Innholdsfortegnelse for April 24, 2019 i Autocar

A FEW YEARS ago, even the most progressive motor show in China would have been undermined by a local ‘copycat’ car ripping off the design of a western model. Yet last month, a definitive line in the sand was drawn when Land Rover won a court case in China against local car maker Landwind for copying the design of its Range Rover Evoque. At the Shanghai motor show last week, there was not a single true copycat in attendance. Instead, we could concentrate on some of the now genuine world-class creativity of the local car makers and hear for the first time what many of the established set in the west had long been fearing: concrete export plans (p10). Chinese brands still have a long way to go in areas…

The new US-only Kia Stinger GTS packs a new drift mode that’s likely to appear on standard Stinger GTs when the car is updated in 2020. The limited-edition GTS features a newly developed all-wheel-drive system that includes the drift mode. Although all-wheel drive is available in some markets, only rear-drive Stingers are currently sold in the UK. Kia says the new version of the Stinger’s all-wheel-drive system is “peppered with rear-wheel-drive DNA”. Called D-AWD, it’s intended to close the gap in behaviour between existing all-wheel-drive and rear-drive GTs. The D-AWD system has a mechanical limited-slip rear differential. There are three different drive settings, including a drift mode that sends 100% of power to the rear wheels and holds gears without shifting up. The Stinger GTS uses the same powertrain as…

Mazda has committed to reducing its average ‘well-to-wheel’ CO2 emissions – which take into account the production of the car and the fuel that powers it – to 90% of its 2010 levels by 2050. And the firm insists the combustion engine has a key role to play in that. As well as developing more efficient compression ignition petrol engines, Mazda is funding research into renewable liquid fuel made from algae biofuel. When burnt, it only releases CO2 recently removed from the atmosphere via photosynthesis. Mazda believes biofuel can be produced on land unsuitable for agriculture, using only saline and waste water, resulting in a cheap, viable way of making combustion engines more efficient.…

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Dunkin’ Donuts, late-night chat shows, Twinkies, Skechers, Seinfeld and the Toyota Camry – all concepts that, while proving widely popular in the good ol’ US of A, haven’t transferred particularly well to the UK. And the Camry is a strong case in point. American buyers have always loved the idea of large, comfortable, petrol-powered saloons (Toyota sells more than 400,000 Camrys a year in the US alone). But the British have typically favoured smaller, more nimble diesel cars from ‘premium’ brands. It’s the reason the Camry was canned back in 2004; while the European big saloon market went mad for diesel, Toyota didn’t offer one and sales predictably slumped. But now, in an ironic turn of events, the Camry will soon return to British dealers due to – yup, you…

VERDICT Four years have passed since AMG’s latest take on the C-Class Coupé appeared with a downsized, turbocharged engine, and yet the appeal of this anachronistic car remains almost entirely undiminished. And while it would be easy to attribute that appeal to such an utterly thunderous powertrain – one unique in this class – with real-world performance to make supercars sit up and take note, AMG’s real success has been to make its lovable coupé-cum-hot-rod simultaneously more engaging to drive hard and more accommodating of British roads. The chassis electronics are a particular highlight, if also a touch elaborate, and there’s a delicacy to the ride that wasn’t always there. That all being said, the architecture and finish of the interior is beginning to feel its age, and AMG must…

Fresh from the pleasure of unveiling two surprise concept cars at the Geneva motor show – the widely admired Fiat Centoventi and the Alfa Romeo Tonale – FCA Group design chief Klaus Busse and his team now have the pleasure of being able to walk 500 metres from their studio to step into the past and admire more than 250 historic Fiats, Alfa Romeos, Lancias and Autobianchis. They can do this because FCA’s new Heritage Hub, housed in a huge industrial building within Fiat’s Mirafiori factory and engineering complex in Turin, is where the design centree is also housed. The former Officina 81 once manufactured transmission components, but now its sympathetically restored 15,000 square metres of space is dedicated not only to displaying a fabulous array of heritage cars…

I’m quite astonished at the number of letters predicting the demise of the car industry when a mandated speed cap comes into place. The manufacturers and government have both said these can be overridden with a step down on the accelerator. If you must go 90-100mph, you can. John Impey (Your Views, 10 April) suggestssts you’ll lose performance and handling. How? There’s still be the acceleration to get us up to speed, and even if limited to 70mph, we will still get to use that acceleration. I don’t see how handling will suffer. That makes no sense; handling matters at all speeds, not just at high speed. Alyn Scott (Your Views, 10 April) thinks the (debatably) beautiful styling of the likes of Porsche and Jaguar will be as irrelevant as…

FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out if the e-Niro truly is an electric car you can own without having to make any compromises Historiography. An unlikely word to start an introduction to the Kia e-Niro with, perhaps, but one that I suspect is relevant. It concerns the study of how history is written, and how time can change how events are perceived. Imagine what we might now be presented with had Germany won the Second World War, for instance, or the multiple variations of the truth that will be presented 10 years hence when (or if) Brexit has played out. Today, we know that the e-Niro is a good car; class-leading in many estimations, in fact, to the point that it won the prestigious What Car? Car…

Gordon the Golf went in for an overdue service and its first MOT. The great news is that it passed, but it did need a couple of new tyres. I went for top-of-the-line Michelins, which were the most costly part of the garage visit at just over £150. The side note is that the 21-year-old needed a set of wheels to get to work and rejected out of hand my motley collection of classics. She wanted mum’s Cayenne. The insurer offered four days cover for £50. Cheaper than hiring a wreck.…

The cheapest new MX-5 is the £19,495 1.5 132 SE convertible, but why spend that when you can spear a four-year-old 2.0 SE-L Nav rag-top for £10,995? Why subject yourself to the curse of depreciation when there’s a perfectly good MX-5 down the road on which the leeches have done their worst? Okay, it’s done 53,000 miles and, for all we know, it’s had a couple of owners. It’ll have a few scratches and maybe the brake calipers look a little tired. On the flipside, it’s a Mazda-approved car, which means it’s passed a multi-point inspection and has a 12-month, unlimited-mileage warranty and breakdown cover. The Mk4 MX-5 launched in 2015. Even smaller, almost as light despite having more kit, just as pretty in an edgier way and with a…

One of our number recalls, back in 1985, watching his boss drive his gleaming beige SD1 into the company car park, locking the car and, as he walked away, glancing back to savour its stylish shape one last time. Our colleague laughed then but he’s not laughing now. What he’d give to have this 1986 SD1 3.5 V8 Vanden Plas, finished in Silver Birth and with a blue velour interior, on his driveway now. It belonged to a fiercely enthusiastic SD1 club member and has an extensive service history file. It made £6600 at auction, a snip for something so charismatic, stylish and opulent. Worth a backward glance any day.…

Volkswagen is considering an all-electric off-roader that would rival the new Land Rover Defender as part of its ID family of vehicles, design boss Klaus Bischoff has confirmed. The company will later this year launch the production version of the ID hatch, the first machine built on its new MEB electric architecture – and it will be followed by a string of fully electric models on that platform in the coming years. Speaking on the eve of the Shanghai motor show, where the firm launched the new ID Roomzz large SUV concept, Bischoff responded to a question about Volkswagen producing a more traditional MEB-based 4x4 by saying: “Maybe one of the next ID family members is a more rugged thing than we’ve seen.” At the Geneva motor show in March,…

THE NEW GENESIS Mint concept could make production in three to four years, according to brand boss Manfred Fitzgerald. Speaking to Autocar at the New York show, Fitzgerald said: “I believe that there is a white spot on the map [for a car like this] that nobody is really catering to and it’s something we should really take a stab at.” The Hyundai-owned brand calls the Mint “highly manoeuvrable and exhilarating to drive”. The concept, which could spawn a Honda Urban EV rival, is claimed to offer 200 miles of range and is capable of 350kW fast charging. The Mint ditches a traditional boot and instead has a parcel shelf accessed by scissor-style side openings. The three-box design features short front and rear overhangs, wrap-around light bands and a ‘crest’…

IF LAST WEEK’S column was anything to go by, EV motors are far more interesting than they look. Once people get their heads around them, they may hold the same fascination that engines have enjoyed since they were invented. The electric machines (the correct name for motor-generators) in EVs today take various forms electrically, but the one thing they have in common is that they are all radial flux machines. Flux is the scientific name for the direction taken by the magnetic fields but, in simple terms, it means they are cylindrical in shape with a rotor spinning inside a cylindrical stator. There is, however, another type of electric machine emerging, and it’s one that some car makers are looking at intently, especially for integrating with a combustion engine to…

“An unspecified component supply problem” is the bone offered up to the historical record to explain the near year-long delay of the third SVR-branded performance car from Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations division: the Jaguar F-Pace SVR. This hot SUV was just weeks from its launch to the press in July last year when, as a result of a batch of components delivered for production which apparently weren’t as Jaguar ordered them, the decision was taken to cancel the launch and delay the car until the problem could be fixed. That’s the official reason, at any rate: a component supply issue that took nine months to resolve. Hmm. Not sure we’re getting the whole truth there. And it just so happens that SVO has had a new boss, at…

All the PR puff in the world won’t get your new brand off the ground; only the cold, hard reality of sheet metal can make it a reality. The DS 7 Crossback was the first fresh step for Citroëns premium-slash-luxury spin-off but, with a new model launch planned for every year until 2021, the next step is the DS 3 Crossback. Fixed firmly upon the Audi Q2 and Mini Countryman, the DS 3 Crossback calls shotgun on the PSA Group’s CMP platform that will provide foundations for thousands of European cars over the next decade – chief among them the Vauxhall Corsa and Peugeot 208 – and crucially is future-proofed for pure EV operation. Those details are swept away by the visual impact of the 3 Crossback, however, regardless of…

MODEL TESTED MERCEDES-AMG C63 S COUPE Price £78,023 Power 503bhp Torque 516lb ft 0-60mph 4.3sec 30-70mph in fourth 4.7sec Fuel economy 26.0mpg CO2 251-256g/km (WLTP) 70-0mph 45.2m In 1966, Hans Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher left Mercedes-Benz to begin a new business creating racing engines. Humbly headquartered in a former mill, their departure nevertheless quickly paid off, not least when an AMG-Mercedes 300 SEL 6.8 crossed the line an astonishing second at the 1971 Spa 24 Hours, trouncing far nimbler racing cars from BMW and Alfa Romeo. In the years since, it’s not difficult to imagine Aufrecht and Melcher (the ‘G’ in ‘AMG’ is for Großaspach, the town where Aufrecht was born) witnessing the growth of their tuning outfit with wide-eyed astonishment. The Mercedes-AMG F1 team has now secured five world…

A recent straw poll on Autocar’s Twitter asked which of today’s hot hatch stars would take victory. There were a few chirrups in support of the Volkswagen – the Golf GTI we have here is a last-of-the-line special from an engineering powerhouse and so ought to be rather good – but, a little tediously, almost all predicted a knockout blow from Honda. We shouldn’t be surprised. This is the FK8 Civic Type R: the best driver’s Honda since the DC2 Integra darted onto the Japanese domestic market in the mid-1990s, and a car whose behind-the-wheel zing tends to unify the opinion riven by its design. Honda might not have volume enough in Europe to support continued production at the Swindon plant where the Type R is exclusively built, but the…

COMPARISON Porsche 911 vs Porsche 959 The new 911 has a spec closer than you think to that of Porsche’s original supercar. Can it stir emotions in the same way? Andrew Frankel decides USED SPECIAL Best used cars for £15k Used car alternatives for the price of a new small SUV FEATURE Dacia rallying in Morocco Hero drivers, unlikely cars and spectacular locations EVERY WEEK FIRST DRIVE New Volvo S60 Volvo’s take on the BMW 3 Series arrives in the UK for the first time ROAD TEST Kia e-Niro How good is Kia’s game-changing EV? The eight-page treatment awaits USED BUYING GUIDE Renault Sport Mégane 250 Today’s Mégane RS is shaded by its predecessor. Here’s how to buy one SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p24…

MILEAGE 3652 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if Merc’s Golf rival has come of age – and to try to pick the ‘perfect’ spec While it may look suspiciously like I booked a French and Belgian road trip in the originally scheduled week of Brexit to take advantage of Calais’ reasonably priced liquid refreshment establishments just in case such an opportunity should not be a thing in the future, believe me when I say it was a coincidence. Well, not entirely coincidental, but when in Rome and all that… Maybe Theresa May should visit Calais to get what everyone must agree is a good deal on at least something – and I can recommend to her the surprisingly Tardis-like Mercedes A-Class to transport the liquid spoils back to Blighty.…

The Ka is here mainly for the fact that you can routinely buy a decent one for under a grand, so in these difficult times when you need something for the station and supermarket run and don’t want to worry about car park dents or outrageous costs, it’s ideal. It isn’t the most economical small car (at 42.2mpg), but officially a non-power steering job would manage 47.9mpg, which is decent enough these days. Rust is the killer so check for it everywhere. Original spec was just split rear seat and radio/cassette. Too basic for you? Then get a Collection or Luxury or choose from the huge number of special editions.…

Price new £34,475. Price now £29,500 Hurry and you may just grab the last unsold BMW M140i, perhaps even a Championship Edition, before stocks run out. BMW has stopped making it ahead of production starting on its replacement, the M135i xDrive, in July. Can’t find an unsold M140i? Then have a go at a pre-reg, such as the one we found. It’s a 2019/68-reg car in tasteful black with a paltry 150 miles on the clock (fingers crossed they’ve been gentle). There was only one available last time we looked, so it really is a case of get it while you can.…

AFTER LOTUS LAST week confirmed it is in the advanced stages of developing an all-electric hypercar called Type 130, Autocar has been given an exclusive walk-around of a full-sized clay model at the firm’s Hethel base. Lotus design director Russell Carr said the Type 130 is a similar length to the 4.4m-long Evora but will sit closer to the ground and have a track nearly 2.0m wide. It uses a carbonfibre structure and will be built in Hethel away from the company’s main line. The cabin section adopts a teardrop shape for aerodynamic purposes, but Carr claimed there will be more room inside than in a Ford GT. Two substantial air tunnels in the rear bodywork, with the tail-lights integrated around them, are inspired by the Venturi tunnels of Le…

The legislative push towards battery-powered electric vehicles has taken hold across most of the world. Indeed, the demands of the European Union’s new car fleet CO2 emissions requirements for 2025 and 2030 leave manufacturers no option but to build significant numbers of EVs in the future. There are also tough EV targets in place in China, forcing car firms to react. Volkswagen, scarred by the Dieselgate scandal, is going even further by taking a huge bet on mass-manufacturing EVs from next year. There’s no doubt that travelling in EVs has a smaller CO2 footprint than even the best internal combustion engine cars because the efficiency of a battery-electric drivetrain is around three times that of a normal petrol car and more than twice that of the latest Toyota Prius hybrid.…

A high-powered AMG coupé of old might have fallen to pieces against the stopwatch, but while the automatic gearbox in the C63 S remains a touch ponderous for circuit driving, the car impresses overall. Mercedes’ carbon-ceramic brakes resist wilting lap after lap and inspire confidence with their consistency and power. Michelin’s road-biased Pilot Super Sport tyres also bite keenly, although they were past their best after five or six laps. The aggressive electronic diff helps create massive traction – so much so that short of violently prodding the throttle, good mid-corner balance eventually gives way to numbing understeer. The system is also hugely effective though slow, tight corners, allowing for slingshot acceleration in the dry. And while the car’s raised centre of gravity is detectable compared with sports cars such…

If you only read headlines, you could believe UK Automotive Manufacturing Plc’s entire business (still healthy despite the predictions of doom) was conducted entirely by car makers and giant parts suppliers whose names are carried three metres high on factory walls. That’s not quite true. Below the radar sits an extensive network of discreet technical consultancies the majors commonly use to solve their thorniest problems. They survive and thrive by maintaining a limpet-grip on leading-edge technology and delivering results with a need-for-speed usually honed in motorsport. A prime example is Northants-based RML Group, an engineering and technology company with racing roots back to the 1950s and which expanded into top-level race car design and engineering in the 1980s. It has since further expanded its activities to become a leading authority…

QUESTION I will be buying my car at the end of its PCP contract but am worried I may exceed my mileage limit and have to pay the finance company a mileage surcharge. What do you advise? Dave Cummings, Chatham ANSWER PCP mileage penalties are a source of great confusion among car buyers. In your case, you have nothing to fear since by buying it you will be saving the finance company the trouble of disposing of a car that, because of its higher mileage, is worth less than the balance owing on it. They’ll be happy to take your settlement cheque and say no more about it, so go ahead and accumulate those miles with a clear conscience. JE QUESTION I’m torn between buying a used Mazda MX-5 2.0…

A CUTE QUICK HATCH Mini Cooper S £6990 A Mini Cooper S of the so-called R56 generation that ran from 2007 to 2013 makes a great hot-hatch buy. It’s powered by the BMW/Peugeot-developed Prince engine – a 1.6 turbo with an overboost function. The bad news is that cars up to 2010 were powered by a version of the engine codenamed N14, which used BMW’s infinitely variable single Vanos valve timing. It wasn’t the most reliable thing, so in 2010 it was replaced with a better version, the N18, which featured a double Vanos system and produced more power. It also had lots of mechanical upgrades. If you’re unsure which is which, the N18 has a large plastic engine cover. At the same time the clutch was improved, although it’s…

“Now’s the time to buy a 430 while prices are soft and there are plenty to choose from.” So says James Caborn, sales executive at Kent High Performance Cars. The dealership majors on Ferrari and the day before we spoke, James had sold a 15,000-mile 2006 F430 Spider F1 for £77,000, or £3000 off the screen price. It was a proper car, too, finished in Rosso Corsa with Nero Black leather, and fitted out with the interior carbon pack. On the same day, the cheapest approved used F430 in the official dealer network was also a coupé F1; another 2006-reg but with 24,000 miles, finished in Nero Black and advertised for £79,900, including the excellent, official used car warranty. But whatever you spend on a 430 (from around £60,000 for…

An expert’s view SCOTT CHIVERS, MULTIPLE FERRARI OWNER AND SELF-TAUGHT FERRARI FIXER “I owned a 430 Scuderia I bought from a Ferrari dealer in Austria and drove home from Vienna without a problem. The car had only done 6000 miles but I sold it a few months later to a chap who has barely driven it since. That’s a tragedy because like the 360, the 430 is easily a daily driver that can take serious mileages. If the entry price is too high, consider a left-hand-drive one. There’ll always be a good market in the US and Europe for it when you sell. Rosso Corsa, or what I call Resale Red, with either a black, tan or cream interior is the best combination.” Buyer beware… ▪ ENGINE First, have the…