BBC Top Gear Magazine May 2023

@jack_rix editor@bbctopgearmagazine.com One of the human race’s many problems is we’re obsessed with the extreme edges of a product’s performance, rather than focusing on the much narrower operating window where it will spend the overwhelming majority of its time. If I’m buying a new golf club, I want the one that’ll send the ball the furthest when I swing out of my shoes and locate the sweet spot. Reader, this happens rarely. More sensible would be buying something forgiving, that doesn’t spoon the ball into the trees or top it two yards in front of me when I deliver my patented mishit. If I buy a new phone I want the one with maximum processing power and the 50 megapixel camera, then I use it primarily to check my emails…

Cat meet pigeons. VW is preparing to launch a sub-£22k electric car in 2025, and this is the concept that proves it. We’re told the ID.2all previews a “new Volkswagen design strategy” that design boss Andreas Mindt says “is based on the three pillars of stability, likeability and excitement”. Strong and stable seems to be the messaging then, and that usually works out alright. Underneath the conservative styling is the VW Group’s evolved MEB Entry platform, and unlike all of the current MEB platformed cars, the ID.2all is front-wheel drive. Yep, the concept is powered by a 223bhp electric motor mounted on the front axle that should allow for a 0–62mph sprint of under 7.0 seconds. Worth noting here that Cupra’s upcoming UrbanRebel sits on the same platform and claims…

Japanese anime We’ve spent A LOT of time falling down a Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli wormhole. Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo and Spirited Away are on the list. But there’s nothing better than My Neighbor Totoro. Even our actual neighbour Lynne doesn’t come close International Haiku Poetry Day, 17 April One for your old car Your best or your worst old cars Worst one first. Lada 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 TGT The Grand National, 15 April Start your office sweepstakes and crank up the BBC Sport website. Who got Ora Funky Cat at 100/1? Who got Naked Daihatsu at 250/1? Who got…

The 2007 Clubman was a Mini for the loving British parent who didn’t want to wedge their beloved, fragile children into the cramped rear of a regular three-door… but was completely fine with those kids exiting the car directly into a stream of fastmoving traffc. The issue was that single rear ‘suicide’ door. Rarely has the term been less unfortunately apt. For (unholy, sinful, wicked) left-handdrive Clubmans, it was located on the right-hand side of the car, the driver’s side retaining a single front door alone. This made perfect sense (OK, if not perfect sense, than at least some sense): when released, your rear-seat enfants would emerge, croissant in hand, safely onto the continental kerbside. Problem was, when it came to converting the Clubman to (correct, pious, God-fearing) right-hand drive,…

Kia has shown us the first images of its upcoming flagship electric SUV it’s calling the EV9 – and it’s not a car, but a statement. It’s the company’s first seven seater SUV, designed to offer “a fresh EV perspective in the family SUV sector”, at least according to Kia design boss Karim Habib. A fresh, very big perspective, if that much wasn’t already obvious. The blocky, polygonal form apparently lends itself to “exceptional aerodynamic effciency”, according to Kia, complete with pronounced wheelarches and lots of clean, straight ‘fuselage’-style lines. Kia tells us the interior offers plenty of space for up to seven people: up front, there’s a floating panoramic dash formed of a pair of 12.3-inch and one 5.0-inch display stretching from the steering wheel right to the middle.…

LAMBORGHINI REVUELTO DEEP DIVE The Aventador’s Aventador’s successor still has a V12, still has scissor doors and still looks as subtle as a kick in the face, but it’s it’s a giant leap for Lambo, with three electric motors, a battery where the gearbox used to be and a total of 1,001bhp. ELECTRIC AWARDS PARTY We’re We're in a Birmingham warehouse conversion to reveal the finest electric cars on the planet… and then bend the rules a bit to crowbar in some cars that are only a little bit electric, but we like lil<e a lot. EXPLORING THE FORD EXPLORER Ford has a new a medium-sized electric crossover with a big square boot, and a chunky-but-friendly look about it. It’s It’s called the Explorer and it’s it’s very much a…