Innholdsfortegnelse for 25/05/2016 i Autocar

Volvo has revealed two new concept cars, including a small crossover, as part of its plans for the future 40-series family. The concepts are called 40.1 and 40.2 and are built on Volvo’s new Compact Modular Architecture (CMA). It is the second new platform Volvo has developed since Ford sold the company to Geely in 2010. The first was the Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), on which the well-received XC90 is based. The 40.1 previews the XC40 crossover that is expected to be the first CMA-platformed car to be launched, going on sale next year. The angular, athletic styling carries much of the design language introduced by Volvo’s larger models, especially the XC90. The 40.1 concept is 4390mm long — almost exactly the same as a Range Rover Evoque — and…

The Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Concept, the latest collaboration between the British firm and the Italian design house, has been revealed at the Villa d’Este concours d’elegance in Italy. The Vanquish Zagato is the fifth car to be produced by the two companies in a partnership that started in 1960 with the DB4 GT Zagato. The car draws on design cues from recent special-edition models such as the Aston Martin Vulcan and One-77, as well as the latest DB11. Based on Aston Martin’s flagship grand tourer, the Vanquish Zagato was developed and engineered at the British manufacturer’s headquarters in Gaydon. The concept’s look was honed by Aston’s design department, led by Marek Reichman, in tandem with Zagato CEO Andrea Zagato and his team in Milan. Described by its makers as…

THE NEW RENAULT Grand Scenic will go on sale later this year with fresh exterior and interior styling, extra technology and more space than the car it replaces. Following on from the five-seat Scenic, which made its debut in March, the new Grand Scenic can fit up to seven passengers, although it is also available in five-seat form. The new model is taller, longer and wider than the car it replaces and it sits higher off the ground. The changes help to free up interior space and give more of an SUV profile. The new car has 20in alloy wheels as standard. There’s a total of 718 litres of storage space inside, 40 litres more than before. Engine options are taken from the regular five-seat Scenic, with diesels forming the…

Audi’s strong-selling A3 has always impressed with an alluring combination of style, quality, dynamics and refinement. And that continues to be the case with this lightly facelifted version, not least in 2.0 TFSI guise. In keeping with previous generations, the mid-life styling changes are mild and do not involve any sheetmetal changes. At the front, there are revised headlights with optional matrix LED operation, a more angular single-frame grille and a reprofiled bumper. The rear adopts revised tail-lights and a lightly modified bumper, both of which are said to provide a greater emphasis on the car’s perceived width. Audi has also introduced new equipment lines and safety systems. Bucking the downsizing trend, the new 1984cc TFSI petrol engine delivers subtle improvements in performance and fuel economy, thanks, in part, to…

‘I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I did know I could fix the company’ Carlos Tavares, CEO of the PSA Group and recipient of Autocar’s 2016 Issigonis Trophy, enjoys any win, whatever its shape or size. While working hard at a career that in 30 years has catapulted him into the front rank of world automotive bosses – and to the very top of the three-marque PSA Group (Citroën, Peugeot and DS) in just two years – 58-year-old Tavares steadfastly maintains his status as an accomplished weekend racing driver, proudly claiming that he’s done at least 10 events a season since 1983, in cars ranging from saloons to single-seaters. However, his greatest success of recent times has been his abrupt and unexpected turnaround of PSA, a serial underachiever that…

They’d never put it on the record, but the big bosses at practically every leading European car company would love to have Laurens van den Acker – Renault’s design boss for the past seven years – running their own creative departments, if only he were available. There are several good reasons for their enthusiasm, but one stands out above the rest: sales success. Working with a close-knit team, Dutch-born van den Acker has created a design style of such warmth and universal appeal – and so recognisably different from others in the patch – that it appeals instantly to the laymen who comprise by far the biggest proportion of car buyers. Demand for the eye-grabbing Captur, Renault’s B-segment crossover, shows in microcosm the effect that Renault’s design success is having…

BENTLEY BENTAYGA Bentley’s giant SUV isn’t just a complete departure from a 97-year run of previous models; it will soon be the company’s best seller. Propelled by a worldwide boom in premium and SUV demand, it is hitting the big time less than a year after launch. Thankfully, it’s a great car, beautifully built and thoroughly developed. BMW M2 Trust BMW to bring the purity of rear-wheel drive and the performance heritage of its M cars into a size and price arena inhabited by hot hatchbacks. The M2 is currently engaged in a battle royal against the best hot hatches, but for buyers who put a high value on engineering design for drivers, there will be no contest. JAGUAR XE Jaguar has been waiting most of its life for this…

Mileage 2600 The Kadjar’s alarm has been going off for no apparent reason, although I’m sure there is one. The soundings seem random, but patterns have developed, then changed. The car can sit silently for days, then start screeching, or the alarm might go off 15 minutes after parking and then every 15 minutes thereafter until it decides it has had enough (which is a long, long time after my neighbours and I have). For a week, it went off every day at about 3.30pm; the next week it was at 2.30pm. In the intervening weekend, the clocks went back an hour. I’m not joking. Then it went off at night and 5.40am. I looked at renaultkadjarforum.co.uk and it seems a few otherwise happy owners have a similar problem. One…

You know a Lexus is going to be reliable. Everything is pretty much standard, too I might be alone here, but I do like the look and whole bearing of the Porsche Panamera. At its simplest, this is a great big 911 with extra doors. Those who want a bigger 911 will more than likely drive home in Porsche’s best-selling Cayenne. And who can blame them? It shows up the Panamera as not being nearly family friendly enough by having just two rear seats. But you can now buy a 2010 Panamera for just over £30,000. That seems like rather good value for money compared with a 911 from the same year; that’s going to be just under £40,000. So by my backward Bangernomics reasoning, you will get a lot…

Super-luxury 1 Rolls-Royce Phantom From £310,200 BMW built a phenomenal Rolls-Royce when it took over in 1998. Wonderfully made and knowingly aristocratic. 2 Bentley Bentayga From £160,200 Bentley’s first attempt at making an SUV is versatile, genteel and luxurious, with a silken edge. 3 Bentley Mulsanne From £229,400 If the Phantom is best experienced from the back seat, the Mulsanne is a flagship best flown from the front. 4 Mercedes-Maybach S 600 From £165,700 Doesn’t have the badge allure to rule its class like the regular S-Class, but is equally superior in terms of function. 5 Rolls-Royce Ghost From £227,000 The ‘affordable’ Rolls rounds out the silly-money list, narrowly trumping the Flying Spur with its superior cabin. Visit autocar.co.uk for all of our Top Fives…

THE 40.1 CONCEPT’S T5 plug-in hybrid powertrain uses a unique form of electric motor integration that, we’re told, will make production and dramatically improve efficiency. The 55kW electric motor works through one of the dual-clutch gearbox’s shafts — the one that handles second, fourth, sixth and reverse gears. This means it can power the car alone in these gears, or it can add assistance to the internal combustion engine, even if it is turning one of the gears on the other shaft (see illustration, right). “It’s a very innovative and efficient package — a very cost-efficient solution towards high performance and extremely low CO2 figures,” said Volvo R&D boss Peter Mertens. “Others put the motor between the transmission and the engine, which is not as efficient when it comes to…

A HYUNDAI i30 fitted with a turbocharged 2.0-litre engine will compete at this weekend’s Nürburgring 24 Hours as part of the firm’s development of its high-performance N sub-brand. Hyundai said the special i30 2.0T “will concentrate on enhancing understanding of technologies ahead of Hyundai Motor’s future high-performance N-brand models”. The development car also has enhanced suspension and dampers, tweaked steering, wider bumpers and mandatory motorsport safety features. It was built by the motorsport department of German-based Hyundai dealership Schumann. Hyundai hasn’t yet confirmed that the i30 will be the first model in its range to get an N performance makeover, but such a model has been spied testing at the Nürburgring many times. Hyundai has been working on the development of performance models since 2013, when it first launched the…

Volkswagen has fast-tracked plans to raise the image and overall sales appeal of its entry-level Up through the addition of a new range-topping GTI model, according to officials at its engineering headquarters in Braunschweig, Germany. The secret new GTI model, which could be priced from £15,000 in the UK, has been conceived to provide Volkswagen with a sporty rival to the popular Abarth 500 (now 595). It will use a powered-up version of the company’s newly introduced turbocharged 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine in a brand-building exercise under the motto ‘affordable performance’. In the soon-to-be-launched facelifted Up, the new EA211-designated triple delivers 89bhp and 118lb ft of torque. However, a more heavily tuned version is already in use in the Golf Bluemotion TSI, where it delivers 113bhp and 147lb ft of…

THE ALL-NEW TOYOTA Hilux, the best-selling pick-up in Europe, will reach the UK in July armed with a downsized, more efficient diesel engine, a stiffer chassis and a more premium, SUV-like interior. Priced from £19,177 (excluding VAT, because it is a commercial vehicle), the Hilux has three bodystyles: Single Cab, four-seat Extra Cab and five-seat Double Cab. Its all-new 2.4-litre diesel produces 148bhp and 295lb ft. A six-speed manual is standard, with a six-speed automatic optional on Double Cab models. In its most fuel-efficient form (Single Cab with manual gearbox), economy is 41.5mpg, with a 178g/km CO2 output.…

McLaren Automotive will this year chalk up its third profitable year out of a six-year car-making career and is apparently in the mood to branch out. Because, besides supercars, hypercars, racing cars and more, it now also makes grand tourers. Enter the new, £154,000 570GT, the McLaren for crossing continents. There are grand tourers and grand tourers, of course. Having a mid-mounted engine, a carbonfibre tub and room for two occupants only, the 570GT is evidently a junior supercar with a grand touring bent. It’s ostensibly a slightly prettier, richer, more practical, more comfortable and more refined take on the 570S – a car whose lightness, big-hitting performance and effortless dynamism it shares in almost equal quantities. Inside the engine bay is the same twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 that powers McLaren’s…

High temperatures, climbing altitude and poor road surfaces mean ideal test conditions “We’ve kept the name,” says Panamera model line director Gernot Döllner, when discussing the differences between the original ‘G1’ and new ‘G2’ versions of Porsche’s luxury sports saloon. He isn’t kidding, either. The G2 shares almost nothing with the outgoing car, save for the V6 engines. It not only rides on Porsche’s new MSB platform but also comes with a new range of V8 engines and features a new ZF eight-speed gearbox, dubbed PDK II. We’re sitting in a G2 Turbo, approaching traffic around Cape Town, South Africa. And it’s about to get very hot. The radio crackles with instructions to shield the car’s interior from prying eyes and mobile phone cameras, so black foam-backed matting is hastily…

PORSCHE 911 GT3 RS Probably the most rewarding car Porsche makes, but also the only one with properly bared teeth. Tricky, demanding and tremendous – easily worth twice its list price already – and the only thing to make a GT3 look modest. McLAREN 570S In 2014, McLaren garnered five stars for being outstanding in the most extravagant way possible with the P1. The 570S is a greater achievement: a volume sports car of supreme depth and ability, and confirmation of the firm’s dizzying ascent. PORSCHE CAYMAN GT4 The Cayman has always been touched by brilliance. That the GT version, furnished with a 911 engine, measures up hardly came as a surprise. We saved that for how accessible, comprehensively lovely and affordable Porsche made it. ARIEL NOMAD The day the…

FERRARI 488 GTB You need only to look at the cars the Ferrari beat – specifically, the Ariel Nomad and Porsche 911 GT3 RS – to get a grasp on its astonishing quality. Rapier-like on the track without being exclusionist, usable on the road without being remote, and spectacular to look at and listen to in between. A special car. MAZDA MX-5 Almost no contest in the sub-£30k division. Mazda’s determination to return to the MX-5’s original values – lightness, agility, frugality and thrill – has resulted in an inexpensive open-top sports car worthy of its ‘world’s favourite’ boast. Pleasure at every speed.…

We didn’t choose the Lexus as the Used Car of the Year. You did. What we have seen and heard from owners, mechanics and the car trade convinced us that there is no other model so deserving of the title. The simple fact is that no one has a bad word to say about their Lexus IS. Our used car expert, James Ruppert, watched one build up a 300,000 mileage over a handful of years without it missing a beat. Maybe the fact that it never cooled down was a factor, but what was more remarkable is what went wrong. Nothing. Apart from a pricey headlight bulb, tyres and wipers, all it did was work. Nothing ever fell off. More significant was that this is the IS 250 rule. There…

BASIC PROBLEMS Reading your article on the new Volkswagen Touareg (News, 27 April) raised some fundamental issues. Many cars seem to be getting too large for the UK’s road and parking infrastructure. ‘Infotainment’ and control systems are now central to a vehicle’s interior — one suspects at the expense of safety and sanity in many instances. Drivers are now swamped with information, both inside and outside the car. VW’s honest description of real-world fuel economy is to be congratulated, but 35mpg? You have to think that we aren’t really serious about emissions yet. Bruce Stuart Via email THIS ISN’T PROGRESS I’m not sure which idiots thought of having driverless cars, but we didn’t ask for them and we don’t need them. Maybe it’s the same idiots who think electric cars…

The last time I drove a Civic Type R across the country it was 2007. My flatmate and I had just seen Superbad, and in a fit of sunny-afternoon solidarity with the narrative thrust, we lunged from the cinema car park in Crawley to the shared house of another chum in his first week at Falmouth University. That’s about 300 miles in an EP3 (second-gen Type R), which could be driven either economically at a clock-watching 65mph or at a tank-squandering howl at higher speeds. I think we had to refuel it twice, which at least afforded us both respite from the stress position being meted out by the scarlet seats. It’s not the kind of experience that necessarily has you volunteering for round two, especially when your sunny-side-up partner…

READER’S CAR: MAZDA MX-5 After journalist Chris Jenkins spent a day driving the Mk1 (‘NA’) MX-5 for an article, it was only a matter of time before he bought one. “The original NA is the best MX-5, with Lotus Elan looks, Alfa door handles, pop-up lights and low mass,” he says. “I found a 1993 Eunos 1.8 V Special in BRG with tan leather, Nardi steering wheel, magnesium Rays rims, LSD, Bilsteins and lowered Eibach springs. Mint with only 40k miles, it cost £1800. Having since added 60k miles, it has cost peanuts to run. Parts are cheap and plentiful, too.” WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE THIS WEEK: QUIZ MASTER Martin, a reader, sent me an exchange he had with a dealer who refused to have anything to do with an…

Mega-hatches 1 Ford Focus RS From £30,000 Simply the most exciting hot hatchback money can buy right now — a bargain price. 2 Volkswagen Golf R From £30,000 Blends the formerly unblendable: VW sophistication with appeal. money. 3 Audi RS3 From £40,000 Too closely related to the VW to justify its price, but the five-pot makes it mind-meltingly fast. Comfy now, too. 4 Honda Civic Type R From £30,000 About as powerful as front drive can meaningfully get. Not as adjustable as a Mégane RS but savagely capable. 5 Mercedes-AMG A45 From £38,000 The Audi RS3 may make the A45 sound a little tame, but that doesn’t mean its appeal is lost on us. Far from it. Visit autocar.co.uk for all of our Top Fives…

‘Our powertrain engineers’ vision is that we go from a big, powerful engine to, eventually, an EV’ McLaren’s 650S replacement, known internally as P14, is set to make its debut next year, most likely at the Geneva motor show. It will be the first new model in a £1 billion, 15-car roll-out that was announced in Geneva this year and is due to be completed by 2022. McLaren online forums have been full of speculation that the P14’s eventual title will start with a 7, indicating at least 700bhp, but a McLaren spokesman has said this is unlikely to be the case. McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt confirmed in Geneva that the P14 will use a development of the firm’s existing twin-turbo V8 and will be based on a variation of…

The M2 GranCoupé is set to use the same engine as its highly lauded two-door sibling BMW is preparing to launch a racy 365bhp M car as part of a new 2 Series GranCoupé line-up slated to hit UK showrooms in 2019. Sister model to the recently introduced M2 Coupé, the M2 GranCoupé has been conceived to take the challenge to the upcoming Audi RS3 saloon and Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 in what promises to be an intriguing battle for junior performance car supremacy among Germany’s three main premium brands. Although the BMW’s two main adversaries use transversely mounted engines and four-wheel drive, the M2 GranCoupé will feature a longitudinally mounted engine and rear-wheel drive. BMW’s intention is that this format will help to provide its new M car with more…

The BMW 2002 Hommage, a compact coupé concept, has been unveiled at the Villa d’Este concours d’elegance in Italy. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the BMW 2002 turbo, the 2002 Hommage is described by the brand as a design study that reimagines the engineering behind the original model. Based on the well-received M2, the new concept sits low, with compact proportions, a long wheelbase, short overhangs and a prominent so-called “shark nose”. Aerodynamic details include larger spoilers and a number of air intakes. Reflecting the chrome strip of the original car, the 2002 Hommage has a horizontal carbonfibre band around the shoulder line, which splits the body of the car. The roof, bonnet and bootlid use matt paintwork, and the lower body uses gloss paint and features distinctive lines across…

The Clubsport responds sweetly to being introduced to a corner 15mph faster than before Volkswagen has a long and generally well regarded history of celebratory Golf GTI anniversary editions. In the previous few iterations, the car has served as a run-out model and adheres to an established formula: more power, better looks. The principle has served VW well: the Edition 30 (Mk5) and 35 (Mk6) were desirable cars and an improvement on the regular Golf GTIs of the day. The latest version marks the GTI’s 40th birthday, but because it also signifies a slightly broader offering (there’s a five-door version, and also a lighter, loopier S model coming) the name ‘Clubsport’ is added to the nomenclature. Otherwise, the same recipe stands: the front-drive car gets 34bhp more than the standard…

‘I think it’s important that small manufacturers try to do what the big boys can’t, daren’t, won’t or aren’t interested in’ This year’s Sturmey Award goes to a man whose company’s annual production, he has calculated, wouldn’t keep Toyota in business for five minutes. “Actually, I think it’s even less than that,” says Ariel’s Simon Saunders. But although there’s huge merit in launching a sports car company and turning it into an established British marque, as Saunders did, there’s far more to Ariel than just the Atom sports car – or the other models that have since supplemented it. While interviewing Saunders in the company’s Crewkerne, Somerset HQ, which Ariel is threatening to grow out of, we’re standing next to an experimental Atom whose chassis is made of titanium, a…

This may not seem like a natural place to look for innovation, but the new Audi SQ7 is packed with technology that will be significant in this industry over the next few years and beyond. It features a beefier 48V electrical sub-system that drives active anti-roll bars (as with the Bentley Bentayga) and, more significant, an electrically driven compressor (effectively an electric turbo) that reduces lag to negligible levels and allows for a much broader spread of shove on a diesel engine. It needs the 48V system rather than just a traditional 12V one because it, and the anti-roll bars, require enough voltage oomph to act quickly and powerfully. Beefier electrical systems will be increasingly needed to drive not just electric turbos but also mild hybrid systems, more chassis set-ups,…

Now 20 years old, the Lotus Elise’s appeal shows no sign of waning. And that’s proven here, where the Elise is the runaway winner of the award decided by Autocar readers, who named their favourite from the shortlist of the 50 cars we rank as the best on sale in Britain today. You, like us, clearly love the fact that the Elise remains ones of the sweetest, purest driving experiences you can have at any price and that it is perfectly tuned for UK roads. Lotus updates the Elise each year, and the latest revisions have brought it back under £30,000 at one end of the range and created the fastest, most focused Elise yet at the other. Each version is lighter than before, too. New boss Jean-Marc Gales clearly…

Manual labour Having driven hundreds of thousands of miles in the real world, with manual and automatic gearboxes, I concluded a while back that a manual is as practical in today’s traffic as a hand-operated fuel pump. This fervour from experts and journalists for a manual, proper or otherwise, was summed up for me by Victor Muller, the CEO of Spyker, when he said that a manual is now a fashion accessory and a device perceived, by others, as ‘cool’ (News, 4 May). Those who argue that it gives them, and not the car, control should also remove the synchromesh from their beloved fashion accessory, along with ABS, disc brakes, radial tyres and sat-nav to be even cooler to their peers and access the full-on driver-in-control experience. When was the…

Having passed the mid-point in my time with the Suzuki Vitara S, I still had no idea what it was like loaded with four adults on a lengthy journey. I had doubts about whether the 1.4 Boosterjet engine would cope without showing signs of breathlessness at motorway speeds and when climbing the steep hills in and around Redhill. However, the experiences of a keen reader, who had driven across France with three companions and luggage in his Vitara S, left me feeling a little less sceptical about its abilities. The doubt was soon replaced by intrigue, so it was a case of picking a reason to travel a lengthy distance with three other willing participants. A 150-mile round trip via the Hare Krishna temple in Watford for a wedding meeting…

1 BMW i3 (2013–present) Nearly three years after its launch, the i3 continues to turn heads. We’d plump for the Range Extender version. It is more expensive but also more versatile because it adds a two-cylinder petrol engine, increasing the car’s maximum range to a claimed 205 miles. Recharging the battery from a 13-amp plug can take up to eight hours, but home chargers (from £299) can cut this to four hours and rapid charge points can replenish 80% of reserves in 30 minutes. Owners tend to report minor electrical glitches but, on the whole, the i3 has been reliable so far. Used values are bearing up well. We found a 63-reg example with 24,000 miles for £19,000. 2 Honda CR-Z (2010-2015) Despite its futuristic wedge profile and combination of…

Family SUVs 1 Land Rover Discovery Sport From £32,400 Seven seats, lots of space, fine on-road handling: the usual Land Rover capability allied to fresh desirability. 2 Jaguar F-Pace From £34,200 The firm’s credible first SUV effort handles like a proper Jaguar. Deserves a -pot engine, though. 3 BMW X3 From £31,300 A close match for the Land Rover on practicality and dynamism, but with better engines and equipment levels. 4 Volvo XC60 From £31,300 Refreshing design from Volvo, made more competitive by its engine revolution. Not as spacious as some 5 Mercedes-Benz GLC From £35,000 Not exactly exciting to drive, but the GLC does luxury and refinement better than anything else in the class. Visit autocar.co.uk for all of our Top Fives…