Table of contents for 1901 in Auto Express

A COUPLE of things have surfaced recently that illustrate just how hard the full transition to electric vehicles is going to be. Firstly, as you’ll see on page 54, anyone who wants to tow is going to have a bit of a nightmare. Think back to the summer and the number of caravans on the road, and you’ll understand the scale of the problem if they all have to charge every 100 miles or so. As well as causing huge frustration for people having to top up two or three times to get to their destination, there are only a handful of charging bays where you don’t need to go through the rigmarole of unhitching. While many drivers might not be too upset that caravanners could be inconvenienced to the…

SUBARU earned a cult following in the nineties. In the hands of rally stars Richard Burns and Colin McRae, the Impreza Turbo – later the WRX – was a British and World Rally Championship winner that the public could go out and buy. But then things started going wrong. Subarus were very popular among sports fans in the UK, but sales were also booming in the USA and Australia, where performance was less of a focus. In those markets, sales for crossovers like the Forester and Outback went berserk, and all-wheel drive appealed to buyers in cold climates or on rugged terrain. Subaru’s relevance might have been born in the rally world, but SUVs were more profitable, thus the company’s entire range changed direction. Then there was its hesitation to…

THE Kia K4 has been on sale in the US since 2024 – and now it’s been confirmed that it’s coming to the UK. Pitched between the C and D segments (think Skoda Octavia rival, sized between the Volkswagen Golf and Passat), the K4 will prioritise comfort and space when it reaches UK showrooms towards the end of this year. What you might have deduced, given that it’s called K4 rather than EV4, is that this new Kia will be powered by a selection of combustion engines rather than a pure-electric power train. Kicking off the range is a positively old-school 1.0-litre turbo charged three-cylinder, while a mild hybrid and a 1.6 T-GDI petrol, in 148bhp or 178bhp form, will also feature and a full hybrid will join the range…

THE RS 6 e-tron is probably dead, but this S6 e-tron prototype proves that Audi is still working on performance EVs. The brand has been spotted testing late-version prototypes of an S6 e-tron with bigger wheels and a more aggressive stance, but this new prototype potentially poses more questions than it answers. Many ICE-powered RS 5 and RS 6 prototypes have been spied across different continents, but the hottest electric Audis have been put on ice. Instead, the brand seems set to offer an optimised version of the current S6 e-tron. The decision not to have full RS models of its top-spec e-trons means far less scrutiny and pressure – and avoids having to justify the costly development programmes required to deliver them. For example, most RS Avants feature a…

DENZA, the premium tech-focused sister brand of BYD, is set to arrive in the UK early next year. Its plans involve a near-1,000bhp estate, a luxury MPV and a big, brutish off-roader to challenge the Land Rover Defender. In an exclusive interview with Auto Express, BYD’s UK country manager Bono Ge outlined how Denza is hoping to land a blow on premium European brands such as Mercedes and even Porsche with its selection of cars, plus a network of hyperspeed fast chargers that will be affordable and open to all. The first of the models to arrive here will be the Z9GT estate that features both plug-in hybrid and all-electric powertrains, with the EV able to deliver 952bhp and 1,150Nm of torque. That’s nearly 100bhp more than the Ferrari 296…

A QUARTER of driving tests are now being taken in a car with an automatic transmission, suggesting that the reign of the manual gearbox may soon be over. Last year, 1.8 million practical driving tests were conducted across England, Scotland and Wales. Of these, 470,000 were automatic tests, which only qualify drivers who pass to get behind the wheel of vehicles with two pedals, rather than three. This is a slight bump over the previous year, in which more tests were taken (1.9 million) but fewer automatic tests were conducted (455,000), representing just 23 per cent of the total examinations. A decade ago, only seven per cent of practical driving exams were taken in automatic cars. In fact, the AA estimates that one in three tests could be automatic by…

CARS are quieter than ever these days thanks to the presence of exhaust filters and electrified powertrains. However, there are many people who still enjoy the roar of a revving engine – although it’s something that others might understandably see as a nuisance. In fact, when Auto Express surveyed 1,000 motorists, our data found more than half are disturbed in their homes by loud exhausts several times per month. One in three (33 per cent) of those affected complained about the impact on the quietness of their garden, while almost a third (30 per cent) said their sleep was disturbed by noisy passing vehicles. The issue is now so common that police forces have started deploying specialised noise cameras, which can identify and subsequently penalise those driving with anti-social exhausts.…

ANOTHER day, another Chinese electric crossover, this time pitched at the large family car market and up against the BYD Sealion 7 and Peugeot E-5008 for size. Unlike the versatile E-5008, it’s a five-seater and costs £39,990 – that’s £7,000 cheaper than the Peugeot and BYD. It’s the car to launch the Changan brand in the UK. Reportedly China’s oldest car company, originating in 1984, it hails from the world’s biggest city, Chongqing, which is the size of Austria and home to 30 million people. Plenty of customers that set Changan on its way. More than 20 years ago the firm began to establish operations overseas: design in Turin and Munich, powertrain R&D in the UK. The result is the S07, from the sub-brand Deepal (another EV brand from Changan…

HAVING a Bentley on the towcar test isn’t as much of an alien concept as it might initially seem. After all, the Bentayga uses a platform that shares much with the Porsche Cayenne, which is a past TCotY winner, and the SUV body delivers practicality, especially if you choose the 180mm longer EWB version of our Luxury class winner. With prices starting well north of £150,000, the Bentayga is certainly a niche choice, but then no other car in the towcar test offers the same level of opulence and quality. There are acres of soft leather, deep-pile carpets and high-quality metal switchgear, and the organ-stop air vent controls are a piece of pure theatre. In fact, sleeping in the caravan you’re towing could feel like you’ve been downgraded, given how…

THE RS 3 has been one of the most successful and desirable hot hatches of the past decade or so, and that’s because there’s many key things that help it stand out from the crowd. It’s one of the few, alongside the Mercedes-AMG A 45, that is produced by a premium brand rather than a mainstream maker, which instantly gives it a kick of badge appeal that alternatives can’t match. Then there’s the lure of the quattro nameplate, instantly tying the RS 3 to the brand’s rallying heritage. But standing out among all these USPs, it’s what’s under the bonnet that really sets Audi’s hottest hatch apart. That five-cylinder engine offers up not only huge power, but also a distinct soundtrack – one that has become even more important given…

Price: £16.97 Contact: lasertools.co.uk A FLAT tyre can happen anywhere, and often at the most inconvenient moment. Yet if you open the boot of most modern cars, you’ll see an empty space where you’d expect to find a spare wheel. Alternatively, you might find a can of sealant foam, which will only work on the smallest of holes. For bigger punctures you could try the new Emergency Tyre Repair Kit from Laser Tools. This uses the same type of bungs as the breakdown recovery services to plug up any holes in a tyre and get you to your destination – or at least to a repairer. Laser’s kit is small enough to fit in a glovebox and includes all the essentials needed to temporarily plug a puncture. The first is a…

PICTURE this: you’re in a car dealership looking at what could be your new pride and joy, and the suave salesperson moseys on up to you. What’s the first question you ask them? How long is the warranty? How big’s the boot? Likely, if you’ve got kids or lots of kit. Does the grille light up? Hopefully not, unless it’s out of a sense of bewilderment or horror – especially if it’s a Mercedes showroom you’re in. But I bet you’ve never thought to ask “How safe is this car?”. If you did ask that question and the salesperson’s response was either to fake getting a phone call or joke “Oh jeez, this thing is an absolute deathtrap!” before shamefully staring at the floor, I’d advise you to leave that…

LONG-established manufacturers of traditional premium cars enjoyed a largely uninterrupted, highly profitable run over the last few decades. But now they must deal with two self-inflicted problems. The first is that the inflation-busting price hikes they’ve ambitiously imposed in recent years are unnecessary, unfair, unsustainable and about to backfire on them. The second is this: their products aren’t as premium, special or desirable as they were. How come? Because a small but growing band of allegedly inferior makers is fast catching up. Some of their models are good enough to earn them promotion to the league that Audi, BMW and Mercedes rule, along with younger wannabes such as Lexus and Genesis. But most of these firms have lately failed to spot or respond to brands that previously offered zero direct…

IT’S easy to see the Kia EV4 just as the latest rival to the Volkswagen ID.3, Renault Megane and our reigning Car of the Year, the Skoda Elroq. Or merely as the sleeker sibling of the award-winning EV3 SUV. While all of that is true, this is also the brand’s first electric car designed specifically for Europe, which was fine tuned on European roads and is being built in Slovakia, where the now-deceased Kia Ceed was produced for nearly 20 years. At least that’s true for the EV4 hatchback. Kia has also launched a much less conventional-looking EV4 Fastback that’s being built in the brand’s South Korea homeland. It adds a sloping roofline and 300mm to the car’s back end, and is a rival for electric saloons such as the…

THE UK’s most popular small car, the Vauxhall Corsa, will go electric-only when the next generation arrives in 2028. Engineers are already developing the crucial EV model at Opel’s headquarters in Rüsselsheim, Germany. The new car will be the first Vauxhall to be sold exclusively as an electric car, despite the brand recently rowing back on its pledge to go EV-only by 2028, after growth in electric car sales fell behind the predicted rate. Demand may not have been as expected, but Opel chief executive Florian Huettl confirmed that the new Corsa, built on parent company Stellantis’s STLA Small platform that will also underpin the next Peugeot 208, would cost from around 25,000 Euros (£21,800), the price point where he claimed electric cars achieve price parity with petrol models. Huettl…

HYUNDAI has hinted that a hot N version of the Ioniq 3 is in the pipeline. And the Concept Three, revealed at the recent Munich Motor Show, contains several thinly veiled hints about the car’s future. “The concept is quite sporty, and obviously you have heritage with [the] N brand,” Hyundai’s European boss Xavier Martinet told Auto Express. “It’s a fair topic to consider.” The concept, which will develop into the production Ioniq 3 hatchback next summer, contains styling details that also betray its sporting intentions. These include the flared wheelarches, a trick previously employed on the Ioniq 5 N to create a more imposing look without needing to make major bodywork changes. “The question is always if there is customer demand. Is there a market?” continued Martinet. “How do…

US electric-car brand Lucid has confirmed plans to attack the UK market with a new mid-size SUV to rival the Tesla Model Y, potentially alongside the larger Gravity SUV, which was given a European debut at the recent Munich Motor Show Speaking at the event in Germany, the company’s CEO, Marc Winterhoff, told Auto Express that Lucid “will enter the UK with a mid-size platform”. While the brand is remaining tight-lipped about its future models, we know that the platform is set to be the basis of both a Tesla Model Y and Model 3 rival, launching in the US in late 2026, with a target price of around $50,000 (£36,900). That would undercut both the Model 3 (£39,990) and the Model Y (£44,990), although any word on specs, range…

THE petrol-powered city car is dead, right? Not if Toyota has anything to say about it, because in a surprise move it has invested in its tiny Aygo X by fitting a cost-effective and highly efficient hybrid engine as part of a wider facelift. It’s not going to mobilise the masses quite like the original did – the car won’t be particularly cheap when UK prices are revealed in a few months – but the Aygo X is a European-designed and engineered model that has been created to excel here. So what’s changed? Previously, the Aygo X was only available with a 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine combined with either a five-speed manual or CVT transmission. This new model throws that ancient motor in the bin and replaces it with a…

WE’RE big fans of the Skoda Elroq, having named it our Car of the Year back in July. All things considered then, this vRS version should be a showstopper – especially with it being the brand’s fastest car yet – but we were a little underwhelmed when we drove the car in the Czech Republic earlier this year. So, how does it fare on UK roads? To recap, the Elroq vRS gets a dual-motor set-up producing a not inconsiderable 335bhp, which will blast it from 0-62mph in 5.4 seconds. That’s enough to leave following drivers in your wake when you put your foot down, but hardly exceptional when the less expensive MG4 XPower boasts 429bhp, and can sprint to 62mph in a potentially lunch-losing 3.8 seconds. The vRS comes as…

“OVERALL, THE VW PASSAT PROVED TO BEST ABLE AND COMFORTABLE AT ALL SPEEDS AND OFFERED VICE-FREE HANDLING WITH A TRAILER ATTACHED” THE estate car has long provided the perfect platform for towing, with lots of space on board to carry all of the gear that you might need for a trip with a trailer. The new-car market’s focus on SUVs means there are fewer estate options these days, but the Volkswagen Passat (which is only offered with this bodystyle in its latest guise) proves there’s still space in the towing market for a practical and versatile wagon. In top-spec R-Line guise the Passat can be had with a 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine with a decent 201bhp and 320Nm of torque. This gives the car a maximum towing capacity of 1,800kg,…

“WHAT HAPPENS OUT THERE IN REAL DRIVING CONDITIONS, JOSTLING WITH JAMS, WIPERS ON AND OFF, AIR-CON ON, STEREO BLARING?” YOU might think 60mph on the motorway is a recipe for EV efficiency. And when I charged Kia’s EV9 GT-Line AWD to 100 per cent in the early morning gloom, the trip computer displayed a reassuring 287 miles. More than enough for a 198-mile cruise from Bristol to Land’s End, a well travelled holiday-maker path. How wrong could I be? The big SUV has only covered 60-odd miles at this steady pace, but the display is already predicting it’ll be touch and go to reach Land’s End. That’s what happens when you’re a 12-metre-long wagon train, with the seven-seat Kia hitched to a Bailey Unicorn Deluxe Cabrera caravan. I’m overcome with…

IF you managed to flick though the previous 14 pages of our hot-hatch twin test, you’ll surely not mind another couple on one of their toughest and best-established rivals: the Volkswagen Golf R. It’s the latest addition to the Auto Express fleet and is a car I hold particularly close to my heart. To understand why, you’ll need to rewind the best part of a decade, when I grabbed the keys to VW’s then-new Mk7 Golf R for the two-week festive break. I’d been using it to tour the country, seeing family and friends, loaded with gifts and other gubbins; everything my then-fiancée and I would need for a fortnight away from home. Yet I don’t think I was prepared for the lasting effect it would have on me –…

WHILE many luxury and high-performance cars will need a professionally fitted tracking device to qualify for insurance cover, the cost can seem prohibitive for anyone with a lower-value vehicle. Besides the original purchase and installation costs, most will require you to pay a monthly subscription. This could make it too expensive for drivers who just want to keep an eye on their car or trailer while it is out of sight. DIY-fit trackers have come down in cost recently and the easiest to fit are ones with an internal battery, because they don’t need to be connected to power. This also means they are much harder for thieves to find and disable. Our favourite is the TruTrak Pro GAT24, which has a low cost and cheap monthly subscription. Its rival…

NEWS that Subaru will look to double-down on its motorsport heritage (Page 10) will chime with World Rally Championship fans. But the company is not the first to use its racing nous to develop accomplished road-going alternatives. We’ve lined up three used stars with rallying links – all for the price of a new premium electric SUV. 1 AUDI TT RS–£36,495 THE Audi TT RS was never a rally winner, but its Quattro forebear defined the genre in the eighties, and its four-wheel drive technology is still in use throughout the German manufacturer’s modern-day line-up. Although you can find the AWD set-up in everything from the A3 hatchback to the seven-seat Q7 SUV, it’s the feisty, five-cylinder TT RS that gets our vote here. High-mileage cars dip under £30,000, but…

“EVs ARE COMING AND MAKING THE THINGS THAT WE’RE DREAMING OF POSSIBLE AGAIN, LIKE THAT BLUE CAR WITH THE YELLOW PAINT”DAVID DELLO STRITTO Subaru general manager for Europe SUBARU is looking to “reignite old passions” with a new halo model, which is among seven fresh electric vehicles coming to the UK by the end of 2028. The brand, famous for its performance saloons and rally cars in the nineties and 2000s, is aiming to instil some of that sporting heritage into its EVs to rebuild enthusiasm for the niche badge. The company has long been under pressure from enthusiasts to return to the type of cars that made it popular in Europe before success in other markets moved its focus away from performance models to rugged estates and SUVs. And…

NISSAN’S EV transformation is now into its “toughest product” yet, with development work already under way on a hi-tech 1,000bhp replacement for the company’s iconic GT-R performance car. The next generation of GT-R will coincide with the revitalisation of Nissan’s sporty sub-brand Nismo, the results of which have already been seen in the shape of the new Ariya Nismo, Patrol Nismo and Z Nismo, with a Micra Nismo hot hatch variant also expected. “GT-R is the toughest product in the line-up. It’s not just about a sports car – GT-R is about bringing something different and this is what we’re working on,” Xavier Tesson, product planner for Nissan Europe, told Auto Express. He added: “Do we really want to bring technology that already exists? That’s where the whole effort is…

WE may still be waiting for the Toyota GR Corolla in the UK, but lucky drivers in Japan – where the hot hatch has been on sale since 2022 – are welcoming an upgraded model. The revised GR Corolla goes on sale from 3 November in the manufacturer’s home market, while the order book is now open for buyers keen to reserve a car. It’s likely that this version of the hot Corolla will arrive here next year. Revisions include a reinforced body structure, with additional adhesive designed to increase rigidity and better handle the intense G-forces experienced around circuits. Performance has also been boosted. A new cool air duct reduces intake-air temperature during hard driving, ensuring stable output even during prolonged full-throttle use.…

THIS is the new Nissan Qashqai – although it’s not so much a new version of one of Britain’s best-selling cars, but a new powertrain installed in the existing model. And as powertrains go, this one has seriously impressed us. Nissan’s e-Power hybrid tech has proven to be very popular, with more than a quarter of a million units sold in Europe since the system was introduced in the Qashqai and larger X-Trail. However, the e-Power models have never quite hit the mark from a driving point of view. Yes, they were fairly responsive, thanks to a set-up where only the electric motor drives the front wheels (it’s easiest to think of e-Power as an EV that uses a petrol engine, instead of a big battery, to send energy to…

“The suspension is superb, floating the body along undulating tarmac without any issue at all” LOOK at the spec of the new Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II and it’d be easy to think it was a relic of the past. Its V12 petrol engine is unassisted by anything as crude as hybrid modules, or any extra battery beyond the 12V pack that powers its electrically operated doors. Like the Ritz Hotel or a Rolex watch, the Ghost is a nostalgia trip through tradition and splendour – but with a caveat or two. The car has been updated for its Series II era, and it comes with almost no concessions. It may be considered the entry-level Rolls, but behind its imposing grille sits a 6.75-litre V12 engine with two turbochargers, powering all…

FOR the Large Family Towcar award, it’s a case of winner stays on, with the Volkswagen Multivan retaining its class title for the fourth year running. The big VW is a showcase for the people carrier bodystyle, and it proves that you don’t need to buy an SUV to get a stylish family car with loads of practicality. Volkswagen made the right call when it moved the Multivan away from its traditional Transporter van roots and placed it on the same platform as the Passat, because it delivers a refined and comfortable driving experience that is a world away from the somewhat utilitarian traits of past incarnations. However, it still comes with a commanding van-like view of the road and your surroundings, while the massive body offers a colossal 3,672…

IN the long line of stunning models in the Civic Type R back catalogue, the current FL5 ranks not only as the greatest hot hatch that Honda has ever produced, but one of the greatest by any manufacturer, too. Excitement, control, speed and feedback – all are here in abundance. While front-wheel drive might not be the purest formula for a fast car, this is exactly how it should be done. ENGINES & PERFORMANCE EVER since Honda took the Civic Type R from a naturally aspirated screamer with a red line approaching 9,000rpm to a 2.0-litre turbocharged unit with much more low-down muscle, the manufacturer has constantly evolved the K20 four-cylinder engine to hone the formula to the level that it’s at today. For the current family of Civic, the…

SPENDING a lot of time in a car over a condensed period is a great way to unearth its strengths and weaknesses. So, a two-week, 1,200-mile break, loaded to the gills, with a roofbox on top plus four bikes strapped securely to the rear, was a fitting final test for one that has now sadly left us. My previous long-term experience of plug-in hybrids dates back to PHEVs with a range of 20-ish miles, but the Range Rover Sport is part of a new breed that can manage more than 50 miles in the real world – its official test figure is 72 miles. This makes longer electric-only journeys possible – or at least stretches out the distance you can do before the electric motor kicks in. And stretching it…