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Everything you need to know about cars this week: 24 Mar '19
BMW's biggest ever SUV, Bloodhound returns, and a closer look at mid-engined Astons
Here’s your first look at the next series of Top Gear!
"As the latest series of Top Gear reached its conclusion on BBC Two, here’s a little slice of what we’ve got coming up next. Filming is already well under way with the new cast of Paddy McGuinness, Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris, and Top Gear series 27 is due to launch this Summer."
Advertisement - Page continues belowOffice fight: the Suzuki Swift Sport
"The TG Garage Swift is loved by some, loathed by others. Time for frank discussion..."
My life in cars: Paddy McGuinness
"I failed my driving test the first time: the instructor was a wrong ’un – pencil ’tache, 60 years old… FAIL. Second time, it was blazing hot and I was wearing my Kevin Keegan short shorts, I had a female examiner and I passed."
Advertisement - Page continues belowMy life in cars: Freddie Flintoff
"The first car I bought was a Porsche Boxster. I was on tour in Pakistan and I was a bit bored, so I bought it. Lovely car. Trouble with that was I was driving it one day on a back lane and a Metro came the other way. I stopped, but the Metro couldn’t. He hit me. Back then, the Metro had metal bumpers. Nothing, no damage. The whole front end of my Boxster fell off."
The Ares Panther ProgettoUno is getting a Spyder version
"The Panther coupe is based on the Lamborghini Huracan, so no doubt the Spyder will be too. That means a 5.2-litre, naturally-aspirated V10 with a tweaked ECU and exhaust, a seven-speed DSG gearbox and all-wheel drive."
BMW: 'i' cars always one step ahead of regular cars
"BMW’s cutting edge i brand arrived in a blaze of glory with the futuristic i3 and i8 back in 2014. But that was five years ago and so far nothing has come along to update them aside from concepts, including the Vision iNext, iX3 concept and i Vision Dynamics. So what’s next? How will BMW make sure the i brand maintains momentum? Robert Irlinger, Senior Vice President of BMW i, is the man with the answers."
Mountune has boosted the brilliant Ford Fiesta ST
"It’s happened, folks. The new Ford Fiesta ST Mountune is here, packing 222bhp and 250lb ft. We’ll save you the mathematics: that’s +25bhp and +36lb ft. Meaty."
Advertisement - Page continues belowThis is Fisker’s sub-$40,000 electric SUV
"The man who designed the old Aston Martin Vantage and BMW Z8 is going to build a fully electric SUV. This is a bit of it."
New Aston Vanquish: more powerful AMR Pro version planned
“'We’ll get sales from the Ferrari, McLaren and the Lamborghini Huracan Evo,' Palmer says of the Vanquish. He also admits that he’s planned for it to cannibalise a few sales from the front-engined Aston Martins."
Advertisement - Page continues belowYou can now buy the Bentley Continental GT with a V8
"If Bentley’s twin-turbocharged W12 feels like a wee bit…much, we have good news. Say hello to the Bentley Continental GT V8, which as you might have guessed, swaps the big, heavy, thirsty 12-cylinder engine for a comparatively parsimonious twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8."
Behold the new Hyundai i30N touring cars
"Here at TG we love the Hyundai i30N. We also love touring cars, so see if you can guess our thoughts on this race-bred TCR version of the Korean hot hatchback."
Stay calm, you can now order a two-door Range Rover
"Remember the £240,000 Range Rover SV Coupe that JLR announced in 2018 and then canned earlier this year? Well, if the news of its death left an intriguingly shaped hole in your life then all of your worries have been solved."
Review: BMW X7
"The X7 is BMW's biggest and most luxurious SUV, and it wants to be noticed."
Video: Aston’s Ferrari killers? New Vanquish and AM-RB 003
"Aston Martin is quite open that it’s aiming its sights at Ferrari and McLaren with two new mid-engined supercars. So let Top Gear Magazine’s Jack Rix be your guide to the weapons it’s going into battle with; the new Vanquish and AM-RB 003."
The Koenigsegg Jesko has already sold out
"In news that should surprise precisely nobody, the Koenigsegg Jesko has completely sold out. That’s 125 cars at around $3million a pop. Ker-ching, or something."
The Bloodhound land speed record car lives!
"Yes, we have been here before. Several times. But the issue was never the car or the engineering that underpinned it. It was money. And this time it looks like that, the trickiest problem of all, has been solved."
This is the new Porsche Cayenne Coupe
"None of these beasts – Audi Q8, BMW X6, Mercedes GLE Coupe – is what you’d call a looker exactly, but the Cayenne Coupe is a distinctive, typically well-resolved addition to the canon. Kind of Macan-plus rather than Cayenne-minus, which is a good thing."
TG drag races: BMW M5 Comp vs Honda NSX vs Merc E63 S
"Can the hybrid Honda NSX supercar show the ICE-only BMW M5 Competition and Mercedes-AMG E63 S supersaloons the way forward? Rory Reid finds out…"
Meet the man who saved the 1,000mph Bloodhound LSR car
"When I found out the car was in administration I thought, ‘that’s a shame but maybe it’s just a way of trying to regroup and keep the creditors at bay while they get more funding in’. And then I got a text from my son Charlie saying, ‘Hey Dad, have you seen the car’s for sale, why don’t you go buy it? Hahaha’, kind of thing."
BMW confirms front-wheel-drive, 2 Series 'Gran Coupe' is coming
"Just when you thought you were getting to grips with BMW’s niche-busting model range, they go and announce a four-door coupe version of the 2 Series to run alongside the standard coupe, convertible, Active Tourer and Gran Tourer versions of the same car. Crikey."
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