Description

This month Diesel Car features coverage of the world’s largest car expo, the Frankfurt motor show. There’s 20 pages covering all the latest debuts, including larger pictures than ever before. All the production cars, concepts and wacky ideas are all covered in this month’s issue. One of the show’s biggest debuts was the Kia Sportage, and we’ve been given exciting access to development mules and helped out with the tough testing regime, well ahead of the car’s European launch. You can read our first impressions on one of Kia’s most important new cars, as well as see photographs of the undisguised car on the cover of this month’s issue, and as part of our motor show coverage.

We’ve also been testing Vauxhall’s brand new Brit-built Astra, the all-new Audi A4, and the facelifted BMW 3 Series, as well as updated editions of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class and Kia cee’d. Volkswagen’s soft-roader, the Passat Alltrack is put through its paces, and we’ve been driving SsangYong’s new Tivoli and the Hyundai Tucson on UK roads for the first time. Mazda’s new CX-3 goes up against the Suzuki Vitara in this month’s twin test, with road test reports of the Mercedes-Benz V-Class and facelifted Ford C-MAX. A trio of cars have gained new engines recently, and we’ve tested them all – the Toyota Auris Touring Sports 1.6 D-4D, the DS 4 BlueHDi 150 and the Volkswagen Golf 1.6 TDI with uprated 109bhp Euro-6 compliant engine.

And if that wasn’t already enough, there are all the usual favourites that you’ve come to love and expect from Diesel Car, including Doctor Diesel, The Extra Mile and Marketplace, and the most up-to-date data section in the magazine world, listing every diesel and alternatively fuelled car, as well as sub-100g/km tax-free petrol cars, too. In our EcoCar supplement, a first test of the latest Fiat 500 TwinAir grabs top billing, and for used car buyers there’s a guide to choosing a second-hand Lexus RX 450h.

Tested:

• Audi A4 Sport 2.0 TDI ultra (190)
• BMW 320d EfficientDynamics Plus Automatic
• DS 4 DSport BlueHDi 150
• Fiat 500 Lounge TwinAir (105)
• Ford C-MAX Titanium X 2.0 TDCi (150) PowerShift
• Hyundai Tucson SE Nav 1.7 CRDi
• Kia cee’d GT-Line 1.6 CRDi
• Kia Sportage Prototype
• Mazda CX-3 SE-L Nav 1.5 Diesel
• Mercedes-Benz A 200 d Sport Automatic
• Mercedes-Benz V 250 d Sport Extra Long Automatic
• SsangYong Tivoli SE 2WD
• Suzuki Vitara 1.6 DDiS SZ5
• Toyota Auris Touring Sports Business Edition 1.6 D-4D
• Vauxhall Astra SRi Nav 1.6 CDTi (136)
• Volkswagen Golf Match 1.6 TDI (110) 5-door
• Volkswagen Passat Alltrack 2.0 TDI 4MOTION (190) DSG Automatic

Long-term test reports:

•  Audi A4 Avant SE Technik 2.0 TDI ultra
• Citroen C4 Cactus Feel BlueHDi 100 Airdream Pack
• Ford Mondeo Estate Titanium 2.0 TDCi (150) Automatic
• Kia Soul Maxx 1.6 CRDi
• Peugeot 308 GT BlueHDi 180 Automatic
• SEAT Leon X-PERIENCE SE Technology 2.0 TDI (181) DSG Automatic
• Skoda Fabia SE L 1.4 TDI DSG Automatic
• Toyota Verso Excel 1.6 D-4D

Feature:

• 30 years of SEAT in the UK

Used Car Buyer’s Guide:

• Lexus RX 450h