THINKING OF BUYING a 162 car? Need a little inspiration? Here’s part two of our guide to some of the new models hitting showrooms before the end of this year.
SUV
SEAT Ateca
There is plenty of anticipation for the Spanish car maker’s first ever SUV. The Qashqai rival has some sharp exterior detailing and the cabin is neat and simple with the quality fit and finish that you would expect from SEAT. The boot space is larger than that of the Qashqai and Kia Sportage. The new Ateca will be offered in three trims; S from €24,750, SE from €27,920 and Xcellence from €31,120. There are plenty of safety features as standard including front and rear seatbelt reminder, two ISO child seats and two top tether rear seats, stability control (ABS, ASR, ESC, XDS), front assist (emergency city braking and pedestrian protection), LED daytime running lights, hill hold control and tiredness detection.
PREMIUM HATCHBACK
Audi A3 Sportback
Audi has refreshed its A3 family right up to the S3 performance models. Visually, little has changed on this model, it is more of a technology update, but when a car sells this well, why change it? The interior too remains much the same, that is beautifully finished and with a new eye-catching 12.3-inch Virtual Cockpit TFT display. The A3 comes with either a 1.0-litre TFSI engine or a 1.6-litre TDI unit mated as standard to a six-speed manual transmission driving power to the front wheels or an optional seven-speed S tronic twin-clutch auto gearbox.
SPORTS SALOON
Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
The new Giulia if full of Italian style and gusto. It looks great and the 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged V6 petrol engine of the ‘Cloverleaf’ Giulia, which produces 510hp and 600Nm of torque, has been developed by former Ferrari engineers and the eight-speed automatic transmission drives power to the rear wheels offering lots of spirited driving. Irish pricing has yet to be revealed but expect it to be in the €100k region.
EXECUTIVE CAR
Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate
Mercedes has just revealed an estate version of its brilliant E-Class. This handsome wagon has the same superb cabin as its saloon sibling, only now you get a huge boot to boot. The E-Class Estate can hold 670 litres or a whopping 1,820 litres with the rear seats folded. As standard, a 9G-Tronic automatic transmission is fitted and drives power to the rear wheels. The new E-Class is priced from €54,150.
LUXURY CAR
Volvo S90
The new Volvo S90 looks the business, both inside and out and really does stand out from its Teutonic rivals, which is a good thing. It is the latest model to be built on Volvo’s all-new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) platform and benefits from Volvo’s Drive-E powertrains.
The S90 is available with a choice of two 2.0-litre, four-cylinder diesel engines – the 190hp D4, with an eight-speed automatic gearbox and front-wheel drive and the 235hp D5 PowerPulse, with an eight-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive.
The fit and finish and materials used in the S90 are top quality and the cabin is impressive. Both versions of the S90 are luxuriously equipped as standard and even entry-level cars come with leather upholstery, LED headlights, two-zone climate control with ‘CleanZone’ air-filtration system and automatically dimming mirrors both interior and exterior. Volvo’s Sensus infotainment system is also standard bringing with it a 9-inch touch screen, satellite navigation (including lifetime annual map updates), a sophisticated voice-control system, and access to the internet and a range of cloud-based apps. Pilot Assist, Volvo’s innovative semi-autonomous drive feature, is standard on every S90 as is the latest version of City Safety.
The Volvo S90 D4 FWD in Momentum spec costs €48,400 and €52,900 in Inscription trim. The D5 PowerPulse AWD model costs €56,400 in Momentum and €60,400 in Inscription trim.
SPORTS CAR
Jaguar F-Type SVR
This is the fastest ever production car from Jaguar. The two-seat coupe is powered by a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 petrol engine, which produces 575hp at 6,500rpm and 700Nm of torque at 3,500-5,00rpm, with an eight-speed automatic transmission sending power to all four wheels. It has a top speed of 322km/h and does the 0-100km dash in just 3.7 seconds.
The styling is suitably sporty to match the performance with lots of sharp lines, large aggressive air vents, a prominent front splitter and active spoiler perched on the boot.
The Jaguar F-Type SVR starts at €198,200 and comes heavily specced with lots of features and tech to play with.
HIGH-PERFORMANCE CAR
BMW M760Li xDrive
The new 7 Series is a superb car – from its slick, taut exterior styling to the sumptuous futuristic cabin to its extremely capable road handling. But the new M Performance TwinPower Turbo V12 engine now makes this car a super sporty and high performance, too. The engine has an output of 610 hp at 5,500 rpm and peak torque of 800Nm at 1,500rpm. It can sprint from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.7 seconds and onto a top speed of 250km/h or 305km/h with the M Driver’s Package. The rear-biased BMW xDrive intelligent all-wheel-drive system delivers M Performance dynamics and performance characteristics in all conditions.
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