Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2024 i CAR UK

Stepping out of the Carrera 4 GTS after a hot lap in the passenger seat, all I can do is puff my cheeks out and emit a ‘foof’ of air. Blame the potency of the 992.2 and the skill of Jörg Bergmeister, the man driving the car at Weissach. Class winner at Le Mans and 911 racer since the Big Bang, he’s not holding back. The levels of speed, grip and engine response mean I am grasping for intelligent ways of describing the experience but my scrambled brain can only mumble expletives. It’s not the engine’s responsiveness that first grabs you. That comes later. What needs an immediate recalibration is the speed it can carry through corners, reacting with an agility that belies the size of the latest 911. It’s…

THE GRANDIOSE ONE Bentley said 2022’s limited-edition Mulliner-crafted Batur two-door grand tourer was a preview of future design, using the most powerful version of the long-serving W12 engine, and ultra exclusive, with a price approaching £2m. The coupe’s nice, said some wealthy Bentley clients, but wouldn’t it be nicer still with no roof? Bentley has duly obliged, with a run of 16 Batur Convertibles. NEED TO KNOW What is it? A coachbuilt convertible I Tech specs Design elements of future Bentleys, aerodynamic ‘airbridge’ behind the rear seats, 3D-printed tailpipes I Aimed at? Seeing off an engine in style I When can I get one? Now, but be quick THE ERA-ENDING ONE Tightening emissions regulations mean the end is in sight for some versions of Caterham’s evergreen Seven…

What could be finer than this? Comfortable to a quite embarrassing degree (noise, vibration and harshness don’t appear to have their names on the list, and consequently aren’t coming in), a rural Bavarian idyll is fast-scrolling past the side windows. Our outright pace is urgent-ish but the ease with which we’re carrying it is special, slaloming through tricky tree-lined complexes and rocketing past slower traffic before it knows we’re there. In a combustion-engined car it’d be all tortured valvegear, squealing tyres and ragged effort. In the all-wheel-drive, roll-controlled and sweetly suspended M60 Touring the mood is somnolent, wanting only for the tinkle of formal-garden fountains and the gentle plucking of a harp. Ride quality and body control have rarely been such brain-twistingly comfortable bedfellows. The platform is as per the…

THE DEFINITIVE VERDICT The 750S is a vicious thing, the ferocity already barely contained in the 720S now compressed and amplified Friends in the trade say Ferrari’s 296 GTB isn’t having the easiest ride. Its 3.0-litre V6 and plug-in hybrid bits don’t convince buyers still mourning the passing of natural aspiration, plus it costs £300k with typical options (£359,227 for our test car), not to mention the precedent of hefty depreciation suffered by its SF90 big brother. This could play into the hands of McLaren’s newer yet also more familiar 750S, which we’re driving here in the UK for the first time. Evolved from the now seven-year-old 720S, the idea is to push towards the extra engagement and performance of the 765 Long Tail without sacrificing usability. There’s a proper…

BMW M3 Touring Month 6 The story so far The M3 with a load more + Chassis; performance; practicality; infotainment; good mpg for bhp That front-end styling; expensive; heavy Logbook Price £86,570 (£107,080 as tested) Performance 2993cc twin-turbocharged six-cylinder, 503bhp, 3.6sec 0-62mph, 180mph Efficiency 27.228.0mpg (official), 25.7mpg (tested), 229-235g/km C02 Energy cost 25.4p per mile Miles this month 739 Total miles 12,876 Before 2014, I loved every M3 generation, but then I drove the F80 on the Portuguese launch and came away confused. There was a new 3.0-litre twin-turbo straight-six that delivered torque like a turbodiesel and grumbled like one too, and the F80’s handling had a heavy, flat-footed feel. I didn’t hate it, but we never quite gelled, and two comparison tests cemented those first impressions. I’m very much…

Turns out the EQE doesn’t like the rain or the dark. I thought I’d easily manage a 210-mile round trip to Heathrow without having to charge, as the EQE’s claimed range is 337 miles. But the constant rain (wipers on) and dark (headlights on) foiled that plan, to the point where I needed to stop at a Shell Recharge. I paid 79p per kWh for the privilege and the charge rate maxed out at 80kW. But generally as the weather has got warmer things have improved. I’ve had a few journeys averaging more than 3.0 miles per kWh, giving a range of 267 miles, and always using the inbuilt nav means the car knows to pre-condition the battery as we approach a charger. Max suck has improved to 99kW. PIERS…

Volkswagen ID. Buzz Style SWB 77kWh Pro Month 6 The story so far It’s been a happy six months: the Buzz exudes feelgood fizz + Happy vibe; the way it drives; space on board Shares weaknesses common to whole ID range Logbook Price £61,915 (£69,265 as tested) Performance 77kWh battery, e-motor, 201bhp, 10.2sec 0-62mph, 90mph Efficiency 2.9 miles per kWh (official), 2.4 miles per kWh (tested), 0g/km CO2 Range 255 miles (official), 185 miles (tested) Energy cost 9.9p per mile Miles this month 1509 Total miles 10,864 Until the arrival of the polished ID. 7, I would tell anyone who’d listen that the ID. Buzz was the best electric Volkswagen on sale. It has a cohesive polish that just works: a roomy package, family-friendly features galore and a slick drive…

1 HONDA CIVIC TYPER GIANT TEST WINNER THE GOOD: Feel, feedback, focus: a phenomenal full-sized hot hatch THE BAD: Nearly £50k for a frontdrive hatchback with barely any more power than before THE UGLY: Probably the last of its kind; good job it’s one of the best THE ONE TO BUY: There’s just the one model; expect to pay around £470 on a PCP with a £14k deposit 2 TOYOTA GR YARIS GIANT TEST WINNER THE GOOD: A modern-day rally homologation special THE BAD: Road noise like a death-metal gig; joke rear seats THE UGLY: Long waiting list, even with some versions priced at £60,000 THE ONE TO BUY: Now has optional auto but go for the manual; opting for secondhand will be quicker 3 HYUNDAI IONIQ 5 N GIANT…

1 PORSCHE TAYCAN GIANT TEST WINNER THE GOOD: The EV that’s best to drive has been thoroughly overhauled and retains its top slot: still fast, responsive and fluid; now more efficient THE BAD: Info screen in front of the passenger is faintly ridiculous THE UGLY: Prices are all up THE ONE TO BUY: As before, three body styles to choose from: saloon, estate or raised estate. Prices start at £86.5k for the rear-drive basic Taycan; you can pay a lot more and get a bit more performance as you work your way up the range 2 TESLA MODEL 3 THE GOOD: New lights, new colours, new aero and improved interior: it’s had a refresh, but remains good to drive and easy to live with THE BAD: That refresh hasn’t added…

IN THE SPOTLIGHT The date is 30 July 2021. Three men stand grinning for a selfie at Porsche’s development centre in Weissach, Covid masks draped around their necks, corporate gear conspicuous by its absence. The three are Michael Roesler, the director of the 911 at Porsche, Clenn Giebenhain (project manager for the 911) and Jörg Bergmeister (handy wheelman, Porsche development driver), and the relief on their faces is palpable. They’ve just fired up one of the most significant cars in the long history of the 911 and it works straight out of the box… brilliantly. This is a car that, for decades, has been characterised by a refusal to bend to popular thinking. And yet Roesler and pals have seemingly followed the trend by creating a hybrid 911. However, you’ll…

If you think European car makers are being complacent about the growth of Chinese manufacturers, you should speak to Renault. The French firm is remodelling its entire new-car development process in a bid to keep up with China. In China a car can go from idle dream to rolling off a production line in an alarmingly short time. And, crucially, it will arrive in the European market at a much lower cost than locally developed and built alternatives. The current generation of Renault Clio and Captur each took five years to develop. While both fine products, that’s too long if you don’t want to be overtaken by the ever-growing number of Chinese car firms sprouting up like seeds in freshly watered soil; the water being generous Chinese government subsidies. While…

FAC TFILE POWERTRAIN 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder, 280bhp (est), all-wheel drive CHASSIS Steel monocoque with rollcage DUE 2025 onwards HALCYON DAYS Aside from making very pretty but rather unreliable production cars, Lancia has deep history in rallying. Models including the 037, Stratos and Delta made Lancia among the most successful in World Rally Championship history, winning 10 manufacturers’ championships and five drivers’ titles between 1974 and 1992. SPORTING AIMS Lancia CEO Luca Napolitano is very keen to see the brand’s portfolio expand beyond roadgoing production cars. ‘We are taking another step ahead in the path to [Lancia] renaissance, [including] its commitment to focusing on performance models,’ he says. ‘Will we return to the rally? We are working on it.’ Y-SHAPED ENTRY Lancia will almost certainly use the new Ypsilon supermini as…

The question isn’t why does the electric version of the new G-Class have a feature that means it can spin around 360º not once but twice as if on a turntable. The question is: can I have a go please? It doesn’t take any great skill or bravery, and it probably benefits from a lack of mechanical sympathy. You just have to press a few buttons in the right order and then make sure the steering wheel is centred, because it’s not you guiding the car – it’s the driven wheels doing all the work. You pick a paddle and hold it. Then floor the throttle and around the car goes. The wheels on one side go forward – right for counter-clockwise, left for clockwise – while the others go…

Back in 2017, M division boss Frank van Meel was out of time. He needed to come out with it. His team had run the numbers, worked through the engineering, driven the prototypes until their ribs hurt from giggling and the pile of spent tyres threatened to blot out the sun. Everything stacked up; the idea was sound. And now, like announcing you were pretty convinced the Earth wasn’t flat with edges, Frank just had to tell the world the thennew M5 would be all-wheel drive, despite the inevitable tears and wailing and whitehot anger. This, surely, was proof of the death of hope. The internet raged like a boiling sea. And then we drove it. And everything was fine, just as Frank had told us it would be, M…

NEW MUSTANG MEETS THE ICONS Henry being aman careful with his money, notions of economy have always affected Ford’s products. ‘Any colour so long as it is black’ was a money-saving principle, not aesthetic counselling. In Model T days, freshly painted cars were put out into the sun to dry and the thermal properties of black made them dry more quickly. It saved money. And the Transit became the definitive white van, although as it became a semantically more complicated product, more sophisticated colours have been offered. But why white in the first place? Because the tradesmen who bought Transits knew the resale value would be higher than if it was wearing someone’s livery. It saved money. But blue is the other colour associated with Ford. The blue oval…

When I first got the electric Avenger I promised to drive as many variants as possible – and I’ve just had my first taste of an Avenger with an engine, but not in the way I’d expected. Picture the scene. It’s around 11pm and I’m listening to my podcast of choice, The Rest is History, when suddenly Tom Holland stops mid-sentence. I look at the central infotainment screen and find it completely blank – no podcast, no CarPlay, nothing. I turn back to look at the digital speedo and that’s gone too. The car continues to respond as usual, and after a few minutes it seems to reboot back to normal. I ask Jeep to take a look, and after checking they tell me it’s because this car uses pre-production…

There’s nothing like a couple of days in electric cars to obliterate all your reference points. After a Lotus SUV with more than 900bhp, a four-door Porsche that tops 1000bhp and a Pininfarina with nearly 2000bhp, my brain and inner ear are in dire need of recalibration. In their near-silent wake, a V8 Bentley feels merely adequate. The Conti GT’s V8, with its twin-scroll turbochargers, direct injection and cylinder deactivation, is smooth, drenched in torque and musical in a bass-heavy, ripples-your-pancreas kind of way, and perfect in the nose of the Conti GT. It’s thrilling when you rev it out; barely there when you don’t. But at the risk of sounding spoilt, is it enough? When a £65k Hyundai Ioniq 5 N can run 0-62mph in 3.4sec, is it okay…

From bassy wob-wob idle to serrated redline, the F-Type’s AJ133 engine utterly dominates the driving experience. Smooth and cultured when you’re mooching around town or utterly rabid – complete with firecracker over-runs – when the road empties, it’s always ready with mightily generous helpings of shove that constantly test the rear tyres’ limits. Having driven previous supercharged Jaguars, I’m surprised at the absence of whine. But the Eaton unit is definitely doing its job. The huge dollops of lag-free torque available – 428lb ft arrives at 2500rpm and stays put until 5000rpm –make it feel like there’s a 6.0 or 7.0-litre naturally-aspirated V8 up front. I’m not complaining. BEN WHITWORTH Jaguar F-Type 75 Month 2 The story so far Six months to relish Jaguar’s last combustion-engined sports car + Bountiful…

On a recent family trip from Lincolnshire to Switzerland, everything started so well. The long-legged Range Rover Sport was brimmed and showing 600 miles to empty, bags were packed, the children’s iPad was charged, skis were waxed and ready to load. And then a major snag – no ski hatch in the rear seat of the Range Rover Sport. Now I appreciate this is a bit ‘overheard in Waitrose’, but I’d wager a fair proportion of Range Rover Sport owners will also have a set of skis and would like to use their car to drive to the Alps, avoiding extortionate flight costs in school holidays. But in our Sport, the seats only fold 60:40, despite the middle rear having a separate frame. Still, the rest of the car’s performance…

1 PORSCHE 911 GIANT TEST WINNER THE GOOD: Style, like 911s, never goes out of fashion THE BAD: The base Carrera now costs almost £100k – yet that’s not enough to stop it being a clear class winner; road noise now up to 11 THE UGLY: 992 ‘wide body’ no longer the lithe sports car of old; canny options list pushes you to spend like a lottery winner THE ONE TO BUY: Carrera S with the PDK gearbox for £110k on the nose; the Sport Chrono package is bundled in, but you’ll still pay for the Porsche badges on the wheels to be coloured in 2 ARIEL ATOM GIANT TEST WINNER THE GOOD: A beautiful object as well as a thrilling drive; think of it as a modernised Lotus Seven…

1 LAND ROVER DEFENDER GIANT TEST WINNER THE GOOD: Reboot brings untold dynamic improvements wherever you drive THE BAD: Second-row access is a pain in the 90; expensive; 130 in particular is very big, so parking can be tricky THE UGLY: Very nice inside, so you’re wary of getting it muddy THE ONE TO BUY: Range spans 90, 110 and 130 bodies, with significantly different dimensions but remarkably similar character and the genuine off-road ability that Land Rover always delivers so convincingly. Heart says petrol V8 90, head/wallet say diesel-six D250 110 NEW ENTRY 2 PORSCHE MACAN THE GOOD: The new one is electric – and as impressive as the outgoing combustion version THE BAD: As family transport it has its shortcomings, especially boot space THE UGLY: If you want…

PW: ‘Normally the GTS badge comes later – why have you launched with it for the 992.2?’ MR: ‘We wanted to make this big statement with the technology and that’s with the GTS. Behind the scenes, it is also better to start with the more powerful variant because that is the most interesting and most difficult way to develop a car. That way, the biggest challenge comes at the start of any new car project.’ PW: ‘What does GTS mean to you?’ MR: ‘GTS is the car that is useful as a daily driver but that’s also the most sporty variant. It’s the driver’s car that you can use every day, the golden middle of the 911s. My personal choice would be a GTS.’ PW: ‘With the hybrid, the GTS…

Few manufacturers rely so heavily on their heritage as Fiat. It’s successfully spun off an entire modern sub-brand based on its reboot of the classic 500, and now it aims to do the same with the Panda. Fiat says the new Panda, instead of being essentially one model, will be a family of cars. But is there room for two Fiat sub-brands doing similar things? Fiat head of design Francois Leboine certainly thinks so. ‘The Panda and 500 are the two sides of our brand, depending on the type of customers we have but also the region. They answer two different types of customers.’ The French designer refers to the 500 line-up – which includes hybrid and electric 500s, the new 600 crossover and Citroën Ami-based Topolino – as the…

The guy in the Vantage’s driving seat is far more inebriated than I realised. I’d thought it was just his Spanish when I let him sit in the new £165k Aston but now even the natives are struggling to translate. Few of them are particularly coherent. One repeatedly shouts bicicleta. To be fair we’re feeling light-headed too. It’s 4pm on a Friday, the last 20 miles have been a blur of armco, rock and asphalt, and we’ve stopped at a bar in El Madrono hungry for our first meal since breakfast only to find muffins, alcohol and some thirsty forestry workers eager to poke around the new Aston’s much improved interior. But what a drive. A few hours earlier we’d picked up the Vantage from Circuito Monteblanco, a fabulous modern…

The Flying Spur and Bentayga are living proof that Bentley is no stranger to hybrid powertrains but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t some trepidation when it came to making its first plug-in Continental GT. After all, this isn’t a stately limousine or glitzy SUV, but rather the rapid luxury coupe that put Bentley back on the map 21 years ago. Replacing the extravagance of the W12 Speed (the existing non-hybrid V8 S has also been culled) with a V8 plug-in hybrid is the sort of move that could well alienate the customers who have bought almost 100,000 Continental GTs since 2003. How do you convince them the PHEV isn’t a step down from the outdated but gloriously decadent 6.0-litre W12? Make it the most powerful Bentley production car ever, of…

Few roads are more challenging than the Route Napoleon in the south of France. Rising up from the Med like a long wisp of smoke, it climbs, flicks and plunges through the Alpes-Maritimes to put performance and dynamics under the microscope like nowhere else. Never mind the original Ford Mustang, the 2015 model would unravel here faster than a primary schooler’s shoelaces. But this new, sportier ’Stang strings these bends together with real verve –just a few miles in and already it feels a credible alternative to European sports cars, if one that does things very much on its own terms. Matthias Tonn, chief engineer for Mustang in Europe, happily acknowledges the transformation, and in part credits these roads with inspiring it. ‘We launched the facelifted previous model here in…

Mazda CX-60 Homura e-Skyactiv D MHEV 3.3 Month 4 The story so far Slightly unconventional, slightly classy crossover, here tested with a diesel mild hybrid + Steering is positive Ride is all negatives Logbook Price £50,705 (£54,357 as tested) Performance 3283cc diesel six-cylinder, 251bhp, 7.4sec 0-62mph, 136mph Efficiency 53.3mpg (official), 44.0mpg (tested), 138g/km CO2 Energy cost 16.8p per mile Miles this month 890 Total miles 6554 Blame the combination of heavy car and high centre of gravity. The CX-60’s ride is ridiculously firm for a premium SUV – potholes crash through the cabin harshly, and at least once on every journey I’ll hear everything in the boot leave the floor and come crashing back down, triggered by nothing more reckless than driving over a regular-looking bump. The car feels over-sprung…

Handsome car, the SQ8 e-Tron, thanks to a clever facelift where small changes make a big difference. A new gloss black mask linking the two headlamps, the 2D Audi logo and reprofiled lower bumper boost visual impact while leaving the components largely unchanged. At the rear a new black diffuser and the total purge of chrome bring modernity. And the stocky body – resplendent in £795 Ultra Blue metallic – hunkers down nicely over 21- inch rims mixing thin alloy highlights with fat black blades. This Black edition takes its blackness too seriously inside. It’s oppressively dark in the rear: if only the glass roof extended over the back seats. Better are the flat floor and copious space. PHIL McNAMARA Audi SQ8 e-Tron Black Edition Month 4 The story so…

Apox on those at Stellantis who programmed the Astra GSe’s gearbox. Want to overtake? You’d better file a form with the gearbox council in triplicate and be prepared to wait a very, very long time for anything to happen. Want to come to a complete stop? Brace for what feels like being gently rear-ended by the car behind. Plug-in hybrids are complicated – I get that – but surely there’s a smarter and smoother option than this. To the point I’m wondering if a whining, mooing CVT wouldn’t be preferable. I hope the Stellantis group’s new dual-clutch transmission for mild hybrids is better, because it will be deployed on a great many cars. JAKE GROVES Vauxhall Astra GSe Month 6 The story so far Pseudo-hot version of the Astra has…

The GV70 Electrified slipped out of our lives as seamlessly as it slipped in. We didn’t actually get to say goodbye, the car having been retrieved by Genesis to investigate and fix some niggles, and not returning before our six months with it was up. Not the typical customer experience, sure, but the lack of mourning was instructive. The GV70 is a variation on a predictable theme that added exceptional ride comfort and a striking if not entirely practical front cabin. But what it failed to add was much reason to want one over any of the rival crossovers, especially given its £64,405 price, and the £78,895 asked for this car with options. I was glad to have something so comfortable and competent to drive, but couldn’t see myself choosing…

1 FERRARI ROMA GIANT TEST WINNER THE GOOD: Style, speed and sensuous lines; a car for, and from, a bygone age THE BAD: An age in which we no longer live, tragically THE UGLY: Baffling steeringwheel touchpads; strangled exhaust note THE ONE TO BUY: The cabrio. Arguably even more beautiful, until you sit in it, that is 2 BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT THE GOOD: Epic interior; thumping performance THE BAD: Feels too big for UK roads, and can be uninvolving THE UGLY: Weirdly patchy air-con may spoil your summer by the Med THE ONE TO BUY: £230k GT Speed is the sharpesthandling Bentley there’s ever been; V8 also appeals 3 PORSCHE 911 TURBOS GIANT TEST WINNER THE GOOD: Hypercar-bothering pace, any road, any weather THE BAD: Only fun when you’re really…

1 BMW X5 50e GIANT TEST WINNER THE GOOD: Massive 67-mile official e-range; horizon-eating performance THE BAD: Hybrid hardware cuts into boot space to the tune of 150 litres; no seven-seat option THE UGLY: Not much now that the facelifted 50e model with more e-range and power is here THE ONE TO BUY: This one, for £81k 2 PEUGEOT 308 THE GOOD: Bravely avant-garde design; decent fuel economy; different THE BAD: Still persisting with the infernally small steering wheel THE UGLY: Interior layout looks fab but can be a stressfest to use day-to-day THE ONE TO BUY: Starts at £37,960 per month for the 180. Stretch to 225 spec with extra power and kit if you can 3 PORSCHE CAYENNE THE GOOD: Handling; driver focus; choice of body styles; 0-62mph…