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VW Golf dropping diesel is a blow – but EVs can go the distance now

Wed, 1 Jul 2026 04:00:00 +0100

Diesel engines were revered for mega-mileage potential, but they're a niche case now

Diesel was long the fuel of choice for big MPG motorway work, but it's losing its place in the world

The eternal straw man argument around electric car reticence is that hypothetical scenario wherein someone might have to leave the house at the drop of a hat and whizz 600 miles to the tip of the country without stopping.

"Could an EV do that? No, didn't think so," argue the sceptics, who so often cite the unparalleled long-distance credentials of their old diesel smoker as the reason they could never make the switch to an EV that might require several charge stops on such a voyage. "My Peugeot 406 HDi does 60mpg and 800 miles to a tank," they coo. "Try that with your Elroq."

To be sure, for a long time it was a convincing argument (irrespective of the fact that the average UK motorist drives only around 115 miles a week) simply because EVs charged too slowly and there weren't enough chargers to make such journeys possible.

But – as perhaps best represented by the axing of the best-selling Volkswagen Golf diesel – the tide is well and truly turning. There are now nearly 30,000 rapid EV chargers across the country, which are capable of adding meaningful mileage in just a few minutes – and given the exorbitant cost of filling a massive diesel tank in 2026, even the cost argument is dissipating.

Plus there is an increasing number of EVs that have the legs to rival diesel for non-stop motorway-bashing ability – the latest Mercedes, BMW and Volvo EVs being among those that can officially crack 500 miles on a charge.

That's without considering the wide array of plug-in hybrids now on offer that can return 600-700 miles with a full battery and tank. Try driving even half that without stopping for a 'comfort break'.

Don't get me wrong – I'm a huge diesel apologist myself, having owned and thoroughly enjoyed all manner of old oil-burning smokers. Diesel had its place, for sure, and for many it will remain the most logical powertrain choice for years to come (not least because old derv lumps like the VW PD130 and Peugeot XUD are so reliable that they won't need replacing for decades), but as EV technology and infrastructure continue to improve, the argument for supping from the black pump weakens by the day.

Is it any surprise, then, that the flag-bearer has fallen; that Volkswagen has finally pulled the best-selling Golf diesel from sale in the UK? Perhaps not.

Diesel's demise nears as Volkswagen axes diesel Golf after 50 years

Wed, 1 Jul 2026 03:00:00 +0100

Golf was a diesel frontrunner for decades, but the fuel's market share has all but evaporated

The diesel car has moved one step closer to extinction with the announcement that Volkswagen has taken the diesel Golf off sale in the UK.

The Golf was one of the first mainstream cars available with a diesel engine. It was initially offered as a powertrain option in 1976, just two years after the model's launch. For many in the UK, the Golf was the car in which they had their first experience of this initially clattery but undeniably frugal choice of engine.

The Golf was regularly crowned Britain's best-selling diesel. It was a mainstay of the fleet market, where its economy credentials, tax-friendly low CO2 output and (more latterly) punchy performance figures were a hit. More than eight out of 10 new Golfs handed to company car drivers in 2015 were so-called oil-burners.

But now the model is gone for good, its maker told Autocar in a statement. "Volkswagen UK continually evaluates customer demand and in this case has chosen to focus on increased petrol and upcoming hybrid powertrains for the ever-popular Golf model," it said.

Volkswagen arguably sparked the decline of diesel when the emissions-cheating scandal blew up in late 2015, but the wider Volkswagen Group has never relinquished its diesel lead, accounting for four out of every 10 diesels sold across Europe this year.

The UK, however, was quicker to wave goodbye to diesel than other European countries such as Germany and Italy. Diesels accounted for just 4.8% of UK sales from January to May, dropping another 7% year on year at 44,449 units, according to figures from the SMMT.

The diesel Golf, once the corporate driver's favourite, has accounted for just 5.5% of the model's overall sales in the UK so far this year. As Volkswagen mentioned in its statement, electrified drivetrains have taken diesel's place. The new full-hybrid Golf will arrive in winter to sit alongside mild-hybrid, plug-in hybrid and petrol models.

Diesel has been cast aside, even though the engine will still be available on the continent, where it remains particularly popular with autobahn-storming German buyers.

So what is propping up the diesel market in the UK? The answer is Land Rover. The company now dominates diesel sales here, accounting for 43% of the total in the first five months, according to the SMMT, and taking the top six diesel positions.

Buyers don't have a lot of choice when it comes to the Defender. The cheapest model is a straight-six diesel with good range and decent economy. The plug-in hybrid has more power on paper, but once the smallish 19.2kWh battery runs out of charge, officially after 30 miles, the two-litre petrol engine is doing all the work. Small wonder that Defender PHEV sales are minuscule in comparison, at just 625 units.

Speaking to Autocar, Berlin-based auto analyst Matthias Schmidt said: "PHEVs should theoretically be very large in this sector, but presumably consumers are cottoning on to the fact that for long journeys diesel still leads the way, with real-world ranges well in excess of 1000km [620 miles] possible without plugging in or topping up with traditional fuel, and not just on paper."

PHEVS are improving, though: once JLR upgrades the Defender PHEV, perhaps with the 38kWh battery from the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, diesel sales are likely to go down. UK sales of the Range Rover Sport PHEV, for example, far outweigh those of the diesel, at 3937 versus 2353 to the end of May.

Better electric technology with long ranges and fast fill-ups will increasingly convert diesel holdouts at the top end. Later this year, for example, Land Rover will launch the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport electric models with a 118kWh battery. The new BMW iX5, meanwhile, comes with a whopping 140kWh battery, which lines it up as a viable mile-munching alternative to the old straight-six diesel. A range approaching 400 miles and beyond coupled with sub-15-minute fast charging will be a "game-changer for corporate drivers", said Schmidt.

Diesel is increasingly moving into the rear mirror, hastened by high taxation and the recent jump in fuel prices sparked by the US-Iran conflict that pushed diesel to £1.80 per litre and beyond before easing in recent weeks.

The amount of diesel cars left on the road is still high, at 9.6 million as of the end of 2025, according to government figures. But the numbers are falling: they dropped below 10 million for the first time since 2013 in the first quarter of last year and now account for a 29% share of the total UK car parc, against 38% in 2015.

Diesels are not dead yet, with premium marques including JLR committing to offering the drivetrain in new models. They also live on in passenger vans, which is another tough bodystyle to electrify.

But with the Golf out of the game, diesel is no longer a mainstream choice. It now resides in the niches and will remain there until electric can prove it can take over long-haul duties.

Dacia Spring EV reclaims UK's cheapest car crown at £11,990

Wed, 1 Jul 2026 00:01:00 +0100

Baby hatchback can now be had for £1000 less than the Leapmotor T03 – and £3000 less than the Sandero

Dacia has trimmed the price of its Spring city car to just £11,990 – undercutting the similarly sized Leapmotor T03 to become the UK's cheapest car.

The move comes a day after Leapmotor slashed the entry price of its own tiny EV to £12,995, giving the T03 the cheapest car crown for just 24 hours.

The cheapest Spring, though, is the entry-level Expression model, which with just 70bhp and a range of 140 miles is outpaced and outdistanced by the T03.

The uprated Spring 100, with specs that more closely match the T03, is also priced to match it at £12,990.

The more expensive Spring also adds a 10.1in touchscreen with smartphone mirroring, electric rear windows and a reversing camera over the sparsely equipped standard car.

For reference, the UK's cheapest petrol car is the Dacia Sandero, which starts from £14,765.

Leapmotor's discount comes in the form of a self-titled 'Leap Grant' – a manufacturer-backed alternative to the government-funded Electric Car Grant that certain European-built EVs can claim – which gives a saving of £3000 off the T03's original list price of £16k.

The Spring is also built in China and therefore excluded from the government incentives, which effectively reward local manufacture and low-emission shipping, so Dacia's discounting is likewise self-subsidised.

However, the next-generation Spring, due to be unwrapped in a few months and on sale early next year, will be built in Europe (probably alongside the closely related Renault Twingo in Slovenia) so is more likely to qualify for state incentives.

Lina Ribeiro, Dacia's UK boss, said the discounts have been enabled by "production efficiencies and a strong drive to continue to offer real value to our customers", which "have helped us to pass on the savings".

Land Rover Discovery nears retirement with new Landmark edition

Wed, 1 Jul 2026 00:01:00 +0100

Uniquely specified Discovery Landmark reprises a name used by previous run-out models

Land Rover has revealed a high-spec new edition of the Discovery – which could be the final version of the nine-year-old seven-seater before it comes in for a dramatic reinvention.

The new Landmark model reprises a name previously used for run-out editions of the Discovery 2, 3 and 4 in their final months of production – suggesting that the end could finally be near for the fifth iteration.

The new £76k Landmark – sitting between entry-level S (£70k) and top-link Tempest (£84k) trims – comes in a bespoke shade of Tasman Blue paint that nods to the original Disco 1's Clearwater blue, and is marked out from its range-mates with a raft of bespoke styling cues inside and out.

Standard kit on the Landmark includes a sliding panoramic sunroof and a fridge in the centre console.

All versions come exclusively with the D350 straight-six diesel, the Discovery having dropped all petrol and PHEV powertrain options.

Having been launched in the UK in February 2017, the Discovery is not just JLR's oldest model but also one of the longest-running cars currently on sale in the UK.

Autocar approached JLR for confirmation that the Landmark was a swansong for the current-generation car, but a spokesperson declined to comment on future product plans.

The Discovery 5 was briefly offered in a Landmark trim from 2019-2020, to celebrate the SUV's 30th anniversary.

Details of the nameplate's future remain unconfirmed – with JLR focusing for now on the launch of the upcoming Range Rover Electric, Defender Sport and Velar successor – but the company has hinted at plans to dramatically reposition its big family hauler to differentiate it from the vastly more popular Defender.

Mark Cameron, who leads the Defender and Discovery brands, previously told Autocar: "If you look from a product perspective, Defender came in and sat quite squarely on top of Discovery and cannibalised a lot of that business."

He said JLR was working on "recreating what Discovery stands for", and said the priority was to "make sure it sits in a really unique territory".

A successor model would be likely to use the similarly sized Range Rover's MLA architecture, which can accommodate electric, combustion and hybrid drivetrains – in keeping with JLR's renewed commitment to preserving a multi-powertrain offering across its model lines for the medium term.

Hyundai Ioniq 3 prototype

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 23:01:00 +0100

Hyundai's entry-level electric hatchback is designed and engineered to crack the European market. Will it? Ceci n’est pas un hatchback. According to its maker, at least.The Hyundai Ioniq 3 is also not a traditional supermini, nor a tiny crossover, but rather an ‘aero hatch’, which is to say it’s a low-slung, compact family runaround in the vein of the i20 but with a rakish, wedgy design that seeks to spear through the air as cleanly as possible for maximum cruising efficiency. The latest entrant into Hyundai’s growing family of bespoke electric cars – slotting in below the Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6 and Ioniq 9 – is also its smallest yet, and in many respects the harbinger of a completely new approach for EVs, setting the tone for a new design language, user interface and interior treatment that will ultimately be rolled out across the line-up.It's most easily thought of as an electric alternative to the piston-powered i20 supermini, though the inherent packaging benefits of an EV skateboard platform mean its interior space is more on a par with the larger i30.

Used Renault Clio Renaultsport 2013-2016 review

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 17:00:00 +0100

New Renaultsport hot hatch has sophistication, but can it excite when direct rivals like the Ford Fiesta ST have perfected the formula? Few cars have reigned as class leader for as long as the Renault Clio Renaultsport.Every previous iteration of it has been our hot supermini of choice for a simple reason: each was an enthusiast’s dream.Fast, light, cheap and adjustable, with a heady 2.0-litre naturally aspirated engine and twangy Cup chassis, past versions positively clamoured to be driven hard and devoured track duties just as readily as they spiced up a commute.To anyone lucky enough to have spent a decade and a half behind its oversized steering wheel, the Renaultsport Renault Clio was a formula of devilish perfection. But apparently not one immune to change.With an all-new Renault Clio comes a seismic change to Renaultsport’s established approach. Like the standard model, the RS 200 must now be bought with five doors. Its engine has been downsized and turbocharged. And the gearbox has been automated. Although a more track-focussed RS 220 Trophy has recently been added.These changes are intended to make the former tearaway a more appealing prospect to a broader cross-section of buyers.But can a softer, more sensible Clio RS live up to our lofty expectations?

New BMW X5 reinvented with Neue Klasse design and EV option

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0100

Bold new X5 gets reinvented inside and out - and an EV with the biggest battery around

BMW has reinvented its seminal X5 SUV for its fifth generation, applying its bold new-generation design language and adding the option of pure-electric power for the first time.

The latest iteration of Munich's big family hauler is the third model to enter the Neue Klasse era. It follows the iX3 and the i3 saloon, but while the forthcoming combustion siblings of those will sit on a different platform, the X5 is the first to be offered with a full gamut of powertrain options.

The new X5 will offer a wider spread of powertrain options than any BMW yet, with the choice of petrol, diesel, plug-in hybrid, battery-electric and hydrogen options being added over the next two years.

Production of the new X5 will get under way at BMW's Spartanburg plant in South Carolina in August. The ICE versions will roll off the line first, with the EV and PHEV following early next year. UK pricing will be announced in October, said the firm.

The ICE version is expected to start at around £80,000, with the EV commanding a small premium over that - as per the X3 and iX3.

BMW has told Autocar the pure-petrol model will not be offered in the UK but the diesel will. That bucks a trend across the firm's other models but the move is in line with evolving customer demand in the big-SUV segment.

Of the circa-7500 X5s sold in the UK last year, around a third were diesel, with the plug-in hybrid accounting for the vast majority. Just under 250 were petrol-powered.

The X3 and iX3 are sold as separate model lines with similar styling yet different platforms, but the X5 follows the lead of the 5 and 7 Series by packaging all of its powertrain options into the same car using the same architecture.

As with those low-slung executive models, the new SUV's platform is an evolution of the Cluster Architecture (CLAR) that has underpinned all of the Munich firm's larger models over the past decade. Using the same fundamental structure for ICE and EV derivatives of a car can lead to technical compromises that in particular dent the electric version's performance and packaging.

But while BMW has introduced bespoke EV and ICE platforms for smaller models, it says the larger platform used for the X5 is versatile enough to accept multiple powertrains without compromise.

This means that all versions can be built on the same line, enabling BMW to respond flexibly to changes in market demand for each without any drop in output. This is particularly important in the large-SUV segment, which is proving slower to transition to electric power - especially in the EV-sceptical US, which has historically been the X5's biggest market.

Big stats for electric X5

Despite using a different architecture from that of the iX3, the electric X5 is equipped with the same 'Gen6' cylindrical battery cells, 800V charging hardware and latest-generation motors as its smaller sibling, so it offers on-paper performance attributes that are more than competitive with rivals.

Crucial to that is a huge, 140kWh battery pack - the largest yet fitted to a production EV in Europe – which enables the 2890kg iX5 to offer 497 miles of WLTP-certified range. That almost matches the iX3's headline-grabbing 503-mile range, despite the iX5 weighing half a tonne more.

The increase in capacity has been achieved largely through the use of taller individual cells, which are 25mm higher than those in the iX3, at 120mm.

The 140kWh battery can charge faster than almost any other EV in Europe, at 450kW, and is capable of bi-directional charging. It is fitted to the range-topping 60 xDrive, which will be the first iX5 variant on sale, but BMW is likely to introduce a smaller-capacity and cheaper battery option down the line.

The 60 xDrive has a 325bhp motor at the rear and a 245bhp motor on the front, giving punchy combined outputs of 570bhp - more than today's full-fat X5 M performance flagship - and 593lb ft. That's enough to shift the iX5 from 0-62mph in just 4.7sec, making it as quick off the mark as the outgoing plug-in hybrid, and on to a top speed of 130mph.

There is no word yet on a single-motor, rear-driven derivative, which could trim the price while significantly boosting range, as is the case with the iX3.

Six-cylinder engine lives on

True to form, the X5's combustion powertrain line-up revolves around BMW's trademark 3.0-litre straight-six engines.

BMW UK won't take the petrol version, with the mildly hybridised 'B58', but it will continue to offer a non-plug-in option in the form of the 40d xDrive, which uses a twin-turbo diesel six to drive both axles.

Also a MHEV, the diesel sends 282bhp and 479lb ft to both axles through a ZF eight-speed automatic gearbox. It is good for 0-62mph in 6.2sec, a top speed of 143mph and combined efficiency of up to 40.4mpg. Crucially for a big diesel SUV, it can tow up to three tonnes - sufficient for horse boxes, caravans and car trailers.

After the diesel comes the petrol plug-in hybrid. It uses a set-up familiar from the outgoing PHEV, combining the six-cylinder engine with an 18.7kWh battery under the boot floor and a 194bhp electric motor ahead of the gearbox.

There have been tweaks to the battery chemistry and electric motor, and the system has been retuned with the aim of improving refinement, but combined outputs are unchanged at 483bhp and 516lb ft - and performance is roughly in line with its predecessor's.

BMW claims 0-62mph in 5.0sec, a top speed of 150mph and combined consumption of between 67.3mpg and 88.3mpg for the lower-powered 50e xDrive. The battery is good for a claimed electric range of up to 63 miles.

Unlike the outgoing car, the X5 PHEV will also be offered in M-fettled M60e xDrive form, with outputs boosted to 604bhp and 590lb ft to trim the 0-62mph time to 4.5sec and nudge the top speed to 155mph.

Charging for both plug-in hybrid variants is still limited to 11kW top-ups, while rival PHEVs such as the Range Rover Sport and Mercedes GLC can fast-charge at 50kW-plus.

Top of the Klasse

The new X5 is the largest model yet to adopt BMW's Neue Klasse design language, which was introduced with the iX3 and i3. Visually, it makes the new model a complete departure from the X5 it replaces, despite the semi-familiar underpinnings.

The form language and defining signatures are familiar from the X3 - including the minimalist, monolithic silhouette, muscular rear haunches, wraparound front light panel and distinctive vertical kidney 'grilles' - which will be a shared characteristic of all BMW SUVs going forward.

However, the X5 introduces a raft of bespoke cues that mark it out. Most obvious of these are the double-X LED light graphics that, says BMW, make it "instantly recognisable during both day and night". These distinctive cross-shaped clusters incorporate the headlights, daytime-running lights and indicators. They can be switched at the press of a button for the iX3's simpler diagonal arrangement.

Notably, the M60e xDrive PHEV will be the first model to feature M division's new trademark yellow headlights, which were introduced on the M Concept Neue Klasse that was revealed earlier this month. Wheels will be 21in as standard on all cars, while the range-toppers will be available with 23in rims for the first time.

Inside, the new X5 is similar to the iX3, with the cockpit dominated by the unusual diagonal central touchscreen and a full-width panoramic driver display at the base of the windscreen.

The bulk of the switchgear is shared too, as is the unusual multifunction steering wheel. Unlike the existing Neue Klasse models, however, the X5 adds the option of a second touchscreen for the front passenger - with an array of streaming and entertainment apps to keep them entertained when on the move.

While it uses an evolution of the older CLAR architecture, the iX5 has been equipped with the same electronics and software stack as the iX3, which means it uses BMW's 'Heart of Joy' control unit to offer what the firm calls "unrivalled driving dynamics" via rear-biased, four-wheel torque vectoring and lightning-quick suspension, throttle and braking interventions.

All versions of the iX5 will ride on air suspension (the system will be available as an option on the ICE car), and active anti-roll bars and rear-wheel steering will be among the chassis-enhancing options offered.

Hydrogen iX5 on the horizon

The iX5 Hydrogen is set to be launched in 2028, powered by a fuel cell powertrain developed under a partnership with Toyota.

The system will be evolved from that which powers the experimental FCEV version of the outgoing X5, but with significant advances in packaging, power density and performance. The current system produces a combined 396bhp and offers 313 miles of range from its pair of 700-bar hydrogen tanks.

Chief among the upgrades is a new 'flat storage' design, which compresses the tanks themselves into a container that's the same size as the battery in the pure-electric iX5 - enabling the two cars to be built alongside each other and offer the same interior space.

BMW has not yet said in what volumes it plans to build the FCEV, nor which markets it will target. The UK is unlikely to be a focus region, because hydrogen refuelling infrastructure remains extremely limited and earlier FCEVs, including the Hyundai Nexo and Toyota Mirai, have sold in very low numbers.

Hot iX5 spied, but no X5 M just yet

BMW has been spotted testing what looks like a performance-focused M version of the iX5, but there is no word on plans to bring back the snorting X5 M with pure-petrol power.

The previous X5 M shared its 616bhp V8 with the M5. Any successor model would be likely to use the 717bhp PHEV powertrain - based on the same 4.4-litre V8 - that powers the latest generation of Munich's super-saloon, especially given that the X5's fundamental architecture has been retained.

Fiat channels original Multipla for retro four-seat microcar

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 15:00:00 +0100

Multiplina concept was previewed in a Fiat presentation, and enhanced here by Autocar

Multiplina is a four-seat sibling to the Topolino – with the same footprint as the original Fiat 500

Fiat will launch a new tiny four-seat EV called the Multiplina, which will feature retro styling cues and be around the same size as the 1950s 500, as part of its continued focus on small vehicles.

The new urban runabout has been previewed with the Multiplina Concept, shown during a micromobility event at the Vatican City.

The 2028 production version will sit above the Italian firm’s current two-seat Topolino but below the current Fiat 500 and the affordable electric city car due to be shown later this year.

Plans for a four-seat microcar were first hinted at with mention of a new 'Quattrolino' model during a Stellantis strategy presentation last month.

Fiat boss Olivier François showed an image of the new Multiplina (enhanced above by Autocar) during a presentation and said it would be revealed later this year, likely at the Vatican in October or November.

François said the Multiplina would “be super-important for us, because it's really the missing link between Topolino and the traditional city car”.

The new Multiplina concept takes its name from the 600 Multipla of 1956, which Fiat called the “original people mover”, but the firm also noted that it has a similar footprint to the 500 of 1957. That would make it just under three metres in length, compared with 2.53m for the Topolino.

While the Citroën Ami-based Topolino sits in the L6 quadricycle category, the Multiplina will be built to the L7 regulations, allowing it to be more powerful and faster.

The Topolino is limited to 28mph and gets a range of around 46 miles from a 5.4kWh battery, but Fiat claims the Multiplina will be able to reach a top speed of 55mph – the maximum allowed under the L7 regulations – and offer an “extended range”, which should make it a far more versatile offering, able to operate outside of city centres.

The Multiplina will use the same basic platform as the Topolino and the three-seat Tris commercial vehicle, but this will be extensively reworked to offer more space, range and a larger battery.

The styling of the new concept makes clear callbacks to the original 600 Multipla, including the overall silhouette, vertical nose and round headlights.

François said it would “play a lot on our DNA and be rooted in our style”, adding that it shows that “Fiat will be the brand within Stellantis that will really go all in on micromobility”.

The expansion into ‘urban mobility vehicles’ – the category below full-sized cars – is part of Fiat’s continued focus on small and affordable vehicles, centred around the existing 500 and Panda, the latter of which continues to be sold in Italy.

The forthcoming Grizzly is a Dacia Duster-rivalling C-segment SUV and will be the largest vehicle the firm will produce.

The Topolino was launched three years ago in Italy but is only now being introduced in the UK, where it will be priced from £8995.

Commercial division Fiat Professional also now offers the Tris, a three-wheeled commercial delivery vehicle.

Fiat to help Vatican go electric

Fiat has also agreed a new partnership with the Vatican City State, the world’s smallest country, to provide dedicated fleet of 30 light electric micromobility vehicles.

The mix of Topolino two-seaters and Tris trucks will be used to support daily operations in the city state, an enclave within the Italian city of Rome. The home of the Catholic church measures just 0.19 square miles.

The new vehicle fleet is intended to help the Vatican City State meet its goal of a zero-emissions vehicle fleet by the end of the decade, as part of a programme called Ecological Conversion 2030.

The first 20 vehicles in the fleet were presented to the governate of the city state by Fiat boss Olivier François.

What was the original Multipla?

The original 600 Multipla was produced from 1956 until 1967, with Fiat shifting around 240,000 examples.

Described by Autocar in 1957 as “one of the most original and ingenious small car designs to appear since the war”, it featured the drivetrain from the 600 and the front suspension from the 1100.

It measured just 3531mm long yet could seat six people, in part because of its boxy design (we wrote that “the outline of the Multipla is no more than a modified rectangle” but praised its “attractive, chunky look”) and the fact the driver’s seat was located directly above the front axle.

Fiat subsequently revived the Multipla name for a radically styled – and much larger – Bravo-based MPV in 1998.

Read our Mk1 Multipla review from 1957 here

Fleet manager burnout peaks as EV complexity bites

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 14:41:22 +0100

Fleet managers have never had to take on more – and that's having an impact on their health

Overtime and stress-related sick days are an industry-wide issue for teams spearheading the UK’s transition to electric vehicles.

Fleet management has become so complex that it’s causing staff burnout and risks a skills shortage without urgent change, the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) has warned.

Lorna McAtear, the organisation’s vice chair, told Autocar that fleet managers are “trailblazing” new technology, requiring new expertise in areas such as battery chemistry, electricity supply and volatile regulations, while spending additional time bringing drivers up to speed with EVs.

“The days of giving out a key to a diesel and saying 'here you go, your vehicle's parked over there’ have absolutely gone,” she said.

“There’s a convergence of technology, transport and energy as three separate industries, and the fleet manager is smack bang in the middle having to deal with it.

“We’ve become more strategic fleet managers, and yet the expectation is we still do the traditional service, maintenance, repairs, purchasing and other admin that goes with [managing a fleet].”

With generous company car tax breaks in place until 2030, fleet adoption of EVs is comfortably ahead of the wider UK market.

Almost half (47%) of all business contract hire (BCH) cars operated by members of industry body the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) were battery electric at the end of 2025.

That’s almost half a million electric cars and doesn’t include salary sacrifice vehicles, which are even more heavily influenced by the CO2-weighted benefit-in-kind tax regime and almost all EVs or PHEVs as a result.

However, McAtear added, with shorter product launch cycles, AFP members are increasingly finding themselves “beta testing” new vehicle software, often facing long waits for over-the-air updates to fix faults and dealing with increased out-of-hours driver enquiries.

Fleets’ EV strategies are also at risk of falling out of alignment with regulations that can change with little warning. That’s doubly complicated if they're managing vehicles across countries with different timelines, she said.

Against the backdrop of “yearly” crises, including the Covid pandemic, volatile energy prices and semiconductor shortages, AFP members report workloads that are often spilling over into evenings and weekends, resulting in increased cases of burnout and sick leave – without necessarily having someone who can cover for them.

“Salaries aren’t necessarily moving with the level of responsibility and workload. There’s a genuine problem that we haven’t got enough fleet managers coming through, so we have a skills shortage coming up.” McAtear continued.

The AFP is trying to attract new staff and advises having at least one administrative staff member per 500 cars, in addition to the fleet manager, to deal with the complexity of the role.

It is raising fleets’ concerns with policy makers; is offering members advice about managing workloads, career development and speaking up internally' and provides a WhatsApp group where managers can talk privately about the issues they face.

“We all love our job, we love the industry, we’re proud to be making this change and being part of the history books. But we’re victims of our own success, where we’ve been too good at delivering all the time, no matter how complicated the problems are,” said McAtear.

“We’re all racing through the transition. It's not a marathon or a sprint; it's more like an obstacle course. Each time we get over an obstacle [we need to] turn around and help the person behind, because we will only win when we all cross the line.”

What are the tax breaks for electric company cars?

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 14:16:00 +0100

Although the incentives aren’t as generous as they used to be, going electric is an easy way to cut your company car tax bill

The company car is a long-established workplace perk in the UK, with 840,000 drivers getting one as part of their employee benefits in 2023/24, according to His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC). With a company car tax system that favours low CO2 emissions, it’s become an important early adopter market for electric vehicles.

HMRC reintroduced ultra-low tax bands for electric company cars in 2020 and, aligned with a fast-growing choice of increasingly cheaper and more capable models, it’s become a no-brainer for drivers and employees to switch. The latest government stats show an additional 120,000 employees have opted into a company car since the 2020/21 tax year, while 41% of the total are in an EV. Here’s why.

How much cheaper is electric company car tax for drivers?

If your job involves a lot of driving, then you might be lucky enough to be provided with a company car. It’s an attractive perk; most are brand new, with maintenance and insurance costs covered, and they’re available for you and (often) your family to use outside work hours.

Of course, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. If you’re using a company-owned car for private journeys, then HMRC classes it as what’s called a ‘benefit in kind’ (BiK). That’s a catch-all term for anything your employer provides on top of your salary, and they’re taxed as additional income.

The easiest way to keep a lid on your tax bill is to opt for something with the lowest possible CO2 emissions at the tailpipe, and nothing emits less than a car that doesn’t have an exhaust at all.

All benefits-in-kind are assigned a ‘taxable value’, and for cars this is a percentage of its list price with CO2-weighted bands from 4% to 37%. An electric vehicle (which has rated emissions of 0g/km) falls into the lowest 4% band, while even the lowest-emitting full hybrid on sale – the Toyota Yaris – is taxed at 25% of its list price.

Drivers pay BiK on that value at the same rate as their income tax. There are three bands (20%, 40% and 45%) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, while Scotland has five (between 19% and 46%). A 20% taxpayer would be liable for 20% of their company car’s taxable value each year, and this is normally deducted in instalments from their monthly wages.

Put simply, that system offers drivers roughly five-times cheaper tax for selecting an EV, and there are sizeable incentives in place until at least 2030. The following table compares total tax costs over three years for 20% and 40% income taxpayers, for a vehicle delivered in 2026/27.

Vehicle	Type	CO2	List Price	Total BiK (2026-2029)
Vehicle	Type	CO2	List Price	20%Taxpayer	40%Taxpayer
Ford Puma Gen-E Select	Electric	0g/km	£31,930	£1,022	£2,044
Ford Puma 1.0 EcoBoost Titanium (125PS)	Petrol	122 g/km	£26,610	£4,843	£9,686
Volkswagen ID.4 Pro Match	Electric	0 g/km	£44,905	£1,437	£2,874
Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 TDI Match	Diesel	142 g/km	£40,550	£8,353	£16,707

How are employers incentivised to offer electric company cars?

Businesses also have good reasons to go electric, supported by a few additional tax breaks that help offset the still-higher price compared to a petrol or diesel car.

For a start, they can deduct the full cost of buying or leasing an electric vehicle from their gross profits, which reduces their corporation tax bills. That tax relief is capped at 85% of the monthly lease, or 14% of the purchase price for cars emitting more than 50g/km CO2.

Vehicle excise duty (VED, or ‘road tax’) exemptions ended in April 2025, so renewals for EVs cost the same as any other car. However, they still qualify for a much lower £10 first-year rate (paid at registration), while the £440-per year ‘Expensive Car Supplement’ only applies if their list price is over £50,000. For all other vehicles, including plug-in hybrids, this comes in at £40,000.

The downside is a proposed 3p per-mile charge, specifically for EVs, which is set to come in from April 2028.

Employers also pay reduced Class 1A National Insurance Contributions (NICs) if they put drivers in an electric car. These are a flat 13.8% of the vehicle’s taxable value, which means it’s as heavily discounted as driver BiK. It’s no wonder businesses are early adopters.

Air fresheners: the most accessible way to modify your car

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 11:00:00 +0100

Not to be sniffed at: just a couple of quid can transform the experience of driving your car

Stay with me.

You probably won't be surprised to read that, as a member of the Autocar team, I have a lot of opinions about cars - but one of my strongest is about air fresheners. For me, there really is nothing worse than getting into a car that honks (no pun intended) before a long journey, and I marvel at how hanging one of these ultra-cheap dangly devices from the rear-view mirror can transform the experience.

I remember the unpleasant smell of the leather seats in my mum's Saab, in which the previous owner had smoked for probably about a decade. It still lingered, but one of those Very Cherry Jelly Bellys (you will surely never read that again in this magazine) made our regular journeys between London and Devon infinitely more pleasant. Because your car smelling overwhelmingly like a jelly bean is far better than the funk of feet or whiff of wet dog, right?

Personally, I'm a huge fan of the California Scents fresheners - you know, the ones that come in little cans. They seem to last forever and are far better at masking odours than the traditional Little Trees.

But it's the wide selection of scents that I like most about car air fresheners. It seems their makers never run out of ideas. You can even get a piña colada one. For me, though, I don't think there's a better scent than Coronado Cherry: that smell always seems to be overpowering (in the best way), covering up all manner of stinky sins.

It's like a very budget-friendly and accessible form of car modification for the otherwise uninterested driver - and, actually, changing the aroma of your cockpit will have a far more tangible impact than fitting a mahoosive performance air filter or some slightly grabbier brake pads.

Since you're indulging me, let's go a little deeper: there are also a lot of different types of air freshener to get your head around. Obviously you've got your standard cardboard conifers, but they don't work for very long. There are the cans I mentioned earlier, which are by far the better option. There are some that you can fix to the air vents so that the smell circulates when you've got the air conditioning or heating on. And you can even get sprays nowadays.

And now car makers themselves are getting involved, including BMW, which will try to flog you an 'Ambient Air Package' that features a customisable fragrance system located inside the glovebox, while Bentley has gone the other way and developed an aftershave flavoured with inspiration from the interior materials it uses in its cars. Eau de dashboard, anyone?

Shapes are also more varied these days. You can get air fresheners made to look like fruits, animals and even cassette tapes.

You should choose carefully, because I think your air freshener says a lot about you as a person. You might be fun and choose the mojito scent in the shape of a cocktail glass, or maybe you're a bit more sensible and opt for the first black ice tree you see (no offence).

It's a fun and fascinating little corner of the car world that you might not have thought about for years (particularly if you're lucky enough to enjoy the heady scent of new car chemicals whenever you climb aboard), but why not indulge your inner aromatherapist and treat your cabin to a new fragrance next time you stop for fuel?

Maybe avoid the dill pickle option I've just spotted online, though.

How Protean cracked in-wheel motor code for wild Renault 5 Turbo

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 08:00:00 +0100

British firm takes its radical new EV propulsion tech to the showroom with Renault's mad hyper hatch

Patience is a virtue, the saying goes, and in Protean Electric's case, persistence and hard work have paid off.

Protean's in-wheel motor (IWM) technology is being adopted by Renault to power its 5 Turbo 3E, which is due to go on sale in early 2027 as the first European car to be fitted with IWMs.

Protean has been working on IWM technology for around 17 years and has been exhaustively pursuing solutions to its potential pitfalls for production cars. These include unsprung mass, water and dirt ingress, the integration of a friction brake and thermal management.

During that time, the firm has found solutions to technical challenges and exposed others as long-standing misconceptions. It has found ways to integrate friction brake systems, keep the tightly packaged electronics cool (each IWM has its own integrated inverter) and simplify communications between individual components and wheels. The IWMs have been developed to last a vehicle lifetime of more than 186,000 miles, withstanding shock and vibration, potholes and kerb strikes.

The 5 Turbo 3E is rear-wheel drive and will produce 550bhp, with 3540lb ft of torque. Performance will be staggering: the 4m-long car will hit 62mph in less than 3.5sec.

Protean had only two years to develop motors specifically for the project. Its most powerful 'off- the-shelf' IWM is listed as the PD18, which produces 138bhp, so two of those would total 276bhp. The extra power for the 5 Turbo 3E is the result of further development and set-up from the Alpine engineering team, says Renault, no doubt in collaboration with Protean engineers.

One of Protean's biggest challenges has been addressing the potential impact of unsprung mass due to the extra weight of an IWM compared with a conventional wheel hub. The firm has commissioned several independent studies by third parties and Lotus Engineering also worked on the Protean-Mahle VW Golf.

The key conclusion, says Protean, was that the effect on ride and handling due to unsprung mass could be offset by adopting stiffer suspension components and stiffer settings.

As for the brakes, the disc brake rotor is bolted to the motor assembly and the caliper to the suspension acting on the inside diameter of the disc. Protean has been working with brake manufacturer Alcon since 2011 and testing has established that the brake performance matches that of standard, non-EVs, with testing on vehicles of up to 3500kg.

Thermal management involves both hardware and software with a patented cooling system design.

Overall, Protean holds more than 320 patents and its portfolio of IWM solutions covers light commercial and autonomous vehicles as well as cars. It has also developed the Protean360+, a wheel corner module that, as the name suggests, can rotate through 360deg to move a future urban mobility vehicle in any direction.

Motoring groups split on whether Fuel Finder cuts prices at the pump

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 06:00:00 +0100

UK government launched service in February to help drivers compare the price of fuel at nearby filling stations

Motoring and industry groups say it remains unclear whether Fuel Finder, the UK government scheme that lets drivers compare fuel prices at nearby petrol stations, is influencing where motorists choose to fill up.

The service, which is available through apps and websites including Waze, Petrol Prices and the AA, was launched four months ago. It now covers around 95% of UK forecourts, according to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) claims motorists could save up to £9 a tank by switching from the most expensive to the cheapest retailer within a 10-minute drive.

Geoff Steadman, a senior director at the CMA, said: "We know higher prices at the pump in recent months are putting real pressure on drivers’ pockets, so using Fuel Finder-backed services will enable them to find the cheapest petrol station nearby and save money.

“But we’re concerned that weak competition in the sector is leaving drivers paying more. By making prices more transparent, Fuel Finder should push petrol stations to compete harder and drive down prices in the long run.”

However, the RAC and the Petrol Retailers Association say it's too early to judge whether or not the scheme is working.

Simon Williams, the RAC’s head of policy, told Autocar that “the jury is still out” and “the price of diesel should really have fallen faster” – but said he was “hopeful that it could make a difference”.

Gordon Balmer, the executive director of the Petrol Retailers Association, said he doesn’t believe that Fuel Finder has “had a material effect on buyer behaviour”.

“Prior to its launch, consumers already knew that supermarkets price their fuel keenly and that you will pay a little more on the motorways,” he said.

“At the start of the crisis in the Middle East, supermarkets experienced a spike in fuel sales as consumers filled up to try and beat price increases, however I don't think that was due to improved price visibility.”

Balmer said that it was up to the government “to assess its success” but confirmed that he hadn't seen any data including usage of fuel pricing apps.

Is Fuel Finder actually helping?

The AA takes a different view, however. Luke Bosdet, its head of policy, observed that many motorway service areas cut their prices when petrol wholesale prices were rising.

He said: “Petrol at 185 pence a litre earlier on in the [Iran] war is now 176 pence at notoriously expensive locations like Chieveley [Berkshire] on the M4.”

He attributed this to Fuel Finder: “We have been surprised at the speed of the reductions and concluded that this is the influence of Fuel Finder: retailers seeing how much rivals are cutting their prices and, knowing that drivers can see the same information, having to respond.”

DESNZ didn't answer questions about how many motorists use Fuel Finder-backed services or whether the scheme is influencing where drivers buy fuel.

A spokesperson said Fuel Finder was "playing a crucial part in our work to tackle the cost of living head on", though, adding that the department estimated it could save households that own a car around £40 a year.

The CMA said it expected to publish a more detailed assessment of Fuel Finder's impact later this year as it continues to examine competition in the fuel market.

Autocar also contacted VE3, which built the platform, for this information, but it hadn’t responded at the time of writing.

Why JLR expects growth in China while rivals are suffering

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 02:00:00 +0100

Long-wheelbase Jaguar XF is still among JLR's best-sellers in China

JLR got ahead of pain points hitting rivals in China and now is ready to roll out value-over-volume plan

Most European premium brands, including BMW and Porsche, have suffered badly in China in recent months, but not all.

JLR was actually bullish about its future in the country at its recent investor day held in June. So how did a company that has experienced well-documented problems in the world’s largest car market in recent years finally get it right?

“Unlike other OEMs, we are not signalling a problem in China. Now I expect to start seeing growth coming back into that market for us,” CEO PB Balaji told investors.

The market has long proved a rich seam of gold for JLR’s imported models, leading with the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Land Rover Defender. That was still the case in the company’s financial year ending March, when the average selling price of its imports – mainly from the UK – hit £105,609.

That figure was up by over £10,000 from five years ago in a market that is famously driven by discounts.

“Today we sell 16,000 Range Rovers there annually without batting an eyelid, and we are amongst the lowest in terms of VMEs [discounts] that we put in that market,” Balaji said.

Look at sales figures alone and JLR’s situation looks as bad as that of BMW, which issued a profit warning in June after sales took an unexpectedly big hit in China, down 15% to the end of May.

JLR overall retail sales in the country fell 25% to 62,400 in the financial year, a loss of some 20,000, with a greater fall of 35% in the three months to the end of March.

But in that figure are almost 25,000 vehicles built locally by its joint venture with Chery, led by the Range Rover Evoque and – still – the long-wheelbase Jaguar XF.

That side of the business has long suffered amid the “killing fields” of mass premium, as CFO Richard Molyneux memorably described it, with discounts dragging down the average selling price of the smaller Chinese-built models to just £34,738 in the last financial year.

“The challenge in the market happened in terms of the lower-end cars,” Balaji said.

That joint-venture side of the business helped pushed China to become JLR’s biggest global market, selling a record 87,774 cars built in the Changshu, Shanghai, plant in the 2018 financial year.

But it has often come at immense cost to the company, most famously contributing to a £3.1 billion writedown in the 2019 financial year after overstuffing the Chinese market.

Only in recent years have the joint-venture losses been stemmed after JLR cut back on volumes, but profits have been small and inconsistent, most recently £10 million in the 2026 financial year. It hasn’t generated a dividend for JLR in the last five years.

The smart solution that JLR has devised is to hand the development of models for the plant over to Chery, which earlier this year launched the first of a “portfolio” of Freelander models to built there. JLR receives a royalty payment and gets to gracefully exit a 12-year chapter in its history that generated mainly headaches and not much profit. Production of the last JLR models in China – including the Jaguar XE and XF – will end in September.

Essentially JLR has already been through the pain and solved the problem that is just starting to properly hit the bigger premiums like BMW and Audi. Their bigger footprint in China and the country's continued outsized influence on the balance sheet foretells a larger battle ahead, as premium customers continue to shift to electrified models from Chinese brands and away from the mainly ICE offerings from European brands.

JLR can now follow Porsche in restricting sales to high-end valuable imports via its shrunken dealer network at a level the market will take, without needing to push too hard.

“With the volumes of the [locally-built] models also going off, it's a much smaller but more profitable and extremely powerful set of products there in the market,” Balaji said. “It's more about 'now build back, but build back gradually. Don't be in a hurry, because the market will take its time to settle itself.'”

JLR is now looking to the US – its new biggest market – to provide the bulk of luxury sales that will drive margins in coming years.

One analyst pointed out that back in 2022 JLR had made the same claims for China, which didn’t materialise.

“The market has also changed dramatically,” Balaji said. “I don't think in '22 there was a major callout in terms of the local OEMs going up to a 60%-plus market share.”

Problems remain. JLR’s import business in China is now all ICE-powered after it pulled plug-in hybrids from the market, along with all other European premium brands.

For now luxury customers are content to stick to ICE but even that’s dropping, with JLR wholesales (ie its import business) down 27% last year and 30% in the three months to the end of March.

The delayed Range Rover and Range Rover Sport electric models are coming, potentially by the end of the year, but it remains to be seen how persuasive they will be against some pretty impressive local competition.

Meanwhile changes to the 10% luxury tax China imposed last July dragged in all Range Rovers after the threshold shifted from ¥1.3m (£145,000) to ¥900,000 (just over £100,000). JLR admitted that, like the US tariffs, it’s a tax hike the company can’t price in.

What JLR does have going for it in China is the strength of brand, with the Defender particularly still the benchmark design seven years after launch.

“I probably will not exaggerate if I say there's 100 copycats of Defender [in China],” chief commercial officer Leonard Hoornik said. “But if you are in a Defender at a traffic light and there is a lookalike Defender next to you, the magic of what we do is that person looks at you and thinks 'I want to be in that Defender', and you, in a real Defender, you look at that car and say ‘I would never want to be in that’.”

Jeep to launch Chinese 4x4 flagship and two small SUVs in Europe

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:00:00 +0100

Two smaller SUVs will use new Stellantis platform; 4x4 flagship will be a Dongfeng production

American brand rethinks its European strategy as it primes a line-up of five multi-energy models by 2030

Jeep will overhaul its European product line-up with the launch of three new models in the next four years, including two small crossovers developed specifically for the region and a new large SUV co-developed with Chinese firm Dongfeng.

The three new cars, which will all be multi-energy models and have a four-wheel drive option, will sit alongside the existing Avenger compact crossover and mid-sized Compass, with the goal of helping the American brand substantially grow its European sales.

Jeep is part of the Stellantis empire and one of its four designated ‘global’ brands, which means it will take priority in terms of product investment.

But while Jeep’s European strategy has previously focused on models taken from its core American range (joined by the occasional regional addition such as the Avenger), it will now develop a largely bespoke line-up – potentially with the Compass as its only model also sold in the US.

Fabio Catone, Jeep’s European boss, said that the three new arrivals would all build on the brand’s existing design pillars of capability, protection and versatility, and offer 4x4 ability.

He vowed they would represent what “makes a Jeep a Jeep, so the values, the product formula, the off-road heritage and our unique design language – at the end of the day, our identity”.

Small SUVs to focus on key Euro market

Jeep’s two new B-segment SUVs will sit above the existing Avenger, with one being described as "compact" and the other as "large".

Catone said that while the Avenger is positioned to win over buyers of B-segment hatchbacks, the compact B-SUV will be “wider, much more SUV-style”, while the larger B-SUV will be closer in size to the C-segment, which means it will sit just below the existing Compass.

Both will sit on the new STLA One platform that Stellantis is introducing across its brands and both will be manufactured in Europe.

Jeep has traditionally had mixed fortunes developing cars specifically for Europe: the Renegade compact SUV sold well but lacked the authentic off-road capability the brand was known for, while the Avenger is currently its best-seller and a former Car of the Year award winner.

“Jeep is a global brand with values that are shared all over the world,” said Catone. “The product formula is the same all over the world, but we are a global company with strong regional tools, and so we are developing a line-up that is strongly oriented to European customers’ needs.”

Catone hinted that the next-generation STLA One platform is being developed to ensure Jeep can deliver the four-wheel-drive ability that it's known for: “It’s not that we are developing on something [that is] existing that we have to adapt; we are working on something new. It's a shared platform globally, but we have the opportunity to create these cars from scratch, so we can implement all of our requirements as a Jeep.

“We are very confident that we will be able to deliver a true Jeep experience and benefit from the manufacturing and the industrial efficiency of the co-operation within the group.”

Catone said that the new platform is being engineered to ensure that the 4WD of the new Jeeps will be able to offer “best-in-class” off-road ability, with “specific investments” being made to offer the technical ability and approach and departure angles requited.

He hinted that could mean the new Jaapes will feature technology that will be enabled on STLA One such as steer-by-wire, which is being introduced by sister brand Peugeot in its future line-up.

Chinese joint venture to supply new flagship

Jeep’s new large SUV will be produced in a joint venture with Chinese firm Dongfeng, which is already partnering with Stellantis on a pair of new global Peugeot models.

Catone said the new machine, which will be built in China on a Dongfeng platform, will feature a design entirely set by Jeep and will still be engineered for off-road ability.

He described it as a “global Jeep project that will be sold in China and other regions, including Europe” but insisted it's a “vehicle fully designed by Jeep”.

He said it's similar to “an iPhone model, in which the technical features of the design are fully lined with the identity of the brand but we leverage on the industrial footprint”.

The D-SUV will also be multi-energy, with a plug-in hybrid option that's likely to be based on Dongfeng’s range-extender technology.

The Chinese company recently established M-Hero as a similarly positioned off-road brand, which is a likely candidate to provide the basis for Jeep's new European flagship.

M-Hero was launched in 2023 with the 917, a relatively extreme off-roader, and followed it up last year with the M817 (below), a 5.1m-long family SUV with rugged styling and four-wheel drive.

Available in China with either a PHEV or a REx drivetrain and up to 900bhp combined, the M817 bears a strong resemblance to the D-SUV silhouette shown in Jeep's strategy presentation and would seem best placed for sale in Europe as a rival to the Land Rover Defender and Toyota Land Cruiser.

Jeep briefly offered the large, American-built Grand Cherokee in Europe but ditched that more upmarket model due to slow sales.

Asked if a large Jeep could find success in Europe, Catone said: “The D-SUV marked in Europe for us is a white space, and globally it’s a very strong pillar for Jeep. Our position is to add a strong D-SUV proposition, and we found this a strong opportunity with Dongfeng.”

Jeep currently doesn't sell the fabled Wrangler 4x4 in Europe, due to emissions regulations, and Catone said the firm is still looking for a way to reintroduce it in the future.

No mention was made of the US-built Recon and Wagoneer S electric SUVs, which suggests that an earlier plan to bring them here has been put on ice.

A worthy P1 successor? 1258bhp, RWD McLaren W1 driven on road and track

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0100

McLaren introduces its third '1' car in its history, with almost 1300bhp and a £2 million price tag There is a recent trend for hypercars to have four-wheel drive, with engines typically in their middle and supplemented by electric motors at the front.And with good reason, because more than 1000bhp is an awful lot for two wheels to deal with by themselves. Some engineers say that to get the best out of so much power, it must be distributed through four tyres.McLaren engineers don’t feel the same. This is the W1, McLaren’s latest Ultimate Series hypercar and the third in the lineage of ‘1’ cars, after the F1 and P1 (and only the second ‘1’ during the new iteration of McLaren’s road car division). Like those, it is carbonfibre-tubbed and mid-engined – and exclusively rear-wheel drive.As with the P1 it’s a hybrid, but this time it can’t be plugged in, because that would make it heavier. McLaren has taken a different path from some of its competitors by attempting to rule out anything that adds unnecessary weight.So, as with equipping it with rear-wheel drive only, it has opted for a mechanical layout that makes the car as light as is realistically possible. McLaren claims a lightest dry weight of 1399kg (I’d prefer a wet kerb weight, but rivals use this number too). Anyway, you can imagine how hard they will have worked for the last kilo.Here’s how it pans out.

Thieves continue to target VW badges after a decade of problems

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 11:00:00 +0100

Hundreds of badges have been stolen to date as thieves target valuable sensor packages

Ten years since the first reports emerged, grille badges that incorporate the radar unit used by their ADAS systems are still being stolen from some Volkswagen vehicles, with victims paying out hundreds of pounds in repairs.

In 2016, owners took to social media to report how thieves were prising the grille badges from the latest VW models such as the Mk7 Golf to gain access to the radar unit that controls features including the vehicle’s adaptive cruise control and autonomous emergency braking system.

More recently, in May 2024, The Guardian newspaper reported that the badges and radar units were still being stolen, with more than 50 residents in one London borough falling victim to the crime.

However, despite the fact that the radar unit cannot be reused without being electronically coded to the vehicle by VW before being accurately calibrated, the badges and the radar units they conceal continue to be taken two years later.

Among the latest victims is Claire Coleman. The grille badge on her VW Passat 2.0 TDI, registered in 2020, was stolen while the vehicle was parked on a street close to her home in Brixton, south London. “It was there one day and gone the next,” she said.

Neighbours quickly shared their stories of similar thefts, with one claiming his car had been targeted twice. Coleman reported the theft to the police.

Without the radar unit, her car’s adaptive cruise control, speed limiter and lane assist did not function. In addition, a warning light indicating a fault with the ACC and the error message ‘Front Assist not available’ was displayed, although these would not cause the vehicle to fail its MOT.

A VW dealer quoted almost £2000 to replace the badge and radar unit but told Coleman that, owing to a customer support package made available by Volkswagen in response to badge thefts, it might be possible to reduce the bill to around £400.

The precise value of the contribution is decided on a case-by-case basis and Coleman was eventually quoted £539.

A former VW technician told Autocar that in similar cases, the size of VW’s contribution may be linked to a car’s service history, with full main dealer history attracting greater support. Coleman’s car has a partial main dealer history.

“The cost is one thing but it’s the fact that VW has not publicised the fact that these radar units are single-use devices that cannot simply be fitted to another VW that frustrates me,” said Coleman. “If they did, it might put off the thieves.”

Coleman has since had her car repaired but, when not using it, Blu-Tacks a black plastic cover over the badge and parks as close to other cars as possible.

A spokesman for VW said that to date, only a few hundred badges had so far been stolen, with thefts concentrated mainly within limited areas of London.

He confirmed the company is offering financial assistance to customers through its dealer network and advised those affected to log the incident with the police and with their local Volkswagen retailer. Both these actions would, he said, assist with making further thefts less likely.

On the question of making the single-use nature of the radar unit more widely known and thereby perhaps discouraging further thefts, the spokesman said VW was reluctant to publicise the crime for fear of increasing it.

Understated cars that are secretly quick

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 06:33:24 +0100

These cars are seriously quick without bragging about it - let's take a look at the ultimate Q cars

We don’t need to tell you the Audi R8 is quick.

It would still look like a fast car even if it was powered by a lawnmower engine. On the other end of the spectrum, there is a whole group of cars that conceal powerful drivetrains under the sheet metal of a normal car, like this lovely Ford Mustang V8-powered Rover 75 pictured. From high-horsepower MPVs to track-ready SUVs, we’re taking a look at some of the ultimate sleepers ever sold. We'll also tell you about guide prices for used examples today, and how many we think are left on the roads too:

Sunbeam Tiger (1964) - £50,000

Pitched squarely against the MGB, the pokiest Sunbeam Alpine engine was a 99bhp unit that displaced 1.7 litres. Keen to make the Alpine more appealing to US buyers Carroll Shelby was asked to pep things up a bit; his solution was to swap the four-pot for a 4.2-litre Ford V8. The result was the Sunbeam Tiger, more than 7000 of which were built between 1964 and 1967.

We found: 1966 Sunbeam Tiger, 68,000 miles - £54,000

How many left?: Around 300

Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 (1968) - £80,000

The daddy of them all, created by maverick Merc engineer Erich Waxenberger who shoehorned a 6.3-litre V8 from a 600 saloon into the nose of a 300 SEL. The result was a luxury limo that could crack 140mph and 0-60mph in just 7.3 seconds – deeply impressive figures for a car the size of a (not-so) small bungalow. Impressively, 6525 were made between 1968 and 1972.

We found: 1972 Mercedes 300 SEL 6.3, 55,000 miles - £84,000

Triumph Dolomite Sprint (1973) - £15,000

Launched soon after the Morris Marina, the Dolomite Sprint was a compact executive car designed to play BMW at its own game. The first production car with four valves per cylinder, the 127bhp 2.0-litre Sprint looked little different from a lowly Dolomite 1300 which had less than half the power.

We found: 1980 Triumph Dolomite Sprint, 67,000 miles - £20,000

How many left?: Around 380

Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL 6.9 (1975) - £20,000

Mercedes-Benz planned to introduce the 6.3’s successor at the 1973 Geneva auto show but it delayed the launch to 1975 due to the oil crisis. Most buyers said the wait was well worth it. The 450 SEL 6.9 was based on a long-wheelbase W116 chassis and it received a bigger, 6.8-litre evolution of its predecessor’s V8 engine tuned to put 286bhp under the driver’s right foot. Period brochures quoted a 0-60mph time of 7.4sec - impressive considering it weighed 1985kg - and a 140mph top speed.

Large and in charge, the 450 SEL 6.9 coddled its occupants thanks to a hydropneumatic suspension system similar on paper to the setup Citroën fitted to its cars. And, here again, Mercedes chose to keep the model as low-key as possible; only a 6.9 emblem on the back set it apart from the 450 SEL. Extremely expensive, about 7380 examples were made between 1975 and 1980.

We found: 1979 Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL 6.9, 77,000 miles - £23,000

BMW M5 E28 (1985) - £50,000

Many people assume this was the first ‘sleeper’, even though it wasn’t. But it did create a template for the super-quick mid-size family saloon that married relative affordability with everyday usability. Just look at it – you’d never think that the E28 featured the same 286bhp straight-six as the mid-engined M1 supercar, would you? And unlike later M5s, this first one was little changed from lesser models visually.

We found: 1987 BMW E28 M5, 172,000 miles - £50,000 (listed for sale in South Africa)

Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth (1988) - £20,000

The problem with the regular Cossie was that massive rear wing which gave the game away, but the four-door saloon that came later was far more discreet. Yet it still packed the same turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder that gave up to 217bhp in four-wheel drive form – enough to give 0-60mph in 6.6 seconds, yet it looked hardly any more menacing than Gary’s 1.6L rep special.

We found: 1989 Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth, 46,000 miles - £26,000

How many left?: Around 1000

Lancia Thema 8.32 (1986) - £15,000

This is here simply because it’s an anonymous-looking three-box saloon with a Ferrari V8 stuffed in the nose. As such it’s a bit mad, but it’s not actually significantly faster than a Thema Turbo, with its boosted 2.0-litre four-pot engine. While the 8.32 could do 0-60mph in 6.8 seconds and topped out at 149mph, the Turbo – which cost only half as much – was pegged at 7.6 seconds and 140mph. Even worse, the later catalysed 8.32s could manage only 7.2 seconds and 140mph.

We found: 1992 Lancia Thema 8.32, 78,000 miles - £20,000

How many left?: Around 5

Mercedes-Benz 500E (1990) - £20,000

It took a well-trained eye to tell the Mercedes-Benz 500E (W124) apart from its cheaper, less powerful siblings. It received a powertrain-specific front bumper, flared wheel arches and, of course, a 500E (later E500 when Merc changed its naming system) emblem on its rear end. Enthusiasts knew what they were looking at but everyday motorists assumed it was an average, taxi-spec Mercedes with a blown-out suspension.

Pushing the front wheels out was necessary to fit a 5.0-litre V8 borrowed from the SL. And, because the 500E was wider than the standard W124, it didn’t fit on the Mercedes production line so it was assembled by Porsche, rather slowly: each 500E took 18 days. The V8 sent 322bhp to the rear wheels, giving the 500E a 0-60mph time of 6.1sec. Mercedes made the 500E between 1990 and 1995 and it sent most of the production run (1528 units) to America. Always slightly in the shadow of the BMW M5, the 500E remains one of the most interesting Mercedes’ in the modern-era.

We found: 1991 Mercedes 500E - £27,500

Vauxhall Carlton 3000 GSi 24v (1990) - £5000

You were probably expecting the Lotus Carlton in this spot, but that 177mph super-saloon isn’t stealthy enough to be here thanks to its lairy body kit. Much more low key is the Carlton 3000 GSi 24v, which looked little different from cooking versions of Vauxhall’s executive saloon yet it could manage 149mph.

We found: 1992 Vauxhall Carlton 3000 GSi 24v, 70,000 miles - £5750

How many left?: Around 30

Volvo 850 T5-R (1994) - £10,000

Volvo showed its wild side when it created the 850 T5-R. Drawing lessons from its British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) program, and paying for Porsche’s input when needed, it increased the turbocharged five-cylinder engine’s output to 237bhp when a temporary overboost function kicked in. Period road tests suggest it took about 7.0sec to sprint from 0-60mph and it kept going until 155mph.

It was impossible to keep a low profile in a yellow 850 T5-R (pictured) but Volvo also offered the model in black and dark green. Buyers who chose either gave more than a few unsuspecting red-light racers a run for their money. About 5500 examples (most painted black) were made for global markets.

We found: 1996 Volvo 850 T5-R, 53,000 miles - £13,000

How many left?: Around 100

Volkswagen Passat W8 (2001) - £4000

For decades, Volkswagen executives argued they needed to position the Passat as a comfortable, family-friendly model rather than as a hot rod. They notably shot down engineering’s request to make a GTI model in 1977. Officials changed their mind in 2001 when, under the leadership of Ferdinand Piëch (1937-2019), they dropped a 4.0-litre, 266bhp W8 engine into the car’s nose.

The humble Passat now took 6.3sec to reach 60mph from a stop, a time more commonly associated with low-slung sports cars, and it benefited from Volkswagen’s 4Motion all-wheel drive system. Better yet, in many markets it came standard with a six-speed manual transmission. Model-specific wheels, a small emblem on the back, and the muted roar of eight cylinders from quad exhaust tips set it apart from less powerful variants. Volkswagen made the Passat W8 from 2001 to 2004.

We found: 2003 Volkswagen Passat W8, 58,000 miles - £6500

How many left?: Around 70

Rover 75 V8 (2004) - £25,000

The Rover V8 is one of the most admired engines of the last half-century, but towards the end of the company’s life it was rather better known for churning out affordable family cars with four-cylinder powerplants. But a handful of 75s (and MG ZTs) got V8 power, using Ford’s quad-cam 4.6-litre V8 (rather than Rover's famous Buick-derived V8) to great effect. Only a handsome V8-specific grille and alloys stood the model apart from lesser 75s.

In naturally aspirated form it delivered 256bhp; a 380bhp supercharged edition was developed for the ZT, but it didn’t reach production. By the way, the 75 V8 Tourer estate version (pictured) is not only a total sleeper, but also a unicorn – just 17 were ever made, and just nine of them are left it seems. Rarity has greatly boosted values in recent years.

We found: 2008 Rover 75 V8, 20 miles - £40,000

How many left?: Around 50

Subaru Legacy 3.0R Spec B (2004) - £4000

Subaru has a huge back catalogue of models that can seemingly defy the laws of physics. Some are more discreet than others, but top of the stealth pile must surely be the Legacy 3.0R Spec B. No more powerful than a regular auto-only 3.0R, the Spec B got a manual gearbox with ratios designed for better acceleration; it could dispatch the 0-60mph dash in just 6.5 seconds.

We found: 2006 Subaru Legacy 3.0R Spec B, 76,000 miles - £4300

Volkswagen Phaeton W12 (2004) - £10,000

The Phaeton looked as innocuous as a Passat, a car usually sold with a four-cylinder diesel engine. But while the biggest engine you could get in the Passat featured just six cylinders (aside from a handful of W8s), the Phaeton could be bought with a monstrous 444bhp 6.0-litre 12-cylinder engine. If you craved relative economy you could instead choose a 5.0-litre V10 diesel with a ludicrous 553lb ft of torque.

How many left?: Around 20

Audi S6 V10 (2006) - £7000

Audi’s RS models are fearsomely fast but they also feature pumped-up bodywork that gives the game away. Not the S models though; all that gives these away is a set of four exhaust pipes and a very discreet badge. You’d never guess there’s a 435bhp V10 doing its thing up front. Prices now start at £7k by the way...

We found: 2006 Audi S6 saloon, 96,000 miles - £9000

Volvo S80 V8 (2006) - £6000

Few luxury cars look more innocuous than the S80. Most of these big saloons were powered by a 2.0-litre diesel engine but it also was available with a silky-smooth 310bhp Yamaha V8 that sent its power to all four wheels. The thing is, the cars with V8 power look no different from those with much humbler engines, with only small V8 badging giving the game away. This is another sleeper that’s also a unicorn – just 100 or so are on UK roads today.

We found: 2009 Volvo S80 V8, 60,000 miles - £12,000

How many left?: Around 100

Volkswagen Passat R36 (2008) - £10,000

We’ve already addressed the W8-engined Passat B5.5, but few people remember that despite its complete lack of success it had a successor – the R36 that was based on the Passat B6. Fitted with a 296bhp 3.6-litre VR6 engine the R36 could do 0-62mph in just 5.6 seconds – almost a second quicker than the W8. And the differences from a normal Passat wagon are subtle.

We found: 2008 Volkswagen Passat R36, 68,000 miles - £15,000

How many left?: Around 130

Brabus EV12 (2009)

We’ve generally avoided modified cars here because where do you draw the line? However, we have to make an exception for this; a humdrum-looking saloon that packed an 800bhp 6.2-litre twin-turbo V12 that’ll go all the way up to 230mph. That’s faster than any production Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, McLaren or Aston Martin, yet it’ll carry a family and their luggage in comfort – at insane speeds.

Infiniti Q50 hybrid (2013) - £18,000

It may have looked sharp, but ultimately the Infiniti Q50 was still pretty much invisible. However, those who opted for the hybrid edition had a true wolf in sheep’s clothing thanks to a 302bhp 3.5-litre V6 backed up by an electric motor to give a peak power output of 359bhp. That was enough to give 0-62mph in just 5.1 seconds, so it was a shame the Q50 was so inert to drive.

We found: 2018 Infiniti Q50 hybrid, 58,000 miles - £19,400

How many left?: Around 250

Tesla Model S P100D (2016) - £50,000

Thanks to Tesla’s forward-thinking design the Model S looks high-tech and desirable, but let’s face it, this doesn’t look like a car that can get from a standing start to 62mph in as little as 2.3 seconds, does it? That’s comfortably (or more accurately, uncomfortably) faster than a Ferrari 488 GTB or Lamborghini Huracan Performante.

We found: 2017 Tesla Model S P100D, 43,000 miles - £56,000

How many left?: Around 450

BMW M550d (2017) - £20,000

Spot a debadged M550d and the only clue would be the 19-inch alloys – this was a true stealth machine. Up front was a quad-turbo 3.0-litre straight-six diesel engine rated at 395bhp and 561lb ft of torque, capable of getting the BMW from 0-62mph in just 4.4 seconds – the same time as the previous-generation M5.

We found: 2017 BMW M550d Touring, 63,000 miles - £31,000 (listed for sale in Germany)

So that’s the European market cars – how about the biggest sleepers ever sold in the US?

Oldsmobile 88 (1949)

Although America’s greatest muscle cars were built during the 1960s, Oldsmobile boldly experimented with the idea of putting a big engine in a small car when it released the 88 for 1949. On paper, the recipe was simple: it put the 135bhp Rocket V8 it designed for the 98 into the smaller, lighter 76 body. Its 12.2sec 0-60mph time sounds slow in 2020 but it was extremely impressive at the time.

Performance sold well so Oldsmobile started setting stock car racing records to advertise its new model. It also won five NASCAR Grand National races in 1949. Part of its appeal was that it didn’t look quick; it was offered in six body styles (including a two-door coupe) and they all flew right under the radar.

Chrysler C-300 (1955)

Chrysler set out to steal the spotlight from Oldsmobile when it introduced the C-300 for the 1955 model year. Its Hemi V8 relied on a pair of four-barrel carburetors and a full race camshaft to deliver 300bhp, a number that made the C-300 the most powerful production car in America when went on sale.

Enthusiasts could only order the C-300 as a coupe priced at $4109 (about $40,000 (£33,000) in 2020). It was Chrysler’s second-most-expensive car, and it looked the part, but only a handful of checkered flag-shaped emblems informed other motorists about the serious power hiding behind the grille.

VolksVair (1960s)

California-based Crown Manufacturing made some of the more unusual sleeper cars of the 1960s. Starting with an air-cooled Volkswagen, it removed the flat-four and replaced it with a flat-six pulled out of an unsuspecting Corvair. The result, according to period ads, was a 200% increase in power. Speed junkies got a stock-looking Bus or Beetle that could pop a wheelie while spinning its rear wheels.

Production figures are lost to history. We’ve seen only one in the wild in recent years.

Pontiac Tempest LeMans GTO (1964)

In the 1960s, enthusiasts expected automakers to give performance cars a suitably loud look with wings, stripes and vents. Pontiac bucked that trend when it introduced the Tempest’s GTO package for the 1964 model year. Hood scoops, emblems and wider wheels were all that set it apart aesthetically. Its subtlety is forgotten in 2020 because so many examples ended up modified with aftermarket parts.

Pontiac pegged its 0-60mph time at 7.7sec thanks to a 325bhp, 6.4-litre V8 but it was a lot quicker than that in reality. Car & Driver recorded a 4.6sec time when it tested the model in 1964.

Shelby GLHS (1986)

There was nothing seriously exciting about the Dodge Omni, a small hatchback that traced its roots to Chrysler’s European division where Brits got it as the Talbot Horizon, yet Shelby managed to turn it into one of America’s all-time greatest hot hatches. The turbocharged, 2.2-litre four-cylinder was tuned to 175bhp, enough for a 7.0sec sprint to 60mph, and suspension modifications greatly improved its handling.

It was a formidable performance car, it managed to out-GTI the Volkswagen GTI, and it lived up to its name: Goes Like Hell S’more. Shelby made 500 units of the GLHS so it’s even rarer than the GLH it’s based on. It’s still an Omni, though, and, few will suspect it’s capable of keeping up with a modern-day Fiat 500 Abarth.

Dodge Caravan Turbo (1989)

What in the world is a tall, boxy minivan doing here? Ask the folks at Dodge who decided, for the 1989 and 1990 model years, to offer the Caravan with a 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged to 150bhp and bolted to a five-speed manual transmission. Its 9sec 0-60mph time didn’t quite land it in sports car territory but it looked about 10sec slower. Plymouth made the same drivetrain available in the Voyager.

Ford Taurus SHO (1989)

The original Ford Taurus introduced for the 1986 model year quickly became a common sight on America’s driveways, freeways and parking lots. Its ubiquity helped the Super High Output (SHO) model launched for 1989 conceal its performance credentials. The understated body kit signalled the presence of a Yamaha-built 3.0-litre V6 that shifted through a five-speed manual transmission. Putting 217bhp between the front wheels of a Taurus gave it a 6.6sec 0-60mph time.

Ford launched the second-generation SHO for the 1992 model year. The nameplate lived on for years but it retired in 2019 when Ford ended Taurus production once and for all.

GMC Syclone (1991)

Against all reasonable odds, GMC turned the S-15 into a sports car-taming pickup truck by dropping a supercharged, 4.3-litre V6 into the engine bay and tuning it to 276bhp. Its 0-60mph time of 4.3sec allowed it to comfortably outsprint a Chevrolet Corvette while its $25,950 base price (about $49,000 (£41,000) in 2020) made it nearly as expensive as one. It didn’t take long for GMC to sell the 3000 units it planned to make and the Syclone was so popular that its powertrain ended up in an SUV named Typhoon in 1992.

Nissan Sentra SE-R (1991)

The run-of-the-mill variants of the third-generation Nissan Sentra didn’t exactly set the car world on fire. They were simple, value-packed economy cars designed for thrifty commuters. The SE-R model was the exception to the rule because it received a 138bhp, 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine with a 7500rpm redline. It was front-wheel drive, though Nissan added a limited-slip differential, and it weighed less than 1136kg.

Stylists settled for adding a new-look front bumper with air vents, a spoiler on the trunk lid and alloy wheels. To the untrained eye, it merely looked like a souped-up Sentra.

Plymouth Sundance Duster (1992)

Often ordered with racing stripes and a hood scoop, the original Plymouth Duster hardly qualified for the “wolf in sheep’s clothing” label. Plymouth resurrected the name as a trim package in 1979, 1985 and 1992; it’s the latter model that earns a spot on this bench. The company started with the Sundance, a mediocre economy car by most accounts, and gave it a 3.0-litre V6 rated at 139bhp.

That was on par with Shelby’s version of the Sundance’s Dodge-badged twin, the CSX, but without the attention-grabbing visual add-ons. The Duster treatment was relatively subtle. The six sent the Duster from 0-60mph in 8.3sec, an admirable time for an economy car.

Chevrolet Impala SS (1994)

Chevrolet put the SS designation on some less-than-quick cars over the years so enthusiasts were skeptical when the Impala received it for the first time in decades in 1994. It looked a lot like a blacked-out police car but its 256bhp, 5.7-litre V8 sent it from 0-60mph in 7.0sec. If that doesn’t sound like much, keep in mind it used bulky, truck-like body-on-frame construction and it weighed over 1818kg.

American tuner Callaway offered its own version of the Impala SS equipped with a Corvette-sourced, 395bhp V8 plus a long list of chassis modifications. The extra horsepower lowered its 0-60mph time to 5.9sec, which was about on par with an E34-generation BMW M5. Chevrolet made nearly 70,000 examples of the Impala SS from the 1994 to 1996 model years.

Buick Regal GS (1997)

Buick made a serious attempt at luring enthusiasts into showrooms when it introduced a GS variant of the fourth-generation Regal in 1997. Advertised as “the official car of the supercharged family,” it received a 3.8-litre V6 supercharged to send 237bhp to the front wheels. Buick promised a 6.9sec 0-60mph time and a 14.9sec quarter-mile time in a package that looked like a grandpa’s Regal.

Mercury Marauder (2003)

The third-generation Mercury Marauder was based on the body-on-frame Grand Marquis and that alone was enough to dispel any suspicions of performance. How can retired America’s chariot of choice appeal to enthusiasts? With a tighter suspension and a Ford Mustang-sourced, 298bhp V8, it turns out.

Mercury redesigned the bumpers, tinted the lights and added 18in wheels to achieve a subtle but purposeful look. It sold 11,052 units of the Marauder during the 2003 and 2004 model years.

Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk (2018)

The burly Grand Cherokee is part of the Jeep family so it’s normally not associated with any kind of on-road performance. We’d hate to take the Trackhawk off the road, however. It’s more at home on a drag strip because it’s powered by a supercharged, 6.2-litre Hemi V8 engine also found in the mighty Dodge Challenger Hellcat. It makes 697bhp and it spins the four wheels.

The visual differences between the Trackhawk and the regular Grand Cherokee are minor so drivers won’t attract unwanted attention on the road. The exhaust note is, however, a different story…

Every major car manufacturer's most iconic model

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 06:31:28 +0100

Autocar names the car from every major car-maker that it thinks is the most important - and why

In the motoring world, the word ‘iconic’ can mean almost anything you want it to.

It could describe a car which encapsulates the history and ethos of its maker, or an outstanding model with no relation to anything else wearing the same badge. Or it could refer to something else entirely.

Whatever the definition, we believe that 50 manufacturers have produced cars which could be considered iconic in one way or another, such as their wider cultural impact, or the way they represent the values of their maker. Here they are, in alphabetical order, and as voted for by Autocar staff members. You’re welcome to disagree with our choices, but we hope you’ll be satisfied with at least some of them.

AC Cobra

There’s a lot more to AC than just the Cobra, but this is by far its most famous model. It was devised by Carroll Shelby, who felt that there was nothing wrong with AC’s Ace sports car that couldn’t be fixed by making a small-block Ford Windsor V8 engine (or, later, a big-block FE) fit under the bonnet.

The resulting Cobra was both a thunderous road car and an exceptionally successful racer. Production, which began in 1962, has proceeded in fits and starts over the decades, but a new Cobra (pictured) is due to go on sale later in 2023.

Alpine A110

The original A110 started out in the 1960s as an attractive but not particularly fast sports car with Renault components. Within a decade, it had become the most successful rally car on the planet, demolishing both Fiat and Ford on its way to winning the 1973 World Rally Championship.

There’s a case for saying that this is the iconic Alpine, but we’ve gone instead for the similar-looking but technically unrelated car of the same name introduced in 2017. We called it “riotously rewarding”, and described it as having “what must be one of the most forgiving, exploitable and brilliantly immersive chassis that the sports car market has produced in decades”. Even the old A110, great as it was, never received such high praise.

Alfa Romeo GTAm

The GTAm was the most exciting derivative of the GTA, itself the smart-looking coupe version of the much boxier 1960s Giulia saloon. Initially known as the 1750 GTAm (but, despite the name, powered by a 2.0-litre twin-spark engine), it was built in very small numbers by Autodelta as a homologation special, devised simply to allow Alfa Romeo to use it in Touring Car racing.

For its day, it was one of the finest cars of that type, winning the 1970 European championship in the hands of Dutch driver Toine Hezemans (born 1943). An even quicker version called the 2000 GTAm, with 240bhp rather than the previous 210bhp, earned Alfa Romeo the European Manufacturers’ title the following year.

Austin Seven

Goodness knows Austin produced some memorable cars over the years, but if we had to pick one - which we literally just did - it would have to be the Seven. In a sense, this was a smaller, British equivalent of the Ford Model T – a cheap and simple but ‘proper’ car which was within the means of buyers who might previously have had to make do with a far less appealing cyclecar.

Built under licence in Germany, the Seven was the first car produced by BMW. It was also, despite its humble station in life, very tunable, and performed exceptionally well in both racing and record breaking. Production ended in 1939, but the Seven remains popular (as both a road and a competition car) among classic enthusiasts to this day.

Austin-Healey 3000

The 3000 was the last and greatest of the ‘big Healeys’ co-developed by BMC and the Healey sports car company. Derived from earlier 100-series models, it was fitted with a 2.9-litre version of the BMC C-Series engine more commonly found in large saloons.

As well as being the epitome of the ‘hairy-chested sports car’ in road-going form, the 3000 was one of the most formidable rally cars of the early 1960s, and performed well (if less successfully) in long-distance sports car races.

Bentley Arnage

If one car represents the entire history of the Bentley marque, it’s the Arnage. It was named after a corner at the Le Mans circuit, where Bentley won the 24-hour race five times between 1924 and 1930, and was mostly powered by a development of the 6.75-litre L-Series V8 engine which dated back to 1959.

Yet it was also a thoroughly modern car, introduced near the end of the 20th century and surviving for the first decade of the 21st. Its spirit lived on in the later Mulsanne, and still does in today’s Flying Spur.

BMC Mini

At least historically, if not financially, the Mini was the crowning achievement of the British Motor Corporation. In fact, it was never branded BMC (because nothing was) but instead wore the badges of Austin, Morris, Innocenti, Authi and, in three-box saloon form, Riley and Wolseley, though it was eventually sold simply as Mini.

Less than a decade into its production life, which began in 1959, it was three things at once: everyday family transport (that was much more comfortable and safer than the microcars it largely supplanted), a car celebrities wanted to be seen in and a ferocious competitor in racing, rallying and almost every other form of motorsport. It was already seriously dated by 1980, but was so well loved that it remained on sale for a further 20 years, finally disappearing shortly after it was placed second behind the Ford Model T in the one-off Car of the Century list.

BMW M3 E30

BMW has been producing M3 performance saloons since 1986, and they have all been magnificent in their way, but there’s a magic to the original E30 model which, we think, has never quite been captured since. It was the only one in the series with a four-cylinder engine (of either 2.3 or 2.5 litres), and if you think that’s disappointing you probably haven’t heard one screaming away at full throttle.

Fabulously nimble even in road-going form, it was also a brilliant racer, winning Touring Car championships right up to World level, and one of the most exciting (and best-sounding) rally cars of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Buick Riviera (first generation)

Buick first used the Riviera name for the two-door hardtop version of the Roadmaster in the 1949 model year before applying it to a separate model over eight generations. As with the BMW M3, the first of these is the one which floats our boat most effortlessly. It doesn’t hurt that the smaller of the two available Nailhead V8 engines measured 6.6 litres (the larger was a 7.0), but it’s mostly about the styling, courtesy of GM design chief Bill Mitchell. It could easily have been a Cadillac, where indeed it was originally destined.

For a mainstream car introduced in late 1962, it looked incredibly modern, and might still have seemed reasonably fresh if it had been on sale a decade later. From the W-shaped nose (as seen from above) to the sharply angled C pillar, it was very distinctive, and as American as apple pie with popcorn and a large Coca-Cola.

Cadillac Escalade

There are many reasons to recoil at the idea of Cadillac being represented by the Escalade on this list. You might feel it doesn’t bear comparison with a 1950s Eldorado or a 1930s V-16, or maybe you feel uncomfortable about a vehicle favoured by LA-based celebrities, or perhaps you detest enormous SUVs. But there’s no doubt that it has been the GM luxury brand’s great success story of the 21st century so far.

Sales of the Escalade (in both standard and long-wheelbase ESV forms) bombed during 2022 because production was severely limited by supply chain issues – and yet, despite that, it was still easily the most popular Caddy of all in the US, and the leader of the full-size luxury SUV category by an even greater margin.

Chevrolet Corvette

There is simply no argument about this one. The first-generation Corvette might have been a slow-seller to begin with, but it took off when Chevy made its new small-block V8 engine available in 1955, and it has been at the top of the game ever since. Claims that it is the world’s most successful sports car in automotive history are as solid as the Rockies.

Today’s Corvette, the first with a mid- rather than front-mounted engine, is as much of a triumph as any of its predecessors. In its home country, it’s up against 11 other models in the premium sports car sector, including two Porsches. In 2022, it outsold all of them put together.

Chrysler 300

Chrysler produced a great many cars called 300 in the 20th century, most of them in either the ‘letter’ or ‘non-letter’ series. Our choice isn’t one of those. Instead, we’ve gone for the much more recent 300 (sold in Europe as the 300C, though this was applied only to lower-spec versions in North America) which has been produced in two generations since the 2005 model year, and was also briefly marketed as the Lancia Thema.

The 300 re-established Chrysler’s discontinued tradition of building large, rear-wheel drive saloon cars, often powered by a mighty V8 engine (in this case, the latest in the Hemi series with capacities of up to 6.4 litres). As such, it more or less stands alone among Chrysler products of the past few years, and can be considered iconic for that reason, as well as being a representative of icons from another era.

Citroën DS

It could have been the 2CV, but no – we went instead for the much grander DS range. While the 2CV had contemporary rivals, the DS was the car the rest of the motor industry took a long time to catch up with, to the extent that it did at all. From the start, it had hydropneumatic suspension and high-level rear indicators. In 1967, 12 years into its life, these were joined by directional headlights, which made the DS even more exotic than it had been originally.

And it looked just amazing. French Philosopher Roland Barthes (1915-1980) wrote in 1957 that it “has fallen from the sky inasmuch as it appears at first sight as a superlative object”. Of what other mainstream car, with a production run of well over a million, could that ever have been said?

Datsun 240Z

Known in Japan as the Nissan Fairlady Z, this was the first in a long series of high-performance coupes with increasingly large numbers in their titles to reflect the rise in the capacities of their (always six-cylinder) engines – at least until the current model, known simply as the Nissan Z, came along in 2022.

They form a proud tradition, but it was the 240Z which first showed that Nissan – not known before 1970 for anything like this – could create such a car, and do it so well.

De Tomaso Pantera

The Pantera was by far the most successful model from the small Italian company founded in 1959 by Alejandro de Tomaso (1928-2003). It was preceded by the Vallelunga, which had a 1.5-litre pre-crossflow Ford Kent engine, and by the much more powerful V8 Mangusta, which was rather tail-heavy and reportedly quite a handful to drive.

These were relatively short-lived cars, which could not be said of the Pantera. With lots of power, and stability to go with it, it remained in production for over two decades, all the way from 1971 to 1992. If there is a single model car to remember De Tomaso by, it’s this one.

Dodge Charger Daytona

Dodge has produced three Charger Daytonas, but there’s no doubt that the first was the most spectacular of them all. It was one of the Winged Warriors, a subset of the Aero Warriors built for sale to the public in just enough numbers for them to be eligible for NASCAR racing. A regular Charger in most respects, it had an aerodynamic nose to reduce drag and an enormous rear wing to increase downforce.

As well as looking extraordinary, it had a fantastic competition record, at least until the rules were altered to slow all the Warriors drastically. Bobby Isaac (1932-1977) won the NASCAR championship in 1970 in a Daytona, while Buddy Baker (1941-2015) used his to become the first driver in series history to record an average lap speed of over 200mph (at the Talladega Superspeedway) in the same year.

Ferrari F40

The F40 was the last Ferrari road car to enter production during the lifetime of Enzo Ferrari (1898-1988), and was named for the fact that it was announced during the 40th anniversary year of the company building its first car under its own name.

To a limited extent, it was a descendant of the 1970s Ferrari 308, but it looked almost completely different, like a racing car adapted for the road (even though that process actually happened the other way round). For 1987, the turbocharged F40 was almost shocking, and had something of the “fallen from the sky” aura which Roland Barthes had seen in the Citroën DS three decades before.

Fiat Nuova 500

Fiat has created several models called 500 (or cinquecento, which means the same thing in Italian), but the most celebrated of them all is the second in the line. It manufactured from 1957 to 1975, and was known originally as the Nuova, or ‘new’, 500 to distinguish it from the pre-War version usually referred to as the Topolino.

This 500 – the only one with a rear-mounted engine – was austere and functional, and designed for Italian motorists who could barely afford anything else. There’s nothing at all glamorous about that, but the 500 wormed its way into people’s hearts, partly because it was so familiar, partly because it was one of the most charming mass-production cars ever devised, and partly – with four million made – it was the car that properly put its home nation on four wheels, often for the first time in its owner’s life.

Ford Model T

The most iconic Ford? The Model T might be the most iconic car, full stop. It was intended to put Americans (and to some extent people in other parts of the world) on the road and, for better or worse, it did. With the help of the industry’s first moving assembly line, Ford built around 15 million examples, a very high figure now and quite astonishing for the period from 1908 to 1927.

In 1999, the Model T was named Car of the Century. It may, in time, be hailed as the car of every century. It changed the world in a way that no automobile ever will again.

Hillman Imp

The Imp was as out of character for Hillman as a two-seater sports car would be today for Dacia. Introduced in 1963, in the decade when the brand’s line-up included the very conventional Minx and Hunter, it was by far the smallest Hillman (a direct rival to the Mini), and the only one with a rear-mounted engine.

The engine in question was an all-alloy overhead-cam unit designed by Coventry Climax and capable of producing enormous power for its size when appropriately tuned. Imps and their derivatives (including several kitcars and single-seaters) were therefore extremely successful in competition, helped by their excellent handling. Unfortunately, the road-going version never achieved the popularity of the Mini, but what a car it was.

Hindustan Ambassador

Motorists who live far from India have little reason to know much about Hindustan Motors. If they do, it’s almost certainly because of the extraordinary Ambassador. This started out in 1957 as a locally-built third-generation Morris Oxford but was gradually developed over the years, latterly being powered by Isuzu engines.

For most of its life, the Ambassador would hardly have been considered a great car in the west, but it suited the Indian market perfectly, being robust, reliable and roomy. Remarkably, Hindustan persevered with it for more than half a century, making the Ambassador one of the longest-lived cars in history. Around 900,000 were made until production ended in 2014.

Holden Maloo

Australians are very fond of high-performance, saloon-based pickup trucks known locally as ‘utes’. One of the most famous is the Maloo, which was based on several generations of the Commodore, and is our favourite Holden.

It was available in the UK for a few years, wearing Vauxhall badges. Testing a £51,500 example with a 6.2-litre V8 engine in 2012, we suspected that it wouldn’t sell well here (it didn’t), but concluded: “If somebody wants a Maloo, they’ll just want one, so go with what makes you happy.”

Honda Civic Type R

Yes, of course we know about the NSX, but it’s the hot hatch version of Honda’s mid-sized hatchback that gets our vote. The little monster is now in its sixth generation, having made its debut in 1997 with a high-revving and very powerful 1.6-litre engine.

From 2001, Type Rs have had a 2.0-litre motor which originally revved to 9000rpm and usually produced at least 200bhp. A major change occurred in 2015, when the new Type R went on sale with a turbocharged version of the same unit. The rev limit was substantially lowered, and the engine note was far less arresting, but the power output jumped by 50 percent. The current model produces 324bhp and can accelerate from 0-62mph in 5.4 seconds.

Hummer H1

It’s possible to look critically at every Hummer, even the relatively small H3 or the current Pickup EV which, though colossal, is at least powered by electric motors rather than a heavily polluting internal combustion engine. However, no Hummer has ever been viewed with such a polarised mixture of admiration and horror as the original H1, which is why we think it’s the most iconic.

The H1 (a name adopted when GM bought the rights in 1999) was the civilian version of the military Humvee developed by AM General. Absolutely no one needed such a thing, which is partly why it was so sought after. As the behavioural economists will tell you, being able to afford something very expensive and completely useless is one of the most powerful status signals you can send to other people.

Jaguar E-Type

Known officially in North America as the XK-E, the E-Type was introduced in 1961 as the latest in a line of two-seat Jaguar sports cars. It was technically innovative, it was powered by a proven six-cylinder engine (later joined by a V12) and it was competitively priced.

None of this explains why it represents Jaguar on this list. It’s here because it was simply beautiful – more so, you might say, than anything else the company has ever built, and perhaps more than anything anyone else has built either. Yes, cars are functional, mechanical objects, but some of them transcend that simply because they look so satisfying. Few have ever done this as effectively as the E-Type.

Lamborghini Countach

We haven’t actually researched this, but it seems likely that the Countach featured on more posters on car-loving children’s bedroom walls in the 1970s than any other Lamborghini. For its day, it looked incredible, with its low, wide, wedge-shaped body and the amazing feature of scissor doors. When it was launched in 1974, there was simply nothing like it on sale.

Of course, it didn’t matter to the kids that the rear visibility was terrible, and adult fans didn’t seem to mind this either. Aesthetically speaking, things just got better when Lamborghini added a big rear wing. Eventually, the shape dated, as shapes do, but Countach production continued until 1990 – an impressive run for a supercar.

Lancia Stratos

In the early 1970s, Lancia did well in international rallying with the Fulvia HF, a front-wheel drive coupe with a 1.6-litre V4 engine, but the sport was developing so rapidly that something else would clearly be required soon. The Stratos, introduced in 1974, represented an almost unbelievable leap forward. It was vastly more modern than the Fulvia, and had a Ferrari Dino V6 engine mounted between the rear wheels.

It was also devastatingly effective. Lancia won the World Rally Championship (open at the time only to manufacturers, not drivers) three times in a row from 1974 to 1976, and although production stopped in 1978 the Stratos won its 18th and last WRC round three years after that. Nearly half a century after its first appearance, it remains one of the most exciting rally cars ever devised.

Lincoln Continental (1970s)

The Continental of this decade was one of the grandest US luxury cars, and in a way represented the end of this type of vehicle as it had previously been understood. To some extent, it was also a step backwards. From 1958 to 1969, Continentals had featured unibody construction, by then the obvious way to build a car, but for 1970 Lincoln reverted to the old-fashioned body-on-frame method.

As rival brands downsized their largest models, the Continental actually grew, partly because of legislation requiring more substantial front and rear bumpers. At its peak, it measured 5918mm (233.0in), which made it the longest car in North America and one of the longest in the world. The 1980 Continental which replaced it was more than a foot shorter.

Lotus Elise

If Lotus fans had been given a vote here, there would have been a lot of support for the Seven, the original Elite and the first-generation Elan, and there’s a strong case to be made for all of them. However, we’ve gone for the Elise, which is certainly the most iconic Lotus of the modern era, and arguably of the company’s long history.

In each of its three generations, the Elise followed the old Lotus principle of being fast not because it was especially powerful (though outputs did increase over the years) but because it was light. The lack of weight was also a major factor in its superb handling. If founder Colin Chapman (1928-1982), who died long before it went into development, had still been around, we think he would have been very pleased with it.

Mazda MX-5

The small, open two-seater sports car with a front-mounted engine and rear-wheel drive, of which so many had been produced earlier in the century, was almost extinct when Mazda launched the MX-5 (or Miata or Eunos, depending on where it was sold) in 1989. The Japanese company therefore had this sector of the market almost to itself, but that was no guarantee of success.

What made the MX-5 an instant hit wasn’t that the fact that it had much power. It actually had very little in the early days, but it was outstandingly good in every other area, and wonderful to drive. Mazda has kept the basic concept going for four generations, and was rewarded in 2016 by reaching a production milestone of one million units. No other car of the same type has ever come remotely close to this.

Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing

The 300 SL was an outlier in the Mercedes line-up of the 1950s, and was not originally planned as a road car at all. It started out as a not very powerful, but exceptionally light and aerodynamic, sports racer which finished first and second in both the Le Mans 24 Hours and Mexico’s Carrera Panamericana in 1952.

A road-going version was suggested by US importer Max Hoffman (1904-1981) in September 1953. Mercedes had one on display – still with the gullwing doors and direct fuel injection of the racer – at the New York International Motor Sports Show just five months later, and offered it for sale from then until 1957. It was replaced by a mechanically similar roadster which remained on the market for six years. The roadster was a beautiful car, but we prefer the Gullwing.

MG MGB

The MGB was the first road-going MG sports car with unibody construction rather than a body bolted on to a chassis. It was available as both a roadster and a coupe, the latter known as the MGB GT, and had a very production run from 1962 to 1980. In that time, it became the first MG to reach sales of 500,000.

Within the MGB range, the most iconic model is surely the 3.5-litre Rover-engined GT V8. Despite its fame, it was on the market for less than four years, and only 2591 were built. It was relaunched much later as the RV8 (with a 3.9-litre version of the same engine), which was manufactured from 1992 to 1995.

Mitsubishi Evo

In each of its ten generations, the Evolution derivative of the Mitsubishi Lancer was a four-door saloon with four-wheel drive and a turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine. In 2014, Mitsubishi UK, celebrating its 40th anniversary, built 40 examples of the Evo X FQ-440 MR, which produced, as its name suggested, 440bhp. At 220.2bhp per litre, this is the highest specific output of any four-cylinder road car, and second overall only to the Koenigsegg Jesko.

Evos were fabulous high-performance road cars, but their greatest value was the publicity they gained for Mitsubishi due to their success in international rallying. Tommi Mäkinen (born 1964) won the World Rally Championship for Drivers every year from 1996 to 1999 in these cars, and Mitsubishi won the Manufacturers’ title in 1997.

Nissan Skyline GT-R

Like the Datsun 240Z mentioned earlier, the Skyline GT-R is an outlier in the Nissan range. It’s almost unbelievable that the company which produced the Micra, the Qashqai and the Sunny could also come up with something like this.

There have been Skyline GT-Rs in six generations since 1969 (though with a 16-year gap), and the legacy has been carried over to the current GT-R, which no longer bears the Skyline name. All versions produced since 1989 have been outstanding and, we think, worthy of the icon title.

Opel Manta

For a mainstream manufacturer, Opel has built some astonishing cars, including the enormous 24/110 Regent luxury model of the late 1920s and the beautiful little two-seater GT of 1968-1973. But if we’re going to name the brand’s iconic model, it has to be the Manta.

By this we mean not the first-generation Manta, produced in the first half of the 1970s, but its replacement, which had a 13-year production run starting in 1975. It was simply a restyled version of the contemporary Opel Ascona/Vauxhall Cavalier, but it looked wonderful. The most celebrated version is the Manta 400, which Opel used in international rallying during the Group B era. At the top level, it was demolished by the four-wheel drive opposition, but it still looked fantastic, especially when driven by the likes of Russell Brookes and Jim McRae.

Peugeot 205 GTI

By the 1980s, Peugeot had developed a reputation for producing good but unadventurous cars. That changed dramatically in 1983 when the company’s 104 was replaced by the 205. This was immediately hailed as one of the finest European superminis, and it is still thought of in similar terms four decades later.

The most exciting 205 was the mid-engined, turbocharged, four-wheel drive T16, but only enough of these were built to allow Peugeot to use modified derivatives in Group B rallying. The front-wheel drive GTI, available with either a 1.6-litre or later a 1.9-litre engine, was the iconic model, not only within the range but in all of Peugeot history. It was quick, it was beautiful, it was affordable and it was an absolute riot to drive. Peugeot has arguably never built a hot hatch to match it since, but then who has?

Porsche 911

It’s not even close. There have been many great Porsches over the years, but this is the one everybody knows about and nearly everybody wants to have. Porsche did its best with a series of front-engined sports cars, but none of them survived the 20th century. The rear-engined 911 has been around for 60 years, and there’s no sign of it ever going away.

There have been many developments, of course, yet the basic shape and mechanical layout have never changed. The 911 formula worked back in 1963, and it still works today.

Renault Clio

Renault had an extremely hard act to follow when the time came to replace the 5, which had been produced in two generations since 1972. Its next supermini might also have been called the 5, but by 1990 company policy dictated that Renaults had to be given names rather than numbers, so it became known as the Clio.

There have been five generations of Clio, and they have all been successful – even the ordinary versions, not just the considerably more exciting Williams (pictured), V6 and Renaultsport models. In 2006, the Clio became the first car ever to win the Car of the Year award twice (having originally done so in 1991). Only the Volkswagen Golf and the Opel/Vauxhall Astra have achieved the same feat since then.

Rolls-Royce Phantom (seventh generation)

Over nearly a century, though with some gaps, there have been eight generations of Phantom. As the most iconic Rolls-Royce, we’ve nominated the seventh, which was launched in 2003, and was the company’s only offering for several years.

It was the brand’s first model after the takeover by BMW, and remains its flagship. Of all 21st-century Rolls-Royces, this one and its eighth-generation successor are the ones most closely aligned to the super-luxury vehicles of the past.

Rover SD1

The SD1 might have been the most shocking mainstream British car introduced in the 1970s. The old ‘auntie Rover’ jibe suddenly became irrelevant when this astonishingly modern-looking car hit the market, transforming the public perception of the brand like no model before or since.

Some of the engines in the range were best avoided. The SD1 was at its best when fitted with the celebrated 3.5-litre Rover V8, based on a Buick design. This was the right engine for the car, and made it a formidable weapon in Touring Car racing for several years.

Saab 96

The 96 did not spring from nowhere. It was an evolution of Saab’s first model, the 92, and the succeeding 93. But it was the ultimate Saab of its era, not least because it bridged the old and new, being fitted originally with a tiny two-stroke engine and later with a Ford V4.

With the 841cc two-stroke, it became the smallest-engined car ever to win the Monte Carlo Rally, and it still is. It remained competitive in international motorsport with the V4. In road-going terms, the introduction of the larger 99 in 1968 hardly affected the 96 – it was still in production as late as 1980, 20 years after it first appeared.

Seat Ibiza

There was some enthusiasm among our voters for the SEAT 600, which contributed enormously to the Spanish economic miracle, but in the end we went for the Ibiza. It was introduced in 1984, became the first car marketed in the UK as a SEAT the following year, and is still the brand’s supermini representative nearly 40 years later.

The first Ibiza owed a great deal to Fiat, but since the early 1990s all versions have relied on Volkswagen technology. They are the equivalents of VW’s Polo in almost every respect other than styling, and are generally cheaper.

Studebaker Avanti

The short-lived but fascinating Avanti was very fast for a car of the early 1960s, and extremely unusual for the time in having disc brakes at the front. Despite all that, it’s an icon more because of its futuristic fibreglass body, designed by Raymond Loewy (1893-1986) and looking absolutely nothing like that of the Studebaker Lark, which shared the same chassis.

The Avanti was the car which should have saved the by then deeply troubled brand, but Studebaker was already too far gone, and collapsed a few years later.

Subaru Impreza

Until the late 1980s, Subaru was a subject of only mild interest outside Japan. The Legacy moved things forward a long way, but the big change came with the introduction of the smaller Impreza. While the Legacy had done well in international rallying, the Impreza became one of the dominant cars in the sport, bringing Subaru unprecedented levels of global publicity.

All Imprezas have had a low centre of gravity thanks to their flat-four engines, and most have had soft but well-damped suspension. Turbocharged versions perform very well, but even an Impreza with very little power can be wonderful to drive, as in the case of, for example, the superb 1997 Impreza Sport.

Tesla Model S

Say what you like about Tesla (and almost everyone does), it has become a very significant part of the motoring world in little more than a decade. That’s not because of its first model, the Lotus Elise-based Roadster, an interesting device but aimed at a small corner of the market.

No, the game changer was the Model S. Very roomy inside, it was also extremely fast if fitted with two motors rather than one, despite weighing more than two tonnes, and of course it didn’t consume any type of fossil fuel. And with a real-world range of well over 250 miles, it was the first electric car where running out of juice was mostly not top-of-mind for its driver. Other Teslas are now available, but the Model S is the one which brought the brand to life.

Toyota Land Cruiser

The Land Cruiser name was first used in 1954, but it was applied to a vehicle launched three years earlier, so in a sense Land Cruisers have been around for over seven decades. There is almost no connection between the current model and the original Jeep-like military vehicle, but that’s part of the point.

Toyota has evolved its off-roader to meet changing requirements (usually involving toughness and go-anywhere ability), so at any time in its history there has always been someone somewhere in the world who would rather have a Land Cruiser than anything else on four wheels.

Vauxhall Lotus Carlton

The Lotus Carlton is one of those icons which stands out from everything else its maker produced. Each of the small number of cars built left the Opel factory in Rüsselsheim as a Vauxhall Carlton (or Opel Omega) 3.0 GSI, and was then taken to the Lotus factory in Hethel, where the straight-six engine was enlarged to 3.6 litres and fitted with twin turbochargers.

With appropriately high-octane fuel, the power shot up to over 370bhp, making this a staggeringly fast four-seat saloon for the early 1990s. The braking and suspension were uprated appropriately, so the Lotus Carlton handled beautifully and could stop urgently – a point lost on those who claimed at the time that it was too fast for the road.

Volkswagen Golf

Historically, of course, the Beetle is the iconic VW – the first car to be built in greater numbers than the Ford Model T. Without it, there would be no Volkswagen today, and conceivably no Audi, SEAT or Skoda either.

From a 2023 perspective, though, we reckon the Golf should have the title. It’s been around for nearly half a century, and while some generations have not been as good as others they have all been extremely popular, offering customers a choice of everything from simple, economical transport to a variety of impressive hot hatches. It is the centre of gravity of Volkswagen as we know it today.

Volvo 850

If there’s one type of car Volvo is particularly known for, it’s the large saloon, or more specifically the large estate. The 850 was in production only in the early to mid 1990s, but it’s an excellent example, and it also marked a turning point for the company.

Though its styling was much more rounded, the 850 was clearly in the same spirit as the older 200 Series. At the same time, it was technically different, with transversely-mounted engines (some of them with five cylinders) and front-wheel drive. The car lived beyond its name, becoming known as the S70 or V70, depending on body style, in 1996. The former didn’t last much longer, but the V70 went through another generation, finally being discontinued a quarter of a century after its great predecessor made its debut.

"We got it wrong": Why Britain's pothole epidemic can't be solved

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 06:00:00 +0100

Experts say we've taken a wrong turn on long-term road maintenance

Experts say Britain has taken a wrong turn on long-term road maintenance.

There are now more than one million potholes across the UK, roughly six for every mile of road, and the problem seems to be getting worse due to what experts say are the wrong methods being deployed to repair them.

In a bid to stop the rot, the government has committed £7.3 billion for roads over the next four years and is now pushing councils towards longer-term maintenance strategies rather than simply reacting once potholes appear.

Despite that shift, drivers returning from trips abroad still wonder why roads in countries such as Germany, France and the Netherlands often appear better maintained.

So why do Britain's pothole repairs fail?

Nick Thom, assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Nottingham, said some repairs are simply not designed to last.

"Pothole filling carried out in winter is usually done as a cheap emergency repair, without proper preparation of the surrounding surfaces and with materials that are not designed to last more than a few months," he said.

According to Thom, short-term repairs often rely on cold asphalt mixtures because they can be applied in cold and wet conditions.

He also cited research from one of his PhD students, who found repairs made in winter were more likely to suffer major fretting, where stones begin coming away from the road surface.

Did Britain make the wrong choice?

However, Thom said winter repairs are only part of the problem.

He explained that around 25 years ago the UK began moving away from Hot Rolled Asphalt (HRA) in favour of so-called thin surface course systems.

Thom said the decision to move towards thin surface course systems, which was taken to reduce road noise and spray, "contributed a lot" to the pothole problems drivers experience today.

"The material was really designed for faster roads, like A-roads and motorways," said Thom, "but around the same time many local authorities decided to follow the same approach on secondary roads. Where speeds are much lower, and spray not an issue, HRA would have been a much better solution. I would say we as a nation got it wrong."

Thom said HRA often lasts more than 30 years, while some thinner surfacing systems last no more than 10 to 15 years before needing attention.

But Mike Hansford, who leads the Road Surface Treatments Association, said Britain's pothole problems cannot be explained by thin layer surfacing materials alone.

He added: "It was almost like a perfect storm, because we introduced these thin surface course systems and at the same time stopped doing all the surface dressing on the scale we had been doing."

Hansford said experienced engineers also left the industry at the same time, creating gaps in knowledge around surface treatments.

According to Hansford, thin surface course systems depend far more heavily on preventative treatments such as asphalt preservation or rejuvenation, surface dressing or microsurfacing, to protect and seal the road surface. But surface dressing, where roads are sealed using bitumen and stone chippings, has become less common.

He said: "It has been reduced from over 90 million square metres in 2008 to 35 million square metres in 2023 at its lowest. That has been a significant contributory factor to why we are where we are."

Why do roads abroad seem better?

The Netherlands took a slightly different approach. Professor Bert van Wee from the Delft University of Technology said Dutch authorities began introducing quieter road surfaces in the 1980s despite knowing they would wear out more quickly than traditional materials.

"We still do it, because the benefits for road safety, visibility and noise are more important," he explained.

"It's a deliberate choice. It's not that they forgot that they needed to replace those asphalt layers sooner than the traditional types of asphalt."

Back in the UK, Malcolm Simms of the Asphalt Industry Alliance said preventative maintenance still has an important role to play, but he added that roads already in poor condition may first need more extensive work.

"In a lot of cases, the surface layer is only as good as what it is laid on," he said.

"If you have a weak foundation and you put something relatively thin on top of it, you still don't have the strength underneath."

He also said the timing is critical: "While I wouldn't say you would be wasting your time and money, you're potentially compromising [the effectiveness of prevention) from day one by 'protecting' something that is already starting to fail."

The Department for Transport has said councils carried out 15% more pothole prevention work last year and insists longer-term funding should improve repairs.

So when can drivers expect to see a noticeable improvement in our roads?

Hansford said: "There's a longer-term and increased government funding commitment in place until 2029/2030. With the DfT encouraging the use of preventative treatments, by the end of that period, providing everyone uses the funding sensibly, think we will start to see an improvement in the network."

Simms is more cautious. "There is an £18.62 billion backlog to fill in England and Wales," he said.

"Authorities have told us that if the money was available it would still take around 12 years to complete the work, and that's on top of existing road projects."

Simms believes the improvements will take time. "You're talking at least 10 years," he added.

"But if the work was actually done to get to improved conditions), authorities tell us they could then reduce their budget demands by a billion pounds a year. So it's 10 years of solid investment to get multiple years of future benefits."

V8s making shock comeback as luxury base chase emotion

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +0100

EV aversion and softening legislation have put big, booming engines back on the agenda

The V8 is making a shock comeback, thanks to a green light from US regulators and foot-dragging among high-end car buyers.

Stellantis, Lotus and Mercedes-Benz are among those reinstalling V8s into their line-up, and new Chinese car makers are working on their first-ever versions.

Meanwhile, the likes of BMW, Ford and General Motors are reaffirming their support for the engine, investing in new developments in response to customer demand.

V8s are a long way from being a mainstream power source, as they were for generations of primarily American cars, but against all odds they have survived the electric onslaught.

Many EVs easily deliver the punch of a V8, but without the harshness – and emissions – of combustion power. Yet, crucially, they lack the character that many buyers have come to love.

"In the luxury segment, customers simply enjoy the thrill of driving a car with powerful big engines," said Lotus CEO Feng Qingfeng. "They somehow just don't like the smoothness of EVs."

Lotus is leaning on the resources of owner Geely, the Chinese giant that is investing in V8 and V6 powerplants via its part-ownership of engine builder Horse.

As well as powering a new Lotus supercar codenamed Esprit (pictured in Autocar's artist impression above), the engine will go into an off-roader from the Geely stable, according to Feng (who didn't name the brand). It is also tipped for an 'M5-killer' from Lynk&Co.

The arrival of a new V8 from Horse opens up the choice for smaller manufacturers, which have turned to the likes of BMW (such as Land Rover for the Defender Octa) and Mercedes-Benz (such as Aston Martin for its models).

Stellantis, meanwhile, is getting a sales bump in the US from new CEO Antonio Filosa's decision to bring back the Hemi V8 for its Ram pick-up trucks.

Previous boss Carlos Tavares canned the Hemi in favour of the lower-emission Hurricane straight six that anticipated tougher emissions targets, but was disliked by a section of pick-up buyers. The Hemi represented 40% of Ram orders in the first quarter, according to Filosa.

"To have the V8 Herni engine keep accelerating will be very good for volume, will be very good for mix and, most of all, will be very good for profit," Filosa told investors on the company's first quarter earnings call. Stellantis wants to double down on muscle cars in the US using the SRT performance badge, with the V8 at their heart. The decision was a no-brainer.

"Bringing back the Hemi V8 engine gained a lot of attention and sent a clear message that Stellantis is listening to its customers and dealers who resented being forced to take the Hurricane twin-turbo straight-six engine," said Stephen Reitman, analyst at banking firm Bernstein.

The V8's return can be traced back to US president Donald Trump's decision to rip up emissions legislation imposed on car makers, cancelling penalties for missing CO₂ targets. "Stellantis no longer has to buy greenhouse gas credits to offset the carbon footprint of the Hemi V8," said Reitman. "The maths for bringing back the Hemi works."

Filosa pushed back on suggestions that buyers would baulk at fuel bills 40% higher than those of the Hurricane-engine models and three times those for plug-in hybrids in a period when the Iran war is hiking fuel prices. "In the US, the oil price pressure is lower than in Europe," he said.

The European V8, for a long time the preserve of top-end premium buyers, had been in decline in favour of electrified equivalents in response to CO₂ penalties. But premium brands have the widest global reach, so the combination of buyer reluctance to go electric at the top end along with America's V8 amnesty has tipped their hand.

For example, Mercedes' AMG performance arm has brought back the V8 after getting a lukewarm reception to the C63 four-cylinder PHEV, despite its 671bhp output. A new smoother, lower-emission V8 is going into a range of new models, including the GLE and GLS. Like all European premium marques, Mercedes is leaning more on the US market after losing share in China and that requires having a V8 at the top end.

Forner BMW CEO Oliver Zipse highlighted its V8 line-up as evidence of the company's rich variety in the face of what he saw as the "monoculture" within BMW's Chinese rivals, demonstrated at this year's Beijing motor show. He said: "You saw all drivetrains: you saw V8, you saw the Neue Klasse, fully electric, you saw smaller cars, you saw the new 7 Series, you saw our focus on hydrogen. The full breadth of a premium player you saw that."

Despite Zipse's comment, the Chinese are also getting into V8s – not just Geely but also Great Wall Motor, which showcased a 4.0-litre turbocharged V8 at this year's CES tech event. High-end models from GWM's Tank off-road brand are likely recipients, as is its forthcoming sports car.

Having a V8 is still a sign of status, Sam Fiorani, head of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, told Autocar. "Outside of North America, V8 engines mark the arrival of a prestige model, announcing that a model or brand plans to take on the luxury or exotic market, he said.

There's a political angle too. "For a Chinese manufacturer, creating a model that appeals to American tastes can put pressure on the dealers and legislators to open up American access to such models," said Fiorani. "It is unlikely to work by itself, but it is part of a larger plan to create a buzz for Chinese vehicles."

Another possible reason for Chinese interest lies on the track. "They want to get into racing. That's the next cred they're chasing," Tu Le, founder of consultant Sino Auto Insights, told Autocar.

Why the Fiat 500 is the ultimate retro revival

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 15:00:00 +0100

Fiat captured the 1957 car's spirit in 2007 with great effect - and it's worked for 20 years

What goes into a successful retro revival of an old car?

For a good example, let's look at the Renault 5. The consensus is that it gets all the key features right. Much like the original 5, it's great to drive and even better to look at, but at its core it captures that classless spirit that the car always had. Just as with that car (and even more so in the modern era of PCP finance and leasing), almost anyone can walk into a Renault dealership and drive away with a sharp, stylish runaround that would look just as at home in Knightsbridge as it would in Kettering.

Other rebirths haven't been so well resolved, losing touch of the elements that defined the original, whether that be through a hike in pricing (the Land Rover Defender, I would argue) or a complete departure in terms of positioning, shape, styling and character (it starts with 'F' and ends with 'ord Capri').

So there are hits and there are misses, but when all is said and done, the king of the comeback has to be the Fiat 500.

Astonishingly, you have to go all the way back to 2004 to find the genesis of this modern classic, in the form of the Trepiùno concept, conceived in response to the overwhelming success of the Smart Fortwo city car in Fiat's home market. It was instantly recognisable as a descendant of the Nuova 500 that had mobilised Italy after World War II.

The footprint was still tiny in comparison to its contemporaries, at comfortably less than 4m long, but there was enough space inside for a 3+1 seating layout - hence the name, which translates literally as 'three plus one'.

It was a hit. Such a hit, in fact, that the production version was immediately green-lit and revealed just two years later with minimal fettling - apart from the sensible addition of a full-sized fourth seat.

From the off, it was clear that Fiat had stayed faithful to the 500's original purpose. This new car was just as much of an everyman's car as the original: priced well and easy to use. It used the Panda's platform as its base while power came from the well-aged but eternally excellent Fire engine, economical, revvy and robust as it is.

The reborn 500 excelled in everyday use, thanks to the great visibility out of its expansive windscreen and generous cabin space that belied its diminutive dimensions, and there was a lot to love for driving enthusiasts too: well-weighted steering and a low kerb weight made it a joy to chuck about, along with the later addition of a peppy, charismatic two-cylinder engine.

A gorgeous interior, with kitchen appliance- esque HVAC dials and a delightfully simple combined speedo and tacho, helped make it an inherently cheerful car, putting a smile on your face whenever you drove it.

But the looks were what really sold it to the masses. It was as desirable as a Gucci bag or a pair of Diesel jeans (both brands that collaborated with Fiat to create special-edition 500s). Ferrari UK even ordered a fleet daubed in its signature Rosso Corsa paint to use as courtesy cars for customers.

My mum was among the admirers, buying three in a row over the years - including one in which I learned to drive and eventually had the joy of using every day.

It was an everyman's car, yes, but it was a truly enviable one. Fiat captured lightning in a bottle in a way that very few others have ever done.

MX-5 for the family? Manual Mazda 3 is an everyday driver's delight

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 06:00:00 +0100

Much of what the five-star MX-5 so great is evident in this humble hatchback

I worry about the future of smaller car firms. With so much new technology to invest in and develop and new rivals flooding the market, the relative minnows are getting squeezed.

That's why, like many of its contemporaries, Mazda is increasingly reliant on partnerships, sharing development with Toyota and Changan. Such deals give a firm like Mazda a path into the future, but the fear is that they lose some of the individuality that is a core part of their appeal.

I've been reminded of that every time I've jumped behind the wheel of this 3 because, gosh, Mazda really does know how to make a car handle nicely. Even in a humble family hatchback – never mind, say, an MX-5 – there's a certain sharpness and feel to the steering of a Mazda that is both enriching and rewarding.

The firm makes much of its 'jinba ittai' ('horse and rider') philosophy, which prioritises making the driving experience feel natural. And when you're behind the wheel of a Mazda, you know it's more than a marketing slogan. A few weekend jaunts into the Hampshire countryside recently have given me the chance to enjoy driving the 3 on some entertaining, flowing roads, and while it isn't an outright hot hatch, it's certainly engaging.

The steering is direct and well weighted in a very pleasing Mazda sort of way, so when you turn into a corner you have confidence the car will go where you point it. Helping the Mazda's cornering stability is that the ride is on the firm side, although there's clearly a drawback to this given the current state of British roads.

Hit a bump or a pothole and it can jar a bit, although thankfully that nimble steering means that if you're paying attention you've got a decent chance of missing them.

My habit of entering random running events in the countryside often involves having to park up in a field, which can be quite unpleasant in some stiff hatches. But Mazda seems to have found a reasonable balance in firming up the handling without making life too uncomfortable, impressive given that I suspect most hatchback buyers these days are likely to be chasing a level of driver engagement beyond what mass-market SUVs and crossovers usually offer.

The 3's mildly hybridised but naturally aspirated 2.5-litre petrol four is nicely responsive too, although it confuses me a little. Given the unusually large displacement for a family hatch, I had expected it to be noisier than some rivals, but it's actually really rather quiet.

In fact, a few times when stopped at traffic lights and the auto stop-start has kicked in, it has been hard to know when the engine has re-engaged, so hushed and smooth is it at idle.

In a way, the engine note is a bit like the 3 itself: nicely understated. It's engaging and entertaining in all the right ways, yet simultaneously quite relaxing and calming. It just feels right and is a pleasure to drive. And that's why I spent a few weeks filling up my diary so that I was too busy to hand it over to magazine editor Rachel Burgess, who is running the 3. Sadly she finally insisted I relinquish the keys a week or so back.

So I'm left finding excuses to ask for another go, and hoping that Mazda can find some way to preserve its ability to make cars handle in a future of shared development.

Why car buyers should still care about depreciation

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +0100

PCP deals have put depreciation out of mind for most motorists, but it could soon bite back

Whatever happened to depreciation?

There was a time when it was car buyers' main concern. Now, not so much. Perhaps the popularity of PCP finance deals is the reason. With the car's minimum future value guaranteed, a vague promise of equity at the end of the term to put towards the next one and lower monthly payments than hire purchase, PCPs might just have brushed the spectre of depreciation under the carpet.

"If you're buying on a PCP, you're not looking at the value of the car at the end of the term, you're looking at how much you're paying a month," says Paul Toomer, founder of Car-Pod, a used car dealership near Southampton. "Plus, assuming the dealer pays enough for your old car, you've got a cash-free deposit and you're in a new one."

So yes, depreciation may have been brushed under the carpet. However, like everything under there, sooner or later it will come back to the surface. The fact is that cars still depreciate, mainly because there are too many of them chasing too few buyers.

"Supply and demand is always key in the used car market," explains Derren Martin, an automotive consultant at vehicle data firm Cazana. "Put a lot of new cars into the market and in three years' time they will be back as used cars. If their numbers are more than the market can reasonably absorb, they will depreciate fast."

Factor in a weak image, an unpopular specification, doubtful provenance, poor condition or a high mileage and watch a car depreciate faster still. But again, with a PCP to rescue them, do car buyers actually care?

"From a consumer's point of view, depreciation is probably less important, because on a lease such as a PCP they're not taking any risk," says Chris Plumb, new car valuations expert at another automotive data firm, Cap HPI. "However, within the industry, depreciation is still a hot topic. Manufacturers are certainly becoming more attuned to it, because if your cars are performing well in the market and you're doing everything to maximise their residual value, that translates into their forecast value from people like us and from your finance houses, so you can support your vehicles less."

With a PCP, your monthly payments are a combination of the interest charged on the car's total price plus its depreciation during the finance term. If the car were forecast to be worth nothing at the end of the term, the size of the monthly payments would be through the roof. The finance company or the manufacturer would have to subsidise them by slashing the purchase price, offering a big deposit contribution or by shoring up the car's value with its own money.

In fact, some manufacturers and their finance companies are having to deal with this very problem. It's not that their cars are forecast to be worth nothing, rather that they have depreciated far faster than was predicted, turning what was hoped to be an asset into a liability.

"It has been a tough time for finance houses in recent years, especially with the big falls in EV values to deal with," explains Martin. "In response, they've become masters of their own destiny, setting their own residual values rather than referring to forecasters such as Cap HPI. One of the big things they're doing is secondary leasing - sweating the asset a bit more by putting it back on lease rather than putting it into the used market."

Manufacturers and finance companies would rather not have to throw their cars a lifeline - which is why they're careful how they market their new cars to large fleets.

"The decisions car makers take today influence depreciation tomorrow," says Plumb. "So, for example, they avoid being over-represented in the daily rental market. It puts bums on seats but, when the cars are moved on after six months, there's a risk they will swamp the used market, depressing values."

It's estimated that there will be around 80 car brands on the UK market by the end of this year. However, sales of new cars are expected to grow by only around 1.4% to a little over two million. The result is that manufacturers are under more pressure to move metal. There are reports of discounts approaching 27% on some models.

"For consumers, 2026 will be the year of the deal," says Robert Forrester, CEO of Vertu Motors, one of the UK's biggest new car dealership groups. "The offers for consumers will be unbelievable and, in my opinion, even uneconomic for dealers and manufacturers, they will be that good."

Plumb says that he recently saw a popular, three-year-old SUV with 26,000 miles on the clock being advertised by a car supermarket on a three-year/30,000-mile PCP, with a £2500 deposit and an APR of 10%, for £410 per month. Elsewhere, on a popular leasing website, he found a brand-new example of the same model and over the same term but with an APR of 0% for £277 per month.

"People are looking for value for money," says Plumb. "They're asking what the monthly payments look like and whether they can come out of their three-year PCP and be offered a new car on similar terms. On the strength of these examples, they can."

Bumper discounts, deposit contributions, low-rate finance: on the surface, they're great news for car buyers financing new cars on a PCP. However, at the end of the term, the return of these cars en masse to the market could have a depressing effect on future used car values.

"New car offers are so good, especially those being offered by the new Chinese brands, that when all these discounted new cars return as used ones in 18 months' time, who will buy them and what will they be worth compared with a new one?" asks Martin. "Electric cars especially are likely to have outdated tech that buyers don't want; values will fall.

"How used cars are resold to consumers will be critical. If they end up with car supermarkets, they risk being sold more cheaply, undermining their values and fuelling depreciation." Toomer is wary of cars less than three years old: "In my experience, the heaviest depreciation occurs in the first three years of a car's life. On its third birthday, a car with average mileage is worth about half what it cost new. It means that any car we stock that is two years old is still depreciating quite quickly and, if it doesn't sell for a few months, all of a sudden we face selling it at a loss."

Looking ahead, declining brand loyalty and mounting pressure from Chinese newcomers threaten to worsen depreciation for some legacy brands and certain sectors of the market.

"The arrival of cheap new cars from China will threaten the values of many existing used ones," says Martin. "Take the Chery Tiggo 4, for example. It's a genuinely impressive car for just £19,995 new. If you've a used car that's equivalent to it but it costs more, its value is likely to drop.

"The China effect also threatens to depress the values of used models from some of the legacy brands. Honda and Suzuki could be at risk."

These are dark clouds on a horizon that threatens to become cloudier. Depreciation may appear to be hidden under the carpet at present, but there are signs that it could bite back.

Current used market trends

Despite the pressure they face, used cars are generally worth more today than they were at the turn of the decade. In part this is due to the scarcity of three- to five-year-old cars, caused by the collapse of new car sales during the Covid pandemic and delays to car supplies resulting from parts shortages when the Ukraine war began.

At the same time, rising new car prices have boosted used car demand. In its latest market analysis, Cazana reports the average values of used cars at three years old have increased by 1.7%, adding around £340 to retail prices. One-year-old cars are up 0.7% with five-year-olds up 1.4%. Even 10-year-olds, the bedrock of the budget car market, have risen 0.5%.

At all price points, all fuel types have increased in value, with hybrids leading the charge at 2.3%, while EVs are up 1.4%. The star performers? The promise of warmer weather has inflated used convertible values by 2.6% - and, owing to lower numbers and rising demand, estates and MPVs are up 3.4% and 2% respectively. These bullish numbers are reflected on the forecourts, says Car-Pod's Paul Toomer: "I'm still having to pay high prices for stock. I can't get anywhere near what [other] dealers are bidding for cars on the online buying platforms and then paying a £400 charge on top for the service."

However, although its effects are partially masked by finance products such as PCPs, depreciation is still happening, and Chris Plumb at Cap HPI suspects its previous seasonal highs and lows are returning. "It's all to do with supply and demand, and there's a lot of supply," he says. The lesson is that if you have a quality used car to sell or part-exchange to offer, ignore the doomsayers and hold out for the highest offer you can get while it's still on the table.

Top 10 Slowest-Depreciating Cars At 3 Years and 30,000 Miles

	Car Model	Avg. New	Avg. Used	Retained
1	Lamborghini Urus	£159,925	£178,655	111.7%
2	Suzuki Jimny	£15,941	£17,080	107.1%
3	Mercedes-Benz G-Class	£142,244	£128,858	90.6%
4	Volkswagen California TDI	£54,236	£48,579	89.6%
5	Porsche 718 Cayman	£53,113	£47,359	89.2%
6	Bentley Bentayga PHEV	£130,500	£114,635	87.8%
7	Jeep Wrangler	£44,527	£38,322	86.1%
8	Porsche 718 Boxster	£50,407	£42,988	85.3%
9	Dacia Duster	£14,004	£11,828	84.5%
10	Audi RS3 Saloon	£47,775	£39,991	83.7%

Top 10 Fastest-Depreciating Cars At 3 Years and 30,000 Miles

	Car Model	Avg. New	Avg. Used	Retained
1	Polestar 2	£49,990	£20,991	42.0%
2	BMW i3	£35,896	£14,552	40.5%
3	Audi A8 Hybrid	£76,716	£30,486	39.7%
4	MG ZS EV	£27,275	£10,348	38.0%
5	Mercedes-Benz EQC	£71,407	£26,653	37.3%
6	Vauxhall Grandland X PHEV	£39,679	£14,426	36.4%
7	Hyundai Kona Electric	£36,295	£13,088	36.1%
8	Vauxhall Corsa-e	£29,167	£9,858	33.8%
9	Nissan Leaf	£31,643	£9,965	31.5%
10	Jaguar I-Pace	£72,776	£20,175	27.7%

How many Chinese car brands can actually survive in the UK?

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 20:38:58 +0100

When even car journalists struggle to keep up with new Chinese entrants, does the industry have a problem?

I suppose it finally had to happen. An entire vehicle brand has been launched in the UK before I realised it even existed.

Retailers started offering this maker's cars only four days before I found out about it, but still.

I feel like I've failed. The car market has left a self-confessed car bore like me behind to the extent that there are not just models but now entire brands (okay, this one sells only one model at the moment) that can arrive and remain below my radar.

My fault, I think, for having a holiday towards the end of April when, during the week we reviewed the Aion V, I was watching short-oval racing in New Hampshire (Ford Crown Victoria single-make races a particular highlight).

Otherwise I like to think/pretend I'd have spotted the V's existence. But it continued to skim beneath my consciousness until a colleague today prompted me for my thoughts about one. What do I think? Honestly couldn't say. A bit embarrassing.

So welcome to the UK market the Aion V, which the internet tells me is a car made by a company that's part of GAC, or Guangzhou Automobile Group. And, yes, I have heard of that because it's one of those Chinese state-owned conglomerates that has been around for decades.

GAC is one of China's top five car makers, producing almost two million vehicles last year, and has joint ventures with Toyota and Honda.

So although the Aion brand is new, the car is unknown and by the end of the year there will be only 25 UK dealers for the V (which, in case you missed it or have forgotten already, is a mid-sized electric crossover), it is not really a shock to find out that Aion knows a thing or two about building cars.

The V, which has 201bhp and a 317-mile range from its 75kWh battery, is by all accounts not bad.

But if I don't know about it, how are customers expected to? Buying a car isn't like going on Amazon to select a new electric razor or doorbell camera where it doesn't matter what it's called, you can buy one with one click and it will be with you tomorrow. This is spending £36,000.

On the one hand, this means prospective buyers will be more inclined to do some research. But on the other, it also means having a recognisable name is all the more necessary. A car needs a hook, a reason, a story: to be, if it can't be an actual Range Rover, the Temu Range Rover.

These can't all last, can they? This scattergun, market-overwhelming approach, like Uber in the taxi market, is bad news for a lot of established players. But sooner or later it will be clear that some are here to stay, and others are not.

My 85-year-old Jeep is perfect for driving to the shops

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0100

Ready for action: Simple and reliable Jeep is easy to work on and appreciate

"We always get the first car parking space at Asda!" jokes Ian Watson about his Willys Jeep, which he has owned for 10 years.

"With the machine gun mounts - I have a couple of 30-calibre guns at home that fit them - it looks pretty serious." I hope he removes the - fake? - hand grenade attached to the dashboard when he and wife Viv pop into the supermarket.

Ian's Jeep is an early example - a 1941 'Slat Grille' (when Ford also began producing jeeps for the war effort, it swapped the grille for a simpler piece of pressed steel to speed up production).

"It was shipped out to the South Pacific just two days after Pearl Harbour," says Ian. "After the war, the Americans abandoned much of their equipment, and this Jeep remained in the Philippines. Eventually, it was run into the ground, but a museum in Manila, recognising its value as an early model, bought and restored it. When the museum closed, all the exhibits were sold off on eBay, which is how I came to buy it. It was more or less in its current condition and cost me £17,000, but today an early 'slat grille' Jeep goes for around £34,000, so I haven't done badly."

Ian's Jeep is powered by the Willys 'Go Devil' engine that most Jeeps used. It's a 2.2-litre inline four-cylinder flathead, or sidevalve, motor. "It leaks oil like a sieve, and because it was used in a hot country, it has a second radiator to keep it cool," he says.

"It makes only around 60hp but just a little more than 100lb ft at 2000rpm, so it pulls well from idle. In fact, it feels a bit like a tractor! It's certainly as slow as one, with 45mph the fastest I've had out of it. Not that I'd want to go much faster. The brakes are hydraulic but aren't very good. It has cart springs at the back, too, so you do get thrown about. You have to hang on; I'm conscious I might fall out, so we've fitted door straps. Soldiers back in the war were a lot smaller and could cling on more easily than a big fella like me."

Ian's Jeep has a three-speed manual gearbox and, being permanent four-wheel drive, a transfer box with high and low ranges. The handbrake works on the driveshaft and, says Ian, holds the vehicle securely. He adds: "A Jeep is a reasonably simple thing. I can do most jobs on it, but those I can't I farm out to a Jeep specialist in Milford, near Godalming. Spare parts are easy to come by. Because so many Jeeps were made, it's possible to get almost any bit that you need. It might be original too, although there are many new parts now coming out of India."

Ian and Viv do around 500 miles a year in their Jeep. "Because it's quite slow, it can be frustrating for those drivers following us, but people do love to see it about. When we first bought it, a lot of veterans would come up and reminisce, but they've passed on now. I keep it in my garage, one half of which has military memorabilia associated with it. The other side, where I park my 1968 Mini Moke, has 1960s memorabilia."

Alien encounter: visiting the UK's Area 51in a Maserati MCPura

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 06:00:00 +0100

Exploring Britain's own Area 51 in the latest flying object from Modena: Brace for close encounters

Do you believe?

YouGov surveys suggest three-quarters of British people adjudge that alien life exists somewhere in the universe, while a whole third think those extraterrestrials have visited Earth at least once. Seven per cent of our population say they have seen a UFO. But I'd happily wager those figures swell at least a little in this hilly, happy valley in West Yorkshire. The market town of Todmorden is the unofficial UFO capital of the UK - think Area 51 with less Nevada desert and more craft shops.

It's the perfect place to introduce Maserati's latest land-borne craft to British roads. The MCPura represents a nip, tuck and light rebrand for the wondrous MC20 supercar after five years on sale. To the eyes of dedicated car folk, little has changed - reprofiled bumpers and new wheel and paint options summarise its visual makeover - but this car will remain a UFO (unusually fabulous object) to many onlookers. Not least with its dihedral doors and the hugely theatrical folding roof of this Cielo cabrio, it makes even its everyday manoeuvres resemble the extraordinary.

Its dynamic elements are unchanged, a carbon tub at its core and a 621bhp twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 perched beneath its pert, Trident-stamped deck. It drives the rear wheels only through a snappy eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. The MCPura feels distinctly old-school for its lack of hybridisation and there's naturally an awful lot to like about that - particularly on roads as stirring as these.

Todmorden (pronounced Tod-muh-dun) sits at the confluence of three Pennine valleys, and while it doesn't inhabit the more famed driving meccas of the Yorkshire Dales or North York Moors, the Calderdale region it dwells in has a charm all of its own. Hills dominate the horizon in every direction, punching well above their official elevation figures with sweeping consistency and rich textures. Bleating sheep and topsy-turvy dry stone walls etch detail into the picture while wind turbines pepper many of the region's peaks to twist a useful positive from its often inclement weather.

Colin Lyall has owned a second-hand bookshop in Tod, as the locals call it, for 25 years. "Tod is open, welcoming and accepting," he tells me. "It's always been alternative - a nest of counterculture where people come to escape the elements of a more mundane society." Its philosophy clearly embraces a wide spectrum of views about what may occupy the skies above us.

Tod's most famous tale dates back to November 1980 and the apparent abduction of police officer Alan Godfrey as he performed an early morning search for some missing cows. There are copious books and resources that dig gleefully into the finer details (the BBC's Uncanny podcast explores the story with particular eloquence) but Godfrey claims to have seen a large, lit diamond in the sky - 20ft wide and 14ft tall, stationary save for an anticlockwise rotation on its lower section - before losing 25 minutes of his morning and finding himself 100ft farther down the A646, with no recollection of what had occurred in the interim.

Rational explanations abound, but Godfrey has steadfastly stuck to his story for nearly 50 years. And his is far from the only ethereal event on these roads. Reports of silver balls, beams of light and phantom Zeppelins roaming the sky date back to the early 1900s, when the pragmatic suggestion of military aircraft manoeuvres can't quickly shrug off the paranormal twist on events.

"Alan's experience is the big story, the one that centres it," says Colin as he divulges Calderdale's reputation for "high-strangeness events". Ghosts, witches and vampires also star in local legends. It's all up for discussion at his monthly Todmorden UFO Meet, open to all in the Golden Lion pub since 2017. It's well known among the UFO community and attendees have travelled from all over the world to tell their story. So does Colin have an experience of his own? "In Manchester, ironically! I had to go out of town to have mine," he says, laughing. "I saw a silver ball move across the sky very slowly. And I thought: 'Well, what is that?' There was no propulsion system with it. At the altitude that I could see it, it must have been pretty big."

Back in the MCPura, it feels like I'm in danger of triggering my own disturbance, because the car erupts with a histrionic blare each time I push its stark blue starter button. My momentum against the Millstone Grit buildings of Tod town centre feels rather brazen and its open roof alerts me to plenty of "bloomin' hecks" (and other utterances) as I potter around while photographer Sim takes some pictures.

In moments like these, I improbably wish for the hybridisation of its closest supercar rivals - or the fully electric MC20 Folgore, which Maserati promised at launch but cancelled, citing lack of demand. We come in peace, after all, and a mite more subtlety would be welcome. So I'm grateful when the chance arises to whisk Sim back into the Maserati and continue our clockwise loop towards the exact spot where PC Godfrey had his close encounter.

When we reach it there's no plaque, and with the sun shining and turbine blades spinning it's difficult to imagine a domineering craft hovering ahead to halt our progress. So I instead lean into the fast, gentle curves of the A646 to dig deeper into the MCPura's potential. On warm, dry Tarmac, it exhibits little of the savagery I've experienced in wetter conditions in its MC20 forebear. There's grip to spare and I'm quickly notching through the drive modes to sharpen its focus.

The damping is supreme across undulating Tarmac and you can quickly shrug off the more languid vertical movements of GT mode to indulge in the tighter-fisted feel of Sport or Race. This also sharpens the shifts of its already impressive dual-clutch 'box, and with the car's prodigious performance inevitably tricky to wring out on public roads, you instead play tunes on its Nettuno V6 by flick-flacking up and down the gears, feeling the car transform from mild to wild with a couple of choice downchanges.

Consecutive right turns at Cliviger onto The Long Causeway serve up tighter corners and more breathtaking dips and crests for enjoying Maserati's slightly ragged interpretation of the modern supercar experience. The MCPura's best work happens below its limits and there's great satisfaction in achieving a smooth, consistent flow, feeling its mid-engined balance and subtly rearward weight bias inform its cornering attitude rather than govern it. I'd have far busier hands and feet if the sun wasn't so golden, mind. And I don't once gel with its soft, unprogressive brake pedal, which clearly wishes to be stamped hard to the bulkhead on a racetrack rather than carefully modulated on a twisting B-road.

It's not the only imperfection, and while you can sense the influence its engineers took from rival supercars, the MCPura is unashamedly its own, unique thing. As you might well hope at a whisker under £300,000 as tested, with its generously ladled options. Yet it looks twice its asking price with the sun dancing across its multi-layered Fuoriserie paint and the flying buttresses on the Cielo's rear deck more than justifying its sacrifice of a glass cover above the V6.

This is a design more emboldened in drop-top form and I doubt its coupé sibling would have been any more thrilling across the moors. Its handful of niggles are much easier to tolerate with the sun beaming down and the chuffs, whistles and bass of its boosted V6 so easily populating the cabin.

We reach Hebden Bridge - a place brimming with its own UFO sightings - before turning right at Mytholmroyd to tackle Cragg Vale Incline, the longest continuous road ascent in England. Its 968ft rise across 5.5 miles earned it a place in the Grand Départ of the 2014 Tour de France. It's naturally a mite easier with 538lb ft of Italian muscle to call on and the MCPura makes light work of our climb towards Blackstone Edge and the border with Greater Manchester.

Darkness is gradually draping itself across the scenery and an immediate chill prickles our arms as stars begin to pepper the sky and bright lights beam ominously across the valley. "Must be tractors," we both mutter hopefully to one another. Believer or sceptic, it's hard not to glance through the Cielo's targa top with intrigue: the breadth of phenomena across these sprawling moors is enough to carve a glimmer of possibility in even the most closed minds. And should extraterrestrial life not extend a friendly hand to shake, we have the ideal getaway car.

Drive it yourself

Our 'Tod Triangle' takes in 32 miles and 1hr 10min of glorious Pennines scenery, delays caused by unplanned abductions or time slips notwithstanding. Tally your visit with the third Tuesday of the month to attend the Todmorden UFO Meet at the Golden Lion — friendly sceptics very much welcome.

Plentiful pubs or cafes can be tapped in as waypoints, but the towns of Todmorden, Mereclough, Hebden Bridge and Littleborough are your key anchors to replicate our route. Bridestones Moor and Stoodley Pike allow you to park up for a dramatic hike among the scenery (and a closer peek to the skies) safe in the knowledge that you can soothe any aches and pains afterwards with the hot and cold contrast sauna at New Delight Inn (iglusauna.co.uk).

Short, worthwhile detours include Mankinholes, a ruggedly rural spot with numerous otherworldly occurrences to its name (though narrow lanes to negotiate), the towering structure of Baitings Reservoir dam and the unlikely inland beach of Hollingworth Lake, complete with fish 'n' chip shops, an ice cream parlour and an amusement arcade.

Maserati MCPura Cielo
Price	£227,070
Engine	V6, 2992cc, twin-turbo, petrol
Power	621bhp at 7500rpm
Torque	538lb ft at 3000rpm
Gearbox	8-spd dual-clutch automatic, RWD
Kerb weight	1560kg
0-62mph	2.9sec
Top speed	199mph
Economy	24.1mpg
CO2, tax band	265g/km, 37%
Rivals	Ferrari 296 GTS, McLaren Artura Spider

The most powerful American production car engines of all time

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 04:39:44 +0100

There's no replacement for displacement, and this lot of hugely powerful and often massive engines prove that

Internal combustion engines are far more complex than electric motors, and it’s correspondingly more difficult to make them produce a lot of power.

As the 2011 horsepower Lotus Evija demonstrates, the most powerful cars of the near future will be EVs, but remarkable outputs have nevertheless been achieved with engines fuelled by petrol or diesel.

Here we’re looking at 20 of the strongest examples created in the US, all of them available in cars or non-commercial trucks sold to the public for road use (so no 11,000 horsepower Top Fuel dragsters, for example).

They’re listed in ascending order of their quoted outputs, with the caveat that there was a change from gross to net horsepower in 1972, which muddies the waters considerably.

Only the most powerful unit from any family is included. This means that what you’ll be reading isn’t a top 20 in the usual sense, since many engines have been ignored because they are outpowered by close relatives, but it adds variety, and we all like variety.

Chrysler FirePower: 390 horsepower (gross)

The FirePower was the first of three generations of Chrysler V8 engine collectively known as Hemi. Introduced in the 1951 model year, it was the only engine fitted to the first four models in the 300 letter series, each of which was produced for just a single year.

It was discontinued after the 300D of 1958, in which it produced 380 horsepower from 6.4 litres if fitted with twin four-barrel carburettors. Optional fuel injection raised the output to 390 horsepower, the highest achieved in any FirePower.

It’s important to note that this was a gross figure, measured when the engine was not burdened by power-sapping ancillaries necessary for it to function in a car. The net figure, as used from 1972 onwards, would have been lower, but still comfortably over 300 horsepower.

Chrysler RB: 400 horsepower (gross)

The RB was a big-block V8 offered in capacities of up to 7.2 litres, but the most powerful version fitted to a road car measured 6.8 litres. This was used in the 300F of 1960, in which it normally produced 375 horsepower gross. As an extra-cost option, customers could order a 400 horsepower version, which was mated to a four-speed manual gearbox rather than the usual three-speed automatic.

The highest gross figure for a 7.2 was 390 horsepower. The Max Wedge variant was rated at 420, but this was intended only for use in drag racing.

Ford MEL: 400 horsepower (gross)

The MEL (which stood for Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln) was Ford’s rival to the contemporary Chrysler RB. In 7.0-litre form it was easily capable of producing 360 horsepower, which was the standard output of the Mercury Park Lane.

In 1958, however, Mercury offered an uprated version with three two-barrel carburettors. Known as the Super Marauder, it produced 400 horsepower, and was an option on every model Mercury sold in that year.

Oldsmobile Rocket: 400 horsepower (gross)

In 1970, the final model year of the first-generation front-wheel drive Toronado, Oldsmobile created the optional W-34 package to boost the output of its second-generation V8, which by that time had reached its maximum capacity of 7.5 litres.

As standard, the V8 was rated at 375 horsepower, which you might have thought would be about enough. The uprated camshaft and dual exhaust system included in the package raised this to 400, and for good measure Oldsmobile added “special transmission calibration for quicker acceleration”.

Cummins B Series: 420 horsepower

The first and only six-cylinder diesel on this list is a 6.7-litre member of the long-running B Series family, supplied by Cummins to Stellantis for use in its Ram heavy duty trucks. The Standard Output version produces 370 horsepower and is available in the 2500 and 3500, but the 3500 also has the option of the High Output derivative which produces 420 horsepower, 10 more than the 6.4-litre petrol Hemi V8 in the same range.

In terms of torque, the High Output easily surpasses the others. It produces 1075 lb ft, well above the Standard Output’s 850 lb ft and the Hemi’s 429 lb ft.

Chrysler Hemi: 425 horsepower (gross)

Originally intended only for racing, the first Chrysler V8 officially called Hemi (and nicknamed Elephant) later became available in several Chrysler, Plymouth and Dodge road cars – including the aerodynamically adventurous Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird – and also in the Monteverdi Hai built in Switzerland.

Measuring 7.0 litres, it was always officially rated at 425 horsepower gross, though in 1971 Chrysler and Plymouth also published a more realistic net rating of 350 horsepower.

PICTURE: Dodge Charger Daytona

Ford FE: 425 horsepower (gross)

The FE V8 made its debut in the 1958 model year, when the 5.9-litre version was fitted to several models produced by the ill-fated Edsel brand. Two 7.0-litre variants arrived later, of which the more powerful was known as the 427, even though its capacity in non-metric units was actually 426 cubic inches.

The 427 was available in two power outputs, the higher being 425 horsepower. In this form, which first appeared in 1964, it was fitted to the Ford Galaxie and Fairlane and the Mercury Comet, Monterey and Park Lane.

PICTURE: 1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL Sportsroof

Ford Godzilla: 430 horsepower

The Godzilla is a petrol-fuelled V8 introduced in the 2020 model year with a capacity of 7.3 litres, and has since become available as a 6.8. It’s fitted to larger vehicles, and usually has an output of under 400 horsepower.

The exception is the version fitted to the F-Series Super Duty trucks, which are in what’s known as the Heavy Duty class. For this application, the 7.3-litre Godzilla produced 430 horsepower, and 485 lb ft of torque.

Chevrolet Big-Block: 450 horsepower (gross)

Chevrolet has been producing big-block V8s since the 1950s, though latterly they have been used more for load-hauling vehicles than for passenger cars. In 1970, the 7.4-litre version normally produced 360 horsepower, but it could optionally be uprated to 450 in that year’s Chevy Chevelle (pictured).

Another member of the same family which you can buy right now is the 10.4-litre ZZ632. This produces 1004 horsepower (net) and 876 lb ft of torque, but it’s a crate engine not fitted as standard to any production model, so for the purposes of this gallery it doesn’t count.

GM Duramax V8: 470 horsepower

The L5P became the newest member of the 6.6-litre turbo diesel Duramax V8 family in 2017, when it produced 445 horsepower at 2800rpm and 910 lb ft at 1600rpm. For 2024, it has been upgraded to 470 horsepower and 975 lb ft at the same engine speeds.

It’s fitted to two very similar Heavy Duty pickup trucks – the Chevrolet Silverado HD (pictured) and the GMC Sierra HD, the latter being more or less the same as the former but with different badges and styling details.

Ford Power Stroke: 500 horsepower

Also known as the Scorpion, the 6.7-litre turbo diesel Power Stroke V8 was introduced in 2011, replacing an earlier 6.4-litre engine from the same family, and has gradually become more powerful. Its 475 horsepower and 1050 lb ft were both best-in-class and a High Output version arrived in the 2023 model year with 500 horsepower and 1200 lb ft.

The High Output is standard in the top-spec Limited versions of the F-250, F-350 (pictured) and F-450 Super Duty trucks, and an extra-cost option in others.

Cadillac Blackwing: 550 horsepower

Codenamed LTA, the Blackwing was a 4.2-litre twin-turbo V8 available very briefly in the Cadillac CT6 luxury saloon. In the CT6 Platinum, it produced 500 horsepower and 574 lb ft, while a version in a higher state of tune fitted to the CT6-V (pictured) made 550 horsepower and 640 lb ft.

Introduced in 2019, both models lasted only until the CT6 range was discontinued the following year. Today, Cadillac makes Blackwing versions of the CT4-V and CT5-V, but neither they nor any other vehicle use this engine.

Chrysler Viper: 645 horsepower

The Viper V10 engine was only ever used in the Dodge Viper sports car. As launched in 1992, it already measured a formidable 8.0 litres, but its capacity was gradually increased over the years, finally reaching 8.4 litres.

The power and torque outputs rose too, peaking at 645 horsepower and 600 lb ft in 2015.

Ford EcoBoost: 660 horsepower

Of the many Ford engines wearing the EcoBoost badge, the twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6 is by far the strongest. As far as road-going applications are concerned, the ultimate version was the one fitted to later examples of the Ford GT, which produced 660 horsepower and 550 lb ft of torque.

Still higher figures have been reached, but only in GTs built specifically for track, rather than road, use.

Ford Modular: 760 horsepower

The most powerful engine in the Modular family is also the most powerful ever fitted to a production Ford. Known as the Predator, the supercharged 5.2-litre V8 produces 760 horsepower and 625 lb ft, and has only ever been fitted to the Mustang Shelby GT500 introduced in 2020.

Another version called Carnivore made its debut in the 2023 F-150 Raptor high-performance pickup truck. Developed with off-roading in mind, this has slightly less power – a still more than reasonable 700 horsepower – but a superior torque rating of 640 lb ft.

Chevrolet Small-Block: 772 horsepower

Of the many Chevrolet V8s bearing this name over the past 70 years, the most powerful fitted to a production car has been the supercharged 6.2-litre LT5 introduced in the 2019 Corvette ZR1. Its standard output was 755 horsepower, but it made 772 horsepower when fitted with the optional Performance Intake system.

At the time of writing, no current-generation mid-engined Corvette produces anything like this, though that may be about to change.

Chrysler Hemi third generation: 1025 horsepower

The SRT Demon 170, the seventh and final Last Call special edition versions of the Dodge Challenger, was powered by the most monumental production engine in Hemi history. If it sensed that it was running on E85 fuel, the supercharged 6.2-litre V8 could produce no less than 1025 horsepower and 945 lb ft of torque. On E10 fuel, the figures were a still astonishing 900 horsepower and 810 lb ft.

At launch, Chrysler said that production would be “limited to at most 3,300 units”, 300 of which would be sold in Canada and the remained in the US.

Saleen LM: 1500 horsepower

All versions of the Saleen S7 were powered by a 7.0-litre engine derived from the Ford Windsor V8. Power outputs varied considerably depending on how much, if any, forced induction was involved, but in twin-turbo form it was said to be as much as 1300 horsepower.

That claim was superseded by one made in 2019, when Saleen reported that the figure had been raised to 1500 horsepower and 1328 lb ft of torque.

SSC V8: 1750 horsepower

The Tuatara hypercar produced by SSC North America (formerly Shelby SuperCars) has a mid-mounted twin-turbo 5.9-litre V8 engine whose output depends on what fuel it’s running on. According to its maker, it produces 1350 horsepower on 91 octane petrol and 1750 horsepower on ethanol or methanol.

A video released in 2022 shows the engine apparently achieving just short of 1900 horsepower on the Nelson Racing Engines dyno, though this is not an official figure.

With a performance upgrade, and only if running on methanol, the V8 is reported to be capable of 2200 horsepower in the Aggressor variant, but this is a track-only car whose performance, according to the SSC website, is “not possible in the street legal versions of the Tuatara”.

Hennessey Fury: 1817 horsepower

Hennessey’s Venom F5 is available in four forms – Coupe, Roadster (pictured), Revolution Coupe and Revolution Roadster – of which the first and third had been sold out at the time of writing. All four are powered by the Fury engine, a 6.6-litre twin-turbo V8.

In each application, it produces 1817 horsepower and 1193 lb ft of torque, which makes the Venom F5 the most powerful non-electric road-going production car not only in the US but in global automotive history.

Ford's most controversial cars

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 04:39:17 +0100

We count the biggest troublemakers that landed the illustrious blue oval in hot water

There are many kinds of controversy, and a car manufacturer which has been operating for 120 years, as Ford Motor Company has, will inevitably have experienced most of them.

Here are 40 examples of the company’s models which have caused disputes of one kind or another. They’re listed in chronological order, and were marketed either by Ford itself or by brands Ford owned before 1950, but not ones it acquired after that year.

Ford Model T (1908)

The Model T is now perhaps the most celebrated car Ford ever produced, but to get the full picture we have to consider how cars in general were viewed when it first appeared in 1908. Although they developed an enthusiastic following, they were also considered by many people to be noisy, smelly, frighteningly fast and terribly dangerous.

The T wasn’t necessarily a specific target, but by its very existence it was part of a large controversy, and became central to it as sales skyrocketed. Henry Ford was however criticised for hanging onto it for too long, as it stayed in production for 19 years, and during the latter half of its life General Motors overtook Ford in the US market.

Lincoln Zephyr (1936)

The Zephyr was a remarkable car for 1936, not least because it had – remarkably for its relatively low price – a V12 engine related to (but not simply an enlarged version of) the Ford flathead V8.

The V12 was the car’s most appealing, but also most controversial, feature. Its most serious flaw was that the exhaust gases were ported through the cylinder blocks, and heated up the water which the radiator was trying to cool down. Lincoln later made amends, but the Zephyr never quite lost its reputation for unreliability.

Ford Parklane (1955)

Sometimes a controversy can arise between a manufacturer and its customers. This was the case with the Parklane, a two-door station wagon which sold so poorly that Ford offered it only in the 1956 model year.

Ford tried again with the very similar Del Rio, which was more successful in the limited sense that it lasted for two whole model years (1957 and 1958) before being canned.

Ford Taunus (1957)

The P2 generation Taunus, sold from 1957 to 1960, must have come as quite a shock to people who had been accustomed to earlier German Fords of the same name. While the previous models appeared relatively staid, this one had lots of chrome, prominent tailfins, a frontal resemblance to the contemporary Mercury Monterey and in some cases two-tone paintwork, the different colours appearing above and below a line which resembled Buick’s ‘sweepspear’.

All this flamboyance led to the P2 being nicknamed Barocktaunus, or baroque Taunus, in reference to a highly decorative artistic style of the 17th and 18th centuries. More positively, it was also known as the fliegende Teppich, or flying carpet, in a tribute to its excellent ride quality.

Edsel (1958)

Possible reasons for the failure of Ford’s calamitous Edsel brand, which was introduced in 1958 and axed just two years later, include incoherent marketing, a change in customer preferences towards smaller cars, low quality, dubious styling and a horrendous recession in America which saw new car sales halve.

Nearly 70 years later, the exact cause no longer matters. What does matter is that Edsel was Ford’s first major disaster, and a sign that even an enormously wealthy company with talented staff can sometimes get things very badly wrong.

Ford Anglia (1959)

The last of many European Fords to bear the Anglia name is probably best known now for its appearance in the Harry Potter films, though it’s also notable for being the first car fitted with an engine from the Kent family. Its most controversial feature, which applied only to the saloon versions, was a reverse-angled rear window, which one authority has described as being given “short shrift by customers who could see no rationale for it beyond a perverse desire to be different”.

That might well have been the case when the Anglia was launched in 1959, but in the following eight years Ford had reason to build more than a million examples, so the car’s other qualities seem to have overcome early distaste for its unusual appearance.

Ford Taunus (1960)

The appearance of the P3 Taunus was approximately as controversial as that of the ‘baroque’ model it replaced in 1960, but for completely different reasons. American influence had been eliminated, and the car’s shape was so unusual for the period that it became known as the Badewanne, or ‘bathtub’.

Even more remarkably, the P3 had lozenge-shaped headlights. These would have had to be replaced if the car had been exported to the US, since it was illegal to use anything other than round headlights there at the time.

Ford Consul Classic (1961)

While Ford of Germany was removing American influence from the Taunus, Ford of Britain adopted it in a big way for the Consul Classic. By UK standards, the front end was brash and the finned tail was enormous, while the reverse-angled rear window was carried over from the Anglia.

Despite early concerns, the Anglia quickly became accepted, but the even more unusual Consul Classic never was. Production lasted only from April 1961 to September 1963.

Ford Consul Capri (1961)

It’s difficult to say if the Consul Classic looked stranger than its coupe equivalent, or the other way round. The first Ford model with Capri in its name was lower than the saloon, and although its rear window sloped the ‘correct’ way, this also emphasised the length of the car’s tail even more.

At under 20,000, sales of the Capri were less than a fifth those of the Classic, though in fact the Capri remained on the market for slightly longer, until July 1964. It’s possible that Ford needed a replacement for the Consul far more urgently than it did for the Capri.

Ford Corsair V4 (1965)

The Consul Classic was replaced by the far more conventional-looking Corsair, which was relatively cheap to develop because it shared all its mechanicals and part of its structure with the Cortina. Launched in 1963, it remained uncontroversial until late 1965, when Ford decided to replace its Kent engine with the Essex V4. Also available in the Transit, the Essex was larger and more powerful than the Kent, but it was also heavier.

While the Corsair’s performance certainly improved, it was now also less economical, didn’t handle as well (due to the extra nose weight) and sounded harsher. Demand fell to such an extent that Ford needed to build slightly fewer V4 Corsairs in four years than it had been obliged to manufacture Kent-engined versions in just two.

Ford Thunderbird (1967)

The glory days of the Thunderbird were already behind it when Ford introduced the fifth-generation model in 1967. The T-bird was now larger than before, there was no convertible derivative, a saloon was added to the range, and Ford returned to the old-fashioned body-on-frame construction method for the first time in a decade.

Customers were unconvinced. Sales were reasonably strong at first, but dropped to just over 36,000 in the 1971 model year, the lowest figure for the nameplate since 1957.

Ford Torino Talladega (1969)

The Talladega was the subject of a motorsport controversy rather than a general motoring one. Based on the Sportsroof fastback version of the regular Torino, it had a more aerodynamic front end which reduced drag – a very useful feature on high-speed NASCAR oval tracks.

In early 1969 Ford built just enough road-going versions to qualify for that year’s NASCAR series. David Pearson (1934-2018) won eleven rounds and his third title. Other manufacturers followed Ford’s lead until the aero warriors, as they were known, were legislated out of contention, a sure sign that someone had had a better idea than the rule makers were expecting.

Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II (1969)

The Spoiler II was the exact equivalent of the Ford Torino Talladega homologation special, built in similar numbers from the same material and for the same reasons. It was also equally competitive, at least potentially – LeeRoy Yarbrough (1938-1984) won two rounds in a Spoiler II in 1969, but competed more often in a Talladega, in which he won five.

The contrasting results achieved by the two models were appropriate, and possibly deliberate. While the Spoiler II gave Mercury a lot of publicity, the idea of the junior brand beating the senior one across a whole season might not have sat well with upper management.

Ford Pinto (1971)

Ford’s first North American subcompact sold in very high numbers throughout the 1970s, but it’s more famous now for its tendency to burst into flames if the fuel tank was ruptured in a rear-end collision.

While there are differing views on just how dangerous the Pinto really was compared with similar cars built in the same decade, there is no doubt that it was an extremely costly car for Ford in terms of both money and reputation.

Ford Falcon GTHO Phase IV (1972)

Along with high-performance versions of the Holden Torana and Chrysler Valiant Charger, the GTHO Phase IV was one of the most controversial cars ever developed for road use. All three were created as homologation specials for the 1972 model year, and were expected to battle it out on Australian race tracks in that season.

However, a newspaper article in the Sydney Sun-Herald gave rise to what has become known as the supercar scare, which led to these cars being strongly criticised by politicians. Within days, each manufacturer had abandoned its project. As a result, very few GTHO Phase IVs were actually built. In 2021, one of them set a new auction record for an Australian-built car of $1.75 million.

Ford Granada (1972)

By far the most controversial thing about the first-generation European Granada introduced in 1972 was its name. The Granada Group, a large UK media and catering conglomerate (including operating motorway service areas ), took Ford to court over this, on the grounds that members of the public might think it had something to do with the car, which was described in court as “an unfair and unlawful incursion into [the Group’s] goodwill”.

The judge, Justice John Graham, decided Granada had “failed to produce evidence that satisfies me that such is likely to be the case”, and found in favour of Ford. The car went onto great success in Europe, becoming the car to aspire to for any senior manager, before German brands inevitably came calling for that market…

Ford Mustang (1973)

The second-generation Mustang, introduced in the 1974 model year, is widely regarded as a poor substitute for the first, which had made its debut a decade earlier. Media reaction was mixed, and often hostile – journalists complained at the time, as later commenters have also done, that it just wasn’t sporty enough to be a ‘real’ Mustang.

The controversy made little difference to customers. Mustang sales in 1974 were higher than they had been since 1967, and over the course of five years the car found more than a million buyers. Whatever people think of it now, it was successful in its day.

Ford Escort (1980)

The Escort launched in 1980 was a completely different machine from the two versions built over the previous 12 years. It was available as a hatchback, it had front-wheel drive, and it came with a new engine called the CVH, which had an overhead camshaft and hydraulic lifters. After more than a decade of rear-wheel drive and overhead-valve engines, it was all rather exciting – or, if you were a traditionalist, rather alarming.

Reviews were mostly favourable, but there was immediate criticism of the poor ride quality, which Ford responded to by revising the suspension. In 1982, the new Escort became the most-registered car in the UK, according to figures collated by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, and remained so (if you include the fourth-generation car, which was really just an update of this one) until 1989.

Ford Mustang (1980)

The third Mustang arrived around the time of the second global oil crisis in six years. In an effort to keep fuel economy favourable, Ford smothered its Windsor V8 engine, reducing its capacity to 4.2 litres and its power output to just 120bhp.

In this form, the engine was available in the Mustang from 1980 to 1982. Cars of that period had miserable performance, and are now regarded as the low point both of V8-powered Mustangs and of the generally respected Windsor.

Ford Sierra (1982)

A section of the British motoring public, familiar with the Ford Cortina for two decades, reacted hotly to the arrival of the Sierra in 1982. It had a silly name, they said, and it looked like a jelly mould.

The controversy eventually died down, and the Sierra became as familiar as its Cortina predecessors had been. The high-performance RS Cosworth and later RS500 variants added glamour to what, by the end of the decade, was regarded as a very conventional car.

Ford Bronco II (1984)

The Bronco II, a compact SUV sold from 1984 to 1990, developed a terrible reputation for falling over due to its combination of a small footprint and a high centre of gravity. Other vehicles of the same type have had similar problems, but the Bronco II became the poster child due to a series of high-profile cases.

The total cost to Ford is difficult to determine, but a magazine report published in 2001 included an estimate that the company had had to pay “approximately $2.4 billion in damage settlements”. Its follow-up model, introduced in 1991, became controversial in another way when a 1993 example became involved in one of the most famous - albeit slow-speed - car chases in history when it carried OJ Simpson, in Los Angeles in 1994…

Ford Probe (1988)

The controversy surrounding the Probe was over and done with before the car went on sale in 1988. This compact coupe was designed in collaboration with Mazda, had front-wheel drive and was powered by either a four-cylinder engine or a V6, all of which seemed acceptable.

The problem was that it was originally planned as the new Mustang. Both inside and outside Ford, it was felt that front-wheel drive, partly Japanese heritage and the lack of a V8 option simply didn’t add up to something that could be called Mustang, so the car was launched as the Probe instead. The then-current Mustang wasn’t replaced until 1994, by which time the Probe was in its second generation.

Ford Escort Mk5 (1990)

The European Escort entered a new generation in 1990. Compared with its immediate predecessor, the car was roomier, better equipped and only slightly more expensive. Customers liked it, and it was a big success for Ford.

This happy tale is spoiled only by the fact that early models were heavily criticised for their ride, handling, gutless engines and appearance. Ford reacted very quickly to the complaints, and introduced a revised version in only slightly more than two years, making the new Escort the car it should have been in the first place. Luckily perhaps for Ford the market, and competitor cars, were more forgiving then than today.

Ford Scorpio (1994)

The final European Ford in the Granada/Scorpio line, launched in 1994, was a conventional large saloon/estate which in normal circumstances wouldn’t have offended anyone. The abnormal circumstance which made it one of the most talked-about Fords ever (in an entirely negative sense) was its design.

Commentators fell over themselves trying to out-do each other with ever more insulting remarks about the car’s appearance. Ford couldn’t do much about this without starting again from scratch (too expensive to contemplate), but it did give the Scorpio a minor facelift in late 1997, which helped slightly.

Ford Aspire (1994)

Like the much earlier Parklane, the Aspire was an example of a mild controversy between Ford and its customers – the former wanted the latter to buy it, but the latter weren’t interested.

This inexpensive little hatchback was co-developed with Kia, which sold it as the Avella. It was introduced in North America in 1994, but dropped three years later due to lack of interest.

Ford Explorer (1995)

The second-generation Explorer SUV went on the market in 1995, and quickly became notorious due to a series of major accidents. This led to a legal battle between Ford and tyre supplier Firestone. In February 2001, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that it had denied a request by Firestone to open a safety defect investigation into the handling and control characteristics of the Explorer if the tread of a rear tyre came away from the rest of it.

The NHTSA stated that analysis of claims data showed there was “no significant difference in the likelihood of a crash following a tread separation between Explorer vehicles and other compact SUVs”. The affair led - among other things - to the exit of Ford CEO Jac Nasser.

Ford Fiesta (1996)

The 1996 Fiesta (also sold as the Mazda 121) was largely the same as the previous one apart from a new engine, less weight and a mild restyle. The last of these was perhaps the least successful and caused adverse comments, some of them including the word ‘fish’.

Fortunately, it didn’t last long. Ford adopted its New Edge styling for the facelifted version, which looked significantly better.

Ford Ka (1996)

The original Ka, which made its debut in 1996, was only mildly controversial, but there has always been disagreement about how to pronounce its name – with a short ‘a’ as in cat, with a long ‘a’ as in ‘car’, or even spelling out each letter as if they were intials (which is not the case).

Then there was the question of its styling. The Ka was the first production Ford with a New Edge design, and while it looks innocent enough now it was quite startling at the time, especially to people who hadn’t seen pictures of the similar Saetta concept car.

Ford Racing Puma (1999)

The 1999 Racing Puma was a special version of the Fiesta-based Puma coupe developed by Tickford. Among other modifications, the standard 1.7-litre engine was uprated from 123bhp to a still less than startling 153bhp, though the emphasis was more on handling. Two race drivers, one of whom later became a British Touring Car Champion, agreed that it suffered from understeer on a circuit, but this was not apparent in road use.

The most controversial thing about the Racing Puma was its price. Ford charged £22,750, at a time when a Subaru Impreza WRX cost significantly less and a Lotus Elise only slightly more. Sales were understandably low.

Ford Excursion (1999)

At 5758mm (226.7in) from end to end, and weighing around four US tons, the Excursion remains, nearly a quarter of a century after its debut, one of the largest, heaviest and least economical SUVs ever to go on sale.

Onlookers concerned about safety and the environment reacted with alarm, and came up with several nicknames for the vehicle, including Fordasaurus, Ford Saddam and Ford Valdez. The last of these was a reference to the Exxon Valdez supertanker which dropped ten million US gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska, in 1989.

Ford Focus RS (2001)

The first of what would become three series of Focus RS arrived in 2001, and was immediately impressive because Ford (for either technical or cost reasons, depending on who you spoke to) had made it front-wheel drive like the standard model rather than four-wheel drive like the versions competing in the World Rally Championship.

Torque steer, which happened only if you were driving very hard, was a controversial issue, and unfairly blamed on the car’s Quaife limited slip differential, which wasn’t in fact causing the problem. The second Focus RS – also front-wheel drive, and also fitted with the Quaife diff – behaved far better because of its superior front suspension geometry, which Ford achieved by developing the ingenious RevoKnuckle system.

Ford Thunderbird (2001)

After building Thunderbirds in ten generations for 42 years, Ford discontinued the nameplate in 1997, but then brought it back five years later. Like the original T-bird, but unlike any of the nine in between, this version was a two-seat convertible, and was based on the same platform as the Jaguar S-Type and Lincoln LS.

After an initial flurry of interest, sales fell sharply, leading to the cancellation of the model after just four years. Perhaps a truly modern Thunderbird would have been more successful than a retro tribute, and perhaps also Ford had been right to abandon the two-seat convertible configuration in the late 1950s, and wrong to bring it back in the following century.

Lincoln Blackwood (2002)

Ford’s luxury brand made the unusual decision to produce a pickup truck in 2002. Based on the contemporary F-150, it was resoundingly unpopular, and stayed on the market for just one model year in the US and one more in Mexico.

Lincoln’s next effort, the Mark LT, was barely more successful. Even in combination, they didn’t come close to GM’s equivalent, the Cadillac Escalade EXT, which wasn’t exactly a big hit either. The message seems to be that no matter how much you want to put a luxury pickup on sale, don’t do it.

Ford Five Hundred (2004)

Ford’s second largest saloon of its period, after the Crown Victoria, was sold only in the 2005 to 2007 model years and was based on a platform inherited from Volvo, which made this car a slightly unlikely sibling of the Volvo XC90 Mk1. The Five Hundred’s lack of success has been attributed to its conservative styling, which was widely criticised. Ford designer J Mays admitted that the look of the Five Hundred was problematic. “It’s just lacking in the emotional appeal that we should have put into it,” he admitted in one interview, though this was not the whole story.

In another interview, talking about the same car, he hinted at another reason by saying, “I've been at the company 13 years and I've been through five CEOs. Some of those CEOs have had more conservative tastes than others.” Ford’s latest CEO, Alan Mulally who arrived in 2006, ordered an immediate re-design and the revival of the Taurus nameplate, which he said had much greater brand equity, having been around between 1986 and 2005; this seemed to improve sales, especially when an all-new Taurus arrived in 2010.

Ford EcoSport (2014)

“It’s been a long time since a new Ford was as bad as the EcoSport,” we said in 2014. Launched in other markets two years earlier, the model had been developed in Brazil and built (for Europe) in India (and also in several other places), where it suited local conditions, and brought over to Europe, where it definitely didn’t, to allow Ford to compete in the highly competitive compact SUV sector.

With question marks over its ride, handling and interior quality, the EcoSport at first sold poorly in the region, though Ford made amends by improving it considerably in later years. It sold reasonably well in the US, despite being very small for that market – but at least it was cheap.

Lincoln Continental concept (2015)

The concept version of what would become the new Continental caused quite a flurry when it was revealed at the 2015 Detroit Show. Bentley design chief Luc Donckerwolke (born 1965) thought it bore a suspiciously close resemblance to his own company’s car of the same name, and vigorously conveyed his objections on social media.

Lincoln made some adjustments (which would probably have happened anyway) before the production Continental went on sale two years later, but the basic shape remained the same.

Ford Focus RS (2012)

The third and last Focus RS was the only one in the series with four-wheel drive, which wasn’t controversial, and a setting called Drift Mode, which was – at least in Australia.

Representatives of the Pedestrian Council of Australia and the National Roads and Motorists’ Association, along with a former head of Australian Medical Association, all expressed concerns about Drift Mode. Ford responded to calls for it to be disabled by not disabling it, and there the matter rested.

Ford GT (2015)

In order to prevent ‘flipping’ (selling a car for a vast profit shortly after purchasing it) Ford required buyers of the second-generation GT to keep it for 24 months. Not everyone did, which led to various lawsuits.

Two particularly high-profile examples – one involving Mecum Auctions, the other wrestler John Cena – were amicably settled out of court. Ford donated the money it received to charity in each case.

Ford Mustang Mach-E (2020)

The full name of the Mach-E, which went on sale in the 2021 model year, was not welcomed by people who felt that a Mustang should be a high-performance coupe or convertible, as it had been for the past 57 years, and not an all-electric SUV.

Ford stuck with it anyway. ‘Traditional’ Mustangs are still available (a new one, the seventh in the series, has recently been introduced) and manufacturers can call their vehicles anything they like, within reason.

Ford F-Series Super Duty (2023)

The enormous size of some North American pickup trucks is an increasing cause for concern in their home markets, and regarded as madness in other parts of the world. Since they are built by several competing manufacturers, Ford is only part of the problem rather than the cause of it, but the current F-Series Super Duty certainly contributes to the controversy.

In its most extreme, long-wheelbase F-450 Crew Cab form, the Super Duty is a leviathan – 6762mm (266.2in) long, 2960mm (105.9in) wide including its mirrors, 2085mm (82.1in) tall, and with a kerbweight of 3895kg (8587 pounds). Perhaps one day legislation will be introduced to prevent vehicles of this size being available to American private users on standard licences, but there’s no sign of it at the moment; certainly in many other countries such as the UK a heavy-goods vehicle licence would be needed, with extra driving training and testing required.

Video | Is the Skoda Enyaq vRS the ultimate one-car garage?

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0100

Looking for the perfect blend of weekday skills and weekend thrills? This electric family SUV could be the answer

The perfect two-car garage. It’s a fantasy motoring enthusiasts have debated for decades.

Not familiar with the concept? It’s simple: if you had to choose two cars – one for everyday duties like commuting, the school run and shopping trips, and another purely for weekend B-road blasts – which would you choose? If you’re ever stuck for conversation with a fellow enthusiast, pose this question and watch the sparks fly.

But, alas, in today’s economic climate, the dream of running two cars – particularly when one is reserved almost entirely for Sundays – is becoming harder and harder to justify. And that means more and more drivers are starting to search for one car that’s capable of covering all bases: sensible when it needs to be, fun when it doesn’t.

Watch the video below as we explore whether the 335bhp all-electric Skoda Enyaq vRS really can deliver the best of both worlds.

Skoda Enyaq vRS: the electric family SUV that can do it all

There’s a particular genius to the vRS badge. Since the first Octavia vRS arrived in 2001, those three letters have stood for meaningful performance, real-world practicality and strong value. It’s the everyman performance car formula, refined over decades and now applied to Skoda’s electric family SUV flagship.

The Enyaq vRS continues that tradition with 335bhp, 697Nm and dual-motor all-wheel drive, delivering 0-62mph in 5.4 seconds. But it’s not just about straight-line pace. Dynamic Chassis Control, lowered suspension and revised steering calibration give it a level of composure and adjustability that no electric SUV this size has any right to, allowing it to switch between relaxed motorway cruiser and pulse-raising B-road blaster at the touch of a button.

Crucially, it remains an easy car to live with day to day. The 84kWh battery delivers up to 344 miles of range (WLTP), while 185kW DC charging enables a 10–80% top-up in around 26 minutes.

Inside, that signature vRS DNA injects sporty flair into an otherwise plush, minimalist cabin. There are vRS-specific sports seats, a bespoke sports steering wheel and contrast detailing. As you’d expect from a Škoda, equipment is generous, with a large 13in infotainment screen, augmented reality head-up display, heated seats and a 12-speaker CANTON sound system all included as standard.

Practicality remains a core strength. A 585-litre boot, generous rear space and Skoda’s trademark ‘Smart, Spacious and Stylish’ touches – including an ice scraper in the tailgate and an umbrella in the door – ensure it can still deal with everything hectic family life throws at it without breaking a sweat. Maybe it’s time you try it for yourself.

Learn more about the Skoda Enyaq vRS

Next-generation Hyundai Elantra brings striking new look

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 11:49:44 +0100

New Elantra adopts 'Art of Steel' design principles and comes with a choice of petrol or hybrid

Hyundai has revealed the next iteration of its Elantra saloon, which brings a dramatic new look.

Named the Avante in its home market of South Korea, it is the most extreme example of the brand’s new 'Art of Steel' design language yet, with a number of sharp lines and aggressive angles across its bodywork.

It is slightly larger than the rival Skoda Octavia, owing to a 30mm increase in its wheelbase compared with the previous-generation Elantra. The saloon has also grown 30mm wider and Hyundai said it has prioritised improving interior space.

Inside, it has been designed to be “cozy and comfortable”, according to Hyundai. The dashboard and door cards’ designs cocoon around the seats, with customisable LED backlighting.

As in the recently revealed Ioniq 3 hatchback, the driver’s display is set high on the dashboard. This is intended to keep important information in the driver’s line of sight, so they do not have to divert their attention away from the road to check their speed or remaining range.

A large infotainment touchscreen, measuring either 12.9in or 14.6in, takes centre stage. It runs on Hyundai’s new Pleos operating system, which will allow new functionality such as installing navigation and music apps in the screen, rather than having to use smartphone mirroring. An array of switches and dials for the climate control system sits just below the main screen.

In South Korea, it will be available with two powertrains: a 2.0-litre petrol four-cylinder with 147bhp and a 1.6-litre hybrid with 155bhp.

The hybrid also brings a new predictive regenerative braking system that reads the road ahead and automatically adjusts the strength of the regenerative effect, helping to keep the battery topped up.

In addition, it gets a ‘stay mode’ that allows the small traction battery’s reserves to power the climate controls and infotainment system while parked, in similar fashion to an EV with a larger battery.

South Korean deliveries of the new Elantra will begin in the coming weeks, although Hyundai has yet to confirm whether it will be sold in mainland Europe or the UK. The previous-generation car was not made available in those regions, despite having been tested there. However, Autocar understands that it has not been ruled out for the latest iteration, suggesting Hyundai may have had a change of heart.

It also remains to be seen whether the high-performance Elantra N will return – and whether it too could make it to Europe.

Callum Design reinvents Jaguar XJ220 for new era

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 10:06:11 +0100

Ian Callum's design consultancy is poised to reveal its take on the legendary supercar

The eponymous consultancy of acclaimed car designer Ian Callum has reinvented the Jaguar XJ220.

The new take on the XJ220 has yet to be revealed in full, but a side-profile image published by Callum Design showcases a dramatically different styling direction compared with the original.

It is notably sharper around its haunches and there is a greater slope at its rear end.

However, several cues remain intact, including the egg-shaped side windows and air ducts along its flanks.

Callum Design described the reimagined XJ220 as a “concept” and a “design study”, emphasising that there are no concrete plans to build a road-going car. But it added that the project “shows what’s possible” when working with the company, suggesting that a client with enough cash to spend could commission their own car.

The reworked XJ220 is expected to be revealed in full in the coming months. October marks the 35th anniversary of the production XJ220’s unveiling at the Tokyo motor show and that could provide Callum Design a fitting opportunity to celebrate the supercar.

Ian Callum, who was director of design at Jaguar from 1999 to 2019, has in recent years put his own spin on several historic cars. These include the Wood and Pickett Mini and the Aston Martin Vanquish – the latter of which he also originally designed. His consultancy has also been responsible for building a road-legal version of the Jaguar C-X75 concept, the ill-fated successor to the XJ220 and a car originally created while he was Jaguar's design chief.

Renault 4 and 5 due extra power and range in 2027

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0100

New ‘Gen 2 Evo’ motors made their debut with the Twingo but will be soon be rolled out in larger cars

The Renault 4 and 5 will be updated next year, bringing more efficient and more powerful motors.

The R5 arrived in 2024, and it was followed by the R4, its crossover twin, in early 2025. Both models are based on the AmpR Small platform and use Renault’s second-generation externally excited-synchronous (EESM) motors, which are available in two configurations.

The R5 Urban Range pairs a 121bhp EESM with a 40kWh battery, while the Comfort Range gets a 148bhp motor and a 52kWh battery pack. In the UK, the larger R4 is only available with the Comfort Range set-up.

These powertrains enable the R5 to deliver a range of either 192 or 252 miles. The latter figure is reduced to 250 miles in the chunkier R4.

Renault is now ready to roll out updated ‘Gen 2 Evo’ motors for the two models, drawing on its learnings from developing third-generation drive units for the next Scenic and Megane that are due in 2028.

“We are still working on how to improve the efficiency and power [of the Gen 2 motors],” said Marianne Bataillon, Renault’s director of EV motor and battery development. “We are going to apply these [changes] at the end of 2026 or beginning of 2027.”

Bataillon highlighted the motor’s inverter and reducers as points of improvement that have netting greater efficiency and improved power outputs.

The new motors will help to keep the R4 and R5 on a par with newer rivals on technical terms. The incoming Volkswagen ID Polo outdoes the R5 in the range stakes, offering either 204 or 283 miles between charges, depending on which powertrain it is fitted with. The same is true of the new Skoda Epiq: it yields either 190 or 272 miles of range, with the higher figure beating the R4.

Renault’s new Gen 2 Evo motor made its debut in the Twingo, which arrives in the UK at the end of this year. In that car, however, its output is reduced to 80bhp, owing to its city-focused remit.

Hyundai exits family hatch game with no plan to replace i30

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +0100

"The business case is not extremely compelling," says Hyundai boss about the prospect of a new i30

Hyundai is set to retire the i30 hatchback with no direct successor as demand for traditional petrol hatchbacks continues to fall in Europe.

The i30 has been off sale in the UK for a year while remaining available in some European markets, but it will soon be axed for good – and any replacement is set to take a different form.

Asked about plans for the i30's future – following the unveiling of a new-generation i20 supermini earlier this month, and the launch of the similarly sized Ioniq 3 EV – Hyundai's Europe CEO Xavier Martinet hinted that no fourth-generation i30 is in the works.

"There might be a reason why we don't talk much about it," he said of the company's petrol-powered Volkswagen Golf rival.

"The problem is that in this segment the demand is not growing, and it's also a vehicle that historically was mostly a fleet vehicle, on which the profit is not so high."

The small proportion of retail sales was not enough to compensate for the low-profit fleet sales, he added, because "the price was lower, so the profits [were as well].

"When you put everything together, the business case is not extremely compelling."

In recent years, several of the i30's closest rivals have also been cancelled, including the Ford Focus, Kia Ceed and Renault Megane.

Strong-selling stalwarts including the Volkswagen Golf, Peugeot 308 and Toyota Corolla continue, but the segment accounts for far fewer European sales than it once did, with mid-sized crossovers becoming the default choice as practical family runarounds.

Opel-Vauxhall boss Florian Huettl voiced similar sentiments to Martinet recently when he hinted at plans to replace the i30's Astra rival with a less "traditional" C-segment offering – potentially some sort of SUV.

Hyundai could take a similar route as it looks to fill the gap left by the i30, Martinet suggested: "We might still have some answers coming, but it might be a different answer to the one we've got so far.

"I might be a bit cryptic in my answer, but at some point in time we have to know when to stop and how to do the next generation – this is one of the question marks we have."

Toyota Aygo X used buying guide: The most reliable £6000 car?

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +0100

Tiny crossover is a brilliantly frugal city car, even without hybrid power

If you're after a tiny, frugal, practical city runaround, your choices on the new car market are currently quite limited.

Razor-thin margins in this segment and increasingly costly regulations sent most manufacturers hurtling towards the exit door a few years back, leaving only a few faithful defenders to choose from today.

Toyota is one of these holdouts, and its Aygo X happens to be among the best of the breed - but if you haven't bought a new car in a while, the new hybrid model's £21,500 price might come as a bit of a shock.

Happily, you can pick up a four-year-old pure-petrol model for as little as £6500. These pre-facelift cars are still capable of 60mpg on a run, and most have a snickety five-speed manual gearbox that makes them surprisingly fun to punt around.

When the Aygo became the Aygo X in 2022, it moved onto an entirely new platform and was repositioned as a sort of pocket-sized SUV: still dinky but larger in all dimensions than before, with a raised seating position and the requisite lower body cladding.

So it's slightly longer and wider than conventionally styled rivals like the Kia Picanto and Hyundai i10 and therefore more spacious inside, yet it remains easy to park and thread along country lanes and tight city streets (with a 9.4m turning circle that's one of the tightest this side of a black cab). Plus, because you sit a bit higher, you don't feel like you're so vulnerable when hemmed in by buses or trucks.

The Aygo X weighs less than a tonne, too, which means that its 71bhp 1.0-litre atmospheric three-pot doesn't feel especially minuscule in everyday driving, and its tiny 35-litre fuel tank can still hold enough for 450 miles if you go easy. You do have to work it quite hard to keep up with traffic (0-62mph takes about 15sec), but it's at least quite good fun to rev out with the manual. The optional CVT drones on but is smooth. Further benefits of the Aygo X's trim kerb weight include genuinely fun handling, although the ride can get a bit choppy over rough stretches of road.

Space up front is good, and the seats provide plenty of support for longer drives. Adults will be fine in the back for a bit, so long as they're not especially tall and you don't have the head room-robbing canvas roof option - and kids will be fine either way (if maybe miffed that their windows only pop out).

In basic Pure trim it lacks any real visual clout, but step up to mid-spec Edge (as most buyers did) and you gain 18in diamond-cut alloys and eye-catching two-tone metallic paint. Exclusive trim adds desirable LED headlights for a smarter and more contemporary vibe.

All versions get wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto - on a 7.0in, 8.0in or 9.2in infotainment touchscreen, depending on spec - plus adaptive cruise control, automatic wipers, automatic lights, automatic high beam and a reversing camera.

Edge trim brings climate control, privacy glass and front foglights, while Exclusive adds a wireless phone charger, keyless go and parking sensors front and rear.

The Aygo X is a reassuringly traditional small car that still manages to feel modern and capable enough to rival its newer alternatives - scant few as there may be - while retaining a touch of charm and panache that makes it easy to love.

What to look out for

Warranty: Toyota has a great reputation for reliability and - as you will see in this section - the Aygo X conforms to type, with an exemplary record in reliability surveys. Almost all used examples will still be covered by the standard warranty (five years or 100,000 miles), which you can extend a year at a time by servicing the car at a Toyota main dealer (up to 10 years old).

Engine: The 1.0-litre VVT-i engine has been powering Aygos for more than two decades and is known to be very reliable. That doesn't mean you shouldn't check the oil before buying, however, and be wary of any cars without a complete service history.

Body: This is a city car, so check for kerb damage to the alloy wheels and scuffs around the body.

Insurance: Like many of its small car classmates, the Aygo is among the cheapest cars to insure, ranging between groups five and seven. Our quote of £307 for a year was for a 35-year-old professional male with a clean licence and full no-claims bonus living in Swindon.

Also worth knowing

Special editions are numerous, although none received chassis or powertrain alterations. The Limited Edition added Army Green paint and orange highlights, quilted leather heated seats and the canvas roof. The Undercover Edition, created in collaboration with a Japanese fashion designer, had blueish-grey paint and red accents, plus 'Chaos' and 'Balance' logos on the roof and the floor mats. Its red seats are a bold touch.

The JBL Special Edition gets a premium sound system from JBL, which was otherwise an option. It's worth seeking out if you're a music lover. There's even a subwoofer under the boot floor.

Air Edition was based on Edge trim (the others used Exclusive as a base) but had the canvas roof as standard and came in a few more colours, such as Brass Gold. Annual VED is £195 on all cars.

How much to spend

£6500-£8499 A few 100,000-milers, which is a testament to Aygo X reliability. Also plenty of write-offs, many with a tenth of that mileage and in top trims. Check the severity of the damage before you buy.

£8500-£10,999 Mostly early Pure models with average mileage for their age (40,000-50,000), although a few Edge versions stand out.

£11,000-£12,999 Plenty of Edges and Exclusives, some with the CVT gearbox or the roll-back canvas roof.

£13,000-£20,000 Lightly used special editions, nearly new cars and even a few unregistered examples with delivery mileages.

An owner's view

James Smyth "I bought my Aygo X Edge in 2022 as a runabout for the city, and it has been brilliant. It looks fantastic - much more premium than other small cars - and the high driving position gives great visibility. It's surprisingly comfortable on longer trips too, although the engine does need to be worked hard on motorways. The infotainment is a big step up from my old Aygo. And fuel economy is excellent: I regularly see 60mpg without trying. Servicing has been cheap and reliability faultless so far. It's a small car that doesn't feel cheap, which is exactly what I wanted."

JLR to keep moving away from volume "killing fields" in push upmarket

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 04:00:00 +0100

JLR will steer customers into ever-more expensive versions of its SUVs following a difficult year

JLR’s strategy following a difficult year is to move further away from the “killing fields” of the premium volume market and steer customers into ever more expensive versions of its SUV line-up, the company told attendees at its annual investor day.

JLR had a bad time of it in the financial year ending March, earning just £200 million profit before tax compared with £2.5 billion the year before.

That was down to a series of shocks that included the September cyber attack, half a billion quids’ worth of additional tariff bills to sell cars in the US and the continued collapse of China as a profit centre. “The world is not much fun out there,” chief financial officer Richard Molyneux told investors at the June event.

The answer, it said, will be to rise further above the fray. “We will keep moving [our brands] away from the killing fields of mass automotive, into a luxury space based on feeling, on desire, on want, rather than necessarily need,” Molyneux said. “Because that's where we can win.”

JLR will endeavour to do that in a number of ways, including borrowing the playbook from luxury brands such as Bentley and Rolls-Royce by adopting a new focus on bespoke via its network of House of Craft centres.

China, once JLR’s biggest market but now ground zero of the premium killing fields, becomes another niche buyer of top-end Range Rovers. The company’s main focus switches to its newest biggest market of the US, where it will put a much stronger focus on wooing the country’s hordes of stock-wealthy millionaires, including with new, market-specific models.

Despite JLR’s woes last year, its average selling price (based on revenue per model sold) moved up again to a record £74,400. That number was down at £47,700 for the 2019 financial year, back when it was competing at the vicious heart of the premium market with combustion-engined Jaguars and smaller Land Rover SUVs such as the Discovery Sport.

These days JLR’s focus is almost entirely on its trio of big hitting, high-margin SUVs: the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender. These accounted for three-quarters of all JLR’s wholesales (sales to dealers) last financial year, up from 68% in the year before. The Defender still leads the way, despite coming up to its seventh birthday. The Discovery brand, meanwhile, accounted for just 8% of sales.

That means the company already has a luxury focus, but it thinks it can go further, especially in its new largest market. “We're pivoting the entire organisation towards the US,” CEO PB Balaji told investors. “We believe there are significant growth opportunities that can come out of that.”

The CEO, who joined from parent Tata Motors in November last year, signalled his displeasure at JLR’s current performance in the market, which accounts for around 100,000 of JLR sales annually. “Our penetration now is nothing to write home about,” Balaji said, pointing out that the US buys 1.3 million cars priced over $80,000 annually. Earlier in June the company waved goodbye to its long-time US head, Joe Eberhardt, in advance of the new strategy.

Somewhat perversely, given President Donald Trump’s aggressive rollback of EV incentives and emissions regulation, all five of JLR’s new launches over the next 18 months – its first model launches for four years – are all electric. But instead of writing off much of its electric investment, as rivals like Porsche have done, JLR is bullish that US customers, particularly on the West Coast, are keenly awaiting models like the delayed electric versions of the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport.

The company said around half of the 78,000 expressions of interest for the two models are from the US, where it will give JLR access to ‘micro-markets’ in which it currently doesn’t play a role. “In LA, you'll find a lot of our products," Balaji said. "But just go a little bit up north into San Francisco and you will not find us. We are not there in Seattle. The reason they don't want us is that there's no electric vehicles.”

Meanwhile the company has picked New York to launch the electric Jaguar Type 01 in October, a city that predominantly buys Range Rover Sports now.

Again bucking fashion, JLR doesn’t think EVs will be a drag on the average selling price. In fact, quite the opposite. “We will actually price our electric cars higher than our combustion engine cars,” chief commercial officer Lennard Hoornik told the crowd at JLR’s HQ in Gaydon.

“We're really trying to go against what is happening in the market trend,” he added, before listing the ways the Range Rover Electric is better than the combustion-engined version, including boasting more power at 550bhp.

JLR hasn’t ignored the US’s pivot back to combustion under Trump, however. Balaji said the company re-engineered its EMA electric platform to underpin the replacement for the Velar and the new smaller Defender in order to incorporate hybrid combustion engines and meet market needs in the US. Both models will launch as EVs towards the end of next year, with hybrids coming later, attendees were told. All replacements for current midsize models, such as the Evoque and Velar, on EMA will cost more, Molyneux said.

Engaging Stellantis to help engineer US-specific Defenders is another response. No details were given about that, but it potentially allows JLR to create a chunkier, more retro Defender to both challenge top-end Ford Broncos and see off the Ineos Grenadier, which is having some success in the US market.

Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa has said the deal could include local production, allowing JLR to reduce its tariff bill.

As chief brand polisher, Hoornik was the one to outline steps to push the luxury angle, including launching a network of 25 bespoke 'House of Craft' studios globally. Hoornik described these as “critical” to elevating pricing, and he pointed to the creation in Dubai of a bespoke Range Rover, called 'Sky’s the Limit', that featured 24-carat gold badging on the front and which sold for $504,000.

JLR already woos customers in wealth hot-spots such as Biarritz using brand-specific pop-up holiday camps called Defender House and Range Rover House. But it wants to make the buying process more luxurious by handing more processes to a dedicated app combined with a “white glove delivery experience”, group chief strategy officer Balaje Rajan said in his US-specific presentation.

One area JLR has pledged to resolve before it can turbocharge its US growth is warranty costs, which hit the company with a £1.5 billion bill last year. “It's a market that can be punitive if you don't play that card well,” CEO Balaji said.

Despite this emphasis on the US, which is already JLR’s biggest profit centre, the CFO said the company was actually moving the financial emphasis away from standard regional reporting and towards the brands – Defender, Range Rover, Jaguar, Discovery - that are given control of their own balance sheet. “The brand directors can take the choices in terms of their capital allocation,” Molyneux said. "This is what luxury companies do."

JLR has some hurdles to climb first. One is that tariff bill to sell into the US, which is only going to climb if sales go up, even with Stellantis’s help on production. The company can’t charge much more to compensate, because most of its rivals have not raised their prices, Molyneux said. Second, the company is currently having to spend more on marketing, including discounts. “Partly, I think, [because] some of our vehicles are approaching six, seven years old,” Molyneux added.

Rising costs, including raw materials, have pushed the company’s breakeven point – where it begins to make a profit - to 380,000 vehicles produced per year, up from its targeted 300,000. Last year the company retailed 352,389 cars.

Cost reductions totalling £1.7 billion over the next two years will put it back to 300,000, JLR told investors, without going into much detail where the cost reductions will come from.

Overall, JLR targeted a margin before tax of 4% for the financial year ending March 2027, up from essentially zero last year.

Long-term targets were folded into parent company Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles as part of a push to better integrate the two companies. JLR has long had an outside influence on Tata’s finances by generating around 80% of revenue, so the midterm figure of an 8% margin (for FY28) and long-term of 10% (FY31 and beyond) mostly falls on the shoulders of JLR.

Still the ultimate EV? I lived with a £134k, 650bhp BMW iX

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 04:00:00 +0100

We liked this luxury EV at launch, but has it been improved enough to remain BMW's flagship five years later?

The descriptor 'flagship model' is used a lot in this industry and at a base level is really easy to understand. It's the top car in a brand's line-up—the biggest, fanciest and most luxurious option.

The BMW iX certainly fits that bill: it's the biggest, most expensive car in the brand's electric car line-up, loaded with tech and intended to push BMW into the true luxury sphere. But for BMW, its real flagship purpose was to push and develop its EV technology.

We ran an iX on our fleet in 2023, when editor Mark Tisshaw was won over by the car's ability to deliver true electric luxury to the point that he even forgave the styling of that grille. But much has changed in the years since then. Because while the iX has just had a substantial mid-life update, it's no longer the shiniest, newest EV in BMW's range.

That would be the iX3, which sits on an all-new platform, heralds a new design language and introduces a raft of new electric and digital technology—technology the iX was used to pioneer and develop. So while the iX remains BMW's most luxurious and expensive EV, in some aspects it's no longer a technological flagship.

So what role does it now serve in BMW's line-up? That's what we're here to find out. And if we're going to see if the iX is still a true flagship, then it makes sense to run the top version. Last time we ran the mid-spec xDrive50, but this time we've opted for the full-fat, full-performance M70 xDrive.

If you follow your BMW model codes closely, you might note that's different from the previous range-topper. The change from M60 is a reflection that the M division's engineers have been working quite hard. Hard enough to make you wonder, really. Who, for example, looks at a 2.6-tonne electric SUV with a peak output of 610bhp and says: "You know what that needs? More power." BMW M engineers, that's who. Bless them.

For the most part, the iX M70 produces 570bhp from its pair of electric motors, but if you select the launch control system (because every luxury SUV needs launch control), that leaps to a slightly ridiculous 650bhp. With that sort of power, we're thankful BMW fits a hefty battery: it's 108.9kWh in capacity, and has been developed specifically for the high performance required. Fast charging at speeds of up to 195kW will surely prove useful, especially as the official efficiency is a mere 2.6mpkWh for a range of 326 miles.

Despite the extra power, the £114,305 starting price of the M70 is actually cheaper than that of the old M60. But there has been some judicious option box ticking on our car that raises its list price to £134,255. Given this is supposed to be a flagship, we felt it worth paying £4500 for the Bowers & Wilkins surround-sound audio system and shelling out for the Comfort and Technology packs, which add features like ventilated front seats and parking assistance.

The Frozen Deep Grey paint - which looks more of a matt black in some lights - wouldn't have been my choice, but it certainly would help the iX fit in in a Premier League training ground's car park. Still, the dark paint and dark grille design does somewhat mask the still contentious big grille design - at least in the daytime. At night an LED frame lights up and, well, it's a choice. More on that another time.

Inside, the iX still feels like a proper luxury car. The seats are deep and comfortable, the steering wheel is chunky and pleasing (M models also get a round version, rather than the unusually shaped one on other iX variants) and the physical switchgear is pleasingly tactile.

The infotainment system has plenty of tech but is generally easy to use - especially because the iX retains a rotary controller. I'm very much a fan of this, although it's somewhat incongruous, given that later versions of BMW's iDrive system, such as that introduced on the new iX3, have gone without.

Early impressions are positive: even on 22in wheels, the iX has a notably smooth ride - very luxury flagship-and it steers amazingly for a near-five-metre-long SUV. Its standard rear-wheel steering is a huge help in that regard. Those early impressions match well with Tisshaw's verdict from running the pre-facelift iX three years ago, and I'm really looking forward to experiencing it as a slice of luxury in the coming months - even if I suspect I'll rarely exploit all 650bhp.

In fact, as ever with EVs, my worry is that the sweet spot in the range remains the xDrive60 below, which has less power but an official range exceeding 400 miles. The other question to answer is whether BMW's engineers have done enough to keep the iX up to date: EV technology is progressing relentlessly, and what was cutting edge just a few years ago can quickly become pedestrian - especially when there's a model below it in the line-up that's now shinier and newer.

Update 2: Pre-heat function is welcome in winter

Being able to turn on a car's heating remotely isn't new, but it's still a marvellous function once you've got used to it. After an early flight into Heathrow on a freezing morning recently, I felt deep joy when I started to warm the iX's cabin from the passport control queue. It meant that when I clambered in to drive home, I could enjoy the car's premium sheen from the off, rather than shivering initially.

Mileage: 1603

Update 3: Showing off without being a show-off

Can a car be understated yet brash at the same time? I'm not sure, but if any car can, I reckon it's our BMW iX. Clearly it's a whopping great big BMW with a massive kidney 'grille' (sensor panel) on the front.

The car is so substantial that it has presence even when parked, in part because it has a propensity to fill every available centimetre of even larger parking spaces. Yet some of my family insist the iX is quite subtle. It's the paint, I think: the frozen deep grey finish has a slightly matt effect and as a result tends to suck in the light in much the same fashion I'd imagine a black hole does if I were smart enough to understand science.

Add in a black grille, wheels and details and it definitely gives off 'move on, nothing to see here' vibes. Except, well, you still notice it, because it's big and black and it's impossible not to. It's about as subtle as a stealth fighter: sure, the F-117 Nighthawk was designed to disappear when flying high above Earth but, given its size and matt paint, I'm pretty sure you would spot one parked right in front of you.

But I think that's the intended effect. Surely if you're buying a £130k luxury SUV you want to be noticed a bit? But you maybe don't want to admit that. So I reckon, after some criticism of the styling based on the big grille when the iX was originally launched, BMW now enables you to spec it in a way where you can at least pretend you don't want to be noticed.

This occurred to me recently when I had just finished reversing into a space in a Tesco car park. As I exited the iX, a man more or less ran over to ask me about it. He wanted to know if the paint was a factory option. Yes, I told him: it's a £3000 BMW Individual option.

Which cheered him greatly, because his Mercedes-Benz EQC was coming to the end of its lease and he had read positive reviews of the upgraded iX, and he was basically sold on his colour choice when he saw mine in a car park a few days earlier. So when he saw it a second time, he detoured from his journey to find out more.

The attention on me while reverse parking also made me very grateful for the iX's rear-wheel steering. As noted, this is a big car that fills parking spaces, so, not wanting to be antisocial, I'm always keen to get as squarely into a space as possible. And the turning back wheels give the iX impressive manoeuvrability for a car of its size. The excellent reversing cameras and sensors help too, even if the rear sensor is a bit overly cautious.

Admittedly, when going forward at slow speeds the rear-steer system does occasionally make the iX feel slightly unnatural to manoeuvre, but that's a minor issue. And at speed it's far more assured and subtle, helping to give the car a little extra agility without robbing it of driving feel. But it is reversing in car parks where I most notice the difference, especially because no matter how subtle the iX wants to be, people can't help noticing it.

Mileage: 1692

Update 4: It's not all just touchscreens

You can't accuse the BMW iX of skimping on physical controls. The centre console is full of them, including a rather blingy crystal- effect rotary dial that has wowed a couple of passengers. I'm more taken with the genius design feature just ahead of it: a small slot in which you can stand a mobile phone, with a small hole at the bottom through which you can feed a charging cable.

Mileage: 1784

Update 5: Exploring the M part of our M70

In my time driving the BMW iX, I've come to revel in its remarkable refinement and cosseting, enveloping interior. This car was conceived as BMW's luxury flagship, and it really delivers on that score: most of my journeys are pleasingly calm and relaxing. The thing is, I was concerned that I must be missing out, because my iX isn't just a luxury cruiser: it's the M70 version, developed with performance in mind.

And enjoying its relaxed cruising credentials barely stretches the 650bhp offered by its dual electric motors, nor the specially tuned air springs, adaptive dampers and anti-roll bars that M division engineers added to keep its 2655kg weight in check.

Time, then, to head to a favoured driving road, switch from my preferred Efficiency setting into Sport and experience just how M the M70 is. Selecting Sport turns the LED cabin lighting a moody shade of red, but the visual reminder isn't necessary: you know which mode the car is in the moment you touch the accelerator.

The response is sharpened dramatically and if you press the pedal hard you really feel the torquey electric acceleration. It's that vaguely unpleasant instant whack of car sickness sensation, rendered more surreal for the silence of your surroundings and just how comfortable the seat that you're being involuntarily squished into is.

That, I should note, is without even messing with the launch control system, which deploys the full 650bhp and allows the iX M70 to hit 62mph from standing in 3.8sec. I will try it at some point, I promise: I just need to build myself up to it and find somewhere wide open and safe enough.

Of course, 'powerful EV accelerates faster than you would ever need' isn't exactly a revelationary finding. Where many performance EVs struggle is when they reach the twisty bits, where outright acceleration plays second fiddle to poise, chassis balance and handling - areas in which you wouldn't expect a 2.6-tonne, large SUV to shine.

But the M engineers have done a remarkable job, because you really can tackle corners in the M70 in a surprisingly spirited fashion. Sport mode also sharpens the steering and firms up the air suspension, and with the rear-wheel-steering and powertrain set-up, there's a slight rear bias to the handling that gives you confidence in corners. The M70 is relatively agile, too, which is something I really hadn't expected to say, given its size and weight.

Mind you, there's emphasis on the word 'relatively' there: the laws of physics remain undefeated, no matter what M's engineers try. But they have tried hard. In fact, the anti-roll bars and suspension keep the iX so calm in corners that it's almost unnerving. A fun performance car? Well, yes, sort of. There's a remarkable poise and agility to the M70, but you never forget its size, especially on tight and uneven British roads.

You really can't push the car to anywhere near its potential, either, and frankly nor would I want to. More to the point, while it's enjoyably spirited to hustle, it's far nicer to cruise along in relaxed comfort, because the M70 is just better at being a luxury car than a performance SUV - which is the opposite of how a good M car should be.

Mileage: 2375

Update 6: The iX's helping hand

My BMW's personal assistant really wants to help me out. It occasionally tries to show me the benefits of reversing assistant, in a way that makes me wonder if it has analysed my parking and thinks I need help. The other day, a prompt even popped up randomly when I was on the M4, suggesting I employ the assisted cruise control. I did take its advice on that one.

Mileage: 2492

Update 7: Climbing the national leaderboard for efficient driving

I tend to think the concept of gamification - adding a fun or competitive element to an everyday task-to be rather silly. Surely the satisfaction should come simply from doing something, not by turning it into a contest? Except, well, a few months back the My BMW phone app showed me I was driving less efficiently than my fellow iX M70 drivers, and I've become a little bit too obsessed with trying to address that.

Like many car makers' apps, My BMW contains a host of features designed to help the driver, ranging from the slightly gimmicky - such as access to the 'BMW community' (basically just a bunch of photos of people's cars), locking or unlocking the car without using the key and remotely turning on the headlights - to the genuinely useful. These include the ability to control charging, turn on the pre-heating, find a local service centre and, most pertinently, a record of all my trips and my driving efficiency.

If you're the sort of person who is wary of the amount of data that big corporations can hold about your life, you might not welcome the 'trip history' section. Yes, you can look back at every journey you've made, the app having stored not just how far you travelled but the time of day and your destination.

Before you get too paranoid, the app does offer extensive control of your privacy settings, and it seems that nobody else can really delve into your personal data. But having all that information does let BMW compare your driving efficiency with the community average-which apparently is defined as everyone in your country with the same model variant as you. And that's where I've become locked into a weird personal battle.

At the time of writing, my average has reached 2.5mpkWh-and while that might not sound a particularly impressive figure, I can tell you it has been hard-earned. As noted before, the sheer power offered by the M70's performance-honed set-up means this isn't a tremendously efficient car in the outright sense.

But that's a trade-off many will be happy to take for the power, so I was prepared to accept it not being that efficient when, a few months back, in the winter, I was struggling to hit 2.3mpkWh. That seemed fine to me - until I looked at the community average in the My BMW app and found that the average consumption was 2.4mpkWh. And, really, how are other people driving M70s that much more efficiently than me?

Since then, I've been selecting Efficient mode wherever possible, feathering the accelerator, coasting towards traffic lights and working harder than ever to spot gaps to neatly merge into. I've become hyper-competitive about hypermiling-and I realise that I'm not doing it in some effort to lower my running costs but because I'm really annoyed that others are driving more efficiently than me.

My efforts are paying off: in March my average was 2.5mpkWh, which was an 8% improvement on February and, most crucially, 1% ahead of the community average of 2.4mpkWh. Even better, so far in 2026 my average of 2.4mpkWh is 3% above that community average.

So I can relax now, right? Not a chance. I've got a lead over the community and now I want to build on it. Gamification, you see. It's stupid, but come on, fellow M70 drivers: can you top my efficiency?

Mileage: 2519

Update 8: Large proportions make for tricky parking

I know the iX is a great big SUV, but such is the ease of driving it that I often forget just how chunky it is. Then I found myself parking next to a Peugeot 107 in a Lidl car park (other supermarkets are available but don't have quite such random offerings in the middle aisle) and, well, it was quite the contrast. Given it took me several goes to ensure I backed into the space fully inside the lines, it was dispiriting to see how easily the 107 owner could swing in - leaving a short walk between it and my car.

Mileage 2684

Update 9: Divisive? Distinctive? The grille will always split opinion

It may be somewhat tempered by a combination of black trim and dark matt paint, but the most distinctive design feature of the BMW iX remains the whopping kidney grille. That's especially true at night, because my M70 model features the firm's 'Iconic Glow' - basically LED strips that surround the grille to ensure everyone can see it at night. And, I'm sure, quickly form an opinion on me.

It's part of the contradiction of the way this iX has been specced. As mentioned in my first report, the matt Platinum Grey paint isn't technically showy in the way that painting a car like this pink or orange or green would be, but it's still really distinctive.

Same with the grille: the darkened surface suggests it's trying to be demure, but after dark it beams into life with all the subtlety of a lighthouse. Still, judging by the number of iXs I see on the roads, plenty of people don't mind the design, and I respect BMW for not playing it safe, at least.

Besides, it's worth remembering why the grille on the iX is there: in fact, it's not really a grille at all. In BMW parlance, it's a 'digital intelligence panel', housing various cameras, radar units and sensors for all the car's whizzy high-tech functions. By putting all that behind a panel, BMW says it can integrate heating elements and cleaning systems to help ensure they aren't rendered useless in the cold or if they get dirty - and it does seem, from my mileage so far, that they're less prone to being 'temporarily disabled' than similar systems in other cars.

BMW also claims the grille has a self-healing layer that can repair minor scratches, but I'm not sure I'm brave enough to test that by deliberately damaging someone else's £130,000 car.

Of course, when you're in the iX, you can't see the grille, so the main issue with it from a driver's point of view isn't one of style but about how well all the sensors and systems it houses work. This car is a 'tech flagship' after all. Probably the area most drivers will notice is adaptive cruise control merged with a lane keeping aid, and the system in the iX is generally really very good.

It adjusts speed both when you close in on vehicles in front and approaching posted limit changes (when it recognises them) and is generally fairly smooth in doing so. In some countries, the iX is even capable of 'hands-free' driving in certain scenarios, but that level of autonomy isn't yet legal in the UK. Still, subtle lights on the steering wheel glow green when the lane guidance is active and turn yellow when there are any issues, making it easier to spot when you might need to take back full control.

Another interesting use of the cameras behind that grille comes with the 'Augmented View Navigation'. You can set the digital instrument cluster to show the images from the front-facing camera, on which are overlaid sat-nav directions, such as turn arrows. Quite neat, even if the warning telling you not to look at it while driving does rather highlight the limitations of the system.

It's also odd, since the iX features a reasonably decent head-up display that puts things like your speed and sat-nav information in your line of sight. Which is useful, even if it's a small display and it's taken a lot of adjusting to get it right for me.

It's even more odd that you can, if you wish, have the augmented reality display and head-up display active at the same time. Do you prefer your augmented reality in the form of limited information projected into the real world or lots of information shown on a fancy digital display?

Ultimately, I choose to trust neither and rely on my eyes.

Mileage: 2782

Update 10: Predictably practical, but where's the frunk?

A family visit combined with an airport run gave me a chance to really test the iX's 500-litre boot capacity. It's predictably capacious, and the flat floor means it's easy to make good use of that space. Removing the parcel shelf took a little bit of dexterity, mind you. There's a useful underfloor store for charging cables, but I'm still confused about why a car this big doesn't have a frunk.

Mileage 2841

Update 11: Public charging woes

There's lots to say about the BMW iX, but it would be remiss not to start with this: not one person comes to my door without commenting on it. Most spoken about is the matt black finish, which certainly adds a certain je ne sais quoi (for £3300). One delivery driver persevered for quite a while to understand how one washes such a paint finish. It looks slightly drug dealer-esque for my tastes, but clearly there's demand and it does seem to suit the aggressive, quirky (if you're being kind) design of the car.

Speaking of which, when I first saw pictures of the iX a few years ago, I wasn't a fan. Now? I can't say I think it's a masterpiece of modern car design, but I've adjusted to it and now find it as decent-looking as many models on the road today. Between its looks and its size, the iX feels a bit of a beast-but then I parked it next to a Land Rover Defender recently and it looked like a compact SUV. Perspective and all that.

Since custodian James Attwood kindly loaned me this iX a few weeks ago, I've been thoroughly enjoying it. It's deeply comfortable throughout, ultra-premium in finish and a pleasure to drive with the BMW driving dynamics we've come to know and (broadly) love.

A few little things of note from living with it. The front central storage lacks practicality: there are two cupholders and a wireless phone charging place and then the large central compartment, but for the driver that isn't accessible without turning quite pointedly sideways. I want somewhere for my keys, so they go in one cupholder; my water bottle goes in the one nearest me.

And my phone goes in its natural place. But then, when I want to get the keys, it's practically impossible without having to move the bottle, because the control panel juts out (well placed for its purpose, to be fair). It's a small thing but it has become a daily annoyance.

The lack of fitted rear sunshades seems an oversight for this level of car and is something I've noticed with my little boy present. However, one piece of simple, analogue and neat design in the back is the rotating suit hook.

My biggest problem caused by living with the iX is one that won't concern most owners: a lack of a driveway with an EV charger. I've been driving to my closest fast charger at a Shell garage, which isn't awfully fast. It has faulted as many times as it has worked; typically it seems to stop charging randomly, which if you leave the car charging – as I have on occasion – is highly problematic. (I should add that our iX hasn't experienced similar charging issues elsewhere.)

This stuff just needs to work without fail to get everyone on board with EVs. And even if the vast majority of owners have home chargers, this could still happen on a long journey.

In part, I'll be glad to return the iX to Attwood, because I feel conspicuous having a £135k matt black car on my humble suburban street. But on the other hand, this ticks so many boxes; it feels like the ultimate driving companion (touché), marrying enjoyable driving, performance and handling with great ride quality, practicality, space, interior luxury and more. Enjoy it while you can, Attwood.

By Rachel Burgess

Mileage: 3020

Final report: Divisive styling outweighed by grace, pace and comfort

Particularly with electric vehicles, automotive technology is advancing at a rapid pace. What was cutting-edge five years ago can easily seem very pedestrian.

So even with the benefit of a chunky mid-life update, you might think that the BMW iX, launched back in 2021, would be showing its age. It has new direct rivals such as the Porsche Cayenne Electric, Polestar 3, Lotus Eletre, Volvo EX90 and more, while BMW itself has launched its true next generation of EVs with the Neue Klasse iX3.

Faced with all those newer cars, can the iX still serve as a luxury flagship? Based on the past few months, my answer is an unequivocal yes. The iX is ageing incredibly gracefully.

Actually, 'graceful' isn't the right term because, well, it's not, is it? Look at it: it's big, brazen and brash, especially in matt black. Whatever you think of the styling, and you will have an opinion, we can all agree that it's not graceful. Normally after a few months with a car I grow accustomed to how it looks and it blends into the background of my life.

But having switched the iX for a Mazda 3 for a few weeks recently, on swapping back I was struck afresh by just how imposing this BMW is. Then, of course, I clambered back inside and remembered just how nice and cosseting it is too.

Because this really is a convincing luxury flagship, albeit in a very modern sense. In this top-spec M70 form, our iX costs about £130k after options, which is pretty rarefied air. But it definitely feels a step up from other cars in the BMW range. It's a new type of luxury, though, built around digital screens and technology rather than acres of leather and wood. But it works really well. It feels spacious and there are lots of nice touches.

That said, some of those features work better than others. I really like the slot at the end of the centre console where you can pop a phone in upright: it made it much harder to forget to pick up at the end of a journey. But I was annoyed by how the protruding centre console made it difficult to reach the cupholders. Generally, though, everyone who had a go inside the iX commented on what a quiet, comfortable and plush cabin it is.

Similarly, I liked that the iX retains a physical rotary controller for the infotainment - although I still found myself using the touchscreen for a lot of operations, just because there are so many functions on the operating system that it was quicker to do so. The Mazda 3 also features a rotary dial, and because the infotainment was simpler, I used it a lot more. As ever more software functions are added, you can see why firms like BMW are taking such controls out of their cars - but there's a balance to be struck.

As noted, the iX recently received a facelift to keep pace with newer rivals, including considerable work to up the power and range of the various versions. We opted for the top M70 level, which produces 570bhp from its dual motors-rising to 650bhp with launch control. That's a lot of power, even if the Cayenne Turbo Electric does now offer something close to twice that, and as a result our iX didn't want for speed or urgency. Boot the throttle and the acceleration was, frankly, a bit unpleasant. Even with a bit more care the iX was astonishingly quick and responsive for a car of such heft.

Happily, it wasn't just the sort of performance car that's only quick in a straight line: for a big SUV, it's actually reasonably engaging to drive. The steering is firm but precise and well weighted, while the suspension keeps things stable but is not overly firm. It does respond well to some spirited driving, and the single brake regen setting is well judged and trustworthy.

That said, as I wrote in previous reports, the iX always feels its size, so it's hard to ever really relax when you're pressing on. And it's such a comfortable cruiser that it's almost better at a more sedate pace, gliding along in near silence in Efficient driving mode. The various ADAS functions work well too, especially the excellent adaptive cruise control.

Not that the iX M70 is a spectacularly efficient car. Its official range is 326 miles, but even when fully charged the display never showed anything close to 300 miles, and my average efficiency of 2.4mpkWh was down on the official figure of 2.6mpkWh. Things did improve as the temperature rose during my time with the car but, as usual with these things, I'd think the ideal iX is one in a lower spec with a bit less power and more range.

If anything, that relatively low efficiency is the only area where the iX is really showing its age in any meaningful way - especially compared with its new iX3 sibling, which is close to half the price yet can do nearly twice the miles.

Still, if the range works for you, the iX M70 is the sort of car that conveys a sense of occasion. It may still be a bit jarring to look at, but from behind the wheel it is actually graceful and it's ageing well.

Even so, the arrival of the iX3 still feels significant. In a way, the iX was a test bed for the next-generation BMW tech developed for that big new arrival. So I'm keen to find out if it's worth sacrificing a bit of the iX's luxury to access that newer technology and longer range.

Test Data
BMW iX M70 xDRIVE
Mileage
At start	1410
At end	5012
Prices
List price new	£114,305
List price now	£114,205
Price as tested	£134,255
Options
Bowers & Wilkins stereo £4500, Individual Frozen Deep Grey paint £3300, panoramic sunroof £3200, Amido interior design suite £2650, Technology Pack £2300, Comfort Pack £1650, 22in M bicolour jet black wheels and sport tyres £900, Clear and Bold interior £800, soft-close doors £650
Economy and Range
Claimed range	326 miles
Battery	111.5/108.9kWh (total/usable)
Test average	2.4mpkWh
Test best	2.9mpkWh
Test worst	1.8mpkWh
Real-world range	261 miles
Max charge rate	195kW
Tech Highlights
0-62mph	3.8sec
Top speed	155mph
Engine	Two permanent magnet synchronous motors
Max power	570bhp (650bhp with launch control)
Max torque	749lb ft
Gearbox	1-spd reduction gear, 4WD
Boot	318 litres
Wheels	9.5Jx22in
Tyres	275/40 R22, Pirelli P Zero
Kerb weight	2655kg
Service and Running Costs
Contract hire rate	£766 pcm
CO2	0g/km
Service costs	None
Other costs	None
Fuel costs	£604.80
Running costs including fuel	£604.80
Cost per mile	17 pence
Faults	None

Why do UK drivers pay more for fuel than in other European countries?

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:00:00 +0100

Sharp rises in fuel costs have hit UK drivers' wallets, but that isn't the case everywhere

British drivers are paying significantly more at the pumps than drivers in several other European countries.

According to RAC data, petrol currently costs around 156p per litre in the UK, compared with roughly 136p in Cyprus, 130p in Spain and 116p in Malta.

Drivers don’t have to refuel too many times before the difference starts hitting their wallets. According to the RAC, filling a 55-litre tank in a typical family car now costs around £87 for petrol and just over £100 for diesel.

Elsewhere in Europe, Polish drivers pay just 122p per litre for petrol, while a litre of petrol costs Bulgarian motorists 131p. If European countries access the same global oil market, and face the same geopolitical challenges, why are petrol and diesel so much more expensive in the UK?

For Luke Bosdet of the AA, the answer is simple. “It's a tax thing,” he said. “Some countries load their tax onto car ownership – car tax and the like. Others load it on to car use – duty on fuel. And others combine the two.”

At this week’s average petrol price of 152.7p per litre, UK drivers pay 26p in VAT and 53p in fuel duty, according to the RAC. That means 79p of every litre sold is tax, equivalent to just over half of the pump price.

Compare that with Spain, where the cost of a litre of fuel is around 130p. RAC figures show why Spain is cheaper. The fuel and retailer margin account for about 76p in both countries. But rather than the 79p in duty and VAT paid by UK drivers, those in Spain pay 53p.

The Malta outlier

But there are outliers too. In Malta, for example, petrol costs just 116p per litre. Yet based on RAC figures, tax accounts for 56% of the pump price, not dissimilar to the UK tax take despite the much lower pump price.

However, if British drivers think they are hard done by, spare a thought for Dutch motorists who pay 193p per litre of petrol and 182p per litre of diesel.

For Stuart Adam, a senior economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), “the UK is roughly in the middle of the pack in terms of prices and slightly above average in terms of tax rate”.

He said that 20 years ago, the UK had “easily the highest tax rates in terms of both petrol and diesel” but “a series of real-term cuts to fuel duties” has meant that’s no longer the case.

So why is petrol and diesel cheaper in Spain, Malta, Poland and Bulgaria? Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “More often than not, the fact that fuel prices are cheaper in southern and eastern European countries is likely to reflect government policies, including state-owned fuel production, designed to keep fuel prices down where average wages are also relatively low.”

Take Malta, for example. A spokesperson for the Central Bank of Malta told Autocar that fuel prices have remained stable in recent years due to a "fixed energy price policy". Through energy subsidies, retail fuel prices have been "maintained at fixed levels despite fluctuations in global oil prices", the spokesperson said.

Duty and VAT: why doesn’t the government cut it?

In the UK, however, the focus has been on fuel duty. Adam said ministers could reduce it if they wanted to, but it would come at a cost.

"The obvious downside is that it costs the government money and the government has been scratching around for revenue in difficult circumstances for some time," he said.

Fuel duty and VAT currently raise around £30 billion a year for the Treasury. Adam noted that if this revenue is reduced, the government would have to raise money elsewhere or accept a lower tax take.

Others think ministers should start by cutting VAT on fuel. The RAC Foundation has calculated that since the US-Iran war began in February, the government has taken more than £741 million extra in VAT from higher pump prices, as part of what it calls the “war premium” in terms of the higher costs motorists have faced.

But in Spain, the government reacted to the war in Iran by temporarily reducing VAT on fuel from 21% to 10% in March. Gordon Balmer, executive director of the Petrol Retailers Association, said VAT is “a tax on a tax” because, unlike fuel duty, the amount of VAT collected rises whenever pump prices increase. He added that the government could do something similar to Spain if it wanted to.

“Instead of announcing summer giveaways such as cheap meal deals and days out at the zoo, the government could have helped everyone by introducing a 10% cut in VAT on fuel,” he said.

Adam disagrees. He argues that removing VAT from fuel duty would make very little difference if the overall tax take remained the same. He said: “As things stand we put VAT on the price of fuel including the duty. However, you could equally well have VAT on the price excluding the duty and make up the revenue with a higher duty rate. But you would end up in a very similar place.”

In response, the Treasury told Autocar that the 5p fuel duty cut has been extended until the end of the year and that mileage rates for people who drive for work have increased from 45p to 55p. It also pointed to Fuel Finder, which is designed to help drivers identify the cheapest forecourt nearby.

Taxes don't tell the whole story

Yet fuel prices are only one part of the cost of motoring. Professor Nigel Driffield, a professor of strategy and international business at Warwick Business School, said: “It is inadvisable to look at one tax in isolation.” He added: “You can compare excise duty and VAT in different countries, but if cars or companies are taxed differently, then the aggregate impact may differ.”

Balmer agrees. He said that several European countries rely much more heavily on toll roads than the UK. "You can actually say the price of fuel is lower, but don't forget they also charge road tolls. If you are looking at it in terms of motoring, you need to take all of the various taxes into account," he said.

For Adam, the bigger question is not how fuel taxes compare across Europe, but why governments tax fuel in the first place.

“The more fundamental question is why we have a specific tax on fuel or, for that matter, a specific tax on driving and cars at all?” he said.

Adam said fuel taxes should not simply be used “to raise revenue or support particular groups of motorists”. Instead, he argued that governments should use them to reflect the wider costs of driving, “including carbon emissions, air pollution and congestion”.

Whether motorists agree is another matter entirely.

20 of the best front-wheel-drive cars ever built

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 12:49:53 +0100

The cars that prove you don't need rear-drive balance to have fun

When handling is mentioned, it’s usually rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive cars that get time in the spotlight.

This is because of the amount of grip and balance offered. But hey don’t hold a monopoly – and many excellent cars to drive have been built whose engines drive just the front wheels – these are some of the best:

Ford Puma

In the 1990s, Mazda had the MX-3, Vauxhall had the Tigra, Fiat gave us the Barchetta, and in 1997, Ford offered the Puma, designed by Ian Callum. While it was available in 1.4, 1.6 and 1.7-litre variants, the 123bhp Yamaha-developed 1.7-litre was the option people favoured and would haul the 1039kg kerb weight to 62mph from rest in just over 9sec.

Underneath was a chassis from a fourth-generation Fiesta with uprated suspension and a lower and wider track, which gave darty handling. A rarer Racing Puma arrived in 1999, to meet rally homologation regulations, with wider arches, uprated camshafts and exhaust, as well as stiffer suspension, and around 30bhp extra.

Honda Integra Type-R

Described by many as the best-handling front-wheel drive car ever made; the Integra Type R was the benchmark for Type Rs that would follow for years to come. The large rear wing reduced lift by 30 percent while an aero lip at the front kept things stable at higher speeds. Its chassis had a reinforced subframe and additional spot welds to boost rigidity, 15in alloys helped the double-wishbone suspension to find its flow and the windscreen was 10 per cent thinner to help keep weight low.

Mini Cooper

Mini has come far with the Cooper range nowadays but the original Cooper was where it earned its famous go-kart handling and ‘giant killer’ status. A rubber cone suspension set-up was used instead of conventional springs which gave a raw and bumpy ride and all four wheels were pushed out to each corner while a low centre of gravity, and short wheel travel, allowed the Cooper to deliver sharp cornering. More powerful ‘S’ models were released in 1963 with a more powerful 1.1-litre powerplant and larger disc brakes.

Lotus Elan M100

While we’re used to Lotus giving us rear-wheel drive sportscars, the M100 was Lotus’ front-wheel drive answer to the big-selling Mazda MX-5. Lotus used a lightweight composite body which was attached to a rigid steel backbone chassis, the front suspension had a double wishbone set up and a “compliance raft” was attached to the chassis with stiff bushes to help reduce torque steer. Unfortunately, many purists couldn’t see past the idea of a front-wheel drive Lotus and sales flopped with only 4700 cars being produced. Kia later picked up the design and sold 1056 examples in South Korea and Japan.

Renault Clio 182 Trophy

While many Renaultsport cars could make our list, the iconic 182 Trophy offered the compact feel of the Williams with modern 200 Cup performance. Renault Sport engineers took the already fizzy 182 Cup and added Sachs remote reservoir rally-like dampers to the front axle, giving optimised body control and little to no flex under hard cornering. Renaultsport then added hydraulic bump stops and chopped 10mm from the ride height. Vigorous cornering meant the 182 Trophy would lift its rear rather than understeer.

Peugeot 205 GTi

Available with either a 104bhp 1.6-litre or a 130bhp 1.9-litre, the 205 GTi had McPherson front struts and a compact trailing arm setup at the rear, combined with communicative steering, allowing it to rival some bigger and more powerful cars in handling. The 1.9-litre offered suspension tweaks to reduce pitch and roll and combat the understeer that could be found on earlier 1.6 cars. It became increasingly popular because of its price-performance ratio and is still considered one of the world’s best front-wheel drive cars to this day.

Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S

The Honda Civic Type R and Renaultsport Megane 275 Trophy-R were extreme but Volkswagen took it a step further when they upped their GTI and removed the rear seats, freeing up 30kg. 306bhp and bespoke damper tuning, more camber, a lightweight front aluminium subframe and bespoke Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres meant the Clubsport S was the quickest front-wheel drive Golf yet. A front splitter and rear wing generated a little amount of downforce which neutralized the 60kg of lift that was once produced by the GTI Performance. This gave the Clubsport S impeccable chassis balance and even promoted oversteer.

Ford Focus RS500

Just as everyone was getting used to the Mk2 Focus RS, Ford then added 45bhp and resurrected the RS500 badge which, as the name suggested, meant only 500 examples of the Focus RS500 would be built. Although the chassis remained untouched from the base Focus RS, an LSD was equipped to help manage the extra power and claw the car around bends, and it would even lift the rear wheel if pushed hard enough. By trailing the brakes toward a corner with the ESP turned off, you could encourage the rear into helping adjust the cornering line.

Ford SportKa

From the 90s the 2010s the compact hot hatchback market was booming, with cars like the Suzuki Swift Sport and Fiat Panda 100hp being vastly popular. Whilst the original Ford Ka lacked performance with its 1.0-litre and 1.3-litre engines, Ford extracted 94bhp from the 1.6-litre for the SportKa. It then underwent chassis changes such as a 22mm wider front track to improve road holding, stiffened bushes, extra bracing, a suspension drop of 14mm and an anti-roll bar that was stiffened by 60 per cent. This meant the SportKa was eager to respond to the slightest of input.

Alfa Romeo Alfasud

Claimed to be one of the best-handling cars of the 1970s, the Alfasud was let down by questionable build quality which later led to the Golf GTI becoming the favourite. The Alfasud was amongst the first cars to boast four-wheel disc brakes and roll-free handling thanks to its low-slung boxer architecture, MacPherson front strut suspension and a cleaver beam rear axle tied to a Watts linkage which acted as a giant anti-roll bar. This resulted in a well-planted and chuckable car with great road holding.

Renault Megane R26R

By adding a roll cage and a carbon fibre bonnet, replacing the rear windows with polycarbonate, removing the rear seats, and removing the radio and the passenger airbag, Renaultsport managed to shave 123kg from the old Megane RS with the R26R. The spring rates, front and rear, were over 10 percent softer while the uprated dampers and springs gave better stability and control through the corners. Renault kept the differential from the normal car but fitted the R26R with Toyo tyres which gave it masses of grip.

Seat Leon ST280

When Seat opted for a front-wheel drive layout for the ST280, they used an electronic differential that could send up to 100 percent of its torque to the outside wheel via a hydraulic clutch. This meant that speed could be preserved at all four corners and that the driver could flatten the throttle out of a bend and experience very little torque steer. The ST280 sat 25mm lower than the regular Leon S, allowing it to hug the road, but buyers could have an optional Performance Pack, aimed more at a track day audience, which included 2.1kg lighter alloy wheels wrapped in Michelin Sport Cup 2 rubber.

Ford Mondeo ST200

Ford created a fast family car with the Mondeo ST200; it was something that had sharp, responsive steering and firm suspension, carefully set up by Ford engineers, and sat low enough to take corners with gusto while also providing passengers with comfort. 17in wheels sat firmly inside the arches, helping to create the ST200’s aggressive stance. The 2.5-litre V6 was revised from the ST24 which saw the power rise from 167bhp to 202bhp.

Honda Civic Type R

You can’t go wrong with any Civic Type R in Honda’s range; they’ll all offer sublime handling and reliability – but we’re focusing on the FK2 here. Honda adopted a dual-axis front suspension set-up with adaptive damping to help control all 306bhp that’s fed through the front wheels. Grip was provided by 19in wheels that were wrapped in Continental tyres. The +R mode chilled the ESP a bit and stiffened the suspension by 30% which, on smooth tarmac, made for a driver-involving experience.

Abarth 695 Biposto

Fiat claimed that the Abarth 695 was the world’s smallest supercar. Buyers could opt for a dog ring H-pattern gearbox mated to a limited-slip differential while racing seats with a four-point harness, roll-cage and 187bhp turbocharged 1.4-litre were standard. By removing the rear seats and adding rally-like netting, Fiat saved 38kg, giving the 695 a total weight of 997kg. An additional 5mm of offset was added to either side which gave an increased track width of 10mm, while the Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres offered a plethora of grip.

Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk1

It was only fair that the Mk1 Golf GTI had its place on our list due to its sure-footed stability and nerve-holding stance when it came to bigger rear-wheel drive cars of the same era. In comparison to the normal Golf, Volkswagen gave the GTI stiffer suspension (both dampers and springs), anti-roll bars and they dropped it 20mm closer to the road. Its unassisted steering offered plenty of feedback and the car could make decent pace down a B-road thanks to its 840kg weight and 110bhp on tap – helping to start a legend that, with blips along the way, continues to this day.

Peugeot 106 GTi

While there were a few front-wheel drive cars to choose from in the 1990s, the Alfa 145, Seat Ibiza Cupra and Renault Clio Williams among many, Peugeot raised the bar for the hot hatch market once again with the 306 GTI-6 and 106 GTi. The 106 GTi was gifted with the usual hot hatchback recipe: MacPherson struts linked by an anti-roll bar, a torsion bar, and an additional anti-roll bar at the rear. Peugeot extracted 120bhp from the 1.6-litre powerplant, which only had 950kg to cart around, resulting in a small but capable car in a B-road blast.

Toyota Celica T-Sport

The Celica T-Sport was the flagship in the range and the chassis was described by many as both brilliant and alert. It was introduced just as the Integra Type R and Ford Racing Puma were leaving the party, earning its “best handling front-wheel drive” title rather quickly thanks to its low-slung physique and engine-speed-sensing power steering system, which allowed the driver to tune in to the front wheels. While the chassis remained untouched from previous Celicas, the engine power was raised from 143bhp to 190bhp.

Volkswagen Lupo GTI

Like the Golf and the Polo, the Lupo GTI gained quite a cult following due to its downright feistiness and high fun factor. It received uprated springs and dampers and the ride height was dropped by 20mm over the normal Lupo giving it a road-hugging stance. Fat tyres and a small wheelbase made for sharp turn-in which in return made it a hoot to drive while understeer was predictable. The 1.6-litre pumped out 125bhp and gave an 8.2sec 0-62mph time.

Hyundai i20N

There are various choices for a modern hot hatch but if you can pry yourself away from the popular and well-priced Fiesta ST then the Hyundai i20N may be worth a look. 206bhp is channelled through a limited-slip differential while the 18in alloys are wrapped in Pirelli P Zero tyres as standard. Sturdier front knuckles plus more negative camber and more chassis bracing mean the i20N can provide great cornering confidence albeit with mild torque steer on more cambered roads.

In pictures: the Alfa Romeo story

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 12:22:18 +0100

Alfa has long been one of the most-loved Italian marques for Autocar readers, and here we celebrate its history

Some people say that every true petrolhead has either owned an Alfa Romeo or, at the very least, wanted to.

Alfa was founded in Milan, less than a hundred miles from its current home in Turin. The actual date was 24 June 1910, but as we’ll see the Alfa Romeo story in fact began a little earlier than that. Let's take a look at this famous firm through the lens of its most famous cars:

The Darracq connection

The company we now know as Alfa Romeo arose from S.A.I.D., which was created in 1906 to build French Darracq cars for sale in Italy. By 1909, S.A.I.D. was in trouble, and its directors decided to try a new approach and build cars of their own.

The new organisation was given the descriptive name [Società] Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili, which approximately translates into English as Lombardy Automobile Factory Limited. For convenience, it was referred to by its initial letters, A.L.F.A.

The logo

The A.L.F.A. logo was designed by Romano Cattaneo. It has been redesigned several times over the years, but two elements have remained throughout: a red cross representing Milan and a grass snake taken from the coat of arms of the Visconti family, which ruled the city until 1447.

The 24 HP

A.L.F.A. hired ex-Fiat man Giuseppe Merosi as its chief engineer, a post he held until 1923. He designed the company’s first car, a four-seater with a 4.1-litre engine known as the 24 HP (pictured). It was followed almost immediately by the smaller 12 HP. Production of the 24 HP continued until 1914.

Two 24 HPs were entered in the 1911 Targa Florio race, but both retired on the third and final lap of the 91-mile road course, one because of the accident which befell Nino Franchini and the other due to the exhaustion suffered by Ugo Ronzoni.

Nicola Romeo

In 1915, entrepreneur Nicola Romeo bought a controlling stake in A.L.F.A., which spent the remaining war years building military equipment. Romeo soon became the full owner of the firm, whose name was changed in his honour to the current Alfa Romeo in February 1918.

Romeo left in 1928 and died ten years later at the age of 62, but he is still commemorated in the name of the company and those of streets in several Italian cities, including Milan.

The 20-30 HP

The 20-30 HP, introduced in 1914, was a development of the original 24 HP. Production was interrupted by the First World War, so many cars started before hostilities began were completed only in 1920.

A sports version of the 20-30 HP was the first model ever to be badged as an Alfa Romeo.

The RL

The Alfa Romeo RL was in production for five years starting in 1922. There were four grades called Normale, Turismo, Sport and Super Sport (pictured).

In addition to those, Alfa built several lighter and more powerful race versions named after the Targa Florio road race. Drivers included Enzo Ferrari, who won a major event at Ravenna in June 1923.

The cloverleaf

Hoping that it would bring him luck in the 1923 Targa Florio, Alfa racing driver Ugo Sivocci painted a four-leaf clover on his RL. It seemed to be effective. Sivocci won the race, but later died at Monza while practising in another car which did not have the clover on it.

The clover, known as quadrifoglio, was added to Alfa Romeo race cars from then on in Sivocci’s honour. The logo and the name began to be used on high-performance production cars in the early 1960s.

The 6Cs

The RL was replaced in 1927 by the first of a series of sports models called 6C because they all had six-cylinder engines. Giuseppe Campari won the 1928 Mille Miglia race in a competition version, and road models appeared with several engine sizes and a great many body styles, mostly created by independent coachbuilders.

A new 6C went on sale in 1934, a year after Alfa Romeo, by now in serious financial trouble, came under the control of Italy’s Institute for Industrial Reconstruction. Its replacement was produced from 1938 to 1952.

The 8Cs

Similar to the 6C, the 8C, built throughout the 1930s, was available in many road-going and competition forms, all with variants of an eight-cylinder engine designed by Vittorio Jano.

A streamlined 8C coupé (pictured) led the 1938 Le Mans 24 Hour race by the almost unbelievable margin of 14 laps before retiring with engine failure two hours before the finish.

A famous victory

Alfa Romeo’s new Grand Prix car for 1932 was known variously as the Tipo B or P3. It was very successful to begin with, until the technically brilliant Mercedes and Auto Union machines collectively known as the Silver Arrows arrived in 1934.

Despite this, Tazio Nuvolari achieved possibly the greatest result of his career in the 1935 German Grand Prix, driving a P3 in terrible weather at the Nürburgring. Recovering from a bad start and a disastrous fuel stop, Nuvolari took the chequered flag first ahead of eight Silver Arrows, to the disgust of the high-ranking Nazi officials present.

The last 6C

The final 6C model, whose 2.5-litre engine was the largest in the series, was introduced in 1938. The chassis was offered in three sizes, the longest being used for the 2500 Super Sport (pictured).

The 6C was both the last pre-War and the first post-War production Alfa Romeo, remaining on sale until 1952.

The 1900

Alfa’s first post-War design was the 1900, which differed from previous models in that it was built on a production line and had a structural body rather than a separate body and chassis.

Aimed at a larger market than previous Alfa Romeos, it was quite successful. Over 20,000 were built between 1950 and 1959.

World champions

The F1 World Championship was created in 1950. Alfa Romeo immediately dominated it, winning six of the seven rounds (the exception being the Indianapolis 500, which no European team entered). Giuseppe Farina won the title that year and was succeeded by Juan-Manuel Fangio in another Alfa.

Fangio’s car was a 159 Alfetta, a derivative of Farina’s 158 which had itself been designed back in 1937. Alfa Romeo temporarily retired from F1 at the end of the 1951 season. None of its returns led to the success it had enjoyed in the early 50s.

Disco Volante

Officially called the 1900 C52, the Disco Volante (‘Flying Saucer’) was an experimental sports racing car of which just five were built in 1952 and 1953. Some of the mechanical components came from the 1900, but the spaceframe chassis and the astonishingly aerodynamic body, developed in partnership with Milan-based Carozzeria Touring, were new.

Alfa Romeo and Touring collaborated again on a new Disco Volante, based on the 8C Competizione, which was revealed in 2013. A convertible version appeared three years later.

Giulietta

Alfa Romeo has used the Giulietta name three times. The first model, manufactured from 1954 to 1965, was available in saloon, coupé (pictured) and roadster forms, along with a very rare estate called the Promiscua.

Most of them had the same 1.3-litre twin-cam engine with power outputs of up to 99bhp for road use. Competition versions could reach 118bhp. Alfa celebrated the building of the 100,001st Giulietta in 1961, and total production is believed to have exceeded 170,000.

The French connection

Echoing its early relationship with Darracq, Alfa Romeo built the Renault Dauphine (pictured) under licence in Italy from 1959 and the Renault 4 from 1962. Production of both stopped in 1964.

The Dauphine’s successor was the Renault 8, which bore a close resemblance to an Alfa prototype called the Tipo 103. The two cars were, however, completely unrelated mechanically (not least in that their engines were at different ends), and the Alfa version was never put into production.

Giulia saloons

Known as the Type 105, the original Giulia saloon, built from 1962 to 1977, had a boxy body which was far more aerodynamic than it appeared.

Nearly all versions had 1.3- or 1.6-litre petrol engines, but a late model introduced in 1976 was Alfa Romeo’s first diesel-powered passenger car.

Giulia coupés

A series of coupés based on a shortened Giulia saloon platform was launched in 1963. Engine sizes ranged from 1.3 to 2.0 litres, and the cars had several names, most of which included the letters GT.

The GTAm (pictured), built by Alfa Romeo’s motorsport division Autodelta, was built specifically for racing. Dutch driver Toine Hezemans won the 1970 European Touring Car Championship in one.

2600

Produced from 1962 to 1968 and a development of the earlier 2000, the 2600 was the last of what would have been described at the time as the ‘classic’ Alfa Romeos, with a six-cylinder engine.

It was offered as a saloon with Alfa’s own body and as a Spider (pictured) and coupé with bodies by Touring and Bertone respectively. Overall, the 2600 was not a great success, and there was no direct replacement.

Spider

Of all the cars based on the 1962 Giulia, by far the longest-lived was the Spider. Styled by Pininfarina, it was launched in 1966 and featured in the following year’s movie The Graduate (dubbed with a completely inappropriate V8 engine noise) driven by Dustin Hoffman.

This sort of publicity in the first year of a model’s production is the sort of thing manufacturers can usually only dream of, but even Alfa Romeo can hardly have expected at the time that it would still be building essentially the same car (though with several updates) as late as 1993.

33 Stradale

This was the street-legal version of Alfa’s Tipo 33 sports racer, stradale being the Italian word for ‘road’. It had butterfly doors and a 2.0-litre V8 engine with a remarkably high output of 227bhp, only about 40bhp short of what it produced in the race car.

Only 18 were built from late 1967 to early 1969. Survivors are estimated to be worth over £8 million each.

Montreal

When Alfa displayed an un-named concept car at Expo 67, the public called it the Montreal after the host city. Alfa kept the name for the production model, which differed from the concept in many respects.

For example, the original 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine was abandoned in favour of a larger (2.6-litre) but detuned (197bhp) version of the V8 used in the 33 Stradale. The Montreal was produced from 1970 to 1977 but did not sell particularly well, partly because of its high price.

Alfasud

The Alfasud got its name from a government policy to increase manufacturing and employment in the poorer, southern part of Italy (sud being the Italian word for ‘south’). This radical small car, the first front-wheel drive Alfa Romeo, was built in a factory near Naples from 1972, and unfortunately developed an early reputation for rust.

More happily, it also became known for its excellent handling, helped by the fact that the boxer engine layout gave the whole car a helpfully low centre of gravity.

Alfetta, GTV and Giulietta

Launched in the same year as the Alfasud, the Alfetta was named after the 159 Alfetta Grand Prix car of the early 1950s. Unusually, the production car had its engine mounted up front and its gearbox at the rear in an attempt to make the weight distribution as even as possible.

The Alfetta saloon was the basis of the GT and GTV (pictured) coupés. More powerful examples had V6 engines, rather than the more common four-cylinder ones, in sizes of up to 3.0 litres. Yet another derivative was the second-generation Giulietta, built from 1977 to 1965.

33

The Alfasud’s replacement was the 33, which like its predecessor had a choice of four-cylinder boxer engines, in this case from 1.2 to 1.7 litres, plus a 1.3-litre three-cylinder diesel supplied by VM Motori.

Though less fondly remembered than the Sud, the 33 remained in production for twelve years, from 1983 to 1995.

164

Development of the 164 began when Alfa Romeo was still owned by the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction but went on sale after the company had been bought by Fiat.

Notable for its wedge shaped, created by Pininfarina, the 164 was one of four cars based on the Type Four platform, the others being the Fiat Croma, the Lancia Thema and the Saab 9000. The Alfa was the last to reach the market, in 1988, and went out of production nine years later. US sales stopped in 1995. Alfa would not have a presence in the North American market for two decades after that.

SZ/RZ

The SZ coupé was closely related to the 75 (sold in the US as the Milano), and used the 3.0-litre V6 engine used in high-performance versions of that car. It was built from 1989 to 1991 and followed by the RZ convertible manufactured until 1994.

No other Alfa Romeo before or since has looked quite like these cars, which were nicknamed Il mostro (‘the monster’), but their six headlights arranged in two sets of three would make a comeback in the 21st century.

155

Given the new Fiat connection, it was reasonable enough that the front-wheel drive 155 compact executive should share a platform with the Fiat Tempra and Lancia Dedra. Production began in 1992 and ended six years later.

The car was very successful in motorsport. The 155 Silverstone, launched in 1994, was created specifically to give Alfa Romeo an advantage in that year’s British Touring Car Championship, which it dominated. Other 155s would win Touring Car titles in Germany, Italy and Spain.

145/146

Alfa’s small family hatchbacks of the mid to late 1990s was divided into two ranges with similar mechanicals but different characters. The 145 (pictured) was the more youth-oriented three-door, while the 146 had five doors and more conservative styling, and was aimed at people who might previously have bought a 33.

Like the 33 and the Alfasud, the 145/146 was available at first with boxer engines, though these were discontinued. In hot hatch form, both cars were offered with 2.0-litre TwinSpark engines producing around 150bhp, but only the 145 version had the Quadrifoglio/Cloverleaf badge.

GTV/Spider

Like the 145/146 whose platform they shared, the GTV and Spider (both using names from Alfa Romeo’s past) were broadly speaking the same car, respectively a two-seater sports coupé and its convertible equivalent which were built from 1993 to 2004.

Alfa offered several four-cylinder and V6 engines. The most unusual was a turbocharged 2.0-litre V6, which was approximately as powerful as the 3.0-litre version but put the car in a lower tax bracket for Italian customers.

156

The 155 was replaced by the 156, which was in production for ten years from 1997. It was offered in a great many forms. Engines ranged from a 1.6-litre Twin Spark through a common-rail turbo diesel to a 3.2-litre petrol V6, body styles included saloon, Sportwagon estate and Crosswagon semi-off-roader, and there was a choice of front- or four-wheel drive.

The 156 was very well received. In 1998 it became the first Alfa Romeo ever to win the European Car of the Year award, easily beating the new Volkswagen Golf and Audi A6.

166

While Alfa Romeo was doing well with its small and medium-sized cars in the late 1990s, it would be difficult to say the same of its largest model. The 166, which used the same platform as the Lancia Kappa, replaced the 164 in 1996 and staggered on until 2007 before being abandoned without a direct successor.

In August 2009, we reported that the 166 was the worst-depreciating car in the UK, worth just 14.4% of its sale price after three years.

147

Alfa Romeo rationalised its small hatchback range in 2000, replacing both the 145 and the 146 with the 147, which was available with three or five doors. In 2001 the 147 became the second and so far last Alfa to be named European Car of the Year, beating the Ford Mondeo by a single point.

For the hot hatch GTA version (pictured), Alfa fitted a big V6 under the bonnet, as Volkswagen later did with the Golf R32. The 3.2-litre engine produced 247bhp and gave the car a top speed of 153mph and a 0-62mph time of 6.3 seconds.

GT

Described by its maker as “a true Gran Turismo sports coupé in the classic Alfa Romeo tradition”, the GT was a sleeker version of the 156 introduced in 2003. A 1.8-litre Twin Spark, 2.0-litre direct injection and 3.2-litre V6 petrol engines were on offer, along with a 1.9-litre turbo diesel.

“It’s a likeable car, the GT,” we reported, speaking of the 2.0, while also noting that “dynamically, it still falls some way short of a BMW 3 Series”.

159

The 159 replaced the 156 in 2004 and remained on the market for seven years. It was based on a platform co-developed by Fiat and General Motors, though only Alfa Romeo used it for cars that went into production.

The outstanding design feature of the 159 was its array of six front lights, three on each side of the car. This had last been seen on the SZ/RZ (though the lights were now circular rather than square) and would be used again in the near future.

Brera/Spider

The Brera coupé and Spider convertible were based on the 159 and were in production for five years from 2005. The Brera in particular looked very dramatic (the six-light arrangement definitely helped), but it was criticised for its dull handling, caused by considerable weight and underdamped front suspension.

Alfa Romeo commissioned UK company Prodrive to work on this, and the result was the lighter, lower and more stiffly sprung Brera S. “Really, this is the Brera that Alfa should have built from day one,” we said. “Shame, then, that there’ll be only 500 expensive examples.”

MiTo

The MiTo’s name refers to the cities where it was designed (Milan) and built (Turin, or Torino in Italian). Launched in 2008, it was based on a General Motors/Fiat platform also used for the Fiat Grande Punto and the Vauxhall Corsa, among others.

The MiTo was one of the first cars to use the MultiAir intake system devised by Fiat Powertrain Technologies and licensed to German company Schaeffler. Under a different name, the same technology is used on Jaguar Land Rover’s Ingenium engines.

8C

The 8C Competizione and its convertible derivative, the 8C Spider, were produced from 2007 to 2010. Both had a carbonfibre body and used a 444bhp 4.7-litre version of the F136 V8 engine also found in several Ferraris and Maseratis.

Only 500 of each were built. Ninety 8C Competitiziones were earmarked for the US, making this the first Alfa Romeo sold in North America since the 164 was withdrawn from that market in 1995.

Giulietta

Alfa Romeo brought back the Giulietta name in 2010 for a new family car which replaced the 147. It was the first model based on the Fiat Compact platform also used by Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep, all of which are related to Alfa Romeo following the creation of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014.

The Giulietta finished second in the 2011 European Car of the Year awards, Alfa’s best result since the 147 won ten years before and since equalled by the Giulietta in 2017.

4C

Alfa displayed the 4C as a concept at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show and then in production form at the same event two years later. Like the much more expensive and exclusive 8C, it has a carbonfibre body which helps keep the kerb weight down to almost exactly 1000kg.

The mid-mounted 237bhp turbo petrol engine is one of many Alfa Romeo units in history with a capacity of around 1750cc, the exact figure in this case being 1742cc. Available in coupé and Spider forms, the 4C was the first series production Alfa to go on sale in North America in the 21th century.

Giulia

In 2016, Alfa Romeo launched the Giulia, its first saloon since the 159 and first front-engined rear-wheel drive model in nearly a quarter of a century.

Mostly sold as an executive car, the Giulia is also available in high-performance Quadrifoglio form. This version’s turbocharged 2.9-litre V6 petrol engine produces a maximum output of 503bhp, making the Quadrifoglio nearly twice as powerful as any other model in the range.

Stelvio

By the mid 2010s it had become almost impossible for any car manufacturer not to have an SUV in its line-up. Alfa Romeo’s entry into the sector was the Stelvio, named after the famous Italian mountain pass and related to the Giulia, with a similar range of engines.

The Stelvio made its public debut at the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show, and was launched on the US market, along with the Giulia, the following year. As a result, annual Alfa Romeo sales in the region reportedly shot up from a few hundred to over 12,000.

Alfa Romeo Tonale

The Tonale SUV arrived in 2022 as a smaller alternative to the Stelvio; it's a sister car to the Jeep Compass and the Dodge Hornet. It comes with a range of engine options, including a diesel.

Alfa Romeo Junior

Alfa Romeo launched an even smaller SUV named Junior in 2024. It was originally going to be named Milano, but a member of the Italian government objected, since the car is built in Poland; five days after the unveiling the name was changed. Available with a petrol engine, it's also sold as a fully electric car, and as such is Alfa's first EV. A new era for the famous Alfa Romeo name begins...

Semi-solid vs solid state: Decoding the future of electric car batteries

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0100

Battery breakthroughs will narrow the gap between ICE and EV, making charging as quick as pumping petrol

As battery technology improves, so the terminology gets more confusing, but soon it may pay to understand the differences when choosing an EV.

Renault and MG have announced forthcoming updates to their respective technologies, with both edging closer to solid-state lithium-ion from conventional liquid electrolyte technology.

MG says it will be the first brand to mass-produce a semi-solid-state battery, called SolidCore. It will be introduced in European MG EVs at the end of this year and is claimed to offer a longer range and faster charging with enhanced cold-weather and all-round performance. MG says the cells contain solid and liquid electrolytes, with around 5% liquid content. Other manufacturers developing semi-solid tech often use an electrolyte gel, which differs from MG's approach.

Earlier this year, Renault's EV and software arm, Ampere, announced a deal with Basquevolt to fast-track development of lithium metal-based lithium ion batteries. Basquevolt's lithium metal battery tech will form the basis of the development for what will be a solid-state battery technology using 'solid-state-type polymer' electrolyte, rather than the conventional liquid electrolyte, to enable the use of lithium metal anodes.

Anodes (negative electrodes) of lithium ion batteries are usually graphite, often with some silicon content to improve energy density. Were they made from lithium metal (like early prototype lithium ion batteries), the battery's energy density by weight would increase substantially. But lithium metal has so far presented insurmountable difficulties for use in large EV batteries.

Examples include the formation of dendrites, needle-like formations that branch out through an electrolyte until it reaches the cathode (positive electrode), shorting out the cell. Another challenge is that a lithium metal-based cell's volume increases and decreases during cycling, which poses a challenge within the tightly packaged confines of a battery pack. Research into the design and materials is ongoing, with several different approaches being taken.

Ampere and Basquevolt have been collaborating for the past year and Basquevolt is said to be demonstrating already that its tech can achieve high energy density while reducing battery pack manufacturing costs.

The safe adoption of lithium metal anodes would result in step changes in both battery capacity and charging speeds, taking manufacturers closer to achieving parity with (if not matching) the time taken to refuel an ICE car.

Semi-solid-state batteries are a more mature technology and MG started mass production of the SolidCore battery last year. But many of the big names are developing all-solid-state as well, with Nissan promising to launch an EV powered by one in 2028, while others, including MG, snap at its heels.

Inside JCB’s plans to smash hydrogen land speed record

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 10:33:22 +0100

The British engineering firm’s Hydromax challenger has topped 208mph in testing

British engineering firm JCB’s new Hydromax land speed record challenger has reached 208mph to exceed the current speed for the faster hydrogen-powered combustion car as its testing programme wraps up.

The firm is aiming to set a new hydrogen land speed record with the machine on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in August, repeating its success in setting a diesel land speed record with its Dieselmax challenger in 2006.

The car has reached 208mph during its testing programme in the UK, which already eclipses the current mark for a hydrogen-combustion car – although the record is unofficial because it wasn’t during a sanctioned event. Regardless, the ultimate goal is to eclipse the current record for a hydrogen fuel cell car.

Steve Cropley visited the team during testing to find out how the project is developing.

Inside JCB’s UK test programme

For a week and a half the weather at RAF Wittering was hardly ever right, varying from driving rain to extremely gusty crosswinds; both entirely wrong for a long, narrow land speed record car urgently aiming to crack 200mph.

The JCB Hydromax team had set up a tent base for their all-British record breaker beside the pristine 1.7-mile main runway at Wittering, near Stamford, with the aim of getting as close to 200mph as possible before packing the car up and flying it to Wendover, Utah, nearest city to the Bonneville Salt Flats that are the home of world land speed record-breaking.

In the early days of August, a couple of weeks from now, the car is scheduled first to take part in the Southern California Timing Association’s time-honoured Bonneville Speed Week, its two turbocharged hydrogen digger engines each producing 600bhp, 200 below maximum.

Then in the second week, with the engines now making full power, Hydromax will tackle official FIA-sanctioned world records, on the way speeding past the 350mph mark set 20years ago by the slightly heavier, less sophisticated and 10% less aerodynamic JCB Dieselmax of 2006 which, while burning now-unfashionable diesel fuel, was similar in size and layout to Hydromax.

It’s of zero importance to history whether Hydromax beats Dieselmax; their different fuelling puts them in very distinct record categories. But there’s a big physical similarity between the pair — and JCB engineers make no secret that their Dieselmax experience was a major aid to the hydrogen project.

The cars are both very long, needle-nosed single-seaters — and both are built to contain the powerful physique of the redoubtable Wing Commander Andy Green, go-to land speed record driver of the past three decades and the world’s only man to have beaten the sound barrier on land (which he did at 763mph in 1997).

Apart from the tyre valves, Green wryly points out that he is the two cars’ only common component. His job is to beat the current record for hydrogen cars, set at 302.877mph in 2009 by a fuel cell streamliner, the Buckeye Bullet 2, designed by a team of Ohio University students and elevate it as far as possible. The current record for a hydrogen combustion car stands at an enticing 185.5mph, set by a BMW research prototype in 2004. With a bit of luck, they might have beaten this at Wittering.

JCB’s eye is particularly on pulverising this piston record; in fact they might have beaten it at Wittering. Fuel cells in vehicles are all very well, but after a five-year, £100million research programme that is about to bring hydrogen engines into diggers, its technical staff has reached the firm conclusion that hydrogen piston engines are by far the best option on compactness cost and durability grounds, among others.

The hydrogen units can be surprisingly similar in construction, affordability, component supply, power output and operator procedure to the 185,000 engines the company already makes annually.

Hydromax and Dieselmax share the same wheelbase and are both four-wheel drive designs with each wheel-pair driven by its own much-modified version of JCB’s 4.8-litre four-pot digger engine. The two engines “talk” to one another electronically to deliver matched revs and power, and each drives its wheel pair through an XTrac six-speed transaxle (modified from racing applications). The whole thing weighs around 2.8 tonnes, a few percent lighter than its predecessor.

Aero requirements plus the need to accommodate the Hydromax’s bulky twin 700bar hydrogen tanks has required an increase in Hydromax’s 9.75-metre overall length by 560mm, while the cabin has been moved forward 450mm, also for packaging reasons.

The massive tubular chassis and amazingly compact mult-link independent suspensions are the work of Prodrive, the Banbury race engineering group, who also designed and built Andy Green’s hugely strong carbon composite driver’s cell carried inside the chassis.

The tyres look similar to those from Dieselmax, but are new Goodyear units that as well as advancing the safe speed (JCB won’t say hope far) use more modern carcass construction and more sustainable materials, Engineers say that where Dieselmax was “limited on tyres”, Hydromax is not.

Hydromax’s CdA is 10% lower than its predecessor mostly through the assistance of CFD (computational fluid dynamics), a science that shapes and predicts airflow over cars much better than it could 20 years ago.

Among bigger tweaks, its results encouraged engineers to lengthen Hydromax’s tail for minimum departure turbulence, and to position its fin ideally for high speed stability. The rear extremity of the car is complex in design; it contains two parachutes (regular and reserve) for braking from high speed, and is reinforced sufficiently to allow it to be propelled to 40-50mph by a Defender Octa, after which it accelerated rapidly away in first gear.

Despite having to obey aerodynamic rules, Hydromax’s looks considerably more modern and sophisticated than its predecessor, mainly through the influence of JCB’s design director, Ben Watson, whose daunting day job is to make diggers look desirable. He gave Hydromax its “jet fighter” cockpit, lowered the nose, raised the body on its tyres (because they “grow” in circumference at high speed), refined the surfacing and ditched Dieselmax’s ugly snorkel airscoop in favour of a subtly-placed, low-drag NACA duct.

Nobody at JCB or Prodrive wants to talk top speeds, but given that the new car is lighter, more slippery and more powerful in its ultimate form, there’s good potential for Andy Green to exceed Dieselmax’s 20-year old mark of 350mph in the new car.

But success, everyone points out, can be as much down to weather and surface, as man and machine. The track, usually about 11 miles long, has been as short as five miles. The surface itself can vary in consistency, too, and past Bonneville Speed Weeks have been cancelled due to flooding. Small wonder the crew at RAF Wittering were frustrated by difficult weather…

Experiencing the Dieselmax at speed

When we arrived, they’d already been on site for a week and a half, with a few days to go. We heard a lot about JCB’s rationale for preferring hydrogen piston engines to fuel cells (the central rationale for building the car) and had plenty of chances to study the car’s graceful shape, and to see its wonders under the skin Engineers were having trouble with two things: the fit of a new set of panels that carried a new livery to dramatise our photographs, and a problem with the bleeding of the all-important cooling system that depends on a replenished ice supply rather than airflow.

But finally, around 3pm, we spectators were invited into a pedestrian corral halfway down the big runway to see the car go. This was to be Run No14, we were told, but the earlier ones hadn’t been energetic like this. They were just to get the wheels turning.

The pushing Octa (the team name for it is evidently Octa-pushy) got the car fairly slowly up to speed, then the engine fired, a deep bass bellow — or farther, two of them — and the action began. The long Hydromax, tiny but highly visible because of its new livery, shot off the front of the Defender and began to bolt for the horizon.

Without ceremony, with barely any impression of the violence of performance, it rushed past and away towards the horizon. There was no need to batter walls of air aside; it just cleaved it like an arrow. We kept needing to refocus, because it kept going faster until out of sight. The crew, some apprehensive and some a bit morose, suddenly perked up.

Then came news that Andy Green had managed to snap into third gear and accelerate, not possible before. As a result, he’d scored 177mph, not far short of the practical limit on this track, even with two parachutes and four large motorsport-spec discs to calm your forward motion. Two-point-eight tonnes creates plenty of inertia at 177mph.

Having proven it can beat the hydrogen piston mark the project now moves to Utah to do so at an officially sanctioned venue. Can this JCB-Prodrive alliance again prove the strength of British engineering? We’ll know soon.

Electric car vs heatwave: Can my Renault 4 cope in 34 degrees?

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0100

We know EVs take a range hit when the temperature drops - but hot weather isn't all good news

Like for a lot of people, the novelty of the 30deg C-plus temperatures and fearsome sunshine are wearing off pretty quickly for me. It wasn't long into this latest heatwave before I was practically kneeling in the street and begging the skies for a summer downpour – if only for the sake of my new hydrangea.

Compounding this heat-induced frustration is that once the mercury gets past a certain point, it overshoots the ideal operating window for an EV battery and you start losing the efficiency benefits that come with warmer weather.

The impact isn't quite as drastic as you might see in the depths of winter, but according to Renault's official range calculator, my R4 could lose as much as 35 miles of urban range when the temperature jumps from 20deg C to 35deg C.

That has certainly borne out when I've been pottering around over the past few days, with my average efficiency dipping as low as 3.3mpkWh to give a range of 172 miles – and that's with low-speed driving. I saw a similar percentage drop from the Alpine A290 – with the same basic powertrain – in the coldest weeks of winter.

I wanted to pootle around for a few miles with the air-con off and the windows open at the weekend to see if reducing the draw on the battery markedly increased efficiency, but my distinctly less curious passenger advised that she was liable to abruptly expire or exit the vehicle if I turned the fans off, so that experiment will have to wait until the next heatwave.

In any case, the efficiency hit hasn't really been drastic enough to impact my driving style or cause any charging worries while I've been out and about. The heat, though, has alerted me to an irritating quirk that made me briefly extremely uncomfortable – although I am partly to blame.

Like a lot of electric cars, the 4 can be connected to your phone so you can control and monitor things such as the central locking, the charging system and – most usefully – the climate control, so in theory whether it's Baltic or boiling outside, you can make sure the cabin is at a pleasant ambient temperature before you have even left home.

The trouble is, it seems I have previously made an account for this system and I can't remember my details, which is especially annoying because it takes ages to type my email address and possible passwords into the car's touchscreen.

There's a 'forgot your password' option in the app, but it doesn't seem to like any of my new suggestions for some reason. I'll keep trying to suss it out, because it would be really useful to pre-condition the car and check the state of charge remotely, but with all the advancements in in-car connectivity of late, why can't the car just flash up a QR code for me to scan and log in automatically?

Otherwise, though, I'm getting on swimmingly with this cheery little crossover. Quite aside from the practicality advantages it offers over its hatchback sibling, the Renault 5, it's also a generally more agreeable thing for nipping around town in, by dint of its smoother ride and improved visibility.

It's just as easy to park, too, and because it's so closely related under the skin, it's almost as much of a laugh when you pick up the pace a bit.

I have a few big drives on the horizon, and they will give me more of a chance to test the 4's cruising credentials and dynamic character on faster, more flowing roads. I'm hoping that by the time you read this the weather has relaxed into a more June-typical state of temperate mildness, and I can focus on enjoying my time at the wheel rather than enduring it.

Vauxhall given new freedom to adapt Opel cars for UK roads

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 08:00:00 +0100

Vauxhall will get more room to meet "the specific needs of UK customers" amid Stellantis brand overhaul

Opel will give UK subsidiary Vauxhall more engineering freedom to adapt its cars for its home market, in line with an ongoing commitment to preserving the British marque's role in the Stellantis group.

Stellantis – parent company of Opel-Vauxhall, as well as other European marques Alfa Romeo, Citroën, DS, Fiat, Lancia and Peugeot – recently announced that it would channel the bulk of its future investments into its four best-performing global brands, raising questions about the viability of others.

It chose Peugeot, Ram, Jeep and Fiat on the basis that their "multi-regional presence" gave them "the greatest scale and the highest potential for profitability", while also announcing that DS and Lancia would be repositioned as "specialty brands" focused on their home markets of France and Italy.

The move would seem to represent a rationalisation of Stellantis's sprawling portfolio aimed at reducing complexity - but Opel boss Florian Huettl says the Bedfordshire-born Vauxhall marque will continue to play a "very clear" role in the company, and its cars in the UK could become more bespoke than they have been in more than four decades.

Vauxhall has not made its own cars since effectively merging with Germany's Opel in the early 1970s and has been a UK-only operation for almost as long, sparking questions over its continued viability as a marque in its own right.

But asked whether there remains a place for Vauxhall in the new Stellantis corporate structure, Huettl told Autocar: "Opel and Vauxhall have a very clear identity and a very clear role within the group," referencing Opel's performance in Germany – where it is Stellantis's best-selling brand – and in the UK, where the Corsa and Frontera both rank in the top 10 most popular cars.

He added that the brand will in fact take on an expanded engineering role as part of a move to boost its competitiveness in its historic UK homeland, where it is currently outsold by French sibling Peugeot.

"There's no doubt about the importance of Opel and Vauxhall," said Huettl, "and what we will again discuss with you in due time is that we intend to give more possibilities for more differentiation and more adaptation of Vauxhall to the UK market than what has probably been done in the past.

"We have a specific project together with our Vauxhall team [...] to make sure that the cars, when it comes to the execution especially of the chassis specificities, clearly respond to what we need," he added, in possible reference to the far worse state of UK roads compared with Germany's.

He did not give specifics about the extent of work that will be possible, and it remains to be seen which model will be the first beneficiary, but he emphasised that the company will work to meet "the specific needs of UK customers".

Top 10: World’s longest road tunnels

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 07:30:00 +0100

Top 10: World’s longest road tunnels

Tunnels are used to carry traffic through some of the most extreme terrain on the planet and they help ease journeys with reduced travel time.

While most tunnels offer a short underground burst of driving, some are much longer. Here are the world’s 10 longest road tunnels that use cutting edge technology to make their construction possible and to keep drivers alert while passing through their extended subterranean length.

Ryfylke Tunnel, Norway – 8.98 miles (14.46km)

The Ryfylke Tunnel is the longest undersea road tunnel in the world at present and stretches some 8.98 miles between Stavanger and Ryfylke. Norway developed the Ryfylke Tunnel to reduce reliance on ferries. It is now part of its Rogfast project to connect several islands with undersea tunnels, and this means Ryfylke is likely to relinquish its title as this building work continues.

Opened in 2019, the Ryfylke Tunnel took seven years to build and a toll is charged to help recoup the cost of construction.

By the time the Ryfylke Tunnel started operating, it had cost 6.4 billion Norwegian Kroner (£460 million) to complete. Electric cars are subject to a 50% discounted toll charge.

Descending to 285-metres under the sea at its deepest, the Ryfylke Tunnel consists of two separate tubes to carry traffic in opposite directions. Each tube has two lanes and the tunnel is capable of carrying up 10,000 vehicles per day.

Zigana Tunnel, Turkiye – 8.99 miles (14.48km)

Close to the northern coast of Turkiye, the Zigana Tunnel runs through rugged mountain rock to bypass the Zigana Pass that becomes blocked by snow in the winter.

Work started on the Zigana Tunnel in 2016 and it was finished in 2023. It is Turkiye’s longest road tunnel at 8.99 miles long and it reduces the journey via the exposed Zigana Pass by five miles. It also cuts the journey time in summer months by around 20 minutes.

Consisting of two separate tunnels to keep traffic flows apart, the Zigana Tunnel was built using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method. This system adapts to the rock as excavation continues and uses a spray-on concrete to create the walls.

There are 16 laybys in each of the tunnel’s tubes, as well as six ventilation shafts. It was also built with 40 connecting tunnels between the pair of tubes, plus nine transformer rooms to house the Zigana Tunnel’s electric power.

Muzhailing Tunnel, China – 9.46 miles (15.22km)

A great many challenges faced the designers and builders of the Muzhailing Tunnel in China’s Gansu Province. For starters, it’s built at high altitude and also in an area of active seismic activity, which means it’s prone to earthquakes.

Although not ideal conditions for creating one of the world’s longest road tunnels, the build used a technology called NPR anchor cabling. This secures the structure into the surrounding rock and allows the tunnel to withstand deformation as the ground moves.

In common with most modern road tunnels, the Muzhailing Tunnel consists of two separate tubes, each carrying the stream of traffic in the opposite direction to the other.

Construction work on this tunnel started in 2016 and reached its finish in 2024, with further complications to the build caused by the thin air at its high altitude and its effect on the workers.

Now complete, the Muzhailing Tunnel is widely studied by tunnelling experts for the way it deals with such difficult terrain.

Tiantaishan Tunnel, China – 9.67 miles (15.56)

It cost 2.75 billion Chinese Yuan (£300 million) to complete the Tiantaishan Tunnel, which is something of a bargain in the world of road tunnels. Started in 2016, the Tiantaishan Tunnel was finished and working by 2021, which is again something of a record when it comes to build time.

All of this is even more impressive when you consider the high altitude of the tunnel and the bitterly cold weather in Shaanxi Province in northwest China.

Tiantaishan Tunnel, China – 9.67 miles (15.56)

When construction started in November 2016, there were 2000 workers spending their shifts underground in the Qinling Mountains. They also lived there for the duration of the build work.

As part of the construction of the Tiantaishan Tunnel, a new smart lighting system was developed that delivers a more natural light inside its depths. This set-up also provides different light patterns and designs on the tunnel’s walls to ward off boredom as drivers traverse its 9.67-mile length in either of the three-lane tunnel tubes.

Gotthard Road Tunnel, Switzerland – 10.46 miles (16.84km)

Previously the longest road tunnel in the world, the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland has slipped down the ranking as new projects have overtaken for length. However, the Gotthard has been in operation for much longer than any other in the top 10 as it opened in 1980.

Work started on the Gotthard Road Tunnel in 1970 and it carries traffic to a maximum height if 1175-metres (3855-feet), which is higher than Yr Wyddfa (Mount Snowdon) in Wales.

Gotthard Road Tunnel, Switzerland – 10.46 miles (16.84km)

It takes around 13 minutes to drive through the Gotthard Road Tunnel as the 80kmh speed limit is strictly enforced. There is also a toll charge to pay for using the tunnel and it’s capable of carrying up to 24,000 vehicles per day.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel is unusual in modern road tunnelling for using a single tube to carry both directions of traffic. In 2016, 57% of the Swiss population voted in favour of building a second Gotthard road tunnel in a referendum.

Jinpingshan Tunnel, China – 10.90 miles (17.54km)

While all of the other road tunnels in the top 10 are open to the public, the Jinpingshan Tunnel restricts what traffic can use it. This is because the tunnel was built to provide access to the Jinping Dam, which is the world’s highest dam, and access between this and another hydropower dam.

The Jinpingshan Tunnel runs through an area noted for its geological activity in south-west China. This is partly why access to the tunnel is limited, and also because of security surrounding the hydroelectric complex at the dam.

Jinpingshan Tunnel, China – 10.90 miles (17.54km)

At its deepest point, the Jinpingshan Tunnel runs 2375-metres beneath the earth’s surface, and more than half of the tunnel’s entire length sits at more than 1500-metres deep.

It took five years to build the Jinpingshan Tunnel and, at the time, was the longest tunnel made with a blind heading. This is where each end of the tunnel is started simultaneously and meet in the middle. Total cost of Jinpingshan Tunnel came to 1.3 billion Chinese Yuan (£146 million).

Zhongnanshan Tunnel, China – 11.21 miles (18.04km)

The Zhongnanshan Tunnel is not far from the Tiantaishan Tunnel but outdoes its near neighbour in overall length and how deep it travels under the Earth’s surface. With a maximum depth of 1640-metres, the Zhongnanshan Tunnel is among the deepest in the world.

Despite this, it still took only five years to complete the tunnel. Work started in 2002 on the Zhongnanshan Tunnel, and it was the longest tunnel in Asia when it opened to traffic in 2007.

Zhongnanshan Tunnel, China – 11.21 miles (18.04km)

It cost around 3.2 billion Chinese Yuan (£350 million) to complete the Zhongnanshan Tunnel. This makes it one of the most expensive road tunnels to date in China. Three ventilation shafts provide fresh air to each of the two tunnels, and each tube carries traffic in the opposite direction to the other, so the streams are never together.

Along its 11.21-mile length, there are different coloured lights and patterns projected onto the tunnel’s roof, and artificial plants to provide stimulation for drivers and prevent fatigue.

Yamate Tunnel, Japan – 11.3 miles (18.20km)

The Yamate Tunnel in Tokyo, Japan is like London’s Blackwall Tunnel but on a grand scale. Where the Blackwall Tunnel is a mere three quarters of a mile long and is as close as 1.7-metres from the riverbed, the Yamate Tunnel runs to 11.3 miles and passes as much as 30-metres beneath the Japanese capital city’s population.

The Yamate Tunnel still holds the honour of being the longest urban tunnel in the world.

Yamate Tunnel, Japan – 11.3 miles (18.20km)

It took 15 years for the Yamate Tunnel to be completed, with delays due to objections from residents and environmental concerns. However, the tunnel was given the go-ahead as it would ease traffic on Yamate Street that runs above the tunnel.

Both of the 11-metre diameter tubes that form the Yamate Tunnel have emergency telephones positioned every 100-metres along their length. There is also a sophisticated filtration system to remove particulate emissions from the air extracted from the tunnels.

WestConnex, Australia – 13.67 miles (22.0km)

The WestConnex Tunnel was finished in November 2023 and is part of a plan to ease congestion in the city of Sydney. To date, the tunnel is the largest road infrastructure project ever undertaken in Australia and the 13.67-mile tunnel is part of a longer overall 20.5-mile stretch of traffic-reducing motorway.

This will eventually link Sydney’s suburbs, airport, north shore, and city centre. The land above the WestConnex Tunnel has mostly been given over to parks, playgrounds, and open space for the city’s inhabitants to relax.

WestConnex, Australia – 13.67 miles (22.0km)

The WestConnex Tunnel is the longest underground stretch of public road in Australia, and it’s thought to have cost A$10 billion (£5.1 billion).

This figure set a new record for transport spending by the New South Wales Government, and it’s estimated the fully completed project will come in at A$45 billion (£23.1 billion). However, the government also states the tunnel contributes to A$22 billion (£11.3 billion) in savings due to reduced travel time and journey reliability.

Lærdal Tunnel, Norway – 15.23 miles (24.51km)

Topping the longest road tunnels in the world is the Lærdal Tunnel in Norway. This 15.23-mile underground construction was started in 1995 and opened to the public in 2000. It took some 20 years to agree to the construction of the tunnel, which cost 1.1 billion Norwegian Kroner (£85 million) to complete, which represents great value in the world of roads tunnelling.

It was so much cheaper to build than most tunnels as the nature of the rock means the tunnel doesn’t need to be lined – and nor does it have to be made earthquake proof as they no not occur with any severity in Norway. The tunnel connects Lærdal and Aurland and consists of two tubes, each carrying traffic in a single direction for safety.

Lærdal Tunnel, Norway – 15.23 miles (24.51km)

While it’s the longest road tunnel in the world, the Lærdal Tunnel is also one of the most lightly used. On a typical day, it carries around 2050 vehicles, which is largely due to its remote location 180 miles to the northwest of Oslo.

To alleviate the monotony of driving through the world’s longest road tunnel – which is also straight throughout - this Norwegian project is divided into four sections, each separated by a large cave with parking areas. The caves have blue and yellow lighting to give the feel of a Norwegian sunrise, which is thought to give drivers’ brains a boost when they are tired. Police cameras have also been installed to combat speeding.

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BMW M3 Touring poised for epic Neue Klasse comeback

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 06:00:00 +0100

Massive success of BMW's straight-six super estate lays groundwork for a second outing

The M3 Touring will live on in BMW's Neue Klasse era, in part thanks to unexpectedly high demand in markets such as the US and China.

While the M3 saloon is now in its sixth generation, the performance model has only been offered in estate form since the arrival of the G80-generation version in 2021. But strong sales since then have prompted BMW to bring the super-estate back with the next-generation M3, as previewed recently with the Vision M Neue Klasse concept.

The current model is powered by a 523bhp twin-turbo 3.0-litre straight six, and a variant of that engine is set to be offered in the next-gen car, alongside a quad-motor pure-electric version.

BMW has already previewed a new electric 3 Series Touring and, unlike rival Mercedes-Benz, it has pledged to offer EV and ICE versions of the standard car in estate form - and BMW M sales boss Sylvia Neubauer said the performance version will remain.

"The M3 Touring is one of the best models that we have in our portfolio," Neubauer told Autocar.

"Normally China is not an estate market at all, but we decided to bring the Touring to China only in the M3 version. So you can't buy a regular 3 Series Touring there but the M3 Touring is a lifestyle statement. And it's been a huge success in China, and the rest of the world."

Neubauer noted that the M3 Touring has also been a hit in the US, another market where they don't offer the standard estate because "it's a market for SUVs and very big cars".

She added that demand for the model was largely organic. "Our dealers are so happy to have this car, because they don't have to push it," she said.

"There's demand, and they're asking for more and more production, so we've been increasing the volume."

Audi Q4 E-Tron

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 23:01:13 +0100

Big-selling electric SUV looks to boost its well-established appeal Audi managed something many of its competitors couldn’t last year. It hit a 28% share of electric vehicle sales in the UK, 4% north of the average and enough to meet the government’s target. The Audi Q4 E-tron played a pivotal role in the brand achieving that milestone, as Britain’s third-best-selling electric car and Audi’s second-best-selling model behind the A3.Whether rumours of a softening of EV sales targets come to fruition or not, carmakers need these things to sell. Thus, after five years on sale, Audi’s most popular pure plug-in car has received an update.

Driven: Porsche Taycan gets gearshifts - and renewed driver appeal

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 16:20:49 +0100

Zuffenhausen takes on Hyundai's N division with its own take on a virtual gearbox – and we drive it

Porsche is rolling out a number of major updates to its Taycan sports saloon, most notably a new E-Shift virtual gearbox that has been designed to inject an extra dose of feedback on road and track.

The new virtual gearbox is not dissimilar to that used by Hyundai’s N models and is effectively a simulated eight-speed transmission. Porsche created the system by taking the characteristics of its dual-clutch PDK gearbox and mapping them into the Taycan’s ECU.

Engineers then had to marry up the virtual gearbox with the Taycan’s physical two-speed automatic in order for the system to work seamlessly.

Crucially, Porsche claims that running in E-Shift mode doesn’t limit the Tayan’s power output, nor does it impact its real-world range and efficiency. While Hyundai’s system is tied exclusively to N-badged derivatives, Porsche is rolling out its new E-Shift virtual gearbox across the Taycan’s entire line-up, with each model variant given its own characteristics.

The new E-Shift gearbox works in unison with Porsche Electric Sound, an evolution of the previous engine note available with the Taycan. As Porsche sound design engineer Max Geiger explained, while the team experimented with mimicking a petrol engine, they opted for a synthesised engine note to match the Taycan’s electric roots.

So what is a Taycan E-Shift like to drive? Thumb the E-Shift button on the GT sport steering wheel and the instrument cluster displays a rev counter in the centre of the dash, with the virtual ’box defaulting to automatic. You’ll immediately notice an audible change inside the car, as the Porsche Electric Sound 'idles' much like that of an combustion engine.

In Normal mode, it acts just like a smooth eight-speed PDK. Even in this relaxed setting, the simulated ratios immediately give the Taycan more personality and I could see myself using this even for mundane motorway stints.

Flick the rotary E-Shift button to the right and this puts the car into manual mode, allowing you to virtually shift gears using the paddles on the steering wheel. The gearchanges are seamless and the level of integration is of a very high standard.

Shift too late and, like a PDK 911, the rev needle will bounce off the fake limiter. Stamp on the throttle in a high gear – say, seventh – and the Taycan is sluggish and won’t give you that whipcrack performance. You have to flick it down a few gears before you can deploy all the performance.

Switch the Taycan to Sport or Sport Plus and the gearchanges are far more pronounced, with a discernible kick through your seat as you climb up through the gears. Our GTS’s virtual gearbox didn’t feel as hardcore as Hyundai’s N e-Shift, but the more subtle vibrations and jolts from the gearbox align more with the Taycan’s pseudo-GT character.

That said, I imagine the 1093bhp Taycan Turbo GT with E-Shift would feel more extreme and involving on a track. Ultimately, the ability to control the shifts both into and out of a corner gives you a greater sense of your road speed, allowing you to better judge how you drive the car down a certain road and establish a proper rhythm.

The new E-Shift function is a reasonable £750 option, but this being Porsche, there’s a catch. You need the GT sports steering wheel, Sports Chrono package and Bose surround sound system.

Opt for a lower-rung model, which forgoes these options as standard, and the total price for adding the E-Shift comes to just over £3000. These features come as standard on the GTS and Turbo S, hence the additional cost of E-Shift is lower – or you can go all-out on a Turbo GT and get the simulated ’box as standard.

Given that the Taycan was already an incredibly dynamic and engaging electric sports car, the addition of a virtual gearbox has unlocked a whole new layer of involvement. If you like driving but want an electric performance car, there are only a handful of EVs that will offer as much fun as a Taycan E-Shift.

Porsche Taycan GTS E-ShiftNew virtual gearbox makes one of the most dynamic electric sports cars on sale even more complete as a driver’s car.

Price £119,015 (£750 for E-Shift) Engine Two permanent magnet synchronous motor Power 690bhp Torque 583lb ft Gearbox 1-spd reduction gear (front), 2-spd automatic (rear) Kerb weight 2285kg0-62mph 3.3sec Top speed 155mph Battery 105kWh (total) Range, economy 389 miles, 3.4mpkWh CO2, tax band 0g/km, 4% Rivals Audi E-tron GT, Polestar 5

What if you drove an Autocar? The name that's more than a magazine

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0100

The Autocar companies: The auto pioneers, pretenders, and partners who shared our name

Like 'Volkswagen Golf' or 'Citroën', 'Autocar' is an odd name normalised in the public consciousness purely by familiarity.

Like old André Citroën, this magazine (and website) has a valid excuse: while his grandfather had sold lemons, we were predicting what would become the common name for an entirely new invention.

Plenty of people setting up in the 1890s named their endeavours the This, That or The Other Autocar Company, and indeed one was so presumptive as to definitively call his The Autocar Company. He was well-born engineer Louis Semple Clarke, who produced his first car, The Pittsburgher, in 1897 with help from his brothers and their father.

In late 1899, the 32-year-old gave "quite an enthusiastic welcome" to Henry Sturmey, founding editor of The Autocar - a magazine of which he was apparently a "close student".

Sturmey was on a mission from Coventry to survey the incipient American car industry, and from Pennsylvania's industrial capital he reported: "The factory is at present situated on the fourth floor of a tall building, but I was informed that a new factory is now being erected to cover some three and a half acres of ground, and being laid out for an estimated output of 10 carriages per day!" - as if Clarke's ambition hadn't already been demonstrated by $1 million in founding capital (that's roughly £30m today).

Sturmey was treated to a ride in a 4hp, two-cylinder, two-seat runabout-type car "presenting a very neat and handy appearance" and set to cost a very reasonable $500 pre-tax (say £15,000 now). He found it "handled over very bad roads excellently" and "ran very smoothly and satisfactorily, though one of the tyres showed a great inclination to get flat". Recent history made Sturmey doubt that The Autocar Co could hit that low price target, but should it succeed, he felt it would "certainly be producing the cheapest satisfactory car on the market".

By 1911, The Autocar Co was no longer making cars - but not due to the bankruptcy that befell most 'brass era' firms, rather because it found far greater prosperity as the first American truck maker, or so it claims. Yes, claims present tense, because it still exists as a maker of 'severe-duty' trucks in Alabama.

'Autocar' was already an outdated term by the early 1950s, yet that was what an Israeli duo picked for their fledgling nation's first car company.

Autocars Ltd started out making plastic-bodied vans, named Sussita and created by British minnow Reliant. Then, in 1960, co-founder Yitzhak Shubinsky visited London for the Racing and Sports Car Show, where he saw a novel chassis and a quirky plastic kit car body in close proximity to each other. Combining them, he reckoned, could produce a fine roadster for American export.

Having done the required deals, Shubinsky again engaged Reliant to make his idea a reality - and after significant chassis revisions and agreement to buy some 1.7-litre four-cylinder engines from Ford, the result was the Autocars Sabra. Or, if you were British, the Reliant Sabre, Tamworth making a version themselves under their own name. Notwithstanding some criticism of its suspension, our road testers concluded: "It has an acceptable performance, is fundamentally safe, fun to drive and economical to run."

Come 1963, we found Autocars' Haifa plant running at an annual production rate of a little over 2000, having just introduced the Carmel saloon - "the first purely Israeli passenger car", we said, although in hindsight it looks awfully like a Reliant Regal with a fourth wheel.

Enjoy full access to the complete Autocar archive at the magazineshop.com

"Since 1956 the [Autocars] project has gathered momentum quickly," we continued. "A local maker of steel furniture has taken on the job of making chassis frames, while other local manufacturers have been able to supply glass, trim materials, upholstery and road springs."

Further models arrived through the decade, borrowing parts from Triumph and Japan's Hino, but the Autocars name would last only until 1970 and the firm would fold in 1980.

It had made many thousands of cars by then - although very few of them had found homes in America.

Morgan returns to coupes with stunning Midsummer hard-top

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 09:00:00 +0100

Extensive redesign creates glass-topped version of Pininfarina special – limited to just nine cars

Morgan has turned its stunning Midsummer roadster into an ultra-exclusive coupé – its first hard-top in more than a decade.

Limited to just nine examples, the Midsummer Coupé is Malvern's first fixed-roof model since the Aero 8 bowed out in 2015 and brings to an end production of the Pininfarina-designed coachbuilt special.

Morgan says all nine cars will be highly individualised, courtesy of the expansive array of personalisation options it offers through its in-house coachbuilding division. No pricing has been announced yet, but the coupé is expected to command a healthy premium over the £200k, 50-off roadster.

While the coupé is technically identical to the roadster – sharing its Plus Six-derived fundamentals and 335bhp BMW straight six – Morgan says it introduces "dramatically different proportions", with a bespoke design that "fundamentally changes the character of the car".

The roof itself is effectively a full glass canopy, split in the middle by a distinctive dividing strip that continues down the whole length of the car.

Morgan says the "roof was never conceived as a purely stylistic addition" but rather to "enhance the ownership experience" by improving refinement, practicality and year-round usability.

Transforming the car from open-roof barchetta to coupé "required significant structural development", the firm adds, highlighting the billet-machined aluminium A-pillars that have been installed to preserve body rigidity.

Morgan chief design officer Jonathan Wells said: "Midsummer Coupé represents the culmination of an extraordinary creative journey. What began as a celebration of coachbuilding, craftsmanship and collaboration has evolved into one of the most ambitious and rewarding projects we’ve ever undertaken.

“Working alongside the team at Pininfarina, together with our own designers and engineers, has been both a privilege and immensely rewarding. Midsummer Coupé marks the closing chapter of that remarkable collaboration, but it also represents a defining moment in Morgan’s coachbuilding story."

The coupé pictured here is car number 0 – a final design prototype that provides the basis for the nine customer cars. After a stint on display at the firm's Malvern HQ, it will be shipped to the Hague in the Netherlands, where it will be put on display at the Louwman Museum – the world's oldest private collection of historic cars.