Top 5 Best Cars of 2012

2012 has been a big year; we have seen so many exciting events take place across the country. It has also been a great year for motoring; so we are going to take a look at the top 5 cars on sale in the UK this year.

We are going to start with the Audi A3. The Audi A3 looks similar to its predecessor on the outside, which is probably a safe move as it was one of Audi’s best sellers in the UK. Although the looks are similar it does appear to have received a bit of a face lift, the A3 looks slimmer and has slightly smaller headlights.

Although not much has changed with appearance of the A3, much has changed on the inside. The A3’s cabin has been upgraded with no expense spared, the quality has improved greatly and looks like that of executive saloon.
You get a screen which comes out from the dashboard which acts as the multi media controls for the car, you also get Bluetooth, Voice Control and Air-con as standard. The A3 gives you a generous amount of leg room and importantly much larger boot space which can take up to 365 litres.

It looks great; you get up to 74.7mpg and lower CO2 emissions at 99g/km for £19,205. What more could you ask for?

Next in our list we have the Ford Focus ST, the original ST was very popular and Ford seems to be sticking to a similar formula as before. The Focus looks good and performs well, although it does seem to inherit a problem from the old ST, when you really put your foot down the steering wheel will pull left and then right, making handling a little difficult. But the handling in other ways is good; you get good grip and nice handling through the corners.

The ST features a great driving position but a smaller cabin. You get 39.2 mpg and CO2 levels of 169g/km. The price is good for the amount of car you get at £21,995, we think it is a good choice, but is it the best car in our top 5?

The next car to make it on to our list is the Hyundai Veloster. First of all we have to say that the price is the best we have had so far at £17.995. But is it worth that money? Well the Veloster has a quirky look to it with the unique door design; you get a single rear door on the passenger side, giving it practicality and an unusual look. The Veloster is slightly limited though as it does only have one engine choice, a 138bhp 1.6-litre petrol engine.

Inside you get all the usual kit such as Bluetooth, Climate Control, Reversing Sensors and Alloy wheels. You also get a 7 inch touch screen which controls the multi media devices such as the Bluetooth. You get 38 mpg and CO2 levels of 137g/km. A Good car for the price, but its rivals offer a bit more variety.

The Jaguar XF Sportbrake had to make it onto our list. The first thing anyone notices about the XF is its looks; the XF is a very handsome car! On the outside it is very similar to the Saloon, but it has had a bit of a face-lift. The roof has been lengthened and the pillars have been blacked out to give it a more slimmed down longer look. The appearance of inside remains the same as the saloon with the blue lighting and rotary gear selector that pops up when the car has been started.

The Sportbrake will be available with diesel engines which the saloon does not offer. The XF focuses on practicality with large amounts of boot space and self-changing suspension for carrying heavier loads. It also features a ski hatch which lets you get longer items into the car. The XF gives you 52.3 mpg and 149g/km of CO2 emissions on the diesel engines. The XF Sportbrake is a really great car, but it is much more expensive than the others in the list at £31,940.

The Mercedes-Benz A-Class has a great new look that is appealing to a whole new audience. It is a contemporary and high quality car. You get the choice of 3 different petrol engines and 3 different diesel engines. The CO2 emissions for the A-Class are between 99 and 116g/km depending on which trim you choose.

The leg room inside the A-Class is generous and makes longer journeys much more bearable. Although you get plenty of leg room you don’t get as much boot space as some competitors at 341 litres. The Mercedes A-Class handles well, looks great and the price isn’t bad too at £18,945.

So which one of our top 5 2012 cars do you think should be number one?

If you found this article interesting, why not check out our articles on the Top 10 Most Economical Cars of 2012.

Work on the Olympic fleet Pays Off

The BMW Olympic fleet have served us and the Olympians well, but with the Paralympic games soon drawing to a close, they will soon be off the roads of London. The fleet of 4,000 vehicles have been through a lot over the Olympic period, but have come out of it mostly undamaged.

The BMW’s were driven around London by around 9,000 different volunteers. With the Paralympics being on a slightly smaller scale, the demand for the Olympic fleet has been reduced and so only about half of the fleet have been sent out.

The Paralympics finishes this Sunday, after this we can really asses how much of a success the fleet have been to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The fleet have done well but some of the vehicles have received some minor damage, the damage consists of scrapes, scratches, bumps and kerbed wheels. Any damaged fleets were sent back to BMW to be repaired. It’s not bad considering they had to drive around London in one of the busiest times in its History.

The volunteer drivers of the Olympic fleet had to go through the Games makers’ recruitment process, check and training, all of which took place around two years ago.

At any one time during the Olympic Games there were around 1,300 Olympic drivers on the roads of London; making this one of the largest and most complicated fleet operations ever.

Overall most people are very pleased with the way the fleet were handled and the service they provided to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

New Audi A6 Hybrid Made Available

A new hybrid version of the Audi A6 has now been released and is available to order now, this new hybrid A6 will offer a lower tax alternative to the original.

 Prices start from £43,480; the price of this A6 hybrid is a good match for other rivals such as the BMW ActiveHybrid5 priced at £46,865 Lexus GS450h priced at£44,995 and the Infiniti M35h which is priced £42,020.

CO2 emissions are looking very good for this A6 hybrid at 145g/km which is lower than the 159g/km Infinity M35H, the 141g/km Lexus GS450h and the 149g/km ActiveHybrid5.

The difference between the A6 and the rival’s powerful six-cylinder petrol engines combined with an electric motor, is a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, the 211bhp 2.0 TFSI, with an electric motor which offers 245bhp.

This means that the A6 does have a little less power than some of the competition, but at 1,770kg it weighs quite a bit less which results in 0-62 time of 7.3 seconds, it may be a little slower than some of the rivals, but it still packs a powerful punch!

The A6 hybrid is capable of running on the electric motor alone for around two miles before the petrol engine has to kick in. Another bonus of the A6.

The price and low CO2 emissions mean that company car drivers of the Audi A6 Hybrid would face much lower tax liability than a company car driver in the equivalent 245bhp A6 3.0 TDI Quattro, good news for company car drivers!