Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2, 2020 i Autocar

MINI HAS OFFICIALLY detailed plans to electrify its John Cooper Works performance sub-brand – and revealed the first prototype it’s working on. Internally dubbed the ‘GPE’, the prototype uses the racy bodywork of the recently launched JCW GP and is likely to have a similar chassis set-up. However, a lack of exhaust, a blanked-off front grille and a visible badge similar to that of the Mini Electric make it clear that this new car is battery-propelled. “We’re working hard to develop concepts for John Cooper Works models with electric drive,” said Mini brand boss Bernd Körber. “Meanwhile, John Cooper Works models with conventional combustion engines will continue to have an important role to play in addressing the wishes and needs of our motorsport enthusiasts around the world.” No technical details…

Toll roads have been seen as a solution to paying for road maintenance in many US states and cities, and are often used along side free-to-access national highways. However, Oregon and Utah have taken a novel approach by offering ‘opt-in’ road user charges based on an in-car GPS black box with a mobile phone link to a financial system that generates a bill like a phone invoice. Oregon, incidentally, became the first US state to tax petrol in 1919. The idea is that motorists can replace the fuel tax element levied by the state with the road user charge. Canadian company IMS, which participated in the UK trials in the mid-2000s, administers the system. IMS rebates the state fuel tax portion to the driver and levies a charge, which is…

Successful racing drivers are so selfish in their pursuit of world titles that someone once joked that they would happily drive over their own mother for an extra championship point. Yet here we are, interviewing Formula E racer Alexander Sims about his charity work giving free electric vehicle chargers to UK businesses for the past nine years. Through the Zero Carbon World charity, Sims and his colleagues have been giving away 7kW and 22kW charging points manufactured by Viridian EV since 2011. This isn’t motivated by championship points or prizes but rather one man and his team’s dedication to making the world a better place. To date, 700 chargers have been provided to companies with car parks that customers can access, with the goal of trying to accelerate EV uptake…

Given the calibre of the products in recent years, it is a damn sight easier now more than ever to dispense with misplaced brand snobbery when it comes to Skoda. Not only that, but fail to see past the badge and you might even unwittingly cheat yourself out of owning one of those rare ‘sweet spot’ cars that effortlessly melds many talents, because the latest Octavia vRS Estate is essentially the Mk8 Golf GTI wagon that Volkswagen won’t build. To varying extents, this has been true since the very first Octavia vRS Estate landed in 2005. But now in its fourth generation, Skoda’s hot wagon shadows the Golf GTI’s make-up very closely indeed – perhaps more closely than ever, both inside the elegant cabin and beneath the bodywork. Available in…

The sixth generation of BMW’s M5 super-saloon is already quite different than it used to be. The standard M5 has come and gone, the 616bhp M5 Competition was launched in late 2018 and this updated model becomes the first series-production version of the BMW 5 Series with a price tag made up of no fewer than six digits. BMW will tell you, because the standard equipment tally of this car has swollen somewhat, that it’s actually better value than the outgoing M5 Competition. That may well be, but it’s suddenly very clear how expensive this and other modern super-saloons have become. They used to be pretty simple things: cheaper, faster and more powerful than a contemporary Porsche 911, say, and about twice as useful. These days, not so much. New…

VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTE Pricier than the related Seat, but crisper handling, punchier performance and greater desirability make it worth it. PEUGEOT 508 HYBRID 225 ALLURE One of PSA’s early adopters of PHEV hardware is well rounded and smartly priced for its size. SEAT LEON eHYBRID FR It will be a popular fleet option thanks to its 6% tax rating and appealing price. Probably not the Leon for private money, though. MERCEDES A250E AMG LINE Seat’s only 6% BIK hatchback rival at present. It isn’t as good to drive as it looks on paper but has appeal as a short-range EV. RENAULT MEGANE E-TECH ICONIC SPORT TOURER Renault’s plug-in Mégane is wagon only. Down on performance; dull but decent.…

If you’re going to celebrate 100 years of Mazda, surely a trip to Erm, actually, it turns out that it’s not. Hiroshima has been home to the company for a century, but to truly immerse yourself in its history, you actually have to head to the city of Augsburg in Germany. This is where you will find the Frey Museum, home to the largest and finest collections of Mazdas anywhere in the world. With more than 50 cars on display and perhaps another 100 in storage, all of which run and are used, this unrivalled treasure trove of everything Mazda is the perfect place to delve deep into the brand’s car-making heritage. Yet it all started with cork rather than cars. In 1920, the Toyo Cork Kogyo Company Limited was…

MAZDA MX-3 1992-1998 £800-£3500 While European firms were firing frenetic four-cylinder hot hatches out of their factories, Mazda chose instead to launch a compact coupé powered by a 1.8-litre V6. Today, the MX-3 is a great modern classic that’ll double as a daily driver, thanks to robust quality and decent comfort. That 130bhp turbine-like V6 is no fireball but sounds great, and the front-drive chassis is nimble thanks to advanced passive rear steer. Better still, prices are low, with mint cars still only a couple of grand. ONE WE FOUND A £2195 1998 example with 89,000 miles, straight, well cared for, full history and MOT. MAZDA 323 4WD 1985-1989 £2500-£15,000 If you want to stand out from the Lancia Delta and Escort RS Cosworth homologation crowd, look no further than…

In 2014, some 200 signwriters from around the world descended on Rochester in Kent to raise money for charity in an event called What the Dickens. Members of the public were invited to bring what they liked and among the items were 10 cars. British signwriting artist Steve Blackwell, based in Bournemouth, was given a Volga to paint. The Russian saloon had been converted for racing and its owner wanted the appropriate markings. “Originally, I’d been allocated the car to do on my own, but when I saw the scale of the job I quickly recruited four other signwriters to help,” says Blackwell. Away from beautifying Volgas for charity, his regular commissions include Morris vans, Series 1 and 2 Land Rovers and Volkswagen Type 2s whose owners often want the…

Major car fire is a scary prospect for any racing driver, but that’s just what happened to David Tomlin this summer – and in two consecutive races. Worcester-based Tomlin is a real all-rounder of historic motorsport. He has become quite a contender in historic racing, running various cars, including a rare 1973 Motul M1 Formula 2 single-seater and, most recently, a Group A Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500. He has also taken to forest rallying in a full-spec Group 4 Ford Escort Mk2, but that has been parked in the garage all season while rallying struggles against the pandemic. Like many, Tomlin started his season at Brands Hatch in mid-July, racing the Motul in the historic Formula 2 races on the Grand Prix circuit. Mid-race, a serious engine fire erupted as…

Don’t forget about us I’m not singling out Richard Lofthouse for criticism, but his letter (28 October) typifies the city-centric thinking behind the present trends in car development. I accept there are vehicle-related problems in cities, but there are different issues in the rest of the country that are being ignored. For many, home charging is impractical. My wife and I live in a small town on Dartmoor, in a cottage with no off-street parking, and nobody could ever make a business case for adding chargers to our few street lights. Regardless, my work won’t cover the cost of any current new EV. So how about a PHEV? Well, my rare round trips to the nearest town are barely within the electric range of virtually all of them. Yes, we…

MILEAGE 2422 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if it has the usability to match its desirability, despite its short range If you’d have told me as a 10-year-old that I’d guessed video games were going to be my specialism. Not that I was raised on the PlayStation; I just had a real interest in magazines about the subject, even more so than the games themselves. Which is a bit like enjoying reading Autocar more than driving, I suppose. Anyway, I’ve ended up very happily at Autocar. Yet now, 11 years into my time here, the lad in me has an article he can get his head around. For the Honda E has a rather nifty/gimmicky/brilliant/pointless feature in its ability to run a games console. I went into my driveway…

Audi SQ5 It was good to catch up with Duncan in Australia. He said: “After the management drove a Golf R she liked and then an A7 3.0 TDI she liked, we went looking for Audi diesels. I ended up buying a 2014 SQ5 3.0 twin-turbo diesel with 44,000 miles on it. It had the right service history and wasn’t white. It’s thoroughly enjoyable to drive and nowhere near what I expected. I’ve had it for about six months and it’s doing about 34mpg. People don’t tend to know what it is, so a few V8 and V6 drivers have had an unpleasant surprise.”…

Vauxhall Vectra SRi £2495 Depending on who you ask, the Vauxhall Vectra is either an undeservedly overlooked answer to the marvellous Ford Mondeo or an uninspiring embodiment of no-frills motoring. Let’s look at the sporty SRi variant in isolation, though, because it seems to be quite a tempting proposition these days. Its 2.2-litre 16-valve four-cylinder engine won’t set any land speed records, but the subtle bodykit lends some excitement to its otherwise anonymous three-box form and the Recaro sports seats give its interior some much-needed embellishment.…

Volkswagen will ramp up plans to become the global leader in electric car sales in 2021 with the launch of a high-performance GTX variant of the ID 4 SUV and a new ID 5 coupé cross over. The two new models will be joined by an updated ID 3 capable of delivering faster charging times. VW CEO Ralf Brandstätter has confirmed that they will be followed by production versions of the long-anticipated retro-styled ID Buzz in 2022 and the ID Vizzion saloon and estate in 2023. Those vehicles will all be built on the VW Group’s EV-only MEB architecture. In the longer term, work is intensifying on a more compact MEB-Lite platform, which will underpin the planned ID 1 hatch and ID 2 crossover. VW scaling up EV targets Although…

The next-generation Mini hatch will have the biggest makeover since the three-door hatch was revived by BMW in 2001, according to brand boss Bernd Körber – but he promised it will remain faithful to the classic design. The fourth generation of the BMW-owned marque’s core model is due to arrive in 2023, heading a new era of models that will include a reworked Countryman and a new compact SUV. As previously reported by Autocar, the new hatch will shrink in size and be offered with both petrol and fully electric powertrains. The new SUV and enlarged Countryman will eventually be joined by other new models that push Mini’s range into new areas, but Körber said the hatch will stay true to its original philosophy. He said Mini’s approach to the…

Jaguar’s mid-life overhaul of its model range has been completed with the new F-Pace SVR, which promises more performance, improved dynamics and revised styling. The BMW X3 M rival is still powered by the British-built 5.0-litre supercharged V8, putting out the same 542bhp, but it has 15lb ft more torque than before, at 516lb ft. It’s also now mated to a stronger gearbox torque converter from Jag’s XE SV Project 8 saloon. As a result, the F-Pace SVR now dispatches 0-60mph 0.3sec quicker than the outgoing model, at 3.8sec, and the top speed increases from 176mph to 178mph. Despite the power boost, CO2 emissions are down by 6g/km and claimed fuel economy improves slightly. Further under-the-skin revisions include a new steering rack for “greater immediacy” and improved road feel, and…

FLEDGLING HYPERCAR brand Naran Automotive has revealed a 1048bhp four-seat ‘hyper-coupé’ that it aims to launch in 2022. A total of 49 are initially planned to be built, although a roofless barchetta variant is also in the pipeline. Designed to offer serious track-day ability as well as interior comfort, the Naran shares its monocoque with the BMW 8 Series. As part of a deal between the two firms, BMW Motorsport supplies components that are then upgraded in-house. The car’s 5.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 (based on BMW M’s 4.4-litre block) is supplied by Racing Dynamics and puts 1048bhp and 764lb ft through an eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox. The car can be four- or rear-wheel drive, depending on the drive mode selected. Weight is claimed to be about 1620kg and the wide body…

The UK government’s commitment to have only electrified cars on sale from 2030 and only electric cars from 2035 has met with a lukewarm reaction, according to a poll of more than 15,000 car buyers by whatcar.com. The survey revealed that 59% didn’t agree in principle with the plan, with 48% saying they were no more likely to buy an electric car and 29% saying they were more likely to buy a petrol or diesel car in the interim years as a result of the looming ban. The poll also highlighted the need for better education of the public on the terms used to describe powertrain technologies, such as the differences between an electric car, a plug-in hybrid and a hybrid, because 30% said they don’t fully understand the differences.…

The debut of the electric Fiat 500 was always going to seem more poignant than the arrival of a similar-size new-shape electric rival. Not because it was necessarily better but because of the implications that its arrival would hold for the 500 franchise, Fiat’s only truly successful model range, globally speaking. Since 2007, Fiat has made an impressive sales success of its 3.5-metre-long baby, continuing to sell cars in big numbers more than a decade beyond the original car’s debut and proving conclusively that buyers still heartily approve of a design style that first appeared with the tiny, rear-engined Cinquecento classic 60 years ago. Still, the announcement in mid-2019 that the next model would be bigger and taller, use an all-new platform and be available only with battery-electric power…

The brief for the new Volkswagen Golf GTE is as seemingly contradictory as ever. Not only should it deliver an elevated level of performance and driver engagement, but it also needs to offer lower running costs and a wallet-friendly benefit-in-kind tax rating. That’s a pretty tall order. Particularly when the last one didn’t really cut the mustard. It was a refined and slick-operating plug-in hybrid by the standards of the day, but as an electrified take on the excellent Mk7 GTI, it felt a bit, well, tepid. A dull motor and sedate handling were to blame for that. This new one feels a bit more up to the task. The electric range has been increased to just shy of 40 miles on the WLTP cycle thanks to a larger battery,…

We’re late to driving Mercedes’ latest hybrid variant of the C-Class, which first went on sale in left-hand-drive markets last year. Replacing the C350e (so losing 50 badge coins despite putting out more power), the C300e is hoping to enjoy the same level of success that BMW has had with its latest 330e. The most crucial upgrades over the C350e are a larger battery capacity and more powerful electric motor. Mated to a newer turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, the motor puts out 120bhp to its predecessor’s 80bhp, and both power sources drive through the rear wheels alone. The battery upgrade is arguably more important, though, given the rate at which rivals have upped their game recently. Capacity is more than doubled from 6.2kWh to 13.5kWh for a 34-mile official…

The Leon dealt with Millbrook’s Hill Route pretty matter-of-factly. Grip levels are by no means unlimited, but once reached and then exceeded, the car can be brought back under control without much need for dramatic inputs. A slight lift of the throttle will tuck its nose back in after understeer sets in, while a larger lift can bring its rear axle into play for a short-lived and easily controlled slither of cornering attitude. During particularly quick directional changes, the chassis is guilty of some momentary hesitation, but for the most part it follows your inputs without any pause. The car’s weight is at its most noticeable here. Sharper bends unearth a fair amount of body roll and dips make the car compress on its springs quite markedly. The transmission can…

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Now here’s a familiar face in an unexpected place. The face is bug green on yellow, so roughly how I imagine an oversized, confused chameleon might look. It belongs to the #912 Porsche GT3 R that won the 2018 Nürburgring 24 Hours. That was an epic race: so wet and foggy that spectators were both mesmerised and profoundly unnerved. At the chequered flag, only 26 seconds separated the winner and the second-placed Mercedes-AMG, which had acquired some of that eye-popping paint over the course of 2128.8 miles. I know exactly how wet it was because I was watching from the woods, and I wasn’t expecting to see #912 again quite so soon. Or for the setting to be a dim and nondescript first-floor meeting room. Talk about cognitive dissonance. However,…

The British Touring Car Championship’s best-known calling card door-handle-racing. Sometimes it spills over into full-on contact, and the crowd and the TV audience love it. But far from being the free-for-all that many casual observers might think it is, the measures put in place by the officials in Britain’s leading tin-top series to keep the action clean put most international categories to shame. There are rules of engagement, and each driver knows them. Not only that but also there’s a ‘spy in the cab’: each car has a specially mounted camera sitting just behind the driver’s shoulder. The officials also have access to all the data traces from each car: steering angles, throttle application and braking – and can even tune in to any radio transmissions they deem necessary. Rear-facing…

Porsche Panamera 4S £19,850 The cheapest Panameras on offer are the leggiest examples of the 3.0-litre diesel V6, which is frugal and torquey but sorely wanting when it comes to outright power and dynamic intent. You can pay as little as £16,500 for one of these oil-burners, but for just a few grand more you could nab a much more exciting 4S, with a stonking great naturally aspirated 4.8-litre petrol V8 that sends 395bhp to all four wheels and makes a nice enough noise while doing so. It goes without saying that this is a particularly thirsty powerplant: expect to achieve average economy of around 25mpg on long jaunts and substantially less than that in traffic. What it lacks in efficiency, however, it more than makes up in raw, accessible…

An owner’s view IAN TWITCHELL “I’ve been into MR2s for more than 15 years and know them like the back of my hand. It’s the only car I’ve ever felt a perfect harmony with: everything just fits and is what it should be. If you can spend a day in one, you’ll fall in love. As for problems, there’s nothing that isn’t to be expected for a 25-to 30-year-old sports car. In reality, it’s a typical Toyota: if you take care of it and don’t abuse it, it tends to last a long time and have only minimal issues.” Buyer beware… ■ ENGINE The engines are generally tough, but servicing is no annual job. Oil and filter swaps should be carried out every 2500 miles and a full service should…

HYUNDAI AND INEOS Automotive have teamed up to explore ways to accelerate growth in hydrogen technology, with the intention of also creating a fuel cell version of the Ineos Grenadier. The non-exclusive agreement will allow Ineos to tap into Hyundai’s knowledge of fuel cell technology in cars, while Hyundai will benefit from Ineos’s vast experience in hydrogen infrastructure and production through its petrochemical operation. Ineos, like all car makers, won’t be able to sell its Grenadier with a pure petrol or diesel engine beyond 2030 but the firm isn’t looking to battery power. Commercial director Mark Tennant said: “We’re looking to build a very functional, utilitarian 4x4 that can work in the middle of nowhere. To take up a usable payload with a battery pack that would make the range…

The potential switch in taxation from fuel duty to road tolls must be cost-neutral to motorists, the UK’s two largest motoring and road-user groups have warned the government. Both the AA and the Road Haulage Association (RHA), which represents truckers, have responded to last month’s news that the Treasury is considering road tolls to replace fuel duty as electric cars become more common by demanding that no more than the £40 billion currently collected annually from road users is collected by road tolls. “Any new road toll system should be revenue-neutral at least,” said Edmund King, president of the AA. Chris Ashley, the RHA’s head of policy and legislation, agreed: “We will look at any proposal, but road tolls will only be acceptable to the industry if the cost remains…

DUE TO THE sheer numbers of electric vehicles on the way, the finer points of drivetrain efficiency, sustainability and component costs are coming under close scrutiny. EVs aren’t without their downsides: not only lithium ion batteries but also other parts, such as electric drive motors, have environmental shortcomings. A favourite choice with manufacturers is the permanent-magnet synchronous design. Permanent magnets embedded in the rotor of the motor are attracted to a kind of rotating electromagnetic sleeve created by the stator windings that line the inside of the motor casing. The rotor spins at exactly the same speed as the rotating magnetic sleeve, hence the name synchronous. This is an efficient, powerful and compact technology, but a significant downside is the use of rare-earth materials to make the permanent magnets. The…

When Toyota talks about the Mirai, it frequently references larger vehicles: trucks, trains and more. The Mirai may be a hydrogen fuel cell car, but it’s only part of Toyota’s ambition. This is the second Mirai but Toyota’s ninth FCEV. It started work on them in 1992, and it wasn’t until its fifth that it homologated one. The first Mirai, introduced in 2015, sold modestly. Around 11,000 found owners, some 180 of them in the UK and 829 across Europe. Toyota aims to increase that tenfold this time, so still small volumes for a company of its size, but it makes clear that it’s working towards something else. The smaller the vehicle and the shorter its intended range, the more appropriate battery-electric tech seems. So for a scooter you would…

This is not one of those facelifts where all your neighbours will be able to tell you’ve bought the updated Renault Mégane. Not unless you’ve opted for one of the three new colours, at any rate. Other, more subtle tweaks include full-LED lighting as standard across both trim levels, a redesigned front bumper and door handle lighting. Nothing dramatic, but then the Mégane wasn’t an ugly thing to begin with. There are a few more changes inside. We’re told quality has been upped (it all feels well screwed down) and there’s a new 10.0in TFT screen on the top-spec RS Line. The Iconic trim gets a 7.0in one. Both trims also have updated vertical touchscreens – 9.3in for RS Line, 7.0in for Iconic. Crucially, though, Renault has added some actual…

MODEL TESTED eHYBRID FR • Price £30,970 • Power 201bhp • Torque 258lb ft • 0-60mph 7.2sec • 30-70mph in fourth 9.3sec • Fuel economy 43.6mpg • CO2 emissions 27g/km • 70-0mph 45.9m The Seat Leon has always been an interesting but quite ordinary hatchback. Of the last generation version, there were some shopping-trolley versions and, later on, some very fruity versions indeed, and you could buy it with four-wheel drive and as an estate. However, in fundamental terms, it was an easy car to understand and, being well resolved in dynamic concerns right across the board, also easy to drive. Early impressions of the new, fourth-generation Leon are that it retains better than average looks and continues to offer a quietly satisfying driving experience, but elsewhere things have changed. The…

Mazda hits 100 this year, which is some achievement given Not only did it start out never intending to make cars, but its factory is also one of the only car plants in the world to be hit by an atomic bomb. And the company has never had quite the world-beating size and budgets of domestic rivals Toyota, Honda and Nissan. Despite this, though, the brand has flourished into one of the most innovative car makers of the past century. Of course, it’s best known for its dedication to the Wankel rotary, making the technology work commercially while rivals collapsed under the weight of development costs and warranty claims. Yet there’s so much more to Mazda than this – as we’re about to discover. To celebrate, we’ve thrown a birthday…

“How much fun can you have with a brush in your hand?” Terry Smith – signwriter, hot rod owner and passionate Jim Clark fan – smiles broadly before resuming the delicate drop shadow he’s applying to a sign in his workshop. Watching the letters come alive to his gold leaf enamel is truly humbling. Where I’d smudge the curves in a letter ‘O’, he glides around them like his hero at the wheel of a Lotus 49. His consistency is remarkable; almost, but not quite, as though the letters were printed. “The imperfections are what make it perfect,” he says. “A signwritten name, logo or design has soul.” Wind back a few decades and the work of Smith, who is 67, and signwriters and pinstripers before him would have been…

Formula1hintsat calendar rotation Formula 1 boss Chase Carey has hinted that the category could introduce a 24-race calendar featuring ‘rotating’ slots in the coming years. Carey suggested that while long-term grands prix would remain permanent events, strong demand means other circuits could cycle on and off the calendar. Sébastien Ogier delays retirement Six-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier will remain at Toyota in 2021, delaying his plan to retire from the category by a year. The 36-year-old, who will battle team-mate Elfyn Evans for the 2020 title at this weekend’s Monza Rally, said he didn’t want to end his career after the coronavirus-disrupted 2020 season. Channel 4 hires new voice for F1 Alex Jacques, who currently commentates on the official feed for F1, F2 and F3, will be Channel 4’s…

LAND ROVER SERIES 3 A fully loaded Lorry turned and turned but wouldn’t fire. The battery wasn’t for turning and wouldn’t take any sort of load. Obviously I haven’t bought a brand-new battery yet. Luckily, I do have one of those clever battery charger blocks that’s also a torch and can power your laptop or phone. I mostly use it to throw light on dark subjects. At the moment, though, it charges the Lorry’s battery every night, because it’s a bit chilly. In other news, my daughter fixed the radio. In her words: “I pressed the on button.” There’s a lesson for me, but until the earths were fixed for the MOT test, the ‘electrics’ were merely decoration.…

It’s a curious thing, the A-Class. You would think of the best big Mercedes-Benz cars and wraps that up in a small and neat hatchback body would be an instant success, but the life of the A-Class has been quite chequered. The original was innovative but sullied by the infamous elk test; the second-iteration car never captured the public’s imagination; and the third was more mainstream and sold well but wasn’t a critical success. However, this fourth-generation A-Class from 2018 improved on its predecessor, upping the driver appeal and adding a bit of extra pizzazz. Choose from three petrols – the 134bhp 1.3-litre A180, the punchier 161bhp A200 and the 221bhp 2.0-litre A250 – or two road-ripping turbocharged AMG hot hatches, the 302bhp A35 and the 415bhp A45 S. Meanwhile,…

FORD MUSTANG MACH 1 Ford has revived the hallowed Mach 1 name for an upgraded version of the current V8 Mustang, and it will be the first time the badge has made its way to a right-hand-drive car. About time, we say, because this top-rung version of the pony car has long been regarded as one of the most desirable. Crossing the block at a shade under £60,000, this 1969 example retains its fearsome hood scoop, rear window louvres and snowplough-style front splitter. And with nearly 90,000 miles on the odometer, it has clearly been enjoyed so far, so let’s hope that it’s not destined to languish in some private collection.…

Let’s gloss over why the Toyota MR2 was sold as understand the reasoning, have no fear, for this car is anything but that. What we have here is a small Japanese two-seat sports coupé that’s risingrather rapidly in value and thoroughly deserving of its commonly applied ‘modern classic’ designation. A running-and-driving example of this second-generation car commands at least £2500, but if you’re handy with the spanners, you could consider picking up a project for a good deal less than that. Things do become slightly more complicated, however, when you take into account the array of specifications and generations that you will find dotted around the classifieds. To start with, the SW20, as the Mk2 MR2 was known, was at first sold in Europe in three trim levels – Coupé,…