Jeremy Clarkson is a legend in the world of automotive journalism. He is responsible for turning the Top Gear car show into a mega-popular (officially watched by 350 million people, and unofficially - even more), and also the first in history to reach the Earth's magnetic pole in a passenger car.
And now Clarkson is a regular columnist for The Sunday Times, where he talks about the cars he had to drive.
Here's a list of the best and worst cars of the year according to Jeremy Clarkson.
Worst cars of 2019
3. Toyota GR Supra
The list of unsuccessful cars opens with the product of Toyota, which usually does not knit brooms, but clearly not this time. True, the main fault of the Toyota GR Supra according to Clarkson is inexpressiveness.
And although the speed and handling of the Japanese are at their best, the borrowing of technology from BMW could not but affect the uniqueness of the model. The car has no "face of its own" and is practically indistinguishable from the BMW Z4 or Toyota GT 86.
2. BMW X5 xDrive 30d M Sport
For Clarkson, the new 4WD SUV was a real disappointment. Three-liter engine with a capacity of 249 liters. from. (or 340 in another configuration) did not seem powerful enough to Jeremy. But the main problem of the car, in his opinion, was electronics.
Either the model was in a hurry to launch on sale, or for another reason, but as a result, its electronic filling turned out to be cumbersome, clumsy and difficult to use. Clarkson was so unpleasantly surprised by the car that he stated that the only thing he liked about it was the shape of the gear lever.
1. Audi TTS Roadster
While the roar of the engine is more likely to add points to Jeremy's personal rating, this does not apply to the noise in the cabin. And this is exactly what the new supercar from Audi suffers from. The second drawback of the car is the suspension; shaking the driver will be pretty.
And although this energetic car looks great, has a very comfortable interior and a powerful turbocharged engine, all these excellent qualities could not change the opinion of the British auto journalist for the better.
Jeremy Clarkson's Best Cars of 2019
9. Suzuki Jimny
Although the SUV from Suzuki has handling problems and has a braking distance longer than the Trans-Siberian Railway, all this is more than compensated for by one quality - cross-country ability.
Off-road driving in a Suzuki Jimny is capable of causing a wide smile from ear to ear. No joke, one-piece frame, coil springs and alloy wheels. Although, as Clarkson says, only a masochist can get the pleasure of driving a Suzuki Jimny.
8. Renault Megane RS Trophy
Speaking about this model, the famous British journalist did not hesitate in expressions. According to him, driving a Renault Megane RS Trophy is like riding a roller coaster and gorge on LSD.
Let's not guess where exactly Clarkson acquired such a vivid experience. Suffice it to say that Renault's front-wheel-drive hatchback is the new lap record holder at the Nurburgring. The car covered the distance of 20.6 km on this race track in just over 7 minutes.
Of course, we are talking about a heavily modified version of the car (for example, it was lightened by 130 kg for the sake of speed). And the mass one, which will go on sale, will have a six-speed gearbox, a 1.8-liter engine and 300 hp. from.
7. Range Rover Velar SVAutobiography
The engineers of the company managed to fit the real "eight" into this SUV. The car accelerates to 100 km in 4.5 seconds and is capable of 170 km / h.
According to Clarkson, the model turned out to be so successful that the rational part of the driver's brain is completely turned off. By the way, this is an exclusive car that will be available to buyers for a year. Come in, hurry!
6. Peugeot Rifter GT Line
Jeremy was pleasantly surprised by the compact van from Peugeot, although initially he had a low opinion of the car on the new platform. However, the test drive turned it 180 ° - the "family man" turned out to be so wonderful.
First of all, Clarkson liked the suspension, which is so good that the driver doesn't even notice the obstacles on the road. Among the other strengths of the model, the British leader called simplicity and ease of control and a small turning radius, even despite the length of the wheelbase (4400 and 4750 mm).
5. Mercedes-AMG A35 4Matic
The columnist's personal rating includes not only cars capable of delivering a speed of more than 300 km / h. Clarkson is omnivorous and enjoys a wide variety of cars.
Including the most inexpensive AMG car - the Mercedes-AMG A35 4Matic. This four-wheel drive sedan looks more like a mid-range car rather than a sports car. And in terms of power it is inferior to a typical sports car (under the hood there is a two-liter four-cylinder engine with a capacity of up to 306 hp). However, as Jeremy writes, the Mercedes-AMG A35 4Matic showed class on the road: it rushed so that "the stars flew past at breakneck speed."
4. Ford Mustang V8 GT Convertible
The car has two configurations and two bodies - a coupe and a convertible. Both the one and the other have a powerful five-liter "eight" in 421 liters. from. with a torque of 530 Nm. And both are excellent handling.
"Ford" managed to get rid of the age-old disease of "Mustangs" - stern drift. And even if the suspension isn't too soft, you can change the steering gain.
3. Ferrari 488 Pista
Clarkson and the 2019 Motor Awards spoke in unison here: Jeremy named the Ferrari 488 Pista with a 711 hp V8. from. one of the best cars, and the show awarded him the title of best supercar.
Clarkson expresses his delight in the descriptions: his article is replete with expressions in the style of “rocket on the road”, “exciting”, “exciting”, “beautiful” and so on. The Ferrari 488 Pista even forced him to change his decision, made years ago, to never buy a mid-range supercar.
3. Bentley Continental GT V8
Although Bentley in Russia is associated with luxury cars, Jeremy awarded it the title of the best people's car.
What is Clarkson's "people's car"? This is a four-liter eight-cylinder with 542 hp. from. - considered to be one of the most powerful engines in the history of Bentley. We don't know about you, but Jeremy and I love these cars! True, it is difficult to call them "folk" in our realities ...
2. Audi R8 V10 Performance Quattro
Speed, agility and responsiveness are three qualities of the new car from Audi that delighted Clarkson. As the former Top Gear host put it, this car is the epitome of a supercar.
This is exactly what a sports car should be: devour miles like noodles, roar with an engine so that everyone can immediately hear who is driving, and do not care about the percentage of harmful substances in the exhaust. In general, the car is very "Clarksonian", he loves such - an aggressively roaring V10 engine and a price under 200 thousand dollars.
1. Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio
It seems that the Apocalypse has already come and hell is frozen over, because one of the best cars of 2019 according to Clarkson's version is ... a crossover. This is surprising considering his antipathy to this class of cars.
The Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is the only crossover to receive an engine straight from Ferrari. And in general, this first attempt at SUVs from Alfa Romeo came out extremely successful: an engine of 505 hp. from. and acceleration speed to 100 km / h in just 3.8 seconds.
But this car still has a Race mode, by turning it on, you can disperse the "iron horse" in a childish way and enjoy its speed and maneuverability with might and main.According to the company's engineers, an eight-speed automatic transmission changes gears in just 150 ms.