Car review

Citroen's leftfield take on the family estate car mixes classic comfort vibes with crossover modernity The big, family-friendly Citroen saloon-cum-estate seems to be an automotive institution that market forces simply can't kill. Examples like the last Citroen C5 and Citroen C6 - and before those cars even the likes of the XM and Xantia - have consistently run against the grain of prevailing premium-brand fashion in so many ways, prioritising comfort and quirkiness when all around were celebrating sportiness and athleticism. Rarely have they hit the big time in terms of sales success.And yet it doesn't seem to stop them. The more different they are, the better these cars appeal as statements of iconoclastic independence from the norm - which is exactly what sets apart the latest one, the Citroen C5 X. As buyers continue to flock to SUVs, then, this successor for the regular C5 has set out on an even more alternative path. There is more to it than the extra letter in the model name. First, if you look closely at its dimensions, you will see that contrary to what the name suggests, it’s not a direct rival for the Skoda Superb, Volkswagen Passat and Peugeot 508, or the now-discontinued Ford Mondeo or Vauxhall Insignia. The new Citroën is a bit smaller than those, but bigger than the estate versions of the Skoda Octavia, Volkswagen Golf and Peugeot 308, thus carving out a niche for itself.It’s also significant that the automotive group that has produced it, Stellantis, isn't averse to offering certain models in Europe because they are producing them for another market anyway. Europeans may have gone off cars like the C5, but the Chinese keep buying them, so the risk in putting it on sale over here is limited, even if it doesn’t sell in huge numbers. This most French of family cars, then, hails from a production line in China.Even if it hasn’t always executed it perfectly, Citroën does seem to have found a new direction for its new cars of late, which are mildly quirky and abandon any notion of aggressiveness and sportiness, and instead major on outright comfort. If that approach suits any type of car, it should be a large saloon or estate just like this.Range at a glanceCitroën is keeping the range relatively simple with just three powertrain options and four trim levels. A 1.2-litre 'Puretech' petrol is now the only pure petrol option, with a 48-volt, 134bhp petrol-electric hybrid offered immediately above.The plug-in hybrid option uses a 1.6-litre petrol turbo engine and an 80kW electric motor, and offers a claimed 39 miles of electric range.

BMW's warmed-up four-seat convertible is among the last of a dying breed – but it's still excellent There's a slightly unexpected air of the commemorative around the latest BMW 4 Series. Back when even Ford, Peugeot and Vauxhall were offering their humdrum hatches with a folding roof, you wouldn’t have thought the market for an everyday convertible could ever dry up. But here we are in 2024, with scant few options outside the supercar and top-drawer sports car segments for adjusting your mullet on the move. The Lexus LC? Dead. Audi A5? Gone. TT? See ya. Hell, even the Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet is for the chop in the coming months, and there’s a good while to wait until the Mini Convertible returns. No word yet on a reborn Vauxhall Cascada. Were it not for the new Ford Mustang, Mercedes-Benz CLE and this freshened-up BMW 4 Series, you’d be pretty much stuck for an everyday, drop-top four-seater south of £70,000. And even within this niche, consolidation conspires to quash variety. The 4 Series is no longer available with a diesel engine, and petrol options are now limited to the rear-driven 420i with 184bhp, or the 369bhp four-wheel-drive M440i driven here. You can, though, still have both as a coupé, a cabrio or in four-door Gran Coupé form. The 4 Series is, of course, the lower, wider-striding, meaner-looking alter ego of the 3 Series - with stiffened, extra-tantalising handling poise and an air of exclusivity about its two-door cabin, the combination of which has been the BMW coupé calling card since the early 1970s.And rather than any recent forerunner coupé, it’s a 1970s antecedent of the 4 Series that BMW’s designers were referring to with the new car’s oh-so-contentious, upright and in-your-face radiator grille: the Wilhelm Hofmeister-penned E9-generation 3.0 CSi. Read on to find out if the new range-topping M440i xDrive can do justice, on the road and against the timing gear, to such a celebrated ancestor.

McLaren's entry-level, extra-practicality supercar gets more power and visual attitude in mid-life update When it appeared in 2019, the McLaren GT had just a whiff of naivety about it; something the still-youthful firm that made it has actually rarely shown.This was a supercar for the margins, with a brief to expand the company’s customer base - but, using very much unexpanded mid-engined platform and chassis technology, perhaps not being in a strongest position to succeed.In the years since its launch, according SMMT UK sales figures at least, it’s sold consistently but quite slowly, playing third fiddle to both the 720S/750S and the smaller 570S/600LT/Artura.And now, McLaren GT becomes McLaren GTS, as Woking has added power, taken away weight, pumped up the car's styling, and generally lightly refreshed it for its autumn years.

Exciting newcomer aims to establish itself as the 'VW Golf of EVs' The Kia EV3, a £32,995 new electric crossover that’s Volkswagen Golf-sized in its footprint, is exactly the kind of car that buyers could default to in the electric car era as they have done to the Golf in the combustion one. The EV3 gets to near price and spec parity with a 2.0 TDI Golf without skimping on battery capacity: your £32,995 gets you a 58kWh battery with 267 miles of range in base (but Golf-levels of kit still) Air trim. An extra £3000 gets you an 81kWh battery with 372 miles of range, also in Air trim. At £35,995, this already looks like a sweet spot in the EV3 range. The EV3, then, can go almost like-for-like in a comparison against a similarly-equipped Golf, regardless of their differing powertrains; you’d buy the Volkswagen because you like it and it happens to be a diesel, and you’d buy the Kia because you like and it just happens to be electric. Both come from top, established brands in the UK with sizeable dealer networks. 

VW brings some GTI attitude to its electric Golf Volkswagen has a long history of hot hatches stretching all the way back to the Frankfurt motor show in 1975, where it unveiled of the original Golf GTI. Still, the Volkswagen ID 3 GTX represents somewhat of a new beginning for the under fire German car maker in the performance-based hatchback ranks. Not only is it Volkswagen's first proclaimed hot hatch powered entirely by an electric motor, but it’s also the first to be sold exclusively with rear-wheel drive.