46

‘Benetton was found to have “tampered” with the refuelling rig’

THIS WEEK

Issue 6592 | Volume 318 | No 9

NEWS

Celica, MR2, LFA Toyota plots their rebirth as EVs 4 Fun Toyota EV tech Manual gearbox, steer-by-wire 8 Ferrari 499P Le Mans-based £4.6m track weapon 10 Skoda Superb All-new model gains long-range PHEV 12 JLR parts crisis Dealers are turning to used parts 14 Nissan’s wake-up call Rocked by cheap Chinese EVs 16

TESTED

Volvo EX30 Compact electric SUV with one big flaw 22 Audi Q8 and SQ8 Shot in the arm for SUV-coupé 26 Kia EV9 Striking UK-bound EV with seven seats 28 Volkswagen Touareg Flagship gets vital upgrades 29 Nio ET7 Tech-rich competition for Mercedes’ EQS 30 Mazda MX-30 R-EV Rotary-engined range boost 31 Ford Ranger Double cab in stripped-down XL trim 31 Smart #1 Premium ROAD TEST 48

FEATURES Maurizio Reggiani Tech guru and his wild supercars 34 Pendine Museum of Speed Land speed record gems 40 Japan and EVs Why it seems to be behind the curve 42 Benetton’s mad 1994 season Colourful F1 stories 46

OUR CARS Kia Niro EV Is it the Golf of EVs? Final report tells all 56 Genesis G70 BMW 3 Series rival makes fleet debut 58

EVERY WEEK Jesse Crosse Renault to offer ‘luxury’ sunroof tech 13 Secret Source Chassis idea that was set in concrete 15 Matt Prior Be careful what you wish for, law makers 17 Steve Cropley Improved Polestar 2; X5 to Ukraine 19 Damien Smith WRC title decided; big BTCC change 21 Subscribe Save money and get exclusive benefits 32 Your Views Firefighter on EV safety; car ads; Bernie 60 On this day 1918: what UK’s car industry did in WW1 66 Slideshow Motoring milestones: you saw it here first 74

DEALS

Second Chance Give it large in a £5000 Merc GL 62 James Ruppert A Skoda substitute for a Bentley 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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WHY YOU’LL LOVE AND CURSE VOLVO’S EX30 22

SUPERCAR SUPERSTAR MAURIZIO REGGIANI 34

JAPAN’S CAR MAKERS AND THE ROAD TO EV s 42

C O V E R STORY

❝ IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE AN EV. IT JUST NEEDS TO BE CARBON-NEUTRAL❞

MAZDA CFO JEFF GUYTON EXPLAINS WHY JAPAN’S CAR MAKERS ARE SO PRAGMATIC 42

IMAGE

COMMENT

TOUCHSCREEN RELIANCE IN EX30 A STEP TOO FAR

AT THEIR BEST, touchscreens in cars are an effective way of navigating more complex vehicle settings and functions that needn’t have their own button. We welcome them for this.

At their worst, they’re used to get rid of useful buttons that can and should be easily accessible. When you’re meant to be concentrating on driving, this is dangerous and distracting. The touchscreen in the Volvo EX30 (driven, p22) is an alarming further development of this ‘cleaning up’ of interiors. Not only are the likes of climate and audio settings hidden behind menus, which has become sadly too common, but so too are numerous other functions such as the wiper sensitivit y and foglights. One or two functions buried in menus on screens might be something you could reluctantly get used to, but hiding key safety features behind multiple menus and presses is not.

It’s a sad development that holds back what is otherwise a likeable car to drive and a new area of the market Volvo has entered. No car maker has done more to enhance the safety of cars than Volvo, which makes the creation of such distracting user interfaces all the more surprising.

Mark Tisshaw Editor mark.tisshaw@haymarket.com

@mtisshaw

Rachel Burgess is away

CELICA, MR2, LFA: TOYOTA’S FUN NEW EV s 4

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