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Everything you need to know about cars this week: 8 Sep '19
Bugatti does 300mph, and the Porsche Taycan is finally revealed
BMW 750i review: V8 turbo limo tested in the UK
"We shall mention it once and not again. The Grille. One of 2019’s big motoring villains. Probably the antagonist in a late-night, animated TV spin-off where it makes amends and wanders the globe helping similarly over-indulged grilles lead wholesome lives."
Advertisement - Page continues belowBugatti has broken the 300mph barrier
"Top Gear can exclusively reveal that Bugatti has smashed through the 300mph barrier. On 2 August 2019, Andy Wallace hit a vmax of 304.77mph in a go-faster Chiron at Ehra-Lessien, becoming the first hypercar to break 300mph."
Watch Bugatti break the 300mph barrier
"On 2 August 2019, Andy Wallace hit a vmax of 304.77mph in a modified Chiron at Ehra-Lessien, becoming the first hypercar to break 300mph. This is what it looked like from his point of view."
Advertisement - Page continues belowCupra's electric SUV is a fighty looking thing
"This, believe it or not, is a product of the Volkswagen Group. Yep, a company famed for its vast array of ever so slightly similar SUVs has produced one that looks positively wild."
The Aston Martin Vanquish 25 is a £550k remastered V12 GT
"Remastering, remixing, re-imagining: call it what you want, but revisiting the past and giving it the benefit of the ‘now’ is big business. Hot on the heels of the announcement about his post-Jaguar third act, Ian Callum’s new operation has unveiled its first project: the Aston Martin Vanquish 25."
The VW I.D R has set another record
"Given that no one had set a time up the incredibly wiggly – and picturesque – 6.776-mile, 99-turn road (which snakes up Tianmen Mountain near Zhangjiajie in China’s Hunan Province), Romain Dumas was effectively racing himself. Still, it’s fast. Really fast.:
This is the beginning of the end for the BMW i8
"The principle source of our sorrow comes from the fact BMW has confirmed the Ultimate Sophisto Edition will be one of the last i8s ever, with production of the hybrid sports car coming to an end for good in April 2020."
Advertisement - Page continues below11 crazy facts from Bugatti’s 300mph run
"You’ve seen the video. Now chew on the mind-numbing stats behind the incredible feat"
Lister LFT-C review: 666bhp Jaguar F-Type driven
"It’s the Lister LFT-C, a car that feels somewhat prosaically named given the company’s tuned F-Type was originally known as ‘Thunder’. Still, it at least sounds like thunder, with the Jag’s 5.0-litre V8 even more boisterous and muscular than normal. Which you’d blooming hope so, given the LFT-C costs £139,000."
Advertisement - Page continues belowWhy Bugatti only broke 300mph in one direction
"The world of the speed record is not a level playing field. In fact, creating the car capable of breaking the barrier is merely half the battle. As soon as Bugatti announced the fact that it had broken 300mph yesterday, it was inevitable the internet would light up and be happy to point out that due to ‘the rules’, it’s not actually a record."
The new limited-edition BMW M4’s silly name looks like a typo
"What’s going on at BMW, exactly? The marque that gave the world the super-saloon has gone properly mad now. First the huge’n’hideous grilles of the 7 Series and X7, then the illuminated schnozz and Vantablack of that invisible X6… and now there’s this."
The Lamborghini Siån is a hybrid V12 with supercapacitors
"Meet the Siån, a limited-run evolutionary step of Lambo’s V12 lineage. It’s also the fastest and most powerful car to ever come out of Sant’Agata Bolognese. Yep, it’s official: Lambo has gone hybrid. But not as you’d imagine."
This is the new Nissan Juke
"The Nissan Juke is a car that, when it was launched, had virtually no competitors. Now, after ten years and over a million sold, there are more than 20 “B-segment” SUVs on the market. Cars like the Renault Captur, VW T-Cross, Seat Arona, Mazda CX-3, DS 3 Crossback and Citroen C3 Aircross to name but six. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and all that…"
Hyundai wants both old and young people to love the new i10
"If we’re honest, we can’t make up our minds. Yes, it might look a little frog-like from head-on, and the original sketches were clearly a little bit too good to recreate, but it’s 20mm lower and 20mm wider than its predecessor. And hey, at least there are some interesting styling touches."
Review: Ferrari F8 Tributo
"As it stands, the F8 Tributo is a suitably stunning send-off for the V8 bloodline, and one of the year’s undoubted stars."
Bugatti's 300mph Chiron vs the fastest cars from history
"Since the motorcar’s inception, the pursuit of covering more distance in less time has in some way defined nearly each major car manufacturer. Apart from Dacia. Proof, if it was needed, is here. These are the fastest road-legal production cars in history. Mostly."
The Porsche Taycan is here with over 700bhp
"Slung low, wide of hip, its body melting over huge tyres and lazily slipping through the air. The Taycan clearly has Porsche written all over it. But it’s spiced up by constituents shot from somewhere in the next decade: the floating headlamps, the huge curved instrument screen and the haptic interface."
Video: your complete guide to the Porsche Taycan Turbo
"The Taycan isn’t just another new EV, it’s potentially a nail in the coffin for petrol-fuelled performance cars. Can Porsche pull it off?"
The Honda e now has some numbers attached to it
"The biggest difference we can spot compared to the prototype we drove earlier in the year is the disappearance of the word ‘prototype’ from its number plate. It’s otherwise unchanged; a slightly taller version of that initial concept with a set of back doors and less interesting wheels added."
Hennessey responds to Bugatti’s 300mph run
"Straight after this momentous achievement, Bugatti boss Stephan Winkelmann announced Bugatti would withdraw from the competition to produce the fastest serial production cars. Talk about a mic drop. Where does this leave the rest of the playing field? Here’s what John Hennessey had to say when he spoke to us exclusively after the run."
Say hello to the new all-electric Smart range
"A couple of years ago, Smart promised us that it would stop building combustion engined-cars for Europe and North America by the end of 2019. We’re getting close to that deadline, and the German brand has made good on its promise. Yep, say hello to the brand-new, electric-only range of Smarts."
The Alpine A110 is now an awesome rally car
"The new car has been developed by Alpine in partnership with Signatech. It retains the RWD setup, but has been given an FIA homologated roll cage, Sabelt bucket seats, a six-speed sequential gearbox, Brembo brakes and a new hydraulic suspension system."
Plot twist: Tesla wants to steal Porsche’s Nürburgring record
"When the Roadster emerged: no lap time. When Model S got Ludicrous Mode… nothing. Not even a driverless lap on Autopilot. But now, Tesla’s been triggered by the Germans. By Porsche, no less."
Gaming: WRC 8 finally offers Dirt some competition
"Fans of high-speed automotive gravel displacement have been positively spoilt this year when it comes to videogames. Back in February we were treated to the new standard bearer Dirt Rally 2.0, with its sublime handling and clever stage degradation. Now we’ve got WRC 8 on Xbox, Playstation, PC and Switch, the official game of the World Rally Championship, which aims to knock Dirt off its lofty perch with a well aimed muddy rooster tail. So does it?"
Koenigsegg: the Jesko should be “faster than 300mph”
"Koenigsegg has congratulated Bugatti on its recent record of 304mph in a prototype Chiron… while also noting how a ‘high-speed’ version of the Jesko – the company’s rival hypercar – might go even higher than 300mph."
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