Evo December 2017의 목차

WALKING THE HALLS OF THE FRANKURT MESSE IS not for the fainthearted or those who value style over substance when it comes to footwear. As with every Frankfurt motor show, the home manufacturers ruled the roost this year, or rather they would like you to think they did. And while the remarkable achievement of AMG turning Lewis Hamilton’s 2015 F1 car into a road car can never be underestimated – where on Earth do you start with such a project? – the ‘me too’ approach to product planning by filling every niche with a crossover was beyond tiresome. However, away from the Mercedes cathedral, the VW Group’s hanger and BMW’s new town, there were as many, if not more, interesting stories percolating throughout the other eight halls. None more so…

SUVs We go on about how the unimaginative drive to produce endless crossovers and SUVs for every conceivable niche is an ugly blot on our industry. The counter argument is that they are what customers want: high seating positions, the sense of safety implied by size, and the misconception that they offer greater interior space and practicality for our ‘active lifestyles’. What’s conveniently missed from these arguments is the inefficiency of a crossover or SUV compared with a conventional saloon, hatch or estate car and how, because of their size, weight and high centre of gravity, they are little safer, and sometimes no safer, than a regular car. And this is before you take into consideration the damage they can do to any third-party object they’re in a collision with.…

THERE’S SOMETHING inherently ‘right’ about the combination of the words ‘Aston Martin’ and ‘V8 engine’. It instantly evokes images of the brutish, lantern-jawed ‘Oscar India’ AMV8 that kept the company afloat in the ’80s, or the current Vantage, which helped make the brand accessible to a much broader range of customers. So the arrival of the DB11 V8 should be cause for celebration. Not least because it bears the most obvious fruit of the collaboration between Aston Martin and Mercedes-Benz: under its long bonnet is the same twin-turbocharged 4-litre V8 that normally nestles beneath the far less elegant bodywork of the Mercedes-AMG C63 S. Lighter than its V12-engined big brother, the DB11 V8 promises to be a more agile, driver-focused GT – more of an evo DB11, if you will.…

WE COULD TEASE OUT THE WINNER OF this test, but there’d be no point because in the final reckoning the Honda walks it. It comes out on top thanks to its staggering breadth of abilities. It’s no exaggeration to say that the Type R redefines what’s possible for a hot hatch – either front- or four-wheel drive. ‘It bristles with capability, seriousness, competency, aggression,’ enthuses Towler. ‘It successfully melds the outrageous performance people expected of it with oldfashioned, but extremely relevant, qualities of interaction. It feels like a special car, honed for the task by a team on top of their game.’ It delivers excitement and thrills on demand. That it was fastest around the track, is practical day-to-day and won’t cost the Earth to run are the icing on…

THE CARS 1997 Fiat Cinquecento Sporting 2001 MG ZR 120 1998 Nissan 200SX (S14A) 2004 Renault Sport Clio 182 1998 Renault Mégane 1.4 1996 Efini (Mazda) RX-7 2000 Honda Accord Type R 1994 Nissan Skyline GT-R (R32) 2000 Toyota Corolla 1.6 2003 Ford Mondeo Estate 1.8 2012 Ford Focus ST Estate IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG FOR GARETH TO FIND his niche: modified Japanese cars. After a couple of European hatchbacks he bought a Nissan 200SX that he soon set about tuning. He hasn’t stayed loyal to just one brand, though, trying something from Mazda in the form of an RX-7, then a Honda Accord Type R and a Toyota Corolla. Admittedly that last one wasn’t very exciting but it had an important role: it was a workhorse so he could…

SURRENDERING A LONGtermer so that it can feature in a test elsewhere in the magazine is never something I feel entirely comfortable with. It’s not that evo’s road testers mistreat cars – far from it. It’s just that the rigours of thoroughly testing a manufacturer-supplied vehicle, particularly if the acquisition of lap times and acceleration and braking figures is involved, inevitably results in some accelerated wear. Often a key will be handed back with muttered warnings of the car needing ‘just’ a couple of new tyres or having ‘just a bit’ of a grumble coming from its brakes. So when the RS5 returned after the best part of a week and 1000 miles on evo’s inaugural Supertest last month – one of the most thorough tests ever devised by a…

WAXING LYRICAL ABOUT the Quadrifoglio is proving hard to resist. Even ignoring the headline stuff such as the firecracker of an engine, there’s the oh-so-sweet auto gearbox, the quick and direct steering, the damping and body control, and the mighty ceramic brakes (although they do require some serious heat in them to be at their best and the electronic brake booster’s low-speed calibration could do with some fine-tuning). This Alfa gets so much so right. Then again, in base trim it costs £61,300 and our long-termer tops out at £73,305, so it really should be beyond question. What of the more regular models in the Giulia family, though? Are they built with the same DNA as the Quadrifoglio? Do they enjoy the same richness and depth of ability? Is the…

HONDA Should evo readers be excited by a small electric hatchback? Because that’s exactly how we feel about Honda’s Urban EV Concept, which appeared from nowhere to become one of the Frankfurt motor show’s biggest stars. As a design exercise alone it’s worth a look – for reference, it’s based on the original, 1972 Honda Civic rather than the Mk1 Golf or Peugeot 205 that some see in its details. Given the styling of recent Honda road cars has been challenging, the retro-inspired but undoubtedly modern Urban EV feels like taking a breath of crisp Fuji air after a decade of Tokyo gridlock. The details are beautiful too, from the bonnet shut-line that’s continued under and around the side windows and ends with a small electrical plug detail, to the…

THERE’S NO TURNING BACK FOR TVR now. Les Edgar and the consortium of well-heeled enthusiasts who brought the much-loved sports car firm back from the dead have revealed their first new car – the Griffith. With a 480bhp, 5-litre V8 crate engine from the Ford Mustang, a claimed 1250kg kerb weight, a six-speed manual gearbox and rearwheel drive, there’s no denying that TVR DNA – as defined by the late Peter Wheeler – is all present and correct. And that engine has enjoyed a small amount of attention from Cosworth, too, in that a bespoke flywheel, clutch and dry sump have been developed for it. Beneath the body – designed by David Seesing of Gordon Murray Design (GMD) and featuring carbon-composite and aluminium panels – is the latest development of…

BMW CLAIMS ITS NEW M5 CAN GET TO 62MPH BARELY half a second after a McLaren P1; the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio has the same top speed as the Honda NSX; the latest Mercedes E63 S has more brake horsepower than a Ferrari 458 Speciale. Performance figures are reaching a breaking point. If a manufacturer finds itself in a position where it can claim only a 0.1 second decrease in the 0-60 time of a new model compared with the car it replaces, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who would be able to tell the difference without timing equipment and even harder pressed to find a situation where that would be useful. Manufacturers seem terrified of claiming that their new car is slower than the old one, but…

EGGS, FLOUR, MILK AND sugar are enough to rustle up a sponge cake, but cook them differently and you’ll also create a pretty fine pancake. In the same way, Lexus has taken some classic automotive ingredients – a generous power output, rearwheel drive, a low centre of gravity, evenly balanced weight distribution – but, rather than create a sports car, Toyota’s luxury arm has whisked, beaten and baked itself a brand new grand tourer. There might be a dash of chocolate and a hint of toffee in there, too, if this car’s colour scheme is anything to go by, while the new Lexus LC’s striking lines might have seen the attention of a kitchen knife. The familiar ‘spindle’ grille definitely has a hint of cookie-cutter to it, but the result…

GIVEN THE DIFFERENT POWER outputs, kerb weights and transmission layouts of our trio, it’s surprising to see just how closely matched their power-to-weight ratios are. Using the figures from our scales, the Honda manages a healthy 227bhp per ton, while the Ford and SEAT record exactly the same 223bhp. This should be close, then. First up is the SEAT, and given its slightly scrappy nature on the road I’m expecting it to be tricky to launch off the line. I’m not wrong. Even in Cupra mode with the ESP switched off, the traction control cuts in, making it difficult to nail a clean getaway. After some trial and error we find that launching at 2500rpm delivers the best result, but even with careful throttle control the battle between engine, traction…

TWENTY-SEVENTEEN MIGHT JUST GO down as a watershed year in the history of the hot hatch. With 400bhp now the target for the most powerful of the breed, it’s also cause for reflection on what attributes a hot hatch requires to succeed as the decade draws to a close, and what the next batch of new arrivals promise for the years ahead. First and foremost, can the new Audi RS3 Sportback (Driven, evo 240) even be termed ‘a hot hatch’ given its power (394bhp), acceleration capability (0-62mph in 4.1sec), generous weight (1510kg) and other vitals? Perhaps the time has come to start properly differentiating the merely potent from the extraordinary with some trite term such as ‘superhatch’ or even ‘hyperhatch’. Then again, not all the new arrivals seem to be…

HOW TO SOLV E A PROBLEM LIK E R A LLY ING? That most noble of motorsports: not merely driver pitted against rival driver in a controlled environment, but a partnership of two human beings, trusting each other implicitly in the face of potentially mortal danger. Man and machine battling not just to be the fastest of all from point A to point B, but to conquer the conditions and the natural environment, too. Motorsport to the original template. But something’s not right with rallying. Sure, it’s become almost fashionable to knock it, so we’ll aim to be a bit more constructive than that, but when Messrs Meaden, Barker, Vivian, Goodwin, Ingram and Beaumont, and yours truly, get round a table, a pattern emerges. Well, apart from the wily old…

WHAT IS IT? ‘Wax’ typically refers to a hard hydrocarbon substance that comes from a natural source – such as the carnauba plant or palm trees – or is made synthetically from silicones. In order to be useful as an automotive protectant, solvents and oils are added to the mix to make a more pliable product. WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A WAX AND A POLISH? Polish is used to remove defects from a car’s clear coat while wax is designed to protect the polished clear coat – see last issue’s ‘All you need to know about…’ for more information on polishes. DO I REALLY NEED TO USE IT? If you like shiny, gloss-looking paintwork, yes. A well applied wax will also protect against damage to the clear coat such as…

James Disdale: If you’re going to sink £30,000 into a supersaloon then you might as well splash your cash on the car that arguably pioneered the fashion for fast four-doors – the BMW E28 M5 (above). There had been quick saloon cars before the E28 landed in 1985, but none was quite as special as the shark-nosed M5. With its snarling 282bhp 3.5-litre straight-six from the M1 supercar under the bonnet and Plain Jane looks, this for me is the ultimate Q-car and one that’ll always be part of my dream top ten. Just over 2000 were built, making it one of the rarest M-cars, yet prices haven’t yet gone stratospheric, so £30k should buy a tidy example. Stuart Gallagher: You can get more powerful supersaloons for £30,000 and faster…

AS I WRITE THIS SECOND report on the Lexus it’s only been a few weeks since I took possession of the car. However, in that short space of time I’ve still managed to cover some meaningful miles in it and have been enjoying getting to know it. One thing you have to get used to straight away is the amount of attention it gets. Much of this is due to curiosity – RC Fs are rare beasts indeed, and it has the kind of presence that means it’s not just petrolheads who notice it. There’s also an appreciation for Lexus amongst enthusiasts as a credible player in an area of the market dominated by AMG, M and the RS Audis. The LFA halo effect remains real and strong. There’s some…

IHAD A DREAM LAST night that I’d bought a Peugeot 106 Rallye. Nothing unusual about that, you might think, only when I opened my garage this morning there was a Peugeot 106 Rallye sitting where my Eunos Roadster normally lives. There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for this: I’ve bought a Peugeot 106 Rallye. I didn’t plan to, and indeed about three weeks before writing these words I wasn’t even looking for one. But you know how it goes: leaf through a few old issues of evo, a conversation with a colleague, a YouTube video or two, and a couple of hours later you’re tapping your password into an online banking page and coming up with contentious reasons why you’ll probably not miss a few digits from your balance. Of course,…

SEAT We need to talk about SEAT. Specifically, about Cupra. Once upon a time, SEAT’s sporting brand could be relied upon to do something a little different – something brightly coloured, boasting more power than its Volkswagen Group equivalents and fizzing with a Balearic vibe that gave SEAT a youthful customer base the envy of every other company in the industry. The Leon Cupra R presented at Frankfurt had barely a hint of that, despite its wider arches and a promise of real carbonfibre components, stiffer engine mounts and a revised chassis. Where are the bright colours? (The choice is black or grey.) Where’s the Golf R-crushing power output? (The SEAT matches the VW on 306bhp – and then only if you take the manual gearbox.) Where’s the price tag…

IT’S A FAIRLY ALIEN CONCEPT, PUTTING fingers to keyboard for evo magazine to write about a car that wears a humble Hyundai badge. It hasn’t happened too many times in the past, after all. Then again, as we discovered when we had an exclusive drive of a development prototype a few months ago (evo 236), the i30 N ain’t no ordinary Hyundai. Conceived by the company’s new N division, which is itself led by one Albert Biermann, who masterminded most of BMW’s best M-cars for 20 years until Hyundai poached him in 2014, the i30 N is without doubt one of the more intriguing high-performance hatchbacks of the moment. But even so, and despite the undeniable credibility of its chief engineer and Hyundai’s very obvious desire to persuade us all…

YOU COULD BE FORGIVEN for thinking that the Mercedes-AMG GT C is a little over-equipped. It borrows the electronically controlled limited-slip differential, rear-wheel steering and wide rear track from AMG’s weaponised track tool, the GT R, but it doesn’t have the same power. Then you learn its dry-sumped, twin-turbo, ‘hot-V’ 4-litre V8 puts out 549bhp and 501lb ft of torque – 80bhp more than the standard AMG GT and only 28bhp down on the R. It isn’t far off the latter in terms of performance either. Accelerating from 0 to 62mph in a claimed 3.7sec and topping out at 196mph, it’s just 0.1sec and 2mph slower. If its performance wasn’t convincing enough, one glimpse of the GT C’s fat rump – uninterrupted by the bolted-on fixed rear wing found on…

FIRST OUT ONTO THE WEST Circuit is the Focus. It’s a punchy thing with impressive traction out of the hairpin and it’s keen to flick leftright- left through the Club Chicane. The surprise is that in corners with enough room for a sustained throttle, it power oversteers. Pulling through the second part of New Pif-Paf especially, the tail edges gently wide, kissing the kerbing on the outside and firing the Focus neatly out on a trajectory for the next clipping point. It’s an unusual sensation in a fast hatch and gives the RS a different demeanour to the other pair here. Through the faster turns that complete the lap it can be guided in on exactly the chosen line, but if you’re abrupt with your input it can snap into…

THINK ALFA ROMEO, THINK CURVES. THINK lustrous crimsons, cherries, scarlets and garnets, rolling like the Tuscan hills over sophisticated underpinnings and strident engines, and glittering with heart-shaped scudettos or the occasional serpent or delicate four-leaved clover. Think Franchini, Nuvolari, Caracciola, Ferrari, 8Cs, Giulias and Spiders. You do not think wedges. Certainly not wedges of dazzling, glimmering, disco-era emerald, brought to an abrupt halt by bands of traffic-cone orange, with cavernous vents and a profile low enough to trim the lawn on Centre Court. Yet the Carabo show car from 1968 (see opening image) is a vibrant insight into an Alfa Romeo that might have been. Instead, Alfa has carefully cultivated the crimson curves image, somehow infusing even its most derided products with the kind of cultural heritage and a loyal,…

TRUNDLING GENTLY UP AND DOWN this road for car-to-car shots, we’ve held up a couple of cars, and the old Ford Ka has been delayed a bit longer than most. So when it slows to a halt as we’re turning around for another run, I’m braced for a scowl or maybe a hand gesture. I look across and the lady in her 50s is gesticulating alright. But she’s giving the double thumbs up and smiling madly. Before pulling away she shakes her head like she just can’t believe she’s seeing an R34 Skyline, blows a few kisses, and is gone. I’ve been fortunate enough to drive some great cars in great locations and I’ve never experienced such universally positive reactions as greeted the R34 when we turned up in Margate.…

DOWNSIZING AND TURBOCHARGING are old hat now, but back in 2011 they were still the cause of much soul-searching. Especially when the outgoing model was powered by a race-bred 5-litre naturally aspirated V10. Somehow a 4.4-litre V8, even one with twin turbos, didn’t have quite the same cachet. Most perturbing of all, the engine note would be supplemented by synthesized sounds from the hi-fi… On the other hand, the V8 in the new, £73,040 F10 M5 did have one or two things in its favour. A peak power figure of 552bhp overshadowed even the V10 E60’s fabulous 500bhp, making the new model the most powerful road car BMW had yet built. In terms of torque, the V10 was simply monstered. Where the old unit made its 384lb ft at 6100rpm,…

GAME Top Drives £free (+in-app purchases) Apple App Store & Google Play Store As an evo reader, chances are you live out some of your driving fantasies in the virtual world. But the scope to take Forza or Gran Turismo with you when out and about is limited. You’d look pretty daft with your steering wheel and pedals on a train… So mobile app developer Hutch has created a game that allows you to use all the knowledge and skill you’ve built up from years of reading evo, and which you can play anywhere where you can take your phone or tablet. You may even recognise some of the pictures and data from your favourite car magazine. Rather than the player driving the cars, Top Drives is like a more…

THE WHOLE POINT OF A plug-in hybrid is that it should deliver many of the benefits of an electric car, but without the dreaded range anxiety that often means you daren’t travel more than a few miles from home. So when a family camping holiday to the New Forest was on the cards I had no fears about jumping into the GTE. However, while there would be no problem getting there and back – the fully charged batteries and fuel tank gave a combined range of about 400 miles – there were one or two softly uttered expletives when loading the Golf for the trip. Squeezing the battery pack under the rear seats means the fuel tank has been relocated beneath the boot floor, shrinking the Golf’s luggage-carrying capacity by…

YN66 ZHR HAS BEEN WITH us for about six months now, but it’s been nearly six weeks since I last spent any time behind its wheel, with launch events, press vehicles and various other factors conspiring to keep me from its attractive lines and slightly uncomfortable seats (see evo 238). One of those factors is newly appointed road test editor James Disdale, who sang the RF’s praises last month having conveniently held on to the keys throughout the recent heatwave. Naturally, he’s spot-on with most of his observations, from the unusual lack of headroom (I’m an inch shorter and my bonce has still contacted plastic once or twice while shuffling in my seat) to the satisfying flow you can adopt once you’ve tuned in to the car’s responses. I do…

MORE GRIP, GREATER SPEED and quicker lap times: easy, quantifiable goals to aim for when setting up a race car. Tweaking and tuning a car for the road or a trackday, however, is a completely different task. You want the car to be fast, yes, but even on track you’re not timing yourself (it’s banned on most trackdays), so ultimate speed is mostly irrelevant. Making a road car feel natural, involving and enjoyable are instead the attributes to aim for, and ones that our Mini, I think, has been lacking slightly. No one could fault its grip and pace – it could corner at some startling speeds – it just didn’t deliver the feedback and response you expect from a well-sorted frontdrive car. Making your way around a corner was…