Tabla de contenidos para October 2024 en CAR UK

Vanquish (2001-2018) One of the coolest ‘V’ names Aston Martin has ever used, and one that quickly became an icon in the early 2000s thanks mainly to a charismatic V12 under the bonnet and grade-A design penmanship from Ian Callum. Valour Along with the Victor and Fernando Alonso-approved Valiant, the limited-edition Valour previewed various visual elements the new Vanquish has embraced. Expect the blunt rear to appear on more future Astons. DBS Superleggera Technically the car the Vanquish replaces. Aston has come to the conclusion that there’s no power without control, so has made a serious effort to make the Vanquish much less twitchy and nervous than the Superleggera.…

What was your first car? ‘It was a diesel Smart ForTwo. My parents live in northern Germany and I was working for Mercedes in Stuttgart, so it would often do 800km journeys.’ What’s the best thing you’ve ever done in the car? ‘When I started my current position, I was allowed to test drive the AMG One at our Sindelfingen plant. It’s a very short track, with a speed limit. It was so exciting that I broke the limit and they kicked me out.’ What achievement makes you proudest? ‘I can do my dream job, working with the team that is so performance driven.’ Tell us about a time when you’ve screwed up… ‘When I studied, there was one course I failed the exam on. I then grew in the…

Want to become a better driver? Renault thinks it has the answer, introducing new tech in its latest cars designed to guide you to becoming safer on the road. Safety Coach is available on the current Scenic, Captur, Rafale and Symbioz plus the upcoming 5 EV. The system has netted an innovation award from the French government. Safety Coach works very much like those onboard systems – found on almost every Renault, for example – that rate you on how efficient your driving is. How much throttle you apply, how early you anticipate the need to slow down, your coasting technique and how efficiently you change gear if you use a manual – all this and more influence your eco rating. Instead, Safety Coach measures you on speed, how close…

It’s still big, and still a tad top-heavy, but gone are the scrabbling front wheels and nautical cornering feel Well this could be a challenge. Our journey through Slovenia provides a vast amount of the spectacular scenery you want when you’re camping. But this route from the Alps to the Adriatic coast also involves a great many switchbacks and gradients that could stretch the abilities of something much lower than lighter than the all-new Volkswagen California. But we needn’t have worried. This latest version of the paragon and pioneer of manufacturer-backed mid-size campers is no longer based on the Transporter van, but instead uses the MQB underpinnings that also appear in many VW Group cars, and the Multivan people carrier on which the California is based. And it works. The…

Two households, alike in dignity, In fair Emilia-Romagna where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. Scuderia red leads gunmetal grey down the hillside in new mutiny, the scarred, bone-coloured tarmac drying fast after this morning’s dark-sky deluge. Sunlight cuts through steam as the road bakes from greasy to grippy, the grasses at the verge swaying against shimmering armco. In the Revuelto’s cockpit, high as a kite and climbing, I find just enough time between corners to take a mental snapshot. I also make the time to smile, because if this isn’t fun then I don’t know what is. But now – speeding Lamborghini beneath me, flying Ferrari ahead – it’s all gone horribly wrong. In that phase between…

Pininfarina vs Donckerwolke, V8 vs V10, rear-drive vs all-wheel drive… The 458 remains one of the finest Ferraris ever built. In terms of value for money, it even eclipses the 488 and the F8 that followed. It is still the handling benchmark. The Gallardo, in essence a rebodied and modified Audi R8, comes close in terms of grip, traction and showmanship, but at the wheel it simply isn’t as involving and tactile as the last pre-digital Ferrari. Diehard Lambo enthusiasts should chase the Superleggera or the rare six-speed manual.…

The Hundred, cricket’s snack-peddling and highly snackable quickfire format, is compelling TV. Test matches – like Le Mans – ebb and flow over days, the narrative coalescing only once you’ve deigned to invest the required hours of your life. The Hundred final was smashed out in a couple of hours of devastating bowling, flying stumps and big hitting. My eyes should have been glued to it. But they were not. Just outside the living-room window sat the Civic Type R. On what was a fine summer’s evening its low-profile rubber, mile-wide track widths and swollen arches spoke of barely comprehensible corner speeds. All weekend DPD drivers, postmen and neighbours had told me how good it looked and I’d agreed, telling them I’d only so far trundled it home; that a…

Oh God, okay, here we go. Right, here’s all the wishy-washy stuff that might have you demanding a refund. Both cars are superb, it’s a minor miracle they exist at all and the truth is you’d happily own either. And know that whichever one you go for, nagging doubts that you should have bought the other will come. They’re undoubtedly rivals in that they’re both sensational hot hatches. There the similarities kind of end. You know when you watch a really sorted GT or Touring Car take pole, its speed obvious yet entirely at odds with the complete lack of apparent effort? That’s the Civic Type R. It’s a solo on a Stradivarius. The GR Yaris? It’s a battered Gibson wired through every weird home-brew effects pedal you can lay…

The latest Swift finds Suzuki emphasising simplicity. Forget any ideas of plug-in hybrids, and bid farewell to the Sport variant. Here, rather, is a sub-£20k car that is not trying to be premium or hot. The ‘Heartect’ platform (the what?) is tweaked for better crash protection, cabin space and refinement, the suspension is updated (thicker front anti-roll bar, longer damper stroke at the rear, revised bumps stops) and the design is an evolutionary progression. While the powertrain sounds much the same, Suzuki says it’s new and has given it a new code: Z12E, replacing K12D. This 1.2-litre mild-hybrid triple fitted to all models is good for a huge 64.2mpg with 99g/km CO2 in our manual front-wheel driver. It makes a meagre 81bhp, but has to lug only 984kg. Suzuki has…

Pause for a moment to consider the notion of a photographer being able to sit comfortably in the boot of a Mini. A Mini! Okay, so Jordan Butters is a slender fellow, and the Countryman isn’t any old Mini, but it still signifies changing times. More usefully, the roominess of the car has been a boon as my son’s leg has been in plaster for a few weeks. The boot swallows his wheelchair easily once it’s collapsed. And the 40:20:40 split rear seats have allowed us to get his zimmer frame crammed in as well. Although the Countryman is 130mm longer and 80mm taller than the old one, the boot is exactly the same size; the extra space has all gone into the rear legroom. Mini Countryman JCW All4 Month…

I’ve spent seven months ripping on the SQ8 for its rubbish efficiency, user-unfriendly digital mirrors, unreliable charging and other niggles. But every sinner deserves a shot at redemption, so we’re heading out of Crickhowell for the Black Mountains to give the SQ8 one last chance to shine. Over the narrow bridge where this massive e-SUV is a wide load, then the grey stone houses thin and we climb through ferns and pass boulders deposited millennia ago. Swooping around sweepers and threading hairpins, the 2725kg SQ8 has every right to be a wallowing wreck. But it isn’t. Each rear wheel is spun by its own electric motor, and clever variable torque management delivers more power to the outer wheel, helping pivot the Audi into corners. It feels like a sophisticated and…

Range anxiety hasn’t really been a thing with the Avenger; charging facilities at home and work mean I’ve rarely thought about it. But a trip to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix put it front and centre – and revealed some technical gremlins. The plan was simple: shoot up the 90-ish miles from London to Milton Keynes on Friday morning, don’t point and squirt at the roundabouts and keep it smooth. One full charge should see me through the weekend, ideally at my nearby hotel. But the reality wasn’t so simple. The first choice at my hotel was broken but the second was an InstaVolt near McDonald’s – perfect for charging both man and machine. However, this is where the gremlins began. The Avenger didn’t charge on the first machine,…

Here in the UK, if you’re after a premium SUV and you’d rather avoid the default German options and instead go Japanese, your choices are limited. There are various options from Lexus, and there’s this. Not every Mazda has premium aspirations, but this definitely does, with its classy looks and serious pricing. It was an intriguing prospect. After all, Mazda brought us the MX-5, so it knows how to make a car great to drive, and it’s no stranger to engineering ingenuity, with its history of rotary engines and range extenders. Mazda quality and reliability go without saying. Some 7000 miles later, my enthusiasm for the proposition has waned somewhat. Let’s start with the good. Our mid-level Homura-specification diesel mild hybrid weighs in at £54,357 with extras, which stands up…

There surely must be a board somewhere within Aston Martin’s Gaydon HQ that’s jam packed with darts pinning images of Maranello, Fiorano and the 12Cilindri to it. The all-new Vanquish – a return to a proud name from Aston Martin’s modern history – is about as close as you can get to a direct rival to Ferrari’s all-new V12 grand tourer. It’s also quite possibly the most serious Aston Martin has been about creating something that can really compete dynamically. Previous V12 grand tourers from Gaydon – namely the 2001 Vanquish and 2018 DBS Superleggera – were all about power, theatrics and, of course, soaking up mile after mile at speed and in comfort. But Ferrari has always been able to do that, and yet combine it with the ability…

IT’S OFFICIAL An electric Cayenne closely follows the Macan Electric (pictured). ‘Our product strategy could enable us to deliver more than 80 per cent of our new cars fully electrified in 2030,’ says Porsche boss Oliver Blume. ‘In the middle of the decade, the fourth-gen [Cayenne] will set standards in the SUV segment.’ SPLIT PERSONALITY As well as offering the new, fourth-gen Cayenne as an EV, the existing third-generation model will undergo another major overhaul to keep it fresh, providing V8 and e-Hybrid PHEVs ‘up to and beyond 2030’. Porsche says it’s working on making its V8 ‘ready to comply with future legislative requirements.’ A NEW STRATEGY The EV won’t be the only Cayenne, as Porsche slightly repositions its targets amid slumping EV demand; petrol and PHEV versions will remain.…

THE ONE WITH ALL THE HERITAGE Pick your jaw up off the floor, please. British specialist Tuthill – famed for its motorsport prowess – has a long history with Porsche. After the 911K – a lightweight restomod 911 S/T – Tuthill Porsche’s carbon-bodied GT One takes the original and road-ifies it with all the latest mod-cons. NEED TO KNOW What is it? A roadgoing Porsche GT1 recreation I Tech specs An 11,000rpm-redlining nat-asp or turbo’d flat-six, inconel exhaust, manual or dual-clutch transmission I Aimed at? Rich millennials who had the GT1 on their bedroom wall I Can I get my hands on one? You can, but only 22 will be made THE ONE WITH ALL THE CIGARS Automobili Pininfarina’s electric hypercar is ripe for personalisation, so much so that a…

Take a look at that structure. Sinuous tendrils stretch out of a carbonfibre tub, weaving and twisting in all directions with hardly a straight edge in sight. But this isn’t a cross between superhero movie characters Venom and the Silver Surfer – this is the heart of a real car, created using 3D printing. In the simplest terms, that means making physical parts from a digital model using a computer-controlled ‘printer’ to add material, layer by layer, in contrast to traditional techniques that chip away at a bigger block. Czinger, if you’re unfamiliar, is setting out to be a car maker that ‘makes the most badass vehicles’ in the States in the words of co-founder Kevin Czinger. And this almost organic-looking structure is the result of machine learning and 3D…

SCORE OF SHAME Whether you like it or not, Renault’s Safety Coach watches your every move. Drive like a fool? You’ll be scored poorly, and told you have a ‘risky’ driving style – ouch. ROAD TO RECOVERY Your speed, distance from other vehicles and attentiveness to keeping in your lane are rated at all times. Want a better score? Maybe learn to relax. ON-ROAD THERAPY ‘It not worth it!’ says the Safety Coach like an extra in EastEnders if it thinks you speed regularly. It guides you to use the on-board safety tech more.…

Let’s be blunt: I didn’t like the previous MG HS, rating the PHEV version one of the worst cars I’ve ever driven. But clearly the Great British buying public didn’t agree as MG’s rival to the Kia Sportage has quietly become one of the UK’s best-selling cars. And while MG’s impressive 4 hatch and new Cyberster sports car are the EVs grabbing the limelight, it’s the sensible combustion crossovers doing the numbers, and especially the HS. It’s a Nissan Qashqai rival for the price of a Juke. While the new HS costs roughly £1000 more than its predecessor, a £24,995 starting price is still £5000-plus below the cheapest Qashqai. It’s physically bigger than before, and has an upgraded interior and new choice of powertrains. Inside and out it ticks a…

Everybody loves the Dino. The 2+2 Urraco has fewer followers, a fact reflected in lower prices on the classic market, where one horse typically buys three bulls. Which is a shame because the Lambo is rarer, roomier and powered by a bespoke, all-aluminium, 3.0-litre V8 rather than by an iron-block Fiat engine. The Urraco is also more potent (265bhp plays 195bhp) and faster overall. Why do people prefer the Ferrari? Its cabin feels more special, it’s lighter, build quality is vastly superior and the driving experience is that bit sweeter.…

Why is it here? Because we’d long since given up on driving anything like a Mitsubishi Evo or Lancia Delta Integrale ever again. While those cars left no one in any doubt that rally cars make exceptional high-performance road cars, apparently they just weren’t what people wanted. Until Toyota, prodded by archenthusiast Akio Toyoda, built a modern rally car for the road. Cue rave reviews and a waiting list that stretched into next year. Like a funny-looking GT3 911, low-mileage examples changed hands for more than list price, so skewed were supply and demand. Any clever stuff? The rip-snorting turbo triple has been persuaded to produce even more power and torque, despite displacing just 1.6 litres. Give the little guy a break! There’s also stronger, re-tuned suspension, a stiffer bodyshell, a new…

They say you should do more of what makes you happy, so this month I have two Clios. The orange Tic Tac is our base-spec TCe 90 with a three-cylinder engine and a six-speed manual; the car beside it is the top-of-the-range Clio featuring Renault’s E-Tech hybrid drivetrain and Esprit Alpine trim. Altogether it’ll set you back £25,495 – roughly £7k more than our car. Is it worth it? It looks great, with its Iron Blue metallic finish (a £700 option) and those 17-inch alloys (standard on this trim level). Inside it has sportier seats; there’s nice contrast stitching; and there’s a bigger touchscreen. These seats make the Clio feel more like a hot hatch, with big side bolsters. However, before you start feeling racy, there’s the drivetrain… This self-charging…

After last month’s slight whinge about some Enyaq niggles, praise for how easy it is to live with. Just take the Skoda roof-rack. I fitted it in minutes with my nine-year-old, but I’m pretty sure she could have done it without me. The black clamps look rudimentary but fit securely enough for me not to fret about putting six grand’s worth of (loaned) hand-made titanium Enigma bicycle up there. And well done Skoda for offering one at all – Kia doesn’t for the EV6. Same goes for the instant, reliable wireless connection to Apple or Android, the intelligently configured storage in the cabin, and the charge port where it should be, in the rear wing: easy, easy, easy. Skoda Enyaq Coupe iV vRS Month 3 The story so far One…

When you’ve done thousands of miles in a car and not seen another the same, you can start to yearn for the company of like-minded souls. Lately I’ve been feeling the need to spend some time with people who absolutely understand why you might pick the Stelvio over its more rounded Porsche rival. And I found hundreds of them at this year’s Italian Car Day at Brooklands. First run in 1986 and this year celebrating three decades at what’s left of the world’s first banked race circuit, Auto Italia magazine’s annual show is the big one as far as UK-based Italian car fans are concerned. Big enough to warrant taking the Stelvio on a 500-mile, eight-hour round trip from my gaff. That’s a decent amount of wheel time, but gluttonous…

First mover advantage is still a thing, right? The first product to launch in a segment can hoover up early adopters – but that window of exclusivity rarely lasts long. So it should come as no surprise that our Abarth 500e is no longer the sole electric pocket rocket. I couldn’t resist comparing it with the new electric Mini SE I drove briefly. The BMW-era Mini in many ways set the template for the modern-day Fiat 500, launching seven years before the 2007 Italian tot, but the tables are turned here: the Abarth 500e raced to market a whole year ahead of the e-Mini. The Mini wins on range, its larger 54kWh battery bringing a 241-mile potential to our 500’s 42kWh and 158 miles, and the Brit’s clever central screen…

1 HONDA CIVIC TYPE R THE GOOD: Feel, feedback, focus: a phenomenal full-sized hot hatch THE BAD: Now £50,050 for a front-drive hatchback with barely any more power than before THE UGLY: Probably the last of its kind; good job it’s one of the best THE ONE TO BUY: There’s just the one model; £529 a month on a three-year PCP with an £11k deposit 2 TOYOTA GR YARIS THE GOOD: A modern-day rally homologation special THE BAD: Road noise like a death-metal gig; joke rear seats THE UGLY: Long waiting list, even with some versions priced at £60,000 THE ONE TO BUY: Now has optional auto but go for the manual; opting for secondhand will be quicker 3 HYUNDAI IONIQ 5 N THE GOOD: Electric gets exciting – synthetic…

1 PORSCHE TAYCAN THE GOOD: The EV that’s best to drive has been thoroughly overhauled and retains its top slot: still fast, responsive and fluid; now more efficient THE BAD: Info screen in front of the passenger is faintly ridiculous THE UGLY: Prices are all up THE ONE TO BUY: As before, three body styles to choose from: saloon, estate or raised estate. Prices start at £86.5k for the rear-drive basic Taycan; you can pay a lot more and get a bit more performance as you work your way up the range 2 TESLA MODEL 3 THE GOOD: The alternatives keep getting better, but the Model 3’s mix of range, driving pleasure and ease of use remains formidable THE BAD: Stop nicking the switches THE UGLY: That queasiness around Elon…

‘Being a product planner today is probably the most difficult job in the company,’ Ivan Espinosa, chief planning officer for Nissan tells on the final day of the Formula E championship. He’s half joking, but there’s some truth in what he says; drivers Oliver Rowland and Sacha Fenestraz will navigate around the tight and twisty London circuit for the next hour or so, but Espinosa must chart Nissan’s course through the most volatile, disruptive period the automotive industry has ever seen. ‘It used to be very easy, because we only had to take care of our customer base, trends and the technology roadmap,’ he tells us in Nissan’s VIP area high above the track. ‘Today you have all that plus your politics, very stringent regulatory conditions, duties, taxation and a…

Downsizing the engines of performance cars is never a crowd pleaser, but few decisions have proved quite so unpopular as Mercedes-AMG ditching the C63’s V8 and replacing it with a four-cylinder plug-in hybrid. Affalterbach could have gone down the six-cylinder route, as BMW and Audi have done with their respective M3 and RS4 rivals, and AMG has found other hybrid solutions on different models. But for the C63 it opted for a hybrid with the same cylinder count as your typical C300e company car, albeit a much more complex and powerful powertrain. Rumour has it that former AMG boss Tobias Moers walked out of a meeting when it was decided to make the switch. The man whose mission is to navigate a way through the turbulence is Michael Schiebe, who’s…

Audi has made a bold business decision by launching a range of new-generation combustion cars. To make them as clean as possible, engineers at Ingolstadt have been working hard on refining the mild-hybrid formula. Audi calls it MHEV Plus, and it’s designed to complement the Premium Platform Combustion architecture that will underpin non-EV Audis, prolonging the use of engines until combustion bans come into force. PPC is designed exclusively for Audi and can’t be used by Volkswagen or Skoda for the next-gen Golf and Octavia, for example, as those models have their engines fitted transversely; PPC is for longitudinal-engine cars. MHEV Plus will be on all future combustion cars from Audi, and works in combination with a new generation of engines designed to be cleaner than ever. The system uses…

If your family car is anything like mine there will be enough stale food, mould and general detritus loitering on the floor and between the seats to keep Louis Pasteur in work for a decade. I would dearly love for it to be tidier and cleaner – it looks a little odd turning up to the school gates in a hazmat suit – but the car is a workhorse. No point stressing about it. The same used to be true of big Volvos, the answer to every family-car dilemma for decades. With estate cars like the 850 and then the ridiculously successful XC90, Volvo made a parent’s life that little bit easier. In theory, the all-electric EX90 is here to do the same job while being less of a burden…

I enjoyed reading your recent article on performance Fords (July issue). It brought back emotional memories of one of my uncles who had a succession of fast Fords. The last car he owned was a 2.8 injection Capri; he died at a young age back in 1987. One of my early memories is hurtling down a hill at some huge speed in his new Mk2 Cortina 1600E – I had never been so fast. He would have loved to get the Lotus version but it was just that bit too expensive. He used to keep his cars in mint condition and I sometimes hope he is up there somewhere polishing up a Mk2 Cortina… but it is the one with the green stripe down the side and the Lotus badges…

IT NEEDS TO BE FASTER THAN THE OLD CAR AND COMPETITIVE AGAINST ELECTRIC PERFORMANCE CARS WITH ASTONISHING OUTPUTS Turns out they weren’t kidding. It’s hybrids everywhere you look in the Lamborghini line-up. The Revuelto is a hybrid (p66). The latest Urus, the SE, is a hybrid. And now this, the Huracan-replacing Temerario, confirming that naturally-aspirated, pure-combustion Lamborghinis are behind us. The flawed but brilliant Huracan and the howling V10 that set it apart will be no more. In its place lies a battery and motor setup very similar to that of the Revuelto, but instead of a V12 this has a twin-turbocharged V8 behind the driver. The Urus will remain by far the biggest seller, but Lamborghini has high hopes that the Temerario will match or better the figure of…

It was not the ideal introduction to Countach driving. Snow was falling on a winter’s evening and the headlights were ornamental. Heavy peak-hour traffic… appalling rear visibility… that’s how CAR’s classic ‘Reds’ story began. The Countach won. It was faster, more exciting, better to drive, although the Ferrari was more civilised. Both cars had superb engines and rubbish interiors. The public adored them, especially at our overnight stop. Next morning someone had written ‘Please Marry Me’ on the Ferrari’s salt-sprayed flanks.…

10 LM002 Sports? No. Utility? Depends how you define it. Vehicle? We can, at least, agree on that. The LM002 emerged in a period when Lamborghini was in one of its paroxysms of ownership doubt. At a guess, the mood of crisis prevented several stages of the design process taking place and the proposal was not put under scrutiny by any review panel, at least not with a view to refining it. The LM002 is as sensational in its way as the Countach: it makes no concessions to anything and puts to the test all our familiar assumptions about beauty and ugliness. But it confirms that Lamborghinis are always shocking. The architect Rem Koolhaas (designer of Beijing’s China Central TV HQ) always asks for ‘ugly’ food in restaurants. Quite correctly,…

Why is it here? Because ever since Honda finally turbocharged the Civic Type R, elevating it from sweet-handling but under-gunned also-ran to deadly serious performance car, it’s always been right at the top of the hot-hatch leaderboard. The previous-generation FK8 divided with its looks but united almost everyone in their praise for its sensational speed, handling and inch-thick polish (its metaphorical polish, as opposed to its actual polish). Totally overhauled last year, the current car is bigger and heavier but far stiffer and better looking inside and out. The only bad news is the £50k price, but you’re used to wincing at every price you read by now I’m sure. Any clever stuff? Stiffer bodyshell uses a whole heap more adhesive, to reduce flex, and every key component in the suspension and…

Twentieth century car nerdiness busied itself with power and torque curves, noting the fat, flat low-rpm swell of a supercharged Jaguar or the soaring reach of a nat-asp, flat-plane-cranked V8. But these days it’s charge curves that matter – how quickly your EV can take on juice. I’ve yet to plot a full curve for the E-2008 but early signs are 100-110kW is as good as I’ll get. The best I’ve seen is 103kW at a 21 per cent state of charge on a 350kW Ionity, but the car was drawing just 78kW by 40 per cent and 53kW by 75 per cent. To get from 38 to 91 per cent in 35 minutes for £34 is entirely average, but fine when you’re only charging on the go once or…

When the F-Type first arrived, the budget-orientated part of my brain was anxious about its supercharged thirst. The first refill changed that. If it averages 23mpg, then that’s simply the price you pay for the performance, the noise, the swagger and the rakish charm. And on an easy motorway cruise it will return 35mpg. Other surprises: the smart LED headlights are great at creating daylight without blinding other traffic, and the slapping Meridian sound system that combines clarity, warmth and depth to always be heard, even on pacey roof-down trips. Not so surprising: that jutting front lip is very low, so you have to reverse park, however awkward the manoeuvre. Jaguar F-Type 75 Month 5 The story so far Old school – and all the more enjoyable for it +…

To avoid this becoming a gush-fest, let’s cover off the Continental GTC’s drawbacks first. (It’s now ‘the old’ Conti GT, of course. Bentley has unveiled the new Conti GT, in flagship Speed guise only for now; less fast and expensive plug-in hybrid versions will follow.) Going convertible brings with it a few compromises, from increased wobble to decreased boot space. But you should do it anyway, because gliding across sun-dappled open country like a low-flying Lear, sun on your skin and summer on the breeze, is an exquisite joy for which leaving behind a spare pair of trousers feels like a small price to pay. I’d recommend the V8 over the W12. The latter wins on paper but the eight, big on noise and more than big enough on shove,…

‘That’s not a Smart’ might be the number one thing people have said to me when I mention I’m driving one. And yes – I agree. This isn’t a Smart in the way we used to think of them. To help me dig a little deeper I’ve met up with Jon Coupland, owner of this fantastically purple 450-series ForTwo. And you won't be surprised to learn that one of the first things he says to me, pointing to his own car, is: ‘When people think of Smart, they think of that.’ But is there anything at all that links my Lumen Yellow #1 with Jon’s ForTwo? Some DNA strand buried deep in the chassis structure? This is exactly why I reached out to Jon – to drive my #1 and…

1 PORSCHE 911 THE GOOD: Exquisite blend of power, accuracy, excitement, style and usability, and new GTS integrates hybrid beautifully THE BAD: You have to look down to #3 in this category to see the affordable performance Porsche; 911 barely scrapes in at just under £100k THE UGLY: It keeps getting bigger and heavier THE ONE TO BUY: That basic Carrera is ace, and it’s hard to imagine you’ll regret it for a minute. But if you want more power and more trickery then Porsche has plenty of ways to take more of your money 2 ARIEL ATOM THE GOOD: A beautiful object as well as a thrilling drive; think of it as a modernised Lotus Seven crossed with a high-end sports bike THE BAD: You’ll need bike-style wet-weather gear…

1 LAND ROVER DEFENDER THE GOOD: Reboot brings untold dynamic improvements wherever you drive THE BAD: Second-row access is a pain in the 90; expensive; 130 in particular is very big, so parking can be tricky THE UGLY: Very nice inside, so you’re wary of getting it muddy THE ONE TO BUY: Range spans 90, 110 and 130 bodies, with significantly different dimensions but remarkably similar character and the genuine off-road ability that Land Rover always delivers so convincingly. Heart says petrol V8 90, head/wallet say diesel-six D250 110 2 PORSCHE MACAN THE GOOD: The new one is electric – and as impressive as the outgoing combustion version THE BAD: As family transport it has its shortcomings, especially boot space THE UGLY: If you want an engine you’ll need to…