Innholdsfortegnelse for 10/08/2016 i Autocar

OUR ANALYSIS OF which new cars offer the best ratio of ‘bang for buck’ – the amount of brake horsepower each pound sterling buys you – throws up fascinating conclusions. Who could have predicted that a humble MG would fare so well? Or that thoroughbred track specials are almost always stymied by high prices? Or that no matter how powerful an engine you have under the bonnet of your grand tourer, it can’t compensate for the price-swelling luxuries the car is laden with? Electric vehicles (EVs) showed poorly, although that is less of a surprise. At present, many cars in that market emphasise frugality over performance and most are hampered by high asking prices. But the numbers only tell us so much. In fact, most of Autocar’s testers find the…

Nissan has predicted that the number of UK charging stations will have surpassed the number of fuel stations in just four years’ time. UK demand for EVs grew by a substantial 31.8% in the first six months of this year compared with the same period from the year before. With 19,252 new electric cars registered so far this year, Nissan believes the ‘tipping point’ for EVs is already upon us. It expects the number of charging points being fitted to car parks to rocket as a result, and predicts that there will be some 7900 of them in Britain by August 2020. Consequently, the number of fuel stations is expected to decrease by this date, with Nissan predicting that there will be just 7870 fuel stations left in August 2020,…

THE 2017 RANGE Rover will come with Jaguar Land Rover’s latest semi-autonomous technology and an additional supercharged V6 engine when it goes on sale this autumn. Priced from £76,350, the refreshed SUV line-up will get new driver assistance systems in three specification levels, adding features such as lane departure warning, parking assistance, autonomous emergency braking and driver fatigue monitoring. Higher-spec cars gain adaptive cruise control and a traffic sign recognition system that adjusts cruise control speed to the posted limit. Inside, the new Range Rover receives JLR’s InControl Touch Pro infotainment system with a 10.0in touchscreen display. Buyers can specify an optional Pro Pack to gain remote control of features such as climate settings and the car’s door locks. Controlled via a smartphone app, the system can offer door-to-door navigation…

BMW WILL PREVIEW its new X2 SUV-coupé as a lightly veiled concept at the Paris motor show in September prior to sales starting in the latter half of next year, officials have revealed. As a sister model to the second-generation X1, the X2 will become the sixth dedicated SUV to join BMW’s line-up and the second to be based around the versatile UKL platform that also underpins the upcoming second-generation Mini Countryman. Set to rival the imminent Audi Q2 and expected to cost from around £30,000, the X2 has been conceived as a sporting alternative to the X1 in much the same way that the X4 provides a more dynamic take on the X3 and the X6 acts as a more performance-orientated option to the X5. Insiders familiar with the…

KIA IS CONSIDERING shelving its electrically boosted hybrid diesel engine project as the Dieselgate fallout continues. Although the project is still officially under way, Kia performance development boss Albert Biermann has admitted it is becoming hard to justify the development of more expensive diesel engines in the face of increasingly tough emissions standards. “The research project is still going on,” Biermann told Autocar, “but the cost of electric motors and batteries in a hybrid is already significant. The question is whether it is really necessary to throw in a more expensive diesel engine.” The research is unlikely to be wasted. Biermann suggested the hybrid system might well be re-engineered to work with a petrol engine. He said: “We also have a very efficient Atkinson-cycle gasoline engine, so I think that…

The Fiat Abarth 124 Rally could herald a return to high-level motorsport for the factory team, an insider has confirmed to Autocar. At this year’s Geneva show, a hard-topped motorsportprepared version of the new 124 Spider was revealed. The car was developed by the Abarth Racing Team, 40 years after the original Fiat 124 Abarth Rallye appeared on the Monte Carlo Rally. Lightened, strengthened and heavily modified, the Abarth 124 is built to the FIA’s R-GT rulebook, with the new rear-wheel-drive car powered by an 1800cc turbocharged engine remapped to deliver 296bhp at 6500rpm. Originally, the car was expected to be sold to customer teams for rallying, but an insider told Autocar: “The factory is toying with ideas for how we use such a car. A high-level world rally programme…

THE PEUGEOT 2008 and 3008 SUVs will spawn GTi models, if the market shows a demand. Hot GTi variants would remain front-wheel drive and mark Peugeot’s first foray into the high-performance SUV segment, rivalling the likes of the Nissan Juke Nismo. “The strategy of the brand is to have upper versions, GT, GT Line and GTi, and this strategy will be developed in all the range,” said Laurent Blanchet, head of product development. Peugeot says it has the capability of making GTi variants, but it will only do so if customers want them. The new 2008 and 3008 SUVs will get GT and GT Line trim levels, adding extras such as bigger alloy wheels and a leather interior, along with sporty styling. There are no engine upgrades, but the suspension…

British tech company Delphi Automotive will begin public testing of autonomous taxis in Singapore next year. The Kent-based firm is preparing a fleet of Audis with autonomous driving and mapping systems to operate a four-mile route in the city. The three-year pilot is in collaboration with the Singapore Land Transit Authority, which wants an operational autonomous EV taxi service by 2022. Delphi is not the only firm looking at self-driving systems for taxis. Uber has put $500m into a mapping project and has been testing a self-driving Ford Fusion in the US. Its rival, Lyft, is working on a similar project with General Motors.…

Described as an “unplanned baby” by Caterham’s chief motorsport and technical officer, Simon Lambert, the Seven 310R is the result of a surprise discovery made by engineers involved in the company’s longstanding motorsport programme. By simply fitting high-performance camshafts and revised mapping to the existing Seven 270’s 1.6-litre Ford Sigma engine, the team managed to extract another 17bhp, increasing peak output to 152bhp. Initially, Caterham planned to offer these changes as an upgrade for racers. However, after further testing revealed impressive all-round performance, the company decided the engine was worthy of its own car. Enter the Seven 310R. There’s something ritualistic about driving a Seven. For one, ingress is never straightforward. But once in, you’re treated to one of the all-time great driving positions. You sit low, with your legs…

The i3 94Ah is the first major upgrade of BMW’s radical city car since its launch two and a half years ago. The ‘94Ah’ in the name refers to a brand-new lithium ion battery developed by BMW. It’s the same size as the previous battery pack but its energy density has been improved by an impressive 50%. BMW claims the resulting 33kWh capacity improves the i3’s official claimed range from 118 miles to 195 miles. However, BMW acknowledges the official test regime is flawed and says the real-world range is actually 124 miles. It says this can be achieved even in the depths of winter (with the heating on) or during the summer (when the air-con is being used). The i3’s charging system has been upgraded, too. A specialist DC…

Bang for your buck, performance for your pound, dash for your cash, wallop for your wad… whatever you want to call it, I think we can agree that this is not a high-brow concept. Indeed, and at its heart, it is a number arrived at extremely easily for more than 40 years now, since the widespread availability of that diminutive giant of the computer age, the pocket calculator. Price divided by power. And yet there is a certain simple honesty in the number that results. So simple, in fact, that we wondered why, as far as any of us can remember, no one has ever tried to pull out a few examples of cars that, by this charmingly crude method at least, offer a particular kind of value for money.…

1 Find a base and set up your team Hyundai Motorsport was created in late 2012 at Alzenau, near Frankfurt. Its headquarters is close to the Hyundai European HQ at Offenbach, the European Technical Centre at Russelsheim and Frankfurt Airport. The team entered its first WRC event, the Monte Carlo Rally, in January 2014 with three i20s. The first two seasons were a learning curve, despite a lucky win in the first year. This year, with the car fully developed, the team has won two rounds on pace alone. WRC veteran Michel Nandan was appointed team principal from the beginning. “When we started, the factory was empty,” he says. “By the middle of 2013 we had 40 people, 100 by the end of the year. There are 200 today.” The…

The Vitara name has been around for as long as I have, and over most of that period of 27 years the car’s basic formula has remained largely unchanged: simple, rugged, dependable – all key ingredients for making a 4x4. However, this fourth-generation model marked an important shift for the Vitara. Suzuki took its development more in the direction of a contemporary crossover with recognisably more conventional looks and a broader mass-market appeal. Our primary goal over the past eight months has been to find out if this change of direction will help Suzuki to gain more of a foothold in an already congested segment. The Vitara hasn’t disappointed. High points have been its peppy and responsive 1.4-litre Boosterjet petrol engine and its comfortable, gadget-heavy interior, whose carrying capacity was…

The fact that I’ve covered nearly 11,000 miles in just six months tells you how much I’m enjoying the Astra. When a journey beckons, I jump in knowing comfortable, fuss-free cruising awaits. The other car I most often drive is the family Renault Zoe, which has provided me with some useful insights in recent weeks after Ecotricity, one of several charging point suppliers, decided to introduce what has been cleverly tagged (I jest) ‘charging for charging’ – specifically a £6 fee for 30 minutes of electricity. On a normal charge speed, that equates to roughly 50 miles of range. I have no issue with Ecotricity charging for its electricity, but that strikes me as pretty steep, especially when you consider that the Astra is averaging 56.1mpg with a mix of…

MILEAGE 68,000 VOLKSWAGEN POLO Last week in this slot, I introduced you to my 1964 Mini Cooper. The next car I am 100% responsible for, although I don’t actually drive it, is my daughter’s Volkswagen Polo. It’s a 1.2-litre petrol Match, so it has all the vital bits, including air-con, alloy wheels and fashionably black paintwork. It cost £5000 more than two years ago and has been as sweet as a nut, as I would never say. It has had only the occasional tyre replaced and my nipper has painted the brake calipers red. It’s what young people do these days. As for mileage, it does 10,000 a year to university and work, and according to the guys at my local garage it is the best car I’ve ever bought.…

“Nissan is known to want a sports car in its expanded EV line-up” The radical Nissan BladeGlider electric sports car concept has been developed into a “fully functional advanced prototype”, according to the Japanese car maker. The BladeGlider, which was first seen at the 2013 Tokyo motor show, appeared to have been shunted near to the back of Nissan’s priority list early last year by newly arrived product planning chief Philippe Klein. But now the concept has re-emerged as a fully working prototype, developed in collaboration with Williams Advanced Engineering, as Nissan seeks to maintain its reputation as an industry leader in spearheading new niches and electric propulsion. The car has three seats, with a central driver’s seat flanked by one each side and slightly behind, while the track is…

What has changed in the period since the original BladeGlider concept? “Conceptually, nothing. We set out with the original to make a real version. Between the concept and the real version, compromises have to be made. Concepts can take liberties with things like packaging, but we wanted our designers and engineers to stay as close as possible to the original concept here.” The concept seemed to be on the back burner. Why the comeback? “There was a discussion as to whether or not it would be a production car. It was not intended to make production quickly. But we never stopped developing it. For us, this is a study into how future enthusiast driving can be and what EVs can do for packaging and design. There was speculation at the…

The VW Group is to fit particulate filters to the exhausts of all of its direct-injection petrol engines from June next year in a bid to cut soot emissions by up to 90%. The filters will be rolled out on all TSI and TFSI engines, with the first being those fitted to the Volkswagen Tiguan 1.4 TSI and the Audi A5 2.0 TFSI. By 2022 the VW Group expects seven million of its cars to be equipped with the particulate filters, which are currently fitted only to models with diesel engines. The VW Group is also planning a further rollout of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology.…

The 740Le xDrive is one of BMW’s mightiest technical feats to date. It takes the new ‘Carbon Core’ 7 Series and adds a hybrid powertrain and a 7kWh battery pack to the mix. This range-topping long-wheelbase variant also gets permanent four-wheel drive. The 740Le has an incredibly stiff composite body structure. At its base are various grades of steel, to which BMW has added carbonfibre reinforcement in the arc of the roof, in the B-pillars, over the centre tunnel and for the rear bulkhead. Aluminium castings are used for the front suspension towers and crash legs. The powertrain is based around a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder ‘TwinPower’ petrol engine, which has been boosted to produce peaks of 265bhp and 295lb ft. This drives an eight-speed Steptronic automatic transmission, which is also…

MODEL TESTED CAYMAN S Price £49,244 Power 345bhp Torque 310lb ft 0-60mph 4.8sec Fuel economy 28.4mpg CO2 emissions 184g/km 70-0mph 41.5m 30-70mph in fourth 7.3 sec Until now, Porsche has preferred to keep the two-peas-in-a-pod similarity of its mid-engined roadster and coupé on a mostly unspoken basis. The Boxster preceded the Cayman by almost a decade, during which sales of the original 986-generation Boxster helped turn the ailing manufacturer around and re-established a more affordable ‘recreational’ end to its sporting line-up. It wasn’t until the development of the 986’s replacement at the turn of a new millennium that a mooted coupé version was brought to life – and although it featured the same engines and platform (not to mention 90% of the look), Porsche was careful to distinguish it from…

"My job is to lead the team. I have to push. I'm not afraid of pushing and taking a risk" When Yorkshire-born Helen Emsley heard she’d been given the task of designing the interior of one of America’s most iconic sports cars, she joked to her boss: “I can see the headlines now: ‘British woman kills Corvette’.” But she did no such thing. Instead, she improved the cabin of the 2014 Corvette Stingray and was promoted to one of the most unlikely jobs you’d expect a British woman to be holding: head of design of GMC. If you’ve not heard of GMC, that’s understandable. It’s the brand within General Motors that builds SUVs and pick-up trucks so American in their size and visual toughness that they’re barely sold outside the…

Fits to a T LAST WEEK I completed a 3500-mile trip to the Alps in my Ferrari California T, so I read your review with interest (First Drives, 20 July). It is an amazing car in which to spend seven to 10 hours a day cruising at speed, roof up or down. And I would say that it is worth the extra dosh for a T. My old one never made it to the indicated 194mph I managed on an empty autobahn. And the handling over mountain passes is on another level. For the record, my top five luxury convertibles are: Ferrari California T, Mercedes-AMG SL63, Porsche 911 Turbo, Audi R8, Aston Vanquish. Martin Duggan Weybridge, Surrey WIN Letter of the week wins this ValetPRO exterior protection and maintenance kit…

Four months in and I’ve got a good idea of what a versatile car the 308 GTi is. It’s not without foibles, but you can’t fault its ability to deal with all I’ve thrown at it, including an off-road experience as we headed to a wedding in the middle of a field. By now plenty of people have hitched a ride – including my 19-month-old niece, who loves the panoramic sunroof – and all have said positive things. But recently I’ve done some long-distance road trips to really sort the good from the bad. First, the good: I like the simplistic interior design and its calming aesthetic. It’s also comfortable for long journeys; there’s no desperate, fidgety bid to get out of the car regularly. And I adjusted quickly to…

Mercedes-Benz SLK230 K Nigel Canham was recently placed in a position where he was obliged to buy a Merecedes-Benz SLK. “My better half announced that she no longer wanted her perfectly serviceable but dull 2010 Nissan Micra,” he says. “The first we went to see was a 1998 SLK230 Kompressor with history and an asking price of £3500. Silver wasn’t our first choice, but everything else about the car was so right that a part-ex deal was done in which cash came our way. It represents modern classic motoring for peanuts. Long live Bangernomics.” SEND YOUR USED CAR TALES TO james@bangernomics.com…

“Later DB9s are an improvement but by no means a reason to dismiss what went before” No one should purchase a used Aston Martin DB9 with their heart. It’s an expensive car to fix, never mind to buy. Still, you can see why people do. That heroic quad-cam V12, those Callum-Fisker-sculpted black-tie looks, the (very) snug handbuilt cabin… they’re enough to make a grown punter buy first and ask questions later. Its predecessor, the DB7, had done a grand job of rebuilding Aston’s reputation, so when the DB9 arrived in 2004, the spadework had been done and the reviews were glowing. There was much to get excited about. The all-new 2+2 coupé was built using state-of-the-art production techniques, it wore a bonded aluminium monocoque and was based on a platform…

1 How does it work? James Gibson of British Car Auctions (BCA) advises that before you go to bid at an auction, you firstly attend one purely as a spectator. Go with the intention not to buy but to learn the process and familiarise yourself with the hustle and bustle of the auction hall, so when you are ready to go and buy, you’re not overwhelmed by the experience. 2 Do you need to register? Not at BCA, which has 23 auction sites across the UK. Make sure you have sufficient deposit available, preferably on a debit card. Deposits are usually 20% of the bid value or £1000, whichever is greater. 3 How do I get the best deal? Make sure you know your product, which specific model or type…

The road-legal LM version of the McLaren P1 GTR is set to go for a Nürburgring lap record attempt during a stint of development testing planned for later this year. Lanzante, the Hampshire-based firm responsible for creating the road-legal LM versions of McLaren’s 986bhp track model, will run the car at the Nürburgring to finalise its set-up. Lanzante says a lap record isn’t a priority, but if the conditions are right, an attempt is a possibility. “We’ve seen what the road car is capable of there and we’ve got simulations of what our car can do,” said company boss Dean Lanzante. “Kenny Bräck is doing all of the driving, so if an opportunity arose, we have the right man for the job.” McLaren declined to reveal the Nürburgring lap time…

A fast Seat Ateca Cupra is under consideration for launch in 2017 as the firm weighs up whether it can extend its hardcore sub-brand to its burgeoning SUV range. The standard Ateca is on sale now and will be joined by a smaller SUV this time next year and potentially a seven-seat SUV around 2020. However, Seat’s bosses are believed to be debating how to extend the reach of the Cupra brand. The Ateca is expected to become the firm’s best-selling model. With a mooted price of around £35,000, though, a Cupra version would become Seat’s most expensive model. “The fast SUV market is evolving quickly at the premium end, but in the mainstream, there is no real credible contender,” said an insider. “That opens the opportunity for Seat to…

“The halo value of a focused sports coupé has persuaded Fiat to undertake the project” A Fiat 124 Coupé is understood to be under development and could be revealed as soon as next year. The fixed-head car would likely be a higher-performance spin-off from the Fiat 124 Spider, as the firm looks to capitalise on the sales and marketing success of that car in bringing in new customers to the brand and emphasising Fiat’s wider sporty credentials. However, it would not make use of the retractable hard-top used by its sister car, the Mazda MX-5 RF, and would instead be designed as a coupé. The decision to separate it from the MX-5 is believed to have been made in order to create greater space between the two models in the…

The Hyundai i30N hot hatch hasn’t been launched yet, but the company’s performance division is already considering a more powerful derivative — one that N division boss Albert Biermann admits would be aimed at competing with the Ford Focus RS. Hyundai certainly doesn’t lack ambition when it comes to faster models, and two other derivatives are set to follow within months of the i30N going on sale next year. But Biermann said he sees the turbocharged 2.0-litre, front-wheel-drive car as being a start, rather than an end point, and he admitted to Autocar that he has been very interested in the Focus RS and its torque-biasing rear axle. “We have been looking at this already,” he said at the i30N presentation at the Nürburgring last month. “I would not exclude…

Hot versions of upcoming Genesis-branded models are still under discussion, according to performance boss Albert Biermann, even though parent company Hyundai-Kia is forging ahead with other performance models, including the i30N. “On the Genesis line-up, the whole thing is still in discussion,” Biermann told Autocar. “Before it’s fixed, we’re not making any clear decisions on performance cars. The line-up needs to be clear and it’s still moving. “The road map for the next three or four years is clear, but at some point you have to make sure that with future mobility and all the emissions targets and so on, you have the technology out there.” Biermann said there has been a lot of debate “about the timing of switching away from pure internal combustion to hybrid or plug-in hybrid,…

Aston Martin’s ‘second century plan’ begins like this, then. A DB car, the natural successor to all the DBs before it, a grand tourer in the most conventional, but, most important, Aston Martin tradition. “The DB11 is the most important car,” says Aston CEO Andy Palmer, “in Aston Martin’s history.” In its history? Big claim, Palmer. But then Palmer has been given a big job: to make Aston Martin make money. Not a lot of Aston bosses have managed that before, but this time it’s crucial. It’s crucial because of the plans Palmer has put forward. They’re of the scale that would have seen Dany Bahar, former Lotus CEO, throwing them on a motor show stand accompanied by a bemused-looking Brian May, Naomi Campbell and Random Baldwin. Aston intends this:…

The Niro represents Kia’s killing of two birds with one cleverly chucked stone. The firm’s first dedicated hybrid model is Kia’s first hybrid of any kind offered for sale in the UK, and it’s also a new member of the popular crossover class of compact pseudo-SUVs. So the Niro’s make-up puts it in two of Europe’s most lucrative growth areas. Built on an all-new platform devoted to hybrid and all-electric models, the Niro uses weight-saving aluminium for its bonnet, tailgate and front bumper rail. A lightweight lithium ion battery housed under the back seats powers a 43bhp electric motor that assists a 1.6-litre petrol engine, which drives a six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox and then the front wheels. Kia claims peak system outputs of 139bhp and 195lb ft. (That torque output…

The last Cayman for which we wrote a verdict was the GT4, a car that powered towards five stars as straightforwardly as a football rolling into an open goal. It’s easy now to see that outgoing car as a Concorde-like high point for Porsche’s coupé: oversized in engine, thirst, cost, noise and attitude – and sensational for it. Naturally, the new 718 is a lesser prospect, yet proximity to the GT4 underlines its few real shortcomings – and the deficit in mechanical sound and fury will come across as the chief diminishment to a great many. Levelling such a charge is all the more justifiable when the new four-cylinder engine doesn’t offer any real running cost advantage. But a wholesale dismissal of the car is a long way from fair.…

"The convertible moseys towards the horizon with confidence" When last we encountered the new Range Rover Evoque Convertible, it was in pre-production format and coloured Tango orange, and its maker had supplied a Swiss Alp to drive it on. Up there, above the tree line and under cornflower skies, in three fingers of snow, the contentious open-top addition to the Evoque lineup made a smidgen of show-off sense. But that felt like cheating. Many things appear to make sense in the airbrushed, Eurotrash world of ski resorts: DayGlo suncream, adult-sized jump suits, wet-look gel, a mahogany tan, tartiflette… but just as these wouldn’t feel right in Reigate or Ruislip or Reading, so, I wagered, the Evoque wouldn’t, either. Nearly six months on and a right-hand-drive, full-production car has turned…

COMPARISON Affordable driver’s car shootout What’s the most engaging new car you can buy for £25k? We find out the fun way ROAD TEST A Golf and Focus beater? Renault’s fourth-generation Mégane hatch gets a thorough assessment INSIGHT Warning: temptation ahead London’s new Aladdin’s cave for car buffs (leave your wallet at home) BUYING USED Bag a fast Japanese hatch for £5k How — and why — to buy a previous-generation Honda Civic Type R SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe…

I’VE BEEN PILING the miles on the Golf over the past week to help my sister buy an open-top four-seater to replace her 1980s Suzuki Vitara. It’s proved just how superb the car is as a long-distance cruiser. My sister’s main buying criteria were that it be durable, cost less than £4000 and have a roomy interior. We decided on a Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet, made a shortlist of three potentials and set off to see them. A 60-mile trek from Kent to Essex to see a 10-year-old example let the Golf stretch its legs. It remained quiet and composed as the clogged M25 was replaced by the empty M11. We connected an iPhone to the multimedia system via CarPlay and found it easy to pay the Dartford Crossing charge while…

KIA GT | 2017 The Kia GT concept was first shown back in 2011, and now the Korean marque is ready to launch the production version: a rear-wheel-drive four-door sports saloon with coupé-like styling. It will have a variety of engines, including a high-performance 3.3-litre turbocharged V6. Regular engines are thought to include the 197bhp 2.2-litre unit from the Hyundai Sante Fe. Price £30,000(est) AUTUMN / WINTER 2016 Alfa Romeo Giulia, Alpina B7 Aston Martin DB11, V12 Vantage S Spitfire 80, Audi Q5, A5, R8 Spyder, S5, TT RS, Bentley Bentayga, Mulsanne facelift, BMW M140i, M240i, 740e, 740Le, M3 30 Jahre, Bugatti Chiron, Citroën C1 Furio, C3 Picasso, Dallara road car, Fiat Tipo, Ford GT, Ka+, Kuga ST-Line, Hennessey Mustang HPE800 25 Anniversary Edition, Venom F5, Honda FCV Clarity, Hyundai…