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Everything you need to know about cars this week: 24 Jan '21
We drive the Golf Clubsport and BMW 128ti, plus news of a self-drifting Supra
Review: BMW 128ti
"BMW's made a rival to the Golf GTI - and quite possibly beaten it"
Advertisement - Page continues belowThis is the new Ford Ranger MS-RT
"Ford will sell this new Ranger MS-RT alongside the Raptor at the pinnacle of its pick-up line-up, although the white two-door Super Cab you see above won’t come to the UK. Boo!"
This Nissan GT-R50 Test Car is Tokyo's latest must-see attraction
"Likely to find yourself in Tokyo between now and the end of March 2021? First, we’d love to know how. Second, we’ve a ‘thing to do’ that isn’t nestled among the shrines and Pachinko arcades on TripAdvisor’s list: go and look at this marvellously Storm Trooper Nissan GT-R."
Advertisement - Page continues belowReview: Renault Megane RS
"Both versions – the standard RS 300 and the Trophy we’ve tested – now share identical power outputs. No 275bhp entry-level engine any more. Here we’ve 296bhp on tap from the Alpine A110 sports car’s 1.8-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine, driving the front wheels via a six-speed twin-clutch gearbox. Spend £4,000 extra on the Trophy to snaffle a mechanical locking differential."
Rimac has sold out the first year of C_Two production
"At full capacity, Rimac reckons on being able to build four cars a month, although considering it’s still ironing out the details, this won’t happen in 2021. Currently, Rimac is building three marketing/sales cars used for unveiling the final production version, and Mate remains convinced that 'there will be more demand than the 150-unit limit that we have set ourselves'."
Toyota has built an autonomous Supra drift car
"Welcome to the best thing you’ll see this week. A Toyota Supra that can quite literally drift itself. The prototype, built by engineers from the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) and Stanford University’s ‘Dynamic Design Lab’, is supposed to help the carmaker 'develop sophisticated control algorithms that amplify human driving abilities and keep people safe'."
Does a long BMW grille work on a retro R18 motorbike?
"Following the Sin City-esque Blechmann R18 comes this, the Spirit of Passion, made by Kingston Custom. At first glance it looks like it’s been parked in an overly elaborate bike stand before being ridden away still latched onto it. But in truth it’s a lot less bold of a makeover than it appears… or so says Dirk Oehlerking, the man behind its conception."
Advertisement - Page continues belowHonda is building a drag racing e and a kei car hill climber
"Essentially, it’s a turbocharged N-One kei car with a six-speed manual gearbox and carbon fibre panels. It’ll also have revised suspension and a new rear spoiler once it’s finished and should be ready for actual competitions later this year."
Review: Tesla Model 3
"The most impressive electric car this side of a Porsche Taycan. Fresh design, a sense of humour, and backed up by Superchargers"
Advertisement - Page continues belowVW Golf GTI Clubsport review: uprated hot hatch tested
"Yep, this is likely to be as hardcore as the Golf gets. No Clubsport S ‘Ring-lapping, two-seat shenanigans this time round. It’s thought that internally VW has decided there’s no point chasing Renault et al down the GT3-esque carbon wheels and brakes route. The cars are getting too extreme. It’s not VW’s bag."
The Hennessey Mammoth 1000 is a 1,012bhp Ram pickup
"The Mammoth will now do 0-60mph in 3.2 seconds, because we all need a pickup that accelerates as quickly as a McLaren F1…"
BMW M confirms new electric performance car for 2021
"Inevitable, yes, but also Really Quite Big News. BMW M has confirmed it intends to present an “electrically powered performance automobile for the first time” later in 2021."
This is the all-new Mercedes-Benz EQA
"The EQA 250 will be the only option at launch, with Mercedes describing it as the sweet spot for battery size and range. In the 250, a single electric motor drives the front wheels with 185bhp and 277lb ft of torque. Top speed is limited to just 99mph and 0-62mph takes 8.9 seconds. Perhaps the most important stat, though, is the 265 miles of range from the 66.5kWh battery."
Elfyn Evans: "we’re aiming to go one better in 2021"
"This week sees the World Rally Championship’s 2021 season kick off. In Monte Carlo, as tradition dictates. It’s less than two months since the 2020 season wrapped up at Monza, when Britain was dramatically denied its third world champion, Elfyn Evans’ title hopes dashed when his Toyota left the road in exceedingly slippery conditions."
Chinese carmaker Xpeng is bringing its EVs to Europe
"Back in April last year, we brought you news of a Chinese EV saloon that claimed 438 miles of range on a single charge, whilst costing the equivalent of around £27,000 after government subsidies. That was the P7, built by an all-electric startup known as Xpeng. Since then, Xpeng has gone from strength to strength in its home country and has started selling its only other model, the G3 crossover, in small numbers in Norway. Now though, Xpeng’s vice chairman Brian Gu has confirmed that the relatively young brand (founded in 2014) is looking to expand into the rest of Europe."
The new entry-level Porsche Taycan is rear-wheel drive, costs £70k
"It costs £70,690, which is almost £13,000 less than a 4S. Or about half the price of a Taycan Turbo S. And yet, it looks exactly the same, you can add all of the same chassis upgrades and deluxe cabin niceties from the hotter models, and even My First Taycan is not what you’d call ‘sluggish’."
Ares Design’s Tesla Model S Convertible is… interesting
"Ares Design is having a busy start to 2021. Days after revealing its latest modified Land Rover Defender, the Italian coachbuilder headed-up by ex-Lotus boss Dany Bahar has unveiled THIS – a one-off Tesla Model S with just two- instead of four-doors and a folding soft-top. Blimey."
Renault: the new 5 "needs to be a popular car"
"Anyone who knows Renault’s recently installed CEO Luca de Meo – former Fiat and Volkswagen marketing boss, latterly president of Seat – knows that he has an acute sense of what a ‘brand’ really stands for, and has a penchant for pushing big emotional buttons. The Fiat 500 was in large part his baby, so a revival of the Renault 5 was always on the cards."
Volkswagen will no longer sell the Golf in America
"VW reckons there’s enough stock for it to shift the last of its Mk7.5 Golfs throughout the 2021 model year, but after that it really will be the end. Well, almost, because although the standard Golf is dying, the Mk8 will still travel in GTI and R forms. Hurrah for hot hatches!"
Review: Porsche Panamera
"New for 2020 is a hefty mid-life facelift. The styling has been tweaked (most successfully at the neater, tidier rear end), the engines upgraded with more power and better emissions and the chassis and cabins given a little more love. Driven an older Panamera and found it not only a bit fidgety and firm, but also large and unwieldy? That’s where the new one gains. It’s no smaller physically, but it feels smaller to drive, plus rides better and handles more nimbly. It’s a thorough sort out."
Here are 11 (possibly rubbish) things we miss from old cars
"Let’s hitch up our hammer pants, lace up our Air Jordans, snap on a slap bracelet and take a stroll down Nostalgia Boulevarde, with the best (and possibly blurst) of all the car things we miss from back in the day."
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