Innholdsfortegnelse for 26/10/2016 i Autocar

OUR ANNUAL QUEST to determine Britain’s Best Driver’s Car is a highlight of the Autocar calendar, with almost the entire office decamping to Anglesey Circuit to sample our pick of the most entertaining cars of the year. Almost, but not all: muggins here had a grindingly tedious meeting to attend at Autocar HQ and had to forgo the road trip to north Wales and the tyre-chewing sideways fun that ensued on track. Which means that, like you, I’ve had to rely on our team of experienced judges to vividly convey the performance of each of the cars in their report, which begins on p40. We’ve ranked our 11 combatants in order of preference, but there are no losers as such. To our minds, they are the cream of this year’s…

ALTHOUGH THE NEW Countryman majors on premium feel and urban sophistication, Autocar understands a more rugged and off-road-capable spin-off version of the new Mini is under development. Sources say it will feature a raised ride height and skid plates front and rear. Other tweaks could include bigger driving lights, new wheels and modified front and rear bumper designs. The Countryman is based on the same UKL2 platform as the BMW 2 Series and new BMW X1. Some time ago, Autocar drove an all-wheel-drive version of the Countryman’s 2 Series sister car at BMW’s test track in southern France, where it proved surprisingly adept. The platform’s inherent stiffness clearly contributed, but much of the car’s ability on the off-road course was down to carefully managed electronic control of the brakes and…

“BMW’s M140i is a rewarding car to guide down your favourite B-road ,, Despite not being a ‘proper’ M car, the M135i has become something of a cult classic. First released in 2012, it’s one of those machines that doesn’t look particularly exciting on paper but which offers a truly special driving experience. It is, without doubt, one of our favourite hot hatches. So why has BMW replaced it with the new M140i? After all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Well, BMW is well aware of this idiom and has embraced it, choosing to update the current car rather than overhaul it. The badging has been altered to bring the M140i in line with its M240i and 440i Coupé siblings and the sonorous turbocharged 3.0-litre six-pot has been…

THE STARTING GRID Aston Martin Vantage GT8 BMW M2 BMW M4 GTS Ferrari 488 GTB Ford Focus RS Honda NSX Jaguar F-Type SVR McLaren 570S McLaren 675LT Spider Porsche 718 Cayman S Porsche 911 R Really? You’re reading this bit first? You have resisted the urge to skip straight to the verdict page and discover the identity of Britain’s Best Driver’s Car (BBDC) of 2016, then. You are evidently a master of self-control. You’ve probably meditated several times today, you must habitually stop eating before you’re full, and you could no doubt safely remove your own appendix using only the contents of a rolling tool cabinet supplied by Demon Tweeks. It’s that time again. That test again. Now in its 28th running, Autocar’s BBDC competition has been the ultimate arbiter…

And so, after the toughest podium fight anyone could remember, what must have been the tightest margin of victory of any Britain’s Best Driver’s Car shootout was decided. In a change to the usual scoring format intended to allow a fairer distribution of credit, our judges had up to 50 points to award to each car – 25 for a car’s showing on the road and 25 for the track. There was no restriction preventing them from awarding the same score to more than one car, but the total number of points on offer was intended to mitigate that possibility and to make a tie for any given place in the final rankings less likely. Even so, the 488 GTB and 675LT Spider couldn’t be separated for second place. Although…

Disco is tough enough I have seen the new Land Rover Discovery and I don’t agree with Steve Cropley’s comments that it has lost its ‘toughness’ (News, 5 October). If he’s talking about driving up a mountain and through a river on the way to taking the kids to school, then popping a couple of hay bales in the boot to feed the sheep, I don’t think the new vehicle will struggle. But I doubt many people will want to do this in a £50,000-plus car, and this may be what Steve is lamenting the passing of. That more will be seen in Chelsea than on Exmoor is simply a reflection of how the world has changed. Martin Fitzpatrick Warwickshire WIN Letter of the week wins this ValetPRO exterior protection…

Take the Morgan. It’s there to be enjoyed,” said editor-in-chief Steve Cropley. An hour later, I embarked on my weekend in the 3 Wheeler. Because it was dusk, I knew it would be nightfall before I reached my home, 70 miles away in Southampton, the other side of the M3. Motorcycle helmet on, I set off. Thus began the least comfortable journey of my life so far. Although it wasn’t raining, it was cold enough to make me shiver even when sitting still, cloudy enough to be almost completely dark and busy enough on the road for another half an hour to be added to my journey time. The Morgan didn’t help. Not a bit. But I was prepared in my attire for a car with zero weather protection, and…

Joe Blair says he bought his 2003 Volkswagen Golf GT TDI 130 “fairly blind” in 20 minutes from a dive in Wembley. It was showing 130,000 miles on the clock and he paid £2000 for it two years ago. It didn’t need a lot of work to get it running how he wanted, either. “All I had to do was give it a cambelt change and replace some perished wishbones,” he says. “It has done 40,000 miles in the past two years, including two 2500-mile tours around Europe. “It’s bulletproof and the mileage is now up to 170,000 miles, but it’s still good for 130mph on the autobahn.” SEND YOUR USED CAR TALES TO ✉ james@bangernomics.com…

An expert’s view MARK MCMANUS, MDM TECHNIK “I’ve been working on TTs since 2000, when I started out as an apprentice Audi technician. They’re bulletproof. There’s a W-reg TT 225 with 170k miles for £1250 in the classifieds at the moment. If I had a use for it, I’d buy it. The TT is tough and rust-resistant and fairly simple. It’s a heavy car, though, and hard on the suspension, so expect the front wishbones and anti-roll bar to need replacing at around 60,000 miles. My favourite TT is the 237bhp quattro Sport. Expect to pay around £6000 for a good one.” Buyer beware… • BODY It’s aluminium so rust isn’t an issue, but damage is expensive to repair. The underside is so well protected that corrosion isn’t a problem…

1 Jaguar XFR From £65,500 Balanced, fluent handling with crackling, expressive V8 power. Usable, relatively well priced. The sweet spot. 2 Mercedes-AMG C63 S From £66,800 Mercedes-AMG’s best hot four-door of a big bunch. Chassis is uncompromising but engaging with it. 3 BMW M3 From £56,600 Sharp, lean and as precise as a surgeon’s scalpel. Incredibly well mannered but a bit reserved at low speeds. 4 Mercedes-AMG E63 S From £84,700 Bigger and softer than the C-Class but almost as much fun. Not as communicative as some. Likeable, though. 5 Jaguar XJR From £92,400 Doesn’t quite ape the bang-for-buck value of the XFR, but has chiselled style and performance kudos to burn.…

“The hybrid Countryman will have an electric-only range of 25 miles and a 0-62mph time of 6.9sec” Mini’s all-new Countryman crossover will go on sale next February at a starting price of £22,465, with the SD All4 version — the range-topping model in the launch line-up — costing £29,565. That line-up will be joined later next year by Mini’s first hybrid model, the Countryman SE. It will have a claimed electric-only range of 25 miles and a 0-62mph time of 6.9sec. The new Countryman is the largest Mini model yet, measuring 20cm longer, at 4.3 metres, and 3cm wider than the six-year-old outgoing model. An extra 7.5cm has been inserted into the wheelbase. Mini says the Countryman is now firmly anchored into the C-segment, making it an alternative to everything…

“Our users will be tech-savvy; our car’s interior feels familiar to those used to new technology” Lynk&Co, the all-new, Chinese-owned car brand from Volvo’s parent firm Geely, has today revealed its first-ever model, a mid-sized, tech-laden SUV claimed to be “the most connected car to date” and ready to go on sale this time next year. Known as 01, the model will be the first of a two-model-per-year cycle the company plans for the next four years, the aim being to achieve an annual sales volume of around 500,000 cars a year with an eight-model range by 2021. If it reaches that stage, Lynk&Co will have equalled Volvo’s current sales volume. It plans to be selling about half of its cars in China, with the rest split equally between Europe…

JUST AS A Gothenburg press preview for the Lynk&Co launch and 01 reveal was concluding, company bosses shocked journalists with an impromptu showing of a four-door, four-seat saloon, officially called the Lynk Concept Car. The car is low and roomy, with just a hint of Citroën SM about its greenhouse. But it has four gullwing doors (the forward hinged in front, the rearward pair behind) and there is no centre pillar. The idea of the surprise, designers said, was to show that the 01’s shape and design values could be successfully expressed on something quite different. “The official name is Lynk Concept,” said one. “But we know it unofficially as Zero Zero.” The saloon has the same characteristic high running lights and wide, slash grille as the 01 SUV, and…

Mercedes-Benz’s new pick-up, due at the end of 2017, will be called X-Class and offered in a number of bodystyles. The model has been depicted in two double-cab concepts by Mercedes ahead of the planned launch next autumn. One concept, called the ‘Stylish Explorer’, is said to closely preview the initial X-Class model. It features a largely production-ready steel body, a road-biased wheel and tyre package, a moderate ride height and leather-lined cabin. The other concept, dubbed the ‘Powerful Adventurer’, sets out to project a more rugged image, with added ground clearance, four-wheel drive, prominent body cladding and traction-enhancing tyres. “With the X-Class, we will close one of the last gaps in our portfolio,” said Mercedes chairman Dieter Zetsche. “Our target is to offer customers vehicles matching their specific needs.…

JEEP IS PLANNING both a new entry-level model and a new range-topper — a compact crossover to sit below the Renegade and a large SUV called the Grand Wagoneer. Encouraging sales of the Renegade and the recent launch of the Nissan Qashqairivalling Compass have encouraged Jeep to consider a crossover that will be less than four metres long and retain the rugged traits for which Jeeps are best known. At the top end of the range, Jeep’s plan to bring back its Grand Wagoneer nameplate on an SUV with three rows of seating is gathering pace. A business plan for the Grand Wagoneer, which will sit above the Grand Cherokee in the range, has been on the table for more than five years, but Jeep has now started hinting at…

“It has excellent body control and you can carry impressive speed through corners,, Not everyone loves a coupé, even when it’s quick. Hence this new S5 Sportback, a car that offers a more practical alternative to the recently introduced S5 Coupé. Offering an extra pair of doors and a versatile liftback-style tailgate over its two-door sibling, it has been developed from the ground up as a rival to the BMW 440i Gran Coupé and Mercedes-AMG C43 Coupé. The new five-seater is based on Audi’s latest MLB platform and it’s 21mm longer, 11mm wider and 5mm taller than its predecessor. The wheelbase is also 14mm longer, extending to 2824mm, yet despite all of this, the new model is 85kg lighter than before, at 1660kg. Audi has resisted any urge to adopt…

MODEL TESTED 4.0 TDI QUATTRO Price £70,970 Power 429bhp Torque 664lb ft 0-60mph 5.1 sec 30-70mph in fourth 5.5sec Fuel economy 24.1mpg CO2 emissions 199g/km 70-0mph 46.0m It’s not often that a car comes along that’s sufficiently bold or innovative to leave a mark on the lexicon of automotive technology. But that’s what the new Audi SQ7 is threatening to do. This new, full-size performance SUV merits our attention for several reasons, but most of all for the new 4.0-litre V8 diesel engine that powers it. Alongside twin sequential turbochargers, the engine uses a particular type of forced induction that has never been seen on a production car before: an electrically powered compressor. It’s not quite a turbocharger, nor is it quite a supercharger; instead, in Audi technical parlance, it…

This spectacular image of Nico Rosberg in his Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid was taken during Friday practice at the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix. Captured at Suzuka’s Degner Curve, it shows just how hard a Formula 1 car has to work when it is being driven flat out. But what exactly is going on here? To get a better understanding of this brief but breathtaking on-track moment, we asked Mercedes chief race engineer Andy Shovlin to explain. 1 Why is the tyre deforming like that? “The peak load on the tyre at that point is nearly one tonne, due to the compression in the track,” says Shovlin. “The high load lasts for 0.05sec, which is what is causing the standing wave on the left-hand-side tyre. Even in a flat-out 300km/h [186mph]corner…

WHAT: The penultimate round of the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship. WHEN: 27-30 October. WHERE: Ceremonial start at 18.30 on 27 October, Park Eirias, Colwyn Bay; finish at Llandudno on 30 October, first car home by 13.30. WHO: More than 160 cars, featuring Volkswagens, Hyundais, Fords and Citroëns, all contesting the top RC1 category. Star drivers include recently crowned champion Sebastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala, Thierry Neuville, Dani Sordo and, of course, Kris Meeke. ROUTE: 22 special stages over three days, moving north from central west Wales to north Wales. HOW MUCH: A pass to every special stage on any given day costs £25. ONLY TIME FOR ONE VENUE? Then make it Cholmondley Castle on 29 October. The rally ventures out of Wales for the first time in 16 years. It’s…

FIRST DRIVE Vauxhall Insignia First impressions of the all-important new Ford Mondeo rival LONG DRIVE Fiat 124 Spider vs the Arctic Can we brave it with the top down all the way to the frozen north? ROAD TEST New Fiat Tipo We assess the Italian car that offers Focus size for Fiesta money COMPARISON Volvo V90 vs rivals Stylish Swedish wagon faces Audi A6 Avant and Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p28…

MORE BY ACCIDENT than design, we Pearsons seem to have a thing for the Honda Jazz. My father started it, years ago, when he bought a 2003 model. He liked it, kept it and eventually replaced it with the second-generation version, passing the older car on to my wife. So if you see a note of bias creeping into these reports, you now know why. In the inevitable three-way comparison, Autocar’s yellow third-gen car is best in most departments: ride, steering, handling, economy and safety. However, while our first-gen car is outclassed in all departments, the second-gen model actually feels more refined and more solidly built than our latest iteration. The better refinement might stem from my father’s car being a CVT version, which matches a quick step-off with reasonably…

Left-field Westfield Westfields are great. They’re more affordable and wackier than Caterham Sevens. So what’s not to adore about a 2003 example fitted with a Honda Fireblade engine? This one has a lot of fresh racing kit, from gearbox clusters to brakes and suspension. According to the records, there was an engine rebuild last year. For such a minimal car, the spec goes on and on. Yours for £8995. This one has seen some action The phrase ‘barn find’ often prompts a price hike. However, the asking price may well be justified in the case of this 1942 Willys MB. Apparently it was left in Italy after the war, was registered in 1947 and then used on an estate. It needs a restoration, but the climate has been jolly kind…

1 Mazda MX-5 You may struggle now to find a decent MX-5 Mk1 for this kind of cash, but there are plenty of Mk2s. The 1998-2005 second generation of Mazda’s roadster was much the same underneath, so it loves corners in the same way. Power is modest but so are the factory-spec tyres and the rear-drive MX-5 chassis feels perfectly balanced. Accurate steering helps here, too, but watch for cars with worn and saggy bushes, which spoil the fun. Also check the front subframe, sills and all around the rear arches for rust because they rot from inside out. Engines are tough and the 140bhp 1.8i S is the one to go for. 2 Ford Puma Ford threw everything it had into marketing the Puma yet it needn’t have worried.…

The third-generation Mercedes-AMG E63 has been revealed as the fastest-accelerating model yet produced by Mercedes’ performance car division, with a 0-62mph time of 3.4sec in range-topping S 4Matic+ guise. Set to make its debut at the Los Angeles motor show next month before going on sale early next year, the new E63 holds the distinction of being AMG’s most powerful production saloon yet. Fitted with AMG’s latest twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8, the E63 will continue to be sold in two versions. In E63 4Matic+ guise it offers 563bhp and 552lb ft, but the most popular model is expected to be the E63 S 4Matic+, which, with added turbo boost and other tweaks, makes 603bhp and 626lb ft. This endows the 1880kg model with a power-to-weight ratio of 321bhp per tonne, a…

AUDI WILL NO longer design and engineer its own platforms for future vehicles, according to German media reports, as the Volkswagen Group embarks on a sweeping cost-saving exercise to pay for huge losses associated with Dieselgate. As well as suspending plans for a new crash test centre and wind tunnel, Audi may also abandon its home-grown MLB platform, which is used for models from the A4 to the A8. The mid-engined platform underpinning the R8 supercar is also expected to be dropped and it’s not certain that today’s R8 will be replaced. It’s thought that the next-generation A4 and A5 will be paired with the VW Passat on the transverse-engined MQB platform. The larger Audi models — including the A6 and A7 — are expected to be built on the…

The Korando Sports pick-up truck proved to be a bit confusing for customers, according to Ssangyong. After all, the Korando SUV is unrelated and the ‘Sports’ moniker is misleading. So for this facelift, Ssangyong has renamed its pick-up Musso, a badge borrowed from the first car that Ssangyong introduced into the UK in 1995. The Musso gets Ssangyong’s latest 2.2-litre diesel engine (replacing the 2.0-litre diesel from the Korando Sports), a different dashboard and a new six-speed automatic gearbox, all for an increase of around £1000 over an automatic Korando Sports. The Musso is available with a manual gearbox in sparsely equipped SE trim, but we’re driving an automatic in pricier EX specification. The Musso is part of a segment that’s having a resurgence. Pick-ups such as the Toyota Hilux,…

The SQ7 graduates Audi’s likeable SUV to previously uncharted heights. Its V12-powered part-predecessor provides a yardstick for this car’s performance, but that model’s absurd clout only ever achieved partial integration into an already overweight car. This V8’s oily panache is absorbed far more satisfactorily, to the point where, on the road at least, it feels like a better fit for the trick chassis than any equivalent petrol engine might have been. The diesel prerogative does at least keep the SQ7 at arm’s length from powerhouse SUVs such as the Range Rover Sport SVR and Porsche Cayenne Turbo, which is for the best. Even with the right option boxes ticked, the Audi is no dynamic rival for either the richness of the former or the raw pace of the latter. But…

This was never a given. We’re not supposed to divulge secrets at this stage of the proceedings, but I can perhaps share with you the fact that had this contest taken place on road alone, there’d be two McLarens in the top three, with the 570S outpointing the 675LT. By contrast, the Ferrari would have been beaten by not just both McLarens, but both Porsches, too. Then again, had we gone to only the track, well… I can’t give that particular game away this early, but suffice to say there’d be rather greater cause for celebration in Maranello. Nor should you escape with the idea that these three made it through to the final shootout by being the quickest, most exotic cars here. This is not, nor has it ever…

Because we’ve all watched the clips on the internet or tuned in on the telly, it’s tempting to think this gives some idea of what it is like to be a passenger in or even drive a state-of-the-art modern rally car. Thanks to 2016 British rally champion Elfyn Evans and his R5 Ford Fiesta, I am now in a position to disabuse every one of us of that notion. To describe Evans and his M-Sport-developed Fiesta as on top of their game is to understate the obvious to a considerable degree. In the seven rounds of the resurgent British Rally Championship, Evans won five, the Fiesta six. M-Sport commercial director Andrew Wheatley says of Evans: “I’ve been in this business for years and I’d say now there’s no difference between…

“It seems pertinent to debate the merits of a large diesel engine in 2016 and beyond” For car lovers, few things can match the thrill of seeing your new car on the forecourt for the first time. But one of the things that rivals it, perhaps, is seeing your new car sitting at the end of the production line upon which it has recently been built. Okay, I admit it: being on Autocar’s editorial team opens many doors, but being able to drive a freshly built £60k car straight off the build line isn’t something we’re able to wangle. Rather, our XF, with the odometer nevertheless reading just a couple of hundred miles, was returned to its birthplace – Jaguar Land Rover’s history-drenched Castle Bromwich site – in order for…

Before the arrival of our Ford Edge, I managed to get some idea of what living with the big SUV would be like by spending some time in the vehicle whose blueprint in part paved the way for its development: the second-generation S-Max. Both use the same bi-turbo 2.0 TDCi engine and Powershift gearbox, so I was able to find out how the drivetrain would perform with a car weighing just over 1700kg before trying it in a near two-tonne car. The engine and gearbox proved to be smooth and refined in the S-Max, with the Powershift ’box happily shifting between ratios and keeping the revs down. There was also enough low-down torque to get the MPV moving swiftly no matter what the situation, and this performance seems to have…

So the saga of the bicycle rack on the teenager’s toy car continues. I don’t quite know how I got roped in to fitting it again, but the priority was not to damage the Polo. Oh, not just the Polo but also the freshly bought Muddy Fox, which is considerably lighter than the previous bike. That should be a good thing and put less of a strain on the rack. The simple answer was to use some industrial pipe lagging and some gaffer tape. It was a brilliantly simple solution, even though I say so myself. Next stop Dragon’s Den with this innovation.…

“If any TT has ‘future classic’ written on it, it’s the 237bhp quattro Sport” Only a few concept cars keep their looks into production after the market researchers and accountants have done their worst. The Audi TT Mk 1 (1999 to 2006) is one of them. It emerged blinking into the daylight in coupé form pretty much as motor show goers remembered it and was an instant hit. Its secret was the way Audi blended the TT’s retro-styled aluminium body with proven Volkswagen Golf-sourced mechanicals. It sat on the Golf Mk4 platform and was powered by a choice of 1.8-litre turbocharged petrol engines, badged 180 and 225 in PS-speak (178bhp and 222bhp). Both were quattro four-wheel drive. The quattro’s intelligent Haldex coupling feeds power to the rear wheels only in…

1 BMW i3 From £26,000 An electrified statement of intent. With a generous budget and modest miles in mind, the i3 is simply unbeatable. 2 Audi A3 Sportback From £19,200 Outstanding cabin quality, peppy engines and low ownership costs makes it eerily good for uninterested drivers 3 Volvo V40 From £19,200 No, the V40 isn’t perfect, but it’s handsome, brilliantly well packaged and different — rare commodities. AAAAC 4 Mini Clubman From £20,000 Cheery Mini takes the brand into mainstream territory. Not as rounded as some, but usable and likable. 5 BMW 1 Series From £20,200 It looks desperate from certain angles, but the BMW is still a sure bet. Arguably offers the most sporting drive.…

1 Porsche Boxster From £39,600 Our idea of drop-top perfection is also an outstanding sporting two-seater. Exceptional to drive. 2 Audi TT Roadster From £32,000 Plenty of pace and driver reward, along with Audi’s distinctive brand prestige and design-icon style. 3 Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet From £42,000 Genuine four-seat cabrios are rare birds — particularly when they’re as refined and sophisticated as this one. BMW 4 Series Convertible From £34,900 Mixes sporting driving dynamics with fine engines and usable back seats. Folding metal roof provides security. 5 Vauxhall Cascada From £24,500 Lacks a premium badge but little else. Competent, comfortable and not troubled by sporting ambition.…