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‘Everyone is nice until the race starts’
THIS WEEK
Issue 6504 | Volume 311 | No 10
NEWS
Aston Martin supercar Mid-engined, 830bhp, £250k 6 Morgan Super 3 New-era flyweight three-wheeler 8 Genesis GV60 Crossover kicks off eight-car EV blitz 10 Kincsem Hyper-GT Bold hydrogen hybrid hypercar 12 Lada Niva Rugged new Renault-based 4x4 due 2025 14 Mazda is on the up So says its UK boss. Here’s why 16 Material gains Local raw materials vital for UK’s EVs 18
TESTED
Toyota bZ4X Early drive of impressive VW ID 4 rival 24 Tesla Model Y Long Range model in – shock! – RHD 28 Volkswagen T-Roc Facelift but price rise: fair swap? 29 DS 9 E-Tense 360 4x4 Go-faster tweaks for hybrid 31 Ford Maverick Kuga-based pick-up with F-150 looks 31 BMW iX xDrive50 M Sport ROAD TEST 32
FEATURES McLaren GT 24 hours in supercar turned Dormobile 40 Nissan Newbird The Bluebird with Leaf running gear 46 Cupra in Extreme E What’s in it for the new brand 50 My life in 12 cars Matt Windle’s journey to Lotus MD 52
OUR CARS Honda HR-V What our new hybrid SUV has to prove 62 Fiat 500 Charming city car battles EV chargers 63 Nissan Qashqai We work out the ideal driving mode 64 Land Rover Defender When only diesel will really do 65
EVERY WEEK Jesse Crosse New tech for cars that see using lasers 13 Matt Prior How to hypermile a Taycan across the US 15 Jim Holder No through traffic? Better get used to it 19 Autocar Archive Access 125 years of issues for free 20 Steve Cropley V16 grand prix racer; fixing an old A3 21 Damien Smith Daytona 500 turns Daytona 502.5 22 Subscribe Save money and get exclusive benefits 30 Your Views Charging woes; Alfa Tonale; EV cables 58 On this day 1984 brings Renault 25, Group B Metro 61 Slideshow Highest-revving production cars ever 82
DEALS
James Ruppert Honda Accord, Alfa 166, Fiat Idea 66 Cult hero Why the BMW Z3 M is now so sought-after 68 As good as new Latest Seat Leon, now from £15k 70 Take it or leave it Suzuki Cappuccino, Tipo, Cygnet 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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COMMENT
LAW MAKERS, GIVE US MORE CHARGERS FAST
MORGAN REINVENTS THE 3 WHEELER FOR 2022 8
WE SPEND 24 HOURS IN THE McLAREN GT 40
TOYOTA bZ4X: FIRST DRIVE IN TALENTED BEV 24
COVER STORY
❝3.45AM: I’M WIDE AWAKE AND MY BUM IS SO NUMB IT FEELS LIKE I’VE HAD A LOCAL ANAESTHETIC❞
PIERS WARD TRIES, AND FAILS, TO GET SOME SLEEP IN A 24 HOUR McLAREN GT EPIC 40
IMAGE
ELECTRIC CAR sales grew by three-quarters last year (and were up 130% in the first month of 2022) but the charging network to support them grew by only a third over 2020. No wonder, then, that range anxiety has been replaced by charging anxiety, with the less seasoned or prospective electric car drivers now more worried about whether they’ll be able to find an available charger they can use. We know all about the unreliability of parts of the charging network, and the inconsistency of the price paid per unit of electricity and the user experience of different providers. (See p63 for this week’s example of that.)
Filter these out and the anecdotal evidence is growing that an even bigger issue is emerging: there are simply not enough chargers to support the rising number of EVs on our roads. Charging infrastructure needs to be rolled out before increased adoption of electric cars, not after, but at the moment the opposite is happening. Legislation has pushed car makers towards rapidly offering an extensive range of EVs, but the legislators’ left hand is not talking to the right when it comes to investing in and developing the charging network to support them, a problem entirely of their own making. Mark Tisshaw Editor mark.tisshaw@haymarket.com
@mtisshaw
DETAILS OF ASTON MARTIN’S BABY VALKYRIE 6
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