Inhaltsverzeichnis für October 2020 in Evo

IT’S BEEN A TOUGH YEAR FOR ALL CAR MANUFACTURERS, bar Tesla, which last time I looked is worth more than life itself. But some have been under the spotlight more than others, McLaren being one. Many still don’t appreciate that McLaren Automotive only celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2020, and that the MP4-12C still looks box-fresh to those not in the know. The 720S, in my humble opinion, nails the supercar brief like no other, the 600LT beat all comers to be crowned 2018’s eCoty, and the 620R we drove this month is the pinnacle of Sports Series development and further proof the shades of grey McLaren was accused of wearing have been peeled away, revealing a car company with the personality and product to rattle a GT3 RS’s roll-cage.…

FUNNY OLD CAR, THE 911 TURBO CABRIOLET. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a 930 in the late ’80s or a more recent 991, to those in the know it takes a car that’s structurally compromised and then throws an indecent amount of power at it, and in return for a whole heap of cash you get a machine that rarely delivers true driving satisfaction. Yet for those who simply see two plus two as always equalling four, it can be their ultimate 911 – the Porsche with added chocolate sauce, sprinkles and a cherry on top. The ultimate excess. Which brings us to the new, 992-generation Turbo S Cabriolet, the figurehead at least in financial terms of Porsche’s non-GT 911s. It costs from £165,127 and offers 641bhp in a 911…

‘THE MOST ACCOMPLISHED LOTUS WE have ever built’ is how Lotus CEO Phil Popham describes the first all-new Lotus to be signed off by Geely and launched under his watch. Arriving in the summer of 2021 the new model, currently tagged Type 131, will be given a new name (starting with an E but not followed by the letters S, P, R, I and T) and is the company’s first all-new car since the Elise. It will sit on an aluminium platform and be powered by a new family of engines – not Lotus developed, but not related to the current Toyota units either – that will be available in more than one state of tune. Lotus is remaining tight-lipped on the specifics of the car, but we did manage…

IT’S TAKEN 34 YEARS AND SIX generations but finally BMW has confirmed it will offer an M3 Touring when it introduces its all new G20 M3 in September. Better late than never. However, despite the new M3 saloon and M4 coupe scheduled to be revealed in September, you’ll still have to wait a little longer, until 2022, before you can begin to carry larger loads in an M3. Having only recently started the M3 Touring’s development cycle, BMW M says there is still some work to be done. As a result the M3 Touring will arrive just as Mercedes-AMG is readying the launch of its next-generation C-class, which will also be available in estate form and will see a controversial switch from the thumping V8s to new four-cylinder hybrid engines.…

AS I SETLE INTO THE HEAVILY reclined, Daytona-style leather seat – so low it feels like it’s barely an inch above road height – the rainwater drips off my jacket collar and trickles down my neck. My trainers are already like giant, clogged sponges, and water is spraying inwards from the slender side glass that’s cracked ajar to prevent us misting up, given I haven’t yet worked out the antiquated but very stylish air con system. What a day to drive an old Ferrari. A proper Ferrari, in all its delicate, flighty, I-don’t-like-second-gear-from-cold glory – a Ferrari the old-fashioned way. Yet this is simultaneously something new, too, which I’m already getting a strong hint about from the raspy, tenor-like commotion idling noisily away behind my shoulder blades. The way the…

ONE MINUTE THE INNER LOBBY OF STUTTGART’S Imperial Hotel is bathed in early morning summer sunshine; the next minute it’s as if God has accidentally knocked the sun’s dimmer switch. Something very large has come to a halt just outside the hotel, throwing the lobby into shade. I believe the Maybach has arrived. If you’ve never seen a Maybach in the metal, I can promise you this: it’s at least twice as big as you thought it was. Honestly, nothing else comes close. If you parked one next to a tacky American stretchy, it would be like comparing a giant Sun Seeker with a British narrow boat. They come in two sizes too: extra large (I’m really quite well-off) and jumbo (I’m seriously rich). Ours is a jumbo – the…

IT MUST BE TOUGH BEING A DESIGNER OF car interiors. You have to accommodate all kinds of essentials, such as airbags and cupholders, incorporate numerous existing components, from infotainment kit to wiper stalks, and then endeavour to create something that looks cohesive while also being ergonomically sound. And after all your hard work, some car reviewer comes along and says that it ‘all feels a bit dated’, or on a good day dishes out the old bromide that it’s ‘a pleasant place to spend time’. Sheesh, thanks. The Supra’s cabin doesn’t exactly compel you to start gushing new superlatives. As I’ve suggested before, compared to the theatrical exterior design it’s quite steady, or ‘almost classic’ as John Barker described it when casting his eye around our Supra – the first…

‘IT’S NOT A PORTOFINO WITH A FIXED roof.’ That’s what Ferrari told us back in November when it unveiled the Roma, and the message was reiterated in yesterday’s Zoom presentation. ‘Seventy per cent is new. It’s a GT with a sporting edge; it has Side Slip Control and a five-setting manettino with a Race mode…’ Being healthily sceptical, only when we’d driven it would we know exactly what sort of Ferrari the Roma is. Less than 20 minutes after setting off, the answer is that the Roma is a very good Ferrari, because in just a few miles it’s ticked all the important boxes. You’d never guess that it shares anything with the Portofino, except maybe its flat-plane-crank V8, though even that feels utterly different in character. The first clue…

IT’S ESTIMATED THERE ARE AS MANY as 250 billion stars in our home galaxy the Milky Way, and as many as two trillion galaxies in the observable universe, but those figures pale in comparison to the combined bonnets and bootlids of the current Mercedes-AMG line-up, on which you’ll find more stars than in multiverse theory. AMG’s cosmic expansion has been nothing if not impressive, but to consider it on numbers alone would be to do the prolific performance brand a disservice, as AMG seems to hit far more than it misses. And while GT R Pros might be the bedroom wall poster material and C63s the attainable dream cars, it’s the 415bhp, 2-litre turbocharged ‘45s’ that have recently left us most star-struck. They’re technically impressive, for sure. Extracting well over…

AUDI’S S3 HAS FALLEN SHORT WHEN compared with its Golf GTI cousin in recent years, and this is despite it having the technical armoury to match a Golf R. It’s the hot hatch that’s driving through no man’s land not quite sure which battle it’s meant to be facing. Invariably its style has outperformed its substance, with the Ingolstadt-developed car feeling flat footed and two dimensional compared to the more effervescent, more rounded and 3D approach of its class-leading rivals. However, for 2020 Audi thinks it has created a more direct challenger to the establishment with an S3 that wants for little and promises a greater focus on its dynamic performance. Which it will need, because within the VW Group alone it will be chased by not only the Mk8…

IF McLAREN FATIGUE WAS A CLINICALLY recognised condition then by rights we should all be chronic sufferers by now. Such has been Woking’s prodigious output over the last few years it’s been hard to keep pace with the latest new models. Sports Series, Super Series, Ultimate Series, C, S, GT, LT, Spider, Senna and Speedtail. We’ve seen them all. And yet we’ve not seen anything quite like the 620R. OK, let me qualify that. Of course we’ve seen something very similar in the shape of the 570S, but the 620R is a new kind of McLaren. One with genuine racing pedigree. Given the McLaren name is one of the pillars of motor racing history this may seem a strange statement, but until now McLaren’s road cars have been just that.…

SOMETIMES WISHES DO COME TRUE. I WAS ambling along thinking how perfect it would be to happen across a conventional performance car, a properly quick one, and mug it, when what should wander into the web of my idea but a big, fat, juicy BMW M2 CS. Perfect. All the driver would see in their mirrors would be the Nomad’s distinctive open-wheel, off-road buggy look. Clued up, they might know what it was, and that there was a 290bhp version, but I was hoping they wouldn’t be expecting an encounter with a Nomad R, one of just five with 335bhp, a sequential gearbox, road-biased suspension and sticky Yokohama A052s… I was on home turf, and it soon became clear from the early opportunity our M2 owner took to overtake a…

A YEAR OR TWO AGO IN THESE VERY PAGES, OUR learned colleague Richard Meaden mused on the subject of automotive monogamy: the idea of finding that one car you’d happily keep forever, rather than constantly flitting to the next fresh young thing that catches your eye. Ask the average reader of this magazine to make such a choice and, with a generous budget, the Porsche 911 would probably feature on quite a few lists. It has the perfect confluence of characteristics you’d want to combine if never allowed another vehicle – performance, attractive styling, a desirable badge, driver involvement, and enough practicality to cover most eventualities. Whatever the latest 992 might have lost to the 991 in some of those areas, it’s undoubtedly gained in others. I’d defy most people…

A YOUNG WELSH LAD, GRINNING like a Cheshire cat, waves his hand up and down by the Giulia’s window, in the kind of exaggerated motion a toddler might use to pat a dog on the head. The car-literate will recognise this as the international symbol for ‘give it some revs!’, and with fluids long since warmed up, I oblige with a few similarly exaggerated stabs of the right-hand pedal. Truth be told, the Giulia’s not the perfect car for this Lambo-outside-Harrods treatment, and I’ve spent much of the day so far wondering if it isn’t actually a little too quiet, something that could be put down to the recent fitment of petrol particulate filters to the 2.9-litre V6. The lad and his friends seem impressed though (I was equally impressed…

TOBIAS MOERS HAS BEEN RUNNING Aston Martin for nearly six weeks as this issue of evo goes on sale. I suspect he already has many questions, and I’m curious to know if he’s asked why the company’s line-up of sports cars is so thin. We’re seven months into running our Vantage and it still remains a highlight, a sports car that makes you feel special, providing a buzz of anticipation and excitement every time you swing its driver’s door out and open. But it’s also made us think that Aston could offer more options. Not options as in ‘should I have red or smoked rear lights?’, but a range hierarchy. Our Vantage makes a great opening bid for Aston Martin ownership, but if you’re looking to replace it with another…

THIS IS GOING TO BE A REVIEW IN TWO parts, so bear with – it’ll all make sense as we go along, I promise. We booked in this particular Trophy-R, number 115 of 500 in case you were wondering, because it’s the second of Renault UK’s two press cars, and unlike the one we tested last year on road and track, and which turned up at Ascari for eCoty 2019, it features neither the carbon-ceramic front brakes nor the carbonfibre wheels of the £72,140 Nürburgring Record version. This means that, at £51,455, it’s merely just very expensive for a front-wheel-drive hot hatch, not outrageously so. Given our love-hate relationship with the third – and sadly, we suspect, last – generation of Renault Sport’s hardcore two-seat Mégane, could a declutter on…

IT’S NOT A SHY AND RETIRING CAR, THE Ford Focus RS. Jump in for a fast drive and it bludgeons you over the head with noise and presence, shaking you by the shoulders, almost literally, and demands to know whether you’re having fun yet. And if you’re on the wrong road, or in the wrong mood, the answer’s just as likely ‘no’ as it is ‘yes’. That Mountune has extracted 513bhp from the 2.3-litre four-cylinder could go one of two ways. If your name is Gary it’ll be like all your Christmases have come at once, but for everyone else the idea of turning a yob into a full-on hooligan, and for a not inconsiderable amount of money, might seem like adding one too many eggs to an already unpalatable…

DURING THE 1970S COLIN CHAPMAN steered Lotus upmarket, selling the Seven to Caterham and killing the original Elan in order to introduce the upmarket Elite coupe of 1974, briskly followed by its Éclat sister and the mid-engined Esprit. However, these fancier models weren’t enough to run the Hethel factory at capacity, which is why Mike Kimberley, Lotus’s chief engineer and later managing director, asked designer Oliver Winterbottom to start work on a cheaper, 2+2 sports car, based on a cut-down Elite chassis. The project promptly stalled for lack of finances, only to be re-ignited at the end of the ’70s when Chapman agreed to a new entry-level car if Lotus could persuade a larger manufacturer to provide a cost-effective powertrain. Kimberley set about finding a big fish to whom Lotus…

IF YOU’RE GOING TO GAUGE THE success of a newcomer to the road racer genre you don’t need a racetrack or a stopwatch. What you need is decent roads and a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Not because it’s the fastest, most powerful or even the most extreme car in its class, for it is none of these. You need a GT3 RS because in 991.2 spec it’s the product of two decades of dynastic dominance and a respected benchmark of the things we hold dear as drivers. The products of differing doctrines, yet united by the same shared objectives, both the 620R and GT3 RS crystallise the thrill of driving like few other cars money can buy. As such they continue a fine tradition of uncompromising road cars that have…

EACH OF THE PHOTOGRAPHERS WE’VE featured so far in ‘Life Through a Lens’ has followed a unique path, some picking it up from a young age and others falling into the discipline from other careers. A little childhood inspiration never hurts though, and for Dom Fraser, whose work has appeared in countless magazines and manufacturer portfolios over the years, that inspiration came at an enviably young age. ‘I really wanted to be good at art but I couldn’t draw or paint, so photography looked like quite a good way forward,’ he explains. ‘I must’ve been ten or eleven, and my dad bought me a little Kodak disc camera. I took some pictures with that and really enjoyed it. ‘With my parents’ support I got a better camera next time around…

IT’S THE NINTH OF OCTOBER 1961 AND MRS BAILEY has given birth to future Tyrrell driver Julian in a hospital in Woolwich, south-east London. Mother and baby are doing well. The father is not present for the birth; he’s doing time in prison. ‘Dad was a delivery driver,’ says Bailey. Delivery driver might be slightly euphemistic because occasionally Bailey Sr’s van may have contained somewhat warm goods. ‘We lived in Woolwich until I was 11 when, late one night, we were pulled from our beds and the whole family left the country for a new life in Menorca.’ Not a lot of schooling took place in Menorca, but one day a family friend took a teenage Bailey to a kart track. He was good. Very good. People noticed, there was…

‘OOH, THAT’S AN R-LINE, ISN’T IT?’ MY NEW friend at our campsite had been staring at the Tirpitz Grey Passat for the past minute, oblivious to me keeping a beady eye on his activities. Trying hard to hide the puzzlement in my face, I confirmed that he was right. The puzzlement was because usually no one tends to notice our uber-Passat, a vehicle that, by and large, travels fairly incognito – amusingly so, in fact, given the performance it offers. I didn’t tell him that beneath the enhanced R-Line exterior is the guts of a slightly detuned Golf R, a fact that, if he was impressed with it up to that point, may have blown his mind. The Volkswagen Passat Estate R-Line Edition TSI 272 4Motion DSG (to give it…

THE NEWS IS NOT GOOD. I COULD USE words like dire or terrible, but given this is 2020, I’ll settle for simply not good. I didn’t expect ACH Classic to ring me up and say that the Pinto had actually been the chrysalis for a BDA, but neither did I expect it to be quite this bad. To recap briefly – because I realise that even for an evo project car this has been a long saga – I bought this 1979 Mk2 Escort RS2000 in 2011. I did the Woodpecker Rally in it in 2014 (second in class; not a big class, but bigger than two) then had a bit of a hiatus. I tried to do the Woodpecker again in 2017 but only managed to limp to the…