WELCOME

Excuse me while I pop another Werther’s Original

ASTON’S BRUTE IS BACK

The last ever V12 Vantage is here, sporting a small car, big engine formula that’s worked miracles in the past. If it ain’t broke

COFFEE BREAK

What we’re watching/ listening/doing, while we should be

SUZUKI CELERIO

IMAGE: MANUFACTURER In this global, interconnected world, it’s

FLYING HIGH

New Polestar concept features a drone that’ll film you from above

CAR CONTROL... WITH CATIE

#3 DRIVING ON SAND 

BLEU BLANC ROUGE

When it comes to the greatest watchmaker of all the French have got a strong claim

PLAY

Gran Turismo 7 It’s hard to

GENIUS RACING LOOPHOLES

01 McLaren’s extra brake pedal Every McLaren road

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE...

MASERATI GRECALE

HARD DRIVE

We download YouTube’s #1 tech expert on whatever he’s been driving this month

ELECTRIC

TOPGEAR’S GUIDE TO THE FUTURE OF EVERYTHING

CHRIS HARRIS

The received wisdom says it’s time to go electric, but there’s life left in the humble hybrid yet, says Chris

THE MIDDLE LANE

A horsepower limit for new cars? You know it makes sense, says TGTV script writer Sam Philip

FUTURE PROOF

OTA updates are all well and good, but not at the detriment of driving dynamics, says Paul

The big test: Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS

Ever wondered what would happen if Porsche’s GT department really let its hair down? The result might just be the wildest RS model to date

Budget deficit

Is this the first hint of Skoda having

Light heavyweight

To understand the new 2-Series Coupe, you need

Mild animal

Don’t be fooled by the name – the

MUST TRY HARDER

BMW 2-SERIES ACTIVE TOURER

Waited average

Ignore the techno-disco livery, because underneath the ‘camouflage’

The overrun

Small but perfectly formed reviews. The best of the rest from this month’s drives

ICE BREAKER

When you need to test your £2m, 1,888bhp EV hypercar in the Arctic Circle, who you gonna call? Not TopGear

HYUNDAI / GRANDEUR

BEST RETRO EV

BMW/i4

This is the sort of car that, decades

POLESTAR/1

CHRIS’ PICK

LOTUS POSITION

This is the Eletre, which features little simplification and zero lightness. But it still has a Lotus badge. Does it deserve it?

AUDI RS Q/E-TRON

BEST e-RACER

INSIDER TRADING

Luxury to me might not be luxury to you, but someone’s got the make the call. It’s BMW vs Mercedes in the battle of the luxo e-barges

MISCELLANEOUS

The other successes (and a few fails) that caught our eye

FERRARI 296 GTB

BEST NOISE

PORSCHE/TAYCAN SPORT TURISMO

The people have spoken... and they’ve spoken well.

BUZZTNG

There’s a real *cough* buzz around VW’s EV comeback kid. We’re first to drive it, introduce it to the ancestors and ask the real camper fans what they think

OVER/ TO THEM

Reinventing its van might be the bravest thing VW’s ever done. Here’s what the community makes of it

VW/ID.BUZZ

Four run companies that modify Transporter vans, turning

MERCEDES-BENZ VISION/EQXX

Naturally, the Germans have a word for this:

RIVIAN/R1T

PHOTOGRAPHY DW BURNETT Iam not going to lie,

POWER/GRID

This year’s biggest EV influencers (who aren’t Musk, Rimac or Thunberg)

THE REALLY QUITE BIG TEST

There’s choice a plenty when it comes to electric family cars... so we got the lot

BMW/i3

PHOTOGRAPHY JOHN WYCHERLEY, IMAGES: GETTY, MANUFACTURER “THE i3

RENAULT/ MEGANE E-TECH

ILLUSTRATION @CARSANDCOLOUR Well this is a tease.

F1: THE BEGINNING

BECAUSETHEYDON ’TMAKE ’EMLIKETHEYUSEDTO

BUICK SIGNIA, 1998

This unfortunate looking beast was revealed to the

BEST LOOKING F1 CARS

1959 ASTON MARTIN DBR4 The DBR4 may not

RICCI’S GARAGE

Report 21: t they say you should never pick a spot. Seems Mark isn’t aware of the concept

(2021) MAZDA MX-5 vs MAZDA MX-5 (1990)

A classic two seater that’s stood the test of time. Thirty years on, and we’d still have one

INTERESTING FAMILY CARS

LESS THAN £5K VW PASSAT W8 ESTATE (2002)

DANNY SULLIVAN’S INDY HEAT

ARCADE, 1991

TOPGEAR’S LONG-TERM CARS. TESTED & VERIFIED

GO TO TOPGEAR.COM FOR EXTENDED TG GARAGE

BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO VOLVO

BECAUSE KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

What’s Volvo, and when did it start making cars?

IMAGES: MANUFACTURER GO TO TOPGEAR.COM FOR

Volvo’s greatest hits

01 Volvo P1900 Otherwise known as the Volvo

What’s the cheapest car Volvo builds... and what’s the most expensive?

The baby Volvo is the XC40 SUV, built

FACTOID

Did you know that Volvo means ‘I roll’

What is Volvo’s fastest car?

Volvo and speed have never really gone together

NOTABLE PEOPLE

Assar Gabrielsson Entrepreneurial cofounder was the business brains

What’s the best concept Volvo’s made?

Where are Volvos Minis built, and how how

What’s been Volvo’s best moment?

Inventing the three-point safety belt in 1959 must

What’s been Volvo’s worst moment?

In 2010, Volvo invited a bunch of journalists

LOGO EVOLUTION

1927 A dependable and businesslike first badge. Very

What’s Volvo’s most surprising moment?

With the company’s rather square image and equally

Now you’re a Volvo expert, it’s time to buy one...

Volvo 850R / 1996–1997 / £5,000–£18,000

EV HOTLIST

READY TO MAKE THE SWITCH? WE SEPARATE WHAT’S HOT FROM WHAT’S NOT