Table of contents for October 2016 in CAR UK

Suzuki Swift Sport It’s hard not to have a soft spot for the current Swift Sport, an honest little warm hatch with an unassuming price tag. The replacement will likely swap its 1.6 lump for the small-but-mighty 1.4-litre Boosterjet turbo from the Vitara S. With more torque and less weight, it’s a promising recipe. Expect the usual hot hatch wardrobe: deeper front spoiler, wider wheels and sills, along with a du jour blacked-out C-pillar for a ‘floating’ roofline. And, apparently, giant exhaust outlets. The cooking Swift will shortly make its debut at the Paris motor show, but we’ll wait a little longer for the Sport. VW’s littlest new SUV Tiguan’s little bro, due in 2018, will be based on the next-gen Polo, with the same MQBderived floorpan and engine family.…

STUART COLLINS HAS THERE EVER been a more intriguing button in a car than Ford’s much-hyped Drift Mode? Flick a switch and you’re swatting flies with the side windows like a Scandinavian rally pro. In theory… Fittingly for a car brimming with PlayStation Generation appeal, Drift Mode is powered by complex electronics. The new Focus RS is all-wheel-drive, but it’s anything but a typical system. A pair of electronically controlled clutches at the rear, one for each wheel, constantly vary the amount of drive sent to each. In Drift Mode, the system directs up to 100% of the drivetrain’s total twist to the outside rear wheel to initiate a slide, then juggles the proportion of torque between the wheels to keep it going. First you’ll need to prod the driving…

You simply cannot fit 200 Nissans in a briefcase, not even small ones, correct? Correct. But if you’re fiendishly clever you can replicate the entire electrical architecture of up to 200 different model and trim combinations. In a briefcase? In a briefcase. And Nissan engineer Martin Banks has proved it, by developing a ‘mobile technical centre’ – in his spare time! Amazing. But why? As a way to share advanced technologies with colleagues abroad. ‘I travel to many meetings around the world where we share ideas and solutions,’ says Martin. ‘The issue is always demonstrating systems when I’m away from my desk, so I decided to create my own solution.’ So, what’s in the case? A homemade maze of switches, circuit boards and LEDs which ‘can test the in-car integration…

AT £32,555 AND with drive-free rear wheels, mechanical springs (albeit of a novel composite and transverse leafy nature at the back) and a lowly four-cylinder diesel behind that striking, P1800-inspired grille, the new-generation family Volvo comes no more ordinary than the D4 S90 in Momentum trim (until the planned manual version arrives). That it’s great suggests both an essential rightness to the engineering beneath Thomas Ingenlath’s stylish metalwork and that the upcoming fast S90/V90s could well be dazzling. At the 90-series’ unveiling chassis guru Stefan Karlsson insisted that drivers defecting from M Sport BMWs would enjoy driving the new Volvo. ‘The handling is precise and the steering has very little slack – it’s tight; you turn and the car reacts. In this respect it is best in class,’ he told…

MERCEDES’ NEW GLC Coupe is proof that cohesively-styled models can exist in the fledgling Sport Coupility Vehicle segment, although that coupe moniker remains a misnomer – think of this GLC as a slinkier, but still high-rise, fastback iteration of its estate-alike sibling and you’re about there. Despite the elegantly tapering tail, there’s a decent amount of headroom for taller adults in the back but it’s the boot that makes the GLC Coupe the less family-friendly option. At 500 litres its capacity is only 50 down compared with its SUV twin, which sounds barely compromised on paper, but half of that volume lurks beneath the removable boot floor, leaving a shallow deck with a high loading lip for normal use. There’s no slick, Audi TT-style tailgate-mounted luggage cover either; instead you’re…

IT HAS ALWAYS been a hell of a thing to transcend the times – to remain aloof and impervious to change. Especially true in this age of rampantly accelerating technology and social trends moving like a forest fire in a high wind. Who’s pulled it off and thrived? Jagger? Brucie? The Queen, certainly. And the Rolls-Royce Phantom, until now. Thirteen years on from launch, this is the last Phantom VII – a bells-and-whistles run-out with a two-tone paintjob. The car on which Rolls’s Goodwood era was founded is sliding into graceful retirement, eventually to be succeeded by an all-aluminium, ‘high-tech’ Phantom VIII in 2018. We’ll miss it. It was never about driving, it was about being driven, and few chauffeurs get to explore the Phantom’s talents with an empty back…

VIA CAR ONLINE Well done for your detailed insight into Tesla ( CAR , September). I learned a lot, and was impressed by the scale of the operation and the vision behind it. But in addition to reading CAR I also read US mag Car and Driver , and in its September issue Bob Lutz was asked the question: ‘will Tesla exist 20 years from now?’ He said: ‘As it is presently, no. As they say, “Socialism is great until they run out of other people’s money”. Tesla burns cash. It’s not a car company, it’s a cult of fanatics who think Elon Musk can do no wrong. But financially, it doesn’t work.’ Wow. Is he right? Either way, I’m looking forward greatly to finding out. Isaac Rettings…

YOU CAN ONLY imagine the unbridled joy when some bright spark at NASA hit on the idea of fitting hydrogen fuel-cells in spacecraft. As solutions go it’s neater than an OCD sock drawer. Feed the cells hydrogen and oxygen and they’ll sit there, hum a bit and pump out three little luxuries in short supply in outer space: heat, electricity and potable water. Three fuel-cells aboard the Space Shuttle, weighing in at a not inconsiderable 90kg each, met all of the $1.7bn ship’s electricity requirements, from piggyback launch right through to runway touchdown. But what of the fuel-cell’s fit with the earthbound, considerably less expensive car? The hype’s been around so long it’s had both hips replaced and yet still believers go wide-eyed as they repeat the equation: hydrogen plus…

THE PANAMERA Turbo’s 4.0-litre V8 with twin-scroll turbochargers nestling in the centre of the 90-degree vee is, like all the power units at launch, a brand new engine. A 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 may sound familiar from the VW Group, but this is not the Audi RS6 engine – in fact, the next RS6 will get this new engine in 2018, as will the next Cayenne and Macan turbos. The unit deploys cylinder deactivation to improve efficiency, using sliding cam elements with a twin-pin actuator, stopping the valves from letting air into the cylinders. With the direct-injection system cut off at the same time, four of the eight combustion chambers stop pumping. The cylinders have a kind of grooved, spiral surface, the aluminium milled back 60 micrometres at set intervals. An…

£20k-£32k 2009-2012 | Gen2 987 Cayman 2893cc/3436cc flat-six, 261-315bhp, 5.2-5.8sec 0-62mph, 165-172mph • Is this a good idea? ‘Ideal for a first-time Porsche buyer. While earlier cars suffer from bore scoring and other engine maladies, the Gen2s had this ironed out. 987s are much smaller than the current range, so thread down a British backroad perfectly.’ • How much? ‘Early £20ks upwards for a good 2.9-litre car, so pretty accessible for a lot of people. Since the cars are still quite new, PCP or hire purchase finance schemes are readily available.’ • What’s going to break? ‘Precious little, really. Typical consumables; tyres, discs, pads. We recommend genuine Porsche brake components, which are unavoidably pricier. Otherwise, put fuel in and enjoy.’ • Crippling running costs? ‘We’ve seen a couple of cars…

OUR RADICAL SR1 isn’t road-legal. It has brakelights, but no headlights, and the front splitter might struggle with speedbumps. Radical does make road-legal cars, however, and the flagship is the moderately terrifying-looking RXC Turbo. Powered by a 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 boosted to 620bhp, it weighs only 900kg and looks like it’s escaped from the grid at Le Mans. What better way to get to know it properly than to drive a few hundred miles to Le Mans itself for June’s 24 hour race? And we had a good excuse for going – to meet the SR1 Cup’s most famous graduate. Velodrome legend Sir Chris Hoy raced on four wheels for the first time in the SR1 Cup’s inaugural 2013 season, and this year made his debut in the Le Mans…

A GENTLY care-worn doctor chum of my dad has often opined that the people most in need of a holiday are, in fact, those that have just returned from one. I can only assume that said sawbones must, at some stage, have shared the back of the same bomber that I endured yesterday, and, indeed, found himself sitting next to the same revolting family, the parents of which had listed the younger of their two monstrous daughters as an ‘infant’ in order to avoid paying for four seats. They may not have paid but, brother – courtesy of 12 hours of non-stop, high-octane mithering – did the rest of the passengers. I wish the former boils. After any long-haul flight in terrorist class all you really want is strong drink…

01 ‘I don’t need to see’ ‘As a co-driver I don’t watch through the windscreen. I feel the car’s movement in my hips and my back and I know exactly where we stand – acceleration, braking, turn in – with my body. I don’t need to watch outside because my driver’s doing that, my job is to tell what’s coming next. My seat is so low in the car I can’t see much [anyway]…’ 02 ‘Timing is everything’ ‘You really need to focus to deliver your pacenotes at the right time to your driver. You don’t need to speak very fast, the thing is to have a good rhythm. If you speak too fast or too much, your driver will not understand you, or memorise what you are telling him.’…

GENE HAAS IS a manufacturing geek. He loves heavy industry and he became a billionaire by selling CNC machine tools around the world. Other passions include steam locomotives and the American NASCAR series, where he fields a championship-winning team. New to his roster in 2016 is a Formula One team. The Haas F1 team has two bases, one in Kannapolis, North Carolina, and the other in Banbury. America is where the money comes from; the UK is where the racing team is based. Add into the mix a couple of technical partnerships, with Ferrari and chassis builder Dallara, and you have something akin to the United Nations of F1. ‘Our business model isn’t based on doing everything ourselves,’ says Haas. ‘It would cost a fortune to develop the kind of…

IF THERE EVER was a mule which did not need the full camouflage treatment, then this is it. The new BMW 5-series, codenamed G30, is anything but a breakthrough design. Instead, its shape is evolutionary, kind of a downsized 7-series, nicely proportioned but about as unexpected as snowfall in December. The interior owes even more to the 7-series than the exterior. It can be specced up with so many electronic trickeries one almost needs a spare brain to make full use of this depth of talent. We guess this might be the last BMW to sport a conventional overkill cockpit offering the latest in terms of infotainment, connectivity and semi-autonomous driving. The new 3-series, due in 2018, will likely feature more advanced and yet easier-to-use ergonomics inspired by the CES…

AND NOW FOR something completely different. The Polaris Slingshot (great name, eh?) isn’t technically a car, nor is it a bike, but a trike; a sort of unidentified three-wheeled object you can legally drive on either a car or motorcycle licence, and without a helmet if you’re not particularly sentimental about your face. (Its American makers, who describe the Slingshot as a three-wheeled motorcycle, sensibly advise a full-face lid, however.) Resembling a partially dismembered KTM X-Bow, it’s powered by a GM-sourced 2.4-litre car engine, rigged to the solitary rear wheel by a belt and a five-speed H-pattern gearbox. The hose-downable interior, mostly made from adventure playground-spec plastics, includes a (surprisingly audible) radio with Bluetooth, luggage lockers behind the seats, even cupholders. (You can tell it’s American). If you’re expecting a…

THIS ACS3 SPORT is Schnitzer’s rolling showroom, kitted out with the Aachen-based tuner’s key suspension, engine, exhaust, alloy wheels, tyres and styling packages. Tick all these boxes and you’ll need the thick end of £21k on top of the £60,065 for the M4 Competition pack on which the car is based. The simple menu structure that Schnitzer offers makes choosing specific upgrades much easier, and the company says it will work with customers to deliver packages tailored to budgets and requirements. Styling is subjective, so let’s not argue over the ACS3 Sport’s looks. If carbonfibre wings, splitters, canards (that’s the posh term for those front-bumper flicks) and diffusers are your thing, then Schnitzer can indulge you to your wallet’s content. Ditto the set of lightweight forged AC1 alloy wheels. Personally,…

AS MID-LIFE FACELIFTS go, I’d say this is a pretty successful one. Peugeot’s compact crossover no longer resembles a 208 that’s just had a nasty shock, and now cribs a few styling cues from 2014’s Quartz concept to look a more convincing baby SUV. The grille’s been pulled upright and peppered with a set of 3D-effect plastic inserts, and the wheelarches and sill scuff plates pushed outwards for a bulkier stance. Minor changes, but enough to give this small-ish car a bigger on-road presence. It still is a 208 of course, carrying over the supermini’s floorpan, engines and dashboard more or less wholesale, albeit with posher materials and finishes (and a bizarre aeroplane throttle-style handbrake). That means a similarly attractive but flawed cabin, including its trademark massive touchscreen and shrink-rayed…

1 THE CAR DEMOGRAPHIC Ever feel like someone’s reading over your shoulder? CHRISTOPHER MORGAN-JONES 2 CAR PARK OF DREAMS After an amazing few days at the Monaco Historic these were outside the Fairmont Hotel: two Miura SVs, what I believe to be a Lightweight Jota (maybe converted from an original SV, as there was apparently only one built) and a GT1 Porsche. PAUL DUDDY 3 L = LACK OF TASTE Maserati as a first car? Spotted in West London near Hyde Park on my morning commute. How the other 0.001% learn to drive. RAJ NANGPAL 4 YOU’LL NEED A TRAY Enjoying the late evening sun in Oxfordshire with a couple of classic Porsches. Mine serving as the beer tray! ROB STEWART 5 ASTON BUG IS INFECTIOUS…

It’s a long vehicle – more than five metres – and at 1920kg it is only a touch lighter than the Bugatti Chiron PORSCHE PANAMERA TURBO • Price £130,000 (est) • Engine3996cc 32v twin-turbo V8, 542bhp @ 5750-6000rpm, 568lb ft @ 1960-4500rpm • Transmission Eight-speed dual-clutch, all-wheel drive • Suspension Double wishbone front; multi-link rear • Performance 3.6sec 0-62mph, 191mph, 30.0mpg, 214g/km CO2 • Weight/madefrom 1920kg/steel, aluminium Length/width/height 5049/1937/1427mm • On sale Now PHRASES YOU NEVER hear in car dealerships, no.1: ‘What I’m really after is a four-seater coupe, preferably really expensive.’ But Porsche has always been the king of answering questions nobody asked, and has made such of a success of it few of us can now imagine a world without Cayenne, Macan… or Panamera. The all-new Panam is…

BENTLEY BENTAYGA • Price £160,200 • Astested £196,110 • Engine 5950cc twin-turbo 48v W12, 599bhp @ 5000rpm, 664lb ft @ 1350rpm • Transmission Eight-speed paddleshift auto, four-wheel drive • Performance 4.0sec 0-62mph, 187mph, 21.6mpg (14.3mpg tested), 296g/km CO2 • Suspension Double-wishbone front, multi-link rear, air suspension, 48V electric active anti-roll bars • Weight/madefrom 2422kg/aluminium, steel • Length/width/height 5141/1998/1742mm • Rating   The breeze is perfumed not with the timeless, earthy majesty of the Sahara but with chips, beer and sun cream MELTED ICE CREAM runs in white and pink rivulets across chubby, sun-kissed knuckles. Moments later soft balls of vanilla and strawberry slide from the cone and plop onto hot, parched sand, lost forever to the desiccated ground. A crying shame but you can understand the poor child’s lapsed concentration.…

BMW M3 CSL (E46) Price £58,000 new, now £35,000-£70,000 Engine 3246cc 24v straight-six, 355bhp @ 7900rpm, 273lb ft @ 4900rpm Transmission Six-speed sequential SMG, rear-wheel drive Performance 4.9sec 0-62mph, 155mph Suspension Strut front, multi-link rear Weight/made from 1385kg/steel Length/width/height 4492/1780/1372mm On sale 2003-2004 BMW M2 Price £44,080 Engine 2979cc 24v turbocharged straight-six, 365bhp @ 6500rpm, 343lb ft @ 1400-5560rpm, plus 26lb ft overboost from 1450-4750rpm Transmission Six-speed manual, rear-wheel drive Performance 4.5sec (4.3sec with DCT) 0-62mph, 155mph Suspension MacPherson strut front, multi-link rear Weight/made from 1570kg (1645kg DCT)/ steel Length/width/height 4468/1854/1410mm On sale Now WHEN BMW ANNOUNCED the back-to-basics M2 it had M-car fans worldwide rolling out the bunting and high-fiving each other in the street, because it was a car that promised to hark back to the glory days,…

•JAGUAR DIDN’T hold back with 2011’s XKR-S, turning the already potent XKR into a bit of a monster. A jowly bodykit and outsized rear spoiler are clues to its poke, with 542bhp and 502lb ft of torque from its supercharged 5.0 V8. Little wonder it could hit 100mph in 8.7sec. •MORE POWER than its chassis can handle, so don’t skimp on rear tyres, or get carried away in the wet – it can bite. Chassis tweaks were based on the earlier 75th anniversary edition XK, with a stiffer aluminium front suspension upright for more precise steering and tighter body control. •THERE WAS A convertible, too, arriving in 2012 and costing £6000 more than the Coupe new, although secondhand you’ll likely pay more for the roofed version. A 30-off, even more…

First class in the front Cabin gets a lot right. Low-slung driving position is lovely, complemented by clean intelligently configured instruments and centre console. Tactile steering wheel is perfectly sized, too. However, touchscreen not the quickest, plastics and leathers are ho-hum, audio system sounds tinny and thick pillars and narrow glasshouse stifle visibility. Economy class at the rear Packaging not something the XE can shout about too loudly. Yes, accommodation up front is decent enough, but those in the back suffer cramped consequences of that long bonnet, cab-backwards stance and low roofline. And that odd-shaped rear door profile makes tight car park bays an exercise in painful paint scuffing. Noise ‘n’ the hood Grunty turbodiesel engine is bedding in nicely. Still too vocal for this sector, but it shifts the…

ILLUSTRATION: AERIFORM 1 HOME LINK According to IBM, cars are static 95% of the time, so why not use their sophisticated sensor and camera systems to sniff out gas leaks or extend neighbourhood watch? IoT can switch on welcoming home heating and lighting as you pull into the drive. It can even answer the door for you – using a camera/ motion sensor to show you who’s calling. Never miss a package! 2 WEATHERCONDITIONS IoT connects with meteorological stations en route and by V2V with vehicles up ahead with GPS mapping to warn of severe weather or poor road conditions, Vehicle sensor systems pre-programme the car for optimum grip and stability or re-route you if it’s a severe storm. 3 GREENLIGHT SYSTEMS No more traffic light queues for American A4…

• WHEN I first joined Porsche 20 years ago, I was in the engine department and I worked on the 996 Turbo. But before I joined Porsche I was studying near Stuttgart and I did car audio installations at home as a business. I made huge systems – looking back they were crazy! • I LOVE motorsport and have been racing since 1994 in the VLN series. I broke my back at the Nürburgring once, when I led a group of cars into a downpour on slicks and wanted to push. I have kids now, I’d be more careful! • IT’S AN unusual move, but 10 years ago I got the chance to move to the audio department. I have a passion for Porsche, motorsport and audio, so the chance…

LET’S DO THE maths on this. A C43 sounds like, ooh, about two-thirds of a C63. And on paper, that sums up perfectly the positioning of the latest AMG. With 362bhp and 384lb ft from its bi-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6, all vital statistics are pegged back just enough from big brother to allow the promise of devilish pace at a more democratic price. And this is a truly rapid wagon. Merc claims 155mph and 0-62mph in 4.7sec, which feels entirely believable as you’re pinned deep into the plump faux-leather sports seats, clasped by a bright scarlet seatbelt. The two-cylinder deficit brings a more muted exhaust note, rippling with a digitally managed burble at tickover but never quite letting rip acoustically at the top end. There’s much to like here. All C-class…

WITH KIA’S ONGOING seven-year warranty charm offensive set to be bolstered by a fairly hefty product barrage, the presence of two new models per launch may become something of a norm over the next few years. In this case, incoming consists of two new Optima variants: a Sportswagon – which acknowledges the overwhelming popularity of estates in the shifting sands of a European D-segment in which the sibling saloon has somewhat risen without trace – and a PHEV, which recognises the burgeoning lure of all things hybrid and the hushed thrill-potential of an all-electric commute. Both models build on the facelifted, no-mates Optima saloon launched in January; a handsome affair featuring a new nose and rump, a smarter interior and a revised platform. The Sportswagon may be identified by an…

WHEN THE affable James Taylor asks me to review a new car I’m always keen. All cars are interesting, every new model a fresh challenge, nothing I could conceivably be asked to drive would necessitate me asking ‘what is it?’ before committing. This time I should have asked. Regret flooded my body faster and more comprehensively than a shot of anabolic steroids through a pre-event athlete. This – despite my innate insistence not to pass judgement until tested – would likely not end well for this special edition of the ageing second-gen ‘new Beetle’. For one thing, Volkswagen spuriously claims the Dune is somehow inspired by (and pays tribute to) the achingly cool and oft-competitive Baja bugs of old. This gaudy, marketing-mobilised, street-going pram could do them no justice. Similarly…

ALEX TAPLEY Land Rover Discovery Sport More high-rise hatchery? What’s this one’s humble backstory? Not the soon-to-be replaced Discovery proper, in case you were wondering. This one is twinned with the sexy Evoque but purged of all its cool. Think marmalade minus the bits but in a bigger jar. There must be more SUVs in the UK than sheep in New Zealand these days. How much will I get fleeced? Thirty-two grand buys the cheapest Disco, but don’t expect to £ind a glitterball hanging from the headliner. You do get Bluetooth and heated part leather plus most of the same styling impact you’d get from a £40k HSE (ie, not exactly heaps). Focus RS money, you say? I’m expecting monstrous acceleration Settle for an unholy din instead? The Disco’s 178bhp…

217. MILES. PER. HOUR. And counting. And breathing. Hard. 224. Down the descent, and up again. So effortless, so fast, it’s surreal. 230. The priceless muscle-play on the face of Wolfgang Dürheimer would be an instant six-figure click on YouTube. There is good reason why grandmaster speed’s black polo shirt is embroidered Bugatti 400. After all, the man moulding the marque is a long-time member of the 400kph (248mph)-and-over club. Is this ride going to be my own validation, eight years after having seen 253mph in the original 1001bhp Veyron? It can’t. It won’t. It isn’t. Because WD slams on the brake as we approach a blind crest at the speed of a fighter pilot zooming in on his target. In a highly physical, energy-squashing manouevre, WOB 9834 decelerates…

AUDI TT RS • Price £51,000 (est) • Engine2480cc 20v turbo inline 5-cyl, 395bhp @ 5850rpm, 354lb ft @ 1700-5850rpm • Transmission Seven-speed dual-clutch S-tronic, four-wheel drive • Suspension MacPherson strut front; multi-link rear • Performance 3.7sec 0-62mph, 174mph, 34.4mpg, 187g/km CO2 • Weight 1380kg (est) • Length/width/height 4198/1842/1344mm • On sale September PORSCHE CAYMAN S • Price £48,834 • Engine2497cc 16v turbo 4-cyl, 345bhp @ 6500rpm, 310lb ft @ 1900-4500rpm • Transmission Seven-speed PDK, rear-wheel drive • Suspension MacPherson strut front and rear, adaptive dampers • Performance 4.2sec 0-62mph, 177mph, 38.7mpg, 167g/km CO2 • Weight 1385kg • Length/width/height 4380/1801/1284mm • On sale Now What disappoints is the noise. It’s oddly reminiscent of an Oettingertuned Beetle HATING TURBOCHARGED engines is kind of en vogue among purists these days. In 1979…

•‘I BOUGHT MY 205 GTi four years ago, partly so I could have the experience of driving one. I hadn’t before I started looking for one, and if it hadn’t held up to expectations I wouldn’t still have it. Every few years you get one of these absolute standout cars, and in some ways the GTi’s up there with the Beetle and the Model T Ford as a special car in history. It’s not rose-tinted spectacles – for front-drive handling and driver involvement, it’s a genuine benchmark. I tried 1.6-litre cars, but I prefer the 1.9; I think it handles even better on the 15in wheels, and it’s nice to have a bit more torque.’ •‘CRUCIALLY, I WAS looking for one that was good inside and out. The trim is…

DON’T KNOW ABOUT you, but I don’t live in the foothills of the Rockys. Or wade the River Nene every weekend. But there’s still something guiltily attractive to outbound families about the new breed of luxury SUVs clogging up our streetscape. They’re roomy (the XC90 seats seven, or five and bags aplenty). They’re comfy (ours has a fab-u-lous cabin and great chairs). And they connect into those active lifestyle daydreams many of us harbour (all-wheel drive is standard, as is lashings of family chic). There really was only one contender when it came to choosing a car for the annual Pollard trip to the Alps. Our Volvo looked better equipped with its Mud and Snow all-weather ski boots and high-visibility raised driving position than any other car on fleet. Do…

In 2015 it would have cost £76,895 when new. Today it will set you back just £41k NEW VERSUS used. To paraphrase an old chocolate ad, why have boring old cotton when you can have someone else’s only slightly soiled silk? It’s a recurring discussion in our office, and maybe yours too, and the reason we created our massively popular ‘new versus used’ twin tests which star in Icon Buyer every month (see p124). But the truth is we know far less about car makers’ used car schemes, the very places you might find the used cars we’ve been championing, than we should. So when Mercedes asked us if we’d like us to put its money where our mouth is, and find ourselves a used AMG, we couldn’t resist. Which…