Yangwang, 400hp for £22k and guilty pleasure

Plus an ode to the Volvo XC90. Here's what's in store on this week's podcast...

By Cam Tait / Tuesday, 7 October 2025 / Loading comments

Nothing catches you off guard quite like John Howell opening a podcast with something positive to say about a car he’s been driving. Perhaps that was to be expected, given that said car is the new Volvo XC90 and that John’s affection for Swedish machines is well established, but it sets us up nicely for an episode of The Gassing Station packed full of our guilty pleasure cars.

The star of our first topic isn’t necessarily one John and I pine over, but it is connected to one we do. In case you missed it, the Yangwang U9X is now unofficially the fastest production car on the planet, topping out at over 308mph and beating out the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport in the process. While an impressive feat in itself, John and I were in awe at the almighty save test driver Marc Bessing pulled off at 293mph on his way to setting the EV production record a few weeks prior. It’s also a record that seems to have come from nowhere, given we’ve only seen the U9 jumping and dancing in videos and at The Goodwood Festival of Speed. Its off-roader sibling, the U8, is perhaps a little more well-known, if only for being a chintzy Land Rover Defender Clone (one which, we’re ashamed to admit, we find quite cool).

On the subject of cars that stand out like a sore thumb, this week’s buying challenge put us slightly out of our comfort zone as we went on the lookout for something that looked as fast as it went. With PHer TheHighlander looking for a £22,000 ‘toy car’ to replace their Mk3 Ford Focus RS, which felt “quite lazy” despite having 400hp, we set about searching for a replacement with big power and shouty looks. John, as ever, didn’t quite follow the criteria to a tee, choosing this (admittedly really rather lovely) Kia Stinger GT-S as his candidate, while my Dodge Challenger SRT8 seemed like it’d be much more to TheHighlander’s liking (if a smidgen over budget). Of course, you can put your own picks forward in the forum topic here.

And so, that brings us to our final topic: guilty pleasure cars. We’ve all got them, and minimax’s topic shows that there’s a fan for just about anything on four wheels, so we decided to finally come clean about the cars we secretly admire. My contribution is the Hyundai Accent 1.3i, the car I bought on my 17th birthday because it was a) the basis of a WRC car and b) cheap. It was a dreadful thing, but a part of me would love to do a Prodrive P25-style build to give it the rally special it always deserved. Meanwhile, John confides his adoration of the Mk3 Vauxhall Astra and even went out of his way to buy a pristine example which, unfortunately, met a cement-based end shortly into his ownership. You’ll need to have a listen to find out how.

Listen here