Innholdsfortegnelse for 1601 i Auto Express

THE next-generation Octavia vRS is likely to be offered with a choice of three powertrains, Auto Express has learned. As well as new versions of the current petrol and diesel models, a plug-in hybrid variant will be available. This electrified version is likely to match the output of the petrol model, so we’d expect a figure of around 250bhp – but with the extra tech on board, the vRS PHEV is likely to be slightly slower than its more conventional stablemate. It should still be capable of 0-62mph in around seven seconds, however. Expect the vRS PHEV to use an uprated version of the 1.4 TSI set-up that will appear in the standard Octavia plug-in. That means more power for the engine, but it’s likely to get the same 13kWh…

Latest VW ID. model to be unveiled at LA Show VOLKSWAGEN has confirmed the reveal of its seventh all-electric ID.-badged concept will take place at next week’s Los Angeles Motor Show, previewing a new EV destined to go on sale in 2021. Sketches of the ID. Space Vizzion (above), released by VW, confirm the new vehicle will be a more practical version of the standard ID. Vizzion – making it one of the first all-electric estate cars on the market. The car itself will be revealed on 19 November. Golden Steering Wheel award for Jag’s I-Pace THE Jaguar I-Pace led the winners in our German sister title Auto Bild’s Golden Steering Wheel Awards. The electric SUV – our 2018 Car of the Year and World Car of the Year 2019…

THIS is the Lister SUV-E Concept, the British tuner’s take on the Jaguar I-Pace. Upgrades include a bodykit, British Racing Green paint and yellow accents. The bumper is carbon fibre, and the wheels are titanium. There are ceramic brakes and the suspension is adjustable. Lister hasn’t listed any mechanical changes, but says the software can be updated for more power and torque. If there’s enough interest, the SUV could go on sale priced from £125,000.…

James_Batchelor@dennis.co.uk @JRRBatchelor Seehow we did on London-Brighton run THE London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is totally unique. Every year around 400 cars all dating from before 1905 tackle the epic 60-mile journey – often in typically British weather – with no guarantee of actually finishing. This year I took part in an 1899 Fiat 3 1/2hp. See how I got on in our special video. Wraps are off the new Honda Jazz SUVs are in fashion, but there’s a glut of new superminis on the way. The Vauxhall Corsa and Peugeot 208 will be here soon, and the new Renault Clio has already impressed in our group test on page 70. Honda has also revealed the new Jazz (above). See our video of it on our YouTube channel. You…

Legal AA: 0345 850 1130 (m) RAC: 0330 159 1446 (m) Which?: 01992 878329 Citizens Advice Consumer helpline: 03454 040506 Local Trading Standards Local Citizens Advice Bureau Used car inspections AA: 0800 056 8040 RAC: 0330 159 0720 Technical advice AA: 0370 142 0002 (m) Driving licences DVLA: 0300 790 6801 Car registration/history HPI: 01722 422422 AA: 0800 316 3564 DVLA: 0300 790 6802 RAC: 0330 159 0364 Traffic information AA: 0906 888 4322 RAC: 09003 444999 (p) Problems with dealers The Motor Ombudsman: 0345 241 3008 Consumer Ombudsman: www.consumer-ombudsman.org RMIF: 0845 305 4230 Scottish Motor Trade Assoc. 0131 331 5510 Problems with makers The Motor Ombudsman: 0345 241 3008 Financial problems Financial Ombudsman: 0800 023 4567 Safety concerns/recalls DVSA: 0300 123 9000…

Alex_Ingram@dennis.co.uk @AxleIngram IT’S tough to stand out in the family crossover class, but Toyota managed to get the formula bang on with its debut attempt back in 2016. The C-HR offered striking looks and a fuel-sipping hybrid option that set it apart from the likes of Skoda’s Karoq and Renault’s Kadjar. Three years and roughly 50,000 UK sales later, and the C-HR has been given a refresh. The updated model brings new interior tech, revised styling and a more powerful hybrid engine to the party. Toyota says the car is more refined and better to drive, too. Even a few years on from its debut, the C-HR manages to cut a distinctive shape, so there wasn’t much need to fiddle with the styling. As a result, the new car’s external…

James_Brodie@dennis.co.uk @jimmybrods Running costs 50.4mpg (official) £65 fill-up SMALL saloons play second fiddle to more popular hatchbacks and SUVs in new-car showrooms. But the brand-new Mazda 3 is still available as a traditional three-box model, designed to rival the Mercedes A-Class and Audi A3 saloons. Although the Mazda is cheaper than the German cars, it has more upmarket appeal than home-grown rivals like the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla – both of which are on offer as hatchbacks and saloons. Only the bonnet and windscreen are retained from the 3 hatchback; every other panel is new. The roofline is taller, and while the wheelbase is the same, the Saloon’s bodywork is 200mm longer overall. That extra length is mainly in the rear overhang. The boot has grown from 351 to…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy SKODA boss Bernhard Maier has a problem: his company literally cannot make its cars quickly enough. The Czech manufacturer, 125 years old next year, set a record in 2018 of more than 1.2 million cars sold worldwide. And yet Maier knows that this figure could have been higher if he’d had a few more vehicles available. Many car brands would be happy enough to be presented with this issue, of course. But even so, it’s not about to get any easier with the arrival of the Kamiq, a vehicle that is designed to appeal not only to those who loved the original Yeti, but also to customers who want family-car space at supermini money. Indeed, as we chat behind the scenes at Skoda’s Frankfurt Motor Show presentation, Maier…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy YOU won’t be aware of the ‘silver box’, but you should be. Buried deep in your car’s dashboard, this is the brain that runs the infotainment system, managing everything from navigation to smartphone integration and even some vehicle settings. In physical terms, this piece of industry speak is uncannily accurate, because the box concerned is a computer in a metal container, roughly the same size as the old single-DIN stereo that cars used to have in the eighties and nineties. And in the case of the Skoda Kamiq, it’s a world away from the slick, gloss-black-clad display that sits proudly on top of the dashboard. The Kamiq and its sister car, the Scala, are important vehicles for Skoda’s electronics division, based in an unassuming building in Mlada Boleslav.…

Steve_Fowler@dennis.co.uk @stevefowler “TWO of our guys have actually come in today just to see the Kamiq when they should be on holiday,” says Paul Abraham, Franchise Director for Marshall Motor Group. Actually, Paul is also officially on holiday when we meet up at Marshall Skoda in Newbury, Berkshire. But such is the excitement about the new Skoda Kamiq among the dealer network – many of whom have yet to see one in the metal – the news that we’re turning up with a Race Blue Kamiq SE L is an opportunity not to be missed. To be honest, we weren’t expecting that level of excitement from dealers, but then a new Skoda is big business, especially for a sizeable dealer group such as Marshall, which has invested heavily in the…

Running costs 44.0mpg (on test) £51 fill-up/£145 or 24% tax Practicality Boot (seats up/down) 355 litres/N/A Performance 0-60mph/top speed 10.2 seconds/113mph Braking 70-0/60-0/30-0mph 48.0/35.6/8.9m MODEL TESTED: SEAT Ibiza 1.0 TSI 95 SE Technology PRICE: £16,735 ENGINE: 1.0-litre 3cyl turbo, 94bhp ALONG with the Fiesta, it’s the Ibiza the Clio has to beat if it wants to take class honours – and looking at the price of this £16,735 1.0 TSI 95 car in SE Technology trim, the SEAT could prove to be closer competition than the Ford. Design & engineering THE Ibiza is based on the A0 version of the MQB platform that cemented the fortunes of parent company, the Volkswagen Group. It’s the same platform that underpins other superminis, such as the VW Polo. That means that, as in…

WIN: Jenson Button’s latest F1 biography EX-Formula One world champion Jenson Button has launched his second book, How To Be An F1 Driver (above). Published by Bonnier Books, the hardback goes behind the scenes of life in the grand prix paddock, with anecdotes and experiences from Button’s career at the wheel in the premier single-seater category. It’s available now in all good bookshops, priced at £20. Auto Express has two copies of the book to give away, plus each winner will also receive a McLaren baseball cap signed by Jenson. To be in with a chance of winning, head to autoexpress.co.uk/button and answer our question, and you’ll be entered into our prize draw. Motorsport UK set to be boosted by new HQ MOTORSPORT UK, the governing body for four-wheeled motorsport in the…

PRODUCTGROUPTEST 13|11|2019 Every week, we extensively test all the latest car kit from tyres to trim cleaners. Log on to www.autoexpress.co.uk to look through our huge online test archive FOR really tough car cleaning jobs you need a pressure washer, but most of the time using a spray gun with a garden hose will be enough. Many guns offer a choice of pre-set modes, some of which are specifically for gardens, while others can be used on your car. These include jet, shower, mist, flat and cone sprays. Of the various types, plastic (or ABS) guns are lighter and more wieldy, but not as robust, and often a damaged or worn bayonet connector means the whole thing has to be scrapped. Some kind of water control – usually a variable…

James_Brodie@dennis.co.uk @jimmybrods ● All-new Octavia revealed in hatchback and estate body styles ● Engine line-up features hybrid and plug-in options for first time SKODA has followed up the new Scala hatchback and Kamiq SUV with a fresh incarnation of the Octavia – the car that has arguably come to define the brand since the Volkswagen Group acquisition in 1991. The Octavia story started well before then, though. The nameplate celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2019, so this new version is technically the fifth-generation model overall and the fourth to emerge under VW Group direction. Over 6.5 million Octavias have hit the road since 1959, but this is the first to be offered with plug-in and mild-hybrid powertrains. A hot vRS model using an electrified drivetrain will also join the line-up…

Alex_Ingram@dennis.co.uk @AxleIngram ● Third Ultimate Series model ● More powerful than Senna THIS is the Elva: a £1.425million McLaren speedster that accelerates faster than a Senna and weighs less than any modern McLaren road car. It completes the brand’s trio of Ultimate Series models; while the Senna’s purpose is to lap race tracks at the fastest speed possible and the forthcoming Speedtail covers continents in unrivalled speed and comfort, the Elva is all about driving enjoyment. The name originates from the McLaren-Elva M1A: a Bruce McLaren-designed racing car built to Group 7 specs in the sixties. The Elva’s design is a nod to that car, too; there’s no roof, windscreen or side windows, although a tiny pair of doors eases cabin access. A retractable wind deflector channels air from the…

Luke_Wilkinson@dennis.co.uk @LT_Wilkinson ● SEMA Show is largest modified-car exhibition ● Tuning firms showcase latest tech and styling THE Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show opened its doors last week. It’s the world’s largest modified car expo, and is held annually at the Las Vegas Convention Centre in Nevada, USA. The trade event lets the latest and greatest tuners and parts distributors showcase and sell their products. While it’s not open to the general public, SEMA also acts as a stage for manufacturers to parade their wildest race cars and highly tuned production car-based one-offs – so the diversity of vehicles on display is unlike anything you’ll see at conventional European or American motor shows such as Frankfurt, Geneva or Los Angeles. In previous years, the SEMA Show has played host…

mail@autoexpress.co.uk @AutoExpress HOT TOPIC New Volkswagen Golf FROM: Ian Newton DOESN’T look that different to the previous model, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The Golf’s been around for nearly half a century and I think it’s fair to say it’s iconic. This design is an evolution, but it’s also instantly recognisable. FROM: Jeremy Bonner CERTAINLY not a bad-looking car and I think it’s an improvement on the last generation, but it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing Golf VW has ever made. The fifth-generation was a much more interesting car to look at, to my mind. Join the debate at www.autoexpress.co.uk ■ “A solid, safe, reliable car, with an inoffensive design and plenty of tech. Ideal for daily use.” Ed Rivers ■ “Let’s be honest, it doesn’t matter…

Alex_Ingram@dennis.co.uk @AxleIngram Running costs 47.9mpg (official) £66 fill-up Performance 0-62mph/top speed 7.9 seconds/134mph THE Mercedes GLC first hit showrooms back in 2015, and four years later the Stuttgart brand has introduced a facelifted model to keep it fresh against competition from the BMW X3 and Audi Q5. On our first encounter (Issue 1,579), we suspected that the smaller of the two diesel engines, the 220 d, might be the model to have. So now we’ve got one back in the UK to see if our initial hunch was right. The GLC 220 d is based on the same four-cylinder diesel engine as the 300 d, but with just 191bhp it’s 51bhp down on its big brother. That sounds like a big loss – and it’s a change that translates into…

James_Brodie@dennis.co.uk @jimmybrods Running costs 38.2mpg (official) £75 fill-up Performance 0-62mph/top speed 4.4 seconds/155mph BMW’s M division is applying the finishing touches to the forthcoming brand-new M3 right now. But until it arrives, what is currently the hottest member of the 3 Series range slots into a gap in the market that seems somewhat sparsely populated. This is the M340i xDrive, and it’s a halfway house between the M3 and the rest of the 3 Series range. It’s the only model in the current line-up with a six-cylinder petrol motor, and BMW’s engineers have applied parts and development from the company’s esteemed performance division, too. Priced from £48,555, the new car joins the Mercedes-AMG C 43 and the latest (diesel) Audi S4 in a clutch of performance saloons serving as understudies…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy “Only when Stefani was happy with the final Kamiq did he turn to his team and tell them, ‘Make that into a concept car’” THE car industry has a pretty well-set formula on how to bring a design to market. First, do an outlandish concept that grabs the attention. Second, struggle like hell to turn it into a production car while still retaining enough of the show car’s glamour. This is not how Skoda does things. Because while it is true that the two cars you see here, Vision X (left) and Kamiq, are closely related, it was the production car that was created first. Only when Skoda design boss Oliver Stefani was happy with the final Kamiq that is now arriving in showrooms did he then turn…

James_Brodie@dennis.co.uk @jimmybrods A BABY is being made before my very eyes. I’m hot and sweaty, I’m losing layers of clothing and I’ve just been handed a small beer. I’m having one of the strangest days I’ve had at work in years, but for my new colleagues who I’ve just enthusiastically said cheers to, it’s just another dollar. What you are looking at is one of the Czech Republic’s best known exports, perhaps only after pilsner and Skodas. Bohemian glass and crystal are embedded deeply into the culture of the country’s mineral-rich west. A winding, bumpy hour’s drive north of Skoda’s Mlada Boleslav home will see you land right in the crucible of where that reputation has been forged. There are hundreds of glass producers and specialists in this small corner…

Alex_Ingram@dennis.co.uk @AxleIngram FOR most manufacturers, a concept is a complete flight of fancy. It’s an opportunity to create a car that’s spectacular and outrageous, but something that will usually have only little – if any – influence on its road vehicles in the near future. It can be a chance to showcase technology which doesn’t even exist yet. If they’re feeling really cruel, brands can show off models that look pretty much ready to jump straight into showrooms, but then never make production. Skoda, on the other hand, likes to give us things to really get excited about. Its one-off show stars give us a huge clue towards the look of its next production models. And it’s a practice that’s gone on for almost 20 years, as the manufacturer’s back…

Running costs 44.0mpg (on test) £54 fill-up/£145 or 23% tax Practicality Boot (seats up/down) 391/1,069 litres Performance 0-60mph/top speed 11.2 seconds/116mph Braking 70-0/60-0/30-0mph 50.5/37.0/9.4m MODEL TESTED: Renault Clio Tce 100 Iconic PRICE: £16,295 ENGINE: 1.0-litre 3cyl turbo, 99bhp IN Iconic trim with Renault’s TCe 100 engine, this new Clio comes in at an affordable £16,295, undercutting its rivals. But is it short on ability? Design & engineering THERE’S a lot that’s fresh with this fifth-generation Clio. The CMF-B platform is all-new for Renault’s supermini (the last three versions were based on the older Renault-Nissan Alliance B platform), which uses MacPherson-strut front suspension and a torsion beam at the rear. It’s a standard layout for a car of this type at this price point. The platform has improved packaging, as we’ll…

Renault Clio Renault Easylink Standard Key features: Nav, connectivity ICONIC trim features Renault’s Easylink seven-inch touchscreen set-up that boasts sat-nav as standard. The Ibiza gets navigation, too, but it’s an extra on the Ford. All three cars get Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and in the Renault they work well. However, the Clio’s native system is the least responsive. All three use touchscreens, but the Renault misses more inputs than in either rival. The graphics aren’t quite as slick in the Clio as in the Fiesta or Ibiza, either, but at least the menu layout and system logic is clearer than in other Renaults, such as the Mégane. The brand has learned here. It’s a shame you can’t add options on Iconic like the digital dashboard feature, or wireless charging…

GIVEN Hyundai and Kia are sister companies, it’s no surprise that this Niro Hybrid shares much of its tech with the Kona. That means the 1.6-litre four-cylinder naturally aspirated petrol unit and electric motor deliver a total of 139bhp and 265Nm of torque, identical figures to the Hyundai. The Niro sprinted from 0-60mph in 9.2 seconds, undercutting its rival by 0.3 seconds, while it was always a few tenths ahead in our in-gear flexibility assessments, too. Here you can feel the 1.56kWh lithium-ion battery and electric motor’s boost as it augments the petrol unit, which feels weak and strained when the electricity runs out. Performance isn’t what this pair of hybrids is about, though; instead they’re easy to drive and mostly relaxing in the right situation. They’re better suited to…

James_Batchelor@dennis.co.uk @JRRBatchelor Practicality Boot (seats up/down) 85/830 litres Running costs 34.2mpg (on test) £50 fill-up THE Suzuki Jimny is one of those cars that doesn’t come along very often. It’s amusingly old-fashioned in an unashamed kind of way, unapologetic about its shortcomings, truculent and likes to get muddy. Apart from the last point, we go hand-in-hand together and that’s why I’ll be running this delightfully beige example for the next six months. And it really is beige. Suzuki calls it ‘Chiffon Ivory Pearl Metallic,’ while the roof is finished in ‘Blueish Black’, which seems rather fancy for what is, let’s face it, a car that’s anything but fancy. You can even have a shade called ‘Brisk Blue’, for heaven’s sake. While the Jimny is brand new, it comes from a…

Got a query? products@autoexpress.co.uk @AE_Consumer Q Do thieves target dash cams? A I’M considering a dash cam but I’m worried about it getting stolen. I never leave my sat-nav in the car, so should I remove the cam too? It seems a lot of trouble if I use it every time I drive.Steve Thompson, E-mail A WHILE it may be less obvious than a sat-nav, a dash cam does attract criminals. One option might be something like the latest cams from Nextbase (above) which clip in to a magnetic mount, making removal easy. One alternative would be a Thinkware cam, because these bond to the screen, making quick removal harder. Q Winning polishes not on sale I TRIED to buy your recommended polishes but neither was on sale locally, and…

WHEN it comes to in-car power, the focus has moved away from additional 12V sockets to USB outlets for running phones, tablets and all manner of other electronic kit. Many cars have a USB port as standard, but these are often not up to fully charging the latest smartphones, plus many drivers need more than one. There’s a new adaptor from Anker to solve the problem. We put it up against the top one-piece adaptor from our Issue 1,455 multi-test: the Ring RMS20. We checked size and spec, then compared charging by connecting an iPhone X and an iPad Pro to see how much power could be added in 20 minutes. Price was the final factor. The Ring’s extra socket sees it keep its crown, but it was very close.…

THE US IndyCar Series, its Indianapolis 500 headline event and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway itself have been bought out by legendary team owner Roger Penske, in one of the most significant business deals ever seen in American motorsport. Penske has bought the combined assets from the Hulman-George family, which has owned the Speedway since 1945. The current chairman Tony George said: “We are honoured to pass the torch to the Penske Corporation. There is no-one more capable and qualified than Roger’s organisation to lead the sport of IndyCar into the future.” Penske’s race teams have won multiple IndyCar titles and Indy 500s, as well as finding significant success in NASCAR and sportscar racing. His wide-ranging business empire also comprises automotive retail and truck sales and rental operations.…

Motoring’s most outspoken and opinionated columnist sounds off “This is a ban on perfectly legal cars purchased, owned and taxed by law-abiding individuals. They are innocent victims” IF you live in or need to travel to the bottom-left-hand corner of Britain, you deserve deep sympathy from me and, I suspect, other fair-minded folk who regard freedom of movement as a basic human right. It’s bad enough that the motorway ‘network’ in this quarter of our green and pleasant land is woeful when compared with other large, populated regions of Blighty. And I’m deeply saddened that, in what is supposed to be ‘modern Britain’, the anti-car politicians in parts of the south west (and further afield) seem to be waging a vicious war on cars and their occupants. Coincidentally (or was…

Sean_Carson@dennis.co.uk @sean_carson_ SKODA has a lot riding on this new Octavia, but as we discovered last month (Issue 1,599) a drive in a prototype proves the firm is on to a winner again. We tried a 148bhp 1.5 TSI petrol with a six-speed manual gearbox, as well as a 148bhp 2.0 TDI diesel with a seven-speed dual-clutch auto. The petrol was smooth and refined, revving fairly sweetly and without much fuss. The manual transmission’s shift action was quite light, but felt mechanical and was precise enough to enjoy. The 2.0 TDI feels grunty and eager, and is more refined than ever thanks to updated engine internals. This new-found refinement is one of the new Octavia’s big plus points. That’s because, while the Skoda’s body-in-white has hardly changed, there’s much more…

Alex_Ingram@dennis.co.uk @AxleIngram IT’S not just the 911 Turbo that Porsche engineers are hard at work to deliver. As our exclusive images show, there’s a new 911 GT3 on the way, plus we’ve spied the most extreme Cayman ever, expected to be called the GT4 RS. The 911 GT3 follows a similar formula to its predecessors: a track-focused model that gains power, loses weight and uses extreme aerodynamics to sharpen its responses. As our images show, that aero will take the form of a deep front splitter, added bonnet vents and a two-tier rear wing. Technical details remain scarce, but expect the next GT3 to keep a naturally aspirated flat-six engine in place of the turbocharged units used by other modern 911s. A manual gearbox is likely to feature alongside the…

Hugo_Griffiths@dennis.co.uk @hugo_griffiths DIESEL cars are set to be banned from the centre of Bristol by a blanket policy that will see the cleanest Euro 6 models treated in the same manner as older, more polluting diesels. Under plans ratified by Bristol City Council, privately owned diesel cars will be forbidden from entering an area of the city centre between the hours of 7am and 3pm. The affected area covers the main city centre, and also takes in part of the M32 motorway. Drivers taking a diesel car into the zone during its hours of operation will be fined. A wider clean air zone covering a larger area of the city was also approved by the council. This won’t affect privately owned cars, but HGVs and buses will have to pay…

Hugo_Griffiths@dennis.co.uk @hugo_griffiths “I fell in love with Abarth straight away. The noise, the performance, the handling”BERTIE BRYANT UK Owners Club COMPANY founders can be relied on to produce memorable quotes. Take W.O. Bentley’s desire to build “a fast car, a good car, the best in its class”; Enzo Ferrari’s proclamation that “aerodynamics are for people who can’t build engines”; or Henry Ford’s recollection in his autobiography that “any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.” To these might be added a line from Karl Abarth, founder of the sports car and tuning firm that has borne his name for 70 years. Karl – or Carlo, as the Austrian became known after he moved to Italy in 1934 – once declared…

Jonathan_Burn@dennis.co.uk @Jonathan_burn Running costs 20.6mpg (official) £81 fill-up Performance 0-62mph/top speed 4.0 seconds/192mph “The 4.0-litre flat six is the star, with an intoxicating cocktail of noise, power and usability” THE temperatures are dropping and the long, dark nights are drawing in. So of course now is exactly the right time to think about sinking more than £210,000 into an open-topped, rear-wheel-drive Porsche 911. But this is no ordinary 911. In fact, it’s not even the latest 911. This is the Speedster, which is based on the previous 991-generation of Porsche’s famous sports car, and was built in limited numbers as a 70th birthday present to itself. Having said that, even if you want one, you can’t have it. The UK allocation of the 1,948 global production run has already been…

@johnmcilroy SKODA is on a roll, enjoying record sales as the company gears up for its 125th birthday in 2020. Now there’s a new arrival in the brand’s showrooms: the Kamiq. And over the next 30 pages, we’ll get under the skin of this small SUV. We’ve been to the Czech Republic to get the inside line on the design process – and chatted to Skoda boss Bernhard Maier about the unusual challenges that come with sales success. The Kamiq is also the most connected Skoda ever, thanks to the latest version of the company’s infotainment system – so we take an in-depth look at its development. And we meet Skoda’s chassis and powertrain boss, a man whose family history is inextricably intertwined with that of the company. We’ve also…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy “My grandfather was the overall boss of the company, my father was a board member whose car changed the future of Skoda. Now I’m just the guy in charge of engines and chassis”MARTIN HRDLICKA, Skoda Head of powertrain and chassis IF you’re after an example of how Skoda’s heritage feeds through into its future, five minutes with Martin Hrdlicka should do the trick. He’s the company’s head of powertrain and chassis – so the man responsible for how the Kamiq drives and how many miles it does to the gallon. And yet his head is as full of historical facts and figures as it is CO2 emissions and 0-62mph times. Hrdlicka’s background is intertwined with that of Skoda. Because the brand we know today was formed in 1925,…

Running costs 43.8mpg (on test) £54 fill-up/£145 or 25% tax Practicality Boot (seats up/down) 311/1,093 litres Performance 0-60mph/top speed 9.8 seconds/114mph Braking 70-0/60-0/30-0mph 45.1/33.7/9.8m MODEL TESTED: Ford Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost 100 ST-Line PRICE: £18,070 ENGINE: 1.0-litre 3cyl turbo, 99bhp IT’S our current class leader, but is the Ford Fiesta about to slip down the rankings? We’re testing the 1.0 EcoBoost 100 model in five-door ST-Line trim (Titanium X pictured) to find out. Design & engineering IN this specification the Fiesta costs £18,070 – £1,775 more than the Clio, which is quite a significant chunk of cash at this price point. While you should be able to walk into a Ford dealer and haggle a little, this is partly because the brand doesn’t list the Zetec trim level in its price…

1st RENAULT VALUE is key in this sector, and it’s one area where the Clio really succeeds. It’s the cheapest, yet gets the most equipment, while quality is also the highest. The Renault teams this with overall running costs that better the Fiesta and Ibiza’s, plus a big boot that boosts versatility, even if the cabin isn’t quite as roomy. The French hatch isn’t the best to drive or the quickest car, but the ride comfort and refinement offset these drawbacks. 2nd SEAT THE Ibiza is close to the Clio in every area and exceeds it when it comes to fun and responsiveness. Its engine is punchy and the gearbox is great, but it doesn’t ride as well. The infotainment system just edges the Renault’s, but the cabin feels much…

Volvo S60 OUR test fleet is celebrating a new arrival: a Volvo S60 T8 plug-in hybrid. The saloon follows in the footsteps of the V60 estate we enjoyed running at the start of the year, but where that was a humble D3 diesel model, this is the Swedish manufacturer’s flagship T8 plug-in hybrid. The prices are certainly at the premium end of the compact executive class, because the T8 in R-Design Plus trim costs £49,805 on the road. Add in the options fitted to our car and it’s a £55,250 investment. If that sounds expensive, fear not because anyone crunching the numbers will find plenty that doesn’t leave a sour taste. Volvo’s T8 powertrain is quite a piece of kit, with a 299bhp four-cylinder petrol engine working with an 86bhp…

Alfa Romeo Giulietta Matteo Licata (Self-published, amazon.co.uk) Price: £26.04 AUTHOR Licata has rewritten this book to better fit with his other titles, and the added work shows. It flows much more easily than before, it’s longer, and there are more pictures. All good additions to what was already a very informative and interesting book about one of Alfa’s most iconic nameplates. Austin Cars David Rowe (Veloce Publishing, veloce.co.uk) Price: £12.99 THOROUGH, and a good reference title to have in the library, but we can’t recommend it as an exciting read. It’s illustrated with the author’s own photos taken at car shows across the country, backed up with dry but informative specification sheets and even little diagrams of the gearchange patterns and instrument layouts. One for the real Austin buffs. CarX…

Got any car queries? Tristan_Shale-Hester@dennis.co.uk @AE_Consumer Q Solution to engine problem MY dad bought a used car with a three-month warranty; it’s had several faults in that period and needs a new engine, for which the dealer wants £3,000. What should we do?Kevin J, E-mail A YOUR dad shouldn’t pay for the engine, because the dealer has to provide six months’ protection under the Consumer Rights Act, and the car is clearly not ‘of satisfactory quality’. If the dealer won’t back down, find out if it’s signed up to the Motor Ombudsman and lodge a complaint if so. Trading Standards or legal action are also options. Q How do we get disabled bay? MY mother has to use a wheelchair and is coming to live with me at my flat,…

Stephen_Errity@dennis.co.uk ● Electric or hydrogen power ● Robots to swap batteries DTM organisers have revealed their vision of a radical electrified future for the German-based touring-car series. Both hydrogen fuel-cell and battery-electric power are under consideration, as well as further innovations such as automated wheel and battery changes. DTM says its proposed series could run alongside the conventionally powered championship in a supporting capacity initially, and would “provide manufacturers with an unprecedented opportunity to design and develop high-performance electric vehicles of the future”. A maximum power output of 1,000bhp is envisaged for the competing cars, giving a top speed in the region of 185mph. At pit stops, industrial robots would be used to both change the cars’ wheels and swap out their battery packs or hydrogen fuel cells for freshly…