Daily Mirror - 05.03.2020

DM1ST

(^42) DAILY MIRROR THURSDAY 05.03.2020
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Skoda unveiled its new Octavia
vRS model this week and for
the first time ever it features a
plug-in hybrid powertrain.
Conventional power comes
from a 1.4 TSI petrol engine
alongside a 85kW electric
motor to give a combined
system output of 240bhp. The
car has a maximum electric-
only range of just over 30
miles and Co2 emissions of
around 30g/km.
There’s no price for the car
yet but it comes standard with
an aero kit, black alloys and an
interior that features coloured
stitching and sports seats.
vrs gets hybrid shove
i’ve just read this
fascinating survey
published by What
Car? magazine
that looks into the
costs for the public
charging of evs,
and what various
providers are charging.
Using an Audi e-tron as its
example, the magazine found that
the dearest provider was ionity
using its 350kW charger which cost
£45.69 for a charge from 10% to
80%. Less powerful chargers are
cheaper with a Polar Contactless
150kW charger
costing £26.60 and
ecotricity’s 22, 43
and 50kW chargers
costing £25.94.
Cheapest was
source London at
£6.32.
What Car? also found that some
ev charger-equipped car parks in
London charge £9 per hour for
parking with no discount for those
using chargers.
Also, fees to discourage
overstaying at charging points vary
from £10 to £21 per hour.
ChArges for ChArging
ON THE ROAD
R you
ready to Roc?
V
olkswagen should score a
double whammy when it
comes to sales of this car

• given the popularity of
  crossovers and fast motors.
  It’s is a high performance SUV
  that fits the bill nicely, hitting two
  bullseyes in one. But can the
  T-Roc roll over its rivals?
  To create the car Volkswagen
  went to the stores and dug out the
  2.0-litre turbocharged engine and
  the rest of the drivetrain it used in
  the Golf R, including 4Motion
  four-wheel drive and a DSG seven-
  speed gearbox.
  The Golf R is no longer on sale,
  but there’ll be another one based
  on the Mk8 Golf in showrooms

soon. Meanwhile, I reckon VW

can bank on the T-Roc R selling

nicely even though it’s not cheap.

The on-the-road price for our

test car is £36,905 without options.

That’s similar money to Seat’s

Cupra Ateca and Audi’s SQ2, both

with the same 2.0-litre turbo-

charged engine as the T-Roc R.

The vital numbers for this hot

T-Roc are 296bhp, 155mph and

0-62mph in 4.8sec.

The car looks cool from the

outside. Ours is Lapiz blue

metallic, unique to the R and not

available on lesser T-Rocs. Worth

having as people will realise you’re

driving the fast one. The quad

exhaust tailpipes also give the

game away, as does the rear

diffuser. Standard wheels are

19inch ‘Pretoria’ alloys. They also

look cool and classy – shame the

same description does not apply

inside. Acres of hard scratchy plas-

tics are forgiveable in an entry-

level car in the low 20 grands, but

for a £36k high-performance

version the lack of quality is a bit

T h e FacTs

Volkswagen T-Roc R

five-door compact SUV

Price: £36,905

Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder,

296bhp

0-62mph: 4.8sec

Fuel consumption: 33.8mpg

Co2 emissions: 176g/km

ON YOUR BIKE

Geoff Hill @ghillster

Fraser Addecott @MirrorBiker

sleek new harley’s

silence is golden

by gEoFF hill

t hree things i thought i’d never say:

a) none for me, thanks. i don’t drink.

b) My, that’s a really nice spreadsheet.

c) i have seen the future, and its name is harley-

davidson.

Well, i take back the third one: the Milwaukee

company has produced just about the most

astonishing bike i’ve ever ridden.

And it’s even more remarkable coming from a firm

known for variations on a traditional v-twin cruiser

theme which critics say hasn’t changed much since

the war.

When harley unveiled the original LiveWire in 2014,

it was intended to be a concept and not for production,

and when i rode it back then, it was fascinating but

flawed: the range in eco

mode was 53 miles, and a

piffling 29 miles in power

mode. the 0-60mph figure

of just under four seconds

was decent enough for

a bike weighing 210kg,

with power and torque

figures of 74bhp and

52lb ft, but handling was a

bit sluggish thanks to a

long wheelbase and a fat

back tyre.

Well, when harley

decided to actually put it

into production, its

backroom boffins rolled

up the sleeves of their

white coats and got to

work, and it shows.

it now looks much

sleeker than the

prototype, and harley

reckons the range is now a more acceptable 80-140

miles, depending on the riding mode you pick and level

of hooliganism.

but the real surprise is yet to come, with power and

torque now up to 105bhp and 86 lb ft, and as in all

electric motors, available from zero rpm. twist the

throttle, and even though the weight is now 249kg, in

sport mode it leaps forward like a starving greyhound

after bugs bunny, reaching 60mph in 2.8 seconds and

soaring on seamlessly to 115mph, all the while

accompanied by a supersonic whoosh.

And while i’d always thought that the sound of a

petrol engine, particularly a v-twin, was an essential,

visceral part of biking pleasure, it’s incredible how

glorious it is zooming along in almost perfect silence.

handling, once you’ve got used to the sporty riding

position and gripped the ‘tank’ with your knees to take

your weight off the bars, is light and neutral, and

braking, once you’ve got used to not having a gearbox

to provide engine braking,

is stable and linear.

in fact, i can think of

only one thing wrong with

this remarkable machine:

i haven’t got 29 grand

to buy one.

RaPid

Geoff hunkers

down on the

Livewire

The

FacTs

h arley davidson

liveWire

Price: £28,995

(before EV grant)

Engine: Harley-

Davidson Revelation

with 15.5 kWH

rechargeable energy

storage

System power:

105bhp

Torque: 86Ib ft

Colours: Black,

yellow, orange