Innholdsfortegnelse for April 28, 2021 i Autocar

Lotus’s first all-new series-production car in 12 years is a final “celebration of the glories of combustion” before the storied British firm enters its electrified future. Taking the name Emira, which means ‘commander’ in several ancient languages, it will be revealed on 6 July. Along with the Evija electric hypercar (driven, p20), the new Emira, developed under the Type 131 codename and designed to revive the spirit of the Esprit, will kick-start a major product offensive from Hethel under its ongoing Vision 80 revival plan. Future models from the Geely-owned firm will be based on one of four new platforms, including a premium one that will spawn its first SUV and one for electric sports cars. It had been rumoured that the Emira would be a hybrid but, as first…

SKODA IS WELL on the way to electrifying its line-up but isn’t ready to say goodbye to combustion just yet. “For now, we can’t see what will happen beyond 2030,” said boss Thomas Schäfer. “We need to invest for the future, but it’s not the time to switch off existing models and forget them, because that’s where we have customers around the world, maybe still for a few years to come.” CITROEN CEO VINCENT Cobée believes the new C5X will set a trend in being sold with petrol and petrol-electric hybrid powertrains exclusively. “I’m extremely cold-blooded on diesel,” he said. “It was 80% of the segment five years ago and less than 50% last year; it could be less than 15% in three or four years.” WHILE THE GOODWOOD estate’s…

THE VOLKSWAGEN POLO has been brought into line with its newer range-mates as part of its mid-life facelift, gaining a raft of exterior updates and new interior technology. Most prominently, a Golfinspired strip at the front is added along with LED lights all round (now standard), new front and rear bumpers and a restyled tailgate with more prominent Polo badging. The new LEDs at the front offer matrix technology for the first time on the Polo. The supermini’s wheelbase remains the same, but it is slightly longer than before, due to the reprofiled bumpers. In addition to the styling alterations, the Polo is now available with the option of Travel Assist, which combines adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping assistance to allow partly automated driving at up to 130mph. Conventional lane-keeping…

Rapidly growing Chinese EV manufacturer Nio remains on track for a European launch in the second half of this year – and it will soon make a decision about which models the region will get first. Speaking exclusively to Autocar, the brand’s Europe vice-president, Hui Zhang, confirmed it remains confident of its viability in Europe. “We fully believe that, in Europe, the awareness of environmental protection and sustainability is much bigger for the consumer compared with on any other continent in the world,” he said. Nio is enjoying considerable growth in its home market, where it posted record sales each month in 2020, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, largely as a result of its mostly digital ‘O2O’ (online-to-offline) retail model in the region. Zhang said: “Our Nio app has more than…

THERE HAS BEEN an awful lot of love out there for manual gearboxes of late, maybe because we’ve reached a point where some kind of automatic is the norm. All of a sudden, the dual-clutch transmission (DCT), which promised so much driving satisfaction, has become demonised because keen drivers still lust after a stick-shift for the most engaging driving experience. Manufacturers haven’t given up, though (they can’t, because autos are easier on fuel consumption than human drivers), and one of the latest to arrive is Hyundai’s eight-speed ‘wet’ N DCT. This semi-auto ’box first appeared on the Veloster N in overseas markets, then the i30 N, and now it’s the exclusive fitment on the new Kona N (see p10). With that, Hyundai hopes to keep enthusiasts on side. The N…

MONDAY Delighted with the response to our recently announced Autocar-Shelsley Walsh Young Drivers’ Championship as we prepare for the first practice day – under full instruction – at the Curborough sprint track on 11 July. The five-round competition is for 17- to 21-year-olds with road licences, driving roadworthy 1.2-litre Vauxhall Corsas they bought for £2500 or so. A big advantage, we think, is that young drivers can compete in a car they also drive to work. A recent launch at the famous Worcestershire track starred the competition’s first entrant, 21-year-old Ben Edwards, who has since been joined by a coterie of others. But we need even more budding hillclimb drivers, especially females, to really make the thing fly. If you fancy it, or know someone who does, please find details…

Who among the established car makers has in recent times changed the way the world perceived their marque with but one brilliantly conceived product? There certainly aren’t many. Audi and the midengined R8 supercar; maybe Fiat and the fine job it did reinventing the 500. Bentley’s Continental GT? Well, here’s the latest member of that club. And one glance at the Hyundai Ioniq 5 will have you wondering whether this all-new electric crossover – an avant-garde but also staunchly traditional two-box hatchback with, of all things, Lancia Delta Integrale overtones – isn’t the most potent episode of perception-bending of them all. We’ll come back to the design shortly, not least because all is not quite as it seems, but when was the last time a mass-market Hyundai stopped you dead…

The Rogue five-seat SUV is Nissan’s biggest seller in the US and Canada, competing against the likes of the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. It is more familiar to readers of this magazine as the X-Trail, the European version with different powertrains and the option of seven seats. North America has an all-new Rogue for 2021, based on the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance’s updated CMF-C platform. In summer 2022, this new generation will arrive in the UK in X-Trail guise with a folding third-row seating option. The Rogue’s 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine won’t be seen in the UK, where an ePower hybrid will be available. Four-wheel drive features in 75% of Rogues sold in Canada, including our mid-range SV-spec test car, but front drive is likely to be a more popular choice…

PORSCHE PANAMERA Is the Panamera the best-handling luxury car of the lot? Quite possibly. Although it has never quite lived up to its billing as a four-door 911, the way it drives is sublime. The interior is exquisite, too, with sporty styling that hints at its performance. Diesels were introduced in 2011 and are your best bet for a bargain: the 3.0-litre turbo V6 produces 247bhp and uses an eight-speed Tiptronic gearbox. These can now be had for just £18,000 – less than you would pay for a new Smart EQ Fortwo. ONE WE FOUND 2011 3.0 V6 S, 97,000 miles, £17,999 VOLKSWAGEN PHAETON Stick a VW badge on a luxury car and what do you get? Horrific resale values. At least that was the result of the Phaeton experiment,…

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Soon after one French rally driver makes his debut at M-Sport, another looks set to follow. They have nothing much in common apart from the backing of energy drinks giant Red Bull, but both could be equally important in shaping the legendary British team’s future. In Croatia recently, Adrien Fourmaux was unleashed in an M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC for his competition debut. The 25-year-old is an up-and-coming star in the WRC2 category, one rung below the top WRC class. He has a neat and tidy style of almost surgical precision – and that comes as no surprise, because he’s a former medical student. He gave up surgery to concentrate on rallying, but the analytical skills of dissection that he learned come in handy when it comes to inch-perfect performance under…

WRITE TO autocar@haymarket.com Who’s in control? I’ve just read Piers Ward’s comments about the so-called safety feature of lane-keeping assistance in his BMW 4 Series (Our Cars, 10 March). Last week, I tried a 430i demonstrator and was surprised to have to fight the car to steer around a parked car. After pulling over, I located the menu and found that the ‘assistance’ level was set at medium. As it appeared that it can’t be switched off permanently, I set it to the minimum intervention level, which improved things a lot. It’s amazing to think that car makers hone suspension systems to create a safe 150mph driving experience and then have to ruin the effect with such useless rubbish. Arthur SmithVia email Golf driving tips I see lane-keeping assistance as…

FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out if plug-in hybrid power and eight seats give Ford’s iconic van greater lifestyle appeal Spend almost any length of time on a UK motorway and you will be sure to spot a Transit. The iconic Ford has seemingly been the country’s favourite van forever, so it’s no surprise that it’s advertised with the slogan ‘Backbone of Britain’. That popularity hasn’t made it immune from the push towards electrification, but rather than force drivers to choose between payload and range by offering only an electric Transit (that will join the line-up in 2022), Ford has also created a plugin hybrid. But does something that works so well for commuters make sense in a load-lugger? We aim to find out, having just taken…

QUESTION My 330d Touring was bought new in 2013. It has a full BMW history. I’m considering a stage one remap. Will I notice much difference, and will it invalidate my BMW used car warranty? David Ellis, via email ANSWER Turbodiesels are well suited to remapping – if the engine is well maintained and the firm you use writes its own software or can stand by its quality. Most modern engines are under-stressed, so the power gains are unlikely to harm yours. You’ll notice a big difference in performance, and economy should actually be slightly better. But you will void the BMW warranty. JE QUESTION I want to buy a small estate car with a torque converter automatic gearbox. Where can I find one? Ken Nicol, via email ANSWER Traditional…

BMW 320d SE £21,750 New car sales and the PCP finance deals that support them get all the attention, but smart folk buy nearly new, where cars still smell and feel like new but cost much less. With showrooms now open again, we’ve found five great nearly new car deals, starting with this BMW 3 Series: a 69-reg saloon with 8000 miles and the Plus pack (heated front seats with upgraded upholstery). It cost £34,260 new, but you could easily have negotiated £2500 off that figure, taking it down to £31,760 – or almost exactly £10,000 more than our one-year-old example. Savings like this are why buyers can’t afford to ignore nearly new cars. Not only do they save a fortune on the list price, but also the monthly PCP payments…

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 results 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…

TESTER’S NOTES We all know that cars being ugly is no barrier to them selling well, but if you had the chance to make a good-looking car, why wouldn’t you? Might I be bold enough to suggest that the new special edition of the Ferrari 812 Superfast (see p11) is one such thing? I’m fond of the overall shape of it, certainly more than I like the regular 812 stance in itself, but more than that, I find myself going back to it to peer at the details. I like the way the rear wing partly covers the tail-lights and that the swoopy bonnet-band-vent thing disappears into the wing tops, then seems to appear again at the bottom. These features add some intrigue without – to my eyes, at least…

Toyota will top its growing range of GR performance cars with the 986bhp GR Super Sport hypercar, which is due to arrive next year with a plug-in hybrid powertrain developed from the firm’s Le Mans 24 Hours-winning endurance prototypes. The Mercedes-AMG One and Aston Martin Valkyrie rival will be the flagship model for Toyota’s GR performance car range, which now includes the GR Supra, GR Yaris and new GR 86. It will also serve to firmly link Toyota’s World Endurance Championship programme to its road cars. Company boss Akio Toyoda has put a major emphasis on reinforcing the connection between Toyota’s various motorsport projects and its road-going models. The decision to make the mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive two-seat GR Super Sport was originally approved and announced in 2018, when the planned new…

WILLIAMS ADVANCED Engineering (WAE), the Formula 1 team’s technical division, has partnered Italian styling house Italdesign on a new high-performance EV architecture that will be offered to customers as a full ‘turn-key’ package. Designed for car makers seeking a highly capable EV in a production run of 500-10,000 units per year, it is based on WAE’s new lightweight EVX architecture, which the British firm says is capable of being used for GTs, crossovers and saloons. The platform combines recycled composite materials with aluminium and differs from many in that the battery casings are integrated into the body structure, with the front and rear chassis structures then mounted to that carbon-composite unit. WAE claims that this design gives greater flexibility of layout, sets new standards for torsional stiffness and offers more…

The Kona crossover has become the fifth Hyundai to gain an N-badged performance variant, after the i20, i30, i30 Fastback and Veloster hatchbacks – and arrives as the firm announces a plan to expand its N and N-Line range to 18 by the end of 2022. While the i20 N takes on the Ford Fiesta ST in the hot supermini segment, the Kona N is aimed at the closely related Ford Puma ST performance crossover, which previously had no direct rivals. However, the Kona N has more in common with the i30 N than the hot new i20, bringing a raft of “motorsport-inspired” features aimed at enhancing performance and improving the driving experience. A turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine sends 276bhp and 289lb ft (figures roughly comparable to those of…

Ford chairman Bill Ford has led tributes to Richard Parry-Jones, who died in an accident on 16 April, saying that the company’s former group vice-president of global product development left an “indelible mark” on both it and the wider car industry. Parry-Jones, who was 69, had a distinguished engineering career at Ford spanning nearly 40 years. He will be best remembered for bringing a new, much higher standard of vehicle dynamics to Ford’s European cars, starting with the original Mondeo in 1993 and working through the range to the all-important 1998 launch of the Focus, which set new standards for cars of its type across the world. His secret weapon was always communication. Successive teams of young engineers were inspired by him, and the management who he encountered (and later…

THE ANNUAL TOKYO motor show has been cancelled for the first time since the inaugural event in 1954, due to the ongoing pandemic. The event had been scheduled to take place in October. Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, who also serves as chairman of event organiser, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, told reporters: “We’ve concluded that it will be difficult to offer our main programmes, where many visitors get to experience attractive features of mobility in a safe environment.” The biennial event – typically one of the largest of its kind globally – has until now always gone ahead as scheduled. However, a surge in Covid-19 infections in Japan is causing concern, with prime minister Yoshihide Suga said to be considering declaring a state of emergency in cities including Tokyo and…

What do the Mercedes-Benz X-Class, Fiat Fullback, Mitsubishi L200, Volkswagen Amarok and Nissan Navara have in common? The short answer is that they’re all pickup trucks that were available to buy in the UK in 2019 but are no longer on sale. Every single one was axed in the past two years. The pick-up market has changed somewhat recently, only a few years after it seemed that it would thrive with the arrival of new competition. The sector enjoyed stratospheric growth through much of the past decade, which most likely encouraged new players to attempt to grab a slice of a lucrative pie – before the market experienced a 1% drop in 2019 and a 32.7% fall in 2020 (see graph, right). With the exception of the sub-two-tonne light commercial…

The few neighbours of Lotus’s Hethel track have grown used to the noise of high-performance powerplants being wrung out over the years, from Ford DFVs through to the supercharged Toyota V6s that power the senior end of the company’s present line-up. But none has sounded anything like this. Inside its cockpit, the Evija prototype is far from silent, a muscular electrical hum overlaying the rumble of the track under the tyres and the chattering of the suspension working. Plus, as speed builds, the rush of the increasing air pressures on the outside of the swoopy bodywork. But from outside, it is almost freakishly quiet compared with the hypercar alternatives in this elevated part of the market, whistling past with the sound of little more than displaced air, like a high-speed…

The monikers V2L and V2G might not mean much to you, because they’re uncommon. But both are capabilities touted by the Ioniq 5, because Hyundai wants above all for this car to make a splash. V2L, or vehicle to load, simply means the car can function as an enormous mobile battery. As such, there’s a domestic-style power outlet at the base of the rear seats for charging devices; and another in the main exterior charging port, which could be used to, say, run a projector at your campsite or power a portable fridge. In an emergency, the Ioniq 5 could even donate some of its charge to another EV. V2G stands for vehicle to grid, which means the car is able to send electricity back to the national grid at…

In the battle of the boots, the BMW 5 Series has traditionally lost out to its Mercedes-Benz E-Class arch-rival. This facelifted 5-er is no different, as the Merc still has the bigger cargo bay by either 80 or 120 litres, depending on how you’ve arranged the seats. But if your personal tick list extends beyond a simple load bay comparison, the 5 Series has always been right up there with the Merc. The version we test here is the 530d Touring, running a straight-six diesel with 282bhp and 479lb ft. The 0-62mph sprint takes 5.6sec, another figure that’s a smidge down on the E-Class. It now has mild-hybrid tech – previously, this was offered on only the 520d – with a 48V starter-generator so the car now coasts into a…

DACIA SANDERO STEPWAY TCe 90 PRESTIGE Even in range-topping guise, the Sandero Stepway represents pretty fantastic value for money. Good to drive, and practical too. HYUNDAI i10 1.2 MPI SE CONNECT Dinky i10 is our current city car favourite. A whole class size below the Sandero, but that’s what this sort of money gets. SUZUKI IGNIS 1.2 MHEV SZ5 Cheaper versions of the wonderfully quirky Ignis are available, but this one’s well equipped. Drive is as characterful as its looks. KIA PICANTO 1.0 T-GDi GT-LINE Mildly sporting and well equipped. Good looking, too. Small next to a Sandero, mind – and a bit pricier. SKODA FABIA 1.0 TSI S You would have to go for the bog-standard, entry-level Fabia if you want a Sandero-sized Skoda. Good enough to drive, but…

Lotus certainly goes through bosses. It’s not quite nine years since Dany Bahar’s acrimonious departure from the sports car maker, but new managing director Matt Windle is the fifth man to lead the business since then – with his well-regarded predecessor Phil Popham only just getting past two years at the top. But unlike many of those before him, Windle hasn’t been promoted to leadership at a time of crisis or after a change in leadership. His move from the role of engineering director was an orderly one, and he remains committed to the Vision 80 plan put in the place by Popham. It’s one that will give Lotus an all-new model range as soon as next year, then move aggressively towards both electrification and a dramatic increase in global…

RACING LINES Two races down, two stone-cold modern classics to savour as the Lewis Hamilton versus Max Verstappen rivalry pleasingly lives up to the hype. Will the duo deliver a third thrilling instalment of their Formula 1 duel at Portimão this weekend? There’s no reason to think otherwise. It’s early days, of course, but from what we’ve seen so far, this season looks set to become one of the most memorable for years – and for all the right reasons. HAMILTON’S EIGHTH TITLE UNDER THREAT Hamilton arrives in Portugal with just a one-point lead over Verstappen in the title race, thanks to the fastest lap that he banked late on at Imola. There was a big dose of luck in his second-place finish in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, following…

My wife does only short commutes and she wanted to go green, so she ordered a new Mazda MX-30. Her car arrived at the dealership about three weeks ago, but she has been unable to take delivery, because she’s still waiting to have a home charger installed. This was ordered in late February, but the installer is unable to proceed because they’re awaiting clearance – not from our domestic electricity supplier but from the company that’s responsible for the main grid cables, as it needs to confirm that there’s sufficient local capacity. Apart from the sheer incompetence of the company concerned, this begs the question of what would happen if five families in a neighbourhood decide to get an electric car at the same time. It seems to me that…

MILEAGE 2341 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To evaluate the depth and especially breadth of ability of the luxury SUV cohort’s now established leader For the first few weeks of running this large, opulent, £200,000 SUV, I was starting to despair of finding ways to appreciate it. After all, if you’re restricted to 3.5-mile trips to and from the nearest market town on roads with several annoying intersections and few uplifting features, you’re really not taking advantage of a special car. However, work has recently required some longer trips – one a 120-mile early-morning dash across the Cotswolds via the Fosse Way (before the mobile chicanes – aka truckers – got into their stride) and the other a trip down the M4 to Reading. Both proved to be meat and drink…

You don’t read a thing about the Golf for months and then suddenly it all happens at once. So here is a very rapid Golf update. It was a busy few hours, but first there was a new tyre, which was flagged as an advisory at the last MOT. The offside rear had plenty of tread but it was showing signs of cracking. It was decided not to take a chance so booked in for change one afternoon. It took a while but cost £60 for an identical Michelin. A mobile replacement windscreen wasn’t an option so we had to book into a far-away centre. It took a while but an 8.30am slot was honoured. Then it was booked for a new MOT, which it passed with no advisories. Jobs…

For the launch of the SLC two-seater in 2016, Mercedes invited the world’s motoring press to the south of France. It was the perfect setting for the model, because here, the sun can be replaced by storm clouds in an instant. Fortunately, when that happens, the SLC driver simply presses a button and the car’s folding hard top turns it from convertible to coupé in seconds. With the exception of the Mazda RF and BMW 4 Series cabriolet, its metal roof is the one feature that distinguishes the SLC and its forebear, the SLK, from rivals. Forebear? Despite its no-expense-spared launch, the SLC was a face-lifted version of the third-generation SLK launched in 2011. Actually, that’s not fair since the changes ran to new engines and gearboxes and retuned suspension,…

Manufacturers have been courting young drivers for years, but in 2000 Toyota dropped the small talk and went for them directly with a car created specifically for them. The Will Vi supermini looked like a crushed Ford Anglia, was powered by a 1.3-litre petrol engine and was finished in a range of pastel shades. The Will part of its name referenced the brand created to support it: a collection of brewery, cosmetics and personal hygiene companies targeting the youth of Japan. However, few of them were tempted, so the Will Vi was pulled from sale after one year. A 2000 example with 50,000 miles recently made £2100 at auction.…

Twenty years ago, the first customer received the keys to their new V12 Vanquish. Without extras, the two-seat coupé (there was also a 2+2) cost £158,000. By the time production of the model and its sister car, the more powerful V12 Vanquish S, ended in 2007, just 2600 examples had left Aston Martin’s Newport Pagnell factory. This modest number helps explain why, today, prices for good used Vanquishes start at a solid £60,000. At the other extreme, the best cars cost at least twice that. With a monster 5.9-litre V12, in a choice of standard 460bhp or 520bhp S forms, heroic thirst and even more heroic servicing bills, you would imagine it’s a rich person’s occasional toy. But a surprising number of cars advertised have done close to 50,000 miles,…

Ferrari Ferrari claims development and simulation work are already under way on the hybrid hypercar that it will take to the grid at Le Mans in 2023. Technical details remain under wraps, as are the drivers earmarked for the seat, but with Maranello planning to launch its first EV in 2025, it is likely to use topflight endurance racing as a test bed and promotional tool for the next generation of Ferrari supercars. Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus The outlandish SCG 007 is the wild card 2021 LMH entry from American specialist Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, using a non-electrified 3.5-litre V8 from French firm Pipo Moteurs. The company has already confirmed that it will build 20 to 30 road cars, which are expected to sell for around £1.6 million each and will be…

THE NEW HONDA HR-V will arrive in Europe later this year, packing 129bhp and 187lb ft from a slightly uprated version of the Jazz supermini’s e:HEV powertrain. A 1.5-litre Atkinson-cycle atmo petrol engine serves primarily as a generator for a pair of front-mounted electric motors, which are the main driving force in the vast majority of situations. The combustion unit takes over during high-speed cruising, for example. Sitting atop Honda’s Small Car Platform, the third-generation crossover majors on space efficiency and minimalistic design. It rides 10mm higher than the old HR-V and has a 20mmlower roofline, while rear leg room has been extended by 35mm and the flat boot floor ensures comparable capacity. Official performance and economy details are due to be announced in the coming months, along with full…

A NEW SPECIAL edition of the Ferrari 812 Superfast will feature the most powerful combustion engine of any road car from Maranello. The as yet unnamed variant brings a raft of visual, mechanical and dynamic upgrades over the standard grand tourer, itself beaten in terms of outright potency by only the LaFerrari and SF90 Stradale hybrid supercars. The front-mounted naturally aspirated V12 engine’s output has been raised from 789bhp to 819bhp, and while it’s not yet clear if its capacity remains at 6.5 litres, Ferrari has confirmed some of the modifications it has made to boost power. As well as redesigning “many of the engine’s key components”, the firm has installed a new valve-timing mechanism and a new exhaust system. Notably, the RPM limit has risen from 8900rpm to 9500rpm,…

SWISS FIRM MORAND plans to launch a Lotus Evija-baiting hypercar in 2023 with a choice of a hybrid or fully electric powertrain and an anticipated top speed of around 250mph. The monocoque will be crafted from carbonfibre but, uniquely, the body will be made from the sustainable flax-based composite Amplitex, which has been developed by Morand’s Swiss partner, Bcomp. The electric version will be powered by four permanent magnet motors, each driving through reduction gears and producing a combined output of around 1950bhp. Energy will be stored in a 70kWh battery pack weighing 400kg. “We’re working on a disruptive technology with cells that have a greater energy density than those used in Formula E, at around 180Wh per kilogram,” said Benoît Morand. He is a former Le Mans team manager…

The pushrod suspension has what’s called a ‘heave damper’ linking the tops of the wishbones on each side, with its principle taken straight from Formula 1. This is designed to compress as downforce moves the Evija’s body closer to the ground at speed, effectively separating the control for two-wheel bump from the finer demands of maintaining acceptable pliancy at each corner. When equal forces act on both wheels together – a big bump, or significant downforce – the heave damper resists movement. But if one wheel encounters a bump, or moves cornering load, its spring and damper can still apply corrective force and maintain discipline without running out of travel.…

Each and every summer, students graduating from the prestigious Vehicle Design masters course at the Royal College of Art put on a show. Many of the scale models on display are spectacular, as you would expect given that they’re dreamed up in the brains of one-day chief designers for the world’s greatest car makers. However, the ideas are often equally unrealistic: deliberate flights of fancy belonging far into the future. The cars look wild and purport to do everything you could imagine, but they could never actually exist. You can see where we’re headed here: Porsche’s new Taycan Cross Turismo feels a lot like one of those end-of-year concepts at the RCA. Only it’s on sale in 2021, rather than 2121, and, in its most basic 4 form, costs little…

MODEL TESTED STEPWAY TCe 90 PRESTIGE Price £13,895 Power 90bhp Torque 118lb ft 0-60mph 11.9sec 30-70mph in fourth 14.9sec Fuel economy 45.0mpg CO2 emissions 127g/km 70-0mph 48.1m On the eight years that it’s been on sale in the UK, the Dacia Sandero has managed to make quite a name for itself. Touching down on our shores for the first time in 2013 in second-generation guise, the Romanian supermini immediately staked its claim to the title of ‘cheapest new car in Britain’. Prices for the bog-standard Access model started at £5995, for which you would get a car that had four wheels, an engine and not much else. Such was the absence of standard equipment that even the most conservatively minded Spartan would have felt right at home behind the wheel.…

It would take a road tester with many more miles on the clock than yours truly to tell you when it was first claimed that the Mercedes S-Class might just be the best car in the world. Well, now there’s a new one, and it’s emerging into a rapidly and radically changing car market. So, might that assertion still be the case? What is meant by that claim is that this big Benz might be the most technologically advanced and roundly accomplished new car of any currently in production. Sadly, it’s not so good as to have been bewitched by Ronald Weasley’s dad: better value than a Fiesta, faster than a Porsche, brilliant off road, never needs petrol, capable of low-level flight etc… If Mercedes did autonomous driving a bit…

None of us who have driven it have been brave enough to take the replica of an 1881 Trouvé electric vehicle to its limit. Little wonder: it has a tiller to steer two of its three thin solid-rubbered wheels, a brake made from a strop of leather, a seat that puts your backside at shoulder height and a motor that might as well have a light switch for a throttle. This important evolution in the history of electric motoring is up there with Icarus’s wax wings in terms of its safety rating. Gustave Trouvé cared not. By marrying a Coventry-made tricycle with his battery and motor combination, the Frenchman created what is considered to be the first rechargeable EV. On 19 April 1881, at a time when the American west…

Bottas Mercedes a near write-off Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 team boss Toto Wolff has said that Valtteri Bottas’s car was nearly written off in his crash with Williams’ George Russell in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. He claimed the cost of the required repairs could jeopardise future car upgrades, due to F1’s new cost-cap rules. Despite the FIA deeming it a racing incident, Wolff said: “George should have never launched into this manoeuvre, considering that the track was drying up.” F1 adds Miami street race for next decade The Miami Grand Prix is set to join the F1 calendar next season after the Florida city secured a 10-year deal with series bosses. The event will be held on a 3.36-mile street circuit surrounding the city’s football stadium. It will join the…

Love letter to the combustion engine We celebrate the latest, the greatest and the ones we’ll recall best – and reveal why we’ll be enjoying them for a long time yet Life with an Ami Citroën’s oddball EV isn’t offered in the UK yet. We try one for a month Markus Duesmann Audi’s new boss sits down with Steve Cropley to reveal his plans EVERY WEEK Peugeot 508 PSE Hot hybrid impressed on our first drive. Now for the full eight pages Mini hatchback The Mk3 supermini has been given an extensive makeover. We rate it SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p58…

CHANGEOVER REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To explore the breadth of Skoda’s oil-burner Octavias, and how they stack up on the popular family car The more astute among you will have noticed that our long-term Skoda Octavia is looking somewhat different. That’s because we’ve swapped our boggo-spec 114bhp 2.0-litre diesel hatchback for something less frugal but a lot more exciting: a vRS estate. Handing back the keys of the standard Octavia would have been disappointing if it weren’t for the arrival of the vRS. The former came along at the perfect time for me: with an expanded family, it became the effortless, chuck-everything-in vehicle I needed to fit seamlessly into my new life. Its relative compactness meant it was easy for trips into town – which, of course, is as…

Porsche 944 A huge thanks to Caesar for sharing his wonderful new car with us – a Porsche, no less. “Following a brace of Speed Yellow 968s, I’ve gone back down the Porsche transaxle family tree with my Moss Green Metallic 1983 944,” Caesar says. “Not only is it a rare colour, but it also escaped the optional power steering that became standard from 1984. With manually adjustable seats and minus central locking (plus my penchant for removing sound-deadening material and replacing spare wheels with a can of tyre foam), the torquey 2.5-litre four propels the now circa-1100kg coupé in a manner that belies its 163bhp.” Caesar is on the lookout for a garage to keep it in, in the Newcastle area. Please get in touch if you can help.…

VOLKSWAGEN POLO 1.0 EVO 80 MATCH £994 deposit, £166 per month, 48 months, 8000 miles per year There are more entertaining small cars but none with the Polo’s range of talents. Usable, refined, easy-going, spacious, comfortable, handsome and solidly built, it is as good as the modern supermini gets. FORD FIESTA 1.0 ECOBOOST HYBRID 125 ST-LINE 5DR £990 deposit, £165 per month, 48 months, 8000 miles per year In terms of its ride quality and driver engagement, the Fiesta is the model rivals look up to. The 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engines are sparkling performers, too, and return strong economy with a light right foot. SEAT IBIZA 1.0 TSI 95 FR £936 deposit, £156 per month, 48 months, 8000 miles per year It may lack the Fiesta’s dynamic polish, but…

Mazda RX.8 £2995 Launched in 2003 and powered by a high-revving 1.3-litre rotary engine, the Mazda RX-8 coupé was offered in a choice of 190bhp and 228bhp outputs. Add keen handling, thanks to the car’s near 50:50 weight balance, and rear-hinged doors, and you have the makings of something a bit special. Unfortunately, its appeal was undermined by the engine’s appetite for fuel and oil plus its tendency to lose compression. Still, ensure the RX-8 that you find has had a professional compression test and comes with a full service history – just like our 50,000-mile 2004 example – and you could pick up a future classic for buttons.…

An expert’s view TERRY COUZENS, VANTAGE ENGINEERING “The Vanquish looks fantastic, really aggressive. It’s a very raw car. It has traction control, but it’s an early system so it doesn’t constrain the car as much as today’s traction control systems do. You can really test your driving skill at the wheel of one, but if you’re not paying attention, sometimes it’ll turn around and bite you – but I reckon that’s half the fun. The things I would be most keen to check as a buyer would be signs of corrosion, that the gearbox works properly and that it doesn’t misfire.” Buyer beware… ◼ ENGINE Check for misfires caused by tired plugs and coils, which are expensive to replace. The engine has large oilways so check the oil level is…