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Extended test: 2022 Skoda Kamiq Monte Carlo 1.0 TSI review

Will.dron@sunday-times.co.uk — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 10:58:00 +0000

2022 Skoda Kamiq Monte Carlo 1.0 TSI specifications

Model 72-reg Skoda Kamiq Monte Carlo 1.0 TSI 110 PS DSG
Price From £27,405 OTR
Price as tested (with options) £31,132.50 OTR
Cost options fitted Graphite Grey Metallic Paint £660; Dual-zone climate control £735; Steel space saving spare wheel £170; Winter pack £485; Variable boot floor £175; Electrically operated boot £445; Electrically adjustable, heated and folding door mirrors £235; Front and rear parking sensors £405; Dog Hammock (back seat protector) £115; Boot luggage mat £80; Dog partition guard £152.50; Dog safety belt medium £70
Engine 999cc, 3-cylinder, turbocharged petrol
Transmission 7-speed, DSG (automatic)
Power output 108bhp
Torque 200 lb ft
Weight (DIN/EU) 1,280kg / 1,355kg
Luggage capacity 400 / 1,395 litres (seats up / rear-seats folded)
Top speed 122mph
0-62mph 10.4 sec
Fuel consumption (WLTP combined cycle) 45.6-47.1mpg
CO2 emissions (WLTP) 136-141g/km
VED (road tax) £230 for first year; £165 thereafter
BIK tax payable (2022/23) 32%; £1,736 (20%) or £3,471 (40%)
Insurance group 14E

Test details

Test period February – August 2023
Starting mileage 580 miles

Test updates

March 14, 2023 Skoda Kamiq first impressions?
March 30, 2023 Roomy enough for a family staycation?
May 16, 2023 Can the Skoda Kamiq harness pooch power?
June 29, 2023 Trip to the ultimate fidofest — Goodwoof
July 28, 2023 Do the Kamiq’s options add up financially and practically?
August 18, 2023 Final verdict: Has the Kamiq left me with car karma?

March 14, 2023: Skoda Kamiq first impressions

The small SUV/ crossover market has become more crowded in the last five years than a supermarket at 7am after a fresh drop of the social influencer-inspired Prime drink (yes, I’ve had the 6am wake-up call from my kids).

Skoda’s effort in this busy category is what you see here: the Kamiq, a smaller sibling of the Karoq and Kodiaq models. Standing out in this space takes some doing, so I’ll be putting the Kamiq through a long-term test to see how well it does so, while exploring Skoda’s recent attempts to woo dog owners with Fido-friendly accessories.

Skoda has supplied me with a Kamiq in Monte Carlo specification, so it has sporty trim that has helped with positive first impressions. The 18in Vega wheels, large panoramic glass roof and stylish red-trim stitching on the interior’s seats are among the features that appeal. Such touches play homage to Skoda’s 86-year association with the prestigious Monte Carlo rally, emphasising the brand’s blend of practical and sporting prowess.

The Kamiq’s competitors are ubiquitous, starting with rivals in its Volkswagen Group stable, such as the VW T-Roc and Seat Arona. Externally, this ramps up with the likes of the Hyundai Kona, Renault Captur, Citroën C3 Aircross and Ford Puma, to name but a few. All models are available in similar sizes, options and mid-market price points, which makes the need for unique features even more important.

This is where I get a strong feeling that the Kamiq may well hold an advantage via Skoda’s famed reputation for functionality and clever thinking. It certainly hit the ground running from the week it arrived in the bitter mid-January weather, offering a handy ice scraper conveniently housed within the fuel cap (just as I remembered my de-icer was in my husband’s car, which he had taken out for the day).

It’s this type of detail that reflects a holistic approach towards drivers with busy lifestyles and I’m already warming to Skoda as a savvy player for my future car purchase decisions.

My Kamiq comes with a spectrum of dog-friendly options, including a safety lead, dog hammock (you read that correctly), boot mat and dog guard. These elements are reassuring, as keeping Jess, the family Cavapoo, safe and content on journeys of all lengths is particularly important to me.

The first month of driving the Kamiq has been a pleasant experience. It’s super smooth on acceleration and handling, with controls that feel naturally placed and intuitive. Despite the relatively small engine, it’s no slouch and has purred along local dual carriageways. I’ll explore the interior layout, specific features and technology set-up in future reviews, but the optional heated rear seats are already a crowd-pleaser with my two sons.

In the next instalment, I’ll reveal how the Kamiq performed on a recent half-term break in Devon, putting it through its paces on long motorway stretches and windy coastal routes. The trip gave us an insight into whether this model is roomy enough for the four of us (plus dog and baggage) to survive a week together rather than take our larger but older family SUV.

Mileage this month 623 miles
Mileage to date 623 miles
Average economy 41.1mpg

If you want to ask Tina a question about the Kamiq, enter a comment below.

March 30, 2023: Roomy enough for a family staycation?

Probably my biggest question when taking on the Skoda Kamiq for a long-term test was, as a small SUV would it cut the mustard in terms of space? My family of two growing lads (aged 15 and 12), a husband and a small dog means we need a car that can swallow all the family paraphernalia that comes with the territory.

We’re motorway regulars, travelling to see family and friends for day trips and weekends, in between more local activities such as country walks, so our boot becomes a holding ground for muddy boots, towels, clothing and toys designed for humans and canines alike. This busy life has meant bigger cars have been our preference in the past, for ease of use and practicality, so there was a question mark over the ability of the compact Kamiq to suit our needs.

Our recent trip to North Devon put this to the test and I’m pleased to report that the Kamiq coped admirably. With all seats in place, the Kamiq has a boot capacity of 400 litres; a spot of research online suggests this is pretty standard for a compact crossover model, with key rivals including the Kia Stonic (352 litres), Toyota Yaris Cross (397 litres)and Seat Arona (also 400 litres). The Skoda is outperformed in this area by the Citroën C3 Aircross (410 litres), VW T-Roc (453 litres) and Ford Puma (453 litres), mind you.

Our Kamiq has a trick up its sleeve, though, with a variable boot floor as a fitted option (£175). By simply pulling out this false floor, I was able to add about 10% additional boot room. This helped us to cram in all of life’s essentials for our week away. Yes, we did have to pack slightly leaner than normal, but a bit of savvy organisation was all that was needed.

In terms of the rest of the interior space, the Kamiq Monte Carlo’s front seats offer a good degree of comfort and leg room. They are both manually height adjustable and come with lumbar support as standard.

The back seats look a little tighter on first inspection but both sons reported there was good leg space. Overall, the cabin feels sturdy and ready for day-to-day family life, with durable and high quality fabrics, and there is a pleasing lack of scratchable plastic for stray shoes (and paws) to mark.

When it came to engine performance, I could help but marvel at the impressive fuel efficiency that the little 1-litre petrol motor offered on the week away. All while fully laden and across different types of terrain, from hills to motorways, this rarely dipped below 40 mpg. On the long sections of the M5 between Somerset and Devon, this rose to 48 mpg, which struck us as superb for a petrol car, let alone one hauling a family and luggage around.

I certainly wouldn’t pitch Skoda within the value car category, but with these driving stats it seems wallet-friendly.

It hit 70 mph on motorways with decent gusto and had good acceleration (even with a full load) for overtaking. However on sharper inclines across smaller country roads, it lacked a bit of punch that would come with a larger engine, with the DSG automatic gearbox working hard to find the lower gears.

So it would seem safe to categorise the Kamiq as a firmly functional drive, a real winner in its usefulness but maybe not as blessed in the kerb appeal stakes as some of its rivals. The Monte Carlo variant does add a touch of glamour in terms of the eye-catching 18in black Vega alloy wheels, but the driving performance doesn’t feel overly sporty.

So, for this chapter, the Kamiq fully delivered what we needed for our week away – space wasn’t an issue and it gave us a pleasant journey for the full duration.

Small SUVs may be flavour of the moment for many runabout town drivers but this model went further to become the family all-rounder we were looking for.

Could it step up and be our sole family car? On the evidence of this week, it’s a yes from me (with a caveat that both boys stop growing sometime soon).

Mileage this month 780 miles
Mileage to date 1,403 miles
Average economy 42.8mpg

If you want to ask Tina a question about the Kamiq, enter a comment below.

May 16, 2023: Can the Skoda Kamiq harness pooch power?

This month I’ll be putting the Kamiq’s doggy credentials under the microscope to assess if it’s fit for our fido. What better way to swing our hound into a relaxing road trip than in a dog hammock? While a hammock might traditionally be pictured strung between two coconut trees on a tropical island, Skoda’s dog variety is closer to a high-sided seat protector. This is an ingenious idea to keep furry friends snug in the back, and dirty paws and claws enclosed away from the interior fabrics and trim.

Clipping into position around the front and rear headrest covers with adjustable straps, the hammock sits loosely across the rear seats. It quickly became clear that the hammock is aimed at medium to large-sized dogs. I could picture a Golden Retriever, for instance, snoozing in such a padded house.

Our Cavapoo Jessie, however, looked rather swamped when we put her into position, although she had a great game of chase running up and down the length of the hammock until we could catch and tether her to the seatbelt clip. Hammocks of assorted sizes would be useful for small to medium dogs.

While the hammock was on the large size, the Kamiq’s boot is the perfect fit for Jessie. She can travel snuggly with the dog guard securely in place to stop her from jumping into the backseats (although I did find this narrowed my view in the mirror).

The double-sided boot mat is another highlight. The rubber side was favoured for its wipe-clean qualities after muddy dog frolics, as it’s easy to remove, shower down and dry. But flipping it over to a textile-upholstered surface was also of use, particularly for travel with bags while Jessie was sitting in the rear seats.

Talking of which, riding in the back is made ultra-safe with the provision of Skoda’s dog safety belt, which allowed Jessie to be strapped to a harness, holding her steady in the event of an emergency stop or turning a sharp corner. Again, this seemed to be designed for large breeds, so was a little roomy for our Jessie. Nonetheless, as an added bonus, the harness can be attached to a lead, so it can be used for dog walks or training, too.

To turn up the in-car chill factor, we also sampled the Happy Hounds Spotify playlist, “scientifically proven” to soothe anxious dogs on car journeys. The track list was introduced in collaboration with canine behaviour expert Anna Webb to celebrate Skoda’s sponsorship of Crufts this year, sending a clear signal that it means business when it comes to raising its visibility (and ultimately capturing sales) among dog owners.

The tunes in the playlist are designed to alleviate a dog’s stress levels, thanks to slow BPM (Beats Per Minute), calming tones and repetition. It was hard to tell if the line-up was music to Jessie’s ears as she’s a wonder on car trips anyway and is generally horizontal after being lulled to sleep by car vibrations. But the boys and I enjoyed the eclectic collection, which skips through the musical genres, with anything from the Elvis classic, Hound Dog, to Watermelon Sugar by Harry Styles.

Skoda’s dog-friendly initiatives stretch beyond playlists and Crufts sponsorship to give back to the dog community. For example, it has donated two Kamiqs to Dogs for Good, a charitable organisation that brings people and dogs together to help people with disabilities.

When it comes to canine credentials, the Skoda Kamiq has proved its pedigree with hammocks and safety harnesses though we’re less convinced by the blissed-out playlist. And, though the dog pack certainly enhanced our Jessie’s comfort, it could be improved further by a range of size options.

In our next review, we’ll be on the hunt for a ‘pawfect’ day out at Goodwoof, an event that celebrates all things dog at the Goodwood Estate. They say every dog has its day, and this will most certainly be one for our Jessie.

Mileage this month 594 miles
Mileage to date 1,997 miles
Average economy 39.8mpg

If you want to ask Tina a question about the Kamiq, enter a comment below.

June 29, 2023: Trip to the ultimate fidofest — Goodwoof

Sticking with the dog theme once again, we took a family trip with Cavapoo Jessie to Goodwoof, the event designed to celebrate all things dog on the Goodwood Estate.

Although our journey to the second day of the festival was bathed in glorious sunshine, Jessie looked rather hot under the collar, so, there was no better time to consider how to keep her cool, calm and collected in the car.

Of course the Kamiq’s air-con kept us lightly iced in the front and back but there are other tricks for dog owners to consider: Skoda UK’s latest collaboration with dog behaviourist Anna Webb does exactly that, with her top tips for dog-owning drivers including ice cubes on dogs’ gums, meaty mocktails and a cooling vest or mat to chill underbellies.

If there was a paradise for dogs, I think Goodwoof would come pretty close. Covered in canines of all shapes and sizes (even IBM’s robot dog Spot), Goodwood’s stately Kennels was a particularly apt backdrop. Back in 1787, the third Duke of Richmond needed a home for his beloved foxhounds and built The Kennels, a Georgian building that sits at the helm of Goodwoof.

Roving with our rover was both as top-notch and diverse as it could get. Care for a spot of Doga (you guessed it, dog yoga)? No problem. Or how about a Tarot Card reading for your pup? Step right up. Four-legged friends and their human escorts were spoilt for choice among the competitions (we loved the fastest dog in the 50m dash), demonstrations, activities (action sports, including Barkour were our favourite), and workshops on offer.

Have-a-go areas were particularly popular with long queues for sessions that operated on a first-come-first-served basis. While Jessie didn’t have the right size, build or mentality to sample CaniCross, we knew that anything tennis ball-related would be a winner, so we tried the hurdles with her (although flyball would have worked just as well). This was a huge success, as she jumped the hay bales with ease, ears streaming in the wind and her tongue lolling with happiness. Joined by our son Shay, they were quite a smooth operation over the jumps. Just about dog heaven for our Jess.

There were more tennis balls to be had at the Barkitecture tent, where a tennis ball kennel (‘Fetch’ by Coffey Architects) caught Jessie’s eye among the line-up of homes designed by some of the world’s most high-brow architects. Kevin McCloud, who spearheaded the project in 2022 with The Duke of Richmond, invited global contenders to compete for the Single Kennel Design Award with proceeds from auctioned dog houses going to the event’s official charity Pets As Therapy. All embraced the theme ‘A Companion Piece – Dogs at Work’.

But it wasn’t all work and no play for Jess (or us). The Studio was a haven that offered relaxation for both dogs and their owners. Although we were tempted by Doga, reiki and dog massage, Jess and I opted for a jot of sound bathing but she looked more sentry than serene standing guard while I tried the mat for size.

Still, there was no time to lie around for too long. Those wanting to shake their tail could take to the doggie disco at the Ministry of Hound (co-hosted by the Ministry of Sound), with the soundtrack provided by Fat Tony and friends.

Our one regret of the weekend was missing oodles of poodles at the parade opener on Saturday morning, which featured hundreds of poodles and their owners. Jessie had kept cool and found her dog Nirvana, and we’d had a paw-some time helping her find it.

Goodwood has cleverly added another successful event to its schedule. Goodwoof was a fun day out and from the mix of visitors we encountered, they seem to have hit the right demographic of dog lovers who have budgets to tap into. The size and range of vehicles in the car park show that savvy manufacturers also know dog-friendliness is a real money-spinner, and Skoda is among those leading the pack. More on the Kamiq next time, but suffice to say it looked the part among the other vehicles.

Mileage this month 451 miles
Mileage to date 2,448 miles
Average economy 40.1mpg

If you want to ask Tina a question about the Kamiq, enter a comment below.

July 28, 2023 Do the Kamiq’s options add up financially and practically?

Adding options while configuring your new car can be a mixed experience. Yes, it can be fun as you think of the enjoyable extras that you know you’ll use and appreciate, but when added together they can make the final bill rather hard to swallow. Skoda has treated us to a range of these options on our Kamiq, so which of these would I be plumping for and which do I think we could have dropped?

First up is the dual-zone climate control (£735) that allows the heating and air-conditioning to split between the driver and passenger sides of the front cabin. As the UK has warmed up in recent weeks, this has been a real joy to play with as it has enabled us to set our own chill factor, with the vents quick to supply a cool breeze.

This is where I have a gripe, however, as while the temperature level is easy to adjust via a physical dial on the central cluster, the strength of the fan can only be changed via the touchscreen. Call me old fashioned, but surely one method is best for simplicity and efficiency. Physical buttons and dials work best for me.

Skoda is back on form with the climate system for the rear cabin, blasting out a decent level of cold air (or heating) to keep the younger members of the family happy. This unit is run by controls in the front, so not adjustable from the back row. However, returning to the early days of our time with the Kamiq, both rear seats are heated and come with two buttock warming settings that are user-adjustable.

One final positive point worth mentioning about this Climatatronic (Skoda’s term) system is the Air Care feature, which can be selected to help monitor air quality for seasonal allergy sufferers. It achieves this by filtering dust and pollens, then recirculating air when needed rather than introducing it from the exterior. This is a welcome touch and well received by my eldest son as hay fever has affected him since early June.

The Kamiq’s front and rear parking sensors (£405) have worked adequately, helping navigate tight parking bays when needed. I was able to easily open the settings to adjust the volume and tone levels, making them slightly less urgent without compromising their usefulness. My one niggle on this option is that for a Monte Carlo high-spec model, I would expect the Kamiq to be equipped with parking cameras, not just sensors. The car has a strong tech set up in all other aspects, with a generously-sized touchscreen that would be perfect for a camera feed.

Notable electric options come in the shape of the adjustable, heated and folding door mirrors (£235) and the electrically-operated boot door (£445). Both are no-brainers for me as they have been very much part of our everyday use of the car. The heated mirrors cleared ice and rain quickly on inclement mornings.

As for the boot option, I don’t know what I’d do without it. It’s easy to use via the buttons on the key fob, rear and driver’s doors. The sensor was sharp, too, reacting well to stray dog gear obstructing it from closing.

The grey metallic paint job (£660) was one of the notable higher-priced options and is one I’ve come to favour more as time has passed, particularly when I see it on other Skodas, making me realise how this signature tint gives the Kamiq stand out looks. With Fiat recently vowing to stop selling grey cars not everyone is a fan of this shade, but it is clear the ability to personalise vehicles is an important feature.

My Skoda Kamiq came with almost £3,000 worth of options, which add up to over 10% of the on the road price of £27,405. This is a significant increase but clearly the demand is there and I for one would stump up for the creature comforts.

Mileage this month 251 miles
Mileage to date 2,669 miles
Average economy 39.8mpg

If you want to ask Tina a question about the Kamiq, enter a comment below.

August 18, 2023 Final verdict: Has the Kamiq left me with car karma?

The Kamiq was retrieved by Skoda recently and in truth the whole household misses it, particularly our cavapoo Jessie who has been heavily spoilt by the many dog-friendly features. Having undergone a robust family extended test over six months, we can happily give it a positive overall rating if you’re looking for an economical crossover or small SUV.

From a pure driving perspective, I was a fan of the Kamiq’s super-smooth ride quality right from the start. The car glided away when started up, with one of my son’s friends enquiring if it was in hybrid mode such was the lack of noise and velvet-like transmission.

Despite what used to be considered a relatively small engine (a 1-litre petrol), thanks to the efficiency and modern turbocharging the Kamiq never seemed to struggle, no matter the amount of holiday gear, sporting equipment or teenage bodies I managed to load it with.

The Monte Carlo sporty spec isn’t one that naturally appeals to my taste (the flash red interior trim didn’t trigger my inner girl racer), but potency of the powerplant was definitely noticed.

What really stood out for me is Skoda’s ability to think beyond the standard driving experience and consider how the car needs to accommodate the driver’s lifestyle and daily routines. The company nailed the practicality, the striking design and efficient performance metrics but don’t stop there; Skoda puts itself in its customers’ shoes and asks what else might make life easier for families.

Three simple but so effective examples of this come to mind:

The small umbrella housed within the driver’s door. Easy to forget it was there, but so handy when I needed to make a quick dash from the car and the heavens had just opened.
An ice scraper within the petrol cap. Innovatively housed and located, but a complete life-saver when my usual accessory was (of course it was) in my husband’s car.
Parking ticket windscreen grip. Not immediately obvious but a really useful accessory and prevents tickets blowing off the dashboard when the door closes.

None of these features are rocket science, but they’re all smart and add up to make me believe Skoda are “like me”, and it’s a sign of a savvy manufacturer looking to win hearts and minds.

For balance, there were a few little issues that I’ve mentioned in previous review instalments. Most of these seem to come from a technological standpoint and it’s an area that I think Skoda could address to reach a top score.

The infotainment system and central touchscreen had plenty of potential in terms of features but they didn’t feel very intuitive to engage with. This may be a little harsh as I naturally default to Apple Carplay, but I’m always curious to explore the in-built settings on a new car. However, I didn’t feel these were easy to interact with on the Kamiq.

I’m from a generation where Skoda previously got a bad rap and was often subject to comical jibes. It has come a long way since then and under Volkswagen ownership has become a desirable badge. The last six months have converted me to the Skoda fan club and either a Kamiq, Karoq or Kodiaq would sit comfortably on my wish list when it comes to replacing the family wagon.

If it continues with the Crufts sponsorship I’m sure Jessie will be giving me a firm (paw) nudge, too.

Test period February to August 2023
Starting mileage 580
Mileage this month 272
Mileage in total 2,971
Average economy 39.2mpg

This concludes Tina’s Skoda Kamiq extended test. Visit the Reviews section for the latest first drive reports and other long-term reviews.

If you enjoyed this extended review of the 2022 Skoda Kamiq, you might like to take a look at our Skoda Enyaq iV vRS 2023 review; is it the best sporty electric SUV for families?
Also check out Skoda’s Vision 7 S, a concept previewing one of three new electric models due by 2026
Watch: Skoda slides into record books with 4.6-mile drift on ice

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Extended test: 2023 Dacia Jogger TCe 110 seven-seater review

Will.dron@sunday-times.co.uk — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 14:07:00 +0000

2023 Dacia Jogger specifications

Model 2023 Dacia Jogger Expression TCe 110
Base price for this version £19,595
Price as tested (with options) £20,245
Options Metallic paint (Moonstone Grey*) £650
Engine 999cc 3-cylinder turbocharged petrol
Transmission 6-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Power output 108bhp @ 5,000-5,250rpm
Torque 147 lb ft @ 2,900-3,500rpm
Top speed 113mph
0-62mph 11.2sec
Fuel consumption (WLTP combined cycle) 48.7mpg
CO2 emissions (WLTP) 130g/km
VED (road tax) £210 for first year; £180 thereafter
Kerb weight 1,205kg
Max towing weights 1,200kg / 640kg (braked / unbraked)
Seats 7
Luggage capacity 160 litres (7 seats) / 568 litres (third row folded) / 1,819 litres (all seats folded)

* Moonstone Grey is no longer an option. Shadow Grey and Urban Grey are now available to customers instead.

Test details

Test period May – October 2023
Starting mileage 583 miles

Test updates

May 3, 2023: The ultimate test for the Dacia Jogger
June 14, 2023: Petrol or hybrid? I know which one I’d go for
August 8, 2023: Tech pros and woes

May 3, 2023: The ultimate test for the Dacia Jogger

Having four children is a challenge in many ways, but transporting them to places is one of my biggest considerations. We live in rural Cambridgeshire with no public transport links, so driving is my only option for school runs, clubs and so on.

We have two routes of access to our place and both really put cars through their paces. The dual carriageway on one side, with its 70mph speed limit, is like living in The Fast and the Furious most days.

On the other side of the house is a pothole-strewn, long and winding farm track; it’s still the quickest route to the village and safest route out of here in general but daily use punished my old favourite car, a long-wheelbase 2004 Kia Sedona. I’ll be gentle with the Jogger but it will need to cope with that road on a regular basis.

So interior space, decent performance and robustness are very important to me.

That makes the Dacia Jogger TCe 130 perfect on paper. The slightly raised ride height and rugged-looking plastic trim around the wheelarches give it a mild off-road look and should help down the lane, as will the 16in wheels — small (by today’s standards) wheels means taller tyre sidewalls, which is essential on rough surfaces.

And for us, the practicality is a godsend. School runs mean speed is essential — not in terms of the engine performance but of entry and egress. We all need to be able to jump in quickly and go-go-go, then for the kids to be able to bolt out of the car safely, as close to the school as I can get them. They all have big backpacks, sports kits and all the extra stuff for the day, too, which has to be thrown into footwells and held on laps. In reality, we find the boot is often unused when speed is everything.

So seven seats is brilliant. It means the kids aren’t crammed three-abreast in the second row, which as most parents of multiple kids will appreciate inevitably results in screams of “Stop touching me!” and even the occasional physical fight. When you have three in a middle row, with baggage, there would inevitably be the most explosive arguments.

What I’ve found straight away with the Jogger is that one of my lot opts for the front seat, with two taking the middle row — at arms’ length from each other — while the fourth chooses to space out in back row, which is simple to get to with the pull of a handle to fold the backrest of a second-row chair (pull a strap and the whole seat folds forward, as in the picture above, but the children tend to just jump over).

Anyway, it means peace at last again; well only hormones creeping in now to contend with.

But just as important is affordability. I don’t know of any other seven-seaters that cost this little to buy. Vauxhall doesn’t make the Zafira any more and its Combo Life is electric, which means you pay a premium compared with petrol cars (over £30,000, in fact). Likewise the Citroen Berlingo is now electric-only, and costs from £32,315. You can’t get a new Grand C4 Picasso these days, Ford has discontinued the Grand C-Max and Renault doesn’t make a seven-seater since the Grand Scenic was dropped.

In short, there aren’t a lot of seven-seat new cars these days, and the ones that are around cost a lot more than many families on a budget can afford. Normally I’d buy used anyway (my real car is a hand-me-down and very much on its last legs), but with the Jogger costing from just £18,295 it’s definitely worth a look on finance. There’s a new hybrid Jogger but I wanted to try the less pricey petrol version. Dacia’s deal at the time of writing for the entry-level TCe 130 would cost £234 per month over 49 months with a £2,502 deposit (7.9% APR, max 6,000 miles per year).

That is still a significant outlay for many families, so is it worth it? Dacia has delivered the Jogger you see in the pics to me so I can find out, and it’s fair to say that I (and the kids) will be putting it through its paces. My four children are 11 and 12 years old (I had my first then, to my surprise, became pregnant with triplets almost immediately — something I wrote about in the Sunday Times Magazine when they were all much younger) so they’re out of child seats now but rough and tumble comes with the territory.

As part of looking at affordability, aside from the cost of the car, I’ll be keeping a close eye on fuel efficiency — over 40mpg so far is impressive. And safety is important so I’ll cover that, too.

I don’t mind admitting I’m looking forward to a few of the creature comforts of this mid-spec Expression version, like the DAB radio, keyless entry, front and rear parking sensors, and ability to run Apple CarPlay. Some gremlins with the latter two have emerged in the first days so I’ll update on that next time… perhaps it’s user error, though looking at forums it may not be.

So I’ll get into some more of those aspects next time but if you have any questions, do ask in the comments below and I’ll try to address them.

Current mileage 851
Miles to date 268
Average economy 40.8mpg

If you want to ask Misty a question about the Dacia Jogger, enter a comment below. She’ll aim to post updates monthly so bookmark this page if you’d like to follow her progress.

June 14, 2023: Petrol or hybrid? I know which one I’d go for

After more than a month testing the Dacia Jogger I’ve found a lot to enjoy about the car. For a seven-seater of its size it feels surprisingly light, and when the children aren’t onboard it feels quite zippy considering it only has a 1-litre engine under the bonnet.

It grips the road really nicely, too, and is smooth and handles bumps well, making country roads rather enjoyable.

Fill the Jogger up with kids and their paraphernalia and it’s less nimble, of course, and more ponderous. You have to change down gears when hitting even the slightest hill on a motorway or A-road, and that’s when you really notice the performance — or lack thereof — from this 108bhp pure-petrol version.

It’s no wonder Dacia has now launched a full hybrid model with 138bhp, and the benefit of electrical assistance. I haven’t tried that version and in his review for Driving.co.uk, Dave Humphreys described the performance as “modest”, but I guarantee it’ll feel like a better option to drive. It’s more economical, too, with Dave finding it managed 58mpg — I’m only getting just over 39mpg from this less powerful version.

Mind you, the Jogger Hybrid in Expression trim costs from £22,995 — a premium of £3,500 over the TCe 110 — so you will need to do some maths to see which one works out cheaper over time, depending on your mileage.

Either way, it’s a vast contrast to my 138bhp 2009 Chrysler Sebring 2.0CRD — that manages less than 30mpg despite being a diesel, and whereas the Chrysler needs a couple of fill-ups a week the Dacia only needs to be filled once, at a cost (currently) of under £70 for a full tank. That’s progress.

A couple of things have been mildly irritating, though. For one, there is nowhere suitable on the dashboard to attach a phone holder. I was given another version of the 110 for a short time before this car was delivered and it had a slightly higher spec that came with its own phone holder attached to the side of the display screen. It was excellent, and in the perfect position. The car I have now doesn’t have that, and I miss it — the only option is to use a sucker mount holder and I’m not a big fan of those.

What about the built in sat nav and CarPlay/Android Auto you ask? Well, there is a sat nav built in with the car but having used it twice and not liked it, I have not used it again since. And the Carplay… I’ll hold off giving my opinion on this as I’ve had trouble getting it to work. It connects but then disconnects after a few minutes. I bought a more expensive car charger that made no difference but I have now learnt that there are chargers specifically for CarPlay so I will purchase one of those and hopefully that will sort it before I have a rant. It could be user error, as they say.

I’m also not a fan of the electronic handbrake, but I’ll come onto that next time as it needs a fuller explanation than I have time for here. I’ll also talk a bit more about the practicalities of the Jogger when you have four children, and some of the other tech features included on the Expression model.

Current mileage: 1,894
Miles to date: 1,311
Average economy (indicated): 39.1mpg

If you want to ask Misty a question about the Dacia Jogger, enter a comment below. She’ll aim to post updates monthly so bookmark this page if you’d like to follow her progress.

August 8, 2023: Tech pros and woes

Before I get onto some details on the Jogger’s technology, I wanted to mention that the interior space continues to be a blessing for us. There’s generous leg room in both back rows and the seats are comfortable enough, and although I initially thought having to collapse the back seats would be a faff any time I had shopping or needed space in the boot, the levers are easy to use and I don’t mind it at all.

I would say, however: do not let children collapse the seats themselves as it would be easy to pinch little fingers in the mechanism.

Now, the tech. First off, I am not a fan — or particularly trusting of — the electronic handbrake. It is loud, jolty a lot of the time and when waiting to pull out at a junction on a hill, if I’m slightly leisurely about it the handbrake will come off before I’ve found the biting point. Looking this up online I found some other have had the same issue, and they advised it is wise to hold up the handbrake button to avoid the car rolling back. So it’s possible to prevent the issue but it was alarming at first, and not ideal.

That wasn’t the end of my handbrake woes, though. One morning it decided to throw a tantrum, causing my kids to be late to school. We got in and went to drive off but the handbrake would not disengage and I couldn’t manually turn it off. I turned the car off and then started up again several times to no avail, so tried switching off and then moving the key away from the car until it locked itself before coming back and starting up again. I tried this numerous times over 10 minutes, not knowing what else I could do and just hoped. Finally it decided to behave and we could get on our way, but it was frustrating and a concern. Thankfully it has not happened again.

On the plus side, I LOVE the reversing camera. This is the first car I’ve driven with one and it is awesome, expanding your range of vision significantly. If it is raining, though, the positioning of the lens means it collects water droplets, which impedes its vision significantly.

And that can be an issue because, although I of course look over my shoulders and in the mirrors, all around the car, I do find the narrow, highly-placed rear window creates blind spots. You need to be very alert in case of small children or animals around the rear of the car, and so the camera and sensors are a great tool for safety.

It’s also a joy having DAB radio, and a change from my Sebring which is only being able to pick up two or three stations around here. The joy is dampened, though, by the quality of the speakers. We love turning up the music and having a good sing-along usually, but not so much in the Jogger — anything louder than a moderate volume is very tinny and starts sounding distorted.

Also, I’ve given up on Apple CarPlay. I’ve tried several things to get the touchscreen to work with my phone but it keeps dropping out, so I have bought a phone holder and just connect via Bluetooth. I’m going to try one more cable but am not holding out much hope.

One final word on a gripe: the gearbox is fine usually, although sometimes doesn’t disengage from reverse when trying to then engage first. When misbehaving I have to put my foot fully on the clutch, slide into neutral and then lift off the clutch, before press it down again, allowing me to slide the gearlever into first.

I’ve been told that this is called “double declutching”, and was thought to have been banished from modern cars years ago. It’s yet another reason to buy the hybrid version, I reckon — with its automatic transmission you’d have no such issues.

Which all sounds pretty bad but in truth I’ve still been enjoying the Jogger and its eccentricities. The old adage “You get what you pay for” is in my mind fairly regularly, and as a way to get my kids and I around it’s still very hard to beat for the money.

Current mileage: 3,370
Miles to date: 2,787
Average economy (indicated): 37.9mpg

If you want to ask Misty a question about the Dacia Jogger, enter a comment below. She’ll aim to post updates monthly so bookmark this page if you’d like to follow her progress.

If you’re enjoying this extended review of the 2023 Dacia Jogger, you might like to take a look at our first drive review of the new hybrid version by Dave Humphreys
A decade of Dacia in the UK: The past and future of plucky budget brand as it marks 240,000 sales
Dacia Manifesto concept is a stripped-back off-road buggy showcasing sustainability ideas

Latest articles

The post Extended test: 2023 Dacia Jogger TCe 110 seven-seater review appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

Extended test: 2023 Talos Defender Delta review

Will.dron@sunday-times.co.uk — Wed, 31 May 2023 15:03:42 +0000

2023 Talos Defender specifications

Model 2020 Defender 110 D240 ‘First Edition’ with Talos Delta modifications
Price as tested (with options) £128,420
Engine 1,999 cc, 4-cylinder, turbocharged diesel
Transmission 8-speed automatic, four-wheel drive
Power output 237bhp
Torque 317 lb ft
Weight (DIN) 2,248kg
Luggage capacity 646 / 2,380 litres (seats up / rear-seats folded)
Top speed 117mph
0-62mph 9.9sec
Fuel consumption (WLTP combined cycle) 29.3-31.7mpg
CO2 emissions (WLTP) 234-253g/km
VED (road tax) £2,220 for first year; £570 for years 2-6; £180 thereafter

Test details

Test period February – May 2023
Starting mileage 8,950 miles

Test updates

March 31, 2023 Street fighter: Introducing the Talos Defender Delta
April 28, 2023 Tough on the outside, soft on the inside
May 22, 2023 A sound system to match the image

March 31, 2023: Street fighter: Introducing the Talos Defender Delta

There’s no shortage of companies modifying the original Land Rover Defender; from quilted leather ‘lux’ versions to Tomb Raider or Bond ‘Spectre’ editions, there seems to be a type for every taste. With the new Defender only on the market for a couple of years, it too has become a vehicle on which the aftermarket companies are looking to put their stamp, and Dewsbury-based coachbuilder Talos Vehicles is one of those working their own particular magic.

Upping the specification on a Defender is a natural step. The 2020 version was leagues away from the original in terms of luxury and options, taking it from farm vehicle into the realms (and price tag) of the sibling SUVs of the Land Rover family. Yet for some companies, Land Rover has not gone far enough.

Talos Vehicles’s particular USP is to give its conversions a military twist and its rallying cry is “Custom engineered for any battle”. The company can legitimately lay claim to the armed services skew as for over a decade its has been customising the sort of machines that you wouldn’t normally see on the road, such as the 4×4 MAN HX; a tactical truck built for combat demands.

Now it’s taking this expertise and experience into road cars, selling to the public and displaying its wares at shows such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Its ‘civilian’ offering focuses on beefing up Land Rover Range Rovers and Defenders. With the Defender, there is a ‘Recon’ version which is more aimed at off-road prowess, whereas the Delta that I am trying is more your urban warrior.

It’s certainly an imposing vehicle with the two-tone colour treatment instantly drawing people in to take a look at why this particular Defender is a little different from your common or garden variety.

The base model for this build is a Defender 110 ‘First Edition’ D240, a durable workhorse with a plenty of creature comforts before the Talos treatment. The changes include a bespoke leather and Alcantara interior, complete audio replacement, brake upgrade, widened arches to accommodate bigger wheels, rapid deployment side steps, a full vehicle wrap with some carbon fibre replacement panels and ‘anti-material’ 3mm steel front and rear bumpers, no less.

That should be more than enough to take on all the world can throw at me …even if these enhancements are going to cost over £60k plus the donor vehicle.

More on those and living with this vehicle shortly – wish me luck in the urban jungle!

Mileage this month 494 miles
Mileage to date 494 miles
Average economy 37.7mpg (beating the WLTP figure due to mostly dual carriageway driving)

If you want to ask David a question about the Talos, enter a comment below.

April 28, 2023: Tough on the outside, soft on the inside

Having settled into life with the Talos Defender, I am starting to appreciate some of its attributes. From the outside, it’s as tough as nails. Inside it’s a bit of a teddy bear and its real benefit in the urban jungle is isolating you in blissful seclusion.

Swathes of rich Alcantara cover the seats, steering wheel, dashboard, door cards and centre glove box give a sense of luxury. Over one hundred man-hours go into these interiors and you can feel it, the laser-cut Talos emblems in the fabric are a nice touch.

Some of the outwardly aggressive exterior additions also have benefits for the occupant. The flared wheel arches not only give a slightly wider, dominant stance but also allow for a wider wheel, which in theory provides a more comfortable ride.

This certainly feels like the case. Shod with 285/45 R22 Continental Premium Contact tyres (no need for All-Terrains in the city) it has an assured stance and a very smooth ride.

People often scoff at city dwellers driving 4×4 SUVs, but sometimes, especially in the capital, the obstacles can test the suspension travel and durability of a car as much as anything in the countryside. Speed bumps, some with almost vertical approach angles make you happy you are driving a car with decent ground clearance and a sump guard. That is the case with the Talos Defender.

Its ‘Rapid Deployment Side Steps’ sounds straight out of a Tom Clancy novel, but in the real world, it simply allows elegant egress and ingress from the vehicle.

So a sheep in wolf’s clothing? Well, it has dual personalities. This is still a tough-looking vehicle and that is part of the charm. The carbon fibre bonnet saves weight over the Land Rover production part. Yet for the Talos vehicle, this is pure theatre with raised vents taking the place of what would be chequer plate flat panels on the standard car.

At the rear the carbon fibre continues with the branded roof spoiler. The black-painted steel bumpers are less obvious to the naked eye, but are there to give the driver a sense of security knowing he has some high-grade metal protection should it be needed. They are precision laser cut in 3mm steel to fit around the existing parking sensors so that they still operate correctly.

This vehicle, specced as it is, costs over £128k, but bearing in mind you can easily option a factory production Range Rover or even Defender well into six figures, it doesn’t sound too outrageous … and if kerb appeal is your thing, this car certainly ticks the box.

Miles since last update 339 miles
Mileage to date 833 miles
Average economy 26.8mpg

If you want to ask David a question about the Talos, enter a comment below.

May 22, 2023: A sound system to match the image

Coming to the end of my time with the Talos Defender and on the whole I have enjoyed my urban warrior. It’s a big unapologetic SUV making a feature of its imposing size with bold styling designed to stand out rather than blend in.

It has behaved faultlessly. I haven’t been too far into the rough stuff – a muddy field has probably been my biggest offroad adventure – but it’s not what this souped-up Defender was built or styled for. Also, my preconceptions about the aftermarket parts not feeling quite right or fitting correctly have proved unfounded. Putting the words “aftermarket” and “automotive” in the same sentence can often conjure up images of furry dice or beaded seat covers but this has been like opting for a tailor-made suit rather than something off the peg.

One of the more successful modifications by Talos is the removal of the spare wheel from the rear door. It removes all signs of the mounting plate and panel for a smooth look that is a further differentiator from the stock Defenders you share the road with. Not having a full-size wheel and tyre hanging off it significantly lightens the rear door, too, making it easier to open and close – and with less of an obstacle to get in the way.

The marginal reduction in length of the vehicle is also welcome in the tight parking spaces of London… and let’s face it – how many potential owners of this car would use said spare wheel in a Dakar-style puncture repair on the side of the Capital’s road? More likely it would be a call to the AA.

Now, let’s talk about the audio. On my first cursory look around the car on delivery, I was surprised when I lifted the floor panel in the rear loading area. Underneath are some very high-tech, very expensive-looking speakers and audio equipment. No doubt bang up to date, but it did have an eighties boombox feel to it – something you don’t see too much of these days as speakers are discreetly tucked away behind an elegantly sculpted mesh casting.

Admittedly here they are hidden under a protective mat, but it’s an eye-catching look. The audio system by Audison includes tweeters, amplifiers, subwoofers and signal processors and is controlled by a module mounted in the central console. And it certainly delivers. I’ve found myself cranking the volume to something that’s probably unhealthy for passing pedestrians never mind my own ears.

Some might wonder how much more an aftermarket audio system can deliver, but this system really delivers, and it’s certainly in keeping with the image of the Talos Delta.

Having spent more time with this car – and despite the Heritage Green wrap – I realise that this blinged-up Land Rover is in its natural habitat in the city. The Delta is definitely more rockstar than farm boy.

Miles since last update 164 miles
Mileage to date 997 miles
Average economy 29.1mpg

If you want to ask David a question about the Talos, enter a comment below.

If you’re enjoying this extended review of the 2023 Talos Defender, you might like to take a look at Land Rover’s £195,000 Defender Works V8 Trophy
Here’s our 2020 Land Rover Defender review
Range Rover at 50: Remembering the 1970 launch and how the upmarket 4×4 changed the game

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The post Extended test: 2023 Talos Defender Delta review appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

Extended test: 2022 Cupra Born review

Will.dron@sunday-times.co.uk — Wed, 31 May 2023 11:46:00 +0000

Specifications

Model 72-reg Cupra Born 77kWh V3 230PS e-Boost
Cupra Born priced from £36,475 OTR
Price for 77kWh V3 230PS (as tested) £43,735 (£48,205) OTR
Cost options fitted Dynamic Pack £830; Aurora Blue Dinamica seats £195; Premium Metallic paint (Aurora Blue) £880; Heat Pump £970; Beats Sound System £470; Tech pack M £540; Cargo pack £340; 20″ Blizzard alloy wheels £245
Drivetrain Permanent magnet synchronous electric motor + 82kWh battery (77kWh usable)
Transmission Single speed (automatic), rear-wheel drive
Max power output 228bhp
Max torque 229 lb ft
Kerb weight 1,950kg
Luggage capacity (rear seats in place) 385 litres
Top speed 99mph
Acceleration 0-62mph: 7sec
Electric range (combined WLTP) 335 miles
Max charging speed 135kW DC
Charging time (best scenario @ 135kW) 5-80% in 36 mins
Official consumption (combined WLTP) 3.55-3.96 miles per kWh / 17.5-15.7kWh/100km
CO2 emissions 0g/km
Road tax Free
BIK tax payable (2023/24) 2%
Insurance group 28P (as tested)

Test details

Test period December 2022 – June 2023
Starting mileage 70 miles

Test updates

January 17, 2023 The Cupra Born, rivals and pricing — does it make sense on paper?
March 1, 2023 What’s it like to drive?
April 14, 2023 The good, the Born and the ugly
May 31, 2023 The honest truth about living with an electric car

January 17: The Cupra Born, rivals and pricing — does it make sense on paper?

Normally when we request a new car for an extended test, the brand’s press officer will ask if there’s any particular version we’d like to try, then they see if they have something that fits the bill already “on fleet” – or perhaps available at a dealer. This Cupra Born was a first for me, though, as I was told to go to the Cupra website and configure the car I wanted, right down to colour and options packs, and to send over the resulting unique code for them to place the order.

I won’t lie, as someone who has only ever used a configurator to create dream cars, or for researching articles, using one to create a car to my own specifications that would then be built for real at the Zwickau plant in Germany was exciting. Especially as I wasn’t paying for it.*

So that’s why the car you see in the pictures is fully loaded. Top trim level? Tick. More powerful motor? Well, naturally. Cost option paint job? Yep, it’ll look better in photos. Heat pump? Well, that’ll help enormously with range during these winter months. Upgraded Beats Sound System? Our readers must know if it’s worth the extra cost. I went for the mid-spec wheels because I think they look best and would be easiest to clean (hello, mid-life) but by the time I’d finished the final price, as you can see above, was just over a grand shy of £50,000.

Even without options, the range-topping Cupra Born V3 with the 77kWh battery and more powerful motor (call e-Boost) will set you back £43,735, which seems like a lot for a family hatchback. So let’s consider your other options for that price with a similar range (335 miles per charge officially, though it may come as no surprise that I’ve not got near that yet — more on real-world range in a future update):

The 305-mile Tesla Model 3 costs from £42,990; the Skoda Enyaq iV 80 (which uses the exact same battery) costs from £42,925; a top spec Hyundai Kona Electric costs from £39,900 but has a range of “up to 300 miles”; the new Kia Niro EV in top spec costs from £42,295 and has a range of up to 285 miles.

And let’s not forget the VW ID.3, on which the Born is based (Cupra is part of the Volkswagen Group). That’s only available with the smaller 58kWh battery at the moment, providing an advertised range of 265 miles, and in one trim level (Life) for upwards of £37,140.

The biggest head-turner for buyers (and worry for the established brands) may be the newcomer MG4 Trophy Long Range, which at £32,495 and with a range of 270 miles per charge is very attractive on price. But then again you could go for the entry-level Born V1 with the 58kWh battery, which is still good for 264 miles (officially), at a cost of £36,475.

In other words, though there are cheaper hatchback EVs on the scene, the Cupra Born is competitive on price with most established rivals. Still, it has its work cut out to convince buyers not to go elsewhere. So what I’ll be looking at over the next five months is whether it’s worth it, highlighting the good points and the bad without any sugar-coating. I’ve already started a list of gripes, in fact — I’ll update you on those next month, but there’s also plenty that I really like about the car so far. There are also plenty more images to come, so bookmark this page.

Feel free to ask my questions along the way, either on Twitter (@wdron) or in the comments below.

Mileage today 606 miles
Distance since start 536 miles
Indicated long term consumption 2.9 miles/kWh

If you’d like to ask me a question about the car, please message me on Twitter or comment below; I try to check comments every week.

Follow @wdron Tweet to @wdron

* After six months the car is sold on nearly-new, so this arrangement is a great deal for the carmakers given the coverage they get. Unless we hate the car, of course.

March 1, 2023: What’s it like to drive?

I have been running the Born for a while now and put more than a thousand miles on the clock, so have a fairly granular feeling for the way it drives, but I still remember the first time I took it out on the road and the immediate sense of relief that this wasn’t an EV with rock-hard suspension that was going to rattle my teeth and annoy my family. Cupra has engineered the ride beautifully, even with the largest 20in wheels fitted (bigger alloys means shorter tyre sidewalls, and therefore a harsher ride).

In fact, the way the Cupra glides over broken surfaces is a joy. Having previously driven a Ford Mustang Mach-E, which has rock-hard suspension (addressed by Ford with new suspension set-up from around August last year, so I hear), the Born is proving a joy to drive daily.

It’s also fun to drive quickly, though early talk of the Born being a hot hatch EV is not accurate — its 228bhp and 229 lb ft of torque is more than adequate for speedy acceleration but it’s not a car that will set your pants on fire. There isn’t that raw, visceral surge of performance (and the noise that goes with it) from petrol-powered hot hatches such as the Honda Civic Type R, BMW M135i or Mercedes-AMG A35. And it’s a long way off the shocking performance of something like a Tesla Model 3 Performance, which can get from standstill to 62mph in 3.1sec. Even a Hyundai Ioniq 5 is quicker in a sprint, in fact.

But while I wouldn’t say no to a bit more poke, for the fun factor while exiting a corner, if I’ve learnt anything from driving electric cars for over a decade it’s that acceleration speed is good for bragging rights only. What the Born possesses that many over EVs don’t is a finesse to the chassis. Its pliant suspension means that though a corner there’s just enough pitch and roll to transmit its intentions to the driver while still keeping the body in check.

I have experienced understeer, where the front of the car wants to keep going in a straight line rather than turn, though that was on cold road with cold tyres. Another journalist I spoke to about the Born, Dan Trent, took his car on a racing circuit and described it as “a bit under-tyred at the front”, which I wholehearted agree with when driving hard, but most drivers won’t notice this on the road. In all but the most extreme circumstances, the front end feels pointy and it’s a fun car to drive on country roads.

I have tried provoking oversteer (where the back end loses grip and wants to overtake the front) but there’s no joy there partly because there’s not quite enough poke but also because of the electronic stability systems, which intervene to prevent wheelspin.

All of which is a reminder that this is a warm hatch at best — fun, for sure, but not a car best suited to track days. For me and most families, though, it’s a really lovely thing to drive around on British roads.

Next time I’ll go into depth about the practicality of the car and its suitability for parents, along with some of the niggles and positives I’ve encountered so far.

If you’d like to ask me a question about the Born, please message me on Twitter or comment below; I try to check comments every week.

Follow @wdron Tweet to @wdron

April 14, 2023: The good, the Born and the ugly

I promised a look at the practicality of the Cupra Born in this update but thought it might be a good idea to address that in a list of good and bad things about the car that I’ve found so far.

Here are the things that I really like about the car:

1. The looks

It looks great, obviously. I think I absolutely nailed the paint colour, interior and wheels. The Aurora Blue paint costs £880 but it looks gorgeous, particularly in the sun. I’ve seen quite a few Borns on the road since taking delivery and white and silver just don’t look as good, somehow. Grey is a bit uninspiring. Rayleigh Red is the best alternative, I’d say.

The blue also works brilliantly against the contrasting Cupra gold accents on the badge, CUPRA lettering and wheel trims.

And when I ordered those wheels I did so because they look good (in my opinion) but would also be easy to clean (I have reached my 40s and such are my priorities these days), which has proved correct.

Regards the interior, I had to remove the child seats yesterday and once I’d vacuumed up all the disgusting kiddy detritus it reminded me how lovely the Aurora Blue interior is, too. I also noticed the quality of the stitching and the lovely feel of the cloth. Still really pleasing after four months with the car.

2. It’s excellent in cold weather

Battery range does reduce when it’s cold outside, that’s true, but the optional heat pump means it gets toasty inside within seconds, and defrosting of ice within minutes. At nearly £1,000 the heat pump Is an option you’ll hover over in the configurator, but trust me it’s well worth it, not just for speedy cabin heating but also for maximising range (it’s much less energy-sapping than a traditional heater).

Then there are the heated steering wheel and heated seats, both of which warm up quickly, and I love. Finally the pre-conditioning via the phone app is a massive time-saver when there’s snow and ice to get off the car of a morning.

3. Cabin space is good

Although it only seats four (there are two seats in the rear, with no central seat belt), those four people will sit in comfort. For a hatchback the rear legroom and headroom is very decent indeed, and the floor in the back is flat improving space for feet and allowing children to climb through easily from the kerb side.

4. The driving position is excellent

This is true even for tall drivers, with the reach adjustment allowing the steering wheel to come a long way towards those who need to push the seats far back.

5. The infotainment system is slick

It could be a little quicker to operate but the design of the touchscreen operating system is attractive and it’s easy to run Apple Carplay and Android Auto, with a pleasingly large are for Waze or Google Maps. And unlike some other cars you can also jump straight to the Cupra’s heater menu with a single touch, if you want to turn on the heated seats or steering wheel, though as pointed out below it dedicated button for those on the dashboard or steering wheel would be vastly superior.

6. Lovely ride quality

As pointed out above, the suspension is lovely (despite what some other writers have clearly suggested, judging by the concern of one commenter below), with a creamy ride over most surfaces.

7. Boot size

The boot is a decent size, with underfloor storage for the charging cable. There’s no storage under the bonnet, though.

8. Ski hatch

The seats split 60:40 but there’s a central ski hatch in the rear, allowing long items to be slid through without folding the seats.

9. Reactions from passengers

Any times we give a lift to someone, whether a child or an adult, they’re impressed with the Born. People comment on how classy it is, and use words such as “cool” and “futuristic”.

10. Cupra button

Having the Cupra button on the wheel is really useful when you need the full beans from the motor, for overtakes.

At the risk of the accusation of #firstworldproblems, let’s look at things that are not so great:

1. Blind spot

There’s a blind spot to the right of the windscreen due to the thickness of the A pillar. The large “quarter light” window helps, but it’s still noticeable. And it gets even worse when it rains because the wiper doesn’t quite go to the edge of the screen, so you’ve got quite a thick, wide section of car that you can’t see through. I noticed the same issue with the VW ID. Buzz electric van recently, so it’s clearly a VW Group-wide issue.

2. No roof gutter

After rain, if you set off with the windows open then at the next corner all the rain form the roof runs into the car, because the Born doesn’t have a gully or gutter at the edge of the roofline.

3. Touch-sensitive steering wheel buttons

It’s very easy to accidentally brush the capacitive (touch-sensitive) buttons on the steering wheel with your palm unless you hold the steering wheel at ten-to-two. If you’re a quarter-to-three kind of driver then it’s a bugger because you’re constantly setting off the sensors for the volume or cruise control. There’s no way to avoid this other than to adjust your hand position to nearer the top of the wheel. Again, this is common to other VW Group cars.

4. Volume and temperature controls

The main volume and temperature controls are on capacitive sliders below the touchscreen. Many journalists have lambasted the loss of dials, which are obviously superior for accuracy and ease of getting to the exact volume or temperature without really having to look. I’m a bit more relaxed about it but do agree with another criticism: that the sliders aren’t backlit, which means they’re less easy to find at night. The good news is that VW Group has said it will address this on future models.

5. Uneven heat on steering wheel

The heated steering wheel gets really warm at the top and the bottom, not so much at ten-to-two. A more consistent heat around the wheel would be better. And a button on the steering wheel or dashboard to activate it quickly would be much better; as it is, switching it on involves going into the heating menu of the touchscreen and pressing the button, which at the time of writing is on the left (passenger) side of the screen – clearly a hangover from left-hand-drive models.

6. Hidden heated mirror controls

The mirrors are heated on the 3 spec Born, though the control is on the armrest rather than simply activating when you switch on the window demister, and it is a twist of the dial rather than a dedicated button. It took me weeks before I found it.

This isn’t too much of an issue but I did notice that in the really cold weather we had at the start of the year, when I preconditioned the cabin temperature via the phone app (which is brilliant, btw), the mirrors remained frosty afterwards so they don’t appear to be linked.

7. Confusing drive select rocker

The Drive Select rocker behind the steering wheel isn’t especially intuitive, and once or twice I’ve found myself putting the car in forward when I meant to go reverse, which could obviously have disastrous results. My wife sometimes drives the car and she mentioned she had the same issue at first but has now got used to it. But get in while half asleep one day and you might end up wishing it had a sliding gear select lever instead.

8. Aerial strength

The DAB reception of Times Radio is patchy near my home, whereas other cars have no issue, suggesting the aerial isn’t as powerful.

9. It doesn’t have five seats

The Cupra Born is strictly a four-seater. Would it have been hard to add a central perch in the rear?

10. Jittery traction control

In loose and slippery conditions the traction control can make the car feel jittery at the back, as it repeatedly cuts power to the driven rear wheels. This might help the average driver but it’s an unpleasant feeling, and actually it would be more useful for experienced drivers to be able to switch off the aids and apply controlled oversteer to keep the car moving in the right direction. Particularly as the car has a natural tendency to understeer.

11. No lane-keep assist button

There’s no easy way to turn of the lane-keep assist (you have to go through submenus on the touchscreen). This makes it too difficult to stop the wheel being tugged when crossing lane markings, which is unhelpful both on country lanes and in towns, where road markings often need to be crossed and the on-board camera and computer system gets confused.

The fact that I’ve listed more negatives than positives perhaps paints a bleak picture, but that doesn’t tell the true story. In fact, most of the negatives are niggles and the overall ownership experience is really great. In fact, Cupra may have to prise my wife out of the car when it’s collected — of all the cars that have been delivered to our home for testing, the Born has had the biggest impact on her.

Mileage today 1,606 miles
Distance since start 1,536 miles
Indicated long term consumption 2.9 miles/kWh

If you’d like to ask me a question about the car, please message me on Twitter or comment below; I try to check comments every week.

Follow @wdron Tweet to @wdron

May 31: The honest truth about living with an electric car

Having test driven electric cars since the launch of the first Nissan Leaf in 2010, sometimes I need to remind myself that many people — indeed most people — still haven’t driven an electric car. Yet we know sales of new petrol and diesel cars will be banned from 2030, and hybrids from 2035, so everyone is at least thinking about the switch to EVs, and that can be a daunting prospect. There’s a lot of information and misinformation out there, so here’s the honest truth about living with an EV, and the Born in particular: it’s great… for me, at least, but probably most people, too.

What I mean by that is that no car is “one size fits all” — everyone has different tastes and needs. Some want a large car that is good for weekly trips to the tip while others want something compact for weaving around tight county lanes or city streets. The Born, with its four seats, is perfect for my family of four in terms of size, but if you need five seats it won’t be right for you.

With electric cars, things get more complicated because where you live makes a massive difference to their suitability. The Times today reports on a potential crisis in EVs because the pace of vehicle sales is outstripping public charger installations, but that ignores the fact that 80 per cent of drivers charge at home right now.

And we don’t need one public charger for every car, nor do we need an even distribution of chargers around the country; we need them to be installed in sufficient numbers at particular locations to meet demand at peak times. We also need them all to be in good working order, which isn’t always the case, but networks with a poor record are increasingly being called out and regulation is being implemented to clamp down on operators who fail to keep their chargers maintained.

In my time with the Born I’ve been on a number of fairly long-distance trips and only on one occasion did I have to wait for a rapid charger, and then it was three minutes before I managed to plug in. The charger — one installed by GridServe — at a motorway service station did then have a wobble and stopped charging after 10 minutes, but fortunately the MyCupra phone app alerted my to the issue and I went back to the car to restart the charge, after which all was well. The chap next to me with a Kia EV6 had the same issue, so it was definitely an issue with the network, not the car.

With experience you learn to keep an eye on the charge status — not to trust that it will be fine every time — though speed of charge and reliability are much better than in 2010, I can tell you. After 30 mins the Born was back up to 80 per cent and we were back on our way, having been fed and visited the lavatories in the meantime.

I’ve since driven from my home in Walton-on-Thames to a work event in Bristol using mainly motorway – a journey of 106 miles — and still had 60 per cent battery left when I got there, which suggested another 172 miles were possible. So I know that in this Born (with the larger battery, it should be said again, and in moderate temperatures — it was 14 degrees C that day), I can drive that distance and back on motorways without needing to plug in.

…with this Born, which has the larger battery and an official 335-mile range (WLTP), motorways aren't an issue, either. I drove to Bristol mostly on the M4 recently (106 miles) and still had 60% battery, meaning I wouldn't need to use public chargers to get home. 3/4 pic.twitter.com/fhtQPRQQg4
— Will Dron (@wdron) May 26, 2023

Colder weather would have reduced the range but A- and B-roads, at lower speeds, would have allowed me to go further. Such knowledge takes a lot of the stress out of travelling, and I’ve also driven to Bedford and back without even thinking about running out of juice. It just wasn’t a consideration. I’ve come up with some further tips that you might like to check out before buying an EV — click on the following link.

EV tips: 10 things to know before you buy an electric vehicle

You don’t need to be able to charge up at home to own an EV, as I found out during six months with a Mini Electric, but having installed a dumb three-pin socket at the end of my garden (by a professional electrician) I can tell you that it makes life with an EV a lot easier… and much cheaper. Public charging costs typically around 70p per kWh at a rapid charger right now, whereas my electricity at home (on Octopus Energy’s Flexible Octopus tariff) costs 44.25p during the day and 17.74p/kWh at night.

That means a full charge of the battery on a rapid charger would cost £53.90, but at home the maximum it would cost is £34.07p.

Wondering how often I charge? Because I don’t commute by car every day, I don’t need to plug in more than twice a week and the ultra-slow three-pin charge is (adding around 7 miles per hour) is enough for my uses. An 11kW wallbox is much quicker — a full charge takes 7 hours 30 minutes, so plugging in overnight is likely to mean you have a full battery every morning.

If you live in a terraced house and park on street, you might find you can have a charging cable gully installed in the pavement; Gul-e is one company providing such a service.

Another solution, now commonplace in London, is lamp post charging — the Shell-owned Ubitricity provides that service and standard pricing is 40p per kWh.

I suppose what I’m trying to get at here is that some articles elsewhere may make you anxious about switching to electric, but in my time with the Born I’ve absolutely never felt any “range anxiety” whatsoever. In fact it has been brilliant, and I’ll be sorry to see it taken away next month.

Mileage today 2,523 miles
Distance since start 2,453 miles
Indicated long term consumption 3.1 miles/kWh (warmer weather is boosting the long-term average — 3.8m/kWh is common for daily trips now)

If you’d like to ask me a question about the car, please message me on Twitter or comment below; I try to check comments every week.

Follow @wdron Tweet to @wdron

After reading this extended test review of the Cupra you might be interested in our review of the Genesis GV60, a premium electric SUV
Cupra announces three new models by 2025 including UrbanRebel, an electric supermini with a range of up to 273 miles
Take a look at all the carmakers’ electric vehicle plans

Latest articles

The post Extended test: 2022 Cupra Born review appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

Extended test: Jaguar F-Pace SVR 2022 review

Will.dron@sunday-times.co.uk — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 14:55:00 +0000

2022 Jaguar F-Pace SVR specifications

Model 21-reg Jaguar F-Pace SVR 5.0 V8 550PS AWD AUTO
Price From £77,665 OTR
Price as tested (with options) £96,365 OTR
Cost options fitted SVO Premium Palette Chalk Blue £8,500; Light Oyster Semi-Aniline £1,100; Leather Performance seats with Light Oyster/Ebony Interior; Meridian™ Surround Sound System £420; Four-zone Climate Control £1,040; Air Quality Sensor £60; Loadspace partition net £215; Wireless device charging with phone signal booster £300; Lockable cooled glovebox £60; Privacy Glass £415; Solar attenuating windscreen £480; 22” Style 5081, forged, 5 split-spoke alloys in Satin Technical Grey with contrast Diamond Turned finish £800; Head-up Display £830; Sliding panoramic roof £1,600; Additional Power Sockets £80; Pixel LED headlights with signature DRL £1,300; Activity Key £325; Carbon Fibre Trim Finisher £1,175
Engine 5,000cc supercharged V8
Transmission 8-speed automatic by ZF, all-wheel drive
Power output 542bhp
Torque 516 lb ft
Kerb weight (EU) 2,133kg
Max trailer weight (braked / unbraked) 2,000kg / 750kg
Dimensions Length 4,747mm; width (folded mirrors) 2,071mm; height 1,664mm
Boot capacity (second row in place / folded) 619 litres / 1,662 litres
Top speed 178mph
Acceleration 0-62mph: 4.0sec
Official consumption (WLTP) 23.5mpg combined
CO2 emissions 275g/km combined
Road tax £15 for first year; £480 for years two-five; £145 thereafter
BIK tax rate (2022/23) 31%
Insurance group TBC

Test details

Test period June – November 2022
Starting mileage 2,268 miles

Test updates

July 14, 2022 What is the Jaguar F-Pace SVR?
September 1, 2022 Appreciating the more serene aspects of the Jaguar F-Pace SVR
October 4, 2022 Likes and don’t likes after three months with the SVR
November 6, 2022 Enjoying a dying breed
December 2, 2022 Final report: Curiosity for the cat

July 14, 2022: What is the Jaguar F-Pace SVR?

I have only been in my current home for a short period of time but good luck to my neighbours trying to guess my personality from my choice of car.

For the last six months I have been driving a grey Volvo XC90 plug-in hybrid. Very sensible, very calm. Now, in an apparent volte-face, I have ditched my sane Swedish wagon and opted for something very loud, both aurally and in colour, with four shiny exhausts exiting the rear.

May I introduce the Jaguar F-Pace SVR, my new extended test car. Not that the curtain twitchers next door would realise that; having thought they had the measure of me with my choice of safety-conscious, full-sipping practical transport, I have turned the tables with a supercharged V8 beast that immediately takes the crown as the most raucous car in the street.

In my neighbours’ eyes, I am clearly in possession of multiple personalities or going through some kind of hard-hitting, rapid-onset mid-life crisis.

I care not, though, as in my brief time with it so far I have come to really like this car.

It’s certainly not painted in my first choice of colour; something I’ve found myself telling this to anyone I meet, such as family, friends, other motorists at traffic lights….

That’s the lottery of motoring press cars. Their purpose in life is to attract attention and the F-Pace in SVO Premium Palette Chalk Blue is a winner on this front.

But a few weeks in, I am over the initial shock and growing more comfortable with its particular shade of blue. In my head it is closer to the Gulf sponsorship livery blue that has graced some of my favourite racing cars such as the Porsche 917. I have idly wondered more than once whether Jaguar would mind if applied an orange stripe and roundel on the bonnet and door to complete the look.

This car, to my mind, epitomises the Special Vehicle Operations division of Jaguar Land Rover. Yes, you could send your Rangie in for an exclusive paint application in a palette not available to the run-of-the-mill customer; you could even bulletproof your Disco with their guiding hand, no doubt. Yet, surely, the best use of their time is to take a practical SUV and add a healthy dose of optional fire and brimstone.

The F-Pace SVR even trumps the in-house hooligan Range Rover Sport SVR for sheer bonkers performance. There is something incredibly pleasurable (some would say childish) about seemingly bending the laws of physics as you throw a two-ton vehicle into a roundabout and accelerate out of it like you’re exiting the La Rascasse. It certainly gees me up more than an espresso shot in the morning.

Mind you, I may not have got quite so excited about being the custodian of a 542bhp, 5-litre brute had I known that fuel costs were going to rocket quite so much this year. You can almost put a price on every over-exuberant dash off the line. That squirt probably cost £2.56, I tell myself. But I never regret it.

Of course, these cars are dinosaurs looking at the meteor hurtling towards them. Not much longer for this world (well, Europe, at least), but my feeling is now we have established the direction of travel and electrification is an inevitability, not an option, these cars that represent the last great hurrah for a supercharged internal combustion engine can be enjoyed guilt-free for the brief time we have left with them. That’s my excuse anyway.

I will tell you more during my tenure about how it is to live with, the important stuff like running costs and load capacity. Yet for this first month behind the wheel, I had to blow off some steam and just talk about what a riot this car is in every sense.

Next month, I’ll try some drive modes other than ‘Dynamic’, not press the loud exhaust button and consider this car with a calmer, more discerning eye. My neighbours will be delighted.

Mileage today 3,371 miles
Distance since start 1,133 miles
Indicated long term consumption 21.5mpg

If you’d like to ask me a question about the Jaguar F-Pace SVR, please comment below. We try to check comments every week.

September 1, 2022: Appreciating the more serene aspects of the Jaguar F-Pace SVR

A month in and I have calmed down just enough to appreciate aspects of the SVR other than raw power and speed.

The F-Pace has now been around for six years, but Ian Callum’s award-winning design has aged well. The 2017 World Car of the Year and the World Car Design of the Year winner at the New York Auto Show is easy on the eye, disguising its size better than some of its rivals.

With the SVR embellishments, it’s more aggressive looking, but maybe that’s offset by the special order SVR colour scheme. And while the jury may still be out in my mind, I have had lots of ‘nice colour mate’ comments – and most seem genuine.

Negotiating the width restrictor recently at the Marlow Suspension Bridge – surely one of the narrowest around, or at least it felt like it with a crowd of pedestrians watching on – I heard one loud voice shout ‘I love the colour of your car.’ I looked up to see it was Chris Evans, so I guess that’s a celebrity endorsement of the paint scheme whether I asked for it or not.

Talking of width restrictors, I feel this car demands more of your attention as the car is fitted with 22” wheels which look great in a mixture of gloss black and grey, but an inch left or right in the wrong direction would spoil them in a grating instant.

I have found something in the F-Paces box of tricks that’s a great help for this. The 3D Surround Camera I thought may be a bit gimmicky, but I find myself using this a lot in these circumstances or car parks with tight spaces.

Select the left side rear three-quarter camera and you can see where the left front wheel is in relation to the wall or barrier – very handy in a high vehicle when you can’t see what’s lurking at ground level at the near side.

“I heard one loud voice shout ‘I love the colour of your car.’ I looked up to see it was Chris Evans”

As an everyday SUV, it works well. You get a reminder of the potential of the engine every time you fire it up with the rich rumble of the exhaust note. However, it can be driven sedately when you wish to.

For the last few weeks, I have had some longer trips to make and I am getting to see another side of this car. On a recent trip from London to Somerset, I managed just over 34mpg in Eco mode, which while not winning any awards, is not bad for a 5-litre SUV weighing just over 2,000kgs.

The ride is firm given its performance focus but not unsettling unless you are on the poorest of road surfaces.

The SVR comes with ‘Performance’ seats. They are beautifully finished with Light Oyster semi-aniline leather with a quilted pattern and although they are not thickly padded they are comfortable on long trips.

They are heated and, mercifully in the scorching summer we’ve just had, cooled. With that and the four-zone climate control, the inside of the F-Pace is a haven for whatever the British weather decides to throw at us.

A sliding panoramic roof is also a welcome option. Even at £1,600, I think it’s worth it for the way it opens up the interior and lets the light flood in.

Fast and furious month, followed by a calm and luxurious month. I wonder what next month will bring?

October 4, 2022: Likes and don’t likes after three months with the SVR

Month three of car ownership often comes with some shortfalls arising after the honeymoon period is over. For the F-Pace SVR, there is a shortlist emerging of things I would improve.

For instance, my last test car had a close and lock button on the tailgate. This was a handy option when carrying shopping from the back of the car. I miss this on the F-Pace and it’s probably something you should expect on a car built in 2022.

Also on my list of gripes, the collision warning is overly sensitive and intrusive … and unless I am missing something, it’s not easy to shut off. I have delved into the submenus to no avail. Handy when parallel parking, not so when you are slowly approaching another car at traffic lights. One for the ‘annoying’ column.

The collision warning sensors on the Jaguar F-Pace SVR are a little overzealous

Month three is also probably a good time to tackle a question that is popping up quite a lot, namely: what is the point of these high-powered, ultra-fast SUVs? The argument goes something like, “If you want an SUV, get an economical one; if you want a fast car, buy a sports car.”

I would tend to agree on the whole, and in the past I would certainly opt for, say, a diesel G Wagon over the bling AMG version. The petrol-powered version just seems excessive.

However, against my better judgement I have come to enjoy the breadth of this car’s abilities. On a family day out, I find myself loading the car to the max and pootling idly along in the slow lane in Eco mode, happy to enjoy the luxury and elevated driving position. Yet, when I have to get across the country on my own, I have found myself looking forward to jumping into the SVR, engaging Dynamic mode and basically driving it like I stole it (even if I obviously don’t exploit the car’s 178mph top speed).

This Jekyll and Hyde nature to the car is appealing, especially if circumstances determine you are a one-car household. Admittedly an expensive one-car household, at almost £100,000 to buy as optioned on this model. You find yourself appreciating the engineering brains that have allowed this car to challenge the laws of physics.

The solo driving days I look forward to are always accompanied by a music selection, and the Jaguar’s Meridian stereo is more than up for the job. The sound is crisp and clear, with a deep bass that doesn’t distort even at high volume. It doesn’t quite reach the heady heights of my personal benchmark, the Bentley Naim system, but it is very good nonetheless.

And if you get bored of singing along to the playlist, the sound of this car’s exhaust, especially with the loud button pressed, produces a glorious soundtrack all of its own.

November 6, 2022: Enjoying a dying breed

The F-Pace has always been one of the sportier SUVs and this apex F-Pace, the SVR, turns the wick right up. Yet it’s remarkably versatile. It is a purring kitten when you want it to be and a ferocious big cat when prodded.

Jaguar and the Special Vehicle Operations department have raided the parts bin and used what they learnt with the special edition XE Project 8 super saloon to give this car a character I have come to appreciate. Steering is weighted perfectly and I like the sharp throttle response, not to mention the addictive sound the engine emits.

You can also play with the drivetrain and damping if you delve into the submenu settings. It can get a bit geeky but also rewarding to find to best set-up for a particular drive.

The tech is mostly excellent. I have found the AHBA (Auto High Beam Assist) system on the car to be effective, especially on country roads. Like its rivals’ systems, it adapts the beam to mask oncoming traffic and signs, but it seems to work very well on this car and you can relax with it on, with no fear of dazzling other drivers.

The adaptive cruise control and lane assist systems, on the other hand, are not as alert as others I have used (namely Volvos) and can be a little slow to react.

As you will have gathered from my earlier reports, I am an admirer of the revamped interior of the F-Pace.

A particular upgrade over the original F-Pace is the infotainment system which now gets the new Pivi Pro set up that is on par with the latest Land Rovers. The 11.4in touchscreen is intuitive with crisp graphics and supports both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The £300 optional wireless device charging (with phone signal booster) has been regularly used while I have had this car and is becoming a ‘must have’ option on a new car in my opinion. This SVR also comes with 12.3 inch digital instrumentation and a clear and easy-to-read head-up display.

Overall the F-Pace SVR manages the trick of being both luxurious and sporty – it feels like a grand tourer with a bit more space and a higher stance. I’m sure it will get me out of trouble in a muddy spot but in reality, this car works best on smooth sweeping roads covering vast distances in comfort. Besides this car is far too pretty for any serious off-road hardships.

Driving long distances does come at a price, though, especially these days with war and inflation pushing fuel costs into a realm previously unseen. I have tried to keep this in mind when reviewing the SVRs fuel consumption, but the £135 plus refills every 350 miles approx. does start to hurt.

Jaguar has struggled with its saloons of late, and despite the relative success of the F-Type, it’s been the Pace models that have flown the flag for the manufacturer as we transition into the brave new world of electric-only vehicles from 2025. It may not quite be like the golden days of ‘race on Sunday, sell on Monday,’ but Jaguar will be hoping these sporty SUVs will keep the brand in the front of people’s minds before we see the new raft of electric offerings.

December 2, 2022 Final report: Curiosity for the cat

My last month with the Jaguar and we have become firm friends. I have to admit to being slightly sceptical when this bright blue, fire-breathing SUV was initially dropped off at my door, but it’s become a welcome sight. I have got to know its wild side, but also appreciate its more practical qualities.

I have found throughout my time with the car, there is a duality to almost every aspect of the car. It has been bearable on fuel economy and then on occasion, not so tolerable. It’s felt hard and fast, but also luxurious and comforting.

Yet, my interpretation at any one time is more down to my personality or my particular mood when driving the car than anything else. Select drive and potter about and it will do as it’s told. Select manual, turn everything up including the exhausts and it will oblige with an array of tools and tricks that will set your hair on fire.

Giving the Jaguar F-Pace SVR its final clean before I hand it back, I found reminders of what we have been through together over the last five months. The sweet wrapper under the seat from a fairly energetic solo cross-country drive; detritus in the boot from visits to the garden centre. It’s been a weekend sports car enjoyed solely for the act of driving, as well as a minivan used for the most mundane everyday tasks.

Build quality has been faultless with nothing breaking or not working during my time with the car.

Should you buy one? As always, it’s down to the needs of the buyer. If you just need an SUV to carry kids, bikes and groceries, I would give it a miss. If you’re looking for thrills on a daily basis and don’t need the extra space that often, bypass the Jaguar and buy a lightweight sports car. But as I said earlier in my tenure, if you only have room for one car in your life and you need a load-lugger and have a penchant for the higher stance of an SUV over an estate car, and if you want to have some fun in an extraordinarily quick vehicle, the Jaguar F-Pace SVR is worth some serious consideration.

I found it a little less obvious a purchase than say a BMW X5M of a Range Rover Sport SVR. Despite its outward displays of power and potential speed – quad exhausts, aggressive bodywork – it’s still a bit of a Q car where if you know, you know.

Strangers who have approached me while I have had this car (and there have been a lot) fall into two distinct categories. The first is those who have no idea what it is or were unfamiliar with this particular flavour of F-Pace; this group would be genuinely inquisitive and want to know all I could tell them, even if it was in the time it took the traffic lights to turn green. And then there were those ‘in the know’ who were keen to signal to me that they knew. The comments would range from “that thing’s unbelievable” to “wicked car mate” to a simple “naughty”.

Most of my neighbours will probably not shed a tear to see it go, but one local asked me where the car had gone after not seeing it for a few days. “That’s a shame,” he said, “Got to be my favourite car I’ve seen in a long time.” I know what he means. I’ll miss my naughty car.

This extended test has now ended.

If you’re enjoying this extended review of the 2022 Jaguar F-Pace SVR, you might like to take a look at Jaguar Land Rover’s plan to go pure-electric by 2030
Also check out our review of the Aston Martin DBX707, the new fastest luxury SUV in the world
You might be interested to read our review of the regular Jaguar F-Pace

Latest articles

The post Extended test: Jaguar F-Pace SVR 2022 review appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

Extended test: Mini Clubman 2021 review

Will.dron@sunday-times.co.uk — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 14:24:00 +0000

Mini Clubman specifications

Model Mini Clubman F54 Cooper S Sport
Price £26,790 OTR
Price as tested (with options) £31,575
Colour Midnight Black
Cost options fitted Midnight Black paint (£795); 19” John Cooper Works Course Spoke alloys (£500); Sport Automatic DTC Transmission (£1,800)
Engine 1,998cc, 4-cylinder, petrol
Transmission 7-speed automatic with dual-clutch
Power output 192bhp @ 1,250rpm
Torque 280 lb ft at 1,350-4,600rpm
Weight (DIN/EU) 1,280kg / 1,305kg
Luggage capacity 360 / 1,250 litres (seats up / rear-seats folded)
Top speed 142mph
0-62mph 7.3sec
Fuel consumption (WLTP combined cycle) 44.1mpg
CO2 emissions (WLTP) 145g/km
VED (road tax) £230 for first year; £165 thereafter
BIK tax payable (2020/21) 33%; £1,828 (20%) or £3,657 (40%)
Insurance group 27E

Test details

Test period February to July 2022
Starting mileage 739 miles

Updates

April 4, 2022 First impressions of the Mini Clubman
May 17, 2022 The scores from the paws … how dog-friendly is the Mini Clubman?
June 17, 2022 Is the Mini Clubman style over substance or a genuinely good drive?
July 27, 2022 Dog-friendly showrooms and more at a Mini x Dogs Trust event
August 16, 2022 Final Verdict – paid up members of the Club?

April 4, 2022: First impressions of the Mini Clubman

Compact, sleek, sporty, upmarket and retro. It might sound like a roll call for a Spice Girls spin-off but these are the adjectives that best describe the Clubman Cooper S Sport, on first impressions, at least.

After my previous review took me into large SUV territory, I was pleased to have a less gargantuan vehicle on test. The Clubman had piqued my interest over recent months, as it picked up The Sunday Times Dog Friendly Car of the Year prize, in part thanks to the car maker’s collaboration with the Dogs Trust. With many UK families now having to factor a post-lockdown pooch into their car-buying criteria, I’m keen to find out if the Clubman barks louder than rivals when it comes to dog-carrying.

Some surprises helped my early evaluations get off to a positive start. Mini has been super-generous with the model supplied, namely a very sporty Cooper S that has flashy John Cooper Works upgrades, such as the steering wheel, seats and wheels (full details to come in future instalments).

It’s taken a while to get acclimatised to the low ride compared with the SUV I had last year, but the go-kart vibe is welcome, as is the punchy acceleration: 0-62mph is achieved in 7.3 seconds.

The interior is snug and comfortable, and while it can accommodate five passengers, it’s clear that anyone with longer legs won’t want to be seated in the tight back row on a long drive.

Mini has a very loyal customer base and has come a long way under BMW ownership in recent times to broaden what is still a relatively small range, layering in new derivatives and spec options on what is essentially the same iconic shape, famous round headlamps and interior design cues.

Probably the most distinctive feature of the Clubman is its six-door set up, with the split barn door rear opening. I’ve seen these frequently on display on the road and in local car parks and they certainly are an intriguing point of difference, so it’ll be interesting to see if they’re a gimmick or a clever design feature.

I can see the advantages as it negates any height restrictions when loading the boot, but you need to be careful with any potential obstacles on either side and it’s taking time to adjust to the door frames obscuring the rearward view — a point I’ll return to in future updates.

The Clubman doesn’t seem to have a lot of rivals, as it’s pitched as Mini’s estate car but there aren’t too many estates this small: an Audi A3 Sportback or Skoda Fabia Estate are ones that jump to mind. But with this engine and JCW sports upgrades, it’s verging on hot hatch territory, too.

With this in mind, the Dogs Trust partnership starts to make sense, as it’s a clever hook to persuade people to take a chance on its quirky design. I’m all too well aware that winning our favourite pets’ hearts and minds is a strong way to win their owners’ car budgets.

Next time, I’ll be getting forensic on the Clubman’s dog friendliness, with subsequent review instalments looking at its drivability, tech features, options and specs.

I do a solid mix of motorway, urban and rural journeys, so it will be a good test to see if the Clubman can be the ultimate alternative all-rounder family car. My brood’s busy weekly schedule and some exciting road trips should see to that.

Mileage this month 742 miles
Mileage to date 742 miles
Average economy 38.1

As ever with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via Tina’s Twitter account or the comments below.

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May 17, 2022: The scores from the paws … how dog-friendly is the Mini Clubman?

You know your dog approves of a car when she hops into its boot of her own free will. So, when our cavapoo Jessie bounded into the back of the Mini Clubman on the second week of its arrival, it was a definite vote of confidence.

To do it this quickly was her equivalent of bopping a furry paw on the Britain’s Got Talent golden buzzer – top marks.

To be fair, a low boot sill (which makes it much easier for her to jump into) was among the reasons the Mini Clubman scooped the Dog Friendly Car of The Year at the News UK Motor Awards 2021, alongside split rear doors and a dog accessory pack.

Its compact boot is surprisingly spacious for a smaller car but the perfect size for our Jessie, with the mesh dog guard (£150) providing a secure divide and keeping her from jumping into the back seats. There is enough room for a small- to medium-sized dog like ours to turn around and find a comfy spot for the journey.

Netted side cubbies are a bonus for storing the dog essentials always needed on road trips, from waste bags and whistles to leads and treats, as are the integrated cubbies in the split barn doors. Underfloor storage compartments offer even more room for emergency dog supplies if needed.

Opening the Mini’s rear doors one at a time is a useful feature when you don’t want the entire boot exposed. Opening them remotely via the key fob is particularly good when having to lift a dirty dog into the boot after her swim in a forest lake (followed by rolling around on a muddy path, for a tar and feather effect).

A word of caution though, use them with care and ensure clearance space — the automatic pinball flipper-style doors can be enough to catch out humans who are standing in their way or walking past.

The dog pack has ensured that the boot has remained relatively pristine, despite the lake-swimming antics. While she may look (and act) like a princess, deep down Jessie’s a mud monster who loves to have a raucous roll in ditches and a spin in the sand, so the all-weather car boot mat (£50) has been a welcome shield for the Clubman’s interior, while also helping us avoid many extra hours of scrubbing the boot lining.

The mat is easy to wipe clean so smaller mud clumps can be mopped up or hoovered in-situ, while it’s also simple to slide out and hose down for bigger clean-up jobs (a life saver after post-beach carnage). A boot space divider could also be a useful addition for travel and shopping bags that need to be separated from the woofer.

While tethering points (including the Isofix anchors) are ample in the boot, unclipping Jessie’s lead from them can prove somewhat of a battle as fittings are snug and stiff.

We found it easier to use the dog guard – using one of the lower rungs works best so that Jessie still has plenty of space to sit and lie down. It’s our fail-safe in case she attempts to jump out once the doors are open. The Mini’s boot has a very handy, hidden hook that flips down from its flush position on the boot wall if you need a quick post-walk clip point while you take your boots off, but the dog guard is the sturdiest option for attaching her harness for journeys

The Mini’s rear tinted windows have also helped keep the glare off our Jessie, as it’s important to keep her temperature down as the summer approaches and the weather hots up. All car-driving dog owners know the importance of avoiding any unnecessary sources of stress, so this extra type of protection from the sun is most welcome.

In line with the adage that the best things come in small packages, for our mini mutt, the Mini Clubman hits a sweet spot.

However, while it’s a winner for quick trips around town, weekend escapes and park runs, for extended jaunts, it doesn’t offer quite enough room for suitcases, bags and dog paraphernalia. Dog owners who want to take their hounds on longer stays may need to explore roof-box options, buy a trailer or size up to the Mini Countryman. Larger dogs will want the extra space to stretch out, too.

Mileage this month 1,002 miles
Mileage to date 1,744 miles
Average economy 38.2

As ever with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via Tina’s Twitter account or the comments below.

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June 17, 2022: Is the Mini Clubman style over substance or a genuinely good drive?

Having ascertained that the Mini Clubman S Sport has many pooch perfect qualities, I thought was about time to put its human driving credentials to the test.

To those who pay close attention to Mini’s key design cues, the Clubman does look like its been put through a few nip and tuck procedures. The regular Mini Hatch shape has been stretched over a longer wheelbase, the increased length giving it the scope to compete as an estate car, though at the compact end of the scale.

And its much lower than the Countryman, with a low centre of gravity that helps achieve stability even over less favourable ground. The ride quality of the Cooper S Sport could be described as “uncompromised” — as in definitely sporty — with low body roll and large amounts of grip in and out of corners.

The Clubman I’m testing comes with Sport Automatic DTC transmission (option added at £1,800), providing super-smooth shifts and allows the 192bhp, 2-litre petrol engine to despatch 0-60mph in 7.3 seconds, making it no slouch off the lights. Such is the ease of the pick-up, I’ve had to be careful with the local speed camera at the end of my road, not something that troubles me with the regular family SUV.

Although most Minis might be stereotyped as nifty, fun, town cars, the Clubman is equally as well suited to the motorway. It purrs along at 70mph for long stretches, with the easy-to-use cruise steering wheel controls coming into their own over weekend jaunts along the M3 and M4.

It hugs the lanes nicely and never feels like it’s having to stretch itself during overtakes, which can be an issue with smaller-sized vehicles.

Fuel efficiency-wise, I’ve been getting up to 39mpg on longer trips even though it’s a petrol, which has been welcome given the depressing state of petrol prices in the current economic climate.

The Clubman has many endearing qualities in the cabin, too. The John Cooper Works sports seats offer a premium look and feel, though adjustments are by slightly old-fashioned manual levers. Mind you, toying with them to get my position correct is just as easy and quick as some electric systems I’ve experienced in other vehicles I’ve tested, so it’s hard to grumble. Likewise the air-con and infotainment system have old-school hand controlled touch dials and buttons respectively, which I’m on board with but maybe Millennials and Gen-Zs will feel hard done by. It’s certainly not the most futuristic system available.

The Clubman shares the characteristic large, round central display with other Minis (it harks back to the speedo on the original Mini). The rectangular digital screen isn’t a great fit in its circular housing, but it’s authentically Mini and is a standout feature that the brand will not be in a hurry to drop.

I loved exploring the interior lighting options, providing ambient settings for both the display and the cabin’s soft glow at night. As with other Minis, colours include blues, yellows, greens and reds, helping you set the mood for the drive ahead.

It’s not all good news, though and there are a few niggles with the Clubman I need to flag. For one, I’m finding the indicators unintuitive and quite often they don’t seem to auto-cancel after a turn. This has become irritating over time, for me and probably drivers behind.

Also, navigation through wireless Apple Carplay is my default option but while it was initially easy to pair up my iPhone with the Mini, in recent weeks I’ve been bumped out three times and have had to start all over again with the pairing process. Inconvenient when you need to jump in and head off in a hurry.

These irritations aside, the Mini Clubman has plenty of style and even sass, and can back it up with substance. It retains all the performance and handling hallmarks of the wider Mini range, being compact, nippy and agile, while offering more practicality than the regular hatch.

It may sit somewhere in no-man’s land size-wise, but if you aren’t interested in ultimate load-lugging — just a little more than a Mini Hatch can offer — while remaining low and sporty, then the Mini Clubman carves out an appealing niche.

Mileage this month 945 miles
Mileage to date 2,689 miles
Average economy 38.7mpg

As ever with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via Tina’s Twitter account or the comments below.

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July 27, 2022: Dog-friendly showrooms and more at a Mini x Dogs Trust event

For an extra special instalment of our extended test of the Clubman Sport S, we were invited to an event hosted by Mini in collaboration with the Dogs Trust.

The wellbeing of our four-legged friends is one most dog owners take seriously. And as the mercury soared and the blazing summer temperatures hit the hottest levels ever this year, there was no better time to consider how to keep our canines safe and cool.

That was just one of the timely themes covered during our day spent at the Dogs Trust’s Basildon Centre with the welfare charity’s partner, Mini. A multitude of tips and tricks (and treats!) were shared and of course, our cavapoo Jessie came along for the ride as a human chaperone and chief road tester.

From pure peanut butter (without xylitol or palm oil) and banana-stuffed frozen banana treats to natural yogurt and strawberry ice cubes, making enrichment snacks is just one way to turn up the chill factor for hot dogs, we learnt.

Jessie’s verdict was paw-sitive as she snaffled most of these in an instant.

Using pet-safe sun cream for exposed areas of skin, such as the tips of ears and nose, was also a suggestion. And doing the seven-second pavement test with your hand was also advised, to check pavement temperatures aren’t too hot for your dog’s paws.

Mini’s new dog-friendly showrooms

But that’s not all we learnt. When it comes to being dog-friendly, Mini knows a thing or two. For a start, the Mini Clubman scooped the Dog Friendly Car of The Year at the News UK Motor Awards 2021 thanks to its low boot sill, split rear doors and handy dog accessory pack. The brand clearly recognises just how close to our hearts (and wallets) our pooches are. So, it seemed apt that the introduction of Mini’s dog-friendly showrooms was also revealed during our day.

Over the past year, to become the first Dogs Trust-approved, dog-friendly car retailer, the 131-strong network of Mini retailers have been put through their paces on a tough training programme. The initiative, developed and implemented by Dogs Trust Canine Behaviour experts, was designed to make sure they provide dogs and their humans with a favourable experience.

This might seem like a bit of a fluffy (pardon the pun) concept but it makes a lot of sense. With more dogs in the UK than ever before, retailers are starting to give serious consideration to how they can support their dog-owning customers. What better way to suss out a car’s credentials than to take your dog along for the test drive?

I can see the appeal of trying out Jessie for size pre-purchase! It’s a surefire means of tapping into the power of the ‘paw patrol’ pound. Dogs are, after all, an important part of family life and it follows they are a big influence on car buying decisions.

The next phase of the partnership is to deliver further in-depth training to nominated Dog Champions across the retailers. This way, it can really roll out the red carpet for some VIP (Very Important Pooch) treatment.

While Mini UK retailers will be welcoming dogs through the doors, the brand will continue to work with the Dogs Trust to help make sure they travel safely. Best practice for dogs and car journeys can be found on Mini’s info-packed Dog Hub. You’ll even find pointers on Dog Friendly Beaches (we agree from personal experience on beautiful rolling sands at Holkham Beach in Norfolk). We will be utilising this guide to the max now that the sun has firmly got his hat on.

We drove away in our Clubman far more clued up on how to keep Jessie cooler on summer days and longer journeys. She settled in the back seat, gratefully shielded from the sun due to the tinted windows and refreshed by Mini’s blissfully powerful air conditioning, which had the cabin chilled in no time. It’s a creature comfort we’ve really appreciated during the summer months. This July, in particular, we’d love to have extended it to our home.

Mileage this month 753 miles
Mileage to date 3,442 miles
Average economy 38.1mpg

As ever with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via Tina’s Twitter account or the comments below.

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August 16, 2022: Final Verdict – paid up members of the Club?

Our extended test with the Mini Clubman Sport S has come to an end and to coincide with the school holidays, it’s time to give the full teacher’s report. Is it top of the class or does it need to repeat a year?

Our testing period truly gave it a proper workout across an extreme set of weather conditions. The Clubman arrived in February as Storms Dudley and Eunice blew in to cause panic and nuisance for a week or so, and it’s strange to think we were still testing the Mini as the UK hit the frazzling peak of 40.3 degrees just a few weeks ago.

However, whether it’s arctic or tropical outside, one thing for sure is that the Clubman is one cool customer and became a real family favourite.

Starting with what we loved most, it’s easy to name the top three features we rated the best:

Acceleration – The Clubman has real oomph and was a total joy when switching lanes on motorway trips. It has a smart and rapid pick up plus its close hug to the road makes it a nifty overtaker.
Lighting – The ambient light settings are a slick added touch, a neat toy to play with and set the mood for the cabin across a range of colours. Externally the Mini badge light beneath the doors also gave going out at night a Batman-esque vibe.
Boot doors – Yes, they’re the signature feature on the Clubman but the novelty didn’t wear off. Practically useful when splitting the boot space, particularly when you want to keep your dog paraphernalia separated.

Honourable mentions go to the John Cooper Works seats, the iconic round dashboard dials and the super-easy cruise control. All of them genuinely added to the full driving experience and would be positive considerations if they were part of a buying decision.

Like with all our cars, we also had a few niggles with the Clubman. All of them were technology related, with the most notable of these as follows:

Infotainment – I just never got to the point where I felt this was seamless to use. Switching between menus from radio to car settings did not feel intuitive or consumer friendly. This became frustrating and even distracting when driving.
Sat-nav – The in-built Mini system was problematic visually. It was not easy to view the routes, as the colour coding of roads was not obvious to follow.
Connectivity – As noted in previous reports, I had a few issues with connecting to Apple Carplay, having to log back in or start over again on a few occasions. Once or twice would be OK, but thereafter it became a pain.

So, who would the Clubman suit best in terms of a car-buying profiles? It certainly sits well as a high-spec and sassy second family car. It was big enough to do all of the daily family routines, such as a big family shop, football pick-up/drop-offs, dog walks and even a recent day at the beach. Our kids (and their friends) all gave it a nod of respect and serious kudos.

That aside, in my opinion the Clubman is not an alternative for those looking for a new small family estate or SUV. It’s just not spacious enough to take on a week’s staycation holiday, or even a long weekend. Maybe those with one child in tow might just make this work, but throw in a buggy or scooter and you’re eating into what else you can take with you.

Having said that, Mini has certainly won my heart and mind in terms of their dog-friendly approach and it’s clear this gives them a USP that many rivals have overlooked. I’ve been left a firm Mini convert and can fully appreciate how they’ve built such strong brand loyalty from their owners.

My sister-in-law has a Countryman on order, which is set to arrive in September. I’ll be keen, (and a little envious), to take a look at how this compares to the Clubman. Who knows, if the report is positive, Jessie and I might have to go and start a conversation with one of Mini’s canine-trained retailers.

Test period February – July 2022
Starting mileage 739
Mileage this month 1,061 miles
Mileage in total 4,503 miles
Average economy 38.4mpg

This extended test has now concluded.

Did you enjoy Tina’s Mini Clubman long-term review? Check out what she had to say about the SsangYong Rexton
For more in-depth car reviews, check out our long-term car reviews here
And if you’re in the market for a new toddler car seat, our buying guide may come in handy.

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The post Extended test: Mini Clubman 2021 review appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

Extended test: Volvo XC90 Recharge 2021 review

Igorsumonja — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 17:09:00 +0000

2021 Volvo XC90 Recharge specifications

Model 21-reg Volvo XC90 Recharge Plug-in Hybrid T8 AWD R-Design Pro
Price From £74,040 OTR (Includes Lighting Pack: Active Bending Headlights with Adaptive Shadow Technology; Headlight Cleaning System)
Price as tested (with options) £80,520 OTR
Cost options fitted Lounge Pack £1,500: Power glass tilt and slide sunroof with sun curtain; Park assist pilot – automatic parallel and 90o parking (includes front and rear park assist); Advanced interior air cleaner. Climate Pack (£575): Heated Rear Seats – 2nd Row, Outer Positions; Heated Steering Wheel; Heated Windscreen. Single options: Sensus Connect with Premium Sound by Bowers and Wilkins with Dolby Pro Logic II Surround Sound £2,150; Polestar Performance Software Optimisation £765; Parking Camera 360° Surround View £525; Wireless/Inductive Mobile Phone Charging £250; Metallic paint (Saville Grey) £715
Drivetrain 299bhp, 1,969cc, 4-cylinder petrol engine plus 86bhp electric drive motor and 11.6kWh li-ion battery
Transmission 8-speed automatic, all-wheel drive (petrol engine drives front wheels, electric motor drives rear)
Power output Up to 390bhp
Torque Up to 472 lb ft
Kerb weight (EU / DIN) 2,320kg / 2,250kg
Max trailer weight (braked / unbraked) 2,980kg / 750kg
Off road details Ground clearance 212-252mm; approach angle 21°; departure angle 21°; breakover angle 21.3°; wading depth up to the floor at walking speed
Dimensions Length 4,953mm; Width (folded mirrors) 2008mm; Height 1771mm
Boot capacity (third row seats in place / third row folded / second row folded) 262 litres / 640 litres / 1,816 litres
Top speed 112mph
Acceleration 0-62mph: 5.8sec
Electric range (WLTP) 27.3-30.4 miles WLTP (31 miles EAER)
Official consumption (WLTP) 83.1-100.9mpg combined
CO2 emissions 61-76g/km combined
Charging time (0-100%) 3 hours using 16amp wallbox; 4 hours using the 10 amp home charging cable
Road tax £15 for first year; £480 for years two-five; £145 thereafter
BIK tax payable (2021/22) 17%; £2,735 (20%) or £5,471 (40%)
Insurance group 45

Test details

Test period September 2021 – April 2022
Starting mileage 2,397 miles

Test updates

October 15, 2021 Introducing the Volvo XC90 Recharge T8
November 11, 2021 Hello practicality, safety and performance
December 28, 2021 Shrugging off the British winter
February 4, 2022 PHEV face off: Volvo XC90 vs Range Rover Sport
March 1, 2022 Irritations aside, this is the choice of car for every trip

October 15, 2021: Introducing the Volvo XC90 Recharge T8

My first month with the XC90 Recharge has been a generally enjoyable experience. A trepidation about a risk-averse Volvo interfering in my life with nanny state beeps and bongs were forgotten after a day in the car, as the XC90 is decidedly rational in the way it interrupts your flow in the cause of safety. Initial impressions are of a car that’s remarkably easy to jump in and drive.

This particular XC90 is an R-Design Pro model. There is a fork in the road of your XC90 purchasing: you can go down the ‘Inscription’ style route, which has an emphasis on luxury with traditional chrome exterior accents and a rather quirky crystal gear lever; but the R-Design route on the other hand is more ‘Sport’ focussed with glossy black trim instead of chrome, and the crystal shifter has gone in place of a more traditional leather-covered one. I’m fine with that.

The exterior styling is more Cotswold gangster than Harlem, giving the car a more urban feel, but it still holds its own out in the sticks. The design of the car is growing on me and to my mind, it stands out from the crowd in just the right degree. Not embarrassed of its looks – but not too shouty either.

September is a month of car events such as Salon Privé and Goodwood Revival, involving driving into the country and parking in fields. The R-Design XC90 is perfectly at home moving from tarmac to mud and holds its own among the other SUVs vying for attention in the car park.

Inside, the blonde Nappa leather opens up the large cabin and is helped by an enormous sunroof – part of the £1,500 ‘Lounge’ pack option.

Volvo has nailed its interiors lately. Clean and functional in a way the Scandinavians do well, but it still has an upmarket, luxurious feel. And the Bowers & Wilkins speaker system is a welcome optional extra, its crisp sound further creating a sanctuary from the outside world … and that includes the air.

Volvo’s CleanZone system removes 95% of hazardous PM 2.5 particles. I’m not sure if it’s psychosomatic but it seems to feel fresher inside than the outside London air. A week in and I regularly find myself taking in an exaggerated inhalation of healthy clean air once I am inside and have closed the door.

Other people have expressed an opinion of the car. A gas engineer visiting my house commented on the car “Nice. You must be an architect?” I’d always thought that was a Saab vibe but apparently the remaining, non-bankrupt, Scandinavian car company has taken on that mantle. I’m not sure how I feel about the assumption, but guess it could have been a lot worse.

I need to find a better petrol-electric balance going forward with this hybrid car, despite it proving very difficult for me to recharge in central London, without off-street parking. My mission has proven even more challenging due to three of my four nearby chargers being currently out of service.

However, I have managed to get the odd electric top-up and, though I never joined the smug brigade laughing at the queues outside of petrol stations, the XC90 Recharge did prove fantastically helpful around town. It may not go that far in full electric mode – around 25 miles in the real world – but there is a certain comfort in not having 100% reliance on fossil fuels.

Maybe a plug-in hybrid is the answer for these turbulent times? If only the bloody chargers would work.

Distance since start 1,139 miles
Average consumption 32mpg

As always with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via Twitter — fire them towards the @ST_Driving account— or drop a query into the comments box below.

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November 11, 2021: Hello practicality, safety and performance

Month two in the XC90 Recharge and the breadth of its capabilities are coming to the fore.

Having had a bit of clear out we headed to the nearest waste centre with a huge amount of unwanted ‘stuff’. Folding all of the seats reveals a 1,816 litres cavernous space that was more than enough for some serious load-lugging… or a trip to Ikea if you want to keep flying the Swedish flag.

I am also learning to appreciate the button on the rear hatch that both closes and then locks the car, allowing you to walk off with your hands full instead of dumping the contents onto the wet road and fumbling for your key fob. It’s the little touches you often find that make you fond of a vehicle.

On the other side of the coin, when you want to lose storage space for seating, the XC90 also excels. Unlike some other plug-in hybrid SUVs, the XC90 retains its 3rd row of seats despite having to squeeze a battery into the package. You lose a small amount of height but those handy couple of seats in the rear are still there to emerge from the flat floor when you need them.

This month I got a chance to try it out as we picked up friends and their three young children. The kids were also entertained by the seats that move silently into position at the push of a button. Another plus is not losing all of the rear storage with the three rows of seats up – we had the usual wellies, umbrellas and coats in the boot, but even with the 3rd row, there is still some luggage space, unlike many seven-seaters. This car is huge.

I maybe wouldn’t want to be an adult on a long trip in that 3rd seating row, but it’s certainly a convincing seven-seater and the optional panoramic sunroof eliminates any sense of claustrophobia for the rearmost passengers.

So the XC90 does more than a reasonable impression of both a van and an MPV/ people carrier (remember those?) when you want it to, while still maintaining the bearing of a smart, handsome SUV.

On the downside, I have had a couple of safety intrusions when the car has slammed on the brakes rather abruptly whilst parallel parking. I can only assume it was for a tree or large curb, but whatever caught the attention of the AI it certainly gave me a shock. One time the Volvo stopped so suddenly I was convinced I had hit something.

I applaud safety systems that could help you avoid hitting a pedestrian or dog that has inadvertently wandered behind the car – it’s also genius when reversing out of a drive into a busy road. But I can’t help being a little irritated at being stopped in my tracks, especially in London where your fellow motorist is not exactly the most patient, and ready to sit on the horn as soon as you indicated that you want to park.

When not going back into a parking space, this car is certainly brisk going forwards. It’s a fast(ish) car, at least for a large SUV. Its 5.5sec to 60mph time is impressive.

But while I like the idea of surprising fellow drivers when the lights turn green, when you hustle the four-pot engine it feels wrong in a car that feels like it is built around serenity and politeness. Also, that rapid acceleration drains the battery when you really should be using that for greater efficiency.

This car knows what it is – a luxurious, practical large SUV, with no pretensions for extreme off-road or dynamic behaviour. It’s a balance that is winning over many fans.

I’ve got to start appreciating that and stop wringing its neck like the sports car it’s trying desperately not to be. I must try to be as mature as my car. Maybe next month.

Distance since last update 1,109 miles
Average consumption 34mpg

As always with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via Twitter — fire them towards the @ST_Driving account — or drop a query into the comments box below.

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December 28, 2021: Shrugging off the British winter

This month my Scandinavian SUV has been flexing its cold temperature credentials. The weather has turned frosty but one thing you can rely on when driving a Volvo is that it has got the icy weather covered. I have driven one in the Arctic Circle at -30° (as pictured in the stock image above) and from the inside I could just as easily been coasting along a Californian freeway … the trifling British climate is no challenge.

If I was a bit more organised I could pre-heat the car via the Volvo app, but even when I have forgotten that it is 2021, I can still jump in and be fairly toasty before I’ve put my seatbelt on.

A heated steering wheel is a tick box I would usually forgo on the options list … yet I’m always glad when I have it. And it is no exception in the XC90. Warm hands and warm backside via the heated seats and the bleak weather is quickly forgotten.

In terms of preparation, I have topped up the windscreen wash — the XC90 greedily consuming a full tub of the ready-mixed stuff. That’s another tick in the plus box for this car. I have an irrational contempt of miserly windscreen wash reservoirs that need frequent topping up — sometimes on the same journey on a murky, wet British drive.

I have had a month of long drives and I have taken the opportunity to explore the Volvos adaptive cruise control. “Pilot Assist” is a semi-autonomous system that combines active cruise control with steering assistance to help keep the car in its lane and a safe distance from a car in front.

It achieves this with clever camera and radar technology, but the everyday benefit is when it is quietly working away to take a little of the strain away from a protracted journey. It enhances the state of calm already achieved by the serene cabin and you arrive from most trips relaxed and refreshed.

It has convinced at least one cruise control sceptic that the technology can indeed assist and is not trying to steal away your driving fun.

“I have an irrational contempt of miserly windscreen wash reservoirs that need frequent topping up”

One thing that is becoming apparent during my tenure with this vehicle is the ubiquity of XC90s, at least in my neighbourhood in London. The other day I was one of five parked in a row on the street. I have never had that with any other car. Somebody in the Volvo product department is getting a healthy end of year bonus as they have seemingly hit the sweet spot with this car when you way up all of its attributes such as design, practicality, economy…and of course cost.

The abundance of fellow owners may give a sense of comfort and safety in numbers. For others, it may find them running to the nearest SsangYong dealer for the chance to differentiate. The choice, as they say, is yours.

Finally, during the festive period the XC90 has been enrolled in Christmas errand duties. Presents, turkey and a case (…or two) of wine are, of course, no problem for such a big car, but would it pass the all-important tree test?

With flying colours, it turns out, as an 8ft fir effortlessly disappears into the back of the SUV. Two Swedish creations in perfect harmony.

Distance since last update 1,245 miles
Average consumption 36.5mpg

As always with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via Twitter — fire them towards the @ST_Driving account — or drop a query into the comments box below.

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February 4, 2022 PHEV face off: Volvo XC90 vs Range Rover Sport

It’s almost like we planned it this way: Driving.co.uk’s editor Will Dron has been testing a plug-in hybrid Range Rover Sport P400e at the same time as I’m assessing the Volvo XC90 Recharge.

The cars are direct rivals, with remarkably similar price points and specification (see table), which made a trip to meet up with Will and compare notes essential.

	Volvo XC90 Recharge T8 AWD R-Design Pro	Range Rover Sport P400e HSE Silver
Price from (on the road)	£74,040	£75,495
Max power	390bhp	398bhp
Max torque	472 lb ft	472 lb ft
Max speed	112mph	137mph
0-62mph	5.8sec	6.3sec
Kerb weight (DIN)	2,258kg	2,464kg
Fuel tank	71 litres	91 litres
Electric range (EAER)	31 miles	25 miles
Fuel economy (WLTP combined)	83.1-104.5mpg	73.0-88.3mpg
Max towing (unbraked)	750kg	750kg
Max towing (braked)	2,400kg	2,500kg
Dimensions (L x W x H)	4,953 x 2,008 x 1,771mm	4,879 x 2,083mm x 1,803mm
Number of seats	7	5
Boot size	262 / 640 litres	703 litres
Max luggage capacity (seats folded)	1,816 litres	1,607 litres
Max ground clearance	252mm	278mm
Wading depth	Up to the floor	850mm

The models we are driving, with their various option boxes ticked, are still only separated by a couple of thousand pounds, with the XC90 coming in at £80,520 — a little over Will’s Range Rover Sport’s £78,035. This is a particularly close-fought PHEV SUV sector.

Sitting side by side, the silver Range Rover has similar dimensions to the grey Scandi SUV, both imposing cars at over 2 metres wide and almost 5 metres long.

Peek inside and you see that the Sport only has two rows of seats as compared to the XC90’s three, in lieu of the extra batteries it needs to become a hybrid. The Volvo loses a bit of boot space for its battery pack but manages to keep the extra row of two seats, which will be important to some buyers.

Behind the wheel, the Range Rover Sport has an upmarket feel with the leather-trimmed wheel and machined dials and switches, which surprisingly pips the Volvo in terms of quality — it just somehow feels and looks more expensive — though the Scandi chic of the Volvo has its own appeal. With the blonde Nappa leather interior, spec’d on the XC90, it is a calm and welcoming cabin which maybe feels a little less stuffy than the all-black leather in the Range Rover.

The two 10in screens that make up the Range Rover’s Touch Duo infotainment system may be Land Rover’s old tech, replaced by Pivi Pro on newer models, but it still feels a step up from the XC90’s single portrait-oriented touchscreen, which is showing its age a bit more.

Both cars are equipped with premium audio and the Meridian unit in the Range Rover is a match for what is also a fine system in the XC90, by British company Bowers and Wilkins. You can also pay for an even better stereo in the Range Rover, which is no doubt seriously impressive, but the clarity and depth of audio in the Volvo is really superb.

The wide central console in the Sport hides a refrigerated cool box which is a nice and welcome touch on a hot day. And the familiar Range Rover folding armrests are always appreciated and help to get a comfortable driving position.

Both cars are equipped with expansive panoramic roofs and, in general, you are in an elevated, refined position in both cars.

Getting out on the road in the Range Rover Sport after stepping out of XC90, you are immediately aware of its extra heft. It may only be just over 200 kgs heavier, but somehow you notice it and not necessarily in a bad way.

I’m guessing you may feel slightly more assured if you were venturing off-road in the Range Rover, but I suspect that is not the battleground that most purchasers will be fighting over. The XC90 feels more set up for urban adventures with lighter steering that makes it feel a little more nimble and makes manoeuvring into parking spots simple, despite its size.

I didn’t get enough time in the Rangie to experience all the driving aids but it would do well to feel as intuitive as the XC90 which I have come to enjoy over time.

Taking a glance at the spec sheets, you can see the XC90 is a little quicker off the mark and it feels a little more spritely at the lower speeds, however, the Range Rover Sport will march on to a higher top speed if you find yourself on an Autobahn and desperate to hit 137mph in your SUV.

Going up and down the gearbox, if that is your want, is a little more intuitive than in the XC90 with the Swedish car’s subtle, stubby gear selector not inviting the same interaction. But, be warned, in either car, published mpg figures will be wrecked by any heavy-footed action, especially when the batteries are drained. Will said he gets around 31mpg on long motorway runs but nearer 50mpg if keeping the battery topped up, with mostly short journeys and on a mix of roads. Of course, if you drive only on electric then it would be much higher.

In general, there is little to separate the cars save for the number of seats mentioned earlier and a wading depth that is predictably impressive in the Range Rover Sport should you find yourself in deep water. Will recently took his car off-road and it proved astonishingly effective, though a loose wire caused a breakdown on the way home, suggesting the Volvo is the one to pick if reliability is a high priority.

The fact they are so closely matched in price and specification is testament to this competitive sector and what product developers in both the UK and Sweden feel they need to bring to the table and deliver at a certain price. Both are flagship SUVs and I guess the choice, as with most cars, will come down to subtle variations that will be more suited to your particular lifestyle.

Distance since last update 1,477miles
Average consumption 35mpg

As always with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via Twitter — fire them towards the @ST_Driving account — or drop a query into the comments box below.

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March 1, 2022 Irritations aside, this is the choice of car for every trip

Another month in the Volvo XC90 and we are settling into a comfortable relationship. Gone are the early excitement of working out what everything does and which buttons to press. Most days I jump in, pop my iPhone on the wireless charging pad in the centre console, switch the car on and off we go — pleasant fuss-free motoring.

On the whole, I have grown fonder of this car as time goes by. Yet as with many things in life familiarity breeds, if not contempt, then a little irritation. The fuel cap button is one of those inconsequential things that for some reason still has me tutting (especially in the winter) as I jump out of the car, get the fuel hose ready and realise I still, after five months, have not pressed the cap unlock button from inside of the car on the instrument panel.

My exasperation may be more of a reflection of me than the Volvo, but surely it’s enough that when the car is open, the petrol cap is also open?

While we are on the subject of perceived negatives, let’s discuss wheel size. The R-Design Pro spec on this model does make this particular XC90 stand out from the crowd, even if the crowd in my neighbourhood is typically a bunch of other Volvo XC90s. The wheels look good, but I think if I was going through the buying process I would go for the more run of the mill 19in ones than the 22in optioned on my test car. I can’t help thinking they may suit the ride and the general aim and rationale of this XC90 a little more than the big blingy ones.

Also in London, where you find yourself constantly parallel parking as close as possible to large, often jagged and uneven kerbs, the alloys are a concern. Mostly these kerbs are higher than the ribbon of rubber on the 22in wheels and your casual swing into the parking bay routine is disturbed by nerves and trepidation that you could hear that dreaded grinding noise as you cosy up to the kerb.

And it’s not just parking. London’s frequent width restrictions with high kerbs on either side are particularly taxing for a vehicle of this girth, shod with big shiny alloys. A healthy sidewall of rubber would alleviate these hazards, at least psychologically.

Minor irritations aside, the XC90 continues to impress. Overall it’s the calm and refinement that the cabin offers, and the get in and go nature of the car, that increasingly draw you in. If I had a stable of cars to pick from, I would bet that the Volvo would win the first pick prize every month of the year.

Of course, now and again, I would pick the mid-engined supercar that would undoubtedly feature in my fantasy garage for a furious country lane dash. If the weather was perfect and I could guarantee to be not too far from mechanical help, that pristine classic piece of automotive history in my mental carport would get an airing.

But for simple everyday motoring, I know that even with my dream collection of automobiles on hand I would, even if it was with a degree of resigned reluctance, be reaching for the keys of Volvo for the vast majority of the time.

Trip to the supermarket? Best take the XC90.

Pick my mother up from the train station? That’ll be the Volvo.

A long drive to a wedding in the countryside with luggage and calls to make on the way? That’ll be much easier in the XC90.

Might need more than five seats? It will have to be the Volvo.

Brother wants to help him move some furniture? Only one real choice for this.

Sport Utility Vehicles, and in particular big SUVs, are oft-maligned as unnecessary, big and brash, but when you have one in your armoury, and it’s a well-appointed Swedish model with a certain mellow, pragmatic appeal, it’s not unnecessary, at all — it’s indispensable.

If you’re enjoying this extended review of the 2021 Volvo XC90 Recharge T8, you might like to take a look at our other long-term car reviews
You might also like to see our guide to the car makers’ electric vehicle plans
And if you’re a Volvo fan you might be interested to read that Volvo has launched a new eco-friendly shoe in collaboration with Casca

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The post Extended test: Volvo XC90 Recharge 2021 review appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

Extended test: 2021 SsangYong Rexton 2.2 Ultimate review

Igorsumonja — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 12:48:00 +0000

SsangYong Rexton specifications

Model Ssangyong Rexton 2.2 Ultimate Auto
Price £40,665
Price with options £40,665
Colour Fine Silver
Cost options fitted n/a
Engine 2,157c, 4-cylinder, diesel
Power output 194bhp at 3,800rpm
Torque 325 lb ft at 1,600-2,600 rpm
Weight (DIN/EU) 2,950kg / 3,025kg
Towing capacity 3,500kg (braked) / 750kg (unbraked)
Luggage capacity 240 / 1,806 litres (7 seats up / all seats down)
Top speed 114mph
0-62mph 11sec
Fuel consumption (WLTP combined cycle) 33mpg
CO2 emissions (WLTP) 225g/km
VED (road tax) £1,305 for first year; £150 thereafter
BIK tax payable (2020/21) 37%; £2,501 (20%) or £5,002 (40%)
Insurance group 35U

Test details

Test period June to November 2021
Starting mileage 410 miles

Updates

1. July 26, 2021 First impressions of the SsangYong Rexton
2. September 24, 2021 The Rexton reveals itself over hills, coastal roads and motorways
3. October 28, 2021 Is the Ultimate tech package worth it?
4. December 8, 2021 Is the Rexton sound for hounds and families?
5. January 4, 2022 Does the big SsangYong represent good value for money?
6. January 30, 2022 Did the Rexton reach new heights for a family car? (Final report)

July 26, 2021: First impressions of the SsangYong Rexton

First impressions count for a lot in my book, so when the SsangYong Rexton rolled on to the drive I was pleasantly surprised as it had real presence and a smart front grille, generating a strong sense of curiosity about one of South Korea’s lesser-known automotive exports.

Relatively unheralded compared to its counterparts Kia and Hyundai, SsangYong has a job to do to build its brand in the UK but the model range seems suited to the current market’s appetite for larger and more practical cars that fit busy family lifestyles.

My background knowledge of the brand wasn’t extensive before the Rexton’s arrival but I was aware it has a very loyal following among rural-minded equestrian and caravanning aficionados, with exceptional pulling power for those who love a tow-bar in their lives. SsangYong is a proud maker of workhorses but this website’s editor told us that in recent years it has massively upped its game in the comfort and refinement stakes.

My long-term review of the Rexton won’t involve transporting horses or setting up camp with a four-berth holiday home, but I will put it through a comprehensive range of terrains and journey types as we take it on a few beach and forest summer expeditions. Early indications suggest it’s well up to the job and has lots of exciting features for us to explore.

My Rexton is the 2.2 Ultimate top-of-the-range model. It comes with eight-speed automatic transmission and has selectable 4×4 with low ratio, which hints at go-anywhere potential.

When I say it’s a big car many may think this is standard SUV review territory, but with 1,806 litres of interior space (all seats are down) it’s firmly at the top end in terms of room. And the ride height adds to this imposing feel — it’s very high off the ground.

So it’s tempting to think of competitors being large SUVs that also offer seven seats, as the Rexton does, but with the proper off-road capability, the Rexton is a bit more specialist and utilitarian than the likes Volvo XC90 and Skoda Kodiaq (see here for Driving.co.uk’s review).

Really, the Rexton’s rivals are the likes of the Toyota Land Cruiser and Mitsubishi Shogun Sport (though Mitsubishi is currently withdrawing from Europe), as it shares their apparent ruggedness and sense of trustworthiness.

But after a month with the car the Rexton seems to offer incredible value for money, comparatively. The air conditioning (front and rear seats) has been first class during the recent heatwave and is easy to operate via the dial in the dash (rather than having to go into a fiddly touchscreen menu, which has driven me slightly bonkers with some other new cars).

The front two seats are also ventilated, allowing a cold breeze to flow through the fabric. It’s a great option I haven’t encountered before — only a few years ago, ventilated seats were the preserve of Bentley and Rolls-Royce, so it’s amazing to see it trickle down to SsangYong.

Mileage this month 402 miles
Mileage to date 2,170
Average economy 34 mpg

As ever with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via Tina’s Twitter account or the comments below.

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September 24, 2021: The Rexton reveals itself over hills, coastal roads and motorways

Well, sorry for the delay in posting this second update but there are extenuating circumstances. Unfortunately in the last month I experienced a problem with a camera that is mounted in one of the Rexton’s wing mirrors, which led to us having a blurred view on the right hand side when using it for parking or tight manoeuvres.

We reported this to SsangYong and they took the car in to be looked at and fixed. In truth, the customer service was excellent and we were provided with a Musso Saracen courtesy car for the time the Rexton was away, even enjoying a fun weekend camping trip to CarFest in it. The Rexton was returned with the camera in full working order, which is very pleasing as the tech set up has been one of the areas that I’ve been most impressed with. I’ll spend my next update giving this specific focus.

Despite the issue, I managed to rack up some remarkable mileage over the summer, so I’m now well acquainted with the Rexton’s many features and how it is to drive across different types of terrain.

Over trips to Dartmoor’s endless hilly lanes, Norfolk’s coastal undulations and Kent’s motorway network, I’ve given the Rexton a thorough workout, and I’m impressed by its performance. I may not have been utilising its well-known towing capability but it’s much more of an all-rounder than I had anticipated. The manufacturer stats say it manages 0-62mph in a moderately slow 11 seconds but I found it isn’t ponderous and felt much quicker than the stats suggest. It’s a big beast and it responds well for its large size when I need to put pedal to the metal.

In hilly conditions the Rexton’s performance data dipped to 28mpg, as it hauled its mass up and down the Devon unulations during our week away. Clearly thirsty work and a point to consider if hills are a major part of your daily driving. Contrastingly, a recent motorway journey allowed me to toy with the easy-to-operate cruise control, hitting a decent 38mpg over 50 miles. Diesel’s been given a bad name in recent years but I think it’s worth pointing out that cars such as the Rexton can still be perfectly suited to drivers with high monthly mileage.

A big thumbs up must be given to the Rexton’s cluster of steering wheel controls. Initially, I felt it resembled something last seen in Luke Skywalker’s X-Wing fighter. Far too many switches with no clear purpose and a little alienating to the eye. However, with plenty of time to experiment, I’m converted to the Rexton’s Jedi set up. I’ve been seamlessly flicking through dashboard settings, cruise control, sat nav configuration and asking Siri (via Apple CarPlay) to play my next podcast. The heated steering wheel is another feature I’ll enjoy in the coming colder months.

I’ve found the Rexton a steady drive overall so far. Not always super smooth but given its bulk, I wasn’t expecting this. The engine never felt too strained but was noticeably more audible and ‘truck like’ than other large rivals I’ve driven, such as the Volkswagen Touareg or the Nissan X-Trail. The ride height is high even for a big SUV, allowing the commanding view of the road that so many motorists are seeking these days. It is quite a step up to board, so might benefit from a foot plate (like its counterpart the SsangYong Musso) to give both younger and more elderly family members a needed boost.

The Rexton was a very welcome and solid addition to this year’s family summer adventures and it truly caused a stir. On three separate occasions, I was approached by people curious to know more about the SsangYong brand and the Rexton specifically, and what I thought of it. There is work to do to build levels of awareness and consideration in the market but the Rexton’s updated design qualities, size and competitive pricing give it a strong platform to build upon. The novelty factor is certainly proving magnetic.

Miles since last update 2,148 miles
Mileage to date 2,959 miles
Average economy 32.1 mpg

As ever with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via Tina’s Twitter account or the comments below.

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Enjoying Tina’s SsangYong Rexton extended review? Check out what she had to say about the Volkswagen Touareg.
For more in-depth car reviews, check out our long-term car reviews here.
And if you’re in the market for a new toddler car seat, our buying guide may come in handy.

October 28, 2021: Is the Ultimate tech package worth it?

There are two themes that drive the tech features in the Rexton Ultimate; simplicity and safety. The 9.2in screen may not be as flashy or big as the displays of some rivals, but it’s joyfully easy to navigate without any complicated menus to negotiate.

While the Ultimate comes with TomTom navigation, I default to Apple CarPlay (Android Auto is also available) to connect Maps from my iPhone. Touchscreen buttons are both generous and responsive, so for usability its infotainment system scores some serious points.

The driver’s display has been seamless to operate and I’ve become well accustomed to its layout. Vehicle performance data charts are relatively easy to master via the steering wheel controls, offering a set of menus to scroll through and there are easy to comprehend visuals for key stats such as mpg, tyre air pressure and urea levels.

There is also the option to mirror the main touchscreen display when using maps, radio and other connected services, which was useful on several longer journeys and has aided my driving concentration.

In terms of specific halo tech features, the rear-view reversing camera was particularly useful over the summer in Devon. Although driving across Dartmoor was picturesque, constricted narrow lanes with high hedgerows and hairpin bends to the beach made for a less relaxing drive, particularly when meeting with a tractor or three. While not the slimmest of builds, the Rexton’s reversing camera helped to make quick manoeuvres up clifftop zig-zag bends a tad less hairy.

Sticking with safety functionality, the 3D around-view monitoring system heightened my spatial awareness when reversing out the driveway and swinging into tight car parking spaces, with an aerial view of the vehicle and any obstacles in the vicinity.

Lane departure warnings have also been exceptionally useful for motorway driving as the dark, wet and windy evenings close in, particularly Lane Change Assist, which detects cars approaching from behind and flashes an alert light on the outside mirror, although its counterpart Blind Spot Assist also has merits.

As reported in my previous installment, we did encounter a malfunction with one of the wing mirror-mounted cameras. SsangYong customer service was quick to fix this issue and we’ve had no further problems with it. Indeed, the cameras are one of the Rexton’s real standout qualities for me. They’ve really added to the driving experience and made steering such a large vehicle a much easier and efficient task.

Honourable tech mentions also need to be given to the Rexton’s lighting features. When using full beam on a few late-night journeys, the auto-detection capability dims the lights when an oncoming car is detected. They’re not matrix LED headlights, which dip around other vehicles leaving the rest of the beam on full, but this is the next best thing. Auto high beam has negated the need for me to operate the dipped lights manually, making it safer for both me and fellow drivers.

I also have loved the door handle lighting that comes on when the Rexton is unlocked in dark situations. A welcome touch that has been appreciated as gloomier Autumnal evenings descend.

While the fifth-generation Rexton may not feel as luxurious as some of its SUV counterparts, its smart safety line-up is distinctive across a sound tech offering. With its general safety measures, such as an impressive nine airbags, it feels rather like driving a protective cocoon and the tech at this price is really impressive.

Miles this month 742 miles
Mileage to date 3,701 miles
Average economy 33.1 mpg

As ever with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via Tina’s Twitter account or the comments below.

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December 8, 2021: Is the Rexton sound for hound and families?

The Rexton may look big in stature but climb inside and there’s a softer side to discover, which gets our family vote. There are not many cars that mark your arrival with a fanfare but the Rexton offers a welcoming melody, both when the engine is started and switched off, which seems to blend K-pop with Mario Kart. Even the indicators are tuneful and I often notice our boys nodding their heads to the rhythmic ‘tiktok’.

Getting comfortable once inside is made easy with adjustable electric seats, which slide to eight positions for the driver and six for the front passenger, both with power lumber support. The driver’s seat also has a memory function, which is useful to recall your seat and door-mirror preferences.

Some seat features, however, opened the door to family mischief. When our boys discovered they could shift the front passenger seat forward from the comfort of their back seats using the side buttons, there were chortles of delight at the prank potential to follow (I’ll let you know how that one plays out).

While the clamber inside is manageable for us humans (although as previously mentioned, a footplate would be a welcome addition) our cavapoo Jessie has to be lifted in. She can spring easily into the family Nissan Qashqai but this was a step (or jump) too far for her. I’m sure large breeds would find it more manageable.

Other SUVs, such as the Skoda Kodiaq and Seat Ateca, have tailgate tech options that allow the boot floor height to be adjusted, helping with loading heavy items (baggage and dogs). This would be a suggested option for SsangYong to add to the Rexton for future design tweaks and would certainly make it a more dog-friendly contender.

For space and storage, the Rexton’s capacity is impressive. Its immense 872 litre boot space is far bigger than its rivals and was enough to stack a tent and the basics for a camping trip, without the need for a rooftop box. The weekly shop was easily accommodated, while the pooch could stand, sit, lie down and even roll over should she so please.

Its wipe-clean mat is a bonus, saving the carpet underneath from muddy paws, boots and dog-walking debris or ad-hoc spills. The Rexton’s interior is largely plastic, so it’s susceptible to scratching but it has been hardwearing and has cleaned up well.

Folding away the central armrest on the back seat meant our dog could also lounge in the lap of luxury using the middle space for her dog bed. In fact, our boys also enjoyed stretching out in the back as the legroom is plentiful and the novelty of heated seats, USB sockets and a 12V outlet are all teenager-pleasing features. I’m unaware of any other canine accessories that might be available for the Rexton, but adding guards and lead clips would be handy additions.

The second row of seats folds completely for large loads, transforming the rear boot capacity to a huge 1,806-litre cargo zone. This was a lifesaver for runs to the tip and particularly timely for the cull of clutter that took place before the building work commenced on our extension over the summer.

The Rexton swallowed up our cast-offs with ease and the rear–view mirror wasn’t obstructed as it would have been if the regular family car was in use.

Conversion into a seven-seater was a rather clunky affair. A fair deal of elbow grease was required to fold the second row of seats over (rather than sliding the middle section as per our Qashqai) and then forward with the help of a hydraulic arm.

One of the plastic seatbelt clip holders also snapped off ‘in action’ while the seats were being flipped and the process left me feeling frazzled. This wasn’t ideal while transporting my nieces from the beach to our holiday cottage over the summer as it left a jagged-edge hazard for the children to avoid for the rest of our Norfolk holiday.

The third row of extra seats is spacious for younger children but more of a squeeze for adults, so for the latter, it is best used for shorter journeys.

While the Rexton may appear rugged and ready from the exterior, it is certainly not all workhorse and no play. For four-legged riders and family folk alike it takes pole position in our household with a host of extras and space for the price tag.

Mileage this month 523 miles
Mileage to date 4,224
Average economy 32.8mpg

As ever with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via Tina’s Twitter account or the comments below.

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January 4, 2022: Does the big SsangYong represent good value for money?

My time with the Rexton is drawing towards a close and it will head off to a new owner later this month. I’ll save my final verdict for next time, but it feels apt to weigh up whether I would consider it to be a solid investment.

Even if it does pitch itself as a cost-effective alternative to more premium rivals, at just under £41k for the Ultimate 2.2 model I’m testing, this is still a sizeable sum.

Covid has created a twin effect of a huge lead time for brand new cars and a subsequent spike in second-hand car sales. Consumers are also reconsidering their transport and mobility options, including do they switch to electric or look at new shared ownership options? So where does this leave a big diesel SUV such as the Rexton?

The Rexton sits in a relatively safe niche (for now). It sits within a sub-segment for drivers whose lifestyles create very specific needs, such as durability, 4×4 prowess, practicality and low maintenance costs.

There are no EV contenders in this space quite yet (though serious electric 4x4s, including pick-ups, are on the horizon), so if cavernous interior space, towing power and proper off-roading are all on your purchase wish list, then the Rexton fits the bill.

In value for money terms, the Rexton’s pricing offers a notable saving against one of its nearest head-to-head rivals, the Toyota Land Cruiser.

The Toyota’s 5-door basic model starts from £43,750 OTR, which is £5,755 more than the entry-level Rexton (which rides on 18in alloys as opposed to the Land Cruiser’s 17in standard rims).

For fuel consumption, the Toyota is slightly thirstier, averaging around 29mpg to the SsangYong’s 33mpg, though that’s perhaps not too surprising given the former has a 2.8-litre diesel while the latter has a smaller 2.2-litre unit.

Mind you, performance isn’t far off, with similar horsepower, though the Toyota has 368 lb-ft of torque, compared to the Rexton’s 325 lb-ft. If you care about 0-62mph in a car like this, the Toyota can do it in 9.9sec versus the SsangYong’s 11sec.

The Toyota does have the nameplate heritage and proven off-roading credentials, but from reading Land Cruiser reviews and my own experience with the Rexton, I think the SsangYong’s tech and safety packages make it a real contender for prospective buyers in this particular spot of the market.

The real ace up the sleeve for the Rexton, however, is that it comes with a 7 year or 150,000 mile warranty. This is a significant upgrade on the basic 5 year or 100,000 miles offered with the Land Cruiser. Ssangyong clearly has the confidence and commitment that its product will stand the test of time and is happy to back this up. In tricky economic times, reassurance such as this can tip the balance for price-savvy consumers.

Mind you, there’s one other important thing to consider: residual values. According to valuation experts CAP HPI, after three years and 36,000 miles, a Toyota Land Cruiser is expected to retain 72.5% of its value, which makes it one of the slowest-depreciating cars in the UK.

The Rexton is fairly average when it comes to depreciation rates, compared to the market as a whole; after the same amount of time and miles it would be worth 60.2% of its price when new, according to the same CAP HPI data. Something to chew over if you plan to sell on rather than keep long-term.

Having said that, the Rexton firmly embraces the ‘more bang for your buck’ territory. If I were looking for a cost-conscious large, family-friendly go-anywhere SUV that I didn’t mind getting properly dirty and using hard, then it is probably the best value model available today.

Mileage this month 437 miles
Mileage to date 4,661 miles
Average Economy 31.8mpg

As ever with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via Tina’s Twitter account or the comments below.

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January 30, 2022: Did the Rexton reach new heights for a family car? (Final report)

Our last weeks with the Rexton have left us feeling high and mighty. ‘High’ in the most literal sense: driving a car so substantial in stature certainly gives you an imperious feeling on the road. ‘Mighty’ because it also makes you feel invincible, not least because of the numerous safety features such as the 3D around-view monitoring system, lane departure warnings and nine airbags; all measures that add to the feeling of being in a protective bubble.

In terms of a final verdict, there are a few significant features I’d like to return to and underline as worthy of particular praise.

Interior space – at a whopping 1,806 litres it does the job and some.
Wing mounted reversing cameras – simple and easy to use, made a breeze of manoeuvring a huge vehicle in and out of the tightest spots.
Luxury touches – ventilated front seats were literally a breath of fresh air for hotter summer days, accompanied by toasty heated seats in the front and back for defrosting the kids from school runs in the winter.
Heated steering wheel – has come into its own in the last month, firing up in a couple of minutes to relieve my cold mitts as the winter months begin to bite.
Infotainment system – scores some serious brownie points for usability too and the simplicity of navigation was a joy to behold compared to some over-complicated touchscreen menus from its rivals.

On the flip side, there were some drawbacks. The Rexton was true to its heritage (modelled on the Musso pick-up), in that it sometimes felt more truck-like than a car, with a juddery and noisy ride to match. While the extra seats in the back for seven-seater conversion were a bonus, the transformation process was not as seamless as some sliding mechanisms.

For dogs, it would suit a big breed but for our Cavapoo, the Rexton’s high altitude was rather overwhelming. The addition of a tailgate tech option to adjust the floor height would be a welcome feature for her, as would a footplate to help stagger the step up for children and elderly family members alike.

But we’re going to miss our big wagon. It became a reliable member of the family, whether this was impressively swallowing up the large Christmas tree or packing in both our dog and the mother-in-law’s Labrador after a muddy country walk. The Rexton is a real all-rounder that was fit for many uses and I’m sure we’ll be pining for its cavernous qualities as we adapt back to our regular family ride.

To conclude, don’t be put off by the bulky appearance of this fifth-generation Rexton or the sparsity of the brand’s distribution in the UK. The week after our car was returned we finally spotted a fellow Rexton in our local town centre, (a knowing nod of respect was given). Maybe this is a signal that brand awareness is growing (it was even the talk of the volunteer officials at our local Covid testing centre when they spotted the rare badge) and if this South Korean export can reach Berkshire, it can reach anywhere.

Test period June 2021 – January 2022
Miles this month 360 miles
Miles in total 5,021 miles
Average fuel economy 31.9mpg

This extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via Tina’s Twitter account or the comments below.

Tweet to @tina_milton Follow @tina_milton

Enjoying Tina’s SsangYong Rexton extended review? Check out what she had to say about the Volkswagen Touareg.
For more in-depth car reviews, check out our long-term car reviews here.
And if you’re in the market for a new toddler car seat, our buying guide may come in handy.

The post Extended test: 2021 SsangYong Rexton 2.2 Ultimate review appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

Extended Test: 2020 Range Rover Sport PHEV review

Igorsumonja — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 14:13:00 +0000

2020 Range Rover Sport PHEV specifications

Model 70-reg Range Rover Sport P400e HSE Silver
Price £75,580 OTR
Price as tested (with options) £78,035 OTR
Cost options fitted Hakuba Silver Metallic Paint – £895; Ebony Interior – no cost option; Ebony Morzine Headlining – £330; Three Zone Climate Control – £490; Heated, electric, power fold, memory door mirrors with approach lights; and auto-dimming driver side – £220; Drive Pack – Consists of: Blind Spot Monitor, Driver Condition Monitor, and Traffic Sign Recognition and Adaptive Speed Limiter – £520
Drivetrain 293bhp, 1,997cc, 4-cylinder petrol engine plus 141bhp electric drive motor and 13.1kWh li-ion battery
Transmission 8-speed automatic, permanent all-wheel drive
Power output 398bhp @ 5,500rpm (maximum combined)
Torque 472 lb ft @ 1,500-4,000rpm (maximum combined)
Kerb weight (EU / DIN) 2,539kg / 2,464kg
Max trailer weight (braked / unbraked) 2,500kg / 750kg
Off road details Ground clearance 278mm; approach angle 33°; departure angle 30°; ramp angle 25.7°
Boot capacity (rear seats in place / folded) 573 litres / 1,413 litres
Top speed 137mph
Acceleration 0-62mph: 6.3sec
Electric range (WLTP) 31 miles (25 miles EAER)
Official consumption (WLTP) 73.0-88.3mpg combined
CO2 emissions 72-87g/km combined
Charging time (0-100%) 2 hours 45 minutes using 32amp wallbox; 7 hours 30 minutes using the 10 amp home charging cable supplied as standard
Road tax £0 for first year; £140 thereafter
BIK tax payable (2021/22) 7%; £470 (20%) or £939 (40%)
Insurance group 21

Test details

Test period July – December 2021
Starting mileage 3,598 miles

Test updates

August 13, 2021 Introducing the Range Rover Sport P400e
September 6, 2021 Road trip: how does the RR Sport fare on a family holiday?
November 8, 2021 How economical is the Range Rover Sport P400e, and how easy is it to recharge?
January 5, 2022 What spec and options for the Range Rover Sport?
January 29, 2022 Oh, bugger: An off-roading high followed by reliability low (final report)

August 13: Introducing the Range Rover Sport P400e

When is a big, powerful, luxury 4×4 not a gas guzzler? When it’s a plug-in hybrid — that’s the idea of the Range Rover Sport P400e, anyway.

Despite producing 400bhp from its combination of 2-litre petrol engine and electric motor, it can run on electric mode for 25 miles (officially) so officially its average combined fuel consumption is 73-88mpg, depending on the wheel size. Hmm, we’ll see about that.

The Range Rover Sport is, as the name suggests, the full-fat Range Rover’s more athletic younger sibling. It’s smaller than the Range Rover but, as I realised when I parked next to one, not by much: the Sport’s just 121mm shorter, 66mm lower (in the standard ride height setting) and actually the same width.

It’s fair to say the Range Rover Sport is still a beast, and an imposing presence on the road. But, as I’ll get to in a later update, having recently driven the regular Range Rover, too, the Sport does feel taughter and more responsive on the road. It provides a more entertaining driving experience, rather than all-out comfort.

It’s not exactly a new model — my test car was registered last year and the plug-in hybrid version was first introduced in 2018, when the second-generation Range Rover Sport was refreshed — but as perhaps one of the most advanced and complicated versions of a Land Rover currently on sale, and one I hadn’t tested, I wanted to see how it fared over a full six months.

I’m not saying I’m expecting faults to arise but this particular car maker has, let’s say, a reputation — rightly or wrongly. Should issues occur, I’ll not spare any blushes, and feel free to let me know about your experiences of owning a RR Sport in the comments below.

I could have ordered a shiny new model, of course, and Land Rover recently relaunched its online configurator to allow customers to not only buy online, but also get a full quote for trade-in without having to step foot in a dealership. I’ll explore the configurator in more detail in a later post, when I look at the must-have options.

Ordering new would have meant a delay, though, so Land Rover found an example for me ready to go. It’s in HSE Silver Edition specification, which is a step up from the entry-level HSE model and adds things like a panoramic glass roof, tinted rear windows, an upgraded Meridian Surround sound system (which actually you get on the P400, anyway), heated steering wheel and front coolbox under the centre armrest. It also includes a few cost options, including three-zone climate control.

One thing I asked for, though, is silver alloys as I’m planning to go off-road with it at some point — all customers are offered a half day 4×4 experience as part of the deal — and didn’t want to scratch the black alloys that come as standard. What it means is that the car looks relatively un-gangster, which I like. As another motoring journalist said on Twitter, lose the privacy glass and “it might even have a bit of that old-money vibe of earlier Rangies”.

Above HSE spec there’s HSE Dynamic, HSE Dynamic Black, HST and Autobiography Dynamic, as well as the SVR and SVR Carbon Edition full-bloody sports versions. Prices start at £64,685, which seems like a lot of money but it’s a long way off the price of an entry-level Range Rover, which costs upwards of £83,525, and it doesn’t seem to put off buyers: Land Rover sells more Range Rover Sports in the UK than Volkswagen sells Passats.

Of course, if you buy the 400bhp plug-in hybrid, you’re looking at a significant premium over the base HSE; the P400e HSE Silver starts at over £75,000, and with options my test car will set you back £78,035.

I’ve had the car for a month now, and put it straight to use on some long journeys up the motorway. Let’s be clear, motorways are not plug-in hybrid territory, as you soon deplete the battery pack and are then asking the petrol engine to do much of the work, which rather defeats the point. PHEVs are best suited to short journeys and regular recharging.

But I noticed fairly decent fuel economy, of 31mpg after a few hundred miles of motorway bashing, and I have since, through regular recharging and local journeys running on electric, got the fuel economy back up to an average of 47mpg.

My next update will be following a UK holiday with plenty of driving, so it will dip again. I’ll report on that, as well as how practical the car is for family trips.

Also coming up during my time with the car will be reports on what it’s like to drive, what it’s like to sit in, some of the tech features including the phone app, recharging, and any issues or niggles. Stay tuned.

Mileage today 4,426 miles
Distance since start 828 miles
Indicated long term consumption 44.1mpg

If you’d like to ask me a question about the car, please do comment below; I try to check comments every week. I’m taking a break from Twitter until they get serious about the rampant misogyny, racism and general hate, which I’ve been fortunate to avoid but many others suffer.

September 6, 2021 Road trip: how does the RR Sport fare on a family holiday?

An eventful week with the Range Rover Sport on holiday in Devon and Yorkshire saw me not only add more than 1,000 miles to the odometer but also try out the car on some fairly challenging terrain, discover how good the car is with small children on board and find out what happens when you’re forced to take evasive action at 70mph on the M1. We’ll get to that.

Boot space

One concern before loading the car with luggage for four was whether we’d need a roof box. As we weren’t camping, we didn’t have all the extra camping equipment that comes with that, and my children are now seven and five, so we don’t need pushchairs and the other kit that’s required for smaller kids. With one large case, a medium-sized case and other bags, we just about managed to get everything we needed into the 703-litre boot, behind the second row of seats.

It’s worth noting here that the P400e plug-in hybrid model doesn’t come as a seven-seater, and sacrifices underfloor space in the boot (normally used for a spare wheel) in order to accommodate the lithium ion battery pack. In fact, the boot floor is 46mm higher than on petrol and diesel versions, resulting in a 79-litre reduction in overall capacity. There is a small underfloor area near the hatch, but it’s only large enough for a space number plate, locking wheel nut and tyre goo/pump, in case you get a puncture.

But everything we needed did fit, and the boot floor is still relatively flat, which means you can slide bags in easily. What’s more, the space is deep and square, and you can lower the rear suspension using a button inside the boot, which further aids with loading and unloading.

One thing to watch out for, though, is that catching your head on the corner of the boot lid when it’s open is very easy indeed, especially with the suspension lowered. It’s happened to me a couple of times.

The boot cover is a soft, retractable material but the end flap is hard plastic and can be turned upright behind the rear seats, helping to bags from sliding from the boot into the cabin.

Before any of you comment about it, of course before loading up and setting off, I checked the proper tyre pressures for a fully-laden car, and adjusted them appropriately as part of the usual checks pre-long-distance motoring.

Other notes on practicality

The holiday revealed a number of great features of the Range Rover Sport. We made full use of the optional refrigerated cool box under the armrest between the front seats, and I installed a couple of DVD players behind the headrests for my children, which were powered by the 12v socket in the rear.

They got used to adjusting the temperature in the rear, as our car is fitted with the optional three-zone climate control, and we kept the central rear armrest down for the duration of the holiday, as the kids found the cupholders and storage tray very handy indeed after stops at motorway service stations.

In fact, whoever designed that armrest clearly has their own children, as it has cutouts that allows relatively easy access to the belt buckles even when child seats are installed (depending on the seat design, that is).

Space in the rear for the children was really good – I didn’t hear a peep of discomfort from them over the entire 1,048 miles.

If there’s a grumble it’s that all four passenger doors are quite long, and they’re deep, which means entry and egress is tricky if you’re parked close to another car or wall.

Driving notes

I would normally publish an update on what a car is like to drive before elaborating on other points, such as practicality, but the timing of my holiday means I’m doing things slightly out of sequence. Instead I will go into it in more depth over the upcoming posts, including what the car is like to drive off-road, but having covered so many miles already means I have a fairly decent handle on the way the car feels to drive; more than 1,000 miles across the UK will reveal a lot about a car’s capabilities.

Firstly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s bloody brilliant for taking to the beach. The Northam Burrows car park at Westward Ho! is a mix of mud, sand and rock. Most cars can navigate it fairly successfully, but only a proper 4×4 like the Range Rover can traverse the worst ruts and muddy sections (the picture below doesn’t show those ruts, which are nearer the other end of the beach), and I deliberately crossed sections of ground that would have beached a family hatchback, or had a two-wheel drive car’s wheels spinning hopelessly. The RR Sport was exceptional, especially in the raised-suspension off-road setting.

I’m not suggesting a beachside car park is a true test of the car’s off-road ability (I’ll be doing that at a later date), but Northam Burrows is probably the toughest challenge most owners will give their Range Rover Sport, and it passed with flying colours. Similarly, the raised stance means that potholed driveways that might defeat some estate cars and even some crossovers are no problem for the Range Rover.

Of course, a secondhand pick-up truck could do all this but with the RR Sport you travel in relative luxury and its air suspension means those in the cabin aren’t bounced around all over the shop.

I found that the car is most at home on bumpy country roads. On the fairly smooth suburban surfaces near where I live, which are strewn with humps and speed cushions, the suspension feels firm, but show it the undulating, creased roads through the Yorkshire Dales and it irons them out beautifully, resulting in a calm, composed, relaxed journey. Not once did my children complain of nausea, even when they were reading puzzle books or watching movies.

I also got to experience the Range Rover Sports prowess in an elk test. Though I’d rather not have.

The M1 incident

Despite their high speeds, motorways are incredibly dull to drive on. Until they’re not.

My dash cam captured the following moment while driving from Devon to Yorkshire on the M1. I was travelling at 70mph in the middle lane, overtaking a lorry, when the cars in the outside lane began to slow (hence me coming alongside) and then came to a complete stop.

The chap in the Dacia Duster next to me didn’t have enough time to stop without hitting the back of the panel van in front, so dived into my path, forcing me to jink left and right to avoid making contact. I only just managed to get away with not hitting the lorry to my left, and fortunately — miraculously — the Range Rover Sport didn’t pick up so much as a scratch.

As much as I’d like to pat myself on the back and put it down to driver skill, the car deserves much of the credit. If you look at the interior view, and the amount of input required from me to avoid what could have been a pretty serious crash, and then look at the composure of the front of the car in the forward view, you can see how brilliantly the Range Rover Sport’s air suspension and electronic stability control systems coped.

What I put the car through, basically, was an elk (or moose) test — a now-standard safety test for car manufacturers, based on independent tests carried out by Scandinavian car magazines and safety bodies, whereby you’re imagining an elk has run in front of the car and you’re forced to jerk the wheel left and right to drive around it. Some older cars struggled with it. Famously, when the Mercedes A-Class was first launched, it really struggled, resulting in the manufacturer fitting its ESP stability system as standard.

The A-class is a small car, though — the RR Sport is much taller, and it’s a car designed to tackle proper off-road courses. Yet it seemed to shrug off this incident without breaking a sweat. I was absolutely amazed. I do hope the rest of my time with the car is less exciting.

A point about charging

Public charging points aren’t exactly prolific in North Devon or Yorkshire, I found. The Asda and Tesco superstores in Barnstaple have a few 7kW posts (operated by BP Pulse and PodPoint respectively), which enabled me to almost fill the battery on one occasion during my holiday, and there was a 22kW EVCharge post at the Sandy Cove hotel (which offers stunning views across the coast to Wales), but most of the time I was relying on petrol power. This is a clear benefit of a plug-in hybrid – if you aren’t staying somewhere at which you can plug in overnight, or travelling near to rapid charging points, a PHEV is actually a brilliant option.

And whereas the Skoda Octavia iV PHEV that I tested earlier this year has a fairly small tank, the Range Rover Sport P400e can take on a huge amount of petrol — 91 litres — enabling long runs between refills of around 500 miles. So while it’s painful to watch the cost rising as you stand at the petrol pump (a full tank will cost you over £90 at present), it’s a comfort to know that when you get back home you can resume running on cheap electricity. I am currently looking at switching to an Economy 7 home energy tariff, so that the electricity costs me just 5p per kWh after midnight. Cheap as chips.

So, of course the average fuel economy has taken a hammering since the giddy highs of 47mpg before my holiday, and dropped as low as 36mpg by the time I returned home, but I’m already beginning to see it rise again now that I’m home and predominantly running on battery power.

Mileage today 5,645 miles
Distance since start 2,047 miles
Indicated long term consumption 37.2mpg

November 8, 2021 How economical is the Range Rover Sport P400e, and how easy is it to recharge?

I have always wondered how many people buying a Range Rover care about fuel economy. They’re expensive cars so you could be forgiven for assuming the owner can afford £100 a week (which would be just over a tank) on fuel, or perhaps even twice that, and that fuel economy is an irrelevance. But then, we’re told, people with money often care deeply about counting the pennies.

Costs of running a plug-in hybrid aside, there may be practical questions you have about how and where I’ve been plugging in, how often and whether or not it’s worth it.

Let’s start with how I charge: anywhere I can, basically. I plug in at home overnight and have recently switched to Octopus Energy (guess what, my old supplier Green Network Energy went bust, as many are at the moment), which is a favourite of electric car drivers. Its costs aren’t necessarily the cheapest, though they are very competitive and I admire the company’s policy on transparency. There’s no pulling the wool over your eyes and trying to sign you up to a more expensive tariff on the pretense that it’s doing you a favour, which is exactly what EDF tried to do when it took on Green Network customers.

But with Octopus (which isn’t paying me for publicity, by the way), I’ve also managed to switch to their Economy 7 tariff, called Octopus Go, which charges around 14p/kWh during the day but that drops to 5p/kWh between 00:30 – 04:30 every night, representing a massive saving by scheduling the car to charge between those hours — I’ll get to how you can do this with the Range Rover Sport in a minute.

First, it’s worth pointing out that if you are fortunate enough to be able to fit a wallbox charger to your home, with power output of around 7kW or 11kW (which are the standard options today from most installers), charging can take as little as 2.5 hours — easily enough to full charge from empty during the cheaper hours of my tariff. Land Rover has some recommended suppliers, and installation can be arranged through your friendly neighbourhood dealer. As part of the deal, negotiate the optional “Multi-function Charging Cable” (aka a Mode 2 cable, which is the standard at most AC public charging points). You may find a wallbox comes with a “tethered” Type 2 cable, which is more convenient for easy plugging in and unplugging, but a separate cable is an essential purchase anyway for when you’re away from home.

However, I don’t have a home wallbox as it’s impossible to install one at my home (long story but I have had engineers from Chargemaster (now BP Pulse) and Pod Point visit and it would involvecutting holes through my house and lifting slabs in a shared car park managed by our housing estate, which means lots of red tape. So I charge using the three-pin Home Charge cable, which is supplied as standard with the car and plugs directly into a regular wall socket mounted at the end of my garden.

I’m lucky I’m able to do that, though: around 25% of UK drivers are thought to park on the street, or up to 60% in London. If that’s you, don’t run a cable from your house out to the car across pavement — instead, lobby the local council to install chargers on your street. Lamp post chargers are a great idea, and the cables provided with them are linked to your own energy tariff.

Of course, charging via a three-pin socket at 13 amps draws power more slowly than from a dedicated wallbox. At up to around 3kW, a full charge of the P400e takes up to 7.5 hours. That means some of the charge is at my regular 14p/kWh, but I still get at least half at the 5p/kWh rate.

Scheduling should be easy, but I found that setting the “Charge Period” via the Land Rover mobile app wasn’t enough — for some reason the car still started charging any time I plugged in. There is a second option, though, which I set via the vehicle’s touchscreen. Swipe left from the main menu and you get a My EV sub-menu, and from there you can swipe again to set “vehicle departure” times. Basically, you’re telling the car to be ready to go at a certain time each day, and you can adjust it per day of the week (which is handy if you drive to the office three days a week instead of five, for example). You can set the timer for both climate control, so that the car is toasty warm and defrosted when you climb in, or charging.

I have told the car to be charged by 7am each day (adjusted from 5am in the pic below), and combined with the charge period of between 00:30 and 7.30am, that seems to have done the trick. Now when I plug the Home Charge cable into the three-pin socket at the end of my back garden (it was installed by an electrician specifically for the task of charging EVs, so I know it is safe), the car waits until after midnight before actually sucking the juice from its straw. And if you turn up at a public charger and want to charge at any other time? When you switch off the car a message flashes up to ask if you want to charge now, so it’s easy to override ad hoc.

Is it essential to plug in every day? No, not at all, but you’re wasting money if you don’t, not to mention creating unnecessary emissions. I mentioned in a previous post that on long motorway journeys the Range Rover Sport gets about 31mpg. That, or potentially worse around town, would be the norm so you’d be visiting the petrol station fairly regularly. With prices currently at record highs, that’s not a smart choice.

If your employer pays for your fuel then you may be inclined not to bother increasing your home electricity bills, but on your conscience be it — you’re spewing unnecessary carbon into the atmosphere. Shame on you. Instead, come to an agreement with your employer to pay the additional electricity charges, over and above your previous usage, each quarter.

When driving around town, I will always press the EV button to maximise zero emission driving. I actually get a kick from trying to put off visiting petrol stations, not least because I was horrified at the amount of money it cost me the last time I did (which was before the last update, as I’ve not had any really long journeys to make in the last couple of months). I’ll need to fill up again later this week, as I’ll be heading to Oxfordshire to drive a couple of interesting cars, but since my summer holiday I’ve watched the average fuel economy creep up from 37.2mpg at the last update to 46.8mpg today. That’s over the entire 3,038 miles that I’ve driven the car, meaning I’ve burnt 65 gallons of petrol, or 295 litres — around three and a half tanks since July.

I’d love to tell you how many kWh of electricity it’s consumed on top but that’s a bit trickier, as it’s not obvious from the readouts. I’ll compare energy costs from before and after I started running the car and get back to you on that, but a full recharge at 5p/kWh would cost 65.5p and with an official electric range of 25 miles that’s 2.62p per mile. Even if you recharge at a cost of 14p/kWh, that’s still only 7.33p per mile. Now you know why I plug in whenever I can.

One last thing: as expected, the colder weather is impacting range. Whereas I could expect up to 31 miles of electric driving indicated during warmer weeks, the car reckons around 21 miles is more likely when the mercury drops. This is common with battery-electric cars, as the cold plays havoc with the lithium ion chemistry.

Mileage today 6,637 miles
Distance since start 3,038 miles
Indicated long term consumption 46.8mpg

January 5, 2022: What spec and options for the Range Rover Sport?

Let’s say I’ve found a pot of gold behind my sofa and suddenly have the £75,000-plus to buy a Range Rover Sport PHEV. The first thing I’d want to know is how long it would take to be delivered.

The good news is that, as a motoring journalist, I can WhatsApp? someone at Land Rover to get the answer. The bad news is that it’s not good news.

Because of the global shortage of semiconductor microchips, which is plaguing all tech manufacturers (in cars, the semiconductors are part of circuitboards that govern everything from the stability and safety systems to digital displays in the cabin), according to my contact if I were to place an order for a Range Rover Sport P400e today using Land Rover’s online configurator, it could take between nine and 12 months to get to me.

There was a caveat, I was told: it varies from week to week, so it could be sooner or later than that, depending on chip supplies. But I’d need to be prepare for the fact that it could be Christmas 2022 before I got behind the wheel.

UPDATE Jan 28, 2022: Land Rover has now stopped taking orders for the Range Rover Sport due to the semiconductor supply issue, and no doubt also because a new model is reumoured for launch later this year.

Let’s assume that’s not an issue and I’ve found myself on the configurator… what specifications and options would I go for?

Spec is always subjective — that’s why some people insist on driving around in pink cars with eyelashes on the headlights — but having lived with the P400e HSE Silver for a good number of months now, I have some thoughts.

Here are the things I would definitely load onto my own Range Rover Sport, as well as the ones I’d not for out for.

Which trim is best?

Land Rover calls its trim levels “Models” on the configurator, though as far as most people in the industry are concerned, “Range Rover Sport” is the model. What we’re talking about though, is the basic specification of the car before any optional extras are applied, including the exterior paint colour, interior upholstery and on-board technology. I’ll tell you what I’d go for after a walk-through of the four versions.

My test car is in HSE Silver, which is actually the entry-level for the P400e (there’s HSE below that, but only for the least powerful petrol and diesel versions).

Prices start at £75,495, and for that you get Matrix LED headlights, privacy glass (tinted windows to you and me), Windsor leather 16-way heated memory front seats, a heated steering wheel, all-round parking sensors, a reversing camera, Android Auto & Apple Carplay and all the off-road Terrain Response 2 gubbins. It comes with a panoramic sunroof, Meridian Surround Sound stereo and the rear seats are even heated. Basically, it’s not lacking in features.

What could the more expensive trims possibly offer? Well, for an extra £500, the HSE Dynamic model comes with different (but still 21in) alloys. My test car should have 21in “Style 5007, 5 split-spoke Gloss Black with contrast Diamond Turned” wheels, though I asked for the HSE Dynamic’s Gloss Sparkle Silvers to be fitted instead, mainly because I was worried about taking the part-black alloys off-road (that will be my final update on the car, so stay tuned) and marking them.

HSE Dynamic also gets illuminated door sills and some different materials inside as standard: a citrus headlining and ebony black leather interior. Again, my car borrows the HSE Dynamic’s spec here: an ebony interior, which can be optioned on the HSE Silver at no extra cost to replace the Ivory headlining and seats.

Weirdly, the HSE Dynamic loses the front centre refrigerated compartment; that’s available on all other trims, including the HSE Silver. Everything else is basically the same.

Then there’s the HSE Dynamic Black, available for just over £4,000 more than the HSE Silver. If you want a “murdered out” version of the Range Rover Sport, this is the one to go for, as it includes the Black Exterior Pack, with black paint and wheels (21in or 22in), rear privacy glass (tinted windows). Even the badging, vents and grille are blacked out. And, of course, it comes with the ebony interior.

Top of the range (rover?) is the Autobiography Dynamic, from £86,675, which naturally gets all the trimmings: unique alloys up to 22in; an opening panoramic roof; posher seats with cooling as well as heating, extra adjustment and plush, winged headrests; an extended leather pack with ebony “suedecloth” headlining; thicker carpets; three-zone climate control (all the others have two-zone as standard) and some extra driver aids.

If you’re wondering what the “Dynamic” means on the versions above HSE Silver, I’m waiting for confirmation from Land Rover but judging by the press material available, I can’t see any dynamic difference at all. HSE Silver also comes with a Dynamic drive mode, which governs the suspension and electronic active differential with torque vectoring (which brakes the inside wheels through a corner, to help the car turn).

Sorry, a lot of words here but it helps explain why, really, I would be quite happy with the HSE Silver version. Especially as getting the ebony interior is a no-cost option. But there are a couple of options I’d go for.

The options to pay for (and the ones to ignore)

So assuming you’re getting the HSE Silver… of the cost options fitted to the car there’s one I wouldn’t want to do without. For £220, the heated, electric folding, memory door mirrors with approach lights and auto-dimming on the driver side definitely seems worth it. It means that when your partner borrows the car, everything (including the mirrors) can be set to their preferred setting automatically via the memory function. Then reset when you get back in.

And having the side mirror dim when someone is following behind with full beam headlights is excellent for avoiding being dazzled on a dark winter night.

Nearly £900 for silver metallic paint? I’m not saying it’s overpriced – it’s a nice shade, for sure – but I might be just as happy with the standard Fuji White paintwork. Perhaps not with keeping it clean, mind you.

I personally would have liked the HSE Silver’s ivory interior, though the black version costs nothing extra, if you want it, so if you’re worried about dirt and marks it’s probably worth it, for sure. But the Ebony Morzine headlining is £330 – not for me, thanks.

For £490, you get the three-zone climate control. That’s extra comfort for rear passengers but my small children like to play with the dials using their feet, so I find I have to readjust the rear temperature via the front touchscreen, anyway, to prevent a war between the extreme temperature in the rear and the moderate settings in the front. Maybe one to go for if you’re more likely to transport older children or adults.

The last of the options on my test car is the Drive Pack, which includes a blind spot monitor, driver condition monitor, traffic sign recognition and adaptive cruise control. All useful but for £520, I might give that one a miss, too, as the standard safety kit is pretty good.

There are plenty of others to plump for on the configurator, mind you. I might consider the heated and cooled front seats for £545 – a godsend when it’s hot. Can also ventilate the rear seats if that’s a priority.

The Meridian Signature Sound System is a step up from the base Meridian stereo, and yeah, that would be fantastic, but for £4,435 it’s a tough one to justify. If you have kids, though, the Entertainment Pack with built-in TV, 8in rear seat displays and a domestic three-pin plug socket could be really useful on long journeys. That’s £2,210 at present, so you might want to go for tablet holders instead, but the built-in system is cable-free and looks much neater. You also get the plusher winger front headrests as part of the package.

I might also consider the 360-degree cameras, as it does make manoeuvring such a big car easier in tight spaces. I’ve had no problems so far but I recently tried a Volvo XC90 with 360 cameras (more on that next time) and it reminded me how brilliant those systems are. If you want wade sensing, the 360 cameras and dimming side mirrors will be added, too, for a total cost £1,250.

The Advanced Tow Assist for an additional £185 (assuming you have the 360 cameras) will be useful for anyone with trailers, too.

Mileage today 7,619 miles
Distance since start 4,021 miles
Indicated long term consumption 44.8mpg

If you’d like to ask me a question about the car, please do comment below; I try to check comments every week. I’m taking a break from Twitter until they get serious about trolling, which I’ve been fortunate to avoid but from which many others suffer.

January 28, 2022 Oh, bugger: An off-roading high followed by reliability low (final report)

It had all been going so well. A visit to the Land Rover Experience off-road centre at Eastnor Castle, on the Welsh border, had been eye-opening. The Range Rover Sport had performed faultlessly around the punishing route – the same one used as a proving ground for all Land Rover models since 1961. Tough inclines, steep descents, side slopes, deep (and I mean deep) wading pools – the P400e brushed them all off without breaking a sweat. And all on its regular road tyres.

All customers are offered a free half-day off-roading experience, whether they’re buying a new, nearly-new or approved used car. It’s a great perk and really shows what the cars can do when the going gets tough. Normally, customers would be driving one of the fleet of cars maintained by the experience centre but I had insisted on using my extended test car, which is quite normal for journalists, I was told. It makes sense, as you know that the car you’re driving hasn’t been modified in any way to suit the off-roading course.

In the wrap of the video I was filming (which is to follow), I waxed lyrical about how brilliant the P400e had been during my near-seven months with it, both on-road and – as had just been proven – off it. The only problem I had with the car, I concluded, was that it was being collected by Land Rover the following week.

Those proved to be fateful words, as it turned out, as within a few hours I was standing by the side of the M4 looking at a very sick car.

The first sign of trouble was when I returned to the Land Rover Experience centre after my 4×4 excursion to plug in at a charging point. “High Voltage System not available,” the digital driver’s display warned me. Huh. Was it because I had drowned it in the off-road course’s wading pools? Maybe it just needs a moment to dry out?

Definitely not, I was told as I handed over the keys to one of the Land Rover team; the Range Rover Sport can go anywhere the Discovery and Defender can, I was told, and its wading depth is 850mm (see the same figure as quote on the JLR website below).

During the filming I had queried this, too, and with one eyebrow raised asked, “Even the plug-in hybrid?” Yes, I was assured – the high voltage system is a sealed unit, with no chance of water ingress, so the wading depth is exactly the same.

Before returning to the experience centre the car was given a thorough jet wash, but that couldn’t have caused the initial warning to flash up, surely? That would be ridiculous.

A short time later I was handed back the keys. All seemed to be working, I was told, and it was on charge. Except when I returned to the car to set off home I noticed it hadn’t been charging at all.

Mind you, the car hadn’t charged when I first arrived, either, which makes it hard to determine if the issue was related to the off-roading, or one that had started to occur on the drive to Eastnor. I had initially assumed the charging point was faulty, because that’s the most common problem when using public chargers and I’ve not had any issues when plugging in elsewhere.

The beauty of a hybrid, of course, is that even if you can’t get a charge, it has an engine and petrol tank. Maybe all will be well when I get home, after a blast down the motorway. As I left Eastnor, I pressed the battery Save button via the Touch Pro Duo infotainment screen, to make sure I had some juice left when I reached to my home town (it was reading just over a quarter full).

Just over an hour later, shortly after joining the M4 near Swindon, the throttle pedal went limp and another warning popped up: “Gearbox fault detected.” Ah, that really doesn’t sound good, I thought.

The following messages are hazy in my memory but I believe I was told to put the car in Neutral, which I did, and the car continued coasting along the carriageway.

Can I now get it back in Drive, I wondered? No dice, so I pulled onto the hard shoulder (thank god it wasn’t a smart motorway section) and stopped, then tried the old IT Crowd switch it off and on trick. That didn’t help – the car found no gears, and more warnings were beginning to appear on the digital driver’s display, including one for a suspension fault.

I had just enough time to take a couple of pics of them before launching myself into the passenger seat (no easy task in the Range Rover, I discovered) and out of the car on the near-side, away from the live traffic. Having read and written news stories about how dangerous the hard shoulder can be, I knew I had to get out of the car as a priority.

The AA was helpful at first. After handing over my details, I received a callback within a minute or two from Land Rover Assist, which, it later became clear, is run by the AA. That’s efficient, I thought, but given that I’m on a motorway, it’s unsurprising that I‘d be a priority.

The recovery truck arrived 25 mins later. As I had imagined, Alex, the driver, had trouble getting the Range Rover Sport P400e on the ramps, because it has both electronic four-wheel drive and an electric motor connected to all four wheels (one of the cool things about off-roading that day was finding that you can do so silently in EV mode, using the low range transmission).

Even getting the plastic skid plates under the wheels was difficult, due to the car’s substantial weight. But after 12 minutes (which is an age when you’re on the hard shoulder of a motorway – recovery service workers truly are heroes who put their lives on the line) we were away.

Sadly, this isn’t where the bad news ends. Alex didn’t drive me home, he dropped me at Membery Services, which was the next turning off the M4. The AA patrol would be with me in about half an hour, Alex said, to see if they can get the car started. If not, they’d get me home.

Before he left I asked, “Just out of interest, I hear a lot about Land Rover reliability but do you do a lot of Land Rover rescues?”

He laughed. “Oh, yes. Sometimes I do four or five a day.”

Four or five a day?! That can’t be right, can it? It’s still a comment that boggles my mind.

Sadly, it’s backed up by Which? The consumer organisation’s most recent car reliability report, based on a survey of owners, warns it is the least reliable make of car out there and warns: “Do you enjoy spending time in mechanics’ waiting rooms? Then Land Rover is the brand for you.”

Which found the average fault rate for cars less than three years old across all carmakers is 23%, and the breakdown rate is 3.3%, but 40% of Land Rover owners with a car aged less than three years old had to report to a garage in the last year, with 5.5% (or just over one in twenty people) experiencing a complete breakdown.

The report can be found here but common faults involved software, problems with the exhaust/ emission system, engine management system (ECU), and batteries that depleted before their time.

And faults increase as the cars get older, accoridn to Which?, so anyone buying one that is between three and eight years old should make sure they have breakdown cover.

Speaking of which, 45 minutes after Alex left me at Membery Services, I called the AA. “Yes, we can see the patrol is 30 minutes away,” I was told.

An hour later I was still sitting in the car, with the high voltage battery now completely flat and the 12v system draining. There was no heating as the car wouldn’t start. The dashboard was still telling me everything that was faulty: gearbox; stability systems; adaptive cruise control; engine temperature sensor; hill descent control.

I called the AA again and was put on hold for a long time. “Hello, er, yes I don’t know what’s happened here but you’re not down on our system at the moment, so no-one is scheduled to come to you. I’m just speaking with Land Rover Assist to find out what happened.”

Brilliant. Long story short, a taxi was arranged to pick me up and take me home, with the Range Rover to be collected the following day.

I was asked me to leave its keys with someone behind a counter somewhere at the service station. Amusingly, the people working at WH Smith were well versed in this procedure, and even had special plastic baggies for the key fobs of stranded motorists. The bags weren’t Land Rover branded, I noted.

As I knew I was unlikely to ever see the car again, I had cleared it of all my possessions, including child seats, dashcam and so on. I tried the start button a couple more times and noticed the instrument display would turn on, then power off again immediately. It was like witnessing the car take its last breaths.

The taxi took another 45 minutes. I had left Eastnor at around 4.30pm, expecting to arrive home at 7pm, but it would be a quarter past midnight before I got to my front door.

Land Rover has just revealed details of its new plug-in hybrid Range Rover. The official electric range is 70 miles, which is very impressive compared with this car’s 31 miles, and no doubt the next Range Rover Sport, due (it has been reported) later this year, will have greatly increased electric range, too.

“The car had been a delight to run for half a year… right up until the point that it stopped working, rather catastrophically.”

And my test car has been a delight to run for the last half year… right up until the point that it stopped working, rather catastrophically.

You might think a car breaking down is exactly what a motoring journalist wants: something interesting and exciting to write about; a chance to show we’re not in hock to the car industry. But I’m also a car enthusiast, and reporting on an otherwise excellent machine eating itself is the last thing I want to do. It brings a bad taste to my mouth.

That’s particularly true of the Range Rover Sport. Back at the beginning of the test I hinted at Land Rover’s reputation for reliability, and said I’d pull no punches if something went wrong along the way. But I was hoping above all hopes that I’d be able to say it gave me no trouble at all. And for more than six months it ran faultlessly. That it went wrong with a few days left before I handed it back, and the brand lived up to its reputation, is deeply disappointing.

I want to thank Land Rover for the loan of the car, though. Its press team has been incredibly helpful throughout the test and they were very apologetic about the breakdown. At no point was I asked to hide what has happened, and they understood when I said I would have to report the experience truthfully.

They’ve also investigated what went wrong with the car and sent me the following, brief explanation:

“The Range Rover Sport used suffered a loose earthing cable which caused the issue. This is not a common issue and is an isolated occurrence.”

They were also horrified to learn about my experience with Land Rover Assist and promised it has been taken up with the team at the AA. It’s especially concerning for them as my test car’s numberplate is on a list of VIP cars, I was told, something I wasn’t aware of when I called for assistance.

It’s the people in charge of quality control within the engineering teams who really need to pull their fingers out, in my opinion, especially in the run-up to delivering new Range Rover models later this year and next. This particular fault may not be common, and it may well be an isolated occurrence, but the bigger picture, as revealed by Which?, is stark. Reliability does seem to be a big problem.

Land Rover brand loyalty is incredibly high, which means that there’s a lot of leeway when things go wrong, but customer retention and acquisition must be greatly stunted when reports of poor reliability just keep coming.

Final odometer reading 7,980 miles
Miles covered during test 4,382 miles
Indicated average fuel economy at end of test 39.7mpg
Average prior to Eastnor trip 44.9mpg

This extended test has now concluded. If you’d like to ask a question about the car, please do comment below, but I shall stop checking comments in the next few weeks. I’m also taking a break from Twitter until they get serious about trolling, which I’ve been fortunate to avoid but from which many others suffer.

If you are enjoying this review of the Range Rover Sport P400e plug-in hybrid and want to read more of our long-term car reviews, click here
You might also be interested in the all-new Range Rover for 2022, which gets upgraded hybrid power, ultra luxury and a date for pure-electric version
And here’s why Jeremy Clarkson thinks the Volkswagen Touareg R is the closest competitor to the Range Rover

The post Extended Test: 2020 Range Rover Sport PHEV review appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

Extended test: Vauxhall Mokka SRi Nav Premium review 2021

Tue, 04 Jan 2022 11:20:00 +0000

Model Vauxhall Mokka SRi Nav Premium 1.2 130PS Turbo Auto
Price From £27,455 OTR
Price with options £27,775 OTR
Colour White Jade
Cost options fitted Brilliant Paint: White Jade (£320)
Engine 1,199cc, 3-cylinder, petrol
Power output 128bhp at 5,500rpm
Torque 169 lb ft at 1,750rpm
Weight 1,740kg (gross)
Towing capacity 1,200kg (braked)
Luggage capacity 350 / 1,105 litres (seats up/ down)
Top speed 124mph
0-62mph 7.5sec
Fuel consumption (WLTP combined cycle) 47.1mpg – 47.9mpg
CO2 emissions (WLTP) 137g/km
VED (road tax) £220 for first year; £150 thereafter
BIK tax payable (2020/21) 30%; £1,685 (20%) or £3,370 (40%)
Insurance group 18E

Test Details

Test period May — November 2021
Starting mileage 1,097 miles

Updates

June 10, 2021 Introduction the Vauxhall Mokka
August 2, 2021 What’s the Vauxhall Mokka like to drive?
September 15, 2021 The Mokka’s masterstrokes and misfires
November 12, 2021 Looking at the Mokka vs rivals
January 4, 2022 What trim and options to go for?

June 10: Introducing the Vauxhall Mokka

You’ll probably recognise the new Vauxhall Mokka. Stellantis, Vauxhall’s new(ish) parent company, has seemingly ploughed its entire advertising budget into ensuring that it’s the new car we hear about and see the most: there are billboards, radio ads, glossy pages in magazines and a confusing TV advert featuring some nightmarish pigeon/ human monstrosities that kept popping up when I was trying to watch old episodes of Love Island the other day.

And to be honest, its prominence is understandable: the Mokka — previously called the Mokka X — used to be an ill-proportioned (albeit best-selling) lump of a car, whose snout always reminded me somewhat of a pitbull’s from a certain angle. Now, however, it is a handsome, proud and assertively stylish compact crossover — more sightly, I’d say, than any of its competitors, including the similarly-styled Peugeot 2008 on which it is based. A few people at the pub across from my parking spot have even posited that it has a certain Evoque vibe to it. Just don’t tell Land Rover that, for goodness sake.

The new Mokka is based on the GT X Experimental concept from 2018, and, aside from some of the more outré elements like Meriva-esque suicide doors and lack of B-pillars, the production model adheres to the concept an impressive amount — highlights include quirkily designed wheels pushed out to the edge of the silhouette, the new-era “Vauxhall Vizor” front fascia and a swoosh of colour that begins just in front of the A-pillar and ends at the rear of the car. You can even specify the black bonnet from the concept, if you wish, though that option doesn’t yet seem to be available on Vauxhall- (rather then Opel) badged versions of the car.

There are four colours to choose from in this bells-and-whistles SRi Nav Premium spec — quartz grey, which comes free, then Jade White (jade is usually green, isn’t it?), Diamond Black (diamonds are usually colourless, aren’t they?) and Power Red, all of which will cost you an extra £320.

The Jade White in which our test car is painted looks great, and definitely adds to the Evoque look those pub patrons were on about, though my favourite colour is the new and verdant Mamba Green. However, for now at least, that colour seems to only be available in the more spartan SE spec.

Overall, it’s top marks to Vauxhall’s design team for what I’d say has been a successful and dramatic change in Vauxhall’s aesthetic ethos, but part of me does wonder how well the car will age, and whether or not I’ll tire of the abundance of red accenting as my time with the Mokka goes on.

Having said that, there’s a 2017 Citroën C3 with a white-and-red colour scheme parked around the corner from me, and I think that’s ageing very well, despite its fussy design.

The Mokka comes in three flavours: petrol, diesel and electric. Living in central London, I don’t have access to a home charger, and racing every plug-in car in the local area to the only street charger on my road isn’t super high on my to-do list. And although, being Euro 6 compliant, the diesel Mokka doesn’t have to pay charges in London’s Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ), diesels are — to put it mildly — dwindling in popularity. Trusty old petrol it is, then. However, if you do want to find out more about the electric Mokka, you can do so in Driving.co.uk editor Will Dron’s review of the car.

Living in central London means I have little use for a car day-to-day — the city’s overlords, through an expansion of bike lanes and a series of charges that will make your wallet wince (although this car, as a modern petrol, is ULEZ-approved) have succeeded in making driving in London an abjectly dehumanising experience, and it’s far quicker, easier and cheaper to use the tube or other public transport (you will never catch me on a bicycle) to see friends or travel to work — the latter of which I haven’t done in more than a year anyway.

However, I have a few friends on the outskirts of London and in surrounding areas, while my family live a three or four hour drive away in Cheshire. Also, now that we’re allowed to mingle throughout the nation, I’ve got plans to see friends further afield, as well as plans for a trip up to Scotland, as long as Nicola Sturgeon doesn’t stick a thistle through those.

My mum is also moving house next month, which will give me opportunity to test the Mokka’s efficiency as a practical vehicle — on paper, the boot size is between 350 litres (rear seats up) and 1,105 litres (rear seats down), which puts the Mokka at the stingier end of its segment.

So I’ll be using the car mostly to potter around north London, with trips every month or so up the M1. That means that I’ll be paying particular attention not only to its performance as a city car, but also as a motorway cruiser. A good starting point is that Vauxhall’s designers have reduced drag at motorway speeds by 16%, which improves fuel efficiency and reduces wind noise.

My initial drives, which have included a visit back up north to see family and friends, have been mostly positive experiences — the cabin of the Vauxhall is a nice place to be, the infotainment system is fairly easy to use, and the relative lack of wind noise, good fuel efficiency and adaptive cruise control mean that I’ve been mightily impressed with the Vauxhall as a long-distance option. However, I’ll focus more specifically on what the Mokka is like to drive in a later installation of this review.

There have been a few early drawbacks. Firstly, and most annoyingly, is that it’s not obvious how to open the boot without using the button on the key fob, which is infuriating if you’ve got armfuls of stuff to put in there. There must be a way — I’m sure you’ll let me know in the comments below — but why is it so hidden?

Furthermore, one of my housemates took one look at the rear seats and decided they’d be flying up to Scotland in July, but to be honest I wouldn’t expect any compact SUV’s rear seats to comfortably house a nearly-6ft person for a seven hour trip — and he’d get annoying after that amount of time anyway, so Vauxhall has done me a favour, really. To be honest, I think space back there is satisfactory, if not generous. But I’m not the one who has to sit there.

Mileage today 1,720 miles
Distance since start 623 miles
Average consumption 43.4mpg

As always with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via my Twitter account or in the comments below.

Tweet to @KieranAhuja Follow @KieranAhuja

August 2: What’s the Vauxhall Mokka like to drive?

I’ve had the Mokka for a couple of months now and have put a couple of thousand miles on the clock, so I’m getting a more rounded picture of what it’s like to drive.

This isn’t designed to be a driver’s car. People who want to throw a car around country lanes aren’t likely to be making a trip to their local Vauxhall dealership for a compact crossover.

But that’s fine, of course. The Mokka is a car made to be easy to drive — and it is. The majority of my journeys have been straight up the M1 towards where my parents live, meaning that most of my time in the Mokka has been spent either cruising on the motorway or crawling through North London traffic, and I’ve barely had to lift a finger. The adaptive cruise control has meant that once I get onto the M1, I can drive for nearly 90 miles barely having to touch the accelerator pedal.

Adaptive cruise control, for anyone unfamiliar, works very much like traditional cruise control, in that you set a speed and the car maintains it without the need for a foot on the accelerator. However, thanks to sensors positioned around the car, it can sense the vehicle in front and automatically adjust speed in order to stay a safe distance away.

I know this isn’t exactly the stuff of driving folklore, but it makes motorway driving, usually a tedious experience, an absolute breeze. Depending on how much motorway driving you’re doing, this alone might convince you to splash out £27,455 on the SRi Nav Premium spec.

However, not all of the Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) are as welcome — namely, the Lane Departure Warning, which as you may predict, is installed to alert you when you’re drifting out of your lane. It’s a noble task, but it does result in a lot of annoying jolts from the steering wheel. Thankfully, it’s easily turned off by pressing and holding a button on the console.

Other niggles about the driving experience include the fact that, once the petrol level gets into the red, the Mokka begins to beep at you every minute or so, which will simply irk some drivers, and in others will provoke nothing short of panic. However, it is good incentive to not let your fuel levels drop too low.

Overall, motorway driving in the Mokka is a nice and tranquil experience. This is augmented by the fact that its ride is suitably (if not mind-blowingly) supple, and while I haven’t driven the electric version, in his review Driving.co.uk editor Will Dron reckoned the electric model was even more comfortable.

There’s also an impressively low level of wind noise, meaning — despite the rather loud carbon and red accents — the cabin of the Mokka is a serene place to be. When accelerating, the 1.2 litre engine reminds you of its presence with a yelp (although it does also remind you that it’s a three-cylinder), but it settles back into silence within seconds.

There are three predictable driving modes on the Mokka: Eco, Normal and Sport. Of course, the car defaults to Normal when you switch it on, but I like to switch to Eco when I drive, if I can remember. There isn’t an option to mix-and-match features of each driving mode (e.g. set the steering to Sport and the suspension to Normal), as you will find in some other cars (many VW Group models have an “Individual” mode).

Due to a series of pings within my friendship group, the trip to Scotland I mentioned in my last update didn’t work out, but I went to Ross-on-Wye a few weeks ago with family for a few days, which offered me the chance to try a couple of windier roads, which aren’t North London’s forte.

With low expectations I tried the Sport mode for this, and found myself turning it off again fairly quickly — although the heightened aggression, with more responsive throttle and steering, aren’t exactly unwelcome, this car feels much more at home in either of its other modes.

I was pleasantly surprised, however, by how well the Mokka responded to being thrown into sharp bends. While comparing the new Mokka with the old one feels like a bit of an easy ride for the new model, it is 120kg lighter than its predecessor, and body rigidity has been improved by 15%, which goes up to around 30% on the electric model.

This means that the handling is comparatively keen, and body roll is kept to a minimum. While I wouldn’t go as far as to call the steering communicative, it’s definitely not numb, and it’s sharp and accurate. This isn’t the most fun car to drive in its claustrophobic segment — titles like that are often handed to the Ford Puma — but the Mokka does more for driving enjoyment than you might expect.

I also helped my mum move house last weekend. Her new home is located in a town which seems to be situated entirely on a very steep hill, and I wondered if filling the Mokka with 1,105 litres of heavy boxes would prove tricky — especially in relation to its automatic gearbox.

However, I was again impressed: not only could I fit more of my mother’s possessions into the Mokka than I expected, the car mountaineered to her new house with aplomb. The automatic gearbox keeps up well, which is something I’ve also found when going for overtakes — I’ve never found myself stuck on the other side of the road in too high a gear for more than a heartbeat.

In other developments, after around a month with the car, I finally figured out how to open the boot without using the key: there’s a physical button just above the number plate. I find this an odd place to put it — it’s a part of the car that’s likely to get a bit dirty and grimy, and it’s not a place you’d immediately think to look. And as far as I’m aware, there’s still no way to open the boot from inside the cabin.

Mileage today 2,810 miles
Distance since start 1,713 miles
Average consumption 46.2mpg

As always with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via my Twitter account or in the comments below.

Tweet to @KieranAhuja Follow @KieranAhuja

September 15, 2021: The Mokka’s masterstrokes and misfires

Now that the Mokka and I have been scuttling up and down the M1 for three months or so, I’m ready to talk about its good and bad bits — and this car has plenty of both.

I want to preface this by echoing what a number of other journalists have said already: the Mokka has got to be one of the most-improved cars we’ve seen in years. No one can deny the success of the previous generation (in its most popular year, 2015, 44,200 were registered, according to Statista) but for me it’s a bit like Crocs or films starring Kevin James — people pay for them in droves but no-one really knows why.

This turnaround is no more evident than in its looks. I waxed lyrical about the new Mokka’s visuals in the first entry of this review but a small part of me thought that its lustre would fade — not so much in its silhouette but in the details; the generous use of red accenting, the fake carbon fibre in the cabin, etc.

But if I’m honest, it hasn’t. I know this is old hat now but I’m still astounded by the upgrade that Vauxhall has managed and that the Mokka has heralded. It still looks as striking to me as it did back in May when it turned up at my house, and by the looks of Vauxhall’s even more recent work — I’m talking to you, Manta GSe — the brand’s designers show no signs of letting up soon.

Recently I spotted a Mokka sporting Voltaic Blue paint, which was rather dashing, too (although confusingly, like Mamba Green, it’s only available in the most basic SE spec). And it truly is hard to understate how meh the Mokka looked before.

Moving away from the looks — though I could dwell further — I’ve been extremely impressed with the SRi Nav Premium spec of our test car. Admittedly, even if you get it on a car with the dinky 1.0-litre, 98bhp engine, it’s an extra three grand or so over the most basic version, taking the Mokka from being quite a cheap car (by modern standards) to being a “well, that’s quite a lot for a Vauxhall” sort of car.

However, the various bits and bobs that comprise the SRi Nav premium are what have made the Mokka such a breeze to drive over the past few months. The 180° view reversing camera makes parallel parking a breeze, while the adaptive cruise control — as I noted in my last instalment of this review — makes toddling around the nation’s motorway network a piece of cake.

It also feels remarkably solid most of the time; despite it’s rather outré design, at its heart is what feels like a quietly sturdy bit of kit. I haven’t for a second felt that it’s not up to the task of road humps, potholes or rutted lanes.

Euro NCAP, the folks classed as the authority on vehicle safety, go some way in agreeing with this assessment. They recently awarded the Mokka a four-star rating — it got maximum points in the side barrier impact test, and was rated “good or adequate” for all critical body regions in the full-width rigid barrier impact test.

Testers rated its protection against whiplash highly, too, although there were also bad points — the test dummy was thrown across the car more than Euro NCAP would have liked in the event of a side impact (central airbags are now required for top scores), and its chest didn’t fare too well in frontal impacts. Protection for adult occupants was rated at 73%, and protection of child occupants was 75%.

While the Mokka has felt reliable most of the time, there is one source of unwanted unpredictability: the Lane Departure System. As I’ve said previously, I understand the need for it, and on motorway trips, having it is undeniably a useful thing.

However, on less well-marked roads, like country lanes, I’ve noticed that it has a tendency to get confused and randomly pull the car to one side — it’s not super dramatic and I imagine the various sensors on the car would prevent you from being dragged into oncoming traffic, but it’s definitely unnerving when it happens. Luckily, press and hold a button and the system is disabled.

A button the absence of which is noted, though, is one that opens the boot from the cabin, although that matters less now that I’ve found the button at the back of the car that opens it.

There’s also no denying that the Mokka’s design has been overhauled to make it more pretty, rather than more practical. While the Mokka X was an unappealing blob, it was at least practical — it was more spacious than most of its rivals (I’ll talk about how the new Mokka measures up to its compatriots in a future review), there was plenty of interior storage, and it was generally a practical option for a small family.

However, this has worsened in the new Mokka, rather than improved, which unsurprisingly isn’t usually how it goes when a car maker chooses to update a model. Space at the front is ample, with a decently sized glovebox and door pockets, and although I’m not tall, I can’t imagine even the tallest of drivers having too much of an issue getting in.

That’s about the only part of the car where the use of “ample” is apt, though. Every passenger I’ve had in the rear seats has moaned about lack of room, and boot space is similar to the Mokka X, at 350 litres (down from 356 litres), which, while generous in the era of the Mokka X, now feels stingy in a world of ever-growing cars.

In fact, the Mokka has a bit of a reverse-tardis quality — it looks remarkably large when you look at it from outside but seems to shrink a little once you’re inside.

In the grand scheme of things, these are small qualms, though. When it comes down to it, the Mokka has piqued and retained my interest, which is more than I can say for any Vauxhall that has come out for a long, long time.

Mileage today 3,522 miles
Distance since start 2,425 miles
Average consumption 45.5mpg

As always with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via my Twitter account or in the comments below.

Tweet to @KieranAhuja Follow @KieranAhuja

November 12, 2021 Looking at the Mokka vs rivals

Now that the Mokka and I are edging towards the end of our time together, my mind is naturally turning to the thought of whether or not I’d buy one over the multitude of other well-priced small SUVs currently on the market, so in this installation I’m going to compare it to some of its main rivals.

I should preface this by saying that I can’t speak to how well all of them drive, having not tested them all, so I’m going to stick to cold, hard facts. Riveting, I know.

Now, say what you want about the old Mokka (you may already know my thoughts based on previous installations of this review), but it was practical — after all, people weren’t buying it based on its handsome looks or charming handling.

The Mokka X’s boot was one of the biggest you could get in a small SUV when it came out, boasting 356 litres with the seats up and 1,372 when the rear seats were folded down. In the new and improved Mokka (sans X), however, that has decreased to 350 litres with the seats up and 1,105 with the seats folded.

Model	Price from	Length	Boot space (seats up)
Vauxhall Mokka	£21,835	4,151mm	350 litres
Renault Captur	£20,590	4,227mm	404 litres
Nissan Juke	£19,200	4,210mm	422 litres
Mini Countryman	£25,305	4,299mm	450 litres
Ford Puma Titanium	£20,415	4,186mm	456 litres
Seat Arona	£20,040	4,145mm	400 litres

Now I salute Vauxhall for resisting the urge to make the updated Mokka bigger, and granted, it’s unlikely that you’re going to notice the six-litre deficit while the seats are up. But 267 fewer litres with them down? That’s noticeable, despite Vauxhall’s insistence in its press material that “boot capacity remains nearly identical to the previous Mokka iteration”.

Also noticeable is that number’s inadequacy compared to the luggage space of other small SUVs — as you can see from my handy table above, the Renault Captur, Nissan Juke, Mini Countryman and Ford Puma all have far more space when the seats are down (1,295 litres, 1,305 litres, 1,390 litres and 1,216 litres respectively), and even the dinky little Seat Arona has more space with all the seats up.

In fact, a whole host of cars that opt to label themselves “superminis” have bigger boots: the VW Polo has 351 litres and the Hyundai i20 has 352. Incremental, I know, but it illustrates my point.

The weird thing, though, is that you don’t get this impression when you’re at the wheel; the front cabin is so capacious you forget that you’ve only managed to get one bag for life in the boot and that your rear passengers have lost feeling in their legs. Of course, if you really care about luggage space, get an estate.

And to rub salt into the wound, the Mokka is also more expensive than most of its competitors, with its price starting at £21,835. The Captur, Juke, Puma and Arona all have lower starting prices, and not to offend, but people won’t exactly pay a premium for a Vauxhall badge.

In fact, the only model in the little table above that is more expensive than the Mokka is the Mini Countryman, which is a significantly bigger car, packing 100L more boot space and a badge for which people are willing to fork out a bit extra.

Of course, starting prices aren’t always an indicator of value, but if you compare what you get as standard between the Vauxhall Mokka SE, the most expensive base model in the list at £21,835, and the Nissan Juke Visia, the price of which starts at just £19,200, I’m not sure there’s £2,635 of difference. They both get modern safety features like lane departure warnings, they both get air conditioning, they both get 16in wheels — the only major difference in the Mokka is that the interior is more techy.

Next, economy: Vauxhall claims that the petrol Mokka I’ve been testing, which has a slightly uprated engine compared to that of the base model (128bhp rather than 98bhp) can achieve up to 47.9mpg with an automatic gearbox. If you opt for the manual configuration, that jumps up to a maximum of 51.4mpg.

My most recent check of the Mokka’s dashboard revealed that I’ve averaged 45.5mpg over my time with it, and to be honest that’s far closer to Vauxhall’s claims than I’d been expecting: I reckon I’ve spent around 70% of my time in it on motorways, which as we all know isn’t the best place for a car to be if you’re trying to squeeze as many mpgs as you can out of it. In this respect, I’ve been impressed.

I know this is all stacking up to be pretty damning, and I don’t mean it to be: I’ve actually found most of my niggles with the Mokka to be quite minor. If I’m totally upfront, the thing that I’ve hated the most was how long it took me to find out where the boot release button was — I maintain that, although my own incompetence may have had something to do with it, putting it just above the number plate was an odd decision on the part of the designers. As well as being hard to find, it’s also a place that gets easily dirty.

The Mokka I’ve had is also extremely well equipped, handles well and emphatically ticks the box that is most important to many SUV buyers: supplying a commanding driving position and spacious cabin.

It’s also, in my humble opinion, far and away the best looking of the six cars in the table above. I do like the recently evolved Renault Captur, with its muscular contours, and the Ford Puma is something of a looker, too, but there’s something about the sharp edges of the Mokka that I’ve not got bored of.

If I were purchasing one — and to be honest, if I were buying a small SUV, I would consider it — I’d probably get rid of the red accenting, but apart from that I have zero complaints about the design. And I’m not the only one who thinks this — Top Gear magazine recently gave it a design of the year award. However, I’m still annoyed that the Mamba Green colourway isn’t available in this spec.

So no, the Mokka is not a standout winner when compared to the other cars you get in this category. There’s plenty of inadequacies, as well as some odd design choices that I haven’t got over — but it does have character, a bit of brio and, most surprisingly, considering the badge it bears, some swagger, which is more than you can say for many small SUVs.

Mileage today 4,102 miles
Distance since start 3,005 miles
Average consumption 45.5mpg

As always with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via my Twitter account or in the comments below.

Tweet to @KieranAhuja Follow @KieranAhuja

January 4, 2022: What trim and options to go for?

As you may have garnered from the last installation of this review, one of my main qualms with the Mokka is that, with a price tag starting at £21,835, it’s more expensive than some of its key competitors.

And when it comes to the model I’m reviewing, we’re not just talking about the base spec. We’re talking about the SRi Nav Premium, which adds some creature comforts to the interior and, in automatic guise, £6,715 to the price tag.

For your £27,450 you do admittedly get some great features. Heated seats, for example, are one of those things you struggle to say goodbye to once you’ve become accustomed to them; I know Driving.co.uk editor Will Dron has similar feelings about heated steering wheels, which you also get in contemporary versions of the SRi Nav Premium (although mine arrived before that was added to the spec, unfortunately).

The SRi Nav Premium is the third rung up the Mokka ladder. At the bottom you have the SE, which comes with features including a 7in central infotainment system, another 7in screen behind the steering wheel, 16in wheels and a suite of driver assists.

Just above that and costing an extra £3,670 is the SRi, an upgrade that adds two inches to the wheels, more sophisticated driver assist systems, rain-sensitive wipers, the heated seats and my beloved adaptive cruise control (scroll upwards to read my thoughts on that).

The price jump to the next spec — the SRi Nav Premium we have here — depends on which model you go for. If you’re opting for the six-speed manual model with 99bhp then it’s only an extra £205, but if you’re forking out for the automatic that I’ve been testing, then the price difference is a bit more significant — £1,205, to be exact.

For that extra cash, you get an extra 5in of infotainment screen, a front parking sensor, keyless entry and a heated steering wheel, among some other bits.

I have no desire to bore you to death so I’m not going to go into forensic detail about every single spec, but above the SRi Nav Premium there are a few more rungs: Elite Nav, Elite Nav Premium and Ultimate Nav. There was also previously a bells-and-whistles Launch Edition, though it seems that has now sold out.

These more premium specs add a whole load of frankly unnecessary things to the Mokka, including Alcantara seats, alloy sports pedals, a sports switch with engine sound enhancement and massage seats. To me these all seem like completely superfluous features to add to a Vauxhall, considering that at least a part of the initial reason you buy one is because they’re affordable.

The only thing I would be tempted to add from the upper echelons of the spec ladder is a wireless phone charger, which is useful if, like me, you have the annoying combination of a phone that seems to lose charge like a holed bucket does water and a habit of falling asleep without plugging in your phone. However, it’s cheaper for me to simply buy a USB cable and become a bit more organised than to fork out for the Ultimate Nav model.

For me, the sweet spot here is the SRi, which in automatic flavour costs £26,245. Even as I write that, I’m thinking “crikey, that’s a lot for a Vauxhall”, but I’d honestly pay the extra three grand just for the adaptive cruise control. Because the majority of my time driving is spent on the motorway, it’s almost the defining part of my driving experience.

Another feature of the SRi spec that I think many drivers will come to find indispensable is the rear-view camera, which for me is an absolutely crucial bit of kit. I live in central(ish) London, where parking spaces are few and far between, and while I’m not the worst parallel parker in the world, I’m by no means the best.

That means that a camera that shows you how much room you have, and even gives you a decent estimation of how far you are from the pavement using a birds-eye-view simulation, is extremely useful. You also get a rear parking distance sensor, making things even easier. You have to go up another price tier to get the front parking sensor, but I feel like most competent drivers should be able to park without one of those.

And parents will no doubt appreciate the fact that the SRi comes with a pair of rear USB connections, allowing kids to absorb themselves in their tablets and forget about the fact they don’t have much legroom.

The jump I’d be more hesitant to take would be to the SRi Nav Premium spec I’ve been treated to. As I said earlier, that price hike could be smaller depending on which engine and transmission you go for, and if I was going for a less powerful engine and a manual ‘box, then I’d pay an extra couple of hundred quid without hesitation. However, an extra £1,205 for the automatic? I’m unsure.

Those who love a tech-y cabin might think it’s worth the extra cash for the extra 3in of infotainment screen and extra 5in of instrument cluster (plus the extra features that come with those), while those who have to wake up in the dark for their commute might feel it worth it for the heated steering wheel. And it’s undeniably nice being able to enter and start your car without needing to take the keys out of your pocket, although if you’re security-conscious, then this might in itself put you off.

If you’re paying on finance, it’s possible you wouldn’t even notice that extra £1.2k on the bill, but just out of principal I don’t think I could bring myself to pay £27,450 for a petrol Vauxhall Mokka — especially considering that, even if your hands are toasty and your keys are still in your pocket, it’s still a car with a number of flaws.

Mileage today 4,442 miles
Distance since start 3,345 miles
Average consumption 46mpg

As always with our extended tests, you can ask questions at any time via my Twitter account or in the comments below.

Tweet to @KieranAhuja Follow @KieranAhuja

If you enjoyed this extended test review of the 2021 Vauxhall Mokka, check out our other long-term vehicle test reports
You might also want to see what we had to say about the Mokka-e electric car, when we drove it alongside the petrol version
And don’t miss our guide to the b est mid-sized family cars to buy in 2022

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The post Extended test: Vauxhall Mokka SRi Nav Premium review 2021 appeared first on Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times.

Extended tests – Driving.co.uk from The Sunday Times

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