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Everything you need to know about cars this week: 9 Feb '20
Harris on the Speedtail, plus analysis of the Govt's plan to ban ICE car sales by 2035
Arkonik Defender review: 430bhp V8 off-roader tested
"This is not the new Defender. But it is an old Defender with much newness. In fact every single component, every last nut and washer, is either new or better than new. Or different from new – upgraded and modernised to suit the owner’s inclinations."
Advertisement - Page continues belowThe Renault Megane facelift isn't just new headlights
"Sure, it looks much like it did before, but there’s now a hybrid version, which garners much of our attention. The Megane E-Tech has technology which has filtered down from Formula 1, they say, and offers up to 40 miles of electric-only running, and a mixed 40g/km of CO2 emissions."
Chris Harris talks you in and around the McLaren Speedtail
From series 28, episode 2: Chris Harris talks you in and around the mighty McLaren Speedtail.
Advertisement - Page continues belowTake a closer look at Paddy's 'Dirty Rascal' from ep2
From series 28, episode 2: Paddy’s home-made, budget rival to the new Land Rover Defender. Presenting for your delectation, the ‘Dirty Rascal’.
Review: Seat Ateca
"Been around for a few years, but still among the best of its ilk."
Analysis: sales of petrol, diesel and hybrid cars to stop in 2035
"What about plugging in all these cars? Well, electricity is everywhere. People who have off-street parking – and they own 60 per cent of the cars in the UK – will be able to charge overnight at home. For those of us who don’t, there are still answers. There are already 2000 sockets in lamp posts in London, as well as lots of bespoke 7kW units on pavements. Those numbers are rising fast."
This electric VW Golf has the powertrain from the ID.R
"Well this is interesting, isn’t it? At the recent GP Ice Race event in Austria, Volkswagen’s motorsport division unveiled a suspiciously quiet Golf racer. There aren’t many details on this thing as of yet, but we now know that this particular Golf was actually the test mule for VW’s wild ID.R EV prototype. "
Advertisement - Page continues belowHurrah! Porsche’s 4.0 flat-six has years of life left in it
"In one of the nicer U-turns in recent motoring history, Porsche has listened to critics of its four-cylinder turbo engine created for the 718 and swapped it for a detuned version of the Cayman GT4’s flat-six, in GTS-badged Boxsters and Caymans, at least. And chatting to Frank-Steffen Walliser and Sebastian Oettel – the men in charge of the 718 and 911 product lines – it appears it’s not a fleeting special edition, despite previous reports that the Boxster and Cayman would soon be going electric."
You'll never guess what's inspired the final BAC Mono
"The end is nigh for the BAC Mono, marked by three final editions put together in unique specs. But don’t fear, for they’re rolling out of BAC’s Merseyside base just in time for the arrival of a brand spanking new Mono that’ll be shown at the Geneva motor show in March. Phew."
Advertisement - Page continues belowYou want grille? The new Cadillac Escalade has grille
"The standard Escalade is now 5.3m long and over 2m wide. It already has a longer wheelbase than the previous generation, but there’ll be an even longer wheelbase version called the Escalade ESV – that one will be 5.7m long. Five point seven metres."
The 2020 Ford GT has more power and less paint
"You can still have your GT in whatever hue you fancy (or the blue/orange ‘Heritage’ livery), of course, but new for 2020 is the option to forgo an actual colour in favour of nowt but a clear coat, thus leaving the GT’s carbon-fibre body panels exposed for all to see."
BMW 320d Touring — long-term review
"Well, lookey what we have here. A BMW 320d Touring, with xDrive, with an M Sport pack. Truly, the daddy of all dad family cars. OK fine, it *might* not actually fit my family in properly, but I’m jolly well going to make it work. Best not to ask how."
Yeah, this $11m Ferrari 250 California is gorgeous
"No self-respecting auction would be complete without a Ferrari 250 California on its books, and so, let us all gaze longingly at the latest multi-million dollar dream machine. It’s being offered at Gooding & Co’s Amelia Island sale. And it is really, really, ridiculously good-looking."
Opinion: do car designers speak gobbledegook?
"Interviewing car designers can be a frustrating way to spend your day. Their language might make some kind of sense while their lips are moving, but as you read it back it often melts to an impenetrable fog. It’s like printing in invisible ink."
Fiat 500 Hybrid review: the cutest, laziest eco car on sale?
"The Fiat 500 Hybrid is the mildest of mild hybrids. It’s a chicken korma. It’s certificate ‘U’. You can’t plug it into the wall and charge it up. It will run for precisely zero miles on electric power. What Fiat’s done is actually closer to the ‘hybrid’ system in the Suzuki Ignis."
Metallica frontman James Hetfield’s cars are excellent
"If you stop to think about it, nothing really goes together better than metal and motor cars. When even the drumbeat is described as driving, you know you’re on to a winner."
Gallery: Top Gear series 28, episode 3
"Paddy chose a Pontiac Trans-Am, or at least a car created by someone who might once have seen a Pontiac Trans-Am. Chris bought a Dodge Dart, because someone’s got to. And Freddie went for a VW bus, which no one had the heart to tell him wasn’t really an American roadtrip car in any shape or form."
Exclusive: Chris Harris drives the McLaren Speedtail
"Someone cleverer than I am will be able to explain why placing the steering wheel and the driver’s seat in the centre of a car’s cabin makes it feel so special. Why it tugs at the emotional connection between man and machine so much more than it really should. I can only really speculate, but the moment you pop the McLaren Speedtail’s dihedral door and shuffle over a passenger seat squab and then settle into the slender, solo bucket seat, the £1.75m price becomes irrelevant."
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