Innholdsfortegnelse for 30/08/2017 i Autocar

THE DB11 HAS helped Aston Martin almost double its revenues in the first half of 2017 as it seeks to recover from six years of losses. In the first half of this year, revenues were £410.4 million, compared with £211.8m in the same period last year. In the past 12 months, revenues exceeded £750m for the first time in Aston’s history. Company boss Andy Palmer said the performance “reflects rising demand for the new DB11 model as well as for special-edition vehicles and the ongoing benefits from our transformation plan”. Chief financial officer Mark Wilson added: “The strength of our first-half results proves our strategy is on track. We are increasing our baseline guidance for underlying earnings of £175m, on revenues of £830m in 2017.” Pre-tax half-yearly profits were £21.1m,…

We wanted to explore modernity and how a Mini could live without the chrome❞ This is BMW’s design concept for a full-production electric version of the next-generation Mini. At the end of July, production of the Mini Electric was confirmed for its Oxford plant in 2019, 11 years after the Mini E was launched. Just 600 examples of that pure-electric Mini were made. Ahead of the Mini Electric’s official unveiling at the Frankfurt motor show in September, all BMW is saying about the car’s technical make-up is that it will have a “powerful electric motor”. However, after Autocar viewed the car, it’s clear that the concept gives strong hints not only at the first production battery-powered model, but also at how Mini’s design language could be reinvented as it enters…

THE FERRARI PORTOFINO will replace the California T as the Italian car maker’s entry-level model. The new convertible features a folding hard-top and is powered by a 592bhp V8 engine. Ferrari says the Portofino can achieve 0-62mph in 3.5sec. Its top speed is claimed to be more than 199mph, which is at least 3mph higher than its predecessor’s. Its turbocharged 3.9-litre engine is derived from the California’s but is tuned to produce an extra 40bhp, with peak output arriving at 7500rpm, as well as 561lb ft from 3000rpm to 5250rpm. Ferrari says the Portofino, named after an Italian village, is built around an all-new chassis that is significantly lighter than the California T’s but has greater torsional rigidity due to new production techniques. It has not specified how much lighter…

The electric Volkswagen ID Buzz will be offered in several body variants in a bid to match the wide range of interior configurations of its spiritual successor, the iconic Microbus. Set for sale in 2022 as part of an initial five-strong range of electric models, the revived Microbus will also be produced in two different wheelbases that will allow it to be offered as either a five or seven-seater. VW chairman Herbert Diess told Autocar: “To meet the needs of differing markets we have decided to offer [the ID Buzz] with differing wheelbases. Practicality was central to the original Microbus and this will be reflected in the new one.” Together with passenger car-based versions, VW also plans to sell the new Microbus as a commercial vehicle featuring just two seats…

First came fierce Defenders from Twisted et al; now it’s the turn of Land Rover’s second landmark model. Meet the Jensen International Automotive (JIA) Chieftain: a 1993 Range Rover body transposed onto a Discovery 3 chassis, restyled and endowed with GM’s 6.2-litre supercharged LSA V8. It’s good for 556bhp, 551lb ft and 0-60mph in about four and a half seconds – numbers no current Range Rover can match. Banbury-based JIA is known for re-engineering Interceptors and FFs, and has used its skills to create the Chieftain. The Discovery’s wheelbase was chopped by 345mm and the Range Rover Classic’s body frame and panels fixed via custom adaptors. Chunky new arches over period-style 20in alloys and GRP bumpers and side skirts embolden Charles Spencer King’s 1970 design to produce a shape that’s…

“It isn’t particularly sophisticated, but the VXR8 GTS-R sure is a blast” There’s a distinctive hissing sound at first, a kind of moody whoosh. Then follows a sudden and unexpected bwaaaaaa, delivered as a loud, mournful cry. The racket is actually made by the VXR8 GTS-R’s enormous pipes as the exhaust valves blow wide open at 4500rpm, but it could easily have been the sound made by yours truly the moment I heard the V8 bruiser was to be discontinued. A very sad day indeed. With the demise of the Australian car manufacturing industry, the Holden Commodore – the car Vauxhall has been importing and rebadging for a decade – will soon be no more. On top of that, the Luton marque is now part of the PSA Group, which…

If Ginetta had chosen 2017 for the debut of its all-new Le Mans car, instead of targeting next year’s event, it’s possible the Yorkshire sports car company could have scored an outright victory in the 24-hour race. This year’s Le Mans race will go down in history as the one in which Porsche’s and Toyota’s fancied frontrunners faltered – arguably because of the over-complexity of their hybrid powertrains. An LMP2 car, theoretically much slower, came within an ace of defeating the race-winning Porsche. As it was, LMP2 entrants finished second through to seventh behind the 919 Hybrid. Ginetta’s well advanced non-hybrid LMP1 car for 2018 probably wouldn’t have beaten this year’s class leaders at their best, perhaps, but it would certainly have had the legs of a bunch of LMP2s…

“Sport doesn’t have to relate to the car’s dynamics but the lifestyle it can unlock” FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Rational brand makes its most rational car to date: a seven-seat family SUV. Can it score what’s surely an open goal? Sport utility vehicle. SUV. Both sporty, yet full of utility. The best of both worlds. Or perhaps master of none, or so I suspected, but then I drove the Porsche Macan and the Jaguar F-Pace and I wavered. And then, duh-der, perhaps after watching one too many TV ads featuring unfeasibly lithe kite surfers doing their stuff before hopping in their high-riding car, I started to believe the hype. It turned out I’d been looking for the wrong thing: sport doesn’t have to relate to the car’s dynamics,…

Go-faster Golf that undercuts an R If you’re going to buy a performance Golf that isn’t one of those fashionable and comparatively expensive new Rs, try a cared-for Golf R32. Peak power and torque of 250bhp and 236lb ft respectively is all you need for real world thrills. We found a 93,000-mile 2006 example being offered for £5995 by a hugely committed private seller who had detailed the car’s recent history. Likeable little Suzuki with froth on top Writing about the Suzuki Cappuccino in my column (left) sent me scurrying to the classifieds. There are never many for sale, so it’s worth tracking down a nice example like this one. It’s a 1994 example with 58,000 miles on sale for £3995 and comes with a CD player, electric windows and…

HONDA JAZZ | EARLY 2018 MPV-style small hatchback has had its styling refreshed, adopting the look of the new Civic and new bumpers. Mechanical changes include the addition of a 128bhp 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol engine and the revision of the CVT automatic gearbox to make it more linear and refined. Price £13,200 (est) SEPTEMBER Alpina B5 and D5 Touring, BMW M4 CS (right), Citroën E-Berlingo Multispace, Fiat 500L update, Ford Ecosport update, Fiesta, Fiesta Active, Honda Civic Type R, Maserati Levante S, Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet, Peugeot 308, 308 GTi, 308 SW update, Renault Trafic Spaceclass, Skoda Kodiaq Scout, Smart Fortwo ED, Fortwo Cabrio ED, Forfour ED, Volvo XC60 OCTOBER Aston Martin V8 DB11, Vantage AMR, Audi TT RS, BMW 6 Series GT, Hyundai Kona, Jaguar XF Sportbrake (left), Kia Stonic,…

The new W12 Continental GT covers 0-62mph in 3.7sec and has a 207mph top speed❞ The new Bentley Continental GT will represent “a paradigm shift in driving performance” over its predecessor, according to engineering boss Rolf Frech. The new grand tourer, which will make its public debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September, has been created to “set a benchmark for all GTs,” said Frech who added that he believes “this [car] redefines luxury driving again”. Bentley hopes the new version of its most popular model — which is even expected to outsell the hugely successful Bentayga SUV — will appeal to both loyal and new customers and be “even more agile without compromising luxury”, helped by a chassis, suspension, W12 engine and dual-clutch eight-speed gearbox that are all…

Top speed will be less of a defining attribute for Bentley in the future, according to CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer. Although the brand has traditionally sought to extract high maximum speeds from all of its cars, Dürheimer believes that the requirements of customers, and changing technology, will alter priorities. He said: “It used to be that saying a car could do 200mph was a critical part of the sales requirement. But in the future, I can see a time when only a couple of our vehicles can achieve this incredible speed, and we trade that off for other facets, such as even better suspension quality, or even perhaps the promise of zero emissions and clean air. “Imagine the promise of travelling through a busy, congested city breathing air that has been…

THE REVISED MASERATI Ghibli is set to reach its first customers at the start of 2018. Unveiled at Chengdu motor show in China — an important market for Maserati — the BMW 5 Series rival has restyled bumpers and a new front grille. Little change is expected inside because the Ghibli was recently updated with a new infotainment system and dashboard design. However, GranLusso and GranSport trims will replace the current car’s Luxury and Sport. The entry-level car is expected to be priced from about £50,000. The Ghibli’s 3.0-litre V6 diesel and petrol powertrains were recently given extra power so will arrive unchanged in this updated model. The diesel V6 produces 271bhp and offers 47.9mpg claimed combined economy. The petrol V6 has up to 404bhp and can cover 0-62mph in…

The ongoing success of the Dacia Duster has prompted the firm to take an evolutionary approach to the design of the updated SUV. So said Laurens van den Acker, senior vice president, corporate design, at Groupe Renault. The latest Duster sits on the same platform as the old model and has identical overall dimensions, although Dacia, we always think about the customer. For example, if we put too many decorative chrome parts on, he will sit in it and say: ‘This has no usage. Why am I paying for that?’” Dacia has yet to show the Duster’s new interior, but Durand said: “The car is a strategic evolution on the outside, but it’s more revolutionary inside.” UK DEVICE CUTS EMISSIONS ‘BY 80%’ British firm CGON has launched a new version…

A SPORTIER BMW i3 model will join the standard version when the three-year-old electric hatchback is updated next month. Called the i3s, the new model packs added reserves, sportier looks and upgraded wheels and tyres. The i3s will make its public debut alongside a revised i3 at the Frankfurt motor show in September, with first deliveries in November. The i3s packs a more powerful synchronous electric motor than the i3. With 181bhp and 199lb ft, the rear-mounted unit delivers 13bhp and 15lb ft more than the motor in the standard version of the facelifted i3, which still produces 168bhp and 184lb ft. Both new models send drive to the rear wheels via the same fixed-ratio gearbox. The i3 runs restyled 19in wheels and the i3s has 20in alloys. With the…

MCLAREN PLANS TO increase the number of bespoke-bodied cars produced by its special operations division during the next 12 months. Although McLaren Special Operations (MSO) has offered customers the option of body customisation since its inception in 2011, the division’s only dramatically restyled model to date has been the 12C-based X-1 that was unveiled in 2012. Indeed, most of MSO’s commissions have been for unique interior treatments or paint colours, such as the fuchsia 720S MSO shown at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California. However, MSO is proving to be an increasingly lucrative part of McLaren’s business – last year, the division’s revenues grew by 143% compared with 2015 – and future models will exploit the potential of what’s possible in terms of exterior design and even performance. McLaren’s…

In 2016, Autocar awarded the Ford Focus RS a five-star rating and lauded development boss Tyrone Johnson as engineering hero of the year for delivering on the vision of a driftable, all-wheel-drive hot hatch. Ford Performance hasn’t been resting on its laurels, though, this new upgrade pack bundling existing optional extras such as Recaro shell seats, lightweight forged 19in wheels and colour-coded Brembo calipers with matt black trim for mirrors, roof and rear wing. Adding the above and the Luxury Pack also included in the deal would increase the £32,265 list price of a regular RS by more than £3000, more or less bringing us up to the £36,000 or so Ford expects to charge. There’s more to it than trim upgrades, though. By adding a limited-slip differential to the…

MODEL TESTED D240 HSE Price £66,580 1• Power 237bhp • Torque 369lb ft • 0-60mph 9.3sec • 30-70mph in fourth 9.6sec • Fuel economy 33.6mpg • CO2 emissions 154g/km • 70-0mph 62.1m Semi-skimmed is how we’ve previously characterised the new Range Rover Velar. Mid-sized is how Land Rover prefers it, the model filling out the obvious white space between the decidedly compact Evoque and the comfortably large Range Rover Sport. But our preferred description refers to more than just the Velar’s dimensions. Unlike its full-sized siblings, the fourth addition to the Range Rover line-up is the product of something other than Gaydon’s full-fat approach to SUVs. Because this new Range Rover is unequivocally car-based. Its predominately aluminium platform is the same architecture used by the latest Jaguar XE and XF.…

“The links with earlier Volkswagen Microbus models are undeniable” Entry to the ID Buzz, the concept Volkswagen has confirmed will go into production as the modern-day Microbus, combines the magic of contemporary electronics and traditional heave. Waving a hand within the side swage line on the driver’s door triggers an electronic opening mechanism, which involves the conventional front-hinged driver’s door swinging open to reveal the concept’s wonderfully simplistic yet surprisingly roomy interior. The initial impression once you’re inside is just how high you are positioned above the road: the driver’s seat places your torso well above the belt line. In combination with an upright windscreen, it offers a commanding view enhanced by generous quarter windows. The links with earlier Microbus models are undeniable and provide the ID Buzz with a…

This is Michael Fux. He’s an American millionaire who made his money from selling mattresses and has a penchant for Rolls-Royces and McLarens in matching colours. He is a man with a lot of cars. He’s not sure exactly how many, but at one point he had 160 and needed three hangar-sized garages to keep them in. What’s arriving next? Take a breath, reader. Incoming this year are three Porsches, a Ferrari 812 Superfast, a Pagani Huayra, a Dodge Demon, a Mercedes-AMG GT R plus the roadster and coupé versions of the GT C Edition 50. Oh, and then there are two S65s on order. “One for Florida, one for California,” he says. Fux says he does sell cars when his garages became too full, but how does he decide…

Ahead of its time In your article ‘Cut down in their prime’ in the 19 August issue, you listed the Renault Fluence, Koleos, Vel Satis, Wind and Laguna Coupé, but where is the very car that epitomises your tag line of ‘trail-blazers that were too far ahead of their time to succeed’? I am referring to the Renault Avantime! I’m sure you know that it was a three-door coupé based on the Espace, was a total sales disaster and was responsible for the demise of Matra. It even has the dubious honour of being one of the few cars that all three of the previous presenters of Top Gear agreed that they liked. It still does not look out of place on our roads 15 years later, especially with the…

MILEAGE 3966 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To discover if Volvo is still the master of the big estate car You don’t have to spend long commuting in a car as commodious and comfortable as our Volvo V90 before a holiday with the family in rural South Wales starts to seem like a very fine idea. If you’re anything like me, it takes about a fortnight. (The commuting, that is. Two weeks in a Pembrokeshire chalet with my kids would feel like the Hundred Years’ War.) So off we went, the singularly obliging V90’s boot having swallowed bags, cases, toys, a pushchair, beach equipment and food for the week. Only when I unloaded it at the other end did I realise quite how much clobber had gone in. Still, there wasn’t…

MILEAGE 101,684 MINI COOPER I don’t want to tempt fate, but at the moment everything seems to be ticking along just fine with the Ruppert fleet. I use the old Austin Cooper just about every day and it runs better and better. You do pick up on the small things, though, and right now it’s brake screech. Presumably the teeny discs have loads of dust on them. Certainly the state of the finest reverse-rim steel wheels suggests it may be the issue. I’ll have to find the time to take the wheels off and, at the very least, apply some compressed air to the area. I have inked in 23 November.…

I was going to say you wouldn’t find a Ferrari with 126,000 miles under its wheels, as one particular 1995 Honda NSX Targa F-Matic auto can claim (it’s up for £31,995) – and then I came across a 1998 Ferrari F355 GTS (£45,000) with 151,000 of them. Given that some Ferraris are driven around the block just once, that’s impressive. However, to date, this F355’s workshop receipts total £80,000. I’m willing to bet the NSX, a former Honda press car, has had no more than a quarter of that sum lavished on it during its 22 years. It comes with every bill and receipt, so it should be easy to establish exactly how much. Not only that, but while a high-mileage Ferrari is the exception, leggy NSXs are relatively common.…

There will be a Cayenne Turbo sporting a twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 with more than 540bhp❞ The Porsche Cayenne has been thoroughly re-engineered for its third iteration. The new Cayenne has a lighter and more contemporary platform, an aluminium body structure, a 48V electrical system, a mildly altered appearance and a redesigned interior with added connectivity options. The third-generation Cayenne will make its public debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September, with UK deliveries starting next April. It will face a long list of luxury rivals, including the Audi Q7, BMW X5, Jaguar F-Pace, Mercedes-Benz GLE and Range Rover Sport. The 2018-model-year Cayenne will initially have a two-variant line-up, the Cayenne and Cayenne S. Both run newly developed V6 petrol engines in combination with a new eight-speed automatic gearbox and…

The internal structural design of the flexible wishbones controls the wheel movement❞ A revolutionary new independent suspension made up of flexible wishbones whose ability to bend replaces conventional springs and dampers is under development by a UK-based engineering consortium. The system, claimed to save about 40% of a conventional double wishbone system’s weight, is dubbed Lift, which stands for ‘Lightweight Innovative Flexible Technology’. The project is part-funded by Innovate UK, the government agency which supports cutting-edge UK technology. The consortium working on Lift comprises Simpact, a Midlands-based computer-aided engineering specialist, Ariel Motor Company and the Warwick Manufacturing Group. The new suspension will be shown at the Cenex-LCV expo at the Millbrook Proving Ground on 6-7 September, using a display consisting of a modified Ariel Atom front suspension. “The concept isn’t…

Volkswagen has finally taken the covers off its new Golf-sized T-Roc, one of 19 SUVs the firm will have on sale globally over the next few years. It will be followed by an all-new Touareg by the end of 2017, and next year by a smaller SUV based on the Polo and called the T-Cross. This will give the car maker a five-strong SUV line-up, including five- and seven-seat versions of the Tiguan. It is all part of a wider plan to refresh or replace every Volkswagen on sale by 2020. Once complete, those models will start to be joined by the first cars from the firm’s pure-electric ID range, based on the new Volkswagen Group MEB platform. A five-door hatchback ID will come first, followed by an SUV and…

Design cues from Infiniti’s retro-themed Prototype 9 concept will be evident in the company’s first electric model, which will be shown in concept form at next year’s Detroit motor show. Design boss Alfonso Albaisa said Infiniti’s electric car will be a standalone vehicle, rather than a derivative of an existing model. Speaking at the reveal of the Prototype 9 during Monterey Car Week, Albaisa added that Infiniti will show “parts of the [Prototype 9] in a different context” on the electric concept at Detroit. Albaisa also confirmed that Infiniti’s electric car will be based upon a new platform, rather than sharing underpinnings with the Nissan Leaf, its parent company’s electric offering. Earlier this year, Infiniti boss Roland Krüger told Autocar an electric model was coming and that he had already…

THE MERCEDES-MAYBACH 6 Cabriolet revealed at the Pebble Beach concours signals plans by the German car maker to extend the reach of its luxury car sub-brand with more unique styling and additional models. Mercedes design boss Gorden Wagener confirmed Maybach “would grow” on the back of a business strategy already in place. That strategy aims to bolster the brand’s standing against renewed luxury class competition in the form of the forthcoming Bentley Continental GT and new Rolls-Royce Phantom. Wagener added that the development of the 6 coupé – shown at Pebble Beach last year – and the new 6 Cabriolet had provided Maybach with fresh design impetus that will allow it to offer more models in various market segments. “The new concept cars have allowed us to develop a design…

“That 5.0-litre atmospheric V8 is absolutely wonderful in its wilder moments” When they’re finally done experimenting with their super-SUVs, pseudo-saloons, hybrid supercars, high-design shooting brakes, plug-in hypercars and various other ultra-limited-volume flights of fancy, the luxury car makers of the world will, I reckon, all come back to the front-engined, rear-driven, 2+2 grand touring coupé. They’ll have to. This is the quintessential vehicle type for an elegant, exclusive and glamorous kind of existence. And Autocar road testers must obviously be considered well-qualified authorities to comment on such lavish lifestyles. (Stop sniggering at the back.) For the same reasons that big grand touring coupés can be departed from by the likes of Porsche, Ferrari and BMW for only so long, it makes a singular statement when an up-and-coming luxury car…

Going in search of hidden depths under the skin of the Range Rover Velar has been encouraging and disappointing but utterly worthwhile. Critics may claim it is an entirely superficial car; a little bit cynical, even. At least in part, this road test proves them wrong. The Velar plainly has the luxurious finish and feel, the technological sophistication and the highly accomplished ride and handling to be considered superior to the premium-branded medium-sized SUVs whose proportions it roughly matches. In all three respects, it goes some way to justifying its very high price. And if you like the way the Velar looks, ‘some way’ may well be far enough. But ‘some way’ is still a long way from all of the way. Because if you’re going to charge a 50%…

“It’s a surprise to ind a funfair next to the DMZ” The morning after President Trump threatened North Korea with ‘fire and fury’, we took a drive to its border. That might sound reckless, but no more so than travelling to South Korea in the f irst place, where Seoul’s 10 million inhabitants live with the implied threat of Kim Jong-un’s pugnacious outpourings and crowings over his nation’s latest missile tests. Ask an inhabitant how they feel and most seem sanguine – the heightened verbal spat between the US and North Korea “is between them, and not about South Korea”, says Ssangyong’s Kyung Taek Yoon. If the glorious leader does go nuclear at Seoul, there’ll be little time even to know about it, still less think, the capital being just…

COMPARISON Alfa Romeo Stelvio vs Jaguar F-Pace Italy takes on Britain in the battle of the sporting SUVs. Matt Saunders delivers the verdict SPECIAL REPORT Should you buy a tuned car? We test a tweaked R8 to see if a tuner can do it better than Audi INVESTIGATION What Abarth did next Richard Bremner heads to Italy to visit Fiat’s performance arm EVERY WEEK FIRST DRIVE New Nissan Leaf First impressions of the second-gen electric car for the masses FIRST DRIVE New Volkswagen Polo VW’s supermini is the latest challenger for the class-leading Seat Ibiza ROAD TEST Audi RS3 saloon Monstrously quick super-saloon heads into our inspection bay SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p36…

Ford Mondeo GLX Rob Watts had never spent more than £300 on a car until he was offered a 2000 Ford Mondeo GLX. “It was owned by sprightly 75-year-old. The tyres looked brand new, the bodywork was impeccable and the dashboard and seats looked hardly used. “Within five minutes of inspecting it, I was shaking his hand and agreed to pay £400, breaking my £300 limit. Two years on, it has been an absolute dream. I hope to keep it until its 20th birthday, as long as it stays as reliable as it’s been over the past two years. After that, another keen bangernomicist may decide that a 20-year-old Mondeo is all they need in a car.” SEND YOUR USED CAR TALES TO james@bangernomics.com…

1 Jaguar XE From £27,000 Jaguar has made the XE a class leader in the old-fashioned way: a steadfast focus on the driver makes it irresistible. 2 BMW 3 Series From £24,300 Still one of the inest all-round prospects currently on sale and almost certainly the best 3 Series yet. Splendid. 3 Alfa Romeo Giulia From £29,200 Doesn’t have the breadth of appeal of the Germans, but over-delivers on handling rewards and is spectacular to behold. 4 Ford Mondeo From £20,000 Has what great Fords always have: practicality, a keen price and dynamic prowess. It is now very re ined and pretty, too. 5 Audi A4 From £25,900 Trails behind its rivals, and is still ordinary to drive, but certainly a smarter and better way to travel than before.…