New issue out now: crowning TG’s Performance Car of the Year

We’ve been talking about it for a while now, but the chasm is beginning to widen. This idea that EVs will become the catch all solution for everyday driving, getting from A to B, family trips etc, and combustion engines will become the preserve of enthusiasts who are prepared to stomach rising fuel costs and taxation.

Total separation is yet to occur of course, there are still plenty of excellent petrol and diesel (remember that?) cars out there, and a handful of EVs aimed at speed freaks, but we’re sensing an acceptance that this is how the future will be.

It’s a phenomenon brought into relief by our Performance Car of the Year test and the recent Munich motor show where 98 per cent of the new cars shown were EVs – the plucky petrol, manual Renault Clio the only outlier. When it came to assembling our PCOTY hoard, we tried in vain to find something compact and affordable with only a mild surplus of horsepower. Normally this is the where the humble petrol-powered hot hatch shines, but there’s currently tumbleweed blowing through that bit of the market.

And so of the dozen vehicles assembled only one (the Ioniq 6 N) was electric – a fact that speaks volumes about how Hyundai is really the only manufacturer delivering close to combustion engine thrills in a performance EV right now. The others all gargled petrol and proved that there’s lots of life left in controlled explosions yet... and lashings of creativity at the top end of the market.

Despite our doom-mongering, the V12 lives on, triumphantly, as does natural aspiration and manual gearboxes. Both technologies that were supposedly left behind long ago in the pursuit of power, efficiency and speed, but are now firmly part of the carmaker’s arsenal to bring driver engagement back up the priority list.

What it means, though, is – unless you want to go used – performance isn’t cheap. A £70k Hyundai EV was the ‘bargain’, a £90k BMW M2 the most affordable combustion model... and the least powerful car (but also the noisiest) was a full fat Dakar truck, followed by a 911 GT3. Gone are the days of getting your eye in with something front wheel drive and the friendly side of 250bhp... it’s all or nothing. Not that we’re complaining.

To read the full story of this year’s Performance Car of the Year test and to find out the overall winner, grab a copy of Top Gear magazine now. You don’t even need to get up off the sofa to do it, just click this link and you’ll be able to have one delivered direct to your door. Or if you want even more from Top Gear magazine you can click here to start a subscription, it’s currently just £5 for your first five issues, after which you’ll get six issues for just £23.50. Bargain.