Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2025 i CAR UK

Mercedes-AMG went to extremes to prove it really is possible to put a Formula 1 car on the road, although seeing the AMG One project through to completion involved so much effort and so many revised deadlines that the main point it proved was how difficult such an ambition was to achieve. But now here’s a new AMG that claims power and performance potential so vast as to make the low, light two-seater with a hybrid V6 engine seem a little puny by comparison. The debutant is the Concept GT XX, a fourdoor electric coupe designed to showcase AMG’s ability to transition its skills from combustion engines to high-performance EVs. It’s claimed to make more than one megawatt from its three axial flux motors, with a top speed of 224mph.…

Up ahead in this vast valley in the middle of Montana, a gopher pops its head out of the grass verge, looking left and right like it’s been intently studying the Green Cross Code. The Bentley Bentayga Speed has been running hard but a quick lift breaks the relentless speed, giving the gopher a chance to risk it as he/she (it’s difficult to tell) charges across the tarmac, tail pinned tall, and tumbles headlong into the safety of the grass on the other side of the road. It’s a lucky escape for our furry friend, as this latest Bentayga Speed is the fastest yet and – at 2466kg and riding on 23-inch wheels – not gopher-friendly. Now into its second iteration thanks to 2020’s facelift, the Speed completes the Bentayga…

After all the talk about innovation, driving the first Neue Klasse car is pretty normal, in a good way It was August 2020 when BMW started to worry about the world. When the rest of the globe was distracted by Covid and what it was doing to society, BMW had a long, hard look in the mirror and didn’t like what it saw. EV development was changing rapidly and the Bavarians thought they were in danger of being left behind. Task forces were formed, engineers were recruited, strategies were created. Nothing was off the table – revolution was in the air! – and the resulting camouflaged prototype is before me now, a game-changing new car that will define BMW for the next decade. And the shape this seminal car takes?…

It makes light work of towing, off-roading and general shenanigans Any moment now, someone might well start World War 3. And should that happen, this new Ford Ranger plug-in hybrid is almost exactly the kind of vehicle you’re suddenly going to need. We’ll get to the ‘almost’ part in a moment. Right now, halfway up an Icelandic volcano, it looks like the world already has ended: in a mash-up between Jurassic Park and James Bond, the terrain is a blend of bleak, weather-blasted scrubland where nearly nothing grows taller than a small shrub and the ground is literally venting steam, and clusters of futuristic pod-like structures in a variety of raw metal finishes, linked by networks of curiously chaotic-looking pipeline. They are not Bond villain-related at all, and in fact…

Context isn’t everything. The 205 GTI was Peugeot’s first GTI and not only was it plainly brilliant but it was launched at a time when this breed of car was almost as exciting and desirable as a contemporary Testarossa or Countach, and as likely to appear on the cover of an ’80s car magazine, moodily shot in a Welsh slate mine. By the time the 106 GTI came along in ’96 we knew what Peugeot could do, and expected it to deliver. As cars iterate, surprise often gives way to disappointment. There was no disappointment with the 106 GTI, but it didn’t have the impact of being first. Its seven years on sale spanned two eras of hot hatch. When it launched a couple of years after the 205 GTI…

A test of three V12 supercars is clearly not comparable to an RAF low-flying exercise, but it does share three core requirements: we need an inordinate amount of fuel, a lot of space and preferably not so many people around to complain about a howling racket that rattles windows for miles around (although to you and me it’s a 12-cylinder symphony). So we point the Lamborghini Revuelto, Ferrari 12Cilindri and Aston Martin Vanquish north, striding up the A1, aiming to re-fuel in Barnard Castle and vanish from the radar in the North Pennines. Disappearing is easier said than done, because even with the volume off this trio would pull a crowd – the hybrid Revuelto later proves as much, as it glides through town on electric power and startled…

It’s just after dawn on a picture perfect morning in downtown Palm Springs. All hazy warm sunshine reflecting off the mid-century architecture, dew drying on the pavement, the smell of coffee wafting down the main drag on the gentle easterly breeze. It’s hard to imagine a better place to be at this time of year. However the SPF50-slathered silver-surfer locals, out for their morning power walks fuelled by prunes and protein shakes, are visibly unhappy. Maybe shocked is a better word. One minute they were striding purposefully down the street listening to the distant morning birdsong. Now they have been subjected to the aural version of a highpowered cattle prod. The cause of this neck-snapping chiropractic bonanza is the battery-powered Dodge Charger – the Daytona Scat Pack, to be precise…

The deeper you get into any DIY project, the more you realise there are specialist tools for everything. Recently I discovered Volvo produces a factory-spec ‘bone tool’ for removing interior trim. A while back, a farmer lent me his ‘monkey strainer’ for tightening barbedwire fence. And I really want a banana-shaped pair of ‘disconnect pliers’ with a weird set of teeth, designed to remove those push-tab electrical plugs you find in cars. So useful, if your car has push-tab electrical plugs that need disconnecting. The MX-30 R-EV is also a specialist tool, which means if you’re looking for a particular set of skills, you’d be pleased to own one. So if (a) you do a daily commute and (b) you live under 20 miles from work and (c) you have…

Apple may have parked its on-off ambition to become a car maker, but it’s now engaged in a project with the potential to make its software a significant part of every car. This Trojan horse, enveloping the critical space between car and customer, is called CarPlay Ultra. It’s a logical update to Apple’s existing CarPlay software, and a seismic move in the ongoing game of chess between car makers and big tech. More powerful and more encompassing than the regular CarPlay, Ultra embeds itself in every aspect of the car, from vehicle dynamics and climate control to the radio and cockpit dials. The result is a system that means the driver rarely needs to dip into the car’s own systems. Aston Martin is the first to offer it, but other…

When did you last see someone wearing a Nissan T-shirt? A brand that doesn’t inspire much of an emotional attachment, its biggest successes have been with function-over-fun vehicles such as the Qashqai and Juke, and the pioneering electric Leaf, which has sold 700,000 worldwide in 15 years. But the newly revealed Mk3 Leaf arrives in a very different world. Whereas 2010’s Mk1 had next to no competition in the mainstream market, the new Sunderland-built Mk3 is up against a dizzying array of rival EVs. Which is why we’re quizzing Nissan Design Europe vice president Giovanny Arroba about T-shirts as an indicator of the level of passion for the brand and its heritage, without which it may struggle to win hearts as well as minds. ‘We did a lot of soul…

Letter of the month Outstanding Outstanding piece of motoring journalism by Mark Walton on the Defender Octa and the Ariel Nomad in the June issue. A real pleasure to read. A perfect example of the reasons why I am faithful to CAR magazine. Giuseppe Papuli Yes. (And when a story like that hits my inbox, I feel very privileged to be the first person on the planet to read it.) CO Wires crossed There’s no reason why drive by wire shouldn’t be a thing. The aerospace defence industry has been doing it for decades. I saves space and weight. Personally, though, I hate the idea. I want as much mechanical interaction as I can get with a car. In fact, I de-powered the steering rack on my MX-5 to…

When I first drove a Peugeot 306 GTI-6 around the turn of the millennium I was a junior road tester. I was beginning my career as the 306 was retiring. The model had been introduced in ’93 and the six-speed, 167bhp, 2.0-litre GTI-6 arrived in ’96 and had already been around for four or five years by the time I finally got in one: it would be discontinued in 2001. It already felt a little anachronistic then, when still technically ‘new’. Times were changing quickly, if not quite as fast as today. The standard hatch-saloon hierarchies were shattering into niches. Faux-SUVs were on the rise, literally. Peugeot didn’t bother making a hot version of the 306’s more voluminous, upright 307 replacement, and hot hatches were changing too, getting faster, more…

The Bosco Verticale, or vertical forest, is a pair of Milanese skyscrapers wreathed in moss and lichen. At least, that’s how they appear from a distance, like a corner of the city was abandoned decades ago and nature is claiming it back. Get closer and you realise the greenery is shrubs and trees: more than 90 species, planted on steel-reinforced balconies, improving the air quality, turbocharging biodiversity, nurturing a cooler micro climate in Milan’s searing summers and softening the occasionally monotonous geometry of the built environment. The concept is exciting. But as Karim Habib and I gaze at one of the towers, I can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed. ‘I don’t know. True living walls, well, they feel much more… living,’ I suggest dumbly, keen to avoid coming across…

Industrial-looking multi-storey car park, moody lighting and a modified car to ogle at? It’s all gone a bit Max Power. Let’s be honest, on its own my Superb wouldn’t have even registered on the Max Power radar. It’s grey, has small-ish wheels, uses the ‘wrong’ fuel and its body style has traditionally been ignored by most modifiers. But the green one is a different story entirely. These two Superbs have plenty in common. They’re both very well built, come with a great driving position, have a massive boot capable of taking a house move in its stride, and are loaded with kit. The green one is in top-spec Lauren & Klement spec, finished in fabulous Royal Green (a limited-edition colour that celebrated King Charles’ coronation in 2023) and comes with…

Saying goodbye to the S3 is proving trickier than expected. Six months ago, I wanted to know if the middleweight Audi was finally a true driver’s car, with the feeling and engagement to match its unquestioned performance. I drove rivals, covered thousands of miles and directly compared it to the more hardcore RS3 in search of an answer. My verdict? Not quite. And my personal revelation? I don’t really care that it falls short of those ultimates – it has a lot else to commend it. Compared to the RS3 it feels woolly and imprecise, a steak knife to the ultimate hatch’s scalpel. Its turbocharged four-cylinder engine is perfectly fine, offering 328bhp and more than enough shove for the motorway – but it’s no rare specimen like the five-cylinder in…

Normally if you’d averaged under 20 per cent of a car’s official mpg figures you’d be miffed, but we know those WLTP PHEV numbers are wildly irrelevant to most people’s lives and I’m happy with the 84.3mpg our GLC 300de plug-in diesel returned over 4531 miles – 52 per cent of that on electricity. To recap, the GLC combines a 2.0-litre turbodiesel engine with a single e-motor and 31.2kWh battery. It produces 328bhp and weighs 2310kg. Officially it does… 565mpg. The GLC is refined more than entertaining. The steering’s isolated, the handling failsafe more than connected and the gearshifts really quite gentle. But I found it relaxing in everyday use, with good comfort, infotainment and plenty of space. Performance was surprisingly stout (even with the battery drained) and it was…

Grumpy and small There’s much to be happy about with the updated Toyota Aygo, making it rather odd that it looks so put out. The weedy non-electrified petrol engine is gone, replaced by a hybrid powertrain – an operation that must have involved very deft use of both crowbar and shoe horn, given how dinky the Aygo is. As well as the frowny face, the visual update includes new wheels and the introduction of a GR Sport trim line for those dreaming rally dreams. The interior is now free from animal products, and some trim components have had colour injected into them at the mould stage to reduce paint use. Scowling and overcomplicated Joining a long line of angry-looking Audis, meet the third-generation Q3. It takes much of its inspiration…

You know those cute and practical small cars that Fiat has been brilliant at over the decades? After a lot of attempts to break out of that part of the market, Fiat has realised that it’s best just sticking to what it’s so good at. ‘When you think about Fiat, you have the Panda world and the 500 world. When customers walk into our showrooms you have two very different kinds of cars. You are either a 500 lover and you don’t even look at the Panda – “Forget it, it’s not for me!” – and the other way around. If you are a Panda lover you don’t even look at the 500 cars,’ says Gaetano Thorel, head of Fiat and Abarth in Europe. Fiat has high hopes for the…

‘Bumpy’ is how Toyota describes the bZ4X’s original launch in 2021. Which is putting it mildly. This was a car that should have been if nothing else efficient, given Toyota’s decades of experience with electric motors and batteries in its hybrids. But it just didn’t deliver, and few had a kind word to say about it. It was a weird-looking, bland-driving crossover that was so inefficient you’d wonder if it would make it down your driveway. So Toyota went back to the drawing board, pulled the whole thing apart and figured out how it could make the bZ4X better. We’re trying a prototype version of the revised car in close to production-ready form. The new battery packs (57.7kWh and 73.1kWh) have entirely new cooling systems and more cells per stack,…

Flip through Fiat’s storied history books and its most successful models have invariably been small cars with big personalities; cars whose appeal combines effervescent charm, affordability and real-world practicality with an overly generous dollop of style. The new Grande Panda absolutely bullesyes this formula. Just look at it. This is the new Hybrid variant, visually identical to the electric version we drove earlier in the year. Its mild hybrid hardware marries a turbocharged 1199cc three-cylinder petrol unit with a 28bhp electric motor and a 48-volt lithium-ion battery, driving the front wheels through a six-speed double-clutch gearbox. Economy and emissions figures of 56.5mpg and 115g/km for an achievable 500-odd miles between brims are impressive – a modest 108bhp and 151lb ft for a 10sec ramble to 62mph and a top speed…

What do you write about the 205 GTI that hasn’t already been written? Maybe you don’t bother. Maybe instead you just go out and buy one, if they’re that good, knowing that as long as you buy well, the car’s reputation will put a floor under its value and – very necessary maintenance aside – you can enjoy free use of arguably the greatest-handling front-drive car ever made. So that’s what I did. When this magazine celebrated its 50th birthday in 2012 we put 50 of the best cars we’d covered in that time on the cover. I resolved to buy one of them, and chose the 205 GTI, a 1.6 (not the car pictured here, which is a 1.9). I’ve now had it for longer than any other car,…

‘I was hired by Peugeot in 1986 and my first job was chassis tuning on the 205 GTI,’ Jean-Marc Finot tells me. ‘I worked a lot on those cars. I know every nut and bolt by heart. Of course I bought a personal one, a 1.9. ‘I was working at the Peugeot plant in Sochaux in eastern France and I had dinner there with a friend one Friday evening, very late. I didn’t drink anything because I had a girlfriend who lived in the Paris suburbs, maybe 500km away, and I wanted to see her that night. I think that drive is my best memory ever of travel, to enjoy the car and of course to see my girlfriend. ‘The only thing I cannot say is how long it took…

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Well, so, this’ll be interesting. This generation Civic Type R and I first met abroad; two days of fun in the rain in Portugal. We had a blast. No commitment was sought or given, and when the time came for me to head to the airport that was it; we just said our goodbyes. Have I thought about those two days since? Of course. Those red bucket seats, anatomically perfect. That flawless shift. The way the thing moved; unthinkingly intuitive and precise like something NASA might use to align ceramic tiles on a fuselage. And that raging 2.0-litre four: thick with torque, potent and fast everywhere in a way older, pre-turbo Type R motors absolutely were not. We hooked up twice more, for a couple of days at a time.…

I’m pretty sure it’s not just me. I love visiting car factories, whether it’s a low-volume, high-value marque making cars by hand, or a mainstream behemoth where robots out-number human workers. They’re incredible environments that combine so much ingenuity to create some of the world’s most sophisticated consumer products. The fascination is multiplied many times over when the people who work there make the time to talk you through it. I drive to Renault’s plant in Douai – the heart of its EV production – in the Scenic, which was made there. I leave home fully charged with an indicated 320 miles showing and reach the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone 125 miles later with 187 miles showing. That’s an average of 3.7 miles per kW hour – versus the official…

HOW DOES GBU WORK? Our road testers rank the best cars currently available in 12 categories, and highlight the ones to buy TOP 5 HOT HATCHES 1 TOYOTA GR YARIS THE GOOD: A modern-day rally homologation special that’s thrilling to drive THE BAD: Road noise like a death-metal gig; joke rear seats THE UGLY: Long waiting list, even with some versions now over £60k, although it starts at £46,045 THE ONE TO BUY: Now has optional auto but go for the manual 2 HONDA CIVIC TYPE R THE GOOD: Feel, feedback, focus: a phenomenal car THE BAD: Now £51,905 for a front-drive hatchback with barely any more power than before THE UGLY: Honda says it’s the last of its kind; good job it’s one of the best THE ONE TO BUY:…