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.
LIGHTS, cameras, action! We’re on the set of the latest blockbuster Range Rover today and it’s giving quite a performance.
It’s lighting up the way with its big LED lamps, it’s got cameras strategically placed around the big body to give you a view of what’s going on all around, and you’re guaranteed plenty action with Land Rover’s 4.4 litre V8 turbocharged diesel under the bonnet.
As one of the great icons of modern times it’s a vehicle that is much feted – and much bought.
YOU might have read a lot already about how good the all new Kia Sportage is. A car that outsells Audi’s Q3 and BMW’s X1 in Europe.
I can offer a reason for that. And that is that anything anyone’s said or written about the desirability of the Kia is beyond question.
It IS a very good vehicle.
BACK in the day when when I was new to the roads, a car engine was just that – an engine in either 1.2, 1.3, 1.6 or if you could afford it, possibly a 2.0 beastie.
Not any more though. Gone is the simple identifier, replaced by a string of letters and numbers of mindblowing complexity in some instances.
We all have to do our homework so we know what we’re buying into, so if you see 1.0 EcoTSi on the paperwork, you’ll know you’re being sold short as it’s a unit with just three cylinders instead of the more usual fare of four.
REFLECTIONS: always has been and always will be one of my all-time favourite Motown classics.But it’s also a word that heralds a bad start for the subject of this week’s words.
For while I like the musical reflections, I have a pathological dislike for in-car reflections. You know, the ones that are annoying/distracting/infuriating (delete as necessary) and the sort of thing that you don’t notice on a brief road test in broad daylight.