Innholdsfortegnelse for 7/3/2018 i Autocar

IN REVIVING LAGONDA, Aston Martin could have just made the brand a posher, more luxurious derivative of Aston itself, a back-door way of making more SUVs and saloons that wouldn’t comfortably wear the parent’s badge alone. Instead, Aston has done the complete opposite. With one extraordinary concept car that will go into production in 2021, it has created the most futuristic-looking car from a credible new start-up electric car maker we’ve yet seen. For that’s what the reborn Lagonda is: a start-up, a creator of cars too extreme to be called Astons. Lagonda’s design and technology are entirely optimised around the benefits of electric propulsion and a modern, high-tech style of luxury that ignores traditional conventions. No car maker, new or old, has done anything this radical before. Not even…

What’s the thinking behind the Lagonda? “It’s a game changer for luxury products in the future, what luxury can be and what it will be. The world is changing, but look at luxury: it’s still very traditional. Luxury and technology haven’t been combined yet. Look at Rolls-Royce: it’s the most luxurious car in the world. Given its roots, its reason for being, it’s essentially still an internal combustion engine to replace a horse, a carriage and a trunk. It’s an imperfect package for luxury.” Why go purely electric? “Electrification in particular has huge advantages for the layout of cars. You can put the weight and the powerplant where you want it. It’s not determined by history, pushing or pulling a carriage. There’s a freedom to think differently.” Has Tesla taken…

Jaguar has pipped its competitors to the post, revealing its first stand-alone electric model before SUV rivals from Audi and Mercedes. The 395bhp I-Pace is the first pure-electric model from the Coventry-based brand and spearheads a range of forthcoming electrified Jaguars. The next electric model, due next year, will be a new-generation XJ luxury saloon, and hybrid versions of its existing models will start arriving by 2020. With all car manufacturers obliged to meet stringent CO2 emissions targets by 2021, the I-Pace will play a crucial role Jaguar’s low-emissions drive. It also gives the British brand the opportunity to position itself at the cutting edge of a new breed of premium electric vehicles. The I-Pace, which delivers 395bhp and 513lb ft, can cover 0-60mph in 4.5sec. From fully charged, the…

Rimac’s second electric model, codenamed C_Two, can achieve 0-60mph in 1.85sec and 0-100mph in 4.3sec from a rolling start, the Croatian hypercar maker said. That puts it on a par with the forthcoming Tesla Roadster, which is claimed to do those benchmark sprints in 1.9sec and 4.2sec respectively. The C_Two is a follow-up to the Concept One, which has a 0-60mph sprint time of 2.5sec and became infamous after Richard Hammond crashed one of only eight cars built. This new model uses a 120kWh lithium battery and develops 1888bhp and 1696lb ft. There is an electric motor at each wheel, allowing for four-wheel drive. The car uses two independent single-speed gearboxes to drive the front wheels and a pair of two-speed carbon-clutched gearboxes for the rear wheels. This allows the…

SUNDAY Snow is falling in bucketloads as I write, clouding my recollections of the brightest Sunday for years. Son and I took the family MX-5 to Silverstone following an invitation to gatecrash Caterham’s Academy practice day on the National Circuit, an ideal place for a slowish car because you get to drive famous corners without wasting minutes on long straights. The car was great; we loved the way it accepted 60-70 laps of pasting, and felt very balanced in corners, even those also occupied by Caterhams. When proceedings ended, we departed in a few minutes, which was better than spending half an hour loading a car trailer in Arctic winds and towing it slowly home. However, within a mile, the ‘if onlys’ started. If only we’d had more poke out…

In the words of Audi, this was until recently the “unthinkable” car. In fact, after decades and many marketing millions poured into the promotion of ever-dependable quattro four-wheel drive, within the halls of Ingolstadt this car’s mere existence is a form of anarchy. But not to us or, we suspect, you, because the R8 RWS is now the least expensive yet most rewarding version of the marque’s mid-engined supercar. The letters stand for ‘Rear Wheel Series’, with the hitherto quattro-driven R8 shorn here of its front driveshafts for a limited production run of 999 cars. Both Coupé and Spyder versions will go on sale and some build slots remain unspoken for. Rather than turning to the big-hitting V10 Plus, the base for the RWS is the less powerful of its…

The C3 Aircross doesn’t wilt at the edge of its dynamic envelope. Alas, that’s not because Citroën’s engineers have so beautifully judged roll stiffness, camber setting and suchlike, but rather because the ESP system never allows the car to wander far from its comfort zone. The electronics can be disabled, but doing so is intended for low-speed manoeuvring on low-friction surfaces, and all systems are re-engaged once you’re properly up and running. They’re well-calibrated, mind, and even if you’re aggressive with the throttle, they keep the C3 Aircross locked on line with few judders and jolts. The car’s dry tarmac grip levels are somewhat modest on those ‘all-season’ tyres, but you don’t have to have those. Vertical and lateral body movements, meanwhile, are cushioned with greater panache than you might…

What does a car cost by the kilogram? Do hypercars and luxury limousines cost more per kilo? And do cars at the cheaper end of the market provide more mass per pound sterling? The kgs per £ ratio is double-edged, of course, because a car can be overweight for its size and type. So you might be getting more material for your money, but it will be to the disadvantage the performance, fuel consumption, handling, braking and more. Less can potentially mean more then, and no car better demonstrates that (probably) than the new McLaren Senna. Probably, because we don’t yet know how well it drives, but it will certainly need to be extraordinary, each of its impressively modest 1198 kilograms costing a wallet-atomising` £626.04, and you don’t even get…

FINAL REPORT MILEAGE 6780 WHY WE RAN IT To find out if Seat’s small car can truly live up to its Fiesta-beating crown When we picked up the keys to our Seat Ibiza six months ago, we had just crowned it the best supermini on the market. So the question we set out to answer was simple: would we still consider it the class leader after spending an extended period with it? Now, I could try to build up the tension by waiting until the closing paragraphs to tell you. But given how quickly the outcome will become apparent, let’s answer that right here: yes. Yes, it does. Very much yes. Have I given that away too quickly? Well, maybe. But it doesn’t feel like it: in reality, I knew…

Well, that was fun: I sold a car. Only it isn’t really much fun at all. In fact, selling a car is pretty much all hassle. So I thought that you may want to know the financial details of just how I got to flog my old BMW X5. It might help, or possibly mislead you, into thinking that it is a doddle. Alternatively, it could prove what a cack-handed job I made of it all. As we all know, the whole mechanics of used car buying and selling has changed beyond all recognition in the past decade. That means the first thing we all do is go online and check what the car is actually worth. You can do this from one of those companies that promises to buy…

As our expert Oliver Stoner, owner of an independent Mercedes-Benz workshop, says, the Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG and its more powerful brother, the S65, are bought only by lunatics or people like him with the skills to maintain the car. The second qualification rules out most of us, but the first? Right, let’s have a closer look, then. Both versions were launched in 2006, the S65 ahead of the S63. The S65 has a 6.0-litre biturbo V12 producing 603bhp and 737lb ft, enough to hurl the 2300kg limo from zero to 62mph in 4.4sec. It was the world’s most powerful production saloon when new and was offered in long-wheelbase form only. Of course, this being an S-Class, the occupants must be unaware of the car’s startling progress, which is why it…

Mercedes-Benz G350 CDI £65,092 The Geländewagen’s replacement has just been revealed, but it still has that unmistakably, boxy shape of the old one. This five-year-old example is for sale on Pistonheads at £65,092. The list price for a new one is £92k. Since it looks like the new one and it has less than 20,000 miles on it, that’s a useful saving to have, particularly when running costs will be quite hefty. As modern G-Classes go, this one has rather restrained styling. Unlike the AMG versions, it has relatively small, 18in alloy wheels, so you’re less likely to damage them either during a rock crawl or when parking at the kerb on the King’s Road. In the cabin, there’s plenty of leather and equipment, including rear-seat entertainment, blindspot monitoring, adaptive cruise…

Aston Martin is relaunching the 114-year-old Lagonda brand as a stand-alone maker of futuristic, high-tech luxury cars to directly rival Rolls-Royce and Bentley. The famous name, which returned at the Geneva motor show on the Lagonda Vision Concept, will be used on at least two production cars from 2021. The first will be a Rolls-Royce Phantom-rivalling luxury saloon inspired by the four-door, four-seat Vision Concept. But whereas Rolls-Royce and Bentley are traditional in their approach to luxury, Lagonda will position itself as the futuristic alternative to buyers who want to reject old-world luxury. It aims to be the first luxury car maker to truly embrace modern technology and the efficiency of electric car design, creating more cabin space and mixing that with a near-silent zero-emission drivetrain. To that end, Aston…

Mercedes-Benz’s AMG performance car division has lifted the veil on its latest production model: the GT 4-door Coupé. The top-of-the-line GT63 S 4Matic+ pictured here is powered by a 630bhp twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 petrol engine, which is capable of propelling the car to 62mph from rest in just 3.2sec and on to a top speed of 196mph. The Porsche Panamera rival was unveiled at the Geneva motor show and will go sale in the UK in September, with deliveries starting during the first quarter of 2019. Official pricing has yet to be revealed but a starting price of about £85,000 is likely. The GT 4-door Coupé follows the SLS Coupé and Roadster and the GT Coupé and Roadster as the fifth dedicated model from Mercedes-AMG. The ‘4-door Coupé’ component of…

Renault is plotting the reinvention of urban transport with the launch of an autonomous vehicle that, it says, could become a “future icon” in cities. Previewed in a new EZ-Go concept at the Geneva motor show, Renault’s driverless vehicle could take to the roads before the end of the next decade. Following the autonomous Symbioz concept of 2017, the EZ-Go is essentially Renault’s answer to the Volkswagen Sedric concept. It is a six-seater that sits between private hire robotaxis and public buses and is intended to tackle the same urban transport issues as its boxier VW alternative. “The world’s cities are growing but our transport infrastructure is lagging further and further behind,” said Christian Ledoux, boss of mobility services at the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, at a pre-launch event in Paris. “This…

Unlike many of its rivals, Jaguar is offering only one battery size for its I-Pace, which promises a range of up to 298 miles. Vehicle line director Ian Hoban told Autocar that the car maker did look at a modular system for batteries, in the same vein as Tesla and upcoming electric car makers such as Volkswagen’s ID, but in the end decided one propulsion system and one specification was appropriate for launch. Hoban acknowledged that 298 miles was plenty of range for most drivers, but added that the key is “delivering range all day, every day”. He said an I-Pace with a smaller battery and shorter range – sold at a lower price – could “offer a good business proposition in future”. Following the naming convention introduced by Jaguar…

The new Range Rover SV Coupé means Land Rover can compete more directly than ever before with a plethora of luxury SUVs, including the Bentley Bentayga, Lamborghini Urus and forthcoming Rolls-Royce Cullinan. The two-door SV Coupé will start from £240,000. Land Rover’s most expensive model to date has been the SVAutobiography LWB, priced from £177,030. Although Range Rover models have an SUV heritage that its new rivals lack, this is the first time that Land Rover has been able to offer a car at the same exclusive, high-end level. Like the SVAutobiography, the SV Coupé falls under Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations division, which has been ramping up its activities over the past couple of years. As well as creating the Range Rover SVAutobiography, SVO is responsible for the…

Unsurprisingly, given the high price of the SV Coupé, 80% of customers so far have chosen to personalise their car with a near-endless options list. To date, customers – of whom there are more than 150 – have added between £30k and £100k worth of extras on top of the £240,000 starting price. That makes the most expensive one yet an eye-raising £340,000. Or you could spend even more, as one customer already has, and order two SV Coupés. The most expensive option is a new paint colour, liquescence, at £30,000. Customer clinics have already been held in London and Paris – where we saw the car – and will continue in key markets, including the Middle East, Russia and the US. Working with local retailers, Land Rover has been…

THE VOLKSWAGEN ID Vizzion is the fourth model to be revealed in the car maker’s future electric ID line-up. The first, the ID hatchback, will go on sale in 2020. The Vizzion saloon, similar in length to the Audi A8, will arrive before 2025. It uses an 111kWh lithium ion battery and two electric motors, one on each axle, which collectively produce 302bhp. VW claims the car will have a range of up to 413 miles. The Vizzion concept can drive autonomously, is operated by voice and gesture control and uses artificial intelligence, creating a “Volkswagen of tomorrow”, said the brand. It added that self-driving cars would happen earlier than many people think – by 2025 at the latest. The interior is designed as a lounge that can be personalised…

BMW has previewed the bold styling of a luxurious four-door 8 Series set to sit at the top of its line-up from the latter half of 2019. The Concept M8 Gran Coupe, unveiled at the Geneva motor show, is planned to join both two-door coupé and convertible models in a three-model-strong 8 Series line-up. The upcoming production version of the Concept M8 Gran Coupe aims to elevate BMW into the same exclusive market segment occupied by the likes of Aston Martin with the DB11, Bentley with the Continental GT and Mercedes-AMG with its new GT four-door Coupe (see page 12). BMW’s decision to resurrect the 8 Series comes after an announcement by chairman Harald Krüger to position the brand further upmarket, giving it a more luxurious slant than its current…

“Accuracy is great. It’s probably more responsive to the steering, I’d say, than a BMW M5” Fifty-three, then. Not 63, not 43 and, heaven forbid, not 65. The new Mercedes-Benz CLS – the sleek four-door coupé now into its third generation, can you believe? – is here, and the rapid AMG variant, the 53, is almost as significant as the fact that the car itself is new. Perhaps more so. But let’s deal with the CLS bit first. It’s a new CLS, frameless of window, large-Mercedes-platformed of platform, seating five and promising to do the same ‘sleeker E-Class thing’ as it has done during the past 15 years. To that end, it’s E-Class sized, 4.98m long, with a range of turbocharged and electrically enhanced diesel and petrol engines, which will…

This is the fourth iteration of Hyundai UK’s largest SUV, which finds around 4000 buyers annually. The formula remains essentially the same, albeit with some useful evolution. Most obvious is that it now resembles a more traditional SUV, chiefly because the rear side windows dip deeper towards the waist, the (successful) aim being to improve visibility from the rear seats. Other tweaks include redesigned suspension, a four-wheel-drive system that is governed by more sophisticated electronics, an upgraded infotainment system, a more attractive interior and the addition of a head-up display. Also new is a safety system that temporarily locks the doors should it sense that an occupant is about to step out of the car and into the path of oncoming traffic. This Santa Fe rides on an new platform,…

There can be few mainstream cars whose ultimate appeal so strongly rests on the inclinations of the person buying it as the C3 Aircross’s. This little Citroën has a big personality, and if you happen to like that personality it’ll likely take the car a long way in your estimations. But it’s not quite a match for the Seat Arona on performance or handling sophistication and, even though it’s turbocharged, its performance even lags behind that of the SkyActiv-engine-equipped Mazda CX-3 in several respects. However, of greater importance to most owners will be that the car has plenty of visual charm, and also offers levels of practicality and versatility that match the best in class. When it comes to perceived interior quality and the integration of infotainment technology – areas…

Back in 2012, when the BMW M135i was the new skid on the block, you could barely pick up a car magazine or glance at a YouTube motoring channel without being bossily told how brilliant the rear-driven hot hatch was. Six years ago, the M135i really was a game changer. Despite costing less than £30,000, it brought a premium badge, rear-wheel-drive dynamics and more than 300bhp to a sector that hadn’t seen that set of attributes before. It was very good to drive too. And in an instant, a front-driven Ford or Vauxhall with two-hundred-and-something-bhp didn’t seem particularly clever. In all the fervour that surrounded the M135i at its launch, it was very easy to overlook one or two of its shortcomings, or at least put them to the back…

“Let’s get serious – you wanna buy this car or not?” Paul Vitti, Robert de Niro’s character in gangster comedy movie Analyze That, is the stuff of nightmares: a car salesman who’s closing technique is the equivalent of a punch in the face. It’s a shame because until he uttered those words, Vitti was actually pretty good. Eye contact, humour, patience… it was all there, right up to the point where he gets irate at non-committal tyre-kicker. But a salesperson doesn’t have to be that rude to annoy you: ignoring you, not taking your enquiry seriously, a lack of product knowledge or, worst of all, giving the impression they’d rather be anywhere but talking to you are just as infuriating. I recently popped into my local Ford dealer, interested in…

Gerald Brooks (Your Views, 14 February) has been unlucky with Tesla service. Three years and 77,000 miles of Tesla driving have found unfailingly polite service, helpful, knowledgeable staff and prompt attention. I have looked at replacing my Tesla with a BMW i-series car, but the showroom was unable to help as their ‘product genius’ was not there and they had no brochures so could only show me online (which I could have at home). And did they follow up? Of course not. The Tesla ownership experience is first class. For example, I was offered a courtesy car when I booked my service. Unfortunately, the courtesy car was sold the day before, so they chauffeured me to my destination and delivered a courtesy car two hours later in time for the…

MILEAGE 3979 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if the most hardcore TT is preferable to the cooking versions and a genuine alternative to a BMW M2 Achap emailed me about the TT RS recently, and mentioned in passing that the model might potentially be more of a spiritual successor to the Ur-Quattro than anyone had given it credit for. Certainly this wouldn’t be difficult – as the amount of people connecting the dots between Audi’s homologated 1980s icon and its twee latter-day coupé is likely very small – but as our man owns examples of both cars (and was referring mostly to the five-pot and digital dash), his two cents are rather well earned. For me, the TT, no matter what engine has been shoehorned into its britches, falls…

MI LEAGE 128,250 LAND ROVER SERIES 3 The in-Lorry entertainment system is back, plugged in and operating well enough. The JVC item does what I want, which is play music through the ex-TV speakers via one of those digital USB stick things. I dare not put another CD in the JVC’s mouth in case I lose it, as I did with my first, faulty entertainment system. Anyway, as a radio, it is rather risible. The reception is marginal. It only picks up the strongest signal, Radio 1, which at my time of life makes no sense at all. It must be the aerial. That was replaced during the rebuild. Rather more pressing, though, is the gutless engine, which regularly stalls. A TO Z BANGERPEDIA X is for XJ40 I’d like…

Although the GT 4-door Coupé will initially be sold with the choice of two petrol engines, Mercedes-AMG CEO Tobias Moers hints that other units are under development for introduction during the model’s six-year lifecycle. Among them is a new performance-based version of Mercedes-Benz’s latest EQ Power petrol-electric plug-in hybrid driveline slated to power a GT73 4Matic+ model that will rival the Porsche Panamera SE-Hybrid. As previewed by the GT Concept shown at the 2017 Geneva motor show, AMG’s plug-in hybrid driveline supplants the turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine used in standard versions of Mercedes-Benz’s EQ Power set-up. Seen on the S560e and using AMG’s turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 petrol engine, it is aimed at providing significantly greater power without any loss in range. Nothing is official just yet, but figures revealed…

Skoda is showcasing new ways of tackling engine emissions with a compressed natural gas (CNG) hybrid engine on its Vision X compact crossover concept. The Czech firm believes the innovative powertrain shows the potential for internal combustion engines to remain part of a green mix – and encourage regulators to change the way they measure CO2 emissions. The EU sets manufacturers CO2 emissions targets based on a fleet average. The figure is currently 130g/km but will drop to 95g/km in 2020, with sharper reductions – likely totalling 30% – due in 2025 and 2030. Because the measurement is based purely on a car’s exhaust output (a ‘tank to wheel’ calculation), the regulations are effectively forcing car makers to develop tailpipe-emission-free battery-electric vehicles (BEVs). But the EU figures don’t take into…

David Brown Automotive is using the Geneva show to unveil a new, more powerful edition of its exclusive Speedback GT dubbed the Silverstone Edition and aimed at younger buyers than the traditionally styled original launched in 2014. The new car, which again incorporates British-sourced, handcrafted materials and trim parts, costs £744,000 in the UK, about £120,000 more than the original Speedback’s starting price. It will be made in an exclusive batch of 10 cars, the same number of original-edition GTs the company has so far delivered. The power output of the Speedback’s Jaguar-derived 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine rises from 510bhp to 601bhp, with a similar boost to its peak torque. The car has a sportier suspension tune to boost its credentials as a driver’s car, and it runs on a…

BENTLEY HAS REVEALED the Bentayga hybrid, the marque’s first ever plug-in hybrid. The model, which has an electric-only driving range of up to 31 miles, uses an electric motor with a turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine, the same set-up used in the Porsche Panamera E-Hybrid. A total power output of 450bhp is expected. It is the car maker’s most efficient model yet, emitting CO2 emissions of 75g/km as measured on the NEDC cycle. The standard Bentayga’s automatic start-stop switch is replaced with a control for three E Modes: EV Drive, Hybrid Mode and Hold Mode, all of which help manage battery usage. There is also a revised infotainment screen and driver’s infotainment panel with information on performance, consumption and energy source. The navigation calculates the best usage of the electric…

MODEL TESTED CITROEN C3 AIRCROSS PURETECH 110 FLAIR Price £18,090 • Power 109bhp • Torque 151lb ft • 0-60mph 11.5sec • 30-70mph in fourth 16.7sec • Fuel economy 34.8mpg • CO2 emissions 115g/km • 70-0mph 60.8m For a snapshot of the mass-market approach to building small family cars in 2018, look no further than the general proportions of Citroën’s jacked-up version of the C3 supermini, the C3 Aircross. But look also at the car it replaces, the cleverly packaged and much-admired C3 Picasso. The cars share the same platform, have very similar drivetrains and broadly similar proportions, but the silhouette has not-so-subtly shifted from traditional MPV to SUV. Sound familiar? It’s a major trend, this one, so much of what you see on the road today is either a sports…

It is a question so basic and relevant to those of us who like cars, I found the fact I had no idea of the answer entirely bewildering. It is simply this: how much faster is a really quick car from one place to the next than a really slow car? I didn’t have a clue. Of course, a lot depends on those places. If they are the start and finish lines of a race track, the question becomes easy to answer. If they lie at either end of a motorway network, it becomes an irrelevance because, if speed limits are obeyed, then both arrive at the same time, and if they’re not, what results is not a test of one car against another but one driver’s nerve against his…

ON SALE 14 MARCH DRIVEN New Jaguar I-Pace Our first taste of Jaguar’s game-changing electric SUV. Steve Cropley drives it and meets its creators FEATURE BMW M135i vs BMW M2 After months of tuning, our M135i takes on the best of BMW’s breed NEWS Geneva motor show report Everything you need to know about every new car in Geneva EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross Is this a credible Seat Ateca rival? We have eight pages to discover LONG-TERM TEST Kia Stinger GT The sports saloon has matched rivals to date, but what is it like to live with? USED BUYING GUIDE Chrysler 300C America’s bargain-basement Bentley enters our inspection bay SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p36…

MILEAGE 9541 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Is it a logical next step towards full electrification or an expensive distraction? Few cars intrigue more “Would you like,” suggested Steve Cropley one day, “to trade your Mercedes-Benz E-Class estate for my Toyota Prius Plug-in for several days? Oh, and if you can maintain the Prius’s average fuel consumption up around the current 92mpg mark, that’d be great.” No pressure, then. The Prius has rewarded Steve with some exceptional indicated fuel economy claims, but many of his weekday trips have been short hops across the city, which play to the strengths of this hybrid’s powertrain. He’s able to cruise along at slow-ish speeds on the battery-powered electric motor, only occasionally calling upon the petrol engine. Muggins here, on the other hand, would be…

QUESTION I’m setting up a wedding car business but I only have a £13,000 budget for a car. What do you recommend? Toby Williamson, Leicester ANSWER A Mercedes S-Class. Your budget just squeezes you into an early W221 version, which looks smart and will impress punters. Or a Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit for the same cash, but running costs will be higher. QUESTION I want to buy a used Ford Focus. What do you think of the 1.5-litre 182 engine? Andrea Hill, Glasgow ANSWER Probably a bit much. The 150 feels just as pokey in the real world and isn’t as thirsty. That said, try a 1.0-litre 125, because there are far more of them around and they’re plenty nippy enough for most drivers. QUESTION Early Porsche Boxsters are looking cheap…

An expert’s view OLIVER STONER, PRESTIGE CAR SERVICES “Who buys an S63 or S65? Lunatics or people with a specialist garage, like me. They’re used cars now but they’re £100,000 used cars with telephone-number running costs. Fortunately, there are lots of good Mercedes specialists around who can maintain the model for half the price a main dealer will charge. When you’re looking at one on a dealer forecourt, here’s what to do: check the tyres are quality; check there are no lips on the brake discs and the pads have lots of life; check it feels nice and tight on the test drive; and check the service history is immaculate. All good? Get it inspected. For £75, we put it on a ramp, run a diagnostics check – the works.…

AUDI TT QUATTRO The first-generation Audi TT is something of a bargain. Many examples lurk in the classifieds at about £1500 and even this one, the car driven by Hugh Grant in the movie About A Boy, recently sold at auction for £2000. If you’re tempted by one, make sure the tensioners and water pump were renewed during the cambelt service. Early build TTs were recalled for suspension changes and the fitment of a rear wing to make the high-speed handling more predictable. Electrical niggles, such as failed pixels in the driver information display, are common problems, but the TT is generally solid and possesses usable performance. Citroën C4 Cactus 1.2 Feel Price new £17,265. Price now £10,992 If you like quirky Airbumps and you love a good bargain, then…

It’s not dead. That’s the official line about VXR, Vauxhall’s performance brand of the past 14 years. But, well, doesn’t it somewhat feel like it is? GSi is back, after all, the model derivative that gave its life so VXR could be born in the first place. Albeit, now, GSi is reserved for Vauxhall’s lukewarm rather than entirely hot models. So, officially, VXR lives on. Except that the only places it still lives on are the ancient Corsa VXR plus, according to the price lists, the GTC (the even older three-door Astra) and the VXR8/Maloo, which I doubt is true unless there’s a stock of unregistered ones somewhere – great, but unlikely – because it ceased production in Australia last year. In Australia, the Commodore, which we know as the…