Top Gear Magazine/UK/May 1994

Top Gear Magazine #8
We answer The Big Question
Issue No.	8
Price	£2.40
Cover date	May 1994
Page count	266
Editor	Kevin Blick
Publisher	BBC Worldwide
Prev issue	Issue 7 (April 1994)
Next issue	Issue 9 (June 1994)

The eighth issue of Top Gear Magazine/UK was released for the cover date of May 1994. Published by BBC Worldwide, the issue contained 266 pages and was edited by the magazine's first editor-in-chief, Kevin Blick.

Cover

Issue #8 of Top Gear Magazine's cover‎‎ comprehensively and‎‎ collectively, among many others, featured the Citroën BX, Ford Scorpio, and a Toyota MR2, with a plain concrete background, with the cars forming a giant question mark. The cover photograph was taken by an unknown photographer.

Contents

Nurse, The Tests

• First Steer: The latest on the most. Saab 900 coupe, Porsche 968, a squelch of off-roaders, a pile of Peugeots, awesome Audi RS2, new Fiat Puntos and Clio II.
• Hot, hot, hot!: Is the hot hatch dead? Not judging by this excessively lively quartet - VW Golf, Fiat Tipo, Peugeot 306 and Ford Escort.
• Don't want a BMW?: It's a boardroom blitz! Transport for the more individual executive: Saab 9000, Alfa 164 and Mazda Xedos. The full business lunch pudding-in-beard test.
• You take the high load...: Three state-of-the-art family estate cars from Volkswagen, Citroen and Vauxhall are strung up and tortured.
• Rear View: QW looks back at the recently deceased Vauxhall Carlton in all its many guises; fat-cat CDX, scarily quick GSi3000 and all the standard caravan pullers.

Cover Power

• The JD Power survey: Car manufacturers and buyers have been waiting with bated breath for this, the results of the UK's first independent in-depth survey into how satisfied you are with your car. Our no-punches-pulled report tells you who wins, and who loses.

The Classics

• Nightmare dream cars: Jeremy Clarkson peers closely at the reality behind every schoolboy's fantasy. Are classics worth squandering the pools win on or are they just a damp bedsheet in the laundry basket of life?
• Affordable elegance: Quentin Willson shows us some cut-price classics. Talbots for a tenner, Sunbeams at a snip, ridiculously cheap Rovers and Panhards for pence.
• Experts advise: Does your Blower Bentley short of puff? Is your Maserati Spyder lacking legs? Or do you need a new crown wheel for your Bugatti Royale? A posse of eminent experts are here to help with your classic.
• Berg goes Bentley bonkers: Back in the days of dastardly deeds and derring-do, Data Dad Ivan Berg wrote thrilling racing adventures. Now, after all these years, he's had one of his very own.

And There's More

• The best of British: A melange of motorsport - Tiff Needell and a whole bunch of up-and-coming track stars hurtle around in a miscellany of motors.
• Tatratastic: Man, dog and machine in perfect harmony. The true story of a Tatra and a Pit Bull called Arnold.
• Mad Minis: The Japanese are spending fortunes on odd little British cars like the tiny but quick Mini Sprint and the tiny but weird Mini Marcos. Who are we to stop them?
• The trouble with child seats: Do you think your child is safe in its neat little seat? Think again. As a panel of experts prove, many of today's cars won't allow you to fit child seats securely enough.
• A fun MZ?: It might seem like a contradiction in terms, but MuZ's British-designed Skorpion is great-looking, excellent to ride and doesn't produce clouds of smoke.
• The power of ten: Which car really is the biggest seller of all time? Is it the Volkswagen Beetle or the Datsun Cherry? It's a bit of a sore point.

The Usual

• First Gear: No news is good news so this is bad news.
• Crank case: A baby bore.
• Steering columns: Jeremy, Quentin, Tiff, and, er, Matthew.
• Top Gear Club: Rally search and GP fun.
• Gearbox: What's worth watching.
• Write turns: Letters and fish-faxes.
• Car Chase: Let Data Dad make up a motor to your spec.
• Auto Jungle: A funny cartoon this time.

Car Buying

• Used car buyers guide: The pick of today's used cars from perfect to pathetic.
• New car buyers guide: Full spec, prices, figures and gubbins.
• New cars by price: All the cars there are, quid by quid.
• Manufacturers directory: Want yet more info? Look at this lovely lot.