Everything you need to know about cars this week: 6 Sep '20

"Only 500 of these larger Type 35 tributes, fastidiously copied from a digitally scanned original, will ever exist. Much like the original Baby, they’re powered not by a tiny straight-eight engine, but an electric motor. The coachwork on the base model is posh fibreglass, makes do with a 4kW (5bhp) motor, a 13-mile range and costs £27,300."

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"It looks like a Fiat 500 all right. But you won’t find any component in this car that was in the old one. The new 500 is bigger and uses a new interior, chassis, body and platform. Most obvious and significant, the propulsion is new too. It’s electric only."

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"Called the Silver Spectre, it’s not an official Rolls project, rather the work of Niels van Roij Design, who’s also behind the realisation of the two-door Range Rover. The craftsmanship comes from Carat by Duchatelet."

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"The biggest headlines are in the technology department. It is 2020 after all (by which we mean ‘the digital age’, not ‘the year of the global disease’). The last 3008 debuted Peugeot’s i-Cockpit, and this updated one gets the latest version, with a ‘12.3in digital headset’ in place of dials and a new 10in touchscreen that’ll speak freely with whatever flavour of phone you’ve laid down on the wireless charging pad."

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"The new Ghost gains all-wheel drive and all-wheel steering, as well as a new ‘Planar’ suspension system that incorporates an upper wishbone damper unit above the front suspension assembly. It’s a world-first and is brilliantly named after flat and level geometric planes. There’s plenty more tech to make things effortlessly comfortable too, including the ‘Flagbearer’ system that scans the road ahead and prepares the suspension, as well as the Satellite Aided Transmission that uses GPS data to pre-select gears in the 8spd auto ‘box for each upcoming corner. "

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"Ever wondered what a super exclusive, downforce-hungry Chiron drives like? Well, wonder no more."

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"This is the new Skoda Enyaq iV. It is the first Skoda model to base itself upon the Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform, and if that is of no interest to you, know this: it’s a brand new fully-electric SUV that promises a range of up to 316 miles."

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"What GTO Engineering does is take a donor car – usually an existing 250 chassis or perhaps the less desirable (really?) 330 GT, and strip it down to a kit of parts. Each of these components is then either lovingly restored or, where necessary, 3D-modelled on the workshop computer, and using modern techniques and extreme patience, machined to a higher standard than could’ve been dreamt of by Sixties-era Ferrari factory hands. The result is a very fit’n’healthy but not over-egged ‘new’ 250 SWB. It almost seems a pity all of that hard work is covered up when that hand-beaten aluminium body is then draped over the top. Almost."

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"Ian Callum – erstwhile Jaguar design director and former Aston man, amongst others – felt there was unfinished business when it came to arguably his finest work, the Aston Martin Vanquish, so he’s gone back to the source and taught the band some new tunes. This isn’t just tinkering with the visuals, though, it’s about unlocking the potential that the original might have, erm, glossed over in the rush to market. Not really a Singer-style ultra-homage, then."

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"The larger of the electric motors drives the front wheels on its own from a standstill (and up to 84mph in ‘Pure’ mode), whilst the smaller motor is used to start up the ICE and to match the engine’s speed with road speed, making for a smooth gearchange with no clutch. Renault says the lack of a clutch and other hardware will make this the cheapest full-hybrid system on the market. There’s not even a reverse gear since that’s dealt with by electricity too."

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"Usually the press release for a brand-new car is a few thousand words long. Cars are big, complicated things after all, so explaining how they work normally requires many pages of many words. But the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class is bigger and more complicated than most, which is why its press release is no less than… 31,602 words and 83 pages long. Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is only 30,644 words long, so claims the Internet, and that’s an ACTUAL BOOK."

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"Goodness, where to begin. This is a Volvo P1800 from the 1960s, refined, restored and upgraded by touring car outfit Cyan Racing. It is a car built to commemorate Cyan’s first ever world touring car championship win in a Volvo."

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"The biggest change in WRC 9 over the excellent WRC 8, is the addition of three new locations from the original pre-COVID calendar. New Zealand, the Safari and Japan are all returning events with legendary status in rally history and here they all benefit from the WRC series’ brilliant, characterful stage design."

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"It’s road-legal from the factory, of course, and able to be road-registered 'in selected markets', but there’s more to it than that. And looking through the list of creature comforts in the 62R really does show up just how focused the original car was. Brabham now offers air-conditioning, comfy seats, some insulation, an exhaust that doesn’t deafen nearby wildlife and even an optional stereo. Well, what did you expect? It’s an FIA-compliant race car, you heathens. CarPlay wasn’t in the list of Brabham’s ‘must haves’."

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"Quick question: what’s the original SUV? Y’know, the first to marry the off-road ability of a proper four-wheel drive with the space, utility and creature comforts of a wagon? Well, the answer really depends on which side of the Atlantic you reside, and how willing you are to overlook basic facts and chronology."

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"Thanks to this bevy of tech, you’ll apparently be able to get something in the order of 50mpg. Yep, 50mpg out of a Wrangler. You’ll also get a frankly astonishing 375bhp (so about an LS V8’s worth of power) and 470lb ft, or the amount needed to topple larger buildings. From a turbocharged two litre and some batteries. We remember driving the old V6 Wrangler, which had the unique combination of an engine and the acceleration of a car that did not, in fact, have an engine. How times change."

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"In my penultimate report before the Jimny leaves the Top Gear Garage – and UK showrooms altogether – I thought I’d get it together with a car which could be its guiding hand back to price lists. Well, I say ‘car’… it’s a Toyota Land Cruiser van, and it’s one of the most fulfilling vehicles I’ve driven in a long time."

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"This is the Zero SR/S, a zero-emissions sports bike made by a Californian start up that’s aiming to disrupt those who’ve been in the market for decades longer."

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"The only chance the majority of us will ever see one, anyway. Just 25 of these T.50s racers are being built, each one will cost £3.1m (before taxes, so a little over £3.7m a pop). And… more than half of the run of 25 cars has already been accounted for, before anyone has even seen a pic."

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"Is the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class too complicated? Not according to the company’s chairman, Ola Källenius. Oddly for this Zoom and Teams-stuffed Covid comms era, he’s on the other end of a phone line in Sindelfingen, having just presided over the launch of Mercedes’ perma-pioneering luxury flagship. Phones? Surely we don’t need them where we’re going…"

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"We bet you weren’t expecting this today. Meet the Aston Martin Victor, a one-off commission made by the company’s Q division and utilising a greatest hits package of learnings from the One-77, Vulcan and Valkyrie hypercars. Yowzer."

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