Car review
Car review
Xpeng's Tesla Model Y fighter comes to the UK with a long range and fast charging
Yes, the Xpeng G6 is another electric SUV out of China that is claimed to be smart, digital-first and sustainable.It’s got a big screen inside and one of those light bars as well. Novel. The company behind it describes itself as a start-up led by a tech entrepreneur and it has big European expansion plans that include the UK (right-hand-drive cars are coming in November). Exciting.In the bursting-at-the-seams medium SUV class that contains the Tesla Model Y, Skoda Enyaq, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and many, many others, Xpeng is going to need something a bit more eye-catching to draw people’s attention. It doesn’t help that this new Xpeng G6 looks rather a lot like a Model Y with some slimmer lights.
Xpeng G6 with Giga Gears
Xpeng's Tesla Model Y fighter comes to the UK with a long range and fast charging
Yes, the Xpeng G6 is another electric SUV out of China that is claimed to be smart, digital-first and sustainable.It’s got a big screen inside and one of those light bars as well. Novel. The company behind it describes itself as a start-up led by a tech entrepreneur and it has big European expansion plans that include the UK (right-hand-drive cars are coming in November). Exciting.In the bursting-at-the-seams medium SUV class that contains the Tesla Model Y, Skoda Enyaq, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and many, many others, Xpeng is going to need something a bit more eye-catching to draw people’s attention. It doesn’t help that this new Xpeng G6 looks rather a lot like a Model Y with some slimmer lights.
Car review
As eager as it is charming, and fun as it is cute. But will you come to regret buying it?
Despite unassisted steering, a clutch pedal that felt like it was set in concrete and rear head room so tight that the car might as well have been a two-seater, nearly 300,000 Rover Minis were produced between 1991 and 2000, with nearly five million produced throughout the car's total lifespan.People simply adored them. It was so renowned that it topped Autocar’s ‘Top 50 cars that changed the world’ list in 1991, and its lineage arguably continues today with BMW’s reborn Mini brand.For this buying guide, we’re focusing on the Mk6 and Mk7 variants that were manufactured by Rover between 1991 and 2000. That’s partly because there are so many versions to choose from but also because they can still be found at keen prices.With earlier Minis now being sold for anywhere between £12,000 and £50,000, you can still buy a Rover one from just under £2000.Other than price, though, what’s in it for you? Peppiness, for starters. Unlike the 40bhp 1.0-litre BMC A-series engine that was used until 1992, the 1275cc Rover unit is much more vibrant, coming with 50bhp and a carburettor until 1994. Or there’s the fuel-injected 63bhp engine that became the only one available post-1994.Both the 50bhp and 63bhp engines are lively at first, then begin to lose enthusiasm at around 60mph, and at any speed they sound as raspy as you might imagine a Mini would or should.And that rasping is something you will have to appreciate, because in a car with a body like a biscuit tin and all the insulation of a laundry basket, engine, gearbox and road noise protrude into the cabin pretty much all of the time. But at least you’re as nicely connected to the driving experience as you are to the road surface. Indeed, that connection is something you feel through the steering wheel. It's positioned slightly offset, but the response is sharp, even if the absence of any assistance makes the helm feel heavier and more agricultural than that of a modern car.Plant your foot in a bend and you will feel the Mini's wheels (available in 12in and 13in diameters) scrabble for grip, with the engine and four-speed gearbox (both manual automatic versions are available) working to slingshot you into the next bend. At that point, you lean on its wheel-at-each-corner stance, itself providing real agility and genuine poise.Multiple variants were produced between 1991 and 2000, including the entry-level Mini City, whose A-series engine offered an 84mph top speed. In 1992 it became the Mini Sprite, which cost £6486 when new and got a bump in power for an extra 3mph top end.We would recommend this one if you want no-nonsense fun on a tighter budget. The top spec was initially the chrome-clad Mini Mayfair, which was replaced by the 1.3i in August 1996 with a starting price of £8995. The Cooper S was reintroduced in April 2000 and is the variant you should buy if you have more than £10,000 to spend.Such a choice of trim levels might sound confusing, but making the decision to buy one of these Minis is anything but. It might not be that easy to live with as your only car, but as a basic means of enjoying a good drive, you're in good hands.
Rover Mini 1991-2000 Review: Giga Gears
As eager as it is charming, and fun as it is cute. But will you come to regret buying it?
Despite unassisted steering, a clutch pedal that felt like it was set in concrete and rear head room so tight that the car might as well have been a two-seater, nearly 300,000 Rover Minis were produced between 1991 and 2000, with nearly five million produced throughout the car's total lifespan.People simply adored them. It was so renowned that it topped Autocar’s ‘Top 50 cars that changed the world’ list in 1991, and its lineage arguably continues today with BMW’s reborn Mini brand.For this buying guide, we’re focusing on the Mk6 and Mk7 variants that were manufactured by Rover between 1991 and 2000. That’s partly because there are so many versions to choose from but also because they can still be found at keen prices.With earlier Minis now being sold for anywhere between £12,000 and £50,000, you can still buy a Rover one from just under £2000.Other than price, though, what’s in it for you? Peppiness, for starters. Unlike the 40bhp 1.0-litre BMC A-series engine that was used until 1992, the 1275cc Rover unit is much more vibrant, coming with 50bhp and a carburettor until 1994. Or there’s the fuel-injected 63bhp engine that became the only one available post-1994.Both the 50bhp and 63bhp engines are lively at first, then begin to lose enthusiasm at around 60mph, and at any speed they sound as raspy as you might imagine a Mini would or should.And that rasping is something you will have to appreciate, because in a car with a body like a biscuit tin and all the insulation of a laundry basket, engine, gearbox and road noise protrude into the cabin pretty much all of the time. But at least you’re as nicely connected to the driving experience as you are to the road surface. Indeed, that connection is something you feel through the steering wheel. It's positioned slightly offset, but the response is sharp, even if the absence of any assistance makes the helm feel heavier and more agricultural than that of a modern car.Plant your foot in a bend and you will feel the Mini's wheels (available in 12in and 13in diameters) scrabble for grip, with the engine and four-speed gearbox (both manual automatic versions are available) working to slingshot you into the next bend. At that point, you lean on its wheel-at-each-corner stance, itself providing real agility and genuine poise.Multiple variants were produced between 1991 and 2000, including the entry-level Mini City, whose A-series engine offered an 84mph top speed. In 1992 it became the Mini Sprite, which cost £6486 when new and got a bump in power for an extra 3mph top end.We would recommend this one if you want no-nonsense fun on a tighter budget. The top spec was initially the chrome-clad Mini Mayfair, which was replaced by the 1.3i in August 1996 with a starting price of £8995. The Cooper S was reintroduced in April 2000 and is the variant you should buy if you have more than £10,000 to spend.Such a choice of trim levels might sound confusing, but making the decision to buy one of these Minis is anything but. It might not be that easy to live with as your only car, but as a basic means of enjoying a good drive, you're in good hands.
Car review
Japanese rival to the Audi Q3 and BMW X1 has been updated with a stronger powertrain, a sharper chassis and modern tech
Lexus could hardly be happier right now. Its UK sales volume is at an all-time high and the Lexus LBX has received thousands of expressions of interest, with the majority of those customers ‘conquered’.Slight issue: the Japanese premium brand already had a hybrid small SUV priced from around £30,000. Easy fix: it has updated the six-year-old UX to create more points of differentiation than just size (it’s 4495mm long, while the LBX is 4190), namely increased power, driveability and refinement.A quick refresher on the UX: introduced back in 2018, this is Lexus's rival to the likes of the Audi Q3, BMW X1 and Volvo XC40, although it's surprisingly hatchbacky for what is meant as a crossover, with a very low slung seating position within a fairly squat body. The pay-off for that, of course, is that the UX doesn’t have the teetering centre of gravity of a more conventional small SUV, which means it has always handled with impressive poise and agility.The 2024 update doesn't really concern the busily creased exterior design, rather the interior and the hybrid powertrain (there's no plug-in hybrid, while the fully electric UX 300e is reviewed separately here).The coinciding name change from UX 250h to UX 300h signifies that it has advanced to Lexus's fifth-generation hybrid technology. More on that later.
Lexus UX Giga Gears
Japanese rival to the Audi Q3 and BMW X1 has been updated with a stronger powertrain, a sharper chassis and modern tech
Lexus could hardly be happier right now. Its UK sales volume is at an all-time high and the Lexus LBX has received thousands of expressions of interest, with the majority of those customers ‘conquered’.Slight issue: the Japanese premium brand already had a hybrid small SUV priced from around £30,000. Easy fix: it has updated the six-year-old UX to create more points of differentiation than just size (it’s 4495mm long, while the LBX is 4190), namely increased power, driveability and refinement.A quick refresher on the UX: introduced back in 2018, this is Lexus's rival to the likes of the Audi Q3, BMW X1 and Volvo XC40, although it's surprisingly hatchbacky for what is meant as a crossover, with a very low slung seating position within a fairly squat body. The pay-off for that, of course, is that the UX doesn’t have the teetering centre of gravity of a more conventional small SUV, which means it has always handled with impressive poise and agility.The 2024 update doesn't really concern the busily creased exterior design, rather the interior and the hybrid powertrain (there's no plug-in hybrid, while the fully electric UX 300e is reviewed separately here).The coinciding name change from UX 250h to UX 300h signifies that it has advanced to Lexus's fifth-generation hybrid technology. More on that later.
Car review
Renault’s market-leading crossover supermini is back in more sophisticated second-generation form
As mid-life refreshes go, the Renault Captur really has been put under the knife. What has been tweaked, polished and added to the second-generation car, to put it mildly, is rather a lot, enough even – especially with the radically reworked face and fresh interior – to suggest to buyers it’s a brand new model entirely.The sheer scale and weight of this work is even more impressive when you consider its not-yet-confirmed £22,000 starting price will undercut many rivals, like the from-£25,000 Ford Puma, -£26,000 Hyundai Kona and -£23,500 Nissan Juke.These new changes and additions become even more interesting when you look at that Juke rival, which was also updated this year, but very minimally – an interior bump, and new yellow bodycolour are really the only notable updates. Although welcome, it’s not like Renault needed to make the changes. The Captur is a popular model, selling more than two million units since its 2013 launch, and helping to push the French brand, along with the smaller Renault Clio, to a 53% global B-segment share.We liked the original Renault Captur because it was undemanding to drive, attractive to look at, decently frugal if you went for the right engine. But we didn’t like the Captur that much, its poor body control, light steering and a remote driving experience in general blotting its copybook.This was greatly improved with the second generation model, and this mainly aesthetic refresh builds upon that further, to add, as Renault told Autocar, more modern, upmarket features.So, can this update, along with the car’s mix of style and value, help continue the Captur’s sales. Renault will definitely hope so, especially given it is now competing in what has become one of the most oversaturated segments in the market. When the car launched, its only true rival was the Juke, now competitors range from the Ford Puma and Volkswagen T-Cross to the Peugeot 2008
Renault Captur with Giga Gears
Renault’s market-leading crossover supermini is back in more sophisticated second-generation form
As mid-life refreshes go, the Renault Captur really has been put under the knife. What has been tweaked, polished and added to the second-generation car, to put it mildly, is rather a lot, enough even – especially with the radically reworked face and fresh interior – to suggest to buyers it’s a brand new model entirely.The sheer scale and weight of this work is even more impressive when you consider its not-yet-confirmed £22,000 starting price will undercut many rivals, like the from-£25,000 Ford Puma, -£26,000 Hyundai Kona and -£23,500 Nissan Juke.These new changes and additions become even more interesting when you look at that Juke rival, which was also updated this year, but very minimally – an interior bump, and new yellow bodycolour are really the only notable updates. Although welcome, it’s not like Renault needed to make the changes. The Captur is a popular model, selling more than two million units since its 2013 launch, and helping to push the French brand, along with the smaller Renault Clio, to a 53% global B-segment share.We liked the original Renault Captur because it was undemanding to drive, attractive to look at, decently frugal if you went for the right engine. But we didn’t like the Captur that much, its poor body control, light steering and a remote driving experience in general blotting its copybook.This was greatly improved with the second generation model, and this mainly aesthetic refresh builds upon that further, to add, as Renault told Autocar, more modern, upmarket features.So, can this update, along with the car’s mix of style and value, help continue the Captur’s sales. Renault will definitely hope so, especially given it is now competing in what has become one of the most oversaturated segments in the market. When the car launched, its only true rival was the Juke, now competitors range from the Ford Puma and Volkswagen T-Cross to the Peugeot 2008
Car review
Renault goes after Audi and BMW with a genuinely interesting new coupé-crossover
The phrase ‘flagship model’ doesn’t associate quite so readily with Renault as it does, say, BMW, Mercedes-Benz or even Volkswagen. Indeed, you could argue that no Renault model has been quite so overtly positioned as such since the dearly departed Laguna, or even the Safrane. To say less of the Avantime and Vel Satis. So there’s immediately a slight psychological hurdle to clear in positioning the new Renault Rafale, a chunky but handsome coupé-SUV. What role does it play for Renault? And who is it for? These are especially poignant questions given the company’s simultaneous renewed focus on the affordable small car market with the launch of compact models including the Clio, Captur 5, 4 and Twingo. Where does a large, quasi-luxury SUV fit into this picture?The Rafale is, in case you’ve (understandably) lost count, Renault’s seventh SUV, effectively slotting into the cigarette-paper-sized gap between the technically related Austral and seven-seat Espace, with which it shares its fundamental chassis. While those SUVs, though, are practically minded family cars through and through, this one is aimed much more obviously at the executive market, with a more overt premium aura and more heavily accentuated dynamic credentials. Renault has lofty ambitions to upset the German stalwarts in this segment, with the likes of the Audi Q3 and BMW X2 mentioned as benchmarks, and bosses are confident that while the Rafale opens up a new segment for Renault and takes the brand into new price territory, there is substantial market demand for such a car. The D-segment market, the French firm notes, is the fastest-growing in Europe, and sportback SUVs in that sector are particularly in vogue. Conversations about re-entering this sphere with a lower-slung saloon, fastback or estate, we’re told, didn't last very long. The Rafale is available from launch with Renault’s unusual (and almost impenetrably complex) E-Tech Full Hybrid powertrain, combining a 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine with a with a pair of electric motors – one to provide supplementary traction power and the other serving as an integrated starter-generator – for 197bhp and 0-62mph in 8.9sec. A small 2kW battery under the driver’s seat, meanwhile, allows for engine-off driving over short distances. A four-wheel-drive, 296bhp plug-in hybrid, riding on a chassis fettled by Alpine and equipped with a 22kW battery for 62 miles of electric-only range, will land later this year, starting at £48,140 as an alternative to the likes of the Mercedes GLC 300e and Volvo XC60 PHEV. In keeping with Renault’s commitment to offering as simple a line-up as possible, there are just three trims available from launch: Techno, Techno Esprit Alpine and Iconic. They're priced from £38,195, £42,195 and £44,695 respectively and available in a choice of five colours, with one set of wheels and one upholstery configuration. Standard kit is generous at all levels, but mixing and matching of options will not be tolerated. You want the 360deg camera It’s Esprit Alpine trim or bust.
Renault Rafale Giga Gears
Renault goes after Audi and BMW with a genuinely interesting new coupé-crossover
The phrase ‘flagship model’ doesn’t associate quite so readily with Renault as it does, say, BMW, Mercedes-Benz or even Volkswagen. Indeed, you could argue that no Renault model has been quite so overtly positioned as such since the dearly departed Laguna, or even the Safrane. To say less of the Avantime and Vel Satis. So there’s immediately a slight psychological hurdle to clear in positioning the new Renault Rafale, a chunky but handsome coupé-SUV. What role does it play for Renault? And who is it for? These are especially poignant questions given the company’s simultaneous renewed focus on the affordable small car market with the launch of compact models including the Clio, Captur 5, 4 and Twingo. Where does a large, quasi-luxury SUV fit into this picture?The Rafale is, in case you’ve (understandably) lost count, Renault’s seventh SUV, effectively slotting into the cigarette-paper-sized gap between the technically related Austral and seven-seat Espace, with which it shares its fundamental chassis. While those SUVs, though, are practically minded family cars through and through, this one is aimed much more obviously at the executive market, with a more overt premium aura and more heavily accentuated dynamic credentials. Renault has lofty ambitions to upset the German stalwarts in this segment, with the likes of the Audi Q3 and BMW X2 mentioned as benchmarks, and bosses are confident that while the Rafale opens up a new segment for Renault and takes the brand into new price territory, there is substantial market demand for such a car. The D-segment market, the French firm notes, is the fastest-growing in Europe, and sportback SUVs in that sector are particularly in vogue. Conversations about re-entering this sphere with a lower-slung saloon, fastback or estate, we’re told, didn't last very long. The Rafale is available from launch with Renault’s unusual (and almost impenetrably complex) E-Tech Full Hybrid powertrain, combining a 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine with a with a pair of electric motors – one to provide supplementary traction power and the other serving as an integrated starter-generator – for 197bhp and 0-62mph in 8.9sec. A small 2kW battery under the driver’s seat, meanwhile, allows for engine-off driving over short distances. A four-wheel-drive, 296bhp plug-in hybrid, riding on a chassis fettled by Alpine and equipped with a 22kW battery for 62 miles of electric-only range, will land later this year, starting at £48,140 as an alternative to the likes of the Mercedes GLC 300e and Volvo XC60 PHEV. In keeping with Renault’s commitment to offering as simple a line-up as possible, there are just three trims available from launch: Techno, Techno Esprit Alpine and Iconic. They're priced from £38,195, £42,195 and £44,695 respectively and available in a choice of five colours, with one set of wheels and one upholstery configuration. Standard kit is generous at all levels, but mixing and matching of options will not be tolerated. You want the 360deg camera It’s Esprit Alpine trim or bust.