WHY did Vauxhall build the Ampera? Because they could. And at a stroke they banished the anxiety most of us feel over electric cars – their limited range.
Ampera combines an eco-friendly electric motor with a range-extending petrol-powered generator. It rivals hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius, electric cars like the Nissan Leaf and some of the more efficient diesel saloons on the market.
RATHER large estate cars aren’t really meant to be fun to drive but this modestly engine Mercedes-Benz diesel shoots the theory down in flames.
It’s a car with an awful lot of credentials under the bonnet, developing some 500Nm of torque from its 2.1 litre diesel engine.
IS it at all possible in this day and age to slip an engine the size of an overgrown lawnmower under the bonnet of a quality car and – let’s put it this way – still get away with it?
Those of us who remember the days when a 1.2 engined car could barely struggle to the top of a hill under its own power would probably say no.
But those people at Volkswagen have proved us wrong. For the Golf range (and others in the VW stable, it has to be said) now offers the option of a modest 1197cc unit. And to be honest, it’s an eyebrow raiser.
WHO could ever forget the Citroen Xsara Picasso, one of the least pretty vehicles to hit UK showrooms in the past decade or so.
It was a car that never wanted to go out unless it was dark, and even dealers realised it was so hideous they would have to offer big discounts just to get them off their forecourts.
But it served a purpose. It was cost effective motoring back in 1999 for the larger family and as such was popular.
YOU could never accuse Audi of not giving a you a wide choice – and now they’ve unveiled their 47th model range.
Not bad for a manufacturer who back in the 1990s had just a handful, and you didn’t have to take your shoes and socks off to count them.
OH dear. Oh dear oh dear. Looking for a decent crossover? Then your task just got a whole lot more difficult with the introduction of the Suzuki SX4 S-Cross.
Contrary to popular perception, they don’t just make motor bikes, and are now taking on the daddy of all crossover vehicles, Nissan’s Qashqai, with a vehicle that looks rather similar.
YOU’D like to think that Kia‘s latest version of the Carens has a stonking great big heavy duty battery under the bonnet.
Why? Because there are so many electrical sockets inside the commodious seven seater you could effectively run a small mobile office from in there.
PEUGEOT’S best selling 208 has been putting on a bit of weight of late so it can mix it with the bigger boys in the car park.
Enter, in the bleu corner, the 2008 Crossover – the little brother of the already popular 3008 of the same ilk.
EVER needed proof that slapping a big black number on a white circle and hooning round a racetrack improves what you and I get into to go to work on a Monday morning?
Take a look at Honda’s neat Civic, a car that took Gordon Shedden to the British Touring Car Championship last year – and his team mate Matt Neal to the same title 12 months before if my memory serves.
IF there was ever a true definition of squeaky bum time, it has to be standing by your car with a fuel filler that won’t open, 90 miles showing on the range with over 360 to go to get home – and you don’t speak the local language.
Happily I didn’t have to elicit help from a passing Glaswegian as miraculously, after much cursing and prodding, the recalcitrant flap decided to open and save the day.