Innholdsfortegnelse for 1419 i Auto Express

Visit autoexpress.co.uk for all the latest new cars news WAY back at the start of the year, I appeared in front of the Transport Select Committee discussing the Type Approval system. As I reported on these pages, the line of questioning was erratic, but it was generally accepted that the current emissions testing regime was wholly inadequate as the results it delivered were in no way reflective of what cars produced in real-world daily conditions. Last week, a Department for Transport report concluded exactly the same thing, at a cost of £1m to the taxpayer. Great! Glad we cleared that up then. Flippancy aside, there’s no denying emissions remain a hot topic. In the last week alone, we’ve seen Dutch MPs pass a motion to ban electric and diesel car…

“Kelvin discovered water in the passenger side footwell, suggesting that there was a leak” CONVERTIBLES can be great to own, especially when the sun shines, although the UK’s traditionally foul weather can often spoil this enjoyment. And when the rain does fall, it’s vital the folding roof works perfectly, otherwise you could ruin not just your hair but your interior, too. Kelvin Jones, from Worcester, contacted Auto Express after roof problems caused his brand new Renault Mégane Coupé Cabriolet to spend most of its time in the garage rather than on the open road. “I bought the car in September 2015, but it’s been to the garage five times since,” Kelvin explained. At first, the warning light on Kelvin’s dashboard alerted him the hard-top roof was not properly closed. He…

Dean_Gibson@dennis.co.uk “Throttle brings near-instant acceleration, and the quick steering delivers near-telepathic responses” WHILE Ferrari started out building frontengined V12 GTs to finance its racing activities, later mid-engined V8 cars have arguably held more appeal for driving enthusiasts. The latest in the line is the 488 GTB, and it promises to deliver even greater performance and ability than the models that have gone before it. The newcomer is a development of the 458 Italia, and that shows in the styling. There are softer edges around the nose, while the rear end is inspired by the LaFerrari hypercar. In fact, the whole look is influenced by aerodynamics. The front features a Formula One-inspired double spoiler that channels air over and under the car, and the rear diffuser adjusts airflow to improve grip…

Lawrence_Allan@dennis.co.uk @LobAllan IMAGE is everything in the car world, but not everyone can afford to shell out on a range-topping model. That’s why you can now get a four-cylinder engine in the new Ford Mustang. It’s also why Volkswagen has added this R-Line model to the Golf range. It adds nothing extra in terms of performance, but instead focuses on offering a sporty look to tempt buyers. For £995 on top of the price of a Golf GT, it adds beefier front and rear bumpers, a larger air intake, side skirts, a rear spoiler and an R badge on the radiator grille – the latter is enough to fool those with an untrained eye into thinking it’s a Golf R. However, smaller 17-inch alloys and twin exhausts – the R…

James_Batchelor@dennis.co.uk @JRRBatchelor JEEP is benefiting from something of a renaissance in the UK. March was its best month for registrations since August 1997, and the car that’s leading the brand’s fightback is the tiny Renegade crossover. Jeep is better known for its large SUVs, though, and to make sure its heavyweights don’t drift into the shadows, it’s launching a new top-spec Cherokee Overland. It comes with a selection of monochromatic paints, body-coloured cladding and a set of polished 18-inch rims. Inside, the Overland gets heated and ventilated leather seats, plush carpets, a leather dash and an Alpine stereo. The steering wheel is also topped with glossy wood trim that’s strangely not found anywhere else. In fact, the Overland would look more at home in a posh US college car park…

58 LIVING WITH A... MINI CLUBMAN Get beyond the looks, and our man is finding estate hard to resist. 60 LIVING WITH A... VOLVO XC90 Autonomous tech is proving useful, but big SUV’s thirst is a pain. Vauxhall Astra ST 1.6 CDTi Price: £23,385 Engine: 1.6-litre 4cyl turbodiesel, 158bhp 0-60mph: 8.2 seconds Test economy: 48.3mpg/10.6mpl CO2: 112g/km Annual road tax: £30 Skoda Octavia Estate 2.0 TDI 150 DSG Price: £24,980 Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbodiesel, 148bhp 0-60mph: 7.9 seconds Test economy: 46.7mpg/10.3mpl CO2: 115g/km Annual road tax: £30 Peugeot 308 SW 2.0 HDi EAT6 Price: £24,365 Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbodiesel, 148bhp 0-60mph: 8.4 seconds Test economy: 46.1mpg/10.1mpl CO2: 109g/km Annual road tax: £20 VAUXHALL is a brand on the comeback trail of late. First, the Corsa was revamped to make it…

2016 Results Sportage Factfile Years: 2010 to 2016 CO2: 143g/km Fuel economy: 52mpg (1.7 CRDi ISG 3) Best options: Sat-nav, reversing camera, Bluetooth, cruise control, rain sensors Prices: From £7,995 OVERALL SCORE 88.99% Bars show where model finished out of 150 cars in our 2016 survey. The lower the rating the better GOOD “A COMFORTABLE car to drive on motorways.” “Lots of space inside; loads of room for rear occupants.” “Great car for towing. I’m able to pull my 24-foot caravan with ease.” “Plenty of power from the 2.0-litre engine; accelerates well, even in sixth gear.” “With a seven-year warranty, I have little to worry about.” “The steering is precise and makes the Sportage a very easy car to drive.” “The interior looks very nice, and comes with a lot…

AUDI has fired the TT RS into supercar territory with a thumping jump in power and speed. On sale in the autumn, the RS will cover 0-62mph in 3.7 seconds – only two-tenths slower than an R8 – and hit a maximum speed of 174mph. Power from the reworked 2.5-litre fivecylinder turbo has been upped from 335bhp to 394bhp and it now uses both direct and indirect fuel injection, along with variable valve timing. An even faster Plus version of the new car could be on the cards, too. The TT RS will launch as a coupé and Roadster at the same time, with Audi claiming even the heavier convertible will do 0-62mph in less than four seconds. A huge diffuser is built into the rear bodywork with two elliptical…

Jonathan_Burn@dennis.co.uk @Jonathan_burn “You get a lovely rasp from the exhaust as the revs build, making the experience more characterful” EXACTLY 20 years since SEAT first stuck a Cupra badge on to the back of its Ibiza supermini, the latest version of the Ford Fiesta ST rival has arrived in the UK. It’s more powerful, laden with tech and is even better value than before. But with an all-new Ibiza just around the corner, does this refreshed model still cut it? Despite appearances, there have been some rather drastic but welcome changes. The old 1.4-litre supercharged and turbocharged engine is out – along with the clunky automatic gearbox – and in comes a punchy 189bhp 1.8-litre turbo linked to a six-speed manual box. It’s the same basic powertrain combination found in…

Richard_Ingram@dennis.co.uk @rsp_ingram THE Q3 is the only Audi SUV ever to get the RS treatment. But with 335bhp, it’s also the maker’s least potent RennSport model – even eclipsed by the cheaper RS3 hatch. So, to bring the two in line, Audi has introduced the RS Q3 Performance. It will be sold alongside the regular highperformance SUV for a £3,365 premium until both cars are replaced before the end of the decade. The tweaks cut four-tenths from the RS Q3’s 0-62mph time (now 4.4 seconds), making this one of the fastest SUVs on sale. But the RS Q3 was never slow. The turbocharged 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine continues to pull strongly from a standstill, helped by the extra 27bhp and 15Nm of torque, plus standard quattro all-wheel drive. As with the…

PRIVER POWER WE NAME YOUR TOP CAR MANUFACTURERS We count down 2016’s best and worst makers based on 50,000 readers’ votes Joe_Finnerty@dennis.co.uk @AE_Consumer THE Tesla Model S was crowned Britain’s best car to own in Driver Power 2016 (Issue 1,418), but now it’s time to rank the brands behind the models. Nearly 50,000 readers completed the survey across Britain to tell us what their favourite cars were, and now we’ve collated this data to rate the manufacturers who build them. In our Top 150, only cars with enough responses were considered, but this week’s makers’ chart includes all a brand’s models to give a full view of how a manufacturer is really performing for its customers. The same 10 categories were all rated individually, too – road handling, reliability, build…

Caterham Seven 270S YOU’D struggle to call a Caterham Seven family friendly, but that hasn’t stopped road test editor James Disdale using the two-seater to transport his young children. Thanks to its wider SV body, our 270S will comfortably accommodate the bulky child seats of both his five-yearold daughter and three-year-old son (although not at the same time). Strapping them in was a little fiddly as there’s very little space between the side of the chairs and transmission tunnel, meaning our man had to locate the three-point seatbelt’s buckle by feel alone. However, once in place both young Disdales loved the Caterham’s eager performance and acrobatic agility. And of course they relished the fact that the Seven leaves you feeling more open to the elements than almost any other drop-top,…

FIRST TEST Hankook Ventus Prime3 tyre Price: £43.90 plus fitting (205/55R16) Contact: www.hankooktire-eu.com Rating: *** IMPROVED wet braking was the aim for the latest addition to fast-growing Korean tyre maker Hankook’s range – the Ventus Prime3. As a ‘comfort’ tyre that sits below Hankook’s more sporting S1 evo2, the new product claims to offer an eight per cent improvement in wet braking over the outgoing Prime2. This has been achieved through a new silica compound and enhanced mixing, which has the added bonus of boosting the tyre’s fuel economy through reduced rolling resistance. Hankook says the four-channel asymmetric tread pattern allows rapid drainage on wet roads for improved grip. Dry road performance has not been ignored, either, as the new tread design and added stiffness have seen the contact patch increased…

Porsche Cayman 27.6mpg (on test) £68 fill-up Porsche Cayman Years: 2013 to date Engine: 2.7-litre flat-six, 271bhp Ins group: 37 Official econ/CO2: 34.4mpg/192g/km Why? Porsche Cayman offers the best of both worlds, with great performance and everyday usability. Prices from: £32,000 1 Porsche Cayman THE Cayman is a fantastic all-rounder. It’s incredibly composed on the limit, and equally engaging at low speeds. It’s more comfortable and refined than the Alfa, too. Alfa Romeo 4C 30.8mpg (on test) £42 fill-up 2 Alfa Romeo 4C EVEN though it’s a stunningly attractive sports car, the focus on lightness and performance means the 4C is incredibly raw. You’ll need to be a purist to put up with the lack of refinement. Alfa Romeo 4C Years: 2013 to date Engine: 1.7-litre 4cyl, 237bhp Ins group:…

Jonathan_Burn@dennis.co.uk @Jonathan_burn “New lightweight rear-drive platform will mean a slight increase in length and a small boost in practicality” THE BMW X3 had the mid-sized SUV market to itself when it arrived back in 2003. But 13 years down the line, its place at the top of the class is under threat. Competition from Audi, Mercedes and now Porsche will see BMW completely overhaul its Q5 rival for its third generation, due on sale in the middle of next year, and our exclusive image shows how it could look. Development of the new model has been under way for several years, but engineers have recently been spied applying the finishing touches to the new X3 at Germany’s Nürburgring race track. Spy shots indicate BMW won’t dramatically alter the current car’s…

“First in plan for SsangYong is Tivoli XLV – an elongated version of the crossover due later this year” Lawrence_Allan@dennis.co.uk @LobAllan SSANGYONG will continue its new car offensive over the next five years, with a different model set to launch every year until 2021. There will be a strong focus on alternative powertrains, too. Anand Mahindra, boss of the Mahindra Group, which owns SsangYong, told Auto Express that strong recent sales growth will bolster a range overhaul. “There is a great pipeline ahead, so expect a new model each year for the next five years,” he said. Mahindra elaborated by saying the brand’s improved UK sales mean a bigger commitment to the market here. “The Tivoli has been a real success story, and as a result you [the UK] will…

A DIESEL scrappage scheme to rid UK roads of the dirtiest cars around is not the answer to improving air quality, a new study by the RAC Foundation has found. The analysis revealed 1.9 million diesel cars fall into the oldest and highest polluting categories, and if a project similar to the 2009/10 scrappage scheme was introduced, the Government could take 400,000 of these vehicles off the roads. It would cost around £800million, with the Government and manufacturers each contributing £1,000 towards every car. The study estimates this would cut pollution from diesel fleets by just 3.2 per cent if all participants switched to a zero-emissions car. But this pollution cut would fall to only 1.3 per cent if the new owners switched to new Euro 6 cars. The RAC…

Sam_Naylor@dennis.co.uk @SamNaylor_AE THE Toyota Mirai is one of the first fuel-cell cars to go on sale in the UK. The name means ‘future’ in Japanese, and it’s part of the manufacturer’s plan to forge ahead with making alternative fuels available as soon as possible. In this case, it’s hydrogen, which has the huge benefit of being available in pressurised form at a fuel station, just like petrol or diesel. This means that even though the Mirai is powered by an electric motor, you can top it up in a few minutes like a normal car – and it has a similar range, too, of around 300 miles. The fuel cell itself generates electricity by mixing hydrogen with oxygen, storing it in a battery and powering the motor just like any…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy THE vast majority of the latest Porsche 911 range is now turbocharged – but that doesn’t mean there’s no longer room for extreme blown performance at the top of the line-up. Enter the latest 911 Turbo, driven here in Cabriolet form, which packs a mighty punch to deliver supercar acceleration alongside classic Porsche usability. At least, that’s the theory. The numbers are pretty impressive; the Turbo’s revised 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged six-cylinder engine now produces 532bhp and 710Nm, enough to get from 0-62mph in just 3.1 seconds, and on to a top speed of 198mph. The good but frankly unsurprising news is that the 911 Turbo Cabriolet is mindbogglingly fast. It is hard to think of any car, let alone convertible, that would be as quick from point to point,…

MODEL TESTED: Skoda Octavia Estate 2.0 TDI 150 SE L DSG PRICE: £24,980 ENGINE: 2.0-litre 4cyl, 148bhp Testers’ notes “If you’re looking to slash your motoring bills, then the Octavia GreenLine III is well worth considering. It’s powered by the same gutsy 1.6-litre TDI as the Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion, and claims CO2 emissions of just 90g/km and 80.7mpg economy. Better still, it’s based on the standard SE model, so you get desirable equipment such as climate control, parking sensors, DAB radio and Bluetooth as standard.” Testers’ notes “All two-wheel-drive versions of the Octavia 2.0-litre TDI can tow up to 1,600kg. Drivers wanting to haul more should upgrade to the 4x4, which can pull 2,000kg. Detachable tow bars can be fitted by a Skoda dealer.” Dean Gibson Dep. road test editor…

Second opinion “I agree that the latest Clubman has lost a lot of the old car’s kerb appeal, but the increase in size has made it a more useful family car. There’s more space in the rear, while the conventional doors make it easier to load small children. While the 360-litre boot isn’t exactly massive, it’s well shaped and is roomy enough for most family needs. One word of warning, though – be careful when choosing options, as the MINI’s price can soon rocket to well over £30,000.” James Disdale Road test editor Otis_Clay@dennis.co.uk “Yes, I miss the clever suicide rear door of the old car, but these conventional openings are much easier to use” IT’S fair to say that when I first clapped eyes on the new MINI Clubman,…

THIS WEEK’S HOT KIT NEW PRODUCT Garmin Drive series sat-navs Price: £99.99-£299.99 Contact: 0808 238 0000, www.garmin.com UK roads are busier than ever, and to keep drivers moving, Garmin is overhauling its sat-nav range. The nüvi line-up is being replaced by the simplified Drive series. The basic Drive has a screen from 4.3 to six inches in size, plus points of interest, a route preview with a re-plan function and alerts for bends, speed limit changes or cameras. There are also fatigue and school/wrong way alerts. Move up to the DriveSmart and you get five to seven-inch pinch to zoom screens. There’s voiceactivated nav and Bluetooth, plus it reads out text messages or social media alerts; if you have voice control you can reply hands-free. You also get live traffic…

“CX-5 is so good, we crowned it Best Crossover at our 2012 New Car Awards, and Best Family Car in 2013” SOME manufacturers rarely seem to produce a bad car, and Mazda is one of them. The brand offers a wide range of great models, with its CX-5 compact SUV one of the finest. It’s so good that we crowned it Best Crossover at our 2012 New Car Awards, and Best Family Car the following year. In 2012, we said: “The CX-5 has set a new benchmark for crossovers, combining space, quality and style with a great drive and incredible efficiency. It’s rare that you can get all that in one affordable package that won’t cost the earth to run – this is a car that can make you smile…