Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2022 i What Car?

We’ve all been there. You go to buy something, thinking you know exactly what you want, only to have your convictions shaken when you see the next model up. But is the pricier product really worth the extra? ‘These days, small hatchbacks like the Fiesta feel a lot more grown-up’ Well, if you’re looking at phones or computers, I’m afraid your guess is as good as ours, but when it comes to cars, we can absolutely help. In fact, from page 70, we’ve got just such a comparison; we’ve pitted the freshly facelifted Ford Fiesta against its bigger brother, the Focus, which has also been treated to a nip and tuck. In the past, we’d have argued that you got what you paid for. However, these days small hatchbacks like…

George.Hill@haymarket.com MANY OF US are attracted to the finer things in life, whether that’s with our choice of tonic, designer footwear or premium supermarket. Unsurprisingly, that applies to our taste in cars too – which is why Mazda is trying to move upmarket, starting with its new CX-60 large SUV. This Audi Q5, BMW X3 and Lexus NX rival sits on bespoke underpinnings that can accommodate various engine options, including Mazda’s first plug-in hybrid (PHEV), a mild hybrid petrol and a mild hybrid diesel. The first to arrive is the PHEV version, which combines a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with an electric motor to produce a total of 323bhp and 369lb ft of torque. That’s enough to propel the CX-60 from 0-62mph in 5.8sec. The motor gets its energy from…

George.Hill@haymarket.com IF YOU WANT a zero-emissions car with serious load-lugging ability, there aren’t currently many alternatives to massive electric SUVs. But Audi is looking to change that with the A6 Avant e-tron, a fully electric estate car to take on the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo and Sport Turismo – the only premium electric wagons on sale right now. Unveiled as a concept car, the A6 Avant e-tron is based on new-generation electric underpinnings that are being developed with Porsche. These will be shared not only with the production version of the five-door A6 Sportback e-tron (which was shown as a concept last year), but also the upcoming Q6 e-tron SUV and the next Porsche Macan, which will be fully electric too. The A6 Avant e-tron is similar in length and…

Darren.Moss@haymarket.com SOME BRANDS NEED to work harder than others to grab your attention. Shaolin makes smart watches that can do most of what an Apple Watch can do, for example, but it doesn’t have queues around the corner whenever it launches a new product. The same is true of cars – but while you might not have heard of its maker, there are good reasons to pay attention to the new Fisker Ocean electric SUV. For one thing, it looks suitably 22nd century, with ultra-thin LED lights, muscular haunches and a sloping rear roofline reminiscent of a coupé SUV’s. Fisker boss Henrik Fisker may be best known for the ill-fated Karma range-extender electric car, but he has some impressive design credits to his name, including the Aston Martin V8 Vantage…

Will.Nightingale@haymarket.com THE NEW BMW 2 Series Coupé must be one of the few cars on sale with no direct rivals. There are plenty of other two-door coupés, of course – just none quite this small. Unless you count the Audi TT, and that’s more of a sports car with token rear seats. Despite its name, this 2 Series has little in common with the more sensible 2 Series Gran Coupé and 2 Series Active Tourer, which are based on the 1 Series hatchback. Instead, it’s related to our reigning Coupé of the Year, the larger 4 Series, and has a near-identical interior and infotainment system. You’ll find lots of detail about all that stuff on page 76, where we’ve pitted the range-topping M240i against the Audi RS3 Sportback. The 2…

New Honda Civic preview Overhaul brings fresh looks, a new interior and hybrid power to crucial family car Real-world EV range test We see how hot and cold weather changes how far your electric car can travel Porsche Taycan estate Why the new Taycan Cross Turismo is one of the best performance cars around Lexus NX in-depth review This plug-in hybrid SUV has a big range, but is it worthy of a spot on your shortlist?…

Use your phone to scan the code by the car you like, or search for it on whatcar.com and click the ‘Get best price’ button. We’ll alert dealers in your area so they can compete for your business, but they can’t see your details until you’re ready to buy. You can request quotes on as many cars as you like, and your ‘My offers’ page lets you view them all in one place. While our Target PCP price allows direct finance comparisons, you can also request personalised finance quotes.…

IF YOU’RE IN the market for a new or used car, you’ll want to make sure that it won’t cost you the Earth to run, and that means choosing one that gives you the most miles per tank of fuel. However, the official fuel economy figures you’ll see printed in sales brochures and on manufacturer websites aren’t all that realistic, and that’s why we conduct our own real-world tests. Our True MPG tests are conducted in a laboratory under tightly controlled conditions to ensure repeatability within 1%, but they are based on a real-world route that takes in town, rural and motorway driving. The results reflect what’s achievable if you’re driving gently and sticking to speed limits but aren’t resorting to any unrealistically slow acceleration or special ‘hypermiling’ techniques. These,…

Chris.Haining@haymarket.com BY NOW YOU’LL have read our first drive of the Nissan Ariya (page 10), so you know how it stacks up compared with rivals. However, while objectivity is essential when assessing a brand new car, showroom appeal is a big factor in whether it’ll find popularity. There’s no doubting just how pivotal – and ambitious – the Ariya is in Nissan’s plan for the future; it’s a flagship that seeks to represent just what the Japanese brand can offer in a post-petrol world, and it operates at a price point outside Nissan’s usual comfort zone. In fact, it faces premium models such as the Audi Q4 Sportback e-tron head on, plus it needs to lure Tesla loyalists away from the Model Y – and that car comes from the…

Steve.Huntingford@haymarket.com 55 quattro 96kWh S line AROUND 60% OF people in this country have off-street parking, and those who don’t drive are over-represented at the properties that do without it. However, it’s still estimated that almost 30% of UK motorists would be unable to charge an electric car at home, which is potentially a problem, given that we’re now fewer years away from new petrol and diesel models being banned than we are from Manchester United’s last Premier League title. So, how easy is it to run an electric car when you’re reliant on the public charging network? Well, that’s what I’ve been finding out during 10 months living with my Audi E-tron Sportback. And to be clear, when I say I couldn’t top it up at home, I mean…

Mark.Pearson@haymarket.com 2.0 TSI 300 DSG VZ2 THAT AGE-OLD QUESTION of what might be the best car in the world really depends on which world you inhabit. For some, it’ll be a luxury car with a whisper-quiet engine and a pillow-soft ride. For others, it’s a rip-snorting roadburner so fast that its top speed is counted in light years, and with an interior so uncomfortable that only the very young can get in or out with any dignity. Somewhere in the middle lies the hot hatch. I’ve always loved them, which is why until just recently a Cupra Leon, one of the most impressive and versatile of the latest crop, graced my driveway. For me, its mixture of performance, family-friendly practicality and an upmarket appearance ticked every box, so it must…

Mark.Pearson@haymarket.com BUYING GUIDE In production 2015-present Price from £12,000 Our favourite version 1.5 Sport Nav AFFORDABLE FUN. That’s always been the MX-5’s ethos. Through four generations and more than a million sales, Mazda’s simple little drop-top has proved to be the ultimate real-world sports car: a hoot to drive yet relatively cheap to buy and run. Whatever your mood, the MX-5 is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Even more compact than any of its predecessors, this latest version takes that fun baton and runs with it. Buyers can choose between the traditional soft-top or a folding hard-top model called the RF, which promises greater security and refinement. Under its slanted bonnet, you get the choice of two naturally aspirated petrol engines: a 129bhp 1.5 and a 2.0-litre…

STAR RATINGS TARGET PRICE The What Car? Target Price is the maximum you should pay for a new car and is set by our mystery shoppers. It’s updated each month and our approved dealers guarantee to match it. However, in a lot of cases, they can save you even more: just visit whatcar.com/new-car-deals or call 03302 216207 between 9am and 5pm (standard network fees apply). All Target Prices are correct at the time of going to press. TARGET PCP The Target PCP is a fair monthly fee if you’re taking out a personal contract purchase (PCP) _ nance deal, also set by our mystery shoppers. Most are over 48 months with a 15% deposit and an 8000-mile annual limit. Those marked with an asterisk are over 36 months and those…

Will.Nightingale@haymarket.com ELECTRIC CARS HAVE been around since Victorian times, but the Nissan Leaf is widely credited with bringing the concept into the modern age. Launched in 2011 – when the G-Wiz quadricycle was Britain’s best-selling electric vehicle (EV) and the only Tesla you could buy was essentially a Lotus Elise stuffed with cells – it showed the world that battery power was a viable personal transport option. So why has it taken Nissan more than a decade to follow the Leaf with another fully electric model (unless you count the E-NV200 Combi, which is basically a van with windows)? Well, it’s fair to say that EVs didn’t take off as quickly as the Japanese brand hoped. It renewed the Leaf in 2017 but otherwise stuck to petrol and diesel engines.…

Dan.Jones@haymarket.com COMBINING TWO THINGS that people love in an effort to make them better is a risky business. Add peanut butter to chocolate and you get a tasty treat; add mayonnaise to chocolate and you’d have a culinary disaster. In the car world, a combo that has gone down surprisingly well is that of coupé and SUV, promising much of the practicality of the latter without the usual boxy shape. If it’s electric as well, so much the better. However, we’ve never seen Skoda attempting to blend such contrasting flavours – until now. Not only is the Enyaq Coupé iV the Czech brand’s inaugural coupé SUV, but it also marks the first time the sporty vRS badge has been applied to an electric model. As the name suggests, it’s based…

Darren.Moss@haymarket.com WHAT DO THE War of the Worlds, Ben Hur and Cinderella have in common? They’re all films that came out in the 1950s but have been remade for modern times. The same thing can happen with cars, and the Volkswagen ID. Buzz is the latest example of an era-defining car that’s been pulled into the 21st century. While its design and distinctive two-tone paintwork hark back to the hippy-pleasing Type 2 Camper of the 1950s and 1960s, the rest of the ID. Buzz is bang up to date. It’s a pure electric vehicle and shares much of its underpinnings with Volkswagen’s ID.4 electric SUV. At 4.7 metres long and 1.9 metres high, the ID. Buzz is significantly larger than the ID.4, though; in fact, it’s nearly the size of…

Steve.Huntingford@haymarket.com WHETHER IT’S BLOCKBUSTER, Blackberry or maybe a brand that doesn’t begin with a B that first springs to mind, we can all name examples of companies that failed to move with the times and went out of business as a result. The new Lotus Eletre is intended to ensure that its maker doesn’t join that list. By their very nature, SUVs are comparatively heavy vehicles, and electric SUVs are heavier still, making them a complete contrast to the lightweight sports cars that Lotus has traditionally specialised in. And yet the reality is that those sports cars sell in tiny numbers. It’s not hard to see why moving into the booming electric SUV market appeals to Lotus, then. And in an effort to ensure it can compete, the Eletre uses…

Lawrence.Cheung@haymarket.com TALK ABOUT BEING late to the party. By the time the Vauxhall Grandland X sauntered into the family SUV shindig in 2018, the Nissan Qashqai had already quaffed 10 years’ worth of champagne and was very much the life and soul. Still, while Vauxhall’s largest SUV didn’t make the kind of big entrance that steals everyone’s attention, its charms have proved enough to gain it a decent following since then. And, now, the Grandland has been treated to a facelift, losing the ‘X’ part of its name amid the changes. Outside, the surgery has given it a stronger family resemblance to its smaller Vauxhall Mokka and Crossland SUV sisters, while inside, an injection of technology seeks to bring the Grandland up to date. Trim levels have been simplified down…

ELECTRIC SUV Porsche Macan Running alongside its petrol-powered sister, the electric Macan will wear a different suit of clothes. It will share tech with 2024’s Audi A6 Avant e-tron, possibly including its 100kWh battery (bigger than that of the current Porsche Taycan), which is expected to give that car a range of up to 435 miles. Price from £70,000 (est) SMALL AND FAMILY SUVS Kia Niro and e-Niro Autumn 2022 Reborn hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric family SUVs look more radical inside and out. Renault Austral Autumn 2022 Hybrid family SUV takes over from Kadjar. Renault Mégane E-Tech September 2022 A Mégane in name only, this electric SUV has a comfy ride and keen pricing is expected. Smart SUV Late 2022 Promises a range of more than 300 miles. Toyota…

Neil.Williams@haymarket.com 2.0 TDI 150 DSG SWB I’VE COME OVER all sensible of late, running a couple of MPVs and, most recently, a plug-in hybrid SUV. Keen to make up for this newfound maturity – and having fond memories of a Volkswagen Amarok pick-up truck I had a few years ago – I knew it was time for a change. I’m an only child, but also the eldest of many cousins, two of whom run their own businesses hiring out high-end Volkswagen T6 California campers and are always telling me how great they are. One of those wouldn’t really suit me as my only working vehicle, but I figured that the Volkswagen Transporter T6.1 Kombi van, with its rear seats (plus Isofix fittings to keep my young son Callum safe) and…

Louis.Shaw@haymarket.com 145 Sport Lux Mileage 1127 List price £31,205 Target Price £30,238 Price as tested £37,045 Test range 122 miles FRANK SINATRA, ROLEX watches and Apple Macs with removable battery packs. There’s nothing wrong with looking back at a great classic – especially when it can inform the future. And this extends to cars. You see, while manufacturers continue to push touchscreen infotainment systems, most of which are distracting to operate on the move, Mazda has instead adopted an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach with the MX-30. True, this means its 8.8in infotainment screen is fairly old-school in some respects; you can’t pinch or swipe like you can on most mobile phones, for example. However, the icons are clearly labelled and the various menus so logically arranged…

George.Hill@haymarket.com MASERATI CLEARLY AGREES that variety is the spice of life, because it’s decided to offer its new Grecale large SUV with a range of power options to help it stand out in a field of talented rivals. From launch, two petrol engines will be available: a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder unit with a 48V mild hybrid system, and a twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6. The V6 produces 325bhp and 332lb ft of torque as standard and can shift the Grecale to 62mph in just 5.3sec. In rangetopping Trofeo versions, power and torque are upped to 523bhp and 457lb ft, and the 0-62mph sprint time drops to just 3.8sec. That matches the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio and BMW X3 M Competition. The 2.0-litre model has a healthy 296bhp and 332lb ft of torque.…

Neil.Winn@haymarket.com THE NEW CITROËN C5 X is a lot like the Palace of Versailles. Both are big and unashamedly luxurious, and both are designed to provide those who spend time inside them with an experience to remember. Indeed, the C5 X stands proud as the largest and most luxurious car Citroën makes. The exterior takes its most striking visual elements from the brand’s CXperience concept car of 2016, but the C5 X has a taller, more SUV-like stance. Despite it also taking design influence from estate cars, we reckon the finished product looks surprisingly cohesive. From launch, the C5 X will be available with 1.2-litre Puretech 130 and 1.6-litre Puretech 180 petrol engines that develop 128bhp and 178bhp respectively, or as a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) 225 with 222bhp when the…

Max.Adams@haymarket.com UNTIL NOW, THE popular Nissan Qashqai has gone without offering some form of electric drive, sticking to conventional petrol and diesel engines. But this new e-Power model is about to change that, although the way it goes about the whole electrification process is very different from that of its hybrid family SUV rivals. As with regular hybrids, the e-Power is aimed at people who find that plugging in an electric vehicle (EV) or plug-in hybrid doesn’t fit into their lifestyle. It promises many of the benefits of a full EV with the range and easy refuelling of a regular petrol or hybrid equivalent. The e-Power system combines a new 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol engine with an electric motor, but unlike a regular hybrid that can use either power source (or…

Dan.Jones@haymarket.com FROM MARY AND Anne Boleyn to Liam and Noel Gallagher, we’ve seen no end of sibling rivalries throughout history. Cleopatra is even said to have caused the demise of three brothers and sisters. An extreme example, but family feuds are never pretty. In which case, it’s strange that Volkswagen joined that list by making three similar-sized cars that go head to head: the T-Cross, T-Roc and Taigo. Of the three, the T-Roc has so far been the golden child, with more than a million sold since launch and a five-star rating from us. After all, it’s comfortable and a Jack of all trades, even coming as a drop-top (the T-Roc Cabriolet) and a rapid sports SUV (the T-Roc R). To cement its position as favourite, it’s been given a…

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Darren.Moss@haymarket.com The price of filling up the average 55-litre family car with petrol is now almost £90 – more than £20 higher than what it was a year ago. Across the country, fuel prices have been hitting record highs, with a litre of petrol averaging more than £1.60 at the time of writing and the same amount of diesel more than £1.70. Part of the reason for this is the effect on oil supplies caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and in part it’s because millions of drivers have been returning to regular office work following the coronavirus pandemic. Oil suppliers are still ramping up production to meet this increased demand. However, you can limit the impact of these price rises on your pocket, and it starts with changing the…

Darren.Moss@haymarket.com THE WORD ‘AUCTION’ brings to mind David Dickinson in Bargain Hunt, cheering on teams to get the best price for antiques. In the real (non-TV) world, auctioneers deal in everything from watches to mansions – and you could save a fortune by getting your next car at one. Why? Well, when you buy a car from an auction house, you’re cutting out the dealer, who will mark up the price to make a profit on the sale. In fact, many of the used cars on dealers’ forecourts came from vehicle auctions. Some UK auction houses will only sell to buyers working in the motor trade, but there are plenty that let members of the public bid too. You can do that by turning up in person on the day…

Darren.Moss@haymarket.com 60 Loft Nav Mileage 1472 List price £34,850 Target Price £34,850 Price as tested £40,005 Test range 256 miles THE GOOD THING about any new technology is that, over time and with enough people using it, the cost of entry comes down. When Oculus launched its Rift virtual reality headset in 2016, for example, it cost a heady £600. Just six years later, the latest and more powerful Oculus Quest 2 can be bought for less than half that. The same is true with electric cars. Price was once a major barrier to entry for many potential owners, but today you can drive a new one for as little as £231 per month. And even my Skoda Enyaq, which is big enough for five people and their luggage, and…

John.Bradshaw@haymarket.com DIG-T 159 N Connecta Xtronic WINDING THE CLOCK back quite a bit, the first car I remember serving as my family’s workhorse was a Vauxhall Chevette. However, these days households are far more likely to choose a family SUV than a traditional hatchback or saloon. And judging by how many of them I see, the Nissan Qashqai remains one of the more popular options. And that got me thinking. The kind of car that ticks a family’s boxes – practicality, reliability, comfort, affordability – ought to suit my requirements pretty well, too. And with the Qashqai such a favourite, surely so many people can’t be wrong? My car’s N-Connecta trim is a far cry from the incredibly basic Chevette of my youth in terms of equipment. Every Qashqai gives…

Allan.Muir@haymarket.com Pro Performance Family Mileage 2655 List price £34,995 Target Price na Price as tested £37,270 Test range 200 miles ADJUSTING TO THE Volkswagen ID.3 from my previous Citroën e-C4 took a little longer than expected, despite both being electric cars. The ID.3 feels more tightly controlled in its body movements than the supremely relaxed e-C4, while its steering is slower and heavier (but not unpleasantly so). Perhaps it’s not surprising that the ID.3 feels slightly ponderous in comparison, given that it weighs around 1800kg – a fair bit more than most rivals. However, now that I’ve got a feel for it, I’m really liking the way the ID.3 drives. It may not snap your head back under acceleration like some electric cars do, but when you go looking for…