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isn’t achieved until 6.5k, you’ll still have to rev it. Not usually a problem, PORSCHE seeing as that V10 at above 8,500rpm should be registered as an aural 911 DAKAR national treasure. Why no extreme horsepower? Well, with that state of tune representing a fairly relaxed option, it’s probably more to do with Stuttgart’s hero has also drivability and reliability than anything else – plus on loose surfaces, huge grown up... quite literally horsepower is less useful than the ability to put what you’ve got to the actual ground. Bolted to the engine is the familiar 7spd paddleshift that You wait ages for a storied marque to build drives through Lamborghini’s usual permanent, adaptable AWD, this time you a pumped-up sports car with armoured with more specific LDVI (‘Lamborghini integrated vehicle dynamics’) wheelarches stuffed with gnarlier tyres, then two which now has an extra setting for the Anima mode selector. Those come at once. Porsche has been threatening to give options now read; Strada (road), Sport (er... sport) and Rally. With Rally the 911 some ‘Allroad’ treatment for a while now, suggesting a heavy rear bias and much excitement. There are also interior having built a functional ‘Safari’ concept using the tweaks, but as yet, final production spec is still to be decided. All we know old 991-gen car, but it’s finally going mainstream is that there aren’t any huge changes and there’s a new type of specifically with the 992, using the 476bhp AWD powertrain developed Alcantara for the Sterrato called ‘Verde Sterrato’, there’s a logo from the sweet spot Carrera GTS. Apparently the on the seats, and there’s a pitch and roll readout. Though one assumes that 650bhp Turbo S drivetrain is tricky to keep cool if you’re in a position where the side slope is enough to unsettle a car as in the desert... low as this, you’re basically crashing in slow motion anyway. The Dakar is a limited run of 2,500 cars at €222,000 a pop – before you option the official But probably the most important – and obvious – aspect of the Sterrato (wind tunnel tested) spotlight infested roof-rack, is the suspension. Because it’s got a lot more of it than a standard car. So the jerry cans (is Porsche allowed to call them let’s work from the ground up. The wheels and tyres are smaller and taller that?) and the Rothmans tribute livery, nodding to respectively, with 19in rims on all four corners combined with all-terrain the Dakar Rally winning 911s and 959 of the Eighties. tyres with fatter sidewalls and a more aggressive tread than you usually Active anti-roll bars are standard, as is the 911 find on a mid-engined supercar. Brakes are the usual carbon ceramic items GT3’s rear-wheel steering, carbon-fibre bonnet, – seems odd as steel would offer more initial bite and you’re probably not bucket seats and roll cage. There are no back seats going to be stopping the Sterrato from 150+mph like you might a more either and the glass is thinner – all to save weight. dedicated track special – but they work on the Huracán on the road, so Porsche claims the 1,605kg Dakar weighs just 10kg no real reason why they should be a problem here. more than a 4x4 911 GTS, despite hefty tyres. Be aware this is the slowest 911 since the Those wheels and tyres also get more freedom of movement, with Sixties though: limited to 149mph, because of wheel travel increased 25 per cent on the front axle and 35 per cent those treadblocks. Ollie Kew on the rear, and a ride height increase of 44mm over something like a Huracán Evo. The extra travel will allow the car to hit bigger features T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 099 without bottoming the suspension and clattering the bump stops. More suspension means less bounce, which equals more control. And ultimately more fun. Don’t forget, this isn’t supposed to be an off-roader or mud-plugging Land Rover Defender wannabe. You can’t help but think it will appeal to markets for whom road infrastructure limits enjoyment of super-low supercars – China has bad roads and plenty of millionaires. First impressions? In the metal, the Sterrato just looks absolutely right. The Huracán hasn’t ever really been a ‘pretty’ car as such. It’s bold and aesthetic, but there’s a lot of testosterone and geometry in the mix. Which means the Sterrato’s protein-filled additions don’t look out of place. In fact, they suit it, especially the roof rails and exposed bolt wheelarches. OK, so the front driving lights don’t feel particularly well integrated down on the forward edge of the bonnet, but everything else gels. Performance figures haven’t been released as yet, but given the weight and engine, you’re still looking at under 3.5secs to 62mph for the sprint and a 185+mph top speed, so not exactly slacking. And there’s the point that the Sterrato isn’t necessarily about paper-based points scoring – the engineering changes wrought by Lamborghini are more about expanding the base Huracán’s comfort zone. By doing so, it makes for a Huracán that can be enjoyed more fully, more of the time. After all, we’re all probably nearer a gravel road or bumpy B-road than a handy racetrack. But saying that, the interesting thing here is that this might be the most fun to drive Huracán of all, at least for mere mortals. With more progressive breakaway from the tyres, longer suspension travel and more tendency to telegraph what the grip is doing, the Sterrato might also be appreciably more of a laugh on an actual circuit than some of its track focused siblings. Slower, sure, but not necessarily worse, and just as loud. And when you add that ability to attack a gravel or secondary road with the correct amount of vim without the threat of damaging very expensive suspension, the Sterrato might well be the best Huracán... well, ever.

FERRARI 296 GTB SUPERCAR OF THE YEAR FERRARI 296 GTB WORDS OLLIE MARRIAGE PHOTOGRAPHY STEFFEN JAHN his has been a vintage year for McLaren, but Ferrari. The 296 GTB is a to lose 12kg and only gain discomfort stellar supercar, not just the best of this isn’t the right way to go for this tactile, T the supercar. Some continue year, but perhaps the best of the last approachable road car. The V6 is a gem, to rage against the dying of decade. What makes it so good? That it you can’t detect a single join between internal combustion, with took the learning of the immensely capable it and the electric motor as a combined Lamborghini somehow managing to find and shockingly fast SF90, and used it as a 819bhp fires out from the rear wheels. But more life in the ageing Huracán chassis, springboard. The tech involved is deeply, so manageably and controllably. No other and Aston plonking the biggest motor it furiously complex, but the 296 comes car with this amount of power has ever can find in the Vantage. Porsche has sought across as wonderfully simple to drive, been described as “playful” unless the to bend nature with the latest GT3 RS, and while the SF90 was gobsmacking but driver is speaking through clenched teeth creating perhaps the first car to live in the complex and felt like it, this one is pure fun. or prone to terminal understatement. And shadow of its own wing, while Maserati has it rides dextrously. And the boot is big stepped out of the shadows and given us There are drawbacks. The steering enough for actual luggage. And you can its first supercar for 50 years. McLaren, wheel’s haptic buttons are hopeless knock about silently on electric. A vintage meanwhile, has delivered the Artura. and the plain, unadorned cabin is year and yet this one’s a standout: the The hybrid supercar era has arrived. underwhelming and ordinary. And don’t most complete supercar there is. However, its first icon doesn’t belong to have the Assetto Fiorano pack – £25,920 100 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

READERS’ CHOICE AWARD DACIA JOGGER Well aren’t you lot clever. Of course you picked a genuine TopGear hero as your Readers’ Choice Award winner. You voted in your thousands and the Dacia Jogger triumphed in a public vote on TopGear.com in a field of 43 contenders, all of which had been driven and highly rated by the TG team in the past 12 months. The Jogger – an affordable, rugged and practical MPV (remember them?) – beat the Toyota GR86, with the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS missing out on the silver medal by one solitary vote. Given that the poll also included cars like the F1-engined Mercedes-AMG One, the £2m Ferrari Daytona SP3 and 300+mph Hennessey Venom F5, this is quite the coup for Dacia. We’re assured that a new public holiday is being planned in Romania to mark the occasion. The Jogger starts at just £16,645 in the UK, making it the cheapest seven-seater on sale by some margin. Even a top spec, fully loaded Extreme SE can be had for £264 per month at the time of writing. It’s hard to make your money go far these days, but in a Jogger there’s still proper bang for your buck. OK, maybe not much bang from the teeny 108bhp 1.0-litre 3cyl engine, but given it only weighs 1,200kg and is combined with a manual box, the Jogger is surprisingly fun to drive. Economical too. Dacia’s cut price people carrier is the worthiest of winners. Greg Potts T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 101

HOT HATCH OF THE YEAR

HONDA CIVIC TYPE R RETURN OF THE... T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 103

It’s less ugly, certainly, but can the new Civic Type R actually improve on its predecessor? We dispatch Chris Harris to the TG test track for an answer WORDS CHRIS HARRIS PHOTOGRAPHY MARK RICCIONI

HONDA CIVIC TYPE R

“ONLY HONDA WOULD CHOOSE TO LAUNCH A VERY HOT, FRONT-WHEEL- DRIVE HATCHBACK AT THE END OF 2022” 106 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

HONDA CIVIC TYPE R HONDA CIVIC TYPE R Price: over £45,000 (est) Engine: 1996cc turbo 4cyl, 324bhp, 310lb ft Transmission: 6spd manual, FWD Performance: 0–62mph in 5.4secs, 171mph Economy: 29.4mpg, 186g/km CO2 Weight: 1,429kg Now go and Some of you will remember motoring journalist and beard watch the enthusiast LJK Setright. He was a celebrity car writer long before video on anyone had made a television programme about the horseless BBC iPlayer carriage. His writing was hugely complicated and he held some controversial opinions. He advocated very fast driving on public roads, he preferred automatic gearboxes back when they were mostly crap – but he was rightly viewed as having very eclectic tastes that he backed up with insight and knowledge. Which is why people like me found it baffling that he liked Hondas. Because for most people Honda just made rather boring cars for people who retired to Bournemouth. It took a crazy looking English dude to educate a geek like me about this Japanese company which appeared to be obsessed with over-complicating everything. Want a new Civic in the UK? Your choice is a 178bhp hybrid with a CVT gearbox... or this. No sitting on the fence T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 107

HONDA CIVIC TYPE R Setright marvelled in the engineering quality of a company that wheel-drive chassis could actually handle, so these gains must was perfecting rear-wheel steering systems and variable valve mean that the chassis team has found some more traction. I mean timing when most European carmakers were wondering how to seriously, there was a time when we thought 200bhp was crazy in make central locking reliable – and failing. Most people still don’t a front-driven car. The fact that this thing has as much power as know just how eccentric and unorthodox Honda has been, and an E34 BMW M5 and deploys it using the same tyres that it does to there isn’t much latitude for raw innovation now, but Honda steer makes me feel very, very old indeed. People couldn’t believe remains to geeks like me a cut above the ordinary. how much torque steer the first generation Focus RS had and its power output was 212bhp. Only a company as engineering-driven and dogmatic as Honda would choose to launch a very hot, front-wheel-drive Like the engine, the chassis is more of the same – which bodes hatchback at the end of 2022. Carmakers have been abandoning well because Honda was already at the very top of the tree with its this once-popular performance staple for the last few years – even interpretation of what a car of this type should be. Many people Renault wants out. I can’t see the logic myself – the margins must will disagree with me, but hot hatches shouldn’t be 4WD. Beyond be minute – but I’m so so glad that Honda does. comedy 0–30mph times, the weight it adds just isn’t worth it. Furthermore, and this is where many people will also disagree This is the third ‘modern’ Civic Type R – and by that I mean with me, I like a hatch to be a little bit unhinged: all-wheel security relying on forced induction and sadly not some banzai 9,000rpm makes them feel so grown up and planted. It makes them seem grenade with less torque than a child’s handshake. The first one like a bigger car – which for me completely undoes their very was fast and visually OTT. The second one was sensational to drive reason for existing. The Yaris GR is perhaps the only exception – and I mean so good that sitting here writing this I’m not sure I’ve to this. The rest are just adults wearing children’s clothing. experienced a better expression of what a hot hatch should be – but had one slight issue. It looked ridiculous, like a horny peacock. Those seats. Those seats! It takes a while to jiggle the wheel and controls in this car before you set off simply because you want to The great news is that Honda has clearly decided to do gesture to people and tell them about the seat. If you go for the something about this, so what it has given us is a tighter, faster Nineties-inspired red cloth, be aware that the rear seats remain version of the last car, wrapped in much more palatable clothing. dull black. The exterior simplification continues inside – the If, like me, you love a hot hatch, you will grin when you see this now obligatory iPad of fake clock faces is in place, but the rest in the raw. All of that tacked-on rubbish has been replaced by is pleasingly un-shouty. This car feels more Japanese than the some swollen arches. There’s a lot of retro homage to the EP3 last one in its design language. here, especially in the white with red seats spec I drove the car. The seats are a good place to start with this car actually. They Snick that little metal gearlever into first and pull away – are the best car seats I’ve sat in for, well, I think ever. They are nod in appreciation at the clean graphics in front of you and so damn good I could almost recommend buying this car just for then build a little throttle. It’s wet when I drive the Type R and the sheer pleasure any bottom will enjoy from nestling into them. within minutes I found myself accelerating needlessly hard in first, because that’s what we all did back in the day to understand when Then there’s the engine. It’s a belter. Lighter internals for the the front wheels would spin. They really don’t spin in this car. The turbocharger give a slight increase to 324bhp. Torque is 310lb ft level of set-up knowledge and locking differential subtlety that goes but frankly, the previous car already flirted with what a front- into making a car like this have so much wet weather traction makes my brain hurt. Either that or the Michelin Pilot 4S has once again saved the day. Exiting damp second gear bends you really can use all the torque, the car holds its line and it takes some serious crown/ camber for the front axle to start hunting around. And boy does it shift – infants will compare its 0–62mph in 5.4secs (0.3secs faster than the last gen) with a Golf R (4.7secs since you asked), but the reality is we all knew it’d be a second or so slower, but once rolling, this is the faster car. It will also clear 170mph, which always makes me feel a little giddy in the context of a FWD hatch. And it would completely destroy that Golf on any circuit. The noise is good – there’s just enough motorsport induction hammer to keep us smiling and the shift quality is spot-on. The only thing I miss is a set of closely stacked gear ratios – but this engine is so flexible and has so much torque that it really doesn’t need them, but for me one of the joys of hot hatch thrashing has always been shifting up a gear and thinking “the revs have barely dropped!” But then I am a sad man with few interests outside of cars. Wheel size is down an inch to 19s on this car. It helps the looks but there’s still room enough for some large brakes. I hammered 108 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

New Type R might have lost Discover why Chris is scrolling the yobbish looks, but it’s the classifieds for an old school still just as rowdy as ever hot hatch on iPlayer right now Best car seats his bottom’s ever had the pleasure of nestling in, says Chris Classic colour scheme didn’t need changing so Honda’s left us on red T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 109

this car around the TopGear track for lap after lap and the on a trailing throttle in the wet – you really can hang it out for pedal stayed resolutely short – even if the pads did get a big slides and then just use the old pin-the-throttle trick to bring little smoky at times. The thing I can’t tell you about is how it back into line. In the dry you have to use fairly drastic methods it rides on a bumpy road because I wasn’t allowed to drive to make it misbehave – but that isn’t just road testing silliness, it on the public highway. Based on the way it rode the lumps it confirms that on your favourite road, if you just back off the and dips of Dunsfold aerodrome, I would say it will be on the throttle, the nose will tighten. And therein lies the key to a stiffer side for UK roads, but not so lumpy you can’t use it great front-drive chassis. properly. The locking diff is so damn good, traction really won’t be a problem. The next thorny issue is the price. And in line with the general theme of this article – it hasn’t been officialy confirmed yet what And what happens when you switch off the stability Honda UK will charge for one of these exceptional machines, but control? Have a look at the photos. The rear is very mobile rumours are swirling of a number in the high £40,000s, and that

HONDA CIVIC TYPE R there won’t be many of them. People will say it’s absurd to spend so much on a superheated shopping trolley – they’ll say you could have a VW or a Mercedes, but they’ll be wrong. This is a very special car – it is immense fun to drive, fast and competent. To my eyes it looks superb and is now sprinkled with some JDM sparkle that was missing in the previous version. This type of car might not be around much longer, which is a crying shame, and the excellence of the Type R confirms how much we’ll miss them. However, Honda’s ability to define the quirky mainstream appears to be in good fettle, which is why it’s not just our Hot Hatch of the Year, it’s our overall Car of the Year, too. Setright would approve. CHRIS’S CAR OF THE YEAR As I get a pick too, let’s lob a third award the Type R’s way. I’m so happy that Honda has had the balls to make a new hot hatch, nobody seems to want to build them anymore, but I’ve been reminded just how well suited this type of car is to UK roads. I love the nods to its heritage; the red Alcantara, the little metal gearlever, it’s a car that makes me smile. It’s the right size; in a world where everything is excessive and overpowered it just hits the spot, and when I drove it at Dunsfold, I found myself behaving badly and that’s what really matters. The Porsche Cayman GT4 RS ran it very close, it’s a lot of money, a bit too rarefied, but it’s special because it’s not just about lap times and speed, it’s about feel and emotion. Having those intakes by your ears... good Lord. I think the Rimac Nevera at around £2m isn’t really comparable, but it’s important, because the tech that’s £2m today will be available in five years at a fraction of the price, and if that’s the case we’re going to have to relearn how to drive because it’s just so fast. So, those are my three, but my Car of the Year? It’s this Honda.

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HEADLINER FANTASTIC FOURS California isn’t short of workshops prettifying Porsches. But a peek inside Benton Performance reveals a fascination with something different WORDS STEPHEN DOBIE PHOTOGRAPHY JONNY FLEETWOOD T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 113

John Benton is a coiled spring of a man. His business. But there’s an everyman spirit to Benton’s work, Californian workshop may be tucked away not least because John specialises in four-cylinder Porsches in Anaheim, southeast of downtown LA, – chiefly the 912 and 356 – though there’s the odd flat-six but that doesn’t mean Benton Performance 911 lying around. is a quiet little corner in which to show hushed reverence to shiny old Porsches. “I’ve built all sorts of engines over the years,” he tells There’s enough of that going on elsewhere in California. me. “Ferrari, Lotus, water- and air-cooled, small block John’s eyes are wide and his energy fizzing as he leads me Chevy. Engines are largely the same – it’s like a doctor and photographer Jonny on a tour much longer than his learning the human body when they study to be a surgeon. modestly sized shop had led us to expect, Motown But there are little differences in them all.” pumping loudly throughout the building as we try our best to keep up with both his legs and his anecdotes. John has beaten 911s in his 912 racecar and clearly likes It’d be a bit strong to call Benton the anti-Singer, not playing the underdog on and off the track. “I’m a bit of a least because they aren’t directly comparative. You’re troublemaker. I have fun doing a lot with less. European looking at a resto business here rather than a restomod usability and size was never a sensibility that grew here when these cars were new. I’ve been a champion for this cause for a long time.” 114 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

“I COULDN’T WAIT TO DROP MY GIRL HOME AND DRIVE THE PORSCHE ALL NIGHT” Ah, the joys of classic car restoration – one ‘quick’ job leads into 10 more What Benton doesn’t know His love for Porsches began with his cousin’s 912, about Porsche restoration, which he borrowed at 16 for his high school prom. “I had a Volkswagen at the time. I went out to prom but I couldn’t isn’t worth knowing wait to drop my girl home and drive the Porsche all night. I drove that car into sunrise, it was incredible. Next day I cleaned her all up and brought her back. I was hooked.” That VW was the real seed that sprouted into the kingdom John now surveys, though. “A lot of what I know was self-trained, but I always sought out experts. When I was 14 I got my hands on a ’59 ragtop Beetle. I painted a house to get it. It was a total pig but it was my first love. I didn’t know much, but I was driven. So I rode my BMX with a broken carburettor on the back to a shop near home called Tony’s Auto Repair. That’s the beginning of it all, right there. I could take you to the exact spot now.” Plenty happened between Tony’s and where we stand now, though, including a teenage John turning down a $4.8m trust fund when his dad passed away in a plane crash. “My father was a rambler,” he says. “I said ‘the man’s an asshole, I don’t want it’. I gave away that trust to my younger brother. I chose my own deal. When you grow up T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 115

Prices are on a case-by-case, but in a world of $1m+ Singers, you maybe pleasantly surprised Drop of juice and watch the magic happen / Porsche-branded fire extinguisher / There’s no bad angle on Green Meanie / Signed, sealed and delivered by Benton “GLEAMING BRIGHTER THAN EVERYTHING AROUND IT, IS THE GREEN MEANIE” 116 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

without a pops, you find yourself growing up under other four. I have a recipe and if one particular ingredient isn’t people. I’ve had many mentors in my life but they’ve all available, I’m not interested in your timetable to get the been good dudes.” car back. But I get the impatience, too. I’ve got a Cosworth- powered formula car at home and I’d love to get it running John was headhunted through various well-paid but I’m waiting for the parts from England.” vocations – amassing electrical, welding and metallurgy skills along the way – before deciding to set up a workshop There’s no typical job at Benton – and no typical bill on his own terms. “I always had my little garage building once it’s done – but John points me towards a 912 going stuff and I used to race. Then I got out of my professional through roughly $10,000 of restoration work while an career as a facilities engineer in 2005 and that’s how this engine rebuild has a median cost of $20,000, he tells me. occurred. It went incrementally, it kept getting bigger and “It can be $40,000 if you want internals that are really bigger. There was the big financial crash in 2009 but my made to take punishment. The good thing about 912 wife and I have the same house we’ve always had, we live a people is they drive the hell out of their cars. They’re rarely fairly simple life. We weren’t damaged too badly. I still had garage queens. One customer I built an engine for goes a 401k and I liquidated it, then hired all the dudes nearby autocrossing and every year he’ll bring the car here for a that had shops like mine. We used to drink beers together week for us to look over it.” on a Friday and commiserate. I thought we could all work together and have fun.” But for all his obvious expertise and effervescence, John has no interest in rivalling the million dollar approach to ‘Fun’ is certainly what emanates through the building. Porsche renovation you might find elsewhere in Cali. “I’m But while his son also works at the shop, there’s no quite capable of building almost anything. But when I see nepotism here; Ian Benton had to develop his talent somebody defile these cars to make a reimagined version? elsewhere before he could work with his own pops. “I used It’s a free world, but I’m not into it.” to help out when my dad did work in the backyard,” says Ian. “By the time I was at the age I was helpful – 13, 14 – Like father like son, he sent me out to work in other shops. I was working on though there’s been no upholstery, breaking cars down, then a machine shop. By special treatment here the time I was 18 I’d amassed enough experience for him to say ‘come and work for me’.” Ian isn’t the only apple in John’s eye. Sat in the middle of the workshop, gleaming brighter than everything around it, is the Green Meanie. “Back in the day this was actively raced on the SoCal scene,” says John. “It belonged to a guy called Steve Schmidt. It’s always been that colour – Smyrna Green. It’s in old school race trim before all the mega rules; it took the final chequered flag at Riverside in 1989. Then it got lost and disappeared. “Several years ago, one of my clients found it on an online auction. He got it for around $55,000 but the engine was worn out. Fast forward a few years and someone tells Steve via social media that the Green Meanie is in my shop, and he says he has the original matching numbers engine for it. I call up and we get it for six grand. A tasteful little 125hp motor. My client hasn’t decided to part with it just yet, but I take it out like it’s my car. I drive it and have fun with it. I’d love to race it in historics but he doesn’t want it wrecked. When he decides to sell it, it’s mine.” But it’s clear that 912s hold just as much of John’s affection. Perhaps more. “People finally get it. At its inception it’s a car that saved its company. This was never a poor man’s Porsche. It was owned by doctors, lawyers, pilots. They cost a lot of money in 1966. For a while they were a bargain but they’re coming of age now. It’d cost the same to restore a Ford Pinto or a Ferrari at my shop, though. It takes x number of hours to take a car apart, whatever it is. But now that 912 values have gone up, it makes more sense to put money into restoring one. “Conversations with clients don’t always start with ‘how much?’ Some people turn up and are in love with their car. I send the bill at the end and I get paid. Perfect. Most cars are with us about a year but some I’ve had for three or T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 117

TOP FIVE 16-CYLINDER ENGINES AUTO UNION TYPE C After the A and B, the Type C was Auto Union’s last V16 racer. The 6.0-litre unit was mid-mounted and fitted with two superchargers CONCEPTS THAT TIME FORGOT BUGATTI TYPE 45 JAGUAR KENSINGTON, 1990 During WW1, Ettore Bugatti developed a U16 engine for fighter planes. He returned to the layout for two examples of the later Type 45 BRM P83 BRM’s bonkers H16 engine that it campaigned in the 1966 and 1967 F1 seasons was basically two flat-eights stacked on top of each other JIMENEZ NOVIA In 1995, French motorbike racer Ramon Jimenez built a one-off supercar that used a 4.1-litre W16 engine. It hit a verified top speed of 236mph CIZETA-MORODER I MAG ES: ALL STAR V16T Developed by a group of ex-Lamborghini employees, the V16 in the Cizeta-Moroder was based on two Urraco V8s and mounted transversely 118 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

R‘qeupicokr’tw29inMtearrrke’sfrSeksyhl.inAeboisuitntfhoarti.t..s “AT THIS POINT I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA THE HOURS THAT HAVE GONE INTO IT” T he art of downplaying a situation is critical count how many different textures, colours component individually. There’s also six more for denying its actual severity. This could be and materials are used. Each one masked or boxes’ worth of parts for him to get through. as simple as the ‘little’ bit of kerbing which predetermined before fitting. The easy option has transformed your wheel into something here is to gloss black everything – it’s forgiving And this isn’t even including all of the from The Flintstones, or it could be the crippling and to the untrained eye looks ‘new’. additional work that’s been undertaken hangover after telling your loved one you’d only including stripping (and rewiring) the entire had a few drinks. But it also disguises horrors and can be done loom to iron out years of dodgy audio, earthing with most parts in situ. That’s not how Steve issues and general degradation. Keep in mind There’s an entire chapter dedicated to this in works. Every colour and material used here Nissan’s manufacturing process in 1999 wasn’t the Skyline GT-R handbook, starting with fuel has been obsessively chosen to tie in with other exactly revolutionary. Strip down a stock GT-R consumption before rapidly increasing to full components on the car, including the bronze and the issues you’ll find will leave you terrified engine issues. Chapter 3.2 reads “In the event TE37 wheels and grey Brembo brakes. It’s not long before you throw road use at it for decades. of oil starvation, instruct other enthusiasts that trying to be OEM, it’s far better than that. it is likely just a sticky valve and shouldn’t cost Every update that Steve sends through much to fix”. Chapter 3.3 continues “For engine Every nut and bolt – hundreds and hundreds boggles my mind. At this point, I have rebuild number two, suggest simply that the of them – has been either cleaned and zinc absolutely no idea on the hours that have gone noise is because the timing needs sorting”. plated or replaced with a new item... and then into it, other than a lot. And when it’s finished zinc plated so it doesn’t stand out. Every single it’ll essentially be a zero-mile car, with an Annoyingly this handbook doesn’t include suspension arm, the subframes, roll bars and entirely new engine, new paintwork, and fully what to say during engine rebuilds number even the driveshafts and hubs have been rebuilt shell. Terrifying when its value is closer three and four. But, after five years of GT-R removed, cleaned, vapour blasted and either to a Ferrari 488 than an old Nissan now. ownership, it’s a skill I’ve managed to perfect hand painted, or powder coated. It takes Steve in order to keep relatively sane. There is one several hours to clean, blast and coat every The sensible thing would be to garage it area that no amount of downplaying can cover and wave it under the nose of some investor. up though... its ‘quick’ winter refresh. Ooh, just have a That’s what I’ve told myself and others who’ve look at the underside asked. So why am I now looking for a much Nor should it be downplayed either, because of Mark’s GT-R bigger turbo to bolt onto the new engine? the work that Steve Richardson and his team at Thankfully, the Nissan handbook has that SR Autobodies is doing goes far beyond simply covered. Chapter 3.4 says “Inform people you incredible, and much closer to full-on insanity. will drive it lightly because of its value. Then He’s not just taking bits off and giving them a run it at 1,000bhp and devalue it greatly by quick clean; he’s undoing 25 years of abuse and blowing up another engine.” Mark Riccioni questionable modifications before ensuring it’ll last for another 25 more. Internationally renowned photographer Mark has been working with TG for many, many years. When Look at the underside so far. Looks jazzy, not taking photos he’s buying inappropriate cars. doesn’t it? But look a little closer and now Here he shares his addiction with the world T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 119

PROGRESS REPORT (2022) DS 9 vs CITROEN XM (1990) Two fancy French saloons, each claiming pillowlike comfort. How do they compare? AN XM? I’VE NOT SEEN ONE OF THOSE FOR AGES 1.6-litre petrol 4cyl good for 222bhp, a plug-in hybrid (as we have WORDS: PETER RAWLINS PHOTOGRAPHY: JONNY FLEETWOOD here) that pairs a lesser 1.6-litre petrol engine with a 108bhp WITH THANKS TO ROB DRAPER FOR THE LOAN OF HIS CITROEN XM You and us both. Citroen’s luxobarge pedigree began with the electric motor for an identical 222bhp and up to 34 miles of DS, followed by the CX, and then this, the XM. Launched in 1989 and all-electric range. Plus there’s a range-topping 355bhp variant. styled by Bertone, one of its key selling points was its self-levelling, electronically controlled hydropneumatic suspension that GOTCHA. SO WHAT’S THE XM LIKE? promised a silky smooth ride. Despite winning plenty of plaudits from the automotive media, sales suffered due to perceived Settling in, the first thing you notice is the glorious single-spoke unreliability issues, and it was quietly phased out 11 years later. steering wheel – replaced on later facelifted models – shortly followed by just how beautifully soft the seats are. At lower speeds WHAT’S THE CAR ON THE LEFT? it’s a comfortable cruiser, but up the ante and the 2.0-litre engine feels somewhat underpowered. Still, it’s oh-so comfortable, with The first executive saloon from Citroen’s luxury sub-brand, the the fancy suspension smothering out any bumps in the road. DS 9 launched in 2020 and is here to take the fight to its premium Owner Rob regularly uses this on his 100-mile round commute, German rivals. Design-wise there’s much chrome trim plus several and it’s not hard to see why. What reliability issues? nods to DSes of old, including those cornet-style lights on the C-pillars. Like the XM, however, its biggest party trick is its Active AND THE DS 9? Scan Suspension, which works by way of a camera which scans the road ahead in conjunction with multiple sensors, with each Where the XM feels delightfully old school, the DS 9 feels suitably wheel individually damped to improve ride quality. Clever stuff. premium, with its digital dials, fancy infotainment system, plush materials and cocooned interior. In truth, there are few WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE IN POWER? similarities between these two, the DS 9 feels positively space age by comparison. On the move the DS 9 glides where the The XM was available with a range of diesel and petrol engines XM floats courtesy of its smart suspension – slightly firmer, less – including a 3.0-litre V6 – throughout its lifetime, with this early forgiving, but still pleasingly pillowy – with the hybrid powertrain example featuring a 2.0-litre petrol producing 130bhp mated to adding to the sense of harmony. a four-speed automatic gearbox. DS 9 buyers get a choice of a 120 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

UNLOVED V6 MUSCLE CARS FORD MUSTANG LESS (2005) THAN £5K REMEMBERING RETRO GAMING THE CLASSICS #45 CHEVROLET CAMARO LESS WINNING RUN (1994) THAN £6K ARCADE, 1988 DODGE CHALLENGER LESS As a kid who was approximately a decade away from holding a (2009) THAN driving licence, there was no greater thrill in the late Eighties and early £13K Nineties than slipping into the bucket seat and gripping the steering wheel of an arcade racing machine. But in spite of the ostensibly authentic set-up, it’s fair to say that most arcade racing games were about as realistic as our chances of winning Strictly Come Dancing. Way back in 1988, Winning Run by Namco was a rare exception to the rule. There was no mollycoddling with chase cameras where you have a commanding view of the track ahead, this game crammed you into the cockpit of an F1 car and forced you to get on with it. Technologically, the game was astonishing for the time. Four years before the similarly angular Virtua Racing, Winning Run constructed the entire world from block-shaded 3D polygons, lending the game an air of simulation legitimacy. Even if it does look a bit like a child’s papercraft project these days. This was serious racing, so you’d have to qualify before you lined up on the grid, but once that was squared away you’d be in the thick of a 15-car pack, attempting to jostle your way to the front. There was only a single fictional circuit but that one track was certainly challenging enough to swallow plenty of pocket money. If you were lucky enough, you’d get to play the game in one of the ‘deluxe’ cabinets, which featured hydraulic motion simulation and six separate speakers for surround sound. For gamers of the Eighties, raised on the the Commodore 64 and Atari ST, this was total sensory overload. The only way to feel more like Nigel Mansell was to pop on a pair of Union Jack undies before you hit the start button. Mike Channell Bargain Corner T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 121



TOPGEAR ’S LONG-TERM CARS. TESTED & VERIFIED T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 123

GO TO TOPGEAR.COM FOR EXTENDED TG GARAGE REPORTS, AND TO EXPLORE THE ARCHIVE BMW M8 Competition HELLO £129,750 OTR/£150,050 as tested/£3,272pcm WHY IT’S HERE Can the most powerful M car be a proper luxury car? DRIVER Rowan Horncastle I’LL SAVE YOU THE LAZY “HELLO M8” GAG AND GET STRAIGHT TO FIRST your standard BMW badge. Ours does. And people really notice it contrasted against the Skyscraper Grey metallic paint. impressions as that’s all I’ve got given our latest inmate – a range-topping £150k, two-tonne BMW M8 Competition – only arrived two days ago. Inside we’ve got Silverstone merino leather against black which feels rather luxurious. But can it hold a candle to luxury brands like Bentley? To the cynics, this M8 Competition is an M5 Competition in an 8-Series We’ll have to find out. What I want to know is what the M8 is. On first body. To the pragmatists, it’s a solid and reliable competitor to an Aston DB11. impressions it doesn’t know if it wants to be a luxury car or a supercar. To the three separate delivery drivers who catcalled the car on my way home, It’s got elements of both but is it any good at either of them? Let’s see... it’s “very, very nice”, “meaty” and “sick”. I tend to agree with them. SPECIFICATION GOOD STUFF If you’re a bit confused by the ever-growing BMW M range, you may be confused by what we have here. Well, it’s the top of the M tree. And not just 4,395cc, 8cyl twin-turbo, The most powerful and that, but the most powerful production car BMW has ever built. AWD, 616bhp, 553lb ft luxurious M car ever has 24.8mpg, 260g/km CO2 serious grunt and muscle. The M8 Comp’s 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 is good for a seriously hefty 0–62mph in 3.2secs, 155mph 616bhp and 553lb ft of torque. Plus, if you tick the box on the options list BAD STUFF that says “Driver’s Package” (which we have) you’ll get the derestricted 1,975kg top speed of 189mph to match the 0–62mph time of 3.2 seconds – Is winter a really good time to which is a fantastic cartridge of pub ammo. MILEAGE: 2,300 OUR MPG: 22.4 be running the most powerful and luxurious M car ever? This M8 comes as part of a subtle facelift that gifts new colours, wheel and trim options as well as a bigger infotainment screen inside and lightly tweaked front-end styling. Plus the ability to pay £250 to have the original M Sport roundel badging (which featured on the performance brand’s first ever racing car back in 1973) instead of 124 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

Audi Q4 e-tron GOODBYE £55,435 OTR/£61,955 as tested/£690pcm WHY IT’S HERE Is the Q4 e-tron superior to its VW Group siblings, or just pricier? DRIVER Jack Rix IT’S SIX MONTHS SINCE WE RECEIVED THE KEYS TO AN AUDI Q4 E-TRON often and not having to rely on an unreliable public charging network for roadtrips would be nice. Second, weight: improve battery tech and weight – plenty of time for it to leave us stranded on the hard shoulder, to have a should come down as range goes up – a couple of understeer moments on major electrical meltdown or for various bits to be pulled off and chewed by wet roads reminded me the Q4 could do with being fleeter of foot. Finally, two snotty urchins. But no, its battery hasn’t once run dry, all systems have packaging: snouty front end, long wheelbase, the Q4 has new-wave EV-led functioned faultlessly, and it’s still glued and screwed together. For our proportions but without a front trunk, and feels too traditional in its family’s requirements, it’s been ideal multigenerational transport. interior. For now, a B+... highly competent all-rounder, unfulfilled potential. In many ways, the Q4 e-tron is a blueprint for how far the modern SPECIFICATION GOOD STUFF electric car has come. Because it’s based on the VW Group’s dedicated MEB platform and not a repurposed petrol car, you get decent range, Electric motor, 77kWh Only 201bhp, but it hits a sweet decent practicality, decent performance and decent handling. Horrible battery, RWD, 201bhp spot – poky around town, word, decent, isn’t it? But here it’s applicable, because the Audi doesn’t do 3.4 miles per kWh, 299 miles smooth and silent at speed. anything to a brilliant standard, but nor does it have any obvious weaknesses. 0–62mph in 8.5secs, 99mph Not sure why you’d need more. It wears its electricness lightly and is hassle free to drive and run – 2,125kg BAD STUFF so long as the normal EV barriers don’t apply (you regularly pound 300+ motorway miles a day, and don’t have access to home charging) then it’s a MILEAGE: 4,420 OUR MPKWH: 3.3 Over 2.1 tonnes for a medium- safe bet. Yes it’s more expensive than an ID.4 or Enyaq made from the same sized SUV, or two Alpine A110s. bits, but then it looks and feels more expensive too, so the choice is yours. When did this become normal? Let’s look at it from a different angle – if this is the benchmark for an electric family SUV in 2022, what are the improvements I’d like to see? First, range: personally, I don’t need more, but I’m lazy so charging less T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 125

GO TO TOPGEAR.COM FOR EXTENDED TG GARAGE REPORTS, AND TO EXPLORE THE ARCHIVE Citroen e-Berlingo GOODBYE £31,995 OTR/£33,870 as tested/£519pcm WHY IT’S HERE Can a van with windows triumph as an EV? DRIVER Andy Franklin IN CASE YOU HADN’T NOTICED, TOPGEAR IS BACK ON THE TELLY, “It’s got the most important thing a car can have... character,” Clarkson concludes, and while the e-Berlingo is still everything that it once was, to some 20 years after the ‘new’ show started with Clarkson, Hammond my mind it’s sadly missing the important electric x factor: decent range. and Dawes. In fact, it’s exactly 20 years as I write this report... and can So unlike Jeremy I couldn’t take it over to France on a booze cruise (OK, you guess what the first car to be reviewed by Clarkson was? Yep – the I could have if I wanted to spend days travelling, and let’s face it the pound Berlingo. So, I thought what better way to say goodbye to the e-Berlingo isn’t what it once was), so I took it to the next best thing I knew I could get than to look back on that film and see how far it has come. to and back on one charge – Majestic Wine. “It’s a curious looking thing,” he starts off, and this one is arguably even SPECIFICATION GOOD STUFF more curious, a bit Marmite even. And in those days it was cheap, really cheap. They found a new Berlingo for less than £9k, in fact at the end of Electric motor, 50kWh Sliding doors, ample storage the show they stated Citroen was doing a deal with the VAT off so that battery, FWD, 136bhp space and a very comfortable meant you could pick up a petrol one for £7,700. Quite a contrast to today’s 3.6 miles per kWh, 182 miles ride. Quirky looks. offering which costs £31k and only comes with an electric powertrain. 0–62mph in 9.0secs, 84mph BAD STUFF Still, as JC notes, “It is possible to buy a number of other cars for 1,664kg Berlingo money, but none of them will be this size, none of them will be The battery has helped it be this well equipped and none of them will have the X factor.” Now, I’m MILEAGE: 5,995 OUR MPKWH: 3.2 quite serene. Quirky looks. pretty sure for £30k you can get some pretty well equipped cars complete with all-important ‘X factor’, but for the size? I reckon – bar a bigger van – there isn’t much that will beat it. And thankfully the storage is just as good as it was, including cavernous boot complete with overhead locker that, as Clarkson states, can fit an extra 10kg of booze in it. 126 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

DACIA JOGGER JOGGER BMW iX NUGGETS REPORT 5 REPORT 7 Is that knurling? Pretty sure £18,745/£19,640/£313 that’s knurling. In a Dacia! £94,000 OTR/£115,670 as tested/£2,259 pcm WHY IT’S HERE What a time to be alive WHY IT’S HERE Can the cheapest MPV cut Phone holder next to the This is BMW’s techno flagship, what’s it like to live with? the TopGear mustard? nav screen fulfils all my infotainment requirements DRIVER DRIVER Manual gearshift boasts an Jason Barlow Sam Philip action worthy of the finest DID YOU KNOW THAT BMW’S ‘i’ SUB-DIVISION WAS COMPLETELY EARLIER THIS YEAR, EURO NCAP old school hot hatches off-the-books at the start? It was overseen by an engineer called Ulrich awarded the Jogger a dismal single Kranz – who subsequently went to EV startup Canoo and is now heading star safety rating, a score that up Apple’s eternally gestating car project – and it really was secret seems to scream, “Keep your squirrel for a while. I recently caught up with Kai Langer, now head of precious children a million miles BMW i Design (and part-time musician), who was one of the few who away from this death-box!” knew back in 2008. “We all saw it was the opportunity of a lifetime,” he says. “It was like being in a speedboat running alongside a huge ship.” But it’s not so simple. The Jogger returned a four-star rating for adult “What was a shock back then is not so shocking today,” Langer occupant crash protection, and says. “You would hear more traditional managers subsequently saying, three stars for child occupants. ‘we have to do it that way!’ It was like when the Sex Pistols first showed It lost marks, however, for a lack of up, they were the enemy. Now punk is part of society. That means the active safety equipment: it doesn’t mindset is growing. Even the most conservative minds back then, offer lane keep assist, pedestrian who thought electromobility was rubbish, well clearly that just detection, or seatbelt warnings doesn’t exist any more.” for the rearmost seat row. Which brings us onto the iX, arguably the most polarising car Dacia says it’s about priorities. BMW has ever done, a vehicle that has had scorn heaped upon it from “We are serious about passive all corners of the internet and social media. That’s gotta hurt, surely? safety [crash protection],” Dacia boss Denis Le Vot told TG recently. “Provoking emotion is part of our job, preferably positive ones. “But there is a whole thing about If something we’ve done is received neutrally, then we haven’t done active safety. We know that people our jobs right. We know the conventions of good car design, but deactivate lane keep assist, so why who sets the rules? And who sets the rules for the next 100 years?” would we sell it?” The i4 is more conventional, a car Langer says is part of a “soft Fair point. I have no qualms transformation”. The iX might divide opinion but it’s making a statement about transporting my kids around very forcefully. More forcefully than, say, Mercedes’ new EQS SUV... the country in a Jogger. Euro NCAP’s criteria get tougher every year, remember, and I’d suggest the Jogger’s at least as safe as its price rivals: five-year-old MPVs with a bunch of miles on the clock... SPECIFICATION Offside seatbelt receiver SPECIFICATION GOOD STUFF keeps retreating beneath 999cc, 3cyl turbo, FWD, the cushions. Frustrating Twin electric motors, 4WD, Terrific range, accurate 109bhp, 148lb ft 105.2kWh battery, 516bhp range-ometer, comfortable 48.7mpg, 130g/km CO2 2.9 miles per kWh, 380 miles and refined. 0–62mph in 11.2secs, 130mph 0–62mph in 4.6secs, 125mph BAD STUFF 1,205kg 2,510kg It handles well given its size but MILEAGE: 7,520 OUR MPG: 41.9 MILEAGE: 5,350 OUR MPKWH: 2.8 it’s too big to be fun, infotainment prone to odd glitches. T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 127

WHAT ELSE WE’RE RUNNING REPORT 5 BENTLEY BENTAYGA HYBRID Land Rover Defender GOODBYE £51,295 OTR/£74,146 as tested/£1,004pcm WHY IT’S HERE To live the life most Defenders can only dream of DRIVER Ollie Marriage REPORT 5 IF YOU’VE READ THESE REPORTS SINCE THE DEFENDER FIRST ARRIVED DS 9 back at the start of this year, you’ll be aware of the issues we’ve had. There have been a lot, from water sloshing in the sills, to aircon packing up, to 128 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M loss of power, to coolant leaks. At times it’s been a pain in the arse. But none of us wanted this day to come. Because we’ve loved running this car. But the quality and reliability issues need to be eradicated. They’re not acceptable. We did over 14,000 miles in this D250, and shadowing every single one of them was a fear that something would go wrong. We’re car enthusiasts, we love the product, we understand it and found ways to cope. But most owners aren’t like us. They won’t forgive and forget. It’s such a pity, because the car performs so well. It did everything we wanted and did it with a chunky spring in its step. It off-roaded, wore a roof tent, paddleboards, bags and bikes, towed a mighty caravan. It is eminently fit for purpose in the modern world and fulfils the role Land Rover envisaged for it. However, it’s not a tool anymore and that means in years to come it will never resonate in the same way as the original. I wouldn’t change anything about the way we specced it, but I would urge you to think carefully about the outerwear, because it hasn’t been well developed: the roof-rack whistles, the pointless side box blocks visibility. The £3,775 paint protection film was a fortune, but has brilliantly shrugged off scratches, the steel wheels were the right call, the centre jump seat was a hoot, and it was even fun to hustle. We’d still have 90 over 110 any day of the week. And diesel, never hybrid petrol. There were frustrations, and I’d live in fear of the warranty running out, but there’s not another off-roader to touch it, it’s a genuine 4x4 and stands above every SUV. SPECIFICATION GOOD STUFF 2996cc, 6cyl turbodiesel, Honest, upright, rugged and AWD, 246bhp, 420lb ft charming. Everything we 32.2mpg, 230g/km CO2 wanted the Defender to be 0–62mph in 7.6secs, 117mph and more besides. 2,228kg BAD STUFF MILEAGE: 14,246 OUR MPG: 28.9 The quality quirks and issues that frequently had us spitting feathers.

GO TO TOPGEAR.COM FOR EXTENDED TG GARAGE REPORTS, AND TO EXPLORE THE ARCHIVE Skoda Fabia GOODBYE £19,400 OTR/£21,925 as tested/£273pcm WHY IT’S HERE Does relentless all-round competence get boring? DRIVER Vijay Pattni OUR TIME WITH THE HUMBLE FABIA IS UP, AND HERE’S WHAT WE FOUND. nor is it a wallflower. Our car was a little drab inside, though – grey fabric with a dark grey dash isn’t the most inspiring of interiors, and there were Throughout the course of your life, there will almost certainly have been definite whiffs of ‘rental car’ about it. Our advice? Try and choose those friends you turned to when life got a bit chaotic; the dependable and something with a little more... colour. trustworthy aides who’d always have a kind word and a cup of tea ready. We’d recommend one of these things in a heartbeat. Whenever life got Surprise: the Skoda Fabia is that friend. And throughout the course of chaotic, the dependable Fabia was always there with a buzzy engine note our time with the Czech company’s humble little supermini, we’ve warmed and dashboard squeak to soothe our ailments. Good car, this. to it. Took a bit of time, mind. Because at first, despite being a ‘Colour Edition’, it wasn’t exactly shooting out rainbows. Ours came with the chirpy SPECIFICATION GOOD STUFF little 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo matched to a six-speed manual gearbox. While at first it felt a little characterless, over time we got used to its buzzy 999cc, 3cyl turbo, FWD, A good all-round choice note and intriguing power delivery (nothing, nothing, lots, then nothing). 108bhp, 148lb ft – economical, practical 50.4mpg, 117g/km CO2 and understated. When not deliberately trying to set it on fire, its parsimony was a proper 0–62mph in 10.0secs, 127mph boon. Here’s where its nature began to leak through: we had it during rising BAD STUFF fuel prices, so to be able to squeeze nearly 500 miles out of a tank felt like a 1,267kg victory. Having adjusted the lens through which we judged the Fabia, it Drab interior, could use continually delivered. Holiday roadtrip? No problem – it offered a great MILEAGE: 11,500 OUR MPG: 55.2 a bit more ‘fizz’, power deal of space and never once complained. delivery not the smoothest. Sensible isn’t sexy, true, but 55mpg-ish speaks for itself. And while it’s not the most striking of exteriors, there’s a certain sharpness about its flanks that exudes a quiet sort of confidence; it’s not ostentatious, T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 129

Jaguar E-Pace WHAT WERE ALPINE A110S THEY THINKING? REPORT 2 REPORT 4 This month: £47,290 OTR/£53,730 as tested/£734pcm the Alpine’s £60,645/£71,689/£749 keyless locking WHY IT’S HERE WHY IT’S HERE Ollie Marriage It’s the stepping stone to Jaguar’s all-electric future Renaults have long Does the concept of a lightweight had class-leading dissolve on contact with Real Life? DRIVER keyless systems. Walk away and they lock DRIVER Charlie Rose automatically, the key never needs to leave Ollie Marriage SO, I’VE FINALLY MANAGED TO SWIPE A SPACE AT THE ONLY ON-STREET your pocket and so on. It’s useful and I’VE MADE A PLEASANT charger outside my flat. It’s a 5kWh Ubitricity charge point located very few do it better. in a streetlight. Does this mark the beginning of my journey to a But the Alpine A110 discovery about the A110S. On fully EV lifestyle? Well, it’s complicated. doesn’t have quite the motorway, other cars get the same system out of its way. And they do so For the first few days I was using the car without plugging it in and and it’s taken me willingly, promptly and politely. getting 31mpg, not great. So you’re going to want to plug in. However, months to get my This has nothing to do with the if you’re one of the 30ish per cent of homes in the UK without access to head around it. I even way I’m driving it, I hasten to add. off-street parking, you’ll need to rely on public charging infrastructure. had to resort to the Or perhaps everything. Let me owner’s manual. I explain – because I have a theory. This is where the complication sets in. Brimming the E-Pace’s 58-litre know. In short, here’s tank will set you back around £96. That gave an indicated 322 miles of the issue: if I lock the The A110S is extremely range. My on-street charger costs a whopping 49p per kWh, meaning car with the key, I effective at being seen. Not simply to charge the 15kWh battery cost £7.70 (including the 35p plug-in fee). then can’t open it because it’s bright orange, but How far did that get me? Well, Jaguar claims up to 34 miles. In reality, by touching the door because it has one of the strongest I got around 27. So, 29p per mile to run the P300e as an EV. There’s the handle. I should be light signatures of any car. The rub, if I get 322 miles out of a full tank costing £95, that works out at an able to be master four hollow circles of light are almost identical 30p per mile. of my own destiny a very noticeable graphic in the and choose the lock/ rearview mirror. So they catch This is by no means a dig at Jaguar. If I could plug this in at home unlock process with the attention, but then the every night, it’d cost me £5.40 for a full charge on my current tariff and total freedom – like driver in front sees that they’re would be perfect for commuting. In this scenario, it makes complete you can in other attached to something small and sense to go for a plug-in hybrid. It just concerns me that those without Renaults – but for unthreatening. So they pull a place to charge at home will end up getting fleeced by ever increasing some reason the over, and I whisk past. public charging fees as more and more shift to EVs. system only resets when the ignition Try the same in a BMW X5 Having said that, while it works out almost the same to run it on is switched on. It’s or Porsche Cayenne and you can electricity or petrol, I’ll continue to charge it when I can. If nothing infuriating. Not practically detect the bristling. else than to ease my conscience that I’m not directly contributing to least because in I drive a lot of different cars, and London’s dirty air. the dark I can never you soon notice how other drivers remember which bit treat you. And the Alpine gets SPECIFICATION of the credit card treated well. So I’m happier, key I need to press. they’re happier, and that alone 1498cc, 3cyl turbo + e-motor, is reason to love this little car. AWD, 305bhp, 398lb ft GOOD STUFF 141.0mpg, 44g/km CO2 SPECIFICATION 0–62mph in 6.5secs, 134mph Respectable EV range for the daily commute or nipping 1798cc 4cyl turbo, RWD, 2,098kg to the shops . 296bhp, 250lb ft MILEAGE: 8,510 OUR MPG: 48.0 BAD STUFF 42.2mpg, 153g/km CO2 Not convinced by the Cabin 0–62mph in 4.2secs, 155mph Air Purification system. 1,198kg MILEAGE: 9,909 OUR MPG: 33.1 130 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

Honda Civic eHEV HELLO £32,995 OTR/£33,820 as tested/£410pcm WHY IT’S HERE Maybe the best family hatch – just as everyone stops buying hatches DRIVER Ollie Kew LOOK AT THE STATE OF FAMILY HATCHBACKS RIGHT NOW. FORD ISN’T Our Civic is a range-topping Advance (adding faux leather electric seats, a heated steering wheel, a sunroof and Bose 12-speaker hi-fi). going to replace the Focus. VW has wrecked the Golf and builds its The fetching Premium Crystal Blue Metallic is the only option, at £825. deadliest rival: the ID.3. You can’t buy a Kia Ceed at the moment, because Kia is funnelling all its precious semiconductor chips into more profitable So kit-wise, it’s fully loaded, but character-wise, the new Civic Sportages and Niros. With parts shortages, price rises and the general seems to take it easy. Will it be refreshing, or a symptom of why trend towards crossovers, the humble family hatchback is being cruelly the hatchback is being usurped in British affections? Vijay will be left to wither on the vine. Yet, whirring silently onto the battlefield comes finding out over the winter. hope in the handsome shape of the new Honda Civic. A hatch that Honda proudly says stands a smidge lower than the intensely ugly old model. SPECIFICATION GOOD STUFF Don’t mistake this for a sporty car. Honda has thrown away its old fleet 1993cc 4cyl turbo hybrid, Non-car people have commented of turbo petrol and diesel engines and now has a one size fits all mild hybrid FWD, 181bhp, 232lb ft how handsome it is. That never set-up. You can’t get the Civic with a plug. The only other powertrain the 56.5mpg, 114g/km CO2 happened with the old one. 11th Civic will offer in the UK is the Type R’s 320bhp firework. It’s also now 0–62mph in 8.1secs, 112mph a manual gearbox-free zone. Yes, Honda has bet the Civic’s reputation BAD STUFF entirely on an ‘eCVT’ gearbox. 1,533kg The cheery chime every time we When we first drove the new Civic we were hugely impressed by its MILEAGE: 1,736 OUR MPG: 48.0 get in needs to be switched off. drivability. It doesn’t just look more grownup: it feels it. Better materials. To the instruction manual! A coherent cabin. Superior refinement. In the dying days of the hatchback as we know it, Honda may well have built the perfect car for traffic choked, camera infested, pothole afflicted modern Britain. T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 131

GO TO TOPGEAR.COM FOR EXTENDED TG GARAGE REPORTS, AND TO EXPLORE THE ARCHIVE Volkswagen ID.4 GOODBYE £46,035 OTR/£49,400 as tested/£659pcm WHY IT’S HERE It’s the bedrock of Volkswagen’s all-electric future push DRIVER Paul Horrell “IT GETS US FROM A TO B.” WHEN THIS IS ALL SOMEONE CAN SAY OF Anyway, apart from its screen and button system, the ID.4 does what it’s supposed to. If it had been six months in a petrol equivalent, a Tiguan their car, they shrug apologetically. Yet any vehicle’s first and fundamental or RAV4 or Sportage, I’m sure I’d have emerged feeling the same. I’m not calling is to bring its human and material cargo to the destination reliably a numb-crossover kinda guy. Look at the car market in general and you’ll and safely. Over the course of its 6,000 miles with us, the ID.4 cleared this see that makes me unusual. bar, and that’s not something we can always say of the cars we run. An alliterative TL;DR then. Roomy, reliable, relaxed, refined, rangey. It’s actually quite a desirable object when standing still. I don’t find it Just not, for me, relatable. pretty but you might. Inside, the upholstery is deluxe, and the minimal design of the screen systems looks progressively minimalist. Familiarity SPECIFICATION GOOD STUFF didn’t change those opinions. But as I grew to know them better, I got more, not less, infuriated with the screens and control system. I’ve banged Electric motor, 77kWh VW’s battery platform on about that before, so I’ll zip it for this report. battery, RWD, 201bhp serves up a useful family 3.9 miles per kWh, 317 miles transport appliance. But, “It gets me from A to B” isn’t what TopGear is about. We want 0–62mph in 8.5secs, 99mph cars to engage and entrance us. Here the ID.4 has fallen short. It’s dreary BAD STUFF and numb to steer. It’s accurate enough, but you can go at a corner with 2,045kg the tyres squealing and the wheel rim tells you nothing. Seat-of-pants Good build and cabin sensations of tyres varying their load, or potential playfulness of its MILEAGE: 10,595 OUR MPKWH: 3.4 undermined by awful screen RWD, are also denied you. It’s two tonnes, and feels it. and touchpad controls. There is good stuff. Drive it the right way and the range is fine. I was consistently getting a decent 3.4mpkWh and 250 miles from a battery. Which is enough for almost any purpose. 132 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

BECAUSE KNOWLEDGE IS POWER BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO ROLLS-ROYCE From greatest hits to lowest moments, everything you ever wanted to know... and a fair bit you didn’t WORDS SAM BURNE T T, ROWAN HORNCASTLE, GREG POT TS T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 133

GO TO IMAGES: MANUFACTURER TOPGEAR.COM FOR MORE MIND-BLOWING MANUFACTURER GUIDES Who’s Rolls-Royce and when did it start making cars? It all started quietly in 1904, as engineer Henry Limited was established in 1906. Charles Rolls for aeroplanes, diesel motors for trains and of Royce met a potential new business partner. became the first person to die in a plane crash course those fancy cars. He’d run a crane company then branched out in the UK in 1910 – he was only 32. Royce carried into new-fangled cars. The other fellow was on the company, expanding into plane engines Rolls-Royce Motors was born in 1973, sold Charles Rolls, a minor aristocrat and motoring in World War One and snapping up rival outfit in 1980 to engineering firm Vickers, then to VW enthusiast who started one of the UK’s first car Bentley in 1931 after it foundered in the Great in 1998. R-R became Bentley Motors – the plane dealers in 1903. Depression. R-R itself went into liquidation in engine folks held the badge and naming rights 1971 – the government bought it all and split the and gave them to BMW as they had business The first Rolls-Royce was unveiled at the various divisions that by now made jet engines together. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars as we know Paris Salon in December 1904, and Rolls-Royce it now has actually only existed since 2003... 134 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

EXHAUST Rolls-Royce’s greatest hits 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 135

What’s the cheapest car FACTOID that Rolls-Royce builds... and what’s the most expensive? Ever wondered about the tiny woman on A Rolls-Royce purchase falls firmly into the The most expensive car on the Rolls forecourt the front of every category that’s marked, “If you have to ask, you is the Phantom limo, which starts just under can’t afford it.” Still, entry to the Rolls-Royce £400k and rises to... well, whatever you can afford Rolls? She started as owners club is a bargain at £249,600 for the if you go crazy with the bespoke options. Still, if a personal mascot four-door Ghost saloon. you’re filthy wealthy and money isn’t so much of on the 2nd Baron an issue you’ll go for something like the Boat Montagu’s 1909 It’s basically a Mondeo for the super rich, Tail, a special edition Rolls limited to just three complete with star-lit interior headlining, open examples and selling for a frankly obscene £20 Silver Ghost. Sculptor pore wood veneer trim on the dash and seat trims million. Still, it does come with a picnic set. Charles Sykes used made from cows soaked in baby lotion from birth. the baron’s mistress, Eleanor Thornton, as his model. Rolls CEO Claude Johnson later commissioned Sykes to come up with a figurine for all the firm’s cars amid concerns that people were using ‘inappropriate’ mascots. The first Spirit of Ecstacy was around 180mm tall, now she’s 95mm. What is Rolls’ fastest car? A Rolls is about effortless buy McLarens and Rolls- a 155mph top speed and might have been able to pace, sure, but you still want Royces as their first cars), a 0–62mph run of 4.5secs. one-up the Wraith, but given to be comfortable while it’s which is how the racier Black Then you remember it’s a that it’s only playing with happening – sportiness has Badge editions of its cars 2.5-tonne coupe designed 591bhp and has 45kg of paint never been a priority. came to be. The speediest one for cruising to the Med. to lug around it’s mighty is the 624bhp Black Badge impressive that the four-door Still, the firm needs to Wraith. It doesn’t look quite We did have our fingers limo can make it to 62mph appeal to the kids (rich so promising on paper, with crossed that the recently from rest in 4.7 seconds, no? Chinese ones, that is, who launched Black Badge Ghost 136 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

NOTABLE EXHAUST PEOPLE Where are Rolls-Royces built and Henry Royce how many are sold a year? Gifted engineer was a noted perfectionist and 5,586 his cars were very reliable BMW might have bagged the Rolls-Royce name for a mere Charles Rolls £40m back in 1998, but Volkswagen took the firm’s historic Rolls saw the potential in Crewe factory and all the tools. It meant building a bespoke Royce’s engineering talents, new facility on the Goodwood Estate in West Sussex (the was a bit of an adventurer Duke of Richmond’s garden). In a nice turn of events it’s Ted Heath a mere 10 miles from the charming seaside village of West Prime minister nationalised Wittering, where Henry Royce moved in 1917 until his death Rolls-Royce in 1971 – 80,000 in 1933. The firm’s 2021 sales of 5,600 cars might not look jobs were on the line very impressive, but it was a 49 per cent increase on the pandemic-strangled 2020 numbers and the company’s best ever year. Largely thanks to sales of the Cullinan SUV. Rolls-Royces are all still meticulously hand built, so getting 20 cars a day out of the door is very impressive. What’s the best concept that Rolls-Royce has made? Wolfgang Reitzle Made to reassure oligarchs that ultra luxury can Its particular treat on your arrival is the light BMW boss was ousted still exist in the future, the Rolls-Royce Vision display designed to set your ego aglow. As you over Rover screw-ups, but Next 100, or 103EX as it is known internally, slow, the grille and bonnet mascot begin to light oversaw the new Phantom is 5.9m long, 1.6m high, and powered by four up, spreading around the wheelarches and down in-wheel electric motors. The 28in wheels don’t the sides of the doors. The glass canopy, door Torsten Müller-Ötvös immediately promise a sumptuous ride, but and step deploy, and a red carpet is projected on German-born CEO was at suspension is probably a lot better in the future. the pavement. Bit much for popping to Tesco. BMW, has been running Rolls since 2010. Likes fishing T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 137

What was Rolls’ What was Rolls’ best moment? worst moment? The firm has had a long history, but you could argue that its popularity The Seventies were a tough decade for everyone – especially those in the among Sixties celebrity royalty was a high point for the firm – anyone super expensive luxury car business. It just wasn’t the right time to be who was anyone had a Rolls, especially when the Silver Shadow emerged hawking sumptuous limos what with all of the oil crisising and financial in 1965. The Beatles, Tom Jones, Dean Martin, Peter Sellers, Elton John. turmoiling that was going on. Thank goodness that’s all behind us now. All photographed with their Rollers. Still, not great timing for the Camargue coupe that went on sale in 1975, And yet the company’s true high point was its Lazarus-like remergence a handful of years after the whole company (plane engines, diesel division as a luxury force in 2002 under BMW ownership. The seventh-generation and all) had to be nationalised by the British government and then broken Phantom was an instant timeless classic, barely aging in its 14 years on sale. up into separate firms to keep it all right side up. Some said the Germans couldn’t build a British luxury car, but they made it better. It was a car that concentrated on silence, smoothness and – no one The Camargue was among the most expensive cars in the world when guessed this – apparent simplicity. It also eschewed fashion fads and found it went on sale in 1975 – its £29,250 list price at launch is a smidge over new ways to make an interior. And it’s probably only on the quietness that £200,000 in today’s money. That alone could explain why only 531 were some newer cars have caught up. It’s a true legend. ever made, before you consider how it looked. Still, you can get yourself one for around £50k if you’re prepared for the high running costs. 138 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

What was Rolls’ EXHAUST biggest surprise? LOGO Another Rolls-Royce that’s rather challenging in the looks department EVOLUTION (though none of the firm’s cars have ever been particularly shy and retiring) is the Cullinan, a belated and controversial response to the 1906 boom in SUVs. It’s either the pinnacle of automotive achievement or a £300k white elephant. Precisely the level of subtlety is indicated by the Fancy coat of arms fact it’s named after the world’s largest diamond, plus nothing symbolises showed the company’s human contrariness more than the inexorable rise in popularity of vehicles designed to do things 95 per cent of their drivers will never engage in. aristocratic bent Even if you struggle with the concept of the big, fast, heavy SUV, you 1911 can’t argue with R-R’s execution. It is giving the super rich what they want, serving the demand and lining the corporate pockets nicely while it does it. Lancashire rose in there, Remember, the Cullinan is now Rolls-Royce’s bestselling car. Even if some a nod to firm’s beginnings people do think that it looks like a London taxi. up in Manchester 1911 An emblem not a logo, but Spirit of Ecstacy is synonymous with R-R 1973 Nationalisation did R-R a world of good with a whole new image 1998 Sleek new look under VW ownership. By sleek we mean a bit different 2020 Modern, minimalist current logo is the opposite of the cars T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 139

EXHAUST What’s the most Rolls-Royce car in the back catalogue? Rolls-Royce Phantom VII / 2003–2016 With the seventh generation of Phantom, BMW It wasn’t a guarantee that BMW’s Phantom Air to spare managed the impossible task of successfully reboot would be successful, though, with the Every Phantom sits on air summing up all that was great about Rolls- smouldering wreckage of its Rover ownership suspension, so put the Royces while also dragging a fusty relic into a still very much in the present memory. The car in water and look for new era – the previous version of the Phantom Phantom VII was developed alongside the likes bubbles. No wait, see if was on sale from 1968 to 1990. of the new Mini and Range Rover MkIII. The it’s sitting nice and level latter car was launched after Jaguar Land Rover The nameplate represents the very best of were split off and sold to Ford. the luxury that Rolls-Royce has to offer, an idea especially seeded with the fourth generation of The VII was revealed on 1 January 2003, the the car that was launched in 1950. It was only very first day that BMW got its hands on the offered to the likes of buyer who really deserved whole Rolls-Royce package after a protracted it, like royalty and other heads of state. Indeed, period of punchy negotiations with Volkswagen. the car given to Princess Elizabeth and Prince It was an immediate hit, and in fact the only car Philip in July 1950 is still in use by the British that Rolls built for six years until the arrival of royal family, and Charles III has been seen out the Ghost in 2009. It was mostly made from in it in recent months. aluminium, and constructed painstakingly by WORDS SAM BURNETT PHOTOGRAPHY MANUFACTURER Test of metal The aluminium body panels can be quite expensive to repair, so make sure your car has been looked after properly 140 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

hand at the company’s bespoke new facility into money-no-object bespoke whims that the Inside job in Goodwood, West Sussex. OK, there are two firm was more than happy to cater for. Interior lasts well in the robots in the factory that help with painting, MkVII –clearly crafted to but the coachlines along the sides of the cars are The 6.75-litre V12 petrol engine might not last. That said, look out still done by someone with a very steady hand. have made for happy fuel bills, but the 453bhp for signs of wear in high and 531lb ft of torque ensured effortless mileage cars If the sheer presence of the car didn’t wow performance in the smoothest possible way. onlookers, then they would have had their The Phantom was intended all along as a socks knocked off by fancy trinkets such as chauffeur car, designed with the express the self-levelling Rolls-Royce logos on the intention of cossetting whoever was reclined wheel hubs, the double glazed windows or the in the back. Sadly this Phantom was no longer umbrellas in the suicide rear doors (although the preserve of royalty, but was embraced by Skoda has since stolen that trick). Try to steal celebrities and rich businessmen alike as one the Spirit of Ecstasy and she’ll dart down into of the ultimate trappings of success. Nowadays the safety of the impressively armoured grille. around £80,000 will get you into an early MkVII The interior of the car displayed unparalleled Phantom – objectively pricey, but never has a luxury, and that was even before you got stuck display of wealth been such a bargain. Next month: Tesla

CITY CARS SUPERMINIS FAMILY HATCHBACKS These small cars are perfect for urban life, You drive mostly around town, with occasional A good electric family hatch needs decent but the trade-off is a much lower range need for longer distances? Try these for size range without compromising interior space 1. HONDA e 1. PEUGEOT e-208 1. RENAULT MEGANE E-TECH PRICE: £36,920–£38,120 RANGE: Up to 136 miles PRICE: £30,195–£34,345 RANGE: Up to 232 miles PRICE: £35,995–£39,995 RANGE: Up to 292 miles This TG favourite has retro styling and a brilliant The e-208 is competent and stylish, but ultimately Renault hopes to bring a bit of va va voom (French interior, but it’s a smidge expensive and the range you’ll fall into one of two camps: outraged about the for increased car sales) to its electric line-up with this isn’t great. Somehow we can’t help but love it... tiny steering wheel or you don’t understand the fuss. larger electric Megane. Early signs are promising. 2. FIAT 500 2. MINI ELECTRIC 2. HYUNDAI IONIQ 5 PRICE: £30,645–£36,645 RANGE: Up to 199 miles PRICE: £31,000–£35,050 RANGE: Up to 145 miles PRICE: £41,650–£56,095 RANGE: Up to 315 miles The latest version of the 500 offers sharper looks, The electric version of the home-grown favourite Hyundai’s newest addition is much bigger than it good value and decent range – and a parcel shelf squeezes the BMW i3’s powertrain into a familiar looks in pics, but comes with solid range, loads of full of soft toys shouldn’t hurt the battery too much. package. Range not massive, but the car’s still fun. space and a host of life-enhancing touches inside. 3. VW e-UP 3. RENAULT ZOE 3. MG4 PRICE: From £24,085 RANGE: 159 miles PRICE: £29,995–£31,995 RANGE: Up to 239 miles PRICE: £25,995–£31,495 RANGE: Up to 281 miles It’s always been one of the finest city cars out there, They grow up so fast, don’t they? The Zoe’s not long Oh, MG – what’s this delightful looking new electric but you’ve got to be sure you could cope with all of turned eight, but a recent refresh has given the car hatch? The company’s previous EVs have been very the Yorkshire-accented jokes that plague the e-Up. a boost. Make sure you get one with rapid charging. sensible buys, now we know that it means business. 4. SMART EQ FORTWO 4. VAUXHALL CORSA ELECTRIC 4. POLESTAR 2 PRICE: £22,225–£25,795 RANGE: 80 miles PRICE: £31,000–£33,735 RANGE: Up to 209 miles PRICE: £43,150–£49,550 RANGE: Up to 341 miles Yes, range is terrible, but as city cars go the Fortwo A Peugeot e-208 in a Vauxhall suit – now the EV’s Undercover Volvo offers Scandinavian attention to remains a brilliant package that works well within the gone fully mainstream. The one to buy if you don’t detail paired with a level of build quality that would confines of the city. Just don’t go further than that... want anyone to notice you’ve taken the plunge. shame a number of much more expensive cars. FOR ALL THE FACTS, STATS AND IN-DEPTH REVIEWS FOR EVERY NEW CAR ON SALE GO TO TOPGEAR.COM/REVIEWS

READY TO MAKE THE SWITCH? WE SEPARATE WHAT’S HOT FROM WHAT’S NOT COMPACT SUVS FAMILY CARS PREMIUM SUVS Small, but perfectly formed. These cars are a Slightly larger electric cars that are designed Go big or go home, we say. Wafting along perfect second motor or teeny family wagon to cope with everything you can throw at them in style is perfect for an electric powertrain 1. KIA NIRO 1. SKODA ENYAQ 1. BMW iX PRICE: £36,745–£43,145 RANGE: Up to 285 miles PRICE: £38,970–£51,765 RANGE: Up to 336 miles PRICE: £69,905–£116,905 RANGE: Up to 369 miles The old Niro was already a decent buy, but the new As usual, Skoda offers a down-to-earth and slightly A lovely cabin and it’s not too bad to drive – which is version improves everywhere and is alright to look cheaper alternative to whatever Volkswagen is great, because inside the BMW iX is one of the few at too. Great family entry point into electric motoring. pumping out. To great effect, as it turns out... places where you don’t have to look at the outside. 2. PEUGEOT e-2008 2. VOLKSWAGEN ID.BUZZ 2. JAGUAR I-PACE PRICE: £33,700–£37,650 RANGE: Up to 212 miles PRICE: £57,115–£61,915 RANGE: Up to 258 miles PRICE: £66,350–£75,400 RANGE: Up to 286 miles Our electric car of the year comes with an imposing Wait, when did Peugeots become so desirable heritage, but it’s a solid family wagon that shows off The I-Pace is the electric vehicle you’ll want to again? The e-2008 is surprisingly fun to drive and a different side to Volkswagen’s electric platform. show off to your neighbours. If they’ll listen to you. offers a chic interior with lots of nifty touches. Decent range, solid performance and great looks. 3. HYUNDAI KONA ELECTRIC 3. TESLA MODEL Y 3. AUDI E-TRON PRICE: £30,450–£37,900 RANGE: Up to 300 miles PRICE: £51,990–£67,990 RANGE: Up to 331 miles PRICE: £62,785–£95,685 RANGE: Up to 252 miles A Model 3 with more headroom and a seven-seat The Kona is highly specced, offers a solid slug option. Latest Tesla gets usual blend of innovative Audi’s effort is the safest premium bet if you’re of range and looks pretty sharp too. Good value, disruption and occasionally iffy build quality. worried about switching, but overall it’s a fairly good range and good looking. What’s not to like? conventional EV, just with cameras for mirrors. 4. VOLVO XC40 RECHARGE 4. FORD MUSTANG MACH-E 4. BMW iX3 PRICE: £45,755–£61,055 RANGE: Up to 258 miles PRICE: £50,830–£74,540 RANGE: Up to 372 miles PRICE: £62,865–£65,865 RANGE: Up to 285 miles ‘Normal’ XC40 is a peach, and electric version adds The Mach-E isn’t really a Mustang at all, or a men’s Slightly stealthier than some of BMW’s more Polestar 2 powertrain to great effect. Expensive, but razor, but it looks pretty good. It’s definitely a Ford aesthetically challenging EVs, this car is essentially you won’t have to explain to everyone what it is. though, so relentless competence is guaranteed. an electric translation of the bestselling X3 SUV. FOR ALL THE FACTS, STATS AND IN-DEPTH REVIEWS FOR EVERY NEW CAR ON SALE GO TO TOPGEAR.COM/REVIEWS

PERFORMANCE EVs SPECIAL MENTIONS “I’VE BOUGHT ONE! WHAT NOW?” For when money’s no object and the sky’s The EVs that have caught our eye, for all the the limit on car performance right reasons. Who said they aren’t cool? You have a home charge point. Don’t you? Well, get 1. RIMAC NEVERA BEST FOR POLARISING OPINION one. There’s a grant, so it’ll cost you less than £500. If PRICE: £1.7m RANGE: 340 miles Some cars we can all agree are either stunning or you don’t have a driveway, fairly beastly looking. Few cars divide opinion in the to get an overnight or all- Brain-scrambling performance from the Croatian way that the new Hyundai Ioniq 6 does. Like it or day recharge check zap- entry, and £1.7m might be a lot, but it’s a bargain next loathe it? We definitely love the 382-mile range. map.com for posts near to the Pininfarina Battista that nicked its underpinnings. home or work that give between 5kW and 7kW. 2. PORSCHE TAYCAN SPORT TURISMO BEST FOR MOVIE NIGHT Always make sure that you know in advance the PRICE: £73,650–£140,080 RANGE: Up to 306 miles What’s the point in enjoying cars just while they’re supplier for the post you driving? Get yourself a BMW i7 and it’s your new want to use, and register The Sport Turismo version of the Taycan takes cinema room. Settle in with popcorn, drop the blinds on its app or get its nothing away in terms of the car’s impressive and watch the 31in widescreen sink from the roof... dedicated RFID card. performance, adds sleek rear that looks great. Rapid (DC) chargers, 3. TESLA MODEL 3 PERFORMANCE BEST FOR COLLECTING RUBBISH at a slightly higher price, are best used for long trips, PRICE: £61,490 RANGE: 352 miles Gathering household waste is one of those crappy like you’d stop for fuel. jobs that has to be done, but Lunaz has made it They take roughly as long Ignore all of the Tesla hype and what you’re left with a slightly cleaner business by upgrading an old as filling with petrol and is a solid car with impressive performance. Tesla’s Mercedes bin lorry with a fresh electric powertrain. having a full English. charge network means it isn’t just for early adopters. In winter, keep plugged 4. BMW i4 M50 BEST FOR SCARING CHILDREN in until you drive away, as pre-warming the battery PRICE: £65,795 RANGE: 315 miles Ariel’s new Hipercar is magnificent, with outrageous and cabin increases range. performance belting out of its 1,200bhp of e-motors. When possible, choose In case you were worried that BMW’s M division was But that front end styling is surely nightmare fuel for heated/cooled seats over going to drop the ball in our glorious new electric young children, especially on a dark and stormy night. cabin heating and aircon. future, along comes a brilliant i4 to calm our fears. Try to drop your motorway speed by 10mph: it’ll hugely increase range, getting you there far more quickly if it avoids a recharging stop. FOR ALL THE FACTS, STATS AND IN-DEPTH REVIEWS FOR EVERY NEW CAR ON SALE GO TO TOPGEAR.COM/REVIEWS

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TG’S BIG BAFFLED BY ELECTRIC CAR JARGON? YOUR GUIDE TO DECODING THE FUTURE IS HERE EV Volts, amps plug. Fast or level 2 refers accurate than the old NEDC Supercapacitor and watts to the wall mounted AC standard, but still optimistic. Let’s start with a simple one. charging boxes you can Supercapacitors can charge EV means electric vehicle, as We’re going to go full science install in your house or office, Regen and discharge more quickly opposed to one powered by teacher on you and use an which go up to 7.4kW on than regular batteries – good petrol, diesel, used chip oil, analogy. Imagine a river: the normal 240V single phase Shorthand for ‘regenerative for bursts of speed – and can Chanel No 5 or magic. volts are how fast the river AC, or 22kW on industrial braking’. Electric motors work tolerate more charge and flows, the amps are how three phase. Rapid or level 3 by using electricity and discharge cycles, but they’re BEV much water is flowing, and is the high-power, DC supply, magnets to spin a shaft. So, still not as energy dense as the watts are how easily it’ll this is the sort you’ll find at if you were to spin it manually, batteries, so you’re unlikely People in the car industry like carry you downstream. motorway services and say, by coasting, you will then to see them as direct battery to use this one. It stands for dedicated charging areas. generate electricity, because replacements. More likely battery electric vehicle, as kW generators are basically to supplement a petrol opposed to, say, an FCEV CHAdeMO motors operating the engine’s performance. (fuel cell electric vehicle) Logical, metric countries use opposite way. See Lamborghini Sián. that’s powered by hydrogen. kilowatt to measure power CHAdeMO is not the result We just call them EVs. from petrol and diesel of a cat walking across a Range CCZ engines. For the rest of us a keyboard. It’s basically the ICE kilowatt is 1,000 watts, and is fast charging standard How far you’ll get in your car The congestion charge the most common measure Japan came up with. from the amount of energy zone that covers central The internal combustion of power in an EV. A kilowatt Competing standards you put into it. So, it’s been London. From 7am to 6pm engine. Confusingly, ICE is equal to about 1.34bhp. include CCS and Tesla fuel from a tank for most of on weekdays, or 12pm-6pm can also stand for in-car Superchargers, which all your life, now it’s a battery. at weekends and on bank entertainment (ie the stereo, kWh look reaaaaally similar. holidays it’ll cost you £15 to touchscreen and so on). Range anxiety drive in this zone. But, with Stands for kilowatt hours and CCS a zero emission car you can PHEV can cut two ways – how much The fear of being very far fill out a form and pay a one- power you’ve used (which The DC charger you’ll most from home, on a dark and off £10 for an exemption that Plug-in hybrid electric a utilities bill does), or how likely use across the UK and cold night, without enough lasts a year. vehicle, or a hybrid with a much capacity there is in a Europe. Works in everything power to make it to a bigger battery that you can battery. For instance, a Tesla from a Tesla to a VW. charging station. In the ULEZ plug in to charge, giving you Model S has 100kWh of short term, the solution is a short, say 20-mile, electric- capacity, of which you’ll Supercharging more rapid charge stations, The CCZ is there to ease only range. Amazing tax- be able to use about 90, in the long term, better traffic; London’s Ultra Low dodging mpg figures in the because fully depleting If it looks like a CCS charger energy density and more Emissons Zone is to ease official tests, not so amazing a battery is a great way and works like a CCS charger, efficient cars should ease pollution. The ULEZ is in effect in real life... unless you plug in to ruin it forever. it could very well be a Tesla our furrowed brows. every hour of every day, and every night and use the car Supercharger. But you can’t will rain down with great exclusively for short trips. AC and DC use it unless you’re in a Tesla. Li-ion vengeance and furious application of a £12.50 MHEV AC stands for alternating mpkWh A contraction of lithium-ion, charge if you drive into current, and DC stands for which refers to the chemical the zone in a petrol car The mild hybrid EV, or MHEV, Batman comics... er, wait... Not content with the unholy make-up of a typical battery that doesn’t meet Euro 4 the very bottom rung of the direct current. AC’s better for union of litres of petrol and pack. The 12V brick used to standards or a diesel car electrified vehicle ladder. A long-distance transmission, pints of milk, the UK’s uneasy start your petrol powered car that doesn’t meet Euro 6 small electric motor assists because it can easily be blend of metric and Rees- is a lead-acid battery, but standards. The good news the engine, but doesn’t have transformed (to higher Mogg leaves us measuring lithium-ion is now the global is that full EVs are exempt. enough gumption to push the voltage, lower current, EV economy in miles per norm for powering new EVs. car on its own. MHEVs usually so fewer heat losses). kilowatt hour. So, if you have FCEV manage a fuel saving of Transforming DC power 50 usable kWh, and run at Solid-state about 10 per cent compared is a faff but, because DC 4.0mpkWh, you’ll do 200 miles battery Fuel cell electric vehicles, like with a pure petrol car. charging stations can be as before you’re stranded. the Toyota Mirai. Separating big as they need to be, they The next big step in battery hydrogen and oxygen takes REX can employ high-voltage W LT P tech – holds more energy a lot of energy, but reuniting power, giant transformers than an equivalent-sized them in just the right way Refers to range extenders, and rectifiers and get huge Stands for Worldwide li-ion battery, or the same releases energy. You can or small internal combustion power – up to 350kW. Harmonised Light Vehicle amount of energy but in burn hydrogen, but in a engines used as generators Test Procedure. A way to test a smaller and lighter pack. hydrogen fuel cell you to recharge EV batteries on Slow, fast and new cars to see how much They’re easier to cool, too, generate electricity to drive the move. The engine can be rapid charging fuel, or energy, they use, how which means you can charge an electric motor. It’s also run at its most efficient rpm, much greenhouse gas they them quicker before they get easier to move H2 over long converting fuel to electricity, Slow or level 1 charging is expel, and how far they get too hot. At least five years distances than electricity. which is fed to the motors when you use a regular wall on one tank/charge. More until any come to market. that supply the motive force. FOR ALL THE FACTS AND STATS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EVERY CAR ON SALE IN THE UK GO TO TOPGEAR.COM/REVIEWS

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