Innholdsfortegnelse for December 9, 2015 i Autocar

GREAT TO SEE Volvo on a high, following up the well-received XC90 with the bold and daring new S90, about which you can read on p8. If it drives as well as it looks, the S90 (and its estate-bodied V90 counterpart) could give Audi, BMW, Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz plenty of food for thought. The prospect of a Polestar-tuned performance version, meanwhile, has our pulses quickening while we wistfully recall the likes of the 850 T5 R. The miserable, stuttering end to Volvo compatriot Saab as a credible car maker should serve as a solemn warning of how coveted automotive brands should be. Of course, Volvo is under Chinese ownership, but its current ‘Made by Sweden’ marketing line is a firm indication of the defiant independent streak that continues to run…

THE LAMBORGHINI URUS 4x4 will be powered by the firm’s first turbocharged V8 when it goes on sale in 2018. Chief executive Stephan Winkelmann and R&D boss Maurizio Reggiani confirmed to Autocar that the Italian company’s first SUV will eschew the naturally aspirated V10 and V12 units of the current Huracán and Aventador in favour of a bespoke twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8. Winkelmann described the move as “a major step” for the company. As well as CO2 emissions benefits, a turbocharged V8 makes sense because of the extensive torque spread. Reggiani said: “In acceleration and in off-road capability, it is really important to have a high level of torque, in order to move as quickly as possible and to have the ability to come out of a critical situation easily.” Winkelmann…

JAGUAR LAND ROVER is considering a bid to buy Silverstone race circuit. The Financial Times reported that JLR has asked property consultant Cushman & Wakefield to value the circuit. It is understood that the circuit would become JLR’s UK HQ, with plans to develop a heritage centre, museum, design workshop, hotel and customer handover buildings. Parts of the circuit could be used for driving experiences and driver training. The value of Silverstone is reported to be £22.7 million. According to proposals, JLR would make the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC), which currently owns the venue’s lease, a tenant. Silverstone Circuits Ltd, a BRDC subsidiary, would operate it on JLR’s behalf. Racing is expected to continue if the deal goes ahead, although the future of the loss-making British GP would be…

The ruination of the Porsche 911 Carrera, by the abandonment of naturally aspirated engines and the adoption of turbochargers, has been one of this year’s hottest talking points – and, inevitably, quite needlessly feared. Rest assured, the 911 is alive and kicking – still rich, rev-hungry and sabre-edged under your right foot, still precise, tactile, characterful and responsive in everything it does. It’s not totally unchanged, granted, but still special. If last month’s five-star review of the new 414bhp Carrera S wasn’t proof enough, take this one as a bankable certainty. We’ve now driven the car in right-hand-drive form on UK roads and in bottom-rung Carrera manual trim. And although it represents a bit of a departure for one of the world’s longest-serving and biggest-selling sports cars, the new 911…

There’s a memorable episode of Alan Partridge where the eponymous radio show host becomes increasingly exasperated by a Liverpudlian named Tex (Terry) who gets his Dr Pepper from the cooler, man-worships John Wayne and calls his lone pick-up truck ‘Convoy’. For the past half a century, buying a Ford Mustang in this country has come with the same Route 66 ‘he likes American things’ whiff. Most people, I’m sure, will have filed the distant icon into the same ambivalent head space that includes baseball, bull riding and pumpkin pie. For much of that time, Ford did little to counter the sentiment. Almost immediately, the original ‘pony’ car concept (an American descriptive fraught with peril) was reborn as the Capri – a significant success in its own right. The Mustang itself…

Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda, for reasons too often raked over to be worth repeating. World diesel demand, waning because of the above scandal, which reminded the car industry’s many vehement critics that promised ‘combined’ fuel economy figures have never been delivered. Owners of keyless premium models, who learned that nicking their cars by hacking their software was “ridiculously easy”. Current EU emissions tests, now roundly discredited in the wake of the Volkswagen scandal. The Land Rover Defender, which will be officially laid to rest on 31 December. It has been such an icon that the company is still arguing over the specification of its replacement. Owners of Volkswagen Group diesel cars, whose trade-in values are 10-20% softer than before.…

Cars are great, aren’t they? Fast, big, posh, practical, cheap, lightweight… they’ve all got a draw, a simple wonder at what man can make from base materials and the significance of that engineering feat. And then you come face to face with a 7.6-tonne Supacat HMT400 – complete with desert camo paint, 16 smoke grenade launchers, gun turret, hydraulic suspension, switchable four-wheel drive and about as much swagger as a vehicle could muster. Crucially, it also has steel armour plating for mine and ballistic protection. Anyone involved with the military is likely to be familiar with this vehicle, which is more commonly known as the Jackal. It has been around since 2002 and, following heavy demand from the Ministry of Defence, was being produced at a rate of one a…

Just how fast, then, is a BTCC racing car compared with a fast road car and, for good measure, a BSB superbike? Not entirely by coincidence, we had all three at Silverstone’s Stowe circuit on the day I drove Matt Neal’s car. For the purposes of this test, though, Neal stuck to his own Civic, BSB riders Jenny Tinmouth and Dan Linfoot were on their respective Honda Fireblade superbikes, and I was in the road car, a McLaren 650S. For what is an exceptionally habitable road car, the 650S makes for an extraordinary track machine. The small Stowe circuit has a number of short corners, which give more opportunity to brake into the apex as the McLaren prefers, to quell any understeer and provoke the rear, giving it a lovely,…

I feel I have addressed the car’s strengths and weaknesses and need bore myself no further going over them again. The more useful conclusion I can reach is to judge the DB10 relative to the other cars you have seen fit for me to drive in the past. If we gloss over the Germans (please), we’re left with a smattering of Lotuses (or should that be Loti? I read Chinese at university) and the Astons. Clearly, the Volante was a terrible mistake, but the remainder have been broadly fit for purpose. Between it and the DB5, I confess to being torn. As a piece of equipment, the DB10 is more effective, but as a personal statement, I incline towards the Superleggera bodywork. By contrast, the Esprit was my most effective…

Let us pray for good weather on 3 August 2020. On that day, Jaguar’s evergreen former chief test driver, Norman Dewis, will reach his 100th birthday – and the only present he wants is a chance to lap the famous MIRA banked track at 100mph at the wheel of his favourite car, the late-1960s experimental mid-engined Jaguar XJ13 he developed there. The 2020 experience, when it happens, will take Dewis straight back to the place where he amassed more than a million miles in prototype Jaguars, driving at 100mph-plus average speeds. Dewis joined Jaguar from Lea Francis in 1951, just after the C-Type delivered its first Le Mans win, and worked on all the classic Jaguars: the XK140 and XK150 sports cars, the D-Type and XKSS sports/racers, the peerless E-Type,…

‘Everyday supercar’ award McLaren 650S Spider The remarkable thing about the 650S is its breadth of ability for what, let’s not forget, is a car at the rarer end of the supercar spectrum. It’s as quick around a circuit as a Ferrari 458 Speciale and stands up to repeated track-day abuse magnificently, but then you can pootle to work or back home in genuine comfort. You don’t feel too indiscreet doing that, either. Oh, and the roof goes down. MARK TISSHAW ‘Making the right impression’ award Citroën C4 Cactus The parents at my daughters’ school don’t usually enthuse about the cars I turn up in, but our bright yellow C4 Cactus stopped them dead. They smiled at its exuberance, purred over its eye-catching Airbumps and asked the right sort of…

1 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster (2007 2009) You can’t go wrong with side-exit exhausts, can you? Well, the curious product of Mercedes-Benz’s and McLaren’s collaboration isn’t the finest example of ankle-burning motoring around, but it’s a serious bit of kit that blends a 617bhp 5.4-litre V8 with a five-speed auto ’box, super-sharp steering, finickety brakes and a hefty kerb weight. Jaw-dropping top-down looks and a raucous exhaust provide much compensation, however, as does a 0-62mph time of 3.8sec. Expect to pay £300,000 for an immaculate example of the rare and distinctive Roadster with less than 15,000 miles on the clock. It should be reliable and usable, too, furthering its appeal. 2 Saleen S7 (20002006) If you’re in the market for a hand-built supercar, Saleen isn’t a name that jumps to…

MASERATI NEEDED TO prioritise the Levante SUV in order to build the brand’s visibility, sales and profits ahead of the launch of the Alfieri sports car in 2018, according to the brand’s European general manager, Giulio Pastore. The Levante will be revealed at the Geneva motor show next March before going on sale in late 2016. It will be a Porsche Cayenne rival, and styling cues include a long bonnet and sloping roofline. Insiders say the car has been heavily restyled from the 2011 Kubang concept, taking cues instead from the 2014 Alfieri sports car concept, which will become the company’s halo model. “We are building to 2018, when we will realise the potential of the brand,” said Pastore. “The Alfieri will represent the absolute DNA of the brand, and…

McLAREN HAS TAKEN the roof off its 675LT to create a new Spider variant. It will go on sale next summer for £285,450 — almost £26,000 more than its coupé sibling. Styled in the same vein as the coupé, the 675LT Spider’s three-piece hard-top can be opened at speeds of up to 19mph and is stored under a tonneau cover when folded away. The open-top McLaren weighs 1270kg dry, a full 100kg lighter than the 650S Spider and 40kg heavier than the 675LT coupé. McLaren says that due to the inherent strength of its carbonfibre tub, no further strengthening was needed in the creation of the convertible. Mechanically, the Spider features the same twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre V8 engine as the coupé, producing 666bhp at 7100rpm and 516lb ft of torque between…

The Mercedes-Benz GLS is a facelifted version of the GL, which went on sale in the UK in 2012. The new GLS name aims to provide the big seven-seat SUV with some of the cachet associated with the S-Class. Along with the new name, the GLS receives a series of subtle exterior styling changes, including a new grille, a new front bumper, revised headlight graphics and new wheels. The revisions continue inside, where the GLS gets an upgraded dashboard, new instrument graphics and a new multi-function steering wheel. The engine line-up includes both carry-over and upgraded petrol and diesel units. In selected markets, buyers will be able to choose between two petrol engines, but Mercedes-Benz UK is concentrating its sales efforts on the 3.0-litre V6 diesel GLS 350d 4Matic, driven…

Plug-in hybrid powertrain technology is flooding into the performance car market as all advanced technologies tend to: from the top down. It has transformed the modern hypercar into something we wouldn’t have recognised 20 years ago, and has left a big impression on the sports car scene in the outlandish shape of the BMW i8. And while the lukewarm Volkswagen Golf GTE has already given it an outing of a sort among hot hatches, its debut is nothing compared with what Peugeot is plotting: a 500bhp, four-wheel-drive mega-hatch capable of acceleration and responsiveness unmatched in the class. So can the 308 R Hybrid be to the 308 GTi what the Porsche 918 Spyder was to the Carrera GT: an utterly transformative step-change? There are certainly as many technical similarities to…

Revolutionary AstonDB11gets all-newpowertrain Aston Martin’s relationship with Mercedes-AMG, via a 5% Daimler shareholding in the British firm, will bring rich pickings. Bloodhoundruns! British land speed car, serially delayed, is due to run in the UK early next year, then go to South Africa to hit 600mph. We wouldn’t bet on the second bit… Fordwins LeMans–again Fifty years on, the Yanks prepare to repeat the heroic one-two-three GT40 victory of 1966. (They’ll be lucky.) The200-mile electriccarishere General Motors, driving US demand for 200-mile battery cars, believes improving batteries may reduce market need for plug-in hybrids.…

PORSCHE AT LE MANS Fast but fragile in 2014, the German manufacturer honed the 919 Hybrid’s technical package to perfection for this year’s 24-hour race. After a sometimes fraught dice with sister marque Audi — including a few instances of bodywork bashing between the rival cars — Nico Hülkenberg, Earl Bamber and Britain’s Nick Tandy pulled clear for Porsche’s 17th outright Le Mans victory and its first since 1988. HAMILTON vs ROSBERG, SEASON 2 The bitterness that simmered between the Mercedes team-mates throughout the 2014 season was even less well concealed this year. Moody post-race body language spoke volumes, culminating after the US GP when Rosberg angrily threw back a Pirelli podium cap that winner Hamilton had flippantly tossed to him. KRIS MEEKE WINS IN ARGENTINA Britain had been bereft…

MATT PRIOR BAJA BUG 1961 THE ARIEL NOMAD is to blame. I drove it, loved it, and three days later my colleague Lewis Kingston and I were sharing posts from a sandrail buggy forum’s ‘For sale’ section. Two clicks away from a rolling buggy chassis (that would have been killer with a turbocharged Subaru engine) was this, a 1600cc 1973 Volkswagen Beetle in ‘Baja Bug’ style. It was cheap, pink, available, didn’t need much work and, I thought, might just answer my need for a deft, softly sprung car that would be as entertaining on a green lane or field as it would be on the road. It doesn’t. Dynamically, the Bug is quite possibly the worst car I have ever driven – and I’ve driven a Tata Safari. The…

“IT DOESN’T GET much better than seeing ‘New Ferrari, Italy’ in the photographers’ diary with your name on,” says Luc Lacey, this rig shot of a 488 Spider being the standout image from the trip. Lacey also caught this twin drift shot of the BMW M4 and Lexus RC F during a gorgeous sunset, something that seemed unlikely after the foul weather that day. “With cars coming straight for you at 60mph-plus, it’s nice knowing your colleagues are on their game,” he says. Stan Papior’s static shot of the Ferrari F355, Honda NSX and Porsche Cayman GT4 was taken at a location he’s used a million times before, but it shows what can be done when you use the shape of the cars to form the image. “THIS WAS SHOT…

RELEASE THE SPIDERS The Fiat 124 Spider is not an affront to the 124 Spider name. Sure, it’s not as ‘pure’ as the 1960s original, but neither is the world we now live in. It looks like it would be quite colour/wheel specific and is done no justice by photos. Subtle tweaks to the grille sizes would make it even better in my eyes. Good luck with the car, Fiat, although I don’t think you’ll need it. Bring on the Abarth. Mike Spencer via email 124 REASONS TO LOVE FIAT It is encouraging to read your positive views on the new Fiat 124 and 500X after so many weeks of news dominated by the Volkswagen emissions scandal. The motoring equivalent of the Lib Dem party, Fiat has always been…

The other day I noticed that a Mk3 Ford Escort sold at auction for £60,000. I grant you that there was a turbocharger under the bonnet and an ‘RS’ in the model description, but perhaps this is the point at which we all throw up our hands at the utter madness of classic car prices. Instead, let’s take a gander at the really interesting motors that cost rather less than £60k. I always keep an eye on the Citroën C6 as the last of the properly odd French cars, before the more recent crop of oddities get affordably old. The trouble is that C6 sales were marginal and the ones that do look tempting in the £3000 region will always have issues, often of the suspension kind. So the safe…

Volvo has revealed its new S90, the model that the Chinese-owned Swedish manufacturer hopes will finally allow it to break through the German dominance of the executive car market when it arrives in UK dealers next summer following its debut at January’s Detroit motor show. The S90, which will rival the BMW 5 Series, Audi A6 and Mercedes-Benz E-Class, as well as the Jaguar XF and Lexus GS, sits on the same platform technology as Volvo’s recently launched XC90 SUV and will make use of the innovative hybrid powertrains already adopted by that car as it aims to become the cleanest vehicle in the class. Volvo’s Scalable Platform Architecture (SPA) is designed to underpin multiple models engineered to display one of three basic characters. The smaller 40-series cars will be…

Lamborghini has revealed more clues about the ’surprise’ limited-edition production model it will reveal at the Geneva motor show next March to honour what would have been the 100th birthday of Ferruccio Lamborghini. The company’s founder was born on 28 April 1916, and Stephan Winkelmann, the current president and chief executive, said: “We will do something special and show it in Geneva.” He explained that the vehicle will be “a mix of technology demonstrator and street-legal car, which is important for the people who will buy it”. The model is understood to be a supercar in the mould of previous special editions such as the Sesto Elemento, Aventador J and Reventon. It is expected to be the most technologically advanced Lamborghini yet, bringing together the company’s latest developments in terms…

This spy picture offers the clearest look yet at the Bugatti Chiron hypercar, the Veyron replacement due to be unveiled at the Geneva motor show next March. The picture shows a late-stage Chiron prototype in testing. Although much of its styling is camouflaged, new elements — including thinner LED headlight clusters, a more prominent front grille and flatter bonnet — can be seen. The Chiron will take some styling inspiration from the recent Vision Gran Turismo concept, which made its debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September, as is clear in this picture. Power for the new car is tipped to come from an uprated version of the Veyron’s turbocharged 8.0-litre W16 engine.…

The all-electric Porsche Mission E has been confirmed for production, and will rival the Tesla Model S when it arrives in showrooms in around 2020. The concept, which was first revealed at the Frankfurt motor show in September, has been given the green light by Porsche’s supervisory board. Porsche says more than 1000 new jobs will be created at its Stuttgart HQ. Around €700 million (£505m) will also be invested in its main factory, with a new paint shop and assembly plant being built there. The factory’s existing engine shop is being expanded to produce electric motors alongside combustion engines, while the body shop will be enlarged. Porsche’s Weissach development centre will also receive new funding. The company says the Mission E is intended to “combine outstanding driving performance with…

MERCEDES DOES NOT plan to go beyond nine gears in its automatic gearboxes, a senior engineer has revealed. Ford and General Motors are among those committed to developing a 10-speed auto. The Volkswagen Group has shelved similar plans. Mercedes, meanwhile, intends to offer no more than nine gears, according to Marcus Sommer, Mercedes’ 4Matic all-wheel drive system engineer. He said the firm has run 81 billion different computer simulations for gearbox scenarios and believes nine speeds work best. Mercedes’ nine-speed auto is being introduced across the range, including on the new GLS. The GLS 63 AMG still uses the old seven-speed ’box, but the nine-speeder will replace it. Mercedes has no plans to offer a more potent GLS 65 AMG version, though. Plug-in hybrid tech will also have to wait…

This is the new version of Lexus’s RX, a luxury SUV that rivals the BMW X5 and Volvo XC90. It’s a car that has proven popular thanks to its classic Lexus virtues of steadfast reliability and build quality, comfort and a clean hybrid powertrain. There have always been gripes with the RX, however. A relatively small boot meant it was never the most practical choice, nor was it particularly pleasing to drive. Many also found the hybrid version inefficient in real-world driving. Most of the revisions for this fourth-generation RX focus on those issues. It’s been lengthened and widened to offer more interior space, revamped aerodynamics and powertrain upgrades are said to boost economy, and a stiffer shell and revised suspension and steering aim to deliver keener handling. The styling…

Steering Lotus Evora 400. Superbly tactile and communicative, wonderfully weighted, positive and balanced on lock. MS Ariel Nomad. Only a lightly loaded, unassisted front end can feed feel back this purely. MP Engine Ferrari 488 GTB. Because Ferrari has managed, at a stroke, what McLaren has yet to quite perfect: outstanding response, huge torque, stirring noise and a building power delivery from a downsized turbocharged V8. NC Noise Easy: the Lamborghini Aventador SV. Loud, raw, violent and unadulterated. Half V12, half angry chainsaw. MS It’s the Ferrari F12tdf, whose naturally aspirated V12 sounds like a Formula 1 car ought to. MP Brakes Ariel Nomad. Not hugely powerful, not backed up by anti-lock. So what? They make you want to be a better driver. Pedal is brilliantly feelsome and exactly where…

VW sensationally betrayed not only millions of loyal customers but also the majority of its 650,000 employees when it was revealed, following third-party testing in the US, that many of its diesels and an unspecified number of petrol models incorporated engine control software designed to ‘defeat’ legislated tests with untrue emissions readings. The company has admitted its guilt and claims to be working hard at righting the wrongs (correcting existing cars is expected to take a year), but it has yet to reveal who was responsible for the outrage or exactly how it happened. Until it does so, its many fine words of apology will carry little weight. What they said: “Almost every major story you publish seems to have a ‘Watch out, Porsche’ line. What have Porsche got to…

PHOTOGRAPHY LUC LACEY The most serious Boxster is resolute, hard-edged, hugely quick and capable The English have been professionally mining slate from Honister for at least the past 300 years. To begin with, it was hacked and clawed from the grey hills as it had been since Roman times, the fragile yet impervious stone shuttled precariously down the slopes on pack ponies, or on wooden sledges that were hauled back to the summit on a man’s back once emptied. The methods persisted for centuries, only to be swept aside by the industrial revolution’s preoccupation with scale, muscle and bone supplemented with the indefatigable motion of tram, track, rail and road. A road reached the summit in 1879, the smooth sinew in a plan to extract 3000 tons of Westmorland Green…

This isn’t unusual. Not many people who aren’t Matt Neal drive Matt Neal’s racing car, but the casual nature with which he hands it over is, in my experience, fairly standard. Racing car drivers are more relaxed about their cars than their race engineers are. I suppose it stands to reason. Neal is used to taking his Honda Civic out in the middle of a pack of other British Touring Car Championship cars and it’s a series not renowned for upholding the mantra that racing is a non-contact sport. There is a very good reason that, in addition to an extremely wide rear-view mirror above my head in the centre of the cabin, there are mirrors by the side windows that do precisely the same as the door mirrors do.…

It would be nice to think that McLaren’s company car park in Woking might be full of tatty F1 mules, PCP-expired P1s and maybe something secret swathed in camouflage and powered by teabags. The reality is actually rather more exciting, as Autocar finds out when we wait for the ladies and gentlemen of McLaren to arrive at work in their daily drives and weekend wheels. “I have always liked pick-up trucks, so when the chance to buy a Ford 150 Harley Davidson came up, I took it,” says Gavin Latham (job: final inspection), who introduces me to the least McLaren-like motor, which at least runs on LPG to make life slightly less expensive. Another attention-grabbing Yank is a blue Ford Mustang GT convertible. Owner Gavin Dykes (lead engineer) says he…

We like to think we’re an amenable lot at Autocar; we often spend huge amounts of time in each other’s company, be it on either side of a desk or at a windswept Millbrook. But there is one subject that raises hackles and causes division like no other: long-termers. It’s worth pointing out that long-termers aren’t necessarily chosen by the staffers who run them. Lifestyles and personal requirements are taken into account, so someone with a family of five doesn’t end up with a two-seater, but beyond that it’s generally pot luck. Nor does the car’s guardian end up choosing the precise spec; we’re usually so keen to get cars of the moment into our car park that we can end up accepting them fresh off the launch, loaded to…

You asked if the Fiat 124 Spider is a good idea or bogus (Leader, 25 November). I think it’s a bit of both. Platform sharing with the Mazda MX-5 can be no bad thing, but how genuinely ‘Italian’ it is might be contentious. It looks good and at least has an Italian heart, albeit transplanted. It’s great that it exists and surely it shames MG’s owner, SAIC. If Fiat Chrysler Automobiles can muster the 124, why can’t SAIC do the same for the MG B, a formerly more successful rival to the 124? It might actually drum up some custom in place of the present sad situation. John Miles Ruislip WIN Letter of the week wins a ValetPRO exterior protection and maintenance kit worth £58.95…

READER’S CAR: FIAT MAREA WEEKEND Kevin Brock bought his 2000 Fiat Marea Weekend 115 ELX on eBay for £310 in summer 2013. It had 101,000 miles showing, a cambelt change and four previous owners. Kevin says: “Over the past two years, we’ve put another 10,000 miles on it and it hasn’t missed a beat. It’s just got through its third MOT test with only a bit of welding at a cost of £280, including MOT. The only other bills in the past year have been a new exhaust and a couple of tyres. My wife and I love it. We’ll just keep it until it drops.” WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE THIS WEEK: DODGY ADS Dodgy auction ad sites listings at deceptively turn up on low well prices -known . They…