Revealed in North America as the mid-size Ford Fusion, this all-new car signals the next-generation Ford Mondeo for world markets. While it goes on sale in North America this year, the new Mondeo version pictured is due in Europe in the first quarter of 2013. As a result the detail in this story relates to Fusion and more on the Mondeo will come closer to launch. The new Ford Fusion is the first sedan to offer gasoline, hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains, each with expected top fuel economy, underscoring Ford’s commitment to give customers the power of choice. With seven must-have technologies, including a Lane Keeping System, adaptive cruise control, active park assist and MyFord Touch®, the all-new Ford Fusion shows how Ford is delivering features customers truly want and value. Customers can choose from Fusion’s widest-ever portfolio of fuel-efficient powertrain options including EcoBoost™, hybrid and plug-in hybrid engines; automatic and manual transmission offerings and auto start-stop technology.
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Getting into Volkswagen’s award-winning up! city car is now easier than ever, with the introduction of the new five-door model.
Hyundai has today announced full pricing and specification for its exciting New Generation five-door i30 hatchback, due for launch in the UK on 12 March.
A new 163 PS version of the Jaguar XF powered by a 2.2-litre, four-cylinder diesel engine, is set to be launched aimed at delivering greater value than ever before
Due to become available to order in the UK next month priced from £43,145 OTR, the new Audi A6 allroad quattro will reach its first customers here in the spring
The new 2012 Seat Ibiza range extends from the ultra-efficient Ibiza E Ecomotive with 89 g/km of CO2 to the exceptionally sporty Ibiza FR with its muscular 150 PS
The new Porsche Boxster arrives in the UK this spring offering open-top driving enthusiasts a new generation of the benchmark roadster, priced from £37,589, Boxster S from £45,384 and on sale in UK April 28
Positioned as the ultimate Toyota Land Cruiser, the 2012 Land Cruiser V8 goes even further in terms of sharper design inside and out, more creature comforts and advanced handling technologies for exceptional off-road capabilities.
Honda America today unveiled the new NSX Concept, highlighting the design and technology direction for the next-generation NSX supercar
Camouflage and disguise are crucial when new model prototypes first leave the well-protected confines of the design studio or workshop and head out onto the test track or open road. We spend some time with the team responsible for disguising the new Vauxhall Insignia ahead of its debut at the British Motor Show on July 22nd, as they prepare for the new model’s road test programme
As 2007 staggers into the Gents to vomit itself quietly into oblivion, we take a look back at the cars that have defined the year for us. As with last year, we’ve highlighted not just the models that impressed us the most, but also our biggest disappointments – and this year, there were quite a few. Let’s get to it
Now we’ve made it past the turkey and the family feuds, it’s time for us to take a look back at our favourite cars of 2006. It’s been an interesting year for us: while many of our categories have clear winners, there have been some real disappointments this year. Where we feel these losers deserve a special mention, we’ve included them here
As 2005 draws to a close, we take a look back at the best cars of the last twelve months. There have been plenty to choose from, too, with a bumper year of new models released into the market, as a result of consumers demanding more and more from their everyday transport. However, what has proved surprising is that some of last year’s models still rank so highly in comparison to the newcomers in their respective categories. We’ve picked winners and runners up in nine categories – supermini, family car, estate car, MPV, 4×4, executive car, sports car, luxury car and supercar – in a selection that ranges in price from a lowly £6,745 to a stratospheric £810,345. Thankfully, we’ve got plenty to choose from in-between
It’s fair to say we took something of a shine to the previous generation Honda Accord Tourer. It made a regular appearance in our Estate Car of the Year awards category, and everyone else’s it seems, and in its final year of production it sold more than ever. With the arrival of the new Honda Accord, just five short years later, we had been expecting great things. We expected all the strengths of the old Accord to remain, and a few new ones to be added. Unfortunately, we can’t help feeling disappointed. Let’s start off with the positives – the new Accord looks great. The old model, while taught and aggressive at the front, did have a rather awkward rear overhang. The new Accord has a much more unified design, with a pert rear and bold flared wheel-arches. Inside, there’s more occupant space, particularly for taller drivers, and the cabin’s wider, too. The seats are just as comfortable and supportive as before, but it’s while you’re sitting in them, looking around the interior, that the first doubts begin to seed themselves.
For 2008, the Abarth name is back – and in some style. Fiat has pumped a considerable sum of money into re-launching Abarth as a stand-alone brand, and that includes the construction of a new, purpose-built, Abarth HQ with its own sales, marketing, design and engineering facilities. The cars themselves will be sold through a dedicated dealer network, with their own brand identity. The Abarth Grande Punto is the first of those cars to arrive in the UK, with the Abarth 500 due next year. Although based on the standard Grande Punto, the Abarth features a series of modifications that improve the looks, handling and power delivery of the car, which now boasts 155bhp and an 8.2 second 0-62mph time. That said, the Abarth Grande Punto is still somehow greater than the sum of its parts. We set out to discover why.
In the face of rocketing insurance claims, local authorities across the land have re-defined what constitutes a pot-hole. What you and I would consider to be a wheel-buckling crater is now simply a surface feature. Before a man with a tin of spray-paint will even consider marking out a pond in the middle of the A31, it must be allowed to grow large enough to accommodate several outdoors-types equipped with head-torches and a stripy rope. In any other culture, you could be forgiven for contemplating buying a vehicle designed to cope with the Third World-nature of our transport infrastructure. But in these times of knee-jerk environmentalism, SUVs have been all but outlawed. Luckily, there is still one option left, and it comes from the maker of heavy plant machinery – the Subaru Legacy Boxer Diesel
The arrival of the Porsche Cayman S confused many people. Porsche believed they had identified a niche between the Boxster and the 911, whereas logic dictates that the soft-top version should be the more expensive. When the Cayman S first arrived in late 2005, it debuted the company’s new 295bhp 3.4-litre flat-six and, at this point, we thought we understood what Porsche were trying to do. The Cayman, then, was a harder, more powerful, tighter-focused version of the Boxster, and that performance benefit justified the increased price. Our reasoning fell apart, however, when Porsche replaced the Boxster S 3.2-litre engine with the Cayman S’s 3.4. And introduced a non-S Cayman 2.7. With identical power and performance figures, what exactly do you get for £4,000 extra?
