Innholdsfortegnelse for September 20, 2023 i Autocar

THE RADICAL VOLKSWAGEN ID X Performance concept has been unveiled as a 558bhp electric sports saloon that previews the future of the brand’s performance models. Giving hints of how hot Volkswagen EVs will look, the ID 7-based one-off is comfortably the most powerful Volkswagen to wear numberplates yet and packs nearly twice the power of the brand’s current most potent road-going EVs. Following the recently revealed ID GTI concept as another statement of intent for Volkswagen’s electric sports cars, it adopts the same X moniker as a previous four-wheel-drive performance version of the Volkswagen ID 3 made in 2021 as a development test bed. The concept is marked out from the standard ID 7 most obviously by its chunky front splitter and rear diffuser made of carbonfibre, a 60mm suspension…

Kia’s electric onslaught continues apace: soon after the wraps came off the bold new EV5 SUV, the Korean brand has been spotted testing a much smaller and more city-focused electric crossover, likely to be called the EV3. It is the smallest model yet seen in Kia’s EV-badged range of bespoke electric cars, and will leave room for a future EV4 between it and the Sportage-sized EV5. The early signs suggest that this is a B-segment (compact) model in the vein of the existing Niro EV and Soul EV – which would leave space above for an EV4 closer in size to the Xceed. Given that the Niro was only recently renewed and is likely to remain on sale in its current form until around 2028, the EV3 will serve as…

Chip maker Qualcomm brought its own concept car to the Munich motor show earlier this month to demonstrate the latest in-car infotainment tricks made possible by its Snapdragon ‘system on chip’ platform. The US company, better known for its smartphone chips, has built a formidable list of automotive clients for the Snapdragon Digital Chassis architecture that is helping a still somewhat analogue industry pivot to digital. A measure of Qualcomm’s importance is evident in the number of car makers willing to publicly acknowledge their partnership, which is not usually the case with suppliers. For example, CEO Cristiano Amon shared a stage in Munich with BMW development boss Frank Weber, who extolled the breadth of digital abilities that will be unlocked by Qualcomm’s computing power in its Neue Klasse range of…

Talk about two ends of the rallying spectrum. As Kalle Rovanperä was skilfully picking his way through the Acropolis Rally stages ravaged by Storm Daniel to take another step towards a second World Rally Championship title, I found myself bouncing around in the back of a Toyota Hilux chasing an eclectic bunch of classic cars on bucolic country lanes in a Middle England September heatwave. Only gently competitive? Compared with the cut and thrust of the WRC, of course. But tell that to my queasy stomach, which has only just settled after a day of incessant churning. Any rally, even a regularity rally run on public roads such as the second round of the one-day Hero Challenge, features a heightened degree of intensity. HERO’S DAY OUT Hero is the Historic…

Light-touch electrification has been a little slow in coming to the Stellantis brands, but the group has been developing a new 48V hybrid system with a gearbox-mounted electric motor for a few years now. It’s hitting the road first in a new version of the Citroën C5 Aircross mid-sized SUV that’s much more likely to appeal to the brand’s value-savvy customers. Spec for spec, the C5 Aircross Hybrid is only £1000 pricier than the 1.5 BlueHDI diesel and £2000 more expensive than the equivalent unhybridised petrol. For private buyers who don’t reap benefit-inkind tax savings, that’s likely to make it much more appealing than the near-£40,000 PHEV. The car is primarily powered by a development of Stellantis’s 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine that’s been modified to run on the Miller…

Having won the 2023 Car of the Year gong, the Jeep Avenger arrives in the UK already with much clout. Priced here from £35,700, it’s a car of firsts for the famed American brand: at 4.08 metres long, it’s Jeep’s smallest-ever car; it’s the first Jeep created solely for Europe; and, most importantly, it’s the brand’s first EV. So, yes, this is an important car. But to fully understand it you need to forget what you think a Jeep is because, for all intents and purposes, it’s lacking in Jeep DNA. It’s based on Stellantis’s e-CMP2 platform, which results in huge similarities both inside and on the road with various stablemates. This is no bad thing: it’s economies of scale that allow Jeep to build the Avenger profitably. It’s just…

MODEL TESTED 3.0 T FIELDMASTER Price £76,535 • Power 282bhp • Torque 332lb ft • 0-60mph 8.0sec • 30-70mph 8.1sec • Fuel economy 17.9mpg • CO2 emissions 325-336g/km • 70-0mph 59.5m When Land Rover retired the original Defender, petrochemicals billionaire and Defender buff Sir Jim Ratcliffe offered to buy the design rights and production-line tooling so that the model might live on. JLR refused and the result of that decision is the subject of this week’s road test. Only in 2017 did Ratcliffe reveal his intention to produce (from a standing start) an uncompromising, old-school off-roader in the mould of the Defender, and since then the project has rarely been out of the limelight. Plans to build this serious 4x4 in South Wales were shelved when the modern, well-sited Hambach plant…

MILEAGE 3024 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out if this quirky newcomer is a serious prospect or a flash in the pan If you drive an electric car and plan on visiting Horsham, West Sussex, make sure you charge it before leaving. I thought I’d done so, but I must have forgotten to turn on my EVIOS charger and only noticed when I looked at our predicted range halfway there… and realised that we were only just going to make it. With my daughter already late, I had to nurse it to gym practice, then go off in search of charge to get home. After checking my various apps, I dismissed the low-power options and plumped for a nearby Shell Recharge. Ideal – except when I got there, it…

Trim your sails In his column of 23 August, Steve Cropley remarked about the ‘sail’ mode on his electric motorbike and wondered if in electric cars freewheeling is better for economy than maximum brake regeneration. I’ve run a Hyundai Kona Electric 64kWh for two years, mostly in Sport mode and with maximum regen. My average over maybe 15,000 miles is 3.6 miles per kWh. For a few weeks since the article, I’ve been running in Sport mode but with minimum regen (while still using the paddles to increase regen when running downhill and to slow for junctions etc). My very unscientific result is 4.2mpkWh. Another advantage is that this takes stress off your right foot. Neil Skinner Sheffield Respect for the president I really enjoyed your interview with FIA president…

‘You’ll miss me when I’m gone’ could be the torch song for Volvo saloons and estates, now that the company has axed them in favour of SUVs in the UK. Car buyers have only themselves to blame, of course. As Autocar reported recently, Volvo’s most popular car globally in the first half of 2023 – an SUV – outsold its entire saloon and estate range by a margin of nearly 70%. Among the fallen is the current, third-generation S60 saloon, which sold 18,000 copies in the period. Prices for this handsome model, launched in 2019, start at £20,000 for cars with around 30,000 miles. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend that. Instead, prices for its equally handsome predecessor and the focus of this guide, the secondgeneration S60 of 2010-18, start…

OUR RECENT SCOOP of the next Jaguar saloon was met with an unprecedented amount of negative letters from readers, due to a perceived abandonment of brand history and understated elegance. Let us, then, revisit a time when a new Jag was “modern, dignified and efficient” in its bodystyling: the 2.4 Litre, new junior to the Mk VII, of 1956. A shortened and thus revvier version of the XK140 sports car’s 3.4-litre straight six offered “very high performance” (0-60mph in 15.8sec) and “quite remarkable” flexibility on top. It was smooth and quiet too, and the note we did hear was “sweet and subdued”. We weren’t quite as bowled over by the ’box but it was still great. The steering was “a little heavy” but had perfect self-centring and was free of…

Alfa Romeo is firming up plans for a new electric roadster as part of a wide-ranging electrification strategy to expand and revamp its line-up. Following the launch of the 33 Stradale supercar, which offers Alfa’s first-ever electric powertrain, the Italian firm will introduce a compact electric SUV in 2024, then electric replacements for the Giulia saloon and Stelvio SUV, and lastly a larger saloon and SUV, aimed at the Chinese and American markets. Even so, Alfa’s performance heritage remains central to its positioning, bosses have said, and long-mooted plans for an electric Spider are taking shape. Future rivals would include the next Alpine A110, next Porsche Boxster and reborn Lotus Elise. Speaking to Autocar at the launch of the limited-edition 33 Stradale, Alfa product boss Daniel Guzzafame gave vital clues…

Audi is understood to be developing a bespoke electric vehicle architecture for low-volume, purpose-built sports cars and supercars. The firm is poised to launch a wave of models atop the new PPE platform it has developed with Porsche, starting with the Q6 E-tron early next year, and it will subsequently begin launching cars on the VW Group’s long-mooted SSP platform, which is due to enter production in 2027. At the recent Munich motor show, technical boss Oliver Hoffmann also confirmed that Audi will deploy the VW Group’s MEB platform – as used by the VW ID 3, Cupra Born and Audi Q4 E-tron – for future entry-level EVs. But when pressed for details on whether any of these platforms would suit lower-volume, more sporting EVs in the vein of the…

CHINESE GIANT CHERY’S Omoda 5 family SUV will hit the UK next February, priced at £24,000, making it one of the cheapest cars in its class. It is powered by a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing 187bhp and 203lb ft, mated to a sevenspeed automatic gearbox and good for 31.4mpg on the WLTP combined cycle, while emitting 170g/km of CO2. Standard kit includes 17in alloy wheels, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, two wireless phone chargers, adaptive ambient lighting, a pair of 10.25in display screens and dual-zone climate control. Range-topping Noble trim bumps up the price to £27,000 and adds a heated leather steering wheel, a sunroof and 18in alloys. Prices and details for the upcoming electric version haven’t yet been confirmed, but it is understood to use a front-mounted motor with…

MERCEDES-BENZ WILL launch a facelifted version of the G-Class off-roader next year – and it will take learnings from its forthcoming electric EQG sibling to deliver significant improvements in fuel economy. The new EQG is set to arrive during 2024 as a zero-emission version of the ultra-rugged machine. It features near-identical styling to the current G-Class, although Mercedes has introduced a number of bodywork revisions to make it as efficient as possible. Emmerich Schiller, who oversees the G-Class business unit, said those changes will be carried over to the updated version of the petrol car, due at a similar time. “With electric cars, aerodynamics are quite a big challenge,” said Schiller. “With the EQG, our first task was to keep the design of the car but to improve the aerodynamics…

For those of us who have spent years wondering where the Volkswagen Group was really going with Seat, once touted as its sporty mainstream marque, wonder no longer: the future is dim. We found out at the Munich motor show that Seat is to stop being a conventional car maker. Its current models will run out and the name will live on for electric ‘mobility solutions’ – e-scooters and so on. The car focus for Volkswagen’s Spanish arm will move entirely to Cupra, formerly Seat’s even sportier sub-brand, which has taken over the role as the flag-bearer for not just fun cars but mainstream cars too. It’s producing precisely the sort of cars that Seat was always meant to make. For years, we were meant to perceive Seat as the…

The new Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate is the latest instalment in a success story that stretches back almost half a century. It all started with the introduction of the mid-range Mercedes estate in the mid-1970s. Since then, the luxury load hauler has evolved to become an indispensable model in the German car maker’s line-up. The sixth-generation model (codename S214) is bigger than any E-Class Estate before it. It is also more digitally oriented. Choose the appropriate options and the front passenger can stream movies and operate apps on the go via a new touchscreen display that forms part of Mercedes’ new immersive Superscreen dash. With the ability to offer level-four autonomous driving, the new E-Class Estate also brings a driverless valet parking function that allows it to negotiate multistorey car parks…

As the flagship version of the flagship model in BMW’s burgeoning EV range, the new i7 M70 xDrive is a car that you would rightly expect to come with serious numbers. It doesn’t disappoint. Sitting above the i7 xDrive60 M Sport (a luxury saloon so roundly outstanding that it has redefined the 7 Series proposition), the M70 has a new kind of electric motor to drive its back axle. This uses a patented six-phase design that BMW says is not only more power-dense but also more efficient than deploying two motors on one axle. The result is a “very substantial” increase in peak output and a power density more than a quarter greater than that of the motor in the xDrive M60. It combines with another motor at the front…

The headline news about the sixth generation of Honda’s family SUV, the CR-V, is the addition of a plug-in hybrid powertrain with 51 miles of electriconly range. Cue cheers from fleet managers around the country. We tried that car (called the e:PHEV) in the UK last month and rather liked its roomy, stressfree interior, easygoing nature and impressive economy. However, Honda still expects most CR-V sales (about 75%) to go to the regular hybrid (called the e:HEV). So that’s what we’re looking at this week. It looks identical and the only difference in the interior is that the e:HEV loses 72 litres of boot space, because its battery is under the boot floor rather than under the passenger compartment. The engine and gearbox are the same as well, combining with…

It would be easy to look at the new BMW Vision Neue Klasse concept car, which previews the design and technology of the company’s next generation of electric vehicles, as a repudiation of its recent efforts. The evocative name, retro look, stripped-back lines and nods to classic BMW saloons all feels like a dramatic course correction away from its recent history – all confrontational, controversial, aggressive and edgy styling and advertising. Except – if you believe BMW bosses, at least – it’s not. “This is a statement of confidence, showing what we can do and what we feel capable of – and we do it from a position of strength,” says Pieter Nota, BMW’s customer, brand and sales boss. “Our current portfolio is highly successful. We are by far the…

MILEAGE 8210 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if a fast estate – even a diesel one – is among the best cars in the world Our road testers have repeatedly given the current BMW 3 Series five stars and lavished it with praise, so I was thrilled to get the keys to the top-rung (if slightly left-field) Buchloe edition. I made the most of it, too: over 200 miles, I used it as an office, a delivery truck and even a venue for a date. First, though, I had to drive it to the Cotswolds. Coming from Scotland, I’m not familiar with the area, but I quickly found out why it has such a reputation for a mixture of motorway, village and sweeping country roads: the holy trinity for…

I really enjoyed your ‘fun EVs’ test in the 30 August issue and a recent podcast. Thanks. Despite being a staunch ICE-head, I’m considering buying an EV in the next 12 months. Most of my mileage these days is local, so the running cost benefits via home charging are too great to ignore. I intend to try to keep my nearly 20-year-old BMW 530d for longer runs, though. I just don’t have the patience to cope with Steve Cropley’s traumatic journey home from North Yorkshire in a Honda E. Affordability and fun are paramount for me; £30k is about my limit, rather restricting choice. I enjoyed the dynamics and engagement of an MG 4 last December and wonder if the new Extended Range version might have posed a stronger threat…

An owner’s view DAVE SAYER “I’ve owned Volvos for the past 20 years. Currently, I have two, both with high mileages. My S60 is a 2015-reg D3 Business Edition auto that has done 225,000 miles. It’s a lovely car: safe, comfortable and economical. It does around 60mpg. It has been very reliable too and is free of squeaks and rattles. It has a full Volvo service history because, as I always tell people, look after your car and it’ll look after you.” Buyer beware… ENGINE The early 1.6-litre D2 is one to avoid, oil leaks, rattles, smoke and injector issues being among the problems. Later, facelifted 2.0-litre fourcylinder diesels are prone to cam cover leaks. The same engines can suffer problems with the exhaust gas recirculation cooler and the EGR…

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…

Images of Alfa Romeo’s electric small crossover have been leaked ahead of its arrival at the start of 2024, when it will become the entry point to the Italian brand’s new-era range. Serving as an indirect replacement for the Mito supermini, it was originally known as the Brennero but is now confirmed to be taking another name into showrooms. It will sit beneath the Tonale SUV in Alfa Romeo’s line-up and be based on the same e-CMP2 platform as the Jeep Avenger and new Fiat 600. Due to measure around 4.1 metres long and 1.8 metres wide, it will be the smallest Alfa since the Mito bowed out in 2019 – and it will remain as such. Alfa product boss Daniel Guzzafame told Autocar: “The Mito will not be replaced…

Volkswagen has revealed the third-generation Tiguan, due in the UK in early 2024, as a comprehensively restyled and re-engineered version of its best-selling car. Development of the new Tiguan has largely been undertaken in parallel with the latest Passat, with which it shares VW’s upgraded MEB-Evo platform, plus much of its upgraded digital and connectivity functions, including the latest version of VW’s MIB infotainment platform and new over-the-air software update capability. At 4539mm long, 1639mm tall (without roof rails) and 1842mm wide, the heavily restyled Tiguan is 30mm longer, 4mm taller and the same width as its popular predecessor. Its wheelbase also remains the same as before, at 2680mm. The headline changes are inside, where the third-gen Tiguan receives a new cabin that sports a cleaner look, more upmarket materials,…

THE NEXT GENERATION of Toyota’s electric cars will offer two new battery options that will increase their range to 497 miles and be up to 40% cheaper than the Toyota bZ4X when they arrive in 2026. The two electric car batteries – the rangefocused lithium ion Performance and the affordability-biased lithium-iron-phosphate Popularisation – are part of a push from the Japanese firm for its EVs to appeal to a wider customer base. Between 2027 and 2028, the new Performance battery will then be superseded by a lithium ion High Performance pack that offers 621 miles of range. “We will need various options for batteries, just as we have different types of engines,” said Takero Kato, president of Toyota’s EV development centre. “It’s important to offer battery solutions compatible with a…

UNTIL NOW, FUEL CELL EVs have primarily been about sustainability – unlike battery EVs, of which there are plenty of ultra-rapid examples. It will be a while yet before mainstream hydrogen cars appear in significant numbers, but UK engineering firm WAE Technologies is ahead of the game with its 575bhp EVRh. Revealed at the Cenex Low Carbon Vehicle show recently, the EVRh is a high-performance car architecture designed to show off FCEVs’ capabilities. Fuel cells are good at delivering a steady flow of electrical power but not so good at delivering the sudden bursts of power needed for acceleration. For that reason, FCEVs have a buffer battery to power their motors, which is kept topped up by the fuel cell stack. The EVRh is a parallel hybrid, so both the…

A GENERATION ago, some car brands were notorious for rust, with the worst cars having to go in for remedial work at their first service – which in those days was after a 1000 miles or a month. It wasn’t only owners who got caught out. Sometimes car makers and importers were stung too. When sales were slow, they had no choice but to store the unsold stock, usually at the dockside, where the air is salty. The boss of one importer saw his year-old cars gently dissolving before they had even been registered and had a bright idea. To make them more saleable, they would be fitted with a butch bodykit. Besides making the car more attractive, the spoiler and skirts would handily cover up the rusty blisters. To…

“The one piece of advice that lodged was to ‘drive the load’” MONDAY To Warwick University for a moving commemoration of the life of Peter Horbury, described by someone eloquent as “the quiet king of car design”. In a long career, Horbury had a finger in many design pies, but he will always be best remembered for his reinvention of Volvo over a dozen magic years from 1992, which still guides the brand today. It was fascinating to see who attended. His family had already held a similar event in the US, but people arrived for this from all over Europe – as well as from China, where Horbury was working when he died. It was sad, but there was amusement, too, because everyone had a Horbury story. As his…

The electric crossover market is a bit like choosing a West End musical: there are plenty of all-singing, all-dancing options fighting for your attention. And now entering stage left is the all-new second-generation Hyundai Kona Electric, which is aiming to steal the limelight in the increasingly crowded C-segment theatre. For the second generation of its popular crossover, Hyundai developed the electric version first and the petrol and hybrid ones afterwards. Focusing on the EV makes sense, because it accounted for 40% of European sales of the outgoing Kona, and that’s expected to rise to 60% for the new one. The biggest difference compared with its predecessor is size: it’s 145mm longer than before, making it closer in size to the closely related and hugely popular Kia Niro EV. You really…

The Citroën C4 wasn’t one of the very first family hatchbacks to go electric – and we should probably be glad that it wasn’t. An electric powertrain would have been quirky enough, so would there have been room left over for Citroën to do its habitual quirky thing of baking in a bit of alternative design appeal and left-field joie de vivre? As it was, when the ë-C4 arrived in 2020, by which time the affordable EV segment was already established, it could plough its own furrow. Now it’s making that furrow a little wider. After incremental upgrades to its mechanical and equipment specifications over the past few years, it has just received a proper facelift (albeit a minor one). It has been made marginally more aerodynamic and efficient, extending…

Anyone who has pelted across Europe in a motor vehicle knows the strange euphoria that can bubble up inside you. Contributing factors include: exquisite song selection, sustained high speeds, unending mileage to devour (that is, not purposely hitting an empty autobahn for fun), hours of solitude, nocturnal activity, and four seasons in a day. But the one ingredient you simply must have is a car that feels like it has your back: an unflagging companion in which to make what we all like to call ‘good progress’. Your trusty old diesel Passat is therefore no impediment to euphoria. Mainly, though, it’s the long-legged, lion-hearted GTs that really do the business in this sense. A sylph-like Aston on its third tank of the day; the grime-encrusted M5 holding 140mph as if…

Louise Goodman doesn’t do small talk. Well, she does, just not at British Touring Car Championship races. ITV’s pit lane reporter and grid walker doesn’t stop roving on a hectic three-round race day, when she’s at the heart of the marathon six-hour-plus live broadcasts. “It’s full-on,” she says. “I’m always absolutely drained on a Monday, because at no point on a Sunday do I get to sit down and switch off. If you’ve seen me in a paddock and said hello, I’ve probably walked straight past you, because I’ve always got my earphones in, listening in to what’s happening. People must think I’m rude!” In reality, Goodman is quite the opposite. She’s a hugely popular figure in the BTCC, even when she’s sticking a microphone up to drivers’ helmets as…

MILEAGE 4203 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Audi’s everyman sports car is bowing out after 25 years and the five-pot is on borrowed time. Let’s celebrate both It’s to Audi’s credit that the lineage of the TT has remained so clear across its three generations. Nothing will ever top the purity and simplicity of the original, created in a different and simpler era of legislative requirements. Yet as the coupé prepares to bow out after 25 years of service, it does so having stayed clear and consistent in its size, style and shape. Such was obvious as I took our TT RS home to Norfolk and parked it alongside my mum’s original TT. I was expecting the new car to dwarf her one, but the two seemed to have remarkably similar…

FIRST DRIVE Fiat 600 Italian brand’s new electric crossover shares much with the excellent Jeep Avenger. We put it to the test FEATURE Life with a BMW 320i Andrew Frankel reckons he might have found his dream car FEATURE The Quattro reborn We ride in E-Legend’s EL1 electric supercoupé, inspired by Audi’s ’80s icon EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Subaru Outback Latest generation of estate designed especially for life in the countryside DRIVEN Ferrari Roma Spider Maranello’s first new soft-top in a decade: has it been worth the wait? SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p20…

Heads of state and other ‘Very Important People’ have long required decent protection when travelling around, occasionally with good reason. World War I might not have happened had the Austrian emperor’s nephew had a sturdier machine than an open-top Gräf & Stift when visiting Sarajevo in 1914. Today, these seven armoured limos are among the finest you’ll find. BMW i7 Protection This new VIP i7 features an armoured steel body, which strengthens the doors, underbody and roof. BMW says it offers “maximum protection” against explosives, bullets, drone attacks and hand grenades. In addition, it features protective glass rated at VPAM VR 10 – the highest level for civilian protection vehicles. Specifically developed PAX 20in light-alloy wheels are teamed with a run-flat ring to allow driving at up to 50mph when…