Home//CAR UK/July 2021/In This Issue
CAR UK|July 2021WelcomeHave you heard the one about bicycles and algebra? (I know; exciting!) That the ideal number of bicycles is n+1, where n is the number of bicycles you currently own? Cute, but true too. CAR’s Gavin Green owns several bicycles, all of significant aesthetic merit, and he does so for very sound reasons. (For me it’s motorcycles; three in the garage, one in the loft. So, officially at least, n= 3…)On the face of it such behaviour makes no sense, of course. You can only ride one bicycle at a time. But if you’re really into something chances are you’ll look to test those skills in new ways. Just as few climbers only ever tackle one peak, so owning a couple of different bicycles brings variety and challenge to what…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021Lambo electric plans… hybrid Aventador in 2023… first EV in 2025► Lamborghini has nailed some dates for its all-out attack on electrification, with hybrids and the start of a new electric generation to come. But, before any of that reaches production reality, Sant’Agata is belting out a non-electrified V12 swansong in the shape of a concept car bound for 2021’s Pebble Beach concours.► But 2023 is the year Lambo plugs in for real. Stephan Winkelmann’s first planned production hybrid for the brand – a proper one, unlike the supercapacitor-fed Sián – is the long-awaited replacement for the Aventador, due in 2023. It’s still powered predominantly by V12, since it transpires that the allegedly dramatically more drastic EU7 emissions regulations will not take effect before 2027, the grace period for the legendary engine was automatically extended by another four years.► The…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021Lambo electric plans… hybrid Aventador in 2023… first EV in 2025► Lamborghini has nailed some dates for its all-out attack on electrification, with hybrids and the start of a new electric generation to come. But, before any of that reaches production reality, Sant’Agata is belting out a non-electrified V12 swansong in the shape of a concept car bound for 2021’s Pebble Beach concours. ► But 2023 is the year Lambo plugs in for real. Stephan Winkelmann’s first planned production hybrid for the brand – a proper one, unlike the supercapacitor-fed Sián – is the long-awaited replacement for the Aventador, due in 2023. It’s still powered predominantly by V12, since it transpires that the allegedly dramatically more drastic EU7 emissions regulations will not take effect before 2027, the grace period for the legendary engine was automatically extended by another four years.…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021The chips are downA global microchip shortage has slowed the production of everything from games consoles to phones, and now it’s putting the handbrake on the car industry’s recovery from Covid. A lack of the crucial semiconductors – thousands of which are needed in a typical modern car – has caused production lines to stall and financial forecasts to be slashed, and will likely change the way in which car makers source these increasingly crucial components.Tesla boss Elon Musk describes the first quarter of 2021 as having ‘some of the most difficult supply challenges we’ve ever experienced’, a sentiment echoed by long-established mass-market car makers.The automotive sector is estimated to need 85 billion semiconductors this year – three per cent of the total chip market. They control and calibrate a huge array of…4 min
CAR UK|July 2021Hindsight requiredEye-catching products from the word go, a personal approach to selling them and dealers that don’t look like dealers: Genesis, the luxury brand from Hyundai, is ready to show Europe what it’s been missing.But doesn’t all of that sound familiar? Would-be premium brands, even ones based in Europe, have been trying to do this for years. DS is a struggling minnow at present. Nissan decided to kill Infiniti here after the same approach as Genesis failed to achieve lift-off. Lexus is the healthiest of these premium brands from mainstream groups, and is currently growing – but, even so, has taken less than 0.4 per cent of the new-car market in Europe over the last decade.Still, Genesis is confident it can gain a foothold here. ‘We believe now is the right…2 min
CAR UK|July 2021The chips are downA global microchip shortage has slowed the production of everything from games consoles to phones, and now it’s putting the handbrake on the car industry’s recovery from Covid. A lack of the crucial semiconductors – thousands of which are needed in a typical modern car – has caused production lines to stall and financial forecasts to be slashed, and will likely change the way in which car makers source these increasingly crucial components. Tesla boss Elon Musk describes the first quarter of 2021 as having ‘some of the most difficult supply challenges we’ve ever experienced’, a sentiment echoed by long-established mass-market car makers. The automotive sector is estimated to need 85 billion semiconductors this year – three per cent of the total chip market. They control and calibrate a huge…4 min
CAR UK|July 2021Hindsight requiredEye-catching products from the word go, a personal approach to selling them and dealers that don’t look like dealers: Genesis, the luxury brand from Hyundai, is ready to show Europe what it’s been missing. But doesn’t all of that sound familiar? Would-be premium brands, even ones based in Europe, have been trying to do this for years. DS is a struggling minnow at present. Nissan decided to kill Infiniti here after the same approach as Genesis failed to achieve lift-off. Lexus is the healthiest of these premium brands from mainstream groups, and is currently growing – but, even so, has taken less than 0.4 per cent of the new-car market in Europe over the last decade. Still, Genesis is confident it can gain a foothold here. ‘We believe now is…2 min
CAR UK|July 2021‘At BMW M we must over-deliver’HEAD OF ENGINEERING, BMW M DIVISION Illustration: Chris Rathbone ’I consider myself lucky every day – this job is never boring,’ claims M division engineering boss Dirk Hacker, his mile-wide smile suggesting he’s not lying through his teeth to deliver a nice corporate soundbite. That Hacker is where he was always meant to be can’t be in much doubt. His first car was a BMW, an E36 325i, and he still has it. He joined Bayerische Motorenwerke in 1988 and never left, progressing from chassis and stability control systems through complete vehicle engineering to M division, which he joined in 2015, just in time to work on the new-generation M3/M4 and, latterly, the CS version of the M5 (see page 88). A pig in scheisse? Oh yes. ‘I have a…4 min
CAR UK|July 2021Going EV where it matters the mostBMW claims its plug-in hybrids have some of the highest electric-only range on the market. So, to make use of that, it’s introduced a discreet bit of tech designed to help you maximise e-power where it matters most: built-up areas. Called eDrive Zones, it’s a simple addition to BMW’s OS7 infotainment, and essentially it activates electric mode for you.How? By using the car’s navigation system and a geofenced area. Geofencing is when an area is digitally marked with a border, and if you enter or leave the area it will trigger a change. In BMW’s case, the geofenced areas are city centres, usually where there are congestion or emissions charges in effect. When you drive your plug-in hybrid (such as the 530e we tested it on) into the zone the…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021Synching feelingResisting water has been at least as influential on watch design as measuring speed. So after last month’s maritime-inspired watches I make no apology for getting straight back into the sea with three very interesting and just-released new diver’s watches. Two feature novel materials, and one offers amazing value. Car-inspired chronographs will return next month, I promise. 01 | Tissot Seastar 2000 Professional From £895 Tissot is an old Swiss watch maker, now controlled by the Swatch Group, which also owns high-end brands such as Omega and Blancpain. This new version of its Seastar diver’s watch has a pro spec including water-resistance to 600 metres, a helium release valve and an indestructible ceramic bezel. tissotwatches.com 02 I Panerai Luminor Marina eSteel £7600 Watches may be small, but the metals and…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021Ford F-150 Lightning: all-American icon plugs inTHE INNOVATIONS TRANSFORMING OUR DRIVING WORLD First the Mustang, now the F-Series pick-up. Ford is in the process of transforming its legends for the electric age, with the new F-150 Lightning squaring up against the likes of the Hummer EV, Rivian’s R1T and the Tesla Cybertruck – all big electric pick-ups built in the USA. And, while the Lightning may not have the crab-walking technology of the Hummer or Blade Runner looks of the Tesla, it manages to be just as competitive in terms of performance and even undercuts them on price in the North American market. Ford’s busy pumping $22 billion into electrification, so it was only natural for the Blue Oval to want to compete with Tesla and GMC as soon as it could. ‘It’s the backbone of…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021CABIN JOINS THE 21ST CENTURY TOOWEIGH IT UP Ford’s inserted the Mustang Mach-E’s 15.5-inch portrait-format screen on well-trimmed variants (the commercialfriendly Pro Lightning makes do with a more conventional landscape display) and includes bespoke features like an onboard scale that helps the truck gauge how much range you’ll have for the journey ahead. BACK IT UP Got a massive trailer to tow? Ford says the absolute baseline towing capacity of the F-150 Lightning is at least 3.5 tonnes. The dial to the left of the central screen allows you to engage Pro Trailer Hitch Assist, a feature designed to autonomously line up the towbar with the trailer hitch. PHONE IT UP Using your phone as a key is about as 21st century as it gets, with Ford’s truck companion app having the usual conditioning, charging,…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021Suffering for your artIt is conspicuously good value. You could buy three Aston Speedsters for the price of one Ferrari SP1 MonzaIt can be hard to comprehend the point of a car like the Aston Martin V12 Speedster. Can one vehicle, even one as glamorous as this, ever justify a price tag of £765,000? Market reaction suggests it can - more than 70 of the 88 being built have already been snapped up by Gaydon’s nearest and dearest customers. So much for a pandemic-driven economic slowdown…If anything, this market is speeding up, with the McLaren Elva and Ferrari SP1/SP2 Monza also vying for collectors’ attention. At half the price of its British rival, Aston’s speedster appears conspicuously good value. And you could buy three for the price of one Ferrari SP1/SP2 Monza. Funny…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021HOW TO REFUEL A HYDROGEN FUEL CELL1 Find a hydrogen pump! According to UK H2 Mobility, there are only 11 hydrogen refuelling stations open to private motorists in the UK. Others are reserved for commercial vehicles and a few more are planned, but they’re so expensive to build that they’ll remain scarce for a while yet. 2 Swipe your card Our Mirai already had an account set up with ITM Power so we merely had to insert our access card, enter a PIN and we were set to refuel. Hydrogen isn’t that much cheaper than unleaded, at £12 per kilogramme. 3 Open fuel flap, doors to manual Pull a conventional fuel-filler lever in the cabin and the flap opens on the nearside to reveal a metal nozzle where you’d normally find a hole for petrol. Remove…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021OpinionMissed opportunityI read Gavin Green’s article in the May edition concerning the search for good urban transport. I found the solution to this 21 years ago when I bought my first BMW C1. It solves many of the downsides of car and bike ownership. It’s a scooter with a cabin that keeps out much of the weather and provides a high level of safety protection compared with any other two-wheeled vehicle.I commuted on one of these for over 10 years and then used it just for the fun of riding round on it. It filtered through traffic jams, reduced my commuting time by up to 50 per cent and protected me with its ABS brakes, heated seat and handlebars plus a four-point seatbelt to hold me in the rigid safety…12 min
CAR UK|July 2021‘I wanted to hate the Mustang Mach-E, the antithesis of all I love about the real Mustang’Open the bonnet of a Ford Mustang – the proper pony-car Mustang – and you’re welcomed by one of the great sights of car culture: a thundering 5.0-litre V8. It’s good for over 440bhp, rumbles to a glorious 7000rpm, and produces the most inspiring soundtrack of any new car on sale today. You think Bullitt, Steve McQueen, the Daytona Beach banking, and back to a time when America led the world in automotive can-do optimism.Open the bonnet of the new Mustang Mach-E and you’re greeted by a sea of plastic and a small recess for charging cables. (It’s water resistant so can also be used to store damp Barbours and wellies.)I wanted to hate the Mach-E. It’s the antithesis of all that I love about the ‘real’ Mustang, my favourite…4 min
CAR UK|July 2021EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUEIcrest the brow of the hill in third, and inside my brain I say: ‘Oh. My. God.’ It’s just too perfect: perfect car, perfect weather, no traffic – and look at that sweeping, towering, blockbuster stretch of road ahead! Oh. My. God.Even as a journalist on a car magazine, moments like this are surprisingly rare. Within these pages we like to dress it up a bit – you know, sell the dream. In reality, you’re often in an Aventador while logjammed in traffic outside Aylesbury, or stuck behind a tractor at 20mph. We tend to gloss over all that.But today, I promise, the dream has become reality. I’m in a Ferrari Roma on the North Yorkshire Moors, the sun is just going down and the white lines are looking particularly…14 min
CAR UK|July 2021PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING FERRARI ROMA► Why is it here?Ferrari’s gorgeous new 2+2 sits alongside, rather than above or below, the drop-top Portofino. They share similar spec and price, but as a lighter coupe the Roma promises to put the ‘sport’ into ‘Sports GT’. Ferrari claims as much as 70 per cent of the body and structure is different from the Portofino. No convertible gubbins means a stiffer structure and a 100kg weight saving, too. The Roma actually runs softer spring rates.► Any clever stuff?A big change over the Portofino is the Roma’s transaxle, modified from the SF90’s. With eight gears, it’s 6kg lighter than the Portofino’s seven-speed ‘box. The Roma also gets Ferrari’s steering wheel-mounted manettino control (and, less successfully, touchsensitive pads to control infotainment menus).► Which version is this?There’s only one Roma, but…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021MAN ON A WIREOlivier François started his own music label, is a published poet and has persuaded Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Eminem – among others – to star in his TV ads. In America, he’s known as the king of car commercials, and has been tagged the auto industry’s Don Draper, a reference to the charismatic lead in Mad Men. His wife is an Italian pop star. So he’s not your average brand-and-bluster car-company marketing boss.He’s head of Fiat, global marketing boss of FCA (Fiat Chrysler) and is working hard to make the new Stellantis car company – the merger of the PSA Peugeot group and FCA – a success. We talk by video conference, François from his home in Milan. He’s glad he’s working from home. ‘It is a bonus. I…9 min
CAR UK|July 2021ALL-DIFFERENT ALL-WHEEL DRIVEBoth cars use active all-wheel drive to put their enormous power down cleanly. The M5 CS (below) is the most powerful production BMW ever, with 626bhp. But the all-electric Audi (right) is more powerful still.It uses two motors, the front capable of 235bhp and the rear 449bhp. If launch control is deployed, a two-speed gearbox with a short first gear helps the rear motor from standstill. The motor, power electronics and transmission form one neatly packaged block at each axle. RS versions also get a diff lock at the rear.Four separate cooling circuits are required for the running gear and interior. The M5 makes do with massive grilles. In Efficiency mode, the e-Tron becomes front-wheel drive but in other modes the torque is varied continuously between front and rear.The BMW…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021THE AUDI THAT’LL BE EVERYWHEREYou know how they say never buy the first version of a new Apple product? Perhaps a similar golden rule should be applied to electric cars. The VW ID.3, the first model based on the VW Group’s entry-level electric platform and released last summer, had an unfinished edge. But every new MEB derivative launched since has bettered the previous version. The ID.4 is quantifiably more appealing than the hatchback, the Skoda Enyaq is more convincing overall than both VWs, and now the Audi Q4 e-Tron raises the bar for looks, perceived quality, driveability and performance.Surprisingly, the Q3’s electric counterpart even beats the pricey e-Tron GT on interior design and overall craftsmanship. The top-of-the-line Q4 50 e-Tron quattro also costs over £10k less than the base full-size e-Tron SUV, which is…7 min
CAR UK|July 2021THE A-TO-Q OF AUDI EVS► A1: MIGHT NOT MAKE ITThe A1 won’t be replaced by more of the same when it runs its course in 2027. If Audi decides to stay in the A0-segment at all, it will tap the downsized MEB platform set to underpin the new VW ID.1 city car. The A1 e-Tron project is currently known as Metrocruiser.► A3: COULD BECOME A2One size up, the EV A3 would be paired with the next VW ID.3 and could be renamed A2 e-Tron. Described as an urban cocoon, it might spin-off as a crossover and even a racy single-seater. Its modular matrix is reportedly also under consideration at Seat, Skoda and even Porsche.► A4: BOTH PHEV AND EVThe former best-seller is due for replacement in 2023, using the existing MLB evo platform but…2 min
CAR UK|July 2021PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING FERRARI ROMA► Why is it here? Ferrari’s gorgeous new 2+2 sits alongside, rather than above or below, the drop-top Portofino. They share similar spec and price, but as a lighter coupe the Roma promises to put the ‘sport’ into ‘Sports GT’. Ferrari claims as much as 70 per cent of the body and structure is different from the Portofino. No convertible gubbins means a stiffer structure and a 100kg weight saving, too. The Roma actually runs softer spring rates. ► Any clever stuff? A big change over the Portofino is the Roma’s transaxle, modified from the SF90’s. With eight gears, it’s 6kg lighter than the Portofino’s seven-speed ‘box. The Roma also gets Ferrari’s steering wheel-mounted manettino control (and, less successfully, touchsensitive pads to control infotainment menus). ► Which version is this?…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021The long shadowHELLO VOLVO S60 + CITROËN BERLINGO + GOODBYE MAZDA 3 + FORD FOCUS STWe climb into the F-Type, pick our way through The Splined Hub’s bustling workshops, careful not to dent any long, delicate E-Type noses as we go, and head out onto near-empty Northamptonshire roads. The Splined Hub is a humming centre of Jaguar restoration excellence, with E-Types a speciality, based in Oundle, Northamptonshire. Director Oliver Winbolt is an incorrigible car and motorcycle enthusiast. Who better to help us decide if the F-Type, and our P450 coupe in particular, stands as a worthy successor to the E?The E-Type was never fitted with a V8, of course. Your options were a straight-six (please) or the Series 3’s V12 (nein danke). But the F-Type’s long been synonymous with JLR’s supercharged eight…6 min
CAR UK|July 2021MAN ON A WIREOlivier François started his own music label, is a published poet and has persuaded Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Eminem – among others – to star in his TV ads. In America, he’s known as the king of car commercials, and has been tagged the auto industry’s Don Draper, a reference to the charismatic lead in Mad Men. His wife is an Italian pop star. So he’s not your average brand-and-bluster car-company marketing boss. He’s head of Fiat, global marketing boss of FCA (Fiat Chrysler) and is working hard to make the new Stellantis car company – the merger of the PSA Peugeot group and FCA – a success. We talk by video conference, François from his home in Milan. He’s glad he’s working from home. ‘It is a bonus.…9 min
CAR UK|July 2021The ordinary made specialTwo promises about things I won’t do. First, I won’t go on about the weirdness of this hotted-up Volvo plug-in hybrid wearing a Polestar Engineered badge. Polestar, now a standalone brand and not just a Volvo sub-brand, is heading rapidly to full electric, but in the interim is still slapping its name on products conceived when that narrow mission wasn’t so clear. It just is.And second, I won’t go on about how tricky it is to make maximum use of a plug-in hybrid’s electric capability in a blame-dodging attempt to explain why I keep driving around with a near-empty battery. Rather, I shall make it my business to make maximum use of the electric capability. (Probably. On a good day. When I can be bothered.)The extraordinarily long name does a…4 min
CAR UK|July 2021Dearly departedTry to summarise Mazda – the whole company – in one car, and you could easily end up with the 3. So much of what the brand currently stands for – nearly all of it good – is embodied in this clever, grown-up hatchback that, after 12,000 miles, I’m sad is leaving. It’s a gorgeous piece of exterior design and pretty smart inside too, save for the shin-dampening cupholders and easily blinded reversing camera.Yes, I’ve berated the engine for its limp power delivery but, after some changes in driving style, I’ve seen economy figures close to the official ratings in the last couple of months. And it seems Mazda has heard my spoilt-brat cries for more poke – the engine has had some tweaks and gets a new name: e-Skyactiv…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021BUT WHAT ABOUT RANGE?I’ve just spent two days blasting around the gorgeous scenery of the Scottish Highlands in the non-RS Audi e-Tron GT. That was the fun bit. Now the bit that’s supposed to be nightmarish in an EV: the near-500-mile trek home from Inverness to Peterborough. Google says the most direct way is via Glasgow and Carlisle, and would be 486 miles and take eight and a half hours non-stop. Which is all the planning you’d need to do with a Q7, for instance. But Audi claims a maximum range of 298 miles for the e-Tron GT. Knowing my driving style, about 250 miles would be a safe upper limit, making two stops almost necessary. Some digging around changed my theoretical route: there are some super-fast chargers in central Newcastle via Edinburgh…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021But it was your turn yesterdayThe Corsa-e has just one solitary USB port, prompting on-the-go offspring arguments not only about who gets to charge their phone but also who gets to select their music using CarPlay.Yes, I should just buy a multiport USB adaptor, but that would mean cables snaking across the cabin and no access to CarPlay, which demands a direct link between iPhone and car. I curse the cost-saving accountants who nixed the idea of four USB ports. Sure, they may have saved millions over this Corsa’s lifecycle, but if they knew the family discord their decision created, they’d know the difference between cost and value.Vauxhall Corsa-e Elite NavMonth 3The story so farCorsa-e may look dull, but it’s a surprisingly sharp steer+ Refinement, delightful interior, connected app- Consumption isn’t great around townLogbookPrice £31,160…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021THE A-TO-Q OF AUDI EVS► A1: MIGHT NOT MAKE IT The A1 won’t be replaced by more of the same when it runs its course in 2027. If Audi decides to stay in the A0-segment at all, it will tap the downsized MEB platform set to underpin the new VW ID.1 city car. The A1 e-Tron project is currently known as Metrocruiser. ► A3: COULD BECOME A2 One size up, the EV A3 would be paired with the next VW ID.3 and could be renamed A2 e-Tron. Described as an urban cocoon, it might spin-off as a crossover and even a racy single-seater. Its modular matrix is reportedly also under consideration at Seat, Skoda and even Porsche. ► A4: BOTH PHEV AND EV The former best-seller is due for replacement in 2023, using the…2 min
CAR UK|July 2021Whatever it is, it’s goodThe Cupra Formentor is a likeable car in the not-quite-a-crossover-more-a-tall-hatch segment that defies pigeonholing. I’m all for this blending of genres: the Cupra feels less roly-poly than SUVs, a dash more practical than regular hatchbacks. I don’t quite know how to describe it, but I like what I see.After living with a Honda E for half a year, it’s quite a shock returning to the combustion fold. Our Formentor VZ2 has a startling 306bhp from its turbocharged 2.0-litre Golf R innards and the performance is as brisk as it sounds on paper, with 0-62mph in 4.9sec and a thirsty 29mpg average. I’m still learning to tune the acoustics via driving modes; this is not a nice-sounding engine, but in Cupra set-up it takes on all sorts of synthesised rorty overtones…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021Bring on that synth fuelWhen someone lends you a Porsche, you can’t help but be a glass-half-full kind of person. Life is good. The sun is always shining.But there are some glasshalf-empty moments. Or, more pertinently, petrol-tank-half- empty. The Cayenne S Coupe’s fuel consumption is pretty terrible at the best of times. For all Porsche’s brilliant work in creating EVs that appeal to petrolheads, and in encouraging the development of synthetic fuels that may at some point in the future help keep internal-combustion cars on the road in a more sustainable way, you can’t avoid the conclusion that these are sticking plasters on a gushing stump. Porsche can’t be solely blamed for depleting the planet’s reserves of fossil fuels, but for several decades it’s been at the centre of an industry and a culture…2 min
CAR UK|July 2021WelcomeHave you heard the one about bicycles and algebra? (I know; exciting!) That the ideal number of bicycles is n+1, where n is the number of bicycles you currently own? Cute, but true too. CAR’s Gavin Green owns several bicycles, all of significant aesthetic merit, and he does so for very sound reasons. (For me it’s motorcycles; three in the garage, one in the loft. So, officially at least, n= 3…) On the face of it such behaviour makes no sense, of course. You can only ride one bicycle at a time. But if you’re really into something chances are you’ll look to test those skills in new ways. Just as few climbers only ever tackle one peak, so owning a couple of different bicycles brings variety and challenge to…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021THE RACE TO DECARBONISECARS, PEOPLE, SCOOPS, MOTORSPORT, ANALYSIS – THE MONTH ACCORDING TO CAR Illustration:Chris Rathbone The inhabitants of planet Earth extracted 100 billion tonnes of raw materials in 2017, as the concept of the circular economy remained – largely – a concept. But 2021 feels different. The former governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, is putting pressure on investors to eschew carbon-heavy players. The UK will host the COP26 climate summit, aiming to deliver a new global emissions reduction target. Cars are under the spotlight. Some 18 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions come from road transport. One particularly mind-boggling statistic is that one per cent of global emissions come from the Volkswagen Group alone. Two initiatives are crucial to drive sustainability in the car industry, suggests consulting firm…5 min
CAR UK|July 2021The past is the futureKimera EVO37Engineering house Kimera Automobili has modernised Lancia’s legendary 037 Group B competition car, making it into a limitededition road car. The gorgeous EVO37 still uses a Beta Montecarlobased body and a tubular spaceframe, but the exterior panels are now carbonfibre rather than Kevlar, and its four-cylinder engine is 2.1 litres and turbocharged instead of 2.0 and supercharged. Its 500bhp is sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual. Where do we sign?NEED TO KNOWWhat is it? A resurrected Group B legend Tech specs Engineering nous from Lancia rally heroes, molybdenum-coated spaceframe Aimed at? Getting misty-eyed over retro rallying What are the chances I’ll own one? Only 37 to be built, for about £400k a popRML Short WheelbaseMaranello’s badges might be missing, but motorsport engineering operation RML has kept…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021Waiter! There’s wurst in my tapasWe’ve had VW, Skoda and Audi using the VW Group’s new MEB platform to create the ID.3, ID.4, Enyaq and Q4 e-Tron – now Cupra goes electric by putting its own spin on the same shared componentry with its new Born.Are you sure it’s different?At a glance you could mistake this first production EV from the brand recently spun off from Seat for an ID.3 with some slightly angry-looking details. The waters are further muddied because VW offers copper trimming on the ID.3, depriving Cupra of what was supposed to be a USP.Anything different inside?Got a magnifying glass handy? The Born has a larger central screen than the VW (12 as opposed to 10 inches) and the centre console rises to meet the dashboard. And to ram home the point…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021‘At BMW M we must over-deliver’HEAD OF ENGINEERING, BMW M DIVISION’I consider myself lucky every day – this job is never boring,’ claims M division engineering boss Dirk Hacker, his mile-wide smile suggesting he’s not lying through his teeth to deliver a nice corporate soundbite. That Hacker is where he was always meant to be can’t be in much doubt. His first car was a BMW, an E36 325i, and he still has it. He joined Bayerische Motorenwerke in 1988 and never left, progressing from chassis and stability control systems through complete vehicle engineering to M division, which he joined in 2015, just in time to work on the new-generation M3/M4 and, latterly, the CS version of the M5 (see page 88).A pig in scheisse? Oh yes. ‘I have a big emotion for BMW, so…4 min
CAR UK|July 2021Why buy a Polo?Honey, I shrunk the OctaviaDid Skoda’s designers just rescale an Octavia in Photoshop? Fabia’s MQB A0 platform has a longer wheelbase than its VW Polo and Seat Ibiza cousins, and is big enough to make the Scala look superfluous.Eastern sophisticateDigital dials, two-spoke wheel and a premium audio option are joined – for the first time on a Fabia – by in-door brollies. What is this, a Rolls-Royce? Czech heritage is marked by the flag engraved on the doors.Swiss-army-knife utilityThe long wheelbase benefits rear passengers and boot space, which is boosted to 380 litres – second in the class to the Renault Clio. Ice scraper, tyre-tread depth gauge and parking ticket holder are all still included.Thrift and swiftThere’s no electric variant, but mild hybrids will come later. At first, the choices…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021Synching feelingResisting water has been at least as influential on watch design as measuring speed. So after last month’s maritime-inspired watches I make no apology for getting straight back into the sea with three very interesting and just-released new diver’s watches. Two feature novel materials, and one offers amazing value. Car-inspired chronographs will return next month, I promise.01 | Tissot Seastar 2000 Professional From £895Tissot is an old Swiss watch maker, now controlled by the Swatch Group, which also owns high-end brands such as Omega and Blancpain. This new version of its Seastar diver’s watch has a pro spec including water-resistance to 600 metres, a helium release valve and an indestructible ceramic bezel. tissotwatches.com02 I Panerai Luminor Marina eSteel £7600Watches may be small, but the metals and chemicals they require can…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021CABIN JOINS THE 21ST CENTURY TOOWEIGH IT UPFord’s inserted the Mustang Mach-E’s 15.5-inch portrait-format screen on well-trimmed variants (the commercialfriendly Pro Lightning makes do with a more conventional landscape display) and includes bespoke features like an onboard scale that helps the truck gauge how much range you’ll have for the journey ahead.BACK IT UPGot a massive trailer to tow? Ford says the absolute baseline towing capacity of the F-150 Lightning is at least 3.5 tonnes. The dial to the left of the central screen allows you to engage Pro Trailer Hitch Assist, a feature designed to autonomously line up the towbar with the trailer hitch.PHONE IT UPUsing your phone as a key is about as 21st century as it gets, with Ford’s truck companion app having the usual conditioning, charging, battery status and GPS features.…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021In search of the special sourceThe last one was a frontdrive four-seater, whereas Mirai II: The HydroSequel seats five and drives the rearRoad tripping in a hydrogen fuel-cell car adds fresh piquancy to the range anxiety that blights all EVs. The UK’s H2 refuelling infrastructure is not so much patchy as bald, with just 11 facilities open to private motorists, concentrated around London, Swindon, Sheffield and Aberdeen. So when we were handed the keys to the new Toyota Mirai in Surrey for a 300-mile excursion we could have played it safe and headed up the M1, but instead headed due south. Why? Because we wanted a mini adventure, not 10 pages touring Britain’s industrial hotspots.We reckoned Crawley to Fawley would let us stress-test the fuel-cell tech, take in a mix of town and rural driving,…14 min
CAR UK|July 2021HOW TO REFUEL A HYDROGEN FUEL CELL1 Find a hydrogen pump!According to UK H2 Mobility, there are only 11 hydrogen refuelling stations open to private motorists in the UK. Others are reserved for commercial vehicles and a few more are planned, but they’re so expensive to build that they’ll remain scarce for a while yet.2 Swipe your cardOur Mirai already had an account set up with ITM Power so we merely had to insert our access card, enter a PIN and we were set to refuel. Hydrogen isn’t that much cheaper than unleaded, at £12 per kilogramme.3 Open fuel flap, doors to manualPull a conventional fuel-filler lever in the cabin and the flap opens on the nearside to reveal a metal nozzle where you’d normally find a hole for petrol. Remove the rubber dust sleeve, guide…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021ThiEVes in the templeBMW calls it E-Punch, and its afterburner effect can even be observed on the environmentally incorrect side of 100mphAt a glance, our test cars look like a pair of generic 4-series Gran Coupes wearing prototype disguise. But look closer: there are no exhaust pipes in the rear diffuser. And listen: no diesel grumble, no petrol snarl, no appetite-whetting vibes of the old-fashioned kind.Inside, you get the same disconcerting feeling of the familiar knocked slightly off-kilter. The gear selector still squats where you expect it, but where are the shift paddles? The digital speedometer is bracketed by two upright Technicolor columns, but what exactly do they stand for?Press the starter button and there are no vibrations, and no engine noises - either real or fake. Instead, a new alien noise fills…7 min
CAR UK|July 2021Going EV where it matters the mostBMW claims its plug-in hybrids have some of the highest electric-only range on the market. So, to make use of that, it’s introduced a discreet bit of tech designed to help you maximise e-power where it matters most: built-up areas. Called eDrive Zones, it’s a simple addition to BMW’s OS7 infotainment, and essentially it activates electric mode for you. How? By using the car’s navigation system and a geofenced area. Geofencing is when an area is digitally marked with a border, and if you enter or leave the area it will trigger a change. In BMW’s case, the geofenced areas are city centres, usually where there are congestion or emissions charges in effect. When you drive your plug-in hybrid (such as the 530e we tested it on) into the zone…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021Electric never landThe first thing you want to know about the Rimac Nevera is how it feels to launch-control an electric hypercar with twice the power of a modern Formula 1 car. I wondered that too, and casually decimating the Bugatti Chiron’s world production-car standing-quarter record was very nearly the first thing I did in a Nevera. I was given mine on the runway of a quiet provincial Croat airport, its nose already pointing down the strip towards the cones that marked the end of the quarter-mile. Mate Rimac was there and quite happy for me to knock out a new world record with my first push of the throttle, so confident was he of the ease and safety with which his car will do it.That might have made for a better…9 min
CAR UK|July 2021Senses regainedRegarding Gavin Green’s thoughtful and incisive comments about urban transport in the May issue, I don’t agree it’s an issue of car design.As Gavin points out, there have been cars designed to match urban transport requirements, but none have been successful, and the new Citroën Ami will probably join that list, as most people don’t want this sort of vehicle.It’s a zeitgeist thing and there’s no avoiding it, I’m afraid. I even indulged myself, buying a Mazda CX-3 two years ago, before recently coming to my senses and replacing it with a Seat Leon. A regular hatch with a whiff of sporty pretensions, but so much more satisfying than the Mazda, good at its job though it was.My other car is a Honda S2000, so I guess I will be…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021ThiEVes in the templeBMW calls it E-Punch, and its afterburner effect can even be observed on the environmentally incorrect side of 100mph At a glance, our test cars look like a pair of generic 4-series Gran Coupes wearing prototype disguise. But look closer: there are no exhaust pipes in the rear diffuser. And listen: no diesel grumble, no petrol snarl, no appetite-whetting vibes of the old-fashioned kind. Inside, you get the same disconcerting feeling of the familiar knocked slightly off-kilter. The gear selector still squats where you expect it, but where are the shift paddles? The digital speedometer is bracketed by two upright Technicolor columns, but what exactly do they stand for? Press the starter button and there are no vibrations, and no engine noises - either real or fake. Instead, a new…6 min
CAR UK|July 2021The afterglowOwn a rear-drive 1-series with a straight-six engine? Lucky you. Got a few grand to spare? Then BMW tuning specialist Birds Auto reckon it can make your already fine car even better. BMW has switched to front-wheel drive for the current 1-series, or all-wheel drive for the hottest variants, but there are plenty of us who still favour the old layout. But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for improvement. The Birds B-sports kit includes fresh springs and dampers, and makes the front track wider. This removes some of the slack the factory spec builds into the steering, making the M140i much more alert to the first degrees of steering angle. This isn’t some solid-sprung trackday special, however: the aim is an enjoyable set-up for everyday road use. To that…2 min
CAR UK|July 2021Suffering for your artIt is conspicuously good value. You could buy three Aston Speedsters for the price of one Ferrari SP1 Monza It can be hard to comprehend the point of a car like the Aston Martin V12 Speedster. Can one vehicle, even one as glamorous as this, ever justify a price tag of £765,000? Market reaction suggests it can - more than 70 of the 88 being built have already been snapped up by Gaydon’s nearest and dearest customers. So much for a pandemic-driven economic slowdown… If anything, this market is speeding up, with the McLaren Elva and Ferrari SP1/SP2 Monza also vying for collectors’ attention. At half the price of its British rival, Aston’s speedster appears conspicuously good value. And you could buy three for the price of one Ferrari SP1/SP2…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING PORSCHE 911 TURBO S► Why is it here?Porsche’s 992 Carrera already has a twin-turbo flat-six, so the Turbo S has gone turbo-tastic to stand out: it’s bored out to 3.75 litres and boosted to 641bhp. At £156k it’s the most expensive model in the 911 range (but still undercuts the Roma by 15 grand).► Any clever stuff?Four-wheel drive and four-wheel steer, plus clever active aero, with a new, movable front spoiler and rear wing increasing downforce by 15 per cent. The S gets Porsche active suspension (PASM), active anti-roll (PDCC) and carbon-ceramic brakes as standard.► Which version is this?Priced £22k over the standard Turbo, the S gets you an extra 70bhp, 7mph on the top speed (up to 205mph) and a 0.1sec advantage to 62mph. Like the Turbo, the S is only available…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021OpinionMissed opportunity I read Gavin Green’s article in the May edition concerning the search for good urban transport. I found the solution to this 21 years ago when I bought my first BMW C1. It solves many of the downsides of car and bike ownership. It’s a scooter with a cabin that keeps out much of the weather and provides a high level of safety protection compared with any other two-wheeled vehicle. I commuted on one of these for over 10 years and then used it just for the fun of riding round on it. It filtered through traffic jams, reduced my commuting time by up to 50 per cent and protected me with its ABS brakes, heated seat and handlebars plus a four-point seatbelt to hold me in the…11 min
CAR UK|July 2021SOCKET TO MThis is normally the grace period; the opening miles of a journey, where you wait for the fluids in the car’s mechanical belly to warm up; wait for the climate control to get the cabin appreciably warmer than the nippy early-morning air outside; wait for the caffeine of the second coffee to get to work. Then, and only then, when warm-up (literal and figurative) is complete, do you put your foot down.But I can’t help myself. I climbed into the RS e-Tron GT for the first time only a few moments ago and I’ve just turned out of a junction onto a deserted, arrow-straight stretch. The Audi does have plenty of delicate moving parts, of course, but the fact there’s no engine under the bonnet makes the temptation to bypass…11 min
CAR UK|July 2021BUT WHAT ABOUT RANGE?I’ve just spent two days blasting around the gorgeous scenery of the Scottish Highlands in the non-RS Audi e-Tron GT. That was the fun bit. Now the bit that’s supposed to be nightmarish in an EV: the near-500-mile trek home from Inverness to Peterborough.Google says the most direct way is via Glasgow and Carlisle, and would be 486 miles and take eight and a half hours non-stop. Which is all the planning you’d need to do with a Q7, for instance. But Audi claims a maximum range of 298 miles for the e-Tron GT. Knowing my driving style, about 250 miles would be a safe upper limit, making two stops almost necessary. Some digging around changed my theoretical route: there are some super-fast chargers in central Newcastle via Edinburgh ahead…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021‘It would be just like owning a real Ferrari 250 GTO, only without the car. No, I don’t understand either’Illustration by Peter Strain It began in 2005, with an internet frog called Pepe… Okay, if I take this step by step, it’s not because I think you don’t understand, it’s because I don’t understand. Pepe was a cartoon created by artist Matt Furie. Described as a ‘mellow, positive-vibed frog’, Pepe started appearing in internet memes, usually expressing his own laid-back philosophy. These memes were collected, like digital trading cards. If the meme was unusual or sought after, it became known as a Rare Pepe. Rare Pepes started to be exchanged on a website called Counterparty, a trading platform built on top of Bitcoin. Bitcoin was created in 2009, after a mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto released a paper describing a system of ‘peer-to-peer electronic cash’. Nakamoto has never been identified, but…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUEIcrest the brow of the hill in third, and inside my brain I say: ‘Oh. My. God.’ It’s just too perfect: perfect car, perfect weather, no traffic – and look at that sweeping, towering, blockbuster stretch of road ahead! Oh. My. God. Even as a journalist on a car magazine, moments like this are surprisingly rare. Within these pages we like to dress it up a bit – you know, sell the dream. In reality, you’re often in an Aventador while logjammed in traffic outside Aylesbury, or stuck behind a tractor at 20mph. We tend to gloss over all that. But today, I promise, the dream has become reality. I’m in a Ferrari Roma on the North Yorkshire Moors, the sun is just going down and the white lines are…14 min
CAR UK|July 2021V12 TORCHBEARERSGORDON MURRAY AUTOMOTIVEMurray’s T50, a kind of 21st century reimagining of the McLaren F1, has already spawned a track-only spin-off, the T50S. Its 3.9-litre Cosworth V12 is set to make 725bhp and spin to 12,100rpm.LAMBORGHINISián’s V12 has negligible e-assistance – doesn’t really need it.GTO ENGINEERINGThe Ferrari specialist is working on a new/old V12. Hand-built, the targets are more than 460bhp from a 4.0-litre, quad-cam unit weighing less than 165kg.ASTON MARTIN (1)Twin-turbo V12 makes north of 700bhp in the majestic DBS Superleggera. Great when you have the grip, the torque-rich tune is something of a liability the rest of the time. Aston plans to tweak its V12’s boost for a more linear torque curve in future.ASTON MARTIN (2)The Ford-based 5.2 is not to be confused with the Valkyrie’s V12, a Cosworth…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021THE SPLINED HUB’S E-TYPE RWhen CAR visits, Winbolt and his team are part-way through their first E-Type R build – the first in a limited run of uprated machines blending fastidious restoration with balanced upgrades. The car’s designed to appeal to both E-Type fans with a thirst for speed and owners of modern supercars interested in the classic style but with better brakes and utterly reliable turn-key running.To the standard restoration recipe The Splined Hub adds powerful Fosseway brakes, extensive but lightweight cabin insulation (to keep it both quiet and cool), an uprated radiator, more serious suspension (uprated dampers all round) and a full leather interior. Sequential fuel injection and electronic ignition make the R both easy to live with and supremely fit and healthy – power and torque are both some 10-15% up…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021Handshake, yes. High five, noIn a market full of character, the Ford’s all-round goodness leaves it in the shadowsThe Focus ST is quick, engaging, practical and even has a decent sound system. But although it’s a car I can recommend in a heartbeat, it’s not one I’d buy with my own cash. I’ll explain.The ST is a fine all-round performer. On B-roads and greasy tarmac, it skates on the limit of grip – but feels constantly adjustable thanks to its traditionally quick rack and taut chassis. It’s highly communicative too; put it in Sport and it’s easy to get an idea of just how much you can push.Even better is the Ford’s always-on turbo boost, which pushes the car forward in a way that feels much faster than its 0-62mph time of 5.7 seconds…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021Free to be daft againIt’s been great to be out and about in the Disco again as the country has unlocked. As I’ve said before, it eats long journeys like the First Class cabin of a transatlantic jet.That’s not the only thing it gobbles up, though. The price of diesel has been climbing since the first lockdown last year and it seems my right foot has got heavier too, now I’m feeling ‘liberated’. The best economy I’ve seen in the last 10 months was 32.0mpg; the worst was this month at 28.2mpg. My price per mile has rocketed from 16.7p last summer to 29.1p now.Factor in that I got stung for AdBlue this month, and I’m starting to wonder if I shouldn’t just ‘Stay Home, Save Money’. The Sport is glugging 10 litres of…2 min
CAR UK|July 2021CS AND RS: OVERDONE, DONE RIGHTBMW M5 CS Go-faster stripes? How to tell a CS apart from a normal M5: lots of carbonfibre – for the bonnet, splitter, diffuser and mirrors; non-glittery gold for the grille surrounds and wheels. Go-faster kit? A 7mm drop in ride height; dampers borrowed from the M8 Gran Coupe; 70kg off the kerbweight; carbon-ceramic brakes as standard. Does it actually go faster? A 10bhp power hike over the 616bhp M5 Competition makes this the most powerful engine ever fitted to an M car. It bats 0-62mph aside a third of a second quicker. Bigger price? And then some; at £140,780, you’ll pay £38k more than you would for an M5 Competition. AUDI RS E-TRON GT Go-faster stripes? Compared with the regular e-Tron GT quattro, the RS gets bigger wheels, black…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021ALL-DIFFERENT ALL-WHEEL DRIVEBoth cars use active all-wheel drive to put their enormous power down cleanly. The M5 CS (below) is the most powerful production BMW ever, with 626bhp. But the all-electric Audi (right) is more powerful still. It uses two motors, the front capable of 235bhp and the rear 449bhp. If launch control is deployed, a two-speed gearbox with a short first gear helps the rear motor from standstill. The motor, power electronics and transmission form one neatly packaged block at each axle. RS versions also get a diff lock at the rear. Four separate cooling circuits are required for the running gear and interior. The M5 makes do with massive grilles. In Efficiency mode, the e-Tron becomes front-wheel drive but in other modes the torque is varied continuously between front and…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021Superior intelligenceLife with the Octavia continues to cosset and confound in equal measure. Only this morning the missus dropped me at the office before putting considerable distance between car and key (our only one) still residing in my coat pocket. ‘No. Everything’s fine. Just don’t switch off the engine, and come straight back...’And when the humans aren’t co*cking things up, the car displays a mischievous streak. Unattended and off, it has now taken to humorously raising the wipers to the vertical when no one’s looking, requiring amusingly random flailing of the wiper stalk to talk them down again.Skoda Octavia SE L 2.0 TDI 150PS DSG EstateMonth 7The story so farWe’re starting to suspect there’s a poltergeist nesting in the wiring loom+ Still works with the key 20 miles away- Wipers work…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021A friend of the familyI tried to fight it. I really did. Tried to deny my true nature. Distracted myself with a series of premium SUVs and estates. But in the end I had to be true to myself, and come out as the kind of guy who, deep down, wants a seven-seat Citroën Berlingo in prosthetic beige.There are many ways to judge a car. The Berlingo clearly doesn’t score as highly on performance, material quality and desirability as the Audi SQ8 I ran last. But fitness for purpose is a simpler, nobler, more honest and frankly harder aim for a car maker. And if you have a family, and regularly need to transport a lot of people and stuff, I’d challenge you to name a car more fit for your purpose than a…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021Too close to callOne of the incontrovertible truths about the Golf is that it is suited to any occasion. This current one, even in middling 1.5 eTSI Style form, is no exception.So it is ironic that a car pushing it to the margins is also from Volkswagen, and really isn’t suited to all occasions. The ID.3 is a Golf for those who find the Golf a bit too much of a rounded companion, and prefer something with more electric habits.And there are more of those customers. In some months, the electric one is outselling the petrol one, and it is easy to see why.The Mk8 Golf is a workmanlike upgrade while the ID.3 is essentially the Golf as concept car: what designers and engineers would build if the market allowed them to move…2 min
CAR UK|July 2021V12 TORCHBEARERSGORDON MURRAY AUTOMOTIVE Murray’s T50, a kind of 21st century reimagining of the McLaren F1, has already spawned a track-only spin-off, the T50S. Its 3.9-litre Cosworth V12 is set to make 725bhp and spin to 12,100rpm. LAMBORGHINI Sián’s V12 has negligible e-assistance – doesn’t really need it. GTO ENGINEERING The Ferrari specialist is working on a new/old V12. Hand-built, the targets are more than 460bhp from a 4.0-litre, quad-cam unit weighing less than 165kg. ASTON MARTIN (1) Twin-turbo V12 makes north of 700bhp in the majestic DBS Superleggera. Great when you have the grip, the torque-rich tune is something of a liability the rest of the time. Aston plans to tweak its V12’s boost for a more linear torque curve in future. ASTON MARTIN (2) The Ford-based 5.2 is not…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021THE RACE TO DECARBONISECARS, PEOPLE, SCOOPS, MOTORSPORT, ANALYSIS – THE MONTH ACCORDING TO CARThe inhabitants of planet Earth extracted 100 billion tonnes of raw materials in 2017, as the concept of the circular economy remained – largely – a concept. But 2021 feels different. The former governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, is putting pressure on investors to eschew carbon-heavy players. The UK will host the COP26 climate summit, aiming to deliver a new global emissions reduction target.Cars are under the spotlight. Some 18 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions come from road transport. One particularly mind-boggling statistic is that one per cent of global emissions come from the Volkswagen Group alone.Two initiatives are crucial to drive sustainability in the car industry, suggests consulting firm Capgemini: shifting to electric vehicles…6 min
CAR UK|July 2021The magic formula? Easy: Ioniq 5 plus N1 TO THE POWER OF NHyundai’s N division, after smashing it first time with the i30N in 2017, is growing rapidly. The i20N is already a winner in our book, and the new Kona N is the performance division’s first SUV. But the next step for N is the same as all other brands: electrification. The Ioniq 5 is a great starting point for a hot EV to excite the masses.2 THE BEST INGREDIENTSHyundai Motor Group’s 800-volt e-GMP platform is built for ultimate flexibility, with rear-and all-wheeldrive variants. And Hyundai has already been stress-testing eye-popping power outputs from it. ‘We will go almost up to 600 horsepower in certain models,’ Albert Biermann told CAR in 2020.3 BEATEN TO THE PUNCHKia has shown that the group is ready, able and willing…2 min
CAR UK|July 2021The magic formula? Easy: Ioniq 5 plus NIllustration: Avarvarii 1 TO THE POWER OF N Hyundai’s N division, after smashing it first time with the i30N in 2017, is growing rapidly. The i20N is already a winner in our book, and the new Kona N is the performance division’s first SUV. But the next step for N is the same as all other brands: electrification. The Ioniq 5 is a great starting point for a hot EV to excite the masses. 2 THE BEST INGREDIENTS Hyundai Motor Group’s 800-volt e-GMP platform is built for ultimate flexibility, with rear-and all-wheeldrive variants. And Hyundai has already been stress-testing eye-popping power outputs from it. ‘We will go almost up to 600 horsepower in certain models,’ Albert Biermann told CAR in 2020. 3 BEATEN TO THE PUNCH Kia has shown that…2 min
CAR UK|July 2021The past is the futureKimera EVO37 Engineering house Kimera Automobili has modernised Lancia’s legendary 037 Group B competition car, making it into a limitededition road car. The gorgeous EVO37 still uses a Beta Montecarlobased body and a tubular spaceframe, but the exterior panels are now carbonfibre rather than Kevlar, and its four-cylinder engine is 2.1 litres and turbocharged instead of 2.0 and supercharged. Its 500bhp is sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual. Where do we sign? NEED TO KNOW What is it? A resurrected Group B legend Tech specs Engineering nous from Lancia rally heroes, molybdenum-coated spaceframe Aimed at? Getting misty-eyed over retro rallying What are the chances I’ll own one? Only 37 to be built, for about £400k a pop RML Short Wheelbase Maranello’s badges might be missing, but motorsport…2 min
CAR UK|July 2021Six questions only we would askTell us about your first car‘An E36 325i, in 1992. I still have it. Perhaps I’ll modify it for ice racing in the young timers class – the car is eligible.’What is your proudest achievement?‘My job. As an engineer, if you start at BMW and you have emotion for racing, this is the best job you could wish for.’Tell us about a time you screwed up…‘I wish I’d pushed harder with my racing. Why? Because I’m interested in that, and now I’ve missed that opportunity.’What’s the best thing you’ve ever done in a car?‘Driving at Mugello, I would say. When we launched the M2 in Laguna also. I love these tracks – they are not synthetic.’Supercar or classic?‘Both? I love classics, but every time you think there is no next…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021Waiter! There’s wurst in my tapasWe’ve had VW, Skoda and Audi using the VW Group’s new MEB platform to create the ID.3, ID.4, Enyaq and Q4 e-Tron – now Cupra goes electric by putting its own spin on the same shared componentry with its new Born. Are you sure it’s different? At a glance you could mistake this first production EV from the brand recently spun off from Seat for an ID.3 with some slightly angry-looking details. The waters are further muddied because VW offers copper trimming on the ID.3, depriving Cupra of what was supposed to be a USP. Anything different inside? Got a magnifying glass handy? The Born has a larger central screen than the VW (12 as opposed to 10 inches) and the centre console rises to meet the dashboard. And to…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021Ford F-150 Lightning: all-American icon plugs inTHE INNOVATIONS TRANSFORMING OUR DRIVING WORLDFirst the Mustang, now the F-Series pick-up. Ford is in the process of transforming its legends for the electric age, with the new F-150 Lightning squaring up against the likes of the Hummer EV, Rivian’s R1T and the Tesla Cybertruck – all big electric pick-ups built in the USA.And, while the Lightning may not have the crab-walking technology of the Hummer or Blade Runner looks of the Tesla, it manages to be just as competitive in terms of performance and even undercuts them on price in the North American market. Ford’s busy pumping $22 billion into electrification, so it was only natural for the Blue Oval to want to compete with Tesla and GMC as soon as it could.‘It’s the backbone of work across the…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021Six questions only we would askTell us about your first car ‘An E36 325i, in 1992. I still have it. Perhaps I’ll modify it for ice racing in the young timers class – the car is eligible.’ What is your proudest achievement? ‘My job. As an engineer, if you start at BMW and you have emotion for racing, this is the best job you could wish for.’ Tell us about a time you screwed up… ‘I wish I’d pushed harder with my racing. Why? Because I’m interested in that, and now I’ve missed that opportunity.’ What’s the best thing you’ve ever done in a car? ‘Driving at Mugello, I would say. When we launched the M2 in Laguna also. I love these tracks – they are not synthetic.’ Supercar or classic? ‘Both? I love classics,…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021Why buy a Polo?Honey, I shrunk the Octavia Did Skoda’s designers just rescale an Octavia in Photoshop? Fabia’s MQB A0 platform has a longer wheelbase than its VW Polo and Seat Ibiza cousins, and is big enough to make the Scala look superfluous. Eastern sophisticate Digital dials, two-spoke wheel and a premium audio option are joined – for the first time on a Fabia – by in-door brollies. What is this, a Rolls-Royce? Czech heritage is marked by the flag engraved on the doors. Swiss-army-knife utility The long wheelbase benefits rear passengers and boot space, which is boosted to 380 litres – second in the class to the Renault Clio. Ice scraper, tyre-tread depth gauge and parking ticket holder are all still included. Thrift and swift There’s no electric variant, but mild hybrids…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021Laps of luxuryI never quite got my head around Newton’s third law of motion at school, partly because our teacher explained it by saying, ‘If you push against a wall, it pushes back with the same force.’ I asked: ‘But how? How does the wall push back?’ ‘Well, it just does.’ At which point my younger self decided both sir and Sir Isaac Newton were talking nonsense. Which might have held me back a bit in my exams.Seems Bentley can also show a blatant disregard for the laws of physics, because this Continental is gleefully attacking Silverstone in a manner which shouldn’t really be possible in a 2.3-tonne GT. I’ve just turned into the mega-quick Maggots/Becketts esses at three figures plus change. Not only does the Bentley tuck its nose in eagerly,…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021Welcome the gatecrasherThe figures sound too good to be true, but on the track the braking can pluck your eyeballs from their sockets‘Don’t do it!’ Ah. Seems the Maserati minder in the passenger seat of the MC20 at the test track has read my mind. He knows that I’m about to reach for the button that switches off the last of the electronic safety nets. I grudgingly oblige. Although this isn’t the first Mc20 I’ve been in, it’s the first full production-spec version I’ve driven, and it’s still quite early in the day.But my intentions are journalistic, not recklessly thrill-seeking, as I’ve sensed that the mid-engined Maserati has more to give than the allegedly ambitious Corsa drive mode is letting out to play. It feels like I’m getting 40 per cent excitement…6 min
CAR UK|July 2021The afterglowOwn a rear-drive 1-series with a straight-six engine? Lucky you. Got a few grand to spare? Then BMW tuning specialist Birds Auto reckon it can make your already fine car even better.BMW has switched to front-wheel drive for the current 1-series, or all-wheel drive for the hottest variants, but there are plenty of us who still favour the old layout. But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for improvement. The Birds B-sports kit includes fresh springs and dampers, and makes the front track wider. This removes some of the slack the factory spec builds into the steering, making the M140i much more alert to the first degrees of steering angle.This isn’t some solid-sprung trackday special, however: the aim is an enjoyable set-up for everyday road use. To that end the…2 min
CAR UK|July 2021In search of the special sourceThe last one was a frontdrive four-seater, whereas Mirai II: The HydroSequel seats five and drives the rear Road tripping in a hydrogen fuel-cell car adds fresh piquancy to the range anxiety that blights all EVs. The UK’s H2 refuelling infrastructure is not so much patchy as bald, with just 11 facilities open to private motorists, concentrated around London, Swindon, Sheffield and Aberdeen. So when we were handed the keys to the new Toyota Mirai in Surrey for a 300-mile excursion we could have played it safe and headed up the M1, but instead headed due south. Why? Because we wanted a mini adventure, not 10 pages touring Britain’s industrial hotspots. We reckoned Crawley to Fawley would let us stress-test the fuel-cell tech, take in a mix of town and…13 min
CAR UK|July 2021Laps of luxuryI never quite got my head around Newton’s third law of motion at school, partly because our teacher explained it by saying, ‘If you push against a wall, it pushes back with the same force.’ I asked: ‘But how? How does the wall push back?’ ‘Well, it just does.’ At which point my younger self decided both sir and Sir Isaac Newton were talking nonsense. Which might have held me back a bit in my exams. Seems Bentley can also show a blatant disregard for the laws of physics, because this Continental is gleefully attacking Silverstone in a manner which shouldn’t really be possible in a 2.3-tonne GT. I’ve just turned into the mega-quick Maggots/Becketts esses at three figures plus change. Not only does the Bentley tuck its nose in…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021Welcome the gatecrasherThe figures sound too good to be true, but on the track the braking can pluck your eyeballs from their sockets ‘Don’t do it!’ Ah. Seems the Maserati minder in the passenger seat of the MC20 at the test track has read my mind. He knows that I’m about to reach for the button that switches off the last of the electronic safety nets. I grudgingly oblige. Although this isn’t the first Mc20 I’ve been in, it’s the first full production-spec version I’ve driven, and it’s still quite early in the day. But my intentions are journalistic, not recklessly thrill-seeking, as I’ve sensed that the mid-engined Maserati has more to give than the allegedly ambitious Corsa drive mode is letting out to play. It feels like I’m getting 40 per…6 min
CAR UK|July 2021‘It would be just like owning a real Ferrari 250 GTO, only without the car. No, I don’t understand either’It began in 2005, with an internet frog called Pepe…Okay, if I take this step by step, it’s not because I think you don’t understand, it’s because I don’t understand.Pepe was a cartoon created by artist Matt Furie. Described as a ‘mellow, positive-vibed frog’, Pepe started appearing in internet memes, usually expressing his own laid-back philosophy. These memes were collected, like digital trading cards. If the meme was unusual or sought after, it became known as a Rare Pepe.Rare Pepes started to be exchanged on a website called Counterparty, a trading platform built on top of Bitcoin. Bitcoin was created in 2009, after a mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto released a paper describing a system of ‘peer-to-peer electronic cash’. Nakamoto has never been identified, but his proposal neatly solved the problem of…4 min
CAR UK|July 2021Electric never landThe first thing you want to know about the Rimac Nevera is how it feels to launch-control an electric hypercar with twice the power of a modern Formula 1 car. I wondered that too, and casually decimating the Bugatti Chiron’s world production-car standing-quarter record was very nearly the first thing I did in a Nevera. I was given mine on the runway of a quiet provincial Croat airport, its nose already pointing down the strip towards the cones that marked the end of the quarter-mile. Mate Rimac was there and quite happy for me to knock out a new world record with my first push of the throttle, so confident was he of the ease and safety with which his car will do it. That might have made for a…8 min
CAR UK|July 2021PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING ASTON MARTIN DB11 AMR► Why is it here?Because there’s nothing quite as glamorous as an Aston 2+2 GT, and the DB11 is the latest in a long line of them. Just as pretty as its forebears and far faster, the DB11 is a great benchmark. Well, mostly great. The DB11 launched in 2016 but criticism of its dynamics led to this AMR version effectively taking over from the standard V12 in 2018, with a tweaked chassis, lighter wheels and an extra 30bhp (not that it was weedy before).► Any clever stuff?The DB11 uses clever hidden aero to avoid a big wing. One sweet detail is the Aeroblade, which draws air into the car’s C-pillar and channels it through ducts to exit from a slot in the bootlid, creating downforce. ‘Curlicue’ vents cut into…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021Senses regainedRegarding Gavin Green’s thoughtful and incisive comments about urban transport in the May issue, I don’t agree it’s an issue of car design. As Gavin points out, there have been cars designed to match urban transport requirements, but none have been successful, and the new Citroën Ami will probably join that list, as most people don’t want this sort of vehicle. It’s a zeitgeist thing and there’s no avoiding it, I’m afraid. I even indulged myself, buying a Mazda CX-3 two years ago, before recently coming to my senses and replacing it with a Seat Leon. A regular hatch with a whiff of sporty pretensions, but so much more satisfying than the Mazda, good at its job though it was. My other car is a Honda S2000, so I guess…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021CS AND RS: OVERDONE, DONE RIGHTBMW M5 CSGo-faster stripes?How to tell a CS apart from a normal M5: lots of carbonfibre – for the bonnet, splitter, diffuser and mirrors; non-glittery gold for the grille surrounds and wheels.Go-faster kit?A 7mm drop in ride height; dampers borrowed from the M8 Gran Coupe; 70kg off the kerbweight; carbon-ceramic brakes as standard.Does it actually go faster?A 10bhp power hike over the 616bhp M5 Competition makes this the most powerful engine ever fitted to an M car. It bats 0-62mph aside a third of a second quicker.Bigger price?And then some; at £140,780, you’ll pay £38k more than you would for an M5 Competition.AUDI RS E-TRON GTGo-faster stripes?Compared with the regular e-Tron GT quattro, the RS gets bigger wheels, black trim and matrix LED headlights.Go-faster kit?637bhp to the regular GT’s 523bhp;…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021‘I wanted to hate the Mustang Mach-E, the antithesis of all I love about the real Mustang’Illustration by Peter Strain Open the bonnet of a Ford Mustang – the proper pony-car Mustang – and you’re welcomed by one of the great sights of car culture: a thundering 5.0-litre V8. It’s good for over 440bhp, rumbles to a glorious 7000rpm, and produces the most inspiring soundtrack of any new car on sale today. You think Bullitt, Steve McQueen, the Daytona Beach banking, and back to a time when America led the world in automotive can-do optimism. Open the bonnet of the new Mustang Mach-E and you’re greeted by a sea of plastic and a small recess for charging cables. (It’s water resistant so can also be used to store damp Barbours and wellies.) I wanted to hate the Mach-E. It’s the antithesis of all that I love…3 min
CAR UK|July 2021PLUGGING THE GAPSThe e-Tron sub-brand is expanding fast, and will soon enter Audi’s most crucial segment: the executive saloon. Not only that, but its A6 e-Tron (shown here in concept guise) will be the first of its established name plates to switch to EV when the production version goes on sale in 2023 (the four-door in the spring, the Avant in the autumn). And Ingolstadt is bringing its A-game.Along with the Q6 e-Tron SUV expected in the same year, the A6 e-Tron uses the PPE platform with all of the impressive range, performance stats and charging times that involves. We can expect around 435 miles from a charge, with smaller battery capacities being offered soon after the car’s introduction, and another variant making an e-Tron GT-rivalling 469bhp and 590lb ft.Neither should we…2 min
CAR UK|July 2021RAGING AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHTTitanium conrods. A lightened and re-balanced crank. New pistons, revised combustion chambers and an all-new valvetrain. New intake and exhaust. New oil pump. The changes Ferrari has wrought on its 6.5-litre, naturally-aspirated V12 for this car, the 812 Competizione, are myriad and they are extensive. They yield numbers that are both modest – a 29bhp power increase; peak revs up by 600rpm – and absolutely astonishing: maximum power is now 818bhp at 9250rpm, and the engine’s limiter is pegged at a stratospheric 9500rpm. (The actual power increase over the 812 Superfast was nearer 60bhp, but the new, mandatory particulate filters choke half that advantage.)The 812 Competizione is a limited-edition, track-focused evolution of the Superfast. In line with Ferrari’s established practice of introducing innovative technology on limited-run flagships before cascading it…8 min
CAR UK|July 2021PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING PORSCHE 911 TURBO S► Why is it here? Porsche’s 992 Carrera already has a twin-turbo flat-six, so the Turbo S has gone turbo-tastic to stand out: it’s bored out to 3.75 litres and boosted to 641bhp. At £156k it’s the most expensive model in the 911 range (but still undercuts the Roma by 15 grand). ► Any clever stuff? Four-wheel drive and four-wheel steer, plus clever active aero, with a new, movable front spoiler and rear wing increasing downforce by 15 per cent. The S gets Porsche active suspension (PASM), active anti-roll (PDCC) and carbon-ceramic brakes as standard. ► Which version is this? Priced £22k over the standard Turbo, the S gets you an extra 70bhp, 7mph on the top speed (up to 205mph) and a 0.1sec advantage to 62mph. Like the Turbo,…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING ASTON MARTIN DB11 AMR► Why is it here? Because there’s nothing quite as glamorous as an Aston 2+2 GT, and the DB11 is the latest in a long line of them. Just as pretty as its forebears and far faster, the DB11 is a great benchmark. Well, mostly great. The DB11 launched in 2016 but criticism of its dynamics led to this AMR version effectively taking over from the standard V12 in 2018, with a tweaked chassis, lighter wheels and an extra 30bhp (not that it was weedy before). ► Any clever stuff? The DB11 uses clever hidden aero to avoid a big wing. One sweet detail is the Aeroblade, which draws air into the car’s C-pillar and channels it through ducts to exit from a slot in the bootlid, creating downforce. ‘Curlicue’…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021Every day starts wellI could reel off a dozen things I’ll miss after 2030 when internal-combustion cars start to disappear from our roads. The pinging of a hot exhaust when you park up after a sustained blast. The gentle rocking of an engine idling in traffic when you’ve perversely switched off the stop-start system because you like the reassuring chunter that comes from a load of spark plugs playing war games under the bonnet.Even the filthy smell of petrol and the physical and mental challenge of trying to dribble in exactly £4 of unleaded because you managed to leave the house without your phone and wallet, but found a few nuggets down the side of the seat. Or maybe that’s just me (and if it isn’t, have you noticed how much harder it…2 min
CAR UK|July 2021SOCKET TO MThis is normally the grace period; the opening miles of a journey, where you wait for the fluids in the car’s mechanical belly to warm up; wait for the climate control to get the cabin appreciably warmer than the nippy early-morning air outside; wait for the caffeine of the second coffee to get to work. Then, and only then, when warm-up (literal and figurative) is complete, do you put your foot down. But I can’t help myself. I climbed into the RS e-Tron GT for the first time only a few moments ago and I’ve just turned out of a junction onto a deserted, arrow-straight stretch. The Audi does have plenty of delicate moving parts, of course, but the fact there’s no engine under the bonnet makes the temptation to…10 min
CAR UK|July 2021Evora, Elise, Evija… meet EQC1 DO YOUR HOMEWORKEV road-trip prep is second nature now: fast-charging locations noted, route sent to car via the Mercedes Me app, EQC fully charged overnight. I set off for Lotus with 185 miles of range: cold spring is limiting battery capacity.2 WHITE-KNUCKLE VAN MANThe EQC is in Eco mode, making for an obdurate accelerator. A505 has plenty of roundabouts, where I attempt to carry all feasible speed to avoid unnecessary all feasible speed to avoid unnecessary throttle, yet three times dunderheaded lorry drivers kibosh that by pulling out late.3 TIME FOR A STOPI’ve decided to top up on the way to Lotus, but an Ovo Energy van is using the charger at the A11’s Shell Fourwentways. A few miles later I top myself up with caffeine on the A14.…2 min
CAR UK|July 2021Turn it off. Turn it back onSome electrical glitches this month. First on the blink was our Pod Point home charger. It needed just to be turned off and on (as advised by the customer service team, who were answering calls early on a Saturday).Next was my trusted BP location near the M3. One of the chargers was out of action (I didn’t think to check, because coming from fossil fuels you don’t) but then the other would only put in £2 of juice before clicking off.And the Audi’s Digital co*ckpit display randomly reverts from my chosen ‘e-Tron’ to ‘Classic’ layout – and sometimes won’t change until you’ve turned the car off and on.Audi e-TronMonth 8The story so farAudi’s first EV, in Jag i-Pace-rivalling Sportback guise+ The tried and trusted technique of turning something off and…1 min
CAR UK|July 2021THE AUDI THAT’LL BE EVERYWHEREYou know how they say never buy the first version of a new Apple product? Perhaps a similar golden rule should be applied to electric cars. The VW ID.3, the first model based on the VW Group’s entry-level electric platform and released last summer, had an unfinished edge. But every new MEB derivative launched since has bettered the previous version. The ID.4 is quantifiably more appealing than the hatchback, the Skoda Enyaq is more convincing overall than both VWs, and now the Audi Q4 e-Tron raises the bar for looks, perceived quality, driveability and performance. Surprisingly, the Q3’s electric counterpart even beats the pricey e-Tron GT on interior design and overall craftsmanship. The top-of-the-line Q4 50 e-Tron quattro also costs over £10k less than the base full-size e-Tron SUV, which…7 min
CAR UK|July 2021PLUGGING THE GAPSThe e-Tron sub-brand is expanding fast, and will soon enter Audi’s most crucial segment: the executive saloon. Not only that, but its A6 e-Tron (shown here in concept guise) will be the first of its established name plates to switch to EV when the production version goes on sale in 2023 (the four-door in the spring, the Avant in the autumn). And Ingolstadt is bringing its A-game. Along with the Q6 e-Tron SUV expected in the same year, the A6 e-Tron uses the PPE platform with all of the impressive range, performance stats and charging times that involves. We can expect around 435 miles from a charge, with smaller battery capacities being offered soon after the car’s introduction, and another variant making an e-Tron GT-rivalling 469bhp and 590lb ft. Neither…2 min
CAR UK|July 2021RAGING AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHTTitanium conrods. A lightened and re-balanced crank. New pistons, revised combustion chambers and an all-new valvetrain. New intake and exhaust. New oil pump. The changes Ferrari has wrought on its 6.5-litre, naturally-aspirated V12 for this car, the 812 Competizione, are myriad and they are extensive. They yield numbers that are both modest – a 29bhp power increase; peak revs up by 600rpm – and absolutely astonishing: maximum power is now 818bhp at 9250rpm, and the engine’s limiter is pegged at a stratospheric 9500rpm. (The actual power increase over the 812 Superfast was nearer 60bhp, but the new, mandatory particulate filters choke half that advantage.) The 812 Competizione is a limited-edition, track-focused evolution of the Superfast. In line with Ferrari’s established practice of introducing innovative technology on limited-run flagships before cascading…8 min
CAR UK|July 2021DNA test requiredFor an illustration of just how much of a mutant the GR Yaris is, look no further than the regular Yaris Hybrid. There’s a bit more going on than wheelarch extensions: the GR has its own three-door body (the normal Yaris is five-door only) with a roofline so much lower that its rear screen looks like RoboCop’s visor. You need to tilt your head if you’re a tall passenger in the back of a GR, and the boot is almost exactly half the volume (blame the rear suspension and all-wheel-drive gear).In fact, other than the lights and the mirrors, every one of the GR’s body panels is bespoke and made from aluminium or carbonfibre. Not to mention the structural, suspension and powertrain engineering the 60mm-broader bodywork covers.Some serious investment has…1 min
