Innholdsfortegnelse for December 23, 2015 i Autocar

JAGUAR’S ENTRY INTO Formula 1 at the turn of the century came in a blaze of publicity, and yet the manufacturer slunk away in 2004 with just two podium places to show from five years of huge investment. The campaign was stymied by political in-fighting and bizarre publicity stunts, such as the time when precious diamonds were fixed to the nosecones of the racing cars to promote the movie Ocean’s Twelve. Now Jaguar – a company transformed since the F1 days – is making a return to single-seater racing in the electric FIA Formula E championship (see p22 and p44). Despite the harrowing experiences of F1, this could prove to be a smart move for them. Jaguar Land Rover has already laid out how significant a role electric vehicles will…

FOR THE PAST few years, design director Gerry McGovern and other Land Rover executives have spoken of a ‘three-pillar’ model strategy. Within it, there will be three product lines: ‘Luxury’ Range Rovers, ‘Leisure’ Discovery models and ‘Dual Purpose’ Defenders. The plan has always looked impressive during presentations, but the only real ‘family’ seen so far has been Range Rovers. It’s been a deliberate decision. “There’s been a lot of focus on Range Rover, but you need it to build revenue,” says McGovern. With revenues now up, attention has turned to expanding the Discovery range. The more upmarket Discovery Vision concept of 2014 set the blueprint for this plusher, sleeker range of Discovery models (something that continued with the Discovery Sport), and McGovern says a more universally appealing design for the…

Why will hydrogen prevail? “Every solution leads to hydrogen; either you use renewable energy sources to create and store hydrogen, or you use traditional fuels like coal to create hydrogen. Either way, hydrogen is the way to store energy and control supply and demand.” Isn’t hydrogen dangerous? “Something that isn’t explosive doesn’t produce energy; all fuel is dangerous. But the hydrogen tanks are subjected to extreme safety tests and pass them.” How quickly will fuel cell car technology progress? “Very fast. In the past 60 years performance has improved 200 times. That rate is increasing. Battery and fuel cell will coexist, but fuel cell is the best powertrain for larger vehicles.”…

VOLVO IS LOOKING to launch a bespoke service for customers who want more luxury or unique colour schemes on their cars. An appetite for high-end Volvos became clear when First Edition XC90s, priced at £68,000, sold out within 48 hours despite being available in only one colour and trim option. Volvo says it sees increasing demand from high-end customers who want to customise their cars. “Work is ongoing to see what opportunities are there,” said Iain Howat, Volvo UK’s head of product. “If we do something, it would be along the lines of what they do with the Range Rover Autobiography. But we have to get the basics right. There are active discussions and mock-ups based on the Concept 26 interior have been made, which look very close to production.”…

THE ‘CHELSEA TRACTOR’ phenomenon lives on, if sales of the new Volvo XC90 are to be used as a barometer of large SUV sales in Britain. Volvo’s Chiswick dealership is currently selling the highest number of new XC90s in the UK, despite its outer-London location. THE NEW VOLVO S90 will not be launched with an ultrahigh-spec limited-edition run, as the Volvo XC90 was. Although all 1927 examples of the £68,000 First Edition XC90 sold out in less than 48 hours, the company said the promotion’s success could not be repeated if it was employed for every new launch. VOLVO UK WILL continue to expand online sales and pop-up stores in shopping centres – but never at the expense of existing dealers, according to MD Nick Connor. “Every manufacturer will go…

In the days before Bernie Ecclestone, when motorsport ran on shoestrings, its supporters justified new investment in racing by claiming it “improved the breed” of road cars. They were right. Disc brakes, aerodynamics, engine management, materials technology and driver safety all made big strides in racing and rallying, and road cars benefited greatly. Then everything changed: Formula 1’s rules and technology became focused in a way that started to exclude most road cars. Meanwhile, with their low-profile tyres, self-levelling suspension, advanced diesel engines and suites of driver aids, road cars found their own path away from racing. Until now, that is. Suddenly, the union between road and racing is back with a bang, following Jaguar’s bombshell announcement of a pioneering foray into Formula E next year that shows how new-tech…

MODEL TESTED 2.0 BiTDI 204 Executive SWB • Price £43,322 • Power 201bhp • Torque 332lb ft • 0-60mph 11.6sec • 30-70mph in fourth 11.7sec • Fuel economy 37.9mpg • CO2 emissions 171g/km • 70-0mph 53.2m Any car maker setting out to design a £40,000 luxury seven-seater in today’s SUVobsessed market would be very bold indeed to use a ‘light commercial vehicle’ – a van, to you and me – as a starting point. But this week’s road test subject, the new Volkswagen Caravelle, is no ordinary seven-seater. And the Volkswagen Transporter with which it shares its basis is no ordinary LCV, either. Before the introduction of the Caravelle’s earliest predecessor, there was no such thing as an MPV, or really even what we’d recognise as a modern van. The…

Lexus NX300h Mileage 9985 Last seen 18.11.15 Despite the abundance of crossovers on our roads, it’s the progenitor of the breed, the Nissan Qashqai, which still grabs the limelight. Like our NX, it’s refined, spacious and easy to drive. In many ways it plays Sinatra to our car’s Matt Monro. Our NX is impressive, but the Qashqai will always be chairman of the board. MP Suzuki Celerio Mileage 6009 Last seen 18.11.15 Knowing that the Celerio is 80-90kg lighter than the Volkswagen Up, I’ve spent the past 6000 miles wondering why it feels so rigid and rattle-free. It’s down to good design and an absence of weighty gadgets, I guess. True, the trim doesn’t feel substantial, but it’s perfectly durable. As a result, I’ve come to prefer the performance and…

Mega-hatches 1 Volkswagen Golf R From £30,000 Blends the formerly unblendable: VW sophistication with frenzied driver appeal. Fantastic value for money. 2 Audi RS3 From £40,000 Too closely related to the VW to justify its price, but the five-pot makes it mind-meltingly fast. Comfy now, too. 3 Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG From £38,000 The new RS3 may make it sound a little tame, but that doesn’t mean the Merc’s appeal is lost on us. Far from it. 4 BMW M135i From £31,000 Puts the old-school heft of a six-cylinder engine front and centre. Doesn’t quite have the handling to match. 5 Subaru WRX STI From £29,000 Not a hatch and not brilliant, but the WRX is the last outpost of the once mighty Japanese presence in this class. Sport coupés 1…

Recent news that Volvo is planning a Polestar-fettled version of its upcoming V90 estate should come as music to the ears of fans of fast wagons. However, the fact that it will be a hybrid probably means it won’t be as aurally exciting as the throbbing five-pot that powered the Swedes’ first spirited load-lugger, the 850 T-5R. Inspired by the 850 estate campaigned by the likes of Dutchman Jan Lammers in the 1994 British Touring Car Championship and using a modified version of the five-cylinder unit fitted to the crowd-pleasing racing car, the T-5R came as something of a shock at the time. Just 200 of the 2500 production run came to the UK, at a price of £26,995 for the saloon and £27,995 for the estate. Colour choice was…

VIDEO Best of 2015 Ken Block and our other highlights of the year BLOG Darren Moss Inside the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class BLOG Alan Taylor-Jones Why McLaren’s 570S was my star car of 2015 NEWS Autosport show Full preview of January’s motorsport spectacular REVIEW Ford Ranger Does Ford’s pick-up make sense in the UK? FIND US AT autocar.co.uk youtube.com/autocar autocar.co.uk/facebook twitter.com/autocar at the Apple App Store Download our Car Name Game and Car News apps autocar.co.uk/mag Download the digital edition of Autocar wherever you are in the world every Wednesday Autocar magazine is also published in Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Middle East, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. autocar.co.uk/subscriptions For all our latest subscription offers…

New Seat boss Luca de Meo believes his company has “a historic opportunity” to lift itself away from the Volkswagen-led mainstream and “become a front-runner in some important areas” as a result of the recent upheaval at its Wolfsburg-based parent. De Meo (right), who took command at Seat barely six weeks ago, believes the recent announcement by group chief Matthias Müller that divisional managements should be more devolved in future may allow Seat to be a leader in areas such as infotainment, “rather than just living under the same umbrella” as the rest the group divisions. “I have some ideas already,” he said, “but they are only ideas.” For now, de Meo is intent on implementing departing boss Jürgen Stackmann’s “solid and logical” model and business plans, which are understood…

Mercedes-Benz’s AMG performance car division has resurrected the ‘43’ model designation on a new range-topping version of the SLC, the facelifted version of the roadster previously known as the SLK. Pictured here ahead of a planned public debut at next month’s Detroit motor show, the SLC43 replaces the SLK55 AMG. Power for the heavily reworked rear-wheel-drive roadster hails from the same twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 as that of the S400 Coupé. With 362bhp and 384lb ft of torque, the new engine delivers 53bhp and 14lb ft less than the naturally aspirated 5.5-litre V8 used by its predecessor. But while the SLK55 developed its 398lb ft of peak torque at 4500rpm, the SLC43’s can be tapped from 2000rpm, suggesting the new model will offer more flexible performance. The SLC43’s 0-62mph time is…

JAGUAR HAS BEEN top-line racing three times before. The first was in the 1950s, when C and D-Types took five Le Mans wins, spawning road cars that included the E-Type and establishing the rules of ‘Jaguarness’ that still exist. Next came the TWR era. In the early 1980s, Tom Walkinshaw-engineered XJSs won the European touring car championship and Australia’s Bathurst 1000. This was followed by the rise of a generation of Walkinshaw Group C Jaguar racers, which won Le Mans in 1988 and 1990 and underscored their domination with a win in the 1991 World Sports Car Championship. Then in 2000 Jaguar’s new owner, Ford, purchased the Stewart grand prix team in a rush of blood and rebranded it Jaguar. But the effort wasn’t successful; five seasons brought only two…

The Caravelle started this test feeling like a car out of time. Although it finishes it with more than a suggestion of that initial impression lingering, its major victory is to justify its continued existence under the threat of numerous, ultra-desirable seven-seat SUVs. A Land Rover Discovery isn’t this useful, a Ford Galaxy isn’t this habitable, spacious, flexible or capable, and neither can be specified so deliciously as to suit the exact role you intend for it. The Caravelle has become the king of multi-purpose vehicles, and if what you want is a vehicle to do absolutely everything, and in which to do everything – including eat, sleep, work and more – it has no equal. Such size and versatility will, of course, be above and beyond what most families…

Sad Volvo has moved away from the floating console, but the interior looks fantastic: simple and plush at the same time. It deserves more success than the S80 had. Tuga Front looks great, profile looks great, interior looks great. And then we get to the rear end… oh. disco.stu but there are worse. That interior looks inviting; I bet you could do mega miles and still feel fresh at the other end. duperstevie The rear isn’t perfect, Nice to have some competition in a once-boring market. If German stuff isn’t your cup of tea, it’s well worth a test drive. dipdaddy…

For full reviews of every car listed here, visit our website, autocar.co.uk Autocar’s star ratings explained Inherently dangerous/unsafe. Tragically, irredeemably flawed. Appalling. Massively significant failings. Very poor. Fails to meet any accepted class boundaries. Poor. Within acceptable class boundaries in a few areas. Still not recommendable. Off the pace. Below average in nearly all areas. Acceptable. About average in key areas, but disappoints. Competent. Above average in some areas, average in others. Outstanding in none. Good. Competitive in key areas. Very good. Very competitive in key areas, competitive in secondary respects. Excellent. Near class leading in key areas, and in some ways outstanding. Brilliant, unsurpassed. All but flawless. Any car that has had a full Autocar road test is highlighted in yellow.…

No one produces as thorough a judgement on a new car as Autocar. As well as acceleration, braking, fuel economy and noise tests, we carry out benchmark limit-handling tests, setting lap times if appropriate. But we don’t just drive at the track, essential as it is for finding the limits of performance; we also drive on a wide range of roads. We aim to produce the most complete, objective verdict in the business, so you can be sure how good a car is. Where we have tested more than one model in a range, the rating is for the range overall; where a model within the range meets our coveted five-star standard, it is highlighted in yellow. 30-70mph Indicates overtaking ability through the gears 50-70mph Recorded in top gear (*kickdown…

VOLKSWAGEN BOSS Matthias Müller has said he will not allow the emissions scandal to “paralyse the company” but instead use the situation as a “catalyst for change”. Speaking at the firm’s Wolfsburg headquarters, Müller (left) reiterated that VW’s five-point recovery plan will help to restore the firm’s “excellent past reputation”. The plan, revealed last month, hinges on fixing engines affected by the emissions scandal, reducing costs, creating new synergies within the VW Group and creating a more open corporate culture. “Our first priority is the technical solutions for our customers,” said Müller. “Customers want to know how the manipulations came about. They want their vehicles put right as soon as possible. “Our second priority is establishing the truth with internal auditing.” Müller said a plan to decentralise the group’s structure…

JAGUAR LAND ROVER has confirmed its new factory will be built in Nitra, western Slovakia, and will open in 2018. The announcement follows the signing of a letter of intent filed earlier this summer. JLR says it is the first British car maker to open a production facility in the country. Construction of the new facility will start next year and the first vehicles will come off the production line in late 2018. The factory will eventually employ 2800 people and forms part of a £1 billion investment by the firm. The factory is intended to help JLR substantially increase its production. Although the factory will initially have a capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year, that figure could double over time. This would help to take JLR’s global output closer…

WHY DETUNE IT, HONDA? Having been one of the first UK owners of the previous Honda S2000 (with the twitchy chassis), I think the new version sounds superb (This Week, 2 December). If its looks are matched by the dynamics, it’ll sell like hot cakes.› I am a little confused about why Honda is considering a detuned Civic Type R engine for the more powerful version, though. Surely 306bhp powering the rear wheels of a sports car makes more sense than a 306bhp front-wheel-drive hatchback, and the S2000 ranks higher in its model hierarchy. Honda should also keep it simple and avoid a hybrid powertrain to save weight and cost. Mark Fisher via email BRAND INTEGRA-TY I read your news story on the S2000 (This Week, 2 December), wondering…

Nearly six months after a TT Coupé made way for this TT Roadster in my life, the time has come for the drop-top to return to Audi. It’s been interesting to try the two TTs back to back. Conceivably they could compete with each other; if you have £30,000 or so (or, more likely, around £500 a month) to spare on running a car, either the earlier four-wheel-drive TT Coupé or this two-wheel-drive Roadster would fit a similar-sized bill. I’ll be honest, I’ve enjoyed the soft-top more, because late summer and autumn are good times to drop the roof — something that is particularly quick and easy to do in the TT. Cleverly, the air conditioning remembers your settings from the last time you put the hood down or up,…