Innholdsfortegnelse for 21/03/2018 i Autocar

A LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY PhD student has created a piece of technology that could save the diesel engine (p18). Suffice to say, it’s the most complete solution to almost totally eradicating NOx from diesel emissions. Manufacturers and major suppliers are now clamouring over securing the rights to bring it to market. Quite right: it shows how much life there is still in the black pump, if it is allowed to flourish. Some say the damage appears to be done for diesel. Shame, because it remains a credible way to cut CO2 emissions and is right for so many buyers. Remove the NOx downsides, as the Loughborough technology appears to do, and the case for the defence has never been stronger. We suspect diesel is not dead yet. Even the boss of…

“‘Brother of Valkyrie’ has been given the goal of establishing a new benchmark for £1m hypercars“ Aston Martin is working on a secret project with the Red Bull Formula 1 team to launch a mid-engined car to eclipse the LaFerrari and McLaren P1, Autocar can reveal. The car, known by its development team as the ‘brother of Valkyrie’, has been given the goal of establishing a new benchmark for hypercars in the £1 million price bracket when it launches in around 2021, ahead of any of the established players re-entering the market. Both the LaFerrari and McLaren P1 were launched in 2013 and, while production of both has ceased, such halo cars are typically replaced after extended intervals. The gap between the launch of the Enzo and the LaFerrari was 11…

AUDI REPORTED A big leap in operating profit at its annual financial conference, even though sales in 2017 were just 0.6% up on the year before. Following the announcement that it will build the E-tron GT (see top story), Audi confirmed that it sold 1,878,105 vehicles last year, with profit before tax leaping by 57% to €4.7 billion (£4.15bn). After-tax profits were up 68.4% to €3.4bn (£3.07bn). The size of Audi’s business has doubled since 2009, with revenue in 2017 hitting €60bn (£53bn). Although Audi’s headline profit margin for 2017 was 8.4%, the costs of the diesel engine recall in the US and the Takata airbag recall pushed the final figure down to 7.8%. Lamborghini, which falls under Audi’s control within the Volkswagen Group, sold 3815 cars in 2017, up…

ITALIAN DESIGN HOUSE Pininfarina will launch an all-electric hypercar with the performance to rival the Bugatti Chiron. The new hypercar will be a halo model for an electric vehicle line-up that will make Pininfarina a manufacturer in its own right. With an initial investment of $100 million (about £71.6m) from Indian parent company Mahindra, the yet-to-be announced Pininfarina car company is being headed by former Audi India boss Michael Perschke. The aim is to produce four cars over five years. It’s referred to internally as Project Montana and likely to be called Pininfarina Automobili. Its top model, codenamed PF-Zero, will be joined by three SUVs. The biggest, codenamed PF-One, will be a high-performance answer to the Lamborghini Urus. The other two will be rivals for the Porsche Cayenne and Porsche…

FUN-TO-DRIVE cars must always be part of Ford’s model line-up, regardless of moves towards electrification, Ford of Europe boss Steven Armstrong has said. Asked whether the introduction of more hybrid models and using nascent electrified technology could affect Ford’s traditional focus on dynamics, including developing ST, RS and Mustang models for enthusiast audiences, Armstrong said: “People want to connect emotionally with their vehicles. That’s not going to change. “At Ford, we are absolutely clear that our vehicles should be fun. That’s true regardless of the propulsion system – and it’s also true that the internal combustion engine is likely to be around for quite a few more years anyway.” His comments can be seen as supporting Autocar’s recent scoop on the next generation Focus RS, which is expected to be…

“Perfectly ordinary day until a £330k Phantom turns up” WEDNESDAY Perfectly ordinary day until road test chief Matt Saunders turned up at our Twickenham emporium in a £330,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom to convey editor Mr Tisshaw and me to a favourite luncheon venue (above). The Rolls will be the subject of our usual fearless road test in a couple of weeks, but it was clear in the first 200 yards that what Rolls-Royce engineers had promised was delivered: this car takes another long step towards complete silence in motion. Interestingly, it rides in a strolling, long wheelbasey sort of way that is rarely geometrically flat, but that totally eliminates such trivia as varying road surfaces and (perish the thought) post-winter ruts in suburban tarmac. From where I lolled in the rear,…

The Ferrari 812 Superfast makes a mockery of the way we classify the exotic car market. We call it a ‘Super GT’ car because it’s got a longways V12 engine up front and a boot at the back, and so it’s cars such as the Aston Martin Vanquish S we compare it with most closely. And, for obvious reasons, we expect it to be primarily fit for the purposes of fast grand touring. But like every one of its direct predecessors I’ve ever driven, the 812 Superfast doesn’t care to fit in. This is Maranello’s most powerful and expensive series-production model, so it’s nothing like any other GT car on sale. It feels wide on the road, and it’s as fast and exciting as any midengined supercar you’re ever likely…

MODEL TESTED UP GTI 1.0 TSI 115 3DR Price £13,750 • Power 114bhp • Torque 147lb ft • 0-60mph 8.5sec • 30-70mph in fourth 9.4sec • Fuel economy 38.9mpg • CO2 emissions 110g/km • 70-0mph 46.9m Two’s company, three’s enough for a performance model family. That seems to be the logic on which Volkswagen’s strategy is being founded, with its long-established GTI sub-brand having just received a rare third product pillar. The new Up GTI makes it a happy triumvirate of go-faster VW hatchbacks alongside bigger brothers the Polo and Golf. We’ve only been treated to that many GTI production models once before: between 2000 and 2005, when VW’s Lupo GTI was in production. And what a cracking little driver’s car that was. The upright, narrow, diminutive Up is a…

“It’s cold, and in a 30-mile hop our cars have worryingly shed 60 miles of indicated range” The Nissan Leaf’s most aggressive regenerative braking mode can bring you to a complete stop when you lift off the throttle. Judging it right when you’re cruising up to traffic signals is satisfying We can assure you the irony of this opening gambit W is not lost on us but, from the media attention Tesla receives, you might think it was the sole purveyor of electric cars. Perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised. After all, when you have an outspoken, entrepreneurial polymath in the form of Elon Musk at the helm and your family saloon can reach 60mph faster than a Lamborghini, people e are going to notice. Similarly, when you launch an…

You’re in a windswept, dockside vehicle compound. There’s a gale blowing and it’s pouring with rain. You’re 10 feet from the ground, squeezing out of a brand-new Mercedes onto a narrow walkway. One wrong move and you’ll fall. People do. Welcome to Mick Crump’s world. He’s a car transporter driver and says loading at a windswept docks is a nightmare. “You can be blown straight over the side,” he says. “But it’s not just docks. You get some drivers who arrive at a delivery only to find they’re missing a car because it fell off, or drivers who put something heavy like a Range Rover on the back and the whole rig starts swinging like a demolition ball.” Last November, a transporter carrying 12 cars overturned on a roundabout in…

MILEAGE 2071 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 On a recent trip to Southwold, I had the choice of two cars: my i30 N long-termer or a Mk6 Volkswagen Golf 2.0-litre TDI. I wanted the Hyundai, keen to stretch the car’s legs on plenty of windy Norfolk and Suffolk roads. But I also had my mum to consider and she favours (sensibly) heated seats and comfort, both of which the Golf could offer. The wonderful daughter that I am, we ended up taking the i30 N. Having had the car for two months, I’ve enjoyed plenty of trips, but this was the first time I’d racked up a few hundred miles…

If there is any time to have a lorry like this on your fleet, it is in the middle of a snowpocalypse. What you don’t want is a propensity for it to stall, backfire and generally run like a gutless two-stroke. So although I have been in the prehistoric equivalent of ‘limp home’ most of the time, I could manually adjust the fuel delivery using an old-fangled device called ‘a choke’. Junctions, roundabouts and any slow traffic have all been nightmares. Add the snow and the lorry is virtually undrivable. It’s booked in at the mender’s next week.…

An expert’s view PHIL JARRETT, SCIROCCOCENTRAL.CO.UK “I’m on my second Scirocco, a 2.0 R. It has a TFSI engine where all the other petrols are TSIs. However, the engine cover still says TSI. I love the Scirocco’s styling: it’s unusual and really stands out. Of course, it has its issues. The TSI can suffer broken timing chains (the TFSI has a belt), so get it changed at the scheduled interval. The coil packs can fail, causing misfiring, but it’s a relatively inexpensive fix. The 156bhp 1.4 can drop a piston. That’s a bit more expensive and occasionally terminal.” Buyer beware ■ ENGINE On the 2.0 TSI, check for positive crankcase ventilation by removing the dipstick while the engine is running. If the engine stutters, it’s okay, but if it runs…

BRIEF Rear-wheel drive is usually the preserve of an expensive luxury car, but can you find a decent rear-wheeldrive vehicle for £2500 or less? Jaguar S-Type 2.7d Sport £2489 Who’d have thought for this budget that a prime slice of British beef could be yours? Finished in racing green with cream leather, heated seats, cruise control and sat-nav, this S-Type is a post-2004 facelift car, made when the dynamic bugbears of earlier cars had been ironed out, so it’ll be a delight to drive. Low miles, a full history and long MOT all add to the appeal, and it has the excellent 2.7 diesel. Beat that, Pearson. ALEX ROBBINS Mercedes-Benz E320 Avantgarde £2295 What it’s all about, at this level, is class. I’ve got a luxury Mercedes, a 224bhp 3.2-litre…

“VW will be looking to drop the new Golf R’s 0-62mph time below 4.5sec” The eighth-generation Volkswagen Golf will be revealed at the 2019 Geneva motor show and promises a revolution in interior technology, as well as greater performance than ever for the flagship GTI and R performance models. The new Golf, design work of which is complete and chassis development at an advanced stage, will also introduce the next generation of the VW Group’s versatile MQB platform, understood to be called MQB/W. In the next generation of the Golf, the interior and technology will be the central focus of development, to bring the car into the digital era. However, VW is also determined to build on the rich history of performance Golfs, which make up 30% of sales in…

“The T-Roc R is likely to use a drivetrain closely related to the current Golf R’s” THE NEXT R model to be launched by Volkswagen will be a based on the T-Roc, R&D boss Frank Welsch has hinted. “With the T-Roc, it is easier to imagine an R version of that rather than a GTI, as it’s four-wheel drive,” he said. When asked if VW will make a T-Roc R, Welsch said: “I think so, yeah. For sporty SUVs, there will be customers.” The T-Roc R is likely to use a drivetrain closely related to the current Golf R’s, meaning a 2.0-litre TSI petrol engine with 306bhp driving all four wheels through a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. Expect also a subtle bodykit for the T-Roc R akin to…

Vauxhall will apply its revived GSi tag to a new driver-focused version of the Corsa. It will be the second GSi model in its current line-up after the recently launched Insignia GSi. Due on sale in the summer as a rival to the Ford Fiesta ST-Line, the Corsa GSi borrows key chassis hardware and geometry from the Corsa VXR to give it sharper handling than other Corsas. It uses the standard VXR’s firmer springs, dampers and uprated brakes. Although it’s unconfirmed, the Corsa GSi is expected to follow the pattern set by the Insignia GSi and use the most potent engine on offer beneath the VXR, which has a 202bhp 1.6-litre unit. So the most likely candidate is the 1.4-litre four-cylinder that supplies the Corsa White and Black Editions with…

Toyota will reveal its fifth-generation RAV4 at the New York motor show and the model will get two new hybrid powertrains. The Ford Kuga rival will share its 1.8-litre and 2.0-litre petrol-electric systems with the recently revealed Auris. The smaller electrified unit, first introduced in the latest Prius, has 121bhp. The larger one offers 178bhp and includes the world’s most thermally efficient engine currently in production. A petrol option is also likely but, like the new Auris, the RAV4 will be launched without a diesel variant.…

THE HYUNDAI MOTOR Group needs to sell around 50,000 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (HFEVs) a year to make the technology as affordable as a hybrid car, according to R&D boss Woong-Chul Yang. Hyundai recently unveiled the Nexo, a purely HFEV SUV, and sibling brand Kia will introduce a hydrogen-powered car in the near future. Although cheap to run, hydrogen cars are more expensive than similarsized hybrid machines. Yang said: “If we can sell around 50,000 a year, the economies of scale will make them close to a hybrid in terms of affordability. “All the components developed for a fuel cell vehicle are not very complicated. Because the number we produce is quite small, it’s quite expensive. We’ve dramatically reduced the cost from previous cars and, if the volume goes…

Don’t think Ferrari or Lamborghini. Although Gian Paolo Dallara worked for both of Italy’s most famous performance car makers before setting up his own motorsport business, the inspiration for his company’s first road car came from the UK. Signor Dallara says that his greatest engineering hero has always been Colin Chapman, so it’s entirely fitting to find a Lotus level of minimalism in the Stradale. With no doors and a costoption roof, the carbonfibre-bodied mid-engined Stradale has been designed for life on track, but not just that: its name means ‘road’ in Italian and it is fully street legal. Its basic form is as a screenless barchetta, with buyers able to increase weather protection with an optional – and removable – windscreen and then a canopy roof with gullwing flaps.…

Short of reuniting the car with half a dozen high-revving cylinders, you’d have a very difficult job improving the 718-generation Boxster. It is handsome, it offers performance almost perfectly proportioned to congested British roads and it is in possession of absurdly biddable handling that anybody can enjoy. Without an outlay exceeding six figures, there is simply no better roadster to own if you value agility and communication. All of which means we should greet with arms wide open this new GTS variant. It’s an optimised mechanical and styling package that will head up the range until a Boxster Spyder arrives later this year with a version of the 4.0-litre firecracker from the 911 GT3. Yep – all six cylinders. The aesthetic changes are standard GTS fare, and there’s black plastic…

The Volkswagen Up GTI is as genial and charming a car as any pint-sized ‘pocket rocket’ there has ever been – and may be even more desirable than any. That it isn’t quite the driver’s car we’ve embraced in this performance niche over the years, however, is at once plain and slightly regrettable. The car’s engine, while torquey and characterful, isn’t quite compelling enough for that sort of reverence. Its chassis, in turn, has moments of swivelling brilliance; but it doesn’t cover the dynamic basics quite well enough, or have the all-round polish needed, to wear a GTI badge entirely comfortably. Paint the story of that driving experience on a backdrop of a sub-£14,000 asking price, however, and complete the package with the Up GTI’s brilliantly judged perceived quality and…

The popularity contest for electric cars is still very much a numbers game concerning driving range. Either the capacity of the battery or the proliferation of the infrastructure with which to recharge it can address the issue, though of course the eventual solution will be a blend of both. Consider that Volkswagen is Mind you, those cars don’t get an ‘e-Pedal’. It’s a more aggressive regenerative-braking setting that Nissan has calibrated to appeal to the layabout in all of us. ‘One-pedal driving’, the marketing campaign says. It’s true too. With a judiciously timed lift, you can roll into bends having shed just enough speed to give the tyres a chance and then pick up the super-responsive throttle as you exit. We’re not talking Toyota GT86 levels of cornering delight here,…

FIRST DRIVE New Range Rover driven The heavily revised Range Rover brings with it Jaguar Land Rover’s first plug-in hybrid powertrain. We drive it FEATURE How to buy your first… Our guide to making your first foray into a range of dream cars FEATURE JLR’s 100-car auction Crown jewels of UK motoring history go under the hammer EVERY WEEK LONG-TERM TEST Ssangyong Rexton It’s known as the Korean Land Rover. We’ve six months to find out if it’s true ROAD TEST Toyota Yaris GRMN World’s most unlikely hot hatch is put through our full eight-page road test USED BUYING GUIDE Toyota GT86/Subaru BRZ One of Japan’s finest driver’s cars is one of its finest used buys. Learn why SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p22…

MILEAGE 3920 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To determine whether the most ferocious front-wheel-drive hot hatch on sale today is usable on a daily basis The exterior design of the Civic Type R might not be universally admired as a paragon of exquisite styling, but it marries function and form to good effect, with the wings, vanes and ducts all contributing to an enhanced airflow compared with the body of the standard Civic. The shape of the front bumper, for example, creates an ‘air curtain’ that directs turbulence away from the front wheels. The dramatic-looking slats behind those wheels let air escape from the arches, thus reducing pressure. The front splitter and side skirts create downforce on the front axle, which is a contributory factor in this Type R being able…

QUESTION Is it possible to buy a car that’s exempt from the London congestion charge for less than £10,000? Amy Phillips, London ANSWER Absolutely. Look at a Toyota Yaris Hybrid. There are quite a few tidy ones around for your budget and they’re usually reliable. Or if your lifestyle suits something electric, a used Renault Zoe or Nissan Leaf would work, too. QUESTION My wife wants a 2015 Renault Clio, but I reckon a Volkswagen Polo is a better buy. Who’s right? Gwyndaf Thomas, Swansea ANSWER You’ll have to buy an older or lower-spec Polo because the Clio’s quite a bit cheaper, but on balance, I’d choose the VW. Alternatively, have a look at the Ford Fiesta: it’s the best of both worlds and great value. QUESTION I’ve had Audi…

MMMM, THAT’S TEMPTING The BMW Z4 M went out of production almost 11 years ago and Munich deprived car enthusiasts of an M-division-fettled version of the second-generation car, considering the 335bhp 3.0-litre variant quite fast enough. We can only hope BMW reverses that decision for the eagerly awaited Z4 Mk3, due next year, but in the meantime we’ll have to turn to the used car market instead. When the Z4 M coupé and roadster were launched in 2006, they went up against the Porsche Cayman S and Boxster S respectively. Stuttgart’s mid-engined pair have reputations for finely balanced handling, but the Z4 M, by contrast, is a wild beast. Then again, a front-engined, rearwheel-drive sports car with 338bhp was always going to be a challenge. The coupé and roadster versions…

Volkswagen will create performance versions of its future ID electric models but has not yet decided whether they will be badged GTI, R or something else entirely. VW R&D boss Frank Welsch said noise is a big consideration for the future ID performance models and he does not yet have a solution for how to replicate some of the emotions you get from driving conventional performance models in the new electric family. VW will race an electric car at the Pikes Peak hillclimb this summer and Welsch hopes that will offer clues about how to address performance ID versions. “When the first ID cars are in series production, we will see how they’re done,” he said. “Then when you drive it, you’ll see how it’ll be done and what you…

Audi has confirmed plans for a pure-electric saloon to directly rival the Tesla Model S as a new “spearhead” of Audi Sport. The future four-door model is known as the E-tron GT and was scooped by Autocar in 2016. It will share its platform with the Porsche Mission E saloon and is slated to go into production in 2020, according to Audi chairman Rupert Stadler. Stadler confirmed it will be one of three pure-electric models due to go on sale by the start of the next decade. It will join the upcoming E-tron SUV and its sleek sibling, the E-tron Sportback. Stadler said: “We interpret sportiness very progressively with our fully electric E-tron GT and this is how we will take our high-performance brand, Audi Sport, into the future.” Previewed…

SUBARU WILL REVEAL an all new Forester SUV at the New York motor show next week with the hope that it can lead a charge to turn around its recent UK sales slump. Due on roads later this year, it is based on the new Subaru Global Platform, which has excelled in official crash tests in the US and UK and is shared with the Impreza and XV. The US market will be offered a new-generation 2.5-litre flat four engine with around 180bhp. The petrol engine line-up for the UK is not yet known, although diesel engines will be dropped. The option of a manual gearbox could be axed, too, if Subaru’s semi-autonomous EyeSight system is fitted as standard. A hybrid variant will be revealed at the Beijing motor show…

A simple, affordable and apparently foolproof solution to the problem that has led to the current worldwide ‘demonisation’ of diesel engines – emissions of life-limiting NOx – has been discovered by a team of British automotive research specialists working at Loughborough University. The system, called ACCT (Ammonia Creation and Conversion Technology), has reached such a promising stage that the creators are being besieged by car manufacturers, component suppliers and even owners of large diesel fleets who have heard of the innovation on the grapevine and are desperate to use it to solve what they see as motoring’s most urgent problem. The team – led by Graham Hargrave, professor of optical diagnostics, and Jonathan Wilson, research associate – has been working on exhaust emissions for many years but achieved its breakthrough…

This five-door coupé is the second-generation Audi A7 Sportback. Completely redesigned from the ground up, it’s Ingolstadt’s answer to the new Mercedes-Benz CLS. We’ve already tried this particular model – the 50 TDI quattro – out in South Africa, but now we’re putting it to the test in Blighty for the first time. Ride quality is always going to be a big selling point for a car such as this, and unfortunately the Audi doesn’t exactly shine on UK roads. Our test vehicle was fitted with optional sports suspension, which lowers the ride height by 10mm but also causes the A7 to feel jittery at low speeds. Increasing the pace improves this marginally, although the way in which the firmed-up dampers deal with vertical body travel caused by undulating roads…

At first glance, and with the very notable exception of the new Halo device (see page 50), not much appears to have changed in Formula 1 this season. The chassis and engine rules are the same, and the top teams are back with unchanged driver line-ups – including reigning champion Lewis Hamilton bidding for a fourth crown in five seasons with Mercedes to take his overall F1 world title tally to five. But as ever with F1, it’s all about the details. And there are plenty of small changes that will have an impact this year, both on and off the track. We asked ex-Renault F1 racer Jolyon Palmer, who has joined the BBC Radio 5 Live commentary team for 2018, about some of the key storylines of the season…

Any idiot can buy a banger for a few quid – that’s the easy bit. Much harder is finding a motor that works. The last thing you want is a monument outside your house as a constant reminder of just how rubbish old cars can be. Instead, you want a banger that will fire up, first time, every time, that won’t cost a fortune to run and that is interesting. So here’s our pick of the finest bangers out there right now. These aren’t necessarily the cheapest, but they are best. More than that, they will all work. And because bangers should be fun, we’ve even thrown in some supercar bangers. Yes, such a thing does exist. TOYOTA CELICA PAY: £550 How we miss the Celica. The modern GT86 is…

Your word is my command Phil Drewett complained about the use of touchscreens (Your Views, 28 February) and says he won’t be buying the Volvo XC40 because of the distraction when trying to adjust the air-con. Maybe touchscreens are not the answer. The Jaguar S-Type I owned in 2007 would respond to the simple voice command “climate control, 19deg”. A single press of a button would suffice, except for those occasions when it would repeat “climate control, 90deg” but that was possibly down to me not speaking proper. Strangely, voice-activated control doesn’t seem to have caught on, although the technology is available, both in cars and the various household gadgets now on offer. I have to admit, though, that I rarely speak to my Jaguar F-Pace, except to curse the…

FEATURED THIS WEEK “You would swear that witchcraft was involved in the Giulia’s chassis set-up” FINAL REPORT MILEAGE 15,016 WHY WE RAN IT To find out if Alfa has regained its mojo with this BMW M3-bashing super-saloon Finally, I get it. I now understand why the Alfa Romeo brand and its products inspire so much passion and garner so much loyalty from fans, sometimes contrary to all logic. I can see what once prompted a certain former Top Gear presenter to insist that you can’t call yourself a petrolhead until you’ve owned an Alfa Romeo. For the past nine months, I’ve been an honorary member of the Alfa owners’ club, and in that time I’ve gone from being an ambivalent observer to a dedicated fanboy – all thanks to the…

If old airbags had a finite life, that’s an instant MOT failure Autocar readers always ask the best questions and I am indebted to Craig who has a rather fabulous 1997 Land Rover Discovery, a proper V8i one, too, with an impressive 200,000 miles. Well, it is a Series 1. According to Craig, it is used for “adventures off the beaten path and a lot of fun. But it’s also 20 years old and far from beautiful.” Proof, then, that very old Discoverys refuse to die, but what, asked Craig, “about the SRS (supplemental restraint system) airbags? My car has both driver and passenger bags. Would they still be an asset in an accident? We’ve all heard about various airbag recalls on far newer cars. No, I’m not going to…

“The Scirocco R used a different four-cylinder 2.0 petrol engine to give 261bhp and 258lb ft” Now here’s a tough choice: a VW Golf 2.0 GTI Mk5, the version Andrew Frankel described in Autocar as having “more than 80% of the ability of the best front-drive hatch in the world [the current Mk7] for less than 20% of the money”, or its sister car, the Scirocco Mk3? Difficult? If you like driving, probably not: it’s the Golf. Prices start at around £2500 for early 2005 cars and don’t stop until £12,000 for a low-mileage, 08-reg Edition 30. However, if you like a little more flair, courtesy of a longer, lower and wider coupé body (yes, the rear cabin is a squeeze), a broader range of engines and, well, something less…

The Allegro is going to be 45 years old soon. Launched on 17 May 1973 as the replacement for the much loved Austin 1100 and 1300, it never hit the sales heights of its predecessors. Early build quality issues earned it a poor reputation from which it struggled to recover. This 1978 Allegro Mk2 received fettling from Edd China, formerly of the Wheeler Dealers television show, before it was donated as a raffle prize to Children in Need in 2014. It recently came up for sale again at Anglia Car Auctions and sold for £2000, which is the price of a concours example. GET IT WHILE YOU CAN Audi A7 Sportback Price new £50,835. Price now £37,890 Sleek, stylish and deceptively quick, the Audi A7 Sportback is a refreshing change to…

“Henry Hope-Frost called his motorsport addiction an ‘incurable and debilitating fever’” Could it be, we wondered, the start of something big? When Alpine launched the A110 last year, they talked of bespoke retailers and making “the lightest cars in whatever class we’re in”. It all seemed a lot of trouble to go to if Alpine was only going to create a single model. Sure, a convertible and a faster version of the A110 were, and surely remain, in Alpine’s plan too. But beyond that, was this just the first launch of many? Could Alpine be for Renault what Mini is to BMW? Hmm. This week, Alpine boss Michael van der Sande is leaving, to replace John Edwards at Jaguar Land Rover’s SVO division. Meanwhile, Alpine chief engineer David Twohig has…