Innholdsfortegnelse for December 8 - 15, 2021 Doble Issue i Autocar

The new GR Yaris H2 is a hydrogen-fuelled concept version of Toyota’s highly acclaimed four-wheel-drive hot hatchback. Toyota has been testing hydrogen combustion engine technology for several months by racing a lightly modified Corolla touring car – which uses a hydrogen-fuelled version of the GR Yaris’s turbocharged 1.6-litre three-cylinder engine – in Japan’s Super Taikyu Series. Toyota says that hydrogen combustion technology allows cars to become emissions free relatively affordably, because it enables manufacturers to exploit “existing internal combustion engine knowhow and manufacturing investment”. Toyota’s European CEO, Matt Harrison, said that using this technology would allow Toyota to “deliver almost zero tailpipe emissions without electrification but do so while retaining the things that fans love most about race cars: the speed and the noise”. “It’s music to the ears,” he…

THE NEW BMW Concept XM previews a performance SUV that will sit above the X7 and adopt a more rakish roofline, so you would think it would be called the X8 in production, right? “No. That would be wrong,” BMW M boss Frank van Meel told Autocar. “It is XM. It is X and it is M.” That’s that cleared up, then. FERRARI DESIGNER Flavio Manzoni said one of the company’s strongest assets is that its top brass can “share intuition” when it’s creating new cars. He described the harmonious relationship he has with the chief technology officer and commercial directors: “It’s like a jazz band. Especially Michael [Leiters], Enrico [Galliera] and I. We’re really playing together, sharing ideas and respecting the parameters of each one. And it works so…

Ferrari recently unveiled the SP3 Daytona as the latest model in its exclusive Icona series. An 829bhp V12-engined tribute to some of Maranello’s best-known historic race cars, it follows the roofless SP1 Monza and SP2 Monza from 2018 and will itself be followed by more limited-run, highly strung special editions. We caught up with Ferrari’s chief technology officer, Michael Leiters, to hear more about how the brand will balance the development of future series-production models with the creation of more traditional and exclusive cars such as this. Icona will continue. How is it staffed and what do you learn from it? “We have a dedicated team working on it. In general, we work within a matrix organisation and the team is responsible to bring forward the programme using the competencies…

Luca Betti talks about the Evo37 almost as a family affair, and there’s certainly something of the Turin A-team about the Evo37. In addition to Claudio Lombardi’s involvement with the engine development, Sergio Limone – the engineer who came up with the idea of the 037 in the first place and who was responsible for the design and testing of so many winning Lancia rally cars, as well as the stillborn Group S ECV2 – has overseen the chassis, with WRC champion Miki Biasion helping fine-tune the handling. Betti’s father was also once Italian rally champion, at the wheel of a Stratos, and the suppliers for the Evo37, which has germinated from the Kimera’s restoration and tuning business, are all Italian, and mostly Turinese. Specialist names like Bonetto, Italtecnica, Sparco…

Despite the fact that the UK is very much Land Rover’s home turf, Britons have long had a soft spot for Jeeps. Some say it goes right back to the age-old reputation for ruggedness of wartime editions that still ply our roads in summer. Whatever the reason, the British reception of the new Jeep Compass, with its all-new interior and new 237bhp plug-in hybrid powertrain, looks like being the warmest yet. This soft-roader seems to have just about everything going for it. It lands in the UK’s biggest market sector (C-segment SUVs), which accounted for a thriving 22% of sales in 2021 and is predicted to grab more like 26% in 2022. Jeep UK’s bosses also expect it to be better built and much easier to order than the previous…

As seems to be the way with the roll-out of Mercedes’ EV lineup, the new EQB looks and feels a lot like the conventional GLB, with which it so obviously shares its platform and interior. You’re either going to be the sort of person who likes the sense of familiarity that this approach engenders or the sort who will find it uninspiring. If you’re the latter, you can hardly blame Mercedes for pursuing this strategy. The GLB is a popular compact SUV, and despite the arrival of a 66.5kWh battery, the EQB carries over its option of a third row of seats. This makes it unique in a class that includes the Audi Q4 E-tron, BMW iX3, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Volkswagen ID 4. The EQB is…

JONES SPRINGS, WEST MIDLANDS Manufacturer of leaf springs since 1947, with an extensive library of British vintage car specifications. It also makes commercial vehicle and locomotive springs. VINTAGE CAR RADIATOR COMPANY, BICESTER Fabricated several parts including the nickel-silver radiator shell and steel and copper fuel tank. The company has diversified into vintage aircraft, too. ISRAEL NEWTON & SONS, DERBYSHIRE Another locomotive supplier, this time specialising in making and restoring boilers, it produced the Blower’s hand-formed steel chassis. Other work includes heritage building projects.…

“I’m so proud of what we and everyone who loves and supports Riley have done” I first encountered Victor Riley, grandson of the founder of the eponymous British car firm, during attempts on the flying start quarter-mile and 500-metre speed records by a 1935 Riley Nine Kestrel at Elvington race track last year. Yes, you read that correctly: a 1935 Riley Nine Kestrel. Owned and sponsored by Kestrel Beer (naturally), it was powered not by the 8.9bhp four-cylinder engine that Victor’s Uncle Percy designed and with which it left the factory but instead by a turbocharged 2.5-litre five-cylinder engine from an Audi RS3 producing, following some serious tweakery, 900bhp. Of course, as with all high-speed endeavours, power isn’t everything: aerodynamics matter, too. Unfortunately, apart from being strengthened in key places…

As Damon Hill reflects in our exclusive interview in this issue, he had a lot to thank Adrian Newey for when he won his Formula 1 world title in 1996. The genius aerodynamicist, in partnership with the brilliant engineering of Patrick Head, made Williams almost unstoppable during chunks of that decade. But then Newey walked away. Why? Because he wanted to be included in the big decisions, for team founders Frank Williams and Head to bring him properly into the fold. But Frank’s decision to drop Hill in the middle of his drive to glory, without consulting a frustrated Newey, was evidence it would never happen. He felt compelled to move on. The Williams team claimed what became its last championship (to date) in Newey’s FW19 swansong in 1997, by…

“The General Motors brand that could have carried the Volt’s concept and its price was surely Saab” While General Motors battled to give birth to a production version of its sensational plug-in hybrid Volt concept of 2007, Swedish subsidiary Saab was engaged in an increasingly torrid battle to survive. At the heart of both events was the same man. Bob Lutz was one of the motor industry’s most famous ‘car guys’ and, at the age of 66, had been persuaded to join GM as its number two, charged with sorting out a mostly dire product line-up. It was a massive task and central to it was his desire to outdo Toyota’s increasingly successful Prius with a car that would leapfrog its technology. ogy. The plug-in hybrid Volt and its Vauxhall-Opel…

RAF CHINOOK Unrivalled versatility and practicality. Reliability, durability and a sturdy airframe make it still the best and first choice for military lifting. BOEING VERTOL CH-46 SEA KNIGHT Chinook’s predecessor first flew in 1958 and is still used in a few places. The US abandoned some in Afghanistan recently. BELL BOEING V-22 OSPREY The world’s only production tiltrotor blends best of helicopter and fixed-wing traits. Fast and can hover but expensive and dislikes imbalanced loads. MIL MI-26 Russian commercial and military helicopter is the world’s largest and most powerful chopper. Has even airlifted downed Chinooks to safety. ERICKSON S-64 AIR CRANE Civil version of a ’60s military lifter still does service, mostly in wildfire suppression. Legacy fleets upgraded while Erickson plans a new version.…

The Porsche Boxster is not, I grant you, perhaps the most obvious way into a story about a three-quarter-scale recreated Ferrari, but bear with me, because if you understand where the Boxster came from, you’ll understand the Ferrari Testa Rossa J too. Most Boxsters of a certain age came not from Porsche in Stuttgart but Finland, where they were built for Porsche by Valmet. And the Ferrari Testa Rossa J comes from Bicester, where they are built for Ferrari by The Little Car Company. And what is important about this is that if the Porsche is a Porsche, which it very clearly is, then this is a Ferrari. As with any other Ferrari, Maranello led its design and development. Like any other Ferrari, you can buy one from a Ferrari…

“I really hope he has shut his door properly.” In what has been a strange day, it’s an incongruous thought as a giant red off-roader plunges down a steep bank and towards a lake. Surely a damp interior would be the least of the driver’s worries as he enters completely unknown waters. Two swans are paddling idly by, clueless that their world is about to be rudely interrupted. The water is a long way over the bottom edge of the door, the rear tyres are a foot off the deck and still the machine carries on, edging slowly down the bank until all four wheels are in the water. For a moment, it just bobs on the surface, like a massive rubber duck. But then its wheels start to power…

Hillman Imp MATT PRIOR IT WAS MY first official day back in the office when somebody started talking about Hillmans. I’ve always liked Imps so casually opened the classified ads. Dangerous. Soon I was on the phone, and two days later I’d agreed to buy this 1965 model. It was a historic rally car before it broke in 2000, then it sat until a 2017 restoration and has largely sat since, so it needs a bit of love. I might tweak it to be a great road car, or turn it into a historic racer. Will drive it as is for a bit first, then decide. The engine is the standard Mk1 875cc Coventry Climax-based aluminium unit, with all the fragility that apparently entails. I’ve had it ticking over, though,…

Autocar’s news scoops are illustrated by picture editor Ben Summerell-Youde. On creating a vision of Ian Callum’s Kincsem hypercar, inspired by the canned Jaguar C-X75, he asks: “Does this count as working with Ian Callum? It was a fun concept to produce, because of the open brief and knowing that a design hero was paying attention.” As for his vision of the next Nissan GT-R: “I much prefer the proportions of the pre-R35 GT-Rs, and I think the R32 outline works really well with the modern surfacing.” Completing his trio of favourites is a Lotus. “This was an early guess at the Emira,” he says, “but looking back now, it could easily fit below as a new Elise. The smaller shape suits the Evija styling well.”…

WRITE TO autocar@haymarket.com Taycan a turn for the worse I received my new Porsche Taycan 4S in May. The first three months were great, with it regularly getting about 260 miles of range – far more than is quoted by Porsche. As I had it on a PCP, with a view to purchasing at the end, I was meticulous in following Porsche’s recommendations relating to maintaining battery health. Then in August, it wouldn’t charge after I arrived home on 10%. Over the next nine weeks, my dealer gradually diagnosed the issues, then waited for replacement parts to arrive. My main concern was that the battery was stuck on 1% for most of this time, as Porsche recommends not performing a deep discharge. It therefore stood to reason that there would be…

THE ‘CURSE YOU, REMOTE WORKING’ AWARD For the car you most wanted to try but didn’t get the chance to WINNER BMW 128ti HIGHLY COMMENDED TOYOTA GR YARIS, BMW M440i COUPE While Autocar headquarters has now reopened for business, various lockdowns, the advent of remote working and the need to go and drive lots of cars mean we’ve still not seen that much of each other. As a result, several staffers again frustratingly missed out on driving some of the cars on our fleet. The one they felt most aggrieved to pass up was BMW’s 128ti, which was in part because it was run by senior contributing writer Andrew Frankel from his home on the Welsh border. “I love hot hatches that focus on the ‘hatch’ part (ie the everyday…

MILEAGE 133,876 LAND ROVER SERIES 3 I have never been truly happy with the Lorry’s battery. For once I actually wrote the installation date on the top – 26.1.21. It seemed to lose its charge now and again, even when the weather was mild, and it certainly didn’t seem to be holding a full charge. The battery company was quick to respond. They simply needed to know the voltage and the cold cranking amps (CCA) of the battery in order to condemn it and then replace if necessary. I popped into my friendly local garage and they hooked it up. Reassuringly, it said “REPLACE”. I’d say that’s pretty conclusive, but I’ll let you know how I get on.…

At its launch in 2019, the E-tron was marketed under the somewhat jumbled slogan “Electric has gone Audi”. As the brand has rolled out more EVs and committed to shunning combustion in 2033, electric has gone… more normal, and we can approach used E-trons with a bit more familiarity. At the entry level, we have the 50 Quattro 71kWh version, which packs 308bhp and can go from zero to 62mph in 6.8sec. The next step up is the 55 Quattro 95kWh variant, with 403bhp and a 5.7sec 0-62mph time. Then there is the E-tron S – or, more specifically, the S Vorsprung Quattro 95kWh. This range-topping model gets 503bhp and a 4.5sec 0-62mph time, making it the quickest of the bunch. Officially, the 50 Quattro can cover 198 miles with…

Porsche Panamera £16,695 Despite the Panamera’s … ahem… interesting looks, we think it will hold up as a future classic thanks to its under-the-radar status within Porsche, now that the Taycan is grabbing all the headlines. The first-generation Panamera, launched in 2009, had three V8 specification levels (S, four-wheel-drive 4S and Turbo), before V6 models arrived in 2010. With no natural rivals, it took on cars as varied as the BMW M6 Coupé, Audi RS6 Avant and Mercedes CLS 63 AMG. We stumbled on a 2009 4S with a 4.8-litre V8 and full service history for £16,695.…

An owner’s view ED WEAVER “I’ve been enamoured with Saab since the 99. I’ve owned a turbocharged 9-5 estate and a convertible 9-3, but I really wanted to own an older model and the 900 seemed the most logical choice. I bought a rather shonky 1987 16-valve Turbo convertible for £7000. It had around 125,000 miles on the clock and I restored it to a more usable state. Driving the car is wonderful and it’s great all year round and in all weathers but it’s bittersweet in a way, given Saab is no longer with us. I’ll probably keep it a few years and look to move to a hard-top one day.” Buyer beware… ▪ ENGINE It’s incredibly durable. Some owners claim it can cover over 400,000 miles without a…

IN THE LATE 1950s, Enzo Ferrari dreamed up a junior grand tourer. After several prototypes were developed, the final product was shown at the 1961 Turin motor show on coachbuilder Bertone’s stand. The ‘Ferrarina’ was meant for the mass market, so Ferrari struck a deal with major electronics firm de Nora to produce it under a new brand – ASA – at a factory in Milan. The rechristened ASA 1000 GT used a tubular frame chassis and a 96bhp 1.0-litre four-pot (virtually a slice of the famous Colombo V12). “It’s not particularly light, at 848kg, yet its performance is remarkable for a 1.0-litre,” we said. We clocked 0-60mph in 14sec. And despite its tininess, it had enough room for two six-footers. Our only real criticism was that its engine was…

“It will play a key role in Nissan’s £1 billion investment to make Sunderland ‘a flagship EV hub’” Nissan will build a mid-size electric SUV in the UK, replacing its pioneering Leaf hatchback as one of 15 all-new EVs due by 2030. Previewed by the new Chill-Out concept, the as-yetunnamed crossover will go on sale in around 2025 and sit beneath the Ariya SUV, with similarly rakish proportions and closely related underpinnings. Nissan’s boss in Europe, Guillaume Cartier, has previously confirmed that it will succeed the Leaf, which has been on sale in its current form since 2017. This will take the number of SUVs in the brand’s European range to five. It will sit atop the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance’s CMF-EV platform, which has already been deployed in the Ariya and…

LEXUS ROV Lexus’s hydrogen-fuelled Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle (ROV) concept is designed to demonstrate that “exhilarating driving can coexist with a carbon-free society”. The two-seater features exposed suspension, a full roll-cage and chunky tyres – but Lexus maintains that it’s still “the kind of vehicle that people would expect from a luxury car maker”. It uses a hydrogen-fuelled 1.0-litre combustion engine, but Lexus has given no further technical or performance details. LEXUS RZ Lexus’s first bespoke electric car, due in the first half of 2022, is called the RZ. It is based on Toyota’s e-TNGA platform but has bespoke modifications aimed at taking “the driving experience to the next level”. Lexus Europe vice-president Pascal Ruch said that a priority is offering “exhilarating driving performance” and hinted at variants of future EVs…

The UK government has ruled that all new buildings with parking will need to include electric vehicle charging from 2022. The move throws the spotlight back on the viability of on-street charging, given that an estimated onethird of households in the UK have no off-street parking. The roll-out of ultra-rapid public chargers grabs the headlines, but they remain a small percentage of the overall charger landscape. Currently, slow (3-5kW) and fast (7-22kW) devices comprise 82% of the UK’s total 27,729 public charging network, according to Zap-Map. The focus will swing even more in their direction as local authorities work to solve the problem of getting electricity to street-parked vehicles. Several companies offer solutions already, tackling urban charging in a number of different ways in an effort to abate range anxiety…

FERRARI’S FIRST SUV has been seen with production bodywork for the first time, showing short overhangs and a long, low bonnet – which hint at a focus on big power and keen dynamics – while a rakish roofline suggests a non-traditional SUV-coupé billing. Known as the Purosangue, the Lamborghini Urus rival is expected to offer V6, V8 and V12 power when it goes on sale, most likely in 2023. SPY SHOT FERRARI PUROSANGUE…

ELECTRIC VEHICLES HAVE turned the world upside down in more ways than one: technology has changed, as have production methods, driving styles, refuelling, tyre design and pretty well anything else you can think of. Deeper beneath the surface, more changes are on the way, and one of those is the design of the fluids that keep engines, motors and drivelines alive. In a conventional car, a mixture of water and glycol (antifreeze) cools the engine while a variety of oils formulated for each particular task lubricate the engine, axles and transmission and in some cases do a second job of cooling them. EVs are a different kettle of fish. With combustion out of the equation, there are no combustion products for oil to worry about and no extremely high temperature…

DON’T LET ANYONE tell you 2021 hasn’t been an action-packed year for cars and car events. One of my abiding memories of it will always be of the many meetings, shows and organisations that were restored to life and of watching resourceful car people return our world to its axis. Of course, large parts of the car industry still face extremely daunting difficulties. No one can be happy in an era when car sales are at their lowest ebb for more than half a century. Yet there were good things: Goodwood’s festivals, the British Grand Prix, the Silverstone Classic and many other events came back, cars were launched, electrification boomed (even if it brought into sharper focus the government’s poor efforts at improving the charging network). And Autocar’s unique 126…

The world is now ready for the emergence of the really compelling, daily-usable electric performance car. The market grows ever more receptive by the week. Yet still the wait goes on – and it’s likely to for some time yet. This will sound painfully familiar, but the facts haven’t changed. Taking an intrinsically heavy, often high-riding family car that’s powered by technology that typically makes for a fairly sterile driving experience, and turning it into something that’s genuinely rewarding, as well as fast and dynamically sophisticated… well, it isn’t easy. The Audi E-tron S, Volkswagen ID 4 GTX and every ‘performance’-badged Tesla in the past half decade prove that much. And so, I’m afraid, does the new Ford Mustang Mach-E GT, which we’ve just driven on UK roads for the…

There have been quite a few headlines circling around McLaren of late. Rumour and tetchy counter-rumour about its future have combined with the recent departure of its CEO to fill the air with some degree of intrigue and suspicion. But away from frontpage news stories, the brand has simply been trying to get on with the straightforward business of being a car company and adding to its ever-increasing model line-up. With the eagerly anticipated Artura on hold, next in line for an unveiling is the 765 LT Spider, the drop-top version of the flagship of its track-hardened Long Tail line-up. Claimed to be the fastest convertible the brand has ever produced, it also promises to add an extra dollop of driver engagement, which, given how immersive and synapse-snapping the coupé…

What is Christmas really for? Common answers include spending time with the family, spreading festive cheer and an excuse to get tipsy. But it tends to be children who have the best idea of the season’s true significance, as well as the honesty to express it loudly, often and in list form: it’s all about the presents. Which is why this year’s running of the long-established Autocar road testers’ Christmas dinner has been given a twist. The basics remain as before: an excuse for the extended road testing team to assemble some of our favourite cars of the year, drive them back to back and then discuss their merits (while giving the junior testers a proper feed to break the monotony of motorway catering). In previous years, attendees have brought…

Within the likes of a Bentley, nature’s proceeds of timber, wool, hide and more are crafted from raw material into sophisticated and elegant yet functional finishes. They come together to create a cabin of atmosphere and comfort where synthetic materials might otherwise leave you cold. Yet the origins of these finishes are easily taken for granted. So we’re going on a road trip to discover the what, where, how and who of Bentley’s luxury interiors. We’ll visit four manufacturers that supply Bentley, and then finish up at Mulliner, home to Bentley’s most rarefied products and whose carriage-building roots in 1760 make it the oldest surviving name in the Volkswagen Group’s portfolio. By way of contrast, we’ll be driving a Formentor crossover from the VW Group’s youngest brand, Cupra, spun out…

1898 UNCLE PERCY’S HOME-MADE CAR This small belt-driven vehicle featured the first mechanically operated inlet valve. 1905 9HP FOUR-WHEELER This was the first car in the Riley company’s evolution from bicycles through motorcycles and three-wheeled cars. As speeds rose, it was deemed sensible to add a fourth wheel. The car sported the world’s first detachable wire wheels (made by grandfather William) and was powered by a 1034cc V-twin. 1926 NINE Described by the late great racing driver Tony Rolt as “the greatest advance in light car design”, the Nine of 1926 was powered by a 1087cc four-cylinder engine with twin camshafts that would form the basis of all future Riley engines. 1928 BROOKLANDS This sporty derivative of the Nine had twin carburettors and was much admired by the famed engineer and designer…

It’s more than 25 years ago, but many of us still remember the furore at the beginning of 1994 when we learned from news bulletins that BMW was buying an 80% stake in Rover Group. The expert consensus was that this clever and successful German company would bring much-needed rigour, engineering prowess and investment cash to the UK’s diminished and last surviving volume motor maker. Too bad for Honda, we thought, already a 20% Rover shareholder and a contributor of reliable and desirable models to the Rover UK line-up since 1979. True, it had done a sterling job and was deeply miffed by the deal, but what of it? It had been offered a chance to bid for a majority stake in Rover, and all’s fair in love, war and…

“Sir Leonard, I think you ought to have another look at things because I’m not sure that these are up to the foreign competition.” The words are the Duke of Edinburgh’s, “Sir Leonard” is Leonard Lord, boss of the British Motor Corporation, the year 1954. The duke’s visit was more than a freshly painted gates and red carpet event, because he was a keen motorist with a good grasp of the motor industry. His host was a bluff, gruff, high-energy, get-things-done individual who was uncomfortable in the presence of aristocrats, still less royalty. Despite his successes, Lord was a man with an inferiority complex. Sufficiently so that he made his excuses halfway through the day, leaving the duke and other BMC high-ups to enjoy a convivial lunch. After which they…

Not sure about you, but the familiar sound of an idling diesel engine outside my door normally corresponds with a debit, marked ‘AMZN’, from the family bank account. But this month, I fear, a near perma-rattle from successive vans outside chez Hucknall will be the soundtrack to our pre-Christmas period, as online ordering goes into overdrive. We won’t be alone. With the tabloids warning of empty shelves spoiling our traditional December feeding frenzy at the shops, it’s no surprise that online deliveries will soar this year. According to parcel carrier Yodel, 31% of us are expected to do our festive shopping from the web, compared with just 7% in 2020. Whatever side of the great EV debate you fall on, the benefits of electrified transport to short-haul, multi-drop carriers making…

MODEL TESTED HC.MK6A The Chinook helicopter’s Royal Air Force career got off to an unexpectedly dramatic start. The UK military began taking deliveries of this twin-rotor heavy-lift helicopter in late 1980, forming the first Chinook squadron at RAF Odiham in Hampshire in August 1981. Crews were still getting to know the capabilities of the aircraft in early 1982 when it was suddenly called on for its first major job: to support the liberation of the Falkland Islands from the Argentinian military. Five Chinooks were packed tightly on the deck of the requisitioned container ship MV Atlantic Conveyor, alongside Wessex and Lynx helicopters and Harrier and Sea Harrier jets, for the journey to the Falklands, with one of the Chinooks unloaded at Ascension Island en route. But no sooner had the…

Meet the Backfire, a post-2030 niche driver’s car designed to provide a solution for Britain’s low-volume sports car manufacturers – and their customers – when sales of new piston-engined cars are banned come 2030. Until now, our government’s decision to halt petrol and diesel sales in eight years’ time has looked like unbridled bad news for this resilient band of creators, pushing them towards impossible choices. Because most don’t have access to the massive investment funds that the big manufacturers are deploying to create new platforms and adopt new propulsion technologies, many low-volume car makers must contemplate either going out of business or producing compromised versions of existing models. However, a pioneering agreement between Norfolk-based electric propulsion specialist Equipmake and Cornish engineering company WEVC suggests a way forward. Equipmake designs…

ZIL 4906 ‘BLUE BIRD’ Used by the Russians to help rescue Soyuz low-earth-orbit carrier rockets when they splash down in water, the Blue Bird is a six-wheeled amphibious vehicle. Using a screw propeller to power through water, it can be either a cargo carrier (with a crane) or personnel transport able to take 10. HAGGLUNDS BANDVAGN 206 More commonly known by its maker’s name, the Bandvagn comprises two cabin units driven by powered tracks. Capable of carrying up to 17 people and also amphibious, its adaptability is key to its ubiquity across various countries’ armies. It can even be underslung and airlifted by a Chinook helicopter. ST BERNARD Used by the monks of Switzerland’s Great St Bernard Hospice since the 1600s, this breed of dog has been credited with saving…

1 BMW’s Dingolfing site was originally the base of which now-defunct manufacturer? 2 Which is the only make other than Mercedes-Benz to have offered AMG-badged models? 3 In which year was the ‘priority to the right’ rule for roundabouts introduced in the UK? 4 Who was the first British driver to win a grand prix? 5 Who supposedly agreed to save Sunbeam from liquidation but was beaten to it by Rootes? 6 Where is the highest paved road in Europe? 7 What was the original chassis numbering system for the Jaguar D-Type? 8 Which was the first car in the line of fast, four-wheel-drive, special performance Golf hatchbacks that led to the Golf R? 9 Which Japanese company developed the Toyota 88C Group C racing sports car? 10 How many McLaren F1 GTRs were never raced in period?…

Concept cars are created to look forward, but one of Summerell-Youde’s favourites of 2021 has its roots firmly in the past. “E-Legend’s EL1 has to be the best-resolved modern restomod out there,” he swoons. “It’s clever how they recreated the bluff nose of the 1980s Audi Quattro with the use of black trim and confident horizontal lines.” As for the ‘Rembrandt’, he says: “Brutal yet elegant styling on Bugatti’s ultimate GT concept deserves more time under the limelight. This needs to be built for its looks alone, never mind the front-mounted W16 engine.” Back to echoes of the past: “Despite it being designed entirely digitally, the Teorema brings back memories of 1970s design icons. Pininfarina can always surprise, and here it broke the mould again with the unique breadvan bodystyle.”…

SO HIGH DID the Williams team often fly under Sir Frank that we can’t compile a list of its top five achievements without creating controversy about omissions. Here, we try our best anyhow… 5 1987 British GP One of F1’s most enduring images is the scrap between Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet at Silverstone, in the year when Williams would secure its fourth constructors’ title. Over the final three laps, Mansell hunted down his teammate, sold him a superb dummy and slid up the inside at Stowe, taking the chequered flag before being engulfed by the adoring home crowd. 4 2012 Spanish GP It was painful for all in F1, more than anyone Sir Frank, to see Williams toiling at the back as the 2010s dawned, having not won a…

Along with Sir Frank Williams, we’ve bid adieu in recent weeks to another towering figure in motorsport. Beanpole Tony Dron was fast in single-seaters but at least a foot too tall for them. So he shone instead in cars with roofs, winning his British Saloon Car Championship class twice driving Triumph Dolomites and doing Le Mans four times. In 43 seasons between 1968 and 2011, Dron won in 41 different cars. But what really made him stand out was how well he could write about them, too. A fine journalist, he was sports editor for Motor and editor of Classic Cars – and in recent years, when illness took hold, still took the time to correspond with Autocar on matters of the sporting moment. He died on 16 November, aged…

After reading Autocar’s views on e-scooters online, I must agree that the current legislation is a shambles. Hire scooters are useless to people who live in rural areas yet presently are the only ones road-legal; and e-bikes are classed as mechanically assisted vehicles so aren’t covered by the same legislation. Surely if e-scooter manufacturers were to make power unavailable until you reach, say, 5mph, they would fall into the same category as e-bikes? As a teenager, I rode my scooter around Birmingham using only power from my legs. Scooters were transport well before they became powered, so they should be classed as assisted vehicles, as e-bikes are. I’m now 72 years old and have nerve damage to both legs, so an e-scooter would be a massive aid for me. Plus…

THE PURISTS’ AWARD PORSCHE 718 BOXSTER GTS RICHARD LANE “Shamefully, it was the only mid-engined car on our fleet this year.” THE ‘ON SECOND THOUGHTS’ AWARD  PEUGEOT E-2008 KRIS CULMER “I’d spent a few years on my high horse about EVs. Then I moved somewhere with no possibility of fitting a charger and was given a Peugeot e-2008 to run in the depths of winter.” THE ESTEBAN OCON AWARD SUZUKI ACROSS MATT SAUNDERS “The Across proved much better than I had anticipated. Along with its Toyota RAV4 sibling, it’s the only plug-in hybrid good enough to make me think about buying one.” THE POLITE CONVERSATION AWARD VOLKSWAGEN GOLF JIM HOLDER “Nobody asks a motoring journalist what they should buy without already having a shortlist. One of them will be a…

Saab 900 Thanks to Andrew for his offering to Reader’s Rides. “Bought by my late dad in 2002, it’s been in the family ever since. It’s one of the most reliable cars we’ve owned. Supremely comfortable – as you’d expect of a Saab – and a great motorway mile-muncher, but not so good in the twisties. Only sold because it’s now too low for my elderly mother to enter and exit, combined with it having an increasing number of niggly faults. Depreciation has worked out at just over £300 per annum. It will be missed.”…

McLaren 570GT £99,850 Grand tourers. The south of France, Italian lakes, transcontinental road trips… Plenty of romantic notions are conjured up by those two letters and heaps of car makers have been keen to take advantage of the feel-good factor that ‘GT’ evokes. McLaren isn’t a company you’d automatically associate with the genre, but it hoped the 570GT, launched in 2016 (and not to be confused with the later McLaren GT), would start to change that. The 570GT adds extra everyday usability to McLaren’s sporting repertoire with its softer suspension, a useful side-hinged glass ‘tailgate’ and extra sound insulation. Luggage capacity is 370 litres: 150 litres in the nose and 220 above the engine. When new, the Pirelli Corsa tyres on the standard 570S were replaced with quieter P Zeros,…

Nissan has also given clues to production cars arriving in the more distant future with a trio of radical concepts. Each has a new lightweight platform with a motor at both ends and a solid-state battery in between. With plans to introduce solid-state-battery EVs to the market by 2028, Nissan could be one of the first mainstream manufacturers to commercialise the revolutionary technology. It will open a pilot plant for the new batteries in Yokohama, Japan, in 2024, estimating that they will slash charging times by 66% and bring material costs down to help achieve “cost parity between EV and gasoline vehicles”. The three new concept cars hint at the theoretical flexibility of the new-era underpinnings and Nissan’s plans for a diverse model line-up in the EV era. Max-Out This…

THOSE INTERESTED IN the new Toyota GR86 should act “relatively quickly” to place their orders, because sales in Europe will end just two years after first deliveries, as it won’t be compliant with incoming safety regulations without significant re-engineering. Order books for the sports coupé are open now, ahead of deliveries beginning in the first half of 2022. Toyota’s European senior vice-president Tom Fux told Autocar: “We felt that the vehicle is so good and so needed for Toyota’s image in Europe, and we have a small but very passionate group of customers out there who are searching for vehicles like the GR86. “In the end, we decided it’s important to offer this vehicle, but then we will need to stop, because it will not meet the new requirements in…

TWO BRITISH EV technology firms, WEVC and Equipmake, have partnered to provide much of the expertise and hardware that niche vehicle manufacturers will need if they are to thrive beyond the government’s 2030 ban on new internal-combustion cars. Many British low-volume makers face having to invest in technologies on a scale that simply isn’t viable, so WEVC and Equipmake together aim to offer them comprehensive yet cost-effective solutions. WEVC recently unveiled a lightweight, flexible platform for low-volume EVs and has used it to create a retro sports coupé, due on sale next year. Founder Neil Yates, formerly of Toyota’s WRC team, has built other cars of his own design and consulted on external projects including the upcoming Ariel Hipercar. Equipmake makes a wide variety of EV parts, including motors for…

Porsche has created a new electric sports car concept for the seventh instalment of the Gran Turismo video-game franchise, giving clues to the brand’s evolving design language as it embraces electrification. Named the Vision Gran Turismo, it is Porsche’s first stand-alone concept for the racing series, following cars revealed by Audi, Bugatti, Jaguar, McLaren and Toyota in recent years. It will become ‘drivable’ when the new game is released on 4 March 2022. Although there is no production intent for the concept, Porsche has built a full-size physical counterpart, and exterior design boss Ingo Bauer-Scheinhütte told Autocar that realism was a priority. “That’s what we tried to achieve: that it feels like it could be on the road,” he said, adding that “there are always design elements that you might…

With the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) and electric vehicles dominating the news, many see synthetic fuels (e-fuels) as an alternative solution to reducing transport emissions. Clearly, with ICE cars continuing to be driven beyond 2030 and indeed continuing to be sold up until that point, there needs to be a broader answer than simply a route-one electric fix. But are e-fuels really viable? In the latest Autocar Business webinar, we were joined by Paddy Lowe, an ex-F1 engineer and founder of Zero Petroleum; Christian Schultze, director of technology research at Mazda Europe; and Steve Sapsford, managing director of SCE, a consultancy firm specialising in sustainable fuels. 400% Energy density of hydrocarbon fuels compared with hydrogen What exactly are e-fuels? PL “E-fuels have various names. We actually prefer to…

This is the new Kimera Evo37, and on acquaintance I can’t remember another car that possessed quite so much… sass. Even on this 7000-kilometre development car – whose compact cockpit, if I’m being honest, still smells a little gluey and whose chassis is being used to fine-tune the dynamics – the details are delicious and cheeky, yet it’s the form that really takes your breath away. The silhouette is pure apex-predator but also crisp and elegant and the kind of shape that makes you puff your cheeks out involuntarily. But none of this should come as a surprise. The inspiration for the Evo37 is nothing less than the Pininfarina-styled, mid-engined Group B Lancia 037 of the 1980s. And frankly, it doesn’t get cooler. Then come the words of Luca Betti,…

Black? Of course it’s black. The mere act of witnessing the most menacing new Caterham Seven on sale as it’s being disgorged from its trailer is an experience laced with excitement and trepidation. Any other colour wouldn’t look right. The tiny warrior emerges backwards, revealing first its squared-off backside, then the rearmost struts of its very bright and very large roll-cage, followed by the oily sheen of an Avon slick’s fat sidewall. Next up is the rolling-pin exhaust silencer, then the windscreen – or lack thereof – before the exhaust tract splits into four and dives into the long, long nose of the aluminium body just ahead of the big number seven but behind the somehow still cute fenders. A few seconds later and here is it: the Caterham Seven…

When the Volkswagen ID 3 hit our market 18 months ago, its range structure was unbelievably complex. This car that was supposed to be about serenity and ease of operation confronted buyers with the difficulty of choosing between Max, Tour, Tech, Family, Style, City and Business trims. After that, they had to decide between weirdly labelled motor and battery combinations: Pure Performance, Pro, Pro Performance and Pro S. And for good measure, most ID 3s cost too much to get the government’s £2500 subsidy for sub-£35,000 EV purchases. Something had to be done – and now it has been. The 2022-model-year speccing job is still complex. But City, Business and Tour have been bundled into a Life trim and tweaked prices mean seven variants now qualify for the grant. Best…

MARK TISSHAW Motor shows are the lifeblood of our news coverage at Autocar. They generate huge amounts of stories for us to share with you; not just on the cars unveiled at the show, but also from the face-to-face interviews with executives and, perhaps most important, the gossip, titbits and nods and winks on the side that inform our news stories and help us break exclusive scoops for weeks and months to come. Covid-19 meant a pause to them for nearly two years (the Geneva show of March 2020 was cancelled at the eleventh hour, meaning we hadn’t had one since Los Angeles 2019), and like so many other life experiences, interviewing executives on Zoom just isn’t the same, because there’s no way to see what’s not said: body language,…

Christmas: peace on earth and an Airfix kit to all men. A spot of model-making on the big day is the perfect excuse to duck out of the Queen’s speech. After all, you can’t let the glue go off: there’s a windscreen to attach. Since men were little boys and women little girls, they’ve been making models. Okay, there’s usually a break of a few decades while they discover other, less plasticky things, but they almost always come back, attracted by the enticing box artwork and, inside, the delicate decals and spindly sprues to which the model’s parts are attached. Chances are that if not you then someone you know will be wrist deep in glue, plastic and paint this Christmas, batting away demands to slice the turkey in favour…

On 22 August 1931, John Scott-Ellis, the future 9th Baron Howard de Walden, is driving a small Fiat through the streets of Munich. This is a brave thing to do because young master Scott-Ellis is only 18 years old and an inexperienced driver. But the weather is good, the traffic is light and he feels at ease. He drives up Ludwigstrasse and then turns right into Brienner Strasse, at which point a man walks straight out in front of the car. What actually happens is that the man is knocked briefly to the ground, gets up unharmed, apologises for not looking where he is going and that is that. But let’s say Scott-Ellis is doing perhaps 30mph rather than 20mph. Now there is a sickening crunch. And by the time…

There are many ‘what ifs’ when it comes to racing drivers. What if Stirling Moss hadn’t crashed at Goodwood in 1962 but raced on into the 1960s in rivalry to Jim Clark? What if Clark had missed the unimportant Hockenheim Formula 2 race in which he died in 1968 and lived to experience slick tyres and downforce in the 1970s? How about Ayrton Senna surviving Imola 1994 and fighting on against Michael Schumacher’s Benetton? All tantalising, all tragic. Gilles Villeneuve living beyond Zolder 1982 fits that bill, too. For some of us, the little Canadian remains motor racing’s ultimate cult figure, a no-compromise purist who lived (and died) on the edge. But there’s also a school of thought that he was much more than that. Beyond the wild moments (three-wheeling…

Murray Walker never realised just how popular he was. Judging by spectator reaction at home (and quite often abroad, most notably in Australia), he appreciated that his excited television commentary seemed to go down well with viewers. But such was his natural modesty that he never fully understood the genuine affection that grew solidly in the latter half of a broadcasting career spanning more than 50 years. It was a trait evident across the motorsport divide, from his work on Formula 1 and touring cars to his first love, motorbike racing. The experience of respected motorsport presenter Suzi Perry is typical. “I was always in love with Murray,” she says. “I did so much work with him; I interviewed him a lot during my MotoGP days. I always thought of…

Autocar’s picture editor is a Coventry-trained car designer, Ben Summerell-Youde, and he has created more cars than anyone else we know. You will find his work in practically every issue of Autocar. Much of what he creates is speculative. When he draws something that turns out to be a new BMW, Ferrari or Jaguar, the reaction tends to be familiar: “Well, if it doesn’t turn out like that, it probably ought to.” The idea for the Backfire, the basic electric roadster you see here, came from news of the new business link between electric motor manufacturer Equipmake and engineering firm WEVC, which recently launched a highly flexible platform for low- to medium-volume electric cars. “The ban on new petrol and diesel cars beyond 2030 could pose problems for the UK’s…

Each year, we stick our necks out to make some bold predictions about what we think might happen over the next 12 months. We don’t mind admitting when we get things wrong, though, so it’s only right that we reflect on how we fared last year. We will make our predictions for next year – along with some suggestions for things you should do – in our 22/29 December issue. sue. INDUSTRY We predicted that more car makers would follow the lead of Bentley, Volkswagen and Volvo in confirming plans to go electric-only. They did. Most of the Stellantis brands set dates to go EV-only, as did several others – with with the caveat that many only applied the dates to certain markets, such as Europe. We suggested the Chinese…

Max Edleston put the new drone photography skills he learned during lockdown to brilliant use with this shot of a Porsche Taycan on the North East 250. “I love the new perspective that a drone gives you on a car and its relationship with its surroundings,” he says. From one defining car to another: the Land Rover Defender. “It’s not often you get to see the raw chassis and bodywork of a car on display, and this new Defender shell gave lots of interesting shapes and textures, framing Jaguar Land Rover CEO Thierry Bolloré perfectly,” says Luc Lacey. Much further north, Edleston enjoyed the juxtaposition of old Edinburgh homes and the new Cupra Formentor: “This is an example of right place, right time. Just as we stopped for a break,…

AUTOCAR 125 YEARS  6197 ISSUES 1,100,000 PAGES YOURS TO ACCESS Explore every issue from 1895-2020 online now Visit themotoringarchive.com/join and enter AUTOCAR007 at checkout to start your 14-day free trial TERMS AND CONDITIONS: This is a 14-day free trial offer available to new Motoring Archive subscribers only. Your subscription will automatically renew at the recurring fee of £7.99 per month, or £74.99 annually, depending on your chosen subscription preference. You must be 18 or older to subscribe to The Motoring Archive. All subscriptions are automatically renewed with the exception of gift subscriptions, and your billing method will be charged based on your chosen subscription programme when the free trial ends. You can opt out of renewing your subscription by following the instructions in the ‘My Billing’ section of your account.…

If you add up the age of World Rally Championship contender Elfyn Evans, his co-driver Scott Martin and their Toyota Yaris WRC, you get to barely more than 70 years. Do the same exercise for veteran rally driver Bob Bean, his co-driver Colin ‘Captain’ Thompson and their Ford Lotus Cortina and the answer is 211. Bean is a legend of British rallying and shows no sign of slowing down, even though he has been rallying for 62 of his 83 years. These days, his weapon of choice is his venerable 1963 Ford Lotus Cortina, and he regularly sets the pace in Category 1 historics for pre-1968 cars. His co-driver is a mere 70 years young, and they make a formidable pair, proudly representing the People’s Democratic Republic of Yorkshire. Cleckheaton,…

AT THE END of the 1985 season, we interviewed a young Englishman who had just finished his first full campaign in cars, following a few years on motorbikes interspersed with some four-wheel outings. He had won a handful of Formula Ford 1600 races but not set the world on fire as Mark Blundell dominated. He reflected: “In another year, in slightly different circumstances, I might have won more. I’m sure it was [due to] my inexperience at the beginning of the year, when I was trying too hard. “If nothing else, you learn survival [in Formula Ford]. You can take people up the inside, but if you want to make sure you get your points for a good finish in the championship, then you’ve got to think about it and…

ANOTHER HUGE DOUBLE ISSUE TWIN TEST Audi RS3 Saloon vs BMW M3 xDrive Which of these new four-wheel-drive super-saloons excels in a sub-zero Britain? We wrap up warm to find out SPECIAL Road Test Yearbook Our annual look back at the best – and worst – new cars that we’ve tested this year FEATURE News review It wasn’t all Covid-19 and chip shortages in the car industry in 2021 – honest EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Bentley Continental GT Speed Luxurious grand tourer gains a go-faster version. Our testers rate it FIRST DRIVE Audi R8 V10 Performance Entry-level supercar updated with more power, same driver focus SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p20…

QUESTION I often carry a lot of cargo and have to put the seats down. Can you recommend a mid-sized SUV with a big boot? Emily Baxter, via email ANSWER At the cheaper end of the scale, the Dacia Duster packs a boot almost as competitive as its price, with a 445-litre space beneath the parcel shelf with the rear seats in place. Other models come with equipment levels the Dacia can’t match. The Honda CR-V provides a more assured and comfortable ride with 497 litres of space. Seat’s Ateca gives 510 litres while the Toyota RAV4 has 580 litres. The Volkswagen Tiguan even offers up to 610 litres with the rear seats slid (not folded) forward. If you can stretch to it, have a look at the Land Rover…

VAUXHALL VX2300 This 1978 Vauxhall Victor VX2300 was one of the last produced and went straight into active service with the Durham constabulary. Powered by a 2.3-litre slant-four engine – the same as found in Vauxhall’s rally cars – the VX2300 was nippy. This example was retired from service in 1980 and became a driver training vehicle. From the 1990s, it was used at official engagements and was rediscovered in 2008 during an asset audit conducted by Durham police. An enthusiast bought the car and restored it over eight years before selling it at auction for £8000.…

Given how ubiquitous it’s become, it’s strange to think that turbocharging was once relatively rare. Although it all started for production cars in 1962 with the Oldsmobile Jetfire V8 and Chevrolet Corvair Monza, there were still only a handful of cars running a blown engine by the late 1970s. But with vehicles like the BMW 2002 Turbo and Porsche 911 acquiring legendary status, the technology was on the up. In 1977, Saab revealed the turbocharged 99, featuring improved wastegate technology that proved turbo power was feasible for everyday driving – not just the track. The following year, the firm launched the 900 – a car that truly popularised mainstream turbocharging. The 900 was available during its long life as a characterful hatchback, saloon and convertible, with a sleek body and…

The Car of the Year 2022 shortlist is out, then. This is a seven-strong list of the COTY judges’ favourite cars, whittled down from all the cars launched this year that are eligible to be named the winner. That means they’re genuinely new and will be on sale in at least five European countries by the end of 2021. They are the Cupra Born, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, Peugeot 308, Renault Mégane E-Tech Electric and Skoda Enyaq iV. That’s a very battery-electric-centric list, the most ever for COTY by a long way, even for a contest that first named an EV, the Nissan Leaf, as its winner in 2011. The 2021 winner, the Toyota Yaris, is a fine car that can’t be plugged in at all.…