Innholdsfortegnelse for June 3, 2020 i Autocar

The new BMW 4 Series Coupé has been revealed with a dramatic new look that its design chief says represents “everything BMW should stand for”, along with a focus on improving its dynamic performance. The new styling is designed to further differentiate the two-door, four-seat coupé from the related 3 Series saloon. The second-generation 4 Series will go on sale in October with a range-topping 369bhp M440i model before the M4 performance flagship follows late next year. Convertible and four-door Gran Coupé variants are in development, with a 523bhp i4 electric saloon also due in 2021. The 4 Series launched as a stand-alone model in 2014, taking the baton from the three-door 3 Series. While it’s based on the same CLAR platform as the latest 3 Series, BMW has overhauled…

WITH THE ARRIVAL of 800V, 350kW ultra-rapid chargers in Europe, what else is needed to reduce the time spent at charging points during those longer journeys? One of the biggest challenges facing EV developers is effectively managing the heat generated by a battery pack during charging. Lithium ion battery packs that power EVs are constructed from the same small building blocks, the cells, used in domestic products. A single, bog-standard lithium ion cell is pretty small, producing in the region of 3.6V and having an electrical capacity of maybe 3.4Ah (Ampere hours). To increase the voltage to 400 or 800 for an EV, hundreds of cells are connected in groups (parallel series connections) that multiply both the voltage and the capacity. What matters to the EV driver, though, is the…

You’re looking at the quickest car in the world. Other exotic machines have higher top speeds than this Porsche’s conservative claim of 205mph and some lightweight, high-downforce specials generate greater cornering forces but, point to point, on our unpredictable roads, I’m confident the only thing that can live with the new 911 Turbo S is another Turbo S. This has always been the role of the 911 Turbo, although only in the mid-1990s, when Porsche added front driveshafts to the recipe, did the model become the byword it is now for security underwheel as well as crushing speed. The 992-generation 911 now advances its lineage and adds active anti-roll bars, staggered wheels and a more comprehensive active-aero set-up to the rear steering introduced for its predecessor. The new 911 Turbo…

MODEL TESTED COMPETITION COUPE The M8 is now just one of a vast array of BMW’s M cars – although it’s a ‘proper’ M rather than a car with a conventional BMW name and an ‘M’ prefix. If you’d been able to visit the M part of BMW’s website before websites existed, it would have consisted of a couple of models at most. Today, there are more than 20. Even the M8 has three different bodystyles – coupé, four-door saloon and convertible – and a non-Competition variant available overseas, but not in the UK. This, the M8 Competition Coupé, feels like the most natural, traditional M of the various Eights, then – a two-door vehicle with a rigid shell and as much power as you’ll find in a modern M.…

VERDICT The M8 is a car of hidden depths. Get it in the right location, get it into the right modes, and it’ll do things that you scarcely think are credible, given its mass and its size. And in its own way, that’s hugely impressive. But for us, it’s not enough, especially at nearly £150,000 as tested, to become truly compelling. We’d like a car at that price to be more appealing, more frequently. As it is, though, there are pure GT cars that do the grand touring job more effectively (including BMW’s own M850i, an engaging and comfortable road car, incidentally) while there are sports cars that aren’t just more sporty but also just as capable and more cosseting than the M8 over distance. Somehow, the M8’s approach –…

This was going to be one helluva junket. The plan was to join seven other hacks – one Brit, four Yanks and a couple of Strines – driving Bentleys from the UK to Geneva in time for Europe’s season-opening motor show. We’d go in pairs and swap seats regularly so everyone had a decent stint in each of four recently launched Crewe models – a Bentayga Speed, a Continental GT V8 Coupé, a GT Convertible and a Flying Spur saloon. Sounded a great plan. Our starting point would be Leeds Castle in Kent, and we’d go there on the Friday evening – well before the show’s Tuesday official opening – to get to know other members of our party over dinner before heading 750 miles across Europe. There was to…

THE 24 HOURS of Le Mans is traditionally held in June, although this year’s event has been delayed until September due to Covid-19. While the race unfolds across an entire day, the drama can boil down to the final few hours. Here are five of the most dramatic finishes. 5 1966: Ford’s controversial photo finish Now literally the stuff of Hollywood, Le Mans 1966 was the culmination of Ford’s three-year quest to beat Ferrari. While its cars were the fastest, reliability kept the drama up. As the finish neared, the GT40s of Ken Miles and Denny Hulme and Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon ran one-two, and Ford opted to stage a photo finish. Long-time leader Miles allowed McLaren to pull alongside. However, the organisers ruled that, as McLaren’s car started…

FIRST DRIVE Volkswagen Golf It impressed late last year overseas, but now we’ve finally got our hands on the eighth-generation hatch in the UK FEATURE Design a car in an hour We reveal how we create our new car renderings – and how you can do the same FEATURE Porsche Cayman The GT4 gets the Clubsport treatment – and meets Andrew Frankel EVERY WEEK LONG-TERM TEST Toyota Corolla Our summary on life with this hybrid hatchback. We’ll miss it… ROAD TEST Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet You can judge how the drop-top SUV looks while we rate how it drives SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p36…

MILEAGE 84,500 BMW 320 The Baby Shark was due an MOT, even though it’s no longer legally required to have one. It would be irresponsible not to check whether it’s still officially roadworthy. The great news is that it is, but there are advisories. Indeed, a surviving minor defect from last time is a suspension arm ball joint dust cover with a split. There are some very minor suspension issues, too, but the most pressing one of all is the tyres; they’re rather ancient, so they’re going. There’s some rust on the front jack points, but it doesn’t seem terminal. Meanwhile, my garage did something and didn’t do something else. I’ll explain next time……

While accepting many enthusiasts’ strong prejudice against the modern wave of SUVs, there are still some gems among them. Exhibit A: the Seat Ateca. This car has been a huge sales hit since arriving in 2016, playing a big part in establishing Seat as a maker of fine SUVs. That success also meant prices on the used market remained strong while demand outstripped supply. Now, however, values are dropping and there is a staggering choice, so a used Ateca is an increasingly attractive purchase. Seat’s first SUV is available with a healthy choice of engines, from a peppy three-pot petrol to a flexible mile-munching 2.0-litre diesel. And indeed, prices for these used diesels are remarkably low. The earliest Atecas start at £10,000 with lots of choice for the 1.0 TSI…

Honda S2000 Price £6200 One of the best examples of having your cake and eating it. You will be purchasing a supremely reliable car with a bombproof 9000rpm engine and all of the joyous driving thrills it can provide. And you can do so safe in the knowledge that such engaging drop-top dynamism will remain highly sought after in the years ahead, so your relatively modest investment should be well protected. This £6200 example has done 120,000 miles, which may seem like a lot but it has had only one owner since being bought new in 2002 – and they’ve apparently looked after it, as the full service history should show. The interior understandably looks a bit tired, but some cash would easily help spruce that up.…

An expert’s view TONY BARTON, VAUXHALL CALIBRA OWNERS UK “Some say the Calibra was ahead of the times when it first appeared, which is probably why it holds up well today. Early cars suffered with rot but, in 1995, they produced fully galvanised shells, which have stood the test of time. For a car only 30 years old, its numbers have dwindled significantly and they are becoming very rare now. Prices are rising because of this, but you can still pick up a nice example that won’t break the bank.” Buyer beware… ■ BODY Check the bulkhead around the steering rack mountings for signs of cracking, which will make itself known through shaky steering and a grinding rack when the car is stationary. Otherwise, it’s more solid than you might…

“The two new SUVs are set to retain Mini’s traditional focus on compactness” Mini is set to expand its line-up to include two new SUV models in the biggest shake-up to its operations since coming under BMW ownership in 2001. The firm is developing both an electric crossover as part of a Chinese joint venture and a combustion-engined SUV that will be BMW’s latest modular platform. The two models are intended to extend Mini’s reach by taking the brand into untapped market segments and exposing it to new customers, according to officials with knowledge of the plans. Although it was originally touted to be a three-door hatchback in the mould of the Rocketman concept, Autocar has been told that the first Chinese-produced Mini will be a five-door crossover-style SUV of…

MERCEDES-BENZ IS wasting no time adding more EQ Power plug-in hybrid models to its compact car line-up. Following the launches of the A250e hatchback, A250e saloon, B250e mini-MPV, CLA 250e saloon and CLA 250e shooting brake, Greg Kable has been behind the wheel of a GLA 250e crossover prototype in Germany… IT’S STILL IN the final phase of development, but the front-wheel-drive petrol-electric GLA 250e is planned for UK sale as a rival to the BMW X2 xDrive25e that was revealed last week. It will join four petrol and diesel models in the new GLA line-up, offering an electric-only range that’s put at between 40 and 44 miles on the old NEDC test cycle. The GLA 250e uses the same turbocharged 1.3-litre four-cylinder petrol engine as the GLA 200. But…

Volvo’s decision to introduce a 112mph (180kph) top speed for all its cars, which the firm is adding across its range at the moment, seems unlikely to make a real difference in improving safety. That cap, for one thing, is still well above the speed limit in every country bar Germany. What’s more, drivers who want to speed won’t buy a Volvo in the future and were arguably unlikely to do so anyway. Even Malin Ekholm, head of the Volvo Cars Safety Centre, has admitted: “112mph is still fast, so is it going to be the end of speeding? No, it’s not.” So why is Volvo doing this, then? “It’s a limitation, and there really is no reason to go faster than 112mph,” said Ekholm. “Everyone talks about speeding, but…

From the moment that Carlos Ghosn was arrested in Japan in November 2018, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance has seemed poised to crumble. Ghosn was the architect and driving force of the firms’ link-up and the ‘glue’ that held them together. Ghosn’s arrest – and subsequent charges of financial misconduct – came as he was reportedly masterminding a full merger of the firms. That idea had apparently met some resistance, particularly within Nissan, given claims that his ousting was a deliberate move by insiders to prevent a merger. Following Ghosn’s dismissal, the Alliance was restructured to prevent a single powerbroker from taking control, and with real doubts about its future. With both Nissan and Renault struggling in the face of declining sales and the immense cost of electrification, the division in the…

The Trek is Toyota’s way of making its well-received Corolla Touring Sports a tiny bit more appealing to those ‘active lifestyle’ types – the kind who want their cars to conquer the occasional dirt trail as well as the school run. It’s a market all but sewn up by SUVs, but a helping hand from US bicycle giant Trek has given the family estate a semi-rugged makeover. The front and rear bumpers have gained protective skid plates and the lower sides are covered with plastic cladding, but it’s rather more soft-road than off-road. The role of the skid plates is largely visual, and if you don’t look too closely, you might not notice the other exterior changes at all. The ride height has been raised by 20mm over the standard…

1 PORSCHE 911 CARRERA 4S As comfortable yet more sporting than the M8. Consider the two-wheel-drive Carrera S if you can, too, for greater dynamism. 2 BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT The serious long-distance GT car with a slightly sporting edge is far more comfortable than the M8 and not notably less entertaining. Lovely inside, too. 3 MERCEDES-AMG S63 COUPE Longer and more relaxed than the M8, as befits a coupé version of Mercedes’ luxury car, but still has a beating AMG heart. An easy car to warm to. 4 BMW M8 COMPETITION COUPE Good fun and with an impressive interior, the M8 gets better as you push harder but satisfies less in normal use. 5 MASERATI GRANTURISMO MC Old and outdated, with a low-tech interior short on ergonomic excellence, and a ride that’s pretty…

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It was with a sad air of inevitability that the Safari Rally was canned for this year, despite the hype generated by the return of one of the WRC’s most illustrious events. This is the second full cancellation to be announced this season after Portugal, while Argentina and Italy remain officially postponed. So how could the rest of the season look, with three events having taken place already? Next on the schedule is Finland, and organisers feel reasonably confident that it will happen as expected in early August, despite legislation banning large-scale events until the end of July. Finland always has the best-organised of all the rallies, and with the country’s population being less than five million anyhow, a way should be found to let it go ahead. From there,…

FINAL REPORT MILEAGE 12,370 WHY WE RAN IT To see whether the modern-day Jimny is as worthy as its iconic predecessors Ah, the Jimny. What a refreshing, brilliant yet flawed little car. It has probably been the easiest long-termer to write about in my car hack career – because it’s so characterful and quirky compared with most cars – and probably the one I’d most like to have kept (although it would be great to have the Bentley Continental GT alongside it, too…), despite its flaws. I was apprehensive when the car first turned up, mostly because I hadn’t driven the latest version and had experienced extreme reactions from colleagues, varying from ‘Oh, that’s so cool!’ to ‘Ah. Unlucky’. The short journey home from the office didn’t leave me enthralled.…

Vauxhall Astra Martin has been practising Bangernomics for longer than he can recall. “I’ve just bought a 110,000-mile 2002 Vauxhall Astra G,” he says. “The last owner had used it as a makeshift van, and every panel is splodged with paint, both inside and out. I’m making headway with thinners and T-Cut, but it’s a long job. It came with a lovely file of receipts for yearly services, MOTs, timing belt changes and a recent clutch, exhaust, catalyst and radiator. It cost £250 and has an MOT until April. It’s pleasant to drive and frugal on petrol.”…

ECONOMY EXPLAINED Between the various figures produced on the old-style NEDC, transitional NEDC Correlated and new-style WLTP laboratory emissions and fuel economy tests, it has become tricky to compare manufacturers’ claimed efficiency on the latest new cars. When you see a fuel economy and CO2 figure reference elsewhere, it’s often without explanation. So, to provide as fair and clear a basis for comparison as possible, you’ll only ever read WLTP combined fuel economy and CO2 figures in Autocar’s first drive reviews, features and comparison tests – and on these data pages. Those are the aggregated result of four lab tests carried out across as many different cruising speed ranges – although they’re sometimes expressed as a range rather than as one specific figure to show the different results recorded by…

“Details hark back to the 1950s and 1960s, led by Cherry Red paint” The new Porsche 911 Targa 4S Heritage Design Edition is the first of four classic-led specials that mark broader expansion plans for the marque’s bespoke division, Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur. The retro-inspired quartet will be revealed over the course of the 992 generation, appearing on different variants and celebrating different decades in the 911’s history. They are intended to blend the technology of modern-day 911s with design elements from the past. The idea first came to life last year on the 991-generation 911 Speedster, which was offered with a Heritage Design package, largely created to gauge customer reactions. “It was a prequel to test how the design features work on Porsche fans,” said Boris Apenbrink, director of Porsche…

First prototypes of the next-generation Mercedes-Benz GLC have been spotted on public roads. Autocar understands the SUV will follow a new C-Class saloon, due on sale in early 2021, and arrive in showrooms near the end of that year. The prototype sits lower and appears longer, with less of an upright stance and more interior space expected than the old model. The GLC will use the same MRA platform as the next-generation C-Class, bringing an increased range of electrified powertrains and level-three autonomous features.…

Just weeks after a petrol V8 Defender was caught testing near Land Rover’s base at Gaydon, our spy photographer has seen a six-cylinder diesel test mule. It’s the first sighting after a document leaked last year revealed Land Rover’s intent to offer a six-pot engine as the sole diesel for the Defender in the US. Autocar understands Jaguar Land Rover is well into developing diesel versions of its latest Ingenium straight six as part of a modular engine family. Set to be badged D300, the Defender is expected to receive a 296bhp version as the units gradually roll out across both brands. The prototype’s plate (above) reveals the 4x4 uses a mild-hybrid 3000cc diesel engine, fitting in with this plan. The leaked document claimed a 7.4sec 0-62mph time, although it’s…

It’s striking – a touch concerning, even – to note just how modern a car-making outfit the Morgan Motor Company has become. In June last year, we drove Morgan’s range-topping Plus Six sports car, whose all-new CX-branded aluminium monocoque platform marked the beginning of a new era for the firm. Now that era edges its way onward, and it’s the turn of the related Plus Four to hit the road. Among the tools being used to drum up interest in this car is – wait for it – an introductory personal finance offer. I know; who’d have thought it? I like to think some Morgan owners might wonder, when offered a PCP deal, why on earth they’ll be needing discounted antiseptic with their brand-new ‘classic’ roadster. Others should certainly be…

The Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake is something of an oddity. Despite being the closest thing to an A-Class estate, it eschews the square back of a regular wagon for a far more curvaceous posterior. It’s a recipe that’s only been copied in the compact class by Kia, with the Proceed, making the pricier CLA Shooting Brake a unique proposition at the premium end of the class. We’ve already sampled the second-generation Shooting Brake in 302bhp AMG 35 guise, but here we’re focusing on the regular 220d. At the moment, at least, this 2.0-litre 187bhp turbodiesel is only available with front-wheel drive. Should you require the traction advantages of four-wheel drive, you’ll need the AMG (35 or 45). Overall, this OM654 turbodiesel is impressively refined and a far cry from the…

MODEL TESTED M600 Noble Automotive will charge a tidy premium, even relative to a McLaren MP4-12C or Ferrari 458 Italia, when it introduces the new M600 next year: a cool £200,000 in all. But that may begin to sound less expensive when we tell you that during this road test, the M600 went faster than a McLaren F1 in almost every in-gear increment from 20mph to 160mph. The car uses a mid-engine spaceframe steel chassis with double wishbones at each corner and coil-over dampers. It may appear similar to the stillborn M15 but, beneath its heavily restyled skin, it’s significantly more exotic. Using carbonfibre for all the key body parts, the production version will weigh just 1250kg, says Noble, although on our scales the test car – whose body was…

The sudden demise of the Dyson electric car project last October was one of the most shocking events of postwar British car history – because it was so unexpected. Backed by £2.5 billion of personal investment from Britain’s richest man, Sir James Dyson, the all-electric seven-seat luxury car had seemed set for the same shining future as most of Dyson’s previous projects. But in an email announcing the project’s closure, sent to employees on 11 October last year, the inventor revealed that “we simply can no longer see a way to make the project commercially viable”. The nub of the problem, he claimed, was that most current electric cars were loss makers whose manufacturers were using them as a way of lowering fleet average CO2 so they could continue selling…

The whole concept of Extreme E is ludicrous. Utterly, utterly ludicrous. Consider: it’s a new series for lightweight electric off-road racers producing 536bhp and 679lb ft that will compete in a series of contests in five of the world’s most remote locations, spanning four continents. So far, a little unusual. The events will take the form of two-lap head-to-head sprints on off-road tracks. Teams of two – one male driver, one female – will take part, with a mid-race driver switch at the end of the lap. Okay, that’s quite odd. The five event locations have been selected because they’ve all been damaged by human activity and climate change, with the goal of the Extreme E organisers being to raise awareness of such issues and support sustainability projects to repair…

Reading the 6 May issue – in bed at 8am on publication day, thanks to my much-recommended Readly subscription – my inner James Ruppert could barely contain himself. To this car nut, the Tesla Model 3 is somewhere between desirable and inevitable, so it caught my eye in your piece on the 20 best lease deals. I asked my calculator to work out £493 times 48 plus £4435 and it said £28,099. That’s £99 more than I recently paid for my 2006 Porsche 911 Carrera. That’s not merely a fabulous car but also a lifetime achievement and personal bucket list chart-topper that (my studies suggest and my wife hopes) still holds most of that value, whereas after four years paying all that money to Elon Musk, he takes the car…

QUESTION I’ve been driving my third-generation Suzuki Swift for years. I want to chuck it in for another small car that isn’t boring. My budget is £10k; what can I get? Harry Rout, Bury St Edmunds ANSWER How about a Mazda 2? Your budget can get you a sweet example from just last year with hardly any miles on the clock. The 2 has one of the best manual gearboxes in any small car and a naturally aspirated 1.5-litre petrol engine that’s nice to wring out. You can also buy a Mini from 2015, which is likely to cost more to run and maintain but is a hoot to drive. DR QUESTION My 2017 Audi Q5 was due its first MOT test on 10 May. I was reassured of the…

Vauxhall Vectra VXR £5995 If I say enormous top speed, would you think Vauxhall? Unlikely. And yet the five-door Vauxhall Vectra VXR stunned its contemporaries in 2005 by rewarding those brave enough to look down when flat out with a 161mph readout. But, of course, you probably don’t live near an abandoned airfield and your commute is unlikely to include a stretch of autobahn. No matter: even at more regular speeds, this Vectra VXR is a riot to drive. It’s powered by the same twin-scroll 2.8-litre V6 turbo engine as a Saab 9-3, but with an extra 5bhp pushing it up to 276bhp, along with 259lb ft of torque. And it offers a real shot of analogue hot saloon thrills. Hit 3000rpm in full-bore acceleration and the prodigious amounts of…

Here it is, then: the 1990s Vauxhall you didn’t know you wanted, until now. Not only is the Calibra much more affordable than the Japanese cult classics to which it was originally designed to lock horns, but its humble Cavalier-based underpinnings mean it’s also a relative cinch to maintain. At its 1989 launch, the Vauxhall Calibra – penned by the recently departed Erhard Schnell, an Opel designer of nearly 40 years – was the most aerodynamically efficient car money could buy, a title it retained until 1999, when Honda’s Insight arrived. Its sharply styled wedge-shaped profile remains a big factor in its desirability, especially compared with its bulbous Ford Probe rival. The coupé, famed for its unusually usable rear seats, could be specified initially with a 2.0-litre 8v four-cylinder pushing…