Innholdsfortegnelse for January 25, 2023 i Autocar

AUSTRALIAN MINING GIANT Fortescue Metals, owner of WAE Technologies, announced plans to build an EV battery factory in Oxfordshire just days after administrators were called into Britishvolt. Fortescue expects the new factory to employ 300 people and it is targeting a capacity of 400MWh per year, but the firm says its ambitions are different from those of Britishvolt. Rather than building batteries for electric cars, the new plant in Kidlington will focus on the construction of power cells for heavy goods vehicles. WAE Technologies (until recently named Williams Advanced Engineering) was acquired by Fortescue in 2022 for £164 million. Fortescue plans to use WAE’s expertise in electrification to help it to reach a goal of carbon neutrality across its mining operations by 2030.…

MIKE FLEWITT, FORMER CEO of McLaren Automotive, has been named chairman of Briggs Automobile Company (BAC). Flewitt aims to use his experience of four decades at the top of the car industry to build what its founders said is an “ambitious growth strategy and new model programme”. Flewitt said he has known the Briggs brothers for several years and has been deeply impressed by the quality of their single-seat BAC Mono R car and the efficiency of their profitable 40-person business. Now he will look to BAC’s future, including the potential for electrification, global expansion and how BAC can build on its strong foundations to appeal to a wider audience. Here, Flewitt answers questions on his new role, which begins immediately. Q&A MIKE FLEWITT, CHAIRMAN, BAC You must have had…

SOME ASPECTS OF making cars more sustainable are taking much longer than others, but one that appears to be making quicker progress is the tyre. Goodyear has announced a demonstration tyre made from 90% sustainable materials that meets all the necessary regulations and has passed its own internal tests for performance and safety. The tyre isn’t only substantially greener than conventional counterparts but has a lower rolling resistance too, reducing the carbon footprint during use of any car fitted with them. In 2021 and 2022, Goodyear, Michelin, Continental and Falken all reported progress in replacing petroleum-based ingredients of tyre compounds with renewable materials. One example is the use by Goodyear and Continental of natural latex derived from the roots of dandelions, while Michelin has been working on its Bio Butterfly…

The average age of a car in the UK has reached 10 years, according to the European automotive industry’s lobby group, the ACEA. That’s an age even older than the 8.7 years that the UK’s industry lobby group, the SMMT, reported last year as a record high. The SMMT described that high as proof of “the greater reliability of new vehicles”. That might be accurate, but it doesn’t reflect the story. The full truth is it hasn’t been this difficult to buy a new car for decades. The semiconductor shortage hasn’t yet been resolved, while emissions and safety regulations have added thousands of pounds (and tens of kilograms) to new cars. It’s so hard to make money out of selling the small and simple cars that used to dominate top-sellers…

BRITAIN’S JAKE DENNIS negotiated three safety car interruptions to win the first Gen3 Formula E race, at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. The Avalanche Andretti driver, racing with Porsche power for the first time, easily overcame polesitter Lucas di Grassi with a neat pass and then dominated the race. Porsche works ace Pascal Wehrlein, who won here last year, rose from sixth to finish second; di Grassi held onto third by holding off a chain of cars in his first race for Mahindra; and new Andretti signing André Lotterer passed McLaren’s Jake Hughes on the last lap to make it three Porschepowered cars in the top four. “Coming here was a massive unknown for everyone, whereas in the Gen2 era you generally knew who had the quickest powertrain…

In just a year’s time, DS will become one of the first global car makers to ditch combustion entirely, becoming electric-only. This will spark what’s set to be a huge change in direction for the French firm, still an unknown entity among most of the British public. Ahead of this big push, it’s looking to change that recognition problem with a refresh of its smallest car, the 3, giving the crossover an upgraded electric powertrain that it hopes will strike a chord with new customers. The 3 E-Tense is again looking to beat the Kia Niro EV and co with its premium positioning, a comfortable ride, a plush interior and, for now at least, a bit more exclusivity. The updated 3 E-Tense is the first car to use Stellantis’s new…

MODEL TESTED XDRIVE23i M SPORT • Price £41,470 • Power 215bhp • Torque 266lb ft • 0-60mph 6.4sec • 30-70mph in fourth 9.2sec • Fuel economy 36.2mpg • CO2 emissions 154g/km • 70-0mph 61.0m The BMW X1 has come a long way since its beginnings as a confused pioneer of the compact premium crossover segment. The first X1 came out in 2009, which isn’t so long ago, but it was clear that BMW and the car industry in general were still figuring out what customers actually wanted from these vehicles. It was based on the 3 Series, complete with rear-wheel drive for the base models, and longitudinal straight sixes and four-wheel drive for the more expensive versions. For the US, BMW even stuffed in the 300bhp 3.0-litre turbo engine. That its…

FIAT PANDA 4x4 PIERS WARD A Panda 4x4 is all about the Alps in winter. Ideal, then, for where I live, in the flatlands of South Lincolnshire. But the simplicity of the original Panda appeals, with bombproof engines and mountain-goat ability. TESLA MODEL 3 PERFORMANCE STEVE CROPLEY I think it’s high time I owned an EV; there’s a big difference between testing and owning. I like the idea of a recent Model 3 Performance, because I’d prefer the latest battery tech and I might use the devastating performance for some sprints-style motorsport. Prices have eased a bit lately, as the economic advantages aren’t so clear and there’s an update coming. Good time to go shopping. TOYOTA AURIS JIM HOLDER Sorry for a mundane dose of real life, but how do you replace the…

Let’s play a car-flavoured version of the word association game. I say ‘racetrack’, and you’ll say (probably) Ferrari or Porsche. I say ‘autobahn’ and you’ll no doubt fire back something in the vein of BMW or Audi. ‘Luxury’? Rolls-Royce or Bentley, for sure. Now for a really easy one: ‘festival’. You’re picturing it, aren’t you? No question: it’s a 1960s Volkswagen Type 2 Microbus – a split screen, or ‘splitty’, to the certified Dubhead – with its sliding door open, its roof bed popped up and a crowd of happy campers dancing in and around it while the music and barbecue smoke drifts through the summer haze over the campsite. Is there any model – or marque – so intrinsically associated with flower power and freedom? From humble beginnings as…

Nick Gibbs’ commentary on Lexus’s poor sales trends (News, 4 January) omitted one very significant factor: the brand’s slavish adherence to the continually variable transmission. My tenure with a Lexus CT saved me thousands in BIK tax, while its low lease cost earned me a great salary top-up (helping me fund a 997 Porsche 911), but the driving experience was too wearing. A trip to the south of France had the engine screaming at top revs for scores of miles as I tried to maintain a decent cruising speed while the A71 climbed the Massif Central. Even in general use, the aural experience became unpleasant. It was completely at odds with the otherwise high quality of the car. Thankfully, after a year or so of this, I managed to engineer…

MILEAGE 5341 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if one of the world’s best driver’s cars can also prove sufficiently easy to live with for it still to make sense I had an unusual choice of transport over the Christmas period. In one corner, an Alpine A110 (low, light and compact); in the other, a fully Mullinered Bentley Flying Spur (high, heavy, vast and, because of all the stuff on it, getting on for £200,000 more expensive than the pared-back little coupé). On paper, they seem to have little in common, but actually they share more than is initially apparent. Most strikingly, both are alumni of the school of thought that says you don’t have to be uncomfortable to have fun. Indeed, on a certain sort of road, of which…

A road test in any other magazine might well be a short, subjective summary of a new car produced under almost any circumstances, but the Autocar road test is different. Specific, rigorous and detailed, it’s the closest examination we can give of any new model. It appears over at least eight pages and is close to 50 man-hours in the making every week. Most of what the road test process entails is designed to be strictly repeatable and fair. We benchmark standing-start and in-gear acceleration at a purpose-built test facility every week. We carry out both subjective and objective handling tests on both road and track, on the latter up to and beyond the limit of grip, so as to fully assess stability, drivability and limit handling appeal. And while…

“The new range-topping EV will be unlike any previous Porsche production model, say sources” A seven-seat, off-roadcapable luxury electric crossover is being primed by Porsche to arrive in 2027 as a new range-topper that will take on the likes of the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV and BMW iX. It will be unlike any previous Porsche production model, say sources privy to early design proposals, with a length stretching beyond five metres and a profile that is “part saloon, part crossover”. CEO Oliver Blume has described the car, known under the internal codename K1, as “a very sporting interpretation of an SUV”. When it arrives, the advanced four-wheel-drive flagship will head a growing Porsche line-up, consisting of seven individual models. The K1 will offer the latest in synchronous electric motor, high-performance battery…

AHEAD OF PORSCHE’S electric SUV roll-out, the German brand will launch the 911 ST, a low-volume heritage variant of the 911, marking the famous nameplate’s 60th year. This latest special edition is based around the existing 911 Carrera T, but with grunt provided by the 911 GT3’s naturally aspirated 4.0-litre flat-six engine. This means it should pack 503bhp and 347lb ft for a 0-62mph time of less than four seconds and a top speed north of 190mph. A host of lightweight components, including carbonfibre for the doors and roof panel, could make it substantially lighter than the most recent entrant into the 911 Heritage series: the Porsche 911 Targa 4S Heritage Design. Insiders at Porsche’s headquarters in Germany hint that the new 911, described as being the lightest of the…

THE UPCOMING FLAGSHIP electric models from French performance brand Alpine will be crossover rivals to the Porsche Macan and Porsche Cayenne – and they could be built on a Lotus platform. The two models will further expand the Renaultowned sporting brand’s electric range after the launch of the Alpine R5 hot hatch and the GT X-Over sports crossover. The new flagship pair, due in 2027 and 2028, are crossovers “in the segment of Porsche Macan and Cayenne, more or less”, Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi told journalists. Alpine will have to look beyond the Renault Group for a platform, said Rossi, with Lotus owner Geely the “most natural” partner, given the current projects between Renault and the Chinese company. Alpine is currently working with Lotus on an electric replacement for the…

The sharply honed, lightweight BMW M3 CS has arrived as the most powerful M3 yet, with a mighty 542bhp, as the Munich performance division takes aim at the Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA. The M3 CS adds 39bhp over the already powerful M3 Competition to pip its Italian contemporary by 10bhp. Its twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre straight six, an uprated version of the same engine found in the standard M3 and M4, can propel the M3 CS to 62mph from a standstill in just 3.4sec – 0.2sec quicker than the Giulia GTA. Accelerating from 50-75mph takes just 2.6sec and the top speed is electronically limited to 188mph. The straight six is tuned to deliver 479lb ft, which is distributed by BMW’s xDrive four-wheel drive system. The M3 CS is set apart from the…

The SUV could be on the verge of extinction as car makers focus more heavily on aerodynamic design cues in the hunt for range, according to Vincent Cobée, CEO of Citroën. Speaking candidly to Autocar, the French brand’s boss said designers are placing increasing emphasis on how slippery a car can be, with “anything which is high or squarish” more than likely not considered for reasons of aero efficiency. “The transition to electric vehicles is going to massively increase the importance of aerodynamics,” he said, calling it the “post-SUV world”. He added: “Because, to be honest, whether your car is aero or not, in the current ICE world just increase the fuel tank and as long as your purchasing power ignores the price of petrol, which it does for 30-50%…

Polestar beat its targets for UK sales in 2022 by a wide margin, selling more than 7000 cars, but boss Jonathan Goodman says it “could have done more” if not for supply difficulties. In the second full year for the Tesla Model 3-challenging Polestar 2 saloon, the brand achieved an 80% sales rise to hit 7345, beating a projection of 6000 and taking the total number of Polestar cars on UK roads to around 12,000. Goodman told Autocar that he was excited “to see the EV market up by 40%” (EVs accounted for 16.6% of UK sales last year) but said it was “equally great to basically be doubling against the EV market, which I think is a great testimony to the brand”. Polestar’s steep upward trajectory is one of…

MONDAY Few things in life are more enjoyable for me than wandering through a workshop full of fascinatingly incomplete cars while an expert explains the triumphs and the challenges. Today, I joined a members’ group at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon, where head of collections Stephen Laing explained the intricacies of the world’s oldest Vauxhall (a 1903 singlecylinder light car) before moving on to the only surviving Leyland Eight, a huge 7.0-litre straight-eight luxury tourer – all bonnet and no cockpit – created by legendary engineers John Godfrey Parry-Thomas and Reid Railton. Then Jaguar’s new collection manager, Neil Campbell, took over with details of some superb cars needing work, including the world’s most famous XK120, Ian Appleyard’s 1950 rally winner (famously registered) NUB 120, in which I was once…

The Formula E opener took place on a short version of the great circuit in Mexico City that also hosts Formula 1. Built in 1959, the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez is named after Mexico’s cult-hero racing brothers, Ricardo and Pedro Rodríguez. At 2250m above sea level, the thin air boosts ICE cars’ top speeds on the long main straight, while the atmosphere, particularly in the section of track that runs through the Foro Sol baseball stadium, is spine-tingling. Despite this, the circuit’s history is patchy. At its first F1 race in 1962, Ricardo Rodríguez was killed, but that didn’t stop it from becoming a popular late-season F1 venue from 1963 until 1970, when massive crowds lined the track right up to the kerbside in their enthusiasm to watch their beloved Pedro…

Very few modern cars seem to age as well as the Volvo XC90 has. And among those who know them, how often do you hear it said that “nothing else will do what an XC90 does”? If you want a seven-seat luxury SUV with a plugin hybrid powertrain, it’s this or a top-of-the-range Hyundai Santa Fe. Last year, the XC90 T8 was given a 143bhp electric motor on its rear axle (up quite a way from the old 87bhp one) and a larger, 18.8kWh battery, the latter finally making it a sub-50g/km of CO2 fleet operator. And now Volvo’s latest Androidbased infotainment system has added some welcome connected functionality, too. It has no tactile input device and very few shortcut buttons, however, and swiping at a touchscreen with an outstretched…

At the end of the main straight here in Mexico City, the new Gen3 cars stream into turn one whistling like fireworks – just without the bang. It’s still a novelty at the start of season nine of the electric singl-eseater series to watch quick racing cars – and they really are quick – without the aural accompaniment of a screaming combustion engine. The effect is a kind of cold detachment. Perhaps that’s why the first race of a much-vaunted new era felt somewhat underwhelming, despite the action including most of the elements that we look for in entertaining motorsport: a decent pass for the lead, a tense fight for the podium and a change of position on the final lap, all played out in front of a passionate 40,000-strong…

FIRST DRIVE Porsche 911 Dakar We drive the result of Porsche’s biggest challenge yet: turning a modern 911 into a rally raider capable of tackling the Sahara MOTORSPORT Dakar Rally’s unsung heroes Join the mechanics in the world’s most brutal motor race INTERVIEW Klaus Zellmer Having joined Skoda from Porsche, the CEO discusses getting the Czechs ready for EVs EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST GWM Ora Funky Cat This is one of the first Chinese EVs to try its luck over here. Will it succeed? LONG-TERM TEST Honda Civic We wave goodbye to our hybrid hatchback, a favourite of the fleet SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p36…

“I’m enjoying arriving at jobs calmly and I’ve already managed a week away in Cornwall” FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out how relaxed it can make you feel about a UK charging network that has so few places for a PHEV to plug in Picture this. It’s late in the evening, you’ve been travelling all day and you’ve just come off a long flight with miles yet to cover before bed. You don’t want to drive, you just need transport, and the comfier, roomier and easier-going it is the better. More often than not you’re stuck with the last Ubers left in the rank, but just occasionally the airport taxi of your dreams heaves into view and sweeps you serenely off on your onward journey as if…

MILEAGE 17,867 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 You may recall I’ve been enduring a dramatic start to every journey recently, with a red alert flashing on the dash to warn me of an unspecified door failure being accompanied by a dramatic three-bongs-and-it’s-gone audible caution. Despite there being no evidence of an issue – and plenty of evidence of the Mustang throwing electronic glitches regularly – I’m going to have to get it checked out if only to extend my life expectancy. I just can’t get used to it, and my heart skips a beat every time the warning tune sounds the alarm. What it has done is get me…

There’s nothing more exciting than stylish practicality. If you want to relax in chic comfort, buy a Barcelona chair. If voguish kitchens are your bag, buy a copper pot rack. If you want a sleek, four-door Audi R8, buy an Audi RS7. This saloon-hatchback-coupé crossbreed makes you wonder why true sports cars need to exist. It can take four people in comfort and propel them to 62mph in a rivalbeating 3.9sec. At full chat and with the £1500 option to delete the 155mph limiter, it can hit 189mph. Powering the RS7 is a brawny 4.0-litre V8 with all the sonorous fervour of a preacher on a Sunday morning. The twin-turbocharged petrol powerplant, borrowed from Bentley’s Continental GT, develops 553bhp and 516lb ft of torque – a considerable 51bhp more than…

In most cases, a car is a car. The average driver wants little more than something that starts, goes, stops and won’t kill them in a crash. Sometimes, though, a tool of transportation becomes an icon that transcends the decades as it permeates every faction of society. Here are some of those that have left their mark – for better or worse – on American popular culture. Volkswagen Type 2 1949 Volkswagen didn’t design the Type 2 as an icon. It was simply a cheap and robust method of hauling gear, people and sometimes both. Vans were in hot demand in Europe during the 1940s and the 1950s as nations took on the arduous task of rebuilding their cities and infrastructures after World War II. In the US, the ‘Bus’…

The fall of one of the UK’s largest electric vehicle battery production companies, Britishvolt, has sparked a major government review into whether Britain’s future in the sector is viable. Administrators, who had been ready since the Northumberland-based firm was given an anonymous eleventh-hour bailout in November, were finally called in to the troubled battery start-up last week in a major blow to the future of UK manufacturing. Its workforce of around 300 employees was made redundant with immediate effect. This prompted Parliament’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee to launch an inquiry into whether EV battery production is viable in the UK – or if the importing of power sources is sufficient. Committee chair Darren Jones said: “This inquiry will look at what’s holding back the development of electric car…

The Mazda MX-5 “will never die” but the Japanese company has yet to commit to the technical make-up of the next-generation version. Mazda’s CEO in Europe, Martijn ten Brink, said the current car, first launched in 2015, will continue to be updated and is under no threat of being taken off sale from emissions or other legislation. “How do you stay true to the concept of what the car stands for taking it into the next generation of technologies?” he said, when asked about plans for the next MX-5. “That’s not been decided. But I think for Mazda it would be fair to say that the MX-5 will never die. “I think it will continue to exist forever and it will have to go with the times. That’s a super…

THE LATEST CHEVROLET Corvette matches a roaring 6.2-litre V8 petrol engine with an electric motor to make it the first fourwheel-drive ’Vette and the fastest-accelerating yet. Named the Corvette E-Ray, the long-awaited hybrid supercar has been revealed exactly 70 years after the original Corvette took to the stage for its debut at the Motorama exhibition in New York. It has been conceived “to be the Corvette owners can arrive in anywhere, no matter the season”, with Chevrolet highlighting the extra traction of a driven front axle and the option of a removable roof. Direct rivals are few and far between, with the Ferrari 296 GTB and McLaren Artura each using twin-turbocharged V6 engines for their plug-in hybrid powertrains. The V8 powering the E-Ray is the same 6.2-litre smallblock engine that…

PROPOSALS THAT COULD radically change MOT testing – such as extending the period between tests – have been put forward by the government. The plans also include allowing owners of new cars an extra year before the first MOT test is required. The government says the updated regulations, currently in the consultation phase, come amid the growing popularity of hybrids and EVs and the introduction of new vehicle technology. The changes, which would affect MOT testing for cars, motorbikes and vans, include a raft of potential updates. We look at the key ones below. • EXTEND THE TIME BETWEEN MOT TESTS Cars would be given two years, instead of one, between MOTs. The government says this reflects improvements to car safety and build quality and would save motorists money. •…

LAST RIDES We’re used to stately saloons being turned into hearses, so Coleman Milne’s latest creation is sure to raise eyebrows. Named the Etive, after a river in the Scottish Highlands, it began life as a Ford Mustang Mach-E. The firm said its silent operation is key to its use in transporting people to their final resting place. While the running gear is left unchanged, the SUV’s body is made 114cm higher. POSITIVE SPIN Mazda decided to revive the rotary engine for the MX-30 R-EV because of its impressive power-to-size ratio. The new 830cc, 840mm-wide rotary acts as a generator for a 17.8kWh battery that feeds a 167bhp electric motor. Yoshiaki Noguchi, assistant manager of Mazda’s powertrain development division, told Autocar it also emits 25% less CO2 than the firm’s…

Enzo Ferrari observed that “the client is not always right”. As usual, the man who effectively founded a religion wasn’t wrong. For certain car makers, it pays to be visionary and forthright, come what may. Keep an eye on trends but pander to nobody; don’t relent to popular opinion. Integrity is everything. Yet sometimes the enthusiast tail must be permitted to wag the dog. And BMW, despite attaining true pariah status for its recent styling efforts, understood this when planning what toys it could create to celebrate 50 years of its racingcum-performance division, M. One of them was the M4 CSL coupé, a hardcore, ‘lightweight’ special wearing a three-letter tag seen only twice before, on the M3 CSL of 2003 and the homologation special 3.0 CSL of 1972, now priced…

Last May, Ford issued a series of updates for the Mustang Mach-E, its first-ever production EV, which arrived here a week or two before lockdown and has since impressed by comprehensively outselling the traditional two-door coupé and convertible Mustangs. Said updates were mostly mild and didn’t draw attention to any major glitches with the original design and spec, except for one: its universally criticised ride quality in each of its three driving modes, heinously oversold under the names of Whisper, Active and Untamed. It took a very long time for Ford to make a revised Mach-E available to us, but now at last we’ve driven one. First, the uncontentious changes: the towing weights for Extended Range models (both rear-and four-wheel drive) have been increased, so a Mach-E can now legally…

ALFA ROMEO 147 GTA On sale 2002-2010 Price £8000-£20,000 No, it’s not as competent as a Ford Focus RS or a Volkswagen Golf R32, but the 147 GTA is more powerful, better looking, more charismatic and more tasteful, and it makes a great noise. It’s not short in the go department either, the funnelling of 247bhp to the front wheels one reason why some owners retrofit Alfa Romeo’s optional Q2 limitedslip differential. The taming effect is significant, but civilised this GTA is not, its superstiff springs serving an often turbulent ride. But like the Abarth 595, the result is an exhilarating drive, especially immersed in the silken howl of Alfa’s Giuseppe Bussodesigned V6. Which also happens to be exceptionally durable, water pump apart. Wear-prone suspension bushes, speedily eroded front tyres…

Triumphant failure I read with interest ‘On This Day in 1969’ about the then new Triumph 2.5 PI (7/14 December 2022). At this time, I was a member of the Leicestershire police traffic department, and early in 1970 we took the 2.5 PI into use, replacing the Jaguar Mk2, which had been used for some considerable time. I’ve always remembered this vehicle, but not with affection, as in its early days we suffered failures to restart the engine after a short run. This was later found to be due to a problem with the fuel pump, and after it was rectified I found the vehicle most suitable for our role. Late one Saturday evening, I was parked at a junction on the outskirts of Melton Mowbray when I received a…

We drive the fastest pre-war road car FROM ITS 1931 debut right up until its 1939 retirement, Alfa Romeo’s straight eight gave rise to some of the world’s finest cars, including single-seat grand prix racers; a Le Mans 24 Hours winner; subjects of work by exalted coachbuilders for the tasteful rich; and perhaps the very fastest pre-war road car. Alfa’s UK importer wanted a magnet for its 1938 Olympia show stand, so Milan sent the 2900B roadster Clemente Biondetti had taken to victory in the latest Mille Miglia, and somehow racer Hugh Hunter convinced them to sell. The spec in brief: a shortened wheelbase, a twin-blown 2.9-litre engine with about 180bhp, a fourspeed manual, all-independent suspension and around 1245kg. Our man said: “I’ve never been in a race car, or…

MILEAGE 3838 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if this British stalwart, now made by Stellantis, still feels like a Vauxhall One of the nicest things about both Vauxhall Astras I’ve run (a 1.2-litre turbo petrol triple and today’s 1.6-litre plug-in hybrid) is the low-set seating. It makes such a nice change to sit securely down among the wheels instead of being elevated by today’s usual drivers of seat height: an SUV body or a big battery underneath. This lowness makes the Astra feel distinctly sporty, and if I’m not mistaken, it also helps reduce the car’s frontal area, which is important in cutting aerodynamic drag. In an average public car park, the Astra’s roof is lower than most – just another reason why it’s handy for my 1.6 PHEV…

If we could dream any dream we wanted to dream, we all probably would have a relatively affordable and wondrously good-looking four-door Ferrari parked on our driveway. It would be the sort of car in which we could have immense fun yet also use every day without fear of impaling ourselves, going bankrupt or having to force our families to catch the bus and meet us at the other end. Since 2016, the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio has been providing the answer to that dream. It looks a bit like a four-door Ferrari saloon might look. It has a glorious 503bhp twin-turbocharged 2.9-litre V6 with plenty of Latin character. It’s fabulous, hugely romantic and completely irresistible to any enthusiast with a centilitre of petroleum in their veins. On the road,…

An expert’s view ALEX GREEN, FONTAIN MOTORS “The RS7 is the RS6 Avant’s less shouty non-identical twin. It’s just as talented but slightly more svelte in appearance and reserved in taste. If you’re after more for your money or can’t quite stretch to your perfect RS6, the RS7 is a great alternative involving little compromise. It offers bombastic performance, a good record for quality and 90% of a brand-new one for less than 50% of the cost. Consumables may be expensive, but for the money there are few finer or faster ways to consume super unleaded.” Buyer beware… ▪ RECALLS Between 2014 and 2017, Audi recalled 26,053 cars, including the RS7, to prevent potential turbo failure. Concerns grew that the turbo’s oil strainer became blocked and as a result starved it…