Long Term Tests

It’s the end of the road for our long term Vauxhall Insignia Sports Tourer after three busy months on the Motor Trader fleet. The second generation model only entered showrooms in July, giving Vauxhall dealers a welcome additional opportunity to sell something new into local businesses as well as private buyers requiring an executive car with load lugging capability. These ...

Two months into our long term test and Vauxhall’s latest generation Insignia Sports Tourer is shaping up nicely with over 4,000 miles on the clock and not too many fuel stops along the way. The 1.6-litre turbo diesel engine continues to punch above its weight. It’s a an impressive unit which makes sense of the wider trend of equipping large ...

Vauxhall dealers started selling the new Insignia Sports Tourer in July with high expectations for the revitalised workhorse beloved by company car user-choosers and retail buyers in need of serious load-lugging capacity. The fact that the new styling is attractive and the load capacity has been significantly increased makes this a car to be reckoned with. The second generation model ...

Having completed the sixth and final month behind the wheel of our long term Kia Optima PHEV, it’s time to reflect on what it has been like to live with a plug-in petrol-electric hybrid. As previously reported it takes a little while to get used to and this is where dealers will play a vital role in educating customers and ...

People who have driven an electric car will talk about three things in particular. They generally marvel at the instant delivery of torque and eerie quietness whilst voicing concerns about range. The number of EVs on the market has increased dramatically in recent years, as have their real world ranges which typically fall somewhere between 100 and 200 miles. So, ...

With the knives out for diesels and continued range anxiety issues over EVs, hybrid remains the most popular alternative fuel option amongst new car buyers. Therefore the timing of last year’s debut of a plug-in hybrid version of Kia’s flagship Optima model seems prescient especially for dealer sales teams keen to tap into the environmental zeitgeist. Certainly with its low ...

Our long term Kia Optima PHEV has been busy over the last month. It has completed a 560 mile round trip to Manchester and Leeds which tested its motorway and city driving ability and, of course, the unforgiving daily commute across south London to see if the car delivers on its fuel economy promise. A month on and the unforeseen ...

Last year Kia joined a small band of manufacturers to introduce what could be a practical alternative to diesel with a plug-in hybrid version of its Optima model. For dealers this is good news as it could potentially extend the appeal of Kia’s D-segment saloon and therefore present conquest opportunities. We’ve taken delivery of an Optima PHEV to see how ...

Two years ago I sat down with Phil Crossman who was then CEO of Honda UK. At the time the carmaker was going through a tough patch as a result of the yen’s punishing exchange rate and a lack of new product. One of the forthcoming vehicles he mentioned at the time, which he believed would help turn around the ...

We’ve been running our long term Honda HR-V crossover since the summer, so we’re just starting to see how it is performing as winter takes hold. The first thing we noticed was the total absence of its idle stop function during a particularly cold spell that lasted several days. After some initial head scratching it became clear that with the ...