Mercedes-AMG G 63
It’s impossible
not to feel slightly
embarrassed by a
car like the Mercedes-
AMG G-Class; and you
would, frankly, even if
you bought the 32-to-
the-gallon G350d.
Which is why I’d go
the full personality
transplant and have
a G63. This car needs
a 576bhp V8 about
as much as it needs
gangplanks and a
foghorn – but
I’m delighted it’s
got one. MS
“I SHOULDN’T
LIKE IT BUT...”2 1 AUGUST 2019 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 47
14–6 TOP 50 CARS
Kia Venga
Remember Europe’s fad for
the mini-MPV? It’s still a thing
at Kia. The Venga’s engine
range has now been cut to
one 1.6-litre petrol and the
styling still makes it look like
a giant hamster.
MG GS
MG’s business model for the
GS was always ambitious: go
after the sporty Seat Ateca
and Mini Countryman buyer
with a Chinese import costing
30% less. It needed to be good
- and, frankly, it’s not.
Mitsubishi ASX
The ASX was among the
compact crossover avant
garde in its pomp but now
can’t compete with the army of
European rivals. Rough, noisy
and short on space, with a drive
that isn’t short on bugbears.
Smart EQ Forfour
The EQ Forfour might be the
worst electric car on sale:
it isn’t quick, isn’t really a
usable four-seater, has only
66 miles of range and isn’t
easy to rapid charge. Oh,
and it’s £21k.
Renault Koleos
It tries to follow the Hyundai
Santa Fe down the ‘metal for
your money’ route to success.
However, it doesn’t have
the refinement, drivability,
on-board technology or ride
comfort to bear comparison.
Ferrari Pista
A supercar seldom combines qualitative brilliance with its quantitative
relation quite like this Modenese firecracker. In a context where sub-
3.5sec 0-60mph performance is now the price of admission, the 2.9sec
Pista feels sensational and absurd in its outright pace and finds new ways
to astound you with every upshift. It grips the track like some deranged
dragster on a glue-covered strip and yet hits sublime, f lattering handling
delicacy as that grip finally ebbs. It’ll leave you frazzled and amazed.
Seat Ibiza
Unless you happen to be the kind of
dyed-in-the-wool keen driver who
reads and loves this magazine, the
Ibiza should be second to nothing at
the top of your supermini shopping
list. Besides being better packaged,
better looking and better furnished
than almost any other small car,
the Ibiza has an engine range that
combines strength, smoothness and
economy, its cabin has all the style
and digital features you’d ever want,
and it’s spacious. It’s grown-up, too,
while still able to feel like good fun.
Rolls-Royce Phantom
Little surpasses this car’s perfectly
constructed, pillowy sense of rolling
opulence or the grandness of the sense
of occasion. From a V12 so whisper
quiet that it doesn’t even need a
starter/generator to make you think it
must have stopped at the traffic lights,
to performance strong enough to
wave serenely goodbye to a hot hatch,
the Phantom seems every inch like
a car engineered without a second
thought for the cost. And so it should.
Aston Martin DBS
Superleggera
Right now, this big, front-engined
V12 super-coupé feels like everything
an Aston Martin should aspire to
be. In another five years, after the
Valkyrie, Valhalla, DBX and Lord
knows what else, perhaps our taste
for it will fade, but we hope not. It
has monumental, torque-laden pace;
long-striding, mile-ravaging, curve-
cavorting ride and handling; and a
comfortable and exotic interior.
Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupé
Mercedes-AMG may never quite emerge from the shadow cast by its all-dominating
German sports car-making neighbour Porsche. But perhaps it doesn’t need to because,for the first time, it has proved capable of beating Weissach at its own game. The four-
door GT63 S has the measure of a Panamera Turbo on outright performance, handling
balance and driver appeal. In all three respects, it could almost be a super-sports car
rather than a four-door pseudo-saloon.
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