Innholdsfortegnelse for August 30, 2023 i Autocar

UPCOMING D-AND E-segment models from Alpine will feature “high-performance and energised” chassis dynamics inspired by the A110 while fulfilling a brief to give the French brand a footprint in the crucial luxury car market. The electric range-toppers, which are expected in 2027 and 2028, will take the form of highly specified electric SUVs to rival the Porsche Macan and Cayenne. As such, they will be marketed as ‘lifestyle’ products, rather than pure-performance machines, but Alpine bosses have promised that engaging dynamics will still be among their core attributes. Alpine’s head of design, Antony Villain, said: “The idea is to use the driving experience of the A110 and duplicate it in different segments. We want something high-performance, sporty and energised. We don’t want something that just goes in straight lines super-quickly.”…

THE NEW TURBO E-Hybrid is the most powerful version of the Porsche Cayenne yet. The plug-in hybrid super-SUV is on sale now, priced from £130,200 and offering the choice of a conventional or coupé bodystyle. to an “extensively reworked” 591bhp twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre petrol V8 engine and a 174bhp electric motor. Porsche claims a 0-62mph time of 3.7sec and a top speed of 183mph. Adding the £21,400 GT Package brings a titanium exhaust, a carbonfibre roof, bespoke bodywork and yet stronger performance: 0-62mph in 3.6sec and a top speed of 190mph. Meanwhile, a 25.9kWh battery beneath the boot gives the PHEV an electriconly range of 51 miles.…

WHILE WE ALL argue about whether touchscreens are a sensible alternative to buttons on a car’s dashboard, the manufacturers will urge us to try the safer and easier way to control everything: voice activation. Reserved British drivers still might baulk at telling their car that they have a cold bottom and would rather just press a button, but the technology is now at the point where the car knows what they’re talking about. This wasn’t the way with the earliest voice activation systems, fitted in the early 2000s to German cars with a built-in, factory-fit phone. To avoid accidents caused while the driver dialled into a keypad, you could tell the car which number you wanted. This seemed to work well, and it could even distinguish between different British accents.…

FRIDAY Few things are more uplifting than local vehicle meetings, whatever form they take, which is why I was on hand at the nearby village of Fairford to enjoy ‘Steam in the Square’, an evening prelude to the local country fair at the weekend. The event was buzzing, stuffed with happy locals (fed and watered from the local chippy and pub) plus multifarious steam wagons and vintage vehicles. The occasional drizzle hardly mattered. My absolute favourite was the contraption pictured above, a 1925 Morris Cowley modified in 1943 to do a tractor’s job of assisting wartime food production and never unmodified afterwards. Apparently these were fairly common, but now there’s only one left. I had never seen anything like it, but local kids were enjoying rides and I was told…

The Sports Tourer – so estate – version of the latest Vauxhall Astra has arrived in the UK. Our test car is a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol-electric plug-in hybrid (there are also conventional 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrols) in GS trim, rather than fully sporty GSe, meaning it has a 148bhp, 184lb ft engine and a 109bhp, 236lb ft motor for totals of 178bhp and 265lb ft (they don’t both blow their strongest at the same time). The battery has a capacity of 12.4kWh, can charge at a rate of 3.7kW (7kW is a £500 option) and gives an electric-only range of 42-45 miles. Officially, anyway: our hatchback Astra PHEV long-termer broached only 30 miles a couple of times, and then in warmer weather. That might be enough for most commutes and daily…

Will 2023 be the year we point at when looking back for the moment of birth of the electric hot hatchback? Or the firing of the starting gun, perhaps? When you consider what has featured in Autocar’s news section this year, from the Alpine A290 to the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, it does seem the car industry has decided that now is the time to finally go after buyers of affordable performance cars with EVs. In our reviews section, meanwhile, we’ve already given warm preliminary receptions to the likes of the Abarth 500e and MG 4 XPower. So now it’s time to find out how those cars compare with the most enticing driver’s cars already available at the affordable end of the market for electric cars. Last year, we ran…

MODEL TESTED CARRERA T • Price £107,770 • Power 380bhp • Torque 332lb ft • 0-60mph 4.9sec • 30-70mph in 4th 6.9sec • Economy 30.4mpg • CO2 emissions 234-247g/km • 70-0mph 51.6m It’s sobering to think there is now only one derivative of arguably the most revered sports car in the world – the Porsche 911 – that can be bought in the UK for less than £100,000. This week’s test subject – the 911 Carrera T – isn’t quite that bottom-rung model, but it’s close. It represents Porsche returning to sprinkle some fresh intrigue on the more affordable end of the 911 range, between the launch of one quarter-millionpound special edition and the next. Here, T stands for Touring, but ‘911 Lightweight’ would perhaps be a better descriptor for this…

MILEAGE 12,155 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if the new Range Rover is all the car you will ever need Driving a dark green Range Rover to the Loire for a couple of weeks comes close to peak English plumminess but, joking aside, it’s the sort of trip this car does need to nail. So does it? Yes and no. A plug-in hybrid Rangie really isn’t the ideal candidate for a trip like this. Most accommodation in semirural Europe is unlikely to have a charger and, even if it does, it’s not cricket to leave your six-cylinder SUV on charge overnight, forcing the poor souls in EVs to fend for themselves. So you spend all your time pointlessly lugging around a 31.8kWh battery that weighs probably about 225kg, plus…

It was interesting to read your pieces about JLR in the 16 August issue. I own a Land Rover Discovery 4. It’s not cheap to run, but I can: put down the rear seats and use it as a skip; put the seats back up, load our bikes and go for a ride; fill the boot and go on holiday in comfort, any distance, any duration, with those in the back watching films; wash the outside, clean out the crumbs, put on the heated seats and take my dressed-up wife out for a winter birthday at The Kennels. It does it all. When this car was new, Land Rover had a clear product hierarchy: if you were royal, the Range Rover; if you had a working vehicle role, the Defender;…

An owner’s view ADAM COOK “My Freelander is the rare threedoor with removable hard-top. It’s not as practical as the five-door and visibility isn’t as good, but I like the looks. It was registered in 2006 so is one of the last ones and has done 100,000 miles. Being a TD4, it does around 30mpg. In recent months, the driveshafts and rear brakes have been replaced, but there’s no rust. It’s very reliable. I’ve been to the Isle of Skye in it and through all weathers and it has never missed a beat.” Buyer beware… ENGINE Early 1.8 petrols suffered cooling issues, but most were resolved with the fitment of an upgraded head gasket. Many surviving cars will have had this work done, but check around the oil filler for…

Jaguar is preparing to launch a large, lavish electric saloon to serve as an indirect replacement for the axed XJ EV, Autocar can reveal. It was previously understood that Jaguar’s new four-seat grand tourer, launching in 2025, would be followed into dealerships by a pair of luxury crossovers. But now a source familiar with the new models has told Autocar that while one of the other two cars is indeed a Bentley Bentaygasized flagship SUV, the other is actually an imposing limousine conceived in the mould of the XJ, albeit heavily redesigned, substantially larger and much more luxurious. All three cars will sit on the long-wheelbase JEA electric vehicle platform being developed exclusively for use by new-era Jaguar models. Talking recently to Autocar, JLR CEO Adrian Mardell said the Jaguar…

The Rimac Nevera hypercoupé has broken the Nürburgring lap record for a production electric car, posting a blistering time of 7min 5.298sec to complete a full lap of the 12.8-mile circuit. Driven by Croatian racing driver Martin Kodric, the Nevera beat the previous recordholder – the Tesla Model S Track Pack – by 20sec. HOW RIMAC’S LAP TIME STACKS UP OUTRIGHT RECORD Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo 5min 19.546sec FASTEST ELECTRIC CAR Volkswagen ID R 6min 5.336sec FASTEST ROAD-LEGAL CAR Mercedes-AMG One 6min 35.18sec FASTEST 4WD CAR Lamborghini Aventador SVJ 6min 44.97sec FASTEST FWD CAR Honda Civic Type R 7min 39.691sec…

SOMETIMES THE simplest ideas are hiding in plain sight, ready to make already relatively simple engineering, like the EV, even more so. ‘Simple’ compared with ICE, because it loses the complexity of the fourstroke engine’s fuelling and exhaust systems and increasingly complex emission-treatment paraphernalia. And ‘relatively’, because although EVs are mechanically much simpler and have no need for catalysts, complex transmissions or even an exhaust, the science and electronics behind them is pretty advanced stuff. Stellantis recently revealed that it has been collaborating with battery manufacturer Saft on a project called the Intelligent Battery Integrated System (Ibis). It’s aimed at reducing the number of an EV’s components even further by approaching existing battery technology in a slightly different way. EV powertrains are generally made up of the same building blocks.…

The new Kia EV5 is a sharply styled, five-seat electric SUV that majors on practicality and space. It will initially be built and sold in China, but Autocar understands that a European launch – including the UK – is highly likely. Kia promised details of a launch in “select global markets” at an event in October. When the EV5 arrives in dealerships, it will serve as an electric alternative to the similarly sized Kia Sportage, with rivals including the Skoda Enyaq iV, Ford Explorer and Fisker Ocean. The influence of the flagship seven-seat EV9 is obvious in the EV5’s upright, two-box silhouette, chunky lower body cladding and distinctive, angular alloy wheel designs. The EV5 also shares its sibling’s aggressive ‘tiger nose’ front-end design and kinked rear beltline – hallmarks of…

Of all the cult racing series of the past, none capture the imagination quite like Can-Am. The original Canadian-American Challenge Cup series ran for nine seasons between 1966 and 1974, adding bombast, high speed and big-name excitement to an era already rich in motorsport’s finest qualities. Whenever these ‘big banger’ open-top sports cars appear at historic events, either racing or merely in demonstration runs, the sight and sound leave us physically quaking and the earth shaking. Chaparral, Lola, McLaren, Porsche, Shadow… the cars were something else. Then look at the roster of men who drove them. The champions alone make up a glittering hall of fame: John Surtees, Bruce McLaren, Denny Hulme, Peter Revson, George Follmer, Mark Donohue and Jackie Oliver. So many more Europeanbased aces were lured to cross…

When Toyota launched the bZ4X as its first serious BEV last year, its range raised some eyebrows. Simply put, it didn’t look very competitive and, to make matters worse, turning on the heater would decimate the car’s range prediction. Now, Toyota claims it has a fix. It insists the problem was mostly one of appearances, because the bZ4X would actually retain as much as 8% of its range when its indicator read zero. Now that buffer has been removed and the car will display a more realistic prediction, as well as the battery-charge percentage. Toyota’s event to try the tweaked cars was held in August, making the impact of the heater a little hard to judge, but it does appear the range prediction has seriously improved. Starting up when it…

In a good 4x4, I would by now have flooded the engine, grounded the chassis, burnt through several clutches and remodelled the bodywork. I would, in short, be walking home, possibly with a limp and certainly with wet trainers. But not today, because I’m driving a Unimog. Chances are you will know a bit about Unimog but, unless you’re a Moggite, not everything. And even then, probably not everything everything, because there’s such a lot to digest. I will try to cover as much as six pages allow. That might skim the surface. Now in its 75th year, Unimog, part of Daimler Truck (which has Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner and other brands in the mix), on the surface makes two model lines: the UGE implement carrier and the UHE extreme off-roader. Here,…

MILEAGE 6111 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if BMW’s entry EV is as impressive as its range-topper Several months with the iX1 have highlighted my reliance on its Apple CarPlay functionality. Given that connectivity in the iX1 is wireless, using CarPlay is so easy: I just get in the car, drive off and have all my music, navigation information and more in front of me without having to think about it. It also pairs seamlessly with the wireless charging pad in our car. Because of my, erm, dependency, I decided to avoid using CarPlay for a while, and just a few days in I started to notice standard features of the iX1 I’ve been missing out on. A big one comes from using the iX1’s in-built sat-nav over Google…

NEWS Munich motor show Unrivalled coverage of the year’s biggest show, with unveilings from BMW, Renault Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and more FEATURE Lambo vs Wales The Sterrato is a V10 supercar meant to go off road – so we took it to wild countryside FIRST DRIVE BYD Seal Chinese battery giant is aiming to make a splash with its bold Tesla Model 3 rival EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Hyundai Kona Entry-level petrol version of Mk2 crossover is put through its paces USED GUIDE Ford S-Max Who needs an SUV when you can bag a brilliant MPV for a budget price? SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p18…

A road test in any other magazine might well be a short, subjective summary of a new car produced under almost any circumstances, but the Autocar road test is different. Specific, rigorous and detailed, it’s the closest examination we can give of any new model. It appears over at least eight pages and is close to 50 man-hours in the making every week. Most of what the road test process entails is designed to be strictly repeatable and fair. We benchmark standing-start and in-gear acceleration at a purpose-built test facility every week. We carry out both subjective and objective handling tests on both road and track, on the latter up to and beyond the limit of grip, so as to fully assess stability, drivability and limit handling appeal. And while…

Ford and Volkswagen have revealed radical new versions of their popular mid-sized camper vans, ushering in new platforms, heavily reworked cabins and – for the first time – electrified powertrain options. Both were revealed at the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf, Germany, and have been conceived to cater to surging demand in this segment, with sales of leisure vehicles in Europe doubling between 2016 and 2021. More than 180,000 motorhomes are now sold in the region each year. Ford said it sells 30,000 examples of the Transit-based Nugget annually and Volkswagen said it has sold 260,000 units of the California globally since it was launched 20 years ago. FORD NUGGET GETS NEW PLATFORM, MORE SPACE AND PHEV POWER Based on the upcoming Transit Custom and sharing its re-engineered platform, the new…

Despite insurers blaming recent sharp rises in the cost of motor insurance on inflation, many are continuing to charge wildly different premiums for the same vehicle, throwing doubt on the reasons given for the increases and putting some motorists at risk of paying much more for their insurance than other drivers. In its latest quarterly bulletin, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) reported that the average insurance premium paid by motorists between April and June this year was £511, an increase of 21% on the same period last year. Renewals were priced at an average of £471, while new policies hit £566. The figures quoted are for average prices paid rather than quoted, which tend to be higher and which, according to Consumer Intelligence, increased by 48% in the 12…

My eyebrow was raised by a motoring story in The Times newspaper last week, which attributed the luxury car dealer Tom Hartley with coining the word ‘supercar’ in Britain. It made me wonder whether or not that was true (it isn’t), and if not, from where its use came. Even the best encyclopedic corners of the internet are vague about the supercar. Not only the specifics of what one is (in short, it’s a very fast car, but perhaps we will revisit that another time) but also from where the term comes. And so once more, my friends, to Autocar’s new digital archive (themagazineshop.com/aca23ed/aca)… It turns out the word supercar arrived early. I found the very first uses of the term – albeit hyphenated to super-car – in the mid-1910s,…

‘Reductive design’ was a term added to our vernacular when Land Rover launched its fourth Range Rover model, the Velar, in 2017. At the time, some of us questioned the choice of words: a reductive approach to anything might not necessarily, universally or instantly be recognised as a positive thing by those less conversant with the sometimes lofty jargon of design, might it? The philosophy behind it, however – a natural evolution of the clean and minimalistic aesthetic into which so many premium car makers have now been tapping for so long – certainly produced a bold and handsome luxury SUV. And now, with the mid-life facelift that’s taking effect for the 2024 model year, that thinking is being flexed all over again. You could call the Velar’s exterior design…

The EQE 53 is Mercedes’ second proper stab at an electric AMG production car, after the EQS 53. E-Class-based cars have always been the archetypal AMGs, so does that apply in the electric era, with the equivalently sized EQE? We first drove the EQE 53 in Germany in July 2022, but the first UK examples have only just arrived. It remains an impressive thing on paper, with its dedicated EV platform, 617bhp from a motor on each axle and 3.5sec 0-62mph time. But haven’t we seen all of this before? The Porsche Taycan Turbo did it three years ago and the 1020bhp Tesla Model S Plaid has just rendered any other claims of headscrambling performance moot. Away from an autobahn, the EQE 53 feels quick all right and in its…

The adjective commonly used to characterise Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s first term as president of motorsport’s global governing body to date is ‘controversial’. How could it fail to be, given that he took office in December 2021, amid the tumultuous fallout from the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the race-control decisions that changed the destiny of the Formula 1 World Championship? That was a case of tidying up a mess not of his making. The real battle at the heart of the F1 flashpoints in Ben Sulayem’s term since is what can most generously be called ‘tension’ between the FIA as F1’s regulator and Liberty Media as F1’s commercial rights holder. The two sides must collaborate for the best interests of the series, but even when they’re working closely together,…

Vive la révolution I have to disagree with Steve Cropley’s comment that the Festival of the Unexceptional is a peculiarly British occurrence (My Week In Cars, 9 August). Every weekly issue of La Vie de l’Auto is filled with meetings dominated by mundane examples of Renaults, Peugeots, Citroëns, Simcas etc. It’s all part of the French communist-peasant-revolutionary mindset – which I don’t mean in a derogatory sense. Geoff Dorey Guernsey Is that a fake ID? Your used buying guide on the BMW i8 (22 May) triggered my interest, so I’ve spent a few months looking for a suitable car. One tip not mentioned in your article is to examine the build date sticker on the driver’s door frame. A gap between manufacturing and registration isn’t unusual, but it can be…

Got around £3000 to spend and looking for a comfortable, practical, almost goanywhere four-wheel-drive family car that, if bought wisely, might even go up in value? Allow us to present to you the original Land Rover Freelander of 1997 to 2006. True, the Mk1 Freelander doesn’t have a great reputation for reliability, but with only a few still left, there’s a higher proportion of gold among the garbage. In any case, it’s still a handsome and interesting SUV with a string of Land Rover firsts to its name: the first to be of unibody construction, to have independent suspension all-round and to have a transverse engine. Plus it was the first vehicle to have a computerised hill descent control (HDC) system, at least on higher-spec models to begin with, until…

FRANCE HAD ONCE been home to many sports car makers, but by the 1980s there was only Renault-Alpine. Engineer Claude Poiraud and designer Gérard Godfroy of coachbuilder Heuliez spied a gap for a French answer to Porsche, and their prototype so impressed financier Hervé Boulan that he founded MVS to productionise it, building a team that included chassis experts from Le Manswinning race outfit Rondeau. And so at the 1986 Paris motor show arrived the Venturi coupé, a direct rival to Alpine’s two-yearold GTA (whose A310 predecessor Poiraud had actually worked on) that used the 200bhp inline four from Peugeot’s 505 Turbo saloon. Comparing the two, our French correspondent favoured the GTA’s equally potent Peugeot-Renault-Volvo 2.5-litre V6 – and indeed so did MVS, as it switched to this engine before…

Since its formation in 1908, General Motors has made well over 500 million vehicles. No company can do this without causing controversy, and its latest example is the Cadillac Escalade IQ, a gigantic electric SUV that requires you to hold an HGV licence yet can hit 60mph in less than 5sec. It’s the latest in a long line of GM cars that raised more than a few eyebrows… Chevrolet Corvair 1960 Chevrolet had got the hang of air-cooled engines by the time it brought out the Corvair. Nevertheless, this car became a poster child for automotive controversy, due to the mounting of its engine behind the rear wheels and the use of swing-axle rear suspension, neither of which helped its stability. It also required unusual tyre pressures (28psi rear, 14psi…