The Leon SC three-door is taking SEAT into new territory and it’s put a “ purposeful face” on where it wants to go, says the man behind this second new line of family cars. Following the Leon five-door, the new shorter and more rounded SC has been designed from the outset to win over more private buyers to the Spanish brand, said Alejandra Mesonero-Romanos, Design Director SEAT (right). “The … [Read more...]
First Drives
Figures for the new Audi RS6 Avant add up, all the way to the bank
Audi’s latest RS model, the RS 6 Avant estate which arrives I August, is mainly about figures. All 200 units destined for the UK this year have been sold even with the price tag of £76,985 but most carry a vast list of options so the real price will be closer to £100k. The new Audi RS 6 Avant competes for premium high performance sales against the BMW 550i M Sport Touring and Mercedes-Benz … [Read more...]
Fiat 500 family is growing
Fiat’s 500 family is growing up. From the new 500 which appeared in 2008 we have seen the addition of the 500C and 500L MPV and now we get the 500L Trekking and 500L MPW or multi-purpose wagon, which can be ordered with two additional seats to make it a seven-seater. The Trekking and MPW come with the familiar range of petrol and diesel engines, manual and automatic boxes, but have some … [Read more...]
Renault ZOE is first electric super-mini for UK
Renault is on a charge with its sparky range of electric vehicles. Joining the uniquely styled two-seat Twizy, more conventional Fluence saloon and its Kangoo van is the latest ZOE supermini. A Twizy van is coming too later this year. The stand-alone five-door ZOE compares in size to the conventional Clio but underneath is a bespoke platform with pure electric powertrain. That utilises a … [Read more...]
Dacia Stepway is a move in the right direction
One of the success stories of the year has been the launch of Dacia into the UK market. In January we saw the first Sandero hatchbacks and Duster SUV and now they are joined by the 2WD Sandero Stepway crossover. It looks similar to the stablemate Duster which is sold with 2WD or 4WD, but the Stepway has only front wheel drive and is to all intents and purposes a beefed up Sandero … [Read more...]
Renault Captur appeals with style and suds-sense
Style and suds-sense will sell the new Renault Captur. The latest entrant into the supermini-sized crossver sector was unveiled at the Geneva motor show and is arriving in dealerships now. Crafted to compete in the corner of the market holding the Nissan Juke and Mini Countryman, and now vying for room as well with the Peugeot 2008, the new Renault Captur is particularly eye-catching with … [Read more...]
Welsh engine powers world’s first compact hybrid estate
Toyota is launching the world’s first full hybrid compact estate in the Auris Touring Sports, along with traditional petrol and diesel powertrains as well. Developed from the Auris Hatchback which was also the first family car with three powertrain derivatives when it appeared in 2010, the Touring Sports has a longer body to increase rear seat room and a low load-bed capable of stretching from … [Read more...]
Mazda6 brings many technologies together in thoughtful package
Mazda’s out of the box thinking is changing what’s going on inside “the box” and its latest generation models. The Mazda6 and CX-5 crossover are the first models to completely embrace the latest raft of technologies it calls Skyactiv. Instead of going down the hybrid or electric vehicle route for the mass market, Mazda is instead working on optimising the traditional petrol and diesel engine … [Read more...]
Weekend roadtest: Audi SQ5
A new high speed, high specification version of Audi’s Q5, five door, mid-sized 4x4 SUV range is now available. The newcomer is the £44,055, SQ5 3.0-litre TDI version, the first Audi ‘S’ model ever to be powered by a diesel engine. For many of the Audi model ranges the ‘S’ specification is the midway point in terms of equipment and performance, positioned above the volume selling S-line and … [Read more...]
BMW 3 Series GT is bigger but not better
The 3 Series is BMW’s globally best selling model range and in the UK is the best selling premium brand car. Global sales are up by 20% again this year. Last year in the UK’s top ten sales chart of best selling cars the 3 Series range finished in seventh position overall with 44,521 registrations, impressive for an expensive premium brand of executive models. The 3 Series accounted for 34% … [Read more...]