Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2020 i Evo

IT DOESN’T TAKE LONG, A COUPLE OF MILES AT THE most, or until you reach the first corner. Then the magic reveals itself and every piece of praise, adulation and respect that has ever been spoken or written regarding the E30 M3 is confirmed. It’s one of the few driver’s cars that has stood the test of time, stacking up as strongly today as it did when it was box fresh. The performance of an E30 M3 is, I strongly believe, at the core of why so many of us hold BMW M in such high regard. Our admiration for what has gone before fills us with anticipation for what is coming tomorrow. The draw of that badge and the ethos behind it has an appeal traditionally reserved for more…

PORSCHE MUST BE KEEPING A BEADY eye on sales of its Taycan and Panamera models. While the pair have some fundamental differences, the Venn diagram also crosses at several points, not least their five-door fastback layouts, four-seat cabins, broadly similar accelerative performance, and pricing. Any upswing in Taycan sales relative to its counterpart has to cast the Panamera’s future into doubt, doesn’t it? Focus firmly on 2020 though, and the Panamera still has considerable appeal, freshened up with a gentle facelift and offered with as broad a span of models as ever. In the UK the range begins with the V6-powered Panamera 4, through the electrified 4S E-Hybrid, to a stonking 621bhp Turbo S (which, incidentally, falls within a few grand of the similarly branded Taycan Turbo S). Then, sitting…

IT’S BEEN A CONTENTIOUS PROCESS to this point, but the WEC Le Mans Hypercar class is finally taking shape, with early adoptees coming into focus and new entries coming in thick and fast. Toyota Gazoo Racing has been the most precocious of the factory teams, showing off an early running prototype at the postponed 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours, an event which it dominated with its outgoing TS050 LMP1 racer. Toyota has also gone so far as to reveal a concept version of the ‘production’ GR Super Sport (pictured) leading up to the racer’s debut next year. Peugeot and Alpine have also confirmed their entries in the 2021/22 WEC seasons, bringing two new teams into the top-tier classes. Peugeot’s announcement coincides with the introduction of its reformed and rebranded Peugeot…

THE DUAL-CLUTCH TRANSMISSION (DCT) SEEMS TO HAVE BECOME THE DEFAULT GEARBOX FOR ALL TYPES OF VEHICLES. CAN IT BE BETTERED? Richard Moore, propulsion director, Lotus: ‘The beauty of the transmission is that there is no perfect answer. For driver engagement a manual transmission is very compelling. The DCT offers a great combination of quick powershifting and connectivity, plus fun features such as launch modes are easy to implement. DCT works best when paired with a high-performance engine, so a low-performance engine, perhaps one developed primarily for economy, will not be optimised.’ Simon Leleu, transmissions specialist at Prodrive: ‘As someone who waited an extra three months to get a build slot for a manual version over a DCT-equipped car, I clearly think so, but driver engagement aside, the DCT is still…

AFTER DOMINATING 1970S RALLYING WITH the Mk1 and Mk2 Escorts, Ford entered the ’80s with a pair of interesting issues. The first was the Escort, which with the Mk3 of 1980 had switched to front-wheel drive. The second was their rally team, specifically that in 1979 they had sold it. This wasn’t as foolish as it might sound, however, because ditching everything related to the outgoing Mk2 Escort allowed the reborn rally department to start afresh; nor was the shift to front-drive the problem it might have been thanks to an upcoming and dramatic change in the regulations: Group B. Under the codename ‘Columbia’, the Essex-based motorsport squad experimented with a heavily modified Fiesta before deciding, in 1981, to stick with the Escort. However, thanks to Group B rules that…

BMW ISN’T A NATURAL OPERATOR IN THE hot hatch market. It’s dabbled a few times, with its E36 3-series Compact back in the 1990s and early noughties, but even with zippy four-pots or brawny six-cylinder engines and rear-wheel drive they struggled to fire the imagination, not helped by arriving at a time when coupes were in fashion and hot hatches an unexpected display piece in the window of Dixons. In recent times BMW has left the hot hatch brief to Mini, with the Cooper badge working overtime for the last 15 years. But now Munich has decided it would like a slice of the hot hatch market for itself and so is introducing the 128ti. It’s based loosely on the M135i xDrive, in that it shares the same B48 1998cc…

IF THE MULSANNE SPEED WAS A blockbuster Hollywood film franchise it would be less Fast & Furious, more Vast & Luxurious. At more than 5.5 metres in length, tipping the scales at 2685kg and costing upwards of £250,000, it was, until very recently, Bentley’s flagship. Sadly, after a decade and some 7300 cars built, production of the Mulsanne ceased earlier this year. With it went the legendary 6.75-litre V8. Fondly referred to as the ‘six-and-three-quarter’ by those in the know, this engine could trace its roots all the way back to 1959. In continuous production ever since, and fitted to an unbroken succession of series production models right up until the Mulsanne reached the end of the road, this recordbreaking run eclipses even that most celebrated of V8s, the ubiquitous…

IF YOU NEVER EVEN GOT A CHANCE TO DRIVE Jannarelly’s new Design-1 sports car, you could derive plenty of entertainment from watching others get used to the quirks of entry, operation and exit, and a further layer of enjoyment from their reactions immediately after a drive. Watching Adam Towler hoist himself out of the slim cockpit with a wide-eyed expression and puffed-out cheeks, I’m guessing he’s had quite an experience. Having spent probably a dozen hours in the car myself by this point it’s a familiar sensation. You emerge from every drive slightly frazzled, but also energised, in much the same way as you would from one of the more potent Caterham Sevens. Given the company’s founder, Anthony Jannarelly, owns a Seven himself, the similarity of experience isn’t a huge…

I’VE READ A COUPLE OF TIMES THAT IN addition to being the sports car that it’s mainly pitched as, the Supra can also happily play a GT role. This month I put that claim to the test by spending a few days in our Toyota doing some touring, if not on a hugely grand scale, up to and around the Yorkshire Dales. Instant wins for the Supra on the initial four-hour run north were its relatively relaxed gait when left in Comfort mode, its automatic gearbox, and the unstressed nature of its 335bhp turbo six. A 38mpg average on this leg wasn’t to be sniffed at, either. Another small potential plus point that revealed itself is the way the digital speedometer is situated on the far left-hand side of the…

AS A WAVE OF NEW METAL HAS WASHED THROUGH THE EVO car park this month, it’s been a time to compare and contrast how the Vantage’s interior scores. Ergonomically there’s little to fix, in my view. There’s plenty of adjustment in the seat and steering wheel, allowing you to sit with either your cheeks on the floor or your hair brushing the headlining. Your arms can be nicely bent at the elbow or locked straight like a scene from a car chase movie franchise. You sit in the Vantage and not on it, which is crucial to feeling connected to a car. Although a more supportive seat across the shoulders and around the hips wouldn’t go amiss: on a few occasions I’ve found myself bracing my leg against the transmission…

I HERE HAVE BEEN GREAT GOLF GTIs and lacklustre ones, just as happens within all trans-generational product lines. With ascendency to the often self-proclaimed and overused ‘iconic’ status usually comes controversy; every family has its slightly weird uncle that’s a bit overweight, a bit embarrassing (Mk3 eight valve?), the complacent one (Mk4?) and the quiet one that fades from the public’s consciousness (Mk6?). And sometimes, the empire can be unseated from within. Just take the Golf R as an example. Once a left-field-choice superhatch, in Mk7 form with a ludicrously affordable lease rate it suddenly out-GTI’d the GTI. Why go 200bhp-plus front-wheel-drive everyday performance hatch when for a few quid a month more you could have a 300bhp, four-wheel-drive everyday hyperhatch? Predictably, many did, and suddenly it was the GTI…

BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS, WE’LL NO doubt have experienced a few days of ‘quattro weather’. The long and mostly dry summer will be behind us, leaves will be falling, and the roads won’t be offering quite the frictional properties they have over the past few months. When the nights and weather both begin to close in and conditions such as these prevail, the benefits of all-wheel drive become more apparent. During the summer, though, it mostly means carrying around a load of extra weight and guzzling a little extra fuel with no significant benefit. If the car in question is an Audi, for the longest time it has also often meant dry-weather handling that feels a little inert: sometimes a touch nose-heavy, other times devoid of sensation, or…

WHEN JOHN BARKER FILED HIS COPY FOR last month’s first drive of Ferrari’s Roma, someone in the evo virtual office asked, tongue firmly in cheek, when the Roma convertible would be launched. And here it is. Granted, it isn’t called a Roma Spider or GTS, instead the Portofino name remains for Ferrari’s entry-level open-top car, but it does gain an ‘M’ suffix, for Modificata, to signify it’s had considerably more work done then merely a model-year update. A twin-turbo flat-plane-crank V8 still resides up front, but its power output now matches that of the Roma, with 611bhp produced compared to the 592 that went before. As with the Roma the improvement is achieved through increased valve lift from new cam profiles and by closer monitoring of the turbocharger speeds, the…

‘THE CSL HAS SO MUCH MORE URGE THAN THE E30 AND HOWLS ALONG WITH REAL PURPOSE’ YOUR PASSENGER WON’T get why the E30 M3 is so revered. There’s nothing ‘wow’ about the light grey interior and initially not much excitement in the engine department, the in-line four at first offering modest urge and sounding plain and a bit tappety. The ride is soft and a little bumpy, especially if you’re the driver, sitting on the left, on the rougher edge of the road. If I’m honest, I too am struggling to see the magic in the original M3, even though this is one of the most potent, being a late-model Ravaglia limited edition, based on the Evolution II E30. That still means only 212bhp and, quite frankly, so far there’s…

‘WHEN I WAS AT COLLEGE THERE WAS A celebrated American writer by the name of Susan Sontag. Generally speaking she used to get right up my nose, but one thing she wrote about photography really stuck with me. Her quote was: “Photographers, connoisseurs of beauty, are also – wittingly or unwittingly – the recording angels of death.” Sorry, I’ve probably killed the vibe a bit, haven’t I?’ So says seasoned automotive photographer David Shepherd. Known simply as Shep to his friends and colleagues, his work as a freelance photographer for both magazine and manufacturer assignments has seen his images published around the world. Given his success across a career that spans three decades you might expect him to be brimming with bravado, yet confidence is something he never takes for…

IT’S STRANGE, IS IT NOT, THAT AMONGST THE growing wave of automotive icons being ‘reimagined’ by assorted specialists, the project that seems to have set teeth on edge is the only one to be led by the man responsible for the design of the original car. I’m referring, of course, to the Callum Vanquish 25 – a bespoke and strictly limited run of 25 comprehensively uprated and restyled Mk1 Aston Martin Vanquishes. Built at Callum’s Warwickshire HQ (and UK base of Swiss-backed R-Reforged, who co-funded the Callum Vanquish programme), the Vanquish 25 is Ian Callum’s first independent car project since leaving his role as design director at Jaguar. Personally I’ve always been smitten by the original Vanquish and rate it as Callum’s finest work. While I’ll readily concede the extensive…

READING OUR JETHRO BOVINGDON’S FAST Fleet reports on his 996.1 Carrera provokes mixed feelings. On one hand there’s solidarity, but there’s also a slight rivalry, an arms race if you like around who can make the best wannabe GT3. And who can make the most progress. Progress is a commodity distinctly lacking in my reports of late, while Jethro’s Arena Red wonder rapidly blossoms to fruition. He’ll update you further on his car next month, but over in the Gen 2 camp I’ve finally got something to report as well. Plenty, in fact. Having invested in replacing and upgrading the 996’s suspension last year, my enjoyment of the car had been held up by the drastic need for new brakes, and given I put this work off while saving pennies,…

DESPITE THE RS7 RAPIDLY NEARING THE END OF ITS TIME with us, I’ve only just managed to secure a stint behind its wheel. You can blame Covid for that. So these are the kind of thoughts you might expect at the beginning of a relationship, not the end. The RS7 is very big, and very red, and very fast. Obvious, I know, but it’s almost a caricature of a supercoupe, from its cartoonish alloy wheels and gaping vents to its oversized wheelarches and sloping rear deck. Yet when you drop down into the driver’s seat, it’s all entirely recognisable as an Audi, and – as long as you’ve left the car in its Auto setting – no more taxing, noisy or demanding than say, an A7 (or any A6) with…

A LEFT-HAND-DRIVE ASTON MARTIN Vantage Roadster dozes quietly in a gravel car park in Warwickshire, the ‘key’ tucked away in my pocket. The weather is mild and sunny, but not quite what this particular example was built to experience. Why? Well, the Vantage Roadster press launch was scheduled for Palm Springs until Covid-19 arrived, hence this car not being packed away on a boat for the US but in front of me now. I sure can imagine it there though, and it’s hard to think of anything more suitable for a cruise around that region of California, basking in the endless sunshine and looking out across Joshua Tree National Park at the Big Country. The Roadster looks good, really properly tasty in the metal, and without wishing to state the…

MASERATI’S MOMENT IS NOW. YES, WE’VE HEARD IT ALL before, the promises of a rebirth, that this time it will really be different, and sometimes, for a while, it has been. But then the quality and relevance of the product has drifted off beam, the resolve or investment hasn’t been there, and this illustrious marque’s future has looked shaky once again. Such has been the situation in recent years, and it’s been sad to see. After all, who doesn’t want to give their heart willingly to a Maserati? What’s changed this time? The firm is no longer in the shadow of Ferrari, that’s what. Since the splitting off of Ferrari from the FCA group, and the merger between FCA and PSA, Maserati is no longer the poor relation, the brand…

THREE YEARS AFTER UPSETTING THE hot hatch status quo with its superb i30 N Performance, Hyundai has revealed a mid-life update for the model, introducing increased engine outputs, some lighter components and the option of a dual-clutch transmission. Changes to the basic powertrain appear subtle at first glance, with the 2-litre ‘Theta’ engine picking up a 5bhp upgrade to 276bhp. However, torque has been given a much bigger uplift, with 307lb ft – an additional 28lb ft – now available over a much wider rev range (from 1950 to 4600rpm). This yields a 0.2sec reduction in the 0-62mph time, which is now pegged at 5.9sec, while top speed remains limited to 155mph. Drive is sent to the front wheels via either the standard six-speed manual or a new optional eight-speed…

IF YOU’VE EVER FELT CAUGHT BETWEEN THE SCYLLA OF AN HGV looming in your rear-view mirror and the Charybdis of average speed cameras in a set of motorway roadworks, help may be at hand. The results of the final phase of a Department for Transport trial on roadworks speed limits are in. And, for once, they make encouraging reading. It looks as though limits in some motorway roadworks may be on the way up. Back in 2016, Highways England’s National Road User Satisfaction Survey revealed that ‘customers wanted to see less [sic] speed restrictions during roadworks if no road workers are working’. One imagines earwigging a conversation in almost any service station since Watford Gap opened in 1959 would have yielded the same results, but perhaps the massive increase in…

THIRTY-FIVE YEARS, SIX GENERATIONS, AN unrivalled motorsport pedigree and an expectation to be the best sports saloon in the market. No one said it was ever going to be easy for the new G80-series M3 and its M4 coupe brother, and as if to confirm that BMW M is pulling out all the stops, there is a great deal to take in with its latest pair. It starts with the usual fare that includes two trim levels for each car (standard and Competition) and two gearboxes (a manual and an auto, more on both later), and these choices are now joined by two different drivetrains too (two- and four-wheel drive). But it’s the looks that will inevitably generate the comments – and no doubt protests from some who will say…

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IT’S LONGTAIL TIME AGAIN, AND THIS TIME it’s the turn of the Big Daddy – the Super Series car with its claws sharpened and the sort of stringent weight loss and muscle-building regime that would make an East German training camp coach blanch. Many have spoken of McLaren fatigue recently, a snowblindness created by an endless sequence of new models and MSO one-offs, but however otherworldly in price or performance the new 765LT may be, I find it hard to imagine not being excited by the arrival of a 720S aimed specifically at those who like to drive hard on road and track. Consider, too, that it’s forebear, the ballistic 675LT, was sometimes referred to as a modern-day Ferrari F40, and that it was so nearly the winner of eCoty…

THERE’S A MOMENT WITH A NEW long-termer – usually when it first shows up at an evo photoshoot – when you can gauge what you’re in for over the next few months by looking at the reactions of the assembled journalists. Back in October 2019, when I rolled into the Bedford Autodrome car park in ‘my’ new BMW M135i, I was greeted by multiple looks of bemusement and even a few smirks. It was always going to be this way. There had already been a lot of chatter about the ‘challenging’ styling of the new 1-series, in particular that front grille, while the model’s almost sacrilegious adoption of front- and four-wheel-drive layouts in place of the traditional BMW rear-drive format had also come in for criticism. After much muttering in…

‘Clean and distinctive from any angle, to me it exudes a cool confidence’ THE MAZDA’S STYLING CONTINUES TO divide opinion. I liked it the moment I first saw it. Fresh from the local hand car wash it looked superb, its gloss black wheels gleaming and its optional (£670) Machine Grey metallic paint accentuating its pebble-smooth flanks. Clean and distinctive from any angle, to me it exudes a cool confidence, and the interior is even better. The cabin combines style with superb function, from the clear, simple dials to the HMI switchgear that will be familiar to anyone who remembers how good Audi’s MMI used to be. Access to features such as navigation and entertainment is via the large, round, multifunction central knob and its four surrounding switches on the centre…

SINCE FITTING THE NEW LIGHTWEIGHT wheels to the 993 (evo 276) it has sadly not moved an inch, due at first to the lockdown and then the flurry of work activity as the restrictions eased. However, I have firm plans to test the new set-up on some of evo’s favourite roads very soon, so I’ll report back on my finding shortly. Like many petrolheads I’m sure, I used lockdown as an opportunity to give the 993 a full polish and tick off some small jobs. But I soon found I needed a bigger job to keep me entertained… Something I had always thought about doing was changing the rare Ruf steering wheel that was fitted to my car. While I think it’s the best-looking period airbag steering wheel option available…