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Geneva Motor Show 2020
Everything you need to know about cars this week: 1 Mar '20
Many new cars because Geneva, then the show itself gets cancelled
Mercedes A35 Saloon review: four-door AMG driven
"It’s the Mercedes-AMG A35 Saloon. What it isn’t is a Mercedes CLA. You can get that with the same engine and chassis, but you’ll pay another £1,300 for the privilege. Such is the price of fashion."
Advertisement - Page continues belowThe 1,900bhp Pininfarina Battista 'Anniversario' is coming
"Pininfarina is preparing a very special version of a car that most sentient beings would describe as ‘really very bloody special’ already. It will be a limited volume, more ‘dynamic’ version of the 1,900bhp Battista, and it will be called the ‘Anniversario’."
Sorry, there’s not going to be a new Cupra Ibiza
"At the opening of Cupra’s new Barcelona headquarters, where Cupra just revealed the new Leon hot hatch family, we remembered about the super-Ibiza. And asked Cupra’s boss of engineering Axel Andorff (good name) if he’d forgotten to put it into production."
Advertisement - Page continues belowPlay spot the difference with these Volvo facelifts
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Internet, please stand for the newly-facelifted Volvo V90 estate, the V90 Cross Country estate and the S90 saloon. All three have been given a radical redesign from the ground up… nah, just kidding, it’s new headlights and some admittedly interesting interior additions. "
The upcoming Maserati MC20 is a new MC12 supercar
"You all know that person; the type that somehow navigates any group conversation into something about themselves, no matter the content. Well, today, we at TopGear.com are that person. Though Maserati is to blame. Much as we’d like to talk about the latest “super sports car” the firm is planning on revealing in May, we can’t, because we only know it’ll be called the Maserati MC20."
The Aston DBX by Q comes with all of the carbon
"This, Internet, is the Aston Martin DBX showing off its ‘darker side’. It’s come from the British sports car maker’s Q Division, which takes care of wilder, more bespoke versions of Aston’s product line."
The DS 9 saloon is here to prove big French saloons aren't dead
"The big, luxurious French saloon car. Loved by car enthusiasts, but largely ignored by the buying public. Until they’re on a used car forecourt for a measly couple of grand, that is. Will the DS 9 join the Citroen C6, Peugeot 605 and Renault Vel Satis* in the annals of flamboyantly depreciating French car history?"
Advertisement - Page continues belowThe new VW Touareg R is a 456bhp hybrid SUV
"Volkswagen describes this big blue flagship SUV as a “paradigm shift”. Sadly, that doesn’t equate to “we’ve given it a massive V12 and afterburners”. Quite the opposite, as it turns out. It is the very first VW R model that’s a… a hybrid."
KTM is building a 600bhp GT2 car
"It’s been 12 years since KTM dropped the potty X-Bow on the world, and we haven’t heard from them for a while. But don’t worry, Austria’s only car manufacturer (and Europe’s largest motorcycle manufacturer) hasn’t given up on cars. In fact, it’s looked at the new GT2 racing regulations, licked its lips and thought, ‘we’ll have a bit of that’."
Advertisement - Page continues belowThe Polestar Precept *really* cares about the environment
"Welcome to the Polestar Precept. The least Volvo-y of all the Polestars thus far, and also the most Thunberg-friendly. By a long chalk."
Here’s the side profile of the 526bhp BMW i4
"BMW, it appears, is wrong. It describes its upcoming i4 four-door coupe as “a perfect BMW”. Which, as anyone with sentience and eyes will attest, is incorrect. The E46 M3 CSL is a perfect BMW."
The Renault Twingo ZE is a tiny EV you can’t have
"Renault canned the Twingo last year – the rest of Europe got a facelift, but slow sales and the expense of engineering a right-hand drive version meant us Brits got…nothing at all. So of course we won’t get this either – the new all-electric Twingo ZE, which will be revealed proper at next week’s Geneva Motor Show."
Brace: it’s Lumma Design’s Aston Martin DBX
"The DBX isn’t even out yet, but already Lumma Design – you know, one of those mad German tuners like Novitec or Mansory – has had its way with Aston’s first SUV."
Shock! Merc’s new GLA 45 AMG is an A45 on stilts
"Unlike the old model, there is now torque vectoring on the rear axle to shift power between the two wheels thanks to a redesigned differential featuring two multi-disc clutches, which selectively provide the flow of power to each individual rear wheel. Unlike the A45 AMG, this is merely for traction and cannot be reversed to give you a ‘Drift’ mode."
Would you spend £40k on a new Defender or an old G-Wagen?
"Oh, you’d forgotten there’s a new Land Rover Defender inbound, had you? Probably not. It’s quite an important car. We’re rather excited for it. But, what will it cost?"
Top Gear’s guide to driving well: driving off-road
"One of the most important things to ascertain before driving off-road is the surface that you expect to travel across. Dust, sand, mud, snow or hard-packed dirt all take different setups and different approaches. If you look under your car and see a solid, black amalgam of bitumen and aggregate, you are, in fact, still on a road. And this, while an exceptionally important part of day-to-day driving, is not what we’re after here."
The BIG Cupra question: will the grey/rose gold love affair ever end?
"It happened when the Cupra badge was first revealed. It happened when we first clapped eyes on the Cupra Ateca 4x4. And you said it again when Cupra – VW’s sporty Spanish offshoot – showed us the new Leon eHybrid hot hatch last week. Nice car’n’all, but seriously, what’s with all the matte grey and copper?"
Pininfarina: no hardcore, track-based Battista planned
"Nick Heidfeld actually doesn't want to see one either. Because it’s already ‘bloody quick’."
Say hello to the DS Aero Sport Lounge Concept
"From a DS you can buy, but almost certainly won’t, to one you can’t, and therefore definitely will not. Say hello to the DS Aero Sport Lounge – a pie-in-the-sky concept that’ll sit alongside the DS9 saloon on the French company’s stand at next week’s Geneva Motor Show."
New TG mag out now: James Bond’s greatest cars
"For our shiny new edition, please be upstanding for the Aston Martin DB5 representing Connery, the original DBS for Lazenby, the Lotus Esprit for Moore, the Aston V8 for Dalton, the BMW Z8 for Brosnan and the Aston DB10 built specifically for Craig and Spectre. It’d be fair to say our TG staffers were like the proverbial kids in sweetshops on this particular day."
Bonus footage: Damon Hill and Chris Harris in a 911
"In TG’s latest sports car challenge, Paddy, Freddie and Chris were each given a racing co-driver, and Harris drew former F1 world champion Damon Hill. Here’s some bonus footage that didn’t make the final edit."
Please buy this… unusual Bentley Continental R
"This Bentley might look a bit like something Paddy, Freddie and Chris cooked up at the producers’ behest, but it’s actually a very special thing indeed – a one-off Continental R built by Bentley itself in the late Nineties for the company’s Italian distributor, Carlo Talamo."
The new Citroen Ami is a car for 14-year-olds
"Remember the Citroen Ami One concept car from the Geneva Motor Show last year, the one we hoped would be the second coming of the 2CV? Well, stay calm people, but it’s actually happening."
Finally: this is the Mk8 Volkswagen Golf GTI
"Typical – you wait years for a new, fast Golf, then three come along all at once. Ok so spoiler alert, none is revolutionary or the teensiest bit surprising, but we’re glad they’re back all the same. And you should be too."
Factcheck: is the Tory government really a Lambo?
"Big news from the rarely-overlapping circles of ‘British politics’ and ‘performance car references’: Conservative MP and part-time Victorian Jacob Rees-Mogg has today heralded his ruling administration as ‘the Lamborghini of governments’."
Video: driving the best Bond cars ever
"We drive Sean Connery’s DB5, George Lazenby’s ‘68 DBS, Roger Moore’s Lotus Esprit, Timothy Dalton’s ‘85 V8 Vantage, Pierce Brosnan’s BMW Z8, and Daniel Craig’s DB10. Oh, and there’s a special guest. Which is your favourite?"
A company wants to hit 200mph in the Aston Martin Bulldog
"Oh sure, your dog could probably hit 200mph these days, such is the pace of progress. But a British company wants to send one particular dog to that benchmark figure. The Aston Martin Bulldog."
Official: the Geneva Motor Show has been cancelled
"The 90th Geneva International Motor Show has been cancelled. Yep, just three days before the event was due to open to the media, and with manufacturers lining up new cars to be unveiled throughout next week, the Swiss Government has decided that no events with more than 1,000 people will be allowed to take place until 15 March. "
Mini Electric review: the small EV you’ve been waiting for?
"The toughest thing to get used to is the weird futuristic ‘bing-bong’ noise when you start it up. Once you’ve finished grimacing at that you can get on with appreciating how like a Mini the Electric is."
Seven options to consider instead of the new Golf GTI
"If you’ve been keeping a keen eye on things around Top Gear, you’ll know that our advice for the one-and-done car is always the same: the Golf GTI. It manages to be understated, classic, spacious, reliable, fast, fun and roughly every other adjective we could ask from a car. But it’s also so bleeding obvious."
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