BBC Top Gear Magazine August 2023

@jack_rix editor@bbctopgearmagazine.com Gone are the days when talk of 2,000bhp, a £2m pricetag, neck crippling acceleration and being fully electric were enough to shock and amaze… and sell magazines. Those numbers are all routine for a booming hypercar industry these days, so to successfully spanner a few million from someone’s hand you need to offer something genuinely different. Raw performance claims won’t cut it. I have no doubt that Porsche’s target of a road car Nürburgring record and more downforce than the GT3 RS for its new EV hypercar, the Mission X, will be met… but that’s the bare minimum, surely? It’s given itself roughly four years to develop the car, to find that X factor, because right now what does it offer, besides whiplash, that a 918 Spyder doesn’t?…

MAGAZINE Order a copy at MagsDirect.co.uk SUBSCRIPTION OFFER buysubscriptions.com/TGSP3M DOWNLOAD The TopGear app from your App Store WEBSITE Visit topgear.com for your rolling hit of news, reviews, entertainment and advice YOUTUBE Subscribe to the TopGear YouTube channel to watch the best car videos on the planet PODCAST Visit topgear.com to download the TopGear podcast @topgear facebook.com/topgear @BBC_TopGear…

“I’M NOT SURE I’VE EVER HAD A CAR DELIVER MORE OF AN OPTICAL HAYMAKER” Let’s just marvel at this one for a while shall we? I suspect you have been already. Maybe you’d like some more time? Go back, just check that rear arch is as mad as it looks? It is, take it from me. I saw this car a few months back as a clay model. I’m not sure I’ve ever had a car deliver more of an optical haymaker. The proportions, the width, the haunches, the rear wing… OK, the wings – I’ll come onto that shortly. Right, pick your jaw up, it’s fact time. This is the Dynamics and Lightweighting Study – Turbo, an amalgam of Singer’s last two interpretations of the Porsche 911. Those were…

K.S. Rhoads Search for this all-round musical genius from Nashville on your socials and you’ll be gifted some awesome impressions of “kids’ favourite jams by their dads’ favourite bands”. Mumford and Sons singing ‘You Are My Sunshine’ is a banger. You’re welcome Festival season is upon us Glasto (watch it all on the BBC!). Latitude. Tramlines. Camp Bestival. Kendall Calling. Bluedot. And more. Hope you packed sunblock and wellies (not a bad band name that) 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 Ashes to Ashes On to the next big test at The Ashes. England continues to test Australia at the next round of…

Sure, 2001’s Unibox concept resembled a Meccano project assembled in the dark. Sure, it looked like it could be dismantled by a car crim wielding nothing more than a 5mm hex key. But that didn’t make it a fail. Self-assembly chic, very in right now. Nor was the Unibox a fail because it failed to spawn a production car. In FOTC’s opinion, any concept that morphs into a recognisably similar production car was too damn dull to be classified as a concept in the first place. Its woeful aerodynamic profile? Also not an issue. FOTC has had quite enough of air getting its own way, and it’s high time someone stood up to it. No, the reason for the Unibox’s #epicfail status was… those transparent lower body panels. Great for…

At long last, Volkswagen has revealed the new ID.Buzz long wheelbase, complete with up to seven seats. The seating options run five (two up front, three in the back, big boot), six (two up front, two in the middle, two in the back, smaller boot), or the full seven (two/three/two, tiny boot). The second row is a bench but can be optioned as two chairs, while the two back seats can be folded, angled and moved back or removed completely if you want a proper electric van. It also gets the biggest panoramic roof ever fitted to any VW. The rear drive chassis can now accommodate a slightly bigger 85kWh battery, taking claimed range to around 300 miles, together with a more powerful e-motor delivering 282bhp. There’s more torque –…