Innholdsfortegnelse for July 8, 2020 i Autocar

The first images of Volkswagen’s latest high-performance Golf R mega-hatch have surfaced after an undisguised Mk8 prototype was spotted in Germany. Following on from earlier test mules seen pounding around the Nürburgring, the most recent sighting gives us the best look yet at VW’s Mercedes-AMG A35 rival, as well as a glimpse of the interior. We can see that it sticks closely to the formula of its predecessor, with understated performance being the order of the day, although new features such as a much chunkier roof-mounted rear spoiler help mark out the hot flagship more than ever. Other telltale R attributes include large wheels hiding performance brakes with trademark blue calipers, quad tailpipes and a lowered ride height. Chunkier bumpers feature too, with an enlarged air intake at the front…

IF SUZUKI’S NEW range addition, the Across SUV, looks familiar, it’s because it’s based on the latest Toyota RAV4. The Across is the first car to emerge from a strategic alliance between the brands that’s set to produce a number of shared models in future. External differences over the RAV4 are mainly focused on the front end, with the Across’s being dominated by a large grille. Inside, the only real change over its Toyota relative is a new steering wheel. The Across is the first Suzuki to feature plug-in hybrid power. Like the RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid, it combines a 173bhp 2.5-litre petrol engine with a pair of electric motors – one with 180bhp on the front axle and another with 54bhp at the rear – to provide four-wheel drive. Top…

RENAULT HAS AXED the Koleos SUV from its UK model line-up just three years after it first went on sale. The firm said the decision was in keeping with its policy of “offering the most suitable vehicles for our UK customers”. The Koleos sits above the relatively popular Kadjar and is based on the Nissan X-Trail. Unlike the latter, however, it is offered with only five seats, rather than seven. Just 1007 examples were registered in the UK last year.…

Following the government’s relaxation of lockdown rules, the motoring world is gradually returning to some semblance of normality, but it will be some time before restrictions on buying and driving cars are lifted entirely. AUTOMOTIVE RETAIL The effects of the strict ‘stay at home’ order, issued on 23 March, were felt especially profoundly in the automotive retail sector. Dealerships had to close, along with all other non-essential shops, and nearly all factories paused production, in effect putting the brakes on the motoring trade. Dealers were given the all clear to open their doors again from 1 June, provided they undertook a ‘Covid Risk Assessment’ and minimised contact between customers and employees. Many have implemented one-way systems in showrooms and are allowing solo test drives, with staggered appointment times. DRIVING Using…

It’s now just over a month since car dealerships in England were allowed to reopen, and while it’s too early to draw definitive conclusions, sales patterns are starting to appear. Here we investigate the most pertinent trends emerging in the car industry’s new normal. Are dealers selling cars? Emphatically, yes – although the used and nearly new car market is in far ruder health than the new car market, boosted by stock being immediately available rather than at the end of an indeterminable waiting list, subject to factories reopening and the speed at which they can build cars while observing social distancing protocols. Already, though, it’s fair to say that opening dealerships was a catalyst in shifting fortunes for the car industry from rock bottom, with many of the big…

The Swift Sport has gone from being one of the last naturally aspirated hot hatches to one of the first to embrace electrification. It gains a 48V starter-generator and battery that are promised to cut emissions and boost fuel economy, while also filling in the 1.4-litre turbo four-pot’s torque gaps below 2000rpm. Although the car remains light, the added electronics mean the Sport can no longer claim to weigh less than a tonne, and with power falling by 9bhp over the outgoing car, the 0-62mph sprint now takes an extra second. Mild-hybrid power isn’t transformative, with the electric motor never directly driving the wheels, but the assistance at lower revs helps acceleration to feel a little more progressive. It’s not quite as urgent off the line, but in-gear pace remains…

1 BMW 330e SE PRO TOURING Classic 3 Series driver appeal meets grown-up interior quality and low costs of ownership. Slick. 2 SKODA SUPERB iV SE L Familiar and easy to use, excellently priced and incredibly spacious. Relaxed and comfy if unexciting, this is the sensible family wagon of choice. 3 PEUGEOT 508 SW HYBRID 225 E-EAT8 S&S ALLURE Brings the 508’s new-found interior quality and style to the PHEV class with great success. A good choice. 4 VOLVO V60 RECHARGE T6 PHEV Expensive in this company and four-wheel drive, but appealing to drive and in terms of its great interior. 5 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT GTE ESTATE Restrained, smart, refined and spacious, the Passat appeals for its understated progressiveness.…

FOR THIS AWARD, we asked you which car you’d most like to drive before you die. You looked at the 50 cars we’d put on a shortlist, carefully considered their respective engineering merits and their influence over the wider car industry. You mused on design, technology, significance. And then you picked the one with the 6.1-litre naturally aspirated V12 in its middle. Fair play. Same here. Driving an F1 properly was on my wish list, too. Then, last year, came the 25th anniversary of the F1’s Autocar road test. McLaren graciously said it would again oblige Autocar with access to an F1 for a day, by the end of which we’d been allowed to drive it so hard and for so long, its rear numberplate melted. Given the F1 still…

“FOCUS ON GOALS and learn fast – even if it means failing fast,” says Aurrigo boss David Keene when asked to summarise how his team of 30 men and women based in Coventry can take on the might of Waymo, Uber and every car manufacturer in the field of autonomous driving. “We’re a speedboat to their oil tanker and we have to use that agility,” he says. “We don’t have the budget to work to theoretical possibilities. We have to laser focus on realities. It’s why our autonomous vehicles have been real-world testing around the world already – in controlled environments such as airports to move luggage, and old people’s residential homes. Now we’re all ready to commercialise our products.” While car makers might have bigger goals than developing autonomous…

Mercedes-AMG’s diversity pledge Mercedes-AMG unveiled a new all-black livery for the 2020 season ahead of last week’s Austrian Grand Prix. The firm says it will serve as a “public pledge” to improve the diversity of its Bicester-based team. According to Mercedes, around 3% of the Formula 1 team’s workforce identified as belonging to ethnic minority groups, while 12% are women. Mercedes is launching a diversity and inclusion programme to take steps to improve those numbers. Glass half full for the Indy 500 Indianapolis 500 organisers are planning to allow fans to attend the rescheduled event in August – but with attendance capped at 50% of the venue’s capacity. The Indycar Series’ headline event is due to take place on 23 August. It is one of the world’s biggest spectator events,…

“Its 276bhp output sounds rather modest, but the devil appears to be in the detail” FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT In the absence of a new RS, is the latest Focus ST good enough to be considered a credible flagship fast Ford hatchback? I have been a fan of fast Fords for as long as I’ve known how to drive, a fact I owe almost entirely to my mate Ben. He was a somewhat better-resourced teenager than I, which meant that while I chugged about the place in a long succession of aged, arthritic rusting wrecks that were dead slow even when new, Ben had a Ford Fiesta XR2. The original: white paint, round headlights, pepper-pot wheels and low-profile tyres. I was hooked from the moment I drove it.…

QUESTION My son lives on Guernsey and is about to order a Velar. Should he get the P300 petrol or D275 diesel? Derrick Blackwell, via email ANSWER The knee-jerk response is petrol on the basis that, in Guernsey, you can’t do the sustained, high-speed runs that are generally advised to clean the diesel particulate filter. But you also said your son knows a few people on the island who have no such problems with their diesel Jaguar Land Rovers. Our consumer editor, Claire Evans – keeper of the What Car? Reliability Survey data – says exhaust and emissions issues weren’t major causes of concern on the Velar or Land Rovers with the same 3.0 diesel, either. So we’d pick the D275 for a more effortless drive than the P300, which…

Volvo XC70 £3500 If you asked us to name a carry-all that could do it all, we’d probably say Range Rover. However, if you don’t have the budget (who does these days?), then the next best thing would be the Volvo XC70. A mere few thousand pounds gets you a capacious estate with enough off-road chops for most people’s needs, plus it is supremely comfortable. A few attempts have been made at cracking the jacked-up, off-road estate market, but it really is only Volvo and Audi that have persisted with it. The C5-generation Audi Allroad, a contemporary of this P2-gen XC70, was the more technically audacious. It had a trick air suspension system that afforded it greater ground clearance so was always the better of the two when venturing from…

Here’s one for you: what do you buy when you want a genuine supercar for everyday use but are hamstrung by a five-strong family and a sub-£10,000 budget? It’s not the impossible conundrum it might seem. After all, everybody knows that when it comes to power for money, used examples of the Audi RS6 – what with today’s gasp-inducing depreciation rates – are among the biggest bargains on the market. Today, we’re concerned with the car that started it all, the C5-generation RS6, which changed the world of fast family cars for good. Packing 444bhp and 413lb ft from a twin-turbocharged version of the less potent – but still Ferrari-baiting – 4.2-litre V8 found in the S6, it will shoot across 0-62mph in less than five seconds and top out…

“The Q4 is mainly driven by its rear motor, with the front one being called on only when needed” Audi will launch a rakish Q4 Sportback E-tron next year – one of seven electric E-tron models that will be on sale in the next 18 months. By 2025, Audi plans to have 20 EVs. The Range Rover Evoque-rivalling Q4 Sportback is mechanically identical to the Q4 E-tron electric SUV that was unveiled at the 2019 Geneva motor show but has a more coupé-like roofline. The siblings will go on sale at the same time in late 2021. The Q4 is the first Audi to adopt the Volkswagen Group’s dedicated MEB electric car platform, first used by the Volkswagen ID 3 hatchback. A spokesman said the platform is the “cornerstone” of…

PORSCHE HAS INTRODUCED an entry-level rear-wheel-drive version of the electric Taycan in China. Sitting below the four-wheel-drive 4S, Turbo and Turbo S and badged simply ‘Taycan’, the newcomer is likely to come to Europe, but Porsche says there is “no confirmed timetable for its launch in other markets”. The rear-drive Taycan is powered by a single electric motor that produces 402bhp when paired with the standard 79.2kWh battery, or 469bhp with the 93.4kWh Performance Battery Plus. The former offers 257 miles of range, with the larger battery taking that to 304 miles – although these are less realistic NEDC test figures. Despite the 67bhp gap, both versions are claimed to accelerate from 0-62mph in 5.4sec, with launch control, and reach a top speed of 143mph. For comparison, the 4S does…

The Geneva motor show, traditionally one of the car industry’s biggest annual events, will not take place next year – and will be sold by organisers in a bid to secure its long-term future. The decision casts fresh doubts over the long-term viability of all motor shows. This year’s event was scrapped days before the doors were due to open in March as the coronavirus pandemic began to spread rapidly throughout Europe, leaving the Foundation of the Geneva International Motor Show (FGIMS) facing a major financial shortfall. It also upset many manufacturers, which had already paid for their stands and were in the final stages of assembling them. FGIMS said the decision to axe next year’s event was taken after most exhibitors said they probably wouldn’t take part and would…

KTM IS OVERHAULING its UK dealer network for the X-Bow sports car and preparing to launch a new GTX model. Barnsley-based Darkside Developments has been appointed as the new majority dealer. From next spring, it will be the exclusive agent for sales, servicing and repairs of the existing open-top X-Bow and the new fixed-roof GTX that’s due at the same time. The five-cylinder GTX could produce up to 600bhp and be priced from £258,000.…

The CLA 45 S Shooting Brake is the sort of special car that comes along when a manufacturer follows its nose for longer than is normal or, perhaps, sensible. The road that led to the creation of this expensive and unbelievably quick junior AMG estate began when Mercedes introduced the third-gen A-Class in 2013. It was a different car from the imaginative, original A-Class. The body had morphed into more customary two-box proportions and, as for the powertrain, rather than sitting obliquely beneath the front footwell in an ingenious feat of packaging that didn’t compromise safety, it now rested above the front axle, as with every other hatchback. It was sad to watch the likeable A-Class fall to convention, but the new layout meant Mercedes could put into production an…

Despite the Audi RS7’s massively swollen arches and sharp, sinewy flanks, it isn’t a four-door, all-paw performance saloon that drives in the hardcore manner its looks may suggest. That is a slightly contradictory statement about a machine with a 591bhp twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 which enables a 3.6sec 0-62mph time. But the truth is that even on Britain’s scab-riddled roads, it remains an effortless and comfortable grand tourer. Despite its monstrous performance, there’s a demure streak to this latest RS7 that would help it to slip into your life as easily as any posh diesel executive saloon might – fuel costs notwithstanding. It rides pretty comfortably even on its optional RS steel coil suspension and 22in alloy wheels; its eight-speed automatic swaps cogs dexterously; and its V8 isn’t hell-bent on dominating…

MODEL TESTED GTS-R Production ended last October for arguably Australia’s greatest automotive export, the Holden Commodore – and with that end, one of the UK car market’s strangest and most enriching seams of import supply has forever dried up. Vauxhall’s lurid, unreconstructed, antediluvian, V8-powered, infamous Aussie-built Anglophile – the VXR8 – is no more. But before it stopped, Vauxhall put in one last order with HSV for just 15 examples of a special-edition VXR8: the GTS-R. It comes with a dab more power than the GTS we tested in 2014, as well as various other mechanical tweaks, styling modifications and cabin upgrades. Running the same LSA-family Chevrolet ‘small-block’ V8 as the Camaro ZL1 (remapped and fitted with a new air filter compared with the one in the regular VXR8 GTS),…

VOLKSWAGEN SINCE TAKING THE R&D helm at Volkswagen in late 2015 – under the dark cloud of the then recently broken Dieselgate scandal – Frank Welsch has embarked on the biggest overhaul of the brand in its lifetime. Welsch’s work on the MEB modular platform and subsequent ID family of electric models – the manifestation of billions of pounds of investment in electrification – has led the industry in terms of its bold commitment to EVs. Of course, that’s not Welsch’s only project. All in all, the development of – deep breath – 55 cars falls under his responsibility. When you consider the breadth and brilliance of those vehicles, there’s no one more worthy of the Mundy Award. What are his favourites in 26 years of working at the VW…

A bit later this month, the World Rally Championship finally gets under way in Italy with a new driver, a new team and the return of a famous manufacturer. But it’s not exactly what you think. After being cast aside by Hyundai, Andreas Mikkelsen is back at the wheel of a Citroën C3 WRC for the first time since 2017. This time, however, the French car will be run by an equally French private team (Saintéloc) and its striking black-and-yellow livery will reflect Mikkelsen’s latest job: developing new WRC tyres for Pirelli, which will take over as sole tyre supplier from 2021 until at least the end of 2023. As this is pretty much the only chance to regularly drive a World Rally Car for the foreseeable future, it’s a…

I have run Mercedes cars for close on 30 years and currently have a C300 Cabriolet and a GLC Coupé. James Attwood’s news story on Mercedes’ plans for artificial intelligence (20 May) was of great interest, mainly because I like the features AI offers but also because I’ve since 2000 owned cars fitted with Mercedes’ Comand systems.s. The C300 has just reached its third birthday and in early March went in for its service. At the same time, I was asked if I wanted to renew its Vehicle Monitoring and Vehicle Setup functions. These won’t continue to be availableable after the warranty period unless a fee is paid. In this case, it was £79 for the Monitoring and £79 for the Setup: including VAT, a total cost of £158. This…

MILEAGE 374 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see whether it can unseat the Ford Fiesta as the UK’s favourite small car Of the handful of Clios I’ve tried in the past, I can’t think of one that didn’t divide opinions with its driving position. Depending on the generation, there wasn’t enough adjustment in the seat, or the pedals were awkwardly offset, or you perched too high over the steering wheel. I’m not especially tall, either, yet I always struggled to get comfy. Renault seems to have got everything just right this time around, and it makes the Clio’s cabin a delightfully pleasant place to be. The driver’s seat lets you get nice and low, with a headrest that doesn’t feel like it’s constantly forcing your neck forward. I have no…

MILEAGE 107,0 2 0 PORSCHE CAYENNE I am travelling back in time here. So just before the world was put into neutral, I decided to get the Flying Pig fixed, because the coolant was coming out almost as fast as it was going in. The cost of all the plumbing parts was a pretty solid £700. I rationalised this as being cheaper than buying a complete replacement, because there doesn’t seem to be very much else wrong with it. Plus, it isn’t my ride and I understand that a grand, which was the final bill, is much cheaper than a divorce. Anyway, Rob the mechanic hated every single moment. For him, it was a learning experience. He learned never to do it again.…

Anyone bored with the same-old, same-old offerings in the executive car class has, since 2016, been able to cast a little wider and bag a deeply competitive and wonderfully charismatic saloon with an Alfa Romeo badge. You see, the Giulia is a really compelling alternative that competes on performance, running costs and driving experience, and for which none of the old Alfa apologies is needed. From launch, the choice of engines has started with a 197bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol and increased to 276bhp with the Veloce and Veloce Ti versions. The diesel range stems from a 2.2-litre four-cylinder with either 148bhp or 177bhp. Then there’s the top-of-the-range Quadrifoglio – a car so good that it’s best reserved for its own separate guide – with a 503bhp 2.9-litre V6. All engines…

RANGE ROVER (P38) There was a time when values for the P38-generation Range Rover were firmly entrenched in the dirt that this vehicle is famous for traversing over, but those days look to be over. This late-2001 example with 44,000 miles on the clock went for £12,960 at a recent auction. It is in the potentially more reliable 4.0-litre V8 form, was being sold with an extensive service history and was said to be in show-quality condition. Its value was probably also helped along a little by the private registration plate that was included in the sale.…

AUDI’S EXPANDING ELECTRIC car range has gained its first performance models, with the E-tron S and E-tron S Sportback being unveiled ahead of UK order books opening later this summer. Priced from £87,000 for the standard SUV and £88,700 for the coupé-styled Sportback, the two range-topping variants are claimed to be the first volume production cars to use three electric motors; two are mounted on the rear axle and one sits at the front. The result is 496bhp and, more significantly, 718lb ft of torque, available in eight-second bursts. Both cars dispatch 0-62mph in 4.5sec and hit a top speed of 130mph. They come with a 95kWh battery for a quoted range of 223 miles for the E-tron S and 226 miles for the Sportback. The trio of motors not…

KIA’S INTELLIGENT MANUAL Transmission (iMT), with its clutch-by-wire system, set the antennae twitching at Autocar Towers, because the crystal ball had been revealing only automatic and semi-automatic gearboxes as the solutions to staying on top of future emissions regulations. Clutch-by-wire is an electronically controlled, electrohydraulic clutch actuation system that’s specifically designed to work with 48V mild-hybrid powertrains. One of the problems powertrain engineers have faced, ever since emissions became a thing, is the driver. No matter how skilled they are, drivers aren’t good at getting the best efficiency out of an engine and gearbox, and that’s why the ‘integrated powertrain’ approach evolved, with engines and automatic gearbox control systems linked so they can achieve the best economy. That’s all very well for more expensive cars, but for smaller, cheaper cars,…

The headline stat is 538lb ft at 1750rpm. There’s also 350bhp at 4000rpm, but it’s the torque that moulds the brawny character of the new D3 S, endowing it with the sort of low-to-mid-range punch that proves performance-based diesels really do have some life left in them. The latest hot diesel-powered Alpina is based on the already potent BMW M340d xDrive. Like the four-wheel-drive donor car, it comes in saloon and Touring bodystyles – the latter of which we drove briefly on the Bilster Berg club circuit in Germany. As is Alpina’s way, the styling changes are subtle. The D3 S gets a front bumper extension, the firm’s signature turbine wheels and a reworked rear bumper valance that houses four round chromed tailpipes. It’s not much, but it’s enough to…

MODEL TESTED SW HYBRID 225 E-EAT8 S&S ALLURE Ah, the D-segment. Once, when it was normal for a car maker’s range to consist of five models and having five channels on your television seemed quite the extravagance, the D-segment – large family cars – was the dominant force in UK car ownership. Model ranges and their respective levels of sophistication were glaringly obvious in this company-car-focused market. The badge on the back might even have included an ‘i’, standing “for ‘important’”, as a driver on a TV documentary said at the time. There were big players – Ford and Vauxhall, predominantly – and a British Touring Car Championship focused entirely around big family saloons (and one Volvo estate). And, absolutely, Peugeot was part of it. These cars are still around…

VERDICT Revisiting our road test of the conventional combustion-engined saloon in 2018 sets a tone for the 508 SW that still rings true. This is a car that looks alluring and rides comfortably, and holds its head pretty high among both mainstream and premium alternatives. It has a cabin that impresses initially, and Peugeot’s i-Cockpit gets a little better every time. Perhaps one day it will impress like BMW’s iDrive. But likely not. Being the enthusiasts that we are, though, the Autocar top five in this class remained dominated two years ago by more dynamic alternatives. This is where the plug-in hybrid scores: the nicer cars in the class to drive – like the Jaguar XE, Alfa Romeo Giulia and Kia Stinger – don’t offer you the chance to hook…

EVERY SUMMER, TEAM Autocar decamps to great roads and usually a race circuit in affordable driver’s cars. Affordable among the scheme of cars, anyway. The good thing is that a modest down payment and monthly follow-up can put some of the best driver’s cars on your driveway. Most recently, we took nine of the best to Wales. One was a Mazda MX-5, the latest version of the small roadster that’s celebrating its 30th anniversary. Others included the Honda Civic Type R, Ford Focus ST and Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR. That the MX-5 won the contest isn’t necessarily the surprising thing. What’s surprising is the confidence it exuded during its victory. We asked the five judges to pick their top three, in their preferred order. Four out of five picked the…

The Volvo boss describes himself as a keen car person, although he’s far too committed to electrification to fit the ‘petrolhead’ description. “I wouldn’t describe myself as a car fanatic,” Håkan Samuelsson says. “But I’ve always been very interested in cars from the engineering point of view [he has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering] and I’ve always been fascinated to see how things develop. “I own two really nice cars and I’m currently having a new garage built to accommodate them better. One is a Volvo P1800, the most stylish Volvo ever built. We’ll use that for summer trips and fun. The other is a new Polestar 1, a car I’m very proud of.” Samuelsson notes that the P1800 was the car used in the 1960s British TV detective…

DRIVEN McLaren Speedtail The spiritual successor to McLaren’s iconic F1 is here. Read about Andrew Frankel’s exclusive drive in it ROAD TEST Bentley Flying Spur Crewe’s new saloon has impressed us so far. Now for its biggest test yet FEATURE Overlooked cars We celebrate the industry’s underappreciated heroes EVERY WEEK USED BUYING GUIDE Toyota Hilux Is this go-anywhere pick-up utterly indestructible? Our guide reveals all LONG-TERM TEST Mazda 3 It’s great to look at, but to live with? We round up our time with the hatch SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p16…

MILEAGE 1042 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT The S60 T8 has nearly 400bhp and claimed economy of 166mpg, but how does it stack up in the real world? It took a while, but at long last our Volvo S60 T8 is here. With the lead time needed to build and ship the car from Volvo’s US factory in South Carolina, plus the months of national lockdown curtailing deliveries, it’s been over six months since I finalised the spec on the configurator and hit send. So it’s worth a refresher on what we’ve got. After a few months with the luxurious Inscription flagship, we have swapped into the rather racier R Design and, crucially, abandoned pure petrol power in favour of a plug-in hybrid. When we finalised our order all those months…

Jaguar S-Type David has owned this Jaguar S-Type for only three weeks: “I’ve never liked the looks, but this one got my attention with 12 months’ MOT for £600. The paintwork had been vandalised but, after many hours of hard work, the damage all came out! “It seems rust free, the interior is lovely and loaded with toys, and everything works. But the driving is the best part – superbly smooth and comfortable, with possibly the creamiest V6 I’ve ever come across. Suddenly, the looks don’t seem so bad…”…

An owner’s view ADAM BROADWAY “It’s not a cheap car to run. Don’t think of it as an Audi: think of it as a supercar, because that’s what it is – and because of that, everything costs a lot of money! Look for one that’s just had the gearbox done over one with low mileage that hasn’t. They eat tyres and brakes – discs are £500 each – and if you do buy one, take it straight to a specialist to get it checked over. Get ready for a bill as there will always be something wrong.” Buyer beware… ■ ENGINE If you can stomach its sub-20mpg fuel economy, the V8 is a rather amiable beast to live with. The timing belt should be changed every 35,000 miles and the…