Road test yearbook: July to September

The classics kept coming over the rest of the month. Used car guru James Ruppert picked some desirable second-hand ULEZ beaters, Simon Hucknall slotted himself into the hilariously flamboyant Ferrari 328 to compare it with the Alfa Romeo Giulia – its distant Italian relation – and Matt Saunders got to grips with McLaren’s uprated version of the snarling 2004 Mercedes McLaren SLR supercar. 

It wasn’t all full-bore standing-start launches and powerslides, though. One highlight was a photo of a beaming Colin Goodwin, straddling a retro sports bike and pondering a selection of Suzuki’s finest creations. Not many car brands would bring out boats and bikes as part of its centenary celebrations, but then Suzuki has never really done the whole ‘convention’ thing, has it? Surely a contender for the prestigious Day Out of the Year Award. 

Or maybe that goes to Richard Lane, who was charged with pitting the new Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport against fearsome hot hatch rivals from BMW and Honda to decide a victor. Whatever the winner (yep, it was the Civic Type R – again), this feature proved in spectacular fashion that one of our favourite segments is alive and not just well but better than ever.

Felix Page

Moment to remember

Richard Lane: I was near Nottingham on another job so offered to help Classic & Sports Car with quite a special shoot they were doing in the area. I can’t say too much yet, but for me it ended with several quick-ish laps in the most perfect XK120, recently restored by Jaguar. What an absolute honey it was, the straight six so precise but velvety, and the chassis balance right-on. Gizza job, chaps?

Moment to forget

Steve Cropley: No, not my moment to forget, but a truly terrible one for TV presenter and car pundit Andy Jaye, retained to run the first official reveal of the Emira at Lotus’s Hethel HQ. 

The event was being staged outside so that a parade of classic Lotuses could lead up to the big reveal – a bullish interview with Jenson Button, who’d been driving the terrific new car. It had been a sunny day in July, but one of those days that’s bright and blue one minute, just before it rains. And it didn’t just rain. It bucketed. It lashed every surface. We hacks sheltered under a marquee. But Jaye was repeatedly drenched, as if God had rerouted the Niagara Falls. Why didn’t he take cover? Because Lotus had organised a worldwide video satellite link-up of enthusiastic owners as far away as Australia, many poised to order an Emira. There was simply no moving, even for a few minutes while waiting for the rain to stop. Jaye just had to take it, and he did. He smiled a lot. And joked. It was mesmerisingly horrible to watch, but it was the work of a professional.

Quote of the month“A brand like ours has to have strong roots, and they should build on the history of the brand. But you should learn about history. You shouldn’t repeat history until you fail” - Stephan Winkelmann, Lamborghini CEO, on why his firm won’t keep looking back.

Road Tests

7 July, Audi Q4 E-tron 40 Sport, three and a half stars: “Practical, pleasant, efficient, but not a superior premium product.” Price as tested £52,685 Power 201bhp Torque 229lb ft 0-60mph 8.1sec 30-70mph 7.8sec Economy 2.9mpkWh

14 July, BMW M5 CS, five stars: “Adds delicacy and feel to the M5’s talents. A formidable driver’s car.” Price as tested £140,780 Power 626bhp Torque 553lb ft 0-60mph 3.0sec 30-70mph 2.4sec Economy 18.5mpg

21 July, Lotus Exige Sport 390 Final Edition, four and a half stars: “Fitting finale for the Exige that beguiles on road and thrills on track.” Price as tested £68,650 Power 392bhp Torque 311lb ft 0-60mph 4.0sec 30-70mph 3.6sec Economy 22.1mpg

28 July, Nissan Qashqai 1.3 DiG-T 158 Tekna, four stars: “Ticks the important family car boxes but its powertrain frustrates.” Price as tested £32,710 Power 156bhp Torque 192lb ft 0-60mph 10.0sec 30-70mph 9.3sec Economy 43.0mpg

August

Was Lamborghini’s Countach LPI 800-4 the most controversial new supercar of 2021? It’s hard to think of a better candidate.

This tribute was one of the rocking-horse-dropping rarities unveiled at Pebble Beach in August. Powered by the same supercapacitor technology that was used in the Sián FKP 37 and timed to mark the 50th anniversary of the original Countach, the LPI 800-4 makes 803bhp between its atmospheric V12 engine and its electric motor. But it was its design – a retro ‘homage’ that almost felt like a pastiche – that really set tongues wagging. With original Countach designer Marcello Gandini and returning Lamborghini boss Stephan Winkelmann both publicly critical of the car, it will be interesting to watch whether the plan for a production run of 112 cars (priced at £1.7 million each before taxes) actually comes to fruition as planned or if, as seems more likely, buyers now quietly back away. The production versions of the Bugatti Bolide and Pininfarina Battista hypercars were also unveiled in California. 

Our August news pages brought you a predictive image of Volkswagen’s incoming junior electric car, the ID 2 crossover; a scoop on the next BMW 5 Series, due to bring an all-electric version and a plug-in hybrid BMW M5 to the road in 2023; and word of the shelving of Toyota’s Le Mans-linked GR Super Sport halo car project after a serious crash in development. Sources quietly suggest the project might yet come back to life, but for now it’s on ice.

August tends to bring some of Autocar’s bigger set-piece cover features to the shelves, and this one stayed true to template. There was a new-versus-used special, in which Matt Prior had to decide between a new Toyota GR Yaris and a second-hand Audi R8 V8 for similar outlay (he picked the midengined one, funnily enough), and I had to referee a match between a new Volkswagen ID 3 and a used Jaguar I-Pace (used won again). We also reprised our Top 100 New Cars coming to showrooms before the end of the year extravaganza, for those who like to stay one step ahead of the game.

But the highlight of the month was Britain’s Best Affordable Driver’s Car. That took us to Scotland’s Glenshee for the first time, and although the midges were out in force, they certainly weren’t quick enough to keep up with a well-driven Caterham Seven. Over those three days, the stature of one of this year’s breakthrough hot hatchbacks really presented itself. The Hyundai i20 N beat its rivals with much more power and pace, thanks to a really compelling combination of compactness, simplicity, value, dynamic tenacity and vivid fun factor. It scooped the win by a margin of 15 points.

Our first drives section brought test impressions on cars as different as the fourth-generation Skoda Fabia (“as easy-going, practical and functional as ever”) and the Lamborghini Huracán STO (“deadly accurate” and “utterly savage”).

When done with the STO, Mike Duff engaged in a bit of lateral thinking, driving the latest Porsche 911 Carrera S to Aberdeenshire’s A911 just for the hell of it. Don’t all rush at once to follow in his footsteps, though; that road turned out to be a bit of a dud. Thankfully, the nearby A944 and B992 weren’t – and both scored our man extra-special, branded-underpants Porsche geek points.

Richard Lane

Moment to remember

Illya Verpraet: This was ultimately not a vintage year for our Britain’s Best Affordable Driver’s Car contest in terms of eligible participants and finalists, but there was the excitement of a Caterham Seven, enlisted to provide a benchmark. Had the Seven been an actual contender, it would have cleaned up, no matter how good the winning Hyundai i20 N is (and it is very good). It was my first experience in a Caterham and, frankly, anyone with even a vague interest in driving should try one. 

Moment to forget

Tom Morgan-Freelander: News late last year that Subaru wouldn’t be bringing the second-generation Subaru BRZ sports car to the UK was at least tempered by the knowledge Toyota had a GR86 sister car waiting in the wings. Sadly, there would be no reprieve for Nissan fans in August, when the firm confirmed the 400bhp Z wasn’t coming our way. The rear-driven two-seater oozes retro charm and can be had with your choice of manual or automatic gearbox – but only if you live in Japan or the US. We have only ourselves to blame for a “shrinking European sports car market”, apparently – and when you factor in tightening emissions rules, a new twin-turbo V6 for us was always going to be a long shot.

Quote of the month

"For every grimace-inducing thump, creak or graunchy shift, you’re rewarded with a van full of beaming builders, a thumbs-up from a jealous tree surgeon or a nostalgic gaze from a one-time Lada owner" - Felix Page on driving the terrible but still noble Lada Niva.

Road tests

4 August, Maserati Quattroporte Trofeo, two stars: “A cracking V8, but little else you would want in a £130k fast four-door.” Price as tested £136,915 Power 572bhp Torque 538lb ft 0-60mph 4.2sec 30-70mph 3.3sec Economy 20.3mpg

11 August, Porsche 911 GT3 PDK, four and a half stars: “Less versatile than some past 911 GT3s but still spectacularly good.” Price as tested £144,640 Power 503bhp Torque 347lb ft 0-60mph 3.4sec 30-70mph 2.7sec Economy 20.2mpg

18 August, ​​Skoda Enyaq iV 80 Lounge, four stars: “Practical, rangy and well-priced. Hits a sweet spot in the EV market.” Price as tested £45,725 Power 201bhp Torque 229lb ft 0-60mph 8.3sec 30-70mph 7.8sec Economy 3.4mpkWh

25 August, Hyundai i20 N, four and a half stars: “Hyundai’s finest N car to date: a serious small hot hatch with real dynamic polish.” Price as tested £26,545 Power 201bhp Torque 203lb ft 0-60mph 6.1sec 30-70mph 5.4sec Economy 29.0mpg

September

Two twin-turbo V8s, a diesel straight six, and two four-cylinders – one turbocharged and with more than 300bhp, and the other naturally aspirated and attached to, of all things, a four-speed dog ’box and paired with an electric motor. Yes, September’s road test section (at the bottom of this webpage) put on an interesting spread of powertrain technologies, although with none of the five cars involved managing to score more than four stars come verdict time, we can hardly describe it as a vintage month. 

The Aston was fun, demonstrating an amusing sled-like propensity for power oversteer on the Dunlop handling circuit at MIRA, but it’s still too blunt compared with much of the opposition and the interior is properly starting to feel its age. The Alpina was mighty, lavish, freakishly quick without making much fuss about it and in general had many of the hallmarks of an all-conquering ’bahnstormer, but there’s no doubt Mercedes-AMG’s GT 63 4-Door Coupé shades it for involvement and personality. Further down the order, the box-fresh Genesis was inoffensive but unlovable, the Leon phenomenally versatile but similarly unlovable, and the Mégane? The novel drivetrain concept was fascinating, but the rest of the car felt a generation old, mostly because it is.

There were bigger fireworks in the news pages. We reported that Land Rover was assessing the idea of turning the Defender nameplate into a model range in its own right, which would bring not least an unashamedly luxurious version (aren’t they all luxurious these days?) based on Range Rover underpinnings. Hydrogen power, a pick-up and an SVR version were also on the cards. Later in the month, we learned that Mercedes’ answer to the BMW i4 is due next year, with a 750bhp AMG derivative possible. At the Munich motor show, Volkswagen revealed the ID Life concept – its manifesto for a little electric crossover set to go on sale in 2025 for an exceptionally tempting price. We referred to it as the “real people’s EV” and VW hopes it will do for them what the Mini has done for BMW in the post-millennium era.

However, the really big news involved Porsche, whose new ‘e-core’ battery, we reported, was intended to give the upcoming electric 718 models true mid-engined handling balance. The cars’ dimensions would remain largely unchanged from the current ICE Cayman and Boxster, and the fine driving position would be retained, but the centre of gravity would sit considerably lower, and the styling would be strongly influenced by the Mission R racer concept, also shown in September. But the most important element would be that battery pack, positioned where the mid-mounted engine would usually sit. 

To round out the month, let’s recognise our group test winners. AMG’s GT 4-Door Coupé beat the Alpina B8, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 saw off Skoda’s Skoda Kodiaq and Jaguar’s now considerably discounted Jaguar XE beat both the Audi S3 saloon and BMW M235i Gran Coupé.

Richard Lane

Moment to remember

Rachel Burgess: September arrives, and by golly there’s a motor show in town! After a dry spell of 18 months, a proper motor show is back; at some points over C-gate we’d wondered if there ever would be. I wasn’t even in Munich like many of my colleagues, but running the website from the office and ensuring we had world-leading coverage of the show was as hectic, crazy and head-exploding as I’d remembered – and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Moment to forget

Illya Verpraet: Wasn’t panic buying a 2020 thing? Apparently not, because in September 2021, reports of a handful of fuel stations running out sparked a frenzy of people going to fuel up their cars, bikes, lawnmowers, hedge trimmers and anything else with a fuel tank – just in case. Result: an actual fuel shortage. It was the first time I’ve had full-blown range anxiety, and it was in a petrol-powered Skoda. I tried to wait it out, hypermiling the thing and making full use of the DSG’s fuel-saving ‘sailing’ function, but in the end I had to bail out with five miles of range left and join the queue.

Quote of the month

“It must be quite something to buy one of the most admired supercars of the moment and pay a substantial multiple of its price to have it filleted by a team of engineers on the outskirts of Milan” - Richard Bremner on on Touring Superleggera’s fabulous Arese RH95.

Road tests

1 September, Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition Coupé, four stars: “Chassis tweaks boost driver appeal but it’s falling behind elsewhere.” Price as tested £150,670 Power 527bhp Torque 505lb ft 0-60mph 3.6sec 30-70mph 2.8sec Economy 20.6mpg

8 September, Cupra Leon 310 VZ3 Estate, four stars: “Fiercely quick and dependable but pulls the heartstrings only lightly.” Price as tested £42,325 Power 306bhp Torque 295lb ft 0-60mph 4.9sec 30-70mph 4.3sec Economy 28.4mpg

15 September, Genesis GV80 3.0D Luxury 5-Seater, three and a half stars: “Rich, spacious and comfortable but not a world-class luxury car yet.” Price as tested £69,785 Power 274bhp Torque 434lb ft 0-60mph 6.7sec 30-70mph 6.6sec Economy 32.0mpg