Innholdsfortegnelse for 25/04/2018 i Autocar

CHANGE CREATES OPPORTUNITY. And with the car industry undergoing massive changes due to technology, electrification and autonomy, there are massive opportunities for bold start-ups to disrupt the established order. ‘Start-up’ is as much a mentality as a description of a company’s age: it’s a desire, like Silicon Valley’s tech firms, to shake up and disrupt, breaking rules and challenging the way things are done. Car industry start-ups are coming from everywhere. There are the Silicon Valley ones (led, of course, by the brilliantly disruptive Tesla), well-funded Chinese companies riding that country’s huge electrification push – think Byton (page 16) and Geely’s Lynk&Co – and the Indian-funded Pininfarina (page 48). Heck, even Aston’s revived Lagonda brand is conceived, according to its strategy boss, like “a 113-year-old start-up”. This mentality is a…

JLR chief executive Ralf Speth explains how the company is meeting the current demands facing the automotive industry. On the future of diesel engines: “I am convinced that, for us, diesel will play a role in the future. Although hybrid and electric vehicles will play a very important role in the future, no one can make the transition over a weekend. “It is predicted that by 2025-2030, around 20-30% of vehicles will be electrified. That sounds like a lot, but it also means 60-70% vehicles will continue to use an internal combustion engine. So the internal combustion engine will have a big role to play in modern mobility. “If you look at modern high-tech engines, diesel has several advantages. It’s better from a fuel consumption point of view, the CO2…

BMW SAYS THE new Concept iX3 will have a “new dimension” in performance, operating range, weight and packaging over its first dedicated electric-powered production model, the three-year-old i3. The German marque claims the new pure-electric SUV is the beneficiary of lessons learned through the establishment of BMW’s i sub-brand and recent developments surrounding its upcoming iNext model. The Concept iX3, unveiled at the Beijing motor show, closely previews a new X3-based model, rivalling the Jaguar I-Pace, Audi e-tron Quattro and Mercedes-Benz EQ C. The production version of the iX3 is due to be the third pure-electric model from the BMW Group, following the recently facelifted i3 and a production variant of the earlier Mini E due in 2019. It is expected to go on sale in the UK in 2020,…

I’ve sent our ham-fisted chancellor a single question SATURDAY AND SUNDAY Secretly reckoned my weekend might be a bit of a trial, given that Prior and Saunders tucked me into the latest BMW M5, all 592bhp, four-wheel drive and £90,000. I’d had a ropey week, and there can be times when controlling such a beast, even as obediently sophisticated as this, can make work. And as you may know, I don’t believe extra power, price and performance always make a better car. For the first few miles, inhibited by prejudice, I sat in the M5’s superb front bucket wondering whether a big saloon really needed to be so animalistic. Then I started to notice how precisely and cleanly a squeeze on the throttle would slingshot you out of corners, how…

Pleasant surprises of an affordable nature? Not a common occurrence in this industry, but the Suzuki Swift Sport of 2006 was such a thing. So was its replacement six years later, and now we have a third iteration that seeks to prolong the car’s reputation as a bit of a driver’s gem. The recipe has, alas, changed a little. The old car’s responsive, atmospheric 1.6-litre engine is replaced with a downsized but marginally more powerful 1.4-litre that already serves in the high-riding Vitara and S-Cross models. The headline figure of 138bhp is almost incidental in this case, because forced induction has resulted in 170lb ft. That’s almost half as much again as the previous Swift Sport, and it alters this car’s character markedly. This new car is even lighter than…

For bringing the Stinger to market, Kia’s ambition should be praised. Not only will the model act as an effective brand builder, but it’s also a highly commendable first attempt at a rear-driven saloon. That’s not to say it’s without compromise, though. While the material richness of the cabin may not be on a par with that of an Audi or BMW, it pays to remember that on a like-for-like basis it’s also considerably cheaper. The slightly lacklustre performance is a touch more disappointing, though, especially as its superior power and torque figures over similarly priced rivals will likely be one of its key draws. Still, as a comfortable, responsive, well-equipped and refined grand tourer, the Stinger doesn’t fall too short of the mark at all. Breaking into the executive…

At Palazzo Barberini in the heart of Rome earlier this month, a handful of billionaires, multimillionaires and, tagging along some distance behind, representatives of the world’s automotive press had their first look at a new £1.7 million hypercar. In the imposingly grand surroundings of the 17th-century palace, now repurposed as a fine art gallery, those assembled were allowed a tantalisingly brief glimpse of the car – due to go into production two years from now – or at least a handful of digital renderings of it. The journalists thought it looked spectacular, while a small number of the wealthy prospects were so bowled over by what they saw, they committed to buying one of the ultra-exclusive hypercars on the spot. The car results from an alliance between an Indian industrial…

New Aston Martin Vantage vs rivals Aston’s new sports car fights the Porsche 911 GTS and McLaren 540C. Matt Saunders oversees the triple test of the year McLaren Senna Matt Prior finds out if the new Senna is worthy of its name New Bentley Continental GT Crewe’s luxury performance GT vs the business’s toughest test EVERY WEEK Porsche 911 GT3 RS The ‘991’ swansong is going to be brilliant, right? Over to Matt Prior Jeep Wrangler Don’t want a Defender? We tell you how to buy the world’s other off-road icon Beijing motor show stars The world’s biggest car show in the world’s biggest new car market SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p22…

MILEAGE 5466 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To discover if Vauxhall’s flagship offers an unbeatable mix of practicality, value and executive comfort in estate form It’s the Easter bank holiday. The M40 turns into its very own Highway of Death as the mass evacuation of southern suburbia feels like the single-file traffic jam of an Iraqi diaspora. Cars strewn by the side of the road, oil everywhere it shouldn’t be and Warwick services in the same state of disrepair as Basra. Like 19 million others, I’m spending Good Friday and Easter Monday on the road. My abandonment of south London entails the all-important quarterly parachute drop into the out-laws, stationed ‘on’t Moors’ just outside Manchester. The 500-mile round trip is a good test to see how leggy, refined and bomb-proof the…

It’s a Werther’s Original on wheels; 75 by model name, nature and seemingly the average age of its owners. A 75 is pretty reliable, if not pulse-quickening. It’s a baby Bentley you can buy for buttons, but it is a heavy car and seems to have an appetite for front tyres and brake parts. Look for a 1.8 or 1.8T and ask when the head gasket was changed – a job that must be backed up with proper receipts. It commonly fails at 30k miles so most will have been done by now. Otherwise, get your spares from Rimmer Brothers.…

An expert’s view TOM LENTHALL, TOM LENTHALL LTD “I’ve just sold my V6 S coupé. The V8 is too much for UK roads, whereas you can nail the V6. I race Jags and in my experience, and that of other racers, the V6 is quicker than the V8. I prefer the coupé version, too. The F-Type convertible is strong but the coupé feels just that little bit stiffer. My car was reliable but we get F-Types through the workshop with noisy tappets and wheezy superchargers. No car is 100% reliable, of course.” Buyer beware… ▪ RECALLS Some 2014/2015 F-Types have been the subject of an alarming number of serious recalls, including risk of fire and of crashing, high-speed instability and seatbelt pretensioners not deploying (2016). Check the corrective work has…

When does brand extension become brand exploitation? As you might have read back on page 24 of this issue, I’ve been driving the Lamborghini Urus and was wondering if there’s a point where you can push things too far. Over-brand things. Apply a badge to something that doesn’t really sit with a company’s values. The oddest thing was listening to Maurizio Reggiani, Lamborghini’s chief technical officer, talking about the fact that you can fit two golf bags horizontally into the Urus’s boot. Weird. Here’s a bloke who only 12 hours earlier was saying that the day Lamborghini didn’t still make a naturally aspirated engine would be the day he wouldn’t be there any more. And here he is: golf. Which makes you think: well, is the Urus really a Lamborghini?…

The latest XK project is believed to be entirely new and unlikely to be launched until at least 2021 Plans to relaunch the Jaguar XK are gathering momentum, with the firm’s head of product strategy confirming that it is working on a proposal for a whole family of sports cars. Hanno Kirner, who oversees product strategy for the next decade at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), told Autocar the company remains committed to the sports car segment, despite the Jaguar E-Pace and F-Pace SUVs dominating the firm’s sales. In 2017, the F-Pace accounted for two-fifths of all Jaguar sales. The XK was discontinued in 2014. “The F-Type has been a huge success,” he said. “We love sports cars – and I use the plural quite deliberately. Whether that is delivered by…

Enthusiast drivers are going to have more choice than ever before as autonomous technology is developed because car firms will be able to increasingly polarise their line-ups, according to Hanno Kirner, Jaguar Land Rover’s head of product strategy. Kirner believes that while many people will be happy to use autonomous cars day to day – as taxis and shared or owned vehicles – many keen drivers will want to have vehicles they can get behind the wheel of for fun. “Whether it is SVO [JLR’s performance arm] recreating classics to modern standards or creating track-day specials, I think it will grow as autonomous driving becomes a regular part of lives,” he said. “I don’t for one second think we’ll see a generation appear with no interest in cars. Driving enthusiasts…

Audi has sparked its e-tron all-electric SUV into life by revealing further technical details about its battery and charging system ahead of its launch in August. The e-tron was electrified last week at a Siemens engineering centre in Berlin, where a dramatic 500,000 volt spark was discharged from an ‘impulse generator’ – a piece of lab equipment more normally used to test heavy-duty electrical switchgear. Audi stressed that the two-second high-voltage impulse of electrical energy was not part of a standard testing programme, more a symbolic stunt to demonstrate its first longrange battery electric vehicle jumping into life. More significantly, Audi confirmed for production a two-motor layout – one per axle – and a departure from the concept’s two-rear, one-front motor set-up. The production battery will be 95kWh, using pouch-type…

Aston Martin has confirmed a change in the nomenclature of its most expensive series-production models – and it will mean a critical change in layout and nature for a car that has been Gaydon’s top dog for longer than any other this century. The replacement for Aston’s flagship front-engined V12 ‘super-GT’, the Vanquish, will be called the DBS Superleggera. It will be the first model to use the DBS nameplate since Aston’s DB9-based successor to the first-generation Vanquish that came out in 2007. The use of ‘Superleggera’, a nod to the original DBS of 1967 and meaning ‘super-light’ in Italian, hints at the car’s more extreme focus. Aston chief creative officer Marek Reichman said: “When you hear the name DBS Superleggera, you know what it is. It’s the definitive Aston…

Byton has unveiled an almost productio-nready version of its first car, a Tesla-rivalling electric SUV due in 2019, at its European launch in Milan. The Byton Concept is the first of three planned models that will draw heavily on connectivity and semiautonomous technology. It is due to go on sale in China in late 2019, with the US and Europe following in 2020. A saloon, which will be shown in concept form at CES Asia in Shanghai in June, will arrive in 2021. A seven-seat MPV is also planned. All three cars are based on the same architecture. The Concept SUV shown at Milan Design Week is a development of the one unveiled at CES in January and was described as being “85% there” by company boss Carsten Breitfeld. The…

BMW HAS REVEALED more of its plans to make its cars ever more intelligent, but full autonomy is still a long way off, according to BMW board member Peter Schwarzenbauer. Speaking at the company’s FIZ R&D centre near Munich, Schwarzenbauer said BMW’s upcoming models – which will be connected to a vast cloud network of real-time safety and driving information – will be capable of “level three autonomy” but “society might not yet be ready” for self-driving vehicles. “Will society accept this? I don’t believe society is ready to hand over responsibility for its life to a machine. We will go step by step. Level three [where the car can take over in certain circumstances, such as in slow-moving motorway traffic, but the driver has to be ready to regain…

A tremendous wallop of torque comes in from 2250rpm so it does not matter which gear you’re in I suppose, when the matter in hand is as delicate as this, every kilogram matters, so Lamborghini isn’t going to round the 2197kg that its new Urus SUV weighs to the nearest 10 kilos. So 2197kg it is. Yay, it’s sub-2.2 tonnes! And that’s the first in an array of frighteningly large numbers that relate to the new Lamborghini 4x4: others of note are 641bhp, 626lb ft, and £164,950 (or thereabouts; dealer charges vary, and you’ll pay £180k or more once you’ve got some options on it anyway). All of which gets you what, exactly? A super-sports luxury SUV. Lamborghini says it basically invented this kind of car, and if you squint…

Even for those aware that Alpina is about more than deco pinstripes and decadent power, the specification on this new 205mph B5 will make for invigorating reading. This saloon of charmingly understated brutality starts life as a 456bhp M550i, the 4.4-litre ‘N63TU2’ V8 of which is then given a wider-bore intake and new twin-scroll turbos that operate in parallel. A new intercooler is subsequently recruited along with a brace of additional radiators, another oil cooler, and uprated pistons and spark plugs. Alpina finishes the job with a lightweight exhaust that reduces back-pressure and results in a grand total of 600bhp and 590lb ft at 3000rpm, though four-fifths of that comes into play at just 2000rpm. And yet despite the supercar-style powertrain, it’s the chassis where Alpina really leaves its mark.…

Regardless of today’s outcome, if you’re talking about hot hatches in the conventional sense, the current Civic Type R is the best money can buy. No other front-driven car for which you can lay down a deposit at your nearest dealership marries such crushing pace with such a deep-seated sense of mechanical involvement. In fact, the only reason this magazine’s road testers elected to bestow upon it four and a half stars is because those so inclined were a little more vociferous in their sentiments than the ones who would give it five. Although it no longer rages, the debate lingers. As you’ve probably surmised, we haven’t committed editorial harakiri and given up the verdict in the first line. Rather, the Honda is the only car in this duo that…

FINAL REPORT MILEAGE 9940 WHY WE RAN IT To find out if our favourite executive saloon also makes a great family car For anyone worried about the future of the traditional saloon in a world increasingly dominated by SUVs, the latest BMW 5 Series offers some hope, being a brilliant all-rounder that’s hugely desirable in its own right and infinitely better to drive. That was the conclusion, at any rate, when we put it through the Autocar road test, but is the 5 Series as impressive when you live with it every day, or are there times when it frustrates? Over the past eight months, I’ve been finding out, with it not only serving as my commuter car, but being asked to perform the role of practical weekend wheels and…

Car dealers: on the strength of my recent car-buying attempts, I sometimes wonder if they really want to sell us their fabulous used wares. That’s right, I’ve been out buying cars and it never ceases to depress me these days. Let’s focus on the big boys. Major dealers have every possible advantage: the facilities, the cars, the warranties and the pot plants to pull off most deals. Even if you are after a motor at the Bangernomics end of things, they should be able to help. Then again, if they are really good, it is possible they might convince you to bundle up your micro-budget into some sort of manageable PCP deal. Sadly, most are not that creative. I just did not find them very proactive. If they don’t have…

QUESTION I really want an Alfa but am worried about reliability. Which one should I go for? Karen Shaw, Reading ANSWER Reliability has historically been an issue with Alfa Romeo, but that could be changing – the brand came fifth in our sister mag What Car?’s 2017 Reliability Survey. So I’d say go for as new a model as possible; a nearly new Giulia should be a good bet. AR QUESTION My neighbour has offered me his 1996 BMW 523i for £2k. It’s clean and has always been well maintained. Should I buy it and stash it away? Dev Osman, via email ANSWER Cooking E39s are certainly climbing in value, albeit very slowly for the foreseeable future. It sounds cheap, though, so if you want a nice old bus to…

Was the E90-generation BMW M3 the most divisive of them all? Certainly, when it was launched in 2007, some enthusiasts were apoplectic that the calling card of an M3 – the screaming straight six engine – had been done away with. They needn’t have been, mind you, for in its place is a glorious V8 with a power figure of 414bhp produced just 100rpm before its 8400rpm redline. In other words, this engine is just as capable of shrieking its lungs out as the straight six. But the V8 added something that some drivers had found wanting in the E90’s predecessor, the E46: flexibility, with 300lb ft on tap at 3900rpm. Adaptive suspension means the M3 rides more comfortably than a stock E90 M Sport, but don’t think it has…

A high-performance Jaguar I-Pace SVR – and any other performance electric cars – would not be engineered for their 0-60mph performance alone, according to high-ranking Jaguar Land Rover officials. With rumours of an I-Pace SVR – and even a special limited-edition ‘Project’ car – gathering momentum, product planning boss Hanno Kirner conceded that teams within the firm had already worked through potential credentials for such cars. “We have asked ourselves how you would ‘SVR’ an electric car,” said Kirner. “Yes, we can make it do 0-60mph in 1.8sec. It’s a good headline, but once you’ve done it once or twice, and lost your eyes in the back of their sockets, you might not want to do it again.” Kirner highlighted the I-Pace’s 50/50 weight distribution and dynamic set-up in standard…

THE VISION MERCEDES-Maybach Ultimate Luxury is a crossover concept for the Chinese market that is intended to “underscore the position of Maybach as the ultimate luxury brand”, according to design boss Gorden Wagener. The concept is the latest in a line of Maybach concepts, as Mercedes’ high-end brand looks to assert its presence among rivals such as Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Aston Martin’s upcoming Lagonda rebirth. The last concept shown was the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 Cabriolet in mid-2017. The Ultimate Luxury concept, which is not expected to make production, is all-wheel drive and uses a 740bhp electric powertrain with a range of 310 miles. Some design elements, such as the front end and grille, are likely to appear in future global production models. The next Maybach production model will be the…

Laying off 1000 contract staff out of a total 40,000 workforce may be a disaster for those affected but, on the face of it, it does not signal serious structural issues for Jaguar Land Rover’s business. That said, although JLR has expanded at pace since its near-death experience after the credit crunch a decade ago, it is now facing a downturn in its fortunes. In the year to September 2012, JLR sold 269,000 cars worldwide. In the year to March 2018, it sold 614,300. That’s impressive growth and backed by an expanded model line-up including strong sellers such as the Range Rover Velar and the F-Pace, Jaguar’s first SUV. The top-line results for the fiscal year to March 2018 don’t look too bad, and in fact represent growth of 1.7%.…

MODEL TESTED 2.0 T-GDi GT-LINES Price £35,825 • Power 244bhp • Torque 260lb ft • 0-60mph 7.4sec • 30-70mph in fourth 10.6sec • Fuel economy 32.0mpg • CO2 emissions 181g/km • 70-0mph 49.4m Kia is a dramatically different brand from the one it was only a few years ago. Gone are the days when producing cheap and not particularly cheerful hatchbacks and SUVs was the South Korean manufacturer’s raison d’être. This brand repositioning is in no small part thanks to a step change in its approach to car design, a shift brought about by the likes of design boss Peter Schreyer and European design chief Gregory Guillaume, as well as a more fastidious approach to improving the perceived quality of its vehicles. And when you arrive at the subject of…

When he was young, he was known as the Boy Wonder. In time, he would become simply ‘Mr Motor Racing’. If you ever wanted to prove that statistics prove nothing at all, the fact that Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss never won the Formula 1 world championship offers the evidence you need. He should have won in 1958, winning four grands prix to Mike Hawthorn’s one. The latter appeared to have lost the crown when he was disqualified from the Portuguese GP for pushing his car the wrong way up the track. On the contrary, said Moss at his rival’s appeal, at the time Hawthorn was on the pavement… Moss gained Hawthorn seven points, and lost the title to him by just one. Imagine Lewis Hamilton speaking up for Sebastian Vettel…

What’s the best time to sell your car? Easy: when it isn’t broken. So I am indebted to Mrs Ruppert for telling me she fancied a change after three trouble-free years in our BMW X5. Mrs Ruppert is small, fragrant and truly believes that size matters. The gargantuan SUV was designed with her in mind. She likes to see the road ahead and, unlike some motorists, can actually reverse slot and parallel park without drama. So it was natural to consider another used high-rise vehicle as a replacement. Our first choice was a Mercedes-Benz ML, but that proved more difficult than expected. Did I mention we were after a petrol? I am firmly in that camp and both the X5 and the Mitsubishi Shogun we ran before it proved that…

WIN Letter of the week wins this ValetPRO exterior protection and maintenance kit worth £48 Please may I add to the outpourings on why new car sales are ‘down’? Aside from important aspects of tax, pricing and propulsion systems, I believe there to be other factors at work. Manufacturers should perhaps ask themselves if they have disregarded what customers are seeking. Specifically, many new models seem to be wider, weightier and without buttons. By the last of those, I mean they only allow previously simple – one-button – interactions with the car (such as changing radio station) via a series of steps on a touchscreen. Are customers sticking with what they have because new models are neglecting (or, worse, countering) their needs and wants? One more example: if you already struggle…

MILEAGE 2208 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out whether a big, separate-chassis, part-time all-wheel-drive SUV still has a place in the world The mud-covered lanes where I live have rapidly given the Rexton a coat of filth not inappropriate to its rugged constitution. I plan to unleash a jet-washer on it soon, but there’s little point at the moment. And the dirt certainly provides a contrast to the Ssangyong’s pristine ivory cabin. I quite enjoy the Range Rover-esque perversity of a vehicle that dunks itself in deepish puddles and drives out again, although I wonder how practical an ivory interior really is if you plan to off-road regularly. Then again, a serious off-roader may not be daft enough to order a colour of this hue. And they’d also install…

Sound system number two is dead. After the phoenix-like restoration of the Lorry into the perky two-tonne, semi-commercial load-lugger and reliable local errand-runner it used to be, the rather less crucial audio upgrade has been a bit of a let-down. I now realise why I had not bothered with a radio for the past five years. The man in the shop that supplied the audio kit reckons it could be due to condensation, but it is some distance from anything that drips. The wiring is fine, so I unplugged it, pushed the JVC into the original box and await replacement or refund.…

If you promised yourself a £60,000 F-Type when the model was launched back in 2013 but couldn’t stretch to it, then top marks for waiting. Today, those first cars start from £32,000 for tidy V6 convertibles with around 45,000 miles and good histories. That’s a 330bhp supercharged V6, remember, capable of 0-62mph in a shade over 5sec. Look hard and you might find an example of the more powerful 370bhp S version, such as the 2014-reg coupé with 57,000 miles we saw, for £32,000 on the nose. No mention of its service history, though. A standard F-Type is enticing enough (sports suspension, partial leather, steering wheel paddles), but with its hooligan sports exhaust, adaptive suspension and mechanical limited-slip diff, not to mention its extra power, the S version is worth…

This big-engined Merc is truly something special. Developed in conjunction with Porsche and powered by the 326bhp V8 from the SL500, each example took 18 days to build, being shuffled back and forth between the Mercedes and Porsche factories. It was more than a match for the BMW M5 of its day – and is now far rarer. Although it was never imported to the UK officially, this one was sold on a UK registration, meaning you could stick it on a ferry direct from Bonhams’ auction in Paris and drive it home hassle-free. Given its 40,000 miles, the £25,177 price doesn’t seem too ludicrous. Volvo V40 Cross Country Price new £25,110. Price now £16,850 Remarkably, it seems Volvo will still sell you a brand-new V40 Cross Country, even though…