BMW 5-series review (2017-on)

IF YOU could only pick one car to drive every day for the rest of your life, the BMW 5 series would have be at the top of the list, elbowing the Volkswagen Golf aside. It continually sets the benchmark that rival car makers find themselves breathlessly trying to keep pace with.

Each time the German engineers wheel out a new generation of 5, they take a step back, hand over the keys and give one another the briefest of knowing looks. They know they’ve done it again, and built one of the best cars on the road. But it would be vulgar and most unlike German engineers to boast of their achievements.

You won’t find them putting the boot in to the Audi A6, dissing the Jaguar XF, damning the Mercedes E-Class with faint praise, or scoffing at outside contenders like the new Volvo S90. Instead, they let the car do the talking.

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And so it is with the seventh generation 5-series. No fanfare; no celebrity endorsements; and no Jaguar-style PR stunts with cars crossing the Thames on a high-wire. Just the car, and the key.

Except, it’s not a key. Not in the traditional sense of a piece of steel that slots into a lock barrel. It’s a smart-key, which means it’s a clunky version of a pocket-size tablet that can be used to open and close the doors from, say, your office desk, check the fuel level and remaining driving range, sound the horn in a crowded car park or switch on the climate control.

However, it’s a £195 option on our test car, the big-selling 520d M Sport, which costs from £39,025. In fact, a lot of things are optional on the new BMW 5-series. And with just a handful of extras added, the car’s price will be on the wrong side of £40,000, which means that from the car’s second year of age until its sixth year the annual road tax bill will be £450, instead of the flat-rate of £140.

The 5-series, like many new cars, suffers from the modern malaise of technology for technology’s sake

Drivers could spend a frightening sum of money on extras for this latest 5-series. But given most will be company cars, you’d have a seriously unhappy fleet manager if you got carried away adding a Bowers & Wilkins audio unit, head-up display, climate control with four zones, driving mode configurator, adaptive suspension dampers or a ‘stop and go’ cruise control system. That little lot alone would bump up the price by £9,640.

And, frankly, some of the options on the latest 5-series are a waste of time. Like the aforementioned smart key (BMW calls it a Display Key, and it costs £195), which — like the majority of apps on your smartphone — is a gimmick you’ll use once then never again. Or gesture control, a £160 option that’s meant to let drivers or the front seat passenger twiddle their fingers to control things like the audio system. It only had a one-in-five success rate when we tried it – unlike the traditional steering wheel-mounted buttons, which work first time, every time, and let you keep your eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.

BMW offers bundle packs on the 5-series, such as the Technology Package, which are better value for money, but the truth is the 5-series, like many new cars, suffers from the modern malaise of technology for technology’s sake.

The interior of the seventh-generation 5-series is spacious, accommodating and the boot of the saloon is surprisingly long, with 530-litres of luggage space. BMW also appears to have worked hard at matching Audi and Mercedes for the tactile quality in the cabin.

The digital instruments change according to the driving mode, and there’s a wealth of interesting information to take in when using the Eco Pro setting, while a 10.5 inch touchscreen system dominates the dashboard.

The M Sport package on the 520d brings 18 inch alloy wheels, a smattering of M badging, a bodykit with gloss-black window trim and sporty steering wheel and pedals, amongst others. There’s also suspension that’s been lowered by 10mm and features different tuning to SE variants.

The finished effect attracted positive comments in the school car park, especially in its black paintwork. Mrs Mills thought it was an M3. This caused some consternation, as she wondered whether she’d become a victim of car-jacking.

Hidden beneath all this is a new aluminium chassis (which saves up to 100kg compared with the last car) and the familiar range of four-cylinder and six-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, as well as a plug-in electric-petrol hybrid version in the 530e. Four-wheel-drive is available on the majority of models.

The backbone of the range, though, is the 520d. It delivers 187bhp, and 295Ib ft at 1750rpm, and the company says there’s the potential to achieve 65mpg, while CO2 emissions are rated at 114g/km. However, you won’t get anywhere near that sort of fuel economy. Despite testing it on a mixture of main roads, cross-country routes and in town, the best we achieved was 41mpg.

If you can muster enough performance to make the chassis work hard for a living, you’ll discover a machine that is poised and precise

That’s disappointing, given that its Eco Pro driving mode is so determined to save fuel that there are times that it prevents the eight-speed automatic gearbox shifting down a gear when you want to accelerate past a “Mamil” (Middle Aged Man In Lycra) before the next bend.

And generally, performance is docile. BMW says it will accelerate from 0-62mph in 7.5 seconds, but it never feels that swift, plodding along with just a faint thrum from the engine and smoothly executed gearshifts.

However, the level of comfort in this car is outstanding. Everything from the seats to the suspension to the steering feels like it was designed to soothe away the strains of a stressful day. If you wanted a car to drive from one side of Europe to the other, or just up and down the M1, this is your motor.

And if you can muster enough performance to make the chassis work hard for a living, you’ll discover a machine that is poised and precise. But if it’s a spirited drive you’re looking for, consider a 530d or 530i instead. The hot M5 will go on sale early next year. For more boot space, the Touring models are available now and the Gran Turismo, or GT, will reach showrooms this winter.

Since the 5-series was launched in 1972, more than 7.5m have been sold, and sales are actually accelerating. It’s easy to see why. It has always been the best car in its class, and judged on the latest generation model, that’s not about to change anytime soon.

The post BMW 5-series review (2017-on) appeared first on Sunday Times Driving.

source https://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/bmw-520d-m-sport-review-2017/

Mercedes-Benz E-class review (W213 model, 2016-on)

A RECENT trip to the Bentley factory in Crewe was illuminating. A workforce of around 4,000 includes roughly 500 skilled craftsmen and women — experts in working with wood and leather — all busily creating the finest handmade components for the interiors of the latest Bentaygas, Mulsannes, Flying Spurs and Continentals. The results, of course, are exquisite: Bentley owners are well aware that virtually everything they can see and touch in their car has been carefully put together by masters in their field, using only the finest materials. It looks special. It feels special.

But even Bentley’s master craftspeople probably look at the inside of the new Mercedes E-class and nod in approval. The German car’s interior is a jaw-dropping blend of technology and craft, all sumptuous curves and eye-catching details.

Mercedes is really on top form with its cabins right now; anyone climbing into a C-class would be impressed, yet with the larger E-class another leap has been made such that it’s not too far off that of the S-class. In the AMG-Line specification model we found a mix of leather upper dash, two large rectangular screens for infotainment and instruments (the central one being 12.3 inches in our car, or 8.4 inches as standard), and below that full-width contrast trim (“design piano lacquer” hard glossy plastic in the test car) with contour line effect design. This motif carries on into the doors and around Burmester stereo speakers.

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Then under that is a soft glow from a concealed LED strip. With its blend of minimalism and high tech, it’s one of the most striking interiors we’ve experienced. Given that those looking at the E-class may also be looking at the Tesla Model S, which may not use the finest materials or be put together by master craftsmen, but without question moved the game on in terms of clean, minimalist yet functional car interiors, Mercedes has managed to keep its premium executive car’s cabin feeling and looking like a class act. The Audi A6 and Jaguar XF are playing catch-up and even the new BMW 5-series doesn’t have such a wow factor.

The exterior is more conservative, as befits an executive car of this type, but it’s still an elegant design and a decent evolution of the outgoing E-class.

So the interior looks good, but does it work well? In a word, yes. The Comand infotainment system is clear and intuitive, with DAB radio, Bluetooth, sat nav and temperature controls all easy to find and change. There’s also the option to connect Apple Carplay or Android Auto. The touch sensitive steering wheel controls are effective and easy to use, or there’s the dial behind the cupholders and the touch sensitive pad above that, giving drivers three ways (excluding voice commands) to control the car’s functions.

Our AMG Line E 220 d also came with optional 360-degree cameras (reversing camera is standard), a split panoramic glass sunroof, keyless entry and start, and a Burmester stereo system.

It’s not all impressive stuff; a button labelled “Menu” amongst the climate control buttons, which seems to just bring up a picture of the cockpit, labelled climate control overview: we’re not really sure what to do with that.

And the AMG-Line seats can be adjusted in a million different ways but finding one that was comfortable for long stints at the wheel proved impossible. This isn’t a problem limited to Mercedes and it’s exacerbated by the fact that I’m an unnecessarily tall person. But it is often a source of bewilderment that a fixed racing seat made of a slither of carpet glued to a bit of carbon fibre can be supremely comfortable yet a hand-stitched leather job with extra padding, heating, cooling, massage and adjustments for lumber, shoulders and squab can make your right leg go to sleep and your lower back ache. Maybe it’s operator error; try out an E-class and see.

Having the passenger seat heating button on the driver’s side suggests customers told Mercedes, “My partner’s bottom must never touch a surface with a temperature below 20 degrees Celsius”

One innovation that we haven’t seen on any other car is buttons on the driver’s door for heating both fronts. Normally you’d find them in the centre console or touchscreen, or on the side of the seats themselves, but the significance of having the passenger seat heating button on the driver’s side suggests customers told Mercedes, “My partner’s bottom must never touch a surface with a temperature below 20 degrees Celsius, and I may find myself in a situation when I need to switch on the heated seats in an instant.” Problem solved.

Out on the road, our E-class proved predictably velvety. It may have been the AMG Line trim but that doesn’t mean it has suspension honed by in-house sports tuning company and the steel springs are heavily geared towards comfort rather than performance. As standard, the E 220 d comes with “Agility Control suspension with selective damping”, which is a system between basic “passive” springs/dampers and full fat Air Body Control adaptive suspension. We wouldn’t bother with it as whatever dynamic mode you select (eco, comfort, sport, sport+ and individual), the ride is always soft. It’s engineered that way for good reason: this is an E-class, designed to waft executives from London to Frankfurt in comfort.

This is a problem in Sport+ mode: while the engine goes into full psychopath mode – completely on edge, with millimetre adjustments in pressure on the pedal resulting in neck-snapping leaps forward – riding over a speed bump, the car wallows over the top and wants to scrape its nose on the ground on the other side.

There’s impressive safety tech as standard in the E 220 d: an active bonnet, to protect pedestrian in the event of a collision; active brake assist, knee airbags for the driver (on top of the usual all-round airbags); attention assist, which monitors tiredness; adaptive cruise control; and tyre pressure monitoring. There’s also parking pilot, to automatically park for you in bay or parallel spaces.

Our test car came with steering wheel-mounted paddles for the gears but as with Sport+ mode, it seems like overkill in the E 220 d when the excellent nine-speed automatic mode is able to predict which gear is required at any given time, almost as well as could any human.

The E 220 d  comes with a brand new 2-litre, 192bhp turbocharged diesel engine (also fitted in the E 200 d), which as suggested above is a powerful unit with nice smooth power delivery through the rev range. The red line comes at around 5,250rpm but peak torque is between 1,600rpm and 2,800rpm, so there’s plenty of tug low down in the rev range. Flooring the throttle will give you all the power you need but it’s best left in comfort mode for the most part, and given gentle treatment with the right foot.

Doing so will yield impressive performance and consumption: The E 220 d can do 0-62mph in a claimed 7.3sec and hit 149mph, yet the combined economy figure is 72.9mpg. We averaged slightly over 41mpg in the real world, which is good, nonetheless. CO2 is a low and tax friendly 112g/km.

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The E-class also measures how economically you drive, assigning scores for accelerator inputs, speed and balance, and told me I had achieved a 3.1-mile bonus over nine hours of driving. In the words of Alan Partridge: cashback.

At the top of the diesel range is a 3-litre V6, while for petrol fans there are the AMG-derived E 43, fitted with a 395bhp 3-litre V6, or the E 63 with a 4-litre V8, as found in the AMG GT, tuned to 563bhp or a whopping 603bhp. There’s also a 2-litre petrol hybrid.

Interestingly, the 2-litre diesel sounds a bit — how shall we say… industrial — from inside the cabin, at low speeds and accelerating, especially. It’s odd, as the noise from the tyres and wind is well suppressed, suggesting that the sound insulation is more effective in the doors and floorpan than through the engine firewall.

Bentley needn’t worry about that, then. But with the E-class’s elegant exterior, technical sophistication and an interior that gives the best in the world a run for their money, some will see the W213 Mercedes, priced from a shade over £35,000, as the bargain of the century, even if you can get the entry-level BMW 5-series for more than £3,000 less.

 

The post Mercedes-Benz E-class review (W213 model, 2016-on) appeared first on Sunday Times Driving.

source https://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/mercedes-benz-e-class-review-w213-model-2016/

First Drive review: Bugatti Chiron

THERE IS a moment driving the new Bugatti Chiron when you appreciate precisely what it is that the world’s wealthiest individuals are paying for. And that moment happens the first time you floor the throttle and feel the 8-litre, W16 engine passing 3,800rpm.

Before this point, only two of its gigantic turbochargers, which are roughly the same size as your head, are helping force air through the sixteen combustion chambers. At 3,800rpm, a bypass valve opens and two more turbos gatecrash the party and you get an idea of how it must feel when a rogue wave hits a ship.

Where before it felt as quick as the fastest Ferrari, with all four turbos spinning the Chiron feels jet-fighter fast.

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“This is what you came for!” the engine seems to shout, as there is a small explosion of power and noise and the world starts to rush by as though Captain James T. Kirk has given the command for warp speed.

There is nothing remotely like it. Which is why, for the world’s wealthiest individuals who like nothing more than to indulge in a spot of one-upmanship, the Bugatti Chiron is worth every penny.

That’s a lot of pennies, by the way. The successor to the legendary Veyron 16.4, which was £810,000 in 2005, costs €2.4m plus taxes, or a shade over £2.5m in today’s money.

But money isn’t an object for the sort of people that will buy a Chiron; Bugatti says that they are typically spending £260,000 personalising theirs. That’s enough for a new Ferrari 812 Superfast.

The likelihood is, however, that they will already own all manner of Ferraris, and any other luxury car you care to mention. Veyron customers owned an average of 42 cars.

In the 12 years since it was launched, nothing has come close to even catching up with the Veyron

So far, half of the 500 Chirons that will be built have been sold. The expectation is that once reviews from a select group of the world’s most prestigious media hit the shelves and start trending on social media and fire up the forums, the task of selling this multi-million pound plaything will take care of itself.

When the Bugatti Veyron first turned a wheel, in 2005, and set its turbochargers whistling like a doodlebug dropping from the sky, it left the world shell-shocked.

The Veyron was a hypercar without peer. But getting to that point pushed everyone involved in the project to breaking point. Like supersonic flight, or putting man on the moon, the engineers had had to venture into unknown territory.

They needed to figure out how to cool a 1,001hp engine that was in the middle of the car, out of the airflow. A gearbox had to be designed that could handle more power than a Formula One car but last for a lifetime, rather than one race. And the tyres should be able to handle being spun at the equivalent to 3,800 times the force of gravity.

The result was a car so fast that, according to Jeremy Clarkson, it made France the size of a small coconut. In the 12 years since then, nothing has come close to even catching up with the Veyron.

Now Bugatti wants to go faster still, and has spent the last five years perfecting its new baby. Next Spring, there will be an attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for the top speed of a production car. The Veyron Super Sport achieved 267.8mph in 2010.

How much faster might the Chiron go? Its electronically ‘limited’ top speed is 261mph. But the bets are on that the Chiron will top 280mph.

To achieve such feats, the W16 engine has been heavily reworked, with a lighter crankshaft, stronger, titanium conrods for the pistons and exhaust system, and a cooling system that can pump 800 litres of water through the engine every minute. At that rate of flow, a bath would be filled to the brim in 11 seconds.

These are merely tinkering compared to the main change: four huge turbochargers, which help generate an additional 500hp over the original Veyron – nearly as much as the engine in a Porsche 911 Turbo.

It takes the motor’s total power output to a comical 1,500hp – 1,479bhp total output. Getting to that point reduced grown men to tears, apparently. But their achievements are celebrated by stamping ‘1500’ on the top of the engine, which is uncovered and visible to the crowds that will gather at the petrol station.

To contain this pent-up energy, there’s a new generation carbon fibre monocoque, claimed to be stiffer than an LMP1 Le Mans racing car. The new Michelin tyres (at £10,000 for four, half the price of the Veyron’s run-flat items) had to be proved safe on a testing rig used for aircraft tyres. The larger brake callipers have pistons made from titanium.

That’s just for starters. New suspension with adaptive dampers and active aerodynamics adapt according to five driving modes and the speed of the car. And in a sign that Bugatti wants the Chiron to be as fun to drive on an Alpine pass as it is impressive to power along a deserted autobahn, the four-wheel drive system has been programmed with an “easy to drift” feature, addressing criticisms of the Veyron’s handling, which, understandably, erred on the side of caution.

Before driving the Chiron, I asked Wolfgang Dürheimer, the man in charge at Bugatti, if it’s noticeably faster than its predecessor. “It smokes the Veyron,” he said. He has raced the two side by side, from a rolling start, and says the Veyron “is a postage stamp in Chiron’s rear-view mirror” by the end of the five-mile straight at Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessein test track.

I suggest Bugatti is going to need to build a bigger test track for whatever will be the Chiron’s replacement. He thinks I’m serious, and agrees, solemnly.

The Chiron sticks with a proven analogue speedometer. Why? Because when children peer through the windows, they’ll be able to see that it winds all the way around to 310mph

This is a more exciting looking car than the Veyron, one that should do the job of rankling fellow superyacht owners in Monaco harbour. The lower nose, menacing looking headlamps and broader shoulders give it a more muscular appearance, like Daniel Craig in a dinner jacket.

The interior shows off the car’s carbon fibre construction, with acres of the stuff on the centre console, dashboard, doors and steering wheel. The seats are comfortable, as is the driving position, and with relatively slender A-pillars it’s a relief to find the view of the road ahead is better any family car.

While most cars move to all-digital instruments, the Chiron deliberately sticks with a proven analogue speedometer. Why? Because when children peer through the windows, they’ll be able to see that it winds all the way around to 500km/h (310mph).

Despite all this talk of mind-warping power and eye-watering performance, the first impression is that even a grandparent could drive the Chiron to Eastbourne for a day by the seaside. At everyday speeds, it is no more challenging than a Nissan Micra.

The light steering, smooth brake pedal and seamless automatic gearbox make the tiger feel like a pussycat.

Potholes, cobbled roads and speedbumps are all shrugged off by the suspension, as are wayward cambers in the road.

It’s impressive stuff. But it’s only when you find an open stretch of road, free from other traffic, that you get your money’s worth.

Obviously, any car with this much power will be “I think I’ve just had a small accident in my trousers” fast. The Veyron had considerably less power and weighed more than the Chiron, and that car could set eyeballs spinning in their sockets.

But the clever trick with the Chiron is that it’s so docile and measured when pottering around. The throttle, steering and brake pedal all have the sort of perfectly measured, linear progression that lets a driver get to know a car without beads of sweat forming across their brow.

Nothing, however, can prepare you for the first time you pin the throttle pedal to the floor.

The W16 (16 cylinders in a “W” configuration) slams you back into the driver’s seat and the world starts to pass by in a blur. Then, at 3,800rpm, you experience the ‘hyperdrive’ moment. There’s a small explosion of noise, another kick from the engine as the second pair of turbochargers are effectively switched on by a bypass valve, and the Chiron knocks the wind out of you.

From this point, regardless of the gear selected, the Chiron is capable of manipulating the skin on your face. There is a grotesque helping of torque, with 1,180 lb ft from just 2,000rpm — more than twice that of a Porsche 911 Turbo S.

This is the true measure of muscle power, and it’s what gives the car its character. Squeeze the throttle through just half of its travel and you will surge past slower traffic like Valentino Rossi on a superbike at full throttle.

The Chiron is able to power to 200mph in what feels like as much time as it takes to sneeze. At such speeds, it’s as stable as a nuclear bunker.

Yet the eerie thing is that it’s only just getting warmed up. This is where the Chiron laughs in the face of cars from Aston, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren and Porsche. Their fastest machines start running out of puff beyond 200mph. Whereas this one is just getting into its stride.

Bugatti claims it can accelerate from 0-62mph in under 2.5 seconds, reach 124mph in less than 6.5 seconds (the time it takes a Golf GTI to reach 62mph) and hit 186mph in under 13.6 seconds.

At everyday speeds, it is no more challenging than a Nissan Micra

Lifting off the throttle above 112mph, the rear spoiler changes its angle to act as an air brake. So even without touching the brake pedal, there is noticeable deceleration, akin to lifting off the throttle in an electric car as the motors turn into generators and recovery energy to the battery.

Switching to the winding roads outside Lisbon, and respecting all local laws, the Chiron continues to leave your mind boggling. Select the ‘Handling’ mode and the car hunkers down, the steering weights up and you can feel a surprising degree of information about how the tyres are coping with the demands of delivering 1,500hp to the road surface.

It’s composed, planted and feels smaller and more agile than a two tonne, 8-litre machine has any right to. But no matter how long the straights between bends are, they’ll pass by in the blink of an eye. So you’ll never feel more relieved than when you put the brakes to the test, which perform an emergency stop from extreme speeds without a hint of drama.

Pulling over to catch our breath and take photos, the rear spoiler remains raised on its hydraulically powered aluminium legs. Passersby might think the driver’s showing off, but there’s a legitimate reason for leaving the ironing-board wing in the air: it keeps ventilation duct above the exhaust muffler clear, which throws out heat like a white-hot barbeque.

In fact, every aspect of the Chiron’s bodywork has been designed to achieve just two things: cool the engine, so it doesn’t explode at 261mph, and pin the car to the ground, preventing unintended skyward acceleration above 200mph.

There wasn’t the opportunity to test the Chiron’s top speed or spend time with it on a racing circuit. It also comes at a price. But for the world’s wealthiest drivers it will be a price worth paying, and the Chiron has done more than enough to leave us in awe. With it, Bugatti has taken another giant leap forward, showing what man and machine are capable of achieving.

More significantly, it seems the company has built a machine that makes a Veyron feel like it’s got its shoelaces tied together.

Warp speed approaching: 20 mind-blowing facts about the 2016 Bugatti Chiron supercar

The post First Drive review: Bugatti Chiron appeared first on Sunday Times Driving.

source https://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/first-drive/first-drive-review-bugatti-chiron/

First Drive review: 2017 Land Rover Discovery

THINK OF a Land Rover and you’ll probably conjure up an image of a farmer taking bales to the top field or a coastguard pulling a boat across a beach. Whatever the conditions outside, says the subliminal sales pitch, Land Rovers look after the people inside. It’s not just a matter of engineering pride; it’s crucial to sales.

So the new Land Rover Discovery has a lot to live up to. Though many customers won’t tackle anything steeper than the speed bumps in the Waitrose car park, it needs to win its spurs by being a genuine off-roader, not just a family-friendly SUV.

The latest version (strictly the Discovery 5, but Land Rover is simply calling it “new”) can carry seven, including the driver, and goes head to head with German rivals such as BMW’s X5 and Audi’s Q7, and Far East contenders such as Hyundai’s Santa Fe. But whereas those offer gadgets galore or long warranties, with the Discovery you get something else — a hard-to-define sense that when you’re out in the wilderness, it won’t let you down.

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Which is why I’m gunning a £50,000 car up a 40ft dune in the middle of the desert on a gradient that would challenge a dune buggy. The sand is doing nothing for the pristine paintwork but everything for its credentials. And somehow the wheels seem to be finding grip, even axle deep in the loose surface. The car’s electronics keep it inching up the slope by making tiny adjustments to the braking and throttle response. If it were remotely alive, I’d say it was enjoying itself.

The good news is that the car stays true to Land Rover’s tradition of a high-up “command” driving position and “stadium seating” (passengers are higher than the row in front), and that sets it above its rivals in every sense. Instead of a proper low-range gearbox, there’s a kind of computerised off-road expert that distributes torque between the wheels and decides whether to lock or unlock the differentials.

Diehard 4×4 enthusiasts will be horrified, but it works quite well. Land Rover’s trademarked Terrain Response system offers settings for slippery surfaces such as snow and grass, sticky ones such as mud and steep and uneven ones such as rocks, though Land Rover, when asked, struggled to explain why such manual settings were needed, given that the car can supposedly sense the conditions and make its own adjustments.

For those who care about such things, its approach, departure and breakover angles are a decent 29, 27 and 21 degrees respectively, and ground clearance is 284mm — 43mm more than that of the old Disco. It has a wading depth of 900mm — any deeper and it floats, the company says. There are some clever features its predecessor did not have, notably the fold-flat seating, which you can control with buttons near the tailgate, via the driver’s touchscreen or even through a phone app. And there’s also a wristband to lock and unlock the car, so no need to carry the key in your jogging bottoms or kayak.

Park it next to the Range Rover, the Discovery Sport or the Evoque (or the newly unveiled Velar, for that matter) and you would have trouble telling them apart

It’s a lot of vehicle for the money, but this Land Rover has a problem, and it has nothing to do with terrain. The pressure to expand its clientele has caused a rift between the old guard and the new. It’s not enough, it seems, for Land Rovers to be sturdy, go-anywhere vehicles. The patronage of farmers and coastguards no longer pays the bills. The company has gone all aspirational, using Victoria Beckham as a “creative design executive” and a new marketing vocabulary, consisting of terms such as DNA and sustainability. As a commercial strategy, it has worked. Land Rovers are as popular in Dongguan and Dallas as they are in Devon. Sales of the Discovery worldwide top 1m.

But you can apply only so much gloss before the workhorse you’ve painted over becomes unrecognisable. Purists will say the new Discovery has made too many concessions. The Discovery 4 seemed altogether more rugged with its distinctive squared-off — some would say brutalist — look and its bomb-proof ladder chassis. By trying to reduce weight (getting rid of the ladder chassis) and improve aerodynamics, the designers have created a successor with distinctly ho-hum looks. Park it next to the Range Rover, the Discovery Sport or the Evoque (or the newly unveiled Velar, for that matter) and you would have trouble telling them apart, size excepted. That’s fine in terms of brand consistency, but the once distinctive Discovery now looks like a clutch of other SUVs.

Land Rover’s riposte to this criticism is that the vehicle can still cope with anything that’s thrown at it and yet can transport a driver and six passengers in comfort. Hence its decision to let me subject the car to the punishment it’s now putting up with. It copes well up to a point, but there are flaws.

The engine in the £43,495 entry-level Discovery is disappointing — a 2-litre diesel made at Land Rover’s new engine plant in Wolverhampton. In the lunar landscape of Bryce Canyon national park, Utah, it felt underwhelming. Some higher-spec versions of the car have a 3-litre diesel, but that dates from 2004 and is still produced at Ford’s Dagenham engine plant. It’s been upgraded from 2.7 litres, but the performance and economy of the 3-litre diesel Discovery are at best average.

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Why is there no diesel-electric hybrid? Mitsubishi’s Outlander PHEV has shown that a plug-in hybrid SUV is not only possible but practical. It’s all very well for Land Rover to recruit Bear Grylls and Ranulph Fiennes as ambassadors, but it rings a little hollow when the vehicle you’re driving through the wilderness is a stove on wheels and a rather dated one at that.

Land Rover says not to rule out a hybrid, or even an all-electric version, but will go no further than that. Some readers may recall a prototype diesel-electric hybrid from 2006. Called the Land-e, it is apparently still on the drawing board, and the company says it “can’t comment on speculation about future products”.

Come on, Land Rover: there’s no excuse, especially when you have one of the world’s most advanced engine plants. A greener Discovery is not just Bear Grylls; it’s bare minimum.

Jeremy Clarkson is away

Write to us at driving@sunday-times.co.uk, or Driving, The Sunday Times, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF

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Six-Second Nissan GT-R

AMS Performance Sets New World Record at TX2K with Six-Second Nissan GT-R

For most drag racers, traction can be the hardest part of the sport. It seems like All Wheel Drive would be a no-brainer for quarter-mile competition, but weight and complexity of sending massive power to all wheels have been a challenge until now. AMS Performance has been at the leading edge of pushing Nissan’s GT-R into uncharted territory. A decade of innovation has outgrown the original engine, so they engineered a new block, heads, and internals using the latest in CNC tooling. Last year in Detroit resulted in a 7.14 @ 212 mph.

Knocking at the door of a six-second pass is nothing short of amazing. And doing so reliably in a full frame street legal car requires many late nights and usually a fire extinguisher. Such was the case last weekend at the beginning of TX2K17. A small fire on the first shakedown pass evolved into an all-nighter, as they rebuilt the engine for another attempt. Usually, the first pass on a new engine is simply to get the drive line warmed up and verify a proper break-in. But since they are very confident in their own hardware, a full boost pass resulted in the quickest quarter-mile ever by an AWD car.

At first, the timing lights signaled a speed of 196 mph which is slower than before, but then it flashed an elapsed time of 6.93 seconds…. This is not a tube frame dragster with a fiberglass body. It may have sticky tires and a roll cage but it is a real Nissan GT-R. Only a handful of street legal cars are capable of going this fast, so our hats are off to the crew of AMS Performance for raising the bar. Stay with us for more updates from the race, and a preview of FL2K17 later this summer.

AMS Performance Sets New World Record at TX2K with Six-Second Nissan GT-R

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Callaway Corvette AeroWagen

Jay Leno Drives the Callaway Corvette AeroWagen

Last month Peter Callaway revealed the latest in custom Corvettes. The AeroWagen is a shooting brake conversion with a bold new style. Three decades of building bespoke Corvettes have led to innovations in power and aerodynamics which have culminated in 757 hp and 777 lb-ft of torque. Those numbers are based on the Z06, but the package is available for Stingray and Grand Sport also. It centers around a new 2.3-liter supercharger that is so massive it requires a hole in the hood. Because the blower has its own intercooler, boost pressure is increased and heat is removed. To set it apart from lesser impersonations, the new hatch gives Corvette a Shooting Brake roofline and more storage capacity out back.

Jay Leno is no stranger to Callaway’s creations, so he invited Peter and his father Reeves to the garage for a flashback to the 80’s. While his father was busy making Callaway a leader in Golf Clubs, Reeves developed a twin turbo kit for the C4 Corvette. Chevrolet was so impressed with the design, it became a production option from 1987 to 1991. Working their magic on everything from Alfas to Z28s, Callaway Cars in Old Lyme, CT has been a fixture in our magazine since we began. The AeroWagen Kit is available for all Corvette Coupes for $15,000, and the supercharger upgrade is $18,000. You will get a nice discount ordering a completed car from their factory once production ramps up. Stay with us for more Callaway updates and Corvette news.

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McLaren F1 “Hyper-GT”

First Look at the McLaren F1 “Hyper-GT” Successor

The McLaren F1 will finally have a true successor, thanks to the English automaker’s upcoming “Hyper-GT” car, codenamed BP23. While it has not been given a true name yet, McLaren does have a bit to say about the car.that this will be the most aerodynamic road-going model that they have ever created.

First off, McLaren does note that this will be the most aerodynamic road-going model that they have ever created. To give us an idea of how the aerodynamic will look, they have released a teaser image of the car. This image can be seen above.

McLaren Special Operations (MSO) will be creating BP23, with development already underway. Even though the car hasn’t even started being produced, all 106 examples of the car have already been pre-sold. Why 106? This is the same number of McLaren F1s that were created back in the day.

Expect the first McLaren BP23 examples to be delivered in 2019.

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First Look at the McLaren F1 “Hyper-GT” Successor

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The Clarkson Review: 2017 Renault Scénic

IN THE olden days, cars were made from steel, and that’s only right and proper. Steel is as manly as Tarzan’s scrotum. Horny-handed sons of toil mine the iron ore using dynamite and huge excavators, and then this is turned into steel in giant foundries that are hot, dangerous and noisy. A steel foundry is the exact opposite of Jane Austen.

Today we live in different times. Cars can no longer be manly, because it is now offensive to be in possession of a penis. Or to let it do your thinking. This means cars must be kind to the environment and economical and cheap and safe, and that means they must be made from plastic.

There was a time when we laughed at plastic cars. The Reliant Robin was plastic, and so was its big sister, the Scimitar, which was driven by Princess Anne. It is obligatory to mention this, in the same way as when someone sees a swan, he must point out it can break a man’s arm.

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The British firm TVR never really made it into the big league because, while its cars were fast and pretty and gruntsomely male, we all knew that behind the bellow and the leather the bodies were made from GRP. Which is plastic. Like a canoe. Or a lavatory seat.

Today, however, you will find plastic panels on almost every car made. And it’s easy to see why. It’s light, which means less fuel is needed to cart it around, and that means fewer emissions. What’s more, it’s cheaper than steel, which means greater profits for the car manufacturer, which means your pension fund is healthier. And on top of that, you never hear of plastics companies going on strike and throwing stuff at policemen, whereas steelworkers are always outside the plant, round a brazier, shouting. Which is bad for the just-in-time production techniques used at every car factory in the world.

The trouble is that you can always tell when a panel on a car is plastic. And I don’t mean when you tap it; I mean when you look at it. There’s something about the way it’s curved or creased, and there’s something too about the way it looks when painted. All of this stirs your limbic system, which says, “That’s crap.”

There was a white Toyota hybrid of some kind outside the office yesterday and its back end was a futuristic blend of shapes and creases that could never have been achieved if it had been made from steel. It put me in mind of a Star Wars Stormtrooper, and those Stormtrooper suits, you just know, are made from plastic and could therefore not withstand a pebble from David’s sling, let alone a blast of green from a space laser gun. And that’s Toyota’s problem. Your eyes tell you it looks great. But your soul is saying, “It’s rubbish.”

And that brings me on to the snappily named Renault Scénic Dynamique S Nav dCi 110. Pop into your dealership, and within about five minutes, no matter how gormless and cheaply suited the salesman might be, you are going to be slack-jawed in amazement and ready to sell your children for the chance to own such a thing.

It’s got a head-up display, for crying out loud. And I don’t mean a system like those you find in high-end BMWs and the F/A-18 Hornet, where the information you need is projected onto the windscreen. I mean a system where a panel rises electrically from the top of the dash. You’re going to be seriously excited when you first see this in operation.

“The new Scénic is like one of those Korean music centres you could buy for £25.99 in the 1980s”

Then there’s a massive glass sunroof with an electric blind, an 8.7in touchscreen, DAB radio, leather upholstery, cruise control and a system that wakes you up if you’re getting drowsy, along with more systems that keep you in the correct lane and ensure your lights dip automatically when a car is coming the other way. It can even recognise road signs.

You can change the colour of the interior lighting, and you get blacked-out windows in the back in case you need to give Puff Snoop a lift to a gig. And all this stuff is provided as standard for £25,445. Which, on the face of it, makes this car the bargain of the century.

Then you’re going to step out of the cabin to take in the exterior styling, and you’re going to like that too. As a general rule I loathe cars of this type and I’ve loathed the Scénic more than all the others. But this … this is very, very attractive.

Obviously, it isn’t a racing car. Yes, it has racy 20in wheels, but there’s a perfectly ordinary 1.5-litre diesel engine that turns fuel into a dribble of performance; 0-62mph takes 12.4 seconds, which would have been considered woeful 30 years ago. But which today, in health-and-safety Britain, is par for the course.

Then the salesman is going to tell you it’s capable of 72.4mpg. I don’t doubt for a moment that this is true. In the same way as I’m capable of running the 100-metre sprint in roughly the same time as Usain Bolt. In normal use you won’t get anything like 70mpg out of it, but it’s still very economical.

And practical. The rear seats, I admit, are a bit of a squash if you are burly or long, but the boot’s huge and the floor moves about to make it versatile as well. You can even buy a longer version that has seven seats.

So here we have a good-looking, well-equipped, practical and economical car that is exceptional value for money. Lovely.

Except it isn’t. Because the more you look at it, the more you realise there’s something wrong. And what’s wrong is: a lot of this car is made from plastic. And somehow you know. Which means you know it’s crap.

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And I’m sorry, but all that equipment provided as standard? For 25 grand? It sounds tremendous, but it does make you wonder about the quality of it all.

And the more you wonder, the more you start to think that maybe the new Scénic is like one of those Korean music centres you could buy for £25.99 in the 1980s. They had the flashing lights and twin tape decks and graphic equalisers. But they were in no way a substitute for the mix’n’match alternatives from Garrard, Marsden Hall, Akai, Teleton and so on.

There’s another problem too. Look up now and say to your family, “I’m thinking of buying a Renault Scénic Dynamique S Nav dCi 110”, and see if anyone is the slightest bit interested . . .

Thought not.

 

Head to head: Scénic v C4 Picasso

	Renault Scénic Dynamique S Nav dCi 110	Citroën C4 Picasso Flair BluHDI 120 S&S
Price	£25,445	£25,650
Fuel economy	72.4mpg	74.3mpg
CO2	100g/km	100g/km
Boot space	506 litres	537 litres

 

Write to us at driving@sunday-times.co.uk, or Driving, The Sunday Times, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF

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Abarth 595 Turismo review (2017 on)

THE Fiat executive who came up with the idea for the Abarth 595 must have a wicked sense of humour. Preposterous in many ways, it begins life as the little Fiat 500, which, even with the turbocharged version of the company’s 0.9-litre two-cylinder motor, could be described as having the get-up-and-go of a snail. Then Abarth, Fiat’s in-house tuning company, shoehorns in a 1.4-litre T-Jet turbo engine, and all hell breaks loose.

The engine comes from bigger Fiats, such as the Tipo, and is usually tuned to produce 118bhp. But that wouldn’t do for Abarth’s engineers; they turn up the wick and furnish the diminutive 595 with 143bhp. Sounds better, doesn’t it? Well, that’s just the base version …

There’s also the 595 Turismo, the variant we tested, which has an extra 20bhp, and the range-topping 595 Competizione, which goes up to 11, or rather 177bhp. It’s not quite the craziest 500-based Abarth – that title belongs to the 187bhp 695 Biposto – but on the bonkers scale the 595 sits between “mildly unhinged” and “approach with caution”.

It’s not just the power that’s hare-brained, or even the power-to-weight ratio (the 595 Turismo tips the scales at a fraction over a ton), but the power to size. It has similar dimensions to Michael Jordan’s left training shoe, and it’s a similar shape, too. Its closest rival is the Mini Cooper S, but in comparison the Mini looks like a giant.

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Other touches too give you a sense that the guys at Abarth were having a bit of a laugh with the 595 Turismo. Hit the Sport button and the handsome, fully digital instrument panel switches to show, most prominently, a G-meter. Yes, a G-meter, which records the sideways force generated as you go round bends. It’s the sort of gadget made famous by the monstrous Nissan Skyline and more commonly seen in supercars. When it pops up in front of you in the Abarth 595, it’s hard to keep a straight face.

The 595 moves with comical speed – through its native environment of narrow city streets, it goes like a demonic rat through a laboratory maze. Best of all, it feels fast at any speed, especially the convertible 595C version, roof down. It’s easy to have fun without breaking any speed limits.

Selecting Sport mode also triggers an increase in throttle response and adds weight to the steering. The latter is lively but not jittery, with decent feedback about the front tyres’ grip. Despite the 595’s high sides, compared with its length, body roll is kept under control in the Turismo – “frequency selective” dampers are fitted to the rear suspension to increase roadholding and stability. The setup results in very little understeer, too, with plenty of grip at the front, even when you’re pulling hard out of corners.

It’s not all good news, though. As with a Smart ForTwo, the short wheelbase means bumps in the roads are pronounced, and every sleeping policeman feels like Everest. The suspension deals with this shortcoming well, though, and the 595 Turismo isn’t a tooth-rattler.

The Turismo’s exhaust note is not over the top — it’s not a popping and crackling fire-breather — but it makes a rorty and eager noise reminiscent of a lion growling through a didgeridoo.

Inside, the sound is sufficiently deadened even in the soft-top; at 70mph, more noise comes in through the windows than the canvas above your head. Being subjected to a constant din on a long journey can be exhausting; not a bit of it with the little Abarth 595.

It has what Clarkson might describe as the classic problem associated with Italian cars, namely it is designed for gorillas

It’s also not short of kit. Our test car came with rear parking sensors, electric roof, sat nav (albeit with a small screen, but then this is a small car), climate control, DAB and Bluetooth, and the infotainment system was easy to use. It also included apps, although it was unclear how useful they were.

A few other neat touches are evident. The edges of the 12V (what used to be called the cigarette lighter) and USB sockets are illuminated with LEDs, and the circular instrument binnacle is fully digital and really quite cool.

It’s not all good news, though. Annoyingly, the infotainment system froze when the map updated, forcing us to switch it off and on. The 595 also has what Jeremy Clarkson might describe as the classic problem associated with Italian cars: it appears to have been designed for gorillas, with the pedals too close and the wheel too far away (there’s height adjustment on the steering wheel, but it can’t be brought closer to you). At least the seats in the Turismo are wonderfully supportive.

The aluminium gearlever is surprisingly long, appearing to have the same stalk as the plain old Fiat 500 – sports car enthusiasts might expect a short-throw lever. It’s not the most satisfying box with which to shift through the gears as you have to row, rather than flick up and down.

Also, the electric window buttons are in the centre, next to the gearlever, rather than on the door, which takes a lot of getting used to.

The driver’s seat goes forward and back, and can be pumped up to adjust the height, but the lever, on the left of the seat squab, is a similar shape and length to the handbrake, which sits right next to it in this narrow car. More than once we went to pump up the seat and found ourselves about to perform a handbrake turn. Still, almost locking the back wheels while doing 50mph on a dual carriageway is rather exciting.

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There’s little space in the rear, of course, but you could get two children in there, assuming they’re not in rear-facing child seats, and the boot is adequate for a supermarket run, as long as you’re not feeding the 5,000.

Final grumble: putting the 595C’s roof all the way down blocks the rear view over the back seats.

The thing is, all the niggles become rather endearing. It’s imperfect in the same way your children are imperfect, and you wouldn’t try to sell them off every time they wound you up. Would you?

The sheer silliness of the thing lends it charm. The Abarth 595 is great fun, a car with character and verve, and not many can claim that these days.

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source https://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/abarth-595-turismo-review-2012/

Mini Countryman review (2017 on)

FROM a car maker once known for making some of the smallest and cheekiest runarounds on the road comes the Countryman, the not-so-mini Mini.

From 1959 to 2000 Minis were perfect for nipping through traffic and slotting first time into a parking space. Yet here’s a Mini that towers over traffic and does the parking for you.

This second-generation Countryman has grown over its immediate predecessor too. Not just a little bit; it’s positively ballooned.

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There’s a reason, of course. Drivers have been telling the company, now owned by BMW: “We love our Mini … but it would be great if it was a bit more spacious, like our friends’ Nissan Qashqai.” The 2010 Countryman felt like a Mini first and a family car a very distant second.

So the Countryman now offers “five full-sized seats”, according to Mini. That’s as long as your definition of “full-sized” is two adults in the front and three children in the back. Three adults on the rear seats would be a squash and a squeeze, but three children sit comfortably, even with one in a high-backed child seat.

There’s masses of legroom in the back, thanks in part to the car’s much-increased wheelbase (the distance between the front and rear axles), and the bench seating, which can slide backwards and forwards.

The boot’s bigger too. The original Countryman carried 350 litres of gear; this one packs in 450 litres, enough even for those with “an insatiable hunger for adventure”, says Mini. Perhaps, if loading up the weekly Waitrose shop counts.

Despite all this growing-up, Mini hasn’t lost its sense of fun. One option on the new Countryman is a padded seat that folds out from the underside of the boot’s false floor to cover the back bumper; it’s described as a picnic bench but is more use as a comfortable place to park your bottom while you pull off muddy wellies.

The cabin is pure Mini. The dashboard lights up like a Wurlitzer jukebox, the glowing-red engine start switch looks as though it was pinched from Nasa, there’s selectable mood lighting (which you’ll probably never change) and you can alter the way the car responds, using the mode switch at the base of the gearstick.

Some of the main instrument dials look small and cheap, but the stowage space is excellent, with big door bins in the front and back and cupholders galore. Rear passengers even get their own air vents.

What lets the new Countryman down is the driving position. With the manual gearbox, you have to sit much closer to the steering wheel than you’d like, because if you don’t you can’t depress the clutch pedal properly. It’s an uncomfortable arrangement — and the eight-speed automatic gearbox will add £1,595 to your bill.

The engine range is the same as in the rest of the Mini family. The Cooper has a 134bhp three-cylinder turbocharged petrol, and the Cooper S has a 189bhp 2-litre four-cylinder turbo. For the barmy, there’s a 228bhp John Cooper Works version.

The backbone of the diesel range is the Cooper D, which is a four-cylinder with 148bhp. The power jumps to 187bhp with the Cooper SD, but the Cooper D — tested here — is all most people will need. Priced from £24,425, it officially returns up to 65mpg and emits 113g/km of CO2. In our hands it averaged 45mpg, but in long-distance 50mpg should be feasible. There’s also a plug-in petrol-electric hybrid, which, at £27,085 after the government grant is taken into account, could come into its own if diesels faces punitive tax rises and other charges.

The Cooper D engine is well insulated and smooth-sounding, and the car surged forwards confidently from low in the rev range, with a big helping of torque from 1500rpm. You could change up a gear at 2000rpm and never venture further round the revs dial. But given a full head of steam it will nip from 0 to 62mph in under nine seconds.

There’s a bit of wind noise from the car’s boxy body, but the refinement is otherwise impressive. What’s a surprise is the firm ride; despite our test car wearing petite 17in wheels with medium-profile (and therefore reasonably pliant) tyres, every lump, bump and pothole made its presence known in the cabin.

The Countryman’s trump card is its handling. Many SUVs in this price range seem designed by committee, whereas the Mini feels as though someone who enjoys driving invested time and energy in making the Clubman keen and responsive in most conditions. You can throw it about and it doesn’t go to pieces.

We didn’t get to try an ALL4 four-wheel-drive version. It’s a good system in other Minis, but unless you know you’ll need the added traction it affords, you’d be better off saving the money — £1,600 — or spending it on the seemingly endless options Mini offers drivers.

The not-so-mini Mini has grown up, and we think it’s all the better for it. The Countryman II doesn’t force compromise on families as its predecessor did, but it’s still fun to drive and fun to be around.

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source https://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/mini-countryman-review-2017/

McLaren Creates Coolest Dashboard

McLaren Creates Coolest Dashboard Ever for the 720S

The upcoming McLaren 720S just keeps on getting better with each tease. For this week, McLaren has decided to tease us with the car’s new dashboard setup, which is quite genius.

This new “Folding Driver Display” includes aluminum switches that allow it to rotate. In the Full Display Mode, the display will give the driver all of the usual information you’d expect from an instrument cluster. If the driver changes the mode (Comfort, Sport or Track), the layout of the display appropriately. In the Slim Display Mode, the display will slide down and back, showing only the essential information in a slim strip. McLaren says this is perfect for drivers who want limited distraction and their information in the simplest form possible.

“The new McLaren Driver Interface is a matchless example of advanced driver engagement built around two separate high-definition screens; a Folding Driver Display and a Central Infotainment Touchscreen,” explained Mark Vinnels, Executive Director – Product Development at McLaren Automotive. “The Folding Driver Display is revolutionary in offering both a choice of information shown and physical position, seamlessly complementing driver preferences while at the same time furnishing a glorious piece of engineering theater.”

McLaren Creates Coolest Dashboard Ever for the 720S

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Lamborghini Huracan Destroys Nurburgring Record

Lamborghini Huracan

One of the true tests that every supercar must face is a Nurburgring Nordschleife lap. For years, automakers have been testing their cars on this track, tuning them along the way with the hopes to set new lap time records.

Lamborghini has been hard at work testing their upcoming Huracan Performante at the “Green Hell,” and it looks like their hard work has paid off.

In a new video from the Italian automaker, they show, from start to finish, the new supercar’s Nurburgring Nordschleife lap in its entirety. It took the Huracan Performante only 6:52.01 to make it from the starting line to the finish line. TO put this into perspective, the Porsche 918 Spyder’s lap time was 6:57 and the Aventador SV did it in 6:59.71. That’s a HUGE difference in time.

Lamborghini Huracan Performante Destroys Nurburgring Record

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Lamborghini Huracan For Sale

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