Innholdsfortegnelse for December 21, 2022 i Autocar

Mercedes-Benz’s next-generation entry-level electric car, due to arrive in 2024 as a CLA-size four-door saloon, has broken cover for the first time. Confirmed to Autocar to feature technology from the super-efficient Vision EQXX concept, the 4.7-metre-long EV will introduce Mercedes’ “entry luxury” branding. It’s essentially an electric equivalent of the ICE-powered C-Class saloon, and could take the EQC name into production, with the current EQC evolving into the EQC SUV, in line with Mercedes’ other electric saloon and SUV siblings. The EQC will give Mercedes a long-awaited executive EV to rival the likes of the BMW i4, the Polestar 2 and the indomitable Tesla Model 3 – a positioning backed up by the first images of camouflaged prototype testing on public roads. It will be larger and more conventionally styled…

The reality that a nearly new Volkswagen Golf is being advertised for 33% more than its new price threatens to turn the long-held argument for buying a used car over a new one on its head. The car, a 1.4 TSI eHybrid Style DSG registered in 2022 on a 72-plate and with 1500 miles, was being offered by a VW main dealer in November for £49,999. Fitted with the same options – premium paint, upgraded alloys and a winter pack – a new one is £37,750. Paying a third more for a used car than its new equivalent might be expected for an investment supercar. Although the salesperson offering the used Golf made no claims about the hatchback appreciating in value, he did say that it was rare and in…

Porsche is close to a radical reinvention as it prepares to electrify its entire lineup, with four new models – Macan, Cayenne, Boxster and Cayman – arriving from 2024. These EVs, released along with petrol equivalents, feed into Porsche’s goal of 50% of its sales having electrified powertrains by 2025, with 80% being pure-electric by 2030. However, making EVs is counterproductive if their manufacture incurs damage to the environment, so Porsche now has another target: to make its entire supply chain CO2 - neutral by 2030. Here’s how it’s leading the charge to net zero. RETHINKING ENERGY Porsche’s energy strategy comprises two key tenets: exploiting only sustainable energy sources and reducing how much it uses. The former has meant a switch to renewables at the Stuttgart factory, which has slashed…

MONDAY How great in this year-end issue to be able to spend a bit of time with my hero of 2022, Mate Rimac, who nowadays runs his hypercar brand, its EV technology division and the whole Bugatti operation as well. He landed briefly in the Midlands to talk about the Rimac company’s new British tech centre, and I suspect also to help attract as much talent as possible in an overheated market for good engineers. Flatteringly, Rimac has often said how much he looked forward to working with Brits. Anyway, it was also my delight to present him at last with this year’s Issigonis Trophy, Autocar’s premier annual award for individual achievement. He missed receiving it months ago because he contracted Covid on the point of setting off for our…

He only made 13 starts in Formula 1, but Martin Donnelly qualifies for our club on the back of the career he would have had were it not for an accident that should have killed him. The feisty Northern Irishman shone on the British junior single-seater scene, before a first shot at F1 came in a one-off for Arrows at the 1989 French Grand Prix. Then Team Lotus snapped him up for 1990. In the neat little Lotus 102, powered by a Lamborghini V12, he showed real promise in a team that was long past its best. But then came Jerez and the practice crash that destroyed his car and left his severely broken body lying in the middle of the track, still strapped to the seat. As captured in…

Over the past decade or so, as EVs have become mainstream, we’ve observed manufacturers figuring various things out. Brake pedal feel still isn’t perfect, but some are getting there. They’ve settled on one design of charging port and most of them have realised that we want to control the level of regenerative braking with paddles. One thing that’s still challenging, though, is adding value to the hot models. Cars like the Volkswagen ID 4 GTX may be faster than their basic brethren, but they don’t offer a dramatically different experience. Speaking of that car, the new Skoda Enyaq iV vRS uses the same 77kWh (82kWh total) battery and dual motors (107bhp at the front, 188bhp at the rear) for 295bhp. There is the same caveat, though: that total is available…

MODEL TESTED GTB Price £241,560 • Power 819bhp • Torque na 0-60mph 2.7sec • 30-70mph in fourth 3.1sec • Fuel economy 26.6mpg • CO2 emissions 149g/km • 70-0mph 38.9m When launching any new model, car makers tend to reference the model being directly replaced. That makes sense because the two cars are usually closely related and comparisons easily drawn. So it’s a mark of just how novel the Ferrari 296 GTB is in the eyes of its maker that the very first car referenced in the official press literature is not the recently retired F8 Tributo but a 1500cc Formula 2 car from 1957. Why would they bring up the Dino 156? Because the little single-seater was the company’s first V6-engined car, and the 296 GTB tested here is the first…

JANUARY The year started in explosive fashion with two hot German prospects: Mercedes-AMG’s first performance tuned BMW M3. A lucky Greg Kable was behind the wheel of AMG’s EQS 53, a 751bhp £180,000 limousine, which he described as having enough power “to capture the attention of even the most ardent ICE holdouts”. He gave it a four-star rating but bemoaned the lack of “intoxicating noise” normally generated by AMGs. This was a new era for the performance sub-brand. The same rating was awarded to renowned German tuner AC Schnitzer’s take on the M3. Making 582bhp, the ACS3 Sport impressed deputy road test editor Richard Lane. He noted that the £110,000 price and aero-honed looks “won’t please all” but called the car a “fine offering from one of the best tuners…

The year began on an optimistic note: Covid restrictions had all but eased, car sales across Europe were on the up and it seemed like each week brought news of a car maker’s encouragingly ambitious electric transformation strategy. But even the most tuned-in industry strategist would have struggled to predict the geopolitical events that have shaken the industry – and the global economy – to its core over the past 12 months. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine set in motion a chain of events that has affected almost every facet of the automotive industry, from the availability of wiring harnesses to the cost of energy in car production and right down to the very ability of the consumer to purchase a car in the first place. And there’s no escaping the…

JANUARY • A top Ford exec wakes up slightly worse for wear on New Year’s Day, saying he had a strange dream in which the firm axed the Fiesta during 2022. “Yeah, as if,” he says, before checking his email and breaking into a cold sweat. • Elon Musk decides to merge Tesla and Twitter into a single company. He launches the new Twisla car, which proves instantly popular, but many buyers are left frustrated that it can only be driven for 280 metres at a time. MARCH • Frustrated by the increasing size of modern cars, Citroën boss Vincent Cobée launches its smallest car yet, the Nàno. Only visible under a microscope, the new machine has an incredibly low carbon footprint, but Cobée concedes that storage capacity is limited.…

I’m surprised that your normally vociferous readership has been silent on the subject of Thierry Bolloré’s recent unexpected departure as CEO of Jaguar Land Rover. My first thought was: ‘What if anything will his legacy be?’ At present, the first thought that comes to mind was the precipitous cancellation of the new XJ, which was so close to being signed off that it could have been on the market now, giving Jaguar a much needed boost and competing successfully with the dominant upmarket EVs from Audi, Mercedes and BMW. As Jaguar was among the EV front-runners with the I-Pace, surely the technology was well tried and tested. Did it look horrible? I doubt it. It was based on the MLA platform, which gave rise to production problems, but it seems…

OUR TOP SPEC 595 COMPETIZIONE Bigger brakes, uprated suspension and stickier tyres meet climate control, xenon headlights, an auto-dip rear-view mirror, parking sensors and a sports exhaust. The Abarth 595 is a true breath of fresh air in a world where sensible, practical and cushy cars can feel like the default choice. But such path-of-least-resistance qualities are not the Abarth way. In fact, like this discontinued Abarth 500, the 595 is nonsensical and slightly mad. For instance, you get a raucous turbo engine in a car that’s the size and weight of a thimble. It’s no technical masterpiece from an objective point of view, especially with its relatively tall body working against it, but most will find it hilariously good fun to drive. So let’s dive into that engine first.…

In the 1950s, everyone wanted mobility in the era of post-war austerity. The answer was a glut of tiny vehicles, usually powered by two-cylinder engines and clothed in glassfibre, which made small-scale production viable. Throughout the ’50s these companies flourished, but when the Mini appeared in 1959, the end of the market was nigh. These are some of the most famous. Peel P50 The smallest production car ever made was produced by the Peel Engineering Company on the Isle of Man. The three-wheeled P50, built between 1962 and 1965 when around 50 were made, featured a 49cc DKW single-cylinder engine good for 4.2hp and 37mph. There was no reverse gear. In 2011, it was revived: a petrol version now has a 49cc Honda moped engine offering a heady 4.8bhp via…

The Maserati MC20 Folgore will arrive in 2024 as the flag-bearer for a brigade of electric sports cars, pairing traditional mid-engined styling and handling with whip-crack acceleration and outstanding usability. In a rare exclusive interview with Autocar, Maserati CEO Davide Grasso outlined his expectations and hopes for the MC20 Folgore, which is one of six EVs Maserati will launch by 2026 as it gears up to phase out combustion engines. Above all, revealed Grasso, Maserati aims to substantially boost performance over the existing V6-engined MC20 without losing its character or sense of engagement. “The type of acceleration you get from an electric car is different from an ICE [car],” said Grasso. “But absolutely from a handling standpoint and from a speed standpoint, the electric MC20 will be, to our knowledge,…

DUTCH SPECIALIST MARQUE Donkervoort will end its D8 GTO era with the F22, which it claims to be the lightest twoseat supercar in the world. The 750kg F22 is the most potent Donkervoort yet, with a power-to-weight ratio of 657bhp per tonne, thanks to a 493bhp 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbo engine linked to a revmatching five-speed gearbox. Top speed, which hasn’t been electronically limited, is expected to exceed 180mph. Much of this lightness comes from a totally reworked chassis made of a mix of tubular steel and in-house-built, Formula 1-grade Ex-Core carbonfibre – which is stronger, is lighter and can be made into more complex shapes than standard material. This allows for a 100% boost in torsional and bending rigidity over the old D8 GTO Individual Series, which in turns brings…

RENAULT FINDS WAZE TO MAKE LIFE EASIER Renault has become the first car maker to integrate sat-nav app Waze into its infotainment system. Waze is now available in the Austral and Mégane E-Tech, the driver being able to access all functions directly on the 12in OpenR touchscreen without having to touch their smartphone. “We’re convinced that the large number of Waze users will appreciate this new feature,” said Jérôme Seror, Renault’s director of digital customer experience. “This is clearly in line with our strategy to offer our customers an intuitive, immersive and connected driving experience.” WHEN THE GREEN HELL FREEZES OVER Honda has confirmed that it will attempt a lap of the Nürburgring with the new Civic Type R, aiming to reclaim the record that it held for two years…

For 25 years, Mercedes-AMG has used a V8 engine to define the unique appeal of its ‘super’ C-Class. The very first V8-powered one, the W202-generation C43 AMG, emerged just as Mercedes’ then parent, DaimlerChrysler, was buying control of what would become its in-house performance brand right at the end of 1997. It became the first AMG model to be built on one of Mercedes’ own production lines. If not for the V8 C-Class, then, perhaps AMG might not have become the success it is today. But, like it or not, another page in the AMG development story is now being turned. The V8 C-Class is dead. No longer will the appeal of this most amusingly over-endowed of compact saloons be defined by the not so compact eight-cylinder combustion engine under…

ercedes-Benz is aiming squarely at fleet success with the second generation of the GLC, its mid-size family SUV, which has just arrived on UK roads – and, as is typical of it, is firing at rivals with both barrels. It is continuing to offer diesel-electric and petrol-electric plug-in hybrid models, which are on sale now with advertised lab test fuel economy of more than 700mpg and 500mpg respectively. Yes, you read that right. A giant drive battery is what’s behind that claimed efficiency. The new GLC’s platform having been designed especially for plugin-hybridisation, it has more than twice as much energy storage as its predecessor: 31.2kWh, no less. That’s a healthy dose more than the closely related C300e saloon has, and closer to what the £130,000 Range Rover PHEV offers…

Every week, we produce an in-depth road test on a significant new car with independently verified data and manufacturer-supplied facts and figures that aren’t available elsewhere. In the space of a year, that produces quite the knowledge bank. So what does 2022’s cohort tell us? Forty-nine cars came through the road test mill this year (not counting the special Christmas road test of a hovercraft), with a combined value of £3,958,917 – the most expensive being the Ferrari 296 GTB featured in this issue. At £298,440, it was 17 times as expensive as our cheapest test car this year, the Dacia Jogger, which cost £17,490 when we tested it. That seems to be a trend, because last year’s least and most expensive cars were also a Dacia and a Ferrari.…

In September, the nation – and many well beyond our shores – mourned the death of the Queen, who passed away at the age of 96. As constitutional rules dictate, the opinions of the late Queen on most matters are unknown. But it appears she was a huge fan of cars and driving. Once on the throne in 1952 she never needed to drive again, but that wasn’t for her, and she owned – and drove – a large number of cars over the years. So here is the Queen’s life in cars – both those she was driven in and those she chose to drive herself. THE WAR YEARS In 1945, the 18-year-old Princess Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service and learned how to service and maintain jeeps and…

“The advent of the EV era might mean Rover outfits could clad BMW chassis” Rover It strikes me as ironic that when BMW sold Rover in 2000 after an unsuccessful six-year ownership, platoons of British pundits (including safely superannuated car executives) queued up to accuse the Germans of “not doing their homework” and of “taking the whole task too lightly”. When you look at the previous hashes that various Brit bosses had made, and the even bigger mess that the all-British Phoenix Four would soon make, the words ‘brass neck’ spring to mind. And yet… If BMW had found a way to see its Rover exploit through, it might by now be bringing benefits on both sides of the Channel. The advent of the EV era might now mean Rover…

FEATURE Introducing the class of 2023 Don’t put an order in before reading this: your ultimate guide to every new car arriving in the next 12 months TRIPLE TEST Citroën waft-off We consider the evolution of Citroën’s signature, from DS and BX to new C5 X FIRST DRIVE Audi Q8 E-tron E-tron SUV gains a longer range, a more efficient battery and drivetrain upgrades EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Mercedes-Benz EQE Futuristic electric luxury saloon gets the full road test treatment LONG-TERM TEST Peugeot 308 SW We welcome to our fleet the French brand’s handsome estate SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p42…

If you like fairytales, this car is your unicorn. It’s a machine that wears its rich past with pride; it’s a 3.5-litre, straight-six history lesson with a racing pedigree whose charmed life was seemingly over at a piston stroke. Or was it? The BMW M1 was the German marque’s first mid-engined supercar, developed specifically for sports car racing and to beat rival Porsche’s turbocharged triumphs. BMW wasn’t in a position to make the M1 itself, so the firm entered into partnerships with other companies, including the masterminds at Lamborghini, who agreed to build the car, with BMW supplying the engine. And what an engine it was: a straight-six symphony so pure and uncorrupted you could hear the air rushing through the intake under hard acceleration. The 0-62mph dash took 5.8sec…

An expert’s view KEVIN BIRD, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR, BIRDS BMW “It’s a BMW version of a Ferrari. With a bit of luck, you’ve got the reliability of a BMW, but the rest of it is like a Ferrari of that era. Having said that, the money that people are now paying for these cars is purely on the basis of investment, so make sure you know a detailed history of the car you’re buying.” Buyer beware… • GENERAL MAINTENANCE No two M1s are the same, so ensure the car has a full service history from a specialist or approved dealership. Make sure you know the car’s history and if there are any faults with it. Cars like this can be difficult to repair because spare parts normally have to be custom-made.…

“The Granturismo’s 745bhp tri-motor powertrain would give it enough shove to rival the Lotus Eletre” The second-generation Maserati Levante will follow the MC20 Folgore onto market by the middle of the decade, swapping from combustion to electric power in a bid to take on the BMW iX and Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV. It is expected to be the final entry into Maserati’s first fleet of EVs, after Folgore versions of the Grecale, Granturismo, Grancabrio, MC20 and next Quattroporte – and is tipped to ride on a specially adapted version of Maserati sibling firm Alfa Romeo’s Giorgio platform, as used by the ICE and EV versions of the Grecale and Granturismo. In an exclusive interview with Autocar, Maserati CEO Davide Grasso hinted at the importance of the electric Levante and suggested that…

IT HAS BEEN quite the year for significant anniversaries, and here’s another. Twentyfive years ago, Swedish magazine Teknikens Värld inadvertently rolled a Mercedes-Benz A-Class as it spectacularly failed the ‘moose test’. If that sounds like over-enthusiasm from the journalists, know that the moose test comes from the Swedish driving test, in which candidates are asked which side of a moose should they steer into if they find themselves on a collision course with one. The answer is the rear, because once a moose decides to cross a road, it won’t stop. Elsewhere, the moose test is known as the double-lane-change manoeuvre, for obvious reasons. Either way, its purpose is to evaluate stability, because suddenly forcing a vehicle to yaw one way and then the other makes it extremely unstable. The…

The SMMT recently reduced its new car sales forecast for 2022 to 1.57 million. That’s back to where we were in 1982, when the Ford Escort was the market leader, and more than one million sales down on the all-time peak year of 2016. ALFA ROMEO 2021 market share: 0.10% 2022 market share: 0.10% Neither the Giulia nor Stelvio is likely to exceed 1000 sales this year. There is a revival plan, but Alfa Romeo announces those with the same frequency as the UK does new prime ministers… ALPINE 2021 market share: 0.01% 2022 market share: 0.02% The A110’s share has grown and is probably now as high as a sports car from an obscure brand can expect in these SUV-obsessed times. ASTON MARTIN 2021 market share: 0.06% 2022 market…

riving home last week, my music app was on D fire, the playlist of tunes it thought I might like to listen to hitting my mood perfectly. I wonder if the algorithms are so advanced that they alter the vibe by time of day or know what people like when they’re travelling, and whether these circumstances all stir into a big vat of data? Anyway, on this occasion, it worked. My brother, similarly, reports that he was ironing on a Sunday while his TV suggested which film he might want to watch. And he made the point that, while all this is clever, shouldn’t I be kicking back with a large tumbler, ruminating about which LP to next place delicately on a turntable, and shouldn’t he be luxuriating into a…

AS THE MAINSTREAM racing season wound down, Tony Jardine checked in from down under with tales of adventure from the Silver Fern Rally of New Zealand, a seven-day epic covering 3000km and 43 special stages across the stunning South Island. The intrepid Jardine had scratched a long-held itch, rallying a 1985 1.6-litre Toyota Corolla with local co-driver Warwick Martin. They ran as high as seventh before the inevitable drama… First, a broken exhaust manifold needed regular welding, before on day five the Corolla jammed in gear. Four stages were lost as a new gearbox was sourced and they returned to action with time penalties. Then on the final day, a Panhard rod at the rear suspension snapped and required a makeshift strap across the axle before proper repairs could be…

“Five miles of gruelling bush were dispatched with ease and impressive wheel articulation” You’ve heard about the tactic of joining those you can’t beat, but what about, for want of a better word, becoming them? It isn’t something that’s obvious at a glance, but this is the approach that Volkswagen has taken for the second outing of its Amarok pickup truck, which is not only larger, more capable and plusher than the homely original but also entirely different in terms of its make-up. A little history: the Amarok was launched back in 2010 with an in-house-developed body-on-frame construction and a range of VW powertrains, of which the beefy 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel was unsurprisingly the most popular. It had easier drivability and a more hospitable cabin than its rivals, and it…

There is a delicious irony about our first drive in the Lamborghini Urus S happening in Qatar. In the wealthiest country per capita in the world, Qataris aren’t actually that interested in the S, the new ‘base’ version of the Urus. They’re all about the Performante. Because if you’re going to buy a family car (and that’s what it is out here, even with the S’s £188,000 starting price), then you might as well get the top one. Overall, Qataris have embraced the Urus with gusto, earning it a healthy market share. And offering a more powerful starting point into the Urus range will hardly hurt Lamborghini. What’s staggering is that even these punchier versions don’t cannibalise sales of the Huracán and Aventador supersports cars. The SUV is simply an…

The Volkswagen Golf GTI wasn’t the first hot hatch, but it’s perhaps the seminal one. The badge survives to this day and means something to many people, whether it’s attached to a VW, a Peugeot or a wheelbarrow. Since 2002, though, the GTI has had to share the hot Golf limelight, first with the Golf R32, and since 2010 with the Golf R. It’s easy to see the appeal. You get all the performance you could possibly deploy on the road, and you can do so in any weather. And to top it off, it’s all wrapped up in, well, a Golf. Volkswagen has made a habit of releasing an anniversary model of the Golf GTI every five years, so with 20 years since the Mk4 Golf R32 hit the…

WATCH SOME LESSER-KNOWN MOTORSPORT For all the brilliance of top-rank motor racing, there’s still something pleasingly honest about club-level motorsport in the UK. It is the very heartbeat of the British motorsport scene. Our top tips for 2023? Go to one of the lesser-known circuits and get out of the paddock. Try Cadwell Park, for example, and take a scenic walk to the outside of Charlies or Chris Curve for a less well-known view. Or don a bobble hat for a round of the British Rally Championship. For the real deal, make it one of the very early or later rounds. Hillclimbs always have plenty of action and some eclectic machinery, or why not try some trialling? It’s all cheap and easy family entertainment. THE FALL IN DIESEL SALES WILL…

PORSCHE 718 CAYMAN GT4 RS ANDREW FRANKEL Recently I asked Andreas Preuninger, Porsche’s GT guru, which was better: a 911 GT3 or a Cayman GT4 RS. “Easy,” he replied. “It’s the 911.” Surprised by such a swift and definitive response, I asked him to elaborate. “It has the double-wishbone suspension, far more downforce, wider tyres, an electronically controlled differential,” he said. “It just has a higher level of specification, which is why, despite having very similar power, it’s actually quite a lot quicker around the track.” So I asked which was more fun to drive. His answer took no longer to come: “Oh, that’s the Cayman.” Which makes my point beautifully. Would you trade fast for fun? No, nor I. And when I think of the time I’ve had on…

Silver beats black While reading Steve Cropley’s excellent final report on his longterm Land Rover Discovery (Our Cars, 23 November), one line really caught my attention. He said he would prefer silver alloy wheels instead of the black ones. I said: ‘A man after my own heart.’ I know how popular black wheels are, but every time I see them I think of those NYPD patrol cars with the bare black steel wheels. I think all the exquisite detail on beautifully designed alloys becomes almost invisible when painted black. I actually did a Facebook poll some time ago, and silver won by a single point. Donal Bowens Via email Party pooper I have to take issue with Matt Prior’s advocacy of the “splashing and dashing” through roadside puddles (Tester’s Notes,…

FERRARI’S BRITISH BUSINESS was media-averse in the 1980s, so Autocar readers had to wait four years for a Testarossa road test. The louvred supercar had a bit of a dodgy reputation at the time, whereas today it’s a cultural icon of that most aesthetic of decades. So what is the truth of this rear-driven, flat 12-powered Italian? Its performance broke records, 390bhp propelling it to 174mph in our high-speed bowl, meaning it could outrun the Lamborghini Countach Quattrovalvole. Getting the best out of it did need “a demanding blend of delicacy and conviction”, mind. Not a member of the “ultimate grip and response” club, it would understeer and oversteer, but still it could be “hustled along at a respectable pace with great ease”. Its “easy handling” belied its 1976mm width…

“Both cars get under your skin. The Type R is bloody good, the hybrid is just effortless” MILEAGE 6710 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if Honda can save the everyday family hatchback “Let’s make this baby fly!” There are two things you can learn from this neat summary from my six-year-old. The first is that his parents are clearly terrible at their roles, letting him watch too many American cartoons. The second is that nothing gets a child excited quite as much as a massive rear wing on a car, helped in this case by the three “rocket boosters” (aka exhausts) at the back. The vehicle in question is the previous-generation Honda Civic Type R, one of the finest hot hatches ever built and a high-water mark for Honda,…