Autocar UK
My 1992 V8 Range Rover only costs me £100 in repairs each year
It's rare to find a Mk1 Range Rover used as intended, but this one is "It's a genuine Chelsea tractor," says Mike Hurst, pointing to the Chelsea & Kensington parking permit on the windscreen of his 1992 J-reg Range Rover 3.5 V8 Vogue SE auto, finished in Ardennes Green. It's not his permit: it was there when he bought the car 19 years ago, unbelievably from a chap at the roadside. Mike recalls: "
Autocar UK
The rise of the virtual gearbox: Why EV sports cars are faking it
Simulated sequential 'boxes, pioneered by Hyundai, are the hottest new trend in high-performance EVs The sign of any great new technology is how quickly it smoothly slips into your life. When was the last time you actively thought about making a contactless card payment? The speed at which I defaulted to using the faux gears of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N's N e-Shift system after making first acquainta
Autocar UK
Inside the Leapmotor-Stellantis deal that's changing the car world
Stellantis and fast-moving firm Leapmotor joined forces three years ago – what's next? European manufacturers have faced significant disruption and challenges in recent years, but the rapid expansion of Chinese firms into the region presents the biggest existential threat to their survival yet. How can legacy car firms, already struggling with the cost of electrification and ever-shifting legisla
Autocar UK
The world’s coolest police cars
Cop a load of these... Not all drivers appreciate the sight of a police car behind them, but at least these will get your attention for the right reasons… Imagine how much more interesting it would be if the roads were patrolled by Porsche 911s, or Audi R8s, or Honda NSXs? Or a hot-hatchback like the Ford Escort RS Cosworth, pictured, which saw service in the UK? Well, the police in one part of
Autocar UK
How the Daewoo Matiz began life as a Fiat concept
Originally pitched as a variant of the Fiat Cinqeucento, this cute city car was an unlikely success It probably wasn’t the outcome that Paolo Cantarella had banked on. Back in 1991, Fiat Auto’s car enthusiast boss launched a design competition especially for Italian coachbuilders. The idea was that they would produce an assortment of concept cars based on the then new Fiat Cinquecento, the neatly
Autocar UK
The brilliant car designs of Giorgetto Giugiaro
Giorgetto Giugiaro has designed more big-selling cars than anybody else – and lots of niche models too. These are just some of the highlights He's been called the most influential car designer of all time Giorgetto Giugiaro entered his work into a student exhibition in 1955, where it was spotted by Fiat's technical director Dante Giacosa; the rest as they say is history. Let's see all the amazin
Autocar UK
21 controversial models from famous car manufacturers
Unreliable, ugly or both, these cars stood out in the worst possible way Even the most successful car companies miss the mark. We can think of many instances in which car firms (usually cash- or time-strapped) fumbled as they attempted to replace a popular model. Sometimes they got ahead of themselves by trying to fill a niche that didn’t exist yet – and that, in some cases, was never created. T
Autocar UK
How the RAF helped make Britain a sports car mega-power
What else to do with an abandoned airfield but make a world-class GP circuit or test track? Why are the British so good at making sports cars? It's a question put to me in an interview recently, to which a previous interviewee had said that, in times gone by (maybe even now), only the British would be barmy enough to stand in a small, cold shed and decide that a world-class small sports or racing
Autocar UK
Exclusive: Testing Renault's top secret new cars - with the firm's boss
We join for the most important day in Renault's calendar, as all the bosses check out what's coming next When François Provost, a distinguished Renault Group director of vast experience but low profile, suddenly succeeded Luca de Meo as CEO in July last year, there was no suggestion that he would be bothered about trying to mirror de Meo's well- chronicled star quality or instinct for headlines.
The cars that should have been stars, but weren't
We take a close look at the cars that deserved much greater success - and also a few cars that were suprising hits... From the moment the proud designer slides off the cloth cover, the car looks to be a nailed-on smash hit. Very often it is. But sometimes, a car that looks like a sure-fire winner fails to make the cut. Sometimes the car doesn’t drive in the ways its looks say it will. Sometimes
The most controversial cars made by Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz was the first to put the automobile into production, but that doesn’t mean all its cars since have been such a success… Mercedes is not a brand particularly known for controversy, at least compared with some we could mention. It has, however, had its moments, producing cars which certainly gave people pause for thought. Here, then, are 30 models which could, using the term very br
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