Illya Verpraet, Autocar Journalist Profile

Articles

Touchscreens in cars? The truth is we need them

1 week ago | autocar.co.uk | Illya Verpraet

Remember those separate single-DIN equaliser units with sliders in ’80s and ’90s cars? What a waste of space those were. When sensibly implemented, touchscreens can make a limited amount of dashboard space much more useful by giving the driver quick and easy access to a multitude of functions while keeping the peripheral stuff out of sight.
Top-level Porsche Panamera phwoar-doors pile on the pioneering powertrain and chassis tech | Autocar

2 weeks ago | autocar.co.uk | Matt Saunders |Illya Verpraet

The difference in performance is less than half a second from 0-62mph (3.2sec versus 2.9sec). But it’s also enough to make the Turbo S the first factory Porsche Panamera with a top speed beyond 200mph (it’s 202mph). All Panameras are built on the Porsche-developed MSB platform, constructed of a mix of high-strength steel and aluminium. The Turbo uses two-chamber, height-adjustable air suspension and PASM adaptive damping as standard.
Alpine A390 prototype driven: is it truly an A110 SUV? | Autocar

2 weeks ago | autocar.co.uk | Illya Verpraet

Like the Tesla Model S Plaid and Maserati Granturismo Folgore, the A390 has three motors – one at the front, two at the back. That lets it do proper torque vectoring: rather than just brake an inside wheel to encourage the car to turn in, it can overspeed the outside rear. This is electric performance cars coming of age and trying stuff that has no analogue in combustion-engined cars. Deep down, the A390 is related to the Renault Scenic E-Tech, but it isn’t just a Scenic with a sloping roof.
The best estate cars

4 weeks ago | msn.com | Illya Verpraet |Jack Warrick

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Skoda Kodiaq vRS

1 month ago | msn.com | Illya Verpraet

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Alfa, Alpine, Cupra, Mini, MG or... Mika

1 month ago | msn.com | Matt Saunders |Illya Verpraet |Jonathan Bryce

Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
Suzuki's first EV faces tough competition | Autocar

1 month ago | autocar.co.uk | Illya Verpraet

The company has taken its sweet time, and has had to use an architecture that’s loosely derived from the one it uses for its piston cars. On the face of it, though, the new eVitara shares little more with its piston-powered counterpart than a name. At 4275mm in length, it’s 100mm longer than a petrol Vitara, and somewhere in between a Kia EV3 and a Renault Megane E-Tech.
These are the best estate cars you can buy right now - number 1 is just superb… | Autocar

1 month ago | autocar.co.uk | Illya Verpraet |Jack Warrick |Matt Saunders

While the vast majority of drivers enjoy life with their family SUV, the estate is still going strong. Packed with bags of appeal, versatility and practicality in equal measure, the best estate cars combine the versatility of an SUV with the dynamic precision of a saloon. Many argue they satisfy the cliché of being 'all the car you'll ever need' more than their raised and blocky SUV counterparts.
Can EVs be fun? Alpine takes on the world - and one wildcard | Autocar

1 month ago | autocar.co.uk | Matt Saunders |Illya Verpraet |Jonathan Bryce

Close It’s more than 18 months since we first collected a field of affordable electric cars together along with a similar number of Autocar road testers. The aim was to perform some proper back-to-back testing and decide if any – or perhaps how many – of the former could be considered genuinely good fun to drive.
Citroen ë-C4 and ë-C4 X review

1 month ago | msn.com | Illya Verpraet |Matt Saunders

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