Mason Gibbons

Does a Cadillac Escalade make suitable transport for a mayor or gangster? The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Skoda Superb and Volvo S90 have all been described as gangster cars. We beg to differ Are you a gangster? It seems unlikely. They don’t subscribe to weekly car magazines, or if they do, they don’t enter into much correspondence with us. Perhaps that is understandable, what with all that gangstering. I suppose their days are preoccupied with issues like shooters and pigs – they go through bone like butter, you know – rather than writing to Autocar. Which is a shame, because I could use a gangster’s opinion.  Gangsters need cars, right? If you are one, how do you decide which car to have? Spending frivolously on something inappropriate would be a distinctly ungangsterish thing to do.  The other day I watched a film called Atomic Blonde, in which a dodgy spy – dodgy enough to be 
a gangster of sorts – puts a semi- conscious body into the boot of a Porsche 911 , alongside two flig

Ryan Tuerk is creating a new definition for "daily driven race car." Of course, we're talking about his insane Ferrari-powered Toyota 86, which he took out on public roads to prove it is, in fact, a street car. Dubbed the Toyota GT4586, the car features a donor engine from a Ferrari 458 Italia. Gone is the 86's 2.0-liter flat-4 boxer engine and in...

Owners can receive up to £5000 plus trade-in value of their current car, in the latest trade-in scheme of a growing trend Nissan is offering up to £5000 off the price of its models in a trade-in scheme designed to get higher-polluting cars off the roads.  Following in the recent steps of Volkswagen , Toyota , Hyundai and others, Nissan has announced that it is joining the effort to put the UK’s drivers into less polluting cars through the incentives, which the brand focuses on used Nissan Leafs - it’s offering up to £2000 off approved used 24kWh examples of the electric supermini, plus trade-in value of traded in cars. This equates to a PCP deal of £100 per month. Customers can get up to £3600 off the new Micra and £4500 off the Juke and previous-generation Qashqai , although a lesser saving of £3500 is offered on the new Qashqai.  The biggest discount is the £5000 offered for the current-generation X-Trail, while the new car has a smaller discount of £4000, as the brand attem

Customers can get money off new Volkswagen, Seat, Skoda or Audi, as Volkswagen announces its entries into the industry’s scrappage scheme trend The  Volkswagen  Group has unveiled UK scrappage schemes for all of its mass-market brands, designed to get customers into newer, less polluting cars and out of older cars from the Euro 1-4 classifications.  The schemes cover the Volkswagen and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brands, as well as Audi , Seat and Skoda .  The Volkswagen brand scheme, first hinted at earlier this month by VW when it revealed a similar strategy in Germany, will offer £1800 off a new Up, while the highest saving is reserved for the Sharan and Passat GTE  at £6000. Larger discounts for the brand’s electrified models can also be combined with the Government’s grant for low-emission vehicles. A £5500 scrappage scheme discount combined with the Government’s £4500 OLEV grant can result in a total saving of £10,000 on an e-Golf . Adding in the £2500 Government grant

French car maker launches bPay key to allow owners to use key to purchase items DS is adding contactless payment technology to the key of its 3 Connected Chic model. Like contactless payment cards, the new key fob will be connected to a user’s bank account and limited to £30 worth of spending per day. The Connected Chic model it comes with also gets 17in wheels as standard, automatic climate control and satnav. DS UK boss Mark Blundell said; “At DS we’re always looking at how we can credibly complement our customer’s active lifestyles, where staying connected and being able to easily interact with the world is key. “With the combination of connectivity features integrated into DS 3 Connected Chic models, and the ability to make those must have purchases by using one integrated device – with the DS contactless payment car key, we really feel we have achieved this.” Jaguar will go one step further with its own cashless payment system that’s set to be added to the E-Pace. The ca

Travis Pastrana has been pretty damn good at nearly everything he tries. He's best known for being a pioneer of freestyle motocross and winning motorsports events on two wheels, but he's also quite skilled on four wheels. He has four Rally America championships to his name, the record time for a run up Mount Washington, a Global Rallycross win...

There's a market for off-the-wall, armored, luxury SUVs. Just ask Dartz, which revealed its latest Black Alligator SUV at the 2017 Gumball 3000 rally. It's nearly impenetrable and its posh amenities emulate a Bentley or Rolls-Royce. Now, there's this: the Terradyne Gurkha. Actually, the Gurkha came first. What is a Terradyne Gurkha? It's...

Rolls-Royce released it's seventh-generation Phantom in 2003. In just five years, the automaker produced nearly 5,000 cars. The one above is most likely the only one you'll ever find that hides a Japanese secret. Some absolutely wonderful mad person in Tokyo has decided to came up with a unique solution to an expensive problem. When the car's...

The U.S. House will likely approve a bill next week that would make available more self-driving cars for testing and sales, as well as standardize state rules for easier interstate travel. A similar version for the Senate hasn't been introduced, but it likely faces the same fast-track through Congress and on to President Donald Trump's desk for...

The World Endurance Championship's top-level LMP1 class is in trouble. Porsche decided to leave LMP1 after the 2017 season and Audi left it after the 2016 season. That leaves Toyota as the only manufacturer. The reason for the exodus? It costs close to F1 dollars to have a competitive team. According to Motorsport.com, McLaren boss Zak Brown wants...

Toyota plans to occupy two ends of the SUV spectrum with its two global debuts at the 2017 Frankfurt motor show. The Japanese automaker announced a new Toyota Land Cruiser and a Toyota C-HR hybrid concept will be revealed at the show. Toyota was brief in description but said the C-HR Hy-Power concept previews a future expansion of Toyota's hybrid...

After a short stint with Audi Sport, Stephan Winkelmann will reportedly leave his position as chief of the performance division and be named president of Bugatti. With this move, current Bugatti president, Wolfgang Dürheimer, would step down from Bugatti altogether. The new information comes from Autocar. Volkswagen Group will reportedly make...

De Tomaso has an incredible history that was cut short much too soon. Although plans to revive the Italian sports car marque have been carried out a couple times, nothing has helped return the brand to its former glory. For those looking for one final piece of true De Tomaso history, RM Sotheby's has the crown jewel. This is the De Tomaso Nuova...

Fernando Alonso says accusations he parked a healthy McLaren Formula 1 car at the Belgian Grand Prix surprise him, after Honda revealed there was no problem with his engine

Flush with cash from a major Chinese investor, Detroit Electric is on the verge of announcing a full lineup of electric cars the company plans to launch in the coming years. The historic American brand was revived in 2008 by a former Lotus engineer together with Chinese interests, and has since brought to market an electric sports car based on a...

Toyota is now offering up to £4000 of savings when trading in cars more than seven years' old Toyota is the latest car maker to launch a scrappage scheme in the UK, following in the footsteps of manufacturers such as Ford and Hyundai . The initiative offers savings of up to £4000 when trading in any Toyota model more than seven years’ old and owned by a customer for at least six months. The biggest saving of £4000 can be achieved on a Land Cruiser , while the lowest saving of £1000 is for the  C-HR and C-HR hybrid . Toyota’s well-known Prius Hybrid has a saving of £2000. The full list of savings on individual models is below.  When asked why greener cars such as the Prius and C-HR Hybrid did not offer as big savings as some other models on the scheme, Toyota told Autocar that it had focused its investment on smaller models  because it knows "from previous scrappage schemes that this is where the majority of transactions are likely to be. Hence better deals on Yaris an

Daniel Ricciardo expects to take a grid penalty for the Italian Grand Prix to maximise his Red Bull Formula 1 team's chances at the following race in Singapore

Lewis Hamilton says he plans to extend his Mercedes contract beyond 2018, as part of a plan he has for the rest of his Formula 1 career

Mercedes-Benz has a handful of world premieres pegged for next month’s 2017 Frankfurt auto show. One of them will be a concept previewing a compact electric car from the German automaker’s new EQ sub-brand. BMW, too, will have several premieres. One will be the M8 GTE racecar that will compete in the 2018 World Endurance Championship...

New clutch, tweaked styling and higher-spec standard infotainment for the nine-year-old sports coupé The  Nissan 370Z  sports coupé has been updated for 2018. The main change is the addition of a higher-performance clutch from performance part maker Exedy. Nissan claims this "perfects the downshift" by "reducing pedal effort and increasing gearchange precision".  Mechanically, the rest of the car is unchanged.  On the exterior, subtle tweaks including tinted lights, a new 19in alloy wheel design and a new metallic red paint option. These were revealed earlier this year on the US-market 370Z Heritage edition, which was revealed at the this year's  New York motor show . Inside, the highest-spec infotainment system - a 7.0in touchscreen with sat-nav and a reversing camera  - is now standard on GT models; before it was only standard on the 370Z Nismo.  The refreshed 370Z is now available to order in the UK, priced from £29,185 - the same as the current model w

Upcoming hot variant of the Kodiaq will sport more aggressive styling and power Skoda will launch a hot vRS version of the Kodiaq SUV next year. The variant of the five- and seven-seat machine is still in development, and no details of powertrains are available. However, sources describe the model as having "lots of torque" suggesting the range-topping version could have a diesel engine, as with the Octavia vRS . There is also likely to be a petrol version, like the Octavia vRS, but the focus will likely be on diesel, because the bulk of the Kodiaq market is diesel. It  is expected to have standard four-wheel drive. The Kodiaq vRS will feature some design tweaks to stand out from the standard Kodiaq, which are likely to include more aggressive bumper styling elements and extra trim around the windows and front grilles. The hot Kodiaq is likely to prove popular in Germany and the UK in particular. In Britain, vRS models account for around 20% of Skoda Octavia sales -

Premium makeover for Ford's large SUV fails to turn the Edge into a premium car This is the Ford that is priced well into the £40,000s even before you tick any of the option boxes: the Ford Edge Vignale. That sticks it right at the very top of the Ford range in price and prestige terms, with the likes of the S-Max Vignale, Mustang V8, Focus RS and any Galaxy Titanium X all well behind it.  In theory, the Edge Vignale should hold plenty of appeal in Europe. The market can’t get enough of SUVs and many car makers report that SUV buyers, more than most, are willing to pay for top-spec models. Indeed, SUV buyers have proven themselves to be fairly neutral to badges as well – so long as the car is good enough.The Edge Vignale, as with all other Ford Vignales, has been dipped in Ford’s chrome trim and big alloy machine on the outside, moved to the leather factory for the inside, before heading off to the technology department to heat, power, light and add vision to anything that can aut

Autocar's render of the as yet unseen Skoda crossover The crossover model will sit below the Karoq and Kodiaq in Skoda's SUV family; its styling will sit between an estate and an SUV Skoda will launch a new crossover based on the Volkswagen MQB A0 platform that will sit underneath the Karoq and Kodiaq in the firm's SUV range. The new model is described by as a sister car to the new Rapid Spaceback estate that Skoda will launch in 2019. It is understood it will be pushed firmly as a crossover rather than an SUV, but it will likely follow the Alaskan-inspired naming convention of the Karoq and Kodiaq, and will be styled to ensure it looks part of Skoda's growing SUV family. The new model, which will be built on the same VW Group MQB A0 platform as the similar-sized Seat Arona  and Volkswagen T-Roc, is understood to be a more car-based crossover than Skoda's current two SUVs, and is likely to ride lower and look like a cross between an estate and an SUV. It wi

New methods for testing fuel consumption and emissions should result in findings closer to those you can achieve on the road. Here’s how the tests work On 1 September, two new European tests will come into force, which should result in official fuel consumption and emissions figures being far closer to reality than they are today. The tests, WLTP (Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicles Test Procedure) and RDE (Real Driving Emissions), will complement each other and replace the NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) designed in the 1980s and introduced in 1996.  Like the NEDC, the WLTP is a laboratory-based procedure, but the speeds and types of driving during the test cycle far more closely resemble how a car is driven in the real world compared with its predecessor. The advantage of laboratory-based tests is that they are carried out in controlled conditions and the results should be identical between one test and another regardless of the location. The disadvantage - and one that the Eur

Cars will be tested on urban and rural roads, as well as motorways The 90-minute test will replace existing lab-based evaluations from tomorrow onwards A new real-world test for diesel vehicles will begin tomorrow, to more accurately measure emissions of vehicles sold in Britain. Starting from 1 September, tested cars will be driven on urban and rural roads as well as motorways, with measuring equipment placed on their exhaust system. The evaluation, which replaces current lab-based tests, will last 90 minutes and focus on cars due to reach market in Britain in the coming months. From 1 September 2019, all existing cars on sale will also be retested with this new system. Government estimates suggest the stricter tests, rolled out as part of European-wide reforms following the Volkswagen Dieselgate scandal, will help to cut nitrogen oxide emissions from new diesel vehicles by two-thirds. The Government claims that this reduction will be possible because where some cars were show

Prospective customers can now configure the new Bentley Continental GT as orders open Bentley has launched the configurator for the new Continental GT , allowing those interested in the model to spec their car.  The new GT configurator has opened alongside versions of the previous-generation Continental, including the Supersports and GT Speed , which are only available as convertibles, ahead of the launch of the Continental GT Convertible. Along with the usual configurator categories such as paint, wheels and dashboard veneers, owners can also opt for a four-piece luggage set, a rotating display that switches between dials and and the infotainment screen, and sound system upgrades by Bang & Olufsen and Naim.  There are 30 paint options available, with 13 of these in the extended paint palette, which will likely command a premium over the standard paint options. A choice of three alloy wheel designs are available: two 21in designs and one 22in Mulliner set, available in three

Stephan Winkelmann will leave Audi later this year to replace Wolfgang Dürheimer at the helm of Bugatti Audi Sport boss Stephan Winkelmann will leave the company later this year to become president of Bugatti. Winkelmann,  52, has led Audi ’s performance division since March 2016. He will replace 59-year-old Wolfgang Dürheimer at Bugatti , sources at its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, have revealed. Although Dürheimer is relinquishing his post at Bugatti, Autocar has been told he will remain chairman of Bentley for the foreseeable future. Audi has tapped Michael-Julius Renz to replace Winkelmann as CEO at Audi Sport. The 59-year-old has been president of Audi's China sales division since January 2015 and previously served as its head of sales in Germany. Renz began his career at Audi in 1994 as head of retail marketing. Volkswagen Group officials suggest longer-term management plans will see Winkelmann, who headed Lamborghini between 2005 and 2016, replacing Dürh

The Skoda Citigo gets a light refresh that still maintains its winning formula, but it's not the only small car on the market that is big on space and charm while low on price The Citigo is Skoda’s rebadged and restyled version of the Volkswagen Up – and now it’s been further restyled. That said, the differences from the previous edition are subtle, which is understandable given how much of a sales success it’s been for the Czech firm.The front of the car has been refreshed, with the bonnet growing a muscular bulge and a new front bumper, which also makes the car marginally longer than before. There are also LED daytime running lights on certain trim levels and the rear lights have been tweaked slightly.Things have changed a bit more inside, with a revamped Swing radio system, complete with smartphone dock and a handful of design tweaks.What hasn’t changed are the Citigo’s mechanical underpinnings. Having previously driven the entry-level 1.0L engine in the Czech Republic, we’ve n

Skoda’s future electric model shows promise, but the brand’s first EV already has its work cut out against the Tesla Model 3 The Skoda Vision E concept typifies the zeitgeist of today's automotive industry: it's an electric coupé-SUV. First revealed at the Shanghai motor show, it previews Skoda’s first electric model, which is due in 2019 with 300bhp being sent from electric motors to all four wheels. The Vision E’s styling is bold, although Skoda designer Karl Neuman can’t say how much of the look will be carried over to the production model. Insiders say that the full look probably will make it, although experience tell us that features such as the two full-width light bars at the front and cameras instead of wingmirrors probably won't. The former has a chance, though; “light is the new chrome,” says Neuman, and Skoda does have a track record with concepts closely matching their production counterparts; see the Vision S and the Kodiaq . Skoda’s product manageme

Fancy a hybridized Porsche with a manual transmission? Not so fast, says the German luxury and sports car maker. At the debut of the 2019 Porsche Cayenne, the brand said it won't build any hybrid vehicles equipped with a manual gearbox. Road and Track spoke with Dr. Gernot Döllner, who is vice president of the Panamera line, but also worked...

There's concern among many enthusiasts that the manual transmission is on its way out. This coincides with the notion that electric cars are the future and internal combustion engines will continue to fall out of favor as electric car charging infrastructure and technology exits infancy. If there's one thing most know about electric cars, it's...

File this to Ford's growing list of obscure patents the American automaker has moved to protect over the past few years. It looks like Ford may be interested in ensuring drivers' beverages arrive intact with a self-leveling cupholder. Ford moved to protect the self-leveling cupholder with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which shows the...

You've heard the term before, but do you really know what powder coating is all about? It's not simply an airgun spraying a powdery substance that magically turns into a bonded surface on your wheels. There's a whole lot of science going on, which means we need to turn to our favorite engineer explainer, Jason, for a better understanding. There...

Plenty of incredible machines will cross the auction block at RM Sotheby's special Ferrari-only auction event next month, though this is an outlier. It's not an actual Ferrari 812 Superfast, but a 1:12 scale model of one, and it too will seek a buyer. Obviously, since it's a model, it doesn't actually run and has no engine. However, that hasn't...

Mercedes-AMG’s GT R has just reached showrooms in the United States, but a bigger, badder and presumably faster version of the Affalterbach tuner’s standalone sports car has been spotted testing at the Nürburgring and on some surrounding streets. The car looks like the GT R, but there are clues that suggest we’re looking a...

The Williams Formula 1 team will be making "quite substantial changes" to key areas of its car's philosophy for the 2018 season, according to its chief technical officer Paddy Lowe

Porsche’s third-generation Cayenne SUV has finally been revealed. The latest model looks much sleeker and sportier than the outgoing one, and it should perform significantly better too thanks to its lightweight MLB platform and more powerful engines. Speaking of powerful SUVs, we’ve just driven the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. It can...

Daimler’s Smart brand will use next month’s 2017 Frankfurt auto show to preview its vision for personal transport of tomorrow. The preview is in the form of the Smart Vision EQ ForTwo concept, a fully self-driving electric pod car ideal for shared urban mobility. Some readers will recall that Mercedes showed a similar concept in 2015...

Maserati on Friday pulled the wraps off an updated Ghibli at the 2017 Chengdu auto show in China. The updates are subtle though address some of the Ghibli’s shortcomings like the lack of refinement in the design, and deficiency in technology compared to rivals. Changes to the exterior include the new headlights, grille, and front and rear...

Toro Rosso's development of its Formula 1 car has not been "as fast as expected", its driver Daniil Kvyat has admitted

Nissan is the latest automaker to introduce a video-streaming rearview mirror, which the Japanese automaker is calling an Intelligent Rearview Mirror (I-RVM). We first saw the technology introduced by Cadillac on the 2016 CT6. What it is, essentially, is a traditional rearview mirror with an integrated high-definition, wide-angle LCD. You can...

Renault Sport Formula 1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul admits his firm's reliability level is "not acceptable" after another fraught weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix

Mercedes will delay any talks with Lewis Hamilton about extending his contract until after the 2017 Formula 1 world championship battle has been resolved

Kia has given us a first glimpse at what’s shaping up to be a stunning fastback concept. Set to debut next month at the 2017 Frankfurt auto show, we’re sad to report the concept doesn’t preview a new model line. Rather, it signals a new body style for one of the Korean brand’s existing models, specifically the...

Renault Formula 1 driver Jolyon Palmer was "like a different guy" during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, reckons the team's trackside operations director Alan Permane

As Tesla fans and the industry at large await the reveal of the electric car brand’s promised semi-trailer truck in September, Cummins, most widely known for its diesel engines, has quietly unveiled an electric truck of its own. Cummins’ truck is strictly a concept, but the company is confident the vehicle, or at least its powertrain...

McLaren is edging closer to a divorce from Honda, ahead of a crunch weekend of talks that will shape the engine market as well as Fernando Alonso's Formula 1 future

The latest edition of The Autosport Podcast attempts to unravel the rumour and counter-rumour about where Fernando Alonso's Formula 1 future lies - if it's in F1 at all

BMW Group’s Mini brand was an early pioneer of mainstream electric cars. Some readers will recall the brand leased the Hardtop-based Mini E electric car on a trial basis late last decade to help gather feedback from the public. The BMW Group used the feedback for the i3 launched in 2014. But with electric cars increasing in popularity...

Approach the 2018 Grand Cherokee Trackhawk and few external cues give away that this isn’t a normal Grand Cherokee SRT. The front fog lights are missing to allow more air to feed air-to-oil intercoolers, the quad-tipped exhaust features a shiny black chrome finish, Trackhawk specific wheels fill the wheel wells, and two Supercharged badges...