Table of contents for July 20, 2022 in Autocar

The first of Gordon Murray’s two forthcoming all-electric SUVs – a supermini-sized model due to surface as a prototype at the beginning of 2024 – will have a designed-in kerb weight of just 1100-1200kg, Autocar has learned. As such, it will undercut the similarly sized Renault Zoe by 300-400kg. New details of the supermini-sized SUV were revealed exclusively to Autocar by the newly appointed CEO of the Gordon Murray Group, Philip Lee. In future, Murray’s business will consist of Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA), which designs and builds high-value, low-volume cars such as the T50 and T33, and Gordon Murray Technology (GMT), which will be a repository for the group’s store of technical knowledge and a car creation hub capable of taking clients’ projects from sketches to fully driving cars. Both…

MEANWHILE, THE outlandish RN22e concept is a raceinspired vision of what to expect from Hyundai’s coming performance EVs – the first of which will be the Ioniq 5 N SUV, due in 2023. The RN22e is the fifth in a series of ‘rolling lab’ concepts, and the closest so far to a potential production car. Hyundai has taken the recently unveiled Ioniq 6 (below) and added deeper air dams, diffusers, a different spoiler, larger wheels and wider arches, thereby giving it a more aggressive stance – cues that are aimed at gauging interest for a hot version of the electric saloon. But chiefly it will be used to develop new ways of making electric performance cars more than just faster versions of standard EVs. The main weapon in the RN22e’s…

ALLOY WHEEL INSURANCE Most insurance will cover the cost of repairing a damaged alloy wheel up to a capped amount. If it’s too damaged, the policy may offer a replacement contribution. Only the type of wheel fitted to the car when it was new is likely to be covered. DENT AND SCRATCH INSURANCE Under most policies, minor dents and scratches can be fixed. However, the repair may invalidate your car’s body warranty. There are also limits as to what damage can be repaired. TYRE INSURANCE Replacing a tyre is expensive. If the tyre has been punctured, it might be possible to have it repaired, although a tyre repair costs only around £20. Tyre insurance won’t cover normal wear and tear. INTERIOR REPAIR INSURANCE Interiors usually get the worst time of…

WHEN THE LEAVES TURN GREEN When Alfa Romeo goes EV-only in 2025, what will become of its Quadrifoglio performance cars? How will worthiness of the iconic cloverleaf badge be judged? We asked these questions to its UK boss, Damien Dally. “That’s in the melting pot at the moment, but the key point is that we will only be true to the [Quadrifoglio] principle. The principle won’t change,” he said. “But ultimately it’s about best-in-class performance. Even in the world of electrification, we will only put that cloverleaf badge on the [cars with the] same principles as we hold [for Quadrifoglio cars] today.” McTRACKDAYS McMurtry will put on exclusive track days for owners of its upcoming Spéirling road car, equipped with hyper-fast charging stations, to counter the “not quite there yet”…

What are the core ingredients for a successful mall space? Rockar established a good blueprint when it opened a Hyundai space at Bluewater in Kent in 2014 and refined the product over the years with spaces for Ford and Mitsubishi, which focused on both the physical concept and the e-commerce side. It now operates a space for Jaguar Land Rover in London’s Canary Wharf. Martin Sewell, Rockar’s managing director, has this advice to offer. Keep the size modest: “Brands tend to want to recreate the car showroom in the mall. It should be a retail store. If it’s a big, imposinglooking brand statement, people won’t want to cross the threshold.” Keep products to a minimum: “It should be a true retail outlet, not a car showroom. Don’t think you need…

It seems odd, given the current economic climate, to be talking about the most expensive non-homologation 911 ever made. The new limited-edition Sport Classic version of the iconic sports car is on sale now for £214,200. The number needs rolling around in your mouth and easing into your brain. More than £200k for a 911. Still, if anyone knows the value of its cars and the willingness of its customers to pay for them, it’s Porsche. Not for nothing is this the brand that can charge £114 for full-colour logos on the wheels. Porsche is phenomenally successful at making money. Last year, it raked in ¤5.3 billion (£4.5bn) with an operating return on sales of 16%. The figures may have been skewed by the ongoing supply crisis, but even before…

The interior of your car is as much a statement these days as the exterior. Vegan trims and touchscreens visible from space are the modern way, but this special-edition Mini takes a different tack and adds retro-styled cloth seats. It’s part of Mini’s new range of specials, the other being a Countryman Untamed. (A Clubman Untold was also announced, but because of supplier issues, it’s not currently on sale.) Talking of shortages, this is a manual test car but you can currently buy only an auto or dual-clutch. The manual will return when the crisis eases, apparently. So for £25,601 (just under £1000 more than the Exclusive trim), you get the white roof and door mirrors, some decals, the Rebel Green paint that was previously available on only John Cooper…

In a small office in the centre of Milton Keynes, a young man wearing earphones sits in a car seat staring intently at a bank of computer screens and grasping a steering wheel festooned with buttons, his feet resting on pedals. He could be an office worker ducking out to play a driving game in the designated ‘chill zone’, except that rather than scrapping with a fellow racer, he’s about to drive me around the town in a Kia Niro – remotely. Welcome to autonomous driving, Fetch style. The company, formed in 2019, plans to start offering driverless car rentals within a three-mile, and later a five-mile, radius of the centre of Milton Keynes in around 18 months’ time. You’ll hail your Niro, or other electric model, on the company’s…

I had to write this while the amazing feel of a Mk1 Ford Focus, a car from a bygone era with hydraulic steering assistance, is still in my head. My fellow readers, you need to try one of these cars if you don’t already own one or haven’t previously. Then get back into your Porsches and BMWs and ask yourself why a 24-year-old car has better steering. We enthusiasts know the answer is that it has been deemed necessary to have electrically assisted steering in modern cars to help save the planet. The Mk1 Focus’s steering has such a pure feeling about it, especially in the central helm position, where electrically assisted cars are so benign and lifeless, with poor feedback. The positive difference that hydraulic assistance makes compared with…

MILEAGE 6803 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if a plug-in hybrid S-Class can be as convincing as its diesel ancestors Like Jack (p66), I’ve been playing with an app. In my techno-Luddite world, that’s akin to Tarzan riding a monorail around the jungle. But sitting here in the Corfiot sunshine, I can look at my telephone and see that my car remains where I last parked it, some 1500 miles away from where I am now. If it weren’t, I could deactivate the key from here. I can tell that it’s locked, and were it not, I could lock it from here. If I had left it with valet parking, I could set a geofenced perimeter that would alert me were the car to breach it in my absence.…

The Aston Martin DBS rolled seven times in Casino Royale – a world record at the time and a shocking moment in the film. The stunning coupé is seen to be battered and ruined, much like James Bond’s crown jewels in the following scene. What makes it so captivating? The DBS, that is. Well, apart from its elegant yet commanding design, one of its most alluring aspects is audible rather than visual. The 5.9-litre V12 under its bonnet creates a distinctive, charismatic, unforgettable roar. No matter the application, whether it be the Vanquish, V12 Vantage or DBS, this engine never ceases to enthral. Sound isn’t the only commodity beneath your right foot: there’s also 510bhp. That’s enough for a 0-60mph sprint time of 4.3sec and a top speed of 191mph,…

A road test in any other magazine might well be a short, subjective summary of a new car produced under almost any circumstances, but the Autocar road test is different. Specific, rigorous and detailed, it’s the closest examination we can give of any new model. It appears over at least eight pages and is close to 50 man-hours in the making every week. Most of what the road test process entails is designed to be strictly repeatable and fair. We benchmark standing-start and in-gear acceleration at a purpose-built test facility every week. We carry out both subjective and objective handling tests on both road and track, on the latter up to and beyond the limit of grip, so as to fully assess stability, drivability and limit handling appeal. And while…

“Active aerodynamics have played a central role in the development of the new GT” Mercedes-Benz’s AMG performance division will launch the secondgeneration GT in 2023, heavily redesigning and re-engineering the two-door flagship to take on the Porsche 911. The new model, known under the internal codename C192, has been twinned with the recently introduced seventh-generation SL. However, it will be produced exclusively in coupé form, leaving the open-top duties to its SL sibling, which now also wears an AMG, rather than a Benz, badge because the performance division took over the engineering programmes for the sporting duo. Stylistically, the new GT takes on an evolutionary appearance, with familiar long-bonnet and short-tail proportions. As with the firstgeneration model, introduced in 2015, it receives a large liftback-style tailgate. Active aerodynamics have played…

Have you been in the car business a long time? “About 20 years. For a while, I thought I might try aerospace, because for a while, people from that industry always seemed to be arriving and telling us where we were going wrong. But I’m too much of a petrolhead so I stayed.” What’s your speciality? “I’ve tended to specialise in businesses where there were significant changes, and significant rates of growth. My job was to find the problems and help fix them. I’ve had various jobs in the UK and worked all over the world – China, Europe, South America.” You have quite a lot of bases now. What’s the future for them? “Windlesham is our future, we’ll expand Coventry and we’ll probably keep Dunsfold because we’ll make cars there.…

Hyundai is looking to future technology with the hydrogen-fuelled N Vision 74 concept, which highlights a lesserknown part of its history. Design boss SangYup Lee recounted that the car’s genesis was a fortuitous coming together of projects. The engineering team sought to trial a high-performance hydrogen powertrain and wanted to clothe the engineering prototype in an attention-grabbing body. This turned out to be the perfect opportunity to realise slumbering plans for a homage to the 1974 Hyundai Pony Coupé design by Italdesign’s Giorgetto Giugiaro. The car is powered by two rear-mounted electric motors with more than 670bhp, fed by a 62.4kWh battery that can be charged on the go by a 95kW hydrogen fuel cell. The large battery can be rapid-charged like any BEV and the 4.2kg hydrogen tank can…

Concerns are growing over the way that repair insurance – which covers damage to a car’s tyres, alloy wheels, bodywork and interior – is being sold, amid claims that some car dealers are pressuring consumers into buying the £400-plus policy. The sale of insurance is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which requires companies to design their products to offer fair value and clearly explain them to the customer before making a sale. However, reports suggest that the way repair insurance policies are sold by some dealers goes against these regulations. One sales tactic that worries industry heads is to make the customer sit through a long sales process on the grounds that it is required by the FCA. In fact, FCA rules do not allow this. Another is…

GIVEN THE FUSS over diesel engines in the past few years and the inevitable public conclusion that the fuel itself is a problem, rather than the way it is used, it’s a wonder that manufacturers are still developing them. They are, though, and Mazda’s announcement of the e-Skyactiv D, a new electrically assisted 3.3-litre straight six for its CX-60 SUV, is the latest example. Diesel engines still have a natural advantage in terms of fuel consumption, because they have a higher compression ratio to ignite the fuel, rather than using a spark, and that equals superior thermal efficiency. On that score, Mazda has pushed the boat out further still with an advanced technology that it has named Distribution-Controlled Partially Premixed Compression Ignition (DCPCI). Although it’s giving little away on exactly…

Travelling along the M40 this morning, I moved right for an Audi A5 Cabriolet to join the carriageway. Silver with a black hood. Still a handsome car. Only as it passed me did I notice its 58 numberplate, making it an early version, given deliveries only began early in 2009. But even at 13 years old, given a polish and a brush-up, from the outside at least it looked to me like it could be on sale today. Does Audi, more than any manufacturer, have a design language so consistent that this is possible? Mis-hits like the angular Q2 aside, its models are so subtly detailed but recognisable that, while they might look ostensibly similar (not much separates a Q3 from a Q5, say), they’ve also built an exceptionally strong…

THE ALPINE A480 scored its second World Endurance Championship win of the year despite a high-speed clash with one of the Toyota GR010 Hybrids in the Monza 6 Hours. Matthieu Vaxivière had just passed the Le Mans 24 Hourswinning #8 when he pulled alongside the #7 on the run to the first chicane. Kamui Kobayashi moved over on him but came off worse in the clash, sustaining heavy damage and an instant right-rear puncture. The Toyotas finished second and third as Vaxivière, Nicolas Lapierre and André Negrão increased their points lead. Glickenhaus’s sole entry led from pole, but delays in the third hour and a blown turbo scuppered hopes of a first win, while both the Peugeot 9X8s suffered what were probably inevitable reliability troubles on the car’s long-awaited debut.…

Another week, another drive of a BMW Alpina, following a brief crack in most of the company’s range a few weeks ago. Unlike the others, though, we tried the XD4 on the road only, rather than a circuit, as befits a tall car and particularly an Alpina, always considered a discreet driver’s car rather than an out-and-out sports car like something from BMW M. Which, I suspect, was one of the motivations behind BMW opting to buy the formerly independent firm, which will continue business as usual until 2025, when it will be integrated into the rest of BMW. There’s easily room for both M and Alpina names in the BMW line-up. The sleek-backed XD4 SUV and its conventionally shaped equivalent, the XD3, are mechanically the same. But the XD4,…

Seven years on, the V90 estate – still the Volvo-est entity in the Swedish maker’s entire line-up – continues to do what none of its forebears and few of its rivals could ever manage: succeed as an object. To these eyes, this alternative to the BMW 5 Series Touring and Mercedes E-Class Estate remains the most attractive car in the class, as well as being one with the requisite cavernous internal dimensions and very high levels of long-distance comfort. And now the V90 has another asset with which to potentially lure us from the Germans. Every model in the V90 range has for some time featured some form of electrification, ranging from 48V mild hybridisation to plug-in hybrids, and the latter has come in for an upgrade. For 2022, the…

The original premise was a simple one: a blast across France, from Le Mans back to London after the 24-hour race, in a Ferrari Roma to really test its cross-continent GT credentials under the cover of darkness. The reality will be a little different. For starters, it stays light much later into the evening than I realised. Well past 10pm, in fact, in midsummer, with the time difference and starting that far west making the return journey from Le Mans largely one in daylight. Ah. No bother, though, as the keys to the Roma land in my palm a good 48 hours earlier than expected, so I have a whole weekend to enjoy it rather than just for the return leg – which will make for a far more rounded…

We’re staring at the fire escape of a Mexican restaurant, wondering how the bulging hips of a 930-generation Porsche 911 Turbo could squeeze through it. It’s May 2022 and we’re on George Street, central Edinburgh’s smartest strip, but our minds are 40 years behind, when this site was the Glen Henderson Porsche showroom. Before being uprooted miles out of town, prestige car dealers like Glen Henderson were dotted all around the heart of the city, peacocking on grand streets and tucked away in hidden mews. Perhaps excepting London, this is a story repeated across the UK. But thanks to David Whitton, an amateur photographer from West Lothian, we needn’t only imagine those lost treasures. As a teenager in the 1980s, inspired by car magazine snappers of the day, Whitton and…

FEATURE Hennessey Mammoth 1000 TRX Texan speed freaks create a colossal truck with more power than the Ferrari SF90. You couldn’t possibly use it in the UK, could you? FIRST DRIVE Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX Historically important EV can do more than 750 miles per charge BEHIND THE SCENES 2 Win Meet the rally buffs making a film about 1983’s iconic Audi versus Lancia battle EVERY WEEK CULT HERO Porsche 911 GT3 (997) A true Stuttgart great you should drive before collectors nab them all OUR CARS Dacia Duster Cheap, durable and hugely likeable. Why Steve Cropley just couldn’t let go SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p42…

MILEAGE 7655 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out whether Audi can retain its premium appeal in the EV age The mere idea of mixing the words ‘abroad’ and ‘electric car’ was enough to undo years of progress in terms of range and then charging anxiety. But after a few successful days in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, I wondered what I was ever worried about in the first place. Our Q4 E-tron Sportback (the one you’ve read about on these pages won’t be returning to us as a result of its software faults, so meet this shiny dual-motor, four-wheel-drive 50 version) was to be pointed towards Bruges, Belgium, for the Tisshaw early summer holiday, only about 210 miles away and therefore well within its range capability. But what would…

Fancy a family-size SUV that has a handsome exterior and a stylish and practical interior, drives as well as it looks and is superb value for money used? If so, welcome to the Peugeot 3008. The engines range from a turbo triple petrol up through a number of efficient diesels to an efficient petrol-electric plug-in hybrid with a stonking output. Even the basic Active model is well equipped, with dual-zone climate control, rear parking sensors, automatic emergency braking, Bluetooth and a DAB radio. It doesn’t come with satnav, but it has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so you can just use a navigation app on your smartphone instead. Allure trim adds sat-nav, interior ambient lighting, power-folding mirrors, front parking sensors, a rear-view camera and 18in alloy wheels. GT Line brings…

The requirements and expectations of drivers on either side of the Atlantic have always been very different. It’s therefore less likely that cars built in Europe will prosper in the US, but this hasn’t stopped firms trying. It’s a vast market, after all, full of consumers. Sometimes it works out okay, but sometimes it really doesn’t. Here, we take a look at some of the European cars that, for one reason or another, bombed among Americans. Audi 5000 The second-generation Audi 5000 (the third-generation Audi 100, as it was named elsewhere) should have sold well, but it became famous for cases of a phenomenon labelled sudden unintended acceleration. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determined that there were several reasons for this. The best remembered is “inadvertent and unknowing driver…

As AMG’s C63 and E63 supersaloons – and their closely related SUV counterparts – gear up to swap their roaring V8s for electrified 2.0-litre four-pots in their next iterations and the firm’s One halo hypercar heads to production with a Formula 1-derived hybrid V6, it is clear that the days of Affalterbachfettled eight-cylinder engines are numbered. The firm’s current 4.0-litre V8 is still used in the GT 4-Door Coupé, the SL roadster and AMG-badged versions of the G-Class and GLS SUVs – but the next GT and an upcoming hybrid range-topper for the S-Class, both due in 2023, look set to be among the last new cars to use the engine. So nearly four decades since the launch of the division’s first official roadgoing creation, here are some of its…

BMW HAS BUILT a one-off electric version of the Mini Convertible to test the market for a potential next-generation model. The prototype uses the current Cooper S Convertible’s upper structure but is based on the powertrain components of the Mini Electric. It has a 181bhp electric motor and a WLTP range of up to 145 miles – the same as the production Mini Electric. The cabrio EV, says Mini, weighs 140kg more than a petrol Cooper S convertible. Despite all of the above, BMW says the current Mini Convertible will not be electrified. It added: “We have announced that the Mini Convertible is to receive a successor, but it is too early to speak about the engine portfolio of an upcoming replacement for the current Mini Convertible.” However, BMW sources…

There are several questions you should ask before taking out a policy, but the most vital is: ‘Do I actually need it?’ Those who sell repair insurance will tell you that allowing damage, however slight, to go unrepaired isn’t only unsightly but also will cost you dearly when you return your car after a lease or a PCP finance contract. This may be true at the end of a lease, but at the end of a PCP deal, most people part-exchange their car for another, with the dealer as keen to have it as to sell its replacement. If you’re concerned about dents and scratches, you can always save yourself the typical £400 insurance premium for minor body damage and pay to have the most unsightly ones repaired for around…

The next-generation Honda CR-V sports a rugged new look and touts improved performance courtesy of an upgraded hybrid drivetrain. The SUV has been revealed in the US, where it will initially be launched, before arriving in UK dealerships next year – as was the case with its predecessor. The fifth-generation CR-V was the first model in the Japanese brand’s line-up to ditch pure-ICE power, and its successor will follow suit in Europe, despite being launched in the US with an optional purepetrol engine. The hybrid powertrain that will be standard here is familiar from the new Civic hatchback: a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine is teamed with a pair of electric motors for a combined 204bhp and 247lb ft (slight increases over the old CR-V) and a top speed of 115mph.…

Westfield’s giant new Mall of the Netherlands in The Hague only opened in March 2021, but already there’s a big hole where once sat a Volkswagen space. Showroom-shop hybrids in malls and city streets are becoming increasingly popular as car makers look to engage potential customers away from industrial-estate dealerships. Genesis, Lotus, MG, Nio, Polestar, Porsche, Tesla, Xpeng and more increasingly see mall spaces as a key element of the sales process as they strive to establish themselves or rebrand for the electric era. They have to get it right, though. It’s not clear why the Dutch Volkswagen store failed, but Martin Sewell, managing director of British mall store pioneer Rockar, can guess: it was trying to sell cars. “Pre-Covid, a lot of brands would set up a local dealer…

SUNDAY Our ancient Citroën Berlingo has a new owner. It departs after 19 years of faithful service (apart from the two broken front springs and some electrical glitches) for a better life. I can’t say that I’m feeling brilliant about this, but I would be feeling worse were it not for the fact that its new owner is a fellow hack and Berlingo fancier, James Walshe, who will revere it, spruce it and put it to better use than I’ve recently done. Why sell? After all, as the Steering Committee pointed out, it isn’t valuable and it has cost almost nothing to own. The harsh truth is that it’s departing our four-car domestic lineup to make space for the 71-plate Dacia Duster that I’ve been driving for the past 11,000…

The headline news about the new facelifted Ford Focus ST might be that you can no longer buy an orange one. If you want bright, you can now choose from a few more pleasant (if prosaic) shades of red or have virulent Mean Green instead. Shame: there was something special about a Tangerine Scream Focus. The car has some fresh styling features for the new green to draw your eye to, plus the usual enlarged radiator and bumper grilles, side sills and spoilers. A couple of new alloy wheel designs finish it off, although, as a result of a thinning of the UK line-up, we only get the bigger (19in) one, finished in Matt Magnette grey. There’s also now only one model variant available to us, the ST-2 and ST-3…

MODEL TESTED TURBO GT Price £147,510 Power 632bhp Torque 627lb ft 0-60mph 3.1sec 30-70mph in fourth 5.2sec Fuel economy 20.0mpg CO2 emissions 319g/km 70-0mph 44.3m The Porsche Cayenne Turbo was among the most divisive cars of the early noughties. Yet if it hadn’t survived all of the slings and arrows of public opinion aimed at it since 2002, and gone on to establish such a clearly profitable business model in spite of all the hate, would the Lamborghini Urus, the Bentley Bentayga, the Rolls-Royce Cullinan and now the Ferrari Purosangue have followed? This was the car to first provide concrete evidence that wealthy people were ready to spend big money on seriously fast and desirable luxury SUVs. And now it’s out to battle its way back to the top of the…

There’s a brand-new racetrack just outside the office window at the Dovenby Hall headquarters of British motorsport engineering business M-Sport in the Lake District. Strangely, the boss says he hasn’t driven around it much. That’s hard to believe when the boss in question is former British rally champion Malcolm Wilson, who just happens to have a collection of cars that would thrive in regular track exercise. He’s currently more concerned with who else might like to come and use his 1.7-mile, £25 million investment than roaring around it himself, but he shouldn’t worry: I reckon plenty will. Today, Wilson is taking a couple of hours out to give us the dime tour in a 632bhp Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT – this week’s road test subject (p34) – we’ve brought along.…

Road to ruin The 1 June issue of Autocar felt like a subtle (and laudable) monograph on the manifestation in the car industry of what Warren Buffett termed the institutional imperative: the wholesale and deplorable mimicry among industry leaders, in this case concerning their strategies for BEVs. Your quotes of Joost de Vries, CEO of the newly revived DeLorean brand, were a notable exception and bode well for the venture. To my mind (and I lead a multinational group of companies), Jim Holder’s column demonstrated better grasp of strategy and insight than any of the executives you quoted. Then I read the 8 June issue and felt like celebrating, given your “Why we shouldn’t have rushed into EVs” headline and your courage in publishing the associated interview with Toyota Research…

Designing the cheapest car possible WITH THE LONG dreamed-of £100 car an actuality by the 1930s, we wondered if it would be possible to create one costing just £75 (that’s £3570 in today’s money). Today, even a basic Dacia offers infotainment and air-con, and in 1931 we believed people similarly wouldn’t buy without essentials – namely detachable wheels, electric lights and a self-starter, although they might not have minded a speedometer being an option… We also saw that our car mustn’t be appreciably smaller than the Austin Seven – a Lilliputian 3.0m long and 1.6m wide – or inflict “slow and lifeless” performance. Also, in terms of design, “it must not be apparent that this is a very cheap car, for snobbishness is the most prevalent of human frailties”. Our…

MILEAGE 2984 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if the hot version of Volkswagen’s electric SUV lives up to its GT ambitions I’m not usually one to bother with remote vehicle functions, but I recently spent a short while setting up Volkswagen’s We Connect smartphone app. It wasn’t the easiest of processes. I started by downloading the app onto my iPhone, setting up my profile and trying to register the car. As well as a few connection issues, there was another slight problem here: the car has to be reset to factory settings before you can set up a new ‘primary account’ if one is already registered. That won’t be a problem for buyers who have just picked up their shiny new electric Volkswagen, but because this is a pre-used…

An expert’s view ADAM POWDERHAM, CHILTERN ASTON “The DBS remains one of the most recognisable cars in the Aston Martin line-up and is still regarded as a timeless design. There’s no need to touch on the aesthetics, because it’s rare to find anybody who doesn’t appreciate the defined haunches of the car, the additional nostrils and the carbonfibre jewellery. “We’re now seeing more and more DBS coupés and Volantes that are being driven, not garaged. They are fast approaching classic status now, and as a result of those years, don’t expect the regular servicing not to incur the odd larger bill to take care of those perishable consumables. “In the past three months, we have had 12 DBS coupés and Volantes pass through our workshop in varying states of condition,…