Innholdsfortegnelse for December 1, 2021 i Autocar

The new Holograktor concept car is Swiss technology developer WayRay’s vision for the future of shared mobility, reinventing the concept of the taxi with a focus on improved safety, enhanced autonomy and passenger comfort. It’s described as the world’s first car to use holographic augmented reality glazing, a technology that allows content to be rendered in “real time around the car”, providing information and entertainment for the occupants while the car is controlled remotely. It’s designed for ride-hailing services in the vein of Uber. WayRay founder and CEO Vitaly Ponomarev suggested that the capacity for adverts to be displayed holographically can reduce the cost per ride for the customer. He also highlighted the importance of using AR to visualise how autonomous cars make decisions on the road and even to…

The Ford Ranger, the bestselling pick-up truck in the UK, has been reinvented for its fourth generation with new powertrains, a bold redesign and a revamped cabin. The Ranger has been on sale in its current form since 2011 yet remains hugely popular. With 13,097 units sold in 2020, it was the fifth most popular light commercial vehicle in the UK and the only pick-up in the top 10. Order books for the new version will be opened in late 2022, with pricing to be confirmed closer to that time. The new-look Ranger has been styled with nods to Ford’s American-market F-150 large pick-up and new Bronco SUV. It’s 50mm wider, giving it a broader stance, which is enhanced by a larger radiator grille with a horizontal bar that incorporates…

MANUFACTURERS ARE INCREASINGLY turning towards sustainable materials for car interiors as a replacement for traditional wood, metal and plastic, but ‘sustainable’ can be interpreted in different ways. For example, does making car interior fabrics from recycled plastic bottles make them more sustainable or does it just reduce the carbon footprint of both, preventing something nasty being dumped into landfill? True sustainability means using raw materials that have a low or neutral (bar the processing and transport) footprint that can be replenished, and that usually means stuff that can be grown. Flax is already being used on a small scale to replace carbonfibre by Swiss company Bcomp, but one of the latest materials is Karuun from Germany’s Out for Space. A collaboration between it and Nio has resulted in the Chinese…

I’m stationary at the start of the main straight on the Circuito Tazio Nuvolari, a rustic race track surrounded by flat farmland an hour’s drive from Turin. A quick check ensures the Pininfarina Battista is in its angriest drive mode, Furiosa, for which I don’t need to provide translation. A touchscreen tells me that 1400kW is available for forward motion. That’s 1876bhp. Then I unceremoniously step on the accelerator. And I laugh and laugh and laugh some more. Oh, I should probably start braking. Question: is this battery-electric hypercar anything more than a one-trick pony? And if it isn’t, given that its trick is to sprint from 0-62mph in less than two seconds and from 0-186mph in less than 12 seconds, does that matter? The Battista is Pininfarina’s announcement to…

For seven years, the Macan has been the best-selling Porsche in the UK. No longer. Such has proven the appeal (and benefit-in-kind tax value) of the Taycan that Britain’s most popular Porsche is now powered by electricity alone. The very thought would have had you laughed out of the room as little as three years ago. And now there’s a GTS model to swell out the range still further – the most sporting if not the fastest in the line-up. It features the usual GTS blacked-out trope on its front apron, side window trims, headlights and so on, while inside it’s all black Race-Tex upholstery and anodised aluminium. So let’s skip all that and get to the good stuff. It has the same motors front and rear as the Turbo…

The Genesis G70 Shooting Brake isn’t just another executive car estate derivative, nor is it just a G70 with a bigger boot. That’s because, while the G70 saloon is very much a global model, the Shooting Brake is fully European. It won’t be sold anywhere but here, and that has allowed Genesis Europe’s Germany-based development engineers a much freer rein not just to fine-tune the ride and handling but also to specify the hardware for the suspension and steering to suit our roads and tastes. The car looks European, helpfully: a bit like a contemporary take on the Lexus IS and Subaru Impreza estates, perhaps, but at least as pretty enough to have made a very passable Alfa Romeo or Saab in another life. The cabin is very pleasant. The…

1 LAND ROVER DISCOVERY SPORT P300e R-DYNAMIC HSE Has the comfort, drivability and luxury to rise above rivals. Neat battery integration and good value, too. EV range is 34 miles. 2 BMW X3 xDRIVE30e M SPORT Despite compromises compared with other X3s, it’s one of the better options to drive. Recent facelift brings interior upgrades. Electric-only range: 29 miles. 3 JAGUAR F-PACE P400e R-DYNAMIC HSE Impresses with big power, fluid handling and transformed interior. Class-leading but at a big price. An EV range of 33 miles. 4 AUDI Q5 55 TFSIe QUATTRO COMPETITION S TRONIC Quick, well appointed and refined, but uninvolving to drive. Recent updates have boosted the electric range to 37 miles. VOLVO XC60 T8 RECHARGE R-DESIGN INSCRIPTION PRO Ordinary to drive, but a nice place to travel, quick and…

Eighty years span several lifetimes in car terms, so it’s little surprise that in mechanical terms there’s really little in common between the Willys MB – the first vehicle we now recognise as a Jeep – and the latest Wrangler. They’re different machines from different eras, built by different companies for very different purposes. There is, however, an undeniable link between the two. It’s the shared guiding ethos that both are designed to offer: freedom. A very American sort of freedom at that, the sort best served with fireworks, cheerleaders, chants of ‘U-S-A! U-S-A!’ and a side of cheese-smothered freedom fries. The past 18 months or so have given us all a new appreciation of freedom and the ability to go where we want when we want. I reflect on…

Eighth WRC title for Toyota’s Ogier Sébastien Ogier secured an emotional eighth World Rally Championship title with victory on the Monza Rally. His Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans pushed for victory in the Italian event, but two stalls during the late stages meant the Welshman had to settle for second place. Ogier is now to retire from full-time competition, aged 37. Hamilton piles more pressure on Verstappen Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff believes Sir Lewis Hamilton’s São Paulo Grand Prix grid penalty unlocked “superhero powers”. The seven-time champion followed up his win from 10th in Brazil with a dominant performance in Qatar to close in on Red Bull’s Max Verstappen with two races left. Electric Lancia Delta restomod for WRX GCK Motorsport will field an electric restomod of Lancia’s 1980s…

The privileged few who live cosseted in their own sumptuous little world? That’s not fair. More accurately, those who can afford to buy and race Ferraris have their own universe in which to play and indulge, judging by the astonishing scale of the company’s end of season Finali Mondiali extravaganza, held last month. A voyeuristic dip into the World Finals, run this year at Ferrari-owned Mugello in the tranquil hills of Tuscany, revealed an insular motorsport dimension that tends to sweep straight past our general consciousness – because it doesn’t exist for our benefit. It’s a creation for those who continue to feed and breathe life into the most famous car maker in existence: the precious Ferrari customers without whom the prancing horse would have been put out to grass…

Where have all the dingbats gone? That’s what I’d like to know. A simple pleasure in life now in decline is scrutinising the specification matrices that appear in the increasingly endangered species of car brochures and price lists. “As our cars become more digitally connected and we move to a more digital future, we’re no longer producing the traditional brochure and price list,” says Volkswagen on the page of its website dedicated to its new Polo. Ditto with the Audi A3 and the BMW 3 Series. That leaves just a few highlighted features and an online configurator. With increasingly complex permutations of engines, trim levels and option packs, working out what you actually get for your money is an increasingly frustrating experience. Happily, some manufacturers are sticking with tradition. Jaguar…

MILEAGE 8800 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT The Jaguar saloon is endangered. Can an updated XF leave a lasting legacy? In welcoming the XF to the Autocar fleet, I – called it a “bona fide British sports saloon”. Yes, it has all the prerequisite black trim and that all-important R-Dynamic badge, but there’s no ignoring the fact that, whereas Jag saloons of old were propelled by some of the fruitiest sixes and eights about, the latest – and last – of the line has a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder. Any lingering dissent at the XF’s switch to exclusive four-pot power is surely exacerbated among the diehards by the fact that Jaguar still has six-cylinder power on its roster, in the form of the nicely rounded and suitably potent 3.0-litre Ingenium, but you…

MILEAGE 86,692 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF Welcome back to the Golf, which has been pining for an oil change for a while. Not only that, but also its brake pads were identified at the last visit as needing replacement soon, so this will be soon enough. The garage phoned us up and said that the front discs were also on the thin side, so we okayed a change to those, too. The schedule was still to get the car off the ramp and back home before the end of the day; and £279 later, that happened. An unstamped previous service needs a receipt so that it can be inked. The next time you see the Golf, it should be at MOT time, around March/April 2022.…

It’s a bit confusing, the history of the C4 Cactus. The first cuddly incarnation arrived in 2014 as a quirky, Airbump-laden small SUV. It was designed in the Citroën idiom of old to stand out from the crowd, but it also offered practical, comfortable and fuel-efficient motoring. It sold on design alone, though, because it looked like nothing else and came in a range of bright colours that contrasted neatly with those protrusions on its flanks. A facelift in 2018 ushered in a much sharper but less cute-looking car, with the Airbumps minimised and a much more mainstream approach, and in the process it became marketed as a regular family hatchback rather than an SUV. It was retired this year and its place was taken in the order books by…

ASTON MARTIN VANQUISH We’re still gripped by James Bond fever at Autocar, so the Aston Martin Vanquish, as seen in Die Another Day (when its invisible mode was deactivated), tickles our fancy. It’s one of the ultimate grand tourers, with a Cosworth-developed 5.9-litre V12 that makes 460bhp. This example has driven just 42,000 miles with four owners and has been with its latest since 2004. They’ve meticulously maintained it: the invoices total £30,000, including a complete gearbox overhaul at 35,000 miles, while the clutch and magma sensor have also been repaired. It sold at auction for £65,500.…

The XC90 was a real gamechanger. Not only did it represent a significant new step for Volvo, as its first SUV, but it also played a major role in changing the overall market. Previously, the MPV ruled the family car roost, but with the XC90, buyers began to drift out of the dowdy people carrier and into the ‘lifestyle’ SUV. The age of the SUV had truly begun. Unveiled at the 2002 Detroit motor show, the XC90 was the largest car based on the P2 platform, which was also used by the S80 and S60 saloons and the V70 and XC70 estates. Modern car life cycles average about six years, but the original XC90 carried on for a staggering 14 years with the help of facelifts. Comfort, versatility and safety…

“It gets completely bespoke styling, drivetrain hardware and technology to further justify its creation and positioning” GOT A STORY? Email our news editor felix.page@haymarket.com BMW’s M division will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2022 with only the second bespoke model in its history: the XM. Closely previewed by this show car, the Concept XM, the large SUV will be BMW M’s first-ever electrified model, with a high-performance 740bhp plug-in hybrid powertrain built around its famed 4.4-litre petrol V8. In positioning, the XM will sit atop the BMW range and target models such as the Audi RS Q8, Porsche Cayenne Coupé Turbo S E-Hybrid and Range Rover Sport SVR. Derived from the X7, it is effectively an X8 if you follow BMW’s traditional naming convention, whereby the more rakish, coupé-style versions…

The second-generation Kia Niro has been made official, introducing a bold new design inside and out for one of Europe’s most popular crossovers. Ahead of its market launch in 2022 (only six years after the arrival of the current car), the new Niro has been shown for the first time at the Seoul motor show, revealing how the Nissan Juke rival has been brought into line with Kia’s evolved design language. Kia has confirmed that the new arrival will, like the current model, be offered with hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery-electric powertrains. As such, the Mk2 Niro EV won’t use Hyundai and Kia’s new E-GMP platform created for bespoke electric models. The 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine currently used in hybrid Niro variants is tipped to be carried over, but efficiency…

HENNESSEY WILL FOLLOW its speed-record-hunting Venom F5 hypercar with its first electric car, a six-wheeled grand tourer with a mindboggling power output and a $3 million (£2.25m) price. Known as Project Deep Space, the US firm’s EV (rendered by Autocar above, based on official sketches) will feature both a central driving position and a diamond-shaped four-seat layout. Boss John Hennessey said it will be about six metres long and that it should also be the fastest-accelerating four-seater from rest to 200mph. Work has already begun on the production car, which should be launched in 2026. No more than 105 examples will be made. Hennessey told Autocar that he had been thinking about EVs for years but always struggled with the weight of sufficiently potent battery packs for brandappropriate performance. “Then…

Beneath its shapely carbonfibre body, the Battista shares quite a lot with its ‘frenemy’, the Rimac Nevera. They have the same carbonfibre tub with aluminium suspension subframes front and rear. In each, the lithium ion battery pack, all 120kWh of it, runs between the occupants and then across the body in a T-shape behind them. Both have four motors, one for each wheel and each with a reduction gear. In the Battista, the front ones make 335bhp apiece and the rears 603bhp each. Any one of them would be enough; all four together make the full 1876bhp. Oh, the rest of the EV stuff: the Battista’s range is 311 miles and it can be charged at up to 250kW from a suitable charger.…

Occasionally it’s important to ponder life’s fundamental questions, like: ‘What exactly is a car facelift?’ The Ferrari F8 Tributo generally isn’t regarded as a facelifted 488, which in turn generally isn’t considered a facelifted 458, yet they share their structures and underpinnings, their general shapes and most of their interiors. And so to the Suzuki SX4 S-Cross. At first glance, the Mk3 S-Cross looks very new. It has a completely fresh front end, with a higher bonnet line, much more angular styling and LED headlights; the shape of the side windows has changed; and the rear is all but unrecognisable, incorporating an oh-so-2021 light bar. However, the hard points are clearly the same and the dimensions are unchanged. If any confirmation were needed that this is in effect a heavy…

First, it was the manual gearbox that fell by the wayside. Then it was rear-wheel drive. So your only choice for a BMW M4 Convertible today is a four-wheel-drive automatic. And you know what? That’s great. The powersliding enthusiast can still buy a rear-drive coupé, or just put the xDrive system in rear-wheel-drive mode, and the purist is likely to be catered for by the upcoming M2. But what you’re left with is a drop-top M4 in the spec that most people were going to order anyway. The high standard spec does bump up the price, though, which starts from £83,355 – pricey, but the few direct rivals it has, like the Mercedes-AMG C63 and Porsche 911 cabriolets, are more expensive still. The big news is the same as with…

The brochure for the new fifth-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class would, in places, be better promotional material for oversized sunglasses and expensive sandals than it is for a car. You will know the score: it’s full of pouting young models in designer clothes arranged around a car in which they have an apparently disdainful level of disinterest. In this case, one of them is actually sitting on the roof of a grey C-Class Estate wearing a black trench coat, black leather boots and Grace Jones-style ‘eyewear’. As ironic as this might sound in light of our current throwback fashion trends, I’m pretty confident that nobody who dressed anything like that ever advertised the 190E in 1982. The young lady in question is picnicking with what appears to be the shiniest cocktail shaker…

1946 WILLYS JEEP STATION WAGON The first all-steel station wagon designed purely as a passenger vehicle was offered with rear- or four-wheel drive, with the latter arguably the first true ‘sport utility vehicle’. 1962 JEEP GLADIATOR The body-on-frame truck shared its basic architecture with the Wagoneer, and came with rear- or four-wheel drive. It remained on sale in the same basic form (albeit with different names and styling) for 26 years. A Wrangler-based revival went on sale in the US in 2019. 2010 JEEP COMMANDER The mid-size SUV was launched in 2005 using the Grand Cherokee platform. It had few distinguishing features and was quickly killed off by Sergio Marchionne after the Fiat-Chrysler merger. He described it as “unfit for human consumption”. 2014 JEEP RENEGADE The Renegade was the first…

The day after the awards, Ferrari’s giant hangar was free to house the greatest collection of Formula 1 Ferraris that we’ve ever laid eyes on. It was simply jaw-dropping to see so many under one roof. Picking our favourites wasn’t the work of a moment, so we took our time… 1974 312 B3 Mauro Forghieri masterpiece that reignited Ferrari as an F1 force. Niki Lauda’s first F1 winner. Clay Regazzoni finished a close second in the points to McLaren’s Emerson Fittipaldi. 1982 126 C2 Bittersweet. Villeneuve died in one and Didier Pironi’s leg-smashing crash in another at Hockenheim ended his career, then Patrick Tambay kept their flame alive. 1996 F310 Barnard’s ugly duckling, but significant as Michael Schumacher’s first Ferrari. Driven to the German’s brilliant maiden Ferrari win in the…

164-PAGE DOUBLE ISSUE Bumper Christmas special Is it that time of the year already? Don the Christmas jumper, pour the mulled wine and enjoy Autocar’s annual festive feast DRIVEN Kimera Evo37 New retro road racer is a tribute to Lancia’s 1980s WRC classic. We rate it OFF-ROAD TEST Fat Truck Yes, that is its real name – and it’s the most capable 4x4 in the world EVERY WEEK MOTORSPORT Damon Hill It’s 25 years since Hill won the F1 title. He reflects on that milestone DRIVEN Kia Sportage This SUV is Kia’s most important car in the UK. Now there’s an all-new one SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p52…

MILEAGE 3911 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out whether Audi can retain its premium appeal in the EV age The family Ford Fiesta was all ready to be packed up to travel 200 miles to the north Norfolk Airbnb we had booked for a few days away when my partner asked why we weren’t going in my work car, like we always do. It’s electric, was my reasoning. Which was fairly flimsy reasoning, given that I had spent the past few weeks answering the first question most people asked me when they saw my latest Autocar fleet test car was the new electric Audi Q4 E-tron with “about 300 miles”. With such a range, why wouldn’t we take it? So we did. It was still early autumn at the…

Honda Legend 3.5 V6 AWD Jeremy is rightly pleased with his new daily driver: “My 2009 Honda Legend has just had its radiator blades rechromed for less than £80, as they were heavily weathered and pitted. Honda wanted £495 for a new grille! It has done 90,000 miles. Its previous owners cared for it: every service is Honda-stamped, including a new cambelt, discs, pads and Pirelli P Zeros. I paid £5200 in January and it flew through its MOT in March. I’ve done 7000 miles so far. It’s a bit thirsty, at 28mpg, but a real safe limo, with a silky V6 and quiet wafting.”…

Volkswagen Scirocco R £15,789 Get behind the wheel of the R variant and you will discover just how great the Scirocco is. It’s destined to be a classic thanks to a combination of its rakish coupé styling and the Golf R’s 276bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine. When it was new, we praised the Scirocco R for its all-round dynamics and decent practicality, as well as its impressive haul of kit, which included leather, heated sports seats, adaptive sports suspension, sat-nav, a DAB radio and dual-zone climate control. We found an 81,000-mile pre-facelift 2015 car up for £15,789.…

An owner’s view KEELAN CLARKE, VOLVO XC90 OWNERS CLUB “My experience with the XC90 has been absolutely fantastic. The comfort and space make it a pleasure, and even though it’s a big vehicle, it never really feels like that when I’m driving it. There’s plenty of muscle in the engine, but the most appealing aspect is the room. I’ve yet to come across another vehicle that offers so much of it. It handles all that a family needs and wants. Like any vehicle, they age and that can bring problems, but generally they’re worry-free.” Buyer beware… ▪ STEERING A recall took place in 2006 to fix a fault that meant the steering could fail with heavy use over an extended period. A total of 18,728 cars were affected, so ensure…

News of more electric restomods. One very sensible, one sort of not. Last week, we drove the unsensible one, the Opel Manta GSe Elektromod, Opel’s own battery-electric take on its 1970s coupé. How unsensible is it? Well, Opel has made the batteries small enough to leave enough boot space “for a fortnight’s holiday in Italy for four”, yet in doing so has made the batteries small enough that the Manta has a range of just 124 miles. Which isn’t ideal for a fortnight’s holiday in Italy for four, unless you start not too far away from Italy. Anyway, that aside, it’s a very cool thing, and I love its steering wheel and seats, but there’s something about its looks – and I don’t think this is unusual for restomods –…

NOT CONVINCED BY EVs? Maybe the prime minister’s assessment of them will persuade you. “They may not burble like sucking doves, and they may not have that vroom-vroom-raah-raah that you like,” he said at the Confederation of British Industry conference last week, “but they have so much torque that they move off the lights faster than a Ferrari.” Stand by for our 812 Superfast versus Citroën Ami drag race… AS POLESTAR PREVIEWS its 5 grand tourer (pictured), designer Nahum Escobedo has told us what’s on his mood board: “My inspiration comes from products like a radio or a camera. I look at architecture and aeroplanes [too]. For me, aeroplanes are a big inspiration.” He said he also takes cues from sharks, highlighting the “bone” that runs around the front of…

A mid-life update for the acclaimed Alpine A110 sports car has ushered in a revamped trim hierarchy, new options and overhauled infotainment. The range now comprises the base A110, the refinement-oriented GT and the hardcore S, which is available as an option with a striking two-tone livery and a carbonfibre aero package. Technical specifications are largely unchanged, but every variant gets an upgraded, Alpine-specific infotainment touchscreen and has been tuned to drop a cylinder in launch control mode for “more racing-style sounds”.…

The government is “allowing a race to the bottom on safety to free up capacity” in the HGV driver market, according to Jim McMahon, the son of a truck driver. “We don’t believe that you should take a truck on the road if you haven’t done a reversing test, but that seems to be the route the government is taking.” He said that instead of making the test easier, the government should encourage HGV drivers who are about to retire to train the next generation of hauliers: “At the moment, the cost [to become an instructor] is £5000 per person, but they could undertake 15-20 tests a week, so for one person you would be getting a lot more people on the road.” McMahon has experience here: as a council…

THURSDAY To Calcot Manor, near me in Gloucestershire, where Kia presented its entire car range for hacks to try. The plan was for me then to head back home with the current star of its show, the all-electric, range-topping EV6 crossover. In the past 10 years, certainly since its German design revolutionary Peter Schreyer got into his stride, the Kia line-up has often struck me as an excellent antidote to premium cars, combining high quality and high design at prices 20-30% lower than the big names. However, the Schreyer influence is gone now. The Sportage family SUV, his greatest achievement, has changed styling direction radically in the latest model. The EV6, a thoroughly enjoyable car (but for a few misgivings below), has also taken the new course. It will be…

“The 2.0-litre unit makes a more characterful din than any mild-hybrid four-pot deserves to” We arrive at the Balocco Proving Ground expecting to feel the frost that comes with being designated persona non grata. It’s only weeks since Maserati’s flagship Quattroporte Trofeo saloon was given two stars in its full Autocar road test – a real demolition but deserved – and people tend to have long memories in the high-stakes automotive industry. Happily, both the personnel and the new product at Maserati seem to be moving on, and our brief first taste of the upcoming Grecale suggests it’s categorically not heading down the same path as the Quattroporte. This is just as well, because the Grecale is undoubtedly Maserati’s most important car for a long time. It aims to bring…

Time waits for no man. Or car. In the time since we road tested the current Volkswagen Polo and declared it top of the supermini class, quite a few new or thoroughly refreshed rivals have entered the fray. So it’s facelift time for the Polo. Its design is awkwardly caught between Volkswagen’s older, more rectilinear design language and the more recent swoopy monobrow style first seen on the Mk8 Golf, which makes the fussier headlights and bigger tail-lights sit slightly uneasy on the more restrained body. Volkswagen has also revised the trim levels, with more kit fitted as standard. Not counting the GTI, there are just three: Life, Style and R-Line. The cheapest Polo, costing £17,885, is now a Life with a 79bhp naturally aspirated 1.0-litre engine, but really you…

MODEL TESTED P400e R-DYNAMIC HSE Price £64,585 • Power 398bhp • Torque 472lb ft • 0-60mph 5.1sec • 30-70mph in fourth 5.2sec • Fuel economy 46.2mpg • CO2 emissions 52g/km • 70-0mph 46.7m Our original road test of the Jaguar F-Pace in 2016 began by discussing how wary Jaguar was of introducing an SUV. Traditionally known for luxury saloons and sports cars, it feared a backlash from what might seem like a drastic change of character. Today, that thought seems almost naive, because SUVs have taken off in popularity, making the F-Pace one of the few Jaguars in recent years that could be considered a success story. As the world has lost its appetite for saloons and estates, and made cars like the XE and XF critical successes but commercial slow-burners,…

VERDICT From 2025, we’ll see a ‘reimagined’ Jaguar with even higher luxury aspirations, powered by only batteries and electric motors. Until then, the brand must soldier on with refreshed versions of models that have been on the market for a few years. However, on the evidence of this road test, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. This plug-in hybrid model is certainly hampered a little by a platform that wasn’t originally designed for electrification. It confers weight and packaging penalties and, unlike with the remarkably keenly priced XE and XF, Jaguar may be getting ahead of itself a little with the P400e’s pricing. But the rest of the changes to this car hit the target. The F-Pace is still good to drive for a large SUV, its line-up…

Mercedes bosses have been extremely vocal in recent months about their intention to streamline the marque’s model range. Various engine variants, bodystyles and even potentially entire model lines are on the chopping block as Stuttgart reacts to shifts in market demand and the onset of electrification. Thus there won’t be the same array of two-door and drop-top versions of existing models. “We’re going to continue with coupés and cabriolets in the future, but in a different form and shape,” hinted COO Markus Schäfer earlier this year, and it seems the C-Class Cabriolet will be the first model to shift shape as part of this new simplification drive. Reports suggest the new version – expected next year – will be called the CLE (a trademark recently renewed by Mercedes) and will…

Et voilà: after eight titles and 54 wins for Sébastien Ogier (he added one to his previous tally of each on Rally Monza), this is where it all comes to an end. Maybe. Officially, he’s down to do a partial programme of events next year with Toyota, sharing a GR Yaris hybrid with Esapekka Lappi (the exact programme has yet to be defined). Rally Monza showed, though, that Ogier has lost none of his speed, motivation or class. It would come as no surprise if the Frenchman triumphed on the Rallye Monte-Carlo next year: he has won it eight times before, after all, which is more than anyone else. And at that point, who could blame him if he wanted to carry on, perhaps to equal or even beat his…

“RAIN, RAIN AND more rain isn’t the weather that anyone expects for the most glamorous race of the grand prix season at Monte Carlo, but rain it did – and heavily – throughout,” we said after race four of 1972. “It was a surprisingly clean start which produced an equally surprising leader: Jean-Pierre Beltoise in the BRM, who had edged his way past [Ferrari man Jacky] Ickx on the inside. “Spray is key to visibility in these conditions, and the driver that leads in the early laps can build up a tremendous advantage, while those behind can do little but follow in his wake. So, in four laps Beltoise was over 5sec ahead of [Ferrari’s] Clay Regazzoni. “On lap five, Ickx appeared in second place, over 12sec behind the BRM,…

WRITE TO autocar@haymarket.com Wide of the mark Your report on the new Mercedes SL once more showed the dreadful trend towards wider and wider vehicles. When I’m driving, two critical width dimensions concern me: the gap between my precious alloys and the kerb on the invisible nearside and the easily assessed gap between the right-hand side of my car and the oncoming traffic. (Mirror-to-mirror width doesn’t really concern me.) It’s about time insurers lobbied the government for new regulations, as roads and parking spaces haven’t widened and won’t in the future. Every article about a new vehicle should include the ‘maximum track’ dimension: rim edge to rim edge, plus tyre-bulge allowance. David MooreVia email Is this your legacy? I recently ended up driving a 2020 BMW 520d as a courtesy…

QUESTION We’re going on a family holiday and will be hiring a car. I want to split the driving with my 21-year-old son, but would he be covered?Alan Taylor-Rhodes, via email ANSWER Most hire car firms (including Avis, Enterprise, Europcar and Hertz) will allow drivers 21 and over to hire their economy or entry-level models, but many add surcharges for those under 25. Some countries also require drivers to have held their licence for at least three years before hiring a car. France, Italy, Portugal and Spain will allow those over 18 to hire but with varying licence age requirements. In 48 of the 50 US states, you must be 21. All are likely to add significant surcharges for those under 25. JW QUESTION I’ve got whiplash from a light…

BMW M3 £15,959 Finding a car that ticks the daily-commute box but is also enjoyable at the weekend can be a bit of a conundrum. But if anything can fulfil that brief, it’s surely a BMW M3. Let’s home in on the E46 of 2000 to 2006. It’s still the one most diehards regard as the finest, with handling, performance and comfort on its side. It can mix it with the best whether on a track day, a motorway or a simple trip to the shops. It’s still the best-selling M3 ever, at 85,766 units. It came in coupé and convertible bodystyles, both driven by a 343bhp 3.2-litre straight six that could send them from 0-62mph in 5.1sec. And best of all, it redlined at 8000rpm. Buyers got the choice…

BRIEF I would like a DIY-friendly car for £10,000, please. OLIVER YOUNG Mazda MX-5s are modern-day tinkering legends. A naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine and rear-wheel drive: the back-to-basics sports car formula. This particular one is a 146bhp 1.8-litre Sport from 2004, and it’s already quite the performer. However, there’s a variety of options to explore if you want to increase its power, reduce its weight and/or improve its handling. And because it’s rather simple and easy to work on, you don’t have to be an expert engineer to achieve amazing results. What do you think, Mark? MARK PEARSON I think you’ve gone way too complex, Oliver. James is after something he can fix at the roadside, tinker with for pleasure and bore the pants off every other person for miles around…

POPULAR OPINION HAS it that the 1980s was the golden era of the hot hatchback and the Peugeot 205 GTi its best product. But has time distorted this perspective? Let’s revisit our 10-car test from 1985. Bringing up the rear was the Y10 Turbo. “While excellent for what it is and surprisingly fast, the little Lancia isn’t as sporting as the bigger competition,” we said. Next came the Vauxhall Astra GTE (“without doubt this will provoke the most argument”), Honda Civic GT, Fiat Uno Turbo, Volkswagen Golf GTI (“a sign of how the competition have caught up or overtaken”), Citroën Visa GTi, Ford Escort XR3i, MG Maestro EFi, Toyota Corolla GTi and… 205 GTi. “It feels so four-square stable, so very eager to have a go, that one cannot help…