The "spiritual successor" of the Legacy has just been launched. Meet the Subaru Levorg. On the road this all-wheel drive grips impressively and cornering is done with absolute ease...
For €36,180, the new John Cooper Works gives a 2.0 litre TwinPower Turbo engine which gives 320Nm of torque and a very attractive 231hp...
I'm not going to lie to you: the 'new' Opel Corsa is not exactly a radical departure from the model it replaces. No doubt you worked that out for yourself after a glance at the car in the pictures...
BMW have just released some preview snaps of the new BMW M5 concept and as predicted the highly anticipated motorway muncher has caught the attention of motoring press the world over...
Ever one to push the boundaries on the luxury hybrid front, Lexus launched its new concept car, the LF-Gh, at the New York Auto Show in April. The abbreviated title stands for 'Lexus Future Grand touring...
Car Buyers Guide joined SEAT earlier this month at Mondello Park where the brand would show and demonstrate the entire 2011 range to the Irish motoring press. Aside from the full range...
These days when you hear "Hybrid" you automatically think of Toyota, but the first hybrid sold in Europe and North America was actually the original Honda Insight. For Honda is was something of an experiment...
I find it hard to say, or even think of, the word 'Venga' without breaking into a mental rendition of "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom" or "We Like to Party". If Kia's newest model arrived off a boat from Korea...
The Mégane has lacked an edge over its rivals since it was launched a year ago but now it has the mother of all recession-friendly selling points: Price...
General Motors must be kicking itself. Over a decade ago, it had a highly advanced electric car, the EV1 on its hands. It leased over 1,000 examples of the experimental...
Americans are a logical people. Most of them have two legs so to the average American it really doesn't make any sense for a car to have more than two pedals...
If you own a small car, I’d like you to ask yourself a question. How often do you use the back seats? They’re probably spotless, unused and pretty much pointless...
Toyota Yaris: The new class leader. All the car you could ever need in a clever, affordable, fun, practical, efficient, user-friendly, format. All the talk this year has been about the Suzuki Swift...
It handles reasonably well (although a little less steering kickback would be nice), rides maturely, cruises quietly and is utterly practical, too. Perhaps a calm, comfy, climate-controlled ride...
Toyota will introduce a stylish three-door version, just like Opel did with the Astra; maybe it’ll have its own name too. Here it is then, the Toyota Auris 3-door. No fanfare, no fancy naming strategy, no distinctive...
MINI One: Out go the asthmatic Chrysler petrol engine and overworked Toyota diesel and in comes two chirpy new Peugeot/Citroën units. Happy days. That makes the Mini One...
Despite its role as humble family transport, the Bravo manages to be handsome, seductive and curiously classy, the perfect vehicular ambassador. We like the responsive steering...
There was no press conference. No boring speeches about design (always more 'expressive' than before), panel gaps (usually decreased by an invisible margin), target customers (they're always young...
The rear seats are tiny because of the need to make space for the folding metal in the boot. The handling usually suffers because a large part of the structure has been cut away. There’s added weight...
The Auris is taller and roomier than the Corolla. There is nothing overly dramatic about the styling, but it is certainly an improvement on the rather jaded-looking Corolla, and on the inside...
I know what you’re thinking. The lads at new car have finally lost their marbles. They’re comparing Toyota’s new family hatchback with Nissan’s new SUV type thingy? But when you think about it...
The Corolla name might not mean much to most Europeans but in Ireland it’s one of the top sellers, which is why the tenth derivative is being sold here in Ireland (and in Turkey) while the rest of Europe...
The poor folks at Lexus must think I have it in for them. I don’t care much for most of the Lexus range, you see, and found the new IS to be a particularly disappointing car, especially as it came right after the GS450h...
Most buyers opt for the 1.6-litre petrol but the 126hp 2.0-litre diesel is also winning many friends for its durability and ability to munch miles. But you can’t deny that it does everything right...
We're inching through the tiny town of San Pedro in Cariano when we spot a small archway down a narrow side street and decide that it's the perfect backdrop for some photography. Finding picturesque locations...
My American friend came for a visit recently, ticking all the usual cliche boxes by having a Guinness in an Eye-rish pub and tracing his ancestry to the arse end of nowhere. I thought a Chrysler 300C Touring would be...
Although it says 'by Loeb' under the door mirrors, I doubt Monsieur Leob had much to do with this C4 beyond agreeing the use of his name and depositing a large cheque in the Banque du France. If Loeb has his way...
As I write this I’m sitting in Roma airport and there’s a Europcar Fiat Bravo parked right in front of me. They’ve wheeled one into the terminal to lure recently deplaned tourists to the Europcar...
I remember about a year ago finding a little stray kitten underneath the stairwell of my old apartment. It was just cowering there, meowing for attention and looking all lost and unloved. So I reached in...
I don’t know anyone who downloads videos or watches TV on their mobile phones, do you? Video phones remind me of the programmable timer on your DVD Recorder or the defroster programs on your...
The missus and I spend a weekend at a very swanky hotel recently, just to treat ourselves for all the hard work we've been putting in lately. On one particular evening we were dressing for dinner, as you do, when I...
Last month we drove the entry-level Qashdai 1.6 and the range-topping Qashqai 2.0 and found the 1.6 to be rather good and the 2.0 rather poor. I predicted that the 1.5 dCi would be a better engine...
Stomp on the throttle at a standstill and the Sport will heap off the line and power its way up through the slick six-speed gearbox all the way to its 209km/h top speed, passing 100km/h in just 9.2 seconds...
I quite like the concept of 'understated', particularly when it comes to fast cars. I have two points on my licence courtesy of a bright orange Focus ST, so I’m quite happy to see just how understated the...
Every time a carmaker comes up with another convoluted crossover concept proclaiming it to be the biggest thing in cars since the Model T, I roll my eyes and drift away into one of my pleasant little day dreams...
It seems that even the head honchos at General Motors are aware of the lure of the Kingdom, having chosen the rolling hills of rural Kerry to play host to the Irish and English launch of the new Chevrolet Captiva...
Girls generally don't smile at blokes for no reason, but I seem to be lapping up all kinds of admiring looks and wry smiles today. It can't be my clean-cut good looks because I've been parking in front of a computer...
The new Nissan Tiida sets out to be as practical as a Swiss army knife and as commonsense as a toothbrush, so if you’re looking for a can of Red Bull with wheels and gaze upon the Tiida’s stumpy...
Of all the BMWs currently on sale, the 3-Series Coupe is by far the best looking. And I do mean by faaaaar! The lines are flowing and elegant, the proportions are orgasmic and the detailing is quite exquisite...
It was never going to be too difficult for BMW to convince people to buy a new version of the X5. The last one had been around since 1999 and quickly became one of the most sought-after SUVs...
As a driver’s car, the FR is better: one part Golf GTi, two parts Audi S3, which is hardly surprising considering it shares all of its major mechanical components with both. Like the Audi, the...
Convertibles are for hairdressers. They're girls' cars, or perhaps for members of groups such as Scissor Sisters, right? The current crop of folding hardtop-equipped cars even more so, allowing top down...
The BMW is still number one despite the close attentions of this new Lexus. The new Lexus is good, but Lexus are going to have to work a little harder to make their...
"Hiroshima has enjoyed a spirit of renaissance and that spirit is also reflected in my choice of transport, the Lexus GS430." This car is billed as a Grand Tourer and the motorway trek...
These cars, the Toyota Avensis and the Volkswagen Passat, are the meat and two veg of Irish motoring. They feature so prominently on our roads that it can be safely presumed that the country...
Toyota chose Rome for the international press launch of their new Aygo baby car for two good reasons. One is Rome’s legendary traffic density - though the traffic is far better managed than that in Dublin...