Innholdsfortegnelse for 1669 i Auto Express

James_Brodie@dennis.co.uk @jimmybrods RENAULT has committed to a rapid turnaround of what will become one of the most important cars the brand has produced in decades, when it reveals the all-new electric Mégane crossover later this year – only months after the surprise reveal of the Mégane eVision concept last October. Spied for the first time in late prototype form, the reinvented Mégane will open a new chapter for the French marque with former SEAT boss Luca De Meo now in charge. His plan, dubbed “Renaulution”, will see Renault launch seven new all-electric vehicles by 2025, with the reinvented Mégane being the first of the bunch. It’s one of several cars planned by Renault to use the Renault-Nissan Alliance’s new CMF-EV platform. “Like with the first generation of Mégane, this Mégane…

HYUNDAI has launched its new Tucson PHEV in the UK, with prices starting from £39,330 for the plug-in hybrid SUV. It joins the existing range of 48-volt and full hybrid powertrains, offering even more efficiency. The PHEV line-up is split into two trim levels: Premium and Ultimate. The former features 18-inch alloys, LED lights, keyless go, lots of standard safety tech, climate control and a pair of 10.25-inch screens for infotainment and the dash. Ultimate trim starts from £42,030 and comes with 19-inch wheels, a panoramic roof, a powered tailgate, heated and cooled leather seats and three-zone climate control. A £1,500 Tech Pack adds smart park assist, electronically controlled suspension, blind-spot monitoring and a 360-degree parking camera. “There’s a 31-mile electric range and two-hour charging from a wallbox” The Tucson…

sean_carson@dennis.co.uk • EV goes on sale later this year • Same platform as Ioniq 5 KIA has revealed the EV6, the first of seven new fully electric Kias due by 2027. It’s the company’s first car based on its new E-GMP electric car platform and introduces a brand-new design language. A slim grille is flanked by headlights that are hooded by the one-piece upper bodywork. Kia calls this the “Digital Tiger Face”, and it’s finished with the brand’s new logo. Despite the compact drivetrain, the EV6’s bonnet has a pronounced sporty-looking dome, flowing back to the heavily raked windscreen. The roofline tapers to a chopped-off tail to help aerodynamics. One of the interior’s key elements is a new infotainment system, the Audio Visual and Navigation screen. Along with the wide,…

James_Brodie@dennis.co.uk @jimmybrods • Minor facelift gives XC60 new grille • Android Automotive infotainment VOLVO has updated its XC60 SUV for 2021, focusing on a series of small design changes, new interior technology and updated driver-assistance features for its best-selling model. From May, all versions of Volvo’s BMW X3 rival will use new infotainment tech powered by Android Automotive. This software will be integrated directly with Google apps and services, similar to the set-up used by sister brand Polestar. The updates also apply to the brand’s S90 saloon and V90 estate, with handsfree voice-control functions now handled by Google Assistant, sat-nav provided by Google Maps, and further applications able to be installed via the Google Play Store. Buyers can also subscribe to the new Google-powered features with a Digital Services Package…

Contact Tristan Shale-Hester mail@autoexpress.co.uk @AutoExpress FROM: Ollie Hart I LOVE how unassuming this looks – you wouldn’t know it was an EV until you realised it doesn’t have an actual grille up front. A range of 263 miles doesn’t seem very good, though, especially when you’re paying £40,495. FROM: John Minshall I DON’T think it has the visual impact of the EQC. The front end doesn’t work for me. I understand that it’s an entry-level Mercedes EV and I’m sure it will sell, but I couldn’t justify buying one over a Kia e-Niro or Hyundai Kona Electric. Join the debate at www.autoexpress.co.uk ■ “It’s okay, but it needs to be more than okay if it’s going to tempt people away from a Tesla.” Hambleton ■ “I love Mercs, but this…

THE Jaguar E-Type is the ultimate motoring cliché, but clichés attain their status for good reason, and such a label should really be seen as praise rather than criticism. After all, the E-Type is one of a tiny handful of cars to be part of the collection at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and it’s the only car that Enzo Ferrari is on record as having declared the most beautiful in the world, above even his own creations. There is only one classic car so universally desired by enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike, which brought (very nearly) 150mph motoring to the middle classes, if not the masses. The E-Type is surely the most recognisable car in the world (the only possible contender to my mind would be the Mini). It…

sean_carson@dennis.co.uk THE performance SUV is not a new niche, not even for Volkswagen, given that the T-Roc R has been on sale for a while. However, it has taken VW a little time to fully exploit the craze and install one of its most powerful motors in its best-selling Tiguan SUV to create this, the Tiguan R. It’s a simple recipe. Take the 316bhp 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine, seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and 4MOTION four-wheel drive from the Golf R and install it in the Tiguan, then add a few chassis tweaks to control the extra power, as well as some smarter seats and sportier touches inside. The price for this combination of VW’s MQB modular toolkit of parts? £45,915. That puts it perilously close to other SUVs with performance aspirations,…

NOISE THE M3 and Alfa both use six-cylinder engines but they have different configurations and displacements. The M3 uses a 3.0-litre straight-six and the Alfa has a 2.9-litre V6. That results in two cars that also sound quite different; the Alfa has a more raspy exhaust note, helped by the Akrapovic system, while the M3 sounds more brawny and deep-chested. To us the Alfa has the far sweeter exhaust note. WHEELS THE difference in approach extends to the wheels. BMW uses 19-inch rims at the front and a set of 20-inch alloys at the back, while the Alfa uses 19-inch rims all round. The BMW also has wider tracks. Carbon-ceramic brakes can be added to both models as an option but they don’t come cheap. On the BMW they’ll set…

Boring Car Trivia Volume 2 Sniff Petrol (www.sniffpetrol.com) Price: £4.99 Rating: THIS book lives up to its title, but it’s brilliant fun, especially if (like so many of us) you’re a little bit weird. If you’ve ever wondered what Tiff Needell’s real name is, which Rolls-Royce was the first to be designed using the metric system, or how much glass you’d find on the Citroen XM, this is the book for you. A fantastically boring follow-up to the first volume, and well worth a place in your library. Corvette Stingray Chevrolet (Motorbooks, www.quartoknows.co.uk) Price: £32 Rating: AS an officially licensed GM product, don’t go expecting any critical views to be put across in this book. In reality, it’s an in-depth and very glossy history lesson/advertisement. But so are plenty of…

Got any car queries? Tristan_Shale-Hester@dennis.co.uk Q Is a course still an option instead of speeding points? I THINK I may have been caught speeding. It’s my first offence, so I hope to be offered a speed awareness course, but I don’t know if these are still operating during lockdown. Will I able to attend one after lockdown ends? Name withheld, E-mail A NOT all offenders are offered speed awareness courses; depending on how fast you were going, you may end up being given penalty points and a fine, or a court summons for excessive speeding offences. If you do meet the criteria to be offered a course, these are being conducted online during lockdown. As such, you won’t need to travel anywhere and can take the course from your own…

Stephen_Errity@dennis.co.uk • Sainz and Leclerc reveal SF21 • Testing concludes in Bahrain FERRARI last week became the final team on the F1 grid to reveal its 2021 car, ahead of last weekend’s pre-season testing at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain. The SF21 has a revised colour scheme, with a burgundy shade at the back of the engine cover blending into a more familiar brighter red towards the front of the car. As dictated by F1’s 2021 rules, it’s largely an evolution of the 2020 SF1000, but the team has used development ‘tokens’ to revise the rear aerodynamics in particular. Head of chassis Enrico Cardile explained: “our first task was to identify which area of the car we should focus on. We opted for the rear end, designing a new gearbox…

sean_carson@dennis.co.uk VOLKSWAGEN’S all-electric ID sub-brand continues to grow at pace, with this new ID.4 SUV joining the line-up. It’s the second ID model following the ID.3 five-door hatchback, but this full SUV offers fresh appeal and even more style. Starting from £37,800 in 1st Edition trim (the only specification available so far) after the £3,000 UK plug-in car grant, and given that this ID.4 comes with the larger 77kWh Pro Performance battery and a 201bhp electric motor, plus lots of kit, it’s relatively well priced. Especially when you factor in the lower running costs compared with a petrol or even a hybrid SUV. Charging at home from a 7.2kW wallbox will cost £11.09 and takes a little over 12 hours. But this ID.4 also features 125kW rapid charging, which will…

THE Mégane’s reboot as a crossover isn’t the only all-electric revival Renault has planned in the near future. Earlier in 2021, the brand revealed the stunning Renault 5 Prototype, which will be on sale by 2025 as an affordable electric supermini. Now, there’s also strong evidence that the third model in line for an electric rebirth will be the Renault 4: a trademark application for a new ‘4’ badge in the exact same style as that worn on the 5 Prototype has been discovered. Renault hasn’t gone on record with plans to revive the 4, but it’s been hotly rumoured since the 5 Prototype’s reveal. This year sees the original 4L celebrate its 60th anniversary, and Renault has teased that there will be a “surprise” based on the 4L van…

THE motorway charging network for electric cars is to be overhauled, with outdated infrastructure being replaced with new high-power, open-access units that work with all EVs and do not require accounts to be created prior to charging. Ecotricity, the company that runs the ‘Electric Highway’ network of motorway chargers, has sold a 25 per cent stake in its business to charging firm Gridserve. As part of the deal, Ecotricity plans to swap all of its existing chargers for fresh units that support CHAdeMO, CCS and AC Type 2 connections. Ecotricity will also install between six and 12 350kW DC rapid chargers at each motorway services. All the new chargers will support contactless payment, as demanded by recent legislation, while the updated network will have 24/7 technical and customer support from…

Hugo_Griffiths@dennis.co.uk @hugo_griffiths EUROPEAN Commission rulemakers are weighing up if they will monitor real-world emissions from new cars for their lifetime on the road as part of forthcoming Euro 7 emission standards. The rules could see hybrids forced to drive in electric-only mode in certain places, while MoT tests could also be affected. Euro 6 standards were introduced in 2015, and it’s expected that Euro 7 will be introduced in 2025 as the final standard, prior to all new cars becoming zero-emission at the tailpipe. Three potential Euro 7 options are on the table. The first would see “a narrow revision of Euro 6” and a streamlining of current rules. The second would see “a wider revision of Euro 6”, comprising stricter CO2 and NOx limits, as well as new tests…

Hugo_Griffiths@dennis.co.uk @hugo_griffiths AS birthday presents go, the E-Type 60 Collection is pretty special. It celebrates the sixth decade of Jaguar’s most famous sports car, and comprises two factory restorations – a coupé in Flat Out Grey, and a roadster in Drop Everything Green, finishes that echo the cars that were driven from Jaguar’s HQ at Browns Lane in Coventry to the Geneva Motor Show in 1961. There are 12 cars in total, and they’re available only as pairs for around £850,000; if that seems steep, a good Series 1 E-Type can go for six figures and doesn’t come with factory support. The 60 Collection cars are matching-number 1960s E-Types sourced “from the right places” and subject to a full restoration. “Up to 1,100 hours go into some of these bodies,…

sean_carson@dennis.co.uk Running costs 217.3mpg (official) £47 fill-up Practicality Boot (seats up/down) 447/1,408 litres IN a decade’s time every new car may well be fully electric, but to convince consumers an EV could be for them, sometimes you need a halfway house. Plug-in hybrids like the new Renault Mégane E-Tech are one answer to that problem. In the E-Tech a conventional 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine is combined with a 9.8kWh lithium-ion battery and a twin-electric-motor set-up to deliver 158bhp. A claimed 30 miles in ‘Pure’ (full EV) mode is possible, while charging takes three hours using a home wallbox. The on-board charger is limited to 3.6kW. On electric power the Renault is smooth and surprisingly swift, with 205Nm of torque from the motor delivered in a solid surge at town speeds.…

Running costs 15.5mpg (on test) £71 fill-up/£1,850 or 37% tax Practicality Boot (seats up) 480 litres Performance 0-62mph/top speed 3.9 seconds/155mph MODELTESTED: BMW M3 Competition saloon PRICE: £74,755 ENGINE: 3.0-litre 6cyl, 503bhp THE M3 has long been the most focused edition of BMW’s compact executive saloon. This latest generation is the most powerful and quickest there has ever been, and starting from £74,755, it’s also never cost so much. But is that price tag justified? Design & engineering DESPITE the great lengths BMW engineers have gone to make the new M3 the fastest and most powerful version of the performance saloon ever, the main topic of discussion will be its design. We’re not here to tell you if the M3 looks any good or not – that’s an entirely subjective…

BMW M3 Competition BMW iDrive 7.0 Key features: BMW’s Live Cockpit Professional BMW has long set the industry standard for infotainment systems and it’s no different here with the latest M3. The 10.25-inch central screen can be controlled via touch or the rotary dial on the centre console and is fully responsive to both inputs. It’s very easy to use, even if there are a lot of sub-menus, but everything is displayed in a very logical way. That rotary dial makes it easy to navigate through the menus as you drive, because you don’t have to prod the screen, which can be distracting. BMW’s Live Cockpit Professional is standard and supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. New to the M3 is a set of digital dials behind the steering…

Watch for F1 theme on new TAG Heuer LUXURY watchmaker TAG Heuer has introduced a new special-edition Formula 1 design (above). It has a yellow and black theme, with a carbon fibre-textured dial, and yellow details including a coloured second-hand tip. The quartz-powered chronograph also features a 60-second/minute-scale flange and an extension so it can be worn over a race suit. This watch is also the first Tag Heuer to be sold online only; it costs £1,900 and can be bought from www.tagheuer.com. SLSHOP has a part to play in classic work THOSE struggling with the restoration of a W113 or R107 Mercedes-Benz SL now have another place to look. Classic Mercedes-Benz specialist SLSHOP has acquired one of the world’s largest collections of classic Mercedes parts, including old stock and…

CO2/tax 143-155g/km £150 Running costs 34-45mpg (1.4 petrol) £69 fill-up Performance 0-62mph/top speed 9.9 seconds/119mph Search more than 60,000 cars with competitive finance Order online, delivered to your door, 14 day money-back guarantee JEEP is one of the most widely known automotive brands around the world, with its hardcore off-roaders instantly recognisable thanks to that famous corporate grille. But not everybody wants to go off road, and for a while now Jeep has offered road-biased SUVs that put a greater focus on affordable purchase and running costs. The Compass is exactly that – a more comfortable, fully equipped SUV for those who are unlikely to venture further off road than when towing a caravan onto a campsite. However, the Compass is still more adept in the rough than many of…

ORGANISERS of the Le Mans 24 Hours have postponed the French endurance classic for the second year in a row – but hope to be able to welcome fans this time after 2020’s behind-closed-doors event last September. The new date for the 2021 edition of the race is 21-22 August – late enough, bosses are hoping, to allow for spectators and VIPs to attend should the rollout of Covid vaccines across Europe go as planned. Pierre Fillon, president of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), said: “Although it was a tough decision to make, it is the right one. Holding Le Mans behind closed doors for a second year would be unthinkable. So we are doing all we can to avoid that.” The planned season-opener at Portimao in Portugal has…

Luke_Wilkinson@dennis.co.uk @LT_Wilkinson • Update for UK best-seller • New tech from Puma likely THESE spy shots show that the Ford Fiesta is set to undergo a refresh in an attempt to reclaim its title as Britain’s best-selling car. In the first two months of 2021, Vauxhall has sold 247 more Corsas than Ford has shifted Fiestas. The updated model will go on sale later this year, and will boast more tech to help it draw level with supermini rivals such as the Corsa, the Renault Clio and Hyundai i20. Our pictures hint at a handful of small exterior design changes. Caught on camera in rugged Active spec, the updated Fiesta will receive a new front bumper, potentially with a new grille. Revised headlamps and running lights will feature, too. Changes…

X marks the spot for Toyota’s new city car TOYOTA will reveal a new concept car later today (17 march) called X Prologue (above), which could be a close-to-production preview of the new Aygo. Toyota recently confirmed its intention to develop a new city car at its Kolin facility in the Czech Republic, where the current Aygo is made alongside the Peugeot 108 and Citroen C1. The plant will produce the new city car later this year on its TNGA platform. Head over to autoexpress.co.uk for the full story. Companies cash in on cancelled cover INSURANCE firms charge £71.5million a year for drivers to cancel their cover, with an average fee of £55 paid for the 1.3 million policies stopped last year. The data comes from analytics firm LexisNexis Risk…

Limited run for track-inspired GR Supra TOYOTA has revealed the GR Supra Jarama Racetrack Edition (above) – a new limited-edition version named after the Spanish circuit where the car’s European reveal took place in 2019. Tweaks over the regular Supra are primarily cosmetic, with new matte black 19-inch forged alloy wheels, a unique Horizon Blue paint finish and new red-painted four-piston Brembo brake calipers. Power is provided by a 335bhp 3.0-litre turbocharged straightsix. UK pricing has not been announced. Mitsubishi will return to Europe, but not UK MITSUBISHI has confirmed that it will return to the European market in 2023 following extensive discussions within the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. A new arrangement has been agreed that will see Renault build two “sister vehicles” for Mitsubishi at its French production facilities, specifically for…

sean_carson@dennis.co.uk • Special Operations MD confirms SVO will still offer bespoke creations ELECTRIFICATION won’t be a barrier to personality in future SVO-tuned electric Jaguars, according to Managing Director of Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations, Michael van der Sande, while more – and more affordable – SV-badged models could be on the way. Jaguar will become an EV brand from 2025, while Land Rover is aiming for 60 per cent of sales to be pure-electric from 2030. But despite the switch to electric propulsion removing one of the big characteristics from a performance or luxury car – so far a key element in the appeal of JLR’s SVO products – van der Sande believes that “character is not just about powertrain”. “Clearly the V8 engine we use today gives a distinct personality,”…

Steve_Fowler@dennis.co.uk @stevefowler Running costs 33.9mpg (off icial) £111 fill-up Performance 0-60mph/top speed 6.5 seconds/130mph IT wasn’t long ago that the Land Rover Discovery was king of the hill. We named it Car of the Year back in 2017 and it has remained one of our favourite full-size, seven-seat SUVs ever since. But then the new Land Rover Defender came along, the Discovery’s cooler, slightly cheaper (and also seven-seat) sibling. It took not only the limelight, but also sales from its bigger brother. So now Land Rover has lavished some attention back on the Discovery, although you’d barely notice from the outside. New lights and bumpers are about the sum of it, but under the skin various chassis tweaks have supposedly made it more car-like to drive. The idea is to…

Luke_Wilkinson@dennis.co.uk @LT_Wilkinson WE’VE already driven the facelifted Citroen C3 – but that was before the company updated its engine range and changed the trim line-up, almost as soon as the new car had gone on sale. The result is that the PureTech 110 model we’re driving here is now even more efficient, thanks to an optimised battery and alternator set-up. This is our first chance to sample the 108bhp petrol option, which is the most powerful in the line-up. Like all of Citroen’s 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbocharged units, it’s a gutsy engine (thanks also to the 205Nm of torque) meaning there’s enough performance on offer – especially given that the car only weighs 1,090kg. Refinement is fine, although the engine thrums away characterfully; instead, the bigger issue is the standard six-speed…

Running costs 13.4mpg (on test) £70 fill-up/£1,850 or 37% tax Practicality Boot (seats up) 480 litres Performance 0-62mph/top speed 3.9 seconds/191mph MODELTESTED: Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio PRICE: £67,995 ENGINE: 2.9-litre 6cyl, 503bhp ALFA’S Giulia Quadrifoglio marked the welcome return to form we’d waited so long to see from the firm. At £67,995, the Alfa is a good chunk cheaper than the BMW and packs similar performance. But can it match its German rival on road and track? Design & engineering YOU’LL be hard-pressed to find someone that would put the Alfa behind the BMW in a beauty contest. The Giulia Quadrifoglio may have been around for four years, but it still looks fresh and less polarising than the M3. Beneath that flamboyant Italian bodywork also lies a highly accomplished machine;…

Audi RS 5 Sportback PRICE: £70,500 ENGINE: 2.9-litre 6cyl, 444bhp AUDI’s use of quattro four-wheel drive means that while the RS 5 is less powerful than the BMW, it can match it with a 0-62mph time of 3.9 seconds. However, the Audi doesn’t match the M3 when it comes to agility or handling balance on track. Mercedes-AMG C 63 S PRICE: £74,258 ENGINE: 4.0-litre 8cyl, 503bhp THE soon-to-be-replaced C 63 S is a match for the BMW and Alfa when it comes to power, but it uses a thumping V8 engine, whereas its rivals use six-cylinder units. It has an old-school muscle car vibe to its character, which makes it highly entertaining.…

Richard_Ingram@dennis.co.uk @rsp_ingram Performance 0-62mph/top speed 5.1 seconds/112mph Practicality Boot (seats up/down) 500/1,060 litres REGULAR readers will have seen my final report on my MINI Electric only a few weeks ago (Issue 1,666), but as the saying goes: out with the old, in with the new. Since the MINI left us, I’ve welcomed the pricier, plusher, and more practical Mercedes EQC to our fleet. It’s still electric – a feature that goes with the territory for me as editor of Auto Express’ sister site DrivingElectric.com – but that’s where the similarities end. As well as being all those things above, it’ll also do twice as many miles as the MINI on a charge. I’m getting around 180 miles at the moment – some way off Merc’s 252-mile claimed range, although I…

Got a query? products@autoexpress.co.uk Q Why not one plug for all EVs? I HAVE read the UK is ready to switch to electric cars, but why do all the charge providers have different plugs? Would it not be sensible for all charge points to have the same plug? Sidney Elliott, E-mail A OUR sister title DrivingElectric says it is a myth that all charge providers have different plugs. It’s true that some early electric cars have now-out-of-date hardware, but aside from some Nissan models, all new EVs feature the European-standard CCS rapid connector. The exception is Tesla, but it has its own Supercharger network. Q Is trickle charge the answer? I HAVE a 2019 BMW 320i, which I have not been able to drive much due to lockdown and illness.…

Mini test WORK-light development shows no signs of slowing and it’s not just the top end of the market that benefits. In Issue 1,640 we tested sub-£20 lamps, and here’s another cut-price option from NightSearcher: the i-Spector Pocket. It takes a different approach to our test winners from Rolson and Sealey, so how does it match up? We tried it against the Sealey, checking what you get for your money, light output, and run time. We also looked at how easy it was to get light where you want it. It was very close, but the Sealey just hung on to its five stars. The NightSearcher is a powerful performer, though, and is the one to go for if you use the torch. “We checked what you get for your…

HERE’S a first: the Government says it needs to know from you, dear reader, how life really is or is likely to be as a user of electric cars. How can your electrified motoring life change in the 2020s, when new EVs are optional? Will it get better or worse from 2030 onwards, when they’ll be compulsory? Specifically, after deciding to kill off new diesel and petrol cars by then, our leaders say they need your help in explaining how improvements can be made to the “consumer experience at public EV chargepoints”. For your own sake, I urge you to contribute to this vitally important ‘open consultation’. Justifiably, we complain Governments don’t draw on the experiences of real-world motorists. But now Westminster appears to be doing precisely that. For what…