Driving Torque

2021 Hyundai Tucson Review – well, we weren’t expecting that

Hyundai Tucson Next year (1982) marks 40 years since Hyundai hit the UK car market, and it’s fair to say they’ve come quite a long way. It’s also pretty fair to say the last couple of years have been the Hyundai’s most adventurous. When they’re not tuning family hatchbacks and slapping an ‘N’ on them (one letter more advanced than ‘M’, remember) they’re bringing out some pretty brave…

Skoda Enyaq iV Review – could this be the electric car to sway the doubters?

Skoda Enyaq iV It seems barely a week goes by at the moment without a new electric car launched onto the market, making Tesla’s position at the top of that particularly fashionable tree more and more precarious. It was always going to be interesting when the established brands had a go at it, none more so than everything under the VAG umbrella, and this is Skoda‘s ground-up electric car; the…

2021 Bentley Continental GT V8 Review: keeping up with the times

Continental GT V8 Take a good, long stare at this Bentley Continental GT V8, because this is what base spec looks like when you’re spending well over £100k on thoroughly British (ish) devourers of countries and continents alike. Think you could live with it? – good, lets break down exactly what you get when you forego luxuries like a W12 engine. Under the bonnet is a 4.0-l, twin turbocharged V8…

2021 MINI Cooper S Sport Review – Does the sporty 3-door Mini still have to power to entertain?

Mini Cooper S The Mini is twenty years old this year. Not that Mini, obviously, but the BMW version that took the world by storm and charmed the Bowler hats off pretty much all of us upon its release in 2001. This is the third instalment in the new Mini tale and it’s taken the Britishness that apparently sells so well and turned it up to eleven. You only need proof of this by looking at the rear…

Honda e Advance Review – Brilliant in so many ways, but are we ready for it?

Honda e A wise man once said “If you want to know the future, look at the past”. A very wise man in fact, possibly the wisest: a certain Mr. Albert Einstein. Now, as bright as ol’ Bert was, I don’t think even he had the foresight to be referring to Honda’s new all-electric vehicle – simply named the ‘e’, but the phrase still fits. You see, the e is ultra modern and super clean, using the latest…

Suzuki Across Review – Suzuki are going upmarket with their mid-sized plug-in hybrid SUV

Suzuki Across Ok, let’s cut to the chase here. If you’re thinking you’ve seen the new Suzuki Across before somewhere, it’s because you have. Sort of. The Across is basically a Toyota RAV4 with a facelift and a Suzuki badge or three. No, this isn’t the most poorly disguised piece of plagiarism since the doors opened at the Beijing Motor Show. Like the Swace it’s a product of Suzuki’s model…

Cupra Formentor e-Hybrid Review – Cupra’s first exclusive model fits many bills

Cupra Formentor Seat has slapped a Cupra (Cup Racing) badge on their performance models for decades now, and on the whole they’ve held up well to scrutiny. It made perfect sense, then, to take advantage of an established reputation when launching a stand-alone performance line; Cupra is now more than a spec, it’s a brand. They may have lost their Seat badges but the Cupra range still includes…

Volvo XC60 T8 Recharge Review – Clean, safe (obvs), but that’s not all…..

Volvo XC60 Recharge Volvo was one of the first major manufactures to make giant steps towards the brave new world of cleaner driving when they phased out pure internal combustion engines in 2019. Everything Volvo sells is now a mild hybrid, a plug-in hybrid or where they plan on ending up by 2030; fully electric. In typically Swedish, unconventional fashion, Volvo has steered away from simply…

Volkswagen Arteon Shooting Brake eHybrid Review

Arteon Shooting Brake eHybrid Shooting Brake; an odd term when you think about it, with its links to hunting ‘n’all, but one that has the uncanny ability to set car lover’s pulses racing. Manufacturers have come up with all kinds of sexy, contemporary names for what’s essentially an estate car – Sports Wagon, etc, but when the car your estate’s based on has a more sporty bent, shooting brake’s…

Ford Puma ST Review – A Fiesta ST with added practicality?

Puma ST Do you really, really, really want one of those excellent Fiesta ST’s you’ve heard so much about, but you could also do with more of a crossover body and a big bucket in the boot? Well – wait no longer, because the Puma ST is here and it could be just the ticket. The Puma ST has had a privileged start to life owing to the fact the ‘normal’ Puma is really rather good. Handily, the Fiesta…

Mercedes GLA 250e Review

Mercedes GLA 250e Since the government announced its 2030 ban on all sales of purely petrol and diesel powered cars, it seems barely a day goes past without a manufacturer making some bold step towards electrification. Mercedes has gone with the EQ moniker for any model with electric power involved, which surely will be all of them before too long. Here’s the basic overview for the next time you…

2021 SsangYong Rexton Review – A new, sharper image for the value 4×4

New Rexton To say South Korean cars have come on a bit in the last fifteen years would be something of an understatement. Once seen as the poor relation to their Japanese alternatives, the way Kia and sister company Hyundai have expanded globally means they’re taken very seriously these days, and you’d be hard pressed to find a suburban street without a car from one of their ranges nestling on…

2021 Citroen C3 Review – If it ain’t broke…….

Citroen C3 “All cars look the same these days” – an accusation levelled at many manufacturers, but possibly not Citroen. Having been close to slipping into anonymity a decade ago, Citroen has embraced what made them successful in the first place and reinstated more than a pinch of distinction into their design ethos. No more so than this; the C3 – Citroen’s all-round success story that’s had…

DS 3 Crossback E-Tense Review – DS brings their own touch to electric power

DS 3 Crossback E-Tense Once just the extra badge stuck on posh Citroens, DS as a brand has been through a major revamp and there’s soon to be a trio of very different models when the fairy conventional saloon; the DS9 arrives. For now there’s two SUV’s – the DS7 Crossback and this – the DS 3 Crossback. It comes in a variety of flavours, all of which have impressively grandiose names; there’s no…

MG5 EV Review – The first electric estate in the UK

MG5 EV This is the MG5 EV, and it’s currently the only electric estate car for sale in Europe; not even a hint of chunky plastic bumpers or crossover-esque ride height here, it’s unashamedly an estate. Normally when I write an MG review I can’t help but make reference to legendary models such as the MGB or Midget. But not today, because this is a rebadged car from elsewhere in MG’s Chinese…

All-New Isuzu D-Max: First drive review

Isuzu D-Max It doesn’t seem long ago that manufacturers were falling over themselves to get a pickup into their UK portfolio, but things have changed, and it’s not entirely down to a certain pandemic, or even Brexit for that matter. VW pulled the Amarok as it was too dirty (a joint venture with Ford is due in 2022), Mercedes cancelled the X-Class due to disappointing sales, Nissan axed the…

Audi e-tron Sportback 55 S line review – Audi’s electric family is growing

Audi e-tron Sportback The Audi e-tron Sportback is here to save the world! Ok, there’s probably more to the future of mass mobilisation than that, but I’m pretty confident that electric cars are here to stay in some substantial capacity. Putting the potentially sticky issue of where the electricity and batteries to power your new-fangled motor comes from aside, there’s no disputing that electric…