Opinion

All the same. Evans wonders what the future will bring, given the homogenised state of the new-vehicle market… When I was a kid, cars always seemed to be more than just four-wheeled conveyances. Even the most mundane family four-door seemed to have style and substance. By the time I was eight I could identify almost every car on the road.

How General Motors’ performance linchpin was spared the indignity of losing drive to the rear. Since the late 1960s, the pony car had been a mainstay of American car culture, built to a simple formula of driven wheels at the rear and a hearty engine at the front, preferably a V8. Yet, amazingly, during the 1980s both Ford and GM drew up plans to delete the V8s from their pony car mainstays, the Mustang and the Camaro, and make them front-wheel drive.

Having missed the previous two years due to strict Covid-19 restrictions, it was terrific to finally return to Le Mans in mid-June for the famous 24-hour race. It remains the pinnacle of motorsport and as much fun as when I first went 25 years ago.

So it’s finally arrived, the third car to bear those hallowed letters – CSL. Unveiled at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este the G82 M4 CSL will no doubt be quite the performer but I can’t help but feel a trifle conflicted about the car. On the one hand I’m delighted that BMW is still prepared to put the effort into producing halo machines like this but I’m not quite sure that its execution is as good as it could have been.

Do you remember Flanders & Swann? They wrote and performed clever, comedic songs about life in the late 1950s. These musical period pieces have somehow transcended their era. Donald Swann played the piano and looked like a skinny academic. Michael Flanders, burly, bearded and wheelchair bound, had a rumbling voice and lethal comic timing.

Mass market electric cars have been with us for about a decade now, and for all of that time, the popular Fully Charged YouTube channel has been on hand to explain to anyone who is interested in the subject what’s going on.  The bigger pictureSince 2018, though, Fully Charged has not just been an online presence but a series of live events as well.

Can a car with the status of the McLaren F1 really be considered a giant-killer? Yes it can, when you consider the circumstances it was born into. The supercar wars raged throughout the Eighties, fuelled by the demands of wealthy market speculators who often traded their appreciating-asset supercars without actually driving them. But the cars needed credible high performance, so the technology came straight from the track.

There might be some discreet sniffling at the demise of the Ford Mondeo and VW Passat saloons, but to me the slow death of the MPV multi-purpose vehicle is sadder still. For the past four decades, the best MPVs have been exemplars of clever packaging, unlike a great many so called sports utilities, which often make miserable use of their size.

Had BMW set out to create a superior mainstream hatchback from scratch, it would surely not have made such a poor fist of it as the Compact. A serious attempt at efficient packaging would have dictated a transverse engine and front-wheel drive. Back to basics, no less. Or forward to Rover. No, the Compact is the product of commercial opportunism, not mould-breaking design. In making a pig’s ear from a silk purse, BMW is guilty of regression, not advance.

One of the things that has set Tesla apart from other manufacturers, and created a notoriously devoted fanbase of owners, is the ‘Easter eggs’ found within its cars. So what are they? Sadly Elon Musk doesn’t send you a chocolate egg each year – although that would be nice – but no, it’s the term given to unexpected bonus items hidden within the software.

With all the hype currently out there surrounding electric vehicles, Evanswonders if the real world implications have actually been considered. GMC Hummer EV. Image: GM Recently I tuned into a press conference regarding electric vehicle (EV) adoption.

Our new Italian columnist – design critic Matteo Licata – explains why the new Alfa-Romeo Tonale needs to succeed at all costs I'll turn 40 this year, and I've been hearing bold Alfa Romeo revival plans for as long as I've been alive. Yet, to put it mildly, success has proven elusive. Arguably, there have been times when it seemed the ‘Biscione’ was back for good, for instance between 1998 and 2002 when the 156 and 147 posted record sales and Alfa dominated European Touring Car racing.

Google ‘ugly MPV’ and you’ll be presented with a stream of Fiat Multipla images. All but one of the first 15 results show the criminally under-rated and unfairly panned Italian MPV, with a rear view of the SsangYong Rodius the only thing preventing a clean sweep for the Multipla. It’s as though the designer Ken Greenley saw the Rodius as an opportunity to save the Fiat from a lifetime of derision and cheap laughs. Much like the Multipla, the SsangYong Rodius was designed from the inside out.

Like many European businesses, due to the current situation in Ukraine, Porsche has suspended the delivery of its products to Russia until further notice. Additionally, Porsche has decided to donate one million euros to those affected by the conflict. Of this amount, €750,000 will go to the UNO-Flüchtlingshilfe e.V. (UN Refugee Aid), a long-standing partner of the Volkswagen Group delivering crucial practical support on the ground.

I must admit that when it comes to art I’m no world authority on the subject. I like some, can take or leave plenty of it and also indulge in some serious head scratching trying to understand why some folk are prepared to pay so much for something that you couldn’t pay me to hang on my wall. I wouldn’t say I’m a philistine, just not an aficionado either.