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Everything you need to know about cars this week: 6 Jun '21
Reviews of the Rimac Nevera, McLaren Elva and Ferrari Monza. Plus BMW reveals its first electric M-car (kinda)
Yikes, this is an AMG GT R speedster with 838bhp
"Mercedes only plans to sell 750 examples of the AMG GT R Roadster, but that hasn’t stopped prolific Merc collector and ‘friend of the brand’ Ronald A. Bussink from buying up five to create a limited run of these – the brilliantly-named BUSSINK GT R Speedlegend."
Advertisement - Page continues belowThis is Gordon Murray's incredible lightweight car collection
The father of the McLaren F1 cashed his in and spent the proceeds on expanding the finest collection of lightweights on the planet. Fancy a guided tour?
BMW Z1: is this the perfect car to really ‘feel the road’?
The very first BMW Z car was a two-seat roadster with a retractable soft-top and a traditional front-engine, rear-drive layout. It was also one of the most forward-thinking cars ever made…
Advertisement - Page continues belowTG Tested: Honda e Advance £30k EV Review
The Honda e is impossibly cute, beautifully engineered and crammed with tech… but you’ll pay for it. How far will it go? How fast is it? What does it weigh? And where does the knotted cable go? All these questions and more are answered in this episode of Top Gear Tested.
Review: Rimac Nevera
"The first true pure-electric hypercar is a sensation, as is the company that makes it"
Welcome to the Touring Superleggera Arese RH95
"Built to mark the company’s 95th birthday, just 18 examples will be constructed 'around the chassis and drivetrain of a well-known exotic, mid-engine donor car' – almost certainly the Ferrari F8 Tributo – and sold for a no doubt hefty, undisclosed sum."
Review: Ferrari Monza
"A mind-blowing assault on your senses, but not the finest device to experience Ferrari’s phenomenal V12 engine from within"
Advertisement - Page continues belowBMW M is planning a 600bhp+ iX M60 electric SUV
"The BMW iX is back to bless/trouble your eyes. It’s back because the folks in Bavaria have announced that an iX M60 with an ‘output exceeding 600bhp’ will join the range at some point in the near future. Good grief."
The BMW i4 M50 is M Division’s first electric car (kinda)
"Whether or not it’s a proper M car is up for debate, mind you – the M50 appears closer philosophically to an M340i than it is to an M3 – but it is still hugely fast. Hit the ‘Sport Boost’ button to liberate the full 537bhp and 586lb ft from its two e-motors, and you’ll hit 62mph in a claimed 3.9 seconds."
Advertisement - Page continues belowAfter the i4 and iX, here’s what’s next for BMW
"BMW’s acceleration of its electric-car programme means it gave full details of the iX and i4 on the same day. But come 2025, even those will be beginning to go obsolete. "
Review: DS 9
"The most convincing DS. Tried all the German best-sellers? Here’s a thoughtful alternative"
Here’s the production-spec Czinger 21C
"Been a while since we’ve heard from Czinger, and the (partly) 3D-printed hypercar it revealed last year. Gone bust? Thankfully, no – seems the Californian start-up has used the last 12 months to keep developing the outrageous 21C"
Audi's new Dakar drivers have 17 rally wins between them
"First up is Stéphane Peterhansel. The 55-year-old Frenchman has won the Dakar a record-breaking 14 times – six times on a motorcycle, eight times in a car. His co-driver is Edouard Boulanger. The pair won this year’s rally, their first as a team, for Mini. "
A Toyota Mirai just did 623 miles on a single tank of hydrogen
"Toyota says that if you drive normally, its hydrogen-fuelled Mirai can travel around 400 miles between fill ups. Drive much more carefully, though, and you could go further. Maybe a lot further. "
Why the BMW iX isn't ready for level 3 autonomous driving
"Back in 2018, BMW showed the iNext concept car and told us when the real thing launched in 2021 it would be ready for ‘level 3 autonomous driving’. Well, it has launched, as the iX. But the autonomous driving (AD) remains a mirage."
Review: McLaren Elva
"You either get it or you don't. But this is the best Speedster around – an Ariel Atom on ecstasy "
Nine surprising cars that weigh less than the BMW M4 Cabrio
"Yep, despite wearing a fabric roof that’s apparently 40 per cent lighter than the old M4’s folding metal roof, this sunseeking version of M Division’s finest is 5kg short of two tonnes."
You can buy a brand-new BMW M4 GT3 for €415,000
"Privateer teams (and wealthy track-day enthusiasts) can buy these things for €415,000 net, making the M3 GT3 a little cheaper than the M6 GT3 it replaces, for delivery in 2022. Before then BMW will clock up a few more development kilometres – up to 20,000 by the end of 2021 – and enter the M4 GT3 in a handful of other races to make sure it’s good and ready for a full season’s racing in ‘22."
This glorious triplet of Aston DB5s could be yours for £4m
"An Aston Martin DB5 is a lovely thing. Lovelier still is a DB5 Vantage, with its upgraded cylinder head, different cam timing and triple twin-choke Weber carbs that liberate an extra 40bhp from the stock 4.0-litre straight-six. "
Mountune has squeezed 256bhp out of the Puma ST...
"Mountune’s spent four decades making Fords go faster down rally stages, around racing circuits, and along roads. It hasn’t tuned up many crossovers in that time though… until now. Yep, the rambunctious Ford Puma ST has had the Essex workshop treatment. "
David Beckham now owns a car company
"Over the years there have been many, many memorable David Beckham moments. But here’s one for us petrolheads: old Golden Balls has whacked out his cheque book and splashed out on a 10 per cent stake in luxo electric start-up Lunaz. "
Fiat is the latest carmaker to say it’s going all-electric
"That’s right: it’s Fiat’s turn to say it’s going all-electric, just in time for popular markets like the UK to ban the sale of non-electrified cars. "
Review: Maserati Ghibli
"Way behind the times, but if you want a rarity in your exec saloon, this is the most left-field choice going"
Why doesn’t Gordon Murray own a Lotus Elise?
"He’s a particular fan of Lotus. He freely admits to idolising the company’s founder, Colin Chapman – even when he was duelling him in Formula One’s classic Seventies and Eighties innovation wars. And yet despite owning several Lotus Elans and rarer-still models from the Norfolk company’s potted history, he’s never owned a Lotus Elise. Never even driven one, in fact."
Take a guided tour of Gordon Murray's stunning car collection
"Gordon is more than a fast car fanatic. He’s an ideas factory, and his brainwave for this nondescript industrial unit was to reimagine it into an immersion pool for his lightweight mantra. A mood room of his origin story, how he learned his craft, and inspirations through 50 years of being impossible to satisfy."
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