Tabla de contenidos para July 2023 en CAR UK

Aston Martin 2 Litre Sports (1948-1950) A delicate 90bhp spor ts car emerged post-war when Da-vid Brown took the reins at Aston. Although not wearing a DB badge, it was later dubbed DB1 when replaced by DB2 in 1950. Just 15 were manufactured. Aston Martin DB5 (1963-1965) Arguably one of the most famous cars ever made, thanks to the James Bond films, the DB5 set the template for hear tland Astons. Note the relationship between grille, headlights and bonnet – triangulating a facial DNA whose genetic code is intact on the latest DB12. Aston Martin DB11 (2016-2023) The outgoing DB11 has ser ved for seven years as a grand tourer in coupe or Volante body st yles. Notable for ushering in the era of Mercedes-AMG engines and infotainment, the 4.0…

Tell us about your first car… ‘I borrowed my sister’s Beetle to star t with, but then bought a very, very old Peugeot 104 in bad condition. But it was my car! Bought it for 1000 francs, drove it around 20,000km, then sold it for the same price!’ What achievement makes you most proud? ‘What we’ve done on elec trification with Jeep. FCA was so behind on it, and now the Wrangler is the number one PHEV in America.’ What’s the best thing you’ve ever done in a car? ‘It has to be the Rubicon Trail. I’ve done a lot of crazy things in my life, but that place is magical.’ Tell us about a time you’ve screwed up… ‘My marriage. Across my career, I’ve had positions all over the…

It’s a big question, and it’s only going to become bigger: what happens to your electric car’s battery when its per-formance starts to dim? One rather labour-intensive an-swer is to break the pack down to its raw elements and build a new one. Another much more environmentally friendly way of redeploying it is to split the cells up and use them for other purposes, giving them a second life. Car makers have been investigating, piloting and imple-menting second-life batteries for years. Renault and BMW both have agreements to provide well-used EV batteries to power-storage providers. Nissan uses Leaf batteries to run solar street lights in Japan, intended to provide light dur-ing blackouts caused by natural disasters. The wider Re-nault-Nissan Alliance worked with the Mobility House – abusiness that develops energy-storage…

ABARTH 500e The 300-mile test NEW CAR MEETS REAL WORLD It’s just after 9am in the sleepy commune of Balocco, northern Italy, and a throaty four-cylinder engine sound has just shat-tered the peace. It’s not unusual in these parts; the Stellantis test track next door means various performance cars will often be seen and heard ambling their way through, but this time something’s different. An Abarth 500e rolls up to the lights, its glowing Acid Green paint popping against the dark red brickwork of the clock tower behind. It’s an EV based on the Fiat 500e, yet rather than emit a discreet whine or hum, it’s rumbling and gargling at idle. It sounds for all the world like some-one has recorded the engine noise from an Abarth 695 and played…

Giant test THE DEFINITIVE VERDICT Just a few hours into our four-day test, the frowning and chin-rubbing is in full effect. No, it’s not just you. Yes, I found that too. Maybe we should go for another loop through those hills, just to make sure… The reason for our collective perplexity? The estate version of the all-new Mercedes-AMG C63, the one that’s ditched the V8 in favour of a hybridised 2.0-litre four. Some months ahead of the Merc’s arrival in the UK, we’ve put it up against its two natural foes. The BMW is the first ever M3 Touring. The Audi is the limited-edition Performance version of the RS4 Avant. And it soon becomes apparent that there are some pretty serious questions to be answered. Not just the obvious –…

BENTLEY SPEED SIX BRINGING A BIT OF EXCITEMENT TO PEACETIME The legend of the Bentley Boys is born Bentley was the most successful pre-war marque at Le Mans, and its ‘Bentley Boys’ team of drivers the most triumphant and charismatic. They included the man who became financial backer and chairman of Bentley in 1926, Woolf Barnato – with three wins, the most suc-cessful pre-war driver – and my own favourite of the Bentley Boys, Glen Kidston. He was the wealthiest (even richer than Barnato), the most dare-devil (among a fearless band of brothers) and won Le Mans in 1930, with Barnato. After numerous near misses in aeroplane, motorcycle, speedboat, battleship and submarine accidents, his de Havilland Puss Moth crashed in a dust storm over the Drakensberg mountains on the return…

Hello Jaguar F-Pace SVR Month 1 The story so far The other JLR SVR + Looks; chassis; performance; practicality; infotainment - Fuel economy from ageing if charismatic engine Logbook Price £85,180 (£87,940 as tested) Performance 5000cc supercharged V8, 542bhp, 4.0sec 0-62mph, 178mph Efficiency 23.5mpg (official), 18.9mpg (tested), 274g/km C02 Energy cost 35.3p per mile Miles this month 151 Total miles 1705 A couple of years ago I ranked the Jaguar F-Pace SVR first against three highly impressive German rivals – the Porsche Cayenne Coupe GTS, Audi RS Q8 and BMW X6 M. It was the blend of comparatively good value, rollicking V8 perfor-mance, engaging chassis dy-namics and daily usability wot swung it. ‘The vast majority of in-mar-ket CAR readers will gel with the Jaguar F-Pace SVR, no mat-ter usage,’ I…

Mazda CX-60 2.5 Homura Month 6 The story so far We’ve finally got the magic touch, after months of ignorance about this feature + Discovered touchscreen operation - Only works when stationary Logbook Price £48,170 (£52,020 as tested) Performance 2488cc four-cylinder plus e-motor, 17.8kWh battery, PHEV, 323bhp, 5.8sec 0-62mph, 124mph Efficiency 188.3mpg (official), 34.5mpg (tested), 33g/km CO2 Energy cost 20.0p per mile Miles this month 2884 Total miles 13,007 I was moaning to my passenger about the CX-60’s media system and 12.3-inch screen as we waited at traffic lights when it happened. ‘The scroll wheel is great, but it’s just incredible that it’s not also a touchscreen,’ I said, stabbing at the display, only to be left flabbergasted when the track that had just begun playing on Spotify skipped to…

No Our Cars story these days is complete without an app. Citroën’s is… patchy. It’s a faff to set up, and has an interface seemingly modelled on my kids’ tidying up: things are just stuffed in random places. Initially, I didn’t realise I could remote charge because activation was in a hidden ‘Services’ sub-menu, but once you get over that it works fine. Collection of data is scandalously uneven (it missed about 1200 of my miles this month!), which doesn’t help keep tabs on economy. And the presentation of exported data is an unusable mess. Next time an executive tells me Stellantis is a tech company, my rebuttal might start with the My Citroën app. PHIL McNAMARA Citroën C5 X Hybrid 225 Shine Plus Month 4 The story so far…

Lamborg hini Huracan Evo Month 5 The story so far Our five-month fairytale living the Lamborghini dream comes to an end + Drama and V10 fireworks, but also remarkable usability - Subtle it ain’t: Huracan’s no shrinking violet (whatever colour it’s painted) Logbook Price £198,787 (£260,167 as tested) Performance 5204cc V10, 631bhp, 2.9sec 0-62mph, 202mph Efficiency 20.6mpg (official), 21.2mpg (tested) 332g/km CO2 Energy cost 36.8p per mile Miles this month 1237 Total miles 6801 As our high-revving, volt-dodg-ing Lamborghini Huracan su-percar was taken away on a low-loader, a sense of loss and poignancy descended. Not just a sadness that this car has gone, but a feeling that there will be few opportunities for experi-encing anything like this ever again, even in CAR’s privileged position, as the world pivots away from…

IN THE SPOTLIGHT There will be some who welcome the new Aston Martin DB12 with open arms: here is a new sports car bereft of complex hybrid technology, shorn of electric motors and heavy battery cells to neuter the driving experience. There’s a gloriously back-to-basics quality to its spec sheet – one that doesn’t require a fiendish new lexicon to understand, and won’t hold fear for drivers who just want a car with visceral character and no electro artifice. Others may look at the lack of electrification with horror and ask how on Earth in 2023 Aston Martin can viably launch a new model with a twin-turbocharged V8 listed as its only power source. New hybrids are coming from the likes of Porsche and Bentley in 2024, with full electric…

DOUBLE TEAM Given Skoda’s sales success in Eastern Europe, which lags behind on EVs, it isn’t letting go of combustion engines yet. A new-generation Superb will be revealed this year, still propelled by petrol, diesel or PHEV power. But Skoda’s EV roll-out includes this new estate, a Karoq replacement and VW ID. 2 sibling by 2026. MEB ALL THE WAY All of Skoda’s announced new EVs (including the production version of the Vision 7S) will use MEB+, an upgraded version of the VW Group’s EV platform. MEB+ includes new ‘unit-cell’ batter y packs, with up to 435 miles of e-range and 200kW charging. Skoda is already using the vRS badge on EVs, so a new vRS wagon may happen. MODERN SOLID That’s the name of Skoda’s new design philosophy, first…

THE SOCIAL MEDIA ANTAGONISER Love the looks, or hate them? The internet can’t decide about the new BMW Concept Touring Coupe. It’s a hardtop Z4, apeing the zany Z3 M Coupe from the new millennium, complete with a bougie tan leather interior and Alpina-like wheels. BMW’s head of brand design, Domagoj Dukec, is gauging interest for a limited production run NEED TO KNOW What is it? A resurrected ‘clown shoe’ I Tech specs Potent straight-six, opulent leather from Poltrona Frau and a matching luggage set from Schedoni I Aimed at? Poking the Twitter bear, again I When can I get one? Maybe from 2025 THE NEW DAWN PREACHER After years of middling anonymity, having returned to the UK with its budget-minded combustion-engined cars, MG now has its confidence back. First…

▲ BUILD YOUR PROFILE You’ll need to register your fingerprint with the car before you can use your face to unlock the GV60. Other drivers can be granted access via smar tphone. ▲ SCAN YOUR FACE To unlock the car, look into the small camera on the B-pillar. White light means it’s processing, red means it’s failed and green means you’re in. Say cheese! ▲ START WITH YOUR FINGER Af ter unlocking your car with your face, you use your fingerprint to switch it on and drive away. Unlike a keyless entr y system, you don’t need to be carr ying the key.…

You can rely on Porsche for many things: dynamic brilliance, driver focus and an en-gineering-led philosophy, for instance. And then there’s the characteristic that’s most relevant here: not messing with success. There are changes to the revised Cayenne line-up, but they’re not so big as the chunki-er design might lead you to expect. It’s all evolutionary. And it’s all done very well. This update to the third-generation Cay-enne improves both the standard steel and optional air suspension, introduces further improved HD LED matrix headlights and redesigns the cockpit for easier use and im-proved connectivity. Its styling changes will spread through the Porsche range. Although a fully electric all-new Cayenne is due in 2025, what you see here is designed to meet EU7 emissions regulations and sol-dier on as parallel offering…

The most power, unreal forward thrust, ultimate digitalisation, some silent-running ability – what could possible deny the Mercedes the win? Answer: a list of flaws longer than that litany of virtues. For instance, the inadequate boot capacity, compromised by the hybrid hardware sitting above the rear axle. And then there’s the weight, which affects everything – ride, handling, braking, economy… What’s really at fault here is the basic concept, which may have looked irresistible on paper when Mercedes was deciding how to ease AMG into electrification, but simply does not cut it on the road. Awarding the gold medal to the Audi would give none of our test team a difficult time explaining the decision. Thanks to the expert transformation work at the rejuvenated Sport division, the RS4 Avant is…

BMW iX M60 Month 5 The story so far A good and interesting car, but is it a great BMW? + Massive power; good looks - Price; operating system Logbook Price £116,000 (£120,000 as tested) Performance 105kWh battery, twin e-motors, 611bhp, 3.8sec 0-62mph, 155mph Efficiency 2.8 miles per kWh (claimed), 2.6 miles per kWh (tested), 0g/km CO2 Range 348 miles (official), 250 miles (tested) Energy cost 13.1p per mile Miles this month 1150 Total miles 8662 The transition from engines to an electric future is the most significant some car makers will undergo in a century or more of trading. It is not like throwing a switch. It’s a process. There will be hesitancy, false starts and thinking aloud expressed in the form of cars we can buy now and…

Being a creature of habit, I’ve developed a mental network of go-to public chargers. Mostly, Ionity have what I need. The chargers are powerful and the app’s slick, making for efficient pitstops. On the outbound leg of a recent mission to Goodwood, all was as it should be – a rapid top-up in the time it takes to buy a Starbucks. But coming home, nada: neither the app nor the QR code method could persuade any of the three chargers I tried to power up. I didn’t hold out much hope as I dialled the hotline, but I should have had more faith. Gabriella answered promptly, explained they were experiencing a network-wide glitch and remotely fired up my charger, telling me the bill would be on them. Of such stuff…

The 160-mile journey from my home in Lin-colnshire down to Good-wood is so bad, my record worst time is a but-tock-numbing five hours. Whichever route I take, London is in the way. That doesn’t prevent me from making the pil-grimage three times a year for the big motor-sport events there, start-ing with the springtime Members’ Meeting. Droning along the motor-way and then cutting cross-country over the South Downs, the Skoda once again proved it’s at home on any kind of road, especially a fast swooping A-road that shows off its body control and pace. However, arriving in the car park begged the question: is the Kodiaq vRS really an ‘enthusiast’s car’? I mean, it has the right elements: the GTI engine, the four-wheel drive, the fiery red paint and 20-inch…

‘When we set off with Cupra I was one of the few believers in a dream that many thought was impossible,’ says Cupra CEO Wayne Griffiths on stage at the global reveal of the new Tavascan SUV. ‘Now I’m proud to stand here and say I’m just one of the tribe. One of us.’ This is the sixth time he’s men-tioned a tribe or used the phrase ‘one of us’ in the last five minutes. One word he hasn’t used much, however, is Seat. While Cupra basks in the limelight, parent company Seat is in the shadows. Cupra has put 300,000 cars on the road in five years. ‘In 2022 we deliv-ered 150,000 Cupras, a new record, almost doubling sales against the previous year,’ says Griffiths; ‘46,000 cars delivered in…

CHRISTIAN MEUNIER JEEP CHIEF EXECUTIVE If you could list the criteria needed in a boss tasked with making a business like Jeep excel, Christian Meunier ticks every box. Experienced, affable, future-thinking and truly passionate about the brand. Joining the car industry in the ear-ly ’90s, French-born Meunier started at Ford, rising through the ranks via Land Rover and Mercedes-Benz. He introduced the G-Class to North America as he was such a big fan of it and ‘saw an opportunity’ – look how well it’s done since. Then a long stint at Nissan, even becoming global head of Infiniti. ‘They wanted me to fix Infiniti in Europe, but I was too late,’ he says. ‘I did my best, but I had to close it, because the guy before me didn’t want…

Genesis is claiming a world first: using your face to unlock your car. With the recent up-date for the GV60 EV, it’s introduced Face Connect – essentially a facial recognition program hooked up to the car’s security sys-tems. It goes beyond familiar keyless entry systems by not requiring you to even have a key or paired phone in your pocket, and it’s standard equipment on all GV60s. Of course, biometric security isn’t any-thing new. The tech is applied to loads of smartphones these days, and car makers in-cluding Mercedes-Benz use facial recogni-tion inside the cabin to load a driver’s profile (and corresponding settings) into the info-tainment system on entry. Others use eye-tracking to monitor attentiveness. But Genesis says it’s the first to use facial recog-nition to unlock a car from…

We live in a topsy-turvy world. Ford F-150 and Hummer EVs are out in the wild. The Renault 5 and Alpine’s A110 are going electric. There are hybrid Porsche 911s com-ing. And there’s a Jeep Wrangler PHEV. For Jeep, it’s a formula that’s already working. In the US, the Wrangler 4xe (which is only available as a four-door) is the best-selling plug-in hybrid vehicle. In Eu-rope, half of all Wranglers sold are the 4xe. In fact, in some markets like Germany, it’s the only variant the brand sells, from €80,000 (around £70,500) for a Sahara or €82,000 (around £72,000) for a tougher Ru-bicon model. But it’s not available in the UK, or indeed any other right-hand-drive mar-kets; Jeep says demand would not be high enough to justify the re-engineering. Even…

Letter of the month Nuanced enthusiasm I very much enjoyed Ben Barry’s drive of the new BMW M2 in the May issue. He acknowl-edges that it is far from perfect, and that you need to have your wits about you to make good use of the manual gearbox, but doesn’t let any of that stand in the way of a genuine apprecia-tion. It was all the more striking because he clearly approached it conscious that it’s more expensive and heavier than he thinks an M2 should be, but it won him over. That’s the sort of thing that’s kept me com-ing back to CAR over the decades – agrown-up, nuanced appreciation of the complexities of the world, combined with a youthful enthusi-asm for the good things in life. Mal Williams…

This has all the hallmarks of an accident. I’ve accelerated hard down a straight at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway in the Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato, but rather than braking hard for the following left-hand turn, I’ve missed the apex completely and find myself bounding off track into Californian desert. Dust whips up like a sandstorm in my mirrors, threatening to envelop me the second I get stuck axles-deep in sand. But the Sterrato – literally ‘dirt road’ in Italian – isn’t fazed. Neither is co-driver/instructor Giacomo Barri. ‘In! Accelerate! Go!’ he shouts over the V10. To be fair, much has been done to ensure I’m neither having an accident nor getting stuck. The Sterrato’s suspension is raised 44mm, the tracks widened 30mm front and 34mm rear then shrouded in chunky carbonfibre arches,…

The 5-series is the keystone for modern BMW. Back in the early ’70s it introduced the ‘series’ hierarchy, three-digit names grounded in engine displacement and standard-ised the (previously used) ‘i’ suffix for fuel injection, sta-ples that remain ingrained in our collective subcon-scious like automotive grammar. And for most of the intervening years the 5-series has bridged the gap be-tween the 3- and 7-series in name, size and dynamic character. Now, after five decades of mostly cautious evolution and 10 million sales, the eighth-generation G60 5-series leaps forward with the intro-duction of the electric i5 (it’s an ‘i’ prefix for electric these days), which makes its production debut this October. Naturally petrols (with the ‘i’ suffix intact), diesels and hybrids return but it’s a sign of the times that the 520d,…

The Multivan and I are in a nice little groove. We’ve settled on a five-seat configuration, which in turn furnishes us with a boot so big we took luggage plus two prams on a recent week-long trek to see grandparents – and we didn’t even breach the win-dow line. I know, I know, you think I’ve conceded defeat and children run my life. They do. When you work from home and barely go anywhere that doesn’t involve a school run, birthday party or playground, boxy is best. Why bother trying to com-promise with a car? You never need even consider that you might not have space to pack something, while loading in the little ones through the vast rear doors is a doddle. The kids are still smitten with the…

In his recent group test of the Tesla Y, BMW iX1 and Mercedes EQB, Anthony ffrench-Constant asked a very pertinent question: how do you define luxury? It’s incredibly difficult to pin down, in the automotive world as much as anywhere. I’d argue that the key is the sense of on-the-move safety and security; insulation and seclusion from the world outside; intelligent technology working unobtrusively; and understated style. In short, everything that helps you get from where you are to where you need to be with minimal stress and maximum ease. Which is why I’m confident the XC40 would have wiped the floor with those rivals, because I think it fully embodies modern automotive luxury. BEN WHITWORTH Volvo XC40 Twin AWD Ultimate Month 4 The story so far Swedish in-the-metal definition…

First the bad. The Cupra’s VW Group interior is the worst thing about it. It looks and feels premium, but in use it’s badly flawed. The volume controls are impossible to use in low light and the climate control takes far too many swipes and prods to access. At least the touchscreen is big. The haptic ‘buttons’ on the steering wheel are hit and miss too – Inever got the hang of us-ing them. And the rear win-dows require you to press ‘REAR’ before using the same switches as the front windows. This ‘feature’ has somehow not been dropped on the otherwise improved ID. 7 cabin. Wolfs-burg, we need answers! Now onto the good. This is a fine-looking car, quite unlike anything else on the road, with interesting views from…