Table of contents for July 13, 2022 in Autocar

2023 E-TRON Audi’s first series-production EV will remain on sale as the wider line-up goes EV-only but it will get a series of hefty updates to keep it competitive against newer rivals like the BMW iX and Mercedes EQE SUV. Due on sale in 2023, the facelifted E-tron line-up will bring a huge increase in range – reportedly more than 373 miles per charge – courtesy of upgraded electronics, more efficient motors and a new-generation battery. 2024 Q6 E-TRON The electric equivalent of Audi’s best-selling Q5 crossover will be based on the new PPE EV platform that Audi is developing with Porsche and, as such, will be a close technical relation to the upcoming Porsche Macan EV. The flat floor and lack of an engine will make for a much…

Red Bull Advanced Technologies recently unwrapped plans for an ultra-exclusive, 1250bhp track hypercar using Formula 1-derived aerodynamics and powertrain technology. It’s the brainchild of Red Bull’s legendary F1 engineer, Adrian Newey, who is using the endeavour as an opportunity to improve on the formula of his previous hypercar effort, the Aston Martin Valkyrie. Here, he gives us the full back story of the RB17’s conception, explains why it’s totally unique and outlines what it has to do. You’re an F1 engineer, yet the RB17 is aimed at a non-racing niche. Is there a personal connection? “I’ve sketched road cars since I was at university. My first and foremost passion is racing, but I’ve always had an interest in road cars, which [in 2010] morphed into the X1 for the PlayStation.…

FOUR’S TO BE RECKONED WITH The Lotus Emira is one of the most important cars ever to leave Hethel – and not just because it’s the final one to use a combustion motor. But with the V6-engined car soon to be on its way to customers, excitement is building for the AMGengined four-cylinder entry-level model that will arrive in 2023. “It’s a very different character to the V6 and I don’t think people will be disappointed,” MD Matt Windle told Autocar, adding that the AMG inline four is “the best engine out there” (not to mention the most powerful in production) and is expected to ultimately make up the bulk of sales. BORN IN THE DARKNESS Cupra has not had an easy ride since it launched as a stand-alone brand…

CHINESE COMPANY BYD posted a 314.9% year-on-year increase in electrified vehicle sales in June in its mission to surpass Tesla. The manufacturer – which is based in Shenzhen and backed by US billionaire business magnate Warren Buffett – sold 641,000 hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric cars worldwide from January to June, 134,036 of those in June. Tesla sold 564,000 EVs during the same period. BYD sold 600,000 electrified vehicles in 2021 and is chasing an ambitious self-imposed target of 1.5 million for this year. Its American rival has meanwhile been set back by shipping issues, battery shortages and Covid-related shutdowns in China. Earlier this month, Tesla boss Elon Musk described its new factories as “gigantic money furnaces” that were “losing billions of dollars”. This is just the latest landmark for…

SATURDAY, SUNDAY I’ve just spent a first uncomplicated weekend behind the wheel of my new long-termer, a Land Rover Discovery D300, whose arrival I had been looking forward to for many weeks. Major news about this machine will in future appear in another part of the magazine, but I just have to tell you that now, as a result of these two days of driving, I’m already fretting about the closeness of its departure date in September. Lots of nonsense is talked about the latest Discovery, mainly because the ultra-versatile, ultra-cool and remarkably refined new Defender has come along and eaten its lunch. And there’s no doubt that Land Rover will have to position the next-generation model more carefully if it’s to thrive. JLR CEO Thierry Bolloré confirmed as much…

“There are enough solar cells to generate up to 44 miles’ worth of electricity per day” You might well consider it pointless to fit a handful of solar cells onto an electric car with an enormous battery – but let me introduce you to the Lightyear 0. Lightyear was set up by a Solar Car Challenge team from the Eindhoven University of Technology, and the 0 is the culmination of its first decade of research and development. It’s not mainstream, to be clear. Only 964 examples will be made (for there are 964 trillion kilometres in a light year) and they will cost an eyepopping ¤250,000 (£215,230) each. To say that the 0 looks like nothing else on the road would be an understatement. From various angles, it looks like…

Plug-in hybrids and EVs may be grabbing all the headlines at the moment, but ICE still dominates sales. Just look at the Vauxhall Grandland: 80% sold are petrol or diesel, 72% of those the former. There’s just a single petrol offering these days: the 1.2-litre turbo triple with 128bhp and 169lb ft, the latter from a usefully low 1750rpm. The interior design could be more adventurous, but this Vauxhall offers decent value for money at the lower end (£26,270 for the Design versus £25,505 for the base Nissan Qashqai). In Ultimate trim, as tested here, it gets punchier. The car gains adaptive LED headlights (and mighty effective they are, too), 19in alloys, a 10in infotainment touchscreen and other bits to justify the extra spend. But middling GS Line is the…

The McMurtry Spéirling hurtled up the Goodwood hillclimb last month in a fantastically short amount of time – less than any other car in Festival of Speed history. Thousands of race cars have made that ascent, all designed with purity and speed in mind and therefore not wasteful in the slightest, yet among them the Spéirling still stands small. At just 3.2 metres long and 1.5 metres wide, its footprint is little bigger than an original Mini’s. So as its ground-effect turbine kicked metaphorical sand into the collective faces of the bigger cars around it, it scored one for the little guy. And so to the Toyota Aygo X. Is it here to repeat the feat in its chosen field? We will see. It replaces Toyota’s Aygo, which belongs to…

Like an iceberg, the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu is much bigger than it appears. Beyond the generously stocked exhibition halls is the less familiar National Motor Museum Trust Collections Centre, a repository of valuable motoring objects, books, films and photos designated by Arts Council England as of outstanding national and international significance. Elsewhere, tucked away behind the main museum, is the workshop where the cars are maintained. To fully appreciate the importance of the National Motor Museum to the nation, both are worth visiting. That’s easy at the Collections Centre, which hosts group and individual visits by appointment. Visits to the workshop are harder to arrange, but if you have a doddery old motor, they will happily fix it (hourly rates are extremely competitive and the mechanics are genuine…

FEATURE Ferrari Roma road trip Stunning V8 coupé is the latest in a long line of searing GTs from Maranello. We put it to the test on a 1000-mile European tour FIRST DRIVE Porsche 911 Sport Classic Retro looks and Turbo innards add up to one truly covetable 911 FEATURE Lost in time City-centre dealers were once a haven for car spotters, but where are they now? EVERY WEEK ROAD TEST Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT Super-SUV sceptic? A 631bhp V8 and a GT chassis might sway you OUR CARS Cupra Born Can feisty electric hot hatch bring a little flair to our daily commute? SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p24…

MILEAGE 2133 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if the performance version of Volkswagen’s all-electric SUV lives up to the firm’s grand touring aspirations here are some things about our Volkswagen For example, when I unlock it, its LED matrix headlights move around creepily like giant eyeballs. And when I get out of it, it emits the trademark Volkswagen noise that almost makes it seem like the car is saying goodbye to its driver. One way that technology has been used to good effect is when the built-in sat-nav works together with the interior ID Light function to point me in the right direction when I approach a junction. It isn’t all perfect, though. As much as I would be all for a car version of Disney’s Baymax in real…

A road test in any other magazine might well be a short, subjective summary of a new car produced under almost any circumstances, but the Autocar road test is different. Specific, rigorous and detailed, it’s the closest examination we can give of any new model. It appears over at least eight pages and is close to 50 man-hours in the making every week. Most of what the road test process entails is designed to be strictly repeatable and fair. We benchmark standing-start and in-gear acceleration at a purpose-built test facility every week. We carry out both subjective and objective handling tests on both road and track, on the latter up to and beyond the limit of grip, so as to fully assess stability, drivability and limit handling appeal. And while…

“The new SSP platform will support single-motor rear-wheel drive and dual-motor four-wheel drive” The next Audi A3 is set to become an electric-only model with a maximum range of more than 400 miles and the choice of either standard rear-or optional four-wheel drive, sources at the car maker have revealed. The decision means the popular hatchback and saloon will abandon petrol, diesel, plug-in hybrid and natural gas power to go up against the Volkswagen ID 3 with a raft of battery and powertrain options and next-generation technology. Scheduled for UK launch in 2027, the fifth-generation A3 will be based on the Volkswagen Group’s new skateboard-style SSP (Scalable Systems Platform) electric architecture – the same structure that is set to make its debut on the upcoming Volkswagen ID 4 saloon currently…

Arecent invite received by Autocar to a preview of TVR’s electrified future unveilings suggests the firm is getting back on track with its revival plan, which has been beset by significant setbacks since it revealed its debut model, the Griffith, in September 2017. It follows an announcement from the beleaguered TVR marque that it will launch an electric version of its delayed Griffith sports coupé in 2024 and has partnered the Formula E race series in a bid to promote its new EV aspirations. These are the latest in a series of ambitious pledges made by the revived British marque since it revealed the Griffith in 2017, each of which has raised questions about the viability of the project, given it has yet to start producing the Griffith. Here is…

LAST MONTH, THE Volkswagen Group celebrated the 10th anniversary of its kit of parts for building cars more efficiently. Modularer Querbaukasten (MQB), which translates as Modular Transverse Matrix, wasn’t the first platform-led approach taken by a manufacturer, but it marked the beginning of a trend. Now it has become a regular occurrence for new platforms to emerge with the coming of the BEV. In most cases, ‘architecture’ is probably a better descriptor than ‘platform’, and there is a subtle difference. Strictly speaking, a platform shares multiple body underframes, chassis and powertrain systems with different bodystyles, while an architecture shares the same component design, strategy and manufacturing process. So an architecture can spawn more than one platform, such as for saloons and SUVs. The benefits are obvious, because although standardisation of…

After three days, perhaps it doesn’t look as big as it did on day one. But the sheer size of the Ram pick-up truck outside my house (full feature soon) is really something to behold. I know American pick-ups like this aren’t meant for us – although, to my mild surprise, I find there is an officially appointed dealer here. They’re meant for a country 40 times the size of the UK. But still. Its body width (2.2m, 88in) is as large as the wheelbase of an early Land Rover. Its door mirrors are at head height. And while it is all but six metres long, the vehicle I’m testing, based on the Ram 1500, is merely the entry-sized pick-up in Ram’s range. Further up the line-up, the Ram 3500…

As June approached its end, a notice appeared on the website of Cazoo: “We’re no longer offering Cazoo cars for subscription.” It marked the end of a dream within the online car retailer to reshape car usage. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean the idea of flexible ‘ownership’ is dead, just that the companies offering it need to work out how to long-term finance what is a very capital-intensive business. Cazoo’s reason for dissolving the subscription business after putting more than £150 million into growing it was “the highly cash-consumptive nature of this business model”, it said when announcing that it would be curtailing investments and cutting jobs to save cash. Companies wanting to make subscriptions work must get a grip on the finances first, said Arndt Ellinghorst, a director at…

The secret behind this car’s glory emerges the instant that you slow it down. Press the shiny black metal middle pedal and the Jaguar decelerates with surprising strength. Until you’re used to it, you almost certainly overbrake, so effective are its discs and their Dunlop hydraulic calipers. It was this mighty ability to shed speed that helped the C-Type win the 1953 Le Mans 24 Hours. Not that this was its first victory in the famous race: it had won in 1951, at the first attempt, then running with drum brakes against less threatening opposition. Why are we telling you about events that occurred 70-odd years ago? Because Jaguar has for the first time allowed us a drive in its so-called C-Type Continuation, a forensic 21st-century recreation of the special-bodied…

Probably the easiest way to describe the new Nissan Qashqai e-Power – if not the most accurate – is as an electric car that you fill up with petrol. As a series hybrid, it differs from a mild, parallel or plug-in hybrid in that the combustion engine’s role in the process of propulsion is limited to generating energy for a frontmounted 188bhp electric motor, which drives the front axle directly. It’s the only such system currently on the market, but in principle it works a bit like the old BMW i3 Range Extender or the LEVC TX taxi, giving an electric driving experience while alleviating range anxiety. Nissan says this is a “bridging technology” that will help facilitate an all-out shift to electrification by familiarising customers with the EV driving…

MODEL TESTED D350 HSE Price £108,775 • Power 345bhp • Torque 516lb ft • 0-60mph 6.3sec • 30-70mph in fourth 8.3sec • Fuel economy 32.1mpg • CO2 emissions 207g/km • 70-0mph 66.2m The Range Rover is back in its fifth-generation guise and if there was ever a car that didn’t feel like it needed reinventing, we think you’re looking at it. For more than 50 years, the Range Rover has simply done what it does: combine the best off-road ability with a plushness – a theme Land Rover pretty much claims it invented. It has, traditionally, been a car you can take anywhere: from checking the fences in the bottom field in the morning, to the market, to a school pick-up, then out for an opera, all in a day. The…

“In this game, there are always egos and chancers. I don’t want either” “The day after I left school, I had a job cleaning cars. My dad wanted to teach me the value of a pound, but I also learned about the value of doing a job with pride and passion.” If that mantra needs justifying, the Bentleys, Bugattis and Ferraris that flank Paul Jaconelli, now 72 and owner of the Romans International emporium in the Surrey town of Banstead, do a pretty good job of it. If you will excuse the pun, the teenaged car washer came, saw and continues to conquer the world of supercar and luxury car sales. “After washing the cars for a few years, I started trading them when I was 18,” recalls Jaconelli. “I…

Ask Hevra There could be a way for Dominic Waller to repair his Zoe for a lot less than the £5000 that his Renault dealer has quoted (15 June). A few months ago, I was browsing through YouTube and came across the Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Repair Alliance (Hevra), which has helped EV drivers who have been told they need a new battery when all that was required was a part of a power-electrics module. I made a note of it in case I go electric, although I’m inclined to follow McLaren in waiting for solidstate batteries to make an appearance and possibly render all existing EVs obsolete and of little value. Mike Kenney London Profit and loss I sympathise with Dominic Waller, who faces a repair bill that could…

Italian carrozzerie get going again AS ITALY STROVE to get back on its feet after the war, we visited its biggest car makers – Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Lancia – and were pleased to find them doing well. What of its coachbuilders, though? We headed to Farina and Pinin Farina in Turin and Touring in Milan to find out. “Pinin Farina has a modern factory laid out on a miniature production line basis,” we said. “At one end, prototype bodies are built up in wood from full-size drawings and from which jigs are then set up for production in small series. “The next process is body welding, riveting and general assembly on the chassis supplied by manufacturers, the trimming of upholstery coming last. “The body frames are usually built up…

MILEAGE 12,087 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if an SUV is worthy of the name and if it augurs well for Ford’s future Let me just get this out of the way so I can write about other things until I have to say goodbye: the Ford Mustang Mach-E’s ride is verging on terrible, to the point that it makes the car unpleasant to live with. For a while, I thought it was the wrong side of that critical line, but with experience and by adjusting the settings, I’ve found a happier place. The problem stems from a brittle set-up that I suspect was engineered in an effort to make a big SUV live up to the Mustang name. I’m not sure a Ford in my lifetime has been…

If you’re after a bit of inexpensive fun and you’re looking for an open-top, two-seat sports car of decent swervability and reasonable affordability, your thoughts might immediately gravitate towards a used Mazda MX-5 of some sort, but may I introduce you instead to the third-generation Toyota MR2? This little jewel ran from 2000 to 2006 and can now be bought for peanuts, and while it shares much in common with the iconic Mazda, such as the wind-in-the-hair pleasure and the promise of at least decent longterm reliability, it differs by having its engine mounted amidships, just as its two predecessors did. Oh yes, those predecessors. You see, it was in 1985 when Toyota first offered an MR2, a mid-engined, twoseat, rear-wheel-drive, T-bar-roofed bundle of fun, heavily influenced by the delightful…

“Our ambition is to keep the characteristics and the DNA of the A110 intact and differentiated from others” The next-generation Alpine A110 will continue to play a crucial role in the French performance brand’s lineup, even as it branches out into more mainstream segments and considerably ramps up its production volumes. The fan-favourite twoseat coupé – which received a minor update earlier this year – will make the switch to an electric powertrain for its third generation, lining it up as a rival to similarly conceived sports cars from Lotus, Porsche and Toyota. By the time the new A110 arrives, most likely in 2026, Alpine’s line-up will also include an electric crossover and an electric hot hatchback. While those more volumefriendly models will be crucial to Alpine increasing its global…

Dacia UK is on course in 2022 to surpass 2021’s record market share with a newly expanded line-up, a new brand identity and a steadfast commitment to affordability in the face of price hikes in all sectors. Leading the charge is brand director Luke Broad, who heads up the year-old Dacia UK Business Unit, established in line with Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo’s ploy to give each group brand more independence. Here, he tells Autocar how Dacia is adapting to the new motoring status quo without losing sight of its core values. Do you anticipate higher turnover as a result of today’s economic situation? “I don’t think so. People’s pockets are squeezed and they have a budget – some budgets are higher than others – but what I would…

After two years of lockdowns, a global semiconductor shortage, the war in Ukraine, soaring commodity prices and a looming recession, you would be forgiven for thinking that the UK car industry has quite enough on its plate. But in the past few months, a new problem has appeared on the horizon: the risk of a trade war between the EU and the UK as Brexit flares up again. And the car industry, probably correctly, fears that it could be on the front line if the worst comes to the worst. Although there have been rumblings of a dispute centred on the Northern Ireland Protocol since last year, it was BBC economics editor Faisal Islam who uncovered the deep concern of the car industry. Islam revealed that Volkswagen Group boss Herbert…

ANOTHER LANDMARK AT Silverstone, this time on the support bill: Logan Sargeant became the first American to win in the FIA Formula 2 Championship with a strong feature race display for Carlin. The Williams junior beat Théo Pourchaire (who drives for the ART team that ran Lewis Hamilton at this level) and team-mate Liam Lawson. It capped a decent week for Lawson, too, who was named as Red Bull’s Formula 1 reserve after Jüri Vips was sacked for using racist language online – in the same week when Bernie Ecclestone made his wellpublicised idiotic comments and those Nelson Piquet made last year came to light. Thanks for your contributions, all… Surprisingly, the Hitech F2 team has chosen to retain Vips, who finished sixth in the feature race at Silverstone. The…

“This is a car that you can find satisfaction in driving, especially in EV mode” It’s brave of Kia to have made such a drastic departure from the previous generation with this new Kia Niro. After all, despite being the blandest-looking car you could imagine, that now-defunct model was a runaway success. Mostly driven by demand for the long-range EV version, it whipped up such a fervour among those seeking a family EV that it’s a wonder we didn’t see Bonhams running Korean hatchback events. The good news is that the new Niro has all the hallmarks of continuing to be an aspirational model for those people after a practical yet well-priced electrified family hatchback. Based on the company’s new K2 platform, the Niro is offered with the same powertrain…

In line with BMW facelifting the 3 Series saloon, Alpina has revised its B3 fast variant. Chief among the changes are increases in its turbocharged 3.0-litre straight-six’s output of 32bhp, taking it to 488bhp, and 22lb ft, taking it to 538lb ft. The mild-hybrid unit gets 28mpg on the combined cycle while emitting 229g/km of CO2 – the same as before. The saloon will be £76,900-ish, the Touring wagon around £1000 more. There are minor detail changes to the exterior design, mostly to bring improved aerodynamics, but it’s all pretty slight. Ditto the software inside: one of the more notable things, Alpina says, is that when there’s a picture of the car on the infotainment, it’s now an Alpina (and in the right colour), not just the base BMW equivalent.…

Britain is almost certainly the only country where Charge Cars could create its striking Electric Mustang, an electromod of the iconic 1967 Ford Mustang fastback. In fact, calling it an electromod is a bit of an understatement, for the Electric Mustang is a forensic re-engineering, design-sharpening, luxuriating and electrification of the car made famous by the 1968 Steve McQueen film Bullitt. In Charge guise, the muscle car features an extensively upgraded steel monocoque imported from the US; body panels and an interior fashioned from carbonfibre in the UK; a state-of-the art quad-motor battery-electric powertrain built in Britain; and completely new running gear and suspension, also British-designed and supplied. The Electric Mustang has been developed to European Union small-series legislation, which has meant crash-testing and compliance with lighting and vision regulations.…

Into my eighth decade, I find myself the very fortunate owner of a McLaren 720S. Conscious that it’s almost impossible to enjoy its performance on public roads, I’ve been doing many track days since I bought the car 21 months ago. At Goodwood a couple of weeks ago, I was lucky to get more than 5mpg on track, so when coming home, I thought I would see what was possible on the road and was impressed to see an average of 31mpg when I parked up 120 miles later. This week, I had a couple of days at Trac Môn, Anglesey, and wondered if I could possibly improve on that. When I stopped for lunch at Weedon Bec in Northamptonshire 200 miles later, the trip computer showed 35.3mpg. This Ricardo…

Go big or go home is the X7’s mantra. The largest and most luxurious car that BMW makes, this gargantuan SUV is unapologetic in its identity. You certainly won’t blend in, then, but you will be cruising inside a plush paradise. Allowing you to cruise is an engine range mainly comprising 3.0-litre petrol and diesel straight sixes. Initially, there were 30d, 40i and quad-turbocharged M50d variants with 261bhp, 335bhp and 394bhp. The diesels were replaced a few years after the X7’s 2019 release by the 40d with 335bhp. Meanwhile, the M50i took over from the M50d as the most powerful X7. It has considerably more poke than its diesel predecessor, what with its 4.4-litre V8 putting out a hefty 523bhp. This affords a 0-60mph time of 4.7sec (it does weigh…

An owner’s view CHEE-CHIU LEE “I loved my MR2 and still think it’s a fantastic car. To drive, it was like a mini Porsche 911. Like all sporty Toyotas and very like the Celica, it seemed to pivot around your hips. I upgraded mine to the lower TRD suspension, which improved the handling and ride, although it could scrape its bottom if I was carrying a heavy passenger. Its straight-line pace was ideal for me to enjoy it without risking my licence. It was really frugal, too. I found it better on Yokohama tyres than Bridgestones.” Buyer beware… ■ ENGINE The biggest issue is the pre-catalyser in the exhaust manifold perishing and the possibility of the ensuing debris entering the engine. Early signs are the lambda sensor warning light and…

Summer is here, so surely it’s time to take the roof down? Convertibles tend to slot into one of two categories: two-seat sports car or four-seater for all the family. The Mazda MX-5, Porsche 911 Cabriolet, Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet – that kind of thing. But what of the convertibles that break the mould? Here, then, are seven drop-tops that departed from the usual script – to varying degrees of success. Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet 2020 The T-Roc Cabriolet is the only new Volkswagen convertible that you can buy today, which seems extraordinary given the size of the brand’s portfolio. It’s also the only convertible SUV on sale. The topless versions of the Golf and Beetle bit the dust as Volkswagen sought to capitalise on the market’s love affair with medium-sized crossovers…