Table of contents for October 01, 2025 in Autocar

Porsche is extending the life of its combustion-engined 718 Boxster and Cayman with new “top” versions – and they could be fitted with the 911’s flat six. The major change, announced by CEO Oliver Blume as a “strategic realignment”, marks a significant shift in the firm’s electric strategy as it also kills off the planned large ‘K1’ electric SUV flagship and extends the life of the ICE Cayenne and Panamera “well into the 2030s”. Porsche will also halt development of its ‘Sport’ version of the Volkswagen Group’s SSP platform that was due to underpin the K1, the electric Panamera and the next Taycan, taking a €1.8 billion (£1.6bn) hit in doing so. The platform will now arrive next decade. “We have seen a clear drop in demand for exclusive battery-electric…

Bentley’s first electric car has broken cover as prototypes start testing on public roads in preparation for its unveiling next year. Pitched as “the world’s first true luxury urban SUV”, the unnamed new model will be the company’s second SUV, and at less than five metres long will be notably shorter than the Bentayga. It is due to be revealed in the middle of 2026, ahead of customer deliveries getting under way in the second quarter of 2027. These new images show the SUV’s production bodywork for the first time, demonstrating the influence of Bentley’s new brand-shaping EXP 15 concept in its monolithic surfacing, bluff proportions and relatively low-slung silhouette. Bentley hasn’t yet confirmed any of the SUV’s technical details, but it will be based on a version of the…

Mercedes-Benz has approved plans for a new entry-level hatchback that will indirectly replace the A-Class once that car is discontinued in 2028. The move represents a significant reversal of the German marque’s recent new model strategy, which heavily favoured more expensive offerings positioned further up its product range. Insiders have told Autocar the new five-door model will be the fifth bodystyle based on Mercedes’ versatile new MMA platform, following the CLA saloon, CLA Shooting Brake and incoming GLB and GLA crossovers. The new hatchback will be sold with a choice of both combustion and electric drivetrains to target the Audi A3 Sportback and BMW 1 Series. It will therefore effectively fill the gap that will be left by the existing fourth-generation A-Class – a car whose life was extended to…

Multiple charging firms have told Autocar that high operating costs are hampering their ability to lower the price of charging, which could make public charging more accessible and drive up EV adoption. A key issue, alongside electricity costs, is tax so government support is needed, charging companies argue. General manager of BP Pulse Valerio Ferro said: “What could drive the price [of fast and ultra-fast charging] down? It will never compete with home or street charging. If you think, there is a VAT that is 20% – it is 5% for home charging; you have standing charges, which went up 10 times; and now there are talks of putting business rates on top. So there are lots of costs which are slapped on us that we have to deal with.…

THE YANGWANG U9 Xtreme has become the world’s fastest production car – and racer Marc Basseng has told Autocar it was “quite easy” to take the 3000bhp electric hypercar to a staggering 308.4mph. The former GT1 world champion conducted the top speed run for the BYD-owned performance brand at the Papenburg test track in Germany on 20 September. His top speed, verified by the ATP testing body, took the U9X past the 304.8mph record held by the W16-engined Bugatti Chiron Super Sport. Basseng said that despite the huge numbers involved, it quickly became clear during practice that the coveted record was within reach. “After the first run, for me it felt like this would be quite easy,” he said, “because the acceleration of this car and the power is absolutely…

DS is aiming to substantially increase its sales volumes with its new-generation product line-up in Europe – and it remains firmly committed to selling cars in the UK. Speaking after a dealer conference in the UK last Thursday, CEO Xavier Peugeot said that as DS introduces its second generation line-up, it is aiming to achieve a steady trajectory of growth and become a more viable volume player in Europe. Peugeot acknowledged that sales were down last year but said DS views 2024 and 2025 as “transition years”, during which it has renewed the product line-up and refreshed its brand image with an eye on achieving growth in the years ahead. Part of the reason for the decline in DS sales, said Peugeot, is that there has been a long gap…

TRIPLE TEST NEW LEAF TAKES ON KEY RIVALS Nissan has reinvented the electric Leaf as a sleek SUV with a range of up to 375 miles. We test its mettle against the Skoda Elroq and Kia EV4 ROAD TEST NISSAN QASHQAI: THE VERDICT New hybrid version of popular family crossover comes under scrutiny INSIGHT THE STATE OF BRITAIN’S EV CHARGING NETWORK We test 10 charger providers and talk to drivers who use them every day EVERY WEEK FIRST DRIVE KIA SPORTAGE Is the latest version of Kia’s UK and global best-seller a hit or a miss? OUR CARS ALPINA ROADSTER S Who’d be bold enough to buy a used one? Our Alex Wolstenholme…

If Audi were a cricket team, its new Q3 would be first slip – a very safe pair of hands. This is a small, plush SUV with plenty of scope for optional extras with good margins. There’s no potential for fumbling from an electric version. Even the nine colour options are safe: one is black, one is white and there are three shades of grey. The Q3 has come to exemplify nouveau traditional Audi buyers – people after a German badge on the outside and superabundance of perceived quality inside. Admittedly this third-generation car spices things up a bit with illuminated badging, matrix lighting and no indicator stalks. Prices start at £38k and rise to £52k – just where the Q5 shows up. The overall design of the Q3 has…

For a long time now, Citroën has wrestled with finding an identity for its larger models. Indeed, this second-generation C5 Aircross SUV, the French brand’s new flagship, is a very different proposition to the 2017 original. Bigger, more spacious inside and plusher, it has been frequently and extensively run through customer clinics at every stage of its development to make sure it’s what the market in 2025 wants of a big Citroën, rather than a scaled-up C3 Aircross – the reputation that its predecessor failed to shake even after a mid-life facelift attempted to change that. Being based on Stellantis’s freshly minted STLA Medium platform, the new C5 Aircross is a sibling of the Peugeot 3008 and Vauxhall Grandland and offers hybrid, plugin hybrid and electric drivetrains. I will focus…

With the arrival of the C9-generation Audi A6, the world’s pre-eminent trio of premium executive saloons is again complete, living on for at least a while longer. The new A6 joins the recently launched ‘G60’ BMW 5 Series and the ‘W214’ Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and it isn’t here simply to make up the numbers. Last year’s outgoing version outsold its illustrious rivals in Europe, despite those rivals being shiny next-generation models. The replacement for that car reprises the basic A6 recipe: a body nearly fives metres in length, a selection of diesel and petrol engines, saloon and estate versions, and plenty of the latest technology. However, there have been some notable developments. One is that six-cylinder engines are out, unless you happen to live in Germany or another of the selected…

AUDI S3 AND RS3 SPORTBACK The lesser S3 is feistier and more fun than it used to be, though still only half enthusiast pick and half business hatch. But the RS3 is a near-400bhp tribute to the madcap five-door and very special indeed. And, for £60k, so it should be. BMW M135 xDRIVE Probably not a car many would have picked to make it to the hot hatchback’s end of days, but the backing of a big, profitable premium brand makes a telling difference. Recently facelifted, and upgradable with an M Dynamics package. VW POLO GTI The Polo GTI is the one surviving sub-£30k option, although it only narrowly scrapes under that threshold, at £29,990 with a Volkswagen discount. Driven by a detuned, 204bhp 2.0-litre GTI engine, it has never…

WHY WE RAN IT To discover whether the quintessential Jeep, which looks like fun, is really a vehicle you could live with day to day “It’s not modern but magnificently timeless” The Jeep Wrangler has left us. Our longterm 2.0-litre Sahara departed the Autocar fold recently with 25,500 miles on the clock (around 16,000 of them amassed in our hands). Its new mission is to find another owner, and our world is definitely not a better place as a result. This was far from being the best car or even the best 4x4 we’ve driven, but it was probably the most lovable. As the impressive mileage we racked up suggests, the Firecracker Red five-door proved to be one of the more popular cars on our fleet during its time with…

Premium quality and driver rewards of a two-door 2 Series start at £3500 A baby 4 Series, or a big 1 Series? Whichever way you view the first generation BMW 2 Series, it is good to drive, good to sit in and good to look at, and it went straight to the top of the class when it was launched in 2014. Indeed, the chic successor to the BMW 1 Series coupé has aged well, and while this rear-driven two-door was priced from around £25,000 when new, you can snag a fairly tidy high-miler for no more than £3500 today. The F22-generation 2 Series has a lot going for it, including size. At 4432mm, it is 72mm longer than the 1 Series coupé, instantly making it a more commodious proposition…

With its removable blue police light mounted Starsky & Hutch-style on the roof and fake Italian police decals on the doors and bonnet, Lorenzo Wojtanowski’s green, left-hand-drive 1969 Alfa Romeo Giulia 1300 Super saloon is hard to miss. “It’s meant to look like the police cars in The Italian Job,” explains Lorenzo, who tells people struggling with his surname to pronounce it ‘water jet ski’. “My dad had lots of Alfas – 75s, 164s, Alfasuds, 156s, even an SZ – but this is my first. I’ve had it for only a month. To be honest, it’s on loan from a chap who has another in much better condition, although I fully intend to buy it from him. “In place of the regular 1300cc engine, it has a larger 1600cc motor…

The next Peugeot 208 will be one of Stellantis’s most important cars to date when it is launched in 2026. It will mark the debut of a game-changing platform, will feature a radical tech-heavy interior with a square steering wheel and is set to be sold exclusively as an EV. The new hatch will be the first model to use STLA Small, a platform destined to underpin Stellantis’s next era of compact cars and critical for Peugeot’s multi-brand parent to be competitive in Europe’s affordable car market. The STLA Small platform will be used by all of the group’s models from the A- to the C-segment and replace the CMP/e-CMP architecture employed by today’s 208/e-208, 2008 and Vauxhall Corsa. The 208 has been chosen to receive the platform first because…

JLR EXTENDED ITS vehicle production pause by another seven days last week as it continued to grapple with the impact of a cyber attack in September. At the time of writing, it is planning to start building cars again from today (1 October), although it had already pushed back the scheduled restart of its UK and Slovakia factories from 24 September. The company has now lost at least a full month of vehicle production. It has not built any vehicles since shutting down all of its global systems after the attack on 1 September. The impact on volumes will be made clear when the company releases its production numbers for the quarter, but in the three months to the end of September 2024, JLR made more than 80,000 Land Rover…

VOLVO HAS GIVEN the EX90 major hardware and software upgrades, adding previously promised safety features to existing cars and boosting the electrical system to 800V for 2026-model-year cars. The software upgrade means the electric SUV gains an additional Nvidia Drive AGX Orin processor (in place of an older Nvidia Xavier chip) to run its ‘brain’, bringing it in line with the new ES90 liftback. This boost in power to 500 TOPS (trillion operations per second) unlocks a host of extra safety features through the car’s lidar sensor. This includes the ability to autonomously steer away from pedestrians and cyclists in the dark and come to a controlled stop if the driver falls ill. It also expands the car’s automatic parking ability. While part of the car’s MY26 update, the upgrade…

FIFTEEN MONTHS AFTER revealing its plans for ‘offthe-shelf’ range-extender and hybrid powertrains, Horse Powertrain unveiled its Future Hybrid Powertrain solution at the Munich motor show in September. Available from 2027, the “all-in-one” powertrain is aimed at enabling a vehicle manufacturer to easily convert a BEV platform to a hybrid by replacing a front-mounted BEV drive motor and transmission with a hybrid unit. Two different versions are available: the 740mmwide Performance, which incorporates two electric motors – one on the engine output shaft and another on the transmission output shaft; and the 650mmwide Ultra-Compact, which has an electric motor between the engine and transmission. Horse is also looking at a three-cylinder version, which cuts 70mm from the total width of the unit compared with the new four-cylinder set-up. The Performance and…

BMW WILL INTRODUCE the Neue Klasse infotainment, digital architecture and styling across its entire existing model line-up in the coming years via far more extensive facelifts than usual. Bosses insist the strategy is necessary because the new technology represents “such a quantum leap” from today’s offerings. The new iX3 electric SUV is the first model to feature BMW’s Neue Klasse styling, its radical new iDrive X infotainment system and, under the skin, a new tech platform built around a series of ‘supercomputer’ chips. Following the iX3 will be the new i3 (an electric 3 Series) next year, and the plan is to launch more than 40 new or facelifted models by 2028. “We will roll out this technology across the whole portfolio, and fast,” said Mike Reichelt, BMW’s Neue Klasse…

I couldn’t agree more with Mark Tisshaw’s view that “stale Mercedes designs are underselling revolutionary cars” (Opinion, autocar.co.uk). I had a test drive in the new CLA 250+ EV recently (a superb car to drive, with great refinement, agility, steering and handling balance, but somewhat weird frontal looks), and while waiting in the showroom, I had a thorough look at all the different models on display. It struck me that there was a stark lack of coherence in their overall designs, the only common theme being the inevitable three-pointed star. The new GLC EQ continues this design approach, with no clear fresh direction – a big contrast to the new BMW iX3. Mercedes-Benz needs to understand and accept that stylish designs – like those of the Bruno Sacco era –…

Save up to 20% extra! Take advantage of our Christmas Early Bird offer and buy a gift subscription from just £30.99 for 13 issues, saving £33 on the shop price. Crafted exclusively for those who live and breathe cars, Autocar is the present that will rev up their festive season. SAVE 52% IF YOU ORDER BY 1 DECEMBER TIME-LIMITED EARLY BIRD OFFER ENDS 1 DECEMBER Order today Call 0344 848 8807 quoting X25EBPA Visit www.themagazineshop.com/X25EBPA/aca See great offers on our other titles at themagazineshop.com TERMS AND CONDITIONS This is a UK-only offer; for overseas offers, please visit themagazineshop.com/X25EBPA/aca or call +44 (0) 1604 251 461. All savings are based on the UK cover price of £4.99 and is correct as of September 2025. Please allow up to 35 days for…

PLUG-IN HYBRIDS are often a storm of superlatives. In many a model range, they are the most powerful and the most efficient, as is the case with the new Mk3 Audi Q3. That sure sounds mightily impressive, but the real meat of the story here is actually in the improvements rather than the outright figures. The all-important electric-only range has been increased from the previous generation’s 30-ish miles to 70-ish miles, which effectively changes the remit of its EV driving capacity from handy for some to useful for many. The longer electric range has a host of knock-on effects on taxation and company car rates, which makes the PHEV a more enticing buy for many financially, and now a good proportion of the UK public could conceivably do a week’s…

CITROEN HASN’T OPTIMISED the new C5 Aircross around a particular drivetrain, it says, so the experience and features should be the same whichever one you choose. And so it proves with this electric version: pedal responses aside, it’s almost identical to the hybrids. The ë-C5 Aircross uses a single front-mounted 211bhp motor and a 74kWh battery. Its official range is 320 miles and I got an indicated 270 miles on Danish test roads. The EV feels brisker and more easy-going than either hybrid and, with fewer moving parts, smoother too. There are none of the refinement issues, so although it makes the car feel even more one-dimensional, it removes a negative. Despite being so closely related to the Peugeot e-3008 and weighing pretty much the same, the ë-C5 Aircross doesn’t…

Against a backdrop of inflation and a stagnating economy, selling new cars risks resembling a fruit and veg market as dealers rush to slash prices and call out their best deals to anyone within hailing distance. Compared with this time last year, discounts are larger and offers are more plentiful. As an example of the savings available, Autocar has netted discounts worth a total of £47,123 on popular versions of this year’s top 10 best-selling new cars – an average of £4712 per vehicle. The largest discount was £9050 off a new Peugeot 2008 1.2 Puretech Allure in Nero Black, taking its price from £29,540 to £20,490, equivalent to a 30% saving. Meanwhile, the UK’s best-selling car, the Ford Puma, was available in 1.0 Ecoboost Hybrid ST-Line form for £24,495,…

MILEAGE 3151 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Can this upmarket SUV still hold its own in the face of fresher competition? Launching the Range Rover Evoque in 2011 put Land Rover ahead of the curve, because this premium compact SUV now finds itself competing with countless rivals. As I’ve mentioned before, the Evoque needs a new generation to keep pace, but it’s faring well given its age (seven years for the Mk2). There are several obvious competitors from BMW, Audi et al, but arguably the most notable entrants over the past couple of years have come from China. One such car is Chery’s Jaecoo 7, which colleague Alastair Clements is currently running. It’s particularly relevant here, because plenty say its looks are somewhat Evoque-inspired… The 7 is already a common sight…

AN OWNER’S VIEW ADAM McNAMARA “I purchased my M235i in January 2022. My original plan was to buy an M135i but the looks and spec of the car available at the time were too tempting to ignore. The 3.0-litre six-cylinder engine gave it so much character and worked beautifully with the automatic transmission. I averaged around 25mpg and clocked up 10,000 miles. It ran faultlessly in my 15-month ownership, during which I spent £500 on a main dealer service. I did also chew through a set of rear tyres, but that was to be expected.” BUYER BEWARE… ■ ENGINE ‘N47’ diesel is known for timing chain woes. A lack of performance or a rattling from cold suggests that it’s on its way out. It can cost between £1000 and £2500…

How a prince unwillingly created the sports car Last week, we heralded the 1911 Vauxhall Prince L Henry as one of the most influential cars of the 20th century, being perhaps the first proper production sports car. But what was the inspiration behind it? And who was Prince Henry? His name was actually Heinrich, and he was Prince of Prussia (the dominant state within the German Empire), brother to Kaiser Wilhelm, grandson to Queen Victoria. A very keen motorist, for four summers he arranged the Prinz-Heinrich-Fahrt, translating as ‘tour’ but more like a road rally and reliability trial. And it was in an effort to win his trophy that the hot Vauxhall was created. The first tour of 1908 ran from Berlin to Stettin (now Szczecin) on the Baltic coast,…

Peugeot revived its performance badge this year with the e-208 GTi – and the next 208 is likely to spawn a similar variant with a hefty boost in power. The new 208 will sit on the STLA Small platform, whose top-end capabilities have been previewed by the Vauxhall Corsa GSE Vision Gran Turismo concept, which itself showcases the future of its sibling brand’s GSE performance moniker. The Corsa concept puts out 789bhp and 590lb ft from a dual-motor powertrain, weighs just 1170kg and is claimed to hit 62mph from rest in 2.0sec. Those figures are hypothetical, though, because the car can be driven only virtually. However, Vauxhall design chief Mark Adams believes the figures are “realistic” and could “in theory” make it to a production model. He said: “If you…

Porsche has unveiled the interior of the incoming Cayenne EV and it features the largest array of screens yet fitted to any of its models. The cabin is centred around a prominent infotainment touchscreen dubbed the Flow Display. It is angled into two distinct segments: the larger portion is used for more complex functions such as displaying maps and activating the new driving ‘mood modes’; and the narrower segment houses key functions for media, calls, heated seats and screen navigation. Physical buttons can be found below the Flow Display and on the steering wheel. They control the most used features such as audio and climate. The Flow Display is flanked by a 14.25in curved instrument panel and a 14.9in infotainment touchscreen for passengers. The latter, as in the Macan, can…

Bentley is readying pure-petrol successors to the Bentayga, Continental GT and Flying Spur in a reversal of its EV-only plan – a move sparked by the drastic U-turn at Porsche that was announced late last week (see p6). Under its Beyond100 strategy, the British luxury car maker planned to phase out petrol engines entirely by 2035. But it is now set for significant alterations as its Volkswagen Group sibling firm doubles down on renewed commitments to ICE development. Porsche confirmed last Friday that it will commit €3.1 billion (£2.7bn) to extend the life of its ICE models and fellow Volkswagen Group firm Audi cancelled its plan to go electric-only by 2033 last year. Bentley CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser told Autocar that as the three brands share platforms, drivetrains and other key…

The growth of the UK’s EV charging network could be stunted by significant and unexpected cost hikes that mean many charging hubs aren’t currently turning a profit. Ian Johnston, CEO of charger operator Osprey, told Autocar that “we are nowhere near profitability” because of skyrocketing electric grid costs. Dora Clarke, Osprey’s head of external affairs, said the standing charge paid by the company for a “typical” hub in the Midlands with eight chargers has increased over the past three years from £99 per year to more than £8600. Osprey operates 56 such hubs nationally. Osprey is not alone in facing this problem. According to a new report published by EV charging body ChargeUK, standing fees have increased by 462% for rapid-charging hubs (those whose chargers put out 50kW or more)…

Ferrari has begun publicly testing what appears to be a near production version of its long-awaited debut EV. Mystery has long surrounded the new model, which was last week seen by Autocar’s spy photographers outside the marque’s Maranello base. The car was wearing a very heavy camouflage – a device deployed by Ferrari when testing the new 849 Testarossa, the 1035bhp V8 supercar revealed last month to replace the SF90. While prototypes of the EV have been spotted before, they all used old Maserati Levante bodies, meaning this car, despite its heavy cloak, is our first proper look at Ferrari’s first non-combustion-engined car. We won’t see the finished product until next spring, concluding a three-step introduction. This will begin with the EV’s “technological heart”, confirmed CEO Benedetto Vigna, which is…

MORE OFTEN THAN not, a new car company boss arrives with a lengthy to-do list and problems to fix. But in the case of Katrin Adt, she has become Dacia’s CEO at a time when the brand’s ascent has taken it beyond everyone except VW for retail sales in Europe. The Dacia formula is working and Adt’s predecessor, Denis Le Vot, would certainly have got his deposit back for leaving Dacia in such a good state. Adt is hugely respectful of the work done by her “very esteemed predecessor” and her intention is “to continue that success story, but in a different world”. A German who speaks French fluently having gone to a French school, Adt took the job after a 26-year career at Mercedes in various roles that included…

WRITE TO autocar@haymarket.com TACKY AND GAUCHE I couldn’t agree more with Mark Tisshaw about Mercedes design, and I hope this is the start of a backlash that will see change. Mercedes has lost its mojo. The GLC EQ just doesn’t work. The rear lighting looks like an Alfa Romeo Mito circa 2013. The stars in the light clusters, which started with that disappointing blob of an E-Class, are just tacky. I was very disappointed to see them show up in the S-Class prototypes. The grille on this new GLC doesn’t work well when viewed off-centre and is only tolerable head-on. The EQ design language is a flop. The rear of the EQS lacks character. All the interiors, from a design perspective, are gauche and a touch Koreany. They also flop…

N o matter how much we eulogise about lightness, ‘less is more’ and a moderate amount of power being enough, it seems that for many buyers more is still more. When Aston Martin introduced the 707 version of the DBX super-SUV, it expected to offer it alongside the standard one, but buyers overwhelmingly proved willing to pay extra for the hardcore 697bhp version over the 550bhp option. So much so that when Gaydon gave the DBX a midlife update last year, it dropped the base model altogether – no point in making something that people aren’t buying. It’s only logical, then, that the firm would further capitalise on that strategy of ever ramping up performance. Enter the new DBX S, which takes the 707 (which is now the standard DBX) and…

“The Aygo X previously had a relatively engaging chassis, and it clearly enjoys the extra power” Initially, this might appear a minor facelift of the Toyota Aygo X, with a slightly restyled front end, some new colours and trim and a largely untouched interior. Far from it. Under the skin, Toyota has quite literally crammed the changes: it’s basically a new machine miraculously shoehorned into the body of an existing one. Before explaining what has changed, let me explain why: 86mpg. That was the remarkable indicated fuel economy – achieved without any hypermiling efforts – that my Aygo X test car achieved after an extended test loop covering city streets, country roads and autobahn near Berlin, exceeding the already impressive 76.3mpg official figure. Efficient? There are teetotal camels that sup…

Ten years ago, you would have been given pretty favourable odds on the next Chevrolet Corvette being not only mid-engined but also hybridised and with four-wheel drive. Yet here we are. The Corvette E-Ray has already been on sale in the US for a couple of years and has now arrived in the UK, where it occupies the midpoint of the line-up, sitting between the slim-hipped Stingray and the escaped racing car that is the Z06. All three can be had in right-hand drive, too – a big development. Serious hybrid performance cars are no longer remarkable, of course: Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes-AMG and Aston Martin all make at least one. But there’s something a little more curious about a rip-snorting American icon leaning into electrification, as well as the…

It’s probably unwise for a lowly road tester to even attempt a Churchillian tone. Thankfully, I’m only paraphrasing. Have we reached the end for the conventional, established, petrol-swilling hot hatchback? Or just the beginning of the end? Or might this perhaps be only the end of the beginning? Erm, yes. And also no. Sorry, Winnie. Your own feelings about this will depend, I suspect, on your sentiments about electric hot hatchbacks like the Alpine A290, Abarth 500e and Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. Nevertheless, here we are – wherever that is. “At an undoubtedly significant and pretty moribund-feeling, yet still indeterminate, point somewhere along the line, from which we can’t be absolutely certain what will happen next in the 50-year-old saga of the predominantly front-drive performance hatchback.” Poetic, eh? So much,…

MILEAGE 4828 WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT Is this version good enough to be the performance X3? Back when Jane Austen and the like were still writing, they would often take themselves to the seaside for some rejuvenation. I’ve never actually read Pride and Prejudice, but I reckon an issue of Autocar is much the same, so I figured I too should head out of the big smoke for some fresh air. My wife suggested Rye. I’d never been before and it’s in one of those fabulous locations that’s both rural and not too far away from London. It would also give me a chance to test monotonous start-stop city manoeuvring, a bit of motorway, a few B-roads, then how it behaves on tight Tudor streets. I’ve been driving a Renault…

AUSTIN MINI COOPER S 1964, 76,500 miles, £40,995 Here’s the real star of The Italian Job. This pristine Cooper S was treated to a full restoration a few years ago – £23k was spent on the bodywork and paint alone – and all parts, including engine and gearbox, have either been replaced or reconditioned. FIAT DINO 2000 1968, 17,000 miles, £25,000 Perhaps you’d rather channel your inner mob boss instead. This particular Fiat Dino came to the UK in 2013, and £8000 has since been spent on rebuilding its sweet-sounding Ferrari V6. It’s in good nick, but the seller notes the brakes and interior could do with an overhaul. JAGUAR E-TYPE 4.2 1967, 106,000 miles, £65,000 This 4.2-litre E-Type is a stunner. It had a full engine rebuild in 2013…