Innholdsfortegnelse for November 24, 2021 i Autocar

LA MOTOR SHOW The new Seven concept is an outlandish and futuristic preview of Hyundai’s third bespoke electric car, which will go on sale in 2024 as a large, long-range rival to Volvo’s upcoming XC90 replacement. The Korean manufacturer labels it a “category-bending” electric SUV, highlighting its aerodynamically optimised styling and long wheelbase as departures from the design conventions of combustion-engined contemporaries. Some of its more radical design cues will be toned down for production as the Ioniq 7, but the recently launched Ioniq 5 remained largely faithful to 2019’s straight-edged 45 concept and the Ioniq 6 looks to be heading to production with minimal alterations from the preceding Prophecy concept. Autocar reported last year that Hyundai planned for its first three bespoke EVs to have highly individualised styling, and…

DURING THE PAST year, new precision paint processes have emerged that promise to speed up the manufacturing of cars, make it more sustainable and allow manufacturers to offer a wider range of colour options and decorative finishes. Earlier this year, Under the Skin looked at ABB’s new robotised Pixelpaint, a technology that applies paint in a similar way to an inkjet printer, creating sharp edges to the paint rather than the soft blur associated with conventional spray guns. It also means there’s no overspray and the company claims 100% of the paint is applied to the car. By contrast, around 20% of the paint applied by conventional techniques ends up in the spray booth filters. German company Dürr has a similar technology called Ecopaintjet being trialled by BMW and the…

MONDAY I spent the week indulging my love of double-cab pick-ups with the daddy of the lot, the legendary Toyota Hilux, which has proved its toughness so often that it’s almost boring. The chief fascination is its endearing combination of refinement and crudity. On one hand, you’ve got a comfortable, elevated driving position, a well-finished cabin full of robust equipment, mountains of torque from one of the mightiest (2.7-litre) four-pot diesels going and a creamy six-speed auto ’box. Tyre and bump noise are amazingly low, courtesy of the old-tech body-on-frame construction, which insulates you almost completely from the road, and wind noise is also well contained. On the other, you have its sometimes unwieldy 5.3-metre length, ordinary steering and a jolting ride that results from the one-tonne carrying capacity that…

Hongqi has traditionally been the car maker for the top echelons of the CCP. Founded in 1958, it’s often referred to as the Rolls-Royce of China. But while its L series is still very exclusive, with the L5 limo available only to those with the right connections, it now enjoys growing commercial success with its H series. Last year, the FAW-owned firm sold almost 200,000 cars, with most analogous to models from Germany’s big three and Jaguar. In 2018, FAW hired former Rolls-Royce man Giles Taylor to oversee Hongqi’s design direction. The Brit was responsible for the Cullinan, and certainly there are echoes of that in the first design under his stewardship: the E-HS9 electric SUV. Sales have already commenced in Norway, and more European countries are likely to follow.…

MODEL TESTED E:HEV ADVANCE STYLE Price £31,660 • Power 129bhp • Torque 187lb ft • 0-60mph 9.2sec • 30-70mph in fourth na • Fuel economy 44.5mpg • CO2 emissions 122g/km • 70-0mph 59.9m You may have noticed Honda beginning to exit the design doldrums, at least so far as its mainstream cars are concerned. In the electric E, it has created perhaps the most distinctive-looking city car since the original Smart, and even the new Jazz possesses an authentic kei-car charm that the old version utterly lacked. These cars, although of considerably lowlier petrolhead status, today sit more comfortably in the showroom alongside the instantly recognisable personalities of Honda’s sports cars – the NSX and the Civic Type R. The most recent model to receive its makeover is the HR-V, the…

In the official literature, Honda draws a line between the HR-V’s hybrid powertrain and the engine it supplies for the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team, so it was only right that we took to Millbrook’s Hill Route in this new model. Unsurprisingly, the car was out of its depth so far as true precision and pace were concerned. This engine is simply too weak to propel even the HR-V’s reasonably low mass along at any meaningful speed, and the perched driving position doesn’t exactly imbue the driver with confidence. As for Sport mode, which supposedly sharpens the throttle response, any real difference it makes is so slight as to be negligible. And yet the little-ish Honda cuts quite a neat figure on this course – albeit also a very…

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Well, this is strange: a race car that comes with its own 45-minute safety briefing, conducted days before you’re to climb aboard. Then, just before you do, there’s another. I could describe it all to you, but the essence is that if all the dashboard lights suddenly turn red, get the hell out. There’s some advice about how to exit in a hurry while touching either the car or the ground but never both at the same time, but the days of ejecting myself from a car like a champagne cork departing its bottle are probably behind me, if they were ever before me. But there are 900 volts of electricity in here, so I guess it pays to be careful. ‘Here’ is the interior of the Porsche Mission R,…

BAOJUN E300 Similar in concept to the Mini EV, the E300 from Wuling’s offshoot brand can accommodate a 39kWh battery and fast charging plus has funkier looks and a nicer cabin. It is twice the price of a Mini EV but seats only three. LETIN MANGO The Mango has five doors despite being just 3620mm long. Prices start at only £100 more than for the original Mini EV, yet it has a more powerful motor and a bigger battery, plus the range-topper can be fast-charged. CHERY QQ ICE CREAM One of the first Chinese car successes was the original Chery QQ, launched in 2003. This soon-to-arrive electric microcar cashes in on the name but takes a shameless copycat approach to the design of the Mini EV.…

Hamilton’s super charge to victory Sir Lewis Hamilton said his comeback victory in the recent São Paulo Grand Prix “felt like his first”. The Mercedes-AMG ace qualified on pole only to be disqualified for a rear-wing infringement; battled from 20th to fifth in the Saturday sprint race; took a five-place grid penalty for an engine change; and then charged through to outduel Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for victory. China’s first Formula 1 driver set to join grid Guanyu Zhou is to race for Alfa Romeo in 2022 beside Valtteri Bottas. The 22-year-old from Shanghai will replace Antonio Giovinazzi at the Sauber-run team after being crowned F3 Asia champion and contesting a season-long title fight in F2. Norris proposes qualifying change McLaren’s Lando Norris has suggested F1 run separate single-lap qualifying…

Had history turned out differently, it’s possible that a Verstappen would have been racing in F1 for a works Honda team 20 years before the firm supplied Max’s Red Bull. In 1998, Honda strongly began to consider returning to F1 as a full constructor and hired ace technical chief Harvey Postlethwaite to establish a squad. A test car, the RA099, was built by Dallara and took part in a number of tests in 1999 with Jos Verstappen – Max’s father – driving. Sadly, the project was abandoned when Postlethwaite suddenly died of a heart attack, and Honda chose instead to return as an engine supplier to BAR in 2000.…

DRIVEN Pininfarina Battista Forget the hypercar hype: we will tell you what this cutting-edge 1900bhp EV is really like to drive FEATURE 80 years of Jeep How a rapidly developed military vehicle inspired a whole genre GROUP TEST New Mercedes-Benz C-Class vs rivals What’s the best premium saloon you can buy? We find out EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Jaguar F-Pace Jaguar’s bigger family SUV gets four-cylinder plug-in hybrid power DRIVEN Taycan Sport Turismo GTS Porsche’s electric game-changer gains estate body, new powertrain SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p20…

If I’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that mileage doesn’t matter, condition does. However, a very high mileage certainly does indicate that a vehicle will last, and the owner deserves a medal for due care and attention. Last week, I went through the results of Lease Loco’s Freedom of Information request to find the most common models with more than 750,000 miles. That went down well, so here are some more. If we’re going to cover the resilient Vauxhall Zafira (20 examples have managed the big mileage), why not find a quick one with a possible expiry date in the shape of a VXR? This is a purposeful-looking people carrier, and there aren’t that many about, most of them sold by private owners. For £5995, you and six others…

QUESTION Your Used Buying Guide on the Mk2 Volkswagen Golf GTI was really useful, but now I’m struggling to find a car to buy. Have you any advice? Allam Deep, via email ANSWER Although the Mk2 Golf GTI is now a collectable, it’s not especially rare. Project cars are common on sites like eBay and Gumtree, while those with fewer issues appear often in the classifieds. For pristine cars, check auction sites such as Car and Classic. These will be considerably pricier, but you can be sure that they’ve been looked after by caring enthusiasts. The best Golf GTIs of this age can fetch up to £14,000, but prices may well have risen since our guide was written last year. JW QUESTION My wife and I want a classic American…

MORRIS MINI SHORTY This example of the ‘Shorty’ was adapted from a rarer ‘saloon’-shelled Morris Mini 1000 from 1968. It originally sported cream exterior paintwork but has recently undergone a full respray and body restoration, including rust-resistant undersealing. Its leather seats have been retrimmed and the dashboard is largely standard. Mechanically, it’s also largely sound, bar some gearshift issues. There’s little paperwork beyond its V5, although full photographic documentation shows its restoration. Despite this, the Shorty sold for £10,000 at auction – not bad in inches per pound.…

The XJ has personified stylish, luxurious comfort with usable everyday performance for five generations over 51 years. But we’re focusing our spotlight on the X350 generation (2003-09) this week, the last of the retro-focused cars before the more modern, Ian Callum-designed XJ (X351) arrived. Don’t be fooled by its traditional looks, though: this car broke new ground. The X350 had an aluminium chassis and body constructed using an aerospace method known as rivet-bonding, which was a first for the car industry. What resulted was a body that was 40% lighter and 50% stiffer than the previous, X308 model’s. Another key draw for the X350 XJ was its electronically controlled, self-levelling adaptive air suspension, which replaced a double-wishbone, independent rear set-up. It produced a ride quality that today still feels exemplary,…

AFTER FIVE YEARS of battling to get the Formula 1-derived One into production, Mercedes must at times wish that it hadn’t bothered. Thankfully for us petrolheads, it has persevered – unlike previously. In 1991, we saw the death of the C112, a Jaguar XJ220 rival based on the 1989 Le Mans-winning C11. It had an aluminium monocoque hosting the 600 SEL’s 6.0-litre V12, a six-speed manual gearbox, an aluminium body with adjustable aerodynamics, adaptive body control and rear-wheel steering. It weighed 1570kg but produced 408bhp and 427lb ft, so its power-to-weight ratio almost matched that of the Lamborghini Diablo. The official reason stated for the C112’s production cancellation, despite a large bank of orders, was political pressure from the greens. • Visit themotoringarchive.com for all of Autocar’s history GET MORE…

Rolls-Royce will soon begin on-road testing of its first all-electric production car, the Spectre, ahead of a market launch in the fourth quarter of 2023. By then, prototypes will have covered 150 million miles in a range of conditions, which Rolls-Royce equates to a simulated 400 years of use. The Goodwood firm’s CEO, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, is adamant that the prototype previewed earlier this summer is a faithful representation of the production car. This means the Spectre will be a swept-back two-door grand tourer with a characteristically long bonnet and muscular proportions – characteristics that line it up as a viable replacement for the Wraith, which first went on sale in 2013. Rolls-Royce has yet to confirm plans to end production of the Wraith, but it withdrew both the hard-top version…

The Seven concept’s size and shape and the timing of its unveiling could hint at its destiny as an eventual successor to today’s Santa Fe, which is expected to bow out in 2024 or 2025. Its debut in the US, where Santa Fe sales far outstrip those of Europe, gives another clue to its future role in the brand’s line-up. Hyundai has yet to directly replace any of its combustion-engined models with a pure-electric alternative (the Kona Electric and Ioniq Electric are sold alongside petrol and hybrid variants), and this could well be the case for the Ioniq 7, given that the brand plans to keep selling ICE cars in Europe until 2035.…

What production intent can we see with this concept? “It’s a concept, but it’s based on things we have already with E-GMP. E-GMP is the platform we’re working on, and a large SUV is definitely something we will do. A time for it I can’t commit to, but it’s important for us designers that we don’t overpromise and under-deliver. We said we wanted to do a vehicle like that. If we can do it, that’s the way it will look and it’s very clearly meant to be that car.” You’ve previously revealed plans to make a whole range of EVs. How’s that going? “Half a year ago, we showed silhouettes based on projects we’re working on. You can figure it out from that… We’re present in the A-, B- and…

The latest entry into Ferrari’s ultra-exclusive Icona model series is the Daytona SP3, a limited-run mid-engined V12 roadster that pays tribute to one of the company’s best-known motorsport victories. It’s named in reference to the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona, at which Ferrari achieved a one-two-three finish with its legendary 330 P3/4, 330 P4 and 412 P racers – a highlight of what Ferrari calls “the golden era of closed wheel racing and an enduring reference point for generations of engineers and designers”. As with 2018’s 812 Superfast-based SP1 Monza and SP2 Monza, production will be tightly limited and – although pricing has yet to be officially confirmed – it’s expected to command a premium over its £1.6 million Icona range-mates, given the bespoke nature of its design and technical…

While a handful of countries are well on their way to electric-only new car sales, others remain almost entirely reliant on petrol and diesel and plenty more lie somewhere in between. Autocar has examined the policies, plans and infrastructure of nine key markets to see how their approaches to electrification differ. Here are the results. Netherlands Subsidies €4000 (£3350) for new EVs costing up to €45,000 (£38,000) and €2000 (£1700) for used EVs. Infrastructure Around 75,000 public and 180,000 private chargers (as of July). Interesting fact It has 47.5 chargers per 100km (62 miles) – the most in Europe. Second only to Norway as the most pro-EV nation, Netherlands’ 2030 new car ICE sales ban looks substantially more realistic than the UK’s. It has Europe’s densest charging network and plentiful…

TRY 3 ISSUES FOR ONLY £1 THEN AUTO-RENEW QUARTERLY VISIT AUTOCAR.CO.UK/SUBSCRIBE OR CALL 0344 848 8807 AND QUOTE PROMOTIONAL CODE X21BFPA WHY SUBSCRIBE? Discounts Including savings at Beaulieu, home of the National Motor Museum Competitions Subscriber-only competitions and rewards Weekly Newsletters Exclusive content in weekly newsletters Subscriber Events Access to special activities and ticket giveaways FOR MORE GREAT GIFT IDEAS FIND ALL OF OUR SUBSCRIPTION OFFERS ON THEMAGAZINESHOP.COM TERMS AND CONDITIONS This is a UK-only offer limited to new subscribers only; for overseas offers, please visit themagazineshop.com or call +44 (0)1604 251452. Please allow up to 35 days for delivery of your gift (if applicable) and first issue. Direct Debit rates are valid for one year, after which they are subject to change; should prices change, we will inform you in…

Opel, and by extension Vauxhall, wants to put the Manta name back into the minds of the car-buying public. An all-new car, battery powered and likely to have SUV-esque styling, is due to arrive in 2025 wearing the Manta name. In the meantime, Opel has dipped into its back catalogue and electrified an original Manta coupé to remind us of a time when the Opel lightning bolt and Vauxhall griffin were applied to cars other than humble family hatchbacks and SUVs. Opel has preserved the original coupé’s delicate, simple lines for its vivified Manta but has, of course, entirely binned this 1974 car’s rather wheezy, 75bhp 1.6-litre petrol engine in favour of a custom-made 145bhp electric motor. Unusually, the front-mounted motor drives the rear wheels via a four-speed manual gearbox…

We all know it, yet there’s still something mildly grating about the C300d not having a creamy 3.0-litre engine. In fairness, manufacturers have by now figured out how to make an engine of just about any configuration feel as refined as it needs to be. Hence the most powerful diesel version of the new C-Class uses a 261bhp twin-turbo 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, assisted by a 48V mild-hybrid system. With the whole C-Class range now being four-pot-only, it’s almost as if what powers the car is incidental. Indeed, the interior is by far the best thing about the new C-Class. It’s fabulously opulent for the class, with top-notch design, haptics and comfort. The massive screen won’t be to everyone’s taste, but if you’re going to go all-screen, this is the way…

Steering pick-up, rebound damping, pedal weights: they’re the kind of marginal elements that tend to determine the outcome of head-to-head tests between two very similar performance cars. And with the best car makers striving to make small gains, that’s as it should be. But this isn’t necessarily going to be one of those tests, mostly because Porsche’s electric Taycan Cross Turismo and the Alpina B3 Touring could hardly be further apart in their hardware. However, they’re aligned in price and on-paper performance. More important, they share an identical use case. That means they’re crying out for a comparison test, just one with a bigger picture than usual. Today is therefore about old world versus new school, comfort food versus molecular gastronomy, petrol versus electric, and here’s the best bit. Both…

Manufacturers frequently use concept cars to preview future production models, but the i Vision Circular that BMW displayed at Munich this year was designed to preview the future of car production in 2040. It showcases circular economy principles and is designed using 100% recycled material – all of which can subsequently be recycled. The idea is to follow the four principles of circular design: rethink, reduce, reuse and recycle. This is how the i Vision Circular showcases sustainable design principles and materials. TYRES AND WHEELS The tyres are made largely from sustainably cultivated natural rubber, into which extra recycled rubber particles are worked to give them additional strength. The rims are designed to use a minimum of materials, with exterior surfacing that ‘encloses’ the wheel and improves aerodynamic efficiency. BODYWORK…

I asked Mission R project manager Michael Behr why his team didn’t make the car rear-driven and thus lighter than the impressively light 1500kg that it weighs with a driven front axle. There were two answers. The obvious one is that with nearly 1100bhp in qualifying mode, traction is seriously important. “But,” added Behr, “it would also make the car heavier.” “Eh?” said I. But it’s true: so great is the amount of energy recovered through braking on the front axle (more than 40% of which is done by the motor alone) that if you dispensed with it, you would need a battery 50% larger to compensate, and because batteries weigh more than motors, the Mission R would become heavier. Interestingly, when you drive the car hard and apply the…

For more information, visit autocar.co.uk/driversofchange. Find us on Twitter at @AutocarDoC and #AutocarDoC In a year hit by more shake-ups and upheavals than anyone could have predicted, Autocar’s Drivers of Change initiative, run in partnership with executive search specialists Ennis & Co, has defied all tales of doom and gloom. In only the competition’s second year, we had a bumper number of incredibly high-quality entries, which shows that the talent and innovation in the automotive industry is in rude health. Our expert panel of judges, including Autocar journalists and senior figures from across the industry, went through all the entries with a fine-tooth comb and whittled the list down to nine finalists. Each of these was interviewed by our experts to determine the winner in our three categories – Digital,…

“WHEN A HANDFUL of enthusiasts in the Bristol area conceived the idea of 500cc racing, little did they know how popular the class would become,” we mused in 1951. “These machines, powered by a single-cylinder engine, are now putting up terrific performances, and the new Kieft has recently taken the lap record at Goodwood, at 84.55mph.” We rightly foresaw such lightweight and simple cars, initially home-built by fun-starved enthusiasts, as the way forward through post-war austerity and rationing. We said: “The problem facing the constructor was roughly this: to build a chassis to take the power unit (the same twin-OHC Norton [motorcycle] engine as was previously fitted in Stirling Moss’s Cooper) that would be lighter than that of other 500cc cars but at the same time more rigid, with suspension…

WRITE TO autocar@haymarket.com Misled lemmings EVs appear to me to be a backward step from most perspectives. There’s no compelling independent evidence to show that, globally, over a full life-cycle analysis, they emit less pollution than the latest ICE cars. So they may be good for Piccadilly, but they’re worse for the planet. They’re about 40% more expensive to buy than the equivalent ICE car once the inevitably temporary government subsidies disappear. They’re about 40% heavier than the equivalent ICE car, thereby generating 40% more pollution from road surfaces, tyres and brakes. They will be no cheaper to run once market price electricity and/or road pricing inevitably comes in. The cost and pollution involved in building a charging network is huge. The opportunity cost of the wasted hours waiting for a…

FINAL REPORT MILEAGE 4850 WHY WE RAN IT To discover whether a drop-top Mini could be the perfect car for the summer As we all stagger towards the end of the year, I find myself wondering what exactly it will be remembered for. The horrors of 2020 cast a huge shadow over 2021, and there has been no day of celebration to mark a sudden end to pandemic times. From a personal perspective, things started looking up in the summer, when I became the custodian of my neighbourhood’s most attention-grabbing car, with a retractable roof and enviable performance. When the Mini Convertible Cooper S arrived back in June, we were seeking to find out if it could be the perfect car in which to enjoy the summer. And although 2021…

MILEAGE 85,739 BMW 320 The Baby Shark has been living outdoors while I do things in the garage, and it hasn’t been too happy about that at all. Starting has always been something of a chore, but now it needs proper warming up, especially after the arrival of morning frost. The beginnings of rust at the edges means it needs to be inside at its time of life. Most embarrassingly, it never made it out of the drive with Mrs Bangernomics aboard; I had to coast and push it back into position before taking a more reliable German out. So I put the battery on charge, cleared the garage and now shield it from the weather. Winter setting for the carbs, then.…

The 5 Series Touring is somewhat like a smartphone: it can do pretty much anything. Family holiday? Check. Monthly shop? Of course. Track day? Faster variants, certainly. In the world of posh estates, few come as capable straight out the box. Under the bonnet, the current-gen Touring was initially (when launched in 2017) made available with three petrol and three diesel engines. The petrols range from a sprightly 182bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder in the 520i to a punchy 335bhp 3.0-litre six-cylinder in the 540i. The diesel line-up includes 2.0-litre four-cylinder units with 187bhp and 228bhp, plus a 261bhp 3.0-litre six-pot. From 2020 onwards, the engines gained mild-hybrid technology, otherwise known as MHT. The range eventually settled on the following models: the 520i MHT, 540i xDrive MHT, 530e hybrid xDrive, 520d xDrive…

Suzuki Ignis £7750 Is it an SUV or a city car? Maybe both. But that ambiguity aside, the model’s appeal extends far beyond its affordable price. The Ignis is more versatile than appearances might suggest, with a 260-litre boot (reduced to 204 litres in an Allgrip model), an optional four-wheel-drive Allgrip system and the ability to comfortably ferry four adults. Despite all this, it’s not far off the size of a Fiat 500. Power comes from an 89bhp 1.2-litre Dualjet engine and kit levels are decent. We found a 2017 example in the classifieds for £7750 with 21,000 miles on the clock.…

PORSCHE HAD A strong presence at LA, testament to just how crucial the US – and particularly California – is for the brand: “If the Golden State was a country, it would be the fourth-largest market for Porsche,” the firm said. Of the 28,460 Taycans sold in the first nine months of 2021, some 8% found homes in California. AS KIA REVEALED its vision for a large electric SUV (left), we had to ask design boss Karim Habib if he’d fancy following Hyundai’s lead with a pickup: “I’d welcome it with open arms,” he said. “It would fit with our portfolio and the brand. In the pickup market in the US, there is a huge amount of loyalty to existing brands. But there are also new things opening up. So…

330 P3 (1966) A defining racer of its era, the P3 wrapped its fibreglass tub around a new tubular chassis and ushered in fuel injection. No examples survive in their original configuration. 330 P4 (1967) An evolution of the P3, this successful racer was given a heavily revamped V12, a shorter chassis and improved suspension to take on Ford’s Le Mans-winning GT40. 512 S (1969) Funded by Fiat’s purchase of a 50% stake in Ferrari, the 512 S was developed in just three months for entry into the World Sportscar Championship’s new Group 5 category.…

Somewhere that looks like nowhere particularly special, amid a nest of workshops behind a petrol station on the A40 just to the west of Oxford, is a place where one of the most influential British cars ever designed – the Mk1 Range Rover of 1969 – is being brought back to life. Kingsley Cars is the kind of place you need to see in order to really believe that it exists. Proprietor Damon Oorloff has nurtured it from personal obsession to burgeoning professional operation over the past 20 years. There are now a number of firms in the UK that offer a ‘remastered’ Range Rover, but Kingsley is the sort on which those others almost wholly depend, because it can handle the really important metalworking. Oorloff runs it with a…

Judged on the images here, you’d be forgiven for writing off the Lexus NX’s transition to a second generation as no more dramatic than a mid-life facelift. Indeed, save for the addition of a new rear light bar, a spelled-out badge across the bootlid and subtly reworked side detailing, there’s little to mark this out as the latest version of Lexus’s best-selling European car. And that’s probably not bad news for those in control of the firm’s coffers. In the UK alone, the outgoing NX – even at seven years old – accounts for roughly a third of the brand’s sales so far this year, outselling the larger RX by about three to one. So, outside at least, this is a classic case of evolution over revolution. Parked up against…

Mercedes-Benz isn’t hanging around in the EV race. In fact, the EQB is the fifth it has launched in the past two years. It’s based heavily on the GLB, and just like its ICE sibling, it offers seven seats as an option, which should give it a wider appeal than the Audi Q4 E-tron and BMW iX3, its key rivals. The lesser of the two variants, the EQB 300, makes a combined 225bhp and 280lb ft of torque, while the EQB 350 offers 288bhp and 383lb ft. Inside, the only obvious change from the GLB is the introduction of EV-specific graphics, which is to say it all looks and feels suitably posh. Accommodation is also on par with the GLB, meaning there’s good space for five, a reasonably sized third…

1 VOLKSWAGEN T-CROSS 1.5 TSI R-LINE DSG Practical, drivable, comfortable and smart, the T-Cross bosses the class for all-round appeal, and the Evo engine is excellent. 2 FORD PUMA 1.0 MHEV TITANIUM DCT A better two-pedal gearbox might make the Puma a class leader. Possesses a dynamism the Honda can’t hope to match. 3 MAZDA CX-30 2.0 E-SKYACTIV X MHEV SPORT Agile yet supple on the move, with fine steering. The interior also stands out in terms of quality, but not space. 4 PEUGEOT 2008 1.2 PURETECH 130 GT PREMIUM EAT8 Practical and comfortable, and every bit as eye-catching as the HR-V. Quick, too, but only so-so to drive. 5 HONDA HR-V E:HEV ADVANCE STYLE Insipid powertrain prevents it from achieving traditional Autocar-style appeal, but it’s slick and versatile. Stylish, too.…

As the ongoing debate about cutting emissions – both in the car industry and more widely – shows, there are to reducing your carbon footprint. Although electric cars produce no tailpipe emissions, the inconvenient truth is they’re only as clean as the electricity that powers them – and as Polestar’s and Volvo’s life-cycle analysis shows, producing an EV is more carbon-intensive than producing a comparable combustion-engined car. Which means that electric cars are only the start: the automotive industry’s move towards sustainability will affect every aspect of how cars are produced and built in the future. Here are just some examples of how cars are changing as the industry attempts to reduce its carbon footprint. BODYWORK AND CHASSIS Car buyers seeking sustainable solutions might notice the use of an eco-friendly…

The cheapest new car you can buy in the UK today is the Dacia Sandero, whose prices start at £9845. If you’re after a cheaper way to get around on four wheels in something new, the Citroën Ami (officially classed as a quadricycle) is likely to set you back just under £6000 when it goes on sale in the not-too-distant future. But if you want a real motoring bargain, you need to go to China. The cheapest car on sale there is the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV, which will cost you the equivalent of £3400 – merely the PCP deposit on most cars. Unsurprisingly, such affordable motoring has proven popular: Wuling has sold 370,000 examples in just 12 months. Wuling is a Chinese car firm you’re probably not too familiar…

Since Formula 1’s V6 turbo hybrid era began in 2014, Mercedes-AMG has dominated the sport. It has been a frankly crushing display, with the squad having won seven straight drivers’ and constructors’ championship doubles. But that streak looks increasingly likely to end this year, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on course to claim his first title. And a key contributor has been the Honda powerplant in the back of his RB16B. It’s an incredible turnaround in fortunes for Honda, which returned to the sport in 2015 through what was considered a dream reunion with McLaren – only to then struggle for both reliability and speed. Honda was left clinging to the grid through supplying Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) in 2018, which opened the door to a subsequent deal with the…

I’ve been banging on for a while now about the brightness of modern headlights. I’ve noticed recently on social media that there are obviously a lot of people who think that current headlights are too bright. I wrote to my MP and got a dismissive letter in reply saying that current lighting is all tested and found to be okay. When halogen bulbs were current, there was a maximum power of 60W for main beam and 55W for dip. That equates to 1200 and 1100 lumens; modern LED headlights are very much brighter than that. I’ve even been dazzled by a running light fitted under a bumper. Seeing pedestrians with a car fitted with LED or HID [xenon] headlights coming towards you is almost impossible. Also, LED tail-lights make it…

FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see whether this electric family hatchback has the versatility to be Volkswagen’s new people’s car As electric cars glide quietly yet inexorably into the mainstream, the Volkswagen ID 3 might well become the car that defines the family hatchback class in the new era, in the same way that the ubiquitous Volkswagen Golf has done for a good portion of my lifetime. Although the Golf itself isn’t ready to be pensioned off just yet, it surely won’t be long before the ID 3 surpasses its stablemate in the sales charts and takes over as the people’s car for the zero-emissions age. Given the significance of the car to both Volkswagen and the multitudes who still buy family hatchbacks, I’m fairly excited about the…

C is for Chrysler Crossfire The Crossfire looks a bit like a cut-price Batmobile but is in fact an out-of-date Mercedes-Benz CLK. It came with just the one engine, a 3.2-litre petrol V6, so it doesn’t hang about – and it can handle the power, being rather underrated in that respect. It’s best to buy from someone who has driven it to the shops rather than chipped it to Mars. Electrical issues and ECU failure can strike, but mostly there’s not much to worry about. Just £1995 will buy you a 2006 car with 74,000 miles and six previous owners.…

Audi A4 Allroad 3.0 TDI V6 Sport Quattro £8699 It’s the time of year when ‘leaves on the line’ is a common railway station announcement, but on the UK’s roads you can add branches, mud and standing water to the list as we head into the tail end of 2021. What’s needed is a four-wheel-drive runaround, and we’ve picked some non-SUV options that will make your winter commute a breeze. Our first pick is a rugged variant of Audi’s popular A4 Avant. The A4 Allroad joined the model range in 2009. It features a 20mm-wider track than the standard A4, with adjustable air suspension, tough-looking exterior bodywork and a higher ground clearance. Although you won’t be clambering over sand dunes or up Ben Nevis in the Allroad, the model did…

BRIEF Find me a pick-up for less than £20,000, but make it properly cool. OLIVER YOUNG Starsky and Hutch would be mighty proud of my choice. It’s a Ford Ranchero, a muscle-car-based pick-up that ticks all the cool car boxes. Is it a head-turning classic? It hails from the ’70s, so of course it is. Does it have a charismatic engine? Its American V8 is positively overflowing with charm and charisma. Could it be the star car of a Hollywood movie? With such road presence, I wouldn’t be surprised if LA comes calling. All this in a practical pick-up. It’s incredible.  MARK PEARSON What on earth is that? Oh, well. At least I’ve chosen James a cultured, subtle and thoroughly practical pick-up. This lovely 1951 Landie is desperately cool and a…

An owner’s view HARRISON PAGANINI-PARKER “I bought an XJ to share with my dad. Originally, we were going to get an SUV, but we saw the Jag, test drove it and it really stuck in his head. It’s a 2003 model and we spent £2500 on it. It had done 79,000 miles when we bought it and we’ve done 16,000 since. It’s the 3.0 V6 petrol, and while it is a very thirsty beast, it’s a great runner. We did need to get a few mechanical gremlins sorted out, like the brakes and a few hoses – only to be expected with a model of that age and price.” Buyer beware… ▪ BRAKES AND SUSPENSION It can suffer after years on the road, particularly the front-mounted compressor, but repairs aren’t…

It’s no great surprise to learn this week that Kia is unlikely to directly replace the Stinger. This rear-driven plus-size grand tourer has been a niche car but one that has fulfilled its purpose of showing that Kia doesn’t just do straightforward stuff. It can be exciting, too. But if one is on a mission to phase out fuel-burning engines and reduce CO2 numbers, the Stinger’s job can be performed by something else. And in this case, Kia reckons it will be by a quick GT version of its EV6 electric crossover. If fast cars go electric, they place no additional emissions burden on Kia’s overall fleet; and its small cars (on which it’s hard enough to make money without adding lots of electrification) can keep internally combusting for longer.…