Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2021 i BBC Top Gear Magazine

Editor @jack_rix editor@bbctopgearmagazine.com So there you go, not a massive surprise is it? Besides being fairly rapid, having four wheels and some seats, Ford’s new Mustang Mach-E shares zero DNA with a Mustang. We all knew this was badge engineering from the start, so the question now is does pilfering its heritage to give its first proper EV some gloss really grate on you? If it does, that’s fine, you’ve been factored into Ford’s go-big-or-go-home equation… and V8 Mustangs are still available. Where do I sit? Well I won’t be rushing out to buy one, but I won’t be judging anyone that does; it’s a well-sorted, battery powered family SUV and if those Mustang vibes are your thing, fill yer boots. Hats off to Ford for building a car around…

Be More Keanu Film critic James King has compiled this book of pocket wisdom from the legendary Keanu Reeves to help you get ahead in life this year. “All we are is dust in the wind, dude.” Dark Waters, Amazon Prime This is the best film about an environmental lawsuit that you will ever see. You won’t be frying your eggs in a non-stick pan ever again… 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 Tetris, App store Downloaded for the commute from bedroom to kitchen. Wasn’t expecting this 35-year-old game to still be so addictive. Working now from bedroom Arctic Monkeys, Live at the…

The government has brought forward its plan to outlaw the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans. The new date is 2030 – it was previously 2035. Plug-in hybrids will be allowed until 2035. We looked at the 2035 plan back in February, and despite the ongoing pandemic, the case for electric car adoption has moved forward at pace. People are buying EVs voluntarily. Sales of full EVs and of PHEVs each tripled in October 2020 versus the same month in 2019. Combined, they’re now one in seven of all the new cars sold. The number of charging points is also going up fast. Networks Ubitricity and Chargy are putting points into lamp posts – thousands of them already. These, as well as more conventional street-side public boxes, are…

KING ARTURA Artura. That’s the non-numerical name that McLaren is giving to its new hybrid supercar. It’ll arrive properly in early 2021 with a twin-turbo V6 and electrical assistance. Excited? MASERATI McMASERFACE Maserati is using social media to gather what us lot want in a restomod Shamal. Project Rekall is bringing back the Nineties, but remember, with great power comes great irresponsiblity. MINI JCW E Meet the all-electric Mini John Cooper Works, coming your way… soon. Ish. Mini has confirmed that it’s bringing the JCW’s rocket-powered skateboard philosophy to an electric drivetrain. BRZXIT The new Subaru BRZ is a RWD coupe with a 2.4-litre naturally aspirated boxer four-cylinder engine producing 228bhp. We can’t believe it’s not coming to the UK. Worst trade deal ever.…

“THERE WON’T BE ENOUGH OVERNIGHT CHARGING” We got fascinating comments on TG.com when it was announced that sales of petrol and diesel cars will stop in 2030. (Well, new cars only, and non-PHEV only.) TG.commers mostly trust there will be enough rapid chargers by then. Those are the EV driver’s equivalent of a petrol station: break a journey, fifill the battery, carry on. But there’s more worry about normal-speed charging, where you plug in then let it slowly replenish while you sleep or work. For nearly all EV owners that’s where they do most of their charging. I’m not worried. Say there are 10m EVs on the road by then, which seems fair given fewer than two million cars are sold every year and at the moment 85 per cent…

£45,599 YES, IT’S A SUZUKI ‘AYY-CROSS’, NOT A TOYOTA RAV4. Badge engineering is back. But the fundamentals here are promising. A 182bhp 4cyl petrol engine is joined by two e-motors: 177bhp up front and 40bhp out back. They never all develop max power together, but a combined 302bhp is comfortably enough to make the hefty Across spritely, even without waking the droney engine. We saw a best full-charge range of 31 miles vs a claim of 46 miles. Leccy consumption was impressively efficient, at around 2.7 miles per kWh. Our best combined fuel economy in the Across was 48mpg. It could have done much more by running consistently in EV mode, but the system is too optimistic if anything, aiming to cruise on the motorway on battery power alone when…

AMC Pacer (1975) Powered by a 95bhp 3.8-litre straight-six that managed 18mpg, the chunky Pacer’s RHD conversion involved the UK importer running a chain behind the dash Chrysler PT Cruiser (2002) So ‘novelty hearse chic’ wasn't as much of a draw as Chrysler thought it was. The two-door convertible version of the car was a particular lowlight Cadillac BLS (2006) GM platform sharing saw Cadillacs officially coming to the UK in the early Noughties. Sadly those platforms were shared with the Vauxhall Vectra Hummer H2 (2007) Someone looked at this 2.2-tonne beast and its 3.5-litre straight-five and thought, “You know who’d love this? The Brits.” Well that was wrong Chrysler Sebring convertible (2008) This folding hard-top convertible had room for four, if you could find three other people who didn’t…

Samuel's Electric Carriage and Wagon Company NYC’s first taxi cab company began operating in 1897. It expanded healthily before a depot fire and economic crash in 1907 killed it off Checker Model Y Dominated the taxi scene through much of the 20th century, with its five seats putting it in pole position when NYC introduced the ‘medallion’ permit system Checker Series A Probably the quintessential Big Yellow Taxi, the Series A stayed in production from 1959–1982, complete with an optional Chevy V8 engine. Just what you need for Times Square traffic Ford Crown Victoria Over 1.5m of these V8-powered saloons were built between 1991 and 2011, with many serving first as police squad cars and then as NYC cabs Nissan NV200 Dumpy van was supposed to be the ‘Taxi of…

Phil Hill 1927–2008 1 The only American-born driver to win the F1 championship (for Ferrari, in 1961), Hill’s victory was bittersweet as his German teammate Wolfgang von Trips was killed in a horrific crash with two races left to run. Hill took 16 F1 podiums, three Sebring endurance wins and won the Le Mans 24hrs three times. Dan Gurney 1931–2018 2 The strapping New Yorker invented the ‘Gurney flap’ aero device as used across motorsport to this day, and began the tradition of spraying champagne on the podium after winning the 1967 Le Mans 24 Hours. He found time to compete – and win – in F1, Trans-Am, Can-Am, Indy Car and NASCAR. Mario Andretti 1940–PRESENT 3 European-born Andretti is the only F1 world champion (achieved in 1978) to have…

Possibly for Kylo Ren. Well, wonder no more… The Bugatti Bolide is Molsheim’s 1,842bhp, 1,240kg downforce-tastic love letter to bleeding edge engineering and organ bruising lap times. It’s no one-trick pony though. In a low downforce setting, Bugatti claims the Bolide could also do more than 310mph. And there are even more strings to its bow thanks to all-wheel drive – allowing it to shoot from 0–62mph in 2.17 seconds and complete an utterly potty 0–311mph–0 time in 33.62 seconds. So no matter how you like your fast served, the Bolide will dish it up. We just hope you’re hungry. Unlike the Texan F1, the Bolide follows on from the current vogue for high end can’t-drive-on-the-road, can’t-race-in-a-championship hypercar track toys. Y’know, things like Aston Martin’s Valkyrie, McLaren’s Senna GTR, the…

Über-morgen. Not the greeting a Kreuzberg hipster gives their Prius driver as they head to work tweaking a disruptive new algorithm. No, we’re talking about the ‘day after tomorrow’ in Porsche’s Weissach design studio, although this time travelling might even extend as far as January 1, 2050. Beyond über-morgen, then. Concept cars, we know, are generally reverse engineered out of upcoming new product to whet consumer appetite, or prepare the ground for a potentially challenging new direction. The windscreen might be rakishly fast, the wheels invariably cartoonishly large in diameter, and there’ll be some madcap piece of recycled marine waste inside, but the essence of the real thing is usually there. Porsche does this too, but a new book entitled Porsche Unseen confirms that a good percentage of its 120-strong…

REPORT 5 £42,305/£48,105/£630 WHY IT’S HERE Does the baby Volvo work with added eco gubbins? DRIVER Sam Philip UNEXCITING PHOTO UPDATE alert! This month I have mostly employed the XC40 to lug large volumes from one place to another which means you all get treated to some truly arresting shots. So how does the XC40 fare as a load-lugger? The good news is, it has a good-shaped hole. Not all crossovers are this way. A year or so back, I ran a Mazda CX-30, which – according to the official stats – is actually slightly more capacious, seats down, than the XC40. Not if you want to transport a selection of long-handled garden implements and a couple of lawnmowers it isn’t. Of course, if you’re really bothered about moving large…

Stephen Dobie The Plus Four is a modern Morgan. It therefore has a good fistful of things we’ve not really seen come out of the Malvern gates before. Bluetooth stereo, ABS brakes, digital speedo… and rather well they all work too. But there’s one bit of tech I’d happily do without: remote central locking. The fob is HUGE, but sometimes ineffectual. It can take several goes – and a lap of the car via interpretive dance – to find the button-blipping angle at which the hazards flash and the locks clunk. You can bend down and turn the key in the door, like our forefathers used to, but it doesn’t trigger the lock on the other side… A theatrical movement piece to end each drive it is, then.…

The 1991 Audi Quattro Spyder Concept – mainly because it was very nearly a whole lot more than just a concept. The reason this thing looks ready is because it basically was – an R8 15 years before its time. Having made its debut at the 1991 Frankfurt Motor Show, the Quattro Spyder was mid-engined, all-wheeldrive and aluminium bodied. Widespread speculation that it would be built apparently led to dealers taking thousands of orders, but Audi supposedly couldn’t figure out a way to build the car cheaply enough for it to be viable. Shame.…

No doubt Ford, Peugeot, Lancia and so on were pretty taken aback when Audi took its new car rallying in 1981 and almost immediately started winning things. Said new car was called the quattro, and it represented the first time all-wheel drive had been fitted to a high-performance car. The quattro changed rallying pretty much overnight – it helped Walter Röhrl, Hannu Mikkola and Stig Blomqvist to World Drivers’ Championships in 1982, ’83 and ’84 respectively. Because of the quattro, no two-wheel-drive rally car has won the WRC since 1983. Honourable mention goes to the fact the first-gen R8 was so good, given Audi had never built a mid-engined supercar before, and the mad limited-edition A1 Quattro. And we mustn’t forget the company’s announcement it’s ditching Formula E and will…

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WHAT: DOG WHERE: LONDON, UK Inspired by our canine friends, Citroen is planning to add an optional tail to its new Ami so you can tell which end is which. WHAT: SUPER-SUV GROUP TEST WHERE: MAM TOR, UK We accidentally added a zero to our order of atmospheric smoke. Easily done. Anyone got something that’s good for wafting? WHO: MARK RICCIONI WHERE: LEIGHTON BUZZARD, UK The Venom F5 won’t be breaking any speed records if Mark doesn’t hurry up and press the button. He’s been staring for 10 minutes. WHAT: TESLA’S FART MODE WHERE: WANTAGE, UK No TopGear road tester has ever needed a computer’s help when it comes to farting on demand. It’s all those petrol station sandwiches. WHO: STEPHEN DOBIE WHERE: BUXTON, UK Our photographers are responding well…

Save 25% when you subscribe to BBC TopGear magazine, paying just £23.50 every six issues. We’ll also send you a pair of Bassline TWS wireless earbuds in a colour of your choice! BASSLINE TWS WIRELESS EARBUDS As well as saving 25% on your BBC TopGear magazine subscription, you can choose either a black or white pair of Bluetooth 5 enabled Bassline TWS wireless earbuds. Enjoy incredible sound through touch sensitive control, with 20 hours total play, secure fit, simple connection and a compact charging case. GREAT REASONS TO SUBSCRIBE Pay just £23.50 every six issues, saving 25% on the usual shop price Britain’s best-selling 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…

The only thing more popular in the UK than ridiculing politicians is moaning about Formula One. This great island nation has an unsurpassed ability to whinge about what is actually quite good and to despise our collective positive attributes, but the constant ‘F1 is crap these days’ diatribe on social media is, even by British standards, quite baffling. Am I the only weirdo who thought that F1 did an outstanding job managing to give us 17 races in the space of a few months? Yes, there were a few duffers in there and one assumes the generous contribution that Abu Dhabi makes to the F1 coffers more than covers the fact that it has never yet produced an enjoyable race, but balls to all that humbug – we saw some…

1 If you want to go really fast in America, you don’t want to be on a road at all. Go to the Bonneville Salt Flats and be mesmerised. But if it’s high speed tarmac you crave, then the world’s fastest production cars have settled on a seven-mile stretch of Highway 160 between Pahrump (a name surely inspired by a brass band) and Las Vegas. It’s where Koenigsegg sent its Agera RS in 2017 and did 277.9mph and was more recently visited by the SSC Tuatara which went… well, no one’s quite sure. Want to do it yourself? You’ll have to get permission and pay to have the road closed. But why not head there in Hennessey’s new Venom F5 and see if you can’t thrash ‘em all? TO GO…

INDIANAPOLIS Home of the 500, the third oldest race track and biggest capacity stadium on the planet. Originally built as a car testing as well as racing venue for the area’s burgeoning horseless carriage industry in 1909, Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosted the first 500 in 1911. Originally made from compacted stone, less than two months and several accidents later the 2.5-mile, four-turn oval was repaved with 3.2 million bricks, a surface it retained until 1961. The lap record of 37.9secs was set by Arie Luyendyk at an average over 237mph. COTA One of the newest circuits in America, the 3.426-mile Circuit of the Americas near Austin in Texas was purpose built to host Formula One. Designed by the oft-criticised Hermann Tilke in conjunction with ex-bike racer Kevin Schwantz. Drivers love…

”Maaaate! I’m so sorry my man, I’ve scuffed up yer motor wiv my ring, innit,” says a jolly human, unpicking himself from the cumbersome wreckage of his Boris Bike as he holds aloft a bejewelled signet ring that would give the Star of Africa diamond profound anxiety. “But it’s no problem, just a scuff – I was trying to take a picture, yeah? And I fell off…” Unperturbed by the fact that I might actually be angry at him for crashing into the back of my – stationary – car at a set of inner-London traffic lights, it’s impossible to to be grumpy at someone who is basically force feeding the world cheeky cheerfulness. It’s like being faced with a nuclear reactor full of chutzpah. “Are you alright?” I ask,…

1970 PLYMOUTH SUPERBIRD Iconic name, iconic rear wing. The Superbird was 18 feet of aerodynamic NASCAR goodness built for the road 1973 BMW 3.0 CSL BATMOBILE The 3.0 CSL – for when one rear spoiler just isn’t enough. The wing was illegal in Germany and came in the boot for buyers to fit 1978 LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH Inspired by the Walter Wolf Special, Lamborghini first offered the wild V-shaped rear wing when it introduced the Countach LP400 S in 1978 1986 FORD SIERRA RS COSWORTH The Cossie’s whale tail may not have been popular with Ford’s top brass at the time, but we’re very glad that it got the go-ahead 1993 TOYOTA SUPRA The A80 Supra’s wing is so recognisable that Toyota built a similar one for its A90 Heritage Edition…

CADILLAC ELDORADO BIARRITZ (1979) Price now £4,995 Harris says If you really crave a Cadillac, this one has everything you need – big, brash grille, an untaxed V8 and quite probably some shambolic handling. It represents a lot of metal for the money, though. CHEVROLET EL CAMINO (1987) Price now £8,500 Harris says Similar name, similarly powered, but this one’s quite different. You could argue this was the original crossover, given it entwined the worlds of muscle car and the pickup. The ad says it “runs like a Swiss watch”. CORVETTE C4 40TH ANNIVERSARY (1993) Price now £13,500 Harris says You can’t have a retro US sales lot without a Corvette. But at this kind of budget, it’s not going to be a classic Stingray, though this special edition does…

Ollie Marriage This probably tells you what you need to know. When the DS5 went back, the opening lines read as follows: “Should you buy a Citroen DS5? I can’t in good conscience recommend it.” It’s one of the most damning verdicts I’ve delivered. But here was a car where the designers understood what was needed, but the engineers didn’t. It looked right – coolly different and slightly raised – but the way it drove… “It was as if Citroen had the money to buy the components, but then ran out of funds to actually develop it,” I wrote, going on to criticise the ride, powertrain, gearbox, steering and so on. Looking back now I have few fond memories: commuting frustration that had nothing to do with traffic, but quite a…

REPORT 4 £30,900/£33,900/£427 WHY IT’S HERE Is the electric Mini also the best? DRIVER Jason Barlow WALL BOXES CAN TRIP, TOO. EVEN so, the domestic charging process has become so habitual that it was still a surprise to see a red glow on my BP Chargemaster rather than the reassuring restive orange one. As a devoted fan of The IT Crowd, I was naturally overjoyed when the woman on the end of the helpline asked me if ‘I’d tried turning it off and on again’. Honestly, I was unaware you could even do that with wall-box charging points. But you can, and I did. Well, I flipped the switches in the fuse box and service was resumed. Some TG consumer advice there. Now it’s working again, the Mini’s spending more…

REPORT 3 £79,185/£89,470/£1,020 WHY IT’S HERE Is Audi’s electric SUV the future or just a stepping stone? DRIVER Charlie Turner WITH ITS MASSIVE 95KWH battery – and ballooned proportions to contain said battery – the e-tron has a claimed range of 241 miles. In the real world and despite driving it in the saintly efficiency mode, we’re struggling to get over 175 miles at an average consumption of 2.1 miles per kWh. You’re unlikely to be considering the e-tron for your next cross-continental drive, then. Surely we have to turn this problem on its head. Rather than engineering a generation of cars that weigh over 2.5 tonnes, we should be creating an infrastructure that supports rapid charging of smaller, lighter and more efficient vehicles that truly deliver a vision of…

Get this – Audi used to be owned by Mercedes. Well, kinda. Auto Union – the company, formed from four struggling German carmakers in 1932, that would go on to become Audi as we know it today – was bought by Daimler-Benz in 1958. It wasn’t in good shape after WW2, but a slug of cash from Daimler led to the release of the first post-war Audi in 1965, which used a largely Benz-developed engine. Incidentally, 1965 was same year VW Group took ownership of Auto Union. It has held on to it ever since.…

We’re gonna go with winning Le Mans 13 times in the space of 18 years, making Audi the second most winningest manufacturer at La Sarthe behind Porsche. The Four Rings finished third overall on its debut in 1999, but would win the next three on the trot with the 3.6-litre V8 R8. In 2006 Audi dumped the V8. Dumped petrol altogether for that matter, when it arrived in France with the mighty V12 diesel-powered R10 TDI. That thing dominated – the first diesel to win Le Mans, it took first overall three times in a row from 2006. Audi would then win an astonishing five times in a row between 2010 and 2014 (Peugeot won in 2009), during which time it became the first manufacturer to win Le Mans with…

1932 Four struggling German car companies merge to create ‘Auto Union’ 1949 Each ring repesents a company – Audi, Horch, DKW and Wanderer 1969 Now under VW ownership, Audi merges with NSU, maker of Wankel-powered Ro80 1978 NSU is effectively dead by this point, so back to Audi. Black oval, white lettering 1985 The rings return, now ever so slightly 3D. Still using the old typeface, though 2016 Audi simplifies because now logos “need to look good not only on paper, but online”…

Carmakers usually love making a big song and dance of every notable anniversary. Typically, the fanfare will involve some sort of questionable special edition with a premium price. Not for Alpine, though. The French marque celebrated its 65th birthday in 2020, and to mark the occasion it released this brilliantly retro hat and scarf combo. We’re impressed. These are actually part of something called the 1955 Collection, which also features a luggage bag, a belt and some simple mugs. No messing, we love it. Who needs an anniversary edition A110 when you can just buy a beanie? Boutique.alpinecars.com; €25–90…

I adhere to what I believe is known as the Weak Sheryl Crow Principle: “If it makes you happy (and it doesn’t contravene basic legal and ethical standards), it can’t be that bad.” Fancy a mint green Nissan Figaro with headlight eyelashes and a mock snakeskin interior? Knock yourself out. So long as it’s not hurting you or anyone else, go for it. I have one exception to this principle: the way you point. Satnavs, I mean. Specifically, are you a north-upper, or a direction-of-traveller? To put it another way, is your map set to 2D with north at the top, or to 3D with the map rotating so the car’s always pointing ‘forwards’? If the former, well done, mine too, correct, good job. If the latter, what in the…

WEIRD CAR LAWS 1 In Alabama it’s forbidden to drive wearing a blindfold 2 It’s illegal to travel down the road in Arizona in reverse 3 In Utah, birds have right of way on all highways 4 VIt’s illegal to drive with a dog on the roof in Alaska 5 You mustn’t frown at a police officer in New Jersey 6 In California, women can’t drive in dressing gowns 7 Leaving mud on the road will get you a fine in Minnesota 8 In Maine it’s illegal to buy a car on a Sunday KNOW YOUR ROAD SNACKS The BEEF JERKY Chew away the miles with a stash of cured dehydrated cow. What’s it been cured of? Best not to ask. Tear off a chunk, get your elbow up on…

1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 Probably the first muscle car, thanks to a 5.0-litre, 135bhp V8 in a (relatively) small body. The Rocket remained a dominant NASCAR race winner until the early Fifties. 1964 Ford Thunderbolt 1964 Pontiac GTO The muscle car’s golden age begins here, with John DeLorean’s 352bhp version of the Pontiac Le Mans. Executives expected to sell 5,000 per year, but over 32,000 were shifted as Americans lapped up the GTO recipe. 1964 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 1968 Dodge Super Bee 1968 Ford Shelby Cobra GT500 KR While the ‘Stang was the original ‘pony car’, Shelby’s ‘King of the Road’ soon put it into muscle car lore. GT500s rolled off the line with at least 435bhp. Yee-ha! 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird Proof that even…

Grow a mullet This one will take some time, but a lank draping of hair across the neck is the perfect sun protection, while your MAGA hat covers the head Perfect your accent You’ll want a southern drawl that’s somewhere between southern belle and Forrest Gump. The slurring is easier after a few beers (see below) Get a truck Your pick-up’s size is in direct proportion to your manliness. So something gigantic you'd expect pulling a supermarket box trailer in the UK, then Buy a coolbox A coolbox has two benefits – it keeps your many beers chilled (as bland as possible, preferably in a small bottle) and offers somewhere to sit Lose the shirt Feel the sun on your beer gut and show off that full-size Jimmie Johnson tattoo…

TUBE (TFL) Cost: £14.40 daily TfL travelcard Good: lots of routes, affordable Bad: can be slow. High chance of armpits BUS Cost: £1.50 per journey/£4.50 per day (as many journeys as required) Good: lots of routes, dry. Affordable Bad: subject to traffic problems, have other people on them EBIKE Cost: £1,200–£6,000 Good: keeps you fit, fast in traffic, environmentally friendly Bad: bikesgetnicked, yougetcold/sweaty, biking in London is a high-risk sport ESCOOTER Cost: £200–£2,500 Good: fun, environmentally friendly, convenient Bad: still illegal in most places, falling off hurts WALKING Cost: £0 Good: keeps you fit. Cheap. Environmentally exceptional Bad: you’ll get wet if it rains, and possibly mugged. Slow…

“ EVERYONE IMAGINES LOTUS MADE THE RALLYING SUNBEAM COMPETITIVE. ER, NO” I want to tell you a story. It’s not a particularly happy one, given that we’re heading back to the late Seventies and talking about the British motor industry, but you can’t tell the fabulously convoluted story of the Lotus Sunbeam without pulling at the withered ties that bind it into British, French and American automotive history. It starts with the Hillman Avenger, although at the time, it was known as the Chrysler Avenger, the British Rootes Group (a conglomeration of old names including Humber, Hillman and Singer) having been bought by the US corporation. This was 1976, and things were dire. Especially so at the Linwood plant in Glasgow, where the Hillman Imp had been built. Well, I…

REPORT 4 FORD PUMA Holy crap, the filth on the roads is monumental at the moment. Or is it just that the Puma attracts dirt? Obviously not… but there is a school of thought that says different paint colours hide dirt to different degrees. Well, it seems that Solar Silver is a colour that is low on the ‘disguising dirt’ scale. A shame really, especially as we have months of these conditions ahead. EN REPORT 5 HONDA e ADVANCE So, it turns out that if you switch the ESC off from within the ‘safety config’ menu, it actually means OFF. If you then hand the Honda to The Stig in a large aircraft hangar with a highly polished floor and stand well back, it seems the Honda e can, in…

Well the fastest road car Audi’s ever built is also its most expensive – the V10-engined R8 supercar. But Audi’s motorsport heritage goes right the way back to the Auto Union days pre-WW2. In the late-Thirties AU (and Mercedes) dominated Grand Prix racing with its astonishing, state-sponsored race cars, most of which used colossal supercharged V16 engines and could do over 200mph. But Adolf Hitler wanted more – he wanted to establish Germany as an engineering powerhouse, so AU and Merc set about running streamlined versions of their cars up and down the country’s newly opened autobahns in pursuit of ever higher speeds. In 1938 AU’s Rosemeyer was trying to beat Merc driver Rudolf Caracciola’s 268.7mph record when he crashed and died at 270mph.…

As part of the VW Group, Audi was embroiled in the ‘Dieselgate’ scandal uncovered by US regulators in 2015. The group admitted up to 11 million of its diesel-powered cars were fitted with a ‘defeat device’ to cheat global emissions tests. In September, former Audi chief executive Rupert Stadler became the first top executive to stand trial over the scandal, charged with fraud, false certification and criminal advertising practices. Former VW group boss Martin Winterkorn is also due to stand trial on charges of fraud and stock market manipulation, but proceedings against the Group’s current boss, Herbert Diess, were dropped after the company paid a €9 million settlement. ‘Dieselgate’ has so far cost the VW Group more than €30 billion in fines, compensation and legal fees, according to BBC News.…

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…