Since 1895, Autocar has operated with one main rule: if it’s new, we will drive it.
This year had no shortage of shiny metal, and we got behind the wheels of the vast majority of it. Here are some of our favourites.
What happens when a diehard Aston Martin fan with a few million pounds burning a hole in his pocket decides to commission his dream car? You get the one-off Victor. A 1980s V8 Vantage-inspired body was draped over a prototype One-77 tub that was lying around at Gaydon, with power coming from a naturally aspirated 7.3-litre V12 that Cosworth had fettled with to produce 750bhp. Oh, and it has a six-speed manual gearbox. Our tester simply called it “one of the most enjoyable cars I’ve ever driven”.
The Volkswagen Golf R was somewhat of a legend in our circles: it was more of a volcanic hatch than a hot one. So when the Mk8 car was released earlier this year, we wondered if it was possible to improve on greatness. That turned out to be an unsurprisingly tricky task. Although the Mk8 is blisteringly fast and outclasses many other four-wheel-drive rivals, it simply couldn’t match the easy-going nature of its predecessor. Yet it was still a brilliant thing.
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It's always interesting to read about the high end exotics that few of us can afford, but it's getting to the point where almost every car featured in Autocar costs more than £50k, many with power outputs beyond 500 horsepower. And why is it that nearly every model is an EV, SUV or hypercar?
Personally I'd like to see a bit more balance with more affordable machinery of the type many of us drive. Maybe it's the industry that is to blame, making the expensive (high profit) models so readily available for test while suppressing the high volume stuff which dominates the sales charts.
Or maybe I am just reading the wrong publication....
Very much agree your comments. The preponderance of high end cars is becoming boring and very much out of touch with the reality of what ordinary drivers can afford. It's getting so I no longer read the umpteenth review of something fast and expensive. I suppose Autocar would argue we should take ourseves off to the sister publication Whatcar, but that's really a publication for those with no interest in cars. I am interested in cars provided they are not all some fantasy that only the rich can afford. It's not how Auto car used to be which was broadly representative of motoring at large.
On a positive note, please keep up the comments against uncomfortable ultralow profile tyres and touch screens to control everything.