Innholdsfortegnelse for 1638 i Auto Express

Designer Vidal swaps PSA Group for Renault RENAULT has confirmed the appointment of former Peugeot chief designer Gilles Vidal (above). He has been credited with turning around Peugeot’s product range with a sharp new design language used on the 208 supermini, the 2008 and 3008 SUVs, and the 508 saloon. Vidal’s move makes it two high-profile design hires for Renault in 2020, after the recent appointment of ex-SEAT/Cupra designer Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos. Vidal joins after a long career at PSA, where he had worked since 1996. UK car production at lowest level since 1954 UK car production declined by 42.8 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2020 due to the coronavirus lockdown. Just 381,357 cars rolled off production lines – compared with 666,521 in the first half of 2019…

Legal AA: 0345 850 1130 (m) RAC: 0330 159 1446 (m) Which?: 01992 878329 Citizens Advice Consumer helpline: 03454 040506 Local Trading Standards Local Citizens Advice Bureau Used car inspections AA: 0800 056 8040 RAC: 0330 159 0720 Technical advice AA: 0370 142 0002 (m) Driving licences DVLA: 0300 790 6801 Car registration/history HPI: 01722 422422 AA: 0800 316 3564 DVLA: 0300 790 6802 RAC: 0330 159 0364 Traffic information AA: 0906 888 4322 RAC: 09003 444999 (p) Problems with dealers The Motor Ombudsman: 0345 241 3008 Consumer Ombudsman: www.consumer-ombudsman.org. org RMIF: 0845 305 4230 Scottish Motor Trade Assoc. 0131 331 5510 Problems with makers The Motor Ombudsman: 0345 241 3008 Financial problems Financial Ombudsman: 0800 023 4567 Safety concerns/recalls DVSA: 0300 123 9000…

Jonathan_Burn@dennis.co.uk @Jonathan_burn Running costs 40.4mpg (off icial) £58 fill-up Performance 0-62mph/top speed 7.3 seconds/150mph AS far as variety goes, Audi’s updated A5 range is about as expansive as it gets. Whether you want two doors or four, a coupé or a cabriolet, a performance diesel or a petrol engine, the choice is yours. The version we’re trying here, the A5 Coupé 40 TFSI, is far from the most potent combination, but it is one that will account for a big slice of UK sales. This two-door, four-seat model sits at the lower end of the line-up but still comes in at £41,830, before options, in popular S line trim. It’s powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine that develops 187bhp and 320Nm of torque. As standard, it’s paired with…

sean_carson@dennis.co.uk WHY WAS IT SO GOOD? THE modern hot hatchback market owes its success to this car, the original Volkswagen Golf GTI. There had been tuned versions of family cars before the Golf, like the Mini Cooper S, for example, but the Mk1 GTI defined the template for the modern hot hatch. It combined performance and handling to rival some sports cars with a level of usability and quality that meant it could be your family car and was deeply desirable. Yet VW never planned to make a hot Golf after the allnew model replaced the ageing rear-engined, rear-wheeldrive Beetle. This was the seventies, and the oil crisis meant frugal, cheap-to-run cars were more important to buyers. An internal project went under the radar for a few years before it…

MODEL TESTED: Tesla Model 3 Performance PRICE: £56,490 POWERTRAIN: Dual e-motors/lithium-ion battery Running costs 3.6 miles/kWh (on test) £10.44 charge/£0 or 0% tax Practicality Boot space 425 litres Performance 0-60mph/top speed 3.2 seconds/162mph IN Dual Motor Performance trim, the Tesla Model 3 is more expensive than the Polestar 2 Performance pack, priced from £56,490, but it offers more performance and range. Is it worth the extra? Design & engineering THE Model 3 uses Tesla’s tried-and-tested skateboard architecture that it pioneered for electric cars – it’s rapidly become the norm for many manufacturers. It uses a chassis with the battery sandwiched in the floor and, on this Model 3 Performance, a motor on each axle. The 75kWh battery is slightly smaller than the Polestar’s, but it offers the same 72.5kWh of…

TECH THE Polestar has no start button. You just jump in and put it in drive; to turn it off you get out and lock it. But the quality of the keyfob at this price is unforgiveable. The Tesla’s key is a contactless card. You place it on the B pillar to unlock the car and on the centre console to turn it on. It doesn’t need charging like some digital keys. Quality isn’t an issue like it is with the Polestar’s key, either. EV vs ICE WITHOUT a combustion engine, gearbox or fuel tank to package in their bodies, both cars offer an impressive level of practicality with good-sized load bays, big wells under the boot floors and space in the front for extra storage. From this shot you…

HOW OUR GUIDE WORKS PERFORMANCE: This is the manufacturer’s claimed acceleration time for a car, and is measured from 0-60mph or 0-62mph (0-100kph), in seconds. ECONOMY AND EMISSIONS: The combined economy figure in miles per gallon and its emissions in grams per kilometre of CO2. Figures are the best achieved in the latest WLTP tests, but will vary according to equipment and are unlikely to be representative of everyday efficiency. INSURANCE: Group rating as quoted by the Association of British Insurers. WARRANTY: Next to each manufacturer’s name is the basic warranty period in months and miles for the mechanicals, corrosion and paintwork. EVs and hybrids will have dedicated battery cover. LIST PRICE: This is the on-the-road figure and includes VAT, delivery to dealer, 12 months’ road tax, number plates and…

James_Brodie@dennis.co.uk @jimmybrods Visit autoexpress.co.uk for your daily news updates GORDON Murray has revealed his self-styled successor to the McLaren F1: the Gordon Murray Automotive T.50. The famed automotive engineer describes it as a true analogue supercar and the perfect antidote to increasingly heavy modern hypercars. With 2020 marking the 50th year of Professor Murray’s career, the T.50 features nods to his work in car design and Formula One. It features ground-effect aerodynamics and a bespoke V12 engine from Cosworth, while all of the major components have been sourced from UK companies. This is our first proper look at the T.50. Only 100 will be produced, costing £2.36million each before taxes, and almost two thirds of the production run has already been sold. Murray explains that the T.50’s design is an…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy May vanish by end of 2021 Aftersales service to continue THE Mitsubishi brand is to disappear from British showrooms, after the firm announced it was abandoning any plans to develop new cars for the UK and Europe. A brief statement from the Japanese company last week said that the board of directors had “resolved to freeze the introduction of new models to the European market”. Despite the wording, though, the move is not a pause, but rather the start of a phased withdrawal. There’s no official word yet on when we’ll start to see Mitsubishi models being dropped from UK dealerships. However, while the existing range will continue to be sold for as long as emissions regulations and residual stock levels allow, well placed sources have indicated to…

Mercedes names its price for new E-Class MERCEDES has confirmed prices for the newly facelifted E-Class, which has just gone on sale in the UK, starting from £39,130 for the E 200 Sport Saloon and £41,460 for the E 200 Sport Estate. The plug-in hybrid E 300 e runs from £46,230, while the diesel E 300de PHEV costs from £49,480. AMG variants begin from £64,750 for the six-cylinder E 53, and £98,370 for the V8, 604bhp E 63 S. Four trim levels are on offer: Sport, AMG Line, AMG Line Premium, and AMG Line Night Edition Premium Plus. Treasury revenue falls by £2.4bn in lockdown THE Treasury lost £2.4bn of fuel duty revenue in two months due to lockdown. Fuel duty fell from £4.5bn in April and May 2019 to…

Alex_Ingram@dennis.co.uk @AxleIngram BMW has confirmed that the next generation of its 5 Series will be available with the option of a fully electric powertrain, and will be on sale by 2023. It means that the brand’s prime executive saloon will rival the forthcoming Mercedes EQE saloon – an all-electric sibling for the E-Class – and the Tesla Model S. The new model will follow the BMW iX3, i4 and iNEXT SUV, all of which are due to be launched before the end of 2021. And like those cars, the electric 5 Series is likely to carry an ‘i’ prefix – i5 – to set it apart from the petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid models that will continue in the next generation. It’s unknown whether BMW will look to offer the…

We want to hear your views. Send your questions or opinions to the E-mail address below Contact Tristan Shale-Hester mail@autoexpress.co.uk @AutoExpress FROM: Joseph Lynn I GENERALLY hate SUVs, but this, a pure off-roader with removable roof and doors, I like. If Jeep can find enough buyers to justify bringing the Wrangler to the UK, then I’m sure Ford can drum up enough interest to get the Bronco over here. FROM: Geoffy D IT’S easy to get excited about this because it looks great, but it won’t translate to the UK. Aside from emission regs making it hard to sell here, import taxes would make it too expensive, and the handling will be geared towards US roads and drivers. Join the debate at www.autoexpress.co.uk “As with the Defender, Fiat 500 and…

Jonathan_Burn@dennis.co.uk @Jonathan_burn Running costs 19.1mpg (off icial) £104 fill-up Performance 0-62mph/top speed 3.7 seconds/207mph Visit autoexpress.co.uk for the latest new cars and drives WITH Bentley retiring the Mulsanne, the mantle of carrying the brand’s flagship status falls to the new Flying Spur. First launched 15 years ago, it was largely seen as a stretched and more practical version of the Continental coupé. And not a particularly pretty one at that. But how things change; the third-generation Flying Spur is perhaps the most elegant-looking Bentley in the current line-up, and worth every bit of its £168,000 price tag. Key to its suave appearance are its new proportions. Bentley has added 130mm to the Flying Spur’s wheelbase – now 3,194mm – pushing the front and rear axles as far apart as possible…

sean_carson@dennis.co.uk Running costs 166-235mpg (off icial) £46 fill-up Performance 0-62mph/top speed 5.9 seconds/149mph WE’VE tried SUVs from premium French brand DS before, but the DS 3 and DS 7 Crossbacks received mixed verdicts. However, the electrified variants have now hit the UK market, and they make a lot more sense than the petrol and diesel models. Here we’re driving the battery-assisted DS 7, which is badged E-Tense. However, while the similarly named DS 3 Crossback E-Tense is fully electric, this larger model is a plug-in hybrid. It combines a 197bhp 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol turbo that drives the front wheels with a 108bhp electric motor on the rear axle for a total of 296bhp and (selectable) e-four-wheel drive. Of all the powertrains on offer, this suits the DS 7 the best…

Polestar 2 BOTH of these cars are sportier EVs that allow involving driving with just one pedal. the 2 has three levels of regenerative braking: off, low and high. In the strongest setting, the level of braking is similar to gently applying the brakes in a conventional car to the point that, with enough anticipation, you can drive through bends and down country roads without needing to touch the brake pedal or trouble those Brembo calipers. It will even bring the car to a complete stop in town, so the Polestar offers proper one-pedal driving, just like the tesla. It’s nicely calibrated and offers more retardation at medium and lower speeds, so when you lift off at higher speeds on the motorway or a dual carriageway, the car coasts a little…

REMOVING contaminants bonded to paintwork is key before applying a wax or sealant, and is usually done with a clay bar. Depending on the grade, these can be quite aggressive and lead to marring if care is not taken. For a gentler alternative, there are fallout removers. These work in a similar way to ‘red’ wheel cleaners, turning purple as they react with iron particles, loosening their grip on the paint. So how effective are they? To find out, we tried three of the latest solutions from McLaren, Alchemy and car-care veteran CarPlan. We applied each to clean but neglected bodywork, and assessed progress using the ‘finger inside a plastic bag’ test. We made two attempts, and also factored in ease of use and price. CarPlan takes the win here…

McLAREN F1 Money-no-object hypercar rewrote benchmarks in 1993. Just 64 road cars were made; values today exceed £15m. LCC ROCKET Track-day flyer had the looks of a fifties racer but awesome pace, with a Yamaha bike engine pushing just 380kg. MERCEDES SLR McLAREN Supercharged V8 super-coupé was an homage to Merc’s 300 SLR. It was produced at McLaren’s factory in Surrey. YAMAHA SPORTS RIDE Curvy coupé stunned showgoers at the 2015 Tokyo show, but production version never made it beyond planning. MOTIV Earlier T.25 and T.27 city cars failed to reach buyers, but single-seat quadricycle looks more relevant by the day. OX Flat-pack vehicle is designed to be shipped to developing regions and then assembled there using local labour.…

James_Brodie@dennis.co.uk @jimmybrods JAGUAR Land Rover has named former Groupe Renault boss Thierry Bolloré as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective from 10 September. Frenchman Bolloré – who was removed from his post as Renault Chief Executive in the fallout of the Carlos Ghosn scandal that hit the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance – will replace Sir Ralf Speth, who will retire after 10 years at the helm of JLR. Speth will take up the role of Non-Executive Vice Chairman of Jaguar Land Rover PLC. Bolloré joined Groupe Renault in 2012 following a long career with Michelin, but was CEO of the French automotive giant only briefly – from January 2019 until his dismissal last October. Speaking ahead of his appointment, Bolloré said: “It will be my privilege to lead this fantastic company through…

tristan_shale-hester@dennis.co.uk @tristan_shale WHEN a car catches fire, the immediate priority is obviously safety. The fire brigade needs to ensure that all vehicle occupants are extricated and cared for, before thinking about what effect the burning car could have on the surrounding area and traffic. But once the flames have died down, often leaving the car a smouldering wreck, a hefty insurance claim is likely to come in – meaning another layer of work begins. Because while in most instances when a car catches fire it’s due to a mechanical or electrical defect, or as the result of a crash, in some cases there’s more to the story. Insurance fraud, jealousy attacks or vandalism potentially come into play. As a result, there are many cases where the root cause of the…

Alex_Ingram@dennis.co.uk @AxleIngram Running costs 156.9mpg (off icial) £41 fill-up Performance 0-62mph/top speed 6.9 seconds/120mph WHEN it comes to green credentials, SUVs don’t always paint themselves in a flattering light. But this BMW X1 xDrive25e might just be one of the most fuel-efficient options available today. Thanks to a plug-in hybrid powertrain, Munich’s answer to the Volvo XC40 Recharge T5 can drive for 32 miles on electricity alone, offering the potential for many buyers’ typical commutes to be driven with barely a drop of petrol used. The X1 is the entry point of the BMW SUV range, and with a footprint that’s smaller than a 3 Series’, it’s a doddle to drive around town. Yet there’s still a lofty seating position that gives a great view of the road ahead. So…

sean_carson@dennis.co.uk Running costs 44.8mpg (off icial) £49 fill-up Performance 0-62mph/top speed 8.3 seconds/127mph “The connection with what the MX-5 is doing all of the time is the essence of the experience” THERE must be more special editions of the Mazda MX-5 than pretty much any car ever sold. That’s because this icon has been on sale continuously for more than three decades, and with more than a million examples shifted, it’s the world’s best-selling two-seat roadster. Now there’s another special edition, called the MX-5 R-Sport, and it’s a peach. Priced from £27,700, it’s limited to just 150 examples and features Polymetal Grey metallic paint, some smart 16-inch Rays alloy wheels finished in gloss black and a special silver-grey colour for the fabric convertible roof. This car is based on the…

MODELTESTED: Polestar 2 Performance Pack PRICE: £51,900 POWERTRAIN: Dual e-motors/lithium-ion battery Running costs 3.2 miles/kWh (on test) £10.44 charge/£0 or 0% tax Practicality Boot space 440 litres Performance 0-60mph/top speed 4.7 seconds/127mph THE all-new Polestar 2 electric car is a statement of intent, going up against the Tesla Model 3. It has price on its side, because it costs from £51,900 with the Performance Pack. But does the Polestar measure up elsewhere, too? Design & engineering UNLIKE many electric-only cars – and the Tesla here – the Polestar 2 is underpinned by a platform that also accepts combustion engines. It’s called CMA (Compact Modular Architecture) and is shared with Volvo. The Polestar’s 78kWh lithium-ion battery is located in the floor and down the car’s spine in what would be a…

Polestar 2 Android OS Standard Key features: Google Assistant THE central 11.5-inch touchscreen infotainment system is one of the best in the business and is easily a match for the Tesla’s tech. That’s because it’s powered by Android and uses Google Assistant; the voice control is the best of any we’ve used. It’s an easy set-up to operate, because Google Maps powers the navigation, so traffic data is really accurate. The screen’s graphics are superb, too, and the same is true of the standard 12.3-inch digital dashboard. The speed of response to your inputs is just as good, and there’s very little lag. Apps such as Spotify are included, so you can stream music, but only Android Auto is supported due to it being a Google system. Apple CarPlay isn’t…

Steve_Walker@dennis.co.uk Running costs 105mpg (on test) £67 fill-up/£465 or 10% tax Practicality Boot space 390 litres WHEN the coronavirus pandemic hit, most UK motorists were suddenly driving a lot less than they used to. Yet being restricted to essential travel suits the Volvo S60 T8 plug-in hybrid very nicely, because thanks to a realistic 20-mile electric range, I haven’t bought any petrol since mid-March. I’m not the sort to keep track, but I may well be in the midst of the longest stint without a visit to a fuel station in my adult life. The whiff of octane in my nostrils and dusting off flakes from overpriced pastry products in my lap are distant memories, because I’ve become a stranger to my local forecourt; at the time of writing, there’s…

Got a query? products@autoexpress.co.uk Q Towing the line IN the current climate I am looking at borrowing a relative’s caravan for a break in the UK. Do you have any advice for a towing novice? John Avis, E-mail A IF you passed your test after 1 January 1997, you’ll need to check your licence covers your tow car and caravan combination. The safest approach for beginners is to get some expert training through one of the caravan clubs. Some courses are now restarting. Find out more at www.caravanclub.co.uk and www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk. Q Sucker for a dash cam fix THE windscreen sucker for my Nextbase 312GW dash cam has broken at the suction end. Are replacement parts available? If so, where? Mike Gardner, E-mail A PROBLEMS with Nextbase dash cams, including sourcing…

PRODUCT GROUP TEST 5|8|2020 Every week, we extensively test all the latest car kit from tyres to trim cleaners. Log on to www.autoexpress.co.uk to look through our huge online test archive MINOR scrapes can immediately make a car look scruffy, and all the elbow grease in the world won’t make a difference if the paint is damaged. To make the car look new again will usually mean a costly trip to the bodyshop, but sometimes it doesn’t seem worth it for a small part like a rubbing strip, sill cover or mirror case. If you’re brave and patient enough, it’s easy to carry out the job yourself. After carefully preparing the area and making sure the part is either removed, or the rest of the car is masked off, you…

Got any car queries? Tristan_Shale-Hester@dennis.co.uk Q My car’s sat-nav system is taking a turn for the worse I RECENTLY bought a second-hand car, and the sat-nav system chooses strange routes, selecting back roads and making journeys longer than they should be. Is it broken? Adam Preece, E-mail A WHILE it is possible there is a fault with your navigation system, it’s more likely the previous owner selected certain preferences, such as avoiding motorways, toll roads or tunnels, in the route-guidance settings. Take a look in the sat-nav options on your system to see if this is the case, and deselect any settings you don’t want applied. The car’s handbook should make it clear how to do this, and many manuals are available online if yours is missing. Q Is a pool of…

Dear Tristan, I have a £6,000 budget for my first car, and want an economical family hatchback. What do you recommend? Sean Glenham, E-mail Contact: Tristan_Shale-Hester@dennis.co.uk THE WELL EQUIPPED CHOICE Hyundai i30 FOR: Low insurance group, plenty of equipment, reliable AGAINST: The least dynamically engaging car here THE second-generation i30 was a big step up over the car it replaced, yet it still managed to be cheaper to buy than rival family hatchbacks. Although it’s not the model to go for if you’re after the sharpest handling, the i30 should prove reliable, and it offers decent ride quality. We found a 13-plate 1.4-litre petrol i30 Active with 47,000 miles for £5,995. Sitting in insurance group seven should make cover affordable, while Active trim includes cruise control, parking sensors and Bluetooth.…

Stephen_Errity@dennis.co.uk THE 2019/20 Formula E season concludes this week, in a radically different fashion than first envisaged. Between November and February, the first four rounds in Saudi Arabia, Chile, Mexico and Morocco went ahead as planned, but the championship then had to be paused due to the coronavirus outbreak. In the months since, races in China, Italy, France, Korea, Indonesia, the US and UK have all been cancelled, and a new arrangement – consisting of three doubleheader, behind-closed-doors events across nine days, on three different track layouts at Berlin Tempelhof Airport in Germany – has been put in place. Only essential personnel will travel for the race, with no fans, media or VIPs present. Social-distancing and hygiene procedures, along with Covid-19 testing, will be employed for those present. It’s set…

Global Motorsport Director, Nissan & Infiniti Q THE latter part of this Formula E season now looks radically different. Has Nissan’s approach remained the same, or has your focus shifted to season seven? A “WE haven’t given up; we want to improve our position. We finished fourth last season [with the e.dams team], just a point off third, so we really believe we can and should improve. We’re in the sport to be a top-three team. “The Covid break gave us the opportunity to recover in some areas where we wanted to improve, especially software. Now we’re going to a single location, but the track layout will change three times. It’ll be very spontaneous, but this is the nature of Formula E. “We’ve always gone to city locations not specifically…

IN this game, it’s usually the cars that are the undisputed stars. And that’s the way it should be. But in the final days of July, the global motor business was more about the people than the metal. I’ve never known a week like it for dramatic developments in motor manufacturer boardrooms, design studios and motor-show HQs. The biggest shock was Natarajan Chandrasekaran (of Jaguar Land Rover’s parent company, Tata) naming Frenchman Thierry Bolloré as successor to Germany’s Ralf Speth as CEO at JLR of England. Adding to the shock value of Bolloré bouncing into the hot seat at JLR is the fact some ‘experts’ predicted that Denmark’s Hanne Birgitte Breinbjerg Sorensen would land the job. Her loss is his obvious gain, and we have to believe he’s got what…