Innholdsfortegnelse for November 15, 2023 i Autocar

Mini is taking renewed aim at the performance SUV ranks with its new and larger John Cooper Works Countryman. Set for UK sale in 2024, it receives an updated version of parent company BMW’s turbocharged 2.0-litre fourcylinder petrol engine, which sends a total of 296bhp and 295lb ft to both axles through an eight-speed automatic. Those figures are slight decreases on its predecessor’s but identical to the Cupra Ateca and Volkswagen T-Roc R, as well as the new BMW X2 M35i to which it is closely related. Mini claims a 0-62mph time of 5.4sec – making this hot new petrol option slightly quicker off the mark than the electric Countryman – and a top speed of 155mph. To be built alongside other Countryman and X2 variants in Leipzig, Germany, the…

USED ELECTRIC CAR sales doubled in the third quarter of 2023 to give them a record share of the UK’s used car market, which grew overall for the third quarter in a row. In the three months from July to September, the share of EVs on the used market rose from 1.0% to 1.8% year on year, as their total sales rose by 99.9% to 34,021. This record market share, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, was as a result of an increase in EV supply and an easing of the semiconductor shortage, which has boosted sales of new cars and in turn fed the used market. The used market as a whole grew by 5.5% in the third quarter, with 51,893 more transactions than in the…

BATTERY TECHNOLOGY is the headline-grabber today, but work on that other essential part of an EV driveline, the electric motor, continues too. Renault, together with supplier Valeo, will bring in its third-generation motor, called E7A, at the end of 2027. Renault’s motors differ from most in that they are ‘externally excited’. Rather than using powerful permanent magnets in the revolving rotor, these motors use electromagnetic coils. The advantage is doing away with the use of rare-earth materials, along with the sustainability and reliance on countries that supply them. The disadvantage is that they are more difficult to control and to extract power from. The E7A will be 30% more compact than the motors used in the Mégane E-Tech and Scenic E-Tech today. Dispensing with rareearth magnets is claimed to give…

HYUNDAI HAS JOINED Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Stellantis – the parent of 14 brands – in shunning next year’s Geneva motor show. The Korean firm is one of several that was due to star at Geneva in 2020 before it was cancelled at the last minute due to the spread of Covid. The show hasn’t been held in the three years since then. The Renault Group has confirmed its attendance, however, and show bosses have said they are in talks with a dozen Chinese car makers.…

“We may blame car firms, but the true sloths are us punters” MONDAY Like drawing cars? Want to know more about it? I do. The trouble is, once I’ve drawn the simple shape in my head, I’ve no idea how to proceed. That’s why I’m so interested in an online course called Learn to Sketch with Frank, recently launched by Frank Stephenson, the eminent designer of Mini, Ferrari and McLaren fame. He blames the too-rapid graduation by young designers to computer design aids for “a major decline” in the originality of the work he sees nowadays. He reckons great designs start with simple 2D sketches on paper and aims to take students to a point where they can credibly show what’s in their head in three dimensions. The course consists…

Electrification has turned everything on its head. You know how you can describe any hatchback to a less carsavvy acquaintance as like the Volkswagen Golf but, say, bigger or posher? Well, here’s the new Volkswagen ID 7, and how might one describe it? It’s like the Tesla Model 3 but from Volkswagen, in the same way that the Hyundai Ioniq 6 and Polestar 2 are like the Model 3 but from Hyundai and a new brand that’s Volvo but not. At least the ID 7 recipe is fairly simple. It’s a big five-door hatch based on the Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform. Think ID 4 but more saloony. It’s rather more than the same old bones in a more aerodynamic body, because it introduces a couple of major improvements. Although it…

My friend Simon Scott-Russell is an independent Lotus service specialist so it isn’t unusual for him to text me a picture of an Elise, or even an old bike or car under restoration (imagine my swooning when a Triumph Acclaim recently pinged) – or his Labrador. But the caption beneath a picture of a cute Series 1 Elise he sent caught my eye. “I would like you to use my S1 Cat C for a few months as it only did 30 miles last year. And I need the space,” it said. I don’t have any indoor space either, and I also have two classic cars and a project motorbike that between them didn’t go much more than 30 miles last year, so another classic car was honestly the last…

Credit to the Ares design team: the S1 looks stunning up close. The standard C8-generation Corvette’s bulky dimensions and lumpy lines have been transformed by curvaceous carbonfibre draped skilfully over the same ‘hard points’. Climbing in, under an appropriately theatrical butterfly-opening door, reveals the reason why: it is tiny inside. As a six-footer, I barely fit and have to drive with the seat in its lowest and most reclined position but with my head still pressing the roof. Although the seats have been retrimmed, they use the original Corvette frames, giving insufficient space under the dropped roofline. Ares is working on a much-needed lowering kit. There are plenty of carryover parts in the cabin, including the transmission controls, but much is new. This includes three display screens, high-quality leather and…

Zero stars My father’s Mercedes-Benz 350 GL is still at a dealership on a recall regarding the steering box and has been there since 5 April, with no information forthcoming from Mercedes UK or the dealership. My father is disabled and needs a mobility buggy and a crane to lift it into and out of his car. Therefore no courtesy car was suitable for him. Despite having contacted Mercedes UK’s customer service via email on three occasions and several telephone calls and visits to the dealership, we still have no idea when the car will be fixed. There are several cars still awaiting the same repair in the dealership’s car park. I wasn’t expecting this from Mercedes. Robyn Hood​ Brandon, Suffolk Mercedes said: “We were sorry to learn of the…

“A deeply rational, unemotional choice”: Autocar’s road test of the Toyota Auris hit the nail on the head. It is exactly that, and it’s a justifiable criticism of the model as a new car, but as a used one it’s a compliment. After all, who, faced with a sea of questionable, second-hand motors, wouldn’t prioritise being rational over emotional? True, you can be both and still come out on top, but for the rest of us, haunted by past indiscretions, a used, second-generation Auris looks like a safe haven. It was launched in 2013 in five-door hatch and Touring Sports estate forms. Toyota said the Volkswagen Golf Mk6 had been its benchmark when designing the new models. They’re certainly proving to be just as durable but otherwise the old Golf…

Unique small car from Mercedes-Benz EDMUND RUMPLER AMAZED all at the 1921 Berlin show, having applied aeronautical principles to a car to build the first streamliner, teardrop-shaped with the engine mounted just fore of the rear axle. So inspired was Hans Nibel, an engineer at Benz, that he bought a licence for the concept and made the first mid-engined race car. After many years of work, he translated these ideas into a new road car. Like Hans Ledwinka’s Tatras, the 130 had a backbone chassis, rather than a ladder frame, and its 1.3-litre boxer four hung over a coil-sprung swing axle (the front had leaf springs). The advantages of this layout were to be greater stability and ride comfort, at the cost of 65:35 rear-to-front weight distribution. So different was…

Aston Martin is on course for perhaps the busiest 12 months in its 110-year history, with replacements for the Vantage sports coupé and DBS grand tourer, the heavily updated DBX SUV and the new Valhalla supercar all due for launch. The British manufacturer used its most recent financial earnings report – in which it celebrated year-on-year rises in sales, revenue and profits – to hint at its plans for 2024, during which it will refresh its entire line-up and launch new models before it begins its transition to electric power in 2025. Company chairman Lawrence Stroll laid bare the importance of the reinvigorated line-up, saying: “Commencing deliveries of our next generation of sports cars is a major milestone, marking the beginning of a completely new line-up of front-engine sports cars…

SPECULATION IS BUILDING around the prospect of a new €25,000 (£21,750) entry-level Tesla model after CEO Elon Musk reportedly confirmed plans to build it at the firm’s Berlin factory. Reuters, citing an unnamed source, reported that Musk made the announcement during a visit to the German plant last week but stopped short of confirming when the affordable new model will arrive. Musk was in Germany after a high-profile visit to the UK, where he joined prime minister Rishi Sunak for a live-streamed conversation about the future of artificial intelligence, making headlines for suggesting the technology would one day “eliminate jobs”. His Berlin trip focused more specifically on the future of Tesla. In addition to thanking staff at the plant for their efforts in scaling up Model Y production, he allegedly…

INTERIOR DETAILS OF the new, third-generation Porsche Panamera have been revealed ahead of the luxury liftback’s full debut on 24 November. The Panamera borrows the ‘Driver Experience’ control concept introduced in its electric equivalent, the Taycan, meaning controls for driving are all grouped together, rather than tucked away behind different menus. It’s a similar layout to that in the current Panamera, but the largest visible differences between old and new are the screens: the new car will come with a 12.6in driver’s information display, a 12.3in infotainment touchscreen and an optional 10.9in secondary touchscreen that will allow the front passenger to set a lap timer or watch streamed videos from services including YouTube and TikTok. Porsche has also freed up space by changing the gear selector to a simple toggle…

Vauxhall is offering the biggest discounts of any car maker in the UK, with buyers able to negotiate an average saving of 17.5% off the list price of a new car when buying on a PCP finance deal. Discounts on new Vauxhalls, taken from dealer margins and manufacturer deposit contributions, have increased significantly to £5459 per car from an average discount of 8.2% (£2282 per car) this time last year, according to data from What Car?’s Target Price. Today, discounts as big as 23.7% – or £9278 – off the list price of a £40,140 Vauxhall Mokka Electric are achievable. The What Car? Target Price is what Autocar’s sibling brand considers to be a fair, achievable price for a new car, as determined by a team of mystery shoppers. Vauxhall’s…

As the shortage of replacement car parts continues, there are fears that it is fuelling car crime – and that dealers, garages and body shops could unwittingly buy stolen used parts online. JLR recently admitted that around 10,000 of its cars are awaiting replacement parts, and with the delays running into months, some frustrated customers have been rejecting their cars, so JLR has allowed dealers to use second-hand parts rather than new ones. A JLR spokesman told Autocar: “It’s JLR’s top priority to resolve the temporary parts delays some of our retailers are experiencing and minimise the impact to our clients. “The use of parts locally sourced by our retailers for replacement and repair is a long-established practice in exceptional circumstances, provided those parts are fit for purpose and meet…

The stakes are high this week as Formula 1 returns to Sin City for the first time since 1982. Back then, it was little more than a novelty act in Las Vegas, reduced to racing around the car park of the Caesars Palace casino. Few of the high-rollers in town paid much attention. It will be much harder to miss this time. VIVA LAS VEGAS If you thought Miami’s Grand Prix was glitzy, Las Vegas’s will raise or lower the bar, depending on your point of view. As Max Verstappen and others have said, the spectacle of the event rather than the quality of the race itself appears to matter most. But it’s hard not to be drawn in. Rather than a car park, the 17-turn, 3.853-mile street track includes…

It’s almost a decade since Ferrari introduced its last extra-special XX-series car, the La Ferraribased FXX-K. Between that, the original Enzo-based FXX, the 599XX and the Evo version of each, it is reckoned that Maranello has so far made (or, in some cases, remade) fewer than 100 XX cars in total, only for its wealthiest and most favoured customers. Lately, however, those favoured few have been distracted by other things. Ferrari’s Icona creations have been cars of more jewel-like, show car-level design appeal than the more brutally purposeful XXs, and with extra-special engineering. So why rekindle the old track-special lineage now? Isn’t it a backwards step? Well, it might have been, if that were really what Maranello were up to. The new SF90 XX is, to at least some extent,…

It might sound counterintuitive, but the idea of banning the sale of petrol- and diesel-engined cars might not have been credible without the influence of technology that has been developed in Formula 1 – and now the sport could also be key to preserving a future for combustion engines. F1 was an early adopter of hybrid powertrain technology, which it has continued to push the development of, and is now switching its focus to synthetic e-fuels in a bid to ensure that it can continue to use its much-cherished engines in the future. Marc ‘Elvis’ Priestley, a former McLaren F1 team mechanic who now works as a TV presenter and corporate coach, reckons that electrified road car technology would have developed at a much slower rate had F1 remained fossil…

I was delighted to read the letter from Rob Lightbody (25 October) speaking so enthusiastically about the variety of kei cars that he saw on a visit to Japan. I wholeheartedly agree with him and personally delight in driving my Autozam AZ-1 around the streets at every opportunity. It’s light, fun, frugal and most of all interesting. I haven’t yet found a parking spot that I couldn’t get it into and have learned over my period of ownership that I need to allow additional time on every journey to chat to people who have never seen one before. It really is an automotive joy. WIN Letter of the week wins this ValetPRO exterior protection and maintenance kit worth £48…

An owner’s view FERGUS O’LEARY “My Auris is a 1.8 VVT-h Excel, registered in 2014. It’s done 118,000 trouble-free miles, although I can’t say what the first 30,000 were like because, being the second owner, I didn’t know the car. I bought it on Toyota’s reputation and because it costs nothing to tax. Obviously, official economy figures have no legitimacy in the real world but it never returns less than 50mpg running around locally and we’ve seen as much as 70mpg on a long drive. Although it has a small electric-only range, I do find that at low speeds it runs on battery alone quite often, which helps boost economy.” Buyer beware… ENGINE Toyota’s annual hybrid service extends the battery warranty to 15 years. Toyota acknowledged problems with faulty 12V…

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…

THE FIRST RUNNING prototype of Aston Martin’s new mid-engined supercar, the Valhalla, will hit public roads by the end of 2023. The firm’s answer to the Ferrari SF90 Stradale mates a Mercedes-AMG 4.0-litre turbo V8 – complete with a flat-plane crank and a 7200rpm redline – to a pair of electric motors (one at each end) in a four-wheel-drive hybrid arrangement that gives a claimed 998bhp. Aston Martin believes a 0-62mph time of 2.5sec, a top speed of 217mph and a Nurbürgring lap time of 6min 30sec are all within reach. Built around a bespoke carbonfibre tub, the Valhalla will weigh around 1550kg dry, while Formula 1-inspired aero will give it 600kg of downforce at 150mph. Aston is continuing to take deposits ahead of deliveries starting in 2024, but it…

The next-generation Jeep Wrangler will go into production in 2028 with battery-electric and range-extender (REx) powertrains, in one of the most radical developments for the American off-roader since it was introduced in the 1980s. Documents published as part of Jeep parent company Stellantis’s latest agreement with the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) reveal the future of several of the firm’s US-built models, including the Wrangler. The current generation of Wrangler includes a plug-in hybrid model, the 4xe, but this isn’t available in the UK. Along with its Gladiator pick-up truck sibling, the Wrangler will receive upgraded plug-in hybrid powertrains in 2025 (it remains to be seen whether the technical changes being brought in will enable right-hand-drive production) before being phased out in 2028, the documents…

Just as the commercial fortunes of electric cars have started to improve, with sales increasing in September and the prices of used examples stabilising, a dark cloud has emerged in the shape of rapidly rising EV insurance premiums. As Autocar reported recently, the cost of insurance for all car types has increased over the past 12 months, due to factors including used car and spare parts price inflation, labour shortages, extended vehicle loan times, the rising numbers of personal injury claims and insurers’ falling investment returns. According to comparison provider Confused.com, the average premium across all car types has increased by 58% in the past 12 months, from £586 to a record £924. However, this masks higher premium increases for EVs, which in the same period shot up 72%, compared…

THERE’S NO shortage of creative ideas from within car companies. Sometimes they see the light of day, but most are killed off by the calculations of accountants or predictions from marketing people. But if you are truly passionate about a project, a little creativity can mean you’ll be able to bypass the bean counters and get it in front of the real decision makers, who can see beyond the spreadsheets. This was the case at a German car maker. A designer had conceived a radical small coupé that had his colleagues excited but the marketing department told them there was no demand for this type of car. The designers weren’t going to take no for an answer so quietly had a small model made. They then ‘accidentally’ left it in…

Looking through the Autocar archive in aid of my Lotus Elise feature (p36), I read information about and tests of the 340R, the limited-run, extra-light, Elise-based roadster that Hethel made in 2000. It was warmly received by us, but we were mildly involved in its development, so it kind of had to be, even though we conceded it was “a very expensive exercise in minimalism”. I’m not sure it was more broadly loved (like, say, the conceptually simpler 2-Eleven of 2007), but I do think it was probably ahead of its time. Rare, trinket-like special editions of sports cars and supercars have become a staple way of keeping cash coming in for some niche makers. Anyway, that’s not what I want to talk about this time. What caught my eye…

Ask Mercedes-AMG’s new boss, Michael Schiebe, for his take on the new, second-generation GT and he will tell you it’s a transformative car that improves on the nine-year-old one that it replaces in every single way. He’s biased, of course, but his comments show the pressure on the new coupé to do more and to do it better than before. AMG is taking a whole new direction with its flagship model, targeting a wider and more diverse group of customers by pushing the frontengined supercar that we came to know and appreciate over the years deeper into traditional luxury grand tourer territory. Well, it’s in the name, after all. The move comes in response to feedback from owners of the 2014-2022 model. Schiebe says they sought greater long-distance and all-season…

The C-HR crossover is currently the fourth-best-selling Toyota, but the Japanese firm has far greater ambitions for this new, second-generation model. It brings an eye-catching redesign, along with what the car maker says is a renewed focus on driving dynamics, fuel economy and sustainability. It has “European customers at heart”, apparently, and Toyota is targeting annual European sales of 160,000, with between 16,000 and 18,000 of those in the UK. Our first impressions of the C-HR in 2.0-litre plug-in hybrid guise were positive, but the two ‘self-charging’ hybrid variants are the first to arrive here. One powertrain has a 1.8-litre petrol engine producing 138bhp and 136lb ft, and the other a 2.0-litre unit making 195bhp and 151lb ft. Both employ Toyota’s new, fifthgeneration hybrid technology. The 1.8-litre hybrid, which Toyota…

MODEL TESTED R Price £96,290 Power 296bhp Torque 251lb ft 0-60mph 4.2sec 30-70mph 3.5sec Fuel economy 34.5mpg CO2 emissions 155g/km 70-0mph 41.6m This week’s road test subject, the Alpine A110 R, represents a bigger leap for its manufacturer, and a more significant departure for the A110 sports car, than many might realise. Track-day versions of particular sports cars do great business for some of Alpine’s rivals, of course, but the A110 isn’t just any mid-engined two-seater. Moreover, Alpine itself plays in a domestic market that would harshly penalise it for simply dropping a bigger or more powerful engine into a special derivative, and taking the easy route to boosted performance. Nor would doing that align historically, in any case, with the company’s approach to car-making. Springing out of founder Jean Rédélé’s…

FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT It took Nissan 11 years to give us its second EV. Was it worth the wait? James Hunt, Alan Jones, Gilles Villeneuve… and me. What do we have in common? You guessed it. We’ve all conquered Spain’s Jarama racing circuit. Admittedly, when I did it, I was behind the wheel of a Nissan Ariya complete with crumple zones, driving aids, airbags and air-con, not an old Formula 1 monster, but still: nailed it. You see, I went to the original launch of the Ariya in early 2022. As far as driving experiences go, Jarama in an electric SUV was a weird one. I could certainly suss out the fundamentals of the car, as well as what it was like probably-not-quite-on-the-limit-but-fairly-close-to-it (it’s about what you…

TWIN TEST Ferrari Purosangue vs Aston Martin DBX The two famous sports car firms are now competing in the most unlikely of arenas: super-SUVs. We pit them against each other DRIVEN McLaren 750S 720S best-seller has been reworked to make it both lighter and more powerful INSIGHT Taking out the trash Lunaz is best known for electrifying classic cars, but its primary business is dustcarts EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Porsche 911 GT3 RS New hardcore variant makes more downforce than the GT3 Cup racer FIRST DRIVE Peugeot e-208 Electric version of popular supermini gains more power and bigger battery SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p18…

aining a foothold in the luxury car class is truly a G Herculean task. Start-ups and mainstream marques face an uphill battle and even brands normally associated with opulence can be caught off-guard by change. Those that get it right reap rewards including some of the largest margins in the industry; those that don’t are consigned to the attic after a few short years of disappointment. Let’s climb up the ladder and have a poke around. Tatra T700 1995 Tatra’s final car, the T700, was the first it developed after the Iron Curtain fell. Its wind-cheating, rear-engined saloons had long served the Czechoslovakian government, meaning they couldn’t lean too far into decadence, but that changed after it landed in the free market and suddenly found itself going up against Mercedes-Benz.…