Saab 9-3 Aero Sportwagon MY12

Saab has announced its pricing and specifications for their Saab 9-3 MY12, offering a refreshed exterior and interior styling with a generous level of standard of equipment across the range. There are also two new petrol engines and the new model year now offers the most powerful sub 120g/km diesel saloon and estate in its class.

All MY12 9-3 models come with automatic dimming mirrors inside and also outside of the vehicle,electric folding mirrors and automatic rain sensing wipers. This is in addition to alloy wheels, leather trimmed interior, heated front seats, park assist, six airbags, and Bluetooth phone integration.

The two specification levels are SE and Aero and the new fresh look is distinguished at the front by new front bumpers, “ice block” headlamps and a new grille. At the rear, all Saloon variants now get a boot-mounted spoiler. The two new 2.0-litre petrol turbo engines produce 163bhp and 220hp and both are available in six-speed manual and automatic transmission. The new 220hp 2.0-litre petrol turbo Aero Saloon and Sportwagon is now the most powerful sub 160g/km petrol engine on the market.

However, the likely fleet favourite is probably going to be the 119g/km 9-3 1.9-litre manual twin-turbo diesel in Saloon or Sportwagon, with its class-leading emissions and powerful performance for a sub 120g/km car. Saab contract hire leasing prices on the models will be on the site shortly.

New Corsa

Fuel prices are on the up again and so it is great to see the latest Vauxhall Corsa range gain a 13% improvement in fuel economy. The changes to the engine powertrains will provide, on average, a 13.2% increase in fuel economy plus the chassis has also been improved to provide a better ride.

Five out ot the six engines on offer also emit less than 125gkm CO2 emissions. The star of the range is of course the 95PS diesel ecoFLEX model which achieves 76.3mpg on the combined fuel cycle and a 98g/km CO2 figure. Engine options in the range are a 1.0-litre, 1.2-litre,1.4-litre petrol and 1.3-litre and 1.7-litre  diesels.

The trim changes are as follows and now come in line with the Astra and Insignia.

Life becomes S

Club becomes Exclusiv

Design becomes SE

SXi and SRi remain unchanged.

The full vehicle specifications should be loaded shortly.

LRX Concept

Land Rover has confirmed that a full production model of the exciting new LRX concept car will be built next year, joining the Range Rover line-up in 2011.

Designed at Gaydon, the new car will be built at the Halewood plant in Merseyside, subject to various quality and productivity agreements being reached. Phil Popham, managing director at Land Rover said,”The production of a small range Rover model is exciting news for our employees, dealers and customers. Feedback from customer research also fully supports our belief that a production version of the LRX Concept would further raise the desirability of our brand and absolutely meet their expectations”.

More details of the new small Range Rover will be released next year with full vehicle specifications.

New Golf R

Volkswagen has produced the fastest ever accelerating Golf to date with the launch of the new Golf R, which has been unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The Golf R is equipped with a 2.0-litre TSI four-cylinder engine developing 270PS and comes in four-wheel drive.

This car is more powerful and economical than the 3.2-litre V6 found in the Golf R32 and reaches 0-62mph in 5.7 seconds. Coupled to the DSG automatic gearbox (and when the top speed is limited to 155mph) this figures falls to 5.5 seconds. The car also returns 33.2 mph on the combined fuel cycle and emissions fall from 257g/km to 199g/km.

Golf R rear view

The new Golf R looks different to the conventional GTI as it is fitted with new front and rear bumpers complete with LED lights at the front and at the back a gloss black diffuser houses the twin exhausts.

The car also gets a new black grille and wing mirrors and comes as standard with 18-inch five spoke alloy wheeels.

Inside the Golf R gets “R” kick plates and new seats finsihed off in Alcantara contrasted with black mesh cloth. The car should be launched in the UK in December and prices and full vehicle specifications will be launched shortly.

New VW Transporter

Volkswagen has released the first details of the new Volkswagen Transporter range of vans, kombi, chassis cabs and window vans, revealing a more refined exterior design and significant advances in comfort, safety and refinement. A new common rail TDI engine also offers lower emissions and improves economy by over 10%.

There are four 2.0-litre four-cylinder TDI engines offering power outputs of 84PS, 102PS, 140PS and 180PS, thereby catering for most commercial operator needs. Outside the van gets more aerodynamic wing mirrors and the front grille and headlight design matches that seen on the Volkswagen passenger car range. Add to this a new three-spoke steering wheel, stylish new instruments and the latest audio and touchscreen navigation systems and Volkswagen clearly is looking to build upon the success of its predecessor. The new model will be in showrooms from January 2010 and prices and full vehicle specifications will be announced closer to the launch date.