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Everything you need to know about cars this week: 27 Sep '20
The new BMW M3 and M4 are finally revealed, plus the return of TGTV
Big test: Honda e vs Mini Electric vs Peugeot e-208
"Pretend, for a minute, you’re the boss of a big car company. The time has come for you to sign off on the development of a new, small electric car. And you have a number of options."
Advertisement - Page continues belowOpinion: all cars should weigh a tonne or less
"As anyone who’s been working from home during the last six months will tell you, being overweight is mostly terrible. The extra effort it takes to lug around excess flab makes the simple things harder and the hard things nigh-on impossible."
The T.50s will get its own race series, but won’t go to Le Mans
"Murray wants to cultivate a sort of ‘GT1 club’ for the T.50s. When asked about what clients wanted from his new racer, he said: 'Some people have their own circuits – which is convenient – others rent out GP circuits a couple of times a year where their mates come round and have their track cars.'"
Advertisement - Page continues belowToyota won the Le Mans 24 Hours. Again
"Toyota has won the Le Mans 24 Hours for the third time in a row. The #8 Toyota TSO50 of Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley completed 387 laps of the Circuit de la Sarthe to take the outright win, some five laps ahead of the second-place Rebellion of Gustavo Menezes, Norman Nato and Bruno Senna."
The Aero 3 is a gorgeous, shark-finned V12 supercar
"This is the new Touring Superleggera Aero 3, and it is yet another limited-edition supercar. Although it is unlike most limited-edition supercars because inside sits a V12 with 730bhp, while outside it is a pageant of sweeping lines and curves and a shark fin."
Toyota’s Le Mans ‘hypercar’ looks proper
"We’ve known for some time that Toyota is developing a hypercar to race at Le Mans in 2021. It’s called the GR Super Sport, and it’ll run in the new top-tier LMH category. And here it is, doing a demo lap before last weekend’s COVID-delayed LM24 got underway."
The Pagani Huayra Roadster BC has set a lap record at Spa*
"Development driver Andrea Palma clocked a 2:23:08 lap around the full 4.352-mile circuit near Liege in Belgium. Pagani doesn’t namecheck the previous recordholder, but a cursory Google reveals a McLaren Senna supposedly set a 2:24:82 at a private event last summer"
Advertisement - Page continues belowThe new BMW M3 and BMW M4 have arrived
"Even beneath the unique-to-M paint colours, the design is way out there. Hagen Franke, who sets the cars’ spec and characteristics, says that’s what customers asked for: a greater distance in this generation between the M340i/M440i and the M3/M4. Job done, we’d say."
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."
Advertisement - Page continues belowReview: Aston Martin Vantage Roadster
"As surely as summer follows winter, a convertible Aston Martin follows a coupe. Often looking even prettier in the process. This is the new Vantage Roadster and if you need a minute to just gawp at it, please treat yourself. After all that 2020’s flung at you so far, you deserve it…"
Holy heck, BMW's M Division has made a motorbike
"You’d think it safe to assume a highlighter yellow BMW M4 with a ‘rate my drift’ device would be this year’s lairiest M Division product. Well, it’s not even this week’s. Meet the BMW M 1000 RR. Yes, M has made a motorbike."
The Tesla Model S ‘Plaid’ will do 0-60mph in under two seconds
"Plaid sits above Ludicrous in Tesla’s nomenclature, and this Model S Plaid will likely sit above anything else you care to mention. Announced at the company’s recent ‘Battery Day’ event, Tesla reckons the halo Plaid will punch out over 1,100bhp."
Tesla wants to build a more affordable, $25k electric car
"Tesla’s powertrains boss Drew Baglino outlined what the company has been investing and researching in, moving from a ‘tab’ cell architecture to a cylindrical cell. Baglino noted how this 'removes the thermal problem and allows us to go to the absolute lowest cost form factor, and the simplest manufacturing process'."
Arkana matata: Renault’s made a BMW X4 rival
"Russians have been able to buy it for a little while now, but the Arkana has arrived in the Pride Lands of Western Europe. And in its own special tune, too."
Top Gear TV returns on 4 October!
"It’s official: the shiny new series of Top Gear will hit your screens next month on 4 October. And as ever, our dedicated team has worked tirelessly to bring you the very latest in the world of sensible consumer motoring."
The ID.4 is Volkswagen’s first all-electric SUV
"Welcome to Volkswagen’s first crack at an all-electric SUV. It’s called the ID.4 and if the shape of it looks strangely familiar, it’s because the VW shares much with the recently revealed Skoda Enyaq iV."
This is the newly paddleshifted Hyundai i30N
"This is the new Hyundai i30N, the mid-life update of one of the great performance car underdogs in recent memory. More rambunctious than a Civic Type R while nearly as liveable as a Golf GTI, it caused a bit of a stir on Planet Hot Hatch right out the box."
Allard returns for first time in 60 years with a 300bhp racer
"Would you spend £200,000 on a new car that’s been built to the exact specification of its 1953 drawings? Even if it was built by the same family who came up with the idea in the first place?"
The Rolls-Royce Ghost Extended is really very long
"While the new Ghost isn’t exactly lacking in rear legroom, if you’re going to spend most of your time sat in the back you’ll want the new ‘Extended’ model, which is a whopping 170mm longer than the standard car. Rolls says it has the most rear legroom of ANY saloon short of the gigantic Phantom Extended, so even the tallest VVIPs will have space to stretch out."
California wants to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in 2035
"All “gas-powered cars and light trucks” sold in California from 2035 must be “zero-emission vehicles”, says the order. It does not prohibit the sale of used petrol- or diesel-powered cars or stop people from driving cars they already own. Buy a brand-new car in LA today, and it should still be perfectly legal to drive it down Sunset in 2036."
Does the 197bhp Ford Puma ST make you want a hot crossover?
"Pity the new Ford Puma ST. Got a bloody tough job on its hands, this one. And that’s without having any decent rivals to speak of. There’s no VW T-Cross GTI, no such thing as a Cupra Arona, and Hyundai hasn’t quite got around to sprinkling the ‘N’ magic over a Kona yet."
Say hello to Peugeot Sport’s 355bhp plug-in hybrid 508
"Not quite as powerful as the 400bhp prototype – then Peugeot Sport boss Bruno Famin warned us that would be the case – but still enough for 0-62mph in a swift 5.2 seconds and 155mph top speed. The “performance target” was apparently the Audi S4."
The Ford Mach-E GT does 0-62mph in 3.7 seconds
"Set to land late next year, the flagship version of Ford’s first ground-up EV has twin e-motors for all-wheel drive and a very healthy 459bhp. That means 0-62mph in just 3.7 seconds (with a US-style one foot rollout), which Ford says equals its arch rival, the Tesla Model Y."
Video: take a closer look at the new BMW M3 and M4
"Is this the sweet-spot M-car or has the M2 stolen its thunder? Watch our full walkaround to find out. Now, about that grille…"
Review: Mercedes-AMG E63
"Updated E63 gains comfort, still mighty to drive. A win-win for the best super-saloon of them all"
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