Innholdsfortegnelse for November 20, 2019 i Autocar

“ARE THOSE DAYS really as much fun as they look?” That’s the question I get asked most about our annual Britain’s Best Driver’s Car contest, or BBDC (p38). The answer’s no: it’s better. And, sometimes, quite a lot worse. Like any big event so long in the planning, there’s plenty of worry about whether it’ll all go off well. But, every year, there’s always this one delectable moment. For me, it typically comes after the lap times are done, the judges scores are down and the pace and stress of it all is subsiding; and you look around at a pit lane full of incredible cars and can finally reflect on a head crammed full of awe and excitement. The feeling of relief mixed with that excitement of the task…

Ford has revealed the Mustang Mach-E, the firm’s first bespoke electrically powered SUV, with styling and – its maker claims – performance inspired by the muscle car. The Tesla Model Y rival is the first production car to emerge from Ford’s Team Edison, a 70-strong Detroit group tasked with designing the firm’s next-generation EVs. At launch the range-topping version will produce 332bhp, with a full GT model making around 459bhp due at a later date. Murat Gueler, Ford’s European design chief, said the aim was to create “something special that stands out from the crowd”, describing the new machine as “an EV with soul”. “At launch the range-topping version will produce 332bhp, with a 459bhp GT model due later” The new electric car has taken the Mustang title as the…

Volkswagen has previewed its plans for a new electric-powered crossover-style estate with the unveiling of the ID Space Vizzion at the Los Angeles motor show. The new car, with a claimed range of up to 367 miles on the WLTP test cycle, is the eighth ID-branded concept revealed by the German firm, which has already laid out plans to produce up to one million EVs per year by the end of 2022. The ID Space Vizzion is set to go into production alongside the ID Vizzion saloon at Volkswagen’s Emden plant in Germany in 2021. Both models are due to wear the ID 5 model name, according to senior Volkswagen officials, who suggest the production version will hold true to the concept in terms of appearance and technical specification. The…

Ferrari has revealed the 612bhp V8 front-engined Roma as a new ‘2+’ coupé with the aim of winning over new customers who “might be a bit afraid” of the firm’s more hardcore machines. The Roma is set to go on sale next summer priced from around £175,000 as a rival to the Aston Martin Vantage and Mercedes-AMG GT. It shares basic underpinnings with the Portofino drop-top but has a new retro-influenced design and upgraded powertrain. Ferrari says the car is about 70% new. Ferrari commercial chief Enrico Galliera said the Roma represents “a new kind of gran turismo”, mixing high-performance driving dynamics with a refined style. He said it would appeal to customers who would “love to drive a sports car or a Ferrari, but might be a bit afraid…

MODEL TESTED 1.4 T-GDi FIRST EDITION Price £29,195 • Power 138bhp • Torque 179lb ft • 0-60mph 9.3sec • 30-70mph in fourth 8.7sec • Fuel economy 35.1mpg • CO2 emissions 134g/km • 70-0mph 59.0m If the design, ergonomics and credible dynamics of the most recent Ceed demonstrate that Kia should now be considered alongside any other European maker of mass-market hatchbacks, then the Xceed is the derivative perfectly tailored to the current tastes of European buyers. And if that sounds like an exaggerated claim, consider this: half of car sales in the mammoth compact segment are now accounted for by crossovers of some description. The Xceed is therefore the car Kia would clearly be foolish to leave on the drawing board, and it duly ticks the boxes buyers in this class…

In a similar vein to Mazda, though not quite to the same extent, Kia is building a reputation for developing cars that handle with a little more verve than the class average. The Xceed is a case in point, and while it is still no Ford Focus Active in its sense of flow, there is a neatness to its body movements on the Hill Route at Millbrook that’s underscored by good balance and accurate steering. In short, it is a surprisingly intuitive crossover to drive. There is, of course, more body roll to contend with than you would expect to find in a low-riding hatchback like the Ceed, but the rear axle in particular feels well supported through compressions and quicker corners, and grip levels are good but not outstanding.…

PORSCHE 718 CAYMAN GT4 Price £75,348 Spec highlights 414bhp, 1420kg, 4.4sec, 189mph WHY IT’S HERE Because hot Porsche Caymans have done rather well in BBDC over the years, and this one thoroughly earned its shot in earlier drives McLAREN 600LT SPIDER Price £201,500 Spec highlights 592bhp, 1297kg, 2.9sec, 201mph WHY IT’S HERE This is our defending champion – but, as spider rather than coupé, is also technically a new car in its own right LAMBORGHINI HURACAN EVO Price £206,552 Spec highlights 631bhp, 1422kg, 2.9sec, 202mph WHY IT’S HERE Because it promises much of what made the Performance so special, just in a more usable and less expensive package ARIEL ATOM 4 Price £39,975 Spec highlights 316bhp, 595kg, 2.8sec, 162mph WHY IT’S HERE It’s already a five-star road test car and…

It seems strange to see them all again in a pit lane. Wisps of distant yet undimmed memories came floating over the mountains of Snowdonia to coalesce once more into metal, rubber, oil, fuel and water before us at the Anglesey Circuit. Can it really be 30 years since our first contest to find what we call officially ‘Britain’s Best Driver’s Car’ but which has always been known colloquially simply as ‘Handling Day’? It seems it has. We still call it Handling Day, too, even though the requirement to drive all cars extensively on road and track, plus photographic and video commitments, means it would now be more accurately described as ‘Handling Week’. To many, indeed to most gathered at Anglesey that day, this was largely a quaint collection of…

Brooklyn Cruise Terminal is an unlikely venue for a glimpse into the future. Essentially a barren car park and dock, it’s nestled in a corner of Red Hook, a faded, weathered Brooklyn neighbourhood full of run-down red brick buildings liberally splashed with graffiti. Even the stunning backdrop of distant Manhattan across the Hudson River adds only a wisp of glamour. Yet it’s in this unlikely location that thousands of people gathered on a sweltering July weekend to see the future – the future of motorsport, of electrification, the car industry and arguably even wider society. Since 2017, for one weekend every year, the terminal’s car park and nearby roads have been transformed into a 1.4-mile circuit to host the ABB Formula E Championship’s New York City ePrix. While the location…

I enjoyed the article by Andrew Frankel on the Cobra M1 exploits (30 October), which brought back happy memories of an unexpected event when I was in a junior management position some years ago in the Isle of Man. At a big function, n, my boss sat me next to an interesting former racing driver, Peter Bolton, who was co-driver to Jack Sears and one of a team who tested the Cobras on the M1. I didn’t know until we began to chat. As a young(ish) petrolhead, we talked about many motoring subjects, including speed limits, and I brought up the famous Cobra test. Peter said in a really laid-back way he was one of that team. We also talked about Donald Campbell’s Bluebird and of its brief ‘flight’ when…

MILEAGE 6221 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Because a plug-in hybrid diesel seems like the best of both worlds. But can reality live up to the theory? Thanks to this car’s claim to fame – being fitted with the only diesel-hybrid powertrain on sale at the moment – it’s far too easy to spend all your time thinking about the strengths and weakness of the system and not enough focusing on the car beneath. But there is so much to talk about, so I hope I’ll be forgiven for making more observations about its daily operation. First, I have now sorted out home charging and persuaded my phone to talk to the charger – and any public Pod Point charger I might use in future – so I now know exactly…

MILEAGE 83,752 BMW 320 The Baby Shark came home with a whopping £700 bill, and now that the cold weather has set in, it certainly isn’t £700 better. There were receipts for a new fuel pump, which had to come from Germany and wasn’t that cheap, plus all-new brake pipework. It is a bit like the very old days. I need to use it so what I have to do is dig out the screwdriver and adjust the mixture manually. The revelation that the Solex is not complete probably does not help, but I am now very close to the end of my limited patience.…

As this is written, there’s a 2015-registered 911 Carrera 3.0 PDK with 28,000 miles and full Porsche service history advertised for £59,895. It’s an early example of the facelifted 911 launched in 2015. At close to £60,000, it’s not something you’d buy on a whim, although it’s certainly cheaper than it was new, when it would have cost £76,400. Better still, like so many 911s, it’s not in standard trim. Instead, it has uprated wheels, a Bose sound system and the Sport Chrono package that takes the chassis, engine and transmission to new levels of responsiveness. It’s a great example of the facelifted 991-series 911, whose most notable advance was the adoption of a 3.0-litre flat six engine fed by twin turbochargers. In standard Carrera trim, it produces 365bhp and…

PORSCHE 968 SPORT When is a 968 Club Sport not a Club Sport? When it’s a Sport. The CS-based model came out in 1994 and was sold in the UK only. It was a CS but with some of the standard 968’s creature comforts restored. It proved a hit but, with only 306 ever made, is pretty rare today. Amazing, then, that one should turn up for sale at auction without a reserve and even more amazing that, given its condition, it should be sold for a modest £9000. The car had done 127,000 miles but had a £5000 engine rebuild by a specialist at 90,000 miles.…

“The five-seat 4x4, powered by a 542bhp 4.0 turbo V8, goes on sale today for deliveries next spring” Aston Martin has officially unveiled its all-important SUV, dubbed the DBX – a model designed to open a vital, perhaps life-saving, new tranche of its global business. The five-seat 4x4, powered by a 542bhp version of the 4.0-litre turbocharged AMG-sourced V8, will cost £158,000 before options and goes on sale today for deliveries next spring. The DBX’s striking fastback looks are revealed here for the first time, although the company has been teasing market watchers for many months by displaying disguised prototypes in public. The Aston Martin SUV’s arrival represents a unique case of a hard-pressed car company fighting fire with fire. Aston Martin, floated on the stock exchange just over a…

Peugeot will build a new hypercar to make a return to the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2022. The car maker is the third major brand, after Toyota and Aston Martin, to commit to the new racing category but has yet to reveal any details about its car (the image on the left is a PlayStation Gran Turismo concept). The new rulebook, due for use at Le Mans from 2021, allows for two approaches: either to build a prototype racing car as Toyota has done or adapt a homologated road car like Aston Martin’s Valkyrie.…

AUDI HAS REVEALED its second bespoke EV, the E-tron Sportback, which already has a raft of technical improvements over its E-tron sibling launched last year. The new coupé is the same weight, length and height as the E-tron and is identical from the B-pillar forward. The lower part of the rear door, back bumper and rear lights are also the same, while the obvious difference – the rear roofline – was cut from the A7. That roofline makes the car slightly more aerodynamic than the E-tron, with a 0.25 Cd compared with the E-tron’s 0.27, giving the Sportback an extra 6.2 miles of range. Changes from the E-tron include decoupling the front and rear axles so the model can be rear-wheel drive, which adds another 6.2 miles of range. Brake…

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As one half of a two-pronged return to form alongside the Stelvio SUV, the Giulia has helped re-establish Alfa Romeo as a purveyor of fine driving cars. But the model hasn’t been the hoped-for sales success, losing out to rivals that may not be more dynamic but which are certainly better equipped. The fact that improved infotainment was first on the press material bullet points for this facelifted version indicates how vocal critics have been about the Giulia’s shortcomings. As such, this mid-life refresh seeks to add much-needed technology and overhaul cabin fit and finish rather than tweak an already stellar driving experience. Beyond the handful of new paint options, the only exterior changes are to the trim level badges: silver lettering now signifies more mainstream models, while black is…

VERDICT In a similar fashion to its Proceed sibling, the Xceed arrives as a bold signal of Kia’s continued mission to be perceived as a bona fide upmarket brand. In many ways, this new compact utility vehicle hits that brief: its Stinger-esque front end and sharp creases give it the looks; it’s incredibly well equipped; and cabin design and quality have gone from strength to strength. It’s tough not to admire the once humble marque’s lofty ambition and determination in this respect - but it’s not quite there yet. That’s because the Xceed is still stumbling over pitfalls that have tripped its relations up in the past, and that you’d hope a near £30,000 car would simply skip over. The 1.4-litre T-GDi engine is quiet and refined during low-stress running…

Rebellion Racing became the first privateer to win overall on the road in the World Endurance Championship after defeating the hybrid Toyotas at the Shanghai 4 Hours. The team, which won the Silverstone race in 2018 but only after the victorious Toyota was disqualified, took its chance in China after the factory TS050s were hobbled by a success handicap system that cost them nearly three seconds per lap. Talking ’bout a revolution Bosses of the German-based DTM touring car championship have revealed plans for a “revolutionary” new support series in 2022, featuring either battery-electric or hydrogen cars producing around 1000bhp. The series would feature 40-minute races including pit stops featuring “industrial robots”. The launch of the series depends on a number of factors including, unsurprisingly, a study into its technical…

Few sports can match motor racing when it comes to statistical anomalies skewed by circumstance. Stirling Moss was unquestionably one of the finest drivers of all time yet has as many world titles to his name as Adolfo Schwelm Cruz, who started but a single world championship grand prix (Argentina 1953, since you ask). Jim Clark is likewise an enduring talisman yet accumulated fewer than half the points attributed to professional fifth to seventh-place finisher Sergio Pérez, largely because you now score more for ambling home fifth, a lap in arrears, than Clark would have collected for winning by the same margin. And despite having graduated from Farley’s Rusks only about 10 minutes ago, Max Verstappen has already picked up more points than Alain Prost managed in a career ripe…

There is a palpable sense of tension in the room as Matt Saunders taps away at the ageing Dell, each keystroke entering one of the judges’ scores, and thus sealing the fate of another of our contenders. We’d hammered out the hard miles on the road and pounded around the picturesque roller-coaster of Tarmac that is Anglesey Circuit, but now we are going to find out exactly which cars made the grade in 2019. I’m not going to reveal our champion here (be patient, it’s coming) but, if you’ve read this far, you already know the shape of our top three. However, what you won’t know (unless you’ve flicked ahead to read the scores, spoilsport) is just how closely marked our triumphant trio are, and how far ahead of the…

FEATURE Sixty years of the Bentley V8 engine It’s one of the world’s longest-surviving and widely used engines – but not for much longer. Time to pay tribute to an automotive legend FIRST DRIVE Audi RS6 Now fitted with a bombastic 591bhp twin-turbo V8. We rate it FIRST DRIVE Vauxhall Corsa The brand’s biggest selling and most important model is reborn EVERY WEEK FIRST DRIVE Mercedes-Benz GLB A baby G-Wagen or an A-Class on stilts? We find out ROAD TEST Renault Clio Likeable next-generation supermini gets the full eight pages USED BUYING GUIDE Honda CRX Why this futuristic 1980s coupé is now a savvy used buy SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p22…

MILEAGE 3628 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out if the reborn, revamped Corolla can cut it with the best in the hugely competitive family car class My hire car booking contained that familiar clause: Toyota Corolla or similar. To hire car firms, the term ‘similar’ is often applied in only the loosest of contexts – so it was a surprise when I arrived at Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport’s rental car centre and was given the keys to a new Toyota Corolla. Clearly, a locally produced Toyota Tundra (sold in state bearing a sticker reading ‘built in Texas, built by Texans’) would have been more regionally appropriate, but my rental did turn a weekend stopover to visit family in Texas into an impromptu comparison between a purely combustion-engined Corolla…

Mercedes-Benz CLS 220d Shooting Brake Patric has a lot of time for hard-working estates: “My own experience is having bought a 2015 CLS 220d Shooting Brake last December for £21,000 with a two-year warranty from a Merc dealer. It had done only 12k miles and had cost someone around £50,000 new. “It’s a fabulous everyday car with more than sufficient performance and overall economy of 43mpg although I’ve seen 55mpg-plus on long motorway journeys. It has all the bells and whistles and has been brilliant in every respect for more than 9000 miles.”…

BMW i8 Price £45,000 A BMW plug-in sports car with futuristic looks and stuffed with advanced tech – if this isn’t a future classic, we’ll chew our charging cable. New, it cost around £104,000 but you can pick them up from around £40,000 now. In fact, we found a fully loaded 2014/64-reg with 30,000 miles and mechanical and interior warranties, a three-year service pack and full BMW service history for £45,000. It’s a lot of money and these first i8s are sure to get cheaper but one day the market will cry: “Enough!”…

Such is the allure of Audi’s RS badge that despite the car having a chassis dating back to 2003, the RS3 of 2011-12 sold out before hitting the nation’s showrooms. Later on, in 2012, a few more were made for those who had missed out first time round. Given the model’s lukewarm reviews, most notably from this magazine, you have to applaud their faith. Then again, it would have been hard not to be stirred by the RS3’s promise of 335bhp and 332lb ft of torque from 1600rpm, courtesy of a 2.5-litre turbocharged five-cylinder engine shared with the TT RS. Four-wheel drive and a seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch automatic gearbox were the icing on the cake. Launch control was the cherry. It cost £40,000 but that was a few thousand…

IT’S FAIR TO say that the idea of switching to winter tyres hasn’t caught on in the UK to the extent that tyre manufacturers had hoped. But increasing the grip at the tyre contact patch is the best way to maintain the best possible traction and steering on slippery or what engineers call a ‘low-mu’ surface. (The Greek letter µ, pronounced mu, represents the coefficient of friction.) It might seem that four-wheel drive is a better idea, but it isn’t necessarily. A 4x4 will make the most of the traction available from the four contact patches. It may also help prevent the balance of the car being upset by a clumsy driver stabbing at the throttle. But if there’s no grip available, the tyres still can’t gain forward traction, stop…

The engineering brief for the new Audi S8 is surely one of the most demanding in the automotive business. Here’s a car that, on the one hand, must deliver top-shelf limousine-like behaviour. But at the same time, the most outwardly sporting variant of Ingolstadt’s flagship four-door saloon is also expected to offer supercar-like performance while engaging the driver with the sort of dynamic qualities to see off its premium-brand rivals – all in a package stretching to over five metres in length and weighing all of 2230kg. It’s a balancing act that previous incarnations of the S8 failed to pull off with quite the same level of success as the high-end competition. For this new one, Audi has left nothing to chance. With 563bhp, power has actually been wound back…

Electrification has come to Seat in the diminutive shape of the Mii, a pure-electric precursor to its first bespoke EV, the larger El-Born, which is due next year. Of course, this is a familiar car: the petrol-engined Mii first went on sale in 2012 and has two very similar siblings, the Volkswagen Up and Skoda Citigo. The Mii Electric is now the only Mii available, after the petrol-powered versions went out of production in May. It’s a bold yet necessary move by Seat: with increasingly stringent emissions regulations and profit pressures, there’s little life left in city cars – unless they’re electric. The model also gets a mini makeover, receiving 16in alloy wheels and illuminated badging. Inside, it sports a redesigned dashboard, ‘performance-inspired’ seats and leather for the steering wheel,…

1 SEAT ATECA 1.5 TSI EVO XCELLENCE DSG Sweet to drive and practical, too, owing to its more conventional SUV shape. Still the standout in this class. 2 VOLKSWAGEN T-ROC 1.5 TSI EVO SE L DSG Sacrifices some practicality to focus more on hatchback-style handling, but is all the better for it. Looks the part too. 3 FORD FOCUS 1.0 ECOBOOST ACTIVE X AUTO Handles like a slightly raised Focus, which is no bad thing. Interior quality is a bit weak and engine could be stronger. 4 SKODA KAROQ 1.5 TSI SE L DSG Practical, competent and secure in its handling, the Karoq is an excellent box-ticker. It falls flat on character, though. 5 KIA XCEED 1.4 T-GDi FIRST EDITION DCT Top-flight Xceed looks the part, but is slightly outgunned by its more upmarket rivals…

If you think the glittering world of Formula 1 racing and Autocar’s annual showdown of the finest new driver’s cars have almost nothing in common, you’re right. And yet just like in F1, to stand any chance of winning the mammoth group test informally known as Handling Day, your first order of business is to beat your team-mate. That is, your closest rival in terms of layout, performance and – though it shouldn’t strictly matter – price. Take the McLaren 600LT and the Alpine A110. Last year they competed for victory but only after dispatching the Porsche 911 GT3 RS and BMW M2 Competition respectively. Pairing cars off early in proceedings also helps us judges refine our thinking during the daunting task of ranking so many models on both road…

All-rounders who are comfortable racing everything – single-seaters, touring cars, sports cars and even in rallycross – are supposedly rare these days, but the 27-year-old Swiss is something of a throwback. After a respectable junior career, Müller has shown genuine versatility in what he has chosen to race, but is best known as a DTM frontrunner. Second in the points this year with three wins, he will now make his Formula E debut this weekend in Saudi Arabia beside ex-Toro Rosso Formula 1 driver Brendon Hartley at the Dragon team.…

Who’s the next big star of rallying in Britain? You might think the best hope of a British world champion is Kris Meeke – but he has yet to have his ride confirmed at Toyota next year. What goes on there is another story entirely: following the sensational departure of new world champion Ott Tänak to Hyundai, team principal Tommi Mäkinen has refused to rule out swooping for Sébastien Ogier – and what a tale that would be. So is Meeke our only hope? No. There’s another – and his name is Chris Ingram. “Who?” you may ask, before concluding this rally writer is a bobble or two short of a hat. But listen for a second: Ingram, from Manchester, is the new European Rally Champion. And previous European Rally…

This annual meeting of the very best driver’s cars might be in celebratory mood but, like any 30-year-old, it’s changed somewhat over the years. And when all the judges’ votes had been counted this year, we were reminded of a time when ultra-lightweight two-seater sports cars like the Ariel Atom were deliberately excluded from entry on the basis that it would be unfair on everything else to let them in. “Of course they’d win,” the argument went. Well, since the demise of that rule, we’ve had Caterhams, Ariels, stripped-out Lotuses and others like them in the BBDC mix – and, despite a couple of near misses, none of them has quite triumphed. Until now. The Ariel Atom 4 has succeeded where so many cars of its ilk have fallen short.…

FINAL REPORT MILEAGE 6915 WHY WE RAN IT To find out if Ford’s all-purpose hatchback remains the driver’s choice in the family car class In the time that this latest Ford Focus has been on our fleet, it’s notable just how common a sight it has become on the streets of Britain. Notable, but not surprising. The fourth-generation model has been on sale just over a year but it already feels like it’s been around far longer. Which is, of course, exactly as it should be. For more than 20 years, the Focus has consistently hovered near the top of the UK’s best-selling cars list. Ford sold 49,517 in the UK in the first 10 months of 2019. Only two cars have sold more: the Ford Fiesta and the Volkswagen…

QUESTION I need a do-it-all car for me, wife and our dog. Our Mercedes CLA 45 Shooting Brake has to go as it’s too thirsty. What £20k car do you suggest that is as quick but more frugal?Robert Cadiz, via email ANSWER You also say you don’t want a BMW because of past experiences and you enjoy your current Porsche’s performance. So you clearly like quick German cars. You’ll get a nice Audi A3 Sportback diesel for £20k, but for the performance you crave, you need to go to the A4 Avant. A 3.0 TDI 272 Sport S tronic quattro should do it. It has 268bhp and 442lb ft. It does 0-62mph in 5.3sec and 54.3mpg. A 2016/16-reg one with 40,000 miles is £20,000. JE QUESTION I’m a private family…

The Honda CR-Z of 2010-13 is a sporty little hybrid that still turns heads. Make that sporty-looking because the 1.5-litre i-VTEC petrol engine and electric motor together muster just 122bhp. Of course, this would be forgiven were the CR-Z an economy champ but the fact is that in Autocar’s hands it returned no more than 43mpg. But never mind. What the CR-Z lacks in outright pace and economy it makes up for with engaging handling characterised by strong grip and minimal body roll. Just don’t imagine you can let the whole family experience it: it’s a four-seat coupé but the rear cabin is a real squeeze. The elephant in the room is the nickel-metal hydride battery and how long it has left. It may explain why so many CR-Zs have…

An owner’s view ANNE BAKER “I bought my RS3 new in 2012 after running a Golf R32 from new. The Audi is perky but the R32 was more intense. It felt quicker off the line, too, and generally more responsive. The RS3 is quite sedate; you have to get it into the mood. But I can’t fault its reliability and it’s versatile. I’ve done 72,000 miles in it, packing it with people and luggage. Pressing on it does about 30mpg but I’ve seen almost 35mpg on the motorway. I’m selling it now for a Mercedes-AMG A35. I’ll be interested to see how the two compare.” Buyer beware… ■ ENGINE Beware variable servicing history; 10,000-mile oil changes are best for chain and tensioner life. An early warning sign is rattling on…