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FIRST FOR NEWS AND REVIEWS EVERY WEEK How to get Autocar magazine amid Covid-19 With more need than ever for engaging, entertaining magazines, we plan to ensure that Autocar will continue to be published in print every Wednesday. You should continue to find copies in supermarkets and other shops each week, so you can grab the latest issue while doing your essential food shopping. We have also prepared some special offers for both print and digital subscriptions to Autocar, so you can continue to receive every issue without leaving your home. For all our best subscription offers, visit themagazineshop.com To receive six print issues for £6, or a six-issue print and digital bundle for £8.50, visit themagazineshop.com/aca/easms20c Autocar is available digitally on: ● Apple’s App Store ● Exact Editions ● Google Play Store ● Readly ● Zinio Simply search for ‘Autocar magazine’ on your device. We remain committed to bringing you the best motoring magazine every week, to help keep you entertained at this difficult time.
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65 ‘I’ve got 82 of my own helmets. I tried to keep everything’ THIS WEEK Issue 6448 | Volume 307 | No 6 NEWS Lotus fightback Electric sports car, SUV, new Esprit 6 Tesla’s 200mph saloon 1100bhp for Model S Plaid+ 10 Pininfarina Battista We ride in the electric hypercar 12 Jaguar’s future Will it be mothballed, sold or saved? 14 Is this the year of the EV? Top execs give their view 16 TESTED BMW 128ti Hot hatch has VW Golf GTI in its sights 20 Vauxhall Insignia GSi Defiant stand of a dying breed 25 Alpina D3 S Touring ‘D’ is for diesel – and discerning 26 Porsche Taycan Entry level, with an enthusiast twist 27 Toyota GR Supra 2.0 Four-pot version driven in UK 29 Jaguar F-Pace P400 MHEV Hot mild-hybrid SUV 29 Cupra Formentor 2.0 TSI VZ2 DSG ROAD TEST 32 FEATURES Porsche 911 versus Taycan Evolution or revolution? 42 Hometown glory Clevedon boy on town’s star car 48 Aston Martin’s Q division From Gaydon with love 50 Carzam exam We test out the online car retailer 58 Dario Franchitti Top racer, pundit, serial collector 65 OUR CARS Porsche 911 Carrera Final verdict on entry-level car 70 BMW 420d Coupé 200 trees in its boot. Yes, 200 73 EVERY WEEK Jesse Crosse Painting by numbers (all 1s and 0s) 15 Jim Holder Is hydrogen power smart or ‘stupid’? 17 Steve Cropley JLR, Lotus and a weird hybrid thing 19 Subscribe Save money and get exclusive benefits 40 Damien Smith How Formula 1 is shaping up for 2021 62 Motorsport round-up Extreme E, WRC, BTCC, F2 63 Your Views Is the VW Group slowly killing Seat? 68 Matt Prior Why we may eventually grow out of cars 90 DEALS James Ruppert Do you deliver? Lockdown bargains 74 As good as new Current-shape Merc E-Class Estate 77 Spied in the classifieds Range Rover, Beetle, MX-5 78 Used buying guide Go wild: TVR Sagaris from £65k 80 New cars A-Z Key car stats, from Abarth to Zenos 82 Road test index Track down that road test here 89 Autocar, ISSN number 1355-8293 (USPS 25185), is published weekly by Haymarket Media Group, Bridge House, 69 London Road, Twickenham TW1 3SP, United Kingdom. The US annual subscription price is $199.78. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named WN Shipping USA, 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster: Send address changes to Autocar, WN Shipping USA, 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, 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 Automotive, Bridge House, 69 London Road, Twickenham, Middlesex, TW1 3SP, UK, haymarketgroup.com Tel +44 (0)20 8267 5000 Autocar magazine is also published in China, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines 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 Haymarket is certified by BSI to environmental standard ISO14001 and energy management standard ISO50001 PEFC Certified This product is from sustainably managed forests and controlled sources www.pefc.co.uk TROUBLE FINDING AUTOCAR? If you struggle to find a copy of Autocar in your local retailer or area, please send an email to connor.chappell@flgroup.co.uk who will investigate the problem for you. Autocar is a member of the organising committee of Car Of The Year caroftheyear.org CULTURE CLASH: 911 AND TAYCAN COMPARED 42 FRANCHITTI AND HIS AMAZING MEMORABILIA 65 CUPRA FORMENTOR: ROAD TEST VERDICT 32 COVER STORY ❝AT TIMES, IT DOESN’T EVEN FEEL LIKE MAGIC BUT SOMETHING CLOSER TO WITCHCRAFT❞ PORSCHE’S EV HAS HAD A SPELLBINDING EFFECT ON ANDREW FRANKEL 42 IMAGE LOTUS‘S BOLD NEW GENERATION OF CARS 6 COMMENT LOTUS ENDS THIS ERA TO CHASE A BETTER ONE SO CONFIDENT IS Lotus in its bold new future product plan that at the same time as announcing its first new sports car since 2009, it has also confirmed the end of its entire current model range. The Elise has been Lotus for the past 25 years. It has been the only constant among many a crisis, management change and false dawn. The Exige and Evora feel like they have been at Lotus almost as long, and however great and pure an experience each car is to drive, a viable business they do not make. It’s a misconception that Lotus’s acquisition by Chinese giant Geely instantly paved the streets of Hethel with gold. The company’s management has been given the resources to operate day to day, but they’ve had to prove Lotus can be a viable business with what it had before it received substantial investment. While still loss making, those losses are under control and its sales actually improved in 2020. Now, off the back of that turnaround, Geely is ready to invest in Lotus’s future. Tears will be shed over the great cars it leaves behind, but time moves on. The world is ready for a new Lotus – and Lotuses – that retains the driving purity and lightness but that you truly live with every day rather than have to make excuses for. Much like Porsche in that regard, a great car company yet also a great car business. Mark Tisshaw Editor mark.tisshaw@haymarket.com @mtisshaw NEVER NEVER MISS AN ISSUE Subscribe p40 3 FEBRUARY 2021 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 5

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65

‘I’ve got 82 of my own helmets. I tried to keep everything’

THIS WEEK

Issue 6448 | Volume 307 | No 6

NEWS

Lotus fightback Electric sports car, SUV, new Esprit 6 Tesla’s 200mph saloon 1100bhp for Model S Plaid+ 10 Pininfarina Battista We ride in the electric hypercar 12 Jaguar’s future Will it be mothballed, sold or saved? 14 Is this the year of the EV? Top execs give their view 16

TESTED

BMW 128ti Hot hatch has VW Golf GTI in its sights 20 Vauxhall Insignia GSi Defiant stand of a dying breed 25 Alpina D3 S Touring ‘D’ is for diesel – and discerning 26 Porsche Taycan Entry level, with an enthusiast twist 27 Toyota GR Supra 2.0 Four-pot version driven in UK 29 Jaguar F-Pace P400 MHEV Hot mild-hybrid SUV 29 Cupra Formentor 2.0 TSI VZ2 DSG ROAD TEST 32

FEATURES Porsche 911 versus Taycan Evolution or revolution? 42 Hometown glory Clevedon boy on town’s star car 48 Aston Martin’s Q division From Gaydon with love 50 Carzam exam We test out the online car retailer 58 Dario Franchitti Top racer, pundit, serial collector 65

OUR CARS Porsche 911 Carrera Final verdict on entry-level car 70 BMW 420d Coupé 200 trees in its boot. Yes, 200 73

EVERY WEEK Jesse Crosse Painting by numbers (all 1s and 0s) 15 Jim Holder Is hydrogen power smart or ‘stupid’? 17 Steve Cropley JLR, Lotus and a weird hybrid thing 19 Subscribe Save money and get exclusive benefits 40 Damien Smith How Formula 1 is shaping up for 2021 62 Motorsport round-up Extreme E, WRC, BTCC, F2 63 Your Views Is the VW Group slowly killing Seat? 68 Matt Prior Why we may eventually grow out of cars 90

DEALS

James Ruppert Do you deliver? Lockdown bargains 74 As good as new Current-shape Merc E-Class Estate 77 Spied in the classifieds Range Rover, Beetle, MX-5 78 Used buying guide Go wild: TVR Sagaris from £65k 80 New cars A-Z Key car stats, from Abarth to Zenos 82 Road test index Track down that road test here 89

Autocar, ISSN number 1355-8293 (USPS 25185), is published weekly by Haymarket Media Group, Bridge

House, 69 London Road, Twickenham TW1 3SP, United Kingdom. The US annual subscription price is $199.78. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named WN Shipping USA, 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd

Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster: Send address changes to Autocar, WN Shipping USA, 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, 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 Automotive, Bridge House, 69 London Road, Twickenham, Middlesex,

TW1 3SP, UK, haymarketgroup.com Tel +44 (0)20 8267 5000 Autocar magazine is also published in China, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea,

Malaysia, Philippines 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

Haymarket is certified by BSI to environmental standard

ISO14001 and energy management standard

ISO50001

PEFC Certified

This product is from sustainably managed forests and controlled sources www.pefc.co.uk

TROUBLE FINDING

AUTOCAR? If you struggle to find a copy of Autocar in your local retailer or area, please send an email to connor.chappell@flgroup.co.uk who will investigate the problem for you.

Autocar is a member of the organising committee of Car Of The Year caroftheyear.org

CULTURE CLASH: 911 AND TAYCAN COMPARED 42

FRANCHITTI AND HIS AMAZING MEMORABILIA 65

CUPRA FORMENTOR: ROAD TEST VERDICT 32

COVER STORY

❝AT TIMES, IT DOESN’T EVEN FEEL LIKE MAGIC BUT SOMETHING CLOSER TO WITCHCRAFT❞

PORSCHE’S EV HAS HAD A SPELLBINDING EFFECT ON ANDREW FRANKEL 42

IMAGE

LOTUS‘S BOLD NEW GENERATION OF CARS 6

COMMENT

LOTUS ENDS THIS ERA TO CHASE A BETTER ONE

SO CONFIDENT IS Lotus in its bold new future product plan that at the same time as announcing its first new sports car since 2009, it has also confirmed the end of its entire current model range. The Elise has been Lotus for the past 25 years. It has been the only constant among many a crisis, management change and false dawn. The Exige and Evora feel like they have been at Lotus almost as long, and however great and pure an experience each car is to drive, a viable business they do not make.

It’s a misconception that Lotus’s acquisition by Chinese giant Geely instantly paved the streets of Hethel with gold. The company’s management has been given the resources to operate day to day, but they’ve had to prove Lotus can be a viable business with what it had before it received substantial investment. While still loss making, those losses are under control and its sales actually improved in 2020. Now, off the back of that turnaround, Geely is ready to invest in Lotus’s future. Tears will be shed over the great cars it leaves behind, but time moves on. The world is ready for a new Lotus – and Lotuses – that retains the driving purity and lightness but that you truly live with every day rather than have to make excuses for. Much like Porsche in that regard, a great car company yet also a great car business.

Mark Tisshaw Editor mark.tisshaw@haymarket.com

@mtisshaw

NEVER

NEVER MISS AN

ISSUE Subscribe p40

3 FEBRUARY 2021 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 5

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