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Everything you need to know about cars this week: 18 Aug ‘19
A pointer Shelby Mustang, the latest reviews and a wild new Bugatti
This is the £9m Bugatti Centodieci
"Although the Chiron is quite the halo car, things move fast in the hypercar sector. Bugatti President Stephan Winkelmann figures that regular internet-breaking one-offs – like ‘La Voiture Noire’ – are a way of keeping the focus firmly on the brand, not to mention lucrative business. It’s a philosophy that served him very well back when he was running Lamborghini.
"Better still, how about a run of 10 ‘one-offs’, at – gulp – £9m each?"
Advertisement - Page continues belowThe 2020 Mustang Shelby GT350 R is even pointier
"Ford unleashed its feral Shelby GT500 in January – and there really is no other way to describe a car with 760bhp and a bruising attitude to speed. Knowledge gleaned from that mad dog has now trickled down into its baby brother.
"Which means the Shelby GT350R is now even more pointier. We’re told the 2020 model year car will feature redesigned front suspension geometry, alongside a new 'high-trail steering knuckle', all taken from the 500."
Jamie Chadwick is the 2019 W Series champion
"Ladies and gentlemen, Jamie Chadwick is your 2019 W Series champion.
"The 21-year old Brit won the series – the first ever single-seater championship for women – at the final race of the season, after a tense and closely fought race."
Advertisement - Page continues belowThe 2020 Rezvani Tank is ready for nuclear war
"Yep, the Tank really is so much more than an SUV. On top of the previous generation car’s armoured, bulletproof and electrically protected body, there’s now the addition of electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) protection. In plain English, it’s ready for nuclear war.
"See, in the event of a nuclear attack, EMPs are radiated, disabling electronic devices. No Instagram stories of the end of the world, in short. But with the Tank’s system – which can react within “five hundred thrillionths of a second” – you should be able to merrily tweet away about the bedlam outside and enjoy the standard Apply CarPlay in peace."
Tesla Model 3 review: £38k Standard Range Plus driven
"What you’re looking at is a Tesla Model 3 ‘Standard Range Plus’. The entry-level Model 3. After the government’s £3,500 plug-in car grant it costs £37,340 – not that much more money than a top-spec Hyundai Kona EV, VW e-Golf or Nissan Leaf. But usefully cheaper than the next Model 3 up, the £46,340 dual-motor ‘Long Range’."
Pagani’s one-off Zonda ‘Aether’ is up for auction for $5.5m
"A Zonda. With a V12. And a manual gearbox. And a roof scoop. Without a roof..."
Surprise! McLaren is building an Ultimate Series roadster
"McLaren tell us this dramatically styled open-cockpit roadster and its dihedral, low profile doors will join the top-tier Ultimate Series line up in about a year and a half, based on similar architecture that underpins the Senna and 720S. And while unique, it’ll still pack a non-hybrid, twin-turbo V8 to save mass and boost the power to weight ratio."
Advertisement - Page continues belowRange Rover Sport review: P400 HST kinda-hybrid driven
"It can drive exclusively on electric and has lovely low CO2 emissions. It’s the Range Rover Sport for the concerned urbanite. The HST can’t be plugged in nor run exclusively on electric power."
Gallery: Monterey's amazing 2019 car week has begun
"Excuse us while we have a moment. Perhaps several moments. Old racing BMWs with big splitters and wings are a particular weak point for us."
Advertisement - Page continues belowThe original Bullitt Mustang is coming up for auction
"We’ve covered the original, Steve McQueen-driven 1968 Ford Mustang GT Fastback from Bullitt a number of times since it reappeared from its 40-year slumber at the Detroit motor show in 2018. It is the iconic movie car for petrolheads after all."
Stay calm, you can now have a manual Toyota Supra
"One thing that could please the naysayers, though, is a manual gearbox to replace the current eight-speed automatic. Whilst it doesn’t look like one is in the pipeline from Toyota itself, Texan tuner European Auto Group (EAG) will soon have the answer."
MG ZS EV review: the £21,495 electric crossover tested
"It’s a full-electric crossover with perfectly decent manners and a realistic 160-plus mile range that, if you’re quick, is £21,495. That’s a base price of £28,495, but you can knock off £3,500 from the Government grant. And then for the early orders MG is matching that with another £3,500 discount."
Yikes: it's the 717bhp Dodge Charger Widebody Daytona
"Meet the – deep breath – Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody Daytona 50th Anniversary Edition. A higher rev limit ekes out another 10bhp from its supercharged 6.2-litre V8 for a 717bhp total, ensuring there’s adequate power to carry all those name badges around."
Aston Martin will build you a Dr Evil* lair for your Aston Martin
"Okay, we have one simple request: to have SHARKS WITH FRICKIN’ LASER BEAMS ATTACHED TO THEIR HEADS. Upon a first read of Aston’s latest venture – the world of bespoke ‘Automotive Galleries and Lairs’ – it appears our request remains unfulfilled."
TG drag races: Audi SQ2 vs Merc A35 vs VW Golf R vs Cupra Ateca
"If you’re too grown up for a traditional hot hatch like, say, a Mercedes-AMG A35 or Volkswagen Golf R, can a hot SUV - perhaps an Audi SQ2 or Cupra Ateca - keep up? Rory Reid finds out…"
This track-ready Roush Mustang has Pista levels of power
"The Gulf colours hint at some potency beneath, and it’s delivered by a Roush Stage 3 supercharger kit that ups the stock 5.0-litre V8’s outputs from 460bhp and 420lb ft to a mildly staggering 710bhp and 610lb ft. We’re talking Ferrari 488 Pista levels of power here."
Ooooh, it’s a Lamborghini Aventador S art car
"His pop-style street art has seen people in the know (not us) draw comparisons to both Keith Haring and Andy Warhol. There’s also a cheeky nod to Warhol on Grey’s Aventador, with Lambo’s bull running from a Campbell’s soup can. There’s a sentence we never thought we’d write."
James Bond’s Aston DB5 sold for $6.38m
"The Aston Martin DB5 used in the promotion of 007 film Thunderball has sold at auction for $6,385,000. Not a bad price for a car that’s never actually been up on the silver screen."
TG's small SUV test: VW T-Cross vs DS 3 Crossback vs Toyota C-HR
"Can there be a more stereotypical use-case than this? Dropping my child off at primary school, I pass both a C-HR and a T-Cross. No DS 3 Crossbacks yet, but parked over there is a Fiat 500X, across the road a Jeep Renegade, and outside the school gate an unmatched pair of Jukes. Actually, my kid walks to school (this is London and most of her classmates do too), but you get the picture. These things are becoming default small-family town cars."
The secrets behind Gordon Murray's £2.5m, 650bhp T50 supercar
“We have a 400mm fan that’s both active and interactive. It interacts with the top surface of the car, with the air brake which is the only flap on the upper body. We can control downforce or shed it and reduce drag, so we have a top-speed, low-drag mode and a high-downforce mode for corners. It controls the centre of pressure for braking, which means we can have fixed aerodynamics at the front axle. The fan cleans up the flow over the diffuser, so we can have a more aggressive design and also have moving flaps inside the tunnel. It’s just amazing, and it’s not powered by the engine, but by a 48V electrical system.”
Oh no, there’s a Volkswagen T-Roc convertible
"So, you’re telling us it’s not the 1 April? But we’re looking at pictures of a convertible version of the Volkswagen T-Roc – somebody must be having us on?
"Nope. This really is the new Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet."
Classified of the week: Mitsubishi Pajero Evo
"The Pajero Evo was born to homologate the car for the Dakar Rally (where it was subsequently extremely successful), hence the wide body kit, wraparound rear spoiler and scooped bonnet."
BMW 330e review: plug-in hybrid 3 Series driven
"That main hybrid mode runs the engine, with electric assistance at times. You’ll be surprised how often, when you need little power, the engine shuts down and hands off to the motor. It all happens without lumpiness, and if you floor it the engine resumes duty promptly.
"This mode uses navigation and live traffic data to figure out how best to meld the electric and combustion effort so you arrive at your destination with depleted battery. I started fully charged, and did a 50-mile mixed journey. At the end it had done more than 25 miles on electric alone. Economy was 50mpg overall, but note that for most of that trip I was looking at over 70mpg."
Novitec's Ferrari 488 Pista is actually really nice
"Occasionally there’s a supercar so sublime, upon hearing it’s had some aftermarket tuning we fear for it. It’s already perfect (or thereabouts) and making it louder, faster and shinier just seems wrong. News of Novitec getting its hands on a Ferrari 488 Pista sent us running to our bunkers to hide from the world, then.
"We needn’t have worried."
Porsche Cayenne Coupe review: 680bhp Turbo S E-Hybrid driven
"The pinnacle for absurdly potent SUVs remains the Jeep Trackhawk, at 707bhp. But at 680bhp this Porsche Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid Coupe comes as close as makes no difference."
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