Innholdsfortegnelse for November 28, 2018 i Autocar

THREE GREAT BRANDS mark their 70th anniversaries this year: Land Rover, Porsche and Lotus. We celebrate all three this week, each marque being the author of several key chapters in the history of the motor car. Like all great car makers, they are not standing still, either. After revelations last week of an incredible new Lotus hypercar leading the next era of models (at last), this week Land Rover and Porsche launch all-new versions of their own superstars, the Evoque and 911. Intriguingly, Land Rover has taken a leaf out of the 911’s book in changing only very subtly the styling and proportions of the Evoque between generations. While others might lament it as ‘samey’, this iterative evolution is instead a sign of huge confidence. Evoque sales have never dropped…

EXCLUSIVE PICTURES The Bentley Continental GT Convertible is just 0.1sec slower to 60mph from a standing start than its coupé sibling, despite weighing an extra 160kg. The new drop-top features a 626bhp 6.0-litre W12 engine and, along with that impressive 3.7sec 0-60mph time, delivers a top speed of 207mph – the same as the coupé version. That’s despite the new Z-fold roof mechanism contributing to a hefty weight of 2414kg. The roof, along with some rear styling features, are the only major changes from the coupé, with the two cars nearly identical mechanically. Bentley says the GT Convertible’s Z-fold roof – able to retract in 19sec at speeds of up to 30mph – offers a “sportier appearance” and a three-decibel noise reduction compared with its predecessor. Seven different fabric roofs…

Neither the appeal of the Mercedes-Benz B-Class nor its exact purpose is immediately apparent, but with more than 1.5 million sold across two generations so far, the tall yet compact hatchback ticks a lot of boxes for a significant number of buyers. This latest model is derived from the new A-Class and is distinguished from it by a higher roofline and a slightly loftier seating position. Why not just buy the A-Class? Accessibility to the cabin is the main draw, particularly among people who would struggle to get in and out of a low-set hatchback. Eventually, there’ll be a sliding rear bench, too, which won’t be offered in the A-Class. Compared with the previous generation, this new B-Class has grown in width and length, so there’s more cabin space than…

It’s on Millbrook’s Hill Route where the Jimny’s off-road friendly underpinnings and box-on-wheels body design really do their best to undermine its stability. Numerous directional changes uncover exceptionally loose body control, while the slow gearing of the steering rack requires a fair amount of flailing at the wheel to persuade the Jimny to change direction in the manner intended. Damp surfaces emphasised its already limited front-end grip, too, but there was at least a degree of feel transmitted through the steering wheel. The electronic stability control seems to need to grab quite harshly at the brakes at times to keep the body in line and shiny side up – but, since it’s effective, you’ll be glad of it if you need to rush the car down a treacherous road. The…

Is there really such a thing as a good used Land Rover? I’m just asking, because the stats seem to suggest that they are less than truly dependable. People keep on buying them, though, because they are so damned charismatic. If you are tempted, here are some off-the-beaten-track suggestions. LIGHTWEIGHT The stone-cold coolest and also the lightest Land Rover is, of course, the army-issue one. It could be flat-packed out of a Hercules and then driven into action. It’s a soft-top, too, although some have a Series top. Once at army surplus prices, concours ones are £18,000, but a tidy 1980 petrol is around £12,000. It’s the nearest thing we have to a proper Willys Jeep, far cheaper and better to drive, and it doesn’t need stencilled graphics to make…

The first Porsche was built in 1948 in a collection of sheds on the site of a former sawmill in a place called Gmund, in Austria. Its designer had recently been released from prison where he had been interned by the Allies. The car had more than a passing resemblance to the Volkswagen Beetle – and with good reason, for the same man had designed both. He was called Ferdinand Porsche. All its moving parts – engine, brakes, suspension and steering – were either lifted directly or derived from Beetle running gear and despite the engine being given a fairly monumental tuning upgrade, the 1.1-litre flat four still only generated, wait for it, 40bhp. It is fair to say Porsche has come some distance in the past 70 years. During…

It is as well that Lotus was not founded a year or so earlier. For had we come to write about its 70th birthday in the early part of last year, we may not have found too much to celebrate. A glorious past, yes, but a stuttering present and highly uncertain future. But now – under new ownership and management, and with Phil Popham, who was instrumental in turning Jaguar Land Rover into such a success story in the early part of this decade, in a key role – it is fair to say its future has rarely, if ever, looked brighter. How bright? You need only look at what new proprietor Geely has done with another of its acquisitions, Volvo, to see the potential. During its tenure, Volvo has…

FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if Ford’s hottest supermini can successfully pick up the baton from its class-topping predecessor Another Fiesta already, you ask? Well yes, this is the best-selling car in the UK by a long shot (as of October the Fiesta racked up 79,416 sales to the second-placed Volkswagen Golf’s 52,162) and there are many versions that each slot into their own niche. Of course there wasn’t going to be a Fiesta-shaped hole in the Autocar fleet for long. Anyway, this particular one’s worthy of your attention because it’s the top dog, the halo model. Out of all the Fiestas, this is the one that has the best potential to get people like us wandering into a dealership asking for a brochure and test drive,…

QUESTION Is there a good family saloon for £8000 or have SUVs killed them off? Darren Nuttall, Folkstone ANSWER Sadly, the new Peugeot 508 is out of your price range but a low-mileage 2013/13-reg Skoda Superb 1.8 TSI SE should do nicely. You won’t believe the interior space, equipment level or the performance from that sweet-revving 157bhp motor. JE QUESTION Why have I been sent a road tax reminder for my zero-rated car? Sally Kirkup, Bodmin ANSWER A car can attract no road tax but is not exempt from it. So no car can be driven on the road without it being taxed, whether it costs £800 or zilch. The alternative, a £1000 fine, should clear up any confusion. JE QUESTION Is a timing chain more reliable than a timing…

Lotus Elise S1 £11,995 “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old”: with apologies to Laurence Binyon’s poem, The Fallen, these lines could describe the Lotus Elise S1. Twenty-two years after its launch, it still looks fresh, while its once youthful advocates now sport grey hairs and wrinkles. Still, you’re never too old to have fun, and fun is what the Elise S1 does best. We spotted a 1998 car with 82,000 miles and a big service history file. It’s being sold by a main dealer who promises the “unsightly wear patches on the driver’s seat and sill cover” will be replaced. Since it’s being sold by a main agent, you can be confident it will have been thoroughly prepared. But if you prefer to buy…

“Sport Chrono Package provides the new 911 Carrera 4S with a 0-62mph time of just 3.4sec” OFFICIAL PICTURES Porsche has unveiled the eighth-generation 911, revealing a familiar shape and some evolutionary styling – but with a heavily revised range of six-cylinder turbo petrol engines that are more powerful than before. The new 911 is available to order now in Carrera S and 4S forms equipped with a PDK gearbox, priced from £93,110 and £98,418 respectively. UK deliveries start next March. The new Porsche is one of the biggest attractions at this week’s Los Angeles motor show. It adopts revised horizontally opposed six-cylinder petrol engines that feature a new fuel injection process for added combustion efficiency among a number of significant upgrades aimed at increasing its competitiveness against two-door rivals. The…

MERCEDES-AMG GT AND SL Arriving in the UK in facelifted form early next year, AMG’s hard-charging GT range is Porsche’s prime competitor for all 911 variants over £100k. The newly turbocharged 911 GT3 will give AMG’s range-topping GT R a run for its money, while the 911 Turbo and GTS models will compete with lesser GTs. JAGUAR F-TYPE A new F-Type isn’t due until around 2021 and Jaguar is weighing up the idea of going all-electric. So the 992-gen 911 will be competing with the current F-Type, recently updated for the 2020 model year. Although a four-cylinder entry-level F-Type undercuts the 911 range, the supercharged V6 and V8 versions have the character and performance to compete. AUDI R8 Higher-end 911s, such as the Turbo and GT3, will find stiff competition…

ELECTRIC CAR START-UP Rivian has used the Los Angeles motor show to reveal its first models, a go-anywhere pick-up truck called the R1T and a closely related SUV, the R1S. Rivian is hoping to have the kind of impact that Tesla has had and believes it has found a niche with the creation of go-anywhere all-electric vehicles. The R1T and R1S – more models are planned to appear in time – are built on a modular electric skateboard chassis. The R1S is 5040mm long, making it Range Rover-sized, and the 5465mm-long R1T is marginally longer than a Mercedes-Benz X-Class. In each car, the battery pack is mounted in the floor. In the R1T, it’s good for a 230-mile range in its standard 105kWh capacity, a 300-mile range in a 130kWh…

The future of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance is under scrutiny following the arrest in Japan of Carlos Ghosn, its architect and head, on suspicion of “significant acts” of financial misconduct. The 64-year-old was arrested after Nissan handed Japanese prosecutors evidence from an internal investigation sparked by a whistleblower. Greg Kelly, a representative director of Nissan, was also arrested in connection with the allegations. Ghosn served as chairman of all three manufacturers, which form one of the world’s largest automotive groups, and arguably had day-to-day control over more car makers than any other car company boss. He has now been ousted from Nissan, with Mitsubishi’s board expected to do likewise. However, Ghosn remains chairman and CEO of Renault, its board deciding to name chief operating officer Thierry Bolloré as deputy CEO, and…

Is this soon? It feels soon. The Renault Mégane RS only arrived in the summer and yet here, already, is the Trophy version, generally the go-to variant of RS models for those who like their hot hatches flaming. And the truth is it would have come earlier still but for the backlog of models waiting to go through WLTP emissions testing. New to the Mégane RS Trophy is more power, and you get stuff, some of which you can add as an option on the regular RS, and some of which you can’t. Output from the 1.8 turbo petrol is 296bhp, up 20bhp over the regular RS, and if you spec the dual-clutch gearbox, torque is up from 288lb ft to 310lb ft. Spec the standard six-speed manual and torque…

Seat is getting ever keener on SUVs, for the good reason that European demand for them is due to grow another 25% between now and 2025. In February the company will be fielding a three-model SUV line-up when a new seven-seater flagship, the Tarraco, joins the Arona and Ateca. The Tarraco comes in two and four-wheel-drive guises, starting at £28,320 for a 148bhp 1.5-litre front-drive petrol turbo SE and reaching up to around £40,000 for the top-spec 187bhp, 2.0 4x4 petrol turbo Xcellence. Other engine choices are 148bhp and 187bhp diesels. Where fitted, the 4Drive all-wheel drive system is configurable for on and off-road via a control on the centre console and incorporates hill descent control and roll-over protection. The basic front-drive model comes with a six-speed manual gearbox, but…

On the face of it, you’d battle to find two more different road-registered vehicles than a crude, diminutive and utterly charming Land Rover Series One and a tall, plush and extremely imposing latest-spec Land Rover Discovery. A glance at our photos instantly confirms their differences, even if you didn’t know them perfectly well already. Yet these models have an inextricable connection and always will. Each is the most capable off-road vehicle Land Rover could build for customers in its era, and that (barring specials like Mercedes’ vast and extraordinary Unimog) makes each of them arguably the best off-roader an ordinary person can buy. We’ve brought them together today at the epicentre of Land Rover off-road development for the past half-century, the Eastnor Castle estate in the Malvern Hills, to understand…

Whatever your opinion of Land Rover design – and for most critics it’s distinctly warm – you can’t fault design director Gerry McGovern on the consistency of his philosophy. When he took the director’s job back in 2004 after a few years of designing American luxury cars (and the first Freelander before that), he explained his design motivation to Autocar with crystal clarity. “Land Rover’s roots are in pure design,” he declared. “It’s not just about styling.” On that score, nothing has changed. As we discovered during a conversation in the marque’s Gaydon ‘design garden’, McGovern is happy to re-state his philosophy as stridently as ever, despite all the water that has flowed under the bridge. Land Rovers are selling four times as well as they did when he first…

Your look at past winners of the annual Britain’s Best Driver’s Car contest was a fun read (‘Every one’s a winner – from £800 up’, 14 November). er). I bought a 50,000-mile 2010 Lotus Evora (2009 BBDC winner) this year for £29,000 from a Lotus dealer with a comprehensive one-year warranty. anty. The car is a total revelation. I feared 276bhp would feel tame but I was very wrong. The (optional) close-ratio gearbox is a key factor here, so any buyer should ensure this is fitted. I don’t agree with your view that the interior is uninspiring. It makes me smile each time I squeeze inside and is a pleasing contrast to the identikit cockpits of many moderns. As with all great cars, the Evora gets better the faster you…

MILEAGE 3462 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if Merc’s VW Golf rival has come of age – and to find the ‘perfect’ version When did mainstream cars become so expensive? Was it about the same time that the premium players came down to more mainstream segments such as the family hatchback class to try and steal the established players’ lunch? After a month or so quickly piling on the miles in our recently acquired Mercedes-Benz A-Class and getting to know it rather well for the months of this test that lie ahead, I thought it best not to let the chance slip by and do similar with the Ford Focus. After all, it’s the likes of Focus buyers who have fallen under the spell of that Mercedes badge and…

The Lorry really needed its MOT and eventually it passed. A long time ago, I may have mentioned that the nearside indicators were on the blink. I investigated, of course, but nothing seemed to work. Instead, I used hand signals. The garage had to do an awful lot of digging into what must be one of the simplest electrical circuits in automotive history. They also rebuilt the carburettor. I had spoken to a specialist a while back and they said don’t bother with it. So-called specialists are often wrong. It has never run better.…

If, inspired by the Lotus Exige Sport 410 finishing a respectable eighth in our Britain’s Best Driver’s Car supertest (Autocar, 7 November), you’re up for a helping of Hethel magic, you’ve come to the right place. Have no fear, though: it’s not today’s £85,600 Exige 410 we’re talking about here – rather, the Exige S2 of 2004-11, whose prices begin just south of £20,000 and stop at around £40,000. Between £27,000 and £32,000 lie some rich pickings, including a nice, two-owner 2007 S2 220 with 57,000 road miles (no track history) for £27,500. It has new tyres, comfy ProBax seats, a Lotus stainless steel exhaust and the optional Super Touring pack. It also has paint protection film, which anyone who has seen the stone-chipped nose of an Exige will know…

Now that the 991-generation 911 has been revealed, attention is turning to the hardcore GT3 variant, which we’ve seen testing on public roads with minimal disguise. The GT3 is expected to consign an illustrious line of race-bred naturally aspirated performance engines to the history books, with sources close to Porsche suggesting it will adopt a turbocharged powerplant. Although not yet officially confirmed, it would bring the 2020 911 GT3 and its more focused GT3 RS sibling into line with the rest of the range. Both are expected to use a twin-turbo 3.8-litre flat six shared with the upcoming 911 Turbo. Power will be brought down from around 570bhp in the Turbo to somewhere in the region of 513bhp for the GT3. That’s a 20bhp increase over today’s naturally aspirated 911…

“A new three-cylinder, 48V plug-in hybrid powertrain is poised for launch in 2020” OFFICIAL PICTURES Land Rover believes that new technology and a focus on improved quality will ensure the second-generation Range Rover Evoque – on sale from today with deliveries due next spring – can fend off rivals such as the Audi Q3 and Volvo XC40. The British company has twice scored market-busting successes with compact SUVs: first the 1997 Freelander that pioneered the genre and became Europe’s hottest 4x4 for the next five years; then the 2011 Evoque that took a world-beating concept to production with huge and unexpected success (800,000 units, seven years) and was still selling out of its skin when production ended earlier this year. Land Rover’s key ingredient for making a success of the…

AUTOMOBILI PININFARINA says development work on its upcoming electric hypercar is “75%-complete”. Codenamed PF0, the all-wheel-drive two-seater will offer 1900bhp. It promises a 0-60mph time of “under two seconds” and 0-186mph in under 12 seconds. The car is built around a carbonfibre monocoque with the battery packs located between the front seats and behind the rear bulkhead. The final production design will be unveiled at the Geneva motor show next March. The car is planned to go on sale in autumn 2020 priced at $2-2.5 million (about £1.6-£2m). The PF0’s range will be at least 280 miles and the company is looking at providing a charging system that can replenish the battery to 80% in 40min or less. Just 150 examples will be hand-made in Italy, split three ways between…

MODEL TESTED SUZUKI JIMNY 1.5 ALLGRIP SZ5 Price £17,999 Power 100bhp Torque 95lb ft 0-60mph 11.9sec 30-70mph in fourth 20.1sec Fuel economy 29.0mpg CO2 emissions 178g/km 70-0mph 73.1m Revitalised utilitarian icons must be a bit like buses; only, rather than waiting minutes for one before several arrive in a rash, the gap is decades long. Already this year Mercedes has launched a painstaking new interpretation of the G-Class for the modern era. Meanwhile, prototypes for an all-new Land Rover Defender have also been seen roaming the Midlands. Jeep, too, has given the first freshened Wrangler for a fair old while, and then there is this: the tiny Jimny, which Suzuki hasn’t really touched for two decades. You might well wonder why it would. Built to adhere to pocket-size Japanese kei-car regulations,…

“My wife’s grandmother was mad keen on fishing,” says Anthony Wills. And thus, the butterfly effect did its work, and now more than seven million vehicles have worn the ‘Land Rover’ badge. It’s true: thanks to an angling granny, the mud-plugging moniker was first coined on the remote Scottish island of Islay, which became an unofficial Land Rover testing ground for nearly a quarter of a century. The whole story – both versions of it – is told on page 51. And so it is that photographer Luc Lacey and I are bound for Islay in a brand-new Range Rover Velar. With us, a 1967 photo of a white-haired, flat-capped Spencer Wilks – then president of Rover – fording Islay’s River Laggan in chassis ‘100/1’, first of the 100in-wheelbase station…

GREAT REASONS TO BUY ON SALE 5 DECEMBER USED SPECIAL Our 2005 £100 a week heroes: where are they now? Thirteen years ago, we named the supercars you could actually afford to own. See what they’re worth now and their 2018 equivalents DRIVEN New Mercedes-AMG A35 New hot hatch’s spec looks a carbon copy of a VW Golf R’s. Is it as good? NEW vs USED VW Golf R vs Audi R8 Audi’s R8 can now be had for the price of a hot hatch. A no-brainer? EVERY WEEK FIRST DRIVE Audi E-tron quattro Audi’s answer to Jag’s I-Pace is now production ready – and we’ve driven it USED BUYING GUIDE Range Rover Mk3 A huge leap forward under BMW ownership. How to buy a good one LONG-TERM TEST Toyota…

MILEAGE 9743 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if a utility vehicle is an endearing everyday vehicle I have been off-road. Properly, I mean, not just pootling down a wee green lane in Surrey for a few pictures, or crawling around a rough horse yard, which was the previous limit of where I’d asked the Toyota Land Cruiser to boldly go. Now, though, I’ve spent a day in a disused quarry, working the Land Cruiser’s axle articulation and trying, and by and large failing, to get it stuck. This is the problem with the Land Cruiser: you ask it to do something that would seem extreme to most SUVs, and it just mooches along like it’s on a trip to the shops – because, in some countries, that’s what a…

It is nice to catch up again with Jake Belder, who has bought a rather wonderful Subaru Outback. “It looked great on paper, with a full history, new MOT and good photos,” he says. “It has the 3.0-litre flat six and auto gearbox. The mileage was just under 140,000. I put in a low bid and the seller accepted. “I gave it a service and have replaced the inner CV gaiters, anti-roll bar links, ball joints, tie rod ends and a rear wheel bearing. Other than that, it’s been 4000 miles of effortless (if slightly thirsty) cruising.”…

An expert’s view STEVE WILLIAMS OF STEVE WILLIAMS SPORTS CARS “I’ve been working on Lotus cars since I was 18. I’m now 56. I’ve owned a Europa since I was 21 and also own an Esprit Turbo, an Evora race car and a Lotus Carlton. For me, the appeal of Lotus is its ability to think out of the box and make something its own. The trouble is, it uses off-the-shelf engines and transmissions not designed to take some of the sustained high revs owners subject them to. So while the Exige’s Toyota engine is thought to be reliable, it requires expert servicing using the correct oils, and proper mechanical upgrades if you’re going to race it. Otherwise, it’s a thoroughly practical sports car you can take shopping one day…

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV 4H Price new £39,500. Price now £33,699 With the car grant for plug-in hybrids consigned to the history books, how long before PHEVs like the Outlander follow suit? If you’re not a business driver keen to reduce your tax bill, you won’t care. On the other hand, someone needing a big SUV for short-haul work might miss its 30-mile electric range. Whatever your view, the market is responding, with one Mitsubishi dealer offering pre-reg Outlander PHEV 4s for almost £6000 less than list. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi is supporting new sales with a £2500 deposit contribution. Where there’s a will……