ROAD TESTERS CONFESSIONS
3 1 JULY 2019 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 51
Jaguar I-Pace
Last summer, I was given the keys
t o a l at e pr ot ot y p e Ja g u a r I-Pa c e a nd
decided to drive it to the British Grand
Prix on qualifying day. Given the
potential for traffic snarls, it was possibly brave,
but the return journey was only 170 miles and
its real range beyond 200. The first worry came
when the car started emitting a loud buzzing
sound at around 4am. Not looking my best, I
ran outside and unplugged it from the charger,
r e a s on i n g it shou ld h av e b e e n f u l l b y t he n.
Alas, fully clothed and behind the wheel at
6a m , I d i s c ov e r e d it w a s s ay i n g it w ou ldhold only 190 miles of charge. As a result,
I drove at a constant 55mph and got
home w it h l it t le t o s pa r e. How c ou ld t h i s
possibly be the future? Then something
amazing happened. The same week,
Jag’s folks held their hands up and asked
to do a software update to put the car
in final production spec. I held out no
hop e t h at plu gg i n g a l ap t op i n c ou ld e l ic it
more range... and then spent close to 250
miles driving non-stop. The Achilles heel was
no more and the I-Pace was duly – and rightly –
proclaimed a world leader. JH
Audi A2 & Smart Roadster Brabus
‘Wrong’ is a harsh word in this context.
I was honest about the Audi A2, and
later about the Smart Roadster Brabus,
because they were both fundamentally
f lawed cars. The A2 had poor visibility, the Smarta poor gearbox, and neither particularly clever
ride comfort. Both, though, are cars I could quite
happily own today – they’d make a great two-car
garage – because their pursuit of an ideal has
outlived and outshone their drawbacks. So, in
a sense, mea culpa. I’ll tell you what, though: I
remain spot on about the one-star-at-best
BMW C1 Scooter. MP
BMW Z8
The most obvious car I got wrong was the BMW Z8. When it came out 20 years ago,
I noted its 5.0-litre V8 motor, 400bhp output and the fact the engine came from the
M 5 a nd c onc lude d t h i s mu s t b e a t hor ou g hbr e d s p or t s c a r. S o w he n I d i s c ov e r e d it w a s
actually quite a soft and comfortable grand tourer, I sharpened my pen and wrote about
what a missed opportunity it represented. In fact, the only miss was me missing its point. I drove
one a couple of years back and loved its languid gait, dead cool interior and effortless performance.
No wonder prices are now nudging £200,000.AF
Porsche Cayenne
I really hated the Porsche Cayenne when
it first came out – not just dislike but a
near-visceral detesting of it and what
it meant for the world’s most famous
sports car brand. I don’t think the first-generation
version looks any better than it did when it was
launched, but I’m quite partial to the current model
and its combination of pace and practicality. I still
struggle to think of it as being a proper Porsche,
but if I was in the market for a sporty SUV, it’s
almost certainly the one I’d pick. MD