Innholdsfortegnelse for March 24, 2021 i Autocar

Is it good to be back at Lamborghini? “It’s very good to be back. My reception was incredible: I had standing ovations when I came into the factory. It was very emotional. But this is the first day – then you have to get back to reality.” To what do you attribute the firm’s 2020 success? “One is the fact we are very resilient to crisis. The brand is very strong and has a perfect image. The products are incredibly strong. If you look at the stock market, it came back pretty soon, which is a good sign for the economy. “People also wanted to reward themselves for what they are losing in terms of time being locked up, so to say.” What is the situation looking like for 2021?…

SCOTTISH START-UP ALL Terrain All Electric (ATAE) has previewed an off-road-oriented 4x4 EV with a one-tonne payload and 150-mile range. Based near Glasgow, ATAE has designed the new model around the body and chassis of the conventionally fuelled Ibex F8 from Yorkshire manufacturer Foers. ATAE co-founder Russ Peterson said they originally looked at using the Land Rover Defender but, with others such as Twisted getting there first with EV versions, had decided against it. There were also additional costs involved with upcycling second-hand Defenders to consider. The F8, commonly regarded as one of the most capable 4x4s on the market, will be called the Munro after fitment of ATAE’s EV powertrain – a name that reflects the brand’s Scottish origins. As well as being aimed at private buyers, the model…

THE UK GOVERNMENT has reduced the financial incentive package it offers to EV buyers, slashing the Plug-in Car Grant (PiCG) from £3000 to £2500 and lowering the upper price limit for eligible vehicles. Buyers of new electric cars costing over £35,000 – down from £50,000 – will now no longer qualify for the incentive. The government said it made the move to “reflect a greater range of affordable vehicles available” and to help the available funding go further as more British drivers make the switch to electric cars. The government claims that the number of sub-£35,000 EVs on sale has increased by “almost 50%” since 2019. It estimates that more than half the EVs currently on the market will remain eligible for the £2500 incentive, highlighting “spacious family cars” including…

The BMW Group will enter a new phase of its transition to electrification in 2025, by which point it plans to have sold two million pure EVs to customers worldwide. Termed ‘Neue Klasse’ (New Class) in reference to the hugely popular BMW saloons and coupés sold in the 1960s and 1970s, this new era will take the brand through to 2050, ushering in a fresh generation of electric powertrains, a “radically new” approach to sustainability and a heavily advanced software platform. Neue Klasse BMW’s revolution will be centred on “regionalisable technology stacks”, which will allow each vehicle’s operating system to be customised according to a given region. Through a new “digital first” approach, BMW will offer individually configurable upgrades and new features throughout the vehicle’s life cycle for “an increasing…

There’s a view in some quarters that estate cars are a bit beside the point these days. The world has turned to SUVs, goes the story, and from them to crossovers. Don’t believe it. In many cases, family-sized saloons are outsold by their estate offshoots, and even the Sportbrake tested here accounts for one-third of all of the Jaguar XF’s (admittedly modest) sales across Europe. There’s a particular kind of buyer that responds to the logic of an estate: a more practical derivative that weighs only a smidge more than its sibling (75kg in this case), has no extra frontal area and at times can even be more aerodynamic, thanks to the simplicity of its extended rear shape. More load for no more fuel. In this case, the load capacity…

MODEL TESTED ST Price £28,495 • Power 197bhp • Torque 236lb ft • 0-60mph 7.2sec • 30-70mph in fourth 8.1sec • Fuel economy 31.1mpg • CO2 • emissions 155g/km • 70-0mph 44.3m The subject of this week’s road test will be a vastly more common sight than its namesake ever was. Although the original Ford Racing Puma of the late 1990s was an interesting and much-loved hot hatch, only 500 examples were ever built. And with a price of £23,000 at the time (nearly £41,000 in today’s money), they didn’t exactly fly off the production line into the hands of owners. In fact, that price proved so prohibitive that many Racing Pumas had to be sold off internally. With prices starting at £28,495, the new Puma ST is a considerably…

You might think that it would be hard to find much in common chair, but the original Audi TT and the outlandish ‘Wassily’ Model B3 are among the best-known manifestations of Bauhaus design, which is sufficient justification for a few straight comparisons, I reckon. If we’re talking about value for money, the car has the chair licked comprehensively. In the early 1990s, an original B3 sold for nearly $31,000, which is more than £40,000 in today’s money. An original TT can easily be bought for 10% of that – and it will have four chairs thrown in. The TT is a Bauhaus-inspired design that went from pen to paper, from paper to show star, then from show star to production with mercifully few design changes. Such faithfulness to the designer’s…

Red Bull tops F1 test in Bahrain Red Bull set the pace in the sole Formula 1 pre-season test in Bahrain, with Max Verstappen topping the timesheets. Mercedes-AMG drivers Sir Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas struggled with a few technical issues and a lack of stability from the rear of their cars. Rookie Yuki Tsunoda went second fastest for Red Bull’s sister team, AlphaTauri. Shaky start for Aston Martin F1 team Aston Martin struggled in its first F1 test at Sakhir, with new driver Sebastian Vettel saying he was lacking “hundreds of laps” of running due to various minor issues. The Silverstone-based squad was previously known as Racing Point. Alpine reveals WEC Hypercar contender Alpine has unveiled the A480 endurance racer that it will field in the top class –…

Priced out of a love affair I can well remember admiring those special curves of the XJ, XJS and E-Type in the 1970s; my dentist even had a Primrose Yellow Series 3 with four tailpipes and that mystical V12 badge. Jaguars: how could a young lad not fall in love? I can also distinctly remember my dad telling me that we would never have enough money to drive one. So, with a lifetime passion for the brand, I read with some concern about new Jaguar Land Rover CEO Thierry Bolloré getting his Reimagine strategy under way. But it’s not the inevitable electrification that concerns me, even though I’m sure this will be at least a further decade of cul-de-sac engineering for the whole European car industry (Bolloré has rightly, in…

MILEAGE 687 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out if the Mk8 Golf remains the world’s most rounded family hatchback The cars pictured below are the twin titans of the foundation and figurehead of their respective brands. And the Porsche 911 and Volkswagen Golf face the same challenge of staying true to their rich heritage while remaining relevant in the modern world. I staged a brief reunion of these two extended family members recently when I drove my Golf long-termer to Porsche GB headquarters to collect a 911 Targa 4S for a review. No, this won’t be an impromptu comparison: you really can’t compare the two. Suffice to say that, while obeying speed limits, you won’t reach your destination any faster in the 911, but you’ll do so in a…

PORSCHE CAYENNE The Flying Pig likes to throw up the odd dashboard advisory. Just the other day, it suggested that one of the reversing lights had gone on the blink. It was correct, and taking out the offside rear light cluster was straightforward enough with the on-board toolkit. Meanwhile, Mrs Bangernomics has just celebrated three years with the Pig and fancies a change. Overall, she finds it rather too grey. Otherwise, she loves every aspect of how it performs but wants a high-rise Mercedes-Benz or something. If you want to know more, then do get in touch before I go and part-exchange it or just move the old Fraulein onto someone less deserving than you.…

At first sight, this large SUV might not look like masterpieces as the Traction Avant, the DS, the CX and the XM, but the Citroën C5 Aircross has just enough going on under its quirky bodyshell to at least raise the eyebrow of the dedicated Citroëniste. It is, it has to be admitted, a bluff, family-friendly SUV in size and shape, and not a fancy and innovative low-slung aerodyne like those Citroëns of old, but it has a comfortable ride, perhaps to tie in with that tradition, and is also surprisingly quiet and smooth. It isn’t one for attacking the bends, though, because the payback for that soft suspension is unusually pronounced body roll in corners. The feather-light steering isn’t the most communicative out there, either. Never mind, the motive…

MERCEDES-BENZ E320 COUPE This 1995 C124-series Mercedes with just 112,000 miles on the clock made £4500 at a recent Car & Classic auction. It’s not exciting, but it is as solid as a battleship and really rather elegant. The good thing about online auctions such as C&C’s is the wealth of high-quality, detailed photographs accompanying each lot that you can scrutinise from the comfort of your armchair. This 26-year-old coupé looked a little tired in places, but in a way that suggested the ageing was only superficial. It takes more than a few stone chips and a patch of faded lacquer to sink a cruiser like an old E-Class.…

What is it about the 987 Porsche Boxster of multiple former keepers, often into double figures. An example is the privately advertised 2.7-litre 2005-reg car we found with a reasonable 72,000 miles but no fewer than 11 of them. Add the current owner and that’s a change of driving style and maintenance budget every 6000 miles. Should the next owner worry? Naturally, one dealer we spoke to put a positive spin on it, saying that each change of keeper is a like a honeymoon all over again. “The car is spoiled rotten until either the owner’s interest cools or their circumstances change,” he said. For our part, we suspect that each change of owner brings shallower pockets. Boxster owner Colin Patterson (see panel on right) had to spend a few…

Lamborghini is gearing up to launch the long-awaited replacement for the Aventador in 2022 – and the new V12 supercar will, unlike its predecessor, feature a hybrid powertrain as one of the first steps the brand is taking to ‘reinvent’ itself for the electric age. The new flagship machine from the Sant’Agata manufacturer is due to be revealed this year and will go on sale shortly after the arrival of a plug-in hybrid version of the Urus SUV. It is set to be the final series-production Lamborghini supercar to use the firm’s fabled 6.5-litre V12, with the subsequent generation likely to adopt electric power. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Lamborghini posted the second-best financial results in its history in 2020 and company boss Stephan Winkelmann, who recently rejoined Lamborghini after spells…

Volkswagen Group boss Herbert Diess has confirmed plans to spin off Bugatti into a joint venture between Porsche and EV specialist Rimac – but he has denied reports that it could sell the brand outright. There had been reports that the German giant would sell a controlling interest in the French hypercar maker to Rimac as part of a financial deal that involved Porsche increasing its investment in the Croatian firm. Porsche recently increased its stake in Rimac from 15.5% to 24% in a deal worth £60.4 million. Diess said responsibility for Bugatti is currently being transferred to Porsche, which will then discuss a possible joint venture with Rimac. Stephan Winkelmann remains in charge of Bugatti, alongside his new role at Lamborghini. “Transferring [Bugatti] to Rimac isn’t true,” said Diess.…

ASTON MARTIN HAS unveiled a road-going version of its uprated Formula 1 safety car. Called the Vantage F1 Edition, it sports bespoke styling and mechanical upgrades that mirror the track variant’s. Power from the Vantage’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 is raised from 503bhp to 528bhp for the new F1 Edition and Aston claims the 505lb ft peak torque output is “sustained for longer to further increase tractability and in-gear urgency”. Modifications to the gearbox make for quicker shift times and, according to the brand, improved powertrain control during deceleration. Underneath, the Vantage F1 gains extra chassis reinforcements at the front end for improved stiffness, while upgraded dampers are said to improve vertical body control “without any deterioration in low-speed compliance”. Rounding off the dynamic upgrade package are stiffer rear springs and…

BENTLEY HAS REPRISED the Speed badge for the new top-rung, performance-focused version of the Continental GT. With 650bhp and 664lb ft from an uprated version of the firm’s 6.0-litre W12 engine, the most potent version of the luxury coupé can do 0-62mph in just 3.5sec and tops out at 208mph. That makes it roughly as quick in a straight line as a rear-driven Lamborghini Hurácan. As with its predecessor, the new Speed also promises improved dynamics, with upgrades over the standard car including carbon-ceramic brakes, all-wheel steering tech from the Flying Spur and, in a first for Bentley, an electronic rear differential. In line with its performance aspirations, the Speed is marked out from the standard Continental GT by way of its dark front grille, unique side skirts and subtle…

BMW HAS SHOWN the final, production-spec version of its new i4 saloon three months ahead of schedule as it gears up to launch the Tesla Model 3 rival this autumn. It will go on sale alongside the i3 electric hatchback, new iX3 SUV and iX flagship in BMW’s expanding electric line-up. The production model stays true to the design of last year’s production-previewing concept and is clearly visually related to the combustion-engined 4 Series that went on sale late last year. The upcoming 4 Series Gran Coupé will be largely identical to the exclusively four-door i4. Precise technical specs remain under wraps, but we know the range-topping model – likely to be badged i4 M – will send up to 523bhp to both axles and offer a range of 367…

Company cars have always been widely seen as status symbols. Whether you’re a high-flying executive or a salesperson who spends hours trawling up and down Britain’s motorways, the company’s list of available cars is always pored over in detail, balancing costs with desirability. However, the outbreak of Covid-19 shook the company car industry almost overnight. With the government’s ‘stay at home’ messages, the need to travel for work just hasn’t been there and online meetings have replaced almost all face-to-face interactions, leading many businesses to suspend leases in order to save money. “Company car policies shut down because people were furloughed and firms were unsure what was going to happen to their businesses. At the peak of lockdown one, 70% of our corporate customers had put their policies on hold,”…

Were you to list the unexpected four-wheeled gems we’ve been given over the past few years, some names would spill freely from your mind. The Alpine A110 first, probably followed by the Toyota GR Yaris. After that, possibly the Ariel Atom 4, which we always knew was going to be epic fun but could never have predicted just how well executed the Somerset Exocet would turn out to be at the fourth (well, fifth) time of asking. Your memory might flail around after that, but eventually it would recall the Kia Stinger GT S. What a nice surprise that was. When it arrived in 2017, this was nothing less than the first rear-driven car Kia had ever sold in this country, and it broke that duck in style. An elegant…

Interestingly, even though the UX 300e is Lexus’s first all-electric car, the brochure for it still has a page dedicated to the manufacturer’s ‘self-charging’ hybrids. It seems that, despite Lexus finally joining the EV party, it can’t quite let go of what has been its main USP over the past few years. Still, better late than never. This is the fully electric UX – you can still buy a hybrid one – with prices starting from £43,900. Ours is the mid-level Premium Plus Pack variant and costs £47,400. All versions get a 54.3kWh floor-mounted battery and sole 201bhp motor powering the front wheels. The 0-62mph sprint takes 7.5sec, the top speed is limited to 100mph and the official range is 196 miles. We saw 162 miles in mild weather, 182…

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Car enthusiasts are counting down to 2030 with apprehension. our beloved engines, our cherished classics and time-honoured mechanical skills? New cars will shun fossil fuels entirely, which means the second-hand market will be radically reshaped in the years to come, too – so now is the time to start putting some ticks on your ‘must-own cars’ list. Over the next 12 pages, we’ll consider the shape of the market, highlight what’s on offer and take a look at the used car community – because there’s gold in them there hills if you want to find it, and when you’re taking out a subscription for an electric, autonomous runaround, you might regret not having taken the plunge on the car of your dreams. There are icons, exotica and bedroom poster cars…

Choosing which toppings to have on a pizza is always hard, more so than at Duke of London’s temptingly aromatic in-house pizzeria, Santa Maria. Do you keep it simple with a margherita? Maybe indulge your inner Neapolitan with a handful of anchovies and olives? It can be an excruciating ordeal, and no matter how much you end up enjoying every single slice of wood-fired goodness, there will always be the niggling doubt that you should have been bolder, less obvious; maybe even thrown caution to the wind and taken a risk with some artichokes. Whatever you eventually decide, it’s important not to rush the decision process because that’s good practice, as it turns out, for what comes next. Tear yourself away, when you can, from the heat of the oven…

Fittingly, for a pursuit based essentially on driving in circles, some motorsport rumours keep coming back around. Take Porsche and the Volkswagen Group considering a Formula 1 entry – which, sure enough, is back in the news again, in view of new engine rules being introduced in 2025. So could it actually happen this time? Clearly, there has long been an interest in F1 from Porsche. Given Porsche has had success in just about every form of motorsport it has tried, it must rankle that the marque has just a sole F1 win in its own name. Especially when it’s an almost-forgotten footnote that it built the TAG-branded turbo engines McLaren used to win the 1984, 1985 and 1986 drivers’ titles. In addition, the Volkswagen Group has reportedly been involved…

COMPARISON Ford Puma ST vs Lamborghini Urus The bookends of the performance SUV class meet each other – and find they have more in common than you might think INSIGHT The future of Mini Hilton Holloway reflects on 20 years of BMW Minis – and reveals its future INVESTIGATION Smart motorways How safe are they really? We take an in-depth look at these controversial roads EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Volkswagen ID 3 VW says this electric car is its future, so it needs to excel in our road test… MOTORSPORT Extreme E We preview the first season of EVs racing off road in remote locations SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p36…

MILEAGE 625 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out which end of this dynamic family hatch’s spectrum best suits it Pastures new have greeted Lawrence Allan, so the Seat Leon range has fallen to me. I had a week driving his Leon, a Mystery Blue hatchback in SE Dynamic trim (the second rung up a ladder of six) and with the 108bhp 1.0-litre four-pot turbo petrol engine, before a posher model took its place. “I bet you’ll get a bit of a shock when you put your foot down for the first time and nothing happens,” Allan joked as I stepped out of my torque-crazy electric car, but even this most basic of Leon powertrains didn’t really feel underpowered for what would be a family runaround. Unless you’re the kind…

Saab 900 Thanks to Mel for sharing his car with us. “This,” he tells us proudly, “is my first foray into the exciting world of Bangernomics: a 1998 Saab 900 2.3 auto. It has a 40,000-mile complete service history (Bell & Colvill to 2017), all bills including new pads and discs, four Goodyear tyres and a service 200 miles ago – all for £800. The 900 was owned by four members of the same family and has done an average of 1200 miles per year for the past 19 years and drives like a virtually new car. It was advertised less than a mile from where I live, too. My first, but definitely not my last, Bangernomics bargain.”…

Mitsubishi FTO 2.0 V6 GPX auto £2000 Mitsubishi campaigned against grey imports in the 1990s, but thankfully few people listened, and that meant we got the FTO, a handsome coupé with entertaining handling. The best of the three engines that were offered is the 197bhp 2.0-litre V6, which can launch a healthy car from 0-62mph in 7.3sec. The popular optional five-speed automatic adds 2.0sec to that time but is an interesting gearbox that can tailor its shifts to your driving style. It has a Tiptronic function, too. There are only 60 FTOs on UK roads, making a good one rare and precious.…

The first production Lamborghini to be offered with a conventional hybrid powertrain will be the crucial Urus SUV, which will gain a plug-in variant as part of a mid-life facelift due in 2022. The Urus currently uses the Volkswagen Group’s 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged petrol V8, tuned for 650bhp. The PHEV version will adopt the hybrid system currently featured on the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid, which is built on the same MLB Evo architecture. In the Cayenne, the system offers a combined output of 671bhp, with an electric-only driving range of 19 miles from a 14.1kWh battery pack. With the Urus PHEV set to retain its 650bhp V8, the total output could eclipse 800bhp. CEO Stephan Winkelmann said the different role the Urus plays to Lamborghini’s supercars made PHEV technology relevant:…

The Peugeot 308 hatchback has been substantially overhauled for its third generation, ushering in the firm’s latest design cues and new logo alongside revamps to the engine line-up and interior. The 308 is now more closely related visually to newer Peugeot models, including the 208, 508, 2008 and 3008, with a front end characterised by the marque’s trademark ‘fang’ LED daytime-running lights, slim headlights and a large grille housing the brand’s new ‘coat of arms’. The new logo, which hides the driving aids’ radar sensor, will appear first on the 308 before being rolled out to all Peugeot models over the coming years. The hatchback’s wheelbase has been extended by 55mm – and its overall length by 110mm – to offer more space in the back seats. The car also…

The Toyota Aygo city car has evolved into a rugged miniature crossover that’s designed to “reinvent the A-segment”. Previewed by the Aygo X Prologue concept ahead of an expected market launch before mid-2022, the successor to the hugely successful Aygo has been designed to “prove that cars traditionally referred to as an ‘entry point’ can still deliver standout design”. “ It has some crossover cues but looks more fun to drive and is definitely on the urban side ” Despite the raised ride height, 19in wheels and heavily flared wheel arches (aspects that are likely to be toned down for the production car), the influence of the existing Aygo is clear in its upright rear light clusters, glass tailgate, two-tone paint scheme and wheels pushed right out to its corners.…

Volvo’s commitment to becoming a maker of only electric cars by 2030 isn’t the sole way in which the Swedish firm is changing: it has also vowed to reinvent the way it sells cars. The only way to buy an electric Volvo, such as the new XC40 Recharge P8 and the forthcoming C40 Recharge, will be online. The company has already launched its no-commitment Care by Volvo subscription scheme and is now introducing fixed pricing for cash buyers. Every car will be sold with a ‘care package’ that includes items such as servicing costs and warranty. It’s a fundamental shift in how the car industry operates and one that raises several questions, over everything from value for money to the future role of dealerships. Autocar recently spoke to Volvo’s commercial…

Well, that’s interesting: roughly a year after introducing it, Land Rover has dropped the four-cylinder diesel engine from the Defender. Which means that if you want a Defender that drinks its fuel from the black pump, you now have just one engine to choose from: the recently introduced Ingenium 3.0-litre straight six. Lovely stuff. It’s available in three guises: D200, D250 and D300, with power outputs ranging from 197bhp to 296bhp. Here, we’re sampling the mid-level D250, which kicks out a handsome 245bhp and 420lb ft of torque, enabling our three-door Defender 90 test car to hit 62mph from a standstill in a respectable 8.0sec. Jaguar Land Rover was extremely late to the party in launching this particular powerplant, but the firm is due credit regardless, because it has made…

Then you think of Mercedes, what springs to mind? Luxury saloons? Convertibles? Coupés? Truth is the brand is famed for all of those things, but these days its lifeblood is SUVs. It now has 11 of them on the books, as opposed to six saloons, four drop-tops and two coupés. So it produces more 4x4s than, for instance, SUV stalwart Land Rover. The latest addition to its high-riding ranks is a go-faster version of its GLB. Fettled by AMG and featuring a seven-seat layout, this compact crossover promises to be one of its most versatile yet, aiming to serve up performance and practicality in equal measure. Under its boxy, G-Wagen-inspired body is the same 302bhp turbocharged 2.0-litre four cylinder and 4Matic all-wheel-drive transmission found in the A35 hatchback. Suspension changes…

The Puma ST has the outright grip, torque and body control to go very well around Millbrook’s Hill Route, but its Fiesta ST party mask slips just a little as you probe the last couple of tenths of its handling potential. The car has plenty of bite on turn-in, when the suspension checks body roll cleanly, providing a surprisingly good platform for the fast-paced steering to work with initially. As it passes the apex, the Puma’s chassis has just a little less mid-corner agility and readiness to rotate than, say, a Focus ST, and it is less sensitive to weight transfer. The Puma’s grip tends to run out before you can adjust its cornering attitude with a trailing throttle, and its diff settings also seem gentler than those in a…

Well, that felt quick. It seems like only yesterday that the and the Peugeot iOn first emerged, their tiny batteries and puny electric motors making for an interesting glimpse at what the future of mass personal transport might look like. Fast forward to 2021 and those early efforts don’t look so novel at all. In fact, with the sale of new petrol and diesel cars set to be banned in the UK from 2030, their status as harbingers of a new electrified era now looks pretty ironclad. Seemingly overnight, the entire new car market, from the affordable end to the not-so-affordable end, has been hit by a deluge of battery-powered alternatives to the once dominant internally combusted norm. For better or for worse, EVs’ prominence among the UK fleet will…

Formula 1 is tedious these days, right? It’s always just a procession of cars that can’t overtake one another in his untouchable Mercedes-AMG. Actually, popular though that view may be, it’s not true. Yes, Britain’s finest cruised to a seventh title, but last season also gave rise to some fantastic races, shock results and brilliant performances from exciting new talents, and there’s absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t enjoy more of that in 2021. To make things even better, there are scheduled to be six extra races and a much greater variety of tracks after last year’s pandemic disruption. This isn’t just our view but also that of Jolyon Palmer and Jack Nicholls, who travel the world covering every grand prix for BBC Radio 5 Live. Palmer raced in F1…

QUESTION My mum wants a 4x4 load-lugger with a big boot but that’s also a bit of fun. An impossible combination? Edward Kellett, via email ANSWER One of the most fun cars on the market, the Ford Ranger Raptor, fits your requirements to a T, with a loadbay bigger than any boot, infallible off-road credentials and wacky jacked-up styling. It’s not great for a quiet getaway, though, so for something more subtle, how about the Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid? Don’t judge a book by its cover: this is a real sleeper-spec car, with an electrified drivetrain pumping its 302bhp to both axles and giving a 0-62mph time of just 6.0sec. It’s a pricey beast new, so keep an eye out for low-mileage nearly new examples. FP QUESTION I’m looking for…

Vauxhall Corsa 1.0 Ecoflex S £5000 Driving tests are due to be permitted again from face mask), so we’ve been trawling the classifieds for £5000 cars suited to new drivers. Does that sound like a lot of cash? It’s only the amount that those lucky enough to have been in work during the lockdown could have saved. In any case, who wants the apple of their eye driving an old banger? Our five selections are all modern things in low insurance groups. A low group matters, but it’s not the only thing that insurers consider. The driver’s tender age is the biggest issue, but where they live is also a major factor – although there isn’t much you can do about that. First up is a Vauxhall Corsa. Its intended…

An owner’s view COLIN PATTERSON “I’m the sixth owner of a 2006-reg Boxster 2.7 I bought three years ago. I had an Audi TT Roadster, which the Boxster beats hands down. Although it has done 135,000 miles, it still feels even better screwed together. It does around 25mpg and costs £560 per year to tax. I have it serviced every two years by a local Porsche specialist whose prices are reasonable.” Buyer beware… ▪ SERVICING For peace of mind, quality of work and better future resale, favour a car with official or reputable independent service history. Intervals are every two years or 20,000 miles. Rough running may be due to the mass airflow sensor. ▪ ENGINE Cylinder scoring is rare but worth checking for on pre-DFI 3.4 S cars; signs…