Innholdsfortegnelse for November 1, 2023 i Autocar

THE HONDA PRELUDE has returned as an electrified sports coupé intended to demonstrate the brand’s commitment to the “joy of driving” during the transition to electric cars. Unveiled in concept form at the Tokyo motor show, the new Prelude is intended to “embody Honda’s unalterable sports mindset”, according to the firm’s president and CEO. “The Prelude concept is a speciality sports model that will offer an exhilarating experience that makes you want to keep going forever,” Toshihiro Mibe said. Honda didn’t reveal any technical details about the Prelude or a release date, stating only that “we’re diligently progressing with development”, while Mibe urged the public to “keep your expectations high”. The Prelude has been a mainstay of Honda’s line-up since 1978, when it arrived as a coupé sibling to the…

Nissan has offered the first look at the nextgeneration GT-R with the launch of the new Hyper Force concept at the returning Tokyo motor show. The dramatic concept car is billed by Nissan as its “vision for a next-generation all-electric high-performance supercar” and is one of five launched by the brand under the ‘Hyper’ banner at Tokyo as it looks to preview its next generation of electric cars. Tantalisingly, the Hyper Force confirms Nissan’s intention that the GT-R will have a place in its future lineup. The firm plans to offer a full range of models from small EVs to performance cars, in a bid to give customers the same choice as in the ICE era, and Autocar understands the new supercar could go on sale by the end of…

THERE’S PLENTY OF talk about how future cars will be powered and what they will be powered by, but what they will be made of rarely makes the news. That question is just as important, because it has a major part to play in wholelife CO2 emissions, through both the carbon footprint of the materials and the weight of the car during use. The major players on the structural side are steel, aluminium and carbonfibre composites. Each has pros and cons, but all three continually evolve and become greener. Using electric-arc blast furnaces and green hydrogen instead of coke (coal) to extract the iron that’s used to make steel from ore is making steel more sustainable, and it’s infinitely recyclable. World Auto Steel, the automotive arm of the World Steel…

COST-CUTTERS are the superstars in any car company. Haggling with suppliers, removing a component or streamlining a process to save half a euro all adds up when you’re making 500,000 cars a year. This is normally bad news for car buyers, though. They might excitedly take delivery of a new car only to find the facelifted model has a spare key minus a flip blade, contains less sound-deadening or is missing air vents for the rear passengers. But occasionally a bright spark finds a way of making a car better while saving money. At one company, this involved swapping a mundane hatchback’s steering rack for the one used on the sportier models, giving economies of scale. At the same time, a new gearbox was bought in: it was cheaper yet…

The first car I thought of when I saw the new Mazda Iconic SP concept (on p4) was, well, itself, obviously. But the next one, almost immediately, was the Yamaha OX99-11, another sports car from Japan that was studio-photographed in red and featured the dreamiest kinds of curves. It had a 3.5-litre V12 engine, which Yamaha supplied to Jordan for its 1992 Formula 1 race car, and a carbonfibre monocoque to go around it, with a central driving position and space for a passenger to sit behind. It was F1 technology for the road a few years before the Ferrari F50 and way before the Mercedes-AMG One (see our 13 May 1992 issue if you want more details). Alas, though, they couldn’t get it to work. Shame. I’d never wanted…

The UK is driving BMW’s transition to battery power. While the firm’s global sales mix will be only 15% fully electric by volume this year, our market will be at 25%, and while BMW’s target is for 50% of its global sales to be of EVs by 2030, we’re on course to be at 80%. Ironically enough, while the first ever electric 5 Series variant, the i5 – which has now arrived here – will be critical to maintaining the momentum, it might not be BMW’s real breakthrough electric moment. The firm’s Neue Klasse EVs (an electric 3 Series is set to be among them) are still at least two years away, but when they do reach market, they’re set to bring some transformative gains on battery energy density, motor…

As the market for EVs develops, so the amount of money you need to spend in order to unlock some really enticing cars is gradually decreasing. It’s happening slowly but just as the industry bosses said it would – and, very creditably indeed, apparently in spite of wider inflationary trends. For example, after launching in the UK in 2019, the Tesla Model 3 has now finally ducked under the £40,000 barrier – just. And if you can extend your budget another 20% from there, you can now choose from plenty of tempting executive saloons, even from ‘legacy’ brands. Look to BMW, where the arrival of the entry-level i4, the eDrive35, has put the green-plated 4 Series Gran Coupé within reach for a sub-£50,000 price – where it’s up against Fords,…

Welcome to the 35th running of our annual Britain’s Best Driver’s Car contest, which, as you may know, we refer to by its Autocar office codename of Handling Day. Because that’s how it started out: a day of testing cars’ handling on a circuit. The format has since been honed into one that most accurately guides us towards a great driver’s car: three days of driving, one spent on great roads and two at a great race track. It gives us the time and the space to get to know the cars inside and out and explore their limit handling. A number of places will do it, but Wales and Anglesey tend to do it best, so we’re back. It’s worth remembering, too, that these are the 10 best sports…

There’s a moment around two-thirds of the way through our annual festival of driving fun when the soundscape changes temporarily. For an hour or so, the backdrop of tortured tyres and extended engines is suspended and replaced by the sound of tapping keyboards, the sucking of teeth and an occasional exasperated sigh. Listen carefully and you can even hear the whirring of cerebral cogs as our judging panel, to borrow a phrase from Loyd Grossman-era Masterchef (there’s a cultural reference you weren’t expecting) ‘deliberate, ruminate and cogitate’ on the scoring of our performance car paragons. For some contenders, the totting-up of points is easy: their strengths and weaknesses are crystal clear from the moment the wheels first turn. For others, the process is more protracted, their personalities and peculiarities taking…

As you will have read (p30), Autocar has now gathered each and every year’s finest driver’s cars 35 times. A big chunk of the magic over the years has been the sheer variety of machinery that we’ve pedalled around the UK’s most testing roads and circuits. You might think that the finest performance exotica of the past 35 years are out of your price bracket, but there is some salvation. Thanks to the forces of time and depreciation, plus the aforementioned diversity of machinery, there are plenty of fantastic yet properly attainable options out there. So read on for our guide to the best-handling bargains we’ve driven over the past three and a half decades. CHEAP AS CHIPS Mazda MX-5 Winner, 2003 Once every generation, a sensibly priced sports car…

MILEAGE 6586 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see how well Alfa’s new PHEV small SUV balances rationality and emotion We all know that over the past couple of decades, it has been the German premium brands that have set the benchmark for high-quality interiors, good user experience and so on. Of course, no brand is perfect, but they’re all up there. Jaguar Land Rover eventually caught up and now makes some very appealing cabins with good functionality to match. What about the Italians? Well, in our recent battle of the Range Rover Velar and new Maserati Grecale (4 October), it was the latter that emerged victorious, if only just, thanks in part to its interior. Maserati is owned by Stellantis, as is Alfa Romeo, the maker of our Tonale. So…

Jeff Griffey finds the lane-keeping assistance system on his Mercedes-Benz is a nightmare (18 October). He should have bought a Kia. My Kia EV6’s advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) work in an unobtrusive manner with hardly any cries of wolf. The lane-keeping generally works as it should, but it’s easy to turn off via a button on the steering wheel and stays off. I have it so that it warns me only. The automatic emergency braking has never slammed on the brakes in 18 months. It also beeps if the queuing vehicle in front moves off, which is a useful feature. Occasionally the system gets confused if the road splits into a Y and a vehicle is parked but I’m going right, but it only beeps. It sometimes warns me to…

An owner’s view CRAIG TAYLOR “We’ve owned our 2012 C-Max 1.6 Ecoboost Zetec for seven years. My wife drives it. She had a Focus before, but the C-Max’s extra space suited our two children better. It has been 100% reliable, but that’s because we look after it. It’s serviced every year and I recently had the cambelt changed. It does around 40mpg, which is reasonable enough.” Buyer beware… ENGINE On the 1.0-litre and 1.6-litre Ecoboost engines, check for coolant leaks and, by referring to workshop invoices, ensure the engine oil is the correct grade. Then check with Ford if it has been the subject of a dealer replacement or upgrade. As for diesels, the 1.6 TDCi suffers injector problems and all of them are prone to diesel particulate filter blockages.…

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…

Mazda has revealed a radical vision of the MX-5’s future, wowing the Tokyo motor show with a sleek, rotary-electric sports car concept called the Iconic SP. The concept – previewed digitally a few months ago and presented as the centrepiece of a celebration of the MX-5 on Mazda’s show stand – uses a powertrain developed from that of the new MX-30 R-EV range-extender crossover. The Iconic SP uses a twinrotor rotary petrol engine (the MX-30’s is a single-rotor) as a generator to charge a battery on the move, rather than as an alternative means of driving the wheels itself. Mazda claims the Iconic SP has 370bhp at its disposal – around double the output of today’s most powerful MX-5. Tipping the scales at 1450kg (roughly on a par with the…

TOYOTA HAS PREVIEWED its second electric SUV with the FT-3e, a showcase of its ambition to “go beyond providing physical transportation tools”. Designed with assistance from artificial intelligence to be “as simple as possible”, it gives a comprehensive overview of how Toyota’s next-generation EVs will be marked out from its current line-up of cars – technologically, stylistically and architecturally. The FT-3e is 4860mm long, 1955mm wide and 1595mm tall, with a long wheelbase of 3000mm that highlights the extreme flexibility of the firm’s next-generation EV architecture, which is also used by the comparatively tiny FT-Se (see left). While this platform’s low centre of gravity is of inherent benefit to sports cars such as the FT-Se, its primary benefit for large SUVs like this will be the capacious interiors that it…

THE NEW SPORT Mobility concept is a vision of an offroad sports EV inspired by Subaru’s rally racers. It doesn’t take obvious styling influence from any Subaru past or present, but in its conception as a compact, sporting 4x4 with driver enjoyment as its priority, it’s a spiritual successor to the likes of the 1990s Impreza WRX. No images of the interior have been released, but Subaru suggests the driver – in a low, central seat – would have control of “all four wheels at will”, hinting at a quad-motor powertrain with torque vectoring technology for optimum agility.…

Mercedes-Benz has confirmed plans to launch an upgraded version of the internalcombustion-engined G-Class alongside the long-awaited pure-electric EQG in 2024. The upgraded off-roader, revealed here undergoing testing in prototype form ahead of a planned unveiling in the middle of next year, will receive a number of key developments, including a new semi-active suspension similar to that seen on the Mercedes SL and GT sports coupés. The ‘kinetic’ suspension set-up, which will be offered as an option on the V8-engined AMG G63, does away with traditional anti-roll bars and replaces them with a system that uses interconnected electrohydraulic flow valves that allow continuously variable rebound and compression damping. This alters damping force from side to side and from front to rear depending on road speed, steering wheel angle, body movement, driving…

BYD’s UK launch plan has entered a key phase with the opening of a flagship showroom in the heart of Mayfair – the likes of which are usually reserved for the most prestigious brands around. The Chinese EV specialist’s new flagship site is a former JLR boutique on Berkeley Street. A Rolls-Royce dealer is opposite, there are Ferrari and Bentley showrooms on the same road and McLaren, Aston Martin and Porsche are among the other luxury brands with flagship retail spaces nearby. BYD Mayfair is operated by Stratstone, itself owned by Pendragon – one of the UK’s largest car retail groups, with more than 160 dealerships. Asked how newcomer BYD – which sells three models in the UK, priced between around £26,000 and £49,000 – merits a presence in such…

MONDAY Motor shows are back, and they’re most welcome. Elsewhere in this issue, you’ll read about our reporters’ exploits at last week’s illnamed but still fascinating Tokyo Mobility Show, but the big deal for us (well, for me, anyway) is confirmation that the Geneva salon, the world’s most-missed car show, will be back next year, from 26 February. Best of all, Renault chief Luca de Meo has already confirmed that his group’s cars will be there. It’s typical: he’s one of the most time-poor figures in the car world yet still seems to enjoy meeting people and talking cars. Less praiseworthy and more mean-spirited is the attitude of the Germans (Mercedes-Benz, BMW and the Volkswagen Group), who, straight after de Meo, announced rather haughtily that they wouldn’t be there. Shame.…

The roll-out of the facelifted Porsche Cayenne is a work in progress. Initial models were launched in September and included the updated E-Hybrid. Now Porsche is extending the electrification of its upmarket SUV with two even more powerful petrol-electric plug-in hybrids: the S E-Hybrid and Turbo E-Hybrid. It’s the latter, the performance flagship of the refreshed Cayenne line-up, that we’re driving here. Developed as a successor to the Turbo S E-Hybrid, it’s being sold in both conventional SUV and coupé-SUV bodystyles, offering the promise of supercar-crushing performance and a vastly improved electric-only range. There’s also an optional GT package, which introduces a series of lightweight components from the Turbo GT (a model no longer sold in the UK) for even sharper dynamic ability, although only in combination with the more…

One last shuffle of the deck: that’s what this 2024-modelyear version of the Jaguar XF looks like, with production rumoured to be winding up as soon as next summer. The XF gets some new black exterior trim (although you can still have the grille and window trim in chrome for no extra cost). On the inside, there’s a smattering of extra standard equipment: heated mirrors, better seats and digital instruments. And the four-wheel-drive D200 has been dropped, so the range-topping P300 is now the only four-wheel-drive XF offered. What hasn’t changed (very much, at least) is the price. With the XF’s last big revision in 2021, JLR gave the traditional saloon and estate an eye-catching haircut; and now it has added only about £1000 to each. So a top-of-the-line D200…

A car park somewhere in Snowdonia. We’ve ridden our luck in this part of the world at this time of year for many a year, but now the weather gods appear to be disinclined to indulge us on this occasion. The forecast? Dry, damp and wet on the road today, wetter than wet on the track tomorrow. The police are less of a concern: they’re aware we’re here because we’ve told them, so their knowing that the bunch of people driving fast cars on the road might actually have some idea of what they’re doing makes a visit less and not more likely. I always try not to find out which cars are booked for the BBDC, or if told, I try equally hard to forget; it’s more fun seeing…

No Lamborghini has won this contest before, despite some strong showings (particularly in recent times) by some of the more flamboyant, track-focused and typically rear-drive late variants of the Huracán. But none of those has ever impressed us quite as much as the slightly eccentric Sterrato. It is nothing like those, nor any previous Lamborghini, and is all the better for it. “I can’t remember when or even if I’ve ever enjoyed a Lamborghini more,” said Frankel. “Possibly the best Lamborghini I’ve ever driven,” said Disdale, and Lane declared it an “unexpected delight”. Verpraet almost kicked himself: “Now I have a vote, I thought I’d knock down the supercars a bit because they’re unusable on the road. And what do I end up putting first?” Everyone loved the Sterrato. That…

Whether it takes the form of a big, heavy bruiser or a light, nimble roadster, what makes a great driver’s car is a conglomeration of characteristics that road testers have been doing their best to unravel since Autocar first began writing reviews a century ago. Although decent performance has an important part to play, it isn’t all about power and acceleration but also feedback, responsiveness, agility, ride quality, body control, grip, balance, poise and driving position – all those things that engage a driver and make them feel comfortable at the same time. Now we’re seeing the biggest technology changes in the shortest time in the 130-odd years since the first Benz turned a wheel. So what will happen to the driver’s car? Will there be any fun to be…

MODEL TESTED ADVANCE • Price £47,195 • Power 201bhp • Torque 229lb ft • 0-60mph 8.6sec • 30-70mph 6.9sec • Economy 3.4mpkWh • Max DC charging speed 78kW • 70-0mph 73.1m Many of the world’s foremost car makers have been determined to make a splash with their first proper electric model to market – not necessarily in terms of sales volume or outright profit but certainly when it comes to image and brand-building. This approach has resulted in some compelling cars. Just consider BMW (with the before-its-time i3), Porsche (the Taycan) and even Rolls-Royce (the Spectre). Honda was no different. In 2020, it launched the E – a concept-esque supermini inspired by the firm’s kei cars. The E had interior appeal in spades and a tiny turning circle, and it…

“My early impression is that it’s going to be a comfy, easy to car to live with” FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out if Honda’s new SUV can take on the Nissan Qashqai while maintaining the charms of the Civic it’s based on The Honda ZR-V is an entirely new car that I almost can’t believe is actually entirely new. It’s basically a jacked-up and reworked SUV version of the Honda Civic, almost perfectly sized to take on the likes of the Nissan Qashqai in one of the biggest market segments going. Really, Honda, how have you only just got round to making this? To be fair, Honda has sort of done this before: the long-running CR-V is built on the same platform as the Civic. But…

MILEAGE 5855 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Audi’s everyman sports car is bowing out after 25 years and its five-pot is on borrowed time. Let’s celebrate both Have you ever arrived at a wedding where you don’t know anybody, feeling quite nervous? I have the solution: make sure you rock up in a lairy, luminescent sports car at the same time as the groom’s entire entourage, forget to take the car out of Sport mode so it’s as loud as possible and then slow to 0.8mph to negotiate the chasmic potholes littering the driveway of the venue. Not bad, actually, as ice-breakers go. I was never alone for more than a minute at the evening reception before someone would approach to ask whether it was my Audi that had “interrupted the…

DRIVEN Volvo EX30 The Swedish firm continues its electric transformation with a new entry-level crossover. Is it any good? INSIGHT Tokyo motor show As Japan’s biggest motor show returns, we check the state of its car industry DRIVEN Audi Q8 We test revamped version of flagship SUV, along with its sporty SQ8 sibling EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Smart #1 Has electric SUV overcome teething issues to make good on its promise? USED GUIDE Mercedes-Benz GL Why Mercedes’ first road-focused large SUV is now a bargain buy SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p66…

Germany has been producing engines since the dawn of motoring and, after nearly 140 years, its portfolio has developed into something quite remarkable. It includes simple but effective motors for everyday transport, gigantic units of awesome power and everything in between. Restricting this list to just seven engines means many worthy contenders haven’t made the cut, so apologies in advance. Auto Union V16 1934 All of the frighteningly fast grand prix and record cars built by Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union from 1934 to 1939 had formidable engines and enabled the two German companies to dominate racing in the period. But the Auto Union V16 engine was perhaps the most glorious of them all. Designed by Porsche, it wasn’t a high-revving unit – no version was ever taken as far as…

Toyota’s striking FT-Se concept previews the first electric sports car from the firm’s Gazoo Racing performance division, with the new EV taking shape as a spiritual successor to the legendary MR2. Presenting the concept in Tokyo, Toyota CEO Koji Sato vowed the eventual production version would be small, low, light and fun, suggesting its driving characteristics will feel unlike those of anything else on the road today. A development of the unnamed MR2-sized concept that Toyota revealed in late 2021, the FT-Se prioritises “handling stability and aerodynamic performance”. A key facilitator of these objectives will be the firm’s new-era modular architecture and energy-dense battery technology. Shared with the FT-3e SUV concept (see right) and the Lexus LF-ZC and LF-ZL concepts (see overleaf) that were also unveiled at the Tokyo show,…

Lexus has previewed its next generation of EVs, which its said will offer ranges in excess of 600 miles and fully customisable driving dynamics, with a pair of bold concept models. On display at the Tokyo motor show, the LF-ZC previews a BMW i4-rivalling electric saloon that’s set to arrive in production form in 2026, while the LF-ZL takes the form of a large SUV that will crown the Japanese firm’s future electric range. The LF name, standing for ‘Lexus Future’, has been used for most of the firm’s concepts, suggesting the production versions could take the ZC and ZL names. Both models sit on a new next-generation modular EV architecture developed by Lexus parent firm Toyota. This structure is designed to allow for a wide range of different vehicle…

Used electric vehicle prices bottomed out in September and October and even outperformed those of petrol and diesel cars, new data has shown. And budget EVs such as the Renault Zoe and Nissan Leaf actually rose in value over the past two months, according to figures from market analyst Cap HPI. This data gives car makers signs of hope after used EV values fell a cumulative 44% in the 12 months to the end of August as used buyers baulked at the high cost of buying an EV. The whole industry has been watching nervously for signs of health in the used EV market, with many worried that legislative pushes and company-car incentives weren’t being matched by consumer pull. Finally, after a grim year, a rosier picture is emerging, albeit…

A SON OF famed racing and automotive engineer Tom Walkinshaw has set up a new TWR firm that’s intended to serve as a “world-class constructor of bespoke highperformance automobiles”. Launched in Berkshire by Fergus Walkinshaw, the new TWR pledges to remain true to the values and principles of the original firm, which is best known for its contribution to the Jaguar XJ220 project and developing the Group C racers that won Jaguar several World Sports Car Championships. The new TWR is working on a new project already and has promised to share details soon. Walkinshaw promised TWR projects would “preserve and protect the analogue driving experience in a world where modern performance cars are governed by electronics”. He has built a technical team from across the performance and motorsport engineering…

THE RENAULT GROUP is the first car maker to commit to attending the revived Geneva motor show in 2024. To run from 26 February to 3 March, the first Swiss salon in five years will host showcases from Renault, Dacia, Alpine and the nascent Mobilize mobility brand. None has yet confirmed plans to reveal a new car at the show, but the French company said it’s “eager to ensure that these shows are a real celebration and contribute to the reputation of the European automotive industry”. Motor shows continue to play an important role in Renault’s marketing strategy: it revealed the Mégane E-Tech Electric at Munich in 2021, the 4Ever Trophy concept at Paris in 2022 and the reborn Scenic at Munich in September.…

I took yet another trip to Silverstone for a final blast of historic racing in 2023, and my reward was an autumnal feast without one glimpse of that blight of modern motorsport: the dull safety-car interruption. How refreshing. Motor Racing Legends (MRL) is one of the UK’s finest race promoters, and in alliance with Motorsport Vision Racing (MSVR), it hosted its season finale on the full 3.66-mile Grand Prix circuit. Accessing the paddock via the bridge linking the new hotel and the Wing complex was novel and offered a fine view of Hamilton Straight. I couldn’t help but reflect: I made my first trip to Silverstone aged six to watch the 1981 British Grand Prix, sitting with my dad at Club Corner, which was then a near-flat right-hander at the…

We should start here by pointing out that you can’t buy the Nio EL6 in the UK. Not yet, anyway. However, Nio has already started selling cars in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden and a UK offensive is highly likely before the end of 2024, with this 4.85-metre-long family SUV set to be one of the Chinese EV specialist’s launch models. It’s hard not to draw comparisons between the EL6 and the supersmooth, computer-mouse styling that Tesla has made its own, although there’s more than a hint of Hyundai at the front. Sleek and inoffensive yet generic just about sums it up, although that camera housing above the windscreen is distinctive, if perhaps not in a flattering way. Taxi, anyone? The EL6 sits on Nio’s new NT2.0 platform…

The Renault Espace was last seen in UK showrooms back in 2012, before Renault removed it as part of a brutal cull of unprofitable models, along with the Laguna, Modus and Wind. Yet abroad it has lived on, and 40 years after the launch of the original Espace (which launched the MPV class at the same time), there’s now an all-new, sixth-generation model. It’s a follow-up to the Austral and effectively an extended (by 21cm) version of that family crossover; think of it as you do the Nissan X-Trail to the Nissan Qashqai. The new Espace is some 140mm shorter than its predecessor (and an impressive 215kg lighter), yet it actually has more interior space, thanks to better packaging. It’s available with five or seven seats and there’s excellent flexibility…

When the pit-lane light turns green at 9am on day two, we’re not exactly queueing up to pedal the hardcore stuff. At Anglesey Circuit the rain is landing sideways. From the top of a wind-lashed control tower, you can make out the stream that has formed across this tomb-cold track on the steep braking zone into Rocket In, where properly fast cars will nudge 140mph. If ever there was a day to ease oneself into tricky conditions with a docile hot hatchback or an unflustered, torque-heavy super-saloon, such as the Audi RS7, then it is today. It’s therefore a genuine surprise – and an unexpected delight – to detect only moments later a certain V10 ripping up to its 8500rpm red line as it fizzes by the pit wall. It’s…

In normal circumstances, we would set lap times for every BBDC contestant and be able to reveal insightful snippets of data, such as which car was fastest at the apex of Anglesey Circuit’s fearsome Church corner, or which car generated the greatest longitudinal g under braking. Unfortunately, this year the weather put paid to any such efforts, and not simply because it was wet (this alone has never stopped us). The problem was the inconsistency of the weather. Downpours would be followed by squalls and then, maybe for half an hour or so, no rain at all. And so it went on. A level playing field was out of reach, but this didn’t prevent subjective observations, the more interesting of which we’ve outlined here. We did, however, record a solitary…

The fundamentals of Autocar’s BBDC event have never changed: we assemble a field as varied as possible of that year’s best driver’s cars and then decide which is the most fun. However, making the field varied is a more difficult exercise now than it was 34 years ago, because the bottom has fallen out of the performance car market. In 1989, the cheapest contender was the £9350 Renault 5 GT Turbo and the most expensive the £47,697 Ferrari 328 GTB. In 2023, the most affordable, the Honda Civic Type R, costs more than the Ferrari did back in the day. Even with inflation in mind, that’s a sobering statistic. We’ve also brought science and democracy to the process over the years. In 1989, there were no scores, no lap times,…

MILEAGE 11,130 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if this hybrid can strike the sweet spot between a car and a van I think it’s fair to say that I rack up the most longtermer miles at Autocar. This Corolla first graced the pages of this magazine only in June, yet I’ve already put a frankly ridiculous 11,000 miles on the clock. It’s rare for me to be taking any photos within two hours of home, and getting anywhere requires a trip down all sorts of A-and B-roads, with an obscene amount of motorway driving too. But you know what? I don’t think there’s anything on the fleet that I would rather do it in. This van takes the best bits of a number of cars on our fleet.…

Better late than never? Matt Prior complains about drivers not signalling before leaving a roundabout (Tester’s Notes, 18 October). We’re much luckier here in Surrey, where many drivers helpfully use their indicators to confirm that they are just completing such a manoeuvre. Neil Dunford Surrey Please indicate Matt Prior is spot on with his comments concerning the lack of signalling at roundabouts. However, it’s not just at roundabouts where this happens but also when overtaking and exiting left at junctions and slip roads. I don’t know if this is caused by lack of training, laziness or inconsideration, or maybe these drivers assume that all other road users are psychic! In any event, it’s yet another manifestation of the ‘me, me’ attitude that unfortunately seems increasingly to prevail today. Rob Barlow…

The MPV is back – at least on the used car market. SUVs do pretty much the same job in terms of moving a family around comfortably but are bulkier and more expensive, while many don’t possess the same thoughtful features. As a result, certainly at the beginning of this year, when prices were high across the board, the trade has been reporting particularly healthy demand and strong prices for MPVs. Among them are the two featured here: the second-generation Ford C-Max five-seater and its stretched, seven-seat relative, the Grand C-Max, both launched in 2010 and facelifted in 2015. They were based on the thencurrent third-generation Ford Focus so are good to drive. In fact, this magazine declared the C-Max the class leader for driver involvement. The Grand C-Max attracted…

IN THE LATE 1980s, Japan enjoyed a bubble economy. Asset and stock values soared and the middle class got rich. The automotive industry, its biggest by far, went wild, hitting annual production of 13.5 million in 1990 (5.8m up on its 2022 total). This created a combination of vast budgets and high demand for new technology – and goodness did the country’s manufacturers deliver. Let’s head back to the 1991 Tokyo motor show to see some weird and wonderful evidence. Honda at long last made its first ever concept cars to appear beside its new Civic and Prelude. The FS-X was a large, sporty, American-style saloon with a very efficient 3.5-litre V6. Its reception was universally enthusiastic – unlike for the EP-X, a small but bulky, tandem-seat, aluminium-bodied ‘commuter car’…