The BMW 3 Series is a common BMW model that’s meant to be comfortable for daily driving but still fun to drive. It comes in different body styles, including wagons in some markets. It’s mentioned often because it’s one of BMW’s most important cars.
A resto modder is a person who takes an older car and fixes it up, but also updates it with newer parts. In this case, they’re making a custom version of a BMW that never existed from the factory.
The Lotus Elise Series 1 is the early version of the Elise sports car. The writer says it’s the best car they’ve owned, and it’s affecting their day-to-day car situation in London.
The Volkswagen up GTI is a small sporty hatchback. The writer is currently driving one, but they’re unhappy because they’ve had to replace tires repeatedly.
The Volkswagen Golf is a popular small car that’s meant for everyday driving. People choose it because it’s practical and widely available. The podcast mentions it in the context of someone’s experience with repeated tyre replacements.
A “four metre car” just means a car that’s roughly 4 meters long, so it’s quite compact. The point here is that smaller cars can be great, but they often feel tight for rear passengers on longer trips.
The Audi A2 is a small Audi hatchback that’s surprisingly roomy inside for its size. Here, they’re saying it could work for trips because it has decent back-seat space and doesn’t rust as badly as some older small cars.
The Suzuki Swift Sport is the sportier, more fun-to-drive version of the Swift. They’re saying it should fit the size requirement and still be enjoyable for driving around on weekends.
The Suzuki Ignis is a small car with a higher, crossover-like shape. They like it and say it’s fun, but they’re warning that it might not have enough legroom for everyone, especially in a short car.
The Fiat Panda is a small, practical city car. Here they’re talking about the hybrid version and whether it’s good enough for everyday driving, including highway speeds.
The Ford Fiesta Active is a small Ford car with a taller, SUV-like look. It’s meant to be practical for daily driving, but with a more rugged style. The podcast mentions it while talking about different Fiesta versions.
The Ford Fiesta ST is the sportier version of the Fiesta. It’s mentioned as another small car option that might be more fun than the more basic choices.
The Toyota GR Yaris is a sporty version of the Yaris. It’s designed to be quick and fun, with handling that feels more like a performance car than a normal hatchback. The podcast compares older and newer versions, suggesting the newer one feels different.
The Toyota Yaris Cross is a small SUV-style version of the Yaris. It sits a bit higher off the ground, so it feels more like an SUV than a normal small car.
Active suspension means the car can change how stiff or soft the suspension feels while you drive. That helps it stay controlled over bumps and when you’re turning hard.
Torque vectoring is when the car sends different amounts of power to different wheels. That can help the car turn better and grip more consistently in corners.
The Ferrari F8 Tributo is a high-performance Ferrari with the engine in the middle of the car. It’s known for being a “real Ferrari” that’s still more approachable than the very top models.
Type 00 is a Jaguar model that people talked about because of its design. The podcast says some people didn’t like how it looked. It’s mentioned as background for a discussion about Jaguar styling choices.
The Jaguar F-Type is a sports car made by Jaguar. It’s designed to be fun to drive and to look sporty. The podcast brings it up while talking about Jaguar design and how people reacted to different models.
Jaguar’s Type 00 is a concept car that was shown to preview future styling. The point here is that people didn’t like the design at first, but once they saw it more, it started to make more sense.
The Jaguar E-Type is a legendary old-school Jaguar sports car. Here it’s mentioned because it’s a design icon, and the magazine is comparing that classic look to a newer concept.
The Ferrari Luce is a new Ferrari electric car concept. The big point here is that its battery is designed to be taken out and replaced later, so the car can stay current without changing the whole vehicle.
The Ferrari 296 is being used as a measuring stick. The host is saying the Luce is shaped so the driver and front wheel sit in a similar relationship to how they do on the 296.
Kilowatt-hour (kWh) tells you how big the EV battery is—basically how much energy it can store. Bigger kWh usually means more potential range, though efficiency matters too.
Here, “range” means how far the EV can go on one full battery charge. The host is saying the range they’re quoting doesn’t seem especially impressive for the battery size.
A battery pack is the EV’s main battery unit. It’s not just “cells”—it’s the whole packaged system, and the episode is comparing designs that make it easier or harder to replace later.
“Homologated” here means the car is officially cleared to meet rules. The idea is that even if the battery is swapped later, the car should still be allowed/approved to make the same rated power.
The BMW iX3 is being used to illustrate a battery layout choice. Here, the battery’s top cover is part of the cabin floor, which changes how you’d service or replace the battery later.
The BMW i3 is mentioned as an example of how some EVs package the battery. In this design, the battery area is built into the cabin floor, which makes later battery replacement less straightforward than designs that drop the pack out.
The BMW iX3 is an electric SUV. It’s meant to be roomy enough for everyday driving while using an electric battery and motor. The podcast mentions it because of where the battery sits inside the car.
An air gap is just an empty space between parts. The host is saying that this kind of battery packaging can leave a gap, which may make the car taller.
The drag coefficient is a way of measuring how “slippery” a car is through the air. If a car is designed to press down for grip at high speed, it can be a little less slippery, so the best drag number isn’t always the goal.
Downforce is the “air pressure” effect that helps keep the tires stuck to the road. More downforce usually means better grip at high speed, even if it can make the car less efficient through the air.
Aerodynamic efficiency is how well the car uses its shape to waste less energy pushing through air. For an electric car, that matters a lot, but it can be a tradeoff with making enough downforce for grip.
“Vents” are openings in the car’s body that let air flow where it’s needed. They can help cool parts and also shape airflow so the car behaves better at speed.
Ian Callum is a well-known car designer. Here, the host is referencing his ideas about how car shapes (like hood length and rear shape) affect the final design.
A “rear bustle” is the shaped, raised part of the car’s body near the back. It’s often there to help the car look right and to guide airflow toward the rear.
A “fastback” is a car shape where the roof flows smoothly into the back. That affects how the rear is designed and how air moves over the car.
Person
Luca de Montes-Emilow
Luca de Montes-Emilow is a person involved with the car being discussed. The speaker says someone asked him what he thought, and he hinted that Ferrari wouldn’t like it if he were fully honest.
EV means electric vehicle. It’s a car that runs on electricity instead of gasoline, and the host is saying the design only works the way they want when it’s built as an EV.
Chassis tech refers to the engineering behind the car’s underlying structure and dynamics—things like how the body is built and how the suspension and mounting points are designed to control motion. Here, the host says they’re especially interested in the chassis technology, implying there’s something technically distinctive to learn about.
Term
gaspers
“Gaspers” here means an interior vent/feature in the car. The host compares it to airplane vents—twist it and it opens—so you can understand how the control works.
OLED is a type of screen where each tiny part lights up on its own. That usually means the display looks sharp and has strong contrast, which is why it’s popular for high-end car interiors.
Gorilla Glass is a tough, strengthened type of glass used on screens. The point is it’s more resistant to scratches and everyday wear than cheaper plastic covers.
Analogue needles are the classic gauge pointers you see on older dashboards. Even if the car uses modern screens, the needles can make the gauges feel more familiar and easy to read at a glance.
That phrase is describing the steering wheel’s materials and shape: a slim, lightweight aluminum wheel with spokes. It’s meant to feel more sporty and responsive than a thicker, heavier wheel.
This “recorded amplifier” is basically the car’s sound system. Instead of just letting the drivetrain be quiet, it takes real sounds from the motor and gearbox and turns them up inside the cabin in certain driving modes.
Performance mode is the “make it feel more exciting” setting. It turns up the sounds from the motor and transmission so you can hear what the car is doing.
Here, “gearbox” means the transmission. It’s what changes how the car’s power is delivered, and the car can amplify the real sounds it makes while shifting.
Flappy paddles are the shift buttons on the back of the steering wheel. You pull them to tell the car to change gears, often for quicker response or more control.
A downshift is when the car changes to a lower gear. That usually makes the engine/motor spin faster and can increase the car’s slowing effect when you lift off the gas.
Engine braking is when you lift off the gas and the car slows down because the engine/drivetrain is still resisting the wheels. It’s like using the engine to help slow you down without touching the brake pedal much.
Motor braking is how an electric car slows down using the electric motor. Instead of only relying on the brakes, the motor helps slow the car and can even recapture some energy.
“G” is a unit of acceleration relative to gravity (1 G ≈ 9.81 m/s²). Saying the car can decelerate at 0.33 G quantifies how strong the slowing force feels when lifting off the throttle in the described mode.
Engine power is how strongly the car can push you forward. In this system, when it’s set up for maximum slowing, it dials back how much forward power it’s willing to deliver.
Horsepower is a measure of how much power the car has. The speaker is saying that even if the car is capable of huge power on paper, it won’t always let you use all of it at once.
“Auto” means the car controls the drivetrain behavior for you. Instead of you commanding it with the paddles, the car decides how much it slows down and how it delivers power.
A “fake gear shift” is when the car tries to imitate the sensation of changing gears, even if the drivetrain isn’t really doing it the normal way. The point here is that the system would rather adjust power and slowing than create a pretend shift feel.
Right-hand drive means the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. That’s how many UK cars are set up so drivers sit closer to the center line of the road.
The Ferrari LaFerrari is a very expensive, high-performance supercar. It’s a hybrid, meaning it uses both petrol power and an electric system. The podcast brings up that replacing the hybrid battery can be a major and costly job.
Here “hybrid” means the car uses two power sources: a gasoline engine and electric motors. Because of that, the battery matters a lot to how the car works.
The host mentions the Ferrari 296 GTB because they say its battery tech can be used for a LaFerrari replacement. The takeaway is that Ferrari is trying to make battery replacements work across cars.
The host compares the front electric motors to the rear ones. They say the front motors are smaller and make less power each, but they still contribute to the car’s total output.
A “home charger” is a charging station you can use at your house. The host is saying you could charge the car at home instead of relying only on public chargers.
ADAS means “driver-assistance tech.” It’s the safety electronics in a car that watch what’s going on around you and can warn you or help steer/brake to prevent crashes.
Euro NCAP is a safety testing organization for new cars in Europe. It runs tests and scores cars, including how well safety and driver-assist features work.
A false positive is when the car’s safety system cries “danger” when there isn’t one. If it happens a lot, it can annoy drivers and make them want to turn the feature off.
Lane keep assist is a safety feature that tries to keep your car from drifting out of its lane. In this story, it sounds like it sometimes makes the situation worse instead of helping.
Emergency braking is the car’s automatic “stop now” safety system if it thinks you’re about to crash. The host says it can feel rough and unnecessary when it triggers at the wrong time.
Steering assist is when the car helps steer a little to keep you on track. The host says it mostly stayed out of the way, except during one tricky situation near roadwork signage.
A panoramic screen is a wide, large-format display used for in-car entertainment. The host also connects it to vehicle “dynamics,” arguing that mounting a big screen from the roof could add weight up high, which can affect how the car behaves.
Four-wheel steering means the back wheels can steer too, not just the front wheels. That can make the car easier to place in tight spaces and more stable when you’re driving fast.
The Rolls-Royce Ghost is a flagship luxury sedan known for its long-wheelbase, smooth ride, and “graceful” presence. The host uses it as a benchmark for how cars of similar length can be made to look elegant rather than awkward.
The Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow is an older luxury car from Rolls-Royce. It’s known for a very smooth, comfortable ride. The podcast brings it up as a car that was great even years ago.
In this context, “climate” means the car’s heating/air-conditioning system. The host is saying it kept the inside temperature comfortable even during a very hot week.
This is a BMW M3 from the E46 generation. The “touring” part means a wagon body style, and the key point here is that BMW never sold an official E46 M3 wagon—so this is a conversion/restoration project.
Petroil is a company that takes older BMWs and turns them into special builds. In this case, they’re making an M3 wagon-style car by combining parts from different donor cars.
Term
engine track
This is basically the part of the car’s body that the engine mounts to. The shop swaps that structure so the engine and transmission can sit correctly in the converted car.
Carbon fiber is a lightweight material used for car body parts. Here, the shop uses carbon fiber panels to help make the converted car fit together properly.
The spare wheel well is the storage space in the car for the spare tire. The host is saying the conversion requires removing that area to make room for the build.
Rear wings are the body panels around the back wheels. The host is saying they adjust those panels so the converted car’s shape matches the intended design.
Low charging power means it takes longer to add the same amount of battery. So you may need to stop more often or plan extra time.
Term
150
They’re talking about a big number shown on the charger, but the car doesn’t actually get that much. The point is that what you expect to happen isn’t always what you get.
The Dodge Charger is a car designed for strong performance. People often modify them, and the podcast mentions setting one up to match a specific theme or build. It’s the kind of car that can be customized heavily.
LIVE
Hello. Welcome to the AutoCard podcast. My Week in Cars with Pryor here. Steve probably
there. Hello, Stephen. Hello, mate. How's it going? Very well. Thank you, Steve, because
this podcast is brought to you as ever. Listener in association with our sponsor Anderson.
Visit Anderson-EV.com. They make premium design led car chargers maybe less expensive than you
think, because I say premium all the time. And as I mentioned last week, they start, I think,
at 695 pounds. But if they've got a concierge service that will look after you all the way
through from beginning to end, very good colors, nice designs, they'll take care of you. They
will take care of you. This week, Steve and I are going to be talking many things, including the
Ferrari Luce, which as we speak is setting the internet on fire, and many other things,
including the new Jag. And what else are we going to talk about? We're going to also talk about
BMW i7. I want to talk about BMW M3 Touring of E46 Vintage, which of course BMW never made,
but has been made by a Restora slash Resto Modder in Oxfordshire, which I don't think,
I don't think I've talked about. I do forget a lot, but I don't think I've talked about that with
you. And your letters, you can write to us autocartatamarket.com as Sam Robinson has done.
I think this is a letter in the mag as well, actually. And it says, after Matt's effusive
words about his long term a couple of years ago, I ended up purchasing a Eulez registered Lotus
Elise Series 1. It's by far the best car I've owned, but it does rather complicate things. My
partner I live in London with off street parking for one and a half cars. Thanks to the Elise,
the other vehicle can't be much more than four metres long. Currently, I'm in a Volkswagen up
GTI, but after three replacement tyres in two years and causing antisocial Uber and BMW drivers
to see red, I've got my eye out for something else. Why is that, Sam? Is that because he's driving
the enthusiastically? Do you think or sounds like it? Maybe it's worn out. Well, whatever
places the up needs to be affordable, carry four adults and drive across Europe. Ideally,
it should also be special enough for weekends when the Lotus is off the road. The Renault
4 plain sood with its canvas sunroof looks like it might fit the bill. My question to you both
is, would you think the four is viable as an only car, especially for summer road trips? Or is
there another somewhat special four metre car I should consider instead? Yeah, interesting,
isn't it? It's the four seats that's the problem to me. Did you see there was a reply from Felix
Page? I did see that, yeah. Who is our deputy editor? Who's running one at the moment, has he?
And he thinks probably not enough range for a European road trip. And I think that would be
my, I don't think possibly your opinion too. Yeah, I think so, probably. For a European,
I mean, okay, if you're, if you're just ambling, but it depends where you want,
yeah, it depends what you want to do, doesn't it? I mean, if you were just sort of hopping
along northern French coastal towns for a bit, you'd be okay. But if you think,
well, today I want to reach Marseille, that's a long old day for four of you.
It is, yeah. And it might be just a little bit confined in the back too, I reckon.
Hmm. Mind you, four meters long, what isn't going to be? No, well, I mean, apart the obvious,
an Audi A2. Yeah. But I don't know if it's special enough for weekend thrashes. Yeah.
Mind you, would a Renault 4B. Audi A2 is not a bad shout. It's not a bad shout. They are quite
spacious in the back. And they don't rot so they can live outside. Yep. Just need to find one that
that's done, you know. Well, that hasn't done a million miles. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, maybe listen right to us, reader, or to carataymarket.com, because I don't,
well, I'm about another up. Well, yeah, I was thinking maybe, you know, Suzuki.
Oh, Swift Sport. Swift, yeah. Yeah. That's an acquired taste, that car, but it's nice to drive,
and it's not, I think it'd be big enough. What about the tall one? They were quite good fun,
weren't they? The Ignis. Ignis, yeah. Yeah. Pretty, I mean, it's good.
How special they are, but they're quite a lot. No, it might be lacking in the legs,
department. It's a tall order for people in four meters. It is, I think. Because if it was two
people, I'd be saying a Mini, you know, we just bought a Mini Cooper. Good. You know, long legged.
Yeah. Nice. I don't know what Sam's budget is, whether it might be, whether it's bought outright,
whether it's monthly as well, I don't know. I think we need some help from the listener here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think so too. If you have a small car that fits for and you love,
tell us about it, I think. I was driving around in a panda, one of the new panda
hybrids the other day, and its open road performance surprised me. I thought it was okay.
And that's got enough room because it's tall. Yeah. But it's not super comfortable, I would say.
No. I think maybe the panda hybrid would be worth investigating because it has got,
I took four people to the station recently, and we could have gone a hell of a long way
further. Really? So maybe that's an option. Yeah. It does need to be affordable, Sam says.
So we're talking super mini sized, aren't we? I think really. Maybe the up is just a bit short
for four, maybe. Yeah. Polo's not quite exciting enough, is it? Polo? No. GTI.
A panda is a five door, isn't it? Yeah, I think so. A Ford Fiesta ST.
Oh, that's a good shout, that one. That's a good shout, isn't it? I've impressed myself. Yeah.
Oh, what about, oh, they're probably a bit much. The previous generation Yaris GR,
not the new all-singer and all-dancing four-wheel drive one, but they did one with a really
wroughty engine, really quite firm suspension. They were really good fun to drive. Ultimately,
they are a Yaris. Yeah, that's all right. And I don't know how they should last forever. Let's
have a little look on the internet and see if any are around. Mind you, if I put in GR Yaris,
this is going to be too long. This is going to be too long an internet search, unless you've
got something you want to yarn on about, Steve. No, mate. I haven't got anything to really...
We're talking your color, aren't we? So, we could tell me about the Panda,
and I'm going to see if I can use the internet while you do it. I had three Pandas, one after
another. One basic EV, one Prima, so all-nate EV, and this hybrid. And the best car, I think,
was the hybrid from the point of view of usability, because it would go down the motorway at,
you know, 70, 80 miles an hour. It was good. They're a little bit basic, I'd say, but
it's an option. But I wonder about the Swift Sport, if that is enough car for our friend.
I like Yaris, actually. You know that little... Is it the Yaris Cross, that thing with the
sort of black rear end? You know, it's a sort of lifted-up Yaris, isn't it?
Yeah, there is a Yaris Cross. Yeah, I think... Chris Culmarar, chief sub-editor, ran a Yaris Cross.
I think he might have done, yeah. I quite like the Igo X, and I know that's a lot smaller,
but I think they're good for... I think they're cool. And they'll do mega... They'll do...
Igo X, that's it. Silly, silly. Silly, silly miles. Igo X, is it?
Yeah, Igo X. I'm just coming up. No, I'm coming up with the wrong
Yarises at the moment, mate. So I can't do two things at once, that's fine.
Well, we... Never mind. I'll tell you what I've seen. Ferrari Luce.
Mate, I want to... The thing that I was mesmerized by your excellent socials,
because I follow this. Because you were basically dedicated your weekend to it, didn't you?
My LinkedIn or my Instagram? Your LinkedIn.
My LinkedIn. Oh, yeah. That one went down better than my Instagram reel, I must say.
Did it? Yeah, because I wasn't overly... Because everybody hates that car, right?
Yeah. Seemingly. And I've just done a fairly straight thing going, here's the car. I think if
you see it in the flesh, because when I got back, people were saying, what does it look like in the
flesh? Does it look different to the pictures? No, I think whatever you think of it in the
pictures is kind of what you think of it in the flesh. But there is some tech underneath,
I'm really interested to know about. And Ferrari's sort of chief dynamics and vehicle attributes
guy, Raffaele DiSimone, who I've known for a long time and I trust implicitly because
he's not a big mouth. He's very straightforward. He doesn't exaggerate. And I spoke to him a bit
and he said, this car is unbelievable to drive. You said it's got active rear steer,
it's got torque vectoring, it's got active suspension, it's got so much going on,
he says, you turn a corner and you won't know whether it's the rear steer,
whether it's the torque vectoring or whether it's the front wheels turning,
that are doing the work for you. But it does things that you can't imagine. If he says that,
I believe it. I mean, he developed the F8 Tributo and all these other 12-cylinder and all these
things, he's not a mug. Yeah, exactly. So, but anyway, yeah, some of the comments on that
I've suggested that, you know, I'm only saying it because I want to go on another Ferrari launch,
which is just not actually, I could have quite happily spent my bank holiday weekend at home
with my family and my cat, instead of in an Italian sports hall, frankly. But you know,
so anyway, I'm very happy. I was very happy to go, as you would imagine. It's
a funny color they chose. It looked like lots of people comparing with a Nissan, therefore.
Yes, I think weird color choices on, because I wonder if it would look better in a silver or
a white, but maybe that's, I don't, maybe they won't do that. So that, yeah, they've launched it
in blue and red, of course, yellow, and I'm not sure those colors suit it. I don't know, I don't,
my thing, the reason I haven't said I hate the outside, well, I don't hate it. I don't
love it, but you know, but also, these things can change when you see them out on the road,
and with a bit of familiarity, because how many people despised the way the Jaguar Type 00
looked two years ago, whenever it was. And actually now, don't mind it.
Don't mind it. And I think it's because we've started to see more of it and the proportions
are better understood. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's an interesting
moment, because that very same weekend in the FT in their magazine, which is called HTSI,
How to Spend It. Did they drop the How to Spend It as a thing because it sounded a bit,
I don't know, not very... The times changed, I think. I like how to spend it. I think it's a
worried about the elitism of it all. Well, you still chock a block with Dior ads.
Anyway, the thing is, the Jaguar took four pages in this thing,
and they started off with a view of the E-Type, which was a sort of overhead picture of full page,
and it said original then, and then you scroll through it, and you get to a picture of the
concept 00, and it says original now. Oh, very nice. And what they finally managed to do was to
lose all the nonsense that was swelled around the car, that it was something new, completely,
and that all Jaguar history previously was irrelevant and so on. And they've made a
fantastic link between a world-changing car in 1961 and a world change at what they believe is
a world-changing car in 2026. And for once, you see the value of agency thinking. Think of all
the agency stuff that's gone wrong for them over the last year, but this works. And I'm so pleased
to see it. It was intriguing that it was timed for the Ferrari weekend. Yeah, that is interesting.
I wonder if they knew. So the Jaguar has got the long bonnet, hasn't it? That's it. The Type-01
has got a very long bonnet. The Ferrari's haven't always had long bonnets, of course,
because they do mid-engine cars, but what they've done with the Luce, and people have said it,
has eyepace proportions. The distance from the driver's hit point to the front wheel
is the same as in the 296 mid-engine car. So it's a very cat-forward design for a five-meter-long
big car, five-meter-long, two-meter-wide, 1,500-mile tall, a 122 kilowatt-hour battery,
330-ish mile range, something like that, which isn't amazing from a battery that big. But I think
one of the things they say, they've got this sort of forever Ferrari policy, right? They say
90% of all Ferraris are still on the road. So what we want to do is, if we're going to
put a battery pack in it, we want to be able to remove that battery pack entirely somewhere down
the line. If 30 years down the line, that battery pack's a bit tired, we can put a new pack in it.
And if that pack has different cell structure, different battery type, that's okay. The car's
still homologated for the amount of power it makes. It'll still always make the same amount of power,
but they could, at a later date, change the battery. Whereas in the BMW Neuer class of the
new electric i3 and iX3, the lid of the battery pack is the floor of the cabin. This has an
entirely separate battery pack cell sealed with a lid on it that you can then drop out the bottom
of the car should you want to replace it at a later date. So that, I suspect, adds to the
height of the car because you've got two lids going on and there'll be a gap between the two
inevitably. And I think there's a little air gap between the top of the batteries and the lid of
the battery pack anyway. So we had loads of workshops with engineers and designers and
aerodynamicists and so on and so forth. And one of the aerodynamicists had a little model
of, like a sort of early styling model of the Luce.
To kind of show off the demarcation that sits between, if you've seen, I imagine most people
would have seen a picture of it by now, but there's this sort of black passenger cell slash glass
house or whatever you want to say. And then there's the body around the outside. And the idea is that
there's a visible demarcation between those two things. So there's a spoiler front and rear,
but there's a gap between the very sleek glass house and the body that runs around the outside.
But in this model, I think I need to look at it again. I've asked them if they've got a picture
of it. I couldn't take one because my phone was stickered over all weekend for top secret purposes.
I've also got to pick up it because it looked much more sleek to me than the finished car.
And I wonder if at some point along the productionising process,
if they've had these discussions of going, yeah, we'd love to make it
1200 mil tall, but we can't because of this, because of that, because of this.
Wasn't there a lot of aero talk as well?
Loads of aero talk because aero plays such a big part in the range of an electric car.
But they haven't released a drag coefficient number. And the reason for that is they say it's 25%
it's more slippery than a Roma or an Amalfi. But because it's got 190 mile an hour top speed,
they still have to have it make some kind of downforce. Whereas if they just focused on
aerodynamic efficiency, it would probably generate lift and they don't want that high speed.
So or they don't want it neutral, you know, they want some kind of,
they want something holding the car to the road. So because it makes downforce,
it's not quite as aerodynamically efficient in terms of drag coefficient as it might be.
So they just haven't quoted.
Oh, so we won't be, we might not be as impressed with the figures.
Yeah, that's the thing. I think it's not going to be like 0.24 or whatever.
Yeah, it would be, I think higher than that. But it does look quite slippery.
And it's got these sort of little vents on the thing it's got on the black bits on the front
door, the little light, the little low lights or whatever, they vent out air from the front wheel
arch. And then the rear, yeah, they've got a little, yeah, they're quite big and they've got
a little ferrite badge. I don't know if they are meant to be reminiscent of
the sort of vents on front engine sports cars, maybe, maybe they're supposed to look like that.
I don't know. But also they've, they, the rear section which has the lights in has got an entirely,
I think they called it an entirely blown surround basically. So the rear wheel arches
do vent into that. And then the spoiler vents through the top of that as well. So there's
quite a lot of error going on. I just, it's 24 inch rear wheels, 23 inch fronts, because I
suppose anything smaller would look in a slightly, in a five bleep in a little car with big sides.
Yeah, I definitely did see pretty much immediately the eyepace connotations because I can remember
Ian Callum and Co talking about the issues of bonnet length and also dealing with the
the rear bustle at the back, you know, you've got your fast back and then what do you do then?
Yes. And you look at that car and you can see that they've had, that's also had
the set, not the same sort of solutions, but solutions have been needed as it were. Yeah.
I was interested in the, somebody door stepped Luca de Montes-Emilow and asked him what he
thought. And he, he said, he wasn't going to say, but wasn't it, he said something like,
if I said what I thought Ferrari would be really upset, which is. And then he said it.
But it seemed to me a shame that because it is, I looked it up, it's 12 years since he lost his
last battle with Marconi and left the company. And that's a long time to me. And also I really
think the thing we know about old bosses of car companies is that they really should put a sock
in it. Don't you think? Yeah, I kind of think so. I mean, we would have asked, I mean, if you and I
been there, we would have asked him to, of course we would. But he should have shut up really,
because there's enough, there's enough complaining going on. I think the car's going to turn out
okay like the Jag. It won't be, but I think the cleverness of it is, is that they Ferrari used
a couple of kind of clean designers, as it were, people with a fantastic pedigree, but no car history.
Well, so that the rest of the, well, I mean, you knew some did that before, didn't you?
Yes, yeah. But, but the rest of the Ferrari stuff can just flow past it.
Yeah, I think that's, yeah, and they knew some was there. So, and really interesting to talk to
about it. And the relationship, you know, the working relationship they've had, you know,
they've loved from the agency has had a team inside Ferrari for the last five years in the
studio in the, in this, you know, this design studio, as well as, and he said that when the
conversations were first happening, it wasn't guaranteed that they would be making an electric
car together. But they just did this, you know, they did, they set out what they wanted, the
spec of the car they wanted to make. And it just became clear that actually only in an EV,
only an EV would do what they wanted it to do. Gosh, does that, does that suggest that there
will be other? Well, I mean, the thing is they do, they do work, Ferrari have always worked with
design houses. And this is another one. Yeah. I mean, I suppose if it turns out to be a very
bruising experience commercially, maybe they won't, but who knows what I do think is a bit of a
shame is one that the the chassis tech I'm really interested in. And that's if you just say you like
that, I mean, I want to know about the chassis tech, then somebody will, you know, tell you that
you're paid by Ferrari to say stuff. And then also the other shame is we've now seen that interior
finished in situ. And it's fantastic. Yeah, I read that really, really, I will,
you know, editorial eyes a bit about that. I've sat in it, I've played with the buttons
and see what they do and really top class. I think, you know, who makes a better interior
than that? Not many people. Well, ergonomically, it's absolutely superb. It looks great. It feels
terrific. I think it's yeah, I think they they call they refer to the events as gaspers as people
in airplanes do, because they work in exactly the same way, you twist them and the thing opens,
and you can move it. And you could you can just glance at it. And you can see that this beautiful
aluminium piece is a facing you and be how open the vent is so you know if it's open or closed,
because it's just the tiniest glance tells you whether it's open or closed. And the dials are
a mix of of an OLED display with the sort of really high grade glass, all of all of the bits
that look like glass a glass, they're not plastic, there's gorilla glass, whatever. And they're layered
in with analogue needles. Oh, wow. And they just look great. They look and feel really terrific.
And the steering wheel is a proper nearly round, thin rimmed aluminium spoked steering wheel.
Wow. I mean, it's just, yeah. And I do think it's a, I do think it's a pity that it's not an
immediately beautiful car outside. Because that really would that really could be something.
Stop the traffic. Yeah, really good stop the traffic. And I so I think it's,
you know, maybe they shot themselves in the foot a little. You were there two days.
Well, I was there. I was in Italy three days, right? It's a Saturday morning till Monday night.
And you sat it you nobody rode in the car or anything like that.
Nobody rode in the car. No, the you were allowed to sit in it. We were allowed to sit in some.
So we we rocked up on Sunday morning into the into I think I'm gonna look up this build really
really interesting building. This is you know, unrelated to the car. But I think somebody designed
it for like a swimming world championships in 2010, never used it. And it just sort of
fell into disrepair. And they've just reinvigorated it as a, as a, I'm hoping it's not a metaphor,
right? Because they built this extraordinary building, spent loads on it. And then it was
a complete disaster. And now it's having us anyway, it's having a thing. So we went into this was
just now near Rome. Yeah, not far from about only 20 minutes from the airport. And it was,
anyway, I'll find a picture of it and put it online somewhere. So we went in Sunday morning,
had half an hour with the car to sit in it and present a piece to camera and have any photos
taken that we wanted with Ferrari's own team, taking the pictures. So no pictures of our own,
all cameras, all laptops, all everything with stickers all over them, checked four or five times
before we got into the venue, because they were so, I think that the fear of companies at these
times is that somebody releases a picture of a car that doesn't look how they want it to,
because it's just photographed very badly or whatever. Now, turns out releasing photographs
exactly as they want to is also not, there's also not been helpful. But anyway, so at half an hour
with that, and then a round table discussion with Mark Newsom, then a bit of time in the afternoon
to write, then back that night for the presentation proper, you know, a big sit in a stands and big
all singing and all dancing fanfare, lots of people shipped in from Maranello to clap in the
background. And they drove five cars out on the stage, gave us a, you know, gave us the chat.
And then the next morning, we had some technical workshops, which is the interesting bit. Talk
to some engineers, talk to some designers, aerodynamics, so on and so forth. Did you hear,
did you, we keep hearing about the sort of recorded amplifier? Yeah, so they played it very briefly
during the presentation over big speakers, and I can't tell you exactly what it's like. And actually,
it's only occurred to me as I was walking into the office this morning, because I recorded the whole
presentation on a voice recorder, that actually I may have a clip of it on my phone, but it's,
but it will be an hour and a half long that I've got to search. So, but what it, what it does is it
in most modes, so in, in tour mode, which is basically your normal everyday mode, or in
range mode in which it disconnects the front motors, becomes reliable drive.
It doesn't make any noises. But if you put it in performance mode, it starts amplifying
noises from the actual motors as they're making them, and also in the gearbox as it's making them.
So, although there are no, there's only one ratio, as you accelerate and break the gears will,
will mesh and unmesh just naturally they'll have a bit of play in them, and they will amplify those
noises into the cabin because they said, look, we want noise because we want engagement, but we
don't want fake noises. So, and actually, I'd love to hear them properly. They said, you know,
these will make actual, you will hear is the actual noises the car is making as it's making them.
And that is useful from a driver feedback and interaction point of view. And also,
but of course, if we don't amplify them, you won't hear them. No, so they have, so they will do that.
But they also say they're attractive noises, you know, these things aren't silent and they're good
noises. It's great. Well, interesting point of view. And so it's a new direction of thinking,
isn't it? Would that idea have come from Ivan Newsen or? I wonder, I don't know. I might have
just come from one of the engineering teams, I wonder, they've quite what they don't want to do
is have fake stuff. And that strikes me as the dynamic teams thing. Because it's got flappy
paddles on the back of the wheel, well attached to the steering column still as well. But if you
pull the downshift, you get more engine braking, more motor braking. So in its maximum mode,
it will decelerate at 0.33 G just by lifting off the throttle, which is similar to engine braking
in second gear in a V12 is what they think say. But as you do that,
it also reduces the amount of engine power that you get. Because they say that you'll probably
want that maximum braking on the way into a low speed turn. So that's why we do that. And then as
you come out of a low speed turn, you can't use a 1000 horsepower anyway. So they'll limit that to,
I don't know what it is, maybe 600 or something. And then as you go up through five ratios,
you get an extra 0.2 G of accelerator force effectively. So it is,
so yeah, as you come out of it and you start accelerating and you want more power,
you just pull on the levers and it will give you more on my foot. Or you can leave it in auto,
in which case it almost coasts that you get the same amount of engine braking as a
pure Sangway in top gear, effectively. So that because they didn't want a fake gear shift,
you know, it doesn't limit your speed. If you pull on the pedals, it just limits the power and
changes the retardation. So I'm interested to see that as well. Because I like the idea of having
something to do. But I also get that you might not want to go fake gear shifts because that's a
fake gear shift. Yeah. So that stuff, I'm really interested to know how it feels. When do people
like us get to drive it? I don't know. I think it goes on sale end of the year, very start of
next year in left hand drive markets. So I would guess autumn. late autumn. And I
think UK, they come to second quarter and right hand drive. Did they did they produce any? Well,
I know they couldn't have done this weekend. I was thinking any Formula One stars or you know,
they had them on video, but not for real. Yeah, they had Lewis and Charles,
bit of video of Lewis Hamilton driving Charles Leclerc and Charles feeling very queasy.
Sort of melted into the passenger footwell. Because it was so quick. I think so. Yeah,
but also it's so weird. Aren't they these things because the acceleration so you know,
relentless. Great to know that he suffers from motion sickness. Yeah, exactly. Yeah,
he could look. Yeah. And I mean, unless it was all for the camera, but he did look a bit quick.
He looked properly, you know, sitting on the floor having crawled out of the passenger footwell,
you know, looking a bit under the weather. So yeah, 400 and was it 435 grand? Yeah, 445
grand. Quite a lot. Yes, I think so. Wasn't there some orders? They
have orders already and all that. Yeah, I don't know how many. And there was a big
big, you know, gala the following evening to potential customers, I think. So I think they
filled the filled the arena. I think we were the guinea pigs for the presentation from that point.
I see filled the arena with so the usual suspects of all. Yeah, I've all been taken down. I've seen
on Instagram a couple of people who have, you know, thanks to Dick Lovett Ferrari for taking me
down to see it. And I mean, I don't I don't know who is buying that car are enough people buying
cars like that? Yeah, well, who's made I don't know. The people who are successful are Ferrari,
aren't they? They're written a large question mark hangs over the rest. But Ferrari seem to be
doing all right. Wasn't there some profit announcement? I think there was. Oh, I didn't see
if there was. I think they they made some announcement about still doing okay. But the
share price went down. It did. Yeah, I saw somebody else say actually that share price has been
it has been around that price in the past few weeks. Yeah, it had been up and down a bit.
Right. So it's a disaster. Anyway, too bad. Too bad. Don't want to correct us. My don't
know about you but I my Ferrari portfolio amounts to zilch. Yeah, I have. Yes, I have not Ferraris
in my collection at the moment. And I yeah, and even if I buy a luce to get me on the list for
the next special, I don't think it's going to matter. Oh, also, if you buy the batteries,
so that battery thing, if you buy a battery for the latest, if you have a
LaFerrari, which is the hybrid and you need a new battery for it, they make a new battery
from the 296 GTB, I think fits in it. So it's different battery, different chemical, blah,
blah, blah. But because they want these cars to stay on the road, they will make stuff.
It is a nice message. Yeah, that's why they make so they make their assembly. So the cells come
from SK on in Korea, but they assemble the battery packs and everything else in Modena.
For that reason, they're like, we're going to make it because then we can make it forever.
Also, the rear motors are about the width of in diameter of my stretched hand stretch my palm as
far as I can. That's how that's how big diameter they are, similar in length as well, pretty much.
Then each of those rear motors makes 415 horsepower. And then the front ones are smaller,
they're probably a little bit bigger than my fist and they make about 150 horsepower each.
Can you imagine having one of those motors just the size of your hand squared in the back of an
aerial atom or something making 415 horsepower? When batteries, a generation or generation and a
half down the line are half the weight they are or whatever we whatever we might expect from
the next step in battery. You could have a 200 kilogram battery and a
or maybe even less in a small sports car and a motor like that making 200 horsepower.
There could be some cool things coming. Nice. Yeah, it's going to be put a bit of load on the
time makers, I'd say. Yeah, yeah. Yes. Anyway, it's half time. Amazing. If you do buy a Ferrari
Lucia, you can charge it at a home charger from Anderson, our sponsors. Yeah, give us a ring.
Anderson-evy.com and they have a concierge service who will look after you and I'm pretty sure they'd
color match one to your Lucia if you wanted to. Have they got a deal? I'm wondering, this may be
talking miles out of turn, but I just had the feeling Anderson have a deal with Ferrari. Oh,
I don't know. They do have some with some manufacturers, don't they? Yeah. So yeah, I don't
know. Well, worth checking. Worth checking. Part two of this week's podcast is upon us.
Let's do a letter. Autocartatamarket.com. Alec Newsham has written to us. It's wonderful to see
that ADAS will evolve to take into account where the driver is looking before activating the lane
key persist. My wife's humorous take on this is to question how it will cope with people with eyes
like Marty Feldman. One straight head, the other looking at the sat-nav. Maybe humans will evolve
this way, rendering ADAS redundant. If our fingers and thumbs are developing in line with texting,
why are our eyes in line with driving? Yeah, there's a story that ADAS is going to be tested
better, isn't it? Is that right? Yeah, by Euro NCAP, though. I've got a bit of a downer on them.
I mean, I've done a lot of good over the years, but they seem to be in the process of trying to
invent regulations to give themselves a purpose. Yes, and that's how I feel about it a little,
I must say. And I sort of almost rather someone else did it. But because I think it'll be through
the efforts of Euro NCAP that some of that stuff's there already. So they're marking their own
homework. Yes, yes. It'd be nice to hear from somebody, a listener, who might know the story of
this. Because I keep feeling it's time I put my head in the lion's mouth and went to Euro NCAP
and found out what they really do and what sort of a contribution they make these days.
Yeah. I mean, I have a beef with people mandating technology that is very expensive and doesn't work
properly. So people turn it off. And I know manufacturers feel the same way. Yeah. And I
know the drivers don't want it. Manufacturers don't want it because they can't sell you a 15
grand supermini anymore because they'd like to because they've got to fit three grand's worth
of kit on it that everybody switches off because it doesn't work. It's hard to make the argument
without somebody turning around and going, oh, you just want to save some money and kill children.
No, if this stuff works properly and it was integrated, it'd be fine. But if every time you
opened your fridge, the smoke alarm went off. You'd pull the battery out the smoke alarm. Yes.
I'm just going to get some milk. You just turn it. it off. You would just turn
it off and this stuff is irritating because it's flagged so many false positives. Well, also,
we've been in plenty of cars, haven't we, where the lane keep assist, if you don't turn it off,
will prevent you from or make it hard for you to drive around a pothole. Or it can even,
at the worst, it can even divert you into a cyclist that you're trying to avoid. It's just
wrong. Yeah. Even emergency braking, which I largely don't mind. I had a, I was coming through a
village called, was it Waterstratford or Stony Stratford? Waterstratford, I think,
which is not far from it. It's quite a tight one between my house and Silverstone.
Car coming the other way. It just whacked on the anchors about 20 miles an hour,
brought me down to five miles an hour and then decided I wasn't going to hit anything,
which I wasn't. And then off, but a car giving full emergency braking is a really harsh experience.
Yeah. Yeah. Really unpleasant for no reason. And that did it last week. I think that, you know,
the unexpected shock to the driver might well cause that person to do something untoward as
well. And I've had it with reversing, the reversing. Oh, that's terrible, isn't it?
Just makes you feel like you've run into something. Yeah. I just, yeah. Anyway, don't.
But I think, yes, there's more testing to be done. I did drive a car the other day,
and I was driving it for about half an hour and had the steering assist on. And only,
the only time it interfered was when I was pulling out around a sign on the temporary
sign on the way up to some traffic lights, on the way up to some roadwork traffic lights.
Other than that, it left well alone. I won't say what it can't is, but it was fine.
And I was like, that's how it should be, that you shouldn't have to switch this stuff off.
I was in a BMW i7. Do you remember that? That's next on my list, I thought. Talk to you about that.
Hopefully. What a pro. Well, the thing that was impressive about that, well, just about everything
about that car was impressive, except the sort of somewhat monolithic styling. Yes.
But that car even delivered its ADAS in a sophisticated way. If you left the bongs on,
they were nice bongs. And if it wanted to correct you going down the road,
it did it in a gentlemanly manner. So it's possible to tune these things if you take
enough trouble, it seems to me. And the thing that I really love about this car,
which I've loved since I first had a go in one, do you remember a couple of years ago,
we had a we got some cars in Yorkshire that were that we did some ride assessments.
Yeah, I remember the sort of best car in the world kind of feature we occasionally do, don't
me. We had a new Rolls Phantom, an old Rolls Royce silver cloud. Yeah. Bentley
I know. No, it was the Flying Spur, wasn't it? Of course it was a Flying Spur.
Range Rover, full-fat Range Rover. And an i7. And I thought that car was, I mean,
it's magic the way it deals with surfaces to me because you just, there you are,
looking down the road with your usual eyes that usually assess road surfaces. And this car
always without fail does a better job than you expect. And I spent several days just driving
around my locality not worrying about potholes because they just didn't seem to matter.
Such a good car. And I found that you could buy one on AutoTrader for 58.
Really? The Boggo one, you know, the 50 model, not the 60, and no M's.
It's probably enough, isn't it? Well, absolutely. Is it a bit lighter as well, the 50 or is it not?
I think, and it does, the one I had had a, you know, had a sort of cinema arrangement in the back.
Oh, yes, of course. Press this button and suddenly there was this kind of theater erected itself in
the backseat, which I thought was, I don't have any little kids, so I don't care.
It's probably unnecessary, isn't it? Because also, how do you think that? I mean,
most, everyone's got a tablet or a phone that they're glued to anyway. So do you,
I suppose you hook up a, you could hook up a film to it, I guess, if you really wanted to. But
it's a real panoramic screen. Yes, a big proper screen comes down from the roof,
but might add weight to the roof, which from a dynamics perspective,
isn't it? It's suboptimal, isn't it? You know, you'd want to keep it low and light.
I think if I had one of those things, I would just, well, I did it while the car was with me. I'd
just find excuses to go and drive it around the place and just enjoy every time it went over some
sort of obstacle. It even turned well because of four-wheel steering. Of course. And everything
was good about it. It's just, if it had been a really beautiful car, and I think in cars of that
length, 5.2 or whatever they are, there is an opportunity to make them graceful. You've just
got to look at a Rolls-Royce Ghost or even a Silver Shadow all those years ago. But
God, it was good. It was so good. I was so cheesed off to give it back. And the other thing is,
it was really hot during the week. It was the week of the heat. And after you'd driven a short
distance in this thing, the climate was so beautifully controlled that you couldn't believe
it wasn't a nice, temperate day outside. Oh, really? You know, some cars blow lots of air out here and
you get cold in some extremities and not others. Yes. This thing just set the climate beautiful.
That's quite good. What a car it was, dear idea.
I drove a BMW recently. It was an M3 touring, but of E46 generation, which, of course, BMW never
made. So there's a Restorer slash Resto more company now called Petroil near me. And they
have taken, well, they take any 46, any old estate touring wagon, ideally not completely
rusted through, but they're pretty good, usually. They're either pretty good or pretty bad. So they
tried to take a half decent one. And then they take an M3 coupe or cat brulee sometimes, maybe
which has seen a bit of a hard time. But the mechanicals are so robust that they take them out
and they effectively swap the engine track, the gearbox over. They've got to take out the
spare wheel well. So they put a carbon fiber panel in the rear. They make carbon fiber front wings.
And then they do to the rear wings, they manipulate the aluminium or swap them across
from another car. And it looks exactly like BMW's concept E46 M3 touring that they showed a
motor show in, I don't know, 2000, I think, but never made. This just looks exactly the same.
And it drives really nicely. Because it's, and they are about from 155 grand,
so 150, which I think is a lot of money. But in the scheme of things where all Resto mods are
300,000 pound plus, and what, what new, what nice new car of that ilk, how much is a,
how much is a brand new M3, 100 grand nearly 90 something like that. So I mean, I don't think
it's outrageous. And, you know, a proper sort of lottery win daily driver, I think.
It'd be interesting to take that to Germany where they really know BMW's and confuse people.
Yeah, it would. I suspect they've had some left hand drive overseas.
They'll do some business over there.
Yeah, I think so. And they're effectively, I think, like other sort of other Resto modders,
some, you know, or restorers or whatever, you're, you're not buying a car from them.
What you're doing is you are employing them as a garage to do some work to a car that you already
have. So I think that's how it'll work. There's an amazing number of people like that around you,
aren't there? Because are the people that tweaked the 330 that you had the coupe?
Yeah, long term. And, and, you know, lots of other, there was the people who built an MG,
the MGB. Yeah, that's where they, Abingdon, the, ah, Blimey. Yeah, frontline, frontline.
So if you chuck in all the, oh, there's the electric, there's about three or four different
electric modders, plus there's, plus there's various Resto modders as well. And chucking
all the race, the all the race teams, and then all the race suppliers and all the,
it's so, it's amazingly busy. The center of the universe.
For all of that stuff, mate. Yeah, for all that stuff. Yes. And of course, they, in that
Oxford to Cambridge high tech corridor that has planned. So there's lots of houses going up
near me and not far from me and everything else. Have you, have you heard of it? Because there's,
because you know, HS2 is a shambles, right? Yeah. Yeah. East West Rail was quietly going about
its business being made from Oxford to Cambridge ish. And it's done. And it was finished in 2024.
And not a single train has gone down it since, because there is a dispute about how many staff
should be on the trains that they're operating. Oh my word. I had not, I must say I have, because
of, I've got no idea about that. No, there was a big, big story about it in the Guardian the other
day. But I, why that is not a bigger outrage than it, it is. I don't know.
Well, and they're all, you know, the, you know, the unions are saying, oh, well, let's
portray a company's fault, because we said this when we said, you know, when we, when they set
up to build it, that this was the case. And then the, the, you know, the network is going out.
It's the union's fault because of this. And it's just like, there is no immediate end in sight to
this completely disused code. It goes through, it goes through BISTA, goes through my hometown.
Also, it sounds really useful, because it could be really useful, but also they canceled the east
west. So this is where it's car related. They canceled the east west road layout, because it
was going to be too expensive. There was going to be an Oxford to Cambridge road, or they were
going to improve the Oxford to Cambridge road, because there's a village in Bedfordshire, which
currently has got 600 houses in it or something. They're going to build 50,000 houses on it.
They get upper Hayford or near Hayford. They're going to build 20,000 houses over there.
And the roads as they are, cannot take it really, because if you want to go from Oxford to Cambridge,
it's a real pain in the back. Yeah. Backside journey, because the A40, A34 is horrible.
We're across as the M40 is horrible. Then you probably, you've got two options. You come around
BISTA, which is a bit grim, or you go up to the A34, which is further than it needs to be.
And then you go across the A34, there's loads of roundabouts, or you come through Buckingham,
get to Milton Keynes, there's loads of roundabouts. And then you eventually, you get to that bit of
421 running to Bedford, and which point is being improved at the Black Cat roundabout, so on and
so forth. There was a plan to improve that thing. There were three or four different routes they
could have taken. One of them was just build a road next to the rail line we've just put in.
Yeah. But why didn't they do that when they built it in the first place?
Do you know what I mean? Once nobody go, and also you could go, right, we're going, yeah,
let's do that. And let's put the road next to it. And then let's also put a footpath and a bike
lane in that segmented space as well. And then you have all of those options taken care of.
You could imagine an Oxford to Cambridge bike route being really popular and walking route
being really. Yeah. I mean, yeah, you could, because you could realistically, you know,
there are little towns on the way that you could commute from one to the other pretty easily. Or
you could go, well, I live in a village, but actually, if I get on my bike, I can cycle to
that station and then go from there. It could have been a really useful thing. And I don't know
the feasibility of this, but I was in Italy the other day, and I'm not sure it's the benchmark
for infrastructure in the world, Italy, but there were a load of solar panels in a long row,
like a very, very, very long row. And I thought, actually, if you could cover it,
you would have a covered walkway cycleway, covered by solar panel that could stretch
all the way. And by the way, you could just angle it so it faces south, because that would just be
so good. Yeah, the whole thing. God, that's an amazing tale about the the railway. I mean,
this makes you think like the Strait of Hormuz one day something will happen. But yeah, I just
yeah, I was I was really surprised by that. But you're right, isn't it amazing that that
isn't on the daily mail you'd think would be? Yeah, I don't know why it's not. Maybe the day
mail doesn't sell in big enough numbers up there. Maybe I've just missed it or maybe it
maybe it is a big story. But I was surprised. I mean, I live five miles from this place,
and I was surprised when I read it. I was like, Oh, yeah, no, no, why no trains on it.
What should we talk next? Oh, let's just talk the Have I been in the archive? You've been in
the archive? No, I don't think hang on. Oh, I've been in the archive. I have been in the archive
because I mentioned it in a Kia feature that I've written where I raced an electric Kia against
a train from Paris to Berlin, which is in this week's mag. Yeah, I was going to say that's just
the other day too. It's just the other day as well. God, you've had a busy time. It's fine.
It's fine. There has been quite a lot going on recently. Yeah. So I went in to have a look at
the blue train race is history. Yeah. Did we talk about this last week? Well, we did a bit because
I was going on about how I'd driven this blue train Rover. Oh, of course we talked about it.
Yeah, sorry, I've already talked about it. But yeah, you didn't sort of say how it went, though.
Oh, the features out in this this week's mag and the car one, and it would have won by
further if I'd made better decisions. What charging decisions? Yeah, charging and sleeping.
But mostly the because I put it on charger in a hotel. It's like 22 kilowatt charger outside.
I'll grab a couple of hours kip because I can afford that and it only charged at 10 kilowatts.
So that was one of those ones that is splits 22 and a half. So I had to make a little stop
to just get over the line. But actually, I could have made much better decisions
and beaten the train by even more. Actually, those low, low output charges are the work of
the devil, aren't they? They because I don't know about you, but if I've ever charged anything
outside what I want is 150. Yeah, yeah, just give me the lot. And then you plug in your 150.
There's a big 150 on the top of the thing. And then you get about 45, but at least 45. 45 is
all right. Well, it's not great, is it? But you know, it's something. Yeah, I've just had a new
Wi-Fi router arrive at home, which has tripled my pretty good Wi-Fi ready at mine. You fantastic
Wi-Fi three times faster now. Really? Yeah, I know. For free or cheap with a mobile phone
contract. So you'll have people parked outside? Oh, yeah, exactly. Yeah, they can. Well, yeah.
Yeah, I'll be there. Okay. That's all right. That brings us pretty much to the end of this
week's part, unless there's any... Any other business? No, Steve and I will be back with an
awards special. It is soon to be the AutoCar Awards in association with Siemens. Siemens, yeah.
That is on June in partnership with Siemens. That is on June the 10th. That's a bit of a mega
next week. Mega associate, isn't it? I mean, Siemens, one of the big names of
sort of car components apply, aren't they? Yeah. Lots of technology. Yeah. So I've got one award
story still to write. Have you done yours? I have done them. Oh, Steve, well done. I still have to...
There's a script involved, but I have to do a little bit of that. Oh, yes, I've got to do my script
for it as well. Yeah. Oh, lovely. Yeah, they're going to do that. So that is on next week's pod.
That will be an awards special. So we will talk about the awards for probably half,
maybe half the pod, maybe a bit more. Yeah. It's a good time, isn't it? I mean, it's good fun to
sort of talk about the people you like, people who've done a good job. Yeah. It's what we should
do, I think. Indeed. Yeah. In the meantime, thanks to our sponsor Anderson. Visit Anderson-EV.com.
If you want to spec your charger to match your Ferrari Lucia. And Steve, thank you, man. Oh,
cheers. See you next time. I'll see you.
About this episode
Ferrari Luce takes center stage, with the hosts digging into its active handling tech, EV-only packaging logic, and why Ferrari may not publish a drag coefficient despite a 190 mph top speed. They also compare luxury and ADAS experiences, from BMW i7’s real-sound “amplifying” audio to debates about false-positive driver aids. Elsewhere, a listener and the team discuss an E46 M3 Touring restomod and crowdsource practical small-car picks for real-world trips.
In this week’s Autocar podcast My Week In Cars Steve Cropley and Matt Prior talk the Ferrari Luce, a BMW i7, the Fiat Grande Panda, a good four metre car, a BMW E46 M3 Touring like BMW never made.
There’s more too including your correspondence. And there’s more on all of this week’s stories over at Autocar - and we have a special subscription offer for listeners if you click here.
