BBC Top Gear Magazine March 2025

@jack_rix @rixjack jack.rix@bbctopgearmagazine.com When the idea of a hot hatch supertest was first floated, hooked around the arrival of the shiny new Alpine A290 on UK soil, we weren’t optimistic about attendees. After all, this is a genre dying out faster than Prince Harry’s inheritance, and yet a quick brainstorm scraped together 10 new or recently refreshed contenders, with a couple of recognised favourites thrown in. More than enough for re-establishing the hot hatch order. What struck me though, on arriving at a bitterly cold Anglesey circuit to see our hot hatch buffet laid out in the pitlane, was the menagerie of metal, a mix of household names and total newbies, traditional powertrains and ballistic grade electronics. GTI, ST, Type R, these are the staples in a hot hatch diet…

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When Hironao Yokomaku joined a French restaurant aged 16, little did he know how much he’d influence Japan’s car culture in the following decades. Now aged 63, the Tsukuba based tuner shows no signs of slowing down having just unveiled a new project alongside Fast and Furious actor Sung Kang. Because for nearly four decades Yokomaku-san has led the iconic Japanese tuning brand VeilSide. Many of us will be familiar with VeilSide’s work from the Tokyo Drift edition of Fast and Furious – especially the ‘Fortune’ Mazda RX-7 which remains a poster car for the entire franchise. But long before F&F became a household name, VeilSide had established itself as one of Japan’s most advanced tuners, building the fastest cars in the country with exteriors almost as loud as the…

NO, YOU’RE NOT SUFFERING FROM SOME kind of concept car deja vu – we have actually seen a version of these cars before. First unveiled at CES 2024, they were originally the Honda Saloon and Space-Hub concepts. Newly updated and with the covers whipped off at CES 2025, they’re now to be referred to as the 0 Saloon and 0 SUV prototypes. Honda’s 0 Series is supposed to be a complete reset with “thin, light and wise” EVs. These two cars will both be on sale in 2026 and five others will follow by 2030. Unfortunately, four of those will be SUVs. Still, Honda says the four door (far right) will be the flagship and that its “low height and sporty styling sets it apart from other EVs”. Anyone else…

GREG POTTS TG’S STAFF WRITER HAS A SOFT SPOT FOR THE FUTURE Forget about all the SUVs in their varying shapes and sizes - the 0 Saloon looks like it could be absolutely brilliant. It’s a giant Gandini-esque wedge with a modern day take on pop-up headlights. I was at CES and had a sit inside the concept with its dramatic four-seat interior. There’s no rear window, but I'd happily take that if those rear lights make production. The huge glass roof means it’s light enough inside too. If it can keep off the biscuits and drives as well as Honda is suggesting, it could be the perfect EV for those who can't stand the face of the BMW i4 or the general meltiness of the Mercedes-Benz EQE. Just needs…

1. USA  Self-driving taxi goes rogue, drives in tight circles in a car park Are we ready to hand over control to driverless cars? LA tech entrepreneur Mike Johns became trapped in a Waymo robotaxi on his way to the airport after it began continuously doing loops in the car park. Good luck trying to get them to believe that one at the check in desk. 2. Uruguay Artist creates Pagani Zonda out of 100,000 gold coins A Uruguayan artist by the name of Joaquin Arbiza was commissioned to create a one off, definitely not V12 powered Pagani Zonda art car. The lifesized model car is built from over 100,000 coins and showcases the collector’s admiration for mildly famous footballer Lionel Messi. Impressive, huh? 3. USA Driver returns car by…