Table of contents for September 11, 2024 in Autocar

ONE OF THE biggest challenges manufacturers face is ensuring that each new model is robust and reliable in every market. The same car driven in the relatively benign UK climate has to function just as well in tundra as in desert. Also, ICE cars’ engines, sensitive to the oxygen content of the atmosphere, have to be able to cope in the rarefied air of high-altitude locations as well as at sea level. A few decades back, the only way manufacturers could effectively do that was to send teams of engineers and prototypes all over the world at specific times of the year to put development cars through their paces. Nowadays, they ease this costly and time-consuming burden with climatic wind tunnels on home territory. Porsche opened a new climate centre…

THE UK’S CONTINUATION of regulatory alignment with the EU on automotive matters post-Brexit would seem to suggest that the imposition of extra import tariffs on Chinese-made EVs is inevitable, the European bloc having taken that step to protect its industry from cheap imports from China. However, unlike the EU, the UK no longer has much of a mainstream domestic manufacturing industry to protect, so the ‘threat’ isn’t really one at all. Retaliatory tariffs from Beijing are set to target large premium cars from the likes of BMW and Mercedes-Benz in one of the few market segments that Chinese brands have yet to get to grips with at home. Should Westminster follow Brussels in taxing Chinese EVs (new business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said it has no plans to do so),…

SHARK BAIT The EV debate on these pages has been warming up of late, and that’s fine: it’s not a straightforward subject, Autocar is a broad church, each to his own etc. But every now and then someone jumps the shark, and for me and I suspect a good slice of your readership, Martin O’Neill has surely done so (28 August). I thought the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N’s digital ‘gearbox’ and fake exhaust helping propel it to a five-star road test verdict was unfathomable. Now a gent with impeccable petrolhead qualifications has sold his Toyota GR Yaris because it has been irrelevant since his Ioniq 5 N arrived. So the 2.5-tonne fake of the 1.2-tonne real thing is actually the more desirable, because it’s more fun? I’m genuinely unsure how…

HOW WE TEST CARS Autocar delivers several kinds of reviews on new cars, with different levels of technical and functional scrutiny. As the name suggests, our First Drives section typically addresses cars that we’re driving for the first time - either in final production form or as late prototypes. Time in the car can be limited here, technical and equipment specification might not be finalised and some systems software may not be to production specification. For those reasons, First Drive reports don’t have star ratings. Once we have driven a car in the UK, in right-hand-drive form and typically at greater length, we will rate it, either as part of a shorter UK test report or as the subject of a full, instrumented Road Test. In the latter case, we…

FULL-SIZE SUV-coupés, built to blend top-level luxury, style, utility and convenience a little like a pair of Swarovski-encrusted Wellington boots might, are typically cars of irrational appeal. Porsche’s Cayenne Coupé might be the exception, though, because these days, if you want the most dynamic-handling, optionally optimal, Cayenneiest Cayenne going, you buy the Coupé. Only that way can you get all the carbonfibre body trim, an optional carbonfibre roof and the sportiest, shoutiest sports exhaust available – all of which you will obviously want. Without going fully mad on a £145k Turbo E-Hybrid, the £108k GTS is the shortcut to a Cayenne in just that kind of specification. It’s a significant step up from a regular V8-engined S, getting adaptive air suspension and mechanical torque-vectoring as standard and more special tuning…

The supermini before you will, we suspect, turn out to be the slowest car this magazine tests all year, notwithstanding the subject of Matt Prior’s Christmas road test. Then again, based on previous candidates, that machine could well possess not a chassis but a hull. But forget about performance, because the 3.6m-long Kia Picanto is still one of the more unusual and interesting cars we’ll test in 2024 – more unusual as a type of car than even plug-in hybrid supercars, which now outnumber truly small hatchbacks. It will be news to nobody that city cars are an endangered species. Low margins, the cost of advanced safety features and a shift in market demands have all played a part in the thinning out of their ranks, yet diminutive, highly affordable,…

Resurrecting the MG brand – known and beloved by so many sports car owners throughout the UK and beyond – to its former glories looks like rather a tall order. It might even be an impossible task, in light of the kinds of cars that have become its bread and butter in this electrified era. But be that as it may, for the moment, MG Motor looks determined to try. The Chinese manufacturer’s latest debutant, the Cyberster electric convertible, has a suspicious quantity of ‘wow’ factor, doesn’t it? Studiously imitative but undoubtedly pretty styling and scissor doors that motor up at the touch of a button on the key fob, ready to stun anyone approaching its orbit into slightly confused silence. Can this really have come from the same company…

ACCELERATION AT LOW CHARGE Any car that relies on an electric motor and a battery for either a part or all of its propulsion depends on the condition of that battery for its power, so we have added a second benchmark test of a car’s acceleration. With any EV or hybrid vehicle, our primary acceleration test is always performed with the drive battery’s state of charge at a minimum of 90%. For the new second test, that battery is depleted to 10% state of charge. This will give a useful indication of real-world performance for people who tend to drive plug-in hybrids over longer distances once the battery is flat, but also of the robustness and integrity of the powertrain engineering, and effective power management, of any electric car. BRAKING…

“I never felt any range anxiety, which is a rare thing in a sub-£40k EV” WHY WE RAN IT To get under the skin of a promising hatch, assess its tech in daily use and find out if you can do without a crossover, after all On the face of it, the days of hatchbacks seem to be coming to an end. More drivers are opting for SUVs and stalwarts such as the Ford Fiesta have been binned for these taller, wider and, crucially, more profitable models. That may seem like a dramatic statement, especially given it was the demand for superminis that inflated total new car sales across Europe by 12% last year. The year before that, Peugeot’s 208 was the continent’s best-seller. But the switch to electric power…

In the late 2000s, a flock of European super-saloons arrived to prove that you could have the punch and charisma of a supercar in a more usable everyday package. Arguably, none mastered the art better than the fourth-generation Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG. The boffins at Affalterbach had lived in the shadow of their rivals at BMW M for too long so decided to do something about it with the W204 C63. They didn’t hold back. The C63 was launched in 2008 with a thunderous, 6.2-litre atmo V8 that made 451bhp and 423lb ft and was good for 0-62mph in 4.5sec. It’s a characterful lump, too, barking into life with a sharp flurry of revs before settling down to a rich and bassy tone that’s the match of any full-bore muscle car.…

GOT A STORY Email our news editor, will.rimell@haymarket.com The new Flying Spur is Bentley’s most powerful four-door saloon yet courtesy of the same electrified set-up as in the Continental GT, which replaces its predecessor’s W12 engine. Its plug-in hybrid powertrain pairs a 592bhp 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 with a gearbox-mounted electric motor for a combined 738lb ft and 771bhp – 145bhp more than the discontinued W12. Bentley has opted to use the electric motor instead of cylinder-deactivation technology, with the V8 switching off at low loads, such as coasting at A-road speeds. The Flying Spur can also run solely in electric mode at up to 87mph or three-quarters throttle and the 187bhp motor is claimed to have “more than enough to keep up with the traffic in most situations”. It draws…

Renault has revived the 17 coupé of the 1970s as a sleek, sporting EV with as much power as a modern Volkswagen Golf GTI and a carbonfibre chassis. Created in partnership with French designer Ora Ito, the restomod is the latest in a series of reimagined Renault classics that pair retro design cues with modern technology. The 17 was launched in 1971 as Renault’s first front-wheel-drive coupé, based on the underpinnings of the hugely popular 12 saloon. It was only really its four round headlights and distinctive louvred rear pillars that differentiated the car from the technically identical 15 coupé. Described as “very much a modern vehicle”, the 17 restomod swaps the original 1289cc petrol engine and FWD format for a 270bhp electric motor on the rear axle. This is…

Leeds-based Ginetta has unveiled the Akula, a 600bhp road-going supercar with a 6.4-litre atmospheric V8 and a manual gearbox option. Morphing from the 2019 show car of the same name (meaning ‘shark’ in Russian), the new two-seat coupé has an aggressive design that features Le Mans-derived aero while also offering a Porsche Panameraesque 473-litre boot. Ginetta intends it to be a “continent-crosser” that expresses motorsport engineering “in its purest form”. The Akula weighs just 1190kg, thanks mainly to its monocoque and subframe being made of carbonfibre. With its front-mid-mounted V8 making 600bhp at 7200rpm and 494lb ft of torque at 5100rpm, the Akula will hit 62mph from standing in 2.9sec. That’s as fast as the Maserati MC20. Power is sent to the rear wheels (shod in Pirelli P Zero tyres)…

STILL FEELING SMUG In February 2019, I wrote to you – rather smugly, in retrospect – about my Seat Mii, which I had converted to run on LPG. With this, I was able to match the 4.8p-per-mile running costs of the Nissan Leaf you were testing. I considered this to be very cheap motoring. With slightly inaccurate prescience, I looked forward to the day when I could afford a used Kia e-Niro, which seemed to me to represent the sweet spot in the EV market. Fast forward to August 2023 and my son needed a replacement car, so I gave him my Mii and bought a 2016 Hyundai Ioniq Electric with the 28kWh battery and 75,000 miles on the clock. Second-hand EV values had come down a lot, and I…

The Ford Puma has the unenviable task of picking up where the Fiesta left off. In becoming the brand’s crucial new entry-level model, it must draw buyers in with a well-sorted chassis, new interior technology, good practicality and competitive fuel efficiency with the aim of inclining them to migrate to Fords further up the range later in life. To that end, it has just received a facelift. The most obvious changes on the outside are new headlights, a restyled front grille and new wheel designs, which combine to give the Puma a worthwhile freshen up. Most of the development budget, however, has gone on the interior. Ford has thoroughly rethought the design and upgraded the technology with a new ‘floating’ 12in infotainment touchscreen running the latest software, Sync 4, together…

MODEL TESTED MASERATI GRANTURISMO TROFEO Price £163,590 Power 542bhp at 6500rpm Torque 479lb ft at 3000rpm 0-60mph 3.6sec 30-70mph 3.1sec Economy 22.3mpg CO2 emissions 227g/km 70-0mph 44.5m (20deg C, dry) If there’s one car that defines Maserati as a brand, it’s the Granturismo. There have been saloons and supercars along the way, and of course the firm also sells SUVs now, but it has been making big luxury 2+2 coupés with a sporting edge for most of its history. Although there hasn’t been one enduring nameplate over the years (Maserati has used 3500GT, Sebring, Coupé etc), the model line is arguably to Maserati what the 911 is to Porsche. It’s what you think of when you picture ‘a Maserati’, and the kind of car it needs to keep making –…

IT’S RARE TO be introduced to a car as the one “we didn’t want to make”. Abingdon-based MG specialist Frontline resisted the idea of an electric restomod for a long time before customer demand reached a level that was simply too hard to resist. Yet the resulting BEE GT feels like the culmination of a life’s vision, its aesthetic, detailing, fit and finish all being sublime and the whole thing exuding a coolness that I’ve never quite come across in a stock MGB. This prototype links a 40kWh battery to a 120bhp electric motor for a junior hot hatch level of performance and up to 140 miles of range in favourable conditions. Frontline now offers a slightly pricier 60kWh long-range model that hikes both the power and range figures past…

MILEAGE 11,904 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see how 20% more claimed range works with a pokier 241bhp motor There’s no doubt about it: driving a car like the MG 4 Extended Range definitely changes your driving style. Despite the fact that I’ve got a better power-to-weight ratio than most of the cars that pass me, I can’t bear to accelerate up hills with their carefree abandon. Even though this car does 323 miles officially and in perfect conditions I’ve seen a stonking 380 miles predicted, I still can’t bear to rush up a mile-long hill and see 10 miles wiped off my available range. The best I can make myself do now is maintain an even speed or perhaps approach a hill at 65mph and gradually concede 10mph if…

AN OWNER’S VIEW JAMES ROXBURGH “I’ve owned my C63 AMG Estate since 2011. Since then I’ve done more than 80,000 miles, and it has been hugely practical and great to drive. Last year I noticed some vibrations at around 2000rpm – so far I’ve had the clutch/torque converter replaced, costing £1500, but it hasn’t resolved things. It could be worn bushes or engine/gearbox mounts, but it’s being investigated. Fuel and tyres are also expensive. Despite the running costs, I absolutely love the car. The performance, sound and handling never fail to put a smile on my face and it still feels eye-wateringly fast. I wouldn’t change anything about it.” BUYER BEWARE… ■ ENGINE Carbon can build up on the intake valves of the M156 V8 over time, causing a rough idle…

 Volvo has heavily reworked the highly successful XC90 with a number of “fundamental changes”, including design and technology updates inspired by its new electric EX90 sibling. The second generation of the large SUV was launched in 2014 and the Swedish firm has sold close to a million examples. This new version is effectively a significant development of that model. It sits on the same SPA1 platform and will be available with the same choice of one plug-in hybrid and two mild-hybrid all-wheel-drive powertrains. The significant revamp of the XC90 comes as Volvo abandons its pledge to sell only electric cars from 2030 onwards. Citing EV infrastructure and lower consumer acceptance than expected, the brand is now aiming for between 90% and 100% of sales to be electrified – either battery-electric…

BMW WILL LAUNCH a mass-market hydrogen-powered car in 2028 – followed by multiple fuel cell variants of existing models – making it the first manufacturer to do so. Chairman Oliver Zipse described the move as “a milestone in automotive history”. It is likely that the first hydrogen fuel cell (FCEV) model will be the X5, given that the German brand has already been testing an FCEV-modified fleet of its best-seller. The new cars will use powertrains co-developed with Toyota and the announcement was made as part of a strengthening of the two car firms’ partnership to develop the technology. Zipse said: “Powered by hydrogen and driven by the spirit of cooperation, it will underscore how technological progress is shaping future mobility.” He added: “It will herald an era of significant…

A NEW INDIAN-BUILT JLR model based on a new platform being created by parent firm Tata Motors will be launched next year. Confirmed by Tata Group boss Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the platform will also underpin a “high-end” Tata model. Both will be built in an all-new factory in India, and there are plans to export them to other markets. “We’re able to bring the cost attitude of Tata Motors with the design sophistication of JLR,” Chandrasekaran told Autocar India. “Then you get the benefit occurring for both in two different ways and the volumes go up, which justifies the investment that goes into the platform.” He added: “We have bigger aspirations, both for JLR and Tata Motors.” Both cars based on the new Tata platform will offer different levels of luxury.…

MG WILL BEGIN fitting electric cars with solidstate batteries within the next 12 months, becoming one of the first manufacturers to do so. Speaking at the Chengdu motor show in China, Yu Jingmin, executive vice-president of passenger vehicle operations at MG parent company SAIC, told Autocar that new solidstate battery technology has been developed in-house and will be shared with other SAIC brands (which include Maxus and UK-bound IM). Yu wouldn’t divulge the identity of the first MG model to receive the tech but indicated that it’s planned to be unveiled during the second quarter of 2025 before going on sale later in the year. The ambitious move advances MG’s previously planned solid-state timings by more than 12 months and places it ahead of rivals including Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen.…

ROAD TEST ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE The British firm’s new V8-engined sports car is good – but just how good? We put it to the definitive test over 10 pages. FIRST DRIVE AUDI E-TRON GT Electric grand tourer gets plenty of new tech. We find out if it’s better. RETROSPECTIVE FAREWELL TO THE I-PACE Jaguar’s first EV was a genuine game-changer. As production ends six years later, Steve Cropley pays tribute. EVERY WEEK USED GUIDE VOLVO XC40 This compact SUV has been a massive hit for Volvo – and it’s a used bargain too. WHY WE LOVE… THE HIRE CAR LOTTERY James Attwood on why rental roulette is a highlight of his holidays.…

“I wonder if the Prius is actually becoming an enthusiast’s car”  It’s nearly two years since Toyota took the wraps off the fifth-generation Prius and told British drivers they wouldn’t be able to buy it. Sales of the previous model had slowed dramatically to fewer than 600 a year, as private buyers had quickly migrated to the cooler-looking C-HR crossover, while private hire buyers were being nudged towards the Corolla estate – a move that suited them because it had more luggage space and suited Toyota GB because the Corolla is built in Britain. But finally here we are: the model that got the great car-buying public used to a degree of electrification is returning to the UK. In short, enough people wanted it. Quite a lot of things have…

Keeping something up to date without significantly changing what it is in the process isn’t an easy brief. Just ask any ageing rock musician, grand hotel proprietor… or car maker. Everything must change, of course, and only products that are relevant and well attuned to their purpose can retain their value. The Autocar road test has changed quite a lot over what we now know (thanks to the research of the estimable Keith Jones, p52) to be more than a century, taking in close to 6000 fully instrumented tests. Its content has necessarily morphed and developed as the cars it was conceived to scrutinise have evolved. If it hadn’t, we’d still be fretting over how much physical pedal effort it takes to stop a Porsche 911 GT3 from 70mph, or…

MILEAGE 5885 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see how similar Britain’s cheapest supermini is to its class-leading sibling On the motorway the other day, I saw a man who had stuck one of those suction-cup phone holders onto the windscreen of his brand-new Mercedes-Benz EQS. Mate, that car has more digital screen area than my flat has floor space. My Dacia Sandero has a phone cradle on its dashboard and I still don’t feel any need to use it, because smartphone mirroring software exists. Don’t you know? To give him the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he was a taxi driver or chauffeur, I thought. But it turns out the driver apps of Addison Lee, Lyft, Uber and probably more are compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so who…

There comes a time in every car enthusiast’s life when they must stop ogling other folks’ motors and decide whether they’re a watcher or a player. For Japanese-car enthusiast Matt Tyrrell that moment came five years ago when, after humming and hawing over whether or not to buy a Honda NSX, he took a long hard look in the mirror, checked his bank balance and took the plunge. “I was in my forties, feeling financially secure and in a position to buy something special, so with prices for NSXs beginning to rise, I bit the bullet,” he tells me. “It was a great decision.” The NSX he eventually settled on is a 1993 example, finished in classic Formula Red. It had 54,000 miles on the clock when Matt bought it…

PORSCHE 911 3.6 CARRERA 1993, 103,000 miles, £66,995 Porsche 959-inspired looks and a sweet six-pot engine is a fine recipe. It’s a leggy example, but this last of the air-cooled 911s is as much of a treat on the eye as it is to drive. Make sure you find one with a good history that has been thoroughly maintained. FERRARI 348 TB 3.4 1993, 39,000 miles, £57,950 A naturally aspirated V8 and a gated manual ’box? Yes, please. Former Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo dubbed it one of the worst Ferraris ever made, but a car with the prancing horse on its nose for less than £60k is a rare find these days. LOTUS ESPRIT GT3 1997, 20,000 miles, £39,995 ‘GT3’ often means more performance, but the Esprit GT3 went the…