BMW have been at the cutting edge of electric car engineering for a few years now – witness the i3 hatch and i8 supercar.
But you can also go more mainstream with the 330e – the traditional four door sport saloon that comes with its own electric propulsion that gives you a 25 mile range in zero emission mode.
The undoubted quality of the current 3 series Beemer makes it an attractive proposition – but more so for the business user rather than Mr and Mrs Private Buyer.
CARS these days come with a multitude of safety gadgets and built in features that a) you’ll never see, and b) hopefully you’ll never need.
On your average Volvo, you get more than most because that’s part of the thing about driving a Volvo – you want to feel REALLY safe.
IT’S one of the most hyped up and talked about cars in Jaguar’s recent history – the tongues have been wagging, the computer keys being mercilessly pounded.
And why? Were they ever likely to produce something that wasn’t up to the high standards the Solihull manufacturer sets?
To my memory they’ve never produced an out and out embarrassing bloater, and the F-Pace certainly isn’t one.
EVERY now and then you get a moment in a car when the lights come on and you’re left wondering ‘why don’t others do that?’
In this case it’s wipers. Good old fashioned windscreen wipers that actually clear the screen properly.
And the problem in the past has been with some importers that they’re set to sweep for left hand drive cars, which leaves a big patch not being cleared properly when said car is converted for right hand drive use. Ie here.
IN a world where manufacturers are changing the good old fashioned handbrake for a small unobtrusive electronic button to carry out the task, the French are rebelling.
Peugeot have opted to carry on with their over-sized aircraft style lever on the latest 2008 – probably borrowed for lowering the undercarriage on a Boeing 787 – and it helps to make the cabin a touch quirkier than your average small crossover.
THIS week I have mostly been driving a car that you couldn’t lose on the dark side of the moon – not even if you were Stevie Wonder.
The most virulent shade of yellow I’ve ever encountered in a car in well over three decades of testing them. If that’s too much for you, the Jeep Renegade also available in bright red and to save your retinas we’ll feature that one here!
SOME have dared to label the styling of the new Suzuki Baleno as dull which leaves me wondering what pieces of motoring exotica they drive on a day to day basis.
Because to my eye there’s not a lot dull about it at all. OK, there are superminis wearing sharper suits out there when it comes to oozing latent good looks – but then they can’t really offer up what the Suzuki does in above average interior space.
WITH a name like Kuga you’d possibly expect Ford’s medium crossover to be a bit on the wild side.
A mean machine that proves a little difficult to tame, something with a mighty roar to the exhaust note, something that will have the neighbours locking their own cars away in their garage for safety’s sake.
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.