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THERE was a time, not long ago, when Chinese motor shows were almost a laughing stock. The halls would be filled with a mixture of underengineered vehicles from the local manufacturers and knock-offs trying desperately to look like premium products from Europe. Not any more. This week’s Beijing Motor Show feels as major as any of the other global showcases. It’s the locals who are making the big strides, too, mixing China’s huge muscle in the battery market with a lack of heritage and ‘legacy’ that gives them huge potential when it comes to building cars and selling them. After all, if you don’t have thousands of dealer contracts worldwide, you can afford to take a radical approach on how you engage with customers – or even if you sell…

“At launch, UK will get ES 300h hybrid, delivering 215bhp and claiming 60.1mpg” John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy LEXUS’S big star at this week’s Beijing Motor Show is the ES, which will arrive in British showrooms early next year as the replacement for the GS. The ES is actually a badge that’s been around for a while, but this seventh generation of the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes E-Class rival will be the first to make it into British dealerships. The design adopts several cues from Lexus’s recently updated flagship, the LS, with a pronounced ‘spindle grille’ at the front and shoulders that fall away sharply beyond the rear window line. Inside there’s a 12.3-inch infotainment display that can incorporate navigation, a further digital screen in the instrument binnacle and the latest version…

THE UK’s car fleet is getting older. That’s the conclusion from new Department for Transport figures revealing that the average age of a UK car is now 8.1 years. The figures also indicate that the proportion of cars on British roads that are more than 13 years old has almost tripled in the past two decades, with 16.5 per cent of the vehicles currently on the road being registered before 2004. This equates to over 5.5 million cars. The DfT figures suggest that the UK’s car fleet is ageing as drivers are put off from making new purchases. Recent changes to diesel car taxes as well as other possible penalties for the fuel are causing uncertainty in the buying process, according to the AA, with some buyers delaying their next…

sean_carson@dennis.co.uk @sean_carson_ “Rough cabin plastics won’t help EcoSport compete against rival compact crossovers” WHERE rivals have triumphed with compact crossovers, Ford’s offering hasn’t been a resounding success. This is the EcoSport’s second facelift since its launch in 2014, but it’s had a more comprehensive update than before. We first tried it in TDCi Titanium guise (Issue 1,509), but that car wasn’t much better than its predecessors. Now we’re taking a look at this new ST-Line trim, powered by a 138bhp version of Ford’s 1.0-litre three-cylinder EcoBoost engine. Does it work as a sporty compact crossover? Not quite. The revised styling does give it more appeal, especially in this sporty spec, but the car doesn’t drive with the sharpness you might expect from a Ford. A Mazda CX-3 is tauter and…

MODEL TESTED: Citroen C4 Cactus PureTech 110 Flair PRICE: £19,870 ENGINE: 1.2-litre 3cyl, 108bhp THE new Citroen C4 Cactus might have morphed from a small SUV into a more conventional VW Golf-rivalling hatchback, but it has retained much of its quirky character, as well as its good-value price tag. This Flair model fitted with a 1.2 PureTech 110 petrol engine and a manual box costs £19,870, and is the cheapest car of our trio. Running costs 44.4mpg (on test) £60 fill-up/£140 or 21% tax Practicality Boot (seats up/down) 358/1,170 litres Performance 0-60mph/top speed 10.1 seconds/117mph Braking 70-0/60-0/30-0mph 52.1/34.7/11.7m Design & engineering EVEN at the end of its life in the SUV class, the C4 Cactus managed to be a striking and interesting car to look at. While it’s not quite…

Running costs 35.8mpg (on test) £67 fill-up/£140 or 31% tax Practicality Boot (seats up/down) 420/1,445 litres Performance 0-60mph/top speed 8.5 seconds/121mph Braking 70-0/60-0/30-0mph 54.7/39.6/14.5m MODEL TESTED: Range Rover Evoque 2.0 TD4 SE Tech auto PRICE: £37,915 ENGINE: 2.0-litre 4cyl, 178bhp THE Evoque has been a smash hit for Land Rover, with record sales. It’s been facelifted and given annual updates to keep it competitive against newer rivals like the X2, so it still has appeal. We test the £37,915 TD4 SE Tech 5dr auto here, although the car in our pictures is a pricier Landmark Edition. Design & engineering WITH a platform that can trace its roots back to the Land Rover Freelander 2, the Evoque isn’t quite as cutting edge as the X2. But while the BMW lost some…

Performance 0-62mph/top speed 3.5 seconds/186mph Practicality Boot (seats up/down) 640/1,820 litres Running costs 26.9mpg (on test) £84 fill-up/£450 or 37% tax John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy “From the driver’s seat, it’s easy to forget that this monster estate seats five” IT’S strange how a single drive can make all the difference and help you connect with a car. But that’s exactly what has happened with our Mercedes-AMG E 63 S Estate, and I’m pretty glad about it. It may surprise you to learn that up to this point, I’d been struggling to really gel with our rapid wagon. The E 63 S is spellbindingly fast, for sure, but I want my family car to be a bit more than a dragstrip specialist. And the mixture of stiff suspension, the 20-inch alloy wheels and…

Stephen_Errity@dennis.co.uk LEWIS Hamilton and Mercedes are under pressure to turn around a below-par start to their 2018 season as Formula One heads to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this weekend. After three races, Hamilton lies nine points adrift of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, victor in Australia and Bahrain. Reigning champion Hamilton was then fourth in China, describing it as “a disaster”. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff commented after the race: “Like the car, Lewis was maybe not in the best place this weekend. He’s the best driver in my opinion, but the best ones have days when it’s just not 100 per cent.” Wolff also admitted Mercedes was wrong-footed by Red Bull’s strategy gamble under the safety car, which allowed Daniel Ricciardo to take a surprise victory for the team. “We…

REIGNING World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier is looking to build on his hat-trick of victories so far in 2018 as the series heads to Argentina this weekend for its next round. The M-Sport Ford Fiesta-driving Frenchman’s strong start to the season sees him 17 points ahead of closest rival Thierry Neuville – the only other driver to top the podium this year. Elsewhere, Welshman Elfyn Evans has a change of co-driver for this event, as his regular navigator Daniel Barritt is still recovering from the effects of a concussion sustained in the M-Sport Fiesta duo’s Rally Mexico crash. Evans’ fellow Welshman Phil Mills, the 2003 world champion co-driver with Petter Solberg, has come out of retirement to fill the seat. Commenting on the latest generation of WRC car, Mills said:…

TECHEETAH driver Jean-Eric Vergne leads the Formula E points standings heading into his home round on the streets of Paris (below) this weekend. But his closest rival Sam Bird is on a roll after winning in Rome. The British DS Virgin driver, who also races for Ferrari in the World Endurance Championship, is now just 18 points behind Vergne and has built a gap to third-place Felix Rosenqvist, racing for Mahindra. After Paris, Formula E heads to Berlin and Zurich, followed by a double-header finale in New York.…

• 70kWh-plus battery pack promises 249-mile range • Modular technology maximises flexibility of new SUV James_Brodie@dennis.co.uk @jimmybrods “A dual-motor all-wheeldrive iX3 could have total system power of 532bhp“ BMW has revealed the next step in its grand electrification strategy with the unveiling of the Concept iX3 at the Beijing Motor Show. It’s an all-electric X3 SUV that’s set to go live in 2020. The Concept iX3 arrives just as several premium manufacturers are gearing up to take on the Tesla Model X. Jaguar is first into the fight with the new I-Pace, while Audi will join in this summer with its e-tron. Mercedes will muscle in on the act, too, releasing an all-electric SUV called EQ C in 2019. The iX3 marks a significant shift in BMW’s electric car story.…

“Concept’s luxury intent is underlined by chrome lining near its flanks” MERCEDES has pulled the covers off a radical new Maybach concept at Beijing this week. The Vision-Mercedes-Maybach Ultimate Luxury is an unusual, raised, three-box SUV design hiding a 740bhp all-electric, all-wheel-drive powertrain capable of a claimed 311-mile range. Top speed is limited to 155mph. Mercedes says the design takes cues from car culture in China, where saloons are riding high. Add SUVs’ global popularity and Maybach extravagance, and the Ultimate Luxury is the result. The nose is inspired by the Maybach 6 coupé and cabriolet design studies, applying the large pinstripe grille and slim LED headlight face into a taller, flatter front end. As on most Mercedes, the shoulder line arches from headlight to tail, and at the back…

“With rust, Mazda’s score in crash test moved down from 26 out of 37 to 18” Martin_Saarinen@dennis.co.uk @AE_Consumer DRIVERS of badly rusted cars have up to a 20 per cent higher chance of dying in an accident, according to the world’s first used car crash test conducted under Euro NCAP criteria. A fifth-generation Volkswagen Golf and a first-generation Mazda 6 were tested by the UK’s crash test agency, Thatcham Research, on behalf of the Swedish Homeowners Association and the Swedish insurer, Folksam. The results revealed that significant chassis rust can lead to a lower Euro NCAP score than the vehicle previously achieved, placing occupants under significantly more risk. The Mazda 6’s score was reduced from a weak fourstar rating to a weak three-star finish, with the car moving down from…

“To ensure drivers can take over quickly, study suggested outlawing distracting activities” Martin_Saarinen@dennis.co.uk @AE_Consumer NEW laws could be introduced to stop owners of autonomous cars watching TV, reading the papers or using their phones when the vehicle is doing the driving, in order to make humans more able to take back control from the car or react to an emergency. A new study by autonomous vehicle consortium Venturer has shown a lag of around two seconds between drivers taking the reins back and assuming full control of an autonomous car. At 50mph, that would equate to a distance of up to 45 metres when neither the driver or the car is fully in control. To ensure drivers are able to take over as quickly and safely as possible, the study…

“Even after the dealer replaced the parts, the X-Trail would still occasionally misfire” MECHANICAL issues often need investigating, and that’s why car manufacturers are happy to provide courtesy vehicles. But what happens when the loan car cannot be used by the owner for legal reasons because the faulty car is a taxi? That’s the dilemma Dave Bailey from Rainham, Kent, faced when his Nissan X-Trail began misfiring. “I got the X-Trail in June 2017 to use as a taxi. Within a few weeks, I noticed the car was misfiring and losing power momentarily,” Dave said. He took the SUV to Motorline Nissan Medway in Kent for an inspection. Motorline found nothing wrong with the car, but Dave told us the problems persisted. After five separate visits, he was advised by…

Performance 0-62mph/top speed 3.6 seconds/189mph LAMBORGHINI is often credited with inventing the supercar back in the sixties, with its delectable Miura. Now it’s aiming to create a new niche at the top of the SUV tree with the Urus. The firm says the Urus is the world’s first super-SUV. It’s based on Porsche’s Cayenne, and uses a considerably reworked version of that car’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine. Everything from the turbos to the cooling system has been tweaked to produce new figures of 641bhp and 850Nm of torque. So even though it weighs 2.2 tonnes, the Urus can sprint from 0-62mph in just 3.6 seconds – and keep accelerating until it reaches 189mph. This is a very fast SUV. Lamborghini’s goal with the Urus was to combine the practicality of…

Richard_Ingram@dennis.co.uk @rsp_ingram DESPITE its unrelenting rise in the early 2000s, diesel was never that desirable. For many, it was merely a cost saver, while in luxury cars like the Audi A8, its big benefit was an uninterrupted full-tank range of over 500 miles. As attitudes change, this TFSI petrol version of Audi’s latest limo will prove popular. While it doesn’t offer the TDI’s hatch-matching fuel economy, it does take refinement to a level on par with the recently-updated Mercedes S-Class. At idle, the V6 petrol engine is so quiet you find yourself glancing at the rev counter just to check it’s running. And it’s just as hushed at high speed. Audi claims the TFSI will do 36.7mpg versus the diesel’s 50.4mpg. Its less favourable CO2 emissions mean that it sits…

Running costs 44.3mpg (on test) £60 fill-up/£140 or 22% tax Practicality Boot (seats up/down) 380/1,270 litres Performance 0-60mph/top speed 9.6 seconds/122mph Braking 70-0/60-0/30-0mph 49.1/35.0/10.3m MODEL TESTED: Volkswagen Golf 1.0 TSI 110PS SE Nav 5 door PRICE: £20,730 ENGINE: 1.0-litre 3cyl, 108bhp THE Volkswagen Golf is one of the best-selling cars in Britain, and has been for decades. A facelift in 2017 added more safety features and a better infotainment system, but the Golf’s superb practicality and versatility are still present. On test here is the 1.0 TSI 110 model in SE Navigation spec, which costs from £20,730. Design & engineering WHILE the Golf was facelifted this time last year, you may not even notice most of the changes, so in that respect it’s not very different to the C4 Cactus.…

Pictures: Otis Clay Location: Walton, Leicestershire AS part of BMW’s efforts to produce a model for every number ranging from one to eight, the company has introduced the X2. And as the name suggests, this latest product slots in between the X1 and X3 in the firm’s SUV line-up. BMW calls it a Sports Activity Coupé, and it’s similar in concept to the larger X4 and X6 models, with a sportier look than the X1 it’s based on. But while its larger siblings are rather niche and don’t have many direct rivals, the X2 enters a closely fought compact premium SUV market. Competitors from Audi, Mercedes and MINI are all battling for sales in this sector, but here we test the new BMW against a premium compact SUV pioneer in…

WHAT do we think of our Mazda CX-5 so far? It’s certainly not rubbish, even though the car on our fleet has spent plenty of time at the recycling centre recently. My daughters Isla (8) and Erin (5) were only too happy to lend a hand when a loft clearance necessitated a number of trips to the tip. And while the girls worked hard, the real star of the show was our Soul Red SUV. A luggage capacity of 506 litres is average for the mid-size SUV class, but proved more than sufficient and kept the trips to the dump to a minimum. The durable carpet survived the onslaught unscathed, too. Predictably, the CX-5 excelled on a long trip to my parents’ home in Scotland, with the torquey diesel engine…

“The sculpture is named Speed Form and provides an ‘early hint’ of the car’s potential” NEW PRODUCT McLaren ‘BP23’ Sculpture Price: N/A Contact: www.mclaren.com PLACED an order for one of McLaren’s forthcoming hyper-GTs? Then you’re lucky, because the car, codenamed BP23, is still a mystery outside the walls of the factory in Woking, Surrey. However, soon-to-be owners will be given a glimpse of the new model in the form of an exclusive sculpture. It’s named Speed Form and provides an ‘early hint’ of the car’s potential, McLaren says. Reserved only for the 106 customers who’ve ordered the BP23, the sculpture previews the silhouette of the car, giving a hint at the bodywork design which McLaren says is the most aerodynamic it’s ever made. The artwork also displays the new car’s…

CO2/tax 124g/km £115 Running costs 57mpg (Picanto 1.1) £43 fill-up Performance 0-62mph/top speed 15.1 seconds/96mph IF ever a car single-handedly turned round a company’s fortunes it was the Picanto, a city car that showed Kia was quite capable of producing genuinely great products. Replacing the Pride with something better wasn’t a tough ask, but Kia really did exceed public expectations with the Picanto, thanks to the car’s accessible purchase price, relatively generous equipment, spacious cabin and generally excellent build quality. It’s not bad dynamically, either, and running costs are low thanks to the real everyday prospect of 55mpg. Most Picantos have been very reliable, but with early cars now 14 years old, some problems have inevitably arisen. History THE Picanto arrived in the UK in May 2004 as a five-door…

Jonathan_Burn@dennis.co.uk @Jonathan_burn “In an industry first, the sat-nav incorporates augmented reality for real-time map overlays” “Mercedes may apply the AMG treatment to the A-Class saloon as well as to the hatch” MERCEDES has thrown down a compact-class challenge to Audi in the shape of its first A-Class saloon. Unveiled at this week’s Beijing Motor Show, the rival to Audi’s A3 saloon will form part of a new eight-car compact range. It goes on sale in China in the long-wheelbase form pictured here before arriving in the UK in early 2019. This is the first time that Mercedes has launched a saloon version of the A-Class, now in its fourth generation. Huge growth in China, large conquest rates and a younger customer base have encouraged the German manufacturer to expand both…

IN an attempt to inject a new lease of life into the i20 supermini, Hyundai has launched an updated model. It’s on sale in June, and minor tweaks have been made to the front grille and tail-lamp clusters, but the big news is that the brand has dropped the 1.4-litre diesel from the line-up. That means engine options now comprise 99bhp or 118bhp versions of the 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo, plus the 74bhp or 94bhp naturally aspirated 1.2-litre petrol. A raft of new safety kit has also been introduced; lane departure warning and lane keep assist now feature as part of Hyundai’s SmartSense pack.…

JAGUAR is remodelling the top end of its XE and XF ranges through an array of tech and engine upgrades. The biggest change is the arrival of a new performance model, the XE 300 Sport (right). Priced from £44,755, and powered by a 296bhp version of Jag’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol turbo, the XE 300 Sport can hit 155mph and sprint from 0-62mph in a claimed 5.5 seconds. It takes over as the flagship XE model, because the British brand has dropped the 375bhp XE S from the range as a result of slow sales and tougher WLTP emissions testing. As well as launching the new 300 Sport, Jaguar has fitted every XE and XF with the larger 10-inch Touch Pro infotainment system, plus extra chrome switchgear, plusher carpets and a…

VAUXHALL is to terminate all its dealer contracts from April 2019 and will re-franchise its entire dealership network, with potentially over a third of dealers facing cuts. Company boss Stephen Norman said Vauxhall would be giving its 326 dealers – run by 93 groups and employing 12,000 people – two years’ notice from next week (30 April). Although the brand expects the ‘majority’ of dealers to retain their franchises, Norman didn’t rule out cuts. He said that Vauxhall’s UK network would still be the second biggest from 2019, meaning at least 200 franchises. “I do not expect anyone to lose their jobs as a result of this,” he added. “I do not expect there to be a reduction in retail outlets as a result of these changes. Those retailers [who…

“No matter what you do, it’s virtually impossible to unsettle; it doesn’t feel light or chuckable” Performance 0-62mph/top speed 8.1 seconds/130mph Running costs 47.1mpg (off icial) £45 fill-up James_Batchelor@dennis.co.uk @JRRBatchelor THE old Suzuki Swift Sport was something of a cult classic – a great-value offering that brought fun and lively handling to thousands who couldn’t stretch to a full hot hatch. Now there’s a new generation and, in stark contrast with the normal trend, it’s actually lighter than the car it replaces. Indeed, at 975kg, it’s 80kg under the old model’s figure. And the new Sport features a smaller engine, too. Here, Suzuki has fitted its cracking little 1.4-litre Boosterjet unit, also used in the S-Cross and Vitara SUVs. The 138bhp 1.4 turbo replaces the old Sport’s non-turbo 134bhp 1.6.…

Pictures: Nathan Morgan Location: Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground, Leicestershire WITH buyers drifting more and more away from traditional family hatchbacks and into crossovers, you wouldn’t expect a car maker to turn one of its best SUVs into a hatch – but that’s exactly what Citroen has done with its updated C4 Cactus. However, the latest C4 Cactus hatch isn’t a completely new model; this is a mid-life facelift, something usually associated with a fresh nose and some extra alloy wheel choices. In fact, the Citroen’s powertrain and mechanical make-up have barely changed, and nor have its dimensions. By repositioning the C4 Cactus as a conventional family hatch, the brand has proven that a bit of plastic body cladding and a tall stance are enough to convince buyers that their car is…

Running costs 42.1mpg (on test) £58 fill-up/£140 or 21% tax Practicality Boot (seats up/down) 370/1,210 litres Performance 0-60mph/top speed 10.5 seconds/121mph Braking 70-0/60-0/30-0mph 44.0/34.4/9.7m MODEL TESTED: Vauxhall Astra 1.0i Turbo SRi Nav PRICE: £21,100 ENGINE: 1.0-litre 3cyl, 104bhp THE latest Vauxhall Astra shot to the top of the family hatchback tree when it arrived in 2015, but with revisions and updates to rivals like the VW Golf, is it starting to fall behind? Here we’re testing the popular SRi Nav model. With a 1.0-litre turbo petrol engine under the bonnet, it carries a £21,100 price tag. Design & engineering ONE of the most significant aspects of the Astra’s overhaul in 2015 was the adoption of a new architecture which cut down the car’s weight in a big way over its…

Running costs 36.4mpg (on test) £63 fill-up/£140 or 30% tax Practicality Boot (seats up/down) 470/1,355 litres Performance 0-60mph/top speed 7.2 seconds/137mph Braking 70-0/60-0/30-0mph 54.1/34.7/10.3m MODEL TESTED: BMW X2 xDrive20d M Sport auto PRICE: £37,580 ENGINE: 2.0-litre 4cyl, 187bhp LIKE BMW’s other Sports Activity Coupés, the X2 range is narrower than that of the car it’s based on, the X1 in this case. Here we test it in M Sport trim and in xDrive20d guise, which features four-wheel drive and an eight-speed auto box as standard. It’s priced from £37,580. Design & engineering THE BMW X2 was previewed by the trendy-looking Concept X2, and its large nose, slender lights, small windows and low roof line have all migrated to the showroom model. The proportions of the production version make it look…

SsangYong Rexton WE’VE been putting our Rexton’s abilities as a workhorse to the test. Products editor Kim Adams recently took the car on a 700-mile round trip to the home of the Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps, for a track day. A trailer and a lightweight Lotus Elise track car didn’t trouble the SsangYong’s 3.5-tonne towing capacity; in fact, they were barely noticed as the miles mounted. The 178bhp turbodiesel shrugged off the extra weight, and the smooth but sluggish automatic gearbox easily coped with some steep hills. Over poor surfaces, some of the ride’s excesses were even dampened by the trailer. The suspension may not be the best over potholes, but it was stable even at higher speeds. Our Rexton also swallowed all the kit a track car needs, including…

REMOTE control cars are huge fun, but need good weather and lots of space. Those small enough for indoor play tend to be child-focused and short on thrills. That’s where the crowdfunded DR!FT steps in, promising lifelike driving with its clever propulsion system and app-based controller. Is it as much fun as our rainy day favourite slot car set? We used both for several hours, focusing on replay value, robustness, thrills and price. DR!FT is clever, but the fun is limited unless you purchase two or more. And for that price, you could buy our ‘money-no-object’ slot car set. Scalextric and slot cars in general are fiddly to put together. But this appcontrolled set is the best of the breed. “We focused on replay value, thrills, robustness and price” Mini…

YOUR VIEWS ON YOUR CARS 2018 Results Ateca Factfile Years: 2016 to present CO2: 122g/km Fuel economy: 53.4mpg (1.4 TSI 150) Best options: Panoramic sunroof, keyless go, 360 camera, adaptive cruise Used prices: From £16,000 Bars show where model finished out of 75 vehicles in our 2018 new car survey. The longer the bar the better • GOOD “BEAUTIFUL angular styling, which is enhanced by roof rails.” “Everything is good to look at and touch inside.” “Panoramic sunroof is an awesome extra to have.” “Three adults fit in the back without having to move front seats.” “The Front Assist auto brakes are reassuring.” “There are almost no blind spots from the door pillars.” “It’s an enjoyable car to drive, for an SUV in particular.” • NOT SO GOOD “THE 1.6-litre…

Volkswagen Polo Beats 1.2 TSI 90 Years: 2009 to 2017 Engine: 1.2-litre 4cyl, 89bhp Ins grp: 15 Official econ/CO2: 60.1mpg/109g/km Why? Polo is the most grown-up car here, and comfortably the best to drive in all respects. Prices from: £11,495 VOLKSWAGEN’S Polo is one of the UK’s favourite cars, and the all-new model looks set to continue the success story. But the previous version is still a strong choice, and the Beats model was introduced towards the end of its life, injecting fun into the ageing hatchback with a better stereo and some smart styling. Despite being an older car, the Mk5 Polo still stands out as a fantastic all-rounder, and is cheap to run, too. It didn’t rank in our Driver Power 2018 satisfaction survey, but was 59th in…