Innholdsfortegnelse for July 31, 2019 i Autocar

AN EXPANSION OF the tie-up between Jaguar Land Rover and BMW should come as no surprise. With each passing week, more rivals are pooling resources to try and fund the huge investments needed for future technologies. That’s all while trying to invest in updating present tech and models to stay relevant today and well into the medium term; a ubiquity of electrified models in showrooms is still some way out, and the advanced, developed cars of today still need to be sold. JLR simply isn’t big enough to meet the investment challenges alone. No car maker is, in fact. Something has to give, and that is displayed through alliances between even the biggest of rivals to share the burden. Ford and Volkswagen are working together on electric cars and vans.…

Lexus will make a long-awaited transition into fully electric propulsion with a forward-thinking small EV that is set to be revealed in concept form at the 2019 Tokyo motor show. The as-yet-unnamed concept takes the form of a tall, boxy and city-friendly hatchback that wears a more futuristic design than any model in the brand’s 2019 line-up. “We feel that our future could resemble this design,” Lexus vice-president Koji Sato told Autocar. Next-level infotainment technology displayed on a pair of screens positioned on either side of the steering wheel will characterise the interior. Although technical details and the production date for the first Lexus EV remain under wraps, Sato acknowledged the need to create a product that’s competitive and compelling. The firm is pouring a significant amount of money into…

It is no surprise that the big winner in recent years has been the premium compact crossover, as premium brands originally started at the top of the SUV tree. For example, the first BMW SUV was the X5 and the Volvo’s first was the XC90, with the companies then working down to the X1 and XC40 respectively. Buyers on a budget of £30-40,000 love the idea of an affordable crossover with the kudos of their big brothers. Non-premium large crossovers are the only SUV/crossover segment to have peaked – or gone ‘ex-growth’ in marketing jargon. There is no precedent anywhere in the market for a non-premium segment to recover share against premium competition. CLASS WAR: HOW COMPACT SUV SALES STACK UP…

BMW HAS ADAPTED its Spartanburg factory in South Carolina for production of the new X3 xDrive 30e and X5 xDrive 45e plug-in hybrid SUVs. The firm has doubled the size of the factory’s battery assembly facility in an investment programme costing £8 million. No specific powertrain details have been revealed, but it is understood that the X3 PHEV will adopt the same powertrain as the recently introduced 330e. That car combines a 181bhp turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with a 112bhp gearbox-mounted electric motor, giving total system outputs of 288bhp and 310 lb ft. A 12kWh lithium ion battery is said to provide the 330e with a pure-electric range of up to 41 miles, although this figure is likely to decrease in the X3 given the SUV’s extra weight. The…

This feels like we’ve come beyond hot hatch or even mega-hot hatch territories now, so I don’t quite know where we are. Mercedes has squeezed hitherto unforeseen power out of a 2.0-litre four-cylinder full series-production engine and installed it into quite a small car to expand yet another niche. Welcome to the world of the 416bhp Mercedes-AMG A45. The A45 hatchback is as fast as small family cars get: a car with a 0-62mph time quicker than an Aston Martin DB11. It’s also available as a small saloon now (see p29) and will be an estate and crossover soon. The A, CLA, CLA Shooting Brake and GLA are all badged ‘45’ and are, according to Mercedes, ‘the super sportscars in the compact class’, a phrase that feels a bit Google-translated…

Try naming a car with more plates to spin than the poor 3 Series Touring. Graceful long-distance manners, genuine driving satisfaction, comfort, space: since 1987 it’s needed all these things. The estate derivative of BMW’s not-so-junior saloon is also a bit of a middle-class status symbol, so while it needs to be at least moderately good-looking, it has to match that with substance. Performance needn’t be herculean but it can’t ever feel weak, and yet the engine must not glug fuel like it’s going out of fashion. Here we have the fifth-generation 3 Series Touring, whose direct predecessor was already regarded as a phenomenally good all-rounder. The engine line-up starts with the 148bhp 318d four-cylinder diesel and culminates with the M340i xDrive, which uses a twin-turbocharged 369bhp straight-six petrol. Alas,…

1 FORD FOCUS ST-LINE 1.0 ECOBOOST 150PS AUTO Sharply styled Focus is also far sharper to drive than the Scala and more refined. Auto ’box a bit tardy, but still our first choice. 2 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF MATCH 1.5 TSI EVO 150PS DSG Slick Golf offers impressive ride refinement, a smooth powertrain and a plusher cabin. A solid, dependable all-rounder. 3 SEAT LEON FR 1.5 TSI EVO 150PS DSG Same engine as the Golf, wrapped up in a more athletic exterior. Lacks some of the VW’s final polish, though. 4 MAZDA 3 SE-L LUX 2.0 SKYACTIV-G AUTO Handsome Mazda is one of the best-looking hatches on the market. Interior quality has been boosted, too. Fun to drive. 5 KIA CEED 3 1.4 T-GDI DSG Smooth engine, respectable driving dynamics and a comfortable cabin are Kia’s strong…

“They’re making them too fancy these days,” declares Cam, juggling a schooner outside the iconic Prairie Hotel in outback Australia. Nestled on the tailgate of a top-shelf Mercedes-Benz X-Class, the well lubricated local is keen to learn why anyone would consider the three-pointed star over the favoured ride out here: Toyota. We mention the price, which is almost enough to get you into a BMW Z4. It’s certainly enough to blow more than the froth off his (latest) ale. LOADING UP Our journey began with beer the previous day. Blame it on Mercedes-Benz. When the world’s oldest car maker announced its first off-road pick-up (or ute, as they’re called Down Under) in 2016, it proudly boasted it would carry up to 17 full kegs of frothing golden nectar in its…

FEATURE New Land Rover Defender We find out more on the development of the reborn British icon ahead of its official launch later this year FEATURE World’s maddest car Richard Bremner drives the orange that’s based on a Mini (yes, really) FEATURE Cottage car makers We meet some of Britain’s thriving low-volume manufacturers EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Ferrari 488 Pista Already an Autocar Award winner, it now gets the full eight pages USED BUYING GUIDE Bentley Turbo R How to get your hands on Bentley’s V8-powered super-saloon FIRST DRIVE Nio ES8 We drive the ambitious and promising Chinese car maker’s latest SUV SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p22…

MILEAGE 4210 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if Peugeot’s smart new generation of saloons really do offer a viable alternative to premium rivals You’ve got to love marketing speak. Sometimes it states the bleedin’ obvious, sometimes you simply wonder: what does that actually mean? I’ve been living in (not literally, but it feels like it) Peugeot’s much-vaunted i-Cockpit for some weeks now, and first impressions have morphed into something more solid. But before picking through the detail, I returned to Peugeot’s info gubbins to check what I’m supposed to think… They key messages from the i-Cockpit “philosophy” are to be “a driving environment that puts you in control” (that’s the bleedin’ obvious, then. A cockpit that doesn’t would be a problem); and one that allows “a greater connection to…

The best thing about writing for Autocar is making contact with you, dear reader. You ask the cleverest questions and you tell me interesting things. Recently these have been Innocenti related. I have talked to a couple of owners and the man who serviced Lord Donald Stokes’s. Here’s an even bigger surprise posted to the Autocar office: this novel by reader Frank Kirtley. I’ve started it and I will let you know what it’s about, but for now it’s brilliant someone called a book The Innocenti. Glad to have some bedtime reading.…

Kia has made much of the Stinger’s association with Albert Biermann, its R&D chief and former head of BMW’s M division. That the model performs is what matters, but his presence is the kind of ‘papal’ blessing enthusiasts like. The car we found, a 2018/67-reg with 11,000 miles, is £10,000 less than new. If Biermann and his team can deliver at least 10 years of even better sequels, the values of old Stingers may one day bottom out. At least they should make safe buys thanks to service histories born of their uniquely long, new car warranty.…

In today’s world of 375bhp superhatches, it’s tempting to look down on cars such as the 207bhp Audi S3 of 1999 and sniff. Except that back then, the performance reference points were legends such as the 207bhp Volkswagen Golf G60 Limited 1.8 16v Syncro of 1990 and the 212bhp Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evo 2 2.0 16v of 1993. Judged against those heroes, the S3 doesn’t look so bad after all (we’ll ignore the inconvenient presence of the 204bhp VW Golf 2.8 VR6 4Motion, also launched in 1999). It gets better, since while today an 80,000-mile Integrale Evo 2 costs from around £50,000 and, when they come up for sale, a G60 Limited around the same, a tidy S3 of 2002 with the uprated 222bhp engine can be on your…

“The blossoming alliance between JLR and BMW has expanded beyond electric drive units” Jaguar is plotting two small crossovers to grow its SUV family as it looks to bolster waning sales – and they could ultimately be built on BMW platforms as part of increasing ties between the two firms. The deal between the two companies, which started with joint work on electric drive unit (EDU) development, also opens up the prospect of the introduction of a new entry-level Land Rover model alongside next-generation versions of the recently replaced Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport built off the BMW architecture. The blossoming alliance between Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and BMW has already expanded. Autocar sources have recently revealed that the German car maker is set to supply JLR…

The Kia Stinger GT420 track car is a one-off developed primarily as a bit of fun – but it’s being used to investigate how to further unlock the potential of the saloon. The machine is a Stinger road car that has been placed on an extreme diet, while it’s powertrain and suspension have been extensively overhauled. It’s the result of a skunkworks-style effort between Kia UK and the brand’s European Technical Centre in Russelsheim, Germany. Fine-tuning has taken place at the firm’s own test track, as well as the Nürburgring Nordschleife and Hockenheim in Germany. Based on the first preproduction Stinger GT-S in the UK, which was saved from scrappage, the GT420 is around 150kg lighter than the standard car thanks to a stripped-out interior. Meanwhile, its twin-turbocharged 3.3-litre V6…

WHEN YOU PULL into your local filling station, chances are there will be two types of petrol on offer: the cheaper premium grade and pricier super unleaded. So what’s your poison? Go for the super just because it sounds like a good idea, or be thrifty and stick with the premium? The most significant difference between the two is the research octane rating (RON) of the petrol. The octane rating tells you how resistant the fuel is to detonation, known as knocking or pinking. In a petrol engine, petrol is mixed with air, then it’s compressed and ignited by a spark. When that happens, the mixture burns outwards from the point of ignition like a grassland fire (but faster). The burn should be smooth and controlled, but if the mixture…

NISSAN HAS ANNOUNCED plans to reduce both its production capacity and product line-up – resulting in the loss of around 12,500 jobs worldwide – in a bid to turn around its fortunes. The major restructure follows a tumultuous period for the firm, during which time former boss Carlos Ghosn was arrested and charged with financial misconduct while Nissan’s sales and profits have fallen. In the first three months of the 2019/2020 financial year, Nissan’s income declined by 94.5% year on year. The 12,500 job losses, which include 6400 the firm has already made, account for around 9% of the firm’s global workforce and are the result of moves by Nissan to reduce its production capacity by around 10% by the end of 2022. Although Nissan has not confirmed where the…

We were never particularly fond of the old John Cooper Works Clubman. Chief among the tally of gripes was the 228bhp motor, which despite decent on-paper figures lacked the instant shove you’d expect and meant the JCW variant barely justified its not insubstantial premium over the regular Cooper S. Mini recognised this (“it was a JCW in name only” one engineer told us on this launch) and the changes that come with the range-wide 2019 Clubman update reflect that. The 2.0-litre unit, borrowed from the platform-sharing BMW M135i, hikes the power to a gratifyingly competitive 302bhp – enough for a sub-5.0sec 0-62mph sprint. A stint on a quiet autobahn saw the new 155mph limiter reached with little drama, too. While the standard eight-speed automatic gearbox and unflappable all-wheel drive allow…

It proved a little beyond the abilities of the Scala’s chassis to deal with the biggest gradient changes and toughest surfaces of Millbrook’s Hill Route with either the composure of a Volkswagen Golf or the poised immediacy of a Ford Focus. On smooth surfaces the Skoda handles fairly well, with greater directness and zest than an Octavia typically has, although not entirely without body roll. Grip is respectably high and remains well balanced between the car’s axles as you progress through a corner. Meantime, the car’s electronic stability and traction aids act quite subtly and progressively when they intervene, and so unless you’re very aggressive or ambitious with the car, you’re unlikely to notice their intervention. Over broken surfaces and the Hill Route’s transmission bumps, however, the Scala’s suspension proves…

It was always going to happen, wasn’t it? Even in the middle of July, no more than a fortnight after temperatures around the UK soared into the mid-30s, it would seem that gathering a triumvirate of convertible sports cars together in North Wales is still too much like tempting fate. Or the weather gods. Or any other abstract concept you’d usually curse and swear at while shaking your fist at the sky, wondering why oh why, on today of all days, did it have to rain. How typical. But anyway, the new BMW Z4 M40i is one of the latest examples of the breed to touch down on our shores. Previous iterations of Munich’s two-door drop-top haven’t always been praised for being standout driver’s cars, but BMW seems confident this…

At 26 feet, it’s easily longer than a stretched Rolls-Royce Phantom, and weighing three tonnes, it’s heavier too. It’s powered by a rear mid-mounted Ford Coyote 5.0-litre V8 that breathes through 25 pipes and exhausts through 31, and which is topped by a giant tourbillon, an escapement device originating in watches and composed of moving gears in a rotating cage. The frame of the vehicle is made from tubular stainless steel and the suspension components are fashioned from alloy. The elaborate tubing and casting work obscures the fact that much of what you see is functional. Its two enormous front wheels feature mudguards created from pieces of cast steel arranged to look like a dragon’s scales. The open ‘cabin’ has seats for two passengers, one on each side of the…

QUESTION I’ve just bought a new Audi RS3 Sportback on a PCP. Once it’s run in, I plan to have it chipped. Who do you recommend for the work? Kevin Salter, Colchester ANSWER If you don’t mind, we’ll avoid answering that since we’re not a tuning magazine, and in any case, there are many other things to consider when uprating an engine. Instead, it concerns us that you think you’ve bought your RS3. In fact, you’re renting it, and Audi Finance is your landlord. And just as some landlords don’t like you changing things in their houses, so Audi Finance is unlikely to appreciate you sneaking more horses under the bonnet. Ask permission, first. It’ll probably say no. JE QUESTION I’m interested in a nearly new Infiniti Q50, but despite…

Maserati 3200 GT £12,995 Back in 2014, you could get a 2001 Y-reg 3200 GT with 86,000 miles for £9995. Fast forward five years and this 2001 Y-reg that we found with 73,000 miles is £3000 more expensive. In fact, it’s one of the cheaper ones. Next up the price ladder is a 2001/51-reg auto with 55,000 miles for £14,700. They top out at around £21,000. So what caught our eye, apart from it being the least expensive? First, it’s the automatic. The ’box has only four speeds but works well with the 370bhp twin-turbo 3.2-litre V8. In any case, replacement clutches are becoming almost impossible to find for manual versions. Second, the car’s service history is described as “fantastic”. It’s just had a fettle and a cambelt change. There’s…

An owner’s view STEVE HARRIS “I saw the S3 and had to have it. It’s a 2002-registered car and the mileage is high at 170,000 but, in the two years I’ve had it, it’s not put a foot wrong. It feels as solid as it must have done when it left the showroom. I reckon this generation of S3 just pre-dated the next level of electronics because I can fix most things on it and, in any case, there are lots of forums offering good technical advice. The only upgrade I’ve made is fitting a Bilstein B12 suspension kit, which I reckon has tightened the handling.” Buyer beware… ■ ENGINE Check condition of the breather pipes at the inlet manifold and ideally replace them and the vacuum pipes. Watch for…

JAGUAR’S SMALL SUV Shorter and lower than today’s E-Pace (which is heading towards becoming Jaguar’s current best-seller), the baby SUV will be more modern and sophisticated in its styling than the entry-level Land Rover, with strong shades of the I-Pace to its appearance and feel. JAGUAR’S SMALL CROSSOVER COUPE Potentially a curvaceous cousin to the BMW X2, a truly small upmarket Jaguar five-door could tap into the female market. Like Aston Martin, Jaguar has the eye of female buyers but has rarely served up properly targeted vehicles. LAND ROVER 80 A compact entry-level Land Rover, priced from around £24,000, will be launched as a stylish family-friendly five-door, with expressive styling inspired by the original 1948 Land Rover and the new Defender. Potentially a big seller, it could take the Freelander…

KIA IS CONSIDERING adding a second supermini-sized crossover, possibly badged Xrio, to respond to growing demand for high-riding cars, according to the firm’s product planning boss. The new model would be in addition to Kia’s existing B-segment SUV, the Stonic. The expansion of high-riding bodystyles at the Korean maker has recently been bolstered by the Ceed hatch-based Xceed, a model that, Kia claims, could become the firm’s bestseller. “What we are looking at is whether the market is going to split into low and high seating positions for SUVs and crossovers and whether we need five models to cover the market or four,” David Labrosse, Kia Europe’s head of product planning, told Autocar, “and whether some should be electric or not.” Booming Xceed sales would make a strong case for…

When it comes to large crossovers, there are two trends that have been universally acknowledged: first, the market just keeps on growing, and second, it is the one place non-premium brands can succeed, as Hyundai and Kia have demonstrated. But now it seems the good times for non-premium models may be over. In the first quarter of this year the segment, made up of such models as the Hyundai Santa Fe, Ford Edge and Skoda Kodiaq, fell by 18.9%. The sales figures for the past few years tell a similar story: non-premium models are falling, while premium ones are going from strength to strength (note that figures include crossovers such as the Edge and SUVs like the Santa Fe – the distinction between crossover and SUV is not relevant in…

The Mercedes-Benz EQ S electric saloon has been spied testing in near-production form. The flagship electric model is designed to offer luxury and comfort to match the S-Class, although it appears to feature a heavily raked windscreen and curved roofline similar to those on the CLS. The EQ S is expected to be powered by two electric motors providing permanent four-wheel drive and more than 400bhp, with a range of around 300 miles. The Tesla Model S rival will be the first model based on the firm’s dedicated MEA electric platform when it goes on sale in 2021.…

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The CLA is the four-door saloon version of the A-Class, although Mercedes likes to call it a coupé because, y’know, marketing. It has the same 2729mm wheelbase as the hatchback and the same body stiffening, so fundamentally it is the same thing – so AMG wants the two to give the same experience. There are, though, some subtle differences. The standard CLA already runs marginally wider tracks than the A, so its wings don’t have to be reprofiled as much as the A’s to accommodate the 45’s wider front rack, while its rear track remains a few millimetres wider on the AMG too, because the A’s five-door body can’t be pushed any wider. The CLA also runs 10mm wider rubber, so 255/35 ZR19s front and rear rather than the A’s…

MODEL TESTED SE 1.5 TSI 150PS DSG • Price £21,255 • Power 148bhp • Torque 184lb ft • 0-60mph 7.9sec • 30-70mph in fourth 9.3sec • Fuel economy 41.5mpg • CO2 emissions 113g/km • 70-0mph 45.9m We like • Admirably strong powertrain, with good refinement and economy • Practical and well-equipped even though it’s smaller than the Octavia We don’t like • Passable handling but nowhere near the class’s dynamic benchmark • Lacks the personality that Skoda’s marketing efforts purport ‘Globally, Skoda has hit a chord with the buying public. Its products mean the same thing everywhere: they’re good value, they’re more spacious than you expect and they’re simply adorned inside. It is an image that has resonated in a crisis-ridden world.’ That opening gambit for our road test of the…

Given how Skoda bills the Scala’s new-generation design language and its distinguishing ‘emotional appeal’, you might conclude it was intended to make a statement. But you wouldn’t want to predict how widely that statement will be perceived, or exactly where it will take its maker. This is a dynamically respectable car which, with Skoda’s 1.5 TSI Evo four-pot, has an engine that can deliver strong performance, good refinement and decent economy. It might be smaller than an Octavia but it remains more practical than most hatchbacks. It might not have the quiet, rubber-footed ride of its most comfortable rivals, but it handles tidily and is easy to drive. And the interior might suffer a sense of by-the-numbers anonymity, but it’s not short of equipment or tactile substance. Considering the Scala’s…

It’s mild and overcast at Thruxton circuit near Andover, Hampshire. The Met Office says afternoon rain is a 25% possibility. The usual dedicated crowd is pouring in for the third British Touring Car Championship meeting of the year – which means they’ll be seeing races seven, eight and nine of the series. Today’s field has 30 cars divided among 10 marques, and following yesterday’s flat-out qualifying the first 20 are crammed inside one second. The field contains five former champions and 18 previous race winners, so tremendous racing isn’t just wishful thinking, it’s guaranteed. Today’s average speed will be 110mph-plus, and the cars will hit 155mph through Church corner, the fastest on the circuit. At Thruxton, there’s only ever one tyre compound used: hard. Given the guarantee of great racing,…

An electric convert writes After more than 45 years’ driving and having been fortunate enough to sample V8s, a V10 and V12s, it was time to help save the planet by installing a Jag I-Pace and electric charger on the drive. I find it has many of the characteristicscs from the Mk 1 GTI Golf I enjoyed in the early 1980s: little weight transfer when braking and cornering and a linear power performance similar to the outstanding high-revving engine in the Golf. The ace of the I-Pace, however, is the regen braking set at maximum, as it allows exceptional control of acceleration/braking on a single pedal. All enthusiastic drivers should test the car over their favourite B-road as it allows remarkable car control, aiding the ability to hit the apex…

MILEAGE 6100 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see whether £65,000 is too much for a 4 Series without an ‘M’ on its rump Alpina began with racing and only later branched out into the world of road cars, so it’s no surprise those cars are fast. What you might not realise is just how seriously it takes the business of covering the length of a football pitch per second. For high-speed driving there is the draped bodykit, and in recent times the design of these parts has been informed by wind-tunnel testing at BMW. However, at this price level there are limitations to what’s achievable with aero and so elsewhere Alpina needs to be clever. For example, the supremely natural steering action is just a touch firmer off-centre in the…

All my cars seem to leak some fluid or other. It’s what they do. When I’ve been using The Italian Job on local errands I noticed there was a little dribble every time I stopped. It was pretty clearly water and at first I did think it was rather more serious. Even the seller didn’t think the cooling was particularly reliable. Indeed, when I first got it, escaping steam seemed to be an issue, and I did toy with the idea of a new radiator. At the moment all that happens is the dribble when it stops, but there’s no overheating or running a bit of a temperature. Bit like me in old age, really.…

When it was launched in 2014, a few miles of sinewy curves and high-speed straights were all most seasoned drivers needed to understand that Porsche’s DNA had been successfully transplanted into the company’s new, mid-size SUV. Today, the classifieds are heavy with used Macans. New, the range opened at £43,000 for the Macan 3.0 V6 S, but today you can bag an early one with 48,000 miles and full Porsche history for £31,000. It’s not a huge saving as used cars go but that’s because the Macan is no ordinary used car. If it were pocket money, there’d be a problem. From new, most Macans were specced to their roofs with optional equipment. Extras worth having include the panoramic sunroof, Bose sound system and air suspension. Another is the Sports…

This 30-year-old cab has done 52,000 miles and was knocked down for just £3922, making it a good-value, emerging classic. On paper, the fuel-injected engine has a modest 105bhp but that’s 10bhp more than the naturally aspirated XR3. Talking of which, in the same sale, a 1980 XR3 hatch with 92,000 miles, partially restored in 2011, made £5088. Meanwhile, a 1986 Sierra 2.0 fetched £3604 and a 1991 Granada 2.0 GL £1900. Biggest miss of the day, though, was a bronze 88,000-mile 1973 Cortina 1.6 XL Mk3 that sneaked out for just £2756.…