BBC Top Gear Magazine

Editor-in-chief @TopGearEditor editor@bbctopgearmagazine.com Defender: a word that encapsulates a million stories. The hyperbole tends to get turned up a notch when writing about the icon that is Land Rover’s most legendary product, but few cars comm

CHARLIE TURNER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DEPUTY EDITOR Jack Rix MOTORING EDITOR Oliver Marriage ASSOCIATE EDITOR Tom Ford CONSULTANT EDITOR Paul Horrell EDITOR AT LARGE Jason Barlow US EDITOR AT LARGE Pat Devereux SENIOR ROAD TEST EDITOR Ollie Kew STAFF WRITER

What we’re watching/listening/doing, while we should be working Sunderland Till I Die Season 2, Netflix Our resident Mackem Stephen has considered the investment in the second series to be a key money-stream that will strengthen the Black Cats squad

“Being sent to photograph a cancelled motor show is a new one for me. Seeing it being torn down was fascinating, the amount of waste was troubling” “Caking the car for the cover involved tailgating another Defender down a muddy riverbed at 50mph. Pro

Typical. You wait years for a new, fast Golf, then three come along all at once. Spoiler alert: none is revolutionary nor the teensiest bit surprising, but we’re glad they’re back all the same. Star of the trio is undoubtedly the Golf GTI. After all,

Hot, warm or tepid? Plug-in hybrid or full electric? Pick a flavour Ready salted Just need one that moves? Plain Golf starts at £23,875 GTD Diesel isn’t dead, yet. 2.0TD, 197bhp, DSG-only. Bitter GTE Up to 37 miles in e-mode, 242bhp. Porky GTI Still

You might have seen Richard Pardon’s stunning photography grace the pages of this magazine, but unfortunately he shoots for other people too. If you like cars and photography, follow his travels around the world. He’s also the official photographer f

The new VW Golf’s digital order books are now open. Prepare to see them everywhere. Hopefully not painted in stale hangover-widdle yellow. It’s a £620 option – but so is nice, safe navy blue. ■

I thought the modified doors on my Gallardo were good, but when they went wrong I realised I should’ve saved up for the Aventador. I’ve never driven a Bugatti and I’ve obviously seen the price, so I’d love to experience what it is that makes somethin

You join us in 1952, when the Morris Traveller has just launched! The rear bodywork was hung off an ash frame, which was varnished in Abingdon before being joined to the half-completed Morris, which itself was built in a factory in Coventry. Old-scho

The biggest surprise when it comes to Tony Stewart’s Sprint Car Racing, aside from the fact that it’s sold anywhere outside of the southern United States, is that it’s not actually instantly awful. This niche dirt oval racing game gets the most impor

UNBELIEVABLE TEKKERS SHOULD I CARE? Yes, engineers and chemists over at Goodyear might have discovered the secret to eternal life… for a tyre. Imagine rubber that regenerates as it abrades. Imagine the burnouts! SHOULD I BE SCARED? If you dislike ara

Glickenhaus’s response to Aston pulling out of Le Mans ■

Ladies and gentlemen, it looks as though the new Batmobile will be a V10-powered, Mad Max-style, rear-engined muscle car. Not the engine we deserve, but the one we need right now. Remember the Ami One concept? The one we hoped would be the second com

£33,825 ↑ FOR Comfort and cornering. Cabin feel. Air of quality ↓ AGAINST Not a hatchback. Trips up in its main aim: style 6/10 BMW is not given to pulling surprises on us. Its actions are, in the German, konsequent: logical, consistent, resolute. Pr

All of the body’s skin is new, with bigger grille. Frameless doors allow for a lower roofline and look cleaner Looks like a hatchback, but isn’t. Designed for Chinese who want a saloon. Besides, fifth door would have added cost and weight Still, ther

£27,165 ↑ FOR Stepping into the world of EVs gets a little easier ↓ AGAINST It could get a little more interesting, though Here is a Vauxhall Corsa that’s almost pioneering. And that’s something we’ve never been able to say before. This is the Corsa-

From $63,900 ↑ FOR Handling, performance, refinement ↓ AGAINST Maybe too quiet on the inside? 8/10 Chevrolet has been talking about building a mid-engined Corvette for decades, but we’ve had to wait until 2020, 70 years from its introduction, for the

For the first time, the Corvette will be offered in the UK in right-hand-drive guise The car’s hidden doorhandles, hatch and bonnet release enhance aero Features large paddleshifters, audio controls, Z mode button and bubblegum dispenser. One of thes

£51,805 YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE WITH AUDI’S CARS. The ‘A’s are the normal ones. The ‘S’s are the everyday quick-ish ones. And the RS cars are the specialist, best-we-canmanage ones. Allegedly. So, why doesn’t Audi throw the necessary kit at them? Case

You can have a carbon-fibre roof for your S – saving 1.9kg – costing £2,208. Twice the price is matte Thunder Grey paint (£4,440) No real change here. Most of us would like to sit lower in the Alpine, and have the steering wheel tilt more upright Les

£33,795* ↑ FOR Long range, well-integrated EV systems, Marmite looks ↓ AGAINST Marmite looks, obviously It’s electric or nothing for the Soul now. Funny, the last one had a choice of electric or combustion, and almost everyone chose the one with pist

£14,995 ↑ FOR Comfortable, good tech/equipment, smooth to drive ↓ AGAINST Dodgy auto, steering wheel doesn’t adjust for reach 7/10 Nowadays you don’t see many brand-new city cars. Vauxhall no longer sells the Viva or Adam in Britain, nor Renault the

£37,290 ↑ FOR Classy looks clothe effortless performance ↓ AGAINST Fun and involvement are in short supply 7/10 AMG’s smallest 4dr favours effortless performance over notions like ‘fun’. If you like going fast in straight lines, you’ll fall for it. I

£50,055 ↑ FOR Superb powertrain, neat handling, not an SUV ↓ AGAINST When did the 3-Series get so porky? 9/10 This isn’t the darty, involving 3 Touring older readers might know, but it’s still absurdly good to drive for a 1.7-tonne estate. And it pos

£82,793 ↑ FOR 911s are meant to be subtle, so the Carrera is perfect. ↓ AGAINST The stigma of having the ‘cheapest 911’… 9/10 Want a cheaper 911? Get yourself a boggo 385bhp Carrera. The beauty of the Carrera is that it’s the most 911, 911. A 911 sho

Surprise! It’s a carbon-tubbed, twin-turbo V8 two-seater. The price for a more practical 720S Spider? A tidy £237k. One of the 399 examples of this 804bhp face-peeler? Try £1,425,000 Basically, an 812 Superfast in negligee. You’ll pay an estimated £2

Italy was banned from the 1946 Paris show. So Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina and his son Sergio decided to drive an Alfa Romeo 6C and a Lancia Aprilia convertible to the venue, parking up outside near the main entrance. When Renault introduced the R4 in Par

THE IDEA IS BORN Dorothy Levitt’s book The Woman and the Car advises female motorists to carry a hand mirror to look behind THE RUMOUR MILL Contrary to popular opinion, Ray Harroun didn’t invent the rear-view mirror to win the first Indy 500 FIRST MI

LESS THAN £5K Price now £3,250 Harris says Peugeot is more of a hot hatch company, which is exactly why the Mi16 doesn’t get much attention. In fact, most people pick these up to nab the engine and shoehorn it into a 205 shell. LESS THAN £10K Price n

If you are a BMW geek, then you’ll know that the 3-Series has had a glass boot hatch for, well, ever. But what you might have forgotten is how useful having a boot hatch can actually be. It’s perfect for those moments when you need to dump your shopp

Tom Ford: In many ways, this was the best longer-term companion ever to grace my eclectic driving needs. It was certainly one of the most fitting. At the time, there was a not-insubstantial commute going on – somewhere in the region of 1,000 miles a

If you’ve seen the new TV ad for the Touareg, you’ll know VW is making a big deal of the car’s optional night vision system. When paired with LED matrix-beam headlights (each option costs £1,500), they’ll do clever stuff like warn you (on screen and

SD: Given how much I like picking fights with you, your Focus is annoyingly hard to fault. And shockingly easy to live with. OK: So we’re actually in agreement for once? SD: Not so fast. I’m going to get disproportionately angry about its panoramic s

WHO: JAMES GOUGH WHERE: KAOKOLAND, NAMIBIA For those wondering who would ever use the ladder in the Expedition pack… videographers would WHAT: SIGN WHERE: LONDON, UK And you thought that TopGear team-building days would be held at a go-kart track… WH

Andy Franklin: Whatever happened to just having one button to control one thing? In the new 3-Series there are three ways I can turn the radio up or down. 1 The good old-fashioned way, with a silver knob on the radio. 2 On the steering wheel. 3 By us