Innholdsfortegnelse for 1449 i Auto Express

“System leaves you to guide trailer into a space on screen, following purple guide lines; the car controls the steering” Plug-in hybrid Range Rovers are on way to showrooms THE I-Pace Concept may have been the star of Jaguar Land Rover’s LA show stand, but other electrified models will beat it into showrooms as the two brands embrace battery power. Speaking to Auto Express, JLR CEO Dr Ralf Speth said: “Around 40 to 50 per cent of our range will be electrified by 2020.” Plug-in hybrid versions of the current Range Rover and Range Rover Sport are first on the list. That means the tech works with existing platforms, pointing the way to a full roll-out of plug-in hybrids across JLR’s mainstream range before the end of the decade. Further…

“The biggest changes are under the skin; range of the new e-Golf has been boosted by about 50 per cent to 186 miles” Engines as important as tech for latest Golf VOLKSWAGEN boss Herbert Diess says the focus on the new Golf’s tech improvements should not detract from mechanical upgrades that will “prepare it for the second half of its lifecycle”. The latest family hatch gets a raft of infotainment upgrades, but VW has been relatively quiet on its technical changes, which include a new diesel and an allnew 1.5-litre petrol engine with cylinder deactivation, as well as the e-Golf (left). Diess said it was “unfair” to suggest the firm had steered clear of mechanical changes in the wake of the emissions scandal, adding: “We have still made significant investment…

Our team picks its LA show highlights AS you’ve read on these pages, the car industry has been in Los Angeles for 2016’s last major motor show. We’ve already shown you some of the big reveals of key cars coming in the next few years. Now join the Auto Express team in our video from the stands as they pick their favourites, including the Jaguar all-electric I-Pace SUV concept and Alfa Romeo Stelvio, and see them in all their glory. We try new Disco’s clever trailer tech KEEPING the LA theme going is editorin-chief Steve Fowler, who had a go in Land Rover’s new Discovery in the US. Steve tried out the Disco’s clever new trailer tech – which promises to banish embarrassing reversing moves with caravans for good –…

Verdict ON the road, you’d be hard pushed to spot the 540C’s performance deficit to the more expensive 570S. So not only does it offer the same supercar looks, quality and brand image as that car, it drives just as well, too, with delicate steering and a sweet chassis. It’s a pity the engine isn’t a little more responsive, but the overall package compensates. Yet another brilliant car from Woking; McLaren is at the top of its game. YOU may never have expected to see the words “entry-level” and “McLaren” in the same sentence. But the firm’s 540C – which sits under the 570S and 570GT in the brand’s Sports Series – is precisely that. At £128,550, it’s the most affordable McLaren you can buy, but you still get the…

MODEL TESTED: Skoda Citigo SE L GreenTech PRICE: £10,865 ENGINE: 1.0-litre 3cyl, 74bhp Testers’ notes “The brilliantly packaged and executed Skoda feels far more grown-up and refined than its dinky dimensions and bargain price suggest. Only flaw is the pop-out rear windows.” Sean Carson Senior staff writer THROUGH THE RANGE Our guide to which trim level might suit you THE Citigo is available as a three or five-door, with all versions using the same 59bhp or 74bhp 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine. There are five main trim levels – S, SE, Colour Edition, Monte Carlo and SE L. The entry-level S is fairly sparse, but the SE adds features such as air-conditioning and central locking. Monte Carlo spec benefits from a racy bodykit, while the SE L brings heated seats, a…

^AEB = Autonomous Emergency Braking. *As part of pack. **As part of infotainment upgrade. Insurance quotes from AA (Tel 0800 107 0680 or www.theAA.com) for a 42-year-old living in Banbury, Oxon, with three penalty points. Residual values provided by CDL VIP Data. Dacia Sandero DUE: December PRICE: From £5,995 (est) ENGINE: 1.0-litre 3cyl, 74bhp LIKE the Ka+, the facelifted Sandero aims to deliver supermini space for city car money. Tweaked looks give the Dacia a less bargain basement feel, plus there’s a new three-cylinder petrol engine.…

MERRY Christmas! Well, nearly – luckily there are still some shopping days left to pick up gifts for family and friends. Present buying can be tricky, but if you have a car lover around you, help is at hand. We’ve rounded up 20 of the best gifts to buy on a budget for the petrolhead in your life. There should be something to suit everyone here, from the practical to the downright silly – and all at under £50. If you’re after something a little more special, don’t worry; next week, we’ll be showing off some spectacular gifts in our over-£50 gift guide. LaFerrari paperweight Price: £30.00 Contact: store.ferrari.com WITH most people preferring E-mails these days, a paperweight isn’t exactly a necessity to have on your desk – but we…

Q Puzzled by Tesla price hike TESLA said I’d have to pay an extra £2,200 on the Model X I’ve ordered, as it’s going to build the car with Smart Air suspension rather than coil springs. I’m told 50 per cent of the cost will be covered, but why this has happened? Andrew Walker, E-mail A TESLA confirmed that the change applies to all Model Xs. It said the ride quality with coil suspension didn’t meet its standards, and so it’s opted to upgrade all models to the Smart Air suspension. The 50 per cent offer is standard for all who have ordered the car. Q Meriva’s hidden history MY husband and I purchased a 12 month-old Vauxhall Meriva last year with only 500 miles on the clock. We’ve just…

THE long wait for Alfa Romeo’s first ever SUV is over, with the Stelvio being revealed at last week’s Los Angeles Motor Show. It’ll go on sale in the UK next year, priced from around £35,000. It’s the second model in the brand’s ambitious new product offensive, and it’ll be joined by six other cars for a total of eight new Alfas by the end of the decade. Following on from the Giulia, it closely borrows some of the design cues set out by that car. But Alfa expects it to significantly outsell the saloon. The new Stelvio was unveiled in rangetopping Quadrifoglio form at LA. The Giulia-inspired design see key features such as the narrow LED lights, trademark shield grille and gaping air intakes carried over. Body-coloured side skirts…

Engine details on new Jeep Compass JEEP has revealed fresh details about its Compass SUV (above), which will sit above the Renegade in the range as a rival to the Volkswagen Tiguan. Three petrol engines and two diesels are confirmed, as are three gearboxes. Jeep hasn’t said which the UK will get, but the 1.4 turbo is likely, as are 1.6 and 2.0-litre diesels. The 2.0 should offer 4x4 and a nine-speed auto. There will be Sport, Limited, Latitude and Trailhawk trims, with prices from around £25,000. Boss says Alfa has no self-driving plans WIDESPREAD autonomous driving tech is an inevitability, claims Alfa Romeo CEO Reid Bigland, but the firm won’t make the leap to fully self-driving cars. Speaking at the LA Motor Show, Bigland said autonomy is the “polar…

R.S.16 hot hatch KO’d for Alpine sports car RENAULT has scrapped plans for its hardcore R.S.16 hot hatch (above) to prioritise the upcoming Alpine sports car. An RS spokesperson told Auto Express: “The plant [in Dieppe, France] is gearing up for Alpine and, due to this, the decision was made not to make some R.S.16s.” Elsewhere, prices have been revealed for the Twingo GT. The hot city car will start from £13,775 when it goes on sale next month. A high-spec Twingo Dynamique S has also been announced. Vauxhall confirms SUV as Grandland X VAUXHALL has confirmed the name of its new mid-sized SUV. The Grandland X will join the brand’s growing line-up in 2017, as a rival for cars like the Nissan Qashqai and Peugeot 3008 (below). The new…

SECTION 75 of the Consumer Credit Act; what can it do for you? The answer is it adds protection when you buy goods or pay for any services. If you pay for a car or services that cost between £100 and £30,000 on a credit card and something goes wrong, you are already protected by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 if the garage won’t accept your claim – but you can also claim from the credit card company. Section 75 of the CCA makes the card provider jointly liable with the trader. This means you can claim against the card provider, the trader or both. This is important if the garage goes bust. The amount you can claim is not limited to the amount you paid on your card, either.…

MODEL TESTED: Vauxhall Viva 1.0 75 SL PRICE: £9,865 ENGINE: 1.0-litre 3cyl, 74bhp Testers’ notes “The Viva comes with a City Mode, which delivers more assistance to the steering for parking manoeuvres. But the control is already so light that you’ll never need this.” Sean Carson Senior staff writer THROUGH THE RANGE Our guide to which trim level might suit you THE line-up for the Viva is straightforward, with buyers limited to SE and SL trim levels. The former is available in an efficient ecoFLEX guise, though, while the latter can be ordered with the brand’s Easytronic automated manual transmission. Prices start at £8,965 and there’s plenty of standard kit, with all versions getting cruise control, Bluetooth connectivity and a USB port. The range-topping SL adds climate control, a leather…

“With encouragement from my guide, we’re tackling what look like near-vertical inclines” Second opinion “The beauty of SUVs with clever off-road systems is that they’re all electronically controlled, which makes traversing treacherous ground a doddle. Intelligent four-wheel drive helps on wintry roads, too.” James Disdale Chief reviewer Verdict MERC’S GLC is nicely refined on the road and more than capable off it – although performance would be even better as a 250d. I love the way it combines rugged, (almost) go-anywhere ability with solid refinement, which makes it an attractive SUV. THERE comes a point – when the nose of our GLC appears to be pointing directly into the ground – when I begin to wonder if putting the Mercedes’ SUV credentials to the test is really a good idea.…

NEW PRODUCT Naim for Bentley Mu-so and Mu-so Qb Price: £749/£1,199 Contact: shop.bentleymotors.com MOST premium car manufacturers have a partnership with a leading audio manufacturer. Audi has Bang & Olufsen, Lexus has Mark Levinson, Porsche has Bose – and now Bentley has partnered with Naim Audio to create the Mu-so range of portable wireless music systems. The real appeal is in the look, with Bentley adding a patterned aluminium skin to the already stylish Mu-so speaker design. The volume knob has also gained a knurled finish, as featured in all of Bentley’s premium car interiors. A discreet ‘Naim for Bentley’ logo sits on the base, and lights up when the unit is on. Even the shade of the aluminium body is unique to Naim’s Bentley line-up.  sizes – a square…

WITH smartphones featuring better storage and faster web connections, a sat-nav app makes more sense than ever. These apps are often cheaper than a portable unit, too, and can now nearly match the guidance and features found in premium models. They’re constantly updated, as well. Our sat-nav app test winner (Issue 1,420), CoPilot, has just launched v10. We lined it up against its closest rival, the TomTom Go, looking for easy interfaces, efficient guidance, and features such as traffic and speedcamera alerts. Price was the final factor. CoPilot’s v10 is easy to use, very quick and the guidance is first class. The new screen layout is intuitive, and we like the sidebar, which shows accurate traffic info along with extra features. The TomTom shares many of these characteristics, but…

“Huge rear wing has been adopted from Porsche’s 919 Hybrid LMP1 car” PORSCHE has gone back to the drawing board with the latest generation of its iconic 911 RSR racer for the World Endurance Championship’s GTE class. The most significant change is that the 4.0-litre flat-six has been shifted in front of the rear axle, giving the car a mid-engined layout. This is the first time in the 43-year history of racing 911s that the traditional rear-engined set-up has been abandoned. The move is in part to permit a huge and complex diffuser to be mounted under the rear of the car – something allowed by the latest GTE technical regulations and already seen on Ford’s Le Mans-winning GT, as well as Ferrari and Aston Martin’s challengers. Porsche unveiled the…

“Front has familiar small SUV design, with large grille and deep bumper echoing rivals such as Mazda CX-3” “New SUV will be based on a shortened version of the MG GS platform” THE new MG ZS, the brand’s rival for the Nissan Juke and Mazda CX-3, has been revealed at the Guangzhou Auto Show in China. While this car is being revealed for the Chinese market, a version will be coming to Britain soon afterwards. The front has a familiar small SUV design, with the large grille and deep bumper echoing rivals such as the CX-3, especially thanks to the swept-back headlights. The rear looks more closely related to the MG GS, the ZS’s larger brother that’s already on sale. There are no details yet on the UK version, but…

CAN you put a price on safety? The simple answer should be that safety is priceless, but even so, it’s becoming increasingly clear that whatever that price may be, motorists are not willing to pay it. We’ve reported in the past how car buyers tend to spend more money on gadgets like sat-navs or heated seats from the options list than safety packs, and our latest poll on AutoExpress.co.uk reveals drivers take a similar attitude to switching tyres. More than 6,000 readers responded to the question of whether they’d be switching to winter tyres in the coming months. Just 33 per cent said they would – and that’s despite our extensive testing, which has demonstrated just how beneficial a set of winter tyres can be. And even some of those…

Contact Martin Saarinen HOT TOPIC New MINI Countryman FROM: Guest MINI needs to start making small cars again. I want a car similar to the Smart ForTwo or Vauxhall Viva, but better in terms of quality and drive. This is something I feel is missing from the current market, and only then will the MINI name be true to its origin. FROM: Gaz Cassidy ALL brands have to evolve to stay afloat. Nokia, for example, struggled because it didn’t. BMW has brought the MINI back to life, and yes, it isn’t the ‘Mini’ the car originally started out as. But the new car is big, bold and evolving to fit all walks of life. Join the debate at www.autoexpress.co.uk ■ “If it were built in Britain and came with a…

Verdict IF you plan to use the tiny ForTwo as Smart intended – in a city – then the new Electric Drive model could well be the one to go for. For the first time, it’s available as a more practical four-seat ForFour, too. A 100-mile range is acceptable enough for a city runabout, and an impressive 2.5-hour charging time means you won’t be hamstrung by lengthy periods plugged into the mains. Trouble is, if you’re interested, you’ll have to wait until next summer to get your hands on one. And at around £16,000, it won’t be cheap, either. “ED benefits from a more sophisticated suspension set-up; it’s now less troubled by pitted city streets” HEAD to any motor show – or showroom for that matter – and the number…

MODEL TESTED: Ford Ka+ 1.2 Zetec PRICE: £10,295 ENGINE: 1.2-litre 4cyl, 84bhp Testers’ notes “The UK only gets the 1.2-litre four-cylinder tested here, but a wider variety of engines is available worldwide. Ford’s PowerShift twin-clutch gearbox is also offered.” James Disdale Chief reviewer THROUGH THE RANGE Our guide to which trim level might suit you THE Ford has an extremely simple range, which comprises Studio and Zetec trim levels. Prices start at £8,995 and both versions are available with a 69bhp 1.2-litre engine, while the Zetec also comes with the 84bhp unit tested here. All models get electric windows and door mirrors, USB connectivity and Bluetooth, while the Zetec adds cruise control, air-conditioning and a multifunction leather steering wheel. Use Ford’s Options PCP package over three years and you can…

score 3.4 FORD KA+ Ford DAB radio with SYNC Standard Key features: Bluetooth, USB, Emergency Assist IF there’s one area that highlights the age of the Ford’s underpinnings, it’s the infotainment. The Studio-spec Ka+ gets a fairly basic set-up operated by traditional buttons and rotary controls, with a small display screen. There’s an AM/FM tuner, USB port and Bluetooth connection, but that’s about it. The dash features a cubby with a ratchet lid that’s designed to clamp smartphones in place so that they can be used on the move. Better still, the USB is located in the storage area, meaning you don’t get unsightly wires draped over the dash. It’s a simple yet elegant solution. Zetec cars get more kit in the form of Ford’s Emergency Assist set-up, DAB radio…

TO call this new i3 a facelift is something of a misnomer. The car remains unchanged to look at, although there’s still nothing wrong with the futuristic styling. But under the skin sits a new battery with more capacity, which now also has rapid-charging capability as standard. While the previous car’s 22kWh unit has been upgraded to 33kWh, the physical size of the battery pack is unchanged, so there’s no compromise when it comes to packaging. The benefit is that, with more usable energy from the battery, the i3’s claimed range increases by more then 50 per cent, so it now stands at 150 miles. However, BMW does state the ‘real world’ range is more like 125 miles, which fits with what we achieved on test. With a nine-litre fuel…

Second opinion “Beautiful cabin shows why people pay more for premium brands – but Peugeot’s new 3008 proves mainstream makers are catching up.” Sean Carson Senior staff writer Verdict THE latest Audi A4 is certainly the most impressive yet. In fact, it’s possibly the best family-sized car the manufacturer has ever made. It drives very nicely indeed, looks great, feels well built and, with the right options, comes loaded with tech. It’s only a shame there isn’t more visual flamboyance. “Audi has long led the field in cabin fit and finish; latest car adds beautiful switches into the mix” WE Brits love a premium badge. In fact, we rarely buy a mid-sized saloon without one. It’s cars such as the Audi A4 that saw off similarly dimensioned saloons and hatches…

Got a query? products@autoexpress.co.uk @AE_Consumer Q Best way to carry bikes I’VE just bought a car with a tow bar and I’m tempted to use it to carry my cycles for family weekends away, as it looks a lot easier than lifting them on to the roof. Are tow bar carriers worth the extra expense? Henry Corbett, E-mail A TOW ball-mounted carriers are certainly among the easiest ways to carry cycles. The best also tilt to allow access to the boot or hatchback. If you plan to use one often, we’d recommend the Atera Strada DL (£344.95, www.roofbox.co.uk, pictured above) which carries up to four bikes. Q Should I use USB with cam? I’D like to replace the 12-volt charger cable for my Nextbase dash camera with a USB lead,…

Dear Lawrence, I’m moving to Birmingham, so I want a city car. Safety and comfort are a priority; what are my best options with a £4,000 budget? Nayab Hussain, E-mail Contact: Lawrence_Allan@dennis.co.uk Kia Picanto FOR: Plenty of kit, seven-year warranty AGAINST: Vague steering, unsettled ride THE Kia is the oldest of this trio by a small margin, but it’s still a decent option. The Picanto is a dependable model, especially as it’s backed by the brand’s excellent seven-year warranty. All but entrylevel cars have plenty of kit, while quality is good. But the ride is a little unsettled and the steering vague. It scored four stars in its Euro NCAP crash test, as ESP was optional in 2011. We found a 50,000-mile 2011 1.25-litre Picanto 2 for £3,845. ALTHOUGH the…

“American car makers – or at least some of them – are, as with their incoming leader, too insular for their own good ” C’MON America, your people deserve better than what you’re currently giving them. And the same goes for the peoples of other parts of the planet with a US presence. The Land of the Free (really?) hasn’t lost the talent, ambition and financial clout to do what’s required. It’s just that it’s not, on a global scale at least, making the most of these priceless strengths. True, what America does for most Americans during these troubled times is just about good enough. But for the rest of us? Er, no. This ain’t about Donald Trump. It’s about America’s car companies – or at least some of them…