Table of contents for September 25, 2024 in Autocar

RENAULT HAS REVIVED the Estafette as a high-tech, city-focused load carrier. The new concept previews the debut model from the French company’s tie-up with Volvo Trucks, called Flexis, and it has been designed to stand out from the “anonymous”-looking diesel vans currently on sale. It features Estafette-inspired twin round headlights and soft curves, which – combined with a striking livery – are intended to brighten up European city streets, according to Renault. “Vans will no longer be anonymous shapes. They will be endearing, expressive and come in eye-catching pop colours,” said Sandeep Bhambra, chief designer of concept cars at Renault’s electric car spin-off, Ampere. The new EV is 4.87m long and 2.59m tall and has a turning circle on a par with that of a Renault Clio. Renault has yet…

A CAR TRAVELLING at 60mph covers almost 27 metres in one second – the length of a grand slam tennis court and a bit more. Linked to the driver’s reaction time, it’s a frighteningly long way – and underestimating the distance cars travel at speed is one way distracted drivers get into trouble. Harman, maker of audio and in-car tech, has come up with an alternative to a head-up display to reduce the time it takes for drivers to gather information. Called Ready Vision Qvue, it displays information on the black reflective strip at the base of windscreen glass, called the ‘frit’. This would be extended slightly further up from the base of the screen to increase the display area if adopted for production. Because the display is closer to…

THE NEW RENAULT 5 electric supermini has been spotted testing in the UK for the first time, as the company gears up for the start of customer deliveries in the coming months. The French brand’s new small EV – which Autocar will drive for the first time in a matter of weeks – will rival the likes of the Mini Cooper E and Fiat 500e. It is the first in a wave of retro electric cars that are set to come from Renault over the next few years. Within weeks, it will be joined by the Renault 4, which uses much of the same technical make-up. Based on the Renault 4Ever concept, the 4 will sit higher and wider than the 5 in a bid to capture a share of…

BE LIKE PORSCHE I know this has been talked about for a while, but I mourn the loss of a brand that falls within the realms of affordability for those of us who aren’t company directors. Jaguar has offered a fresh alternative to the German marques, but moving so far upmarket will make its products no longer affordable. Porsche manages to be aspirational yet affordable, starting from the excellent Cayman and Boxster and working up the model line-up or just refreshing the superb cars at the entry point. Jaguar could have learned a lot from Porsche, rather than following an aspiration to be an alternative to Bentley. I probably am going to buy an F-Pace but won’t be in the market for the alternative from Land Rover, as a road-biased…

Bup the groundbreaking X5 with the smaller X3 was a pivotal moment for a firm then best known for sharp-handling saloons and estates, paving the way for the subsequent huge expansion of its Sports Activity Vehicle – you know, SAV – line-up. Now, 21 years later, BMW feels defined by such models as much as its saloons: the X3 was its best-seller last year, with around 1000 sold each day. Really, the only thing BMW got wrong was the SAV tag it still insists on using, although as someone who writes for The Autocar, I appreciate persisting with a moniker the popular lexicon has decided against. With typically Teutonic efficiency of precise seven-year model cycles, the fourth-generation X3 has now arrived to offer fresh challenges to premium SUV rivals such…

Yes, it’s an Audi RS6 with retro wheels, silly with retro wheels, silly graphics and a £176,975 price. If you think that’s too much money for this run-out special of the current RS6, well, that’s a moot point really because Audi has sold all 660 of them, including the 60 bound for the UK. But while we can all acknowledge that an RS6 GT is not in any way a sensible purchase, we can also appreciate the results of Audi letting its hair down and sending off the last pure-combustion RS6 in exuberant fashion. Of course, the GT is more than just an RS6 with a sticker set – though it is a pretty good sticker set, evoking the Audi 90 Quattro GTO from 1989 that raced in the American…

“It’s certainly a car suited to a more relaxed driving style” Tambitious Chinese firm BYD in the UK continues apace. After a year of selling EVs here (the Atto 3 crossover, Seal saloon and Dolphin supermini), the manufacturer is now entering the plug-in hybrid market with the Seal U family SUV – the first of several PHEVs it will introduce over the next few years. At 4775mm long, the Seal U faces some stiff competition in the PHEV versions of the Ford Kuga, MG HS and Toyota RAV, and it has a big claim to live up to: BYD says it’s the most economical car in the class. In standard Boost form, as tested here, the Seal U uses a naturally aspirated 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine running on the Atkinson…

WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To help us assess whether this B-segment SUV can make a case for petrol-only powerplants in the automotive near-future “The Kamiq is both a solid motorway hauler and a nippy runabout” I time, pure-petrol cars will be exclusive to the used market. Actually, that point could come even sooner. The new Labour administration is discussing plans to bring back the original 2030 ban on new internal-combustion-engined car sales (it was pushed back five years by the Conservatives last year) and some automotive timelines are prioritising electrified vehicles by the time we enter the 2030s. This all means that cars such as our new Skoda Kamiq, with its 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine (that’s right: no hybrid assistance here), are a dying breed. So we’re here to…

MILEAGE 8222 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT A switch from FWD to RWD brings better range, efficiency, drivability – but what about everyday appeal? There’s nothing quite like the trepidation of a ford in the road. Will the journey end in soggy embarrassment and be followed by a large bill and pictures of my car on the local Facebook group showing the idiocy and arrogance of another out-of-towner who bit off more than they could chew? Those thoughts were running through my head as a whopper of a river ford stood between me and the road out of Sidmouth in Devon. A Ford of a different kind answered the question of the water’s depth: a Fiesta casually blasted through the splash, the water hardly any deeper than the sidewalls of its…

With just 400 Phase 1 and Phase 2 examples registered in the UK, either on the road or on SORN, a Renault Clio V6 is a rare sight – and that’s just how Martin Hassett likes it. “I like things that are rare and unusual,” he tells me. “My father never drove, so I have no desire to own anything from his era. Instead, I like things that are unusual, such as Alfa Romeo SZs and low-production vehicles. My other car is a 1997 Mazda RX-7 – which, incidentally, hardly consumes any oil. I’ve been told I don’t drive it hard enough! The Clio has plenty of power but gets twitchy on the limit.” Martin’s Clio is a Phase 2 V6, which was registered in 2004 and has covered a…

ALFA ROMEO 147 GTA 2004, 50,500 miles, £12,995 The V6-powered 147 is a rare car these days – just 148 are left on UK roads – and finding one in Misano Blue is even more of a challenge. This example of the 250bhp Italian hot hatch has a long MOT and a low mileage. Buy it before we do. SUBARU IMPREZA WRX STI WR1 2004, 55,000 miles, £25,990 We’d recommend getting into a WRX now if it’s on your wish list: prices have shot up in recent years. This WR1 model, which celebrates Petter Solberg’s 2003 WRC victory, is nothing short of stunning. Better still, it has a low mileage and hasn’t been spoiled by modifications. VOLKSWAGEN GOLF R32 2003, 69,000 miles, £16,948 The Mk4 R32 was a refined and…

“The new electric supercar is considered a key part of Mercedes-AMG’s future” Mercedes-AMG is hatching plansfor a spectacular electric supercar that will launch the performance brand into the EV age. The new performance halo model was previewed by last year’s retro-inspired Vision One-Eleven concept, and it is described as a “brand-defining successor to the SLS Electric Drive”, the 730bhp quad-motor EV that was launched in 2013 and which cost £333,000. But while that car was limited to just nine examples, the new AMG supercar is planned for significantly higher production numbers when it arrives later this decade. Making its flagship less of an exclusive offering is central to AMG’s evolving electrification strategy. It has already launched powered-up versions of the EQE, EQE SUV, EQS and EQS SUV, with specific motors…

AUDI IS GEARING up for the launch of a hardcore electric off-roader – and a distinctive prototype has been spotted testing at a company facility in Germany. Based on the upcoming Q6 E-tron Sportback, it is dramatically taller and wider than the regular Q6 and features swollen arches, a more aggressive-looking front bumper, redesigned daytime-running lights and larger air intakes. Thick-walled all-terrain tyres and a similar roof rack to that of the limitedrun Q8 E-tron Edition Dakar suggest that Audi could be readying a similar version of the Q6, albeit with a much more overt focus on off-road performance. However, it could also be a test mule for the brand’s upcoming rival to the Land Rover Defender and Mercedes-Benz G-Class, plans for which were unearthed by Autocar last year. This…

MG sibling brand Maxus has revealeda four-wheel-drive electric pick-up truck – the first of its kind available in the UK. Called the eTerron 9, it is a follow-up to the Maxus T90EV, which was the UK’s first electric pick-up but rear-driven only. It’s slightly larger than the Ford Ranger, with its rear bed measuring 2.4m long. The rear bulkhead of the cab can be dropped to allow for especially long loads and there’s also a 236-litre compartment under the bonnet. Towing capacity is rated at a competitive 3500kg. However, the eTerron 9’s payload capacity is just 620kg, which is well short of the one tonne required to qualify for the lower commercial vehicle VAT rates that have helped to popularise the likes of the Ranger and Toyota Hilux in the…

“QUALITY MUST BE improved.” That was the message repeated constantly by McLaren CEO Michael Leiters on his arrival in Woking in 2022, and in his first interview with us. It is far from the most exciting topic in the industry yet it’s about as important as it gets: what use is all that thrilling performance if a warning light comes on every five minutes? The person tasked with delivering for Leiters is an ex-German navy commanding officer. Jochen Schnez started as chief quality officer in April, not straight from the navy but from Mercedes-Benz, where he spent 21 years after leaving the forces and most recently oversaw the Bremen plant. Schnez’s time leading a fast patrol boat taught him plenty about “knowing what consequences your decisions will bring with you”.…

In his 4 September column, Steve Cropley described a visit to Gothenburg during which he didn’t see a single Saab, which I found both incredible and depressing. But it got me reminiscing. As a young boy, I was ill and bed-ridden for a while. One day, my father, knowing that I was already mad about cars, brought home a couple of magazines for me to read while laid up. One was a rallying magazine, the other might even have been Autocar. In the latter was a review of the Saab 99 Turbo. I still remember the photo of it in jet black with the ‘fin’ alloy wheels, pictured outside a barn somewhere, looking to a 10-year-old like an unattainable dream. Meanwhile, in the rallying magazine were photos of 99s blasting…

The focus of development for this fourth-generation BMW 1 Series was found in the data. According to anonymised data collected from consenting customers, 1 Series drivers are more given to ‘spirited’ driving than the owners of any other model in the firm’s line-up. Which is why plenty of effort has gone into rewarding drivers, even on this entry-level model. So while this new 1 Series might not look like a dramatic departure from its third-generation predecessor – the kidney grille has been lowered slightly and there’s a stripped-back aesthetic that you could view as pleasantly clean or a touch bland – lots of detail work has taken place under the skin. Enough for BMW to label this as an entirely new model generation. With the Mk3 having made the seismic…

It might seem a little counterintuitive but, counterintuitive but, for the time being at least, this car is as big as a Polestar is going to get. Having been a one-model manufacturer for a couple of years, the Swedish brand is now ushering in a wave of new cars that will expand its line-up towards 2026. The Polestars 4, 5 and 6 will eventually populate an expanded network of UK dealerships. But, while those all might sound like notionally larger cars than a Polestar 3, none will be. For 3 is the biggest number. It identifies a car built on Volvo’s latest SPA2 platform, making it both a sister car to the new Volvo EX90 and one assembled not only in China but also at Volvo’s factory in South Carolina…

MEET PEUGEOT’S FIRST hybrid seven-seater. All right, that may not sound exciting, but the new third-generation 5008 is also the brand’s first plug-in hybrid seven-seater and first electric seven-seater, so it’s actually quite a big deal. Since the PHEV won’t be available until 2025 and Peugeot expects the hybrid to be the best-seller, we’re focusing on that here. It combines a 1.2-litre turbo petrol triple with an electric motor and a 0.9kWh battery. Efficiency is the priority, and so it scores an official 52.5mpg. We saw only 44.0mpg on our test drive, but that’s still decent, and CO 2 is rated at 122g/km, putting it in the 29% BIK tax bracket and beating the Kia Sorento Hybrid (158g/km, 36%). The 134bhp engine feels capable enough of hauling this 1705kg SUV…

“Stronger than time,”proclaims the brochure of the G-Class. It sounds slightly preposterous, but there is a certain Stonehenge-like quality about this car. It’s one of Mercedes’ longest-running nameplates and, superficially at least, it feels built for the ages. Stronger than time it may be, but the current generation, which was a complete but careful redesign of the classic G-Wagen, has been around since 2018, so for 2024 Mercedes has given it a facelift. DESIGN & ENGINEERING PROS Distinctive, characterful design; lots of off-road hardware CONS Its off-road prowess does bring on-road compromises Fundamentally the G-Class remains as traditional as it ever was and very different from every other Mercedes passenger car on sale today. It sticks with a live rear axle and a ladder frame made from thick sheet steel.…

This might seem an odd thing to say about what is year upon year one of Britain’s best-selling cars, but is the Vauxhall Corsa underrated? I must see Corsas all the time. Several times a day. But honestly, when did I really last think about a Corsa? I couldn’t tell you. When did one occupy my mind in the way I think about, I don’t know, a Tesla, or a BMW 3 Series, or even a Mini? No idea. It’s just there, the Corsa, always ticking along, clearly bought and used by loads of people, but it also feels – and this might be just me – weirdly taken for granted, like using your not-favourite teaspoon. Anyway, having thought about one, I thought I should spend some time with one.…

MILEAGE 5633 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if this potent electric hatchback’s award-winning reputation survives real-world use nother day, another long-distance test for our A long-distance test for Cupra Born. I’ve made no secret in previous reports about my EV-led ventures to the south coast, and this year’s excursion took me once again to the depths of Cornwall. My experience of doing this trip several times in EVs plus the general excellence of this Born means any lingering range anxiety has been vanquished. Such is my confidence that I don’t even feel the need to leave with a full charge – although that might be viewed as arrogance by the end of this story. I usually stop at Exeter services, which has 26 Gridserve chargers and a bunch of…

The hardy but handsome Land Rover Discovery 4 is one of the best secondhand 4x4s you can buy today, and its go-anywhere usability and load-lugging versatility can be yours for as little as £3000. Rather than start afresh for the fourth-generation Discovery, Land Rover took its already successful – and slightly more minimalist – Discovery 3 and evolved it into a ‘new-generation’ model. Various components were fettled to improve both on- and off-road performance, while also boosting cabin appeal. While the Discovery 4 retained the 3’s boxy, chunky aesthetic, Land Rover designers Gerry McGovern and Andy Wheel gave it a more luxurious finish, heavily influenced by the Range Rover. Purists scoffed at the notion of this no-nonsense 4x4 in an evening dress, but bodycoloured bumpers and tweaks to the headlights…

Toyota looks to be readying its GR Corollahot hatchback for a European launch as prototypes begin testing at the Nürburgring. Hot hatch fans have long called for Toyota to bring the Gazoo Racing variant of the Corolla to Europe. The standard car is the Japanese brand’s third-biggest seller in the region, behind the Yaris and the Yaris Cross. Toyota’s performance division already has a strong presence in Europe with its three current models: the GR Yaris, GR Supra and GR86. However, the GR86 is being killed off soon by the EU’s new GSR2 safety regulations – and that could make space for the GR Corolla to finally go on sale in Europe. Production of the standard Corolla takes place in Burnaston, but the all-wheel-drive hot version is built at the…

The spike in Tesla’s share prices in 2021 – which eventually valued the EV maker at more than a trillion dollars – triggered an unprecedented wave of optimism about EVs in the boardrooms of global car companies. Against a backdrop of financial markets rewarding the bold strategy of exiting combustion engines early, car companies were happy to set ambitious targets. Brands including Bentley, Ford, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Vauxhall and Volvo all laid out plans to go EV-only within the decade. Now, the sugar highs of the post-Covid EV stock market have crashed and manufacturers are facing the reality that electric car growth is proving to be far lumpier than they expected. Added to that, there is the UK’s zero-emission vehicle mandate (80% ZEV new car sales by 2030) and European Union…

MINI’S JOHN COOPER Works division will enter the electric age next month when it reveals its first hot EVs. But ahead of the impending debuts of the Mini John Cooper Works E hatchback and Aceman John Cooper Works E crossover at the Paris motor show, Chinese government filings have provided an early look at the performance EV duo. According to the filed documents, each model will be powered by a new motor that sends 255bhp through the front axle – 40bhp more than the motor used in the Cooper SE and Aceman SE. Underneath, the hatch is tipped to use the same 49.2kWh (usable) battery as the Cooper SE, with the Aceman JCW E drawing power from a 51.5kWh pack. Given the larger wheels and stickier tyres, as well as…

Dealers are offering discounts of more than 50% on ex-demonstrator electric cars as they battle slowing demand for used EVs. The incentives mean that low-mileage examples of EVs such as the Nissan Leaf and Vauxhall Mokka Electric can be bought for less than their nearest petrol-powered equivalents with similar mileage. The incentives are in part to ensure the ex-demo EVs undercut new models, which are also being offered with sharp discounts to boost sales as manufacturers try to hit their zero-emission vehicle mandate targets. There is also a supplyand-demand factor: because tax incentives encourage company car buyers – which account for the bulk of EV sales – to opt for new cars, there is still only a limited market for used EVs, yet there is a large amount of stock…

NEW vs USED TAYCAN vs IONIQ 5 N AND MORE Excellent used cars versus similarly valued excellent new cars REVIEW BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT SPEED For our first go in a Mk4 Conti, we drive a top-rung GT through Austria FEATURE PETERSEN MUSEUM A look around one of America’s most iconic car collections EVERY WEEK LONG-TERM TEST VAUXHALL CORSA Does this supermini still have what it takes to remain one of Britain’s best-selling cars? OUR CARS DACIA DUSTER The affordable runabout has pride of place on Steve Cropley’s drive. Here’s what it’s been up to…

“It has an accessible sense of oomph that many hybrid rivals lack” Hwave of interest in EVs at the beginning of this decade, MG has now hedged its bets rather cleverly as private buyers have checked their enthusiasm for full electrification. The company’s success is now being propelled, believe it or not, by a second fresh wave of EV scepticism. This year, MG has replaced the aged 3 supermini with a hybrid successor; has introduced a longrange, extra-attractive plug-in hybrid version of the HS family SUV; and is now betting on hybrid power yet again for its replacement of the ZS compact SUV. In each case, the Chinese brand is offering customers an attractively priced car with some of the key strengths of a fully electrified option but which they…

The Ioniq 5 N arrived to much fanfare around to much fanfare around its torque-vectoring and simulated gearshift party tricks, but it also introduced other tweaks to the Ioniq 5 line, such as an upgraded interior and a bigger battery. Those have now trickled down to the normal car. The battery has been upgraded from 58kWh to 63kWh for the smaller one, and 77kWh to 84kWh for the bigger one driven here. As before, the single-motor rear-drive model is reasonably efficient, returning about 3.3mpkWh in mixed use, so it’s now good for a real 277 miles. That should be maintained better in winter too, as a heat pump is now standard. The bigger battery also accepts a slightly faster charge rate of 260kW. Using a 350kW charger, I saw very…

The new Volkswagen Golf GTI is not electric and it’s not a hybrid, not even a mild one. In fact, it seems to carry on in much the same way it has done for nearly 50 years, being a simple but sensible take on the hot hatch that’s received incremental, pointed updates with every new generation and mid-cycle facelift. Viewed logically, this latest GTI should be the best there has yet been. Of course, the ‘new’ Golf GTI isn’t entirely new. The Mk8.5 is the updated version of the Mk8, which arrived in 2021 to hardly universal acclaim. It suffered from the Mk8 Golf’s general cabin tech problems, as well as a suspension tune that was uncharacteristically hardcore for what has always been a more grown-up take on the hot…

1989 MERCEDES-BENZ 300GD LWB Even in the 1980s the G-Wagen was a desirable, aspirational bit of kit. You sat higher than everyone and could go farther off the beaten track than almost anyone too, and it was that bit more exclusive than a Land Rover Defender. If this one were a rare AMG or Brabus, it would have been even more rad. 1984 TOYOTA CELICA SUPRA The A60-generation Supra is one of the coolest Japanese cars ever. The shape, pop-up headlights and deep-dished alloy wheels are all pure ’80s. 1985 PORSCHE 959 This lovely 959 may have been the most valuable motor at the show, but it was also one of the most subtle. A car for the more discerning millionaire. 1996 CHEVROLET CORVETTE As Radwood originated in the US,…

“It still has kerb appeal, it still steers sweetly and it’s still pretty good fun” MILES 6357 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To find out if this high-vis EV could be the future of hot hatches ell, this is awkward. Just 24 hours before Well, this is awkward.Just 24 hours before an Abarth 695 is due to be delivered to me for the purposes of an innocent comparison test with its fluorescent electrically powered alternative, Autocar’s indefatigable news hounds discover that the damned thing has gone off sale: Fiat is finally retiring the petrol-engined 500 and its sporting derivative. It has been a long time coming, of course. When we first drove the reborn 500 in 2007 (“A bad day to be a Mini dealer,” the immortal cover line proclaimed), Gordon…

AN OWNER’S VIEW CHARLIE KNIFTON “I bought a 2015 facelifted Discovery 4 to tow my fleet of luxury mobile toilet trailers. At present, I still have my 2015 model, as well as two 2016 Discovery 4s and a Discovery 5. They’re brilliant tow cars and regularly tasked with towing trailers upwards of three tonnes. They have plenty of power and the gearbox is really smooth. Sure, we’ve had lots of warning lights on the dashboard – failed EGR valves and cracked inlet manifolds to name just a few. Last year, one of our Discos snapped its crankshaft at 125,000 miles. I didn’t enjoy paying the £10k bill to fix it.” BUYER BEWARE… ■ ENGINE Detecting crank failure is difficult, because the engine is pretty gruff at idle anyway. But if…

The origins of an anonymous car-making giant Last week, we eulogisedthe I-Pace, production of which will soon end – in Austria, not the UK. That’s because it’s built for Jaguar by Magna Steyr, a company that is unknown outside the industry yet is a multibillion-dollar giant that has been trusted by some of the world’s most respected car makers. How did this come to be? Well, we must follow three distinct threads. Thread one takes us right back to 1830, when Leopold Werndl began manufacturing rifle parts in Steyr, Austria. Having expanded greatly during World War I, his firm decided to diversify, poached the famously convention-breaking engineer Hans Ledwinka from Tatra and in 1920 launched an affordable car of its own design. Autocar got its first taste of a Steyr…