Brand new Top Gear Magazine - out now!

Welcome to 2012, earthlings. In it, you'll find old meat, hasty resolutions and hangovers. Thankfully, there's also a new, shiny issue of Top Gear magazine.

As well as a fond tribute to the staggering comeback of Japan's car industry (and the return of fun, affordable motoring) we've got an entire supplement dedicated to the 18th series of Top Gear TV. Here's more from Editor-in-Chief, Charlie Turner:

Fun. A small word, but a fundamental part of the TopGear DNA. As endless power wars rage at the supercar end of the market, the UK's arteries clog and the gaps between speed cameras become ever smaller. Inevitably, we find ourselves yearning for cars that can thrill at a slightly more attainable level, something exploitable more of the time.

Enter the two £26k headline acts on our cover this month: Subaru's BRZ and Toyota's GT 86. Two cars separated at birth and designed to tick the ‘easily accessible thrills' box. To find out if the claims are true, our own Ollie Marriage spent a day tearing round Subaru's test track - mostly sideways - in the BRZ, waved on by the full complement of 12 of the project's engineering heads. He kept going until the sun set and the tyres melted.

In stark contrast, our relative nanosecond experience in the GT 86 left us feeling frustrated and with some big questions: why so brief an acquaintance? And why did the Subaru feel so much better?

‘Fun' isn't how we'd describe navigating the neon-lit Blade Runner set that is Toyko, a city where the streets literally have no name. But Dan Read did
it anyway, spending a night with the Mr Miyagi of the Tokyo Taxi world - Grand Master cabbie Yukio Sudo. A window on another world.

At the gold-plated end of the fun spectrum is the £160,000 Porsche 911 by Singer. With carbon-fibre panels, a hand-built engine by Cosworth and serious kerb appeal, this modern masterpiece has Tom Ford considering a bank job on the way home from his world-exclusive drive.

Now watch the video preview for a taste, then go and enjoy the new issue.

Enjoy the video? There are plenty more where that came from tucked away in the pages of the latest issue. You can view 'em with Aurasma. Just download the Aurasma Lite app and follow the instructions in the magazine...