During my week with the latest Tourneo Custom from Ford, I wondered who might buy this luxurious eight-seater, part van, part mini-bus? Hotels that have to ferry customers from a nearby airport and can take advantage of the 35-mile all-electric range? That’s one possible answer. High-end golf courses? Holiday companies cater to small groups of loaded and green-minded clients and …
“This car is far too good to be lumbered with the name Fiesta.” Standing outside my house, looking like a picture of restrained elegance and quiet purpose, it would make me think, “That’s a seriously mature car. Surely it deserves more dignified associations than the clack of castanets and the stomp of Cuban heels?” Buzzing along country back-roads around my …
The latest Honda Jazz came to me on test a week after I had voted for the new Land Rover Defender in a Car of the Year poll. To my mind, that distinction puts it firmly in the same bracket as its predecessors. I have lost count of the number of friends who have bought a Honda Jazz as a …
I drove my daughter to work in a Ford Kuga hybrid. When I picked her up after work, I was at the wheel of a Volvo XC60 hybrid (such is the daily life of the motoring writer). My girl didn’t notice the difference. But you would think that even a 17-year-old who has never shown the faintest interest in any …
“You planning to take this load away in that?” said the oik at the builder’s yard. He was looking contemptuously at the Suzuki Ignis Hybrid. The back end of the little car sank progressively on its springs until its wheel arches were clear of the tyres by only a few inches but it accommodated the full load with room to …
“Well, this is different.” That was my first thought on settling into the driver’s seat of the new Audi A3 Sportback S line. A pretty good start. Not this Audi A3 Sportback. Hard piano black plastics surround the split dashboard instead of the usual soft-touch squidgy stuff. Sharp chromed angles stick out where you would normally find blandly rounded edges. The shifter …
“Range 875 miles,” said the illuminated figures on the instrument panel of the Ford Transit Custom PHEV I can see him scratching his head in disbelief at the figure for the Transit’s range. “Almost 1000 miles!” he might exclaim. “That’s further than from your house in Scotland to Paris on a single tank.” Perfectly true; but I wouldn’t give myself …
How long does it take to make up your mind about a car? What is it that communicates and fixes such an instantaneous impression of feeling right at home in a car? Touch? Feel? Ambience? Texture? The way your bum fits into the seat? The sound the door makes when it closes? A sense of security in something soundly made? …
It is not a surprise to glimpse the little red brake calipers peeping out between the flash paired spokes of the 19” alloy wheels… These trappings are all in line with what you would expect in the new Ford Focus ST 5 Door. The performance figures on the spec sheet may be eyebrow-lifting – 190 PS/400 Nm of torque/0-62 mph …