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 ISSUE 082
APRIL 2015

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EDITOR’S RANT
TIM KEEN
GOT UNLIMITED CASH
AND GAR AGE SPACE?
LUCK Y YOU. THE REST
OF US HAVE TO CHOOSE
Our cover cars, the Mercedes-AMG C63 S and the (eventually) forthcoming
C450 AMG, are hot properties right now – they bridge the gap between
petrolheads and international regulations, with smaller, more efficient engines
(tick) that sound like a Bathurst starting grid and take off like a ball from a 1-wood
(tick). They’re remarkable machines for a fistful of reasons, but one reason that I
love them especially is: they help solve the conundrum of the “second car”.
You’ve got your practical everyday “first car” – the one for driving to work in
peak hour traffic, and doing the shopping, and picking up the kids. It’s big and
comfortable and fits an IKEA table in the back.
And then there’s the second car – the small one, the fast one, the impractical
one, the fun one. There’s lots of cars I’d love as a second car – if I could afford a
second car, and if I had somewhere to park a second car, and if I frankly wasn’t
spoiled with a series of press cars anyway.
For some people, the second car is an old hooptie. For them, half the joy (more
than half, perhaps) is in the tinkering, getting oily under the bonnet, telling long
stories about carburettors down the pub. Those people are frequently dull.
But I’m talking about people who spoil themselves with something really
special. The ultimate second car right now is the Alfa 4C – check out our review
on page 66 – which is a glorious thing for weekend time attacks in the mountains,
but a demanding bedfellow for day-to-day life. Certainly for the larger framed
gent, you want to make getting in and out of the 4C worth your while.
Of course, there are those – the
madly passionate, or the
masochistic, take your pick – who
“YOU WANT TO COMMIT
choose a “second car” as their daily
driver: the guy who commutes in a
SEPPUKU WHEN YOU COP
Lancia Stratos, or a Lamborghini A DING IN THE CARPARK”
Huracan (true, I actually met a man
the other week who has a Huracan
as his everyday car.) The ones for
whom every commute is a road trip, except for when it drives you mad – old cars
that don’t start when you really need them, new ones that make you want to
commit seppuku when they cop a door ding in the supermarket carpark.
But then you have something like the C63 S, which can be a “first car” in the
week, and transform into a “second car” on weekends, with the flick of a switch and
the press of a button. If you need any help convincing your significant other the
C63 S is a good investment, point out that it’ll actually save you the cost of the
second car – and then some. Because even if you have the money for a second
car, then it opens the door to the most expensive addiction of all… the third car.

MORE AWESOME FROM THE EXTRA PICS AND

ON THIS MONTH’S VIDEOS TG ARCHIVES COOL STUFF
iPAD EDITION: See – and hear – the
machines we mercilessly
More bizarre auto
history rescued from the
All the awesome shots that
we can’t fit onto tree pulp
thrash for a living warehouse of history are there in digital glory

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TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 005
 WorldMags.net
FEATURES
080 Mercedes-BenzC63
It’s the first time the C has gone
bi-turbo. Much large-engine lairiness
in a relatively small car
085 BMWM4vsLexusRCF 114 FordFocusRS
We take the two cars the C63 will The two letters that let you know
have to beat to Dunsfold. Localised
tyre fog ensues...
090 MazdaMX-5
Richard drives the new version of the
car that defined budget fun. And
grins. A lot
098 JaguarXE
Jaguar’s cunning plan to break
into the all-but-impenetrable 3-Series
mar et is ere. ent
108 FordGT 085
Proper aero and a 450kW
EcoBoost V6 means this is very
much a new-school Ford supercar
the Focus’s evil twin is back.
And this time it’s 4WD!
120 FPVPursuitUte
Searching for the ute’s birthplace, our
very own private dick finds pigs, cows,
pissed blokes... and a few more pigs
120
128 NissanLMP1
Front-wheel drive, 932kW...
A U S T R A L I A
eh? We get world-exclusive
access to Nissan’s Le Mans ca
STOP! If that’s not enough awesomeness, hop
over the digital fence to TopGear.com/au where
you’ll find original stories every day, cool car
galleries, funny pictures and everything else
you’ve come to expect from Australia’s best
motoring magazine*. (*As confirmed by an
independent team of scientists).
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 WorldMags.net
22 Ferrari 488 GTB
32 Small pleasures
A turbo? Surely a mistake. Well, Maranello’s Tiny classic cars take to the TopGear track. Break
458 replacement gloriously proves it isn’t out the cravats and flat caps

26 Porsche Cayman GT4 37 TG Rally Challenge – Part Two

With more of everything that counts, the Ollie gets some tips from a proper pro, and his
Cayman’s keen to fight its 911 big brother ride cops a much needed power-up

141–161
27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 40 TopGear Twin Test The bit with the
A lot less weight, even more power, and Heavy haulers on land and in the air; if you’re specs and prices
only 100 are being produced load’s big and heavy, they’ve got you covered and facts. Find out
exactly why your
mates’ cars are
esMay’s Pub Ammo such lemons.
In the lead u to this ear’s Oz To Gear Elvi the trucker, wheelie bin racing, the world’s
Festival, we chat to two o the three amigo ast st backhoe, and of course... Hitler

TG GARAGE
136
The Audi goes bush,
a Commodore Ute
cops a load, and a
flash Merc lobs

090

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Hmm, wonder if the in-laws will
notice if I say I have a work function
F RO M TO P G E A R .CO M then go to a friend’s and watch
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@SUPERDRAMALLAMA
McLaren Special Operations
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So does this mean they could make a I once made the mistake of buying a Gulf- @FAZILA2833 VIA TUMBLR
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Daniel Alex Joe Mills
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The Porsche 918 comes in Martini livery SO MUCH YES.
Transmission toilet!
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Yiannis Kaparos
It looks like a GT40!!!
Bit of a problem here, Gulf colours look good Ignas Skrodenis
on anything.
Joshua VoVillia So they’ve found a pot of paint. Two pots.
Not so special, guys.
Anyone who thinks this looks better than Tak
the transparent purple-black over bare carbon
fibre must be mad. Yawn………. @_RitwickDas
Richard Harrold Karl West My artwork on ‘the
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Is The Stig on holiday in
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But in a good way: with more of everything you love.
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Because you want to know how cars sound, Photo shoots look even richer Unrestrained by pesky paper, we can fit
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EDITOR TIM KEEN

ART DIRECTOR BEN STEWART
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
JASON BARLOW, JEREMY CLARKSON, STEPHEN CORBY, TOM FORD, RICHARD

AND GET A FREE OPY HAMMOND, PAUL HORRELL, JAMES MAY, OLLIE MARRIAGE, PETER MCKAY, SAM PHILIP,
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OF CLARKSO CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

WHAT COULD P Y
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ROWAN HORNCASTLE, BORIS HORVAT, JUSTIN LEIGHTON, JAKE MCBRIDE, RIPLEY &

GO WRONG
WRONG...
RIPLEY, TOBIAS SAGMEISTER, THOMAS WIELECKI, JOE WINDSOR-WILLIAMS

CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS
MARC JENNINGS, SHED UK, THE COMIC STRIPPER, ROHAN OLSON

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 WorldMags.net
hen you drive a Rolls-Royce, or
even if you ride in the back, it
doesn’t take very long for you to
W realise it’s better than anything
you’ve driven or ridden in before.
This is because BMW
understands something important.
That luxury is not measured by the
number of buttons on the
dashboard or how many winking lights there are in the
instrument binnacle. It’s all about space and light. And in a
Rolls-Royce, there’s so much space and light, you feel like
you’re outside, in a field on a sunny summer’s day.
This is even true of the Ghost. A small part of your head
knows that, underneath, it’s a 7-Series BMW, but all five of
your senses are telling you that it can’t be. Intelligence tells
you that you’re being conned. But all the stuff that makes
you human means you don’t care.
I’ve always hoped that one day, when I no longer care
about exhaust snarl and getting past Peugeots as quickly as
possible, I might have a Rolls-Royce. But last month, I caught
a programme on television about the company and what it’s
doing these days. And now I’m thinking my grandfather may
have had a point: he always drove Bentleys because, as he put
it, Rolls-Royces are a bit “vulgar”.
We were shown the sort of people who buy Rolls-Royces
these days, and they were all, how can I put this kindly... a
bit disgusting. The lottery winner was quite likeable, but
then there was a businessman who turned up to buy his
Wraith with a wife who was half his age and twice his height.
He spoke at length about how he’d tailored his car to make
sure that if anyone parked alongside it, they would feel
second best. Had he never heard of Harry Enfield, I
wondered. “I couldn’t help noticing that I’m considerably
richer than yow.”
Plainly not, and that thought took us inside the factory
where the craftsmen were working on a special version of the
WorldMags.net
01 4 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
E R E M Y
IT ALWAYS HAPPENS LIKE THIS...
S WITH OTHER ONCE-MIGHTY BR ANDS,
AS
IT SEEMS THAT ROLLS-ROYCE HAS
LOST ITS WAY, SAYS JEREMY
Phantom called the Celestial.
It would have special dark blue paint containing little
flecks to make it look like the night sky. The roof lining
would be a star screen, with each star in precisely the
place it would have been on the night the Phantom was
first launched. Oh, and the dash would be festooned with
God knows how many actual diamonds. Big ones, too.
There was even a picnic hamper for the boot, which
was on offer for about four hundred times more than it
could possibly have cost to make.
And then there was the Abu Dhabi dealer who had
ordered a fleet of Phantoms to his own design, with
mother-of-pearl inlays to reflect the region’s previous
industry. And perhaps remind customers how lucky they
were not to have to dive for oysters any more.
This is nothing new. In the days of the Empire, for
survival, Rolls-Royce relied on the Indian maharajahs,
who demanded all sorts of trinketry to set their cars
apart: ivory dashboards, golden lamps, seats made from
peacock feathers.
Rolls-Royce sales staff would then have to wait weeks
for an appointment to see the customer, who, if he was
displeased in any way with the finished product, would
simply give the car to his most lowly member of staff.
And tell the man from Rolls-Royce to start again.
It was still going on in the Sixties. We know this
“LUXURY IS NOT MEASURED BY HOW
MANY WINKING LIGHTS THERE ARE
IN THE INSTRUMENT BINNACLE”
 WorldMags.net
“THE BRITISH HAVE THE ABILITY TO SAY
ONE THING IN SUCH A WAY THAT WE MEAN
SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT”
because who can forget John Lennon’s psychedelic Phantom
V? And the telly has reminded us that it’s still going on
today. And all of that begs a question.
Every single person who was interviewed said that what
they thought of most of all when buying a Rolls-Royce was
the Britishness of the whole thing. Our chum from Abu
Dhabi drew our attention to the umbrella that fits in a slot
in the door. Not much use in the Middle East, but a rolled
brolly? That’s about as British as it gets.
Even the German man who runs the company these days
said that he writes to all new customers in English, no
matter where they might be in the world, because that’s
what people expect. Rolls-Royce, then, is very much like the
royal family: German, but perceived to be as British as a
beef ’n’ ale pie.
But hang on a minute. There’s nothing British about
encrusting an entire dashboard with a million quid’s worth
of diamonds, or lining the footwells with half a
hundredweight of dead rabbits. There may be pockets of
ostentation outside the major cities – Surrey, Solihull,
Cheshire and Dore, to name four – but this is not how we
are viewed on the world stage.
We are seen as being quiet, dignified, restrained and
prepared to make do and mend. So how its Rolls-Royce
selling a product on its Britishness when it’s clearly none of
those things?
Simple. Because we have the ability to say one thing in
such a way that we mean something completely different.
WorldMags.net
This means that when someone asks for his Rolls-
Royce to be fitted with candelabras on the front wings
and an enormous golden chandelier in the back, we can
say: “That is very striking, Sir”, which gives the poor
chap a sense that he’s chosen wisely. When in fact we
mean: “That is ghastly, you cretin.”
“Most unusual” is another phrase that a Rolls-Royce
salesman can use to describe a customer’s choice. By
which he means “rubbish”.
And here’s the brilliance. The customer has a sense
he’s being talked down to, and he quite likes it. Certainly,
he expects it because that’s another character trait of the
English: sneering arrogance.
I would love to work on the Rolls-Royce sales force,
because can you imagine how much fun you could have
signing people with no taste and no style up to all sorts
of ridiculous options that will make them look even more
stupid than they already are: “Oh yes, Sir. Pink is very
much in this season, and what about lining the interior
with old cardboard boxes to remind you of your life
before you won the lottery?”
And: “Congratulations on your record going to the top
of the pop charts, Mr Warbler. Maybe we could celebrate
this remarkable achievement by having one of our
craftsmen write the score of your wonderful song down
the flanks in a special new paint our engineering team
has just secured. It’s made from squid ink and is just
$100,000 a gram.”
It’s all to do with stance and tone. You genuflect and
bow slightly and use the word ‘Sir’ a lot to give the
ILLUSTRATION: MATTHEW BILLINGTON
impression you are very much the underdog. But you
know all the time that you’re not. And he knows you
know. And doesn’t really mind.
In the immortal words of The Fast Show’s Swiss Toni,
“You have to make him think that his is bigger but, in
order to sell it to him, you have to know that yours is the
biggest.” Only the British can really pull that off.
Yes, I know Toni was Swiss, but the man who created
him was Charlie Higson. And he isn’t.
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 015
 WorldMags.net
should have waited to
write this. I’m tempting
fate; this is a mistake.
I Anyway, I’m teaching
myself to drive today.
More specifically, to drive
and ride. I’ve complicated
my life in recent months by having a clear-out
of some of the various hulks and wrecks lurking
about the pile of mud and stone where I live and
replacing them with more interesting, possibly
even functioning, toys. And that’s the point: I
undertook this exercise intending to simplify my
life, to cut down on paperwork and maintenance
and replace the many with the important few.
So, gone are some of the bought-to-impress
cars and flashy bikes – including a BMW HP4
road rocket of a bike I miss already and a Land
Rover I should NEVER have parted with. And in
the place of this outgoing crowd of hustle,
bustle and on-track, off-road sporting
pretensions sit two items. One is a 1932
Lagonda 2.0-litre Supercharged Tourer, and the
other is a 1946 Indian Chief. You will, of course,
be familiar with these two machines (unlike
others, who might not appreciate that one is a
vintage, British, four-seater, open touring car
from a company set up in Staines in 1906 by an
American ex-opera singer, while the other is the
product of an American motorcycle company
that nearly outdid Harley at the beginning of
“I HAVE TENSIONED
CABLES AND KICKED
TYRES. I POSSESS FULLY
FUNCTIONING LIMBS...
AND I AM SCARED”
01 6 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
A PURGE OF SOME WONDERFUL RUST BUCKETS FROM
THE HAMMOND COLLECTION OF MOTOR VEHICLES
MEANS SOME NEW ARRIVALS NEED TO BE MASTERED...
time but then sort of fell apart when it messed
about trying to make expensive, luxury
motorcycles during the Great Depression then
failed to get military contracts during WWII).
The point is, these two machines are steeped
in stories from some of the less well-trodden
avenues of the motoring past, and each is a
rolling history lesson in its own right. They are
also, as it turns out, bloody difficult to operate. I
like a challenge. I learned to fly helicopters and
even to drive a Ford Model T. Neither of those,
even with all their fiendish, counterintuitive
complexities, can generate anything to compare
with the wash of confusion that floods the
simple Brummie mind when confronted with a
car in which the position of brake and
accelerator pedals are switched and the
gearlever is on the right, from where it operates
a gearbox that appears to have been fitted
upside down. And even that is simple compared
with first sitting on a motorcycle to discover that
the right-hand clutch lever is now a left-foot
clutch pedal, the left-foot gear pedal is now a
left-hand lever by the tank, the right-hand
throttle twistgrip is now a left-hand throttle
twistgrip but the right-hand grip still twists to
operate the ignition’s essential advance and
retard facility. Better still, on starting it up – a
process which can involve, if not begun at
precisely the right point on the crankshaft’s turn,
a quick trip through the roof of the garage – I
discovered that someone had gone to the
trouble of switching the throttle and advance/
retard twistgrips, thus undoing all the
visualisation I had practised in readiness for the
bike’s arrival.
So there they both sit. They look lovely, they
gleam, they sparkle with history and sing of a
time when cars and bikes were a kind of miracle,
capable of hurtling us humdrum sacks of flesh
about the place at impossible speeds. And
neither has yet turned a wheel under my
command. Well, I drove the Lagonda up the
drive when it was delivered and arrived at my
WorldMags.net
garage door in a cloud of clutch smoke and
sweat before popping it away to wait for a day
when I could get to grips with its peculiar ways.
And that day is today. I have prepared. I
have sat on a kitchen chair and imitated an F1
driver before a race, rehearsing in my mind and
hands and feet the moves I will make. I have
checked fluids and brakes, tensioned cables and
kicked tyres. It is not raining or snowing. I
possess fully functioning limbs. And I am scared.
I shall take off into the country alone to learn –
or, rather, relearn – the business of driving a car
and riding a motorcycle. And at such a time, it is
inevitable that I shall reflect upon what a
colossal privilege it is to drive anything at all,
wherever the accelerator and clutch are.
Driverless cars will come, of course, and they
will be great. Sources of motive power that
today seem wildly futuristic will whizz and hum
us about to work and play with everyday
efficiency. Who knows, given that the first thing
we have done with every other form of transport
is devise a means of racing it, maybe we will one
day watch driverless car races, their operators
safe and comfortable in the pits while their
charges battle it out like robot gladiators on the
track. But the business of driving, of being in
charge of the machine that is transporting you
from where you are to where you want to be, will
always, I believe, have a place in our hearts.
At the risk of getting all slushy and romantic
in a car magazine, we are travellers and
wanderers. We talk about exploring space,
landing things on comets and on Mars, and it’s
exciting, yes, but it doesn’t really count until
we’ve actually been there ourselves. Simply
knowing something is there and is like this or
like that is never quite enough: we have to go
there, to know that human feet have stood there
and human eyes have looked at it. So once
again, I’m far from worried about the future of
the car and the motorcycle. We want ’em. So
we’ll always have ’em. There’s no putting this off,
is there? Right, I’m off back to school.
 WorldMags.net

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 WorldMags.net
his, I suspect, is going to
be a contentious
question. Have Aston
T Martins ever really been
any good?
Glorious, yes.
Caddish, of course.
Likeable, most definitely. A little bit knowing,
quite possibly. A keystone of this nation’s
sense of its own identity as evinced by the
more memorable of its industrial products,
like Mallard and Concorde – yes, yes, all right.
But actually that good? I’m not sure.
It pains me to say this, because as a lad I
could imagine nothing more wonderful than a
V8 Vantage (I’m talking about the one from
the Seventies, which is when I was a lad, not
the more recent one). The thought of that car
kept me awake longer than the thought of
Catherine Bradley did. Somewhere on the
bookshelves, I still have an ancient copy of Car
magazine: ‘Advantage Aston!’ proclaims the
cover, and there is the V8 Vantage. It’s brittle
with age and use.
Going back to the Sixties, Seventies and
Eighties, we find some fine Astons, oh yes;
including that one. But a little research shows
“SINCE THE DB9 – AND
I HATE TO SOUND LIKE
MY DAD – ASTON
MARTINS HAVE ALL
LOOKED THE SAME”
01 8 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
IT’S A SAD DAY WHEN YOU REALISE
THAT YOUR CHILDHOOD SUPERHERO
ISN’T AS SUPER AS YOU IMAGINED...
the contemporary Italian stuff was less lumpen,
and Jags were more modern and cheaper.
Aston Martin did, of course, produce the
Lagonda, which I still think is one of the most
modern-looking cars ever made. It still looks
modern. But the sad truth is that it never
actually worked properly. The Bulldog would
have been utterly brilliant, but they had the
good sense to stop after one.
In the Nineties, I was able to start driving
the things. By then, Aston Martin had become
the slightly troublesome child of the British
motor industry, one that frustrated us
endlessly but whom we loved for doing its
best. There was a certain cussed appeal in the
ancient panel-working techniques and those
blokes pushing engines across the main road
on wooden trolleys. I really liked the V8
Coupe, but possibly only because no one
would let me drive a Ferrari 456 back then.
The DB7 was the dawn of the new Aston, I
seem to remember. New factory, new
production methods. It was nice, but it was
really an old Jag with a slightly mishmash
interior. Then there was the DB9, and that
really was a new beginning. And since then –
and I hate to sound like my dad – they’ve all
looked the same.
Now, don’t hit me with the Porsche 911
argument. The 911 is presented as various
versions of the one car. It’s looked largely the
same for 50 years, I know, but Porsche has
earnt this privilege because it kept going, like
AC/DC. It never re-formed.
Meanwhile, Aston seems to be wringing
the last drop of blood out of – admittedly – a
perfectly nice bit of styling to the point where
it’s become a bit boring. And to be honest,
although I’ve been very happy driving various
modern Astons, they never quite give me the
WorldMags.net
fizz. There’s something slightly contrived
about them.
Do you know what I think it is? Aston
Martin has long been trying too hard to be
British. It’s a problem that afflicts many
enterprises in Britain, from housing that
‘blends in’ to pie fillings.
I recently had a massive argument with
a well-known brewer, who kept banging on
about craft heritage and the tradition of beer.
I drink a lot of supposedly ‘traditional’ beer,
but I drink it because it’s nice, not because
it was delivered on a horse-drawn dray or
made by a man in an apron.
And it’s all nonsense anyway. The brewery
yard is full of Swedish-made lorries, and the
inside of a brewery is like a microbiology R&D
centre, full of computers and a few people in
sterile white coats. Enforced tradition is just
something made up for tourists.
So I think Aston Martin should start by
ditching that homage to the old DB grille
and introducing some proper edges to its
designs. Note that Ferrari, which has a more
compelling heritage than most carmakers,
doesn’t get bogged down in any of this stuff.
Its cars move on, and are contemporary. Some
of them have been a bit shocking, but they’re
always of the moment.
And so to the DB10: another new
direction, apparently. The lights are a bit
narrower, and the windows are shallower – I
can see that. But the rear wheelarches are
daft, and it still looks basically the same.
Believe me, I want to love Aston Martin,
but radical action is needed. So here’s another
contentious suggestion; in fact, I’m going to
make it and then take cover. Perhaps the best
thing that could happen to Aston Martin is if
James Bond stopped driving one.
 WorldMags.net

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WorldMags.net

WorldMags.net
 WorldMags.net

EVERYT HIN T HIS MONTH

BIG THIS MONTH

Ferrari 488 GTB

Deep breath: the 458 replacement
has gone turbo TURN OVER

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 021
 WorldMags.net
Ferrari 488 GTB
The 488 GTB is fully turbocharged. Will it blow us away or blow up in Ferrari’s face? BY TOM FORD

o here it is: the Ferrari 488 isn’t exactly new, and I doubt any of than a standard 458. More importantly,

S
GTB, the turbocharged
replacement for the 458
Italia. It’s a car that seems
to have courted controversy,
simply because it introduces
turbocharging into Ferrari’s
heartland mid-engined supercar,
following on from last year’s
California T. But why the grimace
and the slightly dismissive attitude
to a Prancing Horse with boost?
Admittedly, the 458 Speciale’s
9,000rpm, 445kW 4.5-litre naturally
aspirated crescendo will be missed,
but a Ferrari with forced induction
us would pass over the opportunity to
own or drive an F40, 288 GTO or 208
GTB Turbo. So let’s not get ahead of
ourselves – turbo Ferraris are not
necessarily a bad thing, and the 488
GTB has some tricks up its newly
flared sleeves to keep us happy.
For a start, and the obvious big
news, the engine. It’s a 3902cc (the
sub-four-litre category remaining
important for tax reasons in some
countries) V8 twin-turbo that makes
492kW and 760Nm of torque. A
significant amount of power in a car
that weighs 1,370kg, some 10kg less
it makes these prodigious figures while
only producing 260g/km of CO 2 , a 15
per cent drop over the previous car,
and a progressive downward curve
necessary for Ferrari. Don’t forget that
even though Maranello gets small-
manufacturer exemptions for
reduction of CO 2 emissions across its
products, if it doesn’t show willing,
those exemptions will be revoked.
With the 1999 360 Modena rated at
415g/km and latterly the 458 Speciale
down to 275, the 488 is showing that
Ferrari is taking care of eco-business.
Meanwhile, we get a mid-size

THE 488
BLOODLINE
A BRIEF HISTORY OF
MID-ENGINED FERRARIS 1969 Dino 246 1975 308 GTB 1985 328 GTB 1989 348

WorldMags.net
022 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
 WorldMags.net
New 3.9-litre bent-8
employs 90-degree V
and a brace of turbos

Ferrari with a suspiciously one-potato-
two-potato 492kW, just that little bit
more than, say – completely randomly
– the McLaren 650S. It’s a
turbocharged car that manages to rev
to a glorious 8,000rpm. Big news, and
probably the result of larger turbos
than those on the California T: small,
quick-spinning turbos cut lag but
restrict the exhaust at high revs,
bigger turbos allow for revs (like in
the 488) but tend to introduce more
© FERRARI S.P.A.
It is also wise to point out the
explicit fraternal links, because
Ferrari has learned a lot from the
California T. The Cali has a very
complicated exhaust manifold to keep
the flat-crank noise, and the 488 is
likely to have the same, with the press
information promising that: “Ferrari’s
engineers have dedicated great
attention to perfecting the 488 GTB’s
sound, creating a new soundtrack that
is full, clear and totally distinctive,
can sound more industrial than their
atmospherically fed counterparts.
The 488 also gets Variable Torque
Management like its bigger brother,
which limits torque in lower gears –
the full weight of Nm is only
Chinny new spoiler
arrangement takes achievable in 7th gear – to encourage
inspiration from you to seek out the upper ranges, and
big-bro LaFerrari
smoothing some of the feeling of
boost. Ferrari uses a similar-sounding
technique in the LaFerrari, in which
the electric motor is used to ‘torque-

lag from the throttle. We shall see how as expected from any Prancing Horse shape’ the graphs for more natural and
successful Ferrari has been at engine.” Meaning that Ferrari is pleasing response, and it’s a similar
managing big-revs turbocharging with pre-empting the naysayers about idea here, making the 488 react more
lag-free response. dull-sounding turbo engines, which like a naturally aspirated car.

1994 F355 1999 360 Modena 2005 F430 2009 458 Italia 2015 488 GTB

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TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 023
 WorldMags.net
PERFORMANCE

0–100km/h in 3.0 seconds,

(0–200km/h in 8.3),
330km/h top speed,
11.4L/100km (combined),
260g/km CO 2

Unsurprisingly, the 488 is fast:

0–100km/h in 3.0secs might be on a par
with the outgoing 458 Speciale, but let
them both run to 200km/h, and the 488
GTB will find itself a second clear.
Be under no illusions, 0–200km/h in 8.3
seconds will be quick enough for most.
ENGINE
Top speed is an almost arbitrary
330km/h. 3902cc V8 bi-turbo,
To help you maintain progress 492kW @ 8000rpm, which itself features active flaps – has
760Nm @ 3000rpm
without suddenly finding yourself necessitated the need to move the
(in 7th gear)
facing entry rather than apex, there’s exhausts up and away.
also the usual gamut of Ferrari’s diff Initial impression is that the car
and electronic tech. A new version of looks excellent, maintaining Ferrari’s
Side Slip Angle Control – called, necessary familial resemblance, but
imaginatively, SSC2 – is now more updating the now five-year-old 458’s
precise and less invasive and works insectile facial features and stance. It
with the F1-Trac diff and the car’s could possibly be a little… hippy, for
active damping to keep the car flat and some, but we’ll have to wait and see
stable “during complex dynamic how it’s received in the longer term.
manoeuvres”. For which we like to And thankfully we won’t have to wait
substitute the phrase: “joyous hooning very long: Ferrari reckons we’ll be
about”. driving the 488 GTB soon. European
The styling is the other new aspect, The 488 name pricing of €210,000 was announced
this time coming equipped with a huge refers to the post its Geneva unveiling, which
50 per cent more downforce allied to displacement relative to other models in the line-up,
of each cylinder:
reduced drag versus the 458. A 488cc should translate to around $545,000.
seemingly counterintuitive piece of
physics. But the 488 gets a double frontt
spoiler, ‘base bleed’ side intakes
(which feed the radiators and
intercoolers for the turbos), active
aero and a ‘blown’ spoiler. There’s also
a set of vortex generators underneath
the rear of the car to help manage
airflow, and the kicked-up diffuser –

WorldMags.net
024 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
 WorldMags.net Cabin retains 458’s
stick-it-all-on-the-
steering-wheel
button philosophy

WEIGHT
1370kg
Distribution:
46.5% front
53.5% rear

TRANSMISSION

7spd F1 dual-clutch,
rear-wheel drive

“It has 492kW, just a little bit

more than, say – completely
randomly – the McLaren 650S”
Turbocharged Ferraris are not new, but perhaps the most
legendary ‘modern’ version is the F40. A car that in 1987 was
considered mind-blowing, even when pitted against mighty
contemporaries such as Porsche’s similarly forced-induction
959. But it’s wise to compare the F40 to the 488 GTB, if
only to see how far we’ve come. The F40 was considered a
MODERN TURBO VS full-hypercar at the time, whereas the 488 is actually Ferrari’s
heartland competitor, with the LaFerrari occupying another
TURBO LEGEND stratum of performance in 2015.
HOW DOES THE 488 And yet the F40 came equipped with a 2.9-litre twin-
MATCH UP TO THE F40? IHI-turbocharged V8 developing around 356kW.
Remember the triplet of exhausts? The outer pair were
for each bank of the V8, the central pipe dealt with the
turbo wastegate exhaust. It managed 0–100km/h in 3.8
seconds – thanks mainly to a kerb weight of just 1,100kg
– and 0–200km/h in 10.0. The 488 shaves a respectable
amount from that latter figure. The 488 also manages to
be significantly quicker and cleaner while ferrying around
30 years’ worth of advances in safety tech, electronics and
entertainment, two more speeds in a gearbox with twice as
many clutches (the F40 was a 5spd manual), and having,
potentially, the usability of a VW Golf.


WorldMags.net
A

TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 025

 1
WorldMags.net2 It’s a Cayman,
only more so
The Cayman’s blueprint – driven
wheels at the rear, engine in the
middle, justifiably smug driver in
front – is beyond reproach. Porsche
has wisely chosen not to meddle with
the formula, instead opting for what
you might call a holistic upgrade:
more power, more wing and plenty
of bits nicked from the 911 GT3.
A Cayman turned up to 11.
It’s got the engine
from a Carrera S
It was long rumoured that
Porsche stymied the Cayman’s
performance to prevent it trampling on
the toes of big brother 911. No longer.
The GT4 gets the 3.8-litre naturally
aspirated flat-six from the Carrera S,
producing 283kW at a screaming
7,400rpm. That’s 33kW more than
the Cayman GTS, making this the
most powerful Cayman yet.

O N S T H E
S
REA AN GT4
CAYMBE THE BEST
MAY E YET... get you
ut t o
t tle br ot her’s o
a t ch out, 911. Li
W

3 4
It might just outpace a 911 It’s got a stick shift!
Porsche quotes the GT4’s 0–100km/h time at 4.4 seconds. That’s probably Eyebrows were raised, and Nomex-clad fists waved, when Porsche announced
a trifle conservative but, even so, still puts it a tenth quicker than that 911 it would equip its latest 911 GT3 with a seven-speed PDK gearbox, refusing
Carrera S. And such is the Cayman’s inherent poise and balance that it’ll give to even offer the option of manual. No such clutch-free tomfoolery here:
that same Carrera S a mighty headache around any track you care to mention, too. the Cayman GT is offered with just one transmission option, a six-speed stick shift
Top speed stands at 295km/h, which is probably enough for the morning commute. with dynamic mounts. The three-pedal sports car is not, it seems, quite dead yet.

WorldMags.net
09 6 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
 5
It’s got a massive wing
WorldMags.net
The Cayman has always tended towards a
subtle aesthetic, shunning the strakes and
vents of its shoutier rivals. But for GT4 duty,
the coupe has gained a whacking great fixed wing,
helping to generate downforce and look excellent.
There’s a deeper front splitter, too, while the entire
car sits 30mm lower than the standard Cayman. The
cabin gets a new Alcantara-trimmed steering wheel,
and the doorhandles have been ditched in favour of
fabric grabs. Kerbweight? A smidge over 1,400kg.

6 It’ll be a track monster

Porsche reckons 80 per cent of the buyers of its
GT-badged cars will use them for track days, and,
should your wallet permit, you can spec your GT4

Aston Vantage GT3

with all manner of track-ready goodies: carbon-ceramic
brakes, carbon-shell bucket seats and Porsche’s Club
Sport package. It’s for more than just show. The GT4
has already lapped the Nürburgring Nordschleife in
7m40s, putting it in the same bracket as the Merc SLS
and Ford GT. That’s supercar pace, not sports-car pace.

The littlest AM celebrates an important birthday with

HEAD TO HEAD some horsepower and orange highlights BY JASON BARLOW
udging its 10th birthday it may to send air along the side of the car, and

CAYMAN GT4
$190,300
283
420
4.4
PRICE
POWER (KW)
TORQUE (NM)
0–100KM/H (SECS)
911 CARRERA S
$245,200
294
440
4.5 (MAN)
N be, but add the suffix ‘GT3’ to the
Vantage, and it’s like it’s day one
again. To be fair, this is one highly
evolved Vantage. Since 2005,
Aston Martin has transformed
itself into a seriously successful customer
racing outfit, and the GT3 positively
there are artful slats and cuts behind the
front and rear wheel arches. There’s a
magnesium torque tube and inlet
manifold, while the exhaust system is
titanium and exits above the
rear diffuser in an unapologetic manner.
“Yep, we decided to let some of the guts
295 TOP SPEED (KM/H) 304
dribbles with competition-spec know- hang out,” an Aston spokesman said.
1415 KERB WEIGHT (KG) 1490
how. Peel away the lairy graphics, and Inside, the door mouldings are single-
what you’re left with is lower and wider piece carbon items, the seats are manually
than any previous iteration. operated, and even the satnav screen is
Everything bar the doors is made of fixed. The centre console is nicked from
carbon fibre, so it tips the scales 100kg less the Vanquish, and there’s Alcantara all
than the standard car. The 6.0-litre V12 over the top of the dash. You will want
has been uprated from 421kW to 440. this car – make no mistake – which is
Aston has some ex-F1 guys on the payroll problematic for three reasons. It’s worth
now, so there’s a lot of trick aero on the around $600,000 here. Only 100 are being
GT3: the intakes on the bonnet are angled made. And they’ve all been sold.

Trout pout: limited

run Vantage GT3
is all sold out

7
It’s a veritable bargain (sort of)
The GT4 will set you back $190,300, which seems
rather a lot for a Cayman when the 192kW base model
clocks in at $106,600. But look at it this way:
it’s almost $55,000 cheaper than a 911 Carrera S and a
whopping $103k below a 911 GT3. And it won’t depreciate.

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 097
 WorldMags.net
“A day with
Jeremy is a
fate worse
than death!”
Ahead of TopGear Live’s triumphant Sydney return
in April, James and Richard sit down to discuss
Australia. And bicker. BY BEN SMITHURST

WorldMags.net
029 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
 WorldMags.net

A R D H A M M O N D
E S M AY & R IC H
J A M Fast cars shall
be driven, and
others broken...
Australia feels like it must be a bit wouldn’t be so bad. But a week! You’d
CATCH
A of a gift to the Top Gear. It’s a
country familiar with piss-taking,
secretly quite fond of the English,
and our national character is a
sort of collection of frighteningly
accurate stereotypes.
JM: We’ve always said that the
end up getting into a rhythm. It’d
become a way of life. And then you’d
never be able to properly readjust to
normal society, would you? You’d
effectively become James May. And
that’s really bad news. It’s an impossible
question to answer.
THE
BOYS

relationship that Britain and Australia
have, and England and Australia
especially, is a sort of model for world
peace and world politics, because we
sort of like each other, really, but we’re
obliged to take the piss quite badly and
be a bit rude about each other. The
countries are like two good mates down
the pub, England and Australia.
And you’ve spent a reasonable amount of
time here very recently.
RH: Yes, we’ve just been filming up in
the Northern Territory, and we
absolutely loved it. And one of the
reasons we loved it was that it was great
to be in Australia and filming in the
Northern Territory and not Sydney – a
big, grand, international city – because
we knew it would piss off Sydney, haha,
when we heaped praise on the Northern
Territory! Haha! But we did genuinely
love it, it was absolutely superb.
You must get sick of each other’s company.
Here’s a test: Richard, would you rather be
trapped in a lift for a day with Jeremy or a
shed for a week with James?
JM: What a good question!
RH: Ooh! Hehehe! Right. Can I be left
alone for a year with a service revolver
and a telephone box as a third
alternative?
No.
RH: Hm. A year in a wardrobe with a
crocodile?
No, it’s binary.
RH: Oh, God! [Long pause] See, either
way it’s a fate worse than death. I
mean… ah. The shortness of the
sentence with Jeremy in a lift is
tempting, but a day with Jeremy could
seem like several weeks. But then again,
a week in a shed with James could seem
like 10 years. And also, the week in a
shed with James, the really worrying
thing is… see, a day in a shed with James
JM: Well that’s interesting, because
I would worry to some extent that
I would leave the shed having become
Richard Hammond.
Ooh.
JM: Well, if I were him, and obviously
I’m not, because if I were him he’d be a
much nicer person, but if I were him, I’d
rather be in a shed with me. Being
Hammond is quite interesting, because
he’s a very different person from me. He
has a different temperament, different
goals, a different approach to things. But
in some ways we’re also very similar. So
I think if I was stuck in the Australian
Outback I’d be quite happy to be with
Richard Hammond, because he’s quite
resourceful and quite useful. If I was
stuck in Sydney and I wanted someone
to recommend a restaurant I’d rather be
with Jeremy, because that’s his bag.
So who is the better traveling companion?
JM: I’d rather be with Hammond if I
was doing something tough, because if
something goes wrong and a wheel falls
off, or whatever, Hammond would be
able to help me sort it out, whereas
Jeremy… couldn’t. Sarcasm isn’t useful
when it comes to repairing things.
You wouldn’t want to break down in the
outback anyway. It’s full of snakes and
murderers and spiders like dinner plates.
RH: Yes, but spider deaths are very
rare in Australia, aren’t they? Though
we all think of the place being full of
the bastards very few people get bitten
by them.
JM: I did encounter a hunttsman, I
think it’s called, which is li ke a cat with
eight legs. And I’ve seen the little red
ones, and I’ve seen a snake
and some crocodiles. I do
have a theory that Australi a
isn’t actually designed to b e
lived in, because it’s actual ly
WorldMags.net
IMAGES: GETTY
WANT TO SEE THE
TOPGEAR BOYS LIVE?
The Top Gear presenters will be at the Top Gear Festival at
Sydney Motorsport Park on the 18th & 19th April – along with
an amazing line-up of cars & awesome stunts. Book your tickets
now www.ticketek.com.au/topgearfestivalsydney
“Australia isn’t designed
to be lived in, because
it’s too dangerous”
too dangerous: you’ve got all the
animals, obviously, and dust, intense
heat… um, what else have you got? I
thought of something else that can kill
you. Lager! Lager, yes. There’s a lot of
lager in Australia.
Spiders, dust, heat. We like fast cars
WATCH because we have to f lee things that are
TOPGEAR hard to shoot.
ONLINE AT RH: When we were in the North Pole,
TG.COM
Work? Pah! Put your my team was pursued for three days by
computer to better a polar bear. We had to chase it off with
use by watching TG
television episodes guns because she was getting closer and
at TopGear.com closer. If she’d attacked I’d have been in
a world trouble.
Is death b polar bear manlier than by
spider?
RH: I ’s about as tempting a choice
as the one you presented earlier. In
fact, wouuld I rather have a day in a lift
with a p ar bear or a week in a shed
h a funnel web? I don’t want
ither of those. But both are
better
b options than the Jeremy
or James one.
TOPGEAR M  APRIL 2015 029
WorldMags.net

WorldMags.net
 WorldMags.net
STORIES FROM OUR WEIRD WORLD, WITH ADDED BITS FROM THE TELLY BOYS

TOPGEAR
“For
the first time, a flat
cap is used as active aero”
TG FINDS PLEASURE IN LIFE
LIFE’S
S SMALL THINGS

p37 p40 p44 p48

RALLY CHALLENGE TWIN TEST HAMMOND’S ICONS OPTIONS
Ollie gets some professional help. About time... Airbus A400m Atlas versus Volvo FH16-750 All-Amercianmuscle,withtheheartofapickup There’snothingquitelikeyou’reownsubmarine
WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 0 31
 WorldMags.net
HONEY,
I SHRUNK

THE SKIDS
PLANET C K E T C L A S S I C S AT D U N S F O L D

IS IT A BIG MAN AND SMALL CAR OR A SMALL

CAR AND BIG MAN? OR IS IT SIMPLY AS MUCH
FUN AS YOU CAN HAVE WITH SIX KW?
WORDS: DAN READ /
PICTURES: ROWAN HORNCASTLE

WorldMags.net
 WorldMags.net
y colleague Oliver Marriage is
a gentleman of some
distinction. He does his flies
M up every morning. Takes his
hat off indoors. And in the
past three months, he has
cursed just once, and even
then it came out as “shoot”.
Today, he’s dressed in a dapper moleskin jacket that
previously belonged to his father, and if there
happened to be a lady nearby he would undoubtedly
hold open the door and definitely not goose her on
the way through.
He is also an arse. Because while I came here
today for a spot of cultured motoring in a couple
of classics, he has found a slippery corner on which
to perform lavish skids. Clearly, a chap should not
indulge in such disgraceful behaviour at the wheel
of a pensionable Jaguar. The XK120 was, after all,
the fastest road car of its day and should be treated
with the dignity its years deserve. It should not,
under any circumstances, be handled so roughly.
I hope his flat cap slips off his low-friction head.
As a matter of fact, it does. This is because his
head is positioned some distance above the
windscreen and exposed to a stiff breeze, so about
halfway down the runway at Dunsfold it flies off –
the cap, not his head – and swirls around like the
last leaf blown from a bare branch. Serves him right.
Because although his old Jag might not actually be a
Jag, nor especially old, it deserves the same respect.
p th gearstick pokes up between your legs and
If you’re blessed with the gift of perspectivve,
you’ll have noticed it’s also a touch on the smaall
side, as is my AC Cobra with white stripes. And
that’s because both are miniature versions of ttheir
big brothers – cute little pygmy cars with shrun nken
bodywork and snug cabins with just enough roo om
for an adult human. And, instead of their traditiional
chunky engines, they make do with 110cc, single-
“About halfway down
the runway at Dunsfold,
his flat cap flies off...”
WorldMags.net
Twist the key, and
push the pedal to
release the full 6kW
cylinder petrol engines usually found in a Honda
Cub. Both have about 6kW. Steady on.
They have proper suspension and Brembo disc
brakes, although presumably one has a man to take
care of such things. They have scooter tyres
wrapped around 10-inch wheels – the same size as
those fitted to the original Mini, believe it or not.
Each has a three-speed sequential transmission
connected to the rear wheels via a chain, also from a
scooter. Made by Vietnam-based, British-run
Harrington Specialist Vehicles, they’re sold in the
UK by Pocket Classics. The price? About $26,000 for
the Cobra; $30,000 for the XK.
Unfortunately, neither is road-legal, so here we
are on the TopGear track, where terrible wind can
play havoc with one’s cravat. I know this, because
mine has escaped from my collar and is flapping in
my face. The solution is to hunch over and rest the
brim of my hat on the top of the windscreen, which
might look silly, but it’s the first time in history a
flat cap has been used as active aero, very much like
the drag reduction system in an F1 car. Not so
stupid now, eh?
You sit centrally with your legs astride a
transmission tunnel, with a foot on each pedal,
although the pedals are actually metal bars like
you’d find in a go-kart (essentially, they are
go-karts, with added posh bits). No need for a
clutch. The seat is padded in rumpled leather her, the
wooden steeringg wheel fe l cold in your hands, and
feels
the
Spot of cravat
adjustment, and
we’re off. Tally-ho!
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 0 33
97
 WorldMags.net
Enormously
optimistic speedo
is standard spec

P L A N E T / P O C K E T C L A S S I C S AT D U N S F O L D

dresses slightly to the left, if you see what I mean.

You nudge forward to change up and back to change
down.
I’m in the XK now, which makes a surprising
racket when you turn the key and fire up the engine
– something between a large lawnmower and a
small propeller-driven plane. First gear engages
with a clunk, and we’re underway. It takes a while
to get up a head of steam, but on the limiter, in
third, it’s an absolute weapon. Honestly. You can
In their heads, the
theme from 633 reachout and touch the tarmac, like skimming the
Squadron was playing water over the side of a boat, although I don’t
recommend this because, at the 65km/h top whack,
it’s like putting your fingertips on a belt sander.
In fact, from the driver’s seat, you can reach
both ends of the car, making it one of the few
vehicles you could hand-wash without getting out.
Which is good, because I don’t want to get out. Now
look, I don’t want to come over all road-testy,
because that would be absurd, but you should know
there’s plenty of grip and when you spin you won’t
fall out, despite an alarming lack of seatbelts. The
steering is quite sharp. And you can go through
almost every corner flat-out, which feels mildly
Wheels are tiny, but are heroic. Although not as heroic as dabbling in
the same size as those walking-pace oversteer should you lift off the
on the original Mini
throttle in the middle of a bend.
While we’re giving them a rather ungentlemanly
seeing to, it seems only right to see how fast they go

WorldMags.net
03 4 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
 around our track. You might think they’d be the
slowest vehicles ever to attempt such a thing, but
remember, Hammond once went around in a
WorldMags.net
pedal-powered Porsche in 18 minutes, 37 seconds.
So, unless they run out of fuel (with 1.5-litre tanks,
it’s not entirely out of the question), they should be
safe. Over to Ollie and the Cobra, which for some
reason feels more sprightly than the XK. After the
customary three/two/one/go, he adopts his
go-faster hunch and toddles off at some speed.
By the time he approaches the Hammerhead,

“He adopts his customary

hunch and toddles off at Dashed Americans
getting in my

some speed in the Cobra” way. Toot Toot

the Pagani Huayra – currently the fastest car

around the TopGear track – would have finished its
lap. In fact, its driver would have parked and had a
cup of tea before the tiny Cobra completes its
circuit in three minutes and seven seconds. Much
faster than Hammond’s pedal-car lap, but still the
slowest petrol-powered lap time by some margin.
Of course, this doesn’t matter at all, because it’s
not road-legal, so the time goes in the bin.
Besides, we’re getting carried away. We came Enormous man or tiny
here for a gentle drive in the English countryside, car? Well guessed – it’s
an enormous man
not for squealing tyres and lashings of smoke. As
a wiser man than me once said, “A gentleman would
be ashamed should his deeds not match his words.”
(Confucius, TopGear’s preferred Chinese
philosopher, is criminally under-quoted in car
magazines. Not any more.) And you must admit,
the man had a point.
So, Mr Marriage, please do behave yourself and
stop those silly skids. We’ve a reputation to uphold.
Now where’s my hat?
SLOW & STEADY WINS THE RACE, THEY SAY. WHAT A LOAD OF RUBBISH…
HARES & TORTOISES

The Pagani Huayra is the

FOLLOW-THROUGH
fastest road-legal thing
to have gone around our
track. If it were in a one-
lap race against some of
the more leisurely vehicles
to set a time, this is how
things would look as the
Pagani crossed the line...
HAMMERHEAD
D
O IRE
F T CT
LENGTH OF TG TRACK: 2.82 KM RA IO
VE N
L

START/
FINISH
PAGANI TIME: MORGAN 3 WHEELER: CHICAGO GAMBON
01:13.8 01:40.4,
138 km/h average 100 km/h average

TG’S OLLIE MARRIAGE HAMMOND IN A PEDAL-

BRUTUS: POCKET CLASSIC: ON A RACING BICYCLE: POWERED PORSCHE:
02:02.5 03:07.0 04:57.0 18:37.0
83 km/h average 53 km/h average 34 km/h average 9 km/h average

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 0 35
 WorldMags.net

IF YOU WANT HER TO MAKE THE

RIGHT SOUNDS, GIVE HER IRIDIUM IX

At NGK we understand the feeling you get when you turn the key
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It is the sweetest sound. That’s why she deserves Iridium IX.

To find out more visit

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WorldMags.net J000427F
 WorldMags.net
GETTING
TWO
PART

READY

FOR

WORDS: OLLIE MARRIAGE

PICTURES: LEE BRIMBLE

P L A N E T / R A L LY C H A L L E N G E

remember this bit, it’s difficult,

you have to go slow through the LAUNCH passenger seat of
our little Hyundaii

“I
first corner to get good drive out
of the long right. And there’s a TG AND ITS BIG
big bump on the inside that
upsets the car.”
MOUTH. YOU
I think that, of all a top-line SET YOURSELF
rally driver’s skills, recollection is the one I’m most in A CHALLENGE,
awe of. Thierry Neuville, Hyundai’s lead WRC driver,
hasn’t driven Goodwood’s 2.5km rally stage for more THEN YOU FIND
than two years, and yet can remember sections in YOURSELF IN
astonishing detail. It’s just one of the things that sets
him apart from, well, me. A RALLY CAR,
But that’s the purpose of today. Thierry (who’s from WITH A PRO.
Belgium) has agreed to lend TG a hand. He’s going to
drive our rally car and give us some tips on its set-up and
BETTER STEP UP
behaviour, then he’s going to hop into the passenger seat TO THE PLATE...
and I’m going to show him how it’s really done (ahem)...
Everything matters today – it’s my one chance to pick the
brains of a bona fide rally winner (Thierry gave Hyundai
its maiden WRC victory at Rally Germany last August),
to understand how to read the road, the conditions, cope
with pace notes and learn new techniques.
It’s a baking-hot day, and in the pursuit of lightness
our rally car has no cooling fan, just a screen demister
fan. Which is heated. We’re basically strapping ourselves
into a greenhouse. We can’t open the windows because, if
we do, the car will be filled with dust so thick it’ll seem
like we’ve pulled the pin on a smoke grenade. I have a
million questions but decide, as I strap myself into the
(still with only 61kkW
right now), that it ts Am. D
oesn’t
Pro mee orr y about
w
might be best to juust
sit back and listen to
have to job just yet
losing his
his pearls of wisdoom.
“You know, this is a fun car,” he tells me. Some
silence follows, then, “Yes, it’s good fun to drive.”
To be honest, I’d been counting on something a bit
more illuminating.
But Thierry is not one to jump to hasty
conclusions. He does a couple of laps, all very neat
and tidy, then experiments with the handbrake and
different lines, braking points, throttle positions,
etc. He’s clearly in testing mode. When we come in,
everyone crowds round – the WRC mechanics and
the guys from 586 Engineering who have built our
car and are clearly anxious about the feedback.
Then he dissects the car: “The brakes need more
bite. Also the handbrake. The gearing is very low,
but you have not so much power, and here is very
tight, so that’s OK. The diff is working nicely. I’d like
a quicker rack for the steering, but it’s OK, you
know, it’s fun. For a car with so little power, I
enjoyed it.”
That’ll do us. The crowd disperses. And then
Thierry reminds me of something: “A lot of the car
is up to you and how you prefer it to be set up. You
need to make sure all the controls are exactly where

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 0 37
 WorldMags.net

Dust, luckily. Not the

result of an exploding
clutch or differential

“The secret to driving this car

is to conserve momentum”

Thierry checks stage, WRC wheel. Ours has Thierry shows Ollie
shows astonishing only one button, and it’s a how it’s done. Worked
powers of recollection horn, not a 225kW boost better that way round

WRC car moves so

much earth, it could
get a job in a quarry

WorldMags.net
03 8 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM

WorldMags.net
LATEST: LIVERY & POWER
Things have taken a turn for the awesome in the
last couple of weeks. Firstly, we got the Veloster
engine working in the car, and the 1.6 dynoed
at 115kW. Let’s call it double. And secondly we
ran a website competition to design the livery.
you want them – the seat, gearlever, steering wheel,
everything. If you want the car to have more understeer,
P L A N E T / R A L LY C H A L L E N G E
oversteer, whatever, just ask – the team can make the car
feel however you like.”
Good point, but right now I’m rather worried that
having been pretty blunt in his opinions of the car, he’s
going to be as tough on me. This could be unpretty. At
least he has the good grace to look nonchalant, informing
me that he hasn’t been a passenger in a rally car for over a
year, when he was riding shotgun with another WRC
driver who “was really on the limit, and then over it”.
They crashed, and quite spectacularly, by all accounts.
There’s nowhere to crash at Goodwood – or rather,
nowhere to crash spectacularly. It’s like driving through a
drainage ditch, high banks everywhere, so you rattle
along like a ping-pong ball down a drainpipe. But this is a
test in itself – there’s no margin for error if you’re going to
keep your body panels looking pristine.
Anyway, having paid full attention while he was
driving, I give it my best shot. However, my inputs seem
larger, the car doesn’t seem to be behaving as deftly or
carrying so much speed. To counter that, I try getting on
the throttle earlier through corners and trusting the diff
to work harder.
Thierry puts up with this for a couple of laps before
his voice crackles through the headset: “You need to be
more patient with the throttle. Even with the diff, you
need to get more of the corner completed before you use
the power. Try to carry more speed into the corner,
maybe a bit still on the brakes as you turn.” The secret to
+ Check out Ollie’s maximum
attack efforts at Goodwood, with driving quickly in a car with so little power is, somewhat
WRC hero Neuville alongside
For info on how to use viewa, turn to page 8
unsurprisingly, learning how to conserve momentum.
No flamboyance here, just neatness and tidiness. Not
very McRae, not very sideways, but still a lot of fun.
He mentions the importance of looking as far ahead as
possible, the basics of reading stages (watch out under
trees for roots and fallen leaves; ruts are good; darker
areas of road tend to be wetter and therefore more
slippery; certain trees like certain soils, which means
such-and-such for grip). There’s so much to take in that
after a while my brain gets information blindness.
For a change of scene, he takes me for a ride in his car.
Now the thing to remember here is that our i20 is still a
road car. I mention it now because I’ve stopped seeing it
like that, but it’s immediately obvious the WRC car is a
different beast altogether. You sit in an entirely different
That was won by Shabaz Bashir from Bradford, place within the car, nothing is recognisable, while mine
and thanks to help from 3M and Joyce Design still has electric windows that actually work. And the way
our Hyundai i20 now sports a crazy paving wrap it goes down a dirt track? Mind-bending. It’s not just that
complete with reflective logos. It’s now fast and it has more power and puts it through all four wheels, it
it looks it. Let’s hope I can keep pace with it...
just attacks while mine deals with.
It’s attitude as much as speed that separates the two.
The WRC feels savage and unstoppable; mine feels valiant
but ultimately very stoppable. Beyond that, as I sit here in
this manic, thrashing, turboed tumble dryer, I can’t get
my head round the skills that must be necessary to
process and respond to the information constantly
coming into Thierry’s head. I try thinking of the pace
notes I’d be calling if I were Nicolas Gilsoul. That lasts
precisely “60, over crest and three right into two left,
rocks inside and fo…”
I need to go away and digest what’s happened today.
Digest, de-dust and de-sweat. I’m physically and mentally
exhausted, unable to figure much out right now, let alone
how Thierry’s hair manages to emerge from his helmet so
pristine. But I do feel we’re on the right lines. Thierry has
been politely encouraging about my driving and actually
quite enthusiastic about our car. What’s needed now is
more practice and experience – and I don’t think I can get
enough of that ahead of Wales Rally GB.
WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 0 39
 WorldMags.netQUOTES
OF THE

PLANET / TOPGEAR TWIN TEST

Airbus A400m Atlas “We don’t just make

cars any more. We’re
vs Volvo FH16-750 a mobility company”
Ford CEO MARK FIELDS hints
A BRAND-NEW PAIR OF JUMBO FREIGHTERS. BUT WHICH ONE DO at an upcoming range of
YOU NEED IN YOUR LIFE? TIME FOR SOME RIGOROUS APPRAISAL… powered wheelchairs…
The Hercules replacement, Atlas is The most powerful production truck
basically a lorry for the skies, capable
WHAT IS in the world, seen here in its beefiest,
of carrying men, tanks and helicopters IT ? 560kW specification

Airbus is pitching the Atlas to the RAAF It’s the first roadgoing lorry to have
as a competitor for the long-serving
TELL ME independent front suspension. There’s
Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules MORE… even an optional twin-clutch ’box

4 x EPI TP400-D6 turboprops ENGINE 16-litre, straight-six diesel

8,200kW approx (per engine) POWER 560kW / 3,547Nm

410kts (759km/h) MAX SPEED 88km/h (limited)

Steel discs plus gearbox-mounted

“It was 18cm long”
2 multi-disc carbon units
12 BRAKES engine brake A DOCTOR describes the piece
of a car’s indicator lodged in a
Each
h landing gear unit has Struts and double-wishbones with air patient’s arm since 1963
three independent struts
SUSPENSION bellows (front axle only)

Short landings on rugged airstrips FOR There’s a 19-inch flatscreen in the cab

Or se you’re jumping out AGAINST It’s unlikely to be showing Peppa Pig

PHOTOS: MANUFACTURER, RUSSAVIA , REX, GETTY, FAMEFLYNET

VERDICT

Both can carry a big load, but only one fits around the back of Woolies.
For reasons of practicality, the truck edges it

STAR IN AN UNREASONABLY “I challenge anyone to tell

PRICED CAR
This month: Steven Tyler
me I don’t have the best job
Car: Dirico Speedster in the car industry”
Verdict: Alright, technically it’s only half a car. Or a
‘motorcycle’, as some would have it. But did you
New Aston Martin boss
know the Aerosmith frontman and sandal aficionado
ANDY PALMER clearly hasn’t spent
designed it himself?
a day in the TopGear office…
WorldMags.net
04 0 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
 WorldMags.net

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 WorldMags.net
PA RT 4 6 : D O D G E V I P E R GTS
Hammond
D R I VE S T H E
ICONS RICHARD’S FAVOURITE POISON
ou can judge a lot about a
person when you walk into
Y their office or, to use a
more current term, their
‘workspace’. An old kettle,
family holiday pictures, a squash racquet
– they’re each revealing in their own way.
But the thing I dread finding more than any
other – the terrifying window into
someone’s soul that triggers more panic
klaxons than the squash racquet, even – is a
rank of those fancy car models that
masquerade not as toys, but as genuine
‘replicas in miniature’.
They sit there, dull-eyed and impotent,
trying somehow to signal the depth and
sincerity of their owner’s interest in cars,
when all they reveal, in fact, is that, like most
people, their owner can’t afford a real
SPECS 7990cc V10, RWD, 340kW, 664Nm
044 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
Ferrari, and even if they could, would lack
the joy in their soul to engage with any sort
of toy, be it full-scale or in miniature.
I’ve been given them over the years,
and they’ve all ended up in boxes in the
loft. Apart from one. It’s a Dodge Viper. I
was given it in 1992, when the car was first
launched. It’s, oh, I don’t know, whatever
scale it is, and it’s reasonably realistic. And
it has survived 12 or 13 house and flat
moves, to perch on desks, mantelpieces,
sideboards, kitchen tops and window sills.
There must be a reason for this.
The car it represents was first seen in
prototype form as early as 1989, and right
from the start, had at its heart a
monumental 8.0-litre V10. And here was
the best bit – if you were me – it was
actually the engine from a truck.
n/a L/100km 0–100km/h in 4.0secs, 285km/h
WorldMags.net
Lamborghini, then owned by the
TG TOP FACT Chrysler Corporation, was charged with
The Viper looks big.
taking Chrysler’s cast-iron V10 truck block
and remaking it and the heads in aluminium.
And that’s because it
is. The Mk1 was just Weight was saved. But that’s as far as the
a shade narrower sophistication went; the pushrod two-valve
than a Porsche 918 head design stayed. It was just as basic
Spyder, and some throughout. No traction control to tame the
6cm lower than an
original Honda NSX engine’s 300kW, no ABS, some of the
suspension parts came off a Dodge Dakota
pickup, it had no doorhandles on the outside,
no roof or side windows; it was an engine
with a bit of car stretched around it.
And it was awesome – yes, I said
“awesome”, and I said it out loud too. It was
a four-wheeled Harley, a massive cowboy
hat; a pair of silver spurs jangling on hand-
tooled cowboy boots. It was also rather
good. And the second-generation Viper
1549kg US$72,830 (in 1996)
 WorldMags.netCAN’T
As Yankee as Richard.
As stylish as James.
As loud as Jeremy
Coupe, the GTS that arrived in 1996, was
better. Stiffer chassis, revised suspension;
it was as though the Americans were
actually trying. And here it is in front of
me now. And absolutely best of all, beyond
all doubt, it’s got a DOUBLE-BUBBLE
ROOF. Ostensibly to give increased head
room for helmeted track-day charioteers,
but I don’t care if it’s there to make space
for clowns or Elizabethan wigs, the fact is,
it’s a double-bubble roof. Enough.
And, yes, it does everything you would
expect. The engine, now making 340kW,
is a living, physical presence – it rocks the
car... in every sense. They were never easy
to drive, something that only added to its
appeal to me, but the GTS made things a
bit more manageable. In its day, it could
keep up and even outpace the contemporary
Italian and Japanese exotica, until it came
to a corner. Grip is there – you can feel it
through the massive tyres – but the brakes
are way behind the rest, letting it down
PLANET / RICHARD HAMMOND DRIVES THE ICONS
FIND ONE?
TRY ONE
OF THESE
WE TRAWL THE CLASSIFIEDS
SO YOU CAN SPEND YOUR
MONEY MOST UNWISELY
SNAKE
EYES
1995 Viper RT/10 $89,000
With only 30,700km under
its wheels, over 20 years, this
is one pampered reptile. RHD
converted by Corvette QLD
(Performax), it features a grey
interior, an upgraded brake
Eight-litre engine package, and a lift-off hard
comes from a truck. top. Time to strike...
A TRUCK. Brutal... carsales.com.au
LIMITED
EDITION
2002 Viper GTS $185,000
Number 242 of 360 GTS
Limited Edition Vipers, this
late second-gen rarity was
converted to RHD by
Viperformance in Melbourne.
With just 3,000km on the
badly. By 1996, the side-exit exhausts clock, it’s barely run in, and
had gone – I wept – but the noise is still comes with 12 months rego.
IN DETAIL fruitsome and burbly and bellows joyfully carsales.com.au
while you wrestle with the hefty Borg
RAM
Warner six-speed manual ’box. TOUGH
There’s no point trying to make a
serious, critical assessment of its handling
characteristics – you’d crack up laughing.
Despite the doubtless serious intentions
of Chrysler at the time and since, the thing
is a cartoon, a wonderous, hilarious joke.
It’s about excess: of cubic capacity, bonnet 2004 Ram SRT-10 $75,000
stripes, tyre areas and roof bubbles. It’s not This V10 truck that fathered
the car to drive to a relative’s funeral or a a muscle car legend was
divorce court, but it is still what it always imported new in ‘04. With
was: a full-size, full-on, laugh-a-minute, 375kW, it was converted to
play-with-it-till-the-wheels-come-off toy. RHD by Dodge City in
Massive tyres equals
I’d love one in my workspace. Melbourne. Owner says it’s
massive grip. Just
as well with all that done less than 4,000km, and
monstrous power “drives like a sportscar”
NEXT MONTH carsales.com.au
LOTUS
CORTINA
WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 0 46
 WorldMags.net

K I N G O F T H E ROA D
Before becoming a reasonably famous pop star, Elvis Presley was a truck driver for the Crown
Electric Company in Memphis, Tennessee. In fact, he was once advised by the musician Eddie
Bond to keep on trucking, as he was “never going to make it as a singer.”

SIN BIN
For centuries, residents of the German villages
Glees and Wassenach have argued over which
is better. In 2010 they decided to settle the
feud once and for all, by holding a downhill
PLANET / PUB AMMO

wheelie bin race. Unfortunately the

rivalry only worsened when some
competitors were accused
of illegally modifying their
council-issue bins by fitting
skateboard wheels. 5
A BANDOLIER
OF TITBITS TO
KEEP FELLOW
DRINKERS’
HEADS DOWN.
NOBODY

D I G G E R F O R V I C TO RY

With an officcially recorded top speed of

116.81km/h, the JCB GT recently became the
fastest diggeer (or as they would put it, backhoe
loader) in thee world. Originally designed to pop
wheelies at stunt shows, it has a big-block Chevy
V8 with 745 5kW, eight 20-inch exhaust pipes and
WorldMags.net an aerodynamic bucket on the front.

04 6 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM

 WorldMags.net
B LO O D H O U N D S SC
S TAT O F T H E M O N T H
Bloodhound has a turning circle of 240
metres. At full steering lock, and given
the mass of the car and available grip,
Andy Green must turn around at a
speed below 80km/h in order to avoid
understeer. He’ll then refuel before his
second high-speed run through the
measured mile (1.61km).*
*A typical black cab has a turning circle
of 7.62 metres. This is usually
attempted at full throttle
FA S T A N D
F Ü H R E R- O U S
Despite overseeing the construction
of autobahns and ordering Ferdinand
Porsche to build the Volkswagen
Beetle, Adolf Hitler never actually
had a driving licence. But this didn’t
stop him from receiving a speeding
ticket in 1931, although he claimed
his lookalike chauffeur was at the
wheel and that he’d instructed him
to drive “as fast as possible.”
MILE
TOPGEAR TOP TIP
How to
change
.99
your oil*
*without making a huge mess
BAD SIGNS
Officials in Colorado have replaced
Interstate 70’s MILE 420 sign with Proper car workshops have lifts so you can work
one reading MILE 419.99. This is
because the old one was repeatedly 1 under the car standing up. They also have used oil
collection drums, with big funnels on the top, to make
stolen by marijuana enthusiasts, who things easier. But you don’t have any of these things.
associate its number with their smoking You will have to crawl underneath.
habits. In another part of the state,
officials have swapped the MILE 69 Drive the car around a bit, to warm it up. This makes
sign on the Cameron Pass for one
reading MILE 68.5. 2 the oil hot, so it flows out more easily. It also means it
will burn your hands.
Park on level ground, or over your inspection pit.
3 You probably don’t have one of those, either.
Look up your car’s sump capacity, and find a bucket
4 or plastic bowl at least that big, not smaller. Crawl
under the car, and place your receptacle under the
sump. Crawl back out because you took the wrong
sized spanner with you. Find correct spanner, and
crawl back underneath the car.
Clean around the sump plug, and undo it with the
5 spanner, pressing upwards as you turn the plug. If
you’re lucky, this will stop the oil flowing until the
plug is fully out. If you’re unlucky, it will dribble
down the spanner and burn you.
When the plug comes out, you will try to catch it. But
6 it’s hot, so you’ll drop it in the bucket of oil. A speck
of oil will hit you in the face, and your startled head
will rise suddenly and strike the underside of the car.
Take the used oil to your local recycling centre. As
7 you pour it away, realise that you’ve also thrown the
sump plug away as well.
Buy new plug and washer. Refit, and refill with oil.
TA K E T H E
8 If you’ve changed the filter as well – and you should
– you will need to top up the oil after a short drive
around, as the filter will have filled up.
LO N G ROA D
According to Ordnance Survey,
Britain’s roads have a combined 9 In future, take your car to a garage.
length of 346,798km. If you
were to group them all together in
one landmass, they would cover an
HAS JAMES
area bigger than Lancashire. If you
EARNED A
were to drive non-stop at 65km/h,
PINT FOR
it would take you 224.5 days to
THIS TOP TIP?
cover them all. This would be
an easier task if it weren’t for the
WorldMags.net
18,994 roundabouts along the way.
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 047
 WorldMags.net
OUR CHOICE OF THIS MONTH’S TOP-SPEC STUFF
XEO HEADLAMPS
We’re all for putting power where you need
it most, and the LED LENSOR XEO does
exactly that; focusing 2000 lumens worth of
ligting muscle in unison with your line of sight. It’s a
hi-tech headlamp range featuring independently
focusing lenses. $470; ledlenser.com.au
04 8 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
SCALEXTRIC ARC ONE
In the old days, slot cars were managed by
a carefully squeezed trigger. Coming soon is
the ARC ONE, which links to a phone or tablet to
give you F1-style race control as well as command
over pit stop windows, tyre wear and other bits of
strategy. $TBA; scalextric.com
WorldMags.net
RX HP SPORT SUB
submariners U-Boat Worx
been making personal subs
2005. But while most are
ds for exploring bottom feeders,
’s a two-seater coupe with a pair
c motors and four powerful thrusters.
it might only go down to 100 metres,
fastest fish won’t see which way you
’s small enough to tow behind a car,
n be launched from the trailer like a jet
lternatively, it can be fitted to the tender
age of “any superyacht of 30 metres and
”, so if your name starts with ‘sheikh’ and
ou’re bored with snorkelling, what are you
waiting for? $1.43m; uboatworx.com
GIMBAL RATCHET
One of the coolest tools we’ve seen in a long
time. The GearWrench Gimbal Ratchet fits
into the palm of your hand, and provides a five
degree swing arc, allowing you to get into places a
normal ratchet won’t. Made from light alloy, in 1/4”
or 3/8” drive. $29.50; gearwrench.com
 WATC H E S WorldMags.net

MBERG BOLT-68
This month’s weird watch Like GRECO (left), Bomberg is a newcomer
award goes to... to the old-fashioned Swiss watch world, and a
little bit wacky. But somehow it works, if you choose
one of the more restrained designs. The Bolt-68
GRECO GENÈVE looks like a big, old racing stopwatch.
$TBC; bomberg.ch
In the watch world, a ‘novelty’ –
strictly speaking – refers simply to
a new model. Often though, the
word takes on its other, more comical
meaning, especially when the watch in
question is shaped like a giant nut. It’s called
the LTM-04T and it’s made by Swiss
company GRECO Genève, which, by its
own admission, is a bit of a weirdo.
But love ’em or hate ’em, their inventions
get your attention. The LTM-04T’s hands
are spanners, the case is shaped like a SCHOFIELD BEATER
hexagonal nut and the strap could have
been peeled from an off-road Dunlop. The Beater, by British brand Schofield,
Many will think it’s garish, some very nice is the antidote to shiny, showy watches. Made
(while getting too close and dribbling a bit). by hand in small batches, each receives a slightly
But thanks to a run of just 50, few will own different finish and is supposed to take on a unique
one. From $7,084; greco-watches.com patina over time. Available in steel, bronze or blued
titanium. From $5,545; schofieldwatchcompany.com

Rear view camera installed from $599

Electronic Lumbar Support from $440 per seat

Dropdown DVD
from $599

WORLDS SOFTEST AUTOMOTIVE LEATHER. W: www.doylesincar.com.au

INSTALLED IN 1 DAY FROM $2000WorldMags.net P: 1300 122 322
 WorldMags.net

There’s a new model coming to town...

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 WorldMags.net

TH ED THE TOPGEAR WAY

DRIVE OF THE MON

MERC-AMG C63 S Hammer time with new V8 biturbo TURN OVER

p58 p66 p70 p75

LEXUS RC F ALFAROMEO4C AUDI TT BMW X6 M
Atmo V8 coupe in Mount Panoramatrackattack It’s light,fastandbeautiful,butnotquiteperfect Design icon in sub-zero, third-gen re-boot Muscular,monster,4WD,coupething.Weloveit!
WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 051
 WorldMags.net

M E RC E D E S -A M G C 6 3 S

Harder core
Going turbo hasn’t diminished this bruiser – in fact, it’s the opposite BY STEPHEN CORBY

WorldMags.net
05 2 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
 WorldMags.net
n the past, Mercedes-
Benz’s C63 was Liam
I Neeson. It had a bit of
older man about it and
looked serious and a
little bit reserved, but if you dared to
take it on you’d find that it was,
surprisingly, pretty goddamn hard.
You certainly wouldn’t want to kidnap
its daughter.
Now there’s a new one and, much
like the latest version of its dear old
enemy, BMW’s M3, any semblance
of subtlety – its former Q car-ness –
is gone, and someone appears to
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have been shovelling steroids into the
fuel tank.
The new C63 S – the range-topping,
even harder-core version which is
the only one we’ll be offered locally,
because Australian AMG buyers are
apparently all mental – is more like
Chris Hemsworth. Or, considering it’s
still aimed at the slightly older, slightly
richer man, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The styling is now more in your
face, more pumped up, and undeniably
sexier, with an F1-aping chin, go-faster
strakes down the sides and a neat rear
end with cool quad pipes.
That sporting, track-day-special
intent carries over to the interior as
well, which gets the no-nonsense –
and very little padding – sports seats
from the awesome A45, as well as
a racing-car steering wheel, giant,
colour head-up display and splashings
of carbon fibre everywhere.
The intent, as Christian Enderle,
AMG’s director of engine and power
train development told us, was to
create “a seriously tough C63” that
reflects his brand’s mad passion for
motorsport.
It was Herr Enderle’s department
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 0 53
 WorldMags.net
that had to cope with the move away
from its predecessor’s vast and
sonorous 6.3-litre naturally aspirated
V8 to something smaller, turbocharged
and more fuel efficient.
What they’ve created is an engine
that’s theoretically too small to
perform like a proper V8, at a mere
4.0-litres, yet produces 50kW and
25Nm more than the old swords-and-
anvils version. That adds up to a hefty
375kW and a monstrous 700Nm of
torque, all of which is yours for the
plundering from just 1750rpm,
resulting in a zero to 100km/h time
of just four seconds flat.
The Burmester sound
Those numbers look slightly
Seats are brilliantly
supportive and
comfortable
SPECS 4-litre,twinturboV8,7spdauto,RWD,375kW,700Nm
05 4 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
intimidating on paper, but in practice
SNAPSHOT they’re borderline frightening. Forget
IN DETAIL
any fears about bottom-end lag,
because the biturbo system the boffins
have come up with spools up with all
the sudden shoveiness of those
gas-propulsion systems that hurl
fighter jets off aircraft carriers.
Four settings:
Comfort, Sport, The first few times you put your
foot down it’s impossible not to laugh
Sport + and Race
out loud – partly through nerves and
partly joy – and then you realise there’s
a little detente at the bottom of the
throttle pedal travel, and if you stamp
through that it goes even faster. And
you cackle some more.
system is superb, The sheer heady temptation of
as you’d expect doing this, over and over again, is
why no owner will ever get near the
impressive claimed economy figure of
8.2 litres per 100km. Benz can describe
it as the world’s most economical
high-performance V8 all it likes,
but in the real world it’s still going
19in alloys are
standard. The ride to drink like Oliver Reed.
can be a little hard One big concern about the switch to
turbocharging was that the C63 would
lose its devilish, belly-wobbling growl,
but it seems the engineers have, if
anything, over-compensated. The new
S version comes with an exhaust
button that opens up a series of flaps
8.6L/100km 0-100km/hin4.0secs
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LIFE INSIDE
1
Head-up display projects info
onto the windscreen. Useful
when you’re pushing hard
2
Exhaust loudifying button
here. Press it to wake up the
neighbours… in the next street
3
Turbo V8 not entertaining
enough? C 63 S also gets a
digital TV tuner and internet
4
Fans of chunky steering wheels
will approve. Fans of old-school
hula hoops will probably not
5
COMAND controller includes a
touchpad for scrolling, zooming
and writing letters for the sat nav
to increase the orchestral bellowing
from behind you - so much so that we
were convinced some of the noise must
be fake and amplified through the car’s
speakers, as is so often the case these
days, but apparently it’s all real.
The percussive bangs and coughs it
makes on the overrun are, if anything,
almost too loud, and to hear a few of
them going down the straight at the
Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in
Portugal where the car was launched
was like being strafed by the Luftwaffe.
As you’d expect for such a hard-
1,7150kg $154,900
 WorldMags.net
“The first time you put
down your foot, it’s
impossible not to laugh”
Small for a
V8. Still loud
and brutal
charging, focused car, the C63 S was
superb on the track, smashing into the
limiter at 250km/h down the straight
and exploding – metaphorically and
aurally – out of the corners.
The steering is sharp and precise
but could possibly do with some more
weight, even in its Sport + or Race
modes, and the chassis is superb.
It feels, and sounds, more like a
bespoke race car than a four-door
sedan with ample room for your
children in the back.
Out on the road, however, this is
perhaps the new C63’s one failing.
Even in the Comfort setting, the car is
so tied down and rides so firmly that
we came to fear big bumps, and found
ourselves getting alarmingly airborne
THE RIVAL on more than a few occasions.
It’s not the kind of ride that
rearranges your teeth, not quite,
but it’s certainly hard enough that
you’re always aware that this is,
primarily, a hard-ass car. The dual
nature this ultimate C-Class used
Brilliant chassis and to possess has been hit for six.
performance, turbo BMW’s M3, and M4, offer a
straight six up front
significantly more compliant ride in
their more cruisy suspension settings.
What BMW doesn’t offer you is a
station wagon version, and the C63 S
Estate is an absolutely fantastic load
hauler, which loses very little against
the sedan and would be my pick,
even over an Audi RS6 Avant. It also
seems like a comparative bargain at
VERDICT just $157,400.
Merce e -Benz A r i m e
idiculo
en ine, raucous
no n r
ca an ing…
bu our s ine
will su er rom
the ruta ri e
WorldMags.net
this extremely popular car even more
attractive by rolling back the pricing to
the same level as its ancestor, the C36,
which was launched here 20 years ago.
At $154,900, the sedan is $15,000
cheaper than the last C63 was at
launch, and $5000 cheaper than the
Coupe version that’s still on sale.
The company is taking orders now,
and will no doubt be swamped before
the cars start arriving in the third
quarter of this year.
Australian AMG buyers have a
particular love for the harder, faster,
stronger approach – making us one of
the skunkworks’ best markets, on a per
capita basis – and they’re going to
seriously love this seriously tough C63.
The new C63 S looks
tougher
g than before –
t a me
 WorldMags.net
M E RC E D E S - B E N Z C 4 5 0 A M G 4 M AT I C
Power to the people
Is this AWD twin-turbo V6 C a smarter AMG option? BY STEPHEN CORBY
here are experts,
including some from
T credible sources like
Lamborghini, who insist
that the power wars are
effectively over, or at least approaching
their cataclysmic conclusion.
As the number of kilowatts on offer
continues to climb, and cars offering a
Newton kilometre of torque turn tyres
into rubber pebbles, car companies will
realise they’ve gone far, and crazy,
enough and start to concentrate on other
things, like lightness, and building cars
that don’t feel like they just might want
Extra large gills at the front
give AMG game away
05 6 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
to frighten you to death.
That’s the theory, broadly disproved
by the recently launched 375kW, 700Nm
Mercedes-Benz C63 S AMG, which you
can read about on page 52.
Interestingly, though, the power-mad
folks from Benz’s motorsport division
had another car for us to drive the next
day in Portugal, the demonstrably less
bonkers C450 AMG 4MATIC.
This partly reflects a desire to get
even more buyers into this incredibly
popular performance brand, but also
recognises the fact that a lot of modern
mega-mumbo cars are just too mental,
WorldMags.net
and too licence threatening, for people
SNAPSHOT
with logical brains to buy.
IN DETAIL
So how much do you lose by
considering buying this AMG-lite version
of a C-Class? Certainly nothing in terms
of interior space or overall dimensions -
it’s the same damn car, after all.
Visually, it’s slightly less gung-ho,
Badge might suggest
4.5-litres, but it’s a more denim jacket than leather, although
3.0-litre twin-snail V6 when you’re sitting inside, wearing it, the
differences are less obvious.
In bragging terms, you’re missing out
in a hefty fashion, of course, with the
C63 S boasting a proper V8, with
biturbos to boot, while you have to make
This version of the do with a relatively waxed chested
M276 engine also 270kW and 520Nm from your also
powers the SL400 biturbo V6 of just three litres capacity.
If you did get caught in a pub
argument, of course, you’d want to point
out that your car gets all-wheel drive - or
4Matic as Mercedes-Benz calls it - so
you’ll be less likely to end up in a lake
Quad pipes emit note when it’s raining.
several octaves of Purists will scoff at you, of course,
madness below C63 because rear-wheel-drive is the proper
hairy-chested way to scare years off your
life, but the clever AMG system is rear
biased with its torque delivery, to the
tune of 33:67, and thus feels so wild and
slidey to drive that a colleague and I had
 WorldMags.net
Looks fast standing
still; C450 runs sub-5.0
seconds 0-100km/h
to check with each other that it really
was AWD. There’s simply no annoying
understeer whatsoever, but what is on
hand is a prodigious amount of grip and
a feeling of surefootedness in even the
most extreme circumstances.
Our drive route took us into the hills
above the Portuguese town Faro, which
boast fantastic corners, steep ascents
and the kind of lane widths that make
even motorcyclists feel like their
machines are too wide.
On these fantastically enjoyable, and
mildly frightening roads, there was no
question that you’d rather be in the C450
than the far more brutal, and sideways-
tending, C63 S.
The lighter weight over the front
wheels, and a feeling of lightness overall
(even though, at 1,615kg it’s only 40kg
lighter), meant the 4Matic car just felt
more chuckable.
Better yet, it felt less alarmed by big
bumps than the more track focused,
more rib rattling range topper.
What the C450 didn’t feel, despite
being 0.9 of a second slower from 0 to
100km/h (4.9 seconds vs 4.0s for the C63
S), is significantly slower. But then a sub
SPECS 3.0-litre, V6 petrol biturbo, 7sp auto, AWD, 270kW, 520Nm
five-second time isn’t really slow in
THE RIVAL anyone’s terms.
Sure, in a drag race the C63 S would
humble the cheaper version, but in the
real world, the turbo six has more than
enough mid-range grunt, and low-down
shove, to keep it competitive on a
BMW M235i real-world hilly piece of road.
Smaller, but similar in There’s also a non-measurable fun
feel and purpose. We factor – a balance between how fast a car
reckon the Beemer theoretically is, and how much of its
might just have
performance you you can honestly hope
the edge in driver
involvement, but to access in the real world – that actually
AWD gives the Benz allows the C450 to come up trumps, at
a point of difference. least on the open road.
On the track, there’s no question
VERDICT which car you’d want, and which one is
more focused, firm and fantastically fast.
Should feel But for day-to-day living, the
less impressive $40,000-cheaper car won’t just save you
than it does on purchase price and fuel consumption
(after C63). – 7.6L/100km versus a highly theoretical
A touch of 8.4L/100km from the thirsty V8 – it will
motorsport save you the expense of catching cabs
madness at a
everywhere when the C63 S inevitably
cheaper price.
shreds your licence.
8/10 The one undeniable ass-whupping the
C450 takes, however, is in the noise
stakes. It would no doubt sound fine and
7.6L/100km 0-100km/h in 4.9secs
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turbo whooshy in isolation, but driven
just after the big, brawny V8 it feels like
being serenaded by Kylie Minogue the
day after having your ear drums kicked
in by Rage Against the Machine.
Once again, though, we come back to
real-world fun factor, and the C450
somehow feels more fizzy, and more
playful, more of the time, while its big
brother just feels like it’s daring you to
do something stupid, all of the time.
On the down side, the steering is not
quite as muscular as we’d like, which is
something we just know AMG can do a
better job of when it tries, and thus
there’s no way it will compete with an
M4 or M3, but at this price point it
doesn’t need to. Pricewise, it’s a lot
closer to an Audi S4.
Australians love AMG – our market is
now the biggest in the world in per capita
terms – and with our Ford/Holden
muscle car heritage, the C63 is a hugely
popular car here. The C450 makes that
dream more attainable.
There are more than a few people out
there for whom $150,000 is a gigantic
stretch, but $110,000-ish is damn near
achievable. That’s our tip for the price,
but we won’t know until it lobs in 2016,
giving the C63, which arrives in spring,
time to soak up the hard-headed buyers
first. We do know it will save you plenty
on fuel, with its claimed 7.6 litres per
100km economy figure.
You can also be assured that this will
not be the last AMG-lite model to hit our
shores. Pumped up models aimed at “a
broader customer base” - which is a nice
way of saying “poorer people” - are about
to come at us in a rush, with a GLE450
AMG on the way in September and an
E450 AMG not far beyond that.
1,615kg $110,000 (est)
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 0 57
 WorldMags.net

L E X U S RC F

05 8
F’in good fun
Lexus’ V8 brawler proves its chops around Bathurst BY CURT DUPRIEZ
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APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
 WorldMags.net
here’s a straight piece of
usually quiet public road
T in regional New South
Wales with a crest
severe enough that, on
approach, all you can see is sky blue.
And just before the Lexus RC F goes
light on its Michelins I figure now’s the
ideal time to eyeball the speedo.
That’s because if anything solid,
Skippy-shaped or otherwise, fi nds itself
on the other side of the crest the next
things I’ll see through sky blue will be
pearly gates. And I’ll want to brag to
St Peter about the 247km/h indicated…
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That’s about 207km/h quicker than
I was doing an hour earlier, about two
kays further down the road on the
fringes town, where a patrol car had
welded itself to the tailpipes of the
coupe that looks more chiseled than
heyday Arnie.
Amazing, isn’t it, the difference in
perception of the ‘speed kills’
argument either side of the entrance to
Mount Panorama?
With Lexus courting V8 Supercars
via tweaked RC F support vehicles and
building an FIA GT3 race version ripe
for the Bathurst 12 Hour, Australia’s
most daunting and iconic occasional
race track is an apt venue on which to
launch its performance ‘F’ brand’s
most-powerful V8 performance
flagship ever.
The third Lexus thoroughbred
performer to hit Aussie hot-mix
(behind the IS F sedan and the LFA
supercar) might reference F for Fuji
raceway, but it’s right at home
uncorking 351 kilowatts at its lofty
7100rpm redline up Mountain Straight
until you’re deep on 380mm six-piston
front brakes after the crest on Conrod.
On price and performance, the
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 0 59
 WorldMags.net
“There’s nothing else out there with the RC F’s blend of
screaming natural aspiration and idiot-proof handling”
$133,500 RC F is playing in the sandpit
with M4, C63 AMG Coupe and RS5,
though it’s markedly more affordable
than the German kids. That is unless
you tick the Carbon edition box and
fork out a $14K premium that adds a
carbonfibre roof, bonnet, active rear
wing, exclusive interior trim with
lashings of Alcantara and different
wheel designs.
All of this ignores that fact that if
you love the fine tradition of naturally
aspirated front-mounted-V8 rear-
driven performers, your choice is either
RC F or something with Holden DNA
until Ford Mustang GT arrives later
this year.
Thing is, despite cylinder count and
driven wheels, the RC F really is
nothing like German, American or
Aussie rivals. The RC F couldn’t be
more Japanese if it swung katanas
while wearing a kimono.
Signature
g Cobalt
Mica colour is a
five-coat process
p Also, “Fivee-litre V8”
06 0 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
Lexus pitches RC F’s soul, character
and user-friendliness for moderately
skilled drivers hard, even at the behest
of class-leading performance numbers.
And the coupe hits bullseyes for all
three. In ways the RC F couldn’t more
different to, say, BMW’s M4, a device
faster yet less soulful than its forebear
and one that, on occasion, seems to
want to kill you.
The F car’s richly appointed cabin
robs the LFA supercar blind in styling
and gimmickry. On start-up the speedo
dial pulsates like a heartbeat, while the
digitized instrumentation completely
reconfigures the central tacho design
depending on your chosen drive mode.
And from the leather-trimmed heated/
cooled race buckets to the nine-speaker
835-watt stereo, the cabin blends
opulence and go-fast purpose suitably.
The powertrain, too, is suitably
geeky and bespoke. With new
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SNAPSHOT
IN DETAIL
Big six-piston
Brembos up front,
four-piston in rear
induction, heads, revised internals and
higher 12.3:1 compression ratio, the
new 5.0L is up 12 percent on power
over the IS F engine, revs to 7300rpm
The active rear wing
deploys automatically and produces 530Nm.
when you’re on it hard Pinned flat up Mountain Straight,
snicking second through fifth forward
ratios of the eight-speed auto, it’s a bit
of a mixed experience. It’s carefully
tuned exhaust roar sounds glorious and
magnificent, the upshifts are clean and
sharp, the power delivery as flat as the
The “F” sttands for
he raceway.
Fuji, as in th Nullarbor, but there’s a lack of
mid-range shove usually associated
with large-lung bent-eights. It pulls
well though hardly pins your ears to
the headrest.
On evidence, dear Watson, the
culprit seems to be an excessive 1860kg
kerb weight, a quarter tonne heavier
than M4. Perhaps loading RC F with
fruity features and ensuring there’s
enough requisite ‘Lexus comfort’ in the
 WorldMags.net
LIFE INSIDE
1
The luxo-buckets cleverly walk a
fine line between sport support
and leathery comfort
2
On the track? TFT display
includes a lap timer, G force
and torque distribution
3
Pinch-and-zoom trackpad is okay
to control the infotainment, but
a touchscreen would be better
4
Like chunky old fashioned
buttons? You’ll love the RC
interior. Otherwise…
5
No three-pedal option available:
it’s eight-speed auto (with paddle
shifters) only
SPECS 5.0-litre V8, 351kW, 530Nm
3
equation have robbed RC F of a sense
of keen urgency. It’ll march to 100km/h
in 4.5sec its maker says, but it doesn’t
feel as quick by the seat of the pants.
Tipping it into Griffins Bend, the
RC F clearly has formidable grip. And it
pulls quite stridently in the climb to
BMW M4 The Cutting. From here, throttle
Turbo six rather than buried and up through second, third
atmo eight, but the and into fourth gears, the combination
pricier Beemer is of sticky 275mm rear rubber and tricky
quicker and cleverer
new torque vectoring smarts – that
uses clutch packs to feed energy rather
than braking to remove it – pay
handsome dividend with planted,
unflappable drive.
It’s the blind-sighted and
treacherous fourth-gear rollercoaster
VERDICT
through Reid, Sulman and McPhillamy
where the RC F’s handling really
Better at pace
than at leisure; shines. Here, where missing the ideal
despite its hefty racing line by half-a-metre warrants a
weight, the visit to Bathurst hospital, the RC F sits
F handles well flat, balanced and composed, burying
and pulls hard. its Michelins into the hotmix with
A relative tremendous road-holding grip on the
bargain, if you approach to Skyline.
can resist the Despite the formidable heft, the
carbon option RC F is keen to boogie its tail down
8/10 the through the Esses and into The
Dipper like a Seventies disco queen and
while its mass is ever-present, it’s agile
10.9L/100km 0-100km/h in 4.5 secs, 270km/h max 1,860kg
WorldMags.net
1
enough to keep safely clear of
the concrete.
Out of Forest Elbow and opening
the 5.0-litre floodgate down Conrod
Straight, the coupe remains utterly
planted in the race to its 270km/h
speed limit, and it gets within a few
kliks of that heroic number on the kink
into The Chase if you’ve swallowed
enough brave pills. At such lofty speed,
through the fastest corner in Australia,
the RC F is impressively stable and rock
solid, and remains so even when you’re
deep on the anchors from Warp Ten.
In fact the only time frayed ends
appear is when the RC F is tooling
around town. It’s one-setting dampers
are set about as hard as the adaptive
Germans’ Sport modes and while the
ride quality is firm but compliant on
the move it can get tiresomely fidgety
below 60km/h.
What’s so likeable about the RC F
is that there’s nothing else out there
with its blend of on-road presence,
screaming natural aspiration, techno-
geekiness, want-for-little equipment
list, idiot-proof handling, everyday
livability and, yes, character and soul.
At least nothing on the more fiscally
challenged side of a Porsche 911 S or a
Ferrari F12.
$133,500
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 WorldMags.net
CITROËN C4 PICASSO
Looks and personality
Sleek Euro squares up against big boys, but the bucks are steep
ure, Teslas are
spectacular cars, but
S their creator, über-nerd
Elon Musk, must look at
the Citroën C4 Picasso
and think, damn, I wish I’d done that.
Musk, of course, is the real-life
inspiration for Robert Downey Jnr’s
Tony Stark character in The Avengers,
while the Citroën has a face seemingly
modeled on his Iron Man mask.
The C4 Picasso is a mighty fine
looking thing, particula rly from front
on, for the mutant mashing together of
a hatch, a wagon and a (small) SUV,
but the car it’s been cut down from, the
seven-seat MPV Grand Picasso,
somehow manages to be a better
looking thing overall.
It’s quite clear the Grand version
was the original design, while this is
more like ordering the six-inch
sandwich at Subway; shrunken and
somehow emasculating. Indeed,
Citroën seems to be offering you less of
the same with the Not So Grand C4
Picasso, with only three excellent
individual pews behind you (instead of
the larger version's five) and less
legroom in the outside two.
Most bizarrely of all, though, the
company is hoping to charge people
$40,990 for the hatchy C4, which is just
$4000 less than the Grand version,
which has two extra seats, and 174mm
more length overall.
Option up an electric tailgate at
SPECS 1.6-litre, four cyl petrol turbo, 6sp auto, FWD, 121kW, 240Nm
062 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
$1,000, the Driver Assist package at
$2,000, and the full nappa leather
interior, with seat heaters (which lifts
the sense of style and quality in the
interior from Formule 1 Hotel to
Formula One hospitality) and you’ll
have to wonder why you didn’t just go
for the Grand.
TopGear UK did give this C4 Hatch
of the Year, so it must have some
things going for it.
Sure enough it’s powered by a
clever and tractable 1.6-litre engine,
jointly developed by Peugeot, Citroën
and BMW to do duty in a multitude of
vehicles. In the Picasso it makes
121kW and 240Nm and manages an
official fuel figure of 5.6 litres per
100km (although we averaged over
9.0L/100km in a day of mixed driving).
It’s fun, without being thrilling,
and has a useful bottom end with max
torque available from 1,400rpm all the
way to 4,000rpm.
The cabin is light, airy, spacious
and super glassy, with a ‘panoramic
windscreen’ that can be made even
more Imax-like by sliding back the sun
shades. The dash, with its two lushly
rendered giant screens, feels super
classy, and futuristic, although the
upper-spec trims are miles ahead of
the base model.
Behind you is a big boot with a class
leading 537 litres of space, or 1,851
litres with the seats down, and a
space-saver spare.
5.6L/100km
WorldMags.net
BY STEPHEN CORBY
As usual in a Citroën, the ride is of
premium quality and the handling is
surprisingly capable, with minimal
THE RIVAL
understeer. The local importer chose to
launch it on some serious driver’s
roads, which certainly shows faith in
the product.
They were also at pains to point out MERCEDES
this C4 is not just a Grand Picasso with B CLASS
Similar scale, but in
two less seats, although it clearly is, another league
and that it drives like a hatch, has the
practicality of a wagon and the high hip
VERDICT
point/easy child loading of an SUV.
Much was also made of the fact that Nicely designed
the car’s natural competitors – the mini MPV/
Opel Zafira and Ford C-Max – are hatch, with
absent in this market, which means it’s lots of quirky
only up against more expensive Frenchness,
offerings from Benz (B Class) and that’s reasonably
BMW (2-Series Active Tourer). fun to drive,
This is fine, if you accept that cruelled only by
a mystifyingly
Citroën is a premium brand, which
high price.
would make its $40,990 price tag seem
reasonable. Sadly, however, we’re not
buying it. And nor will many other
Australians.
7/10
0-100km/h in 9.3secs 1,740kg $40,990
 WorldMags.net
Peel P50 electric
BY STEPHEN DOBIE
M
ost cars we test arrive surfing
a wave of marketing that
revolves around a target
buyer. And despite its idiosyncrasy, the
Peel P50 appears little different.
Its audience doesn’t comprise the
young, extreme-sport-loving people
we’re normally subjected to. Instead, it’s
bought by museum curators wanting a
working example of the world’s smallest
car, and completist collectors who’ve
reached supercar saturation.
And that, curiously, partly explains
the arrival of an electric option for the
Peel P50. Peel’s new buyers have the
desire to operate their car indoors.
Out on the road, though, with a
mere 2.5kW, it ain’t fast. But,
otherwise, the driving experience feels
absurdly normal, a strengthened
chassis and re-geared steering lending
the reborn P50 greater stability than
before. It means, at around 150kg, it
weighs a chunk more than before, but
fears of impending toppling are
conspicuously absent.
But how it drives arguably borders
on inconsequential when it’s intriguing
simply to be around. And if you need
convincing of its atypical appeal, the
Rainbow Sheikh and the Crown Prince
of Dubai – famously two of the world’s
wealthiest car collectors – are both
eligible to join the Peel owners’ club…
VERDICT: As a car, it’s barely one-
dimensional. As a novelty item, it’s as
beguiling as they come.
SPECS
Electricmotor,RWD,2.5kW
30kmrange,0g/kmCO2
0–100kmhn/a,45kmh max
110kg
$30,000 (est) 6/10
LOT U S E L I S E S C U P
Lap dancer
The most fun you can have on a track, and no messing BY PAUL HORRELL
he Elise is an immature
scamp: an entertaining
T thing in passing, but over
prolonged exposure its
noisy and panting nature
can get pretty tiresome. Yet in other
ways it’s like an old sage, an oracle to
be cherished and revered. Approaching
the close of its second decade, it has
characteristics that are truly benchmarks.
For that reason alone, a new version
should be welcome. But there’s more.
The Elise S Cup is evidence that
Lotus is in recovery from its bruising
rollercoaster of misplaced investment,
retrenchment and lockdown.
Broadly speaking, it’s a road-going
version of the track-only S Cup R. The S
stands for 161kW of supercharged
Lotus-Toyota four, so performance isn’t
too shabby. But the real headliner is the
way it tackles corners quick and slow,
thanks to the Cup bit: an aero kit and
stiffened chassis tune. Stereo and aircon
are available but not standard, and so’s an
extra dose of sound deadening that
doesn’t do a bad job of making it habitable
– as far as ear-bleedin’ quasi-racers go.
Sure enough, on a track it’s all about
quick-reacting precision and conversation,
the delicious steering letting you know
just when it’s nibbling at understeer, the
seat communicating the onset of
powered systems
1798cc 4cyl, RWD, 161kW, 250Nm 7.5L/10km, 175g/km CO
WorldMags.net 2
Elise steering is
possibly the best
in the business
oversteer. The ESP’s Sport setting
THE RIVAL allows you to play small slide angles
with great subtlety. At 200km/h, the
splitter, barge boards, side duct vanes
and a huge rear-wing-and-diff user
combo are shoving you into the tarmac
with a force equivalent to 100kg, and it’s
already doing good work at road speeds.
Result is a real sense of security in fast
ALFA 4C corners that’d have a normal Elise
Great looks, feeling slightly floaty.
amazing dynamics But there are plenty of cars that do
but a choppy ride
this well on track – albeit by dint of
more power and money. On-road, the
Elise is unique.
It’s small, its ride is relatively supple
and its front tyres are a super-slim
VERDICT
175mm in section. So it doesn’t need
much road width, and it doesn’t
Not user- tramline. On a back road, those are
friendly, but we stupendous assets. The minuscule nose
need it. Lotus’s weight means the steering rack happily
nude steering goes without power assistance. The
makes all
result is an absolute joy, a wheel free of
feel zombified. friction and largely without kickback, yet
intimate in telling you what grip is left.
8/10 When you think how often you actually
use your car’s steering, that’s a
benchmark well worth having.
0–100km/hin4.6secs,225km/h 932kg $90k(est)
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 063
 WorldMags.net
B M W 2 2 8 i CO N V E RT I B L E
Fair weather friend
You can tell if this convertible suits by the cut of its cloth BY BEN SMITHURST
e’ve got a special
sandwich on the roof!”
“W cheers Oliver Fürst, a
BMW designer who
looks like he was
designed by a team of a BMW designers.
Balding and enthusiastic, with twitching
salt-and-pepper eyebrows, Ollie’s most
sensual moments are spent summoning
to mind the sweet sweep of a C-pillar.
Yet a quick glance at the 2 Series
Convertible’s gleaming Anthracite roof,
interwoven with “fine, shiny fibres” to
create a metallic effect in sunlight,
reveals not even a lowly devon and
sauce roll.
“Pardon?” we say.
“It has five layers,” he beams, patting
the cloth. “It is nearly as good insulation
as a hard top.”
Ah, the roof itself: it’s a clever
lasagne of acoustically deadening
high-tech materials.
“It is very quiet, even at high speed,”
06 4 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
says Oliver’s colleague, Stefan
Grillneder. “I can tell you, you can be
going 180km/h and have a phone
conversation very easily. Er, this asset
probably only applies in Germany.”
Germans. Always rubbing it in,
aren’t they? But our new friends’
passion is understandable, because
folding roofs are tricky things from
concept (hard or soft?) to execution
(loss of rigidity, extra weight, screwed
up balance) to maintenance (my ragtop
is leaking). No matter where you stood
on the M4’s drop to six cylinders, the
convertible version’s heavy hard-top
diminished the fun much more than a
lighter fabric roof would have.
And fun, obviously, is what
convertibles are supposed to be about.
Even with the top down, in the
middle of a chilly US winter, wedged
between colossal Chevy Tahoes and
GMC Yukons and Cadillac Escalades.
The drivers of which look down
WorldMags.net
suspiciously upon a pair of
SNAPSHOT conspicuously male reviewers in a
IN DETAIL
premium compact cabrio. FYI: nothing
announces you to backcountry Texas
like a Pet Shop Boys singalong.
BMW likes to call ‘M’ the most
powerful letter in the world, but in their
range, it’s the number 2 that’s arguably
developed the most moxie. The lovely,
Detachable wind
RWD 2 Series, currently lead by the
blocker; anti-social
for rear passengers M235i – at least until the technically-
still-secret M2 arrives – is a smaller,
sweetly balanced, simple sportscar
alternative to brasher, larger Beamers.
The 3-, 4- and 5- all bring assorted
baggage to the table, weighed by their
own image and tradition. The premium
Open the door, and
BMW roundel is compact 2 Series just gets on with the
beamed to the ground very useable fun.
Hence Herr Fürst’s keenness to
peddle his tricky roof’s virtues. Get it
right and he’s on a winner; go the other
way and he’s the man who dropped
BMW’s kebab.
This time around, Australia gets two
Storage pouch within
the boot, keeps small successor options to the 1 Series
items under control Convertible: drop-top versions of the
220i and 228i. In reality, this is the 1
Series Convertible grown up. This
generation is 72mm longer, 26mm
wider, and with its wheelbase stretched
by 30mm. That’s a significant jump, but
mostly, it looks larger thanks to the sort
of visual design trickery that Block
couples apply to poky rooms, or
manscaping applies to a hen’s-night
stripper. Clean, subtly sculpted lines
 WorldMags.net
draw the eye up and out to its fl at
shoulders, giving an impression of heft
greater than the 1 Series could muster,
but maintaining typically robust, BMW
sportscar proportions. After some
design quibbling last time around, this
little Beemer looks like it ought to.
It’s also better to drive.
Some compromise between reduced
rigidity and extra weight is a given in
convertibles. Here, the folding roof
taxes the 2.0L in-line turbo four-pot to
the tune of 150kg over the coupe. This
adds a slim, respectable 0.3 seconds to
the fi xed-roof 228i’s 5.7-second
0-100km/h time. The manual, which
you’ll have to order especially for
Australia, takes that 6.0-second time
out to 6.1; fast, if not blistering. Both
228is produce 180kW and, more
im of tor jjust
1,250rpm, each channelled via an
insanely buttery eight-cog automatic
transmission.
Fun here comes from competence
rather than pushing the envelope. The
228i is confident without being
Five-layer folding
g to the ttop-
roof delivers excellent
insulation and acoustics
SPECS 2.0-litre, four-cylpetrolturbo, 8-speed auto, RWD,180kW, 350Nm,
fearsome – look to the M235i and M2
for that – but as an all-rounder, it’s gives
very little away. Practically, it’s
unflappable over scrappy surfaces, of
which Texas has many, on the bumped-
spec 18-inch launch alloys, and at
freeway speeds, top up, it’s almost as
refi ned as its hard-top convertible M4
sibling. Furst claims this version is 50
percent quieter in-cabin than the last,
and with minimal wind noise, he’s easy
to believe, even if he got your hopes up
about lunch.
Top-down, it’s a much different story
until the detachable wind-blocker is
raised (which makes the rear seat
useless, incidentally), but at which point
it becomes quite pleasant. Seat heaters
and dual-zone climate add to the joie de
vivre, but without the M4 Convertible’s
clever integrated
g neck warmer, this is
still a fairweather option.
Slow down and throw it into bends
and you’ll find a chassis that holds its
own, largely because the convertible has
.0L/100km
WorldMags.net
Inviting interior boasts
Dakota leather with
‘sun reflective technology’
been eating its breakfast meats.
THE RIVAL Tortional rigidity is up by 20 per cent
over the car it replaces, and bending
strength greater by a tenth, mostly due
to reinforcements in the rockers and
cross-braces in the front and rear.
‘Turns’ are features that few American
AUDI S3 roads countenance, lest their muscle
CONVERTIBLE
Similar money, but cars and enormous, chrome-dipped
faster and ‘quattro’ SUVs topple over and explode. But in
all-wheel drive the few the 228i’s two-hour test
encountered, it sat flat and settled, with
the 50/50 front/rear weight distribution
noticeably maintained. With limited
chance to shine, the variable sport
steering was typically, Bavarian-ly
precise.
That roof can be raised or lowered in
just 20 seconds at up to 50km/h; a
VERDICT 10-second, 10km/h improvement. A
useful, two-golf-bag boot space of 335
Niceely litres manages only to drop to 280 litres
balancced with the top down. Both are important,
g that
offering because while convertibles are fun when
peddles those down, with the roof raised, they need to
most Geerman hold their own. Otherwise for all their
seriess of layers of foodie-infuriating insulation,
funboy vvirtues that foldaway roof might as well be
made of regret.
down party:
Amid anticipation for the M2 and
competeence,
nestled below the M235i, the 228i
refinem ment,
and amiaability. Convertible arrived mostly without
Pass tthe fanfare. But if you’re looking for an
sausage. unpretentious all-rounder capable of
being the life of the party – without
0 setting their hair on fi re, or cutting the
end off anyone’s Nylex – the 2 Series is
on a roll. A meaty one.
0-100km/hin
0 6.0secs 1,535kg $68,900
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 065
 WorldMags.net
A L FA R O M EO 4 C
Speed of light
The gorgeous, featherweight Italian supermodel arrives in Oz BY JAMES CLE ARY
his is the Alfa we’ve
been waiting for. Since
T the concept exploded
into the world’s
consciousness in early
2011, we’ve been waiting… impatiently.
And finally, the Alfa Romeo 4C has
landed on Aussie terra firma; arguably
the most drop-dead gorgeous sports
car to turn a wheel in the last decade.
As if anybody needed convincing,
this perfectly proportioned gem
confirms FCA (Fiat Chrysler
Automobiles) design chief, Lorenzo
Ramaciotti, as a genius. He and the
team he assembled to create the 4C’s
form in Alfa’s Centro Stile have
06 6 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
produced an instant classic.
Thanks to its carbon fibre
monocoque chassis (all 65kg of it), the
use of aluminium for major hardware
components, and lightweight SMC
(Sheet Moulding Compound) for the
body, the car weighs in at just 1,025kg.
Powered by a transverse, all-alloy,
mid-mounted, direct-injection,
1,742cc four-cylinder turbo, producing
177kW and 350Nm and driving the
rear wheels through a six-speed dual
clutch gearbox, the 4C is claimed
to sprint from 0-100km/h in 4.5secs,
and scream on to a maximum velocity
of 258km/h.
Alfa’s positioning the 4C as ‘The
Staggered wheel
sizes give an
aggressive look
WorldMags.net
SNAPSHOT
IN DETAIL
‘Mr Waternoose’
lights standard but
glass option coming
Compact instrument
display is all business,
and works well
Five-horseshoe
Affordable Dream.’ And even though
wheels scream Alfa
(and tramlining) 89 grand is no small chunk of change,
it’s peanuts for a car with this kind of
performance, dynamic ability, and
stunning design. I mean, it’s built by
Maserati in Modena for gawd’s sake.
This is a clean sheet design. The
only shared element is the alloy turbo
Weekend away? Best
to pack light, then four, also found under the bonnet of
the Giulietta QV. But the 4C had it
first, so it really is new from-the-
ground-up.
Having driven the car at its global
launch in Italy, main point of interest
was whether it’s lively and nimble
nature would translate to the local
environment, and we’re happy to
report it does, 100 per cent.
The 4C is a real sports car, with few
 WorldMags.net
compromises made in the name of
superior dynamic performance. Alfa
has historically used the name Veloce
to describe its lightweight models, and
there’s no direct English translation for
that word. The closest is probably
‘fast’, but the meaning combines
notions of agility and quick responses,
as well as outright speed. The 4C is
alive with Veloce to the max.
Feel from the unassisted rack and
pinion steering is like shoving your
hands through the dash and grabbing
the front wheels. In constant radius
corners your fingertips pick up every
subtle nuance of the road surface,
changes in camber, and grip levels. It’s
unbelievably good.
The 4C is fast, and feels it. You’re
3
Buy this car.
Find windy roads.
Stay there all day
sitting low, with an expansive view
THE RIVAL ahead thanks to a large, wrap-around
screen (think Lancia Stratos). Stones
and twigs thrown up by the wheels tick
and bang into the floor, the turbo
whooshes and whines behind your
head, and the flappy paddle dual clutch
PORSCHE is fast and satisfyingly positive.
CAYMAN 2.7 We tried the (standard) launch
Another great control function, and with the system
mid-engine two-
engaged the 4C steps off hard.
seater, but we’d
take the Alfa. Acceleration is genuinely rapid, as in
911 Carrera S rapid, and the ripping
engine noise, centimetres from your
ear drums, is sensational.
Alfa claims a 50:50 front to rear
weight distribution, and the way the
car remains on track and throttle-
WorldMags.net
steerable in fast corners is phenomenal.
TOPGEAR.COM
LIFE INSIDE
1
Smoothly scultped seats not only
look great, they feel it. Brilliant
support and comfort
2
No armrests, which obviously
saves weight, but is also
surprisingly annoying
3
Expansive, low-set dash
enhances forward vision, and
feeling of space in compact cabin
4
Centre console houses Ferrari-
esque buttons for selection of
gears and DNA drive system
5
If you like the look of exposed
carbon fibre, you’ll love the 4C’s
interior; black weave everywhere
The standard Pirelli P Zero rubber does
its bit for outright grip, but the car’s
overall poise and balance, delivered via
a wishbone front, strut rear suspension
set-up, is obvious.
The brakes – perforated and
ventilated discs front and rear, with
four pot Brembo calipers up front –
are brilliant.
Th 4C is not designed as a daily
driver. The combined engine and
exhaust noise is bliss in the short term,
but can do your hearing in after a
while. Rear three-quarter vision for
lane-changing is limited. And if you’re
thinking about giving Anne Hathaway a
 APRIL 2015 067
 WorldMags.net
“Acceleration is genuinely rapid
– like 911 Carrera S rapid”
lift, remind her to dress appropriately,
because getting in and out can be an
undignified process.
But if you do hit the commuter trail,
the seats are as comfortable as they are
supportive, the interior design is
high-tech Italian cool, and concessions
to comfort in the shape of climate-
control air, cruise control, and rear
parking sensors are in place. Having
time to drink in the exposed carbon
weave all over the interior is also
extremely pleasant.
Having said that, there’s no doubt
the 4C is fabulous but flawed. The
price you pay for ultimate steering feel
and response is the car’s tendency to
A rear view for the
ages; the 4C’s stance
is perfection
SPECS 1.75-litre,fourcylpetrolturbo,6sp dual clutch, RWD, 177kW, 350Nm
06 8 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
follow dips and channels in the road,
and prepare yourself for shocks and
shudders from imperfections. But trust
us, it’s t-o-t-a-l-l-y worth it.
We’re also not fans of the carbon
fibre headlight inserts which have
replaced the pre-production car’s
conventional glass bi-xenons. The
latter is standard on the upcoming
Spider version, and Alfa is making
noises about eventually making them
optional on the coupe, so all is not lost.
In short, the 4C’s not perfect. But hey,
even Cara Delevingne has Groucho
Marx eyebrows.
The ‘standard’ 4C is set at $89k, but
FCA Australia has secured 75 examples
the 4C is fast,
6.8L/100km
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All-alloy mid-mounted four-
cylinder turbo sounds the
business right behind your ears
of the 4C Launch Edition, which at
$109,000 adds extra fruit to the
standard equipment list in the shape of
exclusive paint colours, bi-LED
VERDICT headlights, with illuminated daytime
running lights, front fascia with side
A game- air intakes and carbon fibre rear
changer for spoiler and mirror caps, race
Alfa Romeo, suspension tune, special exhaust,
staggered 18-inch (front) and 19-inch
fabulous and
(rear) forged alloy rims (up from 17
flawed, like
all the best and 18-inch), red brake calipers, sport
supercars. seats, interior accent stitching, and
carbon fibre used on the trim plates,
9/10 instrument bezel, and gear shift
surround. If you can get your hands on
one, we recommend you grab it, fast.
0-100km/h in 4.5secs 1,025kg $89,000
 WorldMags.net
A L FA G U I L I E T TA QV
Lucky charm
Looking for an unconventional hot hatch? You may be in luck BY JAMES CLE ARY
n Italian, winning the
A
Targa Florio, in an Alfa
Romeo; a testa di benzina’s
dream that came true in
1923 when Ugo Sivocci
conquered Sicily’s gruelling open road race
in the lightweight RLTF sports racer.
Sivocci’s car wore a green four-leaf
MINI COOPER S
clover symbol for good luck, and ever since
his victory, Alfa Romeo racing cars have
been adorned with the ‘Quadrifoglio Verde’
logo. And this Giulietta QV is the latest
road-going Alfa to borrow some of that
performance heritage.
Alfa’s mini-supercar, the 4C, is a
shimmering performance halo over the
entire brand, and this upgraded and mildly
face-lifted Giulietta QV will benefit from
that reflected glory (not to mention some
of the 4C’s hardware).
Centrepiece of the 2015 QV is an
all-alloy, direct-injection version of the
1,742cc turbo four, stolen directly from
between the 4C’s axles. Like the 4C, it’s
matched with a six-speed dual-clutch ’box,
while unlike the 4C, a six-speed manual is
also available (although engine output
drops by 4kW in that configuration).
A new intake system is claimed to
am ify the en ne note; and the Giuli
SPECS 1.75-litre, four cyl petrol turbo, 6sp dual clutch, FWD, 177kW, 340Nm
QV is launch control equipped for the
THE RIVAL first time.
Alfa spotters should look for
‘Quadrifoglio Verde’ emblems on the front
guards, as well as gloss Anthracite finish
on the exterior mirror housings, grille,
door handles and fog light frames. Inside
there are revised instruments, a new
Slower, but better flat-bottom wheel, redesigned front seats,
dynamically. plus a new 6.5-inch ‘Uconnect’ multimedia
touchscreen has been built into the dash.
Our first impressions are dominated by
VERDICT
the engine’s meaty thrust and pitch-
Great drivetrain perfect note. Power delivery is impressive,
and chassis, but far from linear, with a distinct boost of
compromised intercooled turbo assistance coming on
by so-so stream at 5,000rpm as revs climb towards
steering feel the point of peak power (5,750rpm).
and minor The TCT dual clutch is quick and
dynamic positive, with flappy paddle shifters
niggles.
adding to the fun in manual mode, and the
driver-adjustable ‘DNA’ (Dynamic-
7/10 Natural-All weather) system effectively
manages engine, brake, steering, gearbox
and throttle settings.
As the name implies, Natural is a
default mode with stability and traction
QV is short for controls in full operation, DST (Dynamic
Quadrifoglio
Verde, Italian Steering
Stee Torque) steering guidance (by
for ‘four brakking) is enabled, and throttle response
normal.’ Push the console switch
is ‘n
forwward into Dynamic and steering
assistance is reduced, stability and
traction controls are dialled back, and
throottle response is sharpened.
The QV’s moderately lowered
T dam, rear diffuser, and side skirts.
susppension maintains the car’s balance in
quicck cornering, with the nose remaining
resoolutely stuck to the tarmac, only
starrting a progressive push into oversteer
7.0L/100km 0-100km/hin6.0secs
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under extreme duress.
Braking is progressive and powerful,
thanks to Brembo four-piston calipers up
front, clamping 320mm ventilated rotors.
Tweaks to the interior design dial up
the sophistication quotient. The refreshed,
leather-trimmed wheel looks and feels
good, alloy sports pedals add a racy touch,
and dark roof lining contributes to a more
serious mood. The Bose nine speaker audio
(including subwoofer) cranks nicely.
Unfortunately, the QV picture isn’t all
rosy, with some design and dynamic
niggles making their presence felt.
We found the driver’s seating position
to be problematic, with the relationship
between the pedals, seating hard points,
and forward raked steering wheel, making
it difficult to find an ideal set-up. For the
record, this tester is slightly above average
height (184cm) and weight (88kg).
We came across numerous rough and/or
sharp edges on plastic moulded parts. And
while steering weight is fine, road feel isn’t
where we expected it to be.
Last gripe centres on the standard
Dunlop SP Sport Maxx TT rubber;
impressively grippy, but surprisingly noisy
on all but the smoothest surfaces.
List price for the Giulietta QV is
$39,000, and the example we drove was one
of 50 ‘Launch Edition’ units (25 Alfa Red,
25 Matte Magnesio Grey) weighing in at
$45,000, boasting carbon fibre mirror
housings, carbon spoiler, plus a front air
The ‘standard’ car is line-ball with the
Focus and Cooper S, while the Launch
Edition is in Golf GTI territory. Worth the
coin if you’re after an ‘individual’ hot hatch.
1,740kg $39,000
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 069
 WorldMags.net
AU D I T T Q UAT T RO
Designer label
Third generation coupe is better and even bolder BY JAMES STANFORD
he first TT stunned the
world when it was
T launched in 1998. It not
only had a palindromic
name, but was also
stunningly beautiful, and fast too. Sure,
the slipstream design meant the early
ones tended to get loose and spear off the
road at warp speed, but hey, they sorted
that out pretty damn quick with a
stick-on spoiler. The second generation
of 2006 was more modern, but less
adventurous, and now the sharper third
generation car is here.
It’s based on the Volkswagen Group
Golf/A3 platform and is available locally
with a single turbo four-cylinder 2.0-litre
engine that uses petrol. Audi Australia
SPECS 2.0-litre,fourcylpetrolturbo,6spdualclutch,AWD,169kW,370Nm
070 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
could have imported a diesel version, but
they realised people would have laughed
and then thrown rocks. The petrol four is
decent, with 169kW and 370Nm.
You can get a TT as front-driver or
stump up the extra cash for one that
sends power to both the front and the
rear wheels. The front-driver is available
with a six-speed manual or a six-speed
dual clutch, which makes loud sporty fart
noises when you change gears. The AWD
car is only available with two pedals.
The TT is an iconic sportscar; the
kind you could live with day to day. That
is unless you want to give a lift to more
than one person. There are two extra
seats in the rear of the TT, but it is so
cramped back there that Audi fitted a
Familiar, yet fresh,
the new TT is a
beautiful evolution
6.4L/100km
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sticker warning against crushing the
SNAPSHOT
passengers’ heads when you close the
IN DETAIL
boot hatch. Very small children might fit
(in the rear seats, not the boot), but they
would want to have slim car seats or
booster seats. Most cats would also fit,
although mine would probably be too big.
He is very fat.
But if you don’t need to carry more
Turbine style air vents than one adult or over-sized cat, the TT
add a touch of jet age
flair to the dash could actually be a very nice daily driver.
It is a bit unique in that it sits well above
the ageing Volkswagen Scirocco R
($45,990) and the faster but more crude
Nissan 370Z ($56,930), but well below
the sublime Porsche Cayman ($106,600).
The TT is basically new from the
Configurable
instrument display is
ground up, although it follows the same
cool and clever formula as the last one. It is also 50kg
lighter for a total of just 1,230kg (or
1330kg for the AWD Quattro). Look at it
from the back or side and you may not
immediately notice this is a new model.
But the front end certainly does look
‘Smart Touch’ rotary different with its new hard lines, more
infotainment control aggressive nose and sleek headlights.
includes touchpad There is a bunch of fresh tech,
including the first ever Audi Virtual
Cockpit display, which looks like
something from Iron Man. There is no
analogue speedo and tacho, but a
high-resolution screen that can be fully
0-100km/h in 5.3secs 1,330kg $77,900
 WorldMags.net
Interior, including
Virtual Cockpit display,
is a work of art
customised. It is way cool and can show a
huge sat-nav map or lots of car info, with
a small tacho and speedo. Alternatively,
it can simply show the tacho and speedo
just like it used to. It’s great because you
can see everything you want and don’t
have to look down to the centre screen.
The interior is new and looks
fantastic. Audi’s designers didn’t go
crazy, but the design is both attractive
and practical in equal measure. There are
some lovely touches, such as the AC
controller buttons being fitted to the
actual vents, and lovely quality surfaces.
Something else new is the Matrix full
LED headlights, which are available as a
$2,500 option. Audi promises they are
100 per cent Keanu Reeves-free.
All the TTs are quick and fun, but the
AWD is more engaging. And remember, a
hotter TT S version is on the way.
The front-drive car does tend to tug
through the wheel a bit on acceleration
and is more prone to wheelspin (which is
snuffed out quickly by the on-board
computer). Even in the dry, the AWD car
puts its power down better and this is
only likely to be more evident in wet or
slippery conditions.
The engine pulls hard all the way
through to just above 6,000rpm and
sounds a little bit rorty, without being
too raucous. You can do the 0-100km/h
dash in just 5.3 seconds if you engage the
cheaty launch control. That is mighty
fast, but to be honest, ours didn’t feel No, it isn’t a hard-core sports car, but it is
quite that quick. pretty quick and looks lovely.
Cornering is fun and the TT is well There is the issue of the rear seats,
tied down, but is also quite comfortable which don’t actually seem to exist when
too. Adjustable electric charged magnetic you try and get into them, but hey, it’s a
dampers are available as an option, if you sports coupe. And oh, I nearly forgot: the
want to get a bit more sporty. automatic transmission changes up when
The shape of the TT’s tail means its it wants, even when you’ve selected the
rear visibility is wretched, which makes manual mode. This makes me very angry
it a perfect candidate for a reversing and sad at the same time.
camera. So, it’s a pity that feature won’t In terms of price, did I mention this is
be available until later this year. It does an Audi? I did, and that means you are
have reversing sensors at least. going to pay a bit over the odds. But
THE RIVAL If you hate car parks, you might like
the $2200 Assistance Package, which
when you consider the design, the
performance, the badge and all the
helps you park, stay in your lane and see technology, the TT isn’t bad value.
if anyone is lurking in your blind-spot. The line-up starts with the manual
The TT has a variable steering rack, Sport FWD manual at $71,950 and rises
which doesn’t change according to speed to $74,950 for the dual clutch (which is
NISSAN 370Z (like some systems), but does alter the worth it by the way). The best one is the
Faster, but getting steering rate depending on the position AWD auto at $77,950. If you have bundles
on for eight years of the wheel. This takes some getting of cash spilling out of your pockets, feel
old. Not as cool or used to and it’s easy to turn too much or free to lash out on the S Line, for the
easy to live with. too little when pushing hard. The extra kit. It costs $78,450 for the FWD
steering also feels a little vague. You can manual, $82,480 for the FWD dual clutch
change the weighting, but the heavier and $82,450 for the AWD dual clutch.
Dynamic mode is far better for pushing.
Audi has done a cracking job with the
seats, which feel supportive and
comfortable. All TTs get leather seatss,
cruise control, keyless entry and star t, a
big 12.4-inch colour screen with hi-rees
sat-nav, an eight speaker sound system m
and Xenon lights (with LED daytime
running lights).
The Sport models sit on 18-inch
VERDICT wheels, while the S-Line models get 19s,1
a body kit, some extra metal interior
Beautiful trim and other elements as well as a
and fun. Not beefier sound system.
a balls-out The option list is long and includes
sports car, but metallic paint (between $1,077 and
it doesn’t need
$1,400 - ouch) and things like 20-inch h
to be.
rims (between $2,846 and $3,000).
8/10 However… the steering isn’t perfect
and the front-driver is, well, a front-
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driver. But the TT does what it promiises.
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 071
 WorldMags.net
P E U G EOT 3 0 8 GT
Just right
Peugeot’s well-specced GT takes the Goldilocks approach BY JAMES CLE ARY
hen it comes to
porridge, few would
W argue Goldilocks was
on the money. Not too
hot, not too cold, but
just right. And the same goes for a
relaxing soak in the bath, your next
coffee, or a pie at the footy.
So why do performance hatch
aficionados turn up their noses at the
mere mention of an example that’s said
to be anything other than scalding hot?
Yes, this is TopGear, and that’s a
rhetorical question. The screaming
power and cat-like responses of a
quality hot hatch make the senses
tingle and fire up the adrenal gland, so
ipso facto, any diminution of those
qualities has to be a bad thing. But this
Peugeot builds a solid case for the
validity of warm.
The 308 GT is a ‘warm’ version
of Peugeot’s refreshed 308, offered
with a choice of four-cylinder turbos:
a 151kW/285Nm 1.6-litre petrol
matched with a six-speed manual,
or 133kW/400Nm 2.0-litre diesel
with flappy paddle six-speed auto.
As a brand, Peugeot remains an
unconventional choice in this market.
But the second-gen 308 picked up the
072 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
European Car of the Year award last
year, so the car the GT is based on
already has a solid fan-base. And the
French maker has serious form when it
comes to performance hatches. The
205 GTi is an all-time great, and the
current 208 GTi has been raising
eyebrows and smiles since it arrived
here in 2013.
The GT is positioned as a genuine
grand tourer, rather than a purely
sports-focused hot hatch. Actually,
that’s likely to come sooner rather than
later in a production version of 2013’s
(202kW/330Nm) 308 R Concept.
The newcomer features unique
18-inch alloy rims, a lower ride (7mm
front / 10mm rear), spring and damper
rates stiffened by between 10 and 20
per cent (depending on drivetrain), as
well as driver-adjustable steering
weight and throttle calibration.
There’s also an amplified engine
note (more on that later), specific
interior trim elements, red instrument
illumination, and a multi-function
display, reading out on power and
torque, turbo boost pressure, as well as
longitudinal and lateral Gs.
Car-spotters should also look out
for chrome on the grille bars, front fog
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lamps, window surrounds, and the
SNAPSHOT
dual exhaust.
IN DETAIL
We had several hundred kays worth
of GT wheel time around the NSW-
Victoria border towns of Albury and
Wodonga; on the sweeping backroads
in the surrounding Murray River
hinterland, and a twisting 1.6km driver
Interior feel is now
more upscale and training circuit.
brighter It became clear immediately the
GT’s outstanding dynamic attribute is
supreme body control. Even on fast,
dipping and twisting sections, the strut
front, torsion beam rear suspension
manages to not only keep pitch and roll
Still standard six-
in check, but make sure yaw movement
speed autos in service doesn’t get out of hand. All very
here. Move along predictable and stress-free.
Acceleration in both variants is
brisk rather than quick, with the
diesel’s meatier mid-range running out
of puff towards the top end, while the
petrol loves to rev towards its power
New rotary dial
peak at 5,000rpm.
operates a Sport In Sport mode (available via a
mode on petrol model console rocker switch), steering weight
loads up, while road feel remains good
(rather than great). Throttle response
sharpens, and in the diesel, gear shifts
become more urgent. Overall, the 308
GT is an enjoyable drive.
 WorldMags.net
Cabin has the cool
air of a Norwegian
ski lodge
Yes, it’s a subjective call, but we
think the 308 is a beautifully resolved
design. Its proportions, key character
lines, and overall stance set it apart
from the medium hatch crowd, and the
GT’s interior is just as striking.
Minimalist, in Scandinavian style,
the 308’s cabin has the cool, reserved
air of an upmarket Norwegian ski
lodge, accented by a subtle
combination of soft plastic and
brushed metal finishes.
Ride comfort over imperfect around
town surfaces is extremely good. The
sports seats are comfy and both
engines are amazingly quiet.
There are several points on the
negative side of the ledger however.
First, you’re either a fan of
Peugeot’s ‘Head up’ instrument layout
or you’re not. This ‘main instruments
above small steering wheel’
arrangement was pioneered in the 208,
and lives on here.
We think it’s an answer to a
question nobody was asking, but
Peugeot counters with a raft of
ergonomic pluses. And speaking of
counters, we’re not sure why the rev
counter winds anti-clockwise, but we
are sure it adds no meaningful benefit.
The ‘amplified engine note’,
mentioned earlier, is also a bone of
contention. Imagine the fashion model
in waiting that’s laughing at all your
jokes, and making laser beam eye
contact is actually not of the gender
you assumed they were. Nothing wrong
SPECS 1.6-litre, four-cyl petrol turbo, 6-speed manual, FWD, 151kW, 285Nm
with that, but it’s not your thing, and seats, ‘Open & Go’ keyless entry, alloy
THE RIVAL burning interest cools immediately.
That’s kind of what it’s like when you
pedals and door sills, LED headlights
with integrated DRL’s, and cool
realise the GT’s rorty engine sound (in animated indicators (as in, they swipe
Sport mode) is a synthetic facsimile across the lens when activated).
pumped through the audio system. Then there’s the standard ‘Driver
And finally, ‘Manual’ mode on the Assist’ pack, which adds active cruise,
VOLKSWAGON diesel’s six-speed auto… isn’t. It Emergency Collision Alert, Emergency
GOLF GTI
Quick, sharp and changes down a couple of ratios when Collision Brake, Park Assist, and Blind
refined, it’s still the it wants to, and always shifts before Spot Monitoring. That’s a h-e-a-p of
one. the redline. Sure, head-butting the fruit for a $42k price point.
rev-limiter on a regular basis isn’t Peugeot’s at pains to point out this
necessarily a good idea. But if the mode is a GT (warm), rather than a GTi
says manual, we reserve the right to be (hot); the inference being a GTi is
stupid when we want to. compromised by overly stiff suspension
Cost-of-entry is $41,990, and that and a less refined drive experience.
number brings a lengthy list of Problem is, a similarly priced
standard equipment with it. competitor like the Golf GTI is faster
Highlights are a 9.7in infotainment and delivers a superb combination of
touchscreen, sat-nav, rear-view camera dynamic ability and comfort. No
with front parking sensors, ‘Jukebox’ compromise. But the GT is lighter,
music storage, electric lumbar support more frugal, and super well equipped.
with massage function on the front It’s a compelling package.
VERDIC
CT
A handsome
GT that does
what it saays
on the boxx. A
comfortab ble,
capable and
a
enjoyable
hatch thaat’s
well equipped
for the money.
8/10
5.6L/100km 0-100km/hin7.5secs 1,200kg $41,990
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 WorldMags.net
BMW X6M
Brilliantly pointless
For those who don't think the X6 is weird enough, M adds a 400+kW biturbo V8
s the X6M good?
Your answer to that
I question says more
about you than the car,
because it’s actually this
question: how much do you like
pointless, impractical things?
SUV buyers usually don’t, because
their cars have a point. Usually that they
are mobile rumpus rooms that can be
fi lled with things (prams, sports gear,
errant children, a pinecone the Labrador
puked into the footwell, the sobbing
ghosts of your youth). But this isn’t an
SUV, precisely: it’s a Sports Activity
Coupe, AKA an SUV minus
functionality but with added style.
A hairdresser’s SUV, if you will.
Which should make it perfectly
mockable. But the thing is, it’s just not.
Or, at least, it’s mockable only at your
peril. Because the X6M is a monster.
Firstly, that ‘M’ bolted on to the base
X6 means it’s not lacking in
testosterone. At 2.3 tonnes and 4.9m,
it’s packing a 4.4L twin-turbo V8 that
belches out 423kW and 750Nm. That’s
power enough to do 0-100km/h in a
SPECS 4.4-litre, V8 petrol twin-turbo, 8sp auto, AWD, 423kW, 750Nm
0 74 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
frankly insane 4.2sec. Compared to its
predecessor, the X6 M’s power and
torque bumps are reasonably modest
(four per cent) and reasonably
impressive (10 per cent) respectively,
but that’s enough to make this the most
powerful engine BMW has ever
attached to an all-wheel-drivetrain. It
generates so much heat that they’ve
had to add 10 separate radiators to stop
it melting down like Chernobyl before
you’ve piled into your third corner.
BMW introduced the fi rst X6 in
2009. That car didn’t make sense then,
but it has come to make more sense
over time – at least in the boardroom,
the X6 having smashed BMW’s
expectations with sales of over a
quarter mill. The X6 M still doesn’t
make total sense on the road, but it
powerful or fast, but
does where they launched it: at Austin,
still a monster, and
Texas’s F1-hosting Circuit of the
Americas. A racetrack.
Put simply, this is that niche-iest of
niches: a coupe-styled SUV for track
days. Despite its heft, and its height,
the X6 M is surprisingly lithe between
it is a beast, and
the ripple strips, if not exactly delicate.
With the suspension settings ratcheted
to Sport mode it hides its weight like a
fat girl’s Tinder headshot, creating the
slightly dissonant sensation of a high
seating position matched to minimal
body roll. Those twin scrolls, cradled in
the V8’s fecund vees, are gratifyingly
free of lag, and with the DSC disabled,
the X6 M will even acquiesce to a spot
of cheerful drifting.
11.1L/100km
WorldMags.net
BY BEN SMITHURST
In essence, it drives like a lighter,
lower car, all grip and bark and shunt
– even if those anchors, despite all discs
being perforated and vented, start to be
overwhelmed after four or five full-tilt
laps. There are two news cogs in the
slick 8-speed ’box, new compound
brakes with sexy, blue, shoebox-sized
calipers and a soundtrack that suits
SUVs like The Amity Affl iction suits a
Country Women’s Association bake sale.
THE RIVAL The steering, while just barely tactile, is
sharp enough. It’s impressive, and
buckets of fun.
In the city? Porting kids between
hockey and piano lessons? Doing normal
SUVs drudgery? The X6 M does this
MERCEDES- grudgingly: ride M-spec fi rmer than the
BENZ ML 63 X6, optional low-profi le 21-inch shoes
Not quite as still reasonably unfussy, rear seat
headroom (and rearview) made
cheaper, too claustrophobic by its long, affected
smear of a C-pillar. It can be an SUV.
But its head is elsewhere.
VERDICT “I was not sure if [launching an SUV
at an F1 track] was a good idea,” said
Not obese, but German touring car champion Marco
Wittman, on hand in the Lone Star
sweet mercy
does it get off State, “but now this is my favourite M
the line. Very car.” Oh, Marco! You’re a liar, or you’re
good at what it mental. But your sales pitch is nothing if
does, which is not practical.
schizophrenia. Practicality is very German.
Wonderfully Pointlessness isn’t. The X6 M makes no
nonsensical. sense, yet it is, in its way, brilliant. It’s a
bulldozer for chasing butterfl ies, or a
8/10 machete made for neurosurgery, and
both of those things are very TopGear.
0-100km/h in 4.2secs 2,340kg $200,000 (est.)
 WorldMags.net
H A R L E Y DAV I D SO N L I V E W I R E
Torque it up
Harley’s electric concept flicks the performance switch... BY BORIS MIHAILOVIC
ehold Harley-Davidson’s
Livewire – a complete
B departure from its normal
propulsion method and
traditional market.
Not a hint of the potato-potato-potato
idle. No idle at all, in fact. It just sits there,
being all electricky. And it’s a strange and
alien thing to ride.
The whole no clutch, no gears caper is
cause for suspicion in my world. The clutch
has always been my get-out-of-stupid-jail
card. Gears have also been integral to my
riding experience. I have always held quiet
bikes to be in need of ‘repair’ – and quiet
Harleys as some kind of sad smothered
beast aching for me to shove cruel steel
tubing into its guts so it can bellow its
brutal song to the world.
The Livewire’s silence at rest and
unnatural howl at speed is confronting. But
that’s alright. Neck tattoos once appalled
humanity as well. We’ve moved on.
What’s happening under the ‘tank’ is
the latest in electrical sorcery. There is a
three-phase AC electric induction motor
that Harley states produces 55kW at
8000rpm with 70.5Nm of torque from
standstill. It’s said the bike will accelerate
to 100km/h in four seconds and its max
speed is 148km/h (this bit is true because
I saw that number on the speedo).
This makes it faster off the line and
more powerful than the Zero DS (another
electric motorcycle), but with a little less
torque and range.
So how does the Livewire differ from
other electrical bikes? First and foremost,
it looks better; a crucially important fact.
SPECS AC electric induction motor, RWD, 55kW, 70.5Nm
Secondly, the motor is mounted
longitudinally under the all-aluminium
frame. No other electric bike has that
going on. A bevel gear turns the rotation
of the motor through 90 degrees and
hooks it up to a belt-driven rear wheel. It’s
the bevel gear that gives the bike its
unique sound. The faster you go, the
keener and louder the strange whirring
noise gets. Harley reckons it sounds like a
jet. Others have observed it’s more akin to
a vacuum cleaner. It’s actually neither.
Remember the movie Tron and those
insane neon-lit motorcycles? That’s kinda
the noise it makes.
How does it go? That’s the real
question, isn’t it? We’ve established it
doesn’t sound like a motorcycle. If it was
not to behave on the move like a
motorcycle, then its future would be
questionable. Thankfully, it does.
In fact, it’s got quite a bit of stomp
when you twist the throttle. It surprised
me. It weighs 212kg and trundled along
between 40 and 60km/h with no hunting
or hesitancy; then when you nail it, there’s
an almost instant response. It’s no litre-
hyperbike, or even a supersport. But it
picks up its skirts and moves. I understand
that Power Mode provides an even more…
um, invigorating response, but we weren n’t
allowed to touch that button. Thing is, th he
Malaysian humidity made some of the
press corps hamfisted. Sorry.
I found the brakes almost redundant
They work, but there’s a lot of regenerative
(that means there’s charge going to the
lithium-ion battery) motor braking when n
you throttle off, so you wouldn’t be usin
0-100kmh in 4.0s
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them much just piddling around.
And you’ll only be piddling around for
85 kays; less if you’re in Power mode.
Recharge time is three-and-a-half hours.
I’m crap at maths, but if I assume the
Livewire is running a 3.3kW charging
system like other electric bikes, this means
it has a 10 kilowatt-hour battery.
I did probably less than eight kilometres
on a bike that is obviously not going into
production next month. Harley-Davidson
made it very clear it was after feedback, and
that the Livewire is not a finished product.
To its credit, they did actually want
feedback, so here’s mine…
The mirrors were useless. Sexy, but
only show the switchblocks and your knees.
The bike handled alright, but more
ground clearance (I touched down the
right footpeg) and consultations with
Öhlins or Showa need to take place.
The front suspension is adjustable, but
the rear monoshock was unimpressive. If
VERDICT
Harley wishes to make an impact with this
Sharp looks bike, it needs to address this area.
and goes hard, Give the world a beautifully suspended
but needs more electric motorcycle, and it will beat a path
range and to your showroom. Give it one with a great
refinement for range and a shorter re-charging time and
production there could be fistfights in the carpark.
At the moment, you’ve given it an
7/10 electric bike that looks great. It behoves
you to give it the other stuff.
A good looking diem Milwaukee.
Carpe diem, Milwaukee
electric bike...
refreshing
212kg
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 075
 WorldMags.net
VO LVO XC 9 0
Swede spot
The new XC90 is here. And it’s good BY PAUL HORRELL
very few hours, one of
the world’s carmakers
E launches yet another big
expensive SUV. And yet,
even among this forest
of rivals, Volvo’s new XC90 manages to
carve out its own distinctive clearing. It
doesn’t throw weight and cost at what
would be for most buyers a superfluity of
off-road ability. Or sacrifice comfort for
equally irrelevant Nürburgring
horseplay. Or lose space in pursuit of a
silhouette aping that incongruous
fashion, the sports utility coupe. OK, so
you might think a bald list of the XC90’s
main advantages doesn’t make terribly
SPECS 1969cc, 4cyl, 165kW, 470Nm
exciting reading: roominess, versatility,
comfort, safety. Yet it follows those aims
with such single-mindedness, humanity
and warmth that I ended up fi nding it
beguiling and desirable. There’s a
nobility in the doing of simple crafts
well and generously.
All of which could have been said
ENGINE HYBRID
about the old XC90 of course, even if it
was grim to drive. By stealth – modesty
is a Volvo trait – it became a
and the system works
phenomenon. It lasted 12 years in
production, far longer than a normal
mortal span. Yet, even to the end, it had
a near-fanatical following among
owners, for all the same reasons reprised
Sticking to a
proven recipe for
deserved success
are unprogressive too.
5.8L/100km, 152g/km CO2 0–100km/h in 7.8secs, 220km/h
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and amplified by the new one. Few rivals
IN DETAIL managed to catch up on safety, and it
recently breezed an American crash test
that wasn’t even invented when it was
new. That’s the value of Volvo’s
long-standing studies of real-life
accidents, and building cars to protect
THE T8 TWIN against them rather than building cars
to pass crash tests. Despite its selling big
At a combined numbers in Sweden all those years, it
298kW, it’s fast wasn’t until two years ago that anyone,
anyone, was killed in an XC90 there. The
smoothly, though
accident in question happened when the
it changes gear
distractingly often. car came off the road and slammed into
But it needs a nicer a tree.
engine noise Volvo’s engineering chief Peter
to compete with Mertens reckons the new XC90 would
multi-cylinder probably have averted even that
rivals. The (part- catastrophe. It has a world-fi rst system
regenerative) brakes that, if you depart the road, spools the
belts tight, tenses the seat around you,
They’re ‘working on’
moves the brake pedal out of the way
fixes, and have
and prepares the airbags, protecting you
six months before
it launches against the bouncing and the fi nal
impact. The body’s safety cage is
boron-steel and even more
PHOTOGRAPHY: SIMON THOMPSON
comprehensive than before. Plus, as
standard, Volvo’s vehicle, pedestrian and
cyclist detection system means that if
any of those three veers into your path,
it’ll brake if you don’t.
Actually I recently ran a long-term-
2038kg $89,950
 WorldMags.net
Square switch
turns engine on
and off. Radical
test V60 that had this system. Not that
you’d have known. It wasn’t mentioned
in the spec sheet or brochure, and I
wasn’t going to take aim at a cyclist to
find out if it was fitted. Volvo has never
relented in its pace of safety innovation,
but for a while it’s been neglecting to tell
people. Realising its safety image has
faded, it’s shifting its messaging to
remind us. Example: the XC90’s seatbelt
buckles are stamped “since 1959”,
because Volvo put the world’s first
restraints in a car all those years ago.
Even the base model contains all the
sensors needed for active cruise control
and near-autonomous steering, plus
various side-alert systems, so it
can be upgraded later.
To be clear: although the new XC90
is very much channelling the spirit of
the old one, nothing material gets a
second life. In fact, it’s about as new as a
car can be. All-new platform, a suite of
engines and transmissions developed
especially with that platform in mind,
and entirely new info-entertainment-
connection hardware and software. All
that’s left of the old car is the name –
but actually they couldn’t resist
redesigning even the Volvo badge.
Volvo had got into a mess when
Neat details owned by Ford. A bewilderingly
elevate the XC90 complicated mishmash of engines from
to a high-end SUV
several former partners sapped its
resources and denied it freedom. When
Volvo was put up for sale in late 2008,
its people could have looked for new
cooperations. But instead of risking
repeating the farce, they decided to
paddle their own canoe, and their new
Chinese owners gave Volvo the freedom
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to invest in scratch-building a versatile
XC90 interior
ticks both calm
and serene boxes
platform and chassis. That provides for
the XC90, plus next year’s big V90
estate and S90 saloon (they replace the
V70 and S80), and within a couple more
years the new V60, S60 and XC60. From
that followed a more controversial step.
They wanted to major on fuel efficiency,
slash the costs of designing different
installations and crash structures, and
also allow for short front overhangs to
please the designers. So they decided
that the platform would never have to
carry more than a four-cylinder engine.
The 2.0-litre aluminium four-
cylinder is made as both a range of
diesels, in single and twin-turbo
configurations up to 165kW, and petrols
culminating in a supercharged and
turbocharged unit of 236kW. If that’s
not enough, there’s a version called T8
Twin Engine. That ditches the propshaft
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 077
 WorldMags.net
to the rear, and fi lls its tunnel with a
plug-in battery. At the back is an electric
motor. Charge it up for up to 40
pure-electric kilometres, or switch to
all-guns power mode for 296kW and
4WD. A BMW i8 in reverse, if you will,
for $122,950.
The outside of the XC90 is
refreshingly honest. The silhouette is
boxy and glassy, because it encloses a
lot of space and lends light to the
people inside. I really can’t imagine
this car with gangsta tints: it’s far
Off-road capability
remains, but isn’t
its strongest suit
078 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
more social than that. But it’s not too
homely. The front face has a confident
grille and rich LED headlights with
signature T-shaped running lights.
They call them ‘Thor’s Hammer’ but, to
me, that sounds like the name of some
ear-assaulting Nordic death-metal
band, entirely contrary to the warm
and civilised Scandinavian spirit that
permeates the rest of this design.
Especially the interior.
Oh, yes, the interior. It’s just
brilliant. Clean of lines
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No ’Ring monster,
but still enjoys a
good cornering
but soft of edges, rich but not flash in its
materials, and for the most part
terrifically usable. Two things defi ne it:
the seven-seat packaging, and the new
big-screen interface. Seats fi rst. They’re
all as anatomically correct as, well, as a
Volvo seat. And they all have space.
Even the third row is OK for me as a
LR DISCOVERY
just-shy-of-average adult male, so it’ll be
More capable off-
road and for towing fi ne for kids or grandmas (though the
than the Volvo, but latter might have trouble making a
heavier and more dignified exit). The second row recline
cumbersome-feeling and slide. And, even with the third row
in use, the boot is as big as a medium
hatchback’s. If you need more, all the
seats and head restraints fold with an
easy tug of a lever.
Sensibly, the vast centre screen
is portrait format, because that’s best
for scrolling through lists, or indeed
looking at a heading-up map (though,
to get any sense of where you’re going,
you should align the map north-up,
shouldn’t you?). It’s a high-definition
job, its menus reasonably logical and its
response latency quick enough to be
generally unnoticeable. Intuitive
touches, swipes and pinches let you do
it all. It’s also open to downloading new
apps, and works with Apple Carplay and
Android Auto. The screen is actually
 WorldMags.net
1
reacting not to physical touch but to
your breaking an infra-red curtain
projected just clear of its surface. So it
still works if you have long nails or are
wearing gloves. Drawbacks are few but
not negligible. If the car hits a bump,
your finger sometimes jabs at the
wrong menu line. And the screen
quickly gets smeary.
To stress-test a car, it’s often best
to have a go with a powerful engine,
even if that’s not the one people buy.
So here we are in the 236kW petrol T6.
It’s also got adaptive air suspension,
also an option.
Most of the news is good. There’s
decent urgency
g y from the engine,
g , and
3
2
the charger-plus-puffer combination
VERDICT works well to eliminate lag. The auto
transmission shifts smoothly between
As calm, roomy its eight speeds but doesn’t need
and cleanly that many for accelerating, though the
furnished as a long-legged eighth is obviously good for
Swedish living
cruising economy. All good so far; the
room. And as
safe as staying snag is the sound. It doesn’t only have
there. the voice of a four, but of a fairly drab,
metallic four at that. The engineers
9/10
plan on doing more “sound design” in
the weeks before launch, but say they
won’t be aiming to synthesise six-pot
harmonics. I just want a dose of
interesting exhaust noise to mask the
mechanical thrash.
The diesel D5 gets along well, fielding
a big well of torque yet able to rev to
almmost 5,000rpm. It suits the car, and
eveeryone in SUV-land has got used to
dieesels now, but the official tests say it
won’t be much cheaper to fuel than the
faster T6.
Sophistication in the suspension
dessign is borne out on the road. It
might be a tall vehicle, but body roll is
well controlled and the chassis works
witth the standard four-wheel-drive to
quell understeer and keep everything
enttirely benign. That’s not to say it’s
acttually much fun. It goes where it’s
poiinted like the faithful family wagon
it is. The steering is high-geared – to the
poiint of over-eagerness just off-centre
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–w which helps disguise the fact you’re
4
LIFE INSIDE
1
One blind spot is making blind-
spot warning (which Volvo
invented) an option
2
Most trims have virtual
instruments, with lots of space
for navigation between dials
3
Dalek head on dash top
is speaker for excellent
Harman Kardon hi-fi.
4
Huge centre screen displays
four functions as concise ‘tiles’,
or you can expand one
5
Twist this square knob clockwise
to start engine, anti-clock to
stop. Brilliant! Just like a key!!
piloting a five-metre bus.
Omni-configurability is seemingly
mandatory these days, and, sure
enough, you can even select the level of
brake assistance… a new one on me. But
for pity’s sake, keep the chassis set to
Comfort not Sport. That way, you get
adequate damping and a decently pliable
ride (at least on the 20-inch rims; the
21s add unwelcome grittiness). It’s a
quiet and stable cruiser.
All the better to hear the bickering
and mewling of the little darlings in
the back. Ah well. If any car is soothing
and protective enough to restore your
fractured mental state, this might
just be it.
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 079
 WorldMags.net

e and fa irly in nocuous

ith a do wn s iz ed engin s - A M G C63
W e new Me r ce d e
o u ’d th in k th r y wrong
looks, y B ut you’d b e ve r y, ve
e a b it so f t .
had gon E
C TU RE S: LE E BR IM BL
M FO R D / PI
W O RD S: TO
he old chap standing by
the side of the road in a

T
small village somewhere
about an hour south of
Lisbon has patently heard
me coming. He’s paused in
the dusty, cobbled margin,
peering at the dark blue Mercedes-AMG C63 S as
if slightly disappointed that the thunderous
noise he must have heard from a few kays away
has resolved into a fairly innocuous-looking blue
saloon. But, heading towards the village, I have
knocked the C-Class into Comfort mode, popped
the exhaust into a more socially acceptable
configuration and slowed. He raises an eyebrow
– difficult when your skin is the texture
and colour of saddle leather – smiles and points
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08 0 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM

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both thumbs skywards in the universal sign of
approval. With his hair slicked back and tiny
ears, I can’t help feeling that I’ve just been
given the thumbs-up by a giant, man-shaped
Portuguese otter.
I’ll admit, the new Mercedes-AMG C63 has
already proved itself a thumbs-up kind of car.
I’ve only been driving it for about three hours,
but already I’ve pottered luxuriously down a
motorway, dealing with overtakes with the kind
of languid nonchalance that comes from
700Nm, a V8 and turbos. I’ve played with every
setting, understood them all, and deposited
myself at the end of a very wriggly, unevenly
surfaced road with a grin so broad it’s medically
unlikely, and a set of optional carbon-ceramic
brakes that are quite noticeably on fire. This
sounds like a bad thing – but when you realise
just how tortuous the road, and just how fast
the C63 can be, it’s surprising that the brakes
are only on fire and not simply puddles of shiny
slag wrapped around the tyres. This thing is
immense... and yet it looks like a pretty unlikely
hero car.
Outside, it’s actually quite subtle. Or as
subtle as 375kW is likely to get. The usual AMG
‘power domes’ bulge up through the bonnet like
semi-steroidal extra musculature, and the
stance is subtly different to a cooking C.
Obviously the front wings are flared to cope
with a wider track (more on that in a bit) and
there are the planet-swallowing front airdams
to chill various intercoolers. The wide pair of
bumper sidepods actually help balance the
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MERCEDES-AMG C63
front end of the C, making it look nicely angry
rather than full-on brutal. Little sill extensions
join front to back, and there’s a vestigial spoiler
on the boot lip, as well as a pair of less
inconspicuous squared-off exhausts either side
of the rear valance. But if it didn’t carry ‘V8
Biturbo’ badges, you might even miss it. But
this is a car that ascribes to the speak softly/big
stick theory of super-sedans. And the stick it
carries has a nail through the end.
The engine itself is the new 4.0-litre V8 with
a pair of turbos nestled like hibernating snails
in the vee of the cylinders, and it’s very closely
related to the unit in the Merc-AMG GT sports
car – in fact, they’re only one number
designation apart, codenamed ‘M177’ and
‘M178’ respectively, the C’s engine being a
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 081
MERCEDES-AMG C63
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Active engine
mounts mean
little lean when
pushing. Good
wet-sumped version of the GT’s more racy
dry-sumped motor. The big numbers are 375kW
and 700Nm for the S that’s coming to Oz (and a
not-exactly impotent 350kW/650Nm for the
‘standard’ car that’s not), but more important
for Merc-AMG is the fact that it’s a third more
efficient than the old 6.2-litre naturally
aspirated V8 in the previous-generation
C-Class. That’s impressive, and apparently
provides the new C63 with the ability to do
8.2L/100km driven carefully. For a car with
more than 350kW, that’s extraordinary.
Although, let’s face it, also extremely unlikely.
It’s also, as is AMG tradition, still a hand-built
motor, featuring the embossed signature of the
person that assembles it – ours was built by a
certain Jan Giela (it could be ‘Ciela’). And I
“THE ENGINE IS BASICALLY A WET-
U N D
V ER S IO N O F TH E V 8 FO
SU M PE D
IN TH E NEW AM G GT S S PO R TS CAR”
08 2 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
+ Watch two thick black lines
peel off the rear of the C63, with
rumbling, smokey accompaniment
For info on how to use viewa, turn to page 8
have to say that Herr Giela did a hell of a job.
It doesn’t feel like it has turbos is perhaps
the best compliment I can give it. That, and the
fact that delivery is linear, elastic and crushing.
It also sounds really rather wonderful: a gentle
burble in Comfort, a roaring, spitting, banging
and backfiring leonine pitfight in Race mode.
Yes, you can hear the turbos spooling up if you
listen carefully, but there’s no sense of ‘boost’,
just torque – it really does feel just like a much
larger capacity – which means that modulating
throttle through a corner is a joy rather than a
gamble. Of course, you can adjust the ferocity
of delivery via the various modes, but generally,
it just feels immense, everywhere. And I
guarantee – apart from arriving home late at
night – you’ll leave the exhaust button in ‘open’.
The scoop feeds
cold air to the
turbos on top
of the motor
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 WorldMags.net
The front suspension consists of four links
and a wider track than before; the rear, a
similarly slightly fatter-tracked traditional
multi-link with independent mounts. Both ends
are tied together by AMG’s electronically
controlled ride-control system, offering (in the
S) four strata of firmness: Comfort, Sport,
Sport+, and Race, accessed from a series of
buttons and the COMAND system touchpad
controller. Race allows the driver to play with
the various functions (engine response,
damping, gearbox and exhaust) to optimise
their own preferred set-up, linked to an
S-specific electronic rear differential.
The transmission is a bit of a mouthful,
called as it is in official Merc parlance an “AMG
SpeedShift MCT-7” semi-auto, but it’s been
uprated to punt out what the company refers to
as “significantly quicker shift times”. It’s
technically an auto without a torque-converter,
instead using a wet start-up clutch and then the
gearing of the auto, but all I know is that it’s
quick enough to react to the paddles, but
smooth enough dawdling in traffic.
The standard car gets a straight mechanical
locking rear diff, and the S gets that electronic
version which apparently reacts a little quicker
and adds a level of finesse when matched to the
bespoke modes in the Race function. Also,
there’s the usual suite of traction and stability
controls to keep everything pointing in vaguely
the desired direction.
Nothing too
scary on the
inside, either.
Quite restrained
Fun stuff includes a Race Start function
(left-foot brake in either Sport+ or Race, pull
both paddles, acknowledge by pulling the
right-hand paddle, floor the accelerator and lift
brake), which gives picture-perfect starts every
time, amusingly keeping the tyres squealing on
the very verge of everything they have in terms
of grip all the way through second gear.
Merc-AMG reckons 4.0 seconds dead to 100,
and I think that’s eminently feasible. In the dry.
Switch it all off, and the engine simply
dominates. Feather the brake on launch and the
C63 will do quite spectacular rolling burnouts.
Yes, it’s pointless, but it’s good to see a modern
car with such an oblique sense of humour.
The slightly confusing thing comes when
you hit proper corners at speed. Initially, the
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ride can seem a little prone to jiggling over
some of these badly surfaced Portuguese roads
(with a couple of odd squeaks from interior
trim on this early car), but start to go a bit
faster in some of the more sporting modes, and
the car feels like it sheds about 200kg. Turn-in
is sharp rather than darty, and the C doesn’t
seem to lean – just like the AMG GT, the C63
features active engine mounts that slacken to
reduce vibration and NVH from the engine/
gearbox combo during cruising, and tighten
during more committed driving to improve
response. It basically reduces disturbing inertia
in the oily bits during cornering, leading to a
more instant-feeling response from the steering
wheel. It works, meaning you can pick a line
and stick with it, rather than constantly
Quite the street-
sleeper, with 375kW
and 100km/h
in 4.0 seconds
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 083
 MERCEDES-AMG C63

WorldMags.net
The AMG seats
adjusting. The Portuguese have a habit of
cobbling the apexes of their country lanes, and
are supportive
and excellent. you can get a satisfying ‘braap’ of skimming
All good contact every time – which means you’re
inevitably accurate. There’s also great feedback
about grip levels – this isn’t a car that you have
to second-guess, which leads to confidence.
Similar confidence comes from the brakes,
which are mighty, fade-free and dinner-plate
large: 390mm discs at the front and barely
smaller 360mm discs on the rear. I would,
however, option the ceramics if you like going
fast or intend any sort of track work – our own
BBQ experience showing they’re probably a wise
option. More than that, though, this car is plain
good fun. It doesn’t do anything odd, and you
never have to drive around a foible – it’s just a
nicely set-up sedan with a gorgeous engine. I
suspect on a track it might feel heavy, but, as a
road car, I was struggling to find fault.
Inside, the steering wheel isn’t flat-bottomed
so much as appears weirdly oblong (though that
might be my eyes), but the seats are deep,
contoured
conttou
oure
redd and
d fantastic
f ntt as
fa c,, and
astic, nd there’s
a nd re s a strangely
t here
wond der
erfu
fu
ful
u l e ing of density that enco ra es
happy feelings. As ever with a super-sedan,
there’s no hasty or gimmicky remodelling of the
interior – it’s architecturally similar to a
run-of-the-mill C-Class – but with the seats,
wheel and various splashes of carbon, it feels
more special than any option-pack
agglomeration ever can. Top options include
lovely Burmester surround-sound audio (though
I didn’t use it much, just kept putting the
exhaust in Sport), an even louder variable AMG
sports exhaust, head-up display and intelligent
LED headlights. There’s also an Edition 1
variant that costs $162,800 which gets bespoke
finishes and extra bobbins, but basically
it’s a gussied-up S to celebrate the car’s launch.
There’s also another little kicker in the shape
of the C63 S Estate at $157,400. Just about the
perfect size, pretty much all of the performance
(same top speed, only 0.1 seconds added to the
0–100km/h time, 0.1 of a litre less efficient) and
even less likely to attract attention. But we’ve
always been suckers for a fast wagon here at
TopGear. Generally, though, I came away with
one
on thought: I’d rather have a C63 than a BMW
M33. That’s big news for me. But when you have a
carr that’s subtle-but-good-looking, an absolute

LA R
joyy to drive quickly without scaring you witless,

C T A C U
pable of carrying the family and putting the
c ap

D O S P E E
w nd up a serious sports car, you know you’ve

W I L L O U H AV
ot a winner. Bring on the head-to-head

“I T L E S S , B U T Y
mparisons. I don’t think Mercedes-AMG has much

T . . .”
to worry about. Speaking of which...

N O U T S . P O I N O F H U M O U R
B U R E T H E S E N S E
TO ADMIR

MERCEDES-AMG C 63
S SEDAN
Price: $154,900
Engine: 3982cc
bi-turbo V8, 375kW @
5,500–6,250rpm,
700Nm@
1,750–4,500rpm
Performance:
0–100km/h in
4.0 seconds, 250km/h
top speed (limited)
Transmission: 6spd
manual, RWD
Economy:
8.6L/100km,
192g/km CO2
Weight: 1,715kg

WorldMags.net
08 4 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
 M4 vs RC F

WorldMags.net

S L I D E
L I D E
P IC T U
RE S : J O E
S: O L L
WO R D I N DSO R-W
W
I
BY S
E
I AG E
MARR AMS
ILL I
/

4? We put the
h
cars
e test.
r M t
RC F o has to beat to ...
the C63ay be shredded
Tyres m

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 085
 M4 vs RC F

WorldMags.net

simple straight-line test is not

the correct way to judge which

A is the better car here. I know

that. But it is a lot of fun. And
quite revealing. So the Lexus
RC F lined up alongside the
BMW M4, modes were fiddled with, traction
settings chosen and when both drivers were
happy, they set off.
And the BMW won. By a mile. By the time the
M4 reached 160km/h, just 8.8secs after it set off,
the Lexus was already getting on for two seconds
adrift. Later, we did other metric stuff, and we
found out that the BMW is much faster around a
circuit, can pull more g and stop harder. To many

“LEXUS, EMBRACERS OF ALL THINGS

people, this must mean it’s a better car.
But is speed alone the thrill? Do the extra

ECOLOGICAL, HAVE STUCK WITH

g-forces the BMW driver experienced make the
M4 that much more exciting than the slightly
slower RC F? Of course not, even if it often

A NATURALLY ASPIRATED V8”

seems that Nürburgring lap times are what is
pushing car development. It’s easy to measure
these metrics, easy to absorb the nuggets of
information they supply, easy to assume they’re
all that matters.
I know, they all claim that the move to
turbocharging is about emissions, but behind
that facade, I reckon there’s a bunch of marketing
engineers rubbing their hands at the prospect of
easily liberated horsepower. So it’s impossible to
buy a naturally aspirated BMW M car any more,
and with the arrival of the new C63, all AMGs
are now forced-induction, too. No doubt the
Merc does the numbers as effectively as the
Beemer, too. Mercedes’ll have done some
measuring and made sure of that.
Yet Lexus, embracers of all things ecological,
has managed to stick with a naturally aspirated Localised fog subsided
V8. Albeit a relatively slow one. Japan must be fairly quickly at the
track. Smelt rubbery
too far away to feel the pressure of European
competition. So does the Lexus, developed in
isolation far away, and – let’s face it – aimed at
a more American audience, make up for its lack
of outright speed with a dazzling chassis that
makes you whoop with joy at the scent of a
Dunsfold corner? Er, no.
It may have a lovely big V8, but Dunsfold isn’t
its natural habitat. The Lexus weighs a quarter
of a tonne too much and feels baggy after the
BMW, carrying a quarter-turn of understeer
through the Follow Through. It has a TVD
(Torque Vectoring Differential) system with an
Expert mode that’s meant to permit drifting, but
when I tried it, it only permitted me to spin.
The RC F seemed permanently confused by
Dunsfold. Even trailing the brakes into Second
to Last failed to cure the understeer or improve
WorldMags.net
08 6 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM

WorldMags.net
Car design rule 12:
if sportiness is ever in
question, add more red WorldMags.net
Sideways is just one of
the directions available
with these cars
the chassis balance – this is a big, thick, heavy
car that isn’t nearly as adjustable as it should be.
It did do good skids, though. Expert mode may
have been a dead loss, but if you fully disabled it
and gave the back end the berries in a slow
corner, the car would arc wide and sit there
happily, puff y clouds billowing from the arches,
while the astonishing steering lock – normally
only considered a boon for parking – allowed the
RC F to be rescued from oblique angles. That
was fun. Apart from that, it was slow and didn’t
stop or grip that well. Not only mathematically
this time. The inert brakes soon went from
feeling meaty to feeling spongy, and the tyres
struggled with all that weight.
Don’t feel too sorry for it yet, because there
are upsides to the Lexus that we’ll come on to.
Before we do, we need to discuss the BMW.
Yes, at Dunsfold it trounced the Lexus in a
straight line and went everywhere with more
speed, determination and control. But, above
all, it was sharper. The nose went where it was
told, when it was told, and provided you didn’t
get carried away, the rear tyres would push it
very effectively onwards.
But if you did get carried away, even only
slightly, the BMW developed what we’ll call a
“traction issue”. In short, it struggles to get its
power down. A prod too far and, if you
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 087
 M4 vs RC F

WorldMags.net

“THE QUESTION IS: HOW MUCH

DOES TRACK DRIVING MATTER
TO YOU OVER ROAD DRIVING?”

M4 interior very didn’t have your wits about you, the M4 would
complex. But it has a no longer be facing the exit of the corner, but the
proper handbrake! Yeh!
entrance. In fact, sharp might not be quite the
right word to describe the M4 on track – spiky
and edgy are equally valid. In Sport Plus mode,
the throttle response is savage, clever engine
management keeping the turbo spinning so you
don’t get caught off-boost. It kicks very hard, is
tricky to drive smoothly and easy to get wrong.
It’s as if BMW was worried that the M4
would be perceived as a bit of a softie with the
adoption of turbos, so decided to equip it with a
scorpion’s tail – jabby and poisonous. Of course,
this also means it’s a laugh on track, rarely
pointing straight, and you can, of course, back
all the settings off, and the BMW actually
becomes more manageable.
However, on this evidence, the bald numbers
seem to be proof of a better car. But the question
is this: how much does track driving matter to
WorldMags.net
08 8 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
 WorldMags.net you over and above road driving? You may do a
couple of track days a year, but the other 363
days are about road driving. And out there, it’s a
different matter. The BMW still has traction
issues, and here they’re less amusing. It can’t get
out of an intersection without an orange light
flashing. And the engine noise is rather forced,
the dual-clutch jerks the shifts unnecessarily
and, bar some extra carbon, the cabin is that of a
standard 3-Series. And why don’t the top bars of
the wing mirrors join up to the door?
It just feels a bit over-processed, too much
garnish, a hint of pantomime. Ultimately, there’s
a suspicion that the M4 is acting the part of an
M4, rather than actually being an M4.
Don’t get me wrong: it’s good, but it seems
out of kilter, doesn’t have the integrity or purity
of purpose that made older M3s so enthralling.
The engine is central to this – the M4 is missing
the rasping yowl of a clean-breathing straight-
Big power, big slides, six barrelling its way to 8,000rpm.
big brakes. BMW goes
large with the M4
JAG F-TYPE AWD
And a bombastic engine is one thing the
Lexus does have in its favour. The Lexus V8 is
all heart and soul and effort, it responds well, is
a genuine pleasure to fi re up in the mornings, is
so honeyed on its way to the 7,000rpm limiter
that it seems as if it could rev to 8, 9, 10,000rpm,
even. It’s deeply satisfying. And so’s the rest of
the car. The cabin is more coupe-ish than the
M4’s, with an interesting terraced dash
(although the infotainment is hopeless), it’s well
planted with good traction and stability, more
refined and relaxed, vigorous rather than
vicious. I liked it on the road: it was burly,
honest, endearing and surprisingly dextrous.
Better than the BMW. Which, given the 363:2
road/track ratio, must make it the winner, right?
So nearly. If it’d been 300kg lighter, I think
we’d have a different verdict. The BMW wins,
but it’s a victory hollowed by the M4’s imbalance
– it’s not as well rounded as it ought to be. Too
much focus on the numbers, perhaps.

LEXUS RC F BMW M4
4969cc V8 Engine 2979cc twin-turbo straight-six
351 @ 6400 Power in kW 317 @ 5500–7300rpm
530 @ 4800–5600rpm Torque in Nm 550 @ 1850–5500rpm
8spd auto, RWD Gearbox 7spd dual clutch, RWD
0–100km/h 4.5secs, 270km/h Claimed performance 0–100km/h in 4.1secs, 250km/h
10.9L/100km, 252g/km CO2 Economy 8.8L/100km, 232g/km CO2
1,810kg Kerbweight 1,537kg
$133,500 Price $166,430

LEXUS RC F BMW M4
4.7secs / 10.5secs 0–100km/h / 0–160km/h 4.1secs / 8.8secs
3.8secs 50–110km/h 3.1secs
13.1secs @ 181.4km/h Standing 400m 12.4secs @ 192.5km/h
92.9m / 34.1m 160–0km/h / 100–0km/h 86.3m / 31.4m
1.02 Max lateral g 1.34

Seat designer at
Lexus is obviously
a fan of Iron Man

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 089
 MAZDA MX-5

WorldMags.net

WorldMags.net
09 0 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
WorldMags.net

M a z da M X -5
s m a ll ca r, the new
For a very fi ll. E n g in e on,
r y lar g e s h oes to r a drive
has ve t ime to ta ke it f o
o w n ... it’s
roof d IC T U R E S:
JU ST IN L
E IG H T O N

MOND / P
S: R IC H ARD HAM
WORD

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 091
 WorldMags.net
Tired old stereotypes be damned.
Do not head past this page and
lightly dismiss the MX-5 as a
‘hairdresser’s car’ while eagerly
searching out the latest info on the
new Focus RS on page 114.
Why? Because you’re not Jeremy Clarkson from
1992. Because you are capable of seeing this is the
all-new MX-5 and that this little red car is
properly, seriously important. Not just to Mazda
– clearly, it is important to Mazda because it
makes money selling cars – but more so because
the MX-5 is the best-selling two-seater sports car
of all time. Of all time. And if it gets this new one
right, it might just be one of our few chances to
enjoy the kind of simplicity and purity of
experience that has smeared grins under the
artfully waxed moustaches of motoring
enthusiasts for decades. A benign, innocent beam
that has become scarcer with every passing year.
To pull that off, the new MX-5 needs to
conform to a very specific recipe that I’ve already
got seared into my head: it has to be light,
compact, deceptively simple, fast enough for fun
but frugal enough to exist in a modern world, be
good-looking enough to at least rattle your bars a
bit and rugged enough to live outside on the street
with the stray dogs, wheelie bins and weather. Tall
order. That’s a fairly broad list, and I’ll get to
whether it manages all that in a minute. But first, a enough to rust around the front end, so you could
history lesson...
It is important, when idly considering the
MX-5, that we are aware of the little roadster’s
back story, the motivation for its character. It
might have spawned a veritable swarm of
imitators, but this was not a design that aped
anything else in production when it
arrived in 1989. In one sense, it led
the way and broke new ground. In
another, it was a monumental piece
of plagiarism, one which Mazda was
quite surprisingly brazen about.
It was a chap called Bob Hall, an
ex-car journalist who’d recently
begun working at Mazda’s
Californian research facility some Globally, up until
time in 1981, who set about
persuading Mazda that it needed to last year, Mazda
build a car that went back to the MX-5 sales stood
roots of it all, something that
09 2 APRIL 2015
recalled the great two-seater roadsters of the
Sixties. Something cool. He must have been
persuasive, because the company not only took
him at his word, but put him in charge of the
project. His team then studied the Lotus Elan and
contemporary MG products very, very carefully…
and, after a bit of boiling, extemporising and
fiddling with rulers, the MX-5 was born.
Small, light and simple, it had steering so tactile
that it could tell you if the ant you’d just driven
over was left- or right-handed. It had a gearchange
so slick and snickety to use that it’d keep you
awake at night with itchy fingers after driving it. It
made car testers of the day fumble with tortuous
analogies about bolt-action rifles and slotting
things home in fashions positive. Quite simply, the
thing was brilliant. In fact, it still is: drive an
original one now, and a great many things make
sense. And a great many other things suddenly
look ridiculous.
But that was 25 years ago. Mk1 MX-5s are now
classics in their own right, right up there with
Just in case you
retro status for the yoof. They’ve even been decent hadn’t noticed,
it’s a convertible
restore one for the full classic-car experience. But
down the years since ’89, the MX-5 has, along with
everything and everyone else, gained weight and
complexity. Middle-aged spread in car form.
Time for a revival. Time to see if Mazda can do
it again. Only this time it’s trying to recapture the
essence of the car that recaptured the
essence of the original two-seater
roadsters. Metaphysics in the metal,
or just getting back to what’s really
important, if you want to be less
pretentious.
Snickety gearchange
We’ll start at the beginning. First suits the baby Mazda
up, the engine. There were so many sports car perfectly
VERSION 1.0 opportunities to get this wrong.
Everyone who isn’t making a hybrid
December or all-electric powerplant is plumbing
turbos into downsized petrol engines
these days to lower emissions. So it’s
at 951,376 pleasing to see that the MX-5 is
WorldMags.net
 MAZDA MX-5

WorldMags.net Enormous grin

is a no-cost option
for all MX-5 drivers

“DRIVE AN ORIGINAL MX-5

NOW, AND A GREAT MANY
THINGS MAKE SENSE”
WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 093
WorldMags.net revvily naturally aspirated, relying on just ambient air
pressure to feed the four cylinders. Not big, either:
here will be a 2.0 available, but you can feel that the
th
caar was designed from scratch around the modest 1.5
fitted to mine today. Good.
Next: suspension. The original was brilliant –
feaather-light and communicative, supple, firm and
conntrolled without feeling like it was going to bounce
off a discarded Coke tin and deposit you bumside
backkwards in a tree. Luckily, Mazda reasoned that if it
worked then, it’ll work now, and stuck with the same
doub ble-wishbone set-up. Again, good.
Of course, the previous two points mean little if
O
the ccar weighs as much as a Range Rover, and the
original was light. So is the new one. Weighing 980kg,
it de-blubbers the outgoing model by over 100kg and
earns the right to be described as very, very light.
My final point is price: the original MX-5 had to be
affordable, a sports car for real people. It cost about 30
grand. The new one will cost from about $37k. A hike
of seven grand in a quarter of a century is pretty
sensible, if you ask me. An Aston Martin V8 has gone
up by twelvety billion in the same period.
So, does it all work?
Yes. Yes, it does. I may be spoiling the denouement
a little here, but I’m not going to arse about leading
you up the garden path and pretending it doesn’t then,
at the last minute, saying it does. I’ll get straight to it:
it’s bloody brilliant. The noise, the feel, the sense,
it’s all there. Mazda’s only gone and bloody done it.
Immediately, I knew everything was in the right
place. A scant kay up the road, I could feel the
relationship between rear wheels, my own rear, the

“IT’S BRILLIANT.
MAZDA’S ONLY GONE
And now, let’s
AND DONE IT”
turn around and
do it all again...

engine and the front wheels was all as it should be.

The engine, in fact, is lodged entirely behind the front
wheels, which makes the MX-5 technically front-mid-
engined and helps enormously in the eternal search
for that perfect 50/50 weight distribution. And on the
subject of weight: there isn’t any. It feels light and
sharp – eager, willing, ready for fun, ready to exploit
every last one of the 96kW from the fizzy little
four-pot. These are all very good first impressions.
At a time when Alfa makes such a fuss about the
1.5-litre engine 4C being light, seeming to deliberately make it feel
is a perfect fit spartan inside to serve as a constant reminder of the
for the MX-5 Herculean efforts that have gone into keeping weight
down, it’s refreshing and hilarious that Mazda sends
the little MX-5 out to bat weighing barely more, but
with no visible or tactile reminders of it. No nagging
signals of austerity in the pursuit of agility. It will, if
treated kindly, return 5.6L/100km, but you don’t feel
like a monk on a pilgrimage while you’re doing it.
The interior is simple, yes, and uncluttered,
WorldMags.net
 MAZDA MX-5

WorldMags.net

MAZDA MX-5
Price: $37,500 est
Engine: 1.5-litre 4cyl,
96kW @ 7000rpm,
150Nm @ 4800rpm
Performance:
0–100km/h in
8.9secs est
Transmission: 6spd
manual, RWD
Economy: n/a
L/100km
Weight: 980kg

Mazda adds lightness

and gadgets. It’s
like a miracle

Sniffing out
corners is an
WorldMags.net MX-5 speciality
 MAZDA MX-5

WorldMags.net

Nav doubles as useful

“I GRINNED HARDER
extra grabhandle for but it feels roomy enough, even though it’s actually
nervous passengers
smaller in plan view than the original. Everything

THAN I HAVE IN A CAR

is where you expect to find it, and once you’ve
found it, doesn’t feel like it’s made out of old
plastic egg boxes. You can link your phone to it,

FOR A LONG TIME”

download apps to the central screen, it’s got
satnav, all of that stuff.
Above all else, though – above everything, in
fact – it’s just a very, very happy place to be. I beat
it like the naughty puppy it is, all day long, tearing
up and down hills, pushing the limits of grip from
its skinny little tyres, never worried that my right
foot would suddenly jab too hard and throw away
all traction through spinning rear wheels.
Instead, I focused as hard as my mind would
allow, clear as it was of the fear of overdoing it, on
carving beautiful lines through twist after turn. I
grinned harder than I have grinned in a car for a
long time. Yes, some might criticise it for being a
bit soft under late braking into a tight turn, but I
don’t want a track-day car. It’s an MX-5; when I’ve
finished hooning it about, I might want to tootle
along leafy lanes to a nice pub. And on such a day, I
shall want to throw back the roof, which takes
approximately a second, thanks to a single press
and pull handle. And it can be thrown up again
from the driver’s seat in the same time.
It’s the innate simplicity that the MX-5 seems
to have nailed. The steering, for instance, is
electric. That’s a big one, could be a disaster. No, it
felt great. Communicative enough, perhaps not as
WorldMags.net
09 6 APRIL 2015
sharp as the original, but that’s the only area I’d
say it falls down in comparison, and only by the
smallest of margins.
I kept looking for a flaw, a glaring error. There
isn’t one, or at least not one big enough to take the
gloss off it for me. I drove it up twisting mountain
roads where my only goal in a Lamborghini or a
Ferrari or even a Porsche would have been
survival. Today, though, I finished each run and
turned round and did it again. There was always a
tighter line, a bit more power to be found or a
prettier view to spot.
This car offers genuine, proper, uncomplicated
fun. I had forgotten how good it felt to drive a car
down a twisty road and enjoy it at the time, not in
a panting heap after, where the joy comes from
having made it. It wasn’t challenging me; I was
challenging it, and I’d forgotten just how much fun
it is to feel like you’re whipping the horse along a
final furlong, urging it on and focusing on getting
 WorldMags.net
yyour lines just right, squeezing all thee shove the
he
e
engine has to give and using
i it to the best
b effect
you can.
They race MX-5s, but that doesn’t m mean the
road-going cars have to be snorting monsters.
And where else are you going to find th his kind
of experience today? I’d say pretty much
nowhere. Hot hatches no longer offer aanything
like it, with only the Fiesta ST, perhaps, getting
even close. Mostly they have flappy-paaddle
’boxes and big engines, they are enorm mous and,
like an embarrassing child in a weddin ng suit,
fooling no one by trying to act all grow wn up.
There are other two-seat roadsters, yes, but
they are different. A Boxster, a Z4, an SLK,
S cost
twice as much, weigh half as much agaain and
are all taking things too seriously nextt to the
genre-defining little Mazda. This is thee go-to
car if you want to set out into the coun ntryside
and test your driving skills, feel the wind in
your hair and have a laugh. And not go
immediately to prison.
All of which means there really is oonly one
fly in the ointment: that image. Did I carec a tiny
bit some yobbo might think it’s a haird dresser’s
car? Nope. There will always be those who
would be satisfied if they drove a steam mroller as
long as it said Lamborghini on the back. And
they, thankfully, will never get the MX X-5. It
isn’t for them. It seems very early for mem to find
my Car of the Year. But I think I just d did.
Fun to drive for similar cash?
There’s plenty of competition...
SUBARU BRZ OR TOYOTA 86
$ 3 7,15 0 ( D RI V E AWAY ) / $ 2 9 , 9 9 0
Natural intellectual rivals to the MX-5,
the 147kW, boxer 4cyl-engined twins
are wonderfully engaging, RWD and best
suited to a 6spd manual gearbox. You can’t
drop the roof, but you do get an extra pair of
FORD FIESTA ST
$25,990
Yes, yes, we know it’s a FWD hot hatch, but the
ST is really worth thinking about if you’re buying
a car to be practical and fun to drive. Starting at
$25,990, with 134kW from its punchy 1.6-litre
turbo four, and 0–100km/h in around seven
seconds, its supremely agile, the six-speed
manual ‘box is a delight, and the strut front,
torsion beam rear suspension keeps you in
intimate contact with the road.
WorldMags.net
BRZ or 86?
Either is great to
drive, and in budget
THE NE
PRETENDEWR
S
– albeit tiny – seats in the back. With
either badge starting at $29,990, they sit in
broadly the same smiles-per-mile driving
bracket as Mazda’s new roadster, though
arguably a bit more driver-focused. Times
are respectable: 0–100km/h in 7.6 seconds,
and a top speed of 226km/h.
‘Mighty’
Mini
MINI COOPER S
$36,950
Our reigning Fun Car of the Year may feature a
roof that’s very much fixed in place, but it’s
ability to transform an urban A to B drive into a
memorable experience places it firmly in the
new MX-5’s orbit. The new new new Mini S
delivers a brilliant chassis, punchy 141kW/
280Nm 2.0-litre turbo four, 0-100km/h in
6.8secs, and the practicality of two extra seats;
plus a cool design and sharp sticker price.
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 097
 JAGUAR XE

WorldMags.net

With its sights firmly set on

the 3-Series and C-Class,
the new Jaguar XE has a
mountain to climb. Literally
WORDS: JASON BARLOW /
PICTURES: RICHARD PARDON

WorldMags.net
09 8 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
WorldMags.net

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 099
 WorldMags.net

You either like

something or
you don’t. And
we like the XE

There’s nothing quite

as exhilarating as
a powerful car
on black ice...

Ah... the one downside

to a horsepower-tastic
V6. Fuel. At least it’s
getting cheaper...

WorldMags.net

WorldMags.net
ag’s engineers talk about “50-metre feel”
J
– the buyer’s initial response to the car as
he drives it off the lot. It’s a refreshing
admission that five years’ effort and the
billions invested can be undone in a
heartbeat if the basics aren’t right.
TopGear’s version is called the
“5am start”. To be brutally honest, I’m not a big fan, but you
know the score: there are cars you’d happily set the alarm for,
usually the ones that dribble with horsepower and make a sound
like rock’n’roll warfare.
The Jaguar XE is not one of those. It’s much more important
than that. So important that thousands of jobs have been created
to build it, and that its success or otherwise will have a genuinely
seismic impact on the brand’s bottom line. Whiskery members of
the automotive media have written that sentence a lot down the
years. This time it’s For Real.
So it’s a good job that the XE passes the test that precedes
even the 50-metre feel, the one that connects your eyeballs
to your heart. I’ve seen it at previews, and blinking like a
newborn under scalding motor-show lights, but wreathed
in mist outside a hotel on a chilly Portuguese morning is
another matter. Not even the presence of ‘prototype’ stickers
on the doors distracts the critical eye, although there are
shades of bubble-wrap Citroen Cactus about their effect.
(Full declaration: our car is apparently 94 per cent fi nished,
the six that aren’t contained in some uneven interior trim
and a satnav that’s due some software upgrades.)
It helps that TG’s test car is the 3.0 S, the 250kW supercharged
range-topper that wears fatter Dunlops, 19in alloys and less
chrome finery. But nailing all of the now-familiar Jaguar design
tropes is far trickier on a compact sedan aimed at the mass
market than it is on image-building eye candy such as the F-Type.
There’s no point me wibbling on about it here because,
although design is now accepted as the key differentiator in
the car business, it’s also the area where the only opinion that
matters is yours. You either like something or you don’t. Two
“YOU’LL APPRECIATE
THE XE’S DOOR
THUNK ON A WET
MONDAY MORNING”
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JAGUAR XE
observations, though: Jaguar’s command of sharp radii and the
flow of the lines on the XE’s bonnet mark the front of this car out
as something special. And the rear end is arguably even better
resolved – purposeful, stubby, strong graphics, all that cool stuff.
In fact, now is probably a good time to introduce the XE’s
twin nemeses, the BMW 3-Series and Mercedes Benz C-Class.
We’ll be hearing from them again in different contexts (and in
Ollie’s test, which follows on page 105), but the 3 looks oddly
over-evolved these days, and there’s something about the C
that’s admirable rather than desirable.
There are two big engineering stories on the XE, and both
feed into this 50-metre-feel metric. The most important is
that Jaguar has poured gazillions into refining the aluminium
processes it’s been exploring since 2003’s XJ. The XE’s body is
more than 75 per cent aluminium, with all the benefits that
flow from that – it weighs less while delivering extra stiff ness
and rigidity. This goodness is mostly manifest in the
monocoque, but aluminium is also used in the A-pillars and
the front and rear crash structures. The B-pillars use
aluminium reinforced with high-tensile steel, separated by a
layer of high-density foam. It’s all riveted and glued together
rather than welded, adding an unimpeachable USP in this
everyman market sector.
Fifty metres is probably too short a distance to know for
sure, but the XE immediately feels like a high-quality object.
It’s almost in the ether; it’s certainly evident in how the doors
feel when you pull them shut (and they’re made of steel). The
XE is aimed at big company-fleet nabobs and increasingly spoilt
company-car user-choosers. But you’ll appreciate the door
thunk on a wet Monday morning.
You’ll also like the high level of perceived quality inside.
Chip and sausage
sandwich adds The cabin layout is simple and strong; the materials, a tactile
considerable ballast and practical mix of soft leather and durable-feeling plastics.
to the Jaguar XE
There are proper dials rather than a TFT display, and the all-
new eight-inch InControl telematics system is simple and
intuitive, if not particularly nice to look at. Needless to say,
it’ll talk to your Apple or Android device, and an app can
 JAGUAR XE
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pre-heat the cabin a week in advance and warn your dealer if
something’s amiss with the car. Back in the real world, the
steering wheel feels absolutely lovely.
Then there’s what it’s connected to – the other significant
engineering story. Jaguar’s chassis guru, the inestimable
Mike Cross, is a stickler for steering feel, a man who probably
assesses the way his corn flakes leave his breakfast bowl for
linearity. Mike prefers hydraulic assistance, but the XE is the
first Jaguar to use electric power steering. Why? Because
efficiency outpoints interactivity on the box-ticking front,
and EPAS cuts the 3.0 S model’s CO2 emissions by three
per cent. Jaguar insists the control software is now so good
the system can even compensate for changes in ambient
temperature. The rest is subjective.
It feels largely spot-on to me, as we head north from our
base near Estoril – where Ayrton Senna scored his maiden F1
victory in 1985 – bound for the Serra da Estrela national park,
well over 300km away near the town of Covilha, but home to
some great roads and scenery. We have one day only to immerse
ourselves in XE, hence the early start and typically TG
ambitious plan. No quick bimble round the block for us.
XE manages to
smooth out the
broken Portuguese
roads impressively
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1 02 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
The range opens with the base 2.0-litre petrol, with our 3.0
S sitting atop the spec sheet, at least until a fiery R version
appears at some future point. Jaguar calls the paint Italian
Racing Red, a knowing counterpoint to British Racing Green
and another sly nod to the fact that character is the
commodity that separates its efforts from those of the
German übermensch. We have a long motorway schlep ahead
of us, the domain the XE is destined for.
It’s immediately deeply satisfying. Elsewhere in the range,
the XE gets new Ingenium engines, but the S uses the
supercharged 3.0-litre V6 from the F-Type. At cruising
speeds, the overall picture painted by the XE is as
accomplished and refined as cars from the class above, maybe
even the one above that. Subjectively, it feels like a small XJ.
As surely as the winter sun dissipates the mist, the XE
casually smothers the motorway miles.
In addition to its largely aluminium structure, the XE uses
a trick suspension set-up, with double wishbones at both ends
and a clever multi-link rear with forged toe links, control
arms and hollow castings. EU money hasn’t blessed Portugal
with the same network of billiard-table-smooth motorway
surfaces as its Spanish neighbour, but the XE S rides this
choppy patchwork with palpable finesse. It has adaptive
damping, whose parameters are fi xed. Personally, I’d trust
Jaguar of all people to identify the optimum setting, and don’t
feel the need to flick between the usual Comfort, Sport and
Please See Your Osteopath settings.
It’s not a home run, though. Out of Covilha and into the
national park, the climb up begins with a looping ribbon of
second- and third-gear hairpins, before opening out into faster
fourth-gear sequences. This is where a car like BMW’s 335i M
Sport excels. I reckon the XE has the sweeter steering (just),
but its engine feels oddly tight, and the ZF eight-speed auto
– identical to the one used by BMW – isn’t the paragon of
smooth quick-wittedness I remember. It’s most likely an ECU
calibration thing, but it still jars. There’s no diff, either, so
while you can pile into a tight corner with fantastic
“THE XE IS THE
FIRST JAGUAR
TO USE ELECTRIC
POWER STEERING”
 The XE’s body is
more than 75
per cent aluminium.

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Light but stiff

Interior is plain lovely.

Soft leather and hard-
wearing plastics should
stand the test of time

Ice + snow + 3.0-litre

supercharged V6 =
well, let’s just say,
thank God for TC

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 JAGUAR XE

WorldMags.net abandon, you’ll exit messily with the inside rear wheel spinning.
Lesser XEs might be less prone to this exhibitionism, and it’s
only a problem if you insist on driving like your hair’s on fire.
I didn’t realise Portugal had ski resorts, but we find them.
There are also religious statues carved into the rock face, and
mad-looking buildings and dams. It’s all turned very Where
Eagles Dare. The XE’s traction control has been beefed up to
include All Surface Progress Control (ASPC), a cousin of Land
Rover’s all-terrain control, whose software does sophisticated
battle with snow and ice. It works, but we could use winter
tyres this far up; there’s black ice about. We don’t mess about
here for long.
The XE pours itself back down the mountain like well-
engineered treacle. It generally brakes, steers and handles
like you hoped it would, perhaps even better. Having fully
established its NVH credentials, we let the Meridian sound
system do its most excellent thing.
No question, this car has an immensely tough task ahead of
it, trying to crowbar open a market segment that’s beset on all
sides with challenges – in the form of unapologetic business
orthodoxies, and two of the finest real-world technology
products of all, outside even the confines of the car industry.
The 3-Series remains the superior driving machine, by a
margin most wafers would struggle to measure. The latest
C-Class is a sublime place from which to ply Europe’s
motorways. But the BMW can feel a little edgy, and in
swapping sports sedan ambitions for absolute comfort, the
Mercedes suddenly feels very grown-up. Could the Jaguar XE
have found the sweet spot between the two? For 50 metres and
beyond, we reckon so.

JAGUAR XE S JAGUAR XE 2.0D 180

SUPERCHARGED R-SPORT AUTO
Engine: 2995cc, Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl,
supercharged V6, 132kW @ 4000rpm,
250kW, 450Nm 430Nm @ 1750rpm
Performance: Performance:
0–100km/h in 5.1secs, 0–100km/h in 7.8secs,
250km/h max 228km/h max
Transmission: 8spd
auto, RWD
Economy:
Transmission: 8spd
auto, RWD
Economy:
“THE XE POURS
8.1L/100km,
194g/km CO2
Weight: 1665kg
4.2L/100km,
109g/km CO2
Weight: 1565kg ITSELF DOWN THE
MOUNTAIN LIKE WELL-
ENGINEERED TREACLE”
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1 04 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
 THE JAG’S RIVALS

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/
R I AG E
O L L I E MAR LE
S: MB
WORD ES: LEE BRI
R
P IC T U

erch arg ed
e n the sup iesel?
s e e d
You’ve what about th C...
XE, but attles the 3 and
b
Here, it

o, a supercharged Jaguar XE is A Very Good

Thing. And that’s important – for the XE

S to prove itself as a sports sedan gives the

range kudos alongside the likes of the BMW
335i and forthcoming Mercedes-Benz C450.
So that’s all well and good. But, be
honest: you’re not thinking of buying a supercharged
XE, are you? No, you’ve heard about the new-generation
Ingenium engines and have probably had a sneaky look at
your company-car policy, and you’re thinking the diesel XE
looks like it might be A Very Good Thing too. We’re still
waiting for Jaguar to confirm prices in Australia, but they’ll
be competitive for the segment; 120 or 132kW, satnav
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 THE JAG’S RIVALS

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Dual carriageways
are the natural
home of these two

standard on every model in the range, fuel consumption well

under five litres per hundred. All that stuff that would allow you
to justify a Jag. And justifying a Jag, making it stack up
financially as well as emotionally, isn’t something that’s been
possible for a long time, perhaps ever.
But there’s a thing, and the thing is that the Germans are
persistently, annoyingly brilliant. We’ve ignored the Audi A4
because it’s soon to be replaced, but the BMW and the Merc?
Much tougher to argue against.
The C-Class channels the luxury spirit of the S-Class into
a smaller package. Distilled essence of S. There are strong MERCEDES-BENZ
arguments to say this is a more desirable, more creative and C250 BLUETEC
better targeted car than the bigger E-Class. It’s tremendous. Price: $70,400
Meanwhile the BMW 3-Series has never been stronger: it’s Engine: 2143cc, 4cyl,
a brilliant all-rounder, the class benchmark, wonderfully 150kW @ 3800rpm,
500Nm @ 1600rpm
easy to get on with and affordable to run, but able to dissect
Performance:
a corner with real panache if the occasion demands.
0–100kmh in 6.6secs,
Now, just so we’re clear, we did not have all three cars 245kmh max
together in the same place at the same time. I spent a week Transmission: 7spd
tooling around in the BMW and Mercedes before heading out to auto, RWD
Portugal to drive the Jaguar. Nor do we have perfectly matched Economy:
examples. The BMW is a 320d with the M Sport package; the 4.5L/100km,
Merc, a 150kW C250 BlueTec, rather than the more affordable 113g/km CO2
BMW 320d diesel, the C220 BlueTec. And in this class, the devil is in the Weight: 1595kg
Price: $62,800 detail. The odd gram of CO2 here, a stray option there and the
Engine: 1995cc, 4cyl, deal could be broken. Money matters; running costs matter.
135kW @ 4000rpm, We haven’t got the space to deal with the finer points of the
380Nm @ 1750rpm spec sheets here, but all three are equipped with auto ’boxes
Performance: and in sportiest trim. For Jag, this means the 132kW version of
0–100kmh in 7.4secs, the new 2.0 Ingenium diesel, complete with 8spd auto and R
230kmh max
Sport trim. It’s the exact model Jag has the most pre-orders for.
Transmission: 8spd
As Jason pointed out, there are things we have to ignore on
auto, 4WD
Economy: these final-stage prototypes. The diesel suffers from excessive
4.5L/100km turbo whistle, to go with the untextured cabin plastics. There
122g/km CO2 was no mention of any gearbox issues, but I’d be surprised if
Weight: 1595kg the calibration wasn’t due a couple more tweaks – BMW uses
the same ZF gearbox and in the 320d it’s peerless, while here
it was a bit jittery through the lower gears. No complaints
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1 06 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
 WorldMags.net if you choose to self-shift, though.
Expecting the XE to be revolutionary, to set new standards
across the board? The competition is too talented for that to be
the case. Jaguar makes much play of the XE’s aluminium-heavy
body structure, but at 1,565kg, it’s merely class-competitive.
Same goes for the Ingenium engine. It has a lovely slug
of mid-range power, but that tails off quite soon, and yes,
you can tell it’s a diesel. Smooth and admirably free of
clatter it may be, but the noise is there.
But what matters is how it feels on the road, and Jaguar’s
pitch is simple: “The driver’s car in the global premium
Look at the Merc midsize saloon segment.” The italics are Jag’s. It has to beat
cabin and weep,
rivals. It’s the best the 3. So you expect it to be sporty, but actually the XE is
closer in execution to the C-Class, majoring more on comfort 3-Series still has
the edge for driver
and relaxation. involvement
You may find this disappointing, but it’s an intelligent
strategy. The BMW is a fraction nervous, demands
concentration, the Mercedes is a bit hefty on the road, but the
XE comes across as a beautifully oiled product, fluid and
capable. The ride is peerless; motorway behaviour, fabulous. Yes,
it’s a shame steering feel is lacking, the front end isn’t a bit
sharper and it doesn’t properly suck you into a good road like
the eager BMW, but as an everyday car, it’s massively
impressive, so composed and hushed.
The class-leader? We can’t give a definitive verdict until
we have them all on the same road, but each of these three
has an area it excels in, a compelling reason to choose it
over the others. The Merc has the best cabin and feels the
most upmarket. Nothing has changed to knock the BMW
off its driver’s car pedestal. The Jaguar is effortless. You’ll
choose the car that suits you best, but what’s important here
BMW interior is is that Jaguar has built a compact sedan that can stand up and
nice enough. But be counted alongside the best in the world. For the time being,
is it good enough?
that’s enough.

“THE COMPETITION IS JUST TOO

TALENTED FOR THE XE TO SET NEW
STANDARDS ACROSS THE BOARD”

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108 FEBRUARY 2015 

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 FORD GT

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A half-century after the original, the new Ford GT is still

an all-American supercar... with a few modern twists

WORDS: TOM FORD / PICTURES: WEBB BLAND

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 FORD GT
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ext year will be the 50th anniversary of the first of Ford’s
four consecutive wins at Le Mans with the legendary
GT40, and its historic 1-2-3 finish at the 1966 event. Until
recently, it looked like Ford wouldn’t have a car capable
of fighting the good fight on that particular birthday. But
that changed at the recent Detroit motor show, when it
unveiled the new Ford GT. And stole the entire show.
Now, keeping secrets in the motor industry is difficult,
especially when bringing a car to life requires the
equivalent of a small army necessary to design, construct
and engineer the thing. Humans with an impossible need
to gossip. But somehow Ford managed to keep the GT
under wraps for 14 months by making it a skunkworks
project in the basement of the Product Development
Centre at its facility in Dearborn, Michigan, working weekends and nights with
a very small team all sworn to secrecy on pain of death. Or at least a very stern
talking to. Assembled journalists were expecting a fast Ford, but they were
prepared for a Focus RS rather than the replacement for the GT supercar of a
decade ago. When the Liquid Blue show car rolled out, jaws dropped.
It’s not hard to see why. With obvious GT40 and previous-GT references,
this is less retro-pastiche than the car that sold just over 4,000 units between
2005 and ’06. Created by a design team led by Ford’s vice president of design
Scotsman Moray Callum (the younger brother of Jaguar’s chief designer
Ian Callum), the new GT drips with purpose. It may be roughly the same size
as the previous GT (120mm longer, 25mm lower, wider by 50mm and with
the same wheelbase), the front might have a familiar ducted bonnet and flat
headlights, but there’s a new angular aggression to the whole form that
makes you think of serious aerodynamic efficiency.
In fact, the waisted design aft of the “aircraft-inspired” cockpit cabin and
curved windscreen is actually more hole than whole, incorporating huge
“WHENTHELIQUIDBLUEGT
ROLLEDOUT,JAWSDROPPED” WorldMags.net
110 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
gaps under those immense flying buttresses. With the airflow managed
across the whole area of the car, there’s also an active rear spoiler that
changes height and pitch depending on driver input or conditions, and a huge
rear diffuser. Even the rear lights are hollowed out for use as cooling vents,
echoing the high-mounted pair of gunbarrel exhausts in the centre. Not as
committed to referencing the old race GT40s, but something new and
ultra-modern. Design boss Callum commented: “It was important to us to
design a car that was all about how you’d design a car with the ethos of the
GT40 today, as opposed to redesigning the GT40. We wanted to pay homage
to what had gone before – details all over the car do that – but the majority of
the car was created to achieve today’s goals. Above all, it couldn’t be a
cartoon of what went before. If the GT40 emerged for the first time today,
this is how it would look.”
And it looks… spectacular. Made mostly of lightweight structural carbon
fibre, the GT features a carbon tub in the centre sprouting aluminium
subframe assemblies from which to hang the engine and suspension.
Suspension that features a race-style torsion bar and pushrod arrangement,
plus damping with adjustable ride height over 20-inch lightweight wheels and
carbon-ceramic brakes as standard. The bones then, are racing car. So far,
so good. But the mid-mounted engine has caused some concern among the
faithful, being, as it is, not a thumping naturally aspirated V8, but a 3.5-litre
twin-turbo EcoBoost V6. You can sense the Good Ol’ Boys wincing from
here. Ford’s group vice president and chief technical officer (essentially the
boss engineer for all Ford cars) Raj Nair responded by saying: “There are
loads of new innovations here, and the high-tech EcoBoost engine is a
perfect fit for the car. The 3.5 V6 has more power than the 6.2 V8, and better
economy. That blend of performance with efficiency is important.”
A new way of thinking for the modern age? Possibly, but there’s still the
worry that a V6 EcoBoost isn’t true to the GT heritage. Yes it’s a power-
dense, easily packaged and efficient twin-turbo, but no one really buys
 WorldMags.net

Intakes on the rear

arches cool intercoolers
in the rear pontoons

Stacked headlights sit atop Narrow EcoBoost V6

a massive gash in the front allowed for a tiny waist
spoiler. That’s design for you and slimline cockpit

Showcar’s 20-inch aluminium

wheels will be replaced with
carbon fibre for production

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 FORD GT

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a supercar based on the combined L/100km figure. And it’s unlikely the new
GT will appear on many company-car lists. The stats still bear some thinking
about, despite the reticence about the format. It’s not exactly anaemic.
Producing around 450kW and driven exclusively through the rear wheels via
a seven-speed double-clutch gearbox, the V6 should have more than enough
grunt to power what is likely to be a car with serious power-to-weight. In
fact, Ford is promising that the GT will “exhibit one of the best power-to-
weight ratios of any production car” – leading us to speculate that the GT
may well manage somewhere around a slimline 1,200kg kerbweight.
And we’re not talking about a repurposed truck engine, either: the
V6 is based on the motor doing duty in Ford’s IMSA Daytona Prototype
endurance racing efforts. The one that managed three wins in its first
season of the TUDOR United S , accommodate different drivers
equipped with an all-new direct dual fuel-injection set-up to improve
engine response, and remove some of the inevitable turbo lag. Incidentally,
the intercoolers for the turbos are mounted in what Ford refers to as
pontoons (the rear wheelarch pods), cooled by the generous slashes in the
front of the rear wheelarch. There’s also no attempt to jump on the hybrid
bandwagon: unlike the new Honda NSX, or the current crop of hypercar
hybrids such as the McLaren P1, Porsche 918 and LaFerrari, the GT does
without weighty electric motors or AWD – the engine and aero may be new-
school, but the GT remains traditional in terms of how it gets power to the
ground without electrical assistance.
Inside, accessed through beetle-wing doors, the GT gets seats bolted
directly to the carbon tub, with the wheel and pedals moving to
he LaFerrari. The steering

+ Drink in every detail of the new AMERICAN

GT’s amazing form, as the camera
travels around the entire car.
ORIGINAL
For info on how to use viewa, turn to page 8

FORD GT40 1964–1969 (MK II)

7.0-litre n/a V8, 362kW, 644Nm,
4spd manual, RWD, 5.5 seconds to
100km/h, 258km/h, 1297kg

FORD GT 2005–2006
5.4-litre s’charged V8, 410kW,
677Nm, 6spd manual, RWD, 3.7
seconds to 100km/h, 330km/h, 1520kg

FORD GT 2016–
3.5-litre bi-turbo V6, 450kW (est),
815Nm (est), 7spd DSG, RWD, >3.3
seconds to 100km/h, 320km/h+, 1200kg

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112 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM

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wheel houses most of the relevant controls, leaving a stalk-free steering
column for the change paddles. On top of that, there’s a configurable digital
instrument cluster with different driving modes equipped with Ford’s
SYNC3 multimedia. If you ignore the complicated wheel, it looks clean and
purposeful – but without the frippery that might cause it to date quickly.
Callum reckons that roughly 95 per cent of the GT will remain as it is
for production – due to start next year – with only a few things like final
headlight shape and rear-view mirrors taking on significant change.
There are no official performance figures from Ford as yet, but bet on
the 0–100km/h dash taking under 3.3 seconds and a top speed of over
320km/h. A set of stats that puts the new GT into serious supercar territory
– and Ford reckons that the price will reflect the performance, with fewer
cars being built at a price somewhere between a Ferrari 458 Speciale and
Clean and purposeful,
stylish and modern. Wants
to be for around $400k...
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Aero-smart bodywork
is designed for
much speed
Lamborghini Aventador. That means hundreds of new GTs rather than
thousands, with a tag somewhere between $330,000 and $450k in the US.
With Ford promising 12 new Ford Performance vehicles by 2020 – a list
already populated in the US by the Focus RS, ‘2017’ F-150 Raptor truck,
Shelby GT350 and GT350R Mustangs – the GT provides a happy halo for the
brand. Especially as now it sports an engine that bears the same name as the
one you buy in your common-or-garden Focus, F-150 pickup or base ‘Stang.
“This is the ultimate Ford,” said Nair. “The ultimate embodiment of all
our innovation – everything from the wheels, aerodynamics, engine. All this
new technology is important for future Fords. The GT is the flagship for this
innovation, and that’s why we’re building it.”
We’ll be seeing the final production version sometime next year. Which
means that, at the start of 2015, we’re already wishing the year away.
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 FORD FOCUS RS

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Ford’s biggest, baddest badge is back.

And for the first time ever, the RS is 4WD.
Here comes hot hatch heaven
WORDS: PAUL HORRELL / PICTURES: ALEX HOWE

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 WorldMags.net

Headlights: illuminate

W
hat’s the power? “We’re
the road and make
the RS look angry saying at least 320, y’know.”
Are those all-American SAE
horses or German
pferdestärke? “At least 320
(235kW) – that’s all I’m going
to say.” Weight? Another
shake of the head. Under five seconds for
0–100km/h? “Can’t comment.” Dave Pericak
is cleaving to the official corporate line,
which is a bit of a tease. Not that he doesn’t
know the numbers perfectly well. He’s head
of the newly formed Ford Performance
division that will in future take care of all Recaro seats are
hot Fords from the Fiesta ST to the GT standard and good at
locking torsos in place
supercar. OK, let’s try another tack. Here’s
Tyrone Johnson, engineering manager.
What’s the Nürburgring time? “We use the
Nürburgring for development because of the
variety of corners. But we won’t be posting a
time. Same with 0–100km/h here, or quarter-
mile times in the US. It’s about feel,
precision, not just the numbers. It’s more
complicated than just ‘We’re the fastest.’”
I like their attitude. This isn’t merely
sheltering the RS Focus from the raw heat of
competition. The best fast Fords, and pretty
well all the great hot hatches over the
decades, have always over-delivered against
their power and performance numbers.
Besides, boasting a record hot-hatch ’Ring
There are many gauges, time months before you launch (hello, Seat;
none of which you’ll hello, Honda) strikes me as a right mug’s
look at while driving game. When someone comes along and beats
it, your balloon’s thoroughly deflated.

RS
LS

HONDA CIVIC
More ‘yoof’ than a Powerful (270kW),
Snapchat selfie, the and AWD: the RS3 Go, go Gadget
FWD Type-R lands (due to arrive here power! With eco-
here in 2016 with later this year) is a friendly stop/start, too!
228kW/400Nm natural RS rival
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But whatever. Two hundred and thirty
five kilowatts. In a Focus. With some still up
their sleeves. Good times.
Despite Ford’s coyness about actual
numbers, it’s already OK, from what we do
know, to judge the book by the cover. This
RS’s looks are a lot more sophisticated than
the previous bad boy Focus RS. And so it will
be different and more sophisticated to drive
too. Here’s why: all four wheels are driven.
At this point, Pericak comes over all
corporate on us. “This isn’t just a standard
AWD, it’s Ford Performance AWD. We’re
using a system we believe no one else is.” So
it’s not the same as the basic get-you-out-of-
the mud Kuga set-up. Crucially, it mostly
doesn’t control the car’s trajectory using the
brakes. “We can control the torque front to
back but also side to side. With more power
to the outer rear wheel dynamically, you can
drive the car through that corner and
eliminate understeer. The capability is
unbelievable. It’s going to shock you guys
when you get behind the wheel.”
We’re standing inside a big empty hall
in Ford’s Cologne plant, and to illustrate
“ITHASZEROLIFT
ATEITHEREND,
WHICHWASN’T
EASYTOACHIEVE”
Pericak’s point, 20 minutes later the doors
open and in screeches a Focus RS prototype,
snaking about the arena with gales of smoke
and armfuls of opposite. At the wheel is
Mister AWD Interweb himself, Ken Block,
who it turns out is engaged as a part-time
development driver in the project.
The AWD affects the way the RS looks.
The shared traction means it didn’t need
oversized front tyres, so all its mechanical
goodness has been fitted in beneath
standard Focus wings and bonnet. No flares
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FORD FOCUS RS
or bulges, and a general sense of having been
designed to satisfy aesthetic considerations
as well as the need to barge its way through
the atmosphere. Trust us, though, the RS is
an easy spot. It’s rocking a Vader-esque front
bumper/bib, a set of side skirts, a fat rear
diffuser clasped by a pair of gutter-sized
tailpipes, and a rear wing mounted with
priapic clearance from the roof. These aero
aids tell no fibs. Johnson says it has zero lift
at both ends, “Which was no easy task with
all that cooling requirement.”
The design was done in Europe. It became
a world car later in the project, when Ford
reorganised its performance car
development and marketing arms into a
global entity, but that didn’t change the
result. Hot hatches are a European thing. An
American thing is a Mustang.
The Focus benefits from the Mustang.
Specifically, it has a development of that
car’s 2.3-litre four-cylinder Ecoboost engine.
The turbo is larger here, but a lower-inertia
twin-scroll job. It’s linked to a bigger
intercooler, and better intake and exhaust
breathing. On paper, you’d expect that
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 WorldMags.net
lot to give less mid-rev lag and a better kick
at high revs – the Mustang gets a bit saggy
beyond 5,500rpm. “The Focus needs to have a
very quick response,” says Pericak. “And it
has to have enough torque and power that it
will be leading the pack, not trying to catch
up. That’s what this engine modification was
all about.” The red line is 6,800rpm. Of
course, because it has a bigger capacity than
the 2.0s of the Audi RS3 and Mercedes AMG
A45, I’d guess we ought to see better low-
down response than in those turbo nutjobs.
An opening valve in the exhaust pipes will
spice up the racket when the official
homologation noise inspectors have turned
their backs, and apparently we can also
expect fusillades of pops and crackles when
fizzing through the gearbox. Which is a
six-speed manual with none of your paddlery,
thank you.
This AWD system’s mechanics are pretty
simple, actually. There’s no rear diff at all.
Instead, either side of the crownwheel and
pinion are clutch packs. Each of those packs,
one per side, is independently controlled by
the electronics, so that the torque to each
rear wheel is determined by the amount of
slip in its clutches. Unique? Hmm. As far as I
can see the rear-drive unit comes from the
same GKN family that gives the latest
Evoque and Discovery Sport their off-road
cleverness, and the principle of rear
118 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
vectoring was endowed to cars like the
late-model Mitsubishi Evos by some very
complex mechanical diffs. But no hot hatch,
including the A45 or new RS3, does it. The
real voodoo is the calibration and control of
those clutch packs. The black box sucks data
from a bundle of inputs, including steering
angle, engine output, wheel speeds, lateral
and longitudinal g, and rate of turn.
It then figures out how to open or close
those clutches to send torque to the wheel
that’ll get the car into, through and out of
the corner in best style. If both clutch packs
are open, it’s 100 per cent front-drive. But
because the rear drive is geared faster than
the front, it’s possible to close the clutches
and send 70 per cent of the torque to the
rear. Mr Block can be found on YouTube
demonstrating the effect.
As for the rest of the chassis, the springs
“ITHASTOHAVE
ENOUGHTORQUE
ANDPOWERTOBE
LEADINGTHEPACK”
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and bushes are all stiffer than the Focus
ST’s, and it’s backed up by two-stage
adaptive damping. The rigid bits such as
uprights have been made stronger so they
stay rigid. There’s a new steering rack, and
the brakes are Brembos snuggled inside
19-inch wheels, optionally these lightweight
forged jobs. Those come gift-wrapped in
235/35 Michelin Super Sport tyres, but
there’s also an option of semi-slick Cup tyres
“for track use”.
Right, then. Add AWD and extra cooling
to a Focus ST, and you’re at about 1,550kg.
Looking at what they did to the Mustang
engine, I’m guessing 245kW and 450Nm.
Because there’s no DSG, gearshifts won’t be
instantaneous. Feed those numbers into my
guessotronic calculator, and it says straight-
line acceleration between a Golf R’s and an
A45’s. But remember, we prefer the R. Like
the men said, numbers don’t always rule.
Another thing. The RS shows long-term
commitment from Ford to have a full line-up
of juicy fast cars, rather than a few sporadic
launches. Pericak’s Ford Performance
division is responsible for them all, plus
tuning accessories. It brings joined-up
engineering from around the world, and
selling the cars globally gets revenue up. “It
allows us to capture a younger audience and
that will be critical to the longevity of the
company.”
 FORD FOCUS RS

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RS – could well stand for Red cabin lighting is

Raised Spoiler. Aero was a bit random. Shouldn’t
a major consideration it be RS blue?
CONVICTIONS
The Focus RS has some form...
time to meet the grandparents
PREVIOUS

I FOCUS RS MKII
Starti uture classic, the original Focus RS had The MkII RS is where things went a bit more aggressive for the Focus:
a turbo 2.0-litre four-pot with ‘just’ 158kW and 310Nm of torque bulky arches, vents, (fake) venturi and spoilers. It gained a 2.5-litre
when it launched in 2002. It also looked relatively sane, but boasted in-line five, a Quaife mechanical locking diff, 224kW and 440Nm
front-wheel drive, a five-speed manual and a mechanical diff of torque. Just 315 came to Australia (from a total of 11,500 produced
for proper forearm-punishing when going fast on a bumpy road. over about 3 years), and although brutal looking, is actually a bit easier
Ford only made 4,501 of the things, and although they’re not exactly to drive than the MkI. The final limited edition (500 units) RS500
museum pieces, expect prices for mint ones to be steadily rising. variant got 260kW/460Nm, but never made it to these shores.

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Swine
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 IN PURSUIT OF HISTORY

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c oun
Up there with the best Aussie inventionso , we go inn Purs
rsuit of
the ute’s birthplace, in the last of the performance breed
WORDS: JAMES STANFORD / PICTURES: CRISTIAN BRUNELLI
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 WorldMags.net
I
’m sitting on the tailgate of one of the last V8 utes
Ford Australia ever made when a 150kg pig bites my
knee. It’s fitting really, because the first ever V8 ute
made in Australia was inspired by a pig, or at least
the need to get one to market.
You’ve probably heard the story of the farmer’s
wife writing to Ford Australia asking its engineers
to come up with a vehicle that could be used to
transport pigs to market during the week and then
travel to church at the weekend (presumably without the
pigs, who generally eschew religion). At the time, farmers
had to get by with rudimentary open cab trucks; not
something you’d drive in your Sunday best.
The letter, penned in 1933, was passed around before it
landed on the desk of up and coming designer Lewis Bandt.
On the orders of then Ford Australia boss, Hubert French,
who claimed he was actually American, Bandt came up with
the world’s first car-based utility, creating a category of
machines that have been used for work and play ever since.
Late last year, Ford produced its last ever local V8 ute,
the FPV Pursuit. And in what can only be described as an
un-Australian decision, decided against re-introducing the
XR8 ute alongside the reborn sedan, with circle workers
instead having to make do with the XR6 Turbo version.
Instead of just sitting there and diluting our beer with
tears of sorrow, we decided to celebrate the Ford V8 ute by
taking it to the pig farm that was the genesis of the modern
ute. The only problem is that nobody seems to know where
it is, other than to say it was somewhere in Gippsland.
This is a region of Victoria
that stretches from the fringes
of Melbourne’s eastern suburbs
all the way to the edge of the
Pacific Ocean, and measures
nearly 450km across.
I head to the Ford Australia
archives, deep in the slightly
r
v ,l
t er
l
e 1. Moment of The
Great Australian Bite
as Stanford is attacked
by a porky as big as
the ones he tells in the
public bar.
2. In this application the
Miami supercharged
V8 includes the rare
Fanta soft drink
dispensing system
WorldMags.net
stinky bowels of its headquarters in Broadmeadows, to
track down the letter and hopefully a return address. The
building seems ancient, but was built some 30 years after
the letter I’m looking for was sent.
I put on a pair of glasses (spectacled people always seem
to do well around books) and start rifling through the
seemingly countless volumes of papers. I find tens and tens
of stories, press releases and letters, but not the letter, or
any other reference to the location of the farm itself.
Sadly, Bandt isn’t around to point me in the right
direction as he was killed in a crash when his own classic V8
ute collided with a truck in 1987. His daughter Ros said he
didn’t discuss where the letter came from, but said a farmer
asked the question, not a farmer’s wife, which suggests she
was penning the letter on behalf of her husband.
After several hours, I leave the archive cross-eyed and
empty-handed. We are no closer to finding the farm.
Although two old letters from 1933 did make me smile. One
was from Ford Singapore warning of the impending scourge
of Chinese counterfeit parts (it’s like nothing has changed)
and the other was from Ford in the US, pondering whether
it should try putting a V8 in its light trucks. I reckon sales
of around 30 million V8 F-Series trucks since 1948 suggests
it was a good idea after all.
With no hot leads we decide to head to Gippsland and
try and find that pig farm ourselves. It’s a long shot, but
you never know. There was only one vehicle that would do
the job. One of the final FPV Pursuit V8 utes.
Ford wouldn’t lend us one because it had sold every last
unit and we couldn’t find any owners who would let us
drive theirs (which is fair enough when you think about it).
After all, they cost $52,990, but could well be worth a lot
more than that soon given their rarity and significance.
We were about to give up when the owner of WM Waste
and self-confessed Ford tragic, Mark Jeffs stepped forward
and offered us his pristine black and gold Pursuit ute.
It is build number 17 of 120 (17 is Ford legend Dick
Johnson’s race number) and has only done 28km. Before he
hands over the keys, Jeffs politely mentions it has GPS
tracking, but he doesn’t need to. The guy runs a waste
company and I know that should I mistreat his priceless
machine, my body may never be found.
“How good is this?” I think to myself as I stare over the
giant FG bonnet bulge and fire up the 5.0-litre
supercharged V8. I ease out the driveway, careful to
1
2
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1 3
1. Pursuit owner,
Mark Jeffs
installed a GPS
tracker to make
sure TG doesn’t
get too crazy
with his ute

2. Stanford
polishing up
his stalker
techniques
2
3. The author
stops to ask for
directions, and is
told, “Poowong,
don’t
don t make a
right”

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1 24 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
 IN PURSUIT OF HISTORY

WorldMags.netavoid any scraping, and head towards Melbourne’s east.

I meet photographer Brunelli in Tooradin, the small
town made famous for its annual tractor pull, and we sweep
down the highway and take a left at Lang Lang, the testing
ground of Ford’s nemesis, General Motors Holden.
We take a detour off the South Gippsland Highway and
run through some pretty little towns including Nyora and
Poowong, the latter of which has a nice community pool. As
a parent of a toddler, seeing the sign out the front and the
word poo and pool so close together makes me feel uneasy.
There is no sign of any pigs though, so we press on through
Kurrumburrah and Leongatha.
We ask around and manage to track down a pig farm, of
sorts, a small hobby farm owned by the Hickey family. It
isn’t the actual farm we were looking for, but it gives us a
chance to photograph the Pursuit ute with some swine.
I break out some bread and within seconds the pigs are
rushing me, snuffling with their rubbery snouts, which are
covered in some kind of slimy mucus. Is this how you catch
swine flu? Just then, one decided to see if my knee is edible.
Thankfully, he is unimpressed and I get to live another day.
They are awfully loud eaters and wolf down the bread
like, well, pigs. We ask the owner of the large dairy farm
next door whether he knows where the elusive farm might
be. “I reckon I heard it was a farmer’s wife from down
Longwarry way,” he says with a furrowed brow. We take a
note to check it out and continue our journey.
The Pursuit ute is right at home out here. Its 5.0-litre
supercharged engine hardly has to work at all. But when you
do feed on a bit of throttle, it rockets forward at such a rate
the pigs would have no chance of hanging on.
FPV engineers initially thought about putting the 335kW
version of the Miami V8 under the bulgy man-bonnet, but
found that the leaf-sprung rear end meant the thing just
spun its wheels with the smallest amount of throttle.
Instead, it bolted in the 315kW version, which still has way
more power than it needs. Even in the dry, a little bit of
accelerator pedal pressure is enough to step out the back of
the ute as I soon find out.
It would be heaps of fun if, a) you owned the car and b)
were not going to ‘go missing’ should something go wrong.
We continue through Mirboo North and duck down to
Churchill, a small university town that was renamed after
that British chap who beat the Nazis and all of that. I spent
six months there as a hungry, impoverished uni

a d
l d O
c )
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FPV PURSUIT
Price: $52,990
Engine: 5.0L
s’charged V8,
315kW @ 5750rpm
545Nm @ 2000rpm
Transmission: 6spd, RWD
Economy: 14L/100km

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1 26 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
 WorldMags.net
student and don’t remember all that much to be ho
except for the pub and the giant ‘cigar’ in the main
onest,
n street
(Churchill liked cigars), which looks nothing like one.
We carry on past the Hazelwood power station , the
dirtiest in Australia. Fellow students told me the cooling
c
pond was a great place to swim in winter after a feew drinks,
because it was so warm, but there was a blue green n algae
outbreak so I politely declined. This power station n and
others in the Latrobe Valley weren’t here when thaat letter
was written, and it would have been even more beautiful
then, with its rolling green hills.
We skip past the two unloved towns of Moe and
Morwell, which have been hit hard by large scale lay-offs 1
following the privatization of the power industry in the
1990s. There are some lovely winding roads within a 20
minute drive and I let the Pursuit stretch its legs a little,
being careful not to get too enthusiastic with the precious
borrowed ute.
The supercharger belts out such a fantastic howl that it 2
really is difficult to resist getting stuck hard into the
throttle all the time. There is also a fantastic exhaust note 3
and a wonderful grumble and crackle when you ease off.
This Pursuit will never carry anything, but it could lug
540kg in the back if it needed too. Even though it’s based on
a work vehicle, and still has leaf springs instead of coils, it’s
a great handling machine, as long as the surface is smooth.
Any kind of bump mid-corner and the ute tends to wag its
tail, especially when it rains like it is now.
We start back to Melbourne and pop into the tiny town
of Garfield, but hopes of finding a wise-cracking, festively
plump cat are dashed when we discover the town was
named after the 20th US president in 1887. It sounds odd, 1. The Ghost of Falcons Past
but was an improvement on its old name, Cannibal Creek. follows the Pursuit on its
Gippsland tour, murmuring,
A few minutes later we arrive in another small town, this “These are the shadows of
one is called Bunyip. It turns out the name was taken from utes that have been”
the traditional indigenous people, who spoke of a giant
2. A lesser known member
swamp-dwelling creature they called the Buneep or Bunyip. of the ‘Big Aussie Things’
The only documented large ‘creature’ in the area is the club, The Big Cigar (really?),
25-metre-tall concrete pheasant at the gate of Gumbuya erected in honour of
Churchill’s namesake
Park. Vandals stuck explosives up its bottom and caused
extensive damage to its nether regions a few years back, but 3. Our man searching for
more tips on how to spread
it has made a full recovery. No sign of any pigs though, so total BS while looking
we head to Longwarry for our last chance of finding the completely nonchalant and d e o
uninterested y u l e e , and
elusive pig ute farm after 500km in this virgin ute. i e e oftte
We step into the Longwarry Hotel hoping to find an 4. “What do you call a cow
w
oracle who might know the legend of a local farmer’s wife with a twitch? Beef jerky ”
calling on Ford to build the ute. A few of the blokes look
5. At the lunch stop, only one
like they might have been here since the ’30s, that’s for member of the team was
sure. We find Dave at the bar. He takes another sip of his fooled by the mural pub
amber companion and wracks his brain. There are a few
seconds of silence and I dare to dream he knows the farm. 4
“Yeah, I remember something,” he says slowly, his words
rounded off with alcohol. “Didn’t the farmer’s wife build
the ute and then show it to Ford?” That’s it, I give up.
We climb back in the Pursuit, crank up that wonderful
V8 and begin the drive home. I start to wonder whether we
went past its place of origin in our travels today, but just
have to accept we may never know.

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THE
LONG HARD
ROAD
WORDS: OLLIE MARRIAGE PICTURES: RICHARD PARDON / GREG PA JO

TopGear has been granted world-exclusive access

to Nissan’s radical new Le Mans car. With 932kW
and front-wheel drive, will it be ambitious but…

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 GT-R LM

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 GT-R LM

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“NISSAN’S
STRATEGY WITH
THIS PROJECT
IS UNIQUE:
NO SECRECY”

t’s 6am, in the breakfast “So how many cars you got down there?” But here photographer Greg Pajo is allowed to
room of a nondescript Just the one, I say. Incomprehension roots her point his Canon wherever he chooses. And I’m

I Hampton Inn somewhere in

a nondescript part of lower,
right-hand-down-a-bit
America. The friendly
middle-aged lady preparing
to the spot. After a while, she shakes her head
and wanders off.
To be fair, I’ve spent quite a lot of my time
out here looking puzzled and shaking my head
as well. This is Nissan’s GT-R LM, it’s going to
the grits is curious. “Are you with those racing Le Mans this year and it’s unlike anything you’ve
guys?” I tell her I am. ever seen before.
“What you doing down here?” Trying to make a I have seen it before. The day before I flew out
new racing car work, I explain. I decide to leave out here, the engine-less show car was in our TV
the complexities of the flywheel hybrid system and studio. It wasn’t meant to be; it was meant to be
front-wheel drive at this stage. I don’t want her to flying to America, but the cargo firm had suddenly
forget her grits. declared it to be three inches too long for the
“But there are so many of you.” There are, I plane’s loading pallet. Although this was a
admit. Last night, I counted 20 engineers at the borderline catastrophe for Nissan, it allowed us to
debrief and about another 10 mechanics. pinch it for half a day and have a good poke around.
This left me with more questions than answers.
But now I can get them answered. All of them.
Nissan’s radical racer
Because Nissan’s strategy with this project is
rolls into the less than unique. No secrecy. They’re going to share
hi-tech TopGear studio everything. This is practically unheard of. Late last
year, I drove BMW’s DTM car, and we weren’t
allowed to take pictures of the lower half of the
cockpit, the inside of the doors or any low-down
shots at the rear.
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130 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
allowed to ask questions, to which I get answers so
detailed my brain is in danger of leaking out of my
ears. So, first question: “In June, three of these
GT-R LM’s will line up on the grid at Le Mans
alongside the Audis, Porsches and Toyotas, in the
flagship LMP1 class. So why, how, does this not look
anything like the others?”
“Well, if it looked like the others, it would
probably perform close to the same. We’re coming
to Le Mans and we want to win, so we took an
approach where we’ve innovated, looked at the
rules to see if we can’t get ourselves a quick way to
the front.”
The man speaking is Ben Bowlby, team principal
and technical director of Nissan’s LMP1 project.
If the name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s also
the chap responsible for the DeltaWing and Nissan
Zeod. It’s fair to say he has previous in the wackier
reaches of sports-car racing.
“We looked at the regulations, and we realised
there was very efficient downforce available at the
front of the car, while the rear was very heavily
regulated. The rear wing is locked into a very small
box, it’s not a very efficient shape, and the
WorldMags.net

1 Steering
wheel doesn’t
have a boost
button to
deploy the
flywheel
power. That’s
done by
throttle
position alone
2 Whole rear
section comes
away, showing
just how big
the air tunnel
apertures are
3 Front and
rear tyres
– and here
it’s the huge
14in tyres that
go on the
front, the
rear tyres a
mere 9in
4 Mechanical
packaging
forces the
driver into an
astronaut-
style driving
position
5 This test
was all about
straight-line
running.
Getting up to
260kmh and
braking hard
down to about
100kmh, then
checking the
data
6 Gearbox
sits inside
metal casing
in the fore-
ground. You’re
looking at the
clutch pack
here
7 Driver
line-up
includes
Brit Harry
Tincknell
(left) and
Frenchman
Olivier Pla

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 GT-R LM
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“UNDER THE
VAST BONNET,
IT LOOKS LIKE
A SNAKE PIT”
diffuser is almost specified – the height, width,
where the fences can go and so on.
“So if you want to make maximum use of the
available downforce at the front, you have to change
other parameters – you have to find harmony in the
handling and balance of the car – and that means
getting the weight distribution, aerodynamic
distribution and tyre distribution all aligned. If we
want to use the big downforce that’s available at the
front, then we’re going to use bigger tyres at the
front, move all the mass forwards and, as it turns
out, we’re also going to drive the front wheels.”
That’s right, this is a front-wheel-drive Le Mans
car. A front-driver has never won Le Mans. In fact,
the last time one competed was well
over 50 years ago. The aim, as you
may have already heard, is that the
GT-R LM will be four-wheel-drive,
with the internal combustion engine
driving the fronts and the hybrid
system (which we’ll discuss later),
the rears. At the moment, though,
it’s pure front-drive. With around
932kW. Really.
132 APRIL 2015 
But before we get on to the drivetrain, we need
to clear up the aerodynamics. Back to Bowlby:
“What’s very interesting is that the engine and
gearbox are narrow, whereas the tub, the driver
survival cell, by regulation has to be quite wide, so
aerodynamically we don’t want a big blockage
directly behind the splitter. So it’s a big advantage
to have the engine up front and have the clean
V-shaped hull of the bottom of the V6 to give us the
best possible airflow exiting behind the splitter.
And that’s when it all starts to fall into place…”
I’m clinging on by my fingernails at this stage,
but the advantage of this layout is that instead of
having to get rid of the air immediately and channel
it out aft of the front wheels (as its rivals have to
with their wide tubs at the front), Nissan is able to
steer this air into huge tunnels that sweep back
from the sides of the engine all the way to the back
of the car. And I mean huge. Bowlby shows me
a picture of one of his mechanics entirely
inserted head-first into one of the
tunnels, boots and all.
“The tunnels are the waste
management system,” Bowlby
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Hot air pipes warm
engine and components
before the car runs
continues, “they basically do the work of a giant
vacuum cleaner, sucking up the used air and
blowing it out the back, straight over the top of the
diffuser and into the low-pressure area behind the
car. What’s in the tunnel doesn’t act to make
downforce, but does extract the flow incredibly
efficiently and reduce the wake behind the car.”
That, in a nutshell, is the aero justification for
the Nismo’s, um, challenging looks. It’s not
pretty. The packaging, however, is remarkable.
The vast bonnet is taken off, and underneath is a
seething mass of wires. It looks like a snake pit.
Where the hell is the bulky 3.0-litre V6? All I can
see are the turbos.
The direct-injection V6 was bespoke designed to
fit the space that Bowlby had left for it. It develops
about 410kW and only drives the front wheels
through a five-speed sequential gearbox and a pair
of driveshafts thicker than scaffolding poles.
Bowlby is very happy with the result: “It makes its
power incredibly efficiently – it’s almost diesel-like
in terms of the thermal efficiency of the engine.”
But the engine we understand. It’s not far off the
same layout and power as the one in a GT-R
 T H E R E A L LY
COMPLICATED BIT
Nothing is straight-forward in the land of the GT-R LM
Ben Bowlby likes harmony,
and his holy trinity is weight
distribution, aerodynamic
grip and tyre grip. Add more
weight to one end of the
car, and it’ll need more aero
and tyre grip in order to
be balanced. This equation
was the glue that held both
the DeltaWing and Zeod
together, with a distribution
of around 20:80 front
to rear. Here, due to the
WorldMags.net
opportunity that the Le
Mans regs have to create
front-end downforce, he’s
reversed that thinking. The
proportions of the GT-R
LM are close to 65:35,
“about the same as most
front-engine, front-drive
road cars,” says Bowlby.
If you’re still not sure,
divide nine by 14 for the
tyre width proportions and
you arrive at 64.2:35.8.
Close enough. What this
means is that, aside from
sitting further back in the
frame, the car should feel
perfectly balanced to the
driver. Aero grip through
high-speed corners means
it will be tricky to even
tell the GT-R LM is
front-drive. Just don’t go
expecting any spectacular
drifts out of slow corners.
Understeer ain’t pretty.

AERO
Overhead view
gives a good idea
of how the GT-R’s
wheel pontoons
work to duct air
around the car.
Also note how the
exhausts are aligned
along the same
angles, blowing hot
gases upwards and
outwards. The air
tunnels within the
bodywork play a
major role in
reducing turbulence
at the back, too.

EXHAUSTS
Yes, the driver can see them
from the cockpit. Yes, they do
belch flames when you lift off.
Yes, this is blinding at night.
Yes, they will fix it.
BRAKES
The calipers are not mounted
here to lower the C of G, but
to allow the wishbones to be
mounted higher, out of the way
of airflow behind the splitter.

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TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 1 33
 WorldMags.net
1 Engineers
study laptops
while driver
sits in cockpit.
Testing
involves an
awful lot of
sitting around
2 Gearbox
is an Xtrac
five-speed
sequential.
V6’s torque
negates need
for more
ratios
3 Bowlby
(right) talks
to Ricardo
Devila,
a vastly
experienced
race engineer
who came out
of retirement
just to be
involved
in this
project

4 This gives
you a good
idea of the
size of the
front splitter,
held in place
by an F1-style
nose cone
5 The
steering wheel
isn’t finalised.
It’s too big to
clear the
driver’s legs,
so they’re
working up a
wooden buck
to check new
one’s sizing
6 Zach Eakin,
Bowlby’s
deputy, uses a
special phone
attachment to
allow the
camera to
show hot spots
around the car
7 Original
engineering
drawings.
Nothing is
off-limits
to TopGear

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134 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM

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“THE OUTER
EDGE OF THE
FLYWHEEL IS
SUBJECT TO
47,000g ”
road car. What’s new is the hybrid system – which,
unlike its rivals, contains no electrics at all. Le
Mans regs demand hybrid technology, but that
doesn’t have to mean electric. This system is purely
mechanical. I’ll hand back to Bowlby to explain how
it works.
“Say you’ve got a 900kg car travelling at
350kmh down the Mulsanne Straight, that’s a heck
of a lot of energy, and with caliper brakes all you’re
doing is turning it into heat, so instead we take the
torque that’s required to slow the mass down and
we use it to spin up a flywheel. The flywheel has a
lot of inertia, so we’ve got some clutches and gears
that we mash together in sequence to cause the
flywheel to spin up, and the opposing torque
reaction slows the car down. Then, when you come
out of the corner, you do the reverse – slow the
flywheel down, and that speeds the car back up. It’s
an elastic effect.”
What Bowlby didn’t touch on are the numbers
involved in this. Used to its maximum potential, the
8kg steel-cored/carbon outer flywheel (it’s about
10cm tall, with a 24cm diameter) gains 19,000rpm
each second, so a braking event of a little over three
seconds can spin it up to its 60,000rpm maximum
speed. At that speed, the outer edge of the flywheel
is subject to 47,000g and is spinning at Mach 2,
about 2400km/h. If it weren’t in a vacuum, you’d
hear a sonic boom. That’s right, the GT-R LM could
theoretically create its own sonic boom. Awesome.
On a more mundane level, the flywheel can send
those forces back to the wheels just as quick as it
harvested them, at an equivalent of about 521kW.
The flywheel sits deep down behind the V6,
connected to the front transaxle gearbox via a shaft
that runs forwards through the vee of the engine.
It also has a shaft that runs to the rear wheels, but
at the moment, it’s not connected. So, 932kW
through the front wheels. And it might stay that
way: “We may well run this season as front-wheel-
drive, but we have to declare our intention and
stick to it for the whole season.”
This is the first time the car has ever run with
the flywheel hybrid. The system is four months
behind schedule, and they’re being cautious. French
driver Olivier Pla confesses to not being able to see
over the front wheel pontoons, but says he’s
otherwise comfortable with the driving. But he’s
not racing right now. What they’re doing is
checking the hybrid system is harvesting and
deploying as expected. So the car goes out, does
three laps, comes in, fingers point at laptops, the car
WorldMags.net
GT-R LM
goes back out and repeats the process again. And
again. And again. Almost five hundred kays over
two days. The weather is sunny, the perfect tarmac
sparkles – and there are smiles from the team.
They’re getting the right numbers, and the driver is
happy that he can’t detect whether the caliper
brakes or the flywheel are doing the work.
How does Bowlby think this season will pan out?
“Racing is very difficult. If you think you’re going
to rock up and do well, dream on. Audi has owned
that place [Le Mans] for a decade. Our ambition is
to do the best we can possibly do and to showcase a
different way of doing it, and to interest people and,
well, racing is meant to be fun, and we’re all
motivated as hell to try to stick it to them!”
Headlights designed to
create an almost 180-
degree angle of light
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 1 35
 WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR’S LONG-TERM CARS. TESTED AND VERIFIED

AU D I R S Q 3

Getaway vehicle
2.5-litre, 5cyl turbo, AWD, 228kW, 420Nm 8.8L/100km (claimed) 0–100km/h in 5.2secs (claimed)
1,655kg $ $81,900 ODO 4240km Driver Tim Keen Why it’s here Because TopGear votes Family Fast

ere’s a red hot idea for anyone til now, it’s all been 20 minutes here and half an And the wedding was lovely, and peaceful
getting married: don’t have IN DETAIL hour there – and my buttocks were thanking and private, thanks to being in the middle of
H the wedding in the middle of
nowhere. Have it, I don’t
me, perched as they were on quilted leather
instead of wedged into a bucket.
nowhere. So maybe it’s not such a bad idea
after all. But remember to take something with
know, somewhere in Some overly law-abiding person had set an soft seats.
civilisation. But there we were, my partner and I, alarm to go off every single time the speedo
off to Eastern God-Knows-Where for a friend’s needle went above 110, which is molar- GARAGE LOGBOOK
nuptials. Romance roadtrip! grinding on the freeway, when the cruise AUDI RSQ3
We actually had a racy little Cayman GTS control itself dips above and below with every
in the Garage that we’d borrowed for a week, incline. For the record: go into Car Systems,
and I was initially planning to drive up in that. and you can reset the alarm to 150. Sorted. GOOD STUFF BAD STUFF
But with no backseats, I’d have to scrunch my Dynamic mode for And then, when we got up there, we had  Hassle-free  Tyre pressure
partner’s dress (and my suit) into the luggage the day before. the bonus of being able to cruise up a dirt track cruising on freeways monitor is still
space, which is just the right size for a small Comfort mode for to the beach worry-free, where I would have (once you adjust being a bit dicky
the day after the speed alarm)
overnighter but less useful for keeping fancy been sweating about tearing something vital  You’ll only get
duds drycleaner-fresh; and the seats, to be off the undercarriage of the Cayman.  The stereo is one small item
frank, are as hard as Baptist church pews, and as But I didn’t realise how much I’d appreciate a treat, and the under the luggage
Bluetooth is skip- net in the boot -
unforgiving as the preacher. They’re pretty the Audi until I had to drive back the next day, free and reliable should be more
great if you are piling into a corner at speed, a little rusty around the edges from endless generous
 Worry-free
and need something to stop you flying out the toasts and an infinite supply of ice tubs filled
ground clearance  Sandy feet on
door. But they’re a tad ruthless for hours of with beer. The Cayman might have been a bit on dirt roads black carpet mats
freeway cruising, where corners are rare and too firmly sprung for the conditions – both the
comfort trumps lateral support. roads and myself – but the Audi has a Comfort
Which is why we ended up taking the RS mode that’s a bit too… meh for everyday L/100KM THIS MONTH 15.5
Q3. It’s my first distance haul in the Audi – up driving, but seemed just the ticket at the time.
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136 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
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CO M M O D O R E S S -V R E D L I N E U T E
On your bikes
GOODBYE 6.0-litre, V8, RWD, 270kW, 530Nm
$ $ 48,990 ODO 5,248km Driver James Cleary Why it’s here Because it’s (soon to be) part of Aussie history
y first car was a 1971
Holden HG Ute,
M purchased from Don
Howard Motors, now
long gone from its cosy
site on Parramatta Road in Sydney’s west.
After some nervous, late afternoon
haggling with ‘Honest’ Don, the used car
legend himself, the white with fawn vinyl,
base Belmont was mine. Powered by the
mighty 186 ‘red’ straight six engine,
hooked up to a three-speed column
change manual, it was the most
dependable, useful, and practical vehicle
I’ve ever owned.
A bit like acquiring your first mobile
phone, or hooking up to the interwebs,
once you own a ute you don’t know how
you ever lived without it.
Suddenly, barely a day goes by where
you’re not shoving something in the tray
and carting it around. It formed the
backbone of C&C Enterprises, a
diversified painting, furniture moving and
rubbish disposal business, started with my
ate commercial partner Dave. I nearly
died of exposure, sleeping in the back of
it on a ski trip. But all I ever had to do to
keep it alive and kicking was change the
oil and top up the radiator.
11.8L/100km (claimed) 0–100km/h in 5.5secs (estimated) 1,739kg
And those fond HG memories came or in this case, bike helmets.
flooding back when the third and final IN DETAIL Of course, the only snag is the Ute’s
instalment in our Commodore SS-V
Redline trilogy (sedan/wagon/ute)
two seat capacity, so the family truckster
had to fly in formation. And a problem
entered the TopGear Towers garage for a not confined to this car, is a ute’s limited
four week tour of duty. over shoulder vision for lane changing.
Like the sedan and Sportwagon, the The blind spot is substantial.
6.0-litre V8 SS-V Redline Ute is smooth, There were tears, from short people
powerful and well buttoned down on bikes still getting the hang of it. But,
dynamically, while the sleek and although we’ll be sad to see the VF go
comfortable cabin gives nothing away to (eventually), the only emotion this ute
its stable mates. But it’s the area aft of Tailgate hardware engendered was happiness.
the front doors that proved most and check strap are
interesting, as the ute’s cargo tray opened heavy duty. Behind GARAGE LOGBOOK
seat storage is handy SS-V REDLINE UTE
up the option of a mass treadly excursion.
Fitted with a protective ‘Load Mat’
(Holden accessory) bed liner, the rear
swallowed the Cleary family bike fleet as
GOOD STUFF BAD STUFF
 Comfortable  Over shoulder
easily as five chocolate drops sliding and well-designed vision is distinctly
down Gina Rinehart’s throat. Even the cabin. Tradies have limited
channels in the liner helped the wheels never had it so good
 It only seats two.
remain separate and stable, with  Effortless grunt Bring back the
strategically located tie-down loops used from the 6.0-litre bench!
to strap everything firmly in place. And it donk
 Over 14.0L
only costs $240; an absolute bargain.  Load space is /100km doesn’t
Cabin storage is another plus with generous and easy set the world on fire
multiple net pockets behind the seats to access economy-wise
helping to keep odds and ends in check,
as well as generous cavity spaces to L/100KM THIS MONTH 14.6
accommodate larger stuff like soft bags,
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TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 1 37
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MERCEDES -BENZ SL500
Top shelf touring
HELLO 4.7-litre, V8 biturbo, RWD, 320kW, 700Nm
ODO 3,875km Driver James Cleary Why it’s here To see how much sport remains in the Merc Sport Leicht
e were interested in a
long-term steer of Merc’s
W new ‘entry level’ SL400;
a 245kW/480Nm V6
twin-turbo, weighing in
at $229,000. By no means chicken feed,
but a snip next to the $481k SL65 AMG
flagship, and you’re getting 80 percent
of the street cred and drive experience
for less than half the bucks.
The call to Benz HQ wasn’t going as
planned, but suddenly got a lot better.
For various reasons an SL400 wouldn’t
work out in the short term. Damn. But an
SL500 would be coming in to the frame
shortly. Would that hold any appeal as an
alternative? Now you’re talkin’.
Two extra cylinders, 320kW, and a
whopping 700Nm add up to 0-100km/h
in well under five seconds. And ‘our’ car
had copped the custom designo
treatment, courtesy of the AMG
Performance Studio, with black nappa
leather trim, including ‘platinum white’
highlights, and black 19-inch AMG seven
(twin) spoke alloy rims with polished
facings. A six month loan deal was sealed
in slightly less than a nanosecond.
Sometimes, when picking up a loan
car you have to give yourself a mental
slap to rein in the internal girly giggling.
13 8 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
9.4L/100km 0–100km/h in 14.6secs 1,785kg $ $312,000
And driving away in a top-end sled like to mention the 11-speaker, 600W
this one it’s hard to maintain the mindset IN DETAIL Harman Kardon Logic 7 audio, which we
of a cool, calculating, cashed up VIP
that’s just parted with 300 large for their
already know, sounds rather good.
Other first impressions relate to the
latest toy. And closer examination of the boot’s ability to a hold a surprising
spec sheet confirmed this SL as an even amount of groceries, even with the roof
more special plaything. down, a reminder that Benz’s active seats
For a start, as well as the rims and (with air pillows that inflate to increase
special trim, the designo package is lateral support in cornering) are brilliant,
paired with the full suite of ‘AMG Line’ and the engine’s ability to generate
extras, including those wheels, a body kit monumental thrust.
comprising front and rear aprons and side
sill panels, lowered sports suspension, A cover within the GARAGE LOGBOOK
active ‘Multicontour’ seats, three-spoke, boot defines a cargo
MERCEDES-BENZ SL500
‘safe area’ not
multifunction sports steering wheel, impacted by the
‘Chequered Flag’ instrument cluster, folded roof . It’s big.
AMG velour floor mats, M-B branded GOOD STUFF BAD STUFF
grey brake calipers, and perforated rear  Ability to blur  Engine and
discs, as well as black piano lacquer wood surrounding exhaust notes need
scenery at the more V8 burble
trim combined with specially textured press of a pedal
aluminium elements. Tick that box and  Long doors make
add $9,500 to the price.  Boot space for awkward car
is surprisingly park entry-egress
But that’s not all. The ‘Vario’ folding generous
hardtop is of the ‘Panoramic’ variety,  Unsolicited
meaning it has a tinted glass panel with  Vario roof advice
provides quick
sliding sun blind, adding another $1,700. personality change
Total price, before on-road costs and
dealer delivery, comes to $323,200.
There’s that girly giggling again…
So, plenty of technology and dynamic L/100KM THIS MONTH 14.1
ability to explore in coming months, not
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AU D I R S 6

Best. Car. Ever.

GOODBYE 3993cc, V8 twin-turbo petrol, 4WD, 412kW, 700Nm 9.8L/100km 0–100km/h in 3.9secs, 280km/h 1,935kg
$ $225,000 ODO 33,067km Driver Ollie Marriage From our UK Office: Is this the ultimate all-weather family supercar?

m glum, properly down the eight-speed auto – so fast you’d think

IN DETAIL GARAGE LOGBOOK
I’
in the dumps. Two days it was a double-clutcher. The performance
ago, I waved farewell to is, frankly, borderline unhinged. And yet,
RS6 AVANT
the RS6 and never have thanks to quattro, you can use a ridiculous
I found it more difficult amount of it an amazing amount of the
to say goodbye to a car. In the past 17 years time. Sneering surrounds the fact that the
I reckon I’ve run about 28 long-term cars, RS6 can’t do smoky drifts like an E63 or
and this RS6 was the best. Simple as that. M5, but while I have a serious penchant
So before I get all hyperbolic, let’s start for indulging in that behaviour at test
with the stuff that went wrong, the bad tracks, on the road I just don’t. No one
stuff. There was no USB port. Juddering does. And on the road – especially a wet,
under hard use, the brakes weren’t really bumpy one – neither rival would see which
man enough for the task, making me wish way the RS6 went. No one who sampled
I’d opted for the ceramic ones. If you really the way the RS6 got itself out of a corner
went for it, the steering became gluey. A
bike rack dented the tailgate. The broad
could ever say 4WD was dull. It’s a 911
Turbo with 1,680 litres of load bay.
GOOD STUFF BAD STUFF
 Kids, bikes,  Took it for a
285-width tyres do aquaplane. I fractured The more kays it did, the better it roofbox, holidays – farewell drive to
a tyre sidewall on a pothole. The 30,000- got. The diff s worked more smoothly, the the RS6 coped with Scotland. Did
km service cost $1,047. The carbon rear engine’s top end became utterly rampant. it all. And pulled 10.5L/100km up
diff user was dinged, and Audi quoted me On its last day, I figured it for old time’s a 1.5g loading at there, then 23.5
Dunsfold when, ahem,
$7,818 to replace it. Yee-ouch. sake: 0–100km/h in 3.6secs. Holy moly. unleashed
But the good stuff outweighed the bad We put it on winter tyres and, in the  A policeman
so heavily that everything mentioned above Alps, it proved itself the consummate drove it (issue  Onboard systems
amounted to no more than a pimple on the Stance. That’s what winter weapon. The ride and refi nement 078). Too fast were very good,
the RS6 has in for the force, except for the lack
skin of life with the RS6. People ask what it were highlights, yet it came as support of USB port
spades. Yes, that is a he reckoned
is about the RS6 that’s got me so police dog exiting the wagon on the BMW i8 group test and
evangelical. There are a couple of things: RS6. He heard about proved every bit as fast and furious as the  Effortlessly cool  My whole family
the drivetrain and the traction. the car’s acceleration stars of the show. In short, it did is in mourning
Over the course of 33,000km, I’ve and wasn’t hanging everything I’d ever need a car to do, and
around to hear more
never got bored of the bi-turbo V8’s power much, much more. That’s why I’m not sure L/100KM THIS MONTH 12.7
delivery or found a flaw in it. Same goes for I’ll ever run a car as good as this again.
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TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 1 39
WorldMags.net

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 WorldMags.net

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT NEW CARS YOU

WANT TO BUY… AND NOTHING ABOUT THE ONES YOU DON’T

P151
NowFeaturing LEXUSRCF
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
RC F $133,500 Rear 1860 10.9 5.0/8 351 530 4.5 270 8/10

ABARTH VANTAGE
The car that took on the 911. And lost. But hey, it’s an Aston.
Clarkson on Abarth:
What more do you want?
‘One hundred and eighteen kilowatts in a car the size of a
shoe. That’s fantastic! It handles well too.’ PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING

595 V8 Coupe man 6sp 4.7i $231,000 Rear 1630 13.8 4.7/8 313 470 4.9 290 8/10
V8 Roadster man 6sp 4.7i $260,000 Rear 1710 13.8 4.7/8 313 470 4.9 290 8/10
Abarth has a long and proud history of making otherwise sensible Fiats
certifiably mental. This is a brilliantly entertaining example. V12 S Coupe man 6sp 5.9i $389,300 Rear 1680 14.7 5.9/12 421 620 3.9 305 8/10
Also available: V8 S Coupe 6sp man $251,700 V8 S Roadster 6sp man $280,600 V12 S Roadster $418,525
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Also try: Jaguar XKR, Porsche 911, Mercedes SL
595 Competizione $36,500 Front 1035 5.4 1.4/4 118 230 7.4 210 7/10
695 Biposto $65,000 Front 997 5.4 1.4/4 118 230 7.4 210 7/10 DB9
Also available: 500 Esse Esse $34,990 595 Turismo $33,500 Overshadowed by the Vanquish and undercut by the Vantage, the DB9 is
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Fiesta ST, VW Polo GTI still the quintessential Aston: graceful, comfortable, yet supremely quick.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ALFA ROMEO Coupe auto 6sp 5.9i $349,500 Rear 1785 14.3 5.9/12 381 620 4.6 300 9/10
Clarkson on Alfa Romeo: Volante auto 6sp 5.9i $380,500 Rear 1890 14.3 5.9/12 381 620 4.6 300 8/10
‘You can’t be a proper petrolhead until you’ve owned an Also try: Bentley Continental GT, Porsche Panamera
Alfa. Although other ways of breaking down are available.’

MITO VANQUISH
Thoroughly overhauled DBS is evolutionary, and could struggle to
Alfa’s small car is actually quite big, except on the inside. Yes, it’s the broaden Aston's customer base. We wouldn't say no, though.
Mini all over again, albeit better to look at and worse to drive.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Coupe auto 6sp 5.9i $479,995 Rear 1739 14.4 5.9/12 421 620 4.1 295 8/10
Twin Air 3dr 6sp man 0.9T $22,500 Front 1130 4.2 0.9/2 77 145 11.4 184 –/10
Also try: Merc SLS, McLaren 12C
Distinctive 3dr 6sp TCT 1.4T $28,000 Front 1145 5.5 1.4/4 99 230 8.2 207 5/10
QV 3dr 6sp man 1.4T $30,000 Front 1145 5.5 1.4/4 125 250 7.5 219 5/10
Also available: Progression 1.4T man $26,500 AUDI
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: BMW 1 Series, VW Polo Clarkson on Audi:
‘Stoutly made, slightly boring cars that are rapidly
GIULIETTA becoming the foul refuge of the tailgating muppet.’
New Alfa retains the je ne sais quoi of the old 147 and manages to be A1
more reliable and practical. This can only be a good thing.
Essentially a really posh Polo, Audi’s A1 is the prince to VW’s pauper.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Or maybe it’s the emperor’s new clothes. It’s good, but $39k of good?
Distinctive 5dr man 6sp 1.4T $31,350 Front 1290 6 1.4/4 125 250 7.8 218 6/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Distinctive 5dr TCT 6sp 2.0DT $35,250 Front 1320 4.5 2.0/4 125 350 8.0 218 7/10
Best! Sport 5dr SA 7sp 1.4TSC $39,900 Front 1215 5.9 1.4/4 136 250 7.0 – 6/10
Best! QV 5dr man 6sp 1.8T $39,150 Front 1320 7.6 1.8/4 173 340 6.8 242 7/10
S1 quattro 5dr 6sp man 2.0T $49,900 Four 1340 7.1 2.0/4 170 370 5.9 250 –/10
Also available: 1.4 88kW $24,550 Progression 1.4 man $29,450 Progression 2.0 JTD $33,350
Also available: Attraction 5sp man 1.2T $26,500 Attraction 6sp man 1.4T $32,250 Attraction 5sp man 1.6DT $32,250
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: VW Golf, Audi A3, BMW 1 Series, Renault Megane Attraction 7sp S tronic 1.6DT $32,250 Ambition 6sp man 1.4T $35,800 Ambition 7sp S tronic 1.4T $35,800
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Citroen DS3, Mini Cooper, Fiat 500
ASTON MARTIN A3
Clarkson on Aston Martin:
‘The last word in icy coolness. Except that Cygnet, More of the excellent, German luxuxry from ‘Audi’s Not-a-Golf.’ It
which seems to be the last word in tepid awfulness.’ is a Golf though, just slightly more expensive, with shinier bits inside.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
RAPIDE Attraction Sedan 7sp 1.4T $39,800 Front 1250 4.7 1.4/4 103 250 8.4 217 8/10
A beauty of a sedan and a proper poke in the eye for the Panamera
Turbo. Yes, it’s $378k, but it has FOUR seats. That’s only $94.5k each. Ambition Sportback 7sp 1.8T $42,800 Front 1380 6.6 1.8/4 132 250 6.8 228 8/10
Also available: Ambition Sedan 6sp S tronic 2.0DT $45,200 Ambition Sedan 6sp S tronic 1.8T quattro $47,800
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Ambition Sportback 6sp S tronic 2.0DT $42,500 S3 Sportback 6sp man 2.0T $59,900 S3 Sedan 6sp man 2.0T $62,200
S 4dr SA 6sp 5.9i $378,500 Rear 1990 14.9 5.9/12 410 620 4.9 295 8/10 ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: VW Golf, BMW 1 Series, Alfa Giulietta
Also try: Bentley Continental GT, Porsche Panamera, Maserati Quattroporte

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 141
 TOPGEARTOPFIVE
AUDI
A4

Sedan 4dr 8sp auto 1.8T $55,500

WorldMags.net
Increasingly the default choice for reps who used to gravitate
towards BMWs, this is probably the best mid-size sedan on sale.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Front 1545 5.8 1.8/4
KW
125
NM
320
0-100
8.3
MAX
225
RATING
6/10
1
HOT HATCHBACKS
VW GOLF R
S4 Sedan 4dr S tronic 7sp 3.0S $105,000 Four 1685 9.3 3.0/6 245 440 5.3 – 8/10 Price $51,990
Best! RS4 Avant (wagon) 4.2i $149,900 Four 1795 10.7 4.2/8 331 430 4.7 – 8/10 Specs 206kW, 380Nm, 0-100km/h 5.2secs,
Also available: Sedan man 6sp quattro 2.0T $63,000 Sedan S tronic 7sp quattro 2.0DT $68,800 VMax 250km/h, 7.1L/100km
Sedan S tronic 7sp quattro 3.0DT $88,000 Avant S tronic 7sp q’tro 2.0T $68,800 Allroad S tronic 7sp q’tro 2.0DT $69,900
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: BMW 3 Series, Mercedes C-Class Previous Golf R’s have been a bit leaden. This one
isn’t. In fact it’s one of the best hot Golf’s ever: sharp,
A5 direct, fast and fun. An Impreza from Germany.
An artful lesson in understatement, Audi’s A5 Coupe does desirable
without the flash. Engines to suit most budgets and the RS5 to suit us.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
2 MINI COOPER S
Sportback 5dr 8sp 1.8T $68,200 Front 1455 5.8 1.8/4 125 320 8.2 – 6/10
Price $36,950
Sportback 5dr 7sp 3.0SC $99,300 Four 1790 8.1 3.0/4 200 400 6.0 250 6/10
Specs 141kW, 280Nm, 0-100km/h 6.8secs,
Best! RS5 coupe 2dr 7sp 4.2i $156,400 Four 1715 10.5 4.2/8 331 430 4.5 250 8/10
VMax 228km/h, 5.9L/100km
Also available: Sportback 2.0T quattro man/S tronic $75,400/$77,300 (cabrio $90,500) RS5 cabriolet $176,400
Cabrio 3.0TD $107,200 S5 coupe/cab $119,900/$129,900 Sportback 2.0TD 7sp S tronic quattro $76,300
Our current ruling Fun Car Of The Year manages to
Also try: BMW 3 Series Coupe, Mercedes CLK
balance the “practical when you need it, fizzy when
you want it” equation, without compromising either.
A6
A very good exec that continues to keep the BMW 5 Series and Merc E- 3 AUDI S3
Class on their toes. It’s the safest choice, and that’s not always a bad thing.
Price $59,900
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Specs 206kW, 380Nm, 0-100km/h 5.4secs,
Sedan 4dr CVT 2.0T $77,900 Front – 6.4 2.0/4 132 320 8.3 226 6/10 VMax 250km/h, 7.0L/100km
Sedan 4dr 7sp quattro 3.0DT $108,400 Four – 5.9 3.0/6 180 580 6.1 250 6/10
RS6 Avant 4.0TT $225,000 Four 1936 9.8 4.0/8 412 700 3.9 280 8/10 A gorgeous daily driver, laden with fruit inside, and
Also available: 2.0DT sedan/wagon $79,500/$83,500 Sedan 2.8i Quattro $91,900 Avant CVT 2.0T $81,800 an all-wheel joy when you let it off the chain. Also
Allroad 3.0TD $117,900 S6 quattro 4.0TT $168,900 Biturbo sedan 3.0 TDI $119,700 Sedan quattro 4dr 3.0SC $115,300 comes as a sedan, but the Sportback is a blast.
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: BMW 5 Series, Jaguar XF, Mercedes E-Class, Lexus GS

A7 4 FORD FOCUS ST
Audi’s niche busting continues. The A7 is basically an A8 with a hatch, so it Price $25,990
drives safely, has nice engines and interiors, and has a slightly bigger boot. Specs 134kW, 240Nm, 0-100km/h 6.5secs,
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING VMax 250km/h, 6.2L/100km
S’back SA 7sp quattro 3.0DT $136,750 Four 1845 6 3.0/6 180 580 6.5 250 7/10
Just great fun – turns every trip to the shops into
S’back SA 8sp quattro 3.0SC $143,800 Four 1845 8.2 3.0/6 228 440 5.6 250 7/10
a grin-splitting blat. Not loaded inside, but all you
Best! S7 SA 7sp quattro 4.0TT $179,900 Four 1945 9.6 4.0/8 309 550 4.7 250 7/10
need. Not sure we’d take Tweety yellow, though.
Also available: Sportback SA 8sp quattro 3.0DTT $149,600
Also try: BMW 7 Series, Lexus LS, Mercedes S-Class
5 RENAULTSPORT MEGANE RS265
A8 Price $43,990
Two tonne, ludicrously powerful, autobahn bomber. This hot rod looks like a Specs 195kW, 360Nm, 0-100km/h 6.0secs,
conservative limo ... but isn’t. The 4.2 turbo diesel is mad, and S8 is madder.
VMax 250km/h, 7.5L/100km
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Sedan SA 8sp quattro 3.0DT $195,000 Four 1955 5.9 3.0/6 190 580 5.9 250 8/10 Take your driving seriously? Attend track days? Forget
Sedan SA 8sp quattro 4.2DT $249,900 Four 2115 7.4 4.2/8 283 850 4.7 250 8/10 Post on forums? Then buy a Megane, the hatch awkwa
S8 sedan SA 8sp quattro 4.0TT $279,000 Four 2065 9.6 4.0/8 382 650 4.1 250 8/10 of choice for hardcore geeks. name (
Also available: A8 Sedan SA 8sp quattro LWB 3.0DT $206,900 The Fe
Also try: BMW 7 Series, Lexus LS, Mercedes S-Class Q5 And isn
Audi’s ‘small’ SUV is only small because the Q7 is the size of sub-Saharan ‘La’ Fre
R8 Africa. It’s small inside though, if that helps. Which it doesn’t.
The only supercar on Planet Earth that’s as easy to drive as a Golf. This may
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
not be a good thing on reflection, but we wouldn’t kick it out of bed.
TFSI 5dr Tiptronic 8sp 2.0T $63,600 Four 1755 7.9 2.0/4 165 350 7.1 222 5/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
TDI 5dr S tronic 7sp 2.0DT $62,600 Four 1770 6.1 2.0/4 130 380 9.0 200 5/10
Coupe man 6sp quattro 4.2i $279,500 Four 1560 14.6 4.2/8 316 430 4.6 301 8/10
TDI 5dr S tronic 7sp 3.0DT $76,100 Four 1860 6.4 3.0/6 180 500 6.5 225 6/10
Coupe S tronic quattro 5.2i $366,900 Four 1620 14.7 5.2/10 386 530 3.9 316 8/10
Also available: TFSI wagon 5dr Tiptronic 7sp quattro 3.0i $75,000
Spyder S tronic quattro 5.2i $395,800 Four 1620 14.9 5.2/10 386 530 4.1 313 8/10 SQ5 TDI wagon 5dr Tiptronic 8sp quattro 3.0DTT $90,600
Also available: Spyder 2dr S tronic quattro 4.2i $308,400 Plus Coupe 2dr S tronic quattro 5.2i $408,200 ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Land Rover Freelander, Volvo XC60, BMW X3
Also try: Porsche 911, Lamborghini Gallardo, Maserati GranTurismo
Q7
Q3 A car that addresses our socio-economic and environmental malaise
Audi’s newer, smaller SUV is perfect for the yummy mummy by ignoring both completely. The Q7 is a bad idea, brilliantly executed.
on the school run. Daddy will still want the Evoque, though... PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING TFSI 5dr SA 8sp quattro 3.0SC $95,700 Four 2250 10.7 3.0/6 245 440 6.9 243 6/10
TDI wagon 5dr quattro 2.0DT $47,500 Four 1645 5.2 2.0/4 103 320 9.9 202 5/10 TDI 5dr SA 8sp quattro 3.0DT $90,500 Four 2300 7.8 3.0/6 176 550 7.9 216 6/10
TDI wagon 5dr quattro 2.0DT $55,000 Four 1660 5.9 2.0/4 130 380 8.2 212 5/10 TDI 5dr SA 8sp quattro 4.2DTT $129,300 Four 2440 9.2 4.2/8 250 800 6.4 242 6/10
Best! TFSI 5dr quattro 2.0T $56,500 Four 1640 7.7 2.0/4 155 300 6.9 230 5/10 ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Land Rover Discovery 4, BMW X5, Volvo XC90
Also available: TFSI wagon 5dr 1.4 $42,300 TFSI 5dr wagon quattro 2.0T 125kW $49,450 RS 2.5T $81,900
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: BMW X1, Evoque
TT
So much more of a sports car than before, the (not that) new TT is
a superb prospect, albeit a somewhat ubiquitous and expensive one.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Coupe 2dr man 6sp 1.8T $69,350 Front 1370 6.7 1.8/4 118 250 7.2 226 7/10
S coupe 2dr man 6sp 2.0T $98,900 Four 1395 8.0 2.0/4 200 350 5.4 243 7/10
Best! RS plus 2dr quattro 2.5T $139,900 Four 1475 8.5 2.5/5 265 465 4.1 280 7/10
Also available: 1.8T Roadster $72,800 2.0T coupe $75,450 2.0T quattro coupe/roadster $78,050/$81,500
2.0TDI coupe $74,200 S Roadster 2.0T $103,300
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (Coupe) Also try: BMW Z4, Nissan 370Z, Porsche Boxster and Cayman, Mercedes SLK

WorldMags.net
FOR M OR E R E V IE W S , R O A D T E S T S , V ID E O S A ND F IRS T D RIV E S, G O T O T OP GE A R .COM /AU
 BENTLEY-BMW
BENTLEY 5 SERIES
Clarkson on Bentley:

CONTINENTAL
WorldMags.net
‘Built with Volkswagen’s money, but still very, very British. Driving a Bentley
is like riding a brontosaurus… bare back. Actually, make that a T-Rex.’
A return to form for the 5, with more easily digestible
looks, a better ride and BMW’s stock-in-trade quality.

520i sedan 4dr 2.0T

PRICE
$80,400
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Rear 1610 6.2 2.0/4
KW
135
NM
270
0-100
7.9
MAX
223
RATING
6/10
535d sedan 4dr 3.0DTT $122,400 Rear 1725 5.6 3.0/6 230 630 5.5 250 7/10
The definitive posh tourer, and a masterclass in British style.
Reputation tarnished somewhat by rappers and UK ‘footballers’. Best! M5 sedan 4.4TT $229,930 Rear 1870 9.9 4.4/8 423 680 4.2 250 9/10
Also available: 520d sedan/wagon $82,900/$91,400 528i sedan $97,900 520d/530d GT $94,400/$109,400
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING 535i GT $117,930 535i sedan/wagon $116,930/$122,930 550i sedan $159,930 ActiveHybrid 5 $120,400
GT coupe SA 6sp 6.0TT $408,870 Four 2290 16.6 6.0/12 423 700 4.6 318 9/10 ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Audi A6, Jaguar XF, Mercedes E-Class
Flying Spur sedan SA 6sp 6.0TT $423,160 Four 2400 14.7 6.0/12 460 800 4.6 – 9/10
Supersports convertible 6.0TT $531,630 Four 2485 16.3 6.0/12 463 800 3.9 – 8/10 6 SERIES
Also available: GT S Coupe 4.0TT $405,600 GT Speed SA 6sp 6.0TT coupe/convertible $461,300/$507,400 Fast, direct and super-techy, the 6 Series excels as a grand tourer, but
GT V8 4.0TT 8 sp coupe/ convertible $381,000/$419,100 GT Convertible 6.0TT $449,500 those expecting visceral sports car thrills might want to look at the M3.
Also try: Porsche Panamera, Aston Martin Rapide, Mercedes CL PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
640i conv Steptronic 8sp 3.0TT $192,975 Rear 1840 7.9 3.0/6 235 450 5.5 250 7/10
MULSANNE 650i conv Steptronic 8sp 4.4TT $246,975 Rear 1940 8.8 4.4/8 300 600 5.0 250 7/10
The superlative sedan makes a comeback from the 1980s. Live out
your Gordon Gekko fantasies, safe in the knowledge that greed is good. Best! M6 Coupe 4.4TT $291,675 Rear 1850 9.9 4.4/8 412 680 4.2 250 7/10
Also available: 640i coupe $176,975 650i coupe $230,975 640i Gran Coupe $183,975 640d Gran Coupe $184,400
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING M6 Convertible/Gran Coupe $307,675/$298,675
Sedan SA 8sp 6.8TT $662,858 Rear 2600 16.9 6.8/8 377 1020 5.3 296 8/10 Also try: Porsche 911, Maserati GranTurismo, Aston Vantage, Jaguar XKR
Also try: Porsche Panamera, Aston Martin Rapide, Mercedes CL
7 SERIES
Now a more attractive proposition than rival Merc S-Class
BMW or Audi A8, the 7 Series is phenomenally good.
Clarkson on BMW: PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
‘BMW is making some good cars at the moment; since all the
cocks are in Audis, you may even get let out of junctions in one.’ Best! 730d sedan 4dr 3.0DT $206,200 Rear 1865 5.6 3.0/6 190 560 6.1 245 7/10
750i sedan 4dr 4.4TT $282,930 Rear 1945 8.6 4.4/8 330 650 5.2 250 7/10
1 SERIES Also available: ActiveHybrid 7/ 7L Steptronic 8sp 3.0 $223,100/$238,100 740i/740Li 3.0TT $212,275/$227,275
Sticking doggedly with rear-wheel drive, BMW’s new 750Li $299,630 760Li Steptronic 8sp 6.0TT $391,175
1 Series is much better, but certainly no prettier. Also try: Lexus LS, Audi A8, Mercedes S-Class, Jaguar XJ
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
116i hatch 5dr SA 8sp 1.6T $36,900 Rear 1290 5.7 1.6/4 100 220 8.5 210 7/10
Z4
Superbly re-styled with a folding hard top, the new Z4 is a more convincing
M135i hatch 5dr 3.0T $64,930 Rear 1520 8.0 3.0/6 235 450 5.1 250 8/10 alternative to the Porsche Boxster than before. Which isn’t saying much.
Also available: 118i $43,000 118d $43,000, 125i $48,000, M135i coupe/conv $64,930
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: VW Golf, Audi A3, Mercedes B-Class
sDrive20i roadster 2.0T $79,900 Rear 1420 6.8 2.0/4 135 270 6.9 235 7/10
2 SERIES sDrive28i roadster 2.0T $89,900 Rear 1420 6.8 2.0/4 180 350 5.5 250 6/10
A new number for what used to be the 1 Series coupe. If you’re still Best! sDrive35is roadster 3.0TT $119,075 Rear 1525 9.0 3.0/6 250 450 4.8 250 9/10
in love with the old E36 3 Series, consider upgrading to the M235i. Also try: Audi TT, Nissan 370Z, Porsche Boxster/Cayman
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
220i Coupe $51,000 Rear 1365 6.0 2.0/4 135 270 7.0 230 8/10
X1
A mock-SUV trading on its badge. Can’t go even slightly offroad (as we
220d Coupe $53,000 Rear 1390 4.4 3.0/6 135 380 7.1 230 8/10 proved). Cue much mirth at the staffer who drowned it in a small puddle...
Best! M235i $79,930 Rear 1470 7.6 2.0/4 240 450 4.8 250 8/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Also available: 228i Coupe SA 8sp 2.0T $64,400
sDrive18d 5dr man 6sp 2.0DT $46,300 Rear 1480 4.9 2.0/4 105 320 9.6 202 6/10
Also try: Audi A3, Mercedes CLA
xDrive28i 5dr auto 6sp 2.0T $59,900 Four 1580 7.8 2.0/4 180 350 3.1 205 6/10

the 2 SERIES ACTIVE TOURER Also available: xDrive20d wagon 5dr man 6sp 4x4 2.0DT $56,900 sDrive20i 5dr man 6sp 2.0T $48,300

rd Good value, comfort and function, but it’s for badge wankers ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Audi Q5, Land Rover Freelander, VW Tiguan, BMW X3
and those who’ve given up on life. Sorry.
(Ferrari X3
rrari? PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Slightly too-pricey alternative to the Land Rover Freelander, but a cheap
n’t 218i 5dr SA 6sp 1.5T $44,400 Front 1360 5.2 1.5/3 100 220 9.2 205 7/10 alternative to looking like a massive spanner in an X5. As you surely will.
ench, 220i 5dr SA 8sp 2.0T $50,900 Front 1430 6.1 2.0/4 170 350 6.6 240 7/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Best! 218d 5dr SA 8sp 2.0DT $47,800 Front 1410 4.2 2.0/4 110 330 8.9 210 8/10
xDrive20i 5dr 2.0i $60,765 Four 1705 7.5 2.0/4 135 270 8.6 210 6/10
Also try: Audi A3, Mercedes CLA
Best! xDrive30d 5dr 3.0DT $77,400 Four 1800 6.0 3.6/6 190 560 6.2 210 6/10
3 SERIES Also available: xDrive20d wagon 5dr Steptronic 8sp 2.0DT$64,400 xDrive 28i 5dr 3.0i $72,930
The benchmark small exec, available both as a small turbocharged four- ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Audi Q5, Land Rover Freelander, VW Tiguan
pot four-door and reaper-baiting V8 über-coupe. And stuff in between.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
X4
The ‘Sports Activity Coupe’ (with four doors, mind) is still a pleasingly
316i sedan 4dr SA 8sp 1.6i $52,800 Rear 1385 5.9 1.6/4 100 220 9.2 210 7/10 sporty drive. For an SUV...
328i sedan 4dr SA 8sp 2.0T $69,400 Rear 1455 6.3 2.0/4 180 350 6.1 250 7/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Best! M3 Coupe man 6sp 4.0i $156,430 Rear 1580 12.4 4.0/8 309 400 4.8 250 8/10
xDrive 20i 5dr SA 6sp 2.0T $69,430 Four 1735 7.2 2.0/4 135 270 8.1 212 7/10
Also available: 320i sedan/wagon, 323i sedan, 325i sedan/coupe/cab
320d sedan/coupe/cab, 335i sedan/cab, 318d sedan/wagon, M3 cab, ActiveHybrid 3, 328i wagon xDrive 35i 5dr SA 6sp 3.0T $87,430 Four 1815 8.3 3.0/6 225 400 5.5 247 8/10
Also try: Mercedes C-Class, Lexus IS, Audi A4 xDrive 30d 5dr SA 6sp 3.0DT $83,900 Rear 1820 5.9 3.0/6 190 560 5.8 234 9/10
Also available: xDrive20d 5dr Steptronic 8sp 2.0DT $73,400
4 SERIES Also try: Range Rover Evoque
A confident and clever smallish sedan/biggish coupe package.
You really want the M4, though.
X5
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Second only to the Range Rover for utter road domination,
420d Coupe SA 8sp 2.0DT $72,300 Rear 1465 4.6 2.0/4 135 380 7.3 232 7/10 second fiddle to Land Rover for off-road ability.
428i Coupe SA 8sp 2.0T $81,000 Rear – 6.4 2.0/4 180 350 5.8 – 7/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
435i Coupe SA 8sp 3.0T $108,530 Rear 1470 7.4 2.0/6 225 400 5.1 250 7/10 xDrive30d 5dr 3.0DTT $100,400 Four 2070 6.2 3.0/6 190 560 6.9 230 –/10
Also available: Convertible variants xDrive 50i 5dr 4.4TT $133,900 Four 2175 10.5 4.4/8 330 650 5.0 250 –/10
Also try: Audi A5, Mercedes E-Class Also available: xDrive 35i 3.0 $106,930 sDrive/xDrive 25d 2.0DT $83,900/$88,900 xDrive 40d 30TDTT $116,400 xDrive
M50d $148,400
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Range Rover, Porsche Cayenne, Mercedes ML, VW Touareg

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 1 43
CHRYSLER-FERRARI
X6 C4

xDrive30d coupe 5dr 3.0TT

PRICE
$110,575
WorldMags.net
BMW teaches niche management 101: a two-tonne 4WD coupe the size
of an X5 but with less space inside, and the off-road ability of a Vespa.
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Four 2075 7.4 3.0/6
KW
180
NM
540
0-100
7.5
MAX
210
RATING
5/10
Getting long in the tooth and never really on a par with the benchmark rivals
like the Ford Focus and VW Golf. Shame really, it was always a bit of a looker.

Attraction 5dr SA 4sp 1.6i

PRICE
$22,990
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Front 1270 6.9 1.6/4
KW
88
NM
160
0-100
13.9
MAX
–
RATING
6/10
xDrive50i coupe 5dr 4.4TT $150,075 Four 2190 12.5 4.4/8 300 600 5.4 240 6/10 Seduction 5dr SA 6sp 1.6DT $28,990 Front 1290 4.4 1.6/4 82 270 11.3 – 7/10
Best! M coupe 5dr 4.4TT $190,575 Four 2305 13.9 4.4/8 408 680 4.7 250 6/10 ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: VW Golf, Ford Focus, Renault Megane
Also available: xDrive40d $127,075 xDrive35i $120,675 xDrive M50d $156,675
Also try: Porsche Cayenne, Range Rover Sport
C5
The car Citroen made to take the fight to the Germans.
A step up in quality if nothing else.
CHRYSLER PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Clarkson on Chrysler: Exclusive sedan SA 6sp 2.0DT $45,190 Front 1658 6.8 2.0/4 120 340 10 – 6/10
‘Hard to think of a reason to buy a Chrysler unless you’re
a US tax-payer and want to know where your money’s gone.’
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Mondeo, Mazda6
GRAND VOYAGER
An improvement over its less than amazing predecessor, GRAND C4 PICASSO
but no better than offerings from Kia and Toyota. A people-mover without the dull people-mover
looks that make you want to drive into a tree.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
LX wagon auto 2.8DT $57,500 Front 2124 8.4 2.8/4 120 360 – – 6/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Limited wagon auto 2.8DT $77,500 Front 2124 8.4 2.8/4 120 360 – – 7/10 Picasso 7-seat SA 6sp 2.0 TDI $43,990 Front 1440 4.5 2.0/4 110 370 10.2 207 8/10
Also try: Kia Carnival, Toyota Tarago, Honda Odyssey ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Honda Odyssey, contraception

300
New 300 loses ‘gangsta’ pose, drops the ‘C’ off some models and becomes a DODGE
respectably dressed citizen. New petrol and diesel options through range. Clarkson on Dodge:
‘Unnecessary surgery, shark attack, scrofula. These are
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING just some of the things I would rather endure than a Dodge.’
300 Limited 4dr SA 8sp 3.6i $43,000 Rear 1897 9.4 3.6/6 210 340 7.0 – 6/10
C Sedan 4dr SA 5sp 3.0DT $51,500 Rear 1897 7.1 3.0/6 176 550 7.8 – 6/10
JOURNEY
Named after the rubbish rock band? Probably not, but it wouldn’t be illogi-
Best! 300 SRT8 4dr SA 5sp 6.4i $66,000 Rear 2012 13.0 6.4/8 347 631 5.0 – 7/10 cal: old internals, indifferent style, and performers that are over the hill.
Also available: C Sedan 3.6i $46,500 300 Limited sedan 3.0DT $48,000 C Luxury sedan 3.6i/3.0DT $51,000/$56,000
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
300 SRT8 Core 4dr SA 5sp 6.4i $56,000 300S 4dr SA 8sp 3.6i $47,500
SXT wagon 7st 5dr SA 6sp 3.6i $32,500 Front 1942 10.3 3.6/6 206 342 11.6 – 4/10
Also try: BMW 5 Series, Mercedes E-Class
R/T wagon 7st 5dr SA 6sp 3.6i $36,500 Front 1942 10.3 3.6/6 206 342 11.6 – 4/10
Also try: Land Rover Freelander, Mitsubishi Outlander
CITROEN
Clarkson on Citroen:
‘Citroen now makes some of the nicest looking cars you can FERRARI
buy, and on past form it’ll give you free money when you do.’ Clarkson on Ferrari:
‘Ferraris used to be art. Now, worryingly, they are science.
DS3 Happily, the 458 shows they can still be truly wonderful.’
A gigantic, garlic-mincing Gallic leap forward for Citroen. Not especially CALIFORNIA
fast, but huge fun and a running kick up the backside for Mini.
A Maserati in everything but name, the California
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING is a lovely but quite overpriced drop-top tourer.
DStyle 3dr SA 5sp 1.6i $27,740 Front 1079 5.5 1.6/4 70 135 13.2 – 8/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
DStyle Cabrio SA 4sp 1.6i $30,990 Front 1208 6.7 1.6/4 88 160 – 190 7/10 Convertible 2dr SMac 7sp 3.9i $409,888 Rear 1730 10.5 3.9/8 412 755 3.6 315 8/10
DSport Cabrio man 6sp 1.6T $32,990 Front 1231 5.9 1.6/4 115 240 – 212 7/10 Also try: Maserati GranCabrio, Audi R8 Spyder, Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet
Best! DSport 3dr man 6sp 1.6T $29,740 Front 1165 6.7 1.6/4 115 240 7.3 – 8/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mini, Fiat 500, Audi A1 458
The finest sports car of the past five years. Utterly mind-blowing.
DS4 You should want one. Everyone should want one…
New big brother to the DS3, another leap PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
forward for Citroen...When will this ever end?
Italia Coupe 2dr DCT 7sp 4.5i $525,417 Rear 1485 13.3 4.5/8 425 540 3.4 325 9/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Spider 2dr DCT 7sp 4.5i $588,451 Rear 1430 13.3 4.5/8 425 540 3.4 320 9/10
DStyle 5dr SA 6sp 1.6T $34,990 Front 1284 6.4 1.6/4 115 240 9.9 – 8/10
Speciale 2dr DCT 7sp 4.5i $550,000 Rear 1290 11.8 4.5/8 445 540 3.0 325 9/10
DSport 5dr man 6sp 1.6T $39,490 Front 1316 6.5 1.6/4 147 275 8.5 – 8/10
Also try: Aston V12 Vantage, Porsche Turbo, Lamborghini Gallardo
Also available: DStyle man 1.6T $31,990 DSport SA 1.6T $37,490 DStyle 2.0DT $37,990 DSport 2.0DT $40,490
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: VW Golf, BMW 1 Series, Renault Clio FF
A Ferrari grand tourer, but not as we know it. The first-ever 4WD Ferrari,
DS5 and it’s a wagon. So, it’s the most practical 330km/h family car out there...
The most avant-garde of all the DSs. The launch of the premium
mid-sized five-door hatch completes the local lineup. PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
FF coupe DCT 7sp 6.3i $624,646 Four 2295 15.4 6.3/12 485 683 3.7 335 9/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Also try: Aston Martin Rapide, Bentley Continental GT
DSport 5dr SA 6sp 1.6T $48,990 Front 1420 7.3 1.6/4 115 240 9.7 202 8/10
Also available: DSport hatchback 5dr SA 6sp 2.0DT $51,990 F12
Also try: VW Passat, Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, Honda Accord The F12 is bombastic, epic and howlingly fast. The fastest Ferrari road car
ever – faster even than the Enzo – there’s nothing else remotely like it.
C3 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
The C3 is a bit average when compared to the Fiestas and Polos
F12 Berlinetta DCT 7sp 6.3i $690,745 Rear 1525 15.1 6.3/12 545 690 3.1 340 9/10
of this world. And now it’s been rogered from within by the DS3.
Also try: Aston Martin DBS, Lamborghini Aventador
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Seduction 5dr SA 4sp 1.6i $22,990 Front 1135 7 1.6/4 88 160 – – 4/10
Seduction 5dr man 5sp 1.6DT $25,990 Front 1080 3.6 1.6/4 68 230 – – 4/10
Also available: Seduction hatchback 5dr man 5sp 1.2i $19,990
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Fiesta, Honda Jazz, VW Polo

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 FIAT-FPV
FIAT FOCUS

500
Clarkson on Fiat:
WorldMags.net
‘The essence of Italian cars. Stylish, likeable,
almost certain to break your heart. Or wallet.’
The new Focus will win favour worldwide, but
is it a little too grown-up and homogenised?

Ambiente hatch 5dr 1.6i

PRICE
$20,290
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Front 1311 6.2 1.6/4
KW
92
NM
159
0-100
–
MAX
–
RATING
6/10
Sport hatch 5dr 2.0i $25,890 Front 1317 7.1 2.0/4 125 202 – – 7/10
Not quite the Sixties revival Fiat was angling for, but the
500 is a refreshing alternative to Mini-shaped ubiquity. Best! ST hatch 5dr 6sp man 2.0T $38,290 Front 1454 7.4 2.0/4 184 360 6.5 – 8/10
Also available: Trend hatchback 2.0i/2.0DT $22,290/$28,090 Sport TDCi hatchback 2.0DT $31,690
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Titanium hatchback 2.0i/2.0DT $32,900/$36,490 Sedan variants (Powershift only)
Pop 3dr man 5sp 1.2i $17,000 Front 885 5.1 1.2/4 51 102 12.9 159 6/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: VW Golf, Renault Megane
S 3dr man 6sp 1.4i $20,000 Front 952 6.1 1.4/4 74 131 10.5 182 6/10
Lounge 3dr auto 0.9i $23,000 Front 940 3.9 0.9/2 63 145 11 173 6/10 KUGA
Also available: Pop auto $18,500, S auto $21,500, convertible variants Ford’s best medium SUV yet looks good and goes good
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mini, VW Polo, Citroen DS3
but faces some serious competition in a tough segment.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
FREEMONT Ambiente 5dr man 6sp 1.6T $27,990 Front – 6.7 1.6/4 110 240 – – 7/10
Having five kids has exhausted your savings. So Fiat has designed the
stimulus package you need in the form of the affordable Freemont. Trend 5dr 6sp SA 1.6T $36,240 Four – 8.0 1.6/4 134 240 – – 7/10
Titanium 5dr 6sp SA 2.0DT $47,740 Four – 6.4 2.0/4 120 340 – – 7/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Also available: Trend 5dr 6sp SA 2.0DT $39,240 Titanium 5dr 6sp SA 1.6T $44,740
Base 5dr auto 6sp 2.4i $27,000 Front 1879 9.8 2.4/4 125 220 – 180 –/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: VW Tiguan, Mazda CX-5, Honda CR-V
Also available: Urban 5dr man 6sp 2.0D $33,000 Urban 5dr auto 6sp 2.4i $29,000 Lounge 5dr auto 6sp 2.4i $32,000
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Holden Captiva 7, Kia Grand Carnival FALCON
Alas, now officially an endangered species, due for extinction in 2016. Buy
PUNTO one soon or miss out forever. And then buy a second one for spare parts…
The Italians do great food, fashion and scenery to rival the
rest of the world. Now they’ve built a car that does that, too. PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
XT ecoboost sedan 4dr 2.0i $37,235 Rear 1704 8.1 2.0/4 179 353 – – 7/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Best! XR6 Turbo sedan 4.0T $46,235 Rear 1726 12 4.0/6 270 533 – – 7/10
Pop 5dr man 5sp 1.4i $15,900 Front 1024 5.7 1.4/4 57 115 13.2 165 7/10
G6E Turbo 4dr SA 6sp 4.0T $56,235 Rear 1745 11.7 4.0/6 270 533 – – 7/10
Easy 5dr SA 5sp 1.4i $19,300 Front – 5.4 1.4/4 57 115 13.2 165 7/10
Also available: XR6 sedan 4.0i $39,990 G6 sedan 4.0i $40,835 G6E sedan 4.0i $46,735
Lounge 5dr SA 5sp 1.4i $21,800 Front – 5.4 1.4/4 57 115 13.2 165 7/10 utility 4.0i $27,990 XR6 utility 4.0i $35,190 XR6 Turbo utility 4.0 $39,190
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Fiesta, Holden Barina, Peugeot 208, VW Polo ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Holden Commodore, Toyota Aurion, Chrysler 300C

PANDA TERRITORY
Cute and cuddly, just like the beast itself. So popular it caused the demise of the venerable (if ugly) Falcon
Also slow and snoozy like the animal, too. wagon. A bit of a truck, but not as rolly-poly as you might think.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Pop 5dr man 5sp 1.2i $16,500 Front 950 5.2 1.2/4 51 102 – – 7/10 TX wagon 5dr SA 6sp 4.0i $39,990 Rear 1967 10.6 4.0/6 195 391 – – 7/10
Easy 5dr man 5sp 0.9i $19,000 Front 985 4.2 0.9/2 63 145 – – 7/10 TS wagon 5dr SA 6sp 4.0i $47,740 Rear 1976 10.6 4.0/6 195 391 – – 7/10
Trekking 5dr man 5sp 1.3DT $24,000 Front 1040 4.2 1.3/4 55 190 – – 7/10 Titanium 5dr SA 6sp 2.7DT $58,060 Rear 2011 8.8 2.7/6 140 440 – – 8/10
Also available: Easy 5sp auto 0.9i $20,500 Lounge 5sp auto 0.9 $22,500 Also available: Titanium SA 6sp 4.0i $54,990 TX SA 6sp 2.7DT $43,240 TS SA 6sp 2.7DT $50,990
Also try: Skoda Fabia, Holden Cruze, Mazda3 Titanium SA 6sp 2.7DT $58,060 TX SA 6sp 4WD 2.7DT $48,240 TS SA 6sp 4WD 2.7DT $55,990
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mitsubishi Outlander, Nissan Murano, Toyota Kluger

FORD RANGER
Clarkson on Ford: Another party in the hotly-contested manly utility
‘Decent, well-made cars that do everything you want for a reasonable price. war that we lost interest in about three meat pies ago.
Like Myer without the pretty girls in their adverts.’
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
FIESTA XL dual cab 4dr man 5sp 2.5i $30,240 Rear 1789 10.4 2.5/4 122 225 – – 5/10
One of the more striking hatchbacks on sale and blessed with a superb XLT dual cab 4dr man 6sp 3.2DT $53,990 Four 2159 9.4 3.2/5 147 470 – – 5/10
chassis. Pace-setter or pacemaker, there’s something for everyone here. Also available: XL Hi-Rider super cab/ dual cab 2.2DT $33,240/$35,990 XL pick-up man 6sp 2.2DT $24,740
XL dual cab/pick-up hi-rider man 6sp 2.2DT $35,990/$34,990 XLS 4x4 $48,090
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Amarok, HiLux, BT-50, Colorado, D-Max, Triton, Navara
Ambiente 5dr man 5sp 1.5i $15,825 Front 1194 5.8 1.5/4 82 140 – – 8/10
Trend 5dr man 5sp 1.5i $17,825 Front 1221 5.8 1.5/4 82 140 – – 8/10
Sport 5dr man 5sp 1.0T $20,525 Front 1248 4.9 1.0/3 92 170 – – –/10 FPV
ST 3dr man 6sp 1.6T $25,990 Front 1197 6.2 1.6/4 134 240 6.9 220 8/10 Clarkson on FPV:
Also available: Automatic models +$2000 ‘Australians like a bit of danger; they have dogs that eat
babies for fun, sharks, spiders, and now they have this.’
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Citroen C3, Honda Jazz, Nissan Micra, Mini, Fiat 500

ECOSPORT GS
Entry-level FPV that is far from entry-level spec. Great performance
Yet another player to join the recent tall-hatch invasion. Not quick, and, for the price, a real winner. Brakes aren’t as good as the GT though.
but the three-cylinder EcoBoost is a sweet, revvy little unit.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Sedan 4dr man 6sp 5.0S $57,870 Rear 1840 13.6 5.0/8 315 545 5.2 – 7/10
Titanium man 5sp 1.0T $25,790 Front 1280 5.7 1.0/3 92 170 – – 7/10
Utility 2dr man 6sp 5.0S $52,990 Rear 1789 14.7 5.0/8 315 545 5.2 – 7/10
Titanium SA 6sp 1.5i $27,990 Front 1289 6.5 1.5/4 82 140 – – 7/10
Also try: Something from HSV, or a fast German sedan
Also available: Ambiente 1.5i $20,790 Trend 1.0i $22,290 Trend 1.5i $24,290
Also try: Holden Trax, Peugeot 2008, Nissan Juke GT F
It’s here: the last car that will ever wear the FPV badge. A good
MONDEO final effort, but still not as powerful or fast as the HSV GTS.
The benchmark for mediocrity is actually a very fine car enjoying a mid-
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
life spruce up. Good chassis and fine styling, but an unenviable image.
Sedan 4dr man 6sp 5.0S $77,990 Rear 1840 13.7 5.0/8 351 570 4.6 – 8/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Also try: HSV Clubsport / GTS
LX hatchback 5dr SA 6sp 2.3i $31,490 Front 1532 9.5 2.3/4 118 208 – – 6/10
Zetec Ecoboost hatch 5dr 2.0T $37,740 Front 1682 8.0 2.0/4 149 300 – – 7/10
Best! Titanium TDCi hatch 2.0DT $46,990 Front 1611 6.2 2.0/4 120 400 – – 7/10
Also available: LX TDCi hatch 2.0DT $35,490 Zetec TDCi hatch 2.0DT $37,940 Titanium hatch 2.0T $44,990
Wagon variants +$1250
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Skoda Superb, Honda Accord, Mazda6

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 1 45
 TOPGEARTOPFIVE
GREAT WALL-HOLDEN
GT

GT sedan 4dr man 6sp 5.0S $70,790

WorldMags.net
A trifecta of blokey muscle. Pick the GT if you’re skint, the GT-E
if you’re ‘demure’, and the GT-P if you think NASCAR is too subtle.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Rear 1837 14.2 5.0/8
KW
335
NM
570
0-100
4.9
MAX
–
RATING
7/10 1
EXECUTIVE CARS
BMW 520D
GT RSPEC sedan man 6sp 5.0S $76,990 Rear 1844 13.6 5.0/8 335 570 4.5 – 7/10 Price $82,400
GT-P sedan 4dr man 6sp 5.0S $82,040 Rear 1845 14.2 5.0/8 335 570 4.9 – 7/10 Specs 140kW, 400Nm, 0-100km/h 8.1secs,
Also available: GT-E sedan 4dr man 6sp 5.0S $82,490 VMax 250km/h, 5.2L/100km
Also try: HSV Senator, E 63 AMG, Chrysler 300C SRT-8
The 5-Series stands clear at the top of the class.
F6 Others come close in some areas, but none manages
FPV’s original force-fed super sedan doesn’t the 5-Series’ breadth of excellence across the board.
give anything away to big brother GT.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING 2 MERCEDES E250 CDI
Sedan 4dr man 6sp 4.0T $64,390 Rear 1771 12.3 4.0/6 310 565 5.0 – 7/10
Price $99,400
E sedan 4dr SA 6sp 4.0T $76,440 Rear 1778 12.1 4.0/6 310 565 5.0 – 7/10
Specs 150kW, 500Nm, 0-100km/h 7.5secs,
Also try: HSV Clubsport / GTS
VMax 250km/h, 4.9L/100km
F6 UTE The E-Class has always come across as slightly
The quickest way we can think of to get your King Gees and thermos
to work and back again. Not as composed as the sedan though. austere compared to more welcoming rivals,
but there’s no denying the ability on offer.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Utility 2dr man 6sp 4.0T $55,990
Also try: HSV Maloo, a jet-powered Mighty Boy
Rear 1755 12.8 4.0/6 310 565 5.1 – 6/10
3 JAGUAR XF 3.0D S
Price $115,500
Specs 202kW, 600Nm, 0-100km/h 6.5secs,
GREAT WALL VMax 250km/h, 6.3L/100km
Clarkson on Great Wall:
‘There is no such thing as cheap and cheerful The car that proved Jag did know how to build
... only cheap and nasty.’ an executive to rival the Germans. Shame that
V SERIES development hasn’t quite kept pace since.
A basic workhorse for those on a budget. Not even close to a compelling
drive, but there’s something to be said for a ute this cheap. 4 AUDI A6 3.0 BITDI QUATTRO
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Price $119,700
Single cab tray 2dr man 5sp 2.4i $18,990 Rear – – 2.4/4 100 200 – – 3/10 Specs 230kW, 650Nm, 0-100km/h 4.9secs,
S’ cab tray 2dr man 6sp 2.0DT $23,990 Four 1707 8.3 2.0/4 105 310 – – 3/10 VMax 250km/h, 6.4L/100km
Super Luxury 4dr man 5sp 2.4i $25,990 Rear 2770 10.7 2.4/4 100 200 – – 4/10
Also available: Super Luxury dual cab 4dr man 6sp 2.0DT $27,990 Single cab tray 2dr man 5 sp 2.4 i 4wd $21,990 Not the cheapest A6, but by far and away the
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Toyota Hilux, Mitsubishi Triton, Holden Colorado fastest and most interesting. Lesser ones fall short
of BMW/Merc standards, but not the Bi-TDI.
X SERIES
Affordable 4WD wagon that isn’t any uglier than any other SUV.
It’s not a particularly good off-roader, but how many are?
5 TESLA MODEL S
Price $96,000
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Specs 285kW, 310Nm, 0-100km/h 6.2secs,
X240 5dr man 5sp 2.4i $23,990 Four 1830 10.4 2.4/4 100 200 – – 4/10
VMax 190km/h, 0L/100km, 390km range
Best! X200 5dr man 6sp 2.0DT $27,990 Four 1890 7.6 2.0/4 105 310 – – 4/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: A second-hand Outlander Proof that it is possible to do things differently in
this market. Like be powered by electricity and have
HOLDEN a hatchback. Tesla is here and it’s rather awesome.
Clarkson on Holden:
‘The Holden range is just meat pie
engineering, really.’ COMMODORE
The new VF really is a Very Good Car. If there’s any justice in the world, it’ll
BARINA sell like hotcakes. But will Australians still buy locally made family cars?
Not what you’d call a great car. The Daewoo-based Barina PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
is a sore departure from the Opel-sourced models.
Evoke SA 6sp 3.0i $35,490 Rear 1622 8.3 3.0/6 185 290 – – 8/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
SV6 man 6sp 3.6i $36,790 Rear 1688 9.0 3.6/6 210 350 – – 8/10
CD Hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.6i $15,390 Front 1193 6.8 1.6/4 85 155 – – 4/10
SS man 6sp 6.0i $42,990 Rear 1729 11.5 6.0/8 270 530 – – 8/10
Spark CD hatch 5dr 1.2i $12,490 Front 967 5.6 1.2/4 59 107 – – 5/10
SS-V Redline man 6sp 6.0i $52,490 Rear 1766 11.8 6.0/8 270 530 – – 9/10
RS hatch 5dr man 6sp 1.4i $21,390 Front 1249 6.5 1.4/4 103 200 – – 5/10
Calais V V8 SA 6sp 6.0i $53,990 Rear 1778 11.7 6.0/8 260 517 – – 8/10
Also available: CD Sdn man 5sp 1.6i $15,890 CDX Hatch 5dr SA 6sp 1.6i $20,090 CDX Sedan 5dr SA 6sp 1.6i $20,590
Also available: Calais SA 6sp 3.6i $40,790 Calais V V6 SA 6sp 3.6i $47,990 SS-V man 6sp 6.0i $46,490
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: VW Polo, Toyota Yaris, Nissan Micra Sportswagon body style + $2000 (Auto only available) Auto transmission + $2200 Ute variants
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Falcon, Chrysler 300C
CRUZE
The German-designed Cruze is now built in Oz. Not bad for the MALIBU
money, but outclassed by its European and Japanese rivals.
New mid-size four-cylinder sedan is actually based on its GM namesake.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING So you’ve got our permission to stick Chevy badges on it.
Equipe sedan 4dr man 5sp 1.8i $19,890 Front 1367 7 1.8/4 104 176 – – 6/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Equipe sedan 4dr SA 6sp 1.4T $23,590 Front 1391 6.4 1.4/4 103 200 – – 7/10 CD 4dr SA 6sp 2.4i $28,890 Front 1583 8.0 2.4/4 123 225 – – 8/10
Z-Series sdn 4dr SA 6sp 2.0DT $28,590 Front 1506 5.6 2.0/4 120 360 – – 6/10 CD 4dr SA 6sp 2.0DT $32,890 Front 1659 6.4 2.0/4 117 350 – – 8/10
Also available: Equipe sedan 4dr SA 6sp 2.0DT $26,090 Z-Series sedan 4dr SA 5sp 1.8i $22,390 CDX 4dr SA 6sp 2.4i $32,390 Front 1610 8.0 2.4/4 123 225 – – 8/10
SRi sedan 4dr man 5sp 1.6 $22,890 SRi Z-Series sedan 4dr man 5sp 1.6 $26,890 Hatch/Sportwagon variants
CDX 4dr SA 6sp 2.0DT $36,390 Front 1684 6.5 2.0/4 117 350 – – 8/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: BMW 5 Series, Jaguar XF, Mercedes E-Class, Lexus GS
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Hyundai i40, Ford Mondeo, Toyota Camry, Mazda6

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 HSV-HONDA
CAPRICE CIVIC

Caprice 3.6L LPG V6

PRICE
$59,490
WorldMags.net
Like a Commodore, only longer. It’s the car of choice for hire-car
drivers all over the country. Mixing it wth the Euros, now.
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Rear 1816 12.1 3.6/6
KW
180
NM
320
0-100
–
MAX
–
RATING
7/10
Oh dear. It’s not the best time for the venerable Civic at the moment.
Honda did the best with what it had, but it’s not a strong competitor.

Vi- sedan man 5sp 1.8i

PRICE
$18,490
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Front 1205 6.8 1.8/4
KW
104
NM
174
0-100
–
MAX
–
RATING
5/10
Caprice V Gen IV V8 $60,490 Rear 1851 11.7 6.0/8 260 517 – – 7/10 VTi-L sedan SA 5sp 1.8i $26,290 Front 1205 6.8 1.8/4 104 174 – – 5/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: BMW 5 Series, Mercedes E-Class, FPV GT E, Audi A6 Hybrid sedan CVT 1.5i/15kW $33,990 Front 1285 4.4 1.3/4 82 172 13.4 – 5/10
Also available: VTi-S sedan 4dr SA 5sp 1.8i $23,290 Sport sedan 4dr SA 5sp 2.0i $30,290 Hatch variants
CAPTIVA ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Focus, Renault Megane, VW Golf
Where the Adventra failed, the Daewoo-sourced Captiva succeeds. If the
Adventra was cheaper and taller, it probably would have succeeded... ACCORD EURO
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Better than its badge will ever allow you to believe, the Accord
Euro is a secret assassin of the Audi A4 and its Germanic ilk.
5 LT wagon 5dr man 6sp 2.4i $26,490 Front 1732 9.7 2.4/4 123 230 – – 6/10
7 LT wagon 5dr SA 6sp 3.0i $36,490 Four 1764 11.3 3.0/6 190 288 – – 6/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
7 LTZ wagon 5dr SA 6sp 2.2DT $41,490 Four – 8.3 2.2/4 135 400 – – 6/10 Best! Sedan 4dr man 6sp 2.4i $30,340 Front 1525 8.7 2.4/4 148 234 – – 8/10
Also available: 7 LS wagon 2.4i/2.2DT $30,490/$33,490 7 LT wagon 2.2DT $37,490 Luxury sedan 4dr man 6sp 2.4i $37,840 Front 1570 8.7 2.4/4 148 234 – – 7/10
5 LT wagon 4WD 2.2DT $32,690 7 LTZ wagon 3.0i $40,490 5 LTZ wagon 2WD/4WD 2.4i/2.2DT $31,690/$35,690 ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Mondeo, Mazda6, Subaru Liberty
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Kia Sportage, Toyota RAV4, Mitsubishi Outlander
ACCORD
COLORADO Slightly more spacious, softer version of the Accord Euro.
The latest version of Holden’s rugged tradie We’re fairly sure it’s one for the RSL carpark.
is bigger and more powerful than ever before.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING VTi sedan SA 5sp 2.4i $31,490 Front 1510 7.9 2.4/4 129 225 – – 6/10
LX dual cab 2WD man 5sp 2.8DT $34,390 Rear 1917 7.8 2.5/4 132 440 – – 4/10 VTi-L sedan SA 5sp 2.4i $41,490 Front 1572 8.1 2.4/4 129 225 – – 6/10
LT dual cab man 5sp 4x4 2.8DT $45,990 Four 2007 7.9 2.8/4 132 440 – – 4/10 V6L sedan SA 6sp 3.5i $51,990 Front 1667 9.2 3.5/6 206 339 – – 6/10
LT-Z dual cab 4dr SA 6sp 2.8DT $52,790 Four 2053 9.1 2.8/4 132 470 – – 5/10 Also available: VTi-S sedan 4dr SA 5sp 2.4i $33,990
Also available: 2WD/4WD single cab models, 2WD/4WD Space cab models, 7-seat models ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Mondeo, Mazda6, Toyota Aurion
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Toyota HiLux, Mitsubishi Triton
CR-V
TRAX Less pedestrian than the original and hugely popular soft roader with
Ticks most boxes for its target market of toddler-hauling predictably hard to fault execution. Do you really need an SUV though?
mums: and whoever pays the bills will be loving the price.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
VTi 5dr man 6sp 2.0i 2WD $27,490 Front 1460 7.8 2.0/4 114 190 – – 6/10
LS 5dr man 5sp 1.8i $23,990 Front 1356 7.0 1.8/4 103 175 – – 7/10
VTi-S 5dr SA 5sp 2.4i $36,290 Four 1580 8.8 2.4/4 140 222 – – 6/10
LTZ 5dr SA 6sp 1.8i $28,490 Front 1371 7.6 1.8/4 103 175 – – 7/10
VTi-L 5dr SA 5sp 2.4i $42,290 Four 1580 8.7 2.4/4 140 222 – – 6/10
LTZ 5dr SA 6sp 1.4i $29,990 Front 1421 6.9 1.4/4 103 200 – – 7/10
Also available: VTi wagon 5dr SA 5sp 2.4i AWD $32,790 Diesel models
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Nissan Juke, Ford EcoSport
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Land Rover Freelander, Nissan X-Trail, Hyundai ix35

VOLT CITY
Holden’s new plug-in petrol-electric hatch is the first of its kind to A car definitely named after its purpose, the
grace Aussie roads. Easy to live with and doesn’t give you range anxiety. City is fun and functional motoring on a budget.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Hatchback 5dr auto 1.4i $59,990 Front 1721 1.2 1.4/4 111 370 9.0 160 8/10 Best! VTi sedan man 5sp 1.5i $15,990 Front 1082 5.8 1.5/4 88 145 – – 6/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Honda CR-Z, Civic hybrid VTi-L sedan auto CVT 1.5i $21,390 Front 1103 5.7 1.5/4 88 145 – – 6/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Fiesta, Mazda2, Nissan Micra

HOLDEN SPECIAL VEHICLES LEGEND

Clarkson on HSV:
Charisma-free sedan with S-Class levels of tech and a clever 4WD
‘Get out of the way Germans! They can go from system. Unfortunately it’s as dull as a dishwasher convention.
0-100 in about five seconds... usually sideways.’
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
GEN F Sedan 4dr SA 5sp 3.5i $76,135 Four 1865 10.7 3.5/6 226 370 – – 5/10
The most eagerly awaited HSV range ever has arrived,
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Audi A6, BMW 5 Series, Mercedes E-Class
including the star of the show – the monstrous GTS.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING ODYSSEY
Clubsport man 6sp 6.2i $63,190 Rear 1705 12.6 6.2/8 317 550 n/a – 8/10 Probably your only choice for a well made,
Maloo R8 man 6sp 6.2i $68,290 Rear 1737 12.6 6.2/8 325 550 n/a – 7/10 affordable and not-hideously ugly people mover.
Grange man 6sp 6.2i $85,990 Rear 1788 12.6 6.2/8 340 570 n/a – 7/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
GTS man 6sp 6.2S $96,990 Rear 1881 15.3 6.2/8 430 740 n/a – 8/10 VTi 5dr SA 5sp auto CVT 2.4i $38,990 Front 1776 7.6 2.4/4 129 225 – – 6/10
Also available: Maloo $58,990 Clubsport R8 sedan/wagon 6.2i $73,490/$74,490 VTi-L wagon 5dr auto CVT 2.4i $47,620 Front 1819 7.8 2.4/4 129 225 – – 6/10
Senator Signature $83,990
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Toyota Tarago, Kia Grand Carnival
Also try: Something from the FPV stables, 300 SRT8
CR-Z
HONDA Honda’s attempt at making a fun-to-drive hybrid. It may be
better than an Insight, but it’s still no bona fide sports car.
Clarkson on Honda:
‘All that great engineering and F1 heritage, completely wasted PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
on the average buyer who is still one hundred and eleventy.’ Coupe 3dr man 6sp 1.5i $38,490 Front 1155 5.3 1.5/4 100 190 9.7 – 6/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: VW Scirocco/Polo GTI, Mini Cooper
JAZZ
Individual and ingenious, the Jazz deserves to
be bought by more people under 90 than it is.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
VTi hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.5i $16,990 Front 1048 6.2 1.5/4 88 145 – – 6/10
VTi-S hatch 5dr auto CVT 1.5i $19,790 Front 1120 5.8 1.5/4 88 145 – – 6/10
VTi-L hatch 5dr auto CVT 1.5i $22,490 Front 1130 5.8 1.5/4 88 145 – – 6/10
Also available: Hybrid hatch 5dr 1.3i CVT $22,990
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Kia Soul, VW Polo, Ford Fiesta

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 147
HYUNDAI-INFINITI
HYUNDAI I40

IX35
Clarkson on Hyundai:

scheme. But then so did scrap dealers.’

WorldMags.net
‘Hyundai did rather well out of the UK scrappage
Not so long ago, a Hyundai would be as dull as its driver. The stylish i40
changes that, and gives the Japanese/Euro status quo a boot up the backside.

Active wagon 5dr SA 6sp 2.0i

PRICE
$33,990
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Front 1574 6.8 2.0/4
KW
130
NM
213
0-100
–
MAX
–
RATING
7/10
Elite wagon 5dr SA 6sp 1.7DT $41,590 Front 1659 6.0 1.7/4 100 330 – – 7/10
An almost decent-looking compact SUV that follows Hyundai’s general trend
towards being a lot less rubbish. No masterpiece, but you could do worse. Premium wagon 5dr SA 6sp 1.7DT $47,590 Front 1659 6.0 1.7/4 100 330 – – 7/10
Also available: Active wagon 1.7DT $36,590 Elite wagon 2.0i $38,990 Premium wagon 2.0i $44,990, Sedan variants
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Mondeo, Citroen C5, Honda Accord
Active wagon 5dr man 5sp 2.0i $26,990 Front 1470 8.5 2.0/4 122 197 – – 6/10
Elite wagon 5dr SA 6sp 2.0i $33,590 Front 1470 8.5 2.0/4 122 197 – – 6/10 IMAX
Elite wagon 5dr SA 6sp 2.4i $35,990 Front 1585 9.2 2.4/4 130 227 – – 6/10 A big ol’ van with some windows and eight seats.
Also available: Elite wagon 5dr SA 6sp 2.0DT $38,590 Highlander wagon 5dr SA 6sp 2.4i $38,590 Perfect for school run duty, or IVF junkies.
Highlander wagon 5dr SA 6sp 2.0DT $40,990
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Land Rover Freelander, Nissan X-Trail, Honda CR-V
SLX 5dr auto 4sp 2.4i $38,290 Rear 2128 10.6 2.4/4 129 228 – – 5/10
I20 SLX 5dr man 6sp 2.5DT $41,490 Rear 2249 8.1 2.5/4 100 343 – – 5/10
An interesting so-called replacement for the Getz which can be ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Birth control
bought for peanuts and feels surprisingly well glued together.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
VELOSTER
A quirky coupe/hatch thingy that drives with a modicum of talent.
Active hatch 3dr man 5sp 1.4i $15,590 Front 1117 6 1.4/4 73 136 – – 5/10 Turbo version now, too.
Elite hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.6i $17,590 Front 1119 6.1 1.6/4 91 156 – – 5/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Also available: Active hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.4i $16,490
Veloster 4dr man 6sp 1.6i $24,490 Front 1180 6.4 1.6/4 103 167 – – 7/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Honda Jazz, Ford Fiesta, VW Polo
Veloster + 4dr man 6sp 1.6i $29,490 Front 1230 6.4 1.6/4 103 167 – – 7/10
I30 Best! SR Turbo+ 4dr man 6sp 1.6T $32,990 Front 1307 6.8 1.6/4 150 265 – – 7/10
Hyundai’s catching up in the design stakes and it’s already there in perceived ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mini Clubman, BMW 116i
quality and handling stakes with the new i30. Well done, Hyundai.

Active hatch 5dr man 6sp 1.8i

PRICE
$20,990
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Front 1329 6.9 1.8/4
KW
110
NM
178
0-100
–
MAX
–
RATING
5/10
ISUZU D-MAX
Clarkson on Isuzu D-MAX:
Elite hatch 5dr man 6sp 1.6DT $27,190 Front 1388 4.5 1.6/4 94 260 – – 6/10 ‘There’s no-nonsense styling, simple rugged charm
SR 5dr man 6sp 2.0i $27,990 Front 1258 7.2 2.0/4 129 209 7.7 – 7/10 and the 3.0-litre turbodiesel is gutsy as hell.’
Also available: Active hatchback man 6sp 1.6DT $23,590 Elite hatchback man 6sp 1.8i $24,590 Premium 1.6DT $33,090
Premium hatchback SA 6sp 1.8i $30,490 Tourer wagon variants
D-MAX
The Holden Rodeo’s long-lost brother is a rugged workhorse that’s worth
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Focus, Renault Megane, VW Golf
a look. Less pressure to have a Southern Cross sticker on the back, too.
SANTA FE PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Hugely popular and not-that-bad super soft SUV that has benefited SX cab chassis 4dr man 5sp 3.0DT $27,400 Rear 1820 8.0 3.0/4 130 380 – – 5/10
from a more Eurocentric facelift. Should the Japanese start worrying? LS crew ute 4dr man 5sp 3.0DT $38,800 Rear 1835 8.3 3.0/4 130 380 – – 5/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING LS-U crew ute 4dr man 5sp 3.0DT $46,100 Four 1935 8.3 3.0/4 130 380 – – 6/10
Active 5dr SA 6sp 2.4i $38,490 Four 1884 9.0 2.4/4 141 242 – – 6/10 Also available: LS-U space cab ute 4x4 $44,000 SX crew ute 4x4 $42,800 LS-M crew ute 4x4 $44,900
Elite 5dr SA 6sp 2.2DT $48,490 Four 1912 7.3 2.2/4 145 436 – – 6/10 ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Toyota HiLux, Mitsubishi Triton, Holden Colorado
Highlander 5dr SA 6sp 2.2DT $53,240 Four 1912 7.3 2.2/4 145 436 – – 6/10
Also available: Active wagon 5dr man 6sp 2.2DT $41,490
MU-X
Seven-seat mud stomper based off the D-MAX.
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Hyundai iX-35, Kia Sportage, Freelander Handy if the school run goes via the Canning Stock Route.
ACCENT PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Um. If anyone can explain where the yawning gap between the LS-M 4x2 SA 5sp 3.0TD $40,500 Rear 1900 8.2 3.0/4 130 380 – – 6/10
i20 and i30 is, we’ll gladly recommend the Accent. Probably. LS-M 4x4 SA 5sp 3.0TD $47,800 Four 2000 8.4 3.0/4 130 380 – – 7/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING LS-T 4x4 SA 5sp 3.0TD $54,000 Four 2060 8.4 3.0/4 130 380 – – 7/10
Active hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.6i $16,990 Front 1115 6 1.6/4 91 156 – – 5/10 Also available: LS-U 4x2 $42,000 LS-M man 5sp $45,600 LS-U man 5sp $47,100 LS-U SA 5sp $49,300

SR hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.6i $18,490 Front 1115 6 1.6/4 91 156 – – 5/10 ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Nissan Pathfinder, Land Rover Discovery

Elite sedan 4dr auto 4sp 1.6i $20,990 Front 1650 5.6 1.6/4 91 156 – – 5/10
Also available: Active sedan 1.6i $16,990
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Honda Jazz, Ford Fiesta, VW Polo
INFINITI
Clarkson on Infiniti:
‘Has anyone ever thought “What I need in life
ELANTRA is a posh Datsun’’? I suspect the answer is no.’
The first of the progressive Hyundai sedans
works as a family hauler, but not much else. Q50
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Chock full of fruit and technology, but dynamic shortcomings mean it
doesn’t deliver on the ‘true driver’s car’ promise.
Active sedan 4dr man 6sp 1.8i $20,990 Front 1277 6.6 2.0/4 110 178 – – 5/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Elite sedan 4dr SA 6sp 1.8i $26,840 Front 1277 6.6 1.7/4 110 178 – – 5/10
GT 4dr SA 7sp 2.0T $50,900 Rear 1646 7.3 2.0/4 155 350 7.3 – 7/10
Premium sedan 4dr SA 6sp 1.8i $30,490 Front 1289 7.1 1.7/4 110 178 – – 6/10
GT 2.2d 4dr SA 7sp 2.2DT $51,900 Rear 1729 5.2 2.1/4 125 400 8.5 230 6/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Focus sedan, VW Jetta, Subaru Impreza
Also available: S 4dr SA 7sp 2.0T $56,900 S Premium 4dr SA 7sp 2.0T $60,500 S 4dr SA 7sp 2.2DT $57,900
GENESIS S Premium 4dr SA 7sp 2.2DT $61,500 Hybrid S 4dr SA 7sp 3.5 $67,900 Hybrid S Premium 4dr SA 7sp AWD 3.5 $73,400

Hyundai shoots straight for the top with the Genesis. Big, Also try: Audi A5, BMW 3 Series, Lexus IS, Mercedes-Benz C-Class
comfy, quiet, stacked with kit... it’s worth having a look at.
Q60
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Two-door offering looks the business, and the V6 has real grunt,
Genesis sedan SA 8sp 3.8i $60,000 Rear 1890 11.2 3.8/6 232 397 6.5 240 7/10 but this won’t trouble its German rivals very deeply.
Sensory sedan SA 8sp 3.8i $71,000 Rear 1890 11.2 3.8/6 232 397 6.5 240 7/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Ultimate sedan SA 8sp 3.8i $82,000 Rear 1890 11.2 3.8/6 232 397 6.5 240 7/10
GT Premium SA 7sp 3.7 V6 $63,900 Rear 1670 10.5 3.7/6 235 360 5.9 250 -/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Focus sedan, VW Jetta, Subaru Impreza
Also available: S Premium SA 7sp 3.7 V6 $69,900 Convertible variants
Also try: BMW 4 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class

WorldMags.net
FOR M OR E R E V IE W S , R O A D T E S T S , V ID E O S A ND F IRS T D RIV E S, G O T O T OP GE A R .COM /AU
 JEEP-KIA
Q70 PATRIOT

GT 3.7 4dr SA 7sp 3.7 V6

PRICE
$68,900 Rear
WorldMags.net
Refined, classy and quick. But is it as good as a Lexus GS?
We will let you know...
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
1652 10.2 3.7/6
KW
235
NM
360
0-100
6.2
MAX
250
RATING
-/10
No longer the cheapest Jeep product you can buy, it still feels like the
smallest, cheapest Jeep product you can buy. Which is saying something.

Sport 5dr man 5sp 2.0i

PRICE
$25,700
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Front 1490 7.6 2.0/4
KW
115
NM
190
0-100
-
MAX
–
RATING
6/10
GT 3.0d 4dr SA 7sp 3.0 V6 D $70,900 Rear 1776 7.5 3.0/6 175 550 6.9 250 -/10 Limited 5dr CVT 2.4i $34,000 Four 1535 8.2 2.4/4 125 220 10.7 – 6/10
Also available: S Premium 4dr SA 7sp 3.7 V6 $78,900 3.0d S Premium 3.0 V6 D $80,900 Also try: Kia Sportage, Nissan Dualis, Honda CR-V
Hybrid 4dr SA 7sp 3.5 V6 $82,900
Also try: BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class WRANGLER
Yee and indeed ha. The Wrangler is still pretty basic,
QX70 but has been around for so long it’s now rugged retro.
The swoopiest of the swoopy-design SUVs, loaded with fruit PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
inside and with bags of traction for when you need it.
Sport soft top 2dr man 6sp 3.6i $33,000 Four 1745 11.4 3.6/6 209 347 – – 6/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Rubicon soft top 2dr man 6sp 3.6i $43,000 Four 1745 11.4 3.6/6 209 347 – – 6/10
3.7 4dr SA 7sp 3.7 V6 $75,900 All 1893 12.1 3.7/6 235 360 6.8 250 -/10
Also available: Unlimited 4dr variants +$4000 Overland 2dr auto 5sp 3.6i $43,000
Also try: BMW X5, Audi Q5 Unlimited Overland 4dr auto 5sp 3.6i $47,000 Sport soft top 2dr man 6sp 2.8DT $39,000
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Land Rover Defender, a tractor

JAGUAR CHEROKEE
Clarkson on Jaguar:
Totally redesigned, capable and practical – and that nose
‘Still cars for the kind of chap who takes his wife for is better looking in the metal than it is in photos.
dinner and then flirts with the waitress all night. Good.’
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
XJ Sport auto 9sp 2.4i $33,500 Front 1638 8.3 2.4/4 130 229 – – 8/10
Yet more up and up from Jag. The XJ is rapid, sublimely refined and Longitude auto 9sp 3.2 V6 $39,000 All 1795 10.0 3.2/6 200 316 – – 8/10
just plain beautiful. The sat-nav is more than a bit convoluted, though.
Limited auto 9sp 3.2 V6 $44,000 All 1806 10.0 3.2/6 200 316 – – 8/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Trailhawk auto 9sp 3.2 V6 $47,500 Four 2090 10.0 3.2/6 200 316 – – 8/10
Premium Lux. 4dr SA 6sp 3.0DTT $198,800 Rear 1796 7 3.0/6 202 600 6.4 250 7/10
Also available: Limited auto 9sp 2.0DT 4x4 $49,000
Portfolio sedan 4dr SA 6sp 5.0i $298,800 Rear 1755 11.3 5.0/8 283 515 5.7 250 7/10
Also try: Mazda CX-5, Nissan X-Trail
Best! Supersport 4dr SA 6sp 5.0S $298,800 Rear 1892 12.1 5.0/8 375 625 4.9 250 7/10
Also available: Premium Luxury sedan 3.0i $198,445 Portfolio sedan 4dr SA 6sp 3.0i $222,245 Long wheelbase models GRAND CHEROKEE
XJR 5.0S $298.800 The GC was once the big 4WD that urbanites aspired to own,
Also try: BMW 7 Series, Audi A8, Lexus LS, Mercedes S-Class, Porsche Panamera but ever since SUVs got social syphilis it’s not the obvious choice.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
XF
Laredo wagon 4dr SA 8sp 3.6i $48,000 Four 2084 10.4 3.6/6 210 347 8.3 206 5/10
A blistering return to form for Jaguar and a judo chop to Jerry’s solar
plexus. The XF does luxurious dynamics and dares to be different. Limited wagon 4dr SA 8sp 5.7i $62,000 Four 2302 13.0 5.7/8 259 520 7.3 225 5/10
Overland wagon 4dr SA 8sp 5.7i $72,000 Four 2329 13.0 5.7/8 259 520 7.3 225 6/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Also available: Laredo SA 8sp 3.6i 4x2 $44,000 Laredo 3.0DT $53,000 Limited 3.6i/3.0DT $57,000/$62,000
Luxury sedan 4dr SA 8sp 2.2D $69,900 Rear 1745 5.4 2.2/4 140 450 8.5 225 6/10
Overland 3.6i/3.0DT $67,000/$72,000 SRT8 6.4i $80,000
R sedan 4dr SA 8sp 5.0S $189,075 Rear 1842 12.5 5.0/8 375 625 4.9 250 8/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: BMW X5, Land Rover Discovery 4, Mercedes M-Class
Also available: Luxury sedan 2.0i/3.0D $68,075/$95,900 Premium sedan 2.0i/2.2D $74,675/$76,500
Portfolio/Luxury sedan 3.0S $110,430/$93,430 S Luxury 3.0DTT/Portfolio $95,900/$112,900 XFR-S 5.0S $222,075
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: BMW 5 Series, Audi A6, Mercedes E-Class KIA
Clarkson on Kia:
XK/XKR ‘Providers of our Reasonably Priced Car. At
The XK mixes refinement and involvement like nothing else, helped in least I think they are. It’s quite easy to forget.’
no small way by improved engines. A gentlemanly ‘up yours’ to the 911.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
RIO
No longer just cheap, spacious motoring, the new Rio
XK coupe SA 6sp 5.0i $188,530 Rear 1660 11.2 5.0/8 283 515 5.7 250 7/10 continues Kia’s recent respect-building mission.
XKR coupe SA 6sp 5.0S $209,530 Rear 1753 12.3 5.0/8 375 625 4.8 250 8/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Best! XKR-S coupe SA 6sp 5.0S $298,030 Rear 1753 12.3 5.0/8 404 680 4.4 250 8/10
S hatchback 5dr man 5sp 1.4i $16,990 Front 1143 5.7 1.4/4 79 135 – – 6/10
Also available: XK convertible 5.0i $213,530 XKR convertible 5.0S $233,530 XKR-S convertible SA 6sp 5.0S $298,030
Si hatchback 5dr man 5sp 1.6i $19,490 Front 1179 5.6 1.6/4 103 167 – – 7/10
Also try: Porsche 911, BMW 6 Series, Aston Martin Vantage or second-hand DB9
SLi hatchback 5dr man 5sp 1.6i $20,490 Front 1179 5.6 1.6/4 103 167 – – 7/10
F-TYPE Also available: 3 door hatch models and 4-door sedan
Over-priced Boxster rival, or cut-price 911 rival? That one’s going to run ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Fiesta, VW Polo
and run, but the F-Type deserves to be mentioned in the same breath...
SOUL
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Second gen mini-MPV is a major improvement over its predecessor in
F-Type V6 3.0S $138,175 Rear 1597 9 3.0/6 250 450 5.3 260 8/10 terms of design, quality, and practicality. Coolness, 100 per cent intact.
F-Type S V6 3.0S $170,575 Rear 1614 9.1 3.0/6 280 460 4.9 275 9/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
F-Type V8 S 5.0S $201,475 Rear 1665 11.1 5.0/8 364 625 4.3 300 9/10 Si Hatchback 5dr man 6sp 2.0i $24,990 Front 1335 7.6 2.0/4 113 191 – – 7/10
Also try: Porsche 911, Porsche Boxster Si Hatchback 5dr auto 6sp 2.0i $26,990 Front 1405 8.4 2.0/4 122 200 – – 7/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Nissan Juke, Toyota Rukus

JEEP SPORTAGE
Clarkson on Jeep:
Another one of Kia’s stand-out cars: the Sportage
‘As far as I can work out these are 4x4s for people is an almost handsome, spacious, value-driven SUV.
who couldn’t find their local Land Rover dealer.’
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
COMPASS
Si 5dr man 5sp 2.0i $25,990 Front 1482 8.7 2.0/4 122 197 – – 7/10
The ugly ducking of the Jeep range, if such a thing is even possible,
and about as popular. And no, it doesn’t blossom into a swan, either. SLi 5dr SA 6sp 2.0DT $37,990 Four 1588 7.5 2.0/4 135 392 – – 7/10
Platinum 5dr SA 6sp 2.0DT $41,590 Four 1588 7.5 2.0/4 135 392 – – 7/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Also available: Si Premium 5dr SA 6sp 2.0i $29,990 Platinum 5dr SA 6sp 2.0i $38,590
Sport wagon 4dr man 5sp 2.0i $27,000 Front 1490 7.6 2.0/4 115 190 – – 6/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Peugeot 3008, Hyundai ix35, Nissan Dualis
North wagon 4dr auto 6sp 2.0i $31,000 Front 1490 7.6 2.0/4 125 220 – – 6/10
Ltd wagon 4dr CVT 2.4i $35,500 Four 1490 8.6 2.4/4 125 220 – – 6/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Suzuki Grand Vitara, supermarket trolley

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 1 49
 CAR CLINIC
KIA-LAMBORGHINI
SORENTO
A carbon-copy of the Hyundai Santa Fe except that

Si 5dr SA 6sp 3.5i $38,990

WorldMags.net
the suspension is tuned for Australian conditions.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Front 1831 9.8 3.5/6
KW
204
NM
335
0-100
–
MAX
–
RATING
6/10
BENTLEY MULSANNE SPEED
SLi 5dr SA 6sp 3.5i $41,490 Front 1831 9.8 3.5/6 204 335 – – /10
6/10
Platinum 5dr SA 6sp 2.2DT $51,490 Four 1960 7.3 2.2/4 145 426 – – 6 /10
Also available: Si 5dr man 6sp 4WD 2.2DT $40,490 SLi 5dr SA 6sp 4WD 2.2DT $44,990
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Honda CR-V, Nissan X-Trail, Land Rover Freelander

OPTIMA
Well knock us down with a feather – Kia has made
a handsome, decent-to-drive and well-built family sedan.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RAATING
Si sedan 4dr SA 6sp 2.4i $31,490 Front 1551 7.9 2.4/4 148 250 9.0 – 7/10
Platinum sedan 4dr SA 6sp 2.4i $40,990 Front 1551 7.9 2.4/4 148 250 9.0 – 7/10
SLi sedan 4dr SA 6sp 2.4i $36,490 Front 1551 7.9 2.4/4 148 250 9.0 – 7/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Hyundai i45, Mazda6

RONDO
Small mini MPV-thing that brings some swagger to
the typically un-sexy party that is the MPV market.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX R
RATING
Si 5dr auto 6sp 2.0i $30,240 Front 1582 7.9 2.0/4 122 213 10.8 200 –/10
SLi 5dr auto 6sp 2.0i $34,240 Front 1582 7.9 2.0/4 122 213 10.8 200 –/10
Platinum 5dr auto 6sp 2.0i $39,740 Front 1582 7.9 2.0/4 122 213 10.8 200 –/10
Also available: Si 5dr auto 6sp 1.7D $32,990 SLi 5dr auto 6sp 1.7D $36,990
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Kia Soul, Toyota Rukus

GRAND CARNIVAL
Nothing grand about this show, folks. It’s a lumbering van
that’s about as advanced as a blunderbuss. Go get an Odyssey.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX R
RATING
Si wagon 5dr SA 6sp 3.5i $41,490 Front 2086 10.9 3.5/6 202 336 – – 5/10
SLi wagon 5dr SA 6sp 3.5i $46,990 Front 2086 10.9 3.5/6 202 336 – – 5/10
Platinum wagon 5dr SA 6sp 3.5i $52,990 Front 2086 10.9 3.5/6 202 336 – – 5/10
Also available: S wagon 5dr SA 6sp 3.5i $39,490 SLi wagon 5dr SA 6sp 2.2DT $50,990
Si wagon 5dr SA 6sp 2.2DT $45,490 Platinum wagon 5dr SA 6sp 2.2DT $56,990
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Honda Odyssey, Toyota Tarago

CERATO ROLLS ROYCE GHOST SERIES II

New model looks better, has a perky range of engines and
heaps of good gear. A solid contender for its Japanese rivals. Dear Car Clinic
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING My chauffeur thinks I should get something new to replace
S sedan 4dr man 6sp 1.8i $19,990 Front 1287 6.6 1.8/4 110 178 9.3 205 8/10 I ve had since 1998
the tatty old Bentley Arnage I’ve 1998. I often
Si sedan 4dr auto 6sp 2.0i $28,990 Front 1309 7.4 2.0/4 129 209 8.5 210 8/10 drive myself, so it can’t be too chauffeur-y. Thoughts?
SLi sedan 4dr auto 6sp 2.0i $31.990 Front 1309 7.4 2.0/4 129 209 8.5 210 8/10
MARTIN SLATER
Also available: S Premium sedan 4dr auto 6sp 1.8i $24,990 Koup GDi Si 6sp man 2.0i $24,190
Koup T-GDi Turbo 6sp man 1.6T $28,190 5-door hatch models
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mazda3, VW Jetta, Ford Focus

PRO_CEE’D Martin, the time has come to retire the Arnage and put the
Warm hatch, well worth a closer look if ou can ignore the Stu_pi’d
spare change you’ll get for it towards something else. You’ve got
name. A ripper in the bends and a steal for the price. two options: stick with Bentley and get a Mulsanne Speed, or pop
over to Rolls and buy a Ghost. The Speed is unquestionably a Very
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
GT 3dr man 6 sp 1.6T $29,990 Front 1448 7.4 1.6/4 150 265 7.7 230 8/10
Fast Thing, but it’s $100k more than the Ghost, which is better to
Also available: GT-Tech 3dr man 6sp 1.6T $34,990
ride and be seen in. We reckon it’s the best compromise between
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Focus Sport, Hyundai i30SR chauffeur-y goodness and DIY driving pleasure.

LAMBORGHINI SPECS
Clarkson on Lamborghini:
‘Even Audi being in charge can’t stop Lambos being mad,
silly cars for people who think Ferraris are a bit serious.’
BENTLEY MULSANNE SPEED
AVENTADOR Price $708,000
The king of the bulls is an orgy of explosive, cackle-inducing ear Engine 6752cc V8, 400kW, 1100Nm ft
candy and power. Brilliant and bonkers at the same time. Performance 0–100kmh in 4.9secs,
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING 305kmh, 14.6L/100km
LP700 coupe man 6sp 6.5i $761,500 Four 1575 17.2 6.5/12 515 690 2.9 350 8/10 Weight 2700kg
Also try: Aston Martin DBS, Ferrari 599

HURACÁN
Lambo’s new “entry model” is loud, fast and eye-catching, without ROLLS ROYCE GHOST
being as challenging to live with everyday as the Aventador. Price $609,000
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Engine 6592cc V12, 425kW, 780Nm
LP610-4 dual-clutch 7sp 6.5i $428,000 Four 1422 12.5 5.2/10 449 560 3.2 325 8/10 Performance 0–100kmh in 4.9secs,
Also try: Ferrari 458, crack 250kmh, 13.9L/100km
Weight 2360kg

WorldMags.net
FOR M OR E R E V IE W S , R O A D T E S T S , V ID E O S A ND F IRS T D RIV E S, G O T O T OP GE A R .COM /AU
 LAND ROVER-LEXUS
LAND ROVER GS
Clarkson on Land Rover:
WorldMags.net
‘Good cars being ruined by increasing bling. If you
can ignore that, the cars keep getting better.’
RANGE ROVER
At last, after 15 years of trying, Lexus has finally made a GS you
would consider buying. Good advert there for persistence, then.

GS250 Luxury sedan SA 6sp 2.5i

PRICE
$76,530
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Rear 1720 9.3 2.5/6
KW
154
NM
253
0-100
8.6
MAX
–
RATING
8/10
GS350 Sports Luxury SA 6sp 3.5i $111,130 Rear 1620 9.7 3.5/6 233 378 6 – 8/10
Possibly the best car in the world. Certainly the best
luxury SUV, because it’ll actually go off-road for starters. GS450h F Sport sedan CVT 3.5i $112,100 Rear – – 3.5/6 – – – – 8/10
Also available: GS250 F Sport $84,530 GS350 F Sport $99,430
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING GS450h Sports Luxury $123,500 GS 300h Luxury/F Sport/Sports Luxury $79,000/$87,000/$102,000
HSE 4dr SA 8sp 3.0DT $170,400 Four 2160 7.5 3.0/6 190 600 7.9 210 8/10 ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mercedes E-Class, BMW 5 Series, Audi A6
Vogue SE 4dr SA 8sp 4.4DT $219,100 Four 2360 8.7 4.4/8 250 700 6.9 217 8/10
Best! Autobiography 4dr 5.0S $248,900 Four 2330 13.8 5.0/8 375 625 5.4 250 8/10 IS
Also available: Vogue 4dr SA 8sp 3.0DT $178,900 Vogue 4dr SA 8sp 4.4DT $195,100 And lo, there appeared a thorn in the side of BMW, Mercedes-Benz
Autobiography 4dr SA 8sp 4.4DT $232,800 Vogue SE 4dr SA 8sp 5.0S $224,400 and Audi. They gazed upon it and knew it was good.
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Porsche Cayenne, Audi Q7, BMW X5, Mercedes ML, Volvo XC90 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
IS250 Luxury sedan SA 6sp 2.5i $56,500 Rear 1645 9.2 2.5/6 153 252 8.1 225 7/10
RANGE ROVER EVOQUE IS350 F Sport sedan SA 6sp 3.5i $73,600 Rear 1645 9.4 3.5/6 233 378 5.6 – 8/10
One for fashionistas, not farmers, this is Range Rover
rebooted for a younger, more stylish audience. Best! IS F sedan 4dr SA 8sp 5.0i $125,475 Rear 1700 11.4 5.0/8 311 505 4.9 – 8/10
Also available: IS250 F Sport/Sports Luxury $65,5400/$78,700 IS350 Luxury/Sports Luxury $65,400/$84,800
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING IS300h Luxury/F Sport $59,500/$68,900
eD4 Pure 5dr man 6sp 2.2DT $51,495 Front 1681 5.0 2.2/4 110 380 11.2 180 7/10 ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mercedes C-Class, BMW 3 Series, Audi A4
TD4 Dynamic 5dr man 6sp 2.2DT $68,715 Four 1780 5.7 2.2/4 110 400 10.9 185 6/10
SD4 Prestige 3dr man 6sp 2.2DT $78,195 Four 1795 5.7 2.2/4 140 420 10 200 7/10 RC
Si4 Prestige 3dr SA 9sp 2.0T $79,970 Four 1745 8.7 2.0/4 177 340 7.6 217 6/10 Sharply priced competitor in the premium muscle market, but its hefty
weight and a thirsty donk means the Germans don’t need to panic yet.
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Audi Q5, BMW X3, Volvo XC60
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
RANGE ROVER SPORT RC 350 Luxury $66,000 Rear 1740 9.4 3.6/6 233 378 6.3 – 7/10
A prettier RRS would be a contradiction in terms, but RC 350 F Sport $74,000 Rear 1740 9.4 3.6/6 233 378 6.3 – 7/10
the new one definitely comes with less thuggishness.
RC F $133,500 Rear 1860 10.9 5.0/8 351 530 4.5 270 8/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Also try: BMW 4 Series, Audi A5
SE SDV6 4dr SA 8sp 3.0DT $113,200 Four 2115 7.5 3.0/6 215 600 7.2 210 8/10
HSE 4dr SA 8sp 3.0S $122,700 Four 2144 11.3 3.0/6 250 450 7.2 210 9/10 LS
Also available: SE TDV6 3.0DT $102,800 HSE SDV6 3.0DT $125,800 Autobiography SDV6 3.0DT $145,500 Huge limo-like rival to the S-Class and 7 Series. Usefully wafty, if a little
HSE Dynamic 5.0S $161,600 Autobiography Dynamic 5.0S $182,400 soulless in execution, but it does have that cool self-parking gizmo.
Also try: BMW X6, Audi Q7, Lexus RX450h PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
LS460 F Sport sedan SA 8sp 4.6i $189,030 Rear 1945 10.7 4.6/8 285 493 5.9 – 6/10
FREELANDER 2 LS600h F Sport sedan CVT 5.0i $217,230 Four 2375 8.6 5.0/8 290 520 5.7 – 7/10
Mostly upscale small SUV that’s better than it ever was.
Manages off-road better than the rivals, too. But you pay for it. Also available: LS460 Sports Luxury sedan SA 8sp 4.6i $194,230
Also try: BMW 7 Series, Audi A8, Mercedes S-Class, Jaguar XJ
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
TD4 5dr man 6sp 2.2DT $42,300 Four 1955 6.6 2.2/4 110 420 11.7 181 7/10 RX
SD4 HSE 5dr SA 6sp 2.2DT $64,500 Four 1955 7 2.2/4 140 420 9.5 190 7/10 One of the more agreeable road-biased SUVs, the RX gains in hybridised fuel
Also available: TD4 SE 5dr SA 6 sp 2.2 DT $54,100 SD4 SE 5dr SA 6 sp 2.2 DT $56,600 economy in the 450h. Looks decent enough. One for your Mum perhaps.
Si4 SE 5dr SA 6sp 2.0i $55,600 SD4 HSE Luxury 5dr SA 6sp 2.2TD $68,400
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Audi Q5, BMW X3, Volvo XC60
RX270 4dr 2.7i $68,575 Front 1950 9.7 2.7/4 138 252 11.0 200 6/10
DEFENDER RX450h Luxury 4dr 3.5i $82,900 Four 2205 6.3 3.5/6 183 317 7.8 – 7/10
Still going. Still a very workhorsey farmer’s 4WD, where practicality RX450h Sports Luxury 4dr 3.5i $100,900 Four 2205 6.3 3.5/6 183 317 7.8 – 7/10
outweighs ergonomics, luxury, ride-quality and speed. Also available: RX350 F Sport/Sports Luxury $84,375/$93,075 RX450h F Sport $89,900

PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Also try: Range Rover Sport, BMW X5, Porsche Cayenne, Mercedes ML

90 wagon 2dr man 6sp 2.2DT $42,800 Four 1820 10 2.2/4 90 360 15.8 144 6/10
110 wagon 4dr man 6sp 2.2DT $47,500 Four 1850 11 2.2/4 90 360 15.8 144 6/10
LX
Gigantic Toyota LandCruiser Sahara with more kit and a chintzy gold badge.
Also available: Single cab and crew cab models
If you’re not a fan of looking like a complete pillock, steer well clear.
Also try: A tractor
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
DISCOVERY LX570 Prestige 4dr SA 6sp 5.7i $139,575 Four 2740 14.8 5.7/8 270 530 7.8 – 7/10
The best practical SUV on sale. Standard air suspension, seven seats, Also try: Merc-GL, Audi Q7, an ocean liner
nicely lux. Only issue? Your Greenpeace neighbours hating you.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
NX300H
Great if you never leave town, which many SUVs don’t,
4dr SA 8sp 2.7DT $69,330 Four 2570 8.5 2.7/6 155 520 10.7 180 7/10
but no fun at all on the open road.
SE 4dr SA 8sp 3.0DTT $84,430 Four 2570 8.8 3.0/6 180 600 9.3 180 7/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
HSE 4dr SA 8sp 3.0DTT $95,730 Four 2570 8.8 3.0/6 180 600 9.3 180 7/10
Luxury CVT 2.5i $55,000 Front 1740 5.6 2.5/4 147 210 9.2 180 6/10
SE SCV6 4dr SA 8sp 3.0S $84,430 Four 2565 12.0 3.0/6 250 450 8.1 195 8/10
Luxury CVT 2.5i $59,500 Four 1740 5.7 2.5/4 147 210 9.2 180 6/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: BMW X5, Mercedes ML, Audi Q7
F Sport CVT 2.5i $66,000 Four 1740 5.7 2.5/4 147 210 9.2 180 6/10
Sports Luxury CVT 2.5i $75,000 Four 1895 5.7 2.5/4 147 210 9.2 180 6/10
LEXUS ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Audi Q5, BMW X3, Volvo XC60
Clarkson on Lexus:
‘Well made, quiet, sensible. But then so is my bank ES
manager, and I don’t want to drive around in him.’ Front-wheel-drive luxo sedan built to take on the big boys of Germany.
There’s hybrid models, too, for the eco-conscious real estate agent.
CT
If you believe the marketing, it’s the world’s first luxury PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
hybrid hatchback. Stuffed full of Prius tech, but less ugly. 300h Luxury CVT 2.5i $63,400 Front 1685 5.5 2.5/4 151 213 8.5 – –/10
300h Sports Luxury CVT 2.5i $72,400 Front 1705 5.5 2.5/4 151 213 8.5 – –/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
350 Luxury SA 6sp 3.5i $64,900 Front 1630 9.5 3.5/6 204 346 7.4 – –/10
CT 200h Luxury CVT 1.8i $48,990 Rear 1370 4.1 1.8/4 73 142 10.3 – 7/10
Also available: 350 Sports Luxury SA 6sp 3.5i $73,900
CT 200h F Sport CVT 1.8i $49,900 Rear 1370 4.1 1.8/4 73 142 10.3 – 7/10
Also try: BMW 3 Series, Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz C-Class
CT 200h Sports Luxury CVT 1.8i $55,900 Rear 1370 4.1 1.8/4 73 142 10.3 – 7/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Honda Insight, VW Golf BlueMotion, Toyota Prius

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 151
LOTUS-MCLAREN
LOTUS MAZDA3

EVORA
Clarkson on Lotus:
WorldMags.net
‘What is Lotus? No-one’s sure. Perhaps it’ll one day
build cars again, instead of attempting suicide.’
The Mazda3 does everything well, if a little
anonymously. Mazda in a nutshell then.

Neo hatch 5dr man 6sp 2.0i

PRICE
$20,490
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Front 1271 5.9 2.0/4
KW
114
NM
200
0-100
–
MAX
–
RATING
8/10
SP25 GT hatch 5dr man 6sp 2.5i $30,590 Front 1325 6.5 2.0/4 138 250 – – 8/10
The most useable Lotus on sale, with customary
handling and surprisingly good comfort levels. SP25 Astina 5dr man 6sp 2.5i $36,190 Front 1342 6.5 2.0/4 138 250 – – 8/10
Also available: Maxx hatch 2.0i $22,990 Touring hatch 2.0i $25,490 SP25 hatch 2.5i $25,890 Sedan variants
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (5dr) Also try: Ford Focus, VW Golf, Renault Megane
Coupe 2+2, 2dr man 6sp 3.5i $130,990 Rear 1382 9.3 3.5/6 206 350 5 262 7/10
S coupe man 6sp 3.5i s’charged $152,990 Rear 1437 9.9 3.5/6 258 400 4.6 286 7/10 MAZDA6
Also try: Porsche Boxster / Cayman, a BMW M3 or Z4 perhaps Mid-size sedan that takes on the Mondeo and Liberty.
Looks different enough, goes well and very reliable.
ELISE PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Still a joy, the Toyota-engined Elise offers visceral driving thrills
in a relatively usable package. The very definition of steering feel. Sport sedan 4dr SA 6sp 2.5i $33,460 Front 1462 6.6 2.5/4 138 250 8.2 – 7/10
Touring sedan 4dr SA 6sp 2.5i $37,500 Front 1471 6.6 2.5/4 138 250 8.2 – 7/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Atenza sedan 4dr SA 6sp 2.2DTT $50,060 Front 1503 5.4 2.2/4 129 420 8.4 – 7/10
Roadster man 6sp 1.6i $69,990 Rear 876 6.3 1.6/4 100 160 6.5 204 7/10
Also available: Touring sedan 4dr SA 6sp 2.2DTT $40,350 Atenza sedan 4dr SA 6sp 2.5i $47,210
Roadster S man 6sp 1.8iS $84,990 Rear 880 7.5 1.8/4 220 250 4.6 234 7/10 GT sedan 4dr SA 6sp 2.5i $43,220 GT sedan 4dr SA 6sp 2.2DTT $46,070 Wagon variants +$1300
Also try: Porsche Boxster, motorbike ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Mondeo, Honda Accord Euro, Subaru Liberty

EXIGE S CX-5
Lotus’s track car has grown up and got heavier. But don’t worry, Replacement for the CX-7, which is much, much better and
this just makes it more usable than ever. Deliriously good to drive. less lumbering too boot. It’s as slow as a wet week, though.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Exige S man 6sp 3.5i $126,990 Rear 1176 10.1 3.5/6 257 400 4.0 274 9/10 Maxx 5dr SkyActiv man 6sp 2.0i $27,880 Front 1443 6.4 2.0/4 114 200 – – 6/10
Also try: Porsche Cayman Maxx Sport 5dr SkyActiv 6sp 2.2DT $39,470 Four 1482 5.7 2.2/4 129 420 8.0 – 6/10
Also available: Maxx 2.5i AWD $32,880 Maxx Sport 2.0i FWD $33,620 Maxx Sport 2.5i AWD $36,620
Maxx Sport 2.2DT AWD $39,470 Grand Touring 2.5i $44,180 Grand Touring 2.2DT $47,030
MASERATI ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Nissan Murano, Land Rover Freelander, Toyota RAV4
Clarkson on Maserati:
‘A defining make of car for the Cool Wall. So wonderfully, effortlessly CX-9
cool that you don’t care if they’re actually not very good.’
Hefty SUV with seating for seven and traditional Mazda staid
reliability. Slightly more boring than daytime TV though.
GRANTURISMO
Muscular but pretty coupe that is more GT PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
than sports car, but a damn good GT at that. Luxury 5dr SA 6sp 3.7i $57,480 Four 2080 11.2 3.7/6 204 367 – – 6/10
Grand Touring SA 6sp 3.7i $63,003 Four 2097 11.2 3.7/6 204 367 – – 6/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Also available: Classic 5dr SA 6sp 3.7i FWD $44,525 Luxury 5dr SA 6sp 3.7i FWD $52,980
S coupe 2dr SA 6sp 4.7i $308,000 Rear 1770 15.2 4.7/8 331 510 4.9 295 7/10
Also try: Nissan Pathfinder. Toyota Kluger, Honda CR-V
S coupe SMac SA 6sp 4.7i $345,000 Rear 1770 16.6 4.7/8 331 510 4.9 295 7/10
Also available: MC Stradale 2st 4.7i $345,000
MX-5
Also try: Porsche 911, BMW 6 Series, Mercedes CL
One of the first of the new wave of drop-top tourers, and
still one of the best two-seat convertibles on the market.
QUATTROPORTE
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
The thrills of any Maserati coupe, but with a real boot, four
doors and room for some kids. Truly the best of both worlds. Roadster man 6sp 2.0i $47,280 Rear 1167 8.1 2.0/4 118 188 7.8 – 7/10
Roadster Sports man 6sp 2.0i $49,885 Rear 1167 8.1 2.0/4 118 188 7.8 – 7/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Audi A3 Conv, BMW 1 Series Conv, Mini Cooper Cabrio
Sedan 4dr SA 6sp 3.0i $240,000 Rear 1860 10.4 3.0/6 301 550 5.1 285 8/10
GTS sedan 4dr SA 8sp 3.8TT $319,800 Rear 1900 11.8 3.8/8 390 650 4.7 307 8/10 BT-50
Also try: Merc S-Class, Jag XJ, BMW 7 Series
Rugged simplicity in its simplest form. The BT-50 is everything a work-
man could ask of his workhorse, but we’re not sold on that face.
GRANCABRIO
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
A twin to the GranTurismo, only topless. An utterly
gorgeous grand tourer with a paramount Italian soundtrack. XT Dual Cab man 6sp 3.2DT $44,240 Four 2044 8.9 3.2/5 147 470 – – 5/10
XTR Dual Cab man 6sp 3.2DT $48,890 Four 2086 8.9 3.2/5 147 470 – – 5/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
GT Dual Cab man 6sp 3.2DT $51,140 Four 2095 8.9 3.2/5 147 470 – – 5/10
Cabriolet 2dr SA 4.7i $328,000 Rear 1980 14.5 4.7/8 323 490 5.4 283 8/10
Also available: 2WD Hi-Rider variants and single cab models
MC Cabriolet 2dr SA 4.7i $355,000 Rear – 14.5 4.7/8 338 520 4.9 289 –/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Phuket, Bali, Hawaii
Also try: Aston DB9 Volante, Porsche 911 Turbo cabriolet, Jag XK convertible

MAZDA MCLAREN
Clarkson on Mazda: Clarkson on McLaren:
‘Now the RX-8 has gone, only the MX-5 prevents Mazda from ‘Supercar companies should be founded by men with exciting
being as forgettable as a tax seminar in a Best Western motel.’ names like Enzo or Ferruccio, not accountant names like Ron.’

MAZDA2 MP4-12C
Smart, snappy little lightweight supermini Worried that the MP4-12C wouldn’t live up to the F1’s heritage?
that’s much better than its predecessor. Don’t be – the car is as fastidiously brilliant as you would have ever hoped.

PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING

Neo hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.5i $15,790 Front 1011 6.4 1.5/4 76 135 10.5 – 5/10 Coupe 2dr 7sp 3.8TT $398,000 Rear 1434 11.7 3.8/8 459 600 3.3 330 9/10

Best! MaXX 5dr man 5sp 1.5i $16,930 Front 1019 6.4 1.5/4 76 135 10.5 – 6/10 Spider 2dr 7sp 3.8TT $441,780 Rear 1474 11.7 3.8/8 459 600 3.1 329 9/10
Also try: The most intensive rivalry in motoring – Ferrari 458 Italia
Also available: Maxx hatch 2.0i $22,990 Touring hatch 2.0i $25,490 SP25 hatch 2.5i $25,890 Sedan variants
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Fiesta, VW Polo, Honda Jazz

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 MERCEDES-MINI
MERCEDES-BENZ CLA-CLASS

SLS
Clarkson on Mercedes:
WorldMags.net
‘Sensible-shoe diesels and mentalist AMGs, with so many
models in between, they’re going to run out of letters.’
Essentially the sedan version of Merc’s new A-Class that’s
built for those not rich enough to get in a full-blown C-Class.

CLA 200 SA 7sp 1.6T

PRICE
$49,900
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Front – 5.7 1.6/4
KW
115
NM
250
0-100
–
MAX
–
RATING
8/10
CLA 250 Sport SA 7sp 2.0T $64,900 Front – 6.1 2.0/4 155 350 6.7 250 8/10
With the release of the Final Edition, the SLS is tragically almost done
– not that you would ever have been able to afford one anyway. CLA 45 AMG SA 7sp 2.0T $86,900 Four – 6.9 2.0/4 265 450 4.6 270 8/10
Also try: Audi A3 sedan, BMW 1 series
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Gullwing 2dr Speedshift 7sp 6.2i $467,500 Rear 1620 13.3 6.2/8 420 650 3.8 – 8/10 CLS-CLASS
Roadster 2dr Speedshift 7sp 6.2i $486,175 Rear 1660 13.3 6.2/8 420 650 3.8 – 8/10 Nothing announces to the neighbours “I’ve become a CEO” like parking one
Black 2dr Speedshift 7sp 6.2i $639,000 Rear 1625 13.7 6.2/8 464 635 3.6 315 9/10 of these in your drive. Handsome and kitted out, it’s proof you’ve made it.
Also try: Ferrari 458 Italia, Lamborghini Gallardo, Bentley Conti GT PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
CLS 250 sedan 4dr SA 7sp 2.1DT $114,900 Rear 1785 5.2 2.1/4 150 500 7.5 210 7/10
SLK-CLASS CLS 500 sedan SA 7sp 4.7i $159,430 Rear 1890 9.9 5.5/8 300 600 4.9 210 7/10
The SLK finally had its well-overdue facelift giving it a much sharper
and modern look, meaning you now have our permission to buy one. CLS 63 AMG S 5.5TT $262,175 Rear 1870 10.0 5.5/8 430 800 4.1 250 8/10
Also available: Shooting Brake CLS 250 $124,000
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Jaguar XF, Audi A6, BMW 5 Series
SLK 200 roadster SA 7sp 1.8T $86,450 Rear 1435 6.9 1.8/4 135 270 7 210 7/10
SLK 350 roadster SA 7sp 3.5i $124,308 Rear 1540 8.3 3.5/6 225 370 5.6 210 7/10 M-CLASS
SLK 55 AMG roadster SA 7sp 5.5i $161,130 Rear 1610 8.5 5.5/8 310 540 4.6 250 7/10 Big SUV that requires hefty investment to option to
Also available: SLK 250 roadster SA 7sp 1.8T $95,700 a decent spec. Decent to drive and live with though.
Also try: BMW Z4, Porsche Boxster, Audi TT, Nissan 370Z PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ML 250 B’TEC 4dr SA 7sp 2.1DTT $83,500 Four 2175 6.4 2.1/4 150 500 9.0 210 6/10
SL-CLASS ML 400 SA 7sp 3.0i $104,430 Four 2130 8.9 3.0/6 245 480 7.6 210 6/10
Perhaps the best all-round, useable hardtop convertible on sale today.
Practical, fast, excellent quality and tidy looks. Best! ML 63 AMG 4dr 5.5TT $181,430 Four 2345 11.8 5.5/8 386 700 4.8 250 8/10
Also available: ML 350 BlueTEC wagon $101,430 ML 500 wagon $121,430
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Range Rover Sport, BMW X5, Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne
SL350 roadster SA 7sp 3.5i $226,530 Rear 1685 8.3 3.5/6 225 370 5.9 250 8/10
SL500 roadster SA 7sp 4.6i $307,030 Rear 1785 9.4 4.6/8 320 700 4.6 250 8/10 GL-CLASS
SL63 AMG roadster SA 7sp 5.5TT $384,530 Rear 1785 10.1 5.5/8 395 800 4.3 250 8/10 Basically the bigger, seven-seat version of the ML. As above, but longer
SL65 AMG roadster SA 7sp 6.0TT $470,530 Rear 1950 11.7 6.0/12 463 1000 4.0 250 8/10 – although Merc would rather you see it as a Range Rover alternative...
Also try: Maserati GranCabrio, Porsche 911, Jaguar XK PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING

A-CLASS GL 63 AMG SA 7-sp 5.5TT $216,930 Four 2580 12.3

Also available: GL 350 BlueTEC 3.0DT $129,930 GL 500 4.7TT $155,430
5.5/8 410 760 4.9 250 6/10

Merc’s smallest car is actually normal and conventional.

A genuine alternative to premium-brand rivals. ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Range Rover Vogue, Toyota LandCruiser, Lexus LX

PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING GLA-CLASS

A 180 hatch 5dr SA 7sp 1.6i $35,600 Front 1395 4.0 1.6/4 80 260 11.3 190 8/10 A crossover soft-roader that sits, sizewise, between an A-Class
Best! A 45 AMG 2.0T $74,900 Four 1555 6.9 2.0/4 265 450 4.6 – 9/10 and a B-Class, but makes you look like you go kayaking on weekends.
A 250 Sport hatch 5dr SA 7sp 2.0T $50,400 Front 1145 6.4 2.0/4 155 350 6.6 240 8/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Also available: A 200 CDI hatch 5dr SA 7sp 1.8DT $41,900 A 200 hatch 5dr SA 7sp 1.6i $41,400
GLA 200 CDI $47,900 Front 1505 4.6 2.1/4 100 300 9.9 215 7/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Volvo V40, Audi A3, BMW 1 Series
GLA 250 4MATIC $57,900 Four 1505 7.0 2.0/4 155 350 7.1 215 8/10

B-CLASS GLA 45 AMG 4MATIC $79,430 Four 1585 7.5 2.0/4 265 450 4.8 215 8/10

The B-Class is a strange one: kind of like a big hatchback ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Audi Q3
with an MPV fetish. A bit of super-niching going on here.
S-CLASS
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Merc’s iconic über-limo just keeps on trucking. Refined, reserved,
B 180 hatch 5dr SA 7sp 1.6T $40,900 Front 1360 6.1 1.6/4 90 200 – – 6/10 at ease with technology, it’s still up there with the best of the best.
B 200 hatch 5dr SA 7sp 1.6T $45,900 Front 1345 7.2 2.0/4 100 185 – – 6/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
B 200 hatch 5dr SA 7sp 1.8DT $46,400 Front 1396 7.9 2.0/4 142 280 – – 6/10 Best! S 63 AMG SA 7sp 5.5TT $384,530 Rear 2045 10.2 5.5/8 430 900 4.8 250 7/10
Also available: B 250 hatchback 5dr SA 7sp 2.0T $50,400 Also available: S 300 Hybrid $195,000 S350 BlueTEC sedan SWB/LWB $215,000/$222,500
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: BMW X1 we suppose S 500 BlueTEC sedan SWB/LWB $284,530/$309,530 S600L $414,530
Also try: Audi A8, BMW 7 Series, Jaguar XJ, Lexus LS
C-CLASS
An excellent, solid effort in the small sedan market from Mercedes. G-CLASS
Well-built, effortlessly executive, but could be considered conservative. Take a leviathan off-roader from the eighties, add some chrome and
AMG badges, then sell it to cashed-up celebs. Well done, Mercedes...
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
C 200 sedan SA 7sp 2.0T $60,900 Rear 1505 7.3 2.0/4 135 300 – – 9/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
C 250 sedan SA 7sp 2.0T $68,900 Rear 1480 6.0 2.0/4 155 350 – – 9/10 G 350 BlueTEC 4dr 3.0DT $149,330 Four 2300 11.2 3.0/6 155 540 9.1 – 6/10
Also available: C 200 BlueTec $62,400 C250 BlueTec $70,400 C300 Hybrid $71,900. Wagon also available G 55 AMG 4dr SA 5sp 5.5S $231,730 Four 2580 15.9 5.5/8 373 700 5.5 – 8/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: BMW 3 Series, Audi A4, Lexus IS Also try: BMW X6, Range Rover Vogue, Porsche Cayenne

E-CLASS
This is the generation in which the big E got its mojo back. No longer
chasing the BMW 5 Series, new E-Class is relaxed and refined.
MINI
Clarkson on Mini:
‘Cute, cool, fun cars made in Oxford. Except the
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
awful Countryman, which is none of those things.’
E 220 CDI sedan SA 5sp 2.1DT $82,900 Rear 1735 4.9 2.1/4 125 400 8.4 227 8/10
E 63 AMG sedan SA 7sp 5.5i $249,900 Rear 1870 – 5.5/8 430 800 4.1 250 8/10 HATCH
Also available: E 250 CDI sedan/wagon $99,400/107,200 E 250 sedan $96,900 E 300 hybrid sedan $109,400 Reliably brilliant little icon with exceptional driving dynamics and
E 400 sedan/wagon $129,430/$137,230 E200 sedan/wagon $80,400/$87,400 Coupe/Cabriolet variants a premium pricetag. Can be ruined by the options list however.
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: BMW 5 Series, Audi A6, Jaguar XF PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
One man 6sp 1.2 $24,500 Front - 4.9 1.2/3 75 180 9.9 - 7/10
Cooper S man 6sp 2.0T $36,950 Front 1150 5.9 2.0/4 141 280 6.8 228 7/10
Also available: Cooper 1.6 / Cooper D 1.6DT $31,650/$34,800 Cabrio/S cabrio/JCW 1.6T $40,350/$48,800/$58,810
Paceman Cooper/S/JCW $35,900/$44,100/$58,600 Ray man 6sp 1.6i $25,600 Coupe/Roadster variants JCW GP $56,900
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Fiat 500, Citroen DS3, Ford Fiesta

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 1 53
MINI-NISSAN
CLUBMAN TRITON

Cooper man 6sp 1.6i

PRICE
$34,900
WorldMags.net
The wilfully different Mini. Small and impractical with silly doors back
and side. Not a complete gimmick, though. Some might find it useful.
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Front 1145 5.9 1.6/4
KW
90
NM
160
0-100
9.8
MAX
–
RATING
6/10
Slightly ungainly hauler of cement mixers, masonry and fishing gear.
Looks aside, you do get Mitsubishi engineering and a long warranty.

GLX dual cab man 5sp 2.5DT

PRICE
$31,990
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Rear 1880 8.2 2.5/4
KW
131
NM
400
0-100
–
MAX
–
RATING
6/10
Cooper S man 6sp 1.6T $43,900 Front 1205 6.3 1.6/4 135 240 7.5 – 6/10 GLX dual cab man 5sp 2.5DT $40,990 Four 1980 8.3 2.5/4 131 400 – – 6/10
JCW man 6sp 1.6T $51,800 Front 1205 7.1 1.6/4 155 260 6.8 – –/10 GLX-R dual cab man 5sp 2.5DT $45,740 Four 1890 8.3 2.5/4 131 400 – – 6/10
Also try: Audi A3, VW Golf, Ford Fiesta ST Also available: GLX single cab chassis 2dr 4WD man 5sp 2.5DT $33,990 2 Wheel drive models
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Toyota HiLux, VW Amarok
COUNTRYMAN
The Mini bulks up to become a sort of mild crossover with PAJERO
the option of four-wheel drive. No one is quite sure why.
Favourite of the Grey Nomad, the Pajero has slowly evolved
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING to be a pretty fair 4WD. The Land Rover’s still safe though.
Cooper S man 6sp 1.6T $42,250 Front 1310 6.6 1.6/4 135 240 7.6 – 4/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Cooper SD ALL4 man 6sp 2.0DT $46,990 Four 1395 4.9 2.0/4 105 305 9.4 – 5/10 GLX wagon 4dr man 5sp 3.2DT $50,990 Four 2283 8.4 3.2/4 147 441 – – 6/10
JCW man 6sp 1.6T $56,800 Four 1405 8.0 1.6/4 160 280 7.0 – 7/10 GLS wagon 4dr SA 3.2DT $58,990 Four 2325 9 3.2/4 147 441 – – 6/10
Also available: Cooper man 6 sp 1.6i $34,150 Cooper D man 6sp 1.6DT $$36,950 Cooper S ALL4 man 6sp 1.6T $45,500 Exceed wagon 4dr SA 5sp 3.2DT $65,990 Four 2347 9 3.2/4 147 441 – – 6/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Audi A3, VW Golf, Ford Fiesta ST Also available:
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Toyota LandCruiser, Land Rover Discovery 4, Nissan Patrol

MITSUBISHI MIRAGE
Clarkson on Mitsubishi: Parsimonious P-platers rejoice – Mitsubishi’s entry-level
‘Only the Evo stands out from their dismal range of nothingness, light car is back with some very sharp pricing.
and you have to be 14 to understand all its stupid buttons.’
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
I-MIEV ES hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.2i $11,490 Front 865 4.6 1.2/3 57 100 – – 5/10
Diminutive all-electric four-door city car that runs on the ES sedan 4dr man 5sp 1.2i $14,490 Front 865 4.9 1.2/3 57 100 – – 5/10
same sort of batteries as your mobile phone. Impressive.
LS hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.2i $12,990 Front 925 4.8 1.2/3 57 100 – – 5/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Also try: VW Up, Nissan Micra, Ford Fiesta
Hatchback 5dr EV $48,800 Rear 1080 – Electric 49 180 15.9 – 5/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Switching to green energy - otherwise it’ll come from dirty coal

ASX
NISSAN
Clarkson on Nissan:
A ‘city-dwelling’ Outlander that covers a lot of bases. ‘The GT-R, which is quite exciting, tries its best
It looks pretty good and drives well, but it’s a bit of a beige car. to offset the rest of the range, which isn’t.’

PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING MICRA

LS Hatchback 5dr man 5sp 2.0i $24,990 Front 1345 7.7 2.0/4 110 197 – – 6/10 The latest generation Micra has lost the funky frog
LS Hatchback 5dr CVT 6sp 2.0i $26,990 Front 1440 8.1 2.0/4 110 191 – – 6/10 look and embraced blandness. Thanks Nissan.
Also available: LS Hatch 5dr SA 6sp 2.2DT 4x4 $31,990 XLS hatch 5dr CVT 4x2 2.0i $31,490 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
XLS hatch 5dr CVT 4x4 2.2DT $36,490
ST hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.2i $13,490 Front 942 5.9 1.2/3 56 100 – – 5/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Nissan Dualis, Peugeot 3008
ST-L hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.2i $15,490 Front 962 5.9 1.2/3 56 100 – – 5/10
LANCER Ti hatch 5dr auto 4sp 1.2i $18,990 Front 987 5.9 1.2/3 56 100 – – 5/10
Small, ageing sedan without a replacement in sight. Strip away the turbo ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: VW Polo, Honda Jazz, Ford Fiesta
4x4 madness and shouting and you’re left with a reasonable run-about.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
PULSAR
The Pulsar name is back from the dead after its questionable change
ES sedan man 5sp 2.0i $18,990 Front 1320 7.7 2.0/4 113 198 9.5 – 6/10
to Tiida in 2006. Thankfully there’s no Kim Cattrall ads this time.
XLS sedan man 5sp 2.4i $26,490 Front 1309 8.7 2.4/4 125 226 – – 6/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Evo sedan 5sp 2.0T $52,990 Four 1625 10.6 2.0/4 217 366 5.1 – 8/10
ST sedan 4dr man 6sp 1.8i $19,990 Front 1226 7.2 1.8/4 96 174 – – 6/10
Also available: LS sedan man 5sp 2.0i $20,990 Ralliart sedan 2.0T $37,490
Evo sedan MR TC SST MA 6sp 2.0T $58,990 Sportback variants Ti sedan 4dr CVT 1.8i $29,990 Front 1258 6.7 1.8/4 96 174 9.5 – 6/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mazda3 / 6, Ford Mondeo, Subaru Impreza SSS hatch man 6sp 1.6T $29,790 Front 1304 7.7 1.6/4 140 240 – – 7/10
Also available: ST hatch man 6sp 1.8i $19,290 ST-L hatch man 6sp 1.8i $22,590 ST-S hatch man 6sp 1.6T $25,490
OUTLANDER ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mazda3, Ford Focus, VW Golf, Renault Megane
Handy SUV also forms the basis of the Peugeot 4007 soft-roader.
Nothing amazing, but at least it looks pretty good with the Lancer-ish nose.
ALTIMA
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING The imposter of V8 Supercars has finally hit the road.
ES wagon 5dr man 5sp 2.0i $27,740 Front 1395 7.0 2.0/4 110 190 – – 6/10 Sadly there’s no V8 option for this version, though.
LS wagon 5dr SA 2.2D $39,490 Four 1610 5.8 2.2/4 110 360 – – 6/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Aspire wagon 5dr SA 6sp 2.2D $46,890 Four 1610 5.8 2.2/4 110 360 – – 6/10 ST sedan 4dr CVT 2.5i $29,990 Front 1435 7.5 2.5/4 127 230 – – 6/10
Also available: LS wagon 5dr CVT 2.0i 2x4 $33,490 LS wagon 5dr CVT 2.4i 4x4 $36,490 Ti-S sedan 4dr CVT 3.5i $45,490 Front 1536 9.3 3.5/6 183 312 – – 6/10
ES CVT 2.4i 4x4 $32,990 Aspire CVT 6sp 2.4i $43,890 PHEV 2.0i 4x4 $47,490 PHEV Aspire 2.0i 4x4 $52,490
Also available: ST-L $35,990 Ti $40,490
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Peugeot 4007, Nissan X-Trail, Subaru Forester
Also try: Ford Mondeo, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Mazda6

CHALLENGER 370Z
What looks to be a Triton with a wagon body, with Challenger Space Muscular two-seat sportscar with lots of tech-heavy touches
Shuttle-esque results. Can tow the moon. (Synchro-Rev for a start) and tail-happy dynamics. Fun.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
4WD 5dr man 5sp 2.5DT $42,490 Four 1990 8.3 2.5/4 131 400 – – 5/10
Coupe man 6sp 3.7i $56,930 Rear 1495 10.5 3.7/6 245 363 5.7 – 8/10
4WD 5dr SA 5sp 2.5DT $44,990 Four 2000 9.8 2.5/4 131 350 – – 5/10
Roadster 2dr man 6sp 3.7i $65,930 Rear 1608 11.2 3.7/6 245 363 – – 7/10
LS 4WD 5dr SA 5sp 2.5DT $49,990 Four 2000 9.8 2.5/4 131 350 – – 5/10
Also try: BMW Z4, Audi TT, Porsche Cayman/Boxster, Mercedes SLK
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Anything else
GT-R
A supercar for the PlayStation Generation. Uber-techy
and violently capable, it’s a ruthless speed machine.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Coupe 2dr SA 6sp 3.8TT $172,000 Four 1699 11.7 3.8/6 404 628 2.7 – 9/10
Also try: Porsche 911, BMW M3, Audi RS5

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HOW TO

NISSAN-PEUGEOT
JUKE

WorldMags.net Clever little SUV crossover that looks like...well, looks like
nothing else we can think of. Very nice, if a little odd.

ST 5spd man 1.6i

PRICE
$22,090
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Front – – 1.6/4
KW
86
NM
158
0-100
–
MAX
–
RATING
6/10
ST-S 5spd man 1.6T $28,490 Front – – 1.6/4 140 240 – – 6/10
Ti-S CVT 1.6T $32,490 Four – – 1.6/4 140 240 – – 6/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford EcoSport, Holden Trax, Peugeot 2008

QASHQAI
This replaces the Dualis – and is better than it in every way, save that name,
which comes from a nomadic Persian tribe, but looks like cheating at Scrabble.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ST 5-seat man 6sp 2.0i $25,850 Front 1372 7.7 2.0/4 106 200 – – 7/10
TS 5-seat CVT 1.6DT $33,200 Front 1556 4.9 1.6/4 96 320 – – 7/10
Also available: Ti 2.0 petrol 6sp man $32,490 ; TL CVT 1.6 turbodiesel $37,990
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Kia Sportage, Hyundai ix35

MURANO
The Murano isn’t a bad unit, and not short of fruit inside, but for
th
hat price, a Land Rover or Audi starts looking very attractive…
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ST 4dr CVT 6sp 3.5i $48,990 Four 1795 10.9 3.5/6 191 336 – – 7/10
Ti 4dr CVT 6sp 3.5i $60,240 Four 1832 10.9 3.5/6 191 336 – – 8/10
Also try: Audi Q5, BMW X3, LR Freelander

XX-TRAIL
Updated mid-size SUV with plenty of engine and configuration
options – five-seat or seven, front- or all-wheel-drive.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ST 4dr man 6sp 2.0i $27,990 Front 1437 8.2 2.0/4 106 200 – – -/10
ST-L 4dr CVT 2.5i $36,190 Front 1487 7.9 2.5/4 126 226 – – -/10

MERCEDES S 63 AMG COUPE

T
Ti 4dr CVT 2.5i $44,680 Four 1574 8.3 2.5/4 126 226 – – -/10
Also available: ST and ST-L seven-seater FWD 2.5L CVT
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Land Rover Freelander, Mitsubishi Outlander, Mazda CX-7

Basic price $409,000 PATHFINDER

Engine 5461cc, V8, 430kW, More models than Leo DiCaprio’s phone book, including hybrid options.
900Nm, 10.2L/100km But nomads be warned: check the towing capacity before you choose.
Performance 0–100kmh 4.3secs, 300kmh PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Weight 2,070kg ST 4dr CVT 3.5i $39,990 Front 1920 9.9 3.5/6 190 325 – – –/10

Colour Cavansite Blue Ti 4dr CVT 3.5i $65,090 Four 2065 10.2 3.5/6 190 325 – – –/10
Also available: ST-L 2WD/4WD $50,490/$54,490 ST/Ti 4WD $44,490/$60,990 Hybrid models
Wheels 20-inch AMG 10-spoke
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Toyota LandCruiser, Mitsubishi Pajero, Mazda CX-9
Trim Edition 1 Package: Crystal LED lights, Nappa leather
interior and trim ($13,500) PATROL
Standard equipment Blind Spot Assist, Lane Keeping Assist, Lumbering beast with a sweet-sounding petrol V8...
360-degree camera but boy, it loves a drink. No diesel scheduled, ever.
Options Night View Assist Pack ($4650), Sky Control PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
(electrically adjustable tinting for glass roof) ($8500), ST 4dr SA 7sp 5.6i $82,690 Four 2645 14.5 5.6/8 298 560 – – 4/10
Ti 4dr SA 7sp 5.6i $93,390 Four 2706 14.5 5.6/8 298 560 – – 5/10
Ti-L 4dr SA 7sp 5.6i $114,490 Four 2735 14.5 5.6/8 298 560 – – 5/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Land Rover Defender, Toyota LandCruiser

TOTAL PRICE $435,650 NAVARA

As approved by tradies everywhere, it’s a strong
work truck for your work kit and eskies.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
RX dual cab man 6sp 2.5DT $31,390 Rear 1887 9.1 2.5/4 126 403 – – 4/10
ST-X 550 dual cab SA 7sp 3.0DT $61,490 Four 2246 9.3 3.0/6 170 550 – – 4/10
Also available: ST d/cab man 6sp 2.5DT 4x4 $47,290 ST-X dual cab 4dr V6 auto $56,990 Single cab, King cab models
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Toyota HiLux, Mitsubishi Triton, Holden Colorado

PEUGEOT
Clarkson on Peugeot:
‘208 GTi might be the beginning of a revolution at
Peugeot. Time and the euro zone crisis will tell.”
3008
Pretty funky for a mock-SUV, but that’s like saying your dad is cool because
he doeesn’t pick you up from school in his slippers any more.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Allure 5dr SA 6sp 1.6T $35,990 Front 1555 7.7 1.6/4 115 240 9.5 – 6/10
Allure HDi 5dr SA 6sp 2.0DT $42,990 Front 1614 6.7 2.0/4 120 340 10.2 – 6/10
Also available: XSE HDi 5dr SA 6sp 2.0DT $39,490 XTE 5dr SA 6sp 1.6T $39,490
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Nissan Dualis, Hyundai ix35, Kia Sportage

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 1 55
PEUGEOT-PROTON
RCZ PORSCHE

Coupe man 6sp 2.0DT

PRICE
$58,990
WorldMags.net
Peugeot’s stunning small coupe that hopefully marks a renaissance
for the brand. Good-looking, but odd interior packaging remains.
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Front 1445 5.3 2.0/4
KW
120
NM
340
0-100
8.2
MAX
220
RATING
7/10
CAYENNE
Clarkson on Porsche:
‘Hammond has a Porsche. So does May. Under the rules of
the Cool Wall, this makes them as cool as plastic shoes.’

Coupe man 6sp 1.6T $58,990 Front 1372 6.9 1.6/4 147 275 7.5 240 7/10
Sporting SUV that’s extremely capable but still insanely hard
R Coupe SA 6sp 1.6T $68,990 Front 1355 6.3 1.6/4 199 330 5.9 250 7/10 to look at. The Turbo bends physics into balloon animals.
Also try: Audi TT, maybe an Alfa Romeo Brera
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
308 5dr tiptronic 8sp 3.0DT $104,700 Four 2030 10.4 3.0/6 220 400 7.5 230 7/10
Unexpectedly won European Car Of The Year, but after driving it, you’ll see S 5dr tiptronic 8sp 4.8i $139,900 Four 2065 11.1 4.8/8 294 500 5.9 258 7/10
why. Not perfect, but excellent, and a worthy competitor to the VW Golf. Turbo 5dr tiptronic 8sp 4.8TT $230,800 Four 2170 12.2 4.8/8 368 700 4.7 278 8/10

PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Also available: S 3.0DT $143,200 S Hybrid 5dr tip 8sp 3.0S/34kW $139,200
GTS 5dr tip 8sp 4.8i $150,400 Turbo S 5dr tip 8sp 4.8TT $259,600
Access hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.2T $21,990 Front 1090 4.6 1.2/3 96 230 9.6 207 8/10
Also try: Range Rover Vogue and Sport, BMW X5 and X6, Audi Q7
Active hatch 5dr auto 6sp 1.2T $27,340 Front 1090 4.6 1.2/3 96 230 9.6 207 8/10
Allure hatch 5dr auto 6sp 2.0DT $34,790 Front 1310 4.1 1.6/4 110 370 8.6 211 8/10 PANAMERA
Also available: Access hatchback 1.2T auto 6sp $23,990 Allure hatchback 1.2T auto 6sp $30,490 Four-door, four-seat ‘family’ Porsche. Very fast,
Allure wagon 2.0DT auto 6sp $37,490 very ugly and quite difficult to fall in love with.
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Renault Megane, Citroen C4, Volkswagen Golf
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
208 Panamera 4dr PDK 7sp 3.6i $204,600 Rear 1760 9.3 3.6/6 220 400 6.3 259 7/10
Congratulations Peugeot. It’s only taken you 25 years to recapture GTS 4dr PDK 7sp 4.8i $320,100 Four 1920 10.9 4.8/8 316 520 4.5 288 7/10
the 205 magic. The 208 is light, likeable and French. In a good way. Turbo S 4dr PDK 7sp 4.8TT $444,600 Four 1930 11.5 4.8/8 405 750 3.8 306 7/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Also available: Diesel PDK 8sp 3.0DT $208,400 4 PDK 7sp 3.6i $216,800 4S PDK 7sp 4.8i $301,100
S PDK 7sp 4.8i $288,900 S Hybrid PDK 8sp 3.0i $285,300 Turbo PDK 7sp 4.8TT $383,400
Active hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.2i $18,490 Front 948 4.7 1.2/3 60 118 13.9 175 5/10
Also try: Aston Martin Rapide, Bentley Continental, Maserati Quattroporte
Allure 3dr man 6sp 1.6T $21,990 Front 1063 5.8 1.6/4 115 240 8.1 215 5/10
GTi 3dr man 6sp 1.6T $29,990 Front 1133 5.9 1.6/4 147 275 6.8 230 8/10 BOXSTER
Also available: Active hatch 1.6i $21,490 Allure Premium hatch 1.6i $26,490 One of the greatest sports roadsters on sale today.
Also try: Renault Clio, Ford Fiesta, VW Polo, Opel Corsa Just forgo the baseball cap, thanks.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
508 Convertible man 6sp 2.7i $102,800 Rear 1310 8.2 2.7/6 195 280 5.8 264 7/10
Peugeot’s replacement for the 407 is actually quite
nice in a fairly average, front-wheel-drive-sedan way. S convertible man 6sp 3.4i $128,900 Rear 1320 8.8 3.4/6 232 360 5.1 279 7/10
GTS convertible man 6sp 3.4i $145,500 Rear 1320 8.8 3.4/6 232 360 5.1 279 7/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Active sedan SA 6sp 1.6T $36,990 Front 1485 7.1 1.6/4 240 240 9.2 220 6/10 CAYMAN
GT sedan 4dr SA 6sp 2.2DT $52,990 Front 1540 5.7 2.2/4 150 450 – – 6/10 Looks like a hardtop Boxster, feels like a small 911. Possibly the most
Also available: Allure sedan 1.6T $39,490 Allure wagon 1.6T $42,490 Allure sedan 2.0DT $42,990 usable fast car on the planet in the real world.
Allure wagon 2.0DT $45,990 GT Luxury sedan 2.2DT $58,590 Active e-HDi sedan SA 6sp 1.6DT $37,490
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Mondeo, VW Passat, Subaru Liberty
Coupe man 6sp 2.7i $106,100 Rear 1310 8.2 2.7/6 192 280 5.8 264 10/10

2008 S coupe man 6sp 3.4i $139,400

Also try: BMW Z4, Audi TT, Nissan 370Z
Rear 1320 8.8 3.4/6 232 360 5.1 279 10/10

High-rise supermini that’s the result of giving a 208 automotive

Viagra. It’s a little mashup which just about works.
911
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING The iconic sports car just keeps on getting better. Latest versions
1.2 Vti Active Petrol Man $21,990 Front 1022 4.9 1.2/3 60 118 13.5 169 7/10 combine bombproof reliability, usability and pace that few can match.
1.6 Vti Allure Petrol Man $27,990 Front 1053 5.9 1.6/4 88 160 9.5 196 7/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
1.6 e-Hdi Outdoor Man $31,990 Front 1131 4.0 1.6/4 68 230 11.5 181 7/10 Coupe man 7sp 3.4i $208,600 Rear 1455 9 3.4/6 257 390 4.8 289 9/10
Also available: 1.6 Vti Active Petrol Auto $24,990 1.6 Vti Allure Petrol Auto $29,990 Coupe S man 7sp 3.8i $245,200 Rear 1470 9.5 3.8/6 294 440 4.5 304 9/10
Also try: Holden Trax, Ford EcoSport, Nissan Juke Cabrio S man 7sp 3.8i $267,200 Rear 1540 9.7 3.8/6 294 440 4.7 301 9/10
Also available: Cabrio man 7sp 3.4i $229,900 4WD variants Turbo $366,500 Turbo S $466,900
4007 Also try: Aston Martin Vantage, Jaguar XK, Audi R8
The French version of the Mitsubishi Outlander cloning experiment,
so it’s a dull-ish soft-roader with a faintly odd appearance.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING PROTON
ST HDi 5dr man 6sp 2.2DT $44,490 Four 1790 7 2.2/4 115 380 9.9 – 6/10 Clarkson on Proton:
Also try: Mitsubishi Outlander, Nissan X-Trail ‘Yes, Proton may own Lotus, but if I bought
a guitar it wouldn’t make me Jimmy Page.’
4008 PREVÉ
The French version of the Mitsubishi ASX, so it’s another Japanese soft-
roader with Peugeot soft-touches in the cabin. See a pattern here? This is what the Australia-Malaysia free-
trade agreement has given us. Thanks...
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Active wagon 5dr man 5sp 2.0i $28,990 Front 1375 7 2.0/4 110 197 9.3 – 5/10
GX sedan 4dr man 5sp 1.6i $14,990 Front 1305 7.2 1.6/4 80 160 – – 4/10
Active wagon 5dr man 5sp 2.0i $30,990 Four 1440 7.9 2.0/4 110 197 9.9 – 5/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: VW Golf, Honda Civic, Mazda3
Allure wagon 5dr CVT 2.0 $38,490 Four 1470 8.1 2.0/4 100 197 10.9 – 5/10
Also try: Mazda CX-5, VW Tiguan GEN-2
Budget supermini (there’s a theme here for Proton),
5008 that’s not all that good and quite uninspiring, too.
Large seven-seat MPV that looks pretty good and does everything a family
might want, although it’s less brilliant to drive. Prefer five seats? Try a 3008. PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
GX hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.6i $12,990 Front 1155 7.1 1.6/4 82 148 12 – 5/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
GXR hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.6i $14,990 Front 1155 7.1 1.6/4 82 148 12 – 5/10
Active 5dr 6sp SA 1.6T $36,990 Front 1565 7.6 1.6/4 115 240 11.1 195 –/10
Also try: Ford Fiesta, Mazda3, Hyundai i30
Active 5dr 6sp SA 2.0DT $40,490 Front 1694 6.3 2.0/4 120 340 11.8 190 6/10
Also try: Kia Carnival, Fiat Freemont, Dodge Journey PERSONA
Cheap Mondeo-sized sedan for people who forgot to look at Ford,
Mazda, VW and Honda dealerships. Honestly, who does that?
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Elegance sdn 4dr man 5sp 1.6i $14,290 Front 1177 6.6 1.6/4 82 148 – – 4/10
Also try: VW Golf, Honda Civic

WorldMags.net
FOR M OR E R E V IE W S , R O A D T E S T S , V ID E O S A ND F IRS T D RIV E S, G O T O T OP GE A R .COM /AU
 PROTON-SMART
S16 GHOST
The name conjures up imagery of a truly awful
disease, but the reality is much, much worse.

GX sedan 4dr man 5sp 1.3i

PRICE
$11,290
WorldMags.net
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Front 1060 6 1.3/4
KW
70
NM
120
0-100
13
MAX
–
RATING
3/10
A cut-price Rolls? Not really. There’s still luxury here by the
decanter-load and $645,000 is not exactly budget for most people.

Sedan 4dr auto 8sp 6.6TT

PRICE
$645,000
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Rear 2470 13.6 6.6/12
KW
420
NM
780
0-100
4.9
MAX
–
RATING
8/10
GXR sedan 4dr man 5sp 1.6i $14,990 Front 1070 6.3 1.6/4 82 148 12.5 – 3/10 Also try: Bentley Mulsanne, errm...
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: A second-hand Mazda3
WRAITH
Continues the haunting nomenclature of the current Rolls range
RENAULT by being a faster but slightly less-practicable version of the Ghost.
Clarkson on Renault: PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
‘Renaults in general are blessed with a sort of jaunty Frenchness
Coupe 2dr auto 8sp 6.6TT $645,000 Rear 2360 14.0 6.6/12 465 800 4.6 250 9/10
that helps you ignore all the bits that have fallen off.’
Also try: Bentley Continental GT
CLIO
Another fresh Euro offering in the hotly contested hatch market.
The scorching RS version is the one you want.
SKODA
Clarkson on Skoda:
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING ‘Almost without anyone noticing, Skoda has come up with
Authentique man 5sp 0.9T $16,790 Front 1019 4.5 0.9/3 66 135 12.2 182 7/10 a whole range of good, honest excellentness. Well done, them.’
Dynamique SA 6sp 1.2T $23,790 Front 1104 5.2 1.2/4 88 190 9.4 199 7/10
OCTAVIA
RS Cup Trophy 6sp SA 1.6T $36,790 Front 1218 6.3 1.6/4 147 240 6.7 230 8/10
A car that people should consider when thinking of getting a Golf.
Also available: Expression man 5sp 0.9T $17,790 Expression SA 6sp 1.2T $19,790 RS Sport 1.6T $28,790 Boot is huge, engines are good, prices are low. RS is really impressive.
RS Cup $31,290 RS Sport Trophy $34,290
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Also try: VW Polo, Ford Fiesta
Ambition 103TSI 1.4T $21,690 Front 1302 5.7 1.4/4 103 250 8.4 215 8/10
MEGANE Ambition Plus 103TSI 1.4T $24,490 Front 1340 5.7 1.4/4 103 250 8.5 212 8/10
It’s lost the fat bum, which is a Good Thing. Better build quality Elegance 110TDI 2.0DT $35,490 Front 1397 4.9 2.0/4 110 320 8.6 215 8/10
now, with decent engines and ride quality. The RS looks great.
RS 162 TSI 4dr man 6sp 2.0T $36,490 Front 1397 6.4 2.0/4 162 350 6.8 248 8/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING RS 135 TDI 4dr man DSG 2.0DT $39,790 Front 1462 5.2 2.0/4 135 380 8.2 230 8/10
Authentique hatch man 6sp 1.2T $20,990 Front – 5.6 1.2/4 97 205 10.9 – 6/10 Also available: Ambition 103TSI DSG 1.4T $23,990 Ambition Plus 103TSI DSG 1.4T $26,790
GT-Line Wagon 2.0T $34,990 Front 1499 7.3 2.0/4 162 340 7.6 240 8/10 Octavia Elegance 103TSI DSG 1.4T $32,190 Octavia Elegance 132TSI DSG 1.8T $34,690 Wagon variants +$1350

Sport 265 3dr man 6sp 2.0T $43,990 Front 1374 8.2 2.0/4 195 360 6.0 – 8/10
SUPERB
Also available: Sport 265 Cup Premium $47,990 Coupe-Cabriolet models
GT-Line hatch 2.0i/1.5D $26,490/$28,990 Privilege hatch 2.0i/1.5D $29,990/$32,490 Wagon models
The fact the name doesn’t sound too ironic on a Skoda tells you what
you need to know. Huge rear legroom, good quality, bargain pricing.
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (5dr) Also try: Ford Focus, Honda Civic
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
FLUENCE Ambition sedan DSG 7sp 1.8T $31,990 Front 1561 7.3 1.8/4 118 250 8.1 220 7/10
It’s a case of hit-and-miss for Renault. Hits include Elegance sedan DSG 7sp 2.0DT $44,990 Front 1605 6.2 2.0/4 125 350 8.8 220 8/10
the new Megane Sport. This is more of a miss. Ambition wagon DSG 7sp 1.8T $33,690 Four 1755 10.3 3.6/6 191 350 6.5 250 7/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Also available: Wagon variants
Dynamique sedan man 6sp 2.0i $23,143 Front 1328 8.2 2.0/4 102 195 – – 6/10 ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Mondeo, Mazda6
Privilege sedan CVT 2.0i $30,298 Front 1369 7.9 2.0/4 103 195 – – 6/10
Also try: Mazda3, VW Jetta
YETI
It’s not the coolest name for a car. Luckily, the ride quality,
LATITUDE price and funky looks more than make up for it.
Renault’s newest crack at our big car market is stuffed full of tech for PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
a low price. Can this turn around the current funk of big French cars? 77TSI 5dr man 6sp 1.2T $23,490 Front 1380 6.6 1.2/4 77 175 11.8 – 7/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING 103TDI 4x4 5dr DSG 2.0DT $33,590 Four 1615 6.2 2.0/4 103 320 9.9 – 7/10
Dynamique 4dr SA 6sp 3.5i $38,490 Front 1600 9.7 3.5/6 133 235 – – 6/10 ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Nissan Qashqai
Privilege sedan 4dr SA 6sp 3.5i $44,490 Front 1600 9.7 3.5/6 133 235 – – 6/10
Also available: Dynamique sedan 4dr SA 6sp 2.0DT $37,490 Privilege Sedan 4dr SA 6sp 2.0DT $43,490
FABIA
Also try: Ford Mondeo, Honda Accord, Citroen C5
Skoda’s bid in the compact city car sector, this retro little
hatch which, when specced nicely, is actually pretty funky.
KOLEOS PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
It’s another soft-roader for the overfull SUV sector. 77TSI hatch manual $15,990 Front 1130 5.5 1.2/4 77 175 10.1 – 7/10
At least you’re spoiled for choice. 77TSI Monte Carlo hatch $18,290 Front 1140 5.5 1.2/4 77 175 10.1 – 7/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING RS 132 hatch DSG $27,190 Front 1253 6.2 1.4/4 132 250 7.3 – 7/10
Expression 4dr man 6sp 2.5i $27,990 Front 1553 9.6 2.5/4 126 226 – – 5/10 Also available: RS 132 TSI wagon 5dr SA 7sp 1.4TSI $28,190 77 ; TSI wagon 5dr man 5sp 1.2T $16,990
Bose 4dr CVT 2.5i $35,990 Front – 9.6 2.5/4 126 226 – – 5/10 ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Fiat 500, Mini Cooper, Citroen C3
Privilege 4dr CVT 2.5i $45,240 Four 1613 9.5 2.5/4 126 226 – – 6/10
Also available: Bose 4dr 6sp auto 2.0DT $437,990 Bose 4dr CVT 4x4 2.5i $41,490
Privilege 4dr 6sp auto 2.0DT $47,240
SMART
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mitsubishi Outlander, Peugeot 4008, Toyota RAV4
Clarkson on Smart:
‘Smarts are rather like Hillary Clinton:
clever, but you wouldn’t want to.’
ROLLS-ROYCE FORTWO
Clarkson on Rolls-Royce: Choice of street marketers who bank on its striking looks,
‘BMW’s done a good job of understanding that a Rolls-Royce it’s basically a car designed solely for the city. And hipsters.
should be magnificent and gracious, but also slightly vulgar.’
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
PHANTOM Pulse coupe 3dr SMac 5sp 1.0i $19,990 Rear 750 4.4 1.0/3 52 92 13.3 145 5/10
Luxury British land-yacht which manages to drive as well as it soothes. Pulse cab 3dr SMac 5sp 1.0i $22,990 Rear 780 4.4 1.0/3 52 92 13.3 145 5/10
Opulence doesn’t come much better than this.
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Toyota Yaris, Mitsubishi Colt, a pushbike
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Sedan 4dr auto 6sp 6.7i $1,075,000 Rear 2485 15.9 6.7/12 338 720 5.9 – 8/10
LWB sedan auto 6sp 6.7i $1,250,000 Rear 2660 15.9 6.7/12 338 720 5.9 – 8/10
Drophead conv. auto 6sp 6.7i $1,350,000 Rear 2620 15.9 6.7/12 338 720 5.7 – 9/10
Coupe 2dr auto 6sp 6.7i $1,260,000 Rear 2590 15.7 6.7/12 338 720 5.8 – 9/10
Also try: Small Caribbean island, ocean liner

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 1 57
SSANGYONG-SUZUKI
SSANGYONG OUTBACK

STAVIC
Clarkson on Ssangyong:
WorldMags.net
‘SsangYongs are designed by a Brit who, judging from the state
of their cars, lost his glasses the moment he arrived in Korea.’
A tough one, with four-wheel drive and higher ground clearance.
Name derived from position of outhouse. Probably.

5dr man 6sp 2.0DT

PRICE
$40,490
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Four 1551 6.0 2.0/4
KW
110
NM
350
0-100
9.7
MAX
–
RATING
6/10
Premium 5dr man 6sp 2.0DT $43,490 Four 1572 6.0 2.0/4 110 350 9.7 – 6/10
Big, seven-seat SUV that had the chance to cover up its ugly stick
scars with new generation, but decided it couldn’t be bothered. R premium 5dr SA 5sp 3.6i $57,990 Four 1600 10.3 3.6/6 191 350 7.6 – 6/10
Also available: Premium 5dr man 6sp 2.5i $43,490 5dr CVT 2.5i $38,990
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Audi A6 Allroad, Volvo XC60
Stavic 4dr auto 5sp 2.0DT $29,990 Rear 1992 7.8 2.0/4 114 360 – – –/10
Also try: Fiat Freemont, Hyundai iMax, Kia Grand Carnival FORESTER
Soft-roader has gone squidgy with age, so it’s no longer a farmer’s
ACTYON secret weapon. Based on an Impreza, but doesn’t go like one.
We wonder if designers style cars this hideous to try and imprint them
on our memory. It hasn’t worked; the Actyon is still instantly forgettable. PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Wagon 5dr man 6sp 2.0i $29,990 Four 1458 7.2 2.0/4 110 198 10.6 – 6/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Wagon 5dr man 6sp 2.0DT $35,490 Four 1510 5.9 2.0/4 108 350 10.2 – 6/10
XDi wagon 4dr man 5sp 2.0DT $26,990 Four 1881 7.8 2.0/4 104 310 – – 3/10
XT Premium 5dr CVT 2.0T $50,490 Four 1607 8.5 2.0/4 177 350 7.5 – 6/10
Also try: Laser eye surgery
Also available: 5dr CVT 2.5i $32,990 5dr man 6sp 2.0i-L $33,490 5dr CVT 2.5i-L $35,990
5dr CVT 2.5i-S $43,990 5dr man 6sp 2.0D-L $37,490 5dr man 6sp 2.0D-S $43,990 XT 5dr CVT 2.0T $43,490
SPORTS ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Land Rover Freelander, Nissan X-Trail, Toyota RAV4
Recipe: take HiLux. Add ugly. Stir until under-powered. Garnish with
ironic name. Hey presto! You have a pile of cheap Korean rubbish.
XV
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Stick an Impreza on stilts and funk up the exterior, and you’re most of
Utility dual cab man 5sp 2.0DT $29,490 Four 1803 8 2.0/4 104 310 – – 3/10 the way here. It is a fine-looking thing, but cricket test matches are faster.
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Nissan Navara, Mitsubishi Triton, Toyota HiLux PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
5dr man 6sp 2.0i $28,490 Four 1390 7.3 2.0/4 110 196 10.5 – 6/10
KORANDO L 5dr man 6sp 2.0i $31,990 Four 1405 7.3 2.0/4 110 196 10.5 – 6/10
There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright... Ko-
rando. The best we can say is that it’s not as ugly as other Ssangyongs. S 5dr man 6sp 2.0i $34,490 Four 1415 7.3 2.0/4 110 196 10.5 – 6/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Land Rover Freelander, Nissan X-Trail, Toyota RAV4
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Wagon 5dr man 6sp 2.0DT $27,990 Front 1645 6 2.0/4 129 360 – – 6/10 TRIBECA
Wagon 5dr man 6sp 2.0DT $32,390 Four 1645 7.5 2.0/4 129 360 – – 6/10 Just what we need: another ugly SUV with off-road promises it can’t
Also try: The usual suspects; i.e. Kia Sportage, Toyota RAV4, Hyundai ix35 keep. What, was there a sale on these things?
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING

SUBARU R Premium 5dr SA 5sp 3.6i $54,990 Four 1950 11.6 3.6/6
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Lexus RX, BMW X3, Audi A6 Allroad, Subaru Outback
190 350 8.9 – 5/10

Clarkson on Subaru:
‘The Imprezas are a shadow of their former selves but the Outback
remains as pleasant as walking a Labrador through a wood.’
SUZUKI
BRZ Clarkson on Suzuki:
Subaru’s nearly identical cousin to the ‘If you can find one you should test drive a Swift. It gives
Toyota 86 but with a few subtle differences. you the fun of a much faster car but at half the speed.’

PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING ALTO

BRZ 2dr man 6sp 2.0i $37,150 Rear 1256 7.8 2.0/4 147 205 7.6 226 9/10 Often mistaken for a small saxophone, which is a ridiculous observation.
BRZ 2dr SA 6sp 2.0i $39,730 Rear 1278 7.1 2.0/4 147 205 8.2 210 9/10 It’s more of a trumpet. Or an average alternative to the Toyota Yaris.
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Toyota 86 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
GL hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.0i $11,790 Front 880 4.8 1.0/3 50 90 – – 5/10
LIBERTY GLX hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.0i $12,490 Front 895 4.8 1.0/3 50 90 – – 5/10
Quite a politically charged name really, considering the car referred
to is a safe option for those after a staid, dependable family cruiser. ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Toyota Yaris

PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING SWIFT

Sedan CVT 2.5i $32,990 Four 1478 8.3 2.5/4 123 235 9.5 – 5/10 By not trying too hard, this no-nonsense
GT premium sedan man 6sp 2.5T $52,990 Four 1500 9.8 2.5/4 195 350 6.0 – 5/10
supermini succeeds in being quite good.
Also available: Sedan 4dr CVT 2.5X $44,490 Sedan 4dr 6sp auto 3.6X $55,990 Exiga wagon 5dr 6sp 2.5i $37,990 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Exiga Premium wagon 5dr 6sp 2.5i $42,490 Premium sedan CVT 2.5i $39,490 Wagon variants +$2000
GL hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.4i $15,990 Front 1025 5.5 1.4/4 70 130 – – 5/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Mondeo, Honda Accord, Mazda6
GL Navigator 5dr man 5sp 1.4i $17,490 Front 1025 5.5 1.4/4 70 130 – – 5/10

IMPREZA GLX hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.4i $21,990 Front 1025 5.5 1.4/4 70 130 – – 5/10

Believe it or not, the Impreza isn’t all about ballistic rally-replicas. It’s also Sport hatch 5dr man 6sp 1.6i $24,490 Front 1060 6.1 1.6/4 100 160 8.7 195 7/10
a mundane sedan and hatchback. But forget those… we want rally replicas. ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Fiesta, Hyundai i30, Honda Jazz, Mini

PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING

Hatch 5dr man 6sp 2.0i $23,990 Four 1345 7.1 2.0/4 110 196 10.5 – 6/10
S-CROSS
A jacked-up supermini for people whose only off-roading
Sedan 4dr man 6sp 2.0i-L $25,300 Four 1335 7.1 2.0/4 110 196 10.5 – 6/10 involves mounting kerbs and parking in the supermarket.
Also available: sedan 2.0i $23,990 (CVT $25,990), hatch 2.0i-L $25,300 (CVT $27,300) hatch/sedan 2.0i $30,990
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mitsubishi Lancer, Ford Focus
GL 2WD man 5sp 1.6i $22,990 Front 1085 5.8 1.6/4 86 156 – – –/10
WRX GLX 2WD CVT 1.6i $29,990 Front 1125 5.8 1.6/4 86 156 – – –/10
Big dynamic improvements, impressive standard spec, and sharp price GLX AWD Prestige 1.6i $34,990 Four 1125 5.8 1.6/4 86 156 – – –/10
offset by slower acceleration, and brakes that still need work. Also available: GL 2WD CVT 1.6i $25,490 GLX AWD CVT 1.6i $32,990
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Also try: The Swift
WRX 4dr man 6sp 2.0T $38,990 Four 1424 9.2 2.0/4 197 350 6.0 – 7/10
WRX Premium 4dr man 5sp 2.0T $43,990 Four 1424 9.2 2.0/4 197 350 6.0 – 7/10
JIMNY
The little 4WD that could recently celebrated its 40th birthday downunder,
WRX Premium 4dr CVT 2.0T $45,990 Four 1482 8.0 2.0/4 197 350 6.0 – 7/10
and was the envy of her friends by not getting fatter over the years.
Also available: WRX sedan CVT 2.0T $40,990
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X, Ford Focus ST
Sierra hardtop 3dr man 5sp 1.3i $20,490 Four 1060 7.3 1.3/4 62.5 110 – – 4/10
Also try: A quad bike

WorldMags.net
FOR M OR E R E V IE W S , R O A D T E S T S , V ID E O S A ND F IRS T D RIV E S, G O T O T OP GE A R .COM /AU
 HEROES

SUZUKI-TOYOTA
GRAND VITARA
WorldMags.net Looks like an off-roader but doesn’t go like one, or feel
as well-built as it should. And it feels cheap, which it is.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING

HOLDEN COMMODORE
RE MONARO CV8 Hardtop 3dr man 5sp 4x4 2.4i
Sport 5dr man 5sp 4x4 2.4i
$24,990
$30,490
Four
Four
1524
1655
8.8
8.9
2.4/4
2.4/4
122
122
225
225
–
–
–
–
4/10
4/10
Prestige 5dr auto 4sp 2.4i $38,990 Four 1670 9.9 2.4/4 122 225 – – 6/10
The last of the two-door Commodores, the V2 Monaro was
Also available: Urban wagon 2WD 5dr man 5sp/auto 5sp 4x4 2.4i $26,490/$28,490
born from the Commodore Coupe concept at the 1998 Sydney DDiS wagon 5dr auto 5sp 1.9D $34,990
Motor Show. Everyone promptly lost their minds over it, demanded ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Land Rover Freelander, Nissan X-Trail, Honda CR-V
Holden put it into production, and Holden obliged, and by 2001,
the Monaro was reborn. At first there was a 5.7-litre V8 doing the KIZASHI
Apparently translating roughly to ‘omen’, the Kizashi is a warning
thrusting, but by 2004, the updated VZ-based Monaro CV8 had to ubiquitous Mazda and Toyota that Suzuki is on the up and up.
arrived: complete with a magnificently excessive six-litre Gen IV PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
L76 V8, that sounds like a war march in Valhalla (but somehow still Sport Touring sedan man 6sp 2.4i $28,990 Front 1445 7.9 2.4/4 131 230 – – 7/10
only manages to turn out 260kW… less power than the base VF Sport Prestige sedan man 6sp 2.4i $37,990 Front 1490 7.9 2.4/4 131 230 – – 7/10
Commodore Evoke. Ah, old engines.) Sport AWD sedan CVT 1sp 2.4i $39,990 Four 1600 8.4 2.4/4 131 230 – – 7/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mazda6, Hyundai i45

WHY IS IT SPECIAL? TOYOTA

Clarkson on Toyota:
It’s the last great artifact from the boom era of the Australian car ‘I liked the 86 so much that I made it my Car
industry - from a time when making cars in this country was never of the Year. That was a first for a Toyota.’
in doubt, and car makers would commit serious wedges of cash to 86
concept cars and niche models, before economic rationalisation and The most important Toyota in the past decade – a pure driver’s
currency speculation marched local car plants to the edge of the car. And hopefully the start of a cool-car revival.
cliff and beyond. It’s the last time an Australian-made car was born PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
from pure passion, rather than from projected figures on a bean GT coupe 2dr man 6sp 2.0i $29,990 Rear 1222 7.8 2.0/4 147 205 7.6 226 9/10
counter’s spreadsheet. GTS coupe 2dr man 6sp 2.0i $36,490 Rear 1222 7.8 2.0/4 147 205 7.6 226 9/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mazda MX-5, Nissan 370Z, Subaru BRZ

WHICH TO HAVE? YARIS

There was initially a supercharged V6 option (the CV6), but Small and simple supermini doesn’t try to be anything else,
though we kind of wish it did. Never mind, your nan will love it.
everyone rightly laughed at it and chose the V8 instead (“Ha ha! Petrol
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
prices will never go above a dollar a litre! Now let me go home and
YR hatch 3dr man 5sp 1.3i $14,990 Front 1025 5.7 1.3/4 63 121 – – 5/10
tape Rove Live and Kath & Kim on my VHS recorder”).
ZR hatch 3dr man 5sp 1.5i $18,990 Front 1045 5.8 1.5/4 80 141 – – 6/10
Best! ZR 5dr auto 4sp 1.5i $22,690 Front 1055 6.3 1.5/4 80 141 10.8 – 6/10
Also available: YRX sedan 4dr auto 4sp 1.5i $21,790 YRS sedan 4dr man 5sp 1.5i $18,190
YRS hatchback 3dr/5dr man 5sp 1.5i $16,890/$17,390 YR hatchback 5dr man 5sp 1.5i $15,690
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Fiesta, Hyundai i20

RAV4
The RAV4 has grown up and put some slippers on. It’s comfortable
and competent, but nowhere near as funky as it used to be.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
GX 5dr man 6sp 2.0i $28,690 Front 1485 7.7 2.0/4 107 187 – – 5/10
Cruiser 5dr SA 7sp 2.5i $47,290 Four 1580 8.6 2.5/4 132 233 – – 6/10
Best! Cruiser 5dr SA 7sp 2.2DT $50,790 Four 1630 5.6 2.2/4 110 340 – – 6/10
Also available: GXL 5dr man 6sp 2.0i $32,690 GXL 5dr man 6sp 2.5i $39,190
GX 5dr man 6sp 2.2DT $35,690 GXL 5dr man 6sp 2.2DT $39,190 Auto/CVT +$2500
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Land Rover Freelander, Subaru Forester, Volvo XC60

LANDCRUISER 200
Happy in the hands of both armed militia and farmers from the
Hunter Valley. One of the most robust off-roaders in the world.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
GX 5st 5dr SA 6sp 4.5DTT $78,165 Four 2635 10.3 4.5/8 195 650 – – 6/10
VX 8st 5dr SA 6sp 4.6i $95,165 Four 2640 13.6 4.6/8 228 439 – – 6/10
Sahara 8st 5dr auto 6sp 4.5DTT $119,165 Four 2705 10.3 4.5/8 195 650 – – 6/10
Also available: VX wagon 8st 5dr SA 4.5DTT $99,990 Sahara wgn 8st 5dr SA 4.6i $113,990
GXL wagon 8st 5dr SA 6sp 4.5DTT/4.6i $88,990/$83,990 GXL 70-Series wagon 5dr man 5sp 4.5DT $62,940
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mitsubishi Pajero, Land Rover Discovery 4, Volvo XC90

PRIUS
The iconic hybrid is now more gadgety than ever. Clever,
clean and economical, but about as fun as pneumonia.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Liftback 5dr CVT 1.8i/60kW $33,990 Front 1365 3.9 1.8/4 73 142 10.4 – 6/10
Liftback 5dr CVT 1.8i/60kW(Navi) $44,990 Front 1365 3.9 1.8/4 73 142 10.4 – 6/10
i-Tech Liftback 5dr CVT 1.8i/60kW $45,990 Front 1420 3.9 1.8/4 73 142 10.4 – 6/10
Also available: Prius C 5dr CVT 1.5i/54kW $23,990 Prius C i-Tech 5dr CVT 1.5i/54kW $26,990
Prius V 5dr CVT 1.8i/100kW $35,990 Prius V-iTech 5dr CVT 1.8i/100kW $46,490

SPECS ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Honda Insight

ENGINE/GEARBOX 5.7-litre V8,

V8 260kW,
260kW 510Nm
5 PERFORMANCE
0–100km/h in 6.1 seconds, top speed 250km/h, 13.7L/100km
WEIGHT 1,654kg PRICE $56,990 (in 2004)

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 1 59
TOYOTA-VOLKSWAGEN
TARAGO COROLLA
charges into its third decade of production.

GLi 8st 4dr SA 4sp 2.4i

PRICE
$48,990
WorldMags.net
The original people hauler (not counting the Euro-only Renault Espace)

DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE

Front 1795 9.5 2.4/4
KW
125
NM
224
0-100
–
MAX
–
RATING
5/10
The new Corolla is cheaper, nicer to drive and possibly
the most exciting yet thanks to an injection of 86 DNA.

Ascent hatch 5dr man 6sp 1.8i

PRICE
$19,990
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Front 1275 7.1 1.8/4
KW
103
NM
173
0-100
–
MAX
–
RATING
8/10
GLX 7st 4dr SA 4sp 2.4i $51,990 Front 1725 9.5 2.4/4 125 224 – – 5/10 Levin SX hatch 5dr man 6sp 1.8i $23,990 Front 1275 7.1 1.8/4 103 173 – – 8/10
Ultima 7st 4dr SA 6sp 3.5i $71,665 Front 1930 10.3 3.5/6 202 340 – – 5/10 Levin ZR hatch 5dr man 6sp 1.8i $28,490 Front 1275 7.1 1.8/4 103 173 – – 8/10
Also available: GLi wagon 8st 4dr SA 6sp 3.5i $53,990 GLX wagon 7st 4dr SA 6sp 3.5i $59,408 Also available: Ascent Sport hatchback /sedan5dr man 6sp 1.8i $20,990 Ascent sedan 4dr man 6sp 1.8i $20,990
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Honda Odyssey, Hyundai iMax Conquest hatch/sedan 4dr man 6sp 1.8i $24,490 Ultima sedan 4dr auto 4sp 2.0i $31,990
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Focus, VW Golf, Mazda3
AURION
The Aurion is a large appliance for commuting... and not much else. RUKUS
Definitely a fleet car. The product of a Corolla, Camry, and what appears to be an Electrolux
fridge. Polarising looks, but that’s a good thing from play-it-safe Toyota.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
AT-X sedan SA 6sp 3.5i $36,490 Front 1525 9.3 3.5/6 200 336 7.4 – 6/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING

Sportivo SX6 sedan SA 6sp 3.5i $40,990 Front 1555 9.3 3.5/6 200 336 7.4 – 6/10 Build 1 hatch 5dr auto 4sp 2.4i $27,990 Front 1390 8.8 2.4/4 123 224 – – 6/10

Presara sedan SA 6sp 3.5i $49,990 Front 1550 9.3 3.5/6 200 336 7.4 – 6/10 Build 2 hatch 5dr auto 4sp 2.4i $30,490 Front 1390 8.8 2.4/4 123 224 – – 6/10

Also available: SE sedan 4dr SA 6sp 3.5i $38,990 Sportivo ZR6 sedan 4dr SA 6sp 3.5i $47,990
Build 3 hatch 5dr auto 4sp 2.4i $33,490 Front 1390 8.8 2.4/4 123 224 – – 6/10
Prodigy sedan 4dr SA 6sp 3.5i $41,490 ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Kia Soul
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Holden Commodore, Ford Falcon

CAMRY VOLKSWAGEN
The ubiquitous point ‘a’ to point ‘b’ car for over 30 years. Clarkson on Volkswagen:
But it’s so booooooooooooring. ‘The rest of the range is duller than James explaining torque, but
the Golf is still what you recommend to anyone who needs a car.’
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Altise sedan auto 6sp 2.5i $30,490 Front 1465 7.8 2.5/4 133 231 9.3 – 5/10 PASSAT
Atara S sedan auto 6sp 2.5i $33,490 Front 1505 7.8 2.5/4 135 235 9.3 – 6/10 A politician would probably call it ‘fit for purpose’. It’s genuinely good
at all the stuff it’s supposed to be good at, especially as a wagon.
Best! Atara SX auto 6sp 2.5i $36,490 Front 1505 7.8 2.5/4 135 235 9.3 – 6/10
Also available: Atara SL sedan 4dr auto 6sp 2.5i $39,990 Hybrid sedan 4dr CVT 1sp 2.4i/105kW $34,990 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Hybrid Lux. sedan 4dr CVT 1sp 2.4i/105kW $41,490 118TSI sedan DSG 7sp 1.8T $38,990 Front 1482 7.2 1.8/4 118 250 8.5 – 7/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Valium, a glass of warm milk, NyQuil 130TDI sedan DSG 6sp 2.0DT $44,490 Front 1580 5.6 2.0/4 120 380 8.6 – 7/10
V6 Highline sedan DSG 6sp 3.2i $57,490 Four 1679 9.7 3.2/6 220 350 5.5 – 6/10
HILUX Also available: CC 130TDI coupe 4dr DSG 6sp 2.0DT $55,990 CC V6 FSI coupe 4dr DSG 6sp 4-Motion 3.6i $65,990
Gruff, tough, unbreakable tradie favourite continues its staid tradition of Wagon variants +$2000 Alltrack wagon 6sp 2.0DT $48,290
being the first choice around the world for reliability in the rough stuff.
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Mondeo, Honda Accord Euro, Mazda6
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Workmate man 5sp 2.7i $18,990 Rear – 11 2.7/4 116 240 – – 6/10
GOLF
SR Extra Cab man 5sp 3.0DT $47,490 Four – 9.3 3.0/4 126 343 – – 6/10
Probably all the car you’ll ever need in the real world.
Plays things straighter than ever, but always with a touch of class.
SR5 Extra Cab man 5sp 3.0DT $51,740 Four – 9.3 3.0/4 126 343 – – 6/10
Also available: Workmate Single Cab 4WD man 3.0DT $24,490 SR 3.0DT 4x2 Single/Extra Cab $27,990/$33,990
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
SR Single Cab 4WD auto/man 3.0DT $38,240/35,490 SR Extra Cab 4WD man 3.0DT $40,990 SR Extra Cab 4.0i auto $38,490 90TSI hatch 5dr man 6sp 1.4T $21,490 Front 1209 5.7 1.4/4 90 200 9.3 – 7/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (4x4 models) Also try: Mitsubishi Triton, Holden Colorado 103TSI Highline 5dr DSG 1.4T $32,290 Front 1265 5.2 1.4/4 103 250 8.4 – 7/10
110TDI Highline 5dr DSG 2.0DT $34,790 Front 1326 4.9 2.0/4 110 320 8.6 – 8/10
KLUGER Also available: 90TSI Comfortline man/auto $25,490/$27,990 GTI 6sp man/6sp DSG $41,990/44,490
Slightly larger and more expensive than a RAV4; slightly smaller ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Ford Focus, Honda Civic
and less expensive than a Prado. Market saturation? Check.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING TOUAREG
GX 5dr SA 5sp 3.5i $40,990 Front 1935 10.2 3.5/6 201 337 8 – 6/10 If a large SUV can ever be inoffensive, this is it. Shares much with
an Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne, except the price... and image.
GX 5dr SA 5sp 3.5i $44,990 AWD 2005 10.6 3.5/6 201 337 8 – 6/10
GXL 5dr 7st SA 5sp 3.5i $49,990 Front 1950 10.2 3.5/6 201 337 8.2 – 6/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
GXL 5dr 7st SA 5sp 3.5i $53,990 AWD 2020 10.6 3.5/6 201 337 8.2 – 6/10 150TDI 5dr SA 8sp 3.0DT $63,990 Four 2154 7.2 3.0/6 150 400 9.0 – 6/10
Grande 5dr 7st SA 5sp 3.5i $63,520 Front 1990 10.4 3.5/6 201 337 8.2 – 6/10 V6 TDI 5dr SA 8sp 3.0DTT $77,990 Four 2159 7.4 3.0/6 180 550 7.8 – 7/10
Grande 5dr 7st SA 5sp 3.5i $67,520 AWD 2060 10.6 3.5/6 201 337 8.2 – 6/10 Also available: V6TDI 4XMotion wagon 5dr SA 8sp 3.0DTT $82,990 V8 TDI R-Line wagon 5dr SA 8sp 4.2DT $112,990
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mercedes ML, Porsche Cayenne, Range Rover Sport, BMW X5
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mitsubishi Challenger, Ford Territory, Kia Sportage/Sorento
TIGUAN
PRADO A baby SUV that’s more of a family car than a rough ’n’ tough off-
Predictably, it’s bigger than a Kluger but smaller than roader. Destined for the school run, and why not?
a LandCruiser. Well then, who saw that coming?
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
118TSI 5dr man 6sp 1.4TSI $28,990 Front 1493 6.9 1.4/4 118 240 8.9 – 7/10
GX 5st 5dr man 6sp 3.0DT $55,990 Four 2195 8.8 3.0/4 127 410 – – 5/10
103TDI 5dr man 6sp 2.0DT $39,990 Four 1620 6.2 2.0/4 103 320 10.2 – 7/10
VX 7st 5dr SA 5sp 4.0i $77,520 Four 2250 11.5 4.0/6 202 381 – – 5/10
155TSI 5dr DSG 7sp 2.0T $44,990 Four 1642 8.8 2.0/4 155 280 7.3 – 7/10
Kakadu 7st 5dr SA 5sp 4.0i $91,120 Four 2340 11.5 4.0/6 202 381 – – 5/10
Also available: 132TSI Pacific 5dr 2.0TSI man 6sp/SA 6sp $34,490/$36,990
Also available: GXL man/SA 3.0DT $61,290/$64,290 GXL SA 4.0i $62,720
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Land Rover Freelander, Nissan X-Trail
VX SA 3.0DT $78,520 Kakadu SA 3.0DT $92,120 GX 7 SA 3.0DT man/SA $55,990/$61,990
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mitsubishi Pajero, Land Rover Discovery AMAROK
Vee-Dub’s new Amarok delivers a swift and powerful kick to
FJ CRUISER the goolies of the established Japanese ute manufacturers.
Say hello to Toyota’s left hook in its growing brand renaissance:
a funky-retro scrub basher, street trawler and beach cruiser. PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Dual cab man 6sp 2.0DT $32,590 Rear 1861 7.4 2.0/4 90 340 – – 5/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Trendline dual cab man 6sp 2.0DT $45,990 Four 2020 7.9 2.0/4 120 400 – – 6/10
Wagon 5dr auto 5sp 4.0i $47,990 Four 2000 11.4 4.0/6 200 380 – – 6/10
Ultimate dual cab man 6sp 2.0DT $59,990 Four 2098 7.9 2.0/4 120 400 – – 7/10
Also try: Land Rover Freelander, Jeep Wrangler, Range Rover Evoque
Also available: Highline dual cab 4dr man 6sp 2.0DT $50,990 Dual cab 4dr man 6sp 4Motion 2.0DT $42,990
Cab chassis models
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Toyota HiLux, Isuzu D-Max, Holden Colorado, Mitusbishi Triton, Nissan Navara

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FOR M OR E R E V IE W S , R O A D T E S T S , V ID E O S A ND F IRS T D RIV E S, G O T O T OP GE A R .COM /AU
 VOLKSWAGEN-VOLVO
EOS V40 CROSS COUNTRY
you’d better be quick.

103 TDI conv. 2dr DSG 2.0DT

PRICE
$49,990
WorldMags.net
Not long for the world, so if you want topless German fun,

DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE

Front 1596 5.9 2.0/4
KW
103
NM
320
0-100
10.3
MAX
–
RATING
5/10
Volvo likes the XC formula so much, it’s applying it to almost every
model in the range. This one’s for compact outdoor types.

D4 Luxury wagon 6sp 2.0D

PRICE
$47,990
DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE
Front 1561 5.3 2.0/5
KW
130 400
NM 0-100
5.3
MAX
210
RATING
7/10
155 TSI conv. 2dr DSG 2.0TSI $51,990 Front 1551 7.7 2.4/4 155 280 7.8 – 5/10 T5 Luxury wagon 6sp 2.5T $52,990 Four 1588 8.4 2.5/5 187 360 8.4 210 7/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mazda MX-5 Also available:
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: BMW X1, Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class
POLO
It’s the Golf’s Mini-Me – safe and solid, and peppier than you might think. V60
A handy all-rounder for city folk. Take S60, add wagon rear end. So it’s all the perks of the
sedan version with a bit more space in the back. T’riffic!
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Trendline hatch 3dr man 5sp 1.4i $16,290 Front 1033 6.1 1.4/4 63 132 12.1 – 8/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
81TSI Comfortline man 5sp 1.2T $18,290 Front 1048 5.5 1.2/4 77 175 9.7 – 8/10 D4 Kinetic wagon 8sp 2.0D $57,890 Front 1663 4.5 2.0/4 133 400 7.6 225 7/10
GTI hatch 3dr DSG 7sp 1.4T $29,540 Front 1189 6.1 1.4/4 132 250 6.9 – 8/10 T5 Kinetic wagon 8p 2.0T $55,890 Front 1649 6.8 2.0/4 180 350 6.4 230 7/10
Also available: T6 R-Design wagon 6sp 3.0T $72,990 Four 1747 10.3 3.0/6 242 480 5.8 250 7/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (5dr) Also try: Ford Fiesta Also available: D4 Luxury 5dr 8sp 2.0D $62,890; T5 Luxury/T5 R-Design 5dr 8sp 2.0T $60,890/$64,890
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Audi A4, BMW 3 Series and Mercedes C-Class wagons
SCIROCCO
Imagine a Golf GTI. Now imagine it has a sexier, more athletic cousin.
You’ve imagined the Scirocco. Possibly the most complete car you can buy.
S80
A posh sedan for people who don’t want to buy German.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING It’s comfy and well-finished, but zero fun.
R coupe 3dr man 6sp 2.0T $47,990 Front 1351 8.1 2.0/4 188 330 6.2 – 9/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
Also try: RenaultSport Megane , VW Golf R T6 Luxury sedan 6sp 3.0T $84,990 Four 1786 10.0 3.0/6 224 440 6.4 250 5/10
Also try: Audi A6, Mercedes E-Class, BMW 5 Series
JETTA
Basically a Golf with a boot, so it’s eminently reliable and practical. C70
With the 2.0T from the MkV Golf GTi, it’s plenty quick enough, too.
Coupe-convertible with clever three-piece roof. Optimum
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING speed is ‘going very slowly’, but at least it looks all right.
118 TSI sedan man 6sp 1.4T $24,990 Front 1317 6.5 1.4/4 118 240 8.3 – 6/10 PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
118 TSI Highline sedan DSG 2.0T $33,290 Front 1337 7.9 2.0/4 118 240 8.3 – 6/10 T5 S convertible 6sp 2.5T $61,990 Front 1679 9.8 2.5/5 169 320 8 235 6/10
Also available: 118 TSI Comfortline sedan 4dr DSG 7sp 1.4T $29,240 Also try: Audi A4 Cabrio, BMW 3 Series convertible
103 TDI Highline sedan 4dr DSG 6sp 2.0DT $35,790
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Suzuki Kizashi, Mazda3 XC60
Small SUV stuffed with health and safety kit. In fact, it should probably
UP come in fluoro yellow, with a loud hailer and whiney voice as standard.
Finally, a city car that you’d want to own. Neat styling, refined engine
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
and packaging to shame IKEA’s finest. The Up is a car we like. A lot.
D4 Kinetic wagon 8sp 2.0D $59,890 Front 1748 4.9 2.0/4 133 400 10.3 195 6/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
D5 Luxury wagon 6sp 2.5D $69,990 Four 1819 6.9 2.5/5 158 440 8.3 205 6/10
Hatch 3dr man 5sp 1.0i $13,990 Front 880 8.8 1.0/3 55 95 13.2 173 8/10
T5 Kinetic wagon 8sp 2.0D $57,890 Front 1766 8.7 2.0/4 180 350 7 210 6/10
Hatch 5dr man 5sp 1.0i $14,990 Front 880 8.8 1.0/3 55 95 13.2 173 8/10
T6 Luxury wagon 6sp 3.0T $74,990 Four 1846 10.5 3.0/6 224 440 6.9 210 6/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Nissan Micra, VW Polo, Ford Fiesta, Honda Jazz
Also available: D4 Luxury 5dr 8sp 2.0D $64,890; D5 R-Design 5dr 6sp 2.5D $73,990 (D5 R-Design is 169kW/470Nm);
T5 Luxury 5dr 8sp 2.0T $62,890; T6 R-Design 5dr 6sp 3.0T $78,990
BEETLE ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Land Rover Freelander, BMW X3, Audi Q5
A sportier Beetle? Does that make this a Cockroach? Never mind, the
retro VW now has driver appeal to go with its designer bodywork. XC70
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING Close your eyes and think of a Volvo. This is what pops into your mind
Beetle man 6sp 1.4TS $30,290 Front 1292 6.8 1.4/4 118 240 8.3 – 7/10 – the 21st century incarnation of the classic, practical, big wagon.
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Mini, Fiat 500, Hyundai Veloster, VW Golf PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
D5 Kinetic wagon 6sp 2.5D $59,990 Four 1890 6.9 2.5/5 158 440 6.9 205 5/10

VOLVO T6 Luxury wagon 6sp 3.0T $69,990

Also available: D5 Luxury 5dr 6sp 2.5D $64,990
Four 1870 10.2 3.0/6 224 440 7.4 210 5/10

Clarkson on Volvo:
‘Volvos aren’t especially nice to drive, but they Also try: Subaru Outback, VW Passat Alltrack
are, as a general rule, enormously pleasant.’
XC90
S60 The new one – which is great – is due to drop in the next few
Sleekly-styled sedan loaded with safety features, like a radar months. But the outgoing model is a good all-rounder as well.
that detects wayward pedestrians, then brakes for you. PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
3.2 R-Design wagon 6sp 3.2 $69,990 Four 2184 11.5 3.2/6 179 320 9.5 – 6/10
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
D5 R-Design wagon 6sp 2.5D $73,490 Four 2125 8.8 2.5/5 155 460 9.9 – 7/10
T4 Kinetic sedan 6sp 1.6T $49,990 Front 1495 7.4 1.6/4 132 240 9.0 225 7/10
Also available: Executive +$3,500. D5 Executive is 147kW/420Nm, 0-100km/h in 10.3secs
D4 Kinetic sedan 8sp 2.0D $56,890 Front 1614 4.2 2.0/4 133 400 7.4 230 7/10
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: BMW X5, Land Rover Discovery 4, Mercedes ML
T5 Luxury sedan 8sp 2.0T $59,890 Front 1602 6.4 2.0/4 177 320 6.3 230 8/10
T6 R-Design sedan 6sp 3.0T $71,990 Four 1684 10.2 3.0/6 242 480 5.7 250 8/10
Polestar sedan 6sp 3.0T $99,950 Four 1684 10.2 3.0/6 257 500 3.9 250 8/10
Also available: T4 Luxury 4dr 6sp 1.6T $54,990; D4 Luxury 4dr 6sp 2.0D $60,990; T5 R-Design 4dr 6sp 2.0T $58,990
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, Mercedes C-Class

V40
The Swedes have decided to take on the Germans in the premium
hatch market – and it seems they’ve done so quite convincingly.
PRICE DRIVE WEIGHT L/100km ENGINE KW NM 0-100 MAX RATING
D2 Kinetic wagon 6sp 1.6D $36,990 Front 1402 4.2 1.6/4 84 270 12.1 190 7/10
D4 Kinetic wagon 6sp 2.0D $42,490 Front 1508 5.3 2.0/5 130 400 8.3 215 7/10
T4 Kinetic wagon 6sp 2.0T $41,990 Front 1462 7.6 2.0/5 132 300 7.9 220 7/10
T5 R-Design wagon 6sp 2.5T $49,990 Front 1468 8.1 2.5/5 187 360 6.1 250 7/10
Also available: D4 Kinetic (M) 5dr 6sp 2.0D $40,490; D4 Luxury 5dr 6sp 2.0D $45,990;
T4 Luxury 5dr 6sp 2.0T $45,990
ANCAP ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Also try: Audi A3, BMW 1 Series, VW Golf, Mercedes A-Class

WorldMags.net
TOPGEAR.COM  APRIL 2015 161
 TV
WorldMags.net
WHO PAUL KELLY WHERE ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA WHEN MARCH 1, 2015
Crunch time
in Radelaide...
YOU COULD FEEL THE FINANCIAL CRISIS WORSEN
DURING AUSTRALIA’S OWN WALL STREET CRASH
very race crash costs somebody
something. And thankfully the
E only pain felt from this
monster GT pile-up was
financial.
Lap one of race three in the opening round
of the Australian GT Championship at the
Clipsal 500 race weekend in Adelaide was
brought to a shuddering halt when Kiwi Paul
Kelly in the Trass Family Motorsport Ferrari
458 Italia GT3 bounced off the (Turn 2) ripple
strip in the middle of the Senna Chicane, just
after the start/finish line.
Kelly struggled with the resulting snap
(cold tyre) oversteer slide, and was too far
gone as the car solidly head-butted the
concrete barrier on the outside of Turn 3.
As he violently rebounded back onto the
circuit those following became involved in a
loud, involuntary and expensive game of
carbon fibre crunch.
VERDICT
On sheer dollar value alone this one hits a high score. Multiple big-buck su
reduced to steaming wrecks in seconds... and everyone walked away. Top s
162 APRIL 2015  TOPGEAR.COM
+ Watch the carbon fibre fly as a
full grid of high-dollar exotics is
rapidly reduced in size and scale
For info on how to use viewa, turn to page 8
CRASH TV / EXTRAS
BUT WAIT.
THERE’S MORE...
8
The crash took out half a dozen other cars,
including two Audi R8 LMS Ultras, a pair of Guanajuato, Mexico
Porsche 911s (GT3 R and Cup), McElrea
Racing’s rare, and to that point, ultra-
World Rally pairing Ott Tänakk and
Ragio Molder took an impromtu dip
competitive Ginetta G55 GT3, and a fresh-off- during Rally Mexico in their Ford
the-boat McLaren 650S GT3. Best estimates Fiesta. The words glug, glug, glug
put the total damage bill at around $3 million. come to mind, but amazingly, the car
Kelly, bruised and understandably shaken, was recovered and finished the rally.
described the shunt as the biggest crash of his
life, adding he was thankful for the integrity
and crash safety of the Ferrari. “The main
thing is that cars are fixable, I’ve got a mrs
and a kid at home, and I get to go see them.”
5
Most, but not all teams w
confident their cars could an
would be repaired, although
real proof will be the size of
field that grids up for the
second round of this year’s
championship at Phillip Islan
9 delaide, Australia
n the face of it V8 Ute driver Geoff
ane looks to have had a brain snap,
(May 22-23). riving fellow racer Bruce Oaklands
to the wall. He copped a $10k fine
nd meeting exclusion, but protests
is innocence. You be the judge...
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