Table of contents for 1910 in Auto Express

IF all the Chinese brands we’d never heard of aren’t enough for you, now the car makers we thought were long dead in the UK are making a comeback. As well as TVR’s latest rebirth, which you have to take with a pinch of salt because there have been so many false starts in the past, Mitsubishi has decided that five years is too long and that it missed the British car market after all. Its 2021 exit from the UK was part of a cost-saving plan for the troubled brand most famous for hulking 4x4 Shoguns, plus super-fast Evo saloons that stretched across 10 generations between 1992 and 2016. During that time, the rivalry with Subaru’s Impreza was as fierce as any in the industry. “IT’S HARD TO SEE…

INTERNATIONAL Motors Ltd, one of the largest vehicle importers and distributors in the UK, has confirmed that it is going to bring the Mitsubishi brand back to Britain five years after time was called on new-car sales in 2021. Mitsubishi Motors is one of Japan’s largest car manufacturers, famed for building iconic models such as the Lancer Evolution. More recently it blazed a trail by offering one of the first plug-in hybrid SUVs in the UK. These days, Mitsubishi Motors is part of an alliance with Nissan and Renault, and much of its model range draws directly from its two partners. This includes cars such as the Clio-based Colt supermini and Captur-based ASX, which are popular in other European markets, as well as more globalised products such as the Outlander…

THE all-new British-built Nissan Leaf is now available to order, offering up to 386 miles of range from £32,249. The eye-catching price is partly thanks to the sleek EV being only the fourth model to qualify for the maximum £3,750 Electric Car Grant (ECG) from the UK Government. A more affordable, smaller-battery version will be coming later, but until then every Leaf has a 75kWh battery offering nearly 400 miles of range. Four trim levels are available: Engage, Engage+, Advance and Evolve. The base model has 18-inch alloy wheels, dual 12.3-inch displays, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, an energy-saving heat pump and adaptive cruise control. Engage+ starts from £33,149 after the ECG and adds larger 14.3-inch displays with Google Maps and other Google services built-in, heated front seats, a…

MEET the new MGS9: MG’s first seven-seat SUV, which will rival family haulers such as the Skoda Kodiaq, Peugeot 5008 and Kia Sorento, plus the value-focused Chery Tiggo 8 that has just arrived. The car is already available in Australia as the MG QS. However, we didn’t hear it would be coming to Europe from anyone at MG. Instead, the news was inadvertently announced by Euro NCAP when it released the results of its crash tests on the MGS9 PHEV, showing the car being smashed to smithereens before the car company even had a chance to tease the new name. This happened just a month after Euro NCAP accidentally revealed the new MGS6 EV (Page 22), again, before the manufacturer could make any announcements about the car. At least the…

MG’s meteoric rise from the ashes continues at pace. The UK is now the brand’s second largest global market; 320,000 cars have found homes here over the last five years, 100,000 of which were EVs. But the maker isn’t resting on its laurels, and is looking to bolster its position as an electric-car leader with its fourth and final product launch of 2025. News of the MGS6 EV leaked via Euro NCAP tests only last month, yet already we’re in the driver’s seat of a top-spec Trophy model. This is a five-seat family SUV that’s a rival for cars such as the Skoda Enyaq and Nissan Ariya, as well as the excellent Citroen e-C5 Aircross. Based on the same Modular Scalable Platform (MSP) as the MG4 and MGS5, it bridges…

THIS is the Bentley Bentayga Atelier Edition – a £197,700 version of the brand’s sole SUV which dips into Bentley’s most luxurious and exclusive Mulliner line. The result, in Bentley’s words, is a “clean, contemporary luxury aesthetic”. Despite the contemporary claim, the Atelier seems to take a more traditional set of colours and designs than the more sporting S models in the line-up – and after our encounter with the car in these pictures, we think that’s a very good thing. Setting an Atelier Edition apart from the outside is a series of small but subtle upgrades to the standard Bentayga package. At the front, there’s a dual-layer grille; the front vertical vanes are coated in chrome, while a more intricate panel behind gets a softer satin-silver effect. Both of…

MANY people consider the humble hot hatch to be a jack of all trades. Something that can do the school run or hop to the shops, before transforming into a scintillating sports car the moment the road opens up. But to find out if the latest Volkswagen Golf R is the consummate single-car solution, I subjected it to the ultimate test: a track day. And no ordinary track day either; my plan was to join my colleagues at evo magazine for their last organised session of the season – around the Goodwood Motor Circuit in West Sussex. I’m lucky that in this job, I’ve driven on lots of race tracks, but I was worried that the Golf would feel out of its depth – and that’s before you consider that…

HOT KIT Goodwood Revival Car Top Trumps Price: £15 Contact: shop.goodwood.com IF you want to keep the kids (and the adults too) away from their screens this Christmas or are looking for a gift for an enthusiast who loves old cars, then these cards might be a good deal. Goodwood has teamed up with the classic game Top Trumps to create a deck inspired by the circuit’s famous Revival meeting. The game involves comparing the specifications of various cars and bikes, meaning you naturally learn more about the detailed specifications as you play. It will also help players identify the machines at future Revival meetings, whether you are watching them live or on the TV. The special deck is stacked with cars and motorbikes that have featured at the annual event.…

IT’S easy to overlook your car’s cooling system, but it’s something you should ignore at your peril. If the coolant inside the vehicle’s radiator or engine block freezes, it can expand and cause the metal to crack, often with disastrous consequences. Anti-freeze, which is also known as coolant, gradually deteriorates over time due to repeated heating and cooling cycles within an engine. As it ages, vital additives that prevent corrosion break down, reducing the fluid’s effectiveness. Also, contaminants such as rust can accumulate, further compromising the anti-freeze’s ability to regulate temperature. Checking and replacement are essential to maintain optimal engine health, and with a simple anti-freeze tester costing from less than £8, you can ensure your anti-freeze will stay liquefied – but which tester is best? How we tested WE brought…

IT’S more than a decade since BMW introduced the original 2 Series Active Tourer to UK buyers, and while it didn’t set the sales charts alight, it did a great job of providing practical family transport. Over its seven-year lifespan, BMW sold more than 430,000 examples of the first-generation 2 Series Active Tourer, so it came as no surprise that an all-new model was unveiled in 2021. Significantly better in terms of the powertrains offered (most are electrified), safety systems and interior packaging, the second-generation 2 Series Active Tourer was also BMW’s first compact model with a curved dash display, plus it had new transmissions for greater efficiency and a slicker driving experience. But it sits in a segment that has now almost vanished, so does the 2 Series Active…

VOLKSWAGEN’S success in Europe over the past decade has been down to two main models, Golf and Tiguan, right? Yet between these two juggernauts there’s been one more car that has been quietly lending its support through huge sales: the T-Roc. More than two million units have been sold since 2017, so not wanting to isolate its huge customer base, VW says this all-new generation takes the original’s top traits and takes them up a notch, with better quality, slicker powertrains and similarly eccentric styling. Volkswagen will launch the second-generation model with a range of mild-hybrid powertrains, but in time the line-up will expand to include full hybrids and even a range-topping ‘R’ model. There aren’t any all-electric variants, and all versions feature a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. For now the…

THE Ford Focus is no more. It has been confirmed that the final version of the legendary family hatchback has rolled off the production line, 27 years after it revolutionised Ford’s fortunes in Europe. In a statement to Auto Express, Ford said: “The Focus has been an important part of the Ford family in Europe for over 27 years, and we are deeply grateful for the loyalty and passion our customers have shown for this iconic vehicle.” The Focus has been a fixture on British roads ever since its introduction in 1998, and it follows the Mondeo and Fiesta into the history books. Ford announced the decision to end Focus production back in 2022 – the same year the Mondeo was axed in Britain – before the Fiesta was laid to…

PEUGEOT’S been here before. Well, not specifically with its new Hypersquare ‘steer-by-wire’ (SBW) system, but giving drivers a new form of steering wheel. It did this with the controversial i-Cockpit layout around 12 years ago, and faced fierce criticism for the small, low-set steering wheel and high-mounted dials. But Peugeot engineers I spoke to don’t seem fazed by the challenge of convincing people about its new Hypersquare. This set-up isn’t just a fresh steering wheel; it’s a whole new steer-by-wire experience that’s been designed alongside it. This is a system that removes the physical connection between the wheels and steering wheel, and replaces it with a digitised set-up. But what are the benefits? A SBW set-up makes it significantly easier to package the front end of a car, and effectively…

THIS is the new flaming-hot Genesis GV60 Magma – the first road car from the Korean luxury brand’s performance and motorsport division, and the slightly classier sister of the exhilarating Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. Put simply, Magma is to Genesis what M is to BMW, and AMG is to Mercedes, and it’s set to play a big role in the evolution of the brand. The GV60 Magma is a rival to the Tesla Model Y Performance, Alpine A390 and even the Porsche Macan Electric. It’s powered by the same dual-motor, all-wheel-drive set-up as the Ioniq 5 N and the Kia EV6 GT. With Boost mode activated, the car produces 641bhp and 790Nm of torque. Combine that with Launch Control, and the GV60 Magma will do 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds and…

PLUG-in hybrids have usually been the preserve of executive-car buyers, but now BYD is looking to make the technology more accessible. From spring next year, this plug-in hybrid option will be lining up alongside the electric Atto 2, which has already landed in the UK. The numbers look very promising. There’s a 1.5-litre four-cylinder Atkinson-cycle petrol engine (like the Honda Civic’s) and it works with a dual-motor layout; one generates power and the other sends drive straight to the front wheels. With an 18.3kWh battery, the Atto 2 DM-i can cover 55 miles on a charge – more than a plug-in hybrid BMW X3. The car we’re testing is the Boost edition, which gets a combined 209bhp output for a 7.5-second 0-62mph sprint. An entry-level Active version with a less…

SHAUN O'CONNOR Richer Sounds “IT WASN’T AWFUL, BUT AS SOON AS YOU START LISTENING TO SOMETHING WITH MULTIPLE FREQUENCIES AND TURN UP THE VOLUME, IT REALLY CAN’T HACK IT” IT’S pretty well known that few cars roll out of the factory at the advertised starting price; options lists can be attractive, with a hi-fi upgrade often too tempting to ignore. But do you need to spend this extra cash – which could run into thousands? After all, aren’t most of us just listening to the radio or plugging into a podcast on our commute? Or is there some sense in splashing out to get the sharpest sound? To find out, we took a selection of the best-selling models from the UK’s biggest three car companies to compare their basic system…

REGULAR Auto Express readers will know that I’ve just come to the end of a test of a Vauxhall Grandland. Having parted ways with perhaps one of the most sensible EVs on the market, I’ve been on the lookout for something fun and exciting. Enter the Renault 5 which, if you look at its dating profile (or “technical specification”, as the car industry calls it), appears to be the ideal match for me and my lifestyle. I can’t say that I’ve ever used Tinder, but I’m pretty certain that just like when buying a new car, the way something – or in the case of online dating, ‘someone’ – looks probably has the most significant influence as to whether you’ll ‘swipe right’ or not. As shallow as this might seem,…

PORSCHE’S all-new Cayenne Electric has arrived (Page 12) with up to 1,139bhp and 0-62mph in as little as 2.5 seconds. Prices start at £83,200, and that made us think about three cars that would cover the same ground as the Porsche for the same sum. Here’s what we’ve found in the Auto Express classifieds. 1 BMW M3 COMPETITION PACK £28,995 YOU can get this generation of M3 cheaper on the Auto Express used-car marketplace, but we’ve gone for this one because of its spec. It has the Competition Pack, which was introduced in 2016 to enhance the super-saloon visually and technically. It included tuned adaptive suspension with new springs, dampers and anti-roll bars, plus a recalibrated differential and reconfigured drive modes. If that wasn’t enough, there’s a set of 20-inch Competition…

I HOPE and pray that the Ford Motor Company knows what it’s doing. But, increasingly, I fear for it, its future and its paying customers. My concerns began in the 2010s when a bloke called Jim Hackett got a job at the firm’s world HQ. After a lifetime in the detergent and furniture industries, he was in his sixties and shopping for a pipe and slippers prior to imminent retirement. But the Ford offer came along, and he fancied the idea of entering the automotive business he knew next to nothing about, so he took the gig as his last hurrah. Trouble was, in 2017 he was somehow given the job (and multi-million-dollar annual salary package) of CEO of the entire Ford empire. His lack of industry knowledge was obvious.…

AS Porsche’s first SUV, the Cayenne marked a significant step 22 years ago and now there’s another important milestone: the first all-electric Cayenne. Simply named ‘Cayenne Electric’, the EV sits alongside the Macan and Taycan in Porsche’s three-strong EV line-up. Two versions of the new model are available to order at launch, priced from £83,200 in standard guise or £130,900 for the Turbo. The Cayenne Electric’s arrival doesn’t mean the end for the internal combustion-engined model either. Porsche aims to offer a choice of ICE or EV powertrains with its current cars, and the Cayenne is set to be updated in the future, according to the firm. Using a variant of the Volkswagen Group’s 800V PPE (Premium Platform Electric) architecture shared with the Macan, the Cayenne Electric has a 113kWh…

FORD is making significant changes to two key models in its UK line-up: the all-electric Puma Gen-E (above) and the Ranger pick-up (below). In 2026, the Puma will receive updates boosting its range from 233 miles to 250. This is achieved not with a larger battery, but through enhanced cell design and greater efficiency. Charging capacity remains the same, with a 10 to 80 per cent top-up taking 23 minutes at a maximum of 100kW. The 166bhp motor is also unchanged. The 2026 Gen-E still starts at £26,245 (after the full £3,750 Electric Car Grant), but will feature Ford’s new BlueCruise tech. This enables ‘hands-off’ autonomous driving, and is the only legal system of its kind in the UK. Ford has also confirmed plans to drop the 2.0-litre diesel engine…

MG will look to significantly bolster its plug-in hybrid offering in 2026 by introducing a PHEV version of the ZS alongside the MGS9 (right). Speaking exclusively with Auto Express, David Allison, head of product and planning at MG Motor UK, told us PHEV demand “keeps creeping up”, insisting “there will be more plug-in hybrids coming”. Acknowledging that city cars and superminis don’t really suit plug-in hybrid powertrains, MG will focus on the small-SUV segment instead. “Plug-in hybrids have always been C-segment hatchbacks and above,” Allison told us. “No one’s really gone any lower than that.” Asked if that paved the way for a ZS with a plug, he said: “Yes, probably”. The model will rival the new BYD Atto 2 DM-i (Page 24), which for a short time will have…

AT the global premiere of the new GV60 Magma, Genesis also revealed the Magma GT Concept – a mid-engined supercar that’s destined for the racetrack. Genesis hasn’t confirmed what will power the Magma GT, but it drove off the stage with a sound resembling a V8 rumble. It said “the Magma GT Concept hints at the brand’s ambition to explore GT-category racing” – most likely to be GT3. In the Le Mans-bound Genesis GMR-001 race car there’s a hybridised, turbocharged V8 engine with 670bhp. We wouldn’t be too surprised if that unit made its way into the Magma GT.…

THE intention for Cupra to establish itself as a high-performance operator in the Volkswagen Group just took a substantial step forward with the new Formentor VZ5. The brand might be deep into electrifying its range, and cars like the family-friendly Terramar and Tavascan both bring valuable scale. But Cupra’s ‘soul’ is found in cars like this. The Formentor is Cupra’s mid-size crossover, and is available with a range of petrol and plug-in hybrid powertrains. As it stands, there’s a range-topping four-cylinder petrol with around 330bhp. But to give the brand a true performance flagship, even Cupra recognised it needed something with more gusto. Enter the VZ5: it’s limited to just 4,000 units globally, and UK numbers have yet to be confirmed. We expect it to arrive in the middle of…

CHECKING your tyre pressures regularly is essential for your car’s safety, but it’s never a task anyone will enjoy. That’s especially true if you’re forced to pump up a tyre by the side of the road after picking up a puncture or getting a warning light on the dash. That’s why we welcome any product that makes the job a little easier. We’ve previously been impressed by a cordless inflator from Astro AI, which is small enough to leave in your glovebox but has the power to pump up all four tyres from flat on an average-size car without needing to be recharged. It now has a new rival from Ring, called the Tyreinflate GO 10. It costs £10 more, but is faster and has more battery life – plus…