First Drive

The Skoda Enyaq iV has been around for several years now, launched as part of the Czech brand’s first foray into the growing – and extremely profitable – electric SUV market.

With a focus on style to win over customers, the Enyaq has been a big success for the car maker, and with the launch of the more rakish Skoda Enyaq iV Coupé early last year, their combined 51,000 sales helped to push Skoda to become the sixth most popular brand in Europe in 2022.

That Coupé is the car we are looking at today. Available in four trims but solely with Skoda’s biggest, 82kWh (75kWh usable) battery that offers a competitive 345 miles of range, the streamlined EV starts from a rather modest – for an electric family car in 2023 – £44,825. As such, rivals range from the simple-to-use Volvo C40 Recharge and sibling brand Volkswagen's solid ID 5, to the quirky Hyundai Ioniq 5.

Here, we're testing the middle-of-the-pack Suite-trim Coupé. What that means is, for £1380 more than the standard Loft trim, you replace cloth and artificial leather with a soft black leather across the dashboard and doors, as well as gaining leather-clad seats. It feels a small price to pay for a much more premium feel, yet the lack of electric seats, especially at this price point, feels both odd and a bit cheap. 

Our car also gets Race Blue metallic paint (£660) and the aptly named Clever package (£2755), which adds keyless entry, adaptive cruise control, heated front seats, a host of other tech and a rather lovely two-spoke steering wheel. All up, this rolls off the forecourt at £49,620. Not cheap, but then electric family driving isn’t these days.

At 4653mm long and 1879mm wide, this offers a heck of a lot of space. With two six-foot adults in the front, there is more than enough leg room for another two adults to sit comfortably in the back. Three is doable too, but it’s just, obviously, a bit more of a squeeze. Head room is also generous, despite the raked roofline.

Another key feature for a family is storage space and the Skoda again delivers. First off, cubbyholes are not at a premium here, with large pockets in every door. The EV also offers 570 litres of boot space, way more than a Volvo C40’s 413 litres. With the seats down, this increases to around 1700 litres. Oh, and speaking of storage space, if it is raining, there is an umbrella that sits inside the door, so no need to bring your own. Points for quirkiness, too.

Quirky is also how I’d describe certain aspects of Skoda’s infotainment tech, which uses the same fundamental system as other Volkswagen Group brands. For example, in a textbook case of form over function, you browse through certain settings by rotating a picture of the car, and turn up the volume by using a touch-sensitive slider rather than a handy and easy-to-use knob – and without a backlight, this slider is quite difficult to see at night. The tech also crashed on me when I attempted to leave the Android Auto screen, which I found I preferred to use, especially when navigating.

Regardless, the majority of usage with the huge, 13.0in infotainment screen – which, without many buttons, is home to the majority of the car’s functions – is relatively painless, especially while driving.

On the road, the car is pleasant to drive. Yes, it is big (its length proves the most challenging aspect, especially parking with a city) but its nimble steering makes life much easier than the car's size should allow. It also offers some feel, which is most welcome. 

During our test, the car's range, displayed on the VW-derived digital display, also held true to Skoda’s claim, which is pleasing. This is probably in part down to the Enyaq Coupé's limited poke: 201bhp from a single rear-axle-mounted motor. Clearly, that's more than enough for a family car, but with others such as the all-wheel-drive C40 Recharge Twin offering a 4.7sec 0-62mph time (which leads to range-zapping out-of-junction acceleration moments), the Skoda’s modest 8.5sec encourages a more conservative driving style, and it is all the better for it. The Coupé also has a rather superb regenerative braking/one-pedal driving mode, which again makes saving those electric miles all the easier.

Downsides come in a few forms. The biggest annoyance is the two-tonne Enyaq’s harder ride compared with its Swedish counterpart, with potholes needing to be looked out for, rather than taken in your stride. The car also struggles slightly with body roll, which wouldn’t normally be an issue – and if anything, should be expected, given the size of the car – but the lack of support from the seat, especially in the shoulders, makes it worth mentioning. The inability (or difficulty finding how) to turn off auto-hold also came to the fore during our test: reversing off an inclined driveway took a number of attempts because the car refused to roll, and stopped dead when the brake was touched.

Yet the car left an impression: one of ease. It is simple to use, comfortable and capacious. In short, this is a very good everyday family SUV, with enough range to get from A to B and then to head off off to C and back again to A. Its price means it will be compared with the more luxurious Land Rover Discovery Sport, which in Dynamic SE and with a much more hassle-free diesel-hybrid powertrain, starts from around £50,000 – a grand more than the Skoda. But, with the electric future inbound, the Skoda offers what the Land Rover doesn’t: future proofing. And if fuelled with a home-mounted charger, the cost of travel – a key point for any family – will, over the course of a year or more, be significantly reduced over petrol and diesel rivals.

The Peugeot e-2008 is the latest of the Stellantis horde to receive a mildly updated version of the e-CMP platform that houses a bigger, 54kWh lithium ion battery. It’s up by 4kWh to 54kWh (50kWh usable), helping push the car’s WLTP range up from 214 to 251 miles. 

The new battery system also brings better efficiency, if the official figures are to be believed. It manages 5.0mpkWh, which is substantially better than the efficiency claimed in rivals like the MG ZS EV Long Range, which manages a longer official range of 273 miles but has a much bigger battery, at 72.6kWh. Mind you, the ZS EV is quite a bit cheaper, too – and there are plenty of other longer-range alternatives that the e-2008 must face off with, including the Kia Niro EV and Hyundai Kona Electric.

Also tweaked on the e-2008 is the styling, to now include a more aggressive, wider-looking front end and 508-esque headlight and tail-light signatures. Inside, there are some new materials on offer in higher-spec cars, but more importantly there’s also a new 10.0in touchscreen on every model. Provided you go for mid-spec Allure trim or up, that also includes wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, plus a new home page with configurable tabs, better graphics and more. 

It’s worth mentioning here that the venerable 1.2-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol will also remain an option in the popular 2008 range, complete with the same style and interface updates. 

There aren’t any alterations to the suspension or steering of the e-2008, but it does now have a more powerful 154bhp motor driving those front wheels. Even so, it will come as no surprise that the e-2008 isn’t really about performance, although the 0-62mph of 9.1sec doesn’t really do the pleasantly hearty, mid-speed urgency justice. Ultimately, the e-2008 feels more than pokey enough, even for fast motorway merges and the like. 

More importantly, even on the 18in alloy wheels of our test car, it rides with decent pliancy and generally feels composed, smooth and secure. The small steering ‘wheel’ does give a rather fake sense of urgency around the dead-ahead, but otherwise the steering is weighted nicely and there’s a satisfying slickness to the way the e-2008 goes down the road. 

Accelerate hard from a standstill with a fair amount of lock on and the front tyres scrabble and squirm, even in dry conditions, and the e-2008 will simply understeer if you try to corner with too much ambition. It’s no hot hatch, then, but it does gel nicely and is a quiet, intuitive drive whether you’re winding through town or ribboning down a scenic road. 

The infotainment is a big improvement, too, with the mirroring working well alongside a more responsive touchscreen and new menu layouts. It would still be better if the screen dimming and various other deeper menu settings were easier to find, but this is now a perfectly usable system with all the features that you want, including over-the-air software updates.

Perhaps more importantly, the real-world range and efficiency are decent. On our test drive in hot weather and through fast, sweeping mountain roads in Spain with some urban whataboutery thrown in, we averaged 4.0mpkWh. That’s good for a real-world range of 200 miles, and with more slow-speed stuff, you will see that creep up to 220 miles and more in the summer. Expect to see about a 25% drop in that real-world range come winter, though.

So, Peugeot has solved two of the biggest issues with the e-2008: its mediocre range and annoying digital interface. Good for them and good for it. But there’s another problem now, and that’s the price. The e-2008 starts at £36,350 in the rather basic Active trim, while the Allure and GT models that most buyers will want come in at £38,350 and £40,550. 

That’s a lot of cash and represents a vast jump of some £10,000 over the equivalent petrol auto 2008. Not only that, but finance prices look alarmingly high, too, with Peugeot quoting some £700 per month for an e-2008 Allure with a £4000 deposit over 37 months. A Niro EV 3 on the same terms currently comes in at £100 per month less. Despite the e-2008’s merits, we know where our money would go

Forget the rest: this is the particular version of the new Ford Ranger that most people will buy. Or is it? Because although this is Ford’s first time offering a crowd-pleasing V6 diesel, Wildtrak spec might now be less desirable.

The Ranger has been a runaway success ever since it was restyled as Americanesque lifestyle tank in 2011, with Wildtrak spec the aspirational peak for would-be owners. But times change, and the Ranger line-up has been expanded for this latest model generation.

The standard twin-turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel (with 168- or 202bhp) isn’t so impressive now that there’s a 3.0-litre V6 diesel producing 237bhp; and Ford has created an even more ostentatious Ranger Platinum spec to fill the apparent void between the Wildtrak workhorse and newly V6-petrol-powered Ford Ranger Raptor showpony.

Still, while the Platinum will draw in plenty of customers with its brash, Ford F-150-inspired looks and Range Rover-like bonnet badge, the V6 Wildtrak sits in the heartland of the Ranger range. It’s a connoisseur’s edition, if you will, compared with the admirable 2.0-litre Wildtrak, which offers sensible fuel economy and exuberant performance for a relatively small engine.

The Wildtrak V6 may not be at the top of the pecking order, but it is the sensible route into the ever-expanding Ranger performance truck line-up, which will eventually also include a Wildtrak X fitted with Bilstein dampers. The 35bhp increase in power and £4500 jump in price from the 2.0-litre diesel are negligible, but there’s also 443 instead of 369lb ft of torque, which is where the difference begins to shine through on a commercial vehicle like this.

The 3.0-litre truck gets the same quick steering, decent cornering abilities, limited body roll and high levels of grip as the 2.0-litre one, not to mention peerless off-road performance – but as a V6, it also possesses the ability to rip the road away from beneath you and spin its wheels in many of the lower ratios of its 10-speed automatic gearbox. Such performance hasn’t been experienced in a pick-up on the UK market since the V6 version of the previous-generation Volkswagen Amarok (and indeed this Ranger shared many similarities with the new, Ford-made Amarok).

This V6 isn’t a performance truck in the same way that the Raptor is, though. Aside from a gruffer new engine note, it’s still best suited as a worker rather than a head-turner. It feels stronger and more robust than the lesser-engined Wildtrak, and while it doesn’t have the ride refinement of the expensively damped Raptor, it still manages a tranquil and pleasant drive.

The downside is that you shouldn’t expect much change out of 24 miles from a gallon of diesel, which is a long way short of the 2.0-litre model’s efficiency.

The new Ranger’s interior is first-rate, with a blend of Ford-car niceties such as the large, portrait-orientated infotainment touchscreen and full-leather seats front and rear.

The question on everybody’s lips, though, will be “how does this Ranger compare to the Amarok?” The difference is like chalk and cheese – but not in the traditional sense. Both are comfortable and capable pick-ups, but they have very different vibes. One truck feels hard, the other soft. If the Amarok is a bit squdgy around the middle and more welcoming, the Ranger is rock-solid and purposeful.

The diesel V6 Ranger is a pick-up with greater personality, then; and although the Wildtrak is no longer the pinnacle of the regular Ranger line-up, it certainly still stands out.

George Barrow

It’s a very significant Le Mans 24 Hours race this year. Not only is it the 100th anniversary of the first running of the world’s most famous race, but it also marks the dawn of a new era of multiple manufacturer works entries at the sharpest end of the grid. Oh, and in one for fans of round-ish numbers, it’s 35 years since Jaguar won the race with its famous Silk Cut-branded XJR-9.

That win has been celebrated with this special-edition model of the F-Pace, the Jaguar F-Pace SVR Edition 1988. Thirty-five years isn’t the most obvious anniversary to celebrate, but this car actually came out in 2022, having been revealed at last year's running of Le Mans… Either way, this is our first go in the model that sits atop the Jaguar range, coming in at £101,550. 

That price marks a £20,000 rise over the standard Jaguar F-Pace SVR on which this special is based. You’re buying exclusivity –just 394 will be built, a nod to the number of laps the XJR-9 completed in the hands of Jan Lammers, Johnny Dumfries and Autocar Lifetime Achievement Award-winning Andy Wallace - and also a raft of cosmetic upgrades rather than dynamic ones over the very well-sorted standard model. 

These include a very dark purple ('Midnight Amethyst Gloss’) paint finish with lots of gold detailing, including to the upgraded 22in alloys, in a nod to that purple and gold Silk Cut livery. In duller light, it looks black rather than purple but catch the right ray of sunshine and the colour pops really nicely over what remains a fine-looking SUV, trimmed here in a very tasteful way. Badges and different-coloured trim inside are otherwise it for your near 25% premium over a standard F-Pace SVR.

On that basis, good value it is not, yet the car still reminds us of what 'old' Jaguar does very well indeed: creating everyday performance cars that can excite as much as they can cosset, being suitable for all roads and all occasions. 

Let's take that engine, a 5.0-litre V8 supercharged unit we truly will no longer see the likes of again. It's loud, it's fast, it pops, it crackles, it sends good vibrations through your hands, feet and backside; it's brilliant.

The eight-speed torque-converter transmission stops it having the more savage gearshifts and acceleration of rivals equipped with dual-clutch transmissions yet the trade-off is far greater drivability at low speeds and a genuine ability to be driven in a more relaxed manner. It's not an 'always on' performance car, instead the kind that is ready when you are, like a super-sized Volkswagen Golf R.

That greater everyday usability extends to the rest of the chassis and the F-Pace SVR's dynamic make-up. This is what fast Jaguars have always done best: the duality of being able to be driven as hard as they can and involving and exciting the driver while also providing a comfortable ride, accessible handling and control weights that feel altogether more approachable. The size of the exhausts alone might indicate this is a pretty anti-social car, yet to drive, it is anything but. The trade-off to the driver is only really found when it comes to economy in the teens.

The interior of the F-Pace SVR, like all F-Pace models, was overhauled a couple of years ago in an extensive facelift and it's remarkable how fresh the car still feels inside despite the fundamental architecture being close to eight years old now. The infotainment is excellent, backed up by nice physical controls for key functions such as the heating/cooling and a general air of solidity and high perceived quality to proceedings. The performance car boxes are also ticked inside, chiefly through superb seats that grip you while remaining comfortable.

Questionable value of the Edition 1988 branding or not, the F-Pace SVR really is a very good car – one of Jaguar's very best. Which makes it all the more remarkable that cars like this won't be in Jaguar's new era, the firm instead switching to electric cars with a luxury focus rather than Mercedes-AMG and BMW M-baiting performance machines like this. Shame.

Fetch the torches and pitchforks: it’s a new diesel crossover. Actually, don’t, because a frugal diesel engine really suits a car like this, even if it no longer gets the tax breaks it used to.

When the DS 7 Crossback was facelifted earlier this year to become simply the DS 7, most of the pure-combustion range was killed off, leaving a trio of plug-in hybrids. The lone survivor of the ICE age is the 1.5-litre diesel with 129bhp.

We’ve previously driven the updated DS 7 in 225 Hybrid form and done a full road test on the 360 Hybrid, so the focus here will be on the diesel.

On paper, it might seem like you’ll have to suffer for your fuel economy. A power output of 129bhp and a 0-62mph time of 10.7sec hardly sound appealing, and when you merge on to a motorway, it’s clear that it isn’t especially quick. However, in a world of hard-working turbo petrol engines and hybrids, it’s nice to be back in the torquey embrace of a diesel. At everyday speeds, it just gathers pace quietly and adequately. Even when you put your foot down, it never gets raucous. Although you can tell it’s a diesel, it’s a refined unit at town speeds too.

The gearbox, which is the familiar eight-speed auto that can be quite clunky in combination with the petrol engines, does everything you expect from a good torque-converter auto. It smoothly shuffles the ratios without you noticing and tends to be in the right gear at the right time. And unlike in the hybrids, there’s even a manual mode in case the mood takes you.

We got economy in the high 50s out of it. Not revolutionary, but pretty good nonetheless, and with no need to plug it in. However, it’s slightly disappointing that it can only tow 1430kg, whereas the BMW X1 sDrive 18d can handle 1800kg.

Elsewhere, this version has much the same strengths and weaknesses as other DS 7s. It handles well enough, with steering that’s slow and fairly light, but weights up progressively in Sport mode. You still wouldn’t call this a sports SUV, though, and the moderately keen handling doesn’t excuse the choppy ride – and that’s on relatively modest 19in wheels.

Inside, the climate controls are less than intuitive and there are some suspect materials here and there, but our test car was in mid-range Rivoli trim, which meant it got the soft leather and widely adjustable electric seats. If you’re considering a diesel in 2023 because you do lots of motorway miles, you should be quite happy in the front of the DS 7 in this spec. Somewhat surprisingly, the diesel doesn’t have a bigger boot than the hybrids, because the hybrids carry their battery under the cabin floor.

DS does play the classic premium manufacturer game by making you pay extra for such things as adaptive cruise, an electric tailgate and a heated steering wheel. Rivals do much the same and a similarly equipped BMW X1 18d or Audi Q3 35 TDI would be a hair more expensive than our £38,185 test car.

If you’re running a company car, it would be very hard to overlook a plug-in hybrid, so DS 7 diesel sales aren’t going to set the world on fire, but it’s nice to still have the option, and in more ways than one, it’s the more pleasant, relaxing powertrain compared with the faster hybrids.