Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2023 i CAR UK

Kia EV6 The unusually-styled yet brilliant electric car was the first arrival in Kia’s new dedicated EV line-up. And, with the E-GMP platform, efficient motors and tech USPs Tesla could only dream of, it’s a good one. Hyundai Seven This concept previews what will be the EV9’s Hyundai sibling, set to launch later in 2023. The production Ioniq 7 will also be available with up to seven seats, and include the pixel-heavy design cues from the 5 and 6. Kia Sorento Currently the closest thing Kia has to an electrified family SUV. It’s a seven-seater, with a choice of powertrains spanning PHEV, hybrid and diesel. Smartly turned out, rather than the visual treat of the EV9.…

GUY PIGOUNAKIS, MG MOTOR COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR MG is the UK’s fastest growing marque, registering 51,050 cars last year (up 67 per cent) and confident of hitting 70,000 in 2023. Its retailer base will soar to 180 locations, with more dealer groups being drawn to its franchise. And the pipeline is so full of fresh metal that the acclaimed 4 electric hatch will be the range’s oldest car by late 2024. As commercial director, Guy Pig-ounakis is in the nerve centre. Not that there’s any sense of triumphal-ism, just confidence from this indus-try veteran of 46 years – a veteran who’s enjoying his second stint at MG, having led the sales operation which relaunched the brand with the MG F roadster in 1995. ‘I look back on those days with huge…

The 300-mile test NEW CAR MEETS REAL WORLD This vast SUV sticks out like a visitor from another world – despite being built here in the US ‘Do ya know why I stopped you, pardner?’ The voice framed by a pair of dazzling Ray-Bans and a brown stetson sounds jovial, but the gun resting in its waxy holster and the danc-ing red and blue lights inside the unmarked black pick-up speak a different language. ‘I suppose I was going a trifle fast?’ The smile bares a full set of stacked ivories. The officer nods. ‘Yeah. And you overtook a cop in the process. We don’t like that much.’ I’m shaking in my shoes, imagining all sorts of night-marish scenarios. But before events take a Tarantino turn for the worse, officer…

It’s dark in the windowless design department of Lamborghini's Sant’Agata factory. There’s a buzz of anticipation as we await the un-veiling of the Revuelto, the car that replaces the Aventador. We know it’s going to be a hybrid, but we also know it’s going to be a V12 – a bloodline Lamborghini wouldn’t dare sully with a car that was any-thing less than brilliant. The question isn’t whether it's going to be brilliant. The question is exactly how that brilliance will be achieved, and how the competing demands of power, regulations, weight, aerodynamics, packaging and design will be met. The babble of excited speculation is hushed by the arrival of chief executive Stephan Winkelmann – always reassuringly composed, always a twinkle in his eye. ‘This,’ he says, ‘is the most…

VW Multivan Style 1.4 eHybrid Month 1 The story so far VW helps the MPV live on, masquerading as a van + Big - Is it really that big? Logbook Price £59,035 (£63,979 as tested) Performance 13kWh battery, 1395cc turbocharged four-cylinder plus e-motor, PHEV, 215bhp, 9.0sec 0-62mph, 120mph Efficiency 156.9mpg (official), 86.6mpg (tested), 41g/ km CO2 Energy cost 12.0p per mile Miles this month 97 Total miles 4754 No one could be more excited about the arrival of the VW Multivan into the Pulman household than our two-year-old son, whose favourite toy is a two-tone Duplo camper van that is pushed ceaselessly around his playroom. The fact a full-size equivalent now sits outside on our driveway has blown his little mind. Conversely, no one could be less excited about the…

The boxy shape is a boon for space, with none of the coupe nonsense that afflicts some rivals I came to it a cynic, but have been utterly converted. For the first week, I felt guilty, lumbering about in this huge truck that cost more to fill up twice than our electric Skoda Enyaq took to run for six months. And towards the end of the loan, as it waded through January’s floods, there was the nagging irony that the perfect car for such conditions was probably helping cause them. But taken in isolation, the Defender is fabulous. The boxy shape is a boon for space, with none of the ‘coupe’ nonsense that afflicts German rivals, and it’s bluff in all the right places without being an in-your-face BMW X7.…

The surface of the moon is presumably smoother than the Northamptonshire Broad loop where we assess Europe’s Car of the Year contenders. After a day in the stiff Renault Austral, the bouncy Kia Niro and others, for comparison I whipped the C5 X over its bumps, potholes and camber changes. In the softest Comfort mode, the X did the best job at suppressing crashing wheels, jarring rebounds and clonking noises. And despite the softness, longitudinal body control was absolutely fine. Outside the Silverstone Mu-seum, a passer-by asked if the C5 X lived up to its hydropneu-matic forebears. Definitely worth a test drive, I told him: after all, it made a brutal test route into a sea of tranquility. PHIL MCNAMARA Citroën C5 X Hybrid 225 Shine Plus Month 2 The…

Peugeot 308 Allure Premium PT130 EAT8 Month 5 The story so far Our 308 goes on a tour of CAR staffers + Two more of the team convinced - I need to try and get the key back now… Logbook Price £28,130 (£28,130 as tested) Performance 1199cc turbocharged three-cylinder, 129bhp, 9.7sec 0-62mph, 130mph Efficiency 49.6mpg (official), 38.1mpg (tested), 129g/ km CO2 Energy cost 18.0p per mile Miles this month 523 Total miles 9640 This month I’ve barely been in the 308, but it’s come in handy for managing editor Colin Overland and editor Ben Miller. So I’m handing the mic over to them, just this once. ‘I’d driven a diesel Astra not long before this and the petrol 308’s range of 400 miles seems a bit weedy in comparison,’ says…

GIANT TEST WINNER 1 LAND ROVER DEFENDER THE GOOD: All-new reboot brings untold dynamic improvements on road and off it THE BAD: Second-row access is a pain in the 90; expensive THE UGLY: Alternatives to the white steel wheels are offered. Why? THE ONE TO BUY: Range spans 90, 110 and 130 bodies. Heart says petrol V8, head/wallet say diesel-six D250 90 GIANT TEST WINNER 2 PORSCHE MACAN THE GOOD: Handles better than any other SUV. And some hot hatches THE BAD: Hardly an original choice – but then there’s good reason for that THE UGLY: People might think you’ve bought the four-pot (still a good car) THE ONE TO BUY: The £69k 434bhp Macan GTS is the sportiest but £57k 375bhp Macan S is the sweet spot GIANT TEST…

GIANT TEST WINNER 1 PORSCHE 911 THE GOOD: Style, like 911s, never goes out of fashion THE BAD: Even the base Carrera costs more than £89k; road noise up to 11 THE UGLY: To some, it’s now more comfy GT than sports car; canny options list pushes you to spend more THE ONE TO BUY: Carrera S manual gets the Sports Chrono pack as standard… but it’s £103k GIANT TEST WINNER 2 ARIEL ATOM THE GOOD: A beautiful object as well as a thrilling drive. Think of it as a modernised Lotus Seven crossed with a high-end sports bike THE BAD: You’ll need bike-style wet-weather wear if it’s raining. And over £40k – this is an expensive toy, if a captivating one THE UGLY: Borderline terrifying at times THE ONE…

Remember the Sedona MPV? Kia’s come a long way since the days of the bland and forgettable family car. Or, indeed, its focus on cheap runabouts for the masses. These days, the brand has an attitude, thanks in huge part to the confidence of its design team, and has started building cars people desire, rather than need. It’s tricky following on from the EV6 – a truly great EV that we love at CAR – but somehow, Kia’s managed to keep up its momentum. The new, all-electric, futuristic-looking EV9 is another part of that seemingly un-ending upward trajectory, launching towards the end of 2023 in Europe. The EV9’s geometrically-inspired lines – from its flared triangular wings and chunkily wraparound windscreen, to the ‘star map’ LEDs and animated, customisable digital lighting…

SILENT RUNNING Asked if the Continental GT will survive into the electric era, Bentley boss Adrian Hallmark (above) tells CAR: ‘Yes, absolutely.’ Electric propulsion can be a good fit with a GT: ‘When I’m on a long journey, I’m not listening to the engine turn; I’m looking at the scenery, chatting and listening to a fantastic sound system.’ BATUR’S INFLUENCE Bentley’s limited-run Batur by Mulliner (above) previews what Crewe’s future electric cars will look like. The next Continental GT is also likely to be influenced by the dramatic EXP 100 GT concept, albeit with some of the current car’s most recognisable details (such as the double-headlight front end) likely to stay. GROUND UP Instead of having to re-engineer existing parts from within the VW Group as it has done in…

Tell us about your first car… ‘A Ford Corsair 2000E, which I loved. But I failed my driving test first time and had to walk past it to college every day.’ Which achievement makes you most proud? ‘I think launching the MG F. Great times.’ Best thing you’ve done in a car? ‘I got very close to Tony Pond before he died. He did a lot of work on the MG F Cup for me and he used to take me out in his 6R4. I’ve been driven by a lot of very well-known racing drivers and rally drivers, and to my dying day I will say Tony Pond was the best of them. Probably the most underrated race/rally driver ever.’ Tell us about a time you screwed up… ‘I…

Like watching the girl in The Exorcist spider-walking down the stairs or gazing upon The Blue Marble, the photo the Apollo 17 crew shot of the Earth, some images stay with you. For F1 nerds it’s the grainy clip of the Williams crew playing with the FW15C, its active suspension rising and falling in a vaguely sinister manner as if by magic. Williams’ active suspension was created to maximise downforce. Against inhuman forces and epic physics, its hydraulics toiled to maintain the optimum ride height for peak aerodynamic performance. But the car’s remarkable speed – together, the FW14B and FW15C whitewashed the ’92 and ’93 titles respectively – was proof of the riches that awaited anyone who could mitigate or even eliminate the compromises intrinsic to passive suspension. Years ago,…

The SUV just keeps on evolving and different multiplying. We now have SUV coupes (never mind they invariably have four doors, not two); we have SUV fastbacks (more or less a big hatchback on stilts); there are luxury SUVs; and there’s the increasingly popular sports SUV (a tautology as well as an oxymoron: utility vehicles may be brutishly fast but they can never be sporty). Plus, there are end-less crossovers – SUVs that looks less like armoured personnel carriers and more inflated hatchbacks, with just a hint of 4x4 tough-guy padding. And now we have a new Peugeot 408 that, says its maker, is a ‘new breed of car’. In as much as it can be pigeonholed at all, it is an SUV/estate/crossover/hatchback/coupe/fastback. In essence, it’s a low-roofed SUV with…

Mazda CX-60 2.5 Homura Month 4 The story so far The screen went black, mood soon followed suit + Providing reliable transport again - After, that is, a laptop-assisted jump start Logbook Price £48,170 (£52,020 as tested) Performance 17.8kWh battery, 2488cc four-cylinder plus e-motor, PHEV, 323bhp, 5.8sec 0-62mph, 124mph Efficiency 188.3mpg (official), 39.5mpg (tested), 33g/km CO2 Energy cost 20.0p per mile Miles this month 1405 Total miles 7231 And with the simple push of a button, the CX-60 roared to life. But that wasn’t the car’s starter button, it was a button on the laptop belonging to the recovery driver I’d called to my house to resuscitate a tempo-rarily dead Mazda. The problem began with a blank digital instrument cluster. The car fired up one morning but the 12.3-inch gauge…

I’d like to use Our Cars this month to apologise to some of the other road users I’ve embar-rassed. The Cupra’s 0-30mph performance has become quite addictive, and it’s resulted in some dents to the esteem of some pretty exotic machinery. To the Golf GTI with the aftermarket mudflaps and 4D plate: I didn’t mean to leave you behind – and I hope your friends in the back will forget about it eventually. To the Yamaha R6 in Dartford: I’m sorry about that too – and will admit your bike sounds much more interesting than my car. And what about the Lotus Evora joining the M11? I’m sorry, but it was over as soon as my finger accidentally pressed the ‘Cupra’ button… CURTIS MOLDRICH Cupra Born 77kWh 230PS V3 Month…

There’s plenty of design intelligence packed into the XC40. The deep and wide door bins that are fabric-lined to prevent on-the-go rattles. The hinged floor in the boot that folds to create a snug storage area to prevent shopping bags empty-ing their contents. The illuminated charging socket. The grippers on the charging pad that lock your phone in place. Everything functions and operates the way you’d want it to, which some other car makers seem to struggle with. Easily my favourite feature is the lidded cable storage unit beneath the bonnet. Sounds logical, but many EVs have no bespoke storage for cables, resulting in a permanent tangle cluttering up the boot. BEN WHITWORTH Volvo XC40 Twin AWD Ultimate Month 2 The story so far Mix of design intelligence and pace…

1 GIANT TEST WINNER BMW 1-SERIES THE GOOD: Premium and practical; now available in two spicy versions THE BAD: Said spicy models, the ti and M135i, aren’t quite as much a step up in fun as you’d hope THE UGLY: Can BMW spot a good-looking car, let alone design one? THE ONE TO BUY: 1.5-litre 118i M Sport at £31k/£400pcm; all-wheel-drive M135i super-hatch tops £41k HOW DOES NEW GBU WORK? Constantly updated, new GBU highlights the best cars in every class, based on CAR’s in-depth road testing 2 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF THE GOOD: Brain-out default choice still a solid all-rounder; ride, visibility, roominess THE BAD: Seat Leon a very similar package for a lower price THE UGLY: Getting caught publicly raging at the infotainment system THE ONE TO BUY: 1.5 TSI…

1 FERRARI 296 GTB THE GOOD: Timeless styling and a driving experience as good as any of Maranello’s finest THE BAD: You need reflexes like a fighter pilot to drive it as fast as it can go THE UGLY: Touch-sensitive steering-wheel pads make the interface borderline unusable THE ONE TO BUY: Fiorano pack is £25k+ overkill away from the track; keep your 296 road-spec 2 PORSCHE 911 GT3 GIANT TEST WINNER THE GOOD: Spine-tingling sound; 9000rpm redline; total immersion THE BAD: Nothing to see here THE UGLY: Getting on the waiting list to actually buy one. Like winning both The X Factor and The Apprentice THE ONE TO BUY: PDK nice for traffic jams and lap records. But come on – it’s got to be a manual. We’ll take ours…

JG: Look at this! How can Kia continue to be on such a roll, design-wise? It looks different enough to not be a bloated EV6, and the interior is another step forward for the brand. Kia’s managed to make the seven-seater cool. CO: Just because it’s not as troubling as the BMW XM, this is still an eyesore. It invokes the meaningless chunkiness of the GM era that gave us the Chevrolet Orlando and Dodge Nitro. JG: You have to admit that the seating arrangements are clever, surely? Seats that move all the way out to the door’s edge to help those that need it – a solid idea, even if it meant quite a bit more additional engineering. CO: Doubtless a benefit to many people. But truly clever packaging…

Point the finger at whatever reason you like – Brexit, semiconductor shortages, the pandemic, inflation or a simple lack of competitiveness – the UK’s car industry has been harmed by it all in recent years. It’s a sector of the economy that employs around 780,000 people and accounts for around 10 per cent of the UK’s exports. It includes huge car factories, R&D and design centres as well as commercial vehicle and bus manufacturers. But while those numbers sound impressive, data from the Society of Motoring Manu-facturers and Traders (SMMT) says car manufacturing has slumped to its lowest level since the 1960s. Honda has gone from Swindon; Vauxhall Astras are no longer made at Ellesmere Port; Ford makes en-gines but not cars or vans in the UK. Potential incomers are…

There’s no crime in platform sharing, otherwise all car company CEOs would be behind bars. But the car world feels a poorer place when Ford, which has engineered Europe’s dy-namic benchmarks with the Fiesta and Focus hatches, is buying in VW’s MEB electric architecture to under-pin EVs like the new Explorer. ‘The Fiesta and Focus are making way for a new Ford strategy in Eu-rope,’ protests a Ford spokesman. ‘We’re not going to be the same com-pany that people grew up with, going after volume and playing in every single segment. We’re going to dou-ble down on differentiated vehicles that get your pulse racing more.’ Differentiated is a loaded word when the wheelbase is the same as the ID. 4’s to house identical batter-ies, with either 55 or 82kWh capacity.…

Not content with reviving the rotary engine, Mazda’s trend-bucking ways continue with the launch of an all-new diesel engine. An inline-six, 3.3 litres in capacity, it sits in the CX-60 line-up alongside a four-cylinder plug-in hybrid. The new e-SkyActiv D engine is tuned for maximum economy and will be available in the UK in the CX-60 (and forthcoming sev-en-seat CX-80) in 197bhp rear-wheel-drive and 251bhp all-wheel-drive forms. There are three key elements to its ef-ficiency. First, the relatively large capacity: a big, torquey engine is well suited to moving a big car at lower engine loads, and can stay in its ultra-lean-burn phase for longer. Second, the combustion chamber: each is in fact two egg-shaped chambers, optimised to improve the mixing of fuel and air. And third, an injection system…

FAST FUN FOR £30k MUSK’S M CAR OR THE REAL DEAL? Sure, you want a Model 3. But do you want an M2 more? A soulless, silent slab of automotive tofu versus a pure-blood, ozone-zapping, testosterone-oozing M car? Damn right we’re serious. This buying used, petrol versus electric feature is full of comparisons that would have seemed ludicrous a generation ago (Hyundai vs Range Rover, anyone?), but who would have thought even as recently as October 2015, when BMW took the wraps off the first M2, that we’d be suggesting you might prefer an electric family car instead, and that those reasons might have nothing to do with the cash you’d save on running costs? But eight years ago we hadn’t seen, let a lone driven, the Tesla Model 3.…

A rumbly V8 and larger-than-life character are both big parts of its appeal, but not all Over 11 months and 11,000 miles, the novelty never wore off. Whatever sadnesses or joys life has brought, the Mach 1 has always made me smile. A rumbly V8 and a larger-than-life character are both big parts of its appeal, but there’s a very adept car beneath it all. Long-distance comfort; cul-tured road manners; surprising practicality; dynamically re-warding. The Mustang has a reputation for being a bit of a blunt instrument but I love the Mach 1’s steering, suspension and balance, even if it does need a careful hand in the wet. You’ll struggle to buy an un-used Mach 1, as the next-gener-ation Mustang is imminent. Much to my own surprise, I’ve been trying…

Audi e -Tron GT Month 4 The story so far The more affordable of Audi’s two-car e-Tron GT range, with us for six months + Style; speed; colour; badge; range; refinement - It’s not a Taycan but that’s no longer bothering us – this is a deeply capable and charismatic car in its own right Logbook Price £83,285 (£93,575 as tested) Performance 93.4kWh battery, e-motor, 523bhp, 5.4sec 0-62mph, 152.2mph Efficiency 2.89-2.93 miles per kWh (official), 2.6 (tested) Range 282-286 miles (official), 228 miles (tested) Energy cost 12.0p per mile Miles this month 978 Total miles 3460 Going our for a bike ride? Then you must wear lycra running to a total outfit cost of circa £1500, preferably with the word ‘Rapha’ monogrammed in several places about your wind-cheating person –…

I drive past Munich Legends in Ashdown Forest a couple of times each week in the iX M60, and wonder if my car will win showroom space there in 20 years’ time, where the Batmobiles and E30 M3s now stand. Yes, it has 611bhp and is the M division’s second-ever EV, but after a couple of months I’m not relating to it as an M car at all. The performance is titanic but academic on greasy winter roads in a 2.6-tonne SUV. And while the steering is more engaging and alert than in most EVs, I’m aware of how hard the stability algorithm is working to keep that mass in check, with the very occasional cautionary slip as it momentarily fails to. More Munich laggard than legend, for now at…

The noun ‘feel’ is all bundled up in what makes a car so appealing or otherwise to drive – but boy is it a tricky thing to define (who’d make a career of that?), never mind engineer. Feel is what’s missing from the Golf R Estate. Drive around at a sensible sort of pace and there’s no tingle through the steering, no soulful engine note, no zesty sort of pep from the powertrain. In fact what most says ‘performance car’ is that the R’s ride isn’t very good (though plenty of performance cars do ride well) and that the bucket seats are superb (al-though set too high). This is a shame, because the R can be rewarding and exciting to drive, but only when you drive it really fast does…

1 HONDA CIVIC TYPE R THE GOOD: Feel, feedback, focus: a phenomenal full-size hot hatch THE BAD: It costs an equally full-size £47k. Hot hatches are no longer a performance bargain (and are now a dying breed) THE UGLY: That it’ll probably be the last of its kind. Good job it’s one of the best THE ONE TO BUY: There’s just the one model. Expect to pay around £500 on a PCP with an £11k deposit GROUP TEST WINNER 2 TOYOTA GR YARIS THE GOOD: Toyota’s made the kind of rally-replica homologation special we thought was gone forever THE BAD: Road noise like a death-metal gig. Bring earplugs THE UGLY: Good luck getting your hands on a new one; supply seriously limited THE ONE TO BUY: Opt for the Circuit…

1 FORD RANGER RAPTOR (NEW) THE GOOD: Unbelieveable off-road pace, especially with V6 THE BAD: Not exactly wieldy THE UGLY: Petrol V6’s economy doesn’t bear thinking about THE ONE TO BUY: A 2.0-litre diesel is available; buy the V6 2 JEEP WRANGLER (USED) THE GOOD: Iconic looks; unstoppable off the beaten track THE BAD: Awful on it THE UGLY: Nowhere to put your left foot THE ONE TO BUY: Diesel has more palatable running costs INEOS GRENADIER (NEW) THE GOOD: Arguably more Defender than the current Landy THE BAD: Which means it’s much better off the road than on THE UGLY: Currently feels unfinished in places THE ONE TO BUY: The petrol MITSUBISHI PAJERO EVO (USED) THE GOOD: A Dakar homologation special THE BAD: Not actually that quick any more…

THIS MONTH’S WINNERS AT A GLANCE… BEST SUB-£500pcm PHEV PEUGEOT 308 Design makes you look twice; actually worth a second look BEST £500pcm+ PHEV BMW X5 45e Smooth, soothing, practical, and rapid too BEST SPORTS CAR PORSCHE 911 If the GT3’s too hardcore, the Carrera is anything but BEST SUPERCAR FERRARI 296 GTB Plugging in hasn’t meant losing the magic. Far from it BEST SUV/CROSSOVER LAND ROVER DEFENDER Doesn’t ruin the original’s legacy. Adds lifestyle appeal BEST SMALL HATCH PEUGEOT 208 Premium-car feel and interior style in a teeny, chic package BEST FAMILY HATCH BMW 1-SERIES Yes, it’s gone front-wheel drive. Still fun, now has space BEST HOT HATCH HONDA CIVIC TYPE R Pricey, it’s true, but feels special enough to justify it …AND THE REST OF OUR FAVOURITES BEST…