Innholdsfortegnelse for December 6, 2023 i Autocar

Toyota will launch five new electric cars in Europe within the next two years, including a small urban SUV and a range-topping luxury fastback. The new models will join a mid-size SUV-coupé based on last year’s Compact Crossover concept and will arrive as the firm accelerates the expansion of its electric car line-up in the run-up to 2026, when it will begin launching an all-new family of EVs. These new-era EVs will sit atop the modular architecture it revealed in October and feature next-generation batteries that dramatically boost range and efficiency. Beyond the Compact Crossover revealed last year and these two new cars, details remain undisclosed of the two other EVs Toyota will launch by 2026. However, the suggestion is that they will be SUVs in the vein of the…

FIGURING OUT THE millions of variables that any kind of automated function might face in its lifetime is a seemingly impossible task. That said, somebody or something has to do it, otherwise we would have none of advanced features on cars that we now take for granted, nor the features to come in the future that seem incredible now but we will one day also take for granted. One of those is the fully autonomous car, which will have to be capable of all the split-second decisions that a human driver has to make in situations that might occur only once in their driving lifetime. Most major manufacturers are working on solving this problem. Things we have now, like adaptive cruise control (ACC), put the scale of the task facing…

Whatever happened to ‘engineered like no other’? My colleague Steve Cropley last week asked this about Mercedes-Benz’s erstwhile advertising strapline, which was first mentioned in promotional copy in 1956 (with ‘…in the world’ on the end) and which routinely accompanied the company’s publicity until 1995. It was followed, if you remember, by ‘the best or nothing’, a more nothing than best phrase that still gets airtime today. It’s the title of a page on Mercedes’ US website at least, although it doesn’t highlight the end of any new adverts I’ve seen. Today, online, where most adverts are viewed, Mercedes ads are mostly signed off only by the three-pointed star and a clickable link to a relevant web page. Sometimes there’s a different, model-appropriate slogan like the also forgettable ‘so AMG’.…

Handsome though it may be, the Smart #3 is a car that makes people wonder just what its reimagined maker is really all about. If you’d have asked me a few hours ago, while I was still at the wheel, I’d have been none the wiser. But now, with the benefit of a little detached perspective, it’s becoming clearer what direction ‘the new Smart’ – the brand as refounded in 2019 and co-funded by Mercedes-Benz and Chinese giant Geely – is headed off in. Clearly, this is no longer the maker of innovative microcars that it once was. Still, if you were on a mission to show the world that you’re the same fearless old purveyor of arguably the most bold and singular small car of the last half century,…

Given that Cupra began life as a performance badge to denote hot Seats, it’s a bit odd that the hottest Formentor yet carries the somewhat inexplicable VZ5 BAT moniker. What does BAT stand for? Cupra hasn’t actually explained. If the reference to a nocturnal flying mammal is a coincidence, it’s quite fitting: we imagine Bruce Wayne would happily settle for a Formentor VZ5 BAT as his daily. The limited edition (just 500 will be produced) takes the outlandish Batmobile-esque styling of the standard SUV and adds a host of bespoke black trim elements. These include the front grille and its frame, roof bars, cladding, 20in alloys, mirror covers and exhausts. Even the Cupra badges and lettering are finished in dark chrome. The interior upgrades include black bucket seats and a…

AC SCHNITZER ACS2 SPORT RICHARD LANE If you want your 2 Series to have any feeling of agility and adjustability, it has to be the M2. Except it doesn’t. AC Schnitzer’s take on the M240i is pretty divine. The spring and damper package is beautifully judged, resulting in a car that feels 200kg lighter than standard yet which doesn’t crash and has a ton of composure. A bit of a revelation. PORSCHE TAYCAN GTS SPORT TURISMO MATT SAUNDERS I think the Saunders family is ready for an EV (by which I mean, the UK public charging infrastructure seems just about up to snuff) – and this is the one I’d have above all others. The GTS has the bigger performance battery, twin motors, plenty of power and range and eye-popping rapid-charging…

Roadsters and cabrios for (un)seasonal fun FIAT 500C Is this really a cabriolet? Doesn’t matter: the massive roll-back roof is a delight and you can pretend you’re driving Santa’s sleigh. Not 100% in reliability terms, but prices are generally firm because it’s cute and popular. Niggly electricals and there can be rust underneath. 2018 1.2 S, 30,000 miles, £10,250 JAGUAR F-TYPE CONVERTIBLE Sporty Jaguars are going out of fashion (and production), but everyone would love one of these turning up at Christmas. An F-Type will put a big smile on your face, plus the full-fat V8 is the most fun of all. However, timing chains can jump due to tensioner and guide failure. 2018 5.0 V8 S, 50,000 miles, £27,999 PORSCHE BOXSTER Sheer driving pleasure is delivered in the great-value…

APART FROM THE odd special, each week’s podcast format is the same. I get into things as quickly as I can with a listener’s letter, then we talk the big items from Steve’s column, take an ad break, come back with another letter, talk my column subject, add the rest of Steve’s to take us to time and sign off having dropped in a couple of plugs for other things in the Autocar oeuvre while we’re at it. The week’s biggest motoring stories tend to get covered. The aim is to keep it tight and never exceed a firm 30 minutes – so naturally each one ends up at about 40. The technical set-up is straightforward. We talk into microphones cabled into our respective computers, then a nice man called…

At one point, the beeping had become so much that I thought I might end up with a permanent ringing in my ears. If you’re looking for a timely trend to underpin the new car class and those models about to descend on us, it’s intrusive and distracting active driver ‘assistance’ functions bonging at you for various tenuous reasons. When the number of cars doing this at a special test drive event hits double figures, you start to notice some differences between the beeps and the bongs. A particular ‘favourite’ was the Fisker Ocean, which makes a sound like the one you get from a Microsoft computer in tandem with a negative message popping up. You know the one: a short, sharp dong when your computer suddenly can’t find the…

MODEL TESTED CLASS A TALL SHIP PELICAN OF LONDON • Price £3500 per day • Top speed 7.5kts/9mph (under power), more than 10kts/12mph (under sail) • CO2 emissions 0g/km (under sail) The tall ship Pelican of London looks for all the world like it has always been a graceful large sailing ship. But you wouldn’t have thought that if you’d seen it plying the northern seas in the 1950s, when it was a French Arctic fishing trawler called the ‘le Pelican’, with no big masts, no sails and running on diesel engines alone as it fished around the Arctic’s cold unwelcoming waters. And you’d definitely not have thought so if you’d have caught it full of smuggled vodka in 1993, when it was seized and impounded for an extended amount of…

Formula 1 WORLD CHAMPION: MAX VERSTAPPEN, RED BULL RACING WAS THIS A dull Formula 1 season, given the throttling domination displayed by Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing? It’s easy to write it off as such. Yet while the relentless Dutchman set new records for the number of wins in a season, 10 of them consecutively, somehow each race threw up enough intrigue to keep F1’s balloon of hype inflated – and still rising: look no further than the glitz of the Las Vegas GP. The best stories came from the unpredictable swings in form of those trailing in Verstappen’s wake, as the 26-year-old stroked all too easily to a third consecutive world crown. Behind him, predictions were often futile. Early on, Sergio Pérez matched and even outscored his team-mate,…

1 Which manufacturer stopped selling estate cars in the UK this year? 2 Which car maker’s logo features a green snake? 3 What is the fastest electric car on the road? 4 Who designed the Volkswagen Beetle? 5 Motor City is the nickname for which American metropolis? 6 Which popular Japanese hatchback has a palindromic name? 7 What is the fastest known speeding ticket to have been issued? 8 Which car was used for said speeding ticket? 9 In the UK, the BMW M2 is now the only M car available with what? 10 Which year did Autocar begin its now famous, industry-standard road tests? 11 What was the world’s best-selling car in 2022? 12 Smart is a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and which other company? 13 What gullwing-doored, low-volume British…

I read with interest Mark Tisshaw’s article regarding the Toyota proposal for a software-controlled driver interface that mimics earlier technology (News, 8 November). On giving this more thought, I came to the conclusion that this is a very strange route to take on a number of levels. No doubt a high proportion of ‘cars’ in the future (assuming we make it that far!) will be autonomous pods and the percentage of traditional driven cars will lessen and perhaps be limited to keen drivers and certain markets. Toyota’s proposal doesn’t address either of those requirements. Alex Long of Aston Martin saying they build dreams, not transport (News, 15 November), was an interesting counterpoint to this approach. Companies across many industries go to great lengths to promote their products’ authenticity, the message…

An owner’s view HAMID RAUF “My Corsa is a 60,000-mile 2015-reg 1.4i SRi five-door. It has just passed its MOT with advisories for a worn wiper blade, a slightly loose handbrake lever and a worn front disc. Previous advisories have been for ball joint dust covers and worn discs. It has been serviced each year, although not by main dealers, and has been reliable. I have just replaced the battery, though. It does about 45mpg and costs £35 to tax. It won’t set the world alight, but it gets me around reliably, comfortably and cheaply.” Buyer beware… ENGINE All engines have a timing chain and many sound worryingly rattly from cold. Nothing seems to cure it, but at least make sure the engine has enjoyed regular oil changes. Hesitancy or…

“The iX3 M60 is expected to offer close to 600bhp from a pair of new sixth-generation motors” The first model to be based on BMW’s Neue Klasse EV platform is taking shape ahead of a planned UK launch during the latter half of 2025. Set to succeed the existing iX3, the bold five-seat SUV will pack close to 600bhp in its most potent form and spearhead a six-strong range of electric cars atop the new 800V platform. Among them will also be the radical i3 saloon, which was previewed as the Neue Klasse concept at the Munich show in September. Other Neue Klasse electric models will be added to the BMW line-up in quick succession, BMW R&D boss Frank Weber told Autocar. “We are in a phase where flexibility is…

THE NEW MORGAN XP-1 is a one-off version of the Super 3 that swaps its Ford Fiesta-sourced three-pot engine for an experimental battery-electric powertrain. It represents the rebirth of Morgan’s efforts to develop a production-viable EV, after plans to produce 2016’s EV3 concept had to be axed. The British firm said that achieving a low kerb weight, claimed to be comparable to the petrol Super 3’s 635kg, was critical. This led it to develop its first-ever in-house powertrain, having sourced an “industry-leading” motor, battery and inverter. Morgan has yet to detail the specifications of the powertrain, but the EV3 provides a rough guide to the brand’s performance ambitions for an EV. It had a 56bhp motor and a 21kWh battery for a 0-60mph time of less than 9.0sec and a…

Anew British coachbuilder has been founded in a bid to capitalise on increasing demand for multimillion-pound, highly personalised cars. Allesley, based near Coventry, aims to “revive the art” for the 21st century, coming hot on the heels of several manufacturers’ internal coachbuilding programmes. Rolls-Royce, for example, recently produced the Boat Tail and Drop Tail, while Bentley has made the Bacalar and Batur. Allesley has been spun out of HPL Prototypes, whose 95 staff conduct top-secret development work for several esteemed manufacturers including Aston Martin, Bentley, Lotus, JLR and McLaren. Named after the village in which HPL is based, Allesley’s projects will all be made in line with auction house Bonhams’ definition of ‘special coachbuilding’, according to CEO Paul Abercrombie. Each car will be designed and produced completely independently of a…

FAREWELL, 2023. At a time like this, it’s usual to remark on what an extraordinary year we’ve had, and our express-train progress towards electrification makes this very true. Yet an even more tumultuous year confronts us: while the size and seriousness of car revisions promised for 2024 is enormous, the retailing of said cars looks anything but simple. The government insists that 22% must be EVs next year, but the natural market is about 17% today. Yet if it’s a tough time for car makers, it’s a wonderful time for us car lovers. Never have car creators been more driven to bust conventions to make their products more attractive, and rarely have we been so keenly sought by the retail industry. Big stuff has to happen next year, yet not…

Oh, poor little darling, what have they done to you? Despite the Mk2 Range Rover Evoque having been on sale since 2018, it didn’t desperately need a facelift. That’s up for debate, but it definitely didn’t need the one it has received. On the outside, not much has changed. The redesigned matrix LED headlights now integrate the indicators. It’s inside where it’s new and very much not improved. Land Rover says that the “reductive new centre console design ensures a serene cabin, crafted from the finest materials, with more usable interior space”. What has actually happened is that the rotary knobs and separate touchscreen for the climate control, Terrain Response, plug-in hybrid drivetrain modes, and phone and media shortcuts have been replaced with a slab of cheap plastic and a…

MATT SAUNDERS I have motorsport don and regular Autocar reader Jonathan Palmer to thank for my motoring highlight of 2023. It was his suggestion to gather together the greatest automotive exponents of ride quality you can currently buy, along with something older, and take a considered view of the state of the art of ride quality. It took us a couple of days by the time all of the driving, video and photos were done, and the first of those two days might have been the greyest and wettest that springtime in the Brecon Beacons has yet delivered – and yet the occasion was still brilliant. We had everything from a new Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII to a 1960s Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III involved, as well as a Bentley Flying Spur…

Being stranded at the roadside this Christmas without vehicle breakdown cover could cost you at least £150 if you call out one of the rescue organisations. That’s a big sum, especially when most cries for help concern a simple failed battery (prices for a new one start at £45). Membership is extra, by the way, and more expensive when purchased at the roadside (most organisations won’t let you buy it cheaper online). It’s just another thing to worry about when planning that long drive to friends and family this Christmas, others including checking your car’s fuel, lights, oil, water, electrics and rubber – what the AA calls ‘flower’ – along with the traffic and weather reports. Last year, the AA estimated that between 23 and 24 December alone, 17 million…

1972 VW BEETLE (1302 S) FELIX PAGE Having languished in my grandparents’ lovely, dry garage for seven years, my Beetle was cruelly evicted earlier this year. I made some ill-fated attempts to get it going but then cowed to the demands of my nearest and dearest and listed it for sale – to no avail, because any prospective buyer was soon put off by the slight inconvenience of it not running. Fine by me; I wanted to keep it. Anyway, Volkswagen UK then asked if they could show my car at a 70th-anniversary gathering it was hosting in September, and when I at first declined reluctantly on the basis of the car’s road-unworthiness, VW kindly offered to rectify that if I provided the necessary parts. I agreed, not quite realising…

After the build-up, presents and Christmas dinner can follow a somewhat anticlimactic: ‘What next?’ Post-Boxing Day, the festive free time can weigh heavy on the motoring enthusiast. An escape plan is needed. Luckily we have just the thing, in the form of car meets, museums and experiences, all ready and waiting to restore sanity on Christmas week. Got an MG 4? Show it off at the MG meet in Abingdon. Obsessed with Jaguar’s legendary XK engines? Go to the expert talk at Haynes Motor Museum. Run out of potatoes? Pop down to Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm. Read on, forget the movie and engineer your own great escape this Christmas. LAKELAND MOTOR MUSEUM Ulverston, Cumbria Boxing Day Classic Drive & Ride Day Tuesday 26 December, 10am-2pm lakelandmotormuseum.co.uk Forget turkey mush-up…

THE THE LONG-DISTANCE AWARD FOR THE CAR WE’D MOST WANT TO TAKE ON A VERY LONG JOURNEY WINNER Bentley Flying Spur No need for a play-off or penalties here: the Bentley Flying Spur was just a single vote away from having more nominations than every other car on this year’s fleet put together. Steve Cropley looked after Crewe’s finest and – unsurprisingly – “enjoyed every mile”. Chief sub-editor Kris Culmer enjoyed reading about Cropley enjoying it so much that he voted for the Bentley without ever having driven it… Deputy road test ed Richard Lane marvelled at “the magical combination of connection to the machine but isolation from the road”, while Mark Tisshaw (that’s me, by the way) said “nobody does seats like Bentley” while pondering the grammatical protocol for quoting…

132-PAGE DOUBLE ISSUE Road Test Yearbook Our second bumper mag of the festive season highlights the key cars and big stories from the past 12 months RETROSPECTIVE Visions of the future Named: the most important concept cars of all time PREVIEW Whatever next? We make some bold predictions about the new motoring year EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Rolls-Royce Spectre British firm’s first EV is subjected to the ultimate motoring test FIRST DRIVE Lexus LBX Smallest Lexus yet is a new take on the premium formula. Will it be a hit? SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p20…

OUR TRADITION OF conducting an off-the-wall Christmas ‘road’ test goes back to 1971, when we hopped onto Norton Commando and Honda 750 motorbikes. Next it was a brewer’s horse-drawn dray, before we properly stepped things up in 1974 with Centurion and Chieftain tanks, hot air balloons and British Rail’s Class 50 diesel locomotive. In the 50 years since then, we’ve also ridden the rails in the Tornado steam locomotive and TGV and Eurostar electric trains (as well as examining the machine that bore the tunnels for the latter). We’ve taken to the skies in Niki Lauda’s Cessna private jet, Harrier and Typhoon RAF jets, a Nighthawk stealth attacker, a Concorde, blimps, aerobatic planes and even a Nasa space shuttle. We’ve gone to sea in an F1 racing superboat, a superyacht…

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…

BMW HAS JUST given a big clue to what the M performance division’s electric future will look like, filing a trademark for the ‘iM3’ nameplate. The name, which has not yet been used by any production BMW, was registered last month with the European Union Intellectual Property Office, four years before the expected arrival of an electric M3. The most powerful electric BMW models currently use an M50 or M60 moniker – a designation roughly equivalent to warmed-up combustion cars such as the M340i and M240i. But this latest development appears to confirm that a bespoke electric M car is inbound as a derivative of the next-generation 3 Series and a replacement for the M3. BMW R&D boss Frank Weber recently revealed to Autocar that the “next M3 will be…

Nissan is aiming for the next-generation, electriconly Juke and Qashqai – which will be designed, engineered and built in Britain – to cost the same as the current combustion-engined models. The successors to the nation’s best-selling car of 2022 and its smaller sibling will arrive in the second half of the decade and will swap their petrol and hybrid powertrains for battery-electric ones. Despite the generally higher cost of EVs, Nissan boss Makoto Uchida said selling the pair at a price equal to today’s ICE cars was “what we’re aiming for and what our ambition is”. The Qashqai currently starts at just under £30,000 and the Juke from around £21,000. Uchida admitted that achieving such price parity was a challenge, adding: “At one side we talk about scale and how…

DESPITE THE advent of hyperrealistic CGI images, there are still a few car makers who will stump up the cash to have a real concept car made. Some of these show cars are just lumps of clay, but others will be working vehicles capable of moving under their own steam. This makes them far easier to move around motor show stands. To milk the publicity potential, they will often be offered for ‘drive’ stories to journalists after the show circuit is done. At one such event on a hot day in the UK, a national newspaper writer was strapped into the futuristic concept ready to do a lap of a circuit for the cameras. But as he thumbed the starter button, it was clear the car’s battery was flat. This…

Sealing its status as best of the rest could only be bittersweet for Mercedes-AMG as Formula 1 wrapped up its 2023 season in Abu Dhabi. Beating Ferrari to second in the constructors’ table by just three points certainly mattered – to the tune of $10 million in prize money, for a start. But for a team that won eight consecutive titles between 2014 and 2021, this marked a second consecutive desperately underwhelming season. Red Bull won 21 of the 22 grands prix to rack up a record tally of 860 points, 575 of which were scored by Max Verstappen alone. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell together managed 409, so Sergio Pérez’s contribution wasn’t even needed. That’s a new level of devastating domination. A HEARTY FINISH Russell is anointed as Hamilton’s…

Vauxhall might just have been paying attention when, in reviews of its new Astra Electric earlier this year, we reported that a £40,000 starting price looked steep. More likely is that customers have been saying the same thing. That’s why, thanks to a new entry-level Design trim, you can now order an Astra Electric hatchback for less than £38,000 and this brand-new Sports Tourer Electric from £39,995. It’s still money you could otherwise spend on some quite practical family EVs, of course. But, in that vein, the Sports Tourer might seem to offer a more competitive set of qualities than the regular hatchback. Longer of wheelbase, it supposedly has more occupant space than the regular Astra, as well as a boot some 30% larger. Vauxhall’s modifications to the chassis also…

HYUNDAI IONIQ 6 MATT SAUNDERS You can, with very little searching, unearth four-and-a-half-and even five-star road test verdicts on the Hyundai Ioniq 6. I can only assume they were generated by testers under 5ft 10in because, while I liked plenty about it, this car’s shortage of frontrow head room was unforgivable for me. I simply couldn’t live with one, and I’m not exactly a beanpole. VOLVO EX30 MATT PRIOR It takes a lot to get me angry but Volvo’s EX30 succeeded. In the Genesis G70 I drove after the Volvo, I did a blindfolded test: adjusted the temperature, demister, lights, foglights, door mirrors, heated seat and steering wheel, lane assist and auto wiper without looking, which means I could do so without taking my eyes off the road. In the…

Won’t be a sec – I’m just trimming the fuel lines of a Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8, the engine that powered the Lotus 72D Formula 1 race car in which Emerson Fittipaldi scored five victories to claim the 1972 Drivers’ Championship. It’s a fiddly process, requiring each of the vital arteries to be cut to a specific length in order that, once attached to their respective injectors, they can be correctly arranged around the top of the engine. Okay, it’s not the real engine and these aren’t real fuel lines. Instead, they’re miniature parts from a 1:8-scale model of the legendary car, resplendent in its black and gold John Player Special livery. However, costing nearly £800, the remarkably detailed Lotus may as well be the real thing for all…

Matt Prior and I worked together for 17 years before we ever spent as long as half an hour simply chatting. That’s how it goes with reporters. Most days you head off in a particular direction to find the source of a story while colleagues on different missions set different courses. Occasionally you’re together in cars, but even that’s rare. If two car journalists are involved in a project, there are usually two cars as well. However, conversational life changed for Prior and me a little over a year ago. We started recording a weekly half-hour podcast, called My Week In Cars, and over the past year it has become established as a regular element among Autocar’s collection of multimedia offerings: printed magazine, website, video channel, other social outlets –…

“While some will enjoy the challenge and beauty of camping inwinter, for others it may be a case of physical and mental endurance.” So reads the advice of Mountaineering Scotland, the arbiter of such things north of the border. Conversely, my own camping expertise starts and ends with watching Bravo Two Zero on VHS circa 1999. But at least photographer Max Edleston and I won’t be wanting for kit on our wander into the wilds, starting our journey as we do at the Decathlon outdoor store on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Mountaineering department manager Roksana helpfully recommends some snug-fitting 0deg C-rated sleeping bags, mini pillows for comfort, thermal base layers for PJs, a rechargeable lantern, a cooking set and a tiny gas stove for the task ahead. This confirms (a)…

THE RULES • An unlimited number of players can enjoy Skids and Shortcuts.• First, pinch a dice from a proper board game.• Second, raid the toy box for some scale model cars to use as playing pieces.• The first player to throw a six goes first.• Whatever the score on the dice is the number of spaces you move.• Land on a shortcut and shoot up the board.• Hit a skid and slide back down the board. Simple.• The first player to land exactly on space 54 wins. (So if, say, you throw a six when you’re four spaces away, you don’t move.)• Have fun and play fair.• Also, can you identify all the cars pictured in the squares?• Enjoy playing the game and send us a picture of friends…

Should Rudolph and chums run out of puff on Christmas morning, Santa could do worse than transfer his stash of gifts from his sleigh to one of the trucks haring around Lydden Hill circuit today. “If you ain’t rubbin’, you ain’t racin’,” they like saying here in the friendly but fiercely contested world of pick-up truck racing. I’ve come to Kent to see the action and meet the people involved, and, with respect to his reindeer, show Father Christmas what he’s missing. But wait – pick-up racing? In fact, the only thing the racers at Lydden Hill have in common with Ford Rangers and Nissan Navaras is their profile. Otherwise, beneath their bonnet, one-seat cab and extended ‘load bay’ (it holds the fuel tank), they’re pure racing car, down to…

Max has fond memories of the Ranger Raptor and Jeep Wrangler face-off. “I’ve never been covered in more mud in my life,” he recalls. More glamorously, Jack captured Nascar’s ‘Garage 56’ Le Mans entry at this year’s Festival of Speed. “It was great to see Jenson Button hop behind the wheel and do the biggest burnouts I’ve ever seen,” he says. It’s a hard life snapping pictures of a Ferrari in northern Italy, isn’t it, Max? Taking advantage of the beautiful landscape, Max used his drone to create this particular one. Back down to earth, or rather a wet Wales, Jack borrowed our long-term Supra for a weekend and reckons this shot sums it up perfectly: “A red missile cutting through the dark clouds over Snowdonia.” Or how about Cornwall…

Ah, the ‘what might’ve beens’ that litter every motorsport age. My favourites? If Stirling Moss hadn’t called time after his Goodwood crash on Easter Monday 1962, just how different might Formula 1 have looked through the 1960s? And what about Jim Clark? Killed in 1968, he didn’t even get to sample slick tyres, never mind the game-changer of true downforce. Decades later, if only Ayrton Senna had lived beyond 1994. We only caught a glimpse of the early salvos in a brewing rivalry with Michael Schumacher before the great Brazilian was cruelly ripped away from us at Imola. There are scores of examples. But now Autocar – in all too typical fashion – has pushed the daydreaming to a new level, to tee up the ultimate Formula 1 fantasy. When…

Come to your sensors Having read your three most recent Tesla reviews (of a Model Y and two facelifted Model 3s), I feel that you’ve neglected to fully assess the new, ‘improved’ Tesla Vision Park Assist. Tesla, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that ultrasonic parking sensors are unnecessary and using the camera system is sufficient to judge parking distances. Turns out it’s wrong: Park Assist is woefully awful in anything other than a straightforward parking situation. I’ve already scuffed my Tesla in a tight supermarket car park, as I find it impossible to rely on the seemingly random series of bongs and waves that the system presents me with. Tesla has been promising that Tesla Vision will achieve performance parity with the old system for a year now. Believe…

With more than 4000 for sale, ranging in price from £2500 to £13,000, with a choice of three- or five-door bodies, petrol or diesel engines and manual or automatic gearboxes, and even the hot hatch VXR version, there’s sure to be an example of the Vauxhall Corsa E of 2014-19 to suit you – or at least someone you know. The fact is, with the exception of the 202bhp VXR, it isn’t the most entertaining of drives but is cheap to run, a breeze to own, roomy and comfortable. It’s loosely based on the previous model launched as long ago as 2006 but comprehensively redesigned and refreshed and with some new engines, including a 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol in two power outputs. What Vauxhall didn’t mess with were the proportions…

NISSAN MICRA C+C 1.6 ACENTA 2008, 59,000 miles, £1995 Sadly, not a shocking pink special-edition Micra, but a decent deal: a reliable city car with a fairly strong engine and decent handling. Far cheaper than the equivalent hatch. RENAULT WIND 1.6 GT-LINE 2011, 63,000 miles, £3450 Renaultsport-derived chassis and Twingo 133 engine make this a surprisingly enjoyable option for a Sunday blast through the countryside. Check carefully for sticking windows and suspension issues, though. ABARTH 695C RIVALE 2018, 23,000 miles, £19,995 Landaulet-style roof allows you to properly relish the burble of this Abarth’s Akrapovic exhaust. It is on the (very) sharp end of the price scale, however, owing to its posh spec, including carbonfibre interior trim. LEXUS SC 430 2006, 80,000 miles, £9900 Hardly Lexus’s finest moment, but a comfortable…

Through its 120-year history, the Ford Motor Company has experienced plenty of success, and helped shape the course of motoring history. But not all of its cars have been universally well received. To highlight that, here are a selection of the most controversial Ford models from its long and storied history. Ford Explorer 1995 The Mk2 Explorer SUV went on sale in the US in 1995 and quickly became notorious due to a series of major accidents. This led to a legal battle between Ford and tyre supplier Firestone. In February 2001, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that it had denied a request by Firestone to open a safety defect investigation into the handling and control characteristics of the Explorer if the tread of a rear tyre came…