Innholdsfortegnelse for 15/02/2017 i Autocar

Mercedes-Benz is sending the original military-grade G-Class off in style with the unveiling of a four-seat G650 Landaulet range-topping model badged as a Mercedes-Maybach. It is the latest in a growing number of high-priced models from the Maybach sub-brand. Set to make its debut at the Geneva show next month, the 621bhp 6.0-litre V12 limo-cumoff-roader foreshadows the launch of a heavily upgraded version of the 38-year-old G-Class later this year. It has a semi-convertible roof structure similar to that adopted by the Maybach 62 Landaulet launched in 2007. The four-door G650 Landaulet is based around the long-wheelbase G-Class, with the widened body, modified running gear and portal axle chassis from the G63 6x6 and G500 4x4. It’s 5345mm long, 2110mm wide and 2335mm tall. Its ground clearance is 450mm. The…

Bugatti is busy ramping up the roll-out of its Chiron after a year spent showcasing the hypercar at events around the world, following its launch at the Geneva motor show last March. Customers will receive the first cars by next month. Around 70 examples are expected to be made in Bugatti’s so-called Atelier this year — 14% of the production run of 500 models overall. The French car maker, owned by the Volkswagen Group, says the process of making a Chiron to delivering it takes between six and nine months. Each €2.4 million (£2m) 1479bhp supercar, which can reach 62mph in less than 2.5sec and hit 261mph, is assembled by 20 employees by hand using more than 1800 parts. Bugatti claims its Molsheim facility has been “extensively modified” to take…

Has Volkswagen really done enough to distinguish the facelifted Golf from its hugely successful predecessor, a car that notched up more than 900,000 sales worldwide in 2016 alone? In terms of exterior styling, the changes are extremely subtle even by Volkswagen’s conservative standards. It’s a similar story inside, where the seventh-generation Golf’s orderly dashboard, intuitive switchgear layout, superb driving position and high quality materials have been carried over with only detail modifications. The big news, however, concerns the new turbocharged 1.5-litre direct injection four-cylinder powerplant. It has Active Cylinder Technology, a system that allows it to switch off some cylinders on light throttle loads. Bucking the downsizing trend, the new four-cylinder is a development of the Golf’s older turbocharged 1.4-litre engine. In its initial state of tune, as tested here,…

MODEL TESTED 90D Price £89,680 Power 416bhp Torque 487lb ft 0-60mph 5.2sec 30-70mph in fourth na Fuel economy 611Wh/mile CO2 emissions 0g/km 70-0mph 45.8m Tesla got off to a slow start with the Lotus-based Roadster, but a decade has now passed since we first drove that car – in fairly shabby two-speed prototype form, straight out of the gates of Potash Lane, Hethel, as it happened. And there has certainly been some water under the bridge since then. The Roadster, now long discontinued, reached fewer than 3000 homes over its four-year life cycle; by way of contrast, Tesla delivered more than 76,000 other new cars last year alone. So while only a brave few were willing to risk their motoring happiness on an electrified sports car at the turn of…

“The notion that you’re ‘blowing’ money on a Ferrari is incorrect” If you’re a normal mortal, you probably reckon your one chance of laying hands on a Ferrari involves waiting for someone to die. A rich relative kicks the bucket, you inherit a tidy capital sum, you ignore conventional stuff like house repairs and round-the-world trips and blow the lot on the car you’ve always wanted, possibly red in colour. This may sound believable but it’s wrong in one vital detail. The notion that you’re ‘blowing’ your money on a Ferrari has never been more incorrect. New or old, Ferrari values have been doing well – and there seems no good reason why this shouldn’t continue. Classics, in particular, have been flying recently, but even entry-level moderns like five or…

Promising 1050bhp, a range of 378 miles and 0-62mph in 2.39sec, the $200,000 (roughly £160k) Faraday Future FF 91 electric saloon is not short of ambition. In fact, Faraday is a car company that has been around for only three years yet is now telling the world it will match Tesla at its own game in 2018, even though its factory exists as only an architect’s model and a dusty lot in the Nevada desert. If this story of electrically charged motoring ambition sounds familiar, then it is. Tesla arrived on the scene boasting of lofty goals yet suffered frequent delays and side-stepped deadlines on its way to glory. Tesla, of course, has confounded many critics, achieved a technology breakthrough and now sells the most popular luxury saloon in the…

Land Rover Discovery The new Disco has wowed us off-road. We find out if it has the road manners to match Mini Countryman Cooper D Does the beefier SUV remain true to Mini’s ideals? Our experts find out Green-laning in an Ignis Is Suzuki’s dinky 4x4 tough enough to master our muddiest lanes? Bentley Continental Supersports driven Second-gen Conti bows out in style with 209mph, 700bhp run-out special SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p22…

SINCE TAKING OWNERSHIP of the Ka+, I’ve been looking forward to finding out how capable it would be with a full complement of passengers. So when a trip to Manchester cropped up a couple of weeks ago, I had the ideal chance to do just that, with my mum and my 6ft-plus uncle becoming unwitting test subjects for the 250-mile round trip. The Ka+ is shorter overall than the Fiesta, which itself isn’t the last word in rear passenger comfort. However, despite the two cars being similar underneath, Ford says it has created more rear room in the Ka+ by making the seats more upright than the Fiesta’s and sacrificing some boot space. Another advantage the Ka+ has is its tall roofline, which aids head room and makes life easier…

Jason Easton needed a commuter car so he could use his Toyota GT86 just for fun, so he spent £650 on a Volvo V70 2.5 TDI. “It has full leather interior, with the seat warmers all working,” he says. “It also has coilover suspension on it to aid my street cred. The previous owner had done a load of fluid changes and fitted new consumables all round. It needed a new radio because the code was lost on the current one. I’d thoroughly recommend one of these to anyone who wants to drive an armchair with semi-decent fuel consumption and which attracts admiring looks from geography teachers.” SEND YOUR USED CAR TALES TO james@bangernomics.com…

“You can point the nose where you want it and open the throttle wide” There’s a certain odour you’ll notice when you climb aboard an old Mazda MX-5. It’s the smell of cheap plastic, tinged with a hint of damp fabric, and it’s a reminder that this is one of the simplest and most accessible roadsters out there, a car that brought two-seat soft-top motoring to the masses – and so what if the pay-off is an absence of olfactory refinement? Mind you, if ever there were proof that an MX-5 is best served simple, it’s the spangly add-ons of this Angels special edition model, created to feed off the buzz surrounding the 2003 Charlie’s Angels film, particularly the bizarre mirror-finish trim kit on the centre console that looks like…

Ariel Nomad From £36,000 If there were simply a list of our top ›ive favourite cars, the Nomad might just top it. A revelation and a riot. Morgan 3 Wheeler From £31,000 The eccentric, characterful and deftly brilliant Morgan is a three-wheeled testament to English creativity. Caterham Seven 360R From £31,000 The sweet spot in the revised range, its remapped 2.0 Duratec provides just the right level of performance. Ariel Atom 3.5R From £64,000 Everything learnt by Ariel during the past decade has been poured into this update. It shows. Sublime. Zenos E10 From £24,995 The latest in a line of British mid-engined marvels. Earns its stripes immediately. Expect a dedicated following.…

RENAULT KOLEOS | JULY The original Koleos launched in 2007 but was taken off sale in the UK in 2010 due to poor sales. However, an all-new model will launch this year, as a bigger, more stylish SUV to sit above the Kadjar. It will share its platform with the Nissan X-Trail and offer two petrol and two diesel engines, ranging from 128bhp to 173bhp, and two or four-wheel drive. Pricefrom £23,000 (est) FEBRUARY BMW 5 Series, Dacia Duster update, Isuzu D-Max update, Kia Rio, Land Rover Discovery, Mini Countryman, Peugeot 5008, Seat Leon, Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, Volvo S90 R-Design, V90 R-Design, V90 Cross Country MARCH AC Cobra 378, Atalanta sports car, BMW 670Li xDrive update, Ferrari GTC4 Lusso T, Honda Civic, Hyundai i30, Jaguar F-Type update, F-Type 400…

“The Model Y is likely to have the same ‘falcon wing’ doors as the bigger Model X SUV” Tesla Inc — newly renamed after nearly 13 years as Tesla Motors Inc — is on the verge of what it says will be a massive expansion of production, with two new models due to arrive in the next two years. As well as the much-hyped compact Model 3, Tesla is also expected to launch a compact crossover based on the same platform. The rumoured Model Y will, like the Model 3, be far more affordable than Tesla’s current offerings. The starting price of the Model 3 is likely to be around $37,000 (£30,000), with the Model Y expected to be slightly more expensive. However, Tesla founder Elon Musk thinks the transaction…

MEMBERS OF THE European Parliament have voted to overhaul EU rules on car approvals in order to toughen environmental and safety testing and, in turn, help to prevent future car emissions scandals. MEPs from the Internal Market Committee amended EU car type approval rules. They agreed that individual type approval deals between domestic car makers and their national regulators will face much closer scrutiny and be made public. The reforms come as the emissions scandal widens, with fresh allegations surrounding Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Nissan. Following the American Environmental Protection Agency publicly accusing FCA in January of using cheat devices akin to those employed by Volkswagen, Italy’s transport ministry has now said the firm was allowed to skip tests in Italy’s emissions-cheating investigation. The tests, designed to find illegal…

VAUXHALL HAS CALLED for a national vehicle fire database in order to help the automotive industry access information on vehicle fires held by insurers. Vauxhall is accused of responding too slowly to reports of fires in Zafiras. The fires are thought to have been known about since 2009 and resulted in at least 120 Mk2 Zafiras (also known as Zafira B) being affected in the UK. Vauxhall chiefs were quizzed last week at a Transport Select Committee meeting, during which questions were asked about the fires that resulted in a recall of more than 220,000 cars last year. A Vauxhall spokesman said: “By accessing information from insurers, manufacturers may be able to identify issues earlier than at present. While the data will not reveal the causes of fire, it can…

THE REVISED PORSCHE Macan, due next year, is set to adopt the new range of turbocharged V6 petrol engines recently launched in the Panamera. The updated mid-sized SUV, which has been spotted testing in Macan S form for the first time, has styling changes that include restyled bumpers with new-look air ducts, upgraded headlights and tail-lights restyled with new LED-enhanced lens graphics. The new V6 petrol units have been developed in partnership with Audi. They will replace the existing turbo 3.0-litre V6 and turbo 3.6-litre V6 petrol units in Porsche’s sporty SUV. The new V6 petrol powerplant comes in 2.9 and 3.0-litre capacities. In 3.0-litre guise, it develops 325bhp and 332lb ft in the new entry-level Panamera. By comparison, the base spec of Porsche’s older 3.0-litre engine produces 335bhp and…

“It’s a clever car with some very neat features, chief among them the solar roof panel” Ten years ago, a group of engineers at Toyota’s Japanese HQ had a daydream – and it has just led to this: the second-generation Prius Plug-in petrol-electric hatchback. “The idea that inspired us,” says chief engineer Shoichi Kaneko, who worked on the first Prius Plug-in before leading his team to produce its replacement, “was to come up with an electric vehicle that charged itself.” Two decades earlier, a similarly simple idea had become the driving force behind the original Prius hybrid: ‘the EV you could drive like a normal car’. Only a Japanese car maker, surely, could pioneer a powertrain so complex that it would take the rest of the car industry decades to…

Tesla is accustomed to making hugely ambitious pronouncements – and the industry has learnt to listen. Yet its assertion that the Model X is the quickest and most capable SUV yet can be dismissed as hyperbole. We haven’t tested the speediest version available, but no amount of extra power will correct its handling deficiency versus a Porsche Cayenne or Range Rover Sport SVR. And Tesla would do well to understand that the word ‘capable’ has an especially broad meaning in this segment: there are no superchargers in the wilderness that its rivals are better equipped to explore. However, it is necessary once again – even with qualifications – to acknowledge that there is nothing else quite like the Model X. Much like the Model S, its greatest asset is mixing…

Mike Wheeler of Rardley Motors, the Ferrari salesman quoted in this story, sold me a fibreglass bodied, 1976 Ferrari 308 GTB almost 30 years ago. He was 24 at the time, and has spent the past three decades doing little else besides selling Ferraris and amassing a huge knowledge about them. He remembers my car (red, R-plate, 17,000 miles, light tan upholstery recently Connolised). He has identified its current owner and knows it has been inactive since 2013. In the Ferrari world, interesting cars don’t escape the net. I paid £12,500 at a time when I thought £10,000 was the limit of good sense. Wheeler told me it would be all right. He also warned me about a poor heater and slow electric window winders, and told me not to…

“Jeep’s designers have given it a sense of adventure synonymous with its roots” You need only glance at our 66-plate Renegade’s dashboard to see how proud Jeep is of its military heritage. Embossed in a prominent position just above the central infotainment screen is the legend ‘Since 1941’. It is just one of the Renegade’s many subtle salutes to the original Willys MB that was created in response to a commission from the US government for a four-wheel-drive military vehicle during WW2. The Willys MB is the vehicle from which all subsequent Jeeps have spawned. Over the three-quarters of a century since, the brand’s offerings have shifted a long way from those utilitarian ideals, although Jeep prides itself on imbuing its modern vehicles with elements of the same authentic go-anywhere…

I’ve never been a huge fan of four-wheel drive in anything other than big SUVs. I can see the appeal if you live somewhere that regularly gets snow, but for the conditions generally found in the south of England, I’ve always felt that I’d rather have the extra fun that comes with rear-wheel drive or the lower running costs of front-wheel drive. I didn’t give it a second thought, then, when the decision was made to specify our long-term Audi A4 as a non-quattro car. Why wouldn’t we have the extra 5.9mpg and the accompanying 10g/km reduction in CO2 emissions that drops it two company car tax bands? Throughout my first six months with the A4, nothing came along to cause me to reconsider; I just got on with enjoying…

Posh but potent Bentley saloon What a magnificent luxury performance saloon, and in green, too. For just £18,950, this 1997 Bentley Turbo R looks like something of a bargain. It’s had only one owner from new, has covered a scant 87,000 miles and comes with a full service history and a 24-month warranty. The best bit, though, is that it is being sold by Hanwells, which has been a Bentley specialist for, ooh, centuries. A Ford Kuga with all the kit The first-generation Kuga has been largely overlooked in the great compact SUV wars, but it is useful, smart, reasonably affordable and one of the better cars of its kind to drive. This 2009 2.0 TDCi has 89,000 miles on the clock and is worth buying for the Quickclear heated…

“It’s a real driver’s car, with near-perfect weight distribution and a Torsen limited-slip diff” Amid-engined, rear-drive two-seater weighing just 975kg, powered by a 138bhp 1.8-litre four good for 0-62mph in 7.9sec: yours from as little as £300. Okay, the seller of this particular £300 Toyota MR2 Mk3 is honest enough to admit that the engine is likely to go pop. It’s a good example to begin with, though, because there’s every chance the problem it’s suffering from is pre-cat disintegration, an event that haunts pre-facelift Mk3s (cars up to late 2002) and some later ones, too. Basically, it’s to do with the pre-cat in the exhaust manifold shaking itself to bits and/or ingesting engine oil that has escaped past the piston rings. That’s the bad news. The good news is…

Rolls-Royce Phantom From £310,200 BMW built a phenomenal Rolls-Royce when it took over in 1998. Wonderfully made and knowingly aristocratic. Bentley Bentayga From £160,200 Bentley’s ›irst attempt at cracking the luxury SUV market is versatile and genteel with a silken sporting edge. Bentley Mulsanne From £229,400 If the Phantom is best experienced from the back seat, the Mulsanne is a ›lagship best ›lown from the front. Mercedes-Maybach S600 From £165,700 Doesn’t have the badge allure to rule its class like the regular S-Class, but equally superior in terms of function. Rolls-Royce Ghost From £227,000 The ‘affordable’ Rolls rounds out the silly-money list, narrowly trumping the Flying Spur with its superior cabin.…

A NEW SMALL Volkswagen SUV will be launched by the end of 2018. The new model will sit on the Polo platform and take its inspiration from the T-Cross Breeze first revealed at the Geneva motor show last March. Unlike the open-topped VW concept, though, the 4133mm-long production version of the T-Cross Breeze receives a fixed roof and a five-door layout. This will put it in direct competition with the Peugeot 2008, Renault Captur and Vauxhall Mokka. VW’s new SUV will seat up to five adults and be built alongside the new Polo at the company’s Pamplona factory in Spain. Engines for VW’s entry-level SUV will mirror those of the new Polo, with three-cylinder and four-cylinder petrol and diesel units ranging from 74bhp to more than 200bhp. Also under development…

The revised Audi RS3 Sportback has gained more power, extra torque and new styling tweaks, plus a top speed of 174mph if the buyer requests it. Sitting alongside the recently updated RS3 Saloon, the hot hatch features a reworked 2.5-litre engine with 394bhp — 33bhp more than before. The BMW M140i xDrive rival achieves 0-62mph in 4.1sec, which is 0.2sec faster than its predecessor. By comparison, the BMW covers 0-62mph in 4.6sec. The hot Audi uses a revised seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and a quattro all-wheel drive system with variable torque distribution. The revised RS3 Sportback will make its debut at the Geneva motor show in March. UK deliveries will start in August and it is expected to cost from about £45,000.…

Toyota has revealed its revised Yaris supermini, which features a fresh design, a new engine and upgraded tech offerings. It follows confirmation of a hot 210bhp Yaris, which will be based on this updated version and take on the Ford Fiesta ST and Peugeot 208 GTi. Upgrades for the standard Yaris include a new naturally aspirated 1.5-litre petrol engine to replace the existing 1.33-litre engine. The new unit makes 110bhp and 100lb ft and is good for a claimed 0-62mph time of 11.0sec. Also on offer will be a revised hybrid model, the current version of which has accounted for 40% of European Yaris sales. The hybrid will use the new 1.5-litre engine and gets new engine mounts, driveshafts and subframe, which Toyota says reduce vibration and noise. Other technical…

THE MCLAREN 650S replacement, to be revealed at the Geneva motor show next month, will use a new 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8. The model, codenamed P14, will achieve 0-124mph in 7.8sec and a standing quarter mile in 10.3sec, according to the Woking-based firm. McLaren also claims the new exhaust system creates a clean, crisp note to “match the extreme performance of the engine, with the further option of a sports exhaust”. McLaren Super Series vehicle line director Haydn Baker said: “Power, torque and throttle response are all significantly enhanced compared to the first-gen Super Series, yet with fuel efficiency and emissions also notably improved.” McLaren has already confirmed the car will get a new active chassis control system as well as having major aerodynamic gains. It will also use a new…

Skoda likes to bill the Octavia – its biggest-selling model in the UK and a range mainstay for the past two decades – as its backbone. Having received wholesale surgery in 2013, this time round the model receives a more modest chiropractic tweak of the styling, interior and equipment levels. The mechanicals are essentially the same, meaning you get that generous 2686mm wheelbase, the same basic choice of hatch or estate and a carried-over engine line-up of two petrol units (the 1.0 and 1.4 TSI) and two diesels (the 1.6 and 2.0 TDI). There will be new Scout and spicier petrol and diesel vRS models eventually, too, but they come a little later. For now the focus is on cooking-option minutia, available in the now time-worn S, SE, SE Technology,…

“In 1960, Moss drove a new Ferrari 250 SWB in the Goodwood TT and simply disappeared from his rivals” This year, as Ferrari reaches its 70th birthday, it is perhaps worth remembering that Ferrari the person, Ferrari the team, even Ferrari the car constructor are somewhat older even than Ferrari the sports and supercar brand we all grew up with. Enzo Ferrari was a towering figure in motor racing long before he put his name on a car, and the prancing horse emblem of Great War air ace Francesco Baracca was well known years before any road car edged between the gates of Maranello. So, amid the celebrations, let us remember also that Enzo would now be 118 (119 on February 18), and it is 97 years since he…

“I’m pretty sure I’ve still got bruises from 10 years ago — all from Plato” What’s the biggest challenge facing a racing driver competing in two major championships? Staying focused on each? Balancing the pressure? Or perhaps getting to grips with different cars? Nope. The answer is much simpler. “Jet lag,” says Tom Chilton, world touring car driver for Sébastien Loeb Racing and recently confirmed British Touring Car Championship returnee with Power Maxed Racing. Chilton, who is back in the BTCC after a five-year hiatus, will rack up the air miles this season. He’ll contest a total of 50 races: 30 in the BTCC spread across 10 weekends and 20 in the WTCC at a further 10 events. “It’s the first time this has ever been done in these two…

US car makers face a choice It was striking to read President Trump’s promise that US economy and CO2 rules might be relaxed in the same week the Ford Mustang scored two stars in its Euro NCAP crash test. US car makers can accept Trump’s enticement to sweat their aged manufacturing capacity for a few more years and continue to make poorly engineered gas-guzzlers, or they can ignore him and embrace the safer, cleaner future that Tesla is pointing towards. US manufacturers have struggled for decades to compete with their European and far-eastern rivals. This race might soon be over if the industry heeds the President’s call to mediocrity. Karl Cradick Christchurch, Dorset WIN Letter of the week wins this ValetPRO exterior protection and maintenance kit worth £58.95…

The suspension creak mentioned late last year was proving too persistent to ignore any longer, so I rang up our nearest dealer, Guy Salmon Land Rover Thames Ditton, to book the Discovery Sport in for a check-up. Even that simple task didn’t go all that smoothly, with unanswered phones in the service department and failures to call me back, but eventually we arranged for the car to be collected from my house, leaving me with a Jaguar XE courtesy car. In addition to the creaky suspension, I asked Guy Salmon to investigate a clonk from the rear that seemed to be linked to body movements in corners and over bumps. The car was returned just 24 hours later, but it didn’t take long to realise that the creak hadn’t been…

New car buyers are just asking for trouble. Once parked, any idiot can then bump into their immaculate vehicle. That’s why I like older pre-used motors. The trouble is, the teenager has to leave the Polo in the car parks of her work and an educational establishment, and in neither place is it safe from the inattention of others. She’s alarmed at the number of times it’s been knocked. The hardest biff has been to the VW roundel. I’ve got a spare from an old Polo Mk2 that the Beastie Boys fans didn’t get. Sadly, though, it’s too small, so we’ve gone online to look for alternatives.…

An expert’s view BEN BEVAN, MR2-BEN “You can tweak and personalise the MR2 Mk3 to your heart’s content. By fitting adjustable coilover sets, you can set it up soft for the week and firmer for the weekend. BC Racing’s RA suspension kit costs £763. Some people like to make their MR2 stand out with a C-One bodykit — £460 plus paint and fitting for a full kit. Others are just happy to fit an exhaust back box by Blitz or Cobra — £460 for the Cobra.” Buyer beware • ENGINE Do a fault check via the car’s universal OBD2 diagnostic port. Biggest issue is the pre-cat in the exhaust manifold breaking up and the possibility of bits entering the engine. Early signs are the lambda oxygen sensor warning light and…

Porsche 911 Carrera From £73,500 Delivered on the eve of its sixth decade, the 991 is as brilliant and distinctive as any before. GTS is the best. Jaguar F-Type From £51,300 A full-blooded assault on Porsche’s back yard, with noise, power and beauty. As characterful as any Jag, ever. Aston Martin Vantage From £85,000 What the Vantage lacks in agility, it makes up for with presence and grunty V8 power. V12 S is something special, too Lotus Evora From £64,000 The ride and handling put nearly eve rything else in its shade. Shame the interior doesn’t match the price tag. Nissan GT-R From £78,000 Monstrously fast Nissan is a blunt instrument among sharper and more charismatic rivals.…