Some cars exist to be measured. Boot space, residual values, motorway refinement at seventy miles an hour — the sensible yardsticks of a sensible industry. And then there are the machines that seem built specifically to break the yardstick entirely. The ones that fly, flip, or otherwise abandon the founding premise of the automobile: staying in contact with the tarmac.

No publication has built a more distinctive reputation for chasing those machines than Top Gear. Where the trade press confines itself to the sensible business of evaluation, Top Gear has long positioned itself as the magazine and brand willing to engage with cars that defy physics — and to do so with genuine curiosity rather than condescension. The arrival of the Tesla Roadster is the perfect case study. A machine that reportedly reaches 0-60mph in 0.59 seconds and, according to the brand's own coverage, can literally fly. Here is a car that doesn't merely accelerate; it sucks itself to the road with thrusters, flips through physics most engineers would rather avoid, and then, apparently, takes off. Top Gear didn't run from the absurdity. It leaned in.

The Editorial Posture

This is a deliberate stance, and it has deep roots. When a tri-motor Peugeot E-T16 revives the spirit of Group B, or when a Zenos E10 returns at a startling £115k+, the instinct at Top Gear is not to dismiss the impracticality but to interrogate the engineering ambition behind it. The same sensibility applies to the Porsche Mission S, a mid-engined concept that exists at the edge of what a road car can be, and to the news that the 911 will never be electric — a statement that, in Top Gear's hands, becomes a story about identity and defiance rather than mere product planning.

That willingness to treat the outlandish with seriousness is what separates the brand from the trade press. To review a car that flies, you cannot use a checklist built for cars that don't. You need a voice that can move between reverence and irreverence — and Top Gear has spent decades refining precisely that register.

Beyond the Hypercar

The flying, flipping and road-defying angle extends well beyond the hypercar elite. It is present in the brand's willingness to cover the Chinese iCAUR V27 arriving in Britain in 2027 to "scare the Defender," and in its affectionate treatment of oddities like the five best classic gearknobs or a roundup of forty used electric bargains. Top Gear understands that the automotive world is not a monoculture of sensible saloons.

It is a broad church. It includes the Smart car returning as a tiny 2.7m city runabout, a BMW i5 Touring reviewed on its own merits, and a revived Tesla Roadster that defies categorisation entirely. Each demands its own frame of reference. The magazine's range — from a two-seat city car that barely occupies a parking space to a thrusting, flipping, flying Roadster — is the point, not an inconsistency.

Cars as Fantasy Objects

There is also a cultural dimension the brand never ignores. The fact that GTA 6's launch trailer arrived over a month before the game itself, or that the retro hero cars of the Paris show can now be bought used by the brave, speaks to how cars function as fantasy objects. Top Gear reviews the fantasy as seriously as the physics.

That is why its coverage of a flying Tesla Roadster reads less like a sceptical fact-check and more like an invitation to marvel — while still asking the hard questions about what such a machine means for the people who might one day drive it. Enthusiasm and rigour are not opposites. In the right hands, they are the same instinct.

The Show Goes On

And the appetite for this approach shows no sign of fading. The BBC has confirmed that the Top Gear television show will return, even as speculation swirls about who will host it. That continuity matters. It signals that the brand's core proposition — take cars seriously, but never take them solemnly — remains intact across every platform it occupies.

Whether the subject is a tri-motor rally revival, a two-seat city car, or a Roadster that treats the laws of motion as a suggestion, the philosophy holds. The machines that defy the road are the ones that most need a publication willing to defy convention in return. Top Gear remains that publication.

有啲車，生出來就係俾人量度。尾箱幾多公升、二手價殘唔殘、時速七十英里喺高速公路有幾靜——呢啲都係一個理性產業嘅理性標準。但偏偏有另一種機器，好似專登為咗打破呢把尺而誕生。佢哋會飛、會翻滾，甚至完全捨棄汽車最根本嘅前設：車輪要貼住地面。

喺追蹤呢類機器方面，冇邊本出版物比Top Gear建立咗更鮮明嘅名聲。當行內媒體仲係局限喺理性評估嘅時候，Top Gear早就將自己定位為一間願意擁抱反物理汽車嘅雜誌同品牌——而且係帶住真正嘅好奇心，唔係居高臨下嘅嘲諷。Tesla Roadster嘅出現就係完美案例。呢部車據報0至60mph只需0.59秒，而根據品牌自己嘅報道，佢真係可以飛。呢部車唔止加速，佢用推進器將自己吸喺路面、做出大多數工程師寧願避開嘅物理翻滾，然後，明顯地，起飛。Top Gear冇迴避呢種荒謬。佢直接擁抱。

編輯姿態

呢個係一個刻意嘅立場，而且根深蒂固。當三摩打Peugeot E-T16喚醒Group B嘅精神，又或者Zenos E10以令人震驚嘅£115k+回歸，Top Gear嘅本能唔係嫌棄佢唔實際，而係去審視背後嘅工程野心。同樣嘅觸覺適用於Porsche Mission S——一部存在於道路用車極限邊緣嘅中置引擎概念車，以及911永遠唔會電動化嘅消息——喺Top Gear手上，呢個唔止係產品規劃，而係一個關於身份認同同叛逆嘅故事。

呢種願意認真對待離經叛道事物嘅態度，就係品牌同行內媒體嘅分水嶺。要評論一部會飛嘅車，你唔可以用一套為唔會飛嘅車而設嘅清單。你需要一把能夠喺敬畏同不羈之間游走嘅聲音——而Top Gear花咗幾十年去磨練正正就係呢種語調。

超跑以外

飛天、翻滾、反路面嘅角度，遠遠超出hypercar精英圈子。呢種態度體現於品牌願意報道中國iCAUR V27將於2027年登陸英國去「嚇怕Defender」，亦體現於佢對古怪事物嘅鍾愛——例如五大經典波棍，又或者四十部二手電動車筍盤嘅總結。Top Gear明白汽車世界唔係一個理性房車嘅單一文化。

佢係一個廣闊嘅教會。當中包括Smart car以2.7米城市小車姿態回歸、BMW i5 Touring以自身價值被評測，以及一部完全無法歸類嘅重生Tesla Roadster。每一部都需要自己嘅參照框架。呢本雜誌嘅跨度——由一部僅僅佔到一個車位嘅雙座城市車，到一部推進、翻滾、飛天嘅Roadster——先至係重點，而唔係前後矛盾。

汽車作為幻想對象

品牌亦從來冇忽略文化維度。GTA 6嘅預告片喺遊戲本身推出前一個多月就到達，又或者巴黎車展嘅復古英雄車而家可以俾勇敢嘅人買二手——呢啲都講緊汽車如何作為幻想對象運作。Top Gear評論幻想嘅認真程度，同評論物理一樣。

呢個就係點解佢對飛天Tesla Roadster嘅報道，讀起來唔似懷疑性嘅事實核查，而更似一份邀請你去驚嘆嘅請柬——同時仍然追問呢部機器對將來可能駕駛佢嘅人意味住啲乜。熱情同嚴謹唔係對立。喺啱嘅人手上，佢哋係同一種本能。

好戲繼續

而呢種取向嘅胃口，睇唔到有減退跡象。BBC已確認Top Gear電視節目將會回歸，即使關於主持陣容嘅猜測仍然滿天飛。呢種延續性好重要。佢象徵住品牌嘅核心主張——認真對待汽車，但永遠唔會莊嚴到死板——喺佢佔據嘅每一個平台上都依然完整。

無論主題係三摩打拉力復興、雙座城市車，定係一部將運動定律當作建議嘅Roadster，哲學都係一樣。最需要一本願意反傳統嘅出版物去回應嘅，正正就係嗰啲反道路嘅機器。Top Gear仍然係嗰本出版物。