Innholdsfortegnelse for October 24, 2018 i Autocar

THE NEW PEUGEOT 508 has a quality that’s rarely found in new cars these days: it’s different. The subject of this week ’s road test (p42) is not another SUV, or some kind of crossover hatchback trying to imitate one, but a good old-fashioned saloon made better and more desirable. With so many marques pulling out of the saloon segment, Peugeot’s confidence to stay in it has been vindicated by the 508’s quality. It may never sell in great numbers in the UK, yet there will be those tempted by its charms who don’t want to jump into another bland crossover. The 508 is the latest in a string of ever-better Peugeots created over the past few years. The French firm’s comeback has been one of the most impressive industry…

The Taycan represents more than just a radical new model in Porsche’s future – it’s also a lifeline for its Zuffenhausen HQ, its Stuttgart production home since the 1950s. Porsche has significantly remodelled the site, knocking down multiple buildings to create a new four-storey assembly hall and six others, including a body-in-white facility and paint shop. Due to the scattered nature of the Taycan assembly buildings, a 900m-long conveyor is needed to move bodyshells from one area to the next. To win approval from the Volkswagen board for this complex (and expensive) production plant, Porsche has put in place a unique ‘workers bond’ that has raised hundreds of millions of euros from the workforce to keep production at Zuffenhausen. Production is initially planned at 20,000 to 25,000 units a year…

JAGUAR IS SET to launch a revised XE range next year — and now a hybrid prototype has been spotted outside the firm’s engineering centre in Gaydon, Warwickshire. Although it looks like previous 2019 XE test mules, the car is registered as a petrol-electric model with a 1.5-litre engine. No charging port is immediately visible, but it’s likely this test mule is a plug-in hybrid, rivalling cars such as the Mercedes-Benz C300e and upcoming BMW 330e. Jaguar is expected to offer a growing range of electrified models to make up for dwindling diesel sales, which have strongly affected the brand’s performance this year. The 2019 XE should also be launched with mild-hybrid tech across a number of its four-cylinder engines in order to boost efficiency. Minor styling upgrades and technology…

SEAT IS SET to reveal the new Leon in concept form at the Geneva motor show next March, but spy photographers have caught a revealing prototype with much less disguise than previous ones. The production car, due next summer, is described by insiders as the biggest step forward in the model’s history. It will offer a significant improvement in cabin technology and introduce a variant with an electrified powertrain. Seat is gradually moving away from straight edges and sharp angles for its future models, as this mule’s curvier front end shows. The rear-end shape is more familiar, though. Inside, it will get an advanced infotainment system with over-the-air update technology for maps and apps before any of its Volkswagen Group stablemates. Seat is getting this tech first to appeal to…

This is, in all senses, a big car. Rolls-Royce boss Torsten Müller-Ötvös acknowledges the Cullinan, the company’s new 4x4 and a distinct diversion for the British luxury brand, is a controversial vehicle. I know: it’s only a car, right? But I guess there are two reasons. First – and let’s get it dealt with – are there not hints of The Simpsons ‘Canyonero’ about the Cullinan’s appearance? Rolls has, like Porsche did with the first Cayenne, tried to input clear Rolls-Royce cues into the design. Maybe they just don’t translate to an SUV, or maybe we’re just not used to it yet. I think it probably grows on you, and it won’t matter if it doesn’t: the Bentley Bentayga and original Cayenne discovered looks are unimportant. Two, is this a…

On the evidence of the launch event in Spain, the BMW M2 Competition is the M2 we’ve been waiting for. The original model, which you can no longer buy, was always a charming and entertaining sports coupé, but it was let down by a lack of body control and an occasionally bouncy ride quality. BMW hopes a front strut brace, retuned steering, a number of rose joints in the rear suspension and revised spring and damper rates will make the M2 Competition altogether better to drive than the old M2. Those revised suspension settings do make for a tighter ride quality at low speed around town, but in every other respect, they are a huge step forward. Even on a bumpier road at higher speed, there’s enough sophistication in the…

MODEL TESTED BLUEHDI 180 S&S GT AUTO Price £36,439 Power 174bhp Torque 295lb ft 0-60mph 8.8sec 30-70mph in fourth 9.7sec Fuel economy 35.0mpg CO2 emissions 124g/km 70-0mph 44.6m Has Europe’s family car market gone full circle? How long will it be, given the premium-brand-centric, SUV-mad phase in which we find ourselves, before a well-designed, mid-sized, mid-market saloon starts to look like the smart, desirable option again? The arrival of cars such as the Volkswagen Arteon and Kia Stinger suggests the idea might have appeared a while ago in one or two of the industry’s product-planning crystal balls – and it’s now becoming manifest. This week’s road test subject is a case in point. The second-generation Peugeot 508 comes from a European brand with plenty of pedigree for fine-handling, mid-sized, mid-market saloons.…

Having once been exempt from company car tax, zero-emission cars – full-electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, in other words – now carry a 13% tax liability. That will rise to 16% in the new tax year. Meanwhile, cars that emit between 1g/km and 50g/km of CO2 also sit in the 13% category, while emissions of 51g/km to 75g/km place a car in the 16% tax band. The government considers any car that emits less than 75g/km to be an ultra-low-emission vehicle (ULEV). There are no pure-petrol or diesel cars that qualify – only EVs, fuel cells and plug-in hybrids. Again, let’s look at some examples. BMW i3S 33kWh The BMW i3S is one of our favourite small electric cars, being both cleverly packaged and fun to drive. Its P11D…

FINAL REPORT MILEAGE 6952 WHY WE RAN IT It’s a quick family car for real-world use, but estate or saloon, diesel or petrol, manual or dual-clutch, 4WD or FWD? The thing about a car like the Skoda Octavia vRS 245 is that you don’t realise how much you like having it around until it has gone. It is exactly the sort of car that slots easily into your life, ticking off every one of your mundane motoring tasks without any fuss whatsoever. What’s more, it does it all without ever getting on your nerves. That probably seems like a low bar to set for a modern car, but experience tells me there aren’t very many out there that get it right. With KU18 ZKA no longer in my care, it…

QUESTION Should I buy a new Vauxhall Corsa GSi or a Ford Fiesta ST-1? Rod Hall, Ripley ANSWER Okay, a tough one, this. We’ll just feed your enquiry into our supercomputer… Oh, that’s a surprise: the Ford Fiesta ST. All-new, quicker, heaps better to drive, only a little more to insure and the same price. Who’d have believed it? JE QUESTION I have £7000 to spend on a roomy and reliable hatchback. What do you recommend? J Shriver, via email ANSWER Easy: a Suzuki Swift 1.2. It’s reliable, roomy (you can stand up in it, the roof’s so high) and fun to drive. Go for SZ-L trim (sat-nav, digital radio, alloy wheels). Your money will get a 2016/16-reg car with 20,000 miles. JE QUESTION Is there any point me checking…

Volkswagen Golf 1.4 Match £10,750 They don’t get much more middle of the road than this mid-spec Golf, but look past its grey image and there’s real value here, especially in pre-facelift Mk7 guise at a touch over three years old. New, the example we have in mind – a one-owner 2015/15-reg car with 41,000 miles – would have cost around £20,750 after a discount. So that’s £10,000 saved for a start. And whereas the facelifted version looks a little sharper, the older one is no different to the untrained eye. Match spec is indecently good: alloy wheels, active cruise control, air conditioning, four electric windows, front and rear parking sensors, a centre armrest and a leather-covered steering wheel. All in addition to the Golf’s standard-fit digital radio, emergency brake…

Jaguar XJR 575 Price new £93,780. Price now £89,950 The mighty XJR 575, all 567bhp short-wheelbase hooligan of it, is no more; killed off by its maker’s failure to get it through the new WLTP emissions test. The 575 was the ultimate XJ, with towering performance but a superb ride too. A Mercedes S-Class and an Audi A8 are more sophisticated but neither has the 575’s charm. Run-out examples are rare but one Jag dealer is showing a 2018/68 car for £3890 off the new list price. Given they’re knocking up to £16k off new diesel XJs, £15k off this beauty should be the minimum.…

“Porsche is working with Audi on an all-electric platform for a next generation of EVs” Porsche is planning to launch a battery-electric SUV, likely as a replacement for the current Macan, by 2022 as part of its investment in electrification. Porsche finance director Lutz Meschke revealed the plan for a full-electric SUV at an event in Germany last week. “You can expect an SUV BEV [battery-electric vehicle] by 2022 at the latest,” he said. Departed Volkswagen Group CEO Matthias Müller – previously Porsche’s boss – committed every group brand to having an electrified version of every model by 2023. Porsche already has a number of plug-in hybrid variants (although some are currently off sale due to the new WLTP emission testing regulations) and the next model to be launched with…

Taycan drivers are expected to charge at home for eight-out-of-ten charges, so the EV will be available with an on-board AC charger rated at 3.6-7.2kW, but with the option of up to 22kW. For on-the-move charges, the Taycan battery has been designed for 350kW fast-charging, sufficient to deliver a major recharge in just 30 minutes through the 800V system. Porsche is a partner along with BMW, Ford, Mercedes and the Volkswagen Group in Ionity, which promises up to 400 fast-chargers operational in Europe by 2019. Porsche dealers will also be able to step in to deliver a charge thanks to their own DC-charged Power Box, also known as the ‘Turbo Charger’. Packed with lithium ion cells, similar to those in the Taycan, it will store enough energy to charge three…

Morgan is working on an all-new high-performance sports car flagship that will both reinforce its reputation for classic design and move it on a couple of decades, notionally into the Jaguar E-Type era. The new car, which will be made in both coupé and roadster forms, follows several years of research into what a traditionally minded 109-year-old car company should do next, without threatening its successful classic model range. It is being created in-house by design and engineering teams that now total around 30 people as a result of recent, well-targeted investment. The new hand-made flagship’s first iteration is understood to be a two-door, two-seat coupé that should appear in the mid-2020s, estimated to be priced near the level of an Aston Martin V8 Vantage. It will use a new…

THE NEXT-GENERATION Octavia vRS, due by 2021, will have a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) variant alongside internal combustion engine options. Skoda R&D boss Christian Strube told Autocar a hybrid vRS is “a good mix between sustainability and performance”. He said: “If you drive 70km, you can drive every day to work electrified and have some fun at the weekend with an RS version.” Strube added the PHEV would be “more or less” the same powertrain as in the Vision RS concept at the recent Paris motor show. This combines a 148bhp 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine and a 101bhp electric motor to give a total output of 242bhp. Skoda also plans pure-electric vRS models. Sales and marketing boss Alain Favey has told Autocar a hot version of its upcoming electric SUV will…

“We see this as an opportunity for the right investor to leave a lasting legacy” Andrew Sheridan, with his dark suit and preoccupied lawyerly manner, hardly looks like the kind of bloke you’d expect to be masterminding the fortunes of Bloodhound or any other land speed record bid. His demeanour suggests he’d be happier in some legal inner sanctum, discussing finer points of the law. Like it or not, Sheridan and his firm FRP Advisory are now the project’s joint administrators, having been appointed by the courts just over a week ago. Practical stuff like keeping the doors open and the lights on are now down to them. But the key task is to find backers to help Bloodhound reach its 1000mph objective in two to three years’ time. Taking…

Volvo needs this car to be good. More than good, in fact, because it doesn’t matter how many SUVs you can flog: if you choose to operate at the premium end of the mass market without a fighting-fit mid-sized saloon, you’re headlining without a front man. You, our readers – people who care about driving – are also unlikely to lend your brand much affection if you can’t successfully engineer such a timeless formula as a sports saloon, but that’s something we’ll come on to in a moment. So, the new S60. Even though Volvo sold only 1276 examples of the outgoing model last year (more McLaren 720Ss left the showroom in 2017), it’s the most keenly anticipated car of its kind in recent memory. You might disagree with that,…

Road works prevented us from properly pushing the 508 around Millbrook’s Hill Route but, on the stretches where it was safe to do so, the numerous steep ascents unearthed a degree of indecisiveness in the Peugeot’s eight-speed transmission. The gearbox was generally smooth and effective under regular driving conditions. However, when driven in anger on a stretch of Tarmac as variable in gradient as this, the ’box seemed a touch overwhelmed. Progress out of a corner and up an ascent was hampered by a noticeable delay as it searched for a suitable ratio. That said, the presence of a manual mode does allow for a greater degree of control to be wielded, but as this is accessed via a dedicated drive mode, you’ll have to forgo the tighter body control…

Bowler Motorsport might once have been described as one of this country’s better-known ‘cottage industry’ car manufacturers – though I’m not sure we’ve got one of those any more. It’s a description that conjures images of boiler-suited blokes in poorly lit workshops tinkering with oily things; images which bear no resemblance to what really goes on at this remarkable place, or many others like it. And yet it’s a phrase that hints at one of Bowler’s greatest unintended attractions: the element of surprise. The firm is based in Belper, a small town in Derbyshire’s Amber Valley; and rather than being squirrelled away on an out-of-town industrial estate, they’re actually within spitting distance of the town centre. There’s an estate agent next door, a hairdressers over the road, and just down…

If there is a third certainty in life, it is surely that all matters relating to taxation will be horribly complicated. Company car tax is no exception, and when changes are made to the system on a seemingly annual basis and the tax bands themselves are fiddled with just as often, the complexity of it all spirals out of control. However, the reason why Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) charges tax on the car your employer makes available to you is at least easy enough to understand. A company car is a benefit second only to the salary you are paid and HMRC therefore sees it as a taxable one. It calls it a ‘benefit in kind’, a term applied to any taxable perk or incentive other than your…

Choose your company car wisely and you could find yourself driving one of the fastest or most luxurious cars on sale while paying very little company car tax. The trick is to look out for plug-in hybrids that slot into the sub-75g/km ultra-low-emission vehicle category. If your employer offers such a model, then you’re on to a winner – although WLTP disruption has meant some hybrids are temporarily not on sale. BMW 530 iPerformance M Sport It isn’t only drivers of six-figure-price luxury cars that can benefit from driving a plug-in hybrid. At £45,810, the BMW 530 iPerformance plug-in costs one-third of the price of the Porsche Panamera highlighted below but it, too, is a swift and luxurious executive car. Slotting into the 13% tax band, it will cost a…

Having read your I-Pace vs I-Pace comparison (‘Alternating current’, 19 September), it seems to me that anyone considering a Jaguar I-Pace based on its endurance will be sorely disappointed. The traditional Jaguar driver surely makes their vehicle choice based on comfort and performance. You may well experience the cosseting comfort of the marque but, as to enjoying the performance of the car, it could well be at the expense of arriving at your destination. Anything further than a mild commute will require the ‘flight planning’ skills of a jumbo jet captain and the nerve of a tightrope walker. I bless our early adopters, but will anyone want to spend £64,000 to £81,000 on a car that can’t guarantee they’ll arrive at their chosen destination? Via email…

MILEAGE 6744 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 We’ve racked up thousands of fun miles during four-and-a-bit months in our banana-hued pocket rocket. The Swift Sport has thus far been very easy to rub along with, but these updates would be dull if we said we liked everything about every car. So if I’m being particularly niggly, I’m not sold on the three-dial arrangement for controlling the climate system. Well, I refer to it as ‘three-dial’, except the middle one isn’t a dial. It is merely a screen for showing your climate settings that happens to look and feel identical to the rotary dials (for the blower speed…

You might remember I showed you a fairly horrific picture of the radiator. Clearly, something was up and I suggested it was probably a blown head gasket. Some experts said it might just be some sort of radiator anomaly and maybe just needed a flush. I decided to pop into my local garage and they diagnosed the worst. It has never overheated and I’ve treated it like a Princess. Oil has been changed loads of times. One theory is that rebuilt engines can contain bits that eventually break up the gasket. Dunno if that’s true. Booked in.…

Talk of the Volkswagen Touareg Mk1 of 2003-10 often starts with the outrageous 5.0 V10 diesel. This sleeping giant of an SUV can, when roused, do 0-62mph in 7.5sec. Prices start at around £2000 for an early high-miler (the example we’re thinking of has done 195,000 miles, been owned for two years by the dealer selling it and, he claims, has a full service history and been maintained regardless of cost). As a flag-waver, it certainly did its bit to get VW’s big workaday 4x4 talked about in the same breath as its more glamorous Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne sister cars, and even more so when ordered in uprated R50 spec. But really it’s the lesser-known W12 version that should kick-start a Touareg chat. This limited-edition left-hooker used the…

“It marks a radical departure, albeit with a ‘traditional Porsche driving experience’” The countdown to the launch of the electric-powered Porsche Taycan has begun in earnest, with the new four-door saloon entering the second phase of prototype production at the company’s Zuffenhausen headquarters in Germany. The Taycan is the first in an extended line-up of electric-powered models in development for a programme that is budgeted to cost up to £5.3 billion through to the end of 2022. It marks a radical departure from Porsche’s traditional line-up, albeit with the promise of what lead engineer Stefan Weckbach describes as a “typical Porsche driving experience”. When it goes on sale following a public premiere at the Frankfurt motor show in September 2019, it will be positioned between the £55,965 Cayenne and the £67,898…

Thatcham Research has released evidence suggesting drivers are being given “dangerous” false impressions about what the latest automated driver assist systems are capable of. The British safety and crash testing body has also teamed up with Euro NCAP to test 10 cars fitted with autonomous braking and lane keep assist. Both organisations have identified confusion among motorists over what these technologies can achieve, with a study claiming 71% of drivers globally and 53% of drivers in the UK believe you can purchase a fully self-driving car today. Thatcham believes improper marketing by car makers, using terminology such as ‘semi-autonomous’ or ‘self-driving’, is fuelling the misinformation. Since the study has been released, Nissan has confirmed that it will start calling these features ‘assist systems’ and will stop using the words ‘autonomous’…

Nerves are showing among Britain’s car makers, which are ramping up their warnings of a no-deal Brexit as the March 2019 leave date gets closer. Toyota warned of the “massive” impact of Britain not reaching an agreement with the EU, which would mean no transition period and the immediate adoption of World Trade Organization rules, almost certainly bringing additional tariffs and border checks. Toyota has just invested in its Derbyshire factory to build the new Corolla but, like most other car makers, it argues that the addition of tariffs and customs checks could decimate already slim profit margins. BMW is so worried about disruption from a no-deal scenario that it is shifting the summer closure of its Oxford Mini plant to 1 April, right after the UK is due to…

A minor course correction is all that’s needed. You’ll have read different elsewhere about what the new BMW 8 Series represents for Munich, no doubt: that this is part of some grand brand redefinition, or a new epoch in the company’s developmental narrative. But the simple truth is, if you want to change the direction of a firm the size of BMW even a little bit, you have to say you want to change it a lot. That’s what Munich is doing when it says it wants to move the BMW brand upmarket into true-blue luxury brand territory by bringing back its old flagship grand touring coupé, the 8 Series (as well as by launching all-new, extra-large and extra-chromey models such as the X7 SUV). It’s swinging the tiller on…

You’d be forgiven for not being awfully familiar with the Skoda Rapid. It was a car that, while certainly decent, in our humble opinion lacked soul. The model was sold in two bodystyles, the Rapid and Rapid Spaceback, and was the second biggest seller for Skoda worldwide after the Octavia. But in the UK, sales were a modest 3669 units in 2017. Enough background. The Scala is an indirect Rapid replacement – bringing a new name and an entirely new game, if Skoda is to be believed. Scala comes from the Latin word meaning ‘stairs’ or ‘ladder’, chosen to reflect that the model will be “a leap forward in design and technology”, according to the Czech brand. Only a hatchback bodystyle will be sold, to be pitched more directly as…

Success in the compact saloon class was never going to come easy. A serious breadth of ability is crucial in achieving critical acclaim in a segment home to the Jaguar XE, Alfa Romeo Giulia and BMW 3 Series – all cars that combine abundant driver appeal, desirability and usability to great effect. Yet while the 508 ticks some of those boxes, it’s not quite the all-rounder it needs to be to get the nod over and above its rivals. It is sharply dressed and visually alluring but is hampered by a tight second row. The i-Cockpit cabin is more appealing than it has ever been but is marred slightly by materials that aren’t as rich as they first appear to be. And while the 508 is a decently agile and…

GREAT REASONS TO BUY ON SALE 31 OCTOBER COMPARISON Ford GT vs Ford Fiesta ST The two ends of the Ford Performance spectrum in the most unfair of fights – or is it? Dan Prosser celebrates the best of Ford’s breed USED SPECIAL Our banger goes racing We give our £200 Nissan Micra a proper send-off: a banger race FEATURE Italdesign at 50 We celebrate the Italian design house and drive its latest model EVERY WEEK USED BUYING GUIDE Caterham Seven The most fun on four wheels? Quite possibly. Here’s how to buy one ROAD TEST Hyundai Kona EV The biggest range for the lowest outlay yet for an electric car. We rate it FIRST DRIVE BAC Mono Mad one-seater is a very different beast from when it first appeared…

MILEAGE 3823 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out if Peugeot has created a class leader by fitting seven-seat MPV convenience into an on-trend SUV body Once upon a time, I clung on to the belief that it didn’t matter how an MPV drove, so long as it delivered men, women and children, plus the occasional dog or wardrobe, from point to point as easily as possible. Then I drove a Ford S-Max. For while it’s true that how an MPV drives is less of a priority than for your regular hatchback buyer, it is amazing the difference being in a dynamically decent car makes. The mundane drive becomes enjoyable, challenging surfaces an aside and the very worst of our roads need raise no more than a quizzical eyebrow. The…

Sean McFarlane enjoyed the £200 Nissan Micra story recently (‘How low can you go?’, 19 September) and has a £200 Vauxhall Vectra of his own. “I’ve been running it for just over a year now,” he says. “It’s a silver 1.8-litre petrol Design spec. Very basic. Bodywork is very clean apart from a small rust spot on the bottom of the driver’s door, and the interior is immaculate. It came with three months’ MOT and a decent service history. Over a year and 20k miles, it has cost me about £1200, which, in terms of usage, I think is a real bargain.”…

An expert’s view BARRY BABISTER, CCM VW SPECIALISTS “We rate the Mk1 Touareg engines. The 3.0 V6 TDI is bulletproof, with the right balance of power and economy. Check that oil and filter changes have been done on time. Oil pressure may be unaffected by poor maintenance and you won’t see the oil light flash but tired oil doesn’t penetrate the engine deeply enough. We see failed timing chain tensioners and bearings so know it’s an issue. Propshaft failure is a talking point. We have a cost-effective repair, but tremors or rumbles could just as easily be poor wheel alignment, which even for an experienced technician is difficult to resolve.” Buyer beware ENGINE A V10’s DPF light could mean a 13-hour gearbox removal to replace the sensor. On all engines,…

With autumn upon us, it’s time to buy a soft-top; something like an MG B. A few shuffled through the auctions recently, ranging in price from £3180 for a Tango-orange 1980 GT with rubber bumpers to £16,122 for a 1972 V8 roadster with the proper chrome jobbies. Best value looked to be a 1972 GT with wire wheels for £6572. ‘Looked’ because you can never tell with these old girls. Oil leaks, body filler (take a magnet when you’re shopping), a noisy diff, worn kingpins, sagging doors and bodged repairs lie in wait. Still, it should keep you busy during those long autumn evenings.…