36

‘ I f one ever broke free of i ts tether, i t could cut you of f at the ankles’

THIS WEEK

Issue 6575 | Volume 317 | No 3

NEWS

Caterham EV Three-seater guns for Lotus, Alpine 4 Renault’s design future Bling’s out, minimalism’s in 8 Alfa Romeo GTV EV with SZ-style looks in the works 10 Aston Martin Valour Manual V12 ‘analogue’ coupé 12 Mercedes CLE New convertible and coupé detailed 14 Ford Fiesta bows out Final one leaves the factory 16

TESTED

Lotus Eletre New-era SUV shows what it’s made of 22 Tesla Model S Plaid Back in the UK – with 1020bhp 26 Alpina B5 GT Tuning gurus work magic on 5 Series 28 Mercedes GLC Coupé Sporty SUV in petrol guise 29 Volkswagen Passat Early access to next-gen estate 29 BMW M2 Coupé manual ROAD TEST 48

FEATURES Prodrive P25 Restomod drive with David Richards 30 String theory High-speed world of tether car racing 36 Goodwood Festival of Speed Unseen set-up action 38 Polestar 5 First of a new breed, thanks to UK team 44

OUR CARS Vauxhall Astra Final verdicts on the PHEV and 1 . 2 56 Alpina D3 S 160mph-plus on the road, in Germany 58 Audi E-tron GT An 1800-mile trip through the Alps 59

EVERY WEEK Jesse Crosse Latest advances in sustainable tyres 13 Secret Source Surely they won’t miss a rear wiper 15 Matt Prior What the ‘£30m club’ look for in a car 17 Subscribe Save money and get exclusive benefits 18 Steve Cropley Two diverse hydrogen cars driven 19 Damien Smith Robin Shute on his Pikes Peak win 21 Your Views “AMG, I believe, has lost the plot” 60 On this day 1976: first drive and story of the Fiesta 66 Slideshow Cars that looked faster standing still 74

DEALS

Cult hero Making a case for Volvo’s V40 big-miler 62 James Ruppert Real-world Golf GTIs, from £400 65 Road test index Track down that road test here 67 New cars A-Z Key car stats, from Abarth to Zenvo 68

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PRODRIVE P25: £550,000 RESTOMOD DRIVEN 30

GOODWOOD F oS LIKE YOU’VE NEVER SEEN IT 38

BMW M2 WITH A MANUAL ’BOX: ROAD TESTED 48

C O V E R STORY

❝ IT PROVES THAT SUPERCARS DON’T ALL HAVE TO ADOPT A PARTICULAR SIZE AND SHAPE ❞

STEVE CROPLEY FINDS A BLUE-BLOODED SUPERCAR IN PRACTICAL SALOON FORM 30

FULL DETAILS OF CATERHAM’S THREE-SEAT EV 4

COMMENT

FIESTA: THE END OF THE ROAD OR JUST PARKED?

FA R E W E L L TH E N , Ford Fiesta. The supermini’s 47-year production run ended quietly last week (p16), the culmination of a precipitous decline for a car that dominated the UK sales charts for much of its life. The timing of its demise was to allow Ford to convert its Cologne factory to produce EVs, but the root causes of its passing are many: electrification, the rising cost of small cars and the surging popularity of crossovers, such as the closely related Puma. So the Fiesta’s time was probably numbered any way.

Still, there will always be demand for what the Fiesta represents. It was conceived in the 1970s as a compact, affordable form of transport. Anyone living in 2023 is likely to be able to relate to the challenges of rising costs, and the appeal of compact, affordable transport remains as strong as ever. It’s just tak ing time for electric cars to get there.

But EVs are getting cheaper – Exhibit A is the soon-to-arrive Dacia Spring Electric (p8) – and by the time the government bans the sale of new ICE cars, there should hopefully be a range of Fiesta-esque small EVs available. I’d wager Ford will eventually offer one. And given its current penchant for stick ing classic nameplates on new EVs, it might well be called the Fiesta.

James Attwood Acting mag editor james.attwood@haymarket.com

@atters_ j

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