Motoring

There was an opportunity to get a sneak preview of the new 2014 Nissan Qashqai recently, when the car arrived at Dulick Motors for one day only, as part of a national tour in advance of the car’s January launch. While it’s clearly an evolution of the current Qashqai, up close, the new car is a lot more defined and seems to be sharper and more masculine as a result. The interior is a big step up from the old car, with higher quality materials and a fresh new look. As I reported last week, this new Qashqai features a whole host of up-to-the-minute technology, some representing a class first. Most buyers will choose a diesel, of course, with the option of a 1.5 or 1.6 litre unit. A competitive petrol option, a 1.2 litre DIG-T, will also be offered and for lower mileage or urban drivers, this could be an ideal choice. Deliveries will start early in 2014 and …

The Citroen C4 Picasso has been voted Continental Irish Car of the Year for 2014 by the Irish Motoring Writers Association. The winner was revealed at an awards ceremony in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dublin late last week. The Picasso MPV received 377 votes from the IMWA jurors, ahead of the Volkswagen Golf (364 votes) and the Mazda6 (327 votes). It is the third time that Citroen has taken the overall Continental Irish Car of the Year title, after the Citroen Xsara (1998) and the Citroen C5 (2009). Members of the IMWA awarded their votes on the basis of key criteria including safety, equipment level, fuel economy, comfort, practicality, ride and road-holding. The trophy was presented to Frederic Soulier, Managing Director of Citroen Ireland, by Tom Dennigan of Continental Tyres Ireland, who commented: “The Citroen C4 Picasso is an outstanding car and a worthy winner of our main award. It combines excellent driving qualities with a range of truly …

The original Nissan Qashqai was a huge hit for Nissan, both here and worldwide. It could reasonably be said to have kick-started the mid-size crossover segment, which is now a hugely important and hotly contested sector of the market. The first Qashqai was revolutionary and it has now been replaced with a new model that, while improved in every way, is clearly an evolution of the original. New technology is a big part of the new Qashqai, which will go on sale in time for the January sales rush. Park Assist is available for the first time. Not only will it park the car automatically but it also provides an Around View Monitor, which gives a ‘helicopter view’ of the surroundings – a class first. Park Assist can park the car into a parallel space with the system taking care of the steering and allowing the driver to control the accelerator and brake. It needs a space just 80cm longer …

It’s not every day you witness the launch of a new car brand, but that’s what we have with BMW’s new i sub-brand, which was introduced to Ireland last week. Although the i3, the first fruit of this particular tree, has been seen before, this was the debut of the final production car on Irish shores. The i brand is all about sustainable mobility and finding new ways to meet the transport needs of the 21st century. The i3 is a compact car, which was designed from the start to be electric. It uses an aluminium chassis, reinforced by carbon fibre to make the chassis as light as possible. The battery is a solid block mounted in the floor and the resulting lowering of the centre of gravity should ensure a very stable drive. In classic BMW tradition, the i3 is rear wheel drive and performance is spritely, with 0-100 km/h dispatched in just 7.2 seconds. Overall range is quoted …

Every now and then, a test car comes along that delivers a lot more than expected. From the off, though, Citroën’s C4 Picasso impressed me greatly. I wasn’t even sure what it looked like, having had to miss the Irish launch, but what greeted me was an exceedingly handsome car, with looks that are up to the minute. The interior is even more impressive, with a 7” touch screen easily accessible on the dashboard. If that’s not enough, this is joined by a secondary 12” widescreen, which is used to display all kinds of information and also becomes the clearest satnav screen I’ve ever seen in a car. This kind of technology is rarely seen in the class and it’s good to see such a step forward. The screens are used to control virtually every aspect of the car, including the audio, navigation and even the climate control systems. This allows Citroën to reduce the number of hardware buttons on …

A new S Class Mercedes is something that doesn’t come along every day and when it does, it generally brings some new and undreamed of piece of technology. The S Class, after all, in various versions, was the first to sport Anti Lock Brakes, ESP and airbags, all of which are now standard on pretty much every car on the market. The newest S Class comes with a few new goodies, including an impressive 360 degree view for parking and the ability to automatically follow a car in front in traffic at speeds up to 60 km/h, steering, braking and accelerating when necessary. It’s this particular piece of tech that’s most interesting when it comes to the new S Class. Mercedes earlier this year demonstrated an autonomous car, which drove under computer control from Mannheim to Pforzheim, recreating the journey undertaken by Bertha Benz in 1888. Although computer driven cars are still effectively in development, Mercedes reckon they will be …

Opel’s new Insignia will be here next month with some bold claims to being the most aerodynamic hatch in the world at 0.25 Cd. It certainly has the right environmental credentials with a sub 100 g/km variant which is expected to be the best seller. The Insignia also promises to herald class-leading technology to the class, with the introduction of IntelliLink, a touch screen powered infotainment system, which will be standard on all but the base model, which starts at €24,995. A new 2.0 litre turbo-diesel with 140 bhp comes in with a remarkable CO2 figure of just 99 g/km and a corresponding 3.7 l/100 km, which endows the car with a huge touring range – something that will suit its target market very well. A higher powered version is also available, with 163 bhp. We drove both of these variants on the launch, but there are also two petrol options, the existing 1.4 litre turbo with 140 bhp and …

Audi brand ambassador, Kathryn Thomas, recently launched the 2014 Audi Future Now Sales Event. This scheme allows Audi customers to avail of a number of upgrade packages on new Audi orders for 2014 delivery, with savings of up to €7,000 available. A range of PCP finance packages are also available, with the A1 coming in from as little as €229 per month. Any customer financing their new Audi through PCP will also receive a free 3 year Audi Service Pack. Audi A1 customers can enjoy savings of €5,705, by taking advantage of an enhanced specification pack, comprising of S Line exterior, LED rear lights, black roof or roof arch and 17” alloy wheels. A4 buyers can specify 17” 10 spoke alloy wheels, xenon lights with DRL, Nappa leather and MMI navigation for just €1,590. The A6 S-line now comes with full LED headlights, 19” 7 spoke alloys, NMI navigation and Valcona leather for an extra premium of €1,995, representing a …