Innholdsfortegnelse for July 11, 2018 i Autocar

JAGUAR LAND ROVER claims that up to £80 billion of investment in the UK is at risk over the next five years, along with factory closures, if the UK comes away with a ‘bad’ Brexit deal. What investment would the UK missing out on, should such a scenario arise? We reveal it this week (p8): 99 new or revised models, many of which will use a new industry-leading architecture that can underpin anything from a small SUV with a three-cylinder engine to a huge five-metre-long electric car. To this point, no other car maker has created something quite as flexible, or quite as remarkable. JLR, now out of the doldrums of the recession at the turn of the last decade, is bucking the British car industry trend of generations by…

Have you been holding on for just the right kind of Mercedes-AMG GT? If so, this might be your moment. The GT C slots into the range between the GT S and the track-day-ready GT R, adopting the active rear steering and electronically controlled locking differential of the GT R but without the unyielding racing buckets, mad diffuser and rear wing. (You get the dinky retractable spoiler instead.) Not that there isn’t drama here. You can most easily identify a C by the extraordinary breadth of its aluminium rear bodywork, which is 57mm wider than that of the standard car and vented aft of a pair of 305-section Michelin Pilot Supersport tyres. Meanwhile, the maw up front gets chrome braces in the form of Mercedes’ Panamericana grille, now found across…

On the tortuous Hill Route at Millbrook Proving Ground, the A7 felt just as large all-wheel-drive Audi models almost always do: every inch its size but also resolutely secure. Through medium-speed corners, this chassis will often take a promisingly rear-biased stance, although it’s merely a veneer of dynamism and asking any more of the car results in gentle but persistent understeer. Indeed, entry into corners is dependable but lethargic, owing to the steering’s blunt response off-centre, and traction is unbreakable when powering out. If the A7 impresses in any particular regard, it is its tight body control, which is such that both lateral and vertical movements are kept well in check.…

The remarkable thing about McLaren Automotive – if you set aside the amazingly short time it has taken to establish itself as a bona fide Ferrari rival – is how perfectly it fits the philosophy of its founder, the New Zealand-born constructor and racing driver Bruce McLaren. McLaren died in 1970, a few weeks before he could complete his first road car, and McLaren Automotive didn’t start selling until 2011. Yet there’s an almost mystical alignment between the unabashed ambition and instinctive love of engineering of the Auckland-born racer killed at 33 while testing one of his own Can-Am sports cars and the similar ethos of the Woking-based company that, in only its eighth year, has already put 15,000 McLaren cars on the road. Those who knew Bruce say he’d…

On 31 March 1997, Jason Plato made quite a stir on his British Touring Car Championship debut at Donington Park. Claiming pole for both races, he finished second in the opener behind Renault teammate Alain Menu and, then aged 29, was a welcome injection of youth into a championship dominated by veteran drivers. At the time, Ashley Sutton probably wasn’t paying much attention to Plato’s debut season; he was only three years old, after all. Fast forward to 2017 and Sutton was racing in the BTCC alongside Plato, the latter aged 50, for the Team BMR Subaru Levorg squad. And it was 23-year-old Sutton who claimed the championship. Sutton was the youngest BTCC champion since John Fitzpatrick in 1966, and yet his success didn’t seem all that unusual. Although the…

As a 67-year-old lifelong Vauxhall enthusiast, I have read with interest your articles about making Vauxhall great again. That it needs to sell desirable vehicles in large numbers is spot on. The Autocar image shown with the first article, to my mind, shows a modern take on the Vectras A and B. Very promising. One point is the unmentioned numbers of Vauxhall-Opel enthusiasts and clubs. I don’t know what was said, if anything, at meetings with the PSA Group, but I’d like to think that enthusiasts would appreciate being asked if they would like to contribute to the future of the brand. One simple way is an ambassador scheme, where enthusiasts can talk Vauxhall-Opel cars to the public. There has already been comment about young people becoming less interested in…

MILEAGE 11,583 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… The M5 has been back to BMW, at the request of the people there. Just want to give it a once-over, they said, and update some software. Usually, we prefer to go to dealers for the full ownership experience but, well, they asked. And it’s their car, after all. Kindly, they repaired a windscreen stonechip, and replaced the two wheel centres we think had been nicked, and gave the rest of the car a once-over. Wouldn’t usually, lads, but y’know: it’s a 600bhp super-saloon so we thought we’d just make sure things were fine. Which they were, and the next day the M5 was…

I know I’ve had issues with minor things like windscreen wipers, radios and smells, but here is a proper major disaster. On a hot day in a teeny bit of traffic, the little car does start to tip the temp gauge towards the red zone. I do check the radiator on a regular basis and it now seems to have a very bubbly hue. The oil seems to be fine, but I think this needs investigating. I’ve never bought or owned a car with head gasket issues before. The bloke who rebuilt it six years ago is now in the great milling shop in the sky. An A-Series expert is required.…

If those 19in 10-spoke alloy wheels and the discreet badge combining a red ‘R’ with a green ‘XJ’ don’t quicken your pulse, then perhaps the prices of early XJRs will. How about £4795 for a car that when new, 15 years ago, cost around £60,000? Of course, that’s the way of big, thirsty expresses such as the XJR; a comfy four-door saloon powered by a 390bhp 4.2-litre supercharged V8 that’s good for 0-62mph in 5.0sec and a top speed limited to 155mph. It’s so discreetly powerful that one specialist we spoke to suggested our ‘Worth knowing’ advice might be that you could very easily lose your licence driving one. This XJR was launched in 2003 – there were other XJRs before then – with the aim of raising the image…

With an 80bhp 698cc turbocharged triple, the Smart Roadster was never going to be a fast car, especially with its truly divisive automated manual gearbox. Yet despite such handicaps, it was tremendously good fun. It was the size and weight of a bar of Cadbury’s fruit and nut, for one, and despite or because of its rear-mounted engine, it handled with reasonable aplomb. It came with an electrically powered soft-top roof too. This one has lots of history and a 43k mileage and went for just under £3k. As a cheap and individual urban runabout with a touch of flair, it might be without peer. GET IT WHILE YOU CAN Peugeot Partner Tepee Price new £20,470. Price now £14,989 With the new, more stylish and robustly upmarket Rifter on the…

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has embarked on a massive programme of investment in new models that will enable the company to expand its line-up by four new or returning nameplates by 2023, launch 99 new model variants and replace every current model by 2024. As well as the I-Pace, JLR will roll out the all-new Defender, the super-luxury Jaguar J-Pace SUV and a more road-biased Range Rover ‘Allroad’ EV as the four new models. First out of the blocks in this new era for JLR will be next year’s all-new Range Rover Evoque, which will include in its line-up a highly economical plug-in hybrid version with a CO2 rating of just 45g/km. The new Evoque sits on a heavily modified version of the current steel platform, but the new strategy…

BMW design director Adrian van Hooydonk has hinted that a 9 Series could be on the cards, following the launch of the 8 Series. When asked whether a 9 Series – which would have four doors and be BMW’s largest model – was possible, van Hooydonk said: “Let’s say this: we won’t stop here. “Obviously, our job is to have more ideas than the company can build, because the other way round would be very bad. My team and I are now looking at 2021 and beyond – as far out as 2030. We have a lot of plans.” SUZUKI UPSIZES ENGINE IN NEW JIMNY The fourth-generation Suzuki Jimny will use a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine when it arrives in January, up from 1.3 litres in the old model. The…

ASTON MARTIN AND Red Bull Racing are poised to team up to race a new mid-engined hypercar – nicknamed the ‘son of Valkyrie’ – for outright victory at Le Mans from 2020. It was expected that Aston Martin would enter the Valkyrie hypercar into the race when event organisers announced earlier this month that the regulations would be changed to put road-derived and concept hybrid cars in the top category. However, with the Valkyrie sold out already and the ‘son of Valkyrie’ due to be launched at that time as a modern-day equivalent of the McLaren P1, Aston boss Andy Palmer confirmed to Autocar that this was the likely direction the firm would take. “I’m hesitant to confirm we will race at Le Mans before the final regulations have been…

Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess hasn’t ruled out the return of Rupert Stadler to his role as Audi boss and VW Group board member following his recent arrest in relation to the Dieselgate emissions scandal. When asked last week by German newspaper Bild am Sonntag whether Stadler could return, Diess said: “Should the accusations of the state prosecutors prove to be true, then it’s a clear decision.” He added: “It was a massive shock for me. The arrest of a CEO of a major car brand – that’s never happened before. The arrest is hard to comprehend. I know Rupert Stadler as a problem solver.” Stadler’s recent arrest serves as a stark reminder that the fallout from the industry-changing debacle remains very much ongoing. More than two and a half…

We’re still almost a year away from the market launch of the Volkswagen T-Cross, but this being Autocar, we’ve already had access to a prototype to deliver you an early impression. The T-Cross you see here is far from production ready, as is evident from the camouflage that makes it look like it crashed into the Starburst factory. But what lies beneath, according to the car’s engineers, is “95% complete”. So this is a very real early glimpse of what’s to come. Due on sale in spring 2019 priced from about £17,000, the T-Cross follows the all-new T-Roc to further bolster VW’s SUV line-up, which is set to grow to 12 models by 2020. But as the cheapest of the lot, the T-Cross, a rival to the Hyundai Kona and…

The SUV market is getting bigger, as you’ve probably heard. But it’s literally growing here: the new Hyundai Santa Fe, the brand’s biggest SUV, is 70mm longer in its latest, fourth generation. It’s got a new look, in line with the smaller Kona, and a new chassis, which, despite the car being bigger than the old model, is lighter and stronger than before. It’s available in 2.2-litre diesel flavour only in the UK and the automatic gearbox and four-wheel drive will be the bestselling set-up over here. Seven-seaters are all we’ll get in the UK too. This Santa Fe doesn’t feel as big as it looks – or is. It’s not far off as long and wide as a Range Rover Sport, but it feels agile for the class. The…

With its svelte, cut-crystal exterior lines and a cabin teeming with digital W interfaces, the new A7 might seem irresistible for those who require a technological status symbol. That Audi has carved from a low-slung silhouette such generous space for passengers and luggage lends the car added grand touring appeal, something only enhanced by a diesel-electric mild-hybrid powertrain of commendable refinement, economy and potency. So why only three and a half stars? The answer is found in this car’s chassis, which, although sure-footed, possesses neither the ability to engage the driver beyond a basic level nor the calibre of ride quality we’d expect from a long-legged four-door coupé. Handling is extremely competent but nothing more, and there’s a pervasive lack of feel throughout the driving controls. These are characteristics one…

Forty-five minutes ago, I was drumming my fingers on the steering wheel of my petrol Volkswagen Golf while stuck in a queue at my local filling station. Now here I am at one of the UK’s busiest public electric vehicle charge points, and it’s deserted. Forty minutes later, it’s still deserted. So much for my plan to record a day in the life of a charge point. I swear Chargemaster, the UK’s biggest charge point network that was recently bought by BP, told me this Polar-branded location was one of its busiest. Its actual busiest, believe it or not, is Harvester Flamstead, just off junction nine of the M1. Makes sense, I suppose: busy execs catch a coffee while their Nissan Leaf gets a shot of juice. Twenty-five minutes later,…

What would you be doing, aged 52, if you’d earned a lifetime of money and more as an ultra-successful racing driver? Or what if, to add yet more focus to the question, you’d achieved all that and endured a near life-ending crash at the tail end of your career? Sitting on a beach sipping cocktails? Travelling the world letting your investments work for you? Not Kenny Bräck, former Formula 1 tester, Indy Racing League champion and Indy 500 winner, and now McLaren’s new chief test driver, who has taken on the mantle, left by Chris Goodwin when he switched to Aston Martin, as the man responsible for ensuring every road car the firm builds is up to its exceptional standards. “I was once told by [legendary race team owner] Chip…

ON SALE 18 JULY COMPARISON Jaguar vs Tesla At last, Tesla has found a proper rival in the Jaguar I-Pace. Andrew Frankel pits Britain’s car of the future against the Model S BUYING GUIDE 30 cars for £300 a month The best way to spend your hard-earned on a great new car ROAD TEST Porsche 911 GT2 RS The greatest 911 ever or a step too far? There’s one way to find out… SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p34 EVERY WEEK FIRST DRIVE Hyundai Nexo This new hydrogen car could be the best example of the technology yet USED BUYING GUIDE Alfa 159 Sportwagon How to buy one of the best-looking estates ever made FIRST DRIVE Jaguar XE 300 Sport Life after V6s at Jag begins with a new 296bhp four-pot…

MILEAGE 9659 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 I’ve been in a minority about the Honda Civic Type R, in that I don’t swoon over it quite as much as everybody else seems to. I just think it’s very good. My colleagues seem to think it’s the hot hatch’s second coming, the Peugeot 306 GTi-6 reincarnate or something. Me, I think I’d rather have a Hyundai. Still, it has two days and about 600 miles to change my mind, for a trip in last week’s mag: driving the A66, which is definitely not Britain’s version of Route 66, what with it being shorter but with more castles. It’s the kind of drive that the…

It was always superbly built, certainly better than a 1990s Mercedes E-Class and easily a match for a BMW 5 Series. It is the interior that particularly sets the Audi apart from other executives. There is plenty of room inside an A6, especially an Avant model, and a wide choice of engines, from a four-cylinder turbo via very refined V6 turbo diesels to the high-performance V8s. The A6 is set up for the motorway and not B-road thrills, which seems sensible. Just £750 gets a 2002 A6 with 180k miles. It’s a 1.9 TDI SE and just serviced. SEND YOUR USED CAR TALES TO james@bangernomics.com AND READERS' QUESTIONS TO autocar@haymarket.com…

An expert’s view SEAN COLLINS, XJ MOTOR SERVICES “The XJR engine is very reliable. Jaguar engineered its ancillaries, fixtures and fittings to withstand the extra stresses and strains. I’d recommend a high-mileage motorway car over a low-mileage one that has done lots of short trips on potholed urban roads – no good for the engine or the suspension. One of my customers has just bought a 200,000-mile XJR. He lives in Northampton but works in Staines. He has complete confidence in the car. It has a slightly noisy diff but I’ve told him there’s another 12,000 miles in it, so he’s ignoring it. That’s the trick with these big cars: find a specialist who can prioritise running repairs and help manage your costs.” Buyer beware… ▪ ENGINE Check for leaks…

Volkswagen R performance variants are now so important to the car maker that the R division is involved from the start of a standard model’s product development. Speaking to Autocar in Peterborough at the customer handover of the 200,000th Volkswagen R car, division boss Jost Capito said Volkswagen’s executives have been “pushing” him for more input into each new model because they’re aware of the positive impact a halo variant can have on overall sales. “R has become so successful – we’ve sold nearly 100,000 Golf Rs alone – that we are thinking about this version of a car as soon as the process begins,” he said. “If we did it differently, if we had to adjust cars at a more advanced stage of development to make the R model,…

The new Ariel Atom 4, the fourth generation of the high-performance sports car launched in 1999, is the fastest standard version yet and has been entirely rebuilt from the ground up. The Atom 4 will achieve 0-60mph in 2.8sec, matching its BAC Mono rival, and 0-100mph in 6.8sec. Priced from £39,975, it will make its public debut at this week’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, with deliveries starting in spring 2019. The Atom 4 uses the latest Honda Type R turbo engine delivering 320bhp and gets a new chassis, suspension, steering, brakes and bodywork with “significant aerodynamic improvements”, said Ariel, as well as new seating and instrumentation. Ariel boss Simon Saunders said: “The Atom 4 is the biggest change to the car since we originally released it in 1999. It really…

Volante and AMR variants of the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera are in the works, CEO Andy Palmer has confirmed. Although details are scarce, Palmer confirmed that the template set by the DB11 would be used across all of Aston Martin’s core models. “I’m on record as saying that there will be an AMR version of every car, so you can take that as read, and the Volante is a given. In fact testing has already begun,” said Palmer. Although he declined to go into specifics, Palmer emphasised the Superleggera’s superior torque to the Ferrari 812 Superfast, suggesting this could be enhanced further on the AMR – but without compromising headline power. “The standard DBS Superleggera is designed to be a car that anyone can drive without feeling intimidated, but the…

Vauxhall and Opel cars will get a new, very different and all-encompassing grille and lights design, to underscore their move to the PSA Group and mark their new independence from former owner General Motors. The new frontal treatment, dubbed Vizor, has been created in the Vauxhall-Opel design centre at Rüsselsheim and replaces a style regarded for some time as too conventional. The move aims to match the frontal treatments on future cars with the ‘pure and bold’ shapes PSA believes it has already adopted for its most modern designs. The Vizor grille is likely to appear in production for the first time on the all-new Vauxhall Corsa when it moves to PSA’s small-car platform for 2019. The new look will be displayed for the first time on a highly significant…

The 600LT, the most hardcore model yet from McLaren’s entry-level Sports Series range, can beat its higher-ranking sibling, the 675LT, on lap times at certain circuits, according to the Woking-based car maker. Although its straight-line performance does not quite match the 675LT’s, it is “a margin faster” on some tracks. That is largely due to cornering speeds, which are claimed to exceed those of the 675LT, thanks in part to bespoke Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tyres. Darren Goddard, Sports Series vehicle line director, said lap time and chassis engagement were the development focus for the 600LT. He added that it has more chassis engagement than the 675LT. The 600LT was revealed late last month ahead of its Goodwood Festival of Speed debut and now McLaren has announced more details,…

Audi will launch its E-tron electric SUV later this year, although an original reveal at the end of August has been delayed. With rival Jaguar achieving a head start with its already launched I-Pace and Mercedes’ electric EQ C SUV due to be revealed in September, Audi is keen to keep attention on its electric SUV, which is why we found ourselves as a passenger in an E-tron prototype recently. It’s always hard to glean much from the passenger seat, but Audi’s claims of refinement are difficult to argue with, although the serenity of the experience isn’t so dissimilar to that of existing EV models at the town speeds we experienced. Space is good too. Four adults fit comfortably and the 600-litre boot (the I-Pace has 656 litres) is supplemented…

“Jeep is arguably the only true off-road company in the market,” says Jeff Hines, head of the Jeep brand in Europe. I can imagine one or two other companies having something to say about that and, listen guys, don’t think we haven’t driven a Renegade. But I also kinda see his point, when it comes to the Wrangler, at least. It occupies a unique space in the market, particularly now that Land Rover has temporarily limped out of that arena and hasn’t told us how it’s going to stroll back in. For now, Jeep (and maybe Mercedes-Benz and Suzuki) looks like it’s the one that knows how to look after its icon. By which I mean that it looks the same as the others, for a start. The round lights,…

MODEL TESTED 50 TDI SPORT QUATTRO Price £54,055 • Power 282bhp • Torque 457lb ft • 0-60mph 5.8sec • 30-70mph in fourth 8.2sec • Fuel economy 28.9mpg • CO2 emissions 147g/km • 70-0mph 46.3m Within the confines of a boardroom, it must seem a tantalising silver bullet solution. Take the expansive platform of your existing mid-sized saloon and cloak it in coachwork redolent of a coupé. The creation will be spacious enough for a week’s family holiday but attractive enough to take centre stage in dealerships. In theory, it will also possess tremendous levels of comfort yet also benefit from a low centre of gravity for good handling. If the notion of a ‘utility’ prestige model seems obvious, the reality of asking a platform developed for limousine duties to perform as a…

If it was more widely known that B-roads this good could be found this empty in the generally bustling south of England, perhaps cars like ours would be a more common sight for the handful of locals who’ll see them zip by today. For the time being at least, I’m quite pleased that fact isn’t more widely known. Very pleased indeed, actually. Because right now, somewhere on the borders of Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire and Nowhere-in-particularshire, gloriously inviting and blissfully quiet crosscountry Tarmac is extending ahead of the front wheels of the new Renault Mégane RS 280 like the yellow brick road ahead of Dorothy and gang. Through the windscreen the road rises and falls, arcing gently one way before being thrust the other to disappear behind a verge or hedge…

FINAL REPORT MILEAGE 12,980 WHY WE RAN IT To find out if a seven-seat SUV really could provide all of the practicality of an MPV in a more on-trend body The people have spoken. Now there’s a phrase that has been thrust into our lives over the past two years and it has the power to excite or chill depending on your political leanings. But before you put pen to paper, in this instance I’m referring to nothing more emotive than the inexorable rise of the SUV, increasingly the car-buying public’s champion and consequently available in more shapes and sizes than ever before. Now car enthusiasts – and that’s what we consider readers of this magazine to be – have every reason to raise an eyebrow. There’s a reasonable argument…

We all loved the old Alfa Romeo 156 and you could see why. In its day, it was a bit of a looker, even if it was a little bit more ordinary underneath. In fact, one could have argued that it was no more of a ‘true’ Alfa Romeo than your cat was, but to most that didn’t matter: it had the badge and it looked great. Enter its replacement, the 159, which looked – no, still looks – absolutely stunning. The question of how it drives or what is underneath it is no longer of any relevance. The question is: where do I go to buy one? Buy an ordinary one – and you can, very cheaply – and the chances are you’ll end up with something with a…