Innholdsfortegnelse for Agosto 01, 2018 i Autocar

SURELY THERE CAN be no tougher car company group to run, let alone fix, than Fiat, with its eclectic great brands typically lacking great cars in recent years, and a penchant historically to find scandal and crisis where none should exist. Yet Sergio Marchionne, who died suddenly last week (p16), ensured Fiat has not just survived but also thrived to a state where it is one of the world’s leading car companies. He had a love of business before cars, which hasn’t always gelled with enthusiasts (ask Lancia), but, as one Morgan Stanley analyst eulogised, he turned a $2 billion (£1.5bn) company into a $72bn (£54.8bn) one. His greatest achievement was merging Chrysler, plucked from the brink of collapse, and Fiat – the pair the most unlikely of bedfellows. But…

THE SALOON VERSION of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class has been revealed. It is due to go on sale in the UK later this year, with prices starting from around £26,500. Set to make its public debut at October’s Paris motor show, the Audi A3 saloon rival will be offered with two engines at launch: a 161bhp 1.3-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol and a 114bhp 1.5-litre four-cylinder diesel. The petrol unit has a combined fuel economy of 54.3mpg, with the diesel offering 70.6mpg. The saloon is 130mm longer and 6mm taller than the hatchback version, with a longer roof and rear overhang to accommodate the separate boot. More variants with different engines will arrive later, including hot AMG versions. Mercedes has already launched a long-wheelbase version of the A-Class saloon for the Chinese…

Here’s how it goes, then. I’m not sure I’d ever seen it written down like this before but I suppose it’s obvious. BMW M division cars have a clear hierarchy: CS models sit at the top, then there are Competition models (like this one is), then high-performance models (those badged just M2, M3, whatever) and then M Performance models (such as the M235i). It’s the first time I’ve seen it presented like that but, as ever more CS and Competition models arrive, perhaps BMW feels it needs clarifying, given the increasing number and diverse types of M car it would like to sell. This one, then, is the M2 Competition, which, despite the hierarchy, simply replaces the standard M2, rather than, as with the M4 and M5, for example, adds…

Kia sold a Sportage every 69 seconds last year, making this mid-size SUV its most popular model in Europe. To maintain that momentum, this mid-life refresh brings with it aesthetic refinements, updates to the infotainment system and a gamut of safety technologies. All of these things are, perhaps, trivial developments relative to the debut of a new electrified powertrain. It takes the form of a range-topping mild hybrid, with the efforts of a 2.0-litre diesel engine assisted by those of a compact starter-generator unit that’s belt-connected to the crankshaft. Power for the 48V ‘Ecodynamics+’ system comes from a lithium ion battery mounted beneath the floor of the boot, and the 13bhp electrical boost it facilitates takes the Sportage’s total output to 195bhp. Lift off the throttle to coast, or use…

MODEL TESTED GTI+ 2.0 TSI Price £23,020 • Power 197bhp • Torque 236lb ft • 0-60mph 6.7sec • 30-70mph in fourth 9.2sec • Fuel economy 36.6mpg • CO2 emissions 134g/km • 70-0mph 47.4m “Practical performance” is the new mantra that Volkswagen wants its GTI badge to represent: we’ve had three new or renewed GTIs in the past 18 months, starting with the Golf GTI Mk7.5 early last year, and all have carried forth that message loud and clear. The sub-brand will continue to have its wilder moments, of course, when its limited-series, end-of-line specials (GTI Clubsport S and the like) will flirt with a more fiery temperament than you might want on your daily commute, but they’ll be few and far between. That’s because, by and large, VW wants its GTI-branded…

The entire automotive industry talks nervously of disruption. Autonomy, China, electric vehicles – these days T it’s a case of pick your threat. In the UK, however, disruption is coming much faster and from a much more traditional source: politics. Brexit and, to a lesser extent, the decline of diesel are probably the two biggest forces acting on our industry right now and the fate of both, by and large, lies in the hands of our government and its opposition. No matter where you stand politically, you’d probably agree that’s not where you’d want to place the future of an £82 billion industry that, in terms of export value to the country, accounts for a whopping 13% overall. The chief executive of automotive supplier Unipart has warned that Brexit had…

Richard Lane notes the unusual positioning of the Mercedes-AMG GT C Coupé’s hazard warning light switch in the roof (First Drives, 11 July). Unusual perhaps but so very sensible when you think about it. It also raises the issue of the random siting of these switches in different vehicles at the whim, it seems, of an interior designer to suit the look of a particular dashboard. Is it not time to standardise the position of this important safety feature across all vehicles worldwide? Siting the hazard light switch up by the rear-view mirror leaves the designers the freedom to do what they will with the look of the dashboard but would give any driver of any vehicle the knowledge that they could ‘hit the button’ simply and quickly in a…

MILEAGE 4053 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 Given its predecessor’s well-earned reputation flew under many buyers’ radars, there was plenty of interest from Autocar’s staffers in a stint behind the wheel of the Swift Sport. Somehow, I made it to the front of the queue and have been responsible for a significant portion of our car’s 4053 covered miles. A lot of that distance was spent in stop-start traffic on my cross-London commute, which revealed little, other than a gearshift that wasn’t as precise or satisfying as I’d like. Considering the responsive steering and an eagerness to surge forward at every set of traffic lights with even…

MILEAGE 129,012 The great thing about old cars is that if they are unwell, they let you know in a very linear way, even if it is an electrical issue. I mean, the Lorry has the most basic dashboard ever. So when I indicated left, or nearside, the indicator stayed on and did not flash. That usually means there’s a blown bulb. So I went and got a spare but, when I took the covers off the front and rear, the bulbs were intact. This is electrical, so the flasher unit, the actual stalk or maybe a piece of wiring is to blame. Further investigation is needed.…

What does £3000 buy these days? How about three Skoda Fabia 1.9 TDI vRS hot hatches? They range in mileage from 162,000 to 175,000, so they’ve been around the world a few times. The first is a 2004/04-reg car with a fresh MOT and, according to the private seller, “starts and drives very well, and pulls like a train”. The second is a 2007/07-reg vRS with, says its private seller, “lots of service history, a recent turbo and intercooler, and a new cambelt, water pump, and brake pads and discs”. The third is a 2004/54-reg part-ex to clear with a longish MOT. Each costs £995. A deposit has been taken on the second (2007) car so someone knows a deal when they see one. It’s an interesting example because the…

Jaguar fanciers will kick themselves for having missed out on this XJS, sold at auction recently for just £2544. This one dates from 1992, so it’s one of the later cars in the XJS’s long and rather chequered history. Although not the stately V12, its 245bhp 4.0-litre inline six offers turbine smoothness and graceful delivery. Of course, buying an old Jag requires a leap of faith and a great deal of money, but this car comes with a substantial back catalogue of MOTs (plus a current one) and a warranted mileage of 160,000, and it has been in the same hands since 2002.…

“The next-gen R8 will be solely an electric car, making it a radically different proposition from today’s” Audi will reinvent the R8 as an electric supercar in 2022 – a move that will spell the end for the use of V10 engines by the firm. V10s have been a staple of Audi’s most exciting performance models over the past couple of decades. However, the adoption of the all-electric drivetrain for the third generation of its range-topping supercar highlights two unstoppable trends: the rise of electric power and the end of big, high-revving, normally aspirated engines being used without electrical assistance. Audi is also winding down the use of V8 engines, with the latest RS4 and RS5 models switching to downsized turbo V6s, leaving the bigger V8s as the preserve of the…

Audi is set to launch 16 pure-electric models by 2025 as part of a £35.7 billion investment designed to take on long-time premium rivals such as BMW, Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz and EV upstarts that include Tesla. The huge model assault will start with the launch of the E-tron SUV in September, and the firm says it will have three EVs on sale by 2020. The plan is called the Roadmap E Initiative and also encompasses autonomous tech. It was developed by now-suspended Audi chairman Rupert Stadler, who was arrested by German authorities in June on matters relating to Dieselgate. To realise these ambitions, Audi will use at least four different EV platforms being developed within the Volkswagen Group. A modified version of the existing MLB platform, used for large SUVs,…

THE NEW LAMBORGHINI Aventador SVJ has set a new production car lap record at the Nürburgring ahead of its official launch next month. The Italian firm has yet to confirm technical details of the range-topping SuperVeloce Jota, but it is understood to produce 759bhp and up to 531lb ft from a reworked 6.5-litre V12 engine – 20bhp more than the Aventador SV. The Aventador SVJ lapped the Nordschleife in 6min 44.97sec, 2.27sec quicker than the previous record, set by the Porsche 911 GT3 RS. It is also 15sec faster than the time achieved by the Aventador SV. The car’s lap time success is thought to largely be down to more advanced aerodynamics, with Lamborghini claiming it has the “best aerodynamic efficiency” and a class-leading power-to-weight ratio. The car sports a…

Imagine a car market without a Volkswagen Golf in it; or a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Porsche 911, BMW 3 Series or Range Rover, for that matter. A vastly poorer place, isn’t it? Some cars have such stature within, and defining influence on, the segments they inhabit that their creators might feel duty-bound to keep on making them until the waters rise and the sky falls in. They have a defining, emblematic influence, too, on the character of the companies that make them – to the point that failing to renew these cars would look like an act of wilful self-harm. These are cars that the industry responsible for them genuinely needs, I reckon – as archetypes, standard bearers and beacons by which to navigate. So is ‘the big Aston’ – the…

Millbrook’s hill route is precisely the sort of environment where, as a performance-biased supermini, the Polo GTI should shine. And, in the main, it does, albeit with a sense of imperturbability rather than excitement. It lacks the body control of a Fiesta ST and the steering response of a Mini Cooper S, but it’s the most fluid of the three when driven briskly rather than flat-out, working its contact patches supremely hard via a combination of its sophisticated suspension architecture and Continental tyres. While the ESP cannot be entirely disabled, in Sport mode it permits enough yaw for the chassis to feel adjustable through tighter bends. Overall, it’s a quick, competent performance, even if the long gearing does hamper proceedings a touch. ACCELERATION BRAKING 60-0mph: 2.82sec…

Compared to previous celebrations of our top 50 favourite cars on sale, this time imposed a £50,000 price cap. This was not because of the correlation to the number of cars included but, in an age when Nürburgring-crushing hypercars seem to go on sale with only slightly less regularity than compact crossovers, we thought it might bring a welcome change of pace. Otherwise, the usual rules apply, which means that there are no rules. These cars are not united by being the best in their classes, nor by having won group tests or the number of stars awarded in road tests. The only thing that binds them together is that, for a host of reasons both subjective and objective, we just really like them. One more thing: every year, the…

DRIVEN New McLaren Senna: 800-mile road trip Matt Prior drives the very first Senna off the McLaren production line from Woking to the south of France. Is the car worthy of the name? INTERVIEW Bentley’s Adrian Hallmark The new boss at Crewe lays out his future plans to Steve Cropley FEATURE Cars with character What gives a great car its soul? Our writers explain all EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Volkswagen Touareg Our testers decide whether VW’s big SUV is worth its premium price tag FIRST DRIVE BMW M5 Competition Uprated M5 takes aim at Merc-AMG’s E63 S. Matt Prior delivers the verdict CONTENTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE USED BUYING GUIDE Toyota Supra Mk4 Can’t wait for the new Supra? Here’s how to buy the previous version SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p32…

MILEAGE 4906 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To discover whether this sharply styled crossover is Toyota’s most appealing petrol-electric hybrid yet I thought I’d try to get an accurate handle on the it has left me even more confused than before as regards whether our hybrid Toyota is great or merely good at fuel sipping. Either that or my grade C in maths GCSE isn’t worth the paper it is written on. I tried measuring consumption over a couple of brim-to-brim fuel runs but they returned quite different figures of 47.3mpg and 52.9mpg, despite both tanks of unleaded being expended over a similar mix of M3 motorway and urban roads. Perhaps it isn’t too surprising that a vehicle that is continually switching between two power sources can return such varied results.…

The Renault Kangoo may be van-like, but at least it is different from all those me-too MPVs. There’s bags of usable room, sliding doors and lots of cubbyhole space. This is one of the most unpretentious cars you can buy. You get the feeling that if you chuck loads of people, their luggage and pets into a Kangoo, it will cope. It also rides well. It does not matter how bumpy the roads are — it manages to even them all out. Just £750 buys a 2002 1.2 Authentique with 112,000 miles. Reassuringly, it is a petrol.…

An expert’s view RICHARD DUNCAN, OWNER, RD GARAGE SERVICES “I’ve got huge respect for the Fabia vRS diesel. Not only is it incredibly quick in the mid-range but, more than 10 years on, used ones are also proving to be incredibly reliable, even with 200k miles. The engine is bomb-proof. The same lump is in the Octavia and we regularly see those with over 400k miles. They’ll take engine chipping too – as high as 200bhp, although over that and you need to start strengthening the mechanicals. There’s no diesel particulate filter to worry about at MOT time but do give it a thrash before you take it to the test to clear out soot.” Buyer beware ■ ENGINE The turbo is a simple affair (it predates the variable vane…

Price new £28,995. Price now £16,995 The new Renault Sport Mégane is a very fancy piece of work indeed, with a 276bhp engine and four-wheel steering to make it more agile than ever in the corners. However, those with less dosh to burn might like to consider a 2017 version of the old model, itself no mean performer. What you’ll get is arguably a better-looking three-door car (the new one is a five-door hatch only) with pretty similar performance for around £12,000 less.…

Lexus boss Yoshihiro Sawa has cautioned manufacturers against focusing solely on electric powertrains – because such systems can’t meet the needs of all drivers. The Japanese firm’s parent company, Toyota, was one of the first to invest in hybrid powertrains, but has been slower to develop pure electric vehicles. Lexus has yet to confirm when it will launch its first full EV, with Sawa telling Autocar that the environmental impact of such cars, among other things, needed careful consideration. “Our philosophy is to provide freedom of movement, so we have to develop technology on all fronts,” said Sawa. “We understand that electric is very necessary, but we can also see that full EV will not suit everyone. You can’t make an electric Land Cruiser work, for instance, and there are…

Tributes have been paid to long-time Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) boss Sergio Marchionne, who died last week after suffering serious complications following shoulder surgery. The 66-year-old Italian-Canadian had headed Fiat since 2004 and was the driving force behind its merger with Chrysler and the subsequent spin-off of Ferrari, which he also headed. Italian president Sergio Mattarella said: “Marchionne wrote an important page in the history of Italian industry. “As leader of Fiat, he went through years of very deep and radical transformation of markets, production systems, financial strategies and trade union relations.” Marchionne had been planning to step down from his FCA role next April and in June he led the presentation of the group’s next five-year plan. Briton Mike Manley, the boss of Jeep and Ram, was named the…

Brit Mike Manley might seem an unusual choice to be CEO of an Italian-based car giant, but as the long-time boss of Jeep and Ram, he has been responsible for the most successful and profitable brands in Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ portfolio. Born in Edenbridge, the 54-year-old began his career in the car industry at Swan National, working at various dealerships before joining Lex Autosales. When that company was bought by DaimlerChrysler in 2000, he became the car firm’s director of network development. Manley moved to the US in 2003 and took the top job at Jeep in 2009. He continued in that post following the Fiat-Chrysler merger and in 2015 also took over as Ram’s chief. Under Manley’s leadership, Jeep has expanded greatly in recent years. Sales have risen from…

It would be easy to think the Tarraco is merely an exercise in filling a large SUV-shaped hole in Seat’s model line-up. The Ateca and Arona have been hugely successful for the firm, so with the small and medium-sized SUV segments covered, a large one is pretty much all that’s missing. And oh, look at that, the Volkswagen Group just happens to have a proven architecture for just such a machine. Seat chiefs refer to the new Tarraco as a range-topper in more than just size. It’s being positioned as a more premium offering, with higher specs and more kit – a move enabled by, and building on, the success of the Ateca-led model offensive that came before it. If it’s going to be a fitting flagship, of course, it…

In its latest, most convincing iteration, the Polo GTI no longer exists as a warmed-up, glorified trim level and makes a strong case for itself as a bona fide sports car. A level of performance granted by an engine shared with its illustrious Golf GTI sibling sets it on the right path, but there’s now a depth of engineering that simply wasn’t there before. There is fluidity, composure and no small measure of class in the way this supermini conducts itself along the full spectrum of British roads. Volkswagen has also delivered a class-leading interior in terms of both desirability and practicality, and so for a certain sort of driver this car will hold substantial appeal. But not necessarily for Autocar readers. The Polo GTI’s chassis gives its driver glimpses…

FINAL REPORT MILEAGE 8106 WHY WE RAN IT To get fully familiar with the dynamic successes and foibles of an alluring driver’s car. And to see if the UK public can ‘get’ the idea of a truly desirable Kia Spending four months and 7000 miles in a new car in the case of the Kia Stinger GT S, one of the most interesting introductions that the sports saloon market has seen in recent years, it felt like an important part of getting to know a really alluring and significant car. So now that our long-term test is over, how should we view Kia’s bold attempt to take on Europe’s premium-brand elite car makers at their own game? Not that differently in some ways, probably, than we did when this exercise…

Fiat Dino Coupe £49,990 Would a rose still smell as sweet by any other name? This glamorous beauty may have the badge of a humble Fiat but it has the heart and soul of a proper Ferrari. You see, when the Bertone-designed Fiat Dino was launched in 1967, it had, underneath its elegant bonnet, a Ferrari engine, a wonderful all-alloy, quad-cam 2.0-litre 65deg V6, good for 158bhp and 8000rpm and fed by triple Webers. Vittorio Jano had designed it initially for racing but, when later the company wanted to use it in Formula 2, it had to overcome homologation regulations that required at least 500 production units. Ferrari hooked up with Fiat and the engines ended up – suitably modified for production by the peerless Aurelio Lampredi – in this…