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New Kia PV7 targets Ford E-Transit Custom with 286-mile range

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:50:00 +0100

Korean brand's second electric van can carry up to 1200kg or 11 people

Kia has revealed the PV7 as a rival for the Ford E-Transit Custom.

The Korean brand’s second electric van, it is based on the same architecture as the existing PV5 and has a similar snub-nosed look – but it is stretched to suit buyers who need greater load-lugging capabilities.

It will be offered in both passenger and cargo forms: in long-wheelbase guise, the former will be capable of seating up to 11 people, while the latter can stow up to three Euro pallets and carry up to 1200kg.

The PV7 will be available with a single front-mounted motor making 268bhp and 310lb ft. A four-wheel-drive version will follow after launch.

Range figures for the full line-up have yet to be disclosed, but the Long Range Cargo variant, fitted with a 96.2kWh battery, will be capable of covering 286 miles between charges. The standard-range PV7 will have a 71.5kWh pack and therefore a shorter range.

Kia claims a 10-80% recharge will take 20min on a 350kW connection and the van’s battery will also be capable of powering external devices, such as tools.

Inside, it is similar to the PV5, with a squared-off steering wheel and an emphasis on digital screens. The 14.6in infotainment touchscreen runs on the new Pleos operating system, which brings artificial intelligence integration and the ability to install third-party applications.

The passenger version will be offered in seven-, nine- and 11-seat configurations, though the 11-seater is likely to be exclusive to Korea – at least initially.

Pricing has yet to be confirmed, but it is expected to follow the PV5 in significantly undercutting the competition. In passenger form, the PV5 is almost half the price of its Volkswagen ID Buzz rival. For reference, the E-Transit Custom starts at £43,630 (excluding VAT).

Tesla Roadster to be revealed with jet power on 1 October

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:00:57 +0100

Autocar's vision of what the Roadster could look like

Flagship supercar to break cover, nine years after concept, with jet thrusters and radical new look

Tesla has announced that it will reveal the final version of its long-promised Roadster supercar on 1 October - almost nine years since the prototype was unveiled and six years after it was originally planned to go on sale.

The second-generation Roadster, the follow-up to Tesla's first car, was originally planned to be a drop-top 2+2 with a 0-60mph time of 1.9sec, a top speed of more than 250mph and a a 620-mile range - figures that outpunched all production EVs at its 2017 debut and which would still outclass most today.

Since the concept's surprise debut at the launch event for the Tesla Semi lorry, it has been repeatedly delayed. The original 2020 launch plans were pushed back to 2022, then 2022, 2023 and 2024, before a long period of silence as the company shifted focus to other projects, including the self-driving Cybercab, which is now in commercial service.

But now it seems that Tesla is finally ready to show the Roadster in its final form, with a post on Elon Musk's X app announcing an event on 1 October, with the strapline 'Go for launch'. A countdown on the firm's website (below) suggests the wraps will come off at 19:30 local time, so 01:30am UK time the following day.

That slogan is possibly a reference to the optional rocket thrusters that Musk previously said would allow the Roadster to hit 60mph from rest in just 1.1sec - almost twice as quick as a Formula 1 car.

The teaser image published by Tesla gives little away beyond the exhaust plumes of the promised thrusters, claimed to have been developed by Musk-owned SpaceX. But visible details including a full-width rear light bar and huge a wing look to depart dramatically from the concept, which was a subtle and minimalist coupé derived from the Model S saloon.

The reveal event will take place in Waco, Texas - home to the eponymous Lake Waco, which could serve as the venue for the Roadster's ability to hover or float across bodies of water.

Musk originally planned for the Cybertruck pick-up to be able to "serve briefly as a boat", but this functionality was never fully realised.

Tesla has invited Roadster deposit holders to the event on a non-transferable basis, but it's unclear how many orders it has taken for the delayed supercar over the past nine years.

Pricing was earlier put at around £150,000 for the standard car and £185,000 for the top-spec Founders Series variant.

Notably, if the 1 October event is indeed a full production-spec unveiling, the Roadster will break cover in the same week as the long-awaited Jaguar Type 01, making it a landmark few days for EV announcements.

Musk has been a vocal critic of Jaguar's relaunch, asking the British brand on X "Do you sell cars?" in response to its 2024 'Copy Nothing' brand campaign.

It isn't clear whether the Roadster's debut date was intentionally planned to snatch the limelight from Jaguar, which confirmed its own timings earlier this summer.

VW's new concept changes the EV game - why can't we buy it?

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0100

The Mission Efficiency is based on the showroom-ready ID Polo, yet won't be following it into production

Reading through the towering achievements of Volkswagen's latest concept, cooing approvingly at its dramatic, pebble-like silhouette and marvelling at its close relationship with a £25k supermini that's already on sale, you might ask the obvious question: why don't they just build it?

No current car remotely resembles the Mission Efficiency, so if Volkswagen could start producing it using largely existing components, it would be effectively unrivalled and you might think it would be a lucrative endeavour.

But that would be to ignore the inconvenient truth that technical capability and real-world viability are so often opposed concepts, and what looks appealing on paper doesn't necessarily translate into a showroom smash hit.

We want cars to be as tiny and as light as possible, but we also want them to have good head and leg room, decent all-round visibility, punchy sound systems, airbags and (heaven forfend) chunky touchscreens with smartphone mirroring.

Engineers need space for all the mandated safety equipment and crash structures they have to integrate, too, and designers want everything that leaves their studio to command presence with a beefy stance and eye-catching proportions, rather than shrink discreetly into the background.

Which is why even today's lightest and most efficient EVs can't come close to matching this concept for real-world efficiency. And it's why impressive experiments like this are destined to remain just that, for now: commercial viability and legislative compliance will always outrank technical potential.

So while we can be assured of the Mission Efficiency's potential to influence future production cars, it's unlikely to ever follow the XL1 in making it to customers' driveways - and that's a shame.

Volkswagen channels XL1 for EV hatchback capable of 9mpkWh

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0100

ID Polo-based Mission Efficiency concept has been designed to maximise range using existing tech

Volkswagen has channelled the spirit of the 313mpg XL1 hypermiler for a new long-range EV concept that will influence future production cars - and it has already set a new benchmark for efficiency.

Based on the same MEB+ architecture as the new ID Polo, the Mission Efficiency prototype has achieved a new high for efficiency, having clocked 8.27mpkWh over a 794-mile drive from Wolfsburg to Vienna – and up to 9.02mpkWh discounting the energy lost while charging.

For reference, the ID Polo's claimed maximum is around 5.4mpkWh. During the test run, the Mission Efficiency achieved a 406-mile real-world range from one charge of its 52kWh battery - an increase of 124 miles on the ID Polo's WLTP range.

The drive, which routed via Poland and Berlin, included speeds of up to 86mph on the autobahn and averaged 42mph, but a separate test at constant speeds in controlled conditions pushed the concept car north of 500 miles without stopping.

To minimise the energy required to cover ground, the Mission Efficiency combines the entry-level ID Polo's 114bhp front-mounted motor with the top-spec version's battery. By reducing the 52kWh pack's 'safety' buffer - a common feature used to ensure a battery's performance is sustained over decades - VW boosted its usable capacity to 54kWh.

Along with its energy-focused drivetrain set-up, the Mission Efficiency reshapes the MEB+ underpinnings - also used for the Cupra Raval, VW ID Cross and Skoda Epiq - to allow for a lower and longer body, which narrows at the rear so much that the back axle is 17cm slimmer.

The suspension is standard ID Polo hardware, but the underside of the body has been completely covered for improved aerodynamics, helping - along with active intakes on the nose and wheel covers - to make the car slippery enough for a 0.158 drag coefficient. The similarly shaped XL1 - a diesel hybrid designed to travel 62 miles using just one litre of fuel - had a coefficient of 0.189 and today's sleekest production EV, the Mercedes EQS, achieves a Cd of 0.20.

The Continental tyres are also slimmed to 155mm wide and pumped up close to the maximum pressure possible - although the alloy wheels are 18in in diameter, just like the Polo's.

Despite the size increase, the concept is less than 50kg heavier than the ID Polo, at 1.6 tonnes - a subtle weight gain that helps to illustrate how "real world" the car is, VW head of innovation Christoph Riechel told Autocar. Unlike the XL1, the Mission Efficiency was built to be like a "series customer car", with two rear seats and a spacious, 600-litre boot squeezed into its 4.2m-long frame. The rear wheel covers can even be folded out to reveal small storage boxes, with each big enough to house the car's charging cables.

The two front seats are based on those of the T-Roc Cabriolet because they are among the lowest-set in the VW Group parts bin, but in the Mission Efficiency they're made using 3D printing technology to save weight. The dashboard has a removable tablet touchscreen, mounted via a detachable arm, while the driver's display is recognisable from current ID models.

Notably, there are no screens for a digital rear-view camera, as used in the XL1. "We decided to use conventional mirrors along with unpowered door handles to save energy and enhance efficiency," said Riechel. "Further boosting efficiency is the solar roof, which is mounted to the panoramic glass above to provide as much as 370W of energy, helping to power the interior's electronics."

While that 370W peak will only be possible on the sunniest of days, it hints at how future VW models could use solar power to reduce the energy impact of cabin features. An additional benefit of the glass roof in the Mission Efficiency is that it frees up an extra inch or so of head room, which is essential given how low the roofline is. It means the back seats have just about enough space for a near-six-footer. There is also sufficient room for two slim storage trays underneath the rear chairs.

While this apparent real-world readiness contrasts with the experimental nature of the XL1 before it, there's no sign that the Mission Efficiency will ever go on sale in this form. Instead, its first job is to provide VW's engineers and aerodynamicists with a crucial real-world reference point for boosting the efficiency of its existing cars using current-generation tech - without needing to wait for transformative technical advances.

Q&A: Christoph Riechel, Head of Innovation, Volkswagen

Which features of the Mission Efficiency can we expect to see in production cars first?

"Along with the car's new active air intakes and advanced powertrain heat management technology, the interior of the Mission Efficiency has some things we can take to production. The 3D printed seats, the recycled plastics and sustainable cloth materials are all being further developed. There's also the detachable tablet, which could be a cost-effective way for us to save weight, since we don't need a full infotainment system. I really like the idea of a removable central speaker as well, which can be used outside the car."

Is this as far as you can push the MEB+ platform?

"It's a demonstration of how far we can go in terms of changing the dimensions and tracks of the ID Polo. While the front of the car, from the front seats forward, is series MEB+, you will see that the A-pillars are much more steeply angled than any other car's, so that we could make the body more aerodynamic. The back of the car, where we have narrower tracks and a covered [flat] underfloor, is where the bigger changes are. But it's not necessarily the limit of what we can do, just what we needed to do here."

The real-world range is impressive, but how far can the Mission Efficiency go in ideal conditions?

"We did a test run at Ehra-Lessien [VW's proving ground]. On the 21km loop at an average of 68kph [42mph] we achieved an 821km [510-mile] range and consumption of 6.48kWh per 100km [9.59 miles per kWh]."

Skoda Epiq

Sun, 13 Sep 2026 22:59:00 +0100

It's Skoda's turn to introduce an affordable small EV – and this one will have its rivals worried Umbrellas hidden in the doors? Check. Ice scraper in the charging port cover? Check. Little clippy thing to hold parking tickets on the windscreen? Check. The new Epiq may be part of the Volkswagen Group’s new ‘electric urban car family’ and built in Spain on a shared platform, but have no doubts: it’s a proper Skoda.Platform sharing is often criticised and, when there’s still a mistaken assumption that EVs are white goods, it’s easy to look at the near-identical technical specs of the Epiq, Cupra Raval and Volkswagen ID Polo and ID Cross and assume this is all a badge-engineering exercise. But the Volkswagen Group has a strong track record of platform synergies, and Skoda in particular has form for taking those architectures and turning out distinctive, hugely practical and immensely likeable vehicles.So what is the firm's entry into the Volkswagen Group's new family of sub-£25,000 EVs like?

Mega-mileage cars are better value - and tell better stories

Sun, 13 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0100

Scared of a leggy second-hander? Maybe a 240k-mile BMW M5 could reassure you

I need to come clean at the start: I don't practise what I'm about to preach. It was my pain after buying an 80,000-mile Fiat Panda 100HP with bigger chasms in its bodywork than Cheddar Gorge that pushed me to sell it and finance a nearly new Mazda MX-5 instead.

So I'm not a proprietor of high-milers, but I love them nonetheless. High mileage is a sweet attribute that makes a desirable model normally priced beyond your reach look affordable. For instance, searching for a first car for my brother, we found a 2015 Suzuki Swift Sport that was cheap enough to land in our tight budget – because it had lapped the earth six times so was viewed widely as undesirable.

Yet bar cosmetic scars, it had a full service history, no rust and lots more to give. A high-mileage hero. Sure, it might need some work in the years to come, but doesn't every decade-old car? Regardless of how well it had been looked after, it had been all but cast away into Facebook Marketplace just because of how much it had been used. And that makes me feel a little wistful.

Because it isn't just the rational appeal of high-milers – the bargains – that makes my heart flutter, but also the stories those cars have to tell. I sit and dream of all the smiles a 200,000-mile Porsche 911 has conjured; the family holidays kick-started by the endless fleets of aged Mercedes V-Classes and Volkswagen Transporters; the drunken laughs and first kisses shared in the back of Toyota Prius minicabs that are all but bound for the scrapheap. To think of all the highs and lows in which the car has shared, by dint simply of having travelled so far, inspires me.

Nothing sets me daydreaming more than my discovery of an X account called Mileage Impossible. Though stocked with plenty of humdrum 1.9 TDI Skoda Octavias and the like, there's properly exotic stuff being driven far and wide. Among my favourites is an E60 BMW M5 that has covered 240,000 miles – in spite of its notoriously temperamental 'S85' V10 engine. The service record is staggering: eight sets of spark plugs (for a total of 80!), two sets of rod bearings (a well-known weak point) and 65 oil changes (Castrol will be delighted). The whole car has been practically rebuilt several times over, yet it's still in use, keeping its owner happy.

Other highlights from this X account include a 4.2 supercharged Jaguar XKR with 415,551 miles, a Porsche Panamera with the rare 4.0-litre diesel V8 that has covered 621,371 miles – with its original engine, turbos and gearbox intact – and a LaFerrari with 92,307 miles.

"Take care of your car and your car will take care of you" is the message promoted by Mileage Impossible. It's true – and a good maxim to follow in a world increasingly averse to disposable consumerism. It's another reason why I love high-milers.

But to return to the cost-benefit aspect, there are big savings to be made and I reckon the trade-off with a high-mileage car is smaller than we might have been conditioned to expect. So am I tempted to buy a high-miler myself? Almost daily. It's bound to happen eventually.

'Everyone wants one, but nobody buys' – can we save the manual?

Sun, 13 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0100

The manual gearbox is enjoying a vinyl moment as enthusiasts clamour for endangered stick-shifts

It's a mark of how far the manual gearbox's star has fallen in the sports car world that the Ferrari 12Cilindri Manuale and McLaren's McL 6GT have garnered such interest simply because they're now so rare.

Yet it also suggests there's a hardcore of people, in a world of slick-shifting and extremely efficient automatics, who still want a manual gearbox so much that they're prepared to pay an awful lot to have one in a high-end sports car.

But the fact remains that for most people the automatic 'box is, these days, not just an acceptable and easy alternative but actually a better one, even in sports cars. For those who do most of their driving at conventional road speeds, it will be slicker; for extreme track drivers who only want outright performance, an automatic 'box is faster. That only leaves a small number of enthusiasts in an ever-shrinking segment - those you could think of as driving purists, probably driving on the road, who want to shift ratios themselves.

Caterhams and Ariels and Porsche 911 GT3 Tourings or S/Cs exist for people like them (and me). Porsche talks to enough purists that it can keep a manual in production without too much persuasion. And those other niche makers only speak to purists, so they can too.

It gets muddier when broadening into other areas. Morgan, for example, offers a manual on the Plus Four, but my understanding is that even though it's a traditional roadster, very few of them are sold as manuals. As an industry friend of mine said to me this week: "Everyone says they want one, but nobody buys one."

In the conventional family car I wonder if it's even more perilous. I think there's a generational element to the manual gearbox here, too. There are those who still buy them because they perceive them as simpler to maintain, and because they've spent decades driving them and don't want to swap to an automatic in later life. They will see stories about an elderly driver knocking down a wall or running over a dog because they've mistaken the accelerator for the brake. That's also possible in a manual, of course, but it feels less likely.

Eventually, though, the market will be filled with those who have spent decades driving automatics. So at what point do we decide that there's no need for separate manual and automatic driving licences? The manual test must contribute to the manual as a commercially viable product, but when there's barely one for people to drive once they have passed, what's the point of having it? Government wants us to stop burning fuels anyway, and there aren't manual EVs. So surely within the next decade we bin it off, and given the backlogs at driving test centres, can we then really expect the DVSA to run additional tests or courses for manual enthusiasts? Or do we then just leave it open to those who really want to do it, in the same way that we consider towing a trailer something for the keen-beans to sort out themselves.

Anyway, if we haven't already, perhaps at that point it's time to accept that we really are a niche - but a very enthusiastic one.

And what if you are sufficiently enthusiastic as to want a mid-engined, limited-run, British-built sports car, but you can't afford the million-and-a-bit cost of a McLaren? Enter the even rarer and more hand-built Noble M500.

I drove a prototype in 2022, and we had a still-unfinished one at Britain's Best Driver's Car in 2024. The M500 is a steel-chassis, mid-engined two-seater with a 3.5-litre Ford V6 and rear-wheel drive, mated to a six-speed Graziano gearbox like Audi used in the R8. Another two years on (things move slowly at Noble), the car is now production-ready, so there will be a full road test in the coming weeks. It's available only with a manual and is unashamedly aimed at those who don't want much driver assistance. The M600, its predecessor, was similar - although Noble did experiment with a single-clutch auto for a time.

If you look at the numbers of sports cars sold with manuals versus autos, you might think that Noble is wilfully ruling out 80%-plus of the potential customer base. But there are some things that just don't go out of fashion, like the ride, handling and steering, which, for all the M500's other foibles/characteristics (delete as appropriate), won it friends regardless of the rest of it. And now that the manual gearbox is enjoying a bit of a vinyl moment, perhaps it's arriving at a good time.

The long goodbye: 10,000 glorious miles in the endangered Seat Ibiza

Sun, 13 Sep 2026 07:00:00 +0100

They don't make superminis like they used to – but this Seat is a brilliant exception

Back in 2017, I flew to Barcelona to cover the launch of the fifth-generation Seat Ibiza. At that time, the Volkswagen Group was on a high; the Ibiza was at the cutting edge for a supermini; the Ford Fiesta was its main concern; and there were only nine electric cars on the market.

Nine years have passed since then and everything in the car industry has changed. Yet here I stand before a factory-fresh Ibiza that is hardly any different from the pre-production example I examined in 2017. Yes, the front end is a bit more substantial and the interior is more modern-looking, but that’s about it.

This unusual situation is the culmination of a funny few years for Seat. In 2017 it was the envy of every mainstream brand, but its last all-new model launch came in 2018, and now the marque is set to be retired completely by the end of the decade as part of a massive restructuring at the VW Group. This, then, could be the last time we report on what it's like to live with a Seat.

Let's focus on the here and now, though, as this freshly updated Ibiza is still a 'new car', irrespective of its creator's imminent retirement - and there's plenty to talk about.

For this second Ibiza facelift, the updates are limited to merely a refreshed exterior and "new embossed textiles, refined materials, a darker headliner, and subtle, neutral accents on the air vents" – but, hey, it’s something. My long-termer is actually the same car that recently received the attention of our road testers, who awarded it four stars – a higher rating than many all-new cars of late. Muy bien, vamos, etc.

I’ve always had a preference for smaller cars, especially those of the sportier variety, so I’m delighted with this Ibiza. And even more so because I’m particularly averse to tech heaping, especially when it comes at the expense of physical switchgear and full control over the driving.

As you might recall, this car has the punchier, 113bhp version of the mandatory 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, with the optional seven-speed dual-clutch (DSG) automatic gearbox, and is in top-ranking FR Sport trim. It’s the exact spec I would have chosen, except I’d probably have taken the manual gearbox… and then regretted it every morning on the M25.

Actually, I probably wouldn’t have chosen this Onoric Grey paint either, even if duck-egg blue would be a better description for it – because, like Fiat, I agree that Britain is in dire need of livening up, and Seat now offers bright red and yellow finishes on the Ibiza (called Liminal and Hypnotic, oddly).

The highlights of the standard kit on the Ibiza SE (from £21k) are 16in alloy wheels (an inch bigger than before the facelift), LED headlights, an 8.25in touchscreen, an 8in digital cockpit (both as before), a leather-wrapped steering wheel, air conditioning, rear parking sensors, cruise control and the unwelcome collection of ADAS functions. SE Technology trim (£22k) then expands the touchscreen to 9.2in with more features and makes entry and ignition keyless.

FR First Edition (£24k) enlarges the alloys to 17in, gives the exterior a sporty makeover, makes the suspension firmer, swaps the regular seat for heated buckets and adds ambient lighting (including rings around the front air vents), front parking sensors, a reversing camera, selectable driving modes and, on DSG cars, gearshift paddles. FR Sport (£25k) completes the package with 18in alloys, a larger (10in) digital cockpit, a wireless smartphone charger, a front armrest and a height-adjustable boot floor.

Few options are offered, but my Ibiza does feature the combination of an upgraded stereo (an absolute must for me), with six speakers and a subwoofer, and a spacesaver spare wheel (instead of a tyre repair kit). It’s an absolute no-brainer at £550, unlike the opening sunroof, which is lovely to have on a warm day but not £995 lovely.

First impressions are of a particularly enthusiastic supermini with a sensible yet exploitable amount of power and a naturally dynamic chassis and direct steering, yet also one that rides in a relatively composed fashion - not outright comfortable but more than acceptable for what it is. It's like a cut-price Mini Cooper in a way - just the kind of character that makes me so enthusiastic about small cars.

It's weird that there have been high-performance versions of the Leon hatchback and estate and even the Ateca SUV yet never such an Ibiza, because the background is already fully painted - Cupra would just need to add the final flourishes. But sadly the window of opportunity for new petrol hot hatches has long since closed, and Cupra has made its own electric supermini, the Raval.

In a way, then, I'm living in the past by driving an Ibiza - but it's a very enjoyable place to be. Usually I would approach a long-term test as I would a favourite artist's new album, with trepidation and questions to be answered, but this is more like listening to a greatest hits compilation: it's all comfortingly familiar and I know it's all good. Hope I'm not misremembering.

Update 2: Old-school cruise control is a breath of fresh air

I can't remember the last time I used normal cruise control before getting my Ibiza - and what a delight it is. Often with the adaptive kind, it takes me a while to realise I've been slowed down to shadow the dawdler in front, or the car stands on the brakes just as I'm preparing to indicate for an overtake. In the Ibiza, the speed differential to vehicles in the distance is always obvious, and I always make quicker and slicker progress as a result.

Mileage: 356

Update 3: Changing a habit of a lifetime

Donald Trump’s various bewildering quotes have provided me with much mirth over the years, but it’s rare that I actually learn anything from him. I was properly taken aback by one of his recent tirades, though. “The hated start-stop feature unnecessarily shuts off a car’s engine when you stop at a red light,” he said. “In other words, the engine goes off. That’s great.” (Who ever said the Americans can’t do sarcasm?)

His Environmental Protection Agency concurred that start-stop is “almost universally hated”, which was news to me. In a decade of evaluating every type of new car, I’ve literally never given its doings a second thought, and nor have I ever heard anyone, colleagues included, complain about it. The EPA also called it “stupid”, which is ironic when this invention has been shown to improve fuel economy by 5% or more for no mechanical penalty.

In fairness, I can appreciate that a momentary loss of heated or cooled air is a lot more noticeable in Michigan or Texas than in Britain, and my research into the American public sentiment revealed that this is a side effect of some less sophisticated stop-start systems. Perhaps it’s a generational thing too: I’ve never known any different.

Anyway, how funny that stop-start systems should hit the news just as one bothers me for the first time ever. My new Seat Ibiza often interrupts its own combustion at the exact moment that I’m about to put my foot down again, annoying me and sometimes whoever is behind too.

It doesn’t help that the Volkswagen Group’s 1.0-litre turbo triple is particularly unpleasant on start-up in this application, shuddering and snorting like a horse on a freezing morning. And uniquely the refiring also causes the windscreen wipers to stutter during their arc of motion, as if there’s momentarily insufficient voltage to power both them and the starter motor.

For all these reasons, I’ve taken to deactivating the system when in stop-start traffic. (Mr President would surely approve… if he had any idea what a Seat was.) Thankfully there’s a handy physical button for this beside the gearlever.

But it could be worse: when I ran a Seat Arona (essentially a taller Ibiza) back in 2017, on a few occasions the wipers froze entirely while I was driving through thick spray on the motorway – which was terrifying – and wouldn’t reanimate until I followed the advice of the IT Crowd.

I’m afraid I also need to vent about one of the few areas that Seat tweaked in the Ibiza’s recent facelift: the air vents. Now, I’m a big fan of ambient lighting, and I’ve chosen a moody red for my Ibiza, but the rings of light around the dashboard’s two peripheral vents are reflected upwards into the adjacent windows – right where I’m trying to look through to the wing mirrors. Helpfully, the rings dim when I indicate – but this just suggests that Seat’s engineers realised there was a problem yet pressed ahead anyway, which isn’t really on in my opinion.

Nevertheless, if you offered me a choice between this and another car with exemplary visibility in all directions but even a single touchscreen-based climate control, I’d pick the Ibiza every time. This would be on safety grounds, because every individual aspect of its ventilation (direction, speed, heat, sync, auto, recirculate) and heating (rear window, front seats) has its own physical button or dial – something that, unforgivably, is fast on its way to becoming a unique selling point for Seat.

Mileage: 696

Update 3: Where’s the supermini efficiency?

For obvious reasons, I'm keeping a closer eye on my MPG readout than usual - and wondering why the figure is so low. My commute may be mostly motorway, but I'd still expect 50 rather than 40mpg from a modern supermini. Even switching to Eco mode made little difference. In fairness, the Ibiza isn't yet a mild hybrid, and perhaps the sporty tyres of FR trim are to blame too. Whatever, I should just be thankful that I'm not in a big diesel at present.

Mileage: 1355

Supermini vs SUV: Is my Seat Ibiza better than its Arona sibling?

Update 4: Still a roomy supermini

My unfavourable comparison of the Ibiza with its Arona crossover sibling may have made it sound very impractical. It's not. At launch, Seat emphasised how much roomier it was than the old Ibiza, and at 5ft 8in tall I can still comfortably 'sit behind myself', having several inches to spare above my mop and my feet fully beneath the driver's seat. Bonus marks, too, for the rear speakers, bottle-sized door bins and, best of all, big rear quarterlights

Mileage: 3063

Update 6: Manual or Auto? Which suit the Ibiza best?

Blistering performance has for me never been a prerequisite for driving fun. Of course I want something that can accelerate reasonably quickly, but its performance needn’t be exceptional.

In fact, I’d rather it weren’t, because silly numbers make you much likelier to end up in sticky situations, both physically and legally. And if everything is rushing past in a blur, I’m not savouring as much as I otherwise might the elements of driving that are actually enjoyable: shifting up through the rev range, picking the right gear for a corner, braking at the ideal time, picking the perfect cornering line and hitting the apex.

I might have just written myself out of a future go in a McLaren, but so be it, because I’ve also explained what makes my 113bhp Seat Ibiza so great. Well, except for the obvious discrepancy that it’s an automatic.

This dual-clutch gearbox (DSG) is a good one, even though it’s of the cheaper clutch type, not hesitating very often and being happy to kick down when asked. Furthermore, it will let me manually select which of the seven forward ratios I want to use, either by knocking the large drive selector leftwards and then back and forth or by pulling the small steering-mounted paddles.

However, as usual, I can’t really see the point in taking this half measure, not least because my left leg remains static and the controlling computer won’t allow me to make selection mistakes.

I was therefore delighted to learn that the almost identically specified Ibiza being run by my What Car? colleague Jonty Renk had the standard six-speed manual gearbox instead, and eagerly arranged a temporary exchange.

It’s incredibly rare nowadays that my left leg has to do anything in a car, but I’m not going to praise this manual set-up because of welcome nostalgia; I’ll do so because it’s genuinely good. Unlike in many cheaper cars I can recall from the past decades, the biting point was easy to find straight away; the lever felt solidly anchored into something; and I was soon sliding up and down the tree without a second thought.

This 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged engine develops decent torque at relatively low revs, after which the curve flattens and tails off, so it doesn’t need to be ‘kept on the boil’ and is flexible throughout. Indeed, I often saw the digital instrument display suggest I select sixth when I was happily cruising along in fourth.

The gears are rather long but nevertheless I found there was real joy to be had in shifting down a gear or two to get that committed drive through a corner, and in haring up a 60mph road away from a junction. This may be basically the same car as my own but, as the youngsters say, it just hits differently.

Until I had to drive it to work, that is. My twice-daily rush-hour torture on the M25 was one of the main factors in my decision to choose the DSG, and just a single stint of stop-start traffic under the glowing ‘40’ roundels proved this was wise. Seemingly continual shifts between first and second soon tired my left leg, and the repeated need for my left arm to move between wheel and lever was then irritating rather than stimulating.

Both gearbox types have their benefits and their flaws, then, as expected, but I now feel even more torn between them knowing how good the manual option is. If only there weren’t quite so many people crammed into the south nowadays.

Mileage: 3384

Update 7: Software niggles bite

My varied misadventures in the baffling world of software have continued into yet another car. The Ibiza's touchscreen had for weeks been infrequently bothering me about installing an update, but it kept doing so while I was concentrating on, y'know, driving, so I kept pressing 'later'. Eventually I remembered to ask it to install before setting off, only for the relevant menu to tell me no update was pending. Glitch? Bad prank? Hallucinations?

Mileage 4132

Update 8: How does the Ibiza fare as a motorway commuter?

Many years ago, a representative of a top Premier League football club told me that an automotive sponsor provided its scouts with cars for their constant touring around the country in search of future talent. These guys’ mileage was insane: I can’t remember the exact figure but I’m fairly sure it surpassed six figures over the course of just a few years.

It would have been an unenviable job in a top-of-the-range saloon, let alone the low-cost small hatchback in question. The thought of endless hours making steering corrections, trying to mitigate backache and pushing the volume wheel ever forth as the tinny stereo lost its eternal battle with the wind and road roar resonating around that tin box made me feel a bit sick.

Yet while my new Seat Ibiza is a car of similar cost and format and my long daily commutes make most people think I’m bonkers, it hasn’t proven as ill-suited as I’d feared.

Certainly that description of the older hatchback’s stability and comfort shortcomings doesn’t apply. The Ibiza sits steady on the motorway, while the imitation buckets of sporty FR trim keep me comfortable enough for a couple of hours (although I’m not sure I’d survive for much longer than that, given they lack lumbar adjustment).

Unwanted noise does get pretty loud inside, but much of that can be attributed to the hideous concrete stretch of the M25 through Surrey, which no car can truly counteract and is almost unbearable in some of them – whether due to the tyre type or some natural resonance I can’t say. Our original Ford Puma ST long-termer was torture there.

While I would obviously rather be commuting in a bigger and meftier car (my previous Volvo XC90 had very little tolerance for decibels), at least my Ibiza has the upgraded stereo, which includes a subwoofer amid a spare wheel under the boot.

While Bowers & Wilkins would laugh at its sound quality, I’m sure it’s worth upgrading to (for £550) if you will be driving your Ibiza on cruddy surfaces regularly, because anything thinner and quieter would surely struggle to cut through it all.

My car’s performance is perfectly sufficient for overtaking – although unfortunately that doesn’t protect me from the usual cretins in their vans and blacked-out premium SUVs who take offence at a little car using lane four and counter by closely examining its rear bumper.

Its economy could certainly be better than its usual 40-45mpg, considering that little turbo petrol engine has only just over a tonne to propel, but it could also be far worse, as stints in that PHEV XC90 and a diesel Toyota Land Cruiser demonstrated to my great cost.

Another major consideration for motorway commuting these days is, of course, ADAS – and I’m delighted to say the Ibiza is fabulous in this regard. First, because it has only four driver assistance systems. Pity poor Alastair Clements with the 20 – twenty! – to contend with in his Omoda E5. Second, because the drowsiness monitor has never once bothered me, although I wonder if that’s because I’m a habitual sunglasses wearer.

And third, because the two ADAS that I do hate are easy to turn off, via just three presses of two buttons on the left-hand spoke of the steering wheel (bringing up a menu on the display between the digital dials).

Those are speed limit warning, because an indicated 43mph ain’t actually 43mph, and lane keeping assistance, because it failed my long-time litmus test: where a B-road near my place contracts from two lanes into one, its white dividing line is succeeded by an asphalt-coloured scar.

Well, if any LKA system ever actually manages to see the distinction and doesn’t try to steer me into the kerb, I’ll be sure to let you know…

Mileage: 4605

Update 9: Why is my car fan working overtime?

I've never run a car that uses its engine cooling fan anything like as fervently as this - at least not audibly so. Even a fast run of merely a few miles up the A23 for petrol will have it whooshing for England on the forecourt. And no, actually, it was always doing this before the recent 35deg C spell. There are no warning lights and nothing looks amiss under the bonnet, so I assume it's fine.

Mileage: 6952

Update 10: Potholes, oil top-ups, and dipstick drama

Well I never: the local council has fully resurfaced our badly messed-up road. I mean, yeah, it is the main route into the city, but still – shock! A week of sleepless nights as my furniture literally vibrated seems worth it now that I can glide over such perfectly smooth asphalt.

Pity they couldn’t also have done our building’s driveway, though, because all the digging has seemingly dislodged two of the marker stones – which I discovered when my Ibiza loudly pushed one into the enormous adjoining pothole. “That’s a puncture,” I grimly told my passenger – followed immediately by the binging of the tyre pressure warning system.

Having parked up, though, I could hear no hissing, and when I anxiously returned to the car the next morning the tyre was still rock-solid when slapped.

Astonished at this rare bit of good luck and delighted to have potentially saved myself £160, I went and topped up the pressures and all has been well since. There are some truly awful statistics and anecdotes about potholes, so I really do wonder how often someone gets away with an incident like this.

In any case, I would have been okay, because unlike most modern cars the Ibiza comes with a spacesaver spare wheel under its boot floor – at least as a £550 option, bundled with a stereo upgrade. Worth it: the fifth tyre may be a Linglong instead of a Continental, but it’s a million times more useful than any puncture repair kit.

That same week, the Ibiza also asked for some more engine oil – a first for me in almost a decade of running long-term test cars. It wanted 0W-20-grade stuff, which I was pleased to find in stock at my local Esso garage, in Castrol Edge form. I bought the smaller bottle, for £27 – and ended up using all of it.

The Ibiza’s manual explains that, depending on use, “oil consumption can be up to 0.5 litres per 1000km” – or about 5600 miles per gallon in old money – and “is likely to be higher for the first 5000km”. Nowadays you wouldn’t expect to have to top up before the first oil-change service (which the touchscreen tells me will be needed in 10,100 miles’ time) but anecdotally such consumption is normal for a VW Group engine.

The little book also said that I ought to use a funnel, which was annoying because I’ve never owned one, but a neighbour – clearly far more practically minded than me – suggested that I could simply cut the end off a plastic water bottle instead. With that done, the job couldn’t have been easier.

Well, actually it could, because why did Seat decide to make the Ibiza’s dipstick black? The whole point of the thing is to visually demonstrate how much dark liquid is left in the sump, so literally any other colour would have been infinitely more helpful.

Mileage: 7306

Update 11: Four adults, no problem

Twenty years ago, four adults cramming into an affordable supermini on a 36deg C British summer's day would have been an absurd notion. Yet there we were, thanks to car bloat, global warming and standard-fit air conditioning. My three friends had comfortable amounts of head and leg room in the Ibiza and they were kept nicely cool by hidden floor vents.

Mileage: 7705

Update 12: Can the Ibiza double as a driver's car?

Many people have since 2017 wondered at, or indeed complained about, the lack of a replacement for the Ibiza Cupra. Audi and Volkswagen didn’t hesitate to heat up their new-generation (ie MQB-platformed) superminis, so why did Seat? Especially considering that all the hard work and investment had already been done for the Spaniards.

The surprising success of Cupra since it was upgraded from Seat sub-brand to full-blown manufacturer with hot versions of the Ateca, then the Leon and Leon Estate, only made the situation seem more of a joke to hot hatch fans. The punchline came late last year, as even stolid Skoda elected to sportify its Fabia.

No official reason has ever been given but, reading between the lines, the preventative factors seem to be the eroded profit margins on small cars and the board’s desire to establish Cupra as a more premium and thus more crossovery brand.

Anyway, it’s surely too late now. The days of the compact petrol hot hatch are virtually over. Excepting the bespoke, the rare and the incredibly pricey Toyota GR Yaris, your ambitions are now limited to a 228bhp Mini John Cooper Works or a 174bhp Fabia 130.

Would you also count the 113bhp Polo R-Line and Ibiza FR, the latter of which I’ve been happily driving this summer? Both warmed-up variants gain sharper exterior styling, slightly larger alloy wheels and bucket-like seats inside, and the Seat scores one over the Volkswagen with ‘sports’ suspension.

This is just the Ibiza’s standard suspension (coil springs, passive dampers, MacPherson struts at the front, a torsion beam at the back) in a slightly firmer and lower-riding tune, not anything fancy, but I’m sure you would be able to notice the difference in its compromise between comfort and agility.

Despite this, taking the twisty way home hasn’t become a habit in my time with the Ibiza, as it had with some cars in the past, but I thought I’d give it a go recently. I already knew that its three-cylinder turbo engine would be up to the job, as it’s no sluggard during my motorway commutes and, as I found out in a swap with a manual Ibiza it produces plenty of torque from low revs.

Having selected the Sport driving mode (via a physical button!) for livelier throttle response and meatier steering, I felt able to exploit even more of the surprisingly strong grip of the sporty Continental tyres, revelling in the Ibiza’s steadfast neutrality as I attacked each apex.

I also had another go at the manual shift function of the dual-clutch automatic gearbox, using both the flappy paddles behind the steering wheel – which turned out to actually be small plastic buttons – and the chunky central gearlever (push it left from D, then back and forth for downshifts and upshifts).

It responded quickly and faithfully to my requests, only defaulting to automatic mode in order to protect itself from over-revving or stalling. However, I still couldn’t derive any pleasure from shifting an auto 'box myself – and I was surprised and concerned by the distinct smell of a burning clutch after one 0-60mph sprint.

I did enjoy myself, but the Ibiza didn’t rock my world. Then again, nor did the 204bhp Polo GTI when that still existed. And it’s certainly more fun than £27,000 might get you elsewhere – and objectively better in myriad other ways too.

Mileage: 9213

Update 13: Who needs a van?

"No way that's going to fit," my friend said, but once again the Ibiza proved that it's genuinely practical, saving her £100 on van hire. As fellow vinyl record fiends will have spotted, 'that' referred to the ubiquitous Ikea Kallax, here in 4x4 configuration. With us sitting as far forward as we comfortably could, this 147cm-long, 77cmwide 'cube storage unit' just about cleared the load lip. Yes, only just - but in a supermini!

Mileage: 9547

Final report: we'll miss this brilliant supermini when its gone

Sometimes you know when it’s the last time; other times the fact surprises you later on. I vividly remember the last day I would see a Vulcan fly; but when was the last time I felt like a kid? Which type of finale is the better depends on what kind of person you are, I suppose. I would always rather know, so I can savour the moment and contemplate why it matters.

Handing back my Seat Ibiza, I felt confident that it was a final goodbye – not just to the particular car I’d been driving daily for the past six months but to a whole type of car.

For various reasons, the fifth-generation Ibiza has remained on the market long enough to become an anachronism, even after its recent facelift. What do I mean by that? I mean it’s a compact, light, low-riding hatchback; it’s purely combustion-powered; it has an almost entirely analogue interior; and it carries a minimum of ADAS.

The cars of 2017 were in these ways fundamentally different from most emerging these days – which just shows how rapidly and how significantly the automotive landscape has been shifting. Things now are generally larger, heavier, more complicated, more annoying and more electrified, none of which excites me – often the exact opposite. So this test, as I had expected, became something of a victory lap for old-school simplicity.

I feel like I’ve used the caveat “for a supermini” over and over, but I was just continually amazed by how multi-talented the Ibiza was for a car of this genre, which in decades past was commonly restricted to the role of ‘shopping car’.

This Ibiza still excelled in that role, of course, such that it would be more accurate to describe it as ‘house move car’, having helped both me and a friend move this summer, carrying not just boxes but also bulky furniture in its boot.

But my point is that, despite it having only three cylinders and less than a litre of cubic capacity to work with, its turbo petrol engine produced enough power and torque for it to serve as a long-distance motorway commuter. Road noise was my only real bugbear on the M25; ride comfort, seat comfort and the quality of the sound system never crossed my mind. I highly doubt anyone would have said that about an Ibiza 20 years ago.

And on a few occasions friends came along for the ride, enjoying generous head, leg and knee room, while floor vents blew a steady stream of ice-cold air on them as Britain baked outside our comfortable cocoon.

When I say ‘old-school simplicity’, in large part I’m referring to the dash layout. Whereas the designers of modern superminis seemingly started with a touchscreen and then worked around that, here they obviously focused on making key controls easy to both locate and operate.

All of the climate functions, all of the stereo functions and even the driving mode and stop-start selectors were stationary physical buttons, not mobile icons. This ethos even extended to a mechanical handbrake, which prevented that unpleasant rocking back and forth that electronic alternatives usually inflict.

Sometimes I doubted whether the Ibiza really was a great car or whether it just seemed great because better contemporaries had all been replaced by electrified and digitised irritants. But no, I reminded myself: it was great when I first drove one in 2017, a time when the much-missed Ford Fiesta was still in its pomp. Rather, the failures of newcomers were only serving to exaggerate this older car’s successes.

I should also remind myself that this test wasn’t premised as a hazy-eyed eulogy of pure-ICE superminis but rather “a pulse check on the long-neglected Seat brand” – something that’s much harder to perform.

The Ibiza and its Arona crossover sibling (which I also tried in facelifted form and which was similarly recommendable) are in line to gain a mild-hybrid system early next year, but all signs point to them being the last major product announcements from this storied brand.

To be totally honest, I’ve always found sentimental attachments to car brands a bit weird: if this Ibiza were any other badge, I’d be bidding it no less of an emotional farewell. But these things do matter to a great many enthusiasts, and in this case it seems some national pride is at stake too. Further, if any brand should rightfully be struck off (and there are a few), it’s definitely not this one: Seat has made some proper winners in recent years.

In fact, this Ibiza has been such a winner in my eyes that, if ever my luck runs out and I have to find myself a proper job, it might well be the car I’d buy with my own money and keep until it falls apart.

So perhaps this won’t be my final farewell to old-school automotive simplicity after all.

TEST DATA: SEAT IBIZA 1.0 TSI 115PS FR SPORT DSG
MILEAGE
At start	356
At end	10,184
PRICES
List price new	£26,670
List price now	£27,345
Price as tested	£28,215
OPTIONS
Options fitted	Sunroof £995, premium stereo with spare wheel £550
ECONOMY AND RANGE
Claimed economy	48.7mpg
Fuel tank	40 litres
Test average	44.2mpg
Test best	46.6mpg
Test worst	40.2mpg
Real-world range	389 miles
TECH HIGHLIGHTS
0-62mph	9.9sec
Top speed	124mph
Engine	3 cyls in line, 999cc, turbocharged, petrol
Max power	113bhp at 5500rpm
Max torque	148lb ft at 2000-3500rpm
Gearbox	7-spd dual-clutch automatic
Boot	355 litres
Wheels	8.0Jx18in, alloy
Tyres	215/40 R18, Continental ContiSportContact 5
Kerb weight	1178kg
SERVICE AND RUNNING COSTS
Contract hire rate	£270 pcm
CO₂	126g/km
Service costs	None
Other costs	Engine oil (£27)
Fuel costs	£1502.90
Running costs including fuel	£1529.90
Cost per mile	16p
Faults	None

Renault 4 Plein Sud: Should you spec this SUV as a 'convertible'?

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0100

Long hot summer comes to an end just in time for convertible's arrival - but is it the one to have?

You simply couldn’t write it. It hadn’t rained in nearly nine weeks, but naturally the second I took my seat in the first ‘convertible’ I’d driven in the UK for almost three years, the radio announced the imminent (and belated) arrival of some classic summer showers. It’s the cliché to end all clichés.

This, then, is the Plein Sud (that’s ‘Due South’ for any Francophobes) – the new canvas-topped version of the Renault 4 that I’ve been running for the past few months, and technically it’s the first convertible SUV since the demise of the surprisingly successful Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet.

With the first examples now making their way to UK customers, I thought I’d take advantage of the unremitting heatwave to sample this high-riding, hair-flapping proposition and see if it makes any sense – or if there’s a good reason it’s the only such car in its class.

More fool me. But happily the rain held off for a couple of days after I swapped out of my hard-top R4 (alas, not for long enough that I could take the photo below without getting my expertly coiffed hair wet), and I managed to enjoy some open-air larks once I’d applied some factor 50 to my nose.

Aside from a smidge of extra headroom and a small control panel in the roof, the Plein Sud is identical to the standard R4; you only really clock the difference when the 92cm-long panel is rolled back and bunched up above the boot.

The lid can be opened at speeds of up to 56mph and takes about 10 seconds to complete its manoeuvre. That sounds quick but feels longer because you have to keep the switch applied for the entire process, so it’s best to do it at a standstill.

A small mesh wind deflector pops out above the windscreen; it does its job well but did catch a fair few flies in my short time at the wheel, and I’m not sure how you’d go about cleaning it.

As you might expect, the effect of opening the top isn’t especially transformative. It extends much further back than a traditional sunroof but still stops just short of the rear passengers’ heads. But in a market so starved of affordable convertible options, we should be happy with what we’ve got – and it’s quite easy to be just that on a sunny day in the Plein Sud.

Buffeting is impressively minimised up to a point, and it only got a bit blustery and noisy above 50mph. The deflector helps to channel wind up and over the car, which stops your quiff from quivering and means you can maintain a conversation with your passenger. Importantly, it also means you can enjoy your ‘summer drive’ playlist unimpeded, without cranking the stereo volume up to antisocial levels.

An unexpected bonus was the extra load capacity it offers – as I was thrilled to discover when I collected a tall piece of furniture that wouldn’t have fitted in the standard R4 but which was happily accommodated in the Plein Sud, poking slightly out of the roof.

The jollity takes a knock when you thread between two buses at a junction and the interior starts to fill with the heady aroma of spent diesel, and you do wonder if passengers on the upper decks are examining your receding hairline. But you don’t feel half as exposed as you would in, say, a Mini Cooper Convertible or a Mazda MX-5.

With prices starting from just £27,445 (or £29,445 as tested here in Iconic trim), the Plein Sud is one of just two sub-£30k soft-top EVs on sale, the other being the vastly less capacious and shorter-range Fiat 500e Convertible. It also commands a relatively small £1500 premium over the standard R4.

Is it worth that? Well, it’s a bit like having a swimming pool in the UK: you’ll really enjoy it for a few days of the year, but it’s unlikely to see much action when the weather reverts to type and you might wish you had spent the money elsewhere.

Audi RS5: Full test of the V6 hyper-wagon that beats physics

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0100

RS4 replacement is a 2.4-tonne plug-in hybrid, yet the engineers promise it’s much more fun to drive Preconceptions can be awfully sticky. Think ‘fast Audi’ and you might still think of understeer and numb steering, but a quick dive into the Autocar archive reveals that all the way back in 2006, we reported that “the [new RS4] even changes direction properly now”, and we’ve heaped plenty of praise on the handling of subsequent generations.Nevertheless, Audi Sport’s engineers are still on a mission to prove they can produce super-saloons that are on the same level as products from BMW M and Mercedes-AMG as driver’s cars. At the launch of the new Audi RS5, its head of technical development, Steffen Bamberger, told us that “we wanted it to be an oversteering car”, to which end the newly hybridised RS5 has gained a very clever, very complicated rear differential that can send power this way and that.On previous encounters, we’ve already found out that the new RS5 does indeed oversteer. Now to see what it’s like to live with and how it fares against the road test timing gear.

Leapmotor B03X review: China's Ford Puma misses the mark

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:00:00 +0100

Another 4.3m-long, circa-£30k Chinese electric crossover – but one with a hint of character I can imagine the scene as the development committee sat down to create the Leapmotor B03X.Gathered in a room are a Ford Puma, a Honda HR-V and a Jeep Avenger. The mission, quite evidently, was to collate a greatest hits album of what makes those cars sell so well.Take the boot: at 405 litres, it's not huge in its own right, but lift the floor and you'll find a deep well that gives an extra 105 litres and has drainage holes in its base - just like the Puma's Megabox.Pop yourself in the back and you'll notice the seat cushions are capable of flipping up against the headrests, precisely mirroring Honda's clever functionality.And the exterior design is a bit of a mishmash of everything - squared off like the Avenger or even the previous-gen Mercedes-Benz GLB, with extra hints of Puma.

Chery aims for 'German feeling' with new UK-bound Tiggo X SUVs

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0100

Major product roll-out and new British R&D base for Chinese brand as it puts VW in its sights

Chery is priming the next phase in its plan to conquer the British market with four new models, including a new Tiggo X product family and an R&D centre in Bedfordshire.

The Chinese brand is marking a full year of UK sales, during which it has sold some 29,000 cars.

Although that's behind sibling marques Jaecoo and Omoda (the Jaecoo 7 SUV has alone recorded nearly 53,000 sales since its launch in late 2024), Chery's UK MD, Farrell Hsu, said it has already exceeded its sales target for 2026.

His ambition, he said, is to challenge brands such as Volkswagen – to sell “people’s cars” to the mass market.

Key to that ambition will be the rapid expansion of its line-up: it currently sells the Tiggo 4, Tiggo 7, Tiggo 8 and Tiggo 9 SUVs here as rivals to the likes of the Ford Puma, Volkswagen Tiguan and Skoda Kodiaq.

Next year it will bring four new or updated SUVs to the market, one of which will be an electric car. Although the Tiggo X name has yet to be finalised, the range is likely to include the Tiggo X SUV that was unveiled at this year's Beijing motor show.

The Tiggo X is positioned as Chery’s new flagship, being a 5.0m-long, seven-seat SUV with a fashionable boxy design and a plug-in hybrid powertrain.

Chinese media reports suggest it puts out a combined 476bhp and 465lb ft of torque, with an electric-only range of around 124 miles on the generous CLTC test cycle.

Details on any other Tiggo X-branded models remain to be disclosed, but Hsu said they will bring a “different feeling” to the Tiggos 4, 7, 8 and 9. They will have a “lifestyle” focus, hinting at boxier styling and light off-roading capabilities.

Chery has also committed to making sure its cars better suit the British market. Its new R&D centre at the UTAC Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire will initially operate as a “translation centre”, said Hsu, putting feedback from local customers and media into terms that Chinese engineers can act upon.

It will also modify its cars’ steering, chassis set-ups and advanced driver assistance systems to cope with British roads, which are tighter, bendier and generally in worse condition than those in China.

“We will test everything and then tell HQ what they need to do,” Hsu explained. This will give Chery the ability to more quickly test retrofitted modifications, such as new dampers, bushings or software calibrations, and therefore introduce changes at a quicker pace.

Hsu suggested his ambition was for Chery models to drive more like their German competitors: “So many people like the German feeling; cars that drive like a German car. It really gives them a very good impression. This is something we need to learn. Maybe in the future we can educate other markets [and their manufacturers], but currently we need to learn from them.”

In the longer term, the feedback from the Millbrook base could take a greater role in shaping Chery’s global product range, tapping the UK’s expertise in autonomous driving and artificial intelligence.

The same tweaks will apply for models from Chery sibling brands Omoda, Jaecoo and Lepas.

Hsu also pointed to Chery’s ‘Super Hybrid’ PHEVs as being crucial to the brand’s appeal. He said they account for three quarters of its UK business to date and implied that sales have thus far been constrained by supply rather than demand.

His vision is for every Chery model to eventually be available with the PHEV powertrain as standard, with buyers choosing only what battery size – and therefore what electric range – they require, comparing this to choosing the storage capacity of a new iPhone.

New Bovensiepen Spider revealed as £99k BMW Z4 with 429bhp

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 08:45:48 +0100

Alpina founders turn retired roadster into a 183mph ’bahnstormer with lashings of leather

Bovensiepen, the new marque set up by the founders of Alpina, has turned the BMW Z4 into a 429bhp collector special called the Spider.

The brand's third car – after the £320k Zagato coupé and £144k 05 GT estate – is its first convertible, but it can trace its roots back 20 years to the Z4-based Alpina Roadster S that its creators produced in their previous guise.

Just 99 examples will be produced, with deliveries beginning in early 2027, but the Spider is priced well below its range-mates, at the equivalent of £99,000 in Germany – roughly the same as a new BMW M4 convertible.

The firm says that cars are constantly becoming "bigger, heavier and increasingly influenced by SUV designs" and as a result "a vehicle class that for decades epitomised the most immediate form of driving is disappearing: the lightweight, two-seater roadster".

Pledging to preserve this endangered species, Bovensiepen has overhauled the most recent Z4 – which bowed out of production earlier this year – "entirely in the spirit of 'fine driving'".

It is based on the top-spec Z4 M40i, with output from its 3.0-litre straight six ramped up substantially to 429bhp and 428lb ft.

That's enough to give a 0-62mph time of 4.2sec and a maximum speed of 183mph, making it quicker than any previous iteration of the Z4.

Modifications to the intake system, meanwhile, mean the engine can "breathe freely" and the re-engineered exhaust system has been optimised for flow while "at the same time delivering an exhilarating, sporty sound".

Cooling has been improved, too, to ensure the Spider can always offer peak performance, while an optional Performance Pack brings enhanced heat management for the differential, to boost its performance in high-load situations.

The Spider rides on retuned dampers for improved responsiveness, supported by sticky Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres wrapped around the lightweight forged wheels. The brakes can be optionally upgraded to high-performance items too.

The Z4 was latterly available with a six-speed manual gearbox, but the Spider comes with the standard ZF eight-speed auto.

In characteristic Alpina/Bovensiepen fashion, the Z4's interior has been retained but retrimmed in a selection of upmarket materials, including Vernasca leather for the seats, Lavalina for the steering wheel and Alcantara for the windscreen surround.

The Bovensiepen Saddlery – a customisation suite similar to Bentley's Mulliner or Aston Martin's Q division – can work with customers to ensure a highly personalised specification, with options including Alcantara boot lining, personalised headrests and custom embroidery.

Wild new Mercedes-AMG CLE 646 brings 637bhp V8

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 19:45:00 +0100

Focused coupé gains chassis mods, goes rear-drive and sheds 170kg

Mercedes-AMG has transplanted a V8 into the CLE to create one of its most extreme cars yet in a return to its hot-rodding roots.

Called the CLE 646 Spezialanfertigung - special order - it has been conceived as the most driver-focused version of Mercedes' premium coupe.

The model starts out as a CLE 53 before being extensively modified to become the 646, mirroring the production of historic AMG models before the brand became integrated into Mercedes-Benz.

Described by AMG as an engineering-led project, it was originally a test mule produced behind closed doors.

It swaps the 3.0-litre straight six found in the only current AMG derivative of the CLE, the 53, for Mercedes new M177 Evo V8 powerplant.

The 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, which made its debut in the facelifted S-Class, is boosted to 637bhp - equivalent to 646PS, hence the name - and 627lb ft. It is fitted with a bespoke Akrapovic titanium exhaust, which is said to maximise the "emotional focus" of the powerplant.

The V8-powered CLE also ditches four-wheel drive for rear-drive to maximise its performance on track, while shedding weight.

The 646 brings several other lightweighting measures traditionally reserved for track-focused machines, including carbonfibre bodywork, polycarbonate windows and even a different 12V battery. Meanwhile, the body has been reinforced to improve its rigidity, and a roll-cage has been integrated into its structure.

The revisions mean the 646 weighs 1895kg - 30kg lighter than the CLE 53, despite packing a larger and significantly heavier engine. According to AMG, 170kg was stripped from the car in total.

It is capable of hitting 62mph from rest in 3.9sec, which is 0.1sec quicker than a CLE 53 fitted with the optional Pro Performance package. It also covers 0-124mph in 11.4sec and 0-186mph in 36.2sec.

The 646 sits lower and 60mm wider than the CLE 53, riding on steel coilover suspension developed with specialist firm KW.

The low- and high-speed bump and rebound settings can be adjusted as desired, giving owners the potential to set it up for specific circuits or use cases. Braking, meanwhile, is via carbon-ceramic discs with six-piston calipers up front and single-pots at the rear.

Completing the exterior makeover are forged 20in alloy wheels and a wide-body kit with a large rear wing, reminiscent of the Ford Mustang's conversion into the racing-derived GTD.

Inside, the weight reduction effort extends to the removal of the rear seats and sound deadening, while the CLE 53's front seats are swapped for a pair of skeletal buckets. Six-point racing harnesses are available as an option.

The sound system has also been simplified to save weight and several redundant comfort and driver-assistance features have been dropped.

The CLE 646 will be offered as the second car in Mercedes' Mythos programme, which previously created the Formula-1-inspired SL PureSpeed. But the new V8 CLE will be vastly more exclusive, with just 30 samples due to be produced.

Mercedes has yet to disclose pricing, but it is almost certain to run well north of six figures.

Although that will ultimately limit the impact of the 646, the model is notable for proving that Mercedes-AMG's V8 fits into the CLE platform and that the brand has the will to do so.

It remains to be seen whether a V8 will return to the performance arm's mainstream cars, such as the C-Class and E-Class, following a poorly received move to small-displacement plug-in hybrids. But the existence of the CLE 646 signals that the V8 remains at the heart of Mercedes-AMG and that the performance division will find solutions to offer such engines to customers - even if only for a select few.

"The Mercedes-AMG CLE 646 Spezialanfertigung represents the very essence of AMG," said Stefan Weckbach, chairman of Mercedes-AMG. "This vehicle came to life because highly rational engineers dreamed of a highly irrational car."

New 2027 Skoda Karoq in line for 62-mile plug-in hybrid option

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 11:00:00 +0100

Skoda reverses plan to phase out popular ICE-powered crossover, which will return with PHEV power

Skoda will next year unveil a second generation of its popular Karoq SUV, which could adopt a plug-in hybrid powertrain for the first time.

The original arrived in 2017 but, because of its electrification plans, the Czech firm hadn’t initially planned to directly replace it. Instead its spot in the line-up was to be filled by the similarly sized Elroq EV.

But Skoda boss Klaus Zellmer has since given the green light to a new Karoq, which will sit on the same Volkswagen Group MQB platform as its predecessors and will “launch in 2027 or 2028”.

He added that “it will be a significant change to the current Elroq, but we’re trying to hit the same price segment so you get more value for your money”.

The current Karoq is only offered with pure petrol and mild-hybrid engines, but Zellmer hinted the Mk2 will come as a plug-in hybrid. That would set it apart from the new version of the closely related Volkswagen T-Roc.

Zellmer said the drivetrains for the new Karoq “will be very comparable to what we have in the Kodiaq”, Skoda's hugely popular seven-seat SUV, adding: “Our plug-in hybrids are in great demand. If you look at an electric range of more than 100km [62 miles], that is perfect for a successor to the Karoq.”

While a new Karoq wasn’t originally in Skoda’s plans, Zellmer noted that the firm also hadn’t originally planned to launch the Elroq.

He added: “We came with that car because we saw there was massive potential, and thank God we did: it’s the second best-selling electric car in Europe.

"We would like to see the Elroq totally replace that kind of market for us, but it doesn’t, so we see great potential for the Karoq and its successor.”

Lessons from a legend: 997 GT3 gets the grip game just right

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 11:00:00 +0100

A blast in a 997-era Porsche 911 GT3 RS reminds us what fun a balance of grip and slip can be

An old mate - fancies himself a philosopher-petrolhead - reckons we all fall into one of three categories. When it comes to cars he says ultimately you're either an engine, design or chassis bod.

I suppose I have always been for chassis, which is to say I seem to get a bigger kick from feeling what the car is doing beneath me than I do from listening to the motor or from any poor internal attempts to intellectualise the design. Now, clearly there are relativities.

In absolute terms I don't find the languid playfulness of a Kia Stinger GT more life-affirming than the sound of a Huracán Performante being drilled through the Hindhead Tunnel. But if I look back at times when a car has actually made me laugh out loud, it's most often been handling-related. Some impossibly deft tippy-toe rotation, or a physics-defying, velvety landing. There's something magical about a lump of metal and oil becoming truly delicate and balletic.

I wondered which camp would I most want to be in today, and by extension which group is suffering most. The engine-ites will raise their hands fastest and fair enough. Today, the only way to get a performance car with a naturally aspirated engine and a manual 'box through which to enjoy it is to be very, very rich and worm your way into some special edition-or, for only a little less hassle, secure a Porsche 911 GT3 build slot. Or just buy a Mazda MX-5. But those are really your only options, with everything having gone automatic, turbocharged or fully electric.

The design crowd will also feel aggrieved, with the SUV takeover of the world and increasingly homogenised styling in nearly every class. Perhaps the most exciting things happening at the moment are retro revivals, but much as I like the look of the Renault 5 et al, it's not healthy.

Which leaves chassis-land, which I didn't think had been degraded too much. Phew. But that was until I had a blast in a 997-era GT3 RS last week. Yes, I adored the bellowing Mezger, especially when it comes on cam at 4500rpm. And yes, it's a ripper to behold: mad and serious but diminutive and neat. And yet the defining bit of the package, and what makes this middle-aged RS a surprisingly brilliant and fun road car today, is the balance of grip and slip.

It's Goldilocks stuff. You can steer an RS of this generation on the throttle or brake without ever over-driving it. It's brilliant because the car doesn't achieve this by being twitchy or confidence-sapping the rest of the time. The handling is so damn malleable and expressive in a way that doesn't really exist any more, at least within this apex predator automotive stratum.

So where did it go awry? A lot of the RS's easy-going handling charm is to do with the lack of mass and its rear-driven layout, and of course its suspension geometry. In short, being a 997 GT3 RS. But it would mean nothing if the car simply generated too much rear grip. And that's the issue: grip. These days the serious performance cars have too much of it. They're over-evolved for the job of entertaining their owners on the road via means other than speed.

Ah, but today's cars have so much power and torque, which levels things out because you can overcome the grip so easily. Except that's only exploitable on track or in an exceptionally well-sighted corner. Most of the time the extra power and torque is meaningless if you don't want to drive a car that (a) requires huge speed and inertia to come alive or (b) requires you to thuggishly boot it. Brute shove really is meaningless if you're talking about altering the attitude of the car during braking, when a stubbornly planted tail kills the show.

You can't just blame tyre sizes. The 997 RS wears a 19in wheel compared with the 21in rims of the current iteration, but these are still fitted with 325-section rears. I think the issue is that track widths have become too wide and rubber compounds too effective. Only one of those elements is realistically going to change in today's safety-conscious world. And if it doesn't? Well, rather than sun for a special day of driving, we could well be praying for rain.

Mazda CX-6e driven: A proper BMW iX3 rival for £10k less?

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 10:22:34 +0100

Mazda keeps the styling fresh and the prices fresher still for its smart new mid-sized electric SUV Mazda is yet to score a slam dunk in the electrified game. Its first effort, the curious MX-30 crossover, allied unique charm with poor real-world usability. Its recent 6e saloon looked promising but divulged its Changan roots by straying too far from Mazda’s usual quiet dynamic brilliance. So what chance does this new Mazda CX-6e stand of righting both cars’ wrongs?This is a Europe-specific version of the EZ-60, a car already sold in China in both electric and range-extender guises. We only get the former.It shares both its platform and powertrain with the 6e, which recently scored three stars under the Autocar road test microscope. That means a 78kWh lithium-iron-phosphate battery powering a 255bhp, 214lb ft motor on the rear axle for a WLTP range of 300 miles.

New look for Volvo XC40 after nine years on sale

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0100

Petrol crossover and its electric siblings gain a new face and updated interior tech

Volvo has revealed a facelift for the XC40 and its siblings, introducing updated exteriors, interiors and revised tech, nearly nine years after the model line was introduced.

The mild-hybrid petrol XC40 and EX40 and EC40 EVs have received a “reimagined” front-end design, with everything forward of the A-pillars being new.

Changes include new front wings, a new bonnet and a new front bumper, introducing a cleaner look to bring the 40 series closer in line with newer models like the EX60 and EX90.

This marks the first time the 40 series has received a significant styling update during its unusually long time on sale.

Despite being around for almost a decade, the crossovers continue to be vital for the Swedish brand: the XC40 was its second best-selling ICE model in 2025, behind the XC60, while the EX40 and EC40 ranked second and third among its EVs.

The new models also receive revised LED matrix headlights, which incorporate Volvo’s signature ‘Thor’s Hammer’ design.

From the front, the only visual difference between the petrol and electric models is in the front grille, which is blanked off on the EVs.

Updates have also been made to the rear of the XC40 and EX40: new LED lights, a new bumper and a new tailgate. The EC40's rear remains unchanged.

Several new options will also be available, including new 18in, 19in and 20in wheels on the XC40, as well as a selection of new exterior paint colours.

Inside, a larger (11.2in) touchscreen arrives featuring Volvo’s latest infotainment system, as featured in its most recent EVs.

Volvo is adopting a homogenous approach to infotainment across its range, wanting its customers to be able to work the system in each model without having to relearn how anything works.

The infotainment incorporates new features such as Google Gemini AI assistance, which has the ability to answer questions, manage messages and plan routes via voice control. Volvo claims occupants can “have a natural conversation” with the in-car assistant.

An optional 360deg 3D camera can also now be configured.

The cars will feature the latest generation of Volvo’s Active Safety System, which includes new software, better ultrasonic sensors, better radars and higher-resolution cameras, plus automatic emergency steering and braking.

The powertrain options for the XC40 are unchanged. Therefore two mild-hybrid petrol options are available in the UK: the B3 with 161bhp and the B4 with 194bhp.

Both variants are powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine, with front-wheel drive and a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox.

At launch, two powertrains will be available for the EX40 and EC40 EVs in the UK. The 248bhp, rear-wheel-drive P5 Long Range has a combined WLTP range of 323 miles, while the dual-motor P8 AWD makes 402bhp and can manage 300 miles on a single charge.

Autocar understands that while the XC40 has previously been available as a plug-in hybrid, there are no current plans to reintroduce a PHEV powertrain.

No indication of pricing has been given ahead of orders opening later this year, but Autocar has been told the positioning of the 40 series in the Volvo range will remain the same, so expect the petrol car to open at around £33k and for the EV to add a circa-£10k premium.

The pro racer who turned his A-Class into a 220bhp GTI chaser

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0100

Racing driver Bryn Calder has done 45,000 miles in his A-Class – and it was cheaper to insure than a Fiesta

The term 'boy racer' is rarely flattering, but in Bryn Calder's case it's the perfect description. The 18-year-old has already been racing for a decade, first in karts (he won two British Endurance championships and impressed in a clutch of global events) and now at the wheel of a Ginetta G56 GT4 Evo coupé in the GT Cup Championship.

"I'm racing with Innovation Racing," says Bryn. "We missed the first two rounds but then everything came good and we made the next two at Snetterton, where I won the endurance race and came second in the sprint. That result put us second in class and me fifth overall in the championship. Everything's in place for Donington on 26-28 June. Beyond that, to continue my championship hunt I need sponsors to come forward! Racing at Le Mans is my ultimate goal. I want to win all the major 24-hour races and as many as I can in one year."

It is, of course, only right that Bryn has a car worthy of his chosen career. I had assumed his Mercedes-Benz A-Class, in which he had arrived at the car meet where I met him, was an AMG A45. In fact, turns out it's a regular A160 AMG Line with a few boy-racer upgrades.

"I've added a front splitter, a rear wing and some black winglets to the rear bumper," Bryn tells me. "I've also wrapped the roof in fake carbonfibre and blacked the standard AMG Line rims. I've not tried to make it look like something it isn't, though. Compared with the A45, it looks very different."

Bryn bought this 2016 model a year ago. Then it was showing 30,000 miles. Today the odometer is displaying a thumping 75,000.

"As a racing driver, I travel a lot," he explains. "However, in standard trim the car's 1.6-litre turbo engine only produces around 100bhp, which is very poor, so I had it tuned."

And some. In fact, if Bryn is to be believed, the four-pot now makes 220bhp, courtesy of a remap and assorted upgrades – yet "it still returns 42mpg with a light foot".

It leads me to the question of insurance. Insurers are wary of young drivers and will run to the hills at the word 'modification'. However, Bryn claims that, even with its upgrades, his A160 costs less to insure than a modest Ford.

"I've always been a Mercedes fan, but to begin with I was looking at Fiestas," he says. "However, I was quoted a stupid price for insuring a standard model. Then one of my sponsors said they had this A160 hanging round and why didn't I get an insurance quote for it. It turned out to be around two-thirds of the price I was being quoted for the Fiesta: £1800 compared with £2500. That was without a black box, too. With all the travelling I do and the hours I drive, a black box just isn't appropriate."

Bryn's A160 is pristine (he has a side hustle as a mobile valeter) and clearly fun to drive, but he covets another car: his mate's BMW M135i.

"Whenever he decides to sell, I'll be first in the queue," he says. Until then, the A160 and G56 will have to remain his means to racing success.

Bombshell quotes and broken promises: Inside Seat's 15-year downfall

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 05:00:00 +0100

Planned closure comes as a shock, but the writing has long been on the wall for the Spanish brand

'Seat faces final survival bid,' read an Autocar headline in May 2010. Just eight months into his tenure as CEO, James Muir was outlining what he called a "last attempt" to save the brand.

This was in an era of unstoppable growth, expansion and success for the Volkswagen Group (VWG), but Seat was the black sheep of the group as its most unprofitable brand.

The 'Cupra version of everything' plan of the 2000s had failed and a subsequent plan to rebadge old Audis as Seats, starting with the Exeo, was as short-lived as it was short-term in its outlook.

At the time, Seat's Martorell factory, long considered its greatest asset, was running at just 60% efficiency and annual sales were less than half of VWG's target of 800,000.

"If one would want to get rid of Seat, one would have to pay the other party money to take it," was Muir's take.

Muir's comments were made to a group of business wire reporters in Germany. Your correspondent was due to be part of a roundtable later that day with Muir, but that was cancelled following his bombshell quotes in an attempt to limit the fallout.

It started somewhat of a personal connection to this story, which looks to have entered its final chapter with the news that Seat will finally be shuttered as part of VWG's wide-ranging cost-cutting measures, Cupra then becoming its sole Spanish outpost.

Even with a no-show that night in Germany, Muir was one of the most quotable executives of any era, and his plan was no secret: boost Martorell production by opening to other brands' models, such as the Audi Q3, then reinvigorate the Seat product line-up starting with the next-generation Leon family.

We would finally get in front of Muir at the launch of the new Leon in November 2012, where he confirmed plans for the Ateca, a future Autocar class-leader in the booming family SUV segment. It was expected to add around 100,000 sales to Seat and it did just that, allowing the brand to top 500,000 units by the end of the decade, when it had been joined by the smaller Arona SUV too.

In that chat in Barcelona, Muir was again on punchy form: he recounted an inter-brand battle between whether the Leon or Audi A3 would get LED headlights first, at a time when all the related MQB models fought hard to have their own distinct features. I forget exactly what Muir said about Audi trying to get the technology first when it was already agreed to go to Seat, but it contained a four-letter word beginning with 'F'. His PR minder did well to keep a lid on that one.

More insight into VWG workings came at a design night to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Ibiza in July 2014. New CEO Jürgen Stackmann, a steady hand who posted incremental growth for Seat in his tenure from 2013-2015, outlined how the next Ibiza in 2017 would capitalise on the stability the Leon had brought to the brand. But the headlines that night were all about Bentley, as former Seat designers Walter de Silva and Luc Donckerwolke, now in senior VWG design roles elsewhere, seemed far more keen to discuss the upcoming Bentayga SUV and how they had 'solved' the awkward concept design for production.

Such sideshows gave the impression that thoughts were always elsewhere for VWG when it came to Seat - but also that it had a rich track record for developing talent not just in design but in leaders. And so it proved in Seat's next era, from 2015-2020 under Luca de Meo, who fired the starting gun on Cupra as a standalone brand that has ultimately led to Seat's demise.

De Meo's deft touch in product, seen earlier in his career with the Fiat 500 and since with his turnaround at Renault spearheaded by the 5, had him attacking Seat's profitability and volume problem with not just more attractive and desirable new cars but a new brand.

While Seat's sales had grown from the low 300,000s to more than 500,000 in the decade since 2010, the growth was only in line with the increase in model range and was well short of Muir's long-term target. Seat was stuck in the mid-market, and de Meo was open in describing the profitability challenge facing the brand, whereas Cupra had far greater earning potential, even if the new logo looked a bit naff.

No all-new Seat model has been launched since Cupra's first standalone model, the Formentor, arrived in late 2020 (although among the Cupras is a rebadged Audi, the Terramar. Heard that before?). What should have been the Seat El-Born (below) became the Cupra Born at a similar time, due to the greater price that a Cupra model could command – another clue as to what was to come.

De Meo headed to Renault just before the Formentor’s launch and handed over to sales and marketing boss Wayne Griffiths, who was straight away dealing with questions on Seat's future.

At the 2021 Munich motor show, the first time the industry really came together after Covid, Griffiths told me that "Seat will exist in 50 years' time", but even then the quotes were qualified with talk of perhaps as a mobility company (whatever that means: it's still a phrase that no car company executive has successfully articulated).

Two years later at the same show, Seat chairman Thomas Schäfer told me: "The future of Seat is Cupra." As all good stories and headlines do, it caused a stir (I’m told even the king of Spain wanted to know what was going on), but it was categoric and he definitely meant Seat as a car brand, not a holding company.

It got a bit weird when a LinkedIn post later that very week from Schäfer (see below) referenced “inaccurate reports in some media” about the strength of Seat. This felt quite pointed at the time, but with enough water under the bridge three years on, his post now reads a generic, carefully worded non-denial with some more mobility vapourware, particularly in the context of Seat’s strength rather than its future. I probably shouldn’t have taken it so personally.

This period did culminate in Griffiths sitting down with me in London the following May, playing a video from the recent annual conference that showed Seat models being crushed and then reborn. It was made clear to me that my story had played a role in the commissioning process. But your boss said it, Mr Griffiths... He left the company a few months later and now has his own gin brand.

And here we are today: Seat is set to be phased out by the end of this decade as a car brand, fully absorbed by Cupra. Last year, Cupra sales surpassed Seat sales for the first time – unsurprising given the model range of one has shot up as the other has declined.

Even so, Cupra hasn't yet transformed Martorell's fortunes: combined annual sales for the two brands sit below 600,000. Profitability had improved through 2024 but collapsed in 2025 before showing signs of recovery so far this year.

On the face of it, I can't help but think the problem simply seems to have been moved elsewhere.

Ingenium to electric: JLR's engine factory is now an EV powerhouse

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 05:00:00 +0100

JLR invested £356 million to convert its Wolverhampton factory to EVs, and now it's up to speed

A boast about production speed during our visit to Jaguar Land Rover’s overhauled propulsion plant was a nice reminder that car companies aren’t just competitive about their product.

JLR’s former Engine Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton changed its name to the Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre in 2024 to reflect its £356 million investment to build electric motor/gearbox units and assemble battery packs.

Even before JLR’s second generation EVs go on sale – led by the new Range Rover Electric – the plant reckons it holds the UK speed record for building combined motor/gearbox/invertor units in the UK at 95 jobs per hour.

It’s perhaps an indictment on the UK’s slowness to embrace electric car manufacturing that Wolverhampton only has one serious competitor to beat: Ford’s combined gearbox and electric drive unit factory in Halewood, Merseyside, which supplies both the Puma and Transit plants.

The shift to electric made by both JLR in Wolverhampton and Ford at Halewood is crucial for car companies to maintain jobs in the less glamorous but still vital engine and gearbox manufacturing facilities.

The skill sets are quite similar. The electric drive unit housing is needs to be created from essentially a lump of metal, much like engines or gearboxes. “The machining line is very similar to that for an ICE block,” Richard Weaver, head of propulsion assembly at Wolverhampton, told us. They transitioned existing CNC machines for the new task.

The hall for making the drive units used to build four-cylinder diesel engines. They, along with the six-cylinder Ingenium engines are still made on site but this electric hall represents the future for Wolverhampton while still retaining the flexibility to adjust to whatever speed that future arrives at.

The level of precision needed to build the electric motors and transmissions for the Range Rover Electric, new Range Rover GT, Jaguar Type 01 and the smaller Defender ‘Sport’ is a big step up from combustion engines. Tolerance levels can’t exceed 80 microns (about the thickness of a human hair), vs around 120 microns for combustion engines, Weaver said. Nothing can be allow to contaminate the final product. “Cleanliness is another level,” Weaver added.

The factory builds the permanent magnet motors from scratch, including winding the copper coils in the stators. These are beefy too, supplying up to 348bhp each in the Range Rover Electric, more than double that the 167bhp units built for the Ford Puma and Transit further north.

Quality is key. “We have more quality checks here than anywhere,” Weaver said. Only the invertors are bought in, just as they are at Ford in Halewood.

That speed means that the electric drive unit line has the capacity to make 419,000 a year, which sounds a lot until you realise each Land Rover and Jaguar product needs two per car to make them four-wheel-drive.

The battery module and pack lines are currently running at one shift to package the cells for all JLR’s new EVs (PHEV packs and EDUs are assembled at JLR’s Hams Hall plant). There’s more staff here at 400 per shift against 66 for the more automated EDU line.

The pack (weighing 736kg for EMA platform cars like the GT) sits in an aluminium frame weighing 80kg. These are weighty because there’s a lot of cells, up to 138kWh for the MLA platform used by the Range Rover and 127kWh for the JEA Jaguar platform.

The cells don’t come from the UK – yet. Currently they are supplied by AESC from China rather than the company’s plant in Sunderland, but next year all going to plan they’ll be sourced from JLR parent Tata’s battery company Agratas at its new facility in Somerset.

In total at Wolverhampton JLR has added 13 battery and electric drive unit manufacturing lines, supported by five and half miles of conveyors.

The Wolverhampton investment is good to see at a time when so much UK automotive manufacturing is playing a wait and see game, on legislation, pricing, competition, EV take-up and everything else. Nissan for example has reportedly cancelled a planned electric drive unit facility at its Sunderland facility that was to be built by its subsidiary JATCO.

Car companies are under huge pressure to cut costs to match the Chinese on costs and that means sourcing parts as cheap as possible.

JLR also faces cost pressures of its own as it juggles rapidly shifting demand globally, but repurposing its Wolverhampton facility for its EV powertrains both retains jobs, gives it control over crucial componentry and keeps local content for its models high, which helps when the UK next has to negotiate trade deals with countries anxious not to be helping a third country.

Volkswagen ID Polo: the electric supermini we've been waiting for

Wed, 9 Sep 2026 11:31:42 +0100

Electric supermini is intended as a practical, affordable and fun-to-drive alternative to the hot-cakes Renault 5 We've already driven Volkswagen's new ID Polo in pre-production form, but this is our first go in the finished article. It squares up to the hot-selling Renault 5 with a starting price of £22,445 (Electric Car Grant included) and class-leading 282-mile range.And while it shares its MEB+ underpinnings with the Cupra Raval, it has a Wolfsburg-specific suspension set-up and a new, more analogue interior. In more ways than one, then, this represents a new direction for electric VWs. The question is: is it the right one?

Nissan Pixo: new electric city car to be unveiled this month

Wed, 9 Sep 2026 09:21:06 +0100

New entry-level EV will be based on Renault Twingo and unveiled on 23 September

Nissan will revive the Pixo name for its new city car, which will be unveiled later this month and positioned below the Micra as the entry point to its electric line-up.

The new A-segment EV will be based on Alliance partner Renault’s Twingo and will be built by the French firm alongside that model. It is part of an agreement between the two firms that also includes the new Micra, which is a reworked version of the Renault 5.

Previewed by a short teaser video, the new Pixo will be revealed in full on 23 September and Nissan has claimed it will "bring fresh, fun character to the compact EV segment".

Nissan added that the new Pixo was "created for modern urban life" and will combine "compact dimensions with intuitive technology and distinctive Nissan design".

While no technical details have been disclosed, its spec is likely to be identical to the Twingo's, featuring an 80bhp front-mounted electric motor powered by a 27.5kW battery for a range of around 155 miles. As with the Micra, it is expected to be a close match for its Renault sibling on price too, meaning a likely starting price of £17,000.

Nissan had hinted that it would use an established nameplate for the new city car and previous reports had suggested the firm was leaning towards Wave. However, Pixo has some heritage in Europe, having been used for a reworked version of the Indian-market Suzuki Alto that was sold in the UK from 2009 until 2013. At the time, it was one of the cheapest cars on sale in the UK, priced from £5995.

Autocar has previously been told that new model will channel the 1980s design spirit of Nissan's Pike retro cars, something backed up by the preview video's retro arcade game aesthetic.

The new Pixo will be the entry point to Nissan's growing European EV line-up, which also includes the Micra, the new Leaf and the larger Ariya.

The ultimate EV bargain? Grab a Nissan Leaf from just £3500

Wed, 9 Sep 2026 07:00:00 +0100

The Nissan Leaf may not tug at the heartstrings but it is a dependable and practical family hatchback

The second-generation Nissan Leaf had big boots to fill.

Not literally, being a 4.5m-long family hatch in the vein of the Volkswagen Golf, but certainly figuratively: its forebear had been a visionary electric vehicle at the cutting edge of battery-powered car tech and was instrumental in helping to move EVs into the mainstream.

The Mk2, launched in 2018, was not quite so innovative in its conception. But it improved on the Mk1 Leaf in every single way, from the sleek exterior and more comfortable cabin to the chemistry underneath, which allowed for a real-world range of 200 miles.

There's now a freshly launched Mk3 and it's much more advanced again, but that has helped to make used Mk2 prices even more eye-catching: they start at £3500 and rise to around £15,000 - far less than any new full-sized EV alternative.

It's no less practical, either. The 435-litre boot is significantly larger than a Volkswagen ID 3's, making it a capable family load-lugger, although rear leg and head room are slightly compromised by the battery placement beneath the floor. It's also worth noting that pre-2020 cars lack reach adjustment for the steering wheel, an ergonomic demerit for taller drivers.

The dashboard design is refreshingly straightforward, though, eschewing the minimalist, screen-heavy approach of newer rivals in favour of physical buttons for the climate controls. A 7in infotainment screen (later upgraded to 8in) handles navigation and media duties; it feels a bit dated and slow by modern standards, but it is incredibly simple to operate on the move. An e-Golf has a nicer interior, but a far shorter range.

Speaking of range, most Leafs offer an official 170 miles from a 40/39kWh (total/usable capacity) battery. Expect closer to 150 miles in the real world, or less on the motorway or on a cold day. If you're going longer distances, the Leaf can accept up to 50kW through a Chademo public charger, which are getting rarer.

Unless you are using a Leaf as a station car or for the school run, we would recommend the longer-legged 'e+' model, which has a 62/59kWh battery for an official 239-mile range, or around 200 miles in the real world. It can also charge more quickly, at 100kW, for a 20-80% refill in less than an hour - still through a Chademo plug.

Both battery options are pretty efficient by modern EV standards, though, so they're very cheap to run if you're charging from home via a three-pin socket or wallbox.

The Leaf is a fine urban companion. Smooth, remarkably quiet and exceptionally easy to drive, it is at its best trundling around town. But on the open road it remains perfectly competent. Its suspension is set up to deliver comfort rather than handling thrills, yet even if you do push on it remains neutral and easy to gauge on a meandering road.

Acceleration is typical of an EV - brisk and instantaneous from a standstill, but tailing off quickly at motorway speeds. The 214bhp e+ is better in that respect than the 148bhp standard model and quick off the mark (0-62mph takes 6.9sec).

In a world full of new EVs, especially larger crossovers, it's easy to forget one of the original pioneers. But unless you need a longer range and quicker charges on the go, a used Leaf is an excellent choice, especially given its strong reliability record and very affordable prices.

An owner's view

Mark Christie: "I bought my 2019 Leaf Tekna in September last year. It had only done 12,000 miles and was in like-new condition, complete with new-car smell and no notable battery degradation. I've since doubled that mileage figure and it has become one of my favourite cars I have owned. It hasn't caused me any problems and remains really cheap to run. When on a long journey, I still don't have too much trouble finding a Chademo charger."

Buyer beware...

Battery: Longevity has proven vastly superior to the original but, because the Leaf lacks active liquid cooling, the battery can get hot during repeated fast charging, which will degrade its capacity. Use the dashboard graphic to check battery health bars or plug in an OBD2 scanner with the LeafSpy app to get a definitive look at the battery's state of health (SOH).

Suspension: Water can collect in the front strut tops, which can lead to premature rust on the suspension components. Inspect this area for standing water or corrosion and get it as clean and dry as possible. Apply lithium grease yearly to repel water.

Charging: If you will be relying on public chargers, ensure you can still find a Chademo connector locally before taking the plunge - or buy a CCS adapter from a reputable maker online for roughly £500.

Also worth knowing

Standard equipment is generous across the entire range. Base Acenta trim includes a leather-wrapped steering wheel, air conditioning, automatic lights with high-beam assistance, automatic wipers and adaptive cruise control. You also get a 7in infotainment touchscreen with a DAB radio, a reversing camera and wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

N-Connecta trim adds tinted rear windows, a 360deg camera, electric folding mirrors and a gloss black B-pillar. Inside, there's synthetic leather and cloth upholstery, gloss black interior trim, heated seats, heated steering wheel and automatic climate control.

Top-tier Tekna models add a Bose sound system and ProPilot driver assistance features, like automated stopping and starting in heavy traffic and automated steering. It will also park itself. As for running costs, annual VED is just £200, while insurance groups range between 21 and 28. Servicing is required every 18,000 miles. Every Leaf's battery is covered by an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty.

How much to spend

£3500-£5499: High-mileage (100,000-plus) cars, most with the smaller 39kWh battery. Many will have been frequently rapid-charged, so it's important to check the battery's SoH before buying.

£5500-£7999: Clean 39kWh Tekna models with average mileages are readily available in this bracket, beside some 59kWh e+ variants.

£8000-£11,999: Post-2022 facelifted cars with refreshed Nissan badging and updated grilles, as well as some very little-used pre-facelift cars.

£12,000-£15,000: Late-2023 and 2024 cars with super-low mileages, representing a massive saving over the original as-new list prices.

Cupra Formentor VZ5

Wed, 9 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0100

Facelifted crossover hits the UK with some five-cylinder fire in its belly The Cupra Formentor VZ5 has been one of the most tantalising will-it-won’t-it cars of the past few years.We have always liked the Formentor. Ostensibly just a higher-riding, slightly alternative Leon estate, in the right spec it has offered an effortlessly compelling blend of real-world practicality, some luxury and an engaging driving experience.The VZ5 adds a truly special powerplant in the form of Audi’s five-cylinder engine, which should have been the cherry on top. However, it has for years remained a left-hand-drive-only proposition that wasn’t available on our shores.That always seemed odd to us, since the MQB platform the Formentor shares with the Audi RS3 is clearly geared up for right-hand drive, and since British buyers generally worship hot hatches and hot hatch-adjacent crossovers.Now the Formentor has been facelifted and that injustice has been redressed. There’s finally a right-hand-drive version on sale in this country. The VZ5 is limited to 4000 units, of which only 250 are bound for the UK, though we wouldn’t be surprised if a few more end up over here. So was it worth the wait?

SUV sales soar as cheap Chinese crossovers fuel growth

Wed, 9 Sep 2026 05:00:00 +0100

Qashqai shockwave continues to reverberate, and likes of Jaecoo 7 make an estate comeback unlikely

Car makers have a tough time planning future models, what with changing legislation, hot-cold-hot-again EV uptake and plummeting cost targets. But one thing they can say for certain is that, whatever powertrain gets used, the car probably needs to be an SUV. Especially in the UK.

SUV sales have been on the climb for years now and show no signs of stopping. An Autocar analysis of SMMT data shows that two out of three models sold so far this year were SUVs. Their July share was even higher, at 68%.

This won't surprise anyone making a cursory analysis of the country's campsites, festival car parks or traffic jams this summer especially if you drive something lower. The charts reveal the same thing: the top seven best-selling cars in the UK for July were all SUVs, led by the Ford Puma.

An SUV shape is far from ideal in many ways. Taller means more drag, higher fuel consumption (whether electric or fossil), more weight and compromised handling. But it's too late: the SUV is here to stay. The improvements to all those negatives have to be made within the parameters of the SUV shape or risk losing customers.

The British invented the leisure off-roader and the Japanese brought them on down the road to create the modern SUV with the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V; then Nissan reduced the compromises to negligible with the Qashqai.

Now the Chinese are making them accessible like never before. Brands like Jaecoo, MG, Leapmotor and Geely are busy hoovering up customers whose budget might have otherwise restricted them to something small and low. To the end of July, a whopping 81% of all Chinese cars sold in the UK were SUVs, according to our analysis of the figures.

What defines an SUV is arguable. Some are angular, others are slippery. We reckon it means anything with a bit more height and a tad more swagger. The SMMT's "dual-purpose" definition is too limited these days, excluding the Qashqai but including the Jaecoo 7.

How far can the SUV takeover go? Sales of traditional family hatchbacks are plummeting as brands either deprioritise them or, like Ford with the Focus, exit them altogether.

The market for bigger low-slung models once dominated by the Vauxhall Vectra and Ford Mondeo has shrunk to almost nothing. The same goes for their premium equivalents. Only small hatchbacks - currently accounting for around one in 10 sales, led by the Vauxhall Corsa - are maintaining their value-stiffened fortress against the onslaught.

Top tips for happy EV ownership - from an electric car veteran

Wed, 9 Sep 2026 05:00:00 +0100

What to buy, what to avoid – and how to make money from solar panels. What years of EV motoring have taught me

EV ownership is a way of life for some but a mystery to others. I took the plunge five years ago and I'm a certified convert: not only does electrification make for a plesant (and completely different) drive, it has also opened up new opportunities, such as making money from the grid.

If you're considering making the switch to an EV or you're simply looking to optimise your ownership experience, here are 10 of my top tips as an expert.

Don't buy more battery than you need

Since I took the plunge into EV ownership in 2021 with a Kia e-Niro, the rapid charging network has improved out of all recognition.

Depending on your 'use case', you don’t necessarily need an EV with a massive battery and the range of your outgoing diesel to do long trips, just a decent charging network.

For me, with the e-Niro’s 64kWh battery and range of around 260 miles, occasional 700 mile round trips with a couple of coffee-and-charge stops each way works out fine.

The battery represents maybe 25-35% of the total value of an EV, so it’s not worth buying battery capacity you rarely use.

That said, an upgrade to a Kia EV3 brings an 81kWh battery and a range of 360 miles plus, making life even easier on long trips. Progress.

Looking for an EV? These are the best electric cars on sale today

When to charge?

As a rule of thumb, I avoid running the battery to less than 20% charge. First off, it’s good for the battery, and on a longer road trip in unfamiliar territory I aim at more for wiggle room in choosing where to charge.

I’ve also experienced my old e-Niro shouting dire 'low battery state' warnings at me and experienced the available range evaporating before my eyes below that point.

Which chargers to use

If you’re on a road trip, DC rapid chargers are the way to go.

Compared with my e-Niro, the new EV3 charges far quicker, gaining more than 200 miles of range in 30 minutes.

I like to navigate with Google or Apple Maps and, if it’s a new route, use Zapmap to scope out charging stops, but some might prefer EVs' built-in sat-navs, which recommend chargers along the route related to remaining range.

Many new EVs use that navigation data to pre-condition the battery temperature for the optimum charging speed, too.

At home, a 7kW 'wallbox' charger gives around 25-30 miles per hour and a 13-amp 'granny charger' about 10 miles per hour.

Most energy providers have off-peak tariff deals for the early hours; I mostly charge for five hours at 8.12p per kWh.

Assuming you’re able to charge at home, slower is better for most batteries (especially older tech), and it’s cheap.

Charging with solar

In 2022 I invested in a solar system that's officially rated at 5kW. It’s a hybrid system with just under 10kWh of battery storage, the idea being that solar energy supplies the house during daylight hours and stores excess in the batteries.

On a clear summer day, the battery is charged by midday. I like fuelling the e-Niro with sunshine using a 3kW granny charger rather than a 7kW wallbox and ‘free’ excess solar energy without drawing from the grid.

Beat the energy crisis: my ultimate EV home-charging set-up

How to make money from the grid

Energy suppliers have export tariffs for certified solar system users. Any excess solar power that the car or house can’t use is automatically exported to the grid, and you get paid for it.

My Outgoing Octopus tariff pays 12p per kWh, compared with 28.44p for the Octopus Go day rate and 8.21p for the night rate.

I know what you’re thinking: it would actually pay to charge exclusively at night and let the solar export when it can. But where’s the fun in that?

How to drive efficiently

The same economy rules apply to both combustion-engined cars and EVs: it’s all energy, so heavy throttle use, hard acceleration and cruising at high speeds on the motorway will consume more fuel, whether that's petrol, diesel or electricity.

I prefer the normal drive mode, using the throttle judiciously and making good use of the regenerative braking. The e-Niro has paddles for controlling regenerative braking force, and I tinker with them using more on slower roads and less in high-speed cruising. I haven’t any way of measuring whether I gain anything in efficiency terms, but it feels good and it’s a kind of engagement that’s unique to EVs.

Warranty

The majority of major brands give a seven- or eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty on the expensive bit, the high-voltage battery (or more in the case of BYD and its Blade battery) so there’s not much to worry about here.

How long should I keep it?

Most people buying new EVs will use finance, so the problem is solved if you chop it in at the end of a PCP period. But I chose to extend my PCP deal then buy my e-Niro outright.

It had the usual Kia seven-year/100,000 mile warranty on the battery and I planned to run it indefinitely. But an electrical system error that may have been something or nothing put me off and with a good offer for it on trade-in, warts and all, meant I recently swapped into an EV3. I’d chickened out despite there being three years left on the warranty, and part of me regrets that now.

Maintenance

There’s no need to worry too much, as there’s not much to go wrong.

That doesn’t mean main-dealer servicing is cheap, though, so it’s worth checking out service packages if buying new.

Rear discs tend to go rusty sooner than on an ICE car, because, thanks to regenerative braking, the mechanical brakes’ friction surfaces do much less work.

The mighty torque of an electric motor means front tyres on front-wheel-drive cars can wear a bit faster than you expect, but that depends a bit on driving style.

Buying a banger

EVs have been around for a while now, so what about buying used? The main thing to consider is the battery condition.

For EV driving on the cheap, there’s a bit of a following for first-generation Nissan Leafs, and I bought one as a second car for local driving, with its modest 24kWh air-cooled battery and 85-mile range.

It’s possible to check battery condition by the number of bars on the condition gauge or by using an OBD scanner with an app called Leaf Spy.

There are plenty of other brands to choose from, and for a small runabout a Renault Zoe can be had for peanuts or a Volkswagen e-Up for less than £10,000.

Dacia Spring reinvented as sub-£18k EV with 155-mile range

Tue, 8 Sep 2026 05:00:00 +0100

Second-generation Spring leads new model push that will also bring an electric Sandero

Dacia has reinvented its Spring city car as a value-focused Renault Twingo sibling with four seats, a range of 155 miles and a price that will make it one of the UK's cheapest cars.

The Romanian brand's answer to the upcoming Citroën 2CV has gone from conception to production in just 16 months - quicker than any Renault Group model yet. It is the first of four new EVs that Dacia will launch by 2030, at a rate of around one per year.

A new-generation Sandero with the option of electric power is among those four, and EV equivalents to the Duster and Bigster are likely. But brand CEO Katrin Adt told Autocar that the new Spring is arriving first because it is "exactly the right moment" for Dacia to double down on the city car segment.

The outgoing Spring has sold more than 210,000 units in Europe in just five years, and while Adt declined to give a precise volume ambition for the new car, she said "there is a place for us to be successful" with the Mk2. "We built up that market," she added. "We were number one in the A-segment last year with an electric car, and now we have a product that is even better-priced and which corresponds even more to customer needs."

Adt said declining demand for new cars in Europe is reflective of the fact that "cars are getting too expensive", which stokes the need for a resurgence of small, affordable hatchbacks in the vein of the Spring.

To that end, when the Spring lands in the UK in the first half of next year, prices are initially set to start at just below £18,000. However, given that it will be built in Slovenia alongside the Twingo, it could be eligible for a £3750 discount under the Electric Car Grant scheme, which would bring it down nearer to £14,000.

It will come with just one powertrain, combining a 27.5kWh battery with a 79bhp front-mounted motor for 0-62mph in 12.1sec and 155 miles of WLTP-certified range. That's enough to meet "the real needs of customers", according to Dacia, referencing the fact that the average Spring owner travels just 13 miles a day, at an average of 13mph usually using the supermini as a second car. The vast majority (75%) also plug in at home, which makes the new Spring's maximum charging speed of 50kW less inhibitive.

Occupying roughly the same footprint as the Twingo, the Spring is 3850mm long, 1740mm wide and 1490mm tall. That makes it significantly larger in all respects than its predecessor, and its chunky bumpers, swollen arches and bluff proportions give it what Dacia design boss David Durand calls a "tough, well-balanced stance".

He told Autocar that when designing the city car, "the challenge was to make it tougher than the previous Spring". He acknowledged the commercial success of the outgoing car, but said it would have had even more success "with better proportions - it was a bit narrow, with small wheels".

Moving the second-generation car onto a larger, EV-oriented platform allowed Durand to "express the good Dacia proportions". He highlighted the design cues that set the Spring apart from its French sibling.

"The Twingo is a smiling, round car with funky-pop colours," he said. "We are the more modern, serious, chunky little electric car."

In particular, Durand highlighted the extra 60mm of rear overhang in the Spring, which gives it a beefier rear end while maximising space in the back seat and boot - important because the Dacia forgoes the Twingo's sliding rear bench.

Nonetheless, with 337 litres of load capacity - including an underfloor tray the Spring's boot is almost as big as that of the larger Renault 5 and, unlike the Twingo, it has a small, 18-litre frunk, enabled partly by its higher-set, flatter-fronted bonnet.

All bodywork below the window line is bespoke to the Spring, as is much of the interior-down to the trademark hexagonal air vents and YouClip mounting points for the installation of various Dacia accessories, including phone charger stays, bag hooks and extra cupholders. The entry-level Expression car comes with a smartphone mount in place of an infotainment display, while top-spec Journey adds a 10.1in touchscreen.

The new Spring will be a notably more capable car than the outgoing model in its power, range, tech and interior space. However, its expected price of just under £18,000 is significantly higher than the outgoing car's £11,990 (or £12,990 with a 100bhp motor). Even if the new Spring receives a full £3750 discount through the Electric Car Grant, it will give up its position as the UK's cheapest new car to the £12,995 Leapmotor T03.

Q&A: Katrin Adt, CEO, Dacia

Is it challenging to embody Dacia’s rugged, outdoors values in a tiny city car?

“It might be less ‘outdoor’ in its usage, but if you look at our line-up, there are cars which have more of some brand values than others, and I guess a car in the A-segment cannot be as ‘outdoor’ as a Bigster 4x4. But you see those attributes also, and you see the design language, which is very consistent.”

Can you make a profit on a small electric car like this?

“We would only do projects where we are profitable because otherwise our business model would not be sustainable. This is not good for our customers, either. We use the Dacia recipe to be profitable: this is first and foremost to concentrate on what is essential for customers and to deprioritise everything else.”

How could regulators make it easier for you to build cars like this?

“We have fulfilled around 100 [safety and emissions] regulations so far, and we still have another 107 regulations to fulfil by the end of the decade – 25% of our R&D budget and 25% of our engineers are allocated to that. The question is: is that exactly what the customer needs and wants? Because the most used button in our cars is the so-called ‘magic button’ where you can switch off all the beeps. So we have asked the European Commission – together with other manufacturers – to have a regulation freeze on small cars to get a chance to offer more affordable mobility.”

So is this as close as you can get to building the Hipster microcar, for now?

“Stay tuned…”

BMW 3 Series M350 brings 437bhp straight six – and drift mode

Mon, 7 Sep 2026 23:01:00 +0100

Replacement for the M340i keeps its 3.0-litre straight six but puts out 50bhp and 30lb ft more

The range-topping M350 derivative of the next-generation BMW 3 Series will be significantly more powerful than its M340i predecessor – and it will offer a drift mode for the first time.

Aside from the M3, it will be the only derivative of the 3 Series available with the signature turbocharged 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder engine, BMW said. It will put out 437bhp and 428lb ft, increases of 50bhp and 30lb ft respectively.

Drive will be sent to all four wheels via the familiar eight-speed automatic gearbox, giving a 0-62mph sprint time of 4.1sec – 0.6sec behind the outgoing M3. It will top out at 155mph.

The addition of a drift mode to the M350 marks a first: the mode was previously exclusive to full-fat M models, such as the M3. The setting sends all of the car’s drive to its rear wheels to more easily muster a slide. However, it will not be available at launch, instead coming as part of a software update due next year.

The M350 will ride on steel suspension as standard, although two types of adaptive damper – one tuned for comfort and the other stiffer, with M branding – will be offered as optional extras. There will also be a staggered sports tyre set-up, with 245mm-wide rubber at the front and 275s at the rear.

The first examples of the new combustion-engined 3 Series will go on sale later this year, following the electric i3. UK deliveries are likely to begin in early 2027.

BMW has yet to confirm whether it will offer a high-performance diesel in a similar vein to the previous M340d. Given the waning popularity of diesel-engined models, as well as the impending arrival of stricter Euro 7 emissions rules, it is unlikely to return. Indeed, the removal of the 'i' suffix on the model badge that previously designated a petrol engine – with 'd' for diesel – suggests the option may already be gone.

Other combustion-engined 3 Series will receive four-cylinder engines. These are expected to be updated versions of the ‘B48’ and ‘B47’ petrol and diesel powerplants offered in the outgoing 3 Series.

The next-generation BMW M3 is due to arrive next year, and, like the regular 3 Series, it will be offered with both petrol and electric power. BMW M boss Frank van Meel recently told Autocar the new EV was the petrol car's "own natural enemy", claiming its quad-motor powertrain will create new opportunities for dynamics.