BBC Top Gear

Turn the lighting to feelgood neon, set the smoke machine to extravagant and settle in... it’s time to sling some trophies at the greatest new cars in the world PHOTOGRAPHY WILSON HENNESSEY T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 051

Delivering Jesko beer to Jesko von Koenigsegg in a Koenigsegg Jesko? Any excuse to drive the maddest hypercar on the planet WORDS JACK RIX PHOTOGRAPHY MARK FAGELSON

KOENIGSEGG JESKO HYPERCAR OF THE YEAR T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 053

“The Jesko” BANG “Absolute is the latest and” BANG “greatest hypercar to come from” BANG “the sizeable mind of Christian von” WU-BUP-BUP- BUP-BUP... BANG “Koenigsegg.” Cut there, let’s go again... 054 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

KOENIGSEGG JESKO

Delivering a simple line to camera in anything with a healthy Now go and amount of horsepower, under full acceleration, is an acquired skill... watch the in the Jesko it’s pretty much impossible. It’s not the ferocity of the video on g-force squeezing me against my seat like a giant potato masher that’s topgear.com the problem, I can cope with that, it’s the ninja reflexes required to click the upshift paddle before colliding with the rev limiter that’s proving tricky. So we keep going, run after run, until my brain, eyes, ears and right hand are sufficiently recalibrated, a perfect launch is in the bag and my adrenal glands dangle like shrivelled walnuts off my bruised kidneys. In my defence, there are some typically revolutionary pieces of technology here that are conspiring against me. The first is a gearbox, a new nine-speed “Light Speed Transmission” that blows raspberries in the general direction of a twin-clutcher. Essentially you have two sets of three gears that compound to create nine possible ratios – like a bike derailleur system – with the first three extremely closely stacked Only 125 Jeskos will be built, each wearing a multi- million-pound pricetag... though deep pockets won’t help here – they’re all completely sold out (hence me repeatedly headbutting the rev limiter), the next three a bit more spaced out, and the final three further apart still. It features six individual clutches for the forward gears and a seventh for reverse, so all gears are constantly engaged and ready. And the benefits are many. Not only are shifts, quite literally, bang on, you can also jump from one gear to any of the others and it’s also smaller and two-thirds the weight of a comparable nine-speed box. Plus, and here’s the real kicker, it means the engine doesn’t need a flywheel, so it has a demented appetite for revs, like a 1,600bhp superbike. The engine is a flat plane crank 5.1-litre twin-turbo V8 that for the most part feels naturally aspirated and always feels extremely angry. It produces a maximum of 1,578bhp and 1,106lb ft of torque, can rev from idle to 8,500rpm in 0.2 seconds, 0–62mph takes around 2.5 seconds and top speed in this slightly softer and more slippery Absolut version is theoretically the scary side of 310mph. I say theoretically, because no one’s found the space, or the brass balls, to find out yet... but they will. 056 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

KOENIGSEGG JESKO “WE KEEP GOING UNTIL MY ADRENAL GLANDS DANGLE LIKE SHRIVELLED WALNUTS OFF MY BRUISED KIDNEYS”

KOENIGSEGG JESKO Only 125 will ever be built costing around £2.3m each, but then We’re standing on Koenigsegg’s runway turned testing strip, just the spec is the stuff of breathless teenage dreams... carbon bodywork, a few minutes drive from the factory, trying to absorb the opulence carbon tub, hollow carbon wheels (weighing less than 7kg per and detail in this carbon-fibre bullet. Even photographer Mark and corner), carbon ceramic brake discs clamped by in-house designed videographer Dave, who’d normally be weeping gently on first sight calipers (Christian isn’t interested in buying in anything he can of dark grey and naked carbon bodywork on account of its light make better himself), and a total weight of 1,390kg dry – 30kg less sapping superpowers, are making ooohs and ahhhs as they circle it. than the stiffer, bewinged Jesko Attack. There’s 1,000kg of downforce It pulls off a trick of being, proportionally, hypercar 101, but with its at 171mph in the Attack version, but that drops to 150kg on the softly curved snout, pinprick headlights and visorlike glass it couldn’t infinitely cooler looking Absolute we’ve got to play with – identified be mistaken for the product of any other company. by its rear fins instead of wings, less aggressive front splitter and carbon inserts on the rear wheels to more effectively cleave the air. Blip a button on the key fob and the doors flip forward automatically Except one of them came loose on our first full-bore run and was – a piece of theatre that refuses to wear thin – drop into the carbon- munched by the wheel so for our shoot... exposed spokes it is. shelled bucket seats and you’re surrounded by an interior that’s fairly sparse – mainly a portrait screen in the dash, a couple of cupholders Beer and fast cars. That’s why we’re here. Unequivocally and lots and lots of carbon fibre. There’s an instrument screen attached two of my favourite things, and yet to my eternal frustration, two to the steering wheel that stays level even as you wind the lock on – pleasures rarely enjoyed together. But where there’s a will there’s a reeks of a gimmick, actually works brilliantly – and there’s more space way. The plan, in true TopGear style, could have been spat out by a for two people in here than any Koenigsegg that’s gone before. Then, computerised feature generator. We are in Ängelholm, Sweden, on a just as I fire the engine and sit there listening to the saw-edged idle, it mission to deliver Jesko beer to Jesko von Koenigsegg in a Koenigsegg starts to rain. Turns out cold Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s, outrageous Jesko. Try saying that fast five times after a plate of pickled herrings amounts of power and a wet track make Jack a dull boy – we retreat and several digestifs. Wordplay to one side for a moment, there was to a trailer for hot tea and await dryness. method to the badness. Good decision because once we’re back out there, it’s unhinged. Jesko beer, brewed locally, made its world debut at the 2019 We’re talking five star, unfiltered, mind scrambling shove all delivered Geneva Motor Show, when the Jesko car also got its first airing. And without lag to an explosive, serrated soundtrack and with the subtlety back in 1992 when Christian was a young man with distant dreams, of a donkey kick to the side of the head. And then I discover we’re making his money flogging frozen chickens to the highest bidder, running on standard super unleaded so I have only 1,262bhp (for Jesko von Koenigsegg was instrumental in getting Koenigsegg the full 1,578bhp you need to fill it with E85) and spend the next hour Automotive off the ground. He helped to secure a startup loan and trying and failing to think of a situation where you could realistically pledged three to four weeks of his time to assist Christian set up in use 300bhp more. I ask one of the engineers what it’s like juiced up on a small town in the southeast of Sweden, called Olofström. He was E85. “Like having nitrous boost, constantly.” still there five years later working 18 hours a day. Fair to say Jesko’s unwavering generosity hasn’t gone unnoticed and culminated in But acceleration alone isn’t a party piece these days, not when EVs Christian naming his latest and greatest hypercar after his dear old have turned straight-line speed into a cheap commodity. The Jesko’s dad – a fact he kept secret from him until the press conference at the true genius reveals itself slowly, in the light steering that crackles with show. No, you’re crying. As tributes go, it figures because the Jesko information and the predictability of the brakes. In the accessibility of represents everything Koenigsegg stands for: beauty, excess, its performance and its sense of humour. Want to toast some tyres? usability, craftsmanship, engineering bravery and raw, bloody The Jesko has no interest in putting you off – the merest hint of squat minded performance. under throttle, dive under braking and roll into the corners helps you feel out the limits of grip, then as you step over them it’s all balance and lightness. This isn’t a garage ornament, it’s a car you could and should use regularly and thoroughly. And so we do, swapping closed runway for public highway. Heading north from the factory through sweeping rural B-roads – marvelling at the fact that this 300mph missile can do docile, too – to the town of Båstad, or bastard as we, the British contingent, insist on calling it. This starts something that’s hard to stop because a large number of Swedish words appear to be twinned with British toilet humour. We buy some lunch at Willy’s, drive past Bad Cok and see several signs reading Infart. I’m only just regaining my composure when we pull over for fuel – a process that involves lifting (hydraulically, no actual effort is required) the entire rear clamshell like a peacock, which does tend to attract every camera phone within a two-mile radius. If you’re an introverted billionaire who doesn’t live in the wilderness, you have been warned. Then we get the call – Jesko, who lives in Stockholm and is 83 years old, has travelled south for five hours and is happy to meet us at a Koenigsegg family friend’s house nearby. We arrive just as the light’s 058 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

Pull the orange line and “Hi, is that Mr Koenigsegg? it turns out the Jesko is You get the footie on, I’ll a giant snack cheese bring the beers” Engineering so beautiful T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 059 it could live in a gallery... we’re delighted it doesn’t

KOENIGSEGG JESKO “THE DOOR SWINGS OPEN AND THERE HE IS, ALL SMILES AND WAVES AND INFECTIOUS ENERGY” 060 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

fading and crunch up the driveway towards a sizeable country pile. come it costs that much? It’s just a car with four wheels? My answer The door swings open and there he is, all smiles and waves, perfect is sorry, but this is not a car. It’s a piece of art.” English and infectious energy. Before we sit down he wants me to hold his jacket so he can sit in the car – I offer to assist, but he gently bats In these unsettled financial times, there’s an air of greed and me away. We photograph him in the driver’s seat, grab a couple of gluttony that follows supercars and hypercars around. Nobody needs coldies, then head inside to crack our... oh... zero alcohol Jesko beers. something like this, but Koenigsegg always finds a way to stay the right The boozy ones were out of date apparently. Oh well, it’s “quite side of uncouth. It’s the purity of Christian’s vision, I think – to build drinkable” says Jesko, and he has to drive anyway. the best hypercar the world has ever seen – that hasn’t wavered or warped with fashion, and his refusal to compromise, ever, that creates We sit soft in the library, clink glass and learn the correct something beyond just a car. It’s a piece of perfection. So let’s all raise a pronunciation of skål, then I listen to Jesko’s story. How Christian bottle to the man who helped get this fairy tale up and running and his had “a lot of interests and a great number of friends growing up”. four-wheeled namesake – Jesko – TG’s Hypercar of the Year. How Christian presented him with a business plan with “everything from A to Z, I was rather impressed”. How in the early days he would “Is this a bad moment phone Christian who was in the workshop 500 metres away and he’d to admit I’m more of say “Father, please don’t disturb me, I’m building the car”. How for a G&T man myself?” Christian “nothing is really good enough” and how he’s “been to the Geneva show, every year for 20 years, and people always ask me, how T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 061

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KIA MANUFACTURER OF THE YEAR While the car industry loses its head, Kia’s been quietly reinventing itself WORDS OLLIE KEW ILLUSTRATION OLGUN KORDAL ho would be a carmaker in 2022 and beyond? You that new age mobility needs new age problems like button-free touch sensitive interiors. It has kept the common sense, but upped W can’t get the parts, you probably can’t get the staff, the visual ambition. And the cabin quality, just as once renowned your costs are on the up and up, and customers are Europeans seem to be cheaping out. grouchy about their waiting times. Sceptics are insisting you’ve gone too soon on EVs, purists wonder loudly Yes, ye olde yobbo in us would like to see a hot hatch version of why you’re not exclusively building lightweight rear-wheel- the Rio supermini, and we had hoped the Stinger’s facelift would drive hoonmobiles with open-gated manual gearboxes that are keep the V6-engined halo GT around a bit longer. But Kia seems to impervious to depreciation, and environmentalists would rather be sticking the landing when it comes to the e-transition. The EV6 you didn’t build anything at all. OK, it’s hard to actually feel sorry offers a 577bhp version with tyre-delaminating drift mode to tickle for a faceless global multi-billion dollar corporation, but would our caveman brain’s pickle. There’s more hope for petrolheads in you want to be in charge of a mainstream maker right now? Kia’s electric offerings than in anything with a VW ID badge. That’s what makes Kia’s recent form so remarkable – and deserving of our Manufacturer of the Year award. Despite gale So what’s next? Well, two brand new EVs a year until 2027 force headwinds, the upward trajectory of the once derided shows where the R&D budget is being funnelled, but don’t expect warranty enthusiasts from Korea simply shows no sign of a heap of same-again designs. Our first clue is the EV9 concept, abating. In fact, it’s getting braver. which takes the shared company platform to literal new heights with The latest Sportage is a superior family crossover to the a seven-seat SUV that looks like a cross between a Kia Soul and genre-defining Nissan Qashqai, offering a roomier interior and Robocop. The suicide doors are unlikely to make production, but stronger family of powertrains – but look how polarising it’s gone apparently genuine off-road smarts will, as Kia eyes the deluxe with the design. It’s a Ford Kuga rival with the face of the aliens rufty tufty e-SUV market being gobbled up by Rivian and Hummer. from A Quiet Place, and an LED signature that brands itself onto your retinas. Kias used to be desperate not to offend, but now The question will be how thinly Kia needs to spread itself the fundaments are so sound, the designers can take a risk. to maintain its bold-looking EV momentum while staying Snoot around the range and you’ll snaffle plenty of normcore true to the middle-of-Lidl heartland it came from. If Ford can gems. The new Niro also looks a bit bonkers, and offers hybrid or unceremoniously bin the Fiesta in search of fatter profit margins, electric versions. And yet, unlike VW or Ford, Kia hasn’t decided no Picanto or Proceed is safe. But on current form, if you had to be chairing the board at any mainstream carmaker right now, you’ve got to reckon you’d be sitting prettiest at Kia. T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 063

TOYOTA GR86 SPORTS CAR OF THE YEAR TOYOTA GR86 WORDS OLLIE KEW PHOTOGRAPHY MARK RICCIONI et’s be completely honest same size, but the details are prettier poor-man’s-Porsche jibes – this thing flew – particularly the tail and that bold side out of showrooms quicker than a GT3 RS. L here: the Toyota GR86 being skirt swoosh. Inside, the native Toyota a glinting ruby stone of hope touchscreen no longer makes you want to It deserved to. At last, the Toyobaru’s in the quagmire of filth that is punch the dashboard in the face – because boxer engine has enough torque to engage 2022 was not exactly a hold-the-front-page there’s now Apple CarPlay and Android the chassis without an irresponsible Scandi internet-breaking shock. I’ll be even more Auto for avoiding Toyota’s homebrew flick. It makes a less drony noise too, and honest and say I didn’t even set off to drive interface altogether. because it no longer uses Prius rubber, it back in May with a completely open turn-in and braking are improved. mind. I yearned for it to be fabulous. I But because Toyota kept shiny, low-rent expected it to be great. I demanded it fixed plastics, the price hasn’t ballooned to levels It could’ve been a Car of the Year again the obvious flaws with the GT86 – TG’s that’d make Martin Lewis shiver. Because – if that year had been 2016 or 2017. The 2012 Car of the Year. And 10 years later, it’s not been sullied with modes and GR86 is delightful, but it’s a blend of mildly the GR86 did indeed hit the spot. settings, it’s a £30k, £300 a month bargain. improved ingredients that meld together On its wider tyres, it sits with a less Or it was, in the 45 minutes you could for a genius whole. We’re enraptured that it gawky stance than Toyota’s previous actually buy one, before Toyota’s all-too- exists, but it really ought not to have taken entry-level RWD coupe. The body is the short UK allocation sold out. Forget them this long to perfect the recipe. It’s not a rocketship, and it ain’t rocket science. 064 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

MPV MVP OF THE YEAR VOLKSWAGEN ID.BUZZ The MPV needed a reset. A line in the sand. An offensive strategy to combat the dominance of the SUV. Offence: a commodity SUVs trade heavily in. But let’s not pick on an easy target. Let’s consider the demise of the MPV. The Renault Espace, the OG MPV, was radical, but little that came after had any ambition, imagination or innovation. And space alone was never enough for a class of car with such a singular purpose (oh, the irony of the Multi Purpose Vehicle title). So the class withered on the vine. Fashion and trend – that’s what did for the MPV. And that’s what now promises to kick-start its re-emergence. But that could only come about given the right spark, which (ho, ho) has been the electric revolution. But people buy brands and image, not ideas and plans. Fortunately Volkswagen’s back catalogue had just the ticket: the T2 van. Cool, cute, collectible and ripe for a retro reboot. All this is a very convoluted way of pointing out that the ID.Buzz has all the ingredients necessary to be a smash hit. Yes, you’ll have to deal with VW’s fuzzy, illogical infotainment, and no, it’s not yet as clever and useful inside as it should be, but even so... the ID.Buzz is a game- changer. Nothing feels as bright, modern and exciting to be in. No SUV is anything like as spacious or family friendly. No electric car is more desirable. No MPV has ever had the world at its feet. Until now. Ollie Marriage T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 065

INSTANT ICON AWARD Hyundai’s been on a design roll of late, and the N Vision 74 is arguably its best looker yet. We meet the man behind it WORDS OLLIE KEW PHOTOGRAPHY MARK RICCIONI 066 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

HYUNDAI N VISION 74 T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 067

The motor show is dead. It was already drunkenly swaying on its feet and coughing up blood before the pandemic, but lockdown handed carmakers a useful cost-cutting case study. Does not spending millions on a poncy display stand, peppering it with grinning droids in matching outfits and twirling turntables bearing the latest showroom models make a blind bit of difference to how many new cars you shift? Or how many hits your website gets? ‘No’ appears to be the answer, and motor shows are having their life support switched off at the wall. Apart from Geneva. That’s now being hosted in Qatar. Because the only way to make an event less dignified than not bothering at all is to lace it with a human rights furore. You’d expect the concept of the concept car itself to have its eyelids gently closed too. But just because a one-off design study no longer has a rotating stage to call home, doesn’t mean one can’t still capture the imagination. This year, no other car has done that more effectively than the sensational Hyundai N Vision 74. While BMW continues its self-sabotaging ‘stop me before I design again’ rampage, Hyundai’s crayon department really has the bit between its teeth, and the leader of that squad is SangYup Lee, the Seoul-born ex-Bentley and GM designer who’s overseen the likes of the Ioniq 5 hatch, Ioniq 6 streamliner, Tucson SUV... basically every great looking Hyundai since 2016. He’s talking me round a static model of the 74. We’re in the verdant hills of northwest Germany at the Bilster Berg race resort, a fearsome private track built on the site of an ex-Cold War British munitions base. The N Vision 74 is not like other motor show starlets, in that it’s by no means a statue. It drives – fast. Before I’m allowed to tackle this miniature Nürburgring in a priceless one-off, SangYup is explaining where this broodingly gorgeous creation sprang from. “It’s an amazing journey that Hyundai has been on for the last 50 years,” he begins, speaking softly with carefully chosen words. “Most big OEMs have around 100 years of history but Hyundai has only been around for half of that. But there’s still beautiful history in the company.” The history referenced by the N Vision 74 is a concept car called the Pony Coupe, a pointy two-door dreamt up for the 1974 Turin Motor Show. Hyundai enlisted the help of Giorgetto Giugiaro to 068 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

HYUNDAI N VISION 74 Rear light inspired by Tetris and Michael Knight’s faithful car KITT. We approve “WHILE BMW CONTINUES ITS SELF-SABOTAGING RAMPAGE, HYUNDAI’S CRAYON DEPARTMENT HAS THE BIT BETWEEN ITS TEETH” T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 069

dress a standard Pony saloon floorpan in bodywork that would plant IT’S ALIVE! Hyundai’s flag on the design map. AND WE’VE DRIVEN IT “Giugiaro convinced the Hyundai management that when you I get three laps in the 74, with a non- go to an auto show, you need to have a sleek coupe,” says SangYup. English-speaking engineer bolted in next “Back in those days Korea had very poor street and highway to me monitoring the array of pressures and infrastructure, but the company founder always wanted to build temperatures in the production ready fuel cell a performance car. So there’s a great story there. They tried to put behind my right ear. the Pony into production but the dream didn’t come true. Now we In order to be drivable, the car actually deploys have the design and the technology to make this car.” some existing parts bin components: the fuel cell is from Hyundai’s Nexo crossover, while the floorpan What the N Vision 74 does so cleverly is reference a what-might- is all Kia Stinger and the motors are related to those have-been moment in Hyundai’s past in its looks, while espousing in an ETCR racer. Motors that generate 335bhp for ideas for future high-performance propulsion. It’s what the engineers each rear wheel. The hydrogen fuel tanks are made call a “rolling lab”. SangYup repeats the word passion as he circles from ballistic Kevlar and weigh just 4.2kg each, but the car, pointing out details like the subtle badging (“We have no thanks to a 62kWh battery (this is a plug-in hybrid need to shout”) and the pixel LED light signature (“A Hyundai after all) the car weighs 2.4 tonnes. signature – we’re not doing Russian doll design, like most big car You’d never guess it. It’s hugely accelerative, companies. We want to build a chess set, where each car has its the throttle response is obviously instant, and own role, but they are obviously all from one team”). thanks to the sports saloon wheelbase, powerslides are plentiful and friendly. The steering fidgets with I admit to not having heard of the Pony until the N Vision 74 detail, and even the regen braking is pinpoint landed, dripping in references not just to its spiritual father, but other accurate. It feels like a racing car – a big one, sure, late 20th century classics. SangYup smiles, and pulls up sketches dated and one dominated by high-revving fans rather than 2016 on his phone gallery, showing how long this idea’s been gestating. exhaust crackle, but if there’s a zero emission way to enjoy bigger skids on track, I’ve yet to discover it. “Not a lot of people have heard of the Pony coupe, but Giugaro’s All this, developed in just five months? Consider designs are known all over the world: the DeLorean, the BMW M1, the bar for concept cars not just raised, but rocket Lotus Esprit – he’s a design master. Gen Z doesn’t know about that propelled into orbit. history, but they see this as ultimate cyberpunk design. I like that element – it’s contemporary with a cyberpunk strategy.” The DeLorean reference is a crucial one, because in an alternative universe, it’s Hyundai’s first sports car – not the doomed American- Irish gullwing – that would become the star of one of the all-time great Eighties film franchises. “Giugiaro admits the Pony influenced the DeLorean quite a bit – he kept those references when Hyundai didn’t build the Pony. If there was no Pony, there’d be no DeLorean, maybe no Back to the Future.” Great Scott. But this is emphatically not a nostalgia trip, despite the shuttered rear window, the aerofan wheels, the semi-matte stainless steel-alike paintwork. SangYup bristles when I carelessly use the word retro in the same sentence as his bewinged baby. In fact, it’s an object of national pride, a distillation of Korea coming full circle from upstart carmaking wannabe to design leader. “I saw tears in the eyes of people back in Korea when we revealed this car. This is their culture. Let’s face it, 10–15 years ago, a Hyundai was a car you only bought with your head, not your heart,” he admits. “We’re not just trying to create a car brand, we want to build fans.” Something’s bugging me. Was he under any pressure to showcase Hyundai’s hydrogen hybrid tech not with a coupe, but an SUV? Sports cars don’t really register these days. Everyone’s scrambling to build taller, not lower. “The reason for that is that a car is still an emotional product,” SangYup reasons confidently. “It’s the second most expensive purchase we ever make, and we wanted to raise the emotional value. Sports cars are never going to go out of fashion, because a coupe delivers emotion more effectively than any other car. The sports car will never die.” The N Vision 74 didn’t need an exhibition hall to shine. Its digital launch dropped jaws onto keyboards worldwide, and demonstrates the endearingly humble confidence the Korean carmakers are rich in right now, as the insecure European old guard scramble to remain relevant. In more ways than one, it’s a showstopper. 070 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

HYUNDAI N VISION 74 Now go and watch the video on topgear.com “THE HYUNDAI N VISION 74 REFERENCES A WHAT-MIGHT- HAVE-BEEN MOMENT” T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 071

MG4 BARGAIN OF THE YEAR MG4 WORDS PAUL HORRELL PHOTOGRAPHY JONNY FLEETWOOD ood up. Heating up. Rent up. four-wheel-drive high-performance versions it’s built down to a price. But not as far to come, if people can spend more. But, as down as this price. It simply doesn’t seem F Even if people are now buying established, for the moment many can’t. £8,000 cheaper than an ID.3. fewer clothes and electronics and all that, they’re being So the base MG4 starts at £25,995. And yes on the roads there are killed by the stuff they bought last year That one is 170bhp and has 218 miles of imperfections – slightly unsophisticated because they bought it on credit and the WLTP range. Another £2,500 buys you a damping, and a bit of wind noise. But it’s fun. interest rate is up. If they’ve any money bigger battery for 281 miles. As the number Cornering is more involving than in pretty left over after that massive cascade of of rapid charge bays increases, for many folk well any other compact EV. Thirty years ago punches, they probably won’t be in the avoiding a few mid-journey charge stops per the MG Maestro pulled off the same trick. mood for extravagance. year isn’t worth £2,500. They’ll charge at Tell that to your brand-sniffy friends. MG isn’t as good a badge as VW. But an home where the juice is much cheaper. MG4 is as good a car as a VW ID.3. It really Except this isn’t heritage. Modern MG is. It’s newer, and newness matters with Anyway, the car. Inside it’s roomier than has zilch to do with old MG. Britain sold electric cars because we’re still in their the average Focus-size hatch. Seats are fine, it for nothing and it ended up in the hands infancy. The MG4 is on an all-new rear- and in the modern absence of buttons and of the Chinese state. People might have drive platform, and MG says there’ll be switches, the screens work decently if very qualms about that, but right now they’ll slightly gracelessly. You can, if you look, say hold their nose for a bargain. 072 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

GOOD YEAR/BAD YEAR built concept cars that are market. New cars are in delightfully simple and spare. short supply so nearly (and Both companies are clearly not-so-nearly) new ones working hard on ways to make have spiked in price as new cars easier to own and people scramble to fill the cheaper. Sadly, too much of gap. It’s worst with cheap the car biz seems to be new cars as manufacturers forgetting this. put those scarce chips into their more expensive and Oil companies had a good profitable ones instead. year. Not because of anything All this in a year when they did. It’s just that energy petrol, diesel and was in shortage and they, as electricity prices went per the rules of capitalism, skyward, and interest went ahead and gorged. rates on car loans too. Pity they didn’t invest much in renewables so as I suspect Paris 2022 to become future facing will prove to be the death energy companies. twitch of the old-style motor Still, electrification show. None of the German also had a good groups, nor Koreans, nor year, as shown by Japanese turned up to exhibit, two of the great nor the supercar makers. Even concepts we Citroen was absent. These drove: the Porsche days the manufacturers have Mission R and a lot of data on where their Mercedes EQXX. customers are, and reach out to them directly, rather than Whether your car is just sitting in a giant shed fuelled by pump or plug, at trying to shout above least in 2022 it was easier to their rivals. But if you go on a roadtrip again, free want to see the new of most COVID barriers. It launches and concept matters more where you go, cars, or you’re just a and along what road, than kid who loves getting what you drive. Take time close to supercars (we all celebrating the freedom were) then it’s rather sad. we love in cars. WORDS PAUL HORRELL T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 073

MISCELLANEOUS FLOP OF The other successes (and a few failures) THE YEAR that caught our eye WORDS SAM BURNETT THE UK’S CAR SALES TOY OF GIMMICK From 2019 car sales THE YEAR OF THE YEAR of 2.3m, 2020 and 2021 figures tanked to just LEGO TECHNIC FERRARI’S 1.6m. The latest industry FERRARI FLUTTERING estimates from the SMMT forecast a drop in 2022 of DAYTONA SP3 EYELIDS another two per cent to figures not seen since the Sure, it’s a £390 We’ve long lamented early Nineties. It’s a perfect Lego set, but you’re the loss of pop-up storm of pandemic building a £2m Ferrari headlights, and while the production issues, supply that’s already sold out, Ferrari Daytona SP3’s chain disruption, chip so you’ll have to be blinders don’t pop up, they shortages and depressing pragmatic about getting do reveal their existence consumer confidence. into ownership. It’s one of in a most theatrical and Lego’s largest sets, with pleasing way. If you’ve MOTORSPORT 3,998 pieces. Buy it for just spent £2m on a Ferrari, MOMENT OF THE YEAR the kids, but don’t let you want to show it off, and them touch it. retractable headlight BALLS TO Much like the real covers are just the job. THE WALL Daytona SP3, the Lego version of the exclusive SHOCK OF F1 drivers go full Ferrari is hand built by the THE YEAR send, but NASCAR’s finest craftspeople using Ross Chastain was more carryover parts from other HERBERT DIESS like a delivery driver drop models in the company OUSTED AT VW kicking a parcel through range. Unlike the Lego your letterbox at version though, Ferrari’s A firm hand as Martinsville Speedway in finest craftspeople won’t VW reeled from its October. He took five drivers spend upwards of 20 duplicitous diesel trickery on the last lap by pinning the minutes howling through – it even seemed to flourish throttle and riding the wall the house when they realise as Diess pushed EVs with through two corners. Bravo! they missed a page and seemingly limitless R&D built the door wrong. cash on hand. But cracks The model Ferrari have appeared, notably in comes complete with VW’s software provision, a V12 engine that has and the industry is vicious. moving pistons, a working Tschüss Herbert. eight-speed sequential gearbox and a detachable roof. But sadly it doesn’t have any fluttering eyelids (see right). 074 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M





MISCELLANEOUS BRAND REFRESH OF THE YEAR LIFETIME GAME OF THE YEAR ACHIEVEMENT CITROEN’S GRAN NEW LOOK FORD TURISMO 7 FIESTA There’s nothing a good overhaul of your corporate We’re struggling to think of circumstances in identity won’t solve, as your grandma always used to You learned in one, which a new Gran Turismo game is released say. This new Citroen logo (that looks much the same as the owned one or knew and it isn’t TG’s Game of the Year. Some sort of old one, but slightly different) is the 10th time that the French someone who did – the extinction-level meteorite strike perhaps. Sony’s firm has changed its look in 103 years, keeping the chichi Fiesta’s been a stalwart expansive, obsessively crafted, idiosyncratic racing marketing agencies of Paris in business. on the roads since 1976 sims are rare treats that car enthusiasts anticipate Citroen says that it has developed a new “animatic language” – with more than 20m sold for years and to which they will happily commit for its infotainment systems – even the way a logo swims across over seven iterations. But hundreds of hours of play. Paw Patrol: Grand Prix your screen is important these days. Just watch out for a “new death comes to us all, as never stood a chance, is what we’re saying. phone, who dis?” next time you get in your C3 Aircross. James Acaster says. Profit That’s not to say GT7’s route to the top was So what does this new logo say about the company? margins on superminis are entirely smooth. Developer Polyphony Digital stole Well, it’s very much like the first one from 1919, so if tiny and nostalgia counts a march on the cost of living crisis by slapping you were feeling uncharitable you’d say that it’s for nothing – the future’s enormous in-game price tags on the most desirable basically run out of ideas at this point. But we’re electric and SUV shaped. new cars, reducing the payouts from races and not, so we’ll simply say it looks like a rather charging real money if you wanted to top up your expensive Easter egg. The chevrons haven’t RECALL imaginary bank account. After justified outcry, the been this pointy since Citroen’s Eighties OF THE YEAR economy was fixed in an update, so at least if you heyday – a sign of growing confidence at can’t afford your gas bill this winter it won’t be the French carmaker? Only time will tell. TOYOTA because you simply had to blow all your money bZ4X on a virtual Porsche 917K. On track, the game is better than ever. Each As metaphors for frame feels like a work of art and there are 60 of launching your first them being delivered to your pampered retinas every EV go, none are more on the single second. The return of a full day and night cycle nose than the actual wheels and dynamic weather, meanwhile, ensures that falling off. All the bZ4Xs optimal performance is always a moving target to built so far (around 2,600) chase. Your move, Forza Motorsport... Mike Channell were recalled in June as the wheels could come loose. Lots hadn’t yet been delivered, but owners were told to not drive them at all. T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 075

FILM OF THE YEAR PEOPLE OF THE YEAR TOP GUN: WALL OF FAME MAVERICK The six people who kept cars exciting in 2022, and Take it from us – don’t watch Top Gun: Maverick for the reached TG hero status while they were at it cars, because otherwise you might be disappointed by a fleeting glimpse of a 1973 Porsche 911 S as it squeals down WORDS PAUL HORRELL the road. No, Top Gun: Maverick is all about the planes, and Tom Cruise flying about in planes, or shouting at other people who can’t fly about in planes as fast as he can. It’s a rollercoaster of emotion, too – people often forget that Tom used to do proper films back when he was poor. The Boeing F/A 18F will bring a tear to your eye as well, not least because this is the most immersive flight action that’s ever been committed to whatever it is they put films on these days. Watch the dizzying aerial scenes on the biggest screen you can and bring a paper bag for your lunch. We last saw Tom Cruise in action as the renegade naval captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the original Top Gun movie back in 1986, which is as many as 36 years ago. He has aged somewhere on the spectrum between a fine wine and one of those hamburgers they keep in a Perspex box. But the man still knows how to chuck together a blockbuster, and goodness knows we’ve needed one after the past few years. Not the fantasies of corporate executives rendered in unwatchable computer generated mayhem, but a loving homage to when things were done the hard way. Top Gun: Maverick’s story themes dwell on obsolescence and the ravages of time, but on this form there’s certainly plenty of life in the old dog yet. We would ordinarily ask for more cars next time, but Cruise will apparently be recording his next action movie in space. Because why not. 076 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

PEOPLE OF THE YEARKOJIHANNAHSANGYUPCARLOSISABELLE SATO SCHMITZ LEE TAVARES GALMICHE T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 077 CHIEF BRANDING PRINCIPAL STRATEGY VICE PRESIDENT CHIEF EXECUTIVE WRC CO-DRIVER, OFFICER, TOYOTA AND ENGINEER, RED BULL RACING & OF STYLING, OFFICER, M-SPORT FORD PRESIDENT, LEXUS RED BULL TECHNOLOGY HYUNDAI STELLANTIS (AND MATHS TEACHER) Toyota Gazoo Racing Grand Prix race Lee is design director Tavares turned around Sébastien Loeb is the has just won the strategy is about at Hyundai. A company the Peugeot Group most successful rally WRC, and the World Rally planning, not about reacting. with a huge number of cars, then got the top job in the driver ever, so his eighth Raid championship, and is Weather changes or safety and huge ambition. He came merger with Fiat-Chrysler to Monte Carlo win isn’t leading the WEC with one car periods, or any one of from Bentley, and contributed make a 14-brand behemoth. noteworthy enough to get round to go. Its identity multiple other events, don’t to the lovely detail and interior You’d expect improvement to him on this page. Let’s talk carries onto the GR86, GR cause a good team to react. design themes in Hyundai come slowly, but he brought about his co-driver on the Supra and GR Yaris, with a They put in place a plan group’s upmarket Genesis massive cost savings and event, Isabelle Galmiche. GR Corolla to come in the US. they’ve already simulated. brand. But looking ahead, it’s profits in next to no time, She’d been testing with him Koji Sato is the boss Red Bull’s Hannah Schmitz his strategy with the Hyundai even from perpetual money for years, and done a few of all that. But GR is just a tells TopGear that they run electric cars that intrigues the losers like Vauxhall/Opel other WRC events in lower side hustle. He’s also the “billions of simulations, that’s most. The Ioniq 5 is blocky and Alfa. He’s across the classes. Now here they boss of Lexus. And “chief not an exaggeration” for each and folded, taking inspiration detail: knows how to run a were faced with the extra branding officer” (head race, and then modify them from the Seventies and plant, how to develop a car, complication of working of product) for the whole after practice data comes in, Eighties. The Ioniq 6 looks the ins and outs of boring out the new-era Ford Toyota and Lexus shooting and again after qualifying. back to early Saabs, the stuff like distribution and Puma hybrid. It was an match. He’s an engineer If a team makes a bad call pre-war Phantom Corsair, finance. Then at the weekend epic performance, locked and a mad-keen driver it’s public humiliation. Red and other aviation-influenced he races some seriously fast in a ding-dong skirmish and he understands what Bull’s strategy is closest to streamliners. The Ioniq 7 classics, and has a juicy with Ogier/Veillas. car lovers, and everyone flawless. The pressure on will be architectural and collection of many others. Galmiche, 50, has been else, want out of a car. strategists is huge, but ultra-modern. They’re not This year we’ve seen how in rally since her teenage Stealthily, all his recent mostly they’re unremarked. related. Yet, spookily they are. fast he’s finding a £25 billion years. But she’s not just a cars have made strides Not always, mind. In Hungary He’s found details and themes way to switch the group to journeywoman who got one against rivals. He’s invested this year, Schmidt took the that riff on their Korean EVs. Five years ago, he was big win. She’s a maths big in a new global Lexus HQ last-minute decision to origins, both the culture’s sceptical, saying they were teacher. For any teenager, and test track, so Lexus swap Verstappen onto rapid industrialisation and too expensive. He now seeing the person stood should have a better sense soft tyres from the start. electronics pre-eminence – accepts his company will have before you in class using of what it is. He’s developing He won, from 10th on the see the pixellated lighting motif to beat rivals under the new these skills to do that thing is a whole new range of electric grid, and called her “insanely – and its calmer hospitality laws. He remains outspoken: going to be a powerful force to Toyotas and Lexuses, calm”. After Monaco this tradition. He’s good company, “Freedom of mobility is going concentrate on the subject. To culminating in an electric year team advisor Helmut and in his work unafraid to cut backwards because people a girl who thinks the world is sports car he’s happy to call Marko said the win was loose and have fun. See the can’t afford EVs. There is the disposed against women in an LFA successor. “mainly due to Hannah”. N Vision 74 on page 66. potential for social unrest.” STEM, it’s super empowering.

PAGANI HUAYRA R NOISE OF THE YEAR Noise. It used to be intrinsically linked “The new engine had to have the shrill that peaks at 140dB. That’s louder than with mobility, but it’s rapidly becoming a charm, romance, sound and simplicity of firework displays or a high calibre round going scarcer commodity. A good noise is now a luxury. the F1 engines of the Eighties,” Horacio Pagani off beside your head. But where you run away Thankfully, the Pagani Huayra R is a car that can said. He didn’t disappoint. from those noises, you’re endlessly drawn here. deliver on luxuries. And lots and lots good noise. The £2.5 million, 850bhp track-only carriage Hanging off the block is a unique Medusa- Organic car sounds have been muted and clock for the ageing Zonda replacement is an like design of manifolds and exhaust pipes that muzzled by legislation, snuffed out in favour unrivalled exercise in exoticism and outright concludes in a quartet of ceramic coated Inconel of synthesisation, or just deafened by excess. It – literally – all centres around a tips. This beautiful combination of engine and electrification. But the Huayra R proves noise stressed member V12, 6.0-litre, nat-asp exhaust makes for a hypnotic soundtrack. is good. Its V12 serves up an old school eargasm, racing engine that revs to 9,000rpm. and should be celebrated. That’s why it’s The Huayra R barks into life like Andrea TopGear’s Noise of the Year. Rowan Horncastle Bocelli on full chat and builds into an emotive 078 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

AMERICAN CAR OF THE YEAR FORD F-150 LIGHTNING WORDS JACK RIX PHOTOGRAPHY DAVE BURNET T n the one hand a large pickup the biggest issue. There, the pickup unknown refinement, the throttle is sharp represents freedom: a full tank of gas, as a tack and it accelerates like a sports O truck appears ripe for EV a V6 or a V8 slurping away happily and car. It can tow up to 4,535kg, it can power conversion. A long wheelbase anything’s possible. To huge swathes of your house when the grid goes down and is perfect for cradling an Americans replacing their engines is like it’s a massive power brick on wheels. Order enormous slab of lithium-ion, plus a porky taking away basic civil liberties. it with the Pro Power Onboard and you get kerbweight isn’t going to scare anyone off. six USB ports and 11 proper sockets. Oodles of EV torque is ideal for towing and Ford sells close to a million F-Series hauling and having power points scattered trucks a year in America alone, and the Its 400-litre Mega Power Frunk is the everywhere is spectacularly handy. F-150 makes up the lion’s share of that, so best use of space vacated by an internal But there’s a problem – the pickup messing with the formula is an audacious combustion engine we’ve seen yet and truck is a symbol of simple, affordable, move. America is going to take some with the larger 131kWh battery it’ll do a dependable transport. Range and charging convincing, but Ford has done its bit real world 300 miles between charges – on limitations, plus the cost of batteries, start by not just slinging out the engine and and, surprisingly far, off-road. It’s forbidden to erode at those pillars immediately. But sliding in some AAs, but taking the fruit, sold exclusively on the other side of in America, where they vacuum up pickup opportunity to make this a better F-150 the Atlantic, but it’s got the potential to trucks at an alarming rate, that’s not even full stop. It rolls along with a hitherto change the EV landscape for us all. T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 079

MOMENT OF THE YEAR Fast was gifted a new meaning when the McMurtry made history going up the hill at Goodwood WORDS ROWAN HORNCASTLE PHOTOGRAPHY MARK RICCIONI 080 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

McMURTRY SPÉIRLING 03 04 08 FINISH 05 07 02 06 09 START 01 n an ever-increasing world of Photoshops and 01 “I’ve never done anything as 05 “The car was limited to I deep fakes, we’re having to question whether what intense as the hillclimb. You’ve 150mph and I saw it for over our eyes are seeing is actually what our eyes are got stone cold tyres and millions four seconds as I passed the seeing. But occasionally you simply can’t believe watching, so I did a couple of house and went under the bridge. what you’re witnessing even though it’s very much real. This burnouts to warm the tyres. There’s a crowd 10 deep and it’s year’s Goodwood Hillclimb was one of those moments. stopped on the start line and not really a straight, so not a The McMurtry Spéirling and Max Chilton effortlessly turned the fans on. They take great place to bin it.” dismantling the VW ID.R’s time of 39.9secs, set in 2019, to become seven to eight seconds to fully the fastest thing ever up the hill on its first public appearance spool up to 23,000rpm.” 06 “Molecomb is a horrible is something that will go down in history. All it took was 39.08 seconds to get a ticket straight into the automotive Hall of Fame. 02 “As soon as the fans start to corner – it’s blind, there’s With 1,000bhp of electric shove, fed to the road via two no straight braking zone wheels, in a car that sucks itself to the floor to generate 2,000kg idle we’ve got full fan speed – so and you can’t see the apex. of downforce at a standstill, weighs 1,000kg, has a 1:1 power-to- the equivalent of two tonnes of But the McMurtry corners so weight ratio and looks like a Batmobile that was left too long on a downforce. Then it’s foot off the shockingly and accelerates hot wash, the rate the McMurtry shot up the Duke of Richmond’s brake and hold on. I’ve been lucky so rapidly before you know it 1.16-mile driveway was barely comprehensible. Everyone who saw enough to race in F1 and the 0–60 you’re thinking, ‘Oh God! Flint it thought the footage was on fast forward. Who can blame them time we did on the Sunday run Wall is coming up.’” given it hit 60mph in less than 1.5 seconds, 125mph just a few was half the time of what I’ve seconds later and smacked the limiter at 150mph before being ever done in F1.” 07 “Flint Wall was my strength. lobbed into corners at mind-scrambling speeds? For the people lucky enough to be there, it was like watching 03 “Things come at you very, I was very committed, so just a jet fighter stuck in a Scalextric track. Just that the soundtrack dabbed the brakes and threw it in. was a unique blend of a high pitched whine from the electric very quickly at Goodwood. I was There’s a video that’s gone viral motors going up against air. Air either being headbutted out the doing 100mph by Turn One, so where you can see the car having way or forcefully ejected rearwards courtesy of two electric tapped the brakes as the thing a bit of a wobble because I threw turbines buried behind the cockpit that sucked dust, fag ends stops so quickly before chucking it in at such speed.” and any stray small children from beneath the chassis and blasted it into the corner. And I chucked it them out of the central rear ‘exhaust’ at an ear-piercing 120dB. into the corner as it’s got so much 08 “I hit the brakes before the It was only after the run when its magnitude was realised, grip. You just have to trust it.” transcending the norm and bursting out of the petrolhead right hander. The hay bales get algorithm and into the mainstream. Millions of people watched it, 04 “Keeping a ground effect narrower the faster you go.” meaning everyone from in-laws to cab drivers were talking about it. At that point it was then no longer a run, it was automotive seal to give maximum grip is 09 “The last corner isn’t flat. history. But there’s only one person that can tell us what it was important – so I left a bit of room really like. The man who was sat reclined in a carbon seat gripping either side to not run wide at There’s a little lift. I actually the wheel with his feet above his arse. Over to Max Chilton. Turn Two. No cutting corners. turned in too early and clipped There’s a dab of brake mid- the front left, losing two or corner then straight back on three tenths. You then dash the power down the straight.” to the finish, crossing the line at 150mph.” T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 081

082 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M The past few years have made us appreciate the small things in life more than ever – and sometimes it’s not the car we crave, but the sense of freedom it offers WORDS PAUL HORRELL PHOTOGRAPHY JONNY FLEETWOOD

VAUXHALL ASTRA T O PTGOEPAGRE. ACRO. MC O›MD› EJCA EN MU BA ER RY 2 0 2 32 083

VAUXHALL ASTRA Finally. This is the first of TopGear’s annual awards issues since We’ve all learned since early 2020 that our time is too precious we’ve been, broadly speaking, unshackled from COVID-19. After to waste on anything that’s mundane or shoddy. So I’m off to do nearly three years of restrictions, you will imagine I’ve been busting some ordinary things, but good ones. They’ll be in beautiful places to return to driving top-end hypercars in exotic locales. Frankly linked by great roads in a sweep of central and northern England. not, actually. I’ve missed most sorely the ordinary stuff: being A roadtrip designed to be inclusive. Happily it also neatly swerves among people I like, in places we know, doing the comfortingly the spiralling argy bargy of Channel crossings or airports. familiar but being sure to do it well. As the world emerges from under the terrifying pressure of one crisis, others are lining up So you find me and photographer Jonny Fleetwood on a wet like a hail of meteors to take its place. These are unnerving times. Which surely urges your priorities away from the fantastical. Yet normally given a bad name by its treacly plugged up flow past there were a dozen squillion-pound limited edition hypercars Birmingham. But we’re up near the Shap summit in Cumbria. Different launched on the lawns of Monterey Car Week this summer and altogether. Traffic is as sparse as a Sixties planner’s sketch; the scenery they left me queasy, as if gazing on the final twitches of a decadent is awesome. The view and atmosphere changes wildly with the weather empire. ‘Exclusive’ eh? Exactly why is something better simply up here, and the weather is seldom the same for long. Today we have because others can’t have it? drama: clouds of lead and mercury cloaking the hills, spray beating down on the car. It’s our comforting little weatherproof cocoon. In these times we need ‘inclusive’. So here’s TopGear’s ordinary car of the year. The sort of car we’ve all owned or driven at some point. Hatch. Small engine. No hybrid or plug. Unsporty. But the new Astra is a fine example. 084 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

Inside lane is the Astra’s sweet point – and means more time to enjoy the views Leave the kids at home, and there’s plenty of room for the bike. Win-win T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 085

plonked under grease-yellowed striplights, you get proper hand- cooked local produce, and a farm shop. The same people also operate the Gloucester services and those are just as good, so why aren’t other motorway travellers dignified with the same standards? Right. We’re nourished for some exercise. The Astra, like any hatch, can swallow a bike or two. Try that in your V12 hypercar. Rather than using an external rack, I like to drop the rear seat, take off the front bike wheels and put them upright in the back. It saves wind noise and drag and worry, provided of course you tie them down well to avoid getting a handlebar to the back of the head when you brake. The Astra has good lashing eyes for the ropes. Cycling might be a wholly ordinary activity, but up in the Pennines is a network of beautiful and lonely tracks, road and gravel, that properly clear the head and lungs. I do a little segment of the route across the spine of England, stopping at Britain’s The Pennines are just as enjoyable whether it’s on two wheels or four... and the Tan Hill inn makes for a convenient reason to visit the pub Two wheels good. Four too. The road always matters more than there’s a bit of stodge and slack here because it’s an ordinary hatch the car. I’d rather drive a slow car fast than a fast car slowly, even not a sports car, but it’s a well struck balance; that slight rubberiness when it’s a matter of perception and those two speeds in miles an is what kept things refined on the M1 and M6 yesterday. different reasons, in Surrey. The Astra stretches its legs. We head down Swaledale and across the A1(M) to the North York Its trick is in its lightness of touch. It isn’t actually all that light Moors via respectable towns – Richmond, Helmsley, Kirbymoorside – once made prosperous by the wool trades. Can’t imagine that now, in kilograms (though the little three-cylinder engine helps), as livestock farmers barely scratch a living. If you drove into towns like but it’s fluent and agile on these roads that buck and twist, crest this on holiday in Italy or France you’d grab a guidebook and fill your and dip. A really well judged suspension for rural Britain, even camera’s memory card, yet there’s a tendency to take them for granted if paradoxically that’s an inheritance of Vauxhall’s mating with when they’re in our own country. The low afternoon sun emerges, Peugeot. You don’t have to work the steering to hold it against casting its glancing light across this countryside’s plump contours that roadway disturbance, so you can just use it to pour into a bend, like celestial illumination on the stomachs of Botticelli cherubs. when you find nicely proportional reactions. Hit a damp patch and the wheel momentarily goes light in your hands – and I thought It’s a quick, empty road, and the Astra needs all its puff. Fine. The steering feel had been declared a banned substance. Of course chattery three-cylinder is a bit noisy and not that brisk, but happy enough to sit in its well upholstered boost curve, and the automatic transmission does what I tell it to via the shift paddles. But the ratio 086 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

VAUXHALL ASTRA “THE CHATTERY THREE-CYLINDER IS HAPPY ENOUGH TO SIT IN ITS WELL UPHOLSTERED BOOST CURVE” Not a trace of fish and chips or ice cream cones. How did Paul manage it? T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 087

“ORDINARY CARS FASCINATE ME. THEY’RE THE HARDEST OF ALL TO DESIGN AND ENGINEER” Good news – the Astra comes with matching merchandise too

VAUXHALL ASTRA of ourselves in wriggling the car through the steep, narrow village. Down at the slipway and beach it’s zinging in sharp autumn sunlight. A breezy stroll on the sand at low water looks tempting. A superb sweeping road passes the sinister radar installations at Fylingdales to Pickering at breakfast time. Another fine town, and it proves that practically anywhere these days you can find an independent hipster coffee shop with distressed industrial furniture. The espresso at Klarneins is fabulous. None of your over-extracted coffee chain bitterness, just perfect body and a lovely orange peel tang. The eggs florentine are pretty darned fine too. The York bypass and M1 get us southward. After a couple of days the Astra’s interior is making sense. It’s obvious the screens and controls are Peugeot underneath, but Vauxhall interface designers threw out some of the flourishes, kept it deliberately ordinary, and ended up with something useful and easy to fathom. This Ultimate spec has a head-up display but there’s no need because you can easily subdivide and arrange demarcation among the other screens for navigation, entertainment and trip computer – which by the way can report 45mpg on the motorway and 30-plus in the hills. The Astra feels mercifully less bulky than a crossover but its back seat is more cramped than some rival hatches, so if you were sitting there for long you might feel aggrieved. I haven’t heard my bike moaning. most accessible routes in the Derbyshire Peaks. You can park right near the base and in five minutes be at the trig-point apex, where a sharp ridge opens before you. That’s an easy stroll – the National Trust has put stone slabs down over most of its length – but the view’s exceptional. It’s like being hoisted gap between second and third is a chasm, Their milk goes into homemade ice cream that’s sold right there and in town it snatches horribly as you come to rest – both in the farmyard and tastes wholly superb. We proceed to overdo it by characteristics this box has always shown in Peugeot Group cars. If it were me speccing an Astra, I’d switch to a manual and drop one trim stratum, making it £4,500 more inclusive. takes it extremely seriously. In fact several of the fish and chip shops remove the upper inverted cone for a vertical straight-six. Huzzah. here claim to be the best in Britain. We choose the Magpie, having In all honesty though, this overabundance goes against the spirit of been directed there by my favourite Yorkshirewoman. Sure enough our trip. Extravagant Instagrammable locations and activities are it’s about the very best fry that has ever passed my lips. A carapace of all very well. But the dignity of what is modest, well crafted and light salty batter brings on the alchemic steaming of fresh flaky cod. ordinary, more now than for years, has a lot more to be said for it. The chips are golden-crispy outside, fluffy and earthy within. Friends, even the pickled onion is magical. Lately a bar has opened on the Ordinary cars fascinate me. They’re the hardest of all to rooftop of a London hotel. To see its panoramic views you have to book design and engineer, because every penny is counted, every last a two-hour slot and undertake to spend £75 a head, literally boxed in gram of CO2 matters, every millimetre of space is measured, and constrained to enjoy yourself on schedule. Instead here we are, a and faults are unforgivingly exposed by the brutalities of daily tenner each on our takeaway feast, sat at the harbour, then climbing use. The best of them meet those boring goals while being more Dracula’s 199 steps to the ruined abbey and churchyard for a view desirable than the next company’s product that was built to of the town and its twin piers jutting into North Sea like a lobster’s exactly the same parameters. Among this year’s, that has been pincer, talking our cheery nonsense as the evening slowly sets. best achieved by the Astra. Most of all, ordinary cars are the ones that are woven into our memories. They make accessible our best journeys, people, places and roads. They’re the cars of our lives and for that we cherish them. T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 089

PORSCHE CAYMAN GT4 RS PERFORMANCE CAR OF THE YEAR PORSCHE CAYMAN GT4 RS WORDS ROWAN HORNCASTLE he origins of a mid-engined came up and Andreas Preuninger didn’t And you can see why, as the car it have a present for him. That’s when he had became – the 718 GT4 RS – is a sports car T Cayman powered by the GT3’s a lightbulb moment knowing an iTunes that ticks all the boxes for people like us mighty 4.0-litre, 9,000rpm flat gift voucher wouldn’t quite cut it. who see driving as an event or passion, six may not be what you think. rather than a way to get from A to B. “I was very close to Wolfgang Hatz “We said, ‘OK, we’ll make a surprise [Porsche’s R&D chief],” Andreas Preuninger, for him. We’ll make a prototype with the Its zingy, zappy and revsome engine boss of Porsche’s GT car department told GT3 engine in a 981 Cayman because we is a triumph of combustion, amplified by TopGear. “One day he said ‘Hey, come on, wanted to do it anyway’.” genius carbon-fibre air intakes where the let’s take a GT3 engine, and put it in a GT4’.” rear windows used to be – making everyone Requiring retooling and a lot of surgery This became the first mule for in the cabin part of the intake process. to get a new heart in, the GT department the GT4 RS. And when they parked it in knew it was a pain to do, so they left it. But, Wolfgang’s garage for his birthday, they It has utterly delicious steering, powerful some time later, Wolfgang Hatz’s birthday knew they had something special. Luckily brakes and visuals that are aggressive but Porsche’s board agreed. not outlandish. It’s usable and focused but 090 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

not on the same spectrum as the GT3 RS or IMAGE: LEE BRIMBLE FREDDIE’S GT3, meaning it’s enjoyable on the road in CAR OF THE YEAR more than first gear. PEUGEOT The Cayman GT4 RS may be Porsche’s GT 205 GTI department at its best; offering confidence- TOLMAN inspiring and aspirational performance you want to engage with wholeheartedly. I know people are going to It’s also what happens when the Porsche say it’s not a new car, but it’s board loosens its tie and allows the Cayman a restomod, so it sort of is. Bottom to edge towards the 911’s performance, and line, of all the cars I’ve driven this when Porsche’s GT department loosens its series it’s the one I had most fun in. straitjacket. It might be the best birthday I wanted one when I was 19 present anyone could wish for. or 20 and I couldn’t get insured, so this was the first time I’ve driven one... and it was an absolute treat. When I got in it around Dunsfold it didn’t let me down, it was a revelation. No gizmos, no high-tech stuff, just a proper driver’s car. It wasn’t as quick as a modern hot hatch, of course, but it was so much more nimble and just so sticky in the corners no matter how hard I pushed it. I think a better driver could have got even more out of the tyres, too. Downsides? Well, £45k is punchy for an old Peugeot, but with the price of new cars, and the fact that Peugeot will sell you a hybrid 508 estate for £60k, I don’t actually think it’s that bad. Freddie Flintoff T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 091

RANGE ROVER LUXURY CAR OF THE YEAR veryone in the car business loves the Range RANGE ROVER E Rover. The original was a jumped-up farm WORDS JASON BARLOW PHOTOGRAPHY JONNY FLEETWOOD vehicle that somehow invented the SUV – though we should acknowledge 1962’s Jeep Wagoneer here, designed by a man called Jim Anger – but across 50-plus years it has become the lodestar for luxury. That’s certainly how JLR’s chief creative officer Gerry McGovern sees it. Gerry and his team have reached a point where they’re in complete command of what they do and how they want the Range Rover to look and feel. The result is spectacular, not just in design terms – it’s an automotive superyacht – but also as a demonstration of the company’s engineering chops. It’s notably aerodynamic for a big SUV, with a drag coefficient of 0.30 and a smoother frontal area. The panel gaps and shutlines are fabulously tight, the flush glazing abutting the bodysides beautifully. The rain guttering is hidden. Design pushed engineering – and vice versa – and the result is as much an ode to metal beating and 092 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

manufacturing technique as it is aesthetics. There are things on this car that couldn’t have been done five years ago. Then there’s the interior, increasingly the focal point for luxury. Ultrafabric and Kvadrat are sustainable alternatives to leather that are tactile and comfortable, if a little oppressive tonally. The Rangie’s interior and infotainment are less techy than Mercedes’ Hyperscreen or the set-up in the new BMW 7-Series. Among the trim levels you’ll find Autobiography and SV, which is where the RR ceases being a car and becomes a ‘curated’ luxury experience. Ride in an SV with the Signature Suite option and highlights include a selection of plated metals, ceramics, mosaic marquetry, and contrasting colours for the front and rear seats. An optional ‘club table’ rises on a 3D printed support out of a fixed, full-length centre console. You won’t find a shabby piece of switchgear or a duff button anywhere. It has the best interior doorhandles of any car on sale. It also remains mighty off-road. The new Range Rover hasn’t just conquered the mountain, it’s driven up it. PADDY’S CAR OF THE YEAR My Car of the Year 2022 has got to be the new Range Rover. It’s absolutely beautiful, it ticks all the boxes, especially if you want to go off-roading in a car that’s going to cost you well over £100k... which you won’t, but it’s nice to know it’s got the capabilities. I’ve always had Range Rovers, when the Sport first came out in 2005 I had one of them – actually when the kids came along we had a Discovery, but you get the point – we’ve always had other stuff, but Rangies have been the constant throughout. How can something that big be so easy to drive? It’s always baffled me. This new one, they’ve managed to make it a lot quieter, the body surface has been smoothed to be more aerodynamic, there are noise cancelling speakers in the headrests... to be fair, the last one wasn’t exactly crude, but this one’s a miracle. Chris and I took it off-roading and the places it can go are crazy, but the sad thing is that 99 per cent of buyers are never going to use it to the full extent of its abilities – it’ll shuttle back and forth on the school run, never leaving the tarmac. If you’re a lottery winner and you live on a massive farm, you’ll be amazed at what this thing can do. Paddy McGuinness T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 093

CAR WE’RE MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO DRIVING IN 2023 Lamborghini’s been threatening to unleash a jacked-up off-road 094 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

LAMBO HURACÁN STERRATO Huracán for years. Now, it’s gone and done it T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 095

“WHAT WE’RE LOOKING AT IS A GRAVEL- SPEC HURACÁN RALLY CAR, OR WHAT AMOUNTS TO A HURACÁN SAFARI” Automotive product cycles often mimic real life – they begin noisy and full of hope, spend some time maturing, settle into the solid mediocrity of middle age and then quietly slip away into obscurity, gently shuffled from price lists. But supercars tend to be a bit different. They’re the playboy uncles and aunties of the car world, the ones that grow old disgracefully, get drunk at weddings and wear inappropriate clothes. Cars that gain don’t-give-a-damn lucidity in the palliative care ward of the automobile. The truth is, imminent replacement frees up creativity both in terms of remit and accountancy, and allows for specials that are truly worthy of the name. Take the Lamborghini Huracán, for example, a medium-sized supercar that’s been terrorising Ferraris since 2014. We’ve already had the Tecnica and STO in the past 18 months, arguably two of the most complete iterations of the Huracán bloodline thus far, and now we have something that comes as a bit of a curveball – a production version of the Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato concept from 2019. Of course, the name itself gives the game away if you speak any Italian, because sterrato literally means ‘dirt road’ in Italianese. A name 096 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 › T O P G E A R . C O M

LAMBO HURACÁN STERRATO that does away with romantic whimsy in favour of being absolutely So to make a Huracán properly gravel and B-road capable, descriptive – this is a Huracán with extra dirt road ability. Not an Lamborghini’s made some proper adjustments. The front bumper, Urus SUV with chunky tyres, then? Lamborghini, we salute you. rear bumper and side skirts are all reinforced and reprofiled to a) stop them being wiped off like wet tissue paper if they scrape a geographical So what’s the Sterrato for, exactly? Lamborghini’s been light on the feature and b) increase approach and departure angles to help negate detail so far, but the company reckons the Sterrato is both “brave and that issue in the first place. There’s a front skidplate, elements of unexpected” and expands the concept of a Huracán being fun to drive underbody armour and a general bulk up. There are functional roof by adding some off-road capability. Which seems reasonable with most rails (they’ll no doubt lead to the inevitable addition of optionable of the Huracán range sporting all-wheel drive. But what caught our ‘lifestyle’, probably involving a never used roof tent and lightbar), eye were the almost lost lines that declare that the Sterrato will have bonnet-mounted lights and an inlet scoop ahead of the rear screen. “top traction on loose surfaces with focus on gravel” and “balanced That’s to feed the engine clean air along intakes tweaked to avoid oversteer for fun-to-drive characteristics”. It’s hard not to reach the potential ingress of dirt and water. There are also chunky bolt-on conclusion that what we’re looking at is a gravel-spec Huracán rally arches that cover a track width increased by 30mm at the front and car, or alternatively what amounts to a Huracán Safari. 34mm at the rear, but more on that in a moment. And it doesn’t stop there. Apparently this not only opens up a “new The engine itself is – as expected – a 5.2-litre nat-asp V10 as per frontier” but it’ll also be the quickest Huracán on a “secondary, bumpy the standard Huracán RWD, meaning an easy and reliable 600bhp road”. Now given the UK is liberally veined with what can accurately and 413lb ft of torque, with a red line at 8,700rpm. There’s a dedicated be described as bumpy secondary roads, it sounds like a Huracán that engine tune for Sterrato, but seeing as that maximum torque figure usefully expands the remit of what it means to be a supercar. T O P G E A R . C O M › J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 097

1 1. The interior is mostly business as usual, but additional red band on the steering wheel reminds you when you’re occasionally pointing straight 2. Not a periscope, unfortunately, but an air intake positioned to make sure it’s really just air that gets into the engine... 3. You don’t get seats like this in a Land Rover Defender... 23 Now go and watch the video on topgear.com