Tag Archives: Autocar

News

My Week In Cars: New Steve Cropley/Matt Prior podcast (ep. 86)

Leave a comment

Episode 86 of the Autocar podcast My Week In Cars finds our resident automobile hacks Matt Prior and Steve Cropley speaking a few road-going version of the Jaguar C-X75 idea automobile up to date by its designer Ian Callum, a Morris Minor set for a restoration, our pal Derek’s hairdresser and his Toyota GT86, observe daying an Alpine A110 and rather more in addition to, together with your correspondence. 

Make positive you by no means miss an Autocar podcast. Subscribe to our podcasts through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts or through your most well-liked podcast platform. And when you subscribe, fee and assessment the pod, we might actually admire that too.

News

Autocar journal 24 April: on sale now

Leave a comment

This week in Autocar, we checklist the highest 100 finest vehicles on sale immediately and element the brand new electrical Mercedes-Benz G-Class.

News

The new Mercedes-Benz G-Class is an “uncompromised” machine that the agency is making some bullish claims about – we have the whole lot it’s essential to know.

Mini, in the meantime, has accomplished its line-up with the reveal of the Aceman – a Renault Clio-sized hatchback positioned between the Cooper and Countryman.

Over at Maserati, the agency is deciding whether or not to maneuver the next-generation Quattroporte onto an prolonged model of the brand new Granturismo’s platform – we element why it is an ‘necessary downside’ for Bologna.

Staying in Italy, Alfa Romeo boss Jean-Phillipe Imparato has urged EU politicians to give attention to defending jobs within the trade and never mannequin names, after a spat that noticed the Alfa Romeo Milano renamed the Junior.

Reviews

With a brand new platform, a unique motive energy, and extra weight, can the electrical model actually behave like a Porsche Macan ought to? We head to France to provide one a go.

Audi has addressed the criticisms of the A3 to make it much more interesting for these after big-car high quality in a hatchback physique.

Meanwhile, the brand new S3 has been handled to an influence improve with RS3-spec driveline tech – we discover out if it will possibly nonetheless maintain a candle to its best (and cheaper) rivals.

We’ve already pushed the coupe variant of the brand new Mercedes-Benz CLE, however not the convertible – till now. On sweeping roads round Tenerife, we discover out if the brand new automotive is a worthy substitute for the C-Class and E-Class cabriolet.

We’re additionally driving the Lotus Eletre and, for street take a look at 5671, we’re within the highest-specification Bentley Bentayga.

Features

It’s been 5 years since we final ranked our outright favorite new vehicles, which suggests we’re lengthy overdue to provide an up to date checklist. Considering the highest 100, we discover out that are probably the most succesful and value your money.

If a few of our high 100 vehicles look too costly, how about some second-hand alternate options? We take a look at the bargains you may discover within the classifieds and what it’s essential to learn about them.

Around 800 Ford Mustangs lined up on the British Motor Museum in celebration of the everyman sports activities automotive’s sixtieth birthday. We pay a go to, changing into wowed by the range on present.

Opinion

Matt Prior riffs on the big-car qualities of the Renault Clio and the way you seemingly get extra to your cash in immediately’s market, and why producers ought to must pay clients to lug about subscription-based options.

News

Autocar journal 17 April: on sale now

Leave a comment

This week in Autocar, we element Alfa Romeo’s new BMW M3-beater, drive Skoda’s Swiss military knife, and discover out why the boss of Jeep is bullish in regards to the firm’s future.

News

The subsequent Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio will arrive in 2026 as its most potent automobile thus far, nudging 1000bhp and on-board AI that may tweak its dealing with – now we have each element. We additionally check out Alfa’s long-awaited new SUV, the Milano, because it appears to focus on a ‘new technology’ of patrons.

Meanwhile at Mercedes, the EQS has been handled to a brand new face and vary boosted by 11% – we have got the lowdown on the BMW i7 rival.

The best-selling Nissan Qashqai has additionally obtained a gentle facelift to carry it consistent with the electrical Ariya, full with sharper strains and a brand new face impressed by Japanese samurai helmets.

We additionally cowl Porsche’s determination to maintain the Boxster, Cayman and Macan on sale within the UK, and why Aston Martin is about to maintain combustion powertrains for so long as it will possibly.

Reviews

The new Skoda Kodiaq has arrived greater and swisher, providing seven-seat petrols and diesels and, for the primary time, a plug-in hybrid. We discover out if it nonetheless has the enduring enchantment of the outgoing automobile.

BMW’s best-seller, the X3, has been given an overhaul in each division – we head to France to drive a pre-production prototype.

Speaking of prototypes, the Audi RS E-tron GT has been given a spread of updates with the promise of being a extra well-rounded and dynamic GT. Does it fulfil that billing? 

Omoda, the Chinese agency planning an offensive on UK shores, is heading for our markets with a competitively priced rival to the Hyundai Kona, merely known as the 5. We drive the plug-in hybrid and electrical model to see what’s what.

Elsewhere in a packed opinions part, we’re testing three model new Volkswagens, the Aston Martin DB12 Volante, and the Citroen C5 Aircrews Hybrid.

Features

New Jeep CEO Antonia Filosa understands what makes the American model totally different. James Attwood hears how he plans to show it into a world success story.

Horiba MIRA, the 80-year-old automotive validation station, is reworking itself right into a one-stop car improvement store. Matt Saunders takes the tour.

Opinion

Matt Prior discusses the federal government’s determination to look into headlight glare and the nifty resolution he has give you. He additionally talks in regards to the SMMT’s name to halve VAT on EVs.

Steve Cropley, in the meantime, riffs on the attractive and daring Wells Vertige, the revival of the Vauxhall Frontera, and the way a nook of the Bicester Heritage circuit has been given a well-recognized title.

News

My Week In Cars: New Steve Cropley/Matt Prior podcast (ep. 83)

Leave a comment

Episode 83 of the Autocar podcast My Week In Cars finds our resident automotive hacks Steve Cropley and Matt Prior within the management tower at Bicester Heritage, the place the take a look at monitor has a nook now named after Cropley. The lads additionally speak April Fools, Australian butchers and Ford Mustangs in every single place, together with Ford’s boss racing at Goodwood. Plus, after all, your correspondence.

Make positive you by no means miss an Autocar podcast. Subscribe to our podcasts by way of Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts or by way of your most well-liked podcast platform. And for those who subscribe, fee and evaluate the pod, we would actually recognize that too.

News

Autocar journal 3 April: on sale now

Leave a comment

This week in Autocar, we give our definitive verdict on the brand new Toyota Land Cruiser, element Mercedes-AMG’s new Purosangue beater, and drive the world’s finest hybrid.

News

Mercedes-AMG is about to unleash its electrical super-SUV as a high-powered flagship primarily based by itself bespoke EV platform – we have the lowdown.

Polestar, in the meantime, is lining up a successor to the two crossover known as the 7 – and it is set to be one thing radically totally different. We communicate to CEO Thomas Ingenlath for the total story.

A brand new hardcore, V8-powered model of the Land Rover Defender is inbound as the primary in a line of top-flight flagships branded Octa – we check out what you possibly can count on from the super-SUV.

Rejoice! The new Ford Explorer has lastly gone on sale in Europe priced from lower than £40k – and regardless of its late arrival Ford says the SUV is now higher than ever. We discover out precisely what which means.

Grab your copy of Autocar right here

Reviews

The Toyota Land Cruiser has been rejuvenated with a cool retro design and mechanical updates concentrating on higher on-road manners – however can it keep true to its workhorse credentials?

A collection of main upgrades to the motors, battery and chassis are designed to make the Porsche Taycan the most effective EVs you should purchase. Is it?

The Nissan Juke has been handled to a facelift, full with delicate exterior revisions and a model new inside. Can it maintain the identical attraction and carry the nameplate by means of to 2027?

We’re additionally testing the Mazda 2 hybrid, Jeep Renegade eHybrid, and for highway check 5668 we’re within the BMW 530e to seek out out what makes it the world’s finest hybrid.

Features

Audi faces formidable challenges and is present process change on a scale by no means seen earlier than – all below a brand new CEO, Gernot Döllner. James Attwood hears his plan.

Watford Gap providers on the M1 must be knocked down and changed by one thing higher suited to immediately’s period and its travellers, says its proprietor. John Evans finds out extra.

Pick the suitable used automotive and you’ll pay minimal and even no highway tax. Alex Wolstenholme sniffs out some tempting tax-busters, from the BMW i8 to the Range Rover Evoque.

Opinion

Matt Prior riffs on small vehicles just like the Suzuki Swift and Silence S04, and asks whether or not the latter is ‘sufficient automotive’.

Steve Cropley, in the meantime, talks about certainly one of his experiences of the 12 months, clocking vehicles, and the brilliance of Steve Sixty’s ebook on BMW design.

News

Autocar journal 20 March: on sale now

This week in Autocar, we check out Bentley’s daring new EV for 2026, drive China’s bonkers Defender rival, and provides our unique verdict on the newest Citroen Ami rival – the Silence S04.

News

Bentley’s first EV might be a 1000bhp assertion of intent, providing as much as double the facility of any mannequin in its present line-up – we converse to design chief Robin Page and provide all it’s essential know.

The new Audi Q6 E-tron, in the meantime, kick-starts a complete new period for Ingolstadt’s electrical automobiles as its first mannequin to be constructed on a brand-new, high-tech platform. We cowl all the things from powertrains to exterior design.

An electrical Renault Clio will be a part of its hybrid stablemate from 2026, sitting above the reborn 5 as a barely bigger and family-focused supermini. You’ll discover full particulars within the journal.

Skoda has previewed an entry-level EV known as the Epiq, and Mercedes-AMG is readying a 1000bhp all-electric Taycan rival.

Reviews

The fourth-generation Skoda Superb has arrived, sticking with custom and retaining its very typical property automobile kind. Does it nonetheless hits all the proper notes?

Electric automobiles would possibly wrestle to excite lovers, however the brand new Maserati Grecale Folgore is promising combustion ranges of hype, not least in its daring advertising and marketing imagery. Does it ship?

The Yangwang U8 has over 1100bhp, can carry out 360deg ‘tank turns’, and floats for as much as half an hour. But is it extra Instagrammable than usable?

We’re additionally driving the Volkswagen ID 5 GTX, BMW iX2 30e, Toyota CH-R, and for highway take a look at 5666, we’re trying on the BMW X6.

Features

The fabulously cultivated W12 engine that revitalised Bentley is retiring, similtaneously a really completely different sort of Bentley arrives. Our editor drives a Flying Spur as much as Scotland for a primary and final style.

What makes a BMW a BMW? Our John Evans finds out by asking an knowledgeable on BMW design: creator Steve Saxty.

A Spanish agency, Silence, has used its electrical motorcycle tech to create a miniature electrical ‘car’ that we will purchase within the UK. Matt Prior has a go.

Opinion

Matt Prior riffs on dashboard cameras, individuals who would relatively get into an accident than keep away from one, and the marked discount in site visitors cops.

Steve Cropley, in the meantime, feedback on MG’s centenary celebration at this 12 months’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, provides some recommendation to new expertise getting into the Formula 1 realm, and rejoices at Asa’s transfer to arrange store at Bicester Motion.

News

How we check automotive merchandise

Autocar has over 125 years of expertise in testing new and used automobiles – and now we’re bringing the identical rigorous testing to a big vary of automotive merchandise. That means when our group of product testing specialists ship their verdict, it’s one you possibly can definitely belief.

Our exams cowl a variety of automotive merchandise, masking automotive care package similar to polishes and snow foam, tech together with dashboard-cams and good battery chargers, via to tool kits, pressure washers and much more besides.

Which merchandise are examined?

An Autocar product check begins with our reviewers drawing on their very own data and expertise to analysis crucial, newest and biggest-selling objects are lined, which is particularly essential the place there are a whole lot – and even 1000’s – of some varieties of product. This is all within the curiosity of constructing it as simple as attainable so that you can choose the easiest product in your wants.

We begin through the use of our expertise and experience to know how motorists actually use a product and the options. Only then can we begin to plan out a sturdy testing regime, which range enormously relying on the kind of product being examined.

We’ll contemplate each facet of the product, from the standard of development to how complete the instruction or security info is. For instance, it’s not sufficient to know the way nicely an alloy wheel cleaner can shift dust; to ship our definitive verdict we’ll calculate how lengthy it takes to work, the quantity of wiping or rinsing required and even what it smells like.

Our product exams contemplate the contains a product has, whether or not it’s price paying a premium for them and the way helpful they’re. And our remaining verdicts will at all times take value into consideration so you possibly can belief us to advocate the best-value merchandise.

Where to purchase

We don’t simply inform you whether or not an automotive product is any good, we’ll present you the place you should purchase it, too. That means it could possibly be attainable to learn our product check within the morning and have it delivered to your door the very subsequent day.

Where attainable we’ll present you a variety of outlets, permitting you to pick the very best value or probably the most appropriate supply or assortment possibility for you.

We do that through the use of an affiliate hyperlink, which implies that we could earn a small fee in case you make a purchase order at completely no price to you. And relaxation assured, our product exams are delivered with the experience, expertise and rigour of another check on autocar.co.uk, and are by no means influenced or pushed by affiliate offers or industrial or promoting relationships.

Opinion

Will cellphone funds make automotive park machines out of date?

Autocar analysis has discovered that 83% of motorists would like to make use of money or contactless fee machines in automotive parks over smartphone apps.

Feedback revealed that individuals don’t love having to obtain so many apps (there are greater than 30 throughout the UK), fear about on-line fraud and fear that the apps are too advanced.

Dennis Reed, director of marketing campaign group Silver Voices, known as the abandonment of pay-and-display machines “blatant ageism”. I’m with him.

I reckon there’s extra to individuals’s dissatisfaction with on-line fee than complexity or fraud, too. It’s not that we won’t use these items – it is that we do not need to. I feel that individuals have had sufficient of the mission creep of surveillance and knowledge gathering and that there is a concern not of fraud however of poor ways from parking suppliers.

Last yr, I wrote twice about my household’s parking travails. One relative drove into a carpark, tried to get the net fee to work, could not and acquired hit with a £100 high-quality for spending 5 minutes making an attempt to take action. Another paid for the unsuitable automotive park in his city on an app (there are two) so was fined. Both appealed efficiently.

All of that is administrated by numberplate-recognition cameras and a pc that prints and sends nasty letters to unsuspecting drivers, who then should undergo a worrying, time-consuming and unsure system of attraction. If both of these automotive parks had a fee machine, neither of those dramas would have occurred.

I’m not one for reminiscences. But within the outdated days, you paid your money, you bought a coupon to point out you’d rented your area and that was the top of it. The authorities is promising to ‘streamline’ the app system. It needs to be insisting there is a fee machine at each automotive park.

News

Autocar journal 14 February: on sale now

This week in Autocar, we reveal the brand new Aston Martin Vantage, ship our verdict on the brand new Tesla Model 3, and have a good time the sixtieth anniversary of Car of the Year.

News

The Aston Martin Vantage has upped its sport in all areas to battle the Porsche 911, with extra energy and tempo, new cabin tech and a retuned chassis – we’ve what you’ll want to know.

Over in Germany, Porsche has assured a long-running future for the Tacan – a bit just like the 911. We converse to the boss of the Taycan mannequin line Kevin Giek.

Ford, in the meantime, has had a secret group of engineers engaged on a brand new platform for inexpensive electrical vehicles. We hear from the agency’s CEO to seek out out extra.

Reviews 

The Audi S3 Sportback has been handled to a serious improve meant to spice up the enjoyable facet of its all-rounder enchantment – we take a pre-production prototype for a take a look at drive.

The refreshed Skoda Kamiq, in the meantime, intends to place consolation and comfort above all else, however can it nonetheless match the Ford Puma?

BMW has additionally handled one in all its strongest SUVs – the X6 M – to a refresh, this time with a extra highly effective V8, the addition of an electrical motor and chassis alterations. What does all of it quantity to?

We’re additionally testing the Jaguar XE, DS 3 E-Tense, and, for highway take a look at 5661, the brand new Tesla Model 3.

Features

How do you make a sequel higher than the critically acclaimed authentic? With Hollywood in his rear-view mirror, Felix Page finds out by driving a prototype of the brand new Porsche Taycan.

To have a good time COTY’s sixtieth anniversary, we’ve gathered its very most interesting winners to choose the all-time nice. Simon Hucknall studies.

Catesby Tunnel is dwelling to a singular aerodynamic take a look at facility transformed from a disused railway tunnel – we pay a go to to assist Ariel take a look at the brand new Atom 4R.

Opinion

Matt Prior talks about how folks have had sufficient of surveillance and poorly executed ways from public parking suppliers, whereas Steve Cropley riffs on his go to to Catesby Tunnel, “just-rightness” in automobile design, and why having a automobile in London is miserable.

Used

The 2001 Mini hatchback has endured for 23 years and doubtless will for evermore – John Evans takes a have a look at its options and foibles.

News

Autocar journal 7 February: on sale now

This week in Autocar, now we have all it’s essential know in regards to the new Audi RS5, reveal the brand new Porsche Taycan, and have a look at a Renault redesigned with Lego.

News

The Audi RS4 will quickly be referred to as the RS5, bringing with it a hybrid-assisted V6 and a set of dynamics to take the combat to Merc-AMG’s 671bhp C63 – now we have all there may be to know.

Staying with Audi, we cowl the reveal of the RS6 GT – a limited-run, £180,000 property with carbonfibre all over the place and revised aero.

Over to Porsche and the launch of the brand new Taycan, stated to be ‘higher in each self-discipline’. We have what it’s essential learn about its drivetrain, vary, charging, inside and dynamics.

Meanwhile BMW has formally revealed the brand new 5 Series Touring, set to be bought within the UK initially with two EV choices and a PHEV.

Reviews

Subaru has launched the Crosstrek because the substitute for the XV, full with updates to 4×4 chassis and a brand new mild-hybrid engine – we discover out what they quantity to.

The Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid Coupé might need a 470bhp V6 and 0-62mph time of simply 4.9sec, however we reckon it is essentially the most compromised Cayenne you should buy – Murray Scullion investigates.

The BMW X6 has been handled to enhanced powertrains and next-generation inside tech, in addition to a model new look. But is it higher than an Audi Q8 or Range Rover Velar?

We’re additionally testing the Range Rover Sport, Audi Q8 and SQ8, and for street check 5660, we have the Lexus LM.

Features

Nicolas Fremau constructed a Lego mannequin along with his youngsters one Christmas. Then he and his colleagues at Renault scaled it up into the unconventional E-Tech Hybrid system. Steve Cropley pays a go to to listen to the story.

There’s now an 800lb ft value-led Czech electrical off-roader on sale within the UK – and it’s not a Skoda. Kris Culmer takes a drive of the MW Motors Spartan EV 2.0.

What is it wish to dwell with a traditional? After shopping for, restoring, and promoting an previous Beetle 1302 S, Felix Page tells us why it’s best to get pleasure from traditional motoring when you nonetheless can.

Opinion

Matt Prior riffs on the event of vehicles during the last 20 years and why, if you happen to’re drained or bewildered by most new fashions, there’s nonetheless a pocket of thrills obtainable to you from grassroots British makes.

Steve Cropley, in the meantime, talks in regards to the newest Ford Mustang Mach-E and rejoices at lastly with the ability to advocate it to a pal, why his time with the Audi SQ8 E-tron reminds him of studying to fly, and offers us a remaining replace on his potential buy of a traditional Range Rover.