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Everything you need to know about cars this week: 15 Nov '20
BMW shows us its iX EV, Ferrari chops the roof off the SF90, and the RS6 GTO lands
Opinion: should you care what other people think of your car?
"This is a car that screams very loudly ‘I’VE GOT A BEE-EMM-DOUBLE-YOU’, and that very fact makes it deeply uncool. If Lionel Messi or Lewis Hamilton got tattoos that read ‘I’m statistically the greatest of all time’ then it would take the sheen off their talent. And that’s what the BMW mega grille does. It broadcasts a vulgar image to the world."
Advertisement - Page continues belowWatch: Chris Harris talks Aston Valkyrie vs Murray T.50
Despite the different design philosophies behind the two cars, the Gordon Murray T.50 and the Aston Martin Valkyrie are always going to draw comparisons. Both house Cosworth V12s behind their driver cell. Both will cost well into the millions of pounds. And both are… well, really rather special...
The Aznom Palladium is here and oh god our eyes
"It’s called the Aznom Palladium, and the story unfolds further when you realise that it’s based on a RAM 1500 pickup truck. We promise we’re not making any of this up."
Advertisement - Page continues belowReview: Toyota GR Yaris
"It’s a genuinely exciting car this, a hot hatch with a real purpose in life. After all, when was the last time we had a proper rally homologation special, something we can all aspire to? Not since the Imprezas and Evos of the 90s. This, then, is a once in a generation special. And the best news of all is that Toyota has smashed it out of the park."
The new Land Rover Discovery still has a wonky bum
"The Land Rover Discovery has had the facelift treatment, and no, tailgate-gate still hasn’t been solved. Land Rover is sticking to the wonky boot door treatment. But it has come up with some new LED graphics, fresh wheel designs up to 22 inches across, and some tweaked grille motifs. The R-Dynamic kit now looks sportier, apparently. But isn’t that what a Range Rover Sport is for?"
We’re all for this Rolls-Royce Cullinan render
"We’ve finally done it. We’ve found the best spec for the controversially styled Rolls-Royce Cullinan. Not that we can take credit for the bonkers renderings you see above, of course. This is the work of Photoshop-wizard Abimelec Arellano (abimelecdesign), and it is utterly excellent."
Elfyn Evans: “I never expected to be in this position”
"The position Elfyn Evans finds himself in is an enviable one: he leads the World Rally Championship going into its final round, Rally Monza, at the beginning of December (presuming it still goes ahead, of course). He’s on the brink of becoming Great Britain’s first world champion in the sport since Burns lifted the trophy in 2001."
Advertisement - Page continues belowThis is an electrified, 518bhp restomodded Alfa Giulia GT
"Electrified restomods are, it appears, quite polarising. So prepare to be entirely polarised by Totem Automobili’s first product. As you can see, it is a restoration of the delightful Alfa Romeo Giulia GT, rendered here using the medium of electricity."
Watch out, it's the 1,300bhp, bulletproof Rezvani Hercules 6x6
"Welcome, Internet, to the world’s most powerful six-wheeled truck. This Rezvani Hercules 6x6 offers up to 1,300bhp, giving it – somewhat improbably – more than twice the power of equivalently wheeled versions of the Mercedes G63 and Hennessey VelociRaptor."
Advertisement - Page continues belowReview: Hyundai i30N
"Hyundai's first full-strength performance car, and it's nailed it. Few hot hatches are this fun to drive"
Gordon Murray is building a new £50m HQ
"Get ready to add a new location to the supercar map, joining the likes of Molsheim, Modena and Sant’Agata Bolgnese. And that place is the village of Windlesham in Surrey, England. Currently home to around 17,000 people, some nice old churches, and an annual pram race, apparently. But soon to be the global headquarters of Britain’s latest supercar, the Murray T.50."
Skoda Octavia SE Technology tested: the 70mpg company car
"Even at Top Gear, we can’t exist purely on a diet of jet-powered solid-gold LaPaganini McHyperthrusts.Sometimes there’s joy to be found in a simple, honest, sensible car."
Hands up if you weren't prepared for the Audi RS6 GTO
"It’s the work of twelve third-year apprentices in Audi Sport’s Neckarsulm facility, and it’s here to display their creativity when it’s not stymied by the dullness of production viability. It’s also here to celebrate 40 years of Audi’s Quattro four-wheel-drive tech."
New Ferrari SF90 Spider: same crazy performance, less roof
"The SF90 remains as technically interesting as before, with its PHEV powertrain that pairs an all-new 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 internal combustion engine with three electric motors – two at the front of the car and one F1-style MGUK number that sits nestled between the motor and eight-speed dual-clutch auto gearbox."
Your nine-point guide to the new, all-electric BMW iX
"BMW gives its purebred i cars permission to be a lot further out there than the adapted ones such as the electric Mini and electric iX3. The i3 and i8 still seem pretty brave today. According to the product-development chief of BMW’s luxury cars (and Rolls Royce’s), Frank van Meel, that means the iX pushes the envelope in design, driving pleasure, sustainability, versatility and connectivity. Also in a new kind of luxury - a “lounge” he says, with a “preactive and proactive user interface”."
The new Hyundai Kona Electric has some styling
"Some people think an electric car should be subtle, and blend into the background like an internal combustion powered car. BMW’s designers certainly aren’t those people, and neither, it seems, are Hyundai’s."
Ferrari: 'driving emotion is more important than performance'
"We caught up with Ferrari’s chief technical officer, Michael Leiters, ahead of the launch of the new SF90 Spider, the convertible version of Ferrari’s new plug-in halo car. We spoke about electrification, the benefit of being in F1 and deciding to build Ferrari’s first front-wheel-drive model."
Ford Focus 1.0 EcoBoost Hybrid review: a good car, made better
"The more powerful versions of Ford’s 1.0-litre turbo EcoBoost engines now have a zap of 48-volt starter-generator to smooth over any turbo lag and let the engine sleep for longer in traffic."
Speed Week 2020: getting 8,553bhp down to Anglesey
"Never bring a knife to a gunfight. And never bring an Ariel Nomad R to a week-long camping extravaganza in Wales."
14 secret Porsche concept cars revealed for the first time
"Porsche’s designers, like us, wonder what a road-going Le Mans car would look like, or if it’s possible to turn a 911 into a high-riding Safari off-roader. Would a modern 550 Spyder lightweight give an Ariel Atom a fright? What if the Taycan four-door had been a rear-engined super-911?"
Mazda 3 100th Anniversary Edition review: celebratory hatch driven
"Look at the lovely colours! That bright exterior white is known as ‘Snowflake White’ and the interior is a lovely mix of burgundy for the seats and carpets, ivory on the dash and doors and black leather for the steering wheel and centre console. The colours are pretty much it, though. Well, other than some special edition badging and a ‘bespoke key presentation box’. Oh dear. "
12 cars to take off-road instead of the best 4x4s
"So, without too much further ado, without any further insults to the off-roading community and without mentioning the 1,500 or so better uses for a car (ah, dang it), let’s figure out the best ways to head off-road. And because the best way to spell ‘obvious off-roader’ is L-A-N-D-C-R-U-I-S-E-R, let’s inject a little bit of lateral thinking into the mix."
Mercedes GLC 300e review: 320bhp PHEV tested
"The GLC is Mercedes’ lower-middle-sized crossover. It’s also available as a coupe but we’re testing the normal one. The 300 doesn’t mean the engine size; it’s a two-litre. But the idea is it has the power of three… ish. "
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