The little and large of new models being introduced have several things in common but the most relevant is all-electric power, writes David Miles. At one end of the size scale Fiat have recently introduced their 500 City Car petrol-electric Hybrid range and UK order books are open for their all-new 500 Electric Hatch and Cabriolet models with deliveries starting next March. At the other end of … [Read more...]
Weekend roadtest: Toyota C-HR Dynamic 2.0 Hybrid
Continuous improvement is the philosophy of Toyota and few car makers have as much experience of evs, launching its Hybrid Synergy Drive in 1997, and is rolling out more models every few years, writes Robin Roberts. The Toyota C-HR is a good example of continuous improvement, first introduced to the UK in 2018 with a 120bhp 1.8 litre petrol engine which helped it notch up over 50,000 … [Read more...]
Sunday drive: Honda Jazz hybrid supermini
The previous three generations of the Honda Jazz supermini five door hatchback have been all about packaging of its occupants, David Miles explains. These include best in class space, higher seating positions, good visibility, easy access, wide opening doors, good levels of safety and other equipment. They are wrapped up in Honda’s legendary reputation for engineering quality and … [Read more...]
Sunday drive: Honda Jazz Crosstar e-HEV
It might be music to some people’s ears that Honda is bringing us more Jazz but their F1 programme looks more like hokey cokey, observes David Miles. Announced last week Honda F1 is quitting at the end of next year, they were first involved in 1964 and out in 1968, in again in1983 and out in 1992, back in again in 2000, out in 2008 in again in 2015 and now out again in 2021. The company says it … [Read more...]
Sunday drive: Toyota Yaris Hybrid Dynamic
There is a long-standing saying in the motor industry if you are involved in motorsport – ‘Win on Sunday - sell on Monday’ so this week Toyota must have sold a shed-load of new cars in particular the just arrived all-new Toyota Yaris Hybrid, writes David Miles.The all-new Yaris is the fourth generation of Toyota’s supermini sized hatchback and it is a five-door only model with a … [Read more...]
Weekend roadtest: Toyota Corolla Design 2.0 HB Touring
The world’s best selling car and most successful British-built, the Toyota Corolla, goes from strength to strength. Toyota has been building cars in Britain since 1992 when the Burnaston, Derby factory came on stream as Toyota’s first manufacturing centre in Europe. In June it assembled its 4.5M model, a Corolla Hatchback to add to the over 46M Corolla models built worldwide since 1966, … [Read more...]
Sunday drive: Audi A7 Sportback TFSI hybrid
The Audi A7 Sportback range of premium four door large coupe models gains a new PHEV plug-in hybrid TFSI e quattro variant to its line-up, writes David Miles. This also heralds the arrival of the Q7 TFSI e quattro, A8 TFSI e quattro and A6 Saloon TFSI e quattro PHEV models plus the Q5 TFSI e quattro has also recently arrived. Together they create a formidable presence in the overall Audi … [Read more...]
Sunday drive: Suzuki S-Cross 1.4 Boosterjet SZ-T Hybrid
Fire-up the S-Cross: I’m back road testing new cars again now the UK’s pandemic lockdown rules have been relaxed to a certain extent, says David Miles. The rule changes mean that car manufacturers, importers and dealerships are getting back on track and some of us motoring media types are partially able to sample new models. However availability of test cars will be spasmodic and limited due to … [Read more...]
Sunday drive: Toyota Prius AWD-i petrol-electric hybrid
Launched about a year ago was the new fourth generation Toyota Prius which had first use of Toyota’s New Global Architecture platform which in the case of the Prius lowered the ride height, gave a more engaging drive and improved the interior quality, writes David Miles. It also introduced to the Prius brand a more acceptable exterior body style now similar to subsequent other new Toyota models … [Read more...]
Weekend roadtest: Volvo XC60 T8 twin engine
Volvo saw record UK sales in 2019, led by its SUV family including the XC60 series, writes Robin Roberts. British registrations went up 12% to over 56,200 with the compact XC40 taking 15,445 and the XC60 recording 11,766 sales as the brand out performed some other premium rivals in 2019. Globally sales topped its 93-years history with over 700,000 sales. This year will see more PHEV and BEV … [Read more...]
