r/ukcarwow

In June, three out of every 10 new cars sold in the UK were fully electric – a new record. The overall car market also had its strongest June since 2019, with more than 213,000 new cars registered, and Tesla’s models were the two best-selling cars of the month.

With electric cars, hybrids, and plug-in hybrids now making up more than half of all new car sales, it's clear that more drivers are making the switch.

Would you consider an EV for your next car, or are you still sticking with petrol or diesel?

Jaecoo 7 review: Look how far China has come By Jeremy Clarkson | The Sunday Times

Four years ago this car company didn't exist. Now this is the third bestselling car in the UK

Back in the mid-Eighties I used a train to get from Beijing to Xi’an and it was a two-day orgy of awfulness. Smoke from the rickety steam engine up front leaked prodigiously into the carriages, the seats were wooden, the smell of armpit was extraordinary and there were no lavatories. Instead there was a hole in the floor of one carriage over which you were invited to squat — not easy when the carriage was rocking about as if it was falling down a flight of stairs. No one had hit the hole at all and I didn't either. I was so worried about falling over in there, I clung to the wall and did my business there.

Today it’s all rather different. You board a 220mph G-series bullet train and it covers the 700-mile journey, in near silence, in four hours and ten minutes. In the carriages there is air conditioning and in business class you have eggshell booths and seats that fold completely flat to form a bed. It’s like traveling by private jet, except there is no PJ I know of that offers choice of lavatory: western or Chinese.

There has been a similar leap forward for the Chinese motorist as well. They are building 6,000 miles of motorway every year and, as a result, there is now enough tarmac in China to cover the entire British Isles ... 20 times over. This is because car sales have gone through the roof. When I first visited there were one million cars on the roads. Today, 40 years later, there are 366 million. And who’s making all these cars? Not Peugeot, that’s for sure, or Ford or even Volkswagen.

As recently as 2012 the Chinese motorist had a limited choice. There was the snappily titled XF150ZK-4, which was a plastic three-wheeler with a single-cylinder engine and, curiously, a hinged front seat that rocked backwards alarmingly when you accelerated. Also, it had no suspension at all. It was, in essence, an uglified Reliant Robin made by people who didn't know what they were doing and had only a vague notion of what a car is.

But it was better than the CA6440UA, which came about when a Chinese tobacco company bought the worn-out Austin Rover tooling and used it to build a Toyota-engined car that was a Maestro at the back and a Montego at the front. So a British Leyland hand-me-down and a plastic pig-car. That was the choice. And this was only 20 years ago.

And now? Well, just five years ago a company called BYD — it stands, nauseatingly, for Build Your Dreams — broke ground on its new factory and today that one factory is bigger than the city of San Francisco. It covers an area of 50 square miles and it makes a car every 60 seconds. And that's just one factory from one company. In China today there are 109 companies making cars. And they all have lots of factories.

All of which brings me on to Jaecoo, a name created — and I’m sure you’ve worked this out already — by combining the German word Jäger and the English word cool. I’ve been intrigued by this brand because four years ago it didn't exist, and now the Jaecoo 7 is the third bestselling car in the UK. You see them everywhere.

And it’s not hard to see the appeal, frankly, because it looks a bit like a Range Rover but prices start at a scarcely believable £29,195. And that’s not a come-hither sales trick to get you into an expensive discussion about options. There aren't any. Not really. Everything you could reasonably want or need is included. So how are they selling it for less than 30 grand? What’s wrong with it?

Interestingly, the PR people who brought one round for me to try said I probably wouldn't like it very much and they were dead right, I didn't, because a plug-in hybrid SUV is not really my thing. Sure, it can travel for 56 miles on electrical power only and has an official mpg figure of 403. Which I'm sure is very interesting. There's one customer who claims he has now done 3,000 miles in his Jaecoo without filling the tank even once.

Yes, but that's 3,000 miles in the automotive equivalent of a bucket of sand. This is not an exciting car to drive and that’s irrelevant here. I know plenty of people who just want four metres of car; they don't really care where it was made or how fast it goes. They just want safety, economy and reliability, and on that basis the Jaecoo 7 is perfectly fine. Yes, there’s a cheapness to the feel of the fabrics and the materials in the cockpit, but what were you expecting? Peacock feathers?

It put me in mind of the very first Datsuns that arrived in the UK back in 1968. Oh, how we scoffed at their pleblon upholstery and their plasticky dashboards. But then we noticed that while our Fords and our Triumphs didn't start when it was cold or wet or damp or windy or foggy or sunny, the little Japanese boxes did. And it turned out that mattered to us.

The same thing is happening now. The traditional carmakers have convinced us that we should expect to find the finest leather in a car and the thickest carpet and the most amount of speed and power, but here we have Jaecoo saying, "Hang on, isn't the price more important?"

Back in the Eighties the demand for Japanese cars was so great in Europe that the EU limited them to just 12 per cent of the market. I wonder if they'll do the same thing with the new raft of Chinese cars. And I also wonder what will happen if they don't. Actually, scratch that, I know full well what will happen.

Because look how far China has come in 20 years. Look how far it’s come in the past two! If they keep going at this rate, they'll be selling us stuff by next spring that we can only dream about today. A drone in the roof that can be deployed in a traffic jam to see what's causing it? You can bet that's coming. Along with cold fusion propulsion systems probably.

That may be the only reason for not buying a Jaecoo, really. Because by Christmas there will be a new version that can fly and become invisible at the touch of a button.

While working from home is becoming more common, there are still many jobs which require you to be out on the road piling miles on your car. If you’re covering huge distances each week, you’ll not only want something comfy but also cheap to run.

Even an extra 3mpg makes a huge difference when you’re covering 30,000 miles a year, but with diesel becoming less popular and electric cars getting better by the day, which fuel type actually makes the most sense for high-mileage drivers?

Well I’ve crunched the numbers to work out exactly how much you’ll spend in fuel and charging on three long-distance cruisers: the petrol hybrid Toyota Corolla Touring Sports, the diesel Skoda Octavia and the electric Tesla Model 3.

The Volkswagen Golf diesel has been dropped from the UK configurator after being offered since 1976. I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for diesel engines – the clattering sound takes me back to family holidays in my parent’s Ford Mondeo and days spent in my Dad’s Transit van – but when you look at the figures it’s no surprise that manufacturers are turning their back on this fuel.

Britain’s car industry has warned the government it must urgently rethink its electric car sales targets, otherwise known as the ZEV mandate, and secure better trading arrangements with the European Union (EU) to protect thousands of jobs and future investment.

The warning comes from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), which says the UK automotive sector is under growing pressure from rising business costs, tougher global competition and slower consumer demand for electric cars.

Hey all,

Starting a new role soon at a UK manufacturing company. I've been told my company car will be a hybrid, but no confirmation yet on the exact model.

What would you realistically expect to be offered at this level - any specific makes/models that are common in manufacturing fleets?

Thanks!

The Kia Sportage recently surpassed half a million sales in the UK, and it’s currently the most popular family SUV on sale. It’s not the most stylish car in its class, nor is it the cheapest or the most exciting, so what makes it such a sales hit?

Well that’s what I’m going to find out. I spent a week with the Sportage to get an idea of what buyers love about it, and here are a few theories I have.

The diesel Hilux doesn't do much that's groundbreaking - it's a lot like the old truck, even sharing its 2.4-litre mild hybrid diesel engine. But you still get the longest warranty in the business (10 years, if you get it serviced by Toyota) and an unparalleled reputation for reliability and dependability. There's a reason Toyota names its top trim levels 'Invincible' after all... Still, there are undeniably some much cheaper options that still do the same basic job, and Toyota's interior and infotainment is below the pack - so the Hilux isn't a total slam dunk. Read the full review to see my thoughts.

Audi's latest facelift for the A3 includes an all-new interior in line with its other models. I am not a happy bunny.

The old A3's interior was just about the perfect blend of modernity and simplicity - you got physical controls where it mattered, and while the touchscreen was big and usable it was also out of your direct eyeline so you only needed to look when it mattered.

The new interior has a bigger screen with no physical climate controls, plus the dreadful digital driver's display which feels like a massive downgrade from the old Virtual Cockpit. What a massive shame.

Motorists who refuse to repay money they owe to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) could face a driving ban under sweeping new powers that have come into force.

The government describes this as the biggest crackdown on welfare debt in a generation, giving the DWP stronger powers to recover money from people who have stopped claiming benefits but still owe outstanding debts.

Thousands of debtors are now being contacted by the department and warned to arrange repayment or risk enforcement action.

Do you think this is fair?