Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2015 i BBC Top Gear Magazine

CONTENT TEAM OF THE YEAR MOTORING MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR SUBSCRIBE TO TOPGEAR Get Britain’s number-one car magazine every month, delivered to you as a hefty paper ofering, an interactive app or a digital edition. See page 86 for more details TOPGEAR.COM Check out TopGear.com for your daily dose of TG. Or you can join us on Facebook and Twitter As exquisite as it is, the Bugatti Veyron has a lot to answer for. When it launched in 2005 with a stratospheric 987bhp (1,000PS), its nearest ‘rival’ in the battle for hypercar supremacy – the Porsche Carrera GT – was delivering just 612bhp. By pole-vaulting the performance standards so far ahead of the opposition, it started an engineering arms race that had a profound effect on all that followed. Natural…

1 It’s a Cayman, only more so The Cayman’s blueprint – driven wheels at the rear, engine in the middle, justifiably smug driver in front – is beyond reproach. Porsche has wisely chosen not to meddle with the formula, instead opting for what you might call a holistic upgrade: more power, more wing and plenty of bits nicked from the 911 GT3. A Cayman turned up to 11. 2 It’s got the engine from a Carrera S It was long rumoured that Porsche stymied the Cayman’s performance to prevent it trampling on the toes of big brother 911. No longer. The GT4 gets the 3.8-litre naturally aspirated fat-six from the Carrera S, producing 380bhp at a screaming 7,400rpm. That’s 40bhp more than the Cayman GTS, making this the most powerful…

Is there a better excuse for getting behind the wheel than a road trip? Er, that would be a no. And when your destination is one of the world’s most amazing locations, you’re in for an experience that takes some whipping. Unsullied landscapes; cobalt skies; crisp, clean air; and the open road. Switzerland is like nowhere else. Over the next few months, via these pages, you’ll head off on the Grand Tour of Switzerland. You’ll trace a 1,600km route revealing the best of its beauty, scale and culture – a route that leads across five alpine passes, alongside 22 lakes and to 13 Unesco highlights. Each region has gob-smacking scenery and incredible geographical features in common. But each also has its own attractions, making the Grand Tour a proper expedition…

PLANETTG / # 01 SPACE CRAFT British welding enthusiast builds tiny caravan in the shape of the mythical Roswell UFO. Give that man a probe! ONE CAREFUL OWNER Father posts honest eBay ad for his son’s battered Clio, describing it as a “dustbin”. Bidding quickly reaches £101. HOT WHEELS Brand-new Porsche 918 catches fre in a Toronto fuel station. Someone fetch the sand, pronto. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE Russia bans transsexuals, homosexuals, gamblers and short people from driving. Taxi for Putin! OFF THE HOOK A Chinese lorry overturns, spilling 4,500kg of live fsh onto the road and causing a large-scale problem. “It was a mistake. I apologise to everyone. I will not repeat it. The road was empty at the time. This is the first time I’ve ever done it”…

Is there a more fighty-looking car on sale than the Juke Nismo RS? There are meaner and more aggressive cars, but none that better resemble the scrappy bloke at the wrong end of eight pints, picking on someone twice his size. And that’s very fitting. Here’s a Juke, one of Nissan’s littler cars, with the power and mechanical nous to take on bigger, more traditional performance metal. Nismo RS replaces the underwhelming Nismo, its 1.6-litre turbo engine up nearly 20bhp to a Golf GTI-like 215bhp; its body 40 per cent stiffer than before, reinforced in 26 places. More effective than either of those, though, is the addition of a mechanical limited-slip dif to the FWD Nismo RS – the one to buy, given the AWD version comes only with a…

Yes, the RS3 will do sideways. This was, in fairness, no more than Audi promised. Seemingly piqued by suggestions that its fast stuff – not least the old RS3 – was too nose-led, too understeery to appeal to the Dedicated Helmsman brigade, Ingolstadt has, for the last few months, been bigging up the capacity of the all-new RS3 for wanton, lusty oversteer, highlighting the ability of its quattro set-up to chuck 100 per cent of the torque to the rear axle. The RS3’s press gumph even promises the possibility of “controlled drifts”. Not a phrase you often find in an Audi press release. They weren’t fibbing. The RS3 will do sideways. Even in the stumpy mitts of TopGear, it can be coaxed into great steady-state drifts, front wheels countercanted to…

THE NEW PRETENDERS SUBARU BRZ OR TOYOTA GT86 EACH £22,495 Natural intellectual rivals to the MX-5, the 200bhp, boxer 4cyl-engined twins are wonderfully engaging, RWD and best suited to a 6spd manual gearbox. You can’t drop the roof, but you do get an extra pair of – albeit tiny – seats in the back. With either badge starting at £22,495, they sit directly in the same smiles-per-mile driving bracket as Mazda’s new roadster, though arguably a bit more driver-focused. Times are respectable: 0–62mph in 7.6 seconds, and a top speed of 140mph FORD FIESTA ST £17 ,395 Yes, yes, we know it’s a FWD hot hatch, but the ST is really worth thinking about if you’re buying a car to be practical and fun to drive. Starting at £17,395 and…

“THE VULCAN DELIBERATELY PUSHES THE LIMITS IN ALL SORTS OF WAYS” Vulcan. Now that’s a name. That’s a name that would have us fizzing inappropriately if it were stuck to a new vacuum cleaner, never mind a new Aston Martin. A new Aston Martin, we should point out, that’s powered by an 800bhp-plus, normally aspirated V12, and will exist in a limited run of just 24 cars. A fire-breathing Aston. “It has side-exiting exhausts,” says Aston design director Marek Reichman, with a tangible sense of mischief. “They make a sound that doesn’t just make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, it curls them and then dissolves them. On each downshift, 200mm of fame is going to erupt from those…” Reichman is no stranger to the pages…

GOODBYE 1499cc, 3cyl turbo petrol, FWD, 134bhp, 162lb ft 62.8mpg, 105g/km CO2 0–62mph in 7.9secs, 130mph 1085kg £ £15,300/£24,830 Total mileage 8560 Driver Sam Philip Why it’s here Is the original posh hatch still the best posh hatch? During the three-door Cooper’s stint in the TG Garage, a new arrival has joined its Mini family: the five-door hatch. For an extra £600 over the three-door Mini, it offers a pair of back doors, just enough space for a couple of rear passengers and a useful chunk more boot. A worthwhile upgrade? Well, with most hatches – Polo, Golf, whatever – the choice between three and five doors is a pretty straightforward one. Prepared to sacrifice a bit of practicality for slinkier looks? Go three-door. Need the space? Go five. Swings…

REPORT 3 1598cc, 4cyl turbodiesel, 4WD, 128bhp, 236lb ft 53.3mpg, 139g/km CO2 0–62mph in 11.0secs, 116mph 1615kg £ £28,995/£30,245 Total mileage 6687 Driver Andy Franklin Why it’s here Is this the next logical step after the Qashqai? This month, I’ve come to the Yarwell of-road course, near Peterborough, to discover if the X-Trail is as good of the tarmac as Nissan promises. My instructor today is Darren Swan, a man with a distinguished career driving large 4x4 things in the army (so presumably 4x4 things with very large guns on), racing Freelanders and instructing novices like me in the dark art of of-roading. Yarwell looks pretty intimidating, but Darren tells me that he’s driven the X-Trail before off-road and reckons it’s up to the task. I engage the X-Trail’s 4x4i…

REPORT 4 1582cc, 4cyl turbodiesel, FWD, 126bhp, 192lb ft 47.1mpg, 158g/km CO2 0–62mph in 11.7secs, 110mph 1557kg £ £21,550/£21,550 Total mileage 4509 Driver Simon Carrington Why it’s here Can the Soul hack it as an urban family runaround? The blue car you see above is no ordinary Soul. Nor is it mine. Mine’s the white one, the blue one is electric and I was keen to see how the two compared and what electric is like to live with. As I live closest to TG Towers, I’ve driven a lot of electric vehicles and I’ve not always been a fan. So it was with trepidation that I took the keys for my quick commute home. My first impression... why do electric cars have to look so odd? The Soul is…

TWITTER.COM/BBC_TOPGEAR FACEBOOK.COM/TOPGEAR SECOND FLOOR A, ENERGY CENTRE, IMMEDIATE MEDIA COMPANY LONDON LIMITED, MEDIA VILLAGE, 201 WOOD LANE, LONDON W12 7TN FROM TOPGEAR.COM The 380bhp Porsche Cayman GT4 is here. Any thoughts from around the world? This will go down as the greatest sports car ever made; just wait. Patrick Clancy First the 488, then the Focus RS, and today the Cayman GT4!....thank you, car world! TDagR What a car, but no PDK! What about disabled drivers! Don’t get me wrong – I used to love a manual ’box, but now I have no left leg! Shaun F I’d have the GT-R over this. The Cayman just isn’t special. Chris Kim The mid-engined stick-shift Porsche returns. Huzzah! MrJC22173 Hmm… I would like to point out that a Camaro Z/28 is still…

Nudging its 10th birthday it may be, but add the sufix ‘GT3’ to the Vantage, and it’s like it’s day one again. To be fair, this is one highly evolved Vantage. Since 2005, Aston Martin has transformed itself into a seriously successful customer racing outfit, and the GT3 positively dribbles with competition-spec knowhow. Peel away the lairy graphics, and what you’re left with is lower and wider than any previous iteration. Everything bar the doors is made of carbon fibre, so it tips the scales 100kg less than the standard car. The 6.0-litre V12 has been uprated from 565bhp to a few horses short of 600. Aston has some ex-F1 guys on the payroll now, so there’s a lot of trick aero on the GT3: the intakes on the bonnet…

PLANET/ASK UNCLE TOPGEAR Dear Uncle TG What’s the best way to increase the performance of my Nissan GT-R R35? Rob, by email I do not recall the Nissan GT-R being what one would call short of performance. Have you tried depressing the shiny pedal on the far right a little more firmly? Dear Uncle TG I’ve got a ten-year-old Ford Fiesta, which I’m very happy with. I was going to replace it, but I don’t like the interior of the new Fiesta. Do you have any alternative suggestions? Lara, by email If you are very happy with your ten-year old Fiesta, why don’t you get a ten-year old Fiesta? Look closely: you may find there’s one already outside your house. Dear Uncle TG Who would win in a fight between…

You can judge a lot about a person when you walk into their office or, to use a more current term, their ‘workspace’. An old kettle, family holiday pictures, a squash racquet – they’re each revealing in their own way. But the thing I dread finding more than any other – the terrifying window into someone’s soul that triggers more panic klaxons than the squash racquet, even – is a rank of those fancy car models that masquerade not as toys, but as genuine ‘replicas in miniature’. They sit there, dull-eyed and impotent, trying somehow to signal the depth and sincerity of their owner’s interest in cars, when all they reveal, in fact, is that, like most people, their owner can’t afford a real Ferrari and even if they could,…

1. WHO The Crew of Apollo 12 2. WHAT Cheap Corvettes 3. WHERE Cape Canaveral 4. WHEN 1969 The first group of NASA astronauts – the Original Seven – might have been the first Americans in space, but they had to make do with standard navy salaries. So it was lucky they bumped into former Indy 500 winner Jim Rathmann, who happened to own a Chevy showroom near Cape Canaveral and offered to lease each man whatever Chevrolet he liked for just a dollar a year. As mate’s rates go, it wasn’t half bad. It would be the best part of a decade before any of them would walk on the Moon, but to Rathmann, along with GM boss and astrobuf Ed Cole, they were already heroes. What else should…

Meguiar’s, Autoglym et al will sell you all sorts of carefully tailored car-care products (bumper and trim gel, for example) but what if you’ve – correctly – blown all your money on the car? Here are a few alternatives from your home’s cupboards 1 Toothpaste It’s mildly abrasive, so good for removing tarnish from brightwork, although over time it will remove the brightwork altogether, ending the issue. Can also clean headlamp lenses and remove tiny scratches from smooth plastic. Smells minty fresh, too. 2 Cif Power Cream (bathroom) Chemical action is very efective at removing stubborn cack from textured interior plastics. Incorporates ‘active shield’ technology to prevent future dirt sticking so easily. Smells of kitchen cleaner. 3 Dettol Removes mould from the outside of old Land Rovers and from the…

DISCOVER THE NORTHERN TERRITORY’S TOP FIVE From scenic flights, crocodile cruises and fishing charters to airboat rides, 4WD tracks and waterholes swims, you’re spoilt for choice in the Northern Territory. We’ve picked our top 5 below and also teamed up with Austravel for a reader offer to help you make the most of your Territory adventure. 1 DARWIN Join a guided fishing tour to catch a famous barramundi in Darwin Harbour 2 ADELAIDE RIVER See spectacular jumping crocodiles as they leap vertically out of the Adelaide River 3 MARY RIVER Discover the Mary River wetland floodplains with an exhilarating trip in an airboat 4 KAKADU NATIONAL PARK Take a dip in Gunlom’s natural infinity pool and enjoy the soaring views of Kakadu 5 KATHERINE GORGE Jump in a helicopter and…

Ford calls the Focus ST its pentathlete. The analogy arrives alongside the new Focus RS, and it’s helpful for understanding the freshly face-lifted ST’s place in the world. While the snorty RS has an eye firmly on circuit prowess, the ST is the slightly softer, one-car-fits-all alternative. As such there are diesel and wagon options, a combination we tried last month. But where does the good old petrol hatchback ft in all of this? Very well, we say. The outgoing car was a peach, twinning an agile chassis with a muscular engine, while costing less than most rivals. Starting at £22,195, this updated ST is £100 cheaper and has stiffer suspension, recalibrated torque-vectoring and steering systems and new use of stop/start, which has helped reduce CO2 figures. While we found…

Snip, snip, “Going anywhere nice on holiday?” Oh, stop that now: this is a serious sports car – at least that’s what Audi says. And you know what? They’re right, at least up to a point, although this TT has had a bit taken of the top. Always pretty, the TT has never had a huge amount of praise heaped on it for how it drives. How it looks, yes; how it feels inside, absolutely; but never really how it drives. The new one is a bit different, though, even here in Roadster guise – there’s even talk of “controlled drifting” in the press bumf. An appointment for a track day, then? We’d not go that far, but the TT has certainly got more substance to back up its obvious…

It’s only a facelift – angular lights and squared-off Audi-like grilles are the visual ‘treats’. But enginewise, the GTS has regenerated more severely than Doctor Who. Out goes the baleful 4.8-litre atmospheric V8, and in comes a tuned-up version of the Cayenne and Macan S’s twin-turbo V6. Losses? Two cylinders and 1.2 litres. Gains? Two turbos, another 20bhp and 63lb ft. Result? You hit 62mph half a second faster than the previous model, yet economy is up 2.2mpg and CO2 output tumbles 21g/km. We only drove the cars in snowy Sweden: ideal for playfulness, but not exploring the raggedy edge of handling. So, the GTS’s 20mm ride-height drop and extra torque weren’t as critical as they might’ve been – though the V6 GTS was palpably less nose-heavy than the V8…

The old chap standing by the side of the road in a small village somewhere about an hour south of Lisbon has patently heard me coming. He’s paused in the dusty, cobbled margin, peering at the dark blue Mercedes-AMG C63 S as if slightly disappointed that the thunderous noise he must have heard from a few miles away has resolved into a fairly innocuous-looking blue saloon. But, heading towards the village, I have knocked the C-Class into Comfort mode, popped the exhaust into a more socially acceptable configuration and slowed. He raises an eyebrow – difficult when your skin is the texture and colour of saddle leather – smiles and points both thumbs skywards in the universal sign of approval. With his hair slicked back and tiny ears, I can’t…

“NISSAN’S STRATEGY WITH THIS PROJECT IS UNIQUE: NO SECRECY” It’s 6am, in the breakfast room of a nondescript Hampton Inn somewhere in a nondescript part of lower, right-hand-down-a-bit America. The friendly middle-aged lady preparing the grits is curious. “Are you with those racing guys?” I tell her I am. “What you doing down here?” Trying to make a new racing car work, I explain. I decide to leave out the complexities of the fywheel hybrid system and front-wheel drive at this stage. I don’t want her to forget her grits. “But there are so many of you.” There are, I admit. Last night, I counted 20 engineers at the debrief and about another 10 mechanics. “So how many cars you got down there?” Just the one, I say. Incomprehension roots…

REPORT 7 1968cc, 4cyl bi-turbo diesel, FWD, 178bhp, 295lb ft 37.2mpg, 199g/km CO2 0–62mph in 12.4secs, 117mph 3000kg £ £49,214/£58,834 Total mileage 11,211 Driver Ollie Marriage Why it’s here Is VW’s camper van worth 20 years of holidays in Spain? This is meant to be a report about what I got up to over Christmas and the New Year in the camper van. For I had plans. They involved mountain bikes, Wales, mates, pubs – you know the score. Predictably, they fell through. Instead, family Marriage basically went into hibernation for two weeks, and it was bliss. In all that time, I drove fewer than 100 miles and slept in the camper van precisely zero times. I even drove it to a New Year’s Eve party at a pub, fully…

So here it is: the Ferrari 488 GTB, the turbocharged replacement for the 458 Italia. It’s a car that seems to have courted controversy, simply because it introduces turbocharging into Ferrari’s heartland mid-engined supercar, following on from last year’s California T. But why the grimace and the slightly dismissive attitude to a Prancing Horse with boost? Admittedly, the 458 Speciale’s 9,000rpm, 605bhp 4.5-litre naturally aspirated crescendo will be missed, but a Ferrari with forced induction isn’t exactly new, and I doubt any of us would pass over the opportunity to own or drive an F40, 288 GTO or 208 GTB Turbo. So let’s not quickget ahead of ourselves – turbo Ferraris are not necessarily a bad thing, and the 488 GTB has some tricks up its newly fared sleeves to…

What’s that big-badged Renault? That big-badged Renault is France’s new Qashqai-based Qashqai rival, the Kadjar. Bless you Thank you. The Kadjar is not alone in the Weird SUV Names department. Last month, Bentley announced its longawaited, £140,000-plus SUV will be called Bentayga: named for, we’re told, a rock formation in the Canary Isles, not a wonky big cat. And Jag’s crossover – previewed by last year’s C-X17 – will wear the nameplate ‘F-Pace’, apparently referencing Jag’s motto of ‘grace, pace and space’. Why the spate of silly names? Facetious it might sound, but most of the good words have already been nabbed, or trademarked for future nameplates. Truth is, the English language’s stock of inspiring animals, meteorological events and otherworldly spirits has been pretty much extinguished. It’s a particular problem…

TG TOP FACT At roughly the same size as three tennis courts, the crawler transporter is the world’s largest selfpropelled land vehicle What is it? One of two Apollo-era crawlers that move rockets from the assembly building to launch pads at the Kennedy Space Centre. Surely it is the launch pad? Not quite. The crawler rolls underneath a launch platform and picks it up before carrying it about four miles to the blast site. Slowly. Picks it up? Each track unit has independent hydraulics, so the crawler can move up and down at each corner. This also keeps it level on the ramp to the pad. So it’s been around for ages? Since 1965. These transported the Saturn V rockets of the Apollo missions. Joint mileage so far: 3,400. What’s…

HEADLIGHT LAMPS Ever looked at a piece of car and thought, “Hmm, that’d look much better on sticks in my front room?” Good news! A German man called Ulf shares your vision and has decided to turn old car and motorcycle headlamps into useful illumination for your house. Each comes with paperwork telling you where the light spent its former life, or alternatively you could send one to Ulf and he’ll make you a custom piece, whether it’s for your desk, lounge or to hang in the kitchen. When he’s not doing that he restores rusty motorbikes, many of which have a conspicuous lack of headlights. So much for Ulf & Safety, eh? from €1,395; urban-light-factory.com NAVDY HUD Before now, retrofit HUDs have been ugly plastic bricks on top of…

Every few hours, one of the world’s carmakers launches yet another big expensive SUV. And yet, even among this forest of rivals, Volvo’s new XC90 manages to carve out its own distinctive clearing. It doesn’t throw weight and cost at what would be for most buyers a superfluity of of-road ability. Or sacrifice comfort for equally irrelevant Nürburgring horseplay. Or lose space in pursuit of a silhouette aping that incongruous fashion, the sports utility coupe. OK, so you might think a bald list of the XC90’s main advantages doesn’t make terribly exciting reading: roominess, versatility, comfort, safety. Yet it follows those aims with such single-mindedness, humanity and warmth that I ended up finding it beguiling and desirable. There’s a nobility in the doing of simple crafts well and generously. All…

The Elise is an immature scamp: an entertaining thing in passing, but over prolonged exposure its noisy and panting nature can get pretty tiresome. Yet in other ways it’s like an old sage, an oracle to be cherished and revered. Approaching the close of its second decade, it has characteristics that are truly benchmarks. For that reason alone, a new version should be welcome. But there’s more. The Elise S Cup is evidence that Lotus is in recovery from its bruising rollercoaster of misplaced investment, retrenchment and lockdown. Broadly speaking, it’s a road-going version of the track-only fixed-hardtop S Cup R. The S stands for 217bhp of supercharged Lotus-Toyota four, so performance isn’t any too shabby. But the real headliner is the way it tackles corners quick and slow, thanks…

If you land a works drive with Team Vulgarian, this is your car. It must be one of the most reviled vehicles on the road. Still, for every hundred people who loathe it, there will be one who loves it, and they might be someone you badly want to impress. If so, you’ll want this car no matter what I say. And heck, the engine is pretty appealing. A heavily revised 4.4 V8 with all BMW M’s fancy fuelling and turbocharging tech, its 575bhp and stump-yanking torque, teamed with unshakable traction, will send you squalling forward whatever the situation. Sure, if you’re of an M mentality, you might like a noise that’s more charismatic, but there’s no doubting the performance. Hilariously, BMW sent me off on a racetrack in the…

Tired old stereotypes be damned. Do not head past this page and lightly dismiss the MX-5 as a ‘hairdresser’s car’ while eagerly searching out the latest info on the new Focus Asbo RS on page 116. Why? Because you’re not Jeremy Clarkson from 1992. Because you are capable of seeing this is the all-new MX-5 and that this little red car is properly, seriously important. Not just to Mazda – clearly, it is important to Mazda because it makes money selling cars – but more so because the MX-5 is the bestselling two-seater sports car of all time. Of all time. And if it gets this new one right, it might just be one of our few chances to enjoy the kind of simplicity and purity of experience that has…

A simple straight-line test is not the correct way to judge which is the better car here. I know that. But it is a lot of fun. And quite revealing. So the Lexus RC F lined up alongside the BMW M4, modes were fddled with, traction settings chosen and when both drivers were happy, they set of. And the BMW won. By a country mile. By the time the M4 reached 100mph, just 8.8secs after it set of, the Lexus was already getting on for two seconds adrift. Later, we did other metric stuff, and we found out that the BMW is much faster around a circuit, can pull more g and stop harder. To many people, this must mean it’s a better car. But is speed alone the thrill?…

HELLO Rolls-Royce EJ200 turbofan, Nammo hybrid rocket, 47,700lb thrust 200 litres of jet fuel and 800 litres of rocket fuel per run 0–1000mph in 42.0secs, 1050mph max 7750kg Weeks to go 26 Run by Mark Chapman Why it’s here It’s Bloodhound SSC... Hello, my name is Mark Chapman and I’m the chief engineer on Bloodhound. Last month, you may remember that we let Ollie and Charlie come down to Bristol and help out with the build of the car for a day. In all seriousness, everyone here commented how enthusiastic they’d been about getting stuck in. We were impressed. So now they’ve asked me to write a regular monthly update on what’s going on with the project – if you want even more regular updates, please have a look at…

GOODBYE 1984cc, 4cyl turbo, 4WD, 227bhp, 273lb ft 43.5mpg, 151g/km CO2 0–62mph in 5.3secs, 155mph 1335kg £ £34,545/£45,335 Total mileage 5575 Driver Ollie Marriage Why it’s here Is the new TT a genuine sports car? I know, it’s only just arrived and here we go, bidding it adieu, but if you remember, this is part of The Plan. The place vacated by this AWD TFSI S line quattro is being filled by a FWD diesel Sport. More on that next month. In the meantime, life with KP64 VZN. It’s been good on the whole and great in parts – the interior, specifically, which is just fabulous. As long as you’re the driver. The passenger is free to have a twiddle with the knobs on the console, of course, but this…

REPORT 5 1499cc, 3cyl, RWD, 231bhp, 235lb fit (plus 129bhp, 185lb ft e-motor driving the front wheels) 134.5mpg, 49g/km CO2 0–62mph in 4.4secs, 155mph 1560kg £ £99,845/£105,825 Total mileage 14,147 Driver Charlie Turner Why it’s here Is this the future of the sports car? In previous updates, I’ve focused on the diversity of the driving experience the i8 delivers, and that is still a trump card of i8 ownership. But, while driving the car is still utterly beguiling, it’s the i8’s looks that are drawing a crowd. On every journey, the TG i8 becomes the star of many mobile-phone movies. The most common view in the rearview mirror is that of a driver getting up close to get a better angle on their phones. Every fuel stop, parking space and…

REPORT 2 2993cc, V6 diesel, 4WD, 290bhp, 443lb ft 40.4mpg, 185g/km CO2 0–62mph in 6.8secs, 138mph 2115kg £ £76,250/£95,250 Total mileage 4209 Driver Tom Ford Why it’s here Is there any point in a Range Rover ‘Sport’? Never one to give a long-term test car an easy ride, I’ve dropped 3,500 miles on the Range Rover Sport in a brief few weeks, running it to and from London and to various photoshoots around the country. So far, so good. The engine is returning a respectable 33mpg (meaning 500+ miles of range), there’s plenty of torque on offer for motorway sliproads and stick it in Dynamic mode (where the dials turn an angry red) and the RRS can hustle down a B-road with the best of them. No hot hatch, but…