Car reviews

Is this the much vaunted ‘Jeep for ladies’ then? Well sort of. This is Jeep’s first ‘compact sport utility’ and it’s hoping the softer more modern lines will appeal to drivers who want a Jeep but...

Er, help me out, I’ve been staring at the picture, pen poised, for 20 minutes and I haven’t ringed a single difference See that big air intake under the bumper? See how the ends point upwards instead...

Hang on? Isn't the Vanquish about to end production? Yep, but it's going out fighting. First Aston Martin released details of an 'Ultimate' (read 'Final') edition Vanquish S, and now they have...

Calling it C4 'by Loeb' makes it sounds like some sort of perfume. What's it for and did the world's greatest rally driver really have anything to do with it? The C4 by Loeb (wouldn't 'Loeb edition'...

It’s a 1-series with two fewer doors Well spotted. Two years after we first got our hands on the original five-door 1-series, BMW has given us the sportier (if only psychologically) three-door.

Skoda Octavia Scout: sounds a bit Dib Dib Dib? It’s Skoda’s way of describing mildly tweaked ‘off-road’ versions of its cars. With this model, it’s taken the Octavia 4x4 estate and made it longer,...

Doesn't look too bad. Someone said Hyundai Coupe facelift and all I could think of was that mess they made of the original Coupe seven years ago... We're equally relieved. This Coupe still looks...

What’s this – more power for the plutocrats? In a word, yes. The £341,585 Maybach 62S - the S stands for Special, should you be wondering – gets the same mighty 6.0-litre twin turbo V12 as last year’s...

Another week, another new Mazda concept car… I know what you mean. This is the Hakaze – that’s Japanese for leaf being blown in the wind – and it follows on from the Nagare shown at Los Angeles and...

The Peugeot 207 looks the same as the 206 CC. A bit unimaginative, isn’t it? Peugeot thinks style is a major selling factor, so the genes of the earlier 206 are obvious. The company could be accused...

Looks like the new Roomster, but without the cut-and-shut treatment That’s because the Fabia and Roomster are the only Skodas so far to wear the new corporate nose. The Czech firm wants to move away...

Are you telling me this beast has 722bhp under the bonnet? Not quite. The 722 – or the Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR 722 Edition to quote its full name – is a limited run of tweaked SLRs, named after the...

A new Fiat Bravo! It replaces the Stilo but, given how unpopular the Stilo was, should anyone care? Yes, the old Stilo was one of those yawningly average cars that rather summed up Fiat’s problems.

So it's a Kia. And an MPV Okay, so it's not exactly high on your lottery win wish list but Kia is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with in car circles thanks to cars like the Picanto and its...

Feels like we’ve been waiting an eternity but the Type R is finally here Yes it's been tough for us too. We’ve had a terrible couple of years where we’ve had to suffer endless parades of 500bhp Mercs...

A G35S what? Infiniti. This halo brand is to Nissan what Lexus is to Toyota – a premium range to take on the might of the upper-crust European competition. Europe will get the Infiniti range in 2008 –...

New Porsche Cayenne: the lowdown Love it or loathe it, the Cayenne has done wonders for Porsche's profitability. Purists can argue all day long that it diluted the brand DNA with all those common VW...

Ah, the Escalade. Is this American bruiser about to give Euro rivals like the Range Rover Sport, X5, M-class and Q7 a bit of a hiding? In a word, no. Or more accurately, it doesn’t have a snowball’s...

That can’t be a coupe-cabrio! Where’s the huge backside, the stupid wedgy profile and enormously overlong windscreen? It certainly is a CC - BMW’s first ever in fact – although you’re right, it...

Nothing looks particularly different here. Where’s the change? This year heralds the 50th anniversary of the Seven. Besides making a cluster of special edition livery paint-schemed cars, the...