Ford Mondeo

The Ford Mondeo was recognised as the Best Family and best Estate Car at the 2012 What Car? Awards. This is the second consecutive year that Ford has won these titles.

• The Ford Mondeo 1.6 TDCi 115PS Zetec won the Best Family award
• The Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi 140PS Zetec was voted the best Estate Car

The Zetec range is one of Ford’s best sellers accounting for 38 per cent of sales in the UK and the cars come with a great list of standard specification.

This includes 16-inch alloy wheels, advanced Bluetooth hands-free and voice control system, cruise control, adjustable speed limiter, Quick Clear heated windscreen, leather trimmed steering wheel and gear knob, electronic stability programme with traction control and Emergency Brake Assist, Thatcham alarm and electrically operating and heated door mirrors.

The Ford Mondeo 1.6 TDCi engine with auto start-stop as standard also returns over 65mpg and emits only 114g/km of CO2. If you prefer a petrol engine then the turbocharged 1.6-litre EcoBoost delivers 41.5 mpg and emits 149g/km of CO2.

Chas Hallet, editor of What Car? said,”The Ford Mondeo has plenty of fresh rivals, but it’s such a strong package that it picks up two more awards this year, for best estate car and top family car. Ford has worked hard to keep the Mondeo refreshed and it has succeeded: this is still a great all-round package, either as a hatchback or an estate”.

Volkswagen Passat Estate

If you are looking for a top towcar for your caravan or trailer, Volkswagen has just scooped its third 2011 Top Towcar Award bringing the overall number of towcar awards this year to three.

The readers of Caravan Times, the UK’s largest online caravan magazine, have just chosen the Volkswagen Passat from a list of five top towcars as their number one choice. Chris Jeffries, Editor of Caravan Times.co.uk, said,”Among our forum members Volkswagen is renowned as a reliable, practical and economical choice. The Passat Estate beat off strong competition this year and we expect to see plenty of them at campsites across the UK in 2012″.

The Passat was also recognised earlier this year in June 2011 when the Passat Estate TDI 170 PS was named as champion at the Towcar Awards where experts from What Car?, Practical Caravan magazine and The Camping and Caravanning Club also gave it top honours.

The Jetta also triumphed at The Caravan Towcar of the Year Awards 2012 winning its price category and the Overall Towcar of the Year award, with the Touareg also picking up a couple of awards too.

Volkswagen Passat Alltrack

Volkswagen has released the first images of their new Passat Alltrack, which is making its world debut at the Tokyo Motor Show next week, ahead of its introduction into the UK market in early 2012. The Passat Alltrack is based on the Passat Estate and features 4MOTION four-wheel drive and a raised height for off-road capability.

There are some stylish body enhancements as well, to protect the car from bumps and scrapes, with stainless steel-look front and rear underbody proetction panels and flared side sills. Other body features include matt chrome roof rails, window surrounds, grille and exterior mirror casings.

Volkswagen Passat Alltrack

The Passat Alltrack also features an off-road mode, similar to the one on the Tiguan Escape, which offers hill descent assist (when switched on from a button on the dashboard). The hill descent assist automatically brakes the vehicle when the descent angle is greater than 10 degrees. The car’s ABS system has also been altered with higher thresholds for operation on loose surfaces plus faster reacting electronic differential locks (EDS) to prevent wheelspin.

In the UK, the Passat Alltrack will be available to order from April 2012 and engine options are the 2.0-litre TDI 140 PS with six-speed manual gearbox or a 2.0-litre TDI 170 PS with six-speed DSG transmission. Standard vehicle equipment on both models includes Alcantara upholstery, 2Zone electronic climate control, cruise control, tyre pressure monitoring system, MDI iPod connectivity, Bluetooth telephone preparation and 18-inch alloy wheels.

Hyundai i40 estate

Hyundai has just announced that their new i40 estate has just been awarded a five-star Euro NCAP rating and is the fifth successive Hyundai model to be awarded this maximum safety rating. This makes this new estate one of the most safest in its class. The i20 supermini, ix20 compact MPV, i30 hatchback and ix35 SUV are the other Hyundai car models to be awarded five stars.

The i40 received an overall score of 86% performing well in the “18-month old” and “3-year old” child categories. It scored 43% in the pedestrian category with the front bumper scoring maximum points for protection to the front occupants. In the “safety assist” category, the car scored 86% with its electronic stability program, speed limitation assistance and seatbelt reminder system contributing well.

The Hyundai i40′s passive safety systems exceeds Euro NCAP’s 2011 requirements and of course Hyundai also offers their comprehensive Five Year Triple Care Assurance making this model an ideal company car for a growing family. We have the latest Hyundai i40 contract hire prices on the site with rentals starting from as little as £215.77+VAT per month.

New SEAT Exeo

SEAT has updated their executive class Exeo ST saloon and estate range with a new look and engineering upgrades. The new Exeo gets a revised “face” with bi-xenon headlights and LED daytime running lights (standard on Sport but optional on the SE) and will be showcased at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show in September.

The new styling enhancements include new alloy wheel designs with other upgrades to interior materials such as leather on the steering wheel and revised upholstery. SEAT is also targeting a low CO2 figure for the new model with the SEAT saloon and estate’s 2.0-litre TDI diesel engine offering around 129g/km and combined mpg at 57.6 (these figures are provisional). In 2012, SEAT is also planning to add Start/Stop technology to the Ecomotive model range and this should further reduce CO2 emissions to less than 120g/km and provide even better fuel economy.

The SEAT Exeo is the Spanish brand’s third best-seller in the UK behind the Ibiza supermini and sporty Leon five-door family hatch and the revised Exeo looks set to build upon this success.

CLICK here for the i40 diesel estate car lease deal

Hyundai Contract Hire has just updated their pricing and their new Hyundai i40 diesel 1.7 CDRi Estate Blue drive Active 5-door estate is available right now on Hyundai car leasing UK from £215.77+VAT. CO2 emissions are just 113g/km and this beautiful new Hyundai returns 65.7 combined mpg  and is an ideal company car.

Terms are based on a 4-year car lease deal, 3+47 rental profile (50 rentals in total), non-maintained business car lease and we also have personal car leasing prices loaded too. Other terms will be available from Hyundai Contract Hire so just fill out the Contact form for more information.

Skoda Octavia

SKODA has just been awarded the “Top Green Small Family Car” award for their Skoda Octavia Hatch GreenLine II, in the Next Green Car Awards 2011. The judges led by Dr.Ben Lane, Managing Editor of  Next Green Car, praised the Octavia, saying,”With the new Octavia, SKODA continues to excel with a low emission family car that is practical, affordable, with plenty of room inside for five adults to travel comfortably”.

The Next Green Car awards are based around ranking a car with a score out of 100, the lower the score, the “greener” the car, and the Skoda Octavia Hatch 1.6 TDi GreenLine II has a GCR (Green Car Rating) of just 28.

The model is the cleanest and greenest SKODA model ever made to date and is powered by a 1.6-litre TDI CR 105 PS common rail diesel engine, offering a combined fuel consumption of 74.3mpg and CO2 emissions of just 99g/km. Even the estate version has great figures too, returning 67.3 combined mpg and CO2 emissions of 109g/km. An ideal car for any small business and we have Skoda contract hire leasing on the Octavia GreenLine II on the site now.

SKODA Yeti

The 2011 ownership survey conducted by Which?, the consumer publication, has just reported that SKODA is the most satisfying car brand to own with a top-ranked satisfaction rating of 88.4 per cent. Four Skoda models also made it to the top ten cars (scoring in excess of 94 per cent) with the Yeti at 4th, Superb Estate at 6th and two generations of the Superb Hatch at 9th and 10th.

The Which? Car survey asks owners to rate out of five how satisfied they are with their cars, and how likely they are to recommend them to friends, to then score each car with marks out of 100. This year 52,653 people commented on the 63,727 cars they owned and the survey is the UK’s largest. 

Which? Car Editor, Richard Headland, said,”If you really want to know about cars, ask the experts-the people who drive them every day. Motorists have told Which? Car that they love practical, good value cars, exemplified by SKODA”. If you are interested we have the full range of SKODA car leasing on the site now.

All-new Ford Focus Estate

Ford has reported strong sales of the all-new Ford Focus Estate with 2,000 UK customer order already taken. The new Focus Estate shares the same appeal as the five-door model with a full range of low-CO2 engines and lots of smart technology on offer. The engine range includes the 1.6-litre TDCi 115PS engine which is equipped with Auto-Start-Stop and this is the most popular model to date, accounting for 43 per cent of all sales due to its low CO2 output of 109g/km.

The Focus Estate is practical too, offering a company driver the extra space and flexibililty that may be needed as it is 20cm longer than the five-door, is 10cm wider and has a maximum load capacity of 1,502 litres (in two-seat mode). The all-new Focus Estate comes with over £1,000 of additional standard equipment over the outgoing model including Bluetooth and voice control, USB connection, DAB, Thatcham Category 1 alarm, aluminium roof rails, tonneau cover, driver lumber adjustment and torque vectoring control. Ford car leasing on all models is on the site now.

New Hyundai i40 saloon

Hyundai is unveiling its new “fluidic design” creation, the Hyundai i40 saloon, at the forthcoming Barcelona Motor Show on the 12th May. This is the latest model to follow the new design language after the Hyundai i40 estate, ix35 and ix20.

The new i40 saloon has an attractive sculptured styling, high levels of interior comfort, has a wheelbase of 2.77 metres, best-in-class for front head (1025mm), shoulder( 1455mm), leg room (1170mm) and full vehicle specifications will be announced after launch.