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Top 10 Series: Niche Dwellers

By Ben Foulds
Freelance Contributing Writer
03 August 2010

Mental...
It's the year 2000 and you're a road tester at a car mag. Peugeot has recently unveiled its new 307 and, oh look, they're giving you one to try for a week. What's more, you also happen to have a Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf, Citroen Xsara and Vauxhall Astra at your disposal. So you line them up together to see which is best. Wonderful.

Fast forward ten years, and BMW has launched its new 5-Series GT. And would you look at that, they've lent you one to review. You want to do a comparison test, but here comes the snag. What on earth do you compare it with? It's a hatchback for starters, and a tall one at that, so testing it feature-for-feature alongside regular executive saloonery would be like testing a weasel against a domestic cat. An MPV, then? Well, the GT is big and practical, granted, but it also has a sloping roofline and only five seats. So it’s going to be whipped on the practicality front by your average people-mover. Here, then, is a car that doesn’t really fit into any specific category.

Nowadays, of course, this kind of thing is as common as a Ferrari-branded baseball cap. Every other car launch is greeted by questions such as “What the hell is it?”, “How many bootlids did you say it has?”, and “What’s wrong with my 5-Series Touring?”.

But while it’s easy to be cynical, some of these awkwardly-marketed products have a point, and are definitely worth a look over more conventional rivals. Here, then, is a run-down of ten of the best niche cars you can buy:

1. Daihatsu Materia


Like a supermini but taller and wider, and clearly designed using a box as inspiration. This means it's got plenty of space inside and has more character than Kermit the Frog after a tube of blue Smarties. It won't set your hair on fire with its performance, nor will it have you lapping roundabouts with a manic grin on your face, but that's not really the point is it?


A masterpiece. When Ford axed its old Galaxy, they replaced it with two cars: a new, bigger and plusher Galaxy, and this, which finds itself somewhere between its bigger brother and the C-Max in terms of size. It comfortably seats seven plus their luggage, yet manages to be sporty and (whisper it) desirable too. Recently facelifted and still the best MPV you can buy by a country mile.


While the ubiquitous Smart can sometimes seem a little too compromised to really work, the little iQ has the tiny footprint thing nailed to a T. The thing is, even though it's only 2mm long, it's actually as wide as a Focus so you don't feel like you're going down the M1 in a tumble-dryer. The boys at Toyota have put some real thought into the interior too, so despite its meagre length, it can fit three adults quite easily. The only downsides are a slightly rubbish dashboard and a high list price.


Shorter than your little finger but still seats three


4. Infiniti EX


The luxury branch of Nissan is still a relative novelty in Britain; that alone is no reason to avoid it - especially when it makes cars like the EX. Billed as a crossover to rival the likes of BMW's X1 and the Lexus RX, it's more interesting than either and a hell of a looker while it's at it. Sadly it's only available in petrol guise at the moment (though that's the same 3.7-litre V6 as you'll find in the 370Z). Have no fear, however - there's a diesel on the way...


EX: More desirable than an X1?



Is it a supermini? Is it a family hatch? Is it an MPV? Well, it's all of those things actually. Or maybe it's none. Whatever, the A-Class was a very different animal to anything we'd seen before when the first generation hit dealerships back in 1997, and it remains pretty unique to this day. Its innovative 'sandwich floor' means that it's roughly a million times more spacious than a 1-Series, despite being the size of your shoe, and the quality's much better on the latest one. We have to applaud the three-pointed star for not giving us an A3 clone; rumours have it, however, that the next A-Class will ditch the special floor and become just that. Shame.


Not so long ago, Nissan was turning out the dreary Primera and Almera. Those models have been consigned to the history books, though, as the Japanese marque sets its sights on becoming the king of the crossover. The funky Juke has just replaced the Micra, but it all started a few years back with the Qashqai. Offering 4x4 looks in a footprint no larger than a Focus, it became a hit overnight and Nissan hasn’t looked back since. The Qashqai +2 gains two more seats but loses a bit of style in the process.



S-Max: Ford's Masterpiece
In much the same vain as the Qashqai, the 3008 gives you rugged looks and a raised ride height, but without the traditional off-roader thirstiness or the danger of having eggs thrown at you in Salisbury town centre. The styling is divisive – I think it’s a pleasing shape but you might equally consider it worthy of the Room 101 treatment. Whatever you think, the 3008’s trump card is its interior, which is an unexpected concoction of plush materials and – get this – Audi R8 styling.


It showed a lot of guts on Kia’s part to put the Soul into production, as it’s the kind of car that can break a company’s reputation if mucked up. Happily, the jacked-up supermini resulting from the Koreans’ endeavours is really rather good. Part of its appeal lies in the opportunity for personalisation – you can have the roof tattooed for goodness’ sake – but it also packs a punch when it comes to practicality and user-friendliness. Quite why anyone would buy a Rio with this next to it on the showroom floor is beyond me.

9. Skoda Yeti


What is it with Skoda’s naming strategy? They call their executive car ‘Superb’, which is pretty much the definition of making a rod for your own back, and then they go and name their crossover after something supposedly abominable. No matter though, the Yeti is a clever little thing, combining cheeky-yet-tough styling with practicality and economy. Get the 1.2-litre petrol with two-wheel-drive and you’ll have yourself a gem.

10. Ariel Atom


Ok, so the Atom probably doesn’t really count as a ‘niche’ product in the usual sense of the word, but who cares? It does 0-60 faster than you can say ‘Aaaaaah’, goes onto a top speed of 140mph, and yet has no bodywork to speak of. And is road legal. Mental.



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Audi A7 Sportback details: Ingolstadt’s £44k hatch (sorry, coupé)

By Ben Foulds
Freelance Contributing Writer
29 July 2010

Like an A6, only lower and more expensive
It's a phenomenon of recent times, it's as baffling as anything you'll find in a rocket science laboratory, and it's spreading more quickly than you can butter your toast in the morning.

No, I'm not talking about the supposed global warming crisis. Or Jedward Bieber for that matter. I am of course referring to the current trend amongst car manufacturers for selling us squashed versions of hatchbacks and saloons which we have to refer to as ‘coupés’.

Mercedes started the whole shennanigans off in 2005 with the CLS bananamobile, with BMW joining the fray shortly afterwards with the brilliant-but-utterly-pointless X6. The blue propeller also has the Gran Coupé in the offing, while Audi recently gave us the A5 Sportback.

And it's fallen upon the Ingolstadt company to launch the newest competitor in the exploding coupé-but-not-actually-a-coupé sector: the A7 Sportback.

As the name suggests, it's the bigger brother to the aforementioned five-door A5 (think A6 with a lower roofline and you're about there), and is geared towards executive buyers who want a little more pizzazz from their wheels than a conventional saloon.

I can't imagine many people will be keeling over in shock in the face of the A5-goes-large styling; yes, it's undoubtedly swoopier than its A6 counterpart and that sloping roofline creates an interesting perspective at the rear, but otherwise it's Audi as we've known it for the last few years: chiselled and nicely-proportioned but unlikely to get pulses racing to dangerous levels. It looks like it will also be heavily reliant on colour and wheel choice, for which blame that fussy surface treatment.

The interior appears to be a more cocooned version of that found in the recently-launched A8, and will be available with such niceties as Google Earth, a touchpad for the MMI system which enables the driver to enter details by writing on it (and which, as on the A8, could be problematic for right-handed UK users), and – for the first time on an Audi – a head-up display.


A7: the interior


For the moment, horsepower will be provided by a choice of three engines: two FSI petrols and and a diesel (available in two different states of tune). As is the Audi way, both front- and four-wheel-drive versions will be offered, the latter in conjunction with a 7-speed flappy-paddle S-tronic 'box. Greenies will laud the inclusion of energy recuperation systems and stop-start across the range.

And the price? Well, the official starting point for the A7 is a not-inconsiderable £43,745; expect this to rise considerably once you've ticked a few boxes on the options list too – this is an Audi, remember.

You might question why anyone in their right mind would take one of these over an A6, given that you're essentially paying about £10k more to give your kids cramp. That's not the point of this car, however. Mercedes has proved with the CLS that there is a big market out there for the low-slung saloon/coupé/thing, and they ought to be looking over their collective shoulders at this latest effort from Audi.

I have two hopes for the A7. Firstly, that they can succeed where they failed with the A5 and give the driver a good time on the twisties. And secondly, that they see sense and give us an RS7. Lambo-engined CLS63 rival? Yes please.


It's a hatchback, Jim, but not as you know it



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Alfa Romeo Giulietta: Having the cask full and the wife drunk

By Ben Foulds
Freelance Contributing Writer
21 July 2010
Let’s be honest here. Who doesn’t like a bit of car transporter spotting?

You know the situation. Pulling out to overtake one of those giant car-bearing lorries on the motorway, you have a sneaky scan to see if there’s anything on there worthy of special attention. Often, it’ll just be a load of smashed-up old Saxos ready for the scrapheap; on other occasions, though, you may be lucky enough to spot some newly-released metal that hasn’t yet been birthed onto the roads.

I was lucky enough to come across an absolute gem the other day without much effort at all as it happens. While loafing around Modena station waiting for a train, I was taken aback when the general hubbub of the place was broken for a brief spell by a railway transporter, loaded with what must have been getting on for two hundred brand-new Alfa Romeo Giuliettas, speeding up from the Alfa factory in Lazio to Milan, from where they will by now have been scattered off into different parts of Europe.


The Giulietta is a massive, massive car for Alfa


In the event, I was pretty darn excited myself, standing as I did for nigh-on two full minutes with eyes wide and jaw agape as many, many tonnes of Giulietta tore by at high speed. My wonderment, though, was a mere morsel compared with the banquet of excitement that was being enjoyed by the Italians around me. Seriously, with the amount of pointing and shouting going on, you'd have thought it was Signor Berlusconi on his way to give the AC Milan players a masterclass in footballing tactics.

This reaction demonstrated pretty clearly the excitement surrounding the Giulietta, but also its importance for both the country and the brand.

There's definitely no use in skirting around the fact: the Giulietta is a massive, massive car for Alfa. As the central point of a range of cars that epitomises all the passion, all the flair of Italian motoring that has captured the imagination of most of this earth for decades, its success or otherwise could be crucial to the future shape of our motoring world. Plus of course, it marks the debut of Fiat's new C-Evoplatform (nothing to do with hot Mitsubishis or rubbishy Punto facelifts apparently), which in time will provide the basis for the next Bravo, as well as a future Lancia/Chrysler Delta hatchback mashup, err, thing.

Ok, so we all know the familiar Alfa template which has been the wine of petrolheads for decades: heart-meltingly good looks, stunning engines, gorgeous interiors, and a penchant for unreliability and widespread flaws that would make British Rail proud. These less desirable qualities are known to Alfisti as 'character', while the more objective among us generally refer to them as 'crap'.

Over the years, these reliability problems have tended to be balanced out by the sheer heartstring-pulling beauty of the cars, which has acted as a makeshift 'get out of jail free' card for the company. Honestly, if the likes of Volvo had been producing cars with the flimsiness of the typical Alfa, they would have been history long ago.

In more recent times, however, the excuses have begun to wear thin. Take, for example, the breathtaking Brera coupé and its convertible sister, the Spider. These two are the embodiment of all that beautiful-but-flawed Alfa-ness, and in times gone by would have sold in droves on looks alone. But this is 2010. Buyers are demanding more and more from their cars.

The fact is that you can now get the Volkswagen Scirocco – a car that almost matches the Brera for cool factor, but absolutely trounces it on ride, handling, interior quality, you name it – on your driveway for a lot less than the Alfa. The VW frankly embarrasses its Italian rival, there's no other way to put it. And this hasn't been lost on Alfa's home market, either. I've been living over here for ten months now, and I'm not kidding when I say that the 'Roccos I've spotted in that time outnumber Breras by about three to one.

Which is why the Giulietta needs to be good. And I mean really good. Not just on the surface, but in a way that shows that Alfa has at least thought about how the thing might go round corners and deal with potholes. In a way that reflects actual money being spent on interior materials, and with a bit of practicality thrown in there too.

And early reports from proper journalists who've driven the Giulietta suggest that Alfa might – just might – have pulled it off.

Yes, you still get the lovely exterior – the nose is perhaps a tad iffy, but details such as the LED lighting and hidden rear door handles make it instantly more desirable than your neighbours’ Golf – but encased inside this seems to be a thing of real quality, right down to the action of the toggle switches on the centre console. Apparently they've nailed the chassis, too, combining an involving drive with a ride and refinement that won't have Granny reaching for the door handle within half a minute of setting off.

Now, there are bound to be some wearers of rose-tinted specs out there (come on, you know who you are), who will argue that this heralds the end of the brand as we know it; that making an Alfa that works and actually does things well is like a Beatles record with no imperfections or blemishes to the sound quality – in other words, bereft of character. And, to an extent, I'd agree. Heavens, the 156 is still one of the cars I most aspire to owning at some point, whether it falls apart after a day or not. But we have to move with the times. In the age of the iPod, you see, people crave perfection – in music, in cars, in whatever.

Which means that Alfa can no longer afford to hide a shoddy package beneath a pretty body. The reality is that the brand is still turning over losses, so if it is to progress – or even just survive – then cars like the Giulietta are the only way forward. If they can repeat the trick with the forthcoming Giulia, while still retaining that do-anything-to-own-one desirability as its trump card, then we'll really be talking.

There’s an Italian saying – avere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca – which translates as ‘to have the cask full and the wife drunk’. Having your cake and eating it, in other words.

The Giulietta is the start of this for Alfa-lovers. Hopefully there’s much more to come.


Having your cake and eating it




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Moving On: First details of BMW’s new X3

By Ben Foulds
Freelance Contributing Writer
16 July 2010

Take 2: BMW's latest X3
BMW don't do bad cars. Not normally anyway.

Everyone has off-days, though, and the day on which the last X3 was conceived was evidently one of them. As BMW's first crack at a compact 4x4, the X3 has been constantly blighted since launch by such issues as shoddy interior quality and even shoddier ride quality.

But now there's a new one - an X3 'Take 2', if you like - which gives the Munich company a chance to iron out those niggles.

So what's new? Well, it's bigger for a start. That's to enable the X3 to slot more comfortably into a gap that's been made smaller in recent times with the introduction of the X1.

The styling is pretty standard Beemer fare, if we're honest - bar a couple of surprising details such as the etch-a-sketch headlamps (Audi A3, anyone?) and a rather strange interpretation of the famous Hoffmeister kink. It's generally a lot better resolved than the outgoing model, though.

BMW claims that the X3 will be "the lowest-emission four-wheel drive model in the sector", whatever that 'sector' is. Helping its cause here will be an optional eight-speed automatic gearbox, with Stop-Start tech being rolled out across the range.


X3: bigger and greener
Also making its debut on the X3 is Variable Damper Control, which, through the medium of wizardry (probably), allows you to adjust the driving experience at the touch of a button. Hopefully this will make traversing our potholed roads less spine-shattering than in the outgoing model.

Noises from Munich suggest that the 2.0-litre diesel-powered xDrive20d will take most of the sales - roughly 80% of them in fact. This variant will start at £30,490, which represents a £115 drop in price over the old car.

And as for that thorny issue of interior quality, Munich is boasting of a "significantly upgraded cabin". We can but hope.





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Jeep Patriot: It could just be your Perfect Used Car

By Ben Foulds
Freelance Contributing Writer
14 July 2010

Chunky Bob-the-Builder Design
When shopping for a used car, there are always the obvious choices, no? Focus, Golf, Yaris, Vectra: we've seen them all before.

It's easy to plump for one of these models on the basis that because every Tom, Dick and Harry has one, it must be a sound purchase. With a bit of thought, however, it's often possible to find something less ubiquitous - less 'rainy Tuesday afternoon in Slough', if you will - that suits your needs better what you'd have ended up with had you followed the herd. You see, car buying - new or used - is all about priorities, and some of us have different requirements than others.

The Jeep Patriot is a fine example of this.

Before I go any further, two things need to be cleared up: Firstly, and despite what it may seem from looking at the pictures, the Patriot is not a Range-Rover competitor. Nope, it's actually only slightly bigger than a Nissan Qashqard, and so occupies that exploding sector of crossover-ness between a regular family hatch and a full-blown 4x4. Secondly, I'm most definitely not endorsing the Jeep Compass here. You know the one - that abomination to the eyeballs that Jeep created to sit alongside the Patriot, but that appears to have been inflicted from above by a grand piano at some point during the design process.

No, the Patriot is the one to be seen in - its chunky, Bob-the-Builder design bringing back memories of old Jeep Cherokees before they began using bubble-bath as styling inspiration.

But why, I hear you ask, would you choose a Patriot over a Volkswagen Tiguan or the aforementioned Qash'n'qarry, or even a Focus? Surely it's an inferior car to these more common rivals?

Well, you'd be right. Objectively speaking, certainly.

Interior quality, for example, really is a good step or two behind its rivals. Climb into the Patriot, and what you're presented with is a poor combination of differently-coloured, hard, scratchy plastics that make the Tiguan feel like Windsor Castle in comparison.

The on-road behaviour is, by all accounts, not bad compared to other Jeeps (the Patriot comes with a tricksy system that switches from two- to four-wheel-drive depending on the conditions), but that's a bit like saying that carpet burn is 'not bad' compared to breaking your arm. It's still likely to be a pretty wooly experience.

But why, I hear you ask, would you choose a Patriot over a Volkswagen Tiguan or the aforementioned Qash'n'qarry, or even a Focus? Well, it's brilliant value, allies classic Jeep styling to low running costs, and has more personality than Bruce Forsyth on Strictly night.


Engines? You have two options. The 2.0-litre diesel - by far and away the most popular variant - is not going to beat a 911 Turbo around the Nurburgring, but it has enough pace to get you to Asda and back without causing too many cardiac problems. To be honest, you'll be lucky to come across a petrol-powered Patriot, but it's best to steer clear of that one anyway as it's slow, noisy, and about as financially sensible as paying £2,000 for a Twix.

Practicality isn't really a deal-clincher, either. Yes, the boxy shape will allow for the easy transportation of many Rubix Cubes at once, but you can bet your bottom dollar that you can fit more stuff into a RAV4.

The Patriot, then, has a veritable smorgasbord of flaws. But don't write it off just yet, because I want to bring your attention back to the ‘P’ word. Priorities.

If you want a car that's going to have you grinning from ear-to-ear at every corner, by all means get a Focus. If you want squishy interior plastics, Volkswagen will satisfy your needs, and then some. If you make regular trips to Ikea, then look no further than the Skoda Octavia Estate (which also has enough cubbies to stow all those free pencils you've stolen from Sweden's most famous furniture store).

But perhaps none of these things matters to you. Perhaps you're just after a smallish, cheap-to-run car with a healthy dose of character. Something that will stand out in a crowd of Focuses, Golfs, Yarises and Vectras, but not in an unwelcome, "hey, look at me, I just paid real money for a Chrysler Sebring" kind of way. If this is the case, look no further than the Patriot. Its brilliant value, allies classic Jeep styling to low running costs, and has more personality than Bruce Forsyth on Strictly night.

It could just be your perfect car.


Something that will stand out in a crowd of Focuses, Golfs, Yarises and Vectras


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Death of the Shark

By Ben Foulds
Freelance Contributing Writer
13 July 2010

The 508: Chiselled
These are the first official pictures of Peugeot’s 407 replacement, the 508, which brings with it a new design direction for the French firm. Yep, Peugeot has finally ditched the unpopular ‘underwater creatures’ look, which made recent models appear to be trying to have the car in front for lunch, in favour of a new, more cohesive style.


Stand-out features include a more chiselled front end, with a smaller grille - not hard if we’re honest - and a more sporting emphasis at the rear. It's arguably more derivative than the 407, but at the same time much less likely to scare small children into submission, which can only be a good thing.


The other big news is that the 508 will be the first Peugeot to be offered with hybrid technology, which, according to the company, will provide "200bhp performance with all-wheel drive and emissions of 99g/km of CO2 or zero in electric mode". Time will tell if that is the case in the real world, but those are seriously impressive figures for a large family saloon.



Interior: A Big Step Forward
The one picture we have of the interior seems to show a big step forward over the 407 in terms of both design and quality, with some clear Audi influence working its way in there to boot.


The 508 will be officially unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October, to go on sale early next year.


What do you think of the new 508? A step in the right direction or a loss of identity for Peugeot? Drop us a comment and let us know.



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The World Cup Remembered

By Ben Foulds
Freelance Contributing Writer
10 July 2010
Come Monday morning, the World Cup will be over for another four years.

Sad? Relieved? Can't wait for the racket of the now-infamous vuvuzela to be no more?

Whatever your feelings approaching the close of proceedings in South Africa, I hope this rather amateurish homage will provide you with something to remind you of the past few weeks of footballing fun.

Don't worry, I've not gone crazy and I do realise that this is supposed to be a blog about cars, which is why I've given the thing a little motoring twist.

So, without further ado, I'd like to hand proceedings over to myself for the catchily-titled (drum-roll please...)

makeandmodel.co.uk 2010 FIFA World Cup Alternative Awards Ceremony for Car Fans

TEAM AWARDS

Perodua Kelisa Award


First up is the award for not being as bad as you'd think but still turning out to be pretty rubbish anyway, which goes to North Korea. They also win the prize because pretty much nothing is known about them. Just like the Perodua Kelisa.


French team makes its way to training
MG XPower SV Award

This goes to a team that showed so much promise on the surface of it, but ultimately crumbled when it came to the big-time, due to a multitude of problems created by in-house incompetence. Italy and England pushed them pretty close, but really the award can only go to the utter shambles that was, of course, France.

Suzuki Swift Award

The prize for the most pleasantly surprising team in the tournament, and also for showing remarkable agility, not to mention winning hands-down against some supposedly superior opposition, goes to Germany.

Fiat Multipla Award

This goes to the Netherlands, for winning without being pleasing to the eye, and also for using the full width of the pitch. They would have made an even stronger case if they’d played with three up front, but hey, you can’t have everything.

Sinclair C5 Award

The final team award. This is presented to a team that was massively overhyped by its own followers before the event, but that was always doomed to failure for reasons such as its rubbish battery life – which may or may not have been caused by a long Premier League season. Ladies and gents, I give you England.

SPECIAL AWARDS

The Best Beard Award, in association with the Audi S3:

Beards have rather gone out of fashion lately. This is unfortunate for Argentina coach Diego Maradona who couldn't shave after a dog bit him in the face, and so was forced to grow his own brand of face fungus. Audi have no such excuse, though.

The French Revolution Award, in association with the Citroen REVOLTe Concept:

This award is shared between Nicolas Anelka, who began Les Bleus’ internal fisticuffs when he insulted manager Raymond Domenech in the dressing room, and skipper Patrice Evra for initiating the team's ridiculous strike action that followed.


Lennon: As quick as a Tesla?
The Electric Pace Award, in association with the Tesla Roadster:

The battery-powered Roadster goes from 0-60mph in 4 seconds flat. Handily, so does Aaron Lennon (probably). The England winger, at about 2ft 7in, also shares a very low centre of gravity with the Tesla – handy for taking hairpin bends around opposition defenders.

The Most Interesting Name Award, in association with the Mazda Bongo Friendee and Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard:

There are several contenders for this award, including Honduran striker Georgie Welcome and South Africa's Surprise Moriri. There can only be one winner, though, and that is the quite wonderfully-named Chilean defender Waldo Ponce.

The Pronunciation Bother Award, in association with the Ford Ka, Toyota Prius, Peugeot 1007, Fiat Ulysse and KTM X-Bow:

Prime candidates of course include the Jabulani and vuvuzela; however, I feel I have to give the prize to the entire Greece squad. You have to feel sorry for the poor commentators who had to get through to full-time with names such as Christos Patsatzoglou and Socrates Papastathopoulos on the team sheet.

The Utterly Useless Award, in association with the G-Wiz:

Contenders include now former (thankfully) France coach Raymond Domenech for his sterling work during the group stages, and FIFA for inconsiderately refusing to implement goal-line technology in time for Frank Lampard's ‘goal that never was’. But the winner has to be none other than BBC 5 Live's David Pleat - who, after Italy's defeat at the hands of Slovakia, declared – with great gravity it must be said – that "it's au-revoir to the Italians now". Top work, David.

The 'Hands-On' Award, in association with the Citroen C3 Pluriel:

Also winning this award for his evident versatility in being both a striker and goalkeeper at the same time, I give you Uruguay's Luis Suarez - him of the infamous extra-time handball against Ghana. Like the Pluriel, Suarez won’t be regarded with much fondness outside his home nation.

And finally...
The 'Can you direct me to the nearest toilet please sir?' Award, in association with the Suzuki Wagon R+ and TomTom Sat-Nav Systems:

This award goes to the England fan who, while 'looking for the loo', took a wrong turn and instead found himself face-to-face with the team in the dressing room. An embarrassing U-Turn ensued, but not before said fan gave some helpful pointers on the squad’s performance in the direction of David Beckham. You couldn’t make it up.

Et voila. Proof, if it were needed, that cars and football go together like Brussels sprouts and cake. Normal service will thus be resumed shortly, with apologies to those of you who don’t give a stuff about footy.

Meanwhile, enjoy Sunday’s final. Just don’t miss the Grand Prix in the anticipation of it all – I’m sure you won’t.

*Images courtesy of Phil Cole/Getty Images


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Evoquing the Future

By Ben Foulds
Freelance Contributing Writer
08 July 2010

Evoque: Think of it as Land Rover's MINI
The altering face of today's motoring landscape is a truly intriguing and amazing thing, and never has this been more the case than now.

Don't believe me?

Then all I need to do is point you in the direction of Land Rover. More specifically, it’s new Range Rover Evoque, launched last week in a whirl of media hype at Kensington Palace's Orangery.

Now, you don't need to have a Masters degree in perception to work out that the Evoque (still can't quite manage to type that name without feeling more than a little sick) represents a seismic shift in the values of the Range Rover brand, and one that will change the company forever.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, it's worth remembering that the original Range Rover was itself something of a novelty on its conception back in 1970. As the first 'luxury 4x4', it was aimed at those who still wanted the off-road ability of a Defender, but who also wanted their teeth intact after a trip to the shops.

Since then, the Gaydon company's flagship has moved up in the world, and now operates in an exclusive class of its own as a sort-of S-Class rival that can still cross the Sahara should the desire take you.

This is why Land Rover has taken the opportunity to expand the Range Rover brand in recent times, starting with the compact Sport model – popular among school-run mums – in 2005, and now they have given us the Evoque.

The target market for the Evoque becomes fairly obvious when you consider that it was launched in association with Vogue Magazine, and with a certain Mrs. Victoria Beckham drafted in as part of the design team...but if the Evoque doesn’t turn out to be one of the must-have cars of the decade, I’ll personally eat one.


But while the Range Rover Sport resembles a shrunk-in-the-wash version of the full-fat model, there is absolutely zilch chance of any such confusion with the Evoque. It is, as they say, an entirely different animal.

For starters, Land Rover refers to the Evoque as a '3-door coupé'. Now, if you'd told me five years ago that the maker of the Discovery and Defender would be giving us a coupé within half a decade, I'd have pointed you towards the 'Psychiatrist' section of Yellow Pages. But what came out of that smoking white box last Thursday would have been enough for me to swallow my words and write you a profuse letter of apology for the bother.

It’s not as if we can argue much with the coupé tag; yes, it is pushing it a bit, but just take a look at the window line, narrowing as it does to that impossibly shallow rear screen. Seriously, if Land Rover doesn't offer parking sensors as standard on the Evoque, it will be the worst safety decision since Mercedes decided that the first-generation A-Class would be better off without ESP.

The shape has stayed remarkably, fabulously close to the LRX concept of two years ago, and some of the detailing is so intricate it makes its recently-revised big brother look like something of a concrete slab. Draw your gaze for a moment to the enticingly-shaped LED lighting front and rear, and the way in which the line linking the headlamps and those gorgeous side-vents is interrupted by the mighty curve of the wheel arch. Tell me you’re not enthralled by this stuff, I dare you.

In the Evoque, we also have the first non-4x4 Land Rover ever, available as it will be with a front-wheel-drive only option. This thing is as likely to be taken off-road as a Lotus Elise in any case, so really it’s a no-brainer.

Then we come to the number-crunching. According to Land Rover MD Phil Popham, the Evoque will be “capable of over 50mpg”, a figure partly owing to the lack of drive to the rear wheels. Land Rover also claims a miserly CO2 output of 130g/km. Quite something for a car wearing the famous Gaydon badge on its snout.

The target market for the Evoque becomes fairly obvious when you consider that it was launched in association with Vogue Magazine, and with a certain Mrs. Victoria Beckham drafted in as part of the design team. The former Spice Girl’s actual role within the company, for whatever reason, was not specified, but “Device for Earning Tabloid Headlines” probably isn’t too far off the mark.

Here we have a car, then, that will undoubtedly appeal to the wealthy and ultra fashion-conscious; to those who want a second car to go with their XJ or similar. Think of it as Land Rover's MINI, if you will – with the according scope for endless customisation.

Popham claims that the Evoque will appeal to “a younger audience than current [Range Rover] products, and probably a more female-oriented audience”. In other words, this is unchartered territory for the now Indian-owned company.

This doesn't mean there's any chance that the Evoque will turn out to be a turkey, though. The engineering input of Jaguar-Land Rover handling guru Mike Cross is practically a guarantee of exemplary road manners, and with an interior likely to be similar to the 'proper' Range Rover - only smaller and more spangly - the only area in which it might fall short is practicality. But when was the last time boot size mattered to the nouveau-riche of this world?

The pricing, I'm sure, will be on the wrong side of reasonable (a well-specced Evoque will be knocking on the door of £40k), but despite this, it will probably – no, unquestionably – sell in massive numbers and make a more-than-tidy profit for the brand.

It’s worth mentioning, too, that the Evoque will be built on Merseyside, creating 1,000 British jobs in the process. This is something that would have made Charles Spencer King, the genius behind the original Range Rover and who sadly passed away a couple of weeks ago, a very proud man indeed.

So there you have it: a 3-door Range Rover coupé that has the same footprint as a Golf and does over 50mpg. Crazy? Not a bit of it. In fact, if the Evoque doesn’t turn out to be one of the must-have cars of the decade, I’ll personally eat one. You heard it here first.


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