Autocar UK – 31 July 2019

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Some 1800kg of aluminium, carbonfibre,

leather and twin-turbo V12 were stuck fast

a

Luxurious? Yes, but

can it squeeze through

t i ny g a p s i n t raf fi c? N o

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Data driven

15 May 1925

TE STE R ’ S N OTE S

Matt Prior

Aston Cygnet was

a sales flop but not

such a bad idea

X

ESTABLISHED 1895

90 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 3 1 JULY 2019

here’s a certain luxury

to space,” says Lotus

design chief Russell

Carr on the Eveeya/

Eveyea/Evidja. And he’s right.

C e r t a i n l y it ’s t r ue on t he Ev ija

front – Lotus’s upcoming electric

hypercar does feel roomy, not

claustrophobic, with two generous

seats and a big swooping ‘halo’ of a

floating instrument pack, slightly

reminiscent of an exposed Maserati

‘birdcage’ chassis but with a 21st

century carbonfibre racing bicycle

twist. It feels extremely special.

But space equating to luxury is

true in general life, too. Who has the

most luxurious life? Who defines

luxury more than anybody else?

Roman Abramovic? Joaquín ‘el

Chapo’ Guzmán? Royalty?

Whoever, I’ve seen their houses,

and they’re massive. Luxury is, no

question, space.

It ’s e v e n mor e v a lue d i n pl a c e s

where little space exists, like those

London streets where rock stars live

plastics and I were stuck fast. And all

because of space.

There was, of course, that gap. The

car in front was sitting right of lane,

leaving almost a car’s width between

it and the verge to its left. Almost.

But, in a two-metre-wide car on

damageable 20in wheels, not enough.

So I sat, wasting time, life ebbing

away, like I would not have done in

something narrower, like a Hyundai

i10. All the luxury money in the

w orld , t o lo ok at t he ba c k of a Ford

Focus and grow closer to death.

I long for a truly compact yet

seriously luxurious car. And I’m

not singling out Aston Martin for

criticism. After all, Aston did at least

try to make a compact, luxurious car,

in the Cygnet, a rebadged Toyota iQ

with quilted leather. Aston has quite

a go o d s e n s e of hu mou r a b out it t he s e

days, which is just as well, because

hardly anyone bought one.

If more car makers did make truly

luxurious but seriously compact cars,

I suspect the same would be true of

t ho s e , t o o. S o sit , lo ok at t he le at he r,

and admire the sense of space.

There’s nothing else to do.

EACH WEEK, AUTOCAR publishes

a list of each car currently on sale;

in our earlier years, this “tabulated

information of value to prospective

buyers and new motorists” was a

“much appreciated” annual event.

Right now, the cheapest car is

the £6995 Dacia Sandero and the

priciest the £362,055 Rolls-Royce

P h a nto m. B a c k i n 1 92 5 , th ey we r e

the £75 Gnome, a 3.5hp cycle-car,

and the £1850 original Phantom.

Inflation prices them at £12,800

and £316,000 today; your average

Austin Seven was £149 (£25,500).

Whereas the most potent cars of

our era incredibly exceed 1500hp,

the leaders in 1925, with 90hp,

were Alfa Romeo and Beverley-

Barnes, a recondite London-based,

Belgian-owned firm that’s believed

to have only ever built 14 cars.

In fact, of the 200-plus brands

plying the British market 94 years

next to bankers, and where the quest ago, a mere 21 remain in business.

for more space, more luxury, occurs

underground – a garage here, a gym

there, a swimming pool beneath it

all – eking every last millimetre from

bu i ld i n gs m a de w he n lu x u r y me a nt

you suffered gout and didn’t die at 35.

So in cities, and in motoring, space

sit s at o dd s w it h one of l i fe ’s ot he r

luxuries. Perhaps life’s biggest: time.

People sacrifice one for the other.

I imagine many of us have at some

point lived somewhere small but a

‘yeah, I’ve had a nice walk’ distance

f r om w ork r at he r t h a n i n a bi g hou s e

that’s ‘sorry, bloody Thameslink,

again’ away. A lot of us think time is

more important than room. I’d say it’s

the most precious thing any of us has.

Which is a thought that occurred

to me the other day when I was in an

expensive car. An Aston Martin DB11.

It is, like the Bentley Continental GT

we were testing it against, luxurious,

if you accept that quality and cost of

materials, design and engineering

are also luxuries, which I do.

Yet I was stuck. The car I was

following on a relatively busy single

carriageway wanted to turn right

into a side road, so was waiting

for oncoming traffic to clear. I was

waiting behind it. Some 1800kg of

a lu m i n iu m , c a rb on f i br e , le at he r, a

twin-turbo V12 and a few iffy cabin

“‘

T