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DON’TMISSIT! PRESENTS THE LEGENDS SERIES Date: 18.May 2023 15:09:55 SPECIAL COLLECTORS’ EDITION C L A S S I C L E G E N D S PRESENTS MODERN MOCLASSIC LEGENDSERN C L A S SI C & S P O R T S C A R P R E S E N T S … M O D E R N BESTOFTHE’80S,90S&NOUGHTIESNEWBREED C L A S SI C & S P O R T S C A R P R E S E N T S … A S T O N M A R T I N L E G E N D S Date: 28.Jun 2023 16:11:11 SPECIAL COLLECTORS’ EDITION PRESENTS ASTONMARTIN OVERACENTURYOFBRITISHSPORTINGGREATSLEGENDSARTINASTON C L A S SI C & S P O R T S C A R P R E S E N T S … O F F R O A D L E G E N D S Date: 02.Aug 2023 10:38:26 SPECIAL COLLECTORS’ EDITION PRESENTS OAD OFF RUGGEDWARRIORSFROMAROUNDTHEWORLDLEGENDSOFF-ROAD £7.99 ISSUE 7 INCLUDING BMW,Audi, Maserati,Alfa Romeo,Volvo, MG, Jaguar, Mercedes, Lotus,Tesla and manymore! £7.99 ISSUE 8 INCLUDING Ulster, DB1-9,V8,Vantage, Zagato,Vanquish, Virage, Lagonda, Bond,The Beatles and more! £7.99 ISSUE 9 INCLUDING Land-Rover, Range Rover, Jeep CJ-7,Wagoneer & Cherokee,Toyota FJ, Mercedes G-Wagen and more! Introducing the Legends collection, a series of magazines gathering the finest stories from the past 25 years of Classic & Sports Car magazine. In 2023 Classic & Sports Car celebrates its 500th issue, and we’ve been trawling the archives to curate a set of special editions focused on historic automotive brands and compelling themes from across the classic car world. The first four have already sold out, so don’t delay: Japanese Legends explores engineering excellence from the land of the rising sun; Ferrari Legends gathers a stable of Maranello icons; Modern Classic Legends looks at the latest additions to the classic fold; Aston Martin Legends samples more than 50 of the finest GTs; and Off-road Legends turns its focus to the greatest go-anywhere vehicles. ON SALE NOW! Simply visit magsdirect.co.uk/classic-sports-car-presents/ COMING SOON IN THE LEGENDS SERIES: • Mercedes-Benz Legends (on sale 21 September) • American Legends (on sale 26 October) • Alfa Romeo Legends (on sale 30 November)
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56 ‘I point-blank refuse to name it after any famous Muppet, ogre or Marvel superhero’ Issue 6582 | Volume 317 | No 12 NEWS Jaguar limo New ‘XJ’ in radical fresh-start EV trio 6 Alpine A310 Reborn as four-seat electric sports car 10 Ford, VW camper vans Next-gen Nugget, California 12 Insurance price hike Why premiums have shot up 14 Kia EV5 Sportage-sized electric SUV on the way 16 TESTED Range Rover Velar Does this update go far enough? 22 Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer Revised PHEV rated 26 Toyota bZ4X The car behind the alphabet soup 27 Mercedes-AMG EQE 53 Big, 617bhp saloon hits UK 27 Porsche 911 Carrera T ROAD TEST 48 FEATURES Best Fun EV 2023 Supertest of six £40k hatches 28 Unimog driven The unstoppable 4x4 that does it all 38 Mohammed Ben Sulayem FIA boss speaks candidly 44 OUR CARS Audi TT RS Sport Edition arrives for a farewell tour 56 Range Rover PHEV pros and cons on a Loire holiday 57 BMW iX1 iDrive infotainment given real-world test 59 EVERY WEEK Jesse Crosse Tech set to make EVs simpler, cheaper 13 Secret Source Voice control? Computer says ‘nein’ 15 Matt Prior Why the first supercar is ancient history 17 Subscribe Save money and get exclusive benefits 18 Steve Cropley All set for a hillclimb in the BMW i4 19 Damien Smith Lotus Type 66 and the Can-Am days 21 Your Views JLR’s product vision in three words 60 On this day 1986: Subaru’s 4x4 Capri; MVS Venturi 66 Slideshow The most contentious cars GM has made 74 DEALS Second Chance Land Rover Freelander from £500 62 James Ruppert The cars most likely to pass an MOT 65 Road test index Track down that road test here 67 New cars A-Z Key car stats, from Abarth to Zenvo 68 Autocar (ISSN 1355-8293 USPS 25-185) is published weekly by Haymarket Media Group, Bridge House, 69 London Road, Twickenham TW1 3SP, United Kingdom. The US annual subscription price is $190.00. Air freight and mailing in the USA by agent named World Container Inc, 150-15, 183rd Street, Jamaica, NY 11413, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Brooklyn, NY 11256. US postmaster: Send address changes to Autocar, Air Business Ltd, c/o World Container Inc, 150-15, 183rd Street, Jamaica, NY 11413, USA. Subscription records are maintained at Haymarket Media Group, Bridge House, 69 London Road, Twickenham TW1 3SP, United Kingdom. Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent. Autocar is published by Haymarket Media Group, Bridge House, 69 London Road, Twickenham, TW1 3SP, United Kingdom, haymarket.com Te l +44 (0)20 8267 5000 Autocar magazine is also published in Estonia, Greece, India, Japan, Latvia, Korea and Thailand. Autocar is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). We abide by the Editors’ Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think we haven’t met those standards and want to make a complaint, contact autocar@haymarket.com. For more information, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk I M AG E I S N E Y D Haymarket is certified by BSI to environmental standard ISO14001 and energy management standard ISO50001 ISSUES WITH YOUR MAG? For subscriber issues, call 0344 848 8816. If you can’t find a news-stand copy of Autocar in your local area, email autocar@haymarket.com Autocar is a member of the organising committee of Car Of The Year caroftheyear.org THIS WEEK VAUXHALL ASTRA SPORTS TOURER PHEV 26 THE 4 x4 WITH OFF-ROAD SUPERPOWERS 38 FUN, AFFORDABLE EV s GO HEAD TO HEAD 28 C O V E R STORY ❝ IT SETS THE TEMPLATE FROM WHICH TO TAKE THE ELECTRIC HOT HATCH FORWARD ❞ ILLYA VERPRAET BRINGS GOOD NEWS FROM ANNUAL ELECTRIC CAR ‘HANDLING DAY’ 28 IMAGE THE CARS SPEARHEADING JAGUAR’S REBOOT 6 COMMENT WILL EVs EVER BE PURE DRIVER’S CARS? YOU BET AS RECENTLY AS 2019, there were fewer than 20 different electric cars on sale in the UK. If you go shopping today, you’ll find that figure is far closer to 100 – and it’s growing rapidly. As the number of electric options rises, the cars themselves are becoming more diverse and include a variety of performance machines that put an increased focus on ‘ fun’. Just take a look at the six contenders in our second annual ‘Best Fun EV’ group test. We considerably narrowed the field this year to concentrate on affordable EVs (although that term remains, sadly, somewhat relative) yet still assembled a field of machines featuring a broad range of sizes, designs and powertrains. Without spoiling the results of our 10-page special (p28), it’s clear electric cars have some way to go before they can truly match petrol hot hatches for thrills – but that doesn’t mean you should dismiss them. Just look how far they’ve come in such a short time. Electric technolog y is developing fast and the rate of progress isn’t going to slow. Given some of the models coming soon – the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is one of the most anticipated cars of this year for a reason – performance EVs are only going to get better and better. Stay tuned. James Attwood Acting mag editor james.attwood@haymarket.com @atters_ j Rachel Burgess is away youtube.com/autocar facebook.com/autocarofficial twitter.com/autocar autocar_official NEVER MISS AN ISSUE Subscribe p18 30 AUGUST 2023 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 5

DON’TMISSIT!

PRESENTS

THE LEGENDS SERIES

Date: 18.May 2023 15:09:55

SPECIAL COLLECTORS’ EDITION

C L A S S I C L E G E N D S

PRESENTS

MODERN

MOCLASSIC LEGENDSERN C L A S SI C & S P O R T S C A R P R E S E N T S … M O D E R N

BESTOFTHE’80S,90S&NOUGHTIESNEWBREED

C L A S SI C & S P O R T S C A R P R E S E N T S …

A S T O N M A R T I N L E G E N D S

Date: 28.Jun 2023 16:11:11

SPECIAL COLLECTORS’ EDITION

PRESENTS

ASTONMARTIN

OVERACENTURYOFBRITISHSPORTINGGREATSLEGENDSARTINASTON

C L A S SI C & S P O R T S C A R P R E S E N T S …

O F F R O A D L E G E N D S

Date: 02.Aug 2023 10:38:26

SPECIAL COLLECTORS’ EDITION

PRESENTS

OAD OFF

RUGGEDWARRIORSFROMAROUNDTHEWORLDLEGENDSOFF-ROAD

£7.99 ISSUE 7

INCLUDING BMW,Audi, Maserati,Alfa Romeo,Volvo, MG,

Jaguar, Mercedes, Lotus,Tesla and manymore!

£7.99 ISSUE 8

INCLUDING Ulster, DB1-9,V8,Vantage, Zagato,Vanquish,

Virage, Lagonda, Bond,The Beatles and more!

£7.99 ISSUE 9

INCLUDING Land-Rover, Range Rover, Jeep CJ-7,Wagoneer &

Cherokee,Toyota FJ, Mercedes G-Wagen and more!

Introducing the Legends collection, a series of magazines gathering the finest stories from the past 25 years of Classic & Sports Car magazine. In 2023 Classic & Sports Car celebrates its 500th issue, and we’ve been trawling the archives to curate a set of special editions focused on historic automotive brands and compelling themes from across the classic car world. The first four have already sold out, so don’t delay: Japanese Legends explores engineering excellence from the land of the rising sun; Ferrari Legends gathers a stable of Maranello icons; Modern Classic Legends looks at the latest additions to the classic fold; Aston Martin Legends samples more than 50 of the finest GTs;

and Off-road Legends turns its focus to the greatest go-anywhere vehicles.

ON SALE NOW! Simply visit magsdirect.co.uk/classic-sports-car-presents/ COMING SOON IN THE LEGENDS SERIES: • Mercedes-Benz Legends (on sale 21 September) • American Legends (on sale 26 October) • Alfa Romeo Legends (on sale 30 November)

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