Car review

Hyundai turns on the style – just a little – for its third-generation Polo chaser The previous generation of the Hyundai i20 proved that a meat-and-potatoes kind of supermini could sell well even in style-savvy Europe.But that was 10 years ago and this is now, and in that time Hyundai has become quite a different company. It has long moved away from bargain-basement cars, and that’s paying dividends. Its sales are flying at the moment, the firm posting year-on-year growth in sales and market share.As part of that evolution, the kinds of cars Hyundai sells has also changed: 75% of Hyundai Motor UK’s 2023 sales were SUVs. In other words, that means that the i10, i20, i30 and Ioniq 6 put together account for just 25%.So where does that leave the i20 hatchback, which has just had a mild facelift for 2024? In Europe, at least, it’s no longer the important model that it once was. And to an extent, that’s reflected in how limited this update is, with some mild visual changes and a rationalised engine line-up.The i20 may no longer be the driver of sales that it once was, but superminis still have an important role to play in keeping people mobile and building brand loyalty. And anyway, there’s often something joyful about a small, simple and relatively light car.The i20 line-up at a glanceThe most notable change for the facelifted i20 is the thinning out of the powertrain line-up in the UK. It has been reduced to just one engine: a 1.0-litre turbo triple, with either a normal six-speed manual or a seven-speed dual-clutch auto. It's unclear whether the Hyundai i20 N hot hatch will make a return.There are three trim levels: Advance, Premium and Ultimate. Advance is somewhat meanly equipped, while Ultimate could be quite excessive, but Premium offers a nice middle ground.

Subaru's third generation of jacked-up Impreza gets a new name in Europe and updates to its 4x4 chassis and mild-hybrid engine Niche model engineering is beginning to play rather well for the determinedly left-field Subaru. In 2023, the third-generation Subaru Crosstrek - which has just made it to the UK - was within a whisker of becoming the biggest-selling model in the firm’s whole North American range. Many in the UK may look at it as precisely the wrong kind of crossover hatchback: all jacked-up ride height and permanent four-wheel drive underneath, but not enough space and convenience up top. But, quite clearly, where there is a demand for a car like this, there are customers who like the way the Crosstrek goes about meeting it - and, actually, it’s not so hard to appreciate why.

Limited-edition, 625bhp mega-estate arrives in the UK – and is brilliant Apart from their twin-turbo V8 engine formats and top speeds just a touch north of 200mph, the Ferrari F40 and the new Alpina B5 GT don’t have a lot in common.For one thing, the German car is far rarer, being limited to just 250 examples, most of which have been ordered in estate form. A mere 21 are UK bound. But this unlikely pair does share one significant commonality, which concerns timing. The F40 was the final Ferrari brought to fruition during the life of Enzo and the B5 GT plays the same poignant role for Alpina, whose venerated founder Burkard Bovensiepen died in October, two months after the GT was launched at Zandvoort. For this reason alone, it’s a special machine.Sentimentality aside, the car was pretty special on track at Zandvoort too. Totals of 625bhp and 627lb ft – up 25bhp and 37lb ft on the already ballistic and now retired regular B5 Bi-Turbo – flowed near-seamlessly through a ZF ’box upgraded with parts normally reserved for Rolls-Royce’s Phantom. Traction was massive but so was poise, and the B5 GT shrunk an FIA Grade 1 circuit like no exec saloon with quilted seats and deep-pile mats has any right to.Six months later, it faces another test, this time on knobbly, wintry UK roads, in do-all Touring form.

Large coupé-SUV is meant to be an X5 that's even more desirable and more engaging to drive Introduced to the BMW line-up back in 2008, the high-riding BMW X6 is credited with creating a whole new market segment of coupé-SUVs.Few cars manage to divide opinions quite like it, and it has since spawned a host of sought-after rivals, such as the Audi Q8, Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupé and Porsche Cayenne Coupé.Whatever you think about it, though, there’s no denying its success. And despite the increased competition and increasingly tight emission regulations in key markets, global demand for it continues to grow.The third-generation X6 has been on sale since 2019. It introduced a bold, love-it-or-hate-it design, with a far more brutish exterior look than its BMW X5 sister. But is the class's creator still its leader? And more importantly, can it match the excellent 4.5-star X5? Our review will give you all the answers, so read on to find out more… The BMW X6 range at a glanceThe boxier X5 gets a plug-in hybrid powertrain with up to 68 miles of electric-only range, but no such thing is offered in the X6. Instead, it offers a choice of two diesel engines, with 293bhp (in the xDrive30d) and 347bhp (in the xDrive40d). Both pack a punch, accelerating from 0-62mph in 6.1sec and 5.5sec. If petrol is more your style, the X6 is also offered as the xDrive40i, which is powered by a 375bhp straight six, or the M60i, which packs a twin-turbocharged V8 that pumps out a staggering 523bhp and 553lb ft of torque.All versions are equipped with an eight-speed automatic transmission, xDrive four-wheel drive and 48V mild-hybrid assistance.VERSIONPOWERxdrive30d293bhpxDrive40d347bhpxDrive40i375bhpM60i xDrive523bhp

Could Jaguar's transition into an all-electric brand force one of its less commercially successful models into retirement too early? It’s now a decade since British sports car and saloon specialist Jaguar chose a motor show stand in Geneva, Switzerland, to tell the world that it was finally taking on one its toughest assignments in modern times: going after the BMW 3-Series. This time, unlike with the Ford Mondeo-based X-Type, it would do that with a proper, rear-driven saloon worth its salt. Later in 2014, the extensively aluminium-constructed Jaguar XE met the world’s motoring press in Paris, and production at Castle Bromwich began the following year. And now - after for so long trying to compete with arguably the most dominant and successful executive saloon in the world, and lately setting its sights a little lower - the XE is staring retirement in the face. By 2025, we are told, Jaguar’s modern reinvention as an all-electric brand will be off and running - and every one of its old combustion-engined models, this one included, will have been taken off sale.  So now in its twilight years - and itself like some tribute to a time when Jaguar still harboured ambitions to strike out amongst Europe’s big-selling premium brands, rather than transforming itself into a zero-emissions luxury player as it seems now intent on doing - what does the XE have to offer today’s executive saloon buyer? And it might it be worth one final fling in a British-built, combustion-engined saloon, before the lights finally go out of Jaguar saloons as we have known them?