Innholdsfortegnelse for February 06, 2019 i Autocar

IT’S RARE FOR a car maker to reverse launch plans for a model already confirmed for production but Land Rover has done just that in axing the Range Rover SV Coupé. While a loss of face is inevitable, the decision is actually a very confident and positive one. A two-door Range Rover limited to 999 units (if Land Rover could find the buyers…) and priced at £240,000 might bring some marginal short-term financial gain but, with budgets squeezed and Jaguar Land Rover facing serious challenges, this isn’t what it needs for the fight in which it is now engaged. The car was a distraction, its unique body (only the bonnet and part of the tailgate were shared with the standard Range Rover) taking engineering and company resources away from Land…

Despite having been tuned with a more comfortable style of motoring in mind, the ES 300h holds its own on Millbrook’s challenging Hill Route. In Sport mode, the artificially weighty steering is reasonably confidence-inspiring, making it easy to allow the car to flow between bends. But at all times, you’re aware that it has a limited amount of outright lateral grip and traction and, because of the front-wheel drive, you’re often trading one for the other. And so, while there’s no alarming shortage of front-end grip, you don’t have to push too hard to reach the limit of the Dunlop Sport Maxx 050’s grip – at which point the ES’s electronic stability systems step in with a fairly heavy hand. The ES 300h’s weight makes itself felt on track. While…

The Porsche Macan and Jaguar E-Pace aren’t exactly mortal rivals. In fact, circumstance has only just brought them into anything close to an overlap. But in another world, they might have been up and at each other like Borg and McEnroe. Jaguar and Porsche have remarkably similar histories, after all, starting life as dedicated sports car manufacturers and branching out as they grew. Although that process of growth inevitably brought both outfits to the production of a smallish SUV earlier this decade, it brought them there via different routes. It gave us a Macan in 2014, developed on a longways-engined Audi model platform, predominantly rear driven with a ‘hang-on’ clutch-based part-time four-wheel-drive system; and an E-Pace in 2017 with a transverse engine, developed off the Range Rover Evoque’s platform, which…

Tyre manufacturers sometimes come up with wacky-sounding concepts, but one idea the industry has consistently touted has been the value of smart tyres that can communicate their condition and wear status. Falken has previewed a smart tyre called, you’ve guessed it, Smart Tire, it’s tread made from Liquid Farnesene Rubber (LFR) which helps the tyre to remain efficient for longer. The company claims the wet grip performance can remain consistent for 12,000 miles and wear resistance is improved by as much as 51%. In addition, Active Tread technology senses road conditions and detects moisture and cold temperatures, allowing the tread to adapt to the conditions. Goodyear’s intelligent tyre prototype, shown in 2017, is designed to share with fleet managers data such as wear, temperature and pressures. But a wider application…

In the race to find sustainable alternatives to combustion engines, battery-powered EVs have elbowed their way to the front. That was predictable: recharging batteries is well understood and an electrical infrastructure already exists. But hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), which have lost ground since the millennium, could be set to make a comeback. In 2017, the highly influential California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP) published its ‘2030 Vision’, detailing plans to bring one million FCEVs to the roads by 2030, supported by 1000 strategically placed hydrogen filling stations. Fuel cell powertrains are also ideal for heavier vehicles (powering a 32-tonne articulated lorry isn’t feasible using a battery). Hydrogen is already delivered to filling stations by articulated lorry, the trailers left on site. CaFCP claims the plan would lead to a…

COMPARISON Mercedes-AMG A35 vs Volkswagen Golf R Mercedes has a dyed-in-the-wool rival to perhaps the world’s best all-round hot hatch. What better car for the A35 to face off against? USED SPECIAL European oddballs How to buy: 14 great cars that Europe got and we didn’t FEATURE Global car sales 2018 Who sold what, and where? Expect some surprises… EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Citroën C5 Aircross Citroën’s relaxed take on the family SUV gets the full eight pages USED BUYING GUIDE Mazda MX-5 Mk2 Less expensive than a Mk1 and more fun than a Mk3 – read this and buy! LONG TERM TEST Jaguar XE It’s much improved since launch, but how improved is it to live with? SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p22…

MILEAGE 16,032 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if a utility vehicle is an endearing everyday vehicle This is getting daft. Since mid-September, I’ve driven more than 16,000 miles in the 3dr Utility Toyota Land Cruiser, which will amount to around 40,000 miles over a year unless I start insisting other people spend time with it. Which, selfishly, I’m not that keen to do, because – Toyota inevitability alert – it’s as painless to run as a Casio wristwatch. More painless than the miles (perhaps the same amount again) that I spend in most other cars. Having quickly covered more than an average driver’s annual mileage, though, here’s what to expect if you run a Land Cruiser for a year: a 10,000-mile service (£270) and a litre of AdBlue every…

Roderick Ramage has been here before and returns: “My 1986 Land Rover 90 pick-up suffered a death knell MOT failure. I sold it for £1k as a project. It cost me £2950 in 2002 so its annual depreciation was £122. “After experiments with a tiny trailer, I have scaled down to a 1997 Volkswagen Caddy for £4600. (By coincidence, the £2950 I paid in 2002 is £4645 in today’s money.) It has a bigger load bay than the Land Rover and comfier seats but no external cleats for roping the load down, only floor-level rings.”…

An expert’s view SIMON HOWARTH, FOUNDER, AMD TECHNIK “We’ve been servicing performance Audis for 30 years and we know RS models inside out. Personally, I prefer the earlier B7 RS4 to the RS5. It’s the purist’s choice: more practical and exclusive. There are loads of RS5s for sale, but have you ever tried opening the door in a car park? They are so long, you have to squeeze out to avoid bashing them. It feels like a car for the American market. But I can understand why people love them for the wonderful V8 and those coupé looks. The facelift didn’t bring much so early, low-mileage ones will be in demand as prices fall and people see they’re a performance bargain.” Buyer beware… ▪ ENGINE Start the engine from cold…

If the Camel Trophy ‘One life, live it’ slogan doesn’t make you want to saddle up your Defender and head for the mud, look out for one of these: a Defender 90 Tomb Raider. It was released in 2001 on the back of the Lara Croft action movie. Just 250 were built, each decked out with the requisite body protection, spotlights and alloy wheels but also a roll cage, detachable winch, long-range fuel tank and fire extinguisher. You’re too late for this 113,000-mile 2.5 diesel that made £14,300 but you can still find the odd 100,000-miler for around £18,000 in the classifieds.…

“1 Series customers are more concerned with interior versatility than outright driving dynamics” BMW is getting ready to launch a radically re-engineered 1 Series hatchback, which is planned to go on sale in the UK in September following a public premiere at the Frankfurt motor show this year. A comprehensive under-the-skin revamp will see the third-generation model forgo traditional rear-wheel drive for a space-saving front-wheel-drive layout adopting the German car maker’s new FAAR platform. The versatile high-strength steel structure is already used by the latest BMW X1 and its mechanically identical sibling, the second-generation Mini Countryman. The switch to front-wheel drive for the entry-level BMW comes 15 years after the original rear-wheel-drive 1 Series was launched in 2004. BMW’s internal studies have revealed that existing 1 Series customers are more…

LOTUS HAS ANNOUNCED a collaboration with Williams Advanced Engineering to research and develop “advanced propulsion technologies”, including the powertrain of a new electric hypercar. The announcement comes after Autocar exclusively revealed that a £2 million EV, codenamed Omega, was under development by the Norfolk-based brand late last year. It’s expected that Williams will contribute its technical know-how to that car, drawing on knowledge gleaned from supplying battery systems to the Formula E grid since 2014. The full extent of the partnership is yet to be detailed, but we know that Lotus will be leading the development to ensure that it meets the brand’s standards on handling and light-weight design. Williams will focus on the electric powertrain necessary to give the car an expected four-figure power output, which is needed to…

VOLKSWAGEN HAS resurrected the classic Beetle-based Meyers Manx dune buggy as a modern electric concept. The model has been previewed in new images ahead of an unveiling at the Geneva motor show. Previously hinted at on a Christmas card sent to journalists, the ID Buggy’s shape is described by design boss Klaus Bischoff as a “modern, non-retro interpretation of a classic”. It bears little resemblance to any current VW model and lacks both doors and a roof, like the unofficial kit car original. A free-standing windscreen, sturdy roll-over bar and large wheels with off-road tyres also give a nod to the past, while modern touches include a circular LED lighting signature. Autocar exclusively revealed last year that Volkswagen was set to revive the classic beach buggy as an EV, featuring…

Here’s a rather bold claim: the V60 Cross Country is the best-looking car Volvo currently makes. In fact, I reckon it could just be the best-looking estate car full stop. Previously, I’d have given that crown to the regular V60; but the arrival of this beefed-up version of Volvo’s reply to the likes of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3 Series estates cuts an impeccably fine shape indeed. You’ll likely have your own opinions on its overall aesthetic, but I’d wager you’d be hard-pressed to call it unattractive. Much of what makes this V60 Cross Country what it is will already be familiar. Being a large-ish Volvo, it sits on the same Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) as all of the other large Volvos (XC90, XC60, V90, S90 et al). Its…

The Lexus ES makes a sharp-looking, well-equipped and appealingly priced contender in what is a highly competitive European executive saloon segment. But, while it’s the sort of car you can imagine selling a lot better than the old GS on this continent, it will do so for entirely different reasons – and it doesn’t have the rounded, multi-faceted appeal that might have turned it into a truly dominant force here. It’s short on the driver appeal that elevates our favourite mid-size executive saloons to the top of the class: that much we saw coming. But, while the car maintains a strong focus on comfort and refinement instead, this too can be undermined by a powertrain that at times wants for civility and drivability, and a ride that occasionally yields to…

The car industry is a fast mover but it can sometimes be difficult to figure out in which direction it’s heading. EVs looked set to take over the world and to some extent they are, now helped by new UK legislation to ensure there’s enough energy to go round. In-car technology is evolving and connectivity is developing fast as the move towards autonomous cars ramps up. Meanwhile, neither petrol nor diesel is dead yet. In California, there’s been another major step forward with hydrogen propulsion as the state gears up for more potentially world-changing innovation. So what’s really in store over the next few years? Here’s our guide.…

In November 2018, the Department for Transport axed the plug-in car grant for hybrids and reduced it by £1000 to £3500 for battery-electric vehicles. The official reason is it “was designed to kick-start the early market for electric vehicles. Having already supported the purchase of 100,000 plug-in hybrid cars, we are now focusing on zero-emission models” – which doesn’t explain the near-25% reduction in the electric car grant. To further fuel the debate, some think a technology doesn’t deliver if it needs subsidising and others believe electrified vehicles should be supported until scale of economy kicks in to bring prices down. Either way, what happens in the next two years after the grant changes could play a big part in how fast the electric revolution unfolds.…

It’s ironic that a technology designed to simplify in-car controls could make it worse, but that seems to be the case with touchscreens that have invaded the car market. It’s true that by the 1990s the proliferation of tiny buttons in cabins had spiralled out of control as cars gained many more functions, and then with the advent of the smartphone and a new way of life for most, designers thought they had the answer. The problem with touchscreens is that, so far, they have no haptic response. You can’t feel what you’re touching, forcing drivers to take their eyes of the road. Buttons are at least tactile: the switches in Hyundai’s Nexo fuel cell EV are an example of great design with large buttons that have a significantly different…

One of Winston Churchill’s more prescient predictions was that “history will be kind to me, for I intend to write it”. And it was, no doubt in some part because he did. Few would argue that Churchill was less than a very great man, but I expect his reputation today would be rather different if, despite his efforts, he’d not been able to hold back the dark forces that had swept across Europe. History is written by the victors. If you don’t believe me, think back to your history lessons at school and remember how many battles you learned about that we actually lost. Not many, I’ll wager. So it is with cars. Those we most readily remember tend to be the most successful, not necessarily the most significant. Often…

FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see whether £65,000 is too much for a 4 Series without an ‘M’ on its rump Tiny Alpina doesn’t have the inventory resources of a major car maker, so it’s rare a box-fresh example can be conjured for a long-term magazine test. Rare, and sweeter still if you happen to be the road tester dispatched to the Bavarian town of Buchloe for a factory collection. This magazine makes no secret of its fondness for Alpina’s under-the-radar approach. The cars go like rockets but are a pin-hammer to M division’s nail guns: less thrilling but more obliging when all you want is to hang a picture. And frankly, I defy anybody not to warm to a company whose engineer-founder Burkard Bovensiepen not only chooses…

QUESTION I heard that in Sweden there’s a compound full of over 1000 unregistered Saab 9-3s and 9-5s. Is it true? Ian Panting, via email ANSWER We don’t think so. A former Saab exec, now a dealer, who worked at the factory at Trollhättan in the company’s dying weeks told us he recalls a compound filled with cars. Saab invited dealers to collect them because it couldn’t ship them. He believes any that remained were dismantled by the government-owned parts business that still functions. Last December, it was reported that the last 9-3 had just been sold by an Italian dealer who’d been storing the unregistered car since 2011. JE QUESTION I’m thinking of going electric but I do drives of at least 200 miles. Which electric car has the…

Lamborghini Gallardo £59,999 We must be mad but this 59,000-mile, right-hand-drive, 2003-reg Gallardo is a rare and sought-after manual one and comes with stacks of history. It has had a really thorough going over recently; lots of things from new handbrake pads and brake fluid, through new OEM filters and the correct grade of branded oil, to having the throttle bodies cleaned, brakes and underside cleaned and checked, the offside lower front ball joint reconditioned and the wheels aligned. Worth making the journey for a look-see, then, but before we do, we’d want to know if it’s wrapped; and if it is, we’d wonder what’s lurking beneath. That aluminium body is hellish hard to repair and who’d want a knocked-about Gallardo anyway? Assuming it’s au naturel and we make the…

BMW 730d M Sport Price new £73,430, BMW PCP/HP deposit contribution £17,754 Perhaps the two aren’t linked, but with the facelifted 7 Series due soon (bigger grille, quieter, posher interior), BMW is putting its hand in its pocket to the tune of almost £18,000. That’s its deposit contribution to a PCP or hire purchase deal on a new, outgoing Seven, and almost double what is required from the customer (£10,000). It’s a discount, really, but to be expected on such a big-ticket motor. Bear it in mind if you’re shopping for a nearly new one at just a couple of grand off list……

MERCEDES-BENZ WILL unveil an electric MPV concept at the Geneva motor show next month, previewing a rival to the upcoming Volkswagen ID Buzz. Confirmed at the launch of the facelifted V-Class MPV, the Concept EQV will closely mirror a production model due in 2022. It’s the fifth confirmed vehicle in Mercedes’ electric EQ range, following the EQC SUV that was launched last year and the forthcoming EQA hatchback, EQB small SUV and EQS luxury saloon. Mercedes-Benz Vans board member Wilfried Porth called the EQV the firm’s “next big statement” in the class. The production model will be developed by Mercedes’ van division and closely related to the firm’s future electric commercial vehicles, in the same way as the V-Class is heavily based on the Vito van. Although the EQV is…

Hyundai is favouring an all-wheel-drive, petrol-electric powertrain for its upcoming ‘halo’ car, according to sources at the Korean firm. Set to represent the pinnacle of the N-brand model hierarchy, the mystery range-topper was confirmed by bosses in July last year. Company insiders have suggested to Autocar that hybridisation is currently on the cards, alongside a price positioning that would likely undercut the £115,000 Polestar 1 as well as other electrified performance GTs. Vice-president of Hyundai’s high performance vehicle and motorsport division, Gyoo-Heon Choi, said: “A halo car remains in our plans. It won’t come for a while yet but we know we have to make one. We are now looking at some alternative powertrains and some different options on what kinds of vehicle we might deliver and when.” Hyundai N…

Volkswagen has pulled the wraps off facelifted versions of the Passat saloon and estate ahead of the car’s public debut at the Geneva motor show. The brand has sold close to 30 million Passats across six different generations since 1973, so the changes to the tried-and-tested formula are modest. The bumpers and lights have been tweaked, with LED lights now standard across the range, and there are new wheel designs and colour options. But the more significant changes are all technology based, with a raft of assistance and connectivity upgrades. The headline new arrival is a part-autonomous autopilot system capable of operating at higher speeds, a Volkswagen first. Dubbed Travel Assist, this can actively steer the Passat at speeds of up to 130mph – a big advance on the 25mph…

UK CAR PRODUCTION fell by a “deeply depressing” 9.1% year on year in 2018 and automotive investment almost halved. Car plants in the UK produced 1.52 million cars last year, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). That was the lowest figure in five years. SMMT boss Mike Hawes, who labelled the figures “deeply depressing”, said regulatory change, diesel policy uncertainty, a fall in demand in China and Europe, and declining consumer and business confidence as a result of Brexit all contributed to the slump. Eight in 10 cars made in the UK are exported. Although exports to mainland Europe fell 7.3%, it remains the UK’s biggest market. Exports to China dropped by 24.5%. By contrast, exports to the US grew 5.3%, making it the…

BMW might not admit it, but the invoice for facelifting the current 7 Series came in a fifth dearer than what’s typically permitted. That confirms what we already know: the G12 generation, introduced in 2015, had fallen too far off the pace of rivals from Mercedes-Benz and Audi. Rolling refinement and a forgettable aesthetic were largely to blame and much money has been duly spent on those areas. This refreshed 7 Series LCI (for ‘Life Cycle Impulse’) spearheads chairman Harald Krüger’s goal of making BMW’s costlier models more luxurious in the traditional sense. It’s why you can now have parquet-style leather on the seats and armrests, and wooden inlays on the seatbelt outlet covers, and why there is additional sound insulation within the rear wheel arches, rear backrest and B-pillars.…

There are good reasons, if you can pull enough strings, to launch your new two-tonne, five-metre performance car on a grade-one FIA-spec racetrack. If it packs a 630bhp V8 and accelerates to 62mph in a McLaren F1-matching 3.2sec, it won’t feel too lost on the endless stretches between corners. Moreover, such a perfectly surfaced expanse is the greatest hiding place on earth for big cars that can’t properly handle themselves in the real world. Mid-winter in Aberdeenshire could hardly be in greater contrast to the Circuit of the Americas, current home of the US Grand Prix and venue for the international press debut of AMG’s four-door take on the GT hot-rod coupé last year. Not that the car seems to know it. Such a plethora of technologies – four-wheel drive,…

MODEL TESTED 300H TAKUMI Price £45,650 Power 215bhp Torque na 0-60mph 8.7sec 30-70mph in fourth na Fuel economy 41.9mpg CO2 emissions 103g/km 70-0mph 50.1m If you’re a car maker aiming to intrude on the most firmly established fraternity in the automotive world, you had better have some substance to your product. For the crimped metalwork of this week’s test subject, that comes in the form of a lineage stretching back six previous model generations. It was 1989 when Lexus introduced the ES 250 (for ‘Executive Sedan’), and in doing so created one of its first model ranges. Front-driven and powered by the 2.5-litre V6 from the Toyota Camry, the original ES set firm the mid-size saloon template for Lexus, with four-cylinder engines eventually introduced in 2010 and a hybrid option arriving…

“This job used to be about grubbing around on the road, looking at tiny specks of stuff,” says Gary Baldwin, a 30-year veteran of Thames Valley Police’s Forensic Collision Investigation Unit, “but that’s only a tiny part of it now.” When Gary started his accident investigation work in 1988, skid marks were his “bread and butter”, but ABS put paid to those. Today, CCTV and dashcam footage are his staple. “They have absolutely taken over,” he says. “At first, it was just CCTV in town centres and on motorway gantries, but dashcams have become more and more common. You don’t always get the full picture but they have definitely taken on a big role.” Gary is now retired as an officer but remains a civilian manager of a team of…

1G started in the 1990s, then 2G enabled the sending of text messages, 3G brought internet browsing and 4G made it faster – so it’s not hard to see where the world is going with 5G (fifth-generation) connectivity. Car makers are working hard to exploit the faster network (for example, the hardware needed for 5G has already been incorporated into Volkswagen’s new MEB EV platform). So too are suppliers such as Harman, which is developing technology allowing vehicles to share information via Smart City Command Centres linking to emergency, and other, services. Harman is also working on technologies called Traffic Light Optimised Speed Advisory to help adjust speed to synchronise with traffic lights, and Signal Violation and Advance Signage Assistance to warn that you may be about to jump the…

The number of situations a critical advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) such as autonomous emergency braking (AEB) potentially have to deal with is mind-boggling. Truth is, it’s impossible to set up and test every possible scenario, or even imagine what they could all be. There isn’t the time, either. Ansible Motion, whose advanced simulators are used by a number of major car manufacturers, reckons doing so could take 100 years using conventional methods. The latest simulators ease that problem by investigating a vast number of possible scenarios in a very short time, crunching through them at lightning speed and compressing that 100 years of work into a few months. The upshot should be more capable and reliable ADAS systems.…

It’s hard not to feel a pang of envy when friends tell you they’re going abroad in January. With a well-earned reputation for being one of the hardest-going months of the year, it counts Blue Monday among its dark, cold days. For travellers with a thing for motorsport, there’s a way to leave all this behind. On the third weekend of the year, Florida’s Daytona International Speedway hosts thousands of race fans from America and beyond. They come for the nation’s first major motorsport event of the year, the Daytona 24 Hours. And just down the road is the ‘Birthplace of Speed’ – the arrow-straight, white-sand beach that has seen cars haulin’ ass and suckin’ gas since 1902. These days, it costs 20 bucks to drive as many of the…

I was strangely drawn to the 4.8p per mile running cost of the Nissan Leaf you have recently been running in a long-term test. As an advocate of ‘Bangernomics’, I like to buy cars a few years old then run them into the ground. I am also a bit of a ‘greeny’, so I convert them to run on LPG. My current car is a Seat Mii, which I bought for £4000 and had a gas conversion n carried out for £1500. My last fill-up cost me just over £24, good for more than 500 miles. The cost per mile was, you guessed it, 4.8p. It goes to show that it is possible to be reasonably environmentally conscious without spending more than £30,000. Having said that, once my Mii has…

SPEC SWAP WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if Audi has made an executive car with the broad appeal needed to truly challenge the class best Saloon or estate? Perhaps it’s an age thing, but these S days I’d usually go for the estate, especially when it comes to the options on offer from Germany’s Big Three. Function over style is an equation of zero relevance at this end of the market. In fact, the ‘bread van’ choice is often the more striking. Is that the case with the pair pictured above? Totally subjective, of course, but my eye errs towards the lugger. From the front, they appear identical anyway, but it’s the tapering rear end that does it for me. So it was only with the slightest pang of…

MILEAGE 46,457 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF You might remember that Gordon the old Golf was headbutted by a pheasant a month back. This dislodged the radar and broke the holding bracket. That was replaced – the bracket, anyway. However, the cruise control isn’t happy at all. There is a warning on the dashboard and, even though we fiddled with the bracket and the little sensor, nothing seemed to fix it. It looks like we are going to need someone with some proper diagnostic kit to tell us that we need a brand-new sensor. The good thing is that this can wait a bit. Don’t hold your breath, or post me a new sensor……

A new 68bhp Ford Fiesta 1.1 Style 3dr for £14,000 or an eight-year-old, naturally aspirated, 444bhp Audi RS5 4.2 V8 quattro S tronic coupé for the same price? Thought so. But the RS5 really does deserve a second look. The one we’re thinking of has done a not inconsiderable 152,000 miles but they’ve been mainly clocked on the motorway apparently and, miraculously, it’s a one-owner car with full service history and new Pirelli P Zeros. Crucially, the engine has had a carbon-clean, too. It’s also loaded with kit to the extent that it cost around £65,000 new. But its owner has certainly had their money’s worth and appears to be entirely satisfied with it. It would be our ‘one we found’ (right) but for its mileage which, while not a…