Category Archives: What’s new

SUZUKI ALLGRIP: 55 years of off road excellence

SUZUKI has been celebrating 55 years of its ALLGRIP 4×4 technology – and we’ve had the chance to put some of the models from years gone by through their paces on a rugged Welsh hillside.

It’s not often manufacturers give journalists carte blanche to drive a wide selection of variants – from the Grand Vitara through the little Jimny to the popular Swift – on rough terrain with very little restrictions, but that is evidence of the faith Suzuki have in their overall ability to tackle all types of terrain. Continue reading →

AUDI A5 AVANT: a car for all reasons

THE estate car was the ‘go to’ vehicle of choice back in the day for the family man who needed a car for all reasons.

Seemingly a dying breed of transport for quite a few years since the advent of the SUV, there’s still a place for them on our roads.

Audi knows that, and their latest A5 Avant (the posh name for an estate) replaces the A4 Avant on a brand new platform. Continue reading →

BYD SEALION 7: all electric with quality fit and finish

WHILE electric car sales in the UK have slowed to rush hour speed, there doesn’t seen to be any stopping BYD in their quest to get to the front of the queue.

Their latest all-electric offering, the SEALION 7, is an SUV version of the saloon Seal and is their fourth model to hit the UK in the last couple of years. Continue reading →

SKODA ELROQ: interesting proposition with a tempting price

SOMETIMES you’re left scratching your head wondering how car manufacturers come up with their model names.

But the answer is fairly simple. They just make them up. Hence the new Skoda Elroq is a mix of ‘electric’ and ‘Karoq’ – a portmanteau in some circles.  Continue reading →

TOYOTA PRIUS EXCEL: sleek looks boost its appeal

THE past week has been spent in near silent driving mode, in the latest incarnation of a vehicle that has been the transport of choice for a multitude of mini cab drivers here in Milton Keynes. And probably elsewhere.

Yes, the Toyota Prius is back on sale in the UK, only this time the third generation of the car that was an early forerunner of electrified performance is an altogether sleeker proposition aimed at a different buyer. Continue reading →

KIA EV3: the heart and Soul of an electric SUV

KIA’S electric car range has been rendered soul-less – but only because they’ve replaced the Soul EV with the EV3 as its smallest electric car in the range.

The newcomer sits below the Niro EV, EV6 and EV9, and you don’t have to look too hard to see a strong family resemblance between the smallest and the largest. Continue reading →

KGM ACTYON: premium attention to detail

WHILE the push towards electric goes on, figures show there is still a very healthy demand for the good old internal combustion engine.

Figures for last year show that around a million motorists said ‘no thanks’ to full electric power and continued to opt for the ICE route.

With that demand very much in mind, that’s why the only option you have if you’re considering KGM’s all new Actyon is a 1.5 litre turbocharged petrol engine. Continue reading →

BYD SEAL U DM-i: the ultimate Chinese takeaway for family motoring?

IT’S only been 12 months since BYD started selling their electric cars here in the UK – and now they’re branching out into the plug-in hybrid market.

I’m going to go all Michael Caine here because not a lot of people know this (it was news to me) but BYD was the first manufacturer to mass produce a PHEV back in 2008. It wasn’t exactly a success, but the game has moved on.

Continue reading →

KGM TORRES EVX: it’s the same, but a bit different…

DIFFERENT week, same car. Well, not exactly, as we’re now fully electric as opposed to the petrol power of last week’s KGM Torres.

In reality, pretty well exactly the same as the petrol version sampled earlier – all that differs is what’s under the bonnet and the price. In this guise, the K40 EVX costs £47,495, so around 10k more than the similarly specced petrol variant. Continue reading →

KGM TORRES ICE: an SUV to get people talking

IT might spark a bit of a love-hate ‘marmite’ moment, but there’s no denying the KGM Torres gets people talking.

Park it in the golf club car park and pretty soon you can see the surreptitious glances and before long there are people sidling up to take a closer look. Continue reading →