Evo March 2022

RAISE THE SUBJECT OF TUNING OR modifying and you conjure up thoughts of more power, more noise, more of everything. Not that there’s anything wrong with this; there’s much to be said for seeing the whites of your own knuckles shine brightly back at you as your right foot tentatively squeezes the accelerator to unleash who knows what. But is chasing horsepower really what’s required today? evo is no stranger to questioning the horsepower arms race, as it really is nothing more than a route one approach to getting one up on a competitor or making this year’s model look more enticing than the last. But power, as the saying goes, is nothing without control. So it’s time to give the engine tuners the day off and open the floor to the…

THE NEW M135i IS NOT LIKE THE OLD M135i. My neighbour has the old model and often fires it up at 7am as he heads off to work. I don’t mind at all because it’s the most wonderful-sounding alarm clock. There’s so much soul in the low growl of the 3-litre straight-six, so much character, that I often entertain thoughts of owning an M135i just for how it sounds. Well, that and the fact that its 321bhp is delivered to just the rear wheels. The latest M135i is a completely different animal. It has a 2-litre, four-cylinder engine, installed transversely and powering the front wheels, mainly. It shares its floorpan and running gear with its stablemate, the Mini Countryman JCW All4. And given that the JCW is a chunky ‘Mini’ it’s no…

FORGING INTO BATTLE IN THE EUROPEAN compact executive class without a legacy badge is an act of not inconsiderable bravery. Customer loyalty is difficult to overcome and the current contenders have all been carefully honed over decades of development. Yet resource is the great equaliser, and new player (in Europe anyway) Genesis is introducing its G70 family with substantial backing from parent company Hyundai. This isn’t the first model Genesis has brought to Europe – it has also launched a few SUVs and the larger G80 saloon in the past 12 months – but the 3-series-sized G70, which is available in saloon or shooting brake forms, is the first that’s been designed specifically for Europe. On first acquaintance the G70 looks to be off to a good start, its lines unconventional but…

AFTER A SLOW START, BENTLEY’S momentum towards an electrified future is gaining pace. What began two years ago with the somewhat lacklustre Bentayga Hybrid is accelerating towards the 2025 launch of the firm’s first all-electric car, to be assembled at its Crewe facility in a new ‘Dream Factory’. Further electric models will be released at a rate of one per year thereafter – some replacing existing petrol models, others entering new sectors – to make a five-strong range by the end of the decade. In the run up to all this, from 2024 Bentley will add hybrid variants to its Continental line-up (coupe and convertible), and from 2026 all Bentley models – existing or new – will only be offered as hybrids or as full battery electric vehicles. Right now, this expansion…

IT’S THE QUESTION I DON’T WANT TO ask and the one nobody wants to answer. ‘So, erm, how many Grecales do you hope to sell?’ You see, mentioning sales figures and projections around Maserati people is likely to induce mild panic and sweating. I’ve sat through many bullish meetings with Maserati execs over the years, most notably one with a bold plan to expand to 75,000 sales globally by 2018. In reality they’ve never even managed half of that figure and last year produced just 17,000 cars. Despite the Levante. The Grecale is the Levante’s little brother and the first new volume model since another relaunch that started with the gorgeous mid-engined MC20. Think of the Grecale as a Porsche Macan rival, but with a luxury twist. A kind of mid-sized…

NEWS, INTERVIEWS, TECH AND EVERY NEW CAR THAT MATTERS SOME OF THE FINEST ASPHALT IN THE UK can be found in a Victorian railway tunnel in Northamptonshire. Just a few weeks ago the final 2.7km of black stuff was laid in Catesby Tunnel by a company that usually surfaces race circuits, creating a unique test facility. Originally built in the 1890s to speed goods and people to London by rail, Catesby Tunnel was abandoned in the 1960s but has now been restored and repurposed by a group called Aero Research Partners Limited (ARP), primarily as an affordable alternative to traditional wind-tunnel testing, though it could be put to many more uses. Buried some 30ft underground and absolutely straight, the tunnel offers consistent temperature and humidity, while its new surface was laid in…