New issue out now: Top Gear’s affordable fun roadtrip

The car industry is a triple-dan black belt at extracting more coinage than you had any intention on spending. The art of making a car appear well equipped, but leaving ‘essentials’ on the options list – the gentlest mugging you’ll ever experience. But it needn’t be this way, happiness doesn’t lie at the end of a weighty invoice, so is it possible to be careful with our money and still have the time of our lives? 

Let’s hope so, because as the cost of living crisis curls its icy fingers around our cash flow, and the economy hits the skids harder than Chris Harris in a Sainsbury’s car park, spending smarter is no longer a strategy, it’s a necessity. Fortunately, Top Gear is here to help in these dark times in the only way we know how – with sound financial planning advice and a Top Gear ISA for every reader! No wait, that was plan B.

Instead, in a bid to demonstrate thrift is a gift, we went with an unforgettable Welsh roadtrip in four cheapish (sub-£30k) cars and a draconian food, fuel and lodgings budget of £300 for three days and two nights, plus the threat of sleeping in a tent should you overspend.

So, to see how our intrepid Ryanair-spec adventurers got on, click these blue words to order a single copy of the December 2022 issue with delivery direct to your door.

Fancy even more Top Gear magazine than that? Of course you do. Right now you can lock in the price of a subscription for one year and save 50% on the usual shop price. Pay just £32.99 every 12 issues. Click here to take advantage.

Oh, and it’s not just our affordable roadtrip is this month’s issue – we’ve also got the full lowdown on the Koenigsegg CC850 and the Rolls-Royce Spectre, plus there’s a certain Chris Harris driving the new Porsche 911 GT3 RS and a sunset chase in a Land Rover Defender towing a caravan. All will be explained when you buy the issue, we promise.