KIA has risen to become one of Britain’s most popular range of models and the family-friendly Ceed has a lot to do with that, last year helping them pass 100,000 UK registrations over three decades. After the Sportage and Niro the Ceed is their most popular model and takes about 10% of sales as a coupe ProCeed, Sportwagen semi-estate, hatchback or the SUV XCeed we tested and facelifted for … [Read more...]
Weekend roadtest: VW ID.3 Family Pro Performance
Volkswagen’s ID.3 is their first purpose-built electric car and it’s good. About the same size as a Golf, the new modular electric drive matrix powertrain and floorpan gives it the interior space of the larger Passat. The flexibility of the floorpan is mirrored by the range of batteries and motors that can be chosen to power it in a handful of specifications, Pure 45kWh, Pro 58kWh and … [Read more...]
First drive: Mazda3 186ps GT Sport
Just when you think things couldn’t get better, Mazda has improved its acclaimed Skyactiv engine technology, writes Robin Roberts. Constant engine development and software revisions have improved combustion and power, reduced emissions and extended economy in the latest e-Skyactiv X. We tried it out in the newest popular Mazda3 186ps GT Sport, costing from just over £28,000. The … [Read more...]
Sunday drive: Ford Fiesta ST-Line Edition 1.0 mHEV
One of the many recent updates to Britain’s best-selling car in 2020 was the introduction of mild hybrid support for their 1.0-litre, 3-cylinder turbo petrol 125 and 155hp petrol engines used in the Fiesta and other Ford model ranges, writes David Miles. But it’s the latest Fiesta 1.0 mHEV 6-speed ST-Line Edition 5-door version I am trying for this part of the lockdown period priced at … [Read more...]
Weekend roadtest: Hyundai Ioniq Premium SE PHEV
The more you drive, the more energy you save with the latest Hyundai Ioniq Plug-in Hybrid, writes Robin Roberts. It sounds illogical but it’s true because the familiar standard 1.6 litre petrol engine is now joined by a more sophisticated electric motor and battery system which recovers energy lost during braking. This recovered energy when transformed and pushed into the 8.9KWh … [Read more...]
Weekend roadtest: Peugeot 308GTLine 130 automatic
The Peugeot 308 has been European Car of the Year and is very much up to date now after a comprehensive reworking, writes Robin Roberts. The Peugeot 308 succeeded the 307 in September 2007 with the first generation running until 2013, then voted CoY in 2014 with the second generation and in 2017 it was given a very comprehensive styling, equipment and powertrain makeover. This essentially gave … [Read more...]