HOW many cars have you driven that come with an Orrefors crystal gearshift lever as standard?
South of zero, I’d guess, but it’s one of the classy little touches you’ll find in Volvo’s latest XC60.
A car that is so well screwed together you’ll find the quality of finish hard to fault.
FANCY a Civic Type R but think the insurance premiums might be a bit on the unaffordable side? Here’s an alternative.
If you can forego the brutal power in favour of something more wallet friendly in terms of performance and economy, the latest Civic might just tempt you.
With the latest and menacing look of something hinting at more brutal underpinnings, the Civic EX Sport Line is what you might dub an insurance friendly package.
NISSAN’S Juke is a car that stands out from the crowd in any scenario – even before you throw a few litres of bright paint at it.
They even made sure the windows were open, because some of the latest ones have got a tango coloured coating inside too.
It’s quirky looks in its compact chunky body have made it a popular choice for those motorists who stray from the conventional. And there must be a lot of them about, because there are a lot of Jukes about too.
KIA are rapidly turning into the Kelloggs of the motor industry – a ‘cereal’ car producer, if you like.
It’s the sheer ‘Variety’ of cars on offer that earns them the tag. Not content with three body styles for the Ceed range (hatchback, Sportswagon and ProCeed) there’s now another.
Enter the XCeed, cunningly aimed to attract those of us here in the UK who are shunning the traditional hatchback in favour of the wide variety of crossovers and SUVs filling showrooms up and down the country.
BACK in the day, I can recall sampling what was then the latest Volkswagen Passat – and getting a bit of a fright.
Moving the seat back to get a more comfortable position behind the wheel, I was suddenly aware 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.
WAY back in 1995 they started selling appliances with pre-wired plugs for the first time.
And it was the same year that Honda set out to plug a gap in the market and hit our shores with its super-practical SUV – a winning formula that has made it the world’s best seller in those ensuing 24 years.
THE push is on to make the world a cleaner place – but the good old internal combustion engine is going to be plying its trade for some time yet.
That’s Mazda’s summing of the current situation, and they believe that until more renewable energy sources replace dirtier forms of fossil fuel and until charging times and charging infrastructure have dramatically improved, the engine as we know it will still be playing a major role for the next decade.
FOR all the knockers who smugly spout the line that French cars are all style and no build quality, here’s a bit of advice: bite hard and swallow.
There’s no denying the all new Peugeot 508 SW is a very smartly styled estate car – something the French have proved quite adept at over the years, although on the debit side there have been the occasional howlers along the way.
MORE than 1.3 miilion motorists can’t be wrong, so you’re very unlikely to be buying a pig in a poke with Kia’s latest model.
I’ve always been a big fan of the Ceed. Now we can proceed on to look at the ProCeed, a new model which just serves to increase the admiration, with its low, sleek look and Panamera-like rear end treatment.
A CAR for active lifestyles – or a van with a few more windows and extra seats?
Whatever shade of contact lenses you’re viewing it through, you can’t escape the fact Vauxhall’s Combo Life is probably one of the most practical vehicles you can buy if your family is larger than the UK norm.