BBC Top Gear Magazine July 2024

Just a few years ago most manufacturers were dutifully plotting a course for a full EV future. Some, to our delight, were enjoying one last party by green lighting bucket list projects with silly combustion engines while they still could, but the mood music was clear – petrol engines would be dead within the next 15 years. Cut to 2024 and, certainly among supercar makers, the message is far more bullish – they’re going to keep them alive for as long as they possibly can. Why? Because the market has spoken and what monied car buyers want are engines bursting with character and engineering creativity, not violently powerful electric motors. Mate Rimac, CEO of Bugatti-Rimac, recently went on record to say his Nevera hypercar isn’t selling, and he might not…

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“Yeah, there’s been some hostility and some comments, but as long as you can take the banter but also give it back, I kind of stop it in its tracks.” Tessa Whittock revels in being a female in what’s seen as a man’s world. Drifting. Tuning. Wrenching. Stunt driving for billion dollar Hollywood blockbusters. “Sure, there’s that element of, ‘oh, because you’re a girl, you’re getting special treatment’,” she laughs, “or ‘you’ve qualified better than I have because you’re a woman’. No. It’s just how I drive. I’m better at it than you are.” Tessa has crammed a heck of a lot into her 33 years. She’s an ex-investment banker who taught herself to drift on dirt using an old Suzuki Vitara with the four-wheel drive disengaged. “I’ve always been…

CARMAKERS’ UNDERSTANDING OF aero has come a long way since the Vauxhall Calibra 2.0 8V and its 0.26 drag coefficient. You wouldn’t think it by looking at it, but somehow Kia’s boxy new EV3 pretty much matches that Cd figure. Yep, with its 0.267Cd this compact crossover is as slippery as a 1990s coupe, and the result is an impressive max range of 348 miles on a single charge. That range comes courtesy of an 81.4kWh battery in the Long Range version, but from launch you’ll also be able to spec Standard Range with a 58.3kWh battery and 255 miles of range. The EV3 will be FWD only, with both versions getting a single motor that makes 201bhp – 0–62mph is a sensible 7.4 seconds for the Standard Range and…

THE GOOD I like it overallCam Still 1000x better looking than UrusRMS LOOKS A BIT LESS LIKE A BLACK CAB NOWBrian Walker I LOVE ITTimo Rantalainen I think it looks greatTomothy Sou THE BAD What a dreadful looking thingKyron Smarcaro I can’t unsee the sad dog with a bristly moustacheDavid Paul Evans ANOTHER EXAMPLE THAT MONEY DOESN’T BUY TASTEAndy Is this the Mansory edition?John Cleave THE UGLY Are you sure this isn’t a picture of the cardboard box it comes in?Mike ROLLS-ROYCE CUGLYNAN WOULD BE MORE APPROPRIATEChris Farrugia I rate it right up there with the Ssangyong Rodius as one of the all time great eyesoresTony Hall Vomit on wheelsRichard David Mault 120 years of style and sophistication gone in one vehicleRobert Smith WELCOME TO THE ROLLS-ROYCE CULLINAN SERIES II. Apparently…

They called it “The World Cup of Cars”. Drivers competing on behalf of their home nations in identical – albeit patriotically liveried – machinery, the winning team at the end of the season officially crowned Fastest Nation State of All. In fairness, there have been worse motorsport ideas. For example, ‘Taki Inoue’. And like any self respecting modern World Cup, A1GP was sloshing with Gulf state oil money. Conceived and initially bankrolled by Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum of Dubai, things began promisingly: no fewer than 25 countries signed up for the opening 2005–06 series, with drivers including Nelson Piquet Jr, Adrian Sutil, Karun Chandhok and Will Power. A reported six million viewers tuned in to watch the season opener live. But within a couple of years, things started…