IF you think the car in front is a Toyota then the chances are it might not be – take a careful look at the badges.
The Suzuki Swace can easily be mistaken for the former, as it’s based on the Toyota Corolla Hybrid estate – the second new model launched under a collaborative business agreement between the two Japanese manufacturers.
It’s a UK built car, at Toyota’s Derbyshire factory, but it’s been tweaked with new Suzuki front end treatment.
WHEN it’s time for a recharge, you could do a lot worse than heading to your local Volvo emporium.
The mainstay of motoring for well over a century has been the suck, squeeze, bang, blow of the internal combustion engine – we’ve had a long time to perfect it and we’re really quite good at it. But now it’s time to move on to a more planet-friendly method of propulsion.
RENOWNED for putting the quirk into car design, Citroen have scored again with their C5 Aircross SUV.
Who else produces a car that has what looks like a footstep in the door sill, or a large signature chrome C marking the sweep of the side windows?
No real surprise then that the two models that are the Plug-In Hybrid offerings in the range come with the moniker Flair and Flair Plus. Because there’s plenty of that on board..
THERE’S very little chance of Toyota’s reputation for building decent hybrid powered cars getting a kicking with the latest C-HR.
They just seem to get better with each update and upgrade and from a drivers point of view the process is simplicity itself.
Toyota’s full hybrids are engineered to run on power from their petrol engine and their electric motor but they’re also capable of running on electric impetus alone – which is what makes a full hybrid different from other mild versions.
ADDING a lithium-ion battery and a Hybrid badge to Suzuki’s Swift Sport might have helped add a modest bit of excess weight – but it hasn’t made it any less enjoyable to drive.
It’s still what we refer to hereabouts as the Japanese Mini Cooper. It’s got the same compact dimensions, it comes as standard with the sort of agile handling that has had MINI owners dribbling for years, and it’s got a sweet high revving engine.
AS an understudy to Mazda’s CX-5, their new CX-30 fits nicely into the range line-up – but it’s got some tough competition in the family SUV category.
Based on the Mazda 3 hatchback, CX-30 is compact enough in its dimensions to feel easily at home around town and drawing as it does on the neat styling of the 3, it certainly catches the eye. Similar, but ultimately very different. Continue reading