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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YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A PHIL – and a whole lot more!

mb worldWANT to be a motoring journalist?

Aged between 13 and 17? Want to write (or talk) about cars for a living? Here’s a chance to make a name for yourself with leading UK car journalists AND win all these great prizes:
* £1000 in travel vouchers (courtesy of Audi UK)
* the loan of an Audi of your choice for your parents for a week
* a tour of the Aston Martin plant at Gaydon, Warwickshire and a passenger ride with one of the company’s test drivers
* a visit to Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands, Surrey for a tutored drive and lunch for yourself and your parentsWin an Audi for a week

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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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