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John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy TESLA has proved that it’s possible for a car company to go from nothing to one of the industry’s biggest stories in just a few years. But the established brands already know they’ll face dozens of so-called ‘disruptors’ over the next decade. One of the freshest arrivals is Rivian, and Auto Express has had a chance to catch up with the man behind the firm. Robert ‘RJ’ Scaringe is a graduate of the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has been an entrepreneur for most of his life. But as a lifelong car fan, he’d worked out by his early twenties that he really wanted his own auto company. There were plenty of false starts over a nine-year period, as Scaringe adjusted Rivian’s ‘raison d’etre’. But when the…

James_Batchelor@dennis.co.uk @JRRBatchelor Diesel G-Class put through its paces MERCEDES’ reborn G-Class was easily a 2018 highlight. Its new underpinnings and luxurious interior, wrapped up in a body that looked little different from the original’s, were a very clever reboot. But so far we’d only driven the V8-engined AMG G 63. Now, in 2019, we test the more normal diesel version. Our verdict on hot Skoda Kodiaq vRS FOR the past few years if you wanted a vRS-badged Skoda your only option was the Octavia (the Fabia vRS was axed in 2013), but now the range has returned to two models with the Kodiaq vRS. It gets the usual sporty add-ons and a new 237bhp twin-turbo diesel engine. But, as I find out, it’s a bit disappointing. You can watch any…

MODEL TESTED: Mazda CX-5 2.0 SkyActiv-G 2WD auto Sport Nav+ PRICE: £30,295 ENGINE: 2.0-litre 4cyl, 163bhp A RANGE refresh last year, with new, higher-spec trim levels and added appeal has pushed the Mazda CX-5 even further upmarket and closer to the likes of Audi’s new Q3. We’re testing it in £30,295 2.0 SkyActiv-G auto Sport Nav+ form. Design & engineering THANKS to its subtle but significant updates, including this new Sport Nav+ trim level – and a GT Sport Nav+ model – the Mazda is continuing its push upmarket, encroaching on the likes of the Audi’s territory. That means the Q3 faces pressure from conventional foes, but also from below as more makers want a slice of the premium pie. The CX-5 is still based on Mazda’s SkyActiv vehicle architecture,…

Stuart_Milne@dennis.co.uk Running costs 34.3mpg (on test) £66 fill-up/£140 or 25% tax Practicality Boot (seats up/down) 514/1,652 litres Performance 0-62mph/top speed 11.1 seconds/117mph IT’S somewhat poetic that my very first car and my latest are both Vauxhalls, and both around 1,200cc in capacity. But there the similarities end. My first car, a red Nova, boasted 54bhp from its 1,196cc four-cylinder engine, while my latest, this blue Grandland X, develops around twice the power with one less cylinder. That’s what the best part of three decades of development does to a car. Back then, a 1.2-litre badge was insurance-friendly and fuel-efficient, both terms that were lost on the 17-year-old Stuart Milne. What the Nova offered the younger me was a new-found freedom, the ability to explore and spend time with friends. Those…

Alfa Romeo Giulia Issues 1,534, 1,544, 1,550 Audi A6 Avant Issue 1,555 Dacia Duster New arrival Ford Fiesta ST Issue 1,552 Hyundai Kona Electric Issue 1,551 Mazda 6 Issues 1,549, 1,555 Mercedes A-Class Issue 1,550 Mercedes X-Class Issue 1,547 MINI Cooper 5-door Issues 1,538, 1,546, 1,552 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross Issues 1,545, 1,553 Nissan Leaf Issues 1,533, 1,551, 1,555  Renault Koleos Issues 1,530, 1,542 Skoda Karoq Issues 1,536, 1545, 1,552 Suzuki Swift Sport Issues 1,532, 1,541, 1,544 Vauxhall Grandland X Issues 1,536, 1,540, 1,548 Volkswagen Polo Issue 1,549 Volvo V60 Issue 1,553…

“Air-Con Refresh aims to remove musty smells from car AC systems” NEW PRODUCT Power Maxed Tyre Fix & Air-Con Refresh Price: From £4.99  Contact: www.tyrefixrepair.com, www.powermaxed.com NO air and bad air are the targets for the latest products to join the expanding valeting and maintenance range of car care specialist and British Touring Car Championship outfit, Power Maxed. Tyre Fix is for motorists with no air in their tyres, and aims to get them back on the road quickly. Designed to be kept in the boot, the aerosol aims to be faster to use than changing a wheel if your car has a spare. To reinflate a flat tyre, empty the can through the valve and then drive at 30mph for six miles. At this point, you release the propellent air…

The Works MGs Mike Allinson & Peter Browning (Veloce Publishing, www.veloce.co.uk) Price: £40 MG has a long history of racing prowess, and this book follows the factory works teams through pre-war success right up to the late sixties. It’s a top-quality publication, with a fine selection of photographs of the cars in competition and out. It’s also a good long read for the £40 price tag, and MG fans will be able to pore over it for hours. Formula 1 Car by Car 1980-89 Peter Higham (Evro Publishing, www.evropublishing.com) Price: £50 THE third volume in an excellent Formula One series, covering the sport’s history in as much detail as possible. Due to the sheer size of the subject, depth is limited in places, but as a general overview we’ve got…

Got any car queries? Tristan_Shale-Hester@dennis.co.uk @AE_Consumer Q Roadwork delay gripe A SET of roadworks on a road I use every day is running way over schedule and causing huge delays. I can’t see a sign with any contact details. To whom can I complain? Jamie Smithe, E-mail A MOST roads will be under the control of the local council, but motorways and some major trunk roads come under Highways England’s jurisdiction; contact the relevant authority and ask who is carrying out the works. If a third party is responsible, get in touch with it and lodge a complaint. Q Spike in charge cable theft? GIVEN the high price of electric car charging cables, why hasn’t there been a boom in thefts? Surely criminals must see these leads as easy pickings? Philip H, E-mail…

Dear Alex, I’m after a family car that has room for a pushchair and can easily cover big mileages. What can I get for £15,000? Steven Semple, E-mail Contact: Alex_Ingram@dennis.co.uk • THE PRACTICAL CHOICE Citroen C3 Aircross FOR: Tall, roomy cabin, frugal diesel, strong performance AGAINST: Patchy quality inside, average handling ONE of our favourite compact crossovers, the C3 Aircross combines funky styling with one of the more practical bodies in its class. At 168mm taller than a Ford Focus, its body is high and really useful when fitting a child seat. The standard adjustable rear seatbacks come in handy here as well, and are unique in this company. A choice of 1.6-litre diesels is available, the most frugal of which claims 70.6mpg. Your £15,000 buys a year-old C3 Aircross…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy ● Skoda to give next family car coupé look, plus higher-grade cabin ● Petrol and diesel remain; plug-in hybrid and 48v mild-hybrid likely SKODA is gearing up to launch a true rival for the VW Golf and Ford Focus, the Scala, in the first half of this year – but the Czech manufacturer is also preparing a radical overhaul for its biggest-selling model and established family car, the Octavia. The new Octavia should be revealed in the second half of 2019, with a public debut likely at the Frankfurt Motor Show in the autumn. The huge probable gains made by the Scala over its unloved predecessor, the Rapid, should gift Skoda with plenty of scope to upgrade the Octavia, its biggest-selling model globally. And insiders say the fourth-generation…

NEW research claims diesel black cabs in London emit up to 30 times as much NOx as petrol cars of the same age. In a study that saw 100,000 vehicles’ emissions measured with beams of light and portable emissions measurement systems (PEMS), scientists from The Real Urban Emissions Initiative (TRUE) also found Euro 5 cabs produce 50 per cent more NOx than Euro 3 and 4 cars. Mayor Sadiq Khan called the report “damning”, although he added it was “encouraging” that nearly 1,000 taxi drivers had switched to electric cabs. LEVC said its new electric TX “will gradually replace” diesel black cabs; the company aims to get 9,000 TXs on the capital’s streets by 2020.…

Jonathan_Burn@dennis.co.uk @Jonathan_burn 2019 is shaping up to be one of the most exciting and varied years the automotive industry has seen for some time. Why? Well, for starters, new generations of some of the UK’s most popular models are due in showrooms; the eighth iteration of the iconic Volkswagen Golf shows its face in the summer, while the plush Mk2 Range Rover Evoque is only weeks away from dealers. On top of this, 2019 will be the year that the ‘affordable’ electric car really takes off. Vauxhall, Volkswagen, MINI, Kia and even Skoda all have big plans for groundbreaking battery-powered models promising impressive ranges from a single charge for sensible cash. Here, we tell you all you need to know about the biggest and most important new arrivals in each…

MODELTESTED: Audi Q3 35 TFSI S tronic S line PRICE: £34,150 ENGINE: 1.5-litre 3cyl, 148bhp AUDI has updated its Q3 with a fresh chassis and tech, and we’re testing it in 35 TFSI S line guise. Initially, all cars will get the S tronic dual-clutch auto (from £34,150), but a manual is available to order. Design & engineering AS with so many front-engined, front-wheel-drive models in the VW Group stable, the latest Audi Q3 is based on its parent firm’s MQB architecture, which is a versatile modular matrix that’s scalable. Here, it’s just under 4.5 metres in length and just over 1.8 metres wide, which puts the SUV on par for its physical footprint with the two rivals it’s going up against. Just as with the chassis, the 1.5-litre four-cylinder…

Audi Q3 MMI NavPlus Standard Key features: Digital dash, connectivity AUDI’S MMI Navigation Plus system comes as standard on all Q3s, which means you get a 10.1-inch touchscreen mounted in the centre of the dashboard, plus a 10.25-inch digital instrument display. Together these give the crossover’s interior a hi-tech feel. The screens work just as well as in any other recent Audi. The resolution is sharp and the main panel responds quickly to your inputs with simple, logical menu layouts that make it easy to navigate. We also like the fact the climate control has physical dials rather than another separate screen, like in some higher-end Audis. You get sat-nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, three years’ connected services, natural voice commands and online map updates. Wireless charging is a…

THIS latest version of the Dacia Duster arrived in showrooms in summer 2018, and although it’s a new model, the affordable SUV uses the same platform as its predecessor and even the same 1.6-litre SCe petrol engine. The non-turbo unit isn’t a strong point; it’s fairly noisy and needs to be revved to access what little performance it offers. That’s true of the Suzuki’s 1.5-litre engine as well, but at least in the Jimny you can enjoy the sweet shift. In the Dacia gearchanges are unpleasant because the box is vague and rubbery. In our performance tests at the track, the Duster took 12.1 seconds to go from 0-60mph, which was 0.7 seconds slower than the less powerful but lighter Jimny, highlighting why the budget SUV feels a little bit…

John_McIlroy@dennis.co.uk @johnmcilroy I’M a couple of months into life with our Hyundai Kona Electric now, and it is performing superbly. Its 64kWh battery continues to give excellent range on one charge, and it has even passed a couple of tests on practicality: an autumnal clear-out at the local tip, and a long-distance family run from my home in Berkshire to Liverpool. Truth be told, I was never going to do the whole run to Merseyside in one hit, even as a challenge. With a five-year-old on board, the days of settling in for a three hour-plus odyssey without even a toilet break are long gone. Instead I took the chance to test Ecotricity’s Electric Highway charging network. I’ve had problems with the motorway service area-based points before, but to and…

New coating aims to protect your classic CLASSIC Motor Cars has developed the first ceramic coating specially formulated for older vehicles. The Classic Guard coating (above), created in collaboration with experts at Alpha Nano Developments, is designed to protect fragile bodywork, paintwork, bare metal and wheels against soiling, corrosion and environmental damage. It’s guaranteed for two years on metal and paint, and the treatment costs from £911.46 at CMC’s base in Bridgnorth, Shrops. For more details go to www.classic-motor-cars.co.uk. Half-price car check for winter at Halfords HALFORDS Autocentres is offering its 10-point winter preparation bundle at half price until the end of January. As part of the £39.99 check, which usually costs £79.99, technicians will inspect your car’s cooling system, battery, starter motor and alternator, drive belts, lights, wipers, fluid levels,…

PRODUCT GROUP TEST 3 | 1 | 2019 Every week, we extensively test all the latest car kit from tyres to trim cleaners. Log on to www.autoexpress.co.uk to look through our huge online test archive A MULTITOOL is a great addition to any glovebox. It cuts, grips, turns screws and can prove invaluable to motorists during a car breakdown, when it could help to get you back in the road. A multitool’s benefit won’t end on the roadside, either, because it will also prove useful for small jobs around the house or in the workshop. A good multitool will quickly become a handy companion during camping trips, cycle rides and any other outdoor activities you pursue as well. But with most manufacturers offering the same selection of tools on their…

Stephen_Errity@dennis.co.uk THE 40th running of the Dakar Rally kicks off this Sunday. For 2019, the legendary off-road event is taking place entirely within Peru, starting and finishing in the capital, Lima. Over 3,000 miles of rugged stages will be tackled by the 523 entrants in the car, truck, quad and motorbike classes from 6-17 January. The big news for 2019 is the absence of Peugeot, which has brought an end to its works programme. Sebastien Loeb is still on the entry list, though, driving a Red Bull-backed, 2017-spec Peugeot 3008 DKR for the PH Sport privateer team, which is also running British driver Harry Hunt. Previous years have seen Loeb finish as high as second, and this could be the nine-time World Rally Champion’s final opportunity to add a Dakar…

Motoring’s most outspoken and opinionated columnist sounds off “Change is good when it occurs at a sensible, controlled pace. Yet it’s bad, or counter-productive, when it happens too fast” PLEASE, can we all start the new year by taking a deep breath, before thinking very carefully about where things car-related are heading in 2019 and beyond? The argument is that the motoring scene will undergo more change in the next five years than it did in the previous 50. I think that’s possible. But it’s also unwelcome, unnecessary and unworkable. Who are the motorists demanding this short, sharp, shocking, untried and untested upheaval? Not a single one I’ve met, received mail from, or talked to on radio phone-in programmes. Meanwhile, I do have a mate who’s a driving instructor, going…

mail@autoexpress.co.uk @AutoExpress Write to: Watchdog/Letters, Auto Express, Dennis Publishing Ltd, 31-32 Alfred Place, London WC1E 7DP HOT TOPIC New Toyota Corolla FROM: Antony R THE styling of new Toyota and Lexus models is exactly why I bought an NX: a breath of fresh air. This Corolla looks to be a winner. With all the diesel engine controversy now in full swing, hybrid powertrains look to be the way forward. FROM: Alexander B THE Corolla has always been a safe and utterly reliable choice with good resale value, but it lacked a certain spark. If Toyota has managed to make this one’s driving dynamics match its looks, then this is going to be a surefire winner. Join the debate at www.autoexpress.co.uk ■ “I don’t think the new Toyota Corolla is distinctive…

MODEL TESTED: Volvo XC40 T3 R-Design PRICE: £30,160 ENGINE: 1.5-litre 3cyl, 154bhp THE XC40 is our favourite compact premium SUV. It arrived in the UK last year and shot straight to the top of the class, but the pace of the market means it’s now no longer the new kid on the block. We’re testing it here in T3 R-Design form (our images show an R-Design Pro), which costs £30,160. Design & engineering THE XC40 is cheaper than the Q3 because this T3 turbo petrol engine is only available with a manual transmission, unlike the Audi or the Mazda. The engine displaces 1.5 litres, the same as the Audi, but unlike the Q3, the Volvo is a three-cylinder. That motor kicks out 154bhp and 265Nm of torque – more than…

NEW: BMWX1 sDrive18i M Sport auto PRICE: £31,980 ENGINE: 2.0-litre4cyl, 138bhp THE latest X1 is actually based on a front-wheel-drive MINI platform. While it isn’t as practical or as advanced as the Q3, the BMW is still fun to drive. The eight-speed automatic box is smooth, and in M Sport trim it looks the part and gets a decent level of kit. USED: Audi Q5 2.0 TFSI S tronic S line PRICE: £33,600 ENGINE: 2.0-litre4cyl, 225bhp BUY used, and for a similar budget you could bag the Q3’s bigger brother, the Q5, in 2.0 TFSI S line trim. This gets quattro four-wheel drive, the same gearbox and more interior space, but not quite as much tech is included as standard here.…

Got a query? products@autoexpress.co.uk @AE_Consumer Q Are foamy washes better? I’VE used several different car shampoos over the years and some have been very foamy while others are much less so. Is one type of product better than the other? Felix Woodley, E-mail A MANUFACTURERS often add more surfactants to a wash to create foam (above), because it is thought that’s what customers want to see. In our tests it’s very hard to separate washes on cleaning, so both will work. However, the ones with less foam tend to sheet away water better, leaving less to take off with a drying cloth. Q Where was wax favourite? WHILE reading the 2018 Auto Express car wax and polish test results online, I noticed Autoglym Super Resin Polish wasn’t named in the…

IT may seem that inspection lamps are arriving every month, but there is still a place for a head torch, and two new products have just been launched. There has been a technology spin-off from the active inspection lamp market because the newcomers from Coleman and Nightsearcher are rechargeable thanks to their lithium-ion batteries. To see how they perform, we tested them alongside the LED Lenser SE03, which won our last group test (Issue 1,490). All three torches were used for working on a car where light was limited: under the bonnet and in a wheelarch. We checked the light spread from flood and spotlight settings at a distance of one metre, and looked at how the units performed from other distances as well. Comfort and ease of use were…