Cruze all dressed up

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under Chevrolet, Motorsport

This is the car Chevrolet will be outing starting the next WTCC season. It’s based on the recently launched Chevrolet Cruze and it looks as though it’s gone through the hands of some tunner with fine tastes, and that’s something pretty hard to come by. The car is currently undergoing pre-season tests and all kinds of other tests so it will be ready for the first race of the 2009 season which will take place in Brazil. For now, perfromance-wise, they plan not to go below the current Chevrolet WTCC car, the Lacetti, which has won 12 races so far.

Seat goes large

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under News, Seat

It’s been quite a while since I saw a decent sedan from Seat, and I must say this one came very much as a surprise. A very pleasant one, too. Exeo is looking like the kind of car that makes the Passat a buying prospect only for retired old men and people upgrading from an older Passat version. Not to mention Skoda Superb.

To be honest, I see Exeo as a competitor for Mitsubishi Lancer, because they both appeal mostly to younger, performance oriented clients, the difference being that those who’re after opulance choose the Lancer and those more secure with themselves will go for the Exeo. And, withiut saying the Lancer is a bad car, what a bloody good choice that would be.

Expect it to hit the market sometime in the first half of the next year. It’ll have most of the VAG engines, so there won’t be any shortage of choices for either petrol or diesel fans. The vehicle on show at Paris had a 2.0 litre TSI engine and a double exhaust pipe to match. Which is nice.

Mini Mazda 6

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under Mazda, News

The new Mazda 3 Sedan will be making its debut at the Los Angeles Motor Show later this year. Well, if you like more precise dates, on the 19th of November 2008, between 12:20 and 12:45 local hours. There isn’t much to say, except for the fact that the previous (actually, current) Mazda 3 is the bestseller of the Mazda range, with one sold for every three other Mazda models. If you liked the Mazda 6, you’ll like the new smaller one at least just as much, because we all know smaller things tend to look better.

The Uban Adventurer

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under Renault

Have you ever heard the term “urban adventurer” before? No, it’s not Indiana Jones passing through a city or moving into the suburbs. It’s a new car from Renault, and the Frenchies think that this describes it best. Why? Because it’s small and nimble, although it actually isn’t, and because it offers open-air driving for the passengers on the back seat. If you ask me, though, I think they call it that because it sounds good and because “Urban cruiser” was already taken by Toyota.

The Renault Kangoo be bop is another utility vehicle turned into a recreational one. This one has (only) four seats and no matter how much I tried I couldn’t figure out how anybody can reach the two back seats. Arguably the only nice part about it is the rear end, where a glazed sliding roof and a tailgate window that also slides out of view leave the back of the car exposed. Why would you want to do that in a tall and odd looking car is beyond me, but I’m neither French nor Indiana Jones, so what do I know?

Golf Mark VI GTI Concept - a world full of surprises

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under Volkswagen

I don’t know if my heart can take shocks like these anymore. A new GTI… And just look at how radical it looks. But wait, this is just a concept, who knows what the final production version will look like.

WTF? It looks just as you would expect it to, given the new Mark VI. Not bad, just incredibly unsurprising. And, again, that’s not really a bad thing. It’s got smoked tail lights and red contoured radiator grille, 18” ‘telephone dial’ rims and meaner looking headlamps, bottom-flat steering wheel and black glossy dashboard and a 2.0 TSI engine that develops 208bhp. That means that dynamic-wise it takes the new GTI 7.2 seconds to reach 62mph from a stand-still, and if the road is clear it doesn’t stop until it reaches 148mph. These numbers make it the faster GTI to date, which tells a story about the older GTIs and how badly the R32 is needed in order to keep in touch with the hot hatch category.

Saab 9-X Air

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under News, Saab

Everything that’s thin or light, nowadays, gets called ‘Air’. Saab hasn’t made public the weight of the 9-X Air Concept (or at least I never bothered to look it up), nor is it really any thinner than other convertibles, so I take it the ‘Air’ part refers to the Canopy Top. The unconventional flat folding roof is mounted on the two rear pillars that curve upwards, a distinct trait from the other convertibles out there.

If you ever felt like your car was missing a drawer, you should check out the 9-X Air. Don’t dismiss it so fast, though, as the thing that comes out of the back of the car is large enough to accommodate two golf bags and it’s spring operated to keep the weight low.

You can look at the Saab 9-X Air in Paris. Or in the pictures below. The biggest thing with this car is that Canopy Top which Saab is planning to have patented. It allows for a better wind protection for the passengers and a very large and unobstructed field of view for the driver. It all sounds good. I might just like this Canopy thing.

Welcome to Honda City

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under Honda, News

It’s not a large City, but it does resemble some of the larger ones. For example, Accord City. Still, as is the norm with smaller cities, it’s cheaper to live in and although you don’t get the same levels of comfort, its good enough for the money you pay.

If I haven’t lost you already with my pathetic attempt to talk about the car as if it were an actual city, please do go on reading. The City comes with an all new 1.4 litre i-VTEC engine which develops a whooping (I’m just kidding) 100bhp. Still, pretty decent for a car that will mainly be sold to people who are very money-conscious.

Has the world shrunk?

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under News, Nissan

No, I don’t think it has. Because if you go round its back and look at the front, you exhale a sigh of relief: it’s not you getting smaller and this is not a big Qashqai - it’s a regular sized new Murano. But the back could have had you fooled.

The old Murano was a beautiful car. The new one, well let’s just say it’s not an ugly one, but it has lost some of the uniqueness of the first model. The new Murano is still a very luxurious SUV with all the gizmos you would expect to find in a car priced at over 32.000 pounds, it’s just the wrappings that don’t look that striking. Still, if you’re looking for an SUV, you could do much worse than this.

Performance-wise, the Murano has a revised version of the 3.5 litre V6 which takes it from 0 to 62mph in the oddly round number of 8 seconds. Fast enough for something this size or, to be honest, any other size.

Why Orlando Bloom should be afraid:

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under Chevrolet

This is a new - well,  actually the first - Chevrolet MPV seven seater that will be unveiled (where else?) at the Paris Motor Show. It’s called Bloom. Sorry, Orlando. It looks as if you need to sedate your family before you can convince themto get in and that’s about it. Other than it’s SUV-like looks, it’s just your ordinary MPV, with seven seats and lots of space, both for passengers and cargo. Oh, and the steering wheel is eeringly familiar. Maybe because we’ve seen something like it before on the Honda Civic.

A new Vauxhall hatchback that’s not an Astra…

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under News, Vauxhall

…as we used to know it. The new Vauxhall Astra 09 that will replace the soon-to-be-old Astra Mk5 after it will be revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show next year. It seems GM is not willing to allow Volkswagen to get its paws on all the middle-class buyers.

Judging from the recently showed Insignia and these drawings, it will look good. Judging from the same recently showed Insignia, it will be well-built and have a nice overall quality feel. Judging from all this, GM and Insignia are heading in the right direction.