Innholdsfortegnelse for February 24, 2021 i Autocar

Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA) JLR’s modular longitudinal architecture is a multi-powertrain platform developed from the architecture originally intended for the now-scrapped Jaguar XJ EV. Nevertheless, it will be used for future Land Rovers with petrol, hybrid and electric powertrains. Electric Modular Architecture (EMA) Dedicated to Land Rover models, EMA is described as ‘electric-biased’ and intended for full EVs, although it will also be able to accommodate ‘advanced electrified’ combustion engines, likely PHEVs. It’s thought that the first dedicated Land Rover EV in 2024 will use it. New Jaguar-only electric architecture Few details are yet known about the new platform, although it’s intended purely for new luxury Jaguar EVs. That suggests it won’t be required to accommodate large Land Rover SUVs, which should enable the firm to optimise it for a…

GORDON MURRAY CHOSE the birthday of three-time Formula 1 champion Niki Lauda (22 February) and invoked the name of his late former Brabham colleague to unveil the promised track-only version of his ultra-lightweight, V12-engined T50 supercar. Dubbed the T50S Niki Lauda, the new car will be built entirely by Murray’s new specialist manufacturing company, GMA, and on the same timetable as the roadgoing T50. Thus production will begin at the end of this year for deliveries in 2022. The T50S will be limited to a run of just 25 examples, each costing £3.1 million before local taxes. The design relationship with the road-going T50 is clear, but Murray stresses that the T50S was conceived specifically for track duty from the beginning, with “hundreds” of different, special components across all facets…

The bold Ioniq 5 crossover is the first model to be launched under Hyundai’s new Ioniq electric car sub-brand, designed to spearhead a renewed push into electrification. Featuring 800V battery technology that gives the potential for ultra-rapid charging, the Ioniq 5 supports DC charging at up to 220kW, taking the battery’s charge from 10-80% in 18 minutes. Until now, 800V cabling has been offered only on the high-end Porsche Taycan. Two battery sizes will be available: 72.6kWh and 58kWh, both available with either rear- or four-wheel drive. The maximum range is 292 miles. The most powerful version – a dual-motor, four-wheel-drive model with a combined 302bhp and 446lb ft – can do 0-62mph in 5.2sec and run to 115mph. The entry-level variant, with a 58kWh battery and 167bhp rear-wheel-drive set-up,…

The race to develop autonomous vehicles (AVs) has been slower than hoped, but it could be about to pick up pace. Disillusioned by the limited progress of in-car technology, companies are shifting their attention from self-driving vehicles to the roads they will drive on. The goal is to accelerate the time taken to bring AVs to market – perhaps dramatically. One of the most ambitious examples of this new focus is in Michigan, US, where Ford and General Motors (GM) have their respective headquarters. It’s also where Michigan State and Cavnue, an infrastructure start-up owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, last year announced a partnership to build the world’s first largescale AV-dedicated roads. The project covers the 40 miles between Detroit and Ann Arbor. The premise is to deploy AVs…

Polo neck on, Wayfarers adjusted, cruising down to Monaco in an old Alfa, E-Type or 911 like you’re a ’60s film star. Only you’re going much faster and have no fear of breaking down. That’s what restomods are all about. But what if, for you, the words Monte Carlo instead bring to mind icy hairpins, bobble hats and Puffa jackets? Tolman Engineering has a solution. Part GT3 racing team, part historic motorsport parts supplier and part classic car restorer, it has combined its diverse skills to create a modernised Talbot Sunbeam Lotus. As well as eschewing the typical restomod chicness for something far tougher-looking, this car differs from the usual recipe in one distinct way: it retains its original engine. The 2.2-litre atmo ‘slant four’ was considered integral to the…

Nobody dreams of owning a Dacia. Even the marque’s marketing people know that. Their research tells them most buyers with £12,000 to £15,000 to blow on a simple, reliable and robust car currently have a second-hand Volkswagen Golf in their mind’s eye, not a showroom-fresh Dacia. But they also believe that their new Sandero and Sandero Stepway models – which have just migrated to the lighter, extremely versatile CMF-B platform introduced by the latest Renault Clio – can change the minds of value-focused buyers. They have good evidence: the just-launched Mk3 Sanderos are far more capable than their predecessors; beat pricier and bigger-name superminis for kit and even refinement; are nowadays built to the same standard as Renault-badged cars; and carry a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty. The standard Sandero hatchback has…

These are the cars that shouldn’t exist. The ones for which any sane chief financial officer would have seen the research-and-development costs versus potential sales, then immediately told the engineers to go away and build an SUV, please. Which is all the more reason to celebrate why they do exist. With the looming 2030 ban on new ICE car sales, ever-tighter emissions regulations and squeezed bottom lines, such cars feel like they have finite life left in them. Because not only do they go against the zeitgeist, but they also go against the flow of the companies that build them. The Toyota GR Yaris hails from a firm whose most numerous car is the Corolla – an entirely worthy machine, but not one you will tell your grandkids you owned.…

Not many cars possess the capacity to really cheese me off, which is probably a good thing. But the first midengined Renault Clio V6, launched 20 years ago, managed exactly that. It was like finally scoring your dream date, sitting down to dinner in a posh restaurant and then watching them launch into a stout defence of Donald Trump while casually picking their nose. Because of the enormous disparity between how you imagined the encounter might progress and how it actually did, you end up far more disappointed with your evening than had you just stopped off at the local for a swift half with a tedious colleague. It was all there: an extraordinary appearance and a mid-mounted 3.0-litre V6 developed by TWR, the same bunch of people who had…

The Suzuki Ignis slipped into our lives in a quiet, friendly sort of way late last year. I can’t remember the details of its arrival except that a helpful driver dropped it off in our locked-down Gloucestershire driveway one happy afternoon early last November. It was the first fruit of a request that I had put to Suzuki’s people to try a few of their cars (it pays to stay up to date in our racket). We started with the slightly off-the-wall SZ5 4x4, because I’ve always liked affordable cars that do a lot with a little and especially stand apart from the mainstream rather than making up the numbers in some amorphous ‘sector’. Up to that time, I had spent only an hour or two in an Ignis, but…

Christmas has come extra early for the World Rally Championship (WRC). Because this weekend’s round starts in Rovaniemi, northern Finland: the home of Joulupukki, who you might know as Santa Claus. Just outside Rovaniemi is the Santa Claus Village – still open every day, with Santa and his elves having managed to escape furlough. In fact, in this frozen corner of Lapland with its scant population, life carries on much the same as usual. ‘Usual’ here also means 16-hour nights and daytime highs of minus 15deg C or so – although it gets a lot colder. Minus 30deg C isn’t uncommon. On my only previous visit many years ago, some of the stages were actually cancelled because it was deemed too dangerous for marshals to be outside for any length…

Every manufacturer that has entered Formula E has played up the links between its race cars and electric road cars, but DS has taken that a step further with two concepts using Formula E tech. In 2018, the firm produced the X E-Tense, an unusual, asymmetrical three-seat concept car designed to offer both open-top thrills and spacious passenger comfort. It’s underpinned by a 1341bhp twin-motor powertrain from the Formula E car, with the concept using much of the single-seater’s running gear, too. It makes for a visceral driving experience on public roads, although when Autocar tried it, tackling speed bumps and narrow French town roads did prove a little troublesome. Last year, DS followed that up with the 671bhp Aero Sport Lounge concept, which again featured a Formula E-derived powertrain.…

FEATURE The £40,000 sweet spot No price brings such diverse cars. Richard Bremner investigates why – and puts the theory to the test with BMW’s range FEATURE We put on a show There’s no Geneva motor show this year, so we’re hosting our own FEATURE Goodbye to the 570S It’s the end of the line for McLaren’s best car. Andrew Frankel takes it for a final drive EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Toyota GR Yaris Hot hatch has beaten all before it. Will it also win over our road testers? DRIVEN Skoda Fabia We join the development team for the new supermini ahead of its unveiling SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p22…

MILEAGE 4220 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see how easily a hot-shoe rally replica fits into daily life How big a giant can the Toyota GR Yaris slay, I wondered? You can see my long-termer alongside a Nissan GT-R Nismo and an Alpine A110 this week (p42) in a story about cars we can’t believe manufacturers had the nerve to make. So while we had the Toyota and the Nissan together, it seemed prudent to make a video of the two and rude not to ask how capable the hot hatch really is. Normal testing rules applied. When we test cars or take lap times, the idea is to find a repeatable level of performance: an indication of consistent pace, not flat out, one-off laps that vastly increase the risk…

MILEAGE 4788 INNOCENTI MINI From time to time, I like to carry out a Mini inventory, to make sure they’re all there and working. You know what they were like. The Italian Job has been trapped at the back of the tax-free garage, so I took a break in the weather to shift it outside and make sure it still had a pulse. Apart from needing some air in its tyres, it was in fine fettle. Trickle-charging the battery is clearly a good thing to do, and the adorable Italian car was so eager that we went for a trip around the block. Apart from a spring clean in a couple of months, there really isn’t much that needs doing.…

Butch bodywork? Check. Opulent interior? Check. Premium badge? Check. Chuck in BMW’s reputation for building nifty driver’s cars and this latest X5 looks like it has the luxury SUV marketplace all sewn up. Indeed, good driving manners have been an X5 staple since the first iteration hit the streets in 1999. This fourth-generation model has been around for only a year or so, but it still entices potential purchasers with a healthy range of hotshot engines. The diesel line-up kicks off with a 261bhp 3.0-litre straight six in the xDrive30d, followed by a 394bhp M50d. Petrol fans have three options: a 335bhp 3.0-litre xDrive40i, a 523bhp M50i and a 616bhp 4.4-litre V8 in the X5 M Competition. Meanwhile, the 389bhp xDrive45e is a petrol-electric plug-in hybrid that has a claimed…

HONDA BEAT As an alternative to the Smart Roadster, the tiny Honda Beat (a kei car, so designed to satisfy Japan’s size and power limitations on vehicles intended for urban use) is worth considering. It’s a technical marvel featuring a mid-mounted naturally aspirated 656cc engine with individual throttle bodies for each of its three cylinders. The result is 63bhp at 8100rpm. The little Beat has rear-wheel drive and a manual gearbox, too. Most of those you see on UK roads were grey (personal) imports, but our featured car, registered in 1992 and with 60,000 miles on the clock, was an official Honda import that’s mercifully free of corrosion. It sold for £4850.…

JLR REIMAGINED: THE FUTURE AT A GLANCE ◼ Jaguar to become EV-only luxury brand from 2025. ◼ Land Rover to launch six electric models in the next five years. ◼ Jaguar Land Rover to become net-zero-CO2 manufacturer by 2039. ◼ All UK manufacturing plants to remain open. ◼ Diesel engines phased out by 2026. Jaguar is to be reinvented as an electric-only upmarket luxury brand with an entirely fresh line-up from 2025 onwards as part of a bold new plan to revive the fortunes of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). Under the transformation strategy, Land Rover will launch six electric vehicles within the next five years, including one electric-only model. The radical repositioning of Jaguar from a premium saloon brand into an EV rival to Bentley and Aston Martin is key…

Land Rover has given the clearest hint yet it will introduce a pick-up version of the new Defender to rival the Ford Ranger truck. The firm had previously hinted that such a machine would be possible, and Nick Collins, JLR’s executive director of vehicle programmes, has now added that “there is customer demand” to justify one. Collins confirmed that “there are no structural limitations” to a Defender pick-up and that “you can make a pick-up from a monocoque”. He added that “we always said the Defender would be a family” and said we should “watch this space” with regards to a pick-up variant. An open-backed Defender would be aimed squarely at the hugely popular utilitarian market in the US and the burgeoning pick-up market in Europe. It would also stand…

The sixth-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class is the first combustion-engined model from the German manufacturer to go electrified-only. It also brings technology from the S-Class flagship alongside a design overhaul in an effort to take on the latest BMW 3 Series. The saloon and estate have been revealed simultaneously ahead of a 30 March on-sale date, followed by first deliveries this summer. Starting prices are likely to be bumped up slightly to around £35,000 and £38,000 respectively. Design The new W206 C-Class has been brought into line with its newer A-Class, CLA, CLS and E-Class range-mates, primarily by way of shorter overhangs, a more angular front end and new light-cluster designs. The external proportions of Mercedes’ best-selling model remain familiar, but it has received design tweaks all round with the aim of…

The third-generation Nissan Qashqai marks a radical departure in all measures from its strong-selling predecessors, ushering in a new platform, a bold new look and hybrid-only powertrains. Designed, engineered and produced in the UK, the new Qashqai sits atop an updated version of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance’s CMF-C platform and has been completely redesigned with a “more purposeful” stance plus “athletic and dynamic” styling. The front end is dominated by Nissan’s new V-Motion chrome grille surround, while the headlights – now LED matrix items – have been slimmed down and given a new ‘boomerang’ shape. Increases in length and width of 35mm and 32mm respectively help the new Qashqai to appear longer and lower than its predecessor, while new optional 20in alloy wheels mark a push upmarket for higher-spec variants. Designer…

Ford is accelerating its electrification effort with the promise of its European car line-up being fully electric by 2030 and a $1 billion (£719.4 million) investment in updating its production facility in Cologne. The substantial investment will go towards preparing the German factory, which currently builds the Fiesta, to produce electrified vehicles. From 2023, the newly named Ford Cologne Electrification Centre will build an electric-only car underpinned by the Volkswagen Group’s MEB architecture, as part of a strategic agreement between the two manufacturers, with the potential for a second MEB-based Ford model to follow. In turn, the next-generation Volkswagen Amarok pick-up truck will be twinned with and built alongside the Ranger at Ford’s plant in Silverton, South Africa, which is also receiving major ($1.05bn) investment. In the run-up to launching…

HONDA HAS REVEALED the hybrid-only third-generation HR-V crossover ahead of its European launch in late 2021. As part of the Japanese company’s aim to electrify all of its mainstream European models by 2022, the new HR-V ditches its predecessor’s pure-petrol and diesel powertrains for a new e:HEV petrol-electric hybrid system that promises “exceptional” efficiency. Technical details remain unconfirmed, but the petrol element of the powertrain is likely to be either a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-pot, as used by the Jazz hybrid supermini, or the 2.0-litre unit featured in the CR-V Hybrid, a larger SUV. The first full images of the HR-V confirm what spy shots and teasers suggested: that the design is a dramatic departure from the old. It’s said to “embody the brand’s seamless, clean, modern design philosophy seen in…

It’s difficult to overstate the impact that the Taycan has had since it arrived, both on Porsche itself and on the wider car industry. Not only has the Taycan redefined what people thought an electric car could do, but it’s also the physical representation of how Porsche has shifted its business focus – and arguably even its whole ethos. Look at the millions of euros the firm is chucking at digital start-ups if you want proof of that. Porsche even has its own sub-section, called Forward31, designed to build a portfolio of digital business. It’s all a far cry from the brand-defining victories at the Targa Florio and Le Mans: gone are the days of Porsche representing only class-defining ICE sports cars. The Taycan is now the pivot point for…

Go to the test track of any firm in the world that’s in the business of making hot family cars and you will find a Volkswagen Golf GTI being used for benchmarking. It has been the go-to daily-driven hot hatch for generations, with the odd blemish when VW made something a bit fat or unsatisfying. Like, you could argue, the overly synthetic new Mk8. Here we have the alternative GTI: a more powerful and focused Golf but still one that aims to retain its daily usability. They all do, to an extent. Even the old Mk7 Clubsport S, the one with no back seats, rode well and was relatively habitable. Volkswagen won’t do that this time, by the way, despite this new car taking the Clubsport name. The five door-only…

MODEL TESTED 1.0 T-GDi 100 48V SE CONNECT • Price £18,595 • Power 99bhp • Torque 127lb ft • 0-60mph 9.7sec • 30-70mph in fourth 13.6sec • Fuel economy 43.6mpg • CO2 emissions 115g/km • 70-0mph 57.6m The Hyundai i20 has proven that, for the time being at least, a meatand-potatoes kind of supermini can sell well even in style-savvy Europe. Seven years ago, when we road-tested the previous version, we concluded that it was a competent, practical and versatile kind of small car, albeit a dry and anonymous one. Forgettable or not, however, it was good enough to sneak beyond 100,000 units per year in Europe in 2017 and consistently to do even better than that in India, which has become its biggest market. Now, as the third-generation i20…

When DS Automobiles recently committed to the ABB Formula E Championship until at least the end of 2026, the firm described its relationship with the electric single-seater series as “l’histoire d’amour”: the love story. It has certainly been a happy tale so far. Just a year after being formally spun off from sister brand Citroën, DS joined Formula E for the 2014/15 season, the championship’s second year and the first in which manufacturers were allowed to develop their own powertrains. DS teamed up with Virgin Racing, with Sam Bird taking its first win in the fourth race of the year. Since then, DS has won at least one race every season – the only manufacturer to do so – and has cleaned up since the Gen2 car was introduced for…

FINAL REPORT MILEAGE 7087 WHY WE RAN IT To see if there’s still room for a midsized premium SUV with a diesel engine in today’s EV-obsessed market These past 12 months have been strange for us all but perhaps easier for the cars that might otherwise have been transporting us to events, meetings and airports across the UK. When I took over the running of our long-term Land Rover Discovery Sport from Rachel Burgess late last year, it hadn’t quite done 1000 miles in its first few weeks with us. Rachel did what she could to put some distance under the car’s wheels, taking it pretty much all the way to Land’s End on holiday back when you could, well, holiday. How we lived. My working life, however, has remained…

MILEAGE 1942 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if its driver-focused dynamics make it stand out in the crossover class There’s nothing like standing out in a crowd, right? Believe the adverts and choosing a compact crossover will mark you out as an adventure-seeking individual who won’t be bound by convention; yet as the picture above shows, the reality is rather more humdrum. Swing into almost any suburban parking space today and it’s virtually guaranteed that you will be slotting into a line of SUV-tinged family hatchbacks, none of them having tackled anything more terrifying than the school run. Yet the more time I spend with our Mazda CX-30, the more I’m reminded why these things are so damned popular. The marginally raised ride height makes it a little easier…

BMW 530i Sport Huge thanks to Gwyn for sending us such a wonderful report. “I bought this BMW 530i Sport four years ago for £3000 from a local specialist. It had done 186,000 miles but was a two-owner car. It has cost me around £2000 a year to keep it in tip-top condition, including all servicing and tyres etc. It has some rust appearing in the usual place, but what to do about that: spend £2000 getting it right or run it into the ground? The M54 engine is a petrol marvel and the car drives like it has done 50,000 miles, not almost 300,000.”…

Vauxhall Vectra GSi £4495 It might not have cut it in the company car park in its youth, but today a Vauxhall Vectra GSi will look cool enough on your driveway with its bodykit, lowered suspension and twin tailpipes. Its 2.5-litre V6, developed by Milton Keynes-based Motorsport Developments, produces 192bhp. Inside, the GSi has Recaro seats and a leather-trimmed steering wheel. With relatively few GSis produced (just 3900 hatchbacks, saloons and estates for Europe), pundits have been predicting that this model will one day attain classic status. Judging by the price of this one-owner 1998 example with 93,000 miles, we reckon it won’t be long.…

Stainless-steel body panels, tough mechanicals, many rust-free low-mileage examples and fast-improving parts supply: a DeLorean DMC-12 makes a promising classic car purchase. And if you’re tempted, don’t hesitate: against the backdrop of rising values for desirable old motors, this year’s 40th anniversary DeLorean celebrations (the first cars rolled off the Belfast production line in early 1981) are sure to burnish the DMC-12’s reputation with a consequent impact on prices. Only last month, a 1982-registered example in good condition and with 61,000 miles that was estimated to make between £26,000 and £35,000 at auction eventually went for £42,750. That’s an impressive result but one that was achieved when, from £39,000, only two bidders remained, each trumping the other in £250 increments. A desire to win at all costs? It’s always a…

THE LONG-RUMOURED five-cylinder version of Cupra’s new Formentor crossover is now official, using the turbocharged 2.5-litre petrol engine from the Audi RS Q3 to produce 385bhp and 354lb ft. Revealed as part of the Seat-owned marque’s third anniversary as a standalone brand, the Formentor VZ5 is “strictly” limited to a production run of 7000 left-hand-drive examples – meaning it won’t be officially available in the UK – beginning in the final quarter of this year. With the Audi engine sending its reserves to both axles through a seven-speed dual-clutch (DSG) automatic gearbox, the Formentor VZ5 is capable of 0-62mph in 4.2sec and will top out at 155mph. The limited-edition variant also promises better handling, being equipped as standard with Adaptive Chassis Control, riding 10mm lower than the 306bhp Formentor VZ3…

IT’S PROBABLY FAIR to say that the concept of self-driving cars is one of the most controversial subjects in the automotive industry. Although the idea is that autonomy equals safety, with an ultimate goal of accident-free roads, the notion of a car being capable of the same split-second decision-making as a human, both from a safety and an ethical point of view, seems far-fetched. More knowledge of how robot cars can be made to work would help, and there’s an insight into that from a project called D-Risk. The project aims to compile the world’s largest library of real-life near-misses, known in the world of autonomous vehicle development as ‘edge cases’. In order for autonomous vehicles to cope with the weirdest of scenarios that a human takes at face value…

Recent mid-life facelifts for large SUVs have all followed certain trends: a minor design makeover, a range of new electrified engines topped by a plugin hybrid and a reworked interior with a larger, shinier touchscreen. The Mazda CX-5 has always been a bit different from the rest of the pack, though, standing out for its driving attributes and sharp style. And its facelift is a bit different too: there’s no electrified engines nor touchscreen. And that might well be no bad thing. While Mazda has added a new ‘flagship’ 191bhp 2.5-litre Skyactiv-G petrol engine above the existing 2.0-litre unit, it’s devoid of even the mildest wisp of electrification (and indeed a turbocharger). Instead, it uses cylinder deactivation to automatically switch between two and four cylinders to boost efficiency, with an…

The Mk3 i20 builds incrementally on many of its predecessor’s strengths, as well as showing a few signs of development in more intangible areas. It’s a small car of very evident practicality and efficiency. It has a roomy, hard-wearing and well-provisioned cabin and an unobtrusive, easy-to-operate road-going persona. It also shows greater ambition than its forebears as regards design appeal and technology, although quantifying just how much ‘emotional value’ Hyundai has succeeded in adding here is quite the balancing act. The i20’s styling still lacks true boldness and kerbside allure, and its driving experience, although viceless and rounded, remains most remarkable for how unremarkable it is. While it is progressing, then, this car has yet to take the key, transformative leaps that might turn it into something with the potential…

To truly understand the appeal of cars like those featured on the previous pages, you have to consider their standing in their respective showrooms. The Nissan GT-R, for example, can be found nestled between Micras and Qashqais; the Toyota GR Yaris jostles for forecourt space with the RAV4 and Prius; and to test-drive the Alpine A110, you might well have to shunt the odd Renault Mégane or Captur out of the way. In short, all three cars share little more than a badge with their respective range-mates (or, in the case of the Alpine, not even that), and you have to imagine there were some accountants none too pleased that they ever got signed off. Here are a few other automotive sore thumbs that we’re glad made it past the…

McLaren has launched its 2021 Formula 1 challenger, the MCL35M. While a wide-ranging car-development freeze has been imposed for this season in order to lessen the financial impact of the pandemic, the Woking team’s car features a number of changes from last year’s – primarily because it has switched from Renault to Mercedes-AMG engines. Daniel Ricciardo has joined the team’s line-up alongside Lando Norris. Red Bull gives you powertrains Red Bull has bought Honda’s F1 power unit project ahead of the Japanese firm quitting the sport at the end of this season. Red Bull Racing and sister team AlphaTauri will continue to use the hybrid powertrains, which from 2022 will bear Red Bull branding. Consequently, the energy-drinks giant will ramp up investment in its Milton Keynes-based F1 operation. Alpine backs…

While DS Techeetah starts the season as the team to beat, with its pair of champions, expect the competition to be even closer this year. Stoffel Vandoorne finished runner-up in the points in Mercedes-Benz’s first full works campaign and, with experience, the German firm should fight at the front more consistently. The ever-present Nissan e. Dams squad, with its former champion Sébastien Buemi, will also likely figure strongly. There have been a number of driver moves, with Sam Bird moving from Virgin to Jaguar, Pascal Wehrlein bagging a seat at Audi and Jake Dennis joining BMW. But those last two are already hunting new seats for the 2021/22 season, because both Audi and BMW will quit at the end of this year.…

Last September, I took the plunge into electric motoring and bought a Polestar 2, while also keeping my faithful Subaru Levorg. I had assumed that come bad winter weather, the Subaru would be my go-to car; I’ve always been impressed by its superb ability and the confidence it inspires when our hilly area gets snow dumped on it and black ice lurks undertyre. What a surprise, then, to find that, given a choice in bad weather, I’ve been grabbing the (virtual) key for the Polestar. Quite simply, its ability on ice and snow is a revelation. And, apart from clever electronics, that’s due to the fine control at slow speeds that no engine-and-gearbox combination can match. I now quite understand why Land Rover claims that the plug-in hybrid version of…

“It can hit 62mph from standstill in 6.0sec, so it’s hot hatch quick” FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out if this plug-in hybrid SUV can eclipse its higher-profile donor model We should get this out of the way early, I suppose: despite the Suzuki badge on its nose and the Suzuki lettering across its tailgate, this latest addition to the Autocar long-term fleet isn’t actually a Suzuki at all. It’s called the Across (seems like a strange name for a car, but there have been worse), and although it may have a new face and a different set of alloys, in reality, it’s nothing more than a rebadged Toyota RAV4 PHEV. So what’s the logic here, then? Why does this car exist, and why would someone buy…

QUESTION I would like an insurance quote and MOT history for a prospective used car purchase, but the seller has blanked out the plates in the advert. What can I do? Lori Jackson, Grimsby ANSWER Registration cloning can cause all sorts of headaches for the legitimate owner of a car, ranging from parking fines and speeding tickets right up to being implicated in serious crimes. If a seller has taken steps to prevent their reg being replicated for an identical car, by all means assure them of your genuine interest in the vehicle and ask to see it. If they’re understandably hesitant, your best bet is to ask them to supply an MOT history – a reasonable request from any car buyer – and use the details of a similar…

Mercedes R320 CDi Sport £6850 Stretched people-carrier meets executive saloon: that was the Mercedes-Benz R-Class of 2006-13. If you wanted a simple estate, there was the E-Class, but the R-Class put passengers first, with six huge seats as standard (seven from 2010), lots of kit and impressive refinement. Diesel power dominated sales (not surprising, given the 2270kg kerb weight), with the R320 CDi being the most popular version. Standard gear included four-wheel drive, a seven-speed automatic gearbox, braking assistance, climate control and automatic headlights and wipers. Sport added 19in alloys, Alcantara sports seats and aluminium details. It may put passengers first but, like most MPVs, the R-Class has little room for luggage when all seats are occupied. On the upside, with all the rear seats folded down, there’s 2385 litres…

An expert’s view ALISTAIR VANSTONE, THE DELOREAN CLUB (UK) “I had wanted a DeLorean ever since I sat in one as a boy and bought my first in 2002. I had to go to Belfast to get it, which somehow seemed right. I bought my second in 2006 and my third in 2013. Both were project cars in need of restoration, from a batch of 50 that were exported to the Middle East. I bought my fourth with a friend as another project. I love the car’s styling and the story behind it. It’s underrated by experts, but when people see one on the road, they always smile. Now is a great time to buy. Parts in particular are plentiful and easy to source.” Buyer beware… ■ ENGINE Lumpy idling…