Table of contents for 1898 in Auto Express

HAVE I seen the future? Chinese car brand Chery launched at London’s O2 arena, with a public advertising blitz outside as some 400 media and retailers watched the show. The spectacle looked slick but random: street dancers, an orchestra playing nineties house music. The comms felt clunky: a Chinese brand history lesson, powertrain technical detail that had most attendees glazing over and one exec referring to the screen behind while asking us to “see the photo of my backside”. Regardless, the intent was clear. Streaked by red lasers on the stage, the Chery Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8 launch models loomed over proceedings, while next year’s entrants – the compact Tiggo 4 and flagship Tiggo 9 – stood in the wings. Four SUVs, from compact to large in size, from…

SERIOUS performance doesn’t come at much better value than in a top-spec Tesla, and the new Model Y Performance is the latest case in point. Priced at £61,990 in the UK, the hot SUV is only £990 more than the updated Model Y’s ‘Launch Edition’, but offers considerable upgrades. The new Model Y Performance shares many of the new elements from the Tesla Model 3 Performance, including the much-needed chassis upgrades to go with the pace on offer. But there are a few rivals, such as the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, that are still nipping at its new 21-inch wheels. Tesla says that the Model Y Performance will hit 60mph in 3.3 seconds – 0.2 seconds faster than the previous version, but 0.4 seconds down on the quickest Model 3.…

VOLVO has revealed details of its new XC70 SUV, a plug-in hybrid that can do 124 miles on a charge before the petrol engine kicks in. This all-new model will be launched in China, with sales in Europe only planned “at a later date”, according to the brand. The XC70 five-seater fits neatly between the existing XC60 and XC90. It’s based on a new Chinese developed platform designed to integrate this new type of long-range plug-in hybrid powertrain that’s become popular in China’s domestic market. This also means the headline EV range figure has been calculated on the more generous Chinese CLTC range test, which often quotes around 20 per cent more than the more stringent WLTP equivalent. Alongside a brand-new exterior and interior design, the XC70 also has contemporary…

THE last R35 Nissan GT-R has rolled off its Japanese production line after 18 years on sale. This represents the end of an iconic Nissan sports model, but the brand remains committed to bringing the GT-R badge back using hybrid or all-electric powertrain technology. Launched into the Japanese market in 2007, and brought to the UK in 2009, the GT-R showcased many advanced technologies – such as all-wheel drive, turbocharging and clever differentials – that have gone on to become the norm in high-performance cars. The result was an explosive machine that typically only cost as much as a sports car, but outperformed supercars, including its arch rival, the Porsche 911 Turbo. It sold more than 48,000 units over its lifetime, but Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa told us: “This isn’t…

IT’S fair to say that many value the status and image of a range-topping performance SUV more than the dynamic capabilities it offers. That means the Skoda Kodiaq vRS is something of an oxymoron, being the flashy flagship model for a brand known mostly for its mature modesty. Unlike the standard Kodiaq, which clinched the Auto Express Large SUV of the Year title for 2025, the new vRS version sidelines (but doesn’t ignore) practicality and comfort, and instead promises a focus on driver enjoyment. Key to this extra excitement is a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, which puts out a meaty 261bhp and 400Nm of torque. Sound familiar? Yes, this is the same unit as in the Volkswagen Golf GTI. In this application and thanks to the extra grip provided…

VOLKSWAGEN’S Match trim level is usually a sound, value-for-money choice. While sparsely equipped entry-level versions exist largely for the purpose of lowering the range’s base price and disappointing company car drivers who get lumbered with one, the Match sits one rung higher on the trim-level ladder, offering added kit for little extra outlay. If you’re one of those people who orders the second-cheapest bottle of wine from a restaurant menu, this may be a value proposition you’re able to get behind. The ID.4 range conforms to VW’s Match masterplan to a point but, as is so often the way with today’s electric-car market, things get a bit complicated when you look at the price list. The mid-size range now opens at £36,995 in both Pure Essential and Pro Essential trim.…

THERE’S a rule in the Pringle Book of Car Testing that says if you want to really put a car through its paces, take it out of its comfort zone. And that’s just what we did with the Duster on a long weekend away to see friends in Northumberland. Received wisdom told us that a £26k hybrid SUV with a focus on strong economy around town was not the ideal car for a 650-mile round trip – especially when about 630 of those would be on a motorway or dual carriageway. But if there’s one thing the Duster has been doing over the past few months, it’s confounding expectation. The question was: when we arrived, would we be singing its praises or screaming at it? Well, the main picture probably…

MOST of us are reliant on our smartphones. We use them for navigation, entertainment, messaging and occasionally even to make calls. And if you stay on the on the right side of the law and behave responsibly, you can do many of these things while driving. Most modern cars will have wireless CarPlay and Android Auto to allow you to mirror the phone’s screen while you leave it in a bag or jacket. But older models will need a phone mount so you aren’t tempted to pick up the device and land yourself with six points on your driving licence and a £200 fine. Mounts can cost as little as a few pounds, and most will fix to the car with a suction pad or clip to a handy air…

THE MG Cyber X first seen at April’s Shanghai Motor Show will transform itself into a boxy, budget-friendly, all-electric family SUV within the next two years, and our exclusive images preview how the new car could look. Predicted to start from less than £30,000, it has the potential to steal sales from pricier European alternatives when it arrives in showrooms in 2027. While quite unlike anything MG has built to date, the firm’s UK product and planning boss David Allison sees it as a “spiritual successor to the [Suzuki] Jimny”. That car, sold here only in three-door form, was discontinued shortly after it arrived in 2018 due to increasingly stringent emissions regulations. But the Cyber X will be offered only as a five-door EV, Auto Express understands, with a choice…

LOTUS is slashing up to 550 jobs across its UK business operations, as it looks to secure a “sustainable future for the company in today’s rapidly evolving automotive environment”. A statement released by the firm said: “Following a review of Lotus Cars’ business objectives in line with the current market conditions, the company has announced a restructuring proposal, which anticipates a reduction of up to 550 roles across the business in the UK.” It comes after news surfaced last month that the firm’s Chinese owners had put its Norfolk HQ under review, while it decided how to proceed with the business. In November, Lotus announced 200 UK redundancies, following previous job cuts in July 2023 and January 2024. It’s not clear which areas will see the biggest cuts this time,…

THE electric Ford Puma Gen-E crossover has been revealed as the first new EV to qualify for the Government’s full Electric Car Grant. That means it gets the maximum £3,750 discount under the scheme. It now starts from just £26,245 for the entry-level Select trim, all thanks to the fact that the Puma Gen-E’s powertrain is built in the UK. To qualify for the ECG, each model must hit certain sustainability criteria, with only the greenest cars being rated in Band 1 and getting the full £3,750 grant amount. Other models that qualify under the Government scheme receive a £1,500 discount. As was suspected when the grant was first announced this summer, cars that have their powertrains manufactured in the UK or are completely built here appear to be deemed…

THE iconic Audi five-cylinder engine is not long for this world, so to send it off in style the brand is planning a special edition of its RS 3. Spotted testing at the Nürburgring in Germany, the new car will get more power, chassis upgrades and some styling enhancements, and will arrive next year priced from around £80,000 to £90,000. Audi will focus its updates under the bonnet, unlocking extra grunt. Power could increase from 394bhp to around 425bhp, but torque will likely stay at 420Nm, because the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission is already near its maximum rating. Revisions will also be made to the chassis, but the extent of the changes is still unclear. Audi has been known to fit adjustable springs and dampers to its high-performance specials, while other…

THE mid-size premium SUV class has undergone pretty drastic change over the last few years. The Lexus NX and Mercedes GLC arrived within a few months of one another, while Audi’s multi-pronged, multi-fuel attack materialised more recently with the hybrid Q5 and electric Q6. BMW’s latest X3 stands proud – as you’ll discover on Page 36 – as our pick of the bunch. One model was left languishing, however; Volvo’s XC60 was revealed in 2017 and has had very little in the way of updates since. But like the larger XC90, Volvo’s X3 alternative has been given a stay of execution until the firm goes EV-only towards the end of the decade. Cue a series of changes that Volvo hopes will keep buyers coming back while it waits for the…

IT’S fair to say there remains a lot of scepticism and concern surrounding electric cars, primarily the longevity and repairability of their battery packs – and it’s sometimes for good reason. EV batteries are essentially much larger versions of the lithium-ion units in your smartphone, so they contain rare-earth metals and are thus expensive and energy-intensive to produce. In 2024, the average manufacturing cost per kilowatt-hour for a brand-new battery pack was roughly £110 – slightly less for one utilising LFP (lithium ferrophosphate) chemistry – which translates roughly to £6,500 for your run-of-the-mill electric car with a 60kWh capacity. That’s not even considering the cost of labour, which can dramatically elevate things further – potentially as high as £20,000 or more in total. This wouldn’t be so bad if batteries…

PREDICTABLY, Audi hasn’t held back with the latest version of its most popular car. The Q5 makes use of the German brand’s new Premium Platform Combustion (PPC) architecture, which is designed to accommodate a range of electrified powertrains, from mild hybrid to plug-in hybrid. As you’d expect from a car with four rings on the nose, the marque’s quattro four-wheel drive is standard on every model. ENGINES & PERFORMANCE THE Q5 comes with a fairly strong line-up of engines, with petrol and diesel units soon to be joined by a 295bhp plug-in hybrid variant that will be able to travel up to 62 miles on electric power alone. For many buyers who aren’t going through a company-car scheme, the diesel model will likely make the most sense. Power comes from…

AFTER six months and 5,012 miles, Volkswagen’s flagship electric car, the ID.7 Tourer Pro S, is departing Auto Express’s fleet. But only once I’ve assessed it through the lens of peak Golf GTI: my 2017 hatch built just before VW introduced digital dials and driver-assistance systems in the ‘Mk7.5’ version. What DNA do these people’s cars share? Performance, comfort and great packaging at decent prices, I reckon. Using Auto Express’s Buy A Car service, VW Swindon offered me a similarly specced ID.7 Tourer for £54,276, some £3,000 off list. That’s good value for a 5m-long EV with an 86kWh battery that comfortably despatched 250-mile-plus runs from Newcastle, Wales and Blackpool to my home near London without a charging stop. Sure, the 3.6 miles per kWh efficiency we averaged is middling…

Price: £19.99 Rating: Contact: amazon.co.uk KEEPING on top of your air pressures will pay you back with better handling, improved fuel consumption and longer tyre life. A cordless pump like this new Astro AI will make this less of a chore, and the price of under £20 means it could soon pay for itself – especially if you pay to use a garage’s compressor every month or so. The Astro inflator is impressively small too, being about the same size as a couple of packs of playing cards stacked together. It weighs less than a large apple, but has a decent amount of power with a 1,800mAh rechargeable battery. The makers claim this is enough to inflate up to eight car tyres. We were sceptical, but it added 10psi to a…

“MORE CAR MAKERS APPEAR TO BE LAUNCHING UNFINISHED CARS ON AN UNSUSPECTING PUBLIC” THERE’S a new addition to my Reasons to Hate Car Tech list. Alongside the clumsy implementation of safety systems such as lane-keep assist, and the hypocrisy of phones being illegal to touch while driving – unless they’re in a holder (page 62) – but the infotainment system’s touchscreen being almost impossible to use safely while also paying attention to the road, there’s one more. I’ve a theory that it’s made car makers lazy about their development. Over-the-air updates are now the norm, and while it’s great that your car gets a handy little update while it’s parked outside your house overnight, it also feels like manufacturers aren’t so concerned about actually finishing their cars before launching them.…

SKODA has overtaken BMW to become Europe’s third biggest-selling car brand, and it’ll keep its new-product pedal to the metal with two new electric cars, facelifts for its entry models and a new Octavia concept. The Czech brand’s European sales grew by 10 per cent in the first half of the year, with UK registrations up more than 16 per cent. Four-fifths of the firm’s 509,400 units went to European customers, while its diversification strategy is delivering growth in India too. Skoda climbed onto the European car-sales podium by offering a growing portfolio of models and powertrains including competitive electric cars, delivering good quality at affordable prices and leveraging Skoda’s blooming brand power, company boss Klaus Zellmer told Auto Express during a meeting. ‘SPACEBEV’ONE OF TWO NEW SKODAS COMING IN…

PEUGEOT has just bolstered its ever-growing electric line-up with this: the new E-408. We were fans of the 408 when we drove it for the first time in petrol form; its roomy, space-age cabin and easy-going nature made us think of it as a more glamorous – but also pricier – Skoda Superb. So we’re keen to see how the switch to electric power works out. Conveniently, the 408 was already making use of a platform that could accommodate an EV powertrain – it’s the same EMP2 architecture utilised by the smaller E-308, among others. Last week, Peugeot announced that the E-308 had been given a nip and tuck that has boosted its tech specs. While that car hasn’t quite hit the road just yet, the powertrain the smaller…

ONE memorable scene in The Hobbit films that came out a couple of years ago saw Bilbo Baggins shouting “I’m going on an adventure!” as he skips out of The Shire, totally unprepared for the challenges of Middle Earth. It seems relevant now because the Hyundai Inster Cross looks like it could do the same thing at any moment. This off-road-inspired version of Hyundai’s electric city car doesn’t have four-wheel drive or locking differentials like an actual 4x4, mind you. It’s simply designed to offer a bit of rugged charisma in a dinky package perfect for tackling the congested streets of the world’s major cities. Tweaks over the regular car include chunkier front and rear bumpers, additional cladding, skid plates and special 17-inch black alloys. The Inster Cross is available…

BMW has been building X3s for more than 20 years now, and the constant refinement of the formula to arrive at the fourth-generation model (codenamed G45) that we are testing here is evident in a lot of the current version’s strengths. In a segment where some cars feel heavy and lumbering, and others feel firm or brittle over bumps, the X3 manages to strike a really impressive balance between the two, and it’s backed up by a series of strong petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid powertrains. We pitched the X3 against the Lexus NX in early 2025, and the BMW took the win, becoming the car to finally knock the NX off the top spot in the mid-size premium SUV class – a title that it had held for three…

MINI TEST ANYONE who’s driven down a country lane will know the horrible sound of twigs scraping the side of your car as you squeeze past other traffic. With a bit of luck, the damage will only have marked the top layer of the paint or lacquer, which means you will be able to polish it out with the help of a scratch remover. Farecla’s new G3 Pro has been reformulated, so here it faces our test-winning Diamondbrite Diamond Cut and a product we haven’t tried before: Black Diamond’s Extreme Diminishing Compound. The G3 works well and might make sense if you only need to cover a small area, but it’s pricey in comparison with its rivals here. If you have a lot of panels to cover and can access…

1 ALFA STELVIO QUADRIFOGLIO-£42,995 ITALY has long produced cars overflowing with style, passion and excitement. While the Maserati Grecale Folgore will tick those boxes for some – who have nearly £100,000 to spend – we think that the combined efforts of the Italians can do better. So, we scoured the Auto Express used-car classifieds to put together an exciting all-Italian trio, available for a few quid less than the cost of a brand-new electric Grecale. IT might not quite have the star quality of the Maserati badge, but the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio rides upon the same Giorgio platform, except instead of electric power, it gets a raucous twin-turbo V6. All 510bhp is sent to Alfa’sQ4 all wheel drive system via an eight-speed gearbox to deliver 0-62mph in only 3.8 seconds…

FINALLY, the UK Government has stepped up and spoken of a new plan for personal vehicles. It’ll “kick start economic growth”. So far, so good. Sadly, over the decades, successive ruling parties of varying political persuasions have sung the praises of bicycles and heavily subsidised limited-hours buses (no thanks) and trains (getting worse, not better), but little else designed to take men, women and kids, plus their stuff, from their homes to workplaces, schools, shops, hospitals, holiday destinations or wherever. So what, exactly, are the personal mobility machines our ruling politicians have in mind to comfortably, safely and legally transport the likes of pensioners and parents with young kids, pushchairs and pets door to door 24/7 in all weathers? How many manufacturing jobs will the ‘plan’ create and where in…