Innholdsfortegnelse for 20/06/2018 i Autocar

THIS WEEK, WE celebrate the highest-achieving women in the automotive industry – a list topped by Citroën CEO Linda Jackson. Before she took charge of the famous French brand four years ago, it was drifting in mediocrity, lacking the creative spark and flair for which its entire reputation was founded, with a so-so range of decent but uninspiring cars. The Citroën of today is very di.erent indeed. Less important than the fact cars such as the C3 Aircross and Cactus are better than Citroëns immediately before them is that they are di.erent and interesting, likeable in their own ways, with real reasons to buy them. As Steve Cropley discovers when shadowing Jackson for the day (p56), that Citroën of 2018 is so di.erent is no surprise under her leadership. The…

What was the design brief? “We wanted the new A1 to be the sportiest car in its class. You could say we sent the new A1 to the gym, because the outgoing car looks a little bit round in comparison. The new platform’s proportions have helped this a lot. It’s become lower, wider, longer, with shorter overhangs. So the base was already much better proportionally.” Given its popularity with female buyers, was this designed to appeal more to men? “I don’t think so. The new A1’s design is more grown-up and sportier; and that fits for both men and women.” Why has the A1 received more Quattro features than its siblings? “It was always like we’re creating a small rally car appearance. I think that the essence of Audi is…

CITROEN BOSS LINDA Jackson has challenged the automotive industry to set an example to other sectors in terms of workplace diversity. Jackson said: “Automotive is one of the most pioneering industries when it comes to future technology, so why can’t we become a leader in equality and diversity and show other sectors how it’s done?” She said the debate should not be “anchored in pure equality terms [but] be about gender-neutrality. In other words, if you’re making a difference, standing out, you should progress whatever your gender.” Acknowledging that the industry remains “massively male-dominated”, Jackson cited an Institute of the Motor Industry report that states the automotive staffing mix is a 5:1 ratio of men to women. She added: “The age-old stereotypes still exist of men as the car mechanics…

MERCEDES-BENZ IS preparing to provide the A-Class with a new plug-in hybrid powertrain as an alternative to the upgraded petrol, diesel and mild hybrid units already available for the new, fourth-generation hatchback. The new powertrain, which is being developed as part of a number of electrified EQ Power units for various Mercedes models, will bring zeroemissions plug-in capability to the A-Class for the first time when it is offered in the UK early next year, placing it into direct competition with the likes of the soon-to-be-renewed Audi A3 e-tron. Set to be offered in other compact models from the German car maker, including the upcoming third-generation B-Class MPV and new GLB small SUV, the petrol-electric system is currently being tested in a fleet of A-Class prototypes ahead of a possible…

Volkswagen’s driverless car technology is on course to be launched in 2021 with level four/five capability (level five is fully autonomous) and most likely on a fleet of Transporter-type minibuses in the US. VW’s chief digital officer, Johann Jungwirth, is moving to San Francisco to establish the operation, which will offer a fleet “of many vehicles” and is likely to operate under the Moia banner. The aim is to make up ground on Google’s Waymo operation, which has pledged to introduce a fleet of self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans in Arizona later this year. Jungwirth acknowledges Waymo as “the best advanced of anyone on self-driving technology”. Jungwirth’s return to Silicon Valley had been misinterpreted as him leaving the company altogether, but he confirmed to Autocar that he is staying with VW…

“An electrified version of every Vauxhall-Opel model will be offered by 2024” Vauxhall-0pel has launched a massive, all-encompassing revival project aimed initially at “fixing Europe” and then launching itself into the world’s biggest export markets, first China and then possibly the US. Carlos Tavares, CEO of the PSA Group that acquired Vauxhall-Opel last year, is convinced that despite a long history of unprofitability under former owner General Motors, the revived British-German concern can become “a true European champion”. Car customers’ appreciation for “German precision” will be used as a basis to build exports where PSA’s French marques might not do as well. Under new plans announced in Rüsselsheim, Germany, Vauxhall-Opel will end links with GM by 2024, building every new model on one of two highly flexible PSA-derived platforms, CMP…

Vauxhall-Opel says its main powertrain focus will be meeting emissions targets. With PSA (but independent of the group at the time), it made the decision last year to comply with new engine exhaust regulations earlier than required. It now claims 79 of its models already comply ahead of time with forthcoming EU6d TEMP regulations, the toughest standards yet. In future, all Vauxhall-Opel models will use just four engine families instead of a previous 10. Rüsselsheim will take global responsibility for designing and developing the PSA Group’s four-cylinder engines in the future. (One senior engineer let slip that a 1.6-litre four is coming soon, fully hybridised like the rest.) Opels and Vauxhalls will also make good use of PSA’s highly rated family of PureTech three-cylinder engines. Through PSA, Vauxhall-Opel will have…

The formidable Hill Route at Millbrook Proving Ground is to a 2.3-tonne pickup truck what the Dakar Rally is to a Formula 1 car. The X-Class nevertheless demonstrated praiseworthy poise and balance, given its nose-heavy weight distribution and inherent lack of torsional rigidity. Body roll was also kept in check more readily than expected, although we could do without the kickback sent through the steering column when any challenging questions are asked of an already loaded-up front axle. Driven with due deference to the laws of physics, this chassis gives little cause for reasonable criticism, although an impetuous ESP system that cannot be switched off suggests Mercedes has played it rather safe.…

The ‘A’ in Mercedes-Benz A-Class could stand in for so many concepts useful to us over the course of the next few pages. ‘A’ is for ‘agitant’, you may very well be thinking; especially if you’ve never been drawn quite so powerfully by the styling of a small Mercedes hatchback. It could also be for ‘advanced’, ‘alacritous’ or ‘accomplished’. That’s what I’m thinking, having driven one for a few hundred miles over an interesting couple of days. We’ve had occasion to write about this car twice already and, on both occasions, those sort of words freely tumbled out of the reviewers’ keyboard. On neither previous occasion, however, did we have an Audi A3 Sportback and a BMW 1 Series on hand – the cars against which the stature of Mercedes’…

It’s Stig of the Dump meets Don Johnson – a chop-top Ferrari Testarossa crudely stiffened and finished in primer; the antidote to all those gleaming Rosso Corsa Ferraris piloted once a year by meticulously groomed squillionaires, dressed to impress in prancing horse regalia. It belongs to Scott Chivers, a man with interesting views on Ferraris and owning them… “I have red Ferraris but it’s not my favourite colour and I don’t drive the cars to be seen,” he says. “My daily driver is a black 360 Challenge Stradale. I’ve owned it for eight years and done 50,000 miles in it. I go to the shops and take my kids to school in it. I love the fact it’s used – and looks it.” His Testarossa, or Ratarossa as he calls…

FINAL REPORT MILEAGE 7735 WHY WE RAN IT We’ve just had a diesel vRS for three months. Next up: petrol vRS for three months. Which makes the better buy? My three-month custodianship of the Race Blue Skoda has drawn to an end. I doubt I’ll miss the Octavia vRS 2.0 TDI too much, but only because it has made way for a shiny new model. The lasting impression from those three months at the wheel of Skoda’s diesel vRS is this: when government legislation makes diesel cars unduly expensive, and when it knackers their residual values – which seems to be the direction we’re heading in at the moment – lots of drivers, myself included, are going to sorely miss mid-40s to the gallon and virtually a 500-mile range. What…

RAPID POINT-TO-POINTER Classic car investors are always looking for the next big earner, a model that is currently sitting in the doldrums with prices that are temptingly cheap. The Lotus Elan from the early 1990s is surely worth looking into for this very reason because you can find plenty of good examples, like this one-owner car we spotted on PistonHeads. This generation of the Elan had a long gestation because it was originally intended to be rear-wheel drive and house a Toyota engine, but when General Motors acquired Lotus, that design was shelved and the Toyota powerplant was swapped for one from Isuzu, a GM subsidiary. Another change came in the form of a move to front-wheel drive. This was unheard of in a sports car because most people at…

“Range-topping M850i features a 4.4-litre V8 petrol engine that produces 523bhp and 554lb ft” The new BMW 8 Series Coupé has been designed to offer the performance of a Porsche 911 with the luxury of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, according to the car’s global product manager. The new two-door premium sports car revives the 8 Series nameplate last seen in 1999. The model has been conceived to kick-start BMW’s push into the super-luxury market, and global product manager Sarah Lessmann said that the brief was to “define how a sports car should be”. She added: “Everyone in the project had the vision of BMW getting back to sports cars, and not just sporty cars.” The 8 Series, which goes on sale this month, will initially be offered in two versions. The…

Audi will take the fight to the hot-selling Mini with its all-new A1 Sportback, which will be packed with technology, safety kit and the brand’s latest premium features in a bid to make it the most generously equipped supermini on sale. The second-generation A1 will arrive this November with the aim of continuing to draw new and young customers to the brand. The outgoing A1 is Audi’s third-bestselling model in the UK. It has been a consistent seller for Audi across Europe, too, with annual sales in the region only once dipping below 90,000 units since it was launched in 2010. But with rivals such as the Mini achieving more than double that total (it sold in 215,549 units last year), Audi has yet to tap into the full sales…

Volkswagen driver Romain Dumas is confident of breaking the electric car record at this weekend’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. VW has developed the fully electric 671bhp ID R Pikes Peak EV purely for the 12.42-mile, 156-turn hill climb in Colorado. The firm is aiming to learn valuable lessons about EV tech to boost the development of its range of ID road models, due on sale in 2020, as well as challenging the EV record of 8min 57.118sec, set by Rhys Millen in the 1596bhp Drive eO PP03 in 2016. Dumas has won at Pikes Peak in three of the past four years driving a petrol-powered Norma prototype. The Frenchman recently tested the ID R on Pikes Peak. When asked by Autocar about his chances of breaking the electric record,…

Aston Martin’s reborn ultra-luxury marque, Lagonda, will spearhead the brand’s introduction to series-production electric models in 2021 with a Rolls-Royce Phantom-rivalling saloon, previewed by the Vision Concept. It was thought that the Aston DBX SUV, due next year, would get a zero-emissions powertrain first, given that the concept was electric and the production model arrives sooner, but boss Andy Palmer has confirmed that Lagonda will lead the company’s move to electrification, ahead of an electric version of the DBX. The decision reflects Aston’s plan to position Lagonda as a futuristic alternative to Rolls-Royce and Bentley. It aims to be the first luxury brand to truly embrace modern technology and the efficiency of EV design, mixing a near-silent zero-emissions powertrain with increased cabin space. Ahead of the electric Lagonda’s arrival, a…

HYUNDAI-KIA AND the Volkswagen Group – led by its Audi brand – will co-operate on the development of hydrogen fuel vehicles in a deal intended to fast-track the technology’s development and dramatically bring down its costs. As part of the deal, Audi has committed to bringing its first hydrogen-powered car to market “at the beginning of the next decade”. No details have been released beyond the fact that it will be an SUV. “The more capability we have, the more scale we will get, the more prices will reduce and the more authorities will be willing to invest in and encourage the technology,” said Sae-Hoon Kim, head of Hyundai-Kia’s FCEV research team. The tie-up initially allows for the cross-licensing of patents and access to parts deemed non-competitive, but both sides…

There’s a new reasonably priced car out. This is it. The new Kia Ceed, not quite as reasonably priced as it was, years ago, in those days we barely remember, when Kia was a budget brand and fewer people thought the world was flat. Happy times. But from £18,295, it’ll be reasonable enough. Anyway, today Kia’s third-generation Ceed loses its apostrophe, gets a new bodyshell that’s 23kg lighter than the old one and yet stiffer because of more high-strength steel content, and a load of other technology, like lane assist and adaptive cruise control, which has put those 23kg back in again. That’s what the Ceed is about now: quite big changes beneath that don’t actually seem to affect it on the surface. It’s the same length as it was,…

Mercedes’ hope is that the X-Class will do for its light commercial vehicle arm what premium SUVs such as the GLC have done for its mainstream line-up: secure industry-leading sales. Such a success would not surprise us here at Autocar. Despite its Navara underpinnings, the X-Class has a far more refined identity yet sacrifices nothing that might hinder its ‘working’ credentials. With a rear suspension set-up that moves the game on in this sector, it also sets a new standard in rolling refinement for pick-up trucks, and the interior of the spacious double-cab strikes a creditable balance of robustness and lavishness. Although it can hardly be described as the vehicle the world needs, at a time when the notion of a posh pick-up is gaining popularity, it could certainly prove…

“Leave me alone. I know what I’m doing.” So said Kimi Räikkönen in 2012, driving this very car to victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Kimi may well have known what he was doing, but that’s certainly not the case with the car’s latest incumbent: me. The Lotus E20, now re-liveried in 2017 Renault colours, was also driven by Robert Kubica several times last year during his comeback attempt in its new life as a demo car run by French racing academy Winfield, which is based at Circuit Paul Ricard, where we’ve come to drive it. Before that can happen, though, there are five safety briefings and three practice sessions in a Formula Renault 2.0 car. With roughly 750bhp, the E20 has nearly four times the power of the…

WIN Letter of the week wins this ValetPRO exterior protection and maintenance kit worth £48 I was intrigued and infuriated by Julian Rendell’s article ‘Action plan for roads’ (News, 30 May), which concluded in listing the government bodies and departments to make the proposals work. As a northerner living in East Sussex, I wish my northern neighbours the best of luck. We on the south coast have to endure the hell of the single-carriageway A27 every day, with fatalities and lengthy diversions, closures and delays – the latter for the most minor of incidents – an almost weekly occurrence. Upgrades are promised, however, as noted in a 1937 copy of The New Civil Engineer shown to me by a friend. A similar bold headline to that of Rendell’s article proclaimed…

MILEAGE 2483 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out if the new, turbo Swift Sport still offers good, simple hot hatch fun that can compete with the best in class There are plenty of things to talk about regarding our Suzuki Swift Sport. How it drives, how it rides, what the engine’s like – that sort of thing. You know, the stuff that actually matters when considering the experience of driving one of the new kids on the hot hatch block. And yet all pretty much everyone who has seen our Swift Sport wants to talk to me about is something that is entirely superficial: the colour. Now, a car’s paint job shouldn’t really matter, yet it is what everyone asks about. So, by popular demand, let’s start there. In…

Yikes. The last thing you want to see on the dashboard of a cheap old Porsche is anything that is telling you to immediately make a diversion to the nearest garage. After the ABS light came the traction control one. I was not sitting in the captain’s chair at the time. We are at the tail end of the dealer warranty and they wanted me to return it to their local fixer. I didn’t fancy the drive and spoke to them on the phone, and they seemed fairly terrified at the prospect of a Porsche. So I unilaterally booked it into my local. I will keep you abreast of developments.…

As a former Mitsubishi salesman familiar with the high-tech Sapporo saloon of the late 1980s, with its clever adaptive suspension, and its sportier contemporary, the turbocharged Starion coupé, I was less surprised than most when, in 1992, the company sprang the high-tech 3000GT on UK car buyers. With its four-wheel steering, four-wheel drive, electronically controlled damping and, under that sculpted bonnet, a twin-turbocharged 24-valve 3.0-litre V6, it should have had sales folk clamouring for fresh supplies. Except things didn’t work out that way. A high price, lukewarm reviews and dealers’ inability to sell anything but Shoguns meant too many GTs kept showrooms company. It’s why you’ll find so few used ones for sale today. Not so its Japanesemarket equivalent, the GTO. There’s a reasonable number of right-hand-drive, privately imported GTOs,…

A boosted 250bhp engine and all-wheel-drive traction will make the next Audi S1 the fastest and most powerful car in its class. Expected in late 2019, the new S1 will use a higherpowered version of the Volkswagen Group’s EA888 turbocharged 2.0-litre fourcylinder engine. Combined with a Haldex-style quattro system, this should enable the S1 to trim several tenths from the 5.9sec 0-62mph time of its predecessor in five-door form. The next S1 will also benefit from the enhanced structural rigidity offered by the new A1’s MQB A0 platform. It is stronger than the old car’s PQ25 underpinnings and uses 27% ultra-high-strength composites in the bodyshell. Although Audi has yet to confirm the next S1, Autocar understands that it is set for sale because it acts as an effective halo product…

Aston Martin’s track version of its Valkyrie hypercar, the AMR Pro, isn’t out until 2020, but it appears likely that the production version could end up being even more exciting than the official figures – including peak power of 1100bhp and a 1000kg weight with the same in downforce – have so far suggested. Red Bull Racing’s Adrian Newey, who has led the car’s development alongside Aston creative director Marek Reichman, said: “The downforce we are quoting is obviously early days. The model you see now is effectively the ideas that stand behind the project given over to Marek’s team to interpret. It will, of course, change quite a lot from that.” In other words, it could get even quicker. Newey also admitted that the Valkyrie came close to having…

The Volkswagen T-Cross will become the fourth SUV in the car maker’s European line-up when it goes on sale early next year, following its reveal in October. The supermini-SUV will sit below the existing T-Roc, Tiguan and Touareg and, with an expected price above £17,000, rival the Seat Arona, Renault Captur and second-generation Nissan Juke. It’s the latest in a 19-strong line-up of SUVs that VW plans to have in place within the next two years. VW’s aim is to boost sales of high-riding models to 40% of its overall global total by the end of the decade. The T-Cross uses VW’s MQB A0 platform, shared with the VW Polo, Arona and Audi A1 (see p10), among others. Engines will also be shared with the T-Cross’s Polo sibling, meaning that…

They used to be a really big deal, cars like the Peugeot 508 and its sort, the Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Insignia, Renault Laguna. You know the type: big D-segment saloons and wagons, doyennes of company car fleets, discounted and flogged out to them for the sales reps. Nostalgic for those days? Suit jacket in the back window? Sales samples in the boot? Thirty-thousand motorway miles a year? Jumpers for goalposts? Mmm. Isn’t it? Anyway, that was then, and this is now, and know this: Peugeot CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato doesn’t care. Doesn’t care, in fact, if you buy a 508 at all. Seriously, he literally just told me as much: “The 508 will not affect my profit-and-loss,” he said. “Sixty per cent of profit is SUVs [and another 30% is in…

Facelifts: there are light ones, heavy ones and those that look light but are, in fact, really rather heavy. The fourth-generation C-Class has undergone one such facelift, with around 6500 parts – half of the car’s overall tally – replaced or modified in preparation for battle with BMW’s next-generation 3 Series and an updated Audi A4. There’s a new digital instrument binnacle, a 12.3in infotainment display as part of the £2795 Premium Package, the exterior design is more expressive (it’s pretty marginal) and you can option adaptive headlights made up of 84 rotating LEDs. All in, Mercedes’ junior saloon is as pretty as it ever was. Driven here is the C200. While it won’t constitute the bulk of C-Class sales (that’ll be the 220d, which in entry-level SE spec is…

MODEL TESTED X250D PROGRESSIVE 4MATIC • Price £35,172 • Power 187bhp • Torque 332lb ft • 0-60mph 11.2sec • 30-70mph in fourth 12.2sec • Fuel economy 26.7mpg • CO2 emissions 207g/km • 70-0mph 48.2m This week, we’ll find out if the world’s first premium-branded pick-up truck is the revolutionary light commercial vehicle the world has been waiting for; or if instead it’s up there with the chocolate teapot and the inflatable dartboard among the roster of things that surely only ought to exist for the purposes of the practical joke. Can the world’s oldest-surviving premium car maker successfully turn a flatbed workhorse into a truly desirable – even luxurious – vehicle? What reasons are there to fork out more than you need to for something that is, at its heart,…

MILEAGE 10,009 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if, after 40 years, the Golf GTI is still the world’s best all-round hot hatch Forty-one point eight miles per gallon. Not my words, Lynn, but that of the fuel card we fill here in for our Autocar long-term test cars to keep track of the fuel used. That’s what a drive down to Cornwall saw me return at the green pump over a bank holiday break. Here’s a page to tell you the latest wonders of life with the most enduring and special of hot hatches to live with, and I’m starting with fuel economy. No, this is not a case of me having nothing more interesting to talk about, but a quite remarkable story in its own right. Think about…

The 2001 Octavia is one of two Skodas that Mark Torok owns, the other being a rare Skoda Fabia 1.9 SDI saloon. It cost him less than £1000 to buy both and put them on the road. “The Octavia was sent for scrap after failing the MOT on a few minor issues,” he says. “I bought it from my friend’s scrapyard for £350. It was repaired in a long weekend, flew through the MOT and is now perfectly reliable, having covered 172,000 miles, including a trip to the Skoda museum in the Czech Republic.” SEND YOUR USED CAR TALES TO james@bangernomics.com AND READERS' QUESTIONS TO autocar@haymarket.com…

An expert’s view WAYNE WAMSLEY, MITSUBISHI G TO OWNER “I’ve had my GTO for eight years, during which time it’s been completely reliable and a blast to drive. My only serious complaint is how difficult some areas of the car are to work on. There’s so much technology. It’s all crammed in and hard to reach. Fortunately, being a Mitsubishi, it all still works. The windscreen slopes forward quite a bit, which doesn’t help head room, but once you’re on board, it feels really special. My car is 26 years old but there’s no sign of any rust. I bought it on a whim for £2500. It’s worth around £4000 now so I’m happy.” Buyer beware… ■ ENGINE The oil pressure needle should sit a quarter way around at idle,…

While the Porsche 911 has been rising in value fairly rapidly, the 944 hasn’t in comparison. Except for the Turbo, with great examples heading for the £20,000 mark. However, you can still find a usable one for much less than that, such as this one that went for £9900. As with any Porsche, service history is critical, so it’s good to see that this example has recently been serviced and has fresh brakes. And the best part about the 944 is that despite most examples being 30 years old or more, you can still use them regularly because of how well they’re engineered. You’ll probably need to do little more than yearly maintenance. GET IT WHILE YOU CAN Audi A6 Price new £35,455. Price now £22,610 The Audi A6 has…