Innholdsfortegnelse for May 20, 2015 i Autocar

THE CONSENSUS ARRIVED at by our road test team each week is, we feel, the most thorough new car assessment by any publication. So their conclusions on the petrol-electric Volkswagen Golf GTE (see p56) make essential reading for anyone with a passion for performance cars. Intended as a ‘third way’ for hot hatchbacks and sitting alongside the iconic GTI and diesel-engined GTD, the Golf GTE has the potential to mark a technological watershed for fast road cars. It also continues the debate on the future of such performance cars. As further gains in engine efficiency are required, hybridisation could provide the most logical way to extract performance without the economy penalty. Indeed, it’s possible to ponder that performance vehicles powered solely by internal combustion engines might one day exist in…

Mercedes-Benz’s sales prospects look set to receive a further boost later this year with the introduction of the GLC, a new five-seat SUV. The GLC is set to go on sale in the UK this autumn following a planned public debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September. It succeeds the GLK, which was never sold through official Mercedes-Benz channels in the UK because it was left-hand drive only. With the adoption of a new platform structure and a new four-wheel drive system, the GLC will be produced from the outset in both left and right-hand drive. UK examples will initially come from Mercedes’ Bremen factory in Germany, according to Autocar sources. The move to right-hand drive gives Mercedes’ UK sales operation its first true rival to the likes of…

BMW has unveiled a Competition Package for the revised M6 Coupé, M6 Gran Coupé and M6 Convertible. The new package brings an increase in power and torque and an incremental improvement to standing-start acceleration. Key among the changes to the optional package is a more highly tuned version of BMW M’s twin-turbocharged 4.4-litre V8 petrol engine. It now develops an added 25bhp, at 592bhp. That’s 40bhp more than the standard M6 engine. Torque has increased by 15lb ft to a new peak of 516lb ft from 1500rpm to 5000rpm. The increased reserves are directed through a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox and an electronically controlled Active M Differential to 20in rear wheels that feature a new double-spoke design. BMW M quotes a 0-62mph time of 3.9sec for the M6 Coupé and…

Chevrolet has revealed its sixth-generation Camaro. The new Ford Mustang rival is 57mm shorter, 20mm narrower and 28mm lower than the outgoing car. The Camaro is based on GM’s lightweight Alpha platform, with more than 60kg saved from the car’s structure compared with the previous car. Overall, the Camaro’s kerb weight has been reduced by 90kg, which represents a significant saving over the outgoing model’s 1687kg. Chevrolet says significant weight savings have come from replacing the instrument panel frame with an aluminium unit and introducing a new five-link rear suspension system. A MacPherson strut suspension set-up features at the front. The Camaro’s engine line-up includes a new turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder unit that produces 271bhp and 295lb ft, and a new 330bhp 3.6-litre V6. At the top of the range, the…

The open-top version of the Rolls-Royce Wraith coupé will be called Dawn, it has been confirmed. The new four-seat soft-top will go on sale in the first quarter of 2016 following a debut later this year. The Dawn name is one from Rolls’s past, used first in 1949 before appearing on 28 drop-top Rolls-Royces up to 1954. Among those was the Silver Dawn, the first factory-built Rolls. The badge was also used on coachbuilt soft-top models. Confirming the new name, Rolls-Royce boss Torsten Müller-Ötvös said: “Dawn is a beautiful new open-top motor car with a name that suggests the fresh opportunities that every new day holds. It will be the most social of super-luxury motor cars for those beautiful people who wish to bathe in the sunlight of the world’s…

QUICK FACTS PRICE £32,045 ON SALE SEPTEMBER Like it or not, this is more a lifestyle review than a car review. After all, lifestyle is the whole principle behind Ford’s Vignale models, which aim to cater for people who are looking to get that elusive premium aura for less cash than it would cost if they went straight to an Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar or Lexus dealer instead. The Vignale gets no mechanical modifications over the car on which it’s based – no bad thing, given that the regular Mondeo is good enough to have beaten the BMW 320d ED in our executive shootout. However, one big difference is that you can’t get the hatchback body. The Mondeo Vignale is offered in saloon or estate forms only, and the engine…

Land Rover in general and the men and women of its Special Vehicle Operations division in particular deserve suitably gigantic congratulations for the new Range Rover Sport SVR. After our five-star road test verdict on the car landed only the other week, we hope they’ve had plenty. Back to business. This 2.3-tonne marvel now has a target on its back big enough to cover a double-garage door and the time to defend itself has already come. Welcome, then, not just one but two BMW performance SUVs out to catch the Range Rover in a pincer movement worthy of Hannibal himself. First and foremost comes the obvious rival: the all-new X5 M. It’s more powerful than the SVR, it’s quicker, it’s cheaper and it’s from a performance sub-brand with almost four…

Ferruccio Lamborghini took a pretty dim view of motorsport, so they say. Probably watching how much money Ferrari, Maserati, Lancia and Alfa Romeo poured into proving their mettle on the track – and being a man accustomed to ploughing his own furrow – he preferred to let his cars do their talking on the road. Some talking they did: stories of the man himself racing Ferrari development drivers down the Bolognese autostrada in his modified, twin-cam 250 GT – and winning – are the stuff of legend. But that, of course, was then, and for a company such as Lamborghini to be bound today by its founder’s philosophical peculiarities would be pretty costly. Selling customer racing machines has become a nice little earner for most of Sant’Agata’s competitors. From Aston…

The GTE does two things on track. Firstly, it leaves the memory of the A3 e-tron behind it; secondly, it confirms it is not a battery-aided Golf GTI. Some of the Audi’s shortcomings are present, though. The gearbox is powerless to do much to aid performance due to wide ratios designed to suit an electric motor’s torque delivery, and the hard-to-modulate brakes are unwelcome. Nevertheless, where the Audi’s absorbent suspension made it suffer, the Golf’s lowered, firmer set-up allows you to carry more speed thorough the front end — and the superior steering makes you better aware of it. Being more communicative and that bit tidier also makes the weighed-down rear axle feel like more of an asset. In the end, though, it feels functional rather than fun. The ‘Boost’…

Just been reading about the Jaguar XE and this got me thinking about modern car design. There is really very little in what I would call innovative design these days, at least in the case of certain major manufacturers. The latest Jaguar is a good example: at first glance it’s an XF. I find the same problem with Mercedes-Benz — is it a C, an E or an S-Class? Similarly BMW — is it a 3 or a 5 Series? I could go on. Clearly many design studios now use what I had as a child years ago. It’s called a pantograph; you trace the outline and it makes the object bigger or smaller. Thank God for the Ariel Nomad — at least it’s different. Ian Gray County Durham WIN…

We’re all used to topping up a car’s windscreen wash, oil and coolant levels. If you drive an EU6 emissions-compliant diesel car with a NOx trap, though, you’d better get used to another bit of maintenance: filling the AdBlue tank. AdBlue is an additive made from urea and water that removes harmful nitrogen oxide from exhaust emissions. This is good but, depending on the car, you can’t simply forget about the stuff and leave it to be filled at service time. The A6 has a 17-litre AdBlue tank. That sounds like a lot, but it may not last as long as you think. In fact, our A6 flashed up a warning at 6000 miles, saying the tank needed to be topped up within 1500 miles. You can’t ignore this, either;…

1 Civic Type R saloon 2007-2010 Fancy a third-gen Civic Type R but worried it’s not practical enough? The Japan-only Type R four-door, labelled FD2, might be for you. Well, it will be if you want more power. With 221bhp at 8400rpm from its VTEC engine, it betters the European car’s 198bhp. Under the skin, the hatch’s bone-shaking torsion beam rear suspension has been replaced by a fully independent set-up. The chassis is more rigid, too, with impressive results, namely racer-like super-sharp steering and immense roadholding, plus it corners precisely and has a firm but well-controlled ride. A sub six-second 0-62mph time is claimed. If you can find one, it’ll be expensive (£12k and up) but worth it. 2 Beat 1991-1996 Japan’s tiny Kei cars were built to exploit tax…

Given that the XE is an all-new design, packed with market-leading technology, powered by an all-new engine and built in a state-of-the-art plant for the most important sector of the market, you might expect Jaguar Land Rover CEO Ralf Speth to stand up on some notional soapbox and start crowing about it. But you’d be disappointed. Speth’s love of business as usual is well and truly on the record, as is his extreme aversion to boasting, so it comes as little surprise when he describes the creation of the XE – the new car that will do most to put Britain’s modern motor industry on the map – as “just a normal project”. What he means, I know from other discussions, is that the art of making a great car…

Traditionally, a manufacturer might introduce a new model with a range of tried-and-trusted powertrains. Bucking that trend, Jaguar is rolling out the XE with a groundbreaking new 2.0-litre diesel engine under the bonnet. The 161bhp engine, known internally as AJ200D, is hugely significant for the company and its future ambitions. It is the first from Jaguar Land Rover’s new Ingenium family of compact, lightweight, low-emissions diesel and petrol turbocharged units. Bristling with technology, the engine is said to be the most efficient 2.0-litre turbodiesel in its segment, returning a claimed combined fuel economy of 75mpg and 99g/km of CO2. That’s only part of the story. AJ200D is the first product to come out of JLR’s new state-of-the-art Engine Manufacturing Centre near Wolverhampton. It has cost more than £500 million to…

SMOOTH OPERATION “When you plug your smartphone into the car, it loads up the Jaguar application and puts the phone into ‘connected to my car’ mode. In this state it can be stowed away and its functions operated via the car’s touchscreen. Like a smartphone, you can flick, pinch and zoom. It is fast and easy to use — essential qualities for effective connectivity.” GOOD RECEPTION “If you use your smartphone in the XE for navigation, its GPS reception won’t be as good as the car’s. So we take the GPS reception from the car’s antenna, to which we add distance-travelled data, and pass it to the phone. Now the phone app can work in places like underground car parks where a stand-alone phone wouldn’t.” EASE OF USE “Driver distraction…

Although Jaguar gives durability testing a rather dry, scientific name – Enthusiastic Driver Robustness Test – to the outsider, lapping the Nürburgring from sunrise to sunset in a top-secret car looks like the best job in the world. Always a key part of car development, durability testing is particularly crucial when that car is a brand-new, vitally important model such as the Jaguar XE. To ensure it goes to plan, the car maker’s test team employs Nürburgring track specialists. They drive consistently quick laps to assess the effects of sustained speed, savage bumps and extreme heat on key components. The task is to complete about 390 very quick laps of the Nordschleife – the equivalent of about 5000 miles of testing. The objective is emphatically not to test a car…

Puzzled. That’s how I feel a few minutes after parking the Jaguar XE in the middle of Königstrasse, Stuttgart’s main pedestrian area. I’ve got out of the car, taken a few steps back and am waiting for the crowds to flock around it. Because it’s the Easter holidays, the street is full of folk, both young and old. What’s more, this is Germany, home of the executive saloon, and the XE is the segment’s newest entrant. Surely people will come flocking and allow me to ask them what they think of it, thus filling this story with tales of how the people of Germany reacted to a new British model pitched right in their car-making heartland. But something’s wrong. No one is coming to have a proper look. Everyone is…

Mercedes-Benz’s AMG performance car division is preparing to take the fight to the BMW M4 and a host of other recent go-fast coupés with a brutish new 503bhp twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8-powered C63 Coupé. Depicted here in an exclusive Autocar artist’s impression, the second-generation C63 Coupé is scheduled to make its world debut alongside standard variants of the new C-Class Coupé at the Frankfurt motor show in September. UK deliveries are planned to start in November. Pricing for the eagerly awaited M4 rival is yet to be made official. However, prospective customers can expect to pay a premium on the recently introduced C63 saloon, which starts at £59,795 and rises to £66,545 in range-topping S guise. The saloon and coupé share the same rear-wheel drive platform, driveline and electronic architecture. However,…

Autocar has honoured the top people and cars in the automotive industry at its annual Autocar Stars awards. At a ceremony in London earlier this week, Land Rover, Porsche and Ferrari were presented with trophies to mark their vehicles receiving full five-star verdicts in the Autocar road test. The Porsche 918 Spyder, Range Rover Sport SVR and Ferrari 458 Speciale have all received five-star road test verdicts in the past 12 months. Citroën’s head of design strategy, Mark Lloyd, was the recipient of the Sturmey Award, which recognises innovation and excellence in the motor industry. Named after Autocar’s founding editor, Henry Sturmey, the award was presented by Autocar editor-in-chief Steve Cropley, who said: “Mark has done amazing work, not only leading teams that produce successful individual cars, such as the…

THE BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage will pay tribute to the 1970s classic of the same name when it is revealed at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este later this month. BMW has shown only this teaser image of the car so far but has confirmed it will be a modern take on the original coupé, with large wheel arches and a prominent roof and rear spoiler. It will also come with what is described as “stretched flanks” and sporty front and rear-end designs. The lower half of the car comes with an extensive amount of carbonfibre to highlight the lightweight nature of the construction, BMW says. The lightweight theme continues inside, with the company saying everything has a function, related either to driving or the car’s structure. It is highly likely…

TOYOTA AND MAZDA have confirmed that they will enter into a new long-term partnership in which they will share powertrain technology. The move by the Japanese car makers is designed to reduce development costs and meet increasingly strict emissions legislation. It is understood that Toyota will share its fuel cell and plug-in hybrid tech, while Mazda will supply its range of Skyactiv engines. Other areas that will come under the agreement include the exploration of new advanced safety technology. Toyota said: “By leveraging the resources of both companies to complement and enhance each other’s technologies, the partnership will result in more appealing cars that meet the needs of customers all over the world.” Mazda is understood to have been looking at its own fuel cell vehicle for some time, while…

QUICK FACTS PRICE £16,095 ON SALE JUNE This is the facelifted Peugeot 208, which is now available with the Puretech 110 turbocharged 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine lifted straight from service in the C4 Cactus of sister firm Citroën. The refreshed range also benefits from a variety of styling upgrades, including a new front bumper, a wider grille and revised ‘lion claw’ LED tail-lights. The 110 engine tried here is available with Allure specification and upwards. Such models also receive new two-tone headlights (incorporating LED running lights), trim and equipment upgrades and new alloy wheels. Peugeot has also added new personalisation pack options. Each brings interior and exterior coloured accents, including a 3D-effect grille, highlights to the door mirrors and front foglight surrounds and contrasting stitching inside. We’ve always said the…

The wind tears at the top of my head as we plunge into the last braking area before the straight on Porsche’s Weissach test circuit. This is our out lap, but within a few seconds we’re doing 170mph. I’m strapped into the company’s road-car flagship, the £800,000 918 Spyder, with R&D boss Wolfgang Hatz at the wheel, and although I’ve been driven fast in places like this before, I can hardly believe the speeds or the braking and cornering loads. Most drivers wouldn’t see the kinked tarmac expanse ahead as a straight. Not a proper one, anyway. It’s more a collection of kinks through which drivers of skill, confidence and experience – such as Hatz – can see a line sufficiently straight for potent cars to accept full power. This…

The winner of the 2014 Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award, Nicole Agba, scooped £7500 and five months of work placements at manufacturers in the UK after the judging panel awarded her the prize in November last year. She’s now reaching the end of a whirlwind first placement at Jaguar Land Rover, and it has been a great experience for the Coventry University graduate. Nicole wasted no time getting stuck into projects as soon as she arrived at JLR. Stationed in the Land Rover design department, she designed wheels, interiors and even JLR showrooms. “I knew that I wanted to specialise in colour, materials and design at JLR, and my first task was to create interior concepts for the Land Rover Discovery Sport,” she says. “I came up with two urban concept…

The standard of infotainment in the Golf gets incrementally better depending on how much money you spend. Without ticking any boxes, the GTE gets the Composition Media system which, with a 5.8in touchscreen, DAB, Bluetooth, eight speakers and a Car-Net e-remote app (which permits all kinds of battery-related activities via your smartphone), ought to serve most people well enough. For those requiring a bit more — specifically sat-nav — there’s the £1765 Discover Navigation Pro set-up added to our test car. This adds VW’s uniformly excellent guidance system, plus the advantage of a larger 8.0in screen.…

AUTOCAR VERDICT We find ourselves on familiar ground. As with the Audi A3 e-tron – a car we liked with various provisos – the GTE is a good plug-in hybrid by the fledgling standards we use to judge them. It offers a usable zero-emissions range, is potentially cheap to run, has strong performance and is every bit as practical as a Golf should be. Given that it steers better, drives more smoothly and is notably cheaper than the Audi, we’d recommend it over that car. But the GTE badge, and its implied sporting prowess, niggles. This car too often strains to be something it isn’t. Given the choice, we’d ditch the GTE tinsel and trust VW simply to make this hybrid best resemble the brilliant all-rounder that is the standard…

We’re a couple of thousand miles into life with the Mazda 2, and it’s coping admirably with a daily slog of about 60 miles to and from the Autocar offices. As with the 2’s larger brother, the 3, this car manages to somehow feel conventional — almost old-fashioned, mechanically — while delivering the sort of real-world efficiency that’s fast becoming the standard in the class. Mazda’s Skyactiv principles mean that there’s no turbo here — just a 1.5-litre petrol engine with 89bhp — but it has enough instant response and just about enough low-down shove to feel respectable about town. It’s currently returning 46mpg, although I have to admit that it’s showing little sign of improving on that as the miles build up. The rest of the driving package is…

Volkswagen’s Das WeltAuto used car scheme has a new ‘reserve online’ function. This is on top of the ‘online offer’ feature that was introduced last year to allow customers to express an interest in a car they had found via Volkswagen’s online used car locator. ‘Reserve online’ additionally enables customers to pay a £500 deposit quickly and easily using PayPal. So here we have an example of a manufacturer actually behaving as if the interweb exists — which is good. Just having a website isn’t enough. Selling cars should have changed a lot by now, so hats off to Volkswagen for making it easier to buy one of its used models. I like the Das WeltAuto website (volkswagen.co.uk/used). It is graphically simple and, being devoted to VWs, easy enough to…

This is a big moment for Jaguar, according to the firm’s design director, Ian Callum. “This is a true, 100% Midlands designed and built motor car – including the engine,” he says. “No apologies and no excuses: this is 100% out of Whitley. There’s nothing in this car that doesn’t come out of the Jaguar Land Rover family.” Callum, in his 16th year as Jaguar’s design boss, is standing on an exposed hilltop in the blistering heat of southern Spain. An early example of the car he’s talking about, the new XE, is standing on a large expanse of asphalt, framed by a backdrop of distant mountains. As I approach the XE for the first time, my first reaction is that the model is not a dramatically different Jaguar. It…

Mike Cross gets recognised in service stations, especially if he’s just stepped out of a new Jaguar. Officially titled Chief Engineer, Vehicle Integrity, Cross is much more famous as, colloquially speaking, the bloke responsible for ensuring that a key but hard-to-define quality of ‘Jaguarness’ lurks in every one of the company’s new products. He is becoming more prominent than ever, because Jaguar is currently on a model charge. The compact XE is not only the latest of its creations but is also destined to be one of the biggest selling and most important in the company’s 93-year history. As soon as that’s done, the F-Pace crossover will be along to challenge traditional thinking about what a Jaguar should be. These are fast-moving times for a man who heads a 14-person…

For evidence that no success in the automotive business comes without huge commitment and investment, look no farther than the Jaguar XE body shop inside JLR’s mighty works in Lode Lane, Solihull. You’ll also discover a new final assembly plant built on territory that was previously dedicated to building Land Rovers. No one seems to mind. The XE body plant reception area may look a bit like a modern hotel – spacious, well lit and with a well-manicured garden at the entrance – but beyond it lurks the world’s largest operation dedicated to the manufacture of aluminium bodyshells. Its huge roof covers an area equal to 24 football pitches and it cost £1 billion to put there. Jaguar is coy about its manufacturing capacity, but you get a clue from…

JAGUAR TEST DRIVER Stef van Campenhoudt first drove at the Nürburgring in 1995 and knows its 73 corners as well as anyone, which is why he’s able to hold a casual conversation while taking us on a brisk lap in an XE prototype. In truth, it’s barely a conversation because, as Stef cheerfully points out the track’s landmarks like a high-speed tour guide, I’m too busy processing the speed, the direction changes and, most notably, the gradients to respond. Stef is a racer as well as a tester, but he says he must quell his competitive instincts for durability work. “We are hired to be consistent,” he says. “My job depends on what the test team wants.” Ever-changing grip levels mean even experienced testers have their work cut out: “There…

THE MERCEDES-AMG C63 Coupé will head an extended range of new, second-generation C-Class Coupé models that are set to make their debuts at the Frankfurt motor show in September. Included in the new line-up and known under the internal codename C205 will be price-leading 2.0-litre four-cylinder C200 and C250 petrol models, together with 2.1-litre four-cylinder C220d and C250d diesels. They will be joined by a turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 C400, as well as an AMGdeveloped C450 4Matic that will develop 362bhp and be equipped with four-wheel drive as standard. As with the latest C-Class saloon and estate, selected coupé models will come with the option of AirMatic air suspension, as well as a wide range of driver assistance and connectivity functions.…

Suzuki’s new B-segment hatch will be the first car in the firm’s range to feature the new turbocharged 1.0-litre Boosterjet petrol engine when it’s released at the end of the year. A mild hybrid version of the Ford Fiesta and Kia Rio rival will also be offered. The car will be based on the iK-2 hatchback concept unveiled at the Geneva show in March. It’s set to be larger than the Suzuki Swift, with a bigger boot and more rear seat space. The Japanese car maker also confirmed that the same Boosterjet engine will be included in the line-up for the next-generation Swift. The A-segment iM-4 concept will also go into production — although not until after next year — as Suzuki plots to make its future cars “even lighter…

THE 174MPH PLUG-IN hybrid Volkswagen Golf GTE Sport concept was the standout attraction at the 2015 Wörthersee tuning show — the Austrian event that caters to fans of the Volkswagen Group’s brands. The GTE Sport is powered by the 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine from the firm’s Polo R WRC title-winning car, plus it has an electric motor positioned on each axle. Total outputs are 395bhp and 495lb ft, helping the GTE Sport to sprint from 0-62mph in 4.3sec and go on to a top speed of 174mph. Combined fuel economy is claimed to be 141.2mpg, while the car is said to be able to cover 31 miles on electric power alone. Other stars of the show included the 261bhp Golf GTI Clubsport, which previewed a £27,000 production model and is set…

The next-generation Land Rover Discovery will be given a makeover by the firm’s Special Vehicle Operations in order to showcase the ultimate off-road potential of such a model. The all-new Discovery 5 is expected next year, with SVO’s extreme off-road SVX version going on sale 12-18 months later. To date, SVO projects have focused on limited-run cars such as the Jaguar F-Type Project 7 and E-Type recreations, one-off designs such as the Paul Smith Land Rover Defender and the performance-orientated Range Rover Sport SVR. However, SVO also has a brief to develop the ultimate expressions of luxury and capability within Jaguar Land Rover, and it is believed that the next Discovery will be used to showcase hitherto unseen extremes of off-road prowess. SVO boss John Edwards declined to comment on…

KAHN DESIGN HAS revealed its Flying Huntsman 105 Defender Pick-Up prototype. It’s based on the Land Rover Defender 90 pick-up but with 15in added to the wheelbase. The British firm has also overhauled the suspension and brakes and fitted a new six-speed automatic transmission, new front and rear wings, extended wheel arches, a new front bumper and 18in alloys. Inside, it gets sports seats clad in Artico leather, with custom fittings used throughout. Kahn plans to put the prototype into production, with prices starting at £70,650.…

QUICK FACTS PRICE £47,000 (EST) ON SALE SEPTEMBER The previous Q7 was the first SUV Audi ever built and an unequivocal success story. It sold as the school-run Panzer for a full decade, and despite feeling dated at least halfway through that period, Ingolstadt will keep shifting them until they’re all gone. That’s because the way the Q7 drove had little to do with why people bought it. Primarily, they liked the space, performance and price, not to mention the image – a millennial power suit of jostling, unapologetic intent. The Q7’s replacement, utterly new from the inside out, is little different in that regard. Chiselling extra space for the brand’s huge grille has hardly enhanced the look, but the jutting posture is much the same, despite some dimension shrinkage.…

QUICK FACTS PRICE £33,585 ON SALE NOW The latest generation of the Volkswagen Golf R took us slightly by surprise. With 296bhp and active four-wheel drive, it had the rampant all-weather performance that we expected, but many of the previous all-wheel-drive mega-hatches from the VW Group and elsewhere have proved to be all muscle and not much character. However, the Golf R marked a departure by serving up surprisingly adjustable, bombastic handling. But can this new estate version match the hatchback’s handling finesse? In short, yes, it can. Despite having gained 32cm in length and 79kg in weight over the hatch in the process of increasing its load bay capacity from 380 to 605 litres, the Golf R Estate remains a riot to drive. The estate has the same hardware…

Citroën design strategy director Mark Lloyd is the kind of bloke who sees opportunities, not problems. “Back in 2009, it was a pretty bad time for the economy,” he says. “I gave a presentation about where I thought we should go. I opened it with images of world catastrophes from throughout history and highlighted the effects of those situations on accelerating change. I wanted to demonstrate the energy that can be harnessed from times of stress.” Fast forward to a sunny day in April 2015 in the centre of Paris, and Lloyd is a vision of contentment, as well he might be as he navigates the traffic at the wheel of a C4 Cactus, a deliberately polarising car that his stark words in the boardroom six years earlier helped to…

VISIBILITY Doesn’t get much better in a five-door family hatch. Sensibly sized pillars all round and an unobstructed view to the rear. HEADLIGHTS All-LED configuration is typically good enough to make you wonder why anyone would opt for the optional bi-xenons — a £1200 option. WHEEL AND PEDAL ALIGNMENT Only two pedals to worry about here, and the width of the brake pedal makes it comfortable enough if you choose to left-foot brake. Perfect steering column placement and lots of adjustment.…

DEPTH CHARGE Having most enjoyed Matt Prior’s column (Tester’s Notes, 22 April) on the futility of unusable excess, I passed the article to my better (bed-hogging) half, to see if it struck a chord, only to have her point out that the same theory applies to my Omega Seamaster dive watch. It’s water resistant to 600m, but the only time it gets wet is when I do the washing up. Francis Street Düsseldorf, Germany MY PERFECT COMBINATION To prolong the debate on road noise, I just had a BMW 335d Touring xDrive for a weekend test drive. Awesome car, and hard to resist as an all-round vehicle. Not sure, though, that I could put up with the road noise from the 19in rims, pretty as they were. I might have…

A week off: unshackled from my daily commute up and down the M3, I plugged ‘Keswick’ into the Octavia’s sat-nav and went on holiday to the Lake District. This is a regular trip; each April I chauffeur my parents to the north-west of England for a week of fell walking. Their ‘fleet’ comprises an LDV panel van and an S-reg Citroën Xsara diesel, so it’s always interesting to hear their opinions on the cars we travel in. In previous years I’ve tackled this trek in a Subaru XV, Toyota Auris Hybrid and Nissan Qashqai. After racking up 850 miles during this year’s holiday, the verdict from that back seat was that the Octavia was the “most comfortable and quiet” of the cars we’ve used — two qualities not to be…

READER’S CAR: BMW 520i Michael Hanavan loves his LPG-converted 1994 BMW 520i automatic, which he bought off a pal at work for £500 six years ago. “I fitted a couple of new wings and a bumper, all for £30 off eBay,” says Michael. “I also got the wheels blasted and painted. I was granted first pickings off a 525tds that was being scrapped, so I had the driver’s seat, among other bits and bobs. The car had 116,000 miles on the clock when I bought it. It’s now done 193,000 and I’ve every confidence it will get to 200,000 and beyond.” CAUGHT MY EYE THIS WEEK: DVLA REFUNDS The DVLA is still upsetting Autocar readers. I think the one-month rule on refunds and no partials isn’t very clever. The technology…

Honda NSX Late2015 Honda’s iconic sports car has been reborn as a 550bhp hybrid, aiming to offer the excitement of a Ferrari 458 for the price of a Porsche 911. A twin-turbo V6 engine powers the car, in conjunction with three electric motors. Price £75,000 (est) SPRING Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, Ariel Nomad, Aston Martin Lagonda Taraf, Audi A1 facelift, R8, BMW 1 Series facelift, 2 Series Gran Tourer, Bristol Project Pinnacle, Caterham Sevens, Citroën C4 facelift, DS 5, Ferrari LaFerrari FXX K, Ford C-Max, Grand C-Max facelift, Galaxy, Hyundai Genesis, Jaguar XE, Land Rover Range Rover Evoque facelift, Mazda CX-3, McLaren 570S, Mercedes-Benz C350e, C450 AMG, GLE63 AMG, Mini JCW, Peugeot 208 facelift, Ssangyong Tivoli, Toyota Avensis facelift, Vauxhall Viva, Volkswagen Golf Alltrack, Golf GTD estate, Polo Bluemotion, Volvo…

For many of the new customers Jaguar is targeting with the XE, staying connected while on the road is an absolute necessity either for work, journey guidance or merely for entertainment purposes. That’s why the manufacturer has designed and developed a new infotainment system called InControl. InControl – one of several pieces of impressive new tech in the XE’s cabin, along with its new laser head-up display system – is based around an 8.0in touchscreen. When an iOS or Android smartphone is hooked up to the car, the contents of the phone can be presented and operated via the car’s screen, taking connectivity to the next level. “The relationship with the car in the past used to be from the moment you unlocked the door,” says Peter Virk, head of…

TOM TERRY WOLVERHAMPTON PLANT APPRENTICE Tom Terry is one of 34 apprentices building a career in JLR’s Wolverhampton plant. He’s a second-year, and if he stays the course, which he is absolutely determined to do, he’ll become a fully fledged mechanical and electrical maintenance engineer. He’s 23 and came to JLR after a spell in the army. “I loved it, but my combat role was never going to get me a trade, so I applied to join JLR here. It’s a great stepping stone to the career I want. There’s an apprentice manager on site, but it’s already pretty clear that being successful is mostly a self-driven thing.” CARLOS CAPELETT CHIEF ENGINEER, BODY PROGRAMME For Carlos Capelett and his team – which is responsible for Jaguar’s new vehicle architecture, from…