17

‘If you open the smaller of the two boot doors, you can slide

a sausage dog in without swinging open the bigger door’

THIS WEEK

Issue 6578 | Volume 317 | No 8

NEWS

McLaren hyper-EV Electric P1 successor on the way 6 Mercedes-Benz CLA Concept debut for new saloon 8 Toyota Land Cruiser Big rethink, guns for Defender 10 Pininfarina’s next steps Rakish EV signposts future 12 Iveco battery-swap tech A new slant on the practice 14 Porsche 911 S/T Purist special with retro inspiration 16

TESTED

Fisker Ocean Aims to leave establishment all at sea 22 Ford Mustang Dark Horse 500bhp next-gen coupé 26 Honda e:Ny1 Electric SUV is big on comfort and kit 28 Mercedes-AMG SL 43 Do just four cylinders cut it? 30 Bentley Bentayga Hybrid S Tech upgrade for PHEV 31 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid A 2023 Turbo GT 32 Mercedes-AMG A35 VW Golf R rival ups the ante 33 Tesla Model S Plaid ROAD TEST 48

FEATURES V8 shootout Era-ending Mustang, F-Type, LC 500 34 Hyundai Ioniq 6 Mixing it with exotica by Lake Como 42 Speakers’ corner Revolutionary in-car audio tech 46

OUR CARS Toyota Land Cruiser Final verdict on old-school 4x4 56 BMW iX1 From braking bad to stranger things 58 DS 4 Stylish plug-in hybrid tackles a family holiday 59

EVERY WEEK Jesse Crosse All you need to know about e-fuels 13 Secret Source Get Shorty, the East Anglian version 15 Matt Prior What next for brave Ineos; Rolls’ buyers 17 Subscribe Save money and get exclusive benefits 18 Steve Cropley The 200mph car with two huge V12s 19 Damien Smith Formula 1; WRC; and WRX heartbreak 21 Your Views “JLR is scoring a spectacular own goal” 60 On this day Inaugural Brighton speed trials, in 1905 66 Slideshow Seven cars that were born beach ready 74

DEALS

Cult hero Why the Honda CR-V is an everyday hero 62 James Ruppert Used cars for an Earl or Lady Grey 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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IMAGE

NEW McLAREN LEGEND FOR THE ELECTRIC ERA 6

FIRST DRIVE: FISKER OCEAN GETS IT SO RIGHT 22

HYUNDAI IONIQ 6 AND LAKE COMO’S FINEST 42

C O V E R STORY

❝ THE MODEL S STAYS AHEAD OF THE VEYRON AT THE 60, 100 AND 160MPH INCREMENTS ❞

THIS DEFINITELY ISN’T THE SAME ELECTRIC SALOON WE FIRST MET A DECADE AGO… 48

COMMENT

REASONS TO NOT BE CYNICAL

CYNICISM IS AN occupational hazard – but one frequently justified by the struggles of many bold electric vehicle start-ups.

It has been particularly easy to be cynical about Henrik Fisker’s new eponymous firm. After all, his prev ious one went bankrupt in 2014 , following a string of problems and supplier issues that left it in heav y debt. So why would things be different this time? Well, the Fisker Karma of 2011 was an innovative machine that was really just ahead of its time. Without the deep pockets of Elon Musk, few start-ups from that era found success. But Fisker’s new company has secured substantial back ing and deals with proven suppliers and partners. The new Fisker Ocean is packed with bold ideas but in a package that’s on-trend for 2023. As you can read from Matt Saunders’ first drive on p22, the result is hugely impressive.

It’s an example of a tech industry concept called ‘ fail fast’: essentially, failure is okay, so long as you learn from your mistakes for the future. Huge challenges still lie ahead, of course, not least getting people to pick an Ocean over the growing range of talented EVs from established brands. But Fisker has now given us reasons to be optimistic, rather than cynical.

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

@atters_ j

Rachel Burgess is away

UK’S LAST GREAT V8 SPORTS CARS LET RIP 34

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