Nissan Qashqai 1.6 Visia

The Nissan Qashqai has just been awarded the title of “What Car? Used Car of the Year 2011” with the British built car being praised for its styling, price, family-friendly cabin, Euro NCAP 5-star safety rating, low running costs, comfortable ride and dependability.

In addition, the Jaguar XF won the award for the best used car in the Executive and Luxury class, beating off rivals from Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The winners in their respective sectors are listed below and the seven-strong What Car? judging panel was made up from all areas of the motor industry, including car dealerships, British Car Auctions, Warranty Direct, Lex Autolease and experts from What Car?

They looked at a number of factors when considering buying a used car including running costs, reliability, driveability, quality, longevity, safety features and desirability. Don’t forget if you are thinking of buying a used car to also consider the new MoT rules that come into effect on the 1st January 2012, as items like ESC (Electronic Stability Control) will now form part of the MoT test and repair costs for used cars may become more costly with these features.

What Car? Used Car Winners

• Supermini – Ford Fiesta 1.25i Style+ 5-door
• Small family car – Nissan Qasqhai 1.6 Visia
• Family car – Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Zetec 5-door
• Estate – Volkswagen Passat 1.9 TDI SE
• MPV – Ford S-Max 2.0 TDCi Zetec
• SUV – Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2 CRTD CDX 7-seater
• Executive and luxury – Jaguar 2.7D V6
• Sports car – Porsche Boxster 2.7
• Green car – Volkswagen Golf 1.6 TDI SE 5-door

Overall winner- Nissan Qashqai 1.6 Visia.

If you are a small business and may be looking at buying a used Nissan Qashqai, you might also be interested in leasing a brand new one? We have the Nissan Qashqai 1.5dCi Acenta 110bhp 5-door on the site now on Nissan Qashqai car leasing from only £185.59+VAT per month. This is based on a 2-year contract, 6 rentals in advance, 10,000 miles per annum and non-maintained car leasing.

Volkswagen Golf GTI

Volkswagen picked up a hat trick of awards at the Auto Express New Car Awards 2011 for the Golf, Golf GTI, plus an award for their BlueMotion range. The Golf was awarded Best Compact Family Car for the third year running, The Golf GTI retained the Best Hot Hatch and Volkswagen’s BlueMotion range picked up the inaugural Green Award.

Chris Craft, Director of Volkswagen UK, said,”We’re delighted that the Golf has retained these coveted titles, and especially proud to have won the Green Award for our BlueMotion range, which shows that it is possible to offer practical real-world fuel economy benefits without comprimising on practicality, affordability, quality, safety or comfort”.

The Auto Express New Car Awards 2011 recognise the best cars on sale today with the editorial team choosing from new and existing models to find the “best in every class” award. Volkswagen contract hire prices are also available off the site now if you are thinking of leasing a new Volkswagen.

Full details of all the winners can be found at:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/new_car_awards/

Renault has released the details of their exciting new Limited Edition Megane Renaultsport 265 Trophy which is their fastest road car yet. This improved car has 15bhp more than the current Megane Renaultsport 250 and races from 0-62mph in only 6 seconds and onto a top speed of 158mph.

This exciting new sports car will only be available in a limited edition with only 50 cars coming to the UK, so it is pretty exclusive and will debut at World Series by Renault at the Nurgurgring circuit next weekend. The car has been competitively priced so that it will be able to take on the likes of the Volkswagen Golf and Scirocco R models.

The Limited Edition Megane Renaultsport 265 Trophy runs on Formula 1 inspired Bridgestone Potenza RE050A tyres and has a high level of standard equipment. You get Recaro seats with yellow seatbelts and detailing, Cup chassis, 19-inch Speedline alloy wheels in gloss black with red trim, standard Liquid Yellow i.d. metallic paint, “Trophy” red decals on F1-style front blade and doors, LED day time running lights and Renaultsport Monitor on-board performance tracking.

Orders for the new car will open on the 20th June with first deliveries expected in July and in addition, if you buy or lease one of these cars, you will get free access to all Renaultsport trackdays in the UK in 2012.

CLICK for further details

The Volkswagen Golf 1.6 TDI 105PS BlueMotion Tech Match 5-door hatchback is a superb, reliable, well-built car that offers a remarkable 68.9 combined mpg and emits only 107g/km of CO2.

The Volkswagen business car leasing offer on the site starts from £209.31+VAT on a three year deal, 10,000 miles per annum, non-maintained and a payment profile of 3 months initial rental followed by 35 subsequent rentals.

Other terms are available from our car finance partner and if you are interested in leasing this car, click here. Please note the image shown may not represent the actual model and metallic paint is an extra monthly cost.

Subaru Impreza AWD

The Subaru AWD Impreza is the hatchback to be driving in if bad weathers strikes, according to MSN Cars. They took four rival hatchbacks to the Wet Grip facility at Rockingham Raceway to see which model was the safest to drive on slippery and hazardous roads.

The other models tested were the BMW 1 Series (rear-wheel drive), Honda Civic (front-wheel drive) and Volkswagen Golf (front-wheel drive). There were three separate tests undertaken at the Wet Grip facility:

1. A simulated skid recovery from 30mph
2. Wet slalom
3. Standing start on polished surface

The standing start test proved that the Impreza’s AWD system coped well, with the Impreza completing the course three seconds faster than the Golf and Civic and six seconds ahead of the BMW 1 Series.

MSN Cars commented on the results as follows; “This is a car you could drive through the middle of a snow blizzard and emerge out the other side. And it doesn’t even have fancy traction or stability control like the other cars here, so it relies on the mechanical grip inherent with the AWD system. It held onto the road well and the All-Wheel-Drive did the job from an icy standing-start, as well as the other test situations. Best performer on the day on the skid pan”.

Subaru Impreza business contract hire leasing prices are on the site now.

Volkswagen Golf

Volkswagen retained two key vehicle categories at the 2011 Fleet News Awards last week, with the Volkswagen Polo crowned “Best Small Car” and the Volkswagen Golf crowned “Best Lower Medium Car” that fleets can buy. A panel made of industry experts, as well as senior members of the Fleet News editorial team, looked at wide range of judging criteria. This covered operating costs (depreciation, fuel, servicing, maintenance and repair, lease rates, tax liability) suitability for use by fleets for company car drivers and the level of support from the manufacturers and their corporate sales teams.

Volkswagen Polo

The judges commented as follows on the Polo,”A broad range of engines with low-CO2 choices and a choice of three door and five door models make the Polo appealing to fleets and drivers”.

On the Golf they said,”The Volkswagen Golf offers unrivalled depth to its range from BlueMotion right up to GTI and R models. It is a strong proposition on running costs and attractive to drivers thanks to its image”. Volkswagen contract hire leasing is available off the site now on all Polo and Golf models.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has released the data on new car registrations for February 2011. The numbers fell less than expected due to strong demand from fleet customers, however overall the market dropped 7.7% to 63,424 units. Registrations over the first two months of 2011 were down by 10.2% to 192,235 units.

Fleet volumes recovered in February by 8.6% but private registrations continued to decline to 22,584, a fall of 26.7%. Demand for the mini and supermini segment cars also continued to fall, but registrations of executive, luxury saloon, sports cars and MPVs showed a double digit growth in the month. Diesel market share was 50% in the month, rising by 8.9% and the Volkswagen Golf was the best seller, followed by the Vauxhall Corsa (2nd) and Ford Focus (3rd).

CLICK for full details

The Volkswagen Golf 5-door diesel 1.6 TDI 105PS BlueMotion Tech Match hatchback is on the site now on Volkswagen car leasing from only £227.83 + VAT. This fleet favourite offers you a remarkable 68.9 combined mpg, CO2 emissions of just 107g/km, all packaged with the exceptional German build quality you would expect from a Volkswagen.

Volkswagen car leasing terms are based on the following;

- Non-maintained business car leasing over a four year contract at 10,000 miles per year – total 40,000 miles.

- Only three month rentals in advance followed by 47 subsequent rentals.

-  This totals 50 equal payments

- “With maintenance”, metallic paint and all other accessory options can be added to your vehicle at an extra cost to the rental shown above.

-  Please note the image we have shown may not represent the exact model.

-  Pricing is correct as at today’s date however is subject to change at any time and must be verified directly with each vehicle leasing supplier.

New Vauxhall models

Vauxhall is expecting strong sales for the new 61 vehicle registration plate, with a batch of new models on offer – the Antara, Corsa MCE, Astra ES Tech and VXR8, with all cars benefiting from Vauxhall’s 100,000 mile Lifetime Warranty.

The Vauxhall Antara SUV comes with an updated diesel engine range and has been refreshed both inside and out with prices reduced, compared to the outgoing model. The Corsa range has eight sub-100g/km models that are eligible for London’s new Greener Vehicle Discount and there is also an exciting new colour palette available, which includes Lime Green pearlescent, Chilli Orange metallic and Guacamole.

Vauxhall Antara

The new value-for-money Astra ES Tech is taking on the new Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf and even the entry level Astra ES Tech model comes with CD500 Satnav system, Bluetooth, DAB radio, 17-inch alloys and aircon as standard options.

If you fancy something with more power then perhaps the 431PS VRX8 rear-drive saloon may be on your shopping list. Either way we have Vauxhall business contract hire leasing pricing on the site now on all Vauxhall models.

The SMMT has released the data on new car registrations which fell by 11.5% in November to 139,875 units. This was ahead of the forecast and new car market registrations remain up by 3.4% over the first 11 months of the year, at 1,907,029 units. The final 2010 year figure is expected to be around the 2.03 million unit mark, up by 2% on the 2009 figure. The SMMT also forecasts that the market will fall in 2011 by 5% to 1.93 million units as consumers and businesses alike react to the impact of the Government’s austerity measures and the squeeze on spending.

The market is still trying to adjust to the removal of the Car Scrappage Incentive Scheme, however the better than expected performance was due to an improvement in the fleet volume sector (25+ vehicles), which was up by 10.7% over the year to date numbers.

Diesel car volumes also rose sharply to 53% in November, plus alternatively fuelled cars jumped by 83.5% in the month to gain an overall market share of 1.3% of the November car registrations. The Ford Fiesta was once again the top seller in the month, followed by the Ford Focus and the Volkswagen Golf. Year-to-date the top three sellers are the Ford Fiesta (98,453 units), Vauxhall Astra (75,276) and Ford Focus (73,973).

Paul Everitt, SMMT Chief Executive, said,”New car registrations fell by less than expected in November with demand from the fleet sector helping to offset the market rebalancing following the end of the Scrappage Incentive Scheme. Registrations are expected to fall next month, but demand may benefit from motorists looking to avoid the January VAT rise. This factor, coupled with the strength of the first half of 2010, means year-end volumes are expected to lift to over 2.03 million units, 2% up from last year. Next year will continue to be challenging as consumer spending tightens and government’s austerity measures take effect”.