Innholdsfortegnelse for 27/04/2016 i Autocar

PORSCHE IS DEVELOPING a more powerful 911 GT3 RS, with a larger-capacity version of its rear-mounted engine rumoured to produce 518bhp, Autocar understands. The 4.0-litre engine of the current RS runs a bore of 102mm and a stroke of 81.5mm, making it the largest six-cylinder boxer to make production. But insiders are claiming the engine in the more potent RS would be 4.2 litres in capacity, pushing the engine’s stroke to 85.1mm. Porsche tuning specialist RUF has already demonstrated the flat six’s potential for a larger capacity with its 964 911-based SCR 4.2, which was first revealed at the Geneva motor show last month. That car features a water-cooled 4.2-litre flat six that produces 518bhp at 8370rpm and 369lb ft at 5820rpm. This is substantially more than the 4.0-litre engine…

The second-generation Audi TT RS has been unveiled in both coupé and roadster forms at the Beijing motor show, prior to going on sale in October. Along with the US and Germany, the UK will be one of the three biggest markets for the TT RS, although the high-performance variant will only be made in small numbers. The four-wheel-drive TT RS, which should cost from around £50,000, is the first recipient of Audi’s new 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine. The powerplant, which has an aluminium block instead of the current engine’s steel block in order to help save 10kg over its predecessor in coupé form, is mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox with TT RS-specific ratios as standard, along with launch control and steering wheel-mounted shift paddles. The new…

INFINITI’S NEXT GENERATION of SUVs will be shaped by the design of the QX Sport Inspiration concept, revealed at the Beijing motor show. The QX Sport Inspiration is similar in size to the Porsche Macan and extends the design language first seen on the Q80 concept of 2014 to a mid-sized SUV body. The concept has a ground clearance of 230mm, which matches the Macan’s maximum height. Infiniti says this gives the car genuine off-road ability, suggesting future QXs will retain all-terrain drive modes. Designed by Infiniti’s London, Beijing and San Diego centres under the guidance of the firm’s Japanese HQ, the QX Sport Inspiration is said to mix the trends of three continents and present “progressive yet production-realistic designs”. This emphasises just how little could change between now and…

Chinese car giant Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation (BAIC) has unveiled an all-electric supercar concept called the Arcfox-7 at the Beijing motor show. The car is expected to go on sale later this year. Reported to produce 603bhp, the Arcfox-7 follows Beijing-based Techrules’ recently revealed AT96/GT96 supercar twins, which pump out 1030bhp from six electric motors and a range-extending micro-turbine. BAIC claims the Arcfox-7 can hit 60mph form rest in less than 3.0sec and has a top speed of 162mph. Battery range is a claimed 186 miles — less than the Tesla Model S’s reported 250-mile range but significantly more than the Techrules car’s 93-mile range. At 4570mm in length, 2040mm in width and 1214mm in height, the Arcfox-7 is the same length, 90mm wider and 14mm higher than a Ferrari…

LAND ROVER HAS updated its Discovery Sport with additional technology, a fresh design pack and a trio of new safety systems. New tech includes the integration of a smart app: a Bluetooth tracking device which uses tiny Bluetooth trackers that can be attached to important items and used to trace their location using smartphone technology. Once the app is started in the car’s central touchscreen, owners are notified if specified items are not inside the vehicle and can be sent on-screen directions to their last known location. The Discovery Sport also gets an updated InControl Touch Pro infotainment system with a larger, 10.2in touchscreen that replicates a tablet user experience, according to Land Rover. Advanced safety systems now fitted include Lane Keep Assist, a Driver Condition Monitor to detects drowsiness,…

There’s no launch control, yet the RS6 Performance fires away with addictive savagery Audi has a long and sometimes illustrious history of producing estate cars that are fast enough to make your dog feel very queasy indeed. While the B7 RS4 Avant from a couple of generations ago was widely regarded as a high point for fast Audis, there have been far more misses than hits. The RS6 Avant has long been a good example of how the German brand falls short of making a truly great performance car. While you can’t argue with the sheer power on offer or the usability that quattro brings, the cars have proved to be numb and often spine-shatteringly firm things to drive in the UK. So what’s changed? Well, the RS6 Avant has…

The Subaru XV is quite a rare sight on British roads. That’s surprising, because it occupies a place in the booming compact crossover class occupied by an array of models such as the ubiquitous Nissan Qashqai. Subaru launched the XV in 2012 against far less fierce competition than it faces now, but it has never managed to gather much momentum, despite offering four-wheel drive and relatively conventional hatchback looks. So what we have here is another bite at the cherry for Subaru – a bit of a nip and tuck intended to turbocharge UK sales. A concept version of the next-generation XV was unveiled in March this year but, in the meantime, this update of the current car is much more modest. It features minor tweaks to the engines, chassis,…

Mileage 11,295 It’s a measure of the XC90’s appeal that more than 11,000 miles have appeared on its odometer since it arrived at the start of the year. If there’s a more versatile car currently on the Autocar fleet, I’ve yet to drive it. Its space and refinement, though, do mean the XC90 is wide. I know I’ve complained about that here before; and still do under my breath every time I try to climb out of it in a multi-storey car park. But there’s no denying that its size helps its practicality. The other day I set about making a bicycle rack, to make room in my garage for… I don’t know, perhaps another motorcycle or a small sports car. Which meant the XC90 had to swallow eight 2.4-metre-long…

An Audi A3 3.2 Sportback is £4000, which gets you a classy and focused hatch What do real men drive? Not a question I’ve ever had to ponder, although it did arise in — where else? — a survey. According to some money-saving website or other, the list of cars that British women find most attractive when owned by a potential partner has the Vauxhall Astra at its top. I don’t know why anyone should be at all surprised. I rather like Astras and was tempted by a coupé — well, a three-door — that was around the corner from me and up at £250. And do you know what? It was gone in a few days. I wouldn’t inflict a £250 motor on anyone, but with £495 to play…

Autocar’s star ratings explained Inherently dangerous/unsafe. Tragically, irredeemably flawed. Appalling. Massively significant failings. Very poor. Fails to meet any accepted class boundaries. Poor. Within acceptable class boundaries in a few areas. Still not recommendable. Off the pace. Below average in nearly all areas. Acceptable. About average in key areas, but disappoints. Competent. Above average in some areas, average in others. Outstanding in none. Good. Competitive in key areas. Very good. Very competitive in key areas, competitive in secondary respects. Excellent. Near class leading in key areas, and in some ways outstanding. Brilliant, unsurpassed. All but flawless. Any car that has had a full Autocar road test is highlighted in yellow. FOR FULL RESULTS see page 85…

‘We’ve taken well over 10% of the weight away without changing the function — a huge change’ A“complete rethink” of Gordon Murray’s pioneering T25 lightweight city car, comprehensively backed by Shell, has been launched at the Beijing motor show this week. The intention is to demonstrate efficiency gains made possible by co-ordinating engine and lubricant development programmes during a new car’s creation. The T25 has already won many accolades for real-world fuel economy. It returns even lighter as the Shell Concept Car — following a year-long project that set Shell’s lubricant specialists and engine designers from the world-famous Geo Technology engine consultancy (founded by former Honda Formula 1 engine designer Osamu Goto) to work alongside Murray’s people. The combination of the engineering rethink and the contributions of the new partners…

MAZDA’S NEW MID-SIZE crossover, the China-only CX-4, has made its debut at the Beijing show. Mazda has confirmed there are currently no plans to bring the CX-4, which is based on last year’s Koeru concept and will sit between the CX-3 and CX-5, to the UK when it goes on sale next year. However, given the popularity of SUVs and crossovers in Europe and the positive reaction to the Koeru, the possibility of the CX-4 becoming a global model remains open. The CX-4 sports the same prominent grille and headlight arrangement as its larger CX-5 sibling but keeps the same swept-back proportions as the Koeru. In China, the CX-4 will be sold with a choice of 2.0-litre and 2.5-litre petrol engines from Mazda’s Skyactiv range, with the most efficient 2.0-litre…

VOLKSWAGEN HAS previewed the upcoming third-generation Touareg at the Beijing show with a luxurious new SUV concept called the T-Prime Concept GTE. It has a plug-in petrol-electric powertrain and gesture-controlled interior features. The new Touareg will replace the recently discontinued Phaeton as VW’s flagship model and will be based around the MLB platform of sister company Audi. This suggests it is likely to share its construction, electrical architecture and mechanical package with the new Q7 and Bentley Bentayga, as well as the next Porsche Cayenne and upcoming Lamborgini Urus. As hinted at by this concept, the new Touareg is set to adopt the styling lineage unveiled on the Phideon luxury saloon earlier this year. The five-door concept features an edgy look characterised by a heavily chromed grille, precise feature lines…

Mash the throttle and the T40s squats back on its rear axle before spinning all four of its wheels Land Rover Defender specialist Twisted isn’t the only engineering firm shoehorning big V8s into the discontinued off-roader, but this example, the T40s, is perhaps the most outrageous of the breed that it’s possible to buy. And the V8 here is quite a big one: a 6.2-litre LS3 small-block, which fits under the bonnet, just, along with GM’s 6L80 six-speed automatic gearbox, through which it drives all four wheels. Twisted will take your Defender and spruce it up, or you can choose one of the 240 the company bought just before the end of Defender production and have it, er, Twisted. In this case, Twisted has taken a 90, popped out its…

Until Audi drops a motor with fewer than 10 cylinders into the R8, this is the entry point for the range. While you still get a snarling 5.2-litre V10 that will rev to 8500rpm, power is down by nearly 70bhp over the more expensive Plus variant. While that may seem a lot to lose, it’s worth bearing in mind that you still get a substantial 532bhp. Even though it weighs 40kg more than the Plus, the R8 is still a very rapid car. Audi claims 3.5sec for the 0-62mph sprint, and top speed is 198mph. That’s 0.3sec more and 7mph less respectively than its quicker sibling. You also do without the ceramic brakes that are standard on the Plus. You can option them, but at £7700, you’re half way towards…

The CS’s chassis responds wonderfully to varying degrees of steering, throttle and braking inputs The progress of modern race cars echoes the words spoken by the mischievous Ferris Bueller to movie-goers in 1986: “Life moves pretty fast.” Porsche’s 15-year-old 996-series 911 GT3 Cup racer was simply a lighter, circuit-only version of the road car. Each subsequent generation quickly introduced more technology, bringing additional costs and headaches for the more casual track day and racing enthusiast. But the new Cayman GT4 Clubsport (CS) is different. It’s a return to more production-based racing cars for the German company. “The plan was to bring a track day car positioned under the 911 GT3 Cup as a basis for the sportsman driver,” Porsche told Autocar. You fire up the near-stock 3.8-litre flat six with…

My hand catches the badge and flips it off the bench — face down. A spatter of red enamel decorates the floor There are 43 separate colour segments in an Aston Martin ‘wing’ badge. Each is bounded by a slender line of chrome, which the pads of your fingers will feel if you slide them across the badge’s surface. The centrepiece ‘Aston Martin’ lettering is framed by an equally slender rectangle of chrome, with a black infill. It’s an intricate badge and one that’s usually white, apart from the black background to the Aston Martin characters. But the remaining 42 segments, which fan out from the badge’s centre like the sun’s rays, provide some extra scope for creativity. Zagato Aston Martins, for instance, feature a variation on the badge and…

The driving position is comfortably upright and the iDrive system is at your fingertips Car makers breaking with tradition can lead to much contemplation. Is it wise to mess with a winning formula, such as when Porsche decided to opt for turbocharged engines across the new 911 range? So when BMW announced it was going to start making MPVs and front-wheel-drive models, many, me included, were crying at the sacrilege of going against the firm’s rear-drive traditions.Nonetheless, BMW went ahead with its plan, and 12 months ago the first fruit of its labours — the 2 Series Active Tourer — arrived on the Autocar fleet. In its 18 months or so in the UK, it has established itself as a genuine contender in the small MPV class. I already had…

When my own cars go wrong (which is frequently), I moan and curse my bad fortune. When my long-termer plays up (all too rarely), I tend to rejoice, because I know the next report will just fall out of my fingers. So today I’m in a fine mood: the A4 has categorically, unequivocally gone wrong. It’s been looking like something might happen for a while. I’ve been keeping an eye on the altimeter on the nav screen ever since it reckoned we were 20ft under the sea while parked next to it. Now it varies altitude, both up and down, with a speed a stunt plane would struggle to match. One moment we’re at a cruising height of 760ft, the next we’re down to 320ft. If I cared more, I’d…

READER’S CAR: TOYOTA COROLLA Colin Gilsean became the seventh owner of this 1992 Toyota Corolla XLi 1.3 Xli, bought for €500 (£400). It was a stopgap car that hung around for rather longer. “I spent most of the next three and a half years looking for a replacement,” he says. “But it says a lot that my ideal car was another Corolla with a 1.6-litre engine, or the imported LX Limited with a 1.5-litre engine, air-con and velour seats. In the end I was given company wheels. I probably could have kept the Corolla for another year, but I sold it for €450 [£360].” WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE THIS WEEK: FORECOURT MONUMENTS Dealers that never , love sell your . Move forecourt them around monuments , change . You the…

Renault has revealed the Koleos, its new large SUV, at the Beijing motor show. The Koleos is built on the same platform as the similar-sized Nissan X-Trail, as well as other Renault-Nissan Alliance models such as the Nissan Qashqai and Renault Espace. The Koleos is available with a choice of two petrol and two diesel engines, ranging in output from 128bhp to 173bhp. They are mated to either a six-speed manual gearbox or Renault-Nissan’s X-Tronic CVT. No hybrid model is planned. Both front and all-wheel-drive Koleos models feature in the line-up. All-wheel-drive versions offer switchable FWD and AWD modes, as well as full-time AWD for low-speed, low-grip conditions. Renault says the Koleos has an approach angle of 19deg, a departure angle of 26deg and ground clearance of 213mm. The Koleos…

SMART HAS CROWNED its Fortwo and Forfour ranges with a trio of powered-up Brabus performance models, which will go on sale in September. The new Brabus Fortwo coupé and cabrio and Forfour are distinguished from standard versions by a series of styling upgrades, uprated suspension and revised speed-sensitive steering with stronger self-centring. Power comes from a newly developed version of Smart’s turbocharged 898cc three-cylinder petrol engine with a revised air manifold, increased fuel pressure and a Brabus exhaust system. With 107bhp and 125lb ft, it kicks out 18bhp and 25lb ft more than the standard unit used in 90hp versions of the Fortwo and Forfour. Those outputs are also 7bhp and 17lb ft up on those of the previous Brabus Fortwo. Smart’s six-speed dual- clutch Twinamic gearbox, which is standard…

The Peugeot 508 will live on in the company’s lineup when it comes up for replacement, boss Maxime Picat has confirmed — but it is likely to be restyled in a bid to widen its appeal beyond its core markets. The big family saloon and estate sell well in some regions — notably France (where it has a 20% share of sales in the segment), Spain and Belgium — but they struggle against more premium opposition in other markets, including the UK. Annual sales of the 508 have fallen from around 75,000 cars a year on its launch in 2011 to 45,000 last year. However, Picat insisted that “across the average of European sales, it is worth doing and it is profitable”, and he confirmed the car would be replaced…

Fiat is under investigation by German authorities who are trying to establish whether the car maker has been running a system that manipulates European laboratory emissions tests, according to German newspaper Bild am Sonntag. During tests conducted by Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) in the wake of the Volkswagen Dieselgate crisis, authorities are reported to have discovered that some Fiat vehicles were running their pollution-reducing systems for just 22 minutes before cutting back their effectiveness; an official laboratory emissions test runs for about 20 minutes. Reports suggest that it was a test on a Fiat 500X that exposed the issue. A spokesman for Fiat declined to comment. The paper also alleged that Bosch had informed German investigators that Fiat was using a system that either stopped or greatly reduced…

You could never accuse Audi’s RS cars of being slow. Even the regular RS Q3 SUV is capable of covering the 0-62mph sprint in less than five seconds and hitting 155mph. Despite this, the German brand is wheeling out a range of Performance-badged versions of its RS models, with the wick turned up even higher. The big news here with the RS Q3 Performance is a boost in power – an extra 27bhp, thanks to improved cooling and a beefier fuel pump. That takes the total to 362bhp and the 0-62mph time drops by 0.4sec to just 4.4sec, which is quicker, incredibly, than a Range Rover Sport SVR. Although the RS Q3 Performance may have more power, its oily bits remain largely the same as those of the regular RS.…

This pleasing harmony of platform and power has been missing from M cars of late What goes around, eh? In 1992, to satisfy the homologation rules of the World Rally Championship, Ford dropped a turbocharged Cosworth YB motor into the humble Escort and fitted a four-wheel drivetrain that sent two-thirds of its power to the rear axle. The car, much like the earlier Audi Ur-Quattro, Peugeot 205 T16 and Renault 5 Turbo, was supposed to herald a world rally title (it didn’t), but because the Frank Stephenson-penned rear spoiler was so big and the performance so improbable – 217bhp was just the beginning of the engine’s potential – the car caught the imagination like an Atlantic swell hitting Nazare in November. In the same year, Volkswagen took the squashed-up V…

You can see what it is. The big question is: just how did I end up behind the wheel of something that, on the face of it, is such an unimaginative and predictable choice? What we have here is the next E number up the Munich design schedule, slightly smaller and rather more silver and oil-powered than the old one. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the unscheduled arrival of Shed Five. It was the farthest thing from my addled mind to replace Shed Seven, the venerable BMW 7 Series I fondly wrote about in these pages. I had been harbouring dark thoughts about buying a characterful car that could take over from the old barge, one that was even less conventional and potentially much less reliable. There was a drunken…

MODEL TESTED Mirai • Price £66,000 • Power 152bhp • Torque 247lb ft • 0-60mph 10.1sec • 30-70mph in fourth na • Fuel economy 44.3mpkg • CO2 emissions 0g/km • 70-0mph 55.7m A milestone has lately been passed in the grand story of British motoring, but due to the modesty of the company whose efforts are responsible for its passing and the tiny volumes of the car that has achieved it, few have noticed. It is now possible to walk into a Toyota showroom and walk out the owner of a fully productionised hydrogen fuel cell car. The Toyota Mirai proceeds where, seven years ago, the Honda FCX Clarity feared to tread, by not only bringing fuel cell technology to Europe but also by making it available for sale rather…

Swapping electric car batteries is an idea that was around in World War 2 (Your Views, 30 March). Giovanni Moretti was building electric vans, which he named ‘Elettrocarro’, for use in wartime Italy. Originally a 1.5-tonne three-wheeler, it was developed to carry up to 2.5 tonnes in the four-wheel versions. The system used external boxes mounted on the sides of the vehicles, underneath the flatbed, which allowed the exchange of batteries at dedicated service stations. He won the support of entrepreneurs and battery-swapping stations were set up in Milan and Turin, but it was too difficult to follow the idea through during the war and the whole project foundered. Norman E. Hawkes Hessle, Yorkshire WIN Letter of the week wins a ValetPRO exterior protection and maintenance kit worth…

Winter has been and gone. Well, it never really arrived, from memory. Anyway, you may recall that we put winter tyres on the MX-5 in anticipation of something Baltic, and to see how this affected the handling and usability, if at all. In day-to-day driving, the winter tyres — Bridgestone Blizzak LM-32s — arguably made the MX-5 an even sweeter thing to drive. Our car is SE-L Nav spec and not Sport, so it does without sports springs, and the softer compound of the winter rubber and standard springs made for an even more supple ride. The extra squidge in the sidewall softened the initial steering response a touch but without affecting the overall precision. As for their ‘winter’ performance, you could still have fun at a roundabout and not…

1 Jaguar XF 3.0d Sportbrake (2012-2015) When Jaguar gave the XF its mid-life nip and tuck, it took the opportunity to launch a new estate version. The Sportbrake is great to drive and has a luxurious interior with swathes of leather, a rising rotary gear selector and a touchscreen infotainment system. There are plenty of trim options to choose from, while the rear seats split 60/40 and yield 1675 litres of space when lowered. The 3.0-litre diesel, in both standard and S forms, has a super-smooth power delivery via a slick eight-speed automatic gearbox. Jaguar has been topping reliability surveys of late, and problems are yet to appear on the XF Sportback. We found a 2014 R-Sport example for £21,980. 2 BMW 535d Touring (2003-2010) In estate form, the executive…