20
List
Everything you need to know about cars this week: 14 Apr '19
A chat with Lewis Hamilton, many reviews, and Italy's most powerful road-legal car
Mercedes-AMG GT R Pro review: most hardcore AMG GT tested
"In essence, this is the track day GT. Although a 1.5-tonne Teutonic über-coupe might not be the obvious weapon of choice, the fact is that AMG has 160 very satisfied customer racing teams in the gentleperson’s GT4 category and hugely competitive GT3 series, and the silverware to show for it. So the GT Pro aims to close the gap between the road car and the racing version, and while it works in both environments, the emphasis is firmly on the track."
Advertisement - Page continues belowThe evolution of the hot hatch: Audi SQ2 vs AMG A35
"Hot hatches? I’m not sure that’s the right label, not when one of them is a crossover. Besides, I think both see themselves as a peg above the cut and thrust of Civic Type R, Hyundai i30N and even Golf GTI…"
BMW 320d M Sport xDrive review: new diesel tested
"BMW hasn’t left the handling with the playgroup. They’ve got the folks who set up the 5 Series to do it. So it’s pretty great. All the horrid gloopy stick-tion from the old 3’s steering is gone, so now it pours itself into corners as you if you’re operating finely-tooled machinery."
Advertisement - Page continues belowLondon's Ultra Low Emissions Zone is here
"If your car was built after ‘06, if it’s a petrol, or ‘15 if it’s a diesel, you’re all good. Yep, even if said car is a Bugatti Chiron, which produces 516g/km of CO2 on the old NEDC cycle. Not a penny to pay beyond the normal Congestion Charge. But a 1.4-litre petrol Ford Fiesta built 15 years ago, which doesn’t? You’re out of luck."
Which of Jeep’s jaw-dropping Easter concepts is best?
"This year’s are all based upon the new Jeep Gladiator pick-up, and thus are already pretty damn cool in our book. But boy, has Jeep gone to town making the Gladiator even harder to resist for those of a ‘fling yourself off road with all of the bikes attached’ persuasion."
The Mercedes CLA 35 is this week's small AMG saloon
"What we’re essentially looking at is a swoopy, four-door coupe version of the Mercedes-AMG A35 hot hatch, a VW Golf R rival that just so happens to be the best A-Class yet."
The second of 30 special E30 M3s is heading to the UK
"Redux Leichtbau – the UK-based company that has begun redeveloping and restoring 30 classic BMW E30 M3s – has confirmed that the second car to emerge from its exhaustive two-year programme will be a UK-based car."
Advertisement - Page continues belowReview: Jeep Gladiator
"The Jeep Gladiator is probably not the truck you need – it’s the truck you want"
Here's a new image of Fisker’s sub-$40,000 electric SUV
"It’s not yet been named, but it will be the first of three electric vehicles penned by Henrik Fisker. This one posits itself as the 'affordable, mass market vehicle'. Wonder where we’ve heard that one before? Oh right, TESLA."
Advertisement - Page continues belowLewis Hamilton on driving old racecars, life after F1 and more
"Last weekend, Mercedes celebrated its 125th anniversary in motorsport at Silverstone. Yep, 125 years. Yikes. Unsurprisingly, its current Formula 1 world champion – and one of its greatest ever drivers – Lewis Hamilton was in attendance. A superb opportunity to catch up with him, then, and hear his thoughts on the classic racecars around him, the insight they provide into how much danger has been eradicated from the sport, and how his post-F1 plans currently stand."
Review: BMW 8 Series Convertible
"Good at not ruffling your hair, but not quite special or well-defined enough to justify a £100,000 price tag"
Aston is (re)building the DB4 GT Zagato with HAMMERS
"Aston Martin is rebuilding 19 classic DB4 GT Zagatos, because why the hell wouldn’t you. The DB4 GT Zagato remains one of the prettiest Astons ever built; a collaboration with Zagato back in the 1960s, for a car designed and built to go racing against Ferrari."
What's this mysterious Ferrari FXX K spied at the Nürburgring?
"Kinda hoping you’re able to help. We’ve just seen these pictures of what appears to be a Ferrari FXX K Evo going at some pace around the Nürburgring. That’s the small, not-at-all-scary racetrack in Germany where not much happens."
This ST ‘Ford Performance Edition’ is a £26k Fiesta
"A year on from the launch of the Fiesta ST - a two-time Top Gear award-winner - Ford has given the world a special one. The ST ‘Ford Performance Edition’ goes on sale in June, and in the UK will be limited to 600 cars. Not many, given more than 5,000 of the things have been sold here in the last 12 months."
Video: Pininfarina’s 1,900bhp Battista
"Let Rory Reid be your guide to the most powerful road-legal car to come out of Italy, Pininfarina’s 1,900bhp hyper-EV dubbed ‘Battista’."
Review: Jaguar XE
"Comfy and quiet yet brilliant to drive. The handling-nerd's car in this class"
Why the heck would you convert a £1.3m Aston to electric power?
"Meet Paul Spires. You’d like Paul. He’s the boss of Aston Martin Works. Works is the Newport Pagnell-based classic arm of the company. They’ll complete a certified restoration of your barn-find classic DB4 or Lagonda for, ooh, £425,000. Or perhaps you’d like something a little more… controversial."
The Audi S6 and S7 have gone diesel
"Times have changed at Audi, and not necessarily in the way you’d think. See, once upon a time the S6 and S7 had V8 engines. Hell, the S6 even had a N/A V10 for a bit. In these more environmentally-aware times, you’d expect Audi to downsize..."
Gaming: Dangerous Driving review
"The box might say Dangerous Driving but, make no mistake, this is a Burnout game in all but name. Specifically, it’s Burnout 3: Takedown, the point on the venerable PlayStation 2 where we reckon the series peaked. It’s not a complex recipe: just some cars, a track, big crashes and enough velocity to peel your eyeballs like an onion."
Aston Martin DB6 Volante Electric review: £1.3m EV tested
"That, my friends, is an, no, the all-electric Aston Martin DB6 MkII Volante by Aston Martin Works. Because, to misquote Dr. Emmett Brown, 'if you’re going to build electric power into a classic car, why not do it with some style?'"
Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo review: mad racing car tested
"Lamborghinis aren’t ordinarily shy, retiring supercars, and this Huracán developed by the company’s in-house racing team Squadra Corse is straight-up ready to fight. In the pursuit of speed, of course. All the speed."
Here's your first look at the all-new mid-engined Corvette
"For a while, the worst-kept secret in all of motoring has been that the new ‘C8’ Chevy Corvette will go mid-engined. For the first time in its history, the production-spec ‘Vette will shove its V8 behind the seats, not ahead of them. And in so doing, become a true Ferrari and Lamborghini-rivalling supercar. A car for people who like McLarens, not Big Macs."
Top Gear's Top 9: supercars with tiny engines
"Starting with the biggest engine (really) of the set and working our way to the smallest, it’s Jaguar’s financially disastrous but unarguably cool Nineties supercar, the XJ220. Now, 3.5 litres isn’t a tiny engine by 2019 standards, but back in the early 1990s when Lamborghini thrived on V12s and the McLaren F1 was being developed, it was a rather small displacement."
Trending this week
- Car Review
- Long Term Review
