Innholdsfortegnelse for 13/12/2017 i Autocar

BMW’s i brand will not necessarily replace its i3 and i8 models with next-generation models. The division will continue to offer its own bespoke models and produce electric versions of standard BMWs. The iX3, due in 2020, will be the first of 11 electric BMWs to arrive by 2025. An electric 4 Series GT is also understood to be planned, badged i4. However, the bespoke i models will not form a complete range of cars, and the division will instead create individual vehicles to address a particular challenge or meet a specific demand. To that end, the range of ‘pure’ i cars built on bespoke architectures that are on sale at any given time could be just one model, or many more than that. The determining factor will be which…

Alfa Romeo’s wilderness years seem to be drawing to an end. For far too long, there has been a painful disconnect between the brand’s illustrious heritage and its sub-par showroom models, cars that have failed to live up to Alfa’s reputation as well as to its competition. The first hint of a renaissance was the Giulia saloon. The mainstream models are more than commendable and the ripping, 503bhp Quadrifoglio is a bona fide BMW M3 beater. More recently, Alfa Romeo has confirmed its return to Formula 1 as title sponsor to the (admittedly back-of-the-grid) Sauber team. And now, in the new Stelvio Quadrifoglio, Alfa has delivered the fastest production SUV you can buy. That’s the claim, anyway (and not unlike the one made recently by Lamborghini about its upcoming Urus).…

“It wasn’t until 1988 that grip levels were truly addressed” “This is very similar to the first one I designed,” says Jamie Buchanan. He’s pointing at a 1:32-scale Laguna touring car 1990s that’s housed in one of the many display cabinets lining Hornby’s visitor centre in Margate, Kent. We are here to mark the 60th anniversary of a toy that has enthralled young car enthusiasts and aspiring racing drivers the world over: Scalextric. “In those days, we would take countless measurements and photographs of every car,” says Buchanan, who in 25 years of working for the slot car brand’s parent company, Hornby, has graduated from being a designer to heading up product development. “We would then plot these in two-dimensional CAD and a model maker would cut the profiles out…

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY 2 OR 3 If you want some big and consistent repair bills, then a Discovery can deliver. Electrical issues abound, but often air suspension problems too. NISSAN PIXO It may be a Nissan, but this is a cheap and nasty little car. Thankfully, they have stopped making it. PROTON GEN 2 It’s cheap, but the likelihood of ever being able to resell it is less than zero. By that, I mean £0. TOYOTA URBAN CRUISER There’s nothing wrong with it apart from the fact that no one understood it. Super-dull and unresaleable. MAZDA RX8 Loveable and technically fascinating, but the cheap ones will probably break. An NSU Ro80 with trick doors. JAGUAR X-TYPE Buyers of the X-Type aren’t getting a Jaguar or a posh Mondeo, just a…

We’re into the last week of October and Lewis Hamilton has just won the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. With three races to go, it’s already obvious that the main beneficiaries of this year’s Formula 1 season will be Hamilton and Mercedes-Benz. In the Autocar office, we’re discussing ways of spicing up the remaining races – especially Abu Dhabi, the last. Some of us, of course, are so keen on F1 that we’d be happy to watch paint dry on the side of an F1 car. But some of us aren’t. “The only way to enjoy the last race,” offers someone, “would be to watch it with someone you can be certain will enjoy it. Someone like Murray Walker…” It is a killer idea. The veteran…

AUSTIN MINI 1959 This rear end almost resembles the (clothed) contours of a human posterior. It may seem basic but the Mini’s shape is very sophisticated. When design maestro Pininfarina was asked for an opinion, his reply was “don’t change a thing”. FERRARI 250 GTO 1962 Lusciously muscled haunches, a recessed Kamm tail, a gently wrapping rear screen, a king-sized filler cap, no bumpers, menacing air extractors aft of fat tyres – and cheap tail-lights. Could this be the most sexily brutal back end ever? JAGUAR E-TYPE COUPE SERIES 1 1961 It shouts speed, with a sensuous flourish. Many thought the E-Type shouted sex even louder, although the long bonnet and its air intake’s suggestive gape did the job more wantonly. Enzo Ferrari thought this Jag the world’s most beautiful…

“My jaw hung open,” says Luc Lacey of the Austrian location of his no-trickery Disco shot here. “It is probably the biggest highlight of the year for me.” Careful, Luc, we’ve six more pages to fill. Luc used the fog to his advantage with the Mini group shot, and Stan Papior the rain and the mist in China in making a brown SUV seem attractive. He repeated the trick inside Fiat’s eerie yet stunning Lingotto factory in Turin, closed in 1982. “Not sure what to say about this,” says Stan of the Vauxhall VXR8, “except 576bhp creates a lot of smoke in the wrong hands.” One Mauro Calo, for the record. Some contrast to the Vauxhall Insignia on Norway’s Atlantic Ocean Road, shot by Luc in the one gap in…

RULE OF THIRDS Apart from handling light well, perhaps the most important element of a great picture is the composition. Most of us will snap a car dead centre in the frame without much background, like a classified ad, but imagine the frame split into nine rectangles by two equally spaced horizontal lines and two vertical lines. The rule of thirds contends that the eye is drawn to objects on the intersection of these lines, creating more interest. Positioning the horizon on either the lower or the upper line also creates a more interesting composition. USING YOUR PHONE A useful feature for snapping cars on a smartphone is high dynamic range (HDR). The reflective surfaces of a car mean that some highlighted areas are so bright they become overexposed and…

QUESTION I reckon PCPs are smoke and mirrors to make you think a car costs less to own. Agree? Richard Jackson ANSWER I do and it underlines the whole common-sense argument in favour of Bangernomics. You also correctly note that when you add the deposit to the monthly amount, the cost often more than doubles. At the end, you have no car but a carry-on figure to start another PCP. It’s a financial cycle that is difficult to get out of. QUESTION I have a very reliable 2008 Lexus RX 400h. It’s done 119k miles. Should I keep or sell it? Graham Horner ANSWER Graham, you say the only item you have replaced is the water pump and the car has no issues. The feedback I have from other readers…

“The S197 Mustang is infinitely tweakable and just so darned charismatic” Now that right-hand-drive Ford Mustangs are on the market, is there any sense in buying the imported previous model? You can pick up a used, low-mileage, current-generation Mustang 2.3 Ecoboost from £26,000, or a 5.0 V8 GT manual from £29,000, with the benefit of driving on the correct side of the car. That said, the last-gen model is potentially much cheaper, infinitely tweakable and, well, just so darned charismatic. Prices begin way lower than £25,000. How about £9000 for a 2008-reg 4.0 V8 Fastback? It’s done 225,000 miles but has a new clutch, control arms and brakes. The work reads like a buyer’s guide of things to look for when buying an S197 (the codename for this fifth-generation Mustang…

ASTON V8 VANTAGE | SUMMER 2018 The recently revealed Aston Martin V8 Vantage, the first examples of which will reach keen customers in the second quarter of next year, has an AMG-sourced, twin-turbocharged 4.0 engine packing 503bhp, mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission from ZF. It can cover 0-60mph in 3.5secs. Price £120,900. JANUARY 2018 Alpina D5 S, Bentley Continental GT, Ford Fiesta Active, Hyundai i30 N, i30 Fastback, Jaguar E-Pace, Jeep Compass, Kia Picanto X-Line, Stinger, Sorento update, Land Rover Discovery SVX, Range Rover and Range Rover Sport updates, Range Rover and Range Rover Sport PHEVs, Lexus LS, Maserati Ghibli update, Mercedes-Benz S-Class update, Peugeot 5008 Porsche 911 Carrera T, 911 GT3 Touring, Rolls-Royce Phantom, Seat Arona, Skoda Karoq, Vauxhall Grandland X, Volkswagen Golf SV update, Polo FEBRUARY Audi…

“The new electric technology will support twin motors and all-wheel drive” The Jaguar XJ will be reinvented as an electric car for its next generation, which will go on sale in 2019 after a launch at the end of 2018, the 50th anniversary of the first XJ. The XJ is Jaguar’s flagship model and debate has raged within the company over exactly what sort of vehicle the XJ should be in the future, and even if it should exist at all. Autocar has learned that the decision has been taken to replace it, despite the tougher market for luxury saloons in the face of the rising popularity of luxury SUVs. However, it is being replaced not with a like-for-like model but with one that reinvents the very idea of a…

“Very few parts have been carried over from the outgoing G-Class” Mercedes-Benz has revealed the cabin of its new G-Class SUV, which has undergone the most significant reinvention of its four-decade lifespan to provide greater comfort, technology and occupant space, without abandoning its utilitarian roots. The overhauled G-Class – which has been four years in development at Mercedes’ stand-alone ‘G’ facility in Graz, Austria – will be fully unveiled at the Detroit motor show in mid-January. The familiar boxy shape of the current vehicle will be retained, but the five-seater’s interior has been significantly revised. As well as using much of the technology and electronic architecture from the latest E-Class, Mercedes has retained many of the G-Class’s iconic design features. The new G-Class will be wider than the current model,…

Customers of Aston Martin’s upcoming RapidE electric model will be very different to those interested in a top-of-the-line Tesla model, according to Aston boss Andy Palmer. “Most of the people who buy a Model S are buying it fully loaded. They’re not limited by their cash, they’re limited by the offer,” Palmer said. “We’re looking to those guys looking for something above Tesla. That customer probably isn’t looking for Ludicrous [driving] mode. Our car will have very credible acceleration – equal to a petrol-powered Aston Martin – but you’ll be able to drive the car rapidly all the way around the Nürburgring without it de-rating or conking out on you.” Aston Martin is currently running prototypes of the RapidE – one of which we have driven (see right) – ahead…

Building cars that are ‘avant garde’ but also fundamentally like those which every other car maker is introducing may prove to be the making, or the undoing, of DS Automobiles. That seems to be the direction in which the company has just set out with the 7 Crossback, the new Jaguar E-Pace-rivalling upmarket compact SUV that, it’s hoped, will spearhead its maker’s transformation from relative obscurity to established global market success. Built in the same factory as the Peugeot 3008 and on the same EMP2 platform, the 7 Crossback is a front-wheel-drive SUV available with a choice of 1.5-litre and 2.0-litre diesel engines or a 1.6-litre turbo petrol. But it’s what’s inside the 7 Crossback’s cabin, and what’s going on inside the wheelarches, that DS Automobiles has made its boldest…

“Peace on earth and goodwill to all men,” they say at this time of year. And both peace and goodwill are sentiments celebrated annually when the city of Oslo donates a giant Christmas tree to London in recognition of our country’s efforts during the Second World War (see separate story on p63). This year, we’re celebrating that enduring tradition with a delivery of our own, transporting a Christmas tree the length of the country from Scotland’s west coast to the Autocar offices in London, bringing joy and festive merriment to the editorial team. And what greater freighter for the task than our favourite British grand tourer, the Aston Martin DB11? It should provide some back-road thrills up north, then devour the motorway miles on the home run. Along the way,…

“The Ferrari exhibition talks racing, folklore and engineering” The days between Christmas and new year are among the most relaxing of the year. They’re neither cluttered with chores the way long weekends are nor topped and tailed with frantic travel arrangements, as the regular holidays tend to be. They’re so special that it’s imperative we make best use of them. Luckily, there’s a surprising amount to do, despite variable weather and short days, so here we suggest 10 motoring activities for the festive season. Make plans and play your cards right and you’ll have a wonderful motoring time. VISIT LONDON’S FERRARI EXHIBITION It’s not often that a car exhibition makes it as far up the cultural flag pole as Ferrari: Under the Skin, currently at London’s Design Museum. Even those…

TINPLATES 1957-1960 It’s still possible to track down early Minimodels or Tri-ang sets with rubber track and tinplate cars, although condition varies enormously. With prices in the hundreds – and even thousands – of pounds, these are for serious collectors only. SUPER STOX 1981-1983 Not every Scalextric set is about getting to the finish ahead of your opponent. In Super Stox, the aim was in fact to crash, using the 360deg guide blade to spin your car around and drive head on into your opponent, sending bodywork flying. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 1988-1993 Four lanes, two rev starts (complete with vaporising baby oil for tyre-smoking effect), a pair each of Williams and Lotus Formula 1 cars and lap counters to keep track of who is in the lead: the World Championship set…

he Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award, our unique competition designed to attract the nation’s finest young talent to careers in the motor industry, reached its 2017 pinnacle in London when the top prize was awarded to Tom Lingard, a 25-year-old mechanical engineering graduate from Teesside University. Lingard, who proposed an idea that uses the exhaust gas flow of an internal combustion engine to generate electric power, took an ultra-close decision ahead of two other extremely strong finalists, Jack Levy and Stephen Crossley. Now in its ninth year, the Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award was announced and awarded as usual at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ annual dinner in central London, traditionally the year’s biggest gathering of UK motor industry luminaries and leaders. The award’s three finalists – chosen from six…

The front end of a car is surely its most important reference point. This is the car’s face, its point of recognition, the canvas upon which the designers must brand a car while simultaneously individualising it, cooling it, crash protecting it and aiding its cleaving of the air. But actually, the bits of other people’s cars we see most often are their back ends. That is, obviously, because we follow the rear end of some sort of vehicle for most of the miles that we drive. Rear ends, then. We’ve picked some of the best on sale today, and a trio of the worst. Plus, some greats from the past. Having trawled through catalogues of cars in the quest for sexy back ends – there, said it – it’s surprising…

nce that rush of adrenaline from being handed the keys to your next set of wheels has subsided, the first thing most of us want to do is take a snap and share it with friends on social media. Sometimes, though, our talent behind the lens doesn’t quite match our photographic ambitions. As it’s Christmas, we managed to convince Autocar’s Luc Lacey and John Bradshaw of sister magazine What Car? to share a few trade secrets on how to photograph a car and get a decent result. The first thing to remember is that taking a great photograph is less about what kind of camera you have and more about art. Composition, light and location are vital to a great car photo whether you’re using full-blown professional kit with an…

The Escape to the Country Award for the most fun car to drive WINNER ALFA ROMEO GIULIA QUADRIFOGLIO HIGHLY COMMENDED McLAREN 570GT, SUBARU BRZ This developed into a straight battle between world-class British precision engineering and classical Italian charm and character, with the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio sneaking victory from the McLaren 570GT by the narrowest of margins. “I was beaming within 100 metres,” reckons editor Mark Tisshaw. “So well engineered, it’s more than the sum of its parts. A near-perfect ride and handling balance, an extraordinary Ferrari V6 engine… I could go on.” Chief tester Matt Saunders was similarly impressed, noting the Alfa was “capable of brightening any journey with that remarkable rear-drive balance”. Editorial director Jim Holder led the campaign for the McLaren, saying: “It isn’t just sensational…

MILEAGE 128,189 LAND ROVER SERIES 3 I think the Lorry may become a fixture in this spot. As I was moving it into a secure location, I was asked: “What’s that terrible noise?” Turns out that someone had forgotten to attach the fan properly. Consequently, it was flapping around and hitting the radiator. That’s not good. I didn’t want the rad to spring a leak. I managed to hand tighten the nuts by squeezing between the cowl. Finding the right spanner was a slight challenge, but I bravely carried on skinning my knuckles. That’s job number one done. But more to come.…

“Specialist parts combine to make it one of the finest-handling cars ever to grace the road” Launched in 2005 as a run-out version of the already celebrated Clio 182, this limited-edition hatch was heralded at the time as ‘an affordable Porsche 911 GT3’ thanks to its hardcore focus on drivability and accompanying enthusiast image. It was based on the second-generation Clio and designed to sit above the 182 and 182 Cup in Renault Sport’s performance-hatch hierarchy. Just 500 examples of the Clio RS 182 Trophy, all finished in Capsicum Red, were made for Britain – the market with the biggest appetite for fast Renault hatches – with a further 50 produced for Switzerland. The 182 Trophy has upgrades including Recaro Sport Trendline seats that place the driver and front passenger…

An expert’s view MIKE LACEY, MODURSTANG “In 1982, when I was 19, I moved with my parents to the US, where I fell in love with Mustangs. A few years after returning to the UK, I started my own business servicing and tuning them. The S197 was a fantastic era for the model. You could modify every inch of the car and it kicked aftermarket upgrades to a new level. Like all Mustangs, it holds its value very well. You can pay up to £26,000 for a top-spec 06-reg 4.6 V8 in mint condition, but that’s too much. Most S197s are overpriced, especially when the first current-generation S550s start at around the same money. For just £10k more, you can have a low-mile 16-reg 5.0 V8 GT with everything on…

“The Senna boasts an eye-watering power-to-weight ratio of 660bhp per tonne” Five years on from its rule-breaking P1 hypercar, McLaren has unveiled a second member of its range-topping Ultimate Series, an “ultimate road-legal track car”, and given it the name of the grand prix team’s greatest champion, Ayrton Senna. Revealed at an exclusive launch in London last week, the new £750,000, 789bhp McLaren Senna is the first model from Woking to have styling described by its creators as “brutal” and “unforgiving”. The car’s unique looks result largely from the extreme active aerodynamics that sprout from its basic teardrop shape: a huge rear wing and front splitter (both with active elements) plus straight flanks, exotically shaped wheel arches, air-gulping scoops and inlets, and more subtle air dams and strakes. According to…

“A price of around £50,000, it should be noted, puts the Alpine in Porsche Cayman territory” Spoiler alert: the Alpine A110 is the best and most exciting car I’ve driven in ages. It is all kinds of good things, this compact marvel, as refreshing and cheering to drive as a nearly great car that has had its unfulfilled wishes granted without compromise. It’s as joyful as finding a Toyota GT86 has been given the power it always wanted, or the latest Mazda MX-5 with seats in the right place and greater roll control. It is like an Ariel Nomad without the attendant hypothermia, a Smart Roadster Coupé with a terrific gearbox, a Lotus Exige with lighter steering, a Porsche 964 RS with driveline refinement or an original Honda NSX with…

The technology might be a year or two away from trickling down to mainstream family cars, but Volkswagen, like most manufacturers, already has 48-volt mild hybrid electric vehicles (MHEVs) under development. We drove a pair of prototype Golf 1.5 TSI MHEVs at the car maker’s Ehra-Lessien proving grounds. Forty-eight-volt electrical systems such as those in the Golfs have been under development for a few years to power driver aids, infotainment systems and devices such as electrically assisted turbochargers. The 48V belt-integrated starter alternator (BISG) replaces the normal 12V unit and produces 8kW, the equivalent of 15bhp if used as an electric motor to boost the engine’s torque. As a generator, it can recover energy and charge the 48V lithium ion battery when the car decelerates. This aspect is crucial as…

MATT SAUNDERS Right, I’ll be ‘mother’. We’re here to talk about our favourite cars of the year, and probably to not agree on which is the best overall. There’s a Porsche, a McLaren, a Lamborghini and an Aston Martin in the car park – as you’d expect of a bunch of road testers. And then there’s yours, Prior. Presumably, being your habitually organised self, you found that all of the cars you really wanted to bring had been spoken for by the time you alighted on the Suzuki Ignis, right? MATT PRIOR Now now, that’s not entirely true – but not entirely false, either. The Suzuki isn’t the best car I’ve driven this year but it is one of the cars I’ve liked most this year. I think it’s really…

Kevin assembled the fastest shed in his driveway, building a steel spaceframe onto the VW Passat underpinnings, then cladding it in shiplap like a conventional shed It’s official: meet the world’s fastest shed. Kevin Nicks and his four-wheel-drive shed were timed at 99mph by the UK Timing Association earlier this year and recently made a further attempt for a Guinness World Record. At the time of writing, Kevin is awaiting the official results but, despite experiencing engine problems during the run, expects to easily beat the motorised shed record of 58.41mph, held by Edd China. We first met Kevin in the summer as he was about to set off in his shed from Land’s End to John O’Groats in aid of Katharine House Hospice. It turned into a fun run…

James Ruppert BMW 320 After the demise of Shed 7, then nine months with Shed 5, I decided to give up on the idea of having a mile-munching motor. I just wanted to mooch. It had to be more comfy than my Land Rover Series III and less frantically fun than my Mini Cooper. I spotted this 3 Series beauty in the online classified ads back in the summer of 2016, when I was too busy to get involved. It was £4999. I tried to forget about it and did that very successfully until last December, when it popped up on my classic car radar: same ad, pictures and price. I think what had put buyers off was the three-speed auto and quite possibly the fantastically 1970s colour that is…

Mercedes-Benz CLS 500 Years built 2005-2010 Price range £4000-£14,000 LUXURY: THAT’S WHAT Father Christmas deserves. So let’s sort him out a great big motor with a ton of standard kit. It has to be dynamically involving because he loves taking the reins himself – just ask Dancer, Donner or Blitzen. For that reason, he rarely gets in the back. If anyone sits there, it’s those hard-working elves, so the deficit of rear headroom isn’t an issue. The swoopy shape of the W219 CLS is just about perfect, then. Most buyers would plump for a diesel, but Father Christmas is on board with the view that petrol is rather more future-proofed, so a CLS 500 would fit the bill. Well, it is the season of giving, remember? In any case, high-mile…

MODEL TESTED 60163 ‘TORNADO’ Price £3,000,000 • Power 2400bhp (approx) • Tractive effort 166.38kN • Fuel economy 49 miles per tonne of coal • CO2 emissions 23,205g/km (approx) Top speed 100mph Arthur Peppercorn was, by all accounts, a modest but exceptionally talented man. When he became chief mechanical engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1946, he designed and oversaw the engineering of a number of steam locomotives. Among the best was the Peppercorn Class A1, designed as passenger express trains for the arduous London to Aberdeen east coast mainline route, on which they would haul up to 15 carriages, each weighing up to 550 tonnes. In 1948 and 1949, some 49 Class A1s were built, but within 17 years, as steam power gave way to diesel…

Nico Rosberg 2016 Formula 1 champion TIME WAS TEENAGE karting sensations Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton would spend all day as team-mates at the track, eat their evening meal together, sleep in a shared hotel room and then repeat it all over again. And while their paths may have occasionally swung in different directions on the way up the ladder, both made it to Formula 1 and, between 2013 and 2016, they were reunited as they battled for supremacy in the Mercedes F1 team. The stats from those occasionally tumultuous four years read very much in the Briton’s favour: two world titles to one, three seasons ahead in the standings to one, 1334 championship points scored to 1195. But Rosberg did out-score, out-race and out-qualify Hamilton on numerous occasions, and,…

I’ve just read your story about Geely’s plans for Lotus. The part that caught my eye was the parent company’s determination to keep sports car production in the UK while the forthcoming SUV may be built elsewhere. Is this approach also the key to MG’s future? As a former MG owner (a ZT 190, since you ask), I’m su re I’m not alone in being totally underwhelmed by the present use of the proud MG badge on a distinctly average range of saloons and SUVs. No doubt their shortcomings will be addressed in future developments, but the link to the marque’s UK roots has become tenuous to the least. All that could change if a halo product (or dare I say products?) were built in the UK. What better than…

MG F Dan Spurgin has one of the last MG Fs made, a car registered in 2002. “I paid just £400 for it,” he says. “So far, I’ve had to buy new spark plugs and I’ve tarted a few bits up, but it has needed for next to nothing, returns more than 35mpg and is cheap to tax and insure. It’s a perfect little runabout for summer and will be used daily in the winter. “I just wanted a cheap sports car and this was the perfect choice. It has done only 48,000 miles and has a full-leather interior as well. I cannot fault it.” SEND YOUR USED CAR TALES AND READERS' QUESTIONS TO james@bangernomics.com…

Range Rover Sport 5.0 V8 S/C £54,000 The reduced weight of the all-aluminium body of the Range Rover Sport combined with a whole host of chassis trickery, such as a torque-vectoring rear differential and active anti-roll bars, imbue this big SUV with some sporty handling characteristics. Used examples of the 5.0-litre supercharged version from 2014 are now down to around £54,000. With 503bhp, it can crack 0-62mph in five seconds, yet it is still a true mud-plugger with off-road prowess, a big boot and even seven seats. There aren’t many situations that flummox the Range Rover Sport. BMW M5 Touring £28,500 With a 5.0-litre V10 delivering 500bhp to the rear wheels, it’s just as well that this 2008 M5 Touring has depreciated to £28,500, because you will need spare reserves…

McLaren 570S From £143,000 A supercar-slayer for a new age. Blisteringly fast and exciting, with handling appeal far in advance of its price. ★★★★★ Honda NSX From £144,000 The modern digital hybrid supercar made analogue. Tactile steering, balanced handling, understated brilliance. ★★★★★ Porsche 911 Turbo S From £142,000 Still rules the everyday-use, any-occasion sporting ranks. Practical, easygoing and monstrously quick. ★★★★★ Jaguar F-Type SVR From £110,000 The most convincing Jaguar sports car since the XJ220. Excellent chassis matches bombastic engine. ★★★★★ BMW i8 From £104,500 If BMW’s plug-in hybrid is what the future of the sports car looks like, we welcome it. A knock-out to look at but not so much to drive. ★★★★☆…