Top Gear Magazine/UK/December 1999

Top Gear Magazine #75
For Your Eyes Only: Our photo-file on the new BMW Z8
Issue No.	75
Price	£3.20
Cover date	December 1999
Page count	354
Editor	Kevin Blick
Publisher	BBC Worldwide
Prev issue	Issue 74 (November 1999)
Next issue	Issue 76 (January 2000)

The seventy-fifth issue of Top Gear Magazine/UK was released for the cover date of December 1999. Published by BBC Worldwide, the issue contained 354 pages and was edited by the magazine's first editor-in-chief, Kevin Blick. The final issue released before the Millennium, Issue #75 was largely centred around the imminent release of the then-new James Bond film The World Is Not Enough, whose star car was the BMW Z8, the car depicted on the cover. The subtitle on this issue's spine reads "The spine who loved me", in reference to the similarly-titled 1977 Bond film starring Roger Moore.

Contents

• First steers - Prodded, poked and perused this time: the Caterham Seven Superlight R500, Mitsubishi Shogun Pinin, Hyundai Accent, BMW X5, Citroen's Saxo VTS and VTR, the 2.7-litre Porsche Boxster, Toyota Yaris Verso and MR-S, and SEAT Leon.
• New Fiesta vs. Rover 25 - There's some fresh blood, of sorts, entering the supermini battlefield. But which of these facelifted foes will emerge victorious?
• Coupé creations - Toyota's sharp-looking new Celica squares up to its rival coupes: the Ford Cougar, Fiat Coupe, Honda Prelude and Peugeot 406 Coupé.
• Je ne baguette rien - They may look a lot like bread vans, but will the Renault Kangoo or the Citroen Berlingo Multispace take the lifestyle cake?
• Tree fella - We're not really lumberjacks, but our tong-term Subaru Forester is more than OK.
• Dad's got a new motor - Editor's perks No 23: you get first dibs on the new long-term Jaguar XJ.
• Putting the boot in - However young you feel, age will get you in the end. So plan for the future with some sensible saloons like the Chrysier Neon, Renault Megane Classic, Ford Focus and Fiat Marea.
• Dancing with the Devil - Meet Lamborghini's latest, lighter, lairier leviathan - the fab Diablo GT.
• BMW Z8 - Not everyone can be a cool, world-saving secret agent - but you can drive the car. Here's what we civvies will get from Munich's super-sexy soft top.
• Licenced to thrill - With more gadgets than the Tokyo Motorshow, it's the best of 007's motors.
• The name was Bond, James Bond - But there's more to George Lazenby than than those pretend secret agent antics - like his love for bikes.
• Sideways stormers - Celica GT-Four, Sunny GTi-R, Impreza, Escort Cossie or Integrate? Which rally-bred road-goer is the best secondhand buy?
• Jumble fever - The place: the Hershey Autojumble, Pennsylvania. The goal: buy a Spindizzy. The outcome?
• LA's repo men - Are they low-lifes or good guys?
• Two-stroke sense - Young and eager to get mobile? Need some frugal transportation? Or just sick of the gridlock? Check out our guide to scooters.
• First gear - The best from the Tokyo Motorshow.
• Headroom - Gordon Murray, Land Speed Record antics, Vicki B-H, 40 years of the M1 and a lot more.
• All torque - Our four columnists speak their minds.