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Wild new Nissan GT-R is ‘tangible lucid dream’ Car News

The Hyper Force concept features a lightweight body with carbon fibre used in its construction. Nissan says that this body, combined with “powerful downforce” and the advanced control of the E-Force all-wheel drive system allows for “enhanced cornering and exceptional handling on circuits and winding roads”.

No dimensions have been released by Nissan but the concept is large, most likely in excess of five metres long and two metres wide. The aerodynamics of the car were developed and designed in conjunction with Nissan’s performance arm Nismo. As well as providing “high” aerodynamic and downforce performance, the body design also substantially contributes to cooling performance to allow the concept to be driven harder for longer.

Some of the features of the body include a dual-level diffuser at the rear, active front winglets, fender slips and rear wing ends, and a plasma actuator that is said to suppress air detachment to maximise grip and minimise inner-wheel lift while the car is cornering.  

The design has little in common with the current GT-R, which by the time this next-generation model enters production will be two decades old, but there are nods to the legendary Skyline lineage with the design of the front and rear headlights. The wheels are made from lightweight carbonfibre, in a design which improves aerodynamic efficiency while providing better cooling for the brakes.

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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-05 08:03:37

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Next Rimac supercar could ditch battery for diesel Car News

Rimac’s next supercar might not be powered only by batteries, as the company is looking into the viability of a radical new technology that generates electricity using liquid fuels like diesel.

Speaking to Autocar recently, founder and boss Mate Rimac gave hints at what the next steps might look like for the Croatian brand, which is well underway with production of its second car, the 1877bhp Nevera EV.

“Rimac isn’t exclusively electric – it’s doing whatever is most exciting at the time,” he said, revealing that it’s “working on” a programme that will determine if so-called nanotubes can be an effective source of energy for a vehicle.

In essence, the idea is to superheat “chemically different” liquid fuels to generate electricity that could then be used to power an electric motor, thereby replacing the battery in an electric drivetrain.

Mate Rimac cited liquefied petroleum gas, hydrogen and diesel as examples of fuels that could be used to power this arrangement. He revealed that his company had identified a start-up experimenting with the tech on a small scale and

that tests had suggested nanotubes could operate at 80% efficiency, when the average for an internal combustion engine is 30%.

The by-products of this process, said Rimac, include CO2 and other gases but far less than is emitted by any conventional ICE.

He believes the programme has potentially significant implications for the whole car industry but “especially sports cars”, implying that there are substantial weight savings and packaging advantages to be gained by removing the battery from an electric drivetrain. 

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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-05 07:01:46

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Car tax: everything you need to know about vehicle excise duty Car News

This additional cost does not apply to electric vehicles, and this exemption is set to be in place until 31 March 2025. 

For cars registered before 1 March 2001, then the engine size in cubic centimetres (cc) is what’s important. Cars with engines equal to or smaller in capacity than 1549cc (roughly equivalent to 1.5 litres) cost £170 a year, assuming they pay up front for 12 months. Meanwhile, cars with engines larger than 1549cc cost £280 a year.

 

Is my car exempt from VED?

Some cars are exempt from the VED tax. Perhaps most notably, drivers of electric cars do not need to pay. This also includes cars powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. However, drivers of hybrid vehicles must pay. 

Historic vehicles – that’s cars made before 1 January 1983 – are also not required to pay VED, so, luckily, your Ferrari 250 GTO is safe to drive on the road without further pennies. 

Cars used to transport disabled passengers – referred to as disabled passenger vehicles – also do not have to pay VED. You can also claim a disability exemption if you’re disabled and you drive your car, but this can only be used on one vehicle at a time. 

VED also does not apply to mobility vehicles and powered wheelchairs, so long as they have a maximum speed of 8mph on the road and are limited to 4mph on pavements. 

Outside of standard passenger cars, vehicles that are used for agriculture, horticulture and forestry are also VED exempt. This includes tractors, light agricultural vehicles and ‘limited use’ vehicles. These aren’t allowed to drive more than 1.5km on a public road. 

Steam vehicles are also exempt. Great news for the Doble Model E owners club.

If you own a car but you don’t drive it on public roads, then you’re also exempt, although you’ll have to declare it to the DVLA. This is called a Statutory Off Road Notification, or SORN, and you can declare it here.

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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-04 15:40:00

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Mini Aceman EV due reveal as brand’s first electric car Car News

It will also make use of the Cooper’s battery and power offerings (S: 181bhp; SE: 215bhp), but given the car is bigger and heavier than its supermini sibling, range for the entry-level 40kWh E is expected to be down on the Cooper’s 240 miles. Only two-wheel drive will be offered. 

A hot JCW version, using the same 54kWh battery as the SE, will arrive in 2026 – around a year after the standard car, with a focus on power over range.

As with the Cooper, Mini has developed a soundtrack to accompany acceleration, but Wurst said it won’t be like the operatic tune BMW offers in models such as the BMW iX.

Elsewhere inside, the Aceman gets a near-identical interior to the Cooper, albeit with even ‘funkier’ stylings on the cards; a knitted dashboard has been mooted. 

Its interior will largely shun chrome and leather and adopt a clean, one-screen central display for control of most key functions. 

In parting with tradition, its interior is dominated by a large central screen and a set of five toggle switches. Aside from these, buttons are almost entirely absent from the sustainable textile or leatherette-clad dashboard fascia.

It will be the car that has the broadest target market, as “you can buy it for your first car, or have it as your only car.” Wurst added she expects it to also sell well in Asia. “I think this car has the biggest potential; it is the one with the hottest ‘newness’ aspect.”

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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-04 11:44:00

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Volvo ES90 electric saloon due for 2024 reveal Car News

The Volvo S90 saloon is expected to be replaced with a new electric flagship launching in 2025, likely to be called the ES90.

Known internally at the Swedish car maker under the codename V551, production is set to take place at a factory owned and operated by Volvo’s parent company Geely in China, as revealed in a photograph and specifications leaked by the company’s board.

A photograph published to Volvo’s employee intranet shows members of Volvo’s production team in Zhejiang huddled around signs that read “Volvo Cars V551 First VP Car Celebration” and “Confidential Top Secret”. The reference to VP stands for ‘Verification Prototype’.

The electric Audi A6BMW i5 and Mercedes-Benz EQE rival is completely obscured from view, ahead of an expected unveiling in the coming months. 

The luxury four-door is expected to be based on Volvo’s SPA2 platform – the same structure that underpins the new EX90 SUV and its Polestar 4 sibling. It accommodates electric drivetrains operating at either 400 or 800 volts.

Specifications leaked by Volvo suggest the ES90 will be sold with the choice of both single-motor rear-wheel drive and dual-motor four-wheel drive.

It is also said to use a 111 kWh battery (107 kWh usable) delivering 600km (373 miles) of range in combination with the single-motor, rear-wheel-drive drivetrain.

According to Volvo, the ES90 measures 4999mm in length, 1547mm in height and 1945mm in width, making it 61mm shorter, 32mm higher and 45mm wider than the BMW i5. It also receives a wheelbase that is 105mm longer than its German rival at 3100mm.

Development of the ES90 is understood to have been partly carried out in combination with Geely’s new Galaxy E8 saloon and Zeekr 7 saloon – the latter of which boasts up to 637bhp and a range of 478 miles on the Chinese CLTC test cycle in range-topping dual-motor four-wheel drive specification.

While early speculation suggested the ES90 could share its platform with the recently unveiled Polestar 5, it is understood the new bonded aluminum structure is considered too expensive for the price point and expected production volumes of the new Volvo saloon, which is planned to be offered in all of its existing global markets. 

Details of Volvo’s new electric S90 come after it phased out all estate and saloon models in the UK market, citing much higher demand for SUVs. As a result, it remains unclear if the brand will bring its Audi A6 rival here.

The ES90 will be Volvo’s fourth bespoke electric car, joining the EX30 crossover, EX90 SUV and EM90 MPV. An electric successor to the XC60 is due in 2025, but no plans have yet been revealed for an electric replacement for the S60 and V60. 

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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-03 10:53:09

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Top 10 best sports SUVs 2024 Car News

Cons: Can’t match the Porsche in the corners, firm and noisy ride

The GLC 63 Coupe’s biggest enemy is its five-door sibling because that car offers the same performance from the same intoxicating V8 engine.

But if you’re smitten by the swoopy, divisive styling of the coupe, the car’s desirability will be almost unmatchable. It’s packed with the luxurious perceived cabin quality you’d expect from Mercedes-AMG and it also beats the Porsche Macan Turbo to 62mph by half a second – although it can’t match that car’s dynamic abilities.

Its firm, noisy ride will limit its appeal to less enthusiastic drivers. However, the retention of an emotive petrol V8 in a mid-sized performance SUV, when some rivals have turned to six-pots, will be enough to draw some people to the GLC 63 Coupe’.

Read our Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 S review

Save money with new GLC deals from What Car?

Bmw x4m 2023 top top

Pros: Surprisingly high grip levels, keen cornering balance

Cons: Firm ride, not the best to drive

BMW is a fairly recent addition to the ranks of manufacturers making hot SUVs at the smaller end of the market. While there has been an X5 M and an X6 M for several years, this is the first time those cars have had smaller counterparts.

They’re oddly serious, buttoned-down counterparts, too.

Using fixed-height steel coil suspension rather than air, and seeking to carve out dynamic identities as higher-rising versions of the M3 and M4 rather than any-occasion luxury SUVs with a performance flavour, the X3 M and X4 M are firm-riding, keen-revving, six-cylinder options that seem desperate to recover some sporting credibility in what many would consider a doomed attempt.

The two cars have identical axles and chassis tuning and use the same M5-derived four-wheel drive system, which combine to make for surprisingly high grip levels and keen cornering balance. Even so, they’re not the easiest cars to handle on the limit – and neither do they offer the broadest dynamic playbook in the class.

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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-03 11:25:00

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My Week In Cars: New Steve Cropley/Matt Prior podcast (ep. 68) Car News

Episode 68 of the Autocar podcast My Week In Cars finds our resident car hacks Steve Cropley and Matt Prior talking over good coffee from Caffeine and Machine about 2024’s interesting upcoming cars and events, plus the appeal of the Suzuki Swift, the Audi SQ8 E-tron, buying ex-press demonstrators (or not) and much more besides.

Make sure you never miss an Autocar podcast. Subscribe to our podcasts via Apple PodcastsSpotifyAmazon Podcasts or via your preferred podcast platform. And if you subscribe and rate and review the pod, we’d really appreciate that too.

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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-03 05:01:45

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New Porsche Taycan eclipses Tesla Model S Nürburgring time Car News

A new range-topping version of the Porsche Taycan has beaten the Tesla Model S Plaid around the Nurburgring by a blistering 28sec.

It becomes one of the fastest Porsches around the fabled circuit, posting a time of 7min 7sec.

Arriving later this year, the new Tesla Model S Plaid rival was previously spotted at the Nürburgring as it attempted to set a new lap record for electric production cars, driven by chief tester Lars Kern.

The range-topper, likely to be the Turbo GT, posted a time that was 26 seconds faster than Porsche’s previous fastest car, the Taycan Turbo S, and 28sec ahead of the Model S Plaid.

Kern said he “pushed as hard as he could” for multiple laps on the fabled track, which was reserved for Porsche’s use throughout the day.

“Twenty-six seconds is half an eternity in motorsport”, said Kevin Giek, head of the Taycan model line.

“Lars’ lap time of 7:07.55 minutes on the Nordschleife is sensational, putting the Taycan in the same league as electric hypercars.

“And the impressive thing about it is that over several laps, Lars clocked almost exactly the same time.”

Upgrades over the Turbo S include a huge rear wing, new bumpers, a rear air intake and new headlights.

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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-02 14:00:00

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UK government misses motorway EV charging target Car News

The UK government has missed its goal to have six or more ultra-rapid (150kW-350kW) electric vehicle chargers at every motorway service station in England by the end of 2023.

New analysis published by the RAC revealed that only 46 of the nation’s 119 service stations meet the criteria set out by the Department for Transport in May 2020.

It confirms Autocar’s December 2023 report that the target was set to be missed, as many service stations were limited to a sub-150kW charging provision.

Some sites – including Barton Park, Leicester Forest and Tebay South – still lack any form of EV charging provision.

According to figures from charger mapping service Zap-Map, there were 53,029 EV charge points in the UK at the end of November 2023. Of these, just 4505 were capable of delivering ultra-rapid charge rates.

Charge-point operators have previously highlighted the slow pace of electrical grid connections as a significant barrier to installing new chargers. Gridserve CEO Toddington Harper told Autocar in April 2023: “Almost every issue of speed of implementation is down to the speed of grid connections.”

Harper added that operators “can often be delayed by months or more waiting for a connection”.

Vauxhall Corsa-E charging at Gridserve

The government announced at November’s COP28 climate conference that it had established a £70 million pilot fund intended to improve grid connections at several sites.

It said the money, taken from the £950 million Rapid Charging Fund, would be used to prepare five to 10 locations for 100kW-plus charge points.

The government’s ambition with the new funding is to ‘future-proof’ each service station’s electrical capacity against the expected increase in demand for motorway chargers through to 2035. That year, sales of new petrol- and diesel-powered cars, including hybrids, will be banned.

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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-02 09:00:00

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Our favourite cars of 2023: BMW M340i Car News

At our road testers’ Christmas dinner, I was roundly derided for nominating the BMW M340i as my most underrated car of 2023.

“I can’t remember the last time a 3 Series lost a group test,” spat one of my colleagues disdainfully. “How can it possibly be underrated?”

“Nice work. Maybe next time you could bring an Alpine A110 or the Porsche 911,” chuckled another.

“Or a really overlooked gem like the Mercedes S-Class.”

They had a point, of sorts. We rated the G20-generation BMW 3 Series at five stars when it was launched in 2019 and it emerged from a hefty update for 2023 “as ruthlessly brilliant as ever”.

No variant currently on sale merits fewer than 4.5 stars in our book, and there’s usually a BMW with a ‘3’ on it somewhere at the annual Autocar Awards photocall.

BMW M340i – side tracking

But I thought the M340i, specifically, deserved a few more column inches.

I spent a fair bit of time in the M3 Touring this year and was left slightly cold: its ride is too harsh to let rip on crumbling country lanes, its wheels are too big to parallel park with abandon in town and its styling is too brash to fade into the background on long jaunts.

Plus, its outrageous firepower means you could find yourself on the wrong side of the law in mere seconds from standstill.

BMW M340i – rear tracking

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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-01 07:01:45