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Join Autocar for a look at the some of the world's greatest underground construction projects Tunnels are used to carry traffic through some of the most extreme terrain on the planet and they help ease journeys with reduced travel time. While most tunnels offer a short underground burst of driving, some are much longer. Here are the world’s 10 longest road tunnels that use cutting edge technology to make their construction possible and to keep drivers alert while passing through their extended subterranean length. Ryfylke Tunnel, Norway – 8.98 miles (14.46km) The Ryfylke Tunnel is the longest undersea road tunnel in the world at present and stretches some 8.98 miles between Stavanger and Ryfylke. Norway developed the Ryfylke Tunnel to reduce reliance on ferries. It is now part of its Rogfast project to connect several islands with undersea tunnels, and this means Ryfylke is likely to relinquish its title as this building work continues. Opened in 2019, the Ryfylke Tunnel took seven years to build and a toll is charged to help recoup the cost of construction. Ryfylke Tunnel, Norway – 8.98 miles (14.46km) By the time the Ryfylke Tunnel started operating, it had cost 6.4 billion Norwegian Kroner (£460 million) to complete. Electric cars are subject to a 50% discounted toll charge. Descending to 285-metres under the sea at its deepest, the Ryfylke Tunnel consists of two separate tubes to carry traffic in opposite directions. Each tube has two lanes and the tunnel is capable of carrying up 10,000 vehicles per day. Zigana Tunnel, Turkiye – 8.99 miles (14.48km) Close to the northern coast of Turkiye, the Zigana Tunnel runs through rugged mountain rock to bypass the Zigana Pass that becomes blocked by snow in the winter. Work started on the Zigana Tunnel in 2016 and it was finished in 2023. It is Turkiye’s longest road tunnel at 8.99 miles long and it reduces the journey via the exposed Zigana Pass by five miles. It also cuts the journey time in summer months by around 20 minutes. Zigana Tunnel, Turkiye – 8.99 miles (14.48km) Consisting of two separate tunnels to keep traffic flows apart, the Zigana Tunnel was built using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method. This system adapts to the rock as excavation continues and uses a spray-on concrete to create the walls. There are 16 laybys in each of the tunnel’s tubes, as well as six ventilation shafts. It was also built with 40 connecting tunnels between the pair of tubes, plus nine transformer rooms to house the Zigana Tunnel’s electric power. Muzhailing Tunnel, China – 9.46 miles (15.22km) A great many challenges faced the designers and builders of the Muzhailing Tunnel in China’s Gansu Province. For starters, it’s built at high altitude and also in an area of active seismic activity, which means it’s prone to earthquakes. Although not ideal conditions for creating one of the world’s longest road tunnels, the build used a technology called NPR anchor cabling. This secures the structure into the surrounding rock and allows the tunnel to withstand deformation as the ground moves. Muzhailing Tunnel, China – 9.46 miles (15.22km) In common with most modern road tunnels, the Muzhailing Tunnel consists of two separate tubes, each carrying the stream of traffic in the opposite direction to the other. Construction work on this tunnel started in 2016 and reached its finish in 2024, with further complications to the build caused by the thin air at its high altitude and its effect on the workers. Now complete, the Muzhailing Tunnel is widely studied by tunnelling experts for the way it deals with such difficult terrain. Tiantaishan Tunnel, China – 9.67 miles (15.56) It cost 2.75 billion Chinese Yuan (£300 million) to complete the Tiantaishan Tunnel, which is something of a bargain in the world of road tunnels. Started in 2016, the Tiantaishan Tunnel was finished and working by 2021, which is again something of a record when it comes to build time. All of this is even more impressive when you consider the high altitude of the tunnel and the bitterly cold weather in Shaanxi Province in northwest China. Tiantaishan Tunnel, China – 9.67 miles (15.56) When construction started in November 2016, there were 2000 workers spending their shifts underground in the Qinling Mountains. They also lived there for the duration of the build work. As part of the construction of the Tiantaishan Tunnel, a new smart lighting system was developed that delivers a more natural light inside its depths. This set-up also provides different light patterns and designs on the tunnel’s walls to ward off boredom as drivers traverse its 9.67-mile length in either of the three-lane tunnel tubes. Gotthard Road Tunnel, Switzerland – 10.46 miles (16.84km) Previously the longest road tunnel in the world, the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland has slipped down the ranking as new projects have overtaken for length. However, the Gotthard has been in operation for much longer than any other in the top 10 as it opened in 1980. Work started on the Gotthard Road Tunnel in 1970 and it carries traffic to a maximum height if 1175-metres (3855-feet), which is higher than Yr Wyddfa (Mount Snowdon) in Wales. Gotthard Road Tunnel, Switzerland – 10.46 miles (16.84km) It takes around 13 minutes to drive through the Gotthard Road Tunnel as the 80kmh speed limit is strictly enforced. There is also a toll charge to pay for using the tunnel and it’s capable of carrying up to 24,000 vehicles per day. The Gotthard Base Tunnel is unusual in modern road tunnelling for using a single tube to carry both directions of traffic. In 2016, 57% of the Swiss population voted in favour of building a second Gotthard road tunnel in a referendum. Jinpingshan Tunnel, China – 10.90 miles (17.54km) While all of the other road tunnels in the top 10 are open to the public, the Jinpingshan Tunnel restricts what traffic can use it. This is because the tunnel was built to provide access to the Jinping Dam, which is the world’s highest dam, and access between this and another hydropower dam. The Jinpingshan Tunnel runs through an area noted for its geological activity in south-west China. This is partly why access to the tunnel is limited, and also because of security surrounding the hydroelectric complex at the dam. Jinpingshan Tunnel, China – 10.90 miles (17.54km) At its deepest point, the Jinpingshan Tunnel runs 2375-metres beneath the earth’s surface, and more than half of the tunnel’s entire length sits at more than 1500-metres deep. It took five years to build the Jinpingshan Tunnel and, at the time, was the longest tunnel made with a blind heading. This is where each end of the tunnel is started simultaneously and meet in the middle. Total cost of Jinpingshan Tunnel came to 1.3 billion Chinese Yuan (£146 million). Zhongnanshan Tunnel, China – 11.21 miles (18.04km) The Zhongnanshan Tunnel is not far from the Tiantaishan Tunnel but outdoes its near neighbour in overall length and how deep it travels under the Earth’s surface. With a maximum depth of 1640-metres, the Zhongnanshan Tunnel is among the deepest in the world. Despite this, it still took only five years to complete the tunnel, which is about the same time as many shorter tunnels that travel at shallower depths in China. Work started in 2002 on the Zhongnanshan Tunnel, and it was the longest tunnel in Asia when it opened to traffic in 2007. Zhongnanshan Tunnel, China – 11.21 miles (18.04km) It cost around 3.2 billion Chinese Yuan (£350 million) to complete the Zhongnanshan Tunnel. This makes it one of the most expensive road tunnels to date in China. Three ventilation shafts provide fresh air to each of the two tunnels, and each tube carries traffic in the opposite direction to the other, so the streams are never together. Along its 11.21-mile length, there are different coloured lights and patterns projected onto the tunnel’s roof, and artificial plants to provide stimulation for drivers and prevent fatigue. Yamate Tunnel, Japan – 11.3 miles (18.20km) The Yamate Tunnel in Tokyo, Japan is like London’s Blackwall Tunnel but on a grand scale. Where the Blackwall Tunnel is a mere three quarters of a mile long and is as close as 1.7-metres from the riverbed, the Yamate Tunnel runs to 11.3 miles and passes as much as 30-metres beneath the Japanese capital city’s population. The Yamate Tunnel still holds the honour of being the longest urban tunnel in the world. Yamate Tunnel, Japan – 11.3 miles (18.20km) It took 15 years for the Yamate Tunnel to be completed, with delays due to objections from residents and environmental concerns. However, the tunnel was given the go-ahead as it would ease traffic on Yamate Street that runs above the tunnel. Both of the 11-metre diameter tubes that form the Yamate Tunnel have emergency telephones positioned every 100-metres along their length. There is also a sophisticated filtration system to remove particulate emissions from the air extracted from the tunnels. WestConnex, Australia – 13.67 miles (22.0km) The WestConnex Tunnel was finished in November 2023 and is part of a plan to ease congestion in the city of Sydney. To date, the tunnel is the largest road infrastructure project ever undertaken in Australia and the 13.67-mile tunnel is part of a longer overall 20.5-mile stretch of traffic-reducing motorway. This will eventually link Sydney’s suburbs, airport, north shore, and city centre. The land above the WestConnex Tunnel has mostly been given over to parks, playgrounds, and open space for the city’s inhabitants to relax. WestConnex, Australia – 13.67 miles (22.0km) The WestConnex Tunnel is the longest underground stretch of public road in Australia, and it’s thought to have cost A$10 billion (£5.1 billion). This figure set a new record for transport spending by the New South Wales Government, and it’s estimated the fully completed project will come in at A$45 billion (£23.1 billion). However, the government also states the tunnel contributes to A$22 billion (£11.3 billion) in savings due to reduced travel time and journey reliability. Lærdal Tunnel, Norway – 15.23 miles (24.51km) Topping the longest road tunnels in the world is the Lærdal Tunnel in Norway. This 15.23-mile underground construction was started in 1995 and opened to the public in 2000. It took some 20 years to agree to the construction of the tunnel, which cost 1.1 billion Norwegian Kroner (£85 million) to complete, which represents great value in the world of roads tunnelling. It was so much cheaper to build than most tunnels as the nature of the rock means the tunnel doesn’t need to be lined – and nor does it have to be made earthquake proof as they no not occur with any severity in Norway. The tunnel connects Lærdal and Aurland and con Lærdal Tunnel, Norway – 15.23 miles (24.51km) While it’s the longest road tunnel in the world, the Lærdal Tunnel is also one of the most lightly used. On a typical day, it carries around 2050 vehicles, which is largely due to its remote location 180 miles to the northwest of Oslo. To alleviate the monotony of driving through the world’s longest road tunnel – which is also straight throughout - this Norwegian project is divided into four sections, each separated by a large cave with parking areas. The caves have blue and yellow lighting to give the feel of a Norwegian sunrise, which is thought to give drivers’ brains a boost when they are tired. Police cameras have also been installed to combat speeding. If you enjoyed this story, please click the Follow button above to see more like it from Autocar Photo Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
American EV start-up stunned on debut with the Air saloon; now it has applied the same principles to a seven-seat SUV To say that the Lucid Gravity is extremely spacious might seem trivial, given that it’s a seven-seat SUV.It’s not trivial, though, because the car industry has produced its fair share of inverse tardises since moving to EVs – big cars that make you wonder where all the space has gone. Take the surprisingly cosy Porsche Taycan, all those rear-driven electric BMWs with no frunk and the Renault 5, which looks and feels like a small car until you park it next to a Clio.Packaging batteries, motors, inverters and other magic boxes is quite a different game to doing the same with engines, gearboxes and fuel tanks, necessitating a change in mindset for the world’s automotive engineers.Tailoring a car around a big monolith of a battery is something at which Tesla is better than any of the ‘legacy’ manufacturers, because it has always started from a blank slate with few ICE preconceptions. And it’s no surprise that Lucid is just as adept, given the number of Tesla defectors in its ranks – not least strategic technical advisor and former CEO Peter Rawlinson.
Cosmos premium SUV due first; more rugged Earth model rivalling Defender to follow American EV maker Lucid will finally come to the UK in 2027 with the Cosmos, a rival to the BMW iX3 and Volvo EX60. The premium SUV will be unveiled later this year ahead of production starting at the company's recently completed plant in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Lucid will then follow up in 2028 with the more off-road-and adventure-focused Earth and a bigger, more practical derivative of the Cosmos after that. The Cosmos is the first of Lucid's new range of 'mid-size' models. It is built on an entirely new platform that uses a bespoke 800V architecture, but it is powered by even more compact and efficient electric motors than those offered today. Lucid's UK arrival has been long awaited and will come five years after It launched in continental Europe. There, it sells the Air saloon (pictured below) and has just started deliveries of the Gravity SUV. However, European president Lawrence Hamilton told Autocar that we shouldn't expect to see either of those cars in the UK any time soon due to the need for a right-hand drive conversion. While RHD was taken into account during development, it would require additional work. By contrast, the Cosmos is developed to have it from the start. "It's a case of making sure we've got the right product for the market opportunity that exists," he said. "To engineer Air and Gravity for right-hand drive is a big investment, and there has to be a return on that investment. The volume opportunity really exists with the mid-size cars". He added that if the Cosmos does well, it may generate the funds in the future to justify converting the Gravity to RHD. Hamilton sees strong market appeal for both the mainstream Cosmos and off-road-flavoured Earth, pointing to the continuing success of adventure-themed premium cars like Land Rovers and the Mercedes G-Class. "So the more utilitarian direction, we definitely see appeal for that in Europe," he said. "It's a statement piece about the way people want to spend their time. And there's obviously huge market demand for the sleeker, sportier CUVs." Sales in Europe so far have been slow, but Hamilton mostly puts this down to Lucid's gradual start with direct-sales stores. "The strategy was always quite clear, which is to start relatively small and modestly," he said. "Arguably, Air and Gravity are proofs of concept and brand-building – they show the world what we're capable of doing. Mid-size [cars, like the Cosmos] will provide that capability to a bigger mass market". Lucid has just signed its first dealer group in Germany and will continue with traditional dealers when it comes to the UK, rather than the 'studios' it launched with in continental European markets. There are no plans for European production, though. Lucid has weathered some profitability storms. in its short existence, but Hamilton said the company has the liquidity to carry on with the development of the mid-size cars, and it is on track with the production ramp-up of the Gravity. The company is confident about sticking with EVs and won't be developing range-extenders. Hamilton added: "We are not interested in having anything to do with fossil fuel-burning technologies. We are pure BEV, because we believe it makes a better product."
Commenters are fuming after we cleaned our A2 with a garage brush, but I’ve had enough of the detailing police Alongside the recent feature that Matt Prior wrote about getting 100mpg out of his Audi A2, there was a video that went on Autocar's YouTube channel. It opens with a shot of Matt at a jet wash, cleaning the A2. Scroll down and, reliable as clockwork, there they are: the commenters lambasting him for ruining the Audi's paintwork by using 'the brush'. Of course, they're ignoring the fact that this is a £500 car whose paintwork is already far from pristine. There's an expectation that if you love cars, you also love the act of meticulously cleaning them. I must confess that I don't subscribe to this, partly because car cleaning takes on a different nature if you work for a car magazine and partly because I just don't care enough about how shiny a car is. If you're passionate about 'detailing', you would probably be horrified by what goes on during Autocar photoshoots. Most agree that cars generally photograph better when clean, so that's what we usually aim for, save for exceptions like off-road tests, where the mud is a feature. But what do you do when you're shooting a group test on top of a Welsh mountain and the nearest proper car-washing facility is at least 10 slushy, muddy miles away? We don't have the budget for mobile valets to follow us around, so we deploy field solutions. We should probably use some fancy detailing spray, but in reality the road testers' weapons of choice tend to be microfibre cloth and glass cleaner spray. Mr Muscle is a firm favourite because, unlike many cleaning sprays, it is actually quite powerful, it doesn't tend to leave streaks or haziness and, most importantly, it's widely available. I usually make sure to carry some microfibre cloths in my laptop bag, because cars have been known to get attacked with mineral water and kitchen roll by unsympathetic photographers. I like to have some respect for the cars loaned to us by the various press offices. But cleaning cars in this way does rather take the romance out of testing, particularly when there's also a gale blowing and the ambient temperature is 5deg C. When it comes to my own cars, I'm mercifully blessed with one that had pre-ruined paintwork when I bought it - an underrated feature of used machinery. As a result, I don't feel guilty about taking my R50 Mini to my local automatic car wash, or indeed using the jet-wash brush of shame on it myself. My E30 BMW, though, is a different story. The previous owner had it resprayed and, while it's not a concours-level job, the car is quite shiny and largely free of scratches. So I'm giving the art of DIY car washing another go. One of the benefits of modern life is that for any given skill you may wish to acquire, there exists a YouTube tutorial. The trouble with washing cars, however as evidenced by the commentariat under our A2 video is that people take it just too seriously. As such, there exists not one tutorial but innumerable ones, each one more fanatical than the other. Most of them would have you believe that it is absolutely imperative to have four different buckets with grit guards at the ready, or you will irreparably scratch your paint. You must also invest in a foam gun, various exotic elixirs and a mitt made from the wool of only the softest lambs. And if you're not spending five hours per wheel cleaning every spoke individually with a specially designed toothbrush, well, that's just plain neglect. The result is that I put it off. So far, I've managed to get one free wash off the seller when I went to pick it up and one from a garage when it went in for some work last year. I've had a couple of goes myself, but each time I ended up anxious that I'd done it wrong, as well as frustrated that the car didn't actually seem that much cleaner than when I'd started.
We take a deep dive into the complex engineering of modern tyres and how it affects your comfort You can’t discuss a car’s ride quality without also talking about tyres. As the only point of contact between the vehicle and the road surface, the rubber wrapped around the wheels are going to play a crucial role in how bumps and lumps are transmitted through to the cabin. Of course, there are many other factors to consider, such as suspension components and geometry, even the stiffness of the car’s chassis, but here we’re going to take a closer look at tyres. To most people, tyres are all pretty much the same, which is round and black, but dig deeper and you will find that automotive engineers sweat buckets ensuring they make your car ride as well as they can. That said, we don’t think you can talk about ride comfort without also considering refinement. It’s all well and good having a car that soaks away surface imperfection, but if the noise from your car’s tyres results in every two-hour journey giving you a four hour headache, then what’s the point of a cushioned ride? So here we take a little look at tyres, ride comfort and the technology that goes into keeping your car on even keel when the Tarmac gets turbulent. Ride comfort Like many areas of automotive engineering, tyre technology is a complicated old business. How a certain type of rubber grips, relays feedback and, yes, rides is dependent on myriad factors. Everything from the construction of the metal carcass to the tread pattern will play its part in determining how smoothly your car deals with the bumps. As we’ve already mentioned, there are myriad factors influencing ride quality, such as suspension set-up and the body’s structural stiffness. Adding tyres to the mix only makes things more complicated, because, due to the nature of their construction, they act as both a spring and a damper. Influencing this behaviour is the rubber compound, the stiffness of the metal carcass and the overall size of the tyre, just to name a few factors. However, one of the clearest indicators of how a tyre might tackle bumps is to be found in its sidewall depth. Over the years, an emphasis on ‘sporty’ handling and sharp steering response has resulted in the increased use of low-profile rubber. The profile is the depth of the sidewall represented as a ratio of the tyre’s width, so a 225/40 18 example has a profile that’s 40% of that 225mm width. Theoretically, the lower the profile, the more ‘immediate’ the car will feel on corner entry as the smaller, stiffer sidewall deforms less under lateral load for better precision and grip. Yet the downside of this is obviously less ‘give’ in the tyre under vertical load, leading to a less comfortable ride. This tends to be more clearly noticeable over sharper road imperfections, such as potholes. Assuming the suspension has been tuned to work with various different tyres sizes, the same car fitted with, say, a 205/55 16 tyre instead of that 225/40 18 will feel smoother over the bumps, its squidgier sidewall helping absorb some of the sharper shocks. Yet as ever with tyre technology, it’s more complicated than that. Take run-flat rubber for instance, which has been favoured by BMW over the past couple of decades. To allow the car to carry on driving even after a puncture, these tyres have very stiff sidewalls, which – you’ve guessed it – result in a rather discombobulated ride. Then there’s the matter of unsprung mass. Essentially, this is any part of the car not supported by the suspension, so this means the wheels, brakes, axles and, yes, tyres. If you’ve got big, heavy wheels, the springs and dampers will have a hard time controlling their movement as they jump and skip over imperfections in the road. There are also factors that are within your control, such as the tyre pressures. Set these higher than the manufacturer's rating and the ride will likely deteriorate on the over-inflated rubber. Moreover, set the pressure too low and the sidewall will have to work harder, leading to an equally restless ride and leave it vulnerable to damage from potholes. The amount you carry in a car can have consequences too, with heavily laden vehicles sometimes feeling more restful than when it’s just the driver and nothing else on board. Refinement In many respects, ride and refinement go hand in hand. A car that deals with bumps and road surfaces quietly can often trick the driver’s mind into thinking it’s actually riding better than it is. Effectively a large chamber filled with air, an inflated tyre acts like a resonator as it amplifies road noise from the surface it rolls across. As a result, engineers have a number of solutions up their sleeves to make tyres roll with less rowdiness. In fact, like grip and rolling resistance, noise levels are actually rated on modern tyres. Look at a new rubber and you will see a label that looks like a speaker with either an A, B or C next to it. This gives an indication of the noise the tyre emits at around 50mph (80kph), with A being the quietest and C the loudest. The rise of EVs has accelerated quieter tyre technology, as the elimination of traditional internal combustion sounds has drawn attention to other areas of aural intrusion. One of the most obvious areas of noise generation is the tread itself, with the shape of the blocks and channels dictating what sort of frequencies are generated when the rubber is rolling. More recently, tyre makers have started to create special polyurethane foam inserts that line the underside of the tyre tread, reducing unwanted road noise by up to 20% depending on the brand. On new cars, the amount of foam is often tailored specifically to the model, helping cut out certain harmonics particular to that vehicle. An even more high-tech solution is active noise cancelling, which helps muffle more than just tyre roar. Much like the systems used in many modern headphones, this kit uses microphones dotted around the car to monitor noise and then the audio system’s speaker to essentially fire back a similar frequency sound to cancel out the disturbance. Ultimately, tyres play a crucial role in how your car rides and how refined it is, but they are just one factor of many in a motor’s dynamic make-up. However, there are some clues you can spot increase the chance of your rubber delivering a more restful driving experience when it’s time to change tread. If serene progress is your priority, look for tyres with the lowest noise rating and, where possible, the highest sidewall profile.
Community Speedwatch groups are on the rise as local residents feel threatened by inaction on speeding An increase in the number of speeding drivers across the UK has sparked more members of the public to take speed monitoring into their own hands and these groups claim lawmakers are refusing to act, despite being presented with evidence of reckless driving and even collisions. Since 2022, speeding fines nationally have increased by around 15%, according to freedom of information requests. In response, the number of police-backed organisations, such as Community Speedwatch groups, has risen to 2500 and the number of volunteers operating them to more than 17,000. However, in some areas where locals have shown there is a speeding problem (and in some cases obtained evidence of collisions involving vehicles, property and even pedestrians), councils have said the risk of injury is too low to justify taking action. Among the latest to have their demands rejected are residents of two roads in Bromley, south-east London. Siward Road and Godwin Road are both limited to 30mph, but speed camera-wielding residents have caught around 1000 drivers breaking that over a two-week period. Of those, 40 were travelling at more than 40mph and one was clocked at 75mph. The group also claims to have logged more than 10 collisions in the past four years, including an incident when a pedestrian was hit and hospitalised. However, Susannah Miller (pictured below), member of the residents' campaign group, has accused Bromley Council of downplaying their findings. "They make it sound like there have been no accidents at all but my neighbours and I can assure anyone that there have been," she said. "We think physical interventions are needed but the council says five people have to be killed or seriously injured before they will consider any action. Why do people have to die or be hurt when we have the data to show there is a real risk?" Expanding on the area's issues, she added: "Wing mirror casualties we've lost count of and we haven't even attempted to record all the near-misses." In response, Bromley Council's transport chief, councillor Nicholas Bennett, claimed that the council has "no recorded injury collisions" on Siward Road and Godwin Road in the past three and a half years, and therefore "our focus will be elsewhere". He added that due to "finite funds from Transport for London, we must prioritise any action on the basis of evidence of known accident blackspots". A council spokesman also defended its actions, saying it has a good road safety record in part because of its focus on prioritising collision hot spots: "Looking at the 2019-2023 five-year average for the London boroughs, Bromley saw the largest decrease in KSIs killed or seriously injured - a 48% decrease. In addition, 2023 data shows that Bromley has one of the lower casualty rates in London, with 140 KSI per billion vehicle miles, which is the 10th-lowest in London." The government this year launched its Road Safety Strategy, setting a target to cut deaths and serious injuries on Britain's roads by 65% by 2035. Autocar asked the Department for Transport, which is responsible for implementing the strategy, whether Bromley Council's insistence that people must be injured before traffic calming measures will be considered satisfies its aims. A DfT spokesman said: "Local councils are best placed to ensure road schemes work for local people. The Road Safety Strategy aims to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on the nation's roads and will include updated guidance for councils but it is vital that this is implemented locally by authorities with knowledge of their own areas." Community Speedwatch UK claims an apparent lack of interest from the police and councils in dangerous levels of speeding is "widespread and felt by the public. A CSW UK spokesperson said: "In most of the country, residents feel unsafe using their local roads, their quality of life is diminished, and half of the UK population is angered by the fact that not many seem to be bothered, or even worse: they just talk and write reports with little effect or change." Commenting on Bromley Council's refusal to act, Miller said: "I think it's time for a national campaign to change the way we all think about speeding, particularly in residential areas, where the stakes are so high." The £150 device that can help residents gather evidence A company claims to have a product that will give residents plagued by speeding cars the data to challenge local councils that either refuse or are reluctant to act. Called the Telraam S2, the £150 device is smaller than a mobile phone and uses a camera to count passing traffic and calculate its speed. Mounted on a window and with a clear line of sight, the S2 generates a data overview of traffic across a choice of timeframes. "The device enables the resident to identify there's a problem that needs some kind of intervention," said Telraam's Robert Mcintosh. "It can calculate the V85 speed-the speed at or below which 85% of vehicles travel and 15% exceed. The V85 is used by authorities to deterrnine safe and realistic speed limits. For example, if the 85th car out of 100 is doing 23mph, 15% are travelling faster but 85% slower. This would be acceptable in a 20mph zone." Mcintosh said councils might refuse to capture data as the equipment they use is expensive to acquire, install and maintain. "They prioritise those roads where they know there are problems and where they do very good work," he said. "However, if you're outside those streets, they won't collect the data and won't do anything about it. We're trying to help people get out of this catch-22."
This is the future of BMW – and maybe the future of electric motoring too Any accusation that European car makers have slept on EVs would probably be taken as an insult by BMW, which has actually played the game rather cleverly.Ignoring 20th-century science projects like the electric 1602e built for the 1972 Olympics, it was the i3 that kicked things off in 2013. Since EV drivetrain technology still wasn’t mature enough to hit the big time, it was quite a canny move to make the i3 experimental and interesting, with distinctive design and a carbonfibre chassis.After that, BMW’s CLAR platform was developed to accommodate both electric and combustion-engine drivetrains, to surprisingly good effect, because cars like the i4 were nice to drive and decently efficient, and gave BMW the flexibility to compensate for unsteady EV demand with ICE alternatives.Whereas the first BMW iX3, a Chinese-built sibling of the combustion-engined X3, was BMW’s first tentative attempt at a mainstream electric SUV, this brand-new iX3 is BMW shifting gears.It’s the first of many ‘Neue Klasse’ EVs on a dedicated platform unencumbered by the compromises necessary to fit engines. It introduces a new design language and a host of new tech that should futureproof the line-up for years to come.Early drives have been very promising. Now for the full UK assessment with a day of testing at Horiba Mira to find out whether the iX3 can go for the full five stars.
Three-row option returns to Model Y line-up - but only for top powertrain Tesla is taking the fight to the new Mercedes GLB EQ, Skoda Peaq and Peugeot E-5008 with a new seven-seat option for its best-selling Model Y crossover. The US brand offered the Model Y with three rows of seats for a brief period before it was heavily updated last year, but the current car has been exclusively a five-seater until now. As of today, the top-spec Model Y Long Range All-Wheel Drive is available to order with two extra chairs for £54,490, £2500 more than the standard car, with deliveries due to start in May. The extra weight trims the twin-motor Model Y's range from 391 miles to 372, but that's still competitive against the other three-row electric cars available at this price point. There is no word on whether the seven-seater will be offered with the other powertrains in the Model Y line-up. Tesla claims that with the rearmost seats in place, there is still a substantial 381 litres of luggage capacity in the boot, and that rises to 894 when they're folded flat - both figures measured to the roofline. "This means that even with seven passengers comfortably seated in the cabin, two carry-on suitcases can be stored in the trunk and two large bags in the frunk," the company said. Aside from the extra accommodation – and the sliding, folding middle row that's been put in place to enable access to them – the only difference over the standard car is the addition of a pair of USB-C charge ports for passengers in the stern. As before, the rear seats are designed primarily for children, with substantially less legroom than in either of the other rows.
Ford also retakes crown as fastest American marque around the Nordschleife with 6min 15.977sec lap The Ford GT Mk IV has become the fastest pure-combustion car to lap the Nürburgring Nordschleife, rounding the 12.9-mile circuit in 6min 15.977sec. It makes the track-only version of the GT the third-fastest car around the circuit, trailing only the electric Volkswagen ID R (6min 5.336sec) and the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo (5min 19.546sec). There remains potential for Ford to set a faster time with the Mk IV, however: its top speed was limited due to cold weather. The record run also means Ford has retaken its crown as the fastest American manufacturer at the ’Ring, beating the 6min 49.275sec lap time set by the 1250bhp Chevrolet Corvette ZR1X last June. It should be noted that Ford employed Nordschleife veteran Frédéric Vervisch for its run, whereas the Corvette was not piloted by a professional racer but Drew Cattell, a dynamics engineer. "Driving the Ford GT Mk IV at the Nürburgring is an experience unlike any other," Vervisch said. "The car is an absolute weapon, a true extension of your will." The fastest road-registered car at the Nordschleife remains the Mercedes-AMG One, which set a time of 6min 29.090sec. The Mk IV is the swansong iteration of the current-generation GT, built exclusively for track use and limited to 67 units (in reference to its forebear’s win in the 1967 Le Mans 24 Hours). Power is up from the road-going GT's 650bhp to 789bhp and it's sent to the rear wheels through a specially developed sequential gearbox. The car also gets adaptive suspension developed by Multimatic, which also had a hand in the Ford Mustang GT3 and GTD. The GT’s full Nordschleife run can be viewed below.
New tech reduces lock-to-lock rotation to 170deg, so there's no need to shuffle the 'wheel' Mercedes is the latest manufacturer set to bring steer-by-wire to showrooms, introducing the tech on the updated EQS limousine later this year. Following Tesla and Toyota in removing the mechanical linkage between the steering wheel and road wheels, Mercedes says the new development "elevates the driving experience to a new level and fundamentally transforms the interaction between human and vehicle". The company cites numerous benefits of steer-by-wire – which Autocar has sampled in a prototype car (see below) – including, most importantly, the dramatic improvement in low-speed manoeuvrability it brings. With the lock-to-lock window reduced from several turns of the steering wheel to just 170deg, there is no need for drivers to adjust their grip on the wheel or shuffle it through their hands, which means the conventional round wheel can be replaced by this unusual yoke-style device, upon which the driver can maintain a constant grip. Mercedes says this new arrangement gives a clearer view of the road ahead and makes it easier for the driver to get in and out of the car – which in turn "reinforces the brand's signature 'Welcome Home' feeling from the very first moment". By removing the mechanical link between the road and the steering wheel, Mercedes says it has also been able to "eliminate" any vibrations and jolts that come through the column, boosting refinement, while tuning the system to preserve an "intuitive steering feel". The system will make its debut as an option on the EQS and is soon to be rolled out to the electric GLC, but Autocar understands Mercedes' combustion cars could gain the tech as well: engineers tout the packaging benefits that come from removing the bulky mechanical steering system - potentially freeing up space for larger motors. It also makes it much easier and cheaper to build left- and right-hand-drive cars in sequence, as far less adaptation work is required to move the steering wheel from one side of the car to the other. The company also emphasises the high degree of redundancy that has been engineered into the system, with two separate signal paths between the steering wheel and road ensuring constant power supply even in the event of a failure. In the "unlikely" event that both fail, Mercedes says, the car can still be directed to a safe stop using a combination of the rear-steering and individually braking the front wheels with the ESP. What's it like to drive? The EQS is the biggest car we've yet tried with steer-by-wire and could also be the one that benefits most obviously from the technology. This is a large vehicle. At 5.2m long and 1.9m wide, its footprint is not far off a Bentley Bentayga’s and it feels every inch as unwieldy when navigating tight car parks or congested urban streets with the regular, mechanical steering set-up. Threading it through small gaps and around sharp bends requires an exhausting amount of wheel-wrenching – faintly reminiscent of piloting a trawler through a busy harbour. But the new steer-by-wire technology, in combination with a rear axle that can steer up to 10deg, makes it feel almost as manoeuvrable as a supermini. It takes some getting used to. Condensing the lock-to-lock rotation from several turns to just 170deg means that low-speed responses are inherently much quicker and the steering feels a lot twitchier as a result. But on my test drive, heeding the engineers’ advice to “drive more lazily”, I soon settled into a natural rhythm that allowed me to better exploit the vastly improved agility. We took it through a low-speed slalom course and around a section of bum-clenchingly narrow turns, and manoeuvres that had been near impossible in the standard car needed no more than a relaxed flick of the wrists – and we were able to tackle them faster because of the reduced time it takes to get the wheels pointing the way you want. The yoke never quite felt natural to hold. You can go for the obvious ‘nine-and-three’ and place a hand on each side or grip the horizontal arms like motorbike handlebars - but neither is immediately intuitive and I think I’d need a fair bit of time at the… ahem, wheel before arriving at a default position. Mercedes has yet to detail pricing for the steer-by-wire tech and it’s likely to remain the preserve of its most exclusive models for some time but this technology is shaping up as a promising means of boosting the refinement credentials and drivability of its big cars – and it could have significant implications for its smaller models too.
The appeal of the Mazda 2 grows more and more as prices become cheaper and cheaper Most mainstream cars have life cycles of seven or eight years, even in today's fast-paced environment - which means the third-generation Mazda 2 was one of the UK's oldest cars when it bowed out in 2025 after more than a decade on sale. More impressive than its longevity, though, is its enduring appeal. When it was new in 2014, we liked it a lot and 10 years later, we still liked it a lot, maintaining its four-star verdict and saying: "The Mazda 2 remains something of a hidden gem for supermini buyers and it now also feels like a proper throwback of the finest type." It still feels fresh today, making it the automotive equivalent of one of those ads you see for anti-ageing medications: "Doctors hate the Mazda 2 for this one simple trick!" So what's the secret? It's starting with a solid base and then nipping and tucking through the years. The 2 has always been a great drive, and when Mazda switched from a Ford Fiesta platform to its own architecture for the Mk3, we had high hopes it would continue to excite in everyday driving. We weren't disappointed. True, it's not quite as chuckable or nippy as a Fiesta, but it's oh so close and definitely gives the Mini Cooper a run for its money down a twisty road. It's also comfortable, staying composed over road surface flaws. It looks smart too. Even pre-facelift cars appear modern, while the brightwork of the 2019-2022 models adds an upmarket air and the last facelift in 2023 brings a sporty edge to the design. Bolstering the 2's enthusiast credentials is a cabin layout that echoes the Mazda MX-5's, with a similar driver focus, good use of materials and analogue controls. It's a place you will enjoy spending time in. Depending on the car's age, there's a 7.0in or 8.0in touchscreen (which can also be controlled using a rotary dial - huzzah!) and all the accoutrements you could expect. Phone connectivity is included on cars from 2019 onwards. Space is good up front, with lots of elbow room, but in the back, tall adults will be more squashed than in a VW Polo, and the tight boot has a capacity of just 280 litres when most rivals are well into the 300s. As for engines, Mazda is an advocate of normal aspiration and the main choice is a smooth 1.5-litre petrol four that's charismatic and reliable. Even the least powerful 74bhp version with a five-speed manual feels peppy enough. The 2 weighs only a hair over a tonne, so 100lb ft feels plenty. The 89bhp version is nice to have, because it also gains a useful bump in torque. Some cars have a six-speed automatic (it was optional), but it dulls the performance and fun factor. Besides, the manual 'box has one of the best throws out there. The 114bhp tune doesn't add any torque, but its manual's sixth gear is welcome on the motorway and the 8.7sec 0-62mph time helps to make it feel like a warm hatch. With the 2019 facelift, the 89bhp version gained a six-speed manual and, alongside the 114bhp variant, a mild-hybrid system that boosts economy, if not performance. Talking of which, a real-world mid-50s to the gallon is achievable. Road noise is pronounced on motorways (facelifted models have extra soundproofing), but the 2's blend of style, rewarding driving dynamics and impressive reliability record makes it a compelling choice, even against newer rivals. What to look for Suspension: Some owners have reported prematurely worn suspension components, specifically shock absorbers and bushings, particularly on earlier models. Listen for any excessive knocking or squeaking over speed bumps and check the shocks for any visible fluid leaks. Brakes: On cars driven in a spirited fashion, the front brake discs can be susceptible to warping, causing a telltale shuddering under moderate braking. This is often fixed by simply fitting high-quality replacement rotors and pads, which is a sensible upgrade anyway. Air conditioning: Failures or poor performance of the air conditioning system have been noted, often due to a refrigerant leak. Check the air is blowing icy cold. If it's weak, it could be a costly fix beyond a simple regas. Infotainment: The system is generally intuitive but can occasionally freeze or reboot itself. A simple software update from a dealer usually sorts persistent issues, but it's worth checking its functionality during a test drive. Also worth knowing As well as the 1.5-litre petrol, there's a rare 1.5-litre diesel, available in pre-facelifted cars. It's relatively powerful (104bhp and 184lb ft) and is the sole turbocharged 2. If you want something small to do a lot of miles in, it holds appeal and you can expect to average 70mpg. But on the downside, refinement takes a further hit and the extra weight affects the handling and ride. Every 2 registered before 1 April 2017 will be £35 or less to tax per year, while all cars after that will come in at £195. The early line-up featured SE, SE-L and Sport Nav trims, all of which are well equipped. Later trims, such as Sport Nav and GT Sport, added niceties like a head-up display and LED lights, but it's worth checking the spec of any 2 you're looking at carefully, because there was a wide range of trims over the years with changing levels of equipment. From 2022, Mazda also sold a hybrid version called, helpfully, the Mazda 2 Hybrid, but it's actually a rebadged Toyota Yaris. So don't confuse the two: the Mazda-designed 2 (the one you want for driving pleasure) was still sold alongside it. An owner's view Sarah L: "I bought my 89bhp SE-L Nav three years ago as a runabout, and I've loved it far more than I expected. "The gearchange is sublime and it just feels light and agile compared with every other supermini I test drove. It never fails to put a smile on my face. "Economy is great: I regularly hit over 50mpg. I've only had routine servicing done and the only minor grumble is that the infotainment screen can sometimes be a bit glitchy, which I just fix by turning the car off and on again." How much to spend £3000-£7999 Everything from high-mileage heroes (some with more than 150k) to barely run-in early cars. £8000-£11,999 First-facelift cars (from 2019) make up the bulk at this price point, with a wide selection of mild hybrids and autos. £12,000-£20,000 Lots of two-year-old, 40,000-mile second-facelift cars (from 2023), up to ex-demos with mileage in the hundreds.
Dealers tell Autocar they are experiencing a record number of sales, some rising by as much as 60% Rising fuel prices, sparked by the war in the Persian Gulf, and falling energy costs have led to a spike in sales for used EV, dealers have told Autocar. The wholesale cost of crude oil has risen by more than a third since the first US strikes hit Iran on 28 February. This has pushed diesel prices in the UK up by an average of 40p per litre and petrol by 20p – both records for monthly increases, according to the RAC – which has piled more pressure on households battling the increased cost of living. Since those price rises began, leads on Autotrader for EVs have increased by 28% for new cars and 15% for used. “When people feel that traditional fuel is vulnerable to global events, the appeal of electric becomes far stronger, so the conflict is acting as a significant catalyst for EV interest across the UK market,” said Ian Plummer, Autotrader’s chief customer officer. Indeed, dealers have told Autocar that they are recording an increase in EV sales. One of them is Browns of Richmond, a used EV dealership in North Yorkshire, where enquiries have doubled and sales have increased by 60%. READ MORE: Why have fuel prices risen - and what could bring them down? Owner Fraser Brown said: “Normally we would have four or five sales staff available on a Saturday, and five or six customers at any one time. But last Saturday the showroom was so full that we had 15 or 16 customers queuing outside the door all day long – all of them wanting to buy a car.” As well as worries over rising fuel costs, Brown believes this surge in interest is also being driven by a “perfect storm” of factors, including newly lowered home energy costs and more choice of EVs in the used market. “If you compare the cost of a three-year old ICE vehicle to a BEV, the BEV is now cheaper,” he said. “Secondly, lower energy tariffs, which kick in today [1 April], have brought down the cost of home charging, while the VAT on public charging is also expected to be reduced from 20% to 5%, making that cheaper too. Coupled with high petrol and diesel prices, this is a tipping point.” Similar trends are being reported by larger dealer groups. Used car supermarket group Motorpoint said March was a record-breaking month for EV sales. CEO Mark Carpenter said used EVs have now reached price parity with petrol and diesel equivalents, with many models becoming cheaper, helping to drive growing interest among buyers. With household budgets being squeezed, Carpenter expects motorists will continue to look beyond the list price when shopping for their next car, with everything from “insurance premiums to road tax costs factoring into their decision making”. However, previous spikes in EV interest haven’t always led to lasting increases in sales. Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show battery-electric cars made up just over 23% of new car sales in 2025. That share is expected to rise but remains below government targets (33% this year). But there are still signs that interest in EVs is growing. Pod, one of the UK’s leading EV charging providers, told Autocar that enquiries related to home chargers increased by 59% in March. CEO Melanie Lane said the rise in interest also reflects changes to charging costs and energy tariffs. “When you see fuel price volatility coincide with growing access to flexible energy tariffs that lower the cost of charging at home, it reinforces that electrification can actually give households better control and predictability over their energy costs,” she said. Lane added that this could be more than a short-term spike. “What we’re seeing now is consumer behaviour catching up with that reality,” she said. “That shift has the potential to be lasting rather than temporary if the sector and government continue to build confidence, invest in infrastructure and support drivers through the switch to electric.”
New images suggest a fresh, more cohesive look for Ioniq cars, with new lights and triangular forms Hyundai will soon reveal a dramatic new look for its future Ioniq line-up. It has confirmed that it is working on two new concept cars, named Earth and Venus, and has published an image of the duo – although it has yet to confirm which car is which. One image shows the front-quarter flank of a silver-painted, cab-forward car. It has chunky wheel-arch cladding so may hint at the brand’s next wave of SUVs. It also reveals a new Lamborghini-style lighting graphic, with straight, intersecting lines, suggesting a move away from the ‘pixel’ signature that was introduced with the Ioniq 5 and reprised for the Ioniq 6 and Ioniq 9. The other image previews the rear of a more rakish vehicle, expected to be the Venus, given it is painted gold. It appears to be a fastback coupé, but this too has yet to be confirmed, and the image cuts off just before the car’s main roof section can be seen. This car also does away with the pixel lighting graphic. Key cues on both cars include an emphasis on triangular forms, as well as on aerodynamics: the silver car appears to have a particularly low-set scuttle, while the gold car has a prominent lip spoiler. A preview video published by the Hyundai Group has Chinese text at the very end, suggesting that the cars could make an appearance at the upcoming Beijing motor show (starting on 24 April), though the company has yet to confirm this. Milan Design Week, which could also host the concepts' unveiling, takes place the same week. Hyundai Europe CEO Xavier Martinet recently told Autocar that the brand is working to make the cars in its line-up look more closely related, targeting a more cohesive line-up. "Maybe in the past, there was not this systematic sense of family between our vehicles," he said. "It's something we're working on, but we will never do the 'photocopier machine' and go the other way around. We've seen a few brands who went maybe too far in this direction."
Chinese newbie has conquered sales charts, offering strong value and high-tech interior A year ago, nobody had ever even heard of a Jaecoo, let alone seen one. Yet now these SUVs are everywhere. It's an amazing achievement for a totally new brand to the UK. It's easy to see why, however, with a combination of a product that offers big value for money, an impressive seven-year/100,000-mile warranty and, perhaps most importantly, a remarkable dealer network. Learning from that other industry disruptor, Tesla, Jaecoo and Omoda got their infrastructure sorted in time for launch, thus ensuring they have plenty of cars on the ground where there are people who want to buy them, with more than 75 dealers across the UK already and more to come. The other factor that can't be underestimated is style. Jaecoo has clearly learned from its parent company Chery's joint venture with JLR, because the 7 is peppered with cues from the Range Rovers Evoque, Velar and Sport, along with a hint of Audi Q5 in the chromed front grille, and the result is an undeniably good-looking car – despite what some slightly cruel commenters have said. Unusually for a Chinese brand launching in the UK, every Jaecoo model available at launch features a combustion engine rather than being fully electric. Less unusually, they all trade on a compelling value argument, offering a brand-new car for the price of a used one. The three-model range starts at just £30,115 for the front-wheel-drive petrol 1.6T Deluxe, rising to £35,165 for the plug-in hybrid SHS, which combines a 1.5-litre petrol engine with an 18.3kWh battery and an electric motor. I've gone for the one in the middle, the 1.6T AWD Luxury, which shares its 145bhp turbo petrol four with the base model but adds four-wheel drive. A rotating knob between the front seats controls the seven different drive modes, with this particular 7 making a case for itself as a proper off-roader - which goes some way to offsetting the downsides of spending £2735 more to get to 62mph 1.5sec slower (at 11.8sec) while getting 2.4 miles fewer from every gallon (at 35.3mpg) compared with the FWD version. You do also get additional spec on top of the Deluxe's already very generous kit levels, though, including a larger (14.8in versus 13.2in) touchscreen, tinted rear glass, an upgraded stereo, ventilated front seats and heated rear seats. I'm struggling to think of anything more you could want - which is lucky because, bar metallic paint, there are no options available. First impressions are that Jaecoo has made a decent fist of its promise to offer a 'premium' look and feel at a budget price point. The 7's finish is good and its looks are certainly eye-catching, while inside it feels well screwed together and luxurious, from its faux-leather electric seats to its sat-nav, full-length glass roof, automatic lights, wipers and rear-view mirror and other premium features, such as selectable multi-coloured ambient lighting. There's a full suite of driver and safety aids, too, with a bewildering array of initialisms from MCB (er, Multiple Collision Defence System) to CSCA (Corner Speed Control Assist). I am a little nervous about how some of the electrickery will work in practice, because there have already been a few teething problems: every other day the car insists on telling me that I'm about to enter the United Kingdom and the radio reception of the 'integrated antenna' is so terrible that I've given up trying and instead listen to the radio online via Apple CarPlay. On the plus side, for a mid-sized SUV, the 7 is hugely roomy front and back, while the boot, although not massive, at 412 litres, is practically square in shape, and beneath the floor there's a spare wheel – an increasingly rare sight these days. Plenty of glazing and huge mirrors afford excellent vision, ideal in the urban landscapes in which, despite its off-road promise, the 7 is most likely to be found. All the controls are effortless, but the steering feels vague – add in plenty of body roll, and a B-road weapon this is not – and the ride around town is a bit crotchety. It smooths out noticeably at speed, however, making it a comfortable cruiser, even if the engine occasionally labours at pushing its 1795kg up to the national speed limit. That said, dynamic perfection would be a big ask for £33k. Over the coming months, I will be answering the much more important question of whether the 7 stands up to the rigours of family life. Handles like a boat, drinks like a fish! My mission to discover how the Jaecoo 7 stands up to the rigours of family life got off to a good start with a trip to Somerset to visit my parents for a few days over a long weekend. That meant kids, dogs, bags, walking gear and more, which would provide a stern test for the 145bhp 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine... You can read about this surprisingly thirsty mission here D'oh - user error confession time I've got a confession. I said the Jaecoo had no auto-hold function, having scrolled through various settings in an effort to find it (following the growing scourge of dashboard design, there are very few actual buttons). It turns out I'm wrong, but I only found out by chance when I was swiping on the main screen to get rid of one menu, when another – one I hadn't seen before – suddenly appeared. This one housed a series of shortcuts for major functions, and there, praise be, was an auto-hold option. The start/stop restarting is still frustratingly slow, but at least I'm not rolling backwards down inclines any more. Usefully, this recently discovered menu also has a button to turn off the lane departure prevention. On the Jaecoo, this supposed driver aid is so intrusive that you can find yourself fighting with the wheel when the system picks up lines in the road and diverts you off course, so disabling it is a must. Sadly it doesn't remember that preference, like it does auto hold, but it's now only a swipe away. Both discoveries made the journey to drop off my daughter for a new year at university less of a chore, and to be fair to the 7, this is the kind of task it's particularly good at. The boot's square shape makes it ideal for stacking in boxes of kitchen gubbins and bags of bedding and clothes: a year's worth was accommodated with ease once we'd dropped one back seat, and we could have got it all in the boot had we packed it to the ceiling. When we got to Oxford I found myself feeling like a pariah. We were there during the city's half-marathon and it was packed, so traffic was horrendous. Inevitably, the Jaecoo's usually sensitive start/stop decided to do more starting than stopping, so to avoid churning out fumes in this notoriously car-unfriendly city I turned the engine off regularly. That automatically unlocks the doors and pops out the exterior handles (à la JLR), so I locked them using the button on my door... which promptly set off the alarm with an extended hoot of the horn, making me look as if I was raging. By that stage I was, but at my own car rather than those in front of me. I put it head-to-head with the PHEV Regrets, I’ve had a few… and now there’s a new one to add to the list: opting for the four-wheel-drive 1.6T petrol version of the Jaecoo 7 rather than the 1.5 SHS plug-in hybrid model. I had the chance to sample the PHEV for a few days and frankly now think I’ve made a mistake. Read the full feature here Verdict When the Jaecoo 7 arrived with me, my aim was to discover the secrets of its success and to see if one of them is being able to stand up to the rigours of family life. Well, nearly 6000 miles later, the answer is a resounding yes. Although its external dimensions aren't huge, it's brilliantly spacious inside: there's a decent 500-litre boot and the back seats in particular won praise. My offspring aren't really kids any more, at 19 and 16, so it's more like having four adults, yet there were no complaints. My father criticised how low-set the rear bench was when I gave him a lift, but I suspect that's more a reflection of how rarely he sits in the back of a car than any fault on the 7's part. As its rough-tough Range Rover-lite looks imply, it feels rugged, aided by the pseudo-off-roader interior trim on the four-wheel-drive version. It certainly sparked plenty of admiration from friends, the majority of whom hadn't heard of Jaecoo before, and lived up to the 'Enjoy every moment outdoors' brand tagline. Wet dogs, wellies and walking gear were swallowed with ease, and the only build issues I came across were some creaking from the headlining above the driver's seat where the glue had come unstuck and a bit of loose carpet on the back of the rear seat. Staying on the off-road theme, in this 4WD car traction was notably better than in the FWD versions. Allied to decent ground clearance of 200mm and useful extras such as hill descent control, it would make a tempting and affordable alternative to a more serious off-roader if you live in rural area. Not that it got called into use much on the mean streets of south London, where the focus was more on the scarcely believable generosity of the equipment levels. There's too much to list here, but among the highlights were a full-length panoramic sunroof (with electric blind); heated and ventilated electric front seats (and heated rears); an excellent head-up display; a full complement of driver aids; and a huge central infotainment touchscreen, a whopping 14.8in in Luxury trim. Perhaps even more important if you're buying with your own money, however, is the seven-year/100,000-mile warranty. All of those electrical systems were both a blessing and a curse. Although most of them are there to make your life easier, in many cases they can frustrate in equal measure. The DAB radio rarely managed to hold a signal; the alarm had a mind of its own; the 'virtual assistant' regularly offered help without it being asked for; and both the collision prevention and lane departure prevention systems scared me as much as saved me by aggressively cutting in when they weren't required. I also found myself avoiding cruise control, because the adaptive system insists on taking on steering duties as well as maintaining speed, which isn't a very pleasant sensation. However, it's worth mentioning that I've had the opportunity to drive a newer 7 than my pure-petrol car (which was among the first to land on British shores) and found there have already been improvements in several of these areas (the radio worked, for one), so it's clear that Jaecoo is listening to feedback and iterating as fast as it can to fix flaws. One thing that can't be cured with a software update, however, is the chassis. And it's here where you start to see the savings that were made to hit the target price. Both the primary and secondary ride are disappointing: the lack of body control means it pitches and rolls over larger bumps, particularly when fully laden, while also feeling choppy over smaller intrusions in the road surface, accompanied by a fair amount of suspension and road noise. Add in steering that is unresponsive and inert and it's unlikely to be your first choice for a favourite B-road. The suspension does calm down on the motorway, when it's relaxing enough, but the engine needs to be worked fairly hard to maintain decent momentum. Switching to Sport mode or even Normal rather than the default Eco mode makes it livelier but doesn't do much for the already disappointing fuel thirst: with its 50-litre tank and an average not much over 30mpg, I was forced to break my cardinal rule of not filling at motorway services. It's no surprise to learn that the SHS plug-in hybrid takes 70.1% of 7 sales, because it's both more frugal and feels far peppier, without the lag in the stop-start system that the pure-ICE version suffers. But it appears that most people really don't care about dynamics: since arriving in the UK in January 2025, Jaecoo has sold more than 33,000 cars, 91% of them 7s. And it's not just in the UK that Jaecoo is growing at lightning pace: I've been to Lanzarote on holiday and Bahrain on business since the car arrived and in both spotted freshly minted Omoda-Jaecoo dealerships. It's not difficult to see why people are seduced by this car: it offers an awful lot for your money and not just in terms of toys. Few other cars that you can lease for less than £300 a month, or buy new for not much over £30,000, offer as much style or space for such a small outlay. So as long as rewards behind the wheel aren't a priority, it makes sound sense, although I would strongly advocate paying the premium for the PHEV: it will pay you back at the pumps pretty swiftly. If you enjoy driving, however, I would recommend shopping elsewhere. Jaecoo 7 1.6T AWD Luxury Price: List price new £32,850 List price now £33,945 Price as tested £32,850 Options: None Economy and range: Claimed economy 35.3mpg Fuel tank 50 litres Test average 30.7mpg Test best 33.1mpg Test worst 28.6mpg Real-world range 338 miles Tech highlights: 0-62mph 11.8sec Top speed 112mph Engine 4 cyls in line, 1598cc, turbocharged, petrol Max power 145bhp at 5500rpm Max torque 203lb ft at 1750-2750rpm Gearbox 7-spd dual-clutch auto, 4WD Boot 500 litres Wheels 19in, alloy Tyres 235/50 R19, Kumho Ecsta PS71 Kerb weight 1649kg Service and running costs: Contract hire rate £285 pcm CO2 182g/km Service costs None Other costs None Fuel costs £1130 Running costs including fuel £1130 Cost per mile 19 pence Faults None
Performance-focused GSE line is key in lifting Vauxhall's "emotional appeal" to fight off Chinese newcomers Vauxhall is working on a hot new electric Astra as the next model in its recently relaunched GSE sub-brand, Autocar understands. It will be the first Astra hot hatch since the VXR bowed out in 2017 and the third Vauxhall to wear the new GSE badge after the Mokka and upcoming Corsa, with which it is tipped to share its 277bhp FWD powertrain - including an electronic limited-slip differential. There is an opportunity for a fast Astra to benefit from the retirement of the Ford Focus ST and Honda Civic Type R petrol hot hatches. It will also enter a growing segment of EV performance hotches that includes the Alpine A290, Cupra Born and Mini Aceman JCW – as well as the Abarth 600e and Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce with which it is expected to share key components. Improving brand perception with cars like its GSE models is key in Vauxhall's plan to fend off competitors from China, with newcorners such as Omoda, Jaecoo and BYD posing a significant threat. "When we look at [surveys], Vauxhall scores highly for rational appeal but not so much the emotional," the brand's new commercial director, Michael Auliar, told Autocar. Insiders suggest there is "momentum" in the GSE sub-brand's development, with the Corsa (pictured below) arriving later this year and the British brand fielding an entry in the ADAC GSE Rally Cup, with young Welsh driver loan Lloyd piloting an extensively modified Mokka. Although the Astra was the first car to use the GSE name when it was revealed in 2023, it was not the focused performance machine that it was initially billed as. The arrival of the hot Mokka last year effectively relaunched GSE, bringing much more power – 277bhp compared with the Astra GSE PHEV's 222bhp – and a bespoke suspension set-up. The new Astra GSE is likely to employ a similar range of upgrades, but it could gain more power to match combustion rivals such as the Volkswagen Golf GTI and ensure it is not outperformed by the smaller, lighter and cheaper Mokka GSE and Corsa GSE.
Factory will begin building i3 saloon in August, followed by other Neue Klasse EVs from end of 2027 BMW has radically upgraded its core Munich plant in a €650 million (£567m) overhaul for the Neue Klasse age, bringing in thousands of robots, completely transforming most of its production techniques, and powering it with an AI brain. A huge chunk of the money has been spent constructing a new three-storey i3 assembly building, which sits at the heart of the 104-year-old site, and gutting and refitting the body, paint and press shops with new tech that is said to reduce production complexity. But the brand says the most important addition is the new 'AI brain', which has been created to streamline operations and is described by incoming BMW CEO Milan Nedeljković as “unique in our industry”. The system controls everything from the production lines and quality control to logistics. The latter includes a fleet of around 200 electric roaming robots that transport stock from lorries to lines – and BMW calls these the “backbone” of the new factory, with the “last mile” of all logistical operations carried out by these machines. By 2027, they will complete 17,000 operations a day. Notably, the brain can also run thousands of future processes in real time via digital twins in a bid to improve efficiency. Other car makers have also tested such a concept, but not at this kind of scale. For example, Hyundai has its Innovation Centre concept in Singapore, which uses a similar AI brain and robotic dogs to build and deliver cars just six hours after an order is placed. However, production is limited to just a few dozen a day, whereas BMW’s Munich site will build up to 1000 i3 saloons a day when production begins in August. BMW calls this its 'iFactory' and the concept will be rolled out to all BMW plants in the future, said Nedeljković, although a timeframe has not yet been set. “The iFactory is a masterplan for our production of the future,” said Nedeljković at the opening of the site, which will build EVs exclusively from the end of 2027. “It is built on four strategic fields: efficiency, sustainability, digitalisation and people. And these form the basis for our competitiveness,” he added. Another key aspect of the iFactory is its flexibility, because it is designed to produce multiple variants that use the same platform on the same line. Indeed, if major changes are needed – such as to pivot to a completely different model – teams are able to change sequences and specifications of the lines in six days, something BMW says normally takes weeks or even months. Such flexibility is vital in an age of constantly changing legislation and buyer preferences, especially around EVs, said Nedeljković. He also described this as “unique” in the automotive industry, adding that “it forms the basis of our core principle: production follows the market”. He added: “We are able to flexibly allocate volume to follow market demands." AI is used on the production lines too, where 2000 robotic arms piece together and paint the i3s. Here, BMW also uses the technology to pick out defects and then repair them. For example, one robot arm will note a flaw (by taking and assessing hundreds of pictures) and another will fix it, usually by buffing or welding. This leads to fewer issues being found at the end of production. “We get a higher-quality car to the next stage,” said tech project lead Christian Hecht. “This is better for our time and better for the overall quality of the car.” Plant director Peter Weber said the introduction of the new robots and AI systems would not affect jobs at the factory and would instead aid employees in their roles while helping to create better vehicles. For example, the fitting of doors, interiors and wiring will continue to be done by human workers, albeit with the help of machines. He added: “All in all, this is a competitive plant ready for a new era. This new era starts in August with the start of the series production of the BMW i3 and further models will follow soon."
New concept previews range of rugged off-roaders and pick-up trucks being primed for US market Hyundai has revealed the Boulder concept as its take on the Ford Bronco and Jeep Wrangler, hinting at a new range of rugged off-roaders and pick-up trucks being developing for the US market. Notably, the bluff 4x4 is based on a new body-on-frame platform that will underpin a new pick-up that's due within the next four years. This, Hyundai said, will major in off-roading, towing and load-lugging capabilities and is intended to attract new buyers to the Korean brand. The Boulder was designed by Hyundai’s North American studio in Southern California and is said to be capable of “extreme adventures”, with Hyundai claiming it has “aggressive” approach, departure and breakover angles for manoeuvring on trails off the beaten track. Design boss SangYup Lee described it as “a four-wheeled love letter to the dynamic, off-road way of life that many customers have been asking us for”. The cabin features an array of chunky button and dial controls intended to be as easy to use as possible when traversing rough terrain, as well as fold-out tables for picnicking. The Boulder’s rear tailgate is hinged on both sides and its rear window can lower into the panel to allow for carrying particularly long items. It's also said to have a guidance system that acts as “a digital spotter”. The Boulder isn't expected to become a production car, nor are Hyundai’s future body-on-frame models anticipated to come to the UK. Hyundai said the concept reflects its ethos of designing and developing new models for America, to be built in America using steel it produces in the country. However, it signals the brand’s intent to capture a slice of the growing market for performance-focused off-roaders, which includes the Bronco Raptor, Wrangler Rubicon and Ram 1500 TRX. Randy Parker, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor North America, said: “Body-on-frame trucks play a central role in this market, and we see a clear opportunity to bring customers a new alternative that reflects how they work, explore and live. "The Boulder concept SUV signals our approach to this segment and how we are thoughtfully developing our mid-size pick-up with the needs and expectations of US customers at the core."
Stellantis has recalled 44,000 cars in the UK built between 2023 and 2026, due to a risk of fire. The recall – which affects 700,000 cars globally – concerns the 1.2-litre mild-hybrid powertrain used in a wide range of cars from Alfa Romeo, Citroën, DS, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Opel-Vauxhall and Peugeot. Recall notices published to the UK government's website concern contact between the engine’s gasoline particulate filter (GPF) pipe and the pole protection cap for the starter-generator. That contact can cause water to enter the engine bay, potentially resulting in overheating or a fire. A fix involves replacing the pole protection cap for the starter-generator and checking the distance between the GPF pipe and the cap. The pipe will then be repositioned or replaced as necessary. Stellantis UK told Autocar this takes roughly 30 minutes. A list of models included in UK recall notices so far can be found below. Stellantis is contacting owners of affected cars, asking that they contact their nearest dealer to schedule an appointment for the repair. Notably, models from Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Jeep have yet to be included in those notices, despite Reuters reporting that those brands’ cars are included in the wider remedial action globally. Some 700,000 cars are affected worldwide. Stellantis UK said: "Having customer safety and satisfaction at the core of its values, Stellantis is voluntarily recalling 44,000 vehicles in the UK due to a potential issue concerning the clearance between the gasoline particulate filter (GPF) pipe and the belt starter generator (BSG). "Some 2023-2026 Peugeot, Citroën, DS Automobiles, Vauxhall, Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Fiat vehicles may have been assembled with an insufficient clearance between the gasoline particulate filter pipe and the pole protection cup of the 48V Belt Starter Generator (BSG). "Under wet conditions, there is a possibility that this insufficient clearance and a possible contact between these components may lead to water infiltration creating electrical arch, which could trigger a thermal event, such as overheating. In the worst-case scenario, this could result in a potential risk of fire in the engine compartment." Model Number affected Citroën C3 1694 Citroën C3 Aircross 2391 Citroën C4 937 Citroën C4 X 218 DS 3 Crossback 132 Peugeot 208 13,345 Peugeot 2008 5771 Vauxhall Corsa 1888 Vauxhall Frontera 2057 Vauxhall Mokka 534
UK fuel prices are soaring, but these easy expert tips can make your petrol car 25% more efficient The trip computer is saying 60.4mpg and I’m astonished. “That’s not an unusual improvement,” says Evan Morris, from Red Driver Training, adding: “typically we see savings of around 11% or so but I’ve seen as much as 50%.” That’s a full 10mpg more than the 50.4mpg official WLTP figure for the Dacia Sandero Stepway. Morris has just schooled me using Red's Fuelsave techniques, which are all about squeezing as much potential out of every precious drop of the ever more expensive fuel that we’re all painfully filling our tanks with. Over the previous weeks, the Sandero’s average consumption has been around 42mpg, with longer runs pushing that up slightly. Morris is convinced that it can do better. Significantly better. Before we set off, we have a quick look around the car, checking tyre pressures – every fifth tank of fuel used is entirely down to tyre rolling resistance, so every PSI counts – and having a peek at the dipstick. We also chucked out unnecessary weight that has been forgotten and left in the boot, weight again being detrimental to economy. If I had a bike carrier or cargo box on the Stepway’s roof rails, I would be removing them, too, because they’re perfectly placed to create drag. Laziness here costs you handsomely come filling time. Morris is quick to note the small details when we get in – things like starting the engine before putting on seatbelts, every second the engine’s running equating to fuel used. Put your seatbelts on before you’ve started it, then, likewise putting a destination into the sat-nav, changing the radio station or picking a favourite podcast. Small changes in habit help improve your MPG. To see just how much I can save using Fuelsave driving techniques, we will be doing two identical laps on my local roads. The first circuit will be without Morris’s input to set a marker, without guidance, but he’s sitting alongside to view the trip and assess what I’m doing. Picked by me, the route is the one I take when dropping the kids off at school and represents my typical daily driving, on a mix of urban stop-start traffic and faster-flowing country roads. It's a 17.1-mile round trip that starts and culminates back at my front door. I can’t deny that I’ve consciously been driving more economically of late. Miserly mileage has become something I’ve been doing habitually, and gaining a few extra MPG has been relatively easy enough to achieve. I’ve been driving economically around our first lap and pulling in, and checking the average, I’m actually worried that I might have set too high a bar for Morris to show what’s really possible. The trip computer is reading 48.0mpg, which is as high as I’ve ever seen it. Morris is unperturbed, though, so we get ready to head back out again. Pulling out onto my road, Morris immediately starts a commentary of what’s going on. If you’ve ever done any advanced driving, you would be familiar with it: highlighting potential hazards, traffic, signs and junctions and actively looking for ways of dealing with all of it. The goal is always to carry momentum. If you’ve ever tried pushing a car from standstill, you will understand why, because getting it moving requires the most effort. The same is true for your engine, so get it moving and keep it moving and get off the accelerator as quickly as possible, modern cars are designed to roll further to maximise economy. We’re scanning and planning all the time, Morris explaining: “Look far, mid, near and rear. Most people look too near. The brain takes in around 1000 pieces of information, and at 30mph, you will simply not be looking far enough ahead. If you are, you can prioritise it and work out what to do.” He continues: “That roundabout up ahead: try to reach it when there’s no traffic, slow to flow, look, assess and decide. And think about the crossing afterwards: is there a person there? It’s all about the timing of your approach, and on the exit, is it safe to build speed? Is there someone behind? If not, you don’t need to accelerate briskly.” Then there’s positioning, doing so for vision – not just yours but also to be seen by other road users, this aiding in your goal to maintain progress down the road using the accelerator as lightly, all while using as high a gear as possible. Worryingly, Morris says it’s estimated that modern drivers concentrate on driving only 20% of the time, and these techniques make you focus so much more, making for safer as well as more economical progress. It’s a holistic approach, using all the clues that the signage, road markings and surrounding environment give you, and doing it is both immersive and enjoyable. As we pull in to check the trip computer, it reveals that it’s very effective, too. It reads that 60.4mpg figure, which is 12mpg better – a 25% improvement – over my first lap, which is like adding £25 worth of free fuel on top of those expensive £100 fills. Over my usual driving, the potential savings are greater still, and all are achieved at the same average speed over the entire route, the Drivesave way no slower but significantly more economical. We’ve also been driving with the climate control on, because, as Morris admits, saving fuel shouldn’t be uncomfortable. It’s enlightening stuff, and learning these skills cost about as much as a couple of fills of your tank. With the potential savings so huge, and the joy of sailing past a fuel station knowing that you’re saving fuel – and by extension saving the planet – so great, it’s definitely money very well spent. Kyle Fortune
From the first in-car touchscreen in 1985 to the Tesla Model S - these were the significant moments The touchscreen is one of the most consequential inventions of modern times. They are now virtually everywhere and used by virtually every person every day. The start of this story is tricky to determine, though. A patent for a cathode-ray tube (CRT) screen that could react to touches of a stylus was filed as early as 1946. But it wasn't until 1965 that a screen with capacitive properties, meaning it could react to the electrical charge of a human body, was proposed. And the first touchscreen to enter real-world use was created in 1973, when scientists at CERN eliminated the need for thousands of physical controls on their new particle accelerator. Enjoy full access to the complete Autocar archive at the magazineshop.com The potential for wider use of the technology was obvious, but it wouldn't be practicable until computing power became much stronger and cheaper. That started to occur in the early 1980s, with touchscreens appearing first on desktop computers and then, come 1985, in a car. Yes, really. If you had to guess which brand was the first to offer a touchscreen, Buick would surely be near the bottom of your list, synonymous as it is now with elderly customers, yet that is the correct answer. Created by General Motors' Delco Electronics division, the Electronic Control Centre (ECC) was a touch-operated, monochrome CRT screen that gave Riviera drivers access to the car's climate controls, radio, gauges and diagnostic information, replacing 91 conventional controls. There were still plenty of those on the dashboard, yes, but this was at the same time that British minds were being blown by the MG Maestro merely having a digital speedo and a synthesised voice to read out faults. It didn't catch on, partly because some buyers didn't like this new control method and partly because a failed ECC would render functions unusable and cost $2000 to replace, but it was a sign of things to come. The first time Autocar sampled a touchscreen – or rather "an in-dash TV" – was in a Toyota Soarer coupé imported from Japan in 1992. "It has all the bells and whistles, but also all the style, of a Tokyo electronics store," we commented drily - and "all the controls have an infuriating habit of beeping when operated". Five years later came the first UK-market offering with a touchscreen: the facelifted Mk2 Lexus LS limo. "We've fallen in love with the LS's satellite-navigation computer," we gushed. "We've played with many such systems before, but none has come close to matching this one's ease of use. The key to its clarity is a touch-sensitive monitor, which lets you programme in destinations far quicker than ever before. "Just place your finger on the screen and a keyboard appears with letters highlighted in blue. Tap in the first few keys of the required street name and before you know it a female voice is guiding you through the urban maze as coolly as a latter-day Marilyn Monroe. "Tap again and a map of the area appears, zoom in and all the local car parks flash up. It's like your very own edition of Tomorrow's World, only this technology is here today." "You can quibble about the aesthetics of such a high-tech environment contrasting with the rather clichéd use of wood and leather," we later added, "but the system itself is beyond reproach." That Lexus cost £100k in modern terms, but a decade and a half later touchscreens were entering cars as humble as the Vauxhall Corsa and taking on ever more responsibility. And so it was 2013 when Autocar broached the subject of touchscreen distraction or rather the chief of electronic development at Mazda did, in explaining why the firm had consciously bucked the accelerating trend with its new 3 hatchback. "As cars get more connected, the information available to the driver is only going to increase," predicted Hideki Okano. "The risk of driver distraction will be higher. As a car maker, we think it's important to re-examine the human-machine interface for maximum safety." Yet at the very same time, electric start-up Tesla was launching its first mainstream car, the Model S, with "an enormous touchscreen on the centre of the fascia. Like an extra-large iPad turned portrait, it's used to control everything from the air conditioning to the selectable ride height of the air suspension". "In some cases," we said, "this convergence adds complication to what ought to be simple processes. But mostly it seems light years ahead of ordinary cockpit functionality." It was Tesla's philosophy that won out, such that even Mazda has now copied it - but the debate rages on.
New '40' powertrain offers 316bhp and 395 miles of range for £53,250 The BMW iX3 has gained a new entry-level ‘40’ variant priced at £53,250 – £5505 less than the existing ‘50’ model. It trades the 50’s dual-motor, four-wheel-drive powertrain for a single rear-mounted motor with outputs of 316bhp and 369lb ft, giving a 0-62mph time of 5.9sec. Its battery has also been downsized, from 113.4kWh (usable) in the 50 to 82.6kWh. That reduces its range from 500 miles to 395. It can be recharged at up to 300kW, giving a 10-80% refill time of 21min. Deliveries of the iX3 40 start this summer. The new powertrain is also expected to feature in the new BMW i3 saloon, which shares its underpinnings with the iX3. The i3 will be offered exclusively in four-wheel-drive 50 form for the first few months after its launch, before gaining additional options. In the i3, the 40 powertrain is likely to provide more than 400 miles of range, given it is significantly more aerodynamically efficient. For reference, it officially delivers 559 miles in 50 trim, compared with the iX3 50’s 500 miles.
Regen is a familiar part of the EV lexicon – but just how important is it? Today is April Fools' Day, and the temptation to write a glossary of entirely fabricated road testing and vehicle dynamics terminology is strong - but the definition of hoverskid, rimsnatch, elastosymptomatic torsion and syncopated stroking will have to wait. I would like to address the topic of regenerative braking, or regen: the way that electrified and electric cars recover kinetic energy and save it for later reuse. The way people talk, think and even feel about regen amazes me. It's a real thing: in essence, just an electric motor being used in reverse, as a generator, to send current in the opposite direction to the one in which it typically travels. But I'm pretty sure some people think it's magic; voodoo; whatever Matthew McConaughey was talking about in that line from The Wolf of Wall Street ("it's a whazy, it's a whoozy, it's fairy dust", etc). Some evidence presented itself just the other day. A representative of a car company (which I won't identify) was sufficiently confused about the regen of the EV he was launching - and how it was accounted for - that he told me it wasn't included in the trip computer's numbers. "That's why our EVs always look less efficient than they really are," he said. "You have to add the extra energy that you've regenerated on top of the efficiency and range figures displayed." Imagine my incredulity. It took me all of 10 minutes, out on the test route, to lay waste to his hypothesis. Some freewheeling down a hill was involved. It was fun. But it got me thinking. Regen is the secret weapon of hybrid and electric cars - but it is also fetishised. Some drivers of electrified cars seem to delight in it. You see them out there, speeding up just to slow back down, believing they can accelerate as hard as they like, because regen will give them all of the energy back again - as if they've discovered perpetual motion. It takes me back to a very informative few hours that the Autocar team once had, close to 20 years ago, with the late, great Richard Parry-Jones, then chief technical officer at Ford. He was briefing us on the future of the passenger car, and he explained the central truth about regen so eloquently that it has resided in my head ever since. This was the thrust of it: "The great efficiency gain of electric motors concerns energy lost to heat. Combustion engines typically run at about 40% thermal efficiency, and motors are much better than that. "Beyond that, the second law of thermodynamics tells us, every time you convert energy from one form to another - which happens when an electric motor is driving a car forwards and then scavenging energy to slow it down again - it costs you something. No conversion of energy is 100% efficient. If an electric motor lets you recover even half of the energy you've invested to make an object move in the first place, it's going some. "Even so, if all regen does is help you recapture at least some of the energy that your brakes would otherwise give off as waste heat, it's worth having because in real-world driving we do tend to use the brakes, so why waste it? "All the while, however, the most efficient way to move an object hasn't changed. Simply put, it's not to brake, not to regen. You design your object to move efficiently; you apply the necessary force, turning chemical or electrical energy into kinetic energy once; and then you let momentum take over. Anything else is waste." So there you go. Regen is important and it's useful, but not as useful, it has seemed to me ever since that day, as the option to turn off regen completely as you drive and just let your car conserve its kinetic energy. The scientists are on the side of the taxi drivers on this one. Makers of electric cars would do well to remember it.
Prior and Cropley discuss the Artura, software and BONGS?! In this week's episode of the Autocar podcast, My Week In Cars, Steve Cropley and Matt Prior come together to discuss the McLaren Artura, software-defined cars and a BONG that Cropley likes. Plus, guilt about buying a Chinese vehicle and Prior reveals that he's buying a new car. There's more too, including your correspondence, and detail of a special offer which gives you SIX issues of Autocar for just £6 if you click here. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts or via your preferred podcast platform.
Extensive updates for SUV and Coupé include upgraded tech, near-complete interior redesign and new powertrains The Mercedes-Benz GLE SUV and GLE Coupé have been extensively updated with a fresh look, upgraded tech, a near-complete interior redesign and new powertrains – including a 577bhp AMG 53 range-topper. Officially a late-life refresh for the seven-year-old pair, the updates are so extensive that those inside the company have likened it to a new generation. This is the second update the cars have received since they were launched in 2019, the GLE SUV in its fourth generation and the GLE Coupé in its second. The biggest change is inside, where the cabin is almost totally new. The dashboard-wide Superscreen is now standard, along with an 18in augmented-reality head-up display. The Superscreen combines a 14.4in touchscreen with a 12.3in display for the instruments and another 12.3in touchscreen for the front passenger. The steering wheel is taken from the new electric GLC and features physical rocker controls. There are also new seats. In the GLE SUV’s seven-seat configuration, the second bench can now be electronically moved forward to increase leg room in the third row. At the top of the range sits the Mercedes-AMG GLE 53, updated to put out 577bhp in its most powerful, plug-in hybrid form. Both the petrol and PHEV variants of the GLE 53 are centred on Mercedes’ updated ‘M256 Evo’ 3.0-litre turbo petrol straight six, which features a new cylinder head, larger intakes and new exhaust ports. In pure-petrol form it puts out 443bhp, and its redline has been extended in the interests of improving performance. In the plug-in hybrid, the engine combines with a rear-mounted 181bhp electric motor (48bhp more than its predecessor) for 577bhp and 553lb ft of torque. Despite the extra weight of a 31.2kWh battery, which offers 58 miles of electric-only range, the PHEV can hit 62mph in 4.5sec – 0.3sec quicker than its petrol sibling, partly thanks to the extra 61lb ft of torque. The standard GLE will no longer be offered in the UK with four-cylinder engines, although four-pot versions will remain on sale in the US and China. As a result, the UK line-up now starts with the six-cylinder diesel 350d, tuned for 282bhp; 450-badged variants use the same M256 Evo six as the AMG 53s but downrated to 375bhp. That engine also serves as the base for the 450e PHEV, where it is again slightly detuned to improve efficiency. Paired with the same 181bhp motor and 31.2kWh battery as before, the set-up produces a combined 322bhp and an unchanged electric range of 65 miles. The standard GLE range tops out with the 530bhp 4.0-litre V8 turbo petrol 580, which enables both the SUV and Coupé models to cover 0-62mph in 4.5sec. All powertrains have an automatic gearbox and four-wheel drive. Because of its additional reserves, the 53 gets specific AMG-tuned adaptive suspension and its 4WD system places a greater focus on handling. Externally, the GLE gains a bespoke new bumper design and bigger grilles that are now integrated with the headlights. In AMG Line trim the grille is illuminated and in non-European markets the three-pointed star lights up too. At the rear, the Mercedes logo is enclosed in the light bar, where previously it sat above it. The more potent AMG 53s are marked out by vertical grille struts, bigger front intakes and a more aggressive rear bumper with four large exhausts. Pricing has yet to be announced but will increase over today’s £78,050 GLE and £81,490 GLE Coupé. The new models will go on sale later this year.
Second update for third-generation SUV includes new rear screens and punchy 3.0-litre straight six The Mercedes-Benz GLS has been heavily refreshed, gaining a redesigned interior and an enhanced petrol straight six. This is the second update for the third-generation SUV since it was launched in 2019. It arrives alongside the similarly updated GLE SUV and GLE Coupé. Still available with either five or seven seats, the GLS has received a heavy interior redesign, which has been modelled heavily on that of the recent S-Class update. The most notable changes come at the rear of the cabin, where, as in the S-Class, a pair of 11.2in touchscreens have been fitted. These can be used to watch films or engage in video calls. There are also now iPhone-like controllers that can operate the seats, control infotainment functions, close the blinds and even change the colour of the ambient lighting. In the front, the dashboard-wide Superscreen and 18in augmented-reality head-up display are now standard. There's also a new steering wheel that features physical rocker controls. In seven-seat models, the second bench can be electronically moved forward to increase leg room in the third row. Externally, like the GLE, the front gains a new front bumper, grille and headlights. In AMG Line trim, the grille is illuminated. At the rear, the Mercedes logo is now incorporated within a new light bar. New 23in wheels are exclusive to the GLS. The line-up starts with the 308bhp straight-six diesel 350d and tops out with the 530bhp 4.0-litre V8 turbo petrol 580, which enables the GLS to cover 0-62mph in 4.7sec. Mercedes’ updated ‘M256 Evo’ 3.0-litre turbo petrol straight six is offered on 450-badged variants and makes 375bhp – 74bhp more than before, thanks to a new cylinder head, larger intakes and new exhaust ports. All powertrains use an automatic gearbox and four-wheel drive. Unlike the GLE, the GLS isn't offered with a plug-in hybrid powertrain. It also doesn’t get an AMG-badged 53 variant, but an updated version of the supercar-baiting AMG GLS 63 is expected later this year. The previous model drew power from a 4.0-litre twin-turbo petrol V8 that put out 603bhp and 627lb ft of torque. Pricing for the updated GLS has yet to be announced but will increase over today’s £110,800. It will go on sale later this year.
New 4x4 brand from Chinese joint venture is eyeing rapid global expansion. Where does that leave Land Rover? JLR and its Chinese partner Chery have revealed the first model in the Freelander range of cars, but there remains a question: where would this fit in the current Land Rover line-up? The first of the new Freelanders will be a chunky, three-row plug-in hybrid with familiar off-road design cues and advanced technology, for example a take on BMW’s full-width screen sitting under the windscreen. The platform and tech comes from Chery, much of which will be familiar to buyers of the Omoda 9 or Chery Tiggo 9. It’s clearly the right car for the right time, but could it work in the UK? Chery-JLR has established a retail network in China already but not said which half of the joint venture will take the lead on sales in export markets like Europe. On one hand, this is clearly a car that JLR dealers will clamour to stock. The success of Omoda, Jaecoo and Chery models shows us that Chery’s ubiquitous T1X platform on which the Freelander also sits has passed the first hurdle of acceptability. Freelander may be a standalone brand, but the new Concept 97 shows that JLR’s supervision has nailed the aesthetic enough to bring fresh weight to a name that most Brits will already know well. A seven-seat PHEV with the latest tech in a fresh off-road styling package with the heft of JLR behind it ticks a lot of boxes. So we can be fairly confident it would sell in the UK. But cannibalisation has always been a problem at JLR with its focus on SUVs. Most at risk of being eaten is the upcoming Defender Sport. Designed on JLR’s EMA electric platform and expected next year, this is also a chunky off-roader with the latest tech. Except it will be built in Halewood and not Shanghai, with the attendant cost hike that brings – and it will lack the combustion engine option of the Freelander. Any Freelander import would also knock any remaining stuffing out of the Discovery Sport and maybe even the Discovery too, given the likely price and tech advantage. One possible solution could be if JLR commissioned its joint venture to produce an upmarket derivative, like a 'Defender Sport 130' PHEV, on the Chery platform for export. Then it could have a model that brings all the tech and cost-saving associated with China development but with a higher level of finish and brand elevation than Freelander to separate the two. Or perhaps a more radical approach could be the play. Chery has shown it is more than willing to inundate markets with new brands as it experiments with what works and what doesn’t. JLR meanwhile is the brand curator par excellence. With Freelander, it might have the courage to be able to say that this is now the new Discovery, the entry brand with practical tech appeal that leverages the nimble Chinese automotive sphere of influence. JLR has previously said Freelander sits outside its ‘House of Brands’, but with Discovery the weakest occupant of the house and no sign of help arriving, this could plug a gap that lets JLR concentrate on its real money-spinners, led by the Range Rover. The reverse option of shutting the door on Freelander just doesn’t seem tenable.
Reborn British race car manufacturer Lola has revived its storied T70 as a 500bhp road-going supercar. A reboot of the Mk3B T70, which scored a one-two in the 1969 Daytona 24 Hours, the T70S GT is powered by a naturally aspirated 6.2-litre Chevrolet V8, mated to a six-speed Hewland manual gearbox. Yet “I didn’t want this just to be a continuation car; I feel like that’s overdone,” Lola chairman Till Bechtolsheimer told Autocar, fresh from racing a Ford Mustang GT3 in the Sebring 12 Hours. To that end, the T70S GT's gearbox can be switched into a sequential mode for track use, in a similar fashion to the combined automatic/manual ’box used in the Koenigsegg CC850. Underpinning the swooping bodywork is an aluminium chassis, helping the T70S GT achieve a dry weight of just 890kg. That gives the T70S GT a power-to-weight ratio of 562bhp per tonne, on a par with mainstream supercars like the Lamborghini Revuelto. This allows it to hit 62mph from rest in 2.9sec and 124mph just 6.4sec later. Suspension comes in the form of double wishbones and height-adjustable coilovers at both the front and rear ends. Meanwhile, the track-only T70S uses the 5.0-litre Chevrolet V8 and five-speed Hewland gearbox that the original car used in period. It’s more powerful than the 6.2-litre road car, with 530bhp, and lighter too, at 860kg (dry), boosting its power-to-weight ratio to 616bhp per tonne. That cuts its 0-62mph time to 2.5sec and gives a top speed of 203mph. "The track car is identical to the original," said Bechtolsheimer. "We've got FIA HTP [Historic Technical Passport] papers on the prototype; every one of those race versions of the car will get delivered with FIA papers and will be eligible for historic racing." Each car's bodywork, meanwhile, is made from a new composite made from a combination of fibres from plant waste and basalt rock, bonded with resin from sugarcane, rather than the petrolchemical-based glue that's typically used. Lola claims this new material, which it developed itself, is stronger than fibreglass and yields better refinement than carbonfibre. "It's not going to impact the performance of the car but it's going to massively impact the sustainability of the of the build," said Bechtolsheimer. "What we think we've done here is create the first 100% natural composite. There are no petrochemical elements to it whatsoever, and we don't believe that has ever been done, certainly not in automotive." The two variants of the T70S share the same basic cockpit architecture, with the driving seat slung low and the gearlever nestled next to the driver’s right leg. But where the racer is faithful to its 1960s forebear, the road car makes small concessions to real-world usability: it still goes without screens, favouring analogue dials and controls, but gains chunkier switchgear, air conditioning and cubbies for storing headsets. There’s also a small boot for “modest luggage”. Just 16 examples of the T70S will be built at Lola’s Silverstone base. The company has yet to announce pricing, but Bechtolsheimer said it would land somewhere between "what the very best original T70 would be and your base level". The launch of the T70S marks a new era for Lola. The original company went bust in 2012 but was revived a decade later by Bechtolsheimer, and it has since entered Formula E in partnership with Yamaha. "One of the things that I love about Lola is that it never did a road car, and so I still don't really see this as a road car either," he said. "It's some small upgrades to to a race car that make it just about roadable and using small production allowances like the IVA [test in the UK] to get them roadable."
The new Freelander brand has revealed its debut model in China as a rugged electrified 4x4, created in partnership between JLR and Chery - and confirmed plans for a rapid-fire expansion into other global markets, including Europe. The first model from Freelander (a sibling to Chery, Omoda, Jaecoo, Lepas, iCar and more) is a mid-sized off-road family SUV with a new 800V electrical architecture that can accommodate electric, range-extender and plug-in hybrid drivetrains. It was previewed at the brand's launch event by the bold 97 concept, which was named for the year of the original Land Rover Freelander's launch and is expected to make production with few changes - save for the pillarless, reverse-opening rear doors. The production version will be the first in a wave of new Freelander models destined for global sale: the brand has announced plans to introduce a new model every six months over the next five years. Each will be offered with the choice of EV, REx or PHEV power. Freelander CEO Wei Lan referenced the historic commercial success of the Freelander (it was Europe's best-selling SUV for several years) as one motive behind the name's resurrection but also outlined the original car's distinctive blend of attributes as an inspiration. "The genesis of the Freelander lay in recognition of the tremendous success of urban multi-purpose SUVs across European and North American markets, inspiring the creation of an entirely new vehicle that would unite 4x4 SUV capability, urban versatility and sheer driving pleasure," he said. The name, Lan continued, "embodies an undeniable force, equally at home conquering untamed wilderness and gliding with elegance through the urban landscape. Today, as we speak this name once more, what we carry forward is the premium brand heritage and refined sensibility. "We aspire to bring the spirit of British exploration into encounter with the power of China's new energy technology, igniting between them an inexhaustible and transformative energy." The Freelander 97 references the design of its Land Rover namesake in its distinctive diagonal C-pillar, which nods to the original short-wheelbase car's detachable hardtop - a motif that is also echoed in the brand's two-triangle logo and headlight arrangement. Revealed at a dedicated event in Beijing ahead of its public debut at the city's international motor show next week, the Freelander will replace the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque at JLR-Chery's Chinese factory in Changsu, which earlier today (31 March) built its final combustion-powered Evoque. It has been designed and engineered initially for the local market, but Freelander is planning to disrupt the global premium SUV market. Lan said: "International variants are currently in intensive development and shall, after launch in China, make their distinguished entry into the world's foremost markets." Confirming that Freelander prototypes have undergone extensive testing in Europe and that the car has been engineered to be compliant with Euro NCAP safety rules, he emphasised that exported Freelander models will not be merely adapted versions of the Chinese-market cars but rather highly bespoke derivatives that are closely tailored to individual market demands. "A truly global vehicle is not engineered through adapation," he said, "but grown from the very roots of a world-class R&D system." He continued: "From its very first day of existence, every Freelander product is conceived and calibrated for the diverse demands of markets across the world. We are not exporting a Chinese car to the world but we are building a world car, for the world, from the very beginning." Chery-JLR has already established an expansive network of retail partners for the new brand in China but has yet to give details of how it will sell the models in other global markets, nor indicated whether JLR will be involved directly in marketing the Freelander brand.
Has the threat of cheap Chinese EVs finally forced Europe to build lighter, better-driving cars? There are just 700 parts in the new Renault Twingo electric city car, according to Renault. Which sounds like not a lot. I don't quite understand precisely how they define a part. I mean, if you were to separate every strand of wire in a cable, every element of every clip and connector, every individual battery cell, surely it would be more? I don't know the minutiae. And actually it doesn't matter, so long as they're using the same metric across all their cars. Which they do, because they want to track it and know themselves, because this sort of thing is the key to making the frog-faced new Twingo available for less than £20,000. The Renault 5, by comparison, has more than 1200 parts in it, so it is quite a reduction from there - and it's a bigger cut again from something like the Clio, which typically has more like 2200-2500 parts. Many of those are in the engine, which explains why an EV like the 5 can have fewer bits than a combustion car like the Clio. But to shave another 40% of the parts out of the 5 strikes me as pretty remarkable. The reduction and also the extremely short timescale in which Renault has developed the Twingo - only "100 weeks between kick-off and production" - is down to its new Advanced China Development Centre in Shanghai, which it opened in 2024. The Twingo is its first car to use this way of finding suppliers. The short timescale is apparently allowed by some extremely tight deadlines offered by Chinese suppliers. Renault brand CEO Fabrice Cambolive told me recently that while some European suppliers can take a week or two to confirm pricing and supply details, Chinese suppliers will confirm within a day. But the parts reduction is down to more than just that. It's also down to a ruthlessness in the design phase to cut components wherever possible - without, so the plan goes, letting the customer know they've done it. Here's an example: the Twingo has a funky-looking hazard warning button, which is backlit in the dark. It looks great. But it caused tremendous arguments, because although it in itself costs only a few pence, by the time that's multiplied by several hundred thousand units a year and then by the decade for which it might stay in production, this little part presents a rather large bill. The designers and marketers, who wanted it, won that one. But there will have been others they lost, and other arguments that other designers or engineers won and lost, and the result is a car that, even though it's electric, weighs 1200kg. They think that's 250kg less than the 5. It has a smaller battery, granted (we will see how its winter range fares), but I'm inclined to be quite buoyed by the weight reduction. We know that EVs are heavy. We know that the Chinese car industry is arriving in Europe selling cars at prices that European car makers are finding hard to match. If the competition is making European car makers find ways to cut parts and weight, and if they can do it without us feeling the cars are cheaper, we'll get more efficient, lighter vehicles that hopefully will be better to drive. If so, I'm for it.
The Sandero represents basic motoring done well, for those who really want it The bombshell has been dropped. Riding on the crest of a wave of global growth, Renault's budget brand, Dacia, arrived in the UK. And it brought with it a product to shake up the market: the inexpensive Dacia Sandero. Now to measure the impact crater. Is the Dacia as appealing as the idea of it? Will it suit the roads and drivers' tastes of one of the most mature and idiosyncratic car markets in the world? Is it likely to inspire a super-low-budget supermini class of its own? Or will the unavoidable concessions of a low-cost supermini prove unpalatable, and render the Dacia an irrelevance to the likes of us?
New £430k "remastering" from Essex-based Encor improves on 1970s original "in almost every way" The reimagined Lotus Esprit Series 1 from Essex-based Encore will be powered by a 400bhp 3.5-litre V8 – and a new video has been released of it in action for the first time. The “remastering” has been created as a homage to the 1970s original, “refined” with a new carbonfibre body, modern technologies and its 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol swapped out for the twin-turbocharged, flat-plane V8 from the Series 4 – albeit completely rebuilt. Just 50 examples will be made by the firm, which is made up of former Lotus staff, priced from around £430,000. Brought to life for the first time.An enhanced Lotus 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged V8 is at the heart of every Encor Series 1.More to come soon. #Encor #EncorSeries1 #EncorDesign pic.twitter.com/qGQdKl2ood — Encor (@EncorDesign) March 30, 2026 Chief engineer Will Ives said the brief was to “refine” the classic analogue driving experience that made the Series 1 Esprit so popular in the 1970s and then pair it with modern technology to make it more usable today. He added that the car had been “improved in almost every way”. According to Ives, the team “wanted to respect the original but not be handcuffed by it”, admitting that “while we love the car, there was just so much opportunity to improve it”. Although the new Encor Series 1 is a reimagining of the first Esprit, its base is actually the Series 4 V8 – the final version of the model, from 1994. This was chosen because it used a more advanced version of the chassis with a stronger structure. Despite that, chief designer Dan Durrant – who was responsible for the exterior design of the Lotus Emira – said the team still had a “responsibility” to be as faithful to the original as they could. And while Encor hasn’t worked with Lotus on its Series 1, co-founder and commercial director Simon Lane hoped “they see it as kind of complementing what they’re doing”. Powertrain The powertrain is the biggest change from the Esprit Series 1. Encor said the original Type 907 2.0-litre four lacked the characteristics and emotion needed for such a car in the modern era. Instead, the company opted to give it the power “it should have had” by opting for the Type 918 V8 from the Esprit Series 4. The engine has been rebuilt using new pistons, turbochargers and injectors. Power is boosted by 50bhp to 400bhp at 6200rpm and torque by 60lb ft to 350lb ft at 5000rpm, which means Encor’s Series 1 puts out 240bhp and 210lb ft more than the original Esprit. Weighing just 1200kg wet, this gives Encor’s model a power-to-weight ratio of 333bhp per tonne – the same as the 2018 Aston Martin Vantage. Encor has also paired the V8 with a modern electronic throttle body control and a new ECU, which, Ives said “gives us much more precise control and, most importantly, drivability”. The five-speed manual gearbox has been reworked too. Ives said “it was always considered a limitation of the [original] car, but it’s pretty much impossible to package anything else within the space”, so the team had to find a way to “effectively recreate a new transmission out of the casings of the old”. Keeping “just a few” pieces of the gearbox’s internals, the team created effectively a new unit. They also added a limited-slip differential to improve the drivetrain’s strength. “We’re addressing that weakness and that enables us to then take the engine up to a slightly higher output, because we’re no longer limited by the original gearbox,” said Ives (pictured belowm, centre right). The work means the Encor Series 1 can sprint from 0-62mph in 4.0sec – almost half the time taken by the Lotus original – and tops out at 175mph. Asked if there were ever plans to fit an electric powertrain instead of the V8, Ives said that, while they "did an engineering study", it "wouldn't have offered the same analogue experience we wanted to create" as "this car is about purity". Suspension Alongside the rebuilt V8, the suspension system, anti-roll bars and electronics are completely new, essentially making the Series 1 a modern car underneath. One of the most significant technical changes is the switch from a fly-off handbrake to an electronic one. This enabled Encor to improve the car’s packaging, which includes a more reinforced bulkhead, a lower weight, thanks to the loss of mechanical parts, and larger rear brakes. “We keep everything that’s good,” said Ives. “[The originals] are frankly fantastic cars. They were always seen as possessing one of the best power steering [systems] of any car ever, even today. So we keep all of that and then can kind of build on that. “Now, we’re slightly lighter and slightly more powerful. That’s the benefit of another 20 years of engineering and development [since the Series 4 was retired].” On the set-up, he added: “There's no point turning it into a sort of stiffly sprung modern car that drives like a McLaren or something. It just wouldn't make sense. We want to preserve that compliance, but, you know, it's that analogue driving experience.” Design While Encor’s sports car looks almost identical to the original Series 1 (indeed, it shares the same dimensions), it has an entirely new body. The Series 4 donor car’s glassfibre tub is removed and in its place a bespoke carbonfibre body is fitted that has been created to the exact specification of the Series 1. Ives said the reason for the complete new bodyshell is to ensure the strongest chassis possible while also saving weight. “We decided to tackle the entire structure,” he said. "So we take the entire body shell off the car and put it aside, find homes for those later, and we've created a complete new body shell that's then bolted to that backbone chassis. “Our shell is about half the weight of the original and of course incredibly stiff.” The look is also a “refined” version of the original but houses some modern touches and bespoke elements. For example, the retrofuturistic daytime-running lights at the front and rear (the eight at the back a nod to the engines eight cylinders) are the biggest indication of that, along with the LED headlights that replace the original bulbs in the pop-up units. For the latter, the use of smaller, modern lights also means a lower pop-up angle is needed, which in turn aids aerodynamics. The changes are more extensive than they might initially appear, said Durrant, pointing to the absence of the black line that ran along the length of the original Esprit’s body. “That was actually a really smart engineering feature at the time,” he said, “because they made a giant [tub] for the top, a giant [tub] for the bottom and glued it in the middle. They had a flange where they glued it. They had to get rid of it, so they styled it in and they painted it black.” Encor’s interior is a mix of old and new, with a 10.1in horizontal infotainment screen and a single-piece cluster with an integrated 10.25in driver’s display flanked by a wooden gear selector, 1970s-style rear-view mirror and the original indicator stalks. The team also tackled the car’s crash-worthiness by fitting an integrated carbonfibre cage, because, said Lane, “the original Esprit didn’t actually have any rollover protection, so you really didn’t want to roll it”. “We’ve been able to take a complete, holistic look at it and improve it,” added Ives. Indeed, Durrant said that the team “talked about what the product could be, we were really sure that we should start with something that was as kind of as pure as possible, and then we would go ahead and see how far we could refine it”. He added: “Because time's moved on a lot, and technology's moved on a lot, so the options available to us are entirely different to the options available to the teams that would have worked on similar cars.” Durrant (pictured below, left) admitted that the team felt “a really, very strong sense of responsibility on a car that’s so well loved, so iconic” during the project, compelling them “to treat it with absolute respect”. Asked about refining something that was originally penned in the 1970s, instead of creating a modern machine that would be tied down by legislation, Durrant said it was “wonderful”. “Legislation definitely pushes it in a certain direction. So you end up with something that the purity of an original gets diluted over to,” he added. Such elements which today would be banned, he said, would be “proportions that we all love and want” from a sports car, such as the tucked underbody and the nose height. “It's so difficult to achieve when you've got these giant boxes of tech which are sort of preventing you putting all the lines where you want them so to almost take a big step back and be able to develop something which is kind of as low and extreme as this. It's quite a treat” Encor plans to create just 50 conversions, priced at £430,000, not including the Series 4 V8 donor car. Lotus made around 800 original Esprit Series 1s.
Cousin of VW ID Polo was previously caught testing, revealing design remains faithful to UrbanRebel concept The Cupra Raval, due in the UK later this year priced from around £23,000, will be revealed in full on 9 April. An uncamouflaged prototype was previously caught winter testing in Scandinavia, revealing that the design of the UrbanRebel concept has made it to production largely intact. Its scowling triangular headlights remain, for instance, as does its swooping roofline and split C-pillar treatment. It's notably longer than that concept appeared, though, and has a more conventional rear light bar. A bold, diffuser-like rear end treatment can also be seen buried under a blanket of snow and ice. It's unclear whether the prototype’s small wheels are those that will be fitted to an entry-level model or whether they have simply been used with winter tyres for use in the snowy conditions. The Raval is underpinned by the new + variant of the Volkswagen Group’s MEB electric car platform, also used by the Volkswagen ID Polo, Volkswagen ID Cross and Skoda Epiq. It employs a single, front-mounted motor with a battery pack mounted under the floor between its axles. Two packs will be offered, with capacities of 38Wh and 56kWh, the latter giving a range of around 280 miles. Autocar has already driven the range-topping VZ hot hatch, which has a 223bhp motor and a limited-slip differential, plus specially tuned adaptive suspension. A 208bhp Raval without a limited-slip differential will also be offered. Its price tag will make it the most affordable Cupra model yet and positions it as a strong competitor for the likes of the Renault 5, MG 4 EV Urban and Peugeot e-208.
Renault revives its cute 1990s city car as an EV that's true to the original's ethos This is the last of the rejuvenated cute Renaults. The Twingo first appeared in 1992 as a city car so sweet that it apparently deserved a follow-up in the same fashion as the recent 5 and 4 – electric, retro reboots of cars we remember from our younger days.It was a city car then and it’s one again now too, this Twingo – which the French, owing to its ranine headlights, apparently have affectionately dubbed ‘Le Frog’ (after an animated fictional character, which is presumably why it’s not ‘La Grenouille’).
We put the new 1000bhp EV up against the most legendary classic Jaguars - with promising results There may not seem much difference between the idea of starting a car brand from scratch and restarting one. What would you do differently? Very little, the marketing cynic might say. Simply focus on the now, target the customer whose wallet you want to get into and deliver something they want. Alternatively, come up with a distinct vision or uniquely appealing notion that they don't yet realise they want. But what if that notion already exists - even if it's little more tangible than a feeling? Then grab it, if you can. Call it a head start, if it's useful; baggage to be discarded, if not. What you need to know first is: does it really exist at all? Or is it ephemeral? Has it been talked into existence? That was precisely the question addressed five years ago by the team behind the all-electric Jaguar X900, Type 00, 4-Door GT - call it what you like. (We won't know the official model name until September.) It's why we have come to JLR's Gaydon proving ground today, not so much out of curiosity but for the chance of reaffirmation. As it is called inside the building, the X900 is, by its nature, entirely novel technically, so it stood to inherit nothing material from any Jaguar before it. Any hint or feeling of 'Jaguarness' it might eventually evoke wouldn't turn up circumstantially, therefore. It would need to be deliberately and carefully designed, engineered, tuned, coded, woven and stamped into it. That's why, in the very earliest stages of the car's development in 2021, the key engineers involved in the project convened a unique 'Spirit of Jaguar' testing exercise. Done in lieu of a preliminary competitor benchmarking exercise, this was all about defining a dynamic character. About deciding what a true Jaguar feels and drives like. From its visual presence to its driving position. From the view out of the windscreen to the key characteristics of the first 50 yards at the wheel. From the tactile qualities of its primary controls="controls" to the defining fundamentals of its ride and handling. Back in 2021, a team led by chief engineer for the project Jon Darlington plundered a bunch of classic Jaguars from the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust. They did a lot of driving, note taking and note comparing, and set out to make the intangible, elusive, subjective and indefinite real enough to pin targets to. Today, we mark their homework. On the apron in front of me sit two E-Type roadsters: an early 3.8-litre Series 1 car with a flat floor and external bonnet latches and a much later V12-powered Series 3. They are Jaguar's sports car icons, almost as show-stopping today as an E-Type must have seemed in 1961. But next to them sit two early XJs - the last of Jaguar's saloons to be designed under the gaze of company founder Sir William Lyons. Proper grown-ups' Jags, you might say. There's a late Series 1, long-wheelbase XJ12 - and next to it a gorgeous, short-wheelbase Series 2 XJ-C V12 coupé. And there, beside them, sits the new kid on the block, still covered in camouflage, bedecked with emergency stop switches and the like, and surrounded by minders and engineers. All 1000-horsepower, three drive motors... and some 2.5 tonnes of it, I hear. Can it possibly fit in to the historical narrative here? Or is this just an exercise in the power of suggestion? Where to start? For me, it's E-Types first. Though I'm 6ft 3in and heavier than I should be, previous experience assures me that I'll fit behind the wheel okay. Close to 20 years ago, I tested the same Series 3 car out of the old Browns Lane showroom on one of what Jaguar used to call its 'Green Blood' days. (This company has always known how to wield its history.) You understand in a heartbeat why Jaguar has ended up with such an unusual, long-bonnet design for its new EV, knowing that this is how the development thinking started. Nothing in motordom is quite like looking down the long, curving, hillocked prow of an E-Type. Having so much of the car ahead of you puts you right in the middle of the action. You're exactly where you feel you should be: you're centrally located, with your backside about as low as it could be, and you feel like an integrated part of the automotive sculpture so neatly wrapped around you. The large diameter and thin wooden rim of the steering wheel gives you just enough space to stretch your thighs underneath. When you're in motion, the vents of the bonnet just an arm's length ahead seem to direct the hum of the engine directly at your head. It's all so intimate, immediate, vivid. I hadn't realised quite how different the Series 1 and Series 3 E-Types would feel. The S1's driving environment is tighter. The flat floor restricts usable leg room a bit, pushing your knees up into the steering orbit and making pedal access tighter. The Moss four-speed manual 'box is a challenge: first is the only gear that's unsynchronised but all the others act like they could be too. Still, the straight six is wonderfully smooth, sweet-revving and well mannered, and the car feels light on its wheels and nimble. The later 12-cylinder longer-wheelbase E-Type, by contrast, is a more natural cruiser. Jaguar made fewer of them than either the S1 or S2, but I wonder if they might have had a more lasting effect on the company's dynamic DNA, because this is, without a doubt, the iconic sports car turned GT. It's notably lighter and easier to manage through its pedals, gearbox and steering - and so smooth and torquey, thanks to its 12 cylinders, that you can simply pick a gear and stick with it, if you like. It's an unexpectedly rich and luxurious experience. Speaking of which, the XJs now await. They are from the S3 E-Type's 1970s era and speak a similar language - only more lavishly, mellifluously and effortlessly still. At its launch in 1972, the XJ12 was the only mass-produced 12-cylinder saloon in the world. The Lotus Carlton of its day. Well, it doesn't have bucket seats or launch control. But there's a sense of cocooning intimacy about its driving position, with the relatively close windscreen and pillars, and a big, elegant, close-set steering wheel. Importantly, it doesn't feel huge, inside or out. Snick down to 'D' on the auto gearbox's drive selector lever and you almost hover your way forwards. The V12 does accessible torque in a woofly, velvety, super-inviting fashion. The way it makes rapidly building forward impetus without apparently needing lots of revs or a big stab of throttle, especially at roll-on motorway pace, somehow makes it seem urgent and unhurried at the same time. It's this, surely, that Jaguar is referring to when it talks about its trademark 'power in reserve'. On ride and handling, a similar sense of effortless poise characterises the way both XJs behave. There's a suppleness, fluency and absorbency to the ride of both that seems to let the axles work independently of the body, like the imaginary swan's submerged legs. You expect that bad cornering manners must come as a consequence, but they don't. Both the XJ and XJ-C roll a bit as they turn in, yet they do it so intuitively, in perfect harmony with the rate of your opposing steering input. Then, they settle on their loaded wheels, quickly come to heel on your preferred line, take a gently positive posture and can be driven to the exit with plenty of poise and pace. The XJ-C has the better, keener handling of the two, its shorter wheelbase and sense of leanness combining with its abiding comfort and refinement to really striking effect. Neither it nor the XJ feels spine-tinglingly potent, as something with a more operatic Italian V12 might. But the way they make speed come so easily, without breaking a sweat, is spellbinding all the same. Time to drive the X900 Follow that, then, new boy. I slide into the X900, having been delighted by its antecedents and a little circumspect about its chances of picking up the dynamic thread. And yet it sets about its task straight away. This is a 5.2m-long car - a good foot longer than even the XJ12. But there is a surprising sense of low-rising intimacy about its cabin. A great many of this car's key dynamic strengths flow from its stance and shape - its outright length and lowness of profile, and its clever ability to sit you right on the yaw centre of the chassis, with your backside just 60mm above the car's super-low centre of gravity. (That has been achieved by the way Jaguar has split its battery pack and both lowered and angled backwards its front seats.) The dashboard is slim and compact - the parts of it you can see between the temporary cloth covers, that is - and the centre console skeletal and high. The roof and side windows come close to your head, so there's no wasted head room for this 6ft 3in driver. The pedals seem quite high-set, in an economical footwell. And so you wait, recumbent and snug, quite close to the windscreen in front of you, staring down that long plateau of a bonnet - before flicking the column-mounted drive selector lever downwards for drive. And... squeeze. Noiselessly, the X900 eases itself on. It doesn't spring into motion. There's just a hint of cushioned progressiveness to the accelerator response as you 'tip in', which feels very Jaguar indeed. The X900's step-off is quite gentle, but what happens next is much more spectacular. The proving ground access roads out to Gaydon's High Speed Emissions circuit wind down some lanes and around a couple of traffic islands, where the car's steering shows lovely weight and really faithful, consistent and distinguishing feel, even at low speed. This isn't just another luxury coupé - and the way it steers tells you almost immediately. Although our prototype is on 23in wheels and all-season tyres, it rides with a level of isolation, suppleness and fluency that really does feel supremely good for a modern luxury GT. It's softer and more yielding than Porsche's actively suspended Panamera and Taycan, yet the car's sheer length and lowness, and its low concentration of weight, seem to prevent it from pitching and tossing around at all. It's as if the car's fundamental design had Jaguar-brand ride comfort in mind from the off. And then, out on Gaydon's multi-lane test track - lordy, it feels fast. That's what a morning of driving 1970s cars will do for your perceptions, I suppose. But it's actually the way in which the X900 transitions from a totally serene cruise to pick up speed with titanic urgency that really lives with you. Even above 70mph, it still accelerates like a 1000-horsepower car. There's very little sense of ebbing potency from the electric motors at fast motorway speeds. As you dip the throttle, you feel the tail squat slightly and watch the long bonnet rise towards the horizon as the longitudinal forces build. That's just a hint of theatre, to announce the rocketship thrust that begins to hurl you towards 100mph and beyond, at once urgently and effortlessly. That sounds familiar - and it feels it. Is this a Jaguar? To its bones, I would say. From sitting in it, to drinking in its tactility, comfort and isolation, to then fully uncorking it and beginning to experience the remarkable breadth of dynamic character that it has. You'd say it was a Jaguar like absolutely no other. But a Jaguar all right.
FCA ruling affects 12.1m buyers who took out finance agreements between April 2007 and November 2024 Around 12 million UK motorists who were mis-sold car finance are each in line for around £829 – with total payouts set to reach £7.5 billion. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) set up the free-to-enter scheme to assist motorists who were denied the chance to see better finance deals and potentially paid more for their loan than they needed to. In total, 12.1m finance agreements made between 2007 and 2024 will be eligible for compensation. That's fewer than the 14.2m originally proposed by the FCA, which tightened the criteria in order to be fair to consumers and “proportionate” to firms. But that means the average payout has increased from an originally expected £775. The FCA estimates around 75% of eligible motorists will make a claim, costing the industry more than £9 billion once some £1.5bn in costs are taken into account. The exclusions include anyone who was on a 0% finance contract and anyone whose contract was exclusive between the car dealer and a car manufacturer (ie a deal with manufacturer support). The FCA has also cut out deals on which commission was low: below £120 for cases before 1 April 2014 and £150 after that date. The FCA has also divided the redress scheme into two allocations. The first version covers loan agreements between 6 April 2007 and 31 March 2014 and the second version from April 2014 to November 2024. This decision was taken because the FCA has been advised it may not have the authority to rule on cases dating from before the body was formed. When asked by Autocar about the likelihood of a challenge to the earlier redress, FCA chief Nikhil Rathi said: ”We think we have the powers to implement. We have had feedback that we don't have the powers to go beyond back beyond 1 April 2014; we disagree with that. We think we've got the legal powers. But given that people have raised that question, we've chosen to separate the scheme into two. “In the event that someone works to challenge the earlier scheme on that basis, this would mean that consumers interpreted and redress and the later part of the scheme would not be delayed or caught up in that challenge. So it's just a reasonable and responsible step to protect insulate the scheme to some extent." The FCA has given lenders a short implementation period to prepare for the redress scheme and start communicating with those impacted. For the loans taken out after 1 April 2014, banks will have three months from 30 June 2026 to let those people who have already complained that they will be compensated and how much; and for loans from the earlier 2007-2014 period, they will have three months from 31 August 2026. Final payments will be calculated based on compensation plus interest over time. Tristan Young
Latest iteration of the 3.0-litre TDI can produce up to 319bhp, 598lb ft and do more than 50mpg Combustion engines are still firmly in the sights of global manufacturers, including diesels. One such is Audi, which has announced an interesting "evolution" of the V6 TDI with MHEV Plus technology for its Q5 and A6. Known internally as the EA897evo4, it produces 295bhp and 428lb ft of torque and Audi has thrown everything at it in terms of electrification, although it's not expected in the UK because of diminishing demand for diesel here and the higher cost. The 48V set-up includes a belt-driven starter-alternator, a powertrain generator (a hybrid drive motor-generator) and an electric compressor piggybacked with a turbocharger. The air-con pump is also electric. The electric compressor is like a turbo but powered by an electric motor instead of exhaust gas, giving virtually instantaneous response. It's especially effective for producing high torque at low engine speeds when there's not much exhaust pressure to spin a conventional turbo up quickly. We first drove two 48V 'technological studies' back in 2014 at the launch of the then new 3.0-litre TDI. Mounted downstream of the intercooler, one was billed as the '3.0-litre TDI monoturbo' driving an A6 and the other the 3.0-litre TDI biturbo fitted to an RS5 TDI. The compressors filled the torque gap below 1500rpm on the monoturbo version and below 1250rpm on the biturbo. The compressors also provided instant response following a gearchange, making a significant improvement over standard engines. Audi says this latest version has improved response still further compared with earlier production versions. As before, when the driver is on the throttle but the engine is spinning slowly and exhaust pressure is low, the conventional turbo draws air from the electric compressor, increasing boost pressure rapidly. But where previous versions used on the S4, S6 and SQ5 work in a limited engine speed range, this version of the electric boosting system functions across the entire range and maximum boost of 3.6 bar builds up almost a second faster. The compressor wheel spins to 90,000rpm in just 250 milliseconds, 40% faster than the earlier versions. The instantaneous torque is added to by the powertrain generator and Audi claims acceleration is boosted by an extra car's length in the first 2.5sec. The powertrain generator can be decoupled by the engine management system and provide limited electric-only driving such as in city traffic. In motor mode, it can send an extra 170lb ft and 24bhp to the powertrain as well for a combined 319bhp. In generator mode, it can feed 25kW of energy to the lithium-iron phosphate battery. The engine is also certified to burn HVO (hydrogenated vegetable oil) conforming to the European standard. Audi says using this fuel enables a 70-95% reduction in CO₂ emissions compared with fossil diesel.
Kia has dived head-first into the B-segment EV market – can the EV2 take the fight to Renault, Skoda and VW? Kia went on the assault last year by launching not one but three new electric cars and is now pivoting towards the burgeoning urban EV market with its smallest yet, the Kia EV2.Aimed squarely at the incoming Skoda Epiq and Volkswagen ID Cross siblings, this 4.0m-long crossover is expected to match its European rivals on price, coming in at around £25,000, rising to around £30,000 for the Long Range version, which is tipped to be the volume seller in the UK.But can a competitive target price, long range and funky styling be enough to fend off its newfound rivals in the ever-growing, ultra-competitive b-segment EV class? Let’s find out.
Ferrari fighter is monstrous PHEV with mid-mounted V8 and 600kg of downforce This is the finished Valhalla, the mid-engined Aston Martin that sits somewhere between the supercar and hypercar spheres. We've driven a prototype previously but this is now a production-spec car-so production-ready, in fact, that they've already delivered around 200 of the 999 they're planning to build. Do let them know if you have £850k and would like one. To recap, this is Aston's first sort-of-series-production mid-engined car, and they call it the 'son of Valkyrie'. The idea was pitched publicly as long ago as 2019, but the car has become more complicated since. It's a plug-in hybrid with a carbonfibre two-seat tub, aluminium subframes front and rear and a flat-plane-cranked 4.0-litre Mercedes-AMG V8 in the middle. That takes the GT Black Series engine (which is no longer in production) as its base but receives Aston-specific mods to its internals, intakes, turbos and exhausts. It drives through a bespoke eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, to which a 201bhp electric motor is applied. This is where it begins to get decidedly complex. That motor is attached only to the shaft that deals with even gears. Aston didn't want to put the motor between the engine and gearbox, where the flywheel would be, because that would have extended the length of the unit and made the wheelbase too long, consequently reducing agility. But it wanted it geared, so it couldn't put it after the gearbox. So it went to the side. It torque-fills at low revs, can raise overall peak power, reduces fuel consumption when cruising, works as a generator and can help blip the engine revs to sharpen gearshift rev-matching. Aston's people have explained this to me, but I still can't comprehend how it does it while being attached to one gearset (don't write in). And this whole shebang drives the rear through an electronically controlled limited-slip differential. There's multi-link suspension at the rear, with Bilstein DTX adaptive dampers, and the tyres are 285/30 ZR20 front and 335/35 ZR21 rear Michelin Pilot Sport S 5s or more aggressive Pilot Sport Cup 2s. There's no reverse gear, with that being taken care of by a pair of front electric motors, making 161bhp each, which is also how the car drives in EV mode - making it the world's second front-driven Aston after the Cygnet (obscure car-related pub quiz question setters can have that one for free). These units don't all max at the same time, so when they're all blowing, the maximum outputs are 1064bhp and 811lb ft of torque - both of which would have been terrifyingly large numbers a few short years ago, but here we are. The Valhalla sort of has rivals in the cheaper Ferrari 849 Testarossa and much pricier Ferrari F80, as well as the Lamborghini Revuelto, and you could probably make an argument for a couple more besides. Whatever, though, it's a novel direction for Aston, and I suspect it now likes having a mid-engined car in its range, especially as more than half of all Valhalla buyers are new to the brand (two-thirds in Europe) and it's helpfully lifting the average transaction price. The company needs both new customers and an uptick in sale prices if it wants to make any money. And so to it. The doors swing out and forward, making it easy to drop into the fixed-back seats. You sit low, facing a low scuttle - allowed by pushrods operating the horizontally mounted spring and damper units that you can see just ahead of the windscreen. If sited vertically, they would have to have been mounted to the wheel hubs above the driveshafts so would have protruded too high to allow such a low driving position. As it is, visibility is good, through a broad windscreen and with clearly visible wheel arches to help place the car. Being so letterboxy and low and with a high-set foot position, it imparts a racy feel. Ergonomics are generally fine. I'd like a rounder steering wheel and there are fewer hard switches than optimal, but this is a hardcore sports car, not a hatchback, so we shouldn't mind too much. Having so much exposed carbonfibre only enhances the racy vibe, likewise the perhaps unforgivable absence of any luggage volume - even the Testarossa and Revuelto at least have a frunk. The carbonfibre body sweeps around to the rear, where there is a very large and very obvious rear wing. An active front wing is hidden="hidden" in the underbody. Here's where the contradictions begin. All of this technical kit is blended into a package that Aston says maintains "breathability" meaning it has more give and more compliance than you might credit in a car like this. It is a maker of grand tourers, after all. So while those big active wings can make big downforce, Aston reduces their effect past 150mph, rejecting a tremendously high headline downforce number so that it can avoid incredibly stiff suspension to resist the aerodynamic loads. I mean, it's still making 600kg of invisible push from 150mph to its 217mph top speed, but above 150mph it bleeds off the wing effect, which means its suspension can have a lower natural frequency so remain softer and smoother-riding. I'm for this. I'm told I won't need to use the nose lift on any of the speed bumps I encounter here in northern Spain, and I'm quite keen on that too. The Valhalla has the makings of one of the more habitable of the prototype racer-style road cars. And I think that's important in a carbonfibre-shelled car, because the material is so rigid and uncompromising when it comes to stiffness and harshness. Aston doesn't want its cars, even these ones, to feel raw; it wants its drivers to feel good, not intimidated. There are four regular drive modes, namely EV, Sport, Sport+ and Race, and you can select your preferred suspension stiffnesses and drivetrain responses in a preset too. After a brief flirtation with EV (still quite noisy in the cabin but the mode of choice for not waking the neighbours), I try Sport on the road. It makes for a very natural-feeling blend of characteristics. Like Ferrari with the Testarossa or even Audi with the new RS5, Aston is living in the realm of complexity versus complication. It wants a complex car to feel uncomplicated to drive, and on the road at least it has nailed it. There's a flow to the Valhalla, an evenness of response, a slickness of steering and ride and a linearity of engine/motor urge. Excitement? Sure, that too. Flat-plane engines don't produce traditional Aston V8 growls but at, say, 30mph, selecting third gear and giving it beans elicits tremendous immediate response as the turbos spool, and you hear it all. It's right behind you and the tub is carbonfibre, after all. But really it takes a race track to get a feel for the whole caboodle and, in the conditions I found one (rather wetter than those pictured here), even then there are limits to how far around the rev band in higher gears one can go. The sound? Quite hollow; less raspy than a flat-planed Ferrari, perhaps. Not spine-tingling, but I liked it. I won't routinely use enough of it that I'm likely to trouble the 410mm front and 390mm rear brake discs to anything like their thermal limit, either. But honestly, given that the Valhalla is a 1000bhp-plus, 1700kg-plus hypercar with by-wire throttle, by-wire braking and enough electric power alone to get one into bother, it's incredibly friendly. Aston says that the key to it all is having fundamentally good base dynamics. It has to be a good-handling car, the engineers say, before they start to fiddle with things like torque vectoring, which they like to do only mildly via braking at the rear and more quickly and responsively by underspeeding an inside front tyre. Because the Circuito de Navarra is very damp today, while I put the car in Race mode and gradually remove all of the driver aids, I also slacken off the dampers to allow more body movement and hopefully find a bit more grip. The Valhalla finds good corner speed even in this crummy weather. There is understeer (much more so than there would be in the dry, one imagines), but it's easily quelled by trail braking (or not being a plum with entry speed). And as you approach grip limits, the steering weight increases nicely, you feel the chassis moving about and it rotates seemingly around its middle, then mooches easily under power into a strong, controllable slide. If the front motors are pitching in to pull the car straight again (and I suppose they are at least thinking about it), they're very discreet, letting you feel like you're the one doing all the work. The joy is that it all feels so natural in steering, brake feel, throttle response and power distribution, even though all are anything but simple. Which was, I suppose, ultimately the idea. The Valhalla is an Aston like no other, but in the end it is, after all, an Aston in character: designed to make you feel like you're having a good time.
Promising first taste of the new-look flagship SUV that could become a benchmark seven-seat EV Who doesn’t love a literally named car? Smart Fortwo, Hyundai Coupe… erm, Toyota (M)id-Engined, (R)ear-wheel-drive (2)-seater? There’s a lot to be said for a consumer product that just does what it says on the tin and doesn’t have over-blown aspirations of universal applicability, so you immediately know what it is. Here’s another good example: the new Skoda Peaq - so called, obviously, because it’s the largest, plushest and most expensive car the Czech firm has yet made (and not, as some thought, as a contrived phonetic tribute to the late VW Group supremo Ferdinand Piech). It’s a characteristically no-nonsense approach to model designation that’s in keeping with the brand’s ‘Simply Clever’ ethos - even if, slightly confusingly, it’s launching at the same time as a much smaller crossover called the Epiq - a name with similarly superlative connotations. And where does Superb fit into that? Maybe ‘Good’, ‘Gooder’ and ‘Goodest’ would’ve been cleaner. Anyway, the Peaq will be unwrapped in summer as the fourth entrant into Skoda’s swelling family of pure-electric models. At 4.9m long, it’s around 250mm longer than the Enyaq, Skoda’s current EV flagship, and 110mm longer than the combustion-engined Kodiaq, to which it will basically serve as the electric equivalent - complete with seven seats. The heavy camouflage of our test car leaves a lot to the imagination, but the finished product won't be too far removed from the Vision 7S concept which previewed it – and Skoda’s new ‘Modern Solid’ design language – in 2023. You can see the bold new T-shaped light clusters, for a start, and the Peaq will follow the Epiq in wearing the striking ‘Tech Deck’ motif on its front end. The Peaq rides on the same VW Group MEB platform that underpins Skoda’s other EVs - albeit with a bit more metal between the axles. My test car had a single 282bhp motor on the rear axle and an 86kWh battery which claims more than 380 miles of range, and can charge at up to 195kW. This battery will also power the 90X twin-motor range-topper, with 295bhp, while the lower-powered ‘60’ entry version will use a smaller, slower-charging 59kWh battery and a single 201bhp motor. Expect prices to range between £50,000 and £60,000 - in line with toppier versions of the Kodiaq, and significantly undercutting the likes of the Kia EV9, Volvo EX90 and Hyundai Ioniq 9. Probed on the possibility of a hot vRS version, product bosses would only grin and tell us that “anything is possible” - so expect that to follow closely behind the standard car. So far, so familiar - but aside from being its biggest model yet, the Peaq does introduce a number of significant firsts to the Skoda range: there’s a one-pedal driving mode, vehicle-to-load charging functionality, an electrochromatic panoramic roof, a pair of magnetic phone chargers, a Relax package with a reclining seat and fold-out table, a jazzy Sonos sound system, and the door handles are electrically retractable (don’t worry, they have a hammer function to bash themselves out when frozen, and will deploy automatically in the event of a crash). The 13.6in touchscreen is vertically oriented for the first time, as well, which Skoda says allows for clearer segmentation of content: you can have the map or camera views at the top, in your line of sight, and the buttons at the bottom, so you can reach them easily without lifting your arm from the sliding centre armrest - which does feel much more natural and gives you a better chance of jabbing the icon you were aiming for. Otherwise, though, the crisp graphics and logical menu structures are all familiar from other Skoda models, so broadly speaking the upright screen makes little difference to how you interact with the car while moving, the only real negative being that installing the screen this way meant there wasn’t enough space for the neat, clicky Smart Dials from the Superb and Kodiaq. A 170mm increase in wheelbase and flatter floor translates to a tangibly roomier cabin than that of the Kodiaq: Skoda claims 58mm more legroom in the second row and a significant 84mm increase out back. I had to slide the middle row all the way forwards to get comfortable in the rearmost seats, so they’re definitely still off limits for taller passengers, but kids will find them plenty spacious - and there’s still a decent 299 litres of capacity behind them (measured to the roof). That rises to a whopping 935 litres with them folded – slightly up on the Kodiaq – and there’s a 35-litre front boot, too, but that’s best just used for the charge cables. On the road, it feels predictably (and pleasingly) like a big Enyaq - which is to say impressively composed, sensibly tuned and surprisingly manoeuvrable. The satisfyingly weighted steering is responsive and quick enough to help mask some of its substantial bulk, even on the tight and highly congested roads around Lake Como, and the 9.9-metre turning circle of this RWD version – smaller than a Golf’s – means you don’t miss the rear-steer systems that are fitted to some more expensive cars of this size. It rides as smoothly as its smaller siblings, too; no Peaq will come with air suspension, but even on steel springs and with chunky 20in wheels (you can also have 19s or 21s), it was commendably unfussed by the more challenging sections of our route - if a little boomier inside, perhaps, by dint of its more cavernous cabin. My test car was equipped with adaptive dampers as part of the Dynamic Chassis Control package, with 14 levels of adjustment ranging between Comfort and Sport, but as tends to be the case with such systems the default="default" middle-ground setting provides the best real-world balance - the sportiest setting being overly twitchy in its reactions and the other extreme a bit too treacly and languid. As for outright shove, there’s more than enough of it. I didn’t get much beyond 40mph in my time at the wheel, and didn’t have an opportunity to prove the incongruous 7.1sec 0-62mph time, but the Peaq feels decently energetic off the mark - with smooth take-up and a nice, linear acceleration curve that mitigates the tiresome, dizzying head-lolling you sometimes get with generously endowed EVs. I’d wager this mid-rung powertrain will emerge as the sweet spot in the line-up, with the cheaper version likely to feel a bit short on puff and stamina, and the 4WD variant sacrificing a good chunk of range and refinement for the sake of a few extra bhp and improved rough-road ability. Skoda cites the Peugeot E-5008 as the only real direct rival for the Peaq, with Europe’s EV seven-seater market otherwise largely composed of high-priced premium options and Chinese newcomers. Much rests on our first exposure to the finished car, which we’ll drive towards the end of the year, but all signs point to this being a real contender for supremacy in a segment that’s still in its early days.
A sermon for the selfish parker: Your 'nose-in' habit is driving everyone (and you) mad You never have to look very far in this country of ours to find examples of both good and bad parking, but would you be prepared to get a bit moralistic about it, I wonder, and be prepared to call them right or wrong? I think perhaps it's time. Cars are getting bigger, yet parking bays don't seem to be. Car parks are getting busier, so you're less likely to find banks of empty bays. It's more and more likely to matter, in short, if you park well. And cars themselves are actually getting less forgiving of bad parking habits. As a departure point, we must all agree, surely, that the path of the righteous is backwards. Indeed, at our regular testing haunt, Horiba MIRA proving ground, you will find car parks replete with signs reminding you to reverse park. Why? For one thing, if you reverse, your steered axle is at the right end of the car to help you finish up in the middle of the bay, with a car positioned and aligned just right to give you room to open the doors. You're actually less likely to need a second or third bite at the cherry. More importantly, when subsequently leaving the bay, you can see where you're going much better, so you're also a lot less likely to cause a collision. It's bulletproof logic. There are places where you may prefer to park nose-in for access to the boot: the supermarket, the recycling centre, that flatpack furniture place. Also, some cars actually oblige you to park forwards: EVs with charging ports on the front, for instance (the Kia PV5 is one of them). Fair enough on both scores; I'm prepared to admit a few exceptions. Even so, how many cars do you see abandoned at an incriminating angle, having been driven into a space and left too close to the margins of it, or overhanging the corner of the adjacent one? Why? Because its driver was hungry, or late, or in a rush, out of 'vape', desperate for the loo etc. Actually, I doubt that. I think they just didn't care. And when they get back and, after someone has parked perfectly properly next door, find it difficult to get their driver's door open, do you think they care then? Realise? Repent? Nope. They just blame the other person. But would the penny drop, do we think, if I could give them a more selfish reason? If I explained to them that they would be less likely to set off their car's most irritating intrusive driver encumbrance system (or ADAS, more commonly) by simply parking properly to begin with? This is what has become known as parking collision avoidance assist (or PCA for short; I've no idea why they dropped the second A). It's what autonomously jams the brakes on, completely without warning, when you're reversing into any given space and something in the immediate field of view a car several metres away, a shopping trolley in a neighbouring bay, a pedestrian, a pigeon, an airborne carrier bag has the temerity simply to move a bit. It may be because it activates only when you're reversing, and so you're already at that heightened state of alertness roughly commensurate with a nervous cat, but this has become the active driver assistance system that I loathe the most. It's so sudden and overbearingly intrusive that it has risen to the top of the ADAS rogues' gallery and become public enemy number one. I despise it. It could almost move me to violence. So here's the good news, Mr Selfish T Parker: if you reverse into bays and then drive forwards out of them, not only will you be better able to detect potential hazards more easily with those most reliable of sensors that we call eyes, but you will also be doing less reversing into more potentially hazardous open spaces, making your car's PCA system less likely to be the last straw in an unfortunate chain of events that ultimately causes you to be banned from your local Tesco. You're welcome. And the rest of us are sincerely grateful.
If you can't face selling your car, making it look like new could be the answer Stick or twist? To replace the car or keep it? It's a dilemma with which many car owners are familiar. One solution is to obey that old motor trade saying: 'Buy at two years, sell at four.' The argument goes that by its second birthday a car has suffered its steepest depreciation. It's now much cheaper than it was new but still feels fresh and has at least 12 months of its factory warranty to run. It's a smart buy. Two years later it still looks current and is probably showing no more than 40,000 miles but has depreciated more slowly. It's a smart sell. The trouble is, regularly changing a car like this condemns the owner to a biennial round of test drives and fresh finance deals. Not only that, but cars have also become more expensive to buy and to maintain. Add wider concerns about the economy, and sticking with something familiar and affordable looks like an attractive option. Four years ago, in April 2022, my wife bought a three-year-old Mini Cooper Sport automatic from a Mini dealer. It was registered in 2019, had done 7500 miles and cost her £21,895. Finished in black and fitted with a JCW kit, panoramic roof and heated seats, it was her dream car. Today, with 39,000 miles on the clock, it's worth around £12,500; also today, the same model at three years old and with 7000 miles still costs around £22,000. My wife struggles to accept her Mini has lost £9500, but while it will carry on depreciating, she hasn't the stomach to hand it to a dealer, along with £9500, to replace it. In any case, she's maintained its Mini service history and, well, she's rather fond of it (another motor trade aphorism: 'Never let your heart rule your head'). The Mini is beginning to show its age, though. In bright light it's obvious where I've tried to polish out light scratches. Algae is growing around the badges and the boot hinges. Sap deposits pepper the roof. The plastic wheel-arch trims are greying. For Autocar, a few years ago I spent a morning watching leading valeter and detailer Richard Tipper of Perfection Valet at work. He would be the right chap to sort it out, but as I scrolled alternatives on my computer, I spied a company called New Again, based in Chelmsford, Essex. "Restoring your car is the cheapest way to get a new one," stated the blurb. "We can breathe new life into your vehicle, making it look and feel like new again, without the hefty price tag that comes with buying a replacement." I called them. "When buying a car, obviously a chunk of what people pay is pure dealer margin," explains Gary Wray, who founded the business 13 years ago. "If people are only selling their car because it looks a little tired, why don't they save themselves money and, instead, improve it? It's a car they know and trust, and upcycling rather than replacing it is better for the planet." He explains what he and his team would do: "We'll jet wash your car with warm water containing a solvent that loosens wax, grease and grime. Then we'll detail it, getting all the dirt out of the hard-to-reach places including the wheels and grille, and use a clay bar to remove ingrained contaminants before machine polishing it to remove fade and swirl marks and restore the shine. Finally, we'll apply a ceramic coating to the body and the wheels. Anyone can valet your car, but it's the ceramic coating that will lock in all the polishing and paint correction work and preserve your car's looks so your wife won't want to sell it." It would, said Wray, take a couple of days to valet the car, prepare the body and wheels and apply the ceramic coating. Then he dropped the bombshell: including the interior valet, the bill would be £1500. I had to sit down, but my wife reasoned that, weighed against part-exchanging her perfectly good car in which she had invested money, plus finding £9500, it was worth a punt. I gave New Again the go-ahead and a few weeks later delivered the Mini. Three days later, Wray called to say it was ready for collection. A good vac, wash and polish by yours truly has always seemed sufficient to me, but Wray and his team had taken the Mini to a whole new level, far beyond a conventional valet. I'd be surprised if it looked this good when it left the factory. Mrs E declared herself delighted. How will she feel in 2030 when her Mini has done 75,000 miles and the cost of replacing it will almost have doubled? Stick or twist? I'll get my coat A ceramic coating provides a hard, clear coating to a car's body intended to protect the paintwork from the effects of weather, washing abrasion, chemicals and environmental contaminants. It is bonded to the paint and guaranteed not to crack or wear off. New Again used Autosmart's trade-only Matrix Black, said to provide shine, definition, enhanced hydrophobicity and dirt repellence for up to eight years. In reality, it should last far longer. However, as for all coatings, proper preparation is key, and the process isn't cheap. Alternatively, there are coatings you can apply yourself, ranging in price from £10 to £120. They include Shelby Ceramic Coating, Sonax Profiline Ceramic Coating Evo and VP Ceramic-Eaze. However, some only guarantee protection for a year, and again, for the best results, all require thorough preparation of the car's body.
We pitch our 4 against the full-fat Performance version to see which is the pick of the range The super-saloon class has, in recent years, been dominated by the Germans – and, to a lesser extent, the Italians. Upstarts such as Polestar are hoping to muscle in by taking the familiar recipe and making it ‘fusion’: get hold of a big, comfortable saloon with a plush interior and supercar power, just like mama used to make, but instead of fitting a straight six, a V8 or a V10, bolt an electric motor to each axle. In my mind, my Polestar 4 is more a very fast EV and not quite a super-saloon. So I lined up the 536bhp, all-wheel-drive 4 against a near-identical example fitted with the full-fat Performance Pack to see if this turns it into an Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio fighter. This pack adds no extra power (which, frankly, the car doesn’t need) but includes 22in wheels, more firmly calibrated ZF dampers and Brembo brakes with 392mm front discs. Oh, and gold seatbelts. This enhanced 4 was finished in the same Electron baby blue as mine, but it wore £900 body-coloured lower cladding—a worthwhile option in my view. It makes the car feel less SUV-lite and more like a traditional saloon. Except it is, technically, a hatchback — but you know what I mean. I took both cars to Bicester Motion’s one-kilometre handling circuit, a tight and technical layout, to see how they compared. This was the first opportunity I had to drive my own car properly in anger. It is brutally quick. The back straight at Bicester is only 310 metres long, yet by the end of it I was already sailing past 90mph. Polestar’s throttle mapping is unusually aggressive. Range mode is not a conventional eco setting - the throttle never feels especially dulled and performance remains more than ample. Performance mode, meanwhile, allows full throttle with very little pedal travel. The steering offers several weight settings but limited communication. Even with the stability control in Sport, the dominant trait is understeer. Trail braking, lifting mid-corner, mashing the accelerator – nothing really elicited much in the way of fun. Grip levels, however, are enormous. One novelty I encountered for the first time was brushing against circuit noise limits in an EV – yep, that’s right, due to the howls of pain from the tyres. The only hardware changes in the Performance Pack concern suspension and brakes, and that is where the differences lie. The Performance Pack adds stiffer springs and anti-roll bars, which reduce body roll - and you can feel it. There is a tight, near-90deg corner before the main straight, and the Performance Pack car allows you to commit to full throttle sooner. On the road, admittedly, the benefit is less clear. Besides, I drive most heavy EVs with their dampers in the softest setting anyway. The upgraded brakes, by contrast, make a meaningful difference. The transition between regenerative braking and the discs is smooth in both cars, but the Performance set-up delivers greater bite and urgency when you really lean on them. Pedal feel is excellent, inspiring considerable confidence. Possibly too much confidence. After a few stops from 90mph there was, er, a little smoke. Slowing 2.3 tonnes in a hurry is never easy. Would I recommend the Performance Pack? At £4000 it’s neither fish nor fowl considering this is a £70k car. It sits awkwardly in the middle ground and adds about £60 a month to typical payments. The wheels look better and give the 4 more presence, and the suspension I could take or leave, but the brakes are superb. For some buyers, that will be justification enough. And what of the Polestar 4 Performance Pack as a super-saloon? EVs deliver a very different experience from 500bhp petrol equivalents such as the Giulia QV that I ran last year. The Quad is sharp and precise, sounds magnificent and feels pleasingly analogue despite its automatic gearbox. The Polestar is more of a contradiction: closer, perhaps, to a point-and-squirt muscle car, defined by prodigious straight-line pace. Just one with a conscience, and an air-quality system - which, in this case, prompted me to purify the cabin after those smoking brakes.
Stunning scenery and glorious driving routes - this tiny island has it all, and it's on our doorstep During a recent visit to the pub, my friends and I got talking (read: loudly bickering) about the best driving roads in and around the UK, as we tried to find activities to look forward to after the dark and dreary winter months. While we regaled each other with tales of life-affirming blasts down Cheddar Gorge, Snake Pass and the Wild Atlantic Way, it struck me that all of the things that make these stretches of Tarmac great can actually be found in one place: the Isle of Man. After getting off the ferry, you're immediately greeted by long, snaking countryside lanes that lead into twisting wooded sections, then out across dramatic coastal cliff edges and along wild, winding mountain passes. It's like one of those billionaire-built private race tracks that bring the best parts of other circuits to a remote part of some Middle Eastern desert except it's less than three hours from Liverpool. Of course, the headline attraction is the Snaefell Mountain Course, the 40-mile loop of the island that's used for the famous TT motorbike races, combining some of the most rewarding technical sections and incredible scenery this side of the Stelvio Pass. I tackled part of it last year in the original and latest generations of the Skoda Octavia vRS, and it was sensational - genuinely like something out of a film. It was hard to keep my eyes on the road with such breathtaking views all around me, and the abundance of permanent TT infrastructure at the roadside helped to encourage a somewhat competitive driving style... There are stretches like this all over the island: roads like the A36 (popularly known as The Sloc) combine demanding hairpins and elevation changes, while the Creg-ny-Baa is a moorland route featuring some enticingly long and amusingly undulating straights. What makes all this even better for those coming from the mainland is that the Tarmac is exceptionally well-maintained (thank the TT) and, outside of rush hour, the traffic is light. But the cherry on top is that quite a few of these incredible roads don't have a speed limit. Yeah, just a small thing I wanted to mention. You still have to drive with the utmost caution, of course (and more fool those who attempt to achieve the same eye-watering speeds as a TT bike), but it's nice to know your fun won't be spoiled by a camera pointing out the back of a craftily hidden van around the next bend. And when the tank runs dry and you need a break, there are many places to just enjoy the scenery, from the Victory Cafe that sits at the TT's 31st milestone (and does a great pie) to the futuristically styled Sound Cafe at Port Erin, where you can sit and do some seal spotting. So when you're looking to book your next motoring excursion, save yourself an arduous schlep across Europe and set your sights a bit closer to home.
Got a Group B rally homologation car to restore? There's only one man to call Chris Tolman fell in love with cars on a rally stage. "I would have been 11 years old when my dad took me to watch the 1986 RAC Rally, one of the very last Group B events," he says. "That was the ignition of my Peugeot 205 T16 obsession. To see Juha Kankkunen's car spit flames was completely mind-blowing." That his Tolman Engineering business is now an ideal destination for stricken rally heroes is wonderfully full circle. And an interesting thing is happening, reckons Tolman: handfuls of the road-going specials produced for Group B homologation are now coming onto the market for the first time. Some of them, though, are in serious need of love. "It appears a lot of these cars went into collections when new," he says. "Those who could afford them in 1985 were probably in their forties or fifties. Now we're 40 years down the line, perhaps their collections are being moved on." This poses a problem when their perishable parts have, well, perished: "We've got a new generation of people getting into these cars and going: 'Oh my God. Where do you get this done? What do you do?" Calling Tolman is a pretty good place to start. In a storied career, he has gone from spannering World Rally Championship cars in service parks to running his own race team, his eager, hands-on spirit not dimming once. If anyone can confidently navigate their way beneath a 205 T16 now or indeed its MG Metro 6R4, Ford RS200 or Lancia Delta S4 brethren it's him. The incredibly liberal Group B rulebook was in place from 1982 to 1986 and remains legendary for the wild rally cars spun from it. So wild that the era drew to a premature close when its performance levels far outstripped the safety measures protecting drivers and spectators. One infamously fluid area of its regulation was the policing of the mandatory 200 road car registrations needed to homologate each Group B competitor. Perhaps nowadays car makers could easily make a healthy profit with the promise of rarity and artisanal construction, but the mid-1980s presented a different landscape. Rumours of teams producing far fewer road cars than necessary and creatively subverting inspections to avoid FIA reprimand are rife. Fewer cars to buy means higher values now and the desire of owners to properly fettle theirs as they roll out of hibernation. Which poses a conundrum for anyone looking to sympathetically tickle the performance or refinement of cars that weren't quite as untamed as their stickered-up siblings. "Originality equals value, but anything is possible if you want to pay to do it," says Tolman. "Fitting a modern engine management system unlocks a lot more performance, drivability and safety. Tyres and dampers have obviously undergone big changes in the past 40 years too. Generally speaking, Group B cars are racing cars, so their geometry is good, but they're still using a damper from the 1980s. "We converted an RS200 to modern management, but it meant we had to change a lot of parts. We kept all of the originals and we even made a new wiring loom that plugged into the existing one, ensuring the work could be reversed, although I don't think anybody is ever going to put it back to original." Wish to throw values to the wind in pursuit of bona fide Group B performance for the road? That's on the table too. The darling of Tolman's affection, the 205 T16, produced around 200bhp in road-going spec for 0-62mph in 6.0sec figures half as impressive as those for the Peugeot Talbot Sport car that scooped consecutive WRC titles. "They're all turbocharged and they were all built for it," affirms Tolman. "You can pretty much do anything you would like. Once you start putting five or six-hundred horsepower into them, they're ridiculously quick cars. And with no driver aids. Start pushing big numbers through them and they are terrifying." As values soar, it's surely no surprise that Group B specials of any output are typically squirrelled away for winter. "Most people are quite scared of road salt and wet weather, which is ironic when you think about what rally cars are designed to do," smiles Tolman. Keen to tap up his services? Allow up to 12 months for a full restoration and a budget potentially into six figures. "If you want to keep it original," he explains, "you're talking about stripping the car down completely to make everything work safely and putting it back together without changing anything. "It's a bit like art: the person who created the painting did it for next to nothing. Hundreds of years later it's worth millions of pounds. So how long does the person repairing it spend, and at what cost?" Prices for genuine Group B cars (whether rally-spec or road-going) typically start at £250,000, according to Chris Tolman. A 205 T16 or RS200 certainly will if you can source one for sale. "Delta S4s can change hands for well over £1 million each," he adds — a bar that is hurdled by short-wheelbase Audi Sport Quattros too. "They're only going to go up because they're increasingly rare," he predicts. "They generally come to market from a much wider collection of cars."
Factory-fresh performance is the preserve of the wealthy, but the used market is full of affordable diamonds We all love a bargain, but what exactly is a bargain? According to the dictionary, it's something that costs less than its true value. It's difficult to imagine the motor trade offering anything for less than its true value, but nevertheless we reckon we've mustered 25 used performance cars that cost less than you might have expected. Of course, the risk with such an exercise is confusing 'bargain' with 'cheap'. There are plenty of fast cars for sale at cheap prices, but they're usually undesirable, being very old, very tatty, extremely leggy and probably all three. We hope you agree the cars we've singled out are better than that. New car prices may be up in the clouds, but used ones like these are firmly on the ground. Porsche Cayman S Price: £10,000-£30,000 A Porsche Cayman coupé with a mid-mounted, naturally aspirated flat-six engine, below-average mileage and a full Porsche service history for a little over £10,000: there's no doubt about it, you can find a bargain. The first-generation (987) Cayman is a raw thing: lively at the wheel and offering tremendous feedback. Like the contemporaneous 986-generation 911, a few early cars suffered intermediate shaft issues but most sellers flag if their car was one of them and has been rectified. Ferrari 360 F1 Price: £43,000-£80,000 A 'bargain Ferrari 360' is surely a contradiction in terms, but they have always existed, and the best right now is the 360. Immaculate manuals in Rosso Red still command £75k, but at £45k there are plenty of nice, well-specced F1 autos in lesser shades with solid histories. It's surprising, given the 360 represented a huge leap forward in terms of tech, build quality, reliability and relative ease of ownership - plus it looks sensational and is thrilling to drive. The answer probably lies in the sheer number built: some 16,300. Porsche 911 Carrera Price: £9000-£25,000 Prices for this firm favourite with bargain hunters are beginning to climb, but there are still tidy examples to be had for reasonable amounts. Condition and provenance trump mileage, and beware anything too cheap because recommissioning expenses will turn your hair white. The 996 was the first liquid-cooled Porsche 911, of course - the one with the divisive 'fried egg' headlights. It shared some major parts with the then new Boxster but not enough that its defining qualities were diluted. Some cars with the early 3.4-litre engine and its 3.6-litre successor suffered problems including failure of the rear main seal and intermediate shaft bearing, plus issues including bore scoring. Happily, there are tried-and-trusted fixes. Nissan 350Z Price: £3000-£25,000 Few 20-year-old Z cars have avoided the attentions of boy racers, which is a real shame when they were such fantastically fun toys straight out of the factory. But cherished and unmolested cars do exist: we found one whose owner has treated it to a new clutch, brake discs and pads, plugs and coil packs and new rear bodywork when rust struck. Talking of which, a common problem is corrosion of the transmission brace, shaped like a W; better-quality replacements are available. Porsche Boxster S Price: £6000-£25,000 Sister car to the 987 Cayman, the second-generation Porsche Boxster is slightly less focused but still enormous fun and brings the added appeal of roof-down motoring. No Porsche is cheap to own and many optimists have fallen for a cut-price Boxster only to have their fingers burned, so buy the best you can afford, checking for smooth operation of the fabric hood and gearbox, oil leaks from the rear main seal and that the electrics are trouble-free. Volkswagen Golf R Price: £8500-£28,000 Anyone who has flip-flopped between buying a Mk7 Volkswagen Golf GTI Performance or an R will know the latter is a relative bargain in comparison. At launch in 2014, Volkswagen pushed the Golf R hard. The result is that today, like for like, a 2014-reg R commands a premium of only around £2000 over the GTI Performance. In 2017, both models, by then identified as facelifted Mk7.5s, gained extra power, but this has only served to narrow the price gap to around £1000. Check the gearbox oil changes have been done. BMW M135i Price: £7000-£19,000 The M135i isn't an M car in the purest sense; more like a punchier M Sport model. No matter: it only means this six-cylinder hatch is more affordable while offering more than a touch of M thrills. We found a rare manual; the quicker-shifting auto is a bit faster but we will trade that for greater engagement. Look for rust and overspray and check all features work. Ford Fiesta ST Price: £6000-£21,000 Quick, sure-footed and with 197bhp from its 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine, the tiddler in our selection is no less fun than the mightiest and, in the right hands, a lot more. When it was withdrawn in 2023, the ST-3 version (18in alloys, auto headlights, heated seats) was knocking on the door of £27k. Low-mileage 2023 cars still cost around £20k today. Beware cheap tyres, poor repairs and loose trim. BMW M240i Price: £12,000-£25,000 Like the M135i hatchback, the M240i isn't a full-fat M car but is thoroughly entertaining. A brand-new, current-generation M240i will set you back around £50,000. This 3 Series-based coupé is more rounded and better equipped than its 1 Series-based rear-drive predecessor featured here. However, this car is almost as quick and has the same 3.0-litre straight-six engine, albeit in slightly less powerful form. We found a low-mileage example at a shade under; a shoo-in. Check for coolant leaks and sensor issues and with automatics ensure the gearbox has been given fresh fluid. Maserati Granturismo S Price: £16,000-£30,000 Its exhaust note alone is sufficient reason to consider £19,500 a price worth paying, but in addition there's the 4.7-litre V8 engine's performance to enjoy and the car's looks to savour, not to mention levels of handling and ride comfort that are impressively high. It's all right for us, of course, because we're not buying one and we won't have to pay the running costs (18mpg at best), but we can dream. Look for oil and coolant leaks and a saggy roof lining and try to get one with the optional Skyhook suspension. Jaguar F-Type V6 Price: £17,500-£40,000 Less than £20,000 for one of the world's prettiest performance cars? That will do us. The V6 sits between the 2.0-litre four (the best-handling F-Type of the lot and good value at £20k) and the various mighty 5.0-litre V8s (prices now from £25k). The S version adds a mechanical limited-slip differential and launch control plus a useful 40bhp (up from the standard 335bhp), although torque-wise there's little between them. Beware a leaky rear diff, split suspension bushes, wayward panel gaps and a tired battery. Aston Martin V8 Vantage Price: £17,000-£70,000 A DB7, a DB9 or a V8 Vantage? That's the choice facing the aspiring Aston Martin owner with £19,000 in the bank. The Vantage is the sensible choice, but you will have to settle for an older, higher-mileage example (fine if it has a franchised or specialist service history) and the 4.3-litre engine rather than the 4.7-litre unit of 2008. The Vantage was usefully improved through its life but young or old it looks every inch an Aston. Beware irregular servicing, worn suspension and a decaying interior. BMW M3 Price: £19,000-£40,000 M3s hold their value well: many older examples still command prices of £15,000 and more. With prices starting at £19k, the F80-generation saloon isn't exactly cheap, either, but the earliest are only 12 years old and their mileages are still reasonable. Consider that these cost around £55k new and one such as our find begins to look like value. In M3 terms it's not best of breed, but with 425bhp from its twin-turbo straight six it's still thrilling to drive. Note that sunroof-equipped cars have a steel roof rather than one made of lighter carbonfibre-reinforced plastic. On pre-2015 cars, check if the crank hub has been upgraded - a good thing. Jaguar I-Pace Price: £9000-£19,000 I-Pace prices are low for a reason: poor reliability. Many owners complain of issues ranging from charging system and battery management faults to frozen infotainment screens and air suspension gremlins. The I-Pace is an old car now too. On the flipside, when it behaves itself - and there are many owners who will swear to having experienced zero problems - an I-Pace is a cracking electric car, offering a good range (around 260 miles in the real world), strong performance (395bhp) for 0-62mph in 4.5sec and excellent handling. Its roomy interior looks and feels premium too. Maserati Ghibli V6 Price: £9000-£35,000 In new car comparison tests, the Ghibli invariably lost out to the BMW 5 Series, but testers always acknowledged the Italian saloon's character and rarity. The same still applies, only used Ghiblis are now temptingly cheaper. We found an early V6 S (which was £64k new), whose twin-turbocharged petrol engine, assembled by Ferrari, puts out 399bhp for 0-62mph in just 5.0sec. Rear-wheel drive, a limited-slip differential and quad exhausts complete the package. Check the sensors and driving modes and look to see that the interior is holding up. Jaguar XFR Price: £7000-£16,000 With its E5-guzzling 5.0-litre V8, a good XFR can still post 0-62mph in 4.7sec, but more impressive is that Autocar's testers awarded this hot saloon their full five stars. They said: "On one hand it plays the role of refined mile-eater at least as well as any luxury car, and on the other it has sufficient raw dynamic ability to drop a BMW M5 in a heartbeat." Beware fuel and coolant leaks, timing chain noises and worn rear suspension. Tesla Model 3 Price: £9000-£22,000 Successive new car price cuts have forced down prices of used Model 3s while the cars themselves have remained reliable, good to drive, well equipped and easy to rapid-charge. The Long Range version has a 350-mile range, but most buyers should be comfortable with a Standard Range Plus's 250. Insist on a battery health report, watch out for creaky front suspension and poor panel fit and check the parking brake releases and engages. BMW M5 Price: £14,500-£26,000 Like the F80 M3, the F10-generation M5 followed a more glamorous predecessor, in its case the howling V10-engined E60 of 2004-10. Prices for that model presently start at around £18k and rise to as much as £50k. They make this twin-turbo V8-powered F10 look surprisingly like value for money. Its engine is more reliable, powerful and torquier too. And it goes without saying that it's similarly thrilling to drive. A new F10 cost around £75,000 but most were specced to £100,000. Check the oil level, coolant pipes and differential mounts. Skoda Octavia VRS Price: £7000-£20,000 With the muscular 'EA888' in its nose (making 217bhp, 227bhp or 242bhp, depending on age), the sporty Octavia is a compelling alternative to VW's Golf GTI. What it lacks in image and perceived quality it makes up for with a roomier cabin and lower prices: a 2019 GTI Performance with 35k miles is around £23k. Even well-maintained starship-milers are worth your money. Kia EV6 GT Price: £26,000-£35,000 About to buy a 2023 Porsche Taycan GTS? Stop: the original Kia EV6 GT is just as quick yet costs half as much. Okay, so it lacks the Porsche badge, some range and that final dollop of handling finesse, but you will be laughing too much to care. Also, Kias of whatever persuasion are impressively reliable and cheaper to own. Get a battery health certificate and check the tyres are EV-spec. Porsche Macan Diesel S Price: £13,000-£25,000 At launch, the V6-engined Macan Diesel S was the star of the range. With 254bhp and 427lb ft on tap it gave little ground to the petrol V6 but with a light foot would return around 45mpg. Today, a well-maintained example should perform equally as well. Given the Macan's strong image, a good 10-year-old example (our find has a full Porsche service history) with a modest mileage looks like value. Check for particulate issues, timely PDK gearbox fluid changes and PCM infotainment glitches. Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Price: £15,000-£23,000 You can have a W204-generation C63 in saloon, coupé or estate form. The estate is our choice partly because we know of an example that continues to delight its owner. A former Mercedes-Benz World track car bought in 2011, after 15 years and 100,000 miles it's still capable of racing away with a demonic roar one moment and quietly ferrying kids to school the next. Beware irregular gearbox fluid changes, a noisy timing chain, cracked wheels and worn front control arms. Audi SQ7 TDI Price: £21,000-£50,000 Big diesel SUVs will soon be a thing of the past, but there's still time to bag one of the most outrageous. With as much torque as the LaFerrari (664lb ft), this SQ7 makes light work of its 2400kg kerb weight, sprinting from 0-62mph in just 4.8sec, yet in careful hands can return 39mpg. All very well, but is it a bargain? In 2016, a new one cost around £70k or up to £80k with options. With almost 80,000 miles under its 21in wheels, our find is around 65% cheaper. There will always be a market for its badge, space, pulling power and economy, so with a full service history and a thorough pre-purchase inspection, it looks a handy buy. Skoda Superb 2.0 TSI 280 4x4 Price: £11,000-£35,000 Q cars don't get much more Q than this big Skoda. Its 2.0-litre turbo four can muster 276bhp for 0-62mph in 5.6sec-or slightly slower if its huge 1950-litre boot is brimmed. Add a smooth-shifting dual-clutch gearbox and, in Laurin & Klement trim, features including heated front and rear seats, and our find with a full Skoda history looks a snip. Check for timely Haldex and transmission fluid changes, smooth 4WD operation and AEB glitches. BMW 530D Price: £4500-£20,000 The 530d is ULEZ-friendly, yet is powered by a 3.0-litre straight six making 254bhp and almost 400lb ft. So muscled, the F11 BMW 5 Series takes less than 6.0sec to go from 0-62mph yet under a light foot will return 50mpg. It still has a fabulous image among those who know, making our £8995 find a decent buy. Beware a sticky turbo wastegate, jerky gearchanges and worn brakes.
Meet the former rock star who now sits at the helm of an 800-strong bespoke automotive empire According to the founder of Singer, Rob Dickinson, the genesis of the world’s most famous bespoke Porsche builder was far more rock-and-roll than boardroom. Speaking candidly on the Autocar podcast, Dickinson laid bare the chaotic early days of Singer Vehicle Design, revealing that the company’s massive global success was born out of sheer drive rather than impeccable planning. "The only f***ing business plan we had was that I convinced my father-in-law that I've got an idea for a perfect Porsche 911 and he gave me some of his money," Dickinson laughed, reflecting on Singer's origins. It’s a startling admission from the man who now oversees a powerhouse with around 800 employees and a years-long waiting list. But in the late 2000s, after leaving behind a music career in the UK and moving to Los Angeles, Dickinson’s ambitions were much narrower. He had built his own perfect 911: a lightweight, stripped-back 1969 "café racer" pieced together with a Frankenstein mix of parts, which garnered intense attention from record executives and car nuts on the streets of Hollywood. People constantly asked to buy it, but Dickinson didn't want to become a manufacturer. In fact, his company's name was meant to be taken entirely literally. "Singer Vehicle Design was called Singer Vehicle Design because we were meant to be a bloody design company," Dickinson explained. "Not building cars. Building cars was not part of the plan whatsoever." The original concept was to simply design the ultimate air-cooled 911 and hand the oily, complicated manufacturing over to someone else. But Dickinson’s uncompromising vision quickly derailed that hands-off approach. His dream required a level of detail, curation and finish that simply didn't exist in the traditional hot-rod or restoration world at the time. To meet his own relentless standards, Dickinson had to pivot and bring the work in-house, plunging into a grueling, expensive learning curve. "We had to make up a big part of the business we didn't imagine, which is building cars to this ridiculously high standard," he noted. The obsession with getting it right led to staggering labour times that would make any traditional automotive accountant weep. Dickinson admitted to demanding "1600 hours" of labour just for the bodywork on early cars. Dickinson says that the philosophy behind Singer’s restorations is to “dig down to find the real kernel of what makes something special”, and that’s exactly what he does, attracting top-tier talent from the Formula 1 community, Aston Martin and McLaren. Other topics discussed on the podcast include Singer headlining the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed and if Singer would ever consider restoring a car that isn’t a Porsche.
Nascent Chinese brand expands B10 line-up with range-extender plug-in hybrid This is the Leapmotor B10 Hybrid EV, the nascent Chinese brand’s new C-segment SUV that uses an innovative range-extender powertrain to offer the feel of an EV, without actually being fully electric. Leapmotor already sells the B10 – and its C10 big brother – in pure electric form in the UK alongside its T03 electric city car. Backed by European car giant Stellantis, Leapmotor is now launching an assault on the family SUV market with its clever REx technology. It’s not dissimilar in set-up to the Mazda MX-30 R-EV and Nissan Qashqai e-Power, whereby the wheels are driven by an electric motor, and the engine is used as an on-board generator to charge the battery. It’s a rare configuration in a burgeoning segment, but does the B10 Hybrid EV have the credentials to take on the current crop of established electrified family SUVs?
We trace the lineage of the Delta - from its Fiat Bravo bones to the UK exit that resulted in less than 1000 sales You’d think that after more than 140 years of car making, the industry would by now know the formula for a winner. But as we all know, the shopping whims of the public, the realities of developing products within a budget, the baggage of history, management hubris and more can produce cars that bomb. At least the creation of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ Chrysler Delta came cheap. What arrived here in 2011 was a rebadged version of continental Europe’s 2008 Lancia Delta, FCA boss Sergio Marchionne taking advantage of Lancia’s long absence from the UK and the fact that Lancia’s Delta and Ypsilon had been re-engineered for right-hand drive as part of a stalled attempt to relaunch the Italian marque in Britain. Sales ambitions were modest although, as we shall see, not modest enough in the face of near total countrywide indifference. The numbers can wait, however. The 2008 Delta was the third generation of a model made world famous by the Delta Integrale’s rampantly successful rally career. This car’s balletic potency entirely overshadowed the quietly tailored, higher-quality character of all three of the mainstream Delta families. Each generation was based to a greater or lesser degree on a big-selling Fiat, the earliest Giorgetto Giugiaro-designed model deviating from its Strada foundation to greatest effect. The second family was based on the original Fiat Tipo and the third emerged out of the 2007 Fiat Bravo. The 2008 Delta body was entirely and admirably different from the Bravo’s and Lancia even extended the wheelbase by 100mm to provide more room. But the money ran out on the inside, where a stock Bravo dashboard was barely disguised by the big-spend application of aluminium paint to the centre console, instrument bezels and steering wheel spokes. That’ll do it, then. More expensive versions did provide quite lushly upholstered seats, though, and the rear bench slid on runners, too. Obscure niceties like this, and a faux electronic limited-slip diff (it braked individual front wheels to fight understeer) did little to turn this Delta into the big hit the brand badly needed. Developing a madly powerful all-wheel-drive Integrale version – perhaps shorn of those 100 extra millimetres and a couple of doors – might have helped, but FCA’s only radical move with this car was to rob it of its branding and call it a Chrysler Delta in Britain. True, there was no doubting the American brand’s need for fresh showroom floor fillers a decade ago, but the cultured Italian dress of the Chrysler Ypsilon and Delta made an odd pairing with the square-jawed Chrysler 300C and the urban taxi Chrysler Voyager. Chrysler UK aimed to sell 2500 Deltas when the car was launched in 2011, but a mere three seasons later, it was withdrawn, total sales running to a fraction over 900. The pick of the bunch, especially in this post-diesel world, is the 1.4 Multiair turbo, whose calling card is not so much its 138bhp but a solid 170lb ft of thrust from as early as 1750rpm, an arrangement likely to give its faux electric diff system a workout on keenly attacked, rain-sheened bends. If that suggests there might be dynamic entertainment to be extracted from the Delta, then I’m afraid you must calm yourself. Electronically numbed steering programmed to fight back if you managed to get your Delta to oversteer might be clever, but it also underlined this Chrysler’s cruising ambitions with a bucket of cold water. Still, you won’t pay much for one of these. At the time of writing, the cheapest I’ve seen is £1500. That’s not much for an individual-looking car with pep, space, Italian upholstery and enough refinement to soothe away any doubts at your eccentric choice.
We go under the skin of its 800V architecture to see how it balances hypercar performance with a 373-mile range The Porsche Cayenne Electric went into production earlier this year, with its headline output of 1140bhp making it the most powerful production Porsche yet. Despite that, the hefty SUV has a respectable 373-mile range. So how has Porsche achieved that? The modules of the 113kWh battery were developed in-house and are made in the Porsche Smart Battery Shop at Horná Streda, Slovakia. The facility was set up in conjunction with Porsche Werkzeugbau GmbH, a Porsche tool-making subsidiary that plays a key role in moving projects from the prototype stage to series production. The battery supports 800V ultra-rapid charging at up to 400kW, taking it from 10-80% capacity in under 16 minutes. It can maintain a high charge rate of between 350kW and 400kW at up to a 50% state of charge from 15deg C, too, improving on previous cold weather charging performance. It can also charge at 400W stations at up to 200kW. The lithium-ion battery pack is composed of 192 large-format pouch cells with graphite-silicon anodes and nickel-manganese-cobalt-aluminium (NMCA) cathodes. The cells' high nickel content of 86% gives an energy density that betters that of the Taycan battery by 7%, and the use of silicon in the anodes contributes to the battery's ultra-fast charging. Thermal management is key to battery performance, so this one has a double-sided cooling system to regulate the pack's temperature from both above and below in a kind of 'coolant sandwich'. The internal temperature should in theory remain in the optimal range regardless of ambient conditions, charge power or driving style thanks to a cooling capacity equivalent to that of 100 large household fridges. Energy-efficient fans pump cooling air and consume 15% less energy than conventional suction fans. A predictive thermal management system links all vehicle cooling and heating circuits, continuously analysing temperature, route, driving profile and heating and cooling needs in real time. The battery is integrated into the structure of the Cayenne and is classed as a structural component, to save weight and space. As a result, the ratio between the cells and the overall battery housing has improved by 12% compared with the second-gen Taycan battery - the battery weighs less and takes up less space for the same power and capacity. Integration with the structure also increases rigidity and lowers the centre of gravity - two things car makers are always striving for. It's safe, too: Porsche says the modules are made from a special aluminium profile that absorbs energy and protects the cells during an impact.
Stalwart luxury SUV turns electric for its next generation – with an astonishing peak output of 1140bhp Ah, the Porsche Cayenne. They should just rename it the Porsche Controversy and be done with it, shouldn’t they?Back in 2002, the Cayenne arrived on a tsunami of scepticism from enthusiasts arguing that the sports SUV ‘wasn’t even a thing’, and who would want that swollen SUV-that-swallowed-a-911 abomination anyway?Well, lots of people wanted it – more than 1.5 million people since then, in fact. The Cayenne has been one of the biggest sellers and biggest profit-makers for Porsche, and we have long passed the point where anybody questions the validity and demand for performance SUVs.Fast forward nearly a quarter of a century and here we are with the latest Cayenne controversy. Welcome to the all-new Porsche Cayenne Electric. Not only is it battery-bowered but also, if you go for the Turbo that we’re driving here, it makes 1140bhp and 1106lb ft of torque. Yes, you read that right.Put it in launch control and this 2.6-tonne luxury electric family conveyance will give everything it’s got in order to do 0-62mph in 2.5sec. Mind you, in default Normal mode it musters a mere 845bhp, so it’s a good thing that you’ve got the overtake button for 10sec of extra fizz to the tune of 1019bhp…Even if you eschew the Turbo and go for the entry-level Cayenne Electric (which we've also driven out in Spain), you’re still getting 436bhp and 616lb ft. Remember when even those numbers would have been shocking?Here we are again, then, with Porsche’s halo SUV courting all of the controversy. But let’s be open-minded, here, shall we? Let’s have a go and see what it’s like before we try to answer the question of whether an electric SUV – or any car, for that matter – is really any better for having this much power.
Changan's Deepal S07 is the best Chinese family EV on sale in the UK. Is its smaller sibling similarly talented? Despite not yet being as recognisable as the likes of BYD, Jaecoo and Omoda, Changan has been around much longer than you might think. Based in Chongqing, it has been in the car manufacturing game for over 60 years. It launched its first car in the UK, the Changan Deepal S07, earlier this year, which proved to be a very respectable effort.Next up is the smaller Deepal S05, which the firm hopes will help to accelerate its influence in the UK at “China speed”. It promises tech, performance and the sort of stuff that ‘lifestyle’ people go all giddy over.We had our first taste of the S05 in Austria for some cold-weather driving and low-grip fun, but we've now had the chance to test it on the UK's more demanding Tarmac. Changan has had an R&D base in the UK for years, as well as a design house in Italy, so it should be able to make good on its promise that its cars are 'tailored to European needs'. But can it challenge the European elite?
BYD aims to shake up the PHEV market with a bargain family SUV The new BYD Sealion 5 is part of a significant technical shift within Britain’s new car market. It is one being driven almost entirely by a cohort of value brands we simply didn’t have a few years ago, and is likely to markedly alter our expectations for real-world efficiency and metal-for-the-money value that the providers of our daily family transport should offer.This specifically concerns hybrid powertrains. A new wave of range-extender-style, petrol-electric, mid-sized SUVs has hit the market, made up of cars supplied by Chinese manufacturers competing for value-driven custom, and driven primarily not by their combustion engines but rather by electric motors. Many offer sizeable drive batteries, plug-in functionality and significant electric range.This test concerns what could be the most notable arrival of all in that new wave. The Sealion 5 is the car that BYD’s already rapidly expanding network of UK dealers expects to supercharge its success. A compact SUV sitting in the popular Qashqai/Sportage segment, it is precisely the right car, claims its maker – with the right hybrid powertrain, offered at the right price – to do meteorically well in 2026. From a standing start, they suggest, it could even become one of the UK’s best-selling cars.Would it merit such a status? Read on to find out.
From a slippy diff to suspension and Alcantara touches, we refresh this elder statesman I've been driving a 90,000-mile, 21-year-old BMW 330Ci (E46) for several weeks thanks to online auction website eBay, which owns it. The company paid just under £9000 for it and spent a few grand giving it a few modifications to bring it more up-to-date inside – and now I’ve given it a few more. I wanted to give it a suspension refresh and stiffen the body without turning it into a harsh road racer. I buy quite a lot of parts from eBay already, and I'm not just saying this because this car belongs to the company. I've got a couple of old cars and a motorbike stored in the 'My Garage' section of its website, which is near-essential because it limits searches to parts that will fit a specific vehicle from an otherwise overwhelming number of results. So I added the 330Ci to my garage too. It's also useful because you know parts will fit and you can send them back for a refund if they don't. I opted for a bush rebuild kit (£140) for the rear suspension and new bushes for the front (which all seemingly included control arms - £292), plus a brace for the rear struts (£103) that will sit across the boot, and one for the front struts (E81). I haven't felt a massive problem with the BMW's traction but I do like a limited-slip differential so opted for one (£649) and thought/hoped that lot combined would tighten the handling without spoiling the ride. The car has at some point had a decent exhaust put on it, which is a little boomy, so I thought a big air filter kit (£206) might add some induction noise to balance it. And then I opted for a new steering wheel (Alcantara-finished-£319). Seven parts, then, for £1790, and to fit them I booked an appointment with a delightful man called Derek Drinkwater, an American-car specialist whose garage does a lot of telly work and who recently recreated Cadillac's 'Le Monstre' Le Mans racer and then toured around the US in it, pulling a tiny caravan. Also: very serious garage envy. A few days later I got the car back, and... have I ruined it? Thank heavens, I have not. It still retains much of the suppleness it seemed to have before, with just some of the softness and squidge that I thought was due to wear in the bushes and the body dispelled. Its steering feels sharper too, even though it's wearing winter tyres, which usually move around more than regular tyres. But it's better: tauter yet no less comfortable. Downsides? A couple. Stiffening the shell has led to it occasionally creaking a bit in tight manoeuvres. And I think turn-in is slightly more reluctant, as is the way with a slippy diff. But traction is improved and it has a nicer corner exit stance, so I'm calling this a win overall. Trailing the brakes into a bend helps. This is all noticeable at normal road speeds, by the way. I don't often drive like my trousers are on fire on the road. The car is giving subtle messages about stance that are palpable through its lovely new steering wheel. The induction kit doesn't make a huge difference most of the time, either, but is a bit raspier at high revs, and it looks cool if, like me, you're childish. So I'm happy, relieved and really enjoying the 330Ci as a daily. It's engaging, narrower than modern cars and plenty refined enough. Soon there will be more to do: the differential oil needs changing after 500 miles and a service will be due shortly afterwards.
The first car to come from Chinese giant Chery's new Freelander brand has surfaced ahead of its unveiling on 31 March. The Chinese company (which sells cars in the UK under its Chery, Jaecoo and Omoda brands) is reviving the Freelander name in collaboration with JLR for a new line of electrified crossovers. Images of the new model following a crash test have now been published by Chinese website MyDrivers, as well as CarNewsChina. Although the vehicles pictured are heavily damaged, they clearly draw on the original Land Rover Freelander, with blocky proportions and squared-off lights front and rear. Indeed, the front lighting graphic matches the distinctive design released by Chery earlier this week. While Freelanders will at first be sold only in the Chinese market, there is “potential for global expansion”, JLR China president Qing Pan said previously. Image: MyDrivers Chery is developing the electrified model range using an in-house-developed "flexible" platform, Pan said. Autocar has learned that this is Chery’s T1X platform, which underpins various cars from its other brands, such as the Jaecoo 7. The first new Freelander is set to be a plug-in hybrid. It will “echo the original spirit of Freelander but [be] brought up to date to appeal to discerning, technologically savvy Chinese consumers,” Pan said. The new Freelander will give Chery JLR's factory a replacement for the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque, production of which will end this year. It will sit in different market segment from JLR’s imported high-end models in China, such as the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Land Rover Defender. JLR has said the new Freelander will be sold in a network of its own dedicated, Chery-run dealerships. Freelander doesn't come under JLR's luxury-focused ‘House of Brands’ marketing and sales strategy, which effectively splits Jaguar, Defender, Discovery and Range Rover into stand-alone model lines. In the UK and mainland Europe, a Chinese-built Freelander could cannibalise sales of the cheaper models based on JLR's new EMA EV platform, such as the upcoming Range Rover Velar and Land Rover Defender Sport. That would make the business case for selling Freelanders in those markets harder to justify. The original Freelander was launched in 1997 in three-door and five-door forms. It was the first Land Rover with a monocoque platform and “pioneered the compact premium SUV”, said Pan. It lasted for two generations before being replaced by the Discovery Sport in 2015.
Range, value and comfort set Korean firm's first van apart from the competition, says What Car? What Car? has named the Kia PV5 Cargo its Van of the Year for 2026, citing the EV's real-world range, driver comfort and aftersales support as setting it apart from the pack. The PV5, which the title also named the best small electric van and, in Passenger form, the best van-based MPV, is the first in a new line of commercial vehicles from Kia. “The new Kia PV5 combines the payload capabilities businesses will expect with the sort of ease of use and long-distance comfort they might not,” said What Car? editor Steve Huntingford. “Plus, it’s backed up by one of the most comprehensive aftercare packages around, providing long-term reassurance for operators. And yet, despite all of this, it's very well priced.” The Volkswagen Transport took the best medium and best medium electric van awards, while best large van went to the Renault Master. Meanwhile, the best-selling Ford Ranger took the best pick-up truck gong and the Toyota Land Cruiser Commercial won best car-derived van.
EV-specific tyres can make a big difference to range; this is how they work Range anxiety is still a big barrier to electric car ownership, potential punters being put off by a fear of getting caught short on the side of the road. Yet bigger and denser battery options are helping make 300 miles between the rule rather than the exception these days, even on more affordable EVs. It’s not just better batteries that are allowing EVs to go farther between top-ups. Higher-voltage electrical architectures, more efficient motors and better aerodynamics are helping them massage ever more mileage from every kWh. And there’s another area that’s often overlooked in the race to for ever-improving efficiency: tyres. The only thing separating the car from the road, these four circles of rubber play a crucial role in how it behaves on the move. We often obsess about how much grip they generate in the corners or how quiet they are on a motorway run, but very few of us think about how they can save us energy. So here we take a look at the technology tyre manufacturers are using and developing to ensure that an EV can make the most of its store of energy. Moreover, we will discover that boosting efficiency is only one of the challenges engineers face when creating rubber that’s designed specifically for an EV. What makes an EV tyre different from normal rubber? Before we get stuck into the technical nitty-gritty of EV tyre development, it’s probably worth taking a moment to understand some of the unique demands these types of vehicle place on the rubber. First of all, we can’t talk about EVs without mentioning mass. The fact is that these types of vehicles weigh quite a bit more than an equivalently sized ICE machine - and that brings some challenges. The heftier the kerb weight, the faster the tyres wear, because the car is working the rubber harder in all conditions. As an extension of this, the tyre needs to balance wear rate and rolling resistance against grip as, once again, increased heft means adhesion levels will technically be lower than those for a lighter car. Another special challenge an EV provides is in the area of noise reduction. With a near-silent electric motor and just a single-speed transmission, an electric powertrain is much less aurally intrusive than an ICE equivalent. As a result, any racket from the road in an EV feels like it’s being amplified, as there are fewer mechanical harmonics that might have the potential to drown it out. However, that need to enhance the range by boosting efficiency is at the top of the list. This requires tyres that have a low rolling resistance (so they don’t absorb as much energy when the car is moving). This is a challenge that isn’t necessarily specific to EVs, as for the last 20 years or so the fashion of ultra-frugal diesel models and fuel-sipping hybrids has naturally led to advances in this area. How do EV tyres extend range? Ultimately, the best way for a tyre to help improve EV range is through a reduction in rolling resistance. Assuming the rubber is inflated to the correct pressure, there are usually three elements dictating a tyre’s efficiency when moving: friction through contact with the road surface, tyre deformation through load and aerodynamic drag. When dealing with friction, most manufacturers take a similar approach to development, concentrating first and foremost on compound. By using the latest silica and alliance polymers, they have been able to create rubber that combines the softness needed for grip with lower heat loss through friction, thus increasing efficiency. In addition, many tyre companies have found ways to make the tyre carcass lighter, because with less mass to rotate you get reduced energy consumption. Some manufacturers have achieved this through new moulding techniques and reduced tread depth, while others have used special construction technologies and materials, such as Kevlar, that allow them to reduce weight without affecting the stiffness of the structure. Designers even take care to improve the aerodynamic efficiency of a tyre, helping it cut through the air more cleanly. The gains aren’t huge but, by carefully profiling the sidewall and the tread pattern, it’s possible to create a tyre that offers less wind resistance than standard rubber. Do these energy saving measures work? Depending on the manufacturer, the claimed increases in efficiency are certainly eye-catching. Figures quoted claim rolling resistance reductions of between 4 and 10%, which can increase efficiency or range by up to 30% over the lifecycle of the tyre. Of course, these numbers mean nothing in isolation; what most drivers want to know is how much they will save. As ever, there are quite a few variables to take into account, such as tyre condition and driving style. But, according to a global study cited by the RAC, if every EV driver were using tyres designed specifically for their car, overall range could theoretically be increased by around 10%. That equates to an average increase across the board of about 26 miles per car. As ever, these are all theoretical numbers based on the lab tests of tyre manufacturers, but there's no doubt that a lot of brain power and development time is being put into boosting efficiency. More to the point, there’s more to an EV-specific tyre than just reduced rolling resistance, so seeking out this rubber when it’s time for a replacement really is a no-brainer for EV owners.
Toyota is considering a 2.0-litre hybrid powertrain for its highly anticipated new Celica, which Autocar has been told could be named the Celica Sport. The Japanese marque officially confirmed the Celica's return at the 2024 Rally Japan, when then-vice-president Yuki Nakajima told spectators “We’re making the Celica!”. Speculation mounted again earlier this month when what appeared to be the new sports coupé was spotted being shaken down in Portugal ahead of the 2027 World Rally Championship. Now Autocar has been told the car is being referred to as the Celica Sport, while a Toyota spokesperson confirmed that it will have four-wheel drive. Revealing to Autocar details about the car’s potential powertrain, Gazoo Racing marketing manager Mikio Hayashi said: “The displacement size of 1.6 litres [used in the GR Yaris], for example, cannot meet emission regulations. So we have to consider the possibility of a 2.0-litre. "We are thinking about various sizes, but we are not at a stage where we can tell you exactly what size it is. Nothing has been decided yet about whether it will be a standard hybrid or plug-in hybrid.” Pressed on a timeframe for the new 2.0-litre engine, Hayashi remained coy. “We are continuing to develop that. We have high expectations," he said. "We cannot point to a timeline but can say we are making steady progress.” Autocar reported last year that Toyota was priming a new hybrid powertrain for its GR models in an effort to give its sporting sub-brand a new lease of life in an era of strict emissions regulations. This system will be based around a new turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine, which for the next generation of its sports cars will likely have a 2.0-litre capacity. This features a shorter piston stroke than Toyota’s current engines, making it smaller and lighter. This is important, because a hybrid element can be fitted with minimal weight penalty compared with existing GR cars. German publication Auto Motor und Sport has also reported that the engine could produce 600bhp or more when fitted with a suitably large turbocharger. As well as the Celica, the new engine could eventually find its way into the GR Yaris, European sales of which have been restricted by increasingly stringent emissions legislation. The Celica's revival aligns with Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda’s long-stated desire to reunite the brand's "three brothers": the Supra, Celica and MR2. With the Supra having returned to showrooms in 2019 and Toyota stating to Autocar that it will “have to continue to look at customer demand” for the MR2, the Celica is next in line to make a comeback.
First Alpinas created under BMW ownership will be based on the X7 and 7 Series – and electric power is possible BMW will reveal the first new-era Alpina model at the upcoming Concorso d’Elezgana at Villa d’Este. The reimagined German brand will “present itself directly to the public for the first time” at the show, opening on 15 May. As recently reported by Autocar, the first new Alpinas since the brand transferred out of the hands of its founding family, the Bovensiepens, will be based on the X7 luxury SUV and 7 Series limousine. In its previous iteration as an independent tuner, Alpina's line-up was capped by versions of the 7 Series and X7. Autocar understands the 7 Series and X7 will both be heavily overhauled later this year, in line with BMW's strategy of rolling out its Neue Klasse design and technology elements to all model lines. The first new-era Alpinas will follow thereafter. Asked if this meant Alpina would also offer EVs, given that the 7 Series offers both ICE and electric power, BMW Group R&D chief Joachim Post said “we are technology-open”. Further details of the new cars – and the brand strategy in general – remain under wraps, but Post said they will be designed and configured with the same philosophy in mind as before. “Alpina will talk not about sport but speed, comfort and luxury,” he said. Despite now being in-house, Alpina will not overlap with the M division but rather operate as “an exclusive standalone brand” with its own distinct attributes. Post said: “[Alpina] is completely different from a level which other people like from M, which is the performance. That fits very well [in the BMW brand]. You have the very sporty side of M – born on the race track, made for the road – and the other, which is speed, luxury, comfort on the way and also individualisation." This is also the case with design, M design boss Oliver Heilmer told Autocar. “We wondered in the beginning if there is anything that might overlap,” he explained. “We were looking into the energy based on the past and then looking into the M projects and what they're standing for - and they are so different in their work. “Alpina, as you know it now, is more like having something mature, whereas M is always purpose-driven in terms of the best performance.” BMW previously said that Alpina would offer a “remarkable portfolio” of bespoke options, with a focus on high-quality materials and craftsmanship. It added that would make each Alpina car “an exclusive object for connoisseurs in pursuit of the extraordinary, without compromises on performance, comfort and individuality”.
This Jag proved big SUVs could be family-friendly yet dynamic too - but what of its used car credentials? By 2015, we were familiar with brands like Porsche and BMW building high-riding family cars - yet some still felt that an SUV bearing the leaping cat was a step too far. But exactly a decade on from our effusive first review ("looks like a Jaguar, feels like a Jaguar and, most crucial of all, drives like a Jaguar"), we can look back on this one-time pariah as a truly impressive and deservedly popular all-rounder. The F-Pace isn't quite a jack of all trades, but it comes very close. Throughout its nine-year production run, we rated it near the top of the class for its combination of practicality and dynamics, which few could match. Those handsome, haunchy looks have aged well, as has the feel-good factor you get behind the wheel. It combines the space of an X5 and the sporty drive of a Porsche Macan with few concessions either way. How did the engineers manage it? They started with a larger platform than was customary for the class (it's 100mm longer than the X3) to allow for a Skoda Superb-rivalling 650-litre boot and rear seats roomy enough for even larger passengers. Enhancing that sense of duality is a driving position that convincingly splits the difference between SUV and GT (you sit high and straight but with the dashboard wrapped around you) and a technology suite that's the measure of any German executive car although the material richness wasn't quite up to scratch until the 2020 facelift. It's by no means bad on the earlier cars, but some of the plastics feel a bit cheap and the standard 8.0in infotainment touchscreen wasn't great. The 10in one with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is what you want. The best bit about the F-Pace, though, is the way it drives. It's more practical than a Macan, yet it delivers smiles like almost nothing else. It feels lower and lighter than it is, doing a convincing dynamic impression of the closely related XF saloon. The steering is about as communicative as it gets in an SUV, while the suspension is ideally set up for British roads: supple and well-damped enough to keep the car comfortable and body movements in check and stiff enough to prevent roll in the corners and allow for confidence and grip when pushing on. Even on 22in alloys, the F-Pace rides acceptably, but you get the best balance on 20s, which allow for a class-leading ride and handling combination and still fill the arches. We called the eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox the best in the business, and it should still feel crisp and discerning in a used car. It was standard on all bar the lower-powered diesels and is a fabulous partner to the 296bhp 3.0-litre diesel six - our pick of the engines. The 2020 facelift made almost a generational difference. Changes to the styling made it look more modern and expensive. The interior gained an all-new dashboard, centre console and steering wheel. And a tax-busting petrol-engined plug-in hybrid joined the ranks with an electric range of 32 miles. There's plenty of trepidation around Jaguar's forthcoming new era as an EV-only luxury car maker, but the F-Pace demonstrates that this is a brand that can step outside its comfort zone and still shine. As your neighbours pile en masse into their X3s, Volvo XC60s and Mercedes GLCs, why don't you take the Jag approach and 'copy nothing' with your SUV de choix? What to look for Four-cylinder engines: There are many horror stories about the 2.0-litre diesel engine in pre-facelift cars, particularly concerning the diesel particulate filter, timing chain, turbos, oil dilution, excessive cylinder wear and coolant leaks. The 2.0-litre petrol four and later 2.0-litre mild-hybrid diesel are safer bets, but they can still suffer timing chain and turbo issues. Six-cylinder engines: Many owners agree that the 3.0-litre diesel V6 and the two straight sixes are the most reliable engines. Nevertheless, be wary of knocking in the diesel straight six (crankshaft issues) or heavy coolant use in the petrol one (water pump problems). Alternator: The belt tensioner can fail in mild-hybrid cars. Budget as much as £2500 unless covered by a sensible extended warranty. Servicing: Jaguar's inadequate servicing schedule of two years or 21,000 miles for all F-Paces exacerbates issues. Look for services done every year or 10,000 miles ideally. Steering: If the electric steering's motor develops a hairline crack, the circuit board inside the unit is exposed and becomes white with corrosion, rendering the car undrivable. Check for grinding, groaning or a heavy feel. Gearbox: Fluid spots under the vehicle or transmission warning messages could point to a leaking transfer case. If unaddressed, this can lead to component damage and costly repairs. Electrics: Many owners have faced a frozen infotainment screen. When this occurs, the solution is normally to turn the car off and on again. Issues such as failed parking sensors have also been reported, typically rendering the entire sensor system inoperative. Also worth knowing The fire-breathing F-Pace SVR has a supercharged 5.0-litre V8 with 542bhp (increased to 567bhp in 2023) and is utterly thrilling, both dynamically and audibly. If you can stretch to between £25,000 and £70,000, we reckon it's well worth the vastly reduced efficiency. The plug-in hybrid is the most efficient F-Pace if you can regularly charge it at home or at work, but the mild-hybrid diesel will do a strong 50mpg on a run. An owner's view Clive Minton: "I have just come back from a blast across Europe in my 2017 3.0 V6 diesel, and I must say how impressed I am, especially after averaging 41.7mpg. We crossed six countries, including long spells on the autobahn in Germany, taking the Giovi Pass across the Alps and encountering snow. It handled everything comfortably. It's a great car for a long drive: relaxing, fast and economical." How much to spend £5500-£11,999 Plenty of cars at this price point, but all are the potentially troublesome 2.0-litre diesel. Some have had timing chain replacements, though. £12,000-£19,999 Some V6 diesels and petrols, but still ensure the service history exceeds Jaguar's recommendations. £20,000-£29,999 This is where post-facelift cars appear; three-year-old examples can be had with just 30,000 miles. £30,000 and above Where the straight-six diesels and petrols become available our favourite engines.
Horse is turning high-efficiency road engines into lightweight competition winners for US and Brazilian motorsport Eighteen months after its creation, Horse Powertrain (owned 45% by Renault, 45% by Geely and 10% by Aramco) shows no sign of tempering its aspirations. The UK-based company was set up to design and develop both conventional combustion engines and hybrid powertrains for sale to anyone who wants them, in any application a customer chooses. Most of its small-engined powertrains so far have implied a focus only on fuel economy and emissions, but while that still holds true, the engines are already appearing in more exciting applications. Last summer, Autocar drove a Caterham Seven race car powered by Horse's H13 engine, a 1.3-litre turbo four that was already used by a number of mainstream manufacturers. Producing 130bhp in that application, it had replaced the now defunct Ford Sigma engine. In December, Horse announced that it would co-develop and supply H13 for a new pick-up truck racing category in Brazil, in partnership with Sports and Racing Brazil. The engine is still under development but at this stage produces around 200bhp running on pure-ethanol fuel (E100). Events will be held on asphalt and dirt tracks and all the racing trucks will share a standard chassis. The engine has a 'Deltashaped' cylinder head, which means it's triangular in cross-section (the end-on view when cut in half), mimicking the Greek letter of the same name. It also has an integral exhaust manifold and the direct injection system has been designed specifically with ethanol in mind, with six-hole injectors operating at a pressure of 200 bar. Overall, the engine is described as being compact and lightweight with a low centre of gravity, which should bode well for other motorsport applications too. In Brazil, it has been a requirement that road vehicles are run on a petrolethanol blend since 1976, starting with a modest 11% ethanol (E11). Since 2007 it has been 25%, compared with the 10% blend that is standard in the UK today. The advantage of any blend of ethanol fuel is that, assuming the ethanol is produced using renewable feedstock, the well-to-wheel CO₂ burden is reduced when the fuel is consumed. As well as the Caterham Academy and forthcoming Brazilian motorsport series, Horse last year signed an agreement to supply engines for the ARC2, a new Chevrolet Sonic-based rally car to run in the American Rally Association's RC2 class in the US. The engine was developed by the Aurobay Technologies division of Horse and is a 2.0-litre unit driving through a five-speed sequential gearbox, which will be delivered with a locked ECU and tamper-proof seals to comply with the ARC regulations. The first vehicles for the Horse-powered Brazilian pick-up truck category will be unveiled some time this year and run in an exhibition race once testing is completed, before proper competition begins in 2027.
EV is the first new nameplate launched by Ford Commercial since the Custom in 2012 Ford has added to its Transit range with a new stripped-back, electric-only van designed for city centre use. Aptly called the Transit City, it is the first new name on a Ford Commercial vehicle since the Custom was introduced in 2012. It will sit on a dedicated EV platform from Chinese car maker and Ford joint-venture partner Jiangling Motors Corporation (JMC) and be built at that maker’s plant in Nanchang. Transit City closely matches the size of the technically unrelated Transit Custom, and while that model is already available with an electric drivetrain (badged E-Transit Custom), Ford says the City is aimed at last-mile delivery fleets and other city operators. As such, the new van will come in three body types: a short-wheelbase, low roof van; a longer and taller van; and flatbed or chassis cab. The last of those marks Ford's entry into the one-tonne chassis-cab segment and opens the way for factory-approved conversions. Current partners such as Southampton-based VFS have already been lined up to produce box van and dropside conversions, but other models will follow, including a refrigerated body and a tipper variant available from early 2027. Despite being a similar size to the £43,600 E-Transit Custom, the Transit City will be positioned close to the starting price of the £27,000 E-Transit Courier. Cost savings have been made by reducing the complexity of the range, which will get no optional extras, said Ford. The Transit City will get a pared-back level of equipment designed for its intended fleet customers, with a 12.3in touchscreen, manual air conditioning, heated driver’s seat, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a rear-view camera. Power is delivered by a 148bhp front motor with electricity supplied by a 56kWh LFP battery – smaller than the Custom’s 71kWh pack, again highlighting their different positionings. Range is 158 miles in the most efficient SWB model, and its 87kW charging speed means it can add 31 miles in 10 minutes. The smaller battery means a maximum payload of 1275kg for the medium wheelbase, while the smaller van gets a 1085kg maximum. The Transit City shares much of its content with the JMC Touring, but Ford says there are fundamental differences, including the battery and drive layout. Order books will open later this month and the first UK deliveries are expected to begin at the end of the year. George Barrow is the editor of vanreviewer.co.uk and the UK jury member for the International Van of the Year award
BMW gives its rip-roaring load-lugger a new look, a fresh interior and even more power The BMW M3 Touring had long been in the mind's eye of Garching’s engineers (and indeed those of M car purists) before it was launched a few years ago.It was, as to be expected, a brilliant performance estate that neatly captured the handling and dynamism of the M3 super-saloon in a more practical and usable package. Four years on, the M3 Touring has become the benchmark of its class, and last year it received a number of tweaks in an attempt to make this already excellent driver's car just that bit sweeter. It was unenviable task for the M division but one that they clearly approached with caution.The mid-life facelift has brought a handful of tweaks to the exterior and interior, while BMW has also extracted more power from the twin-turbocharged straight-six petrol engine. Has this helped the M3 Touring to retain its position at the top of the class and kept rivals from Audi and Mercedes at bay? Let’s find out.
Oliver Zipse is bowing out after seven successful years in charge of BMW; what's his secret? Outgoing BMW chief Oliver Zipse has never reached the superstar league of CEOs in terms of visibility, quotability or any of the metrics that make for a colourful story in the seven years he's been in charge. But there's no questioning his effectiveness. Amid a sea of industry red ink from 2025 financial results, BMW sailed serenely into headwinds such as falling Chinese sales, US tariffs and wild swings in EV take-up to record a group margin of 7.7% from profits of more than €7 billion (£6bn). In the annual results call to journalists, the former production head batted away a question asking him to personally reflect on his time at the helm. But on the investor call, Zipse surprised by briefly opening up on the secret of his success. One analyst wondered whether it was because Zipse wasn't afraid to be "anti-consensual" - for example, waiting until now to launch a full-EV platform with separate models. Zipse said: "I regard being anti-consensual as a compliment. To be consensual is probably the first mistake... if you want to compete in pretty high-level competition in our industry." His words will ring horribly true to an industry that has needlessly burned through billions in the past five years, believing that copying Tesla was the way to unlock future profits. Then Zipse engaged with the second part of the question: what advice would he give his successor, current production head Milan Nedeljković, who starts in May? Essentially Zipse offered no advice, as Nedeljković is already plugged into the BMW management hive mind. "Probably you won't even feel that there is a change because he has been with us all along," said Zipse. "Individual people do not make a big difference in our strategy because our strategy is built up of a close negotiation... with top leadership. It's not a top-down issue." Zipse and his team have made BMW "anti-fragile", he said, offering the widest range of drivetrains to assign the right ones to the right markets and ensure full global appeal. Now it's up to Nedeljković (and team of course) to chart the third and most critical phase of BMW's EV strategy: Neue Klasse, starting with the iX3. We're expecting more of the same in management style, but if Nedeljković did fancy chatting to us about the thorny issue of the Oxford Mini factory, he'd be warmly welcomed.
According to the manosphere, real men like supermodels, superyachts and supercars Are you aware of the 'manosphere'? It's a field revelling in and promoting masculinity and misogyny and is often far-right and incel-adjacent. If you're not aware of, for want of a better word, the movement, you might have heard of its best-known character, Andrew Tate - although lesser manospheric influencers are also available, which must annoy them immensely, not being the alpha in an area where that's the predominant shtick. There are podcasts, videos, blogs, websites and plenty of online rabbit holes to disappear into if you want to be more of a man and rail against the unfairness of the way the world is set up against men. It's also the subject of a new Louis Theroux documentary, which I probably won't bear to watch. I've only been loosely aware of the manosphere until now, but I do know I dislike its characters. I think I'd find watching the documentary, albeit for slightly different reasons, like sitting through Mrs Brown's Boys or a Drive to Survive episode starring Christian Horner. I am chronically cringe-avoidant. I might not need to add that the movement is absolutely not my cup of tea, which probably makes me a cuck or a simp or an NPC or a beta or I don't know what else (do let me know in the comments). But there is some car tangentiality to all this. Some of these guys have become rich from doing it, because they have big audiences to whom they sell things. As Theroux told Wired last week, "it's highly profitable to be a dick on the internet". Luxury cars and sports cars, as well as bulging muscles, mute model girlfriends and big houses with swimming pools, are among the trappings of the successful manosphere influencer. And I've been wondering if this is potentially a problem for makers of said cars. If we assume that cars say something about their owners (and it's not controversial to believe that frequently they do), how should you as a brand feel if an unpleasant character features your product while pushing their nasty signature routine? Do you grit your teeth through the fad? Do you shrug it off, because who cares who's buying your cars as long as someone is? Or do you try to move away from it, like fashion label Burberry actively did from 'chavs' in the mid-2000s, because it knew that ultimately there would be other buyers turned off by association? It can be off-putting, can't it? I'm not suggesting in any way that most owners of Lamborghini Uruses or Revueltos are manosphere sympathisers. The Revuelto in particular is outstanding - one of the most exciting supercars on sale. But would I have one, having seen enough of them used to accessorise lifestyles I dislike, or being revved relentlessly in traffic, or used on antisocial driving tours? I think not. And what if you own, say, a Ferrari 458 Speciale? It's the greatest mid-engined sports car of modern times, so there are plenty of reasons for having one, but how much does people thinking that you're thinking 'envy me, bro' play on your mind? Some brands are more afflicted than others, in fairness. I've never been shown the finger in an Aston Martin. I wonder if the continued rise of the restomod is, at least in part, a reflection on who's buying luxury or exotic cars. Something like a Theon-modified Porsche 911 or an Alfaholics GTA tells those who are really in the know that you absolutely know your cars, and it tells those only casually aware that you have an inoffensive good taste in a classic. Theroux apparently isn't a car person. He told The Romesh Ranganathan Show last week that his kids occasionally ask why the family doesn't own something flashier than his Seat Alhambra - a very sensible if unexciting car for a dad of three boys. But his relationship with it and his reluctance to have something nicer did imply that a more luxurious car would bring with it certain negative connotations. Unpleasant people and those with unpleasant careers have always had nice cars, of course. It's just that, today, inferring there's a link between owning a flashy motor and owning an obnoxious personality feels rather more tenable than ever. Unfair? Sure. Avoidable? With the internet as it is, probably not.
Denza has released the first image of its new flagship sports car ahead of its unveiling at this summer's Goodwood Festival of Speed. Part of a tie-up with long-time James Bond actor Daniel Craig, it shows the production-ready coupé largely remains faithful to the Z concept from last year's Shanghai motor show. It's expected to serve as the crown atop the Chinese premium brand's line-up when launched in the UK, positioned above the Z9 GT shooting brake, D9 MPV and B5 SUV. Technical details of the Z remain thin on the ground, but Denza said it has steer-by-wire technology, magnetorheological suspension and a driver-focused, tech-heavy cockpit that majors on advanced technology. Features likely to be carried over from the Z9 GT include the ability to 'crab walk' and 'tank turn', and it's possible the Z could take that car's tri-motor electric powertrain and ramp up output beyond its 952bhp. Shortly after the concept's unveiling, prototypes of the production car were spotted at the Nürburgring, sparking speculation that a lap record attempt and possibly a European launch were on the cards. BYD executive vice-president Stella Li previously confirmed to Autocar that it will come to the UK. Asked if the Z could play an important role as a brand-building halo model for Denza in Europe, Li replied: "We'd like to invite you to Goodwood", before confirming the car would be displayed there in July and then head to showrooms. The concept was called the Z, but Li said the final name for the production car remains "confidential" and could be different. It will play an important role in cementing Denza's premium and performance credentials in Europe, with Li touting the brand's emphasis on technical capability as an edge over established marques. "If you think about other brands, when they launch a new premium car, they just make the engine more powerful and the interior design more emotional; there is no fundamental revolution," she said. By contrast, Li touted the Z9's ability to tank-turn, drift, drive semi-autonomously, accelerate from 0-62mph in 2.7sec and 'flash charge' at super-high speed as testament to Denza's technical superiority - which will be a key marketing pillar for the brand. "This is using technology to really redefine elegance," she said. "For an emotional connection, this is what we have. We will make people say 'this is the car I really want to try'."
Blue, cream leather, manual, touring – 3 Series don't get much better than this How did you celebrate 50 years of the BMW 3 Series? I may have taken it a bit far by buying this E30-generation 325i Touring from 1990. Ever since selling my Porsche 944 four years ago, I've had a hankering to own an old car again. Something simple, light, moderately interesting and, above all, fun. The E30 ticked the boxes of being a relatively compact car (it's narrower than a current Mini Cooper C) with an interesting engine, rear-wheel drive and a manual gearbox. It strikes that balance of being purer and more mechanical than modern cars but still comfortable and refined enough that you can take it on big trips quite easily. My parents got a 320i when I was two years old, so it was the first car I was really aware of, and my own first car was a 316i Touring too. When I saw the ad, I immediately knew this was the one. It's a good colour combo and has factory air-con (which doesn't work, yet). It's also a manual car that's had a few choice performance upgrades over the years (a limited-slip diff and Bilstein dampers). Some people say E30s are really expensive now. Compared with 10 years ago, when you could pick up a 325i for a few thousand pounds, I suppose they are. On the other hand, this very nice example cost me less than a new Renault Clio. Just how nice is something I intend to find out soon by taking it to a classic BMW specialist to try, and hopefully fail, to poke holes in it. Not just an MOT Almost any 35-year-old car will have lived a life, and even though 91,000 miles is relatively low for the age, that's still plenty of time for components to wear out and rust holes to form. You can read all the buying guides you want before you view a car, but in the end you can never know everything. Very soon after buying my E30 BMW 3 Series, I booked it in with Classic Bahnstormers for one of their 'appraisals'. Initially I was a little startled at the cost (£456), but then this isn't just a superficial MOT. They take it for the day for both the mechanics and bodywork guys to dig into it, take parts off and do a test drive. The result is six sheets of A4 listing absolutely everything you could do to restore it to showroom condition-from the major stuff (leaky radiator and perished fuel hoses-eek!) to impossibly minor stuff (no rear ashtray illumination) - and an hour-long phone call to come up with a plan. The takeaway is that my car is a really good one with next to no rust and I could probably get away with just doing some essentials. The trouble is I'm permanently in road tester mode, finding every functional fault. I've kept old cars going with ad hoc repairs and just ended up frustrated. This one is probably a keeper, so it has to be right. I can live without ashtray illumination, but the air-con, suspension and central locking all need to work perfectly. This might get expensive. A-B testing The trouble with old cars is that you’re never sure whether a particular attribute is down to design, or that particular example with 92,000 miles and a mix of old original, new original and aftermarket components. If I’m honest, I’m slightly disappointed with the ride and handling of my 325i. It has a slightly lazy front end and a crashy ride. I had suspicions that the Uniroyal tyres (decent quality but not very sporty tyres) and the H&R lowering springs weren’t doing it any favours. I needed some A-B testing to know for sure. Fortunately, Autocar shares an office with Classic and Sports car, whose deputy editor Aaron McKay owns a very tidy 325i Sport, albeit a saloon from 1986. A plan was hatched for a car swap. Aaron’s car has the same Bilstein B6 dampers as mine, but with standard M Technic springs, and rides much better, with no penalty in handling. The steering also feels a bit lighter but tighter and more incisive, and the gearchange is more precise. It feels a bit quicker too, with less valvetrain noise (although it may just be masked by the naughtier stainless exhaust). Detail stuff, but all together, it really does tie the driving together. It was really interesting driving the two back to back, and reassured me that there are gains to be made with my car. Between the tyres, the springs, some suspension bushes that need replacing and an overdue service, I think my car can easily be lifted to the next level.
Cargo variant, developed by Volvo's UK arm for business fleets, can carry 1000 litres and 390kg Volvo UK has converted its smallest car, the EX30, into a load-hauling van – and it can be had with the passenger version's 423bhp dual-motor powertrain. Named the EX30 Cargo, it has been designed for business use and is available exclusively through Volvo UK’s fleet sales channels, rather than at dealers. It loses the regular EX30’s rear seats in favour of a flat-floored cargo bay, which also brings unique door cards and panelling through the compartment to maximise load space. To that end, its cargo capacity is improved to 1000 litres, up from 318 litres in a normal EX30 with its seats up, and it can carry up to 390kg at a time. The rear doors open wider than on a regular EX30 to allow easier access to its cargo bay and there are a range of attachment points for securing smaller loads. The rear windows are tinted to help hide the cargo from the outside too. The Cargo conversion can be applied to the EX30 in a choice of three trims – Core, Plus and the high-riding Cross Country Plus – and four powertrains, with outputs ranging from 148bhp to 423bhp. The latter output gives the passenger version a 0-62mph time of 3.6sec, so the van should also have the pace to trouble thoroughbred sports cars. “While we are best known for our passenger vehicles, we recognise that business owners and fleets also want the quality, safety and technology that Volvo is renowned for in a compact commercial vehicle too, which is why we created the extremely practical EX30 Cargo,” said Jack Munford, Volvo UK’s head of fleet.
The pair discuss MOT season, BMW's new electric saloon and more! In the latest episode of the Autocar podcast, My Week In Cars, your hosts Steve Cropley and Matt Prior talk MOT season and a trip to Goodwood. Plus, BMW’s all new i3 electric executive saloon, used Teslas and more, including your correspondence.We’d love it if you’d review the pod too, and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts or via your preferred podcast platform.
Lamborghini accounted for almost a quarter of the Audi Group's profits in 2025 as it set a sales record The jewel at the top of the Volkswagen Group is no longer Bentley – and definitely no longer Porsche – but a brand that has shaken off a tumultuous past to become a mainstay of profitability in a sector that many are struggling in. Lamborghini accounted for just 0.65% of sales in the broader Audi Group (which includes Audi, Bentley and motorbike brand Ducati) in 2025, at 10,747. But despite that, the Italian brand accounted for almost a quarter of the group’s operating profits, at €768 million, giving it a profit margin of 24%. Of the luxury brands that quote financial results, only Ferrari beat Lamborghini’s margin figures, quoting 29.5% for 2025. Aston Martin remains unprofitable, while Bentley itself managed just 8.3%, down from 14% the year before, with sales that fell below Lamborghini’s, at 10,428. Lamborghini set a new sales record in 2025, while profits were at their second highest ever. CEO Stephan Winkelmann was quick to point out to journalists on a results call that they too would have been record-beating had Lamborghini not been afflicted by elevated US tariffs, a weak US dollar and an unspecified financial write-off from the cancellation of Porsche's SSP 61 platform, which was to underpin Lamborghini’s now-axed debut electric car. “2025 shows that the strength of Automobili Lamborghini lies not only in numbers but in our ability to manage complexity,” Winkelmann said in a statement. Drilling into the details reveals that the Urus SUV remains the bedrock of Lamborghini’s success, with 7265 sales equating to almost three quarters of the total and still rising, up 8.7% last year, despite the fact that the car turns eight years old this year. The Revuelto, Lamborghini’s ‘mainstream’ hypercar, recorded 2096 sales, up 49%, while the Temerario replacement for the Huracán was still in its build phase last year. What’s remarkable is that plug-in hybrids accounted for 93% of all Lamborghini production, with the Huracán now out of the mix. Propelling Lamborghini’s profits is its ability to keep the average selling price up at almost €300,000 (£260k) in 2025, based on units delivered versus revenue. That compares with €242,000 for Aston Martin and just over €500,000 for Ferrari. Lamborghini claims that 94% of cars delivered were personalised with at least one element, saying this was a “key factor” in its record revenue. The question now is whether Lamborghini can continue on its successful path for another year. One market it doesn’t have to worry about is China, which accounted for just 5% of its sales last year, compared with 19% for Bentley (down from 23%). This means Lamborghini can shrug off the continued reluctance of Chinese buyers to spend big on European luxury. There are warning signs elsewhere, though. The Middle East is currently “almost blocked”, Winkelmann said, as customers stay home due to the ongoing Iranian conflict. Lamborghini doesn’t break out the region, which it comes under ‘other’, but it's clearly big business, given that ‘other’ comprised 30% of sales last year. Europe remained Lamborghini’s biggest market, at 38%, which is an asset when there's instability elsewhere. The US stood at 27%, down from 31%, as tariffs hit. Lamborghini said that, unlike Bentley, it hadn't pushed up prices to absorb the tariff increases from 2.5% to 15% but had restricted volumes. “This is not something which is helping our business,” Winkelmann told journalists. “It’s costing something quite significant”. He said he hoped that next year customers will have “digested” the idea of tariffs and the market will come back to normality. One red flag in Lamborghini's financial figures was a 19% drop in production. That was explained by the switchover from Huracán to Temerario, but it still could indicate that Lamborghini had overproduced beyond demand – something that Aston Martin has struggled to control. The other is the high figure for the Urus. “Lamborghini is completely addicted now to Urus/SUV sales to drive the numbers, which is high risk for a supercar brand,” Scott Sherwood, serial supercar owner and author of the SSO Report, told Autocar. The Urus was recently updated to switch to the new V8 plug-in hybrid drivetrain, but the car’s age and the general inability of SUVs to form the basis of big-money specials might constrain Lamborghini until a new model arrives – the platform for which again will likely have to come from the wider Volkswagen Group. “In many ways, Bentley and Lamborghini are on exactly the same path, it’s just that Bentley is several years ahead,” Sherwood said. “Bentley rode the Bentayga up and then has struggled as Bentayga sales have softened. If Urus volume drops, Lamborghini is in a world of pain.” A sudden interest in electric power among Lamborghini’s customers is unlikely, but the brand’s pivot for the Lanzador concept from wild 2+2 electric SUV to something related but with a PHEV drivetrain restricts the brand’s flexibility to push into EV-friendly markets, unlike Bentley and Ferrari. Perhaps the biggest danger is that competition toughens too much at the money-spinning ‘specials’ end of the market, with too many players chasing too few ultra-high-net-worth individuals. “The number of limited editions has jumped in the last few years and just about everyone is pushing them,” Sherwood said. “Ten years ago, if you said ‘no’ on one of these, you were blacklisted; now they come back and offer you another a year or less later.”
Hybrid power pushes the most serious non-GT variant of the 911 beyond 700bhp The new ‘992.2’-generation Porsche 911 Turbo S has arrived on UK roads. The twelfth technical iteration of this wild, revered, extra-special sports car in a history of a little over half-a-century, the Turbo has gone hybrid. Imagine suggesting that idea twenty years ago. Imagine even thinking it. Well, Zuffenhausen’s out to prove that you should be excited by it. And, as it turns out, with very good reason. Adopting a widely reworked version of the 3.6-litre hybrid flat six that the ‘992.2’ Porsche 911 GTS received in 2025, the new Turbo S uses two smaller electrically roused turbochargers (one per bank) rather than just one. It carries over the 911 GTS’s gearbox-mounted electric drive motor, but turns up the wick on that also. The influence of what’s gone on in the engine bay even reaches the car’s suspension and steering. Operating at 400 volts, Porsche’s T-Hybrid system enables technical upgrades for the Turbo’s PDCC active anti-roll bars and four-wheel steering systems, making them faster acting.That’s the technical digest, which we’ll revisit in more detail in a month or so after we’ve borrowed a Turbo S Coupe for a full Autocar road test. For now, we’ll settle for an advanced flavour of how compatible with UK roads this even more powerful, electrified ‘übermensch’ 911 has become, courtesy of a £209,100 Turbo S Cabriolet; having first sampled a Coupe on roads in Spain late in 2025.
Whether it's a hybrid, a PHEV or an EV, the new Astra is the same price – so how to choose? It seems Vauxhall’s bosses have gone to the Burger King school of management, because with the facelifted Astra, you can have it your way. Regardless of whether you opt for a hybrid, plug-in hybrid or EV, hatchback or Sports Tourer estate, it’s the same price, starting at £29,995. (Cheaper petrols are coming later this year, though.) The hybrid matches Stellantis’s ubiquitous 1.2-litre turbo petrol triple with an electric motor (mounted inside its six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox) and a 0.9kWh battery. That nets 128bhp, 170lb ft of torque and 56.5mpg. It’s worth noting that this engine doesn’t use the now-infamous ‘wet belt’ design found in previous Astras, having moved to a timing chain. That should hopefully abate concerns over long-term reliability. The PHEV gets a 1.6-litre turbo petrol four, a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, a punchier electric motor and a 17.2kWh battery (up from 12.4kWh previously) for 192bhp, 266lb ft and an electric range of 52 miles. Emissions are rated at 50g/km in the hatch and 51g/km in the estate, landing benefit-in-kind tax rates of 10% and 17% respectively (from the new financial year). Take this figure with a huge pinch of salt, but its fuel economy is officially rated at up to 128.4mpg. Here I will focus on the PHEV: not only is it great value, considering the Volkswagen Golf eHybrid costs £6490 more, but it’s also the best all-rounder in the Astra range. Unlike in the regular hybrid, its motor is pokey enough to glide through town and faster A-roads on electrons alone. Give the throttle a squeeze and the engine fires into life after a second or so, transforming it into a surprisingly fizzy car: its 266lb ft makes it feel significantly more urgent than the hybrid or the EV. But the most notable benefit of going for the PHEV over the hybrid is its refinement. Although a tad droney, its four-pot engine is much easier on the ear than the shouty triple, whose bark soon grates. And, because the PHEV’s battery is nearly 20 times larger than the hybrid’s, it calls on the assistance of its engine much less frequently. You could drive it entirely as an EV if you really wanted to, whereas the hybrid requires you to tip-toe on the throttle to disengage the engine and plod around on the motor. Around 40 miles of real-world range in the PHEV (albeit on a 20deg day in sunny Croatia) should prove plenty for many urban commutes, and you get the flexibility of petrol power when you run it empty. To that end, Vauxhall claims the PHEV is almost as efficient as the hybrid when the battery is flat, doing 52.3mpg – which makes the 56.5mpg hybrid feel a little pointless. As well as better performance and the economy, the PHEV has more pleasant steering. The hybrid’s helm has little weight and yields minimal feedback. Switch to the PHEV and you immediately notice the extra effort required around the straightahead, plus a hint more texture. This contributes to an overall sense of solidity that the hybrid lacks. It gave me a confidence in tackling twistier roads that I didn’t feel in other versions – and the Astra is game for pressing on too. It possesses good body control through tighter bends and, provided you’re not being silly, there’s plenty of grip. The front wheels can scrabble a little if you floor it from a standstill, but this isn’t the kind of car that encourages such behaviour. Indeed, the Astra isn’t so much fun as it is satisfying to push; it’s a good ‘flow’ car, handling intuitively and fostering a sense of trust when you’re preoccupied by hazard perception on unfamiliar routes. The pedals – well spaced in the left-hookers we had to test and satisfyingly meaty in feel – help to foster that sense of belief in the car. The only major trade-offs if you go for the PHEV are a noticeable amount more fidget over brittle road surfaces (although it's still within acceptable levels) and reduced boot space (112 litres down in the hatch, 131 litres down in the estate). The Astra’s interior is good too: the digital panels’ graphics are easy to understand, the infotainment software is responsive to inputs and sensibly laid out and you get proper switches for the climate controls. The steering wheel gets a pair of paddles that allow you to take control of gearchanges. However, the ‘box is overeager to override your inputs and change up earlier than you might like or prevent early downchanges intended to allow engine braking. I was also disappointed that the paddles can’t be used to adjust the strength of the regenerative braking if you put the PHEV into electric-only mode; this feels like an oversight. Still, for usability, the Astra is ahead of anything from the Volkswagen Group. That makes it all the more a shame that it’s a bit drab to sit in. What about the EV? Given its lack of a combustion engine, the EV feels like a completely different car to the two hybrids. It’s powered by a front-mounted 154bhp motor and a 58.3kWh (55.4kWh usable) battery, giving a range of 281 miles in the hatch or 276 miles in the estate. And it can charge at up to 100kW, giving a 20-80% refill time of about half an hour. You only get the full 154bhp if you stick the Astra Electric in its Sport driving mode, so it feels rather lackadaisical most of the time. Still, it's quick enough to cruise with the flow of traffic – even in Croatia, where the beaming sun seems to have set everyone’s hair on fire. The pedals are well judged for making smooth progress at lower speeds and the ability to adjust the strength of the regenerative braking using the wheel’s paddles is welcome. There’s also a ‘B’ mode that cancels out retardation from the motor and allows you to free-wheel on the motorway. Through bends, your confidence is undermined by the same wooly steering feel as in the hybrid, although it’s significantly better at ploughing over bumps than the PHEV. Refinement is an improvement on the other variants, too, given there isn't an engine booming away under the bonnet. If I were to nitpick, there’s a little bit of road noise and, without the engine to muffle it, you notice it echoing around the rear compartment of the estate a bit more. But it’s still more than hushed enough to have a conversation with passengers sitting in the back without having to raise your voices. You get a bigger boot in an EV in a PHEV, but it’s still not as quite as capacious as that in a hybrid, being rated at 352 litres in the hatch and 516 litres in the estate. In essence, the Astra Electric is a fine car. It’s good value for money. But if you can stomach paying a little more, there are better alternatives. Although it’s £33,000 and doesn’t offer as much range (270 miles), the entry-level Kia EV3 is nicer to sit in and can charge faster. Target Price data from What Car? suggests that it’s being discounted to around the same money too. Vauxhall Astra facelift: verdict By making marginal improvements and realigning its pricing structure, Vauxhall has improved the Astra’s odds against the Golf. It feels like a return for form for the brand, playing to its historic strength of offering decent cars at sensible prices. Whether that will be enough to return the Astra to past success remains to be seen, but I wouldn't bet against it. Particularly so now that its biggest competitor, the Ford Focus, is out of the picture. That said, I’d feel shortchanged if I’d bought anything other than the PHEV. The Astra Electric doesn't feel as practical nor as plush as rivals built on EV-specific platforms, while the hybrid is the one to avoid, being a much less rounded product. More broadly, some may criticise PHEVs as compromised: nowhere near as rangey as a full EV nor as efficient as a hybrid when the battery is depleted – and typically the most expensive of the bunch. But when one is priced on equal terms as the alternatives, as it is in the Astra, it becomes a compelling option. It's better at being an everyday petrol car than the hybrid, thanks to its smoother and zingier engine, and still gives you the option of running it like an EV on shorter commutes.
Policemen ran junctions with hand gestures and road markings weren't yet painted "Londoners drive abreast, packed nose to tail and side to side, and they have gradually evolved a complicated code of their own, as different from the Highway Code as contract bridge conventions are from the simple rules of auction. "The selection of traffic lane, the right of way, all seems to be governed by bids, leads and responses. It is only by this queer but on the whole practical code that London traffic avoids bogging down completely in one solid mass." This was the situation as Autocar found it in 1952, and not dissimilar to that which we find today in the capital. What is notably different, however, is that whereas London traffic is today strictly controlled, under constant surveillance and threat of fines and punishment, in the 1950s the authorities "tolerated and even approved unofficially" of the mass bending of certain rules. Back then, lanes were rarely demarcated and vehicles were all far narrower, such that a bus, a truck and a car might breathe three-wide on a road where today two cars would feel squeezed. Traffic lights were quite rare. And flashing indicators weren't yet in use: instead drivers would drop 'trafficator' arms, if fitted, or else perform hand signals. Enjoy full access to the complete Autocar archive at the magazineshop.com Autocar explained: "The left lane will be used by very slow vehicles, anything that will be stopping shortly and, above all, anything that is planning to turn off to the left. The outside lane traffic includes those who wish to turn off to the right in due course. "The operation of working one's way over into the correct lane is carried out well in advance, in the clearer stretches between intersections and major obstacles, and is done by tending or veering a little that way while waiting for a gap, or for a kind soul to hang back a little and let one into the desired stream. It is a delicate compromise between forcing and coaxing one's way in but it is better to coax. "Thrusters arbitrarily force to and fro according to which lane seems to have a temporary advantage. Generally this is regarded as selfish. As far as possible, one should stick loyally to one's lane, says public opinion, and share its fortunes but leave the rebuke or active resisting of offenders to others." All British drivers were expected to know the hand signals for right and left turns, but Londoners knew a few unofficial ones too. "A hand stretched out and palm to the rear in a restraining gesture" meant to hold back for a pedestrian crossing out of view in front; another relayed that a driver was stuck just beyond the lights; a nod of the head ushered a waiting driver out of a side road. "A little flip of the trafficator means 'I should like to get over to the left' or 'a bit farther on I'm going off to the left, though not yet'." Coppers even had a 'hurry up' gesture. Another complication was knowing where you were going. Today any driver can use sat-nav, but then they had to plan carefully before setting off, as landmarks and signage would usually be obscured by a mass of surrounding traffic. Indeed, we noted, "the regular' is so crafty at dodging the more famous and more choked spots that he may rarely see Eros, the Law Courts or Nelson on his column". In a happy coincidence, British Pathé was also observing London traffic in 1952, immortalising this milieu. Its footage is fascinating to watch, reminiscent of modern-day Rome in its organised, functional chaos. This is largely due to how much was left to drivers' discretion, the road markings and infrastructure being strikingly minimal to modern eyes. Aside from the lack of white lines to demarcate lanes, there were no painted turn arrows, yellow or double-yellow lines (these would be introduced from 1960), hatched box junctions (1964) or similar clutter. There were no speed cameras in fact, no cameras of any distinction, because there were no bus lanes, no congestion charge or ultra low emission zones. Traffic lights were less common and less prominent too (the modern standard design dates from 1968), traffic flow at busy junctions instead being dictated by policemen standing in the road. (This duty was obsolete by the mid-1970s, when the number of traffic light sets in London reached 1000.) Yes, it was chaotic, daunting for outsiders and much less safe, but it was also pure - which in some way seems less stressful than what motorists experience in London today.
City car loses back seats to give nearly 800 litres of boot space – and conversion is fully reversible Renault has converted the new Twingo into a van for French energy provider EDF, boosting the city car’s load-lugging capacity to 797 litres. That figure is more than double the 360-litre maximum of the regular electric hatchback, coming thanks to the removal of the rear seats. In their place sits a metal cage fitted with covers to disguise cargo, with the load bay separated from the cockpit by a mesh bulkhead. Revealed on the sidelines of the Twingo's media launch, the conversion package is completely reversible, helping to protect each Twingo van’s resale value once it has completed its duty on a company fleet. From the outside, the van is distinguished from the regular Twingo by its black headlight surrounds and bold blue paint – part of EDF’s corporate livery. Its rear windows are also tinted almost completely opaque to help obscure the load on board. The Twingo van remains a concept for now but, given its simplicity, could easily make it to market. However, Renault told Autocar it's unlikely that any production version would be sold in the UK. Renault offered a similar conversion on the 1990s Mk1 Twingo, although such examples are now extremely rare. The new Twingo joins a long line of city cars converted into vans: BT commissioned a cargo-carrying version of the original Ford Ka and Fiat offered a van variant of the Panda through various generations. The car-based van class has withered for several years but is now undergoing a renaissance: Renault also offers a van version of the 4 crossover and the rival Citroën ë-C3 can too be had in commercial guise.
Next-generation MG hybrids will feature innovative new technologies including electric turbochargers and a motor claimed to eliminate nearly all engine vibration. It’s possible that the new Hybrid+ system - which is being developed at the Chinese brand’s recently opened Frankfurt engineering centre - could initially be offered in the incoming MG S9 PHEV. MG’s electric cars are also due to take a big step forward, thanks to the world’s first mass-produced semi-solid-state battery, which is set to arrive on European roads in a higher-specification version of the new MG 4 EV Urban hatchback this year. Speaking during the announcement in Frankfurt, Qiu Jie, vice-president of MG’s global R&D innovation headquartes, said the new Hybrid+ e-turbo could keep spinning “at speeds of up to 70,000rpm”, practically eliminating turbo lag – much like the MGU-K system did in the previous generation of Formula 1 cars. “This [electric turbocharging] comes after lessons were learned in Europe about your desire for more responsive performance compared with other markets,” Jie said. “Electric turbocharging increases both efficiency and performance and makes for a smoother delivery of power between electric and petrol.” The new Hybrid+ system also introduces new digital damping technology to boost refinement, using its electric motor not only to produce power but also to counteract vibrations generated by the engine’s moving parts. Using sensors to calculate the exact torque needed to offset vibration, the motor can in effect act like the technology inside noise-cancelling headphones, blocking out unwanted background noise. This is said to enhance not only comfort but also efficiency, with the removal of vibrations reducing the amount of energy lost to unwanted mechanical oscillations and heat. Combined with a bigger (1.83kWh) battery to power the next-generation electric system and the new turbo, MG's new Hybrid+ models are claimed to be smoother, quieter and quicker than their predecessors. Semi-solid-state battery MG’s SolidCore semi-solid-state EV battery will initially arrive later this year. It will be made up of a 95% solid electrolyte (a 15% increase compared with conventional batteries) and 5% liquid. MG claims that this will improve energy density and therefore range, as well as charging speeds and the consistency of battery performance in different temperatures. MG's global battery chief, Li Zheung, told Autocar that semi-solid-state tech can also provide a significant weight saving versus conventional liquid batteries, claiming that future fully solid-state batteries are likely to be “more than 30%” lighter. Thanks to the higher energy density of solid-state hardware, smaller-sized packs will be feasible too, so Zheung expects both car weight and interior space to benefit from the SolidCore development. MG is targeting a 1000km (621-mile) range for its solid-state battery project, although it has yet to confirm which model will receive that battery. “Straight away you can expect a 15% faster charging time and 20% quicker power delivery, but extra safety is also a big benefit for these semi-solid-state batteries compared with alternatives,” Zheung added. “Even when we crush and drill into the SolidCore battery, there is no thermal runaway at all.” Thermal runaway can occur in conventional liquid-electrolyte lithium ion batteries after their cells are punctured. In rare cases, it leads to a fire that can't be stopped by either water or suffocation. MG claims its crushing and drilling tests have yet to generate sparks or flames, let alone a thermal runaway, from its semi-solid-state batteries, which are made from a manganese-based lithium ion chemistry with a hybrid gel-solid electrolyte.
Rarefied new flagship is intended to offer uncompromising comfort and customisation Mercedes has lifted the covers off the new Maybach S-Class, transforming its flagship saloon into an opulent limousine. It will be available with a choice of inline six, V8 or V12 petrol engines, though the V12 will be exclusive to “select countries” but the UK is understood not to be one of them. Key changes include an enlarged, vertically slatted grille, in which the ‘Maybach’ wordmark is now lit. The headlights, Mercedes star and Maybach logo are also finished in rose gold. Inside, it gets extra insulation to help reduce unwanted noise, vibration and harshness. There is also a specific Maybach drive mode “entirely focused” on passenger comfort. And, for the first time, artificial leather and cloth upholstery can be had as optional extras. “Our goal is for every client to say ‘Wow!’,” said Vjekoslav Crndic, a consultant at Mercedes-Maybach’s Centre of Excellence. To that end, buyers can choose from more than 150 exterior paint colours and more than 400 interiors, as well as a new aerodisc-style wheel design composed entirely of Maybach logos.
Luxurious 'grand limousine' will be the first van to wear the Maybach badge, rivalling Lexus LM Mercedes will attach the Maybach name to a van for the first time with a new range-topper based on the incoming VLS. The new luxury MPV was officially confirmed by Mercedes-Benz Group CEO Ola Källenius during the presentation of the updated Maybach S-Class in Beijing today. UK sales are planned, although launch timing remains unconfirmed. The Maybach VLS will be based on the same VAN.EA platform as the VLE, the recently unveiled successor to the V-Class, topping a newly structured van line-up. It will be sold exclusively as an EV. Källenius described the VLS as a “grand limousine”, it having been developed to centre on interior packaging, rear passenger comfort and chauffeur use. Multiple seating arrangements are planned, including a high-end two-seat configuration similar to that previewed by the recent Vision V concept. Official descriptions highlight a “first-class interior”, an “exceptional rear-seat experience” and a cabin conceived as an “extraordinary private lounge”. There has been no suggestion whether the Vision V’s retractable 65in 4K cinema screen will make production. Plans to introduce a Maybach van reflect shifting demand at the top end of the market. In China and across parts of Asia, large luxury MPVs have become increasingly popular, with buyers prioritising interior space, rear-seat layout versatility and extended wheelbases. Production of the standard VLS is planned to begin by the end of 2026, with the Maybach VLS expected to follow in 2027.
Movers and shakers: Move to install Tata strategy officer at JLR heralds closer ties between the firms Welcome to Movers and Shakers, an Autocar Business feature covering the latest job moves from across the automotive industry. This page is updated regularly with all the biggest transfers, promotions and departures in the sector, covering everything you need to know. Name: Balaje Rajan Company: JLR Role: Group chief strategy officer JLR has appointed Balaje Rajan as its new group chief strategy officer under recently appointed CEO PB Balaji. Rajan was previously the chief strategy officer and head of international business for JLR's siblings Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility. The move, first reported by Autocar Professional, tightens the ties between JLR and its Indian parent company Tata. The companies' forthcoming electric cars – particularly new Land Rovers and models from Tata's new premium brand, Avinya – will share key technologies, and Rajan's appointment is expected to foster this collaboration. Name: Erhan Eren Company: Kia Role: European PBV director Kia has appointed Erhan Eren to lead its vans and commercial vehicle strategy in Europe. Eren takes the role of PBV (Platform Beyond Vehicle) director, replacing Pierre-Martin Bos, who leaves Kia to take up the position of CEO of Zero Motorcycles. Eren joins Kia from Wrightbus, where he served as managing director for Europe. He arrives with 18 years of experience across trucks, buses and vans. Other leadership roles included time at MAN and Iveco. Based in Frankfurt, his core task will be to continue Kia’s commercial vehicle expansion: following last year’s PV5 will be the PV7 in 2027 and the PV9 in 2029. The Korean brand aims to achieve 250,000 global PBV sales by 2030. Eren said: “My priority is to ensure customers benefit from a seamless, reliable ecosystem, from strong product fundamentals to service, uptime support, converter integration and parts availability. "This role brings together everything I value: practical innovation, purposeful transformation and creating real impact for customers.” Name: Lina Ribeiro Company: Dacia Role: UK brand director Dacia has named Renault Group UK’s head of sales operations Lina Ribeiro as its new UK brand director. She is tasked with overseeing the brand following one of its biggest years to date, topped by the arrival of the new Bigster SUV. Ribeiro succeeds Luke Broad who has been promoted to managing director of Retail Renault Group UK. She takes on the role following more than 20 years in the automotive industry. This includes multiple strategic roles in the UK and abroad, which has seen her lead teams and launch initiatives in sales, operations, network development, and customer experience. In her current role at Renault Group UK, she has led teams through strong periods of growth thanks to her straightforward, consistent and quietly inventive leadership style. Ribeiro said: “It’s a real privilege to step into this role and continue shaping the next chapter of Dacia’s success in the UK. “The brand keeps going from strength to strength, always standing for something bigger when it comes to mobility. I’m excited to carry that forward, challenging conventions and delivering meaningful value to our customers.” Katrin Adt, Dacia CEO, said of Ribeiro’s appointment: “I’m pleased to welcome Lina into her new role. As Dacia continues to grow, her leadership will strengthen our momentum in a market that values affordability and durability in vehicles built for the real-world.” Name: Soohang Chang Company: Kia Europe Role: President and CEO Soohang Chang has been named president and CEO of Kia Europe. He moves from being head of the Korean car maker’s Middle East and Africa region. He will officially begin the role on 1 January, taking over from Marc Hedrich, who moves back to his home country to become president of Kia France, a role he held between 2021 and 2023, replacing Tae Kun Yang. In his new role, Chang is tasked with accelerating Kia’s electrification, which will begin with launching the EV2 – the Korean firm’s new entry-level model, which will be unveiled at the Brussels motor show on 9 January. “His proven ability to deliver results in diverse markets positions him to navigate the evolving European automotive landscape and drive Kia’s long-term growth in one of the world’s most dynamic regions,” Kia said of Chang. Of Hedrich, the company said: “His leadership will guide Kia France through its next phase of growth and strengthen the brand’s position in one of Europe’s most competitive markets. His deep understanding of local consumer trends and regulatory dynamics, combined with his prior achievements, make this a strategic move for Kia.” Name: Alexander Karajlovic Company: BMW M Role: Vice-president for development BMW XM project manager Alexander Karajlovic (pictured above) has been appointed as the new vice-president of development for BMW's M division, following the retirement of Dirk Häcker. Karajlovic was responsible for the M versions of BMW's SUVs as well as the XM – the go-faster division's first bespoke product since 1978 – between late 2017 and late 2020. He later managed BMW M's product line-up and was most recently the vice-president of driving experience integration for the BMW Group. Karajlovic has big shoes to fill in replacing Häcker, who can be credited with much of the M division's success since he took charge of its R&D in 2015. Since then, the brand has set several sales records and produced benchmark-setting driver's cars, including the previous-generation BMW M5 CS and BMW M2 CS. Häcker also played a significant role in developing the first battery-electric M-car, the next-generation M3. Alongside his corporate responsibilities, Häcker was an instructor for the BMW M Driving Experience. BMW M CEO Frank van Meel said Häcker's retirement is "well earned" and "his name is inextricably linked with an unprecedented product offensive, superior product quality and yearly sales records at BMW M". Van Meel added that Karajlovic brings a "proven track record of chassis development know-how".
Preview image reveals distinctive new light signature It will be the first of a new range of models to wear revived Freelander badge; global sales on the cards Chery has confirmed that the first model for its new Freelander brand will be revealed next Tuesday (31 March). The Chinese company (which sells cars in the UK under its Chery, Jaecoo and Omoda brands) is reviving the Freelander name in collaboration with JLR for a new line of electrified crossovers. It will use fundamentally the same underpinnings as it uses for its other SUV brands, but the cars will be marked out by a bespoke, JLR-led design language that draws on the original Land Rover Freelander. A new official preview image shows the distinctive front light signature of the first Freelander model, which is expected to be a defining feature of the line-up as it expands. While Freelanders will at first be sold only in the Chinese market, there is “potential for global expansion”, JLR China president Qing Pan said previously. Chery is developing the electrified model range using an in-house-developed "flexible" platform, Pan said. Autocar has learned that this is Chery’s T1X platform, which underpins various cars from its other brands, such as the Jaecoo 7. The first new Freelander is set to be a plug-in hybrid with a design that blends chunky off-road visual cues with a Porsche Macan-style coupé shape - as imagined below by Autocar, prior to the latest teaser. It will “echo the original spirit of Freelander but [be] brought up to date to appeal to discerning, technologically savvy Chinese consumers,” Pan said. The new Freelander will give Chery JLR's factory a replacement for the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque, production of which will end this year. It will sit in different market segment from JLR’s imported high-end models in China, such as the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Land Rover Defender. JLR has said the new Freelander will be sold in a network of its own dedicated, Chery-run dealerships. Freelander doesn't come under JLR's luxury-focused ‘House of Brands’ marketing and sales strategy, which effectively splits Jaguar, Defender, Discovery and Range Rover into stand-alone model lines. In the UK and mainland Europe, a Chinese-built Freelander could cannibalise sales of the cheaper models based on JLR's new EMA EV platform, such as the upcoming Range Rover Velar and Land Rover Defender Sport. That would make the business case for selling Freelanders in those markets harder to justify. The original Freelander was launched in 1997 in three-door and five-door forms. It was the first Land Rover with a monocoque platform and “pioneered the compact premium SUV”, said Pan. It lasted for two generations before being replaced by the Discovery Sport in 2015.
Swish-looking family hatchback gets new looks, new name and option of electric powertrain You've got to feel for DS on some level. For the best part of a decade and a half, it has been slowly trying to cultivate its image as an upmarket alternative to established premium brands, leaning into the distinctive style and innovative engineering of the 1950s Citroën saloon that inspired its name.This softly-softly approach has clearly been inspired by Lexus, which openly admitted it would take decades to convince people that it was more than just a purveyor of posh Toyotas. Problem is, the Japanese firm's business model was formulated in the late 1980s, and the automotive landscape has changed massively since then.In a time when new brands appear on an almost weekly basis, and almost every one of them is trying the premium schtick, DS has struggled to make itself heard. Even so, bosses are persisting, claiming that company is now entering its third act with a completely refreshed line-up of cars that it claims finally represent the true essence of the brand. At the top of the range is the bold No8, a big electric coupé-crossover that has executive car royalty in its its sights. Yet it's this DS No4 that's argulably the most important addition as it will be the big seller - although that's a relative term. Previously called simply the DS 4, it has been DS's most popular model since it launched in 2021, albeit with just 2629 sales.Such low volumes make you wonder why DS remains committed to the UK, even if this is still its fifth-best-selling market – but CEO Xavier Peugeot insists the brand is profitable and hopes its new line-up will help it become an influential player in Europe.But how is DS going to achieve this when hatchback rivals are selling tens of thousands each year? Well, the brand is pinning its hopes on the No4's fresh look and, for the first time, the option of an electric powertrain, which we’re testing here.
Road car (right, red) is the most extreme Black Series car to date, says AMG New road car developed in parallel with car maker’s latest GT3 racer Mercedes-AMG has officially confirmed the return of the GT Black Series as part of a joint development programme with its latest-generation GT3 race car, both derived from the earlier Concept AMG GT Track Sport. AMG described the new road-going model as its most extreme Black Series yet, placing it above the GT 63 Pro – itself conceived as the most track-focused model in the second-generation GT line-up. The current GT provides a reference point for the sort of performance expected. The GT 63 develops 577bhp and 590lb ft, while the GT 63 Pro lifts that to 603bhp and 627lb ft, with a 0-62mph time of 3.2sec and a top speed of 197mph. The next Black Series will move well beyond that, said AMG. The engine is also set to evolve. AMG has already confirmed that an updated version of its flat-plane-crank V8 will feature in a forthcoming limited-production Mythos model based on the CLE coupé. That same unit is expected to underpin the new Black Series. The previous GT Black Series, launched in 2020, introduced a flat-plane-crank version of AMG’s twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8, producing 720bhp at up to 6900rpm and 590lb ft between 2000rpm and 6000rpm. It was capable of 0-62mph in around 3.2sec and a top speed of 202mph, along with a Nürburgring lap record for a production car at the time. AMG’s assertion that the new model will be its most extreme to date applies not only to its engine. Prototypes of the new GT Black Series also receive more aggressive aero and a chassis set-up aimed more at circuit use than current GT models. The link with the GT3 programme is central to that, with both cars being developed from the same starting point, confirmed AMG. Developing both the GT3 and its road twin in parallel allows AMG to carry over lessons from the track more directly, particularly in areas such as aerodynamics, cooling and chassis set-up. The road car (red) is being developed in parallel with the GT3 racer (yellow) “We are developing the most extreme Black Series ever. At the same time, we want to set the next record-breaker in motorsport with the future GT3,” said AMG CEO Michael Schiebe. “The foundation for this is the Concept AMG GT Track Sport – a technology demonstrator that was more than just a concept from the very start.” The Black Series name has been used since 2006 on AMG’s most focused production road cars, beginning with the SLK 55 AMG Black Series and continuing through a series of low-volume, track-oriented models.
New model heralds expansion of Rolls-Royce's bespoke programme; will be its first limited-run EV Rolls-Royce's next coachbuilt car will be an EV, due to be revealed in the coming weeks. It marks a significant expansion of Goodwood's bespoke programme, now named the Coachbuild Collection. Customers with a “special affinity” for the British marque will be invited to one of its global ‘private offices’ – effectively rooms designed for car specification – to discuss limited-production projects. “It became clear that [clients] wished to see not only what Rolls-Royce would create if left entirely to its own imagination and with the freedom offered by coachbuilding, but they also wanted to witness that journey at every stage,” said CEO Chris Brownridge. The expansion of its coachbuilding programme comes after the positive reception to previous limited-run Rolls-Royces. The Phantom-based Sweptail was unveiled in 2017 as the first coachbuilt Rolls-Royce of the modern era and was described by then-CEO Torsten Müller Otvös as “probably the most expensive new car ever”. It was followed by the open-top Boat Tail, revealed in 2021 and thought to cost around £20 million. It was inspired by yachts and its 1932 namesake, with wooden panelling and a parasol that popped out from its rear deck. Just three examples were built. The Droptail then followed two years later. It was understood to cost even more than the Boat Tail and was sportier in style, taking inspiration from 'chop-top' hot rods. The next coachbuilt car will be the first with electric power; the previous three were all powered by Rolls-Royce's signature 6.75-litre petrol V12.
Familiar styling conceals total transformation for brand's best-seller as it turns electric to face the BMW iX3 I don’t know about you, but my home doesn’t have a four-dimensional surround sound system or a 39.1in touchscreen and it can’t autonomously reverse itself 120 metres back down a winding alley if it gets stuck. It certainly doesn’t have an electronically opacifying sunroof. But home is exactly what the new Mercedes-Benz GLC Electric is meant to feel like. In a bid to re-up its credentials as one of the world’s leading purveyors of supremely comfortable and generously equipped cars, Mercedes pledges that all its new cars will be so cosseting, intuitive and tastefully appointed that you get the “welcome home” feeling whenever you step aboard. It’s a refreshingly warm and fuzzy rhetoric that smartly runs counter to the growing perception of modern cars as sleek, soulless Swiss army knives on wheels with unbelievable functionality but little in the way of cosy familiarity - and it’s first embodied by this bold new electric equivalent to Mercedes' best-selling model. Like its closest rival, the BMW iX3, the new GLC with EQ Technology is technically unrelated to its hugely popular, combustion-engined namesake, instead being based on a new-generation, electric-native platform that promises huge advances in performance, utility and packaging compared with the structures its manufacturer used for its first-generation EVs. For BMW, that’s the Neue Klasse platform; here it’s the new MB.EA platform that Mercedes has developed for a new range of mid-sized EVs, which will include a closely related electric C-Class, to be revealed imminently as a rival to BMW’s freshly revealed i3 saloon.
We revisit the "bonkers" era of Audi’s diesel-powered halo cars - and the one SUV that actually made it to the road After several years of dominance at Le Mans, Audi made the surprise announcement in December 2005 that its next entry would be a diesel: the R10 TDI. This prototype wasn't the first diesel to contest the famous 24-hour race but did become the first to win it outright, in 2006 and repeated the trick in the following two years. This was an excellent marketing tool for Audi in an era when EU law demanded lower CO₂ emissions from car makers and lower tax rates were applied to diesel cars than their petrol equivalents. As a result, at the beginning of 2008, Audi went through an all-too-brief period of unveiling bonkers, diesel-powered halo models that were directly inspired by the company's Le Mans exploits. The first of these to appear was the R8 V12 TDI concept, unveiled in January 2008 as "the world's first diesel supercar". This was a controversial idea, sure, but people were soon won over by the details. Being propelled by a new twin-turbocharged 5.9-litre V12, the TDI concept produced more power (493bhp) than the 4.2-litre V8 in the existing road-going R8 (414bhp) and twice as much torque, yet it was also said to be capable of 25mpg (6mpg up on the R8 V8). And, for a dose of supercar drama, it retained the same open-gate, six-speed manual gearbox. Best of all, unlike most concepts, the R8 V12 TDI was fully functional. We flew out to Miami in April 2008 to drive it, and our initial impressions were good. With a monstrous 738lb ft of torque on tap (delivered at just 1750rpm!), it was very fast indeed and due to the powerplant having so many different filters to make it emissions-friendly, which stifled almost all exhaust noise, it was very refined too. Enjoy full access to the complete Autocar archive at the magazineshop.com Our tester concluded that "this car could turn out to be the best sports car for everyday use the world has ever known", and Audi was confident that production was 18 months away. The hot oil-burners didn't stop there. Soon afterwards, a range-topping variant of the youthful Q7 SUV powered by the same 12-cylinder diesel engine, complete with an R10 TDI-derived injection system and crankshaft, got the green light for production. This was then followed by a third car, the lesser-known A3 Clubsport concept. Based on the second generation of Audi's midsized hatchback, the Clubsport previewed a diesel-powered hot hatch that produced a respectable 221bhp and 332lb ft from a 2.0-litre diesel four, complete with crazy bodywork extensions and carbon-ceramic brakes and, on the inside, bucket seats and the R8's gated manual. Within a few short months, all three of these cars were unveiled by a company that was making its intentions crystal clear: diesel would be a major part of the future for its performance car range. However, whether due to technical complications or low confidence about the public reception, the A3 Clubsport never made it out of the press photos. Instead, Audi gave us the five-cylinder petrol RS3 in 2010. The R8 V12 TDI, despite the hype, likewise never materialised. Production was promised, but the range-topping R8 instead arrived with a petrol V10. And, of course, if any hopes were still remaining for a resurgence of diesel-powered Audi halo models before 2015, a certain Volkswagen scandal killed the idea for good. In the years that followed, the occasional mildly quick diesel did sneak its way into Audi's range the S4, SQ5 and SQ7 TDIs, to name a few. But none was ever as interesting as those halo models unveiled in 2008, and up until the present day Audi's flagship performance cars have continued to favour petrol as their drink of choice. This means that the only survivor from this crazy period was the Q7 V12 TDI, which was built in limited numbers between 2008 and 2012. Examples are very rare today, partially due to an original list price of £96,295 (equivalent to £160,000 today) and partially due to the extraordinary costs to keep them going balanced against their horrendous initial depreciation. However, if you can find one, it can be seen in hindsight as a piece of evidence from a short-lived period in Audi's history when diesel power really was the future of performance.
Next-generation entry-level Mercedes will arrive in 2028, retaining traditional hatchback shape The Mercedes-Benz A-Class will enter a fifth generation in 2028 with hybrid and electric powertrains while retaining its hatchback styling, Autocar can reveal. The German car maker had originally planned to scrap the current model in 2025 as it streamlined its ICE range and put greater focus on more luxurious, higher-margin models. But slower than expected demand for electric models prompted the company to extend its life until at least 2028 – when, Autocar has now confirmed, an entirely new generation of the A-Class will arrive, sharing a platform with the recently launched CLA. The new model will stay true to its hatchback predecessor, although it will have a raised driving position to mitigate against the extra height that will result from the elevated floor of the EV variant. However, insiders insist it won't be a crossover, eschewing the move towards an MPV bodystyle that had been heavily speculated in recent months. Those rumours followed confirmation that Audi was readying a new A2 that, while replacing the A1 and Q2 and becoming its new entry EV, would follow the same one-box design as the A-Class-rivalling original. The suggestions were that Mercedes was planning to base the fifth-generation A-Class on its early-noughties version (also a one-box shape). However, this was dismissed by our insiders. "We have a compact crossover with the GLA. We were also previously present in the compact MPV market with the B-Class. But with the introduction of the GLA and GLB, we now offer far more contemporary alternatives for those seeking a car with compact dimensions and an elevated seating position," Autocar was told. For reference, the A-Class was launched in 1997 as an MPV-esque city car but became a more traditional hatchback in 2012 to rival BMW's 1 Series. Design The styling of the new A-Class is described as "traditional in form but modern in detailing". The intention, according to those familiar with the development programme, is to evolve rather than reinvent the hatchback's appearance. The design was signed off prior to the departure at the end of January of Mercedes long-time design boss Gorden Wagener. To help disguise the higher ride height of the EV, Mercedes will look at increasing the ground clearance of all future A-Class models. There have also been suggestions of subtle wheel-arch cladding to reduce the visual effect of the rear wheel-well gap seen on the electric CLA. Changing the ride height would inevitably influence seating positions front and rear, but separate sources have told Autocar that doing so is a priority. This, they say, is drawn from what they describe as consistent customer feedback and shifting buyer expectations. Ease of access and better outward visibility are also described as key aims. This is because the fifth-generation A-Class is intended to appeal not only to current, younger customers but also to older buyers who previously chose the B-Class before production of that model ended in 2022 after two generations. The B-Class had long catered to those seeking compact dimensions but a more upright driving position. Despite this, our sources insist the A-Class won't be a crossover, adding that the car will retain a driving position buyers expect of a hatch, even when raised. Key styling elements are expected to include the latest evolution of the shark-nose front end, as seen on the new CLA and GLC. Along its flanks, the A-Class will retain framed doors-unlike the frameless ones fitted to the CLA – and it will have a sloping roofline. A conventional tailgate with an angled back window will remain. Inside, it is set to offer seating for up to five. A sliding or adjustable rear bench is under consideration. Whether the A-Class name will be retained remains unclear. The suggestions are that the new model is sufficiently differentiated from today's A-Class that it could take a new name, possibly CSA (Compact Sports A-Class), into production, aligning it with the three-letter designations of the CLA, GLB and GLA. The new model is likely to be produced alongside the CLA and GLA at Mercedes' plant in Kecskemét, Hungary. Platform In a major departure, the new A-Class moves from the Modular Front Architecture, which dates back to 2011, to the newer Mercedes Modular Architecture (MMA), the same structure that underpins most of its stablemates. The versatility of the MMA allows Mercedes to build fully electric and petrol-powered models on the same production lines. The move to the MMA is expected to give the new A-Class a longer wheelbase and wider tracks for added interior space. The suspension will retain MacPherson struts at the front and a new five-link arrangement at the rear. It is unclear at this stage if lower-end ICE versions will adopt a torsion-beam rear set-up, as with today's model. Both ICE and EV A-Class models will offer optional four-wheel drive but Autocar understands the standard models will differ: the EV will be fitted with rear-wheel drive and the ICE front-wheel drive. The EV will get an 800V system with either a 58kWh LFP or 85kWh NMC battery. Mirroring today's Mercedes EVs, the new A-Class EV line-up is likely to start with a 221bhp single-motor variant, topping out with a 349bhp all-wheel-drive car. Whether Mercedes' new entry-level EV features the dual-speed gearbox already used by the CLA saloon, CLA Shooting Brake and GLB or resorts to a simpler single-speed unit remains unclear. The mild-hybrid models will all use the same turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, in line with current MMA models. It is expected to form the basis of at least five variants, ranging from 154bhp to 209bhp. The new A-Class will also have performance-oriented AMG variants, possibly pushing up to 500bhp in the EV.
Our shortish, tallish vision of the new A-Class evokes the spirit of the original, but only because it has to So the next next Mercedes-Benz A-Class will be taller than the current one. Its proportions might even resemble the brilliantly packaged original of 1996. Back then, in a university essay, I predicted it would be a revolutionary car. Shows what I knew. Instead, the A-Class evolved into an ordinary hatchback, with people talking about the Mk1 a bit like they do the Audi A2: ahead of its time. They weren't really ahead of their time, though. Had they been, by now loads of cars would be built like them. But aside from the fact that there are lots of companies that make no money selling small cars, they aren't. One element of both their designs has, entirely coincidentally, filtered through to the mainstream: their raised H-point, or hip point: the distance of one's bum from the ground. It's not because their intelligent, compact vehicle packaging, with upright seating positions that allow big interior space, has caught on; it's just that, first, we fell in a big way for SUVs and crossovers, which by nature have higher driving positions. Then, more latterly, we've started putting batteries underneath the cabin, which also raises the cockpit floor. This should enable more cars to be built like the original A-Class, which had what we described as a "complex sandwich platform": a flat cabin floor above a lower floorpan, with the engine forcing its way between the two in the event of a front-on impact in an accident. These days double floors exist in effect in lots of electric vehicles, with batteries between them. If you don't need a large motor out front, it should be possible to reduce a car's length while retaining its interior volume, A-Class-style. But we haven't seen much evidence of it; I think there's still a preconception that a short car is a cramped car and therefore should be cheap. There are benefits to the new trend for a higher driving position. What many customers like about crossovers is that the H-point is at the 'right' level for entry and egress. When I drove my nonagenarian neighbour to the shop earlier this week I took us in my A2 rather than a BMW 3 Series coupé or Land Rover Defender, because the Audi was the best height for her. It's easier if you're loading small children, too. But there are downsides. A tall car isn't naturally useful for minimising the frontal area, where smaller is better for efficiency. It's also less good if one of your selling points is building dynamically focused cars, when a low-slung driving position makes a car feel sporty. BMW's latest Neue Klasse platform has so far given us the iX3, a crossover in which the seating position is high relative to the steering wheel and the ground. If you get into one from the 330Ci coupé I'm running, or even a modern 3 Series, it's a striking difference. But while it quite suits an SUV like the iX3, this platform also sits under the i3, a 3 Series variant and surely the relative seating set-up will be similar there, too. The feet position will inevitably be higher than in a combustion-engined saloon, and so, if even the driving position remains relatively similar to that of a current 3 Series, it will naturally feel taller, and perhaps less typically BMW sporty (we'll see), than a current car. Some BEVs aim to retain low height by having their batteries split into sections, so occupants' feet can fill the gaps between them. Smaller Stellantis BEVs, such as the Peugeot 208, do it, as does the exceptionally low-slung upcoming Jaguar Type 00, whose height is less than 1400mm. This has its packaging disadvantages -a single big cuboid is the easiest way to squeeze in battery cells but it does mean batteries – and occupants – can both be sited low, which retains a sporty driving position, a low centre of gravity and a smaller frontal area. But if one wants to produce a number of vehicles, of varying lengths and battery capacities, all from the same platform, it's not as convenient or affordable as having a single underfloor battery pack whose size can easily be varied depending on model. It's what will make new BEVs feel like the original A2 and A-Class. Their futuristic feel has come, even though, in reality, they were a technological dead end.
The C-segment SUV is critical in Europe, but cost pressures preclude EVs from competing with ICE The rise of the C-segment SUV has been remarkable. The C-segment is right in the middle: bigger than A (city car) and B (supermini) but not as voluminous as E or F. This has always been the heart of the market, with cars like the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf catering for family buyers for years. But then came the family friendly SUV, pioneered by the likes of the Nissan Qashqai, and now it's far and away the biggest segment. It accounts for around one in five of all cars sold in Europe, where the VW Tiguan is still king. In the UK, it's more than one in four, led by the Kia Sportage. Buyers can choose from around 100 models across Europe. Meanwhile, the non-SUV C-segment is shrinking. Car makers prefer an SUV because, frankly, customers prefer an SUV. They will pay more for them and that little bit extra helps when every percentage point of profit margin is fought over. The problem for European car firms is how to profitably electrify the C-segment. These cars are sometimes described as compact but that belies their do-it-all use case. They are often the sole family car so battery versions have to offer a long range. That in turn means a lot of cells with the most expensive, nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry. With the pressure to localise Europe's battery industry, those cells are sourced not from inexpensive China but right here in Europe, where costs are among the highest. This is in contrast to small SUVs, where new European electric models are more likely to use lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries sourced from China and range is not so key. The C-SUV segment is so big you have to offer electric or risk not hitting your ZEV mandate targets in the UK or average CO2 figures in the EU. Even the size of the market doesn't guarantee you'll sell enough to activate the cheapest supplier prices because, well... [gestures to that 100-ish models figure]. And it doesn't help that the C-SUV is a Chinese speciality, along with the cheaper, LFP battery. Every week, it seems we're hearing about a new Chinese entrant. Just to be able to compete means losing hundreds of pounds on each compact EV. Government incentives help. But until European battery makers can lower the cost of cell making, C-segment electric SUVs will remain one of the industry's biggest financial black holes.
Three decades, zero missed deadlines and the 661-word secret to our ultimate motoring column I guess the matter is proven by now: I get a big kick out of writing Autocar columns. I've written one every week since 19 February 1992 - 34 years ago last month. And unless the editor says something different, I'm planning to keep them going a while longer. Three decades ago, writing My Week In Cars became a habit and a delight. Think about it: being allowed to bang on about yourself in a magazine as great as Autocar is a privilege you couldn't buy. What's the appeal? More than anything, it's the connection I believe columns have with readers. It's no exaggeration to say I'm in this job today because of the connection I felt, as a kid in an isolated Australian outback town in the 1960s, with a brilliant motoring columnist called Bill Tuckey, whose avuncular stuff seemed to be aimed directly at me. Even 60 years later I can recite some of his pungent phrases, and I've pirated a few as well. Tuckey is the reason I didn't do as well at school as I might have. I was too busy reading his features and columns under the desk. Back then, I reckoned that in any writing race, Bill would have finished 10 lengths ahead of Shakespeare. I got to know Tuckey personally, years later, and was able to tell him this to his face. He said 'garn' a few times, but I could tell he was pleased. Matt Prior, I know, feels the same about column writing as me. We talk about it quite a bit on our new-fangled podcast, My Week In Cars, barely three years old, and it's one of the reasons we find conversation so easy. We sit down with an idea or a collection of half-ideas - often still curious to see where the piece ends up. Occasionally it can feel like a chore, knowing I've got to come up with something publishable in 30 to 90 minutes, but the joy of the job soon overtakes me. The proof of that last bit is that Prior and I never miss writing a column, whether on holiday or not - partly through fear that someone will come along and do a better job but mostly because we like it so much. Long experience tells me that a piece of writing exactly 661 words long most often fits the space I'm allotted, allowing for three images and the usual headings. So I try to supply about 675 to 680 in case I've used shorter words than usual one week while avoiding confronting Autocar's sub-editing team with the chore of slashing copy that's just too long. I also love the homespun nature of it. For every occasion that I've just been chatting to Gordon Murray or visiting Maranello, there are three or four where I've discussed getting my car washed or kerbing a wheel. People are unfailingly nice to me, too. I could count on one hand the number of truly angry letters I've had in more than three decades. Bottom line: if there's a better job in all of journalism, I don't want to know about it.
Did you know the M5's beating heart is built just off the M6? We mark the Warwickshire factory's 25th birthday Quite a birthday present. As BMW's Hams Hall engine factory turns 25, it does so with a fresh production line powering a halo product. You would be forgiven for not knowing about this hidden gem of the British car industry; while headlines go to Nissan, Toyota, JLR and Mini for volume car production on UK soil, this 85-acre facility built more than 400,000 powertrains last year alone -taking its total past 7.6 million since opening on 8 February 2001. It also machines components for BMW's other engine facility in Steyr, Austria, extending its productivity further. The three- and four-cylinder engines used in Minis and entry-level BMWs have been a stalwart of Hams Hall. Production began with the 316ti Compact's modest 1.8-litre petrol engine in 2001, heralding the debut of Valvetronic (and its efficiency benefits) as it did so. But BMW's chiselled Neue Klasse era has recently upped the glamour in the West Midlands: from 2022, the production of V8s and V12s began to move from Munich to Hams Hall to free up space in Bavaria for the next chapter of electrification. Now, internal-combustion Rolls-Royces and M division's finest all procure their power from an unassuming industrial estate a dozen miles from Birmingham. So I had no other choice but to turn up to celebrate in a 'G99' M5 Touring, all £135,408 and 717bhp of it, especially since the source of that power was built in Brum. We're not merely here to sip cocktails or play musical chairs, though. Autocar has come for an intimate tour - and specifically of the V8 line. Rather ominously, I've been asked my glove and shoe size... Hams Hall houses 1700 staff working across three shift slots, right around the clock, five days a week. Two of those employees are my tour guides today: James McDonald and Ben Hackett both occupy leader roles in 'V engines'. The existing three- and four-cylinder line prioritises machinery and robotisation, but 84% of the V8 line is hands-on for its employees, with automated processes reserved for the most intricate or repetitive of tasks. (The 6.75-litre V12s destined for the long bonnet of Rolls-Royce products are 100% hand-built, I hasten to add.) "The V8 engine is a bit of a beast, and you've got to want to do it to be able to get into it," says McDonald. "It can be quite daunting when you first look at a finished V engine. With the customers you're building these for, the expectation level goes up." The products this 'S68' unit powers are typically used much harder, in other words. Hackett guides me through the friendly gate of the Assembly Competence Centre, a verbose title for what's essentially a screened-off (but open-roofed) section within the plant hall. The idea is that trainees get accustomed to working amid the hustle and bustle of a constantly running production line - a sensation that a sterile classroom could never hope to provide. "It's a pressure-free, risk-free environment," he says. "You can take your time. You'd typically be here for your first full week. There's no kind of speed requirements and everything is laid out step by step. You'd go onto the line itself after a week or so. 'Quality first' is the main port of call." I'm then handed to Stephen Herczeg, a trainer in V engine production, for whistlestop tuition in fitting a pair of exhaust manifolds to the banks of the S68's 90deg vee. Herczeg had not touched the internals of an engine bay before moving from Mini Plant Oxford to Hams Hall 18 months ago, proving the worth of the coaching he now provides. Gloves and safety shoes are fitted, then a large touchscreen (and Herczeg's consummate patience) carries me through the process, making the fiddly task of manually starting each fastening a bit less daunting. My butter fingers could push Hackett's 'pressure-free' philosophy to its limit, but I'm satisfied with my job. How quickly I'd graduate from training booth to production proper accurately and repeatedly fitting manifolds within a three-minute window - I'd rather not estimate. The digitisation of this training session is emblematic of the real process on the production line. "Digital worker guidance takes some of the complexity and responsibility from our workers," clarifies plant director Dirk Dreher. "It's shy support in the background." Every engine component and the torque of every bolt fixing it (and the order of their tightening) is sequenced and logged - and forever linked to the car into which the powertrain eventually slots. As is the forensic log of photographs of the engine's internals. The Hams Hall staff grin from ear to ear at the chance to show me the inner workings of the V8 that hustled me down the M6 Toll this morning. Indeed, it's this exact shift during which it was produced in October 2024, so I'm shaking many of the hands that crafted it. It's not even my car, but I've got a glowing ember inside that's impossible to extinguish. Zee Ahsan is a digitisation specialist who joined Hams Hall from the finance team at BMW's British HQ in Farnborough. He is just one example of talent being sourced from across the business. "It's a lot faster-paced here, much more creative and hands-on," he smiles. Ahsan lets me peep into the box where a robotised camera, equipped with its own bank of knowledge on the internals of an S68 engine and the appearance of good and bad cylinder heads, snaps pictures and flags any issues. The philosophy is that artificial intelligence supplements manual labour rather than replaces it. My tour through the 43 processes and 47 people on the V8 line sees my ham fists put to use splitting conrods, moving turbos from crate to dressing station and attempting to fit a wiring harness. It's another deeply forensic job that needs an absence of time and pressure in order to gain confidence at it. A wealth of Hams Hall talent helps me, lest I drop a literal spanner in the works and lengthen the delivery time of someone's super-saloon or wagon. This is a big plant with high output - but the level of manual input on the V8 line draws the requisite passion out of the folks applying it. Tour - and impromptu shift - complete, I peel off my gloves for a slice of birthday cake before commuting home to Manchester in the M5. On the morning run here I'd leant into its 'electrified limo' swagger, cruising with nary a gearchange or flare of revs. Having seen the meticulous work that went into making its engine - and witnessed the smiles of those responsible - I'm left with no choice but to take a much more engaging route home, wringing for all its worth the expertise of the effervescent team I've met today. Understanding the immense know-how that's gone into this twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 - a careful mix of traditional skill and AI automation - I know more of its 7200rpm must be explored. Give every M5 owner a Hams Hall tour and I'm sure they would all be less inclined to shuffle around on battery power, uncorking the full potential of their car at every (safe) opportunity. "It certainly sounds better than early F90-generation cars," read Autocar's original road test, proving that increasing noise regulations needn't be fatal. "The V8 revs with plenty of dramatic ferocity above 5000rpm, the new M5 endowed with the sort of performance that can be poured on almost any which way that suits both you and the road ahead and which never disappoints." Masked by the numerous headlines about the heavy, hybridised, four-wheel-drive car it powers, this V8 has almost flown under the radar. Yet its adoption ensures the first plug-in M5 steps over the bear trap that snapped tight around the four-cylinder Mercedes-AMG C63. It remembers that sound, sensation and some thoroughbred heritage remain crucial to cars such as these. It is a marvellous engine with a thriving factory to thank for its existence. Happy birthday, Hams Hall. The bosses would like a word Accompanying us on our tour is Dirk Dreher, plant director at Hams Hall. He has been at BMW for 25 years and in the Midlands since 2020; previous work across the BMW logistics network means he already knew the worth of this factory and, specifically, its people. "Machines don't have a culture," says Dreher, "but BMW people have a strong culture for forward thinking. The brain is still so strong; it can't be replaced for highly complicated and complex tasks. The more repetitive something is, the better and easier it is to invest in an automated process." He cites the variety of parts and processes needed on the V8 line given the iterations of this engine's applications beyond the M5 - as a reason to keep humans at the core of every process. "We might see more from AI," he says. "But we still value the brain and its supervision of the process to ask 'is this right?' and think from the customer's perspective. It's difficult to train a machine to have that passion." Harald Gottsche, BMW's head of engine production, adds: "The Hams Hall plant is an integral part of our global production network. The site combines technological expertise with high flexibility. It reliably supplies our vehicle plants with efficient, powerful engines of premium quality. This includes the V12 engine for Rolls-Royce - a masterpiece from Hams Hall." The power of youth Jess Perry, a mechanical engineering graduate from Loughborough University, started at Hams Hall as an intern at the beginning of V engine production. "I liked it," she says, "and wanted to come back." Following placements at different departments - including two months over in Munich - she now works on machine vision: the use of imaging hardware to analyse and improve quality and consistency across the engines produced here. It's fresh thinking that complements neatly the precise, hand-built aspects of the engine. Plant boss Dirk Dreher says: "It's important to have fresh eyes, to have access to a new knowledge base and new technologies. If we need digitalisation power, the grads and interns are great. Roughly half of our interns now come from the computer science side to support the state-of-the-art technologies we are now using." Buy your own Hams Hall hero BMW 316ti, 2001-2004, £1000-£8000 4 cyls in line, 1796cc, petrol (114bhp, 129lb ft) The first car to gain Hams Hall handiwork under its bonnet-and the first BMW with Valvetronic - was this entry version of the 'E46' 3 Series Compact. While not the most adored of old BMWs, its price operates at the baseline of usable modern classics and unlike current small Bee-Ems, it's rear-wheel drive. Surely an oddball shoo-in for starring at future Festivals of the Unexceptional and their ilk. BMW 320si, 2006-2007, £3000-£10,000, 4 cyls in line, 1997cc, petrol (171bhp, 148lb ft) BMW homologated its World Touring Car Championship entry with a 2600-car run of geekily modified four-pot 'E90' 3 Series saloons, around 10% of which appear to still be in the UK. The modified and hand-built N45820 engine gained a carbonfibre cylinder head cover to save around 10kg. A sonorous 7300rpm peak is tucked beneath subtle styling. Good luck finding one.. Mini Cooper S (R56), 2006-2013, £1000-£10,000, 4 cyls in line, 1598cc, turbo, petrol (172bhp, 192lb ft) Myriad Minis have called upon Hams Hall power, but the one with perhaps the greatest purity of purpose is a stock, second-gen Cooper S. While beaten by RS Clios in its day, hindsight casts a bright spotlight on its beautifully judged mixture of old-school cornering attitude and smart interior, whose tech and quality doesn't stand in the way of a slender kerb weight. Buy sagely and it will feel like an utter bargain. BMW i8, 2014-2020, £25,000-£65,000 3 cyls in line, 1499cc, turbo, petrol, plus electric motor (357bhp, 420lb ft) The i8 is the ultimate expression of Hams Hall powertrain know-how and the car many workers tout as their favourite from the factory's hall of fame. Early cars are now well below £30,000 if your nerves can handle a near-six-figure mileage. Around £35,000 gets you something mid-production run with 30,000 miles or fewer, while end-of-line 18 Roadsters kick off at £45,000. Mini John Cooper Works GP, (F56) 2020 £30,000-£35,000 4 cyls in line, 1998cc, turbo, petrol (302bhp, 332lb ft) All right, it's not our favourite of the GP trilogy, but this is still a rare and appealing beast, despite its automatic-only philosophy. Fiery petrol hot hatches are rare things brand new, and thus values of the UK's 550 GP3s have dropped barely 10% since launch. There is a wealth of cars from £30,000; the GP Touring Pack is a desirable option, with its automatic air-con, heated seats and enhanced infotainment.
Manthey takes Porsche's 911 GT3 RS to a rarefied state of single-mindedness - and we take it to Silverstone When the current 911 GT3 RS landed, it appeared Porsche - Zuffenhausen, the mothership - had finally pinned motorsport satellite Manthey into a development dead end. This mattered because tiny Manthey's ability to turn a showroom-spec GT-division 911 into something even more special had always quietly frustrated Porsche, and especially division leader Andy Preuninger. Manthey would apply racing tricks that the factory, snared by endless homologation red tape, couldn't. Mightier wings, more aggressive geometries, belly-scraping ride heights: Porsche's RS people had the desire and the know-how but only Manthey, with its cottage status, could actually sell you anything. And boy did it reap the reputational rewards. During the gestation of the 992-generation GT3 RS, something clearly snapped at Porsche. Test mules wore wings so huge that many assumed they were assessing aero for the Le Mans-bound 911 RSR. When the car was eventually revealed, we discovered that it had sacrificed its frunk in favour of a colossal motorsport-style central radiator, and that even its wishbones were sculpted to generate downforce. It was mutated in a way that made us wonder if its creators had lost touch with reality, but this was only the mark of a job well done. Where could Manthey possibly now take the package? Preuninger's scorched-earth engineering policy had left no avenues. Or so we naively thought. Before us in the pits at Silverstone, radiating menace, is Nürburgring-based Manthey's take on the 992-era GT3 RS. It is a 3RS, clearly, just not a normal one. The body is slammed to the deck and the wing wears endplates that could shutter the windows of a Georgian town house. It has roof vanes to direct messy hot air escaping the central front radiator sideways, lest it interfere with the DRS rear wing. The front splitter juts out so far that it requires supports. There are canards, aero discs for the rear wheels, plus a shark fin and the mother of all diffusers, all wrought in carbonfibre. The result is downforce increased from 860kg at 175mph in the regular 3RS to more than one metric tonne in the Manthey, with no additional penalty in drag. And those are just the bits you can see. Underneath the skin, gone are the donor car's Bilstein dampers, replaced by KW units with custom springing and valving. Manthey cars historically used manually adjustable dampers but this time the hardware is plumbed into Porsche's finickety new PASM system for altering bump and rebound on each axle via the steering wheel. One suspects the tuning of this system has not been the work of a moment. There are also braided brake lines and sticky Michelin Pilot Cup 2 R tyres that can buy you 10 seconds at the 'Ring. None of it comes cheap. At £99,999, the opportunity cost is a brand-new 911 Carrera. Give that a moment to sink in. Equally, there is now added convenience. Where previously you needed to get in touch with Manthey, now you simply tick a box on the Porsche configurator. And that, everyone, is the really big twist. The 992 3RS represents the first time Manthey's kits have been brought in from the cold, after Porsche's acquisition of a 51% stake in the company in 2013. It's taken more than a decade to get to this point but the result is the world's wildest optional extra. It doesn't void the warranty and is even fully homologated, which goes some way to explaining the eye-watering price. Today, we embark on a voyage of discovery, to see how all that downforce and Manthey's other tweaks affect the lap time of the amateur driver. In November 2024, I came to Silverstone with the regular 3RS, exploring its massive potential and the benefits of that complex new PASM set-up. The quickest white-knuckle lap around the grand prix layout and therefore our benchmark time was 2min 13.10sec, the car shedding speed as though it had snagged an arresting wire and clinging on through fast bends like Copse with a demented zeal. It pulled nearly 1.8 in lateral g at points, which for a machine with numberplates and CarPlay was and remains an outrageous feat. Exactly a year later, circumstances favour our comparison. At 12deg C, ambient temperature is identical. So too is the dampish-ness of the track in the morning, which by 3pm will be dry. Critically, and as per our request, this particular Manthey GT3 RS is shod with regular Michelin Cup 2 tyres, just as the standard GT3 RS was. On the move, the difference between regular GT3 RS and the Manthey is subtle but obvious in the way you would notice running your fingertips from 120-grit sandpaper to 80. During sighting laps, I'm surprised at how much fizz there is in the feedback through palm and thigh. The car is more granular, and you hear the rose-jointed suspension clinking away, which adds its own theatre. Because of the shark fin, behind you is only darkness and roll-cage. Here we have a rawer, twitchier, altogether more serious personality. The thing is also pretty cantankerous on the road, the regular 3RS being far sweeter company on long drives. But the track is what matters. A year is a long time but so rich are the synaptic memories of driving the normal RS that I recognise the Manthey car's superior ability to get its snout into tighter, low-speed bends. At the other end of the spectrum, the new brake lines, and perhaps that lower ride, contrive to make high-speed braking monumental mashings of the pedal made suicidally late feel even more daring. Silverstone is the ideal place for exploring the limits of grip in a car like this, with triple-figure transitions and corners that never end. Subjectively, though, it's a close-run thing. The ability of both cars to contain the yaw impulse of their heavy tails during trail-braking, without killing rotation entirely, is something special. It's just that the Manthey will tolerate more ambitious turn-in, its ability to inspire confidence being just a little greater. The normal 3RS feels like an amped-up road car, while the Manthey sticks like a declassified racing car. In the end, it puts in a 2min 11.15sec lap – 1.95sec quicker. Checking over the telemetry, the Manthey's advantage is in its ability to carry a couple of extra miles per hour on the exit kerbs of faster bends like Farm, and carry more speed into the rollercoaster Maggotts-Becketts sequence. Outright braking distances aren't notably shorter, interestingly. Clearly the Manthey allows you to draw more speed to the apex. During huge sweeping bends, where your senses are on red alert for the early signs of grip eking away at either axle, it also simply holds on a little longer. And perhaps, for the amateur, it just encourages you to try wilder things, more of the time. Would a professional have squeezed more or less time from the kit? The sliver of extra confidence the Manthey 3RS seems to give you, so useful to the amateur, would matter to them less. On the other hand, a pro driving on the true limit of adhesion would maximise the Manthey's downforce advantage everywhere. Next time round we'll have to give Jörg Bergmeister a call, but today, two seconds on a full grand prix circuit, in similar conditions and on the same rubber? That counts as daylight. Just over £50k per second is a mad premium, admittedly, and a better example of diminishing returns you won't find. I'm sure Manthey, pressing its spectacles up onto the bridge of its nose, would argue that you're getting a different machine from the regular car in subjective terms, not just a quicker one. I'd absolutely agree – the Manthey feels more animal. In the world of official factory efforts, you're also getting no less than the most extreme track-day 911 in history, which for plenty of people will feel priceless. One-tonne club Being able to claim more than 1000kg of downforce is no mean feat for a street-legal machine. Very few cars have ever managed it and they're mostly seven-figure special editions, which makes the Manthey a total bargain in this one specific metric. Although not a member of the one-tonne club, one of the most famous of this ilk is the Caparo T1 - the 600kg canopied single-seater with an Indycar V8 and insectoid looks. In 2007 it made 875kg and we lost our minds over the fact that you could drive it to the shops yet also drive upside down along the ceiling of a tunnel - in theory. The T1 was a precursor to some of the cars in the one-tonne club today, taking prototype racing car architecture and offering it with a V5: look at the Aston Martin Valkyrie and the Al-optimised Czinger 21C, not to mention the Mercedes-AMG One. As for the most economical way to have 1000kg and numberplates? Look no further than the Ultima RS, yours for less than £200k. Thanks to Silverstone - the UK’s only Formula 1 circuit – for providing access to the Grand Prix layout for this feature. Whether you’re a passionate enthusiast or a seasoned racer, take your car to the track, everyone can experience the thrill of Silverstone’s iconic circuit. www.silverstone.co.uk/track-and-testing/car-track-days
We join designer David Durand for a weekend in the alps to find out how this budget brand became so fashionable The original plan for this feature was to meet David Durand a few miles west of Paris for a chatty trudge through some leafy woodland, before settling down next to an idyllic babbling brook for a light lunch and some snaps of us basking cheerily in the sun. No dice. If we're to really find out what makes Dacia's design boss tick and dig deep into his vision for the brand, we need to aim higher. About 1830 metres higher, in fact, as he jovially remarks when he greets us halfway up a frigid, snow-covered Alpine pass overlooking Lake Annecy in the French Alps. We've come to join the passionate outdoorsman for a relaxing couple of days in what he calls the "fresh air" (we'd call it bracing) so he can show us the sorts of environments and pursuits that have inspired his repositioning of Dacia as a maker of lifestyle-flavoured, activity-focused family cars that major on utility but without compromising a jot on 'cool factor'. It's a theme that's tricky to fully explore in the confines of a motor show hall or a gently heated design studio, so he's invited us to the mountains he grew up on to demonstrate what it's all about. "For me, this is the perfect place," says the keen sailor, cyclist, runner, climber and skier – not just for showing off the Dacia brand ethos but also because of the connection he has with the area. "It's not the only place we could go, but for me it comes to my mind immediately because I'm from here. These are my roots," he says. Grenoble-born Durand is a Renault Group lifer. Joining the firm fresh out of college 29 years ago as an exterior designer, he made a name for himself with the rule-bending Koleos concept at the turn of the millennium and the wacky Ellypse, which previewed the Modus, two years later. A subsequent stint in Renault's satellite studio network included spending time with the design teams in Barcelona, Seoul and São Paulo, before he returned to base to take a leading role in shaping and positioning the Dacia brand. As exterior design director in 2020, Durand shaped the Bigster concept, which previewed a chunky new 4x4-flavoured direction for the wider line-up and he's been evolving that since becoming overall design boss four years ago, emphasising the brand's no-nonsense approach by cultivating a rugged, outdoorsy image centred on the straightforward, intuitive practicality credentials of the cars themselves. It was a dramatic shift for a brand that had hitherto been known, and celebrated, almost exclusively for its budget-friendly billing, with its cheapest models marked out by diddy steel wheels, black plastic bumpers and blanked-off centre consoles – and Durand says the revamp was a crucial component of former group CEO Luca de Meo's transformative 'Renaulution' reinvention strategy. Durand recalls: "He arrived with a fresh eye, saying: 'You can't imagine how the other groups envy you with the Dacia brand. Everybody is trying to copy it, but they can't manage to do it. The only thing missing is that the brand could be a bit more attractive." "So we started thinking: how could we stay with our DNA, but make it more attractive? And it came out that essential can be cool." This was a true light-bulb moment. Dacia's cars were already "appreciated for the capacity they had", remembers Durand, "but we never claimed it. "That's why we pushed the outdoors," he says. "It matched so well with our products. We realised that for a lot of outdoors activity, you need a car to go and do it. It's a tool; your real activity, and your real fun, starts from the point you stop, but in between you have the perfect tool to be able to do it." Handily (and brilliantly), our hosts use an old Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer 6x6 troop carrier to get around the mountain in winter and Durand is only too keen to drag it out of their garage to uphold it as a shining example of how function can shape form. Bounding around this intimidating six-wheeler, he picks out a raft of clever concessions to utility that can inform a more ergonomic and cost-efficient approach to modern automotive design. "Look at how beautiful this handle is!" Durand exclaims adoringly as he runs his hand over the unassuming circular cut-out for the interior door pull, marvelling at how noninvasively and cheaply it has been integrated into the bodywork while still being essentially unimprovable in its capacity to simply operate as intended. "It hasn't been designed. It's really functional," he says. The folding front seats are a highlight too, irrespective of how scantily upholstered they may be – "everything is easy to access and you accept that it shows the structure" – and hark at how the uncompromising benches in the rear come together to form a massive bed. He also highlights the protective wood cladding on the side as a simple ("crude", even) but forward-thinking and cost-effective means of bolstering capability while adding character. "You know that you are going to slide on trees or rocks, and it avoids the vehicle being damaged. Plus it's easy to change," says Durand. An idea for the next Duster, maybe? "Why not!" "What's always interesting for us, when we are talking about essentiality in our design and robustness, is the military rule to building vehicles: everything is only functional. "You have absolutely no decoration," he explains, fawning over the exposed screw heads in the bodywork, visible chassis structures and exposed hinges. "Okay, it's super-extreme and it's not really comfortable," he admits. "Everything is quite hard. Everything is visible. But, crucially, everything has a purpose: if it's there, it's because it needs to be." There's a difference between leaving something half-finished and leaving it unfinished, and the latter can – perhaps counterintuitively – help to emphasise a car's robustness and fitness for purpose, while obviously saving money in parts and labour, and making damage easier to repair. "When we go back to basics, it reminds us that showing a screw is not a crime. It's acceptable because you are saving a cover and weight and money. It's what you want," says Durand. Beyond these intriguing quirks and features, though, there are more tangible parallels to be drawn between this military-bred curio and the modern-era Dacia. Durand points to the Pinzgauer's steeply chamfered lower quarters – essential for maximising approach and departure angles – as a defining characteristic of its design and one that he has reinterpreted in the Duster as a means of not just enhancing its off-road credentials but also emphasising the brand's pretensions to rugged dependability. "It creates trust – the fact that the brand is honest and it's just telling the truth," he says. "There is a kind of honesty" in having a car that looks like an off-roader and can actually go off-road. It's an attribute accentuated by various hexagonal motifs throughout the Duster's design, including the air-vent surrounds, the straight-cut wheel arches and even the sharply angled Dacia logo. These features echo the 4x4-inspired flat surfacing and bluff angles of the bodywork itself, which, says Durand, has evolved to become "quite a recognisable formal language" for the brand. Obvious comparisons with the likes of the original Land Rover Defender and Fiat Panda 4x4 are more than welcome, he says, because of the similar characteristics he wants people to associate with his designs. These humble and unpretentious icons, says Durand, are revered for being "simple, affordable, essential, popular and super-good in all conditions and very appreciated by real users", rather than simply being "show-off crossovers with no ability outside of the roads" – a legacy he cites as a major influence on his shaping of the Dacia brand. The Duster and Bigster SUVs are the most obvious beneficiaries, but he says even the lower-slung Sandero and Jogger - as well as the electric Spring city car and the two new C-segment models coming to Dacia dealerships over the next year – should equally convey this air of unflappable utility. It all comes back to the rigid policy of 'essentialisation' that underpins the Dacia brand as a whole – an ethos that, Durand explains while gleefully whizzing us to our overnight accommodation at the top of La Sambuy mountain in a UTV, is heavily informed by the works of renowned German industrial designer Dieter Rams. Best known for his work at consumer electronics giant Braun, Rams is one of the most influential proponents of aesthetic functionalism, which he employed to great effect in the iconic designs of the T2 lighter, the ET66 calculator and the Phonosuper record player – colloquially dubbed 'Snow White's Coffin' in reflection of its monolithic, minimalist surfacing. In his shunning of unnecessary decoration and the pursuit of a purer and more purpose-led design language, Rams cultivated the emergence of the 'less is better' movement, which lifelong admirer Durand cites as a central pillar of his manifesto for Dacia: "The best design is the design where you have the least design possible." Beyond design, it's a strategy that also informs the brand's modus operandi of providing 'everything you need, and nothing you don't' in its cars which resonates ever-louder in the context of a market where prices are being driven ever upwards by soaring production costs, increasingly stringent safety and emissions regulation, and the over-endowment of the modern car with costly, complex technology. It's also the main reason Dacia interiors still major on physical buttons and switches. Users need to quickly and intuitively know what everything does and it all needs to work for as long as possible. We return to this theme later that evening when we're shown to the 1960s polar expedition pods that we'll be sleeping in. These tiny, barebones metal boxes, airlifted to their mountaintop perches, are, it quickly becomes clear, basically what a Dacia house would look like. You can almost see Durand scribbling mental notes as he marvels at the simple gutter rail above the entrances, the ceiling-mounted pull cords for the blinds and the leather door pull straps, which "show that sometimes the old natural materials are still the best". Everything in here has clearly been designed to keep weight, cost and complexity down, but there's pleasure to be derived and lessons to be learned from how intuitive and functional it all is. "You don't need instructions on how to use it", says Durand as he plays with the clever window locking mechanism and delights in the retro Bakelite controls for the radiator. "You know how it works before you use it." "We must not forget about those very simple ideas that do the job better than ever. Sometimes we are thinking a bit too complex," he says, suggesting that there's no reason these ingenious and charming features couldn't be reinterpreted in a more modern (and NCAP-appeasing) way for future cars. It's all part of that overarching ambition to make the essential into the exciting, and better cater to the precise needs of Dacia's customers rather than drive the prices of its cars up with features, technology and styling that nobody asked for. It's a sentiment that's expressed no more clearly than by Durand's muse, Dieter Rams himself, in his famous affirmation that "indifference towards people and the reality in which they live is actually the one and only cardinal sin in design". And that outlook couldn't feel more appropriate the next morning as we wade through a metre of snow towards the waiting Duster, hurl our tons of luggage into the cavernous boot, knock the slush off our boots on the lower body cladding, turn the heater up with freezing fingers (thank you, buttons), plough easily over the snowdrifts that have accumulated outside the huts and surge confidently down the icy track to the bottom of the mountain, as meltwater pools slowly around our feet on the muddy rubber floor mats. "If you have good ideas, you can do it" Over the years, enterprising Dacia owners have come up with dozens of 3D-printed accessories for their cars – cable tidies, can holders, touchlights, key slots, bag hooks... – and Durand says that's exactly the sort of community spirit he wants to cultivate with his designs. "We have a trust relationship: if you have good ideas, you can do it," he says, proudly remarking that many of these creators make the 3D files available online for others to use and that the phenomenon inspired Dacia to develop the Youclip accessory mounts that now feature throughout its cars. "There is huge creativity from our customers and we learn from them," he says. "Sometimes they have good ideas because they have a very specific usage, and you see that it's coming from real life."
Solterra SUV is lengthened and straightened to create electric off-road estate The Subaru E-Outback presents a philosophical question: when does an estate become an SUV?The E-Outback is based on the Subaru Solterra and Toyota bZ4X twins. Indeed, it will get its own Toyota twin in the form of the bZ4X Touring. The bZ4X and Solterra feel like SUVs, or crossovers if you will, because they’re taller and chunkier than a traditional hatchback; but add 155mm to the length and straighten out the roofline and suddenly it looks like a lifted estate and is marketed as such.This is probably just one of those things only car nerds think about. To everyone else, the E-Outback is simply an EV with 633 litres of boot space. Call it what you want – that’s a lot of dog-carrying potential (the Skoda Enyaq offers 585 litres).
Thousands of drivers every day fall foul of tricky road restrictions - and it's eroding trust in the authorities It's the tone as much as anything, I think, that gets my goat. "The warrant authorises a certificated bailiff to seize and sell goods belonging to you to the value of the outstanding amount plus the cost of executing the warrant." What is the heinous crime that prompts a letter including such threats? Not spotting a road sign on a dark, wet winter's night. It hasn't been a good driving month for various members of my family, with three penalty charge notices arriving in short order. One found they had inadvertently strayed into an Oxford bus lane after working late in the city. There are no buses in view on the attached evidential photographs, no traffic was held up and no benefit was sought or gained; it was just a plain old error of a few seconds, affecting nobody, positively or negatively, on the planet. But hard luck: that'll be £70 (or £35 if they can afford it before next payday). Another strayed into Dundee city centre because they were delivering a piano to a venue so couldn't park farther away. This particular low-emissions zone fine doubles with each transgression and, unlike in London, there's no lower-cost pass for non-compliant vehicles, just the fine: £60 (or £30 if they can afford it now). The final one missed Oxford's new congestion charge: £70, or £35 if they have it now, rising to £105 if they don't and the bailiffs thereafter. Is it a fair cop, guv? Each of these schemes has been introduced seemingly with good intention: to ease the passage of mass transit, improve air quality and/or reduce congestion. And doesn't there need to be some disincentive so that people comply? Perhaps, but it's worth noting that mostly people do abide by bylaws and customs even when there's no penalty if they don't. We stand on the right on London's escalators; we filter off aeroplanes row by row; we don't push in front of people in shops. Is there another area of daily life that rivals motoring, where the punishment is so disproportionate to the offence, where a few innocently mistaken seconds can cost you so much? It's hard to shake the feeling that drivers are targeted because it's easy. Which brings me to stopping in yellow boxes on road junctions. My family and I have escaped indiscretions in these so far, but let's give it time. Perhaps we will have the misfortune to go near England's most notorious, a camera-monitored one in Kingston upon Thames, which raked in £450,000 in fines in just eight months last year. Any road layout that's so hard for drivers to comply with that it earns £2000 a day in fines must surely by definition be badly designed, but Kingston Borough Council is so far refusing to budge. Because of the safety and congestion implications? If only. In the minutes of a special meeting convened last month to discuss the junction, the council recorded the part it should probably have left unsaid: "Whilst the raising of revenue from enforcement is not the objective, there is a financial implication to the council if there is a change to the current arrangement. The council needs to be mindful of the impact that this would have on the revenue income streams that help to balance the budget." In other words, this badly designed road layout should remain badly designed, because it pays. How many conversations go on like this that we're not privy to, I wonder? Those that would infuriate us all if their participants were also daft enough to admit out loud that they'd had them? What councils and politicians at all levels need to realise is that this stuff matters. "Trust and confidence in Britain's system of government is at a record low," found the National Centre for Social Research in 2024, and when you read those minutes you can understand why. Patience and tolerance with rule makers' mistakes is thin, the UK is on its sixth prime minister in a decade and, as I write, newspapers are discussing whether there will be a seventh - a rate of management turnover that would be embarrassing for a football club, let alone a democracy of 70 million people. There might be a way to reverse this, to rebuild a bit of faith in those who govern us but it won't manifest unless a tolerance of errors starts to flow both ways.
A naturally aspirated V12, red paint and a cream interior make this one a keeper "I came here from South Africa in 2007 with £312.98 to my name. I've always remembered the pennies!" says Manni Azizi, a retired entrepreneur. "I couldn't afford a car so I rode a bicycle." Today, 18 years later, he has considerably more than £300 to his name at least enough to afford his rather fine, £225,000 Aston Martin Vanquish V12. "It is my first Aston," he says. "I had a couple of Bentleys before - a GT and a GTC - but I'd always wanted an Aston. In South Africa, a Vanquish was my poster car. When I decided to buy my own, it had to be a second-generation model. I wanted the naturally aspirated V12 engine, because it marked the end of an era. The car had to be in the colour combination of red with a pale interior. This one took me months to track down." Manni has owned his Vanquish for a little over a year. He can't recall when it was first registered (that's a mere detail when you're spending nearly a quarter of a million pounds) but says it was showing around 15,000 miles when he bought it from Aston Martin Sevenoaks. He has since added 7000 miles. "It's my daily driver now I'm retired," he says. "It's garaged, but I always use my cars: I put mileage on them. If the Vanquish gets marked, I'll just have it repaired. I love it, but I'm not precious about it." Of course, ownership of a Vanquish doesn't stop with paying for it. There are running expenses to consider too. On that point, a recent service cost Manni around £1000 and he has just spent £1300 on a new set of tyres. He appears quietly accepting but brightens up when he tells me what his insurance premium is. "It was £1500 through a comparison website!" he says. "I was pleasantly surprised. The cover is limited to 8000 miles per year, but that's as much as I drive anyway." And when he does, he says the Aston never disappoints: "It's amazing and everything I'd hoped for. The power is everywhere and, unlike in my turbocharged W12 Bentleys, so linear. "The engine sits much farther back in the car than you think. It corners flat and is extremely comfortable. It's rear-wheel drive, and in the wet the back gets a little squiggly but not in a dangerous way." Can he imagine selling it one day? "I want to say it's not a keeper but, at the same time, I might just hold onto it for what its naturally aspirated V12 engine represents," says Manni. He would like to do a European road trip next year, possibly with fellow Aston Martin owners. "I met some members of the Aston Martin Owners Club at the Guards Polo Club in Windsor recently. They were all really nice people and I think a road trip with them would be fun," he says. I wonder what they would make of the fluffy toy propped up on the Aston's passenger seat. Manni explains: "Two years after I arrived in the UK, I bought my first car, a BMW 330i. For some reason, I put a little teddy bear in it, and since then I've put a toy in each of my cars. They're like guardians. I put a duck in my Bentley GT that I called Dorothy. This one is Foxy Fox." I reckon a man who can go from £300 and a bicycle to a £225,000 Vanquish in less than 20 years deserves his fun.
JLR creative chief Gerry McGovern will officially leave the company at the end of March, Autocar can reveal. In December, Autocar broke the news that he was asked to step down after more than two decades working on the Jaguar and Land Rover brands. Today (Friday), employees were told McGovern was leaving to establish his own creative consultancy, and that internal memo was shared with Autocar. JLR confirmed the news when approached. Further information regarding his new consultancy isn't yet known, but details will no doubt be released when he leaves JLR at the end of the month. A quote from McGovern within the memo read: “It has been a great privilege to work at JLR across two extraordinary decades, and I would like to thank the Tata family in particular for the opportunities they gave me. “The dedication and passion of thousands of people across the business have made these brands what they are today, and I am enormously proud of what we have built together. “I look forward to the next chapter of my creative career.” JLR CEO PB Balaji, who took over from Adrian Mardell at the end of last year, added: “Gerry’s creative leadership, vision, drive and passion have left an indelible stamp on our brands. "I would like to thank Gerry for the significant contribution he has made to JLR and wish him every success in his next creative chapter.” McGovern was considered a hugely influential figure on the JLR board and was a favourite of the late Ratan Tata, former chairman of the wider Tata Group. The Coventry-born designer has played a crucial role in JLR's recent history, including the 2021 Reimagine strategy. Key contributions include the reinvention of the Land Rover Defender, maintaining the popularity of the Range Rover line-up and overseeing the design of the Type 00 Concept as part of Jaguar's transition to an electric-only luxury car maker.
Surging pump costs squeeze drivers and businesses – but retailers deny profiteering claims Fuel prices are rising to some of the highest levels recorded in years as war in the Middle East pushes up the wholesale costs of oil. Over the past three weeks, prices of petrol have shot up 10p per litre and diesel 20ppl, according to research by the RAC. This means the cost of filling up the average 55-litre family car – such as a Volkswagen Golf – now costs around £11 more, at £79 in total for petrol or £88 for diesel. For diesel, the average pump price has climbed above 161ppl for the first time since November 2023, and data suggests it is on course to hit 170ppl soon. This is because UK refineries are unable to meet the demand for diesel, so most is shipped in from abroad. While diesel comes from the same raw material (crude oil) as petrol, the refining process takes much longer. These rising prices are having a big effect on drivers – and AA president Edmund King told Autocar that people are “becoming more cost-conscious and selective about how they use their cars”. He even claimed that AA patrols “have observed slower motorway speeds as drivers try to conserve fuel”. The situation, which has been brought about due to disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, has reinforced a belief among the public that fuel prices rise quickly when oil prices go up but fall much more slowly when they come down. Why pump prices rise quickly Analysts say this is nothing new and has been seen in fuel markets for decades. Nigel Driffield, a professor of strategy and international business at Warwick Business School, said the main issue is that drivers misunderstand how fuel prices work. Forecourts typically price fuel based on what the next delivery will cost, not what they paid for the fuel already in their tanks. He compared it with other retail markets, saying: “If the world price of fridges suddenly goes up, retailers don’t keep selling the ones in their warehouse at the old price if they know the next shipment will cost more.” Many drivers also believe petrol stations are selling fuel bought months earlier at lower prices, but Driffield said this too is a misunderstanding. “A typical forecourt doesn’t have anything like three months of supply under it,” he explained. “In most cases, you’re looking at roughly a couple of weeks’ worth of fuel.” Even so, many drivers still believe that fuel retailers are making unusually large profits when prices at the pump increase dramatically. Are forecourts really profiteering? Gordon Balmer, executive director of the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), which represents independent forecourts across the UK, said pump prices sometimes have to rise quickly when wholesale fuel costs increase. “I don’t think that criticism is fair," he said. "There are a number of different ways retailers buy fuel. If the wholesale price rises overnight and you take delivery the next day, unless you reflect that increase at the pump, you’re going to make a loss." Balmer noted that fuel retailers also face rising operating costs: "If you look at the average margin this year, it has been about 12 pence per litre, but out of that you have to pay wages, business rates, insurance and all the other costs of running a forecourt. Business rates on forecourts have gone up nearly 30%, the national living wage has risen nearly 7% and we’re also seeing record levels of crime, such as shoplifting and people driving off without paying. So there are a lot of cost pressures on the business.” He added that “about 64%” of forecourts in the UK are independent businesses and “those businesses have a choice about where they invest their money: they can invest in their forecourt or put it elsewhere. Therefore the return has to make sense.” Staff abused over prices The frustrations of drivers are increasingly being felt at fuel stations. Kurt Williams, owner of DK Forecourts, which operates 12 sites in south-east Wales and employs 70 people, claimed staff are regularly on the receiving end of abuse from motorists. “People think we’re making a fortune every time prices go up, but that’s just not the reality at all," he said. "Our margins are very tight and we’ve still got all the usual business costs to cover, which are continually increasing.” He said the pressure is increasingly being felt by those working on the forecourts, who are regularly receiving verbal abuse and accusations of profiteering from frustrated customers. Some DK sites have had to put up signs asking motorists not to be rude or abusive, he added, as such incidents are occuring multiple times per day. “People don’t really understand how the fuel supply chain works or how prices are set," he said. "Retailers like us don’t have the control people think we do, and that’s where a lot of this anger is coming from.” Effect on businesses For businesses that rely on fuel, the increases are already biting hard. “Fuel costs have gone up significantly for us: we’re seeing increases of around 30%, and that’s on top of already tight margins,” said Rhys Hackling, who has run Buckinghamshire-based Direct Connect Logistics for 12 years and operates around 24 HGVs.“A lot of operators are buying fuel where the price isn’t fixed until it actually goes into the tank, so you can’t really plan for it. It just keeps going up, and it’s very difficult to manage.“It’s not just diesel either. Since the war in Ukraine, the cost of [diesel exhaust fluid] AdBlue has gone up sharply as well, and that’s something we have to use. It makes up a noticeable chunk of the cost.“At the same time, there’s less work around, because people are spending less. "I don’t think the public always realises that when our costs go up, it feeds through the whole system: if it costs more for us to move things, it ends up costing more for everyone.” Karen Barlow, company secretary of the National Private Hire and Taxi Association, said most of the body's members remain heavily exposed to rising fuel costs. “For most of our members, it’s a very different picture: more than 90% are still in petrol or diesel vehicles, so they’re really feeling these increases,” she said. “We’re hearing it can easily be 20-30% more a week on fuel, and for some it will be more than that, depending on how much they’re out working. “The difficulty is they can’t just put fares up to cover it. A lot of drivers are tied into council contracts, so even if their costs go up overnight, they’re stuck on the same rates and have to absorb it.” Some drivers are already finding ways to reduce their exposure to volatile fuel prices, however. Take London’s taxi drivers, for example: the shift to electrified vehicles is already helping to offset rising fuel costs, according to Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association. “This just proves yet another advantage of going electric,” said McNamara, who has been a black cab driver for 40 years. “If you can charge them at home, they’re so cheap to run. "We’re getting on for 70% of the London fleet being electric now. It shows the benefit of not being so dependent on fossil fuels.” What can the government actually do? Global oil markets are also playing a significant role in determining what drivers pay for their fuel. Zoltán Ruzsbaczky, a senior research analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said disruption in the Strait of Hormuz is affecting fuel markets across Europe. “It's already heavily impacting global oil and UK retail prices, especially diesel," he said. "Apart from crude oil, about 30% of Europe’s diesel imports came from Persian Gulf refineries, and those suppliers are currently cut off from Europe due to the closure of the Strait.” That has caused wholesale prices to rise rapidly, which can quickly push up prices at the pump. "UK diesel wholesale spot prices increased by more than 37% from one week to the next after the outbreak of the conflict,” said Ruzsbaczky. Ministers are also watching the fuel market closely. Energy secretary Ed Miliband said last week that the government wanted to “ensure consumers are treated fairly during this crisis”, while prime minister Keir Starmer warned that ministers would step in if fuel firms tried to “rip off customers”. However, said Driffield: “Essentially the government doesn’t have the power to control petrol prices. What it can do is ask the competition authorities to investigate if it believes the market is not working properly.” In the UK, that role falls to the Competition and Markets Authority, which monitors fuel markets and can investigate if it suspects companies aren't competing fairly. It's currently monitoring fuel prices after being asked by ministers to keep the market under review. Any further action would depend on what that monitoring shows. Balmer said the government could also ease pressure on drivers through tax policy. Fuel duty currently stands at about 52.95ppl, according to HMRC, with VAT added on top, meaning roughly half the price drivers pay at the pump goes to the Treasury. "One thing we’ve asked the government to do is abandon the planned increases in fuel duty this year," said Balmer. "If they say this is about helping people, they could put their hand in their pocket. More than half the price of a litre of fuel goes to the government, and when you factor in VAT it’s even more: about 75p of a £1.40 litre is tax.” For now, the debate over fuel prices and, most crucially, how much the government can really do about them looks set to continue.
Here is how to identify the tell-tale signs of alignment issues - and what you should do about it When you're having a new set of tyres fitted to your car, you’ve no doubt been offered an alignment check at the same time. The garage will explain this is to ensure the rubber doesn’t wear prematurely, before going on to mention factors such as ‘camber’ and ‘caster’. Having the car’s alignment assessed and, if necessary, adjusted is always worthwhile. However, I think most of us would happily admit that we are not entirely sure what all those technical terms actually mean, or how to spot if they are actually out of adjustment - after all, very few of us have hi-tech wheel alignment kit cluttering up our garage or shed just in case we need to check everything is as it should be. Happily, your tyres are likely to give you a few tell-tale signs that things aren’t quite right. And if you spot the symptoms early you can get the car properly checked out and adjusted before the wear gets too bad and you find yourself dipping into the coffers for a new set of boots. In this guide we’ll explain all the various technical terms and how identify the tyre wear that results of any of the various components have dropped out of factory spec (and with the amount of suspension-bending potholes currently on UK roads, you’re depressingly likely to be dealing with alignment based ailments sooner rather than later). Camber Most run-of-the-mill road cars have very little in the way of camber adjustment, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep an eye out for any problems. If your tyres are showing any signs of wear caused by poor camber settings, then it’s likely due to worn suspension components. So, what is camber? Essentially, when you view your car from the front or the back, it’s the angle between the top and bottom of the wheel. There are effectively three types of camber setting, each one varying by degrees depending on the application: Negative camber This is the set-up most often seen in motorsport, where the top of the wheel leans inward and the bottom outward. As cornering for builds, the suspension compresses and the weight transfer forces the wheel into a more upright position, pressing more of the rubber’s contact patch onto the road for more grip. It’s an extreme set-up for the road, where these sorts of cornering forces are unlikely to be encountered. As a result, the tyre’s inside edge would be doing most of the work in lower speed, steady state driving causing heavy wear on the inside edge of the tyre. If you spot this sort of issue on the tyres of your car, it’s likely that there’s too much negative camber. This is most likely to occur on the rear wheels of cars with multi-link axles or trailing arms (usually wear in the bushes or bearings cause the geometry to fall into negative camber). Neutral camber For most road cars, this is the preferred set-up. In effect, the wheel remains perpendicular to the road, with only a small amount of camber change caused by cornering load during cornering. Assuming all is well in the car’s alignment, then you should see even wear across the tyre’s tread. Positive camber As its name suggests, positive camber is the opposite of negative camber. In this set-up scenario, the top of the angle outwards and the bottom inwards. It’s the sort of arrangement you’ll spot on older, usually vintage machines. This is because it helps make the handling a little more predictable, even if it actively reduces grip and cornering forces grow. Simplified, positive camber on the front wheels will promote severe early onset understeer, while used at the rear if promotes oversteer. While this is usually engineered into the design, sometimes it can be an undesirable side effect. Most famously, cars with swing axle rear suspension (early rear-engined Skodas or the Mercedes 300SL Gullwing) suffer from sudden positive camber at the rear, the wheels effectively tucking under themselves under big cornering loads which results in hairy, snap oversteer. Again, large doses of positive camber are rare on modern road cars, but if you spot excessive wear to the outside edge of a wheel, then this could be the culprit (and once again worn suspension could be the issue. Caster In fairness, changes in caster angle are unlikely to result in extra or unusual tyre wear, as it doesn’t directly affect the way the tread and road surface interact. Look at the car side on and imagine a line going straight through the front wheel, from top to bottom - this is essentially the caster angle. As with camber, there are negative, positive and neutral (zero) states of angle for the caster, with each having an effect on the steering. Negative caster This set-up is similar to that used on a shopping trolley, making the steering very easy to turn. However, the downside is that its effects are amplified during braking, making the steering more sensitive and the car feel less stable (imagine that trolley with one of its trademark wobbly wheels flailing around as you push it). Zero caster Technically the purest set-up (it was used by Citroen in the DS, GS and CX), as it reduces kingpin torque (effective steering effort) at the limit of grip, giving the driver a clear message of how much adhesion they have left. However, while not as unstable as negative caster, it does require greater steering correction when at a steady state cruise, making it less relaxing in everyday use. Positive caster Most road cars have a little bit of positive camber dialled-in to their factory settings, largely because it creates what's known as ‘self-aligning torque’. To you and me, that’s self centering. It’s what creates strong straightline stability and what allows the steering to spin itself straight when you let go of the wheel (you shouldn’t really do this, obviously) when, say, existing a junction. Interestingly, this set-up results in the front of the car being ‘jacked-up’ as steering lock is applied (go outside and get an assistant to twirl the steering of your car from lock-to-lock while stationary and you’ll spot the nose subtly lifting). On the plus side, this effect when combined with cornering loads on the move promotes a little negative camber, helping to improve grip. Toe The last piece of the alignment puzzle is toe, and this is the one most likely to cause you issues if it’s not where it should be. While camber and caster adjustment is available on some cars (usually high-end performance machines and those with independent rear suspension), almost every model on the road can have its toe fiddled with. Essentially, it’s limited to the front wheels (although cars with multi-link rear axles will have an element of toe adjustment), and is commonly known as ‘tracking’. It’s the set-up that dictates what angle the wheels are pointing in, and how its set-up will affect the way the car handles and the way the tyres wear. If the toe angle falls out of factory specification, then you might notice the car pulls to the left or right even when driving in a straight line, while the steering wheel itself might be off centre. As with camber and caster, there are three states of toe: toe-out, toe-in and zero-toe. Toe-out In this state, the back edge of each tyre is effectively closer together than the front. This creates a stronger turn in grip but comes at the expense of stability, with the steering wheels likely to pull the car left or right over uneven surfaces. If the inside edge of the front tyres is worn, then it’s likely to be a result of excessive toe-out. Toe-in With toe-in, the front edge of each front wheel is closer together than the back, creating a sort of pigeon-toed stance. This arrangement loses some of the positive turn-in characteristics of toe-out and the stronger grip, trading it for the reassurance of improved straightline stability. If there is excessive toe-in on the alignment, then you’re likely to spot as the outside edge of the front tyre will wear more quickly. Zero-toe Like zero caster and camber, this is theoretically the purest set-up (once again, those pioneering Citroen’s featured it all those years ago, helped by the geometry-maintaining characteristics of their self-levelling suspension), yet very few cars feature it. In reality, the bumpy and cambered nature of roads, plus the varying in-car loads, means the car would feel far too sensitive, the toe characteristics changing subtly in line with the topography. Alignment Ultimately, all of these factors fall under the umbrella term of ‘alignment’. More importantly, if you want to keep your tyres in tip-top shape then it’s important you get the suspension geometry checked on a regular basis, especially if you’ve accidentally hit a large pothole or glanced a kerb. You’ll probably offer a choice of two or four-wheel alignment, and which one you pick depends on your car. On most everyday front-wheel drive cars you’ll just need the former, as the rear axle will likely be a torsion beam type that has no adjustment potential. On cars with multi-link rear axles, then you’ll need to have all four wheels checked for alignment. It might seem like a hassle, but with correctly set alignment you’ll not only keep your tyres alive for longer, you’ll have a sweeter handling car.
No-nonsense, roomy Tucsons are plentiful, practical and affordable - but potentially unreliable Launched in 2015, the third-generation Hyundai Tucson quickly became a family favourite SUV in a fiercely competitive segment - and the firm's best-seller in Europe. Which is good news for today's used buyer, because it means there are plenty of them on offer in the classifieds. Sift through them diligently - there can be reliability issues with some, as we will explain - and you can bag yourself a practical, well-equipped, cavernous bargain. The Mk3 Tucson line-up is relatively straightforward to decipher, with a range of pure petrols and diesels, plus a 48V mild hybrid. All engines are ULEZ-compliant, but there are no full-hybrid or zero-emission variants. At launch, there was a choice of two 'Gamma' 1.6-litre petrols: a naturally aspirated unit with 133bhp and a turbocharged version with 174bhp. On the diesel front, buyers could pick a 113bhp 1.7-litre or a 2.0-litre with 134bhp or 181bhp. All engines came as standard with a six-speed manual and front-wheel drive except for the 181bhp 2.0 diesel, which was four-wheel drive only. The 134bhp 2.0 diesel offered 4WD as an option. A seven-speed dual-clutch automatic was optional on the 1.7 diesel and a conventional six-speed automatic could be paired with the two 2.0-litre diesels. No variant is bad, but we would avoid the petrols: the atmo 1.6 can feel sluggish, the turbo version is on the thirsty side and there are reliability concerns (see Buyer Beware, right). Of the diesels, the 1.7 is our pick because it is notably more refined than the 2.0 units and offers adequate grunt for everyday use with decent fuel economy. All Tucsons offer plenty of space. Front and rear passenger room is excellent and its 513-litre boot is nearly 100 litres larger than a Nissan Qashqai's, although you won't get the perceived material quality on offer in the Qashqai. But you will get an impressive roster of equipment. All versions come with autonomous emergency braking, LED daytime-running lights and reclining rear seats, while some have luxuries like ventilated cushioning and adaptive cruise control. Trims begin with S and rise to SE and SE Nav, with Premium topping the range. There was also a Sport trim with big wheels, which don't help the ride. In 2019, Hyundai broadened the range with a light facelift. The petrols were carried over. Little changed, but the turbocharged variant gained the dual-clutch automatic as an option. For the diesels, a 1.6-litre replaced the 1.7 and could be had with 113bhp or 134bhp, with the option of the dual-clutch 'box in the higher-powered variant. The 2.0-litre diesel became four-wheel drive and auto only, gaining a slight power boost to 184bhp courtesy of a 48V mild-hybrid system. As for equipment, a larger infotainment screen, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a 360deg camera all became available. If you're worried about reliability concerns hurting residuals in the long run, prices are already quite cheap - starting at £4500 - and there are enough examples out there to find a well-looked-after one. Our pick, a 1.7-litre CRDi with a manual gearbox, is the cheapest one today because buyers are cautious about diesels. And road tax (VED) will be just £35 for those registered before 1 April 2017. What to look for Engine: The 1.6-litre 'Gamma' petrol engine has a poor reliability record. We spoke to a Hyundai/ Kia mechanic who advised avoiding it because it's not uncommon for piston rings to fail at 50,000 miles - the telltale sign is excessive oil consumption - resulting in the need for a replacement engine. Owners suggest changing the oil every year or 5000 miles, instead of the two years and 20,000 miles recommended by Hyundai, but that isn't foolproof. Glow plug faults are common on the 2.0-litre diesel. Expect to pay £1500 for a fix. Diesel Particulate Filter: On diesels, the DPF can be an expensive problem. An illuminated warning light may indicate a failure to regenerate or the AdBlue injector failing. Either issue can cost thousands to fix. To help prevent problems, regularly undertake a reasonable motorway drive. Also note that pre-facelift Tucsons do not have AdBlue. Gearbox: The synchromesh in manual cars can prematurely fail, requiring a replacement gearbox. Look out for noisy, difficult changes. Dual-clutch cars are prone to getting stuck in gear. Four-wheel drive system: The rear driveshaft can fail on 4WD Tucsons and it isn't a cheap repair. If left unresolved, vibrations may damage the gearbox and leave it irreparable. Electrics: They're temperamental at best. Door locks, handles, window switches and electronic parking brake switches often fail. Parts from Hyundai for a handbrake switch cost as much as £550. ABS, traction control, engine management and auto hold lights are reported to be regular dashboard features, often requiring a new sensor. Sat-navs are easily confused about where they are currently located and some owners have reported the screen delaminating. Also worth knowing Rivals such as the Mazda CX-5 and Renault Kadjar are ultimately better-rounded but are pricier, so the Tucson is something of a bargain for the space on offer. The split in the classifieds is slightly in favour of the petrols, while one in five is an auto and just one in 10 is 4WD. Even so, there is a good number of all variants available. An owner's view Michael Kemmet: "I've owned my 2016 Tucson 1.7 CRDi for over seven years. The only expensive bill I've had was for a new electric handbrake switch, at over £300, not including labour. My other costs have just been normal wear and tear items. Overall, the car has been brilliant, including towing our caravan on all our holidays. I'm aware that other owners have had far worse luck, but I know the diesels are more trustworthy. Nevertheless, I have an oil change every year or around 6000 miles for peace of mind." How much to spend £4500-£5499: Early, low-spec cars with a six figure mileage and worn-looking exteriors and/or interiors. £5500-£8499: A broad range of pre-facelift cars with 50,000 to 100,000 miles under their wheels and some in desirable Premium specification. £8500-£12,499: Plenty of facelifted models and low-mileage pre-facelift cars. £12,500-£20,000: Top-spec, low-mileage 2019, 2020 and 2021 Tucsons. N Line and Premium SE mild-hybrid diesels are the dearest.
Once a superstar in the supermini class, can the elderly Ibiza find a new lease of life? It wasn’t so long ago that the Cupra brand was introduced and we weren’t sure what to make of it. It grew out of Seat’s performance division, launching with fast versions of Seats, but then started offering cars with simple 1.5-litre engines as well. It seemed a bit directionless.Actually, it was a masterstroke, because Cupra managed what Seat never could: become the slightly hipper, sporty, semi-premium brand of the Volkswagen Group with the margins to wash its own face. It exemplifies the art of the rebrand.So where does that leave Seat? Previously announced plans to turn it into an e-mobility brand are on ice, and instead Seat will for the foreseeable future continue as the group’s provider of affordable, largely combustion-powered cars, since that role has been vacated by the upwardly mobile Skoda. And in that vein, enter the facelifted Seat Ibiza.The Ibiza supermini plays an important part in this plan, because while superminis are no longer in the limelight like they were 20 years ago, they still provide a very appealing balance of affordability and practicality, and as a result sales remain healthy. The segment doesn’t fit the sporty, premium Cupra brand as well, so the Ibiza carries on as a pure Seat.After being somewhat neglected recently, the Seat range is finally getting some love. While there are reportedly no plans for an all-new generation of the Ibiza, Seat is planning some targeted upgrades, with plans for more efficient engines next year. For now, though, all it’s getting is a light-touch facelift. Considering this is fundamentally a car that came out in 2017, can the Ibiza still cut it?
We hit the track to see if the Denza Z9 GT has the dynamic chops to worry the Porsche Panamera Chinese car makers are often accused of copying their European rivals, but with this… well, the tables could be turning. The Z9 GT is the flagship model from Denza – BYD’s premium sub-brand – and arrives in Europe later this year. It is, undeniably, Porsche adjacent. Previously, this estate might have been considered a direct rival to the Panamera Sport Turismo and Taycan Sport Turismo. However, we revealed earlier this month that Porsche is considering merging the Taycan and Panamera into a single model line, offering petrol, plug-in hybrid and fully electric variants. So perhaps BYD is ahead of the curve this time around. The Z9 GT is sold as a saloon in China, but only the estate is bound for the UK. It is available as a 933bhp tri-motor EV as well as the PHEV version that we drove at the Goodwood circuit. The PHEV powertrain pairs a 204bhp 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine with a 268bhp front electric motor and two 295bhp rear electric motors, delivering a combined output of 858bhp. The engine exists primarily to charge the battery that powers the motors, although it can drive the wheels directly at higher speeds. Inside, the cabin closely resembles that of the Denza B5, a Defender rival, which is also en route to the UK. There are three enormous screens: one for the driver, one for the passenger and a massive central display – presumably to be shared. The bulky, airline-style gear selector seen in our test car will be replaced by a column-mounted shifter for the UK market to free up space. At the time of the test, our car's deep plum interior colour seemed odd to me; on reflection, it is truly bizarre. Not in an unpleasant way, but I simply cannot imagine a European buyer choosing it. The interior, like the rest of the car, is not to UK specification, but the requisite quality is certainly present. Pulling onto the home straight from the pits, there is an immediate kick. It doesn’t quite feel like 850-odd bhp, but then the car weighs close to three tonnes. Braking for Madgwick corner, I discover that the brakes are robust, offering a fluidity and communicative feedback that breeds confidence. Turn-in is keen, with the steering in Sport mode verging on heavy. Feedback is perhaps a touch too muted, however, and I'd appreciate a bit more sensation coming through the steering wheel to my fingers. The fast right-hander of Fordwater proves its high-speed stability – it feels remarkably tied down here – while the tight left-hander of St Mary’s tests the grip of the all-season tyres. Accelerating through Lavant, I deliver a sudden heave of power, which yields a strong serving of understeer, swiftly followed by a heavy intervention from the traction control. The battery, low on charge to begin with, is entirely out of juice by the time I reach the Lavant Straight on the next lap. With the petrol engine now providing direct propulsion, the CVT is left to do its thing, resulting in a proper, old-school moo and a distinct lack of speed. Pulling back into the pits is a tight manoeuvre, but one the Z9 handles with surprising ease thanks to an aggressive rear-wheel steering set-up that allows the rear wheels to turn by up to 10deg at low speeds. The Z9 GT is a very different proposition from a Panamera. It is a lot softer and slightly less sporty, yet it retains a genuine bite of performance. With no UK price set, it is hard to draw direct comparisons, but if Denza can persuade brand-conscious premium buyers to look past the badge, they may be pleasantly surprised.
Brit firm is using the 'B7' RS4 to create an analogue – yet modernised – Quattro with Group B-inspired design The Audi Quattro is being reborn with a supercharged V8 in a new project by British start-up Audacious Automotive. It is the brainchild of Mac Zaglewski, a sculptor and classic car restorer. The first example of Audacious's Quattro is a commission that is being produced with steel and aluminium coachwork, but a wider production run with carbonfibre bodywork is on the cards. The car is in essence a merger of the performance and engineering of the B7-generation Audi RS4, launched in 2006, and the styling of the Quattro. The RS4's chassis, engine and electronics are being married up to a modernised bodyshell from a Quattro. The idea, Zaglewski told Autocar, is "an exercise of continuation, rather than modification". He said: "It's a question of 'what if? . If Audi carried on with the platform, would it end up close to this, and would it end up being a lightweight V8 rather than a heavy five-cylinder? We can never answer those questions. However, what we're doing here is making sure that it feels how it should mechanically, with a modern sort of feel." Why a V8? Although the original Quattro was defined by its five-cylinder turbo engine, Zaglewski and his team are using the 4.2-litre V8 that powered the second-generation RS4 on which the reborn Quattro is based. The reasons for choosing the B7 are several, said Zaglewski, but the key was that it best matched the Quattro's brief of being "very much usable, very much enjoyable and very much analogue". For example, basing the new car on the modern RS3 would not have met the brief, said Zaglewski, because it is "nowhere near as exciting" owing to its front-biased all-wheel drive set-up (via a Haldex differential) versus the RS4's rear bias (Torsen differential). He added that the RS3 platform would have restricted the car to an automatic gearbox, defeating the purpose of building an "analogue" machine. He claimed its chassis is less rigid than the RS4's, while "the suspension is nowhere near as good". Using the RS4 platform therefore allows Audacious to produce a Quattro-style car that retains the appeal of the original, with a tactile manual gearbox, while gaining the rigidity and dynamic composure of a more modern performance car. "I think there's a growing group, or perhaps a group that always existed, of drivers who value this mechanical depth and authorship over the driving experience [compared with the digital experience] that modern cars offer, and that classic cars can come nowhere near to," said Zaglewski. Modernising the Quattro Although "performance isn't really the aim" for the Audacious Quattro, it will benefit from a number of upgrades compared with the standard B7 RS4. Chief among these is the addition of a supercharger, boosting its output from the standard 414bhp to a "minimum" of 600bhp. Meanwhile, the new body will cut "at least" 250kg from the RS4's original 1650kg kerb weight, which will contribute to a significant improvement In performance. The new coachwork – dramatic as it will be, drawing on the S1 Quattro that competed in Group B rallying – will serve to meet an engineering goal, rather than being purely superficial. "None of the ducts, none of the openings, are artificial," said Zaglewski, who added that the final design, which has yet to be signed off, "will look crazy and different in its own right". The cabin, too, will be overhauled with billet-aluminium buttons and switchgear. Zaglewski highlighted the task of marrying the RS4's architecture with a Quattro body as a significant achievement in the car's development. An original short-wheelbase Quattro is notably stubbier than the 4.6m-long RS4, requiring significant alterations in key structural hardpoints, such as the windscreen. "Every car is individually commissioned, so the looks of the external body may change in a way, but having that repeatable platform is very important for us," he said. A new lease of life Commissions for Audacious's Quattro start at £350,000 - but that doesn't include local taxes or the two donor cars. Asked whether it is controversial to use original examples of a rare and beloved model for the conversion, Zaglewski said: "The way we approach it is that it was never about taking pristine examples off the road. The shells that we actually select, unlike other manufacturers like us, typically require restoration at a level that is unrealistic. "So we will give them a second lease of life, whether that comes to the bodyshell or the parts that we salvage off the donor car." "It may be controversial, but the other way you can look at it is we might be saving cars rather than ruining them," added Zaglewski, and there are "more of those than you could imagine".