Innholdsfortegnelse for May 24, 2023 i Autocar

The Corsa supermini will get a major facelift this year when it receives new electric and hybrid powertrain options and becomes the last current Vauxhall to gain the company’s bold ‘Vizor’ grille. The British brand hopes heavy visual updates and increased power choices – as well as a rise in electric-only range – will enable the hatch to again become the country’s most popular car, having been pipped last year by the Nissan Qashqai SUV and chased closely by the Tesla Model Y and Ford Puma. “It has been a phenomenal success. Ever since it landed in the market, it’s been a really important car for us,” vice-president of design Mark Adams told Autocar. Visually, the biggest changes are at the front, where more muscular and slimline LED headlights join…

An electrically powered Caterham Seven sports car is being primed and two prototypes will make their debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. The cars will look to match the 3.4sec 0-62mph performance of a 237bhp Seven 485, have enough battery power to perform flat out on track for 20 minutes and be able to fully recharge via a 150kW charger in 15 minutes. It “dips our toe in the water” of EVs, Caterham CEO Bob Laishley told Autocar, adding: “We’re relying heavily on working with partners.” The prototypes, which have been prepared by British Touring Car Championship engine builder Swindon Powertrain, are part of Caterham’s preparation for where legislation or parts availability might take it. “This is not something we are selling tomorrow,” said Laishley, who was…

Customers who had been waiting years for delivery of new Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles are cancelling their orders in the wake of the firm’s decision to supply the cars in left-hand drive only, albeit with three years’ free Supercharger use. Tesla’s announcement on 12 May that it would cease production of right-hand-drive versions due to mechanical and logistical complexities took customers by surprise and many rushed to express their shock on social media. Among them was Tesla owner Paul Jones: “I’m a 2018 Model S 100D owner since new and a Model S Plaid order holder since October 2021. I love the cars [but this decision] is a kick in the teeth. To be told repeatedly since 2021 my car is delayed but is coming and now…

“It isn’t a given that new is best. But that in itself isn’t an indicator that we’ve peaked” Have we reached peak car? This is a question that has been bothering me since a reader asked a few weeks ago. Ostensibly I think no, we haven’t, because things get better, the world improves, technology advances and the products we know and use get dragged along with that. Cars are cleaner, safer and less likely to break than ever. But I’m not sure that’s what the ‘peak’ question was about. I think it was instead about driving for fun, for enthusiasts. Then I ponder which of today’s brand-new cars are the absolute high points in their evolution and don’t feel so sure. In the car world, it’s by no means clear…

Fresh from ending his World Rally Championship victory drought in Croatia, Elfyn Evans was back in a state of woe on Rally Portugal. The Brit arrived in Porto sharing the championship lead with parttime Toyota Gazoo team-mate Sébastien Ogier, and with the eighttime world champion giving this one a miss, it was an opportunity for the 34-year-old to bolster his claim for a first title. Except it all turned sour on the opening day. Running first on the rutted, dusty stages was always going to be a disadvantage as Evans’s GR Yaris cleared a path for his rivals, but it didn’t help that he lacked confidence in the handling of his hybrid Toyota – not for the first time. He was well off the pace. Then on the penultimate stage…

aunched in China in 2020, the P7 is Xpeng’s current best-seller, and the Tesla Model 3 rival has received a number of upgrades for its arrival in Europe – including more power and faster charging. Based on the same Edward platform as the new G9 SUV, the 4.8-metre-long saloon is similarly offered with a choice of singleand dual-motor powertrains. We tested the entry RWD Long Range version, which offers 272bhp and 325lb ft along with an 86.2kWh battery that gives a range of 358 miles and can be charged at rates of up to 175kW. That ultra-competitive range is enabled by sleek, sharp styling that sits somewhere between saloon and grand coupé. Xpeng claims a drag coefficient of 0.236, which results in official efficiency of 3.7mpkWh. It also gives the…

The area formerly known as the Brecon Beacons was visited recently by the new Prince and Princess of Wales. Apparently their cavalcade of limousines wasn’t quite as impressive as ours, though. Standards matter – and if not the royal family, you can always depend on Autocar to set them. Well, at least, as far as transport is concerned. If this comparison exercise had been an owners’ club meeting instead, none of us assembled participants would have even approached the expected dress code requirements. Luckily, we had a job to do – and it was thanks to a reader whose name you will know. Formula 1 racer turned motorsport magnate Jonathan Palmer consumes his weekly issue of Autocar as avidly as you do, and at a recent meeting with us he…

‘Crisis looms as used electric car values plummet’. ‘Used electric car prices plunge in March’. Just two recent headlines guaranteed to have made EV buyers pause before signing the vehicle order form. Falling values and prices matter because no one, dealers or customers, wants to buy a used car today that could cost them less tomorrow. With some EVs losing as much as 30% in the past 12 months (face the wall, Tesla Model S) and others losing almost as much (including the Jaguar I-Pace, Renault Zoe, Nissan Leaf, Audi E-tron and Tesla Model 3), the risk for a dealer and their customer being left holding an overpriced liability has been great. They aren’t out of the woods yet, either. Last month, Cap HPI reported that values had slipped an…

FIAT 500 ICON 42kWh, 11,000 miles, £23,000 Values of this stylish, well-built and reasonably roomy city car have fallen by around 27%. It’s still about twice as expensive as a petrol version but more fun to drive. PEUGEOT E-208 GT 50kWh, 10,000 miles, £21,500 Another good-looking compact EV whose value has fallen around 30% in recent months. GT and GT Premium are the specifications to aim for. MINI ELECTRIC LEVEL 1 33kWh, 13,000 miles, £21,400 Now at price parity with a petrol Cooper S Sport, the Electric, which is almost as quick but much cheaper to run if you home charge, looks seriously tempting. NISSAN LEAF E+ TEKNA 62kWh, 14,000 miles, £19,000 With values down almost 30% in recent months, the original EV is now much better value. However, nearly…

MODEL TESTED A200 AMG LINE EXECUTIVE • Price £35,530 • Power 161bhp • Torque 199lb ft • 0-60mph 7.8sec • 30-70mph in fourth 9.6sec • Fuel economy 44.9mpg • CO2 emissions 135g/km • 70-0mph 47.1m It’s been a worrying few years for premium car brands in the UK market. Mercedes’ fortunes illustrate the point well. Having grown to take a prepandemic share of 7.5% of the new car sales pie, the firm slumped to just a little over 5% in 2022, as buyers turned to fresher, less traditional brands. Rivals’ shares have declined too – but, in the UK at least, neither of Mercedes’ key German opponents, BMW and Audi, has suffered quite so much. So now, the three-pointed star is looking to a dependable player to steady the ship. The…

MILEAGE 7023 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if the new Range Rover is all the car you will ever need At north of £130,000, this Range Rover is in pretty rarefied territory, even in these days of £50k hot hatches. So how does Land Rover inject a bit of ‘value added’ into that purchase? By offering a complimentary trip to the factory where it’s built. This, of course, means a trip to the wonders of Solihull… Leaving aside the slightly awkward fact that this can’t quite match the glamour of Maranello or the sheer industrial scale of Wolfsburg, it does mean that Land Rover can reinforce the Brit-built angle of the Rangie. It starts with a chauffeur pick-up from your home that whisks you off to the Solihull plant.…

Having read Kris Culmer’s appraisal of his Toyota Land Cruiser (Our Cars, 10 May), I feel the need to share my recent experiences. I’m fortunate enough to own several vehicles that might be considered the ‘best’ examples of their type: an L460 Range Rover, an L663 Land Rover Defender and a Mk7 Volkswagen Golf R, among others. My parents have recently found that they no longer require the services of the 2005 Volkswagen Polo 1.2 E that has served as the go-to runaround transport for several members of the family and a dog for 18 years. I’ve been charged with selling it, but I’m finding it more appealing by the day. A manual gearbox, less than 60bhp, key entry for the (failing) central locking and wind-up windows now seem less…

An owner’s view TERRY ROCKALL “Owning a 190E 2.0 introduced me to the world of Cosworth. I stumbled upon a 2.5-16 online: full black leather interior, Blue Black paintwork, slightly lowered with 18in AMG wheels, Remus stainless steel exhaust and 140,000 miles on the clock. Despite its scruffy appearance, I didn’t hesitate to shake hands at the asking price. I have thoroughly enjoyed driving the car ever since. “I have subsequently replaced the front struts, discs, calipers, pads, plugs, distributor cap, rotor arm and drive belt, as well as all the engine air hoses. These replacements have vastly improved the engine, which now runs strong and sweetly. I also replaced the ‘Over Voltage’ relay, which cured the annoying ASD light that was constantly showing. “The gearbox was a significant problem,…

“The i5 M60 xDrive develops 593bhp and 605lb ft for a claimed 0-62mph of 3.8sec” The new BMW 5 Series saloon has been unveiled ahead of a planned start to UK sales for the highly anticipated eighth-generation model in October. It will initially come with a choice of drivetrains: pureelectric and traditional internal combustion engine. The electric line-up at launch will feature in a pair of i5-badged models – the rear-wheel-drive eDrive40 and four-wheel-drive M60 xDrive – which have been conceived to take on the likes of the Mercedes-Benz EQE, Tesla Model S and upcoming Audi A6 E-tron saloon. Shortly after its launch later this year, BMW also plans to begin offering plug-in hybrid versions of the new four-door in an expanded line-up that will also include a successor to…

STELLANTIS HAS WARNED it may close its UK factories if the government does not renegotiate part of its Brexit deal. The car giant – which owns Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroën and Fiat among other brands – says it cannot follow parts sourcing rules introduced through Brexit. Updated legislation, which is due to come into force in 2024, means that 45% of the value of an EV should come from the EU or the UK to qualify for trade without tariffs. Stellantis has asked for the date to be extended to 2027. It described the rules as “a threat to our export business and the sustainability of our UK manufacturing operations”. The company said: “If the cost of EV manufacturing in the UK becomes uncompetitive and unsustainable, operations will close.” It cited…

IT IS EASY to think that car companies are well-oiled machines full of professionals and experts who never make mistakes. The reality is very different. Even in the biggest manufacturers, there are crucial tasks that are forgotten or put in the hands of inexperienced trainees. Sometimes, they get away with it. At other times, it results in cock-ups that can cost millions. One such issue managed to make it through all sorts of checks, only to be noticed by a poor motorist stuck with a puncture on the M42. As was common, this company had decided to give one of its big sellers a bit of a mid-life boost in the early 2000s with a supposedly sporty version featuring bigger alloys and a bodykit. What no one had realised was…

Many of the hot hatchbacks of today are a far cry from their altogether simpler ancestors, in some cases costing upwards of £50,000 and having technical specifications that wouldn’t look out of place in touring car racing. Forgetting about any notion of emotional appeal for a second, it’s against this background where suddenly a hot hatch powered by electricity doesn’t seem quite so daft. Bigger, heavier, more complex and more expensive? They were going there anyway. The Abarth 500e is one of the first electric hot hatches, a pioneer in trying to find out whether one of the most loved and revered types of car can cut it in this industry-wide transition. As its name suggests and Abarth’s way of making cars dictates, it’s closely related to the electric Fiat…

Things have rarely looked rosy for the Volkswagen ID 3. Initially delayed due to problems with its software and lack of over-the-air update capability, then roundly criticised for its lacklustre interior quality and niggles with its charging and infotainment software, all while coming under fire from a number of cheaper but better-equipped rivals, the first of Volkswagen’s dedicated EVs got off to a rather inauspicious start. But now, some three and a half years after its introduction, the MEB-platform-based, MPVshape hatchback has received a new lease of life with a facelift that is aimed at rectifying its early weaknesses and driving sales. Among the changes is a light reworking of the exterior, which to these eyes gives the ID 3 a more cohesive appearance, without many of the black plastic…

THERE’S AN ARGUMENT that says a car’s ride comfort is more important than all other dynamic stuff (handling, performance and the rest), because it affects said car every time it turns a wheel. You might have double your neighbour’s horsepower, but it won’t matter on your way to collect the Sunday papers. On the other hand, if special dampers make your car more comfortable, you will feel it on every yard of the journey. The trouble is that ride comfort is notoriously elusive and hard to define. In the same car, it can be excellent at speed and rubbish in town. And too often in a car’s development, it gradually gives ground to the likes of roadholding or steering feel, and often to huge wheels and low-profile tyres as well.…

Values began to slide in autumn last year when consumers, rattled by rising energy costs and interest rates and, a few months later, over Christmas, unsettling stories of long queues at public chargers, began to drift away from EV forecourts. Then in January, Tesla slashed around £7000 off the price of its Model 3 and Model Y cars. It followed this up two months later with a further £4000 price cut on the Model 3. The cuts not only depressed the prices of used Teslas but of many competitor models, too. Almost overnight, the values of used EVs that dealers had paid strong money for in the good times when new car supply was tight fell dramatically and, with them, trade and consumer confidence. To add insult to injury, the…

The increase in sales of EVs has triggered a rise in consumer complaints about used ones, reports The Motor Ombudsman. Problems with the car’s main charging unit topped the list of gripes, followed by batteries draining too quickly. Other issues included faulty interior and infotainment systems and electrical and software glitches. ■ CHECK THE PRICE Reluctant to reflect softening trade values, many dealers have refused to lower their prices, so compare prices to avoid paying over the odds. ■ BATTERY DEGRADATION A typical battery loses around 2% capacity a year. With the battery fully charged, compare the displayed and official ranges. A good dealer will have software displaying the range. ■ TYRES New EVs are fitted with special tyres from the factory, but when replacements are due, many owners save…

MILEAGE 3300 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Ora is one of a number of Chinese EV brands hoping to make it big in Europe. Does its first model land on its feet? Strange. I can’t get this 50kW CCS plug into the Funky Cat’s charging port. Let’s try the 43kW Type 2. Nope, same problem: it goes 90% of the way in but doesn’t clunk into place and the charger then can’t communicate with the car. This is frustrating. We’ve already wasted half an hour of a glorious Sunday afternoon looking for a charger, fruitlessly trying to scrabble together enough electrons for a half lap of the M25, and my patience is running thin by this point. Best I don’t quote my reaction verbatim here. My partner, more level-headed than me…

DRIVEN Hyundai Ioniq 5 N We’ve loved every N car so far, but this is a crucial moment. Have Hyundai’s wizards made an enjoyable electric hot hatch? FEATURE Deproduction Think of it as reverse car making. We visit eBay’s state-of-theart recycling facility FEATURE Exotica for pennies We drive the UK’s cheapest Ferrari and most frugal Porsche EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST BYD Atto 3 Will BYD take over the world? First it has to convince our experts OUR CARS Citroën C5 X Matt Prior bags himself one to try to work out exactly what it is SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p16…

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…

BMW HAS RESURRECTED the spirit of the original Z3 Coupé in a striking new concept car called the Touring Coupé. Unveiled at the 2023 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on the shore of Lake Como in Italy, the two-seat concept aims to show how a modern-day coupé variant of the third-generation Z4 may look, had it been granted production approval by the German car maker. The Touring Coupé draws on design ideas first explored on the Z3 Coupé launched in 1998 and followed up by the sleeker Z4 Coupé introduced in 2006. It retains the familiar styling of the latest Z4 roadster at the front but adopts a two-door shooting brake silhouette at the rear to extend the impact of its appearance and provide it with added everyday practicality. Destined to…

NAWA TECHNOLOGIES has been showing how versatile its carbon nanotube technology is for, ironically, reducing carbon emissions. Its latest use of the technology, called Nawastitch, is a method of strengthening traditional carbonfibre to achieve a 900% increase in impact damage resistance while cutting weight by 20-30%. Already in commercial use in sports bicycle wheel rims, the material is also aimed at producing tougher, lighter EV battery casings and hydrogen storage tanks for fuel cell vehicles. It can also be used inside fuel cells to improve performance and increase lifespan. As well as cutting weight, the plan is to use the electrical conductivity of the material to turn casings into an integral heating element, helping to reduce the complexity of battery thermal management systems. In addition to being a lightweight strengthening…

When its new e:Ny1, ZR-V and CR-V crossovers go on sale later this year, Honda will have one of the newest fleets of any mass-market manufacturer in the UK, and the firm is tipped to quickly start building its EV portfolio out into more crucial market segments in a bid to keep pace with fast-electrifying rivals. However, Honda’s targets in the UK centre on profit, rather than volume, and passenger car boss Rebecca Adamson has no plans to take the fight to best-sellers Volkswagen and Ford, or to chase the lofty six-figure volumes that Honda achieved at its peak here in 2007. Speaking to Autocar at the Japanese brand’s most important unveiling event in years, she explained why it’s in good shape as it settles into its new positioning and…

MONDAY I’m conflicted. Last week I wrote some bullish stuff about the new MG Cyberster EV roadster, unveiled at the firm’s Marylebone HQ by chief designer Carl Gotham. But subsequent chats with various owners of existing MGs rather complicate my idyllic picture. Each wanted to know (with furrowed brow) about the weight, size and driving position of the Cyberster. Each was unimpressed by the presence of a 500bhp 4WD version if it made the essential car fatter and heavier. And each disqualified himself as a Cyberster buyer. I’m not saying this shakes my faith in MG’s new electric roadster. I’ve driven enough good EVs to be confident this pioneering two-seater will feel special. It will certainly be different from the roadsters we know: a BMW Z4-sized two-tonne top-off cruiser rather…

“Its real-world efficiency suggests that just under 300 miles should be possible” You might not have heard of Xpeng, but you’ve doubtless heard of a firm like Xpeng – a Chinese EV maker founded not long ago by a tech entrepreneur, backed by venture capital millions, aiming to stand out through tech and software and having a bold plan to rapidly expand across Europe. Beyond a name that earns a good Scrabble score and fills an X-shaped gap in our A-Z pages, can it succeed? Well, on the basis of our first taste of the P7 saloon (see right) and the G9, its new flagship SUV and first model designed with global sales in mind, it certainly has the product to do so. Xpeng has been quietly selling cars in…

Of all the cars so far fitted with the Renault Group’s innovative, clutchless Hybrid 140 powertrain, the Dacia Jogger seems the most logical choice. The economy marque’s C-segment seven-seater has been on sale in the UK for a year and is already selling out of its socks – so well priced that 73% of buyers are opting for the top-spec Extreme, with its climate control and shark-fin antenna. Even so, economy is very much the point of cars in this price band, and this new hybrid slashes petrol consumption by 16% compared with the petrol-only TCe and allows the Jogger to operate in electric mode for up to 80% of its town driving. Based around a docile, low-tune, non-turbo 1.6-litre engine producing 93bhp, the Hybrid 140 adds the power of…

Hethel is set to remain Lotus’s spiritual home and the place where its sports cars are designed and built. But the vast new Lotus plant in Wuhan seems set to become the brand’s powerhouse, definitely when it comes to sales volumes. Lotus’s hefty prediction that it will be selling 150,000 of its ‘lifestyle EVs’ a year globally as soon as 2028 seems a whole lot more achievable after I took the chance to tour the spectacular new Chinese plant. Factory manager Xi Tan is one of Geely’s most experienced, with a well-established track record for setting up new facilities. The dramatic expansion of the group’s activities has given him plenty of experience doing so over the years: Wuhan is the seventh factory of which he has led the establishment, although…

Not surprisingly, there are winners and losers. The trick is knowing which. The new crop of electric superminis presents a mixed picture. The Vauxhall Corsa-e, with prices starting at £15,500 for a two-year-old SE Nav Premium with 10,000 miles, looks great value. Honda E prices have eased, but a two-year-old example with 10,000 miles still costs around £24,000, as does a Mini Electric. Fortunately, if Cap HPI’s suspicion that many dealers are resisting passing on the full value of the EV price falls is correct, these models may soon become cheaper. Some already are. One supermini that is definitely cheaper is the Renault Zoe. Values have fallen back such that a two-year-old 52kWh GT Line with 20,000 miles costs around £15,000. Used family EVs in the 58-65kWh category and with…

Ettore Bugatti himself first had the idea of makinga-half-size-racer-for-children. One of his own cars for one of his own nippers. In 1926, he and his teenaged son Jean set about making a much-reduced Type 35 for his younger boy, Roland, then four. He called it the Bugatti Baby. Ninety-three years later, the Bicester Heritage-based Little Car Company launched a follow-up, the Baby II, at the Geneva motor show. Remember those? The Little Car Company does a mean line in pint-sized luxury sports replicas, electrically powered 75%-scale visual recreations of originals. And even for cynical duffers like me who initially see their prices and imagine a new BMW 3 Series or something even more special on the driveway, it’s hard to ignore the craftwork that goes into them. Baby II bodies…

Knock knock, what’s there? My 2021 Ford Puma ST-Line X has a knocking sound coming from its rear nearside area. I seem to remember Autocar commenting on a similar noise. I’m wondering if you ever discovered its source. My car is due its first service soon, so any information would be useful. Jonathan Hill Via email Ford told us the noise in our Puma was made by a twisted seatbelt buckle – KC Zero Corsas I really enjoyed your Ford Focus ST Track Pack review (12 April), and it was fun to watch the shootout with the Toyota GR86 on YouTube. I own one, which unfortunately fell victim to Britain’s lovely potholed roads so needed two new tyres, but interestingly and quite laughably, Pirelli confirmed there were none in the…

Many companies have called on Cosworth over the years to tap into its expertise in motorsport and fast road cars. That’s because it has a track record of delivering the goods – and boy did it do just that in the 1980s when Mercedes came knocking. The result was one of the German marque’s most sought-after models: the 190E 2.3-16 and its successor, the 2.5-16. The rear-wheel-drive 190E 2.3 was originally intended to be a rally car but the arrival of the Audi Quattro, with its more technically advanced four-wheel drive, scuppered those plans. So instead, the 190E 2.3 was redirected to the DTM German touring car series. DTM rules required there to be a road-going version and it wasn’t long before the 190E 2.3-16 Cosworth was revealed at the…

An unlikely source of automotive innovation EVERY JAPANESE CAR maker except Nissan has a history that starts in a totally different field – Suzuki and Toyota: looms; Honda: motorised bikes; Subaru: aircraft; Daihatsu: steam trains; Mazda: corks; and Mitsubishi and Isuzu: ships. So the odd story of the first car with an all-Japanese automatic gearbox isn’t actually surprising. Okamura will today sell you an £800 office chair, having got into metalwork initially to make parts for the Jeeps of the Americans occupying Japan after the war. One day, a GI used Okamura’s shop to repair his scooter, which had a hydraulic torque converter. This inspired the engineers there, and so by 1951 they had designed and built their own – splendidly named the No Clutch OK Drive. With this succeeding…

From the Golf GTI to the Fiesta ST, some fast cars are household names. But there are many unusual, unexpected and left-field choices that get overlooked in the rush of most enthusiasts to own one of the more obvious choices. So here’s our hurrah to the oddballs, however good, bad or indifferent they might be. Daihatsu Cuore Avanzato TR-XX R4 1998 When the world was going crazy for road-going versions of World Rally Championship cars like the Mitsubishi Evo and Subaru Impreza, Daihatsu offered this as its take on the theme. However, it was more a product of the fertile kei car market in Japan than stage victories in the WRC. This tiny Cuore had 4WD and a turbo engine like its more illustrious compatriots, but with 659cc on hand…