Innholdsfortegnelse for January 27, 2021 i Autocar

The updated petrol-powered Fiat 500 will go on sale next month, priced from £13,270. All versions use a 69bhp 1.0-litre mild-hybrid engine. The updated 500C convertible is priced from £15,920, while the Abarth 595 hot hatch comes in at £17,760 or £20,410 with the soft top. The 500L MPV and 500X SUV have also received updates for 2021, including new trim levels and colour options inside and out. The former is priced from £18,030 and the latter from £19,860. The engine ranges for both go unchanged.…

MERCEDES-BENZ’S TWO main sub-brands will converge in future, with plans to offer fully fledged AMG versions of EQ models across the electric division’s range, according to the firm’s COO and R&D boss, Markus Schäfer. Speaking to journalists after the unveiling of the new EQA (left), Schäfer confirmed that “an electrical platform in the direction of AMG is coming”. Although no specific platform details were given, he followed up the statement by saying: “There will be performance variants of the EQA, B, S, E.” Dates for these models have not yet been announced, but expect to see an AMG-tuned EQA first, given it’s the first of the listed models to be unveiled. The others include a seven-seat GLB-based EQB, the EQS luxury saloon and SUV, and the EQE executive saloon and…

Renault boss Luca de Meo says that new SUV models are key to the firm’s bid to revive its fortunes in the larger C and D segments. Rebuilding sales of larger, more profitable vehicles is vital to de Meo’s plan to increase the French firm’s profitability and fortunes. Renault will launch seven new C- and D-segment cars, two of them electric, in the next four years. De Meo cited the past success of the Mégane as proof Renault can appeal to buyers in those segments. However, he said: “In the last generation [of cars], we missed the wave of C-SUVs and started doing sedans or MPVs. You can explain the lack of performance, because we weren’t successful with a C-SUV. In our plan, you have seven models in that segment,…

Plug-in hybrids are interesting. On the one hand, you can see how they might appeal as a safe, considered stepping stone on the journey from a regular petrol car to a fully electric one. On the other, they could just be nothing more than a cynical means of slashing your tax obligations. But whatever your thoughts on these potential Cayman Islands cars might be, Toyota’s new plug-in RAV4 is actually a pretty impressive example of the breed. It pairs an uprated version of the Japanese firm’s 2.5-litre four-pot hybrid system (with a more powerful electric motor than the standard RAV4’s) with a second, 54bhp motor at the rear and a large, 18.1kWh drive battery housed beneath the floor. Combined, these lend this flagship RAV4 a system output of 302bhp. In…

MODEL TESTED GT Price £165,230 • Power 612bhp • Torque 465lb ft • 0-60mph 3.3sec • 30-70mph in fourth 5.0sec • Fuel economy 19.7mpg • CO2 emissions 270g/km • 70-0mph 42.6m The October 2019 market launch of this week’s road test subject, the McLaren GT, must seem like an awfully long time ago for anyone reading this at the firm’s Woking headquarters. From taking its creditors to court, to putting its factory and office headquarters up for sale, McLaren has had to resort to extraordinary measures just to survive as the Covid crisis closed its production lines and dried up so much of the business of the wider McLaren Group last year. A time of expansive thinking, when the outfit was reaching into new niches and imagining new roles for its…

The McLaren GT had slightly damp conditions to contend with at MIRA, but even in the dry it would have remained a good couple of seconds a lap slower than the average dry handling circuit lap time of Woking’s supercars over the past five years or so. And yet it would still be quicker than even the most powerful front-engined super-GTs by a similar margin in like-for-like conditions, being so much lighter, lower and fundamentally more agile. You wouldn’t characterise the car as softly sprung on the evidence of its track handling. Roll and pitch are handled very tidily. The outright grip level of the P Zero tyres isn’t huge but it’s well balanced, so you can drive the car hard right up to its lateral limits. The front axle…

Ten years ago, if you were asked to bring together a trio of relatively tax-friendly company cars with an asking price around the £35,000 mark, I’d wager they wouldn’t have looked like those pictured above. Instead, a BMW 3 Series would’ve been the compulsory attendee, and it would arguably have been the ‘hero’ car, too. It would’ve definitely been a diesel, and for that amount of dosh, it would probably have had a lovely, torque-rich and exceptionally smooth straight-six engine under its bonnet. Drive would have been sent to its rear axle, naturally, and it might even have been a long-roof Touring. One of its adversaries would’ve probably had a three-pointed star on its nose, the other a set of four interlocking rings. Quite an easy test to picture, isn’t…

It’s not easy to single-handedly manhandle a car bonnet. It’s a big panel, making it difficult for your hands to get a grip, and it’s quite heavy. Manoeuvring said panel onto a trolley – the type used at Ikea to carry big flatpacks – is also a challenge when said trolley is resting on a slight slope, this topographical detail revealed by its insistence on rolling down it. This probably comedic scene – I could imagine being watched on CCTV – was to be witnessed at a salvage yard near Southampton on a hot day last summer, with your scribbler unable to request assistance for Covid-19 reasons. The undamaged bonnet was being freed from an expired Rover 75 Tourer for my now lightly damaged 75 saloon. Damaged because a car…

Driving a 40-year-old Formula 1 car is a rare 21st birthday present, but that’s exactly what Benn Tilley was given last October. Benn’s parents, Stuart and Ann, decided to give him a gift that he will surely never forget: the chance to drive a Cosworth DFV-engined Lotus 91, as raced by Elio de Angelis in 1982. The personable Lincolnshire lad is already an accomplished competitor in historic racing, having followed his dad into the sport. Yet the Tilleys are certainly not rich: just ordinary working people who stretch their minimal resources to get Benn on track. All round, 2020 was quite a year for Benn, who romped to the Classic Formula 3 title in the ex-Rupert Keegan March 743 on loan from Simon Hadfield. With Hadfield’s support, Tilley’s parents have…

FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To discover whether this fourth-generation best-seller continues to impress as the left-field family car The Octavia has long been, in my eyes, a motoring journalist’s best kept secret. That’s not to give the model its due, really; it is, after all, Skoda’s best global (and UK) seller, and it has won plenty of accolades, including recently being named Britain’s Best Family Car in estate guise by Autocar. But still, people either know this car or they don’t. If they know it, they recognise that it’s held in high regard by owners, but if they don’t know it, they tend not to have heard of it and are probably still in that camp of people who aren’t yet quite convinced by the Czech brand. It’s…

Suzuki Jimny SZ4 £7895 If one thing’s for certain in the unpredictable world of used car prices, it’s that the more unusual a car is, the more likely it is to hold – or even increase – its value as time goes by. And if you needed evidence of that, look no further than the third-generation Suzuki Jimny, of which there is no shortage in the classifieds yet which still generally commands a healthy proportion of its original list price. That’s largely because if you want a small, fun off-roader that’s also up for the odd urban foray, little else comes close. Of course, a new model has arrived (and departed again, at least in four-seat guise) since this bite-sized brawler went off sale, but such is the Jimny’s commitment…

An owner’s view OWEN LLOYD “What’s not to like? It’s still iconic. Look at prices of used K20s: they’re going through the roof, because this engine brought a significant jump in performance over anything that went before. The EP3 is one of those cars you never mind putting petrol in. It’s incredible to drive – an absolute riot. But it is twitchy; you can see why a lot got crashed. It’s a bit like the Peugeot 205 GTi: if you back off mid-corner, it will do strange (or exciting) things.” Buyer beware… ▪ ENGINE Changing the cam chain at 100,000 miles is essential and much cheaper than the new engine you will need if it snaps. If a car is due a replacement, use this to haggle. Let the engine…

The new M5 CS is the most powerful and fastest-accelerating road car that BMW M has ever placed into production. The ultimate version of the acclaimed super-saloon will join the M2 CS, as well as upcoming CS versions of the latest M3 and M4, in adopting the range-topping Clubsport tag. BMW describes it as a “specialised performance model combining everyday usability with exceptional track performance”. Set for UK delivery in April, the M5 CS is priced from £140,780 – £38,455 more than the M5 Competition. However, the M5 CS features a number of upgrades over the existing M5 Competition. These include a more powerful engine, a reprogrammed four-wheel drive system, bespoke chassis tuning and a series of lightweight carbonfibre parts that contribute to a 70kg weight reduction over the M5…

The third-generation Mini hatchback lineup has undergone its most dramatic overhaul since being launched in 2013, ushering in new exterior styling, equipment upgrades and added personalisation options for all four variations of the brand’s core model. The 3dr, 5dr, Electric and Convertible each get a new front-end design, with a larger grille that’s framed by a new black hexagonal surround. In line with the Mini brand’s ambition to make the “central design features more apparent by means of reduction”, the low-mounted foglights have been replaced by vertical air intakes, the chrome headlight housings are now finished in black and the bumper’s centre section is colour-coded, rather than black. Elsewhere, the wheel arches have been reshaped for a refreshed side profile and the side indicators now use LEDs as standard. Similarly…

Stellantis, the car-making giant newly formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the PSA Group, will embrace the diversity of its staff and brands while using shared platforms and engineering to grow, according to its boss. The new firm is the world’s fourth-largest car maker and encompasses 14 brands: Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, DS, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram and Vauxhall. With the merger formally completed, former PSA head Carlos Tavares insisted that it isn’t a “defensive” move but one designed to help FCA and PSA overcome the challenges and seize the opportunities that the car industry is facing. He said that Stellantis isn’t focused purely on scale and that it “needs to be great rather than big”, using its size “as a lever…

ADVANCED DRIVER ASSISTANCE features have been around for well over two decades (if you count the earliest cruise control) and there’s no doubt that the roads are safer for them. But as the list of features, sensors and software grows and complexity increases, making sure there are no glitches that cause more problems than they solve is crucial. Systems that intervene with driving (braking or steering), like autonomous emergency braking and active lane keeping, are among the most safety critical and there can’t be any circumstances where they lose the plot and do something they shouldn’t. But unfortunately, they sometimes do. BBC News recently reported that cars in Somerset had left the road after advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) apparently mistook a cattle grid for a wall and slammed on…

There are two contradictory sides to the story of Jaguar’s modern mid-sized saloon, and depending on who is talking, you tend to hear about only one of them. One side is that of arguably the finest driving machine in the senior premium-saloon clique (excluding wares by M, AMG, et al), and an unusually elegant and charismatic one at that. The other strand tells the tale of an ageing bit-part player with uninspiring engine options and an amazingly sketchy business case. Talk to road testers and they’ll tell you the Mk2 XF’s chassis balance, steering and handling have always had the measure of its German opposite numbers. Consult the news desk and you’d learn that in 2019 just 15,600 examples found homes globally while, during the same period, BMW sold 89,300…

Vauxhall is backing simplicity with the facelifted version of its smallest crossover hatchback, the Crossland. And it has dropped the slightly embarrassing X suffix from the model name, which isn’t a bad place to start. The car’s new all-black, fully sealed front grille panel is Vauxhall’s latest bit of brand design language, which it calls the Vizor. Given that this only displaces the car’s cooling apertures downwards, though, I’m not sure it markedly improves the frontal styling. At least it makes a change, and there are new distinguishing features at the rear as well. On the inside, they’ve resisted the urge to cram in too much digital technology. You do get a touchscreen infotainment system that will mirror your smartphone as standard and a bigger one if you order a…

VERDICT Whether the aim with this car was to reinvent the mould of a modern sporting GT, or simply to show that a mid-engined, carbonfibre-tubbed car could fit the conventional one just as well as something taller, heavier and more generously lined with hides and veneers, the McLaren GT can be considered only a partial success. As a driver’s car, it works compellingly well: it has more performance, crisper handling and a purer brand of dynamic appeal than a long-striding luxury option really needs. As a tool for covering distance, though, and for conveying well-heeled people from A to B in comfort and calm, complete with the trappings of their enviable lifestyles, it works okay – but probably not well enough. There is greater drivability, practicality and material richness here…

The UK’s unique low-volume car business could be heading for trouble as the 2030 electric car revolution gains momentum – unless it rapidly changes course. So says ace niche vehicle engineer Neil Yates, who has been concerned about the industry’s future for the best part of a decade, but believes he has an important lifeline to offer. Until now, Yates has been best known for Rally Prep, the Newquay-based competition car business he launched in 2011 to build and prepare rally cars for customers all over Europe. But Yates has also built cars of his own design in a varied career and is a keenly sought consultant on R&D projects for high-tech UK firms like Ariel and Delta Motorsport, so his finger is on the industry’s pulse. The basis for…

Unbelievable: almost off into the gravel trap on the first corner. I’ll get my well-thumbed excuse book out later, but for now I’ll blame nerves, because this is a much bigger deal than I imagined it would be. An old colleague had suggested that we try setting some electric vehicle records: among other stunts, a speed record for reversing a milk float. An interesting idea, but although I do have form for going backwards fast, I would rather do something more relevant. I had just driven Porsche’s new Taycan and was mightily impressed. Perhaps, I suggested, Porsche might help us establish some records with that car. Porsche did more than help: within hours of our phone call, it had started to put into a place a formidable campaign. Rather than…

McLaren is one of the sporting world’s great sleeping giants, but recently it has stirred. While winless in eight Formula 1 seasons, it was the third-best team in 2020, and if and when it does return to winning ways, there’s every chance that Lando Norris will be integral to that success. A young British driver potentially hitting the big time with McLaren? Given Sir Lewis Hamilton’s astonishing achievements at the start of his F1 career, that story has a familiar ring to it, even if Norris’s trajectory is a very different one. The 21-year-old from Somerset is already a McLaren linchpin. In just two F1 campaigns, he has stood on the podium, racked up consistent points and stacked up well against Ferrari-bound team-mate Carlos Sainz. While Norris’s all-round performance didn’t…

Can it really be true that the government will have removed the most technically advanced, cleanest ICE cars from sale by 2030, while leaving the dirtiest commercial road polluters – buses and trucks etc – to carry on belching out fumes and particulates for the foreseeable future? Our government and media in tandem have long pushed the notion that private vehicles are the number-one cause of global warming, that all public transport is clean as a whistle regardless of power source and that BEVs are the ultimate answer, while conveniently ignoring the huge ecological impact of BEV manufacturing. If we can introduce such industry-shattering laws that will ban the ICE in a matter of years, why on earth can’t we have equally strong ecological policies targeting other ‘guilty’ sectors? Perhaps…

MILEAGE 5333 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out if it’s good enough to be a credible fast Ford hatchback flagship What question have I been asked most frequently since the Focus ST came into my care? Does it concern the performance of its 2.3-litre four-cylinder turbo engine? It doesn’t. Perhaps people are more interested in the balance of its front-wheel-drive chassis or its ability to marshal the considerable potential of said powertrain? Not even close. Maybe they save their enquiries for more practical matters, such as whether it will still transport a family of four across the countryside in a reasonable level of comfort? No, no, thrice no. By far the most popular question, which I’m probably asked more than all others combined, is: “Did you choose that colour?”…

MILEAGE 132,569 I’m still not using the Land Rover that much for various reasons related to its battery and me being busy. Plus, I’ve misplaced my portable booster charger thing, which put using it on the back burner as well. The Lorry was actually stored in a safe place, but more winter arrived, meaning ice formed on the inside; I haven’t seen that for a few years. So it has become a shed for random stuff that I can’t be bothered to actually put in the shed. In the meantime, I’ve begun buying the bits I need to perform a basic service. All this is pretty terrible ownership behaviour, but I promise to do better in the coming months.…

To many, Volvos are well-conceived fit-for-purpose cars that are also very safe. But there have been a few desirable and stylish examples, such as the P1800, 480 ES and C30 Coupé, that have bucked this stereotype, albeit at the expense of practicality. However, the current XC40 is a very good-looking SUV that manages to satisfy both criteria, and a used one can be yours for a decent discount compared with new prices. There has been a shift towards electrification with the XC40, but we’re going to focus on the regular petrol and diesel engines because that’s what you’re most likely to find. Petrols consist of a 2.0-litre in 154bhp T3, 187bhp T4 and 244bhp T5 forms. A downsized three-cylinder 1.5 arrived in 2018 as a direct replacement for the existing…

The Maserati-engined Citroën SM is rare and collectible even in standard guise, this one-off pick-up version more covetable still and, oh, what’s that it’s towing? Just the fastest Citroën of all time is all. Jerry Hathaway hit 200mph with his heavily upgraded SM in 1985, and although its record-chasing days have long since passed, it remains in running condition and draws a crowd wherever it goes. Even the trailer is bespoke; it can be raised or lowered on command, courtesy of its hydraulic suspension. The Rig, as the trio is known, is expected to garner between £73,000 and £147,000.…

The application of energy drink logos, names of prominent aftermarket parts manufacturers and stickers bearing slogans like ‘Low is a lifestyle’ or ‘My VTEC goes bwahhh’ was once something of a ritual for EP3-generation Honda Civic Type R owners, given the car’s relative accessibility and the Fast and Furious connotations that came with its Japanese performance heritage. But peruse the classifieds today and you will find the vast majority of big-money examples (the market peaks at around £11,000-£12,000) present in full factory specification. True, the legendary 2.0-litre K20 engine responds remarkably well to certain modifications (hence you will see plenty of examples pumping out in excess of 300bhp), but it’s a keen performer even in its base form, and one that’s none too fragile, as you would expect of a…

BMW has confirmed that an M-badged electric performance model will be unveiled this year, bringing a “completely new manifestation of the distinctive M feeling”. In a press release detailing BMW M’s 2020 sales performance, the brand confirms it will be “presenting an electrically powered performance automobile for the first time” this year. Autocar understands this will be an M-badged variant of the forthcoming BMW i4 electric saloon. However, unlike the soon-to-arrive new M3 and M4, the i4 M is believed to be an ‘M-lite’ model rather than a fully fledged M product – a bit like the current M340i. The standard i4 will be fully unveiled in the coming months and go on sale in early 2022. BMW confirmed in 2019 that the Tesla Model 3 rival will offer a…

LOTUS WILL END production of the Elise, Exige and Evora models soon as it gets ready to begin production of its all-new sports car later this year. The new car, first revealed by Autocar in March 2019 and given the development name Type 131, will go into prototype production at the British firm’s Hethel base. Lotus has invested £100 million to upgrade the facility and is planning to recruit 250 more staff to build its new car. While Lotus has provided no official details, we know it will be – as previously reported – a V6-powered super-sports car in the style of the classic Esprit. With the introduction of the new car, Lotus will phase out its long-running current line-up. The Elise first went into production in 1995, winning admirers…

The reinvented Renault 5 hatchback will be joined by a revived version of the classic Renault 4 as part of the French marque’s plan to invigorate its future EV line-up. The prototype version of the new 5, which is due on sale in 2023, was unveiled as the cornerstone of new boss Luca de Meo’s bold plan to revive the Renault Group’s fortunes. It will be one of seven EVs – four cars and three commercial vehicles – that Renault will launch in the next five years. Recent reports suggested that Renault was considering reviving both the 4 and 5 as future EVs. While only the 5 was revealed, de Meo admitted that there is “at least one more” revival of an old name being planned. Insiders have confirmed that…

Button F, we called it. The F stood for finance and was the key on our calculators that let us car salespeople adjust the interest rate on customer loans in order to boost our commission. Depending on the value of the deal and the APR we were able to get away with, this commission – after the dealership had taken its cut – could equal what we earned on the sale of the car itself. Our customers knew none of this, of course. They assumed that our frantic tappings were an effort to secure them the most favourable lending terms. Once a month, the finance company’s representative would arrive to thank us for our business and buy us all a round of fish and chips. The more successful of us…

11,000 sales Subaru’s best year in the UK: 2001 2023 sales Subaru’s previous worst year in the UK: 2012 Source: Subaru UK Subaru’s British and European operation is being radically overhauled after the Japanese firm suffered a “ridiculous” year for sales in 2020, according to its UK managing director. While most brands recorded substantial falls in registrations across the country, due to the pandemic, Subaru (which is run in the UK and Europe by British independent importer International Motors) was the hardest hit of any, with a year-on-year decrease of more than 68% compared with 2019. It shifted only 951 cars last year, compared with just under 3000 the year before. In August, Subaru’s 69 UK dealers amassed just 34 registrations between them. “2020 was a horrible year,” admitted John…

The past decade or so has been a period of huge growth for Audi. Clearly central to this success has been Ingolstadt’s ability to turn out SUVs in all sizes and classes with a wide range of drivetrains and at a level of quality consummate with its premium brand positioning. Among it all, one model in particular has stood out: the Q5. Introduced in 2008, Audi’s second dedicated SUV has regularly been among its three best-selling models. Even in the difficult retail conditions encountered last year, it still managed to pull in more than 130,000 sales worldwide. Now, following the launch of the facelifted second-generation model, a rakishly styled variant of the mid-sized SUV has arrived in the form of the new Q5 Sportback. Produced at Audi’s newest manufacturing plant,…

We know how this goes, don’t we? A big Bentley arrives and we like it a great deal. Then a big Bentley with a smaller engine arrives and we like it even more. And thus we welcome the latest Bentley Flying Spur V8, the third generation of Bentley’s saloon that, with the demise of the Mulsanne, effectively becomes the flagship limo. Fortunately, we already know it is a much, much better car than either of its previous iterations, which, charged with being both a luxury saloon and a car capable of 200mph or thereabouts, couldn’t do isolation well enough in the face of the physical demands placed on them. In being fast, they were insufficiently luxurious. This time, our experience of the early 6.0-litre car means we know it can…

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1 ASTON MARTIN DBS SUPERLEGGERA Gaydon’s big daddy V12 coupé is still our super-GT champion. Stunning, fast, supple and enticing. 2 BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT V8 As different a GT to the McLaren as a car could be – but a decidedly better one. It’s rich, refined and still great to drive. 3 FERRARI ROMA As strong a daily-use fast GT as Ferrari has made in a long time. Comfortable, exciting to drive and stunning to look at. 4 PORSCHE 911 TURBO S It is marginally more a supersports car than a super-GT but is probably more usable than the McLaren anyway. Monstrously quick. 5 POLESTAR 1 It’s left-hand drive only and has a small boot, but it has such multifaceted appeal that it would narrowly trump the GT in daily use. Not for…

NEIL YATES’S LOVE of the seminal 1950s Porsche goes back to childhood; he had one on his bedroom wall and swore one day he’d own a full-sized version. He can’t have imagined, however, that the car’s compact curves would sit above an up-to-the minute aluminium modular chassis of his own design. Or an electric powertrain capable of driving it for 200 miles. Yet both are crucial components in Yates’s 2022 WEV Coupé, a car with that classic Porsche outline, built on a PACES chassis and powered by a rear-mounted electric motor. It’s a simple car compared with much of the machinery Rally Prep has built, but Yates is still delighted that the first prototype “just worked”. Nine months of trials have already been conducted and they’ve been very promising. The…

Most automotive speed records fall under the sanction of motorsport’s governing body, the FIA, and are thus set and verified against a clear set of rules. But one of the biggest – and certainly the most heavily publicised – doesn’t. There’s no official control or arbitration over claims for the world’s fastest production car. This wasn’t always the case. Guinness World Records used to award a title on the basis of third-party verification, but the organisation has confirmed to Autocar that its Fastest Production Car category doesn’t currently have a holder. The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport seems to have been the last car awarded the gong, back in 2010. Since then, manufacturers trying to claim the title have gone their own way. When the Koenigsegg Agera RS set a 277.9mph…

New boss for Alpine F1 team Former Suzuki and Yamaha MotoGP team boss Davide Brivio will head up the Alpine Formula 1 team (née Renault). The 56-year-old Italian spent more than 20 years working in the MotoGP paddock. He replaces the departed Cyril Abiteboul and will report to new Alpine boss Laurent Rossi. Peterhansel adds to Dakar Rally record Stéphane Peterhansel secured a record-extending 14th victory on the Dakar Rally recently. The Mini driver beat factory Toyota man Nasser Al-Attiyah by nearly 15 minutes for his eighth win in the car class. He has also won the motorbike division six times. Toyota hypercar slowed by snow Toyota has admitted that the development programme for its new GR010 Hybrid Le Mans Hypercar challenger is “behind target” after the recent unusual heavy…

DRIVEN BMW 128ti: new VW Golf GTI rival rated Here’s something very different for BMW: a pared-back, driver-focused, front-wheel-drive hot hatch. We deliver our first verdict COMPARISON 911 vs Taycan Analogue or digital: which Porsche is best? Andrew Frankel decides FEATURE Q cars We get up close with the magical creations of Aston Martin’s Q branch EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Cupra Formentor First bespoke model from Seat’s performance brand is evaluated FIRST DRIVE Toyota GR Supra Smaller 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine joins the range. We rate it SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p28…

MILEAGE 6487 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if there’s still room for a mid-sized premium SUV with a diesel engine in today’s electrification-obsessed market Over a couple of months and what is now 6500 miles, I think I’ve finally isolated what I like most, and least, about our long-term Land Rover. It was a meeting with the latest P300e plug-in hybrid version of the Discovery Sport, while I was photographing a group test recently, that made both of those particular pennies drop. Now more than ever, I’ve become pretty well resolved that diesel engines just aren’t for me. The last long-term test car I ran was a plug-in hybrid Skoda Superb, whose powertrain I really liked. So take it with a pinch of salt if you like. I’m also…

Remember Martin from last week? “The story gets better. Browsing social media, I found a 2001 Volvo V70 2.4 Auto with 135,000 miles and leather etc, but also the ‘transmission service’ warning, engine check light and ‘emissions service’ warning all illuminated. It was the seller’s mother’s car, with an MOT until 18 April and 18 service stamps in the book. A DVLA MOT check confirmed the mileage, so I took a gamble for £399. I collected it by trailer, taxed it, insured it and read all the forum advice. I tried a secret trick and the warning lights went out. It drives like a new car, with no rattles, no scratches and unmarked leather – amazing!”…

Honda HR-V £1495 The current Honda HR-V has been taken off sale and the next-generation car looks like quite the departure, which has got us thinking about where the model’s origins lie. Back in the late 1990s, crossovers weren’t the ubiquitous sales stalwarts that they have become today, which made Honda’s blocky high-rider even more eye-catching, and still its prominent jaw, blobby headlights and needlessly sizeable rear spoiler can tempt a double-take. At £1495 and with an options list covered in ticks, this handsome two-door car from 2002 seems worth a punt.…