Innholdsfortegnelse for August 16, 2023 i Autocar

The future of the Discovery brand in JLR’s new ‘House of Brands’ will be outlined within the next 12 months. JLR CEO Adrian Mardell told Autocar that investments in Discovery need to be set within that 12-month timeframe, but he hopes that the company would be able to talk more specifically about its plans for Discovery before then, possibly in the first quarter of next year. As part of the formation of the House of Brands, Defender, Range Rover and Discovery have been split from the umbrella Land Rover brand to become brands in their own right, with distinctive looks, model ranges, development teams and even dealers selling them. Jaguar is the fourth brand in the JLR portfolio. However, while Jaguar, Defender and Range Rover are largely now defined and…

THE ONE-OFF Bugatti Chiron Super Sport Golden Era has been revealed as a painstakingly decorated celebration of the French marque’s illustrious heritage. Designed according to the wishes of a “very important” customer, this latest special edition is an homage to Bugatti’s venerable W16 engine and the historic cars that established the firm as one of the world’s best-known luxury brands. Importantly, it isn’t the final example of the Chiron, which will be replaced in 2026 by an all-new model with a smaller, hybridassisted engine, due to be revealed next year. The Golden Era is decorated with a handdrawn painting featuring 45 historic Bugatti models. The image took more than 400 hours to create, in a process Bugatti called “extremely intimidating”. The ink has been developed for durability and is…

ROLLS-ROYCE CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös has said that when members of Whispers – the luxury car brand’s appbased private members’ club – connect with and talk to one another, business deals are “100%” being done that can even change an economy. He was talking during a select gathering in Austria of Rolls-Royce-owning highand ultra-high-networth individuals about what the company says is the world’s most exclusive connected car app. Initially curated by a tight senior Rolls-Royce team, including Müller-Ötvös, Whispers has developed and taken on a momentum, particularly following its most recent evolutions. While the luxury lifestyle elements remain, there’s a developing inter-member introduction, communication and chat function that’s used for both leisure and, increasingly, business purposes. Whispers has fewer than 20,000 members globally. LinkedIn has 930 million and Facebook 2.98 billion.…

FORD HAS PUSHED back the launch of its hotly anticipated Explorer electric crossover to next summer. It was due to start rolling down the production line at Ford’s plant in Germany in the coming weeks, but that has been delayed by several months due to the onset of new battery legislation. Workers at Cologne were notified on 10 August. The legislation in question is the UN’s new 100.3 rule set, which introduces new battery safety compliance tests for EVs sold in Europe. In a statement sent to Autocar, Ford said: “We’re excited to bring the electric Explorer to our customers in Europe, the first electric passenger vehicle produced in our new Ford Cologne Electric Vehicle Center. “Ford is embracing the incoming technical standard for EVs, UN 100.3, because it’s consistent…

Can Elfyn Evans overhaul his Toyota Gazoo teammate Kalle Rovanperä to snatch the World Rally Championship crown this year? That question wasn’t even on the agenda for most WRC watchers before Rally Finland. But after it, suddenly there’s a whiff of possibility for the Brit, even if the prospect still remains a long shot. New life has been blown into the WRC by a 30-point swing at the top of the table, as Evans closed the gap on Rovanperä from 55 to 25 points with four rounds to go. That’s still a commanding lead for the reigning champion, but at home in Finland, the 22-year-old sensation showed he’s human after all by crashing out of the lead. Another mistake like that with Evans capitalising and this could still be game…

The Smart ‘Hashtag One’ Brabus felt badly under-tyred when we first drove it (28 September 2022). It rode on eco rubber yet had traditional Brabus levels of performance – an inappropriate if hilarious 422bhp for a 0-62mph time of 3.9sec. We also thought its suspension was insufficiently focused given the poke. Well, Smart has since put the #1 on Dunlop SportMaxx rubber. And while I can’t vouch for any subsequent suspension changes (I didn’t drive it last year), if they did go looking for composure, I’m not sure they’ve found it. The #1 Brabus is still a bad and dangerous cute crossover; a Jelly Baby with a chainsaw. To recap, the #1 is the first EV from the Mercedes-Benz and Geely joint venture that is the new Smart regime. It’s…

TESTED 4.8.23, SURREY ON SALE NOW The Nissan X-Trail is a far cry from what it once was when it arrived in 2001 as a Land Rover Freelander-esque 4x4. Now in its fourth generation, it’s a large family SUV, and one of only a few in its class to sport seven seats. We’ve driven this X-Trail before, with the clever e-Power drivetrain, which uses a three-cylinder petrol engine to drive a generator, which charges a battery, which powers two axle-mounted electric motors to drive the wheels. I know, complex, but the result is basically a 201bhp EV that you fill up with petrol. The starting price for an e-Power X-Trail is £36,965. But for those on a tighter budget, we’re now trying the VC-Turbo Mild Hybrid, priced from £32,890 in…

“Ithink I was born for this role.” It’s not the answer new JLR CEO Adrian Mardell would have expected of himself had he been asked before getting the job whether the role was for him. For the CEO position is one Mardell, speaking to Autocar just three weeks after he was confirmed full-time in the role he had held on an interim basis since Thierry Bolloré’s sudden departure late last year, “never had any expectation or anticipation” for previously. But once given the hands-on experience, he realised it was the job he’d been waiting for all along. While Mardell now feels he was born for the role, his experience has certainly helped shape him for it. He was promoted to CEO from the job of chief financial officer, one of…

You might think the ULEZ expansion affects Londoners only, but actually it’s great news for those everywhere else who love a bargain. With thousands more motorists suddenly facing charges to go about their daily business, non-compliant cars have flooded the used market, sending prices into free-fall. If you want a comfy diesel for the motorway slog to work, a happy supermini for nipping to the shops or even to speculate on a future classic, now is the time to buy. Look out for pre-2001 petrol cars or pre-2016 diesels being sold not only in and around London but close to other towns and cities with low-emissions zones. You needn’t feel too guilty about using such cars outside built-up areas, either, because here NOx is diluted to the point that it…

MILEAGE 2570 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if Lexus’s famed attention to detail makes up for the modest range Sorry to sound like a stuck record, but this Lexus RZ continues to grow on me. As I reported last week, it’s turning out to be an all-round great car – although I should expect nothing less for £74,000. However (and I will harp on about this), the range is a disappointment – about 220 miles is pretty much as good as it gets at the moment, and that’s in good temperature conditions and with all the niceties turned off. One of the biggest issues with such a paltry range is needing to charge the car nightly, because it’s a 130-mile round trip from my place to Autocar headquarters. Now,…

Comments by Matt Prior and Steve Cropley about small, lightweight, electric sports cars on a recent episode of their My Week In Cars podcast struck a chord with me. It’s good to see Caterham showing with its 700kg EV Seven that electric sports cars don’t have to be big or heavy. I’m just amazed that other car makers aren’t making light EVs. It’s not rocket science. Colin Chapman and his philosophy of ‘simplify and add lightness’ inspired me to take a favourite small, light sports car, a 1969 Lotus Elan S4, and convert it to electric, meeting targets of the same performance, weight, balance and range – not difficult, as it only got 23mpg before the conversion! You might find the actual weights interesting. The 120hp engine, clutch, bellhousing, ancillaries…

An owner’s view TONY BAKER “I always buy Toyotas for their reliability and good equipment. My Avensis is a 2.0 D-4D Business Edition Touring Sports, registered in 2018 and now with 84,000 miles on the clock. It’s been totally reliable and is very economical. However, like all the Toyotas I’ve owned, insurance is not cheap. It may be a Japanese brand but the model is built in Britain, so I don’t understand why.” Buyer beware… ENGINE The model’s reputation for reliability might lead some owners to neglect servicing, so go through the service history carefully. Early 2.2-litre diesel engines can suffer DPF issues, leading to over-fuelling and damaged piston rings and bores. The petrol engines have to be worked hard to generate any meaningful performance so make sure the oil…

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 ninth-generation Volkswagen Golf is shaping up to be the most radically reinvented iteration of the ever-popular family hatchback yet, ushering in all-electric power and a raft of technology as part of an allencompassing transformation plan for the VW brand. Despite the ID 3 being commonly regarded as an electric alternative to the Golf, Volkswagen boss Thomas Schäfer sees the former as “more a Golf Plus”. The two cars share a very similar footprint, but the EV’s lack of an engine and transmission tunnel make it tangibly more spacious inside, and even in its base form it’s much quicker than the standard Golf. For these reasons the two models can “co-exist” in future, according to Schäfer, meaning the ID 3 wouldn’t necessarily be retired after the arrival of a new,…

THE CADILLAC ESCALADE, one of the US’s biggest and best-known luxury SUVs, has gone electric. Riding on the same General Motors EV platform as the GMC Hummer, the new Escalade IQ is larger than any passenger EV on sale in Europe. But even though it’s tipped to weigh more than four tonnes, it’s as quick off the mark as many dedicated sports cars. IQ IN NUMBERS 450 MILES Claimed range, easily beating the Mercedes EQS SUV. 2.25MPKWH However, it will be one of the world’s ‘thirstiest’ EVs. 200KWH-PLUS Mammoth twodeck battery pack is heavier than an entire Ford Focus. 5.0SEC 0-60mph sprint time is roughly on a par with the Volkswagen Golf R. 50MM Suspension drop in rap-video-ready Low Ride mode. 55IN Total width of the door-to-door digital display. $130,000…

INTERESTING AND unusual engine concepts come and go, but one, the opposed-piston engine (OPE) from Achates Power, continues to move towards production. In 2020, Ricardo North America, the US arm of the century-old UK engineering firm, formed a partnership with Achates to help move the project on. The aim is to produce a lightweight, fuel-efficient, 270bhp petrol engine to meet the strict US emissions regulations governing light duty vehicles (LDVs) being phased in between 2017 and 2025. The engine is intended for use in commercial vehicles such as American full-sized pick-up trucks, giving the performance of a gas-guzzling engine without the fuel consumption or emissions. It’s also equally suitable for passenger cars. The latest news is that Ricardo has cut the weight of a second-generation engine by a massive 60%…

THE RUSH TO get the latest date number on our registration plates on 1 September means August isn’t much of a holiday month in the motor industry. The incentives to hit targets can be substantial, both in terms of money and career credibility. Sometimes there are other motivators too. At one car maker, the MD was determined to get one over on his old boss by beating him in the September sales charts. His plan had been months in the making, with extra stock ordered, blanket ad campaigns and razorsharp finance deals. But the daily figures showed it was going to be close. In the last week of August, one of the operations staff came in with bad news. Two transporters on their way from the docks to dealers loaded…

always thought Smart was the friendly face of Mercedes-Benz. I Sure, the original dinky little City Coupé two-seater was a better idea in principle than I felt it was in reality, but I loved the idea of it, the cleverness of it. If we all drove sub-tonne Smarts rather than 2.5-tonne SUVs, the world would have thanked us for it. And we would have had more fun along the way. Above all, though, I liked the Smart’s friendly vibe. Where other Mercedes were austere and sensible, the Smart – first conceived as a jointventure between Mercedes and Swatch, famous for bringing trendy Swiss watches to the masses – was funky and attainable. And even when it started to lose its mojo, it was forward-looking; Smart has been an all-electric brand…

Honda is churning them out at the moment. It soldiered on for years with an ageing range, but in just the past three years, it has given us a new Jazz, a new HR-V, a new Civic and two completely new additions to the line-up: the e:Ny1 electric crossover and the Civic-on-stilts ZR-V. And it’s still not done, because now comes the turn of a new CR-V. Together with the Toyota RAV4, the CR-V was a bit of a trailblazer for ‘soft-roaders’ when it arrived in 1995. Almost three decades later, it’s onto its sixth generation. This model may be all-new, but if you’ve kept up with Honda’s recent launches, the mechanical package will sound very familiar. It’s mostly the same e:HEV-badged hybrid system as in the ZR-V and Civic,…

Is it possible to be excited by a new small hybrid crossover? I wouldn’t have thought so, but when this Hyundai Kona test car was delivered, I must admit that I was – if only a little. Some new cars just instantly blend in, but this one, with its strakes, pronounced wheel arches and busy detailing, plus a Starfleetfriendly Geordi La Forge headlight, is certainly impactful. Judging by the reaction online, not everyone loves the new second-generation Kona’s bold new look, but at least it’s not boring. The theme continues inside. There are stripes, trays and a panoramic dashboard screen, but with those come acres of knobs and buttons, all housed in a console whose silvery finish is oddly reminiscent of an early-2000s hi-fi. Even in range-topping trims, though, most…

If you want a plug-in hybrid Mercedes-Benz A-Class, you will now have to plump for the saloon bodystyle. As part of the model’s mid-life refresh, the A250e hatchback has been dropped, which seems like an odd decision – until you look in the back. One compromise of the A250e was that the relocation of the petrol tank and the packaging of the battery system significantly reduced the boot’s size. That’s less of a problem in the saloon, because it already has more space in the back. So even with all that electrical gubbins, you can still cram in 332 litres of stuff. And even with the fixed roof and notable lip, it’s still quite easy to get in even big objects. While the A250e has lost a bodystyle in this…

Ideas to reality “I’m very good at turning paper answers and visualising them in reality. I know what it takes to make a programme and an architecture successful. I don’t know the technical details of that, but I know the financial implications.” Being recognised “Initially it’s a bit of a shock, people coming and saying ‘hello Adrian’. It even happened in London a few weeks ago. They shook my hand and said they were off to buy a new Range Rover Sport.” Revenue growth “In 2018 the average value of a car was £44,000. Now it’s £73,000. Our breakeven point is 25,000 units per month. We’ve broken through 30,000 and are moving to 35,000, while our break-even stays at 25,000. We’ve created fresh air above our profitability point and that will…

On sheer scale, the Silverstone Festival is the UK’s largest historic race meeting. Yet the event O formerly known as the Silverstone Classic is billed as so much more. Classic car clubs on the expansive infield and attractions for kids are nothing new to widen the appeal. But under its new Festival title, the event on the 25-27 August bank holiday weekend is attempting to step up a gear or two this time around as the final part of Silverstone’s triumvirate of big summer ‘happenings’, in the wake of the British GP and its MotoGP round. “We are very excited about the Festival because we think it presents a hugely important opportunity for our burgeoning fanbase,” says Stuart Pringle, the figure charged with keeping the wheels turning at Silverstone. “Formula…

MILEAGE 12,302 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To assess DS’s progress as a premium brand and unpick this car’s dual identity One of the benefits of running plug-in hybrids I’ve enjoyed over the past few years is the relative ease of finding somewhere to park in central London. When you identify some charging points close to your destination, it’s an obvious place to head towards (rather than driving around aimlessly looking for a parking space). Typically, there’s a handful of chargers together and it’s rare there isn’t one available (for the time being, at least). This year, I’ve found myself in London more frequently and often with an appointment time to keep, so quick, non-stressful parking has been an important element of my journey. Enter my plug-in hybrid DS 4, which…

ROAD TEST LEVC TX Is a black cab still the best way of travelling in London now that it’s electrified? Forget The Knowledge, this is the toughest test BUYING GUIDE Performance bargains Need a used car with plenty of power and an affordable price? Then don’t miss this DRIVEN Porsche Panamera Third generation of Porsche’s luxury saloon is nearly here. We have an early taste EVERY WEEK FEATURE Delta returns (again)! Dutch firm Maturo has recreated one of rallying’s most storied machines USED GUIDE Nissan Micra Third generation of city favourite is now a cheap and cheerful used buy SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p62…

“Smug were the SUV owners, whose four-wheel drive did its stuff” Why we still use the term British Summer Time is beyond me. At best it is damp and at the very worst muddy. It is the season of concerts and car fairs and picnics that require cars to be on grass. The other day, on one such event, I witnessed quite a slope that defeated the majority. Smug were the SUV owners, whose part-time four-wheel drive did its stuff. My mate’s old Volvo spun its wheels but survived. Others were not so lucky. The answer, of course, is to get a summer 4x4, but which should you buy? Time to look at a classy Quattro, and not one of those thin-tyred A5 coupés. No, we need a proper Avant…

Most new cars try to fit in. Upsetting the horses is a high-risk strategy and can cause the usually cautious cultures of the very large, complex organisations that are global car companies to play it safe when it comes to new metal. But sometimes that script gets ripped up and firms march firmly into the left field, on occasion with interesting results. Lexus LFA 2009 Before the LFA, Lexus was famed for providing softly suspended luxury cars, often to wealthy Americans of a certain age who got a perfectly reliable machine into the bargain. So the arrival of the 552bhp 4.8-litre LFA, complete with a V10 that screamed to 9000rpm, raised more than a few eyebrows. Building a supercar that yearned to powerslide morning, noon and night was miles outside…

1974 MK1 Spiritual successor to the Beetle with handsome Giugiaro styling and practical hatchback body. Sporting potential was immediately obvious and proven by legendary GTI. 1983 MK2 An evolutionary step that introduced ABS, a catalytic converter and four-wheel drive. Almost matched the Mk1’s seven million sales, with 6.3m finding homes. 1991 MK3 The first major styling revolution, developed with an emphasis on safety. Also the first Golf with front airbags and cruise control, as well as the throaty VR6 engine. 1997 MK4 Took fit and finish to new heights and embarrassed sibling brand Audi’s A3. Something of a dynamic disappointment – “more GT than GTI”, we said of the hot version – but also established the famed R branding. 2003 MK5 Put right the dynamic shortcomings of the Mk4 without…

The new Aston Martin DB12 Volante is aimed at being the world’s first open-top ‘super tourer’, offering the most powerful V8 of any cabrio GT currently on sale. The Volante’s brief was to deliver the same “uncompromised” handling and performance provided by the DB12 coupé, Aston Martin explained. Chopping the roof off reduces the torsional rigidity required for outright dynamic ability, so special attention was paid to reinforcing the Volante’s chassis. The suspension mounts have been made stiffer – by 140% at the front end – and a crossbrace has been added across the engine bay. These revisions mean the DB12 Volante has 3.7% more torsional rigidity than its DB11 predecessor. That car’s ‘K-fold’ soft top is carried over to the DB12 Volante. It can open in 14sec and close…

Porsche has previewed a radical change of direction for its dedicated sports cars in the electric era, with the recently revealed Mission X and Vision 357 concepts giving clues as to what to expect. Head of advanced exterior design Ingo Scheinhütte said the styling of upcoming Porsche sports cars “must be an evolution” that respects the German firm’s heritage, as evidenced by the radically different concepts, which will also have an influence on upcoming saloons and SUVs. Autocar recently spoke to Scheinhütte to discover how Porsche’s latest concepts could shape its future electric production cars. Which elements of the Mission X electric hypercar and 356-inspired Vision 357 concepts will we see on production cars? “You bring all the ideas to a concept, but you have to see how they develop.…

Dacia will be categorically repositioned as an offroad, ‘lifestyle’-oriented brand to rival Jeep as it pushes into new, larger market segments. The Renault Group’s design chief, Laurens van den Acker, told Autocar that CEO Luca de Meo voiced his desire for the Romanian company to have “an aspiration beyond affordability” upon his arrival in 2021. “This is where the outdoor theme came up,” said van den Acker. “In my view, there’s no serious competitor for Jeep in Europe. Why couldn’t Dacia be that? There’s no [affordable] brand that’s linked to the outdoors, that gets you out of town, which, especially since the Covid days, is becoming extremely relevant. “[Dacia] is a brand that’s very well positioned for people who love the outdoors. It gives you two reasons to buy the…

“He owns the car Autocar road tested for our issue of 19 August 1973” TUESDAY Can it really be half a century since the MGB GT V8 was launched? I would never have believed it without a reminder from reader John Fry, who owns the car Autocar road tested for our issue of 19 August 1973 – 50 years ago less three days. He offered to bring it to a Gaydon Gathering – monthly events the British Motor Museum stages for all car owners – to mark the anniversary. I was very impressed by this refined, easy-rolling car, whose ultra-smooth engine allowed constant appreciation of its wonderful exhaust note. What’s still great about a healthy B – and this goes double for a V8 – is that it’s well up…

“There’s an engaging touch and an apparent completeness to the dynamics” Electric cars may be the primary subject of attention and BMW’s investment these days, but the firm’s traditionally motivated cars still take the vast majority of its sales. Hence the facelifted Mk4 X5 is far from an irrelevance, even if it does still burn a lot of dinosaurs. In fact, reducing this SUV’s size-10 carbon footprint has been a primary goal, with the fairly comprehensive list of changes including new mildhybrid petrol and diesel engines – among them the 3.0-litre diesel inline six in the xDrive30d tested here. Already seen in other recently launched BMW cars, this receives steel instead of aluminium pistons, an altered fuel-injection system, a new oil-scavenging process and a 48V gearbox-integrated startergenerator (ISG) – although…

There appears to be one main guiding principle for whether converting a classic car to electric is acceptable to the purist: did it have a good engine in the first place? A Citroën DS? Fetch the engine hoist. A V12 Ferrari Daytona? Boo, hiss etc. So what about a classic Range Rover? Sure, the V8 burble is nice, but is it integral to the car’s character? You will perhaps be comforted to know, then, that this particular Range Rover exited the factory in 1990 as a diesel. Inverted’s conversion follows the now well-trodden path for a high-dollar electromod: take one carefully restored shell and add low-mileage Tesla bits. Charge comes from an 80kWh Tesla battery pack that has been split up so that nine of the cells live under the…

With Queen Elizabeth II on bank notes and place names like Richmond and Surrey, the west coast of Canada is most emphatically a British Columbia. Apart from the cars, of course, which are largely unlike anything you will find in the UK. It’s primarily a land of American-style pick-up trucks and massive SUVs – but there are some Japanese interlopers that you won’t find in Britain. There’s a perfect premise, then, for us to gather the best of them atop a coastal ski hill. From Toyota, there’s the GR Corolla, a sop thrown across the Pacific since North America doesn’t get the GR Yaris. Toyota has taken the three-pot buzz-bomb spirit of its homologation-special hatchback and infused it into a more practical four-door shape. We’ve called the bog-standard Corolla “pleasingly…

The controversial expansion of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to cover the entirety of Greater London will go ahead on 29 August. Rather than reducing CO2 output, the ULEZ is about improving local air quality, with compliance based on the Euro emissions standards for NOx. Petrols must comply with Euro 4, which became mandatory in January 2006, while diesels must comply with Euro 6, which became mandatory in September 2015. If you drive a non-compliant car into the ULEZ, you will have to pay a £12.50 daily fee or face a £120 fine, although there are exemptions, including for disabled people, small businesses, charities and historic vehicles (those over 40 years old). If your car isn’t compliant and you don’t want to pay the charge, you will need to…

MODEL TESTED Z06 3LZ COUPE • Price $121,650 (US) • Power 637bhp • Torque 439lb ft • 0-60mph 3.1sec • 30-70mph in fourth 7.6sec • Economy 20.9mpg • CO2 emissions 377g/km • 70-0mph 41.0m Going global is proving a tricky challenge for the Chevrolet Corvette. The latest, eighth-generation (C8) version was launched in Europe in 2021, and in 2022 – as the first factory-built, right-hand-drive examples ever made arrived in the UK – it won an Autocar Award for Best Dream Car. Chevrolet’s European distributors couldn’t have hoped for a better reception for the all-new, midengined ‘Stingray’. And yet, as the demand for the C8 has rolled in, so General Motors’ commitment to the car’s supply in Europe, including the UK, has started to waver. GM has, say insiders, become more…

MILEAGE 8677 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Does our big electric coupé live up to the last part of its name? Not long from now, the GT will depart Autocar and make its way to Audi’s UK HQ in Milton Keynes. There it will be processed, then listed on its maker’s approved used network. I imagine it will make its next owner mostly very happy – potentially ecstatic, given the existing potential for finding an electric bargain. Used EV prices are looking pretty depressed across the board and a quick search of the Audi website turned up an E-tron GT with just 6086 miles for less than £65,000. In Kemora Grey and riding on traditional silver wheels, it’s a lovely thing, reasonably furnished with options, yet it costs little more than…

Return of The Scribe? I’m enjoying the new Secret Source column. It reminds me of Jottings by The Scribe, which used to feature not that long ago. Was it? Dave Denson Bebington, Merseyside Guess again, Dave. ‘Jottings’ began in the 1920s and was taken up by ‘The Scribe’ in 1930. There had been 10 or so Scribes by the time the column was ended in the mid-1990s – KC I owe you nothing I have a Mercedes-Benz E350 Bluetec Estate, first registered in March 2015. It’s ULEZ-compliant, but Transport for London’s system doesn’t recognise it as such. I rarely take it into central London, but the imminent expansion of the ULEZ will necessitate me paying many more times, unless I can get TfL or whatever database provider it uses to…

A mate had a Toyota Avensis once – the first-generation model launched in 1997 and just nine months old. He wanted it because his father had owned two and swore by them. Of course, it suited his father because he was at an age where a car’s reliability mattered more than its badge. It suited my mate for a couple of years too, until he became bored with it and replaced it with a new BMW 320d Coupé, which, incidentally, suffered a failed turbo within weeks of him taking delivery. Any car can suffer a component failure, of course, but my friend’s and his father’s firm belief in Toyotas never suffering so much as a rattle is shared by many car buyers. To such people, a Toyota is the hero…

LAST WEEK, VOLVO pulled all its estate (and saloon) cars from sale, citing the greater popularity of SUVs – news that caused some sorrow, given the Swedish firm built its reputation on such cars. The legend began with the 145 in 1967. Around 268,000 145s had been made by 1974, when it was developed into the 245/265. The latter was notable as Volvo’s first six-cylinder estate, and four years later we tested it in new high-end (£7598, or £39,520 now) GLE form. The 2.7-litre V6, co-developed with Peugeot and Renault, wasn’t too quiet or smooth and gave only leisurely performance (140bhp) and fair MPG (19.6). At least the manual gearbox was slick. The ride didn’t impress either, absorbing big undulations well but jolting over everyday bumps. It cornered in a…