SMMT Test Day 2014 - Plenty of car reviews on the way!

IT’S not every day you get to drive not only Britain’s cheapest new car, but also one of Britain’s most expensive.

They’re just two of the new motors I’ve managed to get behind the wheel of at the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, where I’ve joined fellow automotive hacks at the SMMT’s annual test day. In all, I managed to find out whether 16 new cars are worth your hard-earned cash, and over the next few months I’m looking forward to letting you know my findings in full both on here and in The Champion.

Until then, however, I can share the follow nuggets of automotive enlightenment which I picked up from a packed day of road testing:

• The Rolls-Royce Phantom Series II is not, as you might imagine given the prices, fifty times better than the entry-level Dacia Sandero. The rest of my life, however, will feel slightly poorer as a result of having briefly sampled the height of four-wheeled opulence.  

• The Suzuki Swift Sport, even though it’s getting on a bit, is still one of the best hot hatches out there. Find out which flimsy excuse I’ve used to roadtest it again in a few weeks’ time… 

• As I’ve suggested after previous visits to Millbrook, the electric offerings are getting better every year, especially if the evidence presented by Volkswagen’s e-up and BMW’s i3 are anything to go by. 

• I can completely understand why the learned scholars who make up the European Car Of The Year panel opted for the latest Peugeot 308 as their choice this year.

• Lexus should put the original LS400 back into production, if the popularity of their early example at Millbrook was anything to go by. 

• The Jaguar F-type’s price might raise your eyebrows, but the noise it makes will definitely lower your jaw. 

• MG’s latest offerings aren’t as bad as their critics make out, but nor as they good as some of the marque’s defenders would have you believe. 

• Without wanting to sound like Jeremy Clarkson, what the Ford Fiesta could definitely do with is a bit more power. 

While the recurring theme with too many of this year’s offerings was a sense of being accomplished at the expensive of character, there were plenty of gems among the 160 cars brought along by the world’s car manufacturers to this year’s Millbrook event.

I’m looking forward to letting you know over the next weeks which ones I really rate.

BMW's i3 is among the electric car entries showing the eco-friendly contenders are getting better every year

The day marked the first chance for many UK journalists to try out the new Alfa Romeo 4C

 

Lexus showed off the LS400 alongside its modern day equivalent, the LS600h

The F-type was among the most sought-after entrants - it's a good thing Jaguar brought five along!

McLaren's P1 supercar was only a static display, but the 650S had plenty of takers

MG Motor UK brought along a quartet of MG3 hatchbacks for journalists to assess

SMMT Test Day 2012 at Millbrook Proving Ground - a flavour of what's on the way

 

THE slightly guttural cough that accompanies the bellow of Jaguar’s supercharged V8, fitted to the frantic XKR-S someone had foolishly lent me, was worth the trip alone.

The sun has been shining on the nation’s road testers today – literally, as temperatures soared into the high twenties – at this year’s SMMT Test Day. Even though it meant setting the alarm clock for a depressingly early 4am it’s always worth the journey to the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, partly because it’s an incredible automotive playground in any car, but also because it’s a chance to find out more about some of 2012’s most important new arrivals.

I’ve put no less than 20 different cars through their paces and there’ll be more on here and in The Champion over the next couple of weeks, but to whet your appetite I can offer you a few snippets of automotive enlightenment I’ve picked up:

• The Jaguar XKR-S doesn’t need to have a supercharged 5.3 litre V8 pumping out 542bhp, but boy am I glad it does... 

• The electric entrants are getting better each year – in 2010 I was, er, shocked by what I drove, in 2011 I found a car that I would’ve liked if it hadn’t been cripplingly expensive, but this year I’ve found two that I’d actually buy. With money and everything! 

• I just couldn’t warm to one of this year’s most eagerly-awaited motors, no matter how hard I tried. Clue: it’s got three doors (or is it four?).

• It was a choice of testing 20 cars or queuing, Alton Towers style, to try just one; Subaru’s BRZ, which attracted queues of salivating journalists throughout the day. I’ve no doubt it could be the driver’s hit of the decade but the Life On Cars treatment will have to wait until another day... 

• ...as will a review of Vauxhall’s loopy Maloo pick-up (pictured above, next to the rather fetching vintage Vauxhall) which broke down and got withdrawn from the event just minutes before I was due to have a go. What a rotten bit of luck! Chances are, though, it'll be an awful lot like the VXR8 saloon I tested at Millbrook last year.

• The rebadged batch of Lancias that Chrysler’s taken into its showrooms are a bit of mixed bunch – but the good news is there’s an absolute gem among ‘em.
  
• Nobody I spoke to agreed on their winner of the great city car battle of 2012: Fiat Panda vs Up/Citigo/Mii. I’ll let you know my verdict in the next few weeks.

• It’s still possible to make a bad car, even in this day and age. I know, because I drove at least one today. 

• Chevrolet really ought to make the Camaro in right-hand-drive – it’s a great car for cruising around Wild West Lancashire! 

With variety being the spice of life I was keen to make sure that I didn't just stick to the shiny supercars (tempting though it was), and try and test a broad variety of cars that are significant in one way or other this year. That's why the 19 cars I drove included a Fiat, two VWs, two Chryslers, two Jaguars, a Land Rover, a Suzuki, a SEAT, a Ssangyong, two Vauxhalls, a Renault, a MINI, a BMW, two Hyundais and a Chevrolet. 

I’ll keep you posted...