Innholdsfortegnelse for December 12, 2018 i Autocar

AUTOMOBILI PININFARINA will follow its electric hypercar with three SUVs – and the most powerful one, codenamed PF1, will rival the Lamborghini Urus. As first reported by our sister title Autocar India, development work on the PF1 SUV has already begun in the Mahindra-owned car maker’s headquarters in Munich. “Work has started on the PF1 and, right now, we are in the process of finalising the design, which again is being done by Pininfarina,” said Pawan Goenka, MD of the Mahindra & Mahindra group. Pininfarina had previously confirmed that it will use powertrain and battery technology supplied by electric hypercar maker Rimac. However, Autocar India has confirmed that Automobili Pininfarina is seeking to partner with Rivian, an electric vehicle maker and automotive technology company based in the US, for the…

VOLKSWAGEN IS SET to resurrect the classic Meyers Manx beach buggy as a modern-day electric car. It will feature key elements from the VW Group’s new MEB electric car platform and the driveline destined to power next year’s VW ID hatchback. The new two-seater, which is under “active consideration” as an addition to VW’s upcoming line of zero-emissions ID models, is described by insiders as a modern interpretation of the original rear-engined Beetle-based Manx buggy. It’s an open-top design that features a low-set body, a free-standing windscreen, a sturdy roll-over bar and large wheels. The beach buggy is one of three retro-themed ID models masterminded by VW boss Herbert Diess, complementing the Microbus-inspired Buzz van and a secret new five-door hatchback described as a recreation of the Beetle. Current plans…

Infiniti’s time in the UK is looking worryingly finite after sales of the Nissan-owned premium brand suffered an 80% fall this year. Even if you wanted to buy a car, you’d struggle. Infiniti has discontinued much of its range to leave just three models, and two of those are basically the same car. Meanwhile, its dealer count has fallen to just six in the UK, after recently losing its St Albans outlet. So what’s the problem? It all looked so promising when the Q30 and taller QX30 hatchbacks were launched with fanfare in 2015. Both cars are built in the UK in Nissan’s Sunderland factory and were designed to anchor the previously import-only brand in Europe with a core local model that could challenge the bestselling Audi A3. The Q30…

The Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award, our competition to attract innovative and entrepreneurial young people to careers in the motor industry, celebrated a huge milestone this year with the announcement of its 10th winner, Lewis Campbell, a 20-year-old mechanical engineering student from Glasgow University. The competition’s anniversary means it has now identified around 60 high-achieving young people as finalists and attracted most of them to motor industry careers by providing a total of five years’ varied and valuable work experience. Campbell’s proposal to tackle vehicle cloning using blockchain technology won the day against innovative ideas from two fellow finalists. Daniel Wilcox earned praise for his idea of creating a double pulsating hazard light that would make it easier to distinguish from a turn signal. Robert Cameron came up with a web-based…

The acutely brief brief from editor Tisshaw arrived in August. trip, v2.0. Different car, different tree, different route. Will leave you to sort.” Last year’s festive foliage was delivered from a hillside in Argyll to the Autocar office in Twickenham atop Aston Martin’s athletic bruiser of a GT, the DB11 V12, which devoured its task as does a local council woodchipper on the 13th day of Christmas. Choosing a different route would be easy, and a different tree was a given because 2017’s might well have become the paper you’re holding. But what could trump the Aston? This time, off-road skills would be helpful so we could source our tree from a wilder spot, and 2018 had delivered some fascinating new high-riding, all-paw contenders: Urus, Cullinan, new G63 and I-Pace,…

Marek Reichman Chief creative officer, Aston Martin “DID I IMAGINE I’d end up designing cars for James Bond? It won’t surprise you to learn that wasn’t part of even my wildest dreams,” laughs Marek Reichman, chief creative officer of Aston Martin and, in his own words, holder of “one of the best jobs in the world”. Born in Sheffield in 1966 and the son of a blacksmith, Reichman believes his path has been driven above all else by passion. “I’ve heard career advisors say that you should never turn a hobby into a career,” he says. “What absolute bollocks. “If you go to work with passion, you can fulfil your dreams. You can create change. Without wishing to get too highbrow about it, a job becomes a vocation. You can…

We try not to be too obvious with our Christmas stories. It’s early November, and with a pair of middle-aged Porsches sitting in the rain-swept car park of a golf course in Cheshire, the bigger risk is probably not being obvious enough. What does all this have to do with the season of mince pies and terrible sweaters? I’m reasonably confident you’re not going to guess the answer. There’s a fine Autocar tradition at play here, too. We like to round off every year by celebrating some of the cars we’ve ploughed our own money into during the past 12 months, from abject sheds upwards. The original idea for 2018 was to stick with the usual format, until my announcement that I had bought a Porsche Cayman S triggered a…

This Christmas, if you asked Santa for a posh watch, you might get lucky with a Rolex. Except that they are becoming so ubiquitous, you might not be wearing the only Submariner in the room. That’s why the time has come for Bangerwatches: cheap, possibly Swiss and standing out from the crowd. It’s the new smartwatch. ‘Swiss Made’, as printed at the bottom of the dial either side of the ‘6’ marker and possibly etched onto the caseback, is usually a guarantee of quality. My favourite is Globa, a popular buy in the ’50s and ’60s mainly with sports and military styles. I still have a Taskforce, my first-ever watch bought for me by Mum and Dad. It recently cost £100 to be repaired but is worth every penny. I…

What do you think might have been the most popular story on autocar.co.uk this year? Our first drive of the new Tesla Model 3? The road test of the Jaguar I-Pace? First pictures of the new BMW 3 Series? Bah – none of those. More of you clicked on these illustrations of modern cars re-imagined as retro classics than anything else. Car manufacturers, take note… The illustrations are the work of Dutchman Ruben Ooms, who created them, well, just because. Lovely, aren’t they? Here are our favourites. 1955 MERCEDES-BENZ 119 – ‘MERCEDES-BENZ A-CLASS’ In the mid-1950s Germany’s most important car maker, Mercedes-Benz, built pontoon sedans and SL sports cars for the well-heeled and famous. It didn’t make a compact car for another four decades. But what if it had done…

GREAT REASONS TO BUY ON SALE 27 DECEMBER 2018 REVIEW Road test yearbook: our 2018 highlights reel We look back on an incredible 12 months for the car industry. Who mattered, what counted and how we’ll remember the year that was DRIVEN Audi E-tron GT We get behind the wheel of Audi’s low-slung Tesla rival ANALYSIS This year’s winners and losers Forget the spin: here’s how every car maker really fared in 2018 EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Vauxhall Combo Life The Vauxhall van that thinks it’s a car gets our eight-page appraisal LONG-TERM TEST Toyota C-HR Toyota’s making interesting cars again, as six months in the C-HR proved FIRST DRIVE BMW X5 The 5 Series of SUVs makes it to the UK for the first time SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see…

QUESTION Is fitting winter tyres to a car worth the trouble and expense? Tony Brennan, Horley, Surrey ANSWER If you’ve never been stopped by snow, you won’t think so, but those who have and have made the switch certainly do. Unconvinced? Fit all-season tyres instead. Autocar sibling title What Car? has tested the Michelin CrossClimate and rates it. JE QUESTION A garage is stonewalling me regarding my complaint about its service. Who can I appeal to? James Davies, Talaton, Devon ANSWER If it’s a Motor-Ombudsman-accredited business and you’ve given them eight weeks to respond to your complaint, take it up with the ombudsman. If it isn’t a member, things are more complicated, with the small claims court your ultimate recourse. JE QUESTION At what ages should a car be bought…

Volkswagen Golf GTI (Mk5) £4950 Of the seven generations of Volkswagen Golf GTI, the Mk5 (2004-08) ranks among the best. No – make that the best. Last year, this magazine reviewed all seven and declared a good used Mk5 superior to a Mk7 for performance per pound. Last time we looked, PistonHeads was showing a privately advertised 2005-reg three-door for £4950. The metallic grey car with VW BBS Monza alloy wheels has full service history and has done 86,000 miles. The current owner (its third) has had it three years and accounted for 18,000 of them so should know it inside out. He’s selling it with his personal numberplate. So far so tempting, but it’s worth pointing out a used Mk5’s typical trouble spots. Like rusty front wheel arches caused…

This XL1 is sure to have created a stir when it went under the hammer recently. The slippery plug-in diesel hybrid, a 2015-reg car with next to no miles and registered to VW, made £103,167. It’s believed to be the first XL1 to be sold at auction. It’s not clear whether it was the same car being touted around VW dealers recently with a sticker price of £99,999. A VW dealer near Autocar’s offices had it on display for a while, but far from drawing a crowd, it sat ignored in the showroom while the punters crawled around the shiny new T-Roc alongside it.…

BMW 320d M Sport Price new £38,310. Price now £31,990 Already, BMW’s 3 Series saloon configurator is set up for the new model that’s due to hit showrooms next March, which means time’s running out to bag a pre-reg bargain on a run-out model. Even so, we found one: a 2018/68-reg 320d M Sport in Sapphire Black with just 15 miles on the clock, priced at £31,990. The equivalent 2019 model is £38,310 out of the box, a price that includes the Technology pack. Both put out 190bhp but the newer car is quicker, cleaner and more economical. You pays your money……

THE INDUSTRY IS experiencing change like never before, yet one thing continues to stay the same: the dynamic brilliance of BMW’s 3 Series. As Matt Saunders tells us (p24), this all-new 3 Series is more tech-packed and sophisticated than ever, yet it has also never been sharper to drive. Much like Ford with the recent Focus, BMW has put driver appeal front and centre of the list of priorities in creating the new 3 Series, much of it achieved through good old-fashioned chassis tuning rather than any fancy electronic trickery. With so many other distractions and priorities in the industry, the fact that great everyday driver’s cars are still emerging is to be celebrated. ▪ We continue to be humbled and honoured by the support you show us each and…

Skoda has revealed the new Scala, with which it plans to take on the recently launched Ford Focus in the competitive family hatchback market – and considers it to be “the best chance” of redefining the segment for the brand. The Scala replaces the Rapid in Skoda’s line-up and will be available as a hatchback only. It is the first Skoda to be built on the Volkswagen Group’s MQB A0 platform, which is already used by models such as the Seat Ibiza and VW T-Cross. It marks the debut of what Skoda is calling a “more emotional” design language and takes styling cues from the Vision RS concept unveiled at the Paris motor show earlier this year. These include the optional all-glass tailgate, which replaces a more traditional tailgate and…

TESLA’S MODEL 3, which has just gone on sale in Europe, is officially the electric vehicle with the longest range. In AWD Long Range guise, the Model 3 is capable of a WLTP-certified 338 miles on a single charge, beating the Hyundai Kona by 59 miles. The Californian car maker has revealed European pricing for the car, which is on display in two UK dealerships for the first time and is due to arrive in right-hand-drive form in the middle of 2019. Prices vary by market, but the AWD Long Range costs in the region of €58,000 (equivalent to £51,500), with the 444bhp Performance model at around €70,000 (£62,300). Official UK pricing is yet to be confirmed.…

BMW has revealed the vast scale of technology needed for autonomous cars to become a reality. The car maker is using 7 Series-based prototypes at its Silicon Valley facility as the test basis for the firm’s iNext electric crossover, due in 2021. BMW has said the iNext will offer level three autonomy, which allows for “hands off and eyes off” motorway driving. One BMW engineering source described level three as potentially offering the ability for the iNext to drive from one motorway junction to the next without need for the driver’s attention. BMW also announced that development work is well under way on level four and level five autonomy, something considered a long way off by most of the industry. BMW calls level four autonomy “hands off and mind off”…

THE NEW JEEP Wrangler has been awarded just one star out of five after being crash tested by Euro NCAP. The rugged 4x4, which has just arrived in the UK, was heavily criticised for its lack of active safety equipment. Michael van Ratingen, secretary general of Euro NCAP, said it is “truly disappointing to see a brand-new car being put on sale in 2018 with no autonomous braking system and no lane assistance”. The safety body also marked it down for weak protection of the driver’s chest and poor protection for rear occupants in crash barrier tests. Euro NCAP also re-tested the Fiat Panda, which has become the second car on sale to score zero stars. The city car has been on sale since 2012 with only minor updates and…

THIS MAY BE the first time since 1977 that BMW isn’t offering a rear-driven 3 Series with a straight six petrol engine. Might that put off a few keener drivers shopping at the upper end of the line-up, you wonder? Well, previous test experience suggests the 255bhp turbo four-pot in the 330i is certainly no second-rate motor. But, just in case, there’s always this. The M340i xDrive, which BMW has allowed us to sample in as-good-as-finished prototype form, is a four-wheel-drive 3 Series that handles with all the balance, poise and throttle adjustability you’d expect of a rear-driven one. Using a retuned version of the B58 turbo six-pot developing 369bhp and 369lb ft, the M340i gets the full gamut of BMW’s M Sport suspension, steering and braking modifications as standard.…

Just when Europe needed an abuse test for its newly certified WLTP emissions labs, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has generously provided one in the shape of the new Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. This is a new order of performance SUV from the original American 4x4 brand, here using the supercharged 6.2-litre ‘hemi’ V8 of the original Dodge Challenger Hellcat to put a frankly unhinged 707bhp and 645lb ft at its disposal. The Trackhawk joins the super-exclusive ranks of two-and-a-bit-tonne 4x4s which can hit 62mph from rest in less time than it took a Ferrari F40. The Jeep and the Lamborghini Urus are founder members of that club, but expect them to be joined by Porsches, BMWs, AMGs and others before very long. If the idea of such a thing seems more…

“The I-Pace feels like it’s been made to handle as well as it can.” MATT PRIOR Right then lads, we’re here to discuss our personal favourite cars of the year. I’ve frozen my toes off in an Ariel Atom 4 on the way, there’s an Alpine A110, a Ford Fiesta ST, some Lotus Exige derivative and whatever that thing that looks like a Defender is outside, Saunders. But first, Stephen, the Jaguar I-Pace. Why is it your favourite? STEVE CROPLEY A number of things. I think it’s the future. I think it’s brave of them and I do like driving electric cars. I’ve had this electric motorbike for a few years and I just like the whole experience, the precision of the powertrain. And I think the Jag’s interior is…

When somebody volunteers to get out of bed at 3am in the middle of winter and no motive other than their compassion and a desire to help people, it seems only right to give them the best possible equipment with which to do it. And therein lies the motivation to give the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s 4500 volunteers the best lifeboat money can buy, and where the best doesn’t yet exist, to go ahead and build it so that it does. The Shannon class lifeboat is evidently the most tremendous embodiment of that, a brilliantly versatile, durable, manoeuvrable and rapid platform for rescuing people and saving lives. It just so happens that it’s an incredibly cool piece of kit, too. We loved it. ROAD TEST RIVALS SHANNON LIFEBOAT 13.6M LONG, 17.9…

“It has a high and heavy clutch but sheer adrenaline enables me to let it out slowly” Ciro Ciampi owns two Lamborghinis. One is yellow and powered by a V10 that screams like an excited child. The other is orange and propelled by a two-cylinder diesel that chunters like an old man. More than five decades of engineering and company evolution separate Ciro’s yellow Gallardo from his orange DC25 tractor. They sit awkwardly together on the gravel drive at his smart hotel, the tractor looking a bit like company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini regarding a spoilt grandchild. Nevertheless, their different personalities aside, these two generations of Lamborghini still have a few things in common. Their shocking colours, obviously, but also the quality of their designs; the Gallardo’s full of drama but…

If you haven’t got a spare £2.5 million to spend on a Bugatti Chiron, why not make your own? It sounds crazy but it can be done. All you need is Lego. Lots of Lego. You might have seen the life-size Lego Chiron that was doing the rounds recently. It was built using more than one million Lego Technic pieces, along with 2034 motors and 4032 gear wheels from Lego’s Power Function range. Okay, it only produces 5bhp, so its 12mph top speed is a touch less than a real Chiron’s, but it’s proof that you really can build anything with enough dinky Danish building blocks. On the off-chance you haven’t got one million Lego bricks around, you can buy a 1:8 scale Chiron set, which features 3599 pieces and…

As well as currywurst, the butchery produces eight other types of sausage: bologna, bouillonwurst, krakowska, bratwurst, bregenwurst, salsiccia, gyrosbratwurst and kasegriller. Part number 199 398 500 A is unlike anything else Volkswagen makes. Last year, 6.81 million examples of it rolled off the production line at the firm’s Wolfsburg factory, more than any other part. Yet you won’t find it on any Volkswagen car – and you definitely won’t find it being used by any other VW Group brand. That’s because, as you may have guessed from the pictures on this page, VW part 199 398 500 A is a sausage. A currybockwurst, to be precise – a 170-gram, 25cm-long (in standard form) pork sausage infused with spices, usually served doused in curried ketchup with a generous side of chips.…

Luc, would you like to travel across Route 66 in an Acura NSX? “Yes,” was the predictable reply, Lacey wavering only when hearing he’d have to spend 10 days in the car with Matt Prior. An old mining camp near Oatman provided the only winding roads, yet stunning photos documented the whole trip. Olgun Kordal found a similarly stunning location on Austria’s Grossglockner Pass en route back from Hungary in a McLaren 600LT. Stan Papior didn’t struggle to make the bright blue New Stratos look splendid in the hills around Turin, but Lacey had to work a bit harder with the F150 Raptor on an old housing estate in the Cotswolds. “Heading for Anglesey in October is a tad risky for weather,” says Lacey, a man who climbs wet Scottish…

The ‘We Didn’t See That Coming’ Award For the car that surprised us the most (in any way) WINNER KIA STINGER HIGHLY COMMENDED HYUNDAI i30 N, VOLVO XC40 THIS AWARD’S TITLE should not be taken literally. Fairly obviously, nobody would ever fail to spot our big, bold and very yellow Stinger coming. No, this prize is all about the cars that surprised us for what they are, and in this case it was Kia’s ability to produce a large executive saloon that can genuinely rival the premium German brands. “It’s a lazily playful hot saloon that’s still a revelation every time you slide into the chunky driver’s seat,” said road tester Ricky Lane, while Tom Morgan said it was “the first Kia I’ve ever wanted to own”. Clearly, he’s never…

One of the hazards of commuting where my family lives is the number of pheasants unfamiliar with the Highway Code. They might well have right of way, but no matter how careful you are, contact is inevitable. My daughter’s Golf did the unavoidable the other day and smashed the bracket that holds the radar in place. She taped it temporarily in place and then deconstructed the front end. That meant we could pull out some bent lower grille plastic. Days later, a new bracket arrived and she clipped the radar in place. Not sure if the pheasant survived but it owes us £11.…

The bottom drawer of the used car archives always yields a few treasures, such as the Saab 9-3 of 2002-11. Beyond the mainstream trims lie some interesting derivatives, such as the Turbo X saloon and estate. Launched in 2008, it was powered by a turbocharged 276bhp 2.8-litre V6. To help get the power down, it had GM’s new, Saab-developed, four-wheel-drive system that could split torque to each rear wheel via a new electronic rear diff. Uprated brakes, a 10mm-lower ride height courtesy of its sports suspension, a unique bodykit, special 19in alloy wheels and a thicker steering wheel completed the makeover. Only 500, all finished in black, were earmarked for the UK. Today, they’re a rare sight but poke around and you can find the odd one, such as a…

Lamborghini is readying a replacement for the Aventador for 2020 – and is set to adopt a hybridised version of its iconic V12 engine. It will be one of two 2020 series-production Lamborghinis to use electrification, along with a plug-in hybrid Urus SUV, and will be previewed by a low-volume, £2 million hypercar due to be revealed next year. Codenamed LB48H, the limited-run hypercar was shown to prospective buyers in model form in June. The biggest news is the powertrain, with the car serving as a prelude for the next Aventador’s set-up by featuring a naturally aspirated V12 engine mated to an electric motor to boost performance and efficiency. At the launch of the Aventador SVJ earlier this year, chief technical officer Maurizio Reggiani threw more light on what to…

Vauxhall will increase its electrification efforts with fully electric versions of the next-generation Mokka X SUV and Vivaro van, which are both due to enter production in 2020. The British firm is part of the PSA Group, which has said that every future model produced by its brands – including Peugeot, Citroën and DS – will be offered with a hybrid or pure-electric variant. The first Vauxhall to be offered with an all-electric version will be the next-generation Corsa, which is due in 2019. The current Mokka X was launched in 2013. It is one of Vauxhall’s bestselling vehicles and was among the top 10 bestselling cars in Britain last month. Although no official information has been offered on the second-generation model due in 2020, it will be built on…

Volkswagen is preparing to unveil the fifth member of its new ID range of electric models. A seven-seat SUV, which goes under the internal working title ID Lounge, will be revealed at the Shanghai motor show in April. It is being developed as a luxurious range-topping model with exterior and interior dimensions similar to the German firm’s new third-generation Touareg. Based around the largest version of Volkswagen’s new MEB platform – as used by the ID Buzz MPV – with a wheelbase of 3300mm, the ID Lounge is planned to join the car maker’s line-up in 2021 as a rival to the likes of the Tesla Model X and Nio ES8. Power for the four-wheel-drive SUV is expected to come from a driveline similar to that featured in the ID…

MITSUBISHI WON’T COMMIT to the development of the next generation of its long-running Shogun off-roader until it can be sure a future version will be profitable. Trevor Mann, Mitsubishi’s chief operating officer, said the firm “has a passion” to produce a new Shogun but “we’ve not defined our position yet”. He added: “It’s something our engineers really want to do but we’ve got to make sure we have the right business case, and that segment is naturally shrinking due to emissions regulations. We need to make sure that when we do something, we do it properly and it’s future-proofed.” The utilitarian 4x4, also known as the Pajero in some markets, is one of Mitsubishi’s longest-running models. The current, fourth-generation car dates from 2006 but is heavily based on the previous…

ALL NEW CARS may have to be fitted with data recorders that log information about the driver’s speed “before, during and after a collision” if laws proposed by the European Council are approved. The proposed laws, which will be presented to the European parliament and voted on early next year, could cause all new cars to be fitted with ‘black boxes’ and intelligent speed assistance systems in order to gain EU type approval. The system would inform drivers of speed limit changes and, when cruise control is activated, adjust the car’s speed to the limit. The system wouldn’t be able to be deactivated, but drivers could still accelerate to override it. The data loggers would also record information on the vehicle’s speed and driver assist system activation. The proposal says…

In our current era of identity politics, when some of the most powerful men and women on the planet think they’re entitled to their own facts as well as their own opinions, this is pretty small fry – and yet it still seems an extraordinary piece of revisionist rhetoric to me. “The BMW 3 Series has epitomised the concept of sporty driving pleasure in the global premium mid-size class for more than 40 years.” That claim is contained within the press release on Munich’s new seventh-generation Three. In fact, it’s the opening line. And yet it’s palpable nonsense. Similar lines of description were glibly repeated at the press launch of the G20 iteration of the 3 Series a week or so ago so prominently and so often that you almost…

How important is the Macan to Porsche? I think the following, based on the most recent annual sales figures, answers the question nicely. Five years ago, Porsche didn’t have a Macan: last year, it outsold not just the 911, the 718 Boxster and Cayman and the Panamera, but also all of the above, combined. Fully 40% of all cars made by Porsche in 2017 were Macans. What’s more, it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Almost all cars follow similar sales curves through their lives: a sharp spike up when introduced followed by gentle decline as other, newer rivals become available. Not so the Macan. Launched in 2014, it has outsold itself in every consecutive year it has been on sale. So you can imagine that the briefing pack for…

Among big coupés, BMW’s 840d xDrive is a rarity. Search for diesel equals in its £75,000 price category and you’ll find there aren’t any. Which makes the 840d either a welcome rarity or an irrelevance, depending on your diesel point of view. The obvious headline grabber is the ‘other’ 8 Series, the 523bhp twin-turbo petrol V8 M850i that offers comfort, luxury and supercar performance for £100,000. But it can’t cruise nearly as far on a tankful and has a £24,000-higher starting price. And its performance margin is something few owners will use, given that the calmer, 316bhp 3.0-litre 840d can still lay down a 4.9sec 0-62mph time and match the M850i’s 155mph top speed. At a glance, the cars are very similar. The UK importer has ensured both get M-level…

Rachel Burgess WHEN YOU LIVE and breathe the car industry as we do, it’s a joy not only to drive the good (and not-so-good) cars but also to speak to the people behind those cars. And so I found myself sitting in Silverstone’s Paddock Café earlier this year, sun shining down, cold drink in hand, chatting to the formidable Albert Biermann, the man behind the impressive Hyundai i30N and, in a former life, the boss of BMW’s M division. When the bikers on track stopped for lunch Albert and I climbed into my i30 N long-termer, helmets on, ready to take on the full F1 circuit. For 30 minutes we had the entire track to ourselves as Albert showed me his driving skills, honed by years of vehicle development at…

MODEL TESTED SHANNON CLASS Price £2,200,000 • Power 1282bhp • Torque 3850lb ft • 0-30mph 28.8sec • Fuel economy 240 litres/hour • Max speed-0mph 20.5m If you’re in trouble on the water, the coastguard of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the charity that has been saving lives at sea since 1824. And it is rather good at it: the RNLI rescues almost 8500 people every year. If a lifeboat gets scrambled, there’s an ever-increasing chance it’ll be one of these: a Shannon class boat, the RNLI’s latest and greatest lifesaving tool. Crewed by six and capable of boarding up to 59 survivors, the Shannon is classed as an All-Weather Lifeboat, a term that, generally, means it can operate offshore and is so robust that it can safely go out whatever…

“New ones start at around £2000 plus VAT. Used ones are usually £1000” Here’s the thing. Santa said that he needs an instant grotto, to give the sleigh. We are on pretty close terms, me and Santz (as I call him), so I pitched the idea of a container to him. Containers are measured in imperial and are usually 6ft, 10ft, 20ft, 30ft or 40ft long, 8ft wide and 10ft high. There are various designs, with side openings and even refrigerated units. New ones start at around £2000 plus VAT. Used ones will be less depending on condition and size but are usually £1000. My container requirement was purely as a great big stuff-swallowing box. Santa, though, might prefer all sorts of the more fancy options and they are available…

The arcing sparks of synchronised robot welders, the seismic thump of a multi-tonne press stamping body panels, the orderly bustle of a final assembly line – if you know about cars, you’ll likely be familiar with these processes, even if you haven’t seen them. And if you haven’t witnessed this amazing creative theatre, add it to your list of automotive must-dos. There’s plenty of scope in the UK, despite Brexit, where you can see Minis, Jaguars and Land Rovers produced in profusion, by booking yourself onto a guided tour. Not all cars are mass-produced, of course: Aston Martin, Bentley, Lotus and Morgan are among those allowing you to see car construction at a less frenetic pace. Sadly, not every UK car plant grants the public access, among them Nissan’s legendarily…

We’re standing in a group, chatting in the foyer of Jaguar Land Rover’s Classic Works, the company’s magnificent new Coventry home for old cars. We’re awaiting the arrival of Norman Dewis OBE, undoubtedly the greatest Jaguar classic of all. The iconic former chief test engineer, who joined the company in 1952 with the brief of “signing off every competition and road-going Jaguar”, has just celebrated his 98th birthday as if it’s his 40th. He’s agreed to drop in to Classic for a bit of pre-Christmas cheer, and to take his first-ever drive in the new electric I-Pace with Ian Callum, the man who designed it. It’s a gathering of the usual Jaguar suspects: CEO Ralf Speth, whose determination put this magnificent place on the map; Mike Cross, who aims to…

It’s becoming a porker A bit more power, slightly more frugal, a little sharpening of that familiar shape and more technology in the interior. With the new ‘992’ 911, Porsche has pulled off its usual trick of gradually improving the car in every way… while committing the same error that occurs with each new version: an increase in size. The original 911 was 1610mm wide, the outgoing ‘991’ Carrera 4 1850mm and we are told the new car will be wider still. To enjoy a sports car fully on a good B-road or twisting Alpine pass, diminutive size is a desirable attribute. Still, there is one manufacturer that has recently launched a compact sports car that has enjoyed universal critical acclaim: the Alpine A110. Must be something to do with…

Skoda Superb Estate Tony Porter read my story about travelling long distances to buy a car (Autocar, 21 November) and told us this tale: “I saw a 2016 Skoda Superb 190 TDI SE-L 4x4 Estate at under £20,000 and only 17,000 miles. But it was in Inverness and I live near Nottingham. “I called the garage selling it and committed to buy if it was as described. After a seven-hour drive, I arrived at Inverness. We inspected each other’s cars and I paid the difference and set off home. I’m very happy with it and have done around 10,000 miles in it since June.”…

An expert’s view IAN PANTING, P & P CAR SALES “I’ve been working on Saabs since 1985 and have owned dozens of them. My current cars are a 9-5 estate and a 9-3 convertible, both Aeros. It’s their quality, safety and reliability that I love. Saabs are built to last, too. We sell used Saabs and, generally speaking, the Saab trade-ins we get in return have done over 200,000 miles. It’s why people come back for another. Right now, I’ve got orders for 10 low-mileage Saabs but I can’t fulfil them because clean, low-mileage cars are becoming rarer by the day. If you want one, you better be quick!” Buyer beware… ▪PETROL ENGINES Those from 2007-09 could suffer warped valves, indicated by poor running from cold. Four-cylinder B207 petrol engines…