Table of contents for August 27, 2025 in Autocar

The second generation of the hugely popular Volkswagen T-Roc has been unveiled with a bold new look, a completely overhauled interior and a radical hybrid drivetrain that will be rolled out across the brand’s line-up. The latest version of the Golf-based compact crossover – of which more than two million examples have been sold since its 2017 launch – will be the final new combustion car that Volkswagen launches. All subsequent models are due to be exclusively batterypowered if the market conditions are right. The Mk2 T-Roc is 120mm longer than its predecessor, at 4373mm, making it a close match for rivals including the Toyota C-HR, Mazda CX-30 and Kia Niro. The intention is that it has a more distinct character than the previous generation to differentiate it more obviously…

MERCEDES-BENZ IS in advanced talks about potentially using BMW’s four-cylinder petrol engines for a wide range of future cars, as part of a radical rethink of its ICE strategy prompted by slower than expected take-up of its EVs. A Mercedes source told Autocar the two firms are already at a high level of planning and negotiations – and an announcement on whether it will go ahead is expected before the end of the year. Autocar has approached BMW for comment. The potential tie-up – first uncovered by Germany’s Manager Magazin – is being framed as a “strategic step to cut development costs”. For Mercedes, it would secure a Euro 7-compliant engine supply – crucial to the continuation of ICE models – while helping it to expand its plug-in hybrid offerings…

Insurance premiums for EVs will continue to rise unless the UK can find a cost-effective way of repairing damaged batteries rather than replacing them, warns Thatcham Research, an organisation owned by motor insurers. This is because the component is worth up to 55% of the value of a new EV – and more as the vehicle ages and depreciates. As a result, some EVs that sustain damage to their battery in an accident are being written off. While the number of repairs is rising, it remains a very low proportion of total EV repairs, at 2%. Thatcham Research warns that as the number of EVs in the UK increases beyond today’s 1.5 million, it’s essential the UK develops a battery repair and refurbishment industry that will help to keep the…

Chinese tech giant Xiaomi is planning to start selling its new electric cars in Europe within the next two years. Historically best known as a manufacturer of consumer electronics (primarily its hugely popular smartphones), Xiaomi launched the SU7 saloon as its first EV in 2023 and announced plans to become one of the world’s five biggest car makers. With its second EV, the YU7 SUV, now also on sale in China, Xiaomi Auto is one of the fastest-growing car brands in its home market, with more than 80,000 cars delivered in the last quarter alone (a near-200% yearly increase), and is laying the groundwork to soon start exporting cars internationally. Company president William Lu told international media in an earnings call last week that Xiaomi Auto plans to enter the…

“I WAS SITTING on a plane on a Friday night, waiting to take off at Heathrow ahead of a weekend away, and my mum texted me: ‘Does this thing happening in America affect you?’ To be honest, I was in the dark like everyone else. I didn’t really think about it on the flight. Then over the weekend, things developed quite quickly.” Ex-Volkswagen UK boss Alex Smith, now chairman of dealer group Lookers, is recalling the very start of a scandal that began to break a decade ago next month: Dieselgate. The fines, firings and fixes are well documented, but what impact has it left on VW, the wider car industry and the black pump? To deal with the last point first, the scandal hasn’t quite killed off diesel in…

SENSING TROUBLE Back in May, I was in stop-start traffic when the car in front stopped suddenly and I bumped into him. We were both going very slowly and there was no visible damage to either car. I apologised to the other driver and we both drove off. I soon realised the sensor in the grille of my Land Rover Discovery Sport had been damaged. It controls the cruise control, the distance and collision warning system and the automatic emergency braking. The sensor had to be replaced, at £4000. The dealer said the repair wasn’t covered under warranty, so I appealed to JLR Client Care. I said the collision warning system didn’t activate and nor did the emergency braking. JLR said these were only driver aids and not to be…

“It’s no Wrangler off road, but in Mud/Snow mode it’s quite clever” Jeep has finally given its most popular car the credibility it so needs. The Avenger may have done wonders for Jeep’s European sales figures, but can you really take a Jeep seriously when it’s only available with front-wheel drive? Enter the Avenger 4xe. It uses the familiar Stellantis 134bhp hybrid system, wherein a 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine and an electric motor in the six-speed dual-clutch gearbox combine forces to power the front wheels, but with another 28bhp electric motor added to the rear axle for four-wheel drive. It also gets a 10mm-raised ride height, some skidplates, redesigned bumpers for better approach and departure angles and a multi-link rear axle to give better rear suspension articulation. We first drove…

WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Is this sensible, long-legged compact SUV the perfect beginner’s electric car? I’ve never been so excited to not be excited. Don’t get me wrong: I feel privileged to have lived with such gems as an Audi TT RS and a top-drawer Cupra Leon Estate in recent months, and I had many a cheery trip in the wonderfully extroverted Volkswagen ID Buzz and Abarth 500e that I ran last year. But sometimes you just want a car. A no-nonsense, practicalityfocused, family-friendly mobility device that does the whole A-to-B thing really, really well and then still doesn’t feel like a chore to take onwards from C to D and beyond. Step forward my gloriously grey Skoda Elroq, a car so anonymously specified that I could trip over it…

MILEAGE 7939 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To discover if Renault’s retro-infused EV hit is as good to live with as it is to look at I dropped into my local BMW-Mini dealership the other day, and the dealer principal was keen to take a close look at my Renault 5, given that it’s currently providing pretty solid competition for his electric Mini Cooper hatch. In fact, he marshalled his Mini staff for a viewing of their best rival product (as I sipped a flat white in one of this emporium’s welcoming coffee bars). The upshot? They were all impressed. The 5 was undoubtedly an appealing and thoroughly modern product, they reckoned, although pretty tight on boot space and rear room. Like the Cooper. It also lacked, they felt, the last…

FORD FOCUS 1.6 ZETEC 2005, 79,500 miles, £990 Owned by its current keeper for more than 10 years, this Mk2 Focus looks to be in excellent condition for its age. The seller says it has been serviced annually and starts and drives without fault. It comes with plenty of paperwork too. MINI COOPER HATCH 2001, 76,000 miles, £900 Early BMW Minis are becoming collectors’ items, so this Cooper could be a shrewd buy. For short hops around town, it’s the ideal wingman. This car has been well maintained and its service book has 10 stamps. It could do with a lick of paint on the bonnet and the wings, though. RENAULT CLIO 1.2 RUSH 2005, 78,000 miles, £895 Could this be a future Festival of the Unexceptional winner? It has…

Autocar’s history of empirical road testing is the longest in the world. For more than a century, we have been verifying, scrutinising, describing and illustrating new cars in unparalleled detail. Driving impressions have always been a key part of this, around which the empirical tests have changed. In pre-war years, we concerned ourselves with braking effort, gradient climbing capability and rolling resistance. Later our attention shifted to take in acceleration, top speed, stopping distance and cruising noise level. Today we use the Horiba MIRA proving ground in the Midlands to take similar performance benchmarks of new cars – and we’ve recently expanded the test’s remit to take in braking stamina over repeated stops and, in the case of electrified cars, DC rapid-charging performance and measured acceleration at both high and…

“The comprehensive rethink of Porsche’s line-up has been triggered by market conditions” Porsche is gearing up to launch and refresh at least 10 models before the end of the decade as it embarks on the most significant line-up overhaul in its history. Notably, there will be a renewed focus on combustion-engined cars as the German marque looks to balance the books amid the ongoing slowdown of EV sales and the effects of new trade tariffs in the US – one of its biggest markets. At the heart of the renewal is a new entry-level SUV that will indirectly plug the gap left by the outgoing combustion Macan. Porsche is also readying life-extending refreshes for the Panamera and Cayenne, a major Taycan overhaul, electric 718s and a new range-topping SUV. NEW…

The Volkswagen T-Roc R will return in 2027 with hybrid power, hot hatch performance and an aggressive design that sets it apart from the standard car. VW CEO Thomas Schäfer confirmed the performance variant’s comeback as he unveiled the second generation of the Golf-based crossover, promising: “For all the petrolheads out there, we will bring a real powerful T-Roc R.” The range-topper will mark a renewed expansion of Volkswagen’s performance car line-up after the retirements of the hottest versions of the Tiguan, Arteon and Touareg left just the Golf to fly the R flag. Bosses would not be drawn on specifics of the upcoming T-Roc R’s powertrain, but the company has confirmed that the whole T-Roc line-up will be electrified. The most likely basis for the R derivative is the…

THE PEUGEOT 308 has gained a dramatic new look and more efficient powertrains as part of its mid-life update. The hatchback/estate, which arrived in third-generation form in 2021, has adopted a new front end to bring it closer in line with the bigger 3008 and 5008 crossovers. While visually different, the new nose also has a technical function, says Peugeot: it improves the car’s aerodynamics, resulting in better fuel or energy efficiency. The changes are less pronounced inside, with just new graphics for the infotainment and digital gauge displays added. Underneath, the 308 is again offered with mild-hybrid petrol, diesel, plug-in hybrid and fully electric powertrains. The mild-hybrid petrol features the same 1.2-litre turbo triple but has gained 9bhp, now putting out 143bhp, while the diesel has the same 129bhp…

JLR HAS REVEALED a limited-run edition of the original Land Rover Defender with a 400bhp V8, a near-£300,000 price tag and influence from Winston Churchill’s Series 1. Named the Classic Defender V8 Churchill Edition, it is the latest creation from the firm’s Works Bespoke arm and is limited to just 10 examples. They can be specified in either the 90 (hard-top or soft-top) or 110 bodystyle of the Defender produced between 2012 and 2016. Prices, including the donor car, start at £279,000 for the 90 and rise to £295,200 for the 110. The car that inspired it, registered UKE 80, was given to Winston Churchill as an 80th birthday present in 1954. It was restored after being acquired by a Swiss buyer in 2013 and has since been on display…

A government grant of £25 million to support new cross-pavement EV charging schemes has been hailed as a major boost to the take-up of electric cars by enabling households without a driveway to charge an EV cheaply on the road. The cash will be spent on installing covered gullies that can carry a charge cable across a pavement to an EV parked on the road. It is hoped the solution will tackle a problem faced by around nine million UK homes and in turn drive up the uptake of EVs. However, critics are worried the solution still has significant challenges to overcome, especially around running costs and usability, before it becomes a fully viable solution. Many councils are already using the cash to roll out pilot schemes. Oxfordshire County Council,…

TWIN TEST EMIRA TURBO SE vs A110 It’s the ultimate SUV antidote: a pair of mighty lightweight sports cars from two of the best in the business, Lotus and Alpine, go head to head INTERVIEW FROM SKODA RAPID TO BUGATTI TOURBILLON Bugatti design chief Frank Heyl on his work, driving fast and The Prodigy ROAD TEST PORSCHE 911 CARRERA S It “will give you goosebumps”, says Porsche. We’ll be the judge of that EVERY WEEK LIVING WITH A… BMW X3 M50 Does the firm’s best-seller really need a 393bhp six for everyday use? We’re about to find out OUR CARS TOYOTA GT86 “Sorry, the undertray fell off…” What happened when Jonathan Bryce lent his car to his cousin…

The headlines are not good. You can put the blame on competition from ravenous Chinese brands, or the fact that in Europe and North America household budgets are increasingly stretched. Or even Elon Musk’s politics, so at odds with those of his car maker’s customer base. But the fact is that fewer people are buying Teslas. Terminal decline? Who can say, but it’s a trend that the company, now based in Texas, is looking to reverse with a fairly wide-ranging update to its best-seller, the Model Y. Beyond striking changes to the body, including a Cybertruckstyle front light bar, the myriad of tweaks that constitute the so-called ‘Juniper’ facelift result in a markedly improved product, we’re told. At the same time, the pricing is more competitive than ever. When the…

Morgan versus Hyundai: what’s in a number? The number 290, specifically. The number that got us thinking of this test. Wondering just what it would feel like to drive two cars that share a crucial performance metric yet celebrate opposing ends of the engineering scale. One a purist, lightweight creation of modern-deco design powered by piston and petrol. The other a brutalist performance masterpiece with four wheels driven by electric motors and software-orchestrated drama. To state the obvious, this is not a twin test in the conventional like-for-like comparative sense. Nobody is totting up the pros and cons of either a new Supersport or an Ioniq 5 N, thinking to themselves: “Hmm, well, that one I can get the kids in, and it’s got windows that go up and down…

MILEAGE 1827 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT To see if the clever design of this small EV can win us over in extended use As email subject lines go, “I’m concerned about your driving” certainly grabbed my attention. Given I try to be fairly careful and considerate at the wheel, I can’t recall having been told that since one of my early driving lessons. The sender was reader and keen EX30 owner David Williams, who decided to write in after reading about my mixed experiences with our car’s driver monitoring alerts (6 August). To recap, I’ve found the monitor to be somewhat overattentive, occasionally setting off when I’m looking in the mirrors or telling me I’m tired because it mistook a grimace for a yawn. But David said that he and…

Like it or loathe it, Tesla’s family SUV is one of the most efficient, tech-rich and practical EVs you can buy. The Model Y has topped sales charts worldwide since its launch in 2022, with more than 2.5 million delivered in the past three years. That’s almost half what the original Mini achieved over its entire 41-year production run. You can read our road test of the heavily updated new Model Y from p28, but if you can swallow a few compromises, the pre-facelift car is beginning to look like a real bargain, with prices starting at £18,000 – well under half the price of a new one. The Long Range version is the go-to if you will be using your Model Y as a holiday shuttle, as it can…

“A jet engine is not that much different from an internal combustion engine in that it pushes the air in, squeezes it, ignites it and pushes it out.” Simon Lipscombe’s idiot-proof explanation of the jet engine’s basic operating principle would surely have delighted Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of the jet engine. That he knows how one works is because he bought one, like you do… “I found it on eBay,” he says. “It’s from a Mk3 Avro Shackleton. The plane had two jet engines, one each behind the outermost Griffin V12 prop engines to push it along. It produces 2600lb of thrust and with a few extra bits it cost me and my dad Richard £2000.” With his new jet engine safely in his garage, Simon, who is chief mechanic at…

Chinese brands are now voraciously gobbling up market share in the UK: from 5% in 2024, they’ve already stomached 8% in 2025. This has caused much anxiety and even antagonism, and some people have called for restrictive measures to be taken against China’s car industry. This is incredibly similar to the situation that existed in the mid-1970s, when Japanese brands were enjoying ever greater success at the expense of Britain’s own car firms. In August 1973, British Leyland boss Lord Donald Stokes called for bans on foreign cars, TVs, electronic goods and even washing machines while an economically troubled Britain “got its house in order”, claiming the nation was “sitting back like a goose being plucked”. Imported cars had achieved a record-setting market share of 32% that month, taking the…

A definitive date for For a company so deeply rooted in the philosophy of rear-wheel drive – hence the rear-axle bias to its four-wheel drive systems to date – Porsche’s decision to build its first production car with a front-drive bias marks a fundamental break with tradition. Since its founding in 1931, it has engineered its road cars to channel power to the rear axle, either exclusively or primarily, in the pursuit of handling precision. Even in shared-platform models like the original Macan, Porsche went to great lengths to rework the Audi Q5’s MLB architecture, introducing its own fourwheel drive system and suspension tuning. So why the shift now? Partly, it’s a matter of cost, bringing development efficiencies when aligned with Volkswagen Group platforms, such as PPC. In short, it…

Lexus appears to be readying both electric and petrol successors to the V10 LFA after revealing a new concept car. Displayed at Monterey Car Week in California, the rakish, two-door Lexus Sport Concept is described as “a vision for a next-generation sports car”, hinting at an electric powertrain. Last month, the Japanese brand demonstrated two test mules of a similar size and shape at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Compared with those camouflaged prototypes, this new concept appears more production-ready: it features new front light and grille signatures, an N-shaped rear light bar and cameras for door mirrors. Its performance is hinted at by a small tailfin on the roof, a chunky rear diffuser and an active rear spoiler. While technical details remain under wraps (as they do for the…

Audi has revealed the second-generation Q3 Sportback. Compared with the technically identical Q3 SUV, unveiled in June, the Q3 Sportback differs only by a raked roof that is 29mm lower for a “sportier appearance”. Like the SUV, the Sportback opens with a 148bhp mild-hybrid petrol four and is topped by a 268bhp plug-in hybrid with 73 miles of electric range (down two miles on the SUV). It is also offered with a 148bhp diesel four. The Q3 Sportback will go on sale in October, priced from £39,800.…

TYRES CAUSE QUITE the headache when it comes to environmentally friendly end-of-life disposal. Part of the problem is that they are made from more than 200 materials, including natural and synthetic rubber fillers like carbon black (traditionally made from crude oil), silica derived from quartz sand, chemical agents, steel and textiles. The good news is that most of the major players in tyre manufacturing are quickly replacing some of the worst-offending raw materials with more environmentally friendly alternatives. Major brands including Pirelli, Continental, Michelin, Goodyear, Falken and Bridgestone are all now producing tyres that contain a percentage of recycled or sustainable materials. Two of the main culprits in traditional manufacturing are carbon black and silica, both used as filler (a bit like adding flour to a cake mix) in the…

The Range Rover Velar EV appears to be in its final stages of testing as mules take to the Nürburgring. This test car, captured by Autocar spy photographers, is the most complete version we have seen to date, and looks almost productionready beneath the disguise. An unveiling early next year is expected and deliveries are likely to begin before summer. The electric Velar’s arrival will follow the launch of the flagship Range Rover EV, which is understood to have been delayed to allow more time for testing.…

In the recently published book ‘Sir William Lyons on Jaguar’, based on a speech the company’s founder made in 1969, he is quoted as saying: “Exciting as it has been, the main objective of a business is to make a profit.” In your report on JLR replacing the retiring Adrian Mardell with PB Balaji (News, 13 August), you made much play of the fact that both are former CFOs, as if – shock, horror – finance professionals are incapable of running large companies, although you do grudgingly acknowledge the profits made under Mardell. Passive-aggressive comments such as “Balaji is a safe choice” and “Balaji must also think strategically – not always a CFO strong suit” endorse the clichéd negative attitude towards accountants. Reality is somewhat different. A 2022 survey of…

There’s no mistaking the importance of this car. What we’re driving today on sunbaked Spanish roads, alongside Porsche’s test and development team, is the next-generation Cayenne: purely electric, still in prototype form and pitched as a landmark in the German car maker’s line-up. It aims to deliver the same impact as the original Cayenne did 22 years and three generations ago. But this time the reinvention comes without an internal combustion engine in sight. The five-seat SUV, known internally as the E4, is based on the Volkswagen Group’s 800V Premium Platform Electric, lengthened slightly from the similar structure used by the Porsche Macan Electric and its Audi sister model, the Q6 E-tron. But unlike the Macan Electric, which in many global markets (but not the UK) has replaced its ICE…

The market for volumeselling family SUVs is now sufficiently large, it would seem, that it can be carved into slimmer and slimmer, yet still commercially viable, slices. The subject of this road test, the Mk2 Vauxhall Grandland, shows how. This is the biggest SUV with a Vauxhall badge since the Isuzu Trooper-based Monterey of 1994. It is, however, a particular kind of moderately large, high-rise family holdall: one with a big boot, a roomy second row and plenty of cabin storage, but strictly no seven-seat option. This is an extra-practical alternative to a Nissan Qashqai – but not to a Skoda Kodiaq. It was introduced to the UK towards the end of 2024 but is only this year becoming available in all of its various derivative versions. Its functional, practical…

You would never guess from its cutesy, frog-eyed face, but the Twingo EV due next year will be the fastest Renault ever made. Yes, faster than a Clio V6, Mégane RS Trophy R and even that old 1990s Espace they shoehorned a Formula 1 V10 into. Okay, we’re talking development speed here: the £17,000 city car will be Renault’s first model developed in less than two years – 100 weeks to be precise, half the time it took to develop a car just a few years ago. That won’t ruffle the Autocar road test timing gear much but it’s very significant in Renault’s bid to match Chinese rivals and remain competitive in the new era. It’s the culmination of a major push to reduce development times. The Renault 5 and…

WHY WE RAN IT To discover how much progress BMW has made with its popular entry-level model between generations “What a fabulously practical and enjoyable little car” I know it’s over, and it never really began – but in my heart, it was so real. Yep, I’ve been as mopey as Morrissey since having to hand ‘my’ 120 back to BMW. What a fabulously practical and enjoyable little car it proved to be – and many of its attributes that I so valued have now been put into an even sharper perspective by the enormous plugin hybrid SUV that has replaced it (more on which in a future issue). The entry-level 1 Series is a BMW that has never fully convinced us in its sub-M forms, and that didn’t change when…

MILEAGE 3037 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Is this new luxury EV as compelling as its spec sheet and unique look suggest? While we report both fearlessly and with independence here at Autocar, sometimes conversations with interview subjects have to stray off the record, be it for background purposes or perhaps so an interviewee can make a point they can’t otherwise make while wearing their official hat. One such conversation has to date sat unreported in my notebook, and frustratingly so. It has come to mind a few times during my ‘getting to know you phase’ with the Polestar 3, prompted by how the car rethinks and ultimately complicates certain things by digitising, rationalising, simplifying or even ruining some core functions. The interview subject – who had no links to Polestar,…

AN OWNER’S VIEW DAVID JONES “I’m a lifelong car enthusiast and I’ve been completely won over by the Model Y, despite its firm ride. Running costs are extremely low. I had four new Michelin tyres fitted at 35,000 miles, which cost £1000, plus an end-of-warranty check and service at £300 after three years of ownership. Aside from electricity, these were the only additional costs over the last three and a half years of ownership. We’ve just replaced it – with another new Model Y.” BUYER BEWARE… ■ BATTERY Degradation is unavoidable with any lithium ion battery, but Tesla says on average its packs retain 85% capacity after 200,000 miles. Charge to 80% to increase battery longevity and avoid EVs that have been sitting with a flat battery, as this can…