Description

The last issue of Diesel Car bearing a 2016 date stamp hits the newsstands, with our special seasonal Christmas issue featuring five pages of gift ideas for friends, family, or even yourself. There’s also our annual Christmas crossword, to give you a few moments peace and quiet, away from the hustle and bustle of the festive season.

The cover is devoted to the latest MINI Countryman, a car that has not only grown in size, but also in price. We’ve also got the first details of the updated Volkswagen Golf, the eighth-generation BMW 5 Series and facelifted editions of the SEAT Leon and Skoda Octavia. Audi’s Q2 gets put through its paces on UK roads for the first time, and Volkswagen’s latest Tiguan faces the BMW X1 in our twin test shootout. There’s also first tests of the Citroën SpaceTourer, the updated Volvo V40, and the Range Rover Evoque Coupé in upmarket Autobiography specification.

We welcome SEAT’s brand new Ateca onto the long-term fleet, and wave goodbye to the Mitsubishi Outlander and Ford S-MAX this month. Chris Pickering examines Mercedes-Benz’s new range of four- and six-cylinder diesel engines, and Andy Goodwin drives the entire Jeep range in limited edition 75^th Anniversary guises. Gavin Braithwaite-Smith revisits an old friend, the Skoda Fabia vRS, and also examines whether an ex-London Taxi makes a viable used car buy.

We have five packed pages of Christmas gifts in Gadget Inspector and this month’s used car buyer’s guide is dedicated to the Suzuki SX4 S-Cross – don’t buy one until you read our comprehensive guide. In our monthly EcoCar supplement, we test the Ford Fiesta ST-Line, Hyundai Ioniq Electric and Volkswagen Passat GTE plug-in hybrid, as well as welcome a new mild hybrid edition of the Suzuki Baleno to the long-term fleet. Finally, Maxine Ashford meets the owner of a very special Vegan-friendly Tesla Model S.

Tested:

• Audi Q2 SE 1.6 TDI
• BMW X1 xDrive20d Sport Automatic
• Ford Fiesta ST-Line 1.0T EcoBoost (125) 3-door
• Hyundai Ioniq Electric Premium SE
• Citroen SpaceTourer Business BlueHDi 150
• Range Rover Evoque Coupe Autobiography 2.0 Td4 Automatic
• Volkswagen Passat GTE 1.4 TSI Plug-in hybrid
• Volkswagen Tiguan R-Line 2.0 TDI (150) DSG Automatic
• Volvo V40 D3 R-Design NavPlus

Long-term test reports:

• Audi A4 S line 3.0 V6 TDI (218) quattro Automatic
• DS 5 Prestige BlueHDi 180 Automatic
• Ford S-MAX Titanium Sport 2.0 TDCi (180) AWD PowerShift
• Honda CR-V 1.6 i-DTEC EX 4WD
• Jaguar XF R-Sport 2.0D Automatic
• Kia Optima 3 1.7 CRDi
• Mitsubishi Outlander 2.2 DI-D GX4
• Peugeot 508 SW GT Line BlueHDi 150
• Renault Kadjar Dynamique Nav dCi 110 EDC Automatic
• SEAT Ateca SE 1.6 TDI Ecomotive
• Skoda Rapid Spaceback SE Sport 1.4 TDI
• Suzuki Baleno 1.2 Dualjet SHVS SZ5

Feature:

• Mercedes-Benz future 4- and 6-cylinder diesel engines
• Jeep 75th anniversary feature
• Skoda Fabia vRS drive story
• Wynn’s diesel products competition
• Vegan Tesla Model S

Used Car Buyer’s Guide:

• Suzuki SX4 S-Cross 1.6 DDiS