Innholdsfortegnelse for 16/08/2017 i Autocar

THE LAGONDA NAME will return to permanent use with a new large saloon in 2021 and a large SUV in 2022, with boss Andy Palmer confirming that the models are now firmly part of Aston Martin’s ongoing future business plans. “The Lagonda brand is still here today with the Taraf saloon, but we intend to make far more of it in the future,” said Palmer. “It exists at the ultra-luxury end of the market alongside Rolls-Royce and Bentley, and it is this high-end customer we are looking at.” Taraf production was limited to 200 units and the car, initially intended for sale in the Middle East only but then sold in the US and UK, was priced from £685,000 — more than a Rolls-Royce Phantom and Bentley Mulsanne combined but…

Audi is preparing to launch a new electric version of the Q2 as part of plans to muscle in on China’s so-called new energy vehicle (NEV) strategy, which is targeting seven million part or fully electric car sales a year by 2025, sources at the German car maker have revealed. The electrically powered SUV, which is set to be unveiled at the Guangzhou motor show in November prior to going on sale next year, is one of five new electric and hybrid Audis scheduled to be introduced in China by the end of the decade. The Q2 e-tron will line up alongside a production version of the larger Audi E-tron SUV concept, also due next year, and the new-generation A3 e-tron, which is planned for introduction in 2019, in a…

When Audi launched the previous RS3 back in 2015, some bright spark at its advertising agency, doubtless tickled pink by the thought of a hatchback with a bisected, turbocharged V10 cylinder bank under the bonnet, had the idea of showing the car being ‘born’ to a tortured, sweat-covered R8 in a two-minute commercial. Setting aside its exuberant graphical detail – which inevitably and intentionally garnered mild controversy – the film is ultimately contemptible because, in reality, the RS3 had about as much to do with the R8 as Bhutan did with the birth of rhythm and blues. Sure, it had 362bhp and permanent all-wheel drive, and could scorch from origin A to epilogue B in the time it takes to decipher an emoji, but its relationship to Neckarsulm’s spaceframed, mid-engined…

The Type R has landed. Faster, stronger, more powerful and more advanced than any of its forebears, the hot Civic is now rolling off its Swindon production line. This fifth-gen version is the first in more than a decade to move back to all-independent suspension and the first to be developed as a performance car from the ground up. Like all of Honda’s current Civics, the Type R is a big car, feeling a size larger than most immediate rivals. The car’s new platform does allow for an improvement of its driving position, but you still don’t sit as low in it as some would like. The steering, clutch, gear lever and brake pedal all feel carefully honed, well weighted, positive and feelsome. But there’s a softness to the throttle…

BMW M2 It’s almost as good to drive as a Cayman but with the added bonus of usable rear seats. The creamy straight six engine hardly feels turbocharged at all, the chassis is endlessly playful and the ride quality is surprisingly good. TOYOTA GT86 Proof that power isn’t everything. Light, compact, brilliantly balanced and dripping in character, the GT86 ticks a lot of boxes on the sweet spot wish list, none more convincingly than its super-low list price. MAZDA MX-5 RF Before the RF came out, the MX-5 would have found it hard to make this list because of its soft-top. But the RF’s roof makes it an everyday car so you get to spend more time enjoying all of those things the MX-5 does so brilliantly. VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI…

“Tony’s reputation attracts customers from all over the UK” A few years ago, Tony Bones was getting 50 emails a day from visitors to his online forum who were desperate for help with their car’s wheel geometry problems. So he did two things: he quit his job with a tyre fitting company and set up his own wheel alignment business, called Wheels in Motion, in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, making sure its website (wheels-inmotion.co.uk) had a theory section that would handle all future enquiries. Today, and only half in jest, his colleagues say a few minutes with Tony as he explains the science behind wheel alignment and geometry will “make your ears bleed”. I spent more than a few minutes listening to his minutely detailed explanations and was left in no doubt…

The penultimate station on Josh de Wit’s whistle-stop tour of the UK motor industry was in Bracknell, Berkshire, the home of Honda. The mechanical engineering undergraduate and 2016 Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award winner covered a wide variety of departments at Honda and says it was one of his best placements yet. The first department that Josh experienced was dealer development. “I started by conducting a mystery-shopper report on a Honda dealership,” he says. “Dealerships are selected for this every so often, to check the customer experience meets Honda’s high standards.” Josh then went along to another dealership with Honda’s field team to see how relationships with dealers are managed. “The two dealerships were at completely different ends of the spectrum in terms of how they dealt with customers, which was…

MILEAGE 2495 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Competition among family hatches is fierce. Is the new Civic up to the task? IT’S GOOD, THIS Civic – very good. I like it at least as much as I do the equivalent VW Golf or Audi A3. Now, I would be tempted to end this report there were I not professionally obliged to report on all the things, good or bad, that I might dig up during my tenure of this car. So I’m afraid I’ll have to list some faults that I don’t think will contradict my opening statement. If I wholeheartedly recommend this Civic as a car to drive and to own – it has been trouble-free so far, unsurprisingly – I have to point out an area in which it…

I asked for high-mileage tales and reckoned that they might be rather boring Mazda 626 ones. Instead, Charles Lovibond sent a rather inspiring story. “I thought you might be interested to hear about my car — an Alpina B3S Touring with 302,000 miles on the clock and going strong,” he says. “It’s one of only eight cars in the UK and 116 worldwide. I’ve owned it since new in March 2003, use it daily and spend what is necessary on maintenance. I simply don’t know what I’d change it for — apart from another Alpina. It does help that I’m able to convince my wife that what I spend each year is less than the depreciation on a new car.” SEND YOUR USED CAR TALES TO james@bangernomics.com…

An expert’s view CHRIS BURTON, CHRIS BURTON CARS “It all started for me 12 years ago when I took my 850i to the local BMW dealer for some new dashboard bulbs. He wanted £4 each for the bulbs and three hours’ labour to fit them. I’m a qualified mechanic so went home and did it myself but thought: there’s a business here servicing and refurbing Eights. I haven’t looked back. Then, you could pick up an 850i on eBay for £1500. Not any more. I’ve seen prices rise and the trend for restoration really develop. You’ll hear a lot of stuff about the Nikasil problems with 4.0-litre cars but many of them have been scrapped or were fixed by BMW. It’s the bargain in the range.” Buyer beware • ENGINE…

1 Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport From £31,000 Clubsport package sharpens the cutting edge of the greatest all-round hot hatch on the market. Rewarding and well-mannered. 2 Honda Civic Type R From £30,000 Don’t assume the Civic’s single driven axle means it’s outgunned: the Type R generates all the traction its blown VTEC needs. 3 Seat Leon Cupra 290 From £28,500 Quickest Leon yet combines a izzing turbo engine with instant handling poise. Not as classy or well-rounded as some. 4 Ford Focus ST From £23,000 Habitually brilliant-value hot hatch with a real slugger of an engine. Direct and pointy handling, but not as supple-riding as it once was. 5 Peugeot 308 GTi by Peugeot Sport From £27,300 Engine combines zesty performance with creditable economy very well, but the GTi isn’t…

“The DBX has not sacrificed any beauty to achieve its practicality or performance” The design of the Aston Martin DBX has been signed off — and the radical move to enter the SUV segment from late 2019 is expected to transform the fortunes of the 104-year-old firm, which has been declared bankrupt seven times in its fluctuating history. The DBX will rival the Bentley Bentayga, Lamborghini Urus, Maserati Levante and top-end Range Rovers and Porsche Cayennes in the luxury 4x4 segment. However, CEO Andy Palmer says the DBX will stand apart from them “because it has not sacrificed any beauty to achieve its practicality or performance”. The SUV project was envisioned by Palmer before he took up his role at Aston Martin in 2014 and it was officially kick-started on…

Mazda has pledged that its next generation of petrol-engined vehicles will be cleaner than electric cars because they will use efficiency-boosting compression ignition technology. The Japanese company is developing a new range of engines, called Skyactiv-X, which is set to replace the current Skyactiv-G range in 2019. They use compression ignition technology that has previously been used in diesel engines only. Mazda claims the results improve efficiency by up to 30% compared with its current petrol units, matching or even improving on its Skyactiv-D diesel range. Mazda says this will enable Skyactiv-X engines to produce lower CO2 emissions than electric drivetrains from a ‘well to wheel’ perspective, which accounts for the whole lifecycle of a vehicle including the fuel needed to power it. Mazda has been developing the new technology…

THE FOURTH-GENERATION Audi A3 line-up could include a new liftback model when it arrives in 2019. In response to falling demand for the three-door hatchback version of the A3, Audi officials have indicated that the model is likely to be dropped as part of a consolidation programme instigated to cut costs in the wake of the Volkswagen Group’s emissions scandal. This will leave the successor to today’s five-door A3 Sportback as the only traditional hatchback model in the new line-up, according to Ingolstadt sources. Joining the new five-door hatchback version of the A3 from 2020 will be a replacement for the popular A3 saloon, which is set to grow slightly in a bid to provide it with greater rear leg room and additional boot space . Although not yet confirmed…

Honda has added a diesel variant to its Civic line-up. The model uses a revised version of the 1.6-litre i-DTEC engine, delivering a peak of 118bhp along with 221 lb ft. Honda says it has made significant improvements to the engine and exhaust system in order to maximise real-world performance. The new diesel Civic goes on sale in March next year, with prices likely to start from £20,500. A nine-speed automatic will be added to the line-up later next year.…

“It draws in the horizon so rapidly that your eyes widen involuntarily” Something memorable was bound to happen. Maybe it would blow its gearbox to pieces, or tear the rear axle clean off. Or perhaps it would twist the bodyshell so violently that the roof would crease and the windows would pop out. Doubling a car’s power output – which is exactly what performance car dealer and tuning company Clive Sutton has done to this Ford Mustang – seems like a somewhat foolhardy thing to do, like using a shoebox to contain a lit stick of dynamite, so I was extremely interested to see how catastrophic the outcome would be. As it turned out, there were no such dramas. The carbonfibre ducting that connects the airbox to the supercharger did…

MODEL TESTED 2.0 TSI VRS 245 ESTATE Price £28,795 Power 242bhp Torque 273lb ft 0-60mph 6.9sec 30-70mph in fourth 9.2sec Fuel economy 32.6mpg CO2 emissions 150g/km 70-0mph 47.9m If you’re fond of an underdog, it’s rather hard not to hold a candle for Skoda’s vRS brand. By rights, and in the grand scheme of the Volkswagen Group’s thinking, it ought not really to exist at all. Seat is supposed to deal with the low-priced sporty stuff, while Volkswagen peddles the more prestigious GTI and R badges. The Czech division is for practicality, good sense and affordable functionality. The vRS version of the Fabia was spiked long ago, and the Superb variant never even arrived, ending up an unseen stillborn of cancelled development. And yet the Octavia vRS soldiers on. It…

Credit where it is due Methinks Steve Cropley is too generous to the German car bosses when he says we owe them a debt for having “made our [car] industry work properly” (‘My Week In Cars’, 26 July). I think that accolade goes to the Japanese, way back in the 1970s and 1980s, when they forced UK manufacturers to raise their game and match the reliability, equipment levels and lower running costs of the Datsuns, Toyotas, Hondas and so on that proved so attractive to motorists used to Marinas, Allegros and the like that the government had to restrict imports from Japan. German car bosses have done a great job since, but they did not start the process. Brian Groves Guernsey WIN Letter of the week wins this ValetPRO exterior…

“There is a great deal of room for improvement. So this is our project car” MILEAGE 30,200 WHY WE’RE RUNNING ONE To discover how much we can enhance this rear-wheel-drive hot hatch with a little help from our friends My new long-term test car isn’t new at all. In fact, it’s coming up to five years old. By the standards of today’s throwaway society, that probably means it’s halfway to the scrapheap already, but we have grand plans for it nonetheless. The BMW M135i was launched in 2012, making this 62-plate example one of the early cars. The M135i was so well received by the press and car-buying public that you couldn’t read through more than 15 internet forum posts without somebody telling you to get one. Five years on,…

“It doesn’t feel like the tearaway its rally heritage might suggest” TESTED 3.7.17, SURREY ON SALE 1980-1991 PRICE £8000-£70,000 It’d be easy (and lazy) to start by drawing your attention to the many reasons why the Audi Quattro has achieved such monumental status in the pantheon of cult classic cars. Of course, you, dear reader, are erudite enough to know them all; to understand why this car is as revered as it is. So we’ll try to do without references to Hannu Mikkola – or, indeed, to Gene Hunt. Then again, the rallying history of the ‘Ur-Quattro’ is such an enormous part of how it’s perceived today. Whether it deserves such reverence is a question that’s answerable even before I plant my bum in the driver’s seat: it’s ‘yes’, quite…

DACIA DUSTER | SUMMER 2018 Third-gen Duster is set to use an extended version of the platform that underpins all current Dacias. That makes it larger and roomier, but a seven-seat version isn’t planned. Engines will be four-cylinder petrol and diesels and the styling will be an evolution of the current model’s. Price from £9500 (est) AUGUST Audi RS3 Saloon, RS3 Sportback, Hyundai i30 Tourer, Kia Niro PHEV, Lexus LC (right), Volvo S90 T8, V90 T8 SEPTEMBER Alpina B5 and D5 Touring, BMW M4 CS, Citroën E-Berlingo Multispace, Fiat 500L update, Ford Ecosport update, Fiesta, Fiesta Active, Honda Civic Type R, Maserati Levante S, Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet, X-Class, Peugeot 308, 308 GTi, 308 SW update, Renault Trafic Spaceclass (left), Skoda Kodiaq Scout, Smart Fortwo ED, Fortwo Cabrio ED, Forfour ED,…

Aston Martin’s first all-electric model, the RapidE, will be a sell-out when it is launched in 2019, with CEO Andy Palmer describing selling the 155 cars being made as “a breeze”. The RapidE will chiefly be sold to Chinese customers because of the massive tax breaks on offer to electric car buyers there. Consequently, it will priced alongside the £350,000 V12-powered Rapide, which is hit by large import tariffs, but have greater exclusivity. It is being co-developed by Aston and a division of the Williams Formula 1 team, which has been brought on board for its expertise in battery technology. “We have always said we want to be responsible for our own V12, so it makes sense that we also develop our own technology at the other extreme,” said Palmer.…

THE GOVERNMENT IS forcing autonomous vehicle developers to toughen up cyber security to reduce the risk of hackers taking control. New guidelines require software developers of driverless and intelligent cars to build in security measures that feature several stages. The aim to is provide strong protection against hackers trying to access information or control hardware, such as the car’s throttle or brakes. Cyber security experts, such as David Barzilai, founder and chairman of Karamba Security, have warned of the risks associated with fast progress in autonomous technology. In an interview with Autocar last year, Barzilai said some cars could enter production with “hundreds of thousands of security risks” if not properly protected. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles suffered the consequences of such risks when it recalled 1.4 million cars last year after…

Infiniti will reveal a retro-inspired concept race car, the Prototype 9, at the 2017 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Despite the car’s 1930s-style exterior, it’s powered by a 148bhp, 236lb ft electric powertrain also used by the second-generation Nissan Leaf, which is due to be revealed at the Frankfurt motor show in September. In the Prototype 9, this set-up enables a 0-62mph time of 5.5sec and a 105mph top speed. The 890kg single-seater uses retro construction techniques, such as a steel ladder chassis and handmade body panels, and has leaf springs and no power steering. The car is said to imagine what an Infiniti grand prix racer would have looked like.…

Land Rover is finalising the technical set-up of plug-in hybrid (PHEV) versions of its Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models, which are due to hit the road early next year. The petrol-electric models will combine power from Jaguar Land Rover’s 2.0-litre Ingenium engine with an electric drive module (EDM). The petrol engine is predicted to make 296bhp and 295lb ft, while the electric motor produces 201bhp and 332lb ft. The models are expected to offer a pure-electric range of around 30 miles. Jaguar has developed its electric motor in-house rather than purchase an existing unit from a supplier, because no off-the-shelf option fits the Range Rover. The electric motor is mated to an eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox and draws its power from a lithium ion battery located under the…

BMW IS OFFERING UK owners of its older diesel models a grant of £2000 to encourage them to buy cleaner models. BMW owners of diesels rated EU4 or older (typically from seven years old) are able to trade in their car for an EV or hybrid, such as the i3 and 225xe Active Tourer. The grant also applies to any BMW or Mini diesel or petrol model with CO2 emissions of less than 130g/km. The lowest-value models traded in will be scrapped, but dealers will be responsible for the remaining cars. The scheme runs to the end of the year. The Volkswagen Group, including Audi, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen, has said it is also “considering the benefits of such a scheme in the UK”. BMW UK’s announcement follows the launch…

Volkswagen’s latest bid to be more than a niche player in the US begins with the Atlas, a three-row SUV intended to rival established players such as the Honda Pilot and Ford Explorer. VW hasn’t had a seven-seater in the US since the unloved Routan – a thinly disguised Dodge Grand Caravan – was dropped a few years ago. The Atlas grew out of the CrossBlue concept seen at the 2013 Detroit motor show. It was conceived specifically for American families and is built alongside the US-market Passat at the newly expanded plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It’s the largest model to be built on the familiar, flexible MQB architecture. VW has done its homework this time. First up, the Atlas is big enough for the American ‘mid-size’ SUV segment; at…

“The Subaru offers a balance of composure and agility that the TVR can’t muster” These things don’t often end well. Two years ago, we pitched a new 266bhp Peugeot RCZ R against a used 503bhp Jaguar XKR – both worth about £30,000 at the time – and the Peugeot came away with a very bloody nose. It was a good car, but simply not good enough against a bristling super-coupé. Goliath flattened David and his little sling. This time, our plucky underdog is the Subaru BRZ – the modestly powered but endlessly exploitable compact coupé, newly refreshed for 2017. Its opponent streaks in from left field in a cloud of combustive noise: it’s one of Peter-Wheeler-era TVR’s finest, the Tamora-derived T350t (the wee ‘t’ denoting a targa-style top, as opposed…

Think of a car that’s fun to drive. Then ask someone else to do the same, compare notes, and if your cars are even from the same manufacturer, I’ll eat this laptop. For me, it’s a Ferrari, because when I was a kid, Ferraris were the ultimate expression of automotive excitement. For others, it might be something quite different, such as a Caterham, or a hot hatchback, or a Porsche not unlike that on these pages. The truth is that, without thinking about it, we all apply a number of parameters when considering what we individually think of as important for such a car. So we decided to apply if not exactly science then at least some thought and reasonably considered criteria to see what we felt mattered most in…

The Bentley Bentayga’s biggest hurdle, as we all knew the moment the idea of a new offroader from Crewe was floated, would be to eclipse or at least equal the Range Rover. It was a fascinating thought. Britain’s icon had ruled through four generations and over four decades, pushing prices into six figures; could a new rival from a company that had only ever built cars make the grade? Of course, neither manufacturer was willing to admit that the battle would be head to head. Bentley emphasised the fact that it was building an SUV for those who preferred to shop in a more exclusive price bracket: £150,000 to Range Rover’s £100,000. Land Rover argued that the Range Rover’s versatility, heritage and baked-in toughness meant it would continue to have…

This is elevated living of a different kind. Not living in a high-end house, or decamping to a five-star hotel, but living several feet above the ground and beneath a roof, in the dry, with light and bedding. That might not sound much, but it is when you’re about to spend the night in a field, having arrived by car. For many, the next step will be a romantic but potentially miserable wrestle with a tent. More luxurious, if less adventurous, is to arrive in a vehicle that doubles as your accommodation. It’s two of the latest of these self-contained, wheeled shelters that we plan to test by taking them to the Latitude music festival in Henham, Suffolk. One is a Mini Countryman carrying a tent in a roof box.…

FEATURE Hot hatch mega-test: new Honda Civic Type R vs every rival The world’s top eight hot hatches meet our four judges on the track and some of the best driver’s roads in Wales NEWS New BMW Z4 revealed Sports car co-developed with the Toyota Supra. Plenty is expected DRIVE Aston Martin Vantage AMR First car from Aston’s new high-performance AMR division rated EVERY WEEK FIRST DRIVE Range Rover Velar Our first taste of it on UK soil. Steve Cropley delivers the verdict ROAD TEST Smart Forfour Electric Drive Is electric technology mature enough to make for a better Smart? USED BUYING GUIDE Maserati Quattroporte V8 executive saloon is hugely appealing, but is it also hugely risky? SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p22…

MILEAGE 5777 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if ‘the sports car you can use every day’ lives up to its reputation It’s just a stalk – one more plastic arm sprouting out of the steering column – but it has transformed my life with the 911. Regulars might remember me expressing some surprise that a car with a six-figure price (with extras) wasn’t fitted with cruise control. More fool me, because I should have thought about it, but when Porsche originally sent me the details of the car, I assumed the absence of cruise control on the list of options was because it was part of the car’s standard equipment. But it’s not. Is cruise control important to you? I know people who never use it and, indeed, actively…

MILEAGE 101,161 MINI COOPER I have been using the Cooper every other day recently and I’ve noticed the driver’s door dropping and the frame rubbing on the B-pillar. I’m never going near a concours competition, but the details are always going to let it down and I really don’t get anything from cleaning or preparing a car. I’d rather just drive it. The trouble with an old car is that once you’re down to the metal, it will rust. On a 1960s vehicle, that’s not a good thing. I’ll start fiddling with the spanners and bolts and see if I can sort it.…

“The 8 Series is so rare that condition is the only thing worth paying extra for” If the design study shown at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed survives to production, next year’s BMW 8 Series promises to be an eye-popper. It can be no less, given its forebear, the dramatic-looking 8 Series of 1990 to 2000. Today, that model is a rising classic, although, as our ‘One we found’ (opposite) proves, you can still pick up an 850i for the price of a new, mid-spec Dacia Sandero. Too expensive? Prices for 840Cis start at around £5000. During its life, the 8 Series’ styling barely changed, so if you’re considering buying one, year of registration is less important than condition. People have a downer on the 4.0-litre V8 in the…