Author: Robin Roberts

It’s not turned a wheel on British roads but already been rated as one of the safest cars you can buy. The all-new Mazda6e has achieved a maximum five-star rating by Euro NCAP in its recent series of tests. In the two categories of Adult Occupant and Child Occupant protection, Mazda’s latest all-electric model scored an excellent 93%. The Mazda6e was also rated 74% for the protection of Vulnerable Road Users and 77% for its Safety Assist systems. The Mazda6e’s 93% score in Adult Occupancy included maximum points in the side barrier test and good or adequate protection to all…

Making the right car at the right time is an objective all manufacturers aim to achieve but do not always reach and the 21st century has been decades of decisions and, generally, success for Skoda. After producing some of the ropiest cars sold across Europe in second half of the 20th century, Skoda became part of the massive Volkswagen Group in 1991 and their models and fortunes dramatically changed. Once the bargain brand of VW which reworked previous models as they were superseded, the current Skoda line up is, in fact, a parallel range utilising the Group’s enormous engineering resources…

About 80 years ago, Volkswagen began building its empire making a car for the people and it’s never lost sight of that objective which is neatly fulfilled in the Tayron. It is a car very much made for today’s markets around the world and fills the gap between its top of range Touareg and five-seat Tiguan with the widest powertrain possibilities in a seven model series of four trim levels from approximately £41,000 to £54,000. There are petrol, diesel, mild and plug-in hybrids. All it lacks, for now, is a full electric version, but the PHEV we tested has an…

If quirkiness won car awards, the Hyundai Inster Cross would silently sweep up a red carpet and win. In our week with this highly distinctive city car from the massive Hyundai & Kia group it continuously attracted attention whether moving or parked, including in traffic queues. I can think of nothing since the Nissan Cube which has elicited such excitement with people pointing, or extending necks to take it all in when sitting beside you or behind in traffic. Not that they had to stretch very far because the Inster is not a big car but really a city car…

Luxury MPVs are a rare sight in the UK, but Lexus has joined the game with the LM350 – a people carrier that wants to deliver limousine levels of comfort. It takes aim at the likes of Mercedes’ V-Class and other premium German offerings, yet adds a unique Japanese twist with focus on refinement, exclusivity and efficiency. A brief background The LM badge first appeared in 2019 as a petrol-only model for the Far East, but it wasn’t until the second generation arrived in 2023 that a hybrid option was introduced and sales expanded into Europe. The LM350h is the…

When you discover your car’s glovebox can only be opened by an electric switch you realise you’re driving something a bit different, a bit special and out of the ordinary. The discovery was made as we sat transfixed by the sheer complexity of the Polestar 3’s infotainment and driving display contained in a 14.5-inch laptop-like portrait screen in the centre of the fascia. And that was just the start before we ventured further and had even moved off. At this point we need to stress the importance or necessity of becoming fully acquainted with what is hidden deep behind that…

The UK new car market is buzzing with electric models at high prices, so it’s worth taking a look at one of the cheapest – the Leapmotor T03. A Stellantis joint venture with the Chinese company, the car is made in Poland on lines previously producing the Fiat 500, another Stellantis brand, and the Leapmotor models are sold through the more familiar showrooms selling Fiat and Alfa marques. This serves both parents very well, giving the Stellantis dealers a cheaper way into the bargain ev-sector while ensuring Leapmotor have a toe in the European market. How this will ultimately affect…

The hot-hatch has been reborn for Gen-Z, and there’s a thumbs up from their parents too if they want to enjoy driving a Toyota Yaris hybrid. The one-time must-have cars for the young drivers of the 1970s seemed to die out in the first decade of this century, but someone forgot to tell Toyota. It launched the original Yaris in 1999 and the second generation in 2005, a third six years later and the next in 2020 when it gained an electric hybrid powertrain. Now it has, literally, been given a big boost with the improved hybrid power to push…

Britain runs on vans of all sizes and capacities, so the entry of the world’s biggest motor manufacturer into this booming sector must be significant. After offering small and medium sized vans through its Professional line, Toyota has added the Proace Max, its first heavy duty range in Europe and it has immediately ramped up the competition against longer established rivals and listed both turbo-diesel and pure electric models. It’s a joint venture with Stellantis in much the same way as Toyota has worked with Suzuki on car models, but this time the Netherlands headquartered parent of Chrysler, Fiat and…

Toyota fans now have a completely electric model added to the range as the industry slowly but relentlessly rolls towards the end of hybrid and internal combustion engines. After dabbling with an electric version of their RAV4 off-roader in the late 90s and pushing ahead with hybrids and stablemate Lexus electric models, it’s now the time for the Toyota bZ4X; code for beyond-Zero, size-4 and X-suv. It makes sense, sort of, but a definitive name might have been a better marketing move nevertheless. However, we have to go with what we are given and assess how it stands up to…