Innholdsfortegnelse for May 07, 2025 i Autocar

BMW SAYS THE “joy of driving” will never go away and it will continue to invest in dynamic “fun and capability” in future models, in parallel with the development of advanced self-driving technology. The company said key to these promises is its new ‘Heart of Joy’ power management system, the capabilities of which have been shown in its outlandish, quad-motor Vision Driving Experience (VDE) prototype. With a brutal 13,269lb ft of torque and up to 1200kg of downforce, the VDE prototype is designed not just for lightning-fast acceleration times and ultra-quick cornering, but also to challenge “the limits of driving physics”. It’s all part of a push to demonstrate that “driving fun and capability will become more important than in the past” as the automotive industry ramps up its push…

Jeep has reinvented the Compass for its third generation with a bold new look, a more upmarket cabin and the option of electric power for the first time. With 2.5 million units sold worldwide since it was launched in 2006, the Compass is one of Jeep’s most important and popular models. The company’s Europe boss, Fabio Catone, said this latest generation will be “a key driver for Jeep growth” – building on the success of the smaller Avenger, which played a big role in the brand trebling its UK sales last year. Available to order now and with deliveries due to begin in the autumn, the new Compass will be crucial in helping Jeep to claim a share of Europe’s popular C-SUV segment, which now accounts for around a quarter…

The next Mercedes-Benz GLB will go on sale in the UK next year and is described by a senior insider as a “massive step up” from the first-generation car. Part of an ambitious wide-ranging offensive from Mercedes, the compact SUV will be joined by more than a dozen new models and facelifts over the next 24 months. The new GLB will retain the distinctive upright silhouette introduced by the current car in 2019 but test mules show that it will be slightly longer and wider, with more of a focus on interior space and storage. Autocar understands it will also adopt a bolder-looking front end with new lighting signatures. These changes have been made possible by a switch to the new Mercedes-Benz Modular Architecture (MMA), the fourth model to use…

Chinese car giant Chery will introduce two new brands in the UK alongside Omoda and Jaecoo, as part of a major expansion. The new Omoda 3 crossover and Omoda 7 and Jaecoo 5 SUVs will be launched this year, ahead of two new brands: an offroad specialist, iCaur, and the family-focused Lepas. As a result, Chery will have four marques and a line-up pushing a dozen cars in the UK by the end of 2026. The UK is already seen as important to the Chinese manufacturer, which has recorded more than 10,000 sales since Omoda and Jaecoo were launched here at the end of last year. First, the Omoda 7 and Jaecoo 5 SUVs will arrive this summer. They will be sold with a choice of electric or combustion power…

IT’S ONE THING to load cars with safety systems such as ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems), but as they get more sophisticated, it becomes more complicated to ensure they always do what’s expected. So manufacturers are turning to the most advanced techniques to validate ADAS and make it as accurate as possible. Volvo is using virtual environments together with real-world testing for safety systems development, software training and validation. Engineers can now scrutinise incident data collected from the advanced sensors of production cars more clearly using an imaging technique called ‘Gaussian splatting’. The new approach makes it possible to generate a large number of highly realistic 3D scenes from images taken in the real world. These can then be viewed from different angles and the scene, quite literally, explored. Once…

THE RUSH TO electric cars has generally coincided with a slowing down if not a complete pause in looking for breakthroughs in internal combustion engine development. Car makers’ pockets typically do not run deep enough to invest so heavily in parallel technologies. Yet with EVs set to make up only half of all global sales by 2040, what about the other half? In the context of reducing emissions, Horse Powertrain CEO Matias Giannini asks: “Do we accept that 50% of cars being electric is enough?” Surely, reducing emissions of all kinds every step of the way and at every opportunity is logical – and that’s where Horse comes in: “to continue to improve the other 50%”. Not even a year old, Horse was spun out of the engine divisions of…

I enjoyed your discussion of Nissan’s current circumstances (‘Can Nissan be saved?’, 16 April). I do hope this car maker survives and keeps its UK plant open. I worked for a multinational public relations agency when we secured Nissan as a client. Our brief was to prepare the local community for the construction and opening of the Sunderland plant in 1986. We were asked by the Japanese management at global headquarters in Yokohama to source books on Tyne and Wear and Sunderland – once known as the largest shipbuilding town in the world. Their thirst for cultural and historical information on the region knew no bounds. We researched literature on Tyne and Wear from its Anglo-Saxon beginnings to the building of Jarrow Abbey, a significant centre of learning in the…

“Even on damp roads, the car flatters commitment without punishing enthusiasm” The Carrera S historically has occupied a curious place in the Porsche 911 hierarchy. For those just wanting to brag about 911 ownership, there’s the plenty-quick-enough base Carrera. The T attracts the purists, of course, with its combination of a lighter weight and a six-speed manual gearbox, while the GTS delivers a real leg up for those looking for performance – even more so since becoming a mighty 534bhp ‘T-Hybrid’. So the S, then, is something akin to a middle child: competent, capable and quick but not standing out enough to be anyone’s obvious choice. But this latest ‘992.2’ iteration has the potential to change all that; to move out of the shadows and into the light. Why? Well,…

Over the course of last year, Skoda had Europe’s third-best-selling allelectric model range, which wasn’t a bad achievement given the Enyaq and Enyaq Coupé were heading into their fifth year and duking it out in one of the most congested market sectors. So when it came to the inevitable mid-life refresh, Skoda – one of the most perennially sensible car brands – didn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel. The most obvious change is the adoption of Skoda’s new Tech-Deck (no, we don’t know either) front end, which features a more angular look, the deletion of the brand’s trademark front grille and the addition of now de rigueur slimline LED lights. In combination with some subtle aerodynamic tweaks (there are some new air blades in the front bumper and cleaner wheel…

One of the things people love to say about the Audi A2 is that it was ahead of its time. It’s the opinion people seem to hold most about the small Audi. And I get that: if you pulled the wraps from it today, it would still look modern. In October last year, Audi did just that, when it revealed the A2 E-tron concept restomod to celebrate the car’s 25th anniversary, and it looked as fresh as a piglet. But if the A2 was ‘ahead of its time’, it must still be a long, long way ahead of its time, because more than a quarter of a century after it was launched, the world is not oversupplied with compact aluminium four-seaters that weigh less than 900kg and measure 3.8m long.…

MILEAGE 5939 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if this veteran is actually the pick of Volvo’s growing, tech-first EV range Hoving from a shared house to an unfurnished flat has meant I’ve had to buy furniture, cutlery and lots more besides, and because I currently run a Volvo, I knew there was only one store for the job. Okay, I’ll admit I chose Ikea for its prices rather than its provenance, but it was a nice coincidence nonetheless. So, another practicality challenge for our resident Swede: Poängs, Färgklars, Vardagens – you name it, it would all have to be squeezed into the EX40’s 452-litre boot. And, once again, the car proved itself worthy – although I did have to lower the rear seats to liberate all 1328 litres. I…

AN OWNER’S VIEW CAT McGOVERN “I’ve had my GT86 for three years and I have no intention of selling it. I like its no-nonsense interior, with just a small touchscreen being the only visible tech, and the big tachometer in front of you, which makes you think you’re in a true sports car. Its clutch pedal is extremely light, though, and takes a lot of getting used to, and the narrow tyres mean it’s pretty tail-happy. It’s no AMG, though, so you can still have lots of fun.” BUYER BEWARE… ■ ENGINE High oil consumption is a common trait of the 4U-GSE engine so be prepared to top it up every 1000-2000 miles. Make sure you use the recommended synthetic oil too. Oil can leak from the camshaft blanking plate or…

THE BMW 1 SERIES will return for a radically reinvented fourth generation within the next three years, as the brand goes against its German premium rivals in committing to its entry-level model. Mercedes-Benz is preparing to retire the A-Class for good at the end of its current generation and Audi will wind down production of the A1 and Q2 next year. But BMW says its smallest car remains an important part of its model range and a next-generation model will be the entry point into the new-gen Neue Klasse family. While the company has not officially confirmed plans for a new 1 Series, BMW product boss Bernd Körber said the hatch still has a crucial role to play for the firm. “We are a global player and we cover the…

MERCEDES IS WORKING to emphasise the high-quality “analogue” elements of its interiors in a bid to “create luxury beyond the screens” that currently dominate its cars’ cabins. The German firm equips its models with some of the biggest touchscreens and digital displays on the market, including the optional Hyperscreen that spans the entire width of the dashboard in the S-Class and EQS. But design boss Gorden Wagener believes these interfaces should not be the central element of the interior. “Screens themselves are not luxury, of course,” he told Autocar at the Shanghai motor show, where Mercedes revealed the striking new Vision V concept (see below). While the tech-heavy concept does have a gigantic, 65in screen that also serves as a cabin divider, Wagener said Mercedes will not pursue a path…

THIS IS THE bare-bones, £20,000 electric pick-up truck from Amazon-backed American EV start-up Slate. Simply called the Truck, the utilitarian two-seater will go on sale first in the US at the end of 2026. A wider rollout is expected but has not yet been confirmed. The Truck has been engineered and designed to keep costs down in a bid to make electric motoring affordable and more appealing to American consumers, who continue to heavily favour ICE vehicles. That can be seen inside, where the windows are cranked manually and there’s a smartphone mount in place of an infotainment touchscreen. A single rear-mounted motor provides 201bhp and 195lb ft of torque. It draws its energy from a 52.7kWh or 84.3kWh battery for a range of 150 or 240 miles.…

Electric vehicles could spell the end of independent vehicle rental companies, a leading family-owned UK firm has warned, amid a wider backdrop of waning demand for EVs generally among hire companies. Kendall Cars, a rental group with 14 branches in the south-east and a fleet of 1500 vehicles, says businesses like it are closing partly because of the high insurance costs associated with the vehicles. Group managing director Mark Kendall said: “Like a lot of smaller hire companies we self-insure our cars to keep our rates low, but EVs are high risk, and a lot of hire companies are giving up because they calculate that as their proportion of EVs increases, they won’t be able to afford to cover them. “The national rental firms are stepping in by ignoring the…

The head of the UK’s largest tyre trade body has called on the Labour government to take urgent action to close legal loopholes that enable millions of exported used tyres to be burnt in India. Darren Lindsey, who leads the British Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (BTMA) – a trade body that represents tyre manufacturers and retreaders – warns that politicians need to end the so-called T8 exemption and “introduce stricter controls and traceability measures”. This, he said, would bring to an end the environmental and human harm when end-of-life tyres are sent for disposal to countries where regulatory and environmental standards do not align with the UK’s. According to official figures, of the 50 million tyres sent to waste every year, around half are exported. It is the T8 exemption that…

FEATURE MILLIONAIRE GLAMPING Yurts be damned. Matt Prior hitches a £190k off-road caravan to a £260k off-road Bentley and ventures off into the countryside ROAD TEST MINI COOPER JCW Can this 228bhp hot hatch live up to the standard set by its ancestors? FIRST DRIVE ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE ROADSTER Hold onto your hats as we put this 656bhp V8 drop-top to the test EVERY WEEK LIVING WITH A … MAZDA MX-5 How did we fare living with a two-seat soft-top through a British winter? MY CAR & I NISSAN SKYLINE GTS-T How a big bet led one man to import his dream machine all the way from Japan…

“The most impressive aspect is that removing the roof hasn’t unduly weakened its rigidity” Throw a stone in any new car showroom these days and you will struggle to hit a four-seat convertible (although you definitely will be quickly and forcibly ejected from the premises). Once a mainstay of any manufacturer line-up, drop-tops of all kinds have been, erm, dropped in line with dwindling customer demand. In the UK, the market share of open-air machinery has decreased from nearly 4.5% in 2006 to less than 1.6% today. Yet not all manufacturers have abandoned the concept of wind-in-the-hair thrills for friends and family, even if they’ve had to rationalise their line-ups as a result – which is where the CLE Cabriolet comes in. Previously Mercedes would sell you a ragtop version…

The return of the V90 after it was pulled from the UK market last year followed an unexpected spike in demand for estate cars, giving Volvo’s customers a choice beyond SUVs and many people a cause for celebration. And with this unexpected comeback was the arrival of subtly updated styling and a revised engine line-up. Let’s start with the styling. There are tweaked rear lights and foglights, a reshaped front bumper, a revised front grille and new alloy designs. Otherwise, it’s as before, with that broad-shouldered stance and those instantly recognisable ‘Thor’s hammer’ headlights. The V90 is fundamentally unchanged underneath, too, which means it’s still immensely practical inside. Boot space with all five seats up is 551 litres – 91 litres more than in the equivalent Mercedes E300e but 19…

A glorious sky, a good road and a great car… We can all dream, but this guide aims to inspire action with a choice of used cars perfect for summer motoring. From traditional sports cars and grand tourers to fun cars and even 4x4s for when the road runs out, we’ve got ’em all. We’ve also made a stab at cars in which you can crash out when the hotels are booked up or when you just feel like going no further. May the sun be with you! Ford Mustang Convertible 2015-24 Frank Bullitt wouldn’t have been seen dead in one, but if you can get past that, the Mustang Convertible is still appealing. The suspension is softer than the coupé’s and scuttle shake is pronounced, but performance is undimmed…

WHY WE RAN IT To find out if the new-generation Tiguan maintains the appeal of Volkswagen’s best-seller “Potential buyers will find nothing to really put them off” The new Volkswagen Tiguan is thoroughly unremarkable. Not long ago, such a statement would have been unambiguously damning, but at this present time, when we’re regularly driving cars with serious irritations or worse, stemming from an influx of new brands and intrusive legislation, I actually consider it praise. Somewhat qualified praise, I must say, but praise nonetheless. No matter the fact that the Tiguan isn’t the most comfortable, most dynamic, most efficient, most technically innovative or most daringly designed family SUV on the market right now, because it’s undeniably up there with its class rivals in each of those areas – making it…

SKODA SUPERB ESTATE Mileage 8960 Last seen 9.4.25 I was looking forward to trying the new Superb and seeing how, as my colleagues have written, diesel power suits it perfectly. I found the ride to be slightly choppy at low speeds, but the outstanding fuel economy (I averaged 57mpg) more than compensated. With an eighth of a tank I still had 100 miles of range left - perfect for some extended podcast listening. SA SUZUKI SWIFT Mileage 7546 Last seen 30.4.25 The spec sheet says the Swift’s fuel tank is 37 litres. So far, I’ve yet to be able to fit more than a piddly 33 litres of petrol in there, and that was after two days of driving the car around town with zero miles of range showing. I’m…

When he bought his BAC Mono in sunny Dubai four years ago, did Jason Goddard ever imagine that one day, back home living in England after 14 years working in the Middle East, he’d be driving it in the middle of winter on lifeless carbon brakes up the M6 to BAC’s Liverpool factory for its service? “It was bitterly cold and a hairy drive,” he recalls. “It had been snowing the day before. There’s no roof so you have to wear a helmet and it got really annoying at one point when someone chose to block me in and drive alongside while their passenger took a video.” Could that be the reason he’s now selling it, I ask. “Not at all. I’d just like to turn it into something else,”…

RENAULT MEGANE F1 TEAM R26 2007, 71,000 miles, £5999 The Mégane R26 is one of the best hot hatches of the mid-2000s and this F1 Team example looks to be in excellent shape. It has an extensive history and has been tuned to 257bhp by specialist K-Tec Racing. New brakes and tyres too. RENAULT TWINGO 1.6 RENAULTSPORT 2009, 30,500 miles, £4990 You have to work the Twingo’s 131bhp 1.6-litre engine quite hard to get the most out of it, but there’s no denying that it’s a fun and affordable driver’s car. This one has covered just over 30k miles, so it is raring to go – and will be sold with a 12-month MOT. RENAULT SPORT SPIDER 1997, 31,000 miles, £29,995 One of just 30 Renault Sport Spiders registered on the road…

“Launched in 2023, the 5 Series is already preparing for a significant refresh” BMW will completely overhaul its current combustion-powered line-up, starting with a heavily updated 5 Series, to bring these models into line with a range of incoming Neue Klasse electric cars. The new-era EVs will begin with the unveiling of the iX3 at the Munich motor show in September and this will kick-start a rapidfire refresh programme for BMW, which is working to ensure its current-generation models are not outpaced by newer siblings. The next 3 Series will follow shortly after the iX3 and use the same EV-first architecture, which, in time, will be the base for all BMWs. Before then, though, BMW will redesign and substantially upgrade models that are not yet due for replacement, to ensure…

BMW will reveal the future of the Alpina brand next year. The German giant acquired the 60-year-old Buchloe-based performance firm from its founders, the Bovensiepen family, in 2023, but won’t take full control until 2026. BMW Group design chief Adrian van Hooydonk told Autocar: “We love the brand and we want it to prosper in the future, but you will see some of that next year.” Leading its design will be former Polestar design boss Maximilian Missoni, who joined last year amid an executive shake-up at BMW.…

The next-generation Mercedes V-Class will gain an ultra-luxurious range-topper badged VLS. Previewed by the radical new Vision V concept, it is expected to be launched next year and cost more than £100,000. Mercedes design boss Gorden Wagener told Autocar it will effectively be “an S-Class van” and will be designed to “provide luxury car buyers with a true penthouse-style ‘third space’.” He said: “What do people want when they are chauffeured? They want to have space.”…

Spanish 4x4 manufacturer Santana – famous for its Series Land Rover variants – has been revived with the backing of Chinese firm Zhengzhou Nissan, a joint venture between Nissan and Dongfeng. Santana said the “entirely new vehicle” hinted at below – likely to be a chunky, high-riding pick-up truck – will offer a choice of diesel and plugin hybrid powertrains with up to 402bhp and 590lb ft. It plans to unveil a full model range later in 2025.…

RENAULT IS CONSIDERING an electric MPV to rival the Volkswagen ID Buzz – and it could reprise the radical seating arrangement from the Mk1 Espace. Unveiling the new Trafic E-Tech electric van at the Commercial Vehicle Show in Birmingham, Renault van design chief Yannick Bignon told Autocar that a people-carrying version is under consideration. “Today, it’s under study,” he said. “We have not yet confirmed it, but it’s under study.” Asked whether the skateboard-style EV platform that underpins Renault’s new-era vans could allow for more radical seating arrangements, such as the swivelling ‘captain’s chairs’ from the Espace MPV, Bignon said: “Everything that you say will be the way that we are working on.” An MPV is understood to be just one of more than 35 different derivatives of the Trafic,…

BRAND OF CONFUSION With reference to your ‘Lost in the archive’ column of 16 April, Kris Culmer credits PSA with having owned Alvis, but in fact Rover acquired Alvis in 1965 and thus British Leyland ended up with it. Given the labyrinthine history of the brands that PSA owned and Stellantis now owns, however, I can quite understand the confusion. John Meuret Bermondsey, London I was indeed wrong – or rather Talbot boss François Perrin-Pelletier was, because my information came from our 1979 interview with him. Although I now realise that we printed ‘Avis’, not ‘Alvis’. Perhaps he had considered getting into hire cars… – KC THE NEXT MG Current activity resembles, in some ways, the automotive industry in the early years of the 20th century, when new business and…

Renault reckons the new 4 is a thorough reinvention that retains all the versatility of the old 4. And in some respects, it’s right. This new 4 is versatile. It’s longer than the new 5 with which it shares a platform and has more occupant room. Boot space, at 420 litres, is 100 litres larger than in the 5 and most of its rivals too, plus it has an underfloor compartment for the cables. A good bit of ground clearance too. Yet in other respects, the new 4 is a world away from the old 4 in terms of versatility. That sold more than eight million units, was made in 18 countries and earned the nickname ‘blue jeans car’ because of its ubiquity. It was a car that gave a…

“It’s nothing short of epic when given its head – yet even more intoxicating at a brisk but moderately relaxed pace” Porsche’s top-of-the-line Mk3 Panamera – the first with a top speed in excess of 200mph – has landed in the UK. Our first tilt in one came last October in Germany; now’s our chance to drive one on home turf and in right-hand-drive guise, to form a definitive view. The Turbo S E-Hybrid lords it over a pair of other V8-engined Panameras, leaving the pure-V6 and V6 PHEV models to one side. A 493bhp pure-V8 GTS will cost you £132k before options; a 671bhp Turbo E-Hybrid £152k. Even on the £175k Turbo S E-Hybrid there are plenty of options to tempt you (our test car came to rest at…

The limousine class has long been something of a technological vanguard for the automotive industry, and in one respect in particular – when it comes to the provision of outright electric range in EVs – it is preserving that status. Some of the competitors of the updated Mercedes-Benz EQS – the subject of this road test – really are pushing the envelope when it comes to squeezing mileage into a big four-door saloon. The UK market may still be waiting for right-hand-drive versions of them, but for the past two years the Lucid Air has been offering North American buyers a range in excess of 500 miles, while China’s Nio ET7, with its 150kWh semi-solid-state battery, has become the first electric production car to be certified for more than 1000km…

Now that you’ve got your used car for the summer, where are you going to take it? Fortunately, the UK is blessed with no end of excuses for a drive, ranging from must-see museums and events to musttour roads. In recent years, they have been joined by a growing roster of weekend and weekday-evening pub meets and cars-and-coffee gatherings. A great source of information for these less well-publicised events is carevents.com, on which you can search by date, city and car event. It recently broadened its scope to also include companies offering, for example, supercar hire, karting and circuit experiences. To set you thinking about where you could go this summer, we have compiled a selection of drives, events and destinations to consider. Happy motoring! Top events The British Grand…

MILEAGE 2786 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Is Ford’s first European-built EV, with its VW underpinnings, really a true Ford? Car designers are very clever people, and as cars have swelled in recent years, they’ve become increasingly adept at hiding their dimensions. The best example of recent years is probably the Hyundai Ioniq 5, which in pictures looks like a Lancia Delta-esque hatchback but is actually a pretty hefty SUV. The Renault 5 is another car that has surprised me with its footprint when I’ve seen it in the metal: it’s still a relatively small car, but those sharp lines and retro creases have you thinking compact hot hatch. And the new Ford Explorer is yet another that can trick you into misjudging its size based on images – although, unusually,…

Small, fun sports cars with rear-wheel drive and a proper manual gearbox are a rarity in new car showrooms these days, and prices of second-hand examples are holding strong as a result – but one of the best of the breed from recent times still looks like sensible value, so now’s the time to get in before it attains full-on collectible status. With its lightweight chassis, communicative steering and responsive, naturally aspirated engine, the athletic Toyota GT86 is a proper driver’s car, but one that remains eminently suitable for everyday use, as proven by its five-star Autocar road test verdict. You have to work the 197bhp 2.0-litre boxer engine quite hard: with peak power coming in at 7000rpm and (a not very whopping) 151lb ft of torque delivered at 6400rpm,…