Autocar magazine 24 April - on sale now

Autocar magazine 24 April - on sale now

This week: Britain's hottest hatchbacks face off, our guide to buying a second-hand Ferrari, we drive the Mercedes-AMG C63 S and loads more...

It’s big, it’s fast and it’s this week’s cover star. The Jaguar F-Pace SVR packs a 5.0-litre V8 pumping out 542bhp and 502lb ft. 

Were it a sports car, these would be impressive performance stats in their own right, but this is a family SUV - it needs to ride smooth, seat five adults and drop the kids to school. We find out if Jag’s got the performance SUV recipe down to a tee.

Leading the news this week, murmurings from Wolfsburg suggest a utilitarian electric SUV is on the way to rival the reborn Land Rover Defender. We take a look at what Volkswagen’s design boss has called “a more rugged thing than we’ve seen” so far in the brand’s range of ID electric vehicles. 

Last week, we were in China to bring you all the news from the Shanghai motor show. It was a big year for established domestic brands like Nio and Aiways, but we also got our first look at start-ups like Geometry and Grove, which could soon become household names, not just in China, but worldwide. 

The New York motor show wasn’t short of new metal, either, with Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru, Nissan, Genesis and Toyota all out in force to show off new premium SUVs, celebratory limited editions and electric concepts. Our full report from Manhattan rounds off this week’s news section.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Reviews

The Toyota Camry is back on British roads for the first time in 15 years, so we’ve driven it to see if it poses as much of a threat to its established German rivals as its smaller Corolla sibling. 

We also put the new DS 3 Crossback through its paces to see if its striking  styling is matched by a dynamic driving experience, before trying out the new Dacia Sandero Stepway Techroad and Mercedes-Benz CLA 220d. 

Our big road test subject this week is Mercedes-AMG’s refreshed C63 S Coupé. With an ‘utterly thunderous’ powertrain that churns out 503bhp and 516lb ft, does Affalterbach’s tyre-shredding two-door set a high bar for the 2020 BMW M4 to vault?

Features

With a new Golf on the way early next year, Volkswagen is bidding farewell to the current GTI variant with the 286bhp motorsport-inspired TCR. Can it hold its own against the Renault Mégane RS Trophy and Honda Civic Type R GT? It was our regrettable duty to take these three hot hatchbacks to one of the best roads we know to find out…

After spending some time behind the wheel of a hot VW, it was time to meet the man responsible for their development. Jost Capito has spent time with Ford’s performance division, Porsche, BMW, and now finds himself heading up Wolfsburg’s ‘R’ branch. He tells Autocar about some personal highlights of his colourful career. 

In a discreet Northamptonshire warehouse is one of the most deeply impressive automotive engineering outfits in the country, as we found when we went behind the scenes at RML Group’s headquarters. Company boss Michael Mallock tells us how his experience on the racetrack has helped him lead the outfit into the electric era. 

You might not know much about Cap HPI, but the data they analyse and interpret could be the key to selling on your car. With access to the records of over 50 auction groups and car sales websites, the industry experts are able to determine just how much your used car is worth, and we’ve met them to see how it’s done. 

Finally this week, we spent some time at the Fiat Chrysler Group’s new Heritage Hub in Turin, to look around a wide array of icons and forgotten gems from Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia.

Opinions

Steve Cropley’s been exploring his artistic side this week, with a trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum’s new auto-themed exhibition, while Matt Prior reckons he saw the Audi AI:ME concept coming a mile off. 

Deals

You can still pay nearly £300,000 for a limited-edition Ferrari F430, but we’re more interested in the clean sub-£80,000 examples that crop up in the classifieds. Check our buyer’s guide for advice on how to pick up a gem that’s sure to appreciate. 

At the other end of the red, two-seater sports car spectrum, we’ve been looking at the Mk4 Mazda MX-5, which can be had for around half what it cost new just four years ago. If you want to take a couple of mates along for a B-road blast, however, maybe an R56-generation Mini Cooper S could float your boat.

Where to buy

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