Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2025 i What Car?

If you’re not sure what to buy, it can be tempting to follow the crowd. But while the argument that something must be better if it’s more popular is one of the oldest around, it’s also one of the most flawed. After all, does McDonald’s make the tastiest burgers because it shifts billions of them? Is Taylor Swift a more talented musician than Mozart because she’s had more number one hits? Okay, it’s probably best if you don’t ask any Government ministers that last one, but you get the point. And it’s the same story with cars: just because a particular model is among the UK’s top 10 sellers, it’s no guarantee of greatness. For this issue, then, we decided to see how many of the nation’s favourite cars actually…

IN AN AUTOMOTIVE world dominated by downsized turbocharged engines and high-tech four-wheel drive systems, the new Aston Martin Vanquish roars in as something of a dinosaur. But then, who didn’t enjoy Jurassic Park? While the latest Vanquish does indeed have a brace of turbochargers strapped to its engine, the latter is very much T-Rex in both size and anger. There’s no downsizing here; it’s a mighty 5.2-litre V12 with 824bhp, all of which is sent to the rear wheels. That’s more power than the Bentley Continental GT (771bhp) and the naturally aspirated Ferrari 12Cilindri (819bhp) can muster. Stamp on the Vanquish’s accelerator and it surges forward with a force that pins you into your seat like a hungry velociraptor. ‘Relentless’ doesn’t even begin to describe it. Aston Martin’s engineers have…

WHAT DO THE Apple iPhone, the Bible and the Tesla ModelY have in common? Well, at one time or another, they’ve all taken the title of ‘best-selling’. And in the case of the Model Y, it was the world’s best-selling car in 2023 – before slipping into second place last year. That’s got to have annoyed the Teslarati, which is perhaps why the American brand has responded with an updated model. The new Model Y looks suitably futuristic, with its bonnet and front bumper split by a light bar that stretches the full width of the car. New front ducts are designed to channel air around the car (to make it slipperier), while a second light bar features at the rear. Speaking of the rear, Tesla says it has redesigned…

Price from £21,210 What Car? rating A FEW MOMENTS of peace; those unexpectedly warm and sunny winter days; a surprise phone call from a friend. It’s easy to take these wonderful things for granted. And in a world dominated by SUVs and continuing electric car narratives, you might argue the same is true of the Volkswagen Polo. This small hatchback is a superb all-rounder, and in most specifications it’s nearly viceless. It’s easy to think of the Polo as the VW Golf’s little brother, but in many regards they stand toe to toe. It’s good to drive, although it’ll find more favour with those who seek a smooth drive than among pursuers of B-road thrills. Only the very nastiest of urban potholes can upset its composure, and motorway pockmarks cause…

Price from £32,400 What Car? rating THE CITY OF Tucson, Arizona, sits at the bottom of the Tucson mountains of the Saguaro National Park, and on the edge of the Sonora Desert. Between a rock and a hard place, then. The Hyundai Tucson, meanwhile, finds itself even more hemmed in by hostile terrain. In the 10 best-selling cars of 2024, six of them are family SUVs, and competition could hardly be closer. So, does the Tucson deserve the position it’s carved itself? Well, on the basis that the Kia Sportage – our Family SUV of the Year – grabbed the second-place spot, it makes sense that the Tucson should also earn a place in the top 10; the two models are closely related, after all. In fact, while the Tucson…

Price from £23,500 What Car? rating YOU COULDN’T ACCUSE the Nissan Juke of being a boring box on wheels. Since the first Juke came along in 2010, its froggy face and quirky shape have been turning heads and winning hearts – and clocking up big sales. Back then, the Juke was alone in the small SUV class, so it’s no wonder buyers who were attracted to its high riding position overlooked its limitations. Now, though, few car makers don’t have a small SUV. And while the Juke – now in its second generation – is not a bad car as such, we think there are much better choices. Hence the Juke’s three-star What Car? rating. Let’s start with the negatives. Whether you go for the entry-level 1.0-litre petrol engine or…

Price from £26,325 What Car? rating THIS FORMER WHAT Car? Car of the Year remains the very best small SUV to drive – and even better, it does this without costing a fortune in petrol. In all but the entry-level model, mild hybrid technology assists the Puma’s 1.0-litre petrol engine, contributing to a healthy official fuel economy figure of 52.3mpg in our chosen 1.0 Ecoboost 125 mHEV version. Despite its frugality, this 123bhp engine has plenty of pep; in our hands, the Puma accelerated from 0-60mph in just 8.9sec. It never feels out of breath on faster roads, either, so motorway overtakes are a breeze. While you’re better off looking at the Skoda Kamiq or Volkswagen T-Roc if ride comfort is your top priority, the Puma is never uncomfortable. But…

1 FIAT OVERALL RATING Many Fiat owners are distinctly unimpressed with the servicing experience. The brand’s satisfaction scores for attitude and quality of work are significantly lower than those of the highest-scoring brands, and value for money is the second lowest of all 30 brands, just below the score for Porsche, with 25% of participating owners rating Fiat poor or very poor. There were also numerous complaints of a poor dealership service. For example, one respondent – the owner of an electric 500e – told us: “The dealers don’t appear to know how my car works and don’t seem to be properly trained to repair it.” This is particularly bad news in the light of the latest What Car? Reliability Survey, in which Fiat was towards the bottom of the…

NEW CUPRA TAVASCAN V1 List price £47,340 Target Price £47,340 Cupra hopes its first electric SUV will follow the success of the Born hatchback, with its promise of driver appeal and generous standard equipment NEW FORD CAPRI RWD Extended Range Select List price £48,075 Target Price £45,795 Reinvented as a familyfriendly electric SUV, the new Capri is related to the Tavascan under the skin but has an even longer official range: a hefty 389 miles NEW KIA EV6 RWD GT-Line List price £48,575 Target Price £46,305 This former What Car? Car of the Year is spacious, good to drive and fast to charge. A recent update (including a larger battery for a longer range) should make it even harder to beat DEPENDING ON WHERE you are in life, you might…

Mileage 2284 List price £45,495 Target Price £40,795 Price as tested £46,745 Test range 290 miles SOME OF THE electric vehicles (EVs) I’ve run over the years have had quite short ranges, leading to anxiety on longer journeys and a frustrating number of stops to replenish the battery. So, it’s a relief to be back in one with a long range, as is the case with my Renault Scenic. Okay, it isn’t achieving anything like its official figure of 369 miles, but for now I’m going to blame the cold conditions we’ve experienced since I took delivery. Besides, my car is still proving capable of covering up to 290 miles between top-ups, and I’m confident it would exceed 300 miles in warmer conditions (when batteries are at their most efficient).…

Mileage 6034 List price £48,695 Target Price £45,936 Price as tested £49,571 Test range 250 miles AT ITS MAXIMUM charging rate of 150kW, getting the battery of my BYD Seal from 10-80% takes 38 minutes. But with most UK ‘rapid’ chargers unable to deliver electricity at such speeds, I’ve found that being parked up for around an hour is more typical. And you know what: most of the time, I’m fine with that. No, I wasn’t that happy on my way back from a recent car launch in Gaydon, when an unexpected detour meant I had to make an unscheduled charging stop, which in turn forced me to sort out some emergency child care at no notice. However, when I’m expecting to have to top up the battery mid-journey, it’s…

Mileage 11,928 List price £51,550 Target Price £51,550 Price as tested £56,080 Test range 316 miles “YOU KNOW MY temperature’s risin’, and the jukebox blows a fuse,” sang Chuck Berry. And that sums up my recent experiences with the Volkswagen ID 7. Winter is far from my favourite time of year, because I’m often leaving home – and returning – in dank, cold weather. But the temperature has been rising in my ID 7, because it’s the first time I’ve really felt the effects of its optional heat pump. This gadget harvests heat generated by the battery and other components, allowing it to feed warm air into the car’s interior while consuming less power than in an electric car without one. It’s a surprisingly dry heat that’s emitted, and there’s…

‘We’ve got Best Buys for every need’THE WHAT CAR? TEAM TARGET PRICE This is the maximum we think you should pay for your new car. It’s set by our team of mystery shoppers, who spend every day haggling with dealers to see what discounts are available across the UK. HOW WE RANK OUR TOP 10s Every year, we drive hundreds of new or updated models. We test them back to back with rivals. We look at everything from comfort to costs, practicality to performance, and refinement to reliability. Then, armed with all the facts, we can definitively name the best model in each class, plus its closest rivals (and the ones to avoid). No matter what your priorities are, you’ll find a car that’s ideal for your needs. KEY INFORMATION…

WE’D LIKE TO say that the new Citroën C3 Aircross will have a tough time following up on the previous one – perhaps to reel you in with some tension and suspense – but we’d be lying. The outgoing model ended its days with a two-star rating, due to rivals outclassing it in virtually every area other than practicality. Fortunately, for this new, second-generation C3 Aircross, Citroën has started again from scratch. It sits on new underpinnings shared with the latest C3 hatchback and the similarly proportioned Vauxhall Frontera, with buyers offered the choice of petrol engines (with or without mild hybrid technology) or pure electric power – the latter bringing the name e-C3 Aircross. The new C3 Aircross is also larger than before and, for the first time in…

FROM XEROX TO SpaceX, there’s a long history of technology companies using the letter ‘X’, so it seems appropriate that the XPeng G6 is described by its maker as a ‘smart EV’ (electric vehicle) – the automotive equivalent of your smartphone or smart TV. The justification for this claim is that the G6 features artificial intelligence (AI) and an abundance of electronic safety aids. However, instead of the ‘X’ being there for marketing purposes, XPeng is actually named after its founder, He Xiaopeng. Still, regardless of how smart it is, the G6 faces stiff competition; rival electric SUVs include the Renault Scenic, Skoda Elroq and Tesla Model Y. There are three versions of the G6 to choose from: the RWD (rear-wheel drive) Standard Range, RWD Long Range and AWD (all-wheel…

SPEND TIME ON social media and you’ll eventually stumble upon a ‘life hack’ video. From squeezing the last bit of toothpaste out of the tube to patching up a hole in your jeans, we love little tricks that make our lives easier. Here at What Car?, we’ve got one that’s a little more niche: when buying a family electric SUV, the cheaper rear-wheel-drive (RWD) model is almost always the smarter choice. That might sound counterintuitive, but we’ve seen it play out with the Kia EV6, Polestar 4 and Porsche Macan Electric. RWD versions tend to be more affordable, sharper to drive and more efficient than their four-wheel-drive counterparts. But does the same logic apply to Audi’s latest electric contender, the Q6 e-tron? We were impressed with the four-wheel-drive quattro version’s…

Price from £36,310 What Car? rating WHEN THE XC40 was launched in November 2017, it was a game changer for Volvo; it showed that the brand could beat premium rivals on their own turf. Sure, Volvo had occasionally produced class-leading models before. However, those had always stood out for very Volvo-like qualities, such as practicality and safety. While the XC40, too, was a family-friendly choice that earned a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating, it was just as impressive in other respects. It had a more upmarket interior than an Audi Q3, for instance, at a time when we were used to Audi blowing everyone away for quality. And when we pitted the XC40 against the BMW X1 and Volkswagen Tiguan, we discovered that Volvo’s new car had the best driving…

Price from £27,760 What Car? rating WE AT WHAT CAR? tend to focus on a car’s tangible attributes; it’s not our job to judge style or image. We’d be wrong to say that buyers don’t think such matters matter, though, and there’s no doubt that image has contributed to the Volkswagen Golf’s enormous success – half a century of it so far, and counting. The Golf has always been a common sight on the leafy streets of suburbia – a model of urban respectability. But more than most of its family car rivals, the Golf seems just as likely to be parked next to a Porsche on the drive of a gated mansion as it is to be the sole car of a household of more modest means. It’s classless,…

Price from £30,135 What Car? rating WHEN YOU THINK of a typical family SUV, the Nissan Qashqai is probably the first to come to mind, perhaps because it’s widely regarded as forging the template for what would become a hugely popular type of car. Indeed, since the Qashqai went on sale in 2007, it has been a staple among the UK’s best-selling cars. And while its influence has spawned many imitations (some of which beat the Qashqai at its own game), the car that started it all is still a strong contender. Happily, our favourite version of the latest Qashqai is also one of the cheapest. Its 1.3-litre DIG-T 140 petrol engine uses mild hybrid tech to boost fuel efficiency, and the six-speed manual gearbox has a light but positive…

NEW SUZUKI SWIFT 1.2 Mild Hybrid Ultra List price £20,299 Target Price £19,710 Suzuki’s latest Swift, with its mild hybrid tech, promises fantastic fuel economy USED VOLKSWAGEN POLO 1.0 TSI 95 Match Price new £22,840 Price now £19,500* The Polo has long been famed for offering a big-car feel, and you get a big discount nearly new FOR A WHILE, it has seemed as if the sands of time could all but bury the affordable small car. With car buyers shifting their affections to SUVs, and manufacturers keen on promoting their larger and more profitable models, many long-running small cars have fallen by the wayside. One survivor, though, is the Suzuki Swift. The latest version of this compact five-door hatchback was launched last year. It’s roomy and zesty to drive…

LIKE A SURPRISING number of folk who end up writing about cars for a living, the occupation I actually earned a degree in is car design. Of these folk, though, perhaps not very many of them are as geeky as me, and my new car – a metallic British Racing Green Mini Countryman – is already bringing my nerdish tendencies to the fore. People who are fascinated by design often look at the latest thing while also pondering the past. When I see a new car for the first time, it’s normal for me to consider its predecessors, and that gives me an excuse to raid my library of ancient car brochures. Most of you will know that the Mini name has been on quite a journey since 1959 –…

YOU’VE ALL HEARD the expression ‘putting your money where your mouth is’, yet few of us actually get to do it very often. Just such an opportunity did recently arise for me, though. You see, as What Car?’s used cars editor, I was happy to oversee the Volvo XC40 being crowned as our 2024 Used Car of the Year. And no sooner had that duty been dispatched than I took delivery of my brand new Volvo EC40 – a sharply styled electric SUV derived from the XC40. Derived? Well, yes, let me explain. The 2020 XC40 Recharge was the first all-electric XC40. Then, a couple of years later, it gained a swoopy, duck-tailed coupé SUV sibling called the C40 Recharge. And that’s essentially what I’ve got, except a recent change…

IN PRODUCTION 2020-PRESENT  PRICE FROM £13,000 OUR FAVOURITE VERSION 40 TFSIe Technik YOU MIGHT THINK a car wearing a premium badge should be a bespoke design in order to differentiate itself from cheaper, more mundane models, but the Audi A3 is proof that this isn’t necessarily a better approach. This posh family car – a rival for the BMW 1 Series and Mercedes-Benz A-Class – has much in common with the Volkswagen Golf, but it has never had any trouble convincing buyers that it’s worth paying a bit extra for. As well as being stylish, comfortable and practical, the current, fourth-generation A3 offers a wide range of engines and trims to cater for different needs and tastes. In earlier models, the petrols include a 109bhp 1.0-litre 30 TFSI and a…

STAR RATINGS Outstanding Above average Average Below average Poor TARGET PRICE The What Car? Target Price is the maximum you should pay for a new car and is researched by our crack team of mystery shoppers. Haggling for the best price with salespeople can be an uncomfortable experience, but it’s made much easier with our Target Price as a realistic figure to aim for. TARGET PCP Based on the Target Price figures set by our mystery shoppers, Target PCP is a fair monthly payment to aim for if you’re taking out a personal contract purchase (PCP) finance agreement at a car dealership. Most of the deals 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…

YOU COULD ARGUE that choosing a Mini Cooper for everyday family duty is like drinking water from a thimble when you’re thirsty; there are much more suitable vessels for the job. Happily, though, the somewhat impractical three-door model is now joined by a rather handier five-door version. This is the second time Mini’s most popular model has received the five-door treatment (the first instance being the 2014-2024 generation), and the formula is almost identical this time around. Take the three-door version, stretch it a bit and add two rear doors. Even in terms of size, this new five-door Cooper is only a few centimetres longer than the previous one. What this all translates to is a rear passenger area with noticeably more leg room than that of the three-door Cooper;…

YOU COULD ARGUE that any publicity is good publicity, but bringing back a familiar name from the past has been a controversial move for some car makers. That’s because the car to which the name is attached sometimes bears little resemblance to its predecessor, and while the new Fiat Grande Panda might seem like it could fall into that trap, let us explain why that’s not entirely the case. You see, the Grande Panda isn’t being coined as a direct replacement for the long-serving Panda city car that was discontinued in the UK last year, but rather a new addition to the family. A more direct successor to the ‘traditional’ Panda is eventually expected to follow – at least overseas. So, pitchforks lowered, what’s the Grande Panda all about? Well,…

SOMETIMES, TAKING A break away from work can leave you feeling recharged, refreshed and ready to push on to new heights. Just ask the Mazda 6; it retired from public life in 2023, but it’s now back in a brand new guise – because it’s gone electric. Now called the 6e, Mazda’s reborn executive car will face electric rivals that include the BMW i4 and Tesla Model 3. There’ll be no mistaking a 6e on the street. Its light-up front grille, which flows into the LED lights, spans almost the full width of the car. A slim LED strip does the same at the rear, beneath a spoiler that deploys at speed. The door handles are flush-mounted, chrome trims accentuate the lower bodysides, and 19in alloy wheels are fitted as…

Target Price is the maximum we think you should pay for your new car. It’s set by our team of mystery shoppers, who continually monitor the discounts available across the UK. Target PCP is a fair monthly payment to aim for if you’re taking out a personal contract purchase (PCP) finance agreement. It’s based on a 48-month term with a 15% deposit and an 8000-mile annual limit, unless stated otherwise.…

Price from £24,995 What Car? rating MG WAS ONCE a struggling brand in the UK, but after a Chinese buyout, a cash injection and a complete rethink of its position in the market, it’s now hugely successful. One car in particular that has driven the brand’s growth is the MG HS, and it’s recently been given a full revamp to help solidify its position on this list. This second generation of MG’s family SUV was launched towards the end of 2024, with an all-new exterior and interior design, new tech and updated engines. But despite the refresh, it retains the key feature that made the original HS so appealing: a temptingly low price. Both the petrol and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) versions of the HS are thousands cheaper than the equivalent…

Price from £46,990 What Car? rating YOU’LL HAVE ALREADY read about the new Tesla Model Y and its upgraded features earlier in this issue (p20), but the car that’s been a regular feature in the list of best sellers over the past year is this pre-facelift version. And even with that new model waiting in the wings, don’t go thinking that the current Model Y is old hat; indeed, it remains one of the most forward-looking electric SUVs you can buy. The centrepiece of the Model Y’s interior is its giant, 15.0in touchscreen, which governs almost every function of the car. You’ll find no digital instrument cluster or separate climate control panel here; it’s all on that screen. Fortunately, Tesla’s software is fairly intuitive, and while some of the screen’s…

Price from £29,890 What Car? rating KIA HAS BEEN making waves in recent years with excellent, award-winning electric SUVs such as the EV3 and EV6, but those models still have some way to go before they’ll topple the brand’s more conventional petrol-powered family SUV in the affections of car buyers. With its boomerang-shaped daytime running lights, the Sportage presents a distinctive, handsome face when you see one in a car park or coming towards you on the road – which seems to happen multiple times per day now. That tells us that lots of British car buyers have great taste and sensible heads on their shoulders, because we too rate the Sportage very highly (it’s our reigning Family SUV of the Year). No other model in this category is as…

1 LEXUS OVERALL RATING Over the years, Toyota’s luxury car brand has built up a reputation for top-notch customer service as well as extremely well-built vehicles, so it’s no surprise to see it at the pinnacle of our satisfaction survey. Lexus gained the highest score of all of the 30 car brands, partly on the strength of the politeness of its staff and the quality of the work carried out. Perhaps more surprisingly, it was rated fifth best for value for money, behind Dacia, Honda, Suzuki and Tesla. Lexus owners didn’t just score its dealer service departments highly; they also sang their praises in the comments they left. For example, one owner said: “The customer service I have received has been fantastic,” and others told us the dealership service had…

YOU MIGHT THINK the Renault 4 (R4) is simply another new car that’s borrowing the name of an ancestor to capitalise on nostalgia. And yes, the French brand’s designers have rather plundered the 1960s original for inspiration – just like with the closely related Renault 5 (R5). But the R4, with its compact dimensions and boxy SUV shape, seems a perfect fit for 2025 – particularly given its all-electric underpinnings. These include a 52kWh (usable) battery in the first UK cars to go on sale, bringing a 230-mile official range. A more affordable 40kWh version is under consideration. The R4 acknowledges its forebear visually; this is seen in the character lines pressed into its bonnet and bodysides, the shape of the doors, the rear quarter-light windows and the protruding rear…

ROBBIE WILLIAMS MAY have sung about ‘a man for all seasons’, but if he’d been inclined to croon about a vehicle rather than a person, I reckon my Ford Ranger Raptor would have been his muse. You see, after eight months and more than 20,000 miles with me behind the wheel, this sporty pick-up truck has gone. And now I feel bereft of its many talents, which made themselves known in all sorts of situations and weather conditions. In a very real sense, it conquered everything in my world, whether I was at work or play. When I began my time with the Raptor in mid-March, the spring sunshine was perfect for weekend getaways. So, it wasn’t long before my partner and I ventured out into the Cheshire countryside with…

Mileage 1811 List price £48,095 Target Price £43,317 Price as tested £50,240 Test economy 39.5mpg MY NISSAN X-TRAIL is jam-packed with technology – but not in an overwhelming way. In some cars, changing the temperature requires more mental agility than it takes to solve a Sudoku puzzle, but the X-Trail does a fantastic job of making sure everything falls easily to hand and is logically laid out. As I mentioned in my first report, the infotainment system is great, and functions such as the electronic driver aids and climate control have their own physical controls, which I find much more user-friendly than having everything on the touchscreen. Turning off the speed limit warning sound, for example, can be done at the touch of a button. Of course, I don’t do…

Darren’s Formentor proved comfortable and economical on a four-up break to Norfolk Mileage 2411List price £51,970 Target Price £48,885 Price as tested £53,825 Test economy 49.1mpg UNTIL RECENTLY, THE only passengers I’d ever carried in my company cars were grown-up friends and family, but for the past few months my regular roster has included my girlfriend’s two children: Elijah and Freya. And what better test of a family SUV like the Cupra Formentor than for it to take us all away for a well-earned break by the seaside? With the car loaded to the gunwales with bedding, clothes, food and toys, we set off from my home in Sunbury, Surrey, for the idyllic Norfolk town of Wells-next-the-Sea – a journey that can take upwards of three hours. I’d been able…

FORD MUSTANG MACH-E VOLKSWAGEN ID 4 BY NOW, YOU’LL have read all about how the reimagined Ford Capri fares against its electric SUV rivals (see p56). Don’t forget, though, that a similar story was unfolding five years ago. In 2020, when electric vehicles (EVs) were far from as popular as they are now, Ford turned to the long-running Mustang nameplate to give its electric SUV an identity. It even went as far as to adapt certain styling elements from the then-current Mustang coupé to fit, and the Mach-E was born as Ford’s first production EV for the UK. Ford must have been roundly patting itself on the back for getting its electric SUV on sale before Volkswagen, but that brand wasn’t far behind, with the ID 4 arriving in early…

BMW 2 Series Gran Coupé Price from £34,915 DATA FACT Four-door coupé promises up to 53.5mpg in petrol-engined 220 M Sport trim. BYD Sealion 7 Price from £46,990 DATA FACT Largest car yet from BYD is an electric family SUV wth an official range of 312 miles in top-spec Excellence AWD form. Cupra Terramar Price from £37,605 DATA FACT Family SUV offers plug-in hybrid power, giving the 1.5 eHybrid 272 VZ1 a company car tax rating of just 5%, and low bills as a result. Peugeot e-408 Price from £42,175 DATA FACT Peugeot’s rival to the Tesla Model 3 falls some way short of that car’s official range, promising 280 miles (in Allure trim). Gone but not forgotten Fiat’s 500 has finally turned its back on petrol power p153…

‘The 500 is part of the retro revolution that has swept through our lives’ LAST CHRISTMAS, THOUSANDS of people excitedly tore the wrapping paper off their brand new record players. High-street music shops such as HMV now stock so much vinyl that CDs are crammed tightly into a dusty corner of the store. Vinyl is trendy, and in an MP3 world, only weird old fuddy-duddies listen to CDs. Yes, vinyl records can sound amazing on the right equipment, but the recent resurgence of the format has more to do with fashion than it does performance. It’s part of the retro revolution that’s swept through many facets of modern life, shaping the music we listen to, the clothes we wear and – particularly – the cars we drive. The Fiat 500…