoque Convertible, the kind of emotional short-circuit when fascination wars with the need to abuse any car where marketing got the engineers in a headlock. After all, a convertible SUV – worse still, a convertible Land Rover – smacks of pose before practicality. And part of Land Rover’s USP is inferred spur-of-themoment adventure capability rather than on-demand self-tan. And yet, once you start driving it, the Evoque Convertible makes lots of sense. Having owned several Land Rovers and being the keeper of an actual beard, this is slightly confusing. First…

#01 Flywheels What’s this then? It’s the round toothy disc connecting crank and gearbox that damps the actions of the pistons and crankshaft, smoothing them ready for the gearbox. How does it do that? An engine’s power is delivered in short, frequent bursts. When fuel is compressed and ignited, the pistons are forced down, thus rotating the crankshaft to which the flywheel is attached. The flywheel is the thing responsible for making sure that what goes into the gearbox is a smooth, uninterrupted flow of rotational power. Flywheels also dampen unwanted vibrations, thus reducing stress on the drivetrain. So, what’s a single-mass flywheel, then? Most cars have dual-mass flywheels, which are the most effective at eliminating driveline shudder because of the springs contained within them. Great for diesels and heavy…

It’s 40 years since James Hunt won the F1 World Championship. Here’s a picture of him in that very year, 1976, taken at his Spanish villa. If the swimming trunks are anything to go by, he was probably fresh from a dip in a pool full of Marlboro girls. And who else could fill their briefcase with neatly arranged packets of smokes? There are hundreds of images like this one, many of which were captured by photographer David Phipps, a man whom Hunt trusted to have around at the vital moments. To mark the anniversary of Hunt’s win, the Phipps archive has been released by Sutton Images for an exhibition in London and also as a hardback book. James Hunt: Girls, Beer and Victory runs at Proud Gallery Chelsea until…

I t’s grim and wintry, cold and damp. The farms along this Cornish road have been lubricating its surface too. Its bends are fascinating but tricky and bounded by stone hedges so you really don’t want to get it wrong. But in all modesty I don’t expect to, as I’ve been driving this route forever. My own personal Mudschleife. We all have our benchmark road. It’s not the dream highway of upland sunlight and imagined supercars. It’s the one where we know every twist and dip, every change of surface and on-the-apex drain cover, the exact places that harbour puddles after a shower and autumn leaves after a squall. The road that tests us and our car by a familiar and therefore precise set of metrics. For best results, my…

This is not traffic; this is war. A conflict where there are no sides, no Geneva Convention, no rules and no mercy. It’s every car, van, scooter, lorry and pedestrian for themselves, fought on a battleground that besieges the ancient city of Naples pretty much all day, every day. Not a single vehicle goes without the scars of combat – with each panel on every mobile contrivance dented, scratched and abused by a traffic ‘system’ that seems modelled on basic Brownian motion: you just head for where you want to go until you bounce off something else. You don’t bring a car you care about into Neapolitan rush hour – or Naples in general – because the habit of push-parking (everyone leaves their handbrakes off so that people can shove…

FAMILY CAR OF THE YEAR As extreme-risk automotive assault courses go, this one is right up there. I’ve just threaded a Discovery Sport between the two hollow engine cowls of a 747, and as I round the corner to pass photographer Rowan, my attention is focused on a piece of dismembered landing gear that lies on its side: a macabre aeronautical sculpture directly in my path. When dwarfed by the scale of the 747 they’re normally attached to, they take on a more diminutive status, but when torn from their host and discarded on the ground, they are, quite simply, MASSIVE. Even the squishy-looking bits are inflated to 205psi and form immovable rubber boulders that are best avoided. When we first started negotiating access to the airliner boneyard that sits…

In a high-friction durability test between a doughy Michelin Pilot Cup and a granite-hard road surface you’d think the bitumen would walk it... Surely the tread would erode first, evaporating into plumes of acrid smoke, moments before a catastrophic blow out? But the Shelby GT350R Mustang doesn’t play by the rules – burnouts are its thing. The road doesn’t melt its tyres; its tyres melt the road. No, seriously. I’ve just created a miniature pond by pouring half a pint of mineral water into one of two blackened hollows that the Stang has burrowed into the tarmac using nothing but the power of line-lock and 519 all-American bhp. I’m surprised the road didn’t concertina up behind us like a Looney Tunes carpet and the Earth isn’t spinning a little quicker…

URBAN WARRIOR OF THE YEAR Were we to go about this whole “Awards” thing with a cold, analytical approach, the CX-3 might not get one. The ride could be better controlled, the interior plastics could be softer to the touch, rearward visibility could be more panoramic. But even though these are relevant criticisms that affect the car’s habitability, they do nothing to diminish the reason we’re giving the CX-3 an award. Because what Mazda has done is build an urban SUV with a sense of humour, a thing which is tangibly of the same bloodline as the MX-5. And that’s got to be worth something. A reminder. The CX-3 is Mazda’s Juke, its sub-Qashqai crossover for people who value style, dynamics and a modestly raised seating position. Based on the…

In truth I didn’t have to wait until I got back to England to know that we were right to choose the Focus RS as our Car of the Year. What sealed it for me, weirdly, was a section of contraflow roadworks in Germany. It only needed a few degrees of steering input to switch carriageways, but in that brief moment, the Focus communicated so much. It felt alert and eager and sharp, it made me revel in the tactility and feedback. One quick nudge and the RS was instantly with me. And it did this as I was driving through a section of roadworks. But handling talent alone will only take a car so far – a long way, admittedly – but what makes the RS so special is…

REPORT 3 2979cc, twin-turbo in-line 6cyl, RWD, 425bhp, 405lb ft 32.1mpg, 232g/km CO2 0–62mph in 4.1secs, 155mph 1560kg ￡56,505/￡64,560 Total mileage 5012 Driver Ollie Marriage Why it’s here Which side of the lairy/liveable line does the M3 live on? It’s a wheel thing. I thought the M3 was looking just too sporty on its 19-inch M Double Spoke wheels, so I’ve switched them in for something with more stealth appeal. More 320d-ish. Less ‘mmmm’, more ‘ermmmm’. This isn’t actually true. What I’ve done is switch to winter tyres and taken the opportunity to see what visual difference a new set of wheels makes. Quite considerable, isn’t it? They’re still 19s, but less fang-wagony. Keep them clean and the bright silver rims ping in the light and look really sharp, but…

GOODBYE 1598cc 4cyl TD, FWD, 120bhp, 236lb ft 68.9mpg, 109g/km CO2 0–62mph in 10.5secs, 116mph 1320kg ￡20,845/￡24,004 Total mileage 12,991 Driver Paul Horrell Why it’s here Why are premium small FWD crossovers taking over the world? Never had much time for crossovers. Get an estate, I always screeched. But small crossovers have been sprouting like knotweed, so I’d begun to wonder if I was missing something. In that sense, this test has been about the 500X as proxy for Countryman, 2008, Captur, HR-V, CX-3, et cetera. As I expected, the practical advantages of a 2WD crossover are pretty scant. The car industry refers to these things as ‘B-segment crossovers’. B-segment means supermini, but they’re all bigger than a supermini: the 500X is nearly as long and heavy as a Focus…

Caterham 620S £44,995 WE SAY: CATERHAM DIALS BACK TRACK-DAY INSANITY TO CREATE A SUPERIOR DRIVING MACHINE The highest rung on Caterham’s ladder of lunacy is the 620R. But with almost slick tyres, a frenzied sequential ’box, Veyron-rivalling acceleration (0–60mph in 2.8secs) and a frenetic attitude, that particular Seven deserves to be parked in a straitjacket rather than a garage. So here is what happens if you soften off the edges. It’s called the 620S and it has a windscreen. Also a tent-like roof, flimsy doors, traditional H-pattern gearbox and tyres with some sort of tread pattern. Basically, the S adds creature comforts and a hint of usability to a silly quick Seven. However, those ‘luxuries’ also add sacrilegious weight – 60kg in total – meaning the 620S tips the scales…

Mini Cooper S convertible £22,430 WE SAY: JUST IN TIME FOR SUMMER, ANOTHER MINI VARIANT. WHOOP The current Mini hatch is a very good car. Does the roof-chop spoil it? Nope, it works very satisfactorily. Its biggest hurdle is perceptual rather than actual. This convertible’s image has always been a bit sugary. But the reality will probably win you over. OK, how does it work as a cabriolet? The roof is completely automatic, as if the old hand-latches were a terrible imposition. When open, it’s a bit of a rucksack on the car’s tail, slashing rear vision. But air-flow management is fine: at motorway speeds there’s not much buffeting, at least in the front seats. Roof up? Wind noise isn’t a bother, even at high speed. You’re more likely to…

BMW’s vision for the next 100 years is a sporting saloon. Not an SUV, not a hypercar, not a nuclear-powered flying car. Sports saloons are, says BMW design chief Adrian van Hooydonk, “the core” of BMW. But the BMW Vision Next 100, to give the car its full name, is also autonomous, shape-shifting and powered by something they won’t name. Safe to say, it’s not an M division twin-turbo V8. It has two modes: you drive or it drives. When you’re driving you’re in Boost mode, where augmente-dreality guides you, projecting the ideal steering line and speed onto the windscreen. Or, if you have other things to do, switch to Ease mode. The steering quadrant folds away and the chairs swivel so you can kick back and get on with…

PAY ATTENTION, WE WILL SAY THIS ONLY ONCE... 1 The design dictated the engineering But lots of clever tech flourishes have been built into its all-new looks. The front end may vault classic Aston cues deep into the 21st century, with the original DB series’ side vent strakes getting a welcome reboot, but they serve an aerodynamic purpose too. They form part of what Aston calls the ‘curlicue’ vent, which extracts high-pressure air from the front wheelarch to reduce lift. 2 The interior is utterly gorgeous Now that Aston Martin has hooked up with Mercedes for the electronics infrastructure, everything should work properly. So the dodgy old satnav has finally gone, its replacement housed in an all-new infotainment system, which can be operated via an optional touchpad with character recognition…

1 POCKET CLASSICS RACER Last year we discovered that a Pocket Classics miniature car laps the TopGear track in three minutes and seven seconds. But that was a front-engined roadster with a chain driving the tiny rear wheels. So just imagine how fast a mid-engined, mini GP car with propshafts and a limited-slip diff will go round... That's what we have here - the latest micro car in the Pocket Classics showroom, inspired by Sixties racers like the Lotus 49. It has a 120cc, single-cylinder four-stroke, which doesn't sound like much, but in standard tune it'll do 45mph. With the limiter removed, it will top 80mph. Best of all - and despite its dinky size - it can be driven by grown-ups. £16,665; pocketclassics.co.uk 2 ROADHAWK HD-2 Roadhawk's newest dashcam…

When we tested the McLaren 570S against its rivals, the Audi R8 and Porsche 911 Turbo S, back in issue 276, something struck me about the newest, most junior McLaren. When the first MP4-12C arrived, some five years earlier, it hadn’t just been the convoluted name that was somehow off-kilter. It was certainly a bold, high-tech offering, a car that took the fight to the heart of Ferrari, but the execution was that of a company that was finding its feet. Hardly surprising, maybe. But well documented issues with the IRIS infotainment and, more pertinently, an absence of charisma, made the MP4 feel like a product that hadn’t had enough love lavished on it. But the 570S, from the first moment I drove it, seemed different. Same 3.8-litre twin turbo…

“Small things make perfection, but perfection is no small thing.” Neither, predictably, is the Rolls-Royce Dawn. If you boil it down to the most vulgar of generalisations, a soft-top Wraith is really a 5.3-metre, 2.5-tonne road-legal Riva Aquarama. And the attention to detail of Rolls-Royce’s latest model is something its endlessly quotable founder would doubtless have found “adequate”. This is how luxury is done in 2016. Rolls is rebelling against the zeitgeist of ultra-exclusive, rarefied cars. You won’t see the Dawn getting dragged into a mud-slinging match about advancements in Orwellian selfdriving gadgetry. Do you think this car cares its twin-turbo, 6.6-litre V12 develops 563bhp, rather than the 624bhp offered in Toad of Toad Hall’s Wraith? Not likely. This is an exercise in elegance, which is why three-quarters of the…

SPORTS CAR OF THE YEAR Describe your perfect sports car. You know where this is going, but humour me, because there probably aren’t many cars left – or coming – which could tick every box. A sports car has its priorities on sensations, not speed, so you can get away with one of those quaint old gearboxes that requires limbs, not fingertips, to operate. It’ll have a low driving position, but the car isn’t preposterously, intimidatingly wide. It’s going to need to keep you busy too, so you’ll be after rear-drive and a turbo-free engine that doesn’t generate torque like talent shows create music, wrapping it up soullessly and cramming it out of the door as quickly as possible. The Cayman GT4 has all of these qualities, and it melds…

NOISE OF THE YEAR This magazine can do many things, but unfortunately it can’t play you the sound of a Range Rover Sport SVR. I can tell you that, at first, it sounds like a distant Chinook helicopter, all low and rumbly and full of trouble, and that when it really gets going you might mistake it for a passing NASCAR. But you should really give your ears the honour of hearing this thing in action, which you can do at TopGear.com once you’ve finished reading this. In the meantime, let’s go inside Range Rover’s acoustic bunker, known properly as the NVH department, to see how they make this thing sound so good. NVH is industry-speak for noise, vibration and harshness, and people in this line of work devote much…

HELLO 1969cc, 4cyl twin-turbodiesel, 4WD, 225bhp, 347lb ft 48.7mpg, 152g/km CO2 0–62mph in 7.8secs, 137mph 2009kg ￡50,685/￡67,145 Total mileage 2145 Driver Tom Ford Why it’s here Comfortable and calming, but is the XC90 boring? In a world of multi-use niche-busting, figuring out if you’ve achieved what you set out to do can be problematic. After all, if you’ve got a cross-platform sports-SUVlimo-hybrid, mission statements can get… convoluted. But the Volvo XC90 seems to know what it wants to be, and that’s refreshing. And what it wants to be is versatile, practical, comfortable and calm. I know, I know, this doesn’t sound like the kind of car TopGear usually gets frothy about, but as a daily driver for a medium-sized family, the XC90 makes all kinds of sense. It’s not exactly…

REPORT 6 1999cc, 4cyl turbodiesel, RWD, 178bhp, 317lb ft 67.4mpg, 111g/km CO2 0–62mph in 7.4secs, 140mph 1565kg ￡34,775/￡43,815 Total mileage 3833 Driver Jack Rix Why it’s here Has Jag really cracked the ‘3-Series’ thing? It’s been a month of peaks and troughs for our XE, kicking off with a longoverdue scrub. Eventually the visible neglect became too much, and the sheer guilt wore me down, so I paid someone else to do it for me. Great job, though, and seeing it in its full glory once again was a timely reminder of just what a handsome car it is. Then, as if the XE could possibly feel any happier in its new shiny skin, the news landed that it had been nominated as a finalist for the European Car of…

REPORT 5 1496cc, 3cyl turbodiesel, FWD, 114bhp, 199lb ft 78.5mpg, 95g/km CO2 0–62mph in 9.4secs, 126mph 1190kg ￡17,235/￡19,350 Total mileage 2492 Driver Simon Carrington Why it’s here Is a Mini with more doors still a Mini? During the time that I’ve been running our five-door Mini hatch, one question I’ve constantly been asking myself is “Why?” Why would you buy a Mini with five doors when in reality it’s barely more practical than the three-door, and nothing like as cute and good-looking. The rear end. Still not pretty. Of course, there are advantages to the five-door if you regularly carry children in the back, or have just a little more shopping than the three-door can cope with. But in that case, is the regular 5dr the answer, or should you…

GOODBYE 1984cc, 4cyl petrol, FWD, 276bhp, 258lb ft 42.2mpg, 158g/km CO2 0–62mph in 6.1secs, 155mph 1440kg ￡29,205/￡32,020 Total mileage 11,060 Driver Dan Read Why it’s here Is it really the king of hot hatch estates? GARAGE LOGBOOK CUPRA ST 280 GOOD STUFF Brand-new Leon Cupra STs now come with 286bhp as standard, a bonus of 10bhp over our car Even when wearing winter filth, it looks pretty shiny BAD STUFF The seats could have done with a little more lumbar support £10,000 depreciation in just over six months and 11,000 miles. Blame the optional extras… As you can see from the deeply symbolic and really rather artistic* picture above, we’ve reached the end of the road with our Leon. In fact, as I write this it’s been out of my…

Mercedes-Benz E220d £35,935 LIFE INSIDE OR TRY THIS Jaguar XF Tech lags behind, but the XF offers peerless road manners “We have been pursuing the vision of accident-free driving for some time, and we are now making big, big steps towards the realisation of that. When it comes to autonomous cars, we have to be the first, we cannot be a fast follower.” Daimler’s chairman Dr Dieter Zetsche is a busy man, so his presence at the launch of the new E-Class speaks volumes about the importance of this Benz staple. The new E is the car Stuttgart’s serried ranks of cabbies have been waiting for, but it’s also the Mercedes that might put them out of a job. High on the seemingly endless list of new technologies is Drive…

£16,895 6 10 No longer a Citroen, now simply a DS, the 3 has had a makeover to celebrate. Technical changes barely go beyond better headlights and CarPlay/MirrorLink on a standard colour screen. If that sounds cynical, don’t despair. A host of fresh powertrains were introduced during the latter years of the 3’s former life. And the lovely turbo three-cylinder can now be had with a perky 128bhp. The rest of the car has aged well, so the whole remains relevant. SPECIFICATION 1199cc turbo triple, FWD, 128bhp, 170lb ft 62.8mpg, 105g/km CO2 0–62mph in 8.9secs, 127mph n/a kg…

THE CAR THAT GOT AWAY 1970S Ford Escort Mk1 Mexico The Escort was a thoroughly affordable first car with a range of sensible engines. So you’d buy one and do everything you could to make it look and go like the Mexico, a special edition model named after the Escort’s victory in the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally. The Ford Escort Mexico was, by all accounts, an excellent car, and often a very orange one. If you passed your driving test in the early Seventies, this road-legal rally hero probably featured on your first-car wishlist, right next to the Triumph TR7 and BMW 2002 Turbo. These weren’t far-fetched fantasies; they were the sort of cars you could actually hope to own. Well, one day. Because no matter how…

Up before sunrise to prepare for his radio show, then straight into the TG office to bash out the final details of the show. And then the real work begins with the schoolrun... START 2.30am Wake up at 2.30am for an old man’s pee. Great relief that I’ve still got two hours of kip left. 4.45am First alarm goes off, turn the light on and then my second alarm goes of. I’ve got three alarms, two phone and a £5 cheap one. Brush my teeth in the shower, have a cup of hot water and some manuka honey for my throat. 5.20am Get in or on various vehicles – usually my Piaggio 500 trike. If it’s freezing cold or dangerous, or if I’ve got to test a car, I won’t.…

DR: So, the 911R. Basically it’s a de-winged GT3 RS with a manual ’box. Presumably this means you’ll bang on about it being the ultimate driver’s car... 12:45 JR: Correct, because it (probably) is. Think of it as a greatest hits album – all killer, no filler. Seriously, if I could hand-pick a collection of parts for a 911 mash-up, this would be it. 12:46 DR: But here’s the thing, all those parts – or lack of them – add up to just 1,370kg, which is 50kg lighter than the current GT3 RS, and isn’t that supposed to be the holiest Porsche on Earth? 12:48 JR: It’s possible to have more than one god, you know – just ask the Greeks. Look, the GT3 RS is a monumental car, but…

HIGHWAY TO SHELL Each year, 50 million red crabs spawn on Australia's Christmas Island. In order to help them migrate from their inland hangout on one side of a road to their spawning ground on the other, park rangers have built: INSURING THE SAFETY CAR According to a study by a car insurance company, people who pass their driving test first time are most likely to be in a crash, while those who pass third time are the safest drivers on the road. OF THOSE WHO FAILED THEIR FIRST TEST: 32% said it made them drive more carefully 29% claim to have learned from their mistakes 27% said they became better after more practice 12% of those surveyed must have had their answers lost in the post because the previous…

1989 BMW M3 Engine: 2302cc, inline 4cyl, naturally aspirated 192bhp @ 6750rpm 170lb ft @ 4750rpm Performance: 0–62mph in 6.9secs, 146mph Transmission: 5spd manual, RWD Economy: 23.9mpg Weight: 1300kg L x W: 4346mm x 1680mm The dials: two large ones, rev-counter on the right, speedo on the left, fanked by two smaller ones for fuel and temperature. They haven’t changed in 30 years. Neither has the font for the M badge. Just about everything else has, though. The kidney grille is barely recognisable. But the biggest shift between the original and current M3s isn’t the design or the layout, the technology or even the power. It’s the approach. The original E30 M3 is a chassis car. The latest F80 is an engine car. Do you get where I’m coming from?…

FREAK OF THE YEAR Everything is pain. And what isn’t burning with the blunt shear of broken nerves has gone worryingly numb. Fingers have long since ceased to function with any kind of useful dexterity, and I’m pressing pedals with someone else’s feet. Even more profoundly, the pool of water that has collected in my crotch has frozen, and I can’t feel the ice, or the… area. I would cry, but my tears have congealed into unhappy slush. But that’s what you get when you commit to driving an Ariel Nomad in a particular virulent Scottish winter. In a hurricane. Yup, this morning’s forecast involved, and I quote, “hurricane force winds with speeds of up to 12 Beaufort” and “considerable widespread damage to vegetation and houses, with airborne debris”. Not…

GOODBYE 1998cc, boxer 4cyl, AWD, 148bhp, 258lb ft 50.4mpg, 145g/km CO2 0–62mph in 9.7secs, 119mph 1622kg ￡30,995/￡30,995 Total mileage 10,026 Driver Andy Franklin Why it’s here Has Subaru’s move to the mainstream struck gold? Still mired in the guilt of cheating on my Outback with the (slightly) more rally-bred petrol model last month, the Scooby has got its revenge and left me. But will we miss it? I can’t say I’m sad that it’s gone – it’s been a good workhorse, but it never set our world on fire. We set out to answer if Subaru can mix it with the big boys in terms of quality – for the money Subaru is asking for the Outback, it’s playing with serious German competition. While the Outback is of considerably better…

REPORT 5 1496cc, 4cyl petrol, RWD, 129bhp, 111lb ft 47.1mpg, 139g/km CO2 0–62mph in 8.3secs, 127mph 1050kg ￡22,445/￡23,105 Total mileage 5713 Driver Sam Philip Why it’s here Is this year’s simplest sports car also its best sports car? According to a recent survey, second-hand convertibles sell, on average, for around 15 per cent less in the winter months than during their May peak. Why? Because people don’t want to drive – and therefore buy – cabrios when it’s icy outside. Roofless motoring, the orthodoxy goes, is fair-weather motoring. The orthodoxy lies. Having tolerated six chilly months so far, I can happily conclude that winter is the perfect time for convertibilisation. Not when it’s pouring with rain, obviously, but you wouldn’t drive a cabrio when it was tipping down during summer,…

It was called the Best Cars in the World issue, but basically it was the TopGear Awards, shot, for some reason, in Las Vegas. I’m still not sure why, but it retained the basic hallmarks of any annual TG Awards: months of arguments followed by intense sulking that resulted in a shortlist. Some of the contenders were absolute shoe-ins; the Rolls-Royce Phantom, the Ford GT – the kind of cars that peppered the top few lines of every scrawled submission. But then there were the inevitable couple of wild cards, cars that couldn’t win, but we thought needed to be celebrated. Cars like the supremely effective but strangely emotionless Mercedes-Benz SL65, or my offering, the Cadillac Escalade Bulgari Edition. I know. The big Caddy was basically a truck covered in…