Latest News from Auto Car
Auto Car
9 hours ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
What would happen if we all stopped buying new cars?
Enthusiasts don't buy cars as status symbols, but I don't think it's controversial to accept that people do. I've had friends and acquaintances ask what car they should buy next while in the same breath telling me how much they like the car they own now. So maybe keep that? Still, I think it's curious how often cars are the obvious target when people look at status-driven buying behaviours. I understand that cars are expensive, but we don't have the same discussions about conservatories, cockapoos or chips, and you can't even use those to get to work or visit your gran. What's also striking is that how many cars we buy seems inextricably linked to the country's prosperity. A large new car market is perceived as a marker of a healthy economy, in a way that isn't true of, say, toasters. Those we buy when we need them. Cars, meanwhile, we buy because the finance term is coming to an end and the cambelt will soon need changing, or the company decides it's time you deserved something shinier to keep you working there, so off it goes to be replaced by something a bit better than the neighbours have. But, as Oswald noted, 'modern cars have an enormously long life and are relatively inexpensive to maintain', so even if we paused buying, we would still be able to get places. And his point about longevity is true. At least it is for now. But, I wonder, in times of £1800 headlight clusters, multiple electronic control units to let cars meet emissions and safety rules at a cost of thousands a time and what often just generally feels like an inbuilt obsolescence, for how long cars will remain cheap to maintain into their later life. We buy enough cars when they're affordable to fix; how many will we get through when driving into a pheasant writes off an older one? I don't think the optimum number of cars for us to buy is none, and this is something that will stay only a thought. But if we didn't buy quite so many and more were simpler and designed to stay affordable, I don't think that would be a bad thing.
Auto Car
10 hours ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
The new Ford Explorer is based on a Volkswagen - so can it wear the Blue Oval with pride?
Open gallery There's enough Ford magic to make the origins of its platform a moot point Blue plaque at Trafford Centre commemorates Ford's factory on the site Explorer's official 354 miles and 3.4mpkWh didn't seem unduly optimistic Explorer was comfortable and supple, but road noise can intrude at times Steve's simple plan turned into a long day Heritage collection in Daventry is nirvana for fans of the Blue Oval Close It was a bright, beautiful April Fool's Day. At 6.30am, a magnificent golden orb lit the eastern horizon with a brilliance we probably won't see more than a dozen times this year. The breeze was sweet and the air so clear you could practically see blades of grass on the horizon. Despite the beleaguered state of the retail motor industry, the news feeds were already filling with car companies' traditional April Fool spoofs: a free tattoo for every new Volkswagen owner, BMW to launch an off-road version of the M2 – that sort of thing. And in Manchester, the Volkswagen ID 4 in which I was about to cross the country had turned into a Ford. To be fair, we've known for years that Ford was basing its first all-European electric cars – the Explorer and the Capri – on the VW Group's excellent and well-proven MEB platform, the same component set used to underpin the ID 3 and ID 4. This was undoubtedly a pragmatic decision, given that Ford urgently needs to do better in the European EV race. And despite a nine-month production delay, the project is turning into a modest – if not yet profitable – success. Selfishly speaking, Ford's MEB decision didn't suit me. Outside the limits of the impartiality needed to be a fair-minded road tester, I'm a Ford fan: my grandfather was a pioneering Ford dealer in the Australian bush, we had lots of family Fords and my first new car was a Cortina 1600E. My view of Ford is that it may make everyman cars, but it also does things first – such as the life-changing Model T, the first affordable V8, unitary steel construction, MacPherson struts, the original Mustang, the GT40, the first 'computer-designed' Cortina, all those fast Escorts and much, much more. I simply didn't enjoy the notion of a me-too European Ford based on a rival manufacturer's mainstream product. Especially a Volkswagen. After all, it's not so long since the glorious, game-changing Ford Focus was forcing all comers – and most prominently Ferdinand Piëch's Mk5 VW Golf – to ride, steer and handle better to meet a much-elevated industry standard. When James Attwood's 2025 Ford Explorer long-termer – a £50k, two-wheel-drive long-range model – arrived a few weeks ago, it became clear it was high time for me to get over myself. Especially since Attwood had pronounced it a good machine, distinct from the various VW Group models with the same underpinnings. A workable plan seemed to be to immerse the Explorer – and myself – in as much Ford heritage as we could find in a day, to see how well it fitted. Or how well it didn't. The simple plan was to take it on a day-long journey starting at Trafford Park, Manchester, where Henry Ford made 300,000 Model Ts for his first 20 years of British business from 1911, before moving to Dagenham in the early 1930s and turning the Manchester place over to the manufacture of Rolls-Royce Merlin aero engines during the war years. From there, we would roll across the country to Ford's heritage centre at Daventry, to associate the Explorer with as many of its ancestors as possible under the eye of curator Len Keen. Then we'd continue south-east to Dunton, the research centre that nowadays doubles as Ford's British HQ, ending our journey beside a statue of the founder, Old Henry, erected at Dagenham in 1944 and now overlooking Dunton's main entrance. This drive would be typically British: plenty of motorway, plenty of potholes, some sinuous A- and B-roads and some recharging episodes, with all the parking and service area manoeuvring this involved. Photographer Jack and I arrived in Manchester the night before our journey was to begin, hoping that an unsuccessful meeting with a steam-driven 22kW Geniepoint charger outside our otherwise-comfortable Trafford hotel wasn't an omen of things to follow. For no good reason it wouldn't function, which meant our journey couldn't begin with a full tank, as it were. One thing the hotel did have, bizarrely, was a parking line of about a dozen used, obviously recently imported Yankee cars for sale via eBay. Evidently the vendor was using the hotel car park for selling. We photographed our Explorer beside a US-market Explorer of a very different persuasion, wondering at Ford's tendency to spread familiar names over models of different characters and layouts. Before departure the following morning, I rang the Geniepoint helpline to report the charger failure on behalf of other arriving hopefuls, to be greeted by a polite woman with a voice full of concern, who reset the charger there and then. I watched it click into action, but its charge rate was too slow to justify our waiting. Still, it was a good sign: even when you're talking duff chargers, EV life is getting better. The only sign these days of Ford's former presence at Trafford Park is a blue plaque in one of the many entrance halls of the Trafford Centre, a staggeringly huge and spacious multi-storey mall of satisfyingly appropriate American influence. We found and read the plaques, then jumped back in the car and headed hot-foot for the open road, hooking up after a mile or two with the M6 motorway. Our immediate destination, 40 miles on, was the Sandbach service area and a reassuring bank of a dozen Instavolt chargers that converted our 35% of battery capacity to 85% at a rate of 85kW in the time it took us to drink a couple of cappuccinos. It was pricey, mind, at 89p per kWh. Ford's Daventry heritage base – also a massive parts store and the site of the Henry Ford Academy where technicians further their skills – was now an easy 92 miles away. The car was doing unobtrusively well. It turns out to be a composed cruiser with long-distance seats and sweet steering that's notably accurate at the straight-ahead and thus not tiring for longer journeys. There's not much road noise on smooth stuff but, like many German-developed cars, it gets noisy on the coarse surfaces that are much more prevalent here in the UK than they are elsewhere in Europe. We cruised at around 70mph on the speedo (knock off 2mph for built-in error) because we soon established that at this speed, with a little care, you could turn 3.5mpkWh – the claimed WLTP figure; cruising just a shade quicker caused the figure to fall to 3.1-3.2mpkWh. You become aware of the exponential rise of aero drag with speed so much sooner in an EV than you do in a petrol car. A slightly lower speed and consequent better consumption can add 10-15 miles to the range you get from a 50kW charge while making no important difference to your journey time (this point proved by my own assiduous observations of sat-nav arrival predictions). I was clocking such esoterics as Jack drove, proving himself expert at seeing interesting traffic ('Did you spot that new Corvette?'), which added a lot to the interest of our progress. With miles, the Ford grew on us both. It seemed supple and comfortable, and we negated the sometime road noise by raising our voices when necessary. Neither of us was truly expert on how this chassis compared with a VW version, but our background impression (confirmed later by Attwood) was that the ride was a bit softer yet well damped and composed. This was another good Ford sign. So was the styling: I was liking the blocky, well-proportioned shape. We stayed an hour in Daventry, mainly because Len Keen and his two technician colleagues, Chris and Andy, were so welcoming. The Ford heritage collection brilliantly combines perfect examples of ordinary models with hero cars driven by Hannu Mikkola, Roger Clark and a dozen other road and track stars. They also continue to preserve the Autocar-badged M-Sport Fiesta ST in which then staffer Chris Harris won his class in Wales Rally GB 20 years ago (which had an echo for me; I watched him do it). Photographer Jack, compact of build, amused us with his claim to be the one bloke in our group who could perfectly fit Ford's beautiful silver GT40, the road-going model with wire wheels and three-eared knock-offs, that was sized for Walter Hayes, the legendary communications chief whose determination and strong influence with the Ford family led to the creation of the Ford DFV racing V8, surely the most successful Formula 1 engine in history. On we drove through the afternoon towards Dunton in Essex, spearing east from Daventry on the evocative A45 that links half a dozen defunct British car factories (including Jaguar at Browns Lane and various British Leyland places south of Coventry). This road also doubled for a while as a test track for 1950s Le Mans Jaguars. One story has it that Jag founder Sir William Lyons well understood the need for fast shakedowns on weekdays, but frowned on the idea of high-speed testing on a Sunday… As we drove, this Ford was taking hold of me. Its composure was starting to remind me of Parry-Jones-era Fords, one of which (a Mondeo) I'd driven quite a lot just a few weeks before. This felt like a European Ford, which is a compliment. In particular it was different in composure terms from the US-developed Ford Mustang Mach-E, whose engineers have just about managed to tame a pitching motion in steady-state cruising, after years of trying. This EV had overtones of Ford's European golden age. At Dunton, Henry Ford was waiting. We arrived just before knock-off time at 4pm, which means the cornering shots we did on the entrance roundabout (see above) were a bit unhelpful to the departing workforce. In all, we notched 230 miles at an average speed of 54mph, consuming power at 3.5mpkWh – a very decent performance. The car's economy and its real-world range were honest figures, in line with the maker's claims. Best of all it felt and looked like a Ford, and not a Volkswagen. In one enjoyable day, the ghosts were laid to rest. Join our WhatsApp community and be the first to read about the latest news and reviews wowing the car world. Our community is the best, easiest and most direct place to tap into the minds of Autocar, and if you join you'll also be treated to unique WhatsApp content. You can leave at any time after joining - check our full privacy policy here. Next Prev In partnership with
Auto Car
a day ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
Toyota chooses UK to build its first GR car outside Japan – and it's down to the nation's "motorsport expertise"
As previously reported by Autocar, Lexus is priming a new flagship sports car that is expected to compete in the GT3 racing series from next year. It is most likely that Motomachi would host assembly of this model, given it previously housed its predecessor, the LFA supercar. The GR division has also been working on an all-new Celica coupé, and is thought to be considering replacements for the MR2 (discontinued in 2007) and Supra, plus a Mazda MX-5 rival. Although the plan to boost GR Corolla production through the UK has not been informed by US president Donald Trump's tariffs, given it pre-dates Trump's presidency, the decision to export from the UK surely benefits the company on that front. The US currently charges a tariff of 25% on all cars imported to the country from abroad, including Japan. However, the UK recently agreed to negotiate a deal that will cut the fee for its exports to 10%, within a national quota of 100,000 cars. Final details have yet to be confirmed but at present Toyota would have to pay a smaller fee on UK-built GR Corollas than those from Japan. The prospect of adding production in the UK also lends weight to the possibility that the GR Corolla – currently offered in only a handful of markets, including the US and Japan – could be set for a launch in Europe. Prototypes were last year spotted testing at Germany's Nürburgring, hinting at a launch. A spokesperson suggested it was standard procedure to test global products at the circuit but did not deny the prospect.
Auto Car
a day ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
M3 who? The MG ZT is a spicy sports saloon for just £2000
A few years back, the classic car interior trimmers occupying the shed opposite the one where a mate and I store our old cars, had an MG ZT in for repairs. It was a simple job for them – replacing the worn bolsters of the driver's seat, the cheap leather MG Rover used by the time this 2002 car was made apparently sourced from rather thin-skinned cattle. The trimmers were doing the job for a local secondhand car dealer, and when I showed an interest in the car suggested a quick test drive. It was a ZT 160 rather than the more potent 190, but it looked good in metallic black, had only done 70,000 miles and would likely have cost no more than £1200 from the dealer. The worn leather was dubiously complemented with a rather bilious patterned cloth, the ZT's interior a starker place than the sumptuous cabin of its Rover 75 stablemate. But none of this disguised the fundamental quality of this car, its exceptionally robust bodyshell, high quality cabin mouldings and well developed suspension serving a sophistication that 70,000 miles had done little to diminish. The V6 issued a smooth, light growl, the wheels rode bumps with well-damped authority and the steering had the right kind of heft to encourage entertainingly hurried attacks of bends. Exiting them wouldn't have been quite so brisk with only 158bhp, but the MG's mix of enthusiasm-firing agility and composed deportment were of a higher standard than I'd remembered. This was another car I didn't need however, and it wasn't even of the ideal specification (you can have a ZT with upholstery less offensive, and most of the V6s are the more potent 190s) but this was a car it was easy to like. A good thing, then, that when I got back, the trimmers had discovered that it was already sold. Oops. Still, it rekindled an interest in these machines, whose launch was held at windswept Welsh racetrack back in 2001. MG Rover's management was more bullishly optimistic back then, partly because it was launching not one but three cars simultaneously. Admittedly the trio were conversions of existing models rather than the fabled new medium-sized car that this dying company so desperately needed, but by the end of that day there were plenty of cautiously impressed journalists who thought this hollowed out company might be in with a fighting chance. That was because the ZR, ZS and ZT were surprisingly good, their verve, handling and manners entirely good enough to earn them a sporting badge, the ageing ZS especially so. Based on the Rover 45 – aka the Honda Domani – it sported double wishbones all round, these tuneable to great effect. The 25-based ZR was cruder, but turned out to be a big hit because it could be had with quite low-powered engines, enabling young guns to actually insure it. For a while, this was Britain's best-selling hot hatch.
Auto Car
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
Aston project boss: building excellent cars is a team sport
Project management is a passion for Aston Martin's Renee Knott Close The top designers, engineers and company bosses will usually get the headlines and plaudits for the successful launch of a new car. But behind them is a team of hundreds, maybe thousands, working towards that success. New models must be planned and costed then delivered on time and on budget. That involves planning and project management, and Renee Knott, whose role at Aston Martin sees her head up both of those areas, is one of those backstage heroes.
