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‘The unpalatable truth is that pets are terrible’
THIS WEEK
Issue 6510 | Volume 312 | No 3
NEWS
Alfa Romeo New Giulia and SUV flagship in pipeline 12 Smart reinvented Details and pics of crossover EV 16 New Huracán Sweet spot between Evo and STO? 18 Kia EV6 GT “True GT” with Taycan 4S-beating pace 20 Microfactory We visit EV start-up’s pioneering plant 22 Swap shop Nio batteries topped up in five minutes 24
TESTED
Range Rover Why all-new SUV is back on top
4
Aston Martin DBX 707 SUV thinks it’s a supercar 30 Mercedes-Benz EQE E-Class saloon in electric guise 34 Kia Sportage PHEV Family’s flexible friend rated 36 Audi A8 Can it keep up with new S-Class, 7 Series? 37 Toyota Aygo X A city car and electric-free – honest 38 Mazda MX-5 Updated roadster in £30k-plus spec 39 Volvo C40 Recharge Twin Ultimate ROAD TEST 40
FEATURES BMW i3 A love letter to the outgoing EV trailblazer 48 BTCC preview Tim Harvey on the big talking points 54
OUR CARS Peugeot 508 PSE Our final verdict of French PHEV 62 McLaren GT We visit the ultimate car configurator 64 Ford Puma ST Is it cut out for motorway cruising? 65
EVERY WEEK Jesse Crosse The race to make better EV batteries 19 Matt Prior Why car designers need to be more dog 21 Jim Holder Will hybrids be spared the 2030 cut-off?25 Subscribe Save money and get exclusive benefits 26 Steve Cropley C5 Aircross shines in its homeland 27 Damien Smith BTCC boss on seismic season ahead 28 Your Views Grecale déjà vu; car buyers losing out 58 On this day When we caught the EB110 Bug in 1992 61 Slideshow Engines that went from road to race track 82
DEALS
James Ruppert Citroën C5; Honda S2000; VW Fox 66 Cult hero Mini Cooper gets red-carpet treatment 68 As good as new New Honda Jazz has wider appeal 70 Take it or leave it XE Project 8; Fiesta; Touran; MX-5 71 New cars A-Z Key car stats, from Abarth to Zenos 72 Road test index Track down that road test here 81
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IMAGE
ALFA ROMEO PLOTS AN UNUSUAL NEW GIULIA 12
DBX 707: HARDCORE ASTON SUV DRIVEN 30
TEN YEARS OF THE PIONEERING BMW i3 48
COVER STORY
❝I CAN’T REMEMBER THE LAST TIME I FELT SUCH A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VARIANTS OF ONE MODEL❞
MATT PRIOR SAYS THE NEW RANGE ROVER COULD BE SPECIAL IN THE RIGHT SPEC 4
COMMENT
NEW RANGE ROVER WILL DEFINE JLR’S FUTURE
THERE’S AN eye-watering figure doing the rounds: Jaguar Land Rover received £68,000 per car sold in the final quarter of 2021. This followed an extreme focus on producing Range Rover-badged cars – and particularly the Range Rover, as its most expensive, and profitable, model. Even then, the firm was loss-making.
It’s safe to say, then, that for the future of JLR, there’s more pressure on the new Range Rover to succeed than ever before. This week’s cover star is so crucial for Britain’s most important car maker that it could even be life-saving. The Range Rover has long been an unchallenged trailblazer, years before the likes of the Cayenne and GLS came onto the scene. To succeed, it must usurp those cars and set the bar for a new generation of Range Rover models. Good enough for now, but also for 2024 when an electric variant arrives. Have they gone far enough? From Matt Prior’s first drive on p4, the signs are positive: the Range Rover has picked up where the outgoing model left off and taken things still further. It remains the very best at what it does. The short-term prospects look good. Now JLR must nail the next challenge: to use the profits the model generates to develop even better electric ones that lead the way long into the future. Rachel Burgess Executive editor rachel.burgess@haymarket.com
@theburgeword
IS ALL NEW RANGE ROVER A FIVE STAR CAR? 4
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