Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2026 i What Car?

When I was a kid, I used to watch Tomorrow’s World – partly because there were only four TV channels to choose from, but also because it offered a fascinating insight into the future. Not that it always got things right; I don’t know about you, but I’m still waiting for my robot secretary and am yet to switch to paper underwear. In short, making predictions can be hard, unless you’re going to be as vague as Nostradamus. Fortunately, though, you don’t need to guess when it comes to cars, because in this issue we’ve shared everything we’ve learnt about the new models arriving in 2026. After reading it, you’ll know for sure whether you can go ahead and buy your next car now, or if there’s something just over…

WORKING FROM HOME, suburban living, surf-and-turf dinners… these are just a few examples of how you can enjoy the benefits of two different things at once. And for those looking for a small SUV, the BYD Atto 2 DM-i is designed to offer a similar experience. You might already be aware of the fully electric version of the Atto 2, but the DM-i is a plug-in hybrid (PHEV), aimed at buyers who want to dip a toe in the water of electrification but aren’t yet ready to go the whole hog. Fundamentally, it operates like an electric car, with two electric motors that drive the front wheels. When the battery runs low on charge, a 1.5-litre petrol engine kicks in to generate electricity to top it up, or you can…

REGARDLESS OF THE script or storyline, a film with striking visuals or a charismatic lead can still draw big crowds at the box office. You could say the freshly updated Peugeot 308 is aiming to do a similar thing, because it’s a distinctive, low-slung hatchback that seeks to win over style-conscious family car buyers. Along with a heavily revised nose, the 308’s power options have been updated, with a new mild hybrid petrol engine and a bigger battery for the plug-in hybrid (PHEV). For high-mileage drivers, the diesel alternative is unchanged. The Hybrid 145 model is powered by a 143bhp 1.2-litre engine with mild hybrid electrical assistance to bolster performance and fuel economy and allow brief bursts on battery power alone at low speeds. While it isn’t quite as quick…

IF YOU’RE A fast talker, you might need to pace yourself when telling people about the MG S6, otherwise they’ll think it’s named after the county north-east of London. But hey, TV’s The Only Way is Essex has lasted 35 series so far, so perhaps this new electric family SUV will lodge itself in the public consciousness too. MG certainly hopes so. The S6 slots in between the smaller S5 and the bigger IM6 in the brand’s line-up, to rival the Kia EV6 and Skoda Enyaq, both of which it undercuts on price. And, on paper, that comes without compromise on performance or range. The entry-level S6 Long Range has a single 241bhp motor driving its rear wheels, with performance stacking up well against the equivalent EV6 and Enyaq. The…

Plug-in cars hit with new road tax The 3p-per-mile tax will raise costs for drivers of electric cars and plug-in hybrids by as much as £300 per year DRIVERS OF ELECTRIC and plug-in hybrid cars could have to pay a tax of up to 3p for every mile they drive, the Government has announced. The new measures, announced as part of the Autumn Budget by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, will begin in 2028 and are intended to shore up finances for the Treasury as more drivers switch to greener cars. Drivers of electric vehicles (EVs) have paid road tax since April of this year, having previously paid none at all; the first-year rate is a nominal £10, rising to the standard rate (currently £195) from the second year. At a suggested…

THE CX-5 IS already Mazda’s best-selling model in the UK and Europe, but now this third-generation version has its sights set on beating the class leaders in the family SUV market. In order to be competitive with the likes of the Kia Sportage, Nissan Qashqai and Volkswagen Tiguan, the new CX-5 will need to be good to drive and offer a comfortable, well-appointed interior, reasonable running costs and strong practicality. On the latter front, the new CX-5 is larger all round than the car it replaces, with the aim of improving interior space. The boot has grown by 61 litres to 583 litres, making it larger than the Qashqai’s but still slightly down on the Sportage’s and Hyundai Tucson’s. The engine line-up has been streamlined to just one option: a…

YOU MIGHT BE familiar with the phrase ‘doing things right the first time’, which emphasises the benefits of doing a job properly and thoroughly at the outset to save time and money spent on further revisions in the future. The Volvo XC40 is a great example of this. Over the years, this upmarket family SUV has seen off numerous new rivals – and it’s done so without the need for any major tweaks since it first went on sale back in 2018. This time it’s facing the new, third-generation Audi Q3, which is aiming to address the disappointing interior quality and refinement its predecessor suffered from. We’re testing it in mid-level S line trim, which is popular with buyers because it brings a sportier appearance. This version has a similar…

THERE’S A REASON why few of us end up buying the supercars we pinned up on our bedroom walls as kids. It’s because, while they looked incredible on those posters, they would almost certainly be hell to live with. Well, okay, the fact that we can’t afford them probably has something to do with it, too. But ‘hell to live with’ is at least a factor. It’s the classic ‘never meet your heroes’ scenario; better to not let reality ruin the rose-tinted image we’ve built up in our heads, right? However, with my new Audi E-tron GT, I’m hoping to prove that you can have poster car looks and performance figures without the drawbacks. Specifically, I’ve got the new entry-level quattro version, although ‘entry-level’ scarcely does it justice, because you…

WITHIN THE PAST year, the most talked-about video on the What Car? YouTube channel has been our review of the BYD Sealion 7. It has amassed not only more than 1.3 million views but also more than 1200 comments. We filmed it in Frankfurt in November 2024, and I remember saying to reviews editor Will Nightingale at the time that this was a car that could tempt me to go electric. You see, BYD has some fine vehicles in its stable (or should that be aquarium?), including the Dolphin Surf hatchback and Seal executive saloon. But if any of its models feels tailor-made for me, it’s the Sealion 7 SUV, given that my job requires me to travel with flight cases full of camera gear, and this is the most…

SPAIN HAS A long-standing reputation for sporting excellence, with the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal ranking among the world’s best in tennis and Fernando Alonso likewise in Formula 1. It might come as no surprise, then, that Spanish brand Cupra’s Born electric car has a sporty demeanour and, after winning several What Car? Awards over the years, plenty of excellence. It’s a well-rounded electric hatchback that’s based on the Volkswagen ID 3 but has bespoke looks, suspension and steering to help differentiate them and make it stand out next to other rivals such as the MG 4 and Renault Megane. Like the ID 3, the Born can be had with a 58kWh or 77kWh (usable capacity) battery, as well as a 201bhp electric motor that drives the rear…

1 RENAULT CLIO Our pick 1.0 TCe 90 Techno List price £20,695 Best price £17,495 MPG 54.3 CO2 119g/km For Very well priced; smart interior is packed with equipment; fine ride and handling balance; practical boot Against Tight for taller adults in the rear seats; slightly firm low-speed ride; high boot loading lip WHAT CAR? SAYS THINK OF THE Renault Clio as being the Swiss Army knife of small cars; it’s got an answer to virtually every question you might ask of it. The hybrid version is smooth and efficient, but we prefer the cheaper 1.0-litre petrol option, which returns excellent real-world economy and will be nippy enough for most buyers. What’s more, the Clio is better to drive than most rivals, including the Skoda Fabia and Suzuki Swift, striking a…

BEING LATE TO the party is one thing, but to then arrive bearing less impressive gifts than the other attendees will draw the wrong kind of attention. This happened to Toyota’s first electric car, the bZ4X, which was beaten for range and charging speed by its more established rivals. Now, though, an update seeks to right those wrongs. New to the bZ4X is a 54kWh (usable) battery that’s offered only with front-wheel drive. It’s a cheaper alternative to the existing 69kWh unit and combines an 8.6sec 0-62mph time with an official range of 275 miles. Next up, the front-wheel-drive, 69kWh bZ4X brings that time down to 7.5sec; this beats the Kia EV6 RWD and is likely to be quick enough for most. It also brings the longest official range of…

IF YOU’RE THE sort of person who thinks bigger is better, the BMW XM is likely to appeal. Developed by the brand’s M performance division, it’s not only physically big, at just over 5.1m long, but in range-topping form it also has the most power of any BMW SUV on sale. But does the XM feel special enough to justify the huge amount it costs? After all, that flagship XM Label variant is priced at £154,800, while even the entry-level XM 50e that we tried will set you back around £17k more than a Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid. Both XM variants are plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), so the chief difference between them is that the XM Label combines its electric motor with a 4.4-litre V8 petrol engine for a total output…

IMAGINE TRYING TO turn your laptop into a typewriter. It would be a tricky (and somewhat bizarre) task, but not dissimilar to what Fiat is trying to pull off with the new 500 Hybrid. The last petrol-engined 500 bowed out in 2024, leaving the all-electric 500e to fill its boots. Those boots were big, though, and the pricey 500e’s tootsies proved a bit too petite – in terms of sales figures, anyway. To attract more buyers, then, Fiat gutted the 500e’s battery and electric motor and transplanted a mild hybrid petrol engine and six-speed manual gearbox to create a new 500 Hybrid. It complements the 500e, which remains on sale. With just 64bhp, the 1.0-litre engine wheezes you from 0-62mph in 16.2sec (the convertible 500C takes a yawning 17.3sec). That…

MITSUBISHI, THE JAPANESE car maker responsible for models such as the Shogun SUV and Lancer Evolution performance car, is poised to return to the UK. The brand pulled out of the UK in 2021, having announced that it was withdrawing from the European market the previous year. From 2026, Mitsubishi cars will be imported by Midlands-based International Motors – the group currently behind the sales and servicing of GWM, Isuzu and Subaru models. The UK line-up will be drawn from Mitsubishi’s global offerings, with a focus on four-wheel-drive models. There’s no word yet on which models these will be, but it’s likely that the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross and Outlander will feature; both are family SUVs with plug-in hybrid power. The L200 pick-up is also likely to return; it was traditionally…

THE FORD CAPRI was on my shortlist when I last chose a company car. However, in the end I went for a Cupra Tavascan, which uses the same underpinnings but, I think, looks rather more striking. Did I make the right decision, though? Well, to find out, I arranged to do a swap for a few days with used cars editor Mark Peason, who did opt for a Capri. The first thing to note is that the Capri’s interior is more functional and less glitzy than my Tavascan’s. However, I didn’t find it objectionable in any way, and actually preferred the Capri’s portrait-orientated infotainment touchscreen to my car’s high-set landscape one. Most things just seemed to fall more readily to hand, although some of the icons could have done with…

Mileage 5493  List price £33,295 Best price £33,295 Price as tested £38,800 Test economy 57.6mpg MY GRANDMOTHER’S HANDBAG used to be a source of endless fascination to me. It seemed to be of infinite capacity, containing the resources to deal with any eventuality. There would be tissues for runny noses, plasters for grazed knees, Jelly Babies for when I’d been a good boy, and myriad other ‘just in case’ items. It’s a shame my Alfa Romeo Junior isn’t more like that magical receptacle. True, by the standards of the small SUV class, the Junior’s boot is a decent size, at 416 litres, and it will – as our reviews team discovered – swallow three carry-on holiday suitcases easily enough. But when you swap those cases for inconveniently shaped camera gear,…

Mileage 2880  List price £38,660 Best price £31,995 Price as tested £44,485 Test range 293 miles EVERY LITTLE HELPS. I’m lovin’ it. Because you’re worth it. Some slogans just stick in your head, while others are more forgettable. But I’d say Skoda’s is one of the better ones, because‘Simply Clever’ is more than just a tagline; it actually encompasses a range of practicality features. My Skoda Elroq has quite a few of these – some new, some not. The most familiar of them is probably the umbrella in the door, which first arrived on the Superb in 2001. Admittedly, I haven’t had much need for mine so far, but I could soon be grateful for it now that winter is here. The feature I’ve used most often is a new…

*Price today is based on a 2021 model with average mileage and full service history, correct at time of writing IF YOU HAVE an expanding family but worry about your fuel bills expanding with it, what car should you choose? The most obvious answer, in this day and age, is a seven-seat SUV with fuel-efficient hybrid power. The Hyundai Santa Fe and Nissan X-Trail meet those criteria. Both are regular hybrids, so you don’t have to plug them in to recharge the battery (the engine does this for you automatically instead). They also have four-wheel drive for added traction when needed in slippery conditions. Usefully, you can save big money on either of these cars if you buy them used. But which should you choose? We’ve tested them back to…

1 TOYOTA COROLLA Our pick 1.8 Hybrid Icon List price £30,795 Best price £28,750 MPG 64.1 CO2 100g/km For Frugal in real-world driving; comfy and good to drive; generously equipped; well built and reliable Against Tight for adults in rear seats; so-so infotainment system; instrument panel is fiddly to reconfigure WHAT CAR? SAYS THE COROLLA IS a car that will work for just about everyone in the market for a family hatchback. Being a hybrid, it can help you save money, because it can run partly on electric power to conserve petrol. You can expect an average of more than 50mpg in real-world use if you stick with our recommended 1.8-litre model (there’s also a punchier 2.0-litre version). True, it can’t go anywhere near as far on electric power as a…

SOME VEHICLES ARE more welcome than others when they appear outside your house. A lorry decked in the colours of a utilities company and laden with scuffed, noisy-looking hardware could be a portent that a big hole in the road is imminent. Or, if a brightly coloured van turns up playing nursery rhyme chimes, there’s a strong prospect of ice cream… but also the possibility that queues of lip-licking dessert-seekers will trample your begonias. ‘At the end of its decade-long career, it still held a healthy four-star rating’ So, what if a Volkswagen Touran materialises on your drive? Well, for many, it means that the prebooked taxi to the airport has arrived in good time, and before long, you and your family will be somewhere far away from the roadworks…

WHEN BMW LAUNCHED the original iX3 back in 2020, many other electric vehicles (EVs) were utilising concept car design to stand out. The iX3 was the opposite, simply playing the part of an electric version of BMW’s X3 family SUV and giving people a more familiar option. This latest version couldn’t be more different, though, sharing almost nothing with the current X3. It’s derived from BMW’s radical Neue Klasse X concept, getting very similar styling inside and out and giving us our first look at the future of BMW’s electric models. There’s currently only one version of the iX3: the 50 xDrive. Its two electric motors give a total power output of 463bhp, which is fed to all four wheels. As a result, it can accelerate from 0-62mph in 4.9sec…

DAMIEN CHAZELLE’S SHORT film Whiplash gained so much interest that it led to a feature-length film of the same name being given the green light. That was the short film’s intended purpose, sure, but the pressure it put on the young writer-director must’ve been immense. And in a way, Cupra is in a similar boat with the new Raval. Cupra has seen massive critical and commercial success with the Born – a sportier take on the Volkswagen ID 3 electric family car. So well received has it been that the Spanish brand has been put in charge of the VW Group’s small electric car project. It’s a tough task that involves developing a new package of underpinnings to be shared between four new electric models. Under the skin, the Skoda…

LIKE AN OLD friend who used to play it safe but has just taken up skydiving, the Vauxhall Mokka GSE represents a sudden shift in attitude. While the regular Mokka Electric doesn’t exactly evoke a sense of excitement, the GSE seeks to change that. With 278bhp, as you might imagine, acceleration is strong. But the Mokka GSE’s best asset is its traction-enhancing limited-slip differential (LSD); you can really sense it working to deploy all that power to the front wheels when exiting tight corners. There’s plenty of grip from the tyres, too, and when you do reach the limit, the GSE is predictable and forgiving. So, the Mokka GSE is suitably nippy on paper, and in practice it feels it, but is it fun? Well, it depends on what you…

IF YOU’RE LOOKING for an SUV hardy enough to withstand the rigours of family life, who better to build it than a company that made its very name from vehicles that were tough enough to take to war? Yes, now entering its third generation, the Jeep Compass promises to be just the right kind of general-purpose vehicle for hauling your little troopers off to boot camp. Strip away its combat fatigues, though, and the Compass shares its bones with the smart-casual Peugeot 3008 and Vauxhall Grandland. That includes the 143bhp 1.2-litre petrol engine that powers initial First Edition cars. Its mild hybrid system serves up a welcome electric boost that helps when pulling away, further assisted by a smooth automatic gearbox. Only on extended gradients does the engine feel a…

912 Expected power output (in bhp) of Lotus’s first plug-in hybrid. The new model – expected to be a version of the Eletre SUV – is likely to arrive in the autumn. 316 New examiners taken on by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency in order to shore up the number of driving tests being offered. However, due to other examiners leaving the profession, this represents a net gain of just 40. £1bn The cost savings expected by charity Motability by not offering cars from premium brands as part of its scheme. Models from such brands as Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are no longer available on the scheme, which is part-funded by the taxpayer and allows disabled people to lease vehicles using their Government benefits. Motability has more than 800,000…

OWNING A CAR is expensive, and one big reason for this is the cost of insurance. But the good news is that premiums have fallen each quarter this year and are now an average of £56 cheaper than they were a year ago. Between July and September, the average annual cost of comprehensive cover for a private motorist was £551, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), which tracks the cost of 28 million policies bought by drivers each year. Although prices have dropped, the rising cost of repairing cars and a continuing problem with car theft are costing insurers so much money that it’s likely to stop premiums from falling further. In fact, these factors have contributed to the insurance industry paying out £3 billion in claims from…

A DECADE AGO, your smartphone could browse the web, give you directions and probably even shoot 4K video. Since then we’ve seen faster processors and cameras that can zoom in to individual eyelashes, but, in truth, today’s phones don’t do anything dramatically different from the ones we had back then. Electric vehicles (EVs), on the other hand, have evolved almost beyond recognition during the same timescale. Back in 2015, even driving the 60-odd miles from our London base to our Bedfordshire test track in an EV required a military mindset. We’d set off with 100% charge in a BMW i3 or a Volkswagen e-Golf and spend the whole journey checking the battery level while coasting behind lorries on the M1 to save electrons and (hopefully) make the journey in one…

Mileage 7703 List price £26,995 Best price £24,895  Price as tested £27,395 Test range 209 miles THE RENAULT 5 may look to the 1980s for its design inspiration, but when it comes to technology, it’s bang up to date – and I don’t just mean because it’s electric. One natty feature is its brake-by-wire system, which was developed in conjunction with component manufacturer and tyre specialist Continental. Instead of traditional hydraulic braking, my car has an electronic system that uses a sensor to monitor how heavily the driver is pressing on the brake pedal, with this then telling its electric pump how much braking pressure to exert. This ‘brake by wire’ system not only saves on space and weight but can also be tuned to suit different conditions and driver…

Mileage 4904 List price £69,970 Best price £67,220 Price as tested £69,970 Test economy 90.1mpg “BUT I WOULD walk five hundred miles, and I would walk five hundred more,” The Proclaimers once sang in an ode to a loved one. But frankly, they might just as well have been singing about my Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate. And that’s because, thanks to its superb combination of diesel economy, a big (for a plug-in hybrid) 25.4kWh battery and excellent software to balance both, I’m not all that far away from covering 1000 miles on a tank of fuel. Okay, it’s 900 miles, so I’m a little short of what The Proclaimers were envisaging. But that still equates to a real-world average economy figure of 90.1mpg. Most of my mileage is clocked up between…

Mileage on arrival 40,181 Mileage now 42,573 List price when new £56,545 Value on arrival £16,500 Test range 279 miles ONE FEATURE MYTesla Model 3 has is the ability to stream Netflix videos when parked up. Another is a‘Chill’ driving mode. So, while you can’t watch Netflix AND chill in it, you can watch Netflix OR chill, depending on whether the car is moving or not. Chill mode is nothing to do with the air-con. No, what it does is make the car slower. And why might you want to do that? Well, in Sport mode, my Model 3 Performance is insanely quick, taking a mere 3.2sec to sprint from 0-62mph – the same time as a £170,000 Lamborghini Huracán. Some supercars are quicker, as are newer versions of the…

BEST PRICE As the name suggests, this is the best price we’ve seen, whether it’s a factory order or an in-stock car available through our partnership with Autotrader. All best prices are correct at the time of this issue going to press. 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 Fuel economy figures and electric vehicle (EV)…