Tabla de contenidos para April 2023 en CAR UK

DBX Sharp-steering SUV set to continue for a few more years, competing with the recently updated Lamborghini Urus. Plug-in hybrid variant imminent. Valhalla Originally V6-powered creation by Aston’s own hand, now designed to use AMG’s flatplane V8 from the GT Black Series. Expect to see a production car this year. Valkyrie The first Valkyries are finally arriving, individually specified, along with the track-ready AMR Pro. The V12 shrieks as loudly as its impatient, soon-to-be owners. Vantage Like the DBX, it’s expected to remain on sale for a little longer. It’s due a fairly imminent overhaul, and its replacement is likely to be the first Aston to go electric.…

THE DEFINITIVE VERDICT What constitutes the ingredie nts that persuade us to dub a car ‘premi-um’? And, moreover, will our perceptions of premium change as we glide haltingly towards the mechanised hum of another world? What – alarmingly elevated pricing aside – will we look for in an EV to grant it such revered status? This is one of many questions accompanying the latest raft of EVs to the launch pad. Whatever happened to the design and packaging free-dom we were promised with the advent of electric drive? And if we’re no longer to be enthralled by the sound of an exquisitely tuned engine at full chat, or the quest for the perfect downchange, what sensory al-ternatives will the future have to offer? Will it be fun? Will it even…

PUNCH A BIGGER HOLE Ferrari’s first four-door four-seater presented its aerodynamicists with new challenges and new opportuni-ties, but the same targets: low drag, effective cooling, high downforce and looking good. Tackling wake from the wheels by creating an air curtain – that in turn develops a seal – was crucial, while the F12 Berlinet-ta-inspired aerobridge (just ahead of the A-pillar) helps reduce drag. BIGGER, STIFFER, LIGHTER The bodyshell is mostly aluminium, with a carbonfibre roof to stop the centre of gravity getting too high. It sits on a new chassis that’s lighter than previous Ferrari four-seaters, with high-strength aluminium alloy for the lower structure and steel for occupant protection. It has improved torsional rigidity (up 30 per cent over the GTC4 Lusso) and beam stiffness (up 25 per cent). NOT…

PREVIEW 2023 01 RED BULL RACING The winning machine never sleeps Ah yes, Red Bull, the team with too much money… What a mercurial outfit Red Bull are. Having spent the better part of the last decade watching arch rivals Mercedes steamroller season after season, the insomniac fizzy pop upstarts are back where team boss and Drive to Survive bad-guy-you-love-to-hate Christian Horner fervently believes they belong – on top. The 2022 technical regulations effectively wiped the slate clean and Red Bull’s greatest asset, designer Adrian Newey, penned another monster. The RB18 had many strengths but its ballistic straight-line speed, courtesy of a majestic lack of drag, was breathtaking to behold. But Red Bull were so desperate to get back to the top they spent too much money, which creates a…

Lamborghini Huracan Evo Month 2 The story so far We’re living with the Evo version of Lamborghini’s V10 supercar this spring + Remarkably usable day-to-day, even in winter; glorious performance - Brilliant yellow is a nightmare to keep clean; hard to relax when a car is this potent and this expensive Logbook Price £165,656 (£216,806 as tested) Performance 5204cc V10, 631bhp, 2.9sec 0-62mph, 202mph Efficiency 20.6mpg (official), 17.7mpg (tested) 332g/ km CO2 Energy cost 42.9p per mile Miles this month 466 Total miles 3998 Lamborghini delivered a per-sonal-best 9233 cars throughout 2022, which is an impressive tally. But arguably more im-pressive was the Italian maker’s ability to herd more than 200 customer cars together at Sil-verstone race circuit on a chilly winter weekend. Owners of Aventadors, Huracans, Uruses – the…

My ‘Project Black Hole’ – ahouse in Snowdonia – is at the top of a long dirt track and the car I’ve been using recently, the Dacia Jogger, is front-wheel drive on skinny tyres. It strug-gles to wheelspin its way up af-ter a drop of rain. So you can imagine my smugness when I drive up there in the Skoda, which has come my way after Tim Pollard was diverted into a Lamborghini Huracan. There’s an off-road button by the gearlever which alters the 4x4 system, bringing up off-roading screens showing things like altitude and com-pass bearing. It’s out of keeping with the sporty vRS trim, but who cares? This rugged practi-cality beats shallow exhibition-ism any day. Right, Tim? MARK WALTON Skoda Octavia vRS Month 6 The story so far…

Dacia Jogger Extreme SE TCe 110 Month 6 The story so far Strange – the humble Dacia Jogger ends up being one of my favourite cars of recent months + Great to drive; as handy as a wheelbarrow; amazing value - Don’t expect Germanic build quality; one-star NCAP freaks some people out Logbook Price £18,745 (£19,640 as tested) Performance 999cc turbocharged three-cylinder, 108bhp, 11.2sec 0-62mph, 114mph Efficiency 48.7mpg (official), 40.2mpg (tested), 130g/ km CO2 Energy cost 19.3p per mile Miles this month 1515 Total miles 11,304 I’m paid to explain my opinions about cars but frankly I’m at a loss with this one. *SHRUG*. Dunno. It’s a mystery really. For some reason, all those cheap and cheerful Renault and Nis-san parts that Dacia assembled to create the Jogger came to-gether…

HOW DOES NEW GBU WORK? Constantly updated, new GBU covers eight of 16 classes in each issue, and we list all our class kings TOP 5 £500pcm+ EVs GIANT TEST WINNER 1 PORSCHE TAYCAN THE GOOD: Interstellar acceleration; stellar handling; agreeably tactile; roomier than a 911 THE BAD: Empty interior; ferociously expensive; not a 911 THE UGLY: Begs to be thrashed, but thrashing it clobbers the range THE ONE TO BUY: Choose from saloon, estate or Cross Turismo. Get the Taycan 4S (£87k or £940pcm) 2 BMW i7 THE GOOD: One of the best luxury cars south of a Rolls-Royce, electric or otherwise THE BAD: List price starts at £107k; weighs more than 2.7 tonnes; ‘brave’ styling THE UGLY: Theatre Screen option is pointless gimmickry THE ONE TO BUY: Don’t…

THIS MONTH BEST LUXURY CAR BENTLEY FLYING SPUR Epic interior; a joy whether you’re up front or in the back BEST GT FERRARI ROMA Beautifully balanced design, and a drive to match BEST SPORTS SALOON BMW M3/M4 Bewitching front-end grip and balance. Utterly stellar BEST COUPE/CABRIO BMW 2-SERIES Pick the M240i version for a miniaturised M4 BEST SUB-£500pcm FAMILY CAR BMW 3-SERIES Looks great, drives great, makes you feel great BEST £500pcm+ FAMILY CAR BMW 5-SERIES Still the de facto big saloon/estate choice BEST £500pcm+ EV PORSCHE TAYCAN Now a bigger seller than the 911 – and deservedly so BEST SUB-£500pcm EV MG 4 Confounds expectations: as fun a car as it is credible NEXT MONTH BEST SUB-£500pcm PHEV PEUGEOT 308 Design makes you look twice; actually worth a second…

Aston Martin’s DBS grand tourer is dead. This new 770 Ultimate edition is, to Aston Martin, ‘an emphatic last word’ for the biggest, swankiest and most opulent of its cars, and it just so happens to be the most powerful production GT in its long history. Just 300 coupes and 199 Volante convertibles are to be made in Ulti-mate specification, which includes a 44bhp power boost, tweaked aerody-namics and a revised chassis. All 499 of them have been sold. With the 770 Ultimate signalling the end of the DBS, and the DB11 set to depart soon, we are about to wit-ness the start of a new era for Aston Martin. And our sources tell us that possibilities being considered include a partnership with US luxury electric newcomer Lucid and a…

TARGET MARKET Audi’s ActiveSphere concept is to be the basis of a new production model designed to rival Merc’s EQG, as well as the inevitable electric Defender. ‘I’m a big fan of really rugged SUVs,’ says Audi design head Marc Lichte. ‘There’s potential for us because there are only two premium players – I think there’s space for a third.’ RIGHT ON CUE Lichte says that some of the ActiveSphere’s details will make it into production, including the flared wheelarches and toothed side sills. ‘With our history of quattro and rally successes in the ’80s and ’90s, it will not look like a copy of the Defender, I can promise you,’ he exclusively tells CAR. FACTFILE Powertrain 100kWh (est) battery, twin e-motors, all-wheel drive Chassis Steel and aluminium monocoque Due…

ROBIN SHUTE RACING DRIVER, THREE-TIME PIKES PEAK WINNER You know that feeling when you find your true home? Robin Shute does. And, oddly enough for someone from the flatlands of Norfolk, that spiritual home turned out to be the Pikes Peak hillclimb in Colorado. He’d always known about the an-nual race up the mountain in June, peaking at 4302 metres after 12.42 miles and 156 turns, because it was in Gran Turismo 2, and because dad Tony was an active hillclimb racer. ‘As soon as I got on the mountain I realised this was an event that very much suited my skill set,’ he tells CAR. ‘My CV lined up perfectly with what was required on the mountain: a lot of engineering, the ability to drive high-downforce cars. In my…

Quite the brag Lamborghini is celebrating the end of its non-electrified V12 era with two Aventador-based special editions. This coupe is the Invencible; the roadster is called Autentica. 8/10 V12’s not dead yet Ultimate let-down This Megane RS Ultime doesn’t just signal the end of Renault’s rear-steer hot hatch but of Renault Sport entirely, as Alpine takes over performance car duties. It’s just a few decals. 2/10 A phoned-in RS send-off A Bauhaus bow-out Audi has confirmed 2023 will be the last year of the TT, closing the book on a style-driven icon of a coupe. A new Final Edition adds some visual treats – but not much besides. 3/10 Little more than a bodykit Yob-tastic How did Subaru celebrate the end of its WRX STi? By keeping it exactly…

The Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV feels a lot like sitting in a nightclub, with its combination of sci-fi Hyperscreen and ambient lighting. But right now the synthesisers and drums darting around the cabin are ramping up the party atmosphere like never before. We’re trying out Mercedes’ new Spatial Au-dio system at a tech show, but our ears are convinced we’re in the middle of a live gig. You can almost smell the vodka Red Bull. Designed to offer a truly immersive 360º experience, Spatial Audio, which uses Dolby Atmos tech, is only available if you tick the top-of-the-range Burmester High-End 4D system – a £6k+ option in the £130,000 car we’re sitting in. Unlike other conventional systems which juggle sound between left and right channels only, this also works on an…

Four hundred and sixty five kilos. That’s four rugby players, or three MotoGP bikes, or a horse. It’s also the weight difference be-tween the all-electric Folgore version of the new Maserati GranTurismo, as featured in February’s First Drives, and the car we're testing here. This is the Trofeo, the more powerful of the two V6 versions of the Gran- Turismo using the Nettuno engine that’s such an important part of the MC20. Where the MC20 is a pure sports car, the GranTurismo is a serious effort to make a car that’s a GT in more than just name, a fast and luxurious car that’s still dynamically thrilling but capable of long, multi-occu-pant journeys – something that can hold its head high in the company of the Ferrari Roma, Mercedes SL…

The first issue raised by anyone interested in an EV is range. There’s near parity between the BMW and the Mercedes, but the Tesla’s way out on its own. Both the Teutons returned 3.2 miles per kWh on our EV test route, and the Tesla a handsome 3.9. How-ever, an average taken over a 220-mile journey involv-ing a good chunk of motorway tells a different tale: both BMW and Mercedes managed 2.7 miles per kWh, and the Tesla 3.2. But at 70mph on a cold day, the range of both German machines plummeted like an anvil kicked off a cliff. So much so, in fact, that both required a half-hour top-up on a 50kW charger before they could complete the journey home. With a tested range of 195 miles and…

After a long period of creative stagnation and business uncertainty, Mini is about to unleash an unprecedented wave of new cars – previewed here in our renderings. And that’s not all: there are some intriguing ideas waiting in the wings too. First up will be a new electric three-door Mini hatchback and combustion-engined three- and five-door Minis, plus a five-door Countryman. Then, in 2024, there will be an electric-only five-door Aceman crossover and the electric version of the Countryman, plus a combustion-engined convertible. That will be followed in 2025 by an electric two-door droptop. And CAR can reveal a major boost for UK manufacturing: Plant Oxford has clinched a deal to assemble the electric versions of the new Mini hatches as well as the combustion models. Not that everything will…

Hello Citroën C5 X Hybrid 225 Shine Plus Month 1 The story so far Citroën reckons its floaty flagship creates a new market segment. We’ll be the judge of that + Comfy and spacious, and 450 miles between fills - Tiny electric range Logbook Price £40,210 (£43,310 as tested) Performance 12.4kWh battery, 1598cc four plus e-motor, PHEV, 222bhp, 7.9sec 0-62mph, 145mph Efficiency 186.2mpg (official), 98.7mpg (tested), 30g/km CO2 Energy cost 11p per mile Miles this month 1077 Total miles 7576 Intriguing car, the C5 X. Citroën says it’s a mash-up of prestig-ious saloon, practical estate and SUV. Ours runs plug-in hybrid power, the one major hybrid type whose sales went back-wards in 2022. And it unapolo-getically goes all-in on comfort. So to recap: mongrel body-style, the wrong kind of electri-fication…

I got a new perspective on the Cupra when I joined the new Honda Civic Type R and friends for a CAR Giant Test on some Welsh hills. For a start, I stopped regarding the Born as being expensive; it’s cheaper than the Civic, the Audi RS3 and the VW Golf R, and under-cut only by the Hyundai i30 N and the BMW M135i, . You might not class the elec- tric Born as direct competition to any of these petrol cars – but that’s exactly what Cupra is go-ing for. It’s a £42,460 hot hatch with an emphasis on dynamics. It’s rear-wheel drive, though 0-62mph takes a hardly spritely seven seconds. So, how does it fare? Jump into any of the cars on this test and they feel pointier…

A pro and a con for the Golf R this month. Firstly, the clever (and standard) matrix LED headlights – they don’t just au-tomatically dim from full beam for oncoming traffic, they selec-tively dim, meaning they spare oncoming traffic a dazzle, but keep everything else illuminat-ed. Brilliant. The heated steering wheel (a £305 option) is often a pro on chilly mornings, but can be a con because it sometimes acti-vates automatically, then won’t turn off. At first I thought I was accidentally pushing the button on the steering wheel, so I’d press it again only for a message to pop up saying I’d just switched the heated steering wheel on. Inconsistent, so tough to diagnose. BEN BARRY Volkswagen Golf R Estate Month 5 The story so far The estate version…

The 959 has been tested more than a few times in the pages of CAR, and more often than not it’s found itself in the company of Ferrari’s lag-happy race refugee, the F40. Both are supercars, of course. But only the Ferrari looks like one, with its low nose, pop-up headlights, dart-like profile and rear tyres fat like a cricket-ground roller. By contrast the 959 looks tame: the familiar 911 silhouette sanded smooth and given a retro-futuristic twist that calls to mind Henrik Thor-Larsen’s Ovalia Egg Chair. But when Porsche readied the 959 for desert-racing duties, the 959 no longer wanted for visual impact. Lifted on all-terrain rubber and resplend-ent in one of the great Rothmans motorsport liveries, the 959 now looked as serious as its spec sheet told you…

Tell us about your first car… ‘A 1991 Vauxhall Astra hatch, my granny’s car. I drove that flat-out in every gear and I couldn’t break it.’ What's the best thing you've ever done in a car? ‘The winning Pikes Peak run from 2021, when the course was shortened because of the weather. I’d had so little practice and preparation, but I went really quickly.’ What achievement makes you most proud? ‘Being where I am now: I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve still got a hunger for doing things.’ Tell us about a time when you screwed up… ‘Once I was racing at Portland and for a dumb reason I had a hard-earned pole taken away, so I started from the back. In turn one I was going in too hot…

The 300-mile test NEW CAR MEETS REAL WORLD T he Alpine A110 never has been a big-numbers car. In fact, a dis-tinct lack of them is part of the point – low weight, low power, little everything, relatively af-fordable. But threading through the hills north of Madrid in the new A110R, I do wonder if potential buyers might expect a few more numbers from the range’s hardcore halo. Power from the R’s 1.8-litre turbo four is unchanged from A110S and GT siblings at 296bhp, weight falls only 34kg to – okay, blimey – 1082kg, aerodynamic downforce increases only 29kg at the rear versus the S and actually falls 33kg at the front for stability (read a little more under-steer) in faster corners. In fact, pricing makes for the most impressive…

I’m a bit late to the party (I put the magazine down and lost it for a while ) but I really enjoyed your top 60 car makers celebration of 60 years of CAR. Thank you. I particularly loved Mark Walton’s review of the Porsche 911 GT3 and Cayman GT4 RS (De-cember 2022 issue). So good I read it twice – the first time I have done that for many years. I was also very pleased to see Mark now has a long-term-test Dacia Jogger. Glad he is enjoy-ing it. I remember him enjoying a Fiat Multipla in a similar fashion, 20 years or so ago. I had one at the time and shared his views. I will probably end up with a Jogger as well at some stage after…

E verywhere I look is white. A never-end-ing and all-enveloping white that could hide everything or nothing behind its infinite veil. Thousands of ice flakes, each one perfectly unique, rain down from the sky like the frozen tears of an army of heavenly warriors, trapped for all eternity in the colourless cloud all around. How did I get here? My car sits in the landscape like a drop of dried blood on a pristine white table-cloth. In front of me is a looming rock face, towering above the winding, treacherous Alpine pass we’ve just scaled. Or at least, that’s what the map says. I can’t see either of them. The deathly silent ag-gression of the passing snowstorm has turned a vista fit for The Sound of Music into The Day…

Peugeot 308 Allure Premium PT130 EAT8 Month 4 The story so far Another month, another design appraisal for our 308 + Distinctive to look at, great colour - I need to clean it Logbook Price £28,130 (£28,130 as tested) Performance 1199cc turbocharged three-cylinder, 129bhp, 9.7sec 0-62mph, 130mph Efficiency 49.6mpg (official), 39.0mpg (tested), 129g/ km CO2 Energy cost 18.7p per mile Miles this month 1154 Total miles 9117 The story of Peugeot’s backlit fangs started with the 508, and I’d argue it’s one of the most in-spired design ideas to be put into practice over the last ten years. Impactful, clean and rec-ognisable from a difference. I spotted a 508 SW while out getting a grocery shop in, and couldn’t resist parking next to it to compare notes. That genera-tion of…

If you’ve been wondering about the flat-topped circles integrat-ed into the Mach 1’s grille, they’re blanked-off empty spac-es there in case buyers would like to fit aftermarket foglights. The original Mustang Mach 1 from the late ’60s came with little stereo foglights inside its grille, and in the new car rather than fit separate light units Ford has instead left mouldings for them in case you fancy fi-tting your own. I still like the idea of remov-ing the blanking plastic from one of the holes and turning it into a cooling vent for the su-percharger conversion I’ve been daydreaming about for some time now. (It has been noted that my productivity slips a lit-tle, now and again.) JAMES TAYLOR Ford Mustang Mach 1 Month 10 The story so far Mach…

Last month I said I was regular-ly charging the CX; this month the EV socket only got a hand-ful of gigs. More than 1530 of the month’s 1654 miles were completed on a marathon road trip with no access to charging spots. I could have topped up at pricey motorway service sta-tions, but does any other PHEV owner on a 400-mile journey ever plug-in midway? Fast motorway cruising de-livers around 31-35mpg – rough-ly what the non-hybrid Audi Q5 2.0 TFSI I ran a few years ago returned. The difference is, now that I’m back home doing mixed driving with occasional access to a plug I’m getting over 45mpg, where the Q5 would have dipped into the 20s. CHRIS CHILTON Mazda CX-60 2.5 Homura Month 3 The story so far Use…

Who says we don’t do the hard-hitting consumer tests? This month I jumped from electric e-Tron GT to V10 supercar to 1.2 DSG Leon estate to bring you the verdict no one else will. This 2014 Seat belongs to CAR’s James Taylor. It does 48mpg, rides like a Rolls, refuels in less than a minute, rewards a bit of effort and corner speed with a richer sense of in-volvement than the other two can manage and boasts by far the best cli-mate controls. By contrast, the Lam-borghini’s touch interface is complex and fiddly, re-quiring too much time with eyes off the road. Same for the volume con-trol. Give. Me. A. Knob. If only the Leon packed the Evo’s V10 and corner speed. And the e-Tron GT? It emerged from this…

1 MAZDA CX-60 THE GOOD: Mazda eschews complex pick-and-mix options for a comparatively straightforward build: CX-60 SUV can be yours in weeks rather than months THE BAD: The fewer toys you spec, the faster you get the car THE UGLY: Not a first-choice SUV 2 TOYOTA SUPRA 2.0 THE GOOD: Thanks to supply quirks, various Toyotas have limited immediate availability, including the C-HR crossover and 2.0-litre Supra sports car THE BAD: You’ll need to speak to dealers directly to confirm THE UGLY: Not a straight-six 3 NISSAN QASHQAI THE GOOD: Being produced in Sunderland means fewer associated shipping delays; e-Power version has a one-to-three-month lead time, about the same as times pre-pandemic THE BAD: No longer class-leader THE UGLY: So dull. So very dull 4 VW GOLF LIFE THE GOOD:…