63

‘ The r i ver that runs at the bottom of my garden of fers up

numberplates, trims and sills’

Issue 6604 | Volume 319 | No 8

NEWS

Porsche Macan EV Full details, plus electric Cayenne 4 Lamborghini supercars CEO on their electric future 8 Stellantis tech 500-mile range, 0-62mph in 2 .0sec 10 Audi Q7 New one in 2026 will be big SUV’s ICE finale 12 UK ‘back in game’ Annual production tops a million 14 Spartan EV 2.0 Czech firm’s £50k 4x4 hits the UK 16

TESTED

Volkswagen ID 7 “The most convincing VW EV yet” 22 BMW Alpina B5 GT Touring Limited-run special 24 Skoda Enyaq More power, longer range, new tech 26 Mercedes-Benz GLE 400e UK test of latest PHEV 27 Kia EV9 GT-Line S ROAD TEST 46

FEATURES Bargains are back! Best used car buys: £3k-£2 . 2m 28 Guenther Steiner Ex-Haas F1 boss talks candidly 36 EVs: the hard facts Top specialist spills the beans 40 Virtues of virtual High-tech sims shaping our cars 42

OUR CARS Mazda MX-30 R-EV Can an EV with a rotary work? 54 Nissan Ariya Humble pie eaten cold, appropriately 55 Honda ZR-V How to play the regeneration game 56 Jeep Avenger Why it exceeds the sum of its parts 57

EVERY WEEK Jesse Crosse Tyres that talk to the chassis systems 13 Secret Source When salty snacks foiled brake tech 15 Matt Prior Inside a new UK £4m sim R&D centre 17 Steve Cropley Puma ST; future fuels; Detroit show 19 Subscribe Save money and get exclusive benefits 20 Damien Smith Dakar, F1 and Carlos Sainz Sr and Jr 21 Your Views Merc CLK; DB11 vs DB12; switch to EVs 58 From the archive Why the Tatra 77 was a trailblazer 65 Slideshow Greatest road cars you may never see 74

DEALS

Second Chance BMW 1 Series: RWD hatch from £5k 60 James Ruppert Cheaper ways to go up in the world 63 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

PORSCHE’S NEW ELECTRIC MACAN LAID BARE 4

VOLKSWAGEN ID 7 RATED ON UK ROADS 22

KIA EV9: FULL ROAD TEST VERDICT 46

C O V E R STORY

❝ YOU WORK WITH SOMEBODY FOR 10 YEARS AND YOU GET A CALL LIKE THAT… IT’S WEIRD❞

FORMULA 1’s GUENTHER STEINER ON BEING FIRED OVER THE PHONE BY GENE HAAS 36

FIRST-CLASS SECOND-HAND BARGAINS 28

COMMENT

USED CAR BARGAINS ARE BACK AT LAST

AFTER A SPIKE in prices due to Covid-era shortages and the ripple effects of the semiconductor crisis, used car prices have finally fallen from their inflated high – and fast. That’s not great news if you’re a dealer or look ing to sell a car, but it’s positive if you’re in the market to buy. There are great-value bargains to be had once again, as our special feature (p28) shows. R ichard Bremner has unearthed some intriguing machines at knock-down prices. He didn’t hunt for outright cheap cars per se, but ones that offer real value and can be enjoyed every day without fear.

At a time when the switch to electric has created considerable uncertainty among buyers, affordable used cars don’t just offer more for less: they also present an option for those seek ing a ‘ bridge’ while waiting for the new car market to settle or EVs to drop further in price. And given these cars have already been built and, if they’re looked after, have plenty of miles left in them, you don’t need to feel bad about it. There’s an increasing end-of-an-era vibe, too: enjoy some of these cars while you can.

Falling used prices are good news for many, then – except perhaps those of us who struggle when faced with lots of choice for a tempting bargain buy…

James Attwood Acting mag editor james.attwood@haymarket.com

@atters_ j

Rachel Burgess is away

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