Innholdsfortegnelse for August 07, 2019 i Autocar

AFTER ALMOST A decade of build-up, we’ve had our first official contact with the reborn Land Rover Defender (p42). While tantalisingly under camouflage, the Defender still revealed many of its secrets and off-road prowess in our ride. How the Defender will ultimately be judged is on that off-road mettle, that toughness, that durability. To that end, as Matt Saunders discovers, Land Rover has overhauled its development process to give this car a kicking of epic proportions, to really push that durability and make sure it gets back up for more. For the car’s credibility, long-term success and viability, it simply had to be done. The company’s perception on reliability remains a long way from the industry’s best, to put it kindly, not only for its latest high-tech models but also…

Horacio Pagani, the founder of Italy’s most extravagant hypercar maker, has confirmed that a fully electric hypercar is in the works – but the highly regarded V12 engine will stick around for some time. Pagani is a man who has always found it difficult to say no to his customers. His company’s first hypercar, the Zonda, had its retirement delayed for years because affluent buyers, including Lewis Hamilton, begged for the chance to buy one. Now we’re facing what is meant to be the last version of the Huayra, the BC Roadster, although Pagani himself admits that plan may slip. “It is scheduled to be the last production model,” he told Autocar. “But I am also listening to some private collectors who are asking maybe for a one-off or a…

Ford’s new Puma SUV will be priced from £20,070 when it arrives in the UK towards the end of the year. Details published on company car lists confirm the launch range will rise to £27,340 in its highest spec: a 153bhp 1.0 Ecoboost petrol engine with mild-hybrid tech in ST-Line X First Edition trim. A 123bhp version is also available with or without the mild-hybrid system and all models have a six-speed manual gearbox. Prices for the diesel have yet to be detailed, suggesting that it will be launched at a later date.…

THE ADOPTION OF common charging and payment standards for EV charging points is a vital step towards the widespread take-up of EVs, according to one of the biggest makers of charging points. Swiss-based technology firm ABB supplies EV charging equipment to a number of networks worldwide, including Ionity, which recently opened its first 350kW rapid-charging site in the UK. Tarak Mehta, the boss of ABB’s electrification division, said working towards common charging standards is “a role we take very seriously.” Mehta said that although he understands the reasons, the situation is complicated by car firms wanting to gain an edge with their own systems and infrastructure projects. “With the nature of politics, the way the automotive OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] feel about themselves lends itself to not having too many…

It’s not often you find worthwhile, literal meaning in a car’s name, but the Lamborghini Huracán Evo is one such car. So extensive is the roster of updates the Sant’Agata firm has introduced to its junior supercar that referring to it as a mere facelift doesn’t quite seem to do it justice. In practically every way you could care to think of, this represents a bona fide evolution of the Huracán breed. The standard car was certainly a highly likeable member of the supercar class, but its charm came more from the ferocity and uniqueness of its naturally aspirated V10 engine than any ability to impress on road or track with seemingly endless reserves of balletic grace and agility. The Evo sets out to right the wrongs of its predecessor…

Welcome to the first stage of Volvo’s journey towards a new normal, and the first mild hybrid to leave the factory since it was announced that every new model would have some kind of electrification. This new B5 is still fuelled from the black pump but gains a 48V starter motor/generator and battery that can regenerate power through braking to then aid the engine under acceleration. Volvo claims this assistance delivers fuel efficiency savings and emissions reductions of as much as 15% over the outgoing motor, going some way to counteract the recent negative views on diesel. It behaves largely like the outgoing car, the mild-hybrid system so deftly integrated that you could easily think progress was being made entirely by the 2.0-litre diesel four-pot. Assistance is subtle and only…

VERDICT The Ferrari 488 Pista offers an on-track driving experience of incredible pace, and handling poise that’s more enticing than anything we’ve seen in recent years from Lamborghini, McLaren or even Porsche. It may not have smashed the Senna’s dry handling track lap record, and it may not be quicker into three figures than a 720S – but by prioritising accessibility and vivacity of driver appeal, it arguably beats its rivals for sheer excitement and instant fun factor, without perhaps beating all of them for deep-lying driver reward. Compared with its direct predecessor, the car’s greatness will be debated long and hard. The 458 Speciale was less brutal, but the major components of its driving experience seemed more harmoniously balanced. The 488 Pista is faster and more visceral, but it’s…

I need to level with you: I’m about as useful for reviewing motorcycles as I am for reviewing gas cookers. I use both every now and again but am hardly au fait with the latest technology. Regardless, here’s me doing the equivalent of telling you what I think about a restaurant kitchen. It’s a motorcycle called the Ace and it’s made by Ariel, which makes the Atom 4 car I’m more familiar with, and which you also see here. The Atom relaunched the Ariel name in 2000, after it had spent a period of dormancy because it went the way of so many British automotive companies in the 1970s. The Atom is now in its fourth generation and it’s better, faster and more compelling than ever. It runs a 2.0-litre…

Dealer’s despair MATT PRIOR’S PIECE about ambiguous car names struck a chord (‘Tester’s Notes’, 24 July). I bought an early Ford Ka, and trying to book its first service proved tricky. “I’d like to book a service for my Ka” (pronounced ‘car’, as per Ford’s advertising). “Certainly sir, what vehicle is it?” “It’s a Ka.” “Yes sir, I need to know which model…” Now in my 60s, I’m having different problems. Yesterday I was in a dealer looking to buy a new car. First I had to convince them I wanted to pay for the car and keep it. And no, I don’t want an SUV. Then I wanted the smallest wheels possible, sible, ideally steel. Leather? No thanks, too hot in summer, freezing in winter. Sunroof? As a slaphead…

MILEAGE 16,100 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if this newest twist on the Range Rover formula is worthy of the badge – and its price As road trips go, a recent one in the Range Rover Velar was one of the more unusual. The quiet, comfortable 150-mile drive was unremarkable, but once we arrived at our destination, things got more interesting. The car managed to get on two wheels, as the picture above shows, while conquering one of many extreme obstacles, and it, and we, emerged without a scratch for an equally relaxing and unremarkable 150-mile drive home. The term ‘road-biased’ is oft used to describe the Velar, but as our day at the Land Rover Experience West Country (LREWC) in Honiton, Devon, showed, that’s very much a relative…

MINI COOPER Panel gaps were never a strong point for BMC and that seems to dog its cars even today. Witness my Mini. The driver’s door in particular seems to have only a casual acquaintance with the bodywork in which it is supposed to fit. I don’t think there is a lot I can do, apart from muck about with some of the door hinge bolts. I have been doing this with little effect, although there is no chance of me falling out because it never pops open. The Lorry is a bit similar, but it just needs a heroic slam to secure.…

As a used car, the Octavia hatchback lives up to Skoda’s reputation as a great-value brand. Prices of new ones have been creeping up of late but used examples are much more realistically priced. How about £9490 for a 2016/65-reg 1.4 TSI SE L with 49,000 miles? It has one previous owner and full Skoda service history. Features include a sat-nav, electric windows all round, climate control, leather and suede seats and parking sensors. And that’s before we start talking about the massive, 590-litre boot (1580 litres with the back seats folded) and generous cabin space that come as standard with every Octavia hatchback. The current model was launched in 2013 in five-door hatchback and estate forms. It didn’t look radically different from the version it replaced but it was…

HONDA CR-X COUPÉ Cars like this Mk2 CR-X (the model was produced from 1988 to 1991) make you wonder where Honda’s mojo has been hiding all these years. It was an exquisite thing that came in 1.5, 1.6 16v and 1.6 VTEC forms. This one, a 1990 1.6 16v with just 46,000 miles and described as being in very good condition, made £6216 at auction. Meanwhile, if you’ve another £1500 to invest, there’s an unmolested and rust-free 1991-reg 1.6 VTEC with 100,000 miles, and a new cambelt and water pump, going for £7750 in the small ads. Good VTECs are rare, so it’s worth checking out.…

“The 500 family will carry premium pricing to absorb the extra cost of the all-electric drivetrain” Fiat is planning a major two-pronged renewal of its European range centred around its two biggest sellers: the 500 and Panda. The new 500 is due to be launched as a pure-electric model in the middle of 2020. Also on the way are the 500 Giardiniera estate, a new 500X and a Tipo replacement that’s likely to be an SUV. The latest elements of the strategy were debated at a high-level meeting in Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ Turin design centre late last month, led by Fiat CEO Olivier François. Talking to Autocar about that meeting, François said: “Fiat has a double mission. Urban mobility is core today, but at the same time, it means family…

PAGANI HAS REVEALED a lighter and more powerful version of its Huayra hypercar, the BC Roadster. Named to commemorate Benny Caiola, the Ferrari collector who was Pagani’s first customer, the BC Roadster follows a coupé version, revealed in 2016, but has a removable carbonfibre hard-top and an uprated engine with even more power. Pagani claims the BC weighs just 1250kg, 30kg less than the regular roadster, with a structure that incorporates conventional carbonfibre alongside even rarer and lighter materials. New aerodynamic elements and the vast rear wing create a claimed peak of 500kg of downforce at 174mph. The car even has flaps next to the exhaust’s catalytic converters to divert gases over some of the underfloor elements like an F1 car’s blown diffuser. As with other Huayras, the BC Roadster…

Ferrari is preparing to launch the first of the 15 new models promised in September 2018 and due to arrive before 2023. The man tasked with leading the development of them all is chief technology officer Michael Leiters, who joined the company in 2015. We sat down with him on a recent trip to Maranello. Ferrari will soon launch its SF90 Stradale supercar. Why have you made it a hybrid? “We’re convinced we’ve made the next step with hybrid technology. We had the alternative of an internal-combustion-engined car but the one element that really convinced us was all-wheel drive [due to the SF90’s twin electric motors at the front]. “You gain a lot with all-wheel drive. Not just in the 0-100kph time but in a very sporty way to the…

Chinese start-up Human Horizons has unveiled a radical electric SUV concept. The HiPhi 1 has been developed by a team led by the former boss of JLR’s Special Vehicle Operations division and is said to closely preview a production car due by 2021. The 5.2m-long concept has 562 sensors to offer ‘higher-level’ autonomy. Top versions will do 0-62mph in less than four seconds, with a range of up to 400 miles.…

UNDER THE SKIN JESSE CROSSE AUTOMATICS AND SEMI-AUTO dual-clutch transmissions may be technically brilliant but there’s still plenty of space left in the market for manual gearboxes – and it’s not only petrolheads who think so. Volkswagen recently announced its new MQ281 manual transmission, which will supersede the MQ250 and replace the MQ350 in some applications. Manual gearboxes suit low-cost, entry-level cars because they are cheaper to make than autos and consume less energy from the engine. They’re efficient because they don’t have any internal hydraulics or other components like clutches or actuators to consume power and they weigh less. The full name of VW’s new ’box is MQ281-6F, ‘6’ for six-speed and ‘F’ for front-wheel drive. It has been specifically designed to suit the trend of downsizing engines for…

MODEL TESTED 488 PISTA Price £252,765 • Power 710bhp • Torque 568lb ft • 0-60mph 2.8sec • 30-70mph in fourth 3.5sec • Fuel economy 17.2mpg • CO2 emissions 263g/km • 70-0mph 37.7m The track-ready ‘special series’ V8 supercar, delivered as the sun sets on another mid-engined Modenese model generation, has become a go-to piece of product strategy for Ferrari. Starting with the 360 Challenge Stradale in 2003 and taking in the subject of this week’s road test – the 488 Pista – we’ve now seen a line of four consecutive examples of the breed. However, none of the 488 Pista’s predecessors – the 360 CS, 430 Scuderia and 458 Speciale, and before those the 348 GT Competizione of 1993 – represented such a titanic leap in performance as this. Thanks to…

Men (and women) in sheds, building cars are, surely, an essential part of Britain’s automotive culture, keeping alive the country’s passion for fixing and fabricating. Tucked away in the shed at the back of the garden, in the garage or in a workshop hidden on a farm, they keep a low profile until the wraps come off and out through the doors passes an eye-popping creation, the like of which no one but the dog has seen before. There are thousands of these enthusiasts across the land, but we could only spare a day to meet three of them. For our purposes, they weren’t your usual weekend tinkerers; rather, small businesses doing quite remarkable things. Even more remarkably, all three (plus a fourth we spoke to by phone) are based…

MILEAGE 9670 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if Bentley’s third-generation Continental GT rules the roost as the ultimate grand tourer With a road trip in the works, it seemed the ideal time to experience Bentley’s aftersales service. We were lucky enough to have had the Continental GT thoroughly serviced before it arrived at Autocar, so the sensible choice was a simple health check, just to ensure everything was as it should be. I turned up at Jack Barclay Aftersales in Wandsworth, London, on a Friday morning, and already I’d behaved contrary to the typical Bentley owner. On arriving, David Fellowes, group aftersales director of HR Owen, Jack Barclay’s umbrella firm, explained that 95% of cars serviced at the site are picked up and delivered back to the owner. As…

Toyota Yaris We welcome back Darren Smith: “You featured my Yaris 121,000 miles back and I thought I’d let you know it’s still going strong, at nearly 150,000 miles. All it has had is a new exhaust, a bit of welding on the driver’s side rear jacking point and routine servicing. “It gets serviced every 10,000 miles, is washed regularly and takes me to France once a year and Norwich a lot. It’s got such character. I love the freaky 3D dashboard and it’s nippy and so good on fuel. What is it with these Toyotas? They just keep on going…”…

Jaguar X-Type 3.0 V6 Sovereign AWD Auto Estate Price £6949 It’s a brave person (or idiot) who proposes an X-Type as a future classic but one day, when all Jags are electrified, XJSs have crumbled to dust and all the E-Types are locked in strong rooms, Jaguar’s orphan motor may just have its day. Not all versions, obviously, but possibly ones like this 3.0 V6 Sovereign estate. The 230bhp V6 is good for 0-62mph in 7.3sec and Sovereign spec brings proper Jag kit, including leather, walnut veneer, powered seats and climate control. Our 2005 car has done 42,000 miles and has full Jaguar service history.…

A Bentley Turbo R looks like 2.5 tonnes of expensive trouble you’d be mad to consider buying except that, bought well, you’re looking at an investment whose running costs aren’t as painful as you might think. How about £420 for the 6000-mile service, £800 for the 12,000 and £1280 for the 24,000? Much more than a Ford Focus admittedly, but the R is a special car and a complicated beast that needs the regular attention of an expert technician. “If it’s been well maintained, costs aren’t too bad at all,” says Adrian Worth of Prestige Services Leeds, a Bentley specialist. “It’s when people bring us something that’s been neglected. In that event, getting an R up to scratch is expensive.” He’s thinking of the kind of Turbo R that, at best,…

An expert’s view ADRIAN WORTH, DIRECTOR, PRESTIGE SERVICES LEEDS “I joined Appleyard Rippon, a Bentley agent, in Leeds, as a technician in 1974 and left 20 years later to start my own business, with a partner, maintaining Bentleys and Rolls-Royces. I’ve worked on lots of Turbo Rs over the years. Like all prestige cars, they need to be serviced regularly by people who know what they’re doing and what to look for. Preventative maintenance is key to controlling running costs. Never buy one with anything less than full specialist or main dealer history. I’d avoid the early and troublesome carburettor engine.” Buyer beware ▪ ENGINE Early carburettor models can have failed carburettor gaskets. Post-1996 cars can suffer failure of their rubber head gaskets. Noisy tappets should be replaced with original…

BMW’s M division is finalising development of a lightweight version of the M2. Carrying the long-used CS nameplate into production early next year, the new coupé builds on developments brought to the M2 Competition with the intention of challenging the new Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 for dynamic ability. Set to be priced at more than £60,000, it will act as a swansong for the current car before a new rear-wheel-drive successor arrives in 2021. Among the changes for the CS is a revised aero package consisting of a front bumper with a more pronounced lower lip, revised side sills, a large rear deck spoiler and a reprofiled rear bumper. The M Performance carbonfibre roof will also be standard, lowering the car’s centre of gravity. The interior of the CS is…

Vauxhall is planning a revival of its now-dormant performance sub-brand, VXR, and a hot Corsa is on the cards as the next model in the pipeline. Although a source at the firm indicated that Vauxhall’s rival to Ford’s ST and Honda’s Type R is “in a bit of a hiatus now”, Autocar understands company executives are considering a return to the hot hatch sphere in the near future. There was some concern that new owner PSA, engaged in a dramatic profit-driven turnaround of the Luton brand, would consign VXR to the history books. The French firm is yet to officially confirm a new GTI version of the Corsa’s platform-sharing sibling, the Peugeot 208. But bosses are understood to be waiting to decide between petrol or electric propulsion for a new…

Aston Martin has released its half-year results for 2019 and the red ink – a £79 million loss – sent the company’s share price tumbling even lower. Since Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings plc was floated on the stock market in October 2018, the share price has collapsed from £19, closing at just £4.98 on the day it revealed its losses. With a significant risk of a global downturn in the automotive industry (see p20), Aston Martin – a victim of a number of previous recessions – could once again be left floundering. On a call to journalists, Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer was at pains to stress that the company was progressing with caution and “determined not to repeat historic mistakes”. One of those was building too many cars…

The first half of 2019 has been unusually turbulent for the world’s car makers, and coming off the back of a solid 2018, the reverse into financial losses for some firms has been a surprise. Weak sales in China can be blamed for some of the trouble, but concerns over global trade wars, Brexit, Dieselgate and anti-trust legal action in Germany are also factors. Of the eight firms we looked at, five – BMW, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford, Nissan and PSA – made a profit in the second quarter or half year. But six of the eight recorded reduced profits, in some cases by a dramatic margin, such as Ford, Mercedes and Nissan. It is worth noting that the April to June trading period for Japanese companies is called Q1,…

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Despite only selling cars in China, Nio is already the world’s second most successful premium EV maker, having delivered nearly 19,000 cars in just 13 months of sales. Most of those have been the ES8 that the company launched with, but the cheaper and more dynamic ES6 is the model the brand hopes will propel it towards its target of producing 100,000 cars a year. The ES6 sits on the same platform as the ES8 and plays crossover to its big sister’s SUV. All-wheel drive is standard, with the regular version of the car using a pair of 215bhp permanent magnet motors, one turning each axle. The Premier Edition, driven here, and the forthcoming Performance model, upgrades the rear unit to a beefier 322bhp induction motor. There are two lithium…

The Pista is the kind of car to make any track driving session unforgettable. Pointy and alert in its every move, and super-responsive in almost everything it does, it feels nimble and balanced in a way to surpass its every rival. The flipside of that pervasive nimbleness? Well, the car didn’t really threaten to beat our dry handling track lap record, which speaks to the fact that there isn’t the very last word on high-speed stability or aerodynamic downforce here. Driving the car quickly means dialling down the stability and traction control systems into ‘CT off’ mode, and adopting a style in which the car feels habitually on the brink of oversteer – with its outside rear wheel always spinning slightly beyond the limit of traction – and constantly being…

You don’t have far to go from Land Rover’s UK headquarters these days to find the developing world. This is not, rest assured, because Brexit is biting particularly hard around the English Midlands and property prices in leafy Leamington Spa have suddenly taken a drastic turn (heaven forbid). It’s actually because there’s a rutted, ridge-strewn, pothole-ridden lane, made of gravel and mud and sand, at JLR’s head office proving ground, that’s called the Developing World test track – and it’s intended to be not unlike the kind of roads a Land Rover might be called upon to use anywhere from Kisangani to Kolkata, via the rougher agricultural spots of Kettering and the Kielder Forest. And right now, wouldn’t you know it, there’s even a Land Rover on it. A real…

If you thought of MIRA pretty much as a test track in the Midlands, you wouldn’t be alone. When it was taken over by Japanese firm Horiba in 2015, The Telegraph’s first paragraph called the Nuneaton company a “car test track and development centre that has served as a playground for motoring shows like Top Gear and Fifth Gear”. The set of tracks it was known for were laid over the former RAF Lindley’s runways and taxiways when that was re-purposed to become the government-backed Motor Industry Research Association’s base in 1948. When the chairman of Austin came to open the site officially, he brought a pair of ceremonial scissors, not knowing the MD had arranged to blow the tape apart with explosives. Back then MIRA was a few runways…

“The orange orb was prone to performing impromptu forward rolls” Cars shaped as foodstuffs – there have been quite a few. We’ve had cars shaped like sausages, creme-filled chocolate eggs, cheese burgers, ice-cream cornets and even crayfish. But none of them has quite the charm of the Outspan orange Mini. Which, as the pictures on these pages show, is an outlandishly dimensioned citrus fruit on wheels. There were originally half a dozen of these promotional spheres of influence. Designed and built by the Brian Thwaites company of Sussex between 1972 and 1974, they were used by South African orange producer Outspan to promote its fruits around Europe, and rather effectively so, one suspects. The company is still in business today, and at least three of the Oranges are known to…

FINAL REPORT MILEAGE 6422 WHY WE RAN IT We know the 720S is one of the world’s greatest driving machines. But is it an equally rewarding car with which to live? So that’s it. My six months as a supercar keeper are up. Y27 MCL is heading back to Woking and from there into the presumably grateful arms of a new owner. In those six months I’ve driven it farther than most real owners will drive their 720Ss in three years and in conditions I expect would tempt few of them out of their dehumidified garages. By contrast, Y27 has yet to spend its first night under cover. Instead, it has been driven around a race track, sprinted to Geneva and back and been up and down more mountain passes…

QUESTION The trouble with the Goodwood Festival of Speed is that it’s over for another year. Where can I get another fix of high-octane motors this summer? Barry Harkness, Bristol ANSWER Look no further than Car Fest South, Chris Evans’ annual festival of cars, food and music held at Laverstoke Park Farm near Winchester, Hampshire. This year, it takes place on 23-25 August. In addition to the track, which incorporates a re-creation of Monaco’s Swimming Pool section, the organisers promise there’ll be two paddocks brimming with cars of all types and a 60th anniversary tribute to the Mini, plus the festival’s traditional motor show of new models. Visit carfest.org. JE QUESTION Is it sensible to buy a Vauxhall Insignia 1.8 VVT converted to run on LPG? It’s eight years and…

BMW 840Ci £2995 If you think today’s 8 Series is an eyeful, its forebear of 1990 to 1999 made an even bigger splash. We found a 1999-reg 840Ci Sport, the version with the later 4.4-litre V8 engine that arrived in 1995. It has done 100,000 miles and costs just £2995. It must be whiffy at that money and there’s certainly no mention of service history. Still, it could be worth a punt… The 4.0-litre motor, the 4.4’s predecessor, suffered problems with its Nikasil bore liners. Most cars were repaired under warranty and the rest scrapped, so if you find one, it’s likely to be okay and they can be cheap. We spotted a 1994-reg 4.0-litre with 140,000 miles for £5600. It’s not as cheap as our £2995 4.4-litre find, but…