Author Archives: Rob Auchterlonie

CITROEN DS4: French renaissance gathers speed

ds4A FEW years ago, Citroen made a few cars that were – let’s be charitable here – aesthetically unpleasing, the old Picasso being the major culprit.

But there’s been a bit of a coup in the design studio at Pierre’s pad, because all of a sudden they’re turning out cars that are altogether more pleasing on the eye. The DS3, the new C4 Picasso.

Now the sporty DS version of the C4 hatch has been parked on the drive for a few days and it too is getting admiring glances from passers by in our quiet cul-de-sac.

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AUDI A3 Sportback e-tron: beginning of the end of range anxiety….

DSC06698176mpg and just 37g/km of co2 emissions – you can’t really argue against figures like that.

Audi‘s A3 Sportback e-tron is a new plug in hybrid that successfully dispels the ‘range anxiety’ fears that might otherwise put you off.

The range on pure electric power from the 75kW motor is just 31 miles but coupled with the thriftiness of the excellent 1.4TFSi petrol engine it’s got a range of a claimed 580 miles.

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TOYOTA YARIS: a car that deserves a wider audience….

yaris 4TOYOTA’S little favourite has seen a lot of changes and upgrades over the years but the good news is that still got its full quota of Yarisness.

It remains one of the most compact cars in its class but at the same time manages to give you commendable load space and a decent amount of room for passengers.

They’ve maximised that interior space, which is very good indeed for a car with such a compact footprint on the road, and given it a bolder Toyota family look at the same time.

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MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER PHEV: the pick of the Green Apple awards

*Green Apple award 2014Pictured above: Vanessa Nalder, press and media relations manager at Mitsubishi Motors UK, holds the two awards collected by the company at the House of Commons presentation. With her are Midland Group chairman Ian Donaldson (right) and vice-chairman Mark Slack.

MITSUBISHI’S big but frugal Outlander PHEV has taken top spot in a set of awards for cars that mix modest thirst and emissions with the ability to entertain their drivers and keep running costs down in the real world.

The Green Apple Awards were presented on Monday (10 November) at the House of Commons. They are organised by the Midlands-based The Green Organisation and were judged by members of the Midland Group of Motoring Writers.

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PEUGEOT 3008: family favourite for dad, mum the kids and the dogs

ANOTHER week, another crossover, and this time it’s one that a lot of people seem to have taken an instant liking to.

Peugeot’s 3008 has been extensively re-styled and its ability to combine the best elements of an SUV, hatchback and MPV have made it as much of a family favourite as the radio show of old ever was.

Launched to the UK market back in 2009, the updated version now has more equipment as standard, but a lower price tag.

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VOLKSWAGEN POLO: suck one and see….

polo 3IF you’ve been around a bit and I’ll hold my hand up to that then you’ll remember the Polo being the small entry level model into the burgeoning VW range.

Not any more. Well, not small anyway. Today’s Polo has an equivalent size to the Golf as it used to be.
It’s grown into a decent sized family offering, the five door model sampled here offering decent space for the modern man about town and his growing clan.

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RENAULT TWINGO: upping the stakes in the city car class

CHR2824ENGINE in the back, rear wheel drive – sounds like a recipe for something a bit different.

But if you’re thinking along Porsche lines here, forget it. For this is the set up of the new Renault Twingo. And a Porsche pounder it ain’t.

What it does do, though, is up the stakes in the city car class, and it has a large dose of undoubted chic to woo buyers with.

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JAGUAR F-TYPE CONVERTIBLE: not a car that leaves you sucking your biro wondering what to write….

jag_f-typeNOISE. The defining attribute of a true sports car. And there’s no getting away from the fact that you can’t have one without the other.

So if you like your cars to purr like a pussy then you won’t be in any way interested in the new Jaguar F-TYPE.

If, on the other hand, you relish the prospect of your ears being assaulted by the sort of noise that shouts performance – lots of it – at you, read on.

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KIA SOUL: more buttons than a big girl’s blouse…

Soul 2JAMES Brown had soul. Motown had soul – by the warehouseful. And Kia’s got Soul, in the shape of their updated compact SUV crossover.

And they’ve also cornered the market in buttons. I don’t think I’ve ever counted so many inside a car.

For the record, there are 16 alone on the steering wheel, five each on either side of the big sat nav screen plus a couple of knobs, and another 10 plush one big control knob for the heating and ventilation.

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