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Everything you need to know about cars this week: 13 Oct '19
We drive the new BMW M8 and Nissan Juke, plus more from TG24
BMW M135i review: newly AWD hot hatch hits the UK
"The new M135i (not new M140i, note) is badged as xDrive, but most of the time it’s front-wheel drive, with the rear axle being trusted with up to 50 per cent of poke when the chips and microprocessors say so."
Advertisement - Page continues belowTG24: Aston DBS Superleggera Volante vs McLaren 720S Spider
"See that McLaren? It has an extra £25,090 worth of carbonfibre attached to it. What isn’t bare carbon is covered in almost £8k worth of ‘Baleric Blue’ paint, while the fancy seats, ten-spoke lightweight alloys and sport exhaust add £5,270, £4,520 and £4,900 respectively. All in, that’s a £291,610 car right there."
Here’s your first official look at the new Aston Vantage Roadster
"No technical details have been released, but a cursory glance over the images reveals that the new Vantage Roadster will feature a folding fabric roof, which one assumes can be raised and lowered in some seconds. Further revelations we can add include the addition of an entire Aston Martin body, some wheels, doors, lights and maybe even wipers."
Advertisement - Page continues belowHoly moly, the 1,817bhp Hennessey F5 sounds ANGRY
"It’s even nicknamed ‘Fury’, for goodness sake, and revs to some 8,000rpm. There’s 1,193lb ft of torque on offer too, generated from a Very Highly Modified LS V8, bored out to 6.6-litres. To this, a pair of turbos with 3D-printed titanium compressor housings blow as much as any earthly turbo can blow."
A Californian startup has created an EV that never needs charging
"An electric car with 1,000 miles of range per cycle and that you never need to plug in to recharge. How does that sound?"
TG24: is the Renault Megane RS Trophy-R worth £72k?
"The Renault Megane R.S. Trophy-R is the quickest front-wheel-drive production car around the Nordschleife. It also costs £72,000. How can that be? Let Top Gear Magazine’s Jack Rix explain."
Gaming review: Grid brings the drama
"The vehicles all handle like caricatures of themselves, which might sound like a bad thing, as if they’re a crude cartoon sketch done by a bloke on the seafront. Actually it means that you can heroically hustle them exactly as you do in your idle daydreams, rather than having to worry about tedious realities like ‘the limits of adhesion’ or ‘driver skill’."
Advertisement - Page continues belowLotus will get future engines from Volvo and Geely
"Volvo and owners Geely are spinning-off their respective engine manufacturing operations into a new standalone business that 'will seek to develop next-generation combustion engines and hybrid powertrains'."
Continental has developed a self-inflating tyre
"The concept is known as Conti C.A.R.E (standing for Connected, Autonomous, Reliable, Electrified) and the headline piece of tech is the new, self-inflating ‘PressureProof’ system. Essentially, the force generated by the turning wheel acts on a centrifugal pump, which in turn generates compressed air. That air is then put into the tyre to actively maintain optimum pressures whilst you’re driving along. Clever, eh?"
Advertisement - Page continues belowPolestar’s Tesla-rivalling 2 will get a £5k performance pack
"Polestar has announced a new performance pack for its £49,900 electric ‘fastback’ dubbed 2. For exactly five thousand English pounds, you’ll be able to unlock the leather driving gloves emoji that resides in your heart."
Review: BMW M8 Competition
"The M8 is a really grand, grand tourer. It looks and operates as you'd expect of a peak BMW."
The M8 Gran Coupe is a good looking BMW
"Beneath the surface it’s all as you’d expect – the 616bhp 4.4-litre V8 of the M8 Competition sits up front and there’s four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering beneath, the former switching to rear-drive only when you press the hooligan buttons to activate its drift mode. Y’know, just like in that AMG GT 4-Door."
The TG24 edition of Top Gear magazine is on sale now
"We usually call this test Performance Car of the Year – PCOTY for short – or on other occasions it’s been known as Speed Week. It’s essentially a gathering of the ultimate driver’s cars of the past 12 months, and this year we’ve gone big."
The Vanderhall Carmel is a three-wheel 194bhp roadster
"Unfortunately, being an autocycle means the amenity of a fourth wheel is out of the question, but heck, three will most definitely suffice. Just ask Morgan. In any case, this thing looks like a load of fun."
Americans: the new Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 is very angry
"For all you non-American folk out there, the Colorado is Chevrolet’s smallest pickup, although just to confuse things it’s actually known as a ‘midsize’ truck. Well, you wouldn’t want anything small, would you?"
TG24: is the Porsche 935 just a GT2 RS in a vintage frock?
"This is the new Porsche 935, a ‘single-seater, near-standard, non-homologated racing car’. A 911 GT2 RS-based, 77-car track toy that pays homage to the monster 911 endurance racer from 1978 - the one they called ‘Moby Dick’. But is it more than a re-bodied GT2 RS ClubSport?"
Review: Nissan Juke
"The looks might be polarising but it's not actually ugly and certainly not – bigger crime – bland."
A company is converting super-luxury classic cars into EVs
"A British engineering company has announced it intends to take classic, high-end luxury cars from the 1950s and 1960s and future-proof their existence using the medium of electricity. We suspect now is the point you’ll immediately want to start looking up prices for your spare kidney, because this you have to see."
Audi Q3 Sportback review: 45 TFSI tested in the UK
"What, another Audi crossover? Yes, it’s the Q3 Sportback. Another crossover with a mildly couped roofline? Yup another one of those too. You’re in the Evoque and BMW X2 ballpark."
This is your first glance at the brand-new Volkswagen Golf
"What do you reckon? On the outside it looks recognisably Golf – we didn’t expect too many surprises – but the front end does get an ID.3-style slot across its brow. Those little winglets are straight from the Mk7 GTI too, and that’s no bad thing at all."
Dyson has binned plans to make an electric car
"Dyson, the British firm famous for bagless vacuum cleaners, posh hairdryers and the really powerful hand blowers in pub toilets, has cancelled its ambitious project to build a battery-powered family car. Its billionaire founder, James Dyson (seated right in the photo above) told employees via an email this afternoon."
This second-hand Ford GT sold for $1.54m
"This wasn’t just a standard GT to be fair. It was the ‘66 Heritage Edition that was specced to celebrate the original GT40’s win at Le Mans in 1966. It’s a beautiful thing isn’t it? It also probably cost its first owner slightly more than the off-the-shelf price for most GTs, although we’d guess they still made a decent profit on their investment."
Twin test: BMW M135i vs Mercedes-AMG A35
"For a nanosecond while drive to the wheels is interrupted by the eight-speed automatic gearbox, the overstuffed steering wheel stops torque-steering. You can actually sense the micromoment as it unloads against your hands then tenses up again. Yep, this is a BMW with torque-steer. It’s a very different kind of M135i."
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