WHILST THE GENEVA Motor Show wowed us with some stunning supercars and crazy concepts – check our round-up here – there was some Swiss sensibility on display too.
Mingling with the Ferraris and Lamborghinis were a plethora of new and facelifted practical motors – you know, the ones you’ll use for the school run, the weekly shop and weekend camping trips when your Lambo is getting yet another service.
We’ve already covered elsewhere the BMW 5 Series Touring; Ford Fiesta ST; Hyundai i30 Tourer; Kia Stinger; Nissan Qashqai; Opel Crossland X and Insignia Grand Sport; SEAT Ibiza; Skoda Kodiaq, Octavia and Rapid; Volkswagen Arteon, Volvo XC60 and Toyota Yaris.
So, here’s a look at six more everyday cars from the Geneva Motor Show that will be hitting our roads pretty soon.
1. Dacia Logan MCV Stepway
The Dacia Logan MCV has been made more rugged and SUV-like. It features ground clearance of 174mm - a 50mm ride height increase over the regular model – front and rear skid plates, protective mouldings on its flanks, a two-tone bumper and a new grille styled to look like its Duster sibling. It still retains its roomy five-seat interior and its massive 573-litre boot space.
The new Logan MCV Stepway sits on new 16-inch Stepway Dark Metal Flexwheel wheels. It will be offered with a TCe 90 petrol or dCi 90 diesel engine both with stop/start technology and mated to a five-speed manual gearbox.
2. DS 7 Crossback
This premium SUV from Citroen’s spin-off brand is set to rival the likes of the Audi Q3 and the Mercedes GLC. The exterior features a new diamond-effect grille, horizontal chrome wings and LED rotating headlamps.
Inside, there’s plenty of room for five adults and a useful 550-litre boot space which expands to 1,750 litres with the rear bench stowed. The centre console features two 12-inch screens; one works with the navigation system as well as managing the multimedia interface and the other is a personalisable digital instrument cluster.
The engine line up consists of three petrol and two diesel options, mated to six-speed manual or all-new eight-speed automatic transmissions. There is also an E-Tense plug-in hybrid variant.
3. Jeep Compass
The European première of the all-new Jeep Compass took place at Geneva. It is set to rival the Nissan Qashqai and Volkswagen Tiguan in the hugely popular compact SUV segment.
Depending on market, the new Compass will be offered with three petrol and two diesel engines, a six-speed manual gearbox, and a nine-speed automatic transmission with 4×4 models.
4. Kia Picanto
The Picanto city car, which goes on sale within the next few months, is looking to bring a more youthful and energetic character to the A-segment and a performance-inspired GT-Line model will be offered for the first time.
The cabin of the new Picanto features a ‘floating’ seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system and gets Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and wireless smartphone charging.
From launch, the new Picanto will be available with 1.0- and 1.25-litre petrol engines, with CO2 emissions from just 89g/km. Later on the in year, Kia will offer its new 1.0-litre turbocharged petrol direct injection (T-GDI) 100hp power unit.
5. Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross
The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross will compete in the C-SUV segment and is, yet another, rival for the almighty Nissan Qashqai, even though Nissan have just bought out Mitsubishi.
It’s built on same platform as the current Outlander and uses an electronically-controlled four-wheel drive system that feeds the optimum amount of torque to the rear wheels depending on the driving situation and the road surface.
Powertrains offered are a 1.5-litre direct-injection turbocharged petrol engine, as well as a 2.2-litre common rail direct-injection turbocharged diesel engine fitted with a new eight-speed automatic transmission.
6. Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace
This is the new seven-seat Tiguan Allspace. With its 5+2 seating arrangement it bridges the gap between the Tiguan and the larger Touareg. To create the Allspace, the Tiguan’s wheelbase has been stretched by 109mm and its overall length increased by 215mm.
Surprisingly, even with the two additional seats the boot space also grows by 145 litres to a massive 760 litres with all seats in place. When loaded to roof height up to the backs of the first row of seats, its storage capacity is an impressive 1,920 litres.
Marco Pavone of the Volkswagen Design Team is responsible for the exterior of the Tiguan and said:
We have designed the rear doors of the Tiguan Allspace to be longer. The bonnet was also raised up at the front above the radiator grille to adapt the proportions to the longer overall length.
The new Tiguan Allspace will be offered with a choice of six engines from 150hp to 240hp with DSG and 4Motion as standard from 180hp.
The Allspace launches in September of this year with advances sales in May.
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