Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2, 2021 i Autocar

Audi plans to upgrade its E-tron and E-tron Sportback electric SUVs with a new-generation battery, affording them longer ranges, as part of their facelifts during the latter half of 2022. The update is aimed at extending the shelf life of the flagship siblings until at least 2025, when they’re set to be replaced by an all-new SUV, possibly called the Q8 E-tron. Along with the new battery, the E-trons are earmarked to receive more efficient electric motors and an upgraded electronics system that will enable greater energy recuperation among other enhanced functions. Autocar has been told by sources inside Audi that the upgrades to the powertrain will boost range to more than 373 miles for both variants. By comparison, the 95kWh battery currently used delivers a maximum range of 249…

BENTLEY HAS BROUGHT “extra sporting agility to the Bentayga family” with a stiffer, more responsive and more aggressively styled S model. Priced from £179,600, the Bentayga S is marked out by unique 22in wheels, bespoke badging and a standard-fit Blackline design package. It also gains a larger rear spoiler, black lower-body trim panels, tinted light clusters and black oval exits for its louder sports exhaust. Alcantara is used liberally throughout the cabin – which can feature four, five or seven seats – for a “performance-focused” ambience. More important are the revisions to the large SUV’s chassis: the dampers are 15% firmer, the torque-vectoring system has been recalibrated for enhanced responsiveness and the Dynamic Ride system is fitted as standard, bringing 48V active roll-control hardware that reacts within 0.3sec and with…

BMW has fully detailed the production version of its new i4 electric saloon, promising up to 536bhp from an M-badged variant and a maximum range of 367 miles. Based on a specially adapted version of the 3 Series’ CLAR architecture, the i4 is aimed at the Polestar 2 and Tesla Model 3, but in top-spec M50 form it will offer performance that rivals the Porsche Taycan and Audi E-tron GT. It will be available initially in rear-driven 335bhp eDrive40 and 536bhp M50 xDrive forms. The M50 employs a 255bhp motor on the front axle and a 308bhp motor on the rear axle. Combined torque is put at 586lb ft, compared with 317lb ft for the eDrive40. The M50 also gets a unique Sport Boost function that can be used to…

FORD WILL LAUNCH two new dedicated EV platforms in the coming years as it ramps up its investment in electric tech. The company expects 40% of its global sales to be electric vehicles by 2030 and has boosted its EV development spending to more than £21.2 billion by 2025. This will fund the conception of the modular EV platforms and an array of battery tech that could cut manufacturing costs, improve usability and reduce environmental impact. A bespoke rear-and four-wheel-drive platform will be used for a wide variety of vehicles in the commercial, pick-up, active, off-road and full-sized SUV markets, while a larger architecture will be used for full-sized pick-ups and commercial vehicles. The platforms will allow Ford to share 80% of components across its entire portfolio. The two were…

Before you can mount any kind of serious attack in life or business, you need a leader, which is why the UK team seeking to establish a foothold for Stellantis’s luxury DS marque in this country are keen (and somewhat relieved) to launch their DS 9 flagship model, due in showrooms in September. It’s an E-segment four-seat saloon, sized and pitched against BMW’s 5 Series and Audi’s A6. Although DS’s UK boss, Jules Tilstone, isn’t bidding to match those majors in volume (success will be measured “in hundreds”, he says), the new model undoubtedly brings a better shape to the whole DS range, which will now consist of four models (DS 3, 4, 7 Crossback and 9), and sharpens the marque’s offer of luxury, quality materials, classy customer service and…

JAGUAR I-PACE EV400 HSE Our pick of the class if you want a better-handling, mildly involving upmarket EV for daily family motoring. AUDI E-TRON S QUATTRO It’s fast, slick, plush and refined but doesn’t improve the EV breed as a driver’s car nearly as much as we had hoped it might. MERCEDES EQC 400 4MATIC AMG LINE PREMIUM PLUS Deserves greater status if you’re not so bothered how your EV handles. Desirable and complete. POLESTAR 2 LONG RANGE DUAL MOTOR PERFORMANCE Not as practical or plush as bigger rivals. Plenty of presence and alternative appeal, though. TESLA MODEL X LONG RANGE AWD It felt old and unrefined in pre-facelifted form. Backed by a great charging infrastructure.…

When Stephan Winkelmann returned to Sant’Agata Bolognese to begin his second stint at the helm of Lamborghini in December last year, he took over a company that, despite everything, was in rude health. Defying the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Italian supercar maker achieved the second-highest annual sales figure in its 58-year history (eclipsed only by 2019) and set a company record for profitability. In the first three months of 2021, it also set a new record for quarterly sales, with 2422 cars delivered, and it already has orders to cover the next nine months of production. No wonder there’s interest in buying Lamborghini – and why the Volkswagen Group insists it’s not for sale. And yet, since his return, Winkelmann has been plotting how to ‘reinvent’ Lamborghini. The…

MINI ONE This base model, VIN TB00133, has done 103,000 miles, is in regular use and barely seems any slower than a Cooper, pulling with pleasing vigour. Its dampers feel tired but nothing else does. MINI COOPER S Not a Y-reg, but it’s one of the first CooperS cars and remarkable for having covered only 32,000 miles. There’s a following for the earliestS and the Cabrio. This one drives very well, as you would expect. MINI COOPER Rescued from a scrapyard, this sorry-looking Cooper is set to be rehabilitated by Williams. Its chassis number is TC00094, making it the earliest Cooper that he owns, and features the super-rare grooved seats. MINI COOPER Bremner brought his own Y-reg Mini in case there weren’t enough for the shoot. It’s number 155, produced…

Max Verstappen’s dominant Monaco Grand Prix victory has moved him to the top of the Formula 1 points standings for the first time in his career. The Red Bull-Honda ace was joined on the podium by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and McLaren’s Lando Norris, while title rival Sir Lewis Hamilton finished seventh, having being unable to make progress through the field in his Mercedes-AMG. Ferrari laments Leclerc driveshaft failure Ferrari has insisted that the driveshaft in Charles Leclerc’s car would have failed even after a gearbox change. The Monégasque driver had qualified on pole for his home race but crashed heavily at the end of the session. His driveshaft then broke on the way to the grid, leaving him unable to start and raising questions over whether Ferrari should have fitted…

WHAT KIND OF race could include delivery trucks, a Daihatsu Charade, a BMW Isetta, a Stanley Steamer, a battery-electric city car, solar-powered quadricycles and, just for good measure, some pedal cars? It could only be the Energy Challenge. Held in 1991 and backed by the New South Wales Department of Minerals and Energy, this was a race to find the vehicle fuel that was least harmful to the environment. Run over an ambling 323-mile Australian route from Newcastle to Sydney, the winner would be the ‘greenest’ car, as dictated by its greenhouse gas index (GGI): the total CO2 emitted in manufacturing, distributing and powering the vehicle, plus the CO2 it used en route, divided by mass of payload times distance travelled. Simple, really. Power sources present included batteries, solar, liquefied…

I enjoyed Piers Ward’s piece on giving lane-keeping assistance (LKA) the finger in his BMW M440i (Our Cars, 5 May). Spare a thought for us owners of the otherwise excellent Volkswagen ID 3. Ours has surpassed our expectations of enjoyable everyday mobility in every other way; even the software works surprisingly well. But, boy, do you have to love it to forgive the tortuous pre-flight procedure required before every journey. A push of a haptic icon, a precise hit of the finger exactly on the screen’s white line, an unchecking of the defaulton LKA option and then a prod of a cross to return to where you started – all when you told the car the same thing last time: that you didn’t want LKA for that journey or ever!…

MILEAGE 670 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Will unusual EV make daily driving a joy, or will its limitations frustrate over time? The miles are slowly creeping up on the odometer of our funky little electric Mazda. Slowly, you will no doubt have inferred, because I’ve yet to brave a proper long-distance jaunt, knowing as I do that, even without a motorway section to tackle, I will be lucky to get more than 100 miles from a charge. With some lengthier trips on the horizon now that lockdown is going out of fashion, the time for me to face my fears is fast approaching, so I had better finesse my hypermiling skills. Several weeks have passed since we were first acquainted, but I still welcome any opportunity to get behind the…

Ford Tourneo Custom MILEAGE 2681 LAST SEEN 26.5.21 You will never be thirsty behind the wheel of a Tourneo – not when there are enough clever storage cubbies and cupholders to have at least five bottles within reach at all times. I’m finding the two stealthy containers built into the top of the dashboard most useful, because they give you somewhere to stash valuables and keep a dashcam charged, thanks to their USB ports and 12v sockets. LL Volvo XC60 MILEAGE 1076 LAST SEEN 26.5.21 Twenty-eight miles is what Volvo quotes for the electric-only range of this plug-in hybrid XC60. I’m getting just below 20 so far in this milder weather. The BMW 330e saloon of similar footprint that I ran last year got around 27 miles from a slightly…

Thanks to David, who says: “Last year, I went to view two Focus ST 170s with a dealer. One ran badly and was quite rusty, but the other drove well, looked easy to tidy up and showed its engine light on my test drive, which proved a great bargaining point. I bid politely but low and thus secured my best deal yet. I did a few jobs and had a bit of welding done before enjoying 3000 miles in it. Alas, a few big jobs loomed before the MOT, so I sold it to a fast Ford specialist, who then did the required work, securing it an MOT for its next owner.”…

CUPRA FORMENTOR 1.5 TSI 150 V1 £1350 deposit, £225 per month, 24 months, 8000 miles per year The Formentor impresses with its handsome looks, spacious interior and broad engine line-up that includes small petrols and plug-in hybrids. Although it may not excel in any one area, it satisfies across all of them. VOLKSWAGEN T-ROC 1.0 TSI 110 SE £1370 deposit, £228 per month, 48 months, 8000 miles per year VW’s first crossover looks sharp and handles like a small hatchback rather than an SUV. It’s a quality thing, too, that inside looks and feels a class above rivals. Pick from the mid-range versions for the best value. BMW X2 sDRIVE 1.8i 136 SE £1869 deposit, £312 per month, 48 months, 8000 miles per year Another crossover with hatchback levels of…

We’re hardly sticking our necks out in forecasting future classic status for an Alpina, but this B3 is just so good that we didn’t want you to miss it. Autocar’s road testers awarded the model no less than five stars in its road test, describing the Touring as “one sensationally well-rounded product” and an “especially rare gem”. There are only a handful for sale, all of them either brand-new or low-mileage 2020 or 2021 registrations. Our example is a 2020 car with delivery mileage that’s only around £2500 less than new. Still, that’s a saving of sorts.…

An expert’s view PETER MACEJKA, AUDI VW SPECIALIST CENTRE “The B6/B7 V8 is a good engine and sounds great, but it could do with more power. The 414bhp BS7 RS4, which uses a highly modified version of the S4’s 4.2-litre V8 engine, is more exciting. That car is a lot more expensive, though. The big problem with the S4 is the timing chain, or rather the plastic tensioner and guides, which break up after many heat cycles. In fact, we have an engine here on the bench being fitted with a new tensioner kit. The RS4 uses a steel tensioner and guides, so it’s not a problem. Another S4 weak spot is the rocker cover gasket. It goes brittle over time and allows oil to leak over the engine. It’s…

“REGULAR USE OF a car during winter weather brings forward a three-fold problem,” we said in late 1928. First: the water in the engine had to be kept warm overnight, to stop it freezing and cracking pipes. Second: it had to be kept in good order so it would gaily start from cold. Third: warmth had to be kept while driving, for cold running was “inefficient and tricky to handle”. The biggest problem, then, was that first one, and for drivers who couldn’t afford a heated garage, there were many solutions on offer. One was the Carcosy, a portable oil stove with pipes for connecting to the radiator drain and filler. And if your garage had an electric lamp bayonet, there were devices that could use this to heat an…

Rolls-Royce has revealed a new £20 million ultra-exclusive bespoke model that will spearhead the expansion of its coachbuilding service into a distinct business. The most expensive model yet produced takes the name Boat Tail. Last used for a series of coachbuilt Rolls-Royces in the 1920s and 1930s, it refers to a distinctive rear end that mimics a J-class yacht’s hull. A bold and imposing two-door, four-seat grand tourer, the car is 5900mm long and has a removable ‘canopy’ roof. Three examples have been hand-built, heavily customised to the desires of their buyers, who were involved throughout the entire design process. Rolls-Royce Coachbuild Design boss Alex Innes called the creation of the Boat Tail “a unique collaboration” between Rolls-Royce and its clients. He added: “The clients were totally empowering and encouraging…

THE FORMIDABLE LANCIA 037 Group B rally car has been reborn with substantially more power and updated styling, courtesy of Italian motorsport company Kimera Automobili. Called the Evo37, the road-legal restomod is based around the central chassis section of a Lancia Beta Montecarlo, with new tubular frame sections added at the front and rear, adjustable shocks from Öhlins, modern Brembo performance brakes and Pirelli sports tyres. A heavily modified version of the 037’s turbocharged four-cylinder engine makes 498bhp and 406lb ft, which should be good for a 0-62mph time of around 4.0sec and a top speed in the high hundreds. Kimera has yet to confirm the final kerb weight of the Evo37 but claims a power-to-weight ratio of 1hp per 2kg, suggesting that it tips the scales at around a…

Croatian electric hypercar manufacturer Rimac is taking its radical C_Two concept into production with a raft of improvements and a new name: Nevera. The culmination of three years of development following the C_Two concept’s unveiling in March 2018, the €2 million (£1.72m) Lotus Evija rival has been renamed in tribute to the strong and sudden storms that occur on the Croatian coastline. In keeping with the bold performance aspirations outlined at launch, the concept’s powertrain has been largely carried over: motors at each corner give a combined 1888bhp and 1741lb ft (an increase of 45lb ft), which, Rimac reckons, is a threefold increase on the output of a conventional combustion-engined supercar. Claimed to be capable of accelerating from rest to 62mph in just 1.85sec and covering a quarter mile in…

Our first chance to ride in the BMW iX electric SUV ahead of its launch later this year revealed it to be both rapid and strikingly well balanced. There’s an intriguing new mood to its interior, with a low-set dashboard and high-set seats that feel like you’re sitting on, rather than in, the SUV. The lack of physical switchgear gives it a clean look, but it also means you have a lot of interaction with the big central touchscreen. There’s also a flat floor without defined footwells, placing your feet much higher up than in internal combustion engine SUVs. The top-rung iX xDrive 50 (preceding the now-confirmed 590bhp iX M60) has the same dual-motor powertrain as the i4 M50. With its advanced xDrive system apportioning the reserves to each wheel,…

THE FORTHCOMING MERCEDES-AMG SL has a clean-sheet bodyshell design aimed at making it as light and rigid as possible using a combination of techniques and materials that have steadily evolved over the years. The first unitary-construction car, where the chassis and body are combined as one entity bearing the load of the powertrain and suspension, was the Lancia Lambda in 1923. It and those that followed were straightforward enough, made of fairly thick, mild-steel panels spot welded together and painted. The modern bodyshell is a complex system of materials and joining techniques, some of which are derived from aerospace and sophisticated. In the late 1980s, the M100-series Lotus Elan was built using a new aluminium architecture created mainly from aluminium sheet bonded using a special epoxy resin and self-piercing rivets.…

SATURDAY To Bicester Heritage for our first car-based outing of the season, a preview for a new members’ club called Scramblers, which will comprise a brand-new series of themed monthly gatherings outside the exceptionally convenient on-site Wriggly Monkey brewery. I must say that, as a confirmed enthusiast of this beautiful former 1920s RAF base, now reconstituted as a car lovers’ headquarters, I’ve been gagging for them to launch a way of ‘belonging’ for ages. The plan feeds off the success (before Covid) of Bicester’s regular Scramble meetings and will be supported by a busy website. And – get this – membership is free, at least for the time being. All you have to do is register at joinus.wearescramblers.com for the deal of the century. Themes will include Le Mans stuff…

The Q4 E-tron couldn’t have arrived at a better time for Audi. Backed by government incentives the world over, electric car sales are at an all-time high. The Q4 is a compact crossover based on the Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform, created specifically for EVs. The car’s development was carried out along with that of the new Cupra Born, the Skoda Enyaq iV and the Volkswagen ID 4 – next to which it is produced at Volkswagen’s factory in Zwickau, Germany. As well as their platform, all four share common powertrains and other key architectural elements. The similarities are reflected in their exterior proportions, most notably the relative shortness of the bonnet and the way the A-pillars are set forward in a bid to maximise interior space. This gives the Q4…

The E-tron S always handles like a big car, even when it’s rotating underneath you mid-corner. Turn all the electronic aids off and, having first gently pushed on, the chassis will pivot dependably into power oversteer at the limit of grip. In slippery conditions, however, the drivetrain and tyres need a moment longer than you might first expect to create meaningful traction in the direction that car is newly pointed. It’s the inevitable result of the inertia that the car carries. In that respect, the E-tron S feels a little like a heavily laden trolley moving around a builders’ merchant’s yard; one that’s helping you to steer it, if you like, but that you’re pushing all by yourself. The Bridgestone Alenza tyres don’t have a particularly commanding grip level, but…

Personal taste remains the deciding factor for anyone choosing a new sports car. Nobody can tell you what you like – just as you can’t be told to take to a bottle of Argentinian Carménère, a ribeye steak done ‘black and blue’, or the music of The Wurzels. Even so, in such a diverse exotic sports car market as we now have, it can be hard enough just to narrow down the options. “So what next, Mr Autocar Road Test Editor? Should I have the really fast one? The hybrid one, perhaps? Or the throwback, lightweight one? What about the heavyweight electric one, or the really wild, hardcore one?” My stock response tends to be to drive as many as you can and then, barring any revelations or revulsions, to…

URRACO 1973 Having found success with its V12 supercars, Lamborghini introduced this 2+2 coupé as a more affordable model to rival Ferrari’s Dino. It offered three different V8 powerplants, making it the first Lamborghini to eschew the fabled V12. COUNTACH 1974 A delayed successor to the Miura, this Bertone-penned wedge was envisaged as an uncompromising sports car a step away from the series of comfortable GTs that preceded it. Production ran until 1990, and it transformed Lamborghini’s international profile. LM002 1986 Born from a failed bid to make a military vehicle, the LM002 was a rugged off-road supercar. Heavy, lumbering and powered by an incredibly thirsty V12 (yet not even spacious), it had arguably more in common with Lamborghini’s early tractors than its supercars. URUS 2018 Much like the Porsche…

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Take a purpose-built single-seater with about 600bhp, launch control, traction control and a sequential gearbox and race the clock up a hill course that’s at times barely wider than said car. It’s the ultimate adrenaline rush: hillclimbing at its highest level. The British Hillclimb Championship (BHC) is this country’s oldest motorsport series, far predating the British Touring Car Championship, British Formula 3 and even the British Rally Championship. Its 2020 season was lost to the pandemic, and that was the first time that the title hadn’t been awarded. But this year it’s back stronger than ever, with a fantastic line-up of cars and drivers on a schedule that includes most of the usual rounds – although the annual summer trip to Jersey and Guernsey was cancelled because of uncertainty over…

Robert Kubica had the Formula 1 world at his feet a decade ago. Already a grand prix winner and heading into the 2011 season with Renault, the Pole had a Ferrari agreement in place for 2012 and was recognised as one of the best. Then he crashed while competing in the Ronde di Andora Rally, a fun event between the first and second pre-season F1 tests that he did for the love of it. He paid an enormous price. He went off and a barrier sliced through the front of his Skoda Fabia, doing serious damage to his right leg and arm on the way through. Given Kubica’s injury, which permanently restricted the use of his right arm and hand, a successful return to the top flight of circuit racing…

MILEAGE 1126 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if app-based subscription services can replace car ownership I RECENTLY TOOK our Kona Electric on a weekend trip from my home in Surrey to the south coast and was beyond impressed with its ability to estimate its remaining range. I’ve always been a little nervous doing this journey in an EV, because there’s no scope for slow overnight charging at my mother-in-law’s house, the closest rapid chargers are a half-hour drive away and the 7kW point at the nearest supermarket only regains about 20 miles per hour. Not to mention that motorway miles tend to drain power faster than urban driving. It’s an 80-mile trip, but the Renault Zoe I ran before sapped 120 miles of predicted range to get there. Not…

QUESTION After I agreed to buy a car, the dealer asked for an admin fee. I didn’t recall seeing any mention of this so refused to pay. It threatened to keep my deposit but eventually refunded me. Is this a con? Steven Dodd, via email ANSWER An administration fee is only a con if it isn’t clearly displayed and set out with the car’s price. If what you say about that is true, the dealer should be grateful that you accepted a refund without also reporting it to Trading Standards. Still, even when it’s properly displayed, an admin fee feels to us like a way of advertising a low price before then sneaking in an increase, so avoid dealers who charge one. JE QUESTION I can’t decide between getting a…

In Autocar’s recent tribute to the internal combustion engine (5 May), some of our writers named their favourite engines of all time. Here we’ve gathered five of those engines in the cars that made them famous, starting with the Volkswagen Corrado VR6. “Its narrow-angle vee allowed this big-chested sophisticate to fit under the workaday bonnet of a Golf or that wedgy slice of heaven, the Corrado,” wrote James Disdale. What’s more, we’ve found an example of said Corrado. Registered in 1994, it has done 175,000 miles and looks bright, at least in the pictures. It’s finished in a classy dark blue with grey leather. We’re clearly big fans of the VR6, but we know that it isn’t without its problems. For example, the timing chains can stretch and jump teeth,…

ECONOMY EXPLAINED Between the various figures produced on the old-style NEDC, transitional NEDC Correlated and new-style WLTP laboratory emissions and fuel economy tests, it has become tricky to compare manufacturers’ claimed efficiency on the latest new cars. When you see a fuel economy and CO2 figure reference elsewhere, it’s often without explanation. So, to provide as fair and clear a basis for comparison as possible, you’ll only ever read WLTP combined fuel economy and CO2 figures in Autocar’s first drive reviews, features and comparison tests – and on these data pages. Those are the aggregated results of four lab tests carried out across as many different cruising speed ranges – although they’re sometimes expressed as a range rather than as one specific figure to show the different results recorded by…

How did the design process work over the four years? “We followed a normal design process: we built full-size clay models and invited the clients in to see them at differing stages. “When some brands talk about bespoke, it’s very much after the fact and they’re guiding clients towards predetermined options. For us, such was the strength of the relationship that we were comfortable bringing them into the studio when the project was in its absolute infancy; and we didn’t have a crystallised view of what it would be.” How similar will the Boat Tail cars be to one another? “The bodystyle is the only similarity between the three. If we wanted to do a modern Boat Tail, it needed to be more than one: when you look back at…

The Volkswagen Group has received a €7.5 billion (£6.49bn) offer for the purchase of Lamborghini, as revealed by Autocar. A letter of intent sent to the German giant last month set out terms for the purchase of the Italian manufacturer (including all of its facilities in Sant’Agata) by newly established Swiss holding company Quantum Group. Quantum has partnered London investment firm Centricus Asset Management with the aim of creating a “technology and lifestyle investment platform” under the working title Outlook 2030. Quantum is represented in the acquisition offer by Rea Stark Rajcic, a co-founder of Piëch Automotive, the nascent Zurich-based company behind the Mark Zero electric coupé concept that was unveiled at the 2019 Geneva motor show. Piëch’s other executives include Anton Piëch (son of former Volkswagen Group boss Ferdinand…

DOING A STYLING refresh for a car’s mid-life facelift can be as hard as designing the car in the first place, according to Skoda design boss Oliver Stefani. “We want to make it look like a new car so whatever is round we turn square and so on,” he said. “It’s a challenge. Often you say: ‘Heck, this car is so good. What can we do now?’ It needs a lot of creativity, and it’s not easy.” NOW THAT THE Tavascan electric SUV has finally been confirmed for production, Cupra is keen to suggest it will be just as dramatic as 2019’s concept. “It will offer a brilliant design,” said R&D boss Werner Tietz. “The car we launch will look more or less exactly like the show car, also in…

ITALIAN COACHBUILDER Touring Superleggera has marked its 95th anniversary with the reveal of the striking Arese RH95 – a mid-engined, carbonfibre-bodied supercar with a 710bhp Ferrari V8. Touring promises a 0-62mph time of around 3.0sec and a top speed of 211mph. Unique flourishes include scissor doors and a prominent dorsal-style air intake behind the cabin, while the undisclosed donor chassis is modified to best suit the new body. The first example is finished in Verde Pino with a Caramel and Cocoa interior, while cars two and three will respectively have Alfa Romeo-inspired red-and-white and Gulf Oil-esque orange-and-blue liveries. Touring plans to make just 18 Areses, and buyers can supply their own donor car. Each takes six months to complete, and pricing is available on enquiry.…

After six happy years, Kevin Harris, 55, is selling his Porsche 944 S2 convertible. He’s advertising the car, which was registered in 1990 and has done 179,000 miles, for £9995. “I had always wanted a 944, and when this one came up for sale, I bought it on impulse,” he said. “I have £30,000 to spend and plan to replace it with an Austin-Healey 3000 – another car that I’ve always wanted.” Harris is one of the many thousands of Brits who will buy or sell a classic car this year. The sector is one of the few to have flourished during the pandemic, with dealers, auctioneers and analysts reporting healthy sales across the board and rising prices for the most sought-after models. Last month, the Leonard Collection of 38…

Here we go, then. Following a rousing statement of intent from BMW boss Oliver Zipse, the showing of a concept car and the unveiling of the production model, we can finally drive the i4. Based on the upcoming new 4 Series Gran Coupé (alongside which it will be built in Munich), it joins the i3 supermini and iX3 and iX SUVs in a four-strong lineup of EVs from BMW’s i sub-brand. It’s one of up to 12 EVs that BMW plans to offer worldwide by 2023. The four-wheel-drive M50 xDrive prototype we’re driving here is one of two initial i4 variants, the other being the rear-driven eDrive40. Together, they set out to challenge the likes of the Tesla Model 3 and Porsche Taycan, as well as the upcoming Audi A6…

MODEL TESTED S QUATTRO Price £87,675• Power 496bhp• Torque 718lb ft• 0-60mph 4.2sec• 30-70mph in fourth na• Fuel economy 2.1mpkWh• CO2 emissions 0g/km• 70-0mph 56.3m The electric car is taking some time to win over a car-buying general public that remains as sceptical about it in some quarters as it is evangelical in others – but as the technology develops, it is making headway. We’re now seeing them as effective, reasonably priced, full-sized family cars; as desirable superminis and compact crossovers; and as luxury saloons. And while plenty have for quite a few years been performance cars of a kind, we’re also now starting to see a few convincing examples of the EV as driver’s car. This week’s road test subject undoubtedly defines itself as such. With the E-tron S…

FERRARI 612 SCAGLIETTI 2005/05, 37,500 miles: £64,995. Romans of St Albans, 01727 858000 Ferrari’s last big, four-seat V12 car before the four-wheel-drive FF came along. We took a while to warm to its looks, but the 533bhp 5.7-litre engine always convinced. Adult-sized rear seats and a near-200mph top speed. FERRARI 550 MARANELLO 1998/S, 30,000 miles: £89,850. McGurk Performance, 01926 691000 Second-hand values of the esteemed 550 Maranello are now well and truly on the rise, but you can still snag one for less than £100,000. It was only ever a two-seater, but it offers plenty of luggage space and a lovely, analogue driving experience you’ll savour. FERRARI 456 GT 1998/S, 44,000 miles: £42,990. Furlonger Specialist Cars, 01233 646328 The 456 has always been the affordable way into owning a modern…

It’s like a holding area for Minis: there are three neat rows of 20, most looking ready for action. And had you not driven up the driveway of a private house to get to them, you would have assumed that they were gathered at the Mini factory in Oxford – in a dealer storage area or perhaps lined up for a press launch. Except that most are 20 years old, they indeed live on the premises of a house and they all belong to one man. Tim Williams is a car enthusiast, and he explains that when he sold his storage business a few years back, he was looking for a strand of the old car hobby to get into. Then, about four years ago, he came across an embryonic…

WRITE TO autocar@haymarket.com It put a spell on you I loved some of the engines you highlighted in ‘Writer’s block’ (5 May), but I feel that you omitted a very special one made by one of the world’s largest car makers. Ford launched possibly its greatest road car engine in 2015 in the Shelby Mustang GT350. Known as the Voodoo, it’s 5.2 litres of atmo V8 that revs to 8250rpm with help from a flat-plane crank, giving it a specific output above the magic 100bhp per litre, for a total of 526bhp. The GT350 was produced for just five years – and sold only with a manual gearbox driving only the rear wheels, to put the icing on the cake. I think mine was more than worth the hassle of…

FINAL REPORT MILEAGE 4540 WHY WE RAN IT To evaluate the depth and especially the breadth of ability of the luxury SUV cohort’s now established leader It’s already a well-established conclusion that Bentley’s SUV has a wider spread of abilities than any other car on the market. As well as being able to do 180mph flat out and lap the Nürburgring at supercar speeds, it can also crawl up precipitous muddy tracks that would stop any normal car short of a Land Rover. And if this is true, the V8 edition of the Bentayga – my companion for the past several months and 2700-odd miles – must be the most broadly capable Bentayga (and Bentley) of the lot. This is my firm conclusion, at least. To the original Bentayga W12’s…

MILEAGE 10,177 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out if this plug-in hybrid can eclipse its higher-profile donor model A RECENT VISIT to my brother-in-law’s place gave me a chance to compare my Across with the car on which it is based: the Toyota RAV4. His RAV4 is a regular hybrid, rather than a plug-in hybrid, so the comparison wasn’t perfect, but it definitely looks better to my eyes. Its colour-contrasting roof and bolder frontal styling just gives it the edge on visual appeal. Even so, would I feel much different if I had been running a RAV4 PHEV for the past six months than I do about the Across now? I doubt it. This is just such a competent, agreeable car: it works well, drives well and is generally…

I seem to have joined the 21st century, and it’s all the Flying Pig’s fault. It has been displaying a four-wheel-drive fault code when it seems to be perfectly healthy. The answer might be an OBD II fault code reader and reset tool, so I thought I had better get one. It’s useless on my old nails but might come in handy with the newer cars that I don’t drive on a regular basis. Incidentally, I was ahead of the techno curve when I got one of those BMW service light reset tools back in 1988. You could turn the red lights green with an artfully inserted paper clip, but it looked the part. Anyway, I had better go and plug and play……

The first-generation Panamera was launched in 2010 and this magazine wasn’t wholly persuaded by the new arrival. Fortunately, it matured nicely throughout its six-year run but it took its successor, the second-generation Panamera under the spotlight here, to change hearts and minds. How? It looks much better for a start. There’s definitely a hint of stretched 911 going on. (It’s longer, wider and lower than before.) It’s still a four-seater but that rear cabin looks special as a result. It offers plenty of space for average-sized adults, although a six-footer might feel a little cramped. If space is important, try out the slightly longer Executive version or go the whole hog and get the Sport Turismo shooting brake (to be covered in a future guide). The engines have also stepped…

‘A poor man’s Porsche 924’ was what motorists of the 1980s termed the Renault Fuego four-seat coupé. It sure looked the part, with legendary motoring scribe LJK Setright going so far as to describe it as beautiful. The Fuego (that means ‘fire’ in Spanish) was launched in 1980 and was based on the workaday Renault 18. It was the first mass-produced car to be designed in a wind tunnel, the first to have remote central locking and the first to have remote audio controls on the steering wheel. Very few remain, so someone was lucky to bag this well-preserved 1982 GTS for £6700.…

“The Audi S4 you should never buy,” screams one web post on the Audi S4 B6 and B7 generations. Not an encouraging start to a buying guide dedicated to the model, but best we tackle this charge right away. It refers to the fact that the engine has a timing chain rather than a timing belt. No problem there, given the reputation of chains outlasting belts, except that on the S4, the chain’s guides and tensioner are made of plastic. From around 100,000 miles, the material breaks down. Imminent failure is signalled by what victims call the ‘death rattle’ as the tensioner relaxes and the chain begins to wander before, in the worst case, jumping teeth and, well, you know the rest. Get to it early enough and you can…

Airships are back in the news. Goody! I’m a big fan of airships. A Zeppelin NT LZ N07-101, better known as The Goodyear Blimp, was the subject for last year’s Autocar Christmas road test, and it was joyful. There’s a terrific museum in Friedrichshafen, Germany, dedicated to early Zeppelins and their ilk, and the luxury they offered was palpable. Flying some 300 metres above the ground, you get a sensational view of the landscape. It’s eerily quiet, and in breezes the airship rocks gently like a cradle. It’s an incredibly soothing way to travel – but not a very fast one. Last week, Bedfordshire-based Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), which makes the huge Airlander 10 airship, proposed a new passenger cabin layout for its craft, with seating for up to 100…