Watch: rappers destroy £279,095 Maybach

Jay Zed and his friend Mae West needed a new motorcar for their latest hiphopora video. So they got a standard Maybach 57, some power tools and a welding torch, and created this. We're calling it the Jayzach.

It has no roof. It has colossal Brabus-style wheelarches. It hasn't got doors. Which makes the girls' laissez-faire approach to seatbelt decorum even more reckless.

The song - titled Otis and an ode to the late, great Otis Redding - doesn't include any technical specification, but we assume it's still running the 550bhp V12 (or 630 if it's the S version) and five-speed auto ‘box.

But before you skitter off to bust a caps-lock up a homeperson, please tell us this - do you think the 125000-mile warranty is still valid?

Now watch Richard drive a Maybach 62.

Video: what happened at this month’s cover shoot

Before you watch the video below, a few words from Editor-In-Chief Charlie Turner on this month’s Top Gear Magazine

In this job, pinching yourself is pretty standard operating procedure. Lucky doesn’t cover it, and it’s worth taking time to realise that as often as possible. But as I stand sheltering in the back of a support truck with the rest of the TG crew, rain lashing down outside across the world’s most expensively populated car park, pinching isn’t quite doing it.

“Someone punch me in the face – life isn’t going to get better than this.” After three epic journeys in the greatest performance cars currently on sale, here they are, sat at the top of Italy’s finest road. And I have the keys to every one of them in my hand.

This year’s collective has a combined value of £3,718,090, 6,071bhp and 24 driven wheels between them. Ok, so the Veyron (the first one ever to be loaned for a performance-car showdown) skews things a bit with its 1,187bhp and £1.8m pricetag, but, as it sits surrounded by a BMW 1-Series M, a Zonda F and everything else in between, it’s clear that we’ve managed to assemble one of the greatest sets of cars ever to do battle.

And battle they will: sat inert and skulking in the McLaren MP4-12C is the Stig, waiting to prove unscientifically (sorry, Ron) how good Woking’s finest really is.

Over the staggering five days we spend in the company of these truly epic cars, all will shine, some more than others.

But what becomes clear as I stare across the rainswept fantasy car park is that there’s not a loser among them. We live in extraordinary times: performance cars have never been so diverse, capable or accessible.

Time to scramble the Stig into action. I tap on the window, he winds it down and promptly punches me in the face. Welcome, then, to his supercar showdown...

Stig’s Supercar Showdown is on sale in all the usual reputable vendors right now. Watch the video below for a small taste, then head out and get your own copy…And look out for more videos in the coming weeks.

 

2012 Honda Civic gets cleaner diesel

Honda has revised its diesel engine in the next generation Civic hatchback. It's now cleaner and more powerful.

Wake up! This is lightly important news because the CO2 in the 2.2-litre i-DTEC engine drops from 129g/km to 110g/km, making a showroom-fresh 2012 Honda Civic tax-free for the first year and just £20 a year from then on.

Along with this drop in CO2, it's also been treated to a tiny dollop of power too. The revised unit now produces 148bhp, up from the old four-pot's 138bhp. And this adheres to an oft-quoted TG truism: more is better.

These increments, that make it slightly cleaner and more powerful than a 2.0-litre TDCI Ford Focus, have been made possible using subtle forms of engine witchcraft: the oil flow through the engine has been ‘managed' to reduce circulation loss, engine materials have been revised for less friction and Honda has installed start/stop technology. The Civic was also blasted extensively in the wind tunnel to improve the car's aero, reducing drag and refining high speed stability.

Katsushi Watanabe, dev lead for the new engine said: "Reducing the emissions was our key target and we're proud to say that we have achieved this without compromising the high performance character of the engine.

"We want our customers to have fun when they drive this car", he added.

The new Civic - the ninth generation of Honda's hatch - will make its worldwide debut at the Frankfurt motor show next month, ahead of an ‘early 2012' UK on sale date. Hopefully with a slightly more visually pleasing body than the one you see above.

Excited by this clean, cuddly news?

Video: this month\'s cover shoot

Before you watch the video below, a few words from Editor-In-Chief Charlie Turner on this month’s Top Gear Magazine

In this job, pinching yourself is pretty standard operating procedure. Lucky doesn’t cover it, and it’s worth taking time to realise that as often as possible. But as I stand sheltering in the back of a support truck with the rest of the TG crew, rain lashing down outside across the world’s most expensively populated car park, pinching isn’t quite doing it.

“Someone punch me in the face – life isn’t going to get better than this.” After three epic journeys in the greatest performance cars currently on sale, here they are, sat at the top of Italy’s finest road. And I have the keys to every one of them in my hand.

This year’s collective has a combined value of £3,718,090, 6,071bhp and 24 driven wheels between them. Ok, so the Veyron (the first one ever to be loaned for a performance-car showdown) skews things a bit with its 1,187bhp and £1.8m pricetag, but, as it sits surrounded by a BMW 1-Series M, a Zonda F and everything else in between, it’s clear that we’ve managed to assemble one of the greatest sets of cars ever to do battle.

And battle they will: sat inert and skulking in the McLaren MP4-12C is the Stig, waiting to prove unscientifically (sorry, Ron) how good Woking’s finest really is.

Over the staggering five days we spend in the company of these truly epic cars, all will shine, some more than others.

But what becomes clear as I stare across the rainswept fantasy car park is that there’s not a loser among them. We live in extraordinary times: performance cars have never been so diverse, capable or accessible.

Time to scramble the Stig into action. I tap on the window, he winds it down and promptly punches me in the face. Welcome, then, to his supercar showdown...

Stig’s Supercar Showdown is on sale in all the usual reputable vendors right now. Watch the video below for a small taste, then head out and get your own copy…And look out for more videos in the coming weeks.

 

Schumacher: “I’m the problem”

Veteran German finally concedes poor performance and ponders long-term future…

Michael Schumacher: “I’m the problem”

Veteran German finally concedes poor performance and ponders long-term future…

Bentley to build SUV

Bentley has begun work on a four-wheel-drive SUV model scheduled to hit the automotive shelf in 2014. You heard it right, a Bentley off-roader.

Company CEO Wolfgang Durheimer confirmed to Top Gear that an SUV is already in development, and will be based on the architecture of the next generation Audi Q7, Volkswagen Touareg and Porsche Cayenne; an architecture dubbed ‘MLB'.

If you need some reassuring - and we suspect you might - Durheimer has previous form. He was formerly R&D director at Porsche and worked on the development of the Cayenne. And controversial though it might be, there's no denying the 4x4 Porker is good to drive.

The Bentley SUV will be more of a crossover - a ‘shooting brake' - and will likely feature the range-topping 6.0-litre 621bhp W12 petrol engine from the Continental Supersports (pictured above), as well as a version of the 6.0-litre V12 diesel engine from the Audi Q7. In that application, the engine develops 737lb ft of torque and accelerates from 0-62mph in 5.5 seconds.

Top Gear drives the Bentley Continental Supersports

Although the Bentley SUV is still waiting to be signed off officially by the VW board, insiders expect it to get the green light very soon indeed.

Is this something that tickles a part of your cerebrum?