1 HR AGO - Chauffeur-spec, long-wheelbase S-Class is still a laid-back, genteel and very effective luxury option, although some of its new digital features work better than others The Mercedes-Benz S-Class has always been something of a repository for the firm’s very latest powertrain, suspension and safety technologies. On the face of it, that would seem to be the case with the box-fresh new W223-generation version, which has just arrived on UK roads. But chauffeurs be warned: this time around, only really well-heeled owners may get the benefit of everything that the car can do.Having had its model platform and suspension widely overhauled, the new ‘S’ will ultimately have camera-based predictive E-Active Body Control suspension, four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering: a combination never seen on any of its predecessors. There will be 48V mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains on offer, as well as world-first frontal airbags for those oh-so-important people travelling in the back Collapse

4 HRS AGO - New 'intelligent' service uses real-time data to charge machines most cost effectively Honda has launched a new ‘intelligent’ domestic charging service for Honda E owners, which used real-time data to fill machines up with electricity at the most cost-effective times. The Japanese firm has developed the e:Progress charging service with smart charging company Moixa and electricity supplier Octopus Energy. It is offered on the latter’s Agile Octopus combined home and EV tariff, with vehicle charging provided through a connected Honda Power Charger S+. The system is based on Moixa software that updates electricity pricing every 30 minutes based on variances in demand and wholesale supply. Honda E owners can use an app to specify when they need their vehicles fully charged and the software then supplies charge to the vehicle at the most cost-effective times. Honda claims the service could save an E owner doing an annual mileage of 8000 around £475 a year compared with a flat energy Collapse

9 HRS AGO - Where is the Robinson family’s 1950 Land Rover? Get in touch if you know This week, Steve goes on a Land Rover hunt - he's looking for a 1950 Land Rover Series 1 - and makes his longest day trip for a year in a Bentley Bentayga. Monday It’s not often we all get the chance to participate in the global hunt for a unique classic car, but here’s one. We’re looking for an Aussie-registered 1950 Land Rover Series 1. Autocar’s firm friend and former European editor, Peter Robinson, has been trying to find the Landie that his family owned when he was a kid in the Australian bush (that’s him in the passenger’s seat). He wants to find it, see it, drive it and write about it. There’s a twist in the tale. This particular S1 (chassis RO6108381), in which the four pictured Robinson brothers learned to drive, was severely damaged in a bushfire in 1969. In 1987, the remains were sold for about £80 as wreckage. The buyer planned to restore it but never did, selling it instead to an unidentified Collapse

15 HRS AGO - Electrification-focused Peugeot Sport Engineered sub-brand makes its debut with a 350bhp plug-in hybrid executive cruiser. Can Sochaux beat Munich and Ingolstadt at their own game? Electrification: it’s affecting manufacturers very differently.If you’re Mercedes-AMG, the E-word means swapping the humdinger V8 in your most popular product for a four-cylinder hybrid, and you probably don’t like the idea too much. In fact, you probably hate it.But if you’re Peugeot, and electrification allows you to take existing four-cylinder models and punt them up into an unexplored realm of extreme performance and fun, you might just be more game.You might even enlist your motorsport department to help create a new sub-brand called Peugeot Sport Engineered (PSE). Et voilà: Peugeot’s answer to Volkswagen’s R, or even AMG, but with the unique approach of putting electrification front and centre, with a range exclusively made up of performance plug-in hybrids.These cars will be based on regular Collapse

1 DAY AGO - Mid-life refresh sees the seven-seat SUV brought into line with the wider Skoda line-up Skoda has overhauled its Kodiaq SUV for 2021, featuring new technology and a style makeover that brings the optional seven-seater into line with the brand's latest designs. The refresh also includes the return of the vRS performance model to the line-up with petrol power, following the removal of the outgoing 237bhp twin-turbo diesel version late last year due to tightening emissions rules. The Kodiaq launched in 2016 as the first model in the Czech firm's SUX expansion, and has since been followed by the smaller Kamiq and Karoq. It is built on the Volkswagen Group's MQB platform, as used by the Volkswagen Tiguan and Seat Tarraco.    For this mid-life facelift Skoda has refreshed the Kodiaq with a new, more upright grill, elevated bonnet, revamped front and rear bumpers and a revised headlight design, with LED Matrix items available for the first time. The S, SE and SE L trim levels also gain new Collapse

1 DAY AGO - Clio Williams is now very collectible and prices reflect that Sure, they've never actually raced or rallied, but a link to a motorsport star does make a used car stand out Marketing new cars is some sort of dark art. However, broadening the appeal of a dullish family car by associating it with someone who is handy behind the wheel has to be an easy call. I mean, adding ‘Schumacher’ to the Fiat Stilo moniker at least grabs some attention. Only 200 of them were made for the UK market in 2006, so I thought it might be a challenge to find one of these beauties as a used proposition. I mean, this side of a Seicento, it is the cheapest way to get into an Italian motor connected to the German Formula 1 world champion. I was tipped off that there’s a 104,000-mile one coming up for auction. It’s a bit well used around the edges, but it has a full service history, a fresh MOT and a new master cylinder. I’ve no idea what it will go for but I chanced across a three-owner example with a modest Collapse

1 DAY AGO - Honda’s electric supermini has its charms, but what’s it like to live with? Let’s find out Why we ran it: To see if the E has the everyday usability to match its desirability, despite its relatively short range Month 5 - Month 4 - Month 3 - Month 2 - Month 1 - Prices and specs Life with a Honda E: month 5 Our time is up with Honda’s eye- catching electric city car. So how has it fared in our hands? Let’s find out - 7 April 2021 The world is quite divisive, you may have noticed. Debates are fierce, and the grey middle ground seems lost in a desire to make everything black or white. Whatever happened to a bit of good old-fashioned fence-sitting? With that in mind, comments about the Honda E tend to go something like this: “Yeah, I love the way it looks inside and out, even more so the way it drives, but its range is tiny, so it’s basically rubbish.” Sure, the range figure is smaller than similarly priced rivals such as the Peugeot e-208, but by enough to discount the E entirely? Collapse

2 DAYS AGO - Car dealerships hope to benefit from a post-lockdown sales boost. The CEO of Vertu tells us how New car registrations have risen for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, with 283,964 new vehicles hitting UK roads in March – 29,280 more than for the same period in 2020. This first sign of growth is positive news for the industry, albeit with the caveat that sales tumbled by 44.4% in March last year as the country entered its first lockdown. Dealerships reopened on Monday for the first time since early January, when non- essential retailers were forced to close their doors once again in response to an alarming rise in infections. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) warns that the latest figures are still 36.9% down on the 10-year March average, and that the shortfall in the first quarter of this year has already cost the industry around £1.8 billion. “The past year has been the toughest in modern history and the automotive sector has, like many Collapse

2 DAYS AGO - Customers finally allowed back in England and Wales showrooms from 12 April, with many expecting a surge in demand Britain has been under national lockdown restrictions 5 January 2021, joining much of Europe, but the government's easing process is continuing as planned - in line with falling coronavirus rates.  Up to now, car dealerships have been closed and there have been strict restrictions on travel, but with official guidance now eased to "minimise travel" as much as possible, and non-essential retail allowed to reopen, motorists should be aware of the latest rules and what they mean.  Here is a rundown of the measures affecting motorists across the UK. Can I buy a new car? Car dealers in England and Wales have been allowed to reopen as of today, 12 April, when non-essential retail is permitted to reopen its doors. Customers will once again be allowed to enter and browse showrooms, for the first time in more than three months, having until now been restricted to using Collapse