Table of contents for October 23, 2024 in Autocar

THE NEW HONDA Prelude has been spied testing for the first time – and the hybrid sports coupé’s project leader has refused to rule out that it could offer a manual-style transmission. Honda will revive the long-running model after a gap of more than 20 years, with the new version due to go on sale in 2026. It is based on the Civic and will serve as a halo product for the Japanese manufacturer’s electrified technologies, using a 2.0-litre ICE/electric hybridised powertrain. Already revealed in concept guise, the Prelude has now been spied testing in Germany, where it has displayed styling cues from the show car. While Honda has been coy about the Prelude’s technical details, there have been reports in the Japanese and Australian media that in order to…

Dacia is considering entering a range of new segments as it expands its line-up in the coming years, with options including a new electric city car, an estate and a Renault Twizy-like urban EV. Following the recently revealed Bigster crossover, its largest car yet, two new C-segment models are due to be added to the range in the next two years. Speaking at the Paris motor show, CEO Denis Le Vot remained tight-lipped on what form the pair will take but did clarify that they will be “different bodies, different names, different everything” compared with the existing line-up. Both cars will be based on the Renault Group’s CMF-B modular architecture, which can stretch up to 4.6 metres long, and are highly likely to be offered with hybrid power initially and…

PARIS SHOW DIARY 07.35 Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares’s badge gets him into places mere mortals can’t go: he was the first person in the motor show this morning, and his first stop was the BYD stand, where he was examining the firm’s range-extender hybrid drivetrain on the Seal U DM-i. 09.45 Dacia UK boss Luke Broad tells me the new Bigster already has twice the amount of interest registered in it than the most recent Duster in the same timeframe, and 60% of those who’ve done so are new to the brand. Success surely beckons. 11.00 SMMT boss Mike Hawes has spent much of this year watching the UK industry battle towards complying with the ZEV mandate and its requirement for 22% of new car sales to be EVs in…

I’ve ridden motorcycles and driven cars now for over 50 years and gained great pleasure and enjoyment from doing so all over the UK and Europe. I’ve also taken both advanced driving tests. Unfortunately, I’ve just bought a new Volkswagen vehicle that complies with the latest EU safety requirements and find some of the so-called safety features are far more of an intrusion on the driving experience and a distraction from road safety. The active Lane Assist can be frightening. It can feel like someone has grabbed the steering wheel if you veer towards the lane markings. I’m sure this is a positive feature for motorways, but with the current state of the UK’s A-and B-roads, with poor road markings and broken surfaces, it’s potentially a hazard that could take…

The S5 is quite appealing, then, with its 362bhp and 4.5sec 0-62mph time, but the new Audi exec that you’re going to see most of is, of course, the standard A5. As usual, it comes with a wide choice of powertrains, which can be a confusing affair with Audi. It has ditched its 30/35/40/45/etc nomenclature to indicate the power level and instead now refers simply to the output in PS, which is close enough to BHP for it to be easily understood by Brits. Audi UK expects the big seller to be the 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol with 150PS (148bhp) and front-wheel drive, priced from £41,950. For an extra £2340, the same engine is available with 204PS (201bhp). If you want Quattro four-wheel drive, you will have to either shell…

“The active suspension gives it great composure on flying laps” Mercedes-AMG says a good percentage of those who buy a GT are itching to hit the track. They are not professional racers but, like true petrolheads, regularly enjoy pushing their car to the limit, either at general track days or the company’s own AMG Driving Academy events. The new GT 63 Pro 4Matic+ has been created expressly for this type of customer. Building on the standard GT 63 4Matic+ that was launched earlier this year, the new coupé receives a powered-up version of Affalterbach’s twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 engine, developing an added 27bhp and 37lb ft of torque, at 603bhp and 627lb ft. This is the same unit used by the recently launched GT 63 E Performance plug-in hybrid but without…

WHEN WE ROAD tested the Kia EV6 RWD (Autocar, 9 October), we found it to be a spacious, distinctively styled, easy-to-drive EV that had somewhat rescinded its position as class leader due to its performance and efficiency falling slightly behind the best. How, then, does the more expensive, twin-motor AWD variant compare in the real world? To find out, we drove it and its rear-drive stablemate back to back. Tech updates for this generation include an increase in usable battery capacity from 77.4kWh to 84kWh, a faster maximum charging speed (now 258kW from 239kW) and an efficiency-boosting but optional heat pump for GT-Line S cars. Kia claims a combined efficiency of 3.5mpkWh for the four-wheeldrive model – 0.1mpkWh off the equivalent Ford Mustang Mach-E but slightly better than the 3.4mpkWh…

MODEL TESTED VOLKSWAGEN GOLF 1.5 TSI EHYBRID STYLE Price £37,135 Power 201bhp Torque 258lb ft 0-60mph 7.2sec 30-70mph 6.1sec Top speed 137mph (claimed) Economy 108.0mpg Electric range 66 miles CO2 emissions 6g/km 70-0mph 45.4m (14deg C, damp) The facelifted Mk8.5 Volkswagen Golf has already been the subject of a group test (1.5 eTSI 150) and a full road test (GTI) but, since the car’s chief mission was to correct the shortcomings of the flawed Mk8, you could say we’re still waiting to appreciate where its biggest gains have been made. But there’s a good chance that we’re about to. Because no derivative of this car has been more widely overhauled than the new Golf eHybrid. Powered by a second-generation version of the Volkswagen Group’s four-cylinder plug-in hybrid powertrain, this Golf…

Travelling by bus can be a mixed bag. You’ll either glide quickly to your stop, or you’ll be stuck next to someone unfamiliar with deodorant. You’re also trapped on normal, Tarmac-clad roads. But what if there was a bus that could take you up a volcano without breaking a sweat? Meet the Torsus Praetorian and Terrastorm, buses built for the end of days. Torsus is the brainchild of Ukrainian Vakhtang Dzhukashvili. It was founded in 2014 and development of its first vehicle, the 35-seat Praetorian, began in 2017. And it’s quite the monster. All four wheels are powered by a 12-speed 6.9-litre MAN diesel six-cylinder motor offering more than 840lb ft – adequate to tear over almost any terrain. Thanks to an intense amount of engineering, it can wade up…

“Woah, hang on: I’ve actually beaten a car’s official economy figure!” WHY WE RAN IT To see how similar Britain’s cheapest supermini is to its class-leading sibling Talking about the latest developments in the automotive industry with a technology-loving friend recently, that famous quote from Jurassic Park sprang to mind: “They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” Even everyday cars are becoming so incredibly complex, in both the way that they motivate themselves and the ways in which you interact with them, but I don’t believe most people either want or will benefit from a lot of it. To me, it’s more for the sake of more – and more means more to confuse people and more to go…

AN OWNER’S VIEW DAN WALKER “During my nearly four-year ownership of my E-Pace, it has proved a comfortable motorway cruiser, and it feels pretty settled on a twisty B-road. It’s surprisingly economical for a heavy, four-wheel-drive SUV, too. The Pivi Pro infotainment system can be temperamental at times, but I’ve not had any out-of-the-ordinary maintenance costs or issues. The Chequered Flag special edition commands a higher road tax, though, and servicing costs can be expensive. I’ve put just shy of 60,000 miles on my car, and overall I’m very happy with it.” BUYER BEWARE… ■ ENGINE Test a used diesel Ingenium model from cold, because an engine rattle on start-up could be a sign of a worn timing chain. The chain can stretch and snap, causing engine failure. Jaguar dealers…

“The F80 is priced from £3 million and limited to just 799 examples” Ferrari’s long-awaited successor to the LaFerrari is the Italian marque’s most powerful road car to date, drawing 1184bhp from a wild electrified V6 powertrain that fuses technology from the firm’s Le Manswinning 499P with that of its Formula 1 racing cars. Named the F80, the new hypercar has been unveiled just weeks after McLaren revealed its own new halo model, the W1. The F80 reignites the two manufacturers’ long–standing rivalry and reboots two-thirds of the iconic ‘Holy Trinity’ of hypercars from the early 2010s. The new hypercar is priced from £3 million and limited to just 799 examples (all sold), and it follows in the footsteps of the F40, F50, Enzo and LaFerrari in rewriting the rulebook…

Alpine has revealed an extreme new special edition of the A110 with 345bhp and a top-end price of nearly £300,000. Called the A110 R Ultime, the final edition of the French performance brand’s halo sports car is one of the most expensive four-cylinder cars of all time and arrives two years before its electric sibling is expected to go on sale. That price far exceeds the £90,000 for the A110 R on which it is based – and buyers can add almost another £70,000 in personalisation options to its lofty £209,000 price. Limited to 110 units, the R Ultime is the most powerful version yet, with its turbocharged 2.0-litre fourpot boosted by 49bhp over the R to deliver straight-line performance on a par with the BMW M2. With torque also…

NEW FUEL CELL TECH DRIVES HYDROGEN NETWORK HYDROGEN FUEL CELL projects continue to grow, along with interest in using them to power commercial vehicles and particularly heavy trucks. One such is the new Renault Master H2-Tech Prototype shown at the recent IAA Transportation show in Hanover. The Master has been developed by the Hyvia joint venture between Renault and US fuel cell specialist Plug. As part of the project, Hyvia has also developed hydrogen fuel cell stations that are being rolled out across Europe. The significance of the project to car drivers is that commercial hydrogen fuel cell fleets have long been seen as the way to grow a hydrogen refuelling network. Hyvia’s ‘Hywell’ filling stations are clever because they are “containerised and relocatable”, making them relatively easy to set…

Tesla has at last revealed its long-‘Robotaxi’ promised – a compact, self-driving coupé that shows the firm’s vision for a global fleet of autonomous vehicles. CEO Elon Musk showed off the autonomous Cybercab concept alongside a larger self-driving 20-seat van that’s dubbed the Robovan. The two vehicles, which have no steering wheels or pedals, are planned to operate using artificial intelligence and cameras, rather than the lidar sensors and in-built mapping software that is more common on other autonomous vehicles. They will also be capable of charging wirelessly, said Musk, so they don’t have charging ports, such as those used by Tesla’s conventional cars. Touting the benefits of self-driving technology, Musk said: “Think about the cumulative time that people spend in a car, and the time they will get back…

COMPARISON A110, GIULIA QV AND MC20 Richard Lane considers what these standout cars from Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Alpine have in common and what sets them apart FIRST DRIVE FORD CAPRI Can this electric saloon-shaped SUV do the revered Ford name justice? DRIVEN MINI ACEMAN What separates the new supermini-sized EV from the crossover crowd? EVERY WEEK LONG-TERM TEST MG 4 Is this long-range electric hatch a worthy daily driver? Steve Cropley delivers his final verdict WHY I LOVE RENAULT SCENIC We reminisce about the original compact MPV and make the case for a proper revival…

The Panamera GTS – the purist driving enthusiast’s derivative, according to Porsche – has a more exclusive status within its range than other GTS models enjoy: it is the only V8-engined, non-hybrid Panamera going. It’s a bit of a tough sell to a keen driver when you can have a V8 Turbo E-Hybrid that’s a fair bit quicker-accelerating, quite a lot more powerful and not much more expensive. But the GTS earns its place in quite particular ways. The suspension and powertrain get unique sporting twists, as does the cabin spec, in the way that previous GTS models have made familiar. The adaptively damped, height-adjustable air suspension runs with 10mm less ride height than lesser Panameras, and it has special tuning (passive anti-roll bars twice as stiff as the standard…

CABRIOLETS HAVE LONG been a hallmark of the AMG line-up, but as Mercedes-Benz streamlines its model range, its number of opentop models has dwindled lately. Its new CLE 53 Cabriolet replaces both the C43 Cabriolet and E53 Cabriolet, bringing with it the same exterior design cues of the CLE 53 Coupé launched earlier this year. Inside, it offers a luxurious driving environment peppered with sporting touches. Its new multi-layer fabric roof opens in just 20 seconds at road speeds of up to 37mph and operates silently, thanks to a new electric mechanism. With the roof down, there’s 285 litres of boot space, increasing to 375 litres when it’s closed, with the option to extend luggage capacity via a 60/40-split folding rear seat. The 3.0-litre straight six delivers a stout 443bhp…

THE FOUR-WHEEL-DRIVE Lexus RZ (a posh Toyota bZ4X) has been joined by a cheaper, front-driven variant. This, on top of Lexus’s price cuts in July, is a broadening of the Lexus line-up that makes it more accessible. The cuts have so far been successful enough that Toyota/Lexus expects to hit its zero-emission vehicle mandate targets this year without having to buy credits from anyone else. We largely liked the cut of the RZ’s jib when we tested it in fourwheel-drive form but it wasn’t without some issues – most notably a maximum 150kW charge speed and a relatively small battery, with a usable portion of just 64kWh out of a 71.4kWh total, in order to give a better battery life in the long term. Those elements are still the same…

Is there a more confusing, esoteric car company than Honda? One capable of astonishing ambition and technical innovation, yet also of missing industry trends and producing anonymously uninspiring models. Here’s a firm bold enough to enter Formula 1 just a year after producing its first four-wheeled vehicle, take on Ferrari with the NSX and push hot hatch boundaries with the Civic Type R. It has even built a luxury jet. Yet it also produces distinctly beige fare such as the Jazz and the e:Ny1, was late to diesel engines and SUVs, and squandered early technical leads in hybrid and even electric vehicles. In the UK and mainland Europe, Honda is far removed from its mid-2000s peak of more than 100,000 annual sales, eclipsed by ambitious rivals and now lacking the…

MILEAGE 5046  WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Can this B-SUV make a case for petrol power for the near future? I am enjoying the BMW EV I’m currently running (see right), and its 240-mile range is mostly dandy. But I had a trip to Catalonia coming up, meandering through rural France on my way there but on my journey home driving 830 miles in one day to Caen, and that’s a 12-hour schlep before stops, so I persuaded news editor Will Rimell to swap me his petrol Skoda Kamiq. I can be a worrywart, so I got my paperwork in order, including checking whether I’d need a Crit’Air sticker anywhere. Like the UK, France is introducing low-emission zones (LEZs), and your car’s Euro emissions level dictates what sticker it’s eligible for…

While many car enthusiasts have taken the plunge and put their hand in their pocket for their chosen car, Simon Webling is one of the few who was lucky enough to inherit his, a Lancia Delta HF Turbo. “It was my grandfather’s car,” he says. “He bought it new in 1988, trading in his Lotus Esprit Turbo, which had been expensive to run and very unreliable. He taught me to drive in the Delta and we spent many happy times together with the car. So when, sadly, he died three years ago, it came into my hands. I couldn’t see it be sold: it holds too many memories.” This hot Delta was registered in 1988 but has done just 56,000 miles. In addition to it being garaged for most of…

TOYOTA CELICA GT-FOUR 1996, 131,000 miles, £13,990 A GT-Four is a challenging find, and UK-registered, one-owner cars like this are even more so. Its seller admits it has some age-related marks, but don’t let that deter you: it has a full service history and sailed through its past three MOT tests. AUDI QUATTRO 1986, 114,000 miles, £38,000 With its characterful turbo five and revolutionary 4WD system, the Quattro offered genuine rally performance for the road. This Tornado Red car is identical to that from hit TV show Ashes to Ashes. It was fully restored 10 years ago and has a long MOT. PEUGEOT 205 GTi 1.9 1991, 81,500 miles, £25,000 The 205 GTi is arguably the most sought-after 1980s hot hatch, and the 1.9-litre version is the one to have, for its punchy…

Porsche is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 911 GT3 with a round of updates for its track-honed halo model, to bring a new look, extra options and a “more exhilarating” drive. The updated version of the most extreme 911 arrives, priced from £157,300, a quarter of a century after Porsche first used the GT3 name for the racehomologated, rangetopping version of the 996-generation 911. Chief among the upgrades are a series of subtle mechanical tweaks, including revised cylinder heads, sharper camshafts from the GT3 RS, improved oil coolers and new throttle valves with enhanced flow. To comply with the latest emissions rules, the GT3 is fitted with two particulate filters and four catalytic converters - but Porsche says it has worked to ensure it still delivers “a gripping soundscape”.…

THE DESIGNS OF future electric and combustionengined Volkswagen models are set to converge as the brand seeks less separation from its current stand-alone ID range of EVs. VW will also continue to invest in combustionengine architectures and tech and has put no cut-off date on such investments, according to the firm’s new sales and marketing boss, Martin Sander. Speaking to Autocar at the Paris show, Sander said he was still convinced “the future is electric” despite slowing demand. However, he added that “the ICE market globally is still that big that we can’t put an end date to ICE development today”. He also said: “As long as we see customers demanding ICE vehicles, we will have an offer.” Asked if that would lead to more convergence in the styling of…

Morgan will end production of its Plus Six, the high-erpowered, six-cylinder version of its two-tier ‘Plus’ range, early next year and replace it with a new flagship that ushers in a fresh design language for the British brand. The Plus Six’s departure will be marked by the Plus Six Pinnacle, which will be limited to just 30 examples and adopts design cues from the striking Pininfarina-styled Midsummer that was unveiled earlier this year. Morgan will also use the £96,995, 3.0-litre straight-six-powered Pinnacle to demonstrate its expanding bespoke programme, which will offer what Morgan calls “almost limitless” options. The replacement for the Plus Six, insiders have revealed to Autocar, will arrive late next year as a two-seat sports car that will not use the traditional ‘wing silhouette’ of today’s four-wheeled Morgans.…

WRITE TO autocar@haymarket.com NOISE ANNOYS Matt Prior wonders whether he no longer enjoys loud exhausts because the car world has changed or he has (Prior Conviction, 11 September). I love a great-sounding car but, just like a great-sounding stereo, it doesn’t need to be turned up to full volume. I’ve had two cars with a switchable exhaust, and I’ve kept them in ‘stealth mode’ 99.9% of the time, where the V8 still sounds wonderful but not silly. Most of the really loud cars I hear are turbo fours turned up to 11, and they sound awful. I can hear them for miles around on a quiet evening. So Matt, yes, like me, you’re getting old – but these exhausts are also cringeworthy! ‘Artill’ Via autocar.co.uk ATTENTION SEEKERS I don’t think…

This is the new Audi S5 Avant, and that’s neither a typo nor the promise of some sort of coupé-based shooting brake. As you might have noticed, Audi is shaking up its naming structure so that all the odd-numbered cars have combustion engines while all the even-numbered cars have batteries and electric motors. After being known as the 80 for 25 years and the A4 for 20, Audi’s compact executive saloon/estate now prefers to be known as the A5; and as per tradition, there’s a faster version, with S for sporty. I’m focusing on the S5 Avant first, because it’s the most interesting of the bunch, then looking at the A5 saloon on p27. In some ways, the S5 Avant is reassuringly familiar, because here stands a compact estate car…

Porsche has been making Panamera GT saloons for more than two model generations and 15 years now, and with this new, rangetopping, ultimate-performance plug-in hybrid version, it has corrected an oversight: there has never been a Panamera with a top speed in excess of 200mph – until now. For good measure, this new Turbo S E-Hybrid has also become the fastest combustion-engined, four-seat, four-door production car yet to lap the Nürburgring. This model is, ostensibly, a Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid with an angrier V8 and all of the right options boxes ticked. It runs the same 188bhp hybrid drive system as the lesser Turbo, but the 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 is turned up to give 592bhp and 590lb ft, making for a 772bhp total system output mighty enough to eclipse a certain…

By now you’ve probably at least heard of Omoda and Jaecoo. The two brands have been created by Chinese-state-owned Chery, which is the country’s most prolific vehicle exporter and now keen to make inroads in Europe. Incidentally, it’s also a longstanding partner of JLR and is providing the architecture for the rebirth of the Freelander in China – but let’s not digress. While Jaecoo is targeting the SUV market with models such as the £35,000 petrol-engined 7 (Range Rover Velar beltline meets Ford F-150 snout), Omoda is wading into the horrifically competitive medium-sized crossover arena with the petrol 5 and its electric counterpart, the E5. We drove prototypes of both in a closed environment earlier this year and thought them all right, if far more likely to be bought via…

MODEL TESTED FORD EXPLORER EXTENDED RANGE PREMIUM RWD Price £49,975  Power 282bhp Torque 402lb ft 0-60mph 5.8sec 30-70mph 4.8sec Economy 3.4mpkWh CO2 emissions 0g/km Max DC charge rate 135kW 70-0mph 46.5m (14deg C, damp/drying) Welcome to the first real harbinger of modern Ford. The re-imagining of the company as it jerks towards widespread electrification has been swift and, at least in Europe, fairly brutal. The Fiesta, a perennial favourite in the UK, is no longer being built at all, and the final Focus is set to leave the Saarlouis plant in November 2025. These high-volume, low-margin cars will be replaced by crossovers such as the Puma and the subject of this road test: the new Explorer. So the mainstream, mass-market family Ford now takes the form of a £40,000-plus electric…

When was the last time you saw either of these cars? The Peugeot 505 sold over a million but, because of the equally vicious hands of rust and scrappage schemes, scant few still survive on British roads. Even fewer roam freely upon them. The now six-year-old 508 won’t score as many I-Spy points, but given Peugeot has recently axed it from sale – it wants its whole range to have an EV option – it’s going to remain the choice of the brave few. Especially in the form represented here. Dear reader, of around 7000 cars overall, Peugeot UK has sold a grand total of 155 examples of the 508 Peugeot Sport Engineered since its 2021 launch, around a third of which are the (arguably prettier) five-door fastback rather than…

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The soon-to-be-retired E-Pace transformed Jaguar when it was launched seven years ago, diversifying the brand away from its regular crop of buyers by appealing to a younger and trendier audience – and this bold move proved successful, with the compact SUV having scored almost 100,000 sales across Europe to date. The F-Type sports car had the biggest influence on the E-Pace’s design, with its ovoid headlights, wraparound tail-lights, pronounced haunches, and wheels pushed as close to the car’s extremities as was reasonably possible. It’s a handsome thing that still has presence today. Less appealing was its technical make-up: it had an all-steel body and sat on an old Ford platform, which meant it tipped the scales at 1768kg, making it similar in weight to the considerably larger F-Pace. As such,…

Last week, Matt Prior drove a totally new kind of AC Cobra. This is a car with one of the strongest allures of all – but also an incredibly complex and controversial history. It all started in 1953, when British racer John Tojeiro demonstrated his latest competition special to UK car maker AC, which really needed a new sports car to restore its mojo. Renamed the AC Ace and displayed at the London motor show, it was received well enough that it was adapted for production, being given a new look and an AC straight six. It really hit the spot, as our 1958 verdict on the later Bristol-engined version shows: “The Ace offers a most rewarding combination of sheer speed and acceleration, with very safe handling, superb brakes and…