Category Archives: Road Tests

VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT: more room with lots of vroom

VW_6731BACK in the mists of time, I can recall sampling what was then the latest Volkswagen Passat – and getting the fright of my life.

Moving the seat back to get a more comfortable position behind the wheel, I was suddenly aware that I was rapidly getting closer to the boot than the dashboard. ‘Dear God’, I thought (or something like that….) they’ve forgotten to put stoppers on the end of the seat runners.

But of course they hadn’t. It was just that the Passat was the exception to the rule in that it offered an exceptional amount of interior space for a family car.

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SKODA SUPERB ESTATE: a life changing decision?

e359660437184a48f29b2efa61afd174c839edb0WHEN you consider you’ll spend something like three years of your life in a car it makes sense to do the homework before you write the cheque.

And if you’re looking for something that really does the business, then Skoda could have the car for you with the appropriately named Superb Estate SE Business.

A car thus named because you could just about run a small business from its capacious interior.

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MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER PHEV: give yourself a virtual pay rise….

outlander 8TO win awards you have to impress the judges – and Mitsubishi‘s Outlander PHEV certainly did that.

It’s green credentials caught the eye of those picking the winners in the Green Apple awards for cars that are a bit more Eco friendly than the rest. Those judges were my colleagues in the Midland Group of Motoring Writers who made it a class winner and the top performer overall.

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NISSAN QASHQAI: the car that changed Nissan’s fortunes

qashqai 6WHO would ever have thought that naming a car after a desert dwelling nomadic tribe from South West Iran would bring Nissan sales success they had probably hitherto only dreamed of.

But the Qashqai did just that.

it brings together in one package the best of all worlds: the fun-to-drive dynamic abilities more usually associated with conventional passenger cars as well as the tough stance, excellent interior packaging and commanding seating position of an SUV.

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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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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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