Table of contents for December 2023 in Evo

MUNICH HELD THE SECOND OF its biennial Mobility motor shows in September, an event created to replace the colossal Frankfurt Motor Show and allow the home brands to flex their events budgets and dust off the chauffeur fleets. Unlike Frankfurt, where you could always rely on a new BMW M/Audi Sport/AMG/Porsche/GTI being revealed to much fanfare, Munich is a whole lot more worthy. Mobility is the theme, the new model debuts seemingly designed to put you off ever buying a new car again. An odd marketing strategy, but clearly plenty of high-ups think it’s a good one. It’s a total contrast to the Tokyo Auto Salon, where the weird and wonderful, the hoverboards and breakdancing robots, kei cars and, of course, concepts converge under the spotlights. Concepts are always a…

IF THE BURGEONING RESTOMOD SCENE tells us anything it’s that even the most storied classics have a few chapters left in them. Witness this pair of comprehensively reinvented MGBs from Oxford-based Frontline. Along with Eagle and Alfaholics, Frontline can legitimately claim to be the OGs when it comes to UK restomodding. To celebrate three decades of trading, and the MGB’s 60th birthday, it has created the LE60, a limited-edition run of 30 special wide-body MGB GT coupes powered by a highly tuned 4.8-litre Rover V8. The LE60 is quite a thing. The crystallisation of all Frontline’s knowledge, it’s a big step up in terms of scope, ambition, performance and price point. Amazingly it’s also the first time the company has turned its attention to the V8 for one of its…

THIS IS FIAT PANDA 4X4 COUNTRY. IF ITALY IS shaped like a boot, we’re near its first metatarsal, just inland from the coast, where hairpins coil like bunched snakes and deep potholes lie in wait to strike. The sun baked tarmac is scarred, pockmarked and lined with verdant, view-blocking overgrowth. Many of the remote towns and villages predate the invention of the car by hundreds of years, so negotiating the bottlenecked streets in their centres occasionally requires the door mirrors to be folded in. That’s why every other car parked higgledy-piggledy along the gutters and verges, ambling along ahead of us, or framed neatly by the carbonfibre roll-cage in the rear-view mirror, is a classic Panda 4x4. (Most of them look to be in fine fettle too; the Mediterranean climate…

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THE SPORTS CAR ENJOYS AN IMAGE in some quarters as a lone-ranger, borderline-selfish creation, to be enjoyed by the driver and the driver alone. In reality, though, I think sports cars are at their best when they’re shared experiences. The evo Caterham is a good case study for this theory. It’s been a bonding agent for friends, neighbours, and complete strangers. Anyone and everyone wants to chat whenever I stop in a car park or at a petrol station. Closer to home, while I’ve been playing the game of bike-and-lawnmower Tetris that’s involved in getting the Caterham into, or extricating it from, my garage, neighbours have popped over for brief chats, which have turned into longer conversations and, inexorably, passenger rides in the Seven. They’ve all been as captivated by…

IT’S BEEN A BUSY FEW MONTHS FOR the C63, with plenty of outings, some unscheduled maintenance and an intriguing comparison with the new M3 Touring. R55 AWP also met a new friend in the family, my brother having recently swapped his E92 M3 coupe for an E90 saloon. Its arrival has only reaffirmed my belief that the naturally aspirated V8 German performance car of the 2010s is an unmatched breed. A week with the new G81 M3 Touring, meanwhile, confirmed how stunningly capable the latest practical performance cars can be. Coincidentally, the G81 has exactly the same power-to-weight ratio as my Performance Pack Plus C63 – 274bhp/ton – the BMW being a bit more powerful, with 503bhp playing 480bhp, but also heavier at 1865kg versus 1780kg. But while the M3T…

WELL, THAT WAS AN EXPERIENCE. THE Ginetta G56 GTA that was all too briefly our own racing car has gone on to its new full-time job as Ginetta’s demo car for the GT Academy championship, and it leaves some indelible memories behind. Competing in two rounds of the series was a brief but intense adventure. I drove the car solo in the season opener at Oulton Park, and again in a Team evo joint entry with staff writer Yousuf Ashraf in the Ginetta Festival at Silverstone. Unexpectedly, that included a double podium at Oulton and the same again for Yousuf at Silverstone – despite him never having driven a racing car of any description before. An amazing debut, which merits some serious cap doffing. And provides a pretty neat proof…

WHO KNEW ALL THAT WAS GOING ON behind the dashboard in the Honda Civic Type R? All that energy, that sound, that violence… The 2-litre four-cylinder turbo engine behind my shoulders is emitting all kinds of whoops and squawks, trills and flutters, like an entire aviary’s been ingested through the airbox. Actually, given the rate it’s propelling the Atom down the road, and the intense whooshing sound it makes as the turbo spools up, I wonder if Ariel might actually have swapped it for a jet engine. In the already-rapid Honda hot hatch it’s sourced from, the 2-litre four turns out 324bhp. Installed in the regular Ariel Atom 4 (it seems wrong to use the word ‘regular’ for such a gloriously irregular car), which replaced the Atom 3.5 in 2020,…

EVO HAS TEAMED UP WITH AUDI UK AMBASSADOR ROHIT GHAI TO offer an exclusive opportunity for 20 evo subscribers to visit Ghai’s Michelin-starred Kutir restaurant in Chelsea to enjoy an evening of cars and curry with evo, Audi and Ghai himself, sampling the unique dish he has created to celebrate evo’s 25th anniversary. If you are already a subscriber to the magazine you will be contacted via email to ask if you would like to be entered into the draw (please log in to yoursubscription.co.uk to make sure we have your correct contact details). If you are not a subscriber but would like the opportunity to win a seat at the table, simply subscribe at subscribe.evo.co.uk and we will contact you to confirm your draw entry. The event is scheduled…

I WAS THRILLED AND DELIGHTED UPON SEEING THE CAR that finished seventh in your ‘25 Most Significant Driver’s Cars of the Last 25 Years’ countdown (evo 315). Its inclusion was richly deserved, even amongst such elevated company. I am talking, of course, about the incredible Ford Focus Mk1. Its chief engineer, Richard Parry-Jones, was a master, and his Focus transformed the way the average family car drove and looked. I had experience of a company Orion/Escort in the past, so can truly appreciate the huge step the Focus represented in engineering terms, particularly with regards to steering and ride quality. I own a 1.6-litre Zetec version today, which I fondly call my bucket car; it’s a workhorse that covers a multitude of chores. It is light, nimble and communicative, has…

HOMOLOGATION SPECIAL. A PHRASE SO FULLY LOADED it can make your first few miles in the Toyota GR Yaris a little underwhelming. A Lancia 037 possessed neither a three-year warranty nor a nannying lane-keep system that reactivated every time you started the engine. But to sell the 25,000 cars necessary to meet modern World Rally Championship rules – as was Toyota’s target until Covid scuppered the rally version’s chances of being ready before the sport switched to hybrid machines – the broad-shouldered Yaris needed to conform at least a little. There’s also the tidal wave of hype that brought the little Toyota to shore. Barely anyone blinked when the curious Yaris GRMN – a much underrated car – launched five years ago. Squeeze a punchy turbo engine and a four-wheel-drive…

NEW ARRIVAL Alfa Romeo Giulia Veloce We can’t all stretch to a GTA, so what’s a 276bhp Giulia like to live with? ALFA ROMEO HAS A LONG RECORD of designing handsome midrange saloons, and the current Giulia is the Italian firm on great form. The V6 models add a sublime soundtrack and ludicrous performance, but I’ve always wondered if the much more affordable and economical 2-litre has enough character and pace to match the looks, so I jumped at the chance to run this Veloce version for its first couple of months on the evo Fast Fleet. It carries off solid red with ease and sits well on some of the most handsome alloys ever designed. I reckon they’re worth the £4500 upgrade from the base Sprint model alone, but…

FOURTEEN MONTHS. PROPS TO AUDI FOR letting us run a car for that long, allowing us to really get to know it, to get well beyond the honeymoon stage, to experience it through four seasons and in the multitude of scenarios that crop up during a year (or more) of motoring. That’s confidence in your product right there. KY22 LVE arrived way back in the summer of 2022, with just 60 miles on the clock, and was fully loaded in terms of its spec. Vorsprung trim added 20-inch wheels, Magnetic Ride dampers, the RS Sports Exhaust system, Matrix LED headlights and a black styling pack. This was topped up with Tango Red Metallic paint (£575), red brake calipers (£345), and an extended RS styling pack (£1125) that added red outer…

I’VE RUN MANY PRACTICAL PERFORMANCE cars during my time atevo, but at the end of its 11 months and 16,000 miles with us, the Skoda Superb Estate SportLine Plus 2.0 TSI 280 PS 4x4 DSG – to give it its full title – has established itself as my favourite to date. It achieved this by ticking so many boxes. Boot space is an obvious place to start, as it’s likely one of the main reasons you’d have a Superb Estate on your shortlist. Rest assured there is no shortage of it. In fact, KY22 VNH must have had one of the most commodious load areas we’ve ever experienced on the Fast Fleet, making transporting bikes, furniture or, most typically, a full load of photographic equipment an absolute breeze. Behind the…

LAMBORGHINI IS UNDOUBTEDLY A changed company. The last track-based launch I attended for a new V12-powered variant with the Italian manufacturer was at the Circuit de Catalunya. It was back in 2015 for the wild Aventador SV, a car with 740bhp and capable of lapping the Ring in under seven minutes if you have the speed, car control and sheer bravery of Marco Mapelli (the lap is worth watching if you have a spare 6:59.7 today). The format for that SV launch was simple: rock up, spend ten minutes talking about the various engine, aero and suspension changes, jump in a car and follow a test driver with his hair on fire… I remember emerging from the cool shade of the pit garage to see a line of SVs looking…

SOMETIMES IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN PURE dynamics. Sometimes star power overwhelms everything. I guess we hadn’t thought of that when we lined up the ultimate test for the new M3 CS. It seemed reasonable enough. Those two letters – CS – have come to take on real significance. The E46-generation M3 CS set the template: small, considered tweaks to deliver a huge upswing in entertainment, control and excitement. When the title was revived for the F82 M4 CS and F80 M3 CS, the M division dramatically smoothed away the spikiness of the standard cars whilst simultaneously improving precision. Then came the M2 CS, a thoroughly deserving eCoty winner. Followed by the M5 CS, another eCoty champ, an instant classic and a car that radiates a magnetic, menacing personality. So, when…

BY A FORTUITOUS TWIST OF WORK commitments, the M4’s official custodian – James Taylor – didn’t drive his long-termer for the first month or so of its six-month loan toevo. Being the selfless sort, I was only too happy to take care of it while he was gallivanting (OK, ‘working’) on back-to-back overseas launches. Sadly, he insisted I hand it back, but not before I’d covered a couple of thousand miles in it. It’s quite a machine, the M4 Comp xDrive, though at £105k with options it bloody well should be. I must have been asleep when these cars became so much money, but then I still can’t get my head around the M4 being a coupe and the M3 a saloon. This old dog struggles with new tricks. The…

I TOOK THE RS ON A TRACKDAY RECENTLY. No, I can’t believe it either, but that’s the persuasive power of James Turner at Porsche specialist Sports Purpose. His annual event for customers and friends at Goodwood is something I always intend on doing, but until now have lamentably failed to attend. Believe it or not it’s been about 15 years since I last took the 964 on track, my first 18 months of ownership seeing me visit Cadwell Park, Bedford Autodrome and the Nürburgring Nordschleife before I regained my senses and decided it was better to take someone else’s car on track. Since then, the First World problems of steadily increasing value and time spent racing conspired to give me too many excuses not to use the RS as it…

NEARLY SIX MONTHS AND 10,000 miles in and, while the 707 has become a norm in evo’s life, it still remains a conversation starter for those meeting it for the first time. Primarily this is because, despite the DBX now being in its third year of production, it remains a rare sight, although in my small(ish) town ‘mine’ makes up a quartet of DBXs, one of which is also a 707 (satin gold paint, black wheels). But like all new cars in a sector a brand hasn’t been active in before, market penetration still takes time. In the first half of 2023 the DBX accounted for 43 per cent of Aston Martin’s total 2954 vehicles sold; Ferrari expects to sell in the region of 3000 Purosangues each year. As I…

OWNING AN ESTATE CAR USED TO MEAN HAVING TO endure a dreary driving experience. That all changed in 1994 when the Porsche-engineered Audi RS2 sparked a trend for wagons that blend everyday usability with near-supercar levels of performance. Carry a family and their accoutrements one day, lap the Nürburgring the next – the super-estate’s do-it-all proposition is one we can fully get behind. With advancements in powertrain technology bringing (relatively) economical engines with mind-boggling power figures, manufacturers have taken the genre to new heights in recent years, but a circa six-figure price tag remains a constant. Thankfully, though, depreciation doesn’t shy away from the fast estate. So, from the ultra-rare E61 BMW M5 Touring to the eccentric Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake, via Audi’s benchmark RS6 Avant and Mercedes’ distinctive CLS63 AMG…