Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2025 i CAR UK

Just occasionally, Maranello gets things wrong. Ditching the physical engine start button on its steering wheels was one such misstep. The touch control that replaced it lacked any tactility or theatre. We didn’t like it and nor did customers. And Ferrari has U-turned. ‘In the past, we introduced a touch sensor on our steering wheel,’ sweated Ernesto Lasalandra, chief research and development officer, under the lights at Ferrari’s investor day in October. ‘Based on the feedback of our clients, we understood that this technology did not provide them with added value, and we have decided to come back to a physical one. All new cars in production will have a physical one, and we will also make it available to clients of past models.’ There was further evidence that, more…

Well, that’s the end of Extreme E. It almost made its point. It almost worked. Now, after a farewell event in Saudi Arabia, it’s finished, replaced by the hydrogenbased Extreme H. If we’re sounding unduly negative about a well-intentioned attempt to run an all-electric off-road race series in a sustainable and awareness-raising way, then blame the boat. The boat was a booby trap Extreme E dug for itself, walked straight in to, and while it was down there kept on digging. The boat, you may recall, was a former Royal Mail ship called St Helena that chugged between Extreme E venues over the course of the world championship’s four and a bit seasons, the idea being that it would be a floating paddock and would transport the cars, rather than…

Letter of the month Air your grievances An ‘odd’ option that you can’t see yourself using? The ‘ventilate’ tab that opens the windows an inch in the MG IM6 (First drives, October) sounds amazing! I would love a VW ID. Buzz but the stupid ‘REAR’ window button makes it a deal breaker. Yes, I am petty enough to not buy a car I like because of a window switch. I think every car should have a California mode like the Fisker Ocean (drops the windows, opens the sunroof etc). Why don’t more cars do this kind of thing? Trev Bourner Old glory I went to the Goodwood Revival this year, for the first time in about a decade, and was particularly struck by a couple of things. One is how…

Improvements in Nürburgring lap times tend to be measured in fractions of a second. Yet Porsche clipped a whole 14 seconds from the 992.2’s time compared to the predecessor 992.1’s best. How? Jörg Bergmeister is the former racer, now Porsche ambassador, who set the monster time. We ask him where the improvement came from. ‘Basically everywhere. One thing that stands out is the power, but it’s not only that – there’s the driveability. You’re not driving it like a turbocharged car any more. The instant throttle response means you drive it more like a naturally-aspirated 911, and therefore you can position and steer the car a lot better on the throttle. Also, the ehPDCC [Porsche’s dynamic chassis control system] is more refined, more agile. And the wider tyre on the rear…

The 959 was one of those Eureka moments in Porsche history. A 911 turned up to 11 in the name of Group B competition, it scribed a new template for the sports car of the future: kevlar and aluminium, electronically-governed four-wheel drive and adaptive suspension to tame the twin-turbo flat-six. If 0-62mph in just 3.7sec sounds electrifying today, it was unheard of in the mid ’80s. This most prescient of Porsches arrived well before philosophically similar machines like the Nissan GT-R and Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. A ballistic, road-legal R&D laboratory, it pioneered all-wheel drive and water-cooled tech for next-gen 911s, not to mention the 918 Spyder. Ferrari’s contemporary F40 (co-star of our celebrated September 1987 cover, ‘There will never be another month like this’) felt old-school by comparison, relying on…

JG Ballard, a lugubrious novelist specialising in disturbing dystopias, predicted that by about now, the private car would be made illegal on public roads. Its use would be restricted to private ‘motoring parks’ where it might be enjoyed only under psychiatric supervision. We are not far off this moment, or so I ruminated on the way to the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace. And as if to illustrate the futility of the car as credible transport in 2025, my journey was on the train. Fast, clean, efficient. At one point where the railway line runs close to the road, we overtook a Lamborghini, struggling at 20mph. A friend with a classic Jaguar XK140 offered me a lift back, but warned that we might never make it, traffic being…

Few mainstream marques inspire such enduring fanaticism as Alfa Romeo. Eternally teetering on the cusp of greatness, the Italian underdog’s fortunes have historically soared and plummeted with a regularity that would make an aerobatic pilot reach for the sickbag. Sitting beneath the vast Stellantis umbrella hasn’t quite waved the magic wand. Alfa’s Tonale-fuelled 2023 resurgence showed real potential, but 2024 showed that the Tonale alone couldn’t make up for waning interest in the ageing Giulia and Stelvio. So the Poland-built Junior, which arrived at the end of 2024 after a last-minute name change from Milano, means Alfa’s first EV will really be doing everyone a favour if it’s a hit. The Junior’s currently available not only as an EV but also as a hybrid, the Ibrida, priced from £28,400. The…

One moment it’s yours – on the driveway, key in the drawer, ready to go – and then it isn’t. No more flawless manual gearbox. No more outrageous stance and wheel cambers. No more bewitching composure under more than a little midcorner duress. No more on-a-whim access to the best hot hatch money can buy. Did anything break? You know that it didn’t. Did it lose heaps of money? You be the judge of that. After six months and 6000 miles, the £52k Civic is worth around £42k. Do I wish I’d talked to Honda about buying it? No, I can’t afford it. But if you can afford it, and if you can still find a car to buy – the Type R’s end is nigh in Europe – then…

What do you see when you look at a line-up of every generation of Rolls-Royce Phantom, a car that debuted 100 years ago? They’re all big, and upright, and clearly expensive. No dispute there. But Rolls-Royce design chief Domagoj Dukec says the key to understanding the success of the Goodwood-based luxury car maker is to look not at the similarities but at the differences. Because every one of the eight generations has involved significant steps forward, in response to both the demands of the company’s wealthy customers and the availability of new technology, from the Mk3’s V12 engine to the latest Mk8’s advanced connectivity. Dukec insists the aim must not be to create an icon or feed the legend, but to design a great car, one that exceeds the expectations…

Sébastien Ogier Toyota is offering you another chance to buy one of the greatest hot hatches ever built, as a new limited-edition version of the Toyota GR Yaris is announced. Priced at £48,995, the Aero Performance is an even more aggressive version complete with a vast rear wing that can be manually adjusted to suit your driving style, as well as a revised front splitter. Live out your special stage fantasies with that fabulous all-wheel-drive powertrain and vertical, rally-style handbrake, both of which are ideal for wild drifts on gravel tracks. As with every special version of the GR Yaris, though, be quick. James Bond Aston Martin’s next S express after the hotted-up Vantage and DBX is the DB12 S. It follows the same formula, including a power bump (to…

The 300-mile test NEW CAR MEETS REAL WORLD Even a wound-up 296 Speciale can’t outrun a rain cloud as purple and pregnant as the one spanning the Emilia-Romagna skyline. Part of me would love to try, because we were due back at Fiorano, Ferrari’s test track, about an hour ago. Nevertheless, if I’ve learnt one thing above all others this morning, it’s that 868bhp on these narrow, twisting roads up in the hills, polished by a summer of baking Italian sunshine and now streaming with rainwater, isn’t to be treated casually. Better to be late than in the hedge. The hybrid 296 Speciale is the latest car in one of Maranello’s most revered bloodlines. First there was the raw, brilliant 360 Challenge Stradale, complete with the clatter of flying pebbles on…

The petrol city car is dead in Europe, or so we’re told. But it seems nobody mentioned it to Toyota, which has shifted 210,000 of its dinky Aygo X in just three years. After Citroën and Peugeot deserted their city-car partnership with Toyota (remember the old C1/107/Aygo triplets?), the Japanese company went solo, introducing the Aygo X as a funkier crossover-inspired take on the city car. It’s done well for a type of car that’s supposedly on its knees. But it was held back by a weedy 1.0-litre petrol engine that needed thrashing to get any forward movement, and even then progress was no more than leisurely. It made sense as someone’s first – or last – car – but was rather compromised for anyone between. Toyota’s answer is to…

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This is it. The homologation special that became an icon. The high-performance Porsche that came to symbolise ’80s excess to such a degree that it was, for quite some time afterwards, about as fashionable as a Technicolor shell suit. The 930 has an extraordinary legacy – particularly for a car with atrocious timing. Porsche wasn’t long into corporate governance away from the family when new CEO Ernst Fuhrmann decided the firm’s next homologation special after the 2.7 and 3.0 RS models would feature the turbocharging technology then decimating rivals in the prestigious Can-Am series. The days of near-limitless expenditure at Zuffenhausen were rapidly drawing to a close, but production-based motorsport was still seen as a noble and effective way to improve both the breed and sales. With all-new motorsport rules…

Few cars scream ‘1985’ more than an original Porsche 944 Turbo. The low, compact coupe, with its pop-up headlights, faired-in front end and wraparound rubber rear spoiler, simultaneously showed a new direction for performance motoring and also perfectly exposed Porsche’s confused relationship at the time with its sports cars: why else would you design a driver’s car so completely different to the 911, and then give it virtually identical power, performance and even price? Such odd planning was partly due to the 964, the 3.2 Carrera’s replacement, being significantly delayed, but it was also because a passion for four-cylinder sports cars is a thread that runs through the company from its inception – from 356 to Le Mans-winning 919 Hybrid. The 944 Turbo did indeed look forwards. With full Motronic…

The new BMW M2 CS is ticking and cooling in a gravel car park on the North York Moors after an invigorating morning drive. Its M3-matching 523bhp kept me on my toes during a heavy downpour earlier, but as the traffic thinned and some sunshine warmed the asphalt it just flowed cross-country with such pace, composure and agility that the sat-nav’s still processing what happened. Given its pricing, the BMW definitely needs to be good. At £92,475 it’s almost £24k beyond the base M2 and £3k more than even the M3 Competition xDrive. Add this test car’s £8800 carbon-ceramic brakes and it breezes past six figures. Production numbers are officially limited, which may improve the chances of it making financial sense, though exactly how limited we do not know; nor…

Did you know Skoda has been involved in motorsport for more than 120 years? There have been hillclimbs and there was a foray into Le Mans, but its main discipline has been rallying. Mostly recently it’s been the Fabia that’s continued the decades-long tradition of securing success on gravel tracks, muddy tree-flanked trails and epic snow drifts. Also… did you know the Skoda Elroq vRS is the quickest accelerating Skoda ever? It’s a car that takes the essence of the sporty vRS sub-brand and mixes it with electric power rather well. Is it all that much fun? Mmm… jury’s out on that one. But it’s still an impressively rounded performance car. While I don’t want to suggest that these massive parts of Skoda’s business are peripheral, my point is that…

Many manufacturers could withdraw from the top flight of sportscar racing, the World Endurance Championship, and the world wouldn’t bat an eyelid. But Porsche? The marque with the most overall wins at the Le Mans 24 hours? The one with a consistent presence in long-distance competition stretching back more than 70 years, and a long line of iconic machinery that has become legend? That’s a big deal. Its decision to quit the Hypercar division is a seismic one for the WEC – not just because it’s leaving, but because of the reasons it’s chosen to leave. Porsche needs to save money on motorsport in the face of falling sales and profits. One of its three factory programmes had to go. The casualty was never going to be its attack on…

Dacia’s hit a lucky break. At around the same time it pulled the covers off its tiny, clever Hipster electric concept, the European Commission backed legal recognition for a new kind of vehicle – and that could make it feasible for a production version of the Hipster to go on sale at a very competitive price. The Hipster draws inspiration from Japan’s ‘kei’ cars: cheap, modestly powered lightweight urban tiddlers that benefit from lower insurance and tax. ‘Millions of Europeans want to buy affordable European cars, so we should also invest in small, affordable vehicles,’ Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said during her 2025 State of the Union address in September. ‘I believe Europe should have its own e-car. E for environmental, economical and European.’ New Dacia CEO Katrin…

How is a car so viciously fast also this approachable and enjoyable? If there’s one thing I was hoping to avoid today it was rain, and yet here I am with over 900bhp at my right foot and water falling from the sky diagonally. What might have been a terrifying situation is in fact more complicated than that, because there’s no denying the joy and admiration I feel at the same time as fear. It’s all down to the brilliance of the RML GT Hypercar, or P39 if you favour the internal code. How on Earth is something so viciously fast also this approachable and enjoyable despite a Midlands monsoon? The answer lies at the Northamptonshire HQ of RML. If the name rings a bell, that may well be because…

Electrification was always in the plan, so it can stay close to the rest of the range in look and feel The C8 Corvette is the most anti-Corvette Corvette ever. Even though the idea of shifting to a mid-engined layout had been in the air for decades, it still caused some controversy when the eighth generation was revealed with the engine behind the seats. The hot ZO6 variant went one step further, throwing out a conventional V8 for one that uses a flatplane crank, making it sound more like a McLaren or Ferrari than Corvette fans were used to. And now here’s the Corvette E-Ray – the first one to use electric assistance. Sacrilege! Like the Stingray and ZO6 it’s an official UK car, available in right-hand drive from a…

The added flexibility and near-instant response are more noticeable than the increase in powerH Have we fallen out of love with the 911 Turbo S? As I prod the starter button for the first time in this latest 992.2 version, it’s a question I’m seriously considering. Back in the ’90s and 2000s, the 911 Turbo/Turbo S had an air of invincibility about it. The infallible all-rounder, the supercar slayer, the Top Trumps hero. In recent years, however, there’s been a shift. Turbochargers aren’t as exotic any more. Most cars with an engine have them, and Porsche isn’t averse to using Turbo as a badge on cars without an engine, let alone a turbocharger. In 2025, it’s all about natural aspiration. The screaming 4.0-litre in the GT3 and GT3 RS has…

Different traditions. Contrasting layouts. Divergent power and weight figures, and several years separating them in terms of electronics. Yet on the road they feel very much like competitors. The Cayman delivers the purer, more unfiltered driving experience. Its mid-engine dynamics are sublimely finessed, and its naturally aspirated flat-six remains a benchmark for character and response. Never mind the Cayman costs £17k less than the BMW, it delivers a taste of exoticism for less than half the cost of a supercar – the added bonus being the Cayman is more compact and lighter than those big hitters, and offers performance and dynamics that are so harmoniously exploitable that its stability systems need rarely intervene. Even if you barely use its potential, the Cayman feels special, from the sweetness of its steering…

If you’re fond of performance Volkswagens, you’ll probably know Andrew Chapple. Andrew’s moved in VW circles since the early 2000s, when he founded Volkswizard, a oneman operation that still prepares and sells mostly VW Group vehicles from a Warwickshire base, with a YouTube channel. Andrew is my go-to for VW buying advice, so when he offered his Mk7 Golf Clubsport S for comparison with our longterm Mk8.5 Clubsport, I suggested we connect for an evening of Golf-based chat at Caffeine & Machine in Warwickshire. The Clubsport S will be a decade old in 2026 and still looks fantastic when Andrew rolls up in his Deep Black Pearl Effect example, even in the elevated context of C&M machinery. Parked alongside our new Mk8.5 Clubsport, it looks restrained if purposeful, with enough…

An incident involving some garden shears and poor spatial awareness meant that the Polestar 4 had to return to the mothership. On the plus side, that meant I had a chance to experience for myself a bit more of what it’s like to be a Polestar driver. After landing in the UK five years ago, Polestar’s laboratorylike ‘spaces’ – let’s try not to call them dealers – are becoming increasingly common: nine are now up, servicing and selling cars, growing to 17 in the next 18 months. My nearest Polestar space (not including the unit in Battersea power station) is in Maidstone, a short drive away. Before taking a look, I already had an idea of what it’d be like: a Borg cube mixed with Minority Report tech and Bladerunner…

HOW DOES NEW GBU WORK? Our road testers rank the best cars currently available in 12 categories, and highlight the ones to buy TOP 5 HOT HATCHES 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 GIANT TEST WINNER HONDA CIVIC TYPE R THE GOOD: Feel, feedback, focus: a phenomenal car THE BAD: £51,905 for a front-drive hatch 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…