We have the Hyundai i20 Blue 1.4 CRDi 90PS in for review. Can Hyundai deliver a credible sub-100g/km car to take on Ford’s Fiesta Econetic? Hyundai i20 Review Where do we start with the Hyundai i20 Blue? The first thing to do is throw away your preconceptions; the Hyundai i20 is a very long way [...]
We get the 2011 / 2012 Mitsubishi EVO X in for a week to review in its lowest powered guise – the FQ-300 GSR SST. Is it still a real Evo? Mitsubishi Evo X Review What can we say about the Mitsubishi Evo (or to be precise, in this case, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X [...]
We spend a week with the Toyota Yaris SR 1.33 5 door for a review and road test. Is it the big jump on from the old Yaris Toyota promise? The Toyota Yaris has been a big sales success for Toyota in the UK, with more than 300,000 running around on UK roads since it launched back [...]
With winter looming, we spend a week with Volvo’s now quite ancient XC90 R-Design. Can the Volvo SUV still hack it? In this review & road test we’ll find out. Volvo has been threatening to replace the XC90 for quite some time. After all, it’s now pushing on a decade old and is still pretty [...]
We have what is probably the pick of the new BMW 5 Series Estates – the BMW 520d SE Touring – in for review and road test. It’s arguable that the BMW 5 Series Touring is the best estate you can buy. With a huge range of engine options there’s something for everybody, but perhaps [...]
The first review of the Fisker Karma range-extender on video from a US Fisker dealer. Finally, after a rather lengthy wait, the Fisker Karma is making its way in to the hands of real customers. And real cars means the opportunity to review the Karma, something a US Fisker dealer has put on video. Of course, a [...]
This week it’s the turn of Volvo’s newest estate / sport wagon - the Volvo V60 D3 R-Design – to arrive for review & road test. Just another Volvo estate, or something more interesting? It takes a very long time for established views to change. I mean, who’d have thought that Take That could ever be cool or [...]
This week we have the Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.4 TB MultiAir 170 Veloce in for review and road test. Is it just another fragile Alfa, or a real contender? You’d expect us to open up a review of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta with the line that’s always trotted out about Alfas – especially by the Top [...]
We have the new 2WD Freelander 2 – the Freelander 2 eD4 HSE – in for review & road test this week. Is a 2WD Land Rover Freelander just plain wrong? Has the world lost all sense of perspective? Land Rover building a front wheel drive car? Surely, that has to be an oxymoron? But [...]
This week we have the entry-level Lexus CT 200h – the Lexus take on the Prius – in for review and road test. A Prius in posh clothes or a sporty hybrid? The surprise isn’t that Lexus has decided to build its own version of the Toyota Prius – the Lexus CT 200h - it’s [...]
This week we play at plutocrat boy-racers as we have the Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed Series 51 in for Review and Road Test. Does it make sense? We’re a picky bunch, us Brits. However brilliant anything is we have to find a way to denigrate it. It’s as if we can’t live with success; we [...]
After five months – and a great deal of driving pleasure – our long-term Jaguar XJ goes back to Jaguar having not missed a beat. Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun? It seems only five minutes since we wrote that our long-term Jaguar XJ would be here until ‘… the leaves are coming back [...]
This week we have the latest 2011 Freelander 2 – the Land Rover Freelander 2 SD4 HSE – in for review and road Test. Does the extra power help the Freelander? Whatever way you look at it, Land Rover’s current model line-up is a bit of a mess, at least as far as the lower [...]
We have the Volvo S40 SE DRIVe Start/Stop in for review and road test this week. Is Volvo’s frugal S40 a quality car? There was a time – when Adam was a lad and so was I – Volvo just made a certain kind of solid, respectable saloon car for solid, respectable middle class families to [...]
This week we have the new BMW X3 xDrive20d SE in for review and road test. Can the new X3 redeem BMW’s reputation after the woeful original? If you’re going to pontificate on a subject – in this case, pen a BMW X3 Review – it’s probably best to declare any prejudices and preconceptions up-front. So [...]
We spend a week with the Lexus LS 600h to review and road test. Is the first hybrid luxury car in a league of its own, or a bit of a let down? For a car with a made-up name and a short history, Lexus has made a real impact. Now perceived by few as being just the [...]
We take a week to review & Road Test the MINI Countryman Cooper D All4 – MINI’s take on a butch, crossover MINI. Does the Countryman work, or is it just cynical marketing? We’re not very good at making the most of what we create in Britain. We are pretty good at coming up with ideas and [...]
This week we have the Toyota Hybrid that’s not a Prius – the Toyota Auris Hybrid – in for Review and Road test. Has the Hybrid come of age? The Toyota Auris is not one of those cars that stick in the mind. It’s just there. It’s just another well-built Toyota. A slightly odd looking [...]
Mitsubishi sends us the Mitsubishi Lancer 2.0 DI-D Juro for a week to review and road test. A decent family car or just a cheap Evo lookalike? “Wow, cool car,” said my teenage niece when I pulled up outside the house. “Can you take me to school in it?” Which of course I could. Which [...]
January update on our long term Jaguar XJ. A month of snow and ice and rotten roads – but the XJ hasn’t missed a beat. Snow. Lots of it. That will be the abiding memory of last month with our long term Jaguar XJ. Just like every other RWD saloon car, the Jaguar XJ isn’t [...]
This week see Lexus sending us their take on the Sports saloon – the Lexus GS 450h SE-L – for review and road test. Is a hybrid Sports Saloon a joke or a fact? Another week, another Lexus. Having decided to let us loose on their cars, Toyota has done so in spades. From the [...]
We have the Lexus RX 450h SE-L in for a week for review and road test. Is it just a bland Japanese SUV, a sop to climate change – or something else altogether? There was a time when 4x4s or SUVs or whatever you want to call them were rather utilitarian. Some would argue it [...]
We have the best selling hybrid car in the world – the Toyota Prius (Toyota Prius T Spirit) – in for review and road test this week. Hype, fiction or fact? We’ll find out. There are many – us included – who thought it extremely unlikely that Toyota would ever want to send us any [...]
Our long term Jaguar XJ has now been with us more than a month, so time to see how it’s fared and have a look at the latest software added to the XJ for 2011. It’s hard to believe it, but our long-term Jaguar XJ has been with us more than a month. And in [...]
Land Rover send us the 2011 MY Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography to review and road test. Is the new 4.4 litre diesel a worthy addition? This year has seen lots of reporting on the Range Rover, mainly because Land Rover’s modern icon has reached the grand old age of forty. Hard to believe in [...]
