CAR Magazine Adventure Special

ADVENTURE SPECIAL #1 | EXCLUSIVE TO READLY

In this collection:

4 The Cheap Shall Inherit the

Earth: Dacia Duster in Morocco

16 Off Grid: Tesla Model 3

in Norway

26 Stranger Things:

Peugeot 408 in America

40 Together in Electric

Streams: Hyundai Ioniq 6

in South Korea

48 You Want Ice With That?

Alpina B3 in Wales

58 Grave Digger Blues: Dodge

Challenger to Louisiana

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2 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 3

Dacia Duster

THE CHEAP

SHALL

INHERIT

THE EARTH

We go into Africa to discover what makes underdog

Dacia’s low-budget cars so special – and what

makes it such a uniquely successful business

Words Tim Pollard Photography Olgun Kordal

4 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 5

Dacia’s

charming

buyers with

its low-cost

tunes

Dacia Duster

S

THE CAR IS MOBBED BY CHANTING

CROWDS AND WE’RE STRANDED

WITH NOWHERE TO TURN

Have manual

’box, will

travel (with

smile on face)

omething doesn’t feel right. Marrakesh – a city famed for its hustle and

bustle, tagines and traders – is hushed and empty. The hubbub of humanity

pulsing through its souks and streets is gone, leaving us to wonder

if we’ve stumbled into some kind of unannounced lockdown. We’re

in a usually vibrant Moroccan tourist hotspot and it’s like someone forgot

to plug it in.

Our Dacia Duster laps the central Jemaa el-Fnaa square, famous for

its snake charmers and markets when, suddenly, the buildings decant

throngs of men, women and children, running, shouting, blowing

heartily into vuvuzelas. The car is mobbed by chanting crowds and we’re

stranded with nowhere to turn. I’ve been taught how to escape from

overturned vehicles and what to do if an EV catches fire – but I’ve never

been instructed on how to escape a crowd of football fans giddy on the

elation of topping their World Cup group.

It’s winter 2022 and Morocco have just beaten Canada 2-1, sparking

national pandemonium. African nations rarely get this far, and excitement

levels are off the scale. We can only imagine the fever pitch reached

in subsequent rounds as the Atlas Lions knock out Spain and then Portugal

to reach the semi-finals, winning an army of fans around the

globe. We all love an underdog.

CAR has come to this extraordinary North African country to get

under the skin of Dacia, whose own ascendancy to the big league has

taken the automotive world order by storm. It sold more than half a million

vehicles in Europe in 2022, up seven per cent in a shrinking market

as customers lapped up the surprising value offered by this modest

budget brand. The Sandero hatchback is the EU’s best-selling privately

registered car, and more retail customers buy a Duster than any other

SUV. Impressive stats: strip out large-scale fleet discounts and the retail

market affords a more genuine picture of where real people spend their

money. It seems Dacia is on to something.

Morocco is a fitting backdrop for our journey: the melting pot in

which Europe and Africa collide and home to the continent’s largest

factory, making Dacias at the kind of cost most car makers can only

dream of. There’s also the small matter of some extraordinary roads ripe

for adventure. Once a friendly policeman helps us thread our Duster

away from the mêlée, we escape the smoking flares and bouncing crowd

celebrating Morocco’s famous win. I stop to inspect the damage but –

miraculously – there is none. Tough cars, Dusters.

We return to our hotel on the outskirts, pleased to be leaving

the teeming chaos of Marrakesh behind. Driving in Morocco is a ⊲

Tim’s a stickler for

detail (note paint/

architecture

co-ordination)

6 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 7

About the only thing

that can stop the

Dacia: a big wall

Dacia Duster

Duster much

more than a

beast of

burden

Ladies and

gentlemen,

your new

Michael Palin

IN THIS DIGITAL AGE, THIS DELIGHTFULLY

OLD-SCHOOL CAR CARRIES A SWELLING APPEAL

And for its

next trick,

Dacia does

Dakar

remarkably civilised affair for the most part, but venturing into the

medina leads to a labyrinthine warren of chaos: mopeds everywhere,

the loosest of distinctions between footpath and road, and enough donkeys,

dogs and dangerous drivers to make you reach for the Valium.

Our plan is simple: take the Duster for a road trip into the desert before

heading north to visit the Tangier factory that builds the Sandero.

Not for us the Sahara where, last month, we blasted Porsche’s newest 911,

the rough-and-tough Dakar, around the sand dunes. This time we’re

heading to the rocky wilds of the Agafay, a vast expanse of nothingness

south-west of Marrakesh.

The Duster has acquitted itself well around town. It’s a right-sized

Tonka toy of a car, its upright, chunky style the very essence of simple

crossover design. At 4341mm long and 1804mm wide, it’s not too big for

the urban jungle (until you make a wrong turn into the narrow tangle of

the souk) and our 1.5-litre dCi has ample grunt to squirt through gaps in

city traffic, despite a modest 10.2sec 0-62mph claim. The DIY six-speed

manual transmission and familiar drivetrain combos from elsewhere in

the Renault Group bring a familiar comfort to the driving experience.

It’s all part of the charm of modern Dacias. In an age in which electronics

giants try to sell you connected this and digital that, a car that’s

delightfully old-school carries a swelling appeal. Not that the Duster is a

pared-back relic. Ours is equivalent to a UK-spec Journey, packing an

8.0-inch touchscreen with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, reversing

camera and keyless entry. Conspicuous by their absence are lane-keep

assist and semi-autonomous systems that beep and bong and annoy by

nibbling away at your steering inputs. Dacia calls it Design To Cost –

putting in only what customers (and local laws) demand, and nothing

more. It makes for a simple driving experience and it’s all the better for it.

We appreciate the 467-litre boot as we load our gear before a day spent

exploring the desert. The Duster is roomy enough for a family of four,

and the more time I spend with it, the more I wonder why herds of buyers

bother with more expensive premium SUVs. If ever a car illustrated the

keen difference between needs and wants, this is it.

Turning south on the R212, we head away from the dusty sprawl of

Marrakesh and into the wilderness. The Atlas mountains glimmer in ⊲

MOROCCAN MOTORS INC

Streetscapes in Morocco are endlessly fascinating:

for a nation of 38 million people, there aren’t many

new car sales. In 2022 a scant 161,410 new models

were registered, according to the Association of

Vehicle Importers in Morocco. That’s fewer annual

sales than one big month in the UK – hence all the

old cars on the roads.

The evidence is everywhere, especially in poorer

and more remote areas. Drive through provincial

Morocco and you’ll see some wonderfully decrepit

old French cars, most notably Renaults and

Peugeots, relics from yesteryear like a crumbling

Renault 12 we came across journeying near

Marrakesh. It’s like the Cuban restoration club

transported 4000 miles east to North Africa.

The French imperial ties are strong and continue

to this day, with Dacia hogging a mighty 27 per cent

of local market share, while parent company

Renault scores a further 15 per cent of sales. That’s

not far off half the entire new car market, sewn up

by one manufacturer.

8

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 9

Dacia Duster

the distance, as we marvel at streetscapes of ancient, predominantly

French tat. Morocco’s imperial connections bring a wealth of old

Renaults and Peugeots, in particular, with the odd Citroën and that African

staple, the venerable Mercedes-Benz, for good measure. Most of the

old-timers look like they’re held together by rust and good luck, rather

than any structural integrity.

Our Duster is in good company, as more modern Dacias are everywhere,

though few sport our car’s Arizona Orange paintwork (a £650

extra). We sail along the single-carriage interdepartmental highway,

dodging the worst of the potholes and letting the MacPherson strut and

this 4x4 model’s independent rear suspension soak up the rest. The seats

betray their budget roots; after a few hours my back feels weary.

A few well-kept roads criss-cross the desert, but we’re here to veer off

the beaten track to see what the Duster can do. An unsigned lane turns

into a rocky pass and soon we’re in proper desert, the landscape turning

an arid Martian reddy brown. Our car wears standard Goodyear Vector

4 Seasons tyres (in a pleasingly modest 215/60 R17 fitting) and is entirely

stock. I worry we’re under-equipped for what’s to come, and I’m only

mildly reassured by the £300 spare wheel nestled under the boot floor.

Away from the road network, the car’s standard sat-nav won’t work, so

we load up a dedicated off-road GPS app to guide us through the desert.

We start gingerly, following the nav-structions and trying to spot where

the track is meant to go – but quickly abandon all caution to go full Dakar

Rally. We’re soon flying across the desert at 30mph, 40mph, even

topping 50mph, great plumes of dust left hanging in our wake as we

skim across the scrub land.

Contrary to popular belief, modern Dacias don’t recycle decades-old

Renault-Nissan platforms; our Duster is built around the parent company’s

latest CMF-B architecture. The hardware launched in 2019 to

underpin today’s Clio and other small and medium-sized cars from the

alliance. Most models are front-wheel drive, but all-wheel drive is available,

as is the option to run on LPG. Thus equipped, the Duster Bi-Fuel

comes with a 50-litre petrol tank alongside 62 litres of autogas storage for

a combined range of 767 miles. Useful if you get lost in the desert.

Happily, we don’t lose our way and spend an entire day haring through

the inhospitable plains in our diesel 4x4 without touching a single metalled

road. Traction is peerless, and only during the most outrageous offroad

manoeuvres, down the steepest gulleys and climbing out of ditches,

do we feel the need to engage all-wheel drive and lock the central differential.

Most of the time we leave the drive mode in Auto and let the car’s

electronics do the rest, driving two wheels until the fronts slip, when

torque is sent rearwards. It rather makes a mockery of more sophisticated

off-roaders’ hardware and reminds me that decent 214mm ground

clearance, grippy tyres and generous departure angles are more important

out here in the desert.

You’ll spot that our Duster wears the new Dacia branding, and these

latest cars come with an off-road compass, inclinometer and hill descent

control (HDC), which works in forward and reverse gears; we test it on

one particularly steep slope and it makes negotiating the pretty significant

incline a cinch. Just engage HDC, select first gear and down we

tootle, feet off the pedals, the drivetrain and brakes automatically tethering

our speed.

I’m genuinely surprised by the go-anywhere creds of the Duster; it’s

proof that light weight (1430kg) and a jacked-up ride height are your allies

when heading off the beaten track. It joins an elite group of mountain

goats, sitting alongside the King of the Alps Fiat Panda 4x4. Our Dacia is

reassuringly dusty when we emerge just before dusk.

It’s exactly a decade since Dacia arrived in the UK. In that time it’s sold

nearly a quarter of a million cars, and sales soared 22 per cent in 2022.

The cost of living crisis has forced us to turn our thermostats down and

our appetite for cheaper motoring up. This is a time of opportunity for

Dacia, whose proposition is built around great-value, back-to-basics ⊲

The epic

cinematography

of Tim Pollard:

Fury Road

WE’RE SOON FLYING

ACROSS THE DESERT AT

30MPH, 40MPH, EVEN

50MPH, GREAT PLUMES

OF DUST LEFT HANGING

IN OUR WAKE

10 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 11

Dacia Duster

Did you just

get that out

when you saw

our camera?

64 per cent

of parts

are locally

sourced

A dab of

handbrake

and… Oh, the

joy of an actual

handbrake

PRESSES SMASH SHEET STEEL INTO

MORE THAN 700 BULKHEADS, DOORS,

BONNETS AND WINGS EVERY HOUR

products manufactured in low-cost Africa and Romania.

We’ve established that the Duster is a dab hand at navigating deserts

and city-centre flashmobs, but now it’s time to dissect the engineering

underpinning the range. The second part of our voyage is to Tangier on

the north coast, home to the largest single factory in Africa. This port

city is about as close to Spain as Dover is to Calais, and has acted as the

gateway between the two continents for centuries. The location reflects

Dacia’s industrial premise: access to Western European tech and industrial

scale, but built locally using Moroccan labour and skill.

A year ago, my daily driver in Our Cars was the Dacia Sandero Comfort

TCe 90: ‘It remains extraordinary value and its rational appeal is

only magnified as penny pinching becomes prudent for us all,’ I concluded

after a long-term test that coincided with war in Ukraine and soaring

bills. Now we’re driving to its birthplace to see exactly how they do it.

Tangier feels more modern than Marrakesh, and little wonder – you

can see Spain across the Strait of Gibraltar on a clear day. There are fewer

knackered old cars and the city centre is more affluent, yet you wouldn’t

mistake it for anywhere other than Africa. We head east towards the

factory’s home in Melloussa, the diesel Duster averaging an easy 46mpg

on-road, after the 39mpg thirst of playing rally-raid driver in the desert.

Signs pointing to Renault Usine confirm we’re getting close and, sure

enough, the gentle rolling hills and motels of the A4 motorway are

punctuated by major service roads and the sprawling industrial complex

of a huge factory. It’s the biggest employer in the area, providing jobs for

8500 people, many of whom are swarming into the plant as we arrive.

We don our steel-toe-capped boots, hard hats and gilets jaunes to go the

full YMCA and head on in.

Visiting a modern car factory is a humbling experience. We start

in the stamping department, the noisiest part of the build. The world

shudders and thumps as high-speed presses use 2600 tonnes of

pressure to smash flat sheet steel into more than 700 bulkheads and

doors, bonnets and wings every hour. The colossal machines chomp

through 600 tonnes of steel a day, making parts that are then racked up

in warehouses, shiny raw materials taking shape, awaiting assembly.

It’s not just Sanderos built here. Two lines in Tangier handle a mix of ⊲

DEATH OF THE CHEAP CAR?

Dacia has built a reputation for brilliant-value cars,

but it is not immune to the inflation afflicting all

manufacturing. Take the Sandero, the first step up

the Dacia ladder in the UK. When running our

long-termer in 2021-22, we kept noticing its price

nibbling upwards. The cheapest model in the range

has risen significantly every year since launch.

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

£7995

£9845

£10,145

£12,995

2020 2021 2022 2023

That’s an extraordinary £5000 price hike – up 63

per cent in three years. Dacia claims the entry-level

Access model was dropped as nobody was buying

it. We’d argue it’s less about spec realignment and

more about rampant inflation, soaring commodity

prices and the industry’s economic reset ushering

in the death of the cheap car.

Not that customers have

noticed. The Sandero has

been Europe’s most

popular privately

bought car every

year since 2017.

12

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK


Dacia Duster

A couple of

examples of

affordable

greatness

No, Tim, roof

bars. Not a

rooftop bar

AS PARTS ARE WELDED

BY ROBOTS AND PEOPLE,

SPARKS FLYING OVER

METAL AND MAN ALIKE

Sandero, Lodgy, Stepway and Renault Express vans. Most models we see

are left-hand drive, but we spy the odd Sandero right-hooker too. The

bodyshop next door pulls the pieces together and I’m struck by how

much is still done manually. Parts are welded by a combination of

robots and people, sparks flying over metal and man alike.

‘When you visit western car factories you’ll see they are highly automated,’

explains Christophe Dridi, Dacia’s vice president of industry,

who gives a fascinating insight into the business model. ‘Their bodyshops

are typically 95-99 per cent automated – you find robots everywhere.

In Tangier, it is not highly automated. It’s more like 35-40 per cent.

One big, big difference is this Dacia way of doing it; to make the business

model work, you need to invest in machines only when it is necessary.

Robots are very expensive. People always talk about salaries of workers,

but when you look at the total cost to manufacture a car, the payroll is

only a small part. It is true that the salaries are less in Morocco than in

Western European countries. But sometimes it is better not to automate

from an economic point of view. If we automated everything, we would

not be able to produce Dacia cars.’

Ironically, manufacturers at the top of the spectrum use ‘hand-built’

as a sign of luxury. For the Renault Group, it’s proof of canny economics.

Dridi praises the Moroccan workforce for their skill, passion and flexibility:

‘Covid, parts shortages… they’ve coped with it all.’ In a country where

the average monthly salary is just £380, it’s plain that a skilled job at this

giant car factory is a prize to cherish.

We continue our tour around the plant – paint shops, final assembly

and biomass boilers fuelled by crushed pallets and olive stones to provide

90 per cent of the factory’s energy needs – as cars morph from skeletal to

showroom ready. They end up parked at the in-house train terminal for

the trip to the docks at Port Tanger Med, from where they will be shipped

to 71 countries around the globe.

The day after CAR’s visit, the Dacia factory sets a new output record:

an impressive 1360 cars are built in a single day, equivalent to one a minute.

It takes each vehicle 16 hours to go from a flat roll of steel to a finished

product. It’s a minor miracle of industrial clout – and it’s great news for

the Kingdom of Morocco. ‘We’re very proud of “Made in Morocco”,’ says

the plant director, Spaniard Miguel Oliver-Boquera, who also oversees

the smaller factory in Casablanca 200 miles further south. ‘Today 64 per

cent of the parts used are local, and we are aiming to make that 80 per

cent local by 2030. That will be worth €3 billion to the local economy.’

We retire from the factory, minds scrambled by the alchemy of heavy

industry. I can see why my Sandero was so cheap and yet so good. The

Renault Group has cleverly leveraged its long history in Morocco (it

started selling cars here in 1920, and the Casablanca factory it acquired

from Fiat dates back to 1959) to create a competitive advantage. Dridi

estimates that Tangier builds cars for between 20 and 100 per cent less

than the cost of a traditional Western factory. If you’re wondering why

the Sandero remains the cheapest new car on sale today, now you know.

Our Duster, waiting outside, feels like a product of similar thinking.

Canny engineering allied with shrewd production practices is creating

cars for our zeitgeist: robust vehicles that can cross the desert, undertake

family duties in town and keep abreast of technological innovation, with

just enough gadgetry and toys – not least electrification – when the

market demands it. Twenty-four years after Renault’s acquisition, Dacia

is coming of age.

DACIA DUSTER

PRICE From £15,795

(£23,595 as tested)

POWERTRAIN 1461cc

turbodiesel four-cylinder, sixspeed

manual, all-wheel drive

PERFORMANCE 113bhp @

3750rpm, 192lb ft @ 1750rpm,

10.2sec 0-62mph, 109mph

WEIGHT 1430kg

ON SALE Now

★★★★★

THIS

ADVENTURE

ORIGINALLY

APPEARED IN THE

APRIL 2023

ISSUE OF

CAR



TESLA MODEL 3

Off grid

Just before Tesla’s much-hyped mass-market car finally reaches

the UK, we spend 300 miles in a possible future

Words James Taylor Photography Alex Tapley

16

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK


Tesla Model 3

I think I can answer

your most pressing

Model 3 question now

– yes, this is a car you

should consider buying

L

ike you, I have a lot of questions

about the Tesla Model

3. But the most important

one – whether it is a car you

should genuinely consider

buying – I think I can answer

now. Yes, it is. Between now and that conclusion there’s a

day and a half and more than 300 miles to cover.

Why Norway? Because it’s the European epicentre of

electric-car popularity; tax exemption and incentives

make it boomtown for EVs. Almost 60 per cent of new

cars sold in the country in March 2019 were pure EVs, a

new record, bolstered in no small part by the release of

the Model 3. The newest, littlest Tesla has only been on

sale here since February but pent-up demand meant it

accounted for 29 per cent of all new-car sales in March.

Tesla’s first mass-market car is a big deal here.

An hour later we’re another EV on Oslo’s streets,

pointing the Model 3’s grilleless nose out of Tesla-Skøyen

(a hip-looking brick-built former railway workshop in a

regenerated area of town – very on-brand) and into the

throng. We’re sitting in an interior quite unlike any I’ve

experienced outside of a concept car; there are only four

physical switches (hazard lights and SOS e-call buttons

above the rear-view mirror, and a pair of clickable scrollers

on the wheel), plus two conventional stalks. The righthand

one is a column-shift gear selector; like the Model

S, the 3 is so straightforward to operate as to be almost

disconcerting. You don’t physically switch it on, or even

unlock it – just approach it with your phone in your pocket

(which essentially becomes the key once it’s paired), climb

in, push the column to D and off you go. The left stalk is a

wipers/indicators combo.

For the first couple of turns I embarrass myself by inadvertently

leaving the indicators winking, partly because

they’re a soft-return, one-touch job of the type that’s

recently been abandoned by BMW, but mostly because

their only visual cue is on the 15-inch central touchscreen

that dominates the minimal cabin. It’s the sole display for

driver and passengers alike, and speedometer, range info,

air-con, headlights – everything – it’s all on here.

At first glance it’s as if somebody’s computer desktop

display has been attached to the dashboard, and yet

– the indicator thing aside, which you quickly adapt

to – the display is extremely logical. Driving stuff to the

left, everything else to the right. The rest of the cabin is

ruthlessly de-cluttered; there are no conventional air

vents, replaced by one continuous fissure across the

dash. You control the direction and temperature of air

flowing from the gap by dragging your finger across an

animated diagram on the touchscreen. It’s more intuitive

than you might expect, and looks kind of cool to boot.

The screen is less distracting than I’d expected, too. The

way it translates a vague finger-prod into decisive action

is quite uncanny, and its menus and command steps are

remarkably easy to navigate.

Gliding in and out of the city’s outer ring roads, the

Model 3 is a serene experience. Like many EVs, energy-regenerating

braking makes it practically a one-pedal

car; lift your foot from the accelerator and it decelerates

sharply, as if an unseen driving instructor has jumped

on the dual controls. You can choose from a less abruptly

decelerative mode for the regen via the touchscreen, and ⊲

James loves roads

like this. So, too,

does the Model 3

There’s real

brilliance here

(glossed with

a gleefully

puerile sense

of humour)

Pick-up: 0 miles

12 miles

You don’t have anything so outmoded

as a key. This card is paired

with the car via the Tesla app; your

phone can be too. Tap the card on

the B-pillar to gain access.

The nav (satellite graphics by Google,

guidance by actual satellites) is pretty

good and mostly intuitive. If your

passenger brings up another display,

such as Spotify, however, it replaces

the map; watch you don’t miss a turn.

18

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK


Tesla Model 3

If the

handbrake

fails, are

all the fish

electrocuted?

also toggle whether the car creeps from rest when you

take your foot from the brake, or stays put. You can also

choose three levels of weighting for the power steering;

in its heaviest mode it transforms into something almost

like a sports car’s, brimming with feedback.

An empty on-ramp beckons and I experimentally give

the accelerator a firm push with my right foot. Whoosh.

Jeepers, it’s fast. There’s no Ludicrous mode – that’s saved

for the higher-end Model S and X – but frankly, it doesn’t

need one.

When this magazine first tested the Model 3 in May

2018 it was available only in America, and at that point

only in single-motor, rear-wheel-drive form. The line-up

has expanded since. There’s a rear-drive Standard Range

Plus version with the smallest-capacity battery pack (258

miles, 5.3sec to 60mph), but we’re in the AWD Long Range

(beefier battery pack, 348 miles, 4.5sec). The range-topper

is the AWD Performance (bigger 20-inch tyres, 3.2sec to

60mph, 329 miles).

Industry onlookers have posited that same ambition

might break the company – and may yet if the cards fall

skew-whiff. Tesla has posted big losses of late, and a large

proportion is reportedly attributed to the challenges

of pushing Model 3 production to mass-market levels.

Production was halted for five days in February 2019 to fix

bottlenecks, and the rate of production has many rivers to

cross to reach its projected targets.

This car sports some Blue Peter-spec panel gaps, and its

touchscreen will later have a brief wobble, overlaying two

displays at once. (Switching it off and on again cured it –

classic IT.) But overall it feels entirely sound. Refinement,

certainly, is on the money. There’s a bit of wind rustle and

a whirring from the heavily treaded winter tyres, but it’s ⊲

Who left that

monitor there?!

Oblong control

centre feels normal

in moments

It’s fast. There’s no Ludicrous

mode – that’s saved for the

higher-end Model S and X – but

frankly, it doesn’t need one

85 miles 98 miles 100 miles 185 miles

‘Summon’ allows you to back your

Model 3 forwards or backwards while

you stand next to it. We try it at a charging

point. There’s a tiny but terrifying

fraction of a second’s lag before it stops.

The front seats are 12-way power

adjustable and heated as standard, and

black. White is a £950 upgrade. We

wonder how well or otherwise it might

survive scuffs and marks, especially if

the rear Isofix points are put to use.

The corner of the touchscreen might

seem an odd place for the speedo.

But it’s no more time-consuming

or distracting than using a

conventionally-positioned speedo.

We’ve found another electric car

to twin-test the Tesla against.

More focused single-seater

layout than the Model 3, but

excellent headroom and tyres

cheaper to replace.



Tesla Model 3

These are the

18-inch wheels.

19s are an option

How the locals

do it: take on

charge, cool

your socks

The acceleration isn’t a

surprise but the flat cornering

stance and taut body control are,

especially for a 1.8-tonne car

a well-insulated machine.

Drivers in Norway are unerringly polite, with impeccable

lane discipline and a Zen-like lack of aggression.

But there’s a lot of them. Traffic doesn’t thin until finally,

south of Nottenden, we find ourselves on a deserted road.

And it’s a great one – undulating, scenic and with perfect,

unblemished tarmac.

The Model 3 makes a surprisingly good fist of it. The

acceleration isn’t a surprise – it has two instant-torque

electric motors – but the flat cornering stance and taut

body control are, especially for a 1.8-tonne car. Unlike the

pricier Model S, the Model 3 doesn’t have air suspension,

instead using fixed dampers and coil springs, double wishbone

at the front, multi-link at the rear. It resists roll like a

track car, and yet the ride quality is smooth and acceptable

on this Long Range model’s 18-inch wheels (sportier-looking

19s are an option).

By shifting weight onto the front wheels every time you

lift from the accelerator, the regenerative braking helps

tuck the nose in. Drive quickly and the balance feels more

progressive and natural if you select the less aggressive

regen setting. The shorter wheelbase makes the 3 more

fun than the Model S, and swooshing from apex to apex

in this silent assassin is actually more fun than most cars.

Don’t get me wrong; a BMW 3-series would be more fun

still. But the BMW lacks the Tesla’s desirability and strong

character.

Dimensionally, the Model 3 is roughly the same length

as a 3-series but its EV package allows a bigger interior.

In profile its tall, curving glass roof makes it look like a

glass-blowing exercise. It’s a five-seater, and the rear bench

offers decent legroom, if not quite as much headroom

for taller passengers as you might hope. There are two

boots, the rear generous and the front pokier, its chief use

being to store the charging cables, of which this car had

two – one for a conventional power outlet, one for Tesla’s

high-speed Supercharger charging network, plus a CCS

adapter for third-party fast-chargers.

Theoretically the all-wheel-drive Model 3 should easily

complete the 300-mile test on a single charge but we’ve

been plugging into the company’s rapid Supercharger

network as we go, topping up little and often to be on the

safe side. In Norway we’re spoiled for choice, the navigation

system peppered with Supercharger sites; in the UK

the network is growing fast.

To use, they are startlingly convenient, and fast; pull

up, pick a bay, plug in. The fee is automatically billed to

your MyTesla account, currently at 24p per kWh in the

UK. Within a few minutes you’ve got another 50 miles in

the metaphorical tank. It does nonetheless mean you’ll

spend accumulated hours each month killing time in

nondescript areas (the Superchargers we found were

predominantly at the back of petrol stations and retail

parks), buying snacks and coffees you don’t really want or

need. Most Tesla owners we spotted were simply holed up

in their cars on their phones, waiting. But as a convenient

quick-stop-and-top-up, it’s hard to fault.

Grinding back through clogged traffic on the return

leg into Oslo presents the perfect proving ground for

Autopilot. A double-tap on the column-shifter activates

the system, which steers, accelerates and brakes

autonomously, and can also change lane by itself at the

driver’s command via the indicator stalk – a manoeuvre

it reticently takes its time to do, though better that

than botching it I guess. Autopilot is smooth and adept,

although far from infallible, occasionally braking sharply

for no apparent reason, and steering with a woolly lack of

conviction. It’s at its best when it has a guardrail to follow.

But before long you’re trusting it to pull to a halt and

pull away again in traffic, and it’s easy for your attention

to wander, so it’s for the best that the system requires that

you keep your hands on the wheel, cancelling the operation

if it detects pressure is removed for a certain length

of time.

If customers are willing to pay £4900, additional

preparation for ‘full self-driving capability’ is added,

with planned over-the-air updates permitting greater

and greater levels of autonomy, including in cities, and

even potentially a driverless valet-style function for car

parks. It’s technology that’s being investigated elsewhere,

but Tesla’s bullishly accelerative thinking, its drive to do

things rather than talk about them, and to do them its

own way is writ large in the Model 3. Not a perfect car, but

a fascinating one. ⊲

Two motors

means allwheel

drive

and no worries

on gravel

210 miles 260 miles 390 miles

22

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK

Even a Rolls-

Royce can’t

offer a log fire

on demand

Still marvelling at the

ventilation controls,

marshalled by tracing

a finger on the display.

Why has no one else

thought of that?

Loop north before return

to Oslo to visit Europe’s

biggest Supercharger

station at Nebbenes, a

motorway rest stop: 30

chargers and burgers.

We meant to do 300 miles.

After nearly 400 we still feel

fresh – must be the Model 3’s

calmness, even if the seats

could be more supportive.


Tesla Model 3

THE 300-MILE VERDICT

Rivals race to

catch up with the

Model 3’s car-assmartphone

user

experience

It says much for the Model 3’s sheer charisma that you

can find yourself overlooking an awful lot of niggles that

might bother you in another new car.

For a start, those aforementioned iffy panel gaps and

associated doubts about its long-term reliability; then

there’s nagging the Orwellian connectedness of a car

whose secondary functions are intrinsically bound up

in the internet (although that’s a factor that will surely

soon apply to the majority of new cars); the cliquishness

that owning any Tesla broadcasts to the world; the trust

you place in a car that relies so heavily upon touchscreen

control, shrugging off concerns that you’d be in trouble if

the screen were to throw a fit.

And yet. The Model 3’s serene (and surprisingly fun)

driving experience, the ultra-modernity of its interior and

the sheer now-ness of the car as a whole make its draw

inexorable.

The touchscreen is surprisingly usable on the move,

and its grouping of all of the displays essential to driving

less distracting and more accessible than it might seem on

first acquaintance , although the potential for catastrophic

eyes-off-the-road time is undoubtedly there.

The system’s ease – and enjoyment – of use is almost as

intrinsic to the Model 3’s appeal as its electric drivetrain.

Its car-as-smartphone user experience extends Tesla’s

USP as established manufacturers and start-ups race to

catch up.

Were a millennial buyer faced with a choice between

a Model 3 and a conventional saloon, you’d bet on them

choosing the Tesla – assuming they could afford it.

The much-trumpeted $35k entry price for the Tesla

in the USA (although the majority of 3s sold change

hands for higher prices) was never going to translate to

a sub-£30k price point in the UK, but nonetheless the

£38,900 single-motor price, extending past £60k for an

optioned-up AWD Performance, means that the Model 3

remains out of reach for many.

But putting any disappointment about the price aside,

it’s an immensely usable product, with a practical range –

yes, we were driving in Norway, where EV infrastructure

is plentiful, but a 300-plus-mile range is a huge plus point

for the dual-motor Model 3.

I generally don’t feel comfortable using touchscreens

on the move, and would put connectivity near the bottom

of a car’s dream attributes. And yet I find myself really

wanting a Tesla Model 3. It’s that kind of car.

Build quality remains an issue

On this evidence, Tesla’s build-quality

issues persist – though the situation is

improving. Panel gaps, much maligned

on early cars, are indeed rather poor on

this test car. The boot closes with a hollow

clatter, too. But overall refinement and

solidity seem sound, and the interior is

commendably rattle-free – not always the

case in other high-end saloons.

THIS

ADVENTURE

ORIGINALLY

APPEARED IN

THE JUNE 2019

ISSUE OF

CAR

Data

PRICE

£47,900 (£54,700

as tested); range

from £36,900

P O W E R T R A I N

Dual e-motors,

all-wheel drive

PERFORMANCE

346bhp, 389lb ft,

4.5sec 0-60mph,

145mph

W E I G H T

1847kg

This is an electric car to truly love

Tech-rich, progressive, quick, quiet,

calming – the Model 3 is all of these

things. But the smallest Tesla is also the

first to really connect driver and driving

experience – thank its conventional

(rather than air-sprung) suspension,

more compact size and surprisingly

keen steering. Sure, the BMW 3-series

maintains a margin of superiority, but

that the Tesla is even comparable on

dynamics is significant. You can feel

smug about owning a Model 3 – and

genuinely love driving it.

EFFICIENCY

348-mile range

(WLTP rating),

0g/km CO2

ON SALE

Now

RATING

★★★★★



Peugeot 408

STRANGER

What could be weirder than the

upside-down world of Netflix hit

Stranger Things? How about seeing a

Peugeot return to US streets?

Words Phil McNamara Photography Alex Tapley

26

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK


Peugeot 408

Peugeot fan

Eric Valdes:

things can

only get better

If Le Mans

doesn’t go so

well, there’s

always Dakar

Rare shot of

9X8 moving at

Sebring. Better

luck next time

he water tower looms over the red Peugeot 408 like one of HG Wells’

alien war machines. The word Jackson is plastered across it, proudly

announcing this Georgia settlement south-east of Atlanta to a

surrounding forest of indifferent pines.

The three-cylinder engine murmurs gently as we drive on singlelane

bone-white tarmac into Jackson, past often single-storey houses

in plentiful space, flags and church spires gleaming against the pale

blue sky. Within a couple of minutes we’re in the city centre: this isn’t a

big place, with a population just over 5000 people.

The central square is dominated by the orange brick façade of the

Hawkins Library, and lapping it reveals the close proximity of the

Hawk Cinema defaced by Steve Harrington, Melvalds store where

Joyce Byers worked and the neighbouring Radio Shack managed

by Bob Newby before his confrontation with the demodogs. These

buildings are all familiar, yet I’ve never visited this city before.

I know this place because the state of Georgia is becoming the new

Hollywood – Y’allywood, in the southern drawl of the locals – and

Jackson doubles for the Indiana town Hawkins in the phenomenon

that is Netflix’s TV show Stranger Things.

That’s set in the ’80s, as the troubled presidency of Georgian Jimmy

Carter dissipated amid Ronald Reagan’s optimism. The decade when

Japanese auto makers set up factories in America’s south, when

SUV sales began to grow, and when French brands Renault, Citroën

and Peugeot had a tiny foothold in the States. Peugeot’s American

high-water mark amounted to 20,007 cars in 1984, fuelled by the

Pininfarina-designed, smooth-riding 604 saloon and the 505, which

made inroads with its diesel engines offered in four-door and stationwagon

body styles. But by 1989 sales had slipped to 6095 according to

Carsalesbase.com and the 405’s introduction barely helped: by 1991

volumes had halved again, and Peugeot ceased exports.

The Lion marque has been dormant Stateside ever since, and talk

of a return was put on ice once Peugeot-Citroën acquired US brands

Jeep, Dodge and Ram. Apart, that is, from our one-off exercise:

shipping Peugeot’s new 408 crossover to Florida, just ahead of the 9X8

hypercar’s first 2023 endurance race in the 1000 Miles of Sebring.

Just doing

what the signs

tell us to do

The 408 noses out of Sebring International Raceway in darkness. It’s

been a long day, and Peugeot’s US fortunes clearly haven’t picked up in

the 32 years since its withdrawal. 9X8 number 93 finishes last, while

a transmission problem blindsides car #94 in the first few minutes,

and its eventual 141 laps, almost 100 down on the winning Toyota, isn’t

sufficient to count as officially finishing.

The team looks utterly dejected. Technical director Oliver Jansonnie

gives me his verdict in a funereal whisper: a lack of testing on Sebring’s

unusually bumpy track meant an inadequate suspension set-up, with

a knock-on effect on tyre and aerodynamic performance. And then ⊲



Peugeot 408

STRANGER

PLACES

1500 miles, five

states, few corners

Also in

production:

the Face/Off

remake

5. st ranger t hings'

hawkins, indiana,

is pure fict ion. so we

finish at indianapolis

inst ead

4 0 8's h i g h w a y

refinement welcome

when about 98 per cent

of our 1497-mile t rip

is cruising

4. great roads a st aple

of t he great smoky

mountains – including

t ail of t he dragon

5. IndianaPOLIS mot or speedway

LouiSville

2. jackson is home

t o six st ranger

t hings locat ions,

Merrily t rades on

i t s t v l inks

2. Jackson

4. SMOKY

MOUNTAINS

3. ATLANTA

3. at l ant A: home t o more

locat ions and scary,

12-l ane highway bang

in t he cent re.

b y p a s s w e l c o m e !

jacksonville

there were the reliability issues. It’s a disappointment for Eric Valdes,

who’s driven down from north of Tampa to support Peugeot. He’s only

34, but a massive fan, having visited its Sochaux museum and owning

a 1991 405 Mi16, a 505 and a 103 moped he’s bought for his daughter.

‘My grandmother was French,’ he explains, ‘and I’m not a big musclecar

fan. The Mi16 is light, has a pretty good racing pedigree and they’re

easy to work on. And Peugeot is one of the world’s oldest automobile

manufacturers.’

Yet neither Peugeot has turned a wheel for him yet – the 505 needed

a new fuel tank, and he’s working through a litany of Mi16 faults. And

getting Peugeot parts Stateside isn’t easy. What does he make of the

408? ‘It looks sharp, it stands apart. This is a crossover with a shooting

brake or berline feel, while we have more SUV-style crossovers.’

Definitely a stranger thing, then – one he recommends we take to

US Highway 129, the Tail of the Dragon, a mountainous stretch with

318 curves in 11 miles. Sold.

In the moody darkness no headlamps are closing, so I tip the Peugeot

into the right lane, pin the throttle and the 408 sails through, just a

touch of roll, emphatically tied down. We are travelling significantly

faster than 15mph. And we don’t see another roundabout for two days

and 521 miles.

If you asked me to draw a typical American trunk road, US Highway

98 would be my mind’s source material. Six lanes heading evangelicalchurch

straight, linking distant strips of settlements with recurring

storefronts (Dollar General! Advance Auto Parts! Wendy’s!). Those

distinctive banks of traffic lights strung across junctions, piercing the

blackness to catch your eye like Christmas lights. You can see some of

them from half a mile or more off.

A set flicks to red and I tap the left paddle to shift down through the

eight-cog transmission, the three-pot’s revs flaring sonorously with

each pull. The 408 has a slightly raised ride height, 40mm above a ⊲

1. We st art at t he

Sebring endurance

round. knowing racegoers

spot t he

al ien 408!

DISNEY WORLD, orl ando

DAYTONA BEACH

1. Sebring raceway

Heading north in the dark, in a right-hand-drive alien in an alien

landscape, I take reassurance from the 408’s cabin. It’s familiar after

a decade of Peugeot’s i-Cockpit philosophy: shrunken steering wheel

over which you peer at 3D-effect digital dials and a classy, glassy

touchscreen which groups the car’s controls.

The car’s responses feel reassuringly familiar too. Nudge the silky,

oval wheel off dead centre and the front end jinks in response: no

languid Mustang or sloppy SUV steering here.

Remarkably there are a couple of roundabouts not far from the

circuit, perhaps a gift from town planners to racegoers driving

performance cars. Maybe not, clocking the hectoring user guide

delivered in street furniture: signs screaming ‘15mph!’ and ordering

which lane to inhabit, cross-hatched ‘do not cross’ paint separating

the straight-on and turn-left lanes.

Jackson part of

the Georgia film

and TV boom

30

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK


Peugeot 408

308 hatchback’s. Pull alongside a Ford F-150 pick-up or Peterbilt truck

hustling as if in Duel, and that 40mm feels utterly insignificant given

the neighbour towering in your sideglass.

At these lights, we’re beside a Grand Cherokee. The 408’s 1.2-litre

turbo petrol emits a fluttering thrum, soprano-sounding in duet with

its bassier neighbour packing twice the number of cylinders. Away

from the lights we leave the Jeep standing: for that we can thank

the free-revving triple producing 171lb ft of torque at just 1750rpm,

the modest 1392kg kerbweight and the Cherokee driver’s blissful

ignorance of our contest.

We travel an hour north before bedding down at our Airbnb. At the

security gatehouse, the guard asks: ‘Is that a Porsche?’ I explain it’s a

Peugeot 408, imported especially from England. ‘I’ve been there and

the cars are this big,’ she says, gesturing about 15cm wide with her

hands. ‘That 4-zero-8 is very nice, lock it up safe,’ she chuckles.

Strange but

true: fictional

locations

mapped

Hawkins

public library:

in reality a

court house

Forbidding skies hang over Daytona Beach as we roll past the sprawling

NASCAR Mecca and cross the bridge to the outer beaches. There we

pay $20 and it gets weird, certainly to a Southend-on-Sea native whose

seaside experiences have never – until now – mixed engine oil and

suntan oil. Yes, in Daytona, a long stretch of beach is a traffic artery

and car park.

The precedent stems from testing and racing cars on its hardpacked

sands in the early 20th century. We roll south along the beach,

while jocks fling American footballs over the roof and children with

inflatables scurry alarmingly close. Daytona Beach is in serious

disrepair. Hurricane Nicole churned through not long ago, with brutal

gusts and high seas mauling the beachfront. Waves ripped chunks

from the sea wall, exposing tendrils of twisted metal cables, with

adjacent buildings left unsafe and abandoned.

We park between two huge pick-ups that make the 4687mm Peugeot

look like a toy. With a rear end that looks stolen from a Lamborghini,

a swooping roofline that starkly contrasts with the home team’s boxy

SUVs and a waterfall-like grille crowned with an alien badge here, the

Peugeot is unquestionably a stranger thing.

And it catches the attention of students on spring break, that longheld

American tradition of hitting beach and booze during March

and April holidays. Out-of-towners from New York, Pennsylvania and

Virginia poke around the car, delighting in its fresh, ‘cool’ concept.

‘Hawkins Lab’ a

former hospital,

now a bit of

university

Florida is Trump central, and its ruling Republicans won’t be making

Daytona’s sands EV-only any time soon. We see surprisingly few Teslas

or other EVs on our travels through the sunshine state. The old-school

automobile still dominates American society, and nothing illustrates

that more starkly than Daytona Beach.

Swampy, verdant Florida makes way for Georgian pines, as we power

towards Atlanta on I-75 North.

The 408’s TomTom Live navigation is utterly dead, as is the DAB

radio: blame European frequencies. A workaround is wireless Apple

CarPlay, enabling Google Maps and Spotify to stream the rocky

official Stranger Things playlist.

The Peugeot rolls peacefully at 70mph, the engine buzzing gently at

around 2000 revs, the tyres murmuring on rougher tarmac, the ride

supple and smooth. Occasionally the steering reacts of its own accord:

it’s not psychokinetic sabotage from the Hawkins Lab kids, but a

lane-assist system coping well with American road markings. That’s a

welcome back-up given we’ll be covering more than 1000 miles.

US cruising can be soporific; blame the huge distances to cover.

But keep an eye on your mirrors. The adrenaline flows when a patrol

car launches through the shoal of traffic like a Griffin missile, using

its laser guidance to veer past cars on the left or right side, chasing an

unknowable target over the horizon. Kick down on the aluminium

pedal and the 408 responds sharply, the modest engine summoning

the grunt to get out the way.

The GT trim’s seats are comfortable, supportive and look gorgeous,

layering soft alcantara and man-made ‘leather’ in intricate patterns,

with green stitching. I snuggle back and monitor the incessant stream

of legal billboards for kicks: informal ‘Lawyer Dude’ with his unusual

mix of balding and mullet, another dressed as a baseball star with

LAW-YER across his jersey. The wackier the better to draw attention:

very Better Call Saul.

Jackson’s main square is largely deserted: it’s a sunny but ⊲

Tour guide

Thompson:

she’s seen some

strange things…

Our boss went

to Hawkins

and all we got

was this lousy

truck door



Peugeot 408

Options list

oddly lacking

Bloodbath Red

interior trim

Okay, not always

doing what the

signs say

The only 2023

Peugeot road

car in the USA

unseasonably cold Sunday morning, and I’m guessing the locals

are mostly in church. We get coffee from Lucy Lu’s: rumour says

Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers scribbled some storylines

there; a neighbouring wall wears a mural of the young characters;

disembodied car doors reference the show.

Thriving Jackson seems content to trade on its double life as the

fictitious Hawkins, Indiana. Hannah Thompson is a case in point:

her Gold Lion farm store sells organic produce and offers Stranger

Things fan tours. She moved to Jackson in 2015, unaware that Netflix

was filming the first series, and peered into Melvalds’ store to be

flummoxed by ’80s stock including Kodak film. Back then, downtown

Jackson was hollowed out, with many real stores put out of business by

the shift to out-of-town shopping.

‘Stranger Things has helped this town regenerate: it brought

in $250,000 last year,’ she says. ‘But we have [an abundance of]

churches and it’s very conservative, so some people refuse to watch

the show despite the financial benefits.’ Some residents are wary

of its supernatural themes, but are still curious about the show, so

Thompson briefs them on Jackson’s on-screen appearances.

She delights in the Peugeot and its digital cockpit, a far cry from

her 1986 F-150 Bullnose and van wearing the show’s Surfer Boy Pizza

livery. ‘The 408 doesn’t look like anything else in the States!’ she

exclaims. ‘And great colour, very Stranger Things, that iridescent red

glow is almost supernatural!’

Georgia attracts film and TV productions with huge tax breaks, and

Pinewood Studios in Fayetteville is larger than anything in Hollywood.

We head to Atlanta, home to several locations from Disney’s Marvel

movie universe – including Porsche’s head office, which doubles up as

the Avengers’ HQ.

But our key destination is in Druid Hills, east of the city centre,

and Stranger Things’ mysterious government laboratory exploiting

psychokinetic children. The 408 glides through a residential

neighbourhood, the tall trees’ leaves shaded yellow in the early evening

sunshine, expensive looking homes crammed on the hillsides.

On a left turn is the Hawkins Lab – in reality Emory University’s

Briarcliff Campus Building A. One security car blocks the entrance,

and we see another patrolling the grounds. The rumour mill vows

season five is shooting there; high security does little to dispel that. ⊲

THE STORY BEHIND THE SHOW

Nostalgic for the music and –

gulp – fashion of the ’80s? Love

movies such as A Nightmare on

Elm Street, E.T. and Alien? Still

have a soft spot for Scooby-Doo?

Stranger Things wraps that all up

in a thrilling, funny, scary and

visually breathtaking TV show,

whose costs are reported to have

peaked at $30 million an episode.

The award-winning series

focuses on the kids of Hawkins, Indiana, who are

exposed to inexplicable dark forces triggered by the

strange goings-on at a government research lab on

the edge of town. And its deft casting includes two

adult stars – Winona Ryder and Sean Astin (below)

– who first came to prominence in cult ’80s movies

Beetlejuice and The Goonies.

When season four first aired it became Netflix’s

most watched English-language programme. It’s

won 73 awards and season five is in production. Not

seen it yet? What you waiting for?

Netflix



Peugeot 408

Blah blah blah

with a side

order of yadda

yadda yadda

Odd one out on

the forecourt

of Smoky

Mountain 4x4

The guard tells us the abandoned building is plagued by Stranger

Things fans breaking in: it’s a pivotal location which provides a gateway

to the evil Upside Down world of the alternative Hawkins.

From the ’60s to the ’90s it housed the Georgia Mental Health

Institute, a fearsome relic of how psychiatric patients were once

treated, an intimidating environment with underground tunnels for

moving patients about. That’s an eerie symmetry to the building’s TV

depiction, a case of art imitating life.

We stand on the perimeter and gawp, our Stranger Things pilgrimage

at an end. The building is heading the same way, due for demolition.

Monday afternoon, and we’re racking up the miles on 411 North

through Tennessee, heading for the Tail of the Dragon.

The 411 is single track at times but traffic moves briskly through

Tennessee’s tall pines, interspersed with stunning sprigs of pink, red

and orange foliage. The mountains grow more dominant in the side

windows, white crosses stand proudly outside white clapboard homes,

Will Stellantis

greenlight a

US comeback

for Peugeot?

one lawn has a red MAGA sign.

We turn off for the Great Smoky Mountains, the road spearing up

through the trees. Promisingly we pass a Ford Mustang GT500, Subaru

Impreza WRX, three sportsbikes and an MX-5 coming back down.

The 408 jinks through a couple of steeply banked turns and

suddenly the treeline disappears: on the right stands shimmering

water, where the Little Tennessee River flows into Chilhowee Lake.

This is Happy Valley, and the Peugeot parps joyously as it overtakes a

tiny Honda and lumbering Hyundai, and sails past the US 129 Dragon

Harley-Davidson dealership.

The valley isn’t the only happy thing just now. I hang a left up Happy

Valley Road, where the corners don’t stop coming. It’s devoid of traffic

and so immersive, even in a family crossover which takes 10.4sec to

hit 62mph from standstill. The urgent, fizzy engine deserves much of

the credit.

The 408 hugs the centre lines, ready to swoop into these thirdand

fourth-gear corners, the three-cylinder revving to its ceiling just

above 5000rpm. In M mode to control gearchanges, a click of a wheelmounted

shift paddle starts the cycle again, accelerating hard to the

next curve.

The steering feels heavier than you might expect, and its directness

is welcome. You’re never sawing at the wheel, just dipping a wrist and

feeling the response. Tap the strong brakes and the strut-mounted

nose dives into a right-hander, the camber tips the weight onto the

kerbside Michelins and they brace hard. The body stays nicely level

and the 408 sweeps through.

The Peugeot climbs for close to 10 miles, seeing arrow-headed snake

signs advising cornering speeds as low as 10mph. We top out at a twotiered

hairpin that feels like a 180˚ turn, part shaded, part in the setting

sun. This is the Murray Gap, the highest point on the Foothill Parkway,

and the view out across the verdant mountains is spectacular. But we

desperately need fuel. ⊲

36

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK


Peugeot 408

THIS

ADVENTURE

ORIGINALLY

APPEARED IN THE

JUNE 2023

ISSUE OF

CAR

Reasonably

frugal car, very

low prices

We start heading down the mountain to Maryville and get

stuck behind a Caddy SUV. Its body lists, the red brake lights flicker

frequently, with the more balanced 408 like a dog straining at the leash

behind. But these corners are too frequent for a pass; being rash will

trigger a mountainous treeside slide.

Maryville harbours the nearest gas, seven miles further away from

the Tail of the Dragon. And with night closing in and our Gatlinburg

hotel more than an hour away, I admit defeat. Happy Valley was

reasonable compensation I figure.

Indy is

heartland for

old-school

petrolheads

Peugeot

back at Indy

thanks to

CAR

The 408 noses onto Smoky Mountain 4x4’s forecourt, packed with

immaculate Wranglers and American flags. Owner Bob Shaw is

vacuuming a bright blue Mustang 5.0, but he’s happy to talk 408.

‘It could catch on here, it’s a good looking car. My wife and I look

at most American SUVs and we can’t tell the difference. It’s not a true

SUV, it’s a good cross.’

Bob guesses at four cylinders under the hood, and sounds mildly

impressed that the turbocharged three can rustle up 130 horses –

though that’s probably good ol’ Southern manners. And electric cars?

‘They can keep up with this Mustang on horsepower but they don’t go

as far. There are electrified Jeeps coming – but no one’s very interested

so far.’

We push on into Kentucky, and after an hour stuck fast on the I-75

near Williamsburg have some serious time to make up as light leaches

from the day. The 408’s flying, doing long bursts in the mid-80s, when

the highway finally makes some demands of the suspension. The

wheels drop into some brutal craters and the shocks fly over huge

expansions. Yet the 408 keeps its poise.

And what’s that in the road ahead? Truck tyre! The 408 darts leftright

around the rubber carcass, the neighbouring lane thankfully

free of traffic. I wasn’t expecting a moose test this far south, but the

Peugeot passes it nicely.

It’s a damp, grey Wednesday morning when we pass through the

tunnel into Indianapolis Motor Speedway, our final destination.

The trip computer ticks over to 1497 miles, and the 408 has averaged

37mpg (imperial). Not bad considering the driving was either stop/

start or rapid highway, and the 508-litre trunk always crammed with

gear. Despite packing just 128bhp, the 408 hasn’t felt outgunned,

thanks to its eager powertrain and agile handling. And its refinement

made hustling through five states a breeze.

While howling IndyCars from Team Penske and Chip Ganassi test

in front of 257,325 empty seats, I field the last of many enquiries. Craig

Winters from Texas spies the unusual hatchback from a distance

and rushes over to see its provenance: his parents owned a 504. ‘Nicelooking

car,’ he concludes. Another chap mistakes it for a Lamborghini

SUV, then takes the obligatory phone shots.

Maybe there’s an element of romanticising what you can’t have:

after all, I’ve been swooning over Challengers and FJ Cruisers. But I’d

put money on Stellantis launching crossovers like this Stateside – just

not wearing a Peugeot badge.

Our upside-down idea of turning the clock back to the ’80s and

putting a Peugeot back on Main Street has succeeded: the 408 has

charmed America. It’s a stranger thing, no doubt. And like the TV

show, it’s attracted one hell of a following.

PEUGEOT 408

PRICE From £31,050

(£36,075 for GT trim)

POWERTRAIN 1199cc 16v

turbocharged three-cylinder,

eight-speed automatic,

front-wheel drive

PERFORMANCE 128bhp

@ 5500rpm, 171lb ft @ 1750rpm,

10.4sec 0-62mph, 130mph

WEIGHT 1392kg

EFFICIENCY 41.0-48.1mpg

(official), 37mpg (tested),

133-156g/km CO2

ON SALE Now

★★★★★



HYUNDAI IONIQ 6

Together in

electric streams

After wowing everyone with the Ioniq 5, Hyundai’s

gone even more radical with its new streamlinerstyle

EV. We try to make sense of it all in Korea

Words Ben Barry Photography Alex Tapley

40

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK


Hyundai Ioniq 6

Not as low as

the concept,

but still sleek

and dramatic

The game-changer is

how far you can stretch

between charges

I

nstead of driving Hyundai’s new electric

Ioniq 6 on the road, my first stint is spent

navigating the metaverse – appropriate given

we’re in Seoul, home to South Korean

tech titans Samsung and LG. It’s not an entirely

successful virtual outing. I’ve got the

VR headset on, a joystick in each hand, and I

jab around Hyundai’s Goyang ‘Motorstudio’ like a kind of

virtual Scott wielding a couple of snow poles. But Hyundai

is serious about this stuff for ‘gen-MZ’, deploying it as part

of a marketing toolkit that includes free NFTs. It’s all very

forward looking – as is, to be fair, the Ioniq 6.

Following the stand-out Ioniq 5, this is the second

Hyundai on the E-GMP electric platform (the Kia EV6

shares it too), which means an 800-volt architecture

and 350kW charging, multi-link rear suspension and a

platform that exploits the space efficiency of EVs. The

wheelbase might be 50mm shorter than the Ioniq 5’s, but

it’s still huge at 2950mm.

Pricing is similar to the 5 super-hatch/SUV too, with a

slightly higher £47k or so entry point partially offset by a

higher base spec. That puts it on a collision course with

the Tesla Model 3 and Polestar 2.

Find one of those rather shy 350kW chargers and you

can top up from 10 to 80 per cent in 18 minutes, while an

11kW home charger requires eight hours, just like the Ioniq

5. The game-changer is how far you can stretch between

charges, thanks to a drag coefficient of just 0.21, far superior

to the Ioniq 5’s 0.29. This coaxes a quoted 384 miles

from the 77.4kWh lithium-ion battery, 69 miles more

than its sibling (the entry-level 53kWh battery doesn’t

come to the UK) and 10 miles clear of the Model 3.

For CAR, this opens the door to a lengthy South Korean

road trip combining urban, motorway and challenging

rural routes that’ll get us under the Ioniq 6’s skin a decent

while before it lands back home – and allows us to discover

first-hand the real-world range.

Design is naturally integral to the drag coefficient. The

Mercedes-Benz CLS is the most obvious touchpoint when

viewing the 6 in profile with its long, wind-cheating arc of

a roofline, but head of Hyundai Style Simon Loasby says

his team were inspired by ‘streamliner’ cars of the ’30s

such as the Stout Scarab, one-off Phantom Corsair and

later Saab 92, crustaceous designs themselves inspired by

earlier leaps in aeroplane aerodynamics.

At 4855mm long and 1495mm tall, the 6 is a huge

220mm longer and 110mm lower than the 5, and its details

have been finessed endlessly – flush door handles, active

front air flaps, even a little flap in the front wheelarch to

offset a short front overhang that’s sub-optimal for aero.

I want to squash it lower, stretch it wider and move it

closer to the Taycan-esque Prophecy concept of 2020, but

eager Koreans coo over it when we stop (the home market,

dominated by the domestic brands, quickly snapped up

35,000 pre-orders). To be fair the packaging constraints

must’ve been pretty nightmarish, with a large battery

sandwiched between front and rear axles, a roof that arcs

like the Sydney Harbour Bridge and an interior that must

leave space for tall adults to lounge about inside. It’s mission

accomplished on that latter point too – even those a

little over 6ft tall have rear headroom (a BMW 3-series is

around 60mm lower), plus there’s a flat floor and space for

a jacuzzi between the rear seats and front seatbacks.

We’re testing the version that combines all-wheel drive,

dual e-motors and 321bhp. Fitted with 20-inch alloys rather

than standard 18s, it’s officially good for 324 miles on the

WLTP (rear-drive and 18s is your max-range cheat code). ⊲

Latest version

of SmartSense

driver assistance

system allows

foolishness

Pick-up: 0 miles

3 miles

10 miles

Doesn’t look as

good in the metal as

it did in the first pics.

But streamlinerinspired

design does

deliver 0.21 Cd and

interior with room for

five adults.

D is a twist forwards,

R a twist back, but

that’s the opposite

to an auto gearstick.

Worse, it’s hidden by

the steering wheel.

Three-point turns

clunky as a result.

Optional digital

mirrors add almost

a mile to the total

quoted driving

range, but they’re

not so intuitive to

use, especially when

parking.

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CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK


Hyundai Ioniq 6

Designed for

comfort while

driving and

while charging

Get out of town

and some fine

roads reward

your patience

This is interior quality

to make a Tesla Model 3

interior appear cobbled

from lunchbox lids

As we venture out into Seoul, it’s clear one element is

missing from the metaverse: traffic. Half of South Korea’s

population of 52 million live in the greater Seoul area, and

they’re all out today. Blimey it’s aggressive – the unwritten

rule is to prevent anyone from changing lanes at any cost,

so driving feels much feistier than in the UK, even if it

never seems to turn into road rage.

A natural calibration for this electric powertrain brings

welcome respite here – the throttle eases you in, the brakes

are firm but don’t grab and the default regen setting

doesn’t put you through the windscreen. You can tailor

everything through Eco, Normal and much sparkier Sport

settings, plus adjust the force of the regen on paddles fixed

to the steering wheel, but just hopping in and using the

defaults it all seems harmonious.

It’s also a highly relaxing cabin, defined by an architecture

that looks structural rather than decorative – particularly

the T-like intersection of dashboard and floating

centre console that Loasby suggests we rest a laptop on

during halts for battery charging.

Some plastics are hard, but this is quality to make a

Tesla Model 3 interior appear cobbled from lunchbox lids.

Capacitive switches hide behind a sheen of gloss black,

there are aluminium-look garnishes and twin

12-inch infotainment screens featuring a digital instrument

binnacle behind the steering wheel that runs backto-back

with a central infotainment screen. Everything

responds on the double to prods and swipes.

Like all E-GMP products, the door casings are deeply

concaved too, leaving masses of room to hang your knee in

nothing but fresh air – a strangely liberating sensation.

Seoul’s a real fusion of old and new, with a façade of

wide urban freeways and slick skyscrapers hiding a

low-level tangle of grubby back alleys. Venture there and

there’s a mash of restaurants, karaoke bars and totempoll-tall

signage. I haven’t touched a drop but the hangover

and confusion are palpable.

We have a quick explore, then extract ourselves from

Seoul’s clogged arteries to go east over Highway 60. The

route quickly leads into more mountainous terrain, long

tunnels constantly cutting through the topography like

thread through fabric. Tunnel, sky, tunnel, sky… years of

engineering graft dispensed at a mile a minute.

The Ioniq 6 drives well at speed: wind and road noise is

muted, in part due to ‘silent’ Pirelli tyres, acoustic glass,

fluid-filled bushings and ‘de-coupled’ carpets that reduce

the fizz of frequencies. While some fuss over imperfections

does leave the chassis room for improvement, the

takeaway is a supple, long-legged feel. We lull along.

No doubt our car’s optional digital side-view mirrors

contribute to the hush, because they also account for almost

a mile of quoted maximum range. I never quite acclimatise

to them, especially the unnaturally large transition

from glancing at the inset screen to having a final ‘life-saver’

over your shoulder. Now I really need that blind-spot

monitor and lane-keep assist; I’m tech dependent!

Heading north up the Jungang Expressway, we stop for

lunch at the Lee Sang Won Museum in Chuncheon-si, an

apparently circular building showcasing the work of the

eponymous Korean artist and perched on the hillside like

it could roll away in a breeze.

The museum’s Insta-friendly mountain setting contrasts

starkly with the scene just a few miles away, where

labourers crouch among crops or shade themselves from

24ºC heat in ramshackle shelters. Clearly bad things

don’t happen here – I’m welcomed into some kind of ⊲

A PROPHECY UNFULFILLED

The Ioniq 6 was born out of

2020’s Prophecy concept.

Gorgeous, isn’t it? The

design features smooth,

pebble-like surfacing, suicide

doors, huge turbine-like

wheels and a long arc of a

roofline that tapers low to a

boat-tail rear end. There are

echoes of both the

Mercedes-Benz CLS and

Porsche Taycan.

The Ioniq 6 is clearly

related to the Prophecy

design, but is also clearly a

taller, narrower, less

attractive shape. Perhaps its

downfall is the E-GMP

platform itself – unlike the

Taycan or Maserati

GranTurismo Folgore (both

sleek and low-slung, and

pricey), which have batteries

contoured for low seating

positions, Ioniq 6 occupants

sit over the battery.

The design team also had

to leave space for adults in

the rear while having the

tapering roofline essential

for optimum aero and

therefore range. No easy

task, as the 6 attests.

Who knows, perhaps the

disparity between concept

and production reality leaves

space for a halo model to

one day fully deliver on

Prophecy’s promise.

33 miles


160 miles

Drop off: 248 miles

Impressive

refinement, and

seats are very

relaxing. Ours

are the standard

chairs, not optional

Relaxation Comfort

upgrade.

Quick stop for lunch.

Some of the spread

is extremely tasty,

other bits a little…

well, challenging.

More of the sticky

chicken, less of the

pickle for me please.

Sat-nav includes

charge-point info, so

we navigate to one

in Cheorwon, close

to the border with

North Korea. Locals

are so welcoming

and kind to us.

The boot is

comparable to a

Tesla Model 3’s,

though the opening

is a little tight. Not

much space in the

frunk on all-wheeldrive

versions.

Ioniq 6 is likeably

agile and

responsive, if still

comfort-infused,

on some great

mountain roads. UK

cars will get a stiffer,

sharper set-up.

Back in Seoul, we’ve

averaged 3.75

kWh per mile of

mixed driving. That

equates to 289 miles

from the 77kWh

battery. Impressive

stuff.



Hyundai Ioniq 6

▲

PLUS

Excellent range;

spacious interior;

refinement;

infotainment;

decent performance

MINUS

▼

Design; not as sharp

to drive as Tesla

Model 3; small

opening to large

boot; secondary

ride could be better

ALTERNATIVES

⊳⊲

Tesla Model 3

Sharper to drive,

easier on the eye

and a bigger frunk.

But less refined and

cheaper-feeling

inside

Polestar 2

Better looking and

more entertaining,

but doesn't ride so

well and not as

roomy in the back

laundrette to use the facilities (don’t ask; they laugh and

refuse my cash) even though I could’ve run amok with any

number of lethal farming implements discarded outside.

Traffic thins to barely a trickle, and the road surfaces

flow with a gentle loll, long corners knitting together like a

wide river carving a valley. The Ioniq’s steering reassures

here, with a chunky, precise feel that remains consistent

even through the usual dead spot at the top of the rim.

Strong lunges of acceleration are just a flex of throttle

away, and while performance is better described as urgent

rather than devastating, there’s more than enough to get a

proper shake on.

Reminders that relations with North Korea are not entirely

cordial edge into our journey. A sign at a beauty spot

commemorates Korean soldiers beating back the Chinese

communist army in June 1951 at Mount Daeseongsan.

Heavy artillery fire from military drills rings out in the

background.

We make our way to Cheorwon county and pull up on

a high street near the border. We don’t need to charge to

get back to Seoul, but we want to test the system on a

super-quick 100kW charger– a full top-up would take well

under an hour and cost around £21, less than a third of

comparable UK chargers.

Our problem is Hangul, the Korean alphabet. A woman

clocks us immediately, swaggers over to investigate while

grinning broadly (‘You like my town?’), makes a few calls,

and pretty soon we’ve got a group of older folk trying to

help us plug in. They are the nicest people, and they’re only

slightly nonplussed when we immediately disconnect the

charger having proved it functions.

The guards with machine guns close to the border

are genuinely lovely too, after we slowly weave through

yellow-and-black barricades to chat at a checkpoint. Surely

we’re the first Westerners to report here in an EV

unavailable to the public. Pioneers, if you will.

After turning around, we explore the mountain roads

only slightly further south, with their aggressive coils and

flicks of direction changes. The Ioniq 6 does a decent job of

stringing it all together, feeling eager to turn, with well

controlled body movements and mass palpably centred

low and between the axles. It’s not the sparky urgency of a

Tesla Model 3 or the robust thump and monster grip of a

Polestar 2, but it’s a nice mix of refinement and eagerness

to turn and flow and find a fluid rhythm over these

challenging roads.

UK cars will amp up the dynamics with stiffer rear

springs and uprated rear anti-roll bar, but given the Model

3 and Polestar leave something to be desired in terms of

refinement, the Hyundai could be shrewdly positioned.

As dusk falls the sun burns red and we jump back on the

highway, heading south to a capital that sparkles from

blackness like a primary schooler’s glitter-glue painting.

When we queue back to our base at the towering Signiel

hotel, the trip computer reveals efficiency good for a real-world

range of 289 miles, only 10 per cent off our car’s

quoted max. I’m very happy with that.

There’s no silver bullet for range anxiety, but Hyundai’s

‘electric streamliner’ certainly kicks the fear a good few

miles down the road. Is it enough to tempt UK buyers

from the arguably more pleasing looking 5? We’ll soon

find out for sure.

THIS

ADVENTURE

ORIGINALLY

APPEARED IN THE

DECEMBER

2022 ISSUE OF

CAR

Data

PRICE

£54,995

(First Edition)

P O W E R T R A I N

77kWh battery, dual

e-motors, singlespeed

gearbox,

all-wheel drive

PERFORMANCE

321bhp, 446lb ft,

5.1sec 0-62mph,

115mph

Given the Model 3

and Polestar 2 leave

something to be desired

in terms of refinement,

the Hyundai could be

shrewdly positioned

W E I G H T

2020-

2096kg

EFFICIENCY

3.7 miles per

kWh, 324-mile

range, 0g/km

CO2

ON SALE

Now

RATING

★★★★★



ALPINA B3

You want ice

with that?

It’s built for the Alps, so Alpina’s take on the 3-series

estate isn’t one bit bothered by a little frost in Wales

Words Ben Barry Photography Charlie Magee

48

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK


Alpina B3

None of that

M3 doubleheight

nostril

grille here

A

RAF, SLOW’ warn Welsh

road markings come rain,

shine or sheep but right now

the bilingual advice seems

particularly worth heeding

– the reading on the Alpina

B3’s digital dash has plunged

to -5.5ºC, gritting lorries whizz past scattering rock salt

like it’s pigeon feed and the B3’s adaptive LED headlights

glisten over a surface smeared with grease, grit and slush.

I’m definitely arafing down for this hairpin. Not that

the tricky conditions seem to be troubling the Alpina B3

Touring, as we head deeper into Wales and Buchloe’s winter

wagon works its way ever-deeper into my affections.

You’ll know Alpina, right? Established as a BMW tuner

when Burkard Bovensiepen produced a twin-carb conversion

for the BMW 1500 back in 1962, accredited as an independent

manufacturer by the Kraftahrt-Bundesamt (federal

motor transport authority) since 1983 and – most

relevantly to the B3 we’re testing – weaver of magic on the

3-series dating back to the 323i-derived C1 of 1980.

Based out of Buchloe since 1970, today Alpina’s 300 or so

staff (a third of them engineers) put a uniquely sophisticated

twist on BMWs, selling around 2000 cars annually.

The USP is comparable performance to an M car with less

shoutiness and more comfort and exclusivity.

Our B3 Touring test car is one of three bigger sellers

(along with the 5-series-based B5 and X7-based XB7 SUV).

It is in effect Alpina’s M3 alternative. You’ll pay from

£79,000 for a B3 – £6165 more affordable than an M3

Touring, if a chunky £19k premium over the M340i xDrive

it’s actually derived from.

So it’s expensive, but this is an extensively re-engineered

M340i – most notably there’s the latest M3’s 3.0-litre S58

engine under the bonnet, which has been tweaked with

Alpina-specific mono-scroll turbochargers for additional

torque (and a gap-toothed whistle when you really pin it),

plus there’s a new exhaust and fresh software calibration.

A beefed-up and suitably recalibrated eight-speed auto

transmission braces against the extra torque.

Complementary to the extra performance is a special

Alpina chassis tune and bespoke steering calibration (appropriately

including a Comfort Plus setting), a choice of

either 19- or 20-inch alloys with specially developed Pirelli

tyres and attention to detail that extends to Alpina lettering

stamped on the engine airbox and our car’s uprated

brake bells.

First launched in 2020 and offered in both saloon and

Touring guises, the B3’s been updated in line with BMW’s

own 3-series facelift, introducing the Curved Display infotainment

system plus a gently tweaked exterior design

and performance bumped 33bhp and 22lb ft.

All in that equates to 488bhp and 538lb ft – 15bhp less

than the M3 but 59lb ft more torque, a crucial differentiator

in a driving experience that’s all about the midrange, if

bookended by a pretty outrageous 3.7-second 0-62mph

sprint and 188mph top end.

Glistening with frost when I first plip the keyfob late on

a Sunday afternoon in December, and resplendent in Alpina’s

own green paint with the ‘Deco-Set’ graphics,

20-spoke alloys and deep chin spoiler that have defined

the Alpina look for decades, the B3 exudes a stealthy sort of

purpose, and certainly appears more than the sum of its

parts. No shortage of desire here.

It feels special inside too, even if the B3 is very much

3-series-derived. The infotainment wakes up with Alpina-specific

graphics – an actual graphic of your car,

wheels, colour and all. The steering wheel is wrapped in ⊲

Not a day

for exploring

0-62mph

ability, but B3’s

average speeds

are always high

Pick-up: 0 miles

3 miles

13 miles

Of all the cars to

be driving into

some kind of Welsh

version of a Siberian

apocalypse, hard to

imagine anything

being more

appropriate.

New Curved Display

infotainment gets

Alpina-specific

graphics. Temp

controls now

adjusted via screen

or (less successfully)

by voice control.

Comfort Plus

setting epitomises

Alpina’s ‘power with

comfort’ philosophy.

If you want sharper

steering, you can

mix and match

settings.

50

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK


Alpina B3

Jacket required.

Gloves and a

hat wouldn’t go

amiss either

Lavalina leather and hand-stitched in Alpina’s green and

blue, and there are (optional) CNC-milled paddleshifters

stamped with the trademark font. There’s a little plaque

on the centre console and many, many logos – it stops just

short of the full sports-day trophy.

Lavish options tick up our car’s price by £20k to an

as-tested £99,165, including 20-inch alloys (£3420), an uprated

brake system (£1770), panoramic sunroof (£1550) and

£2k of driver-assistance kit. Standard sports seats in Merino

leather add a further £3800. They’re relatively firm,

with a chunky kind of plushness .

A glimpse at Twitter confirms people are videoing other

people having accidents in the snow further south, but for

now it’s problem-free around here – quiet roads, those

LED lights turning night into day, sat-nav arrival time

a-tumbling after 30 minutes’ quick pedalling.

BMW’s first ever M3 Touring does pose awkward questions

for the B3, especially as M has generally moved in a

more Alpina-like direction over the last decade – automatic

transmissions, torque-rich turbocharged engines, allwheel-drive

refinement – but skirting cross-country the

B3 drives to a very different beat.

Isolated, planted, smooth and effortlessly quick, it’s an

imperious, weighty hunk of a thing at 1955kg, with a plush

ride, accurate if damped-down steering and excellent stability,

not at all like an M car that wants to fizz with excitement

and communication (and scare other road users

with its buck-toothed grille).

Naturally there’s nothing so uncouth as pops or bangs

on the over-run when you work the straight-six harder.

Rather this is petrol power behaving like a six-cylinder

diesel – that’s partly the smooth if rather monotone ⊲

The M3 Touring does

pose some awkward

questions, but the B3

drives to a different beat

31 miles


145 miles

210 miles

Head-up display is

part of £1000 Live

Cockpit Professional

pack. It’s distracting

on unlit country

roads. ‘Hey BMW,

turn off the head-up

display.’ It does.

Rendezvous with

snapper Magee at

services. There’s

1510 litres with the

rear seats down, but

we never need more

than the seats-up

500 litres of space.

Reach Welshpool

just before the

kitchen closes. Fish,

chips and an IPA to

wash it down. Plan

for the next day

doesn’t take long:

keep going west.

Icy start next

morning but happily

heated steering

wheel and sports

seats are standard.

Seats position you

slightly higher than

regular 3-series.

First fill isn’t

desperate but

sensible before we

head deeper into

Wales. M3-derived

engine sounds and

drives like a (very

fast) diesel, but isn’t.

Lunch with Magee

– tuna and cheese

baguette, coffee,

fruit cake – and

a well deserved

warm-up for a chap

in the early stages of

hypothermia.



Alpinas get homesick

if you don’t take them

somewhere snowy at

least once a year

Alpina B3

All-wheel drive

perhaps not

necessary

but certainly

reassuring

With the B3’s speed and

refinement, and the clarity

of the upgraded audio, the

journey simply melts away

churn of its bassy soundtrack, but also the easy surge of

torque that comes as a calm if muscular plateau of performance,

not a rousing crescendo that suggests you send a

search party looking for the redline.

Smooth and quick gearchanges underline this linearity,

as does an xDrive all-wheel-drive system that’s very much

rear-biased but keen to hook up cleanly in typical driving,

whether you’re accelerating from junctions or flattening

the throttle on a surface that might as well be smeared

with Vaseline.

Velvety sophistication defines this experience, then,

perhaps at the risk of making the B3 seem a little remote,

but there’s no question that fuss-free progress brings a

different kind of satisfaction.

Pausing at the excellent Moto services near Rugby – ultra-rapid

chargers! High-rise soft-play zone! Access from

both directions! – I check on the traffic and weather forecasts

on my phone. Both are clearly getting worse, but the

B3 feels like a car that should be able to cope with just

about anything. The generous 500 litres of luggage space

could carry all manner of ropes, ladders, flares etc, but in

reality we seem destined for nothing worse than a light

dusting of snow and some wild over-reaction by other

road users. The B3’s soon back eating up the miles.

Elevated sections of the M6 near Birmingham highlight

that the B3’s skinny 30-section sidewalls do clatter over

expansion joints even in the Comfort suspension setting

(they also nibble a bit in town), but God they’re gorgeous.

With the B3’s speed and refinement, and the clarity of the

upgraded Harman Kardon audio, the journey simply

melts away.

Off the M6, west on the M54, traffic thins and the B3

settles into a commanding long-distance rhythm. It’s incredibly

composed under braking for big roundabouts as

we transition to the A5, adjustable if controlled and secure

powering through them in the damp, then it’s simply

gone, lunging forwards with a relentless calm – third,

fourth, fifth, the B3 spews performance like a fireman’s

hose sprays water, but considering our speed there’s precious

little noise from the tyres or wind. The front windows

in this test car are double-glazed, which must help,

and the sumo-spec stability adds to the sense of calmness;

there’s no superfluous bluster about this car.

In next to no time we’re tucking the B3 away in a Welshpool

hotel car park, then tucking into the chef’s last efforts

of the day before he knocks off.

The Great Moving of the Bins beats our alarms to it at

5.45am on Monday, so we’re up and out early, clearing ice

from the B3’s windscreen as fresh flakes of snow flutter

down. Even if the car washes weren’t all closed because of

the temperature, it’s one of those days when a car gets

dirty and stays that way all day. But being streaked with

dirt seems to be the B3 Touring’s natural state.

Narrower roads, less room for error now, so I swap

Comfort Plus and its limp steering for Sport mode, bringing

welcome extra definition to the helm, notably more

suspension control and extra chatter from the road surface.

The B3 feels more precise now, though excessively

grabby brakes do initially detract from the fluidity until I

dial back my inputs.

Up into the hills, temperatures tumble and the sun’s

glare diffuses in pale-blue sky like aspirin dropped in a

glass of water, the golden fizz merging into a snow-andfrost-dusted

landscape below. This is a great chance to

find out what xDrive makes of this lower level of grip. This

isn’t the M xDrive system as fitted to the M3, which can ⊲

KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY

Up until the end of 2025,

Alpinas will continue to be

built on the BMW production

line using a kit of Alpinaspecific

parts (engine cooling

package, turbos, springs,

wheels, tyres, brakes…)

before returning to Alpina for

final assembly and bespoke

interior upgrades.

BMW is already

developing next-generation

Alpinas that will be ready to

go on sale in 2026, but it has

bought only the naming

rights to the brand, not the

company. That leaves Alpina

free to continue as a heritage

business, offering

restoration, engine rebuilds,

retrims and so on.

There’s more, though.

Alpina says its engineers’

‘co-operation in the field of

development services for

BMW Group models will be

expanded’ and its know-how

offered to third parties. It

also has mysterious ‘further

plans for the automotive

sector’. The family wine

business continues too.

Think new chapter more

than end of story.

263 miles

All-wheel drive, but

these Pirellis aren’t

winters. Briefly stuck

in the car park as

gritting lorry speeds

past– wheels

straight, no throttle,

ESC off does it.

284 miles

Pondering

whether Alpina’s

regal-looking

crest – twin carbs

and crankshaft, two

early Alpina tuning

staples – will live on

into the electric age.

458 miles

Journey’s end. In

a day and a half

we’ve driven 458

miles, spent over 14

hours at the wheel,

averaged 20.6mpg

and properly fallen

under the B3’s spell.



Alpina B3

▲

PLUS

Exclusive looks,

practical body,

effortless thrust,

traction, refinement;

an all-weather

superhero

MINUS

▼

Pricey, heavy, diesellike

engine; refinement

borders on

detachment; 20-inch

wheels occasionally

spoil ride

ALTERNATIVES

⊳⊲

BMW M3 Touring

More power, less

torque, more

dexterous xDrive,

£6k pricier

Audi RS4

Punchy V6, capable

chassis, luxurious

interior. Starts almost

£12k cheaper

be switched to pure rear-wheel-drive mode – that’d be a

tricky upgrade on an M340i-based machine, and I suspect

Alpina buyers wouldn’t care for such showboating even if

they could.

Flawlessly grippy at a moderate lick with all systems engaged,

you’ll find the typical and slightly perverse inconsistency

of all-wheel drive when digging deeper into its

abilities with the electronics off, at least through tighter

turns. It might oversteer abruptly then also grab and pull

from the front, so you feel one step behind it, second-guessing,

reacting, correcting.

Better to be patient and wait for the mid- to faster-paced

corners where xDrive truly starts to flow. Ease onto the

power confidently and it’ll tuck the B3’s nose into the apex,

diverting most performance to the rear while locking up

its limited-slip diff and sending just enough drive to the

front so you can keep pouring on the speed. This is reardrive

exuberance blended with all-wheel-drive progress

and it’s just mighty.

At a nearby cafe we grab a late lunch then head out further

west, sun visors down, shades on as the sun plummets

ahead of us. Houses, junctions, trees and walls disappear

now as the road opens to vast moorland, with all the space

and visibility that affords.

The air of detachment that had perhaps prevented me

really falling for the B3 initially works in its favour here,

particularly as the chassis feels so indomitable – the

damping in particular is exceptional, and dovetails with a

healthy ride height to allow the B3 to power into dips, soak

up the compression and remain entirely unflustered as the

suspension progressively rebounds. Tyres stay in touch

with tarmac, and there’s suspension travel to spare, so you

keep pressing on, untroubled by awkward cambers, tricky

corners or big stops.

Set up in Germany it might have been, but the B3 monsters

this road like it was raised in the valleys.

With the sun dipping into the Irish Sea on the horizon

and adding real bite to the cold, we crunch into a snowy

car park for the briefest moment to admire the view, then

quickly dive back into the warmth of the Alpina’s plush

interior, cranking up the heated seats and steering wheel

to ward off the chill.

It’s been a big trip in at times difficult conditions but the

B3 has been every inch the complete car I’d hoped for, remaining

true to the Alpina template that’s been laid down

over decades.

How that template translates to the future remains to

be seen – the sale of the Alpina brand to BMW was announced

in March 2022, securing its future during the

tricky electrification transition and ever-reducing exemptions

for small-series makers. But it also raises questions

as to how authentically independent Alpina vehicles will

continue to feel when the first new BMW Alpinas arrive

come 2026.

Perhaps it’ll all be for the best, Mercedes-AMG style,

and Alpina will flourish under BMW ownership while

keeping its own identity. But then again perhaps one day

we’ll look back at this B3 Touring as some kind of high-water

mark.

For now, we’ve got a couple of hundred miles to cover

cross-country in the filthiest conditions imaginable – and

the perfect tool for the job.

THIS

ADVENTURE

ORIGINALLY

APPEARED IN THE

FEBRUARY

2023 ISSUE OF

CAR

Data

PRICE

£79,000

(£99,165

as tested)

P O W E R T R A I N

2993cc 32v twinturbo

straight-six,

eight-speed auto,

all-wheel drive

This is rear-drive

exuberance blended with

all-wheel-drive progress

and it’s just mighty

PERFORMANCE

488bhp @ 5000rpm,

538lb ft @ 2500rpm,

3.7sec 0-62mph,

188mph

W E I G H T

1955kg

EFFICIENCY

28.0mpg

(20.6mpg tested),

229g/km CO2

ON SALE

Now

RATING

★★★★★



Dodge Challenger

G R A V E

D I G G E R

B L U E S

V8 muscle is fast disappearing. To mourn its

passing, we take a Dodge Challenger on a trip

through another great US tradition, the blues

Words Georg Kacher Photography Tom Salt



Dodge Challenger

THAT PUSHROD

ENGINE GETS UNDER

YOUR SKIN LIKE

ROBERT JOHNSON’S

TERRAPLANE BLUES

T

Widebody gets

brake, wheel,

suspension and

tyre upgrades

Simple, heavy

engineering at its

best. And our

Challenger

he Americans know their natural disasters and their meteorological

phenomena: ‘A severe thunderstorm warning is in effect for Copiah,

Lawrence and Simpson County.’ The alert pops up on the sat-nav

early one evening, swapping position with a detailed weather map

showing dark red fronts, purple storms and yellow radar projections.

When we’d joined the northbound I-55 earlier, KLEB 1600 AM was

predicting merely torrential rain with local flooding. Now that

events have obviously taken a turn for the worse, motorists are instructed

to seek safe places to stop, and the travel advisory starts

showing a list of tornado shelters.

After Hurricane Katrina, people in the South take such announcements

seriously. In one recent catastrophe a 195mph whirlwind hit

the village of Rolling Fork, about 30 miles west of Yazoo City, leaving

17 dead. When we pass through the small town three months later, it

is still covered with uprooted trees, abandoned buildings and mangled

power lines. It would appear Mother Nature, incensed by manmade

climate change, has started eating her children.

The car for our journey through the home of the blues is the lastof-the-line

R/T Scat Pack Widebody edition of the Dodge Challenger,

painted in Pitch Black. It’s a charmingly out-of-place relic from an

environmentally incorrect past, although the EV movement still has

a long way to go before it becomes mainstream. Here – on a journey

capped by Memphis, Tennessee, in the north and New Orleans,

Louisiana, in the south – even hybrids are looked upon with suspicion,

and some people are sniffy about fours and sixes.

When we tell a state trooper – who must have misread his radar

gun before stopping us – that his Dodge Charger is a run-out model

due to be replaced by an all-new Dodge EV, the man almost bursts

into tears, claiming he would rather quit the force than go electric.

‘We ain’t got no infrastructure here, man.’

What they have in Mississippi is an abundance of soy beans, corn,

wheat, rice and cotton. And, unfortunately, poverty. With unemployment

high, simmering unrest sometimes escalates into clashes

between minority groups. For too many, education is lacking,

healthcare expensive and provision for the elderly hard to come by.

There’s plenty to be blue about, but traditional blues music is not the

force it used to be, despite the best efforts of the Trail of the Blues

tourist industry. The once widespread traditional juke joints are ⊲

Stellantis

infotainment

includes

weather app

Why clear up

when another

storm will be

along soon?



Dodge Challenger

Think Dodge

dealers strike a

hard bargain? Try

Satan himself

The track

referred to in

the R/T

name is a

dragstrip

That bulging

hood isn’t

just for show

No, there’s no

dress code at

Clarksdale’s

revered venue

harder to find, and where previously the predominant sound of live

blues music was that of stomping feet and clapping hands, now synthesisers

and heavily amplified electric guitars drown out anything

more organic and analogue.

It’s not a huge leap to draw a parallel with V8 muscle cars. Our

Challenger, for instance, has a pushrod engine. The basic 2008-on

Challenger owes its fundamental underpinnings to the Daimler-Chrysler

era, which ended just before that car was launched, and

which also gave us the Charger, Magnum estate and 300C. The

Challenger was initially based on the LC platform, which featured

independent rear suspension borrowed from the Mercedes E-Class

and the double-wishbone front axle of the S-Class. The updated LA

platform, retaining both those items, was introduced in 2015. In

place of the original five-speed automatic, some versions use an

eight-speed ’box first produced by Chrysler but later supplied by ZF. A

stubborn manual six-speed Tremec gearbox is also available.

Buyers can choose from three different Hemi V8 engines: the base

5.7, the supercharged 6.2 from the Hellcat, and the 6.4-litre version

found in our Scat Pack car. The Challenger in all its guises prioritises

looks and noise and getting the power down to the tarmac. Something

has to give, and that’s ride comfort.

Instead of cushioning you from surface imperfections, it talks you

through every single topographic detail of the road it travels on. Even

ESP in all-eyes-and-ears mode won’t stop the 305/35 All Season performance

Pirellis from howling in protest when up to 475lb ft of

torque arrives with a thump at the heavy-duty driveshafts via a

stressed limited-slip differential. Even in the most restrained drive

mode, Auto, every 90º turn is an invitation to momentary power-on

oversteer, every enthusiastic first-to-second upshift is liable to weave

a small loop in the flight path, and every kickdown action makes the

car’s shoulders shrug in a manner not unlike the rolling eyes and the

swaying hips of a bluesman in trance.

An anachronism? Sure, and to a large extent that’s its appeal.

When cars like the Challenger were conceived, the fuel crisis of the

’70s was a barely remembered blip, Detroit’s Big Three were betting

on catalysts and the diesel engine to de-smog their dreamscape for

good, and fuel was dirt cheap. But then everything started pulling in

HERE, ON THE TRAIL

OF THE BLUES, THE

CHALLENGER LOOKS,

SOUNDS AND FEELS

COMPLETELY AT HOME

the opposite direction: the financial crisis struck in 2007, the protests

of the planet became harder to ignore, Toyota struck gold with

the Prius and the Tesla Model S made mainstream US fare look irresponsible

and dull. That combination drove the first deadly thorn

into the complacent Detroit iron. Now, the V8 muscle car is on its

way out. Although clearly on borrowed time, the Challenger will be a

real loss. That naturally-aspirated overhead-valve engine gets under

your skin like Robert Johnson’s Terraplane Blues or Chuck Berry’s No

Particular Place to Go. And here, on the trail of the blues, it looks,

sounds and feels completely at home.

Before it fans out into the Delta and joins the Gulf of Mexico, the

mighty Mississippi winds its convoluted way through thinly populated

and lush but contourless farm country bordering on Louisiana

and Arkansas, where churches out-number human dwellings and

giant robotised agricultural machines now do much of the work.

Even here in its heartland, live blues music is increasingly hard to

find, but from spring to autumn there are still a number of festivals

going, and you can always rely on hotspots like Clarksdale, home of

the Ground Zero Blues Club right across the road from the highly

recommended Delta Blues Museum, Roger Stolle’s Cat Head Delta

Blues & Folk Art shop, the Bad Apple Blues Club and Red’s Lounge.

At the junction of the old Highways 49 and 61, three blue guitars

hanging on a traffic pole constitute the Crossroads monument

where, according to legend, Robert Johnson struck a deal with the

Devil. In exchange for his soul, the previously mediocre musician

became overnight one of the area’s most noted guitarists – until, that

is, Satan collected his due and RJ died a sudden lonely death. ⊲

62

CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK


Dodge Challenger

Clarksdale’s

Paramount doubles

as music venue and

giant Wordle board



Dodge Challenger

THERE’S LIFE

BEYOND V8

It may not stand up to terribly close scrutiny, but it’s one hell of a

story. And there’s a lot of that sort of thing in these parts. In certain

areas of New Orleans the voodoo cult is taken very seriously, and a

belief in the paranormal can be found across Louisiana – with music

to match, like Black Ghost Blues by Lightnin’ Hopkins, I Put a Spell on

You by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins or Ghost Creepin’ Blues courtesy of St

Louis Bessie Mae Smith. Sadly, a lot of the depth and richness of the

area’s musical history is now poorly represented. Even in downtown

Memphis, which has plenty of shady blues bars, you’re lucky to find a

place where they will venture into this amazing back catalogue; instead,

they tend to play it safe, rehashing tourist-friendly evergreens

by BB King, Johnny Cash and Elvis.

We visit as many of the key locations as we can fit into our tight

schedule, from the Peabody Hotel, Beale Street and the Sun recording

studios in Memphis to the swinging and stomping French Quarter

in New Orleans. But the raw, authentic blues, be it of the wistful

All that

toe-tapping

works up an

appetite

IN CERTAIN AREAS

OF NEW ORLEANS

THE VOODOO CULT

IS TAKEN VERY

SERIOUSLY

and melancholic or captivating and pulsating type, is a shy phenomenon.

Not only because synthesisers and amplifiers tend to sledgehammer

the spirit out of the tunes, but also because the blues mixes

freely and naturally with gospel and bayou, bluegrass and pop, rock

’n’ roll and R&B, southern soul and country, folk and funk, jazz and

zydeco, boogie-woogie and ballads, swamp music and harmonica,

ragtime and even songs from the minstrel tradition.

Heading north from New Orleans, our first night is in Vicksburg,

down by the murky and muddy river, where a casino boat, a couple of

greasy-plate eateries and some zero-star motels are the key attractions.

Compensation comes the next day in the shape of a bunch of

largely empty and truly entertaining driving roads curling towards

Greenville, past the Dahomey National Wildlife Refuge. The temperature

gauge reads 90ºF and the thick humidity keeps tickling the

auto windscreen wiper, but with the air-con on full blast we can still

hear the growling V8 and BB King’s Bluesville radio station.

Our Challenger comes with a total-attack Harman Kardon audio

system involving 19 speakers, two subwoofers and a 900-watt

amplifier ready to do battle with the zillion decibels coming from the

sports exhaust. With the windows rolled down and the volume on

full blast, the Dodge can turn whole streets and squares into random

drive-by concert arenas. Repeating the claimed 5.1sec 0-62mph acceleration

time, which comes complete with smokey launch ⊲

Comfortable

for four; five

can fit in at

a pinch

The French

Quarter’s leading

George Formby

impersonator

I am asked, more and more these days, if

American car culture will die with the end of

petrol-fired muscle. Phooey to that. The

V8s, the drama, the sense of excess – they

matter, but they have always been means to

an end.

The United States holds more than 3.7

million square miles of dirt and more than

four million miles of road. It is a vast and

almost infinitely variable quilt of humanity

laid across a nation that can take five or six

days to cross at 75mph. No place that large

can be a monoculture; the variety is the

freedom is the point. And just as those 3.7

million squares are not all Manhattan or

Detroit, they are not all Hellcats and bigblock

Novas. They are also the rusty old

BMW M3s in the Tennessee mountains, the

Spec Miatas in the paddock at Laguna Seca,

the VW GTIs looking lost on the Kansas

plains, the Porsche 911s ripping across LA’s

Mulholland Drive at night.

When the petrol-powered muscle car

shuffles off this coil, I will mourn the loss, of

course. And yes, driving here is often the

embodiment of cliche: attainable excess,

egalitarian opportunity, more for more’s

sake. But at the core, to be a car person in

America is to simply love driving, no matter

the machine, and to feel at home behind the

wheel in a land so broad that you never

really feel like you know it. To paraphrase

our man Walt Whitman, we are vast; we

contain multitudes. And we drive everything.

SAM SMITH



Dodge Challenger

YOU NEED A LOT

OF ROOM IN WHICH

TO WRESTLE ALL

THAT MUSCLE FROM

APEX TO EXIT

THIS

ADVENTURE

ORIGINALLY

APPEARED IN THE

SEPTEMBER

2023 ISSUE OF

CAR

You can’t call it

nimble, but it is

dynamically

engaging

Real strength

of that big V8

is 50-100mph

acceleration

control action, is a full-on mid-day riot in Benoit and Beulah, but out

here in no man’s land, storming from 50 to 100mph with gears three,

four and five firmly held to the 6000rpm cut-out speed makes an old

man and his slightly nervous mate even dizzier with puerile joy.

The Challenger R/T Scat Pack addresses its audience with four

different drive modes, various acceleration and braking timers, and a

detailed power/torque delivery display. The Auto, Custom, Sport and

Track programs enable or deactivate the paddleshifters and tweak

the steering, suspension, transmission and traction to your liking.

Related information is depicted by bar graphs, digital read-outs and

analogue data ranging from steering angle over driver reaction time

and stopping distances to boost pressure, quarter-mile speed, lap

times and temperatures. In between major weather events, we get

the odd chance to try out what those dials look like when you try to

put all that power and torque on to the road. Put it this way, you need

a lot of room in which to wrestle all that muscle while trying to keep

up the momentum from apex to exit.

In Europe, any Dodge – even one not driven in a hooligan manner

– is a cop magnet, but in the US it blends in well with the stacked and

over-tyred high-performance pick-ups, the Kenworth and Peterbilt

semis seemingly immune to speed limits and their enforcers, and the

army of swirling, hurrying, scurrying SUVs. Especially in busy metro

traffic, 485bhp and 475lb ft are clearly not enough to fend off the

shoal of super-aggressive Teslas which rule the approach roads to

Memphis, Jackson and New Orleans.

Over five metres long, the widebody 1917kg four-seater built in

Ontario, Canada, is not nimble enough to be happy in town, and its

grip-orientated sports suspension and the power steering are not

geared for high-precision gap-chasing. The brakes, however, red

four-piston Brembo calipers straddling trophy-size rotors, get the job

done with minimum fuss and maximum efficiency.

But to appraise the Challenger in purely rational terms is to miss

the point of the car. It’s also out of keeping with the musical and cultural

magic that has brought me here, like thousands of pilgrims before

me, to enjoy landscapes that include the swampy and secluded

Audubon countryside between Baton Rouge and Natchez, still harbouring

elements of the much-romanticised shrimping industry,

and in stark contrast, the wealthy 120-mile stretch that lines the river

before it hits New Orleans and becomes one with the sea, mixing

fragments of Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire.

On a rather less romantic note, Dodge is now controlled by Stellantis,

built on European hatchbacks. But the conglomerate is broad

enough to embrace brands as diverse as Maserati and Abarth, Jeep

and Lancia, and plans to transfer the trademark power and torque to

the Challenger’s electric replacement. In the meantime, will we miss

the unique intake and exhaust noise, the occasionally impatient energy

flow composed by eight large cylinders, the whiff of combusted

petrol and the robust action of an emphatically mechanical transmission?

Of course we will.

But there’s no need to worry. Because like the blues – which is

constantly evolving and adapting, as tastes and technology change –

the spirit will endure.

DODGE CHALLENGER

PRICE From £78,950 (R/T Scat

Pack Widebody)

POWERTRAIN 6423cc 16v

pushrod V8, eight-speed auto,

rear-wheel drive

PERFORMANCE 485bhp

@ 6100rpm, 475lb ft @ 4100rpm,

5.1sec 0-62mph, 155mph

WEIGHT 1917kg

EFFICIENCY 17.0mpg,

302g/km CO2

ON SALE Now, from Dodge

Ram UK, left-hand drive

★★★★★



CAR Magazine Adventure Special

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