Description

The production of issue 401 was carried out during unprecedented times and it’s a huge credit to the entire team at DieselCar and EcoCar for their hard work. For those that are stuck indoors under lockdown, it’s the perfect time to think about giving your car a spring clean ready for better times. It’s our car cleaning and valeting special issue and this delivers hints and tips on giving your car a spruce up as we head towards summer.

We’ve got news of the stylish new Audi A3 Saloon, previews and sneak peek photos of the BMW 4 Series Coupé and Vauxhall Mokka, together with the first information on Toyota’s new Yaris Cross that takes pride of place on the cover. There’s also details of Land Rover’s new plug-in hybrid versions of the Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque, as well as news of a 2020 update to the sexy Lexus LC 500h.

We managed to test the Renault Captur and Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class Shooting Brake just before the lockdown, and have driven the Skoda Scala in DSG guise, the facelifted Ford S-MAX and the Nissan Qashqai with the uprated 1.7-litre dCi powerplant. In EcoCar, we’ve been driving Porsche’s Cayenne Coupé Hybrid, the latest Hyundai i10 on UK roads and put the Lexus UX through its paces. This month’s used car buyer’s guide is the facelifted Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class from 2014 to 2018.

In Issue 400 we gave the magazine a minor facelift and introduced several new features, including two new columns – Autojumble and Retrospective. There’s also a new advice column in EcoCar called Current Affairs. That’s in addition to favourites like Doctor Diesel, The Extra Mile, Legal i, Buying, Selling and Maintaining, Marketplace, and the most up-to-date vehicle statistics anywhere in the magazine world in the Data Files pages. If you haven’t seen Diesel Car and EcoCar magazine lately, please be sure to pick up a copy to try it out.

Tested:

• Ford S-MAX ST-Line 2.0 EcoBlue (190) Automatic
• Hyundai i10 Premium 1.2 MPi
• Mercedes-Benz CLA 220 d AMG Line Premium Shooting Brake Automatic
• Nissan Qashqai Tekna 1.7 dCi 150
• Porsche Cayenne Coupe E-Hybrid
• Renault Captur Iconic dCi 115 EDC Automatic
• Skoda Scala SE L 1.6 TDI DSG Automatic

Twin test:

• Peugeot 2008 GT Line BlueHDi 100 vs Volkswagen T-Roc Design 1.6 TDI

Long-term test reports:

• Citroen C5 Aircross Flair Plus BlueHDi 130 Automatic
• Ford Focus Estate ST-Line X 2.0 EcoBlue Automatic
• Kia XCeed 3 1.6 CRDi
• Peugeot 308 GT Line PureTech 130 Automatic
• Peugeot 508 SW GT Line BlueHDi 130 Automatic
• Renault Kadjar S Edition Blue dCi 115
• SEAT Ibiza FR 1.0 MPi
• Skoda Superb SportLine 2.0 TDI Estate Automatic
• Volvo XC60 B4 AWD R-Design Automatic

Features:

• Cleaning and valeting special issue

Used Car Buyer’s Guide

• Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class (2014-2018)

Regulars

• News and views
• Marketplace Statistics
• Marketplace In The Pipeline
• Marketplace What’s New
• Techzone
• Gadget Inspector
• Doctor Diesel
• Highway Cod
• The Extra Mile
• Legal i
• This Month
• Autojumble
• Retrospective
• DM@il
• Buying, Selling and Maintaining
• Doctor Diesel’s Hero or Zero
• EcoCar News and views
• EcoCar Marketplace
• EcoCar Current Affairs
• EcoCar Bright Spark