Innholdsfortegnelse for November 07, 2018 i Autocar

THE RISE OF Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has been one of the industry’s great success stories in recent years. Its annual sales have more than trebled since Tata Motors took over in 2008 and, particularly on the Land Rover side, it has launched a series of on-trend, desirable and profitable vehicles that have resonated with buyers globally. Yet things can turn quickly. Last week, JLR announced a drop in sales and a £90 million loss for the latest quarter, the second in a row and the catalyst for a £2.5 billion turnaround programme. Costs will be cut, including £1bn slashed from the R&D budget. Jobs are safe, for now. How did JLR end up here? The trade war between the US and China, a country that has spearheaded JLR’s sales…

Skoda has revealed a sketch of the interior of its upcoming Ford Focus rival, the Scala. The hatch will be the first Skoda to benefit from the brand’s new-generation infotainment, with a 9.2in freestanding central screen and a 10.25in Virtual Cockpit instrument display, the largest screen combo in its class. The system will feature over-the-air updates and new mobile app functions. Elsewhere in the cabin, new materials and ambient lighting have been employed.…

For better or worse, the Z4 has brought a sense of stability to BMW’s sports car offering. For more than a decade before it arrived, the Munich car maker seemed only to be experimenting with various executions of two-seat good-time cars. The Z1, Z3 and Z8 had plenty of novelty value, but none won enough commercial success to survive beyond one model generation (although in the case of the Z8, that seems a bit bonkers when you think that its second-hand values have now risen well north of £200,000). The Z4, on the other hand, has been successful enough to convince BMW to directly replace it not once but twice. The latest, third-generation version drops the folding metal hard-top of the second but is still slightly longer, wider and a…

The first model in this new Cupra era is a 296bhp version of Seat’s Ateca SUV. It cherry-picks hardware from the enormous Volkswagen Group toolkit, which means its 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine, seven-speed DSG gearbox, Haldex four-wheel-drive system, MQB platform and much more besides are all shared with numerous other Seat, VW, Skoda and Audi models. However, this is the first time all of those components have been brought together in a performance SUV. The new-look Cupra’s very first model, which we previously drove in pre-production form (October 3), is a tall, high-riding car simply because that’s where the sales volumes are. As is stands, there isn’t another sub-premium performance SUV in this price bracket, so the Cupra Ateca has a niche all to itself. Compared with the Seat version,…

The CR-V pitches, rolls and jounces more than the more driver-focused cars in its class when driven to extremes, but manages to maintain reasonable stability and grip anyway. It’s the sort of SUV whose initial rate of body lean is a touch discouraging but that keeps gripping as you wind on lock – and so will tolerate a quicker rate of progress, however apparently unwillingly. The car also has well-tuned electronic stability controls that prevent you from disturbing its adhesion with excessive power. Honda’s latest stability aid is called Agile Handling Assist, and has been tuned for European tastes – so that it’s not easily set off with sudden steering inputs, and doesn’t intrude on the driving experience too much.…

In the near 30 years we’ve been running our Britain’s Best Driver’s Car contest, the target has always remained consistent: to find the most entertaining car to drive of each given year. Simple? On the face of it, you might think so. But to come to a conclusion to match that purpose is made much less clear-cut by the vast range of cars that are invited to compete. Informally, we call it ‘Handling Day’ because vehicle dynamics are the primary interest: not power, not vehicle size or weight, and not strictly the type of powertrain, either. All of these things, though, have a bearing on what a car feels like to drive: how it steers, how well it turns, how it rides and, most importantly, how it tells you about…

You’ve got to draw the line somewhere, I suppose. Sporting convention suggests you should rule it across the page just under your third-place finisher. You hang a medal of a different precious metal around the neck of each contestant admitted, take a few exuberant podium snaps, if you like. And then, in our case at least – with the memories of so many V6s, V8s, V10s, flat sixes, straight sixes and turbo fours still competing to ring in your ears – you very calmly wend your way home. And, in the end, that’s what we did – minus the neck ornamentation. But, as will become apparent when you get to the end of this test bonanza and take in our table of judges’ votes (no peeking), if what you are…

Listen hard enough and even a road sign has a story to tell. Like the one about Tirthraj Thapa, a rifleman in the Royal Gurkha Rifles who, in 2010, was on patrol in Afghanistan when he stood on an IED. It blew his left leg off. He was immediately evacuated to Camp Bastion for emergency treatment from where, the following day, he was flown to a UK military hospital. He was in intensive care for three weeks. He was then moved to Headley Court, the military rehabilitation centre near Leatherhead in Surrey, where he remained for two years, recovering from his injuries and learning to walk using a prosthetic leg. Eight years after he stepped on that roadside bomb, Tirthraj, 33, smiles as he describes his life today. Married with…

Although I am looking forward to the silent refinement of electric cars, I share Andrew Frankel’s concern that the mellifluous burble of the cross-plane V8 engine is in danger of becoming a sound of the past (‘The late eight show’, 24 October). His list of the five best V8s omitted two that had great soundtracks but whose careers were less than illustrious, one being an utter disaster. ster. One was the Triumph Stag’s. It typified all l that was wrong with British Leyland: a promising design wrecked by poor quality materials and assembly. But before its inevitable breakdown, it had one of the best V8 exhaust notes ever. The other was the small but perfectly formed 2.5-litre Daimler V8. Appearing only in the Dart sports car and a Daimler-badged version…

MILEAGE 2349 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if the XC40 has the substance in daily use to match its eye-catching style and if its showroom success is justified It has been an easy first few weeks with our XC40 I long-term test car. It has been carrier to many friends and family, all of whom have greeted it in exactly the same way: with praise. All have been interested in the car – what’s it like, what does it rival, how they’ve always liked Volvos. Me too, I say. My theory is that awareness of Volvos is still rising and the good but different looks of the XC40 help it stand out from the crowded crowd. An old friend’s partner, who drives a Toyota Hilux, tells me he likes…

MILEAGE 81,728 BMW 320 We took a trip to the Norfolk seaside in the Baby Shark, which seemed appropriate. Indeed, we bumped into some rather larger sharks in the shape of some CS models. We could only have been at Jaymic. If you are into your old BMWs, Jaymic has been the go-to expert for centuries for anything ’02. The chaps there reckon they can sort out the awful carburettor performance. They were very complimentary about the E21’s lack of rot and overall originality. Anyway, I will be leaving it with them soon to do all sorts of stuff, including new sills, rust-proofing and the ancient air-con.…

“If it’s your first Seven, are you sure you want to buy the fastest one on the forecourt, because you’ll be surprised how quick and enjoyable one with less power is?” So says Roger McClure of Caterham specialist PT Sports Cars. He’s owned two – a Supersport and his current car, a CSR – and has been passionate about Sevens ever since, as a lad of six, he saw a model of one at the dentist’s. That this didn’t put him off for life is testament to the little roadster’s addictive qualities. So addictive, in fact, that autocar.co.uk has multiple Caterham Seven reviews for you to immerse yourself in. And to think that, various power outputs and mechanical refinements aside, they are, at heart, the same car Colin Chapman sold…

“A purely electric F-Type would give Jaguar the scope to be as bold as it was with the E-Type” Jaguar is considering an all-electric version of its next-generation F-Type sports car, due by 2021. Fully electric propulsion is one of a range of powertrains being assessed for the new UK-built sports car. Another is a 4.4-litre BMW-sourced V8. A replacement for the F-Type is still at least two years away, despite it being already six years old. Design chief Ian Callum told Autocar that “being a specialist car, it will have a longer life than the mainstream models”. Callum also confirmed that “despite sports cars not being a great growth area, there will be a future for the F-Type”. Developing a purely electric F-Type replacement would provide its designers and…

“We’ve got to do a lot better,” said Jaguar Land Rover (JLR UK) managing director Rawdon Glover of XE and XF sales. “We’re not doing what we could do.” JLR’s recent financial results reflect this honest view: the firm posted a pre-tax loss of £90 million in the latest financial quarter. Dwindling sales are cited as the main cause, with 13.2% fewer vehicles registered between July and September than in the same period last year. Fluctuations in the Chinese market have hit JLR hard but rivals have had to deal with the same issues. Glover said “there is demand for Jaguars at the right price point”, implying that its list prices, incentives and finance deals have not been attractive enough. The company’s market research has also revealed that “there’s a…

NISSAN MOTORSPORTS PROJECT CLUBSPORT 23 Described by Nissan as a “parts development platform”, the 370Z-based Project Clubsport 23 combines original equipment, aftermarket and fabricated parts that would be within the reach of an enthusiast owner. The biggest change involves replacing the standard 350bhp 3.7-litre V6 engine with a 400bhp 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 unit from the Infiniti Q60. The Clubsport 23 marks the first time that this turbo motor has been paired with a manual transmission, in this case the 370Z’s standard six-speed. Nissan teamed up with noted Z car modifier MA Motorsports to complete the powertrain upgrade and other modifications. Track-day-friendly chassis changes include the fitting of both Nismo and third-party components. Nissan is coy about whether the package might become available to the aftermarket, saying only that components “may…

The AA has labelled the government’s £420 million road repairs fund, unveiled in chancellor Philip Hammond’s budget last week, as “a drop in the ocean”. The proposals are part of a £30 billion investment in England’s road network. Building on plans first announced in 2015, Hammond intends for all revenue from vehicle excise duty (VED), totalling £28.8bn, to be given to Highways England to spend on upgrading and maintaining motorways and other major roads. It’s the first time that road tax has been spent solely on the UK’s road network. The spending marks a 40% improvement on the £17.6bn the Treasury spent in the previous five-year cycle, which helped fund work on the A1(M), A66 trans-Pennine route and the proposed Oxford-Cambridge Expressway. Alongside this, £420m will be distributed to councils…

History has shown that if you rip out incentives for electric vehicles, then the market dramatically shrinks – so why did the UK Government cut the car grant for plug-in hybrids last month when it claims to want us all to be driving electrified cars in the not-so-distant future? The Government argues the purchase grants it introduced in 2011 have lowered the price of around 100,000 plug-in hybrids since and that the market is now “established”. It’s keeping grants for pure electric cars, albeit at a reduced level. Whether the demand is established or not is tricky to define. Yes, the UK is the largest market for plug-in hybrid cars in Europe, according to JATO Dynamics, beating even Germany and Norway. In the UK, they also outsell electric cars at…

For the first time in the history of the Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award, one of the winner’s placement weeks has been spent at Horiba MIRA, a centre of excellence for vehicle engineering, design, testing and development. Or, in simple terms, an automotive engineer’s paradise. The MIRA proving ground in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, was opened on the former RAF Lindley base in 1949. Today it encompasses 24 testing circuits, including those for evaluating high-speed, wet and dry handling, durability, noise, off-road and urban driving performance. Around all this is what amounts to an engineering city – indeed, the largest such facility in Europe – containing 39 testing units, with everything from a wind tunnel to a facility developing tech for connected and autonomous cars. It has been growing since MIRA was purchased…

Given its new proportions, its spaciousness and the addition of a third row of seats to the options list, it’s probably time to stop thinking of the Honda CR-V as one of the world’s founding compact SUVs. We must instead recognise it for what it has become: a full-sized, fully fledged, super-functional SUV that could easily play the ‘big car’ role and wants for little in terms of comfort, equipment, versatility or ease of use. That said, the CR-V does want for a few other things. It doesn’t offer a great deal of design appeal; it seldom even threatens to engage you much in the process of driving; it can frustrate with its sometimes unresponsive and unwilling-feeling two-pedal powertrain; and it fails to really approach the class-leading fuel economy that…

It’s a big day for any car maker when it enters Autocar’s Handling Day winners’ enclosure for the first time. A warm welcome, then, to McLaren Automotive: and commiserations to Porsche (the Real Madrid CF of Autocar Handling Day with 11 stars on its shirt breast), to Ferrari (five times a winner, like Liverpool – who also play in red), to Lotus (four wins) and to the rest. The brilliant 600LT ended up taking this year’s Britain’s Best Driver’s Car spoils by just two points out of a maximum 250, but it was a worthy winner, being the preferred champion for three out of five judges. Like the Ferrari, it attracted a perfect 25 score only once and almost perfect 24s just twice. We’re a tough crowd, clearly. But, on…

EPIC DRIVE Bentley Continental GT takes on Europe 24 hours, 15 countries, 4 packets of Pro Plus – Andrew Frankel finds out just how continental the new Bentley is COMPARISON New Suzuki vs Toyota Can the Jimny give the mighty Land Cruiser a bloody nose? USED GUIDE Britain’s Best Driver’s Cars retro Enjoyed this year’s test? Then how about buying a past winner…? EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Audi A6 Avant Is this estate the sweet spot of the new A6 range? We find out USED BUYING GUIDE Aston Martin Rapide Why the DB9 with usable rear seats is more compelling to buy used than new FIRST DRIVE Tesla Model 3 Performance Tesla’s 3 Series has spawned a 444bhp, 471lb ft BMW M3 rival SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p22…

MILEAGE 12,682 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out if this stylish crossover is Toyota’s most appealing hybrid yet Maybe it’s because I’m driving one, but I’m noticing more and more C-HRs on the road. The more I see them, the more the styling has grown on me; it’s a distinctive look that’s so unlike anything else in Toyota’s range and far more exciting than a crossover deserves to be. While our hybrid model might share its drivetrain with the Prius, no one treats you like an Uber driver when trying to change lanes or pull out of junctions. It has made me drive a bit like one, mind. If the continually high engine revs, courtesy of the CVT gearbox, weren’t deterrent enough against flooring it away from every set…

Here was the dull alternative to the BMW 3 Series, back when Mercs were built properly. It still has the badge and the image to impress and the durability that keeps running costs containable. There seem to be lots around and at planet earth prices. Many are rusty, have been clocked or show a reasonably true 534,000 miles. You are supposed to buy a 2.0 190E auto, but anything with an automotive pulse and MOT will do. Just £795 buys a diesel auto from 1992 with a long MOT that just needs tidying.…

An expert’s view ROGER MCCLURE, PT SPORTS CARS “Because a Caterham is so light, it’s easy on consumables. For example, I did 6000 miles in my CSR last year, including six track days, and the tyres and brake pads are still fine. Whether it’s powered by a Ford Duratec or Crossflow, a Vauxhall or a Rover K-series engine, most garages can fix them and parts are available. It’s the chassis and suspension you need a specialist for. Carbon or GRP wings and aluminium side skins mean rust is a concern only where aluminium and steel meet. The steel frame is thickly powder-coated from new but check the welds for rust or cracks.” Buyer beware… ■ ENGINE Although it’s rare, check for head gasket failure on K-series engines. Also scrutinise the…

BMW is set to crown its new 8 Series convertible line-up with a new M8 version with more than 600bhp. The M8 will go on sale in 2019 following the launch of the standard model, which is seen here officially for the first time ahead of a planned Los Angeles motor show debut this month. Conceived to rival a number of existing upmarket convertibles, including the upcoming Bentley Continental GTC and Mercedes-Benz S-Class cabriolet, the new BMW open-top forms part of a three-model-strong resurrected 8 Series line-up that also includes the 8 Series coupé and the forthcoming four-door 8 Series Gran Coupé set to be unveiled next year. The indirect replacement for the 6 Series convertible is planned to go on sale in the UK in December with deliveries due…

THE FIRST PROTOTYPES of Kia’s upcoming Ceed crossover have been spotted testing ahead of an expected debut in March at the Geneva motor show. The Volkswagen Golf Alltrack rival is based heavily on the regular Ceed five-door hatch, but the raised ride height and larger wheels and tyres of these test mules give away the car’s all-terrain aspirations. Set to slot between the smaller Stonic and the full-sized Sportage SUV, the Ceed crossover will feature more rugged styling cues, including roof rails and the unique front and rear bumpers that Kia has disguised on the prototypes. Significant changes to the existing Ceed’s interior aren’t anticipated. Unlike the Sportage, the Ceed crossover is not expected to be offered with four-wheel drive. However, it may feature additional driving modes that change powertrain…

Farewell, then, Toyota Auris, and welcome back Toyota Corolla. Out with the old and in with the older, the past 13 years swept aside because its makers believe this all-new car, with all the incumbent R&D investment and anticipation of a vehicle that has been benchmarked to beat the class best, deserves a new beginning. Most significantly, it arrives sat atop the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA), a complex name for underpinnings that have already shown considerable promise in cars such as the CH-R SUV, hybrid Prius and soon-to-be-on-sale Lexus UX. Of note, too, is the choice of just two petrol hybrid powertrains, a decision that, Toyota says, is down to there being no significant customer demand for a straight petrol or diesel. There’s the 121bhp 1.8-litre motor currently used…

MODEL TESTED 1.5T AWD CVT EX Price £36,455 • Power 190bhp • Torque 179lb ft • 0-60mph 9.2sec • 30-70mph in fourth na • Fuel economy 31.9mpg • CO2 emissions 158g/km • 70-0mph 55.4m Some 23 years have now passed since the first-generation Honda CR-V emerged into the world. It was a pioneer among modern, good-mannered, family-friendly urban SUVs – not because it looked particularly radical or featured any groundbreaking technology, but because it changed people’s perceptions and expectations of, and attitudes to, vehicles of its ilk. The CR-V’s Civic-derived platform allowed it to handle in a far more car-like manner than contemporary 4x4s, while its high-riding stature conveyed a sense of onboard safety and security that family-minded buyers found hugely appealing. The CR-V has flourished in spite of all of…

LOTUS EXIGE SPORT 410 MATT SAUNDERS A touchstone in a group of very modern options. The only car bar the Fiesta with three pedals and a gearlever, and the only one that demanded real physical effort, or much in the way of skill, to drive it quickly. There was a simplicity and honesty about its character that I really liked. ASTON MARTIN VA N TAG E ANDREW FRANKEL Loved the theatre of the powertrain, thought the steering was excellent and the transmission superb for a slusher. Not the most agile of things but quick, fun and reassuring. Second only on track to the BMW for its eagerness to be hoofed around on the throttle. E-diff works brilliantly well and car is really good fun. Sometimes you get a sense with…

Peugeot RCZ R £14,931 R is always a nice letter, at least in motoringterms. Think Golf R, Scirocco R and this: RCZ R. The simple addition of the 18th letter of the alphabet, plus a few essential tweaks, transformed the pretty Peugeot into a record-breaking tearaway. Record-breaking? With 266bhp on tap, the R’s 1.6-litre turbo petrol engine was the most powerful road-going 1.6 on the planet. Torque was a solid 243lb ft at 1900rpm. The result: 0-62mph in 5.9sec. So that was the straights sorted, but in the corners, the R was also impressive thanks to stiffened suspension, uprated dampers and thicker anti-roll bars. It sat 10mm lower than the standard car, too, and had wider tracks front and rear – changes that made the jelly-mould motor appear more purposeful.…

According to Statistica (a statistics company, surprisingly), the average annual mileage of a diesel car across all the ages it surveyed is 11,000 miles. That being so, it’s fair to say that the 2001 diesel Golf GT that had 355,000 miles under its wheels and was knocked out at auction for £210 recently was a high-miler. To have been considered average mileage, it would have done 187,000 miles. Not that anyone would have described it as such. Instead, anything over 100,000 miles is routinely described as high mileage and to be avoided. At least one Golf buyer wasn’t fazed.…

Suzuki Jimny SZ4 Price new £14,299. Price now £15,999 Who would believe it? Nearly new Jimnys appear to be more expensive than new ones were before they sold out, ahead of the all-new model coming early next year. The £15,999 quoted here relates to a 2017/67-reg SZ4 with 7746 miles at a Suzuki dealer. It has metallic paint and some nice alloy wheels but is otherwise standard. The all-new model will cost from around £16,000 and is, says our tester who reviewed it, “capable, confident and utterly compelling”. ‘Get it when it arrives’ would be our advice, although there is a long waiting list.…