Is segregation really the best means to rocket a female into Formula 1? There were plenty who said otherwise when W Series (see what they did there?) was launched last autumn. The all-female, one-make single-seater series kicks off next month and it’ll draw attention and contention in equal measure. 

Devised by, among others, David Coulthard and Adrian Newey, the series is well intentioned. Unlike stick-and-ball sports, women can compete with men in motorsport, but still there’s a depressing lack of numbers and opportunity. W Series could change that. 

A rigorous selection process led to 18 women being hand-picked to compete in the six-round series, which begins at Hockenheim on 3/4 May and ends at Brands Hatch on 10/11 August. Among them are five Brits, including Jamie Chadwick, 20, who last year became the first woman to win a Formula 3 race. Her profile is growing on merit, so surely she has the most to lose. 

“You could say that, but I also have the most to gain,” she counters. “When I was looking at my options for this year, the new FIA F3 series wasn’t one of them because it’s €800,000 to €1 million for a season.”

In contrast, W Series entries are fully funded, so drivers don’t pay to race – and there’s big prize money: US$500,000 (£382,000) for the champion out of a total fund of US$1.5 million (£1.1m). Chadwick couldn’t ignore that. 

“I’ll be open, initially the idea of racing just women wasn’t of interest,” she says. “It sounded like an awful idea. But the opportunity W Series provides is far greater than anything else. It isn’t all about the money: it’s for top F3 cars on great circuits and with the support you get, I don’t think I could turn it down.” 

Coulthard and co have certainly chosen the right car to challenge their drivers. The Tatuus T-318 F3 is state of the art and powered by a 1.8-litre four-cylinder turbo, pushing 270bhp through a six-speed sequential ’box. Serious kit. 

“It’s not about segregation, it’s about supporting female talent to the top,” says Chadwick. “Okay, there could have been other ways of doing it but, in terms of getting 18 girls racing in F3 cars, this was the only way.” 

Her message to critics is wait and see. If a graduate springboards to a higher level – and perhaps even F1 – W Series will have justified its existence.

Read more

Jamie Chadwick: meeting the youngest and first female British GT winner

On track in a Formula 3 car at Silverstone​

Jolyon Palmer: how to improve Formula 1 for 2019

Having been unveiled at the Geneva motor show in 2012, the 981-generation Porsche Boxster reached its seventh birthday just last month. 

Ordinarily you would expect a car of that age to be worth only a fraction of what it cost to buy new, perhaps as little as one-third. But were that true of Porsche’s mid-engined roadster there’d be 62-plate Boxsters kicking about on the used market with £12,500 price tags. If that were the case, Porsche would probably never sell a brand new sports car again… 

The 981 has held its value better than just about any other comparable performance car. The cheapest examples offered for private sale go for around £23,000, but if you want a Porsche Approved car with a two-year manufacturer warranty, you’ll have to budget for £28,000. The 981 Boxster arrived in the UK during the summer of 2012, the entry-level version costing from £37,589 and the higher-powered Boxster S £45,384. While those original buyers will be very pleased with how well their car has held onto its value, the rest of us will find it a touch regrettable. After all, even after seven years the bargain-basement 981 Boxster doesn’t seem much closer now than it was back in 2012. There is another way of looking at it, however. These cars are depreciating more slowly now than they’ve ever done, so if you were to stick £28,000 into one today, you’d get most of that back two or three years down the line. 

The 981 Boxster was a bigger car than the 987 it replaced, but it was also lighter and more powerful. While it is undoubtedly true that the earlier cars with their hydraulically assisted steering were more tactile, this newer model has a far more modern cabin, much more muscular styling and, in the way its suspension combines body control with ride comfort and bump absorption, one of the best real-world sports car chassis of recent memory. 

Apart from being such a joy to drive, the Boxster has resolutely held its value, it seems, because the model that replaced it in 2016 just hasn’t been met with the same level of demand. Its turbocharged four cylinder is nothing like as sonorous as the 981’s tuneful normally aspirated flat six, and many buyers have elected not to upgrade. 

For the full interactive sports car experience you’ll probably want the manual transmission, in which case your options will be somewhat limited. So many new buyers ticked the PDK box on the options list that finding a manual car today is anything but straightforward. Porsche’s approved used stock showed only four such examples offered for sale for less than £35,000 at the time of writing, although it should be said the PDK dual-clutch automatic ’box is actually very good in its own way. And if the basic 981 Boxster with 261bhp is simply far too underpowered? You’ll want to spend upwards of £34,000 on the 311bhp Boxster S. 

Need to know

The 981 Boxster should be serviced every 20,000 miles or two years, whichever comes first. A minor service is around £500 at a main dealer; the major service is only a little more expensive. 

In 2015 Porsche introduced the Boxster Black Edition. Aside from black paintwork and 20in wheels, these models also got an uprated infotainment system, parking sensors at both ends, cruise control, two-zone climate control and a better stereo. 

Along with Porsche Torque Vectoring, other options to look for are Porsche Active Suspension Management and the Sport Chrono Package, which includes adaptive transmission mounts. Uptake was modest, though, so you might have to wait patiently. 

Our pick

Porsche Boxster (981): The faster Boxster S is more desirable in absolute terms, but it costs quite a bit more. The basic Boxster is fast enough and best enjoyed with the superb six-speed manual transmission. 

Wild card

Porsche Boxster GTS: Cherry-picking all the best performance bits from the options list, such as Sport Chrono, the 2014 GTS was the most involving Boxster of the lot (save for the super-rare Spyder). You’ll pay for it, though: the earliest cars still command £50k. 

Ones we found

• 2014 Porsche Boxster, 50,000 miles, £27,994 
• 2014 Porsche Boxster, 32,000 miles, £30,799 
• 2013 Porsche Boxster S, 41,000 miles, £33,957 
• 2014 Porsche Boxster S, 35,000 miles, £34,995

Read more

Porsche Boxster review

Used car buying guide: 986-generation Porsche Boxster

Porsche Boxster T 2019 review

Toyota has launched a new Yaris hatchback, based on the Mazda 2, for the US market at the New York motor show.

The 2020 US Yaris will be built for Toyota by Mazda’s Mexican arm and is mechanically unrelated to the Yaris models sold elsewhere.

The relationship with Mazda’s supermini can be seen in the model's basic shape, although it has a heavily reworked front fascia featuring the "hunkered-down, bulldog-like stance" that has become integral to Toyota’s global design language. 

Toyota claims that the new Yaris hatchback is designed with urban dwellers in mind and says it has 450 litres of boot space.

As with the 2-based Yaris saloon that was introduced to the US and Canada in 2015, it offers only a 106bhp 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and a six-speed automatic gearbox. A new Sport driving mode enhances acceleration response. 

Inside, a 7.0in touchscreen infotainment system is fitted as standard, incorporating Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, voice recognition, satellite radio and sat-nav.

The platform sharing agreement between the two Japanese manufacturers stretches back to 2015, when Mazda began production of restyled variants of the 2: the Toyota Yaris for Mexico and the Scion iA for the US. 

Scion, Toyota’s youth-targeted North American brand, was shelved in 2016, so the new Yaris bears Toyota branding.

In Canada, the 2-based Yaris saloon will remain on sale alongside the Yaris hatchback that's sold in Europe, rather than the new Mazda-built model.

Toyota and Mazda have worked together on a number of ventures in recent years, including the creation in 2017 of a joint venture company to develop electric cars.

Read more

Toyota Yaris prototype conducts high-speed tests at the Nurburgring​

Toyota Yaris review

2019 Toyota Highlander gains new tech​

First prototypes of the next Mercedes SL will be on roads this year, says AMG boss Tobias Moers, the man responsible for the new sports car.

Moers confirmed the SL, which will launch by 2021, will be “aligned” with the next AMG GT. Both cars will share a new aluminium-intensive platform, known internally as the MSA (modular sports architecture) structure, in an attempt to increase the economies of scale and overall profitability of two of Mercedes’ most exclusive model lines.

Autocar first scooped the new SL last October and now Moers has confirmed details of the next SL.

“We’re bringing back the historic DNA of the SL - it is is far sportier [this time round]. It will have a perfect compromise between driving dynamics and comfort because it’s still kind of a cruiser too.” It is the first time AMG has overseen development of the SL.

Moers said: “Handing over SL to AMG as the performance and sports car brand is great. There’s lots of responsibility behind that and I’m really honoured.”

He also confirmed that the eight-generation SL would only be offered as a roadster and not as a coupe. 

Autocar previously reported that the model will receive a traditional fabric hood in place of the folding hard-top arrangement that has been used for the past two incarnations of the SL.

Overall, the SL will be revived as a lighter, faster and more engaging model - which is why AMG has been tasked with heading up the project.

SL and GT sharing

As well as sharing a common platform structure, the two upmarket Mercedes models are also expected to share axle assemblies, suspension, steering systems, 48V electric architecture and hybrid drivetrains, among other components, in a move to cut costs and boost production efficiency. The new SL and GT will be built alongside each other at Mercedes’ Sindelfingen plant in Germany.

Early plans to base a successor to today’s smaller SLC off the same underpinnings have been abandoned following a recent decision not to replace the junior Mercedes roadster due to dwindling sales.

Early prototypes of the new SL on track have been spied testing with the new platform underneath the body of a shortened S-Class Coupé. They give away little about the car’s mechanical set-up, which is rumoured to runa transaxle arrangement with a dual-clutch gearbox integrated within the rear axle assembly like the GT. However, the overall dimensions of the engineering mules suggest the production version will be slightly larger than the existing SL, which measures 4630mm in length, 1870mm in width and 1310mm in height.

The adoption of the MSA platform is claimed to have had a positive effect on the styling of the new SL, whose proportions are said to be more in keeping with earlier incarnations of the classic roadster than the current model, which shares a platform with saloon models such as the C, E, CLS and S-Class.

A Mercedes source told Autocar that the new SL receives a longer bonnet and more rearward-positioned cabin. “The new platform has given us more freedom,” the source said. “There’s more distance between the front axle and the front firewall. This gives it more traditional proportions.”

The decision to replace the folding hard-top of today’s SL with a more compact fabric hood is also said to have provided greater scope in the styling of the rear of the new model. “It’s much more shapely, especially at the rear, because it is no longer dictated in height and width for the packaging of the hard-top roof,” the source added.

In a further departure from today’s model, it is also expected that Mercedes will provide the 2020 car with a 2+2 seating layout. Autocar has been told that AMG is keen to give the new SL the same sort of practicality as the Porsche 911, with a set of rear seats capable of accommodating adults for short journeys or, alternatively, luggage as an extension of its boot.

SL to get hybrid line-up

Mercedes plans to offer the SL with a limited range of hybridised in-line six-cylinder and V8 petrol engines in a line-up that’s likely to include both standard and AMG models.

The range is understood to start with an SL450 EQ Boost model running a turbocharged 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder developing around 365bhp, along with an added 22bhp in combination with an integrated starter motor.

Further up will be the SL53, which will run a more powerful AMG-tuned version of the SL450 EQ Boost’s mild-hybrid drivetrain with around 430bhp and added 22bhp through electric assistance.

Among the V8-powered models will be the SL500 EQ Boost. It is due to receive a turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 with a similar power output to the SL53, but significantly more torque. Topping the range will be the SL63. It is likely to offered in two states of tune, with the most powerful model running a turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 capable of in excess of 600bhp and more than 30bhp of electric boost. It is unclear if Mercedes will continue with the V12-powered SL, although, given the potential output of the SL63, it would seem unlikely.

All engines for the new SL will come as standard with Mercedes’ nine-speed automatic gearbox, with the AMG variants set to adopt the Speedshift electronics package for faster shift times. Suggestions are that Mercedes could offer 4Matic four-wheel drive alongside standard rear-wheel drive, although this has yet to be confirmed.

Despite the SL’s market repositioning, it won’t completely abandon the luxury focus, so expect the interior to be almost as opulent as Mercedes’ other high-end models. It will be more driver-focused than cars such as the S-Class Coupé, but there could still be plenty of the brand’s latest driver assist systems drafted in, including its semi-autonomous Drive Pilot function.

Additional reporting by Rachel Burgess

Read more

Mercedes-Benz SL review

New Mercedes-Benz SQC: all-electric SUV revealed

Mercedes-AMG SL 63 review

First prototypes of the next Mercedes-Benz SL will be on roads this year, according to AMG boss Tobias Moers, the man responsible for the new sports car.

Moers confirmed the SL, which will launch by 2021, will be “aligned” with the next AMG GT. Both cars will share a new aluminium-intensive platform, known internally as the Modular Sports Architecture (MSA), in an attempt to increase the economies of scale and overall profitability of two of Mercedes’ most exclusive model lines.

Autocar first scooped the new SL last October and now Moers has confirmed details of it.

“We’re bringing back the historic DNA of the SL," he said. "It's far sportier [this time round]. It will have a perfect compromise between driving dynamics and comfort because it’s still kind of a cruiser too.”

This is the first time AMG has overseen development of an SL.

Moers said: “Handing over SL to AMG as the performance and sports car brand is great. There’s lots of responsibility behind that, and I’m really honoured.”

He also confirmed that the eight-generation SL would be offered only as a roadster, like its predecessor.

Autocar has previously reported that the model will receive a traditional fabric hood in place of the folding hard-top arrangement that has been used for the past two incarnations of the SL.

Overall, the SL will be revived as a lighter, faster and more engaging model, which is why AMG has been tasked with heading up the project.

SL and GT sharing

As well as sharing a common platform structure, the two upmarket Mercedes sports cars are expected to share axle assemblies, suspension, steering systems, 48V electric architecture and hybrid drivetrains, among other components, in a move to cut costs and boost production efficiency. The new SL and GT will be built alongside each other at Mercedes’ plant in Sindelfingen, Germany.

Early plans to base a successor to today’s smaller SLC off the same underpinnings have been abandoned following a recent decision not to replace the junior Mercedes roadster due to dwindling sales.

Early prototypes of the new SL were spied testing on track with the new platform underneath a shortened S-Class Coupé body. They give away little about the car’s mechanical set-up, which is rumoured to run a transaxle arrangement with a dual-clutch automatic gearbox integrated within the rear axle assembly, like on the GT. However, the overall dimensions of the engineering mules suggest the production version will be slightly larger than the existing SL, which is 4630mm long, 1870mm wide and 1310mm tall.

The adoption of the MSA platform is claimed to have had a positive effect on the styling of the new SL, whose proportions are said to be more in keeping with earlier incarnations of the classic roadster than the current model, which shares a platform with saloon models such as the C-Class, E-Class, CLS and S-Class.

A Mercedes source told Autocar that the new SL receives a longer bonnet and more rearward-positioned cabin. “The new platform has given us more freedom,” the source said. “There’s more distance between the front axle and the front firewall. This gives it more traditional proportions.”

The decision to replace the folding hard-top of today’s SL with a more compact fabric hood is also said to have provided greater scope in the styling of the rear of the new model. “It’s much more shapely, especially at the rear, because it is no longer dictated in height and width for the packaging of the hard-top roof,” the source added.

In a further departure from today’s model, it is also expected that Mercedes will provide the 2020 SL with a 2+2 seating layout. Autocar has been told that AMG is keen to give the new SL the same sort of practicality as the Porsche 911, with a set of rear seats capable of accommodating adults for short journeys or, alternatively, luggage as an extension of its boot.

SL to get hybrid line-up

Mercedes plans to offer the SL with a limited range of hybridised in-line six-cylinder and V8 petrol engines in a line-up that’s likely to include both standard and AMG models.

The range is understood to start with an SL450 EQ Boost model running a turbocharged 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder developing around 365bhp, along with an added 22bhp in combination with an integrated starter motor.

Further up will be the SL53, which will run a more powerful AMG-tuned version of the SL450 EQ Boost’s mild-hybrid drivetrain with around 430bhp and added 22bhp through electric assistance.

Among the V8-powered models will be the SL500 EQ Boost. It is due to receive a turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 with a similar power output to the SL53, but significantly more torque. Topping the range will be the SL63. It is likely to offered in two states of tune, with the most powerful model running a turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 capable of in excess of 600bhp and more than 30bhp of electric boost. It is unclear if Mercedes will continue with the V12-powered SL, although, given the potential output of the SL63, it would seem unlikely.

All engines for the new SL will come as standard with Mercedes’ nine-speed automatic gearbox, with the AMG variants set to adopt the Speedshift electronics package for faster shift times. Suggestions are that Mercedes could offer 4Matic four-wheel drive alongside standard rear-wheel drive, although this has yet to be confirmed.

Despite the SL’s market repositioning, it won’t completely abandon the luxury focus, so expect the interior to be almost as opulent as Mercedes’ other high-end models. It will be more driver-focused than cars such as the S-Class Coupé, but there could still be plenty of the brand’s latest driver assist systems drafted in, including its semi-autonomous Drive Pilot function.

Additional reporting by Rachel Burgess

Read more

Mercedes-Benz SL review

New Mercedes-Benz SQC: all-electric SUV revealed

Mercedes-AMG SL 63 review

There's a new Range Rover Evoque, don'cha know. Here it is, on the road and ripe for testing against its two key rivals in the smallish, very premium, 4x4/SUV/crossover market.

First among them is the Volvo XC40, 2018's Car of the Year and a compact premium SUV that we like a great deal. Then there's the Audi Q3, a car that has been around for a while but one that is no less popular for that.

Diesel engines still make a great deal of sense in cars like this, which can be used for towing but just as often for covering big motorway distances and the (very occasional) light off-roading. So that's the engines we're testing.

Look on, then, to find who makes the best luxurious small 4x4 - is it Audi, Land Rover or Volvo?

READ MORE

Range Rover Evoque 2019 first drive review

2019 Range Rover Evoque revealed with new tech and mild-hybrid powertrain

Reborn Defender crucial to Land Rover's 2019 revival

When you're sitting in traffic on the M25, do you sometimes close your eyes and imagine you were traversing some far-flung mountain range, or tearing down the Mulsanne Straight at 250mph? 

Well, open them again (not least because you're on a motorway), because the Autocar writers have compiled a list of their greatest achievements behind the wheel, and the things they'd like to still do.

Read on to discover what it feels like to drive at 200mph, why Iceland is the best road trip destination, which motorsport events you need to attend and lots more: 

Drive a car at 200mph 

All my conscious life I’d wanted to do it, yet when it happened it was almost anticlimactic. It was 2 May 1994, at Bruntingthorpe, and I was in a McLaren F1 prototype. I still have the recording of colleague Gavin Conway laconically calling out the speeds as XP5 gained velocity at a hitherto unimagined rate for a road car. But it was too quick: it got from rest to 200mph in less than 30sec – to the F1, it was just another number on the dial and, on a wide open airfield, even the sensation of speed wasn’t that great. Sorry to disappoint. 

Andrew Frankel

Drive on the Isle of Man 

I’ve spent a reasonable amount of time on the derestricted stretches of Germany’s autobahn. But, until three years ago, I’d never experienced the considerably greater thrills of limit-free roads where you drive on the left. The Isle of Man isn’t the easiest place to get to, but taking a trio of British sports cars there – a Morgan Plus 8, an Ariel Atom 3.5R and a McLaren P1– was proper dreams-come-true stuff. Conditions were wet and gloomy but, out of season, the TT mountain road was quiet and the McLaren predictably epic. I’ll almost certainly never travel as quickly on a British public road again.

Mike Duff

Do a US road trip

In 1991, I didn’t know or care what a bucket list was. Rather more appealing was a direct flight to San Francisco, hire a car and, after a few days, take off for Las Vegas with the future Mrs Ruppert. That was only part one of the road trip. We got upgraded from a grim Chevrolet to a Buick Century, presumably to return the rental to a more lucrative outlet. In between was Yosemite National Park, Death Valley and just miles of what still is a huge, almost endless, film set. Even better in that barge-like Buick. 

James Ruppert

Drive a lap of Iceland 

Driving 828 miles in 48 hours may not sound like fun, but when you’re doing a lap of Iceland at the wheel of a Mazda MX-5, it’s as good as life gets. Yes, in some respects it was fairly arduous: it was a long way, I’m very tall and the MX-5 very small and the speed limits are low and rigorously enforced. But none of that mattered because the land of ice and fire is every bit as other-worldly spectacular as the tourist brochures make out, from the rolling mountains, steaming volcanoes and black sand beaches through to the hot lagoons and iceberg-filled estuaries. 

I’m going back with the family this year – but this time we’re taking a week over it. 

Jim Holder

Mini hunting in Chile 

Ever since I found a 1972 British Leyland corporate brochure picturing Chilean-made glassfibre-bodied Minis, I’d been intrigued. Decades later, in 2011, I set out to find the factory that made these curios, in a Mini Countryman. We drove from Santiago, in the centre of this long, thin country, to Arica, close to the Peruvian border, where the factory was. Great moments included driving through the Atacama desert, finding an original glassfibre Mini and randomly discovering that the father of the porter at our Arica hotel had worked at the plant. He took us to two sites, one flattened, the other containing some original buildings and now a university.

Richard Bremner

Drive a hillclimb in a Caterham 

It was the perfect day: a Caterham R300, a helmet and driving overalls on the passenger seat. Lovely weather and an entry for Shelsley Walsh hillclimb. Wife off with her mates so no one to worry about (getting bored). I can’t remember how well I did – average probably – but I didn’t bend the car. On the way home, I stopped at a lovely village pub and had a pie and a pint. I thought at the time that it doesn’t get much better and I think the same now.

Colin Goodwin

Own my dream car

When I was a kid, I wanted a Caterham more than any other car, apart from a Ferrari F40, maybe. But I figured I’d probably never afford one of those. A Caterham, though, seemed doable. “By the time I’m 25,” I thought, “I’ll have one.” So I did. Just. By borrowing almost my annual salary. I bought a stripped-out ex-race car with a 2.0-litre Vauxhall red-top engine making 200bhp-ish, straight-cut gearbox, limited-slip differential and 13in Minilite wheels. And it was great. I used it, loved it, looked after it and later sold it for what I paid for it. One of the best things I’ve done with cars. 

Matt Prior

It’s still on my bucket list…

Drive from Cairo to Cape Town

If I could do one transcontinental drive, this would be it. I’d like to do it in a new Land Rover Defender because there’d be no better way of proving it was worthy of the name. I’d like to break the record – held by a Fiat Panda last time I heard – but not to linger a little would be a shame. Although I have no connection to the continent save being married to someone who grew up there, there is nowhere I am happier or, weirdly, feel more at home than sub-Saharan Africa. Plans? None. But if Land Rover were planning such a trip, I can confirm my availability.

Andrew Frankel

Drive across America 

The cliché alarm might be jangling, but I’ve always wanted to drive all the way across the US in one trip. I don’t want to try to beat the record – an improbable 28 hours and 50 minutes from New York to LA – but rather take a leisurely route that I pretty much make up as I go along and one that would be chosen to take in the more interesting roads of Montana and the Pacific Northwest instead of the normal straight shot. The ideal vehicle would be something big, American and dumb: I’ve toyed with buying a decommissioned police-spec Crown Victoria. 

Mike Duff

Buy a BSA Bantam 

In 1974, my brother-in-law Jimmy Smart gave me his BSA Bantam. It was a Bitza, D1 frame, with a 150cc D3 engine. It was tired and the last tax disc said May 1972 after he rode home from work and chucked a tarpaulin over it. Jimmy died of cancer two years later and I lost heart in the restoration and then discovered girls and cars. I have got it to a stage where it only needs oily engine bits. Finding them has been difficult and I have even toyed with the idea of turning it into a battery-electric Bantam. Help.

James Ruppert

Master off-roading

Every now and then, there’s a chance to do some spectacular off-roading as part of a new car launch, but no matter how butt-clenching the challenge, you always know that they wouldn’t be asking you to drive through the river lapping over the bonnet if there was the remotest risk of it going wrong. 

I’d love to buy something cheap and cheerful (an old Suzuki Jimny, perhaps) and spend a weekend with some committed amateur green-laners on unfamiliar roads, protected by their expertise but with a dose of jeopardy thrown in. Research suggests spare time is my only enemy, as joining an appropriate car club looks no harder than a swift internet search and signing a very small cheque.

Jim Holder

Import a US classic 

Buying a classic car in the US and driving it to the east coast for shipping: it’s a bit of a cliché, and I’ve half done it already, buying a Chevrolet Corvair in Montana and dragging it to Newark. The difference is that I’d like to drive the next acquisition rather than towing it (the ’Vair wasn’t quite fit enough), and this time, I want V8 power, wrapped in one of GM’s most dramatic shapes. The ’68 Corvette C3 tends to be overlooked these days, being long-lived, degraded and familiar. But early chrome-bumper versions look great and, allegedly, drive spectacularly with the rare 370bhp LT-1 small block. One day, I aim to find out. 

Richard Bremner

Drive a Bugatti Veyron

Surprisingly, for someone who considers supercars (let alone hypercars) a waste of time and only of great use to people with self-confidence issues, I would very much like to drive a Bugatti Veyron. I was never offered, or tried to arrange for myself, a drive in the Veyron when it was launched. I’d like a go in one now because I’m curious. I’ve heard so much about the car that I do feel that I’ve missed out by not driving one. If you own one and are willing to risk it, you know how to find me. 

Colin Goodwin

Restore a car

I’ve done a little bit of welding, a little bit of painting, a little bit of trimming and a little bit of mechanical tinkering. But I’ve never done any of them particularly well and, crucially, I’ve never done them together. It’s still, though, right up my list of things to do with cars, and I don’t think I’ll be satisfied until I’ve taken an absolute barn-find snotter and restored it back to its former glory. Maybe not to concours or factory condition, but to absolutely as I want it. I’ve almost got space, equipment and skills. One day, it’ll all fall into place. 

Matt Prior

10 motorsport events for your bucket list

When it comes to motorsport around the world, aim high – and go long. Or not, in the case of the last of our 10 top tips for must-see events… 

Monte Carlo Rally 

The Monte always seems on the edge of chaos, due to both the frequent risk of sudden snow or ice and the willingness of organisers to shake up the event format and stages on a regular basis. Still, if their capricious whims lead to the inclusion of the Col de Turini at night, that’s where you should head. Join the throng in the dark, listen for the engine notes and marvel as some of the world’s best drivers flash past in a blaze of spotlights and engine roar. James Attwood

Daytona 500 

The Great American Race lives up to its hype from the moment the oh-so-American pre-race pageantry kicks off. (Think big flags, military fly-pasts and spirited invocations.) Thankfully, the race itself maintains that spectacle, with 40 brightly coloured stock cars locked in close quarter. The use of engine restrictor plates to keep speeds down leads to intense pack racing, inevitable late-race drama and, frequently, plenty of crashes. Shake and bake. JA

Nürburgring 24 Hours 

No, it’s not just a car maker’s playground. The sight of more than 200 thoroughbred GTs, supercars and the odd Seat Leon rolling into action for the ‘other’ 24-hour classic in June is unforgettable. As darkness falls, head out into the woods, on a mountain bike preferably (14-plus miles takes some exploring). But beware: the booze-fuelled campsites are just as hairy (in both senses) as the legend dictates. Damien Smith

Spa 6 Hours 

There are two to choose from: the modern World Endurance Championship race in May and the historic event in September. Both offer perfect opportunities to explore one of the world’s last great ‘old-school’ race circuits. Latest-generation sports prototypes and GTs are spectacular, but if old racing cars are your thing, the historic 6 Hours increasingly outstrips the Goodwood Revival for pleasure. DS

Bathurst 1000 

Bathurst is a race of contrasts: it’s an endurance event featuring no-nonsense hard-battling touring cars on a circuit that has a fast lower section and a crazily tight and twisty mountain section. To get the authentic experience, head up the mountain for an up-close view of the big, brash, spectacular 5.0-litre V8 supercars – and the big, brash, spectacular Aussie fans. JA

Macau Grand Prix 

A crash-bang-wallop feast of Far East street circuit action in November, featuring the renowned Formula 3 grand prix, GTs, the World Touring Car Cup – and even motorcycling, the bravest of the crazy. About half the circuit is frighteningly, dangerously flat out (just ask Sophia Flörsch) and the other half is single-file and almost three-point-turn tight (at the Melco hairpin). But the wild racing is nothing compared with the night-life. Apparently. DS

Pikes Peak 

The Pikes Peak International Hillclimb is a hardcore spectator event. There’s only one road up the mountain and that’s the one the competitors race up – so spectators have to be up before the road closes at 0630hr and can’t come down until all the cars have finished. Oh, and at up to 14,115ft above sea level, altitude sickness is a distinct possibility. Worth the hassle? Absolutely. The scenery is stunning and watching competitors attack the world’s toughest hillclimb is mind-blowing. JA

Indianapolis 500 

Buy a grandstand seat high up in Turn 1 and be prepared to recalibrate your brain. How Indycars turn left at 230mph without the hint of a lift is something you have to see. The scale of The Brickyard, especially packed out on Memorial Day in May, fits the stereotype of everything being bigger in America. But the Indy 500 is one occasion that actually exceeds its hype. DS

Le Mans 24 Hours 

The greatest motor race in the world? All things considered, yep – that still fits. The 8.4-mile circuit has been sanitised in recent years – but only a bit. Midnight at the fast Tertre Rouge right-hander or up on the bank on the outside of the Esses can lead to a dangerously heightened sense of bliss (if it’s not raining). Take a tent and plenty of waterproofs. And forget about sleep for the weekend. DS

British Grand Prix

Yes, really. Home is where the heart is when it comes to Formula 1 – and for spectators, Silverstone is one of the best places to see grand prix cars at their best. The atmosphere is electric (even when it rains) and the race is usually eventful. There’s also the risk that it might be on the endangered list – genuinely. If you’ve never been, go this year – just in case. DS

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Car lovers must do these things at least once

Autocar's guide to the best things to do in 2019​

Autocar's highlights of last year

After a century and a quarter of gestation, the car has finally cracked it. Yes, there are things to be a bit gloomy about if you’re utterly committed to driving a really noisy, smelly vehicle as fast as you darned well like. But in the normal world, the car has finally won out.

Every obstacle and every complaint made about it is set to be removed or overcome, and the machine that changed the world is about to morph into something the world finally accepts. 

I don’t think you’d find many people who deny that cars have brought untold freedoms but, as they’ve said at considerable length over the years, cars are dirty, noisy, dangerous and elitist. In their ways, all true, but because cars have let us go where we wanted, when we wanted, we’ve put up with it. Every single one of us has used the car. 

And soon we’ll be able to do it with less guilt: in future, your cars will make no sound and emit no gases or particles and their energy will (should/can) be produced renewably. Sensors and limiters will avoid accidents and prevent antisocial use. And although cars have been cheaper than public transport for years in most places, they’ll get cheaper still, and as they become more readily shared, reducing their footprint in towns, they’ll become even more democratic and less invasive. 

And the last, less-spoken obstacle? That they take your time and that, to date, you haven’t been able to drive and do something else simultaneously? Look, cars might never drive themselves absolutely everywhere in every condition, but they’ll be closer than any other form of transport. After all, what is a geofenced highway, on which cars seamlessly tail each other autonomously at speeds, if not a more practical, more efficient and more flexible mass transit system, with the advantage that the vehicle happens to go from exactly where you are, to where you want to go, at the precise moment you want to? 

Since the invention of the car, there has never been a more disruptive time in the business than right now. But as we start to begin to see some consensus across the industry, coupled with the direction legislation is clearly taking, the future is starting to become clear, and the outcome is one where cars are clean, safe, efficient, quiet, fast and attainable. If you have hitherto had a problem with the car, over the next two decades it’ll solve it. 

The car came, it saw, it conquered, and now it is looking to benignly settle in its empire, a position from where I can’t see it being moved. What alternative is better? Scooters and bikes and horses are slower, trains and buses only go on set routes and, while I’m not against the principle of affordable, personal, droney three-dimensional travel, the potential for uncontrolled descent through the z-axis is, like the incessant buzzing noise, a prospect that I suspect will keep it from catching on. Especially when a car of the near future, driving on a road network optimised for it, will frankly do pretty much all you’ll ever need. 

What more, in fact, could you want? Apart from, obviously, a really noisy, smelly vehicle you can drive as fast as you like.

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The tale of Honda’s rise and fall in the UK and Europe is a chastening one. At one time, the firm was viewed as a genuine alternative to BMW, led by engineers making cars with cutting-edge petrol engines and sharp design. 

In the 1970s sales success with the Civic in the US was pioneering, while a joint venture with Rover in the 1980s broke new strategic ground. 

So when the Swindon plant opened in 1992 with the capacity to build 150,000 cars a year, just as Europe’s single market was launched, Honda looked set to conquer the continent. 

Yet 27 years on, the relationship with Europe has soured: sales are in the doldrums, with just 150,000 cars shifted last year, and the£2 billion Swindon factory will close in 2021. Civic production will also stop at its Turkish plant, although “business operations” will be maintained. 

So how did it all come to this? 

Sales 

Remember how well-loved Honda was in the late 1980s and early 1990s? There was the amazing NSX sports car, the McLaren-Hondas that won everything in Formula 1 thanks to their turbo V6 and normally aspirated V12 engines, and the joint venture with Rover, all contributing to a solid toehold in Europe. 

Back in 1990 Honda was selling 155,000 cars in Europe, compared with Nissan’s 371,000, Toyota’s 340,000 and Hyundai’s 18,000. After opening in 1992 with the Accord, the Swindon factory steadily boosted sales, rising to 225,000 in 1998. 

These were not easy years, however. BMW acquired Rover, rivals such as Hyundai were moving faster and Honda’s own diesel engine was a decade from production. In the meantime, it bought in its oil-burners from Rover. 

A real turning point was 2000 – the year Hyundai sold more cars in Europe than Honda. 

Honda didn’t have its own diesel engine until 2003 – the inevitably brilliantly engineered i-CDTI. But by then its Korean competitor was selling 100,000 cars per year more, while Nissan and Toyota were smashing the market. 

Sales of diesels and rising demand for SUVs did lift Honda to its European sales peak of 313,000 units in 2007 – just before the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The manufacturer’s response to the financial crash was, reasonably, defensive. One former insider said: “Honda is fiercely independent and the management refused any idea of bail-outs. But it raised the issue of how vulnerable the company was to a shock. So instead, they pulled back and shut the second production line at Swindon.” 

Knocking Swindon back to a maximum of 150,000 units was never going to end well. “The minimum efficient volume is around 250k,” says David Bailey, a professor of industrial strategy at Aston Business School. 

Ever since, European sales have been on a steady – some insiders say ‘managed’ – decline, levelling out at 140,000-150,000 units in 2017/18 – pretty much where Honda’s European sales started in 1990. In fact, when Swindon was at the height of its powers, and as the second plant was opened in 2001, Honda was discussing whether to aggressively target 150,000 units per year in the UK alone. But management baulked and the moment to create an impregnable sales base for Swindon passed by without being seized.

Insiders believe UK sales could be stronger, but senior management has repeatedly turned down requests to supply more right-hand-drive cars. “Honda refused to chase daily rental and fleet sales, so that cuts you out of a large part of the UK market, where rivals like Hyundai are selling a lot of cars,” says one source. 

UK sales peaked at 106,000 in 2007 but have subsided back to around 53,000. Consequently the model range has diminished, limited in the UK to four volume models: the Jazz, Civic, HR-V and CR-V, plus the NSX super-sports car and the Civic Type R hot hatch. 

Honda Motor Europe senior vice president Tom Gardner contends the brand has performed well: “Honda has maintained consistent UK market share over the past five years, in excess of 2%, highlighting strong brand presence in the UK, with a committed dealer network offering outstanding customer satisfaction.”

However, insiders and experts identify weak product planning as one of Honda’s missteps. Among them are the Pilot 5+2 SUV not making it to the UK in 2002, the on/ off Civic Tourer estate, the niche model strategy, on/off hybrids and being slow to market with diesel at a time when it was a must-have in every manufacturer’s armoury. Another example is when, having built a customer base for the Stream and its FR-V successor, Honda pulled out of the MPV market without a replacement, deserting the loyal customers the two models had won. 

“Fundamentally, Honda has misjudged the European market, and they simply don’t have the volume to justify production here,” says Bailey. 

Management 

Talking to former Honda employees, there is a feeling that a switch was flicked around the time of the 2008 financial crisis. “Honda lost its spark. The model range definitely lost its spark,” says one former executive who spoke to Autocar on condition of anonymity. “The product line wasn’t as exciting and the commitment wasn’t the same.” 

Another insider identifies a senior management team with a focus more on the home market in recent years and reduced interest in Europe. “The new generation seem more nationally focused,” says the former exec. “The post-World War II generation who were around in 1992, and who looked to Europe, are gone. The new people are less interested in Europe.” 

Bailey believes Honda’s management has been patient but ultimately too many setbacks forced it to act. “Swindon has been at 60% capacity since 2008,” he says. “But too much has changed: an about-turn on diesel and Brexit have been game-changers for industrial strategy.” 

Back in the 1980s, Honda was headed by Nobuhiko Kawamoto, widely considered the most charismatic Japanese car company leader of the past 30 years. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Honda’s golden period of the modern era was under his stewardship. But who can blame the current management for acting? Europe has been reduced to Honda’s 10th-biggest global car market, behind even Indonesia. And Hyundai now sells nearly four times Honda’s volume in Europe. 

Despite these obstacles, Gardner says Honda remains fully committed to the UK and Europe: “Europe is the most competitive region in the world, with the tightest regulations and the most demanding customers, and Honda continues to invest in its automobile line-up for the region.” 

Product line-up 

Ask any car enthusiast and there is deep affection for Honda’s back catalogue of innovative models, especially those using high-revving VTEC petrol engines. The company even matched Toyota with hybrid developments in the mid-1990s. But it’s hard not to conclude that it has failed to build a consistent and coherent – and European-friendly – product range. Strong sales in the US, for example, mean some models have to be focused on that market.

It has also chopped and changed its ‘image cars’, in contrast to rivals that have nurtured theirs, while potentially significant developments such as the IMA hybrid haven’t made the hoped-for sales breakthroughs. 

Honda was once at the cutting edge of hybrid development with the Gen-1 Insight IMA in the mid-1990s, created by engineers redeployed from F1. Yet the five-door model, an obvious volume-seller, didn’t appear until 2009, a decade behind the Prius. The Insight was dropped in 2014, just as the politics of air quality was emerging. “Honda had an early lead in hybrid technology, let it go and Toyota has romped all over them,” says Peter Wells, a professor at Cardiff Business School. 

Globally, the CR-V and HR-V SUVs have been huge hits for Honda, and both are among the world’s top 10 sellers. The CR-V broke new ground in 1997 with its car-like driving manners, boosted at the time by shared knowledge of Land Rover’s Freelander plans. In fact, some insiders rate the CR-V as Honda’s UK shining light ahead of the Civic. 

But it was Nissan’s overwhelmingly successful Qashqai that was to become the compact SUV standard bearer, its 2007 launch leading to huge sales numbers. “The Qashqai soon became a reference model and has allowed Nissan to take sales away from its Japanese rivals,” says Felipe Nunoz, a global analyst at Jato Dynamics. European CR-V sales peaked with 76,000 units in the Qashqai’s launch year, a time when the Toyota RAV4 sold 99,000. By 2017 CR-V sales fell by more than half to 34,000, compared with 71,000 RAV4s, while the HR-V sells around a quarter of the Nissan Juke’s UK volume. 

Design 

Undoubtedly Honda’s back catalogue is graced by handsome and great-looking cars, but consistency of style and brand, especially in the volume-selling models, has somehow eluded them. “There have been some fantastic cars, but they haven’t been used as a jumping point to the volume sellers,” says Dale Harrow, head of car design at the Royal College of Art. 

Harrow questions whether Honda has ever really pinned down critical details, such as the front-end graphic of its cars, and suggests that some models, like the HR-V, remain “apologetic and plain vanilla”. Yet the latest Civic is a riot of shapes, vents and styling lines – seemingly built by a different company. 

A fundamental issue that Honda has struggled to fix is aligning its brand image across Europe, with owners who are typically older in the UK than they are in places such as Germany and Eastern Europe. 

That makes car design challenging, but it is not helped by Honda’s refusal, according to one insider, to work around a typical “European buyer”. Instead, the firm allows each country or region autonomy. 

Honda is famously engineering-led and maintains it “will continue its approach of delivering products of high quality that resonate with its very loyal European customer base”. But not even experts in their field can identify the head of design at Honda, if one exists. Instead, the power in its product development process is vested in an engineer or LPL (large project leader), who is tasked with bringing individual models to market but not under the watchful eye of a head of design empowered to oversee range-wide design discipline. 

Harrow believes there is “still the feel of a company where designers are dressing the engineering”. The company does have a European design studio in Germany, but it has never had the profile of Nissan’s London studio, for example. 

There’s a stark contrast with Kia and Hyundai, too. The Korean brands recruited two senior European designers, Peter Schreyer (formerly of Audi) and Thomas Bürkle (ex-BMW), to run a design studio in Germany to create European-flavour cars. The reward has been hot-selling models such as the Tucson and Santa Fe. 

Employing European designers has brought coherence to the Korean brands’ range – something they didn’t possess when Honda was outselling them 10 to one nearly 30 years ago. “Honda hasn’t appointed an overseas design boss,” says Harrow. “I think that shows a lack of value in design at the top level.” 

The future 

A government-led task force is trying to save as much of Swindon and its infrastructure as possible. It’s the least the 3500-strong workforce deserves. Meanwhile, Honda focuses on an electric future and is targeting 2025 as the date by which all of its new cars will be electrified. 

Gardner says: “This ambition will place Europe at the forefront of the company’s accelerating electrification efforts, and will require major, ongoing investment into the region.” 

Sadly these electrified Hondas will be built in Japan and exported to the UK and Europe. How well they sell here may in part depend on Honda’s ability to learn the lessons and fix the failures of years past.

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Nissan 350Z, £6499: The Nissan 350Z caused a real stir on its launch back in 2003. 

Arriving first as a coupé, it was powered by a 276bhp 3.5-litre V6. From 2005, the year the convertible landed, the engine was uprated to 296bhp, although this more powerful motor was a tad troublesome, so in 2007 a revised version, producing 308bhp and codenamed HR, arrived to save the day. You can spot its presence by a power bulge in the bonnet. By this time, standard equipment included Rays lightweight alloys, bi-xenon headlights and Bluetooth. 

We saw a 2008/58-reg HR convertible GT with 65,000 miles and full Nissan history advertised for £6499. Finished in Midnight Blue metallic with black leather it looks a real eyeful. It’s had a lightened flywheel fitted, too, which is no bad thing since original dual-mass items can fail expensively at 60,000 miles. 

If we were serious, we’d check around the oil filler neck for fresh spillages: it’s a sign the engine is using oil, which they can do. We’d peer under the rear end, too, looking for corrosion on the ‘W’ brace. 

On the test drive, try to detect play in the diff mounting bushes. The suspension bushes are fragile so we’d expect some looseness and possibly knocking. Most folk upgrade to tougher poly ones. Our example looks like a cracker, though, and given its history it’d be a surprise if it has subprime tyres, but even so, check it’s wearing OE Bridgestones or similar premium rubber. 

After the run let it idle for some time, checking to see if the fan cuts in (they pack up at around 80,000 miles). On a cold day, the hood can take an age to fold away.

MG TF 1.8 Sunstorm, £1495: MG Fs and TFs are bargains now, like this 50k-mile, one-owner 2004/53- reg TF Sunstorm with full history. It’s had a new head gasket and cambelt and a hardtop is included. TFs had coil springs in place of the F’s Hydragas set-up. Check for uneven shutlines.

Maybach 62 5.5, £47,995: Optional extras lose value quicker than the car they’re fitted to, so fully loaded used cars, like this 103k-mile 2004/04 Maybach, are a lot of fun. Its electrically operated partition and panoramic glass roof cost nigh-on £30k new; here they’re thrown in free. 

Fiat Punto 1.9 JTD HGT, £989: This rare Punto 1.9 JTD diesel is the sporty HGT. Shame it’s not the 1.8 130bhp petrol HGT, but still, we’ll take its 192lb ft and sub 10-second 0-62mph time. It has full history and, says the seller in time-honoured fashion, ‘looks and drives superb’. 

BMW 530d SE GT, £7799:BMW’s now defunct saloon-cum-coupé-cum-SUV oddball never caught on, so it’s now a bargain. This one has done 100,000 miles but it’s got the gung-ho 3.0-litre diesel engine under the bonnet with almost 400lb ft of stump-pulling grunt.

Auction watch

Volkswagen Corrado 2.9 VR6: This 1996 Volkswagen Corrado with 113,000 miles and only one owner since being sold as a nearly new ex-demo made £6270 on the block. It had a heated leather interior, refurbished Speedline alloys and a good history. The bid looks a little strong given that it probably needs a thorough overhaul, but good, unmodified Corrados are rare. Tempted? Check the timing chain. They can let go at around 100k and it’s an engine-out job to replace. Headlights are hard to source and the heater matrix can be troublesome (a tell-tale sign is a damp carpet).

Get it while you can

Mercedes-Benz CLA 180 AMG Line Edition Shooting Brake, price new - £28,260, price now - £22,980: It’s change-time for the Mercedes A-Class and its various spin-offs. First to arrive was the hatch and now there’s a new CLA coupé, although you can still get the old one with around £3500 off list price. Later this year the CLA Shooting Brake arrives. Time, then, to ponder a deal on a nearly new current model while they’re being cleared out. We found a zero-mile 2019/68-reg 180 AMG Line Edition for £22,980 – a saving of more than £5000 off list price.

Clash of the classifieds

Brief: Find me a quick Mini with a reasonable mileage and a solid service history for £6000.

Mini Cooper S John Cooper Works, £5999: Specialist tuning companies have long been associated with the Mini, but the best known of all is John Cooper, named after the legendary racing ace. This is a fully factory-backed version with the R56-generation Mini and gets engine and exhaust mods that turn the wick up to 208bhp, better brakes and an electronic differential. This 2008 example is slightly under budget and only has 65k miles on it. There are no advisories listed on the MOT check, so it should be in pretty fine order, too. Max Adams

Mini 1.6 Coupé, £5937: For some very personal and, I admit, totally irrational reason, I’ve always disliked the BMW Mini. This has nothing to do with my being a huge fan of the Issigonis Mini, by the way, because I wasn’t keen on that either. So before I make myself very unpopular, let me fulfil the brief by offering up this 2012 Coupé version, a car that shares all the normal hatch’s qualities but is at least unusual to look at and quite rare. It’s quick enough, plus it has a low mileage and a full service history. Mark Pearson

Verdict: Power aplenty, an electronic diff to keep me out of hedgerows and that evocative JCW association to bore my mates with. Max’s Mini wins.

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My, my, the Lotus Evora has changed. The latest version of this now decade-old sports car (there is only one Evora derivative on sale at the moment) is the GT410 Sport – and it’s feisty. 

It’s got one of those motorway rides. You know the type: with that collusive, delicious high-speed fidget that can only be made by a short, firm coil spring working in tandem with an expensive, belligerent Bilstein damper – and which gently insists you divert immediately from your intended errand-to-wherever to some proper driving roads. It has a supercharged V6 powertrain that demands you time your manual gearchanges well, with the proper footwork, and that picks up from 4500rpm with raw, unfiltered ferocity. It steers with the weight and feel – and kickback – of a competition racer. It really grips – once the Cup tyres are switched on. 

Lordy, this car has put on some muscle. In many ways, it could even compare to a Porsche 911 GT3: for immersive control feedback, track-ready purpose and potential for driver reward. 

And that means it ought to be a pretty stern test for the latest, all-new ‘992’-generation Carrera 4S, right? If only the sports car market was so easy to make sense of. Compared with both Evoras I remember driving three, five and nearly 10 years ago now, and with the latest Porsche 911 Carrera, however, the GT410 Sport is certainly different. And difference is your best friend when the opportunity presents to lay a challenge for a car as complete and accomplished as the new 992. Difference is what you need to crack open the lid on this new Porsche’s character and make-up – to find out what it’s gained and given up, how it’s developed and diverged. 

We could have looked for less difference among the line-up for this group test – and, for a while, we did. To tell you the truth, the Jaguar F-Type R was indisposed on the dates of our Porsche 911 welcoming party, and the Aston Martin Vantage was washing its hair. I understand the reticence. A ‘991’ Carrera GTS gave the current Vantage a thorough dusting in a group test I wrote only last year, as well as a McLaren 540C. And the differences between that GTS’s partly optional mechanical specification (Carrera 4 ‘widebody’, 444bhp 3.0-litre turbo flat six, lowered PASM suspension, PTV active rear diff, four-wheel steering) and the one about which you’re about to read? Well, you might say they’re incremental. 

So the decision was partly made for us. But however it happened, it became clear that picking starkly different opponents for the 992 might be our best route towards learning something meaningful about the new Porsche. If this is the latest version of the sports car that changed the landscape of its segment, decades ago, with its sheer breadth of dynamic talents and its unmatched usability, why not test the outer limits of its range rather than pounding away pointlessly at its He-Man-like core? 

Why not give it a really uncompromising, irresistibly simple driver’s car to measure up with on poise, agility, grip, engagement, excitement and reward, I thought; and also a really desirable, exotic, expensively engineered heavyweight German to contend with on material class, usability and everyday ownership appeal? Enter the Lotus Evora GT410 Sport and facelifted Audi R8 V10. 

Before we get cracking, a quick review of what’s new and different about this Porsche for those in need of one. There’s quite a lot: more aluminium-intensive construction, a longer front overhang, wider wings and axle tracks (the old Carrera 2 narrow body, which wouldn’t have featured on a Carrera 4S anyway, has been discontinued), mixed-width wheels, retuned suspension, new dampers, quicker steering, electro-mechanically assisted brakes, new stiffer engine mountings, bigger new engine induction and fuel injection systems… the list goes on. 

If you want one any time soon, you can only have a 444bhp Carrera S with an eight-speed twin-clutch automatic gearbox, but you can choose between rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive (the latter works via a new hang-on clutch, incidentally), or between fixed-roof coupé and convertible bodystyles. You get a torque vectoring electronic rear differential lock and PASM adaptive dampers as standard; lowered suspension’s an option. And, because this is 2019, even for million-selling, 56-year-old iconic sports cars, you can add four-wheel steering, active anti-roll bars or carbon-ceramic brakes at extra cost, should you want to (our Carrera 4S test car had all three, plus PASM Sport springs). 

It’s a mechanical recipe that the Audi R8 struggles to better in some ways, in spite of its higher price tag, more exotic spaceframe construction and behemoth Hungarian-built atmo V10. Weighing 1660kg at the kerb, the Audi’s nearly 100kg heavier than the Porsche; and while it beats it comfortably for power-to-weight ratio, it narrowly loses out to its compatriot on torque-to-weight ratio. The Audi matches the Porsche for driven wheels, but not for the latest steering and suspension technologies. The Lotus, meanwhile, with its aluminium tub and rear-drive layout, is more than 200kg lighter even than the Porsche, and has a roofline that sits almost 100mm nearer the road. It does not have active anti-roll bars or four-wheel steering – but with physical stats like that, would you say it needed them? Nope, me neither; particularly not after driving one. See: told you they were different. 

You don’t expect the Porsche to put up much of a fight to the Audi on static appeal – material richness, on-board technology and the like – because traditionally 911s have kept things pretty simple and functional on the inside, and been all the more likeable for it. And that will probably be true right until the moment you slide aboard the 992 and begin to process the significant strides that it has made on interior design and perceived quality. 

The car’s cabin ambience is a lot more upmarket than that of the 991. The fascia looks crisp and sculptural now, with wide, wing-like surfaces up ahead of you and a smart-looking centre stack console just above the transmission tunnel. Metallic trim and gloss-black finishes are used judiciously and well, while the car’s primary switchgear feels really solid and expensive, the best of it having a tactile knurled metallic finish. The driving position is excellent: low and snug but accommodating and perfectly supported. And the way analogue and digital technologies are blended for instrumentation and infotainment is really expert. You still get an analogue rev counter, front and centre in the driver’s binnacle, but the digital screens on both of its flanks are hugely configurable. And while the car’s PCM central infotainment screen has now grown to a landscape-oriented 10.9in size, it fits into the fascia surprisingly discreetly; it’s shaded by the upper dashboard so not prone to reflections; and it can be navigated by either touchscreen or rotary dial input. 

The 992’s is the interior of a very modern and decidedly luxurious sports car, then – and it dominates even the Audi’s in so many ways. The R8’s has more leather and satin chrome within it, but it doesn’t seat you as comfortably or surround you with as much usable space; it doesn’t give you such good all-round visibility; it doesn’t feel quite as solid or expensively made; and, while Audi’s Virtual Cockpit instruments are adaptable and clear, it isn’t so good at giving you just the right information in just the right place. 

A narrower-feeling on-the-road vehicle footprint and equally good touring comfort means the 992 passes the first phase of our test pretty easily. It’s a nicer car to spend time in than the R8, and it would be quite a lot easier to use. 

So what about our second test phase: driver appeal? This is a tough one. Every bit as tough a call, in fact, as I’d desperately hoped it would be when phoning up the man from Hethel and inviting disappointment by expecting a 10-year-old Lotus to be able to show a brand-new Porsche the way home on handling. 

The Evora is no longer the car I remember falling for so deeply a decade ago. In this latest guise, it’s a considerably less rounded, supple, effortlessly poised thing than the car that popped up at our Handling Day test in 2009 and, with only 276 horsepower to its name, duly wiped the floor with an Aston Martin V12 Vantage, Porsche ‘997’ GT3, Lamborghini Murciélago SV and others. The past 10 years have made the Evora less moderate and more single-minded: quite a lot more. But, my word, it can entertain when you get in tune with it. More than an Audi R8 can and, though it’s close, more than a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S can, provided you’re prepared to accept what comes along with the bargain. 

The Lotus does a lot that will more likely wind you up and test your patience to begin with, of course, while the Porsche never puts a foot wrong. The Evora’s a much harder car to get into, and to see out of, than the 911 – and it’s much more demanding to interact with. Every gearchange in the Lotus demands a couple of well-timed dips of the clutch pedal, a firm double-barrelled shove of the gearlever and, if it’s a downshift, a prod of accelerator; and you’ll be needing plenty of downshifts, because that V6 isn’t so good at accessible torque. 

The 911’s eight-speed PDK gearbox couldn’t be more different – shifting near-seamlessly by itself and often quite unnecessarily given the torque the 3.0-litre flat six makes. The flip side of that, however, is that when you execute a perfect downshift in the Lotus and then ring that banshee vibrato V6 out to 7000rpm, you feel – just a little bit – like your name might be Fittipaldi. The 911’s powertrain is responsive, rangey, flexible, free-revving and has plenty of charm, but doesn’t excite in quite the same way. 

On outright handling agility and mid-corner poise, there’s nothing between the two cars – the 911’s clever suspension and four-wheel-steering technologies recovering a position that the car’s mass and centre of gravity suggested it might not have. In terms of outright grip level, the Porsche’s Goodyear tyres deliver a significantly more secure hold on damp Tarmac. The Lotus’s Michelin Cup 2s work better on dry roads when you can warm them through: an act that gives the Brit’s driving experience that much more involvement factor all by itself. 

But what a spectacular groove the Evora gets into when things go its way – the conditions, the road surface, the traffic level, your belief and confidence level – and what a riot it can be at its best. You get feedback galore through both chassis and steering, and enough lateral grip, handling response and adjustability to make smoother bends both tight and fast an utter delight. 

The 992’s best, by a slim but unmissable margin, isn’t quite that intoxicating; but you’ll likely prefer to live with the 911’s dynamic compromise than the Evora’s, I’d wager – and, since there’s clearly more to come from other derivatives of this Porsche in terms of outright driver appeal, you’d definitely say that the Carrera 4S is as full-on and feisty as it ought to be. The Porsche copes so much better with mixed conditions, has the ride dexterity to deal with bumps better and has light years more dynamic range bound up in its chassis. 

The incisiveness of the 992’s handling has come on quite a long way even from a like-for-like 991 – and yet that famous old rear-engined handling charisma has been retained. I first drove a 911 at the age of 22 (aren’t I lucky?) – a wonderfully under-dressed ‘996’ Carrera 2 manual – and I loved the way the nose began to bob as the chassis was really setting to work, while the steering’s weight ebbed and flowed perfectly in time with the music to allow you to keep the car online like a reflex action. Over a mid-corner bump, the 992 behaves in exactly the same way – although you need a slightly bigger bump and more speed to set it all going. The old magic’s still there – and it’s wonderful. 

So what have we learned? That the new Porsche 911 is a better driver’s car than what it replaces, and that it fully deserves the warmest recognition, and an even more revered class-leading status than we gave the old one. For me, though, it’s the strides that the car has taken in other ways and directions that really set it apart. The most accomplished, usable and widely impressive sports car in the world has just broadened its hand even further – and is now better than ever.

Buy them used

Porsche 911 997: Immensely popular new and still highly sought, the ‘997’ is the sweet spot in the 911’s development. Wonderfully capable and tremendous fun, we’d seek out a post-2009 Gen 2 version, which gained a number of improvements over the earlier cars. The S will cost more but the standard Carrera is still a wonderful thing. Budget a minimum of £20k for a good one.

Audi R8 Gen1: The first-gen R8 was a revelation, its storming performance and agility a result of its mid-mounted 415bhp V8, a rear-biased quattro driveline and a low and lightweight aluminium body. Later models upped the power and included the sonorous V10. Stick with an early V8 with the manual gearbox and expect to pay upwards of £34k. 

Lotus Evora (2009 - now): Blessed with superb handling and an uncanny ability to brush off the most brusque of bumps, the Lotus Evora is the connoisseur’s choice. Whether you go for an early car, a facelifted 400, a lightweight Sport 410 or the GT430, you’ll have a brilliant B-road hack. Early examples start from £28k, while post-facelift cars with an improved gearbox are closer to £60k. 

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Chris Goodwin used to joke that his office was the cabin of whichever prototype supercar he was developing at the time. But since moving from McLaren to become Aston Martin’s high-performance test driver, and head dynamic development on the brand’s three mid-engined cars, his workspace has become much more mundane: an industrial unit in Milton Keynes. 

Okay, so this unit is also the HQ of Red Bull Racing (RBR) – we’re not talking Wernham Hogg here – but it’s still far less exotic than Goodwin’s former haunts. His tally of air miles has stalled, too. 

“This is the first winter for years I’ve spent in England,” he says. “Gianfranco in the Riva del Sole hotel in Nardò hasn’t seen me for months. He probably thinks I’m dead.” 

Yet Goodwin is working at the cutting edge, developing the forthcoming Valkyrie in a virtual environment good enough to blur the lines with reality, one that allows Aston and Red Bull to work on Adrian Newey’s fever-dream megacar well before the first prototype is running. Autocar has been allowed to see the development simulator, and to have a first go in the digital Valkyrie. 

Goodwin has already driven 5200 miles in the simulator over 31 sessions, working through a list of test scenarios. The computer model of the Valkyrie is detailed enough – and the simulator platform powerful enough – to allow meaningful data to be extracted from it. Some 750GB has been harvested already and shared with key suppliers. 

So Goodwin’s virtual laps at Silverstone are the basis for Cosworth’s dyno testing of the prototype V12. According to James Knapton, RBR’s head of vehicle science, the Valkyrie’s Bosch stability control system will soon be running in real time, receiving the sensor inputs it would get from a physical car and outputting its decisions straight into the program. 

So what stability control is running at the moment, I ask. “None,” says Goodwin, grinning, “and there’s no ABS either.”

Teething problems

Simulators are expensive to run and my time is limited. I will get to drive around Spa with one stint in what’s meant to be a generic supercar (“a bit McLaren, a bit Ferrari”, according to Goodwin) and then one in a fully simulated Valkyrie. 

The simulator shows off its racing origins: I have to clamber into a cutout Formula 1 tub – necessitating left-foot braking – and the view on the wraparound screen is from the perspective of a single-seater, with rendered Michelin tyres on each side. There’s also a full F1-grade steering wheel, although Goodwin says I can ignore all controls except the gearchange paddles and push-to-talk button to speak to the control room. The simulator’s range of motion is limited – big systems require warehouse space – but it still moves violently enough to replicate true cockpit sensations. 

First impressions are strange, the big-boy simulator feeling somehow less convincing than the video game versions of Spa I’ve experienced. The motion actuators create a sense of cornering and longitudinal forces, but these are short and sharp rather than sustained. The steering feels real, much more so than the usual force-feedback games controller, but the brake pedal lacks resistance and anything more than gentle pressure has me locking the front wheels. The graphics are also some way short of the beautifully rendered crispness of something like Forza 7. The wraparound screen gives an impression of three dimensions, but doesn’t give a sense of depth or distance, and I find I’m either braking much too early or clattering over kerbs with excessive speeds. On my second lap, I attempt Eau Rouge at such a ludicrous pace I crash the whole simulation, ending up floating in a dark void under Raidillon. 

Eventually I string together a lap without any massive errors, but when Goodwin crouches down for a debrief, I admit the sim doesn’t feel real. It turns out it’s not meant to. 

“That’s because it’s a tool, not a game,” he says. “It’s a motion platform, but the movement is only enough to inform an experienced simulator driver. It feels completely different to the way a finished car will – all simulators do, to be honest – but there’s a parallel universe of simulator behaviour and real car behaviour. Recognising the translation between them is what comes from experience.”

On board the Valkyrie

There is no visual change switching to the Valkyrie model, although there’s now a V12 engine note in place of a generic V8 tone. But as soon as I start moving, everything feels easier. No surprise that the Valkyrie is massively quicker – the finished version will have 1160bhp and weigh under 1100kg – with even Spa’s longest straights feeling pretty short. But it is also more forgiving of mistakes with huge mechanical grip and, as speed rises, the addition of what must be huge amounts of aerodynamic downforce. It is still possible to crash, of course – I add another couple of highlights to the sim team’s blooper reel. But at higher speeds, the virtual Valkyrie feels practically painted to the road – taking the ultra-fast left-hander at Blanchimont without lifting (something I’m certain I’d never be brave enough to do in real life). 

After less than half an hour in the sim, I’m feeling sweaty and wrung-out; Goodwin often goes for five hours without a break. I’m not given any lap times – Aston doesn’t want anyone to try to extrapolate the car’s performance until it is ready to communicate just how special it is. But Goodwin does share one number, saying my best Valkyrie lap was 25 seconds quicker than my fastest time in the generic model. The difference seems ludicrous, but Goodwin insists the Valkyrie really will be that much faster. 

“I talk to customers who have paid good money for this car, and they don’t know what they’ve got,” he says. 

They are going to have fun finding out.

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Generally speaking, a spaceship destined for the moon is a tiny capsule stuck on the end of a huge, pointy rocket somewhere in sunny Florida. But the spaceship we’re looking at is a family hatchback at a used car dealer in West Drayton, off the M4. 

In fact, it’s a 10-year-old Ford Mondeo 2.3 Ghia X auto that has done 293,000 miles, or a bit more than a spacecraft does on its way to the moon. It’s for sale at Trade Price Motors, a large used car lot at the end of an industrial estate. 

Be honest – would you buy such a motor? For most of us, 60,000 miles is the cut-off. Any higher and we start to worry about component life and reselling the thing. The idea of buying one that’s done 100,000 is a stretch, but one with 293,000 miles? Pigs might fly – to the moon. 

“Sixty thousand miles is most car buyers’ first sticking point,” agrees Mark Bulmer, senior valuations editor at Cap HPI. “Then it’s 100,000, but anything over 150,000 miles and condition is everything, to the extent that the price difference between a car with 200,000 miles and another with 300,000 is negligible. 

“This is because modern cars can take high mileage. In fact, doing lots of miles is better for a car than doing too few when the oil doesn’t get hot enough to circulate properly. Rust used to be the big killer, but now that car makers have fixed that problem, if a high-mileage car has been serviced regularly, it’ll be fine to buy.” 

On the strength of TPM’s Mondeo space capsule, Bulmer may have a point. Incredibly, its slotted alloy wheels, shod with matching, premium Goodyear rubber, are pristine. Its paint is original and its body is free of dents and scratches. Inside, its cabin looks as if it’s been lifted from a 3000-mile car rather than one that has done 100 times that. The ‘walnut’ trim gleams and the black leather seats look as fresh as the day they were fitted. Only the part-wood and leather steering wheel looks faded and is beginning to peel. 

Time to fire it up. Being a Ghia X, the Mondeo has keyless ignition, so I press the start button. The 2.3-litre engine settles to a quiet tickover. During a rare break in the passing traffic, I pop open the bonnet to listen more closely, expecting to hear the shuffle-shuffle of the auxiliary belt as, for the umpteenth time, it follows its tortuous path. Nothing – not even a squeak. The engine is dry but not corroded. The battery terminals have fresh grease on them. 

It’s disappointing to see there are only nine stamps in the book (all Ford main dealer), but because service histories can get a little hazy at spaceship mileages, I’m willing to believe it’s an incomplete record. 

It’s got to be worth a run up the road. I select Drive and squeeze the throttle. The big Mondeo rolls across TPM’s granite chippings and potholes incredibly smoothly. I expected to feel some looseness in the suspension and steering rack bushes, but everything feels tight. 

Out on the road, it picks up speed smoothly. The traffic clears, so I knock the gearshift into Sport and try a few downchanges. The transmission responds without fuss, although the petrol engine feels lethargic, as I’d expect with just 159bhp to give. My old 2007 Mondeo 2.0 diesel auto was much gutsier. 

The steering wheel is dead straight, the brakes pull up powerfully and the engine temperature is good. Back at Trade Price Motors, I check the dual zone climate control, tyre pressure monitoring system and parking sensors. They all work. 

Kashif ‘Sam’ Sheikh, the dealership’s general manager, rushes over for my verdict. As we coo over its condition, he says he’s putting up its price – from £1250 to £2495: “The boss was giving it away.” 

Bulmer isn’t surprised by the Mondeo’s condition. He says most Fords take high mileage exceptionally well. Not only those but Mercedes, Volvos and most Japanese and Korean cars also. Even, he says, old Land Rover Discoverys. He should know about those since he’s Cap HPI’s valuations expert on SUVs. One of his favourites is the Toyota Land Cruiser. 

“They just keep rolling,” he says. “Mileages over 100,000 are common. In fact, in the past week alone we’ve seen four with well over that figure.”

It gives me an idea… From West Drayton I nip part-way around the M25 to West Byfleet, to meet dealer Russell Baker of Baker Brothers. He’s selling something that I reckon Bulmer, a former Land Cruiser owner, would approve of. It’s a 2000 V-reg Colorado 3.0 TD – with 270,000 miles. “We’re big fans of high-mileage Land Cruisers,” says Baker. “They’re top value and take everything in their stride.” 

His Colorado has good provenance and a great service history. It had one lady owner from 2002 to 2017. She did 200,000 miles in it and had it serviced on the button by a main Toyota dealer. It’s in excellent condition, inside and out. The engine looks great. Its two batteries are still wrapped in their smart, black jackets. 

Baker himself runs around in a Mk5 Volkswagen Golf diesel that has done 288,000 miles. He bought it with 194,000. “It’s only had a new turbo and still does 60mpg on a good run,” he says, proudly. 

He also has a 2015 Volkswagen Amarok that’s done 150,000 and two 2016-reg VW mini buses, each with 260,000 miles. “Unfortunately, 100,000 miles is still a problem for many car buyers, but the fact is most cars will do 500,000 miles no problem. 

“Few owners and good service history are things to look for but condition is everything. If it looks good, it probably is.” 

High-mileage champion

It’s only four years old but we found a 2015/65 Toyota Aygo 1.0 VVT-i X-Play that has done 260,000 miles with its one owner from new and has a full service history. “They were all motorway miles and it drives like new,” says the seller. The owner works in social services, and the car has spent its life shuttling people the length and breadth of the country. We arranged to view it, but during the intervening weekend it was sold for £3490.

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