IN a world where manufacturers are changing the good old fashioned handbrake for a small unobtrusive electronic button to carry out the task, the French are rebelling.
Peugeot have opted to carry on with their over-sized aircraft style lever on the latest 2008 – probably borrowed for lowering the undercarriage on a Boeing 787 – and it helps to make the cabin a touch quirkier than your average small crossover.
THIS week I have mostly been driving a car that you couldn’t lose on the dark side of the moon – not even if you were Stevie Wonder.
The most virulent shade of yellow I’ve ever encountered in a car in well over three decades of testing them. If that’s too much for you, the Jeep Renegade also available in bright red and to save your retinas we’ll feature that one here!
SOME have dared to label the styling of the new Suzuki Baleno as dull which leaves me wondering what pieces of motoring exotica they drive on a day to day basis.
Because to my eye there’s not a lot dull about it at all. OK, there are superminis wearing sharper suits out there when it comes to oozing latent good looks – but then they can’t really offer up what the Suzuki does in above average interior space.
WITH a name like Kuga you’d possibly expect Ford’s medium crossover to be a bit on the wild side.
A mean machine that proves a little difficult to tame, something with a mighty roar to the exhaust note, something that will have the neighbours locking their own cars away in their garage for safety’s sake.
THEY might not be setting the F1 grids alight at the moment but Infiniti are aiming to move higher up the sales charts with their road cars.
Enter the Q30, their move into a more compact sector of the market from the bigger beasties they’ve been offering us thus far.
And it’s certainly a refreshing change from our normal fare, a car with a distinctive look that’s been breathed heavily on by someone who knows a thing or two about style.
ONLY a fool would rip apart a winning combination – and Audi on past performances aren’t about to do that.
And so we have in front of us today the 2016 incarnation of a vehicle that carried the tag of being the first true premium product in the compact class.
THERE’S clean and then there’s clean. Our house is clean, because my wife wears out Dysons with monotonous regularity keeping it that way.
She is to the adult world what the Toyota Prius is to the automotive environment. One of the world’s cleanest people has been re-acquainted with one of the world’s cleanest family cars.
An inauspicious occasion, I admit, because the former was totally unaware of the latter’s credentials until I pointed them out.
FORD’S S-MAX is a car that to some doesn’t know if it wants to be a people carrier or an oversized estate.
But whatever your perception there’s one thing that’s certain – it fits the bill for those who have started a family and want the best of both worlds; a large car, but also a drivers car.
Its more pleasing profile means it’ll sit on your drive looking a lot cooler than a boxier MPV.
ON the face of it, £28,895 might sound a fair wedge for a car that has but one engine choice for you to consider.
It’s not a big seller either, with most deals being fleet purchases – but there is plenty to be bullish about if you’ve just been handed the keys to the latest Kia Optima.
Here is a car that has been styled by someone who knows a bit about style. When I referred to it as ‘classy’ in a Facebook post to some friends, one of them had the temerity to question the use of the word.
TIGUAN carried the label of the most important new car for Volkswagen in the UK this year. So, no pressure then.
VW is a brand back in growth after the financial horrors of the emissions scandal, and it’s the Tiguan leading the way.
It’s a car that was last refettled in 2011 and it’s sales have risen every year since, mirroring the rise in popularity of the compact crossover in general. More and more are hankering after a car that looks like a big SUV but is more compact in size so actually isn’t. This one is the classy option.