Table of contents for September 04, 2024 in Autocar

CUPRA HAS TAKEN the covers off the Terramar SUV, which is set to be its final combustion-engined model. Based on the Evo development of the Volkswagen Group’s MQB platform, the sub-£40k Terramar moves Cupra into the hotly contested C-SUV segment, battling the likes of the BMW X1, Kia Sportage and Volkswagen Tiguan. The Terramar will be available with five different engines, each mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. They range from a 148bhp mild-hybrid four-pot to two performance-focused flagships: a turbocharged non-hybrid four that sends 262bhp through all four wheels and a plug-in hybrid with 268bhp. The PHEV, which is also offered in 201bhp guise, gets a 19.7kWh battery that’s said to yield an electric-only range of more than 70 miles. It can charge at rates of up to…

Land Rover has revealed an official restomod of the classic Defender, turning the legendary 4x4 into a bona fide rival for the Mercedes-Benz G-Class. Produced by Land Rover Classic, it promises to modernise the original Defender as far as is possible, with a reworked chassis, interior and exterior. Each example will be based on a Defender that was produced between 2012 and 2016 and will be sourced by Land Rover itself. The reworked 4x4 is powered by JLR’s ubiquitous naturally aspirated 5.0-litre ‘AJ’ V8, sending 405bhp and 380lb ft through an eight-speed gearbox supplied by ZF. Bilstein dampers and Eibach springs and anti-roll bars are fitted to help improve the Defender’s dynamics, and it gets four-pot Alcon brakes to boost its stopping power. Inside, the reworked Defender’s seats, door cards,…

THE BEST WAY to extend range or cover the same distance for less cost is to waste less energy doing it. Since EVs really began to take off a decade or so ago, the engineers developing them have scrutinised every fraction of a watt the car consumes across its entire electrical architecture. The same applies to ICE cars, because reducing the amount of energy effects how much fuel gets burned. Nissan has found another tweak for improving a car’s efficiency in the form of a sophisticated heatreflective technology it calls ‘cool paint’. In trials, the paint has reduced the temperature of the exterior surface by 12deg C, creating a corresponding reduction in cabin temperature of 5deg C compared with traditional paint. Temperature plays a big part in a car’s efficiency…

ROADS IN THE UK have a worldwide reputation for being terrible. But while the potholes, adverse cambers and subsided Tarmac frustrate drivers, they are a chassis engineer’s dream – until the local council ruins it all by fixing them. It’s well known in car development circles that if a car can cope with our B-roads, it can deal with anything. So several manufacturers send prototypes here to see how a chassis deals with our cracks and craters. One stretch of back road near a car maker’s HQ was particularly challenging. The patchwork of different surfaces was perfect for the engineers to set up suspension, and they used it to test all their new vehicles. So panic set in when signs appeared announcing that it was going to be closed for…

MONDAY I was gliding along in a £90,000, latest-spec, soon-to-disappear Jaguar I-Pace, gathering material for a ‘goodbye’ story (coming soon), when a large and shiny Jag dealership hove into view. I decided to stop and scan the Jaguar used car stock, given that new Jag production will be gone within months. The company’s hope is that vibrant used car sales will keep the Jaguar brand percolating, but this dealership’s line-up wasn’t likely to set any trousers on fire. There sat seven or eight cars in a row, all decent, but all with an ‘overlooked’ quality that comes from being surrounded by 100 Land Rovers. Surely this imbalance can’t persist until 2026, can it? An approved used 2020 I-Pace with just 20,000 miles looked like a very good buy at £25,950…

There are facelifts – you know, subtle design changes, maybe some new tech – and then there are ‘facelifts’ that are actually comprehensive revisions. This is very much one of the former sort. The Kia EV6’s face has indeed been lifted (full-width light bar, redesigned headlights, tweaked splitter), but that’s your best bet for immediately distinguishing the latest version of this big-selling family EV from the original, aside from the new wheel designs, colour options and even less obviously fettled rear end. The technical highlight of this update is an increase in usable battery capacity from 77.4kWh to 84kWh, giving the most efficient EV6 a commendable official range of 361 miles and making it comfortably one of the longe-strange electric crossovers on sale. Charging speed is up a touch, too,…

The BYD Dolphin is a mildmannered, MG 4-sized electric hatchback that’s efficient and spacious – and now there’s a version that maintains these key traits and is even cheaper, thanks to a smaller (44.9kWh) battery. This yields a range of up to 211 miles, as opposed to the 265 miles of models with the 60.4kWh battery, although the charging speed is less impressive. A peak of just 65kW means a 10-80% public charge takes nearly 40 minutes; the Peugeot e-208 and Vauxhall Corsa Electric siblings can accept 100kW for a 10-80% top-up in less than 30 minutes. That headline range figure is achieved by the 94bhp Active version of the Dolphin; here we’re driving the 174bhp Boost, which manages only 195 miles. Its motor certainly has enough punch, although the…

Anyone who doubts that Cobham Services is the UK’s busiest motorway services wasn’t there on the evening of Saturday 27 July, when the queue of vehicles to get in extended to the very start of the slip roads. No, Taylor Swift hadn’t decided to hold an impromptu concert at the on-site Nando’s, but as the modified car world goes, it was as though she had: this was a Tanoshi Car Events meet, a phenomenon that’s taking the UK’s modified car scene by storm. Think about modified cars and you probably think of lowered Nissan Skylines, Mitsubishi Evos and Mazda MX-5s doing donuts and burnouts in supermarket car parks before being moved on by police. That Tanoshi has been able to host its meets at Cobham with the site owner’s blessing…

MILEAGE 3249 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if its award-winning reputation survives real-world use A few weeks down the line, life with my Cupra Born is good. At 227bhp, it has an ideal amount of power, and I’ve spent a lot of time in Cupra driving mode making the most of its seriously enjoyable rear-wheel-drive set-up. EVs have made people pay more attention to efficiency, and I’m the kind of person who enjoys setting an economy target and hitting it. It’s pleasing, then, that this Born is capable of some genuinely brilliant economy figures. On my commute to work, I frequently manage 5.5 miles per kWh. My finest achievement, though, is 6.3mpkWh, which is equivalent to 371 miles on a single charge – staggering when the car is officially…

YOUR NEW-LOOK AUTOCAR ON SALE 11 SEPTEMBER GREAT REASONS TO BUY COMPARISON MG Cyberster vs BMW Z4 First mainstream electric roadster takes on six-cylinder class leader MORE DEPTH AND MORE DATA New-look road test Maserati Granturismo Trofeo rated in an expanded road test section FIRST DRIVES AND UK VERDICTS Revamped drives section Including new Toyota Prius, Kia EV3 and Ford Puma MORE OPINIONS New columns Road testers’ diary and what our journalists love about cars MORE CAR CULTURE Showcasing your cars We meet enthusiasts and their daily drivers and Sunday specials SUBSCRIBE autocar.co.uk/subscribe or see p20…

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…

Aston Martin has revived the Vanquish name for a new flagship sports GT that boasts 824bhp from a twin-turbocharged V12, making it the British firm’s most powerful purecombustion-engined car yet. Originally planned to use a plug-in hybrid powertrain based around a smaller V8, the £300,000 two-seater, due on the road in October, instead keeps the engine layout that has long powered Aston Martin flagships. This started with the 1998 Project Vantage – the prototype of the first-generation Vanquish, which was launched in 2001. The move to a V12 was requested by Lawrence Stroll, the Vanquish being the first all-new Aston to be developed entirely during his time as company chairman. The 5.2-litre engine “defines the car”, according to chief engineer Simon Newton, with its lofty power reserves augmented by an…

The Hyundai Ioniq 9 will be revealed later this year as the brand’s answer to the Volvo EX90. The new electric sevenseater, twinned with the Kia EV9, is a development of the Seven concept shown three years ago. Although it was originally billed to be badged as Ioniq 7, Autocar understands it was renamed because ‘7’ would have implied it was lesser than the EV9. The Ioniq 9 will use the same extended version of the e-GMP platform as its twin and is also likely to have the same 99.8kWh battery pack. As with the EV9, 200bhp single-motor and 378bhp dual-motor set-ups will be offered. In the Kia, they yield ranges of 349 and 313 miles respectively. It is likely that the SUV will gain a hot N variant, given…

LOTUS HAS DRASTICALLY reduced its sales targets after being hit by a double-whammy of additional tariffs in key markets for its Chinesebuilt electric cars and slowing worldwide demand. The Geely-owned luxury brand now expects to sell 12,000 cars globally this year, 78% down on its previous target of 55,500. For next year the revised target is 30,000, down from 76,000. The decision by the US to impose 100% import tariffs on Chinese-built EVs has “dramatically affected our forecast”, Group Lotus CEO Qingfeng Feng said on the company’s second-quarter earnings call on 28 August. EU tariff increases will also hit sales, Feng added. Lotus sold a record 4873 cars in the first half of the year globally, split evenly between the Eletre electric SUV and the Emira petrol sports car, which…

Prodrive has partnered with UK-based design agency Astheimer to create the Evolv, a tiny electric van concept that will form the basis of a £25,000 production version in 2028. Designed for ‘last-mile’ delivery services in cities, the Evolv is a 3240mm-long, 1450mm-wide cargomover that’s claimed to have significantly more load space than similarly sized L7e-category (sub-800kg) quadricycles while weighing half as much as a comparatively capacious conventional van. The Evolv weighs just 850kg with batteries fitted, but its makers say it can accommodate a 1.6m pallet with a 300kg payload in its main load area, with a smaller secondary storage bay providing space for another 1.2m pallet and 200kg load. Engineered by Prodrive and designed by Astheimer (responsible for 2022’s striking Aura sports car concept and the Volta Zero electric…

Toyota believes it can “rebuild the story” of hydrogen as a viable fuel for vehicles in the future, due to developments in heavy industry and other fields. The Japanese giant continues to invest heavily in hydrogen powertrains, working on both fuel cell and combustion versions as part of its ‘multi-pathway’ strategy. It has launched two generations of the Mirai FCEV, but the saloon has sold only in tiny numbers, in part due to the lack of a hydrogen-fuelling infrastructure. There have also been criticisms of hydrogen’s suitability as a ‘green’ fuel, due to the environmental impact of its production compared with that of electricity. Yet Thiebault Paquet, Toyota’s hydrogen boss in Europe, believes that continued development of hydrogen, including how to produce it more cleanly, means the fuel still has…

Aquiet moment of calm early on the final morning of the epic-inscale Silverstone Festival offered me a perfect opportunity to check out the Ayrton Senna display before the crowds descended and I became engulfed by the day’s incessant stream of races for all variety of historic racing cars. The Formula 1 collection of six McLaren-Hondas, three Tolemans and the great Brazilian’s first grand prix winner, a black and gold Lotus 97T, was breathtaking in isolation. But it was the added extras that really made this the definitive tribute to Senna 30 years after his death – and the anniversary that I prefer to remember, 40 since his landmark first F1 season. Karts, Formula Ford cars and a Formula 3 Ralt RT3 represented Senna’s roots, and the Honda NSX supercars that…

If there’s an automotive concern to which the idiom ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ applies almost perfectly, it’s Aachen-based AC Schnitzer. The UK’s petrolheads have mostly grown out of adding catalogue-ordered wings and other ‘enhancements’ to cars that came with an adequately disreputable aura straight from the factory, and Schnitzer’s full conversions can appear cartoonish to our eyes now. ‘Style over substance’ is the gut response, but in the case of the ACS2 Sport, don’t put too much stock in your viscera just yet. We will get to why that is in a moment. For now, what exactly are we dealing with? The transmogrified 2 Series before you is a full conversion of the G87-generation M2 (pre-facelift, in this case), and as usual it’s expensive if you go…

Not good. I’ve selected first in the 275 GTS’s open gate and tried to pull away but the car won’t budge. Back into neutral, then into gear again: build revs, release clutch… Still nothing. I feel the car’s transmission loading but its handsome Borranis will not rotate one inch. Must be something I’ve done, but I replay in my mind the drive we’ve just had – a steady 60mph cruise on an open A-road, with very little need to brake or even change gear – and it doesn’t equate. A quick call to the GTS’s keeper, though, and, 20 minutes later, utter relief: when I’d backed into this pub car park to get my bearings, the rear brake pads, which have a habit of expanding when warm, locked onto their…

MODEL TESTED 73KWH ALLURE • Price £45,795 • Power 211bhp • Torque 254lb ft • 0-60mph 8.5sec • 30-70mph 7.1sec • Economy 3.0mpkWh • Max DC charging speed 163kW • 70-0mph 48.2m Like its Stellantis sibling brands, Peugeot has until recently had to accept the limitations of available platform technology when launching electric models. Its parent organisation’s e-CMP architecture has been scaled up as far as smaller crossovers and VW Golf-sized hatchbacks and estates, having started out beneath the e-208 supermini in 2019. But while rivals dived enthusiastically into niches for bigger electric family cars, Peugeot has had to bide its time and wait for a more suitable launchpad. With this week’s road test subject, the French brand’s moment has finally arrived. Based on a brandnew platform called STLA Medium,…

FIRST REPORT WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Is this underrated and usable supercar really Italy’s answer to McLaren? On p15 of the Maserati MC20 owner’s manual begins the section titled ‘Understanding the Vehicle’. Here you can swot up on the intricacies of what is the Trident’s first supercar in nearly 20 years – and therefore something of an unknown quantity. You will learn where to find the button that protectively raises that gorgeous 250F-inspired snout, how to use the car’s only cupholder in complete safety and that the ‘slight clicking’ noise that can be heard at 7mph or so is just the ABS performing a self-check and not the early rumblings of an eye-watering warranty claim. As ever with cars whose raison d’être hinges on nothing remotely sensible, it’s quite an…

Back chat In response to my email, you stated that “virtually all saloons have abandoned separate boots in favour of a hatch” (21 August). Let’s look at the past few years. For those that the makers call saloons but are actually hatches, we have: Audi A5 and A6 E-tron, BMW i4, Lotus Emeya, Mercedes-Benz EQS, Peugeot 508, Polestar 2, Porsche Panamera and Volkswagen Arteon and ID 7. For actual saloons, we have: Audi A3, A8 and E-tron GT, BMW 3 Series, 5 Series and 7 Series, BYD Seal, DS 9, Genesis G70 and G80, Hyundai Ioniq 6, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, E-Class, S-Class and EQE, Porsche Taycan, Rolls-Royce Phantom and Tesla Model 3. Virtually all? It appears not. And there’s certainly no confusion: a bootlid and four doors make a saloon, five…

It cuts a fairly sedate and predictable figure today, but the humble-looking third-generation Toyota Yaris was a good way ahead of its time when it was launched in 2011, combining innovative, wallet-busting hybrid technology with a tiny footprint, a surprisingly spacious interior and the Japanese manufacturer’s trademark unwavering dependability. Factor in a five-star safety rating, a wide range of well-equipped and clearly defined trim packages and used prices as low as £2000 and it’s hard to find a reason not to recommend it to a 17-year-old as their first set of wheels – or anyone in need of frugal, fuss-free motoring. Building on the almighty success of the Prius, Toyota saw an opportunity to install its hybrid technology in a smaller model – and it claimed to be the first…

We have engines with three cylinders and three-wheeled cars, so why not cars with three seats? This odd seating arrangement has been interpreted in many ways and continues to hold a fascination for car designers. Here’s our pick of the greatest three-seaters, spanning those aiming for practicality to those far more focused on performance. McLaren F1 1993 The McLaren F1 would have been sensational whenever and however it was launched. Pared-back simplicity allied to a naturally aspirated 6.1-litre BMW V12 delivered 240mph and 0-60mph in 3.2sec, and all while carrying not one but two passengers. The F1 positioned its passengers either side of a centrally seated driver. There was also fitted luggage that stashed away in side pods to maximise space without compromising the F1’s brief as the ultimate sports…

Audi has unveiled the next iteration of its best-selling model, the Q5. The SUV, which made up 17% (334,480) of Audi’s total global sales last year, will be used to anchor the brand as it shifts away from combustion engines and into electric cars. Unlike the new A5 saloon and A5 Avant estate (News, 17 July), the third-generation Q5 won’t be offered with a pure combustion engine. Instead, power will come initially from a range of mild hybrids – two petrol and one diesel – before the line-up expands to include plug-in hybrids. The launch range opens with a 2.0-litre turbo petrol four that sends 201bhp and 251lb ft through the front wheels. Four-wheel drive is offered as an option. The diesel matches this for capacity and power output but…

HYUNDAI HAS BECOME the first global car firm to commit to a broad roll-out of rangeextender vehicles (RExs) as it looks to address the slowing demand for EVs. RExs package a large battery and a sizeable electric motor alongside a small petrol engine that acts solely as a generator. Hyundai will build mid-size SUVs using the technology in the US and begin launching them from 2026, for both its own brand and premium subsidiary Genesis. Compact models using a dedicated REx platform will be made in China. The US models will “expand into advanced markets”, Hyundai said at its investor day, suggesting that European sales are also planned. Hyundai’s shift into RExs was in “response to the recent slowdown in EV demand”, Jaehoon Chang, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor,…

THE NEW ELECTRIC Mercedes-Benz G-Class has gone on sale in the UK, priced from £180,860. The G580 with EQ Technology, as it is officially known, is virtually identical to its ICE siblings visually but packs a quad-motor powertrain with combined outputs of 579bhp and a whopping 859lb ft. Its mammoth 116kWh (usable) battery yields a range of up to 292 miles and can be charged at rates of up to 200kW. In Edition One trim, the only variant currently offered in the UK, the G580 weighs 3085kg. The petrol and diesel iterations of the updated G-Class have also gone on sale. The entry-level G450 diesel is priced at £136,690, the petrol G500 at £146,095 and the hot AMG G53 at £184,595. This comes as part of a wider update of…

THE NEW DACIA Duster will arrive in November, priced from £18,745, meaning it keeps its status as one of the UK’s cheapest SUVs. That prices secures the 99bhp four-cylinder Bi-Fuel (petrol/LPG) engine – its only non-electrified powertrain – in base level Expression trim. The previous entry-level 88bhp three-cylinder turbo petrol, which started from £17,970, has been dropped, along with diesel offerings. In its place, the Duster offers for the first time hybrid powertrains, which it’s able to accommodate thanks to its move onto the CMF-B platform (as used by the Nissan Juke). The top-rung 138bhp Hybrid 140 pairs a naturally aspirated 1.6-litre petrol engine with two electric motors. It starts at £24,245 in Expression trim, rising to £26,745 in Extreme guise. The mild-hybrid TCe 130 comprises a 1.2-litre turbo petrol…

hat a week for Land Rover Defender residuals, with the announcement modification specials. I also see that we’re deep into territory that I predicted (go me) in 2016, when I thought that within a few years, old Defenders would be rebranded as Defender Classics. I was partly right: it seems to be Classic Defender, going by the official title bestowed by Land Rover Classic on its most recent few editions. The latest is the Land Rover Classic Defender V8 by Works Bespoke (see p12), perhaps announced now as a reminder to anyone contemplating a Grenadier Detour from Ineos’s new Arcane Works division that the original maker of cars that look like this is still doing a trade in them. Ineos is a company of which JLR, I think it’s fair…

New 90-series Volvo SUVs tend to live long and notable lives. The first-generation XC90 was still remarkably popular despite being the oldest car on sale in the UK by the time the second-generation model arrived in 2014 and ushered in new everything for Volvo under Geely ownership. Platform, engines, styling: the Mk2 XC90 set the tone for the Volvos that would follow and go on to create the Swedish brand’s most successful era yet. Like the original XC90 before it, today’s model feels like it could go on for some time yet. And it will, but it will no longer be the only seven-seat SUV in Volvo’s range. The EX90 is an all-new electric car and, like its range-mate, ushers in a whole host of new technology and features that…

This is Maserati’s big step into EVs. We’ve driven the Folgore (that’s ‘lightning’ in Italian) version of the Granturismo and largely liked it, with its 800V architecture and three motors. The Grecale SUV is the ‘volume’ model, and this Italian-plated left-hooker has arrived in the UK for us to try. I’ll start positive: It looks good, not at all weird like some EVs. And it’s perfectly pleasant to go down the motorway in, with good seats, noise isolation and cruise control. Well-judged regen too. But that’s not a very high bar for a £110k car. The interior is largely the same as the petrol’s, so I won’t repeat it all here. In short: nice but not mind-blowing. Straight from the spec sheet, the Folgore is on the back foot. It…

It’s the summer of 1994. Queen Elizabeth II has just opened the Channel Tunnel, while I Wet Wet Wet’s Love Is All Around steamrollers the British music charts, only dethroned after 15 weeks at number one by the Europopdance fusion might of Whigfield. How either of those songs have aged is purely subjective. As for the other 30-year-old hit you see here, well, we’re about to find out. Launching the same year as LeShuttle was Germany’s own idea of quick, crosscontinental transport. The Audi RS2 Avant is the first dot on a thrilling timeline that takes us right up to the mighty RS6 Avant of today. Classy, luxurious and roomy: the perfect car to revisit those halcyon early days of half-hour channel-hopping and the phenomenon of the booze cruise. We…

MILEAGE 6240 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT This high-vis EV could be the future of hot hatches. Should we be excited? When I first drove an Abarth 595, years ago now, on a hilly handling circuit, I flippantly described it as a shopping trolley with a wonky wheel and a rocket stuck on the back. Neglecting to mention a driving seat that felt like a toddler’s high chair and a gearlever positioning that made shifting feel like stirring my dinner around a saucepan. I wasn’t a fan, basically. Its electric successor, the Abarth 500e, turned out to be not dissimilar when I took it to the South Downs one night recently. Except now the rocket is of the Soyuz variety and the gearlever has been replaced by a storage tray, quite…

I’ve been in the motor trade for 30 years and seen many changes, some for the better, some for the worse. Lately I’ve sensed an air of doom when wondering what the future holds for those who design, build, write about, sell and service cars. Net zero, 15-minute cities, ULEZ, the ZEV rush, China and Just Stop Oil protests all seem to put us at the cliff edge. Suzuki’s problem with meeting the ZEV mandate (News, 31 July) surely spells the start of the end for its UK dealer network. Most will be waiting to see how bad it will get before issuing their termination letters, I reckon. Some will go and sit on a beach while Rome burns; others will sign up with the Chinese and try to make…

An owner’s view CHRIS RUSSELL “I previously ran a Mk1 Yaris but needed a bit more space and modern technology so opted for a Mk3, as it was cheaper to insure than cars of a similar size. Mine’s a 1.5-litre petrol and it will easily do 50mpg. So long as you have it regularly serviced, a Yaris should service you well. The only major issue I’ve had was a broken clutch, which cost £1500 to mend at a main dealer. Since then, I’ve had no problems with it, and my Yaris has now covered 163,000 miles.” Buyer beware… POWERTRAIN If your battery isn’t harnessing energy, even with the regenerative brakes set to the highest setting, this could be an early sign of high-voltage battery failure. Watch out for any dips…

WE RECENTLY LEARNED that Proton is planning an exports push that will take it into right-handdrive markets, including the UK. Perhaps surprisingly, Proton is much more familiar here than in any country outside its homeland of Malaysia, some 140,000 of its cars having found buyers here between 1989 and 2014. This south-east Asian nation entered a period of modernisation and economic growth after its 1963 independence from the UK, and in 1979, deputy prime minister Mahathir bin Mohamad proposed enhancing its small car industry through the creation of a ‘national automobile enterprise’ – ‘perusahaan otomobil nasional’ in Malay, or Proton for short. The new Heavy Industries Corporation of Malaysia (Hicom) wisely sought an experienced firm for help, and in 1983 a joint venture with Mitsubishi was established. Proton had an…