Innholdsfortegnelse for October 12, 2022 i Autocar

The Skoda Superb is on track to be heavily updated for a fourth generation, returning in 2024 to take the fight to the Peugeot 508 with a choice of ICE and hybrid powertrains in a practical estate body. Skoda recently detailed a bold electrification plan under which it will introduce a new flagship electric SUV, an electric city car and an electric alternative to the Karoq crossover by 2026. However, it will maintain – and refresh – its ICE product offering in the run-up to the 2030 ban, when it estimates that such cars will still account for 30% of sales. A new-generation Superb with predominantly ICE propulsion will play a core role in maintaining that share. In 2021, the Superb accounted for more than 66,000 of Skoda’s 878,000 global…

PORSCHE WAS IN the news in August with a hydrogen engine project aimed at producing the high performance needed for its cars. Most of today’s research is focused on commercial vehicles, where less than 70bhp per litre is enough, but Porsche’s interest lies at the upper end of the scale and its subject is a virtual 4.4-litre V8 petrol, which at 590bhp is making 134bhp per litre. Although hydrogen contains nearly four times more energy by weight than petrol, it’s a gas so its volumetric efficiency is a lot less. Used in a combustion engine, which in its purest, naturally aspirated form works largely on the basis of how much gas (air) it can ingest, hydrogen doesn’t stack up so well. Even stored in liquid form, with all of the…

British EV charger provider Osprey has claimed that charging firms are now focused on user experience, arguing that charger reliability is a concern of the past. CEO Ian Johnston told Autocar that “we shouldn’t be talking about reliability in 2022”, the spotlight instead being on “which [charging] experience you prefer best”. He continued: “That’s where you will see the likes of Osprey and others competing head to head to try to deliver you the best experience – because reliability is a 2020 problem, not a 2023 problem.” In the 2022 What Car? Electric Car Charging Survey, Osprey finished third overall, recording an 80.6% score for reliability, according to feedback from EV drivers. That placed it well ahead of rivals including Gridserve Electric Highway (23.7%), BP Pulse (36.9%) and Ionity (60.6%)…

THE ‘PHENOMENON’ HAS done it (which is no surprise at all). Yes, Kalle Rovanperä became by far the youngest driver to win the World Rally Championship with a dominant sixth victory of the season as Rally New Zealand made a popular return to the series for the first time since 2012. The Toyota Gazoo Racing man turned 22 on the Saturday of the rally, then clinched the WRC crown the following day, soaring to a Power Stage win at the climax to score the bonus points that he needed to put the title out of reach of nearest rival, Hyundai’s Ott Tänak, with two of the 13 rounds to spare. The previous youngest champion? Colin McRae. But the late Scot was 27 when he became champion in 1995. Rovanperä, son…

The MG 5 is a triumph of common sense: practical, good value, no-nonsense. It’s a relief, in fact, to see that such qualities still pay off in the new car market. Despite the 5 being almost remarkable for its unremarkableness, it has been one of the best-selling electric cars in the UK since it arrived in 2019. This facelift solves some of that styling blandness with a completely redesigned front end that takes on something of the squinty-eyed attitude of MG’s new 4 EV hatchback. Another big improvement is the new infotainment system. Gone is the clunky, aftermarket-looking touchscreen, in its place a glossy one that benefits from decent sat-nav, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and the ability to control your timed charging parameters, which was a notable oversight previously. The…

On our first acquaintance back in July, it felt like the sweet spot of the Nissan Ariya range had quickly been stumbled upon. The entry-level front-wheel-drive version of this new electric crossover felt nicely specced with 215bhp and a 250-mile range, bolstered by plenty of kerb appeal and decent dynamics. The modularity of electric car architectures has allowed Nissan to quickly add new models to the line-up in time for its UK rollout, now under way, including this range-topper. The 63kWh battery of the entrylevel car is swapped for an 87kWh version here and a second electric motor is added, at the rear, to give the car four-wheel drive (called e-4orce, a spellchecker’s worst nightmare) and 302bhp. You can also have the bigger battery without the e-4orce system, giving a…

“It’s a drop tank from an RAF Tornado that I bought on eBay for £330. I stuck a Daimler 4.2 straight six in the back, steer it with the tiller from an Antonov cargo plane – and here we are!” ‘Here’ is The Lundy Flyers Motor Club’s annual beach race on Saunton Sands in Devon – a weekend in September of 1/8-mile sprints and ‘slow and low’ one-mile cruises for hot rods and motorcycles up to 1965 or at least in the same style. Hot rods and motorcycles but also belly-tank specials, such as Mark Elsigood’s aforementioned Tornado-derived ‘Rocket’, inspired by the streamlined Bonneville Salt Flats racers of the 1930s, and cyclekarts. Imagine the Goodwood Revival beside the sea and a few decades further back in time – to the…

Affordable and sustainable new Citroën CITROEN RECENTLY revealed the Oli, its vision of sustainable, affordable, long-range electric motoring for the masses. At the Paris motor show 74 years ago, the firm unwrapped the 2CV, which was to perform precisely the same role in combustion motoring. The Deux Chevaux Vapeur (‘two steam horsepower’) was actually nine years late. Work on the Toute Petite Voiture (‘very small car’) had begun way back in 1936 as a way to motorise rural France, but its 1939 debut was cancelled as Germany invaded. Prototypes were successfully hidden from the Nazis and revived after the war. “Simplified to the point of crudity, it seems almost needlessly ugly, but it is full of original ideas planned to cut weight and cost and increase production,” we reported. The…

MILEAGE 15,759 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if an electric SUV is worthy of the Mustang name and, more importantly, if it augurs well for Ford’s future Electrical glitches are the curse of modern motoring, and I’m starting to wonder if I’ve driven our Mustang Mach-E under one ladder (or over one black cat) too many. So I’m hoping that by putting my latest problem in print, some kindly soul might provide a few insights to inform an exorcism of what is an admittedly small but unquestionably very irritating problem that is (literally) blighting my progress. It’s intermittent but happens often enough that I’m certain it’s a fault of the car: my phone loses signal when I put it on the wireless charging mat located in a recess below…

“The M2 has been designed to be more ‘extroverted and bold’ than its M stablemates” The second-generation BMW M2 Coupé is the final pure-combustion offering from Munich’s storied M division, seeing out the era with drastic increases in power, performance and poise compared with its acclaimed predecessor. Its unveiling rounds off a particularly busy year for BMW’s M division, which has celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022 with the debuts of the hardcore M4 CSL, the first-ever M3 Touring, the M Hybrid V8 endurance racer, the updated M8 and – most recently – the XM SUV, its first plug-in hybrid and only its second-ever bespoke model. The M2 is what division boss Frank van Meel calls “the entry drug” to the now sprawling line-up of M cars, slotting in below…

THE JAGUAR F-TYPE will bow out at the end of next year, bringing to an end 75 years of petrol-engined Jaguar sports cars – a lineage that stretches back to the record-breaking XK120. The F-Type, which arrived in 2013 as a replacement for the XK, will continue into its final year with an offering of a 296bhp four-cylinder engine and two supercharged 5.0-litre V8s, one with 444bhp and the other – in the F-Type R – 567bhp. The more potent, stiffer V8s will be badged F-Type 75 for the final year of production, bringing commemorative badging, gloss black wheels, bespoke interior decorations and sports seats upholstered in Windsor leather. Deliveries of the F-Type 75 will begin in January 2023, with prices ranging from £78,330 for the RWD V8 coupé to…

MINI IS PRIMED to launch the Aceman – its first new model name in 10 years – as a small electric crossover to fill the gap between the talismanic hatchback and the Countryman SUV. Due on sale in 2024, the Aceman will be the second in a series of EVs to use Mini’s Spotlight platform, developed by BMW and Chinese partner Great Wall Motors. This platform will also be used by the upcoming electric version of the new Mini hatch. This means the Aceman – spotted testing in final production bodywork, which shows off Mini’s new aerodynamically led design language – could feature a similar powertrain to the hatch, although this has not been confirmed. The new hatch will come in entry-level Cooper trim, with 181bhp and a 40kWh battery,…

“With the right funding, Bloodhound could be ready to run by 2024” Bloodhound, the all-British jet-rocket car bidding to push the world land speed record beyond 800mph, is being reconfigured to deliver its world-beating performance in a new, zeroemissions guise and become a prospective pioneer in the development of synthetic fuels that will power the lowemissions intercontinental aircraft of tomorrow. Powered by conventional jet fuel, Bloodhound ran successfully in 2019 at speeds of up to 628mph (the current record, achieved by the same team with the Thrust SCC car in 1997, stands at 763.035mph) on a specially prepared track at Hakskeen Pan in the north of South Africa. But the project was subsequently knocked off course by a lack of funds and the effects of Covid. It has been in…

The popularity of ‘reimagined’ old Porsche 911s has been so wild that it borders on religious fervour, the unveilings coming thick and fast. With Botoxed arches, polished velocity stacks and boudoiresque interiors, they tend to be 964-based, so much so that even though Porsche built some 34,000 Carrera coupés of that vintage, unmolested ones seem destined to become among the rarest sports cars money can buy. So it’s easy to get flippant about 911 restomods. There’s a definite template, and the projects are always eye-wateringly expensive. Yet when you see it done really well, the result can be just a little magical. Familiar yet fresh and achingly pretty, there’s something jewel-like about them. Which brings us to Theon Design. Oxfordshire’s own Singer? Perhaps. It was founded in 2016 by Adam…

When we talk about having big shoes to fill, the Audi RS4 Avant is certainly a good example. After all, it’s a descendent of the RS2 Avant, an estate that managed to outlaunch even the McLaren F1 to 30mph. Despite that, the RS4 has long managed to step up and tick all the boxes, offering blistering pace, even after its V8 heart was swapped out for a V6 one. But what if you want even more? Enter the Competition. Limited to just 75 examples in the UK, it’s an even faster and more capable RS4 that has been designed with specific focus on the track. What has actually changed? For starters, while you still have the same 444bhp twin-turbocharged 2.9-litre V6 in the snout, software tweaks to the gearbox have…

Asingle line: that’s all that separates us from failure or glory. I’m standing in the Dutch town of Eijsden, with a silent Porsche Taycan on one side and the Belgian border just ahead. Before us lie 1110 miles, 11 further lines and a single pass of a 24-hour clock. At least in theory, because while crossing the first line is a simple task, it will also start the challenge of 13 countries in 24 hours in an EV. A full day and night will essentially be condensed into 12 single moments: 12 lines, with only the last counting. The premise for the trip is a simple one. Over the next 24 hours, our plan is to visit as many countries in continental Europe as possible behind the wheel of a…

“The British car industry was the envy of the world,” you said (Slideshow, 21 September). So where did it all go wrong? One answer is given by James Ruppert in the same issue: “The most likely car to break down is a Range Rover.” But as your MG 4 and Volkswagen ID 3 comparison shows, it’s not just the remnants of the UK car industry that are under threat of extinction. It’s a process we’ve seen before: a country establishes a car industry by local manufacture of cars from elsewhere, builds up its own expertise to an equivalent level of its supplier and then exceeds that with its own designs. South Korea is a prime example of this in recent times, but a greater impact was the rise of Japan,…

MILEAGE 16,282 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To discover whether the increasingly crowded Land Rover world still has room for a full-sized family SUV Weeks spent with long-termers come in all shapes and sizes. Some weeks you drive nothing else, do lots of miles and settle into them so thoroughly that you practically stop noticing their strengths and weaknesses. Other weeks you’re in and out of lots of contrasting cars that help highlight their special qualities in ways you don’t even notice in road tests. Last week, I spent as much time in a Vauxhall Astra and our family Dacia Duster as the Discovery, and one Land Rover advantage stood out above all others: visibility. In the half-century since the original Range Rover’s panoramic ‘command’ driving was discovered (almost by accident)…

Evidence dating back to the days of the original, giant-slaying Mini Cooper seems to suggest that a large-ish or tuned engine in a small and lightweight and decently modest road car of reasonably practical proportions and suitably low cost can be a recipe for biblical success. The Volkswagen Golf GTI took the idea and ran with it, back in the 1970s, begetting along the way the hot hatch phenomenon. Indeed, it ran so hard that it continues lapping all comers to this day. But ask a misty-eyed enthusiast to name but one such hot hatchback to reverse into their fantasy garage and a pound to a penny the car that’ll be mentioned more than any other will be the Peugeot 205 GTi. “Thediminutive205GTireallywasa responsive and agile humdinger” Pourquoi? Well, it’s…

Safety cars on race tracks are vital. They are piloted by a pro driver and often carry a doctor aboard, plus the medical, fire-fighting and communications kit to cope with any incident. They are also used to control the pace of the pack during any period run under warning flags. Here’s our pick of the most notable, with a stark reminder of why having a good safety car is so important. Opel Vectra Turbo There’s a reason modern safety cars are all high-performance models, and the Opel Vectra Turbo is it. After a crash on the first lap of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, the Opel came out. Drivers’ concerns that the souped-up family saloon wouldn’t be suitable in this role were soon realised, as it couldn’t go fast…

The next-gen Citroën C3 will go on sale by the middle of the decade as a compact EV with styling and construction heavily influenced by the firm’s Ami quadricycle and Oli concept car. A new C3 EV was confirmed to be in the works by Citroën branding executive Laurent Barria, who said the car will be focused on “accessibility to electric mobility” and lean on design cues and sustainability credentials exhibited by the recently revealed Oli. Barria added that it will be the first Citroën to wear the brand’s new logo, which means an official reveal is likely to take place within the next year. Design director Pierre Leclercq has previously said the Ami and Oli “have to influence [Citroën’s] production cars” – indicating that its next models will borrow…

The Renault Group expects its newly hived-off electric mobility venture, Mobilize, to account for a significant 30% of its total turnover by 2030 – and it has unveiled a raft of new products and initiatives aimed at cementing the brand as a leading name in the field of “everything beyond automotive”. Mobilize will launch new charging stations, servicing programmes, unique zeroemission transport solutions and innovative vehicle remanufacturing programmes with a view to facilitating the mass shift away from traditional vehicle propulsion and ownership systems – and reducing the cost to the environment while doing so. Spearheading the brand’s launch on the product side is the Duo, an urban EV in the mould of Renault’s pioneering Twizy. The Duo has a compact footprint and tandem seating arrangement that allows three of…

Once upon a time, this all-new Nissan X-Trail was going to be built in Britain in a deal done in the highest corridors of power. Then Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn (you know, the one now exiled in Lebanon, on the run from Japanese authorities still) walked into Theresa May’s 10 Downing Street in 2016 to ensure the UK’s looming exit from the European Union wouldn’t harm his firm’s latest investment in its Sunderland factory. Three years later, Nissan announced that the new X-Trail would actually be built in Japan, laying thinly veiled blame for this U-turn on Brexit. Remain or leave and regardless of where it’s built, though, the X-Trail still holds plenty of appeal for British buyers as it enters its fifth generation. For starters, it returns making an…

The Tonale, like rather too many Alfa Romeos before it, arrives surfing a wave of promises. There’s a 10-year product plan, dictating a brand-new model each year; the company’s first EV will be here in 2024; and its portfolio will be fully electric by 2027. We’ve heard these kinds of statements before, but this time it’s real. Apparently. The Tonale you see here is the big kick-off, Alfa Romeo’s first electrified car and one that expands its potential customer base considerably. The marketing folk tell us that entering the sub-Stelvio crossover sector means around 40% of UK buyers will now have an Alfa Romeo on their radar, as opposed to the 15% served beforehand. If that all sounds like boring sales jargon, we should tell you that the same speech…

MODEL TESTED ELECTRIFIED G80 • Price £65,000 • Power 365bhp • Torque 516lb ft • 0-60mph 4.4sec • 30-70mph in fourth na • Fuel economy 3.2mpkWh • CO2 emissions 0g/km • 70-0mph 45.4m The introductions of new Genesis cars continue apace. In just over a year, Hyundai’s premium spin-off has launched no fewer than five new models in Europe, making it clear that this is no toe in the water but a concerted effort to, in time, seize a significant portion of the market. We have so far road tested the GV80 large SUV, the G70 compact executive saloon and the GV60 electric crossover, and while all have been likeable for their design and sumptuous interiors, it’s only the GV60 that has really impressed across the board, earning four stars. The…

With inflation nudging 10% and the cost of fuel going through the roof, be it liquid or electric, more British money on their motoring. A survey by Kia has found that almost 40% are using their cars less for short, urban journeys and the same percentage are walking or cycling when practicable. These are common-sense solutions, and here we offer a few more. Our conclusion? Despite the squeeze, shopping around is still the best way to save money. CHANGE YOUR DRIVING STYLE Sticking to speed limits, anticipating conditions ahead, changing up early and braking smoothly all help to reduce fuel consumption. Slowing down in plenty of time as you approach roundabouts (you will be surprised how often you can join without having to stop) and traffic lights also adds precious…

A 2800-MILE road trip from the northern to southern tips of India in peak monsoon season is a challenge at best and an ordeal at worst. And the two kinds of cars that they say you simply can’t do such a thing in are a sports car and an electric car. The Porsche Taycan is ostensibly both. Starting from the city of Srinagar in Kashmir and wending our way down to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu took us through meandering mountain roads, arrow-straight six-lane highways and big-city traffic but also flash floods, crater-sized potholes and landslide-ravaged hillsides. The Taycan, even this most basic of models, is equipped with air suspension as standard in India – a wise choice. And with each day’s run staying well under 185 miles, range anxiety seldom…

DRIVEN Ferrari296GTS Using a hybridised V6 hasn’t made Ferrari’s mid-engined supercar any less awesome. Is it even more appealing without a roof? FEATURE Thefutureof General Motors How the American giant is reinventing itself for the future FEATURE AidtoUkraine MattPriorjoinsa team driving into the war zone to deliver vital supplies EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST McLarenArtura First fully new McLaren supercar in years gets the eight-page treatment CULT HERO Porsche Cayman 981 Everything you want in a sports car – now including an affordable price SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p28…

MILEAGE 12,111 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if a plug-in hybrid S-Class can be as convincing as its diesel ancestors If there’s one non-negotiable event in the Frankel calendar beyond Christmas, it’s the Spa 6 Hours, the longest endurance race on the historic calendar. I’ve been doing it since 2004, sharing for the past 11 years a 1964 Ford Falcon with my brother, his son and an adopted Frankel called Chris Harris. It’s an exhausting event, not least because we take the chance to play as hard as we work. We drive out on Wednesday, set up the car in practice on Thursday, qualify on Friday, race from 4-10pm on Saturday and return on Sunday. This was a fitting final test for the S-Class before it returns to its…

First impressions often endure, so you might already have formed your own view of the Seat Arona before it became more widely available (and even better value) as a used car. But allow us to influence you with our own first impressions, made at its Autocar road test debut in 2017: the Arona “goes straight to the top of an ever-growing class. No rival balances practicality and panache quite like it,” we concluded. Part of the reason for its success is that it shares much of its mechanical make-up with the fun and frugal Seat Ibiza supermini, including its engines. A 1.0 TSI petrol kicks off the range with 94bhp, but there is also a 114bhp version that comes with either a sixspeed manual or seven-speed automatic gearbox. Alternatively, you…