Auto Express 1514

EVER hit a pothole that’s damaged your car? I have. It happened on a road near my home, ‘maintained’ by Buckinghamshire County Council, and cost me £113 for a new tyre. I’m not alone. Damage to tyres, wheels, suspension, exhausts and bodywork caused by potholes costs UK motorists around £730million every year. So what should you do if you suffer damage? Claim, as I did. But my claim has just been rejected under Section 58 of the Highways Act. It provides a defence if councils can prove they have taken reasonable care to properly maintain the highway. Bucks County Council says it inspected the road 10 days before the damage was caused by the pothole in the picture above, so Section 58 applies. Do you think that pothole appeared within…

• First Jaguar pure EV gets 395bhp and 4.5-second 0-60mph time • Rakish SUV has 300-mile range and prices will start at £59k John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy “There are electric motors on each axle, and driveshafts go through them, delivering the I-Pace’s low roofline without a raised boot floor” JAGUAR believes it has a car that’s capable of taking on Tesla with the I-Pace, the British brand’s first pureelectric vehicle, which is making its public debut at the Geneva Motor Show. The I-Pace is probably the most radical offering in the firm’s history. The new model – which will be produced by Magna Steyr in Graz, Austria – sits on a bespoke aluminium platform and gets an all-new electric motor and Jaguar’s own battery technology, to steal a march on the likes…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy THIS is the Skoda Vision X, a Geneva Motor Show concept that previews a new small crossover to rival the likes of the SEAT Arona and Volkswagen T-Roc. The show car also uses compressed natural gas (CNG) as a potentially cleaner fuel and features a mild-hybrid powertrain designed to offer four-wheel drive and limited pure-electric running. The Vision X – which is expected to reach production in 2019 and could carry the badge Amiq or Anuq – is more of a crossover than an SUV. It’s 4,250mm long and 1,800mm wide; longer and wider than the T-Roc and Arona. But the Skoda’s roofline is also lower than both of those vehicles’. Significantly, though, the Vision X’s wheelbase is 2,645mm – 55mm up on a T-Roc’s and 80mm clear…

Lawrence_Allan@dennis.co.uk @LobAllan “Blistered wheelarches fill out the side profile, while the roofline slopes dramatically” FROM concept car to production car in one year: the new Mercedes-AMG GT four-door Coupé has finally been revealed at the Geneva Motor Show. Extending the AMG GT family to three models alongside the two-door Coupé and Roadster, the newcomer is called “the first four-door sports car from Affalterbach”. The sibling resemblance from the front is striking, with the four-door Coupé featuring the same long, low bonnet, vertically-slatted grille and three-part lower air intake. Blistered wheelarches fill out the side profile, while the roofline slopes dramatically to the tailgate, which again looks very similar to the two-door’s. A large, fixed rear wing and quad tailpipes housed in a rear diffuser also feature. Unlike the two-door AMG…

SSANGYONG has previewed the next-generation Korando with an allelectric SUV concept called the e-SIV. The Korean brand says that the car showcases its future approach and commitment to electrified vehicles, connectivity and autonomous driving, while the design study itself is a sneak peek at the next Korando, due in 2019. As a result, some contemporary SsangYong design elements – such as the strong rear shoulder haunches – are in place. But overall the concept is quite a departure from anything the brand has released so far. The thick, angled C-pillar at the rear of the car joins up with a steeply raked back window, to give the e-SIV some coupé-SUV credentials. Inside, the dash is a full-width infotainment display, while the interior space is bright and airy, with four individual…

ANOTHER concept car taking to the stage at the Geneva Motor Show is the Subaru Viziv Tourer, which is designed to preview a future WRX estate. It’s the third concept we’ve seen from the Japanese brand wearing the Viziv name; Viziv saloon and pumped-up STI versions have already been revealed, while the new estate points to the third member of the family. It measures in at 4,770mm long, making it almost identical in length to a VW Passat estate. Subaru claims it’s designed to “express the joy of driving and the sense of security” that a four-wheel-drive performance estate can offer. Powertrain details haven’t yet been revealed, but Auto Express understands the production car will feature a four-cylinder boxer engine of some description and symmetrical four-wheel-drive system. The WRX isn’t…