Ford Focus review

When the Ford Focus was launched in 1998, it became the class leader instantly and, in its first two generations, we can count on the fingers of one hand the number of months we haven't considered it as the leader in its segment.

Rivals have come and gone with varying degrees of anonymity and success – Fiat Bravos, Renault Méganes, Honda Civics, Alfa Romeo 147s, Toyota Corollas and Aurises – and nothing, except the Volkswagen Golf, has come close to making the Focus anything other than the most easily recommendable medium-sized family car.Today there are fewer differences than ever between Focuses made for different markets under the global 'One Ford' plan, so this is not just a Euro-centric car.

That said, as is usual for a European Focus, the car is available with myriad engine choices, including Ford’s excellent Ecoboost technology, most notably through a highly-efficient 1.0-litre turbocharged petrol unit. Trims include the usual names, including popular Edge, Zetec, Titanium and Titanium X levels.

Read More

Volkswagen Golf review

The Golf, then. One of the few cars that can simply be itself, and one of the few that defines a genre. It’s not ‘Hyundai/Ford/BMW/whoever’s new Golf rival’; instead, it simply is what it is: the epitome of the small family car and the one by which others are judged.

It's now in Mk7 form, a Golf underpinned by a platform that carries great responsibility for the Volkswagen Group. Dozens of cars within the group will be based on this architecture, throughout the group's brands.

Just as well, then, that this Golf leapt to the top of its class when it was launched in 2012. Since then the range has been expanded greatly, to encompass everything from a 1.2-litre petrol turbo, through to the fast GTI hot hatchback.

Read More

Mercedes-Benz CLA verdict

In terms of cabin ambience and space, its interior lags behind the best you’d expect at this level. Likewise in performance, ride, handling and, dare we say it, appearance.

Despite its faults, the Mercedes-Benz CLA is a car that offers visual appeal in spades, but is far more attainable than the CLS which inspired it. Love the looks, and you’ll love the car.There are bits to like about the CLA. It’s an honest car to drive, for example, and it steers consistently. In fact, there’s a slightly old-fashioned feel to the way the CLA goes down the road that really isn’t unpleasant.

The thing is, sitting as it does on the far side of £30,000 – or vastly more once you’d popped some decent options aboard – there are classy, sophisticated alternatives from inside and outside Stuttgart that don’t leave you with an old-fashioned product.

Read More

951 miles in the new Rolls Royce Wraith

Yes, you've probably already read our online review of the Wraith. Hopefully you might also pick up the newmagazine (on sale Wednesday) and read the feature. Now it's time for something else Wraith-related: we drive it a long way.

More specifically, from Berkshire to Vienna. In a day...

Having loaned us the car for our magazine feature (did we mention that the magazine is currently on sale?), Rolls-Royce bosses asked for it back. Which was a bit disappointing. But they promised us that, provided we could make it for the start of the official launch in Vienna later that day, they'd shout us dinner.

We like dinner. Cue 12 hours and 49 magnificent minutes at the wheel.

Click forth and join us on the journey...

Read More

Porsche 918 Spyder and the others Live @ 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show

 

The undisputed star at the Porsche’s stall of the 65th Frankfurt International Auto Show is the production variant of the 918 Spyder, successor to the Carrera GT. The model will be produced in 918 units only and come with an hybrid plug-in powertrain, a naturally-aspirated 4.6-liter V8 petrol engine and two electric motors - one for each axle - whose combined output is rated at 887 horsepower with peak torque vatying between 917 and 1280 Nm, depending on the gearing. Power is transferred to the wheels through a dual-clutch seven-speed automatic gearbox, while a 6.8 kWh lithium-ion battery pack is installed at the lower back of the monocoque, though the electric units can also be recharged through braking.

The 918 Spyder with 5 driving modes whose names are pretty self-explanatory by themselves: ‘E-Power’, ‘Hybrid’, ‘Sport Hybrid’, ‘Race Hybrid’ and ‘Hot Lap’. On electric power alone, the 918 Spyder will sprint from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in less than 7 seconds, reaching a top speed of 150 km/h (93 mph), but at its full potentiail the car burn the 0-100 km/h sprint time in just 2.8 seconds, hitting a top speed of 345 km/h (214 mph). However, in spite of these impressive performance figures, fuel consumption is pretty good: from 3.0 to 3.3 l/100km. Also worth mentioning is the advanced Porsche Active Aerodynamic (PAA), that adjusts some aerodynamic elements to improve the dynamic behavior of the car.

Also making an appearance in Frankfurt is the Porsche 911 GT3 - which we saw at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show - powered by a 3.8-liter 6-cylinder boxer engine producing 475 horsepower and 438 Nm of peak torque and coupled to a PDK seven-speed dual-clutch transmission sending power to the rear wheels via a locking differential. The GT3 can thrash the 0-100 km/h in just 3.5 seconds, hitting a top speed of 315 km/h (195 mph).

Read More

2014 Mercedes S-Class Coupe Live @ 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show

Along with the new Mercedes GLA, the German car maker are using the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show to showcase the Mercedes S-Class Coupe. Although it’s still at the concept stage, this coupe promises to be a major part of the German firm’s future line-up and it will complement the limousine-like Mercedes S-Class, which has been designed for comfort rather than performance. Mercedes are calling this concept “a concrete vision of the next model generation” so we can be pretty sure that what we’re seeing will make it to production.

This coupe’s more than a two-door version of the saloon, so there are hardly any design cues shared with the standard S-Class. In fact, the front end reminds us of the E-Class, particularly the grille, and there’s nothing S-Class about the tapered rear end and strong crease lines that run through the concept. The interior features frameless doors and a modern cockpit with 12 inch screens taken from the saloon and a new instrument panel. The seats are lined in calfskin, and the carpet and roof lining are made from silk, which has been hardened to provide a strong wearing carpet.

A 4.7-litre twin-turbo V-8 that develops 449bhp is found under the bonnet, and there’s a new suspension system that utilises cameras to model a three-dimensional view of the approaching road and then adapt the suspension setting to match the road surface.

Read More

Production BMW i8 finally unveiled

The wraps have come off BMW’s car of the future. Paul Horrell reports

The Frankfurt show sees the unveil of the BMW i8. Like that other endlessly teased petrolelectric supercars, the Porsche 918, we've seen concepts, driven prototypes, and now get the real thing. It's coming in April, at about £95,000. And it's claimed to have on-road performance to match an M3 or base 911.

Far more than the 918, BMW has been marvellously free-thinking with the design. The i8 is a sports car with all-new drivetrain tech, and a new kind of carbon-and-aluminium shell, and advanced aero. So the design doesn't hide it under conventional sports-car tropes. It's proudly new.

BMW design chief Adrian van Hooydonk says the two-colour scheme emphasises the light weight and shows off the way the air flows. The body uses layered panels, which guide slices of air across the wheels, over the tail and through the radiators. He's chuffed they managed to do all that without needing a moving spoiler. "The brand is about efficiency, so we avoided that mechanism."

Among the most striking elements are the curled wings over the upper rear 3/4 part of the car. The cockpit beneath has a narrow teardrop shape, says van Hooydonk, to reduce drag. But a narrow car would look puny, he explains, so the wings add visual width without spoiling the aero. "It would be cheaper to leave them off, but without them you'd have an odd-looking vehicle."

The interior's also strikingly different from mainline BMWs. It runs glass-cockpit all-screen instruments and very thin, light seats to emphasise the featherweight engineering that's needed to keep the weight under 1500kg despite the battery.

The i8 actually began as a true concept car with no plan for production. Six years ago at this same show, BMW wanted to show it was thinking of a electric vehicle, but wanted to get away from the dullard image these things had (maybe still have). So it made the Vision EfficientDynamics, a pretty pure design exercise. "Although we did put it in the wind tunnel, which we'd never done for a concept before," says van Hooydonk.

The idea was to show off BMW's ideas on making bodies from carbonfibre, and its battery and motor tech, and to get the i brand known. It was all designed to build the hype for the i3. But then they gradually realised it was actually a viable idea to build the sports car too.

And so was born the i8. It uses the same carbon manufacturing process as the i3, and the same kind of battery and electronics, and the i3's motor. About six months after the i3 was given the sign-off for production, BMW decided to develop and launch the i8 too.

Of course the i8 isn't quite like the i3. Phew. There's no all-electric version. All i8s have a petrol engine, a highly boosted 1.5-litre three-cylinder of 230bhp. The electric motor is at the front, chipping in another 130bhp. So you get BMW that's basically FWD in electric mode, and 4WD in full-beans mode.

Read More