Innholdsfortegnelse for Mar-22 i BBC Top Gear Magazine

@jack_rix editor@bbctopgearmagazine.com I’m becoming desensitised to silly prices for new cars. When did the lunacy of £60k RS3s, £100k M3s and £400k+ production Ferraris cease to raise an eyebrow? And I’ve definitely talked about a £130k Audi R8 being “decent value all things considered” recently, which it is, but I certainly don’t have £130k lying around. Do you? My point is this: we need a collective recalibration because besides that new car smell, everything you could ever want – be it speed, luxury, looks, style or some other superpower – is available in the classifieds. Yes, silicon shortages and supply chain issues are feeding longer waiting times for new cars, which means the used car market is overheated at the moment, but it’s relative. Even a 10 per cent price…

The Phaeton wasn’t a bad car. In fact, it was a gloriously engineered masterpiece of a car. Conceived by VW boss Ferdinand Piëch as revenge on Mercedes for pinching Golf sales with its 1997 A-Class, the Phaeton was intended not only to be classier than an S-Class, but a veritable quantum leap in the world of understated luxury: the Veyron of comfort. Piëch defined a stack of insane engineering parameters, including the ability to drive non-stop at 155mph for 24 hours in 50° heat while maintaining a 21° cabin temperature, raising the question of a) on precisely which 4,500-mile stretch of derestricted desert road this might prove useful and b) what one was supposed to do for fuel. Another parameter demanded hidden, silent air conditioning vents, because there’s nothing plutocrats…

When Edmund Hillary got to the top of Everest in 1953 he spent about a quarter of an hour scouring the surrounding mountain-scapes for other places to climb. Before beginning the descent, he declined to have his photo taken. Imagine that now… Tenzing Norgay did pose for a picture, but only because Hillary wanted to document the feat, not because the Sherpa thought he looked awesome with an ice pick. Both men became celebrities, but this wasn’t what they were looking for – they just wanted to climb. Others wanted as much publicity from the expedition as possible. Behind the scenes, two companies were working very hard to be seen as the watchmaker that helped conquer the world’s highest mountain. In the Swiss corner was Rolex; in the British corner…

Often with electric cars we’re talking about a completely new design from a fresh faced start-up, but the Mini Electric (which for some reason is badged the Cooper SE on my side of the Atlantic and actually everywhere else in the world except the UK) comes with so much heritage behind it that there’s actually a whole heap of pressure on this car. That’s probably why Mini played it so safe with the design and the platform – this isn’t a clean sheet EV, it’s a standard three-door Mini Hatch with an electric motor and a small T-shaped battery pack stuck under the rear seats and in the old transmission tunnel. It’s a Mini Cooper S, but electric. That means all the things that people love about the standard Mini…

£30,000 (approx) FOR Just as sweet to drive but with a proper engine this time AGAINST Arguably it feels too familiar. Arguably ‘Waku-Doki.’ Not a new In The Night Garden character about to muscle in on the Tombliboos’ turf, rather the Japanese philosophy of ‘heart-pumping excitement’. We’re promised the Toyota GR86 is chock-a-block with it. You’re looking at a production ready prototype of the replacement to the GT86, its subtle switch from ‘GT’ to ‘GR’ representing a change in mindset. Where the first iteration of Toyobaru coupe was largely all pieced together by Subaru – with a few bespoke dynamic flourishes applied to separate BRZ and GT86 in the final stages – the two teams split much earlier this time around, allowing Gazoo Racing ID to bubble close to the…

$106,290 THIS IS THE SHORT WHEELBASE CADILLAC Escalade. It’s 5.4m long and weighs over 2.6 tonnes. It pulls off the impressive trick of being outwardly giant, yet inwardly small. So maybe you want the bigger one, approaching six metres long. But you’d probably rather have nothing to do with it at all, because you’re reading this in the UK and busy being amazed it exists at all. The Escalade is America’s Range Rover, a rolling status symbol and brand communicator. It has plenty of tech: four microphones around the cabin detect passenger voices and broadcast them through the speakers, so you can hear each other better. There’s a 38-inch sweep of OLED screens across the dash. Those actually work really well. The rest of it? No trace of electrical assistance…

BASSLINE TWS WIRELESS EARBUDS As well as saving 35% on your BBC TopGear magazine subscription, you can choose either a black or white pair of Bluetooth-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 £21.50 every six issues, saving 35% 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/TGP222 03330 162 130 and quote TGP222** * This offer is open to UK delivery addresses only and is subject to availability. You will pay £21.50…

£15K AND UNDER Audi RS6 C5 PRICE THEN/NOW: £60,000/£15K FOR A HEALTHY ONE PROS An early Noughties supercar dressed up as a big ol’ family wagon. Kids, stuff, pets – it’ll all fit and be mostly intact at your destination CONS Gearbox and Dynamic Ride Control suspension issues common. And not cheap to fix – make sure the previous owner has taken the hit We’re at the lower end of our three-prong price spectrum here. Sure, you could scratch your itch for a spacious family estate with a 2018 Skoda Superb whirred along by a ULEZ compliant 1.6 TDI, but you’re braver than that. The car above is the ‘Plus’, with another 29bhp, lowered suspension and cross-drilled brakes – but with 444bhp as standard, we’d avoid spending the extra and…

Palomar mountain, Southern California. The road climbs almost a vertical kilometre from Lake Henshaw to the Caltech Observatory at 1,712 metres. America hides these astonishing sections of tarmac in plain sight. It just tucks them away well. This one’s called East Grade Road. That’s not a signpost that makes you want to investigate is it? I suppose you might come this way if you were to take the cross country route from San Diego inland to Palm Springs, but the satnav would have you down in the valley on Highway 79, not up riding the twisting crest of this astonishing ridgeline. I can’t help but feel a more wafting cruise ’n’ pose would better suit the car I’m about to drive. We could have taken the Smit Oletha to the…

“WHILE IT MAY NOT REALLY MOVE, IT DOES NOW HAVE SOME NEW (OLD) AMG PENTA WHEELS” For the past two weeks I’ve used a bedside lamp to illuminate my shower. Not in a sexy way either; two of the ceiling lights have gone pop and they’re a bit of a faff to replace. So, while a ghetto solution exists, I figured a better use of my time would be spent building Lego models from Christmas. This is particularly important because – as an adult – the window in which you can safely build Lego rapidly declines into questionable browsing history as soon as the festive period is over. Unless you can utilise the loophole of having children. Also, for the past six months, my garage door has refused to lock…

Has there been a more evocative title for a racing game than Thrash Rally? This 1991 top-down arcade racer did exactly what it said: presented you with a bunch of rally cars and invited you to thrash them. Given that our mental image of rally driving is of a single vehicle haring down a muddy forest track alone, Thrash Rally’s stages were remarkably busy. You’d have to negotiate fellow competitors binning their own vehicles in front of you, helicopters buzzing the course and, in Kenya at least, the ever-present danger of colliding with an unsuspecting elephant. Unconventionally for an arcade racer at the time, Thrash Rally was designed for more conventional joystick and button controls rather than a wheel and pedals, but that was still a suitably precise way to…

HELLO £36,125 OTR/£37,270 as tested/£450pcm WHY IT’S HERE Can millions of Qashqai owners be wrong? DRIVER Esther Neve SAFE IS GOOD, WE ALL LIKE SAFE. IMAGINE MY DELIGHT, THEN, WHEN I read that the new Nissan Qashqai has been awarded not just a five star Euro NCAP rating but also Euro NCAP’s Best in Class 2021 award. Makes heading out on the M25 a less concerning experience altogether. Which is a very positive start to my burgeoning relationship with this much-loved-by-many-UK-families crossover. Back in 2020, I ran the smallest SUV offering from the Nissan family – the Juke. We got on OK, but never really bonded… as much my fault as the Juke’s, I guess. However, even after just one trip in the Qashqai I already felt more of a…

REPORT 5 £40,535 OTR/£42,305 as tested/£644pcm WHY IT’S HERE To expose “sports crossovers” as the silly idea they are. DRIVER Paul Horrell I’VE BEEN HAPPY WITH THE CUPRA LEON WAGON. BUT THEN I HEARD Ollie Kew was getting his mitts on a Golf R. The real thing, if you will. FOMO’s baleful shadow cast itself across my contentment. He’d have a vast 320bhp, versus my car’s weakling 310. Kew also gets his cornering smarts enhanced by a torque vectoring pair of rear clutches, and because he has the Performance Pack, the software for an actual drift mode. I have to get by with a so-yesterday passive rear diff. Oh and that option allows his car to burst up to 168mph, while I’m limited to 155. Bar that absent 10bhp, we…

REPORT 4 £84,870 OTR/£93,646 as tested/£1,010pcm WHY IT’S HERE Can ‘the only sports car you’ll ever need’ turn its hand to anything? DRIVER Ollie Marriage “NOT ELECTRIC… YET.” IT’S A PHRASE THAT APPLIES TO THE PORSCHE 911 as much as it applies to the ship that takes Extreme E around the world. But there’s one key difference. Only one of them is likely to go electric. And, despite what’s written on the side, it’s not the one that floats. It’s no secret that the 992-generation 911, launched in 2019, has been designed to take a hybrid system. Given that for the last two generations the 911 has worked on an eight-year cycle with a mid-term facelift halfway through, an enhanced 992 – complete with a hybrid version – is likely…

GOODBYE £75,660 OTR/£86,745 as tested/£1,260pcm WHY IT’S HERE Is BMW’s mighty M3 still the performance saloon benchmark? DRIVER Rowan Horncastle HELLO £78,425 OTR/£95,370 as tested/£1,640pcm WHY IT’S HERE The M3 has gone 4WD. Is it good enough to steal sales from the RS4? DRIVER Rowan Horncastle HOW DOES THE OLD INSTAGRAM ADAGE GO AGAIN? NEW YEAR, NEW me? Well, here’s TopGear’s take: new year, new M3. For 2022 our M3 has magically changed colour. And VIN number. Why? Well, having racked up 15,000 miles in a few months, a slightly shocked BMW has politely put out a summons notice for the return of YA70 TWW. We’re told it’s required back at the Bavarian mothership before we batter the odometer further and it becomes “difficult to remarket”. AKA, stop driving the…

01 Citroen Traction Avant It wasn’t just the eponymous front-wheel drive layout popularised by the game changing Traction Avant. It was also one of the first production cars to feature a monocoque body construction and independent suspension. 02 Citroen 2CV How to celebrate the 2CV in such a small space? Citroen’s front-engined, front-wheel drive people’s car is perhaps one of the most recognisable shapes in the automotive world. More than 3.8m were built from 1948 to 1990. 03 Citroen DS The DS and its hydro-pneumatic suspension made Citroen synonymous with large, impossibly comfortable saloons. Not only did it ride impeccably and look fantastic, but it gave the firm a deserved reputation for innovation. 04 Citroen SM Greatest grand tourer ever built? The Seventies SM was yet another masterpiece from Citroen, with much of the…

A legend. Reimagined. You know what that whale tail spoiler represents, what you’re looking at here, but let’s savour these words. This, ladies and gentleman, is the Turbo Study, Singer’s latest celebration of the Porsche 911. Harking back to the original Porsche 911 Turbo of 1975, it’s based, like all of Singer’s restorations, on the chassis from a later 964 car. It uses the same 3.8-litre air-cooled Mezger flat-six, but adds on a pair of the BorgWarner turbos from the latest 992-generation 911, plus electric wastegates and air-to-water cooling. Power? Upwards of 450bhp, with over 400lb ft of torque. Crucial question: did Singer consider engineering in lag to give the Turbo a real old school vibe? “It’s been an internal debate,” founder Rob Dickinson tells me. “We’ve had clients asking…

The GRMN badge is back on a hot Yaris, but there’s bad news – Toyota’s building 500 examples of this “fully tuned” GR Yaris and they will only be available in Japan via a reservation lottery. We really are disappointed it won’t make it to the UK. The GR’s feisty 1.6 3cyl turbo hasn’t been touched, so it’s still making the 268bhp that’s standard in Japan, but Toyota says the GRMN has “gone through rigorous refinement with professional drivers”. The rear bench seat has been removed to save 20kg, replaced by a chunky cross brace to improve rigidity and helped by 545 new spot welds and 12 extra metres of ‘structural adhesive’ on top of the standard car’s 35.4m. There are hardcore Recaro bucket seats, plus a carbon-fibre bonnet to…

It’s not going to be causing the developers of Forza Horizon 5 to wake up at night in a cold sweat, but PC ‘early access’ title Motor Town: Behind The Wheel offers roughly the same thing: a multiplayer open world, a whole host of driving related missions and at least one car that looks an awful lot like a Lambo Aventador. Motor Town might look quite basic, and as a game still in active development in many ways it is, but there’s a little more to it than we expected. What you might not guess from looking at a blocky screenshot is that the stark, polygonal graphics belie a surprisingly sophisticated tyre physics model, making haring around the game’s island remarkably involving. It’s like discovering that the kid who spent…

01 Mercedes Vision EQXX If you want to make a car cut as clean a hole in the air as possible, you need a smooth, teardrop shape. The new EQXX concept is basically a C-Class sized four-door saloon, but because it disturbs the air around it so little, it’s good for a claimed electric range of over 600 miles. 02 Tatra 87 The Tatra 87 was inspired by the enormous German airships of the same era – note the fin on the back for high-speed stability. Not that it did much good: it was so lethally hard to control in corners that it’s alleged high-ranking Nazis were actually banned from travelling in them. 03 Oldsmobile Aerotech Essentially a publicity vehicle to showcase a new type of workaday 4cyl engine, the Aerotech featured adjustable…

The good news: electric cars almost always have an amazingly accurate trip computer and battery gauge. Petrol and diesel cars are congenital liars. A combustion car’s fuel gauge will stick cheerily on full for the first 100 miles. Then gravity gradually takes hold and the needle accelerates downward, finally taking a terrifying plunge from a quarter full to empty. Whereas in an electric car, the state of charge meter is accurate. Drive in the same style, and each 10 per cent fall in the battery meter will get you the same distance. (Speed up and the next 10 per cent will get you less far, slow down or go downhill and it’ll stretch. Which is why I never look at the range-to-go meter – it doesn’t know how conditions will…

£22,450 FOR Surprisingly spacious. Decent enough to drive AGAINST Some cheap interior plastics. Sluggish and noisy 3cyl This is Volkswagen’s latest niche-busting coupe-crossover. It joins the seven other VW SUVs on sale in the UK and is based on the same one-size-fits-all underpinnings as the Polo and the T-Cross. It’s not technically an all-new car either, because it shares a great deal with the Volkswagen Nivus sold in South America. To become a Taigo it gets a couple of styling tweaks inside and out, as well as a sporty new R-Line trim level. When it was initially unveiled, the general consensus was that the Taigo would become the new entry level VW SUV on our shores. However, Volkswagen knows that the ‘coupe’ body means it can charge extra for a…

£50,023 FOR Sharper to drive, body control is much improved AGAINST Schnitzer can apply the same treatment to the 128ti… You’re looking at the AC Schnitzer ACS1 ‘Green Hell’. It is, in essence, a BMW M135i that’s been putting in the HIIT workouts over the past year or two. Did the M135i need a workout? Oh yes. The old one – and its M140i successor – became something of a cult classic. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a rear-wheel-drive hot hatchback with a longitudinally mounted straight-six engine. It felt like a mallet among hammers in the hot hatch class, but it was special. But then BMW switched the 1-Series to a natively front-driven hatch, whipping such specialness away in a moment. Schnitzer hasn’t attempted to fix the entire laundry…

£15K AND UNDER Mercedes C220 CDI estate PRICE THEN/NOW: £20,845/£12–15k PROS Very economical on the long trips it’d be used for. A traditional Mercedes with all that implies CONS People ignorant of modern emissions controls will despise it for running on diesel In this early EV age, we should subvert the pecking order in two-car households. Traditionally the main family car is the big expensive new one, while a used supermini does the running about. But right now, long range electrics are expensive and still can’t do a fully loaded drive non-stop to the south of France. So buy a cheaper used estate to do that task. Right, the Benz. A filthy diesel on my eco list? Well, 50mpg all day means it’s low CO2. And it would be criminally…

£15K AND UNDER Mercedes SL (R129) PRICE THEN/NOW: £58,045 (500 SL)/FROM £10K PROS Beautifully made, world class waftability, peerless late-Eighties design CONS Electrics are very complex so check everything; watch for header-rail hydraulic leaks; check for corrosion The brief was maximum waft. With this in mind, there was bound to be a Mercedes in the final reckoning. Which one, though? I like the CL, but it currently sits in that tricky used car purgatory where the jingle-jangle outpoints incipient classic cool. So let’s go with the R129 SL instead, a bulletproof neo-classic from the era when Mercedes’ commitment to engineering and its technical firepower put it on a different level to its rivals. Then-design boss Bruno Sacco rated this as his “perfect car” and we’d agree. The early cars had…

£15K AND UNDER Ford Fiesta ST PRICE THEN/NOW: FROM £22,930/FROM £14K… PROS A TopGear Car of the Year, a benchmark hot hatch, lots of standard kit, no known gremlins CONS Current shape STs are only just starting to trickle below £15k, so you might be tempted by a tidy previous-gen car. It’s also fab Put your money where our mouth is, with a car so well-rounded and fundamentally brilliant we named it the single best new car to arrive in the whole of 2018. And yes, the very Fiesta ST that was the TG Car of the Year only four short years ago is now – just – dropping into the sub-£15k price bracket. The previous-gen ST was also a cracker so it’s easy to be confused here. The earlier…

Many of us have been stuck at our home desks for a long time now, banned from the endless commute, overbright lighting and fishbowl feel of the office. If only we could take the home office outside, on the move, switch it up a bit. Except Toyota was well ahead of the game back at the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show. That year’s slogan was “Open the Door! The Automobile’s Bright Future”, which reads like it might take an interpreter and therapy to fully unpack what might have been intended in the original Japanese. The DMT concept – or Dual Mode Traveller to its friends – was intended to provide a versatile space for its owner, and just imagine the Bright Future you could have had with one of these. The…

I’M NOT SURE I CAN SPOT THE DIFFERENCE Very funny. But I’ll concede that getting these two Morgans together is a very visual demonstration of both the company’s design language and its evolutionary philosophy. A numberplate swap might just prove enough to divert your attention from the 56-year age gap between these cars. Oh, and exterior door handles used to be optional in the Malvern Hills. SO WHAT EXACTLY AM I LOOKING AT? In period red ’n’ black is a Sixties Morgan 4/4, with a 1.6-litre 4cyl Ford engine sending 75bhp and 98lb ft to the rear wheels via a 4spd gearbox. While its H-pattern is familiar, the lever sprouts from under the dashboard and takes a minute to get comfy with. In blue is a brand new Plus Four,…

HELLO £40,130 OTR/£46,850 as tested/£719 pcm WHY IT’S HERE Can a bargain family EV convert an electric car sceptic? DRIVER Andy Franklin ONE COULD ARGUE THAT THE SKODA ENYAQ IS ONE OF THE MOST important EVs produced so far Surely that statement is only reserved for Tesla, I hear you say? Well, no. Tesla might have started the EV trend but as soon as the big boys and girls played catch-up it was only a matter of when, not if, the trend would shift to those manufacturers that are known for family oriented cars. And those that make them affordable will be right at the front of the queue. So here it is then, Skoda’s first purpose-built EV, and the company can’t build ’em quick enough. Sadly along with that…

REPORT 4 £110,325 OTR/£110,325 as tested/£1,841pcm WHY IT’S HERE It’s the world’s default super limo but is it too clever for its own good? DRIVER Jason Barlow IT FINALLY HAPPENED. WHILE DROPPING A FAMILY MEMBER OUTSIDE Papworth hospital, an elderly gentleman extended a frail hand towards me and said, “Ah, you must be my taxi driver.” There’s no question I feel slightly fraudulent driving the S500. Almost all cars in this sector are bought and run by chauffeur companies or high-end private hire outfits. If I’m wearing a hoodie, jeans and trainers, I get some funny looks when I get out of the Mercedes’ driver’s door. But it’s useful training otherwise: a good chauffeur is a very good driver indeed, and the S500 is all about precisely engineered poise. Although…

REPORT 2 £45,900/£58,900/£660 WHY IT’S HERE Is the Polestar 2 the thoughtful and better alternative to a Tesla Model 3? DRIVER Tom Ford WINTER IS NOT ELECTRIC car friendly, slowing battery chemistry to the point where it feels like the range is hibernating along with the world’s tortoise population. But the P2 hits roughly 180 miles of real-world range if you don’t change anything about your driving style. You’ll get 200 if you’re driving super carefully, about two-thirds of the possible WLTP range of 299. With my eclectic driving requirements, I’ve spent more than my fair share of time investigating the UK’s charging network, from a variety of suppliers. The results have been mixed. There’s more over on TG.com, but suffice to say I haven’t so much got range anxiety…

REPORT 2 £55,795 OTR/£55,795 as tested/£830pcm WHY IT’S HERE Fast Peugeots are best kept small. What about a fast PHEV wagon? DRIVER Vijay Pattni THE FIRST 508 THAT ARRIVED BACK IN 2010 WASN’T, LET’S SAY, particularly easy on the eye, which made it all the more surprising when Peugeot seemingly leaped a chasm of styling choices in a single bound and launched this lovely second-generation car. It’s a smart design, only enhanced by the estate guise that TG is running. The distinctive lines seem to fit the booted 508 just that little bit more. Long story short, facing a 500-odd mile trip to the Lake District and back, I wanted to, let’s say “further investigate the charms” of this delightful design. Definitely not because BabyCar – TG’s electric Fiat 500…

What is it? If humans one day leave Earth and decide to ship only 10 automobiles from history to our new home in the stars, a Citroen DS will have to be there, nestled among the Ford Model T and Ferrari F40. Citroen at its absolute maddest. The whole car was suspended on hydropneumatic, automatically levelling independent suspension that would absorb the bumps from France’s notoriously rough roads, and even raise the car for more clearance. Range Rovers wouldn’t be able to do that for decades. Heck, they weren’t invented for another 14 years. The power steering and semi-automatic gearbox were hydraulically operated and the roof made from lightweight fibreglass. The front brakes were mounted inboard to reduce unsprung weight. Citroen was way ahead of rivals on installing radial tyres.…

THE ROUND, BLACK THINGS This one was pretty apparent as I was hurtling down the long straight of the GP ice race in a factory Bentley Continental GT3 with skis tied to the roof running on wide 2mm studded tyres. It turns out 2mm studs on the tyres weren’t enough, and a narrower choice of tyre would have been ‘optimum’. To say less grip is more fun has a limit, and I think I found it in the braking zone to Turn 1. Top tip: Choose a narrow tyre, with huge ice studs. LESS STEERING, MORE PEDAL The true art of driving comes when you control the car’s direction with the pedals, not the wheel. When you accelerate, the weight and force goes to the rear wheels, when you brake…

Back in 2019, superhuman Eliud Kipchoge became the first person to run a full marathon in less than two hours. At the time he was wearing a prototype version of these – the Nike Air Zoom Alphafly NEXT%. Complicated name for a complicated shoe, it turns out. We’re most interested in the high-tech carbon-fibre plate that runs through the length of the runner and gets stiffer as you go up the size chart. Check out the mass of foam and the so-called Air Zoom pods underneath that knitted upper too. Looks like the world’s greatest running shoe would make for one of the world’s worst driving shoes. No heel ’n’ toe action here… Nike.com; £264.95…

1 IT HAS ALL THE BEANS A huge 707 metric horsepower = 697 imperial horses. Another 155bhp over the standard version. When rumours of this car emerged we wondered if it had the 715bhp V12 from the DBS Super-leggera. But no, it’s the regular DBX 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8. With bigger turbos. 2 BIGGER TURBOS = MORE EVERYTHING Bigger turbos set off an engineering chain reaction that includes a bigger grille for more cooling, a new wet clutch version of the nine-speed gearbox, 23in wheels and carbon ceramic brakes, launch control, uprated suspension and a rear diffuser that looks like you’ve just run over Daffy Duck beak first. 3 THE SCHOOL RUN JUST GOT FASTER The age of the 200mph SUV is not far away. The DBX707 claims 193mph, putting it ahead of the…

POLESTAR 2 £45,900/£58,800 as tested BMW i4 £51,905/£64,705 as tested “Compact executives”: this became a common if rather ugly car-biz term. It referred to the type of car, not to the 5’2” shiny suited middle-management person behind the wheel. During the past decade the likes of the 3-Series, C-Class and A4 ruled the company car roost, first as diesels, then PHEVs. But no electric equivalents have been forthcoming. Which is surprising given the importance of benefit-in-kind tax to the user choosing executives (of whatever height) who drive them. Tesla filled that gap with the Model 3, and it has outsold the Fiesta and Corsa in Britain in some recent months. Then came Polestar’s 2. Which we prefer to the Tesla, even though we love the Silicon Valley machine’s face-bending performance…

£187,975 FOR Deft, indulgent chassis, responsive, hard hitting V6 AGAINST Ordinary interior. Is it really worth £190,000? The MC20 is a great supercar. No excuses, no ifs or buts (not even too many gripes). What a pleasant surprise. With a carbon tub at its core it’s akin to a McLaren – but more languid. It feels light and skims along like an Alpine A110, there are overtones of Lotus in its mannerisms. McLaren, Alpine, Lotus: this is encouraging. And the more I drove it the more I liked it – it’s beguiling and sophisticated to drive. But what sort of supercar is it? Rear visibility is dismal, there’s a plexiglas engine cover and a pretty bare-bones cabin, which seems to steer it to the more hardcore end, populated by Lamborghini’s…

CITROEN BERLINGO XL £29,150 FOR As practical now as it ever was, very comfortable AGAINST You can only buy an electric version now As of January 2022, this isn’t available new anymore; the EV is now your only offering, with a range of just 174 miles. So we advise buying one of the final ICE ones that can do 500 miles to a tank, or you’ll be stuck with a really practical car with an impractical drivetrain. This is a car that’s not only vast inside, but one that’s also comfortable, filled with common sense and enough quality to withstand the rigours of family life. VP FORD RANGER MS-RT £49,075 FOR Well equipped, 1,098kg payload AGAINST Oily bits are no different to a standard Ranger MS-RT was born from Malcolm…

£15K AND UNDER Subaru Impreza WRX STi PRICE THEN/NOW: £25,995/£13K FOR A PROPER GOODUN PROS A rally rep icon (especially in blue and gold), crisp responsive chassis and the best way to smile through a grim winter CONS Bone stock ones are hard to find and all of them have a whiff of antisociality. But who cares when they sound this good? First, a bit of background. You may not be aware but the Japanese car market has gone a bit mental recently. With the first generation of Gran Turismo gamers and Fast and the Furious enthusiasts now free of ‘bacne’ and all grown up, they’re snapping up their four-wheeled childhood icons. And not cheaply. A MkIV Supra recently sold for £148k, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI TME for £147k, while…

EVEN FOR THE 15-TOG LOONIES drunk on Biscoff mochaccinos who insist that this time of year is their favourite, winter motoring is miserable. Salt-encrusted paintwork, white sun in your eyes for the 20 minutes a day that it isn’t pitch black, and a screenwash receipt longer than Number 10’s bar tab. The car industry spies an opportunity. Increasingly, there’s a trend for fast cars with split personalities: something you can wield against the elements, wrapping you in that warm cloak of electronic invincibility, with a streak of yobbo-on-demand. A winter weapon. We headed north in search of ice and snow, but the majestic Cairngorms have let us down. For centuries this rugged hillscape has been home to the most dependable snow in Britain, with records of flakes falling in every…

BASSLINE TWS WIRELESS EARBUDS As well as saving 35% on your BBC TopGear magazine subscription, you can choose either a black or white pair of Bluetooth-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 £21.50 every six issues, saving 35% 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/TGSP222 03330 162 130 and quote TGSP222** * This offer is open to UK delivery addresses only and is subject to availability. You will pay £21.50 every six issues – saving 35% on the…

RENAULTSPORT CLIO 172 (2003) Price now £4,750 Harris says Think “front-wheel drive” and your brain will automatically go to “hot hatchback”. Which’ll then have you imagining something small, light-weight and French. Cheap, nice Clios are rarer by the day. Seize your chance. LOTUS ELAN M100 (1991) Price now £9,995 Harris says If you think “front-wheel drive” and your brain goes to a convertible Lotus, there may be something wrong. But the late Eighties rebirth of the Elan really was front-driven… and then rebadged as a Kia. ALFA ROMEO ALFASUD (1975) Price now £12,750 Harris says Alfa made a front-driven family hatch before many of its rivals. And what a gorgeous little car it still is. This one especially, which seems a bargain when you discover it has had one owner…

REPORT 3 £57,030 OTR/£58,180 as tested/£1,503 pcm WHY IT’S HERE Is an electric family SUV charming enough to be a ‘Mustang’? DRIVER Jack Rix BRINGS INTO FOCUS HOW LOW AND SWOOPY THE MACH-E STYLING IS, doesn’t it, when you park it next to the Wrangler or Defender? Obviously we didn’t risk the Mustang on any of the trails at last month’s big off-road test, even if it does have AWD, but to be fair it acquitted itself surprisingly well on the cratered path leading up to our bunk house. This is an SUV with a very small ‘u’, but you can’t beat a bit of ride height. This month though, I want to talk tech. At first glance this is a car ladened with any and all of the technology…

REPORT 4 £24,995/£25,545/£311 WHY IT’S HERE Is TG’s Car of the Year as great to live with as it is to drive? DRIVER Stephen Dobie BY THE TIME YOU’RE READING this, we’ll know what Hyundai’s 2022 WRC car looks like. In fact, it ought to have already competed at Monte Carlo. But being an especially impatient member of the bobble hat brigade, I couldn’t wait for a poke round WRC’s all-new Rally1 hybrid tech. So I finagled our i20N into a test session of its rival M-Sport Puma in the Lake District. It’s been a long time since top flight rally cars accurately represented something you can buy on the road and 2022’s new rulebook only exacerbates the point. An FIA-vetted steel spaceframe chassis and 530bhp hybrid powertrain mean safety…

REPORT 3 £27,995/£30,132/£257 WHY IT’S HERE What’s it like to live with an urban EV without home charging? DRIVER Greg Potts HAVING FINALLY MANAGED TO pry the keys to the baby Fiat from Vijay’s hands, things didn’t start off brilliantly between us. As I had a long trip planned that’d need a full tank of electricity, I decided to fill it up while I slept using one of the local lamp post chargers that are so prevalent in my part of Westminster. I’ve used them before on all manner of test cars and they’re generally pretty good for a night-time charge. At 5.52kW they should fill the 42kWh batteried Fiat in seven hours. Unfortunately, the Fiat failed to connect to every lamp post that wasn’t blocked by an inconsiderate (and…

REPORT 5 £26,605 OTR/£27,200 as tested/£321pcm WHY IT’S HERE Is this the comfiest family car you can buy? DRIVER Sam Philip THIS MONTH I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN CURSING THE LACK OF BMW X6s ON Britain’s roads. Not a situation I ever thought I’d find disappointing, but hey, here we are. See, some of the crueller members of the TG editorial team have taken to referring to the Citroen C4 as the ‘baby BMW X6’ – a comparison that, it’s fair to say, isn’t meant as a compliment to the French crossover. Thus, in a bid to prove how very different the subtle(ish) Citroen and brash Beemer really are, I have taken to trawling local neighbourhoods in search of an X6 next to which to photograph the C4. Thus far –…

What’s Citroen, and when did it start making cars? Citroen is the brainchild of André Citroën, born in Paris in 1878. He started the car company in March 1919, right after a momentous war that you might remember from your history books as World War One. The reason we mention this particularly unsavoury chapter is that Monsieur Citroën built armaments for France during WW1 and soon realised that the end of the war would be as good for the common man as it would be bad for his business. As far back as 1916, André was already planning a switch to car building, drawing on his experience at Mors (an early car manufacturer) and enlisting the help of a series of proven engineers. So that’s why, just four months after…

CITY CARS These small cars are perfect for urban life, but the trade-off is a much lower range 1. HONDA e PRICE: £34,365–£37,465 RANGE: Up to 136 miles This TG favourite has retro styling and a brilliant interior, but it’s a smidge expensive and the range isn’t great. Somehow we can’t help but love it… 2. MINI ELECTRIC PRICE: £27,000–£35,050 RANGE: Up to 145 miles The electric version of the home-grown favourite squeezes the BMW i3’s powertrain into a familiar package. Range not massive, but the car’s still fun. 3. FIAT 500 PRICE: £23,835–£33,835 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. 4. VW…