Table of contents for June 2019 in Evo

ON MARCH 25TH THIS YEAR A GROUP OF MEPs in Strasbourg approved a set of road safety recommendations from the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). So far so dull, but those recommendations included the compulsory fitting of speed limiters to new car models from 2022 (or they won’t get type approval) and to existing model lines from 2024. Elzbieta Bienkowska, an EU Commissioner, boldly claimed that limiters and the other planned restrictions ‘can have the same kind of impact as when seatbelts were first introduced’. Predictably, the story went up like a firework but fizzled out by the time the next Brexit twist had hit the front pages. ‘Pfft, don’t worry,’ seemed to be the view. ‘It’ll never happen – or you’ll be able to override them or turn ’em…

PORSCHE HAS UNVEILED ITS FIRST FORAY INTO the contradictory world of coupe SUVs with the Cayenne Coupe. Underneath the swoopier body is an identical platform and chassis set-up to those found in the standard Cayenne, which bodes well considering that car is generally considered the best in its class. The body is mostly new, although the styling from the A-pillar forward is unchanged. Overall the Coupe is 20mm lower and 18mm wider than the standard Cayenne, although due to a standard-fit glass roof and the extra strengthening required to support it, the car’s centre of gravity is no lower. Nor is the Coupe lighter than the standard Cayenne, weighing 25-45kg more, depending on the model. Two versions of the Coupe are being offered at launch: the 335bhp, 3-litre turbocharged V6…

For 2019 evo will also hold its first trackday at the iconic Goodwood Motor Circuit in Sussex. Home to the world-famous Goodwood Members’ Meeting and Revival, the evo Goodwood Trackday will allow you to experience one of the most exciting race circuits in the UK. Available as a full day or a half day (morning or afternoon), not only will the occasion allow you to enjoy your car on this hallowed track, but the price also includes catering throughout the day. 2019 evo Goodwood Trackday need to know When is the evo Goodwood Trackday? Monday 1 July 2019 How much does it cost? The evo Goodwood Trackday costs just £275 per car and £120 per additional driver. A half day (morning or afternoon) costs £150 per car and £99 per…

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What’s the most important feature for a driver’s car? The chassis! For active safety and driving pleasure. What’s the best-handling car you’ve driven? Nissan GT-R – impressive! What’s the best-handling current production car you’ve driven? A110. And Mégane RS in the world of five-seat hot hatches. What car do you wish you had set up? Clio 2 RS – the pioneer of the RS generation. Can a bad-handling car be fun? No. Driving pleasure is derived from a vehicle with predictable and safe behaviour. If you had a maximum of £25,000 to spend, what car would you buy? I would complete my current collection [Mégane 4 RS and new Alpine A110] with a Clio 4 RS Trophy. What car maker do you respect, and why? Lotus, for daring to push…

What’s the most important feature for a driver’s car? Well-composed high yaw gain in combination with perfect linearity. What’s the best-handling car you’ve driven? With respect to vehicle dynamics: 991 Gen 2 Porsche 911 GT3 RS. The most emotional for me to date has been the Carrera GT. It had the best engine and gearbox with respect to response, and fantastic sound. And it is incredible fun in the wet! What’s the best-handling current production car you’ve driven? Porsche 911 GT3 RS. What car do you wish you had set up? Porsche Carrera GT. Can a bad-handling car be fun? Yes, especially if it is rear-wheel driven and has power oversteer. If you had a maximum of £25,000 to spend, what car would you buy? Mazda MX-5 roadster, current model.…

CCTV, MOBILE PHONES, GOOGLE, probably the camera built into the laptop that I’m writing this on. And I’m very suspicious of that friendly Alexa person. There is no doubt that we are being watched, listened to and tracked pretty much constantly in this modern world. But despite the current proliferation of ANPR, dashcams and youths on street corners wielding Instagram at every car with a wrap, never before have I felt myself under quite such scrutiny while driving. Ostensibly I’m in a dark room, ensconced in a car made for one, looking at an empty Spa-Francorchamps with silent grandstands. Yet I know that each twitch of the throttle, every over-eager entry to a corner (not to mention the many lock-ups and one monumental fifth-gear spin) is being monitored. Remember when…

THE DISCOMFORT STARTS OH, MAYBE 20 OR SO minutes after sitting down. Sooner if you’re longer in the leg, in which case you might as well be sitting in a faux-leather-lined toast rack. There’s no joy in the inflight magazine – you flicked through the best bits on the way out anyway. So you resort to rummaging through whatever portable devices you’ve brought with you to try to find anything that will blot out the next couple of hours. Still, I’m sure the M25 will be clear when you join it at around 6.30pm, right? Me? I’m not sure where I am, actually. I’ve never driven on this road before. Somewhere north of Freiburg, probably. It’s not the quickest way back home from Geneva, but then you don’t just hot-foot…

‘It couldn’t be more different to a car such as the uptight BMW M5’ IT WAS GREAT TO BE IMMERSED IN AN evo group test again this month. It helped that the cars involved were of impeccable standard and that we spent two days in Scotland and it didn’t rain. The bar in the hotel was pretty good, too. But what I really enjoyed was seeing the agonising over a big conclusion that rumbled on and on and on… It was good humoured and obviously we all understand implicitly that we don’t have ‘a real job’, but the guys still care about this stuff and don’t want to make a wrong call. So we debated about steering feel (cue guffaws from Richard Porter), damping and balance, talked character and accessibility……

THERE IS A TENDENCY FOR PEOPLE LIKE you and me to approach the Audi TTS with suspicion. It has a reputation for appealing to the kind of person whose main reason for choosing one is that it’s only an extra £50 on their PCP over a standard TT. This mildly facelifted S looks little different to before, too, so should it still be viewed with ambivalence, or is there a proper driver’s car in there somewhere? One thing that is for certain is that the Audi TTS is quick. Properly quick in fact, reaching 62mph in 4.5sec. But even that figure doesn’t really do it justice, because the combination of a dual-clutch transmission and quattro four-wheel drive ensure it’ll manage that performance every single time, wet or dry. And if…

JUST UNDER FOUR YEARS AFTER BUYING of my garage and around the corner of my street. If I were being poetic I’d say I shed a tear, but in reality the feeling was closer to relief. I began searching for an Mk1 MX-5 shortly after starting at evo in September 2014. Being surrounded by incorrigible petrolheads and incredible metal for eight hours a day, and with the prospect of ample opportunities to drive the car on track at evo’s regular track evenings, I had all the impetus I needed to look for something fun. In addition, my last MX-5 had been stolen back in 2010, so I had unfinished business with the model. A cursory email to MX-5 City near Doncaster, who’d assisted me while writing a book on Mazda’s…

OUR SUZUKI SWIFT SPORT HAD A tumultuous ride during its time here at evo. Rarely has a single car generated such a strong division between those who liked it and those who loathed it. It’s not unknown for members of the team to disagree over a car when it’s only with us for a few days. Plenty of factors can play a part in this: the amount of time a particular driver gets behind the wheel, the roads they get to drive on, the weather conditions, etc, etc. A desperately unripe avocado at breakfast once had me so grumpy I was convinced that the latest Civic Type R was the worst car in the history of the world. (I’ve since learned my mistake and now appreciate its superlative brilliance, but…

WHEN YOU’VE COME OFF your motorbike at a genuine 234mph, been presumed dead at the scene, broken 11 bones, been told you may never walk again, and spent three months in hospital and another three in a wheelchair, you’d probably consider chucking your daredevil pants in the washing machine and taking up a less perilous pastime. But not self-confessed speed addict Zef Eisenberg. A year after almost engineering his own demise he was back in the saddle of his rebuilt supercharged Suzuki Hayabusa and racing at Elvington, the scene of his crash. If the weather has been kind to him, by the time you read this Eisenberg should have completed his next adventure in high speed travel – breaching the 200mph mark on Pendine Sands in a 1200bhp Porsche 911…

This is the CLA35, a new compact Mercedes-AMG four-door that is not to be mistaken for the A35 Saloon, which itself is based on the A35 hatchback. Confused? Mercedes classes the CLA as a coupe, not a saloon, but what you really need to know is that the CLA is longer, lower and, crucially, wider than the A35, which might just make this the best-handling A-class variant yet. Under the bonnet is the same 302bhp turbocharged four-cylinder M260 engine as found in those other ‘35’ models, its outputs directed to all four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. AMG has paid particular attention to increasing the car’s rigidity, with two diagonal braces joined by a sheer panel under the engine bay. However, the CLA35 is only half the story, as…

WHEN THE MODERN OBSESSION WITH ‘MORE’ often manifests itself as intangibly, frustratingly ‘less’, it’s taken Porsche to make sense of the digital dashboard. Until this precise moment it has seemed that almost every configurable digital instrument display has been designed by someone who has never had any interest in performance cars – or any sort of driving, for that matter. I couldn’t care less about the exact lateral G-force being generated, or the precise temperature of the air entering the engine’s intake tract, or the ability to adjust the display through eight different shades of magenta. What I would very much like to be able to see, though, is coolant and oil temperatures at the same time, next to clearly legible revs and speed. I want to know, quickly and…

What’s the most important feature for a driver’s car? The car must give all the necessary sensory information to make the driver feel connected on all levels. Responses to the driver’s inputs must always be linear to ensure the expected output – no unwanted surprises. Ergonomics, controls, throttle progression, brake feel, performance and gearshift must feel integrated and balanced. Having said that, perfection doesn’t necessarily make for the best driver’s car. A car needs to be driven, not driving you! What’s the best-handling car you’ve driven? It wasn’t the easiest car to drive fast, but I have very fond memories of the Elise Series 1 with the 190bhp VHPD engine. What’s the best-handling current production car you’ve driven? The latest Vantage, of course! What car do you wish you had…

What’s the most important feature for a driver’s car? Predictability and consistency of response. When you’re exploring the handling limits of any car you need to have the confidence that it’s going to consistently do what you expect. Sometimes surprises are good, but not in this situation. You don’t want a car to suddenly change its behaviour just because you decided to go 2 or 3mph quicker round a bend. What’s the best-handling car you’ve driven? BMW E34 M5 for predictability, feedback and ease of enjoyment. Porsche 997 Turbo for amazing outright levels of grip and handling exhilaration at crazy speeds! What’s the best-handling current production car you’ve driven? New Bentley Continental GT, of course! What car do you wish you had set up? Series 1 Lotus Elise. Can a…

IT’S A SIGN OF THE TIMES THAT OUR FIRST opportunity to drive the Valkyrie is in a simulator room. Appropriate too given the development work done thus-far has been conducted exclusively in the virtual realm. It’s a surreal thought, but in many ways it’s the crux of the project; a road-legal hypercar conceived, designed, engineered and developed just as a Formula 1 car would be. In truth it simply couldn’t be done any other way. So what’s it like to drive the most ambitious and exacting hypercar the world has never seen? Well, like most sims, the success of the experience relies on you suspending trusted reference points and sensory triggers upon which you rely when driving in the real world, and instead submit to what you are seeing. I’ve…

THERE’S A LONG-STANDING TROPE of motoring journalism that the best car in the world is something like a diesel 3-series. You know the gist: it does all the normal day-to-day stuff such as carrying a family of four and not using much fuel and having a proper boot, but it isn’t totally dreary to drive, offers more performance than most people will realistically ever use and isn’t priced on a par with a ticket to Mars. Well, I’ve got a better suggestion: the Volkswagen Golf R. Think about it. It’s a Golf, which automatically makes it one of the most sensible, real-world cars on sale today. Ludicrously generous finance packages have made it quite affordable. And come rain or shine, it’s at once surefooted, quick and, in that way that…

WHEN THE 210TH AND FINAL RAPIDE AMR leaves Aston Martin’s Gaydon factory later this year it will mark not only the end of production for the company’s four-door supersaloon but also, more significantly, the end of the naturally aspirated Aston Martin. As turbocharging and hybrid powertrains find their way into the front and middle of future Astons, and battery packs and electric motors into the relaunched Lagonda models, there will no longer be a home for 5.9 litres and 12 cylinders of German-built motor. Another great will be put out to pasture. Chances are you already thought the Rapide had been retired from the line-up, that the Rapide S introduced in 2013 was quietly asked to vacate its slot on the production line long ago. After all, it’s not as…

I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING. Why is there a Range Rover Evoque in the pages of evo? Don’t worry, a few of us asked the same thing. After all, it’s a car that created, dominated and defines a segment that is as far from the Thrill of Driving as it gets. And the original Evoque was far from a thrill a minute. Doubt it thrilled in the eight years it was on sale. So why are we driving this new one? Because, aside from the name, it carries few things over from the original. There’s a door hinge or two and the roof skin, but the rest is new. All of it. The platform is no longer a bit of Freelander here, something else from the back of the stores…

THERE IS NO LONGER A 444BHP ESTATE car in my life. The RS4 has returned to Audi UK, making it possibly one of the last B9 RS4s to pass through the firm’s Milton Keynes HQ – but more on that in a bit. Do I miss it? Absolutely. The RS4 made extreme yet everyday-useable performance so ludicrously accessible, and therein lay so much of its appeal, and also most of what, in my eyes, constituted its downfall. Our RS4 arrived box fresh, and was so rippling with overt muscle and intent that it appeared almost a caricature of what the sporting German estate represents. I thought it seemed like a good idea to opt for the special milled 20-inch alloy wheels, only offered on the Carbon Edition launch model, as…

PROJECT 993 IS BECOMING EVERYTHING I’d hoped for with the upgrades I have chosen and the car’s chassis now set up correctly (see issue 259). One area I still want to enhance is the exhaust, as not only is it a great opportunity to save some weight at the rear of the car but it can also bring a useful performance boost, especially when accompanied by an ECU tune. But before proceeding with any exhaust upgrades I needed to fix a high idle issue that had been annoying me for a while. Frustratingly, the only suggestion I had been given was to replace the ECU with a new one or to upgrade it to a Motec system, both of which are incredibly expensive options. I was beginning to think there…

IF THERE’S ONE THING THAT IS guaranteed in the Fens, other than an eerie feeling that you could hear a live performance of ‘Duelling Banjos’ at any moment, it’s bumpy tarmac. Shrinkage of the area’s peaty soil is the cause, and at its worst it’ll have you slowing to walking pace to negotiate the undulations. Usually, though, it manifests itself as stretches of road peppered with significant dips that have a discernible speed calming effect on all but the most determined of locals. Head Fenwards in the M2 Competition and its firm ride – on passive dampers, remember – has the whole car, and its occupants, moving up and down in close harmony with the road beneath. It’s not a particularly comfortable experience, especially for passengers, but neither is it…

I’M DRIVING A GT R PAINTED IN GREEN Hell Magno, and I’m doing my very best to concentrate on the changes to the dashboard in this facelifted version… and not be distracted by that ludicrous dry-sumped boom box up front that is threatening to dislodge my molars with its bassy exertionst. Outside you might notice new headlamps – if you look very closely – and the lesser AMG GTs have received a few more visual tweaks, but the majority of the revisions for this refresh can be found inside. The new tech is all very impressive on the eye too, even if it’s nothing we haven’t already seen on a number of recently introduced AMG models: a fully digital instrument display on a 12.3-inch screen inside the binnacle, complemented by…

GUENTHER STEINER IS AN ODD-LOOKING man. A good six feet four inches if he ever stood up straight, Steiner instead clomps around racetrack paddocks of the world with a hunch, shoulders rolled forwards as if to propel his body with as much speed as possible to its next destination. He has the face of an eccentric geography teacher – moustache and ‘royale’ goatee, close-cropped hair, high cheekbones, and laugh lines to die for. His accent is thick Austrian, his mind is always racing, and as the recent Netflix Formula 1 documentary series Drive to Survive proves, so is his mouth. ‘F**k!’ Steiner barks at his monitors on the pit wall, watching his driver Romain Grosjean make a mistake in qualifying. ‘I’m f**king speechless, I can’t f**king believe it.’ Grosjean is…

CLEAR YOUR DIARY AND TURN YOUR phone off, because it’s time to book your place on one of evo’s 2019 track events. Now in their 14th year, they are the perfect opportunity to join like-minded enthusiasts and the evo editorial team at some of the UK’s most exciting race circuits. evo will be holding five evening events this year, at Bedford Autodrome and – new for 2019 – Brands Hatch, as well as a full-day event at Goodwood Motor Circuit. With limited numbers and open pitlane formats, track time is unrestricted and the relaxed nature means you get to enjoy your performance car in the very best environment. Sign up now at evotrackdays.co.uk 2019 evo track evenings Friday 10 May Bedford Autodrome Friday 14 June Bedford Autodrome Wednesday 31 July…

Audi R8 V10 Engine V10, 5204cc Power 562bhp @8100rpm Torque 413lb ft @6300rpm Weight 1660kg Power-to-weight 344bhp/ton 0-62mph 3.4sec Top speed 201mph Basic price £128,295 evo rating Aston Martin Vantage Engine V8, 3982cc, twin-turbo Power 503bhp @6000rpm Torque 505lb ft @2000-5000rpm Weight (dry) 1530kg Power-to-weight (dry) 334bhp/ton 0-62mph 3.6sec Top speed 195mph Basic price £120,900 evo rating McLaren 570GT Engine V8, 3799cc, twin-turbo Power 562bhp @7500rpm Torque 443lb ft @5000-6500rpm Weight 1498kg Power-to-weight 381bhp/ton 0-62mph 3.4sec Top speed 204mph Basic price £157,000 evo rating Lotus Evora GT410 Sport Engine V6, 3456cc, supercharger Power 410bhp @7000rpm Torque 310lb ft @3500rpm Weight 1320kg Power-to-weight 316bhp/ton 0-62mph 4.2sec Top speed 190mph Basic price £82,000 evo rating THERE’S NOTHING QUITE LIKE THE group test of an all-new Porsche 911 to have the weight of…

What’s the most important feature for a driver’s car? Linear response, and predictable and confidence-inspiring safe handling. What’s the best-handling car you’ve driven? Classic Team Lotus invited me to shake down one of its Lotus Type 72 Formula 1 cars. It was perfect – progressive, quick and responsive, with a surprisingly compliant ride. What’s the best-handling current production car you’ve driven? Exige Cup 430 – a brilliant road car that is sublime on the track. It always impresses me how we can drive them to a track, spend the day giving demonstration laps, then drive them home on the same tyres and brakes. That’s really where our light weight philosophy pays off. ‘A GOOD E.V. WILL BE BRILLIANT–HUGE TORQUE, HIGH POWER AND REVOLUTIONARY DESIGN’ What car do you wish you…

What’s the most important feature for a driver’s car? The two Cs of connection and communication – from driver to car to road. Nothing beats that sense of being ‘at one’ with a car where the driver works at a subconscious level and the car flows down the road or balances at the limit. Every element of the car has to come together. What’s the best-handling car you’ve driven? The car I’ve enjoyed the most is a 2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, for its communication and adjustability. It would annoy on some roads but be glorious on others. It shouldn’t have worked. What’s the best-handling current production car you’ve driven? Jaguar XE SV Project 8. A saloon shouldn’t be able to do what it does. What car do you wish you…

‘THE NEXT BIG THING WILL BE MORE SOPHISTICATED CONTROL OF THE CHASSIS’ AS WE FOUND 20 YEARS AGO, THERE IS NO unanimous view on the essential ingredient for a great-handling car, but a significant four of our seven engineers cite linearity – predictability and consistency of response. Kershaw, Becker, Schebsdat and Unsworth think this is the key behaviour of a great-handling car. Becker adds to this feedback to the driver, which Leiters and Pook have as their key component. Not surprisingly, most felt that a bad-handling car couldn’t be fun. The exception was Becker, who felt the Series 1 Elise 190 VHPD was a challenge with reward – a car that the skilled could exploit at the limit. A couple of others were prepared to make a qualified exception, when…

HIS COROLLA WAS LOANED TO US FROM THE Toyota GB heritage fleet on the understanding that we wouldn’t drift it. We assured them we wouldn’t be hanging out on the lock-stops with smoke wreathing off the rear tyres, and a couple of weeks later the light metallic blue AE86 was sitting on my driveway, looking fantastic. Such is its reputation, I was surprised that when I looked again an hour later it wasn’t sideways, nose in the privet and its arse hanging over into next door’s. No drifting. Seriously? Maybe when the student Bill Clinton was handed a spliff at college he really didn’t inhale. Maybe when I hand the Corolla back I won’t have cornered it, at length, looking through the side windows. The chances of either of those…

WHERE HAVE ALL THE superminis gone? Vauxhall’s Corsa VXR has been sidelined, Renault Sport looks nervously at its shoes whenever it is asked about its next Clio, and while Peugeot Sport rocked our world with its previous 208 GTi we’ll have a while to wait for its replacement, which will most likely be electrified. Skoda and SEAT have lost interest, preferring to plough on with their crossover and SUV offensive, and Volkswagen’s Polo GTI is so wide of the mark we can’t believe it comes from the same people who build the Up and Golf GTIs. The only hope on the horizon is Hyundai, which is working on an i20 N. If you don’t want to wait for Albert Biermann’s next creation there is, of course, the rather brilliant Fiesta…

IT’S HARD TO GET EXCITED ABOUT THE Z4 sDrive20i. Even the engine denotation suggests a family saloon rather than a sports car, while the M40i has the numbers to be at least twice as much fun on paper. However, the range-topping Z4 has proved to be something of a mixed bag. Undeniably quick, capable and refined, but too polished for its own good. The 20i strikes back immediately with some strong numbers of its own. It may have only 194bhp – not even enough for a warm hatch these days – but it weighs 1405kg, and with its swift-shifting eight-speed automatic can hit 62mph from rest in 6.6sec and run on to 149mph. Better still, from the first firing of the four-cylinder B48 motor it instantly sounds more alive and…

THIS IS THE EXCITING PART – ACTION at last; old, knackered bits being removed from my 996, shiny new ones ready to go on. Is there anything more exciting than carefully removing a high-spec new damper from its packaging and holding it in your hands, trying to imagine how good it’s going to make your car handle? OK, maybe not an admission for polite company, but I’m sure you understand. I would dearly love to share loads of pictures of the Carrera up on axle stands in my garage, parts on the workbench, with an in-depth explanation of how to disassemble one of the greatest performance cars of modern times. But, I can’t. I’d no sooner wield spanners on the Porsche than I would take a leading role in an…

A FAIR AMOUNT HAS BEEN WRITTEN IN this magazine about SEAT’s decision to hive off Cupra and give it its own identity. Cynical marketing exercise, or a genuine attempt to create a separate performance car brand? Time, and ultimately sales, will determine that one. You could easily be forgiven for thinking the former when the car the brand chooses to launch itself with is an SUV. And, on the face of it, a dressed-up SEAT Ateca at that. So I’m glad that I have the opportunity to see over an extended period whether Cupra, as an independent entity, deserves to be taken seriously. It’s safe to say that our Cupra, despite its similar looks to the SEAT SUV, has already managed to garner a surprising amount of attention, although I…