new grand tour special 2024

Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May Get Sentimental in Trailer for ‘The Grand Tour’ Finale

By K.J. Yossman

K.J. Yossman

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Tissues at the ready, “ The Grand Tour ” fans – the last ever episode is gearing up to be a tear-jerker.

Prime Video has released a nearly three-minute-long trailer for the final episode, “The Grand Tour: One for the Road,” which sees hosts Jeremy Clarkson , Richard Hammond and James May head to Zimbabwe on what is being billed as their last ever episode.

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Clarkson, Hammond and May first teamed up on BBC motoring series “ Top Gear ” in 2002. After Clarkson was fired from the show for punching a producer, his co-hosts left in solidarity. The trio were soon scooped up by Prime Video to host another motoring show, “The Grand Tour,” in 2016, which was similar in tone and theme to “Top Gear.”

“I shall certainly miss doing this sort of thing,” Clakson admits in the trailer as he zips down a road in Zimbabwe.

In a synopsis for the special, Prime Video tease: “In their last adventure, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May ignore the instructions of Mr Wilman and head to Zimbabwe in three cars they’ve always wanted to own, a Lancia Montecarlo, a Ford Capri 3-litre, and a Triumph Stag, for a stunning road trip through beautiful and sometimes challenging landscapes leading to an emotional ending on a strangely familiar island.”

In one scene, teased in the trailer, the three men are tinkering with what appears to be a broken-down car when Hammond quips: “We don’t all have to go to the same old folks home do we, I mean it’s not obligatory after this?”

Clarkson, gesturing to May, laughingly retorts: “He said he’s deleting our numbers as soon as we finish!”

Check out the trailer for “The Grand Tour: One for the Road” below:

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Clarkson, Hammond, and May’s Grand Tour Tenure Is Coming to an End

By Nico DeMattia

Posted on Nov 30, 2023 10:41 AM EST

The old Top Gear trio of Jeremy Clarkson , Richard Hammond, and James May will be hitting your screen as the hosts of The Grand Tour for the final time in 2024. The two final episodes have now been filmed, taking place in Mauritania and Zimbabwe, where the trio we’ve grown to love will close a chapter that’s been three decades in the making.

“We’re done. I have reviewed cars on TV since 1989. That’s 34 years. And after next year, I won’t be doing that any more,” Clarkson told The Times .

Since The Grand Tour launched in 2016, after Clarkson was fired from Top Gear for punching a producer, it’s gone through several changes. First, it was essentially a Top Gear recreation, with celebrity interviews and an in-studio live show. Then they tightened it up by ditching the celebrity stuff. Eventually, they ditched the live show altogether and just made feature-length specials. And while none of The Grand Tour’s iterations managed to capture the magic of Top Gear at its best , it was still one of the most watched shows on Amazon Prime . Millions of people tuned in to watch the automotive equivalent of the Three Stooges (and I mean that as a grand compliment).

All three hosts have their own projects to pursue outside of The Grand Tour anyway. Clarkson has his farm show and May has a travel show, both of which are also on Amazon Prime , while Hammond still does a lot of work for DriveTribe , while also presenting other TV programs. So they’ll still be around, even though The Grand Tour won’t be.

This news also comes just a couple of weeks after the BBC decided to indefinitely shut down Top Gear . After host Freddie Flintoff’s accident during filming and the subsequent settlement, the BBC decided against renewing the show. Clarkson doesn’t blame the most recent trio of Top Gear hosts for not wanting to return, either, specifically Flintoff.

“Richard Hammond was always keen to get back to work [following a crash], whereas Freddie isn’t,” Clarkson told The Sun . “I don’t blame him. I know what happened on that awful day and it was horrific.”

Clarkson even said that anyone who wants to take over in Flintoff’s spot would come across as “heartless.”

In a matter of weeks, the world learned that the two most entertaining car shows on TV are shutting down. We all knew this day was coming soon, as the original Top Gear gang are all either in their sixties or getting quite close, but it’s still a little sad to see them go. Sure, their most recent work pales in comparison to the shows from their prime but, like most millennial car nerds, Clarkson, Hammond, and May made an indelible impression on me and the way I look at cars, and I’m sure I’m not alone on that one. Thanks for the memories, chaps.

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The Grand Tour: Sand Job — release date, trailer, destinations, interviews and everything we know

The Grand Tour: Sand Job on Prime Video sees Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May head to the Sahara to recreate the legendary Paris-Dakar rally.

The Grand Tour: Sand Job is Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May’s penultimate Grand Tour adventure on Prime Video. In this feature-length special the trio drive 1,000 miles across the Sahara Desert in north west Africa. 

They will attempt to recreate the last leg of the iconic Paris-Dakar rally, starting in the little-known former French colony of Mauritania in west Africa and ending in Dakar, on the coast of Senegal. It was known as the most dangerous rally in the world and, to make the challenge even harder, the trio will make the arduous trip in second-hand sports cars they have modified themselves. They face impenetrable mountain terrain, 48C heat, landmines and temperamental cars that look unlikely to make it to the finish line, but they make sure there’s plenty of fun to be had along the way. 

“I think we all wondered if it was going to be a little bit too difficult for the cars that we’d chosen,” admits James May. “The Paris-Dakar race was a very gruelling thing. I've never been quite sure why people did it because it must have been really tough and quite risky. The people who did it have a sort of mad hero status.” 

Here’s everything you need to know about the former Top Gear team's own version of the rally in Prime Video documentary The Grand Tour: Sand Job …

The Grand Tour: Sand Job release date

The Grand Tour: Sand Job is a feature-length special that launched globally on Prime Video on Friday, February 16, 2024. 

Is there a trailer for The Grand Tour: Sand Job? 

Yes there's a trailer for The Grand Tour: Sand Job which shows the boys doing what they love best... playing about in cars, in a remote part of the world! Take a look below...

What happens in The Grand Tour: Sand Job 

in The Grand Tour: Sand Job , Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond are taking second-hand sports cars they have modified themselves on a grueling drive from Mauritania in western Africa to Dakar, Senegal to recreate the final 1,000 miles of the legendary Paris-Dakar rally. They will be driving through a Foreign Office classified danger "red-zone" and facing everything from vertical drops and unreachable borders to landmines and the threat of hideous diseases. They plan to do some camping along the way and try to cram in as much motoring fun as possible. 

Interview with Richard Hammond on The Grand Tour: Sand Job

Richard Hammond also presents shows such as Richard Hammond’s Workshop , Richard Hammond’s Crazy Contraptions and The Great Escapists . He presented Total Wipeout and Blast Lab and voiced Nigel in the cartoon Phineas and Ferb .  

You like camping, so filming The Grand Tour: Sand Job must have been heaven for you?  Richard Hammond says: "I’m such a boy scout. I'm never happier than when I'm packing my bag and I'm wrapping up my best pen knife and a collapsible stove and a little bag to put things in to keep them dry. I like a sleeping bag and a torch. I love all things to do with camping. Obviously, there are a lot of us to be catered for and we can’t just be let loose into the wild. It’s organised. But there were evenings when it was quieter and things were smaller, and I was in my funny little tent on my car on my own and I'm very, very happy doing that."

Did you also look forward to the challenge of driving across the desert?  Richard says: "I mean, I love an Aston Martin, I love long travel suspension, and I love the way a car can adapt to and absorb terrain. Honestly, I can be moved close to tears if I get into a proper Dakar racer. To feel the way the car is, in almost an animal way, adjusting to the terrain underneath: I find that really powerful and really profound. I love the freedom that it gives you. To look across the landscape and say: I want to go over there really bloody quickly, and I’m going to, thanks to this machine. So yes, I was very excited by this project."

Your car was rather challenging on this journey, wasn’t it? Richard says: "There was the odd issue. It turns out an elderly V12 engine isn’t the best place to start when you want a rugged machine for crossing deserts. A Toyota Landcruiser is where people ordinarily go, not a hand-built, British-engineered luxury GT. I did ask quite a lot of my car. The problem with my car, as you see in the special, is that it came from an era just as the whole idea of computers running the show was taking hold. So, cars were becoming clever but mine hadn't become quite clever enough. It would have been better to have had something earlier or later. Mine was exactly the wrong period when it thought it was clever, but it wasn’t." 

What was the issue?  Richard says: "So, the car had a brain, it had sensors all over, and those sensors would occasionally feedback to the brain to say, 'Oh no, there's a problem'. This might be with the exhaust, brakes, the steering, suspension, all manner of things. And the sensors all report back into the brain along these wires. Occasionally, there might be a legitimate problem and the sensors would tell the brain and say, 'You solve the problem', and then the brain would say, 'Okay, we're all fixed we can all go on together'. But my God, occasionally it was the sensors that were the problem. So, the car would be working fine but the sensor would be screaming 'My gearbox is broken!”'and the brain thinks it’s broken so it only gives me one gear to work with, but the gearbox is actually fine. So, it was a massive miscommunication: one big argument going on in the car between all the different parts. As far as the brain was concerned, everything that could go wrong with the car had gone wrong, even though it hadn’t." 

What did you do to fix it?  Richard says: "Well I tried screaming at it and saying, 'There’s no problem, shut up', but unfortunately that didn’t work. So ultimately, after driving in one gear, I had to wait until we had Wi-Fi, get a laptop out, and then interrogate the brain. I had to essentially use the computer to say to the car, 'It’s okay. Calm down.' It became neurotic. I think it had too much sun. You set off and think everything’s fine and then the next thing you know it's in a panic about its gearbox again." 

You had a problem with overheating too...   Richard says: "Yes. I had fitted underbody protection which was a good idea because we were going through rough terrain and the delicate parts of the car would need protecting from rocks and everything else. What I hadn’t foreseen is that this massive V12 engine, which is normally open underneath, was now covered by a big bash plate which kept hot air in. I was cooking my own engine, basically. It was a constant battle between leaving it open to damage or closing it in and making it overheat."

Did you quite enjoy the challenge, though?  Richard says: "Yeah, look, I’m a guy with some degree of mechanical sympathy, I run a garage and I’m interested in the way cars work. I’m scared of the computer side of things though. It’s like plastering: it’s a dark art. But to plug it into the diagnostics and fix it was quite satisfying. I love problem solving in a physical way. We love taking cars on journeys they weren’t built to do because that’s when they really develop personalities and, boy, did mine ever do that." 

Did you mind being left behind by the others when your gears weren’t working?  Richard says: "Well, it wasn’t as bad as Madagascar. There’s always going to be one of us. You can’t possibly know which one it’s going to be, but that’s okay. If you’re doing anything with mates and you’re the one having the more 'exciting' time, shall we say, that’s alright." 

Tell us about the visit to the Ambassador’s house...  Richard says: "It was fabulous! I want to go back. It’s one of my favourite places I’ve ever been. The Ambassador’s friends thought he was going to Mauritius when he got the job because they’d never heard of Mauritania – I mean, who has? But it was the most wonderful, characterful place full of lovely people. The Ambassador turned to me at one stage and said, 'In a minute, one of the chaps serving us is going to call me Excellency and if you laugh, I shall kick you.' I did laugh, of course I did." 

You couldn’t drink alcohol in Mauritania. What was your first beer like when you got over the border? Richard says: "Well, I think it’s quite known that we like a beer. So, I’d say immense relief. It was almost needed on a cellular level. I was worried that my cells would forget how to connect if I didn't get a beer. I worried that because having a beer was all I could think of my atoms would forget to be bonded together in the right order and I might just turn into a cloud and vanish." 

The film ends with you on the beach where the Paris-Dakar race finishes. What was that like? Richard says: "That was in Senegal but most of the film was spent in Mauritania — It’s a spectacular place. It’s four times the size of the UK but with hardly any people. It’s so big, so empty, and breath-taking. We never go anywhere that's not nice to look at, but this really was a bit special." 

What did the history of the Paris-Dakar race mean to you in that moment?  Richard says: "A hell of a lot. I mean, it was legendary. If you’re into cars, you're going to be aware of the Paris-Dakar in its heyday, because the machinery, scenery, and what they did was incredible. So yeah, it meant a lot to drive in that same space. It was really exhilarating."

Is this a special that will appeal to the proper petrol heads amongst your fans?  Richard says: "I think this special treads that path that we've travelled very carefully which is that you don't have to be a car nerd to watch the show because we do that for you. That's been our motto, spoken and unspoken, for all of the years we’ve done it because it's in our blood, it’s in our hearts and you can see it. I think it does look beautiful. We’ve gone somewhere that people don't get to go to, and it’s fabulous to put that on screen for people. Cajoling an Aston Martin across a massive desert is a unique experience, so from my point of view this was a huge reminder of how lucky we are to get to go and have an adventure like that. I hope people enjoy it. I think it's a fine example of the nonsense that we enjoy getting up to." 

Can you tease anything about the next special?  Richard says: "There are some familiar places, and it was a joy to be in Zimbabwe after so many years. We always have a great time in Africa. Zimbabwe was just unbelievable." 

Interview with James May on The Grand Tour: Sand Job

As well as Top Gear and The Grand Tour , James May is known for his travelogue James May: Our Man In… He’s also presented James May: Oh Cook! , James May: The Reassembler , James May’s Man Lab and Oz, and James’ Big Wine Adventure, with Oz Clarke. .  

Tell us about the car you chose for The Grand Tour: Sand Job… James May says: "Well, I have much better taste and judgement than the other two so my car, the Maserati, was definitely the best looking. And it worked pretty well for the whole route, actually, proving that you don't need to spend £200,000 on a rally car. I think my budget was about £30,000." 

Was it quite nice not being the one that was left behind, for a change?  James says: "I think it was long overdue, because I've been left behind in quite a few other things due to poor choices. Especially Eurocrash, that car was just so dreadful. So yes, it was quite gratifying and also slightly surprising because, of all those cars, you’d expect the Maserati to be the unreliable one; they do have a bit of a reputation for fragility. I mean, Aston Martins aren’t brilliant in that respect, but Hammond’s was just a disaster from the start. I knew it. I have a sixth sense about these things. When we buy those cars, I can stand near them, and I know if they're trouble."

What mistake do you think Hammond made in choosing his car?  James says: "I think it's just frank stupidity. There are sophisticated electronics in all modern cars which can go wrong, and small faults can be quite difficult to fix if you haven't got the right diagnostic equipment, which generally you don't have in the middle of a desert. So, the generous reply would be that it was just bad luck, but I prefer the response that it was due to uselessness." 

Is this a special for petrol heads?  James says: "It’s certainly a bit more car-y than some other ones. We sort of alternate between car-y ones and more travel/sitcom ones. Eurocrash was not very car-y, but the French one was about car history, for example, and I’d say on that scale, this one leans towards being quite car-y. All three cars that we drove are interesting. They're all desirable cars, at least in their original form, and the idea of modelling a car and racing them across a desert is quite appealing to a lot of people." 

You seemed to enjoy getting the cars off the train at the start of the journey… James says: "Yes, there were several things that I thought were exciting. One was that I was allowed to drive the shunter to manoeuvre the trucks, which I've always wanted to do, and that was great. Then we got my car off with planks, and I drove it very precariously and heroically, which is why they cut that bit out. Then we had to get the other two cars off with the telehandler which Jeremy is now an expert at because of his farming. He will always tell you he’s useless at anything practical, but he did that very well. It was great fun. I’m openly into that engineering nerdy stuff and I don't mind admitting it. Hammond is too: obviously he now runs a car repair centre and he’s done other shows in the past that have an engineering element. So, we do like it." 

Did you enjoy being in the desert?  James says: "We actually all quite like being in a desert. We like the dust and the sand and the heat. It's exhausting, but it's all the things that T.E. Lawrence talked about, he said “the desert cleans you and it’s pure”, and I think that’s true. We all slightly get off on that and we feel like we're being really heroic and manly." 

You did go for quite a T.E. Lawrence look with your headscarves…   James says: "Yeah, that was partly because it is incredibly hot. It's even hotter than I've experienced in India, and I thought that was the hottest I was ever going to be, so you actually do need to protect yourself. In that portion of the day, between one and four o'clock in the afternoon where supposedly only Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out, the locals generally hide inside. So, if you are outside, you have to cover up, or you'd be burned to a crisp, and you’d get sunstroke and go mad." 

Did you get dehydrated?   James says: "We did go a few days without a proper wee, and I'm someone who likes to urinate freely. I mean, not in my trousers, but I don't like to hold it in. When we did wee it sort of came out as dust. 

How did you feel about camping?   James says: "It’s awful. I mean, you don't really have much choice because it's a pretty empty country. All the bits we were in had no hotels or anything. Since the sixties I think there have only been fifty filming permits or so. So, we had to camp." 

How did you cope with the heat and the dust?  James says: "I find it quite exciting when it gets very hot and very dusty. I've always been neurotic about dust in the home and actually I don't like dust in my own car, but somehow when you do those desert drives, it's nice that everything gets covered in dust and you get covered in dust and it sort of dries your hands and sticks in your hair." 

Did you enjoy going to the British Ambassador’s house?  James says: "It was fantastic. He even had Ferrero Rocher: I didn’t actually think they were real. I thought there was one pyramid in existence, and they got moved around the world for photoshoots and filming, but he really did have them. Which is weird because they're not a British thing, are they? Aren’t they from Austria or Switzerland or something? I suppose an Ambassador is just expected to have them. But yes, it was wonderful and surreal. He’s got this rather lovely house with a nice garden." 

What was your first beer like when you got over the border?  James says: "It was nice. Jeremy was pontificating about how you're supposed to admire the condensation and savour the moment which I think is just because he was trying to do a covert advert for his own beer. Whereas I just think oh, it's a beer and I've been waiting for it for several weeks, so I’ll drink it and look at the lovely view instead of the beer." 

What was it like finishing the journey on the same beach as the Paris-Dakar race?  James says: "Driving on sand features in some of the greatest things we've done over the years. Back when we did the Namibia special in the beach buggies, I had a fantastic sunset drive across the dunes on my own because I'd been left behind as usual while I stopped to do something to my car, and that was fabulous as well. It’s the same reason anybody likes going to the beach: I suppose there's something quite primeval about it. You're at the edge of the land. It's unspoiled and there's nothing there apart from a few elements: water, sky and sand. It just appeals to something in humans and so yes, it was terrific."

What did the history of the Paris-Dakar race mean to you in that moment?  James says: "That was a massive thing when I first started working on car magazines back in the early nineties. It used to get a lot of coverage as it's a very gruelling thing." 

How would you summarise Sand Job? James says: "We tend to be a bit optimistic and we tend to push complications to one side and hope that somebody will deal with them. So, I was quite pleased that it ended up being a good adventure. It's a very long special because there's a lot of material. We always tell ourselves we don't actually need to do 1200 miles or whatever, because we have enough adventure in 200 miles to make a special. But we still go back and do 1200 miles, because either we like it or we're a bit stupid."

Interview with Jeremy Clarkson on The Grand Tour: Sand Job

Jeremy Clarkson is best known for Top Gear , in which he starred alongside Richard Hammond and James May from 2002 to 2015. He also presented shows like Jeremy Clarkson’s Extreme Machines, Motorworld and Clarkson: Unleashed on Cars . More recently Jeremy has fronted Clarkson’s Farm , Who Wants to be a Millionaire and It’s Clarkson on TV .

How did you feel about doing this show in Mauritania?  Jeremy Clarkson says: "I love deserts so I've always wanted to do the Sahara, but it’s difficult to go there; you can't go to Mali or Libya or Algeria or Chad. You can't go to the top of Nigeria. And then it was really a question of finding the most inappropriate cars for trans-Sahara travel, and I think we did a pretty good job on that."

Tell us about your car... Jeremy says: "The Jaguar F-Type V6 Supercharged VS. Well put it like this: it was so impressive, I came home and bought one immediately. And I don’t think Hammond bought an Aston Martin afterwards. The other two made unwise choices, as usual. The Jaguar was so tough and so unbreakable. I discovered something interesting: Jaguar has a reputation for making flimsy cars, cars that fall to pieces, it has this reputation for unreliability, so I couldn't understand why my car was so capable. I did some checking, and it turns out that at the time this car was made, Jaguar Land Rover – which is one company – had one test that a car had to pass before it could go on sale which is all to do with mounting curbs at high speed and running over potholes and biffing into things. And the test was designed for the Range Rover, but the Jaguar had to pass the same test. So, they are extraordinarily strong. I cannot lavish enough praise on that car. I brought back the one I drove in Mauritania too, I have it at the farm. 

You mentioned the other two making unwise choices. Can you expand on that?  Jeremy says: "Well, Hammond in particular had constant issues. It started off being funny and then it became annoying because it was relentlessly unreliable. His was as unreliable as mine was reliable."

This film put you to the test in all sorts of ways. You had to get your cars off a train, and then drive them across a body of water… Jeremy says: "Yes, and we attached snowmobiles to the front of the Jag to try and even out the road surface. It’s potty engineering, an idiotic idea but it worked. The funny thing with the cars on the train is that we thought it would be a bit like what happened in Bolivia when they arrived on a barge, and it took us ten days to get them off. We thought we'd have the same problems in Mauritania, but we found an old telehandler loader like the ones we use on farms and, now that I'm a farmer, I was able to get them off quite easily. For once I did something properly."

What was the heat like?  Jeremy says: "You know, the funny thing is you don't get filthy in a desert. It's a very strange thing but sand is incredibly clean. We’ve experienced this in the Atacama and the Gobi and the Nomad and all the places we've driven over the years. You don't get dirty. But it was bloody tough. We drank litres and litres of water, and we didn’t pee. I mean, I don't know where it was going. Hammond said after three or four days, “I’m going to have a pee” and I suddenly thought, “I haven't had a pee this whole time.” When people go to see the Northern Lights, for example, they boast that it was minus 30 and you think "No, it wasn’t, it was minus six” or they say it was 50 degrees somewhere hot and you go, “No, it was maybe 38 in the midday sun.” Well, this really was 50 degrees in the shade. You never see the locals during the day, ever. We hardly saw anybody at all but if we did occasionally encounter a small village, it would have maybe six or seven huts and everyone would be inside them all day. They venture out only after the sun has set because it's so hot. Camping is always ghastly but when you're in the middle of the Sahara Desert, you have no alternative. There are no hotels, there are no guest houses or even restaurants or shops. It's very much the opposite of, say, Luxembourg."

You did see civilisation when you went to the Ambassador’s house. Did he really have a tray of Ferrero Rocher? Jeremy says: "I don’t think they were put there for us. I certainly didn’t see anybody putting those Ferrero Rocher chocolates there. We were sitting on the sofa when he went off to make us a cup of tea and I went to take a look and somehow, I managed to break his decoration. That was really funny. That's probably my favourite scene in the entire show actually. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a British Embassy anywhere, but they are amazing. I remember in the middle of the Iraq war in 2002 I went out to Baghdad to cover it for the Sunday Times. They pick you up from the airport in an armoured Land Rover with helicopter cover and so on, then we got to the British Embassy, and they had people in the gardens doing topiary. I mean, it was beautifully manicured lawns, fountains, Country Life magazines spread out on all the tables. It was astonishing. And it was the same in Mauritania: you drive through the desert where people are selling sand to one another and suddenly there is this swimming pool, manicured lawns, elegant surroundings, beautiful furniture. It’s fantastic. If ever you're absolutely desperate, in any country, head straight to the British Embassy." 

They didn’t give you a beer, though. How was your first beer when you finally got over the border? Jeremy says: "Well, it wasn’t a Hawkstone [Jeremy’s own beer] so it was disgusting. I mean, as an alternative beer goes, it was very welcome. But I like to savour a beer before I drink it. Those two just plunged in, but I like to look at it and then see what the anticipation of a cold beer feels like after however many days in a dry country."

What was it like to drive on the famous beach from the Paris-Dakar race?  Jeremy says: "I love travelling on beaches. I've done it in New Zealand and Wales and now Western Africa. It's just a wonderful thing to do. It would have been fun anyway but the most important thing about that drive was that we were re-enacting what they used to do at the end of the Paris-Dakar rally, and we always used to see these amazing pieces of film of the camera helicopters chasing the cars down the beach as they came into Dakar for the finish of this epic rally from Paris. It was beautiful, it was a lovely day and I had Seven Seconds on the stereo as well which is that Senegalese song, which was nice." 

You seemed to enjoy each other’s company very much, as usual.  Jeremy says: "It was honestly hilarious. Hammond’s Aston endlessly breaking down was very funny. Listen, when we do these things, it is a laugh from start to finish. We know what we're doing and we do enjoy one another's company. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been doing it for twenty-five years. It was tremendous. It was a big laugh. The fact it’s the longest special we've ever made testifies to how good it is because there’s very little you’d want to throw away. It’s all exciting, good stuff." 

Can you tease us about the final one?  Jeremy says: "It’s my favourite one we’ve ever done. I've always thought we'd never go anywhere better than Botswana, and now we have."

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I'm a huge fan of television so I really have found the perfect job, as I've been writing about TV shows, films and interviewing major television, film and sports stars for over 25 years. I'm currently TV Content Director on What's On TV, TV Times, TV and Satellite Week magazines plus Whattowatch.com. I previously worked on Woman and Woman's Own in the 1990s. Outside of work I swim every morning, support Charlton Athletic football club and get nostalgic about TV shows Cagney & Lacey, I Claudius, Dallas and Tenko. I'm totally on top of everything good coming up too.

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Jeremy Clarkson ‘risks explosion’ in penultimate The Grand Tour special

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The Grand Tour may be coming to an end but Jeremy Clarkson , Richard Hammond and James May have a few challenges ahead of them.

The trio, who first hit our screens together in 2003 on Top Gear , announced in November that their Amazon Prime series The Grand Tour was coming to an end.

Their final two specials, filmed in Mauritania and in Zimbabwe, will air later this year, with the first launching on February 16.

But hopefully, they’ll be going out without a bang.

Clarkson, May and Hammond reunite in Mauritania to follow in the footsteps of the legendary Paris-Dakar rally.

But instead of bespoke Dakar racers, they’ll be completing their journey in cheap modified sports cars.

Their journey begins with the world’s longest train and sees them tackle the killer Sahara and perilous river crossings whilst protecting their precious fuel bowser from exploding.

As if that wasn’t challenging enough, they’ll be battling scorching temperatures and unforgiving sand terrain on the way.

A first look at their West African journey, titled The Grand Tour: Sand Job, has also dropped, which sees the trio taking on the challenges.

According to MailOnline, Clarkson opts for a Jaguar V6, Hammond takes on an Aston Martin Volante V12 and May goes for a Maserati all deliver along the country’s only railway line.

It’s also said they not only are up against the natural forces, but also extract themselves from a minefield.

This comes after Clarkson admitted he’s too ‘unfit and fat and old’ for filming some parts of the programme, which has run from 2016.

The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? host said: ‘I’ve driven cars higher than anyone else and further north than anyone else.

‘We’ve done everything you can do with a car.

‘When we had meetings about what to do next, people just threw their arms in the air.’

He continued to  The Times  that the show ‘is immensely physical and when you’re unfit and fat and old, which I am,’ making some parts like camping, a stretch.

Addressing any rumours about feuds with his co-stars, he added: ‘We’ve spent more time in each other’s company than our families’ over the last 25 years so I don’t think it would have lasted as long as it did if we’d hated each other as much as James likes to think.’

‘They do as they’re told,’ he added.

Clarkson’s comments echo May saying  he thinks the time is right for a brand new motoring show  to take the place of Top Gear and The Grand Tour, because the trio are ‘too old’.

Late last year, the  BBC  officially made the decision to  ‘rest’ Top Gear for the ‘foreseeable future’ , after Freddie Flintoff’s horror crash in December 2022.

‘If you wanted to make a serious, slightly more consumerish car show there’s never been a better time for it because it’s a very interesting topic,’ James told The Sun.

‘What is going to happen to the car, car ownership, attitudes to the car, how we use it, dispose of it, how we power it?

‘It’s all interesting stuff, it’s the most interesting time in the car’s history since it was invented. So I can’t believe somewhere or other, a slightly more modern car show won’t emerge.

‘But we can’t do it as we’re too old.’

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The Grand Tour is available to watch on Prime Video , with a new special launching on Friday, February 16 .

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The grand tour’s penultimate special is out now.

After an eight-month wait since the release of the last episode, Eurocrash, the penultimate special of The Grand Tour has finally premiered on Amazon Prime.

Subtitled Sand Job (nice), the feature-length special sees Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May cross the Sahara desert, retracing the original route of the Dakar Rally . Their journey starts in in the heart of the West African nation of Mauritania, and roughly retraces the famous race’s route to its iconic beachfront finish. 

That’s an infamously tough journey even in specialised desert racing machinery, but it wouldn’t be The Grand Tour without some extra peril, so the team is undertaking the journey in some of the most inappropriate vehicles possible: big, front-engined, open-top sports cars, more suited to cruising the south of France than tackling the biggest sand desert in the world.

Jeremy has chosen a V6 Jaguar F-Type, Richard an Aston Martin DB9 Volante, and James a Maserati GranCabrio, all of which have undergone some serious modification in order to take on the challenging terrain. Clearly, we’re a long way from the days of the three-figure budgets seen in early Top Gear cheap car challenges.

As we saw in the trailer, the journey isn’t an easy one, with the trio having to deal with sand storms, massive dunes, ravines and actual minefields, as well as a pretty perilous-looking river crossing. There’s also an appearance from the world’s longest train, a 1.2-mile-long beast that transports iron ore and also delivers the cars to the starting point. All the while, the team must protect their vital fuel bowser, required to keep the cars going in this remote part of the world.

It’s more of what we’ve come to know and love from The Grand Tour’s big-budget specials: there’s incredible cinematography showing off the Sahara’s stark beauty mixed in with driving sequences that push the trio’s sports cars far beyond anything they were designed for. Oh, and some explosions, of course.

It was the filming of this special that Clarkson said made him realise how “ unfit and fat and old ” he was, leading in part to his decision to step back from the show.

We know there’s still one more special to come after this, filmed in Zimbabwe, which Amazon says is coming “later this year.” Interestingly, Amazon refers to that as the “final special of The Grand Tour with the trio,” reinforcing the suggestion that the show could continue in one form or another after the departure of Clarkson, Hammond and May.

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via The Grand Tour YouTube Channel

Key Takeaways

• Clarkson, Hammond, and May will embark on their next adventure in the Sahara Desert, retracing the route of the Paris-Dakar Rally in heavily modified budget Dakar racers.
• The trio will face challenges such as rocky terrain and a river crossing, and will create custom rafts for their sports cars.
• This may be one of the last Grand Tour specials as Clarkson confirmed that the show is ending, but there are potential plans for a new incarnation of the show in the future.

If the rumors are true, Jeremy Clarkson , Richard Hammond , and James May are preparing for their final adventures on The Grand Tour. The last special, Euro Crash, saw the trio travel across the former Eastern Block of Europe in three of the most unusual cars possible. Now, their next adventure is about to land on Amazon Prime. This time they swap the roads of Europe for the sands of the Sahara Desert, and retrace the route of the legendary Paris-Dakar Rally.

Amazon recently released the full trailer of the special on The Grand Tour YouTube Channel . The trailer looks to show the usual antics the three are famous for. We also get a glimpse of the three cars they will use; cheap sports cars from Aston Martin, Jaguar, and Maserati that are heavily modified into budget Dakar racers. The special has the name Sand Job, and it will land on Prime Video on February 16th. The Grand Tour says this is their “hottest challenge yet.”

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Cheap Sports Cars Are The Vehicles Of Choice

Key moments from the grand tour: sand job trailer.

• Clarkson, Hammond, and May will cross the Sahara desert in three cheap sports cars
• The trio are retracing the route of the Paris-Dakar rally
• A minefield and rough terrain provide some challenges
• The three will also create custom rafts for their sports cars

We don’t get confirmation of the exact vehicles from the trailer, but we do know that cheap sports cars are what the trio has gone for. The trailer also reveals that they are a Jaguar, a Maserati, and an Aston Martin and that the presenters have extensively modified the cars. This is very much in keeping with the tradition of their road trips, with their Top Gear days renowned for some modified action. The desert crossing is not an unknown challenge for the three either, as they have done so in dune buggies and small sports cars back on Top Gear.

The latter was for a Top Gear Christmas special, with the presenters using a Fiat Barchetta, Mazda MX-5, and BMW Z3 to cross the desert of Syria. That was only for a section of their journey, however, with this desert crossing in the Sahara nearly the entirety of their trip. The trailer reveals a few town scenes though, with Hammond having a difficult time stopping people crashing into his Aston Martin. As is typical with their adventures, we get to see some dramatic scenery and backdrops such as the rising dunes and sandy beaches.

The trailer shows some of the challenges the three are set to face, which aside from the dunes include rocky and rugged terrain will push the cars to their limits. A river crossing is also part of the show, and it looks like the trio will build their rafts to try and navigate this obstacle. Again, this is something the three have done before when they built a custom raft in the Top Gear Africa special . That raft was successful so hopefully, no car ends up at the bottom of the river in this one.

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A Surprise Is Teased In The New Grand Tour Special

Top gear & the grand tour specials with the trio.

( Sourced from IMDB )

Speaking to RadioTimes.com ahead of the special’s launch, Hammond suggests there is a surprise in store during the adventure. The trailer shows the three attempts to not drive into a minefield, and Mauritania is on a British government red list for travel. While a minefield in itself is a surprise, Hammond says there was something else that made it an even scarier experience. He said, "There was there was a surprise arrival in [the] minefield, because it's [Mauritania] still on the red list in terms of travel, and the last thing you want in or near a minefield is a surprise.”

The familiar pranking that the three have engaged in over the years also makes a return. In the same interview, Hammond says there was a lot of pranking going on and went on to say the special focuses a lot on the friendship between the trio.

He said the special was “almost The Grand Tour unplugged, so we stripped it right back and we majored on the relationship between the three of us, and the arguing and the breaking and we just laughed." Hammond also said that the special was about capturing “the majesty and splendor of traveling the world”. But at the same time, they are still doing the stupid things they are all famous for.

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This Is One Of The Last Grand Tour Specials

It does look like this is the beginning of the end for the trio and The Grand Tour. After the Euro Crash special , two more were in production during 2023. These were this one in Mauritania and an upcoming adventure in Zimbabwe. But in January 2024, Clarkson confirmed to The Times that The Grand Tour is ending, saying that he is “old and fat and unfit.” May spoke on the Fueling Around podcast early in 2023 that the end was on the horizon, but suggested that there is another special coming after these two to wrap things up.

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The Grand Tour May Still Have A Future

This might not be the end of the three on our screens together, however. The BBC recently reported that options are being explored for a new incarnation of the show. This could even include replacing the trio. But perhaps it could see them go on less taxing adventures and potentially stay within the UK. Fans will be happy to learn though that the three will stay on our screens.

Clarkson will continue with more series of Clarkson’s Farm with his huge Lamborghini tractor , while May will continue to do his travel and cooking shows. Hammond also has his Discovery+ workshop show, and he appears regularly on the Drivetribe YouTube channel. For now, though, we can enjoy them all together in some more big adventures. The Grand Tour: Sand Job will launch on Amazon Prime video on February 16th, and we can't wait to see what it's like.

Sources: The Grand Tour YouTube Channel, BBC News, RadioTimes, IMDB

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‘The Grand Tour’ presenters share the most memorable moments from the show ahead of the final episode release

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After five action-packed seasons, 41 countries, and 187 cars, The Grand Tour is coming to an end, with the final feature-length episode premiering on Prime Video on 13 September .

In the special episode, titled The Grand Tour: One For The Road , Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May head to Zimbabwe in three cars they’ve always wanted to own: a Lancia Montecarlo, a Ford Capri 3-litre, and a Triumph Stag. As they embark on a stunning road trip through Zimbabwe, they say an emotional farewell to their lives together on The Grand Tour .

Clarkson, Hammond, and May spoke about their favourite memories from the series, along with how they chose the cars for their final adventure, and why they wanted the last episode to be a “thank you” to the fans.

How did you come up with the location for the final episode?

Jeremy Clarkson: Although we’ve done some very memorable and very enjoyable specials over the years – like the Middle East and Mongolia ( The Mongolia Special – Survival of the Fattest, 2019 ), and a number of others – the three of us have always agreed that Botswana was our favourite special, probably because it was our first, and so there is nostalgia to that.

Richard Hammond: We knew we wanted to end up on Kubu Island. Beyond that, I think we may have benefited a bit from the experience of making shows through lockdown. We had to strip it back a bit, and it made us think, “Okay, the big bangs and stuff are great, but hang on a minute, let's remember what's at the heart of this show.” And so that was to the fore when we came to say goodbye.

How did you choose the cars?

Jeremy Clarkson: The premise of the original Botswana film was: why, when you leave London and move to Surrey, do you always buy yourself a 4x4? You don’t need one. To prove this, we decided to drive three perfectly ordinary cars across Botswana. I've always liked the premise that cars are much tougher than you think they are. They can take so much punishment; people don't believe how much their car can take before it expires.

So, we did a similar thing this time: the three that we took to Zimbabwe were, on the face of it, ridiculous, but as you can see in the film, they survive. The concept was just driving cars we liked.

James May: I said all along we mustn’t play it for gags, we must have things that we’re genuinely curious about and always wanted. That's always risky with things like cars because inevitably, there's a car you really loved as a kid, but when you get it, it’s crap because it’s 40 or 50 years old.

So, it was a bit risky, but we had to be genuinely invested in our choices because we're not actors. We can't pretend to love things. I know Jeremy's story about looking through the dealership window longingly at the Lancia as a young man is true because I used to go past the same place, and I know exactly what he's talking about.

I had a friend whose parents had a Triumph Stag when I was a kid, and I just thought they seemed amazing. The Stag has a reputation as one of the most unreliable cars ever made but weirdly on this, it kept going all the way through.

Did it feel emotional to film the finale?

Richard Hammond: Not just for the three of us but the entire group. We've worked together for decades and we've been through good times and bad. We've seen each other in jungles covered in leeches, exhausted and grumpy in tents and boiling heat, elated in the most beautiful cities in the world. We’re a great big dysfunctional family, so there were a lot of tears.

Jeremy Clarkson: I'm not saying this in a derogatory way by any means, but James has the emotions of a stone. He just doesn't do emotions, so there were no tears from him. Hammond, yes. I was surprisingly unemotional in a weird way because I can see James and Hammond any time I want to, they’re only a phone call away, and I’m sure we will. And I’ve done enough of the travel, I was worn out by it.

Where I would have been emotional was saying goodbye to the crew because most of them started with us. There's a photograph taken on Kubu Island of Russ Edwards and Casper Leaver (Camera Operator) and Andy Wilman (Executive Producer), who were there on the original crew, and they're still with us. You can’t say that about any other show.

What did you want to achieve with the final film?

James May: I remember saying in an early meeting that it was important that we actually genuinely enjoyed our cars and didn't allow it to descend into too much bickering or aggressive pranking of each other. I also didn't want to be too introverted, emotional or navel-gazing; it had to be joyous. We had to come together and acknowledge our shared enthusiasm. It's quite a tricky balance to strike, I think because it's in our nature to be horrible about each other. And there are a few moments like that, like when I say, “I’m deleting their numbers from my phone” as soon as it’s over. That’s us being quite British and undermining our own feelings, which I think is the right thing to do because that’s genuinely us.

Richard Hammond: We wanted to say “thank you” to the audience. This is the biggest thing to happen in my life ever. It changed my life, it affected my daughters’ lives, my whole family, everything. And that's down to the audience.

I think you will see that this is each of us genuinely saying “thank you”, and the way Andy Wilman put that together – he’s the master behind it. Andy Wilman didn't want it to end on exploding things; he wanted it to be sincere. You don't put on a comedy clown suit to say “thank you”, do you?

What have been the highlights from ‘The Grand Tour’ journey?

Jeremy Clarkson: I have always loved driving into an African city. There’s a buzz in African cities that you don’t get anywhere else. Harare — wow, what a singing, melting pot of busyness and joy that was. Kampala’s the same.

I think the most surprising location in all the years was Mongolia (The Mongolia Special – Survival of the Fattest, 2019). That was incredibly beautiful. It’s carpeted – and I mean completely carpeted – by thyme, rosemary and sage. As you drive along, you just get the smell all day, constantly. And then we drove into a pine forest, and I can still remember that. Mongolia was the nicest smelling country I've ever been to, and the terrain is also visually stunning. For six days, we drove in pretty much a dead straight line, and we never saw a cloud in the sky, a farm animal, a person, a telegraph pole or a pylon – there was simply no evidence that man had ever existed.

Richard Hammond: We’ve always loved Africa, waking up in jungles. I remember in Syria in the desert, we were all staying in this massive tent with about 50 of us, and it was boiling, and I was like, “sod this” so James and I grabbed our gear and decided to sleep in the desert instead. Unfortunately, the incredibly strong and mind-numbingly cold wind shot straight into the sleeping bags. It was just the worst night. We were freezing to death.

There were lots of nights like that. Or I remember lying in a tent in Bolivia at about 35 degrees, full of cockroaches that kept me awake all night. And if it wasn’t the cockroaches, it was the drug runners on mopeds going up and down the dirt track passes.

I remember chasing one of Pablo Escobar’s hippos when we were drunk late at night, trying to get a picture on my phone before thinking, “Hippos are quite dangerous; I probably shouldn’t be doing this.” Lots of stupid, wonderful, privileged moments.

James May: I remember in Chile – or maybe Argentina – staying in a shepherd's hut with simple embroidered bedspreads. I shared a room with Hammond, and it was like an adventure from childhood. It was like going to a holiday cottage somewhere, and it was really brilliant. We did some awful camping all over the world, but it was still quite exciting waking up in the desert or in a rainforest. I wouldn’t have done that were it not for the show.

What we've just done, going across Zimbabwe and into Botswana, I don't know if you could even organise that as a holiday. You could probably pay a posh holiday agent to put that together for you, but it would be extremely expensive, so I’ve seen a lot of places that I simply wouldn’t have done if it hadn't been part of my work.

I’ve thought constantly over the years, “How the hell did this happen?” It really is an enormous privilege, or an enormous stroke of luck, however you want to look at it. Being able to do that and making a living out of it whilst being on the telly and going to foreign places, that blew my mind – it still staggers me.

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The final The Grand Tour episode titled The Grand Tour: One for the Road will be released on Prime Video on 13 September 2024.

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Everything You Should Know About The Cars On The Latest Grand Tour Special: “Celebrated By Driving Into A Wall”

The Grand Tour: A Scandi Flick , is now available to watch on Prime Video. Plenty of fans have realised that this episode is much more car focussed than the episodes preceding it, and because of this a lot of love has been thrown at these three rally-inspired cars.

Here’s what you need to know about the cars on the latest episode, plus what the presenters told us in interviews with the press, including Grand Tour Nation.

Jeremy Clarkson in the Audi RS4 B7

Jeremy had already revealed that he’d bought an Audi RS4 for the show many, many months ago, but before seeing behind the scenes photos of the filming of this episode, we didn’t know it would be for this.

Obviously, the connection to rally here is the Quattro term that Audi now uses for its all-wheel drive system. But let’s explore this car a little further.

It was released in 2005 by Audi, and while the look of the car didn’t blow people away, the 4.2-litre V8 engine did with direct fuel injection and maximum revs of a shrieking 8500rpm. It produced 414 horsepower, with these horses being delivered to all four wheels. There was only one gearbox available, but surprisingly it was a manual with six speeds and, once you pressed the sport button, the throttle response would make this delicious powertrain even more exciting and bypass valves would make it sound as good as it went.

The exterior still felt very sedate, but now offered wider arches over the standard A4 as well as aluminium front wings and bonnet. And a bit later on, the RS4 badge was placed onto the wagon version, too.

Aw you saw in the episode, Jeremy’s car was outfitted with Quattro colours, a number of Cibbies on the front bumper, and gets completely frozen over thanks to Hammond before Jeremy sets it on fire. A flame-thrower was also fitted to the exhaust.

Richard Hammond in the Subaru Impreza WRX

We first saw the Subaru WRX in an Instagram post by Jeremy Clarkson , but it’s confirmed that it’s being driven by Richard Hammond who has driven one of these cars before in the Africa special of Top Gear .

These cars are pure rally inspired and burble as much as a cat trapped in a corner thanks to its Boxer engine. Many Subaru fans weren’t completely taken with the looks of the ‘Blob eye’ Impreza, but since its release it has become motoring legend thanks to its connection to rally and its insane performance.

Its engine is a 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder Boxer engine with help from a single turbo. It’s low on weight and has a low centre of gravity, and gives it the car its iconic sound as well as 261 horsepower. It’s not quite as potent as Jeremy’s RS4, but with its trick all-wheel drive system and a bit of talent behind the wheel, it could well keep up with it in the corners.

In this episode it’s been given the Martini colours, but we can see later on that the ‘I’ at the end of ‘Martini’ has been coloured in.

Hammond had the following to say about the Impreza:

“I’ve always loved them. I was just delighted at the opportunity to take one and unleash it a bit. We wanted rally-bred cars, but mine is the only one that, out of the rallying, came first.

“It was built as a rally car, then compromised and turned into a road car. Whereas James’s is the other way around, and with Jeremy’sit was never a rally car. They did make one, but it wasn’t that one. So I was more than happy with my choice.

“I love the Subaru because it’s analogue, and I’m analogue. It’s not a digitally enhanced car. It’s just built to do what it does, so it’s technically inclined to do what it does. It doesn’t need persuading by a computer. I love that.”

James May’s Mitsubishi Evo 8

The car of the hour, this Mitsubishi Evo 8 driven by James May has had quite a life. It was initially crashed by the presenter at a high speed during a tunnel run, and later crashed through the ice into a lake. Because of this, it’s also the only car that doesn’t undergo any visual modification during the episode. Unless you count damage, of course.

The Evo 8 was launched in 2003 in Japan and saw immediate success thanks to its potent turbocharged 4G63 4-cylinder engine. This produced 289 lb ft and 276 horsepower, but its excellent all-wheel drive system pushed its performance high enough to battle with supercars of that era.

Its chassis was stiffer than the outgoing Evo 7, and the car was treated like it was going to hit a rally stage at any moment with the chassis being spot welded, suspension mounts upgraded, and the suspension itself having an improved MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear suspension setup.

The new bodywork also allowed for better cooling and higher performance aerodynamics.

James May had the following to say about his beloved Evo:

“Well, it’s quite an old car now. Like a lot of cars in that era –including my own 911, which is coming up to 12 years old now –they’re not classic cars. They’re still relatively modern, but they feel quite old-fashioned, because in recent years cars have become a lot more connected and a lot more touchscreen-y, and they just have more stuff on them.

“So the Evo just has some analogue instruments and a few buttons to press, and that’s about it. It’s an austerity spec car. Apart from the race-bred engine and a rally pedigree, in every other respect it’s a bit like an airport hire car. I like that all the effort has gone into making it work very well as a car, I suppose is what I mean.

“I also think it looks good, and it’s yellow. I always like yellow cars; they really give me a proper fizz. So when I saw it for the first time, before we left, I thought, ‘Wow, I’m really, really going to like two weeks of driving around in this car.’ I haven’t driven one for ages, but I remembered that they were great when they were new, and that was all tremendous. And then I celebrated that by driving it into a wall.”

Andy Wilman, the series producer, talked about the focus on the cars:

“We wanted to  celebrate these road-going rally cars because, in a snow and ice scenario, that’s what you would use. They’ve all got a track record, apart from Jeremy’s, of doing well in snow rallies, Finnish rallies, and so on, so they were the perfect cars because they’re exciting, and they have a passionate following. It was a no-brainer to pick those. Once you decide, ‘It’s about time we went and did some snow and ice,’ you do quickly get to those cars. You’re not going to do 4x4s, they’re boring by comparison.

He continued, adding that the edit favoured the cars over the location:

“Scandinavian culture is not that far removed, ultimately, from our viewers’ culture. There are differences, but it’s not something worth majoring on. It’s not like being in Vietnam, where the culture is fantastically different, or Central Africa. This is a completely different thing. It’s still Europe,so that’s one reason we didn’t do that. The other reason is it bounds along at quite a lick. It found its own pace. The first cut we did was two and a half hours –of very usable stuff –so almost an hour was cut out.

“Once you start that editing process, because the scenes are big and it’s a bit movie-like, you start to accelerate the pace organically. Whereas if we were in Africa or something like that, the journey is slower-paced, and the chit-chat is more prevalent. This one is a little bit more of a roller-coaster. Once you start doing that, culture doesn’t really get in –it’s about the three of them.”

Alex Harrington

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2024 BMW X3: Bigger, bolder, and packed with tech

Scheduled to arrive in south africa in q4 2024, the fourth-generation x3 aims to build on its predecessor’s ‘best-seller’ status..

Measuring 4 755mm in length and 1 920mm in width, the box-fresh BMW X3’s bodywork is 34mm longer and 29mm wider than its predecessor’s. However, the height has been decreased by 25mm, to 1 660mm. According to the German marque, together with the increases in track width, the latter adds to the midsize.

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Viewed from the front, the most notable redesigned element is a new interpretation of BMW’s kidney grille, which now features vertical and diagonal bars. The grille, which is available with contour lighting, is flanked by new LED headlamp clusters, replete with L-shaped daytime-running lights. The taillamps have also been revised. A selection of alloy wheels, ranging from 19 to 21 inches, are available.

Looking for your next new or used vehicle? Find it here with CARmag! 

Stepping inside, BMW’s Curved Display arrangement takes centre stage. The setup, which runs the automaker’s latest operating system, comprises a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and touch-enabled infotainment display, replete with screen mirroring and sat-nav, measuring 14.9 inches. A new multifunction steering wheel with column-mounted shift paddles is also present, as are electrically adjustable and heated sports seats. A head-up display and panoramic sunroof are among the cost options.

Related: Single SA-Bound Audi RS 6 Avant GT is Heading to Auction – With a R4.5 million Reserve

The engine line-up comprises a duo of petrol powertrains (the 20 xDrive and M50 xDrive, which replaces the M40i), a plug-in hybrid petrol (30e xDrive, the first electrified BMW produced by BMW SA) and a single diesel, the 20d xDrive. The diesel derivative’s two-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged unit, which is coupled with an eight-speed automatic transmission, develops 145kW and 400Nm. BMW claims a fuel consumption figure of 5.8L/100km. All models direct power to all four corners via the Bavarian brand’s familiar eight-speed automatic transmission.

Find the full feature in the September issue of CAR Magazine .

The post Fourth Time Is the Charm – BMW X3 appeared first on CAR Magazine .

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Why Birmingham date will be extra special for Kylie Minogue as world tour announced

The grand finale to Kylie Minogue's world tour will be in the West Midlands,

The Aussie has announced a world tour for 2025 which includes dates across England and Scotland.

And the last date has been scheduled for Birmingham, making it a special concert for the singer and her fans alike.

The Padam Padam singer, 56, also announced that a "sequel" to her 2023 album Tension, which includes nine new tracks, will be released on October 18.

Minogue's Tension tour will kickstart in her home country, Australia, before heading to Asia, reaching the UK on May 16, where she will perform at Glasgow's OVO Hydro.

The Grammy-winner will also perform in cities including Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield and Nottingham as well as two nights at The O2 in London.

But she will end her tour at Birmingham's BP Pulse Live, formerly Resorts World Arena, where she will perform her final set on May 31.

Minogue said: "I am beyond excited to announce the Tension tour 2025.

"I can't wait to share beautiful and wild moments with fans all over the world, celebrating the Tension era and more.

"It's been an exhilarating ride so far, and now get ready for your close up because I will be calling Lights, Camera, Action... and there will be a whole lot of Padaming."

In an Instagram post announcing the news of collection Tension II, Minogue said: "LOVERS .... TENSION II ... The sequel with NINE new tracks will be yours on October 18th!

"Get ready for your close up ... Lead single coming September 27th."

Last year Tension became the Australian singer's ninth number one album in the UK charts.

Minogue this year took home the global icon award at the Brits and won the best pop dance recording Grammy for her hit Padam Padam.

She also performed at the British Summer Time festival in Hyde Park in July, which followed becoming the first headliner at nightclub Voltaire, a venue at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, in November 2023.

Tickets for her UK dates will go on general sale at 10am on Friday September 27.

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