Innholdsfortegnelse for November 14, 2018 i Autocar

THE AVERAGE NEW car is 12.6% more efficient than its predecessor, according to the SMMT, the UK car industry body. Yet in September 2018, average CO2 emissions of new cars registered in the UK reached a six-year high of 128.3g/km. This rise is the latest by-product of the Dieselgate scandal and the biggest jump yet in an upward trend since CO2 emissions reached a low of 119.2g/km in August 2016. The decline in diesel sales is not being matched by the growth in electrified cars and buyers are returning to petrol, so CO2 emissions are going up. The more real-world WLTP economy tests will increase them further in the short term. All of this is bad news for the Government, as it has a legal obligation to cut emissions. In…

AUDI IS PREPARING to counter the new Mercedes-Benz CLA with its very own style-led coupé: a new five-door A3 liftback model. The most powerful version, which is set to make more than 400bhp, is described by Audi officials as a spiritual successor to the original Sport Quattro. The secret new Audi was granted production approval by former Audi chairman Rupert Stadler earlier this year and forms part of a future four-model A3 line-up. When it reaches the UK in 2020, it will be sold alongside successors to today’s five-door hatchback, two-door cabriolet and four-door saloon A3s. Sources told Autocar the new five-door A3 coupé could use the Sportback name to draw a link between it and the A5 Sportback, although that branding has previously been used for the five-door A3…

OFFICIAL PICTURES Aston Martin has confirmed that its first-ever SUV model will be called DBX and launch before the end of next year. The DBX was first previewed as a concept car in 2015 but had been tipped to take another name for production, with Varekai one of the rumoured possibilities. Unlike the concept, the production DBX will feature a more conventional five-door layout rather than a sleeker three-door design. The DBX is arguably the most important model in Aston Martin’s history and the next phase of the company’s turnaround plan under boss Andy Palmer. While every Aston produced under Palmer to date as part of his ‘Second Century’ plan has been a replacement for an existing model (DB11, Vantage and DBS Superleggera), the DBX breaks new ground by having…

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV can continue to thrive despite the Government’s “counter intuitive” decision to axe grants for hybrid cars, according to Mitsubishi UK boss Rob Lindley. The Outlander PHEV is the Japanese firm’s bestselling car in the UK and has dominated the plug-in hybrid sales market, with its success partly driven by a now-removed £2500 grant, along with tax breaks. Mitsubishi spoke out when the Government removed grants for plug-in hybrid models despite a pledge to make all new cars electrified by 2040. Lindley reiterated that removing the grant was a “poor decision” that was “counterintuitive to government policy” encouraging green cars. While he added that it was still too early to say what impact the removal of the grant would have on sales, he said he wasn’t concerned…

Renault’s design boss, Laurens van den Acker, says the firm will phase out the use of Renault-badged Dacia models in certain markets – a move that he says will free up the Romanian brand’s cars to take on more individual designs. Dacia models such as the Duster, Logan, Sandero Stepway and Dokker are sold as Renaults in markets such as Russia, Mexico, South Africa and India. “My goal is to have a unique global Renault line-up,” said van den Acker. “Cars that are Renault derivatives of Dacias, I want that to stop. “I can’t argue with the business sense to do it, because Renaults were expensive for some markets and Dacias were relatively modern cars that were reliable and affordable, so we rebadged them. It helped us gain a foot…

PSA chairman Carlos Tavares recently confirmed a 40% year-on-year revenue growth and record profitability for the group, which passed Volkswagen Group in September to become Europe’s biggest car maker. Tavares has transformed PSA’s Peugeot, Citroën and DS brands (plus newly acquired Vauxhall-Opel) from a dire financial situation into what is now one of the most profitable car-making groups in the world. Back in 2012, PSA was close to bankruptcy after years of mounting losses, with the group reporting a €5 billion loss (£4.36bn at today’s exchange rate) that year. Part of this was due to the group’s Eurocentric focus: the European new car market was still suffering from the 2008 financial crash. With high wage costs and far slimmer profit margins in Europe than elsewhere in the world, PSA’s cash…

You’ll be familiar with Jaguar’s first junior sports saloon, seen here in 2019-model-year guise and tested with the entry-level petrol engine. In fact, this is the only petrol engine now available in an XE, the old 3.0 V6 since killed off by stringent new emissions regulations. It means there’s no 375bhp XE S for those who want to just about keep touch with a BMW M3 and do it without the animalistic looks, and that’s a shame. We’re now limited to a downsized four-pot option offered in three states of tune. That means 197bhp, 247bhp or a range-topping ‘30t’ with 296bhp. The last of those also features in the new four-wheel-drive XE 300 Sport, intended to cast across the range a much-needed halo effect. A drop in demand for diesel,…

In so many ways, this fifth-generation Audi A6 seems to represent an interesting shift in thinking for its maker. A deliberate decision, perhaps, to put the handbrake on its attempts to play ‘anything you can do’ with BMW in Munich and Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart, and to head back towards the approach that made its cars so revered, in their way, a quarter-century ago. Mechanical refinement and cabin isolation. Aerodynamic efficiency. Technological sophistication everywhere you look. Readily apparent perceived quality. A design that puts the painstaking technical precision of the car’s assembly on a pedestal. These are the qualities that best distinguish the new A6 Avant, just as you might have said about the big Audi executive saloons and wagons of the late 1980s and early 1990s. They don’t make this…

“An open-top rally car is unusual, not least because the cabin swirls with dust” No matter how much you know about Jaguar’s rallying heritage, the sight of an F-Type convertible with a lamp pod on its nose and a knobbly gravel tyre tucked under each wheel arch can only ever be incongruous. But then incongruous rally cars are the most interesting, aren’t they? Jaguar’s rallying heritage is all ancient history now, but there was a time when its cars were truly a force to be reckoned with. Early in the 1950s, British rally driver Ian Appleyard campaigned an XK120 with no little success, winning the RAC Rally and the prestigious Alpine Rally on two occasions apiece. It was in the off-white NUB 120 that Appleyard and his co-driver and wife…

Is McLaren trying to pull a fast one? Are we looking at the first 300mph car? The Speedtail is clearly a fantastically low-drag device, what with its ‘langheck’ rear end, faired in front wheels and distortable control surfaces. Bear in mind that the McLaren F1 would do 240mph (rev limiter disabled) with just 627bhp, so it’s likely the Speedtail would achieve its quoted 250mph on this power level alone. Provided the aerodynamic drag is groundbreakingly low and the frontal area is similar or less than the legendary F1, then, with over 1000bhp on tap, five miles per minute might be just possible. WIN Letter of the week wins this ValetPRO exterior protection and maintenance kit worth £48…

MILEAGE 8222 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if, after decades trying, BMW has finally found the formula required to create a truly world-class luxury car “It is the only car in which it is possible to apply liquid eye-liner.” As measures of a car’s ride quality go, it was a somewhat left-field contribution, but this prescient observation from my 16-year-old daughter was no less valid for that. For I guess the single biggest question mark that has been hanging over this BMW 740Ld as the months have passed is whether it really does have what it takes to cut it as a true luxury car. It seemed on first acquaintance to buck the trend of all those also-ran 7 Series that preceded it, but could that initial feeling of…

It was suggested to me by several ‘experts’ that fixing the Cooper by changing its head gasket would take just a couple of minutes’ spannering. I suspected that the problem was rather more serious, so dropped the car off at my local garage, which has bigger spanners. Well, this isn’t going to be a quick fix: what we’ve got is a full-on blocked-oil-and-waterway, crammed-full-of-crud scenario. Even the radiator is pretty unwell. Quite why this has happened seems to be a complete mystery. Clearly some bits of something broke off and started getting hot. This is going to be costly and time consuming.…

A mid the gaggle of mid-noughties V8 Vantages and DB9s for similar money, a 2010-reg Rapide for £37,000 stands out. The pristine, light silver car has done 59,000 miles and has a full Aston Martin service history. It’s got the desirable black leather and rear DVD screens, too, and has had just one previous owner. It’s a great example of the value available in the shape of Aston’s understated and, let’s face it, not especially popular Rapide. Former Aston salesman Stefan Jordan recalls trying to sell the first ones: “The price was £164,000 but when Aston saw what a struggle we were having, it ‘supported’ sales with an under-the-table price cut to £135,000.” It also, he says, stopped describing the four-door Rapide as a family car, instead marketed it as…

Tatty examples of Porsche’s everyman motor start at around £3000, but this cheaper barn find looks far more interesting. Complete with bird muck and cobwebs, this 1986 924S sold at auction for £1350, a price that included the 1980s must-have, the in-car phone. Being the S version it has a proper Porsche 2.5-litre engine making 163bhp. It was last MOT’d two years ago and would only take light work to get it up and running. Throw on a set of original tele-dial alloys (we saw a set of four for £300 on eBay) and someone’s bagged themselves a baby Porsche for peanuts.…

Time isn’t so much against us today as threatening to become our worst enemy. We have just a single day with the brand new Cupra Ateca and an intimidatingly long list of things to get done. Thankfully, the location at least is looking like it’s on our side. Having boarded the morning’s first flight out of Heathrow we were in the sky even before the sun, meaning we touched down in Barcelona not much after 9am. Even at this time of day – and towards the end of September, no less – the temperature is warm enough to make us long for one of the nearby Mediterranean beaches, but we have an intriguing new car to explore and very limited time in which to do so. In just 12 hours…

Every brand needs a good story about its origins. Cupra’s is parked outside the office of Seat R&D boss Matthias Rabe: a white Ateca with FR badging and a modest bodykit but sitting on bigger wheels with Brembo calipers showing through the spokes and a quad exhaust at the rear. It’s not only Rabe’s daily driver but also the original prototype that began the project. “As soon as I saw the Ateca I asked why not make a Cupra out of it,” he recalls. “There was lots of debate, lots of discussion but no solution, so I said ‘let’s build a mule’. It was one of the first Atecas ever built, it used to be grey with a foil wrap and we only put the FR kit on it when…

With Cupras and their owners coming from Reading, Bristol, Cambridgeshire and the Midlands, our chosen meeting point – the A338 in west Berkshire – is not only conveniently central but also happens to be one of the best places in the south of England to test and photograph performance cars. Pretty rolling hills and a wide variety of road surfaces make this pocket of countryside a regular Autocar haunt, and it is here that we meet four Seat Cupra owners one Sunday morning. The oldest car in our quartet is Karl Smith’s first-generation Leon 20VT. The original Leon, first introduced 20 years ago, is still a handsome thing. Following a quick once-over at a nearby jet wash, the car’s paintwork brought back to its best, there’s no real indication that…

Mercedes-Benz has confirmed for the first time that it will launch successors to the CLA and CLA Shooting Brake, as well as an eighth compact model, the GLB SUV, in 2019. The new models were detailed within an official so-called product roadmap graphic. The graphic appeared in a presentation announcing the marque’s 2018 sales to the end of September and it pinpoints six to-be-revealed Mercedes passenger car models. Joining the CLA, CLA Shooting Brake and the GLB will be facelifted versions of the GLC and GLC Coupé as well as the third-generation GLS, itself due to appear at this month’s Los Angeles motor show. The exact timing of the CLA and CLA Shooting Brake unveiling is yet to be revealed. However, Autocar understands the CLA is likely to make an…

OFFICIAL PICTURES Lightly disguised prototypes of the BMW M8 performance flagship have hit the race track as engineers set about fine-tuning the super-coupé’s dynamics. The new four-wheel-drive model has now entered a final phase development ahead of a planned public debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September next year. It is set to rival the likes of the Bentley Continental GT and be priced at around £120,000 in the UK. The M8 will crown the newly resurrected 8 Series line-up and be sold with the choice of three bodystyles. The first to reach UK showrooms will be the M8 Coupé, pictured here testing at the Estoril circuit in Portugal earlier this month. It will be followed by the M8 Convertible, which is set for launch during the second half…

ASTON MARTIN IS setting up its new SUV and electric car plant in Wales with a production line running at twice the speed of its Gaydon HQ factory, as it searches for greater manufacturing efficiency. Workers at the new St Athan plant will have half the time to fit components compared with those at Gaydon, where the Vantage, Rapide, DB11 and DBS Superleggera are built. The assembly stations at St Athan are planned around a 20-minute ‘Takt’ time – the industry standard for organising production lines – compared with Gaydon’s 39 minutes. “St Athan will be more efficient because it’s a new plant being set up with the benefit of 15 years of experience of operations at Gaydon,” said Aston Martin. The Welsh plant will make 7000 cars per year,…

OFFICIAL PICTURE MITSUBISHI HAS REVEALED the facelifted version of its fourth-generation L200 pick-up, to which it has made more than 2400 changes. The revamp comes just three years into the model’s life cycle, with company COO Trevor Mann saying the “significant” revisions were designed to “reinforce what this car should be”. The L200 is Mitsubishi’s second-bestselling vehicle in the UK. Nearly 10,000 were sold last year, just below the Outlander PHEV. The model is increasingly popular with private ‘lifestyle’ buyers, which is reflected in the new, more rugged styling. The four-wheel-drive pickup’s 2.4-litre diesel engine is expected to remain the sole power system, albeit with a new six-speed automatic gearbox replacing the five-speed manual. The L200 will be offered in both Club and Double Cab forms. Prices are expected to…

KIA IS PREPARING to launch its new Soul at this month’s Los Angeles motor show and introduce the compact crossover to the UK in late 2019. Markets such as the US will be offered a range of petrol engines, but sources suggest the UK-bound Soul will be electric only. The new Soul EV’s powertrain will be borrowed from the recently launched Kia e-Niro, but the Soul is expected to feature only the smaller 39kWh battery, rather than the 64kWh version offered in the UK’s e-Niro. That will mean a range of around 200 miles rather than the 300 miles of its larger sibling, but the Soul could be cheaper to buy as a result. It will make the same 134bhp as the e-Niro, though. The new Soul’s styling will take…

Superlatives are wheeled out for the latest supercars, but the rapier-like creation before you offers an experience so different from the norm that it’s hard to know where to start. A coffee might have been nice, but after watching the Mono roll off its transport, the caffeine hit seems unnecessary. This car’s footprint is small – it sits within that of a Fiesta ST – but everywhere you look are aggressive, intricate details that give it an inflated, combative presence. It’s a skeletonised watch with numerous complications, all designed to help achieve or deploy a Veyron-matching power-to-weight ratio of 525bhp per tonne. In the case of the ever-evolving Mono, to which Liverpool-based Briggs Automotive Company has made constant updates and revisions ever since it started the ball rolling in 2012…

MODEL TESTED 40 TDI S LINE S TRONIC Price £44,100 • Power 201bhp • Torque 295lb ft • 0-60mph 8.4sec • 30-70mph in fourth 9.5sec • Fuel economy 39.0mpg • CO2 emissions 129g/km • 70-0mph 51.9m The object of our attention this week might be the best estate car in the world. The Audi A6 Avant is certainly acclaimed as such by its owners and, being an Audi Avant executive load-lugger, is picking up from a line of predecessors that have, almost without exception, sold particularly strongly in this country. So what can the latest version of the biggest Avant in the showroom do for the station wagon breed? The A6 entered its fifth model generation earlier this year, appearing first in saloon form. But, as any keen follower of Audi’s…

It’s an odd question, but one I’ve pondered since the Bentley Continental R appeared in 1991. Just how continental is a Continental? Really? What would happen if you took a Continental and didn’t just go for a cruise on the Continent but set it a test so tough that it would either prove itself absolutely against the sternest measure we could devise, or be exposed as a Continental in name alone? That was the thought that brought me to a Luxembourg hotel where I met former Bentley engineer and now PR man Mike Sayer, and Matt Marriott and Lee Taylor, two of the company’s finest car drivers and fettlers. The plan was short in description long in execution. Which was to get up very early the following morning and drive…

When the arrow-headed McLaren 600LT outpointed both the Ferrari 488 Pista and the Porsche 911 GT3 RS to be crowned Britain’s Best Driver’s Car 2018, it became the 28th car to be awarded that honour (see 7 November issue). Apart from being the first time that Woking’s favourite car manufacturer has picked up our highest accolade, it was also the first time since 2012 that the award has been delivered to somewhere other than Maranello or Stuttgart. In fact, this year marked only the 14th time that a Ferrari or a Porsche has failed to win in the history of Britain’s Best Driver’s Car. All you need to do today to put this year’s best-handling car on your driveway is to walk into a McLaren dealership and agree to hand…

GREAT REASONS TO BUY ON SALE 21 NOVEMBER ROAD TEST Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Our first impressions of Aston’s super-GT resulted in a five-star rating. Can it build on that early promise in the toughest test in the business? FEATURE What’s happened to TVR? Colin Goodwin checks on the progress of the reborn marque COMPARISON Alpine vs McLaren The A110, this year’s most exciting sports car, takes on the 570S EVERY WEEK FIRST DRIVE Mercedes-Benz GLE All-new X5 rival is bigger and plusher than ever. But better to drive? FIRST DRIVE Audi A1 The cheapest way into Audi ownership, back for a second generation USED BUYING GUIDE Toyota Land Cruiser Inspired by our new long-termer? Here’s how to buy a tough old Toyota SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p30…

MILEAGE 2420 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if the new, Europe-designed Ceed is a true Volkswagen Golf rival or still a bit of a family hatchback also-ran Really? £27,000? You can get an [insert supposedly more premium rival here] for that!” It’s a phrase I’ve heard more than once when people ask about the top-spec Kia Ceed I’m running. It’s a fair point when you think that £27k will very nearly get you into a base Audi A4. My stock advice is that more modest trim levels better balance necessary equipment and list price. But it’s not a view shared by buyers. Manufacturers are increasingly finding that the higher trim levels are the most popular choice, particularly when packaged into a PCP deal. As luck would have it, we…

The original Subaru Justy was certainly unique, and for those that only needed a tiny four-wheel-drive supermini, there it was. So if you live up a muddy lane and only visit the corner shop it’s pretty much perfect. It isn't hard to justify a Justy. Not much money buys a petrol four-wheel drive car that delivers 40mpg and takes up little road space, so you won't provoke the anti-4x4 lobby. It’s trendy, too – in some markets it was actually badged as the Trendy. You might just find a 1996 1.3 GX with minor issues for £500 to go.…

An expert’s view STEFAN JORDAN, FISHER PERFORMANCE “As a former Aston Martin salesman, I sold Rapides. They were hard work at first but once we started pitching them as a sports car with rear seats, things became easier. They’re a cracking car but overlooked and understated. It’s a squeeze getting into the back but once you’re there, there’s no finer place to be – except behind the wheel. My used pick would be a 2011 or 12-reg Rapide with 40,000 miles, in Quantum Silver with Obsidian Black leather, optional rear entertainment and cooled seats (both of which were £2500 extras). If I wanted a Rapide S, I’d take an early eight-speed over a late six-speed.” Buyer beware… ▪ ENGINE The V12 is reliable and most are serviced on the button…

Lexus RC 300h F Sport Price new £41,645. Price now £36,679 With orders now being taken for the facelifted RC, time’s running out to hook a deal on a run-out model. How about £5000 off a new F Sport, with even racier styling and premium navigation? You’ll pay considerably more for the facelifted car. Or better still hunt down a 2018/18 model with 3000 miles like the one we found, which could be yours for £30,740. Okay, a BMW 4 Series coupé is more fun to drive and a Mercedes-Benz C-Class coupé is more comfortable, but if it’s standout looks you desire, the RC ticks the box.…

Antonino Labate wanders through the workshop with the easy, unhurried air of a man who feels at home. He gestures towards the five or six TCR-specification touring car racers in various states of build in neatly organised bays, then stops at the wildest-looking car in the line-up. “This is the e-Racer,” he says. “It’s a 670bhp pure-electric touring car that will compete in a dedicated series in 2019. We built this car because electrification is extremely important to us.” When he says ‘us’, Labate is referring to Cupra. For two decades the name has been used on the fastest and most dynamic cars in Seat’s range. During that time the Spanish manufacturer produced some of the most thrilling hot hatches you could buy and Cupra became a byword for high-performance…

The Montserrat mountain range that peers down upon Barcelona is the site of an 11th century Benedictine abbey and a vertiginous cable car that carries tourists from the base of the mountain range to the ancient monastery high above. What the guide books don’t tell you, though, is that roads that snake through the shadows of those jagged peaks are as good as any you’ll find in all of Spain. The two Seat hot hatches that sit before me now in those same shadows bookend the Cupra story so far. The ice white 1996 Ibiza GTI Cupra Sport 16v was the first road car to wear the ‘Cup Racing’ moniker, while the silver Leon Cupra 300 beside it, two decades the Ibiza’s junior, represents the here and now. For all…

DRIVETRAIN The 1:5.6 single-ratio drivetrain sends all the power to the rear wheels, allowing the e-Racer to hit 0-62mph in 3.2sec and 125mph in 8.2sec. It has a top speed of 168mph. BATTERY The e-Racer draws its power from a large 65kWh battery which weighs 450kg. That’s about a third of the total weight of the car, and a major drawback for racing. To offset the negatives of that weight, Serra’s team focused on mounting the battery as low down as possible and spreading the weight throughout the car. ELECTRIC MOTORS The e-Racer is powered by four rear-mounted electric motors, which combine to produce 402bhp of continual power with a peak output of 670bhp. That’s about 325bhp more than the Cupra Leon TCR develops from its 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine.…

Certain laws of physics suggest you should never describe a car approaching two tonnes as being truly agile. But within minutes of our arrival at Portugal’s Estoril circuit for a passenger ride in a prototype M8 Coupé, BMW M development boss Dirk Häcker sets about doing just that. As we stand in the windswept pit lane, Häcker takes little time in suggesting the team is “absolutely convinced” the M8 is far and away a more driver-oriented proposition than its indirect predecessor, the M6. Häcker, who has presided over the engineering of all recent M models, indicates a lot of effort has been focused on making the M8 Coupé even more responsive and sharper than the M5, with which it shares its mechanicals. He says: “Even with four-wheel drive, we’ve been…

Aston Martin will develop its own straight-six powerplant to replace the current Mercedes-AMG-sourced V8, according to sources at the firm. The six-cylinder engine is likely to become hybridised by the time it reaches production, boosting both the engine’s efficiency and its power output. It is thought that the twin-turbo AMG unit, found in the DB11 and Vantage, was brought into Aston as a short-term solution to help it meet stricter emissions regulations.…

MERCEDES-BENZ IS planning to expand its luxury Maybach line with a range-topping version of the GLS – and the first prototypes are being tested on German roads. The third generation of Mercedes’ largest SUV is set to make its debut at this month’s Los Angeles motor show, but the Maybach version is likely to be shown at a later date. The upmarket model is marked out by its unique vertical grille slats, chrome exterior detailing, distinct badging and unique wheels. The biggest changes will be to its interior, however, where the Maybach is likely to replace a seven-seat layout with five or even six captain’s chairs for a roomier and more luxurious layout. It is expected to be powered by the AMG-developed twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine, while a plug-in hybrid…

After spy shots of the five-door 110 version of the new Land Rover Defender emerged, we’ve had our first sighting of the shorter, three-door 90 bodystyle in more production-ready bodywork. Rumours suggest the reborn rugged 4x4 is also set to be offered in even larger 130 guise – the number indicating the car’s wheelbase length in inches. Land Rover has confirmed that more Defender prototypes will be seen in the near future undergoing cold and hot weather testing. Sources suggest the finished car will be revealed next autumn before deliveries begin in early 2020. Insiders reckon prices could start from just under £50,000, rising to over £70,000 for flagship versions.…

This is the proof that the more traditional part of the motor industry has some serious catching up to do if it wants its new EVs to be able to match Tesla. The Performance is the range-topping version of the Model 3, for now at least, based on the existing Dual Motor model and using the Long Range Battery pack. The difference is a punchier rear motor, which increases the peak output to 444bhp, which Tesla says is good for a 3.3sec 0-60mph time. Our test car, driven in the US, was fitted with the Performance Upgrade pack (initially a £3800 option but now to be fitted as standard, at least in the US), including 20in wheels, Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres, lowered suspension and a 155mph top speed against…

‘Secure’ and ‘stable’ are the words we would use to describe the A6 Avant’s approach to tackling Millbrook’s Hill Route long before anything like ‘engaging’ or ‘exciting’ spring to mind – although that’s by no means intended as a criticism. The car displayed impressively tight lateral body control through the bends, while a pleasing amount of front-end grip could be relied on here too. There was little in the way of feedback from the steering, but quick gearing made the big Audi feel much more agile than its near-five-metre footprint would suggest. Thanks to the accessible slug of low-end torque, the car was able to power its way up the Hill Route’s more severe inclines with little in the way of delay.…

The one and only small, lightweight four-wheel drive is how Suzuki pitches the new Jimny – which sounds fair. At 3.6 metres long it’s shorter even than its predecessor, and at 1135kg it weighs about as much as a heavily laden tool chest. So to test its off-road chops, here I am, having it scamper up hills in a disused quarry. And it’s very good: a mountain goat or a spring gazelle among a herd of beasts of burden, one of which – a Toyota Land Cruiser – is dutifully following in its tyre tracks. The latest fourth-generation Jimny is tiny in relation to the Land Cruiser. It remains a kei-class car in Japan (which means, without the flared wheel arches and bumpers of this export model, it’s tinier still),…

FINAL REPORT MILEAGE 10,492 WHY WE RAN IT To determine whether the country’s best-selling new car is as worthy of that title as its brilliant predecessor was When we first said hello to our shiny new Ford Fiesta ST-Line in May, we did so with trepidation. This was a stylish, sporty hatchback with a respectable 138bhp, but it cost £19,495 when our car’s options were accounted for, making it £200 pricier than an entry-level ST. Before even getting out of the starting blocks, it faced a bit of a struggle to justify treading on the toes of its more focused cousin. Not to mention elbowing its way into the premium end of the hatchback realm. Was our car an example of a Fiesta that’s too expensive for its own good?…

Tesla Model S 85 £34,950 At the time of writing the cheapest approved used Tesla Model S is £46,200. The P85+ was registered in 2014 and has done 44,500 miles. Being a 2014 car it has free power for life plus all the updates Tesla has released since it was registered. Approved used Teslas come with a choice of warranties: four years or 50,000 miles’ cover, or, on cars more than four years old or with more than 50,000 miles on the odometer, two years/100,000 miles’ cover. These warranties are in addition to the standard eight-years, unlimited mileage warranty offered on the car’s battery and powertrain from new. But what are the chances of a Tesla needing such generous cover? Pretty strong, actually, thanks to the Model S’s high-mileage suitability…

The sun is shining brightly and the air outside is thick with heat, but the production hall is cool and temperate. High up on one of the walls, right there for all to see, is a digital thermometer. It reads 22.7deg C. Room temperature. The production lines slip along in perfectly timed unison and automated robots carry parts from one corner of the hall to the other. There is no ear-splitting screeching and no noisy clanging; just the gentle background hum of a busy, expertly choreographed factory. Seat’s Martorell facility, on the outskirts of Barcelona, is a vision of a modern and efficient car plant. It opened in 1993, a quarter of a century ago, and has evolved with every passing year to become the paragon of modernity that it…

Think of design in Barcelona and you think of Antoni Gaudí. In the early 20th century theSpanish architect created some of the most extraordinary buildings in the world, let alone Barcelona, including the famous Sagrada Família catholic church, which remains unfinished to this day because so many of Gaudí’s plans were in his head and died with him. As an outsider, then, you might expect Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, the design director of Barcelona-based Seat and therefore one of Spain’s leading practitioners in the field, to have a Gaudí pocketbook ready to reference for inspiration. So when I ask if that is indeed the case, I don’t get the answer I expect. “To me, he wasn’t really influential,” he says. “What I like about Gaudí is that he pushed things so far…

“WHEN I DROVE THE E-RACER I WENT ‘WHOAH, THIS IS NOT BORING’” When Seat Sport entered the FIA European Touring Car Championship in 2003, Jordi Gené was one of the first drivers it signed. Fifteen years later, and with a few detours along the way, Gené is still a key part of the team, but things are a little different at the team’s Abrera workshop. Seat Sport has become Cupra Racing, so there’s a new logo above the door. What goes on inside is different too: the squad doesn’t currently run a works programme but it builds the new Cupra Leon TCR touring car, supporting customer teams that run them in various championships across the world. Cupra Racing is also developing an electric version of the car, the e-Racer, which…

Seat is enormously proud of its Spanishness, but you’ll find little of the sort of horizontally reposed hasta mañana stereotype that you might expect to be in evidence at the vast Martorell plant. Trucks bringing in fresh parts are queuing out of the gates and acres of freshly built cars sit in orderly rows waiting for onward delivery. Inside the towering glass and steel office block that serves as corporate HQ and sits at one edge of the plant is the bustle and sense of purpose that comes from people trying to fit too much work into too little time. From the sixth floor, where the most senior executives hang out, the view over both the factory and a distant range of mountains is spectacular, but few seem to get…