Innholdsfortegnelse for September 23, 2015 i Autocar

AUDI UNVEILED ITS next-generation S4 at the Frankfurt show. The saloon arrives with a new lightweight 3.0-litre turbo petrol engine, which produces more power and torque and has better economy and lower emissions than the old car. The latest S4 gets a new single-framed grille, 18in alloy wheels and revised front bumpers with more prominent air inlets. The rear bumpers have been restyled, with four tailpipes underneath. The mirror housings keep their traditional chrome look. Drive is delivered through Audi’s quattro all-wheel drive set-up. A self-locking differential sends 60% of power to the rear axle and 40% to the front in normal conditions. The diff can direct up to 70% of power to the front and up to 85% to the rear as required. The 3.0 TFSI engine has 349bhp…

FORD HAS REVEALED vital statistics for its new, third-generation Focus RS. It covers 0-62mph in 4.7sec, has a top speed of 165mph and is priced from £28,940 in the UK. The 2.3-litre four-pot Ecoboost engine puts out 345bhp at 5900rpm, with maximum torque of 324lb ft delivered between 2000rpm and 4500rpm. An overboost function delivers up to 346lb ft for up to 15sec. The Focus RS’s 0-62mph time makes it the fastest-accelerating RS model yet. The accelerative prowess of the all-wheel-drive hatchback is aided by a launch control system, the fitment of which is a first for a Ford RS model. The driver selects launch control from the cluster menu, engages first gear, applies full throttle and releases the clutch. The system then delivers optimum drive — including distributing torque…

MERCEDES-BENZ IS preparing the most radical E-Class AMG in its history. According to AMG boss Tobias Moers, it is “not an evolution like we have done before, but a revolution — easily the biggest step we have ever taken with an E-Class”. The changes are said to come in every area, with improvements to ride, refinement, fuel economy and emissions as well as additional performance and handling dynamism. More significant still, the new car will be four-wheel drive only. However, in an effort to allay the fears of buyers concerned that the E63 AMG might lose some of its driver appeal, Moers said: “We have made sure it will still do skids, drifts and all the stupid stuff we love.” Key to this is a brand-new rear axle design, first…

The Nissan 370Z will not be replaced by an “evolution” of the current car, Nissan’s product planning chief Philippe Klein has confirmed. His words heighten speculation that the Gripz concept closely previews the next Z car. Although he said the 370Z remains a success and Nissan was in “no urgency” to replace it, he added that when the replacement comes, “standard evolution is not best for this kind of product”. “We won’t see a 390Z or 400Z,” he said, as it “doesn’t make a lot of sense” in the current market. As for just how closely the concept previewed a new Z car or otherwise, Klein answered that people should “make their own speculation”. “I won’t give clues,” he said. “That’s the spirit of a concept car. “The concept is…

The Maserati Levante SUV will be revealed at the Geneva motor show in March, company boss Harald Wester has confirmed. Wester said pre-production of the Levante will start soon and it will be in production at an extension of the firm’s Miafori plant by February. He revealed that it will be based on “100% Maserati parts” and not borrow anything from other Fiat Chrysler Automobiles brands, including Jeep. To that end, it will be based on the same platform that underpins the Ghibli and Quattroporte and will be sized and priced between those models. It will also use the same V6 and V8 engines, transmissions and all-wheel drive system as those cars. The original plan was to have the Levante in production in Detroit by now, as part of Maserati’s…

CITIGO Skoda’s baby city car will get a refresh in 2017 before an all-new version arrives in 2019. The next generation is likely to become Skoda’s first electric vehicle. High-level sources suggest a city car with at least 125 miles of real-world range — including use in cold temperatures — could be sold at a Skoda price level. OCTAVIA Skoda views the Octavia as its most important model overall, so it is investing heavily in an extensive facelift, due in 2017. The new model will get a radical split-headlight set-up at the front and crisper lines more in line with the latest Superb’s. The next Octavia will also get plug-in hybrid technology. ROOMSTER Skoda has yet to decide whether it should bring the next Roomster to the UK. The car…

The Mercedes-AMG G63 is a lightly facelifted version of the earlier Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG. Along with the subtle alteration in name, the square-rigged off-roader receives a moderate hike in reserves, some mild chassis tweaks and a more luxurious interior. It’s hardly a major upgrade but Mercedes deems the changes sufficient enough to allow it to raise the price from an already inflated £129,375 to £131,675. Choose the limited-volume G63 Edition 463, as driven here, and it rises to £149,970. While instantly recognisable as the military-grade Geländewagen in production for nearly four decades, the facelifted G63 is distinguished from its less powerful G350d and G500 siblings by a unique front bumper and grille insert, wider wheel arch flares, running boards and, on the Edition 463, a stainless steel protection plate and…

Let’s assume that you start with five stars here because the GT4 is fabulous to drive but, in the spirit of harsh criticism, you try to lop off half-stars for the Cayman’s failings. What to remove for the fact that this car doesn’t have a full-on GT engine? Well, it won’t fit, and the base price is £64,451 and you can’t have one for that. So five stars it stays. The gearing is too long? With this engine, you notice it less than in a GTS; and Porsche GT boss Andreas Preuninger likes it that way because he likes second as a driving gear. Were it not for him, there’d be no GT4, so we’ll let that go, too. Some options are expensive? At the moment, somebody will pay you…

L life around town is pretty relaxing in the Fabia . It’s quiet, it deals with speed bumps and potholes in a firm but competent manner and the clutch allows for a smooth getaway at the many traffic lights and roundabouts I have to endure on a daily basis. When our test car arrived, the transmission showed a slight reluctance to move into first gear, but that seems to have disappeared as well. All that said, there are two things that are preventing it from being perfect city transport, and one of them is starting to bother me more than the other. The less irksome one is the fuel consumption, mainly because it is entirely predictable that a small turbocharged Fabia is going to struggle to match its 60.1mpg combined…

READER’SCAR:SAAB900CONVERTIBLE Joe Briley has a 1996 Saab 900 2.0 Turbo Convertible with a fresh MOT. It has done just 78,000 miles and has a full history, although sadly the roof doesn’t work. If that sounds a bit like an advert, then it sort of is. Joe needs to move it on and is looking for £650 or so. Considering that it has full cream leather and those lovely Turbo alloys, it seems like a bit of a steal — provided you can sort that reluctant roof out. If you’re interested, I will ping your details on, but I won’t do ads like this every week. It’s unprofessional and doesn’t pay. SEND YOUR BANGERNOMICS TALES TO JAMES Twitter: @Bangernomics Email: james@bangernomics.com WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE THIS WEEK: RANDOM PRICING…

Jaguar paid close attention to Porsche’s Macan when developing its new F-Pace SUV, senior company officials have revealed. Speaking to Autocar at the Frankfurt motor show, vehicle line director Kevin Stride said Jaguar owned several different Macans and all at the company thought it “a fantastic car”. Stride believes the F-Pace is at least a match for the Macan on dynamic ability, but the F-Pace is the better overall proposition because of its extra space, practicality and value. “We mention the Macan as we think it’s great,” he said. “As an engineer, you can be objective as well as emotional on these things. Dynamically, it raised the bar. We like it, and it’s where we’d like to be, so it’s a good reference point. The Macan encouraged us. We knew…

CARS DEVELOPED FOR Hyundai’s new performance N division will be “track-day-capable”, according to Albert Biermann, head of the firm’s vehicle testing and high-performance development. Biermann said the cars he and his team were developing would benefit from significant engineering improvements, such as better engine and brake cooling and much greater durability for suspension components. “We want these N cars to be affordable high-performance,” he revealed. “It will be the wild end of the brand. We will develop a handful of models over the next five years.” Biermann said the N division models would be subjected to as much as 10,000km of testing at the Nürburgring circuit. “We do this primarily for the purposes of durability testing,” he said. “If we look at a rubber suspension bush, we might have a…

THE DESIGNER OF the Honda Project 2&4 hopes the firm will have the confidence to put the model into production and has said it is technically feasible. Martin Petersson, who works as a designer at Honda’s motorcycle division in Japan, said: “Crazy ideas sometimes reach this level [concept car], and occasionally they go to the next step. I think this one needs to.” He added: “Honda offers something unique. They really do have some cool things. They’ll let this sink in, then look at how to push on.” Petersson said he had designed the 2&4 — a 405kg machine powered by a road-going version of Honda’s V4 MotoGP engine — with current safety legislation in mind. “It’s tricky, but we’ve made sure there is space to build in the required…

YOSHIKAZU TANAKA, CHIEF engineer for the Toyota Mirai, has indicated that he would like to see the firm’s hydrogen fuel cell-powered car “procreate” and spawn a family of fuel cell vehicles. He gave a time frame of 10-20 years before fuel cell cars are as much a part of the automotive fabric as hybrids are today, putting them on a similar trajectory today as the Prius was at the end of the last century. Tanaka would not be drawn on which configurations would lend themselves to fuel cell power, but a well-informed source confirmed that estate, hatchback, MPV and SUV variants could all be under consideration. In the meantime, Tanaka said progress is now advancing so fast that a fuel cell that weighed 108kg in 2008 and produced 121bhp now…

MERCEDES-BENZ IS close to revealing an all-new standalone electric car with a range that could be in excess of 300 miles. R&D boss Thomas Weber said the new car was possible thanks to “the next generation of lithium ion batteries, which have not only double the energy density but also reduced costs, perhaps by half, which we think will be very attractive for the customer.” Weber said the car will have a real-world range of “between 400km and 500km” (248-311 miles). The new battery technology will also benefit Mercedes’ existing and rapidly expanding portfolio of plug-in hybrids, extending their electric range “from less than 35 miles to over 50 miles”. It’s understood that the new electric car will not be an electrified version of an existing or forthcoming model. Instead,…

The fourth-generation Renault Mégane, due next year, will again spawn performance-focused Renaultsport variants. When asked about the possibility of a new Renaultsport-fettled Mégane, Renault design chief Laurens van den Acker said: “Yes, of course, there will be one.” Patrice Ratti, boss of Renault Sport Technologies, stopped short of confirming the Mégane RS but talked about the kind of technology future performance Renaults would use. Significantly, it could come with a manual gearbox. This would mark an about-turn for Renault, which has been stung by criticism of its decision to supply the Clio RS with the EDC dual-clutch transmission only. Ratti said: “The EDC move has done us a lot of good, opening up massive sales boosts in Japan and Australia for instance, our second and third biggest markets. But we…

VOLKSWAGEN GROUP boss Martin Winterkorn has apologised for “breaking the trust” of customers and the public in the wake of allegations that the firm manipulated emissions testing regulations in the US. Winterkorn said he has ordered an external investigation into the matter, which came to light when the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Air Resources Board revealed that while testing diesel cars from the VW Group, they had detected manipulations that violated American environmental standards. Volkswagen is understood to be recalling 500,000 cars on the orders of US regulators. It is also pausing US sales of the latest Volkswagen and Audi models equipped with the four-cylinder diesel engine that is at the heart of the controversy. The cars are said to be fitted with a ‘defeat device’ that…

Small family cars are writ so large into the fortunes of mainstream car companies that nobody dares be without one. Even Nissan, which successfully hung its fortunes on crossovers and SUVs, was told by fleets it needed a conventional hatch, and so ponied up the Pulsar. If you want to sell lots of cars in Europe – as Vauxhall/ Opel does – you have to offer a small family car, which is why now even Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW sell them. As if the mid-market wasn’t having a hard enough time already. There is probably no more important car launched this year, then, than the new Vauxhall Astra, tested here in right-hand-drive form close to Vauxhall’s Luton HQ, rather than as an Opel-badged left-hooker in the south of France or…

Most test cars come for a week, some for a year. But in a few cases, the tedious old laws of supply and demand exert more than their usual pressure. In this case, the supply is easy to quantify: it is the only right-hand-drive Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce in the country, which for the purposes of this exercise we will call ‘one’. The demand is every single person in the land with even the most slender claim to being even a rough approximation of someone who might loosely be referred to as a motoring journalist. This we can call ‘several thousand’. Even if Lamborghini whittled this down to a couple of hundred and each had the car for a week, it would take four years to do the rounds. So, and…

FUEL PRICE FLUCTUATIONS I was interested to read Peter Williams’ (no relation) justifiable comments about the disparity of fuel prices between supermarkets/high streets and motorway services (Your Views, 9 September). He should try living in Germany. Fuel prices at high street and autobahn stations fluctuate several times a day, depending on demand. Fuel can be 8-10 cents (6-8 pence) per litre cheaper in the evening (low demand) than in the middle of the day (high demand). It’s nothing to do with oil prices. It’s pure profiteering. Philip Williams Düsseldorf, Germany NO CHARGING AROUND I have recently taken an extended test drive in the Tesla Model S P85. I agree that the acceleration is addictive but it comes at a severe price. My test drive was just under 40 miles…

During my entire education, I left the UK’s shores just once. We boarded the Newhaven-Dieppe ferry, went to France, where I bought some frites and bangers (the exploding kind), and came home again. By contrast, next year and among a wide range of overseas activities, my elder daughter will spend a month trekking in the Himalayas, building a school and tripping over mountains. Somewhat to her surprise, rather than simply forking out for it, I offered instead the services of a trusty E-Class and a parental chauffeur to enable her to visit local car boot sales and flog the small warehouse of rubbish she has accumulated in her first 16 years. It’s gone remarkably well, and for two reasons. The first is that having briefly been a retailer in a…

1 Audi A7 3.0 TDI 272 S line (2015) Buying nearly new was a strategy that paid off for Roger Hanson, as he explains: “I was due to change my Jaguar XF and wanted a four-seater with an element of exclusivity and performance but wished to avoid smaller prestige manufacturers, such as Maserati and Porsche, where dealerships are scarce and maintenance costs are at a premium. “I purchased an eight-month-old Audi A7 3.0 TDI 272 S line with 3600 miles on the clock for £36,750, a saving of more than £16,000 against the list price. It’s a pleasure to drive: fast, practical and economical. Bang for buck indeed.” 2 Alfa Romeo SZ (1992) Stuart Underwood from Weston-super-Mare used Autocar for buying inspiration in 2004. “I was sorely tempted after reading…

• All-electric Q6 e-tron quattro to outsprint SQ5 • 0-62mph in 4.6sec • Range exceeds 311 miles • Boost function gives 496bhp The production version of Audi’s all-electric e-tron quattro will go on sale in 2018 at a price of around £60,000, Autocar has learned. The car has been revealed in concept form at the Frankfurt motor show, but Audi has already confirmed that it will be offered for sale, badged as the Q6 e-tron quattro. Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi’s head of research and development, said: “It’s a concept car but it’s very close to the production car.” Luca de Meo, Audi’s sales and marketing boss, told Autocar the electric model will “cost about the same as a well-specced Audi A6”, suggesting it will appear at a price point of at…

BUGATTI HAS REVEALED full details of its concept car for the Vision Gran Turismo video game and it previews some styling elements of its next road car, the Veyron replacement currently dubbed Chiron, which is due in 2017. The four-wheel-drive racing car concept is powered by a W16 engine and features Bugatti’s traditional horseshoe emblem on the front grille, which is flanked by specially developed ‘eight-eye’ headlights. The lights also serve an aerodynamic function, acting as air intakes to cool the brakes. Bugatti says the concept presents “the new form and design language developed by the brand to celebrate the next chapter in its history following the end of the Veyron era”. Production of the Veyron recently came to an end with the La Finale special edition, unveiled at the…

The production version of the 600bhp Mission E will occupy a regular slot in Porsche’s line-up because the company believes electric cars will have become well accepted by the time it goes on sale, in around 2019/20. Project chief Stefan Weckbach said: “The question is whether there will just be battery car enthusiasts in four or five years’ time, or will there just be people who want a nice-performing car?” The product planning case for the 4.8-metre-long Mission E is based around the assumption that electric cars will be mainstream models, which explains why the Mission E is sized to sit below the Cayenne and Panamera. “We don’t want to substitute our Panamera or SUVs, so we have targeted a smaller segment,” said Weckbach. Because of that and its electric-only…

BENTLEY IS PLANNING to launch a 200mph sports version of the new Bentayga SUV in a couple of years’ time. The Bentayga, powered by a new 600bhp W12 engine, is rated at 187mph, but Bentley sources have previously said 200mph was a marketing target for the luxury 4x4. “We will have it [200mph] on a coming model — a sports model,” a senior source revealed at Frankfurt. The factor limiting on the Bentayga has been tyre design, but 200mph-capable rubber is in development. “We hope to have those tyres signed off soon,” said the source. Sustained running at 200mph causes a significant build-up of heat in the tyre and that can lead to tread blocks failing or, in extreme circumstances, the entire tread delaminating from the carcass. Given that the…

ALL-ELECTRIC SMARTS are set to return to the city car range. Both Fortwo and Forfour EVs will be on sale from late next year. The announcement was made during a conference held by Mercedes-Benz boss Dieter Zetsche and Renault-Nissan Alliance boss Carlos Ghosn, who were speaking at an event held by the joint-venture partners. The electric Smarts, which will also be available in Fortwo cabriolet form, will sit on the same platform as the Renault Twingo, which was co-developed by the partners. The new Smarts will use a modified version of the Renault-developed electric motor that is currently on sale in the Zoe but will have a battery developed by the Daimler-owned company. There is no news on whether an electric version of the Renault Twingo will be sold, but…

Skoda is lining up a style-focused Range Rover Evoque rival as part of a rapid expansion of its SUV line-up that will usher in three additional models and an all-new Yeti by 2020. The first new Skoda SUV will be a 4.7-metre-long rival for the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento. Due on sale in the UK in early 2017, it will be available in five or seven-seat configurations and with front or four-wheel drive. The plug-in hybrid tech shown in the Volkswagen Tiguan at last week’s Frankfurt motor show could also be offered. Autocar has seen a preview of the vehicle, which has a clamshell bonnet and slimmer headlights than the latest Superb and Octavia. Viewed from the side, the front end is remarkably similar to a Range Rover’s.…

The Renault Kadjar has got one over on many of its rivals. While there are plenty of models like the Qashqai out there, only the Renault is based on Nissan’s winning formula, sharing the Qashqai’s engines and platform. On top of this the Renault is cheaper to buy than the Nissan and, some would say, has a touch more pizzazz. We even know, from our international first drive, that it has reasonable composure. It feels like a race already won, but stranger things have been known to happen than for a seeming dead-cert winner to fall at the last fence. Here we’re trying the front-wheel-drive Kadjar 1.6 dCi 130 (on-demand four-wheel drive is a £1500 option) in the UK, to find out if it really could take the shine off…

On 1 May, Neil Thomas, director of investigative services for APU, a company that recovers stolen vehicles, received an alert from a tracking device fitted to a British-registered Lexus RX450h that placed it in Le Havre, France. The car, the property of Accident Exchange, APU’s sister company, which arranges loan cars for drivers involved in accidents that were not their fault, shouldn’t have been there because it wasn’t insured for international travel. APU specialises in looking after car fleets and carrying out investigations relating to accidents and motor insurance fraud. It monitors the movements of cars with a total value of more than £60 million via the use of tracking devices and its own bespoke Asset Recovery Unit. When the Lexus alert occurred, APU checked out the story of the…

I can’t be the only one confused by current car names/numbers. BMW model numbers no longer denote the size of the engine; Jaguar has a series of Xs dropping back in the alphabet (presumably after the iconic XJ); Mercedes-Benz tries far too hard with ‘class’ in the description; and Audis are just confusing (isn’t A1 a better grade than A8?). Why don’t we have names of trees as car names? It would be especially helpful in promoting a low-CO2 footprint. Bonsai would be a micro car, redwood a large pick-up truck, oak a trusted, solid, reliable car, poplar… well, you get the idea. TC Boles via email…

It’s not such a big deal, you know. It’s only 3200 miles and the Defender is a car like any other. A slightly slower, noisier, thirstier and harder-riding car than most cars, but it’s still perfectly capable family transport. Curiously, though, tell people you’re driving to southern Portugal and back in a Land Rover Defender 90 and they think you’re stark raving bonkers; as if using a car built for adventures to go on a bit of an adventure is the last thing you should be doing. But really, honestly, it’s no trouble. Anything but, in fact. There are four of us in my family and a modern 90 seats four. So two of us sit in the front, where the seating position is fine (a touch cramped to the…

I’ve been driving brand new cars again. I suppose I ought to apologise, but sometimes doing so helps to make sense of the used car market. Right now, I’m sitting in a brand new Fiat 500, which is a very nice place to be. It is cool and funky and available on a real-world PCP that could put it outside your city pad for just £199 a month. The thing is, though, squint and the pre-facelift 500 looks pretty much identical to the new one. And you don’t buy a 500 for its on-the-limit handling. The conclusion of my unscientific poll of largely female car buyers is that they would buy one (or have done so) because it looks cute. There is nothing wrong with that, of course, given that…

ToyotaPrius Spring2016 The fourth-generation Toyota Prius will arrive in the UK early next year featuring styling derived from the hydrogen fuel cell-powered Mirai. It’s based on Toyota’s new TNGA platform and is expected to feature a revised version of the current car’s 1.8-litre petrol engine and electric motor, returning up to 82mpg. Price £22,000 (est) SUMMER Aston Martin Vantage GT12, Audi A8 Sport, Cadillac CTS-V, Chevrolet Volt, Citroën Berlingo Multispace, Ferrari 488 GTB, Honda Jazz, Lamborghini Huracán Spider, Aventador SV, Land Rover Range Rover SVAutobiography, Range Rover Sentinel, Evora 400, 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 Mirai, Avensis facelift, Volkswagen Passat GTE, Passat Alltrack, Passat Bluemotion AUTUMN/WINTER Alpina D3…