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‘The world’s fastest man in the world’s slowest race’
Issue 6590 | Volume 318 | No 7
NEWS
Merc-AMG 1000bhp EV GT 4-Door Coupé successor 4 Vauxhall city car New electric hatch with £22k price 6 Hot Toyota GR Supra Track-honed, maybe M3 engine 8 Kia’s EV plan How it aims to become a world leader 10 Cheaper self-driving cars Project to slash R&D cost 12 Direct sales model Why it’s facing tough times now 14 London ULEZ scrappage Big grant payment delays 16
TESTED
Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray Four-wheel-drive hybrid 22 Prodrive P25 Road racer harks back to 1997 WRC 24 Renault Clio New look in ‘more fun, less fuel’ update 27 Peugeot 2008 Fresh cabin tech and revised design 27 Seat Ateca 1.5 TSI Eco DSG ROAD TEST 48
FEATURES Tolman 205 GTi vs i20 N Restomod battles champ 30 Rolls-Royce Spectre Why it transformed the factory 36 Rennsport Reunion Porsche festival of your dreams 40 Affordable EVs Experts tell us how to achieve them 42 Ash Sutton Four-time BTCC title winner’s secrets 46
OUR CARS Jaguar F-Type First report for era-ending coupé 56 BMW iX1 Ariya, bZ4X and GV60 rivals benchmarked 57 BYD Atto 3 Boot camp for our Chinese electric car 59
EVERY WEEK Jesse Crosse Are battery swap stations the future? 13 Secret Source When the bosses got a car upgrade 15 Matt Prior Carbonfibre wheels: why the jury is out 17 Autocar Archive Issues from 1895 at your fingertips 18 Steve Cropley Odd phone call after A110 broke down 19 Damien Smith Ex-Formula 1 tsar Bernie Ecclestone 21 Subscribe Save money and get exclusive benefits 28 Your Views Kei cars; flatulent Ferraris; JLR advice 60 On this day How unreliable cars were in the 1970s 66 Slideshow If only these cars had been sold in the UK 74
DEALS
Second Chance Nissan Note: mini MPV for £2500 62 James Ruppert On the hunt for a bargain Mustang 65 Road test index Track down that road test here 67 New cars A-Z Key car stats, from Abarth to Zenvo 68
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THIS WEEK
COMMENT
BETTER CHARGING WILL LEAD TO CHEAPER EVs
TRAILBLAZING CHEVROLET CORVETTE E-RAY 22
WE GO INSIDE THE ROLLS-ROYCE FACTORY 36
TOLMAN 205 GT i TAKES ON HYUNDAI i20 N 30
C O V E R STORY
❝ ECCLESTONE TOOK A LOT OUT OF MOTORSPORT BUT NO ONE HAS PUT MORE IN❞
DAMIEN SMITH UNPICKS THE BILLIONAIRE TAX FRAUDSTER WHO MADE F1 WORLD CLASS 21
THIS WEEK, WE tasked our tech expert Jesse Crosse with answering a simple question: how do you make electric cars affordable? His resulting feature (p42) is enlightening – and makes you ponder whether that’s actually the right question. We already know one solution: fit smaller batteries. It’s the priciest component of an EV. Some firms do: the Dacia Spring Electric and Citroën ë-C3 are comparatively affordable, in part because of their smaller batteries. Why won’t people buy EVs with smaller batteries? Many cite range anxiety. A smaller battery means less range, which means more need to charge. And why should you have to accept a compromise to go electric?
But buying an affordable car has always involved compromise. City cars and hatches cost less than other cars because they’re smaller and have less powerful engines, less tech or fewer safety features. Given most people don’t need as much range as they think, a smaller battery is less of a compromise.
Perhaps the real question is this: how do you make people accept that compromise? Now that’s simple: better charging infrastructure. If you can charge easily, range isn’t an issue. It’s yet another example of why we need a coordinated plan to improve charging.
IMAGE James Attwood Acting mag editor
james.attwood@haymarket.com
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Rachel Burgess is away
RADICAL 1000BHP MERCEDES-AMG FOR 2025 4
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