Innholdsfortegnelse for 28/02/2018 i Autocar

IT’S BEEN A long time since a new Audi was an Autocar cover star, an indication that the enthusiast appeal of its cars has diminished in recent years. There’s no doubting the quality and technological excellence of Audi’s recent generation of models, but the Russian doll styling has spread to the dynamics in that time. There just hasn’t been that sparkle, polish or feel-good factor that rivals such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar provide so routinely. But a new era has at last emerged. Or so we’re told. It o.cially started with the A8 and the A7 – cars designed with luxury in mind over flair, but under three successive development bosses in the wake of Dieselgate. So the new A6, detailed on p8, is the new Audi. Not only…

What was your goal in designing the A6? “It is the third car with Audi’s new design language after the A8 and A7. We have been criticised in the past for not differentiating our cars’ designs enough. Now, we give every car its own character. Our aim was to make the most sporty car in the segment.” How have you achieved that differentiation? “It has more muscular looks and a lower shoulder line than its siblings. The shoulder line leads towards the wheel, accentuating quattro [Audi’s four-wheel drive system], which is different to the A8. The grille is similar yet has different dimensions to the A8 and A7 and the front and rear light graphics are unique to the A6. The A7 and A8 have a light band across the…

Volvo will mount a fresh challenge to the bestselling premium sports saloons and estates with a new a family of S60 and V60 models, starting from this September. The new V60 estate will arrive in the UK first, after a launch at next month’s Geneva motor show. It will be followed in spring 2019 by a new S60 saloon, supplied solely from a new US factory scheduled to start operating early next year. Both models are based on Volvo’s SPA (Scalable Product Architecture) platform that underpins the S90/V90 and XC60/ XC90 and will return Volvo to front-line competition in the Audi A4 and BMW 3 Series segment. The V60 and S60 are vital additions to push Volvo’s output towards 800,000 units per year by 2020. Last year, it built 571,000…

Alfa Romeo is developing a new Giulia coupé that features a Formula 1- style energy recovery system (ERS), according to Autocar’s sources. Two powertrains are said to be under development using the system. One is based on the 276bhp 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine used in the Giulia Veloce saloon. The other uses the 2.9-litre turbo petrol V6 of the Giulia Quadrifoglio. The 2.0 version develops around 345bhp combined, and the 2.9 V6 a mighty 641bhp to create the most potent roadgoing Alfa Romeo yet, with an output only 20bhp short of the 661bhp Ferrari 488. Among its potential direct competitors, BMW’s M4 DTM produces 493bhp (454bhp in CS form), the Audi RS5 444bhp and the Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupé 503bhp. The Giulia coupé could appear towards the end of this…

MY WEEK IN CARS “A GTC4 Lusso T arrives for a fabulous weekend’s driving. What can possibly go wrong?” MONDAY Remember Peter Robinson? As well as being to my mind the world’s greatest motoring scribbler, he was Autocar’s European editor (and muchloved columnist) for about 15 years before retiring to Australia a few years ago. In Robbo’s case, ‘retiring’ is another word for ‘continuing to work on stories he cares about’. This is how, last August, he ended up in Detroit, nosing for days through GM’s dust-laden archives in search of new info on the manufacturing heyday of Holden. Without warning, Peter turned up a secret photoset of a baby Vauxhall called Project XP714, a tiny front-drive project started in 1960, slated for production in 1963 and killed in 1965.…

The twitching steering wheel is intriguing, and so is your grandstand view of the Nexo crisply self-steering itself through a motorway bend at 80mph. As surprising, should you be following another cruising Nexo on the road, is the sight of roiling plumes of water vapour dancing from its twin exhausts. The Nexo might be yet another medium-sized crossover – albeit a subtly handsome and appealingly detailed specimen – but it is also the standard-bearer for Hyundai’s autonomous drive and emissions ambitions. It has a hydrogen fuel cell drivetrain and is a replacement for Hyundai’s ix35 Fuel Cell crossover, of which a few hundred examples have been semi-experimentally leased in 18 countries since 2013. With this new fuel cell vehicle, Hyundai hopes to achieve sales in the thousands, while acknowledging that…

The sheer prominence of the compact SUV on British roads tells its own story about how much growth this segment has seen in recent years. While 20 years ago drivers might have graduated from a family hatchback into a traditional family saloon, and ten years ago into a compact premium five-door or a compact executive four-door, now it’s the downsized 4x4 that’s becoming the preferred route of progression. Compact SUVs offer such a long list of attractions – practicality and versatility, 4x4 and all-weather capability, premium-brand desirability, affordability, distinctive style, strong performance, impressive comfort and refinement, and often uncompromised handling to go with all that – that they’ve become a default first choice by stealth. I know plenty of SUV drivers who didn’t realise they were in the market for…

What’s the next best thing to buying a Porsche Carrera 2.7? Buying a book about it. Specifically, Ryan Snodgrass’s definitive guide to the model, published by Parabolica Press in 2015 and called, helpfully, Carrera 2.7. Just 2500 were printed. There are about 300 copies of the Limited Edition version left, each costing £225. Sounds a lot? Don’t worry: in two years your investment could be worth £1000. “Carrera 2.7 set a new benchmark for motoring books,” says Ben Horton of Horton’s Books, a specialist motoring bookseller in Marlborough, Wiltshire. “It’s not only an in-depth story of the car but is also packed with all the information – colour charts, component photographs, mechanical evolution – every owner, enthusiast or restorer could desire, plus it’s beautifully produced. “Buy a limited-edition version today…

The Land Rover Defender is to its maker what the Wrangler is to Jeep and the 911 is to Porsche: iconic. While perhaps not the economic mainstays of their respective companies, each model represents history, heritage and company character through an instantly recognisable product. It would be both foolhardy and a missed opportunity to simply plump for a jelly-mould of the current Land Rover/Range Rover shape. Doing so would demonstrate a lack of foresight just to make a luxury statement. The essence of the shape, its purposefulness and its heritage already exists. The Defender is perhaps one of the most adapted vehicles ever made, all of which must give some clues as to the design direction. Why it is so complicated is beyond me: good design is always the simplest…

MILEAGE 22,120 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see how well suited this luxury off-roader is to executive travel Last time I briefly reported that the Discovery had been in for an unexpected service, so more on that now. It’s the kind of thing that I don’t think gets huge mainstream attention but sets owners forums twitching. Basically, as far as I understand it, a car with a diesel particulate filter needs it declogging every now and again, by getting it hot enough to burn the soot out of it. Usually the car finds a time to do the cycle automatically, when the engine is running at higher revs – which is fine if your engine visits those higher revs. I once heard, although it might be apocryphal, that London cab…

So farewell, X5: it was truly lovely having you. It’s such a shame that the X5 had to go because, during its time, the number of issues were nil. Apart from the nearside electric window, which packed up so we bolted it up, and some foggy headlights. Oh, the numberplate bulb occasionally flickered, but that is barely worth a mention. This is the sort of used car you need in your life: a reliable one. I was warned that everything to do with an old X5 was expensive. It wasn’t. Next time, I’ll tell you the saga of the sale. A TO Z BANGERPEDIA I is for Insignia Squint and you could almost mistake the Insignia for a mid-sized Lexus, both inside and out. It is smart, well finished and…

An expert’s view LEE MASSEY, OWNER “I’m a former Lexus technician and have owned two SC430s, including my current car, a 2004/04 with 80,000 miles. I remember the SC430 from my Lexus days as being reliable and well built and my used ones haven’t given me any trouble. If you like wafting about in something powerful and different that isn’t going to give you sleepless nights worrying about repair bills, it’s hard to beat.” Buyer beware… ▪ ENGINE Some head gasket failures have been recorded due to very low coolant levels. Check the condition of the lower radiator, which can leak into the gearbox oil cooler. Likewise, fluid from the gearbox can leak into the coolant. The oxygen sensor in the exhaust system can fail. Check the starter motor works…

“The eighth-generation A6, on sale in June, will be available with mild-hybrid engines only” Audi believes its all-new A6 saloon is finally the car to usurp the BMW 5 Series as champion of the ultra-competitive executive saloon class, thanks to its complete reinvention inside and out, with a new look, fresh technology and a bolstering of its sporting appeal. The eighth-generation A6, on sale in June, will be available with mild-hybrid engines only – much like the recently launched A7 – and will later offer a plug-in hybrid as “bridge technology” to pure electric. For now, the new executive saloon will be offered with four engine options: a V6 3.0-litre TFSI petrol and three diesels, a 2.0-litre TDI and a 3.0-litre TDI in two states of tune. The 3.0 TFSI…

Seat’s new stand-alone performance brand, Cupra, has revealed its 296bhp all-wheel-drive version of the Ateca – the first model to be launched since Seat confirmed its hot subbrand’s new role last month. The car is part of a broader offensive to offer Cupra versions of some Seat models as well as, eventually, Cupra-only cars. Seat is trying to copy the example of in-house performance divisions like Renault Sport. Cupra models will be based on Seats – for the foreseeable future, at least – but with significantly higher performance, more customisation options and a separate sales channel. Only about one-fifth of Seat’s dealer network will be awarded Cupra sub-franchises and models are set to be sold by specialists from Cupra-only areas. Autocar first reported on the plans last year, when a…

Mazda has revealed the latest version of its innovative 2.0-litre Skyactiv-X engine, which is expected to deliver a 20% improvement in fuel consumption over the existing Skyactiv-G petrol during general driving. That figure could increase during lowspeed driving to as much as 30%, the company claims. The target outputs for when the engine hits the market in 2019 is 187bhp and 170lb ft. Development engines have been installed in six prototype cars comprising Mazda 3 bodies underpinned by the new Skyactiv architecture. The new Skyactiv-X engine relies on two technologies – lean burn combustion and compression ignition – to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions while delivering good performance. A conventional internal combustion engine mixes air with fuel at a ratio of 14.7:1, the perfect mixture to burn petrol in…

Composite car components that use graphene are expected to make it to market in seven to eight years and could lead to the development of much lighter, more energy-efficient cars. That’s the expectation of the University of Sunderland, which is leading a consortium spearheading the revolutionary material. It is currently running a pilot plant in Japan. Scientists at the university have been working on graphene, which, when added to carbon-reinforced plastic (CRP) in a certain way, means a bumper made using the material is capable of absorbing 40% more energy than the standard item. This could lead to the creation of significantly lighter, safer cars. A number of organisations have recognised the potential of graphene in recent years. Goodyear talked about using it to create tiny sensors in the tread…

PEUGEOT HAS LAUNCHED an all-new version of its Volkswagen Passat-sized 508 to compete harder against its class-leading German rivals. The market for this size of car is currently dominated by SUVs but Peugeot believes the hit taken by big saloons has begun to stabilise and the class is still worth fighting for. The 508, formerly a staidlooking four-door saloon, is now a more stylish five-door with frameless doors. It’s around 6cm lower than most rivals in its class and looks sleek, even though it is about 8cm shorter. Styling elements inspired by the Instinct shooting brake concept, first seen at the 2017 Geneva motor show, include the rear light bar with LEDs. The new 508 range is topped by a 222bhp Puretech petrolengined variant, although six petrol and diesel engines…

It was back in 2002 that Volkswagen introduced the original Touareg, its first SUV. Sixteen years later, the company has sold close to a million Touaregs across two generations, a success story that has encouraged it to continue launching new SUVs of varying sizes. Having not offered a single one two decades ago, VW’s SUV line-up is fourstrong today. The all-new third-generation Touareg sits at the head of that quartet; at the top, in fact, of VW’s entire range. As if to acknowledge that top-dog status, VW has delivered not only a new Touareg that’s laden with technology, but also one that ranks among the bestexecuted models it currently sells. Like most of the group’s large 4x4s, the Touareg uses the MLB platform, the same basic architecture that underpins the…

Diesel isn’t particularly sexy right now, but if anyone can instil it with an element of desirability, it’s Alpina. And it is desirability we’re talking about here, rather than excitement, because if the best known of all the BMW tuners (though it’s so much more than that) trades in any one attribute, it’s extraordinary breadth owing to the conciliation of apparent contradictions. So it is with this new D5 S (for Sportdiesel), whose customary chin skirt and ducktail spoiler present a persona at odds with the opulence of the interior. There are other traces of duality. The seats are aggressively bolstered but prodigiously soft, and a quartet of exhaust tips are a bit heavy metal for a sequentially turbocharged 3.0-litre engine that never relinquishes its manners. The leatherconcealed Switch-Tronic gearshift…

MODEL TESTED 2.0i LINEARTRONIC SE PREMIUM Price £28,495 • Power 154bhp • Torque 145lb ft • 0-60mph 10.1sec • 30-70mph in fourth 21.7sec • Fuel economy 30.9mpg • CO2 emissions 155g/km • 70-0mph 57.4m Never is it pleasurable to open road-test proceedings on a gloomy note, but this week’s subject arrives with its maker flailing for relevancy. Subaru’s UK market share was just over a tenth of a per cent in 2016, and somehow that fell last year. Consider that the reason you see so few of these starspangled Japanese cars is that no single model can drag itself into fourfigure sales, although business in the brand’s homeland and the USA is much more healthy. Here, though, it seems the only way is up. Identifying a route is the difficulty,…

MILEAGE 38,467 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To delve into the world of aftermarket modifications and discover how to respectfully improve on factory efforts Right now, you should be reading all about the M135i’s lovely new brakes. Unfortunately, the supplier was unable to deliver them before the end of our loan of the car, so the standard brakes will be staying put. No matter, actually, because we didn’t set out to build a track car and I’ve never had an issue with the factory stoppers on the road. Still, there is some progress: the world’s most determined key scratch has finally been repaired. Whichever cheery soul it was who vandalised the car started at the very front and keyed the paintwork all along the right-hand side, damaging all three panels in…

QUESTION I am after a Toyota Auris Hybrid. Is it a safe buy? Gajan Soori ANSWER It is a Toyota, which is always good for reliability. There are fuel savings, but it is still important to drive sensibly and smoothly. I always worry about the complication of the batteries. After 10 years, if there are any problems (battery life), they are pricier to sort out than a conventional car. There’s less boot space because of the battery pack too. QUESTION I want the impossible: a car that can seat four adults and has five doors; should ideally be automatic and a convertible. Madeline Garfield ANSWER An Audi A2 might work. Overall, it’s very refined and the 1.4 petrol engine should return 40-45mpg, even with an automatic gearbox. The A2 can…

Mazda MX-5 £1500 As an erudite reader of Autocar, you’ll need no introduction to the Mazda MX-5. And given how often we sing its praises, the chances are you might be partial to the idea of owning a Mk1; the original and arguably still the best. There’s a problem, though. Part of the appeal of the Mk1 was that, for a long while, it was so preposterously cheap. Once upon a time, you could buy a solid UK car for under £2000, or a Japanese import bearing the Eunos model name for even less. These days that’s changed, with even a good Eunos soaring over and above that mark and tidy UK cars going for more than £3000. So what if you still want the old two-seater-for-tuppence magic of the…

The Skyactiv-X engine has been substantially improved since Autocar tried an early prototype last year. Driven back to back with a current Mazda 3 on a variety of Portuguese roads in both manual and automatic form, the prototype proved surprisingly refined. There was an absence of combustion noise and, if anything, the engine was smoother and quieter than the production Mazda 3. Engineers say the new architecture contributes to the smooth drive with improved isolation from powertrain and road noise. A screen displayed three green discs to indicate which mode the engine was running in – conventional, lean burn mode or ultra-lean mode. Lean mode was achievable most of the time on both motorways and country roads, and the engine would quite often switch to the most frugal, ultra-lean mode…

PORSCHE INSISTS DIESEL will return to its line-up despite ending production of all current diesel vehicles in the face of changing consumer demand and upcoming stricter emissions tests. In a move that a Porsche spokesman said mirrors the “cultural shift” of the brand’s customers, the German manufacturer has discontinued its only two current diesel models, the Macan S Diesel and Panamera 4S Diesel, just nine years after its first oil-burner hit the market. The original Cayenne was the first Porsche to offer diesel power back in 2009. Porsche was originally reported to be launching the new Cayenne with only petrol and petrolelectric hybrid powertrains but has now announced that a diesel variant is on the way. Porsche said: “Traditionally, diesel engines have played a subordinate role at Porsche. The company…

It probably doesn’t sound flattering to suggest that Ferrari’s latest four-seater, the GTC4 Lusso, is made up of a convenient collection of pre-existing components and assemblies, given that, like every modern Ferrari, it delivers exalted performance and impressive looks. Yet it’s true: every element of this car was built in the first place for a different purpose than this one, and it seems legitimate to speculate on how the buyer – who is being asked to pay a price starting at more than £200,000 and extending beyond £250,000 if you choose the options fitted to our test car – feels about that. Most big-name supercars have a very singular provenance. In this case, the 4922mm-long four-seat body started life in the four-wheel-drive FF, a car created to persuade the faithful…

First there was a W12, then a V8 diesel, and now we have a third engine for Bentley’s monumentally capable SUV. It’s a 542bhp 4.0-litre V8 that’s mostly well-mannered but, deep down, pretty raucous. Power is 68bhp shy of the 6.0-litre W12 with torque rated at 568lb ft – a serious hit by anyone’s standards except perhaps by those of W12 owners, who enjoy almost 100lb ft more. The new car is predictably outgunned by its bigger brother, then, though it recovers some ground in the admittedly less exciting world of fuel efficiency claims. Stop-start and cylinder deactivation technology that turns V8 into V4 when you’re stroking the throttle ever so gently helps it to a combined 24.8mpg against the W12’s 21.6mpg. The diesel puts both to shame, with 35.8mpg.…

There is a ‘road’ out there somewhere, but you’d only know it by the gap in the trees and the succession of poles sticking up stripy and proud out of the frozen whiteness. Blanketed in thick, powdery snow that’s reflecting the hazy morning light in picture-postcard fashion, with heavy-laden pines stretching as far as the eye can see, the scene through the windscreen looks utterly serene. It’s not exactly asking to be disrupted by a 500-horsepower V8 – but never mind. Stuff happens, doesn’t it? Even in Lapland. And however treacherous you might imagine those conditions to be, the car we’re driving has been coping with them just fine so far. It’s 14degC below freezing, and we’re 200 miles north of the edge of the Arctic Circle at the TestWorld…

Dieselgate has claimed bigger casualties, of course, but for it to have taken away a perfectly good diesel engine from the Subaru XV – a car that we liked six years ago but is much the worse for the loss of the accessible torque that unit provided – is a baffling shame. The car’s new 2.0-litre atmospheric petrol motor struggles to shoulder its mass even half as well, and its two-pedal CVT transmission is perpetually disobliging. Improvements have been made to cabin quality, to infotainment and to ride and handling but, such is the calamity of the start that the car gets o€ to, resulting from that powertrain, that it can’t possibly recover to anything but also-ran status in its segment. Those who buy the XV will do so because…

FEATURED THIS WEEK FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To determine whether Hyundai’s first stab at a hot hatch can stand up to its more established foes in everyday life First word of Hyundai’s N performance brand came more than four years ago and, since then, the Korean car maker’s presence in the World Rally Championship has ensured it has gained experience in, and received plaudits for, honing machines far removed from the good if unremarkable family cars for which it is better known. Within a year of stating those performance intentions, Hyundai had appointed Albert Biermann as head of vehicle test and high performance development, with N no doubt dangled as the carrot to lure him away from the world of BMW M engineering. Ever since, Biermann has been…

I have been spending rather a lot of time on car forecourts recently. That’s part of my job, but the funny thing is how quickly the petrol/diesel debate comes up. It is usually my fault because I will only kick the tyres on the petrol ones and that starts the conversation. Every day, there is a new piece of research showing that there is now a different value between the two fuel types. There always has been and always will be. Suffice to say that diesels suit some drivers and petrols others. The problem has been that diesel was sold to us by the government as the preferred tipple. Now the market is sorting itself out. Let’s take the either/or approach. If you need a small family hatch to do…

“You’ll find lots of cherished SCs with just one or two former keepers and full Lexus histories” Marmite comes in many forms, including this, the Lexus SC430 of 2001 to 2009. To most folk, it’s an ugly thing strangled at birth by clumsy handling and a lumpy ride, made brittle by run-flat tyres. Changes to the suspension in 2002 and 2004 improved things but mud sticks and it stuck especially well to this wannabe alternative to the Mercedes-Benz SL. Today, the SC is still no looker but it is different from the herd and on paper it has the kind of specification we’ll soon be drooling over in motor museums: a naturally aspirated 282bhp 4.3-litre V8 driving the rear wheels through a five-speed automatic gearbox, double-wishbone suspension and a folding…

Its looks are an acquired taste, but this BAC Mini is rather a special little thing. The M-30 was released in 1989 to celebrate 30 years of the Mini and only 30 were built. Can you see what they did there? Inside, you got electric Recaro seats and a host of other toys, plus lots of leather and burr elm. Outside was that divisive bodykit, under which sat a hepped-up 1380cc engine and semi-adjustable suspension. This 1500-mile-old example was estimated to hit £34,000-£40,000 at auction. In the end it fell short but still sold for £32,480, which is a lot for a little car. Ford Fiesta Price new £14,795. Price now £9257 With the new Fiesta firmly ensconced in the showrooms, the previous-generation version is looking like decent value. The…

The other day, I was explaining how a race series’ Balance of Performance works to a non-motorsport enthusiast. I know how to woo a girl. Anyhoo, BoP is a method race series organisers employ to try to keep racing close. In the British Touring Car Championship, say, an association of teams keeps a weather eye on each car’s straight-line speed, and every once in a while amends what turbo boost pressures teams are allowed to run, as part of an ‘engine equivalency’ formula that aims to keep engine power across the grid more or less even. In BTCC, they have a ‘success ballast’ too – you win a race, you get a 75kg penalty to take forward to the next one. You finish second, it’s 66kg, and so it goes…