Innholdsfortegnelse for 20/01/2016 i Autocar

MERCEDES-BENZ IS confident that UK sales of the E-Class will double in the next two years following the unveiling of the new, fifth-generation executive saloon in Detroit. The new E-Class will be launched in the UK initially in E220d guise, powered by a new 2.0-litre diesel engine producing 192bhp and 295lb ft. First deliveries are scheduled for May. Two trim levels — SE and AMG Line — will be offered, with prices for the E220d starting from £35,935 and rising to £37,760. Before the end of the year, the line-up will expand to include a 254bhp E350d six-cylinder diesel model — priced from £44,130 to £46,610 — and an E350e plug-in hybrid. They will be joined by an entry-level 150bhp E200d and a twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 E63. Last year the…

AUDI UNVEILED THE new, second-generation A4 Allroad quattro at the Detroit show ahead of the start of sales towards the middle of the year. The model adopts traditional Allroad styling cues, including beefed-up bumpers, additional wheel arch cladding, chunkier sills underneath the doors and roof bars fitted as standard. Launch engines will include 161bhp and 187bhp versions of Audi’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel engine, with each making 295lb ft. They will be joined later by a 148bhp, 234lb ft version of the same engine. Also available will be Audi’s 3.0-litre diesel V6 with either 215bhp and 295lb ft or 268bhp and 443lb ft. Heading the petrol line-up is a 249bhp turbocharged 2.0-litre four, with 273lb ft. Modified springs and dampers increase ride height by 23mm over the standard A4 Avant, giving…

The new BMW M2 is the “purist’s choice” in the compact performance segment, according BMW M development chief Dirk Haecker. The £44,070 M2 made its world debut at the Detroit motor show and will go on sale in the UK in April. The front-engined, rear-driven model gets a 365bhp 3.0-litre straight six turbo engine and a manual gearbox as standard, a formula that makes the M2 “purist” with “precision, agility and performance”, said Haecker. Rivals Audi and Mercedes-Benz have used highly tuned, smaller-capacity engines with all-wheel drive for their entry-level performance models, the RS3 and A45 AMG. Haecker said discussions have been had at BMW M but that “no final decision” had been taken to follow suit in the future. He said the six-pot engine was the right philosophy for…

The new DS 3, seen here for the first time in official photographs, has made a significant step upmarket as part of the nascent French brand’s push into the premium car market. Although the new 3 is based upon the same basic underpinnings as its predecessor, of which more than 390,000 examples have been sold globally since it was introduced as a Citroën model in 2010, it is a much-changed car, featuring a bold new design, enhanced connectivity and revised engine and transmission options. The most significant design changes are at the front, which features the new DS corporate face, with chrome ‘wings’ extending from a deep-set grille to the swept-back LED headlights. Further back, the 3 retains some of the original car’s distinctive features, including the floating roof and…

The third-generation Mini John Cooper Works Convertible has been revealed prior to its debut at the New York show in March. Set to go on sale in the UK on 5 March with a starting price of £26,630, the John Cooper Works Convertible runs the same four-cylinder petrol engine as the John Cooper Works hatchback launched last year. With 228bhp and 236lb ft, the turbocharged 2.0-litre unit is capable of accelerating from 0-62mph in 6.6sec in six-speed manual guise. The new Mini tips the scales at 1310kg — a considerable 105kg more than the existing John Cooper Works hatchback. The new John Cooper Works Convertible also provides better fuel economy than its predecessor, with the manual version returning a claimed combined figure of 43.5mpg.…

The Alfa Romeo hits 60mph in 5.1sec and 100mph in 12.4sec. Only one car here is faster An Autocar road tester leads a charmed life, really. But because you can’t help but recall the bad days – the crashed test cars, disaster photo shoots and botched verdicts – you cling to the happy memories all the harder. And not all of them involve supercars. Some are of days such as the first I ever spent at MIRA Proving Ground, Nuneaton – the nearest thing to a formal induction that any car reviewer, serious or otherwise, could hope for. These were the only ropes I’d ever had any real ambition to handle, shown to me by former road tester Jamie Corstorphine, who now works at McLaren Automotive. There were flat-out laps…

R, M and AMG: the most exciting letters in Jaguar’s, BMW’s and Mercedes’ respective ranges. In the past, these letters told us that the cars were pure, powerful and the best of the range — the fastest, quickest, sharpest-handling, biggest-engined, highest-priced pinnacles of engineering that each manufacturer made. Now the letters are diluted with too many Rs, Ms and AMGs in each manufacturer’s page-filling range. They still have the top-performance lettered models, which are the most incredible cars to dream about. Leave the famous letters for the best, I say, and forget about the rest. J Record, Somerset Via email WIN Letter of the week wins a ValetPRO exterior protection and maintenance kit worth £58.95…

You’d be hard pressed to tell that the power was being sent to the Twingo’s rear wheels Whenever a car maker decides to try something different with its latest model, we sit up and take notice. So when Renault opted to make its third-generation Twingo both rear-engined and rear-wheel drive, we knew we’d want to run one on the long-term fleet. The extra time this extended test affords would be a great way to find out if this set-up could be a game-changer for the city car class. After nearly 12 months at the wheel, we’re not convinced that rival manufacturers will follow suit, but our experience shows that Renault’s approach hasn’t been a total disaster. Day to day, you’d be hard pressed to tell that the power was being…

1 Ford Kuga (2008-2013) The Kuga is a popular crossover available with both two and four-wheel drive. Around £15,000 gets you a five-year-old diesel-powered 4x4 variant in Titanium spec, stuffed full of bells and whistles. The Kuga is let down on practicality, especially cabin space and storage. However, it’s a good-looking car, is very well equipped and comes with a strong range of diesel engines, albeit only with a manual gearbox. It excels on ride comfort and performs well when cornering, with body roll nicely contained. The Kuga won’t ascend rugged landscapes, but it’s a great everyday tool that has 4x4 ability at the ready for when the bad weather strikes. 2 Toyota RAV4 (2006-2013) The RAV4 is a great all-round SUV with a low purchase price and lower running…

The definitive production version of the Infiniti Q60 coupé has been launched in Detroit, one year on from the unveiling of the concept version. The Q60 is the replacement for the G37, making it Infiniti’s sports coupé challenger to the likes of the BMW 4 Series and Audi A5 coupés. Infiniti’s new offering is 4683mm long, 1850mm wide and 1385mm tall, with a 2850mm wheelbase. These dimensions are all larger than the G37’s. The Q60 is powered by a high-performance twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 engine, named VR30, from Infiniti’s VR new-generation powertrain family. This unit is available in two states of tune. The lower-powered engine has 296bhp at 6400rpm and 295lb ft between 1600rpm and 5200rpm. The more powerful derivative serves up 396bhp at 6400rpm and 350lb ft from 1600rpm to…

MERCEDES-BENZ IS on course to put its first hydrogen fuel cell-powered car into production next year, according to R&D chief Thomas Weber. In an interview at the Detroit motor show, Weber responded to assertions that Mercedes had lost the intellectual lead it once held on hydrogen cars by revealing that the new production model would be a version of the GLC SUV, with “the newest fuel cell technology available”. Weber said: “We are in the middle of the car’s roll-out phase right now.” The hardware required to generate electric power from hydrogen has been greatly reduced in size in recent times, he said, and the new hydrogen Mercedes would reflect that fact. Weber also confirmed Daimler engineers were “well advanced” on the company’s plan to build a full-electric car for…

The Ford Fusion saloon has been given a mid-life facelift which previews changes that will come to the Mondeo in around two years’ time. The new look for the Fusion (the Mondeo’s name in the US and other global markets) ditches the Aston Martin-style grille of the current car in favour of something sleeker and more contemporary. The Mondeo only reached the UK early last year and isn’t due for any significant changes until 2018. Another US-market Ford due to reach the UK this summer is the Edge SUV. Ford’s European president, Jim Farley, said the model had been engineered to appeal to European buyers and won’t simply be a straight import of the American model. He highlighted converting the car to right-hand drive, equipping it with the crucial 2.0-litre…

The Detroit show marked the birth of a new car brand, with Hyundai moving Genesis from being the model designation of its posh saloon to being the name of a wider range and a sub-brand clearly aimed at Lexus, Acura, Infiniti and the premium German manufacturers. There’s little chance of Genesis products reaching the UK any time soon, but the move demonstrates Hyundai’s ambition to become one of the world’s biggest car makers. The company says there will be six Genesis models by 2020. What used to be the Hyundai Genesis has been rebranded as the G80. It was joined in Detroit by a larger G90 luxury saloon, which replaces the previous Hyundai Equus. That car will also be badged as the Genesis G900 in Korea. The G90 is broadly…

PORSCHE IS WORKING on a plug-in hybrid version of the 911 as part of its plans to ensure the long-term survival of its iconic model in the face of the increasingly serious challenge of getting sports cars through economy and CO2 standards. Speaking at the Detroit show, 911 Turbo engineering boss Erhard Mossle told Autocar that work is under way on a plug-in hybrid version of the next-generation 911. “It takes some time to bring something like this to market,” he said, “with the packaging problems of the car. There are a lot of things to solve.” The need to find space for a sizeable battery pack is a substantial challenge on the rear-engined 911, and Mossle said serious engineering effort is being expended on reducing the weight of the…

Volkswagen Group UK managing director Paul Willis has confirmed that owners of emissions-cheating models in Britain won’t receive compensation like their counterparts in the US. Speaking at the cross-party Environment, Food and Rural Affairs meeting last week, Willis refuted claims that the UK’s 1.2 million affected drivers deserved a payout because, unlike in the US, “we have an agreement and a solution here”. The claims came just one day after California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) rejected VW’s US recall proposal. CARB chair Mary Nichols said the proposal lacked a thorough “technical evaluation” and omitted assessing the “overall impacts on vehicle performance, emissions and safety”. US owners have already been offered a ‘goodwill’ package, but Willis believes similar compensation funds in the UK should be used to ensure the uptake of…

VAUXHALL HAS CONFIRMED that it will reveal a new sports car concept, called the GT, at the Geneva show in March. Although the car maker has so far remained tight-lipped about the upcoming show car’s specification, Opel boss Karl-Thomas Neumann has suggested that the model will be significantly different from the rest of its line-up. “We will see both Vauxhall and Opel with fresh eyes,” he said. It is believed that the GT will be a two-door, two-seat coupé. It’s likely that the concept will take inspiration from the design of Vauxhall’s sleek Monza concept of 2013, and should preview a production model to rival cars such as the Audi TT and Peugeot RCZ. There’s no official word yet, but insiders are suggesting it will go on sale next year.…

The Jaguar F-Pace is a watershed moment for the ascendant British car maker. The company’s first SUV is, in principle, the catalyst to transform the brand from upwardly mobile minnow to truly global player – to broaden its customer base, boost its production volumes into the hundreds of thousands per year and give it a presence in one of the world’s fastest-growing market segments. To describe the F-Pace as important is selling it short. And yet it’s not just another medium-sized, middle-of-the-road upmarket soft-roader, nor – quite plainly – a Jaguar as we might expect it to be. It’s a bit different – to look at, to sit in and very much so to drive, as a day on a frozen lake in Sweden has just demonstrated. The F-Pace shares…

The Defender will return to Land Rover not long after the last model has rolled off the production line at the end of this month, so I don’t have long left to make the most of it. I’d almost hoped for some severe, cold weather (and definitely not the incessant rain) so the Landie would have a chance to show its ability in slippery conditions, but in the absence of that, I opted to pull nigh on two tonnes of horsebox and nag around for a day. The 2.2-litre Ford ‘Puma’ diesel engine has masses of torque — 265lb ft at only 2000rpm, despite making only 122bhp — and the suspension is as stiff as a board. So although a horse and box weigh about as much as the car…

A Subaru Legacy saloon with 117,156 miles is just £792. That’s nothing for a set of winter wheels, is it? “How many miles has it done, mate?” What’s wrong with that sentence? Obviously it’s wrong to refer to a stranger as a mate, when, clearly, they are not, but even worse, how relevant is the mileage? Surely a used car is all about condition. In the old days, 10,000 miles a year was the average, while 20,000 was for sales reps and 5000 was for lightweights. The point is, anyone who claims above, below or average miles for the year is just wasting words. However, I’m a sucker for stats, so when Warranty Direct revealed that, based on actual data, it’s Mercedes-Benz drivers from Gloucestershire who clock up the most…

Lexus made headlines at the Detroit motor show with its dramatic new LC500 coupé, a performance model that will sit at the top of a rejuvenated Lexus range. The new 2+2 coupé is a full production model based on the LF-LC unveiled at the Detroit show in 2012. That concept’s dramatic overall design and technical ideology have been carried over to the LC500. Company boss Akio Toyoda revealed that when the original concept was created, there were no plans to put it into production. Instead, the LF-LC was created by Toyoda early in his Lexus role as a response to criticism that the brand had become boring and predictable. But such was the positive response to the LF-LC that Toyoda briefed his design and engineering teams to put the model…

THE ENGINEERING ALLIANCE between Renault-Nissan and Daimler is likely to lead to far closer co-operation, according to the man who leads Renault-Nissan’s side of it. Jacques Verdonck told Autocar at Detroit the collaboration on platforms and powertrains seen so far is just the start. Initial collaboration has been relatively limited. The new Q30 and QX30 from Nissan luxury brand Infiniti sit on the Mercedes-Benz MFA platform, which underpins the A-Class and its myriad spin-offs. The companies have also shared various powerplants, including Renault’s 1.6 dCi diesel, which, after substantial reworking, powers various smaller Mercedes, including the C180d. But things are set to expand quickly. Both groups have committed to doubling the monetary value of their co-operation before 2020, and Verdonck said it’s highly likely the two giants will pool much…

Audi has continued its roll-out of alternative drive concepts with the unveiling of the h-tron quattro at the Detroit show. The h-tron is billed as a ‘production-relevant’ hydrogen fuel cell SUV that draws heavily on the platform structure, electric drivetrain architecture and battery technology of the earlier e-tron quattro concept. Promising zero-emissions compatibility, a hydrogen refuelling time of just four minutes and a credible 373-mile range, the four-wheel-drive concept is also claimed to have a 0-62mph time of less than seven seconds and a restricted 124mph top speed. The h-tron quattro has been created to showcase a fifth-generation fuel cell stack under development at Audi’s Ingolstadt engineering HQ in Germany. It is tentatively planned for introduction on a production version of the h-tron quattro in 2020. The new fuel cell…

Kia’s Telluride SUV concept, revealed at the Detroit show, gives a glimpse into the future of the brand’s design and technology. The large SUV stands 1800mm tall, 2029mm wide and 5001mm long. Focus has been placed on making the Telluride as practical as possible, so the rear-hinged rear passenger doors swing open through a full 90deg and there are three rows of seats inside. Kia says there are no plans to put the Telluride into production, but given how complete the concept looks, it appears that the firm is experimenting with the idea of building a similar-sized vehicle for the American market. LINCOLN CONTINENTAL The new Lincoln Continental unveiled in Detroit will spearhead the latest relaunch of the brand. A Lincoln-specific 3.0-litre V6 engine with 400bhp will provide power for…

BMW HAS RAMPED up the performance of the M3 saloon and the M4 coupé and convertible with the introduction of a new Competition Package, providing the M-car trio with greater power and enhanced acceleration as well as altered suspension and a series of subtle styling changes. Set to be included on a limited run of 30th anniversary models planned for sale in the UK, the new Competition Package endows the M3 and M4 with an added 19bhp through unspecified tweaks to their twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder petrol engines, raising output from a standard 425bhp to a new peak of 444bhp. Torque remains the same at 405lb ft. BMW claims the mild increase in power contributes to a 0.1sec lowering of the 0-62mph time of its various M3 and M4 models.…

THE ASTON MARTIN DB11 will make its global debut at the Geneva motor show in March, and these latest, official spy pictures show the new model in final testing. This prototype, which features less disguise than previous test mules, bears a strong resemblance to the DB10 that featured in the James Bond film Spectre, suggesting that car was more than just a design statement. Some styling inspiration is also known to have come from the upcoming DBX SUV and the CC100 centenary concept. At launch, the DB11 will be offered with Aston Martin’s newly developed twin-turbocharged 5.2-litre V12 engine, producing about 600bhp. Later in the car’s life cycle, twin-turbo V8s sourced from Mercedes-AMG will also be offered. The DB11 sits on a newly engineered chassis that shares its principles with…

The new Ford Focus RS is about to be nothing short of a sensation At the risk of spoiling this story for you, I’ll tell you now: the new Ford Focus RS is about to be nothing short of a sensation for petrolheads the world over. But given how excited we’ve been by this car during the build-up to its launch and how impressed we’ve been from the passenger seat, I’m not sure that statement will actually spoil much of anything for anyone who’s been paying the slightest bit of attention to the motoring press over the past year. But there you go. Our colours are nailed to the mast: it’s brilliant – and for several reasons. Being officially launched to the press in Spain this week before deliveries of…

The Golf R is fast, no question, and there’s more character than you might expect Believe it or not, the Volkswagen Golf R isn’t perfect. After all the praise that has been heaped upon it in the past 18 months, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the latest iteration of VW’s mega-hatch can do no wrong, but, like any car, it has its foibles and things about it that I’d change if I could. Crucially, though, the Golf R gets so much of the important stuff bang on that any gripes fade into insignificance. We were already well acquainted with the hottest Golf by the time the car we’d ordered turned up last spring, but our nine-month stint in a five-door DSG example has not only revealed the true breadth…

Mileage 13,844 Of all the technical challenges faced by BMW when turbocharging the M3 and M4, making it sound right may seem fairly superficial. But if you’re investing a premium in a car like this, you want it to appeal on an emotional level, not just with impressive numbers on the spec sheet. So, yes, the noise the engine makes is important. That’s why BMW developed its Active Sound Design system, initially to make its diesel engines seem a little more engaging. Basically, this uses carefully selected amplification of real engine noise played through the speakers to give the driver a sense of engine load and revs and a sense of connection with what the car is up to. The M Power website doesn’t actually admit that the engine noise…

READER’S CAR: FIAT PANDA Jim Magill picked up this Panda in his local rag for £100. He tightened the handbrake to pass the MOT and used the car for work for a couple of weeks. “Then I took it on a charity run to the Sahara,” he says. “It broke down every day and we got chased by drug dealers over the Riff Mountains, then we legged it back to Tangiers. After attending the Fiat Freak Out in Detroit, we started getting in the Panda once a year and going somewhere strange: the Arctic, eastern Europe, Istanbul. The car has raised nearly £15,000 for charity.” SEND YOUR BANGERNOMICS TALES TO JAMES Twitter: @Bangernomics Email: james@bangernomics.com WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE THIS WEEK Auction prices for clean and tidy motors…

Warm hatches 1 Ford Fiesta Zetec S Black From £13,000 Gets the most powerful version of the 1.0 Ecoboost. Easier to live with than an ST and almost as much fun 2 Mini Cooper From £15,000 Never mind the S; the three-pot Cooper is the best-value Mini money can buy. The best to drive, too. Great car. 3 Suzuki Swift Sport From £13,000 The cheap, pretty and chuckable Swift defines this category best. Fun cannot be had more cheaply than this. 4 Seat Ibiza FR From £16,000 VW’s latest four-pot gives the Ibiza some real grunt. Shame the chassis it’s connected to is less than compelling. 5 Fiat 500 Abarth From £14,000 One of the cutest cars on sale is also pleasing to drive. The handling is keen, but the…