Auto Express 1757

THESE are worrying times for buyers of small cars. The move towards electrification, ever-tightening emissions laws, and car companies’ quest for higher profit margins have driven several big players to leave the market altogether. Who’d have thought, even three years ago, that Ford would just kill off the Fiesta? Small cars matter; they’re how vast numbers of car owners get around, for lots of reasons: purchase price, running costs, ease of parking – and the fact that many people just don’t need or want anything bigger. There’s a risk that lots of brands could turn away from those buyers, just when they need these products the most. So there was some cheer to be gleaned, I thought, from the bullish statements made by Fiat boss Olivier François last week. He was speaking…

mail@autoexpress.co.uk ● First test of Honda’s mega hot hatch ● It’s pricey, but well worth the £47k cost DESPITE the rabid anticipation surrounding the new Honda Civic Type R, and the eye-watering £46,995 price tag Honda has attached to it, the car itself contains surprisingly few all-new components when compared with the model it replaces. Yes, it has a new bodyshell that’s 15 per cent stiffer than before (which is a great starting point), but its engine and gearbox are essentially the same as in the car it replaces, as are its steering, brakes and suspension. And yet the overall result is a hot hatchback that once again rewrites the rulebook when it comes to front-wheel-drive dynamics. It is, quite simply, the best hot hatchback there has ever been. In places, by quite some…

HYUNDAI i30 N Price from: £34,095 THE i30 N is the Honda’s traditional rival. This front-drive-only hot hatch also packs a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine, but only pumps out 276bhp. The appeal here comes from its chassis and electronics, with myriad modes – and its price when compared with the Honda. However, it doesn’t quite reach the heights of the Civic Type R. MERCEDES-AMG A 35 Price from: £45,930 THE Type R’s price tag puts it in a pool with premium players such as the newly facelifted Mercedes-AMG A 35. It’s a mild update to a car we know well, which packs huge performance and all-weather ability thanks to a 306bhp engine and four-wheel drive. But it’s dual-clutch auto only, so it doesn’t offer quite the same involvement as the Honda. VOLKSWAGEN GOLF R Price from: £42,190 FOR around…

John_McIlroy@autovia.co.uk @johnmcilroy ● Jeep EV engineered in Italy ● 54kWh battery, 249-mile range JEEP is getting really serious about the European market from 2023, and leading its charge is the Avenger. The smallest production Jeep yet has been engineered for Europe, and deliveries should start in spring 2023 – but Auto Express has driven a very late prototype to see how it’s progressing. The Avenger sits on an evolution of parent group Stellantis’s CMP platform, and for UK customers at least, it’s an EV only. There will be four-wheel-drive versions, but the vast majority of sales are likely to be front-wheel drive, like the car we’re testing here. It features a single motor producing up to 154bhp and 260Nm of torque. There’s a 54kWh battery (51kWh usable) and you get a heat pump as standard. Rapid…

● New BMW 3.0 CSL is a modern tribute to Batmobile racers ● Based on M4 Coupé, but features 552bhp and bespoke tech BMW M’s 50th anniversary is being marked with not one, but two bespoke M cars. Say hello to the hardcore 3.0 CSL. It joins the XM SUV as an M Division project to mark its half century, and it’s a modern-day version of the legendary 3.0 CSL Batmobile. However, with a production run of only 50 examples planned, it will be a rarer item than its forebear. The design is contemporary BMW, but with one or two twists alluding to the seventies car and distancing the 3.0 CSL from BMW’s other new ‘Coupé Sport Lightweight’ model, the recently launched M4 CSL. At the front, the more classically styled kidney grille arrangement…