City Emergency Braking on the up!

The Volkswagen up! is not even on UK roads yet, but it has just been awarded the title of What Car? Car of the Year 2012, as well as Best City Car, at the What Car? Awards.

Volkswagen had a successful night at the motor industry’s annual ‘Oscars’, which was held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. The Golf was voted the top Small Family Car category for the sixth time overall and fourth consecutive year, and Volkswagen also won the coveted Safety Award.

Commenting on the awards, What Car? editor-in-chief Chas Hallett said: ‘The Volkswagen up! sets new standards for a car at £10,000.  It’s a city car that can seat four adults, while offering new levels of refinement, quality and maturity at this price; none of its rivals feels quite so grown-up.  Buyers will be looking for even more for their money than ever in 2012, so the up! is a worthy winner of the What Car? Car of the Year.’

Meanwhile the Safety Award was in large part the result of the availability of Volkswagen’s new City Emergency Braking system on the up!.  The What Car? judges were impressed by this particular example of ‘big car’ technology filtering down to a smaller model and the system uses sensors to scan the space ahead. It then applies the brakes automatically if it detects that the car is about to hit an object in front. 

Director of Volkswagen UK, Chris Craft, said: ‘We are absolutely delighted with the awards we have received from What Car? this year.  The magazine continues to be one of the most thorough and important sources of new car buying information for UK customers and winning the overall Car of the Year accolade gives our new city car, the up!, the best introduction to the UK market that we could have hoped for”.

First models should arrive in UK showrooms in March and Volkswagen contract hire on the up! range is on the site now.

The full list of category winners at the What Car? Awards 2012 is below.

Renault new 1.6-litre dCi engine

Renault has launched their new 1.6-litre “Energy” dCi 130 engine initially in the Scenic and Grand Scenic Dynamique TomTom range. In the five and seven-seat versions of the Scenic range, the new Energy 130 dCi offers the lowest emissions and best fuel economy of any MPV powered by a similar size engine.

CO2 emissions are now at 115g/km, which is down by a massive 30g/km over the former 1.9-litre engine. Fuel economy is also improved by 25% with a combined mpg figure of 64.2, all of which will help any family in keeping their motoring costs down.

The engine still packs a punch with torque increased from 300 to 320Nm and the Scenic reaches 0-62mph in 10.3 seconds and has a top speed of 121mph (where permitted). The 1.6 dCi 130 also features other economy solutions including low pressure EGR and Stop&Start technology. It is also Euro 5 compliant, Euro 6 ready and Renault plans to roll out the engine into other models in its range in due course, for example the Megane and also their vans.

Bizu limited edition

Renault has launched an attractive new “Bizu” Limited Edition range offering even greater value for money. The new Bizu limited edition versions run across Twingo, Clio, Megane and Scenic ranges and will be available until June 2011.

Every Bizu model comes fitted with ABS and EBD (Electronic Brake Distribution), Brake Assist and electric front windows. They also all feature Bluetooth connectivity and have an aux input for plugging in your latest tunes.

Renault Clio Bizu versions will also benefit from a body-coloured rear spoiler and brushed chrome effect front fog lamp surrounds. The Megane and Scenic come with CSV understeer control, electric heated door mirrors, ESC, air conditioning and keyless entry with Renault card. Renault business contract hire prices for the Bizu range are on the site now.

Very Good Trip

Renault  is offering 16 lucky candidates the opportunity to drive across Europe in either a Wind Coupe-Roadster or a Renault Megane Coupe-Cabriolet in a free competition called the “Very Good Trip”. This reality TV adventure follows two teams from eight European countries, including the UK, driving across Europe with a TV crew capturing everything.

The competition is being held between the 14th June to the 9th July 2010 and finishes in Paris with the winners being presented two cars at L’Atelier Renault, on the Champs Elysees, Paris plus one year’s free fuel and insurance. All the contestants will also be supplied with a digital camera, laptop and 3G key so they can update their progress on Facebook, Twitter, Renault TV, Flick’r and YouTube .

To take part each pair of entrants must upload a video of themeselves lasting no more than 60 seconds onto www.renault.co.uk/verygoodtrip to tell Renault why you should be chosen for this trip of a lifetime. The site opens on Wednesday the 7th April at 13.00 BST and closes on the 14th May at 23.00.

New Megane Coupe-Cabriolet

Renault has released a preview of the new Megane Coupe-Cabriolet which is being launched at the Geneva Motor Show and becomes the sixth edition in the new Megane line-up.

The new Megane Coupe-Cabriolet has head turning looks and combines the elegance of a coupe with the open top enjoyment of a convertible thanks to its foldaway glass roof. The car is set to launched in Switzerland on the 2nd March and at L’Altelier Renault on the Champs Elysees in Paris on the 5th March.

CLICK TO QUOTE

Fancy a coupe with great looks and even better economy?  The Renault car leasing offer we are offering is the Renault Megane Diesel Coupe 1.5dCi Expression 106PS 3-door from £203+VAT per month. This is the higher PS rated model and offers you 62.8mpg on the combined fuel cycle and emits 120g/km CO2. 

The Renault car leasing terms are based on the following;

- Non-maintained business contract hire over a three year term at 10,000 miles per annum.

- Only 3 rentals in advance followed by thirty-five subsequent rentals (38 payments in total)

- “With maintenance”, metallic paint and other vehicle options can be added at an extra cost.

- The image shown may not represent the exact model.

I-Music range

Renault has unveiled a new special edition range called I-Music across 11 Renault models. The I-Music special edition range is available on Clio three-door, Clio five-door, Clio Sport Tourer, Modus, Grand Modus, Kangoo, Megane Hatch, Megane Coupe, Megane Sport Tourer, Scenic and Grand Scenic. Renault car leasing on these special editions are available on the site.

The I-Music range all feature the following;

- Air conditioning

- Alloy Wheels

- Front fog lights

- Brushed aluminium-effect door mirrors

- Bluetooth hands-free phone connectivity

- TunePoint.

Golf

The Volkswagen Golf and the Ford Fiesta are leading the way in sales across Europe, according to leading motoring consultants, JATO Dynamics. Boosted by the car scrappage schemes in place the Volkswagen Golf, Ford Fiesta, Fiat Punto , Fiat Panda and Renault Megane are the only best sellers to increase their sales YTD. 

David Di Girolamo, Head of JATO Consult (the company’s bespoke consulting service) made the following comments on their analysis,”We are still seeing the market recovery driven by small cars and new models- in other words, the popular choices in national scrappage schemes. This has clearly distorted the natural performance of some markets and models. Now the end is in sight for these incentives, we will be watching the market closely, to see if this recovery is sustainable”. 

Top 10 Models- courtesy of JATO Consult

Renaultsport 250

Renault has launched their new Megane Renaultsport 250 hot hatchback which is powered a by a 2.0-litre 16V turbocharged engine.

The powerplant delivers peak power of 250hp at 5,500rpm and with its six-speed manual gearbox, the car reaches 0-62mph in 6.1 seconds and on to a 1,000 metre standing start in only 25.7 seconds. This new “hot hatch” also returns class leading fuel economy at 33.6mpg on the combined fuel cycle and has a CO2 emissions output of 195g/km.

There are two chassis choices- the standard Sport and Cup.

New Sports Tourer

Renault has just launched a new Megane Sports Tourer with deliveries starting in November. The 21 model range is the latest car to appear in Renault’s UK showrooms and comes with new engine and transmission additions.

The four new additions are a 1.4 TCe (Turbo Control Efficiency) 130, 2.0 CVT 140 (Continuously Variable Transmission), 2.0 dCi 160 FAP and 2.0 TCe 180. Models are available in Expression, Dynamique,TomTom Edition and Privilege trims. The entry level model (Expression 1.6 100) has radio CD, air conditioning, front and rear curtain airbags, ESP, folding passenger seat, front and rear electric windows, keyless car with Renault car plus longtitudinal chrome roof bars as standard. Renault car leasing prices should be on the site soon.