NEWS

A sleek coupe with design cues to rival an Audi R8, built in the same factory as the Aston Martin Rapide but yet can be bought for £20k? Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it – but it’s not. This month, Peugeot’s hotly anticipated RCZ hits dealer showrooms and with it a tidal wave of [...]

WHAT do you expect from an Alfa Romeo? The cynics in the audience are cat calling something about iffy reliability – we can hear them from here. But put that little chestnut to one side and what do you end up with? Passion. An Alfa isn’t a sensible purchase; it’s a heartfelt one. You are supposed [...]

AUDI launched the famous Quattro 30 years ago this year. Gene Hunt, among others, is most grateful that it did. Thing is, since then, it’s not really had a model comparable with the dramatic icon. The firm continued to develop the Quattro, but when it was dropped in the 1990s, there was nothing to take [...]

BMW dealers sell 5,000 X5s a year: It is a profitable model indeed for the firm’s UK retailers. And it was quizzing those annual buyers that set the template for the mid-life facelift of the luxury five or seven-seat SUV. What did they want? Plenty more, it seems, of the same… Thus, the new X5 looks almost [...]

MINI has been such a phenomenal success for BMW, many carmakers have looked on enviously. Particularly those whose modern-times sales staples have been smaller cars. Take Citroen. It sells no end of city cars and superminis, but are they able to command Mini-like premiums? Alas not. Enter, then, the DS3. A new range created by Citroen to [...]

THINK Volvo, think square estates, think 240. The maker is still intent on changing this – senior managers have stated their determination to do so to Car Dealer Magazine – but, for now, the image remains. Thing is, though, the 240 may be square, but that sure doesn’t make it bad. It was launched in [...]

CAN you hear that gentle breeze? Well get used to it – that’s the sound of the winds of change and they’re blowing around the car industry. One thing’s for sure, the old guard better watch out because the Koreans are coming – and this time they’re got the products to match their ambition. Not [...]

THE Rover 200 was one of the best cars Rover ever made. Sure, it wasn’t quite the most dramatic-looking. Nor was it the most interstellar to drive. It wasn’t even history’s most innovative Rover. But, in terms of market-hitting success, probably nothing can beat it.  No, not even the iconic original Mini. Controversial? Maybe. But [...]

FERRARI doesn’t hang onto its laurels for long, with a lifespan of just five years for every new model. Yet even Ferrari was surprised at how quickly the mid-engined F430 fell from fashion once the California, with its fancy folding hardtop, hit the streets. So the F430’s replacement, the 458 Italia, really must do the [...]

JUST as you do with a Bentley Continental GT, see a top-spec Range Rover with large wheels and special paint, and you think only one thing: Premier League footballer. That’s quite a leap from the original Range Rover’s roots in muddy farmer’s fields. Back in the early 1970s, the Range Rover had sliding windows, plastic [...]

BMW car dealers will not be inundated with demands for this car. A 555bhp uber-SUV, costing £77k? Not highest on the wish-list of today’s buyers. That’s why BMW is estimating sales in the tens, rather than hundreds. This is a car for China and the Far East. So, why are we getting it? Well, because [...]