Ten things we learned this week: 7 April 2017 edition

We’ve seen Lamborghinis in Italian police livery for years now. But this is new: it’s a Ferrari 458 Spider, confiscated from a convicted gangster, and which has been kept by the law enforcers to use as an educational tool. The lesson? Crime doesn’t pay. Well, at least not in the long term.

There are some interesting numbers associated to this 458, too. It’s the 30^th Ferrari seized by Milan police in anti-Mafia cases, and the only fee they’ve paid for the privilege of keeping this one is a £45 registration fee. The lights and stickers were all provided for free by the company that typically prepares Italian cop cars.

So next time you’re thinking of committing some Milanese wrong-doing, just stop and think for a minute. It may eventually buy you a Ferrari, but you won’t get to keep it. That’s the lesson, right?

Yes, a man who is paid precisely to go fast has been reprimanded for, um, going fast. Jenson, taking part in an Ironman triathlon event in California (he loves ‘em), finished third but was disqualified for going too fast in a zone limited to 25mph for safety. Oops. He took it in good spirits, though.

The older among you may note this isn’t the first time he’s been nabbed for speeding. Remember when a very young Jenson recorded a startling 143mph on a French motorway in a BMW 330d?

Whether it was genuine, or a publicity stunt to make people take notice of diesels as something for posh cars, was long debated. If it was the latter, it blooming worked…

Image: Jenson Button

Yes, this is the unedited shot that Renault has given us, which they say envisions “how Formula 1 might be in 10 years’ time.” It looks like there’ll be a lot more night races in F1’s future then – as well as an energy crisis that prevents proper floodlighting.

In this dark, dystopian future, where men are forced to wear space helmets to work (seriously, is that guy wearing a space helmet?) and a worldwide energy crisis has plunged us into the inky blackness of night, it’s good to know that Renault will still field an F1 team. 

Perhaps, by 2027, they’ll have learned that there’s a difference between dramatic lighting and not enough lighting.

Ambivalence, (n): the state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something. For example, when Lego (the best children’s toy in the world) is used to make a gigantic caravan (also known as the vessel that will drag us to hell, with an inexplicably long layover in purgatory while they try to figure out the chemical toilet). You see our conundrum. 

Of course, we can think of better uses for the 215,158 Lego bricks that went into the functioning caravan – including walk on them, barefoot, at two in the morning when all we wanted was a drink from the fridge – but you do have to respect the level of detail that the 12 model makers have included.

Despite the caravan’s life-sized proportions – 3.6m long, 2.2m tall and 1200kg – more than 1000 man hours of fiddly brick-building resulted in toothbrushes, a Lego rendition of a Full English breakfast on the stove (also made from Lego), a pint of milk and a full chess set.

The whole lot is mounted on a bare caravan chassis (also known as the root of all evil), and is fully wired, with working lights, running water and a bed that should prove to be no less comfortable than the flimsy bit of foam on offer in a Mistral GT.

Brits buy more hot hatchbacks than just about anywhere on Earth, and we’ve an especially strong penchant for rapid Golfs. It appears we’re also terribly self-conscious and doing rather well financially. Because during the Mk7 Golf’s life (it’s just been facelifted with sharper lights and numbers), the £4,000 pricier, 300bhp Golf R has massively outsold the more attainable, more traditional, 227bhp Golf GTI.

In fact, the Golf R is actually the second-best selling petrol Golf in all the land, after the 123bhp 1.4 TSI version. The four-wheel drive R, now tweaked for 306bhp, scores around 7 per cent of Golf sales, with the more humble GTI following up with 5 per cent.

And if you’re wondering where the diesel sister fits into this picture, its the overall Golf sales champ. 15 per cent of Golfs shifted in the UK have a GTD badge on the boot and a 184bhp turbodiesel under the bonnet. Poor GTI. That’s no way to treat the elderly. 

Nick Kyrgios is a professional tennis player known for outbursts on court, backchat in press conferences and generally being the bad boy of the most middle class sport not played on a horse or in water. This week, Mr Kyrgios decided to sell his 2015 BMW M3, decked out in this eye-searing Yas Marina blue paint.

But instead of letting a local dealer take care of it, he, um, posted an advert on his Instagram. The guy really doesn’t do conventional.

The post reads: 'Alright - I don't usually post stuff like this on social media... but special exception this time... this was my first car I ever bought, owned from new. The time has come to let it go: BMW F80 M3 2015. As mentioned earlier - owned from new, 1 owner. Meticulously cared for, regularly serviced, paint protect, only 16,000 km, near new tyres, immaculate car, bone leather interior.'

Wonder if he’s swapping for an Alfa Romeo Giulia? That’d be an uncharacteristically sensible idea from the Aussie…

We're not ashamed to admit that furniture isn't really our expertise here at Top Gear. If you took the Bentley emblems off the settee above, we’d look at you plainly, shrug and say 'a DFS special?'. Turns out it’s very much not a DFS special. Rather a very, very expensive sofa from Bentley.

It’s made in Italy, designed by architect Carlo Colombo and uses materials such as maple, eucalyptus, and leather (diamond-quilted like your Mulsanne, obvs). Perfect for gaming in your pants then. Or high-end Netflix and chill. 

If the official bumf is to be believed, this sofa focuses on the study of proportions and forms, and features “well-balanced concepts featuring classical volumes full of refined details.” Looks like somewhere to slob out to us. 

It’s not the only item available, either. If you need to give your front room the full Benters makeover, there’s a set consisting of eight elements – two sofas, a chaise lounge, a table, a set of chairs, a bed, a cabinet, and a lamp – for $171,930. Yes, one hundred and seventy-one thousand dollars. We’ll stick with our inflatable Chesterfield, thanks. The Cheetos stains are easier to get out.

In 2019, Nissan will blow fifty candles out to celebrate the anniversary of its famous ‘Z’ brand. You may have noticed we’re in 2017, so the ‘Z’ brand is currently only 47 years old. Yet that hasn’t stopped the Japanese brand getting a little too excited and giving itself an early birthday present in the shape of a very yellow 370Z.

It’s called ‘The Heritage Edition’ and is essentially a bit of makeup to keep the ageing V6 sports car alive a bit longer. There’s new head and tail lights, smoked chrome door handles and, weirdly, a new, faster clutch. It’s available in two colours: Chicane Yellow or Magnetic Black Heritage Edition with contrasting trim and graphics. We'll see it at next week’s New York Auto Show.

Aston's currently riding a bit of a wave at present, what with the rather lovely all-new DB11, the incoming Vantage replacement and of course, the unhinged Valkyrie hypercar. Now we have news that the much anticipated DBX crossover - all cleared and scheduled for production in 2019 - has gotten a step closer thanks to a new factory.

Yep, a former Ministry of Defence site in South Wales will be the home of DBX production in a couple of years' time, becoming the second Aston Martin production plant. The St Athan site this week saw 'Phase II' of its redevelopment get underway. Aston boss Dr Andy Palmer had this to say: “Due to its sheer size and scale, the St Athan Super Hangars represented an excellent opportunity for us to build our second manufacturing facility, within the envelope of an existing structure. It is perhaps fitting that St Athan is, like our headquarters and sports car factory at Gaydon, a former Royal Air Force base."

For more info on the DBX, click here for the full story of its reveal in March 2015...

Well, at least in terms of the ever-volatile stock market. Ten Things doesn't often cover Wall Street - partly because Ten Things doesn't really understand Wall Street - but news reached us this week that at the close of business on Tuesday just gone, Tesla's share value grew by 7 per cent, putting it ahead of the Ford Motor Company in terms of stock value.

Wait, come back! In outright terms, it means Wall Street valued Tesla at $49bn, against $46bn for Ford. Ford of course, has been around for a very long time. Tesla, not so much.

Ten Things isn't really sure what any of this means, but we do know what the Tesla Model X (pictured above) is like to drive. And don't get us started on the Ford GT...