Innholdsfortegnelse for July 22, 2015 i Autocar

The new Renault Mégane will go on sale in the UK early next year, with its styling heavily influenced by the new Renault Espace and Talisman models. This more mature and more premium look has been revealed in the French media and has also been evident in recent spy pictures of the Mégane. This suggests that all new Renaults upwards of the Mégane’s expected 4.4m length will adopt this look, while the smaller Twingo, Clio and Captur will retain a more heavily stylised design. The upmarket move is driven by the need for the Mégane, which is based on the Renault-Nissan CMF platform that also underpins the Qashqai and Kadjar, to compete for sales with the likes of the Volkswagen Golf. The European sales success of the Peugeot 308 has…

Lightly disguised prototypes of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Cabriolet have hit the road in Germany ahead of a planned unveiling at the Frankfurt show in September. This is Mercedes’ first S-Class Cabriolet. Known by the internal codename C222, it is being pitched as a rival to the Bentley Continental GT Convertible. Prices are set to range from £100,000 to more than £200,000 when UK sales start early next year. Caught here for the first time is the range-topping S63 AMG model, which receives the same 577bhp twin-turbocharged 5.5-litre V8 engine as the S63 AMG Coupé. The line-up will also get a 449bhp 4.6-litre V8 in the S500 Cabriolet. Later on, Mercedes will add a 621bhp 6.0-litre V12 in the S65 AMG. Autocar understands the S-Class Cabriolet will be sold with standard…

The new Mercedes E63 AMG will have “the next step” in the development of the 4.0-litre V8, which means it will have “something in the range” of 600bhp, according to sources. This is notably more power than that of the Mercedes-AMG GT sports car, which has 510bhp. This engine would put the E63 even further ahead of the Audi RS6 and BMW M6, both of which offer 552bhp. It would be the first time that the super-saloon power war hit 600bhp for a standard production car. The new E63 is expected to be lighter than the outgoing version and will be the first AMG model to use the new nine-speed automatic transmission. There is no confirmed date for the E63’s arrival, but it is expected to go on sale in…

Hyundai is poised to launch an i20-based crossover in Europe as a rival to the Nissan Juke and is evaluating an i10-based crossover as it determines how far the trend for downsized soft-roaders can extend. To date, Hyundai has taken a cautious approach to the booming small SUV market, claiming it would only launch models when there was global demand for them. As a result, the Qashqai-sized Tucson is currently its smallest globally sold crossover. However, while Europe has led the way with sales of Juke-sized crossovers and SUVs, there is now a growing appeal for such cars in Asia. Consequently, Hyundai is launching the mid-size Creta in selected emerging markets, while insiders suggest that an i20-based crossover is being developed for launch in Europe within the next two years.…

HYUNDAI IS CONTINUING to monitor the sports car market for a possible future launch but has yet to make a business case for such a car, according to UK boss Tony Whitehorn. Now-departed Hyundai Europe boss Allan Rushforth had previously said the firm was looking at a premium sports car to help increase the emotional appeal of the brand, with inspiration coming from 2014’s PassoCorto concept. However, since Rushforth left Hyundai for Nissan, the idea appears to have been put on the backburner. “Not many people make money out of sports cars,” Whitehorn said. “The sports car market is shrinking dramatically, and even firms with heritage and a great product are struggling. Aside from the Audi TT and Mazda MX-5, it is a tough place to be.” Instead, Hyundai is…

QUICK FACTS PRICE £31,500 (EST) ON SALE NOVEMBER We’ve been here before: not only does the new, fifth-generation Audi A4 look fairly similar to its predecessor, but the messages about the car coming out of Ingolstadt are familiar, too. When the outgoing car was launched in 2008, Audi told us the new model was bigger, more dynamic, cleaner and more spacious inside and featured more technology than the version that it replaced. Our road test team was less convinced by the sum of those parts, awarding the car a 3.5-star rating out of five and bemoaning that it didn’t quite live up to the lofty claims of its maker. Mind you, that didn’t prevent the A4 from selling strongly around the globe and, to be fair, Audi improved the car…

QUICK FACTS PRICE £36,060 (EST) ON SALE OCTOBER In the six years since its launch, the BMW X1 has garnered 730,000 sales worldwide, making it easily the most successful entry in the compact premium SUV class. So this Mk2 model has a lot to live up to. BMW has given its new SUV a more rugged appearance than its predecessor’s. There’s a much bolder front end, with angular headlights, foglights sited within the front bumper, a contoured bonnet, prominent wheel arches, a more heavily structured body and greater ground clearance. The new X1 is 36mm shorter but 21mm wider and 53mm taller than the old model, although it rides on a 90mm longer wheelbase and its tracks have been extended by 61mm at the front and 32mm at the rear.…

Race one of the Radical SR1 Cup and race one, turn one of my motor racing career. Copse at Silverstone, no less. Race one, turn one… and spin one. And then someone hit me. It wasn’t the best start to what has been an eventful season so far. Autocar is racing in the Radical SR1 Cup this season to discover how much of a challenge it is for a raw novice to get involved in motor racing. In the three rounds so far, I’ve had a spin on the first corner of the first lap, a spin at the final corner of the final lap and a trip to the medical centre in an ambulance after a 120mph crash. We’ll come to that, but up first was the full grand…

MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR In your 1 July issue, I think you mixed up the interior photos of the Hyundai Tucson and Audi Q7. In the Tucson, you show a dashboard with a well-integrated infotainment screen, whereas in the Q7, you show a sat-nav slapped on top of the dashboard as if it were an afterthought. In the same issue’s super-saloon comparison, the interior photo of the Vauxhall shines over the two German premium brands for the same reason. D Johnson via email FUEL MY RAGE Loyal readers deserve an explanation as to why you had the old Ford-engined Jaguar XE 2.0 200 in your road test (Autocar, 1 July). Surely, even the V6 S model will sell more than this variant. Richard Seddon Ormskirk Driving impressions of…

Mileage 1810 There have been some significant developments in the world of infotainment for our Skoda Fabia. When my car was built, it was fitted with a touchscreen display and MirrorLink software, which allows you to pair your phone with the car and use it to access satellite navigation. Brilliant — no need to buy an aftermarket unit and you can display other phone apps on the car’s screen. Problem is, MirrorLink only works with Android phones, so my iPhone is no use. There wasn’t an option to spec sat-nav on the Fabia, either, although Skoda said the take-up for it was so minimal on the previous Fabia that it shouldn’t be an issue. But it’s a shame to have such an attractive screen that works so well in other…

1 Citroën Mehari (19681 988) The definition of utilitarian design and simplistic engineering, the Mehari was based on the popular 2CV. Most examples were front-wheel drive, but in 1979 Citroën introduced a version with four-wheel drive. Power came from a 602cc flat twin engine connected to a seven-speed manual gearbox. The Mehari, which achieved a cult status among fans, was exported around the world, even forming part of the Irish Defence Forces in the 1970s, although today it retains its most significant following in southern France. Restored examples can be found online for as little as £5000. Watch out for a rotting chassis on well-used models, however. 2 Suzuki Vitara Cabriolet (1989 1998) The rough and ready Vitara, which was available in both convertible and hardtop forms, was first introduced…

Audi will preview a new electric-powered SUV at the Frankfurt motor show this September. It will take the form of what well-placed insiders describe as a “production-relevant zero-emissions concept”. It is currently undergoing the final stages of construction at the company’s Ingolstadt engineering headquarters. The high-riding five-seater is known under the internal codename ‘C-BEV’ and was initially hinted at during Audi’s 2015 annual accounts press conference in April. This electric SUV has been conceived as a direct rival to the all-electric Tesla Model X in an engineering programme instigated by the company’s head of research and development, Ulrich Hackenberg. The C-BEV is claimed to provide clues to an upcoming Q6 SUV model. An initial concept of the C-BEV will be unveiled at the upcoming Frankfurt motor show, prior to “a…

MERCEDES-BENZ R&D BOSS Thomas Weber has confirmed that petrol-electric AMG performance cars could be on sale by 2020. Weber has said Mercedes is looking at adapting its current hybrid powertrain technology for use by its AMG performance division, with production cars likely to arrive by the end of the decade. Weber told Autocar there is increasing pressure on AMG to reduce the CO2 output of its model lines and the most effective way may be to apply its existing hybrid technology. “Every car line has to reduce fuel consumption — even AMG,” said Weber. “No one part of our business can be carried on the back of another. It’s a huge task to reduce AMG fuel consumption but we’ve realised that it’s also a huge opportunity.” The EU’s latest weighted…

McLaren will replace its current 650S models with an all-new supercar in 2018, Autocar has learned. Currently referred to as the P14, the new model forms part of the British manufacturer’s commitment to launch a new model every year. The car is expected to feature McLaren’s carbonfibre tub and 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged engine, although its power output will be extended beyond the 641bhp of the 650S. Peak power of 660bhp would match the P14’s closest current rival, the Ferrari 488 GTB, and still allow the 675LT to crown McLaren’s Super Series range. However, because the 675LT is limited to just 500 units, McLaren may choose to surpass that car’s 666bhp output as well. To beat the Ferrari, McLaren will have to ensure the P14 can reach 62mph in less than 3.0sec…

KIA WILL LAUNCH its first sports car “by the end of the decade”, according to UK boss Paul Philpott. Details of the new model are limited, although Kia says it will draw from the knowledge it has gained from developing the widely admired GT and Stinger GT4 concepts. The GT is an elegantly aggressive four-door, rear-drive coupé, while the Stinger is a more compact coupé in the mould of the Toyota GT86. The new car will be a model in its own right rather than being based on another Kia and will be “affordable”, according to Philpott. He added that it will need to be sold worldwide to achieve viable production numbers. Such a move means the US market will influence its format heavily, although Philpott expects the model to…

SPANISH SUPERCAR FIRM AD Tramontana is bringing its closed-top Tramontana R to the Salon Privé event near Oxford this September as it marks the official start of sales in the UK. The road-legal, entry-level Tramontana R has a choice of a Mercedes-sourced 710bhp twin-turbo 5.5-litre V12 or an Audi-sourced 592bhp naturally aspirated 5.2-litre V10. A top speed of 186mph is claimed, with a 0-62mph time of less than 3.6sec. The mid-range Tramontana XTR also features the V12 engine and is geared for pure track performance. In this form, it has a top speed of more than 202mph and can reach 62mph in less than 3.3sec, the firm claims. The top-level XTR-GT takes the V12’s ouput to 838bhp. Power is sent to the rear wheels through a six-speed sequential transmission. All…

AUDI HAS PUT a lot of effort into cutting wind noise and that included resiting the exterior mirrors. “The old car had a problem in the mirror area and so on this car we moved the mirror to a place that is better for wind noise,” said Audi’s head of total vehicle development, Michael Neumayer. “It’s easier to mount it in the old position because it’s so stiff, but to put it onto the door, we had to work to incorporate some stiffness into the door panel itself.” The A4’s levels of refinement were pushed forward by technical chief Ulrich Hackenberg and his fastidious approach. “He’d drive our development cars every two weeks and point out where we needed to improve,” said Neumayer.…

QUICK FACTS PRICE £37,500 (EST) ON SALE SEPTEMBER The Volkswagen Passat GTE is the latest in a long line of ultra-low-emissions mid-sized plug-in hybrids. To be sold in saloon and, as driven here, estate forms, it can run exclusively on electric power or on a mix of petrol and electric power. The Passat GTE uses a specially tuned version of VW’s 1.4 TSI engine that develops 164bhp and 184lb ft. The engine is supported by an electric motor located within the six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, from where it produces 113bhp and 243lb ft. The motor, which is powered by a 9.9kWh battery sited under the rear seat, can operate on its own or in tandem with the petrol engine. VW quotes combined outputs of 215bhp and 295lb ft – 14bhp…

EVs are the way to go As someone who drives a Nissan Leaf regularly, I regard the progressive improvement and electrification of cars as a fabulous thing. The Leaf is excellent family transport, especially in town. Everybody who has driven it says the pick-up from rest is incredible. They also comment on how swift it is to respond at almost any speed and how easy it is to imagine that performance versions of electric cars could well be spectacular. As time goes on, the range will improve and batteries will become even more impressive. I suggest people take the chance to drive an electric car. As soon as the range is improved, there will be very little to recommend any fossil-fuelled car. WIN Letter of the week wins a ValetPRO…

It’s a very different type of Porsche, the Panamera S E-Hybrid. And yet, somehow, it still manages to live up to the brand’s values. Now, any of Autocar’s road testers will tell you that a 2.5-tonne, five-metre-long behemoth is about as far as you can get from a Cayman GT4 — and in so many ways they’re right. But where the Panamera does score is its technical flair — in this case, the intricacy of the hybrid powertrain more than Porsche’s usual engineering in the name of pure performance. Editor-in-chief Steve Cropley borrowed the E-Hybrid for a weekend recently and his summary was succinct and deadly accurate: “I love the consistent feeling of deliberateness and precision about every pedal, lever and switch,” he said. My appreciation goes even further: I…

Taxpayer-subsidised vehicles are a bone of contention for me. I have a thing about how my money is spent and once got into a lot of trouble for suggesting that I could do it better. I noticed recently that the Ministry of Defence has splurged £120 million on new motors. Why? These are not fighting vehicles but essentially runabouts for short journeys, all on some sort of clever lease arrangement. So if I were going to recommend a runabout for the MoD to buy in bulk, what would it be? First, a Honda Civic. I’d be tempted to go for something from 2000 for £350. For that, you get a 1.5i VTEC Sport — a practical five-door job that will never wear out. However, many of them will have been…

Hyundai i30 N Performance 2017 Hyundai will use a tuned version of its i30 hatchback to kick-start its new N Performance division. Set to rival the Volkswagen Golf R and Ford Focus RS, the hot i30 is being engineered with an all-new platform and a turbocharged engine using experience gained in the World Rally Championship. Price £27,500 (est) SUMMER Aston Martin Vantage GT12, A8 Sport, Q7, BMW 3 Series facelift, Cadillac CTS-V, Chevrolet Volt, Citroën Berlingo Multispace, Ferrari 488 GTB, Ford Edge, Honda Civic Type R, HR-V, Jazz, Lamborghini Huracán Spider, Aventador Superveloce, Land Rover Range Rover SVAutobiography, Lotus Evora 400, Mazda MX-5, McLaren 675 LT, P1 GTR, Mercedes-Benz GLE, GLE Coupé, Mercedes-Maybach S600, Mitsubishi L200, Peugeot 2008 facelift, Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Boxster facelift, Boxster Spyder, Renault Kadjar, Toyota…

AUDI’S MODEL PLANS are taking shape. The high-performance SQ7 is expected to be the next production SUV to be revealed. It is due to appear at the Detroit motor show in January. The production version of the Q1 is tipped to be the next major motor show launch after that and will make its debut in Geneva next March. It will share the show stand with the facelifted A3 range. The second-generation Q5 is further down the line and most likely to appear at the Paris show in October 2016. The A8 luxury saloon will be replaced in the first half of 2017 and will be revealed in the spring of that year. Although the new A4 (driven on p30 ) will make its debut at the Frankfurt show…

RENAULTSPORT is open to the prospect of using hybrid powertrains to enhance its future Renault performance models, according to the company’s managing director, Patrice Ratti. Asked at the recent FIA Formula E Championship round in London whether he could see a future in which electric and hybrid technology would be applied to Renaultsport road cars, Ratti said: “I like to. Today the problem of a fully electric sports car is that you need a lot of batteries, but we’re also working on hybrid for sports cars. “Hybridisation could help because of the CO2 [savings]. What’s also great with electric motors is the acceleration. We’re working on it, but we cannot go too expensive with technology.” Renaultsport’s current crop of high-performance road cars — such as the Clio RS 220 Trophy…

THE MERCEDES C-CLASS Coupé is being launched later this year and we’ve had a ride in the new model. The rear of the prototype to which we’ve been privy features two individual seats separated by a centre console, effectively making it a 2+2. Because of the plunging roofline and heavy tapering at the rear of the glasshouse, the rear seats of the C-Class Coupé have been moved forward and inwards from the position they occupy in the C-Class saloon in order to provide sufficient head and shoulder room. That said, the rear is not exactly easy to enter, and nor is it particularly roomy. It’s fine for children under double-digit years, we’d suggest, but it is not ideally suited to adults for longer journeys. Because of the drop in seat…

The governments of Poland and Slovakia are slugging it out to land a big automotive investment deal that is widely believed to be a new Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) factory. The deal is tipped to involve a £950 million investment and the resultant plant could have a capacity of up to 350,000 units per year. Although neither country has publicly announced that it is in talks with JLR, Janusz Piechociski, the Polish deputy prime minister, said at the end of June that the country had reached the sixth round of negotiations with a premium car manufacturer for the construction of a new plant. Reports in the Polish press say up to 6000 people could be employed at the new site. The timetable to get the plant running is tight, according…

QUICK FACTS PRICE £259,500 ON SALE NOW Oh hello, I didn’t expect that. There’s this corner on Silverstone’s International circuit. Well, there are a few, obviously. But there’s this one on the new section at Abbey that in most cars is a fast (and in a McLaren 675LT an extremely fast) left-hand sweep. It’s fourth gear and probably taken at around 80mph, although I’m not looking that closely at the speedo because, halfway through it, I apply a bit too much throttle and the 675LT indulges me in what it thinks I’d like it to do and steps smartly sideways. A McLaren 650S wouldn’t have done that. It would have been rather more governed by the grip at its front end, but the limited-run 675LT, which, McLaren says, is a…

QUICK FACTS PRICE £21,780 ON SALE NOW It’s fair to say that, thus far, the current Renault Clio RS has been a disappointment. Previous to it, four generations (five if you include the Williams) of the Renaultsportfettled supermini were imperious, successive class leaders, and most were an object lesson in cheap fun. Their replacement managed to be none of these things, saddled as it was with too many doors, too little power and a fun-dampening EDC dual-clutch automatic gearbox. Its shortcomings, one suspects, were not lost on Renault’s famed motorsport division, because many of them have been addressed in this, the 220 Trophy version. It’s still a five-door and still an automatic, but the ‘220’ in the name refers to a 10% power hike to the car’s now Euro 6-compliant…

The A95 runs south from Munich for about 10 miles before it becomes derestricted. It isn’t one of Germany’s grandest or busiest autobahns – not at mid-morning on a weekday, at any rate, because it arrows straight into the foothills of the Austrian Alps – and southern Germany heads there mostly at the weekends. So for the rest of the week outside of rush hour, the A95’s two lanes are pleasingly light on traffic and ideal for gathering your first impressions of a brand-new German sports saloon such as the near-£40k, 322bhp BMW 340i. Cars like this quickly find their niche on the autobahn. Powerplants that might otherwise seem profligate can suddenly bring their talents to bear. Rolling chassis and steering systems tuned to reassure with their high-speed stability and…

Among the profusion of supermini-sized pseudo-SUVs vying for your money, launching one that isn’t either very good, very desirable, very practical, very different or very cheap is becoming a bad idea. That, in a nutshell, is what Mazda has done with the CX-3. Now is the time to launch a car such as this, without a shadow of doubt, but no longer will any car do. Every rival in our top five has a more powerful selling point than the CX-3, be it value, space, design appeal, usefulness, unlikely dynamism or, in some cases, a mix of several of the above. The hook we were expecting from Mazda has failed to materialise. Broadly speaking, the CX-3 handles as well as plenty of rivals, from a Citroën C4 Cactus to a…

Meet the E-Class’s biggest fan. He’s called Erwin and while he may be named after The Desert Fox, he is actually 50kg of prime Alsatian, possibly with a bit of wolf mixed in for good measure. Erwin does not belong to me, not least because I’d fear that if I were ever unable to satisfy his craving for red meat, he might prove minded to substitute his usual pile of dead cow for something warmer and on the bone — my leg, for instance. Erwin’s usual mode of transport is a BMW 3 Series Touring, but the fact that it’s also an Alpina is lost on him. Erwin has a Labrador friend called Horace, but it’s not really practical for them to travel together in the BMW. But the E-Class?…

READER’S CAR: FORD MONDEO ESTATE Lee Davis calls it the Minty Avenger. It’s a green, 187,000-mile 2001 Mondeo 1.8 Zetec estate that he bought for £350 with FSH and six months’ MOT. “The car has been a revelation,” says Lee. “Granted, the power steering pump is a bit whiny and the AM on the radio doesn’t seem to work. But it doesn’t consume oil or water, gives 35mpg, the air-con is icy cold — and it has just sailed through another MOT. It even doubles up as a camper van for when me and my better half, Sarah, head to Cornwall for a spot of surfing.” CAUGHT MY EYE THIS WEEK: FREE ADS Do you still pay to advertise your car for sale? I just wondered, as it now seems…