Top Gear’s Top Five Utility SUVs

Land Rover Discovery 3.0 SDV6 XS

Price: £46,865
Specs: 265bhp, 442lb ft, 0-62mph 8.8secs, VMax 112mph, 35.3mpg, CO2 213g/km

Getting better and better with each generation. Seven seats, off-road ability, comfort and just enough luxe make this the thinking man's Range Rover.

Land Rover Defender 90 Station Wagon

Price: £26,265
Specs: 120bhp, 266lb ft, 0-62mph 15.8secs, VMax 90mph, 27.7mpg, CO2 269g/km

Aged workhorse of the Land Rover stable, but not quite ready for the knackers yard yet. An icon, and one that will be extremely hard to replace.

Dacia Duster Access 1.6 4x4

Price: £10,995
Specs: 104bhp, 109lb ft, 0-62mph 12.8secs, VMax 99mph, 35.3mpg, CO2 185g/km

Britain's cheapest four-wheel-drive, and no less brilliant because of that. Not much in the way of standard kit, but then who cares for £11k?

Subaru Forester 2.0D XC

Price: £26,995
Specs: 145bhp, 258lb ft, 0-62mph 10.4secs, VMax 99mph, 35.3mpg, CO2 185g/km

The modern Forester has grown-up since the mock-rally, turbo'd days of the late nineties, but the low centre of gravity still makes it a TG favourite.

Mercedes-Benz G-Class 350 Bluetec

Price: £83,830
Specs: 208bhp, 398lb ft, 0-62mph 9.1secs, VMax 108mph, 25.2mpg, CO2 295g/km

Along with cockroaches, probably about the only thing capable of withstanding nuclear fallout. Epic off-road, very suspect on-road.

Hybrid Morgan concept sketched

Daniele Pelligra is quite handy with a bag of crayons. Earlier this year, he showed TopGear.com his designs for a Ferrari LMP1 car. Not only that, he showed it to Ferrari's Big Man In Charge, Luca di Montezemelo, who gave him the thumbs up.

This Ferrari LMP1 car will make you squeak

So the boy's got skillz. Here's his new project, and one a bit closer to home. Pelligra has spruced up the Morgan Aero Coupe by adding a bit of Italian verve to the design.

You'll no doubt agree that it doesn't look half bad.

Daniele tells us his concept was inspired by such Morgan traditions as ‘luxury', ‘technology' and ‘artisan culture', rather than, say, 'woody' or 'prehistoric'. He tells us he plans to show these sketches to Morgan at the upcoming Paris Motor Show.

Of course, it's not real, not official and probably won't ever happen. But as a flight of fancy, give the boy his dues.

Pics via Daniele

TG magazine: the best cars you can buy

What are the very best cars you can buy right now? Some magazines would aim to answer this question with spreadsheets of economy data, residual values and tax brackets.

But not Top Gear. Because we understand that buying cars is as much about head as heart, in the new issue of our glossy magazine - available in print or interactive digital form - we've assembled the definitive guide to the cars you actually want to own, no matter your budget or shopping list.

From city cars to supercars, from coupes to track weapons at every price point, we've raked through the competition to nominate the cars we'd spend our own money on. If we hadn't already blown it all on rusty old Alfas. And crisps.

The selection process was arduous. We've thrashed the Rolls-Royce Wraith, Merc S-Class Coupe and Jaguar F-Type across Wales, hoofed BAC's Mono, the Ariel Atom and Caterham 160 around a track, and got handbrakey in a deserted shipping yard with the Ford Fiesta ST, Audi S1 and VW Golf R.

We've taken the Bentley Continental GTC, Fiat 500C and BMW 4-Series convertible on a trip to the beach, investigated luxury in the shape of the Rolls Phantom, S-Class and Skoda Superb, and considered whether the Vauxhall Ampera or BMW i8 better represent the brave electric future.

We've even organised an epic relay from Maranello to Weissach across the Alps in a Ferrari 458 Speciale and Porsche's Cayman S and 918.

If you can't find inspiration for your next motoring purchase among that lot, frankly you're beyond help. But, just in case, we've also named and shamed the very worst cars on sale in the UK, from the Ssangyong Turismo to the Morgan Plus 4 and many more besides.

First drives? We've got the 2-Series - BMW's first foray into front-wheel drive - along with the Lexus NX, revised VW Scirocco and Aston Martin's glitzy new Rapide S.

In this month's News, we investigate Smart's brave new dawn, delve into Hennessey's claim that its new Venom F5 will crack 290mph, and explain why the FBI considers Google's super-cute autonomous car a potential lethal weapon.

Elsewhere, Richard Hammond drives the gorgeous Porsche 964, while we meet the shady millionaires behind YouTube sensation TaxTheRich, and interview daredevil balloonist Felix Baumgardner.

And, of course, we've got the usual irreverent thoughts and ramblings from Jeremy, James and Richard. It's everything you need to know about cars this month.

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Watch dragsters blow up in slo-mo

The most powerful dragsters are, in essence, bombs: four-wheeled canisters packed with highly combustible liquid, to be detonated in an explosion hopefully sending said canister careening at great speed along a quarter-mile strip of tarmac.

The thing with bombs, as this fine video aptly proves, is that sometimes they go off at the wrong time. Or in the wrong direction.

American's National Hot Rod Association (that's the NHRA, not to be confused with the NRA, though both seem to share a fascination with blowing stuff up) has chopped together this excellent slow-motion video of various drag-strip-bound beasts doing their high-horsepower thing... with varying degrees of success.

It's well worth a couple of minutes of your slow-motion time, because, let's be honest, it's summer and you weren't doing anything more productive.

There are flames. There is sideways. There's a small orange box being run over. There's an angry man wearing ear defenders. Truly, what more could you want?

Why Volvo's new XC90 will be ace

Today, Top Gear can exclusively reveal that the new Volvo XC90 will feature at least one headlight, positioned to the right of the bonnet.

We jest, of course. But Volvo has trickled out at little more information on its upcoming all-new SUV ahead of a world premiere in just a couple of weeks' time.

Now, we know seven-seat family 4x4s may not light your wick in quite the same way as, say, mint old-new Jaaaag E-Types, but the XC90 is worthy of your attention. Not only because it's JC's favourite SUV, and not only because this is the car that signals Volvo's rebirth, but because - by 4x4 standards at least - this one should be a looker.

This is because Volvo has built the XC90 on a new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), a modular chassis technology - like VW's ubiquitous MQB system - that allows the engineers and designers more freedom. It's the first Volvo to be based on the SPA, and around 90 per cent of the components are brand new.

This new scaffolding underneath gives Volvo designers a virtual blank sheet in terms of wheelbase, overhang and height. "Our three recent concept cars have demonstrated this capability," says Thomas Ingelnath, senior VP of design at Volvo.

"Even though the all-new XC90 is an entirely different type of car, you will recognise the connection instantly," he adds. This is good, because Volvo's recent concepts have looked amazing.

That SPA also means Volvo can tighten up the XC90's road manners (weight distribution, ride comfort, greater agility), free up interior space to make it a full seven seater, and of course, make it very safe. And fast.

How fast? Engine-wise, there'll be a modular family of 2.0-litre four cylinder diesel and petrol engines with ‘several' levels of turbocharging. The range-topper sounds most excellent, too. It's a 2.0-litre turbocharged and supercharged petrol engine with an electric motor on board to produce 400bhp.

CO2 emissions for the latter are pegged at just 60g/km. Of course, plug-in hybrids play havoc with the official CO2 cycle, but still...

"The XC90 is a car that has presence on the road," says Ingelnath. We're quite looking forward to the full reveal of the XC90 and its ‘Thor's Hammer' headlights. And now we know it'll get 400bhp, we like it just that little bit more.

Is this the ultimate Jaguar E-Type?

Way back in the 1960s, when Cool Britannia ruled the waves and car design was at its peak, Jaguar allocated 18 chassis numbers to a series of all-alloy, race-inspired lightweight E-Types.

Only, for reasons undisclosed, Jag never got round to building all 18, with just 12 being completed. Now, in 2014, we get the final six cars from 1964. People of the Internet, meet the new, old Jaguar Lightweight E-Type, courtesy of JLR's newly formed Special Ops division.

It's a beauty of a time traveller, you'll agree. Each Lightweight E-Type will be built to the original '64 spec, and sold as period competition vehicles suitable for historic motorsport. You know the sort.

At its core sits an aluminium bodyshell that saves a healthy 114kg from the production, steel-bodied E-Type. No advanced bonding techniques nor newer materials were incorporated into the new, old E-Type either, to keep it old-school and proper.

The car was mapped out digitally, but that's it. Then enters the all important 3.8-litre straight-six engine developed from the old XK120, the same engine that powered the C and D Types to five Le Mans victories in the 1950s. For this Lightweight E-Type, Jaguar binned the cast-iron block and replaced it with an aluminium one for greater weight saving over the front wheels.

Then there's a whole lot of gorgeous period mechanics: a dry sump lubrication system, three Weber carbs (with the option of a Lucas mechanical fuel injection system), a lightweight flywheel, single plate clutch, limited slip diff, and a close-ratio four-speed gearbox. Drive is to the rear, naturally, and power sits at a heady 340bhp and 280lb ft of torque, which is a significant amount considering the whole thing weighs in at just 1,000kg.

Jaguar tells us the twin wishbone front and independent rear suspension are set up "according to period racing practice", with uprated shocks and springs all round. There are bigger brake discs up front sitting inside 15in magnesium alloy wheels (and Dunlop racing tyres), though there is no brake servo, so keep a check on your late-braking heroics. Though you might be too busy twirling your excellent moustache to care too much about entry and exit points.

It's all bolted together near where the original Lightweight E-Types were built back in the 1960s, and the prototype Lightweight - Car Zero - underwent a 15-day shakedown at Gaydon to make sure nothing fell apart. It's pretty much bare inside, barring the lovely Connolly leather produced to the same Sixties spec. Nice.

No word on price, but it won't be cheap. This, or Jeremy's favourite Eagle Speedster?

It’s the McLaren 650S Sprint

If you enjoy spending your days wrapped in fireproof racing suits surrounded by the smell of fuel and torched tyres, then today is a good day for you. Today, McLaren has revealed the new 650S Sprint.

No, you haven't already seen it. Yes, McLaren also recently unveiled the 650S GT3 car; this Sprint is the little brother to that monster, for the gentlemen, less oversteery helmsmiths amongst you.

It still gets lots of good bits, though. Underneath is the same carbon fibre MonoCell chassis and 3.8-litre twin turbo V8 powering the rear wheels, just like the road car (and that pesky GT3). The engine gets revised air intakes, while both engine and drivetrain get unique ECU calibrations too.

Then there's the FIA-approved roll cage, a lightweight carbon fibre HANS device, six point racing harness, and even air-conditioning. And that last point is not a frivolous, quirky thing - it gets bloody hot in race cars. Aston is even working on a solar panel to power its future GT car air-con systems. So keeping cool is important.

The Sprint pinches the GT3's motorsport fuel tank, front radiator and a GT3-inspired bonnet and front wing louvres. Wheels are of the centre-lock 19in racing variety and there's a special race-ready braking system developed specifically for the Sprint.

And as is the fashion these days, you can even customise your McLaren 650S Sprint, including a CFD-developed aero pack (rear wing, front splitter), a passenger seat to terrify your partner, and even a lightweight windscreen.

Prices start from £198,000 plus taxes. Anyone from the Driving Gloves brigade approve?