Innholdsfortegnelse for 29/06/2016 i Autocar

THE MK2 PANAMERA is the first car to be based on a new generation of Porsche’s MSB (‘modularen standardbau’ or modular standard architecture) platform. This second-generation structure is set to play an important role in the future of Porsche and its Volkswagen sister company, Bentley. The new MSB platform is claimed to offer more flexibility than its predecessor, thanks to a larger number of track and wheelbase combinations. It will underpin the Panamera in both standard and long-wheelbase (Executive) guises and liftback and estate bodystyles. It is also being used for next year’s all-new Bentley Continental GT coupé, as well as a follow-up to the Continental GT Convertible and a Flying Spur replacement. Earlier comments from former Porsche boss Matthias Müller suggested the MSB structure would also be used underneath…

The GT R is the first Mercedes-AMG model to have four-wheel steering Mercedes-Benz’s AMG performance division has lifted the veil on its most advanced road car to date: the 577bhp twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8-powered GT R. The new range-topping GT model is billed as a road-going version of the German car maker’s Nürburgring 24-hour race-winning GT3, and was revealed at Mercedes-Benz World in Brooklands. The GT R will go on sale in November, although right-hand drive UK deliveries aren’t planned to begin until next March. Pricing has yet to be announced, although officials suggest there will be a considerable premium over the £110,510 GT S. Production will not be limited. Tobias Moers, CEO of Mercedes-AMG, said: “With the GT R, we have reached the next level of driving performance. It combines…

THE SOCIETY OF Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has emphasised the importance of safeguarding motor industry interests in response to last week’s vote for the UK to leave the European Union. “This includes securing tariff-free access to European and other global markets, ensuring we can recruit talent from the EU and the rest of the world and making the UK the most competitive place in Europe for automotive investment,” it said. Several key car manufacturers have also released their own statements, with most remaining pro-EU in their stance but acknowledging that business would carry on as usual for now. “We have made no changes to current investment plans and will not do so unless there is clear evidence that action is needed,” said Ford on the morning after the vote,…

A ONE-OFF ASTON Martin GT12 Roadster commissioned by a customer was unveiled at Goodwood. The new open-top model is based on the GT12 coupé, so it uses that car’s 592bhp 5.9-litre V12, but it has received significant changes to its chassis and aerodynamics. Aston design chief Marek Reichman said the model came about from discussions with a customer looking to buy a GT12 but which then developed into a bespoke creation. The model will remain a one-off, because the customer has paid a premium for the exclusivity. The GT12 Roadster is also intended to showcase Aston’s ability to make one-offs, a service the firm hopes will grow into a potentially lucrative part of its business in the future. Aston’s advanced operations director, David King, said one-offs are now easier to…

McLaren Automotive will add “sub-£1 million” models that aren’t P1 derivatives to its Ultimate Series before its mooted all-electric hypercar arrives in 2022, according to sales boss Jolyon Nash. Talking to Autocar at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where the 570S Sprint track day car made its dynamic debut, Nash also confirmed that the GTR would be the last of the firm’s P1-based Ultimate hypercars. He added that the company has no plan to add to its three-pronged model hierarchy over the next six years — ruling out the possibility that any of the 15 model launches we’ll see over that time will be of anything other than pedigree mid-engined sports cars. “You can expect there to be one or two special-series cars every year among those introductions [including limited-edition…

A BRISTOL PROJECT Pinnacle concept ran up the hill at Goodwood, offering a first glimpse of what the future production model could look like when it arrives next year. Bristol has refrained from revealing the car’s exact specifications, but we know it uses a naturally aspirated 4.8-litre BMW V8 engine and is built around a chassis that uses carbon-composite materials, instead of the aluminium adopted by previous Bristols. The British car maker says it chose to use BMW’s V8 as this type of engine has become synonymous with its cars and the partnership with BMW stretches back to its earliest years. The new concept features a design that harks back to old Bristols, with shapely wings, a bonnet intake and front grille all making reference to classic models as well…

As you may have guessed from the combination of letter and number on the back of this car, the Audi Q2 is the smallest SUV from the German brand famous for quattro, squishy interior plastics and winning at Le Mans. A lot. Sitting beneath the Q3 and above the A3 in the Audi line-up, the Q2 is based on the VW Group’s ubiquitous MQB platform. That means relatively simple torsion beam rear suspension for front-wheel-drive models and a more sophisticated multi-link set-up for those with four-wheel drive. Under the bonnet is anything from a 114bhp turbocharged 1.0-litre petrol triple to a 2.0-litre turbo four with 187bhp. If you’re after a diesel, UK buyers are limited to a 114bhp 1.6 TDI or the familiar 2.0 TDI with 148bhp, missing out on…

A local Volvo dealer sponsors lollipop ladies round my way. The brand values match up: safe, dependable and family friendly. But there’s much more to Volvo these days. By rights, said wander wardens should be wearing Donna Karan and holding high-definition displays on boron steel poles, because Volvo is now among the most stylish and tech-intensive car makers out there. It charges for the privilege, too. Volvo’s standard-bearer, the XC90, starts at £46,850 new. Which is almost exactly the same as the cheapest second-hand, current-generation Range Rovers, which have shed £25,000 since they left showrooms three years ago. We like the XC90, but has Volvo’s reinvention elevated it so high as to compete with Solihull’s flagship? For a fair fight, we’re allowing a £50,000 budget, buying an entry-level XC90 D5…

In its 20th year, the Elise remains very special. What it does seems simple, yet nothing does it better. It’s more usable than a Caterham but much purer and more involving than any volume sports car; it’s also executed with more dynamic brilliance and a more professional finish than the UK cottage and kit car industries can produce. The Elise was the sweet spot for those wanting true sporting thrills without the usual compromises in 1996 and, by and large, it still is – at a price. What the Cup 250 symbolises is the pressure that has been felt by Lotus to develop the car over two decades and the yolk that the ageing Elise carries to support a company. The idea of a version of this car priced so…

A couple of colleagues have spent as much time in the Evora 400 as I have recently, so the temptation to take the long way home every time I get back into it has yet to expire. That might be why the fuel economy is hovering in the low 20s, because I suspect other people who borrow it find the same. Both colleagues came back praising the way it steers and its agility, but they were also impressed with how well it rides. That suppleness never changes regardless of what you do with the driving mode buttons, up on the top of the dashboard. The Evora has hydraulic steering and passive dampers, in a ‘we set it up so you don’t have to’ kind of way. So what you’ll notice…

I liked the 2.0 GT Celica with a full MOT and an owner who’d chalked up 10 years with it You will probably have been shocked to learn recently that British motorists spend an average of £695 every year looking after their cars. For supercar owners, that might just be a tyre. For many Bangernomicists, that’s pretty much the maximum cost of their next motor, and if they were presented with a bill that large at any point in its life, it would be game over. What is much more of a worry is that this is 12% more than the global average. I say ‘worry’ because it suggests to me that we remain rip-off Britain when it comes to the cost of parts and servicing. The challenge has to…

Hot hatches 1 Renault Mégane 275 Trophy From £30,000 Turning the Mégane into a 271bhp world-beater might just be Renault Sport’s crowning achievement. Stellar car. 2 Ford Focus ST From £23,000 If you’re looking for a better-value hot hatch, the latest ST is still the benchmark. Agile, supple and practical. 3 Seat Leon Cupra 280 From £28,000 Quickest Leon yet easily knocks the Golf GTI into touch. More power and sparklier diff response are the keys. 4 Volkswagen Golf GTI From £27,000 Overshadowed by the better Leon (and the much faster Golf R), but the GTI is still a touchstone. Quality in spades. 5 Skoda Octavia vRS From £24,000 Stretches the class description — but it’s a mix of practicality and performance.…

The current-generation Bentley Mulsanne could get an all-electric powertrain to meet the increasingly stringent demands of global emissions regulations. Speaking exclusively to Autocar at a customer demonstration of the new Mulsanne Extended Wheelbase, Mulsanne product and marketing manager Hans Holzgartner said an all-electric powertrain was already under consideration. He cited draft paperwork from Chinese law makers as a motivating factor to push it into production. “At the moment, the indication is that full electric will be the only way that you’ll get into some of the cities in China,” he said. “I wouldn’t say we’re discounting [hybrid engines] completely, but it looks like if you don’t have a full electric drive, even some of the hybrid drives just won’t get into some cities in China.” Holzgartner made reference to movements…

THE BLOODHOUND SSC supersonic car will make its first high-speed run this year after new funding put the project back on track. The 13.5-metre-long vehicle will first run as part of a 200mph test session in Newquay before heading to the South African desert with the aim of breaking the current land speed record of 763mph. That run, which aims to take Bloodhound to 800mph, will also be used to gather data for the car’s headline-grabbing 1000mph record attempt in 2018. Power for Bloodhound comes from a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine also used in a Eurofighter Typhoon and a hybrid rocket, with Jaguar’s supercharged 5.0-litre V8 used as an auxiliary power unit. Combined, they make 133,151bhp and the 0-1000mph run is expected to take 55 seconds.…

Bugatti is planning another assault on the world speed record for road cars with its new £2 million Chiron, company boss Wolfgang Dürheimer has revealed. The French manufacturer currently holds the world record of 268mph (431km/h) with the Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, a standard set at Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien test facility in 2010 by former F1 driver Pierre-Henri Raphanel. Speaking to Autocar, Dürheimer said: “We will try to lock in a new world speed record. I know the Chiron will be faster [than the Veyron Super Sport], but we don’t how fast. We have the calculations from our simulations, but it is always different to sit in the car and actually do it.” The new Chiron, which made its UK dynamic debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last weekend, has…

The British-built, road-legal Elemental RP1 has recorded a 0-60mph time of 2.7sec, but its makers believe that it could hit the target in as little as 2.5sec in optimised conditions, making it as quick over the benchmark sprint as a Bugatti Veyron. Prior to giving the latest version of the RP1 its public debut at Goodwood, the firm tested its 750kg sports car, which is built around an innovative carbonfibre and aluminium tub and powered by a 280bhp version of Ford’s 2.0-litre Ecoboost engine, at the Longcross test track in Surrey. The former military venue is used for shaking down and photographing cars but is not recognised as a performance test venue. “We didn’t have a professional driver, the tyres were worn and the road surface was dirty,” said Elemental…

Ford is being squeezed, and it’s all down to our buying habits. A couple of decades ago we’d most likely have rocked up to the Harvester in a Mondeo to enjoy a steak dinner with the clan; these days we’re more likely to be pulling up to Jamie Oliver’s Diner in an Audi, BMW or Mercedes-Benz. So our tastes have moved upmarket, and the Vignale range – which now includes this S-Max and the Edge alongside the Mondeo – is Ford’s answer. The theory makes sense: take a fine car such as the S-Max, trim it out in high-grade leather, add high-end features such as massaging seats and serve with a personal concierge service. The S-Max Vignale comes in a choice of 178bhp diesel, 207bhp twin-turbo diesel and 237bhp 2.0-litre…

APorsche versus a Mazda? Well, we all know which way this one’s going, don’t we? Or do we? Because the latest MX-5 is quite the thing, as you’ll know. It’s small, light, agile – at its thin-Elvis best. We’ve ummed and ahhed about which is the perfect spec for the latest-generation MX-5 roadster, but although the purity of the base 1.5-litre model is appealing, the 2.0 is not all that much heavier and Sport Nav trim gives you a limited-slip differential, Bilstein dampers that keep its body movements better controlled than standard and a strut brace to add rigidity. As such, then, it feels more like an old-fashioned sports car, with a pleasing engine note and snappy gearshift and just about enough power to make it throttle adjustable. Equipped like…

The upgraded powertrain propels the i8 Safety Car along in a purposeful way The BMW i8, with its dihedral doors and wide sills, is not the easiest car to get into and out of at the best of times. The i8 used as a safety car for the FIA Formula E electric race series has an intricate roll cage and heavily contoured, carbonfibre-backed Recaro race seat that rob the driver’s door aperture of even more precious space, so it takes the flexibility of a contortionist (and a lot of swearing) to squeeze into the snug cabin. This special i8 is one of two examples created by BMW’s i division and has followed the Formula E circuit around the globe since last September. It features, among other developments, a new inductive…

ST200 SHORT AND SWEET I’m glad to see the gearing of the new Ford Fiesta ST200 has had some tweaking (First Drives, 15 June). Short gearing is good. It has an amazing effect on how a car feels to drive. Most cars nowadays are lumbered with overly long ratios that blunt the urgency a real hot hatch should have. Alan Harkness via email DOES YOUR C-CLASS DO THIS? I have a 2015 Mercedes-Benz C 220 CDI AMG Line Premium estate. It’s one year old now, with 13,500 miles, and it runs the standard 18in AMG five-spoke wheels with standard run-flat tyres. From day one, the steering wheel has had a slight shimmy (vibration) while driving between 38mph and 75mph. It has been back a number of times over the…

The 500X coped brilliantly with the day-to-day running of a busy family After nine months and just over 5000 miles, our Fiat 500X has now left Autocar, and how I’m going to miss it. Some might not consider the 500X a family car, and being classed as an SUV confuses some who still think of Fiat 500s as a bit girly or something for grannies to nip to M&S in. Some would go so far as to sneer that it’s more about wanting to look like you have the lifestyle that merits an SUV, instead of actually needing one, but I’d disagree. It was a big car, the Fiat 500X — in many ways. For starters, this was the car that gave the iconic, cute 500 extra height as well…

Mileage 5254 Another month, another dealer visit for the CX-3 — this time to replace the leaky rear dampers. Thankfully, it was a quick, fuss-free job. As usual, the guys at MKG3000 Twickenham didn’t hang around once the car was up on the ramps. It always fascinates me how modern cars are bolted together; they seem designed to allow parts to be replaced as speedily as possible — essential in a busy workshop. As soon as the rear wheels were off, it took three to four minutes to remove one of the old shocks, another couple to unwrap the new one and a bit longer to offer it up to the car, attach it and refit the wheel, times two. It took longer to clean the car… The other issue…

READER’S CAR: SAAB 9-3 We have met Peter Marsh on these pages before, not least because he has a great eye for a bargain motor. He has had a string of Saab 9-3s in the past and his latest one is this, a 1.9 TiD 150. “I pick them up for £1500,” he says. “They run for ever and they do up to 70mpg. I ran one for three years and then when I needed to swap in December — it had done 160,000 miles on one clutch — I simply bought another. Absolute bargain!” SEND YOUR BANGERNOMICS TALES TO JAMES Twitter: @Bangernomics Email: james@bangernomics.com WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE THIS WEEK: DIESEL TAX Draconian diesel tax is coming. All the signs are there and motorists, already misled once,…

The Panamera 4S Diesel is the world’s fastest production diesel, says Porsche Porsche has unveiled the second-generation Panamera — a car that, it says, has been “redeveloped and realigned down to the last detail” in a renewed challenge to luxury rivals such as the soon-to-be-replaced Audi A8, latest BMW 7 Series and newly updated Maserati Quattroporte. The all-new liftback-style saloon replaces today’s seven-year-old model, which has contributed to record sales for the German car maker in recent years. The initial line-up comprises three four-wheel-drive models: the £88,700 Panamera 4S, £91,788 Panamera 4S Diesel and £113,075 Panamera Turbo. Further derivatives are planned for early next year, including entry-level rear-wheel-drive variants in petrol and diesel guises, as well as successor models to today’s GTS and petrol-electric plug-in S Hybrid. The new Panamera…

A hotter, limited-run version of the Ford Focus RS could be on its way after a test mule wearing bonnet vents, enlarged bumper intakes and an adjustable rear wing was spotted testing at the Nürburgring. The mule’s physical changes suggest it packs a more potent version of the regular RS’s 345bhp 2.3-litre engine. Sources have told Autocar that polycarbonate glazing, carbonfibre-reinforced plastic bodywork, forged aluminium suspension componentry, carbonfibre brakes, less noise insulation and a stripped-out interior could remove upwards of 100kg from the regular RS — even after drivetrain additions under consideration have been grafted on. Those additions would most likely consist of an electronically controlled limited-slip differential for the front axle, tuned to work with the GKN-supplied rear drive unit, and a dual-clutch automatic gearbox.…

WE’RE ROLLING UP to Goodwood’s start line, supercharged 6.2-litre V8 rumbling away up front as 535bhp and 495lb ft awaits under my right foot. With the marshal instructing me to edge the Vauxhall VXR8 Maloo pick-up forwards, I coast up to the line, stop, slot the gearlever into first and look ahead while squeezing the throttle. The marshal’s hand rises; I quickly lift the clutch. I’ve never done what I’d call a proper burnout before, but in the Maloo — basically a rebadged Holden ‘ute’ — things are different. With next to no weight over the rear axle, burnouts, it transpires, are easy. As we edge over the start line, the rear wheels are rotating so fast that the engine is bouncing into its limiter. I look in the mirror…

MEXICO’S MOST EXCITING export since the frozen margarita, the Vuhl 05, has come a long way since we drove it last year. The standard £59,995 model now has better weight distribution and a roomier cockpit, but the new, £89,995 05RR that we drove at Goodwood clearly represents a big step forward. A 2.3-litre Ford Ecoboost engine gives 385bhp, which, channelled through a six-speed sequential gearbox and limited-slip differential, cuts the 0-62mph time to less than three seconds. Stiffer springs, Bilstein dampers and a quicker steering rack complete the list of significant changes. No one could now accuse this car of lacking pace, noise, grip, balance, body control or feedback. Under a car now weighing just 640kg dry, its Michelin Cup tyres take a bit of warming up, but even cold,…

THE NOBLE M600 Speedster was unveiled at the Goodwood Festival of Speed following more than three years of speculation that the British firm would produce an open-top version of its V8 supercar. The model on show — a prototype production evolution of the M600 Speedster — was shown at the 2015 Autosport International show and is due to undergo crash testing before going on sale with a price of around £220,000. The open-top version of the M600 gets a targa roof that takes less than 30 seconds to lift on or off. However, the roof structure can’t be stowed away in the car, so a stowable portable canvas alternative is provided. The M600 Speedster also comes with a Noble-developed sequential manual gearbox with paddle shifters. Company boss Peter Boutwood described…

It has been almost two years since the Alpina B4 Biturbo – Alpina’s take on the BMW M4 – arrived. But although we have driven, and liked a great deal, the coupé variant, a convertible version has never crossed anyone’s path. Until today. Alpina is a curious, fascinating car company. It’s completely independent of BMW, whose models it modifies and rebadges for public consumption, yet BMW not only tolerates it but even encourages it. Alpina has access to prototypes and sometimes BMW even allows Alpina variants to roll down its own production lines. In terms of vital statistics, the current D4 Biturbo is remarkably similar to BMW’s own M car, but its character is quite, quite different. An M4 is a relatively hardcore coupé (or convertible) that is as happy…

The Ford Focus RS is a stupendous bargain at £31,000 – a high-performance limpet that has attracted comparisons with the Nissan GT-R, itself a recognised steal at three times the price. Like the GT-R, the RS depends heavily on electronic trickery to make good its combination of four-wheel drive and turbo power. But although digital devilry can seemingly untangle your local B-road at a stroke, it doesn’t always deliver when it comes to outright driver engagement. And for the same money as the Focus, you can buy its analogue alternative, a storied machine whose development led to six World Rally Championship constructors’ titles and was voted greatest-ever hot hatch by Autocar readers: the Lancia Delta HF Integrale. The Focus has two clutch packs that monitor a barrage of sensors 100…

Twelve-cylinder Aston Martins can look too cheap, frankly, for the general pecuniary well-being of the British car-buying public. DB7 Vantages and DB9s priced at less than £40,000 look like fantastically tempting alternatives to modern sports cars at similar money – until you realise that they cost rather more than the typical modern sports car to keep. Rather more than the typical lottery winner’s pleasure cruiser one year out of four, I should think. A man whose business it was to know such things once told me a fact I shall never forget about these superbly over-engined, British-built dream machines: “You can do a complete service on a six-cylinder DB7,” he said, “in the time it takes to get to the plugs on a Vantage.” Aston Martin main dealers charge around…

MODEL TESTED Cup 250 • Price £45,600 • Power 243bhp • Torque 184lb ft • 0-60mph 4.7sec • 30-70mph in fourth 8.6sec • Fuel economy 27.4mpg • CO2 emissions 175g/km • 70-0mph 40.9m • Skidpan 1.2g The Elise was probably Lotus’s last exceptionally good idea. Since 1994, it has had some highly commendable follow-ups – the Evora, the Exige S, the 2-Eleven – but the Elise, a tiny opus of angular glassfibre and aluminium, was surely its most recent, most unadulterated and unarguable light-bulb moment. That is reflected in the split of the manufacturer’s sales volume, in the public perception of the car (for most, it simply is Lotus in the way a Seven is Caterham) and in the model’s fundamentally unchanged nature in 20 years of production. Some would…

A nod to Supersport As a Ford man, I loved the Fiesta celebration pieces (‘Fiesta at 40’, 15 June). I found the Fiesta ST200 test offered very similar parallels to the Jaguar F-Type SVR (First Drives, 15 June) where you were describing how the suspension had been tweaked compared with the normal Fiesta ST and F-Type R models. I would have liked to see a mention of the Fiesta Supersport, though, which in Ford circles is more revered than a Mk1 XR2, with a 1.3-litre big-carb engine and ‘magic’ four-spoke RS alloy wheels and similarly lurid vinyl stickers. Also, and sorry to stick the boot in to Aston Martin, why would you pay £165k for a Vantage GT8 when on your next pages the SVR is faster, cheaper and better…

The Sportage strikes me as being a car you can use in all phases of motoring It’s always good to have a Kia on our long-term test fleet. Especially a Sportage, the mid-sized soft-roader now so popular with British buyers that it accounts for a quarter of all Kias sold in the UK. The company updated its best-selling model in February and demand has swollen so much that you now can’t own one unless you’re prepared to join a 16-week waiting list. Why is it so important to run a Sportage? Because this best-looking model in the entire Hyundai-Kia model line-up (my opinion) not only underscores the Korean group’s ever-present potential — Hyundai-Kia is now the fourth largest global car maker, beating Ford — but the Sportage is also one…

1 Subaru Impreza WRX STI RB320 (2007) To commemorate the passing of British rally driver Richard Burns, who won the 2001 world championship in a Subaru Impreza, the Japanese car maker created the 316bhp WRX STI RB320. It was fitted with £6000 of new parts but eventually sold at only £3500 more than a standard version. Enhancements included 18in alloys and Prodrive-developed suspension that consisted of a revised rear anti-roll bar, a sports spring kit and Bilstein dampers. The Impreza was adorned with RB320 decals, gearknob and carpet mats, as well as a front lip spoiler and chrome mesh front grille. You should expect to pay in excess of £12,000 for one. 2 Vauxhall Astra VXR Nürburgring (2008) The Astra was the epitome of British-made, sensible motoring until the 237bhp…