Midlands Business News

Not so long ago, a passenger car with a two cylinder engine would have been regarded as a bit of an oddity. Maybe a glorified motorcycle or something from Eastern Europe. Not any more. Alfa Romeo has proved that a two cylinder powered car can still look good, perform well and provide more than enough [...]

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The Mazda MX-5 is, incredibly, some 23 years old. But still Mazda has managed to keep their iconic roadster fresh and competitive. The MX-5 has been cleverly updated through the years, along with a few special editions, and has achieved cult status. The current version is longer, wider and taller, with better engines, more power [...]

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The Peugeot 208 was always going to have a big job to do. After all its predecessors, the 205, 206 and 207 were all great cars which broke the mould in the supermini sector and became very desirable small cars. The good news is that Peugeot has pulled it off. The 208, though slightly smaller [...]

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Volvo has come a long way since its boxy estate car image of the past. Volvos now have much softer, more sculpted lines than their bulky ancestors, and are all the better for it. The all-new V40 is a case in point. This hatchback is elegant in the extreme, with clean lines and sporty styling. [...]

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Over the last 15 years or so, cars have been getting more and more economical. But the new Honda Civic1.6 i-DTEC moves economy onto a whole new level. The car is powered by Honda’s brand new British-built 1.6 lightweight diesel engine – the first in the company’s Earth Dreams environmental technology programme. And the results [...]

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In Japanese Kizashi means “something great is coming”, so already the Suzuki Kizashi has quite a bit to live up to. And to be honest, it does a pretty good job. Although this mid-size performance saloon might not be the obvious choice in its sector, it’s certainly worth a closer look. It offers a lot [...]

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If you’re looking to buy an executive saloon, it’s unlikely that the Infiniti M30d will be top of your list. Which is a shame, because this coupe-like good looker is a beautiful car which performs faultlessly, is well-specified, good value and very pleasurable to drive. In fact it could be the best car you haven’t [...]

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The Citroen C5 Tourer just oozes quality. It’s often an intangible feeling, but when you sit in this distinctive and roomy estate you know you’re in an exceptionally well built car. The C5 has benefitted from some styling upgrades. The result is a distinctive, slightly understated, classy design and in Tourer form is a thing [...]

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The latest iteration of the Audi A1 is a driving pleasure. In a sector in which driving experience is often compromised by all round comfort and practicality, this car is an exhilarating revelation. But then you’d expect that. It may be small, but this is, after all, an Audi. Despite being pitched into the fiercely [...]

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The Seat Mii is a small car that thinks it’s big. One of a family of city cars from the Volkswagen Group which includes the VW Up and the Skoda Citigo, the Seat Mii seems a lot bigger when you’re inside than it actually is. It’s also nippy and responsive and gives you a great [...]

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According to Honda, CR-V stands for Compact Recreational Vehicle. Which means the hyphen is a bit of a mystery. And that’s it. I can’t find anything else to criticise. Apart from a rogue hyphen this fourth generation of the Swindon-built CR-V is a very good car indeed. More than five million CR-V’s have been sold [...]

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It’s been more than 15 years since Land Rover’s award winning Freelander was launched. And it just seems to get better and better. The Freelander was always a good concept, but despite creating a new market sector which others have copied, it had some shortfalls in its first iteration. Cleverly, with the Freelander 2, first [...]

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The Audi A6 Avant is a real smoothie. Smooth good looks, smooth ride and handling and smooth power delivery. And it’s big – longer and wider than most of its competitors with an impressively large loadspace. I drove the excellent diesel-powered two-litre TDI S-Line version, with a smooth, turbo-charged direct injection engine which can return [...]

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Citroen’s premium coupes – the striking DS3 and DS4 – have been picking up awards right, left and centre, and justifiably so. They are superb vehicles. So I’ve been looking forward to the latest in the range – the DS5 – for some time. And I wasn’t disappointed. Far from it. I’m not quite sure [...]

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Vauxhall have always been good at producing hot hatches which look quite modest but go like stink. But the new Vauxhall Astra GTC is an exception. This sports coupe looks as if it has serious power – and it has. The GTC which I tested has a powerful 1.7 turbo diesel engine under the bonnet. [...]

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The car I’ve just been driving is nippy and responsive. It’s a great drive, with a smooth engine and a highly-specified, comfortable interior. And if you thought I was describing a Mercedes or a BMW you’d be wrong. It’s a Skoda. And Skoda’s new baby at that. The tiny Citigo is a revelation. In design [...]

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  The Seat Alhambra MPV has been around for few years now, having been launched when people carriers were few and far between. Now it seems all manufacturers have people carriers or MPVs of all shapes and sizes in their range, but the Alhambra has been nicely refreshed with an all-new line-up and its looking [...]

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The Seat Exeo 2.0 TDI is a revelation. Good looks – not unlike its stable-mate Audi A4 – a very smooth ride, good handling, a well-powered engine and a comfortable and roomy interior all add up to everything you could want in a car of this size. I drove the 170 bhp Sport Tech diesel [...]

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As Lexus is to Toyota, so Infiniti is to Nissan. The Infiniti – a relative newcomer to the UK market – is Nissan’s luxury brand. The 4×4 option in the Infiniti range is the FX. And it’s a very good offering indeed. A powerful engine, a clean, rounded appearance, and a high specification mark the [...]

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The Volkswagen Beetle is one of those cars that puts a smile on your face. It was re-launched in March, and looks more like the original than the previous iteration, though you won’t find the engine in the back! This Beetle has the engine where it should be, and a very good range of engines [...]

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The Honda Jazz Hybrid comes with an extra that isn’t mentioned in the brochure: a huge dose of self righteousness. Driving this car allows you to feel good about yourself, and you can snarl at your fellow gas-guzzling road users with impunity. This car is about as green as you can get without having to [...]

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The latest Volkswagen Polo GTi has a lot to live up to. It’s been 37 years and nearly 30 million sales since the original Golf GTi hit the streets. Applying the GTi suffix to the Polo would only work if it’s a stonking a little car. And it is. The 180 bhp GTi version of [...]

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The Jaguar XK is simply stunning. In these days of sameness and mediocrity among so many cars, the XK is a thing of beauty. I test drove the four-seat coupe – there’s also a cabriolet – which shows off the best in 21st century British design. It looks every inch the powerful car it is. [...]

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The Chinese-built Great Wall Steed pick-up has been a common site on Australian roads for some years. Great Wall has more than 35 years experience of building pick-ups, and now they have been launched in the UK. And it’s a case of back to the future. Pick-ups used to be workhorses; a tough, uncompromising package [...]

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The Alfa MiTo is a cocktail. Everything Alfa Romeo has learned about sporting performance been mixed together to produce a compact car that looks good, performs brilliantly and is great fun to drive. And it’s just got cheaper. Despite being small, this is unmistakably an Alfa Romeo. It oozes Italian style, with the distinctive Alfa [...]

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Over the last couple of years, MPVs have finally developed some style and individuality. After years of looking like a box on wheels, the designers have arrived in a big way. It’s not so long ago when every MPV or people carrier looked the same as the next one. Not any more. Having embraced the [...]

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The beautifully-styled Audi A5 makes you think the company has been producing coupes for years. But when it was launched a couple of years back, Audi was still new to the coupe market. You wouldn’t think so. The A5 is certainly a looker, with its dramatically sloping rear screen and narrow windows. My test car [...]

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Subaru has developed an attractive range of vehicles which offer solid and dependable alternatives to some of the mainstream manufacturers. They have launched well made cars into a variety of sectors at competitive prices. Now they’ve pitched into the lucrative and growing 4×4 market with the Subaru XV, and its prices start at not much [...]

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The new Fiat Panda is a car of surprises. For a small car it’s surprisingly roomy, and the engine in the version I tested may only be 875 cc and have just two cylinders, but it’s surprisingly nippy. The new Panda is essentially a city car, but with bags of interior space. Lots of glass [...]

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The Range Rover Evoque – the smallest Range Rover ever produced – is one of those Marmite cars that divide opinions. You either love it or you hate it. Having lived with one for a week, I love it. But canvassing opinion brings in a range of views from “absolutely beautiful” to “a bit of [...]

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The Honda Accord just oozes quality. It’s often an intangible feeling, but when you sit in this distinctive and roomy saloon you know you’re in an exceptionally well built car.

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It may have been the depths of winter when I tested it, but Fiat’s convertible baby – the 500C – brought a whiff of summer to an otherwise dreary week.

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There always seems to have been a Vauxhall Astra about. In fact if you’re the owner of one of the first Astras you qualify for vintage car road tax. It’s been more than 25 years since the Astra first appeared on UK roads.

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The Seat Leon is a car that probably escapes a lot of people’s attention. It’s a modest car that doesn’t shout “Here I am” or stand out from a crowd.

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The Peugeot 508 brings a new freshness to the executive fleet market. It’s modern and elegant with striking design and superb comfort. In fact it’s one of those cars which is difficult to fault.

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The first thing you notice about the Chevrolet Orlando is how long it is. Parked in a normal parking space, it seems to take up more than its fair share. But the benefit of its 4.65 metre length is an impressive amount of interior space.

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Volvo’s V70 is one of the most comfortable cars I’ve driven. A long day of meetings around the East and West Midlands became all the more pleasurable when cosseted in white leather luxury in this superbly comfortable car. And my pleasure was increased when I saw that the fuel gauge of this frugal Volvo had hardly moved.

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The crew-cab pickup has moved from builders’ transport to fashion accessory in a few short years. What used to be at home on a building site now graces the drives of the most fashion conscious cool dude.

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Jaguar Land Rover has recorded a 26 per cent increase in global retail sales for September 2011 with China delivering another record month with sales up 157 per cent for Jaguar and 85 per cent for Land Rover.

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The newly-revised Kia Picanto is a small car that thinks it’s big. Although the second generation Picanto is slightly larger than its predecessor, when you’re inside it feels much bigger.

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Renault has come a long way since it first broke into the upper medium sector nearly 18 years ago. The latest generation of Lagunas are have much sleeker, more sculptured lines than their somewhat staid predecessors, and are all the better for it.

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The Alfa Giulietta is a clever mix of Italian style, performance and practicality, and it works well. From its name you may think this is aimed at the female market, but a car that performs this brilliantly will give any driver a lot of fun.

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Citroen’s new premium small hatchback – the attractively styled DS3 – has started scooping awards already. The supermini beat all comers to scoop the Top Gear Magazine Car of the Year award.

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The Volkswagen Passat is now in its seventh iteration and just keeps getting better and better. Often overlooked in the past as “boring”, the latest Passat is anything but, setting new standards in the upper medium sector.

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The estate car always used to be the safe, conservative choice – a staid, solid and practical car for staid, solid and practical people.

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If the Mazda6 is an upper medium sector car and the Mazda3 is lower medium, then you’d expect the Mazda2 to be a small car.

But it’s not. Or at least it doesn’t feel as if it is.

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It doesn’t look much like a Mini, and it looks even less like many people’s memories of a wooden-framed Mini Countryman – but I like it a lot.

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The award-winning Mazda6 has always been a good looking car, and since its launch a few years back more and more can be seen on our roads.

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The anti-4×4 lobby will be hard pushed to criticise the excellent Mitsubishi Outlander. The four-wheel drive Outlander takes all their self-righteous arguments and demolishes them one by one (or should that be four by four?)

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