Innholdsfortegnelse for 30/05/2018 i Autocar

VAUXHALL WILL BE disappointed to read the verdict of its new Insignia GSI range-topper in this week’s road test (p34). It is a car seemingly at odds with the wholesome ‘just right’ value brand proposition it has under PSA ownership. It also marks something of a low point on which to end the era of cars developed – or at least conceived – under General Motors ownership. In its last 15 years under GM, the company lost $10 billion (£7.5bn), cut more than 30,000 jobs and shed market share in Europe. There remains a huge, loyal Vauxhall following, and it makes some very good cars already with certain versions of the Astra and Insignia, yet they’ve been launched by a company on the back foot and without the confidence and…

Next year will be a busy time for supermini arrivals with not only the fifth-generation Clio being launched but also a new Peugeot 208 and Vauxhall Corsa. The 208 and Corsa will be built on the same EMP1 platform for the first time, following the purchase by Peugeot owner PSA of Vauxhall-Opel in 2017. Both models have been confirmed as having pure-electric variants, which will give them green kudos over the Clio, although neither is likely to feature the other technological advancements found on the Clio. The electric 208, which will exist alongside more traditionally powered 208s, will lead the zero-emissions push for the entire PSA Group, consisting of Citroën, DS, Peugeot and Vauxhall-Opel. However, most eyes will be on the new Corsa, which has had a remarkably fast development…

Seat’s next-generation Leon will take the biggest step forward in the model’s history, thanks to an ultra-high-tech cabin and the introduction of a new electrified variant. Due for launch in 2019, the Leon will get a more advanced infotainment system, which can update maps, apps and functionality over the air, before any of its Volkswagen Group stablemates. A plugin hybrid version is aimed at kick-starting Seat’s electrification ambitions, which will gain pace when a standalone EV is launched in 2020.…

The DB11’s life so far has been short but busy. It made its debut in 2016, offered in V12 guise only, but the cheaper, slightly less powerful V8 model arrived soon after and the drop-top Volante fleshed out the range earlier this year. Now, after just two short years on sale, the DB11 V12 has been retired. Worry not. Aston Martin is replacing it with the DB11 AMR, the fastest, most driver-focused DB11 yet. It uses the familiar 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12, now good for 630bhp. That’s a 30bhp gain over the departed DB11 V12 and 127bhp more than the eight-cylinder model possesses. The chassis has been tweaked too. There are stiffer suspension bushes to help locate the rear axle more securely, but the spring rates are unchanged. The dampers, however,…

The Insignia is capable of maintaining decent speeds around Millbrook’s hill route, to the extent that you can imagine why it’s capable of the otherwise irrelevant lap time around the Nürburgring. But don’t come to this car expecting levels of interaction or distinction like you’d get in a serious performance saloon. There’s grip and the steering is linearly responsive. Body control is well contained too. There’s nothing here, though, that shouts interaction beyond that which you’d find in a car with an SRi or Elite badge, let alone a GSi model. The diesel engine is audible and the automatic gearbox is ordinarily responsive, and although the Insignia is capable of high cornering speeds, it never makes you think you’re in a car that weighs less than it does or has…

If Enzo Ferrari had known exactly how crucial the movement of air beneath a car and over the top of it would one day become – not only to his company’s Formula 1 machines but also its road cars – he might not have uttered the famous phrase: “Aerodynamics are for people who can’t build engines.” Legend has it he also said some variation of: “When you buy a Ferrari, you are paying for the engine. The rest you get for free.” Was it all just bluster and provocation? Perhaps, but there’s no doubt the Old Man considered a sports car’s engine to be its very heart. As Enzo knew all along, a really great motor is as good a reason to buy a car as any other. That’s as…

Reading the letter from Dave Bardsley about cyclists and motorcyclists (Your Views, 9 May) left me face-palming at his ignorance of the law regarding motorcycles filtering through traffic and his general moaning attitude. I ride motorcycles most days and I, like many others on two wheels, are conscious of others in cars, vans and trucks and ride politely. It’s also worth noting it’s very rare these days for people to show anything other than consideration towards those of us legally filtering to the front of queues. Why wouldn’t they? It doesn’t cause them any distress and it helps traffic to flow. There are selfish motorcyclists and cyclists, but we generally aren’t the ones veering all over the road while sending texts like some car drivers. Perhaps Mr Bardsley should have…

MILEAGE 9130 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To ascertain if so much power and four-wheel drive are assets or unnecessary excess. And, well, because it’s an M5… Among the blinding greenery of the Rhineland, there’s an isolated ribbon of Tarmac that flows between the sleepy spa town of Bad Neuenahr and the altogether less somnolent village of Nürburg. It’s well surfaced for the most part and the setting is completely bucolic. Ideal, say, for an E300 cab: stick the dampers in Comfort, Bob Seger on the radio. Not a worry in the world. The funny thing is that above a certain level of commitment, this same stretch becomes an utterly brutal examination of a car’s dynamic repertoire. There are second-, third- and even fourth-gear corners of capricious profile and camber changes…

On the MOT theme of this week’s column, here is the Mini Cooper, which has passed all of its post-rebuild MOTs since 2013 with barely any trouble at all. Wish I could say I do a load of preparation, but really I don’t. I look at the lights, because those are the easy ones, and I know it isn’t seriously rusty, which is what used to condemn most Minis to a shake of an MOT inspector’s head. I will, however, do a minor service later in the year – oil, filters and grease some nipples – just for the hell of it.…

An expert’s view DANNY RILEY “I’m the last former Rolls and Bentley Crewe-trained apprentice, now with my own specialist servicing business, so forgive me if I don’t get misty-eyed about the Arnage. To me, real Bentleys ended with the previous SZ-series cars. The Arnage feels a bit plasticky inside, for instance, and rather than operate silently, the indicator stalk ‘clunks’. They’re good value for money, though, and the Arnage T is quick. The trouble is, people may be able to afford an Arnage but most can’t afford to maintain it properly. Essential service jobs are ignored, while general garages lack the knowledge and tools to do little more than an oil change.” Buyer beware… ▪ ENGINE Oil changes with fully synthetic 5W-30 every 7500 miles or six months are essential.…

A revolutionary new Volkswagen Beetle is under consideration and, if given the green light by VW chiefs, it will adopt a battery-powered electric powertrain. It will also move away from its trademark two-door bodystyle to a four-door arrangement and could even use the rear-wheel-drive characteristics of the original ‘Type 1’ Beetle of 1945. The model would be based on VW’s flexible electric vehicle architecture, MEB, which will underpin the car maker’s range of electric models under its new ID badge. The first of these to arrive will be the ID hatchback next year. VW has already confirmed that the current Beetle, which has been on sale since 2011 and is the second generation since the iconic car was revived as a front-wheel-drive car in 1997, will not be directly replaced…

“It will have a dramatic new interior and be capable of semi-autonomous driving” The new Renault Clio will distinguish itself from rivals by being one of the most technologically advanced models in its class when it arrives next year. The move is part of a bid by the French car maker to keep its supermini at the forefront of the sector, especially in the face of increasing competition from compact SUVs, to which traditional small cars are starting to lose out. Now in the final stages of prototype testing, the fifth-generation Clio is set to marry a honed exterior look with a dramatic new interior dominated by a Tesla-style infotainment screen. It will also be capable of semiautonomous driving. The exterior styling will be evolutionary, keeping elements such as rear…

Hyundai is ramping up plans for its N performance brand with a number of hot variants of existing models in the pipeline. The third car in the N line-up, the i30 N Fastback, will arrive later this year, following the i30 N hatchback and the Veloster N, the latter of which will only be sold in the US and Korea. All three models use the same turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, producing up to 271bhp. This unit is also likely to carry over to future N models. These could include a Kona N, Tucson N and i20 N, according to N brand boss Albert Biermann, but he added that none have been approved by Hyundai’s top brass yet. Biermann said: “We are working on different cars. Of course we are thinking…

The arrival of the all-new Jeep Wrangler in the UK in November will act as a halo for the brand and underpin a sales push built on its go-anywhere reputation, according to new managing director Arnoud Leclerc. While Jeep sales have grown substantially in recent years – from 231,701 in 2009 to 1,388,208 last year – the firm has been slammed for posting a slight drop in sales in 2017, despite the market for SUVs booming around the world. The most stinging criticism of that sales performance came from FCA boss Sergio Marchionne, who at the turn of this year described the efforts of Jeep’s European team as “lousy”. Leclerc was appointed to head Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ UK arm from the PSA Group in January. “It is true that 2016…

The road network in the north of England could be boosted with £25 billion of extra expenditure following the creation last month of Transport for the North. At least three major road improvements are top of the list in a new 30-year Strategic Roads Plan being created by TfN. Part of the Northern Powerhouse initiative, TfN is aimed at boosting the north of England by adding £100bn to the region’s economy and creating 850,000 jobs. “We are looking at the major road network for the north, and we have several major roads studies at the option stage,” said TfN roads director Peter Molyneux. “TfN is in its infancy, but we are looking to add value.” There are three major road schemes under development: first, to make the A66 between Scotch…

Citroën has launched the C5 Aircross in Europe, bringing a sharp focus on in-car comfort to the compact, five-seat SUV segment. It’s the second model to receive Citroën’s rally-derived Progressive Hydraulic Cushion suspension, after the C4 Cactus. The set-up aims to deliver “peerless comfort” while retaining the relaxed characteristics of the company’s long-standing hydropneumatic system. The two-stage system uses a pair of hydraulic stops – one for compression, the other for rebound. Citroën says this results in “a magic carpet ride”, even over uneven ground. So-called Advanced Comfort seating aims to further improve interior comfort with thicker, softer padding and greater adjustment. Meanwhile, double-laminated glass and engine bay soundproofing tackle exterior noise. Citroën head of product Xavier Peugeot said this will make C5 Aircross “the most comfortable SUV on the…

KIA IS PLOTTING a new standalone electric model that will be shown next year and follow in the footsteps of the Soul EV and recently revealed Niro EV. Until now, the Korean car maker has only introduced electric powertrains as variants of existing models but the brand is set to branch out with a stand-alone model in the vein of the Volkswagen ID family of electric cars. Design boss Gregory Guillaume said: “There is definitely room for a standalone EV.” He also said we will “see it next year, perhaps”. Guillaume said that it has been very difficult to justify the development costs of a separate electric model in the formative years of electric motoring, but he considers that the turning point has arrived for battery-powered vehicles. The new Kia…

Almost a year has passed since Jaguar first showed off its steroidal arch warrior at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. We’ve seen videos of it tearing around race tracks, most notably that long and wiggly one in a hilly corner of Germany where it set what Jaguar says is a saloon car lap record. More recently, we’ve ridden shotgun around Goodwood circuit and heard, in the words of the people who developed the thing, exactly what it is that makes the Jaguar XE SV Project 8 so brilliant. Now, at long last, we’ll decide that for ourselves, in the south of Portugal, where we have access to the brilliant Portimao race track as well as the tight, twisty roads that dissect the surrounding hills. Parked up beneath Portimao’s concrete pit…

The modern descendent of the original US Army workhorse has been completely redesigned, although the styling is best described as evolutionary: you mess with the Wrangler’s looks at your peril. The JL-generation Jeep Wrangler will reach the UK in November. Once again, it is available in two-door and four-door Unlimited variants; we drove the latter on- and off-road, in range-topping Rubicon guise. A ladder-frame chassis and Dana solid axles are retained but Jeep has used high-strength steel to take about 45kg out of the frame. It’s part of an overall 90kg drop in vehicle weight. A new electrical architecture brings the Wrangler bang up to date not only in features such as the Uconnect infotainment system, but also through driver assistance tech such as a reversing camera and blind-spot monitoring.…

Having proudly heralded the return of its old performance sub-brand, Vauxhall has proved itself crucially short on the commitment necessary to make much of an impact with the first of its new-age GSi models. The Insignia GSi is a practical, well-equipped estate car whose ride and handling are reasonably good adverts for it, but its steering, diesel engine and price positioning don’t do it very many favours. As a debut for a revived GSi, then, the Insignia falls short. For all of its Nürburgring development, it fails to capture your attention as a true driver’s car, more often feeling like a superficially warmed-up family estate. And for the money, there are more compelling affordable performance tourers. A VW Passat GTE estate is quicker, more desirable and more interesting to drive…

The safety team prefers to dismantle cars rather than cut into them, but if they need to do the latter they have a range of battery-powered Holmatro tools, cutters, saws and rams, along with spare batteries. “Because racing cars need to be strong for crash tests, they use lots of exotic materials to save weight, and having the latest kit is essential in allowing us to actually be able to cut into it,” says Hunt, who adds that the team trained by cutting up the shell of an old BTCC race car. There’s also general equipment that might be useful in an accident, including self-heating blankets, tarpaulins for privacy and towing ropes. Investing almost £200,000 in a vehicle that you hope to rarely, if ever, use to its full potential…

DRIVEN Jaguar I-Pace Jaguar’s bold, revolutionary, electric crossover throws up so many questions. Matt Prior has the answers COMPARISON New Swift Sport vs VW Up GTI Can VW beat Suzuki at making a fast, fun performance bargain? FIRST TEST New BMW Z4 We drive an early prototype of BMW’s all-new sports car EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Lexus LS 500h Can Lexus’s latest go at a luxury saloon topple Merc’s S-Class? USED BUYING GUIDE BMW X5 BMW’s first SUV can now be yours for just a little over £1000 LONG-TERM TEST Toyota C-HR Toyota’s funky SUV is good to drive – now we rate how good it is to live with SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p24…

MILEAGE 11,476 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Rational brand makes its most rational car to date: a seven-seat SUV. Can it score what’s surely an open goal? On the one hand, £550 is a lot of money. It would certainly buy a lot of socks. On the other, in the context of a car that cost £31,615, it is not. And, despite no scrapes or scratches to speak of so far (touch wood), I still wish the money had been spent on a rear-view camera for the Kodiaq. Why? Well, I would rate my parking ability as average and not a smidgen above (I rarely end up at right angles to my intended space, but sometimes I have to have a couple of goes before I slot in), and I live…

The eighth-generation Volkswagen Golf arriving next year will introduce a look that will set the template for all of VW’s internal combustion-engined cars in future. While the new Golf, which is due in UK showrooms at the end of 2019, will be an evolutionary take on the outgoing car, it will feature new design elements that design chief Klaus Bischoff described being “more fluid, more sporty with a very unique face”. It’s part of a new VW strategy to differentiate its standard model range from the new ID family of electric cars, said Bischoff: “[ID is] a new world of proportions and totally new bodystyles which are more emotional. As we go through the ceiling design-wise on ID cars, we need to echo that with ICE cars, so these will…

FCA boss Sergio Marchionne will unveil the firm’s next five-year plan on 1 June – before retiring early next year. Included will be full details of products scheduled for launch from 2019 to 2023. Among the rumoured models are an Alfa Romeo Giulia coupé, new stand-alone Abarths and a new small SUV from Jeep. Longer-term strategies for Maserati and Fiat are also expected to be unveiled, as is an indication of the timeline for FCA to offer electrified versions of its cars, something it has been slow to do so far. Marchionne has also hinted his belief that if the plan’s targets are hit, then FCA can double its pre-tax profits from around £6 billion last year to £12bn by 2023, and raised the prospect of selling off brands if…

THE NEXT AUDI S6 is set to receive the high-performance V8 of the latest Porsche Panamera Turbo to produce around 500bhp when it arrives on roads next year. The performance model is expected to trade its predecessor’s TFSI eight-cylinder petrol unit for the new 4.0-litre engine, which offers more performance and better fuel efficiency. The unit is good for 542bhp in the Panamera Turbo, but it’s likely to have a lower output in the cheaper S6. Although it’s plausible that a more powerful version of the 2.9-litre V6 engine from the RS5 could be integrated into the S6, Autocar understands the V8’s more muscular character and tone mean it’s deemed a better fit for Audi’s larger performance models. The next S6 will be more structurally rigid than its predecessor because…

MODEL TESTED SPORTS TOURER 2.0 BITURBO D BLUE INJECTION GSI NAV Price £35,465 • Power 207bhp • Torque 354lb ft • 0-60mph 8.4sec • 30-70mph in fourth 8.2sec • Fuel economy 36.0mpg • CO2 emissions 187g/km • 70-0mph 41.8m Welcome back, GSi. It has been more than a decade now since the old Vectra (C generation) last wore that badge. Back then, Vauxhall used it to mark out its fruitier model derivatives, until it was retired in favour of the more hardcore VXR series of vehicles. But VXR is now experiencing something of a hiatus. Click through to the Vauxhall VXR website and all you’ll find is a list of models that are no longer on sale. So where do you look if you fancy a Vauxhall with a bit…

Does the super-sports car actually exist? Is it really a thing? After spending a couple of days driving three new cars brought together under that banner, I have my doubts. The super-sports car may be a figment of the car industry’s imagination, I reckon; or a clever bit of profit-generating sleight of hand, more likely. Sometimes group tests are like this. You gather three new cars together that share a broadly common price point and mission statement and you expect to find them similar; but driving them back to back at length only makes you more aware of how different they are. Of how much separates them not just in terms of motive character and dynamic appeal, but also how different are the reasons you’d buy them and the ways…

FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out if the new, turbo Swift Sport still offers good, simple hot hatch fun that can compete with the best in class Turns out that patience isn’t always a virtue. Or, to subvert another cliché, sometimes good things come to those who don’t wait. And proof of that, currently parked outside Autocar Towers, is small, fun and very, very yellow. That’d be our new Suzuki Swift Sport, then. We’ve been asking (well, pestering) Suzuki for one for our test fleet since our first, brief taste of the hot hatch in Japan last year. Eventually, and possibly just to keep us quiet, Suzuki offered to deliver one to us near the end of May. But they also casually mentioned that, if we fancied…

John Crawte has been brave and seems to have bought extremely well: “I found the Lexus on an auction site as ‘spares or repair’. It had no MOT, had suffered light frontal damage but the bumper had been replaced. “I paid £525. It just needed a Xenon headlight (£80) and went through its MOT with only advisories on the rear tyres. Mileage is 160,000, which is nothing for a big, smooth straight six that is fully loaded with air-con, cruise, heated leather seats and sat-nav (all working). Can’t imagine parting with it for some time.” SEND YOUR USED CAR TALES TO james@bangernomics.com AND READERS' QUESTIONS TO autocar@haymarket.com…

“If you can stretch to it and can afford the maintenance, the Arnage T is the one to buy” It’s that ‘classic Bentley for the price of a new hatchback’ story. The one where you’re invited to suspend your disbelief and imagine yourself the custodian of a 20-year-old, luxury sports saloon powered by a ruinously thirsty V8. A car that cost over £140,000 new and for which many straightforward maintenance jobs will run to four figures. It is, of course, a Bentley Arnage and, yes, this first product of Volkswagen’s purchase of Bentley in 1998 (although the model had already been developed by former company owner Vickers) can be yours from £15,000, the price of a new Ford Fiesta Zetec 1.0T Ecoboost 3dr, after a discount. It’ll be powered by…

GUTSY LOW-MILES YANK TANK Hummer H3 SE £17,500 Buying a car from a defunct manufacturer can be fraught with danger. What do you do for spare parts? Who will be able to service it? What will this do to the resale value? All of these are very valid questions, but with the help of the internet and support from online forums, you can often make it work. Take, for example, Hummer. Most will already know of the company’s military origins in Operation Desert Storm and the civilian version that followed, so we shall skip ahead to the H3, which came out in 2006. It was brought out as a cheaper model and the H3 was the smallest vehicle in the range. This meant that it was a bit more fuel…

MASERATI 3200 GT For some years, the 3200 GT has been in the used car doldrums and you can find some bargains, such as this one, which went for just £11,880 at auction. That’s the price of a high-mileage 3200 GT, so this 44,500miler was a steal. Okay, so it is an automatic, but the 3200 GT is a long-distance cruiser built with comfort in mind. As with any exotic car, service history is everything. The expensive cambelt change was done on this car in February and it has been serviced annually. It won’t be cheap to run, but a good Maserati specialist will help to soften the impact of any repairs. GET IT WHILE YOU CAN Mini Cooper Price new £20,325. Price now £14,487 The Mini has undergone a…